Starlight's Dream Therapy

by Yosh-E-O

Chapter 2 - An Unloved Foal

The sun was shining and the birds were singing as Starlight Glimmer trotted into a small town.

“Good afternoon, Starlight,” greeted a pastel-green stallion. “How are you today?”

“Good…,” replied the periwinkle-colored Unicorn. She didn’t recognize the stallion.

“Perhaps Twilight told every pony here to expect me?” she thought to herself as she continued along the dirt road that ran into the heart of the town.

***

Starlight got very uncomfortable as she was given a lot of very energetic greetings from nearly every pony in town. All were colored in pastels with bright smiles on their faces.

“What’s going on here…?” she wondered while trying to not show how concerned she was with how every pony was acting. She’d understand more if it were Trixie, Twilight, Spike, or one of Twilight’s friends. However, all these ponies were complete strangers who had no reason to come off as if they’ve known her all her life.

***

Starlight continued into the town until her eye’s caught notice of a sign outside of a door that read, ‘Welcome Home Starlight!’

“Welcome home?” she asked while looking towards the house. Alarms were going off in her head about this, but something in her drove her to approach the home, magically open the door, and walk inside.

***

KA-KLUMP!

SHICK-CLICK!

Starlight turned to see that the door had shut and locked itself.

“Saw that coming,” she sighed.

“Good evening, Starlight Glimmer,” stated a calm voice from a nearby room.

The Unicorn turned towards the sound to see Princess Luna walking into what appeared to be an untidy living room.

“Princess Luna?” asked Starlight. “Am I-“

“-Dreaming,” stated Luna. “Yes.”

There was a brief pause before Starlight spoke.

“What is this place?” she asked while sniffing the offensive scents in the air. “Why am I here?”

Luna gestured towards a playpen off in a dimly-lit corner of the living area.

“You want me to…” trailed Starlight as she slowly strode towards the playpen. The nauseating smells growing stronger as she grew closer.

Starlight looked back towards Luna upon arriving at the foul smelling playpen. It was dark and everything about being near it made the Unicorn’s fur stand-on-end with a feeling of dread. However, the Princess of the Night just nodded to encourage Starlight to look inside.

Upon gazing into the playpen, Starlight gasped with surprise upon seeing what was in it.

“Momma?” asked a diaper-clad, dirty-looking version of what hauntingly Starlight believed to be herself as a foal. Her purple mane was very untidy with the blue streak that ran through it nearly unnoticeable. Her fur looked greasy and her diaper was showing definite signs of use.

FWOO

“Not now!” shouted a familiar, female voice. “Momm’as busy!”

Starlight turned to see a lavender-colored, Unicorn mare using her magic to sort through some random items. There was also no sign of Princess Luna.

“Momma!” called foal Starlight as she launched herself at the padded wall of the playpen. “Momma!”

“Why can’t you ever ask for dada?” the mare asked without turning her attention away from what it was she was doing. “It’s his turn to watch you anyway.”

“Momma-momma!” foal Starlight seemed to plead as tears welled up in her tiny, blue eyes as she pushed to get out of the soiled playpen.

“Hush!” snapped the mare. “Or I’ll give you a real reason to cry!”

“HEY!” exclaimed Starlight as she faced towards the inconsiderate mare. “CAN’T YOU SEE SHE NEEDS YOU!”

FWOO

The world around Starlight quickly changed from the living room to a playground. Here she saw a slightly older version of her foal self sitting in a swing all by herself.

“…We on for tonight?” a stallion asked to a white Unicorn who had a teal-colored mane.

“You bet!” the Unicorn replied.

“What about your kid?” the other asked.

The white Unicorn looked back towards where a struggling, lonely, foal Starlight was stashed.

“She’ll be fine,” he said. “Throw a new diaper and some clothes on and she’ll be good until mom gets back.”

“Are you sure?” asked the other pony. “Didn’t your landlord say something about all the crying the last time you trusted mom to take over?”

“It’s my night!” stomped the white Unicorn. “She knows it and it’s not like Starlight cares as long as she has her toys.”

Starlight Glimmer gasped in horror upon hearing how her foal-self was treated like she were nothing more than some sort of inconvenience.

“Dadda…,” pouted foal Starlight. “Dadda?”

The white Unicorn turned to face the fussing foal.

“Looking good, sweetie!” he replied before returning his attention to his friend.

Foal Starlight watched as other mothers and/or fathers played with their children. She heard them all giggling while running around with big smiles on their faces.

“DADDA!” she desperately called.

There was no response. Her father was too engrossed in his conversation with his friend and sharing a laugh that he didn’t even notice baby Starlight’s desperate plea for attention.

Adult Starlight was furious.

“HEY!” she boomed while conjuring her magic. “SHE’S YOUR DAUGHTER!”

SHING!

Starlight tried casting a spell to bring the unattentive father over to her younger self. However, it had no effect.

“My magic?” she said with disbelief. “Why isn’t it-”

Adult Starlight was cut off by the whimpering of her foal self. The beautiful, blue eyes of the foal filling with tears as she snorted and sobbed.

