Deep within the bowels of Shadowfall Manor, Orion proceeds down a door-filled corridor leading to a phone booth with Raven at his side, wearing a white shirt, purple-grey vest, and a bowtie. "Thank goodness that business with Tirek is over with... I hope he stays in Tartarus where he belongs."

"I'm just glad you made it home safe that time," Raven says, matching Orion's pace. "So, where is it that we're going? I don't remember seeing this part of the house ... or it being built ... or even knowing this existed." She looks around as they travel the corridor, jumping occasionally as a heavy door closes behind the pair.

"That's because it's the headquarters for the Equestrian Secret Service... The one Luna assigned me to, remember?" He nods. "It was built in secret, and of course I couldn't tell you. Until now, that is. A matter has arisen that will require not only my strength and expertise, but yours as well. Are you ready?"

Raven shrugs. "As ready as I'm ever gonna be, of course. Although I don't know what 'expertise' I could possibly have to offer, but it's still nice to be asked." The two stop in front of the phone booth. "Okay, so now what do we do? Call for a taxi?"

"Better!" He steps in and dials a number with his magic, then... The floor drops out from under him, and he falls onto a waiting cushion.

Raven screams as the floor gives way, only to land safely on a soft cushion at the bottom of the hole. Shakily returning to her hooves, she dusts herself off with her tail and follows Orion to the main room. "Ah, punctual as always, I see! And I see you convinced the missus to join you as well. Splendid!" calls a voice from within.

Orion helps Raven off the mattress and dusts her off, "Raven, this is J! J, this is Raven!" He introduces. He smiles again, "Now, do you have any more details about what's happening?"

J shook his head. "Nothing more than what you've already been told. You are being sent to investigate something happening in this region," he said, indicating with his hoof. He pointed to a range of mountains, two lines of which were perfectly parallel. "The mystery lays within this valley. Selene isn't able to scry with her magic, so we need to send in the ground units, namely, you two."

Orion raises an eyebrow when he spots the parallel lines, "...Surely that must be pony-made... how else can two perfectly equal lines like that exist?" He frowns a little. "Do we know anything at all? Population density? Identity of the leader?"

J again shakes his head. "We're totally blind on this one. For this instance, you two have been vested by power of the Crown to use whatever methods are necessary to determine exactly what is going on and, if potential trouble exists, solve said problems before they become a threat to Equestria as a whole. Better get some rest, your train leaves first thing in the morning. No fancy cover story needed, you're simply two ponies who stumbled upon this area. Best of luck to you both." J pushes two train tickets over to Orion and Raven.

"I'm guessing no gadgets either," Orion says with a sigh, taking the two tickets with his magic, "Thank you J, we'll be sure to do our best." He and Raven make their way back upstairs.

The next day, the train pulls into the station in the mountain range, and lets off two ponies, a grey unicorn stallion and a purple earth pony mare, wearing traveling cloaks. Both of them set off and come toward the settlement itself, two parallel rows of equally proportional buildings. Orion sighs. "This must be the place... I can only imagine what it's called.'

"I have no idea, but something about this place creeps me out," Raven said, huddling closer to Orion. Pony after pony turned to look at the newcomers, each one wearing a big smile on their face. Their flanks all bore the same cutie mark: two parallel lines of equal length and distance. "Orion, do you know of a whole town of ponies with the same cutie mark?" she asked quietly.

"Welcome," each pony said as the two passed by, eventually stopping near what could be called the center of town. "Maybe I read too much science fiction, Orion, but I'm tempted to ask one of them when Landru is going to start Festival."

"It's impossible... no two ponies have the same cutie mark! So why am I seeing something that shouldn't exist?" He wrinkles his brow. "Maybe we're in the Village... which means one of us must be Number Six."

Two stallions approach the two. "Welcome! What brings you to town?" asks the white-colored stallion. The grayish-blue pony next to him kept smiling.

