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Chapter 6: Starlight’s Cutie Mark

Trixie suddenly realized the reason why she got growled at, it looked like to Starlight that Trixie was flaunting about having a loving mother. Possibly even a good parent in general, given Starlight isn’t really fond of her father at the moment either.

Trixie: S-starlight… I’m so so so so s-sorry… I-i-i-i-i d-didn’t k-know…

Starlight: *sigh* I know, I probably shouldn’t have growled at you considering you never knew. But it hurts, it just hurts. I don’t even know if she’s dead or alive! In some ways, being dead at this point would be the less bad option, because my mother still being alive brings up the possibility of her being a neglectful mother that’s never bothered to see her own child for more then 2 decades… perhaps that’s why my father doesn’t want me to know who she is... Perhaps he’s just protecting me from knowing who could be no doubt, one of the worst mothers Equestria has ever had...

But… if she’s a bad pony like that. Perhaps it’d explain how I ended up doing bad things I did myself… having the genetics and possibly even personality traits of such a terrible pony…

The room just stands silent for a few minutes before finally Sunburst speaks up.

Sunburst: I just… kinda don’t get it, how can your father not even tell you as something as simple who he fell in love with in order to give birth to you? I don’t understand it. That should absolutely be the most basic thing a father should tell their child, even if the mother has died or just left the family altogether.

Starlight: Yes! Exactly! Now you get a sense of how I feel about this! I’ve asked him many times throughout my life, he only finds some way to skirt the question and/or stays silent until I give up.

Sunburst: Well, if it’s ok Starlight. I’d like to ask some questions that perhaps could at least bring up hypothetical possibilities about your mother.

Starlight: Go ahead, Sunburst. It’s ok, I’ll try to answer the best I can, but of course there’s going to be a lot I don’t know.

Sunburst: Well, I’d like to start with: Were your parents divorced?

Starlight: No, on a sheer technicality my dad is still married as there was neither a divorce and neither any clear sign that my mother is dead.

Sunburst: Ok, my next question… um, might be a little grim but… did perhaps your mother die in childbirth? Lived just enough to give birth to you, but ultimately died shortly after? Perhaps your father didn’t tell you, because you might be upset that while certainly not your fault, you were indirectly a reason she died in this hypothetical scenario?

Starlight: No, that’s not it either. One of the few facts I have actually gotten out of my father about my mother is she disappeared about 2 weeks after I was born. She definitely survived my birth, though perhaps it was fair to say it was likely tough on her, because she gave birth in the house rather then a hospital. Ultimately though, 2 weeks is both still too soon for my brain to even vaguely recall an image of my mother and too late for the reason of her disappearance to be death by childbirth. Also, I forgot to mention this, but not even my father knows what happened to her after she disappeared. If she had died of childbirth, then he would of certainly known. He was in the room when I was born after all.

Sunburst: Do you have a birth certificate that includes Parents’ names?

Starlight: *sigh* No, Sire’s Hollow conveniently leaves that off certificates for ponies born there. I don’t know why, they just do. It’d at least be convenient to know the name of my mother, but it’s like literally everything in the universe is conspiring together to prevent me from finding out about my mother through any normal means.

Sunburst: Is… perhaps your mother searching for somepony she knows has been missing? I know that myself a little too well myself…

Sunburst looks down solemnly

Starlight: Sounds like something you’re referring to your own personal life, Sunburst. I can’t answer what you said because that’s one of the details I don’t know about my mother’s disappearance. But, what are you talking about in terms of yourself?

Sunburst: My father, Sunspot. He’s not missing, he even writes my mother letters as to assure us he’s ok. But sometime when I was a pre-teen he left to try to find any sign of his long lost younger sister. He never gave the name of his younger sister, not even to my Mom. He was determined to find any sign of her whether she was dead or alive. He said before he left if he ever found closure, he’d immediately come back to live the rest of his life with my mother. He still hasn’t after all these years…

Starlight: I’m sorry to hear that, Sunburst. I had no idea anyone in your family had someone missing for years as well, not to mention also having only a single parent around for a long while.

Sunburst: Well it’s certainly not as distressing as your own situation. I know for sure my father’s still around, and he’s only out there because he really deeply cares about a family member to the point he’s searching the entire world for any sign of where they were. Sure, it’d be nice to see him in-person again for the first time in a while. But I know he’s out there on a noble cause. It’s a testament to my father, and makes me think of what lengths he’d go if me and my mother were to ever find themselves in trouble.

