My History, Rise, Fall and Return: Starlight's Story

by StormLuna

My Early Fillyhood

Author's Note:

Hello everypony, I am Starlight Glimmer. Many of you know me as the former leader of "Our Town" out in the desert. I am about to share with you the story of my life from my youth to the present day.

Before I started school

Hmmm.....where do I start? Well I am one of those types of ponies who like things to be orderly so I suppose I will start from my childhood as a linear approach is orderly. You can't go wrong with that, right?

I am an only child who was born to two working class unicorns in Canterlot. My mother, Primrose, worked as a gardener for Princess Celestia and my father, Stone Gray was a stone mason who helped keep the buildings of the city from falling apart. Of course neither of their jobs paid as much as they should have. Despite us not having all that much money when I was young, we were a happy family.

I remember when I first started learning how to use magic, everypony was quite surprised because I had already figured out how to levitate things on my own before starting school. This is something that made my parents proud. They had a feeling that I would be destined for greatness. Of course there were other fillies with my level of talent that were getting accepted into the princess's exclusive school while I had to start out in the city's public school system.

One may wonder why I was not given a chance to at least try to get into Celestia's school. The problem was that we did not have the income for me to simply apply. I think this may be the very first time I looked at the world around me and saw how unfair inequality can really be. I realized that the system was stacked in favor of the wealthy ponies. A unicorn born into a working class or a poor family could be twice as powerful as a unicorn born into an upper class family or wealthy family but go unnoticed by the powers that be.

My troubles with public school

With the deck being stacked against the less fortunate families in Canterlot, my time in school would become a nightmare. The things the teachers would teach were things that I already knew, things that I had already mastered and I quickly became bored. I often times found myself staring out the window instead of paying attention and of course this always led to a trip to the schoolmaster's office. My parents would get called in and surprisingly, they did not get angry over the lack of attention I gave my teachers. They argued with the schoolmaster about how intelligent I was and that I should not be in the regular school system. They argued that I should be in Celestia's school.

Of course this only caused the schoolmaster to yell at them and threaten me with expulsion if they did not stop mentioning my intelligence and trying to help me get to where I should have been. Not only did this infuriate them, it infuriated me as well. I saw it as them trying to hold me back because I was not from a wealthy family, that I was not from the proper bloodline.

Not only was I stuck in a school system that was too simple for me, I couldn't relate with my classmates either. I was always the oddball that could never relate with anypony else. I felt as though they always behaved in an immature way. While I liked things to be done in very specific and orderly ways, they seemed to like things more chaotic. They did not like things structured and the teacher actually seemed to be ok with it! I once asked her why she let them get away with anything and everything. I still remember her exact words. "Now Starlight, kids will be kids. Just because you are too much of a stick in the mud to have fun doesn't mean they have to be sticks in the mud as well."

It wasn't just their overall classroom behavior that irritated me, their behavior on the days where we would play games was inexcusable as well. I hated game days because my classmates would always do whatever it took, even if it meant cheating, to get ahead. I remember one time we were playing Monopoly and one of my classmates stole money from the bank. I caught him doing this and fired a bolt of energy at him. I burned him and he screamed in agony. I remember yelling, "Serves you right cheater!"

Of course this caught the attention of the teacher and she was very displeased over this. I remember her grabbing me by my mane and dragging me off to the schoolmaster's office and my parents were called in. I remember when they came in they rushed to me to make sure I was ok. The teacher and schoolmaster both stood there with scowls on their faces. The schoolmaster went into detail about what caused me to be taken to the office.

After hearing what the schoolmaster had to say they went off on him. They told him that I was simply trying to keep the playing field fair. They went on a rant that this school does nothing more than preach the same bullshit that ensures that it will always be everypony for them self. They then flew off the handle on how they feel I was denied a chance to apply for a position in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns simply because we were not wealthy enough to afford the fee.

The schoolmaster's response would really piss me off. I still hear those words in my head to this day, "Well, the princess can not have the foals of low class scum in her school. What if your daughter were to get in, become more powerful than her and dethrone her in the name of the working class? I'm sorry, but she will never be allowed to apply for her school." He then sarcastically continued, "It's not like paupers like you could afford the application fee anyway."

Now that day we had glass jars that we were using to catch butterflies so I had a glass jar with me. I jumped in between my parents and the schoolmaster and fired some energy at him. Rather than simply a quick burst, I held him in an aura that he could not escape from. I remember watching in shock as I ripped his cutie mark from him. As it floated to me I put it in my jar and closed the lid. As I did this a black equals sign appeared on his flank and simultaneously I got my cutie mark!

When I looked at my flank I saw a four pointed purple star with a four pointed white star tilted at 45° behind it and two swirling blue columns up above it to the right which looked like they formed a T. While I had no clue what that really meant, my parents had a feeling that it was proof that I was destined for greatness. The schoolmaster had fallen to the floor after I removed his mark and the teacher stood there with a terrified look on her face. I gave the schoolmaster a smirk and whispered, "Look what I have!"

The schoolmaster now had very weak magic so he had no way of getting the jar away from me but my teacher lunged towards me trying to take my jar. I was able to jump out of her way so she decided she would use her magic to take my jar. As hard as she tried, she could not break my aura. Once the schoolmaster got his strength back, he looked at my parents and ordered them to make me give him his mark back.

