private Starlight to Moonlight

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@ExplosionMare

Instead of appearing more forgiving, Magnolia's eyes and look towards Starlight only hardened further. She truly didn't understand what her point was, did she? Only through force could such a resolve be made. Either Starlight was too scared or she truly didn't feel sorry for what she did. Well, if Starlight doesn't feel that way on her own - perhaps Magnolia would coax her to feel that way. You can't coddle everyone, after all.

"Wrong. Hiding who someone is is keeping yourself safe from those who seek to take advantage of you. If I shared everything about myself, I would have no cards up my sleeve. It's better to keep things hidden and reveal them when the time is right, or to reveal them during combat and get the upper hand over your opponent through shock and awe. Oversharing makes you weak, exposed, and able to be taken advantage of those who are both smarter and stronger than you." she said a bit harshly, wanting her point to be made and understood loud and clear. Although she can't help but think she was posing herself as stronger and smarter than Starlight - not that she would admit that, of course.

She'd step closer to Starlight, looking her boldly within the eye. "I will give you two options. Either you come to your senses and follow me to your town out of your own free will - or I'll drag you there and make you face your fears unwillingly. I am not giving you a choice. If I won't force you, chances are, you'll either succumb to fear over what you did and paralyze yourself into inaction or come up with ways to rationalize what you did just so you don't have to face it. I think we both know which of those I'd hate more." she snorted. Truly, she didn't want to hurt Starlight, but there are sometimes no options to be kind. Kindness is something to be cherished and reserved for single moments to make it even more valuable - rather than expressing it constantly, degrading it's value. 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

@-Buttercup-

Starlight frowned at Moonlight in concern. What was with the harsh look? She backed up a bit, suddenly feeling uneasy. Starlight didn't think she was asking for much when she told Moonlight to go a little easy on her. She should've remembered, though, that Moonlight didn't take anything lightly.

"You may feel that way," Starlight replied to Moonlight's reasoning slowly, still cautious not to upset the unicorn. "but I can't trust anypony or properly understand them if they hide things from me. Besides, the truth always manages to seep out, like how you discovered what my real Cutie Mark looked like.

I understand what you're saying about tactics, believe me, I have experience with those, but the truth can be just as much of a weapon. If you confide in somepony, they start to build trust in you and at that point, you practically have full power over that pony if they go against you. Yes, your weaknesses may be exposed, but so would their's. I realize I'm probably not the best pony to talk about all this, but when I used to believe Equality was the truth, I thought just like this."

Starlight backed up again as Moonlight stepped closer. She also mentally prepared a spell just in case Moonlight got a little bit too close.

"Heh, you say I get a choice yet you're going to just do what you want, anyways? That doesn't seem fair, now does it?" Starlight said lightly, suddenly feeling nervous. She hoped her more casual demeanor would defuse the situation, but clearly she was wrong. She also hoped Moonlight was kidding about forcing her to go to the village, but that wasn't the case either. Taking in a long, deep breath, Starlight cleared her head and replied,

"Look, I'll g-go to the village, alright? I'll do it, but you have to understand this won't be easy! I have to convince the whole village that I'm not the same equalist-driven mare I once was. They may have lost their trust in me now, so I don't know if they'll believe me. Still, I suppose this has to be done."

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@ExplosionMare

Moonlight smirked slyly at that. "You really think this is going to be easy? Well, if it was, I wouldn't be having you do it. Reality of the situation is, the two of us have made rather horrible mistakes and we have a long way to go in order to own up to them. More so you, yourself. While I was never the friendliest of ponies, I never went out of my way to manipulate and enslave an entire town because of my own insecurities." she narrowed her eyes, stepping closer again.

"Why make a fuss about not having a choice, here? You'll deal with the sweeping guilt and constant anxiety about never getting it done. But I think the both of us know what your choice will be. Why continue to go against me, when you know that I am right deep down. It's not so much about me being right as it is you coming to terms with exactly what you've done. You see, I know everything about what you've done and I have enough evidence to prove to anyone of what you've done." she spoke somewhat smugly, finding herself to be rather pleased at having such power over another pony.

