It was a perfectly average day for the remaining citizens of Our Town. Close to a year has passed since Princess Twilight and her friends liberated them from Starlight’s equality cult. Most of the population of Our Town after seeing Starlight exposed for the liar she was, quickly wanted to forget Our Town ever happened, and fled to other places in Equestria. For those who decided to stay despite the now tainted memories of the village they lived in, they found a close-knit community in one another that through thick and thin, stuck together.
One problem for those who stayed in Our Town, was the void of leadership. As much as Starlight was exposed for who she truly was, she at one point did have their undying trust. And there was a little bit in each of the villagers that missed her charismatic leadership, or at least, the Starlight that they thought she was, rather than who she actually was. They hadn’t even agreed on who’d be the new leader of Our Town, despite what she'd done, Starlight left the greatest impression on them. They settled for something similar to a town council to decide matters. At this point of time, this council hasn’t decided on a lot. As many of the villagers are still recovering and rebuilding their lives as they rediscover their talents have actually mattered despite what Starlight had told them for years that they didn’t. If there was anything resembling a leader, or leaders, it was the 4 of Double Diamond, Party Favor, Sugar Belle, and Night Glider who have worked together to be the backbone of this small but close-knit village, their inexperience in leading has them pretty slow on the progress. But they are confident that sometime soon, Our Town will be a tiny, but bright and legitimately happy town.
A recent council decision had voted to wreck what was Starlight’s home, (although the destruction of the house still has yet to begin) and replace it with a tree to help the village feel like a truly renewed place, rather than waiting for Starlight to open her doors to inform the populace of the daily plan as it had been in the past. There was even somewhat of an irrational fear that Starlight would one day open that house’s front door again, as she tries to take over the village again. Though as time went by, the remaining villagers became stronger-willed and more brave. They now believe that even if Starlight did come back one day, they’ll be ready to confront her, and maybe even arrest and turn her over to Twilight’s friends and/or a Royal guard force should she dare try to convince them to continue on with her plan of taking everypony’s cutie marks.
As the months went by with no sign of the return of their former leader, they started to wonder if she had truly been defeated enough by the Elements of Harmony, that she’d never return. Perhaps they could just relax, and continue to rebuild the small community until it’s truly a burgeoning tow-
But then suddenly… off in the distance a pony can be seen slowly approaching the village. As the pony got closer, a familiar shade of the light purple coat and the more dark purple mane with light blue highlights came into view, to the village’s shock, Starlight Glimmer had come back. A gasp from all the villagers in town is heard as they wipe their eyes and truly see if that is her approaching or if it’s some kind of dark mirage on the horizon. But it was actually her, what’s more… is she wasn’t alone, a blue unicorn that the villagers have never seen before accompanied her. Double Diamond, Party Favor, Sugar Belle, and Night Glider all came in front of the town to confront the two mares. They also noticed the rather odd attire on both of them, but ultimately paid it no mind. As just Starlight herself returning, is all they could focus on.
Though as Starlight got closer, the villagers realized… Starlight wasn’t looking like she was heading to reassert herself as the village’s leader. She was slowly walking, with her head drooped low. A sad look on her face as she faced her former villagers. As soon as she’s as close to the group of Double Diamond and the others as they’d allow her, she even drops her head lower and closes her eyes.
This was far from the behavior they were expecting Starlight to take when they had envisioned what she’d do, if she came back. Even the most optimistic view among the possibilities of what would happen if Starlight ever came back, was just her checking in on the town to see if it's still thriving without her leadership. This was the look of a mare, with lots of regrets, and even the villagers most skeptical of Starlight were starting to wonder just what was happening
Perhaps, Princess Twilight was right not to pursue and arrest Starlight immediately after all, she just needed time to think about what she had done. And she’s now apologizing for her actions, before turning herself in to the authorities.
For a moment Starlight and the villagers only look at each other. Not a word slipped from either side, if Starlight had come back to become leader again. Certainly she would have said something by now, many of the villagers thought. When she was leading the town she was basically THE voice of the town. Any guests that came over, including the Mane 6 when they first arrived were nudged over to see their charismatic leader, with her introducing her small village to any pony who curiously came by.
But right now, the “Voice of the town” was voiceless. Just her head low to the ground as she faced all her former villagers. A couple more minutes of silence go by, until finally, it’s Double Diamond who decides to break the silence.
“Um… ahem… Starlight, what… are you doing back here?” the stallion inquired.
Starlight just shifts her eyes continuing with her sad look, and stays quiet for about another minute.
“C’mon Starlight, say something. You must have something on your mind… you left so angry… and you come back to us in silence?”
Finally, Starlight raises her head. But still gives a sad look on her face as she stares Double Diamond in the eyes. “….I… i-i-i…. I’ve come to… apologize… to all of you…” The entire village gasps once again. Some even bite their hooves wondering if they’re all in some dream. There’s no way Starlight could have turned around this quickly, right? Sugar Belle has her hoof covering her mouth in surprise, though behind that hoof. Was a tiny, warm smile developing. Her kind nature felt the sincerity in Starlight’s voice as she spoke. Double Diamond’s also somewhat amazed that Starlight might actually be apologizing, though he still wants to hear more.
“Now tell us exactly what you are apologizing for, there’s a lot you’ve done wrong to us. But I want to make sure you actually know what you’ve done wrong. As it’ll take more than just an apology to make up for what you did…” Starlight nods in response
“I’ve come to apologize for many things, but in particular, I was wrong about Cutie Marks.” Yet another gasp is heard throughout the village. Did they hear that correctly? She admitted that her whole ideology for even FOUNDING the whole village was wrong?! This was uncharted territory. With the villagers on the edge of their seats, Starlight continues. “Yes, while you all are aware that I blamed cutie marks for a lot of things during my childhood. I should have never tried to convince any of you that your talents weren’t special just because of a friend who left me forever after getting his, and never quite fully understanding my own mark because of my previous disdain for Cutie Marks beforehand. It took some time, but I’ve had a change of heart. I will never use the spell I used to take away anypony’s cutie mark ever again” Some were worried that she was going to start doing that again, where even if she failed to convince the villagers to follow her again. She’d get angry and take everypony’s cutie mark hostage.
“I promise you, I have come back a changed mare… in more ways than one, you could even say. Our Town deserves better than a sad town of greyed out ponies with no special talents. What you’re best at, is part of who you are. I didn’t respect what made each of you special, and I will forever be sorry for that.”
“I only come here, asking for forgiveness. And then I’ll take my leave. But before I go, I’d like to give each of you a hug, and at least a parting gift for every one of you!” Starlight outstretches her limbs, hopeful a couple of villagers walk on over to approach. However, the villagers just give side glances to eachother. Despite how sincere this apology sounded, they’re unsure if they’re quite on hugs of forgiveness and especially gift-giving levels of friendship with Starlight again yet. Most have sympathetic faces for Starlight’s apology. But none approach to embrace their former leader.
“o-o-o-Oh… I… g-guess none of you are… ready to forgive me that much yet… I understand, I did some horrible things… I’ll just take my leave now then… I wish you all... a good life…” Starlight and Trixie both turn back and start to walk as slowly out of the village as they did walking towards it.
Many of the villagers actually smile seeing how apologetic their leader was, at the very least. The nightmares of her taking over the village again were bound to stop. But as the villagers start walking back to their homes... Suddenly, a voice rings out.
“WAIT, STARLIGHT!” the voice was Sugar Belle’s. She had obviously been touched by Starlight’s words and started running up towards her. Starlight hears, though for a moment she doesn’t turn her head back. She looks at Trixie with a devilish grin for a few seconds, before turning her face back into a warm, gentle smile as she turns around “Sugar Belle!”. In moments, Sugar wraps her hooves around Starlight in a loving hug.
“I’m so happy you’ve turned a new leaf, Starlight! Deep down in my heart, I knew somehow you’d turn around one day! Come on, why don’t you stay in the village for at least a little longer. I can give you a taste of some of my actual good tasting muffins for you and your new friend!” Trixie puts a hoof to her chin “Trixie is rather hungry!”
“Oh, is Trixie your friend’s name? Allow me to welcome you to Our Town, Trixie!” Sugar Belle gives Trixie a warm welcome by shaking her hoof. The village is inspired by Sugar’s act of kindness as they cheer for the temporary return of their seemingly reformed former leader and her friend, as they head towards Sugar Belle’s bakery.
((Story continues after the break))
Starlight and Trixie munch on some of Sugar Belle’s muffins. Both finding them quite delicious. “Wow Sugar Belle, your muffins really are great! I’m really sorry now that I took your baking skills from you…”
Sugar Belle raises an eyebrow “You… told me you liked my muffins even when you led the village though… you described it as… an acquired taste. Though I suppose I never actually saw you eat them…”
Starlight makes an awkward smile “Ahehhehheh… they still were… but I will admit you’re an even better baker with your mark!” Hiding the fact that she either burned or threw away the muffins whenever she got any from Sugar Belle back when her cutie mark was still in the vault, as to not disappoint her.
“So…” Night Glider finally starts speaking a little to Starlight “Can you two tell me what’s with the get-up you both are in? I’ve never seen clothes like that before…”
Starlight takes this opportunity to lightly taunt Night Glider a bit “Ooooo, do you liiiiike our attire?~”. Night Glider blushes and is caught a bit off guard by the question “Well… um… I don’t dislike it per se… you both look good in it. Just thought it was strange you decided to show up like that is all. It’s not the kind of clothes I’d expect a pony to be wearing for an apology tour...”
“What if we had just gotten back from a trip to Saddle Arabia, or something?” Trixie adds on to the teasing. “I’d still find it weird that you girls just kept it on the whole time, Saddle Arabia’s on like the whole other side of the world”. The dark blue pegasus responds
“I can tell you at least that we had no such trip to Saddle Arabia. Believe it or not, these aren’t clothes we bought. We got them when we were… transformed.” The mention of being transformed confuses the small group of villagers around Starlight and Trixie
“What do you mean by, transformed?” Party favor asked curiously.
