You're a traveler pony. You were born in Ponyville, but in your short life you've already visited many places in Equestria and have travel experience. You've seen many different, interesting, unusual, and magical places in Equestria. Even your cutie mark is related to shifting.

You recently stumbled upon a small village that looked quite nice, but from the moment you arrived, you felt strange, as if there was some strange aura around it, even though at first glance there was nothing unusual about it. Especially since all the ponies living in the village were smiling, though their smiles seemed unnatural, almost forced.

Almost immediately, you met Starlight Grimmer. She was something of a leader of this town. She seemed more normal than the others; At least she didn't smile so creepily, although something about her was off, perhaps even more so than the other villagers. You didn't notice it right away, but every pony in town had cutie marks missing; instead, they all had equal signs, and every pony in town reacted strangely when they saw your cutie mark.

At some point, you decided to follow Starlight. You hoped to find out why everything in this town was so strange. You followed her into the cave and saw the place where Starlight had hidden all the cutie marks she'd taken from the townspeople. You also realized that Starlight had a cutie mark and could use her magic. She was deceiving everyone. You wanted to carefully leave the cave, but Starlight spotted you.

Starlight took your cutie mark, and now there was an equal sign in its place. Starlight said you should be like everyone else and never leave town. Starlight locked you in her house to keep you from trying to escape. She also hid your cutie mark in her room—yes, she decided to keep it to herself, because you were special to her.

As for you being special to Starlight, she did have feelings for you. It's unlikely that her feelings for you could be called love, at least not in the usual sense. But she tried to care for you and convinced you that you should be equal. It was strange to hear her talk about equality, while you noticed the kind of Starlight she really was. The other ponies believed her and her words.

Starlight seemed to genuinely try to care for you, at least as much as she could. When she cooked for everyone else, she made you double portions and almost always made sure everyone treated you well. She wanted you to be loved in the city, and you didn't want to leave. Even though Starlight knew you wanted to leave, she didn't care about your feelings. All she cared about was her desire to keep you close.

It was night. About two or three weeks had passed since your imprisonment; you couldn't say for sure, but you still hadn't given up. You were lying in bed in your room in Starlight's house. You couldn't sleep, and you didn't want to. You decided to take a chance. You quietly left the room and headed for Starlight's room.

You carefully opened the door, which almost creaked. You entered cautiously, and immediately saw Starlight lying on the bed, seemingly fast asleep. You quietly began rummaging around the room, hoping to find your cutie mark. You knew it had to be somewhere in Starlight's room, but you couldn't find it anywhere. Suddenly, the light in the room flickered on. You turned around and saw Starlight, her hoof resting on the light switch.

At that moment, you froze. Starlight smirked, clearly guessing you'd do something like that. At one point, she showed you her other hoof, with your cutie mark, but quickly pulled it away. Starlight walked around you and she spoke.

"My, my dear, how many times do I have to tell you? I still have to tell you that you don't need a cutie mark, everyone should be equal, you just need to accept that you're part of this city now, and that you're also my property, and if you try to do what you did today again, I might have to lock you up somewhere to make you think about your behavior."