The Stars and the Moon

                The wind whispered through the quiet little town. Sweet silver moonlight smiled upon thatched roofs. It reflected off the brilliant crystal castle that guarded over the slumbering settlement, upon the ground its refracted rays danced.

                    The scene was as peaceful as it was beautiful. “Such a shame to think about all the ponies who miss out on sights such as this” Starlight Glimmer thought to herself as she examined Ponyville from her grassy perch.

                    It had taken her quite some time to get herself out of the caves, and even more time traveling to her destination. She had traveled through all kinds of settlements, talked to all kinds of ponies. But no matter where she went she couldn’t help but see pain and strife everywhere she wandered.

“These ponies, they think they’re happy but they aren’t. I can tell” she thought to herself as she continued to scan the village. “Why can’t they see how much pain and strife cutie-marks cause? How… Un-equal everypony is with those stupid things”.

                    The unicorn took a few deep breaths, forcing herself to relax. Her violet orbs moved to Princess Twilight’s Castle. A host a feelings rose in her: Anger, confusion, distrust, and jealousy all churned in her gut. She was about to break into the princess of friendship’s very home.

                    The pink pony pulled up her hood and started down into the village. She had been waiting days for the perfect time. Not only was the full moon important for visibility, but she knew as well as any educated unicorn that it was also the best time to perform magic.

                    There was often an assumption among the lesser educated the a full moon only helped energize dark magic, and then of course there were those who felt that the moon had nothing to do with magic at all. The fact was that the sun and moon both played an integral part in the limitations of a mage at any given moment.

                    The world and thus the universe around it moved and flowed with magic. Every little thing contained its own strain of magic. The moon and sun of course were no different, and theirs was a magic so powerful that it radiated itself outwards and unto everything it could touch.

                    What made the moon special was that it did not radiate just its magic alone. The moon reflected the sun and thus the suns magic as well. It was under a full moon that Starlight successfully cast the cutie-mark removal spell. She knew very well what kind of power a full moon held and fully intended to use it to her advantage.

                    Speaking of… She was extremely close to the castle now. She mentally reviewed her plan, and it was quite a simple, if extremely risky, one. She was to infiltrate the castle, find Princess Twilight, cast the cutie-mark removal spell once more, wait until the daytime upon which Twilight’s five friends would have awoken to find distress letters on their doors and rush to the princess’ aid, cast the spell on them and then hold the whole lot hostage until she had a direct audience with Princess Celestia.

                    That’s where things get complicated… If Starlight played her cards right, if the new spell she designed worked as it should, then she should in theory have the skill to cast the cutie-mark spell upon the sun princess herself and whatever guards she may have with her. In the chaos she will incapacitate the guards, then present herself and Celestia for all to see.

                    But of course like all grand schemes it started with the first step which Starlight was currently carrying out. Breaking into the crystal castle was extraordinarily easy; there was practically no crime in Ponyville so Princess Twilight didn’t see it fit to lock her door. Princess Twilight also didn’t see it fit to have any guards or charms protecting her castle.

                    No, the difficulty in infiltrating the castle was that Starlight unfortunately had to go in blind. Thus she needed to waste precious moonlight trying to find the Princess’ sleeping quarters. Considering the castles size and the fact that there was one singular permanent occupant it was going to be quite the hassle.

                    Unfortunately for Starlight she found out that at least one part of that assumption was false. After wandering around quietly for about 15 minutes she finally opened a door to what was obviously a bedroom.

                    She narrowed her eyes trying to adjust to the low lighting. She felt like something was off but she couldn’t place her hoof on it. Perhaps it was the snores that were emitted from the bed, they sounded awfully… Masculine.

                    Starlight frowned; she was getting herself worked up over nothing! It was now or never! So without a second thought she fired up her horn and put all her energy into the intricate yet oh-so familiar spell.

                    The scream that ripped through the air was definitely not Princess Twilight.

                    With a gasp the unicorn dropped whoever it was and turned tail. Running at a full gallop she realized quickly with some horror that she had no idea where she was going. She had been so focused on her task that she hadn’t bothered keeping track, one would think after living in caves for who knows how long it would be instinctual!

                    The walls seemed to bend and twist as the panicked unicorn ran. Her echoing hoof beats pounding in her ears and the purple and blue crystal colours blurred together in her vision. She became so hysteric she did not see the distinctive purple flash of magic in front of her, nor the purple alicorn that came with it.

                    She did however, sense the magic burst and shut her eyes as she tried to skid to a halt. The floors in the castle were very unforgiving however and she only managed to slide right into the pony in front of her.

