History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E2TheCutieMapPart2

* ContrivedCoincidence: During the chase through the mountains, Double Diamond just happens to find his old skis.

* GreenEyedMonster: Starlight Glimmer's gripe over Twilight mastering a spell Starlight Glimmer spent months studying and failing to do implies the real reason she is taking away everypony's talents is because she is jealous of others being better at things than her.

* AbsenteeActor: Notably the first two-parter not to feature Celestia, and the first time Spike is completely absent from either one.

* AdultFear: Unlike the other major villains and their fantastical threats (eternal night, magic brainwashing, magic draining...), Starlight Glimmer's menace is surprisingly grounded on RealLife: suppression of individuality by oppressive regimes, mundane brainwashing through psychological torture, dangers of herd mentality...

* AncientArtifact: Subverted, as the Staff of Sameness turns out to be just a stick, the real magic coming from Starlight Glimmer.

** Starlight continues to have parallels to [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Amon]], as both use makeup to hide their true selves and use their talents to steal the talents of others, plus they both claim that they are getting their PowerNullifier capacities from an external source (the Spirit World for Amon, the Staff of Sameness for Starlight) when in reality they both are using a very specialized technique/ability that can affect even more physically powerful opponents. Likewise, in both cases their support evaporates once their hypocrisy is revealed.
*** Also, the way she escapes from town using a tunnel built into her house is similar to how Aiwei escapes from Korra in Zaofu.

** Starlight Glimmer refusing to surrender her own cutie mark makes her [[Literature/AnimalFarm more equal than the others]].
** To free the marks, the rebelling ponies [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8 throws the staff at the vault, shattering the glass]].

** Starlight Glimmer asks [[VideoGame/BioShock "Would you kindly]] tell me which ponies asked for their cutie marks back?" This is especially fitting as more than a few fans have compared her perverse ideas of equality to [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Sofia Lamb]].[[note]]And thanks to pony-fied versions of the [[VideoGame/BioShockInfinite Lutece twins]] previously appearing in the background of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E19TradeYa "Trade Ya"]], this could definitely be on the right track.[[/note]]
** Rainbow Dash losing her SuperSpeed and her reaction at realizing she's now quite slow even compared to normal running/walking ponies is very similar to Franchise/TheFlash in the two-parter finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman''; similarly, the usually powered characters lost their special abilities and depended on the BadassNormal ones to get them back.

** After Party Favor says, "Except for you!", Starlight's DeathGlare towards him is accompanied by [[Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3 Springtrap's]] ScareChord.
** Applejack knocking over a pitcher in Starlight Glimmer's cottage for no apparent reason after breaking in is similar to the video meme "FBI! OPEN UP!!", where one of the riot cops breaks a vase against the wall for no reason other than he can.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Starlight Glimmer kept her cutie mark hidden under a cover of makeup and an equal sign stencil. She needs it to perform her cutie mark removing spell. When her ruse is revealed, the villagers rightfully call her out for making them give up their cutie marks while not giving up her own despite all her talk of equality.

** As the Mare of Laughter, Pinkie Pie is hit worse by this than the others, but after undergoing the "cutie un-marking", none of the Mane Six are able to enjoy anything related to their special talents. Considering how central this is to a pony's identity, this makes the un-marking very similar (creepily so, given the show's target audience) to certain tribal {{Initiation Ceremon|y}}ies.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: So the pony named Double Diamond turns out to have a snowflake cutie mark and a talent for skiing. This actually makes perfect sense if you know a bit about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piste#North_America.2C_New_Zealand_and_Australia ski trail ratings]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: Starlight Glimmer kept her cutie mark hidden under a cover of makeup and an equal sign stencil. She needs it to perform her cutie mark removing spell.

->''"How would you know that?! You never even gave us a chance!"''
-->-- '''Double Diamond'''

* {{Irony}}: The "Staff of Sameness", despite turning out to be an old piece of wood, is used by Starlight to cover up that it is her own magic taking away the cutie marks. In the end, the staff is used to shatter the vault and release all the stolen cutie marks.

** As the Mare of Laughter, Pinkie Pie is hit worse by this than the others, but after undergoing the "cutie un-marking", none of the Mane Six are able to enjoy anything related to their special talents. Considering how central this is to a pony's identity, this makes the un-marking frightfully similar to certain tribal {{Initiation Ceremon|y}}ies which, given the show's target audience, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment shouldn't be described in any detail here]].

* DebateAndSwitch: Starlight is revealed to be a ConArtist and a {{Hypocrite}}, making her arguments for equality irrelevant. She claims she needs her cutie mark to work her equality magic but the fact that she is obviously the one with all the power anyway, her argument is hallow.

** As the Mare of Laughter, Pinkie Pie is hit worse by this than the others, but after undergoing the "cutie un-marking", none of the Mane Six are able to enjoy anything related to their special talents. Considering how central this is to a pony's identity, this makes the un-marking frightfully similar to certain tribal {{Initiation Ceremon|y}}ies which, given the show's target audience, [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment shouldn't be described in any detail here]].

** Starlight Glimmer asks [[VideoGame/BioShock "Would you kindly]] tell me which ponies asked for their cutie marks back?" This is especially fitting as more than a few fans have compared her perverse ideas of equality to [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Sofia Lamb]].[[note]]And thanks to pony-fied versions of the [[VideoGame/BioShockInfinite Lutece twins]] appearing in the background of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E19TradeYa "Trade Ya"]], this could definitely be on the right track.[[/note]]

** Starlight Glimmer asks [[VideoGame/BioShock "Would you kindly]] tell me which ponies asked for their cutie marks back?" This is especially fitting as more than a few fans have compared her perverse ideas of equality to [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Sofia Lamb]].[[note]]And thanks to pony-fied versions of the [[VideoGame/BioShockInfinite Lutece twins]] appearing in the background of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E22TradeYa "Trade Ya"]], this could definitely be on the right track.[[/note]]

** Starlight Glimmer asks [[VideoGame/BioShock "Would you kindly]] tell me which ponies asked for their cutie marks back?" This is especially fitting as more than a few fans have compared her perverse ideas of equality to [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Sofia Lamb]].

* ChekhovsGun: Twilight's recalling that Meadowbrook had only eight, not nine, enchanted items foreshadows the fact that the staff is actually a fake, and that Starlight's magic is behind the cutie mark removals.