Orion straightens his bowtie, "Well, I... I am Virgo Shade, and this is my wife, Hummingbird Tenebrae," he says finally, using fake names for safety reasons, "And we're here on our honeymoon! What a charming little town you have, good sirs!"

The white stallion smiles. "I see. Well, all are welcome here in our little village. My name is Double Diamond, and this is Party Favor," he says, indicating the grayish-blue stallion. Double Diamond glances at Orion's and Raven's flanks. "And you both have your own unique cutie marks."

"I realize this might be unnerving," Orion replies. "Please do not be alarmed. We come in peace. I excel at time-manipulation based magic, and Hummingbird here is a moderately famous stage magician."

The two stallions look at one another, then back to Orion and Raven. "And you two don't have any conflict between yourselves because of that?" Party Favor asked.

Orion just looks confused, "No! We accept, embrace, and encourage the other's talents! Why do you think ponies get married, among other reasons?" He smiles at Raven. "Isn't that right, love?"

Raven nods, smiling back. "One of many reasons, yes."

Double Diamond nods, his smile never failing. "Perhaps you'd like to speak to our founder, Starlight Glimmer. Come with us." They lead Orion and Raven down the road to the only single house in town. Knocking on the door, Double Diamond calls out, "Starlight, we have some new visitors." He pushes the door open and steps inside, Party Favor encouraging Orion and Raven to follow.

Orion waves politely, "Good morning! I am Virgo Shade and this is my wife, Hummingbird Tenebrae. It's very nice to meet you, ma'am."

Starlight approaches, smiling warmly. " Welcome! I'm so pleased to have you here. We're happy to have anypony who wants to experience true friendship for the first time."

Orion stares, unsure of what to think. "...What is this true friendship of which you speak?"

Starlight continues, "True friendship exists here because everypony is equal to everypony else. Around here, we don't flaunt our special talents because we don't have any special talents to flaunt. That's what's so unique about our village, you see." She walks to the door. "Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village!"

Orion starts to look very worried and perturbed. "Yes, a tour sounds lovely!"

Starlight walks into the town square, calling out to the ponies gathered around. "Heads high, ponies! Marching proud!" A whistle blows. "All together now! Every one of you! No pony left behind!"

The entire town begins a well-rehearsed, goose-stepping musical number, the ending of which being meant to convince Orion and Raven to surrender their cutie marks and become one of them. Raven is stunned. "Are you serious? I would never give up my cutie mark! This has to be some kind of joke."

Orion frowns deeply. "That's just the trouble... I don't think it is."

A while later, the two ponies go over to a small bakery to talk things out. "I really hope they have tea here, maybe a scone..." Orion was saying. "I haven't eaten since the train."

Raven nods in agreement, "Me neither, and I'm starving. Let's hope this place is good, after what we've been through we can use a decent meal." She watched as a grayish-violet unicorn wearing a tattered and dirty apron approached.

"Welcome!" begins the mare. "My name is Sugar Belle. What can I bring you? We have muffins..." There was a pause, as if there were no other items on the list. The long silence was uncomfortable. Eventually, Raven spoke. "I ... guess two muffins, please." Sugar Belle nods and goes back inside the shop.

Orion leans in to talk, "Do you know what I noticed? Every pony here has pale, greyish fur. But not our friend Starlight. Everypony in town lives or works in one of two buildings, except for Starlight. Something is very wrong here, and I wish I knew what it was." He closes his eyes, "I just can't think... there must be some kind of giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is SO DULL!" His shout causes several ponies to look at him with annoyed expressions.

Raven pats Orion gently. "It's okay, love. We'll figure it out soon enough and then we'll be on our way home again." Sugar Belle returns with two very bland-looking muffins and sets them down on the table. "Forgive me," she says, "but you both have different cutie marks and yet you both look like you're completely in love with each other. 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...?"

