Well, Shining sharing part of his cutie mark wasn’t a crazy coincidence after all. Because all three of them had that purple star in common. How peculiar. What did that even mean? A novel attempt at sapping away the remnants of his uniqueness, perhaps? They clearly have shown no qualms about stealing some of his thunder, so why wouldn’t their cutie mark give him the same treatment? An unintentional (but convenient) ploy orchestrated by mischievous deities, maybe?