History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E1TheCutieMapPart1

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: In the song "In Our Town", when Starlight sings about differences causing disarray, one of the Equal Ponies dances out of line from the rest who are in step. However, a small glare from Starlight fixes her step.

* PuppyDogEyes: During "In Our Town", Fluttershy makes this face when Pinkie gives her a DeathGlare for swaying along to the musical number.

* RuleOfSymbolism:
** The houses in town are arranged like an equals sign. At the end of "In Our Town", the ponies line upon on either side of the Mane Six like an equals sign, and similarly, when they are captured at the end of the episode, the ponies are in a similar arrangement.
** During "In Our Town", Starlight reties one mare's untied braids and gives a look to another mare who is dancing out of sync, showing how much tolerance she has for ponies who don't conform--that is, none.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The houses in town are arranged like an equals sign. At the end of "In Our Town", the ponies line upon on either side of the Mane Six like an equals sign, and similarly, when they are captured at the end of the episode, the ponies are in a similar arrangement.

** The Town With No Name might as well be named [[VideoGame/EarthBound Happy Happy Village]].

* SurpriseCreepy: The fourth Equal Pony to say "Welcome!" to the Mane Six stands out due to an eerie tremor in her voice, making her come off as zombified.

* OffModel: Twilight's wings turn into the standard pegasus wings when she is going to sit in her throne to summon the map.

[[MoodWhiplash *cue happy]] [[RunningGag credits music*]]

* ArcVillain: Starlight Glimmer. She believes the only way for everypony to be happy is to be equal.

--->'''Twilight:''' I don't know. But it seems like the map wants us to find out. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E2PrincessTwilightSparklePart2 The Tree, the chest,]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 this castle,]] and now the map. How can we not follow it?

-->'''Starlight Glimmer''': ''Were'' they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, ''[[MoodWhiplash don't you?]]''

* FalseUtopia: Starlight's society claims that everypony is equal due to lack of cutie marks and that this brings forth true happiness and friendship, but it's quite evident that there's ''something'' wrong under the surface.

* StepfordSmiler: A whole town full of them. ''Pinkie Pie'', the master of smiles, is unconvinced by them.

* {{Adorkable}}: Twilight's obviously still not used to being a princess: when Double Diamond first introduces Twilight to Starlight, she does a nervous grin and fluffs up her wings before Starlight points it out.

* AnimationBump: The animation in some trailer shots has detailed shading and lighting, similar to a few of the season premieres/finales before it. In the episode itself, near the beginning Spike starts walking across the map and as his feet hit the ground the map lights up where he's walking. The expressions that ponies make while they're talking both in this part and the next have also improved; their muzzles scrunch up and smooth out as they speak or make faces.

* RedScare: Some viewers immediately conflated Starlight's cult with communism. It's not and we can spend a whole page explaining why.

* CliffHanger: The Mane six get their cutie marks stolen by Starlight Glimmer, making them equalized.

** Or the first time [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E2PrincessTwilightSparklePart2 she fell down some stairs.]]
** This isn't the first time [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Rainbow Dash gets startled to where her tail sticks straight out.]]

** The Staff of Sameness has a very similar structure to the Spear of Longinus from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. Much like how the Spear neutralizes A.T. Fields, a manifestation of one's ego, soul and the desire to be separate, the Staff removes cutie marks, which are a representation of a pony's personality and unique talents.

** Rarity has a few moments:

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** While she is just as cheerful as the other members of her village, Starlight visibly displays more emotion and personality than them. She's the only one with a unique hairstyle, not having pigtails like the other mares.[[spoiler:This is because she ''hasn't'' removed her own Cutie Mark- she is using make-up to disguise it into the equality symbol.]]
** Twilight expresses skepticism about the story behind Starlight's staff, as she never heard of such a thing despite all her studies, even though she ''studied'' the artifacts it's allegedly related to. This is an earlier hint that [[spoiler:the staff is fake; what really allows Starlight to remove Cutie Marks is her own magic- which she can only access to if she still has her own Cutie Mark, hence her masquerade]].

** While she is just as cheerful as the other members of her village, Starlight visibly displays more emotion and personality than them. [[spoiler:This is because she ''hasn't'' removed her own Cutie Mark- she is using make-up to disguise it into the equality symbol.]]

* {{Adorkable}}: Twilight's obviously still not used to being a princess: when Double Diamond first introduces Twilight to Starlight, she does a nervous grin and fluffs her wings before Starlight points it out.

-->-- '''Multiple ponies in [[AscendedFanon Our Town]] ([[IThoughtItMeant the town itself, not the song]])'''

** Twilight expresses sketicism about the story behind Starlight's staff, as she never heard of such a thing despite all her studies, even though she ''studied'' the artifacts it's alledgedly related to. This is an earlier hint that [[spoiler:the staff is fake; what really allows Starlight to remove Cutie Marks is her own magic- which she can only access to if she still has her own Cutie Mark, hence her masquerade]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: While she is just as cheerful as the other members of her village, Starlight visibly displays more emotion and personality than them. [[spoiler:This is because she ''hasn't'' removed her own Cutie Mark- she is using make-up to disguise it into the equality symbol.]]