“No,” said Starlight as she dashed towards her foal self. “I won’t let this happen!”

FWOO

“No, no, NO!” cried Starlight as everything disappeared in front of her. The next thing she knew she was in that nursery she had been in the night before.

KA-THWUMP!

CLICK!

“Momma!” cried her foal self. “Dadda!”

The room looked and smelled awful. It also seemed too familiar to Starlight as she felt herself start to quake from the anxiety that was quickly causing her chest and stomach to ache.

“I wish I could’ve been there for you, Starlight,” said Princess Luna as she appeared alongside the struggling Unicorn.

“Is this…,” sniffled the Unicorn as tears formed in her eyes. “My past?”

“Alas,” sighed Luna. “It is but one of the dark memories you had suppressed to protect yourself.”

Starlight Glimmer moved towards the crib. Her stomach feeling the need to vomit upon taking in what she saw of herself within it.
“No…,” she gagged upon seeing how stained the bedding was within the prison-like confines her younger self was in. It was even worse to see how upset the foal was.

Starlight felt her emotions run rampant. It was as if she felt everything her younger self was feeling. All of which was awful. Loneliness, hurt, sadness, pain overwhelmed her mind. This all made adult Starlight cough and dry heave.
“Princess,” she wheezed. “Why?”

“You need to make peace with your past,” stated Luna. “Assure yourself that everything will be okay.”

“But it’s not!” snapped Starlight before a violent series of coughs overcame her. “This is not alright!”

“But it must be,” stated Luna. “And only you can make it that way.”

Starlight didn’t like how the Princess of the Night was downplaying all the anguish she and her foal self were experiencing.

“Let me wake!” she cried. “I’ll use time magic to fix this!”

“You mustn’t alter the flow of time,” Luna said. “To do so would do as what you witnessed when you did so to keep Twilight and her friends from ever meeting.”

“But this is different!” wheezed Starlight. “This isn’t right!”

“I agree,” nodded Luna. “However, this trauma is one that can only be healed through yourself.”

Starlight dry heaved again. Her whole body felt awful as her head pounded from all the crying and fierce coughing she was experiencing.

“And how do I do that?” she asked.

“Talk to her,” said Luna. “Assure your young self that she is not alone. That she will make friends and feel loved.”

Starlight felt a lump in her throat as she looked into the crib to see her foal self’s blue eyes now reddened from crying.

“Go on,” encouraged Luna. “You can do it.”

Starlight felt as if her foal self had become aware of her presence. She needed to act, but she also knew she had to pull herself together.

“It’s okay,” she assured while using her magic to lift her foal self out of the crib. “I’m here.”

Foal Starlight appeared confused at the sight of her adult self. However, having someone else in the room with her got her to stop crying.

“Okay,” gulped Starlight. “I’m going to clean you up. Make everything better.”

***

Adult Starlight used her powerful magic to manipulate the room. She first cleaned her foal self, put new clothes on her, and then changed the bedding in the crib so it no longer was a rancid mess.

“Ooh,” awed foal Starlight.

“You’ll be able to do more than this when you get older,” stated adult Starlight. “You’re going to become a very powerful Unicorn.”

Her foal self seemed to smile. She may not have understood what her older self was saying, but the tone was definitely one that made her feel happy.

The periwinkle-colored Unicorn felt herself crying again. However, these tears were not of sadness, but of joy in knowing she was making a difference for her foal self.

“You’re going to be okay,” she said while sobbing. “Everything is going to be just fine.”

“Momma?” asked the little one while she snuggled into Starlight’s fur.

“Yes,” cried Starlight. “You can call me momma.”

***

Adult Starlight used a clean blanket to swaddle her foal self. She then took her into her hooves, held her tight against her chest, and began to rock from side-to-side while humming a simple tune.

“Momma…,” yawned her foal self. The pain, sadness, and loneliness had all appeared to have gone. She now looked comfortable, happy, and relaxed.

“That’s it,” sniffled Starlight as she watched the foal fall to sleep in her hooves. “Everything’s okay.”

***

A few moments passed before the foal fell to sleep. Once she did, Starlight went to put her back into her cleaned crib. However, she couldn’t bring herself to let go. So she instead found a rocking chair, sat in it, and continued to hold and sing to her younger self until she fell asleep and quickly awoke to another day in The Castle of Friendship.

Comments

[Maze Tail]

The story is so heartfelt. Beautiful. Love the story so far.

[Yosh-E-O]

7469395

Thank you. I'm trying to create a believable back story that would have brought Starlight to not like "Cutie Marks", create "Equal Town", and get to where she was obsessed with getting revenge on Twilight.

I should be posting the rest of the story by the end of the week. My goal is to really illustrate how important it is to cope with your past so you don't feel shame, regret, or sadness for what you may not have known better, or had control over, back in the day. :)

[Catla]

awwww so cute

[Yosh-E-O]

7469622

Thank you. :) I should have more of the story up soon.

[Zubric]

Wow nice writing. I can definitely feel it.

[Fluttershyisacutegal]

awww adult starlight taking care of her foal self