There had to be a way.
There had to be some kind of magic that could prevent ponies from getting their cutie marks. Miss Crayola’s words had struck a chord with Starlight: “Only an exceptional wizard could do anything like that.”
I don’t need friends. I don’t need anypony! Starlight tried to convince herself. A pain deep in the pit of her stomach, however, knew it wasn’t true. She did need somepony who cared, but how could she trust that more cutie marks wouldn’t show up to whisk them away like what happened with Sunburst?
The only way to be sure was to get rid of cutie marks entirely. If it took an exceptional wizard to accomplish those feats, then that’s what she was going to have to be. Read and study and become a powerful unicorn. Thus, Starlight spent her weekend reading and studying, practicing her magic, reading and studying some more, stopping only to eat her meals, and then practice some more.
Then it happened.
Starlight was walking to school Monday morning and passed through the playground when she heard another foal shouting.
“Hey, give it back!”
Starlight wheeled in the direction of the voice. A small, thin colt was trying to retrieve a backpack from a bigger, stronger colt who held the bag far above the smaller colt’s head.
“You can’t have it back,” taunted the bigger colt, who Starlight recognized as Quick Jab, a student from the classroom next to hers. “It’s mine now.”
“Give me back my backpack or else!”
“Or else what?” Quick Jab asked the younger colt, who was probably a couple grades beneath him. “I got my cutie mark in fighting. What are you gonna do about it? Take it from me? Beat me up? I don’t think so. You’re just a blank flank.”
Starlight gnashed her teeth against the growing anger as she stepped towards them. “Leave him alone, Quick Jab!”
Quick Jab turned to Starlight, sneering at her. “Back off, Starlight. This doesn’t involve you.”
For a silent moment, Starlight assessed the situation. Quick Jab was so much bigger and stronger than her, and with his hoof-and-impact cutie mark, there was no way she could take him in a hoof-to-hoof fight. She did, however, have the magic she’d been studying all weekend. If that cutie mark made Quick Jab so high and mighty, then Starlight knew it was time to see what she could do about it.
Gathering her courage, Starlight moved closer. “Just because your special talent is fighting doesn’t give you an excuse to be a jerk! I’m warning you. Give him back his backpack, now.”
“You’re warning me? Am I supposed to be scared?” Quick Jab reared up on his hind legs, popping his front hooves in a manner that said he was itching for a fight. “What if I don’t give it back?”
Starlight furrowed her brow, eyes burning with resolve. “Then I’ll rip that stupid cutie mark right off your flank!”
Quick Jab let the colt’s backpack drop to the ground and oriented on Starlight. “I’d like to see you try it.”
Starlight squeezed her eyes shut, putting all her focus on the spell. Nothing happened. She could hear Quick Jab drawing closer. Starlight dug deep within for the strength to finish the spell, she could feel that power there in her anger and fear.
Quick Jab stepped within striking range, groaned and dropped to his knees in pain. “My cutie mark!”
Starlight opened her eyes in time to witness Quick Jab’s cutie mark peel away from his flank, then move to hover above her horn as her magic held it in place. She flashed a victorious, almost menacing smile. To think she could use her emotions to fuel her magic…
Quick Jab started for Starlight again and drew his front leg back to attack. The punch, however, came slow and awkward. Quick Jab stumbled over his own momentum as Starlight easily dodged the clumsy strike.
“What gives?” Quick Jab snarled. “What the hay did you do to me?!”
At that time, a bright flash came from Starlight’s side, revealing her new cutie mark: A purple four-pointed star overlapping a white star and a teal streak swirling its way upward from the stars, as if to depict them leaving her flank.
Her destiny was sealed; she believed she knew its meaning perfectly.
“Look, you got your dumb cutie mark!” Quick Jab spat. “Now give me mine back. I can’t even punch right!”
“I’ll give it back to you as soon as you give him back his backpack,” Starlight said, turning her attention back to Quick Jab. “And don’t let me catch you using your talent to bully smaller ponies again, or I’ll rip your cutie mark right back off!”
“Starlight Glimmer!” came Crayola Wonder’s voice. Starlight turned her head to see the teacher galloping up to them. “Stop this at once, that’s no way to behave!”
“Then tell Quick Jab to give this colt his backpack and to stop threatening to beat up other foals.”
“I will deal with him,” Crayola replied with stern finality. “Now release his cutie mark.”
Sighing, Starlight shut her eyes and released her magic grip on Quick Jab’s cutie mark. It streaked back towards his flank with a bright flash and pasted itself where it belonged.
“Here,” Quick Jab kicked the young colt’s backpack to him. “Take your stupid backpack.”
Miss Crayola glared at Quick Jab, pointing a hoof towards the school’s main entrance. “Principal’s office. Now.”
Head hung in annoyance, Quick Jab sulked back inside the school. Crayola then turned back to Starlight. “And you. I’m disappointed in you, Starlight.”
“I was just-”
“You’ll be speaking to the principal yourself later,” Miss Crayola warned. “Now get inside, class is about to start.”
Drooping, Starlight headed for the main entrance, stopping only at the colt’s voice shouting out to her. “Thanks, miss Starlight. You’re my hero.”
Starlight thought those words should have touched something, but they didn’t. There was no satisfaction, no feeling of having done a good deed. There was only a biting annoyance and a growing ambition. “I didn’t do it for you,” she mumbled, continuing on towards the front doors. “I just hate it when ponies act like their cutie mark makes them better than everypony else.”