"Alright, let's go over this one more time," Twilight said as she gathered everyone in the castle.
The alicorn requested everyone meet her in the throne room, her thoughts spiraling on the significance of her new castle and what the magical palace wants of them. Everyone sat in their appropriate thrones aside from Twilight as she paced back and forth: Spike napping on his small throne, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy sitting in their thrones, and Sora, Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, and Ventus looking down at them from their taller thrones, their Keyblades resting beside them. After the excitement of having this castle, the Keyblade wielders a part of the Castle of Friendship, and getting things situated in all the rooms, they now wondered if there was a purpose for this castle aside from defeating Tirek and unlocking the chest.
"Come on, Twilight," Rainbow said. "It's so obvious: We found all six keys, defeated Tirek, you finally mastered using those latent powers of your Keyblade without having a split personality, and we got this sweet castle. We've been over this a dozen times."
"I know that, but why?" Twilight asked.
"I've been wondering that myself," Aqua said. "It's understandable how the six of you girls deserve this castle, being the Elements of Harmony. But why us as well? There has to be a reason."
"Well, as a princess of Equestria, my duty in this world is to spread the magic of friendship. But how are we expected to do that if we sit on our flanks in these thrones here in Ponyville?" Twilight looked up at her friends from another world, Aqua's question also in need of answers as well. "And what of the other thrones? None of them are part of the Elements of Harmony, unless Sora counts with his Harmony Form, so...why do these thrones appear in the room when they are present?"
The group thought over the reason, Ventus perking up as he had a thought. "...If the Tree of Harmony had existed many years ago when Celestia and Luna found it...do you think it knew about the Keyblades?"
"...That's a good question," Aqua said. "That tree is magical and has existed over a thousand years."
"Not only that, but it was also the source of Twilight's latent potential with a Keyblade," Riku added. "When the others taught someone else the true meaning of their Element, they received a key and helped unlock a power for Twilight. Each change represented their natural traits into a D-Link, or Harmony Link, giving her abilities that showed their personalities and unique traits."
"Too bad the Land of Departure is hidden now," Terra said. He grunted as memories of what had happened came back from before the world fell to darkness, now known as Castle Oblivion thanks to Aqua preserving the secrets of the world from others. The pain he felt from fighting against Eraqus to protect Ventus, hearing him say he failed to keep him away from the darkness and raised his Keyblade against them, but the worst was watching him be slain by Xehanort's hand, losing his master, his father-figure, right before his eyes. "...If there were any secrets of the past none of us knew, it could have been there...Or lost if there was anything before the Keyblade War..."
"...Well, this castle could be a new training ground for new Keyblade wielders if more are chosen," Sora said. "Equestria's sort of a peaceful enough place for that, right?"
"We need a world free from darkness," Aqua reminded the teen. "That means not a single Heartless can breach the world and harm anyone in the world. Sadly, it appears all worlds can have darkness lingering in the air...and we were blind to notice it from Xehanort back then."
"Or Vanitas," Ventus added.
"...Or me when I used the power of darkness against Master Eraqus..." Terra let out a depressed sigh, wishing the man he saw as a father had been able to come back along with him and Ventus.
Seeing the depressed looks on the older three Keyblade wielders, Kairi decided to change the topic. "Whatever this castle wants us to do, I'm sure it would give us a sign if there was any more it has to offer."
"I hope so, because none of these questions have any answers." Twilight sat down on her throne with a grunt, pondering what they were meant to do now.
Suddenly, the Mane Six's cutie marks began glowing, along with the marks on their thrones. The mares actually felt an odd tingling sensation when they glowed, Pinkie the only one out of the group giggling at the funny feeling while everyone else was surprised at what was happening. The same happened to the Keyblade wielders, feeling the same thing the girls were as their Keyblades, both their weapons and the ones on their thrones began shining a bright white light.
"Whoa! What's going on!?" Riku exclaimed.
As they looked down at their cutie marks in confusion, Aqua and Terra lifting up their clothing to see their Keyblade cutie marks glowing, the Keyblade wielders' blades slowly floating away from them. The six weapons floated out in the center of the circle of thrones, spinning around rapidly as they pointed down. As light built up at the end, colorful beams of light shot out from the Mane Six's thrones until they reached the middle of the star, lighting the room brightly. The Keyblades then fired their light down upon the star, making the room quake as crystals shot up from their thrones, trailing to the light as the center floor began lifting up a table of flat crystal between them.
The new crystal furniture lit up, creating a holographic three-dimensional map of all of Equestria on its surface. The ponies gasped in awe, seeing every single feature of each town and city in the world, almost as if they were giants to the uninhabited recreation of the massive kingdom. The Keyblades then flipped around and aimed up, firing another beam in the middle of the air, all six lights connecting simultaneously. Now, floating above them, was a miniature expanse of outer space, where hundreds of thousands of stars lit up in the holographic image, several small versions of worlds the Keyblade wielders had seen before showing their appropriate features.
Everyone was stunned silent in awe, jaws dropped as the Keyblades floated back to their owners, their work apparently done. Spike woke up from his little nap, letting out a yawn as he sat up in his small throne and opened his eyes.
"Huh?...Is this new?" the dragon questioned, though no one was able to answer as the shock of this phenomenon was too great for them to snap out of. "Wow! This is cool!" Spike climbed up onto the table, looking down at the map of Equestria and the vast openness of space with several different worlds he had never seen. "Is that what's it's like in space!? And a whole map of Equestria!? Where'd this come from!?"
Looking down at the map, there were many different locations everyone recognized, matching exactly how each building was designed and what each landmark was supposed to be. "Oh my...This is...amazing."
"Hey, it's my house!" Pinkie said, peering down at the wasteland of a rock farm with her old home standing where it has been since she was little. "Hi, mom and dad!"
Spike stepped down on the house, not crushing it since it was just an intangible image, though it made Pinkie tear up in horror at her holographic home stepped on by an overly curious baby dragon. Twilight levitated Spike off the map, though she kept her eyes on what was above Equestria; the many worlds that she nor has any other pony ever seen before.
"This is crazy," Sora said. His eyes scanned the holographic cosmos, spotting a small sphere that looked like it had the features of his home. "Hey, is that Destiny Islands?"
Sora reached a hoof out and pointed at it, where the miniature sized world suddenly blinked and expanded, zooming up and getting a closer look at the world. Catching everyone by surprise, the map of Equestria disappeared and was replaced by the landscape of Destiny Islands. The planet above now showed a better close up view with the ocean and few pieces of land, the flat map on the newly risen table before them mapping the landscape of the island Sora, Riku, and Kairi hung out at. There was the clubhouse they made, the viewing deck looking out at the sea, the pier where they docked their boats, the waterfall flowing down the small mountain into a freshwater spring, and the paopu fruit tree off the small island platform connected with the main island by a wooden bridge.
"It's the island," Kairi uttered.
"Sora, how'd you do that?" Riku asked.
