"Doob-be-doo, Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beauteous day, my daughter has been returned to me, and she'll be here to ssttaayy." Having just awoken from her usual extended Saturday snooze and further bolstered by the long-awaited return of her absent progeny, it was safe to say Starlight Glimmer was in rather an upbeat mood.
The fact she was singing off key and dancing around like a loon didn't bother her at all, as all sorts of wonderful plans for the future came brimming into her head about the shared activities they could do together: First of all, I'll take her to see my old village, who knows how Double Diamond will react when he finds out about his lost child. Then, we'll have a nice day out with Trixie, maybe take along some cinnamon nuts for the ride. Afterwards, we'll visit the new peaceful Changeling kingdom, do some fruit painting, and...
"Ahem!" Starlight's joyous frolicking was suddenly cut short by the unexpected arrival of her mentor, who'd somehow managed to sneakily open and close her pupil's bedroom door undetected and observe the unicorn's flamboyant display for a number of minutes with wry amusement.
Deciding that enough was enough though, Twilight had taken it upon herself to inform her student of the alicorn's presence... which sadly came in the middle of an improvised pirouette by the prancing pony in front of her.
Oof. Down went Starlight, landing flat on her back as her amazingly professional choreography finally came to a rather anti-climatic denouement. She stared listlessly up at herself in the reflective ceiling for a moment, before the royal cause of her undignified tumble hovered over her with a sheepish grin.
"Sorry to disturb your, um, 'exercises'..." Twilight hauled up Starlight with her hooves, thinking that using her magic in this delicately poised situation would be a little too impersonal. "...But I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you before you go downstairs this morning, if it's not too much trouble."
"I-I was just rehearsing the ritual for a new spell I'm working on." Starlight explained none-too-convincingly, while attempting to compose herself as best she could. "F-First of all, you bend like this, then you twist like this, before shaking it all about... S-Sunburst taught it to me the last time I was in the Crystal Empire with him! I-It's top secret stuff you know, so I can't tell you much else. V-Very hush-hush..."
"It's okay... you don't have to lie or make excuses for my sake. I totally 'get' why you'd be in such high spirits around now, and I apologise for not knocking first." Twilight had evidently decided that her pupil was embarrassed enough at being 'caught in the act' as it were, and decided not to linger on the issue any further. "Anyway, I think you know what I'm here concerning. Or rather, who. You see, I've just had to give your daughter a bath, because she wet the bed last night..."
"What?! Then I must go to her at once!!" All of Starlight's arrant feelings of humiliation were snuffed out upon hearing this news, and her newfound maternal instincts seemed to kick in as she made a break for the door. "Whatever could the matter with the little dear be?! I should've let her sleep with me on her first night here, oh how could I be so thoughtless?"
"...Actually, I have a pretty good idea as to why she did it, and it was nothing to do with your absence. If anything, coming on too strong might've made the incident even worse." She'd been trying to hold back, but Twilight finally gave into the temptation of using her horn, and Starlight found herself moving her hooves a lot in mid-air but not really getting anywhere. "In fact, that's really what I wanted to..."
"You still could've told me, before dumping her in the tub!" the unicorn wailed from her lavender aura 'prison', as she floated helplessly around. "I'm her mother! I should be learning to do those sort of things! How am I supposed to take responsibility for my daughter, if you're taking over my main duties? In the future, could you please let me deal with stuff like that?"
"B-But you were so fast asleep, even the roar of a Ursa Major wouldn't have... sigh, never mind." Twilight was much too exhausted after getting up early to arrange her portfolio for the weekend and washing a rapidly squirming filly to argue any further, so she decided to let this one go for now. "The point is, and Diamond told me this herself, maybe you're moving things a bit too fast with her. Don't you remember what we discussed at Rich Mansion? That we should approach the situation with a little more tact? After all, you don't want to alienate your daughter at this early stage by pushing too hard, do you?"