"What you've done is enough to get yourself locked away, the likes of those we turned our backs on. You know, this isn't something you can just say 'sorry' and be done with. You have to own up to what you've done, or eventually it will creep up behind you and lock you away where you'll weep for the rest of your life when all you can do is think about your mistakes." she said in a serious, yet compassionate tone. "I don't want that for you. I would most certainly hope that you don't want that for yourself. That'd be a real waste of a life, wouldn't it? So tomorrow, you are going to own up to what you have gotten away with all of these years, so you don't have to end up like that. No amount of pleading or nervous nellyness from you is going to get yourself out of it." she said, firmly with no room to disagree.

Magnolia would pull away and lay down in the single bed there, looking at Starlight with a slightly cock eyed smirk, despite the seriousness of the situation. 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

@-Solstice-

Starlight gulped silently and looked down. She didn't like the way Moonlight was confronting her, even if she was speaking the truth. It was just that the more her past was brought up, the guiltier she felt.

"I-I know you're right. I feel so guilty right now already, I can hardly stand it anymore. I suppose you have a point, attempting to make up for what I did is better than doing nothing and remaining guilty. Well, I guess a part of me will always feel bad, but if I am able to make things better in the village, I can at least feel good about that." Starlight responded with a slightly shaky voice.

Her heartbeat began to increase and she felt the world slowly shrinking in on her. She hated the feeling of being singled out; always had. She also hated that Moonlight seemed to enjoy this, judging by her snarky facial expression.

Starlight turned and took a moment to breathe before her emotions, or worse yet, her magic, could spiral out of control. When she was calm enough, she turned towards Moonlight and tried to be very understanding as she listened. She nodded her head slowly, internalizing that Moonlight only wanted to help and do what was right.

If I'm ever going to make it through this, I have to keep my emotions in check. Starlight told herself. If it took her this long to handle one confrontation, imagine how she would react if the entire village confronted her! She needed to bring out the leadership instincts she once had, only without using a facade or manipulation tactics.

"Okay, I understand. I will make up for all I did and set things right. Like you said, it won't be easy, but it has to be done anyways." Starlight replied. She refrained from displaying any more feelings of nervousness because she did not want to drag the conversation out further than it needed to go.

She also had to refrain from rolling her eyes at Moonlight's haughty smirk. Starlight looked away in an attempt to ignore it and carefully laid down in the bed herself. It felt incredibly weird to only have one bed around, but it was either try to make space for herself or sleep on the floor. When she was able to fit in without being too close to the edge, she turned and distanced herself as much as she could. She may be close with Moonlight, but not that close!

[Props Valroa 25,967]

@ExplosionMare

Moonlight lets loose a sigh of relief as they lay in bed together, and looks into Starlight's eyes with that same predatory expression. It was not anything negative though, if anything it was like that of a devious little foal getting what they wanted. Moonlight stretches out, and Starlight could feel her soft tail up against her leg there as she moved a bit closer.

"See, there we go. Easy. Now tomorrow, we'll see what the guards say and if we are clear to go. If we are, we'll go to your village. I would expect that by now they would have already dealt with what they needed to deal with to see that we were correct in our assessments. If anything, we should probably be rewarded for ratting out the Cult to the leadership of Equestria. I would expect them to pay with stiff penalties, for sure." she smiled and would look at Starlight's mane.

"We'll get you a new Mane style too, when we get back from the village. Myself as well. What better way to represent change than changing our appearance to something better, am I right? I think that would be quite marvelous to do." Magnolia said calmly, with another sigh of relief. Moonlight always enjoyed the feeling of being in control of other ponies. Especially making Starlight seem so submissive to her for once. She succeeded in what she wanted to do - tame Starlight, so to speak.

Moonlight reached over and flicked the light out with her hoof. "Goodnight, Starlight." she said, and then turned over, ready to go to sleep. 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

@-Solstice-

Starlight was now beginning to feel cramped since Moonlight was stretching and nearly taking over the whole bed. She squirmed and tried to wiggle towards her own side of the bed to make more room for herself. There wasn't much of a way to do that without falling over, though, so she relented and let Moonlight take the space, along with that smug grin of hers.

"I would hope that the situation is dealt with by then as well. The longer Limbo Dreams and Silver Tongue are out there looking for 'Ascension', the more dangerous they become.

