I don't own My Little Pony, okay? Now I know I don't normally write for this fandom but after seeing "The Cutie Map" I knew that Starlight Glimmer wouldn't fade away so easily. So this came to mind. It may get a little dark and maybe even Orwellian by future chapters but hey, Starlight wants what she created back. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Starlight Glimmer looked out over the ledge outside the cave. How can they be friends? She scoffed in her mind as she did her daily routine of watching the village she created after her exile. It is hard enough for Pegasus, Unicorns and Earth Ponies to be friends, let alone for ponies with different Cutie Marks! Something is bound to go wrong sooner or later! She levitated a few branches into her fire and looked on still. The sight of what the village had become disgust her. It was defiantly not the town she had established anymore. Each cottage was painted a different color with unique designs on it to express each pony's individuality. The tailor that was making the burlap cloaks she had ordered him too was making fashions that rivaled those in Manehattan. Sugar Belle, who was the baker when Starlight was leader, had expanded her shop's menu from bland bran muffins to blintzes, pies, cakes, scones and it was said she was experimenting with candies like taffy and fudge as well. Party Favor was in charge of all celebrations the town had, which was many. It was now almost a year form the time when everyone in the village had their cutie marks returned to them.

"A festival? Celebrating what causes chaos and disharmony?!" Starlight Glimmer said incredulously. Party Favor was hanging a banner up with the help of Night Glider and a few of the other pegasi in the the community. "Cutie mark celebration?!" Starlight Glimmer read out loud. She stormed back into her cave and tended to the fire in rage. She had the power and skill to remove cutie marks, which was a rare talent and extremely difficult. And yet, here she was, tending a fire on her own alone like a commoner. She had the whole village in the palm of her hoof and now she was despised by them. She was the one who brought them harmony! It didn't matter what the cost of that was! "I will have to do something about all this. After all, I am the only one who can bring order back to this village. I will have to see what comes of this foolish festival tomorrow." She said as she magicked a thin wool blanket she had found at the abandoned campsite of a hiker and went to sleep.

The next day, she got up at the crack of dawn to see the festival as it began. Ponies from all around in the neighboring villages were coming in. Many of them didn't know about the crimes against cutie marks committed there over a year ago, they just knew of the promise of a fun party. Party Favor was now putting out the final touches on the decorations he couldn't the night before and Sugar Belle was placing out her baked creations as the food for the festival. Starlight Glimmer looked on and scoffed. Fools! She thought as she moved down the ledge to get a better view of the festival. As the celebration started, Double Diamond and Night Glider were meeting six ponies at the edge of town that made her scowl. "WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN MY TOWN?!" She yelled, then covered her mouth with her hooves not wanting her identify to be discovered too soon and not wanting to be disturbed. They didn't know she was there, so close to them, and she wanted to keep it that way.

As Double Diamond and Night Glider headed into town with their pony entourage, Double Diamond pulled out a microphone and announced, "To celebrate the one year anniversary of the return of our cutie marks and our liberation to be ourselves and have our identities back, we have invited Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends to join us at this festival!"

"We thank you for your kind invitation." Twilight said humbly. Starlight swallowed back a small amount of vomit in her mouth as she heard it.

"And these cupcakes are to die for!" Pinkie Pie said from a garbled mouthful of baked goods. "Hats off to you Sugar Belle!"

"Oh, it's nothing!" Sugar Belle said blushing. "Better than those awful muffins I used to have to make."

"It's great you can bake what you like now and your special talents are not hidden." Twilight said as she headed over to the baked good table. Applejack followed along and saw there was a collection of apple treats she had to try to see how good they were compared to her family's long tradition of baking with apples.

"I haven't had such good fritters since the Apple family reunion!" Applejack said as she placed one in her mouth and ate it.

"And the decorations are simply divine!" Rarity said, looking at the banners and streamers all over the town. She then looked over towards the shop that just sold cloaks to find the owner, who had before took burlap and turned them into cheap and tacky cloaks to find it had become a boutique that rivaled her own. "If you don't mind me asking, who owns that boutique over there?"

Me! Starlight Glimmer thought, still looking from a closer position in the mountains. I built that village and the shops are mine! I just put you there you idiot!

"Oh that is Tailor Bobbin's shop." Sugar Belle said pointing to a brown stallion with a thick jaw. "Did you know that one of Manehattan's top designers, Prim Hemline, has featured a show with his works?"

"You don't mean Prim Hemline herself?" Rartiy asked amazed.

