Equestria Girls: Equal Marks (Book 6~Equestria Girls Series)

Chapter 5: Finding A Way

"Oh." Starlight Glimmer said. "I don't blame you for what you tried to do here, today." She walked up to Sci-Twi and Sunset, who both had no magic or no marks. "You've spent your whole lives, thinking those marks and talents are a good thing."

"Give them back!" Sunset and Sci-Twi shouted at Starlight.

"Well..." Starlight glared at them. "now you can spend the rest of your lives here with us." She used her magic to put the Staff back. "And we'll teach you just how much better life can be without your marks and talents!"

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"Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your mark and talent." A announcement speaker said in the room that The Main Seven were trapped in. "Choose equality...your special talent--"

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash tried breaking the door down again and again by elbowing against it.

She tried using her back and hands too, but it still didn't work. She shrugged in defeat and let herself slowly fall onto the floor, being disappointed in her failed results.

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie said. "This is pretty good," she was looking at a book that only had equal sign "=" marks on every single page.

Sunset sighed. "We've got to find a way out of here." She said. "I should of seen this coming since Starlight had told me of this, about her past."

Everyone else looked at Sunset in confusion, wondering what she was going to talk about. "I'm talking about the pony Starlight--the one that is friends with Princess Twilight. She's the one who came to our world for some days, she saved us and defeated Juniper...you know that girl that had the magical mirror, that we all got stuck inside of?"

The Main Six nodded their heads at Sunset. "Yes, that Starlight. She had told me that she was hungry for power at some point and had taken over a village..And may of taken away every pony's cutie marks, which included their special talents...Which I see is the same thing that is happening here."

"And?..Then, she got redeemed and saved by the princess version of me?" Sci-Twi said.

"Yes." Sunset said. "I was about to get to that part. And this is our world's Starlight, so..I see that she is going through the same things that the Equestrian Starlight once did too."

Rarity's mascara was running, as she was crying. "Oh! This is horrible!"

"There, there, Rarity," Fluttershy comforted the crying Rarity. "It's not so bad."

"Yes, it is!" Rarity yelled at Fluttershy. "Look at those drapes." She pointed to the wall. "I have no idea, if they're tacky or not." She was talking about the dimly-white curtains.

"Well, I think they're nice."

Rarity started crying more as her equal sign mark glowed in a black aura. "I think they're nice too." She was starting to lose her different sense of style.

"Oh thank goodness. Can you help us, little birdy?" Fluttershy saw a red bird fly into the room. "Go on now, fly away and get us help!" She told it.

The bird chirped at her and it flew away.

Her mark glowed. "Aww..." she said. "Even tweets don't make any sense, anymore." She lost her ability to communicate with creatures.

Rainbow saw that Applejack was running towards her and she quickly moved away. Applejack tried to kick the door open and tried using her strong strength to open it.

But it didn't work, so she got exhausted and fell down on the floor. "AH!" She got back up. "This door won't shut tighter than a--" She stopped to think.

"A summer of?--" her marking glowed, indicating that it affected her. "A piglets of? Shoot!" She said in frustration. "I can't even make country-isms no more."

"I don't know!" Pinkie said, happily. "It'll be super fun to be the same." Her tone changed to a sad-dull voice.
"Sort of. More of pleasant than fun, I guess." She turned to sit in the corner alone.

"What are we going to do, Sunset?" Sci-Twi asked. "Our magic and pendants don't work. We can't pony up." She said. "And we're all losing our personalities and we're stuck here."

Sunset started speaking. "I don't know, Twilight. But if Princess Twilight had gone through this before with Starlight, then that means that we can too. There has got to be a way."

She walked around the room as she continued speaking. "Something is odd about that staff. I can't understand what it is? But I can feel it."

"Well, you have plenty of time to think about it." Applejack put her hat to cover her face as she lied down on the floor.

The Main Seven stayed in the room for more hours as the announcement speaker 'brainwashed' them. "You're no better than your friends..."

"I've got it!" Sunset said, which woke up her friends (who were napping). "I know how we can get out."

Rainbow sighed. "Forget it, Sunset. This door's not opening."

"And I'm afraid that the windows are much too small for an escape." Rarity added in.

"But there is a third way."

"Of course!" Pinkie said, happily. "Eventually, the wind and weather will make the walls start to crumble. Then all we have to do is wait for a big enough hole to form, then we can just walk out." She said. "It's all a perfect plan!" She turned back to her boring self. "I guess?"

"We don't actually have to escape. They'll just let us out, when they think that we have accepted their philosophy." Sunset said.

"But they're nevergoing to believe we just switched over in one day or night." Applejack said.

"There's one of us." Sunset looked at Fluttershy. "They might believe."

"Oh! Me?" Fluttershy was confused.

"You've been saying how great this place is, since we've got here." Rainbow said to Fluttershy.

"That's because every one is so nice and their village is so pretty and--" She stopped speaking when she realized Rainbow was right. "You're right. They probably would believe me. I hate to lie to them. But they've been so welcoming and friendly, aside from locking us in here. And trying to brainwash us into abandoning the things that make us special."

She changed her mind. "Okay. I'll do it."

"WOO-HOO!" Pinkie shouted. Her tone of voice then deflated. "I mean..'cool'."

"But what do I do? Once, I'm out?" Fluttershy asked Sunset.

Sunset replied to her. "You've got to find a way to get our marks and talents back."

Fluttershy gulped, as a nervous reaction from what she told her.

"Oh good morning." The announcement speaker said, in Starlight Glimmer's voice. Starlight appeared and opened the door to the room that they were trapped in. "I trust that you had a pleasant night." She walked in.