• Published 28th Jul 2015
  • 1,507 Views, 113 Comments

The Mute Unicorn - Pureheart 352



We all know her from the show. But why has she never spoken a word? What could have caused this in her? (WARNING: Contains graphic descriptions of severe physical and emotional abuse). (Coverart from Epic Wub Time: Musicians of Ponyville).

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6. Dreams, Memories, Stories

Evening arrived far too soon. Half-Beat waited on the bed, hugging her little bunny and waiting for Onyx to arrive.

At long last, the dreaded knock came at the door. But instead of the Earth pony lawyer the little unicorn had expected, an Earth pony mare made her way in. She was pretty, with a soft charcoal coat and jet-black mane in a neat braid, and gentle purple eyes that sparkled at Half-Beat. She smiled—a smile Half-Beat had seen before on Princess Cadence. Immediately her fear was gone. She knew that smile came from genuine love, and that this mare was for real.

“Hi sweetie,” the mare cooed. “I’m Pearl, and I’m here to take you home.”

“Is she in there, mother?” a filly asked from the hall. The one who had spoken soon squeezed past her mother into the room, and Half-Beat’s smile grew. So this was Octavia. She was just as pretty as her mother, and carried herself with a prim and proper air. Half-Beat inwardly chuckled. This mare would make a great playmate, as well as a potential target for pranks later. (Half-Beat was NOT prim and proper!)

“Let’s go!” Pearl intoned. “Onyx will be back from work soon and then we can have a little party for Half-Beat here.” The mare crossed the room and lifted the unicorn filly onto her back for a ride.


The streets of Canterlot were muggy and dirty, as always, but Half-Beat didn’t care. She was riding on an Earth pony who already felt like her mother, with an excited little filly to talk with (or rather just listen to), her beloved stuffed rabbit safe in her hooves, and the promise of a new home. Things couldn’t be looking any better.

“Here we are!” Pearl announced as Octavia pushed open the door of a very nice house.

Octavia trotted in place by the door. “I made a room for you,” she told Half-Beat calmly but excitedly.

Half-Beat’s jaw dropped as she followed Octavia through the beautiful sitting room and up a huge flight of stairs to a hallway lined with more doors than she had ever seen in one place her whole life. Octavia trotted toward a door with a hoof-drawn cello picture taped to it and pushed the door open. “This is my room. I cleaned out the room next to it for you.” She pointed to the next door, which had a pink heart drawing taped to it.

Half-Beat opened the door with her magic and blinked in surprise. But almost immediately she smiled, overcome with joy. This room was so much nicer than the one her step-mother had made her sleep in. She had a soft bed covered in adorable quilts, a shelf full of picture books, a crate full of new stuffed animals, and even…what was that?

Half-Beat frowned in confusion as she investigated this new thing. It looked like a little table, but unlike any table she’d ever seen. It had two big black circles on it and a whole bunch of switches and flips. And it was all so brightly colored! The table itself was neon blue and the buttons came in every color of the rainbow.

One of her little hooves brushed one of the black circles, and produced such a loud hum that Half-Beat started. Okay, this was definitely new. She cautiously touched the disk again, this time rubbing it with her hoof, and the hum came out more controlled. A little more experimentation taught her that the blue switch would lower the hum’s pitch, and the orange one would increase the pitch, while the pedal produced a drum sound, etc.

The unicorn lost herself in this amazing new toy until she heard Pearl knocking on Octavia’s door. “Girls, come for dinner!”

The mare peered into Half-Beat’s room. “You found the turntable! Do you like it?”

Half-Beat nodded eagerly and Pearl chuckled. “I’m glad. Octavia really wanted me to get you something to play music with, but I didn’t know what you would like. Looks like this was perfect. Can you play anything on it yet?”

Half-Beat shook her head and shrugged.

“Well, you can play with it more tonight. Come have some dinner first.”


The filly hiccupped again and snuggled deeper under her blankets. She hadn’t meant to eat so much, but everything was just so good. For a little filly who grew up surviving on cheap processed food and frozen dinners, anything was good, but this had been wonderful. Crisp green salad, creamy alfredo pasta, and a huge bowl of ice cream—what more could a filly want?

Pearl grasped the blanket in her mouth and tucked Half-Beat into bed. “Do you want to hear a story, Half-Beat?”

Half-Beat nodded and smiled.

Pearl thought for a moment. “Okay. This story is about a colt and a filly who went to visit their strange great-uncle in the mountains of the Unicorn Range. But little did they know what strange things awaited them there…”

Little Half-Beat listened in awe as Pearl described how the colt found a mysterious book emblazoned with a golden horseshoe, the mysteries that began to unfold, the tribe of tiny ponies who tried to kidnap the filly, how her brother tried to save her, and how the tiny ponies suddenly merged into an enormous Clydesdale that pursued the siblings far through the mountains…

“…so together they pulled back the slingshot and sent the unlucky tiny pony flying right into the middle of the monster’s belly, and the tiny creatures were scattered everywhere. One of them screamed promises of revenge. But the brother and sister were too happy to be back together to worry about the tiny monsters.” Pearl smiled. “And that was just the start of their adventures. Maybe tomorrow night I can tell you about how they discovered a monster in the lakes at the foot of the mountains.”

