//------------------------------// // Cutie Map part 1 // Story: Prince Sonic the Hedgehog // by castroedgar316 //------------------------------// "Alright, let's go over this one more time," Twilight said to Sonic, Spike (who was taking a nap on his throne), and the rest of the mane six. It's been a couple of days since the battle of the bands and in that time, Twilight began to wonder about the significance of the castle. Currently, the group was in the castle, sitting on their thrones as they yet again had this conversation. Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed sigh before saying, "We've been over it like a million times, Twilight! We found all six keys, defeated Tirek, and got this sweet castle, end of story! "Yes, but why?" Twilight questioned. "I dunno, sugarcube." Applejack said before guessing, "Maybe it's just your new house and there ain't nothin' more to it than that. "If what Applejack said is the case, I must say, speaking strictly on aesthetics, there really doesn't need to be more to it." Rarity said, "It's simply divine!" "Going back on topic, I'd say that Twilight has a point." Sonic said, "This castle must serve some sort of meaning. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the tree of harmony gave us this castle, 'the main reason being that me, Twlight, and Spike still have a home that's in ponyville,' but there must be some sort of reason as to why it was given to us." "Whatever the reason, I hope we figure it out soon enough." Twilight said. Almost as if something responsed to what Twilight said, Sonic's body and the mane six's cutie marks (along with the symbols on Sonic's and the mane six's thrones) began to glow. The group actually felt an odd tingling sensation when they glowed, surprising everyone (except Pinkie who giggled at the sensation). This continued for a moment before a before of a beam of light shot out of the thrones and into the star that was in the middle of all of them. Upon doing so, the room began to 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 newly made crystal table lit up, creating a holographic three-dimensional map of all of equestria on its surface. The group gasped in awe, amazed to see every single feature of each town and city in equestria. Finally waking up from his nap, Spike let out a yawn before opening his eyes and saw what was now in front of all the thrones. "Is that new?" Spike asked groggily, "I like it." The gears inside Spike's head had began to rotate after a moment, allowing the baby dragon to understand what was in front of him. "Whoa, this is incredible!" Spike exclaimed in amazement as he climbed onto the table and walked along the holographic equestria, "It's got all of Equestria!" "Hey, it's my house!" Pinkie said, peering down at the 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, causing Pinkie to tear up in horror at her holographic home being stepped on by the baby dragon. Twilight simply responded to this by grabbing Spike with her magic and placed him back on his throne (not moving her eyes off the holographic map when she did so). Suddenly Sonic's body and the mane six's cutie marks began to glow again before they peeled off their flanks (or floated off of his body and turned into his symbol in Sonic's case) in an aura-like form, all seven symbols floating over the map of the land (Sonic's symbol and Twilight's cutie mark floating next to each other while the the other five cutie marks circled them). They floated above the above the castle before slowly moving out toward a location at the far end of the kingdom in an empty stretch of land near some mountains. Confused about the symbols' position, Fluttershy asked as she pointed at the holographic ponyville, "But if this is ponyville, why are our cutie marks over there?" "I don't know." Twilight said as she looked down at the location that was marked by their symbols, "Maybe the map wants us to find out ourselves." "If that's the case, all I could say is that there's probably some sort of problem the map wants us to solve." Sonic said. Rainbow Dash thought about it for a moment before saying, "Y'know what? There's a ton of room for dangerous adventure along thatroute. Count me in!" "Well, I was planning on organizing my baking sheets, but okay!" Pinkie said. "Um, maybe I'll just stay here with Spike." Fluttershy said. "Awesome!" Spike exclaimed as he got off his throne and walked towards Fluttershy, "Me and Big Mac have a huge weekend ahead of us talkin' hoofball, and... and trading hoofball cards, and arguing about hoofball stats..." "Actually, I think I should go too." Fluttershy said quickly, clearly not a big fan of the sport, "Just in case they need me." "Eh, suit yourself," Spike said with a shrug. "Good luck, you guys!" With that said, Spike began to make his way out of the throne room. "I think we should get going as well." Sonic said, "While that map doesn't say so, the reason it wants us to go to the location that it marked could be urgent." With everyone on