“Do you remember when I said I was a changed mare, in more ways than one not too long ago? The attire me and Trixie have on, came with our biggest change”
“What is this big change, Starlight?” Sugar Belle inquired.
“My former villagers, I haven’t just come back as your humbled former leader. I, along with Trixie, are now… wish granting genies.” Starlight confidently says such an incredible thing in no joking manner.
Gasps and incredulous sounds of disbelief are heard from the village. Genies? Weren’t those fictional stories? A being granted the wishes of others on a whim just seemed too good to be true, even in such a world where many fantastical magics exist.
“I know what you all must be thinking, “Genies can’t possibly exist!” but if you let me just prove it to you all. Perhaps, a significant enough example would be to show us entering and exiting our vessels with ease. However, I feel like a much more appropriate way to show you all, is to grant a wish or two. To avoid overloading us with requests though, we’ll choose who gets to have the wish.” Starlight looks around the curious crowd, the audience wondering just how the two were going to prove they were genies. She then looks down at a small grey filly with a mane and tail of purple.
“How about you, little filly? I feel like I’ve seen you around before, but you’re not a citizen of Our Town are you? Mind telling me your name?” The filly’s a little nervous but she soon answers Starlight’s question. “Um, my name is… Tornado Bolt. I have… family members here that I occasionally visit. I normally live in Ponyville… I was here when Princess Twilight and the others stopped you… you seem to have changed… but this claim about being a genie leaves me quite... skeptical…”
Starlight nods “I can understand such skepticism without explicit proof, but I’m offering to give you that special chance to prove for yourself as well as the others here that I am in fact… a genie. So lil’ Tornado Bolt, what do you wish of either me and/or Trixie?”
The filly thinks for a moment, if they’re truly genies. Then almost everything should be on the table for her to wish for. And for a child there can be a lot of things that come to mind. She thinks about one particular wish for herself, but then in her mind decides to go a little bigger with that same wish. For if Starlight and Trixie are all-powerful genies, they should have the ability to grant huge broad wishes that could change the world rather than spawn items that could coincidentally be teleported in by a unicorn faking a granted wish. Tornado isn’t some staged audience member that knows what Starlight and Trixie could teleport in to “grant” the wish. She has decided on a wish so grand, that might sound difficult, but would ultimately prove once and for all that they are indeed magical genies, if it can be done. Cause no unicorn spell or even magical artifact could simply do it on a whim.
“Alright, I think I’m ready for my wish…” The filly smiles. Starlight grins with glee herself “Good! What would you like to wish for?” Tornado hovers a little while in the air and spins around to give her grand wish:
“I wish every filly and colt in Equestria were all-grown up!”
Even Starlight and Trixie were shocked at such a request. Trixie leans on over and whispers to Starlight “Can we even do that?! If we are to grant this correctly… we’ll be changing ponies even from miles away that we can’t see!”.
“I don’t even know either, Trixie! Neither of us have been genies for all that long… But we gotta try! This may actually be a great opportunity to see just how limited our powers are. Even if we can’t change every filly and colt in Equestria with this one wish. We should be able to make it convincing enough, by making every young pony in Our Town into grown-ups!” Trixie nods, they should be able to play it up in that scenario.
Meanwhile, the villagers are also sort of incredulous at the choice of wish. But they realize that this is something that can truly tell if Starlight was being truthful to them. So they wait with baited breath for the two “genies” to grant the wish.
Soon, Starlight bows and smiles “An absolutely grand and humongous wish that me and Trixie will grant with ease! Every colt and filly will be equal to their young adult siblings, cousins, or more! Perhaps, a little bit of Our Town rubbed off on you after all, Tornado Bolt~”
The two genies stand on their hindlegs, put their backs against each other and raise a hoof in the air. They charge their horns as they move the magic towards the ends of their hooves as they try to envision every single filly and colt throughout all of Equestria. Even if they never met them, were now of equal age, size, and stature as many young adults across the entire country. Once Starlight and Trixie feel like they have collected enough magic to spread across all of Equestria. They clap their hooves with the other. Creating a magic shockwave that quickly ripples throughout the land. Any filly or colt in Our Town changed almost instantly as the shockwave travels from the source of the two genies.
But it certainly did not stop at Our Town. The magical shockwave is able to reach the nearby Crystal Empire, and soon Manehattan to the east of Our Town as well. If it could be seen from space. Half of the north is covered in a pink or light blue wave, the colors of Trixie and Starlight’s magic respectively. As it finishes with the entire north of the country, it rapidly goes downward. It even goes upward in the case of Cloudsdale, then to Fillydelphia, up the cliffs of Canterlot, Ponyville. All the way down south to places such as Las Pegasus, Appaloosa, and the village of Somnambula. All of Equestria had been reached by the magic power of this one wish.
Once it was finished, Starlight and Trixie actually were breathing pretty heavily after granting such a large wish as they fell over. “Agh… Starlight, I’m not sure I want to grant a wish that huge ever again…”. “Honestly Trixie, I feel the same…” But with how tired they felt for a moment, they knew it must have been incredible enough to grant exactly what Tornado Bolt wanted. And indeed, for what the Our Town villagers can see. Every filly and colt in town were now just as tall and of similar build as the other adults in the village, including Tornado Bolt herself. Who is absolutely amazed that it worked.
“Oh my gosh! It worked! I’m all grown-up! I wonder if I have my cuti-“ Tornado stops herself once she looks at her flank with no mark at all. “Hey! What gives, I’m a grown up… but with no cutie mark?!”
Now that they’ve had some time to recover, the two slowly get back up. Trixie decided to answer Tornado’s complaint “Hey now little filly, don’t get too upset. Just because you’re grown up now, doesn’t automatically qualify you for a cutie mark. You still have to earn that yourself, naturally”. Though Starlight puts a hoof to her chin. “I do wonder about that, actually… Tornado, I may actually have a solution for your want for a cutie mark soon. Stick around a little longer, and I may just have what you need~”. Trixie’s wondering what this could be silently whispers to try to know what Starlight’s talking about, Starlight answers her as quietly as she can. And suddenly gets what she meant by that, Trixie with a little bit of a wicked smile herself.
The whole village had been convinced by the display though, Starlight and Trixie must be genies if they were able to pull off this feat. From the village, came many requests going in at once. It was hard to hear a single sentence of "I wish" without it being muffled by other voices. Eventually, it got overwhelming enough that Starlight had to raise her voice
“QUIET! I appreciate that you were all impressed by our granting ability, but if you’ll just let us go one-by-one. I promise we’ll have something for each of you. In fact, remember when I told all of you that I have gifts? I’d like to start handing them off, they aren’t exactly wishes. But they were made by our genie magic, all the same.”
“To receive the first one, I will once again be picking a volunteer.” Starlight takes her time looking through the crowd, though only for a little bit of suspense, she knows exactly who she’s going to choose for this part. She points to the kind and friendly baker in town.
“Sugar Belle, you were kind enough to be the first one to trust and welcome me back to the town. I think it’s only appropriate that you are the first to receive my gift” Sugar Belle beams a grin and claps her hooves, she walks forward until she’s in front of Starlight. “Oh, I can’t wait to see what you got for me and the rest of the village, Starlight!”
Starlight charges up her horn, raises a hoof, and out poofs a transparent, fancy, but sturdy looking bottle. It had a real slender neck leading up to a circular topper that had two grey parallel lines on it. Come to think of it, there were also the same parallel lines on the base of the neck. They looked just like… the painted equal signs from before. However, the village had been taken off guard to notice such imagery. As they seem quite convinced that Starlight has reformed, and even if one of them had noticed the strangeness of the reuse of the equal sign. It was already too late for Sugar Belle as she beams a grin, only taking the bottle as a gift on just face value. “This bottle is yours to keep, Sugar Belle!”. Sugar Belle is amazed as she levitates the bottle closer to her face, it’s the prettiest bottle she’s ever seen. “Oh my gosh! I love it, Starlight! I’ve been needing something to hold some beautiful flowers I’ve seen recently! This is just perfect! Thank you so, so, so much!”
“You’re very welcome, Sugar Belle~. However, that’s not the end of this gift! I’d like you to remove the topper. There is something else inside, that’s greater than the bottle by itself~” Starlight grins with eager half-lidded eyes.
Sugar Belle raises an eyebrow, given there’s nothing exactly obvious from within the bottle, despite it being as transparent as it could possibly be. “Well um… I don’t exactly see anything else from what I can see… but I’ll do what you say, Starlight.”. Starlight could barely hide her devious anticipation any more “Goooooooood~”
Sugar Belle finally levitates the top off the bottle and she tries to see anything through the bottle’s neck. “Uh... Starlight, I still don’t see any thi-IIIINNGGGGGGggggmmmmph!”
Suddenly, Sugar’s face stretched and was pulled into the bottle, her voice quickly muffled by the bottle, within seconds just about her whole head had been consumed by the bottle. The freaky sight scares the villagers, as Starlight and Trixie each have devious grins. Their trick had worked.
“SUGAR BELLE! I’LL SAVE YOU!” Night Glider yelled from the sky as she came diving down in hopes that perhaps, a high speed grab would be strong enough to pull Sugar from the bottle absorbing more of her. But as soon as she gets fairly close to Sugar Belle, she is surprised by a teleport right in front of her with Trixie poofing up and levitating a bottle of her own. Night Glider’s momentum was too fast for her to stop now, and within nearly the blink of an eye. The speed of Night Glider’s dive had herself captured by the bottle Trixie was holding, with most of her in the bottle even faster then Sugar Belle.