A reward, you say? What sort of reward would the guards be granting us? We sought after a 'reward' before and you know where that almost led us. To be honest, the only reward that could be satisfactory to me is for the guards to leave us be after this, and ensure that we don't have to be involved in something like this again." Starlight said with resignation.

Starlight wondered what sort of 'award' Moonlight was thinking of anyhow. Money? Starlight didn't need to be rich, not when she had magic. Fame? That just meant more ponies could find out about what she did in her village. She was sure Moonlight had many more possibilities in her mind, but they didn't matter to Starlight. Nothing material really mattered right now that her whole life was destroyed. Even if it was for the better, it still left the unicorn feeling lost.

Where do I go from here? What sort of purpose do I have now? Starlight pondered as her heavy eyelids drooped.

"New manestyles?" Starlight asked, gently tugging at the ends of her mane. "You may have to help me find a new look. Preferably, something that doesn't completely change my current style. I like my long, striped mane."

She chuckled inwardly at that, remembering all the terrible styles that her villagers had to wear. It took a long time for the town barber to cut hair properly without hurting somepony, ever since his stylist Cutie Mark was stripped away. Starlight was so afraid of his scissors then that she opted to keep her mane the way it was. She argued it looked just like everypony else's, since it followed the general rule of having double bangs. Nopony questioned her, although she wasn't sure anymore if that was because she was so convincing or if the villagers were too afraid to question her at all.

Starlight mumbled a "goodnight" back and swiftly fell asleep. She was so tired that she didn't bother trying to maneuver around Moonlight anymore.

[Props Valroa 25,967]

@ExplosionMare

Moonlight would agree with Starlight's words, there. "Perhaps you are right, let's just hope we can just move on and not be involved with any of this going forward. We've been involved enough with a lot of things and I'm honestly over it. The reward I mentioned was exactly that. Moving on without any of this holding ourselves back." she sighed. It was long enough that this situation had gone on to say the least. It was time for better things that they both had to come to terms with. They were both going to move on and be better off for it. 

Moonlight didn't really comment further as she was too tired to talk. A short nod was her response to Starlight's question about the new mane styles. It was something they can do along the way to their better futures, for sure. Her eyes shut as she pondered all that had happened. The stars had aligned to create a new path, and she wasn't willing to mess it up. The sun would dawn, and mark a new beginning for the both of them Moonlight would look to the sleeping Starlight, and pull herself around her in a protective manner to gently cuddle her, letting her know that she was safe. 

In the morning, the two ponies would awaken with the sun shining in through the blinds. A new day had dawned.

(We can just timeskip to when they go to Starlight's town, nothing else really interesting would happen until then.)

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

@-Solstice-

Starlight trembled as her and Moonlight exited the train. She watched with longing as it chugged backwards into the cave, wishing she was anywhere else right now. However, she didn't admit that to Moonlight, as that would be a sign of weakness.

Trudging forward, Starlight was eventually able to catch a glimpse of her old "friends". The first thing she noticed is that their grins weren't as toothy as they used to be. They were smaller and more genuine. The villagers were also much more colorful and some even had a bounce in their step. They seemed...rather content without her.

Starlight's heart rate rose, fearing that she would cause distress if she set hoof into the village square. If it wasn't for Moonlight's presence, she would teleport far away from here immediately. Turning to the white unicorn, she noticed that the mare was rather calm. Granted, she wasn't the one who needed to make a mass apology, but regardless, Starlight did her best to match her stance.

Breathe in, breathe out. There you go, Starlight. Nothing to worry about. These ponies are...were...your friends. she thought.

Okay, that thought didn't help much, but Starlight was at least trembling less now. She urged herself to move forward and prepared herself for any anger, sadness, or even feelings of vengeance that may come her way.

"Starlight Glimmer, is that you?" a raspy female voice called. A mare with curly purple hair and a hot pink coat approached after tucking away a small notepad behind her ear. When she was eye-to-eye, she stood there a moment, unmoving. Starlight gulped, fearing the mare would attack her with a spell or something.

"Starlight! We missed you! How have you been?" The mare beamed with the cutest smile on her face. Upon her loud squeal, a few heads turned. More ponies reacted similarly to the mare, then gathered round until a semi circle of sorts was formed. Starlight was surrounded, but she couldn't tell if it was in a threatening manner or not. Regardless, she felt an introduction was warrented.