They gave me a smile and gave a glare to the schoolmaster. My father said, "So, you said the fee to apply to Celestia's school is expensive?" He looked at me and nodded. I continued, "How about this. I will give you your cutie mark back when I am allowed to apply to Celestia's school."

The schoolmaster grunted but realized that my magic was more powerful than they thought. Given that the teacher could not break my aura and get his mark back, they reluctantly agreed to let me have a chance to get into Celestia's school. So my parents, myself, my teacher and the schoolmaster headed towards the castle. This path would take us by the playground and when we passed through it, all my classmates stopped playing and watched in shock. They saw the schoolmaster had a different cutie mark and they saw me, walking with my head high, holding his mark proudly in a glass jar. I could tell by their looks that they envied me. While I have a belief that everypony should be equal, at that moment I felt like I was on top of the world. I knew that I was leaps and bounds more talented than those who made my life so miserable. I just gave them a smile as we headed towards the palace.

Getting into Celestia's School

I remember all of the security that was present when we were led to the throne room. I was in awe of how huge the throne room was. I had a bit of a nervous look on my face but mom and dad reassured me with their smiles. When I was led to her throne the princess looked at the schoolmaster in shock when she saw his equal sign cutie mark. She then looked at me and saw I had his mark in a jar.

I remember her asking, "Child, why is your schoolmaster's cutie mark in that jar?"

I was so nervous at this point. I never imagined that I would have the princess addressing me directly. I replied, "Uh, well, you see, he was yelling at my parents threatening to expel me if they didn't stop saying that I should be in your school so I fired some energy at him and held him in my aura. I ripped his cutie mark off of him and I stored it in this jar."

Celestia took a look at my cutie mark and gave me a smile. She sternly addressed the teacher and schoolmaster, "You see a young filly with the type of magic she has and you deny her a chance to enter my school?" She grunted and continued, "And for you to threaten this filly with expulsion simply because her parents are looking out for her is sickening."

The schoolmaster replied, "Well it is the application fee you charge that keeps the likes of her from being able to apply."

Celestia stopped dead in her tracks and realized that she was operating her school in a way that stacked the deck against families such as mine. Celestia looked at me and asked, "What is your name child?"

I replied, "My name is Starlight Glimmer."

She asked, "Starlight Glimmer, will you give the schoolmaster his cutie mark back if I allow you to take the entrance exam to get into my school."

Seeing the princess asking me to return something to a pony higher up than me under a condition gave me a great amount of confidence. Against my beliefs, I confidently replied, "I will give him his mark back when I pass your exam."

While Celestia could have easily overpowered me and gave the schoolmaster his mark back, she instead ordered a guard pony to bring in a cart which held a red dragon egg with yellow speckles. Celestia pointed her wing at the egg and said, "Starlight Glimmer, use your magic to hatch that egg and not only will you be allowed into my school, I will make you one of my proteges since you have already proven you have powerful magic."

I nodded and smiled at the princess. I lowered my head and fired a bolt of energy at the egg. It quickly hatched and out of it came a red dragon with yellow scales and eyes. Like what had happened with prior proteges who hatched a dragon egg, the baby dragon was given to me as an assistant and companion. I decided to name him Inferno as his colors reminded me of the colors in a fire.

After I passed my entrance exam I reluctantly opened the jar and the schoolmaster's cutie mark floated back to him. While Celestia scowled at my former schoolmaster and teacher as they left the castle, she also had a talk with my parents and I. For me to be able to be a full fledged protege to the princess I would have to move into the castle so that I would be readily available for study sessions.

When I heard this my face dropped. The very thoughts of having to leave mom and dad broke my heart. I felt like I would be betraying them if I chose the princess over them. My mom and dad insisted that I move into the castle so that I can "fulfill my destiny" as Celestia put it. I wondered what she meant by "fulfill my destiny" but I was guessing that whatever she meant by it, that it had to be good. I agreed under one condition, that mom and dad could come and visit me whenever they wanted.

At first Celestia was reluctant. She told me that her other protege, who is a bit younger than me, never has her parents visit her. Soon though Celestia could tell that my family is very close and loving, that is what swayed her. I would soon learn that in Celestia's school and especially with the princess's other protege, that the competition would make the idiotic cheating that happened at my old school look like foal's play.

I remember when Celestia led me up to my new bedroom, which was right across from the other protege's. I was thinking that since the pony I would be working with was Celestia's protege as well, that she would be easy to get along with since our intelligence levels are similar.

Comments

[Dusty Hooves]

Great story... It's got me hooked and I can't wait to read more!

[luftschl0ss]

I... love this.
I've only found one problem with this first chapter- it feels slightly rushed, but that may just be me. It's hard to avoid when writing. One thing's for sure though; I am definitely hooked.

[calinjc]

At first Celestia was reluctant. She told me that her other protege, who is a bit younger than me, never has her parents visit her. Soon though Celestia could tell that my family is very close and loving, that is what swayed her. I would soon learn that in Celestia's school and especially with the princess's other protege, that the competition would make the idiotic cheating that happened at my old school look like foal's play.

I remember when Celestia led me up to my new bedroom, which was right across from the other protege's. I was thinking that since the pony I would be working with was Celestia's protege as well, that she would be easy to get along with since our intelligence levels are similar.

It's Sunset, isn't it? It has to be.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Chapter 1 I remember an episode of The Simpsons where Bart gets put into a gifted school. Somewhat surprisingly, smart & dumb kids often misbehave for the same reason -they're bored out their mind