the same page, they began to make their way out of the throne room so that they could pack up some things for the trip. Some time later, we find the group on the friendship express, making their way to where the map told them to go. Currently, the group was on their own car and most of them were either relaxing or looking out the window. The only exceptions were Sonic and Twilight, with the former practicing his magic by trying to levitate one of the chaos emeralds (which was placed down on a table) while the latter instructed him. "Clear your mind, only focus on lifting the chaos emerald." Twilight instructed. Lifting his hand up and pointing it at the emerald, Sonic stared intently at the gem, sticking his tongue out of pure focus. Just then, a blue aura appeared around Sonic's hand before appearing around the emerald. The emerald began to shake for a moment before being lifted into the air. "That's it Sonic, keep it up." Twilight encouraged the hedgehog. Hearing this made a smile form on Sonic's face. Ever since he and Twilight returned from canterlot high, the latter trained the former to use magic. While Sonic learned to do several spells rather quickly, he (despite doing so very easily when he unintentionally did so the first time) had trouble perfecting the use of the levitation spell, which confused the duo since that spell was the most basic of them all. As Twilight watched the levitating chaos emerald, she saw that the aura surrounding it began flickering, almost as if it was about to disappear. Looking towards Sonic, she saw that he was starting to sweat and that he was staring even more intently at the chaos emerald. "Don't concentrate too hard, otherwise you'll..." Twilight began to before Sonic let out a pained scream and clutched his head, causing the chaos emerald fall onto the table, "...give yourself a bad headache." "Oww, I wish you had told me that sooner." Sonic groaned, his voice muffled due to the fact that he layed his face against the table. Feeling that she should have, Twilight cleared her throat before saying, "Well, I think that's enough practice for today. Maybe we could try again the next the the opportunity reveals itself. "Good idea." Sonic said as he raised his head, starting to recover from his headache, "Anyway, did you manage to figure out why the map wants us to go to the location it marked for us?" "Still no clue." Twilight responded, "If only the map was able to leave us instructions as to what we should do or expect." "I'll say." Rainbow Dash spoke up, "It would of made whatever it is we're supposed to whole lot easier." "Well whatever it is we're supposed to do, as long as we have each other, we could do it, right guys?" Pinkie said happily, earning approving nods from everyone else. "Hopefully it isn't anything too serious." Sonic mumered to himself turning towards Twilight and said, "I think I'm ready to continue practicing." Several hours had passed and we now find the group closing in on the marked location the map wanted them to go. While they were only able to ride the train until the end of the line, the marked location was only half a mile away, they wouldn't be walking for too long. Using a map, Twilight led the group as they kept an eye out for anything that might suddenly attack them. Luckily, the group was managed to cross a bridge over a chasm and climbed up a small mountain hill, revealing a small village that had a dirt road leading towards it. "That must be where that map wanted up to go to." Sonic said, "Weird, who would of thought that there would be a town in the middle of nowhere." "Well I hope that it at least has a spa." Rarity spoke up "Hold on Rarity, we don't know why the map wants us here, for all we now, it dangerous." Twilight warned. "Yes!" Rainbow cheered, "Danger!" "Stay behind me everybody!" Pinkie said, suddenly appearing in front of the group, "I'm on it." "Pinkie, wait!" Twilight called out, but Pinkie didn't seem to hear her as she began sneaking behind varying sizes of rocks like a spy, "Ugh, too late." Deciding to not let Pinkie get too ahead of them, the group followed the pink pony as she ducked behind several rocks until she disappeared underneath a smaller one. She then reappeared under a bigger, heavier boulder as the group 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. Getting a good look at the town, the group saw normal ponies walking about, but something about them seemed a little off. "This is where the map sent us?" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief, "It looks like the most boring place in equestria." "It's just an ordinary village full of ordinary pony folk." Applejack said. "It could certainly use a few more architectural flourishes, or any architectural flourishes." Rarity said. "I think it's lovely." Fluttershy said. "I don't like it, I don't like it one bit." Pinkie said with a disapproving frown on her face, "I know smiles, but those smiles? They're just not right. The rest of the group couldn't help but agree with Pinkie when they saw that all the ponies all wore smiles that were 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 while the mares either had their manes as either a bun, braided pigtails, or hung down past their shoulders, and their coats seemed a bit dull, even for those with darker fur or hair. "Forget the smiles," Twilight said, "Look at their cutie marks." Upon a closer look, the rest of the group saw that all the ponies had a dull gray equal sign as their cutie mark. "Okay, while there are times that some ponies could get the same cutie mark, there is absolutely no way an entire town could get the same cutie mark." Sonic said. "I bet there's some sort of horrific monster behind it." Rainbow Dash said. "What makes you say that?" Twilight asked. "Because fighting a horrific monster would be super-awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, making most of the group roll their eyes. "I reckon we just ought to head into town and talk to some locals, find out what's going on." Applejack suggested. "Let's just hope we could get some of questions answered, such as why they have the same cutie mark..." Sonic said before saying in a low voice, "...or why they have those creepy smiles on their faces. Leaving their hiding spot, the group made their way into the town, keeping their guard up as they did so. While the townsponies did welcome the group, it seemed really creepy since they kept their toothy grins and sounding like they were under mind control (although Fluttershy liked how "nice" everyone was). "Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling a bit creeped by how everyone in this town's act and sounds weird?" Sonic asked, gaining nods from most of the group. "I'll say, it's almost like something from a horror story." Applejack said. "Thanks a lot, map." Rainbow Dash sarcastically said, "This place is the exact opposite of an adventure!" Just then a unicorn stallion (who's coat was a blue while his mane were two different shades of dull gray-blue) approached the group. "Welcome!" The stallion said in the same tone as all the other townsponies before turning towards Twilight and asked, "Pardon my forwardness, but are you an alicorn?" "She's Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship." Sonic spoke up. "Well, you've certainly come to the right place for friendship." The stallion said, although the way he said friendship made the group feel a bit uncomfortable. "What brings you to town?" another stallion (who was an earth pony with a white mane and coat) asked as he approached the group. "We're not entirely sure to be honest." Twilight said. "I see." The earth pony stallion said before adding, "Well, all are welcome here in our little village. My name is Double Diamond, and this is Party Favor." "Howdy, Double Diamond. I'm Applejack, and this here's Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Sonic" Upon hearing Sonic's name, the two stallions turned towards the hedgehog and stared at him with confused looks on their faces. "Sonic as in Prince Sonic the hedgehog, crown prince of equestria?" Double Dimond asked. "That's me." Sonic said before adding, "But please, just call me Sonic." "Wow, you look different than some of those pictures of you that I've seen." Party Favor said. "I guess those pictures you saw are outdated now." Sonic said before thinking to himself, 'Could of sworn that news about my current appearance spreaded across equestria within a week of me gaining it. I guess the news didn't reach this town's due to how it's location is rather secluded.' "I suppose so." Double Dimond said before looking towards the mane six and noticed something, "Hey, you all have your own unique cutie marks." Say, Double Dimond, If you don't mind me asking, has there been any sort of...trouble here, lately?" Twilight asked. "Trouble?" Double Dimond asked, "Why, I don't think we've ever had trouble in our little village. Perhaps you'd like speak to our founder, Starlight Glimmer. "Follow us, new friends." Party Favor said before he and Double Dimond began leading the group down the road to a lone house on the other end of the village. "I wish everypony in Equestria was as friendly as these ponies." Fluttershy said as she and the rest of the group followed the two stallions. "They all seem a little too friendly if you ask me." Sonic said. "I've got my eye on them." Pinkie grumbled, "Something's rotten in...whatever the name of this village is that we're in right now!" When the group arrived in front of the house, Party Favor and Double Diamond both knocked on the door simultaneously before opening the door and made their way inside. "Starlight, we have some new visitors." Double Dimond said as he and Party Favor entered. As the group began to make their way inside, they were greeted with a bland room that had a door on the opposite side of the room. Once everyone was inside, Rainbow Dash turned towards Sonic and Applejack and said, "Be ready to fight. We don't know what's gonna come through that