"I...don't know. I just pointed at Destiny Islands and it zoomed in on it," Sora said, his shock slowly turning to excitement as he rubbed his hooves together. "This is actually pretty cool." Curious, he held both his hooves up, seeing two lights shine on the world. Moving his hooves together and far apart, he zoomed Destiny Islands in and out on the galaxy map and spinning the illusion around like a globe. "Awesome! Quick! Someone else mess around with this thing!"
"Ooh! I wanna try!" Pinkie lifted her hooves up to try to move the holographic world around, but no matter how wildly she flailed her hooves, she couldn't move it. "Aww. I can't do it."
Aqua grew curious about this new map that was given to them. She lifted a hoof up, gasping in surprise as she could actually feel the upper map from her spot on the throne as a light from her hoof lit up, almost as if she was touching it.
"This is...so strange," she said, taking control of the galactic map as she zoomed away from Destiny Islands. She pointed at different worlds, revealing their features from space and the terrain of the area they were looking at on the crystal table beneath it. There were worlds she recognized, some she never knew existed, and on rare occasions, they all saw a couple black specks in the clear blue illusions, though they were far from any town or civilization in each world. "But...it's amazing. It's an entire map of our galaxy, and we can see every single world with just a single touch!"
"Goodness," Rarity gasped, the mares seeing far more worlds than they thought there was beyond their own. "Just how many worlds are there?"
"But what were those black dots in some of the worlds?" Riku asked. "Those didn't seem like a good thing."
"I'm not sure...but I have to know exactly how this thing works." Before Aqua could study this new map further, her control of the galactic map was lost as it acted on its own.
The map returned back to Equestria, their cutie marks glowing again, giving off that strange tingling sensation like before. They soon peeled off their flanks in an aura-like form, all twelve marks floating out over the map of the world, the Elements of Harmony floating together on the bottom while the Keyblade wielders' Keyblades hovered above them. They started out above the castle, slowly moving out toward a location at the far end of the kingdom in an empty stretch of land near some mountains.
"Wait, if this is Ponyville,-" Rainbow pointed at Ponyville, then moved her hoof over to where their cutie marks are at. "-why are they over there?"
"I don't know," Twilight said, looking down at the location that was marked by their cutie marks. "Maybe the map is trying to show us something."
"And it involves all twelve of us?" Ventus asked. "You don't think there's another villain from Equestria involved in another plot, is there? Just how many more are there???"
"If there's danger around, then count me in!" Rainbow exclaimed, though her enthusiasm faltered a little as she sat back down while looking around the taller thrones. "Unless there are Heartless or Nobodies, then you guys can deal with them."
"Well, I was planning on organizing my baking sheets, but ok!" Pinkie said.
"If there is something dangerous out there, we better make sure it doesn't come into contact with any towns or cities," Terra said. "And if the map wants all of us to see, then we all better go."
"Umm, actually, I'll just stay here," Fluttershy said. "I'm not sure Spike is allowed to go, and he needs somepony to watch him."
"That's cool," Spike said, not even minding he wasn't chosen by the map to come along. He pulled out a foam finger and a drinking hat, confusing the others with the gear he began putting on. "I was planning on meeting with Big Mac and talk about hoofball, hoofball trading cards, arguing about hoofball stats-"
"Actually, I think I should go too," Fluttershy quickly said, clearly not a big fan of the sport from cringing over Spike's plans. "Just in case they need me."
"Eh. Suit yourself," Spike said with a shrug. "Good luck, you guys!"
The baby dragon took his leave, mumbling to himself over how he'll get Big Mac into giving him a trading card. "The heck is hoofball?"
"It's kind of like football, though it's played a little differently," Terra explained. "I played a game or two with some stallions back in the town by the forest stayed in. I had to hold back on my strength, otherwise I would have sent the ball hurtling ten miles out of town."
"We should try it when we come back!" Sora suggested. "You and Ven against me and Riku!"
"What? No girls allowed?" Kairi asked. "Or are you boys afraid of getting your butts whooped in another sport that doesn't involve giant fruit?"
Sora, Riku and Ventus winced, Kairi and Aqua smirking as they reminded them of their loss playing Fruit Ball back in Disney Town. "...W-Well, it's not really like that, Kairi..."
"Eh. Let the boys have their fun," Aqua said. "Don't want to embarrass them when a girl beats them at a full contact sport."
The girls giggled, already embarrassing the male teens, Terra raising a brow as he looked at them. "You guys lost at Fruit Ball? Against the girls?" He didn't need a response with their silence and eyes looking down at the ground in shame. The brown stallion tsked and shook his head. "Now I'm more than tempted to have a boys versus girls match to pick up your slack."
After making enough preparations, the group of twelve heroes made their way to the train station. Luckily, there was a train route that would take them to where they needed to be, although the rails ended about a half mile away from the marked location the map wanted them to go to. Once the train had reached the dead end of the tracks, they disembarked and continued walking on foot, the train rolling backwards since there wasn't a way for it to turn around out here.
Twilight lead the way, holding a map of Equestria with the marked area the magical map back in the castle pointed them toward. After a walk across a bridge over a chasm and a climb up a small mountain hill, they arrived at their marked destination. Down below, they saw a small village in the distance, several buildings lined up along the dirt road leading toward it, both rows having equally made and designed homes while ironically shaped like an equal sign from their vantage point while one house stood off on the other end of the road.
"I didn't know there was a town out here," Twilight said as she looked down at her map. "I doubt anypony would make a civilized population out this far in the kingdom."
"I don't think anyone in their right mind would make a living out here with how dull the landscape looks," Riku said. "You sure this is the right place, Twilight?"
"This is where we need to go to," the alicorn said.
"Then let's find out if they have a spa down there," Rarity said, but before she could canter off down the road, Aqua pulled the unicorn back by her tail with her aura."
"Rarity, now's not the time to be relaxing," Aqua chided. "Who knows what lies down there? We have to be on our guard in case someone isn't as friendly as the town seems...and those buildings set up like that seems off to me."
"Yes!" Rainbow cheered. "Danger!"
"Stay behind me, everypony!" Pinkie said, suddenly appearing in front of the group. "I'm on it."
"Pinkie, wait!" Twilight's warning was unheard as the earth pony rolled down the hill, sneaking behind the varying sizes of rocks like a spy. "Ugh. Too late."
The others followed the sneaking pink pony, ducking behind rocks until she disappeared underneath a smaller one. Pinkie reappeared under a bigger, heavier boulder as they walked down after her, waving her hoof to signal the cost was clear, only to lose her hold on the rock as it crushed her. Part of her tail stuck out, but she was able to move it even with the heavy boulder squeezing her into the ground. Pinkie finally stopped moving the rock as they reached the outskirts of the mysterious town, everyone hiding behind it as they peeked around it to see what laid in wait for them.
Now that they had a better look at the small town, they saw normal ponies walking about, though they all seemed a bit off. "Well, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong. Looks like a normal town."
"If by normal, you mean completely bland," Terra said. "I thought maybe someone would have thought to make this place pop out among the desolate looking land."
"I don't like it," Pinkie said, leering at the ponies. "I don't like it one bit. Those smiles do not look right to me."
