//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Starlight's Epiphany // Story: Starlight's Dream Therapy // by Yosh-E-O //------------------------------// “Greetings, Starlight,” welcomed Luna as the two stood in the night sky. “It would seem your journey through your past is at its end.” “It would seem that way,” replied Starlight. “What have you learned from your journeys?” asked Luna. “That I was a very bitter pony,” the periwinkle-colored Unicorn sighed. “That I allowed emotion to override common sense.” “Did you ever think of how your foal self and filly self played their respective parts in bringing you to where you are now?” questioned Luna. POOF! POOF! Starlight watched as Glim-Glim and her filly self appeared in front of her. “Yay!” exclaimed Glim-Glim as she spit out her pacifier and ran alongside Starlight. “Harumph!” scoffed the filly while turning her head. The sight of Glim-Glim made Starlight feel happy. However, her filly self made her sad due to how she was so unpleasant. “I think…,” thought Starlight while looking into Glim-Glim’s innocent eyes. “I think I understand.” “Ah,” grinned the Princess of the Night. “Would you care to elaborate?” Starlight faced her filly self before sharing her thoughts. “My years as a foal may have been full of neglect from my parents,” she said. “However, there were ponies who genuinely cared about me and wanted the best for me. In particular, Sunburst.” “And you see where that got you,” grumbled filly Starlight while scraping her hoof on the invisible floor. “I’m not finished,” stated Starlight while using her magic to get her filly self’s attention. “No pony was there for us to understand that Sunburst didn’t abandon us. He, like we were, was only doing what his parents felt was right for him to be the best he could be. His mom and dad cared while ours were too caught up in their own affairs to see how much we were struggling.” “It’s all because of his cutie mark!” snapped the filly. “His talent. Their talent. They felt they were better than us because they were so ‘special’.” “I know why we felt this way,” stated Starlight. “We were never properly socialized. Our parents didn’t know how to raise a child. We also didn’t have the care and support we had when we were a foal.” “All the reason we needed to get vengeance!” snarled filly Starlight. “Show the world how painful life is to be a no pony! To be nothing special at all!” “That’s what I used to think,” stated Starlight as she levitated Glim-Glim onto her back. “But it was that kind of thinking that made us no better than our parents. We were doing nothing more than continuing a vicious cycle that had no need to be repeated.” “How can you say that?” wondered filly Starlight with a stomp. “The pain. The agony. The solitude. It’s… inexcusable!” “But,” Starlight calmly replied. “It’s the past and holding onto such feelings only causes us more pain. Pain that would keep us from seeing the good in ourselves that we never took notice of during those hard times.” “Good?” gasped filly Starlight. “Are you saying our suffering was a good thing!” “No,” replied Starlight. “I’m saying we achieved a lot of self-accomplishments that we shouldn’t let bad memories take away from who we are now.” “Like what?” scoffed filly Starlight. “We worked very hard to be recommended for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” stated Starlight. “AND WE DIDN’T GET TO GO!” boomed the filly. “WE WERE STILL TREATED LIKE NOTHING AND HAD A POINTLESS CUTIE MARK!” Glim-Glim hid behind Starlight’s mane as the present-day version of herself stood her ground. “Our parents may not have cared,” stated Starlight. “However, we did get a rare recommendation while learning of our talent in the magical arts.” “But no pony cared!” proclaimed the filly. “It didn’t matter! It was all for nothing!” “That’s because we failed to see how determined we were to make something of ourselves,” replied Starlight. “We failed to acknowledge our own achievements. “Like what?” sneered the filly. “I know even Twilight Sparkle hasn’t dabbled in hybrid magic as much as we have,” stated Starlight. “We learned a lot of magic that no other pony knows that we can now use for good.” “We had good!” cried the displeased filly. “We had our town! We had our equality!” “No,” sighed Starlight. “We didn’t.” “That’s because you threw it away by trusting that Pegasus!” growled the filly. “You let your guard down!” Starlight thought for a moment before answering. “I’m glad I let my guard down,” she replied. “It needed to happen for us to end the vicious cycle of control and inequality we allowed to happen. We had taken advantage of Double Diamond along with all those ponies who felt we were providing a haven for the misunderstood. We robbed them of their identity while selfishly keeping exactly what we spoke out against.” “We had to!” snapped the filly. “How else could we collect their cutie marks? How else could we make sure we would never feel so hurt, neglected, and uncared for ever again?” “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” sighed Starlight. “And showing others the same disrespect we felt is no way to make friends.” SLIP THUMP Glim-Glim slid off Starlight’s back and made a book magically appear before her. It read ‘Bedtime Stories’. “I love you,” the foal said while levitating the book towards her filly self. The angst-filled filly didn’t know what to say as the foal grew closer. “You….,” she gasped. “Stay… Stay away.” “You need love,” Glim-Glim stated. “I love you.” “But…,” stammered the filly. “You’re… you’re the reason… The weakness.” “No,” smiled Starlight. “She’s the part of us that opened our heart towards having a true, second chance.” The foal sat beside the filly and levitated the book in front of her filly self. “Want to read with me?” she asked. “Reading is fun.” Starlight smiled wide as a great warmth filled her body. “I love you both,” she said merrily. “And I won’t forget how you both are truly very important in making me the pony I am today.” Filly Starlight seemed to lose her anger as the bright, blue eyes of Glim-Glim looked into hers. “Perhaps…,” she said. “One story couldn’t hurt…” “That’s the way,” encouraged Starlight. “We need to appreciate all we are in order to move on to a better tomorrow. To be the pony we always knew we could be.” SHIMMER FSSSH PWOOF! Starlight watched as Glim-Glim and her filly self merged in a flash of light. The combined mass shot straight towards her and effortlessly fused with her body. “Well done, Starlight,” congratulated Luna. “You seem to have finally come to terms with your past.” Starlight smiled as she could hear her filly self reading a story to Glim-Glim from somewhere within her head. “Thank you, Princess,” she bowed. “I honestly can’t tell you the last time I felt so at peace.” “It will be a feeling you’ll only find gets stronger with time,” stated Luna. “Glim-Glim and your filly self needed to understand how much they needed each other. How much they played a part, good, or bad, in making you who you are. We can’t truly change the past, but we can change how we perceive it.” “I understand,” acknowledged the periwinkle-colored Unicorn. “Now what should I do?” “I think you may already know what you need to do,” replied Luna with a nod. “Return to ‘Equal Town’,” stated Starlight. “Apologize for what I’ve done in the past, acknowledge my mistakes, and further my friendship studies in doing so.” The Princess of the night smiled while raising another door before herself. “It seems my work here is done,” she said while opening the door. “I trust you will do well in making amends while further accepting yourself by acknowledging how only you can make good on your past. I also trust you will seek guidance from all your new friends, along with those you will make, if ever you need help being the best pony you can be.” “I will,” assured Starlight. PWISH! There was a bright burst of light as Princess Luna went through the door. Once the light was gone it was replaced by the sunlight of a brand new day for Starlight Glimmer within The Castle of Friendship.