door." Almost as if on cue, the door on the other side of the room opened revealing a unicorn mare with a pale heliotrope coat and a purple mane with lighter purple and pale blue highlights. She bore the same gray equal sign like the other townsponies, 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. "Welcome!" The mare who the group assumed to be Starlight exclaimed happily, "I am so pleased to have you all here in our town." Rainbow Dash groaned in disappointment, expecting some kind of monster behind 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, Sonic, and Twilight Sparkle." Double Dimond said, pointing at each of the group when he said their name (Twilight grinned as she was introduced last, ruffling her feathers a little in nervousness). Starlight approached the group began looking over them (but she mainly focused on Sonic and Twilight). "Forgive my bluntness, but would that be Princess Twilight Sparkle?" Starlight asked before turning towards Sonic, "And Prince Sonic the hedgehog, crown prince of equestria?" "That's us." Sonic said. "Well, we don't get many alicorns around here, or blue talking hedgehog who stand on two legs." Starlight said, "We also don't get much news, but we hear around the grapevine from any visitors that pass by. Anyway, how did you hear of our village?" "It's kind of a long story." Twilight said, "Let's just say we found it on a map." "Technically, it's a tree-chest-castle-map!" Pinkie spoke up. "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." Starlight said, shocking and confusing the group. "Huh?" Sonic asked, voicing everyone's confusion. "Oh, indeed," Starlight said, ignoring the group's 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." "Is that why you all have the same cutie mark?" Twilight asked. "Perhaps it would be a lot easier to understand if I give you a tour of the village." Starlight said before she walked past the group and made her way outside, prompting the group to follow her. "In our town, ponies are equal in every way except in name." Starlight began to explain as she led the group through the village, "No one argues, there's no competition, and disharmony. And it's simply because no one had a special talent." Hearing this confused the group. A place where everyone didn't have a special talent? It just sounded impossible! "If you don't mind me asking, just how exactly does everyone in this town not have a special talent?" Sonic asked. "It's simple actually, everypony in this town gave up their cutie marks." Starlight responded, shocking the group (mostly the mane six, sans Fluttershy). "How is that possible?" Sonic asked, skeptical (yet slightly intrigued) by this information. "That's information I cannot share with you." Starlight responded before adding, "...Unless, you all would like to give up your cutie marks and join our town." Hearing this caught the group off guard. Everyone remained silent for a moment before Rainbow Dash suddenly began to laugh. "You're kidding, right?" Rainbow Dash asked in a mocking tone, "Give up our cutie marks? No way!" "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." "Rainbow's teasing aside, I'm not a pony, so that's a little impossible for me." Sonic said. "I wouldn't concern yourself about that at the moment." Starlight said before changing the subject, "Anyway, we all were confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks." Hearing this slightly offended the mane six (sans Fluttershy). "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a hint of anger in her voice, "Is she for real?!" Ignoring Rainbow Dash's exclamation, Twilight said, "When we were sent to this village, we assumed it was to help in some way. But, well, it doesn't seem like you need any help." Have you considered perhaps that you might have been sent here so we could help you?" Starlight asked, catching the group's attention, "After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave. Why should you be any different? But that is entirely your choice. Please enjoy our little corner of equestria. We're all quite fond of it. No doubt you will be as well. Double Diamond, please help our guests with whatever they might need." "Of course." Double Dimond said. With that, Starlight left the group, leaving them to think about her offer. If there was one thing the group (sans Fluttershy) thought about what our town had to offer, it would be that it was extremely bland. Unless you knew the layout of the town (which wouldn't be too hard), it was impossible to tell which build served what purpose. And everything the shops had to offer were as bland as the town itself. Currently the group sitting outside local bakery after leaving the local fashion store, and Rarity was NOT happy at what she saw there. "No wonder nopony's wearing anything," Rarity muttered, "Those cloaks were atrocious." "They may do things a bit differently than we're used to, but that's no reason to be rude." Fluttershy said to Rarity in a hushed tones so that Double Dimond wouldn't