Upon noting all the ponies and their smiles, a bit too wide and creepy to be genuine. Not only were their smiles weird, but so were their appearances: all the stallions had the same haircut, the mares either had their manes either in a bun, braided pigtails, or hung down past their shoulders, and their coats seemed a bit dull, even those with darker fur or hair. But the one thing about them that all of them had were what their cutie marks were, which happened to be a dull gray equal sign.
"Forget the smiles," Twilight said. "Look at their cutie marks."
"They all have the same equal sign cutie marks," Kairi said. "Is it possible for some ponies in this world to have similar cutie marks?"
"It isn't common, but there are some ponies who can have matching cutie marks," Twilight said. "Some twins might have the same mark, like the Flim Flam Brothers."
"Mention those two, why don't you?" Sora grumbled in disdain, the alicorn ignoring the pegasus's spite toward the scheming unicorn twins.
"For example, their cutie marks make a whole of an apple, where their talent is pretty similar," Twilight continued. "However, sometimes, if two ponies have the same cutie mark, their talent could mean something different. But seeing several ponies in a single town with the same cutie mark is beyond anything I've ever read."
"What does an equal cutie mark even mean anyway?" Terra asked. "Not sure if that means everyone's the same since there are pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies living here."
"Maybe there's some kind of horrific monster behind all this," Rainbow guessed, already itching for a fight. "Or...could Heartless steal cutie marks?"
"No. Just hearts," Aqua said. "And it doesn't look like any dangerous creature from this world can steal marks given to ponies when they find their talent."
"Ah think we should just go on in and speak with the locals," Applejack suggested.
"Good idea, Applejack," Twilight said. "Maybe we'll find out why everypony has the same cutie mark. And why they're...smiling like that."
Leaving their hiding place, the group stayed on their guard if the awkwardly grinning ponies would attack them if there was some kind of spell placed on them. Pinkie did not like the ponies smiles, leering suspiciously at them as they passed by them. The townsponies all welcomed them in the creepiest way possible, holding those cringy, toothy smiles, sounding like they actually were under a mind control spell. Out of all the members of the group, Fluttershy seemed to like how "nice" everyone was.
"I feel like we're in a zombie infested town with all these ponies," Sora uttered.
"Welcome!" a dull blue pegasus mare with white and light gray hair greeted as she hovered past them.
"And goodbye!" Sora turned around to walk back out, only for Kairi to turn him back around.
"Was that supposed to be a joke or were you serious?" the unicorn asked.
"...Both, but mostly the latter," he answered. "Seriously, anyone who gets welcomed this way by every single person they pass, someone's bound to just say 'Nope!' and get out of here. Even I'm tempted to leave."
"Thanks a lot, map," Rainbow grumbled. "Worst. Adventure. Ever."
They were soon confronted by another unicorn stallion from the town, his coat a lighter blue than the pegasus who passed by them, his mane two different shades of dull gray-blue. "Welcome! Pardon my forwardness, but are you an alicorn?"
Twilight gave a nervous grin to the stallion, though not as creepy as the one he was giving them. "Yes," Riku responded. "This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship."
"Well, you've all certainly come to the right place for 'friendship'," the stallion said, though the way he said "friendship" came off in a very creepy, almost seductive way, as if he was trying to hit on Twilight.
Riku growled and stepped in front of Twilight, keeping his temper in check before he punched that sly, disturbing grin off his face. "Excuse me, buddy? Mind repeating that, because that sounded like you were about to make a move on my girlfriend."
"Riku, down," Twilight ordered, tugging him back by his tail, giving him a pat on his shoulder. "Forgive him. He's a little bit too overprotective."
Another stallion approached them, this one another earth pony with a white coat and a light gray and blue mane. "What brings you to our town?"
"Well, we're not exactly sure," Twilight said, Riku keeping a very close eye on the other stallion as he walked over to stare awkwardly at Kairi.
"Well, we are all here to welcome you to our little village. I'm Double Diamond, and that's Party Favor." Kairi soon began feeling awkward from Party Favor's creepy smiling and staring.
Sora quickly flared a wing out, blocking Party Favor's face away from his girlfriend. "Hey, eyes elsewhere, dude."
"Uhh, it's nice meetin' ya, Double Diamond," Applejack said, quickly diverting the awkwardness as she began introducing herself and the rest of the gang. "Ah'm Applejack, and this here's Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Riku, Kairi, and Sora."
Double Diamond approached Pinkie Pie, looking a bit too closely at her trio of balloons cutie mark. "And you all have your own unique cutie marks."
The leering earth pony mare slapped the stallion in the face with her tail, quickly covering her flank with it. "Hey! Eyes up here, mister!"
"Look, Double Diamond, has there been any sort of problems here in your town?" Aqua asked, wanting to get on with discovering if there were any threats quickly and get away from all these strange ponies. "Anything dangerous or monstrous in the area? Black creatures with yellow eyes?"
"I don't think we've ever had any trouble at all," Double Diamond said. "Maybe you'd like to speak to our founder, Starlight Glimmer."
"This way, new friends," Party Favor said, both stallions leading them down the road to the lone house on the other end of the village.
"Oh, I wish everypony in Equestria was as friendly as these ponies," Fluttershy said as they followed Double Diamond and Party Favor.
"Too friendly," Riku growled. Looking back, they could see the rest of the ponies in town following them with those same creepy grins. "Sora, maybe you're right. Everyone here is a horrifyingly happy, far-too-friendly zombie who makes a double entendre over friendship."
"I've got my eye on all of these ponies," Pinkie grumbled. "Something's rotten in...whatever the name of this town is."
"And none of them even mentioned the name," Ventus added. "Either it was recently founded or it has been for some time, but this Starlight Glimmer was too lazy to even make one."
As they reached the house, Party Favor and Double Diamond both knocked on the door simultaneously, alerting Starlight to their presence as they walked in first. "Starlight, we have some new visitors."
Riku leaned over to Twilight as they began walking into Starlight's home, keeping his voice down to avoid being heard by their two tour guides. "If anything goes wrong, let us handle the fighting," he whispered. "It's already awkward enough with everyone here knowing an alicorn is here. We don't want them seeing you with a Keyblade either if there's some mind control spell at work."
Twilight nodded, taking her coltfriend's precautionary warning just in case Starlight or someone else planned to use her to their advantage. Once they were inside, the Keyblade wielders tensed themselves up, avoiding calling forth their weapons unless they have to. At the other end of the bland room, some hanging pictures showing pictures of the same equal sign on the flanks of all the ponies in town, a door opened, revealing the founder of this unnamed town.
"Welcome!" Standing before them was a pale heliotrope unicorn mare, her mane purple with lighter purple and pale blue highlights. She bore the same gray equal sign as a cutie mark like the others, but unlike the other mares' hairstyles, hers curled down over her shoulder while her bangs were split down her horn. She also seemed to look a bit brighter in color than the others, which was a little odd seeing how dull the other ponies' hair were outside. "I am so pleased to have you all here in our town."
Rainbow Dash groaned in disappointment, expecting some kind of monster beyond the door instead of a unicorn. Starlight approached them as Double Diamond began introducing everyone.
