Daring Do sat in her favorite green armchair and began to flip through the pages of her volume E-F of Encyclopedia Equestria: Rare Gems and Relics of the known world searching the E's section for clues about the enchanted artifacts of the ancients. She had gotten home a few weeks ago after her adventure in Cirrostrata, the forbidden invisible cloud city above the small town of Alto Terre. It became visible when Duchess Precipita gave Daring Do the half-gilded horseshoe, before she hoofed it to Daring Do Precipita told her about the magic counsel of the ancients and that it was her destiny to find all of the enchanted artifacts of the ancients and touch each one with her hoof. Daring Do was up for the challenge but she needed to do more research first.
About halfway through the E's she came to a stop. "Aha, here it is." she said and began to read out loud. "The enchanted artifacts of the ancients, also known as the sacred twenty-two are a group of relics and treasures said to have been created by the magic counsel of the ancients, each artifact is said to hold unique powers, and when brought together will complete the circle of harmonized elements. Very few are known and are hidden away to keep their powers from falling into the wrong hooves."
Daring do flipped to the next page but there was nothing more about the ancient artifacts and the book went on to the next relic. Daring Do sighed. "Well that didn't help much." she said in disappointment. Daring took off her reading glasses and slid the book back into the bookshelf with the other twelve volumes in her collection. Daring yawned and looked at the clock. It was late but she wasn't ready to call it a night. She needed more info.
Daring Do lifted her head off of the volume S-T of Encyclopedia Equestria and realized she fell asleep after finding the page with the info about the sacred twenty-two, which just had the same info as the E-F volume. She groaned in frustration upon finding that out and racked her brain for more clues. She thought about the few artifacts she had already found, the sapphire statue, the rings of scorchero, the eternal flower and the half-gilded horseshoe and wondered if there was some sort of connection between them. She found the sapphire statue in Ahuizotl's temple, the rings of scorchero were in the Tenochtitlan Basin, the eternal flower was in the grotto of the moon on the isles of scaly and the half-gilded horseshoe was in Cirrostrata, but they didn't seem to be related in any way and their locations weren't similar either, where could she start? Who could she turn to? Daring didn't want to admit it but she needed help, and she knew just who could help her.
As the friendship express was slowing down to its last stop near the Crystal Mountains Daring got herself ready to depart. She heard Brumby Cloverpatch and Precipita talk about seeing the Crystal Mountains in Brumby's airship, and if anypony could help Daring Do learn more about the sacred twenty-two it was Duchess Precipita herself.
Daring Do spread her wings and took to the sky to get a better look at her surroundings, hoping that she might locate Brumby's airship in the process. From what she could see the sky was clear, no airship, no birds or clouds even, but Daring had a strong feeling that they were still here. It was time to start searching. She flew to the Crystal Mountains and checked near the top of them, she saw something big and silvery on top of the lowest mountain, so she flew down to check it out. "It's Brumby's airship!" Daring exclaimed. If the airship is here that must mean that Brumby and Precipita were still here too.
Daring was glad with the thought that they might still be here but she still hadn't found them yet. She looked down the mountain and saw something next to the bottom of the mountains, two rows of cottages and a small cottage next to them. Daring could see ponies walking around down there. Maybe Brumby and Precipita were down there too Daring thought to herself, it was worth checking out. Daring made her way down the Crystal Mountains to the small town to look for them.
Daring Do landed just outside of the town and took a step forward into it. As soon as she did all of the ponies there stopped what they were doing and looked at her with strangely wide smiles. "Welcome" they all said together. Daring Do felt a little uncomfortable having all those wide eyed grinning faces staring at her like that. They seemed to be straining to keep their faces that way. Daring was confused but politely returned their greeting. "Hi" she said "I was wondering if you have seen a couple of ponies pass by here lat-" Daring cut herself off mid sentence as her eyes saw the cutie marks on their flanks. They were all the same, two black rectangles, they were equal signs and everypony she saw had one.
One large white stallion noticed her looking and said "Isn't our cutie mark great, it shows how we're all equally the same, and what great friends we are." The pony noticed Daring's cutie mark and his eyes widened. "Oh my, what a unique cutie mark you have. Doesn't it keep you from making friends though?" Daring Do raised an eyebrow. "No. Actually I'm trying to find two of my friends right now, have you seen them? Their names are Precipita and Brumby Cloverpatch." "Oh they came to live in our village just a few days ago. In fact they're sitting right over there at Sugar Belle's store." The pony pointed his hoof to a cottage in the left row. There they were, sitting at one of the tables. "Thank you sir." Daring said. "You can call me Double Diamond, come to see me if you need anything else" he said as he walked away.
