//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: In Sweetheart's Office // Story: Starlight and Aurora // by twilightsparkle3562 //------------------------------//                                                                                         Starlight sat in the office of Canterlot’s resident therapist awaiting the meeting that hopefully, just hopefully, would finally break the wall that divided her and her mother, Aurora. Up until this moment, drama and negativity had surrounded them all.                 “It’s for the best, Starlight,” Twilight gently said, as she looked at her student.  “You can’t run from your troubles any longer.  Please…after all is said and done, give your mother another chance. If you can’t forgive her, then I don’t know what else I can do.”                 At that moment, the door to Sweetheart’s office opened and the pink haired, white coated uniocrn with a heart shaped cutie mark on her flank, came out with a warm and welcoming smile on her face.“Hi everypony,” she said happily as Twilight got up to greet her.  “Sorry, if I’m a little bit behind on my schedule. I had a few overruns with some of my patients.”                “That’s all right, Sweetheart, we know how your schedule goes sometimes,” Twilight replied  as the two mares hugged before motioning for Starlight and Aurora to come up.  “ This is my student, Starlight Glimmer, and her mother, Aurora Glimmer.”                “It’s nice to meet you, Sweetheart,” Starlight nervously commented “I’m sure Twilight’s told you why we’re here.”                Sweetheart couldn’t help but notice that her latest patient was very nervous, and she knew from experienced that she had a lot of hard work ahead of her. As a matter of fact, given what Twilight had told her, Sweetheart wasn’t sure if she could truly get Starlight and her mother to patch things up. Some wounds cut too deeply to be healed, a lesson she’d come to learn the hard way over her many years of service. Still, she kept her doubts inside of her Starlight and Aurora would be treated like any of her other patients, with firm but gentle guidance.                “Shall we go in then?” Sweetheart asked, motioning for her patients to adjourn with her to her office. Starlight and Aurora followed Sweetheart’s instructions, as they were led into her office, the door closing behind them. The therapist who had helped the royal sisters and even the captain of the royal guard, was about to face what could possibly be her greatest challenge. And time would tell if she’d be able to do anything for her patients.                                Once inside, Starlight and Aurora reluctantly sat next to each other on the couch, but didn’t lock eyes with one another. Starlight was still unsure of what to think, and Aurora knew her daughter probably still harbored some resentment for the incident with the manticore last night.  But, there was no turning back now. They had to face each other and they couldn’t wait any longer.                “Now, both of you understand why you are here, correct?” Sweetheart began as she set a clipboard in her forelegs and sat down in her chair.  “Princess Twilight told me everything that’s been going on. I want you both to understand that, as a therapist, my goal is to first and foremost treat my patients with respect. But at the same time, I’m going to do the best I can to try and find the source of this problem, and see if I can’t help you both come to an understanding. I know there’s a lot of bad blood between you two at the moment, so if there’s anything either of you would like to get off your chest, now is the time.”                 Almost right away, Starlight presented her case. “Why should I forgive my mother after all she put me though?” she complained.  “I was turned away by her when I needed her most. And all because she claimed she was trying to protect me from my drunken father!”                 “Starlight, please, isn’t this enough?” Aurora replied, her voice filled with exhaustion and exasperation.  “Do you know how long I spent looking for you, travelling all over Equestria and trying to bring you home?”                 “Oh, so now you care for me? Well, where was that care when I needed it most?!” Starlight shot back.  “When Sunburst went off to Canterlot, I didn’t have a friend to rely on. Without you there to help me, I was too afraid that a cutie mark would take any friends I could make away from me! So, I left and created a village where everypony had the same cutie mark! It was the perfect utopia, or so I thought! A place where I wouldn’t have to worry about anypony ever leaving me because their cutie mark said so! A place where I could control life!”                  Both mother and daughter sharply gasped! Starlight because she had blurted out about “Our Town” a secret she had wanted to keep hidden, and Aurora, because she’d learned her daughter had resorted to such desperate measures!                  “No,” Aurora remarked, placing a hoof to her mouth. “Starlight Glimmer, my daughter, why?  Why would you do such a thing?! I know it hurt when Sunburst left, but it wasn’t a cutie mark that took him away!”                 “I did what I did, Mother,” Starlight answered now feeling a sense of regret that she’d even said those words.  “That village was a sanctuary, a chance to live my life the way I wanted to live it. I couldn’t be friends with a pony whose cutie mark would take them away from me. It was the only way I could be assured of having any friends at all.”                 “Then instead of running away,” Aurora commented, starting to break down. “Why couldn’t we have talked things over then? I could have helped you show that cutie marks don’t ruin relationships.”                 “Because you spent all your time on Dad and not me, that’s why!” Starlight snapped, tears forming in her own eyes.                 “Can’t you see the pain that your mother is in?” Sweetheart asked. “We all make mistakes in life, Starlight, and your mother is clearly sorry for what happened,” Sighing, she looked at the two unicorns and added. “I can’t help but wonder if you two could give me some light into your relationship with Mr. Glimmer, Starlight’s father and Aurora’s husband.”                 Aurora sighed heavily as she used her magic to wipe away the tears that were in her eyes. The aged unicorn felt a sense of regret that she had waited to tell Starlight the whole truth surrounding her father, but she had very little choice. If there was any chance for them to patch things up, the truth would have to be revealed. “Starlight, I’ve hidden the truth about the kind of stallion your father was for far too long, when I should have been honest from the start.”                 Little did anypony know, that the spirit of Hoofdini was watching from a small corner in the room. Not as angry as when he had confronted Starlight, but still very much remorseful over how he had failed to help his daughter try to get through to his son-in-law. “ Why didn’t you listen to your wife?” sighed the ghost.  “Why?” Hoofdini’s ghost and Starlight would finally soon get their answers, and not a way they were expecting.