I'm no Mother, right?

by Sense of Humor

Chapter 3- Confrontation

Starlight watched as her daughter sat in the chair across from her, a spark of nervousness igniting in her heart. She had no idea what she would expect from Aqua thanks to last night's bubble punishment. Would she be angry with her--refusing to even say anything? Would she be sad--gloomily staring up at her with those extremely adorable eyes and whimpering? Aqua was busy bending her head down to eat her pancakes, so there was no way of telling what expression she had this morning.

The unicorn mother coughed a little into her hoof. "Um, Aqua? " The filly lifted her head up and flashed a syrup drenched smile. " Erm...G-Good Morning, Sweetie. You feeling okay today? You're not...mad at me, are you?"

Nope! Why would I be? It was pretty handy to be able to speak without actually moving your mouth. I feel like,uh...seizing the day?

"Where'd you hear that from?" Starlight asked curiously.

Some pony said it from down the hall.

Twilight's self pep talks are starting to get louder, I see. I wonder if Thorax could hear her.... Starlight fell into her mind a moment longer. And note to self: Tell Twilight about Thorax and Aqua's mind powers. She looked back at the filly with a grin. "Well! Today we're going to do a few things together! And..."

Ironically, Thorax walked into the kitchen absentmindedly, blinking away a shade of tiredness from his eyes. The unicorn blinked twice, then suddenly gestured towards the friend that Aqua seemed deeply interested in. "I forgot to introduce you two...Well, you were sleeping actually. This is Thorax!"

"Nice to meet you!" The changeling exclaimed. oddly, his tone and smile seemed to suggest that this was a practiced greeting.

Aqua's head swiveled to face Thorax, then her and then him again with a bright smile. OH I get it! He's my daddy! I knew I had one.

Starlight stared at them both, eyes shifting as if her daughter had just told a joke. "Uh...actually no, he's not your dad. Just a friend." She suddenly remembered something and added to the changeling: "She,uh...She can talk in my head."

Thorax shrugged. "She just talked in my head too."

"Really? Well, that saves me a few explanations. Heh." She focused on the filly again. "So, I was thinking that you and I could do a go see some of the exotic creatures they're showing today, and then run a really cool errand. Sound fun?"

Super! Aqua paused as if she suddenly remembered something, and her face suddenly looked disinterested. I mean....eh, whatever.

She blinked a few times. "....so, if you'd like-- you can come Thorax?"

"Eh, I'd hate to be a bother." He nervously told her. "Or to get in the way of any mother-daughter time..."

Starlight nodded in understanding. "well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us!"

---

"Maybe he wouldn't find us in this crowd after all...." She murmured under her breath, crammed in the crowd of random ponies all trying to get to different areas of the town's booths. The smell of grassdogs and hayburgers filled the air despite there still being ten minutes of morning left. They worked their way around pretty much everything in sight, but Starlight noticed that her daughter had been stepping on her hoof multiple times. She cast a concerned look down at her. "Uh, Sweetie can you stop doing that? It kinda hurts."

It's not my fault ponies keep bumping into me. Aqua rolled her eyes halfheartedly. Maybe you should move faster.

Starlight was about to retort on that snobbish remark when a loud voice announced that he was giving away free balloon animals, a thought that distracted her from the tiny hooves stepping on hers. The two walked over to the lone stallion creating the figures, who immediately greeted them with a nod. "Hi! What can I get ya today?"

Starlight looked down at the pegasus filly, inviting her to look at the assortment of pictures. "Go ahead, Sweetie. Choose one."

Uuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm...How about that grey one? She finally decided on the elephants and her mother replayed the message. They both watched as he blew up the long grey balloon and began to twist it into all kinds of shapes that squeaked a lot. The familiar shapes were soon complete, and Starlight handed her the small rubber elephant. To her surprise, Aqua almost immediately placed her hooves on it and applied pressure enough it to pop completely. oops. Guess I need another one.

Starlight glared at her small, smug smile in disbelief but soon gave an apologetic frown to the stallion. "I'm very sorry about my daughter's behavior towards your work! I was certain that I'd taught her to behave herself a lot better than that."

He barely payed them any attention after Aqua smashed his elephant. "Sometimes they just get it from the mother,hmm?"

She opened her mouth to protest against that statement, only to enter another realm of thought. Her punishment was resulting as a bad influence for Aqua; that had to be the case, right? And after that entire night of misery thinking over why she had deserved it. Maybe she should never have sent her to her room! She knew would start making mistakes as a mother, but not as large as this!

"Well...maybe." She turned to walk away from the stallion. "Good day. Let's go, Aqua...Aqua?"

The unicorn's eyes and head swiveled to and fro, but there was no sign of Aqua to be found anywhere in the sea of bodies. Starlight began a frantic search around the entire town square, practically sniffing the dirt ground for the slightest bit of her daughter. Clearly her disappearance was a mistake on her part! What kind of parent wouldn't be careful enough to watch their kid closely?! Apparently that parent was her. "Come on, Aqua! I-If you're playing, this isn't funny!" Starlight bellowed at random, only to cower sheepishly under the scrutinizing stares of other ponies and dash away to boot. After searching for about fourteen minutes she resorted to tiredly asking mothers and their children if they'd seen her around., eventually passing by a stallion standing next to one of those 'strength-testing' towers you hit with a hammer.

"Hey there, Missy!" The stallion caught her attention with an accent Applejack would roll her eyes at. "How's about you try your magic strength out? Might wipe that frown off yer face!"

Starlight was already explaining earnestly, barely giving him any eye contact as she spoke. "No thanks. I'm looking for my daughter...have you seen her at all? Blue coat? She's a pegasus?"