"Well, Sugar Belle, falling in love is a tricky thing... ponies do have differences, but in order for a marriage to be successful, those differences have to be accepted and embraced for what they are," Orion says. "Differences are not all bad."

Sugar Belle glances around, as if trying to process what she's just been told. "Well, I... hope you enjoy our little village!" She starts back inside, but stops and in a hushed voice, says to Orion and Raven, "Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!" She hurries back inside the shop.

"I'm no expert here, but I think we're about to find out what's going on," Raven said quietly, nibbling at her muffin and spitting it out in disgust. "So much for the glamorous life I thought you led," she whispered. She then dropped her muffin on the ground. "Oh no, I seem to have dropped my muffin! Come, Virgo, let us go inside and get another one," she said in a very stilted tone.

"Glamorous? Oh please, that's only in Con Mane books," he whispers back. "What a travesty!" he says, collecting the muffin. "We shall indeed go inside and get another one!" And he walks in, acting as natural as possible.

Once inside, the two head for a stairway leading to the basement. In the dim light once they reach bottom, they can see several ponies approaching them, one of whom was Party Favor from earlier. They all ooh and aah over Orion's and Raven's cutie marks. " I love your cutie mark!" Sugar Belle says to Raven.

"How can you be friends with different cutie marks? Don't you end up hating each other?" asks Night Glider, a pegasus.

"Oh, look at this one! This one's great too!" Party Favor says, looking at Orion's mark. "I'd love to have my special talent back even just for a day! Make something besides those disgusting muffins..." Sugar Belle says sadly.

"How do you even get those cutie marks?" Orion wonders. "It goes against everything I know about them!"

"The cutie unmarking is a beautiful experience! Starlight uses the Staff of Sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these," Night Glider replied, proudly showing off her cutie mark ... which looked like everypony else's in town.

Orion frowns. "...There's no such thing as a Staff of Sameness. I have a bachelor's degree in Equestrian history with an emphasis in mythology! No unicorn worth their salt would've invented such a device!"

"But it does exist, and it made us the ponies we are today. Equal to each other, nopony better than anypony else," Party Favor said.

"But some ponies are more equal than others," he adds in an undertone to Raven. "Right... is there a storage place for cutie marks?"

Night Glider nods. "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."

"Then let's go now," Orion says, "Surely our Dear Leader won't mind."

Moments later, making their way up to the caves, Starlight Glimmer leads the way with Orion and Raven following along. "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." A little further up the path, Starlight stops before a natural entrance in the rock. "Just through here!" Leading Orion and Raven inside, she motions with her hoof. "Behold! Our cutie mark vault!" Cutie marks of every variety lined the wall of the cave, each contained in its own little square. Two empty spots were visible. In front of the wall was a strange staff, consisting of two points. "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!"

"No it isn't," Orion says with a scowl. "Again, I have a bachelor's degree in Equestrian history. I know all about Meadowbrook, and I'm telling you now, she only had eight enchanted items, and the 'Staff of Sameness' wasn't on the list!" He narrows his eyes. "You're running a very suspicious operation here, Starlight Glimmer. And I'm going to get to the bottom of it if it's the last thing I do."

"You seem to be a very knowledgeable pony, Mister Virgo Shade," Starlight said, the smile disappearing from her face. "I'm curious – how did the subject of the vault come up?" As she asks this, ponies approach from the darkness, surounding Orion and Raven. Starlight holds the staff in her magic.

"Spoilers!" he growls, standing protectively beside Raven and adjusting his bowtie. And before she can make a move he tries to cast a time-freezing spell on her.

Starlight dodges Orion's spell and channels magic through the staff, surrounding Orion's cutie mark, and forcefully removing it from his flanks, leaving a gray equals sign in its place. Raven suffers a similar fate. Starlight approached the two, who lay on the ground in the cave. "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. 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!"

Orion groans painfully as his beloved pocketwatch disappears, and simply glares silently at Starlight.