Growing Up Glimmer

by grl6p

First published

A journey into Starlight Glimmer’s rebellious teenage years, which includes her cutie mark hating attitude, ditching and surviving high school with her best friend Lemon Zest, and coping with her over-affectionate dad.

Starlight Glimmer is an angsty, emo, and cutie mark hating teenager living in Sire’s Hollow with her embarrassingly loving widowed father, Firelight.

Take a look into her teenage mind as she tries to go about a day in her life sneering at her schoolmates’ cutie marks, getting into trouble, skipping school to smoke weed and drink with her punk friends, sneaking out to a party with best friend, and dealing with her father constantly annoying her.

Cover art belongs to brisineo on Tumblr.

WARNING: Mild spoilers for ‘The Parent Map’

Rated T for angst, cursing, drinking, marijuana use, and mentions of sex and violence.

Meet Starlight the Angsty Unicorn

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Sire’s Hollow is a small town of beauty and friendliness where everypony is happy to greet you, show you around, and be your friend.

Well, almost everypony.

Near the center of town rests a house where Firelight, a widowed unicorn stallion lives with his rebellious 16 year old daughter, Starlight Glimmer.

Firelight is a loving stallion who promised his late wife Stellar Glow, who passed away from cancer when Starlight was 10, he would watch over their daughter and help her grow.

However, Starlight had other plans. Having lost her best friend Sunburst after he got his cutie mark and was sent to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns 2 years earlier and now her own mother, she was extremely embittered and wanted nothing to do with her dad.

Six years earlier,

Following Stellar's funeral, the solemn father-daughter pair dressed in black walked into their empty house.

"Hey Cutie Pie," Firelight said to his sullen looking daughter, "I know you're taking the loss of your mother really hard. But I just want you to know that I'll always be here for you. If you have something to say, you can always talk to me."

Young Starlight looked up and walked up the stairs. "I really want to be alone right now."

Firelight followed his daughter up the stairs, "Sweetie bear, please. It's just us now and I really think we should-"

"I SAID I WANT TO BE ALONE!" Starlight snapped, "GO AWAY!" She then slammed the door, the noise echoing through the house.

Tears welled up in Firelight's eyes. "Okay dear, if you need me I'll be in the study room trying not to cry." He walked down the stairs but took one look at his daughter's room. "I'll see you at dinner."

Meanwhile in Starlight's bedroom, the sad filly had drawn the shades and sat on her bed crying.

"First I lose my best friend to a cutie mark and now my mommy is gone forever." She cried.

"Now I have nopony." She levitated a framed photo of her and Firelight smiling together at a Father's Day picnic taken over a year ago. "Daddy just doesn't understand my pain at all. No one does."

She threw the photograph against the wall and watched as the glass shattered, alerting Firelight from the study room.

"Snuggle bear!" The unicorn ran upstairs and into his daughter's bedroom.

"Sweetheart, I heard a loud crash. Are you okay?" He asked as he ran over and desperately hugged Starlight.

"Get off of me!" Starlight snapped, pushing him towards the broken portrait.

Firelight lifted up the broken portrait and stood there in shock.

"Starlight," he looked over at his angry daughter, "why?"

Instead of calmly explaining her emotions, Starlight pointed to the door and screamed at the top of her lungs,

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!!!!!!!!"

Scared, Firelight took the picture of the father-daughter pair and ran out the door.

Present day,

As time went by, Starlight Glimmer began to enter an emo phase. She adorned her room with stickers of skulls, a broken heart, and several bats, and posters of her favorite rock bands she listened to such as Our Toxic Love, Chartreuse Week, Freakout! at the Ballroom, Black Pale Bridles, and more. She started to hang out with ponies who were equally as rebellious and black-hearted as she was and they would cause trouble around town.

As for Starlight, she changed her style and personality completely. She wore a a black leather jacket with patches of a skull and en equal sign over a pair of blue and black lace up boots. She had several piercings and wore dark makeup that made her braces (and a mild lisp) stand out. She developed an anti-cutie mark attitude where she sneered at the marks she saw on the other kids at her school. She would frequently get into trouble by refusing to participate in school activities, had several truancies, and participated in underage drinking and doping with her rebellious friends. But worst of all, she shut out her father and refused to be nice to him. Whenever he would want to hang out with, she would yell at him to go away so she could play her electric guitar in her bedroom.

However, that didn't stop Firelight from trying to connect with her.

*knock* *knock*

“Oh Sugar Plum!” Firelight called through the loud Freakout! at the Ballroom soundtrack Starlight was blasting on her boombox. “I made you a sandwich with your favorite kind of grape jelly.”

No response.

"Come on Glimmy Boo, I made it special for you. If you could please turn down your radio for 5 seconds so we could talk."

Starlight reluctantly turned off the music, "Whatever," She lisped, "jutht come in. I don't give a thit anyway."

"Please watch your mouth Sweetiekinz," Firelight said, "I wanted to drop of your lunch so you wouldn't starve." He put the sandwich on the nightstand next to Starlight's bed.

"What do you want?" Starlight asked.

"Well, I just wanted to remind you that the first day of Starfall Academy is tomorrow." replied Firelight enthusiastically, "Aren't you excited to start your junior year?"

"Of courthe!" Starlight rolled her eyes and exclaimed sarcastically, "Another year in that thaccarine dump learning utheleth information, wearing an ugly uniform, and dealing with annoying clathmattheth and teacherth who don't underthtand me."

"Don't say that." Firelight said, "I suppose you have some positive experiences in school."

"No I don't." Starlight yelled slamming down her glass of milk, "Theeing everypony'th cutie markth is a painful reminder that Thunburtht ith gone forever! That bitch Amber Waveth is alwayth rubbing her perfection in my fathe and there’th too much peppineth going around. The only thing good about that thithole ith my only friend Lemon Thest and the fact that we both like the thame things. Ath thoon ath we get to thcool, we're ditching that dump to go hang with Thcrunge and the gang."

"Honey, you know her parents and I don't want you two ditching school to-"

"UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU DON'T UNDERTHAND MY LIFE AT ALL!!!" She fell onto her pillow and groaned, "I with mom wath thtill alive, the’d understand."

"Starry Bug," Firelight hugged Starlight and began to pinch her cheeks, "I know that these past six years without your mother have been very hard for both of us, but I want you to know that-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE DAD!" An angry Starlight levitated her father out of her room and slammed the door.

"I'm here for you." His face shrunk with sadness and he walked back to his bedroom as Starlight turned her music back on.

When Firelight closed the door, he picked up a photo of him and Stellar Glow on their wedding day.

"Stellar, I'm trying to be a good father to Starry but it's so hard, especially during her difficult teenage years. But I'm keeping my promise, I will be a good father towards her." He looked over to the skull picture on Starlight's room.

"I will always love her."