Daring Do trotted over to the table Brumby and Precipita were sitting at and sat down in front of them. Daring was just about to say something to them, but when she got a look at them, she was at a loss for words. They had the same wide eyed, big smiled faces as everypony else in the village, and their cutie marks were equal signs too. Brumby looked at Daring Do and gasped. "Kid! Where did you come from, how did you find us, we need your hel-" Precipita quickly put her hoof in Brumby's mouth and flashed a huge smile at some of the ponies who heard them. They smiled back and returned to what they were doing.
Precipita put her hoof back on the table and began to whisper at Daring Do. "We're so glad to see you Daring Do, this whole village needs your help." "What's going on, why does everypony here have the same cutie mark?" Daring Do asked. "We came here a few days ago in my airship." Brumby whispered. "We were exploring the Crystal Mountains when we saw this village and went down to do some shopping. When we walked in we were greeted by all these ponies. They acted a little odd but they seemed friendly enough." Precipita then added "We noticed their cutie marks and when we asked about them they told us how their village leader used a relic called the staff of sameness to replace their cutie marks with equal signs and locked them all in a vault in the mountains."
"Staff of sameness?" Daring asked. She thought about her S-T volume of Encyclopedia Equestria, it didn't even sound close to familiar. "It's one of the sacred twenty-two, I don't know how she obtained it but that's what she used to take away our cutie marks and lock them up with all the other cutie marks" Precipita told Daring.
Having your cutie mark stolen, that sounded just as awful as what happened to Mojo's cutie mark when Ahuizotl scarred it. "How can I help?" Daring asked. "Ya gotta find the vault and release all of our cutie marks, but you'll need to get somepony here to help you find it. Sorry kid, we can't remember where it is" Brumby said. Daring thought for a moment and remembered that Double Diamond, the pony who welcomed her
to the village said to come see him if she needed help. "I might know somepony who can help me, don't worry, I'll get all your cutie marks back" Daring told her friends. "Thank you Daring." Precipita said. "We're rooting for you kid." Brumby told Daring. They both gave her a real smile before forcing their faces back into big grins.
Daring got up from the table and searched for Double Diamond, finding him across the street looking at her. Was he watching her this whole time? She wasn't sure but she was probably just being paranoid. Daring walked across the street to meet him.
"Hey Double Diamond, can I talk to you for a moment?" Daring asked. "Of course Daring Do, do you need any help?" Double Diamond replied back. "Would you mind taking me to the cutie mark vault?" Daring asked. "Sorry Daring, you'll have to talk to our founder Starlight Glimmer if you want to see it" Double Diamond said, then asked "why do you want to see the vault?" Daring thought for a moment, " I just thought it might be interesting to see" she said, trying to sound casual. "Wait, how did you know my name?" "I heard your friends call you that while you were talking earlier" Double Diamond told her. Was he listening to them too? Daring was starting to think that this pony was spying on her the whole time. Daring wasn't so sure she could trust this pony now, but she was going to need help if she wanted to find the cutie mark vault. "Then may I speak to Starlight Glimmer please" Daring asked politely. "Sure, I'll take you to her myself" Double Diamond offered "just follow me."
As Double Diamond led Daring Do through town she noticed the other villagers were looking at her, some were giving her side glances and some others were just plain staring at her. Daring was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable from all those eyes locked on her. Double Diamond and Daring walked to the lone cottage at the end of the road and walked up the steps to the front door.
Double Diamond knocked his hoof on the door three times and said "Starlight, we have another new visitor." "Com on in" a voice from inside called out. Double Diamond opened the door and went in. Daring followed him inside and came face to face with a mare unicorn with a pale pink coat and a blue and purple mane and tail. She also had the same equal sign cutie mark as everypony else but her smile was smaller and didn't seem forced. "Welcome to our village, I'm Starlight Glimmer, how may I help you today?" "Miss Daring Do says she wants to see our cutie mark vault" Double Diamond told Starlight. "Oh really, is that why you came here?" Starlight asked. "Actually I came to find some friends of mine. Double Diamond said that they came to live here now. They're the ones who told me about the vault" daring told her. "Really, I'll ask them about that later" Starlight said as she looked Daring up and down as if examining her. Starlight's eyes stopped as she saw Daring Do's compass rose cutie mark. "My, what a unique cutie mark you have. It's so . . . different." Starlight said, eyes narrowed but still smiling. "So, you want to see the cutie mark vault, Double Diamond and I will be glad to take you to it."