"Starlight, this is Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Riku, Kairi, Sora, and Twilight Sparkle." Twilight grinned as she was introduced last, ruffling her feathers a little in nervousness.
Starlight looked them over, mostly at Twilight and Sora. "Forgive my bluntness, but would that be Princess Twilight Sparkle?" she asked, then looked at the brown spiky-haired pegasus. "And Sora, one of the youngest heroes of Equestria?"
"So you know of us," Sora said.
"Well, we don't get many alicorns around here, or any warriors with oddly shaped weapons and unique magical power no ordinary pegasus has," Starlight responded. "We don't get much news, but we hear around the grapevine from any visitors that pass by. But, how have you heard of our village?"
"It's a long story," Twilight said. "Let's just say we found it on a map."
"Technically, it's a tree-chest-castle-map!" Pinkie said cheerfully as she popped up in front of Twilight and Sora, only to go back to sneering in suspicion as she slowly slinked back to her spot.
Starlight surprisingly ignored Pinkie's sudden appearance and continued. "Well, however you found us, we're happy to have you! We're happy to have anypony who wants to experience 'true friendship' for the first time."
Her statement made the group balk in shock and confusion. Brows were raised in skepticism as they stared at Starlight as if she had grown a second head. The Mane Six apparently seemed to know everything there is about friendship, learning more with each adventure or mishap. Sora has plenty of experience with his large group of friends from across the world, his heart connected to everyone else's as he met them. But hearing someone say they can show them true friendship, it sounded impossible and highly ludicrous.
"...What?" Sora questioned, voicing out everyone's thoughts for them.
"Oh, indeed," Starlight said, ignoring their shocked and puzzled expressions. "That's what makes our village so unique. Here, we don't flaunt our special talents because we don't have any special talents to flaunt."
"...Again, what!?" Sora exclaimed, his jaw hung open in utter exasperation.
"Is that the reason why all of you have the same equal sign cutie marks?" Aqua asked.
"Perhaps it would be a lot easier to understand if I give you a tour of the village." Starlight walked past her visiting guests as she began to head outside.
"I don't think a tour's necessary if it's just two rows of houses that look exactly the same," Riku muttered. He looked over at Sora, still in shock from Starlight's explanation of how their town works. Even he couldn't believe that having everyone be equal with no talents is unheard of after all the duels they had together to prove who was stronger. "Sora? You alright?"
"...What???" the teen squeaked, his eye twitching, pointing a shaky hoof at the unicorn founder.
"That's a no," the white pegasus said.
Starlight walked outside as marching drums began beating in the air around them, her little tour of the town accompanied by a musical number. "Heads high, ponies!" she announced, getting all of the citizens' attention as she marched ahead, the ponies marching in line with their widely forced smiles. "Marching proud! All together now! Every one of you!" The others stepped outside, watching the town march along in line with Starlight leading them. "No pony left behind!"
[Starlight Glimmer]
Life is so grand in Our Town
We're always filled with cheer
We never have to look around
To know that we're all here
The ponies began marching in a circle around the group, joining in with Starlight's singing as she looked at everyone, making sure no pony was out of place in any way, shape, or form.
[Citizens]
In Our Town, in Our Town
We don't have to wait
To find out that our destiny
Is just to emulate
"Let's see those big, happy smiles!" Starlight said, each pony grinning wider as she passed by them.
"And I thought Sora's cheeky grin was creepy enough," Riku said, snapping Sora out of his stupor as he glared at his friend with a growl before looking back at Starlight in bafflement.
[Starlight Glimmer]
Life is a smile in Our Town
Our cutie mark's the same
Because we do not separate
Ourselves by more than name
"That's even more confusing," Terra whispered to Ventus and Aqua.
"I'd rather be different than be exactly like everyone else," Ventus said.
[Citizens]
In Our Town, in Our Town
We dare not compete
Two pegasus stallions flew up to Rainbow Dash, the mare having been constantly hovering as they entered Our Town, an odd name to give to any kind of civilization. They gently lowered Rainbow down to the ground before walking off, which bothered and confused her.
Winning only breeds the worst
Ego-filled conceit
Starlight approached Rainbow and walked past her-"You see? Now everypony wins!" -ignoring the odd looks given by the ones who actually appreciated a friendly competition, where anyone wins regardless of who loses the match.
[Starlight Glimmer]
Life is a joy in Our Town
We're all equal here
The heliotrope unicorn passed by her lined up citizens, noticing one of the mares' mane weren't to her equal view. Using her magic, she braided the pony's hair to the appropriate of three styles she preferred, the mare a little bit nervous with the slight mistake she had made and Starlight fixing it for her.
No one is superior
And no one shakes in fear
"Then who made the rules for this town?" Aqua muttered skeptically to herself, seeing as someone wound up being a leader among a group of equal ponies with no superiority over others.
[Citizens]
In Our Town, in Our Town
We work as a team
You can't have a nightmare
If you never dream
Starlight approached the unamused ponies, although Fluttershy seemed to be the only one among them who actually liked the town.
Starlight Glimmer]
Other ponies argue
Do you ever wonder why?
"Because that's normal?" Sora responded, though his voice was unheard by the unicorn, noting Pinkie's similar disdain with her sneer, keeping her distance from Starlight.
When you think your talent's special
You don't see eye-to-eye
There's just too many differences
That lead to disarray
As the ponies danced in sync, one mare was off beat and doing her own dance. When Starlight noticed, she quickly corrected herself and matched the others around her, pleasing her so-called equal leader.
But when you learn to act as one
It's like a holiday
[Citizens]
In Our Town, in Our Town
We don't complicate
When you learn to simplify
Life is oh, so great
Fluttershy bobbed her head in tune to the music, the only one who didn't mind their ideals. When Pinkie glared at her, the yellow pegasus wilted as she shook her head in disapproval. The ponies of Our Town continued marching around the group until they split up, forming two rows between them, making an equal sign from a bird's-eye view.
Join in our utopia
Come out of the dark
Banded by equality
By our cutie mark!
At the end of their welcoming song, the ponies showed off their cutie marks, two pegasi flying overhead with a banner of their town's gray equal sign. Starlight smirked, watching their reactions, almost expecting them to conform with the strange cult-like rules of Our Town. Sadly for her, none of them were willing to be a part of a town where everyone is exactly the same with no unique talents, similar looks, and even cutie marks. This screamed out wrong on so many levels to everyone sans Fluttershy, but if this was a choice they made, they can't really fault them for doing something like this, even if it didn't feel right.
Rainbow Dash laughed at the absurd idea. "You're kidding, right? As if we'd want to give up our cutie marks!"
"Rainbow Dash, don't be so rude," Fluttershy chided. "I don't think we should judge them. They all seem perfectly happy with their choice."
"Try telling that to the ponies Starlight gave those subtle disapproving looks during that song," Riku mumbled.
"I'm sorry, I guess we're just a little confused about all this," Twilight said.
"We have no judgements here in our village," Starlight explained. "All of us were confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks."
