When the flash faded, and all three beings got their bearings, they soon found themselves observing a world that was void of all life. There was nothing but biting winds and empty fields of dust, covered up by a dull, dark grey sky that gave everything a bleak and depressing feeling.
"What is this place?! Why have you brought me here?!" Starlight demanded of Shining Armor, but all tackling him in frustration! "Take me back, now!"
But Shining only shook his head. "I couldn't even if I wanted to, Starlight. I used all the magic I had to bring us to this timeline. So now you must face the reality you see before you," Picking up a small grain of dirt, he explained. "It's like I said, everything we do in the past affects the future. And what you've been doing, leads to here. A future void of light and hope."
"Lies, all of it!" Starlight bitterly snapped. "You expect me to believe that somehow, preventing you and your friends from getting your cutie marks, will bring all of this about?!"
"It's one possibility, I've seen another," Shining ominously commented. "The last timeline I visited, your actions led to a war with the Crystal Empire. Is that a future you'd wish upon Equestria, just to satisfy your own desires?"
"Enough of your games, prince!" Starlight snarled and hissed, stomping her hooves on the ground. "You're not going to change my mind! All of Equestria will be better off if I get my way! Trust me, cutie marks are nothing but trouble."
Just then, a huge crowd of ponies came marching past. But they seemed to be as void of life as the world around them. All their coats were dulled, their manes and tails were all styled into that same equal style straight down the middle, and on their flanks were solely black equal signs.
And leading this pack (which seemed to be struggling to hold back signs of hesitation), was none other than Starlight herself. Or rather, another version of her. She wore a tiara similar to the ones seen on Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and wasn't bothering to hide that sinister smile as she rode in a chariot, pulled by the likes of Celestia and Luna themselves (who were also subject to the same treatment as the rest of the ponies). "Keep working, you fools!" Future Starlight barked out. "This land is hardly suitable for the foundations of my empire! We must expand! I won't rest until all of Equestria is cutie marked no more!"
"Yes, Starlight Glimmer." The ponies obliged, largely due to the effects of the equal signs on their rumps, which glowed and pulsated, draining their will to resist (though it also had the effect of slowing them all down to the same snails pace).
Starlight watched, as her future self slowly rode off into the distance, never seeming to acknowledge anyone. "That can't be me! This has to be a joke! There's no way this is the Equestria I'll bring about!" She thought to herself.
"Do you see now, Starlight?" Shining asked, interrupting Starlight's mental ponderings. "This is where your so called 'equality' leads. Down a dark and dangerous path from which there's no return."
"And this is the part where you say I can turn it all around, right?" Starlight bitterly hissed, despite the tears that were forming in her eyes. "Because if you think that, you're even more full of it than you claim I am! Let's say I believe you, and by the way I don't, you expect me to give up my anti-cutie mark crusade, just because you say so?"
"Please, Starlight, it's for your own good!" Spike pleaded. "You saw what kind of monster you'll become if you keep this up! Is this really the kind of fate you wish to bestow on Equestria, just to get your way?! Is it really worth it?!"
"But, it wasn't supposed to be like this! It can't be this way!" Starlight loudly protested! "My goal was to expand my humble village, turn it into a model sanctuary that would set an example for all to follow! Once everyone in Equestria had given up their cutie marks and embraced equality, friendship and harmony were supposed to spread like wildfire!"
Shining just shook his head. "Yet that equality was founded on a lie, and you yourself wouldn't ever give up your cutie mark. So it was never true equality," Then he added. "But it's not really about equality, is it? Your hatred of cutie marks goes beyond just a misconception. I know this, because I know somepony who used to be very close to you."
"Sunburst?!" Starlight gasped, her mood changing from angry to surprised. "What has he told you?!"
"Not much, he never heard from you again after he left to attend magic school in Canterlot," Shining told Starlight. "But from what I can gather, it seems like you two were close. So let me ask you something? Do you think any of this is what Sunburst would want? That would make him welcome you back into his life with open hooves? Because if he were standing here now, I'd imagine he'd only be appalled and disgusted to see that you're blind to what you've become!"
"Don't presume you know me, because you don't!" Starlight snapped back! "Not everypony's lucky enough to get their cutie mark as the same time as their friends!"
"But they weren't my friends when we got our cutie marks!" Shining protested.
"My point still stands," Starlight said with a shake of her head. "You don't know the heartache that a cutie mark brings, because you grew up in a life of privilege and luxury. You got everything in life hoofed to you on a silver platter. I had nothing, there was no one I could count on for support when I needed it most! You may claim Equestria was founded on the concepts of friendship, harmony, and magic. But where were those pretty little words when I needed to hear them most?!"
"Look, whatever happened to you in the past, it doesn't have to define who you are now," Shining desperately pleaded with Starlight. "The future can be changed, but only if you stop dwelling on the past! Whatever it was that turned you against cutie marks, I'm sorry. But what I want to know is 'Why?', why are you so bitter and disgruntled? Even Sunburst wasn't this upset, and he was pretty peeved that life wasn't going the way he wanted it."
"Oh, you wanna know what happened to me, do you?" Starlight ominously asked, raising an eyebrow.
Spike gulped. "Why do I get the feeling I don't like where this is going?"
"Well too bad! Ready or not, I'm gonna show you and that pesky pony you're friends with just what happened to me!" Starlight shouted, firing off a blast of magic at the table map, and creating another time bubble. "It's time for another field trip through time! And by the time it's over, you'll finally see what this is all about."