hear her "No, the reason to be rude is that they all keep staring at us!" Rainbow said in an equally hushed tone as she gestured towards the townsponies, proving her point. "Need something?" Double Dimond asked, hearing the conversation (but unable to understand what was being said). "Uh, no! We're good!" Twilight insisted before saying in a hushed tone, "Fluttershy's right. If we're going to get to the bottom of why the map sent us here, we'll need the help of these ponies." "I think we ran off to the end of equestria before we even knew what that map was!" Applejack exclaimed. "If we were at the end of equestria, we'd be sitting on a big 'A'!" Pinkie said before giggling at her own joke, "Get it?" "I don't think now's a good time for joking, Pinkie." Sonic said, "We need to focus on why exactly the map even sent us here in the first place." "That's certainly something I'm wondering myself." Applejack said. "Is this a bad time?" a voice asked. Turning towards the voice, the group saw a gray unicorn mare with a dark gray-purple mane who wore a poorly made apron and had a notepad along with a pencil in her magical grasp. "We shouldn't be bickering like this in front of our new friends." Fluttershy said to the ground before turning towards Applejack, "Really Applejack, you're almost as bad as Rainbow Dash!" "Don't drag me into this!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Is your friendship ending?" the waitress asked, a hint of concern in her voice. "Are you crazy?!" Pinkie exclaimed, "We'd never let a disagreement get in the way of food!" "O-kay, well, my name is Sugar Belle." The waitress said before levitating the notepad and pencil in front of herself, "What can I bring you? 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. "...I guess we'll take seven muffins." Twilight said. "Make it thirteen!" Pinkie exclaimed before noticing that the rest of the group was giving her odd looks, "What? I'm hungry!" After writing down the group's order, Sugar Belle left, allowing the group to talk to each other again. "Come on guys, we've got to stick together." Twilight said, "It doesn't matter what happened before, we're here now." "I guess you're right." Applejack said, "And the sooner we figure out why were sent here, the sooner we can go home." Just then, Sugar Belle returned with the muffin (each of them looking distasteful with their grayish-brown look). As she put the muffins down, Sugar Belle said, "Forgive me for overhearing, but just a moment ago you were disagreeing, and now it sounds like you're... agreeing." "Uh-huh..." Applejack said awkwardly. "Well, you had such differing opinions – and cutie marks." Sugar Belle said. "We have differing opinions all the time, darling." Rarity said. "But you look like you're friends." Sugar Belle said, confused by Rarity's words. "We are friends." Twilight said, "A simple disagreement wouldn't change that." "Yeah, there's no point letting something so petty ruin our friendship." Sonic said. "...I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time understanding." Sugar Belle admitted, "Different talents lead to different opinions, which lead to bitterness and misery. So...why aren't you bitter and...?" 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!" Pinkie said awkwardly. "It's all right, I know I'm not a very good baker." Sugar Belle said, "At least, I know I'm not any better than anypony else in the village. Well, I... hope you enjoy our little village!" As Sugar Belle left, she stopped between Sonic and Twilight and said in a hushed tone, "Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!" before making her way back into the bakery. "Okay, that was strange." Rainbow Dash said. "Let's all sit here and eat these muffins and act normal." Twilight said in a hushed tone before adding, "I think we're being watched." "You think?" Rainbow Dash sarcastically asked, motioning to towards the rest of the townsponies who were looking at them. "I don't think that's what Twilight meant, Rainbow." Sonic said in and equally hushed tone, "It's clear that someone here doesn't want us talking to Sugar Belle." After hearing Sonic's words, the group took a quick glance at Double Dimond, only to be surprised when they saw him eat the muffin he ordered without issue. Turning back to each other, Sonic continued, "There's no way we could meet up with Sugar Belle as long as Double Dimond is keeping an eye on us." "I got an idea." Applejack spoke up before turning towards Pinkie and said, "Pinkie, you gotta eat all of our muffins. "Me?!" Pinkie asked, taken off guard by this, "Why me?! "You got a stronger stomach than any of us." Applejack said before adding, "And Sugar Belle might be our best chance at finding out what the hay is going on around here." Although she was hesitant, Pinkie slowly nodded in understanding before slowly eating all of the muffins one by one. After finishing the last muffin, Pinkie looked terrible. Her face was tinted a sickly green, her stomach was gurgling horribly, and