Starlight stared down at her flank in disbelief, all of her excitement suddenly gone. "This can't be happening," she thought. Not only was this terrible, but it was also the very worst thing that could have happened, and the absolute last thing she wanted. She thought she'd done everything in her power to not get her cutie mark, but clearly she didn't. Either that, or it didn't matter.

She started to feel herself hyperventilate. What would Double Diamond think? He was her best chance of finding her rock. If he left, everything she worked for might have been futile. Ponies would always think they were better than her, and then she'd always be alone. She was on the verge of panicking, the thought was so horrible.

"Calm down," she silently told herself, but still felt her breathing become faster. "Calm down!" she told herself again, more forceful this time, gritting her teeth. "Panicking doesn't do anything! You have it now, now figure out how to get rid of it!"

Starlight forced herself to breathe slowly. This wasn't going to be the end of the world. She was going to get rid of this. How, she didn't know... until she remembered that she'd just discovered a spell to remove cutie marks. She had a spell to get rid of cutie marks, in particular, one she just so happened to receive after discovering the spell. A more ideal opportunity to test it out wouldn't have presented itself if she tried to create one herself.

Except she still hadn't found her rock. She'd forgotten about that, but there had to be some sort of workaround. All she needed was somewhere to hold it until she found her rock. She quickly looked around the room. There was a jar on the desk in her room that was once filled with crackers. She didn't know how well it would contain cutie mark magic. Actually, that wasn't true. She was certain that it would be less than ideal for containing cutie mark magic, hence why she was looking for her rock. However, due to lack of options, she figured it would be suitable enough for a test.

She spread her hooves apart, took a deep breath, started to cast the spell on her new cutie mark. She waited a few seconds, with nothing happening, before she realized she had to physically pull it off. When she started, she felt a painful tugging. It was no different than if someone were pulling on her mane, except it was her cutie mark. The more she pulled, the more painful it became, until finally, she pulled it all the way off. She quickly put it inside the jar and twisted the lid on tightly, watching it bounce around inside.

Starlight looked down at her flank, which she expected to be blank once again, and was greeted with the sight of a new cutie mark, a gray equal sign. It was even better than she had expected, and exactly what the books she read told her. Not in how it looked, but in the fact that you couldn't really take away cutie marks. But the fact that it was replaced with an equal sign made it even better than not having a cutie mark at all. While she did notice that her head felt a bit foggy, and she was a tad more gray in color, she was still happy with the overall result. "This really couldn't have worked out better," she thought.

A second later, the jar exploded, and her cutie mark came rushing back to her. But not before the glass hit her. She tried to create a force field to deflect it, but couldn't. In the second before it hit, she realized not having her cutie mark meant that she couldn't use her magic.

"Ah!," she screamed, reflexively closing her eyes and covering her head as many pieces of glass began to cut her. A second later, she felt a light slap on her flank, which she could only assume to be her cutie mark returning to her. She hated it, and yet she was grateful for its return. She'd only gotten it three minutes ago, yet already she had a higher appreciation for it. Perhaps cutie marks weren't all that bad.

Actually, no. They absolutely were. Now that she knew that she couldn't use magic without her cutie mark, getting it was the worst possible thing that could have happened to her. She needed her magic for her philosophy to have any chance of success. Now Starlight would have to spend time thinking of a way to get around this particular predicament. Not to mention, she had just been cut with a whole bunch of glass because of it. And it almost started to convince her that it wasn't that bad. Cutie marks had to be eliminated. Except for her own, but she'd figure out a way around that.

"Starlight!" Double Diamond called out, who had woken up because of the noise to see her covered in glass and blood. He ran up to her and asked, "What happened to you?"

She sighed. "This happened," Starlight replied angrily, pointing at her flank. "I found a way to get rid of cutie marks, and then the next thing I knew I had one. And when I tried to remove it…” She waved her hooves angrily at the glass around her, shouting, “This happened!"

"Here, let me help you up," Double Diamond said, helping her off the floor. He then looked her over, saying, "What are we going to do about all these cuts? There's no bandages or gauze here."

Starlight sighed again. "I'll be fine," she told him, using magic to pull bits of glass out of her coat and skin. "Although, I haven't had this cutie mark for five minutes, and already it's been nothing but a nuisance."

“Are you sure?” Double Diamond asked, watching her wince as she pulled out glass. “There’s a town not far from here. I could run down there and pick something up if you’d like.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she said, “but could you help me clean this mess up please?”

---

Starlight stayed up late that night. She lay awake in bed from the pain of her cuts, thinking about what just happened. She had found a spell to get rid of cutie marks, except it backfired on her. Of course, she knew it was her own fault. She had foolishly tried to contain it in a jar when she knew full well that it wouldn’t work. That was the whole reason she was out here in the mountains in the first place. It was an idiotic mistake, one that, lucky for her, only left her with cuts that would heal in a few days.

Although, she figured the cuts were worth it to know that the spell worked. Not only had it worked, but, as if it were true destiny, left here with an equal sign in her cutie mark’s place. She couldn’t have chosen a better replacement herself. Now all she had to do was find her rock. Then she could truly begin making Equestria a better place.

Of course, now the only problem that would stand in her way after that was her own cutie mark. Not having a cutie mark meant not having magic, and she needed her magic. There was just no other way her plan would work without it. How else would she get rid of cutie marks without her magic?

She knew, of course, that there was only one viable solution. She would have to keep her cutie mark. But just the thought of that made her body shake with anger. She didn’t even want the thing to begin with, and now she would be forced to keep it. She ground her teeth at the knowledge of knowing she would have to keep the one thing she absolutely didn’t want. Wasn’t that the whole point of her avoiding getting it?

Why did she get her cutie mark just now anyway? Angrily, she turned her head around to her flank and got her first good look at it. What she saw was an eight-pointed star above what looked like two green ribbons. She knew from her studies that stars were the universal symbol for magic, and she got the mark after discovering the spell. But that didn’t make any sense. It couldn’t have been from the spell. She’d discovered lots of spells in the past, and didn’t get a cutie mark any of those times. Maybe the star combined with the ribbons meant combining spells? But that didn’t make sense either. She’d combined numerous spells before.

She tried to think about it. The star with the two ribbons, and the spell she’d discovered. They both had something in common. As she thought about it, the realization of its meaning hit her like a ton of bricks. Manipulation. That’s what her cutie mark meant. Manipulation. She had manipulated spells to manipulate cutie mark magic, which she would use to manipulate other ponies.

“No,” she whispered to herself. “You’re not manipulating anypony. That implies deception, and you’re not deceiving anypony.”

And then a horrible thought popped into her head. What if she was deceiving herself? Manipulating herself into thinking that her life could change? Maybe her cutie mark was a sign, telling her that she should give up, that she was wasting her time thinking she’d be anything other than lonely…

“No,” she thought, looking at her flank. “This cutie mark is the manipulator. It wants to see you suffer. It took Sunburst away from you and it wants nothing more than for you to be lonely and unhappy. It wants to see you suffer. You absolutely have to get rid of it the first chance you get.”

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