communism?

@SPF2099
 
YES!
 
My sister and me were all over Story of the blanks when we saw the animatic for S5!
 
 
I’m kinda feeling that it’s some kind of ‘anti-cutie-mark’ field set up around this town, (probably via magic)  
It’d be really interesting if it were less of a “villan” and more “natural desaster” or just a natural effect of the local terrain.
 
Either way it’s fairly clear that everypony has been made “equal”, that’s what everybrony is taking away from this and I’m hasten to agree.
 
So… and equalizing field?

remove kebeb@Background Pony #39E1
 
Yay it works.

@Twilatron217  
Yeah, that part of the tutorial is kinda messed up. It’s like this:  
[spoiler]hidden text here[/spoiler]  
which results in this:  
hidden text here

How do you hide the text again, i can’t make out the tutorial.

[/were all equal Equestrians]

@PonyPon  
or they were just god damn animatics and they did not put the cutie marks back.

@JP  
She never will be equal to lower ponies with boring manes! Six-colored mane is superior!
 
j/k

Poor Dashie. Forced to be equal with the lower ponies.
 
j/k
 
Going to be interesting to see what this turns out to be about.

@Background Pony #1E1E
 
She’s always been that, it’s because she is the central protagonist.

@Background Pony #D786  
Just like she was the last one to be Discorded! I tell ya, she’s become the show’s special snowflake!

O shit, Amon’s gotten to her.

@PonyPon  
Good point, but this is different, and for a good thing, not a bad thing.

@SuperSonic15  
Why on earth would they not mind after Tirek?
 
I think Tirek was a pretty bad thing, however brief it was for them.

@PonyPon  
Perhaps after what happened with Lord Tirek, they don’t mind it happening when the map is conjured and points out where they need to go. Maybe it was a way for them to understand why the ponies in that town all had the equals sign as their cutie mark, and in Pinkie’s case, those weird smiles.

@SuperSonic15  
Yeah, their cutie marks disappearing seems like something they would point out, maybe even panic about.
 
And that sounds like another really dumb test.

@PonyPon  
About what? Them not having their cutie marks on them since they went into that map, perhaps for protection? Maybe a test for them as Twilight’s first mission as the new Princess of Friendship?

@SuperSonic15 I doubt they’re blank flanks. More likely since it was an animatic, the cutie marks were left out for simplicity, but the equal ones were left on because they’re a necessary plot detail.

@SuperSonic15  
Strange, you’d think the characters would notice.

@SuperSonic15  
Clearly a wizard did it.  

@PonyPon  
I was double-checking this with the San Diego Comic Con preview. When the Mane Six’s cutie marks go into that map that their thrones conjure, it leaves them blank flanks, but still with access to their magic and talents.
 
Whatever that equals sign cutie mark is doing, it seems to be cutting the Mane Six, or Rainbow right here, off from their special talents/magic while they are in that town. Spooky…

@SuperSonic15  
What are you going on about?

Despite seeing this, I want to compare with the S.D.C.C. preview to see if there is something I missed between the preview, and this little tidbit with Rainbow Dash.
 
If their cutie marks were stored back at Twilight’s castle when they summoned that map of Equestria, it would make sense that, because of that, it would leave the Mane Six vulnerable to whatever is causing the cutie marks on those ponies to all be an equals sign.
 
When they get it, it effectively cuts them off from their normal cutie marks, and thus, their special talents, until they stop whoever, or whatever, is behind it.
 
That’s my best theory for right now.

So this is where Amon went..

Why this makes me think of the Story of the Blanks?