My Little Pony: True Friendship or Equality

Chapter 3

The Cutie Mark Vault

Neo and the mane 6 had been accepted into the village by Starlight Glimmer and they were walking around the village seeing what the village had to offer, as they were walking, village ponies welcomed them and kept staring at them with creepy smiles, Neo was getting annoyed by the creepy smiles and so was Rainbow Dash. They passed by the village's fashion center, but the only clothes the store had were rags and cloaks, which repulsed Rarity, Fluttershy was the only one keeping an open mind with the ponies in the village. Twilight decided that if they wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening in the village, they would need the help of the village ponies, Applejack thought they just ran off to the end of Equestria too soon, Pinkie Pie made a joke but then Rarity said this wasn't a good time for jokes, Neo was determined to find out what's going on just as much as Twilight.

Neo and the mane 6 sat down at a table and kept talking to each other in an argumentative way, then a village pony came out to greet them, she saw them arguing and said, "Excuse me, but is this a bad time?" Fluttershy said to Applejack, "We shouldn't be bickering like this in front of our new friends. Really, Applejack, you're almost as bad as Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash said, "Hey, don't drag me into this." The village pony got concerned and said, "Is your friendship ending?" Pinkie Pie said, "Are you crazy?! We'd never let a disagreement get in the way of food!" The village pony said, " O-kay, well, my name is Sugar Belle. What can I bring you? We have: muffins..." Twilight cut her off and said, "Then I guess we'll take 7 muffins." Pinkie Pie told Sugar Belle to bring 12 muffins because she was really hungry, Sugar Belle went inside her bakery, then Twilight said to her friends, "Come on, guys. We've got to stick together. It doesn't matter what happened before, we're here now." Applejack said, "I guess you're right. And the sooner we figure out why, the sooner we can go home." Neo really wanted to go back to Ponyville, that town truly felt like home to him, and Ponyville was nothing compared to this little village, Neo could compare this village to a high crime area in America.

Then Sugar Belle came out to them carrying a plate with a dozen muffins, she gave them their muffins and she said to them, "Forgive me for overhearing, but just a moment ago you were disagreeing, and now it sounds like you're... agreeing." Neo said, "Yeah." Pinkie Pie started eating her muffin right away, but she didn't seem to like it. Sugar Belle said, "Well, you had such differing opinions – and cutie marks." Rarity said, "We have differing opinions all the time, darling." Sugar Belle was so confused, she said, "But you look like you're friends." Twilight said, "We are friends. A simple disagreement wouldn't change that." Neo said, "It's completely normal for friends to disagree." Sugar Belle said, "I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time understanding. Different talents lead to different opinions, which lead to bitterness and misery. So... why aren't you bitter and...?" Pinkie Pie kept eating the muffins, even thought she felt like she was going to throw up, Sugar Belle could tell that she didn't like them, she said, "It's all right. I know I'm not a very good baker. At least, I know I'm not any better than anypony else in the village. Well, I... hope you enjoy our little village!" Then Sugar Belle quietly whispered to Neo, "Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!" Then she went back into her bakery, Rainbow Dash thought that was very weird, Twilight was very suspicious, she said, "Let's all sit here and eat these muffins and act normal. I think we're being watched." Neo said, "Yeah, I don't think anypony wants us to talk to Sugar Belle." The 7 friends agreed that they will all go inside except for Pinkie Pie, they wanted her to stay outside and eat the muffins, Applejack said that Pinkie Pie had a stronger stomach than them and she'd be the best to distract the other village ponies while they talk to Sugar Belle.

And so the friends agreed, Pinkie Pie kept eating the muffins while Neo and the rest of the mane 6 went inside to talk to Sugar Belle. Sugar Belle was inside waiting for them along with Party Favor and a pony named Night Glider. Sugar Belle said to them, "Thank you for coming." She asked them all to come down to the basement of the bakery, once they were down there, Twilight said, "Why did you want us to come down here?" Sugar Belle said, " So nopony could see what's about to happen." Party Favor said, "Are you really the Princess of Friendship?" Night Glider said, "Do you know Princess Celestia?" Sugar Belle said, "I love your cutie mark." Night Glider said, "How can you be friends with different cutie marks? Don't you end up hating each other?" Neo said, "Of course we don't, cutie marks are what make everypony special."