"H-hi, Sugar Belle. I'm...doing better. I'm not here for just a regular visit, I'm actually here to say something important. What I did to everypony back when I was the leader was i-inexcusable. I forced you to give up who you r-really are, in exchange for my comfort and happiness. I was so desperate for a friend that I forced all of you to m-match my friendship n-narrative. I definitely don't expect it, b-but I hope you all can forgive me." she spoke, trembling some more.

She waited in agonizing silence as the crowd murmured amongst themselves. She glanced over at Moonlight, wondering if she thought the little speech sufficed.

[Props Valroa 25,967]

@ExplosionMare

Within the train, Moonlight was more than ready for what was to come. She long awaited this. Moonlight was more than thankful that they were cleared by the guards to go about their path and it was confirmed that they were good to go. While it was clear that Moonlight and Starlight had definitely done some wrong by involving themselves in the cult to begin with, their records were wiped clean due to them being the ones to finally reveal the whereabouts of the cult.

While the guards did not openly tell them what they had found there in the temple in the Everfree forest - they did allude that the suspects were now in custody and couldn't hurt anyone. Whatever happens next with them was unknown and kept under wraps. It was such a high profile case, that it couldn't just be opened up to the public. Maybe it would be at some point in the future and they could find out what had happened. 

Remembering what had happened in Ponyville, where Moonlight met her sister for that brief moment before her mythical powers got in the way, she seeks to meet her sister again under more proper circumstances as well as her other friends. But that could happen later on. They were dealing with Starlight's misgivings against the ponies here and it could take a while to really get them back to where they needed to be. After which, Moonlight and Starlight could return to Ponyville and clear things up with Twilight and her friends. Moonlight did remember her encounter with Mayor Mare, so she wasn't totally unknown within the town, so to speak. The ponies in Ponyville probably want answers, and Moonlight couldn't blame them.

Moonlight would follow Starlight into the town after they left the train. Unlike Starlight, she walked with a confident stride, as if she was even enjoying this situation. She noticed the ponies about the place seemed to be a bit more chipper than she thought. Remembering when she had seen the village before, something had definitely changed in Starlight's absence. They had their cutie marks all as equal signs, a look that made Moonlight cringe internally.

As the villagers surrounded the two of them, Moonlight was a bit creeped out. The cute mare was almost someone to die for, Moonlight couldn't help but blush for. And to think that Starlight could manipulate and harm someone so sweet and innocent? With that in mind, she listened to Starlight's speech. While part of her wanted to reach up and pat Starlight's shoulder, she had to deal with this on her own. Moonlight nodded in approval, and did a motion with her hoof as if for her to continue. She wouldn't speak yet, wanting Starlight to speak more without backup to really prove to the ponies around her that she had changed. Getting their cutie marks back, was one thing on her mind. 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

@-Solstice-

Moonlight didn't say anything, but her look didn't suggest disapproval. Starlight took in a deep breath, shaking slightly as she was still nervous. Sugar Belle noticeably tensed at this and put on one of those cheesy, toothy grins, hoping it would help. Starlight shook her head, which only made Sugar Belle smile wider somehow. With a sharp exhale, Starlight said,

"You don't need to do that, Sugar Belle. None of you need to wear those fake smiles anymore."

The villagers gasped and whispered among themselves in confusion. Starlight continued.

"I need to...I need to tell you all something. I left in search of something that would make our village better and our friendships stronger. I sought out a way to spread 'true' friendship across Equestria with ease. I later found out that...what I was searching for was a lie. No greater power could help me, nor should it.

You see, E-Equality is...is a lie. It's always been a lie."

The villagers chattered anxiously amongst themselves, trying to piece together Starlight's message. Confusion was in the eyes of some, and others, relief? One thing was for sure, Starlight had a lot of explaining to do.

"How could it be a lie? Starlight, you said any other type of friendship was a lie! Does...does that mean we're not really friends?" Sugar Belle asked, tearing up a little.

"What 'greater power' are you talking about? No power is stronger than friendship, right? That's all we need." a dark blue pegasus commented.

"If Equality is a lie, then...does that mean we get our Cutie Marks back?" a light blue unicorn squeaked.