"The heck does that mean?" Terra asked curiously. "How can a cutie mark give someone a 'false promise'? They're supposed to represent a pony's talent."
"True, but what if it's something you truly didn't want?" Starlight answered with her own question. "Imagine having a cutie mark destined to appear on your flank, but as you work with your talent you were meant to have, what if you don't like it and it was all you could do for the rest of your life? Wouldn't that just make you miserable in your situation?"
"...Possibly, unless there's another talent they have that's similar to what mark they have," Terra said. "Some can have multiple talents, not just what they show from their cutie mark."
"Well, when we came here, we assumed we were supposed to help in some way," Twilight said. "I guess it's not the case here since you don't need it."
"Have you considered that perhaps you might have been sent here so we could help you?" Starlight asked. "After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave."
"Yeah, I doubt we need your help," Sora said. "Though, your ideals on finding 'true friendship' just sounds...weird. Trust me, I've made hundreds of friends, and making everyone exactly the same sounds like something Discord would come up with and create chaos when someone ends up cracking from all the equality."
"Well, that is your choice if you wish to stay or not," Starlight said. "Please enjoy out little corner of Equestria and check things out. Double Diamond, help our guests to anything they might need during their stay."
"Of course," Double Diamond said.
"I think we're good on a guide," Kairi said. "It can't be that hard finding where everything is in this small village."
"Nonsense! We want you all to have the best experience possible. Enjoy your stay!" Starlight made her way back to her house, leaving the rest of Our Town to their daily lives and her guests to appreciate what they had to offer. "This is sure to boost our community. When the rest of Equestria sees that a princess and a hero give up their cutie marks to join us, they'll finally understand what we're trying to accomplish."
What Our Town had to offer was just like the town itself; bland, with each shop looking similarly to each and every other building. Ignoring the cringy grins from ponies still welcoming them to their village, they passed by a few places before stopping in front of what's supposedly a bakery. While figuring out why anyone would want to give up their special talents to live a life of equality, they passed by the only clothing store, which nearly made Rarity vomit at their "specialty" cloaks they had on sale.
"No wonder nopony's wearing anything," Rarity uttered. "Those cloaks were atrocious."
"Rarity, ponies don't wear clothes," Aqua reminded the fashionista.
"And that's unfortunately a good thing. Don't they even have any good sense of fashion?" Rarity asked.
"Of course not. Being a fashion designer means they aren't 'like everypony else', because apparently making clothes is a talent that should never be applied," Sora grumbled.
"Don't be so rude, everypony," Fluttershy said. "They may do things a bit differently here, but that's not an excuse to be rude to them."
"Have you forgotten just how creepy everyone is just from walking in this place?" Riku reminded the oblivious pegasus mare. "They're staring at us, putting a bit too much emphasis on the word 'friendship', and smiling like Sora did when we found out what that map could do."
"Hey, at least when I smile, it's actually genuine," Sora argued. "And their smiles are just plain awkward."
Looking out at the town, all the ponies were staring at them with those grins, Double Diamond looking over at them from the other end at a table with a wave. "Need something?"
"...No! We're good!" Sora said with a fake smile matching the stallion's. As soon as Double Diamond looked down at the menu, he dropped his grin and plopped his head down on the table. "I like some attention, but getting it like this is not what I had in mind."
"I know this is all awkward, but if there's something going on where the map told us to go, we'll need these ponies' help," Twilight reasoned.
"Ah think we ran off the end of Equestria before we even figured out everythin' about that map," Applejack grumbled.
"If we were on the end of Equestria, we'd all be sitting on a big 'A'!" The group groaned at the terrible joke Pinkie made, now not the time for making any jokes.
While they pondered what was wrong with Pinkie when she was highly suspicious of everyone's smiles in Our Town, a ceriseish-gray unicorn mare with a dark gray-purple mane approached them, her mane tied up in a bun like some of the other mares. She wore a piece of white cloth around her chest and back tied together by a strange of rope, meant to be some kind of poorly made apron. Levitating a notepad and a pencil with her magic, apparently allowed by Starlight for unicorns, she was about to ask for their orders before being interrupted by the others' conversation.
"Pinkie, are you having mood swings?" Riku questioned irritably. "Earlier, you were leering at everyone like a greedy rat protecting its hoard of trash. Now you're cracking jokes? We don't have time to mess around if there's something serious going on."
"I'm starting to wonder what our reason for being here is if there truly isn't anything wrong here," Rarity added.
"I'm sorry," the mare said, finally alerting them to her presence. "Is this a bad time?"
"Let's not bicker in front of our new friends," Fluttershy said. "Riku, you could try to calm down a little bit."
"How can I be calm when that stallion earlier tried to put the moves on Twilight!?" Riku exclaimed. "He talks to her like that again and stares at her that way-!"
"Riku, settle down!" Twilight interrupted. "If he tried to do anything, I can handle him. I know you want to defend me, but I don't want you to start something if you get jealous over something somepony says."
"Did you not hear how talked to you!?" Riku argued. "'You've certainly come to the right place for friendship.' Sounded like he was planning on being a bit too friendly if you walked off on your own!"
"I can take care of myself just fine!" Twilight argued back, letting out a groan of irritation. "You know I've faced villains far worse than a normal stallion!...Well, more weird and awkward than normal, but that doesn't mean I'm always a helpless damsel in distress!"
"You are now that you're a princess!" Riku growled, turning to face Sora and Kairi. "Kairi, you were kidnapped as well! Sora fought through so many foes just to see you were safe, including me when I wasn't thinking clearly! And you're a princess, too!"
"Yes, but I'm able to defend myself too," Kairi said. "You even helped me in acquiring my Keyblade back when we fought the Nobodies, and I was able to fight off the Shadows that appeared pretty well for my first time with a weapon."
"Admittedly, I was a bit defensive too when Party Favor had his sights on her," Sora said. "I know Kairi can fight back, and if she beat me in a friendly duel, then she can handle herself fine. I may worry about her safety, but I don't freak out about it all the time. And Twilight can fight after all she's been through."
"You two are a couple?" the waitress asked Riku and Twilight. "Is your relationship ending?"
Riku and Twilight balked at the absurd question, shocking everyone else at the blunt question the mare made. "Excuse me?"
"Well, you two are fighting," she said. "Are you two going to break up?"
"Are you crazy!?" Pinkie exclaimed before the bickering couple could even explain that a little argument automatically meant the end of a relationship. "We never let an argument get in the way of food!"
"...Ok, then. Well, my name is Sugar Belle. What can I get for you?" Sugar Belle held up her notepad to take her town's visitors' orders. "We have: muffins..."
Sugar Belle paused as the others waited for what else she had for sale. The silence grew awkward, but seeing as the waitress/baker was pretty much done telling what she had, they all decided on the muffins.
"...Then, we'll take twelve muffins, I guess," Aqua ordered.
"Make that eighteen!" Pinkie piped up as Sugar Belle wrote down the order of eighteen muffins. The party pony was given odd looks by everyone with the additional six muffins she wanted. "What? I'm hungry!"