                    The two wound up entangled on the floor and for a moment they lay like that. Starlight felt fatigued and confused. “Twilight!” a coltish voice called, his cry echoing throughout the halls. Upon noticing the noise Starlight jolted back to her sense.

                    She and Twilight quickly untangled and faced one another. “Spike! I’m alright! Just stay where you are!” Twilight called out. Starlight gritted her teeth at the purple princess’ sweet voice. ‘The foal doesn’t even see me as a threat to her! Even after what happened last time!’ she thought to herself.

                    Without even thinking she fired her horn up with haste, drawing upon her massive reserve of power and the power she felt around her. She didn’t have too much time to act so she needed to act now. The last thing she saw before she fired her spell at Twilight was the alicorn’s vivid purple eyes shrink in horror.

                    The purple mare let out cries of agony as she experienced the horrendous sensation of her cutie-mark being ripped from her. Starlight knew what it felt like; she had to try the spell on herself before she could’ve been sure it would work. It felt like a piece of your very soul was being ripped away. Your inner magic shrinks to a miniscule size and whatever it was in life that gave you purpose was forgotten.

                    Regardless of that, she knew very well ponies could live much better without their marks than with them. Sure the initial feeling was painful and a bit horrible. But without ones cutie-mark one was free to shape ones destiny as one pleased. The life one had would no longer be dictated but such a trivial thing as a cutie-mark.

                    Starlight felt fatigued as she finished but maintained her composure. The now dulled alicorn flopped to the floor in exhaustion. Grinning, Starlight then bottled the princess’ cutie-mark. “You know princess I would think somepony like you would take more precautions”, she spoke in the most stable and calm tone she could muster.

                    Slipping the jar into an enchanted saddle bag she continued to speak as the princess struggled to get up. “After all you must have made loads of enemies, a unicorn and now alicorn of your notoriety and power… Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s already groups dedicated to taking you out!”

                    The pink mare let out a bark of laughter as she watched the other finally stand up straight. The princess opened her mouth when all of a sudden a third voice joined them. “Twilight!” the same voice coltish voice from before rang out.

                    Starlight turned and couldn’t stop her eyes from widening at the sight of a young purple dragon running up to them. He stopped and eyed her fearfully “Twilight…What happened? What did she do to you?!”

                    Starlight was quick to answer him, putting on her sweet and caring voice. “Why hello there little one, I’ve never seen a dragon such as yourself before. My name is Starlight Glimmer, I’m afraid me and your… Care taker have some unfinished business to attend to”.

                    The dragon’s emerald orbs widened. “Star… Starlight Glimmer? You’re the pony who took cutie-marks and brainwashed other ponies!” he shouted accusatorily.

                    “I liberated ponies from their cutie-marks” she corrected, her voice barely containing her anger and annoyance. She whipped around to Twilight who seemed to be trying to sneak off. Tutting loudly she picked the now powerless alicorn up with her magic.

                    “Now, now, princess don’t you know it’s rude to leave guests?” she plopped the struggling pony down next to her dragon companion. With practiced precision she pulled a magically reinforced rope from her saddle bags and tied the two up, making sure to add a flame proof enchantment.

                    When she was finished the rope has a distinctive teal glow to it while its captives struggled in its bind. “You won’t get away with this!” Twilight snapped. “My friends will come and help me”

                    Starlight laughed “Oh please don’t think I haven’t thought about those troublemakers”. Shaking her head she fired up her horn yet again. She took a deep breath as she repeated the process she had done before, drawing upon her only slightly smaller magic reserves and the magic in the air. This time however she weaved a far more complex spell than the one she cast before. She felt her heart beat faster as she tried to channel the magic and wave it in the correct way.

                    But instead of firing the spell on Twilight, she fired it upon Twilight’s cutie-mark. With a great amount of effort she then shifted the channel to herself, using the piece of the spell that was the same as her first one she started to remove her own cutie-mark.

                    Sweet Celestia did it hurt! Her eyes watered, she had to work past this! She was so close to victory and then suddenly her horn winked out. With a gasp the unicorn fell to the floor and all was silent.

                    After a moments rest the now exhausted unicorn rose to her hooves. Her whole body felt extremely funny, but… In a good way.  Her magic reserves starting to come back to life, quicker and larger than ever before! She channeled magic into her horn and it lit up even brighter than before. This enabled her to see her own reflection in the crystal walls.

                    She gasped at the sight of herself…. No… That couldn’t be possible and yet… Slowly the pink pony extended two beautiful wings. She then turned to her side, making her flank visible. Starlight gasped audibly at what she saw, a beautiful six pointed star surrounded by five others.

  She had won.