For a few seconds, Night Glider kicked what remained of her hooves, but her brash action meant she was going fully-in first. Her surprised eyes could be seen at the bottom of the bottle, along with some blushed cheeks, hinting at Night Glider feeling a bit of surprise pleasure, and soon all that was left was her tail, which was slurped up by the bottle like a noodle. Trixie triumphantly puts the topper on the bottle, sealing Night Glider’s fate. The eyes that were visible fading away into the swirling colors that was Night Glider’s entire body being absorbed by the bottle.
SCHOOOMP
“NOOOOOO, NIGHT GLIDER! SUGAR BELLE!” Party Favor was distressed. Things were looking so happy, but now it looks like two of his best friends were somehow getting sucked into a bottle against their will. Double Diamond is distressed as well, but he quickly gives an order to the village “EVERYPONY, RUN!” and they don't have to think twice. The many villagers panicked and ran out of the village.
“Starlight! They’re getting away!” Trixie yelled to Starlight.
“Let them, I have a score to settle with these four... We’ll get everypony else in time.” Double Diamond and Party Favor had tried to run with the others too, but then a large magical wall popped up in front of them. Starlight was letting most of the remaining villagers leave. But she was most personally interested in bringing Double Diamond, Party Favor, Sugar Belle, and Night Glider back under her mercy.
At this moment, half of Sugar Belle was in the bottle. She was still kicking her hooves, though as the slow process went on, there were these odd instances that Sugar was no longer kicking to try to force herself out. In fact, her kicks slowed and almost made it seem… she was more and more accepting of being sucked in. To the point that any more kicks were her trying to get herself in faster, whatever was happening, Sugar wanted more of it. Like with Night Glider, her eyes could be seen at the bottom of the bottle. Her pupils were in the shape of hearts, and her cheeks blushed even pinker than her already bright pink coat.
She couldn’t vocally say it with her head and mouth having been one of the first things in. But she was no doubt feeling a great wave of pleasure from within the bottle.. With one last kick she manages to straighten up her hooves to help them enter the bottle, all that remained was her tail.
A task all too easy as the bottle is able to make the tail stretch and wavy enough to fit into the entrance. The topper ever getting closer to seal Sugar Belle inside.
SCHOOOMP
Starlight laughs evilly looking at the 2 bottles of the captured mares. As she laughed, another process was taking place from the bottles with the occupants inside. The bottles lost much of their transparency, faded into colors similar to the mare’s coats. The topper, as well as the part of the neck of the bottle resembling an equal sign changed color to reflect the occupant’s mane and tail color. Sugar Belle and Night Glider’s cutie marks also faded upon both sides of the bottle. They weren’t exactly the same however, the cupcake that had made up Sugar Belle’s cutie mark was now a bottle with some frosting and a cherry on top. And the moon in Night Glider’s mark is seen connected to a vessel.
Double Diamond and Party Favor can only just stand there with Starlight not allowing them to leave. Party Favor’s in tears, mostly for not knowing what had just happened to Sugar Belle and Night Glider. But he had definitely been fooled into believing Starlight had actually turned around. All that renewed hope, crushed to dust in seconds. Double Diamond had a more brave face, and a look of nothing but contempt for Starlight.
“How... could you… I… we… or at the very least... Sugar Belle… thought you had changed… and then you go ahead and do this?!” Double Diamond can only look at Starlight with a face of disapproval.
Starlight does some gleefully evil chuckles before responding “Oh Double Diamond… I have changed! Just not the type of change you were expecting~. I will say, that I did not lie when I said I’m no longer interested in taking your cutie marks. But if you noticed, I never apologized for trying to make every pony equal! For I have found a new, much better plan towards that goal~”
“What kind of equality is achieved by putting us all in bottles?! You’re just making us all your prisoners, aren’t you!” Double Diamond yelled in anger.
“Oh, don’t you worry. I don’t plan on keeping you all in your bottles. In fact, I think I shall let Sugar Belle and Night Glider out, right now!” Starlight uses her horn to levitate the tops off the bottles. They react strangely as they shake, quiver and bounce, preparing to release their occupants for the first time.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
Soon pink and dark blue smoke spiral out in a similar shape to tendrils above the bottles. When the smoke stops lengthening, the silhouettes of the two mares take shape, tailed to their vessels. And then the mares themselves fade in, each with lidded eyes and relaxed expressions. Sugar Belle didn’t sound as scared as her brief muffled screams made it seem, and Night Glider didn’t look like she was in any rush to save Sugar Belle like she had been in the seconds before Trixie caught her.
Just like Starlight and Trixie, they now had similar attire. Both had gold ear studs and hoof bands holding the leggings together on their forehooves. Sugar’s veil and leggings were as red as the cherry in her cutie mark, while Night Glider’s was as white as the moon’s surface.
Double Diamond and Party Favor gasp, as they notice the two mares have very similar attire to Starlight and Trixie. Double Diamond has his suspicions, but he asks Starlight anyway “What… what did you do to them?”
“What else does it look like? I gave them my gift! The greatest gift that could ever be bestowed upon a pony…” Starlight’s pupils shrink as she smirked evilly “The gift… of Genification!”
Double Diamond grumbles “So you turned them both into some kind of magical slave?!”
Starlight shakes her head “Ohoho, believe me... Double Diamond, we genies are no slaves. Don’t let all those tall tales fool you, if me and Trixie wanted to, we could show you all that we genies are actually the real masters. But I promise you, that I’m actually being quite charitable. By letting you all experience what it means to be a genie too!” Starlight smugly grins
“But not every pony must want to be a genie!” Double Diamond responds. Starlight raising an eyebrow “Oh? Then how about you ask Sugar Belle and Night Glider themselves, how they feel~”
Double Diamond tilts his head upward to look at the two newly genified mares “Sugar Belle… Night Glider… if it’s really true that you are genies… then you are now on equal level with Starlight and Trixie! You can fight them, and maybe even defeat them! Then… once everything’s safe again… we can wish you all back to normal!”
“Back to normal?! Oh Celestia, no! Why would I ever want to go back?! I feel AMAZING like this!” Sugar Belle spins with her hooves outstretched as she responds. “Same for me, Double D… I never want to be away from this feeling~”. Night Glider confirms she’s also in-line with Sugar’s assessment.
Double Diamond and Party Favor both gasp once more Party Favor responds “But… Starlight and Trixie transformed you forcefully! Surely, neither of you can be happy about that!”
“It’s true that Starlight did not ask us to become genies, and had tricked us all… but if you could feel what we’re feeling right now… it would not matter… for the moment we started feeling the changes overwhelming us… we wanted nothing but more and more of it… I don’t feel forced into being weak and talentless like I was without my mark, I feel the opposite. I feel so much stronger, and the magic welling up in me will allow me to do more than just bake delicious muffins! I can BE anything, I can DO anything! In my view, Starlight has learned from what she did, and this time actually found a way to equalize us while making us all feel the greatest we’ve ever felt!” Sugar belle closes her eyes and hugs herself. Night Glider nods “I’m with Sugar Belle, Starlight turned out to still be her conniving evil self after all… but if Starlight’s new “evil” goal is to just make every pony feel THIS good… then call me her minion. Cause I’m all for it~”
The two stallions just have their mouths gape in disbelief. “This… this has to be some kind of brainwashing… Starlight, you monster!” Double Diamond angrily stares at Starlight.
“O ho ho, brainwashing? You sound like I changed them right down to their personalities. I assure you, Sugar Belle is still as sweet and kind as ever, and Night Glider’s still the stand-offish pegasus you knew her as. The only major change, if it even is a little brainwashing, is them receiving the special feelings packaged with becoming and just being a genie. It might just so happen that it feels so good, that they’re willing to look past my transgressions~”
“Both of you will understand if you just join us! I promise it’ll be all worth it!” Sugar Belle suggests to the two stallions. “We don’t have a choice, Sugar Belle! That’s our problem! Even if we refuse, Starlight’s going to bottle us up just like you and Night Glider! There has to be something inside you that knows this is wrong, you and Night Glider were not sycophants to Starlight previously! Please! If there’s any way you can fight this, just try!” Party Favor gives an emotional plea to the two mares to find some way to shake what they perceive as something in their minds.
The two mares just turn to Starlight. “I’m not sure there's anything we can do to convince them, Starlight… They don’t believe us…” Sugar Belle looks distraught, but not out of sympathy for her 2 stallion friends' plight, but that they refuse to listen to what she now sees as a positive.
“Hmhmhm… they don’t necessarily have to believe us. Perhaps, we’ll try… a little… coercion… Night Glider… I think it’s time to tell you Party Favor’s deepest secret~”. Party Favor’s eyes go wide “NO! STARLIGHT! DON’T TELL HER! PLEASE!” Night Glider suddenly intrigued, what was so secret that Party Favor was reacting so distressed. “YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULDN’T TELL HER WHEN YOU FOUND OUT! PLEASE, STARLIGHT! I BEG YOU!”.
“I know I promised not to tell her, but honestly, I think this is actually the perfect time to let the cat out of the bag. I apologize in advance for breaking our promise, but I assure you. I think you may find yourself thankful I did so, soon enough~” Night Glider turns toward Starlight “What is this secret, Starlight? He looks so desperate...” “NOOOOOO PLEEEEEAAASSSEEEEEEEE!” Party Favor bangs his hooves desperately on the magical barrier.