Starlight: Come to think of it, I was wondering why your father wasn’t there when we went back to Sire’s Hollow when the map in Twilight’s castle called us there. I guess I know now…

Sunburst: Yeah…

Trixie: You’re pretty lucky, Sunburst… to have a father like that I mean…

Sunburst: I imagine you have something to tell us too, Trixie?

Trixie: Yes… while my mother is the absolute best one I could of asked for, my father… wasn’t. His name is Jack Pot. He divorced my mother and abandoned me when I was just a foal… it’s good my Mom was able to step to the plate and be a strong single mother for me in Canterlot… but it was probably pretty hard for her. I hear he’s still doing his own magic shows in Las Pegasus where he’s probably making lots of money and not sharing a single iota of it to me or my mom…

Starlight: Well, it looks like all three of us had stuff we never told each other about either our parents or families in general. Though Trixie, you mentioned your dad also does magic shows. If you don’t like your father, why are you kind of following in his footsteps by being a stage magician?

Trixie: Well, the simple truth is I got interested in being a magician before I found out my father was one too. Even though my father wasn’t around, there was still magic trick books he left around the house that got me interested in the art of stage magic. Even after I found out my Father was a magician too, that wasn’t going to shake me from my interest. Perhaps, I even thought that if I made it big as a magician, I’d come face to face with my father. And be able to tell my father to his face what a terrible father he was. And perhaps to add to the humiliation, become a magician better then he ever was…

Sunburst: Trixie, if I had known that. I probably would of gladly signed up to give you some of my magic books that could spice up your shows or even assist you alongside Starlight. You certainly deserve to have that confrontation with your father, one day!

Starlight: Yes, absolutely. Your father must know the wrath of the Great and Powerful Trixie some day!

Trixie smiles and then grins.

Trixie: Yes, he will rue the day he abandoned Trixie! I shall make sure of it. But in due time, I still have a show to do in Saddle Arabia. Not to mention, I will have young ones to counsel soon. My next audience, and the next generation is more important then a bad father.

Starlight and Sunburst clap for Trixie. Though Starlight sighs and looks down solemnly again all of a sudden.

Starlight: Though, whether good or bad. At least you both know who your other parent is. I’m stuck in this metaphorical limbo, how am I supposed to feel about a mother that I don’t know in general. why they left, or even how they disappeared… you also have your one parent you know that IS there who would tell you straight if something was up about your past and/or something wrong in the family. I don’t even have that in my father! Perhaps, just like Sunburst’s father. I just want closure…

Suddenly, 3 small knocks simultaneously are heard on the office door.

Starlight: Trixie, could you get the door again?

Trixie: Sure thing, Starlight.

Trixie opens the door again for whomever was there new guest(/s). When the door is opened, it’s revealed it was the familiar trio of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. All three with innocent beaming grins

Apple Bloom: Howdy Starlight, Trixie, and Sunburst! How are ya’ll doing?

The 3 fillies have not realized they barged in on a very serious conversation. They suddenly notice that Staright, Trixie, and Sunburst all have faces like they just read the saddest books they’ve ever read.

Sweetie Belle: What’s going on?

Scootaloo: Yeah, really. You all look like a good friend just died.

Apple Bloom: That didn’t happen, did it?!

Starlight: *sigh* Don’t worry, you 3. No one we know died or anything like that… but we were in a rather… adult conversation about our families… that you three might be too young to hear without it distressing you…

Apple Bloom: Oh… is this ah bad time then?

Starlight: Well, it depends. What did you three even come here for?

Scootaloo: We were seeing if you had been invited to the ball yet. Apple Bloom and Sweetie already invited by their older sisters, and I was invited by Rainbow Dash.

Trixie: I’ve already invited her, girls. So you’re good.

Sweetie Belle: I guess that’s our cue that we should probably go.

Sunburst: Thanks for being so considerate. though!

Starlight takes a look around the room and then looks at the 3 fillies, and then sees their cutie marks. Starlight knows that the CMC got their cutie marks together, while they certainly have individual talents and interests, they also have a group skill of helping others whether they were other fillies and colts and assist them in getting their marks in the first place. Or even ponies that already got their marks that perhaps somehow ended up in a situation where they didn’t quite understand their cutie mark. As the three fillies start to turn back to leave. Starlight calls for them.

Starlight: Wait! Come back! All three of you… please…

Apple Bloom: Huh?

Sweetie Belle: Why?

Scootaloo: What?