Starlight Glimmer led Daring Do up the mountain closest to her village with Double Diamond following close behind them. They came to the mouth of a dark cave. Deep inside there was a faint glowing light. "It's just through here" Starlight told Daring as she stepped inside. The faint glowing light grew brighter as they walked deeper inside and as they got to the wall in the back of the cave where the light shined the brightest Daring gasped as she saw the most shocking, unbelievable thing she had ever seen in her entire life as an adventure pony. "Behold" Starlight announced "our cutie mark vault!"
Daring's jaw dropped as she examined it. The glowing wall was covered in little glass slots and more than half of them had a cutie mark inside, each one unique, different and unlike the others. They were hugely different from the equal sign everypony in the village had as cutie marks. "I've never seen anything like it." Daring said in awe. As she was looking at it she saw Precipita and Brumby's cutie marks in two slots right next to each other. She had to get them back to her friends.
"We all had different cutie marks once, we thought they were special, that having different cutie marks was a good thing, but then we realized that with them we couldn't make friends without eventually hating each other so we decided that the only way to be happy and stay friends was to be exactly the same and equal in every way" Starlight told Daring. "That doesn't make any sense." Daring said. "What do different cutie marks have to do with making friends? "Different cutie marks lead to different opinions which lead to fighting, pain and misery" Starlight explained. "That's why I use the staff of sameness" Staright's horn glowed with magical aura and lifted something from behind her. It was a twisted wooden pole with two prongs on top. "That's the staff of sameness" Daring Do asked. "Yes, this is the tool that we use to free ourselves from our cutie marks" Starlight said. "Daring, did your friends tell you about the staff too?" Daring was starting to think that she said too much. "Your friends sound like they're sharing a lot with you" Starlight said "you must think you're real close friends . . . Don't you? If you think you're close now, just wait until you're all equal!"
Daring felt herself slam to the ground as Double Diamond pinned her to the cave floor. Starlight aimed the staff of sameness at Daring and blue light shot out of it. Double Diamond jumped off of Daring just as the light hit her. Daring Do felt herself being lifted off of the ground and into the air, unable to move. Daring groaned in agony as her cutie mark began to burn. It felt like her cutie mark was on fire as it was being torn off of her flank and then snapped off. Daring's cutie mark flew over to Starlight and floated in between the two prongs of the staff of sameness, Starlight was grinning wickedly as she placed Daring's cutie mark into one of the top slots of the cutie mark vault. Daring's body fell to the floor with a thud, her whole body felt weak as she lifted her head off the floor and looked at her flank, what she saw made her feel weaker than ever. Her cutie mark was gone and replaced by an equal sign.
Daring raised her head up slowly and met eyes with Starlight. She couldn't speak and she was also having a hard time keeping her eyes open. "Don't worry Daring, it may feel strange at first, but in time you will see just how much better life can be . . . . Without your cutie mark! Double Diamond, please remove Daring Do's gear and get her ready for the equalization process." That was the last thing Daring Do heard Starlight say before she passed out completely.
"In sameness there is peace." Daring's eyes slowly opened as she heard a voice coming from someplace. "Exceptionalism is a lie." "Free yourself from your cutie mark." Daring Do sprang off of the floor and looked around. She wasn't in the cave anymore, she was inside a small dark room. Two small windows allowed two small beams of moonlight in, and in one corner of the ceiling Daring saw a small speaker where the voice was coming from. Daring saw a door and walked up to it, she pulled the handle only to find out that it was locked. Starlight must have brought her here while she was unconscious and locked her in.
Daring Do was about to reach into her shirt pocket for the lock pick she carried with her only to find out her shirt wasn't on her anymore, she gasped and scratched her head in confusion and found out her pith helmet was gone too. She suddenly remembered that Starlight had told Double Diamond to remove her gear. Daring Do didn't have any of her gear on her now so she turned around and bucked the door as hard as she could but the large wooden door didn't open, she tried again but the door didn't budge. After ten more tries she stopped, that door was not going to open.
Daring began to pace around the room for another way out, both windows were way too small to climb out of and the only other way was the door which Daring could forget because that door was locked up tight. Daring was trying to come up with an alternate way out but the voice coming from the speaker made it harder for her to focus on her thoughts as it continued speaking. "Choose equality as your special talent." "Be the best by never being the best." "Difference is frustration." "To excel is to fail." Daring gritted her teeth and covered her ears trying to drown out the voice, but it made little difference as it kept talking. "Conformity will set you free." "Accept your limitations and happiness will follow." "You're no better than your friends."
Sunlight shined through the two small windows and bathed an exhausted Daring Do with light. She had spent the entire night trying to come up with a plan and trying to block out that speaker, which was still going on and on talking, when suddenly the voice stopped and the room was silent. Daring removed her hooves from her ears and looked up at the speaker, which was now quietly humming with feedback. A few seconds later a new voice spoke.