Half-Beat nodded, excited for the next story, but tired in the meantime. Pearl kissed the filly at the base of her horn. She began to hum and quietly sang a lullaby as Half-Beat’s eyes closed. “Rest now, my warrior…rest now, your hardship is over...”


“What are you doing, you little brat?!”

Half-Beat tried to hide the half-eaten cupcake but it was too late. Her father pinned the terrified, struggling filly to the floor with a hoof on her chest. “You know those are off-limits to you!”

“I’m sorry Daddy! I’m just so hungry!” the filly wailed.

“You wouldn’t be hungry if you hadn’t splashed from the tub this afternoon and didn’t get any supper!”

“Please, Daddy—!”

Her father’s hoof raised high, preparing to strike. Half-Beat sobbed and covered her face with her hooves, knowing full well what was coming.

But suddenly the whole scene froze and everything turned ice-blue. “Enough!” shouted an authoritative female voice.

The nightmare faded into a backdrop of inky black spotted with diamond stars, and lit by a full moon. Half-Beat was truly bewildered. What was going on?

The moon suddenly lit up, light radiating from it as from spotlights, and Half-Beat had to shield her eyes. When she could look again, the sight stunned her. An alicorn stood there—an alicorn like Princess Celestia, but this wasn’t anypony Half-Beat had seen before. She was shorter than Celestia, and both her coat and mane were a beautiful dark blue. Stars winked from her flowing mane and tail. A crescent moon gleamed on her black-splotched flank, and two kind eyes looked down at the filly.

Half-Beat frowned. This was a dream, she figured, so she might as well talk to this newcomer. “Who are you? What happened?”

“My name is Princess Luna. I am the princess of the night. Therefore it is my duty to come into your dreams.”

“But…I thought we only had Princess Celestia!”

Luna smiled bittersweetly. “Celestia is my sister. A thousand years ago we ruled Equestria together, until I let jealousy in me turn to dark magic and corrupt me. My sister imprisoned me in the moon, where I still remain until the day of my return. But all is not lost. Celestia granted that I could continue to help ponies in their dreams, but only when the moon is at its fullest and the dark magic is weakest. Any other time I am still a prisoner.”

“What are you doing here?”

Luna took a few steps closer to the filly. “I can’t enter dreams until the moon is full, young one. But as the moon grows, I can observe certain dreams. And I have observed yours. Tell me, child: are these dreams only dreams, or are they something more?”

Half-Beat closed her eyes. “They’re memories, Princess.”

Luna placed a hoof under the filly’s chin. “My power is still limited, but I can help you somewhat. You must remember one thing. These nightmares are terrible, but they disappear when my sister’s sunlight comes to view. You will never experience any of that again, ever, my child.”

“I know, princess.” Half-Beat’s lips quivered. “But I don’t want to have nightmares anymore.”

“I cannot stop your nightmares. Only you can. The only way to stop terror in the night is to face what you fear the most. Your fears must be faced, or the nightmares will continue.”

“Face my fear?” Half-Beat looked up. “How can I?”

Luna nodded toward her. “What is it you fear the most?”

Half-Beat looked at her hooves. “I’m afraid my father will still want to hurt me even when he gets out of prison.”

Luna rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I see. You may not be able to overcome this fear for a while yet.”

Without warning a powerful wind swept through the dreamscape. Every star was swept from the sky, and Luna suddenly appeared fearful. “I must go now. My time is up.”

“Wait!” Half-Beat darted toward the princess. “Will I ever see you again?”

“When the moon is full, my child.”

A comforting hoof pulled the little filly to the princess’s chest, holding her tightly, as Luna’s image faded little by little.

Half-Beat suddenly opened her eyes, startled. Sunlight streamed through her window. Morning already? And her dream…it seemed so real…

Author's Note:

Yay, Luna's here! :D Credit to Kenshinryuu for giving me the idea of Luna having enough power to visit ponies during the full moon. Thanks again man, that idea helped a lot!

Anyway, one thing I feel like I should point out. A lot of comments have mentioned the story doesn't include certain details (the reason for the abuse, etc.). Just remember this story is written from the perspective of a filly who doesn't necessarily know why she's abused, just that she is. I tried to emphasize the filly perspective with the turntable description. Please keep that in mind. :)

Kudos to anyone who a) can identify Pearl's song and b) can identify her story! Thanks for reading and as always, God bless!