Start rant:

I really think I wrote this chapter very poorly, mainly the ending. Actually, specifically, just one paragraph of this chapter. It's just over a hundred words long, but I think I wrote it so poorly that it just throws the entire flow of the chapter off. It's such a jarring transition, and I really don't like it, but I couldn't think of anything better.

Expect the next chapter to be at least 12 times better.

End rant

Chapter Fifteen:
“Slip up”

That afternoon, Starlight headed back to her rock. Even though she got Fluttershy settled into the town and was letting her stay in the spare bedroom in her house, she didn’t trust her completely. Not that she didn’t want to trust her. She didn’t know why she couldn’t. From what Double Diamond told her, Fluttershy had nothing but good things to say about the town since she first got there. There was no reason not to trust her. But something in the back of her mind told her that she couldn’t be, so she listened to it.

However, before that, she held a very brief meeting with the town. She explained how she took the princess' cutie mark, as well as those of her friends by force, and in response received a bunch of nervous and anxious looks from them. It looked as though they didn’t like the decision, but before they could begin to question the move, she explained that, while it was necessary, it wasn't something that she was proud of, and was only done as an absolute last resort. She told them how this was not what their town was about.

She then had Double Diamond explain how they'd overheard them talking about bringing cutie marks back into their village, and how Twilight was planting seeds of doubt in their minds. While he didn't talk for very long, she saw the town visibly relax at his words, and she knew why. Even though she was the village’s founder, Double Diamond seemed more like one of them than she did. While she seemed more like a leader, he seemed to them like just another member of their town. His words meant he had a hoof in the decision, meaning that she hadn't acted on her own. It meant that, from their perspective, she truly did want to see their best interests, but still sought their opinions through Double Diamond at least before acting. Which meant that she didn't think she was better than them.

She ended with telling them that they'd have to be much more careful about who they were letting into their village. Not that they had to be afraid, they just needed to pay more attention. This meeting seemed to satisfy them for now, but Starlight knew that she would have to follow up with them later and explain the whole thing better. She also knew that they were now nervous about her, and she needed to be careful of how she acted in the future. But that was a problem for another time. For now, she was going to the cutie mark vault.

After a few hours of walking, bringing Double Diamond along with her, just before sundown, she made it to the cave where the rock was. She had brought the jar she used to use to store her cutie mark in and placed the princess’s cutie mark inside. As an afterthought, she placed the cutie marks of the princess’s friends inside as well.

Of course, Double Diamond questioned her actions at this. “I just don’t understand why we couldn’t leave them in the cutie mark vault,” he commented as they walked back to the town. “Fluttershy is one of us now. Surely she can be trusted,”.

“I understand,” she told him. “This is just a security measure, just in case something funny happens,”.

“But she had nothing but good things to say about our village since she got here. Do you really not have trust in her?”.

“It’s not her,” Starlight explained, “it’s her friend, Twilight, that I don’t trust. She might have put her up to this, threatened her even. Besides,” she said, as she held up Twilight’s cutie mark, “this one belongs to the princess. It could be of great value once she joins our village,”.

“But if the princess becomes our friend,” he asked, “what will we care about that old cutie mark?”.

“We could use it to promote our philosophy,” she said. “When people see that a princess joined our village, everyone will want to join. For now, however, I just want to keep them close until everything is settled,”.

“I understand,”.

When Starlight got home, she took the jar and set it in the desk in her room. She might have to keep them there quite a long time, at least until the princess stopped resisting and came around to her philosophy. She knew she eventually would. Or, at least, she hoped she eventually would. The princess was just so stubborn. She was stuck on the idea of what Starlight had done wrong, which she had admitted to, but wouldn’t place any blame on herself for talking about giving the town back their cutie marks. In front of Starlight, no less. But she would come around. She had to. She was the Princess of Friendship. If she couldn’t see that Starlight’s way was all inclusive and prevented ponies from being outcasted, and, in general, better than her philosophy of having cutie marks, then she had no business holding such a title.

She thought all of this as she went to the restroom to rub off her makeup, a task she had done every night, then made her way back to her room to go to sleep. She was just about to drift off when she was filled with panic. She had rubbed off her makeup. The makeup that covered her cutie mark. And Fluttershy was still in the house! How could she be so careless? If Fluttershy had decided to leave her room to go for a late night walk, or leave to socialize with the rest of the town, or even go to the restroom, she would have been caught. She was incredibly lucky she didn’t do any of those things. How could she be so careless?

Starlight couldn’t fall asleep anymore. She was on edge. Fluttershy might have been waiting for a moment like this to take advantage of. Or, worse, the princess herself might have been spying on her waiting for this. She just risked everything by wiping off her makeup. How could she be so careless?
Starlight tried to calm down. Fluttershy was apart of her village now, and it wasn’t like anypony even knew about her cutie mark. And besides, the princess was locked up in the farthest house from her without her magic. And even if the princess was spying on her and she somehow didn’t notice, the princess didn’t know what she was looking for.

Starlight took a deep breath. It was going to be okay. Nopony saw her. Everything was going to be fine. Still, though, she kicked herself for being so careless. If she kept making simple mistakes, she was going to get caught. She had to be better, and she knew it. She got lucky this time. Next time, she might not be afforded such luck.