“Night Glider, Party Favor… has a crush on you!” Night Glider responds with a big gasp and blushes, meanwhile Sugar squees in delight hearing the secret that was no more “Awwwww, that’s adorable! Why would you want to keep that a secret, Party Favor?”. The blue stallion just droops his head low “I’ve just… never been actually confident in myself to think Night Glider would ever feel the same…”
Night Glider takes a moment to think what to say, though Party Favor mistakes this for hesitancy. “You don’t have to say it for me to know… you don’t share my feelings… I’ll understand…” Party Favor turns around and sits. Night Glider initially just reaches out a hoof though realizes she’s still high up in the air tailed to her bottle. She lowers herself to the ground and turns her tail into her backside and slowly approaches the barrier. She uses some magic with her hooves to open up the barrier so she can enter and walk closer to Party Favor. The stallion still has his back turned as Night Glider can see a puddle of tears on the ground. What Starlight might have just done is not basically retake the village, but in Party Favor’s eyes, may have just ruined any remaining chance at his crush. What is there even left for him at this point now? Night Glider trots closer to the crying Stallion and puts a hoof on his shoulder. Party Favor, with his eyes still welling in tears turns around…
…and is then surprised with a kiss from Night Glider. And it lasts longer than Party Favor could have anticipated. Though once it’s broken off, he can hardly believe that just happened. “W…wha? N-n-night Glider? Y-y-you j-just…” Night Glider blushes “I’ve never been good at these namby-pamby words, but… I will admit I’ve always sort of found you… cute. I would gladly love to be your mare friend…” Party Favor smiles, something good may have came out of this situation after all. “Though I must also tell you… I’m… bisexual… with a little bit of a preference for mares. Not that I have issues with stallions! Again, you’re probably one of the few exceptions…”
“O ho ho, a preference for mares you say, Night Glider?~” Party Favor suddenly turns anger at Starlight “No! You’re not going to try to steal Night Glider from me just to crush my hopes, are you?!”. “Oh CELESTIA, no! That’s not what I was going to do at all, I already have my mare friend in this lovely little magician!” She winks with half-lidded eyes towards Trixie. The blue unicorn genie mare sticks up her nose in pride. “I just have something I need to… whisper to Night Glider about…” Starlight walks on over to an ear of Night Glider and quietly whispers a suggestion. Night Glider beams a big grin at the suggestion, whatever it is. When Starlight’s done whispering, Night Glider just confidently says “You got it, Starlight!”
Party Favor raises an eyebrow wondering just what Starlight and Night Glider discussed. Night Glider cheerfully walks up to the front of the light blue stallion. with a big grin and half-lidded eyes. “Party Favor, I think it’s about time you received your… gift”. “Huh? Gift? What do you mea-“ Party Favor suddenly remembered what the word gift meant, given what had happened not too long ago “n- n- N-n-n-no! NO! Night Glider, please DON’T!” Night Glider raises up a hoof, charges a little bit of magic, and just like Starlight earlier. A clear bottle poofed out, Party Favor ran to the other end of the barrier, with no chance to escape. Double Diamond initially tries to interfere but then Sugar Belle teleports into the barrier and uses magic to restrain him. Night Glider holds the bottle in her hooves, then pops open the top as she points it toward Night Glider. Due to stallion tails being normally quite short, it was Party Favor’s hooves that started to warp first. He trips over, dragging his fore hooves over the dirt ground of our Our Town as he tries desperately to resist against the bottle’s suction. “I DON'T WANT TO BE A GENIE! NIGHT GLIDER! STOP!”.
“Relax, Party Favor. You’ll soon feel what it’s like to be like me and Sugar Belle. Perhaps, in more ways than one~” Night Glider teasing the distressed stallion. “Why must I be made to be even a little like you? I thought we fought against trying to be similar!” The stallion protested as the wavy tail that was his backside etched closer to the bottle. “Yes, we fought against equality when that meant giving up our talents. But THIS equality will not only let us keep our talents, but we’ll be able to do MORE than just our talents! This is EMPOWERING equality! Starlight may be as forceful as ever, but soon you’ll see what we see. You’re getting close to the bottle… so much in fact… you’re about to experience your first taste of never-ending bliss in 5… 4…
“What kind of bliss is being freakily sucked into a bottle!” the singular column of wavy smoke was now up to Party favor’s hips as he continues to flail. “3…” The pointy tip of the tail was just inches away from the entrance of the vessel. “2… 1…
“NIGHT GLIDER PLEASE STO-“
“BINGO!” The bottle finally gets a taste of the smoke that was Party Favor’s backside.
“-p…o, oooh, OOOOOH. OH CELESTIA… THIS FEELING…~” Party Favor stopped struggling against the suction just moments after his smoke tail started going in. His cheeks go pink, and he just relaxes as the process really gets going. Sugar Belle and Night Glider’s explanation of the feeling of genification was turning out to be quite correct. Within moments, Party Favor hardly cared that the peaceful life of Our Town had just been turned upside down. If this was actually what Starlight had in mind for every pony, Party Favor would live in a literal upside down Our Town forever, if it meant feeling this great.
As Party Favor is etched ever closer he shivers in pleasure. “m-m-m-My gosh… Night Glider… you and Sugar were right… this is amazing… I-i-i-i want to... feel like this forever!” Night Glider nods enthusiastically “I told ya, you silly pony! And you WILL feel like this forever! Though if you’re feeling this good right now, just wait till all that’s left is your head.~” With those words, Party Favor went quiet in anticipation for what Night Glider teased as the absolute best part if this wasn’t even the most intense it got, he couldn’t wait until he got there. Soon, he’s down to his shoulders with his fore hooves well within the bottle. Party Favor continues to enjoy the ride there. despite having just a moment ago been trying to desperately escape.
Before Party Favor is completely bottled, Starlight takes one more opportunity to tease Party Favor a little. “I recall that you said “I didn’t listen” when you claimed that you were not influenced by Twilight and the others while in the town jail cell. Perhaps this was a case you should have listened to Sugar Belle and Night Glider~.” Even with not much left of him, Party Favor manages to nod an agreement. “Yes… yes! YEEEEEES! I see what you mean now! All 3 of you! Starlight… Sugar Belle… and especially you… Night Glider… you were all right! This feels amazing! The magic power surging through me… I feel like I could spawn hundreds of blimp-sized balloon animals at once!”
“That sounds like that could be a lot of fun, Party Favor! We could both jump on giant balloon animals in the sky together! Won’t that make a great first date?~.“ Night Glider looks at Party Favor with loving eyes.
“Ah… ahhhh... AHHHHHH…!!! OH CELESTIA, THIS IS IT!” As Night Glider told Party Favor, the most intense feelings started hitting as soon as Party Favor only had his head and/or neck outside the bottle. “STARLIGHT! I… I… I… I PLEDGE MY LOYALTY TO YOU!” Party Favor’s voice speeds up in excitement, knowing any second his entire being was going into the bottle “NOTHING IN EQUESTRIA HAS EVER MADE ME HAPPI- errrmmmMMMPPPPH!”
SCHOOOMP
Party Favor was now completely bottled. Night Glider closes the top and hands over the bottle to Starlight, who laughs maniacally as the bottle transitions into Party Favor’s colors. Now the attention shifts to Double Diamond, all alone, and having seen his fellow stallion also commit to Starlight’s side. He can do nothing but sigh at this point.
“It’s your turn now, Double Diamond'' Starlight smirks. “Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Starlight! May i do the honors?!” Sugar Belle excitedly proposed she be the one to bottle him. Starlight gives a graceful bow for Sugar Belle. “Of course you can, Sugar. I’m more than happy to allow you to do a genification of your own!” Sugar Belle grins and claps her hooves “YAY!” She instantly poofs up another of the bottles. Though before Sugar opens up the bottle to start getting Double Diamond into it, Starlight first whispers to Sugar similar to what she did before Night Glider genified Party Favor, before she teases the white stallion some more. Sugar Belle nods at whatever Starlight’s orders were.
“Any last statements before you become mine forever, like every pony else?~” Double Diamond just shakes his head “No, I’m not even going to give you the satisfaction of seeing me struggle. You won, but I’m not gonna play into your sadistic pleasures… whatever this new me you turn me into, it cannot be the old me…”
“O ho ho ho, we’ll see about that~. You may not try to struggle, but let’s see if you can resist the feeling as you’re pulled inside. Will you truly feel like you’re just being brainwashed? Or will you genuinely enjoy it?~".
Starlight turns toward the eager baker mare "Alright, Sugar Belle… bottle. him. up.” Sugar Belle nods and levitates the top off and points the bottle towards the white stallion. Just like Party Favor, it begins to stretch his back hooves first. Double Diamond only makes a grunt as he’s tripped up by the suction, but otherwise true to form. He says nothing, and does nothing to fight against it. Refusing to even give Starlight the slightest bit of entertainment of watching him go. Not that it fazed her that much, she had gotten enough fun out of the previous 3’s genifications and was ready enough to finish up not just her revenge on the four ponies, but making them her underlings once and for all.
Soon the curvy, smoky tail that was Double Diamond’s backside is closely brought to the bottle being held by Sugar Belle’s levitation. Double Diamond has remained strong in his commitment to say nothing as he was brought in. But as soon as the white smoke of his body entered the bottle…
“u-u-UH, AAAAh!” It broke his silence, his pupils shrinks, his face blushes, his mouth agape as the rush goes into him. “w-w-w-wh-wha-What… is this… and why does it feel so… urgh… g-g-g-good” Starlight just shakes her head “Tsk tsk tsk, Double Diamond. Both myself, Night Glider, and Sugar Belle told you of this feeling. You even watched as Party Favor himself felt everything as he went in. Do you really think I would lie to you?” Despite the feelings he was going through, Double Diamond deadpans in response to that last statement. “Really, Starlight?” Starlight playfully chuckles “Well… ok maybe I did lie a little bit, here and there”
Double Diamond felt like scolding Starlight right then and there, but something about the tingly feelings he felt all over wasn’t letting him get too worked up. “Ugh… I hate to admit it… but… you all were right… this is… intoxicating… it’s like… the adrenaline rush of skiing… but a little bit more…”. Starlight feels like she could roll on the floor laughing that Diamond has already broken his vow of silence by this much “You’ve already broken your supposed silent treatment, and now I already got you comparing this to your favorite hobby! Now, tell me Double Diamond, do you really feel brainwashed at this very moment?”
