//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - An Old Friend // Story: Glimmer & Glow // by Yosh-E-O //------------------------------// Young Starlight sat at her window watching as the fillies and colts of Sire’s Hollow were gleefully playing and showing off their Cutie Marks. “I hate them!” she screamed. “Cutie Marks are stupid!” FWUMP Starlight flung herself on her bed and began to sob. Her heart was broken with her parents barely, if ever, at home and her best friend, Sunburst, long gone to Canterlot because he got his Cutie Mark and totally forgot all about her. FWIP Through tear-filled eyes, Starlight picked up an old plush that her mother had given her. It was pink in color, had no Cutie Mark, and had blue curls going down her mane. “At least you are still my friend,” she moped. “You also don’t have one of those horrible Cutie Marks that ruin friendships.” Starlight squeezed the toy. “Hi! I’m Cozy Glow!” the toy spoke. “Isn’t life just peachy?” Young Starlight sighed. “I wish,” she said as she snuggled the plush toy which had embroidered green eyes. “Golly!” the toy exclaimed. “It’s super being pals with you!” Starlight felt warmth radiate from the plush toy. Her mother had given it to her when she was really little as it had an enchantment on it to give off a gentle warmth when it was held close. It also had a faint yellow glow that always helped relax her when she felt nervous or scared. *** Time passed and Starlight decided that if she was going to get Sunburst back she, too, was going to prove her magical talents as a Unicorn. So, with Cozy Glow at her side, the periwinkle pre-teen Unicorn regularly visited the library and took full advantage of the inter-library loan program to learn all she could. The most important thing she learned was how much her emotions played a part in her magical abilities and how she needed to keep them under control in order to do any of the advanced magic that would get her into Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns. “Hmm,” she pondered as, yet again, a pang of anguish over feeling neglected, isolated, and betrayed rushed through her body. “Magic can’t work if you’re frustrated, Starlight! You need to find a way to stay focused so we can find Sunburst and get him to tell us why he has never wrote nor why his parents say he’s never home nor comes home! Is he avoiding me? Is he too good for me?” A small storm cloud started to form over Starlight’s head. “Argh!” she screamed. “I need to vent this out before my Unicorn magic becomes unstable and just makes everything worse!” She scanned her room and the first thing that caught her eyes was Cozy Glow. PSHEW “I’m sorry, Cozy,” she apologized to the plush toy while levitating it over. “It’s a good thing you’re not really alive as I wouldn’t wish these feelings I’ve been having on any pony.” BZZRTTT FWOO Starlight felt herself relax as she fed her negative emotions into the blue-braided stuffed Pegasus. “Gosh,” Cozy spoke. “Does some pony need a hug?” “Phew,” sighed Starlight as Cozy said nothing more than she usually did when she was squeezed. However what Starlight didn’t notice were the tears that formed in the dolls eyes as its minky exterior started to harden.