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// Chapter 11 Part 1 Progress (Or Something Like It) 
// Story: My Secret Daughter 
// by deadpansnarker 
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Celestia's sun shone warmly over Ponyville that glorious morning, as a unicorn and her recently reunited daughter briskly stepped outside together from the vestiges of a crystalline palace. One was filled with all the simple joys and happiness a beautiful summer's day can inspire, the other brimming with all the optimism and pleasure a trip to the dentist Tooth Pull for major dental work might provoke.

If you can't guess which is which, you obviously haven't been paying attention.

"Oh my, what a wonderful time to be alive!" Starlight Glimmer made a big show of stretching out each of her four limbs, as she happily scanned her surroundings. "Everything just seems so much better when things are going well, don't you think, Sparkling? And look at that gloriously blue sky! Not a grey cloud on the horizon, and I must give credit to Rainbow and her friends for making it look so neat. Look, they're up there right now, clearing away the last few remnants. Shall we wave to them?"

"E-Erm, no, I don't think that'll be necessary." Sparkling was eager to start a dialogue with her birth mother to establish a few ground rules amongst many other things, and the activity above was just creating an unnecessary distraction. "To be frank Starlight, you're lucky I'm talking to you at all right now. Apart from making me feel really awkward ever since we met, you've just had the nerve to take away my name to replace it with... well, it's so cheesy I won't even mention what it is. Honestly, I'm not very comfortable around you right now. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?”

"Well, I thought we'd get a bit of fresh air and see some of the sights and sounds of Ponyville before we got down to the nitty-gritty, but if you want to push the issue this early, so be it." Starlight sighed sadly at the 'arrogance' of youth, before she began to address her daughter in a more serious tone. "Basically darling, mummy... sorry, I meant to say 'I', heard numerous stories about this wealthy filly called Diamond Tiara ever since I arrived in town a couple of years ago, and none of them were very good. She sounded haughty, manipulative, a real bully... in fact, she'd gotten such a bad reputation, I'd already decided to avoid her like a swarm of Stinkbugs there and then. Little did I know at the time, that it was my own flesh and blood responsible for all those heinous acts of impropriety! Oh, how could I have been so blind as to leave you in the hooves of that monstrous mare and her rich enabler...!"

"B-But... I'm so much better now!" Sparkling protested most vehemently, irritated beyond measure that she was apparently the one in the crosshairs when it was Starlight who was clearly being unreasonable. "Didn't you hear all the stories? About how I defied Spoiled, helped get the Crusaders their Cutie Marks, built a giant jungle gym in the schoolyard and even saved my butler's life in the aftermath of that disastrous Applewood Derby recently?"

"Yes, I did as a matter of fact, sweetheart, and I'm ever so proud of you!" Starlight almost launched herself at her daughter to administer the tightest of hugs, but restrained herself at the final second when she remembered the filly didn't want physical contact that invasive just yet. "...Well, apart from that last one, but I find those stupid races where you go round in circles for hours boring anyway, so that's no reflection on you. Anyway, you have to remember, when I first came into Ponyville you'd only just started to 'reform' as it were, so there were still suspicious whispers going around that you might not quite mean your change of heart, and you could return to your old ways. Of course, your attitude since then seems to have been second-to-none, and everypony is your friend! But, as I've learned from hard experience myself, it takes time to convince others that you're truly a new mare. Time, and a great deal of humility..."

"I... see." Sparkling raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, interested despite her perceived indifference. "So you managed to get everypony to forgive you, even after you almost destroyed the world over something as simple as losing your only friend. Don't get me wrong, I love Silv so much I'd lay down in front of the Friendship Express for her, but if we ever parted ways I don't think even I'd go as far as that. How did you convince every single pony to give you another chance, when you almost did something so awful?"

"U-Umm..." Starlight visibly sweated at the question, and guided Sparkling to a quieter direction to tell her the complete truth of the matter. "Basically, not everypony here knows what I told you, your father and mother back at the mansion, and I'd prefer it if things were kept that way. If they knew the full extent of my involvement regarding the almost-annihilation of all life everywhere, I may never be able to walk down this dusty path again without being pelted by all manner of rotten fruit. Have you ever tried eating a mouldy tomato? Here's a bit of advice: don't. But when you're starving and you have nothing else to eat, I suppose you have no other choice. Those days I spent alone on the road before Our Town were harsh indeed..."