“I… uh… argh… guess… maybe… it’s just that potent… that I can’t even tell. Agggh, if this is actually good, or if the magic is… grah... influencing me… but… aaaah, I can’t help it no matter which it is! I want more! Just shove me in already! AAAAH!” Double Diamond was down to his shoulders. Starlight once again chimes in with some more teases. “Double Diamond, of the 4 of you, you were the most loyal to me back when I still had everyone’s cutie mark. Yet you were now the hardest to break. Perhaps, I did betray you to that level that you couldn’t trust me with anything ever again. but how are you feeling now?~”
Double Diamond couldn’t say anything else but “I feel great… In fact… I will… gladly… be your loyal follower again…” As he said that all that’s left was what’s left of his neck and head as just like Party Favor the intense feelings rose up again “aaaaAAAAHHHH! OH CELESTIA…. THIS IS BETTER THAN ANY RUSH I’VE GOTTEN SKIING! Aaaah… aaaaAHHH. AAHHHHHH. STARLIGHT! YOU WERE RIIIIIGHHhhhhhtmmmmmph!”
SCHOOOMP
Sugar Belle closes the top on the bottle and hands it off to Starlight. The defiant snowboarding pony had returned to being Starlight’s loyal follower just as he was completely bottled. Starlight could hardly contain her glee. Double Diamond tried not to show any entertainment value for her, but it only made the ending where he gave in, all the more satisfying to her as it all built up.
“So…” Trixie taps her hooves “Time to let the boys out then?”. Starlight nods “Indeed Trixie, although… I’m not so sure I’d call them boys exactly, at least... not anymore~” Trixie lifts an eyebrow wondering what Starlight meant by that. as the triumphant genie lifts the top off both Party Favor and Double Diamond’s bottles.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
Just like Night Glider and Sugar Belle’s bottles, a plume of smoke each came pouring out. One was light blue, and the other was all white. Magic sparks burst around the swirling clouds. Eventually, two ponies started fading in. but to Trixie’s surprise… she didn't see stallions... they had become... mares?!
“Gaaaah! What the… why are they mares now?!” Starlight is all too happy to explain “Remember when Night Glider said she preferred mares? That gave me the pleasant idea of making it so that when Party Favor was completely inside, his gender would also change! I gave the same suggestion to Sugar Belle before she put Double Diamond in his bottle! If we can, I’d like to turn all the stallions of Equestria into mare genies, if that’s ok with you, Trixie”
Trixie thinks for a moment “I… guess that’s fine with me. Though you answered how, not exactly the reason why”. Starlight puts a hoof to her chin “Well, how about this. In Equestria, it’s always been pretty obvious that mares outnumber the stallion population by quite a bit. And most of our strongest leaders are all mares too. You could say… it could make many stallions feel… unequal. And you know how I am about equality by now, right?~. Besides, this way every pony gets the proper accentuation to the feminine physique that is our genie attire~”
Starlight smiles as she pauses, before deadpanning and admitting one of the real reasons she’s doing this “…And ok, I’ll also admit it’s because I prefer mares just that much... But... that’s besides the point!”
Neither the mare-ified Party Favor or Double Diamond seemed to mind. Just like Sugar Belle and Night Glider before them, they’re all too happy with the changes.
“Oooooh~ Starlight, this feels wonderful…” Party Favor’s voice was also much more feminine, Party Favor also now had some pigtails with pink hair ties with slightly more poof in his mane. Double Diamond’s mane remained short but he got a bit of a small curly bang on each side. “My scarf became my veil when I was inside, that was so cool!” Double Diamond grins looking at the purple coloring. Party Favor’s were a pink color similar to the balloon animal that was in his cutie mark. The balloon animal however was now a bottle with the confetti shooting out, the mark changed to be genie themed like the rest of the marks were. Double Diamond’s own had the snowflakes being either sucked in or being released out of a vessel.
“Now that you two are mares, I’d like to give you the two the option on whether you want to keep your names as is, or if you have any idea that you think might fit with your new looks” Starlight offers up to the two former stallions. They take a moment to think a bit, but they soon nod and proceed to give their answer.
“Call me, Piñata Prize!” The mare who was once Party Favor replied and spun-around with glee
“For now on, I’ll be Slalom Slopes!” The mare who was once Double Diamond proudly puts her hooves on her half-smoky hips
Night Glider flies up to Piñata’s place in the air and hugs her. “You look beautiful, Piñata!”. She leans in for a kiss as both of their veils disappear shortly. Sugar Belle just claps for the new couple, while Slalom just smiles in happiness for her friends.
Starlight just felt all too satisfied with this. Our Town was her town again. Trixie taps on Starlight’s shoulder to remind her that they still don’t technically have everypony. “I know you particularly wanted to watch these four get stuffed into vessels for personal reasons. But what do we do about all those who escaped as soon as Sugar Belle was getting sucked in? They might be all charging to the Crystal Empire right now to warn them about us!”.
Starlight reassures Trixie “They couldn’t have gone too far, I think it might actually be some nice exercise for our newly genified friends to hunt them all down, and bottle them all up themselves! What do you say, girls?~”.
“Awwwwww, yeah! Let’s get our fellow villagers! I’ll even make sure they don’t get to the Crystal Empire before you do. If that’s where you two are heading to next~” Night Glider fully into Starlight’s plan.
Slalom was also all-in “The path to the Crystal Empire has quite a bit of snowy hills, I could bottle some of our villagers AND do some sweet ski tricks at the same time!”
“I’ll do all I can to help round up our villagers too! They just need to relax, have some pastries. And feel what we feel!” Sugar Belle excitedly agreeing to assist
“Soon, we’ll have a full-on genification party in Our Town!” Piñata can’t wait to have every pony from the village back and feeling better then ever
“Before you all go, I should warn you all about something.” Starlight gives a more serious face for the four. They stay quiet to pay attention. “Twilight and her friends will probably naturally check here first, looking for me. The train that goes from Ponyville to Our Town is pretty slow. I have no doubt the four of you will be able to bottle up the remaining villagers before the Elements of Harmony arrive, but just know, that they’ll be here”
Night Glider feels like that’s no big deal “Well there’s an easy answer to that, once they arrive, we can just bottle them up oursel-“
Starlight suddenly teleports in front of Night Glider, eyes glowing with intimidating eye smoke. “NO, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOU TO GENIFY THEM! THE ELEMENTS ARE MINE, AND MINE ALONE TO GENIFY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”
“But wouldn’t i-“
“NO BUTS! I have a special plan in mind for them, I don’t even want you getting in their way. I crave to see each of their faces individually as they are crammed into a bottle.. Feel free to distract them a bit, maybe offer to grant them some small wishes, whether twisted or not. But I fully intend on taking my revenge on each of them… one… by… one…”
Night Glider salutes nervously “G-g-g-gotcha, m’am! Don’t genify the elements! Understood!” The forceful attitude of Starlight made every pony else stay quiet, despite being perfectly able to just win handily by laying a trap for the Mane 6 at Our Town. Starlight is either too prideful or too bent on the personal feelings of revenge to feel satisfied with what would be an automatic win like that.
After Starlight calms down from her anger she sighs before addressing their worries “Alright, I get what you’re thinking. You think just like almost any other villain the Elements faced, I’m being too cocky and letting them roam free will only lead to my inevitable defeat. I am trying to avoid a direct confrontation with them at least, so I’m not naive to the capabilities of the elements. I just need to make sure enough of Equestria is genified that it’s too much for them to handle all at once. Once I have a full-on genie army, I can strike straight into the heart of Ponyville. And the Crystal Empire is where I can get the numbers~”
All the other genies nod. Though given the Elements are coming, Night Glider at least asks Starlight one more thing. “But say… if the elements are coming… won’t they be… using the elements on us?”. Starlight nods and whispers to Night Glider something that reassures her.
“Sugar Belle, Pinata, and Slalom. I also want to tell you at least a part of what I just told Night Glider that if the Elements continue to bother you. Threaten to go to Ponyville to genify some of their friends. I want you to leave the Elements alone genification-wise, but everypony else is fair game if need be~”
“I promise you all, I will triumph over any pony who stands in my way. For now, Our Town is the birthplace of a revolution… we will soon not be Equestria. We will be… Geniequestria!”
There’s quite a bit oooh’s and aaaa’s from the four that had not heard Starlight’s wordplay with their country’s name previously. Every pony sounds all-in with this new name. Then all 6 genies huddle into a circle, put a hoof forward to make a circle and make one big chant of “FOR GENIEQUESTRIA!” as they break off. All 6 of them teleport, with Starlight and Trixie heading off to the Crystal Empire. With the other 4 chasing after the escaped villagers.
Episode was a fantastic way to break the hiatus. The jokes were laugh-out-loud hilarious, and chock full of visual gags. It got a bit too meta sometimes, but I feel that it was necessary for the plot. Ponies continue to be assholes, and the only thing lacking in this ep were cute new backgrounders. I find it hilarious that they just ignore the crowd.
Overall, I give it an A-.
As soon as the train had reached the outskirts of Our Town, Twilight and her friends hightailed it towards the small village. Hoping to have either gotten there before Starlight, or at least able to confront and defeat Starlight and Trixie the moment they arrive.
But once they've seen what's become of the villagers once they’ve reached the very front of the village. They can do nothing but gasp all at once.
“No! We’re too late!” Twilight exclaimed as she looked around and saw that every single villager living here had been given similar attire to what Starlight had. Not to mention right next to them, were vessels color-coded on the pony nearest to them. Some of them even tailed to their vessels. Unfortunately, for the Elements of Harmony... Starlight had beaten them to Our Town, and seems to have already left to wherever she went to next.
“Curses! Should have known our trains are still too slow! Has Equestria considered looking into building much faster locomotives, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash grumped about the limits of current Equestria travel. Unfortunately for the speedy pegasus, technology has not advanced enough to get trains anywhere near the speed of the fastest flying pegasi.