"Good morning" it said. Daring's eyes widened, it was Starlight Glimmer's voice. The locked door suddenly opened and Starlight Glimmer appeared in the doorway. "I trust you had a pleasant night." she said warmly. Daring Do looked into Starlight Glimmer's eyes and glared at her. She took a step forward and was about to demand Starlight to give her cutie mark back but Starlight put a hoof in front of Daring's mouth and motioned for Daring to follow her out the door. Daring scowled and followed her out of the small room back outside.
Everypony in town was crowded around the two ponies. Daring's eyes darted back and forth looking for an escape route but when she saw Precipita and Brumby she knew she couldn't run off and leave them here, plus she also had to get everypony their cutie marks back too.
"So Daring Do, we've come to see if you're ready to join us" Starlight told Daring. "We'll show you that you don't need your cutie mark, or the talent that comes with it to be happy and have friends. So, what do you say?"
"Not gonna happen!" Daring snapped at Starlight. "You won't keep me away from my cutie mark, or my friends, I'm going to get all of them back!" Daring spread her wings and prepared to take off when she felt her body freeze as Starlight used her magic to keep Daring in one place and on the ground. Daring squirmed and fought but Starlight's magic was just too strong for her. "Oh pity, it looks like you need a little more time to think about it, Daring. We'll try again tomorrow" Starlight Glimmer told Daring as she pushed her back into the small room. As Daring was pushed back into the room she heard the door shut behind her. Daring ran to the door and bucked it but it was too late, she was locked in again.
Daring sat down in the middle of the floor and thought to herself. "How am I going to get out of here? The door can't be opened and when I was outside there were too many ponies crowded around me to run and Starlight's magic kept me from flying away, I need to think of a plan to-" "In sameness there is peace." "Exceptionalism is a lie." The speaker started up again. "Free yourself from your cutie mark."choose equality as your special talent." Daring groaned at the sound and tried to block it out with her thoughts. After a few minutes of thinking she had an idea, she knew what she needed to do to get out, but she had to wait at least five days to do it, meaning she was going to have to be locked in here listening to that speaker for the next five days. "Be the best by never being the best." "Difference is frustration." "To excel is to fail." "Conformity will set you free." "You're no better than your friends." "Accept your limitations and happiness will follow." Daring Do sighed and laid down in the corner. She closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.
The next five days Daring spent in that room were aggravating, between the speakers nonstop talking and Starlight Glimmer's offers to forget about Daring's cutie mark and live with her and the other villagers only to be locked up again for angrily refusing to, made Daring Do want to scream in fury. But Daring Do was strong enough to keep herself calm and sane. As the sun began to rise on day five Daring woke up and yawned, she looked up at the speaker which was still talking but Daring knew that any second Starlight Glimmer would open the door and ask about joining them again, only this time Daring Do was going to say yes. The voice cut out and feedback began humming. "Good morning Daring Do" Starlight's voice said from the speaker. "This is it." Daring told herself as she heard the door unlock, it was time to put her plan into action.
Starlight opened the door and looked at Daring Do, who had her head facing downward with a downcast expression on her face. Starlight walked up to Daring and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Would you please come this way." Starlight asked. Head still hung down Daring raised her eyes to meet Starlight's and nodded yes then followed Starlight out the door. "I have a good feeling about today" Starlight called out to the crowd of villagers. "Daring Do, are you ready to join us now?" Daring raised her head up and flashed a convincing smile. "Yes Starlight Glimmer, I am ready to be equal" Daring said convincingly. "We have a new friend everypony" Starlight called out to the villagers who began chattering with excitement. Daring looked around and saw that Brumby's and Precipita's faces were frozen in absolute horror, which they tried to hide by putting their hooves over their mouths. Daring even fooled her friends too. She'd tell them the truth after this was over.
"Just one more thing" Starlight Glimmer said, turning around and facing Daring, looking right into her eyes "Daring, your village friends told you about the vault and the staff of sameness so that they could get their cutie marks back, didn't they?" Daring didn't like where this was going. The villagers gasped and looked at each other in shock. "This is sad but true, my friends" Starlight said "some of us are dissatisfied with the village life, Daring, kindly point them out!" It hurt Daring to do this but she had no choice. "It was them!" Daring said, pointing directly at Brumby and Precipita.
Everypony turned around and stared at Brumby Cloverpatch and Precipita, whose eyes were wide with unbelievable shock. "They wanted me to break into the vault and get their cutie marks back. But then we wouldn't be equal anymore, they wanted to be better than us, but we can't let that happen. I see that now" Daring said loudly. Daring Do hated having to rat them out like that but she needed Starlight to trust her for this plan to work.