"If it is really a lie, why did you lie to us, Starlight Glimmer?" a white earth pony asked softly.

Starlight looked back and forth at the villagers, mainly the ones with questions. She felt a sinking feeling inside, knowing she had kept her friends in the dark for so long. She knew already that the truth would devastate them and she may lose a few friends in the process. If she wasn't here with Moonlight, who was encouraging her to do what's right, Starlight would have teleported away by now. Standing tall, despite the crushing weight of guilt she felt, she trotted forward and turned to her side.

"Look at this," she instructed, pointing to her Cutie Mark. "This was always here. My Equal sign was a fake I made using makeup. I couldn't remove my Cutie Mark because it would prevent me from using the Staff of Sameness. The Staff...is just a piece of wood. It has no power. I'm the one who used the spell to remove Cutie Marks. I wanted friends so badly, but I didn't want differences to fight over. I used that staff to force everypony to hide their true selves, and become what I wanted so I couldn't feel lonely anymore. After a lot of thinking, and some help from my new friend here, Moonlight, I realize how wrong it is to take away the differences that make you all special. I...I hope one day you can forgive me. Perhaps it would at least make things easier if I...returned your Cutie Marks."

The villagers looked on in disbelief and fear. They weren't sure what to think. Starlight understood why they felt this way. Their whole worldview had just been shattered in the span of a few minutes. She knew it would take a long time to process the fact that their previous lifestyle was a lie. She also knew that they had a right to be mad at her, especially after she revealed her true Cutie Mark. Closing her eyes, she braced herself for whatever impact may come.

"She told you this?" the blue pegasus asked. Starlight opened her eyes briefly and nodded.

Gentle hoof steps approached. First one set of hooves, then two, then a few, then more than Starlight could count. She shook slightly as she heard them come closer. When they stopped, she opened her eyes and noticed that the villagers weren't surrounded her. They were surrounding Moonlight!

"W-wait, what are you doing?" she cried.

"Moonlight, what have you told Starlight?" Sugar Belle asked, donning the fake smile, perhaps as a defense mechanism. The other villagers followed suite and donned their own large, uncertain smiles.

[Props Valroa 25,967]

@ExplosionMare

Moonlight stood there throughout it all with a calm smile at how everything was unfolded. To be honest, she saw the villagers as weak minded and frail. No wonder why they accepted Starlight's brainwashing and lies so readily, they were too far innocent. To think this whole thing revolved around 'friendship', that still disgusted her. Moonlight still couldn't help but think the focus on friendship that most ponies has was a sign of weakness, but she recognized how powerful friendship really could be. Not something to be under-stated, nor over-stated in her eyes. 

At the very least, she was glad she didn't have to speak yet. Starlight was the one who spoke about it without much prompting from Moonlight and that was a sign that Moonlight could respect her more for having the will within her to stand up and admit that she was wrong. Not only admitting that she was wrong, but committing to making it better. But now it seemed like Moonlight's input was needed, which she expected. Well, she wasn't going to hold back, that was for sure.

Moonlight's eyes stared into the eyes of the villagers around her. It wasn't a harsh glare, but it was more of a 'don't mess with me' look. Moonlight was an intimidating mare, yet she was also very elegant all the same. For a bit, she would let silence reign through the air as if making them wait for her response on purpose - as a way to further emphasize the importance of her words.

"It is not what I have told her, but what I showed her. I showed her that the path to power was a dangerous one. The two of us were offered the chance of becoming alicorns. We were invited to a Temple in the Everfree Forest, evidently owned by cultists with dangerous intentions for Equestria. We both realized this before we could do any damage to ourselves, or anyone else. It is not something any of you would understand, but suffice to say, we did enter into other realms beyond our own. It's not something to be joked about. It is quite dangerous. If we continued with our previous aspirations of power, we would have lost our very lives, and our sanity for a fruitless pursuit gilded by those who were malevolent in nature." she spoke in a serious tone, her words rolling out of her mouth like a calm stream.

"To be frank, all of you need to learn independence. Starlight took that away from you. What did that make you? Readily accepting of lies and falsehoods, allowing them to blanket your own uniqueness. You can't cast spells. You can't live freely, without your leader. What kind of friendship is that? It is not friendship. It is obedience, and being held back from being who truly are. That is no way to live. Ironically, I did the same thing as Starlight. I refused to show my real mark." she spoke, showing them her cutie mark of a sword between a reef of Magnolia flowers, it was a valiant mark to be sure - but to see a weapon as a cutie mark, was not something commonly seen on ponies.

