Shifting Mark Syndrome

This is something I've wanted to work into a story for a long while, even came up with a fairly decent character/opening for it, but could never advance it past a preliminary snippet. I honestly don't think I quite have the chops for it yet.

Shifting Mark Syndrome - A syndrome in which a pony's Cutie Mark may change in some small way. This is commonly seen in ponies who have either sufered a great magical trauma, fallen from their destiny, or become closer to aforementioned destined purpose.

This syndrome is commonly combined with the following symptoms: extreme, if not necessarily negative, changes in temperament, increased tribal magic, a marked growth in aetheric conductivity, and hormonal imbalances.

There is currently no known cure.

The story would have been very "Flowers For Algernon/Fifty First Dates" (although I feel dirty for combining a classic with Adam Sandler ), featuring "Thought Drift" a Unicorn who suffers from regular mental snaps and surges as his talent resets due to an experimental spell he attempted to use as his thesis for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, his menial job as a janitor in Ponyville general and the pity often heaped upon him, the slow lessening of his condition which allows his old persona to occasionally peak through just enough for the hope that he might get better before he dies, and a bittersweet ending that I really don't want to spoil.

Maybe after "Hot Dam".

PS: For those of you wondering what inspired this it's a mix of "Flowers For Algernon/Charly" which remains one of my favourite films to date (In most of its incarnations), Kudzuhaiku's "The Weed" which actively brought the idea of Cutie Marks changing to my mind, and (as always) a tiny touch of the Dresden Files Seven Laws of magic, specifically dealing with Neuromancy/Psychomancy, and just how much damage even basic spells of those sorts can deal to a person's pysche.

EDIT 1: Not deleting this blog, but currently the most common mistake I see is "Queen chrysalis", "Twilght sparkle", etc, etc. I am getting rather pissed off with the regularity of such a simple mistake. Please make sure to spay and neuter your pets and capitalize your names.