As Starlight led Brumby and Precipita to the room they locked eyes with Daring Do, who had a sad face expression that said "I'm so sorry" without speaking. They nodded their heads in sadness as they walked into the room. Starlight shut the door and locked it. It really hurt to think that they'd be stuck in that small room with that constantly talking speaker until tomorrow, but if it helped everypony get their cutie marks back then it would all be worth it.
Starlight spent the afternoon giving Daring Do a tour around the village and introducing her to new ponies who were happy to have Daring Do as their new friend. Daring was being as polite as she could, smiling warmly, even though being so close to Starlight Glimmer was starting to make her feel nervous, which Daring thought was odd, she almost never felt nervous, why was she feeling that way?
The sun began to set as Starlight finished showing Daring Do around the village and began leading Daring to her cottage at the end of the road. "You'll stay with me until we can get you a cottage of your own" Starlight told Daring as she opened her front door and invited Daring into the house.
Starlight had cooked dinner for the two of them, and after they ate Daring Do followed Starlight Glimmer upstairs where Starlight showed Daring her room for the night. The room had a small bed with sheets and two small pillows, and a window. It was much larger than the windows in the speaker room, she could definitely escape through it. All she needed now was for Starlight to fall asleep then Daring would crawl through the window, get to the cutie mark vault and get everypony their cutie marks back. "I'll let you get settled in." Starlight said, walking out the bedroom door "Goodnight."
Daring laid in the bed for a while, waiting for Starlight to go to sleep. Daring watched the keyhole on the door waiting for the lights to go off. When they did, Daring waited for thirty more minutes listening for snoring.
When Daring finally heard something in the next room, she got out of bed quietly and stepped to the wall, pressing her ear against it. When Daring heard the sound of Starlight snoring softly she smirked and walked back to the bed, grabbing both pillows and stuffing them under the sheet, making it look like she was asleep under the covers. Daring walked up to the window and carefully opened it as quietly as she could, then stepped out onto the roof.
Daring walked up to the edge and looked down. "Wow" she said nervously. "It's kind of high up here, and so ….. dark." Daring couldn't believe she just thought that. She was only on the roof, she could just fly down, and she's never been afraid of the dark. Why did she sound so scared? That's when it hit her.
She turned her head and looked at the equal sign that replaced her compass rose cutie mark. "My cutie marks special talent" she realized. Daring Do's cutie mark represented her bravery and talent for exploration and strong sense for adventure. Without it, Daring felt timid and scared, unwilling to do anything dangerous. Now Daring knew why she felt so nervous around Starlight today, she was afraid of her now. Starlight didn't just take Daring Do's cutie mark, she took away everything that made Daring Do the pony she was too.
Daring thought for a moment, could she make it to the cutie mark vault the way she was now? Should she wait until tomorrow when the sun was out? She thought tomorrow might work, but everypony would be up and outside. What if somepony sees that Daring wasn't in the village and finds her trying to get to the vault, would they lock her in the speaker room again? That was the last thing Daring wanted. No, she might not be the fearless pegasus she was before, but her friends needed her help, and so did the rest of the village.
Daring flew to the ground, her wings almost refusing to work. She walked behind Starlight's cottage and looked at the trail leading up into the mountains where the vault's cave was. Daring gulped and said "Ok, here we go."
Daring took a shaky step towards the mountains and stopped, her whole body was trembling. She took a few more steps and turned around. She wasn't that far from Starlight's house. "It isn't too late to head back inside, it's probably safer" she thought to herself. Daring stomped her hoof on the ground in frustration. "Get a grip Daring" she told herself. She forced herself toward the mountains, but she couldn't bring herself to walk very fast.
After a long while of walking Daring had just reached the foot of the mountains when she noticed the sky was turning from black to dark blue, and was getting brighter. Dawn was coming and she hadn't even started to climb the mountain yet. Daring's cowardliness wasted the whole night and she wasn't even close to the cutie mark vault. As Daring Do looked at the sky she had a horrible thought, Starlight could come into Daring's room any minute. She had to get back to Starlight's cottage fast.
Daring raced back to the village as fast as she could, her fear of Starlight locking her up again made her move much faster than before. As Daring got back to the village she saw that one of the windows on the upstairs floor of Starlight's cottage had light shining through it, Starlight must be awake, Daring could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She ran up to Starlight's cottage, flew up to the window and carefully peeked inside. Through the window Daring saw a bed with a chest of drawers and a small lamp, which filled the room with light and two doors, each on separate walls. One of the doors had steam escaping from the cracks of it as Daring was looking at the door it opened and Starlight Glimmer walked out of the steamy room with a towel wrapped over her head and one around her waist, the room she was in was a shower. "This must be Starlight's room" Daring thought to herself.