"Yes Miss Rarity I do mean that!" Tailor Bobbin said walking over holding out his hoof. "I have heard a lot about your works as well from Prim. That Hotel Chic? Brilliant and resourceful! But that aside, are you interested in seeing my collections?"

"Do I have the time girls?" Rarity said while she was admiring the new vest Tailor had made from black velvet with brass buttons and gold thread flourishes.

"I hope so!" Rainbow Dash said looking over at Night Glider. "I have to show this girl who the best flier in Equestria really is!"

"You're on!" Night Glider said

"We won't be overstaying our welcome, would we?" Fluttershy asked. While she did expose Starlight's fraud to the entire village, she somehow felt a little bad for being so ignorant as the villagers were on how bad things really were.

"Of course not! We will have a big announcement tonight at the end of the celebration, and we want you to hear it." Double Diamond said.

"We couldn't have done it without you guys." Party Favor said.

"Well then I can't wait to hear it." Twilight said. She looked around to see Rarity and Tailor discussion fashion and design, Rainbow Dash and Night Glider getting into flying challenges, Fluttershy looking around the animals and Pinkie Pie partying it up with Sugar Belle and Party Favor. "Is that a bookstore?"

"Yes it is. And we have books about Eastern Unicorns and their magic." The owner said coming up to Twilight. "I am Dewey Decimal, and would you care to see the books?"

"You girls going to be okay?" Twilight asked.

"Of course!" Applejack said. "This is a festival and we can have all sorts of fun! Some of the other ponies here want to start their own orchards and they want me to teach them about farmin'."

"Sounds good to me then." Twilight said as she headed into the bookstore. It was a comfortable and warming place with a few chairs to read in and a small tea shop inside Twilight smiled as she read the titles. There were books on nearly every subject available and it was almost as extensive as her library in Ponyville. She headed over to the Eastern Unicorn history section, pulled a book down from the shelf and began to read. Dewey headed over and put a few books back on the shelf and turned towards Twilight.

"How do you like our library Princess?" Dewey asked. "A pony can borrow a book with a card or they can buy the book. We share in this village quite well."

"I have to admit this is impressive." Twilight said looking around with a smile. "If you don't mind me asking, how was it before?"

"The books were all the same. That same damned equal sign that Starlight forced to be our cutie mark." Dewey said despondent as he magicked over with his horn a tea tray and placed it down as he sat down across from Twilight. "It was said that books would create different ideas and cause disharmony. And as the misguided fool I was, I believed her."

"It wasn't your fault." Twilight said putting her hoof on his. "Magic as you know is powerful and from her cutie mark, she had a great talent for it. She also has a lot of charisma that can distract ponies. Double Diamond said he met her in a skiing accident in the mountains. He was hurt and she helped him and convinced him to give up his cutie mark before he had recovered to know better. She knows how to manipulate ponies."

"I guess that makes sense. I was lost while hiking. You see I read about the Eastern Mountains and wanted to see them for myself. I thought I could handle it, but in a freak storm, I had to hide in one of the many caves around here. It was then Starlight came to me and I guess in my delirious state, I believed her." Dewey said looking down at his hooves.

"But you all have a new start." Twilight said.

"Oh indeed!" Dewey said walking to the books. "And these books have helped us all. Some of us needed a refresher on our special talents. We had to be mediocre so long, we forgot and the books brought what we knew back. Not to mention the foals can find their talents without worry. I theorize that would have gotten those blasted marks on their own if you hadn't come along."

"You don't mean?" Twilight asked scandalized at the idea of a kid being forced into equality and having no special skills of their own.

"Yes. That would be all they know and equality would have been their special talents." Dewey said looking down.

"Well, where are Starlight's old books?" Twilight asked.

"We locked them in her cottage. We kept it for her if ever she decided to come back and learned her lesson. Some in the village wanted to destroy the books and her house, but if we forgot and deny access to that information, we would be as bad as her. What she did was awful and despicable but we cannot allow history to be forgotten. We'd never learn and forget what we suffered. My book mark, what I call my cutie mark, is mine and more precious than ever." Dewey said as he picked up a book and began to read. Twilight read her book and then headed to the counter to pay.

"How much is this book?" She asked pulling out some bits.

"For you Princess, it's free. You have done more for us than that book is worth." Dewey smiled. "However, do you mind if I join you for the evening's ceremonies?"

"Sure!" Twilight smiled.