Starlight: I actually need you three to be around for what I want to talk about next. Because I actually have one more thing that maybe, just maybe your talent as a group can help with.

Scootaloo: Last I heard, I don’t think our talents were as adult counselors.

Sweetie Belle: Though not for any lack of trying back in our cutie mark attempts back in the day!

Apple Bloom: Yeah, how exactly are we going t’ help ya?

Starlight: Because… because…

Starlight looks down nervously, but closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and says…

Starlight: …I’m going to tell the story of how I got my cutie mark

The three perk up immediately and face toward Starlight

Apple Bloom: Wait, really?!

Scootaloo: Didn’t you just simply tell us that you got your cutie mark and hated it when you tried to test your counsel prowess on us?

Starlight: Yeah but I didn’t tell you exactly how I got my cutie mark. I was still generally being vague then. I don’t think it’s new information to say I hated that I got a cutie mark when said cutie marks are the very reason I started the Our Town cult.

Sweetie Belle: Well, this is sure to be an interesting story.

The three fillies all walk up to the desk and sit down on the floor to hear Starlight’s story.

Sunburst: Come to think of it, I don’t think you’ve ever told me this either

Trixie: Same with me, this is absolutely a must hear.

Starlight: Yeah, it’ll be something to come clean to both of you as well. And with the help of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, maybe some kind of new information will come up with telling this story.

Starlight takes one more deep breath before beginning her story.

((Story continues after the break))

Starlight: I should first mention that during much of my childhood. I was a latchkey filly, That means I was pretty alone in the house whenever my father left to work. My father never hired a babysitter to keep watch on me, ever. It was part of why Sunburst leaving was so devastating to me, at least when he was still in town I had a friend who could come over for playtime, and suffice to say I never met another friend for the rest of my childhood after Sunburst left. I was alone, left to simply wander the house to get my own food when I was hungry, play with toys, and/or read books.

In fact, it’d be two books in particular that were the catalyst for a lot of things in my future… these books were like, super hidden. I only found them both because I just so happen to accidentally wreck a part of the wall when I accidentally supercharged a ball that revealed a hidden spot where there were two books. The first book I read… the less I’ll say about it, the better as it’s not technically relevant to how I got my mark, but the 2nd book was for sure. It was a spell book, but not just any spell book. One meant only for some of the most gifted unicorns, these kind of spells should have been impossible for me to even fathom as a filly, and if I were an average unicorn, the spells probably wouldn’t have been possible for me under any circumstances. Yet… I actually could somewhat understand what much of the book required for me to do, I don’t know how. Just my brain could pick up the nuance of what I had to do to perform the spell.

Though just because I could understand how it did work doesn’t mean I knew how to control it. The spell in particular I tried was being able to lift myself purely with levitation and thus able to fly without wings. This was technically one of the simpler spells in the book, though even this one is pretty impossible for anypony other then newborns who can sometimes do so even if they were perfectly normal unicorns later in life, as their body gets heavier and more solid connection between the brain and the horn, most foals lose the ability to do so by the 3rd year of their life. But it seems particularly magically-adept unicorns have a way to sort of learn how to do it again. For a little bit, I was doing just fine with the spell, I flew in small circles first, and then I proceeded to having some fun just flying across all corners of the basement.

But then it all changed when while in the midst of floating, I tried picking up the ball that had wrecked the wall earlier, suddenly because much of my magic was supercharged from using such a powerful move, it suddenly started spinning all around me sort of like a super fast orbit and I couldn’t control it. Suddenly I was also unwittingly grabbing other small objects that were also circling around me, I was like a gravitational force attracting anything smaller then me to float all around me. My magic was intensifying, and while I probably couldn’t tell because so much was going on at once. My eyes were probably glowing, and I had a magic aura around me

Sweetie Belle: *gasp* That sounds just like when Twilight got her cutie mark after releasing Spike from his egg!

Starlight: Yeah… it was probably a lot like that. But continuing on, conveniently this was at a time where my father was coming back from work. I could hear him calling for me from upstairs that he was home. I took that opportunity to scream and called for him to help me…

*Flashback*

Firelight: Oh, Pumky-Wumpkins! I’m home!

Starlight: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Firelight: Starlight?!

Starlight: DAAAAAAAAAADDYYYYYYYYYY! HEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPP MEEEEEEEEE!

Firelight quickly runs down to the basement, and sees the magical power on display coming from his daughter. He stares wide-eyed.

Firelight: Starlight! I’m going to try to get you down!

Starlight: Daddy, what is even happening to me?!