She watched as Starlight removed the towel from her waist and turned around exposing her flank and cutie mark right into Daring's vision. Daring's eyes widened as she saw Starlight's cutie mark. It wasn't an equal sign, it was something different.
Daring was shocked as she examined Starlight Glimmer's cutie mark, which was of a purple and white star with two glimmering streams. Daring continued watching as Starlight pulled two different colors of makeup from out of the top drawer beside her bed and began to apply some makeup that was the same color as her coat onto her flank covering her real cutie mark. She then used the other container of makeup to apply a black equal sign over the pink layer of was surprised at what she just saw. Starlight Glimmer didn't give up her cutie mark at was faking it, keeping hers while she tricked all the poor villagers into giving up theirs and locking them all away in that vault in the mountains. Did Starlight really think she was helping these ponies, or did she have some darker goal in her mind. Starlight started to turn towards the window and Daring ducked away and flew into the window of her room. She quickly, but quietly crawled inside and climbed into her bed, covering herself under the blanket. One moment later there was a knock at her door, Daring remained perfectly still as Starlight opened the door and poked her head into the room. "Daring, are you awake" Starlight asked. Daring swallowed hard and remained quiet until Starlight closed the door and walked away.
When Daring was sure that Starlight Glimmer was gone she sat up and started to think about what she should do next. She had to talk to somepony about what she just saw, she also needed somepony to help her get to the cutie mark vault, now that she was too afraid to go by herself. Hopefully Brumby and Precipita would help her if they got out today, if they still trusted her after she ratted them out and got them locked up. Daring hoped they'd forgive her for that. Daring Do decided it was time to get up to see Starlight.
"Good morning Starlight" Daring said as she came down the stairs. "Hello, Daring, did you sleep well?" Starlight asked. "Yes." Daring replied. "Really, cause you look really tired. Are you sure?" Starlight asked again. Daring remembered that she had been up all night, and she was tired, Daring had to hide it somehow. Daring opened her eyes wider and said "No, I slept the whole night." Starlight eyed Daring suspiciously. "If you say so." She said. "So, are we going to let my friends out today?" Daring asked. "It depends." Starlight told Daring. "Have they had enough time to learn from their mistake and accept our way of life again?" "I hope they will" Daring lied, she just wanted her friends to be free and help her get everypony their cutie marks back. "Let's find out together, Daring." Starlight said as she and Daring walked out of the house and toward the speaker building.
All the villagers were already gathered around it. Starlight and Daring walked up to the front of the crowd to the door of the speaker room.
Starlight walked up to the door, pushed a button on the side of it and spoke into the microphone attached to it. "Good morning, will you come out please" Starlight said. Starlight opened the door and Precipita and Brumby came out of it. "So do you two have anything to say" Starlight asked them. We're sorry Starlight" Brumby cried. "We weren't thinking clearly." Precipita added. "We want to be here, we want to be equal. We're so, so sorry" Brumby said again. "Good news everypony" Starlight said. "We have our two friends back." The villagers cheered happily upon hearing that.
Daring trotted up to her friends and leaned in towards them. "Brumby, Precipita, meet me in front of Sugar Belle's store later , I have something important to tell you." Daring whispered to them. "Well, Daring" Starlight
Said suddenly appearing behind her. "Chatting with your friends already? You must have a lot of catching to do, the three of you. I'll leave you to it" Starlight turned around and walked back to her cottage.
Daring and her friends sat down at one of the tables at Sugar Belle's store. After carefully searching around to make sure that nopony was spying on them again Daring began to fill them in about yesterday.
"You were just pretending!" Brumby said in shock. "Yes" Daring told him. "It was the only way that Starlight would let me out. I'm sorry for getting you two locked up, but I had to make it believable." "It's okay Daring, we forgive you" Precipita said. "But what happened after that?" "I tried to get to the cutie mark vault last night to get our cutie marks back, but without mine I didn't have the courage to pull it off." Daring told them. "When I got back to Starlight's cottage I saw her through one of the windows and I saw her real cutie mark, the equal sign is just makeup!"