Despite Pinkie's belly rumbling for some muffins, her request for food shattered the stressful tension between Twilight and Riku with their arguing. The couple had began feeling dread over Sugar Belle's assumption that their relationship was going to end just because of a fight; a fight over how the alicorn was supposedly not strong enough in the pegasus's eyes sparked by his overprotectiveness and jealousness over some stallion who looked at his lover strangely. Due to how much trouble he caused in the past, he can't seem to stop causing more in a relationship with Twilight, always underestimating her when he knows she isn't as helpless as she seemed.
Maybe it was because of him trying to make up for what he did for Sora and Kairi under Maleficent's hand by protecting someone he holds dear. Maybe it was after almost losing Twilight when the Nobodies attacked her in Whitetail Wood when he split up from her while understanding his feelings for her. Or it could have been what happened to her before she ascended as an alicorn; getting blasted by the Elements of Harmony and three Keyblades while leaving behind nothing but scorch marks on the ground where she stood breaking him as he just lost someone he loved and wanted to protect from any harm. That thought still lingered in his mind, even what he had done when the sirens hypnotized him back at Canterlot High, along with Tirek shooting a powerful beam at her and the Golden Oak Library, thinking she got blown up with the place she called home.
The rest of their friends remained quiet, conflicted in either helping them sort out their issues or let them handle it on their own. Riku rubbed his eyes, sighing heavily, Sugar Belle's words really making him believe his romantic relationship with Twilight would end from his blatant overprotectiveness in the past. He didn't want it to end, but anytime there was any danger around, he can't help himself try to be her knight in shining armor when she, too, was also a knight as well as a princess.
"...I'm sorry, Twilight," Riku finally said, looking up to see Twilight felt just as worried about their relationship ending. "I just...can't help it. I know you can fight like us, but after all of the close calls you've had brushing past death so many times...I'm just really worried about your safety."
"I know, Riku," Twilight said. "But I don't always need you taking care of my fights for me. I'll know if I'm in over my head, and in a situation like this, with everypony in this village acting this way, I won't reveal my Keyblade in front of them in case something goes wrong."
"I know...You're a smart mare, Twilight. And you have improved with your physical prowess." Riku sighed again, lightly banging his forehead against the table, his ears drooping down against his head in shame. "I keep forgetting all of that because I'm afraid of losing you. Who knows what'll happen when we face someone dangerous, like Xehanort, and you aren't lucky enough to escape from a deadly attack?"
"Then I'll keep reminding you." Twilight gently grasped Riku's hoof with her own, making him lift his head up and stare back at her. "If there's anything I can't handle, I'll come running to you. After what you've been through in the past, I can see you really care about those you hold dear and don't want to go back to what you've done when Maleficent tricked you. I appreciate your concerns from all the scares I gave you, but can you promise not to overreact to everything you think is a threat to me? Especially something as minor as another stallion you don't know acting weirdly friendly toward me?"
Riku nodded his head, gripping Twilight's hoof tightly. "Forgive me?"
Without words, his answer was given by a soft kiss on the lips. He returned the kiss in kind before they pulled away, gently nuzzling each other as all was forgiven between them. The others were glad to see they had made up, a sign for them to bear with the awkwardness of Out Town's citizens and figure out what the map wanted them to do around the area.
"None of us should be fighting right now," Kairi said. "I say, as friends, we put the behavior of all the ponies here behind us and focus on what we're doing here."
"Amen to that," Applejack said, the others nodding in agreement. "The sooner we solve this, the sooner we can head back home."
Sugar Belle came back with their muffins, looking distasteful with their grayish-brown look, the mare apparently watching them once she got their order. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing you all. A moment ago, you were arguing and disagreeing with each other, but now it sounds like you're...agreeing and accepting your mistakes..."
Confused, everyone looked at each other, then back at Sugar Belle. "...Yes? So what?"
"Well, you all had such differing opinions," she said. "And with different cutie marks."
The Mane Six and Keyblade wielders stared at Sugar Belle in bewilderment. Whatever odd brainwashing Starlight did to everypony, she actually thought just because they were different from each other that they couldn't hold onto their friendship for longer than a minute.
"...That's kind of supposed to be the point," Sora explained. "All of us are friends. Friends are supposed to have different opinions, different things they like or dislike."
"Exactly," Ventus said. "One little fight isn't going to end any kind of relationship that fast unless someone was too stubborn to realize their own mistakes."
While trying to process what they meant, Sugar Belle looked back at Double Diamond, the stallion overhearing them as he looked up from the menu with a suspicious gaze. "...I-I'm sorry. I'm just having trouble understanding." As she spoke, Pinkie reached out to one of the muffins and took one in her mouth, immediately regretting it as her taste buds touched the poorly made pastry. "Different talents lead to differing opinions, which leads to bitterness and misery. So, why aren't you-?"
Pinkie interrupted her as she spat out the crumbs of the disgusting muffin, regretting ever eating and ordering several more of them for herself. Noticing Double Diamond watching them, she giggled nervously and grinned.
"Mmm! Good!" she said, having terrible flashbacks of eating those baked bads Applejack made when she was sleep-deprived on Applebuck Season a couple years ago.
"Oh, it's alright," Sugar Belle said, not even offended that her muffins were spat out by one of her customers. "I know I'm not a really good baker. At least, I'm not better than anypony else in the village." She suddenly winced in shock at what she said, her eyes darting back to Double Diamond as he stood up from his seat. "Well, I hope you enjoy your stay!" She began making her way back inside, Pinkie brushing her tongue of the muffin's taste with her hooves, but Sugar Belle stopped between Twilight and Riku. "Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!"
She looked back at Double Diamond, giving her the awkward smile everypony in the town gives before rushing back to her home. Riku sighed in irritation, another moment between him and Twilight was spoiled yet again by something.
"Ok, that was strange," Terra noted.
"Not as strange as everyone else looking at us, though we should be a little concerned about our guide." Aqua tilted her head over to Double Diamond, no longer suspicious as he sat contently eating one of the muffins he ordered, baffling Pinkie over how he could stomach something as bland and disgusting as those pastries. "Double Diamond seemed ready to pounce Sugar Belle for how she spoke a minute ago. Being Starlight's right hoof pony means he helps keep order around here, so the town filled with equality seems to have a scale tipped over to one side over the other."
"...What does that mean?" Rainbow asked as she scratched her head in confusion.
"I'm just making a guess, but if this is a town where everyone is considered the same, why is Starlight in charge?" Aqua questioned. "She has a house to herself outside of the equally built homes we're in the middle of, her hairstyle doesn't seem to meet the code of the other mares', and the fact this town is described as a 'utopia' in their welcome song, there's no chance a utopia can stay peaceful for long. Someone will end up destroying that peace, planning or doing anything not in the rules behind doors away from others...similar to how the Land of Departure was; a peaceful world...brought down by a man the three of us thought we could trust as a Keyblade Master..."
