Starlight was outside the Canterlot archives early the next morning when she happened to notice Princess Celestia walking towards her. It was weird for Starlight, not because she was the one opening things up for the day, but because Starlight would one day have to convince her to give up her cutie mark. Luckily for her though, that day was not today.

"Most ponies aren't here quite this early," Celestia said as she smiled warmly.

Starlight smiled back and responded, "I'm excited. I've never been to the Canterlot Archives before." She made a point not to call her princess or bow down to her. Even if she was more powerful, Celestia wasn't any better than her. As far as she was concerned, they were equals.

"Is there anything in particular you're hoping to learn today, my little pony?" Celestia asked her as she unlocked the entrance.

"Hopefully more about cutie marks," she told her, leaving out the reason. It wasn't technically a lie. She did want to learn about cutie marks, but she was sure Celestia wouldn't appreciate the fact that she wanted to get rid of them. "I went to the library yesterday and learned a little bit," she continued.

"Well, I hope you find the information you're looking for," Celestia told her. Starlight noted that she glanced at her noticeably blank flank while she said that. It was annoying to her that she felt sorry for her. Starlight didn't need her pity. If everypony were equal, they wouldn't feel sorry that she didn't have a cutie mark. But she didn't comment on that fact, instead turning to walk inside the archives. However, before heading in, she hesitated for a moment, then turned back around to the alicorn.

"Hey, I have a question," she called to the princess, who turned around expectantly. Starlight opened her mouth to speak, and hesitated. It was a question that came to her on the fly, and she was suddenly afraid to ask it.

"What is it?" Celestia asked politely.

"Umm…" Starlight started nervously. "Well… it's nothing. Nevermind," she said as she turned once again to enter the archives.

Starlight wanted to ask Celestia if Sunburst was still in Canterlot, but decided against it. Not that she didn't miss and want to talk to her one friend in all of Equestria. She absolutely did, almost desperately so. What was stopping her was her fear of what might happen if he saw her again. He might think he was better than her and not want to be her friend anymore. He might want to be her friend and talk her out of what she was planning. He might be some important wizard and not even remember her. No, it was much better to not see him. Still, in the back of her mind, Starlight hoped the one pony she ever cared about would make an appearance.

As Starlight spent her day reading through scroll after scroll, looking at spell after spell, she thought about how Sunburst getting his cutie mark was what changed her life. She wondered what her life would be like had he gotten his cutie mark when they were a little bit older. For starters, she wouldn't have been so lonely over the last dozen or so years. The ponies of Sire's Hollow might still ignore her, but it wouldn't be as painful since Sunburst would be with her. She might not even notice that they were ignoring her. It wasn't like she had friends outside of him when he was around. She only began to notice when he left.

They actually might not ignore her at all, seeing as she'd likely have her cutie mark. She'd also probably still be best friends with Sunburst right now, maybe even something more. She could picture it, him being some important wizard or teacher, her being a city planner or guidance counselor, being his special somepony, moving in with him, starting a family together…

And everypony would be forever unequal. As much as she hated the past she suffered through, it led her to where she was today, actively seeking not only to make her life better, but everypony's life better. Her loneliness was for the best. If she didn't fix things, nopony would. Her suffering was for the benefit of everypony else. Still though...

Starlight came up empty hooved after searching for hours for a spell to remove cutie marks. She'd found several that modified a pony's behavior and personality, even one that completely removed any personality, but that wasn't really what she wanted. However, she figured it would have to do, and wrote it down, so as not to forget it. She planned to modify it later, and perhaps use it for something else if need be, but not now. Right now, she wanted to write her manifesto.

As she walked out of the archives and headed to her room, she was surprised to see that night had once again fallen. "Time flies when you're working to fix Equestria," she thought as she entered her room. She turned on the light, sat down at the desk, got out a notebook, and quickly began to write. The words seemed to just place themselves onto the pages. To be fair, it wasn't hard. She'd been thinking about these things for the past few years. All she had to do was put her thoughts onto the paper. She was actually surprised that she hadn't thought to do this earlier. It only took her a few hours to write out her manifesto. It was a bit short, but it got to the point, and she was happy with the result. She read through it once, and when she was satisfied that there were no mistakes and conveyed the message she wanted, she set it to the side and climbed into bed. Things were going along well, and after a good night's sleep, she'd take the next train to the Crystal Empire and start looking for her rock.

---

To all the ponies of Equestria,

At this very moment, friendship is leaving us, and it is being replaced with arrogance and callousness. A cruel indifference for our fellow ponies is filling our hearts, one that I believe stems from the differences between us. These differences have created strife and turmoil among us, and an environment where some ponies have a blatant disregard for other ponies they feel inferior, and keeps Equestria from being the best it can be.

The only solution to our current problem, I believe, is to eliminate these differences. Eliminating the differences between us would eliminate almost any sense of superiority or inferiority between ponies, and in turn, keep conflicts between us to a minimum. As well, nopony would have to suffer through the sense of inferiority many feel because of those who believe themselves to be better. However, to eliminate our differences, we must find the source of our differences, which I believe lies in our cutie marks.

As fillies and colts, we're taught to take pride in our cutie marks. We're taught that cutie marks are what make us who we are, that our cutie mark represents our destiny, that without them, we are nothing. We hold them in such high standing that we let them define our lives, and create social standings based around them. We tell each other that somepony who's cutie mark signifies something we deem important, like a mayor or a scientist, is better than somepony who's cutie mark means something less important. It promotes a mindset that we have a station in life, a class if you will, and that we should keep to it because of our marks. Almost everypony has this mindset, as it's almost completely forced upon us, and I believe it won't start to change until cutie marks are eliminated completely.

However, while the elimination of cutie marks will fix the majority of our problems, we absolutely cannot force ponies to get rid of their cutie marks. Doing such a thing would simply encourage the inequality we seek to get rid of. Instead, we should actively encourage them and push them to get rid of them, showing them how much better off they'll be without them. Along with this, we should teach ponies as foals that differences between ponies are not something to celebrate, and that natural talents should not be discussed. We should teach community and conformity as opposed to the disparity and inequality that's currently being taught to our foals.

The third thing we need to do is establish communes among the ponies of Equestria. Besides cutie marks, wealth is the main cause of resentment among ponies, and can be eliminated through socialistic means. However, when creating such communes, it's important that, while we restrain any single pony from having too much power, we keep such communes local so that everypony can see where their resources go and prevent corruption, as well as safeguard their freedom from the differences that enslave them currently.

Once these three things are accomplished, we'll begin to see a happier, friendlier, and more kind Equestria, both for us and our future generations. A future largely without pain and isolation is possible, I'm sure of it, and this is the path towards that future. It's a world that we can create if we have the dedication and fortitude to create it.

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