Twilight sighed “Rainbow, even if our trains could go at supersonic speeds… Starlight and Trixie are fully capable of just quickly teleporting somewhere else. This is an unprecedented situation that speed alone isn’t going to fix. Starlight’s just unfortunately as cunning as she is powerful… it’s going to be hard to find an opportunity to get her with the elements… I bet she was fully aware we were going to go after her… But for now, maybe we can at least undo the damage done to the villagers in Our Town”
All six of them go further into the town until a pink poof pops in front of them which makes some of them yelp. It’s the newly genified Sugar Belle.
“Greetings, Princess Twilight and friends!” Sugar Belle, waves, tilts her head, and smiles even knowing that the six came here to try to stop Starlight and Geniequestria from coming into fruition.
“A huh… Hi… Sugar Belle…” Twilight awkwardly smiles knowing full well she might very well be dealing with some pony now fully on Starlight’s side. “How… are you and the town doing…?”
“Oh, Princess. Me and the other villagers feel just fantastic, better than ever, actually! Starlight and her marefriend Trixie…” Twilight spit takes “Did you just say marefriend?!”.
“Oh! Did you not know about that? Because those two certainly love each other very much already, I could tell!” The Mane 6 just move eyes to each other with confused expressions. Rarity just puts a hoof under her chin and thinks to herself “Wonder if we missed quite a few… spicy moments between the two during their duel, that might have explained this…”
“Ahem… anyway… feel free to continue, Sugar Belle. Sorry for the interruption” Twilight calmly gets the conversation back on track.
“Yes, yes! As I was saying, Starlight and Trixie transformed us all into genies! And it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world!” Twilight just frowns. “…I figure this may be the case, but does the entire rest of the village feel the same way you do?”
“Of course they do! Feel free to ask any pony else in the village, they’ll say much of the same things that I would!” Twilight and others hardly even have to ask, they can tell that every pony else in the village are enjoying it too, just by all their expressions.
Night Glider swoops in to assist Sugar Belle with greeting the Mane 6. “If only we were authorized to bottle you al-“
Pinkie suddenly reacts “AHHHHH THIS WAS A TRAP! THEY’RE GONNA GENIFY U-“
Night Glider quickly flies down and covers Pinkie’s mouth “Whoa whoa whoa, as much as we would have loved to… Starlight herself gave us a strict order not to genify any of you six...”
Twilight blinks multiple times “Wait… really?”
“Yeah… she said something about… having plans for all of you… I don’t know what she’s got in mind. But either way, she didn’t want us to be the ones to put you all in a bottle”
That comes to a relief to most of the 6. “Heh, it would be typical of a villain to let their guard down with us! This just means like every other threat we’ve faced, they’ll end up being too over-confident in themselves at the very end, before we defeat them once and for all, with our rainbow of harmony!” the egotistical pegasus boasts.
“Yeah, ain’t that ah relief. Ah’m not fond o’ the idea o’ living in ah bottle. It may be hard t’ track down Starlight. But if she’s not planning on turning us into genies so quickly. Then eventually we’ll get her, it’s only ah matter o’ time! We don’t have t’ worry about being turned into brainwashed genies that do nothing but Starlight’s bidding! Wouldn’t that be awful! Right, Rarity?” Rarity’s been just looking around at all the seemingly happy villagers nearly the entire time, she didn’t quite pay attention to everything Applejack said. After she doesn’t respond for an awkward amount of time, Applejack nudges Rarity in the shoulder “Rarity, did ya hear me?’
“Oh! Uh… a heh heh heh heh… yeaaaaah… right you are, Applejack!” She awkwardly smiles, only vaguely recalling what Applejack just said. Rarity herself actually has some conflicted feelings that she just can’t shake. A part of her felt… disappointed?
“I too, would have loved the chance to share with all six of you how it feels to be a genie. But for now, Starlight only told us that we’re allowed to perhaps… grant some small wishes for you girls if you’d like!” Sugar Belle suggests to the group. Rainbow puts a hoof to her chin “Wishes, huh?” Though Twilight quickly turns toward the blue pegasus. “Be careful, girls. The way the wishes work from Starlight and the others here, is that the GENIE interprets it however they see fit. It’s not based on how we’d interpret it. At the very least they’ve promised they’re not going to genify us, but who knows what kind of tricks they may pull on us depending on what the wish is…”
Sugar Belle gets a sad look on her face and has her eyes shine like a puppy. “Awwww… you say that as if I’m some kind of evil genie! I’d never interpret a wish that would harm anypony!”
This confuses Rainbow Dash “Huh? But… you ARE on Starlight’s side now… correct?”
Sugar Belle nods “Yep!”
“Then by all intents and purposes… doesn’t that make you an evil genie since she herself is one?” Rainbow giving the baker a suspicious look
“Well… yeah… I know Starlight is still kind of evil…” Sugar looks off to the side bashfully.
“WAIT! You even CONCEDE that Starlight is evil… Yet you’re still on her side?! I thought you were one of the ponies that wasn’t actually fond of Starlight’s rule back when we liberated this town!” The blue pegasus looking absolutely incredulous as she flies straight up to the baker’s face. Sugar Belle just frowns and sweats nervously. Admittedly, not knowing what to say. Then Night Glider swoops in front of Rainbow to get her out of Sugar’s personal space.
“So what if Starlight’s still her evil self, we fully believe she is right that genifying others is in their best interest! It’s true that me, Sugar Belle, and Party Favor were among those that secretly weren’t fond of Starlight’s original rule. But this is an entirely different situation! Instead of our talents being taken away, with every single aspect of our life forced to be totally dull. Getting genified still allows us to keep our talents, interests, and A LOT more then that! There’s a huge difference when Starlight’s charismatic leadership is no longer manipulating us into letting her take our talents, now she’s EMPOWERING us equally in a plan with so much more upside for the average pony! I don’t expect any of you girls to understand, until you’ve truly felt it for yourself!” Night Glider explains to defend her, Sugar Belle, and likely the rest of the village's feelings on the matter.
It’s Applejack who raises an eyebrow and responds back “But it doesn’t sound like Starlight gave ya’ll any choice in the matter. Ya’ll don’t even feel ah tiny bit miffed that she came back just t’ make ya’ll her underlings again? If ya’ll put aside whatever this “feeling” is like. Which fo’ all we know, could just be that ya’ll got brainwashed by Starlight’s magic…”
Sugar Belle and Night Glider can’t really say one thing or the other about whether if they’ve been brainwashed. Though Sugar Belle tries to answer Applejack “If I may say… I… don’t feel like I’ve been brainwashed. I feel like I’m still me, Sugar Belle. Our Town’s friendly neighborhood baker mare”
“We don’t know the extent of the influence genification had on you and the other villagers though. Even if you still feel like you, there’s a chance that the magical influence on the brain from genification is just that specific that it doesn’t override what you were prior to genification. But it does on whatever part of the brain that might of made you object to being genies and/or refuse Starlight’s orders. The fact that you and Night Glider weren’t into Starlight’s rule originally, but are now at the point that you’re rooting for Starlight to take over all of Equestria might hint that there’s at least a little bit of influence on your minds''. Twilight explained to the genie mares, who can only really just rub the back of their heads sheepishly not knowing either way if that’s the case.
Rarity however, suddenly speaks something of a response to Twilight “Um… Twilight, darling… if I may… I believe that Night Glider has a point that Starlight’s new equality goal is a far better plan then her old one. It wouldn’t even take trying to convince others that their marks are useless. Even those perfectly happy with their cutie marks may be… tempted… by being able to do far more then what their talent allows them to do. Which becoming a genie certainly provides an avenue for that''.
The surprising defense from one of the Elements cheers up both Sugar Belle and Night Glider. “Yeah! What Rarity said! Even if Starlight did tell us exactly what she was doing, it’s not like we would have believed her if she tried to explain and ask us first!” Sugar Belle concurring with the fashionista’s statement.
This makes Twilight think a bit. “I… guess you might be right, Rarity. Though why are you defending the genies here?” Rarity’s eyes shift side to side, makes a big sheepish grin. “Eheheheheh… Don’t mind me! I was just… playing devil’s advocate for a moment a heh heh heh…”
Most of the other elements give Rarity a weird look, though Pinkie seems to have noted something too about the villagers. “Yeah uh… Twilight… I actually have something to say too…”. “What is it, Pinkie?”. “Do you remember… when we first came here originally… and how I could tell the smiles on every pony were fake?”.
“I do remember that… do you feel the same kind of feeling with them now?” Twilight asked the mare who knows her smiles, down to having a famous song about them. “That’s just it… I DON’T! This time… it actually DOES feel genuine! I don’t know how! But it does!” The other elements gasp.
If they were truly brainwashed, then why is Pinkie unable to pick up some form of fake smile? “You don’t think… that Starlight’s magic could have been able to manage to make the brainwashing so effective, not even YOU can detect any form of fake happiness… could it?” Rainbow asks of Pinkie Pie.
“I DON’T KNOW! I’ve never come across a situation like this before! On one hoof, even those that were secretly not into Starlight’s rule the first time are somehow on her side now. But on the other hoof… I see no evidence whatsoever that they’re actually NOT genuinely happy at all!”
Night Glider gives the elements a smug face, “Oh, we’re not just genuinely happy. We are GENIE-uinely happy~”. That pun was so groan-worthy both the elements and even the other genies in the village just sigh or facehoof. Night Glider just blinks “Oof, tough crowd”.
((Story continues after the break))
Applejack takes the awkward silence after the joke to get the discussion back on track. “Well… regardless if any brainwashing is involved or not… Ah’m afraid we’re still kind o’ at odds with what ya’ll want. At the very least, ya’ll are not attacking us even knowing that. But ya’ll do know the next thing we’re doing is goin’ after Starlight, right?”
“We know, but we’re not attacking because we know Starlight’s smart enough to avoid a direct confrontation with you girls”. Night Glider smugly responds. Sugar Belle says an addendum “And if we were to attack you, what good would it really do us? We only hope to see you girls as genies too one day, we’re just not allowed to transform you ourselves. We have no intention in fighting or otherwise hurting any of you. While you are at odds with our cause, we don't consider you an enemy. Maybe Starlight feels differently, but even I have to imagine she wants you as allies, eventually.”
