I was awoken by the opening of the lock on the door. It swung open with a creak and in stepped a unicorn. She said that her name was Starlight Glimmer, and she stated that she was more or less the pony that kept this village running. She asked me if I wanted to take a look around. Wondering if there were any distinguishable landmarks that I failed to see from my small prison, I accepted the offer.
Walking down the central street, my suspicions were confirmed: the side of the street that I could see was an exact mirror image from the side where I resided. If that wasn't enough, the inhabitants all acted quite strangely. Each of them had a gigantic smile on their face as each of them welcomed me into this town. Feigning acceptance, I endeavored to smile as wide as they were, but found myself unable to carry out that charade for more than two minutes due to the fact that my jaw actually began to physically hurt.
As we strolled down the only place fit to be called a "street," I began to notice something about the ponies in the town: all of them had the exact same cutie mark – a black equal sign. I was sure to make a mental note of that. How odd. I questioned her about it, but she just dismissed it as everypony being the same status as everypony else. So I inquired about what their special talents were to which she replied that these ponies had none. Moreover, the ponies here got rid of their cutie marks willingly because being different was too much of a burden to bare.
No special talents? The exact same cutie mark? A burden to be different? "Heresy!" I shouted. "Blasphemy, even! Everypony is born with his or her special talent. Nopony could possibly give away their identity that easily!" I made it very clear that I wanted nothing to do with this heretical practice and demanded that she let me go at once.
She just… stared at me. With a look of amusement.
"There's no choice in the matter. Besides, you're already one of us."
She pointed to my flank and I turned around. What I saw confirmed my deepest fears.
For on my flank… was a black equal sign.