Brumby's eyes widened but Precipita closed her eyes and nodded. "I thought that might be the case." she said. "The staff of sameness is very powerful and its magic has the ability to warp the minds of ponies who find it. It will give the owner a lust for superiority and power, corrupting that pony to use the staff on other ponies and steal the cutie marks and talents that make them special." "So she's using this whole town as a trap for her to steal the cutie marks of anypony who visits here?" Daring asked. "Maybe, but it's not Starlight's fault" Precipita told Daring. "She's just as much of a victim as the rest of the village. She's not evil, she needs to be saved too." "But how can we do that?" Daring asked. Precipita sighed. "The staff, you have to destroy it. "But Precipita" Brumby spoke up. "It's part of the sacred twenty two." "Yes Brumby, so were the rings of scorchero, but like the rings, the staff is too dangerous to keep around. It has to be done" Precipita told him. "I understand Precipita, but without my cutie mark, I don't have the courage to do it." Daring said. "I can't do it alone. I'll need your help." "Don't worry kid, we'll be happy to help ya, right Precipita." "Yes Daring, we won't make you go alone" they said to Daring Do. "Great, meet me behind Starlight's house tonight, that's when we'll do it."
It was dark and stormy that night as Daring Do carefully climbed out of her bedroom window and glided down to the back of Starlight's cottage. She met up with her friends and led them to the Crystal Mountains. Walking in the dark still scared Daring, but having her friends along helped her move a lot quicker than took less than five minutes to get to the mountains.
As they started climbing up the mountains it began to rain hard and a huge crack of lightning followed by loud thunder came from the sky. Brumby looked back at Daring Do, who was falling behind a little with a look of fear in her eyes. "Kid, are ya doing okay" he asked. "I….I'm fine, just a little nervous." Daring replied. "Don't be, kid, we're here for you" Brumby told her. Daring nodded. They were almost to the cave. It was a good thing Daring remembered the way to the vault from the first time she went up there with Starlight so they wouldn't have to search all of the mountains to try and find it. They climbed up the trail a few more yards and there it was, the cave of the cutie mark vault. "That's where all our cutie marks are being held, that's where the staff of sameness is." Daring told her friends.
The three of them were now drenched from the storm. "We need to get in there and find the staff." Precipita said. "Are ya ready kid?" Brumby asked. Daring swallowed hard and nodded "let's do this" Daring said, trying to sound brave. Brumby and Precipita nodded and the three of them walked into the cave.
As they walked deeper into the cave the light from the cutie mark vault grew brighter, when they got to the vault they began searching up and down, looking for their cutie marks. Daring flew up and looked at the top slots of the vault, and that's when she saw them. There they were, all three of their cutie marks were in the three slots in the top right corner. "Precipita, Brumby, I found them!" Daring exclaimed. Daring turned around and bucked the three glass slots that held their cutie marks. The glass shattered and the three cutie marks flew out of their slots, back to their owners and reattached themselves back on their flanks. Daring Do looked back to her flank and smirked, her compass rose cutie mark was back and she felt her lost courage flooding back into her heart. Daring Do was back and ready for action. Daring turned around to look at Precipita and Brumby who also had their cutie marks back. "Now for the staff of sameness" Precipita said. Brumby turned left and right looking for it. "Where is it?" he asked. That's when Daring Do saw the blue light shooting at her and her friends. Daring pushed Brumby and Precipita away and ducked down as the blue light flew over her.
"I have it!" Starlight Glimmer said, appearing from behind a large stalagmite, another flash of lightning responded to her appearance. The staff of sameness was floating next to her. Starlight was glaring angrily at Daring Do. "Starlight, what are you doing here!" Daring demanded. "I knew you'd come to the vault" Starlight said. "I saw you through the window last night. I knew you couldn't be trusted!" "Brumby, Precipita, get out of here, I'll handle this!" Daring told them. As they ran out of the cave Precipita called back "Remember Daring, the staff of sameness is the enemy, not Starlight." Daring nodded and turned to face Starlight Glimmer. This has to end, that staff needs to be destroyed, it's the only way to fix everything, the only way to save everypony.