she looked like she would hurl at any second. "Wow Pinkie, you were so hungry that you ate all of our muffins!" Sonic said aloud, "Unfortunately, that means me and the others didn't get a chance to taste those delicious muffins ourselves. Guess we'll have to go inside and ourselves some more." Not wasting any time, the group scurried inside the bakery (with Pinkie sluggishly slumping behind everyone else). Once inside, Sonic made sure no townsponies could see before teleporting away somewhere. About a minute later, Sonic returned with a Delicious looking cake in his arms. "I was planning on saving this for a special event, but after what you went through, I think it's best that y-" Sonic said before Pinkie grabbed the cake and began devouring it. Once the cake was completely eaten (with Pinkie let out a satisfied sigh before saying, "Thanks Sonic." "No problem." Sonic said. With Pinkie no longer feeling sick, the group made their way down the wooden stairs, remaining cautious as they did so. Once the group reached the bottom of the stairs, the group was greeted with a dimly lit basement. "Okay Sugar Belle, we're here." Sonic called out to the darkness, "What is it you wanted to talk to us about?" Just then, the mare in question stepped out of the shadows while wearing the same grin everyone else in town wore. "Glad to see you all could make it." Sugar Belle said. "Good to hear... I guess?" Sonic said awkwardly before asking, "Anyway, why did you want us to come down here?" "So nopony can see what's about to happen." Sugar Belle replied. Just then, Party Favor and a dark blue pegasus mare stepped out of the basement's darkness (the both of them also wearing the same toothy grin). The the townsponies began closing in around the group, Sonic preparing a chaos spear while Twilight readied a spell, on the chance that they might have to fight. However, Double Dimond surprised the group by dropping the grin and having a hopeful look on his face while asking Twilight, "Are you really the princess of friendship?" "Do you guys know Princess Celestia!?" the pegasus mare asked next, allowing the group to realize that the trio weren't trying to jump them in an ambush. "I love your cutie mark!" Sugar Belle said excitedly to Pinkie as she took a closer look at her cutie mark, freaking Pinkie out in the process. "How can you be friends with different cutie marks?" the pegasus mare asked, "Don't you end up hating each other?" "Oh, look at this one, this one's great too!" Sugar Belle exclaimed as she looked closely at Fluttershy's cutie mark, "I'd love to have my special talent back even just for a day!" She then let out an upset sigh before adding, "And Make something besides those disgusting muffins..." "Wait, did you say you wanted your talent back, as in it was taken away?" Sonic asked, surprised to hear that such a thing actually was possible. "If you want your talent back, why not just take it back?" Rainbow Dash asked, "What's stopping you?" "Daydreaming is one thing," Party Favor said before adding, "but you mean actually having it put back on? That seems extreme. "I'm not sure Starlight would like that." Sugar Belle said, "She wants us all to be happy in our sameness." "How exactly did Starlight take your cutie marks away?" Twilight asked. "The cutie unmarking is a beautiful experience!" the pegasus mare exclaimed happily, "Starlight uses the staff of sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these." "But nopony should keep you from your cutie mark." Twilight said, "It represents such an essential part of who you are." "Oh, we're not kept from them." the pegasus mare said, "They're in the vault up in the caves. We can visit them any time we like to remind us of the heartache of a life with special talents." Upon hearing that, Sonic asked, "Where is this cave, and is it possible for us to visit it?" Some time later, we find the group being led by Starlight to the cutie mark vault while Double Dimond followed behind them. "I'm delighted you're interested in our cutie mark vault." Starlight said, "We hope someday every pony in equestria will make a pilgrimage here to our little village to have theirs removed too, and our message of perfectly equal friendship can finally spread across the land." Twilight turned to the group and whispered, "This must be the reason we're here." "'Pilgrimaging?'" Pinkie asked in a whisper. "No, helping those ponies get their cutie marks back." Twilight replied. "Oh, are you sure, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, "Maybe they miss them a little, but even they didn't seem all that unhappy." "If that were the case, why did they want to meet us in secret?" Sonic asked before adding, "And why did they ask us not to tell Starlight who told us about the vault?" "Sonic's right, something about this just doesn't feel right." Twilight said. "It's just through here!" Starlight said as she entered a cave, interrupting the group's conversation. After entering the cave, Starlight exclaimed, "Behold! Our cutie mark vault!" The group gasped in awe at the sight of the vault. Along the walls of the cave were hundreds of different cutie marks, all of them being held inside glass windows. Although most of group didn't notice, there were seven empty slots in the center of the vault, which Sonic spotted as they came in. 