Rainbow Dash crosses her hooves in bored disappointment “A villain with minions that don’t even want to fight? Laaaaaaammmmeeeee…” Twilight nudges Rainbow in the shoulder and keeps her teeth clenched as she warns the cocky pegasus “That might be for the best, Rainbow. Even the Alicorn amulet was no match for genie Starlight. You really want to try fighting essentially more than a dozen Starlights at once?!”. Rainbow realizes Twilight has a point, though she’s still rather disgruntled of not being able to do any action to help save the day.
Twilight proceeds to take this opportunity to change the subject and turns toward Sugar Belle and Night Glider “Well um… if I may ask you both… But didn’t you have two stallion friends here before? Any idea where they could have gone?”
“Ah! You’re looking for Piñata Prize and Slalom Slopes! They’re right over there! I can call them over! Pinny and Slala! Poof on over here!” Sugar Belle calls out to a light blue and white mare that the Mane 6 don’t quite immediately recognize.
In two poofs of smokes, two mares appear next to Sugar Belle and Night Glider. “Hello!” Piñata happily greets Twilight and her friends. “Need anything from us?” Slalom asked of the six.
“Uh… Sugar, I think you must have misheard me.. I was specifically thinking of Double Diamond and Party Favor… Plus, these two aren’t even stallions!” Twilight not getting why they called two mares over.
“Yes!” Sugar Belle just bluntly says and smiles with a grin. Twilight just reacts with a confused face.
“I had no idea Party Favor and Double Diamond had fraternal twin sisters! They look just like them! …If they were mares of course, anyway” Fluttershy innocently assumes.
“Oh, we’re not their sisters. Piñata was Party Favor and I was Double Diamond! We’re just mares now with whole new names. thanks to an extra twist added to our genifications!” the white genie mare explained.
All six of the elements just have huge gasps with mouths agape
“STARLIGHT TRANSFORMED YOU BOTH INTO MARES?!” Rainbow loudly exclaimed
Piñata nods quite excitedly “Yep! And not just us! Any stallion in the village are now mares too!” They all look around at the village once more and do notice now more then before that there wasn’t one stallion in town. Some of the mares that they vaguely recall had a similar color scheme as stallions they’ve seen here. But obviously they know now, that those particular mares might have indeed formerly been the stallions they remember. Mares normally outnumbered stallions anyway, but it was still weird to not even see a single one of them.
Twilight wonders something. “Did… all the stallions here wish to be mares before they were suddenly genified?”
“No, we emerged as mares after we were sucked into our vessels as stallions” Slalom responded
“…And you’re ok with that?” Twilight asked further
“I certainly have no issues with it! If Starlight feels like it keeps us more equal, then I’m a-ok with it!” Piñata happily replies, with Slalom just nodding in agreement. All 6 just sort of grimacing that they’re now actually on board with being equalized by Starlight again despite what had happened before.
“That’s not all!” a less familiar voice to the Elements rings out. It’s from what seems to be a grey pegasus with a purple mane and tail, veil and leggings in a similar color the lighter purple color of the tail.
Rainbow is curious who this grey pegasus genie is “Huh, who are you?” The grey mare is actually somewhat heartbroken that Rainbow didn’t recognize her. “Rainbow Dash! How could you not remember me?! I’m your biggest fan!”.
Rainbow rubs the back of her head sheepishly “Uh… aheh heh heh… well… you know... I kind of hear that a lot... There’s so many ponies who claim to be my biggest fan. I might need you to narrow it down by telling me your name. Maybe it’ll ring a bell then!”
“Rainbow Dash! It’s me, Tornado Bolt!” Rainbow starts thinking where she’s heard the name Tornado before… the only pony who comes to mind… is a little grey pegasus filly she’s seen a few times when a crowd was watching her.
“Whoa whoa whoa! You can’t be her… you’re a full grown mare! The Tornado Bolt I know is only a little filly!” The grey mare just shakes her head “That’s because before I was genified, I wished I would be all-grown up from Starlight and Trixie!”
“WHAT?!” Rainbow dash exclaimed
“Additionally, while I tried to escape with the other villagers. I got caught with a bottle by Miss Slalom who was skiing down the hills levitating multiple bottles in tow. When I was released… I also got my CUTIE MARK! I guess it was actually my destiny to be a genie!”
Twilight frowns and whispers to the others “...Or genifications force a destiny on ponies…" Applejack responds “Ah’m happier than ever that Apple Bloom, Sweetie, and Scootaloo already got their cutie marks recently… they might have not resisted being able to wish for a cutie mark”. Twilight has a bit of bad news on that front “Not that it matters, if you’re genified and you already have a mark. It actually CHANGES your mark to be genie-themed… It was only for a little bit, but when she was genifying Trixie in front of us... I noticed that Starlight’s flank had her purple star changed to a lamp.” Applejack frowns “So if ah’m genified, the apples on mah flank may become bottled cider or something like that! Not that ah don’t like cider, but these changed marks just feels wrong t’ me!”
The little filly continues “Oh oh oh, and that’s not all! I didn’t just wish for myself! I wished every filly and colt in Equestria were grown-up too!”
“WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!” This time all 6 exclaim simultaneously
“Are you absolutely sure they granted a wholesale wish that large?!” Twilight immediately ran up to asked the filly-turned-mare
“I guess from what I could see, only myself and the other young ponies in this town became adults for certain.” This prompts Twilight and the others to look around again, noticing that there were no fillies or colts. There were certainly some genie mares they didn’t recognize, but vaguely recall some young ponies in Our Town that had similar colors, just like with the mares who had colors similar to former stallions.
Tornado Bolt continues “But this huge magical shockwave spread out of the town. Plus, Starlight and Trixie fell over as if they were a bit tired once they were done granting the wish. It must have been a really powerful wish for both of them to need a moment to get back up! So it must have worked!”
“Twilight… if that’s true… then Apple Bloom, her friends, and every other little pony in Ponyville have become adult ponies too!” Applejack exclaimed
Rarity and Rainbow Dash gasped “Sweetie Belle!” “Scootaloo!” the two name the CMC member they know most respectively. “Poor Sweetie Belle must be absolutely confused! Twilight, maybe we should go ba-“ Twilight interrupts Rarity’s worries to mention the bigger picture here.
“Focus Rarity, before we go back. We need to stop Starlight first. As long as we can do that, we can find a way to return Sweetie Belle and the other young ponies to normal” Rarity is still worried about Sweetie Belle, but she puts on a determined face for Twilight and knows she’s right. Meanwhile, Applejack starts thinking “Just how are we going t’ find Starlight, though? It’s not like the genies here are gonna help us with that”
Night Glider smugly smiles “Who knows? Maybe the right wish may make us help you~”. Twilight’s skeptical “I’m not su-“ “OH YEAH! We can wish from you to bring Starlight here! I wish Starlight Glimmer was here!” Rainbow Dash brashly making the first wish.
“Rainbow, no!” Twilight exclaims, though it is too late. Though funnily enough Night Glider just chuckles as she charges up her magic and as the elements prepare to get into position to blast Starlight as soon as she gets here. Instead, Night Glider just morphs her body, shrinking her wings until they were completely gone, a horn popping up from her head, her mane and tail turning dark purple, with her coat fading into a much lighter purple. The only thing that didn’t change to look like Starlight, was the color of Night Glider’s veil, leggings, and her genie mark remained the same. “Hi! I’m Starlight!” Then Slalom Slopes does the same thing “No, I’M Starlight!” Sugar Belle and Piñata Prize shift into Starlight’s shape next “We’re Starlights too!” Soon, the entire rest of the village all turned themselves into Starlight Glimmer.
The only way you could tell who’s who, is by the color of the veils & leggings, and the genie marks remaining the same, or if the pony obviously couldn’t hide their personality well enough to act like Starlight. Rainbow’s wish didn’t bring Starlight here, it only allowed the village to have some fun and have a good laugh at the elements. Rainbow Dash just rolls her eyes “Haha, very funny…” The village then shifts back to being themselves again once they were felt like they had their fun messing with the Elements. Night Glider just still chuckling herself a bit “Want to try something else?~”
“See? The genies won’t grant it on how we interpret a wish, you have to be careful! And even if you do word a wish with no other room for interpretation, these genies are not bound to that very word. Otherwise, this would be as easy as just wishing all the genies free or wishing Starlight was petrified in stone. if they couldn’t refuse a wish. We’d have to do something like… trick them somehow where even their interpretation of the wish may help us in a way they don’t realize” This makes all the others look deep in thought for something that might go in their favor. Eventually, it’s Fluttershy who’s thought of something. She approaches close to Twilight to whisper what she’s going to do. And Twilight nods, whispering back to her that it may just work.
Fluttershy looks on over to the baker in town “Sugar Belle, I have a wish that’s only for you!” Sugar Belle claps her hooves excitedly “If it’s for one of my delicious muffins, you don’t necessarily have to wish for it!” She poofs up some baking gloves and a tray of muffins. “I thank you for the offer, but no, it’s not for a muffin.” Sugar Belle looks a little disappointed “Awww… well, I’ll just leave these on this table in case any of you change your minds”. She lays them down and poofs the gloves away before getting ready to hear what Fluttershy wants to wish for. “Now what is your wish?”
“Sugar Belle, I wish… you’d stand still… just for a minute or two at least” Sugar Belle raises an eyebrow wondering if she should try that. Eventually though, she just shrugs and says “Well, I don’t see why not? It is a little bit strange but I guess this is a small wish that’s no big deal” Sugar Belle charges up her horn and makes herself quite still. “This what you wanted?”. Fluttershy nods “Thank you, Sugar Belle!” And in that next moment, the elements charge the elements to life. The six mares floating in the air. Eyes glow white until the synchronized connection between the elements reach full power and unleash a giant and fast rainbow that goes up in the air and crashes down on the very still baker mare. When the dust has settled, the genies in the village just looked in awe at the sight of the use of the elements. On the place where Sugar Belle stood, was Sugar Belle… back to her regular self.