Firelight: I don’t know, Starlight! But try your best to come back down!

First, Firelight tries levitating Starlight out of the aura but Firelight’s magic strength was not nearly powerful enough to drag her out. He’s going to have to somehow physically grab Starlight out of the aura most likely, the good thing is the things surrounding Starlight were mostly harmless toys. This would be too dangerous if say, this had happened in the kitchen and there were knives and silverware going at the speeds the toys were going around Starlight. But he has to do something, the shaking in the house was making him fear the flooring/basement ceiling from above was going to collapse in on his daughter, crushing and killing her.

He huffs, puts on a determined face and quickly runs and tackles Starlight out of her magic bubble, making sure to bump Starlight’s horn to at least try to temporarily stop fueling the aura. In just moments, Starlight’s horn stops glowing, so does her eyes. And the magic aura disappears. All the toys that were surrounding her fall to the ground. Spread across the basement floor in a big mess. Both Firelight and Starlight breathing heavily.

Firelight: Starlight, are you ok?

Starlight: Urgh… I… think so… daddy… you… saved me…

Starlight sits up

Firelight: How did this even happen, Starlight?

Starlight points to the spell book.

Starlight: I was reading this spell book… and I tried one spell from it… and while I tried picking up the ball while doing said spell… suddenly my magic went out of control and I couldn’t stop myself…

Firelight: Well… then the obvious answer now is make sure you can’t read this book again.

Firelight picks up the book to either find a spot Starlight won’t find it again, give it away, or even outright burn it. He considers the latter, before he opens up the front cover and sees “This book is the property of…”. He sees the name but closes it immediately after. It just happened to be one of the few remaining reminders in the house of… her. He couldn’t possibly burn it knowing that. But he also had to make sure Starlight never saw it again, for more then one reason now. He puts the book into a briefcase for now until he ultimately decides where to put it. He then looks at his daughter again, looking around if she’s hurt anywhere on her body but then notices on her flank. A star with light blue magic swerves being released.

Firelight: Starlight… you have your cutie mark…

Starlight: Wait, WHAT?!

Starlight looks at her flank, and indeed she has a symbol on her flank. However, since Sunburst leaving has made her resent Cutie Marks. What should be one of the more over joyous days of her young life, has only become a day of disgruntled shame.

Starlight: Great, I don’t even know what it means… Cutie marks are so dumb…

Firelight is conflicted, on one hoof this should be a day her daughter is supposed to be happy and now have a general direction of where she’ll go in life. But he also understands that if she got her mark from using that book. She might be destined for a path that Firelight’s been trying to prevent her from going for. So if maybe Starlight thinks it’s nothing special, at least he’ll be able to keep up the charade and keep his daughter safe.

Firelight: C’mon, honey. Let’s go upstairs, if you take a bath we can go fly some kites together.

Starlight still has a disgruntled face looking at her flank, but she eyes him over to respond.

Starlight: Ok, dad…

Firelight and Starlight walk back upstairs to at least try to pretend what just happened didn’t happen for a long while. Especially Starlight in regards to her cutie mark.

*Flashback ends*

The room has now heard the full story of Starlight’s cutie mark. It was now time for the CMC to attempt to make a judgement on what happened.

Scootaloo: Wow… so much like Twilight. You got your mark from a magic outburst…

Sweetie Belle: But unlike Twilight, you didn’t get straight away what it meant, not to mention you had a disdain for cutie marks because of Sunburst’s move-out.

Apple Bloom: This is certainly ah interesting predicament. It does bring t’ mind Troubleshoes thinking his mark was bad luck. But this is also several layers deeper, because Starlight still doesn’t quite get her mark, though she also had ah biased disdain fo’ Cutie Marks before she got it, and there’s ah strong chance that furthered her disability t’ understand her mark

Sweetie Belle: I think we should start that there is an obvious fact we know about Starlight even before we were told this story: Starlight has immense raw magical power. It’s probably likely in a similar sense to Twilight. The magical outburst awakened their power in the strongest sense for the first time, and that’s when for both Twilight and Starlight their cutie mark manifested.

Scootaloo: Twilight probably is a prodigy of magic herself anyway, though she also read for hours upon hours about magic prior to getting her cutie mark.

Sweetie Belle: Starlight, if you don’t mind us asking. But did you ever have hours of studying magic like Twilight did before your own magic outburst that got you your cutie mark?

Starlight: Aside from the basics, not really? I was pretty sheltered magic-wise until I found that book. And then I was sheltered again, if not even more so, from powerful magic up until I was a teenager.

