Friendship Is Equality

When Twilight and the others came back from their trip the castle's magic map had sent them on, Spike saw they were different. No, that wasn't right, they were LESS different from when they left. All the same expression. New mane styles that were twined between them. And all now had the same cutie mark, that black equal mark!

"Everything is fine Spike," Twilight assured him. "In fact: better than ever. We now know why the tree of harmony sent us there to begin with."

Starlight Glimmer had, of course, been VERY suspicious of Our Town's Equal Six's request, after they had been broken of their false belief of cutie marks' chains being a gift, and been led into the light.

Starlight Glimmer had dealt with those who had tried to fake conversion before after all. To escape and tell Canterlot of the 'crimes' she had done, (which was laughable, these ponies had broken THEIR laws in THEIR town, they had jurisdiction to punish them, and all she had done was to teach them harmony and friendship).

But Twilight Sparkle had calmly and logically explained that if Sameness was a gift to share with every pony in Equestria, then expecting every pony to slowly come to the village was short sighted.

And...even without her cutie mark given aptitude for Magic, Twilight Sparkles' brains had proven much intact.

And well...for the greater good, sometimes concessions had to be made to bring about the vision. Glimmer was no stranger to this, even if her followers wouldn't understand the necessarily of it.

Their Town's Elements of Equality would bring liberation from the slavery of cutie marks on a scale Starlight Glimmer hadn't dared dream of before.

The Princess of Friendship was no more, The Princess of Sameness would now spread her message.

Glimmer wouldn't lie and say she didn't feel belittled and humiliated, but after calming down she understood, she had merely been the birth mother to Sameness, her duty had been to bring it into the world, and to baptize these six into the vision, the freedom. Cutie Marks had controlled ponies' lives for thousands of years, and now Ponies would be free of them.

Perhaps, Glimmer thought, she had been placing herself too high on a pedestal, maybe the key should have been to raise ponies up to her level rather than push them down. She had kept her true power and magic hidden to protect Our Town. She needed to be, among equals.

Having been broken and indoctrinated, the Equal Six eagerly provided their equal share to Glimmer, and together, did find ways on expediting the process of equalizing ponies, and bringing the gift to others as well, so Starlight Glimmer didn't need to be everywhere with the 'Staff of Sameness.'

Once back in Ponyville, the Equal Six had worked sublimity, but swiftly. Their friends and family naturally being the first to be given the gift, anything else would be selfish.

Twilight had encouraged Spike, and Rarity had said how she'd love Spike if he joined her...and Spike became the first dragon in the history of Equestria to gain a cutie mark. He truly was now equal among ponies, no longer an outside, he was equal.

Twilight had requested an interview with Cheerilee over the weekend, and come Monday, the teacher with her new cutie mark was eagerly sharing the virtues of Equality with her students, and apologizing for the centuries old lies she had programmed into their innocent minds.

And a new school of thought it was her responsibility as a teacher to share.

"Repeat after me my little foals: In sameness, there is peace."

"Exceptionalism is a lie."

"Free yourself from your cutie mark."

"Miss Cheerilee you're not making any sense!"

"Settle down Diamond Tiara, or do I need to send your father a note that you disrupted class?" Cheerilee's grinning face bore into Diamond Tiara's eyes.

" . . . No mam."

"Wonderful! Now let's continue. Choose equality as your special talent."

"Difference is frustration."

"To excel is to fail."

"Be your best by never being your best."

"Choose equality as your special talent."

"Difference is frustration."

"To excel is to fail."

"Be your best by never being your best."

"Conformity will set you free."

"Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow."

"You're no better than your friends."

And she had them repeat that half the day, then she began to showing in rather vivid detail of the cutie pox plague of the pre-classical era, and then having Applebloom stand in front of the whole class and talk about her time infected with the cutie pox.  

"Miss Cheerilee . . . are you feeling okay? What's wrong with you?" Sweetie Belle had asked.

"Oh nothing is 'wrong', not now, I was wrong before! I fact, I think Princess Twilight Sparkle wanted to see you girls."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were given their cutie marks at last, and spread the message among their classmates with their new crusade.

Mayor Mare had been next on Twilight's list. While Applejack worked on her family, along with their employees. Mule. Cows. Sheep. Thinking, speaking beings, yet cutie marks always separating ponies from them. Applejack and her family brought them into the fold. They were mark-less no more.

Twilight's magic, now seeped in the gift of Equality, like that of her friends, spread the gift faster that Glimmer had dreamed.

With Mayor Mare in place, elitist ponies who selfishly held onto their uniqueness they thought made them more important than others, found it harder and harder to buy, sell, or hold onto their job in Ponyville. Of course they could leave, just fill out this mountain of paper work first, unless you'd rather leave behind everything you own, and we'll get back to you . . . soon. As Starlight Glimmer would say, it was for their own good.

Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but admire the efficiency of the weather team now that equality was shared with them. The weather becoming as equal as everything else.

The Cakes' baking became uniform and same tasting as they should. Pinkie Pie nodding in approval.

Rarity clothes were now uniform, identical, what everypony wore, they wore the same, there was no 'in' or 'out' now, there was no 'designer clothes' to flant towards others. At least she and her parents saw eye to eye on tastes, and Rarity felt peace.

Applejack's produce had likewise become equally uniform, identical. Her accent fading more by the day, just like her family.

Fluttershy's animals had proven to be the biggest problem, being placed in Equally sized pens until they got with the program, which, one by one, they did. Nature would be Equalized with all else.

Fluttershy again felt bad for luring in Discord, he trusted her so utterly, and felt so bad for what he did with Tirek...the six combined might of the Elements of Equality equalized the draconequus. He had resisted, as only Discord could. He'd overpower this cheap knock off of Harmony, he thought.