'That's odd, why are there seven slots open?' Sonic thought to himself before a bad thought came into his mind, 'Either it's a coincidence, or those were reserved for me and the girls' "I've never seen anything like it!" Twilight said in awe. Making her way towards the vault, Starlight picked up a wooden two pronged staff with her magic before saying, "This is the staff of sameness. It was one of the great Mage Meadowbrook's nine enchanted items. We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks!" Just then, a small smirk formed on Starlight's face as she asked, "I'm curious, how did the subject of the vault come up? "Oh, some ponies were telling us how much they missed their cutie marks, and-" Pinkie began to say. "Pinkie!" both Sonic and Twilight exclaimed, making the mare cover her mouth in realization. "Heh heh, oops." Pinkie said, realizing that she accidentally spilled the beans. Starlight let out a fake gasp before asking, "Were they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, don't you?" Rarity laughed nervously before saying, "Well, w-we certainly didn't intend to cause any disruptions to your charming little-" "Good." Starlight said, interrupting Rarity, "Let's just make sure of that, shall we?" Just then, may of the townsponies came out of the cave's darkness, surrounding the group. "It's a trap!" Twilight exclaimed in realization as the townsponies closed in on them. Acting quickly, Twilight teleported herself near the ceiling and began charging a spell, but Starlight was one step ahead of her and used the staff of sameness to fire a beam at her. Upon contact, Twilight was encased by a cyan aura, which filled her body with a strange pain. Twilight screamed in agony as the rest of the group gasped in shock as they saw the aura practically peel off her cutie mark, clinging on desperately to a strong yet thin strand of magic connected to her flank before the magic from the staff severed it off. Once her cutie mark was off, Twilight feel to the ground as her cutie mark flew over between the prongs of the staff, making Starlight grin in satisfaction. "One down," Starlight said as she levitated Twilight's cutie mark to one of the seven available spots in the center of the vault, closing the glass window down and keeping it trapped inside, "six to go." "Twilight!" Sonic yelled in shock as he and the rest of the group saw an equal sign appear in place of her cutie mark and her fur and hair become dull. Before they could do anything, Sonic and the rest of the mane six were struck by the staff of sameness' magic. The group yelled in pain as they began going through the same pain Twilight went through. One by one, each of the group last their cutie marks replaced by an equal sign (along with their bodies color becoming dull) until only Sonic remained. Sonic continued to scream as his symbol appeared on his chest before it began to cling onto him by a strand of blue energy. Gritting his teeth, Sonic desperately tried to resist the staff's magic, which made the blue strand of energy become yellow and began to slowly pull his symbol back into him. Upon noticing this, Starlight intensified the the staff's magic, making it pull Sonic's symbol even harder, along with putting him into more pain. Staying strong, Sonic gritted his teeth even harder, making the yellow strand become white with a rainbow outline, managing to resist the staff's magic again. Seeing the increased resistance, Starlight inhanced the staff's magic as much as she could, making Sonic's symbol more forward and backwards as if she and the hedgehog were playing tug of war with magic. This continued for a few more moments until Sonic couldn't resist any longer. Sonic let out a loud scream as his symbol was finally severed off of him, making him fall to his knees and take deep breaths as his quills and fur (along with his shoes and gloves) became dull. With Sonic's symbol finally severed off, Starlight levitated it to the center of the vault, where the mane six's cutie marks where. "Aw, I don't blame you for what you tried to do here today." Starlight tauntingly said, "You've spent your whole lives thinking those marks are a good thing." "Give. Them. Back!" Sonic said as he charged at Starlight. However, instead of running at his usual speed, he ran as fast as a normal pony before tripping and falling to the ground. "What the?!" Sonic said before realizing, "My speed, it's gone!" "Now that you've lost your talents, you can spend the rest of your lives here with us, and we'll teach you just how much better life can be without your cutie marks!" Starlight said as the townsponies began taking the group hostage, not allowing them the chance to escape.