Daring Do and Starlight Glimmer both took a fighting stance, Starlight used her magic to hold the staff of sameness high above her head, and Daring spread her wings out, ready to take flight. Starlight made the first move, quickly shooting a blast of magic from her horn at Daring, who took to the air before the blast could hit her. Daring hovered for a moment then began to zigzag through the cave hoping to confuse Starlight so she would have a harder time aiming her magic at her. Starlight was having trouble keeping her eyes on Daring. but kept shooting at her trying to blast Daring to the ground. Daring wasn't taking any hits but she knew she had to do more than dodge, she needed to show some offence, not just defence. Daring spun around behind Starlight and yanked her tail downward, causing Starlight to fall to the ground. Daring didn't want to really hurt her, but she knew Starlight didn't feel the same way, and that's what was going to make this fight difficult to win. Starlight jumped back up and shot at a large stalactite that was hanging right above Daring Do. The blast hit the ceiling and the stalactite fell toward the ground, and Daring Do. Daring's eyes widened when she saw the falling rock and flew out from under it as it crashed to the ground. Daring glanced up from the rock and saw Starlight shoot another blast of magic her way. Daring hid behind the fallen rock for cover, causing the magic blast to hit the rock, turning it into powder. Daring cringed at the thought of what the blast would have done if it had hit her. Daring turned to face Starlight, who was already charging her horn up for another shot. Daring dashed over to Starlight and pushed her with both hooves as hard as she could. Starlight tumbled backward and landed on her flank. "You should learn how to fight" Starlight laughed as she climbed back up on all four hooves and pretended to brush dirt off of her shoulder. "You really suck at it!" "That's because I'm not trying to hurt you!" Daring told Starlight. "I know you're not evil, the staff of sameness is controlling you. Give it up Starlight, I'm not afraid of you anymore!" Starlight chuckled and stepped closer to Daring Do. "You may not be afraid of me now Daring Do, but once I take your cutie mark back, you will be!" Another loud flash of lightning came from outside as Starlight Glimmer's eyes began to glow red. Starlight aimed the staff at Daring. "And I'm not going to put your cutie mark back in the vault, I'll hide it deep in one of the Crystal Mountains caves where you'll never have the courage to go find it!" Daring Do was now backed into a corner and just as Starlight prepared the glowing staff to steal Daring Do's cutie mark again Daring quickly kicked the ground, dirt flew into Starlight's eyes. Starlight dropped the staff and began rubbing her eyes, trying to get the dirt out. Daring Do took this opportunity to grab the staff and take it to the other side of the cave. Daring leaned the staff of sameness against the wall. Just as Starlight could see again Daring bucked her hind legs against the middle of the staff of sameness, breaking it in half.
As the two pieces of the broken staff fell to the cave floor they began to disintegrate into a pile of ashes, a small gust from outside blew the ashes out and were carried away by the wind. The cutie mark vault shattered to pieces and all the cutie marks flew out of the cave, returning to their turned to see Starlight Glimmer flat on the ground with what looked like a cloud of black mist escaping from her body. It began to rise into the air and slowly fade away.
Brumby and Precipita rushed in and trotted over to Daring Do and Starlight. "Kid, ya did it, great job" Brumby congratulated. "All the villagers are getting their cutie marks back!" Precipita said happily. "That's great, but what about Starlight?" Daring asked. Starlight was still laying on the ground, her eyes closed. "Do ya think she's back to normal?" Brumby asked. "Only one way to find out." Daring said. Daring walked up closer to the fallen unicorn and tapped her hoof on Starlight's shoulder. "Starlight Glimmer, are you okay?" Daring asked. Starlight slowly opened her eyes and stood up, looking at Daring Do and her friends. "Daring Do" Starlight said, her eyes now flooding with tears. "You...you…you saved me!" She quickly embraced Daring and began to cry. "I'm finally free from that horrible, horrible nightmare!" "It's okay Starlight" Daring told her patting her on the back. "It's all over now, let's get you home." Daring Do motioned for Starlight to follow them out of the cave and back to the village.
After all the excitement of having their cutie marks back, all the apologies were made and Starlight gave Daring Do her pith helmet, shirt and the rest of her gear back everypony gathered around Starlight's cottage listening to Starlight's story.
"I found the staff of sameness a long time ago while exploring the caves near the village. I found it in the cave where I also found the cutie mark vault. All I did was pick it up to look at it, and as soon as I held it in my hooves I felt it take control of my whole body, I was aware of everything my body was doing and saying, but I had no control of any of it. The staff was using me as its puppet while it spread lies about the pain and suffering that came from having different cutie marks while I knew it was all lies. All the brainwashing and discipline that the staff forced me to do tore me up inside, if Daring Do hadn't shown up the staff's reign would have lasted forever. Thank you Daring Do." "It was my pleasure." Daring said proudly. "But remember, Starlight, none of this was your fault, we all forgive you" all the villagers smiled and nodded, with real smiles.
Daring Do walked over to Precipita and Brumby. "I know it had to be done, but I feel bad that I had to destroy another one of the enchanted artifacts of the ancients." "Don't worry Daring, there are still plenty more to find." Precipita said with a smile and a nod. "And remember, all you have to do is touch them, and that's what you did to the staff of sameness." Daring remembered that bucking the staff was how she destroyed it. "I guess kicking it counts as touching." Daring said, rolling her eyes and laughing.
And so with the staff of sameness gone and Starlight Glimmer freed from its curse Starlight can act as a real village leader again and truly make her village a happy place for her fellow ponies, all thanks to Daring Do.