Ventus and Terra nodded their heads sadly. None of them ever put any thought into just how serene and peaceful their home was as they trained. Not a single Heartless could be found there, a perfect environment to train young apprentices and prepare them for the battle against the darkness. Unfortunately, they should have known something was wrong during Aqua and Terra's Mark of Mastery exam when the orbs of light Eraqus summoned were suddenly tainted by darkness and flew out of control. Xehanort ended up destroying that peace, killing Eraqus after he and Terra fought, and brought darkness on the world, destroying itself until Aqua intervened and transformed it into Castle Oblivion, where no one else would know of the training grounds' secrets.
"Then I guess that means we're the ones who has to ruin this 'utopia'," Sora said. "Whatever Starlight's said to everyone here about being friends, it doesn't sit right with me at all. We're going to need to find out what Sugar Belle wants to tell us."
"But we can't just walk in," Kairi said. "Double Diamond is keeping watch on us."
"Like everypony else?" Rainbow said, pointing out at all the townsponies still watching them.
Looking down at the muffins, Aqua found an idea to help them get inside Sugar Belle's house/bakery without looking suspicious. "I got it. Pinkie, you need to eat all these muffins."
"What!? Why me!?" Pinkie exclaimed in fear.
"You have a stronger stomach than all of us combined," Aqua said. "We need to find out what Sugar Belle has to tell us." Pinkie whimpered as she looked at the rest of the uneaten muffins, her stomach already feeling queasy from the one she took a bite of. Everyone immediately felt bad for her if she didn't want to eat any baked goods that was horrible, and the Mane Six and Sora could see she was having flashbacks to those baked bads a couple years back. "Pinkie, if you do this for us, I'll fly out to every single world that sells any kind of sugary sweet goods and buy you one of each. Will that make up for these muffins you need to eat?"
Pinkie gulped nervously, but she took the offer with a nod of her head. She was going to do this for her friends, but at least these muffins didn't have live worms or soda soggy and salty potato chips inside of them. Slowly, she began munching down on each muffin one-by-one, restraining herself from spitting them out and ignored the disgusting taste. Once she was down to the last one, Pinkie looked like she was going to be sick: her belly and cheeks were bloated, an odd surprise to see her eat so much and not gain any weight before, her face was tinted a sickly green, and her stomach occasionally let out gurgles of agony, questioning why its owner decided to put so many of these disgusting muffins inside of it.
If everybody felt bad for Pinkie before, they felt horrible now. She looked like she was about the throw up all those muffins, her eyes watering in protest, begging that this will be the last muffin she had to eat. Summoning up her remaining strength, she grabbed the last muffin and shoved it in her mouth, slowly chewing on it painfully before swallowing it down, letting out a groan of discomfort.
"Oh my, Pinkie!" Twilight said aloud. "I can't believe you ate all of our muffins! Looks like we're going to have to get some more!"
They quickly made their way inside Sugar Belle's home, Pinkie sluggishly slumping behind them. The inside of the house was closely similar to Starlight's, ignoring the interior decor as they found the stairs leading down to the basement. They climbed down the wooden steps to where the mare waited for them, but Pinkie tumbled down and crashed to the floor, squeaking like a squeak toy with each step she fell down.
"I've accidentally eaten cardboard tastier than that," Pinkie groaned.
Though the others wondered how Pinkie managed to accidentally eat cardboard, they ignored it and focused on finding Sugar Belle in the dimly lit basement. "Sugar Belle? We're here..." The mare stepped out in the light, wearing that creepy grin that made everyone's skin crawl. "Why did you want to talk to us down here?"
"So nopony can see what's about to happen," she replied.
Suddenly walking out from the dark basement came Party Favor and the dark blue pegasus mare that greeted them earlier. The trio began closing in around them, the Keyblade wielders prepared for a fight as their hooves were ready to call forth their weapons. Riku kept a close eye on Party Favor as he faced him, but right as he was about to summon his Keyblade, what the stallion said surprised them.
"Are you really the Princess of Friendship?" he asked Twilight, dropping the awkward smile and looked somewhat hopeful.
"Do you guys know Princess Celestia!?" the pegasus mare asked next, neither of the three ponies ever intending to jump them in an ambush.
"I love these cutie marks!" Sugar Belle said, staring at Sora's Keyblade cutie mark, now making Kairi a little jealous.
"Hey, do you guys even know anything about personal space!?" Sora questioned, quickly covering his flank with his tail.
"How can you be friends with different cutie marks?" the pegasus mare asked. "Especially you four-" She pointed at Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Ventus, their cutie marks more out in the open whereas Aqua and Terra's were hidden under their clothing. "-and those weird key things."
"And you are?" Kairi asked, unaware of Sugar Belle now looking at her Keyblade and white heart cutie mark.
"Oh, right. I only passed by you guys earlier," she said. "I'm Night Glider."
"This one's pretty!" Sugar Belle said as she grabbed Kairi's rump, making her squeak in surprise. "Oh, I wish I had my special talent back again, even just for a day! And make something else besides those awful muffins!"
Kairi looked at Sora, who was looking away when Sugar Belle got a bit too into admiring her cutie mark with a light blush. She rolled her eyes and gave him a jolt of magic on his flank, making him yelp in surprise and dropping the thoughts bubbling in his mind over some other mare examining her rear.
"Wait, hold on a second," Riku said, what Sugar Belle had just said confusing everyone even further. "Did you just say you 'wish' you had your talent back? You're actually a skilled baker?"
"And you made me eat those horrible muffins you actually baked that badly on purpose!?" Pinkie exclaimed. "That's a sin for all bakers across Equestria! Including my tummy!"
"Why don't you just do what you like to do if you hate doing what you can't?" Twilight asked.
"Daydreaming is one thing," Party Favor said. "But, having them put back on? That seems extreme."
"What are you talking about?" Terra asked. "You telling us that those equal signs aren't painted over?"
"There's actually someone who can just take cutie marks?" Aqua asked. She looked at Twilight, the alicorn shrugging her shoulders in response, apparently just as clueless as she never heard of anyone or anything able to do that. "How is that even possible?"
"Through the cutie unmarking," Night Glider explained. "Starlight uses the Staff of Sameness to magically take our cutie marks and replace them with these?"
Just from the name alone, the Keyblade wielders looked at each other with unamused expressions. "'The Staff of Sameness'? I've heard better names come from a magical staff."
"But that's just wrong," Twilight said. "No one should keep you from your cutie mark. They're supposed to represent what makes a pony who they are."
"Oh! We're not kept away from them," Sugar Belle said. "They're in the vault up in the caves by the mountain!"
"We can visit them anytime we want, reminding us just how our lives would be if we lived in heartache with our special talents," Party Favor said.
Hearing that there was a vault of cutie marks made to hold them when Starlight takes them with a mystical staff peaked their curiosity. Something was really going on in this town, and if there were ponies here who hated living here and kept their mouths shut from getting into trouble was clear enough that this must be what the map wanted them to know.
"Where exactly is this cave?" Twilight asked, none of them aware of Double Diamond standing by the stairs as he watched them enter Sugar Belle's home, not buying their act after the baker's suspicious behavior.
