As Twilight, Rainbow and all the others began to walk out of the central building of the Town, there could be no doubt for anypony that they were more than a little taken aback by what they'd just witnessed. The young Princess of Friendship herself, looking around the place, couldn't help but feel like she was out of her depth here. Everypony nearby seemed so content, so happy, despite being involved in something that, to Twilight's eyes at least, was utterly unfathomable. Turning, she looked to her friends, and even without asking, it was obvious that many of them were struggling with this revelation. Slowly, her eyes drifted through the still-open doors, to the Conduit itself. It hovered there, in its benign way, and Twilight knew that it was powerful. She didn't fully understand it, but even so, there was more to be learned, she was sure of it. But, for the time being, she focused once more on her friends, Applejack especially, as the latter finally broke the silence between them.

"Ah hate ta suggest it, but...do ya think that there Conduit is...ya know...?"

She didn't finish, for Twilight had already guessed what was going on in her mind.

"You mean...dark magic?"

Sighing, Applejack nodded, and Twilight considered the question, shaking her head slightly.

"I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it, but...no...I don't think it is."

Rainbow, hearing that, looked to her with some incredulity.

"What?! But that thing is taking cutie marks! That's, like, super creepy and stuff! I bet it’s got some weird magic thing going on in their heads to make them all think this is a good thing! Or, you know, something else like that!"

Twilight nodded.

"I know it appears that way to us, that something must be amiss. We’ve all been through too much together to just take something like this at face-value. But...I've faced more dark magic than anypony else here. Believe me when I say that I'm more familiar with it than you."

Looking once more to the Conduit, Twilight narrowed her eyes.

"I have this...feel for dark magic. There's always been this sense of...something wrong. Something twisted about it whenever I’m close to it, and...well...I'm just not getting that feeling from the Conduit. Whatever it is, whatever power it bears...I don’t think there’s any maliciousness to it."

Rainbow grumbled to that.

"Dark magic or not, I'm not happy about it."

Pinkie looked to her, confused.

"Why not? Everypony here seems pretty happy with it. I’d have expected everypony to be super-sad from not having their cutie marks, but all I'm getting is just...not that!"

She then giggled.

“Plus, we all know how important it is to share, right? Sharing special talents is, you know, just a really big and magical kind of sharing!”

Rarity grimaced slightly.

“Pinkie, whatever you do, please don’t do the sharing song again! Last time you did that, it started a war!”

Pinkie squinted her eyes at her fashionista friend, but said nothing, for Applejack soon spoke up.

"It ain't natural, Pinkie! Givin' up yer cutie marks? That ain't right!"

Twilight nodded.

"It's bizarre, I'll agree. The ponies here may have accepted it, but...it's such a massive difference from everything pony society has been for...for thousands of years!"

Thinking on her options, she let out a sigh.

"I think...it might be for the best if we started asking a few questions."

Rarity raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever do you mean, darling?"

Turning away, Twilight gestured to some of the other townsfolk, many of whom were simply walking down the street and minding their own business, never even paying them any attention.

"We should split up, at least for now. Find somepony who lives here, ask them about why they came here, and why they were willing to give up their talents and marks like this. There’s probably a story to everypony here. Something that would have convinced them to come to this remote place. A place nopony had ever heard of...and accept this new way of thinking."

Eventually, she looked back to her friends.

"The Map called us here to solve a friendship problem...and that Conduit might well be what's causing it."

She considered that.

"In fact...if any of you can find out any information about it, that would help too. Where it was found, how they first managed to use it, maybe if they’ve tried casting spells on it, that sort of thing."

Rainbow let out a chuckle to that.

"No problem. It'll be pretty easy to convince these ponies that sharing your talents isn't all that great. Being the same as everypony else would just get so...you know...dull. Nopony ever looking to you and going, hey, you’re great for doing that thing I can’t do! I mean..."

She pointed straight to her own chest.

"...can you imagine how lame it'd be if everypony could fly as awesomely as I can? There’d be no need for flying races, or even the Wonderbolts! I'd never be able to brag about it again!"

Naturally, many of her friends looked to her with arched eyebrows, and as Rainbow began to notice this, she backtracked, chuckling nervously and scratching the back of her head.

"Hehe...I mean...not that that's the only bad thing about the Conduit of course. I just...need to work on my sales pitch, that’s all."

Rarity shook her head.

"Maybe it would be best if you restricted yourself to finding out ponies' stories, Rainbow. Then we can worry about trying to convince them to change their minds."

Rainbow gave her a frown, but kept quiet for the time being, instead looking to Twilight as the latter spoke up.

"Look...when you talk to the local ponies...try not to sound like we're being critical of their way of life here. After all, nopony wants to have some stranger come along from the other side of the country and tell them their ways of doing things are wrong. We’re not their enemies...we’re just curious."

There was a general murmur of agreement to that sentiment, and Twilight, giving one final look to the Conduit, gave her friends a solemn nod.

"Alright...let's get to work."

And with that, the ponies split up, heading in several different directions. Twilight turned, ready to head out and conduct her investigation. But, before she was even able to take a single step forward, she stopped. For she was halted by the sound of somepony clearing their throat, which prompted her to turn around again. To her surprise, it was Fluttershy, who had been silent during that entire conversation.

"Fluttershy? What's wrong?"

The animal lover hesitated for a moment, looking around as the other mares made their way further off, as though worried of being heard by them, before once more looking to Twilight.

"Twilight...are you sure the Conduit is a problem?"

Twilight was a little surprised by that, but nevertheless gave a short nod.

"I am. There seems to be little else here that could potentially have been the catalyst for any friendship problems. And magic like that...well...we have a long history of things going wrong with ancient magical artefacts, as you know."

Fluttershy nodded back.

"I understand that, but..."

She let out a sigh.

"...I realise the ponies here do things differently...very differently in fact. I was just as surprised as you were when I found out about it. But...that's no reason to assume that it's an issue. Everypony has been good to us since we arrived and...I don't think it's right for us to be looking to them with that kind of suspicion."

Though still taken aback that her friend would be speaking this way about this whole matter, Twilight could not deny that she had a point, and that was reflected in her tone when she finally responded to her friend’s words.

"You're right, Fluttershy. And in truth...I hope I'm wrong. I want to believe that these ponies are truly happy doing what they're doing. But for now, we need to be certain. We're just asking questions right now. Once we've learned more...we can decide what to do afterwards...okay?"

Considering that, Fluttershy nodded.

"Okay...we're...just finding out."

Twilight smiled.

"That's right."

The yellow pegasus gave a sigh, then offered her friend a smile, before promptly heading off. Twilight watched her go, and as soon as she was far enough away, she once more turned, looking to the rest of the Town. She scoured the area, looking to ponies and homes, before finally settling on one direction in particular.

"Okay then...time for answers."

Next Chapter: Questions Estimated time remaining: 26 Minutes