I actually expected this chapter to be much shorter. However, some last minute re-reading made me add in a whole bunch of extra stuff, almost 700 extra words. Also, it should be noted that I'm not writing the next chapter immediately after posting the last one, I've been working several chapters ahead this whole time. I've actually already started writing chapter twenty.

Chapter Thirteen:
“The Cave”

Starlight and Double Diamond talked late into the night. They discussed what they might have to do tomorrow, and how this might affect Starlight’s philosophy. They talked about what they believed the princess was planning, and how they might be able to counteract it, and what might happen if they weren’t able to.

By the time they were finished talking, it was nearly dawn, and Starlight sent Double Diamond back to his house so she and him could both get some rest. But Starlight couldn’t sleep. She just kept thinking about what she might have to do today. She didn’t want to do it. She desperately didn’t want to do it. But she knew if she had to choose between forcing Twilight and her friends to join her philosophy and letting her leave the village, she had to choose the former. It was for the good of her town. No, it was for the good of Equestria.

By the time mid morning came, Starlight decided to go outside. She opened her door and was startled to see Double Diamond and Party Favor standing there, with the princess and her friends behind them.

“Hello!” Starlight greeted them cheerily. “Double Diamond tells me you want to see our cutie mark vault. Is that correct?”.

“I guess you could say that,” the princess told her. “We heard about it around the town and got curious. It’s not a problem for us to see it, is it?”.

“Of course not!” Starlight told them, trying to hide from them how worried she was about this. “I could lead you there myself, if you’d like. It is a bit of a distance away from here, though. It’d be a few hours of walking, if that’s okay with you,”.

“That’s fine,” Twilight told her, then asked, “Is there any way we could visit it now?”.

“Absolutely! Just grab something warm to wear, and we can leave right away!”.

As they walked through the snow to Starlight’s rock, where the village’s cutie marks were stored, Starlight once again tried to explain her philosophy, explaining how, because of cutie marks, ponies were bound to feel indifference and dislike towards each other. However, it was becoming clear that the group didn’t care for what she had to say. Not helping was the fact that, while she was talking, they were whispering amongst themselves about how they were here to bring cutie marks back to her village.

The fact that the group of them weren’t even trying to be open minded frustrated Starlight to no end. She couldn’t blame them, however. They still had their cutie marks, so of course they’d dismiss what she had to say. But still, she thought that they could at least be respectful instead of making whispers of plans that Starlight could obviously hear.

However, no matter how respectful they were from that point forward, their plans she overheard were something Starlight could not ignore. Before, it was a priority for them to stay. Now, there was no way they could leave. She would not let them leave. They were going to stay here, Starlight knew that for sure. However, how she would convince them, she didn’t know.

She thought about how best she could approach this. Maybe she could talk to each one of them individually, and try to convince them that way. She could start with the yellow one, Fluttershy she thought her name was. She seemed to be the most open minded of the whole group, and she was sure she could convince her into her way of thinking. If Starlight did that, it might get the rest of the group to join. It might also make the rest of the group angry to the point of retaliation, at which point…

“Just through here!” she called as she motioned to the cave where her rock was. She led the princess’s group inside and watched as they looked around in awe. “Here it is!” she announced to them. “Our cutie mark vault!”.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Twilight commented in almost disbelief as she stared at the hundreds of cutie marks inside the rock.

“It’s what makes our whole philosophy work,” Starlight told her, and described to the princess the trouble she went through to find it. “I am curious, though,” she finally asked, “how did the subject of the vault come up?”.

“Well,” Pinkie Pie started, “a bunch of ponies were telling us about how much they miss their cutie marks, and-”.

“Pinkie!” Twilight interrupted her sternly.

This was really bad. Starlight had figured the princess’s being there would have some effect, but not to this degree. When she learned about the princess’s meeting with Sugar Belle, she figured it was just one pony having doubts. Not several. This was awful. Before, she thought that her village would only have doubts about her philosophy if Twilight left with her cutie mark. Now, it was sounding like there might be several ponies who would outright leave right along with the princess. And if several left, the whole village would not only have doubts, but actively begin to question her. It would be a tough blow to recoup from, and a tough situation for her to manage.

She knew she had to convince the Princess of Friendship to stay and give up her cutie mark. It was right here, right now. If she wouldn’t be convinced, if it came down to it, she would be in a position to force her into giving up her cutie mark. She didn’t want to go down that road. She really, really didn’t want to have to do that. She knew what it might look like if she did. The princess might say that she was a dictator, and that Starlight was taking away their cutie marks to control them, which, while completely untrue, would be very difficult to explain to her village. Not to mention the far future implications, like giving an opening to corruption in her philosophy years down the line, after she’d retired. But if the choice was between that or watching a mass of ponies demand their cutie marks back because the princess left, as well as watching her philosophy crumble before her eyes, she would bite the bullet and take it by force.

“It’s alright,” Starlight told them, sounding cheerful. “Naturally, seeing the Princess of Friendship, anypony might begin to miss their cutie mark...,” she paused and looked at them before continuing, saying, “which is why I humbly ask you to join our little village,”.

“Oh…,” Twilight started, trying to think of the right way to decline. “You wouldn’t want us to do that. You’d get… bogged down trying to get us settled in,”.

“It’s quite alright. In fact, I insist. Just think of how many new ponies would join us because of you,".

“Well, we’re quite busy right now,” she declined again. “In fact,” she lied, “we still have some business to take care of back in Ponyville, and we better be on our way. We wouldn’t want to keep taking advantage of your hospitality,”.

Starlight watched as the princess and her group began to turn around, and tried again to convince them. “Wait!” she called. “Can't you see how nice it is here? Why don't you want to stay?".

"Like the princess said," AppleJack told her, "we wouldn't want to take advantage of your hospitality,".

"What can I do to convince you to stay?” Starlight asked the group desperately.

“You don’t need to do anything for us,” Twilight called over her shoulder. “We’ll think about what you’ve told us on our way back home,”.

Starlight knew she had to think fast. She was watching the princess slip away from her grasp. She looked at the tree branch that she called the Staff of Sameness for a few seconds, and hesitated. Was she really going to sacrifice her philosophy to make them stay?

No. She couldn’t do that. That’s not what her town was about. However, she knew there was no way she was going to convince them to stay, which in and of itself would be an issue. However, it was made worse by the fact that the princess and her group were actively plotting against her village. She couldn’t let them destroy her work. She wouldn’t let them destroy her work. But she couldn’t steal their cutie marks from them either.

She was at a loss as she watched them walk away. How were things spiraling so out of control? She knew she had to do something, and knew that, whatever choice she made, she wouldn’t be able to take it back. Her options at that moment were to futility try to convince them or pressure to stay, knowing full well what they were planning, knowing full well that it wouldn’t work, or to take their cutie marks, knowing full well that they would resist and continue their plan to destroy her town. What was she going to do? Starlight looked down at her hooves, thinking over her options. She knew her whole future rested in this moment. What was she going to do?

After what felt like a lifetime trying to decide what to do, Starlight finally sighed sadly, picked up the staff, and trotted towards the group of six to take away their cutie marks, starting with the princess.