"It's time that you all live better lives than milling about in this wasteland. We will start by freeing your cutie marks, and we'll show you what it is to experience your own personalities and uniqueness. I will also say, that any of you are free to leave and return to your real homes. But if you really want to stay here and learn, we'll do our best to teach you, for real, what it means to be independent and not let others take away from your own unique gifts. This will not be a town of Equality anymore. It will be a town of comradery." she smiled for once, a rather earnest smile at that.

"My real name is Moonlight Sparkle. I am the oldest sister in the Sparkle family. My sister's friends go around the world, spreading all of this 'friendship'. We don't need them. We don't need anyone to do it for us, when we can do it ourselves. Perhaps we can do it better than they could, anyways. Come on now, everyone. Let's free your cutie marks. Lead the way, Starlight." Moonlight beckoned to Starlight, ready for that to begin.

"After all - Our Differences are why we are great together." Moonlight winked.

 

[ExplosionMare 18,007]

@-Solstice-

The villagers stared on at Moonlight in confusion, unsure how to process the given information. What was this power quest the strange unicorn was referring to? Why would Starlight Glimmer, the founder of Our Town and preacher of Equality, choose to go on such a selfish mission?

"I apologize, but I do not quite understand. You are telling me that you and Starlight Glimmer went on a mission to become Alicorns, together? That just isn't possible! Besides, Starlight doesn't need power when she has friends like us." Sugar Belle replied with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"It's true, Sugar Belle. I really did go on a mission, thinking I would 'ascend'. I thought that by becoming an Alicorn, I would become a 'Princess of Equality' and prove that even the most powerful of ponies would give up everything for Equality. Now that I'm distanced from that adventure, I realize that this wasn't about Equality or you all, this was about me obtaining as much power as possible. It was about me indotrinating all of Equestria so I could live in my perfect world. For that I'm deeply sorry."   Starlight spoke up.

Sugar Belle looked like she was trying to hide the hurt she felt. Starlight looked at her with pity, causing Sugar Belle to look away. She was about to say something comforting, but then the blue pegasus from earlier spoke up.

"Starlight, are you both speaking the truth? Did you both go out of your own will, risking your lives for something so dangerous? If you did...how did you remove your mark, so that you could do so?" she asked in a calculated tone.

"Yes, Night Glider, I promise you that this is all true. I really did go on this mission, and I did so without Moonlight forcing me into it. As for how I got my Cutie Mark, I...never removed it in the first place. Um, if I did, uh, I could have never removed any of your Cutie Marks. T-the staff is fake! I-I-It's just a piece of wood!" Starlight stammered. Now it was Night Glider's turn to feel hurt, only instead of cowardly hiding her emotions, she simply stared on in shock. In truth, it made Starlight feel no better either way.

Whilst those two mares were trying to wrap their heads around the situation, everypony else was murmuring amongst themselves. Starlight could only faintly make out what they were saying, and all she could take from it is that everypony was scared, hurt, and confused--just like Sugar Belle and Night Glider. Starlight wanted to once again try to say something comforting but she wasn't given the chance since Moonlight spoke up once more, and all were silent.

"W-what are we going to do by ourselves? While Starlight was gone, we didn't know what to do! For a while, we just waited. When she didn't return for a long time, we all got so worried! She was the one who planned our days, kept everypony on their best behavior, and made sure we were all happy and safe.

The scariest thing about this was, there was so much room for thinking! Ponies started talking--talking about our lives, tradition, friendship, CUTIE MARKS! It was all so interesting but now you're here so, so...p-please don't lock any of us up...we're so sorry..." the blue unicorn from earlier replied.

"Oh, Party Favor, you have nothing to apologize for. Again, I'm very sorry for leaving and not even bothering to check in with everypony. Then again, it was probably for the best. You got to experience life without me in it, to corrupt your thinking. I'm so sorry for tricking you into thinking that free will is bad. You should be allowed to think however you please and truly be yourself. I'm not going to lock any of you up. If I did, I might as well lock myself up for going against the teachings of Equality, too. You deserve to live your own lives, free from anything that will hold you down." Starlight spoke.