"Okay, okay, I get it, Starlight. Life hasn't exactly been easy for you, even before you had me." Sparkling began to feel a palpable tinge of sympathy for the morose mare in front of her, but tried to remain focused on the end goal. "...But deciding to change my name without my express permission, badmouthing my father who I still adore right to my face and trying to start some kind of radical behavioural therapy for me is not the way to go about correcting your mistakes! Besides, I think I'm doing pretty well on being a better pony these days, myself. Do you know what the old Sparkling Glim... I mean, Diamond Tiara would've done with the private information you just told her? Here's a clue: she wouldn't have just locked it up in a dainty little box inside her head."

Starlight's eyes nearly burst out of their sockets upon hearing her daughter's apparent threat. "Y-You don't mean... y-you can't mean... t-that would be simply unconscionable....”

"You're absolutely right, and it's something my former self would've done without hesitation. Spoiled taught me well to be the 'best of the best' when it came to getting what I wanted, and if that included blackmail, than so be it." Sparkling shook her head with sadness as she recalled the whole sorry Foal Free Press escapade, before turning back to the fretful unicorn. "But the fact is, I'm not like that anymore. I've changed my values and outlook on life all by myself... with the slight help of a few good friends, of course. My point is though, if I'm capable of making such huge strides on my own, do you really think that being so overprotective and demanding of me is going to improve my personality? And the same applies to this new name you've just foisted upon me. I mean 'Sparkling'? Really? Do I look like I was born in the Crystal Empire?!"

"I... d-don't know. I j-just thought that..." Tears were beginning to fill Starlight's eyes upon hearing her daughter's heartfelt plea, but they weren't entirely sad ones because of the filly's 'rejection' of her ideas. Rather, some were the product of the sheer pride she felt about having sired such an independently-minded, headstrong child who'd surely do whatever she set her heart on in life. 

For the first time since their unplanned reunion, Starlight seriously began to have second thoughts about her hasty over-integration into the life of her firstborn. To make this at all possible, it was always going to have to be Sparkling herself who delivered the stern lecture, not Spike or even Twilight, because as close as they were to the unicorn, they weren't the ones being visibly impacted by any long-term decisions made for the filly's well-being. 

In any case, it looked like Sparkling's honesty and straight-talking was about to pay dividends. Starlight now wore a far more conciliatory expression on her face, and as she opened up her mouth to respond properly to her daughter's earnest request there was a high level of expectation in the air...

...Only for all the tension and poignancy of the occasion to be abruptly fizzled out by the sight of an ominous pink figure looming large over both Glimmers, one forehoof placed amiably around each of their necks.

"Ooh, sorry... am I interrupting a 'moment'?" Pinkie seemed quite guilty at cutting short what could've been a groundbreaking milestone in Sparkling and Starlight's relationship, but she still prattled on regardless. "Never mind, I'm sure you can press 'pause' on it for now to hear the great news! At Sugarcube Corner today, there's free cupcakes and ginger beer for any mother and daughters who dine in together. And I suppose, after yesterday's shenanigans, that includes you two lucky ponies!! So sit your keister down inside, enjoy the complimentary food and drink we have to offer, and stay for the great service and company. Who knows, you may learn a thing or too as well! Anyway, hope to see you in there. This is Pinkamena Diane Pie, your potential waitress and comedienne for the day, over and out!"

With that somewhat bizarre invite to her eatery out of the way (though for Pinkie, such an outlandish gesture was quite regular behaviour) the manic party pony hopped back inside her place of business. This is also when Sparkling together with Starlight realised they'd wandered a little further than they'd expected in the midst of their intense discussion...

...As far away as Sugarcube Corner, to be exact.

Deciding to let her daughter choose their next action for a change, Starlight turned to the crowned filly in expectation. "A-Anyway, shall we go inside?"

After considering the matter carefully for a few seconds, Sparkling determined it was a pretty easy decision to make. "Y-Yeah, why not? After all, who can say no to an offer like that?" Besides, in such a relaxed setting it might give us the chance to continue our conversation. It could just be my hopeful imagination, but I do believe I'm finally getting through to her...

Starlight seemed to swallow a large lump in her throat upon hearing this, and smiled nervously at Sparkling's acceptance. "O-Okay let's do it. That Pinkie though... what a character! Am I right, or am I right?"

Sparkling glanced up in shock at the unicorn's observation there, a distinct look of puzzlement clear to see. "You know Starlight, I was just about to say the same thing."

"Oh, I'm not surprised dear, many ponies who know Pinkie have formed the same opinion over the years. I mean, we love her, but at the same time she truly is an enigma to us all..."

"No, Starlight. I meant: I was going to use those exact words, in precisely the same order. Weird."

'Y-Yes, that is quite the coincidence darling, I agree!"

"Yeah. Coincidence."