After many stressful days of constructing, and planning, and making tedious blueprints, she finally made her first building in her new town: her own house.

I have somewhere to sleep, finally. Starlight thought with relief. Since she didn't want to go on the train everyday, she eventually teleported herself to the hotel that she has booked in. Now she could just grab her things and bring them to her vacant house.

But even that took days. Starlight looked out the vast property. She had to build more houses, albeit in a different shape. The good news is that the rest of the houses will have the same blueprint. The bad part is actually putting them together.

She decided to take a break. Even though she is determined to make her town into the town she envisioned in her mind, she did not want to overwork herself. Building was a difficult job for a beginner with no help except her own brain and the manual.

Some fresh air should help. Starlight decided. She wanted to get out of the dusky desert and instead head to somewhere colder...

She walked up the cold mountain, with her body shivering from the cold, and her hooves feeling the unforgiving chill. The cold wind breezed through her, chilling every bone in her body. But it was either this or the humidity of the desert.

She walked up to a big cave. She had heard about this mysterious cave. She had heard in the map that this cave could lead to many tunnels, and that it was nearly impossible to track a pony down. Most likely due to the darkness.

But ponies can hear me from my hooves. So what's the point? Starlight criticized in her mind. But she would keep the caves in her mind. In case all of her plans go wrong in some way.

She decided that her trip to the mountains should come to an end. So she walked back down from where she came.

Next time I should buy mittens so my hooves won't get cold. Starlight thought. If she was going to visit here again, she had to bring some accessories.

As she continued to walk back down, she heard a shocked yelp in the distance, and heard a crash in the snow.

Starlight suddenly became alert. She was not alone. Who could be up here with me?

Following the source of the sound, she dashed downward, until she finally spotted a white pony with their upper body buried in the snow. She noticed that the pony had three, big blue snowflakes as their cutie mark. Of course.

After looking at the pony long enough, an idea beamed into her mind.

Her horn glowed and her magic grabbed the pony out of the snow. After she put him down, he quickly took off his ski helmet and shook his head to shake the snow out of his mane. Afterwards, he gazed at Starlight with his sky-blue pupils.

"Thank you." He said thankfully.

"Oh, of course." Starlight responded. If it weren't for the idea that she had, she would've watched him struggle with a smile. She did like seeing others in pain after all. Especially in situations that they themselves had put them in.

"You should be more careful when you're skiing." Starlight advised him with invalid concern. "Snow can be unpredictable at times."

"I guess..." The earth pony somewhat agreed with her. "But I've been skiing my whole life and I didn't have a problem with them."

"Skiing is your special talent?" Starlight said while nodding towards his cutie mark.

"Of course. Ever since I got it as a foal, I've been skiing ever since." He explained.

"And you said you never had a problem with them, but you clearly did something wrong." Starlight explained. She now wanted to get to the point.

"So what? Just because I made one mistake doesn't mean that I'm suddenly bad." The pony suddenly got hostile, much to Starlight's surprise. "Are you calling me a bad skier?"

"Of course not." Starlight said calmly. "But its something to think about."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what if you do a dangerous ski stunt? What if you ski on top of a dangerous mountain top? What if you slid on the snow? What if you cause an avalanche? What if you get killed?" Starlight provoked. She saw fear appear in his eyes. It was working.

"I'm... I'm not going to die." He stated, but Starlight knew that he was starting to doubt his words. "I have been skiing for almost my entire life. And I got my cutie mark for a reason because of that."

"You foolish pony." Starlight softly chuckled. "You may not know this, but you probably should have. Cutie marks lie. And are nothing but dangerous things."

"Lie? Dangerous?" He looked suspicious. "You're stranger than I thought."

"Call me strange but hear my words. Cutie marks are just pictures on your flank. They don't really mean anything. They just... appear in coincidence. Nothing more."

"Uh..."

I'm luring him in. Now I just need him to bite the hook. Starlight snickered inside. "You see, once you get your cutie mark, you don't get the chance to try new things. Things that you like better, but instead you are stuck with a cutie mark because coincidence."

When he didn't say anything, she continued on.

"And are you seriously going to risk your life because a cutie mark calls you to do so?" Starlight continued to question him. "You could do so many things. But you never know. They might be too boring, and as I stated before, too dangerous."

"So you're saying that cutie marks are... evil?" he questioned her.

"Correct."

"Wait wait wait. Are you telling me that if I continue this job, because my cutie mark said so, I'm going to die?"

"Dying is not the only option." Starlight turned away to face the mountain. "You could also get bored, and question whether your cutie mark and your special talent is genuine. When you could do so many things that would suit your needs and hobbies."

"But... I love skiing though." he quivered.

She just shrugged. "Sure, but you could've loved something else."

The pony sat down to comprehend her words.

Before he came to a decision, she wanted to say one final thing. "You don't have to take my word for it. You can continue to ski if you please. But don't forget the risks of doing that."

He looked at her thoughtfully. A tiny bit of Starlight told her that her words would not affect this pony. He would just ignore her and call her crazy, and continue to do his job, making her words completely useless.

"If you have made up your mind about what to do, you can always find me in my village in the desert. Or a to-be village." Starlight suggested him. "A village where your cutie mark won't command you any longer. Where you can finally be risk free, and of course, live a happier life, not worrying about death and the chances of greater injury. All because of a picture."

Once she felt she had said enough, she passed the earth pony and walked downward to her direction of the village.

Once she reached the sandy part of the desert, she could hear hoofsteps behind her. She turned to see the same earth pony run up to her.

"I've thought about what you said." he said to her. "And while what you're saying is weird, you may be right." he then lowered his head. "Its best to not risk my life because of my cutie mark. And since I have it forever, I can't change my hobby, or my special talent."

Starlight smiled. "Perhaps I can help you with that."

"You can?"

She nodded. "I have the power to take away your cutie mark off of your body. But under one condition."

"Sure?"

"If ponies want to have their cutie marks removed, they must be residents of my village."

"Wait, really? I'm not ready to move out of my home just yet-"

"Oh, ok, then you can completely ignore what I said, and just enjoy your life with a burden." She said with fake disappointment. "But until you change your mind, I'll be here."

As she walked to her town, she heard the earth pony bound up behind her.

"Its... its fine." he said. "I didn't have a lot of things anyway, since the house was recently bought."

"So you want your cutie mark removed?" Starlight asked. "And you must be really sure. Once you say yes, you can't go back."

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Starlight could hear the earth pony say that under his breath. "Yes I am." He said clearly.

"Good, the houses have not even started. So until then, you will be sleeping with me." Starlight said happily. "Mind if I ask, mind if I know your name?"

"Double Diamond." he said to her. "And I assume that your name is Aurora? Since your mane colors look like aurora lights in the sky."

"Interesting assumption, but no." Starlight responded. "Its Starlight. Starlight Glimmer."

Author's Note

Sorry if this felt a little rushed. I had to get Double Diamond to join her town somehow, and this is what I came up with. So I hope that you enjoy reading it anyways.

And yes, DD thinking that her name was Aurora actually is a reference to how Starlight's name was originally going to be in the show.