Meanwhile, Starlight Glimmer hand come down to the village, wearing a hooded cloak. She wanted to see how the celebrations were going and without the ponies seeing who she was, they would treat her like everyone else. She walked by the baked goods table seeing ponies enjoying the various cakes and tried to sulk away when her presence was noticed.

"Hello there!" Sugar Belle said waving to the cloaked Starlight. "Have a treat. Any item from this table is yours to enjoy friend!"

"Thank you." Starlight said in a gruff voice as she picked up a muffin and ate it. "Blueberry?" She asked abruptly.

"Yes. But why did you go for the muffin? They aren't my best works personally. Why not a piece of pie or a blintz or a brownie?" Sugar Belle offered.

"I'm fine." Starlight said curtly walking away. She looked around and saw everyone was happy, was having fun and getting along despite having different cutie marks. "Something has to be wrong here. I am not wrong ever!" She whispered. Starlight prowled around, half halfheartedly participating when at sunset, she heard a fanfare of trumpets. With everyone else, she turned to the stage that was placed in front of her old cottage. How did she want her old cottage back! Just one night of sleeping in a bed was better than a floor of a cave! Double Diamond, Night Glider, Party Favor and Sugar Belle were on stage waiting for the attention of the crowd. As the four who fought to get the cutie marks back the hardest, they were prominent figures in the community while they got on their hooves to find their own identity. "We would like to thank you all for coming to celebrate individuality and cutie marks! This day has been fun!" Party Favor said throwing confetti on the crowd. "Can I ask the six ponies who helped to make this possible come on stage?"

With that, Starlight saw Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity on stage. She gritted her teeth in rage. They were the ones who ruined her and her utopia.

"We have this celebration to commemorate the one year anniversary of the return of our cutie marks!" Night Glider said into the microphone.

"We have you six to thank for that." Party Favor said digging in a bag. He walked over and gave each of the main six a medal emblazoned with their cutie marks on it to honor their sacrifice and efforts.

"This is cool! I love this party favor, Party Favor!" Pinkie Pie said giving him a hug.

"Thanks Pinkie." Party Favor said with a smile.

"It was the least we could do." Sugar Belle said. "And we are here to tell you something special. We are holding elections to establish our new town government. A chance of a lifetime to work together in harmony with our differences,"

"That's wonderful!" Twilight said hugging Sugar Belle.

That's wonderful. That's bullshit! Starlight Glimmer thought. Elections are just popularity contests! If I seem sorry and act like I learned my so called lesson, I might be able to use this to get my power back! My utopia will come to pass! She thought as she headed to the stage to make her 'conversion confession'.

"I just wish that Starlight Glimmer was here to see this." Twilight said. "She would see that differences are really a good thing."

"I am here!" She yelled heading to the stage pulling off her cloak. "I hid my identity because I was afraid you would still hate me for what I have done. But believe me when I say I have seen the error of my ways with this celebration you have. My, how this town has grown and become better! I tried living by myself and it was just awful!" She said wiping a fake tear from her eye with her hoof. "Oh the cold hungry nights! Even with my magic, it didn't help! Sugar Belle, you are the best baker ever! Party Favor, this is best decoration I have ever seen. You are working together so well, much better than before. May I rejoin this town?" She made sure that her face was as sorrowful as she could make it.

There was a murmur of shock from the crowd. This was not expected, they had thought she had run off and would never return. But she seemed sorry and like she was learning her lesson. The villagers were not going to trust her fully right away but they seemed to be willing to give her a chance.

"How can we trust her?" Night Glider asked, critical of her motives. Starlight glared at her for a minute second and then turned back to her faux sorrow.

"You have shown me the light. I understand if you don't fully trust me right away but I beg you, please let me stay!" Starlight pleaded.

"Let's put it to a vote." Double Diamond said. "All in favor, raise your right hoof."

Starlight looked around. She couldn't find one hoof that was not raised at least little bit. Useful idiots... She thought of how her plan was going to unfold. And foals are so impressionable and trusting...

So how was that? Good? Bad? Interesting? What is Starlight's evil plan and what do the foals have to do with it? Are the villagers willing to trust her? Did she really change? You will have to read on to see. But remember, Starlight will not go quietly into the good night. Well, remember to read, (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm

PS: Check out Dr-Lovekill's works if you loved this one. His works are really good. The link is in my profile if you need it. Be sure to read his and review as well

PPS: Check out my other works as well. Many of them can get as dark and twisted as this one can. But it is up to you. Ciao for now~ Realm!