After speaking with Sugar Belle, Party Favor, and Night Glider, the twelve ponies followed the directions to where the cutie mark vault was. The nearby mountain overlooking Our Town had a pathway leading up about halfway to the mountain peak, where they found a cave after a bit of walking. Since Starlight Glimmer was already suspicious enough, they refrained from asking her about the vault after hearing about it from one of the ponies in her group. And the fact she was different from the rest of the ponies and asserted authority in a town of equality was highly strange.
Upon entering the cave, everyone gasped in awe at what waited inside. Along the wall was a large vault filled with almost a hundred different cutie marks, all of them held inside glass windows for everyone to see. All kinds of talents, all the personalities that make up a pony, everyone's cutie marks from Our Town were inside. There were twelve empty spots in the middle of all of them, which only made them wary as Starlight had been planning to take their cutie marks, whether they wanted to join or not.
"Look at all these cutie marks," Twilight said. "Who would want to just stare at their special talent in something like this?"
"Starlight's definitely done something heinous," Sora said. "I knew something was wrong with her opinion on what true friendship is if she just takes away the cutie marks of any newcomers and is leading them all."
"They also said the Staff of Sameness was supposed to be in front of the vault." In front of the vault was a circular dais, but there was no staff to be seen. "Where is it?"
"Right here." The startled group turned to see Starlight walk out from behind a section of the cave, holding onto a wooden, two-pronged staff in her blue aura. "This is one of the great mage Meadowbrook's nine enchanted items. We are quite fortunate to have it here; a tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks."
"What are you doing here, Starlight?" Riku asked, everyone preparing themselves to fight if needed.
"I should be asking you that," the unicorn said nonchalantly, twirling the staff around in her aura. "Ever since I founded our quaint little village, I hope that one day, all of Equestria will come to pilgrimage here to spread our message of perfectly equal friendship across the land when they join us. But, how did you know the location of this vault."
"Well, some ponies were telling us earlier how they missed their cutie marks, and-" Applejack quickly slapped her hoof against Pinkie's mouth, but the beans were already spilled.
"Great. Thanks, Pinkie," Riku grumbled.
"Were they, now?" Starlight gasped in feigned surprise, her cheerful nature turning to suspicion. "Seems like you all inspire all sorts of free thinking, don't you?"
"I'd rather be myself than be exactly the same as everyone else!" Sora said, the Keyblade wielders sans Twilight summoning their blades in defense. "Whatever you plan to do with those cutie marks, we're not going to let you take anyone else's ever again!"
"Take them? Why, that's absurd. I would never take anypony's cutie mark by force." They soon heard dozens of hoofsteps echoing in the cave. Turning around, they saw most of the townsponies walk in, wearing their eerie smiles and box them in. Sora, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, and Ventus spread out to protect the others in case they attacked while Riku stayed by Twilight. "Until now, that is."
They were caught in a trap, none of them wanting to hurt the other ponies if there were some who didn't appreciate this conformity. Riku looked back at Starlight, grinning sadistically with a menacing glare, aiming the Staff of Sameness at Twilight. The wooden prongs began glowing and fired a strange beam at her.
"Look out!" Riku shouted, shoving Twilight out of the way.
The beam struck him before he could block it, the blue aura surrounding his entire body as he felt a strange pain encompass his whole body. Everyone turned to look at Riku as he began screaming in agony, losing his grip on his Keyblade as it fell to the ground. The pain continued, the group gasping in shock as they saw the aura practically peel off the stallion's cutie mark, clinging on desperately to a thin strong of white mana connected to his flank before the magic from the staff severed it. The pain finally stopped, Riku collapsing to the ground as his Way to the Dawn cutie mark flew over between the prongs of the staff, Starlight grinning in satisfaction as she took away the stallion's mark.
"Riku!" Twilight yelled in shock, gasping when she saw an equal sign appear in place of his cutie mark and his fur and hair became dull.
"One down-" Starlight levitated Riku's cutie mark to one of the twelve available spots in the center of the vault, closing the glass window down and keeping it trapped inside. "-eleven to go."
Before Sora, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, and Ventus could react, she fired another beam at them, this time catching all of them in the same blue aura of pain. The Keyblade wielders dropped their weapons, feeling their cutie marks peeled off their flanks until the colored mana matching their coats was severed away. Starlight levitated the remaining eleven cutie marks and locked them up in the vault, equal signs appearing on their flanks, their bodies as dull as the other ponies around them.
As they got up, they looked at their flanks, Riku growling as he leered at Starlight. "You're going to pay for that!" He grabbed his Keyblade and stood up in his battle stance, his equal cutie mark suddenly pulsing a dark aura as he suddenly fell over, mysteriously losing his balance as he fell back down on his hooves. "W-What...? Why did I-?" He looked up at the smirking unicorn, placing the Staff of Sameness back on its dais. "What did you do to us!?"
"I don't blame you for acting in self-defense, but seeing as you and your friends are quite skilled at fighting, we don't really condone violence," Starlight said. "Now that you'll be a part of our community, you are just like everypony else. You all have spent so much of your lives thinking those marks are a good thing."
Riku grabbed his Keyblade in his mouth, a strange way for him to fight, but if he can't stand in his normal fighting stance, that didn't mean he couldn't fight. "Give them back!"
He ran forward and swung his head to attack, the equal mark pulsing again as his body disobeyed his actions, slowing down until he tapped the mare on the shoulder with the flat side of his blade. Grunting in irritation, he stepped away and tried to fire magic, but he couldn't do that either. Whatever the staff did to him, it made him and the others exactly like the rest of the town, unable to use any talents that made them all exactly equal.
"Now, now, no need to be so aggressive," Starlight said in a mocking tone, snatching Riku's Keyblade out of his mouth, his strength greatly weakened compared to her magic. She also levitated the others' Keyblades, Twilight a little grateful not to have called hers like Riku advised, bringing them to her as she examined them. "Now all of you can spend the rest of your lives here. And we'll teach you just how much better life can be without your cutie marks."
"Starlight, you can't do this to us!" Sora exclaimed, the other ponies approaching them and taking them hostage, their weaker states from being equalized making it impossible to fight back as their marks pulsed, stilling their limbs from throwing a punch or kicking anyone. "We need those to fight the Heartless! What if they invade the town!?"
"There won't be any need for fighting in our peaceful town," Starlight said. "Let's teach our new friends our philosophy until they fully understand just how great it is to be a part of our community." She watched the struggling visitors be carried off by the other ponies before turning around to look at the vault. "So, those black creatures in the news are called Heartless? Never seen any of those things here, so they don't have much to worry about." Starlight looked down at the Keyblades, picking up the Kingdom Keyblade curiously as she waved it around. "Giant keys designed like a sword? How this is considered a weapon to them is ridiculous.
"Oh well. There's no need for heroism around here." Starlight picked up the Keyblades with her magic, taking them with her as she began making her way back to town as soon as the rest of Our Town's citizens made it back to the village. "In time, they'll break and join the others, and when the other princesses visit, the rest of Equestria will be exactly the same. No more differences, no more pain...and no more cutie marks..."