Then Fluttershy said, "Don't worry, you did much the same to me in the maze when we fist met." She said grinning looking him in the eyes.

Discord's resistance broke.

The garish colors of Ponyville being repainted so no pony could be greater or lesser than others.

But even with their newer, more efficient methods, there were still some stubborn hold outs. Aloe and Lotus took much longer to break. After all, their livelihood was based around serving pony vanity and those who wanted to look more beautiful than others.

Diamond Tiara had to be locked in her room along with Silver Spoon, their resistance much higher than spoiled brats like them had a right to have. While Fluttershy felt sad at seeing even the two selfish foals reduced to crying lumps on the floor, she remembered that it was for their own good. They had flaunted their cutie marks, treated them as if they made them superior to other foals, truly, they were the living proof and justification of Glimmer's mission, no, THEIR mission, no, that wasn't right either, it was THE mission.

Then they'd come out grinning, and played with the grinning Cutie Mark Crusaders, all was forgiven, all was fine, all were Equal. Twist played with all of them, grinning. There were no two groups of foals, there was only one big group of friends, they were all Equal.

As for Derpy, she now saw straight, she was Equal after all, nopony teased her, no pony called her names, nopony was better than her, nopony was worse than her, she was accepted, she was Equal.

Berry Punch no longer drank herself into irrationality towards her own foal, she was free of her sickness, and she praised Equality for freeing her.

Snips and Snails were easily the most well adjusted foals, their new cutie mark freeing them of the stigma they had before, and the termination of any sort of pecking order among the students that Cheerilee enforced with impunity.

Lyra had resisted . . . until Bon Bon spoken with more power than any brainwashing mantra ever could. "Don't you want me to be happy? Us and Tootsie? Don't you want us to be Equal? Don't you want us to be treated the same as everypony else? Don't you want everypony to be friends? Don't you want our family to be happy?"

When one family fell, so would others, and their combined might bringing the more resistant into the light.

Matilda and Doodle were stubborn as donkeys could be . . . It was so nice to see them smile.

Zecora...had been dragged kicking and screaming, she had broken more than a few pony's bones in her resistance, having escaped more than once. They forgave her of course, she couldn't help being so brainwashed. Her rhyming proved especially stubborn. Her mind putting up any number of blockades. She then apologized for the trouble she had caused everypony.

The flower garden of every pony in Ponyville was now exactly the same.

The Equal Mark now flapped as Ponyville's new crest.

But the Princess of Sameness and the Elements of Equality never once forgot their purpose, and couldn't thank the Tree of Harmony enough for leading them to the truth.

By the time Starlight Glimmer visited Ponyville, she was greeted with open hooves, impressed by the speed and effectiveness Our Town's Elements of Equality had done their work. Yes. This was it. An Equestria of true Equality wouldn't be accomplished in decades or centuries as she feared it might take.  

Princess Twilight also brought up plans for after Equestria had been properly Equalized, schematics for mass Alicornification, they'd undo the inequality among the pony tribes, and with her transformation magic, even cure the inequality among the speaking, thinking species of creatures of Equestria. Glorious and truly Equal times were ahead.

Twilight Sparkle even presented what was The Cause's masterpiece, (it wasn't her masterpiece, it was the Cause's masterpiece, the Cause was all).

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna losing their cutie mark would result in them no longer being able to move the sun and the moon, we are devising a spell that will equally spread their magic among those of us who are equal, enabling us to continue to have night and day."

Glimmer didn't admit that she had been at the time simply focusing on Our Town and her own community of ponies that she had not even considered the Princesses themselves. The idea of challenging them sincerely frightened her. But Equality would not be denied, and the Equal Six had been careful to ensure that they didn't enact anything that would the Equal Ponies appear hostile, they were, after all, a social movement, and who would be the Princesses to deny the will of the people once the Equal ponies became the majority?

Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi had already opened up chapters in Cloudsdale, liberating it from the tyranny of cutie marks and the greed, elitism, and selfishness of exceptionalism. The Wonderbolts soon enough endorsing Sameness (after a nice little party Rainbow Dash had invited them all too).

And Applejack's family spreading the truth to Applebloosa. The Buffaloo and Ponies finally Equal.

Twilight had paid a personal visit to the Crystal Empire.

When Glimmer heard of Rarity opening up chapters in Manehatten...Glimmer couldn't stop herself, she laughed.

But it wasn't the laugh of triumph she always thought it'd be at such news.

Instead, she laughed at herself. The Cause had become greater than her, it had gained a momentum all its own, a will all its own, an intent all its own, she could no longer control or direct it. The Equal Six were now spear heading the cause she had indoctrinated them into. She was no longer needed...she was...she was no better or worse than any of the other.

"Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes Starlight?" She grinned.

"Free me, as I've freed countless others."

"Are you sure? Are you ready?"

"Yes . . . you've . . . you've all done so much for me . . . you've helped me more than I could have imagined." Starlight surprised herself at the emotion in her voice. "The Equal Ponies now look to you. I no longer need to carry the curse anymore."

The two friends nuzzled, and the The Princess of Sameness cast the spell.

Glimmer felt a piece of her soul that had directed and controlled her for years being ripped out of her, freeing her. The symbol on her flanks no longer being a product of make up. She actually waved her cutie mark 'bye-bye' as it was sealed away, and she experienced what she had done to many other others, stripped of what had given her uniqueness. She grinned identically to all others around her and she looked at her Equal Mark, now truly one with her herd. She was finally free.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh...
(My Little Pony) I used to wonder what friendship could be
(My Little Pony) Until I discovered equality
No adventures
And no fun
An equal heart
The same as all
The same kindness
It's an easy feat
When we're equal we are all complete
You have my little ponies
Do you know you're all my equal friends?