Apple Bloom: This really is ah predicament, girls we need ah whisper huddle.

The three fillies put their hooves on each other’s shoulder to make a circle. Whispering something to hopefully come up with the most likely theory behind Starlight’s raw power. Once the huddle is broken up, the three sit back where they were.

Sweetie Belle: Ahem… Starlight. If you didn’t learn or otherwise train yourself to get your magical power. Then we can only think of one explanation: You inherited your magic power from somepony in your family.

Starlight puts a hoof to her chin

Starlight: I guess that would make sense. Though in terms of my father’s line, I’m pretty sure he’s an average unicorn. And I don’t think either of my grandparents on my father’s line was either. Nor my great grandparents…

Starlight realizes something, and it makes her faceplant on the desk.

Starlight: Great, it’s another mystery tied to my mother... isn’t it…

Scootaloo: Wait, what’s this about your mother?

Starlight picks her head back up and looks at the three fillies.

Starlight: It was part of the “adult” conversation, that I mentioned when you girls came in. But I guess now that it may be relevant to my cutie mark. I might just have to tell you girls too.

Sweetie Belle: What exactly was brought up about your mom?

Starlight: *Starlight lowers her head and closes her eyes* Nothing was brought up about my mom… because I never knew who she was…

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo: SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!

The CMC all either have have their pupils shrunken fast and/o have their hooves on the side of their head, in disbelief on hearing about what Starlight just told them.

Scootaloo: That’s crazy!

Sweetie Belle: This is madness!

Apple Bloom: How can ya be kept from knowing so much as the NAME o’ ya mother?!

Starlight: Believe it or not, it’s true. Whenever I tried to ask my father, including today, he only does every tactic available to get out of saying who she was. And he doesn’t even know what happened after she disappeared. And keep in mind, she disappeared when I was only 2 weeks old. So I was far too young for my brain to pick up a solid memory of what my mother looked like. I had literally no mother figures growing up…

Come to think of it, I didn’t have a motherly figure in my entire life… until I met Twilight, who herself is a mother. An adopted mother, but a mother all the same. Perhaps… the reason I didn’t go through with what I did during the time travel incident, was when hearing Twilight’s soft-spoken voice near the end, I felt like I could get the gentle, motherly support I was always missing in my life… That’s not to say I’m suddenly going to call Twilight my mom, as I’m not Spike… and Twilight’s certainly not my mom anyway. She’s only older then me by maybe a year or two.

The CMC themselves all have sympathetic tears for Starlight.

Sweetie Belle: Starlight… this is just so… sad… I can’t imagine what it’d be like not having even a single mother figure there to help you grow up…

Apple Bloom: Yeah, like mah actual mother is… gone, the fact that ya never got t’ know what ya mother was like yourself is something we have in common but ah at least know mah mother’s name… And mah sister Applejack has always been the one t’ take the empty mantle fo’ me! Ah don’t know what ah would o’ done if ah had never had mah sister growing up!

Scootaloo: This is especially messed up now that the identity of your mother probably also holds the keys to all remaining mysteries regarding your cutie mark and/or magical power…

Starlight: It’s unfortunate and very frustrating, but yes I’m not going to get closure yet on neither my mother or my magical power. Though at least through today’s conversation, we learned they’re connected, plus I now know my mother must of been somepony with strong magic genes, or at the very least closely related to one. So if nothing else, you girls have at least provided clues, and it’s not going to be easy to solve still. But I’m still closer to finding out something, thanks to you girls.

Starlight steps off her chair and walks in front of the desk.

Starlight: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Sunburst, Trixie? Come here, I want to give you all a big hug.

All 5 come together in a group hug.

Starlight: Thank you all for coming in today and talking this out with me, I felt like even if things aren’t much closer to being found out. I got a lot of things off my chest, you helped cheer me up after that disastrous meeting with my father, and now I can simply focus on having a good time at the ball coming up soon. I can’t wait… all of you…

Cutie Mark Cusaders, Sunburst, Trixie: We love you, Starlight

Starlight tears up again, but thankfully this time it’s the joy of having had the sympathy of friends to talk things out with.

Starlight: I love you all so much, too. Thank you…

For now, Starlight’s story has reached a pause, with many mysteries still left unsolved. However, she’s finally shared a much clearer picture of her past then before. And now it was just time for them all to enjoy themselves at the coming Royal Ball.

NEXT UP: Chapter 7: Good Mourning, Fluttershy

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