The stallion hummed for a long time and scratched the back of his head. he looked upwards absentmindedly to think a bit deeper, then his eyes suddenly widened in shock. "uh...does she have a slightly braided mane?"

"Yes...How did you--..." Starlight inhaled the largest breath of air in history when she followed his gaze upwards. Twenty Fives hooves into the air was where the strength test tower ended, and also where the all too familiar body of Aqua sat. Her open mouth didn't stay open for long. "AQUA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!"

Oh there you are! I was about to start calling for you!
The pegasus filly grinned brightly to Starlight's dismay and bunched her leg muscles up. catch me!

Hero little body fell before her mother had a chance to stop her, plummeting fast as giggles filled the air. The unicorn couldn't conjure up a spell as quick as simply jumping to the bottom of the tower and stretching her arms out, where they were quickly filled with a squirming body soon after. The giggles had attracted a small crowd to the scene, and everypony gasped at seeing Aqua's sudden rescue. That was so fun! Again! I'll try flapping my wings next!

Starlight began glaring. "Aqua! You're not supposed to give Mommy a heart attack, or jump off of--"

"That's your child?!" A mare spoke up from the crowd with a tone of indignation suddenly. "Well I've never seen anypony with such recclesiastical parenting in my life! You let your daughter leap off that thing?!"

Her ears flattened against her head miserably. "Um...I..."

"That could have seriously hurt her!" A stallion said, followed by several grunts of agreement from the crowd. "I wouldn't let my little girl do that!"

Starlight swallowed a lump in her throat and shrank under the scornful stares of mothers clearly better than she was. The mare didn't want to be here any longer; the embarrassmental was too much to handle...she had to go home. "Aqua, we're leaving now."

I'm not going anywhere! Aqua said definitively, much to her own surprise. I'm trying to have fun!

The crowd and condensed to deafening whispers in the air, talking to one another with scornful glares placed at Starlight. The unicorn glanced at them, then down at her daughter in a back and forth manner...but each time something changed in her expression. At first Starlight was beet red with embarrassment, but it was clear that a lot of frustration was building up from this public scene and Aqua's rebellious statement. Quite Frankly, she'd had enough of both for one day. Wordlessly seething, the unicorn roughly scooped up Aqua by the scruff of her neck and began trotting off in the familiar direction of the house.

Hey! Put me down! I don't wanna leave! I wanna stay here! Aqua struggled as much as she could while dangling, flailing her small wings in an attempt to fly away and occasionally slapping her mother's muzzle by accident. Did you hear me?! I said--

Starlight dropped her to the ground roughly, her eyes never leaving the filly and seemingly to grow brighter with anger. "Stop it,okay?! Just STOP IT. I've had it with your rude, smart alec behavior today, Aqua! You could hurt yourself on that tower back there, and there wouldn't be anypony else to blame but myself! You embarrassed me in front of everypony, and now everypony will think I'm a bad...." She trailed off with a growl of fury, never noticing Aqua's cringe.

B-But... The filly reached out with a small hoof slowly. Mommy, I'm sor--

"Don't!" Starlight flinched away from the filly and roughly stomped past her to continue the journey to Twilight's castle. The mare didn't cast a single glance backwards as she went away, but a few choice words were spoken. "Don't call me that right now! I don't care if you want to go back into town or what but don't call me Mommy."

Aqua whimpered at her statement, but did give the town a sidelong stare as if considering going back. But she looked at Starlight with a sniffle, and slowly shuffled after the unicorn. Silence hung over them the whole way home, but it was nervously broken by Aqua when they were both in the lobby of the castle. Do...Do you want me to go to my room...?

Starlight didn't answer right away, but it wasn't a long time before she began to tread up the stairs slowly. "J-Just leave me alone."

Aqua watched pitifully as her mom walked up the stairs without another tearful word, her own large eyes watering a little at the sound. This wasn't supposed to happen; she wasn't supposed to be sad about this! Her friend Mast said she would be happy...what had gone wrong? And more importantly, how could she fix it?

Aqua gasped and grinned. She knew the perfect way to make up for this!

Author's Note:

Ah, an update. Finally I do it...

Comments

[Texus]

Oh yes I nearly forgot that stupid voice in her head, but I think I just got what I wanted in this story anyway, so I'm happy.
To be honest if it is explained good enough and not exactly a part of her body, then I would probably even enjoy that Voice thing too.

My usually dislike towards that is concerning a main char and a fixed destiny anyway.

[Sense of Humor]

7662152

Glad ya liked it!

[MyLittleGeneration]

Aw, poor Aqua.

[SudokuBrony]

[Catla]

Lel thoraxglimmer

Are we gonna see more of those two in this story

[HB_DS2013]

7662152 Twilight?

[Texus]

7665342 what do you mean?

[HB_DS2013]

7666456 I know Twilight's the main character, but isn't her being a princess a fixed destiny?

[Texus]

7666746 that may be, but for once if Celestia decided it or not, it is still not fitting with my comment.

Twilight is no Human turned pony that has a second voice in her head, and not someone that has an unknown god forcing her to act a certain way. I was a bit more specific in my comment, so "Twilight" isn't enough to rebut my comment, or that I would have to hate her. Anyway we can't do much about the show and have to take it the way it is anyway, with everything good, and little bad stuff it may has.

[Shotgunboy848]

Whens the next chapter coming?

[Tanis]

o.O

Am i the only one who can no longer see "Page 10" in the chapter directory?

I can still see the comments for it; but the chapter itself has vanished.

[Mcee]

8467507
It's kind of creepy. I think they removed the chapter? hopefully just for editing ;v; I love this so much