Sugar Belle, Party Favor and Night Glider kept looking at the mane 6's cutie marks and Neo's tattoo, Sugar Belle looked at Rainbow Dash's cutie mark and said, "Oh, look at this one! This one's great too! I'd love to have my special talent back even just for a day! Make something besides those disgusting muffins..." Rainbow Dash said, "So what's stopping you? Go get your cutie marks back." Party Favor said, "Daydreaming is one thing, but you mean actually having it put back on? That seems extreme." Sugar Belle said, " I'm not sure Starlight would like that. She wants us all to be happy in our sameness." Twilight said, "How do you remove somepony's cutie mark anyway?" Night Glider said, " The cutie unmarking is a beautiful experience! Starlight uses the Staff of Sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these." Neo said, " But nopony should keep you from your cutie mark. It represents such an essential part of who you are, I've never had a cutie mark and I had to learn my special talents on my own." Party Favor said, "Isn't that a cutie mark?" Neo said, "No, that's a tattoo, that's just artwork that was applied to my skin a long time ago, it doesn't symbolize any special talent or anything like that." Twilight said, "Where are your cutie marks now?" Party Favor 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." Twilight said, "Can we visit the cave?" Sugar Belle told them to go see Starlight Glimmer and she'll take them to the vault.

And so Neo and the mane 6 left the bakery and went back to Starlight's house, Starlight was happy to see them, Twilight asked her if they could see the vault where she keep's everypony's cutie mark, Starlight said, " I'm delighted you're interested in our cutie mark vault. 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." Starlight told them to follow her to the cave, as they followed her, Twilight said to her friends, "This must be the reason we're here, to help these ponies get their cutie marks back." Fluttershy said, "Oh, are you sure, Twilight? Maybe they miss them a little, but even they didn't seem all that unhappy." Twilight said, "Then why did they want to meet us in secret? And why did they ask us not to tell Starlight who told us about the vault? Something's not right." Starlight led Neo and the ponies into the cave, she stopped and said, "Just through here! Behold! Our cutie mark vault!"

Inside the cave stood a large collection of cutie marks stored inside glass casings and a two-pronged staff standing upright, Twilight said, " I've never seen anything like it!" Starlight picked up the staff and said, "And here 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! I'm curious – how did the subject of the vault come up?" Pinkie Pie said that some ponies were talking about how they missed their cutie marks, Twilight cut her off to keep those ponies out of trouble, but then Starlight said, " Were they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, don't you?" Rarity laughed nervously and said, "Well, w-we certainly didn't intend to cause any disruptions to your charming little—" Starlight smiled a sinister smile and said, "Good. Let's just make sure of that, shall we?" Twilight shouted, "It's a trap!"

Starlight's horn glowed along with the staff she was holding, magic energy surrounded the mane 6 and it took the cutie marks off their bodies and Starlight put them into glass casings, the magic replaced their cutie marks with equal signs and the mane 6's bodies were faded, they seemed really weak, Starlight said, "Aw. I don't blame you for what you tried to do here today. You've spent your whole lives thinking those marks are a good thing." Twilight got angry and said, "Give them back." Starlight said, "Well, now 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 walked over to Neo and said, "As for you Neo, since your tattoo doesn't symbolize any special talents, I'll allow you to keep you tattoo. Neo was angry for what Starlight just did, he said in his mind, "You son of a bitch."

Neo wasn't about to let her get away with this, he was going to do everything in his power to give the mane 6 and the village ponies their cutie mark back, but he decided that he has to wait for the right time to do so, will Neo succeed in helping his friends get their cutie marks back and showing everypony in the village true friendship, well keep reading and find out, Neo decided that the village ponies will have to make a choice, will they choose true friendship or equality.

End of chapter 3, chapter 4 coming soon.