The white earth pony from before stepped forward, offering his own thoughts.

"Starlight, to be honest...I missed my independence." The villagers looked at him in stunned silence. However, that didn't stop them from listening to what he had to say. "I thought I would like having somepony take charge and allow me to relax when it came to making decisions, but I wasn't relaxed about it at all. I was always worried that if I didn't do exactly what you wanted, you would stop asking me to do things for you or punish me. Now that I think about it, I would rather make my own decisions every now and then, so I don't always have to feel that way."

Starlight was as stunned as the villagers in that moment. Even though she wasn't supposed to have favorites, she always considered Double Diamond her secret second-in-command. She thought he liked fetching her things or carrying out little tasks every now and then. She thought he would have found that rewarding to always help a friend out. She hadn't thought of the negative ramifications, especially since she never offered help in return.

The villagers then pondered about what Moonlight said about staying or going. Starlight would certainly be sad to see some ponies go, but she wasn't going to stop them if they chose to leave. She knew some of them would rather live anywhere else, given the chance. However, it seemed that nopony had an opinion about it at the moment, since the decision would be awfully big to make. Besides, everypony still needed their Cutie Marks.

"W-welcome, Moonlight Sparkle." Sugar Belle said politely as Moonlight finally introduced herself.

Starlight was hesitant at first, but it didn't take long for her to gather the strength and the courage to tell everypony,

"Follow me, everypony! It's time I set you all free."

She didn't admit it aloud but she quite liked Moonlight's proposed philosophy for the village. Perhaps friendship could be formed without magic or a grand ideal. Perhaps it could just happen naturally, if given the chance. There would of course be risks involved but the rewards were far more gratifying than if the village were to continue living in ignorance. With a confident hoof forward, Starlight led the villagers and Moonlight towards the Cutie Mark Vault.

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@ExplosionMare

Moonlight listened to the reactions of the ponies as their leader told them the truth that they had deserved to hear from the moment it all started. Her expression was stoic, her eyes being full of depth but also looking deep within all of the expressions of these ponies. To her honest mind, these ponies are small and weak. They were easy targets for Starlight to manipulate, which is probably why the population of this town was so small. Not many actually seriously bought into such an insane and easily disprovable ideology, but these ponies did. She didn't know what she hated more - the fact that Starlight believed these things, or the fact that her followers did.

Thinking on that more, the actions of the followers made her the most disgusted. Starlight could have all the power in the world, but she needed those without independent minds to coerce and convince that her ideology was the right one. The actions of a leader only become the way they do because there are those to follow. Moonlight was proud that Starlight was able to be the one to admit that she was wrong and go through how she did what she did to these ponies, and explaining the reasoning for why she actually did it to them.

One of the ponies did indeed impress her. Double Diamond, although she didn't know his name. If only he had more gumption, than perhaps this whole thing could have never happened. Double Diamond was perhaps the pony Moonlight needed to talk to, first. It was most pleasing to see Starlight's whole narrative that she spent so long to build up, to come falling apart in a mere few seconds of conversation when she revealed the truth, a poetic end to her deception.

Moonlight takes a proud step forward, following along towards the cutie mark vault. "All of you have experienced a taste of freedom in your leader's absence. Perhaps if the lot of you had more self worth and confidence in yourselves, you would have never fallen for Starlight's deception. I am sure that you all could deduce exactly why you fell for it - it's because you didn't believe in yourselves, or your standings in life, something along those lines." she said calmly, her words clear and crisp.

"It is time for you all to realize that, you will realize that soon. No longer shall you be subject to the whims of others. You will realize your own independence and your own destiny. I imagine you have families that would like to hear from you again. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a son or daughter of mine to leave, only to end up losing their mark of identity and talent to the whims of another." she would narrow her eyes to Starlight slightly.

"The times of comforting lies is over. Freedom is something that doesn't shelter, or hide anything from you. It is the unfettered truth, the truths we sometimes don't like to hear - but need to. We all have things we need, but end up shying away from." she smirked slightly to Starlight. She was going to be the one to break the wooden staff in half to symbolize their freedom, when they arrived to the cave.