@SilentObserver01  
I think it has something to do with receptors and nerve endings and such.
 
EDIT: I just had a thought…
 
If only a few are equal, who are they equal to?

I don’t know why…but I actually felt PAIN in my mouth from that last panel.

@FanOfMostEverything  
Some videos… must be linked to, when the time is right.
 
This is that time.

@Kazapsky  
That and the logistics of rounding up so many ponies.

You are an individual. Just like everyone else.
 
Ooh, compromise!

@Kazapsky  
Re-read my messages please. And re-watch episode.

@Gapaot
 
I point you back to your own post. “The ponies came to her. Shimmer said so.” By your own admission, there is only Shimmer’s word backing up the claim that there was any free will involved.

@Kazapsky  
No, I have citizen’s actions as proof, if you can add two and two.

@Gapaot
 
And again, you have only the word of a confirmed liar as evidence of your claim.

@Kazapsky  
…So? We weren’t arguing about that. I corrected you on ponies COMING to her on their own free will because they were unhappy with their marks\life.

@Gapaot
 
And yet she had no hesitation or remorse about forcefully taking the cutie marks of those who dared question her, and openly engaged in brainwashing tactics. Not the actions of someone who respects the choices of others.
 
 
When the root of your position is exposed as a lie, even if you managed to convince yourself of it, it makes everything else you say suspect as well.

@Kazapsky  
It is, and it isn’t.
 
She believed in her lie, and she rationalized herself having cutie mark: someone needs to cast Equealization spell and give equal marks to everyone, hence keeping hers.
 
Townsfolk didn’t go happy over throwing away tyrant, they were genuinely hurt, showing that they actually believed in her speech. And there’s too much ponies for her to kidnap or something, and nothing to show that anyone lived here before - town is clearly built with “=” mark in mind, very simplistic.
 
So, its entirely valid.

@Gapaot
 
“Shimmer says so” isn’t really a valid defense when her entire scheme is built on a lie.

@ED-SKaR  
But they did came to village at their own free will and chose to stay, Shimmer says so. They were driven to her for various reasons, even believed her - that’s why when truth about her mark is revealed, they are so hurt and furious: they BELIEVED in her, and while markless life wasn’t fun, it was better than emptiness that driven them here.
 
Makes me think about rehabilitation center. Imagine coming to one when you are…drunkard, or junkie. Sure, they have strict rules, and you may not like what they are teaching you, but everything is better than your previous life.

@ShimmeringStallion  
This is again why this is a bad analogy to the Red Scare and the McCarthy Trials.

“You’ve been brainwashed!”
 
Well, technically, if their cutie marks remained as being the magically conjured equal-signs, then… yes, yes they have been, and forever will be.
 
Nothing would ever CHANGE that, since the equal-sign cutie marks, themselves, have personality-changing characteristics. The only way to remove them, likely, is if the former “Mayor” removed the equal signs herself, or if the cutie marks returned of their own accord, not due to what the ponies would want.

Oh cruel irony

@Darth Sonic
 
I’m fairly certain that the ponies of the village were forced into the equality thing, I highly doubt that any single pony chose to join of their own free will, given how Starlight Glimmer is portrayed.
 
That said I think that the ponies were still able to comprehend what was happening even with the brain washing. Shown in the episode by the three ponies who are going against Starlight and talking to the mane six when they show up.
 
It’s still hard to say that in this comic if the ponies are truly in their “right minds” and are capable of making a rational decision to stay without their cutie marks, or weather they are talking totally through their brainwashing.
 

 
@dzamie  

 
Not “too” serious, I think. This episode raises an issue of social acceptance that people face day to day, and as such is something that each and every one of us needs to think about.
 
Imadgine:  
Your friend decides to have a sex change operation.  
One of your schoolteachers comes out as gay.  
Someone moves to your neighbourhood from Syria, or Afghanistan.
 
In those situations do you:  
A, go completely against them, try to “fix” them by making them conform to your way of thinking, or  
B, completely accept them without any consideration for the struggles they are facing and carry on with life.
 
Clearly neither of those are a good answer for every situation.
 
Everyone needs love and tolerance, right? that’s what us bronies are about, right?  
But when do we love and when do we tolerate? When do we edify, when do we comfort, when do we lead, guide, assist, defend and when do we need to give someone a clip around the ear because what they are doing is actually wrong?

EVERYONE IS TOO DARN SERIOUS AROUND HERE

@Trickquestion  
Well of course it is. Doesn’t mean it didn’t fuck up. And I already suggested an alternative that maintains the joke, while avoiding the whole “brainwashed” pitfall. Have the comic be the result of them wanting their Equality Marks back.

@Darth Sonic  
I don’t think this comic is supposed to be a completely serious statement about the outcome of the episode. I think it might just be a joke.

@ED-SKaR
 
@KirbyfanNeox  
This is what the comic is trying to say. It fails however due to the nature of the Equality Mark. They can’t really say they just have a different opinion/culture when they are provably not in their right minds, and aren’t so due to an artificial external source.
 
A counter to this is that they allowed themselves to be altered of their own free will. But that argument doesn’t work because they made the choice under false pretenses. Glimmer did not drink her own Cool-Aid, and kept her talents while everyone else surrendered theirs.
 
This comic would have worked if they said they wanted their Equality Marks back despite getting their own Cutie Marks back. Then it becomes about differing values not being respected, and the “good guys” being as bad as their opposition. As long as they keep the Equality Marks though, Twilight has every right to dismiss them as brainwashed. Because they are.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

And herein lies the difficulty with understanding other cultures, some times what “they” do is wrong, but more often than not, it’s just different.

I would also like to point out that the Equal Marks seem to have inherent brainwashing qualities. So really, Twilight had every reason to dismiss their politics here, because they really ARE brainwashed.