Twilight and all her friends smile seeing that the elements have worked and gotten Sugar Belle out of genie hood. “HAHAAAAAA, YES!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Having just been blasted by the elements, Sugar Belle was a bit woozy as she wobbled a bit, she looks at her hooves noticing her attire has disappeared without a trace “W-w-w-what d-d-did y-you do?”
Rainbow Dash flies on over lying on her back in the air “Just saving you from an eternally brainwashed life of course. No need to thank us! Just doing our jo-”
“Thank you? Thank you?! THANK YOU?! NO! THIS. IS. AWFUL!” The baker mare with shrunken irises and a large frown exclaimed and yelled right into Rainbow Dash's face.
Twilight and the others just gasp that Sugar Belle actually WAS NOT happy at getting freed. “I DIDN’T WANT TO BE FREED! IT FELT SO GOOD! I.. I.. I… I… NIGHT GLIDER! I WISH I WAS A GENIE AGAIN!”
At that, the bearers of the elements just have their mouths as agape as they can be. Night Glider is still in a bit of a shock herself after the element blast but after she shakes her head, and realizes what Sugar Belle just said. She poofs up Sugar Belle’s vessel into her hooves ”You got it, Sugar! It’ll be ok, your vessel’s unchanged! On the bright side of this, you get to go through the genification process all over again~”
The genie villagers were admittedly freaked out at first of Sugar Belle’s un-genification. But as soon as Sugar Belle wished she was a genie again. The sound of many relieved ponies could be heard, knowing that even if the elements do blast them. They can get one of the others to genify them again. There’s actually not much point in the elements trying to get them all. The genies would have to purposefully stick in one spot for that rainbow to get them all. And if they’re aware the elements are trying to get them. They have the power to individually evade the blast just as Starlight had earlier.
Night Glider opens the top to Sugar’s vessel and soon Sugar’s tail and hindlegs smoothly warp into the vessel. As Night Glider mentioned, she gets to feel what it’s like to become a genie all over again, she’s dragged along the ground by her vessel as her face deeply flushes pink.
“Haaaaaaaa... yeesssssss… that’s the ticket… OooooOOOOooooOOoo~” Sugar Belle shivering in intense pleasure, with her eyes drifting upward. Deep and loud moans are all Sugar Belle manages to do as her neck, head, and then her face warped into the vessel. Night Glider closing the top on Sugar Belle.
She then opens the top not too long after, and out comes Sugar Belle. Once more, a genie. The first time ever that the use of the elements did not immediately solve the issue for Twilight and her friends. Rarity had closely watched Suger Belle get re-genified too, she tries to hide most of her face with her hooves but she was deeply blushing at the sight that no doubt some of it was still visible outside her hooves. Though the others were too flabbergasted that Sugar Belle just went up and wished herself back into a genie.
“Twilight… What… just happened?” Rainbow in complete disbelief.
“…Genification must have an even worse effect on the mind than we thought. Not only does it bring them to Starlight’s side… it brings some form of ADDICTION… that not even the Elements can weed out! This is terrible! Even if eventually we manage to get every pony here un-genified, they’ll all need a long time in THERAPY just to fix it!”
“Oh Celestia… Twilight… What… do ya suppose we do? Still try t' ungenify ponies here?” Applejack asked. At that suggestion, Night Glider rushes into Applejack’s face “Now hold on, no more trying to ungenify us… if you try to ungenify any more of us, including Sugar Belle again… the rest of us will us will go to Ponyville… and genify all your friends and family there…”
All six of the non-genie mares gasp.
“Starlight said we can’t genify any of you six, but every pony else is fair game for us if we want to! So go ahead, I’m sure we’d be eager to get the ball rolling for Starlight in Ponyville early if we need to~ Otherwise… leave us ALONE!”
Every one of the elements but Twilight grimace at the ultimatum laid down at their hooves. Twilight’s just looking down and thinking, the others look at the purple alicorn wondering what she’s thinking about. “…Night Glider, we won’t ungenify any of the villagers here anymore… First, there’s no point as we just saw… plus… even if we did somehow turn you all back at once… we’d be leaving you all in really bad mental states. As much as we’d like to have you on our side, I just can’t morally go through with that…”
“…Twilight, are ya sure? Ah agree that leaving them all like what Sugar Belle was like before she was re-genified, doesn’t sound like the right thing t’ do… but what if this is the only way t’ do it?” Applejack sadly inquired. “…Even If that is the only way. I don’t feel like we’d be the heroes anymore. Even if this is some heavy brainwashing, is it right to try to fix them if it’ll only leave them broken and unhappy?” Twilight drops her head low.
There’s a silence that lasts a long time as this is a dilemma Twilight and her friends were not prepared to have to deal with. Suddenly, it’s Rainbow Dash who has an idea “Say… Twilight… maybe… it’s something like… Starlight herself... or at least her lamp... are the source of all these brain wishy washy feelings, and un-genifying her could free the other genies of their addiction towards being a genie!” The idea of this perks Twilight up, that sounds plausible enough to her. Especially since blasting the vessel might undo Starlight’s own corruption and more. “Oh my gosh! Rainbow Dash! You’re a genius! That might be exactly what we need to do!” Twilight grabs Rainbow Dash into a big, tight hug “Aghhhh! Appreciate the praise, Twilight… but I think the earth pony strength part of your Alicorn traits is crushing me!” Twilight lets go before grinning sheepishly “Heh, heh… Sorry”
“But if that’s how we solve all this, then that just brings us back t’ how are we going to manage to find Starlight or at least her vessel?” Applejack getting the group to start thinking again. “Well, again wishing isn’t going to work for us. The genies will probably just do something like putting us in a snow globe version of whatever location we choose temporarily.” Night Glider grumbles to herself “Agh, why does the Princess have to be so smart… I was looking forward to doing that…”
I do have a guess that Starlight’s going to go to a place with a large population. The Crystal Empire is the closest, though there’s also the possibility that’s where Starlight wants us to think she went to. She could of easily gone to the east towards Manehattan instead. Or given they can teleport long distances, they could even have chosen the whole other side of the country just to throw us all off! I might be overthinking this… but it’s something Starlight might do… maybe…” Even Twilight’s kind of second guessing herself with the situation they’re in.
“WAIT! AAAAAAAAAAH WHAT IF STARLIGHT’S ACTUALLY IN PONYVILLE RIGHT NOW?!” Pinkie freaks out and makes the others gasp at the possibility. Pinkie also absent-mindedly forgets what’s around them as the situation turns dire “I WISH WE WERE BACK IN PONYVILLE SO WE COULD CHECK REAL QUICK!” She then covers her mouth realizing the first two words she just said. “Pinkie, no!” Twilight exclaimed. Meanwhile the entire village just gives the elements a smug smile. They know Starlight isn’t going to Ponyville yet, so this is just the perfect opportunity to make sure the elements can’t get to Starlight before she’s likely gotten the Crystal Empire taken care of.
The entire village of our town simultaneously point a hoof towards Twilight and the others and says “Your wish… is our command~”
“PINKIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” Rainbow Dash exclaims before all the elements are all blasted with genie magic.
Within moments, they all drop with a thud back in the middle of Ponyville, not far from the front door of Twilight’s castle. Dazed for a little bit, they slowly get up. “Well, Pinkie Pie… Ah hope somehow ya’ll were right that Starlight is here…” Pinkie looks around town. But Ponyville seems relatively normal, if something was happening. There’d likely be some screaming and certainly some running ponies. There were ponies being cautious, but that was more of a an effect of keeping a watch for the Storm King’s invasion. Not the current genie mess that’s been escalating. “…Doesn’t look like it, Applejack'' Pinkie Pie lowers her head sadly.
"I'm sorry girls, after seeing just how forced upon genification is on ponies... to the point that ungenifying them leaves them so unhappy... I was too scared that maybe Starlight would pick Ponyville first just to be that vindictive towards us as to get our hometown first immediately after Our Town!" Hearing that they understand Pinkie's desperation given they have all been thinking of just how awful this situation is.
“We understand why you did that Pinkie… but still... now we have to ride the slow train back…” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves. Twilight shakes her head sadly “There’d be no point to that, Rainbow. By the time we get back to Our Town… the Storm King will have Cloudsdale overrun… and whichever place Starlight went to is likely to already be fully genified. I’m afraid… that we’re likely going to have to just remain here… and wait to see which one… comes to us first…”
Twilight’s friends gulp. Things have not gotten any better, in fact the more they’ve delved deeper in evaluating the situation they’re in, the worse it’s gotten. Besides the impending invasion from the Storm King, there is Starlight Glimmer currently transforming ponies into genies. And the elements are just about useless on any of those she’s already transformed, as they’ll just wish from another genie to get turned back. They’ve come up with a hypothesis that perhaps blasting both Starlight and her vessel with the elements might work. But that in itself is looking to be a tall task. They have no choice but to take a defensive position, as Pinkie’s wish had sent them too far away to be able to get to either Cloudsdale or wherever Starlight might have gone in time.
Suddenly, off in the distance they hear three screams as well, it gave them some hope that maybe they had spoken too soon that Starlight wasn’t here and Pinkie actually did the right thing. They look towards where the screams are coming from, with them now calling out for them with two ponies yelling “SIIIIIIIIIIIS” and one yelling “RAINBOW DAAAAAAAAAAASH. “…Sweetie Belle?!” “Apple Bloom?! “Scootaloo?!” Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow all assume and are in fact correct that it was the three cutie mark crusaders. But they certainly looked different, as they were now just as tall and looked as grown-up as all the Elements were.
All six of them gasp at the sight of the now aged-up cutie mark crusaders...