Twilight's words had the ring of truth about them, and as Starlight was gently deposited back onto the ground, the unicorn's face seemed to concede that point. "Y-You're right, Twilight. I've been so busy singing and dancing here, thinking about what I want to do with her and who I'm going to show her off to, I completely forgot about how difficult this whole experience must be for her. She has to be absolutely terrified, spending the night in a strange new place and finding out the family she knew about for all those years weren't her real family at all. Once again, you've talked me down from making a complete fool of myself. Just what would I do without you?"
Twilight blushed a little upon hearing Starlight's heartfelt praise, and she looked away in a vain attempt to appear impassive. "Y-You don't have to shower me with compliments Starlight, I'm just trying to help out a friend. The pony you should really be attending to is downstairs right now, freshly dried and bored out of her mind from hearing Spike's life story on repeat. You can only hear the same 'modest' tales about saving a nation and changing the fate of a species so many times, you know. So, why don't you get yourself ready and join us? I think sharing a meal together would be a good initial step in beginning your relationship on the right hoof."
"Yes, yes, of course..." Starlight quickly dashed off to her mirror, to make sure she was properly presentable for her first big day with her long-abandoned filly. "...Also, I know you're good with lists, so allow me to run this one by you, about my conduct from now on. I won't try to force her into doing activities with me she doesn't want to do, I'll back off if I think she looks a bit too uncomfortable, I shan't mention what happened to her this morning seeing as how you've fully taken care of it... do those sound like decent starting points?"
"I would say those sound like very sound choices, if you want to make her feel more at home..." Twilight nodded her approval at the unicorn's suggestions, finally hopeful that her until now quite overzealous student was getting how sensitive the current climate was. "Don't forget, this is a completely fresh start for her, and whatever you do between now and the end of the month could possibly impact how she perceives you forever. Have patience with her, try to establish her needs and requirements, try to plant a nurturing seed for the future. Remember to make sure the soil is fertile..."
"Okay, Twilight. I think I get it. Thank you." As much as Starlight appreciated the advice of her alicorn friend, she did occasionally have a tendency to stretch out her weird metaphors. "I shall finish up here, and be there for breakfast as soon as I can. And I promise: no more amateur vaudeville today, you have my solemn word. Well, to business then!"
With nothing more than a simple nod and a slight smile, Twilight left the unicorn to her own devices to prepare for the no doubt testy day that lay ahead. At last, she's starting to understand, thought the optimistic alicorn as she descended the stairs one at a time, I knew she had it in her to be a serviceable parent. I'll still keep a close eye on her in the meantime though, and I'll tell Spike to do the same. Speaking of him, I better make sure Diamond hasn't fallen asleep head-first into her cereal. My number one assistant might be an invaluable part of my life, but he can't half waffle on sometimes.
As Twilight's somewhat hypocritical musings followed her to the ground floor, Starlight began to go through the motions of brushing her striped mane... but then abruptly stopped. Something Twilight had mentioned was nagging at her brain, and upon a bit of deliberation she figured out what it was.
"How can my daughter have a 'fresh start', if I never even got the chance to..." she said aloud, while staring back seriously at herself in the mirror. "...That she's still known by the moniker that awful, horrible, abusive mare gave to her..."
Suddenly, a 'wonderful' idea hit her like a ton of bricks. A truly ingenious plan, which would make everything alright and allow her filly to forge a new identity for herself, to separate the youngster from her less-than-perfect past and truly make the 'fresh start' Twilight had suggested.
The only real question was, whether she could do it or not...
Now, where did I put my copy of the contract again?
.............................................................
Fortunately, Twilight had got downstairs just in time to prevent the towel-wrapped Diamond from having a very milky hairdo for the day. Uncle Spike had just reached the gripping part in his adventures where he'd bravely stood up in front of Cadance, Shining Armour and the entire palace guard to regale them in song form about Thorax's true nature, when Twilight had taken it upon herself to cram a few loose gems in his mouth via magic. Not that the hungry drake had minded too much... you can never have enough of the good stuff, after all.
"Are you feeling okay, Diamond?" Twilight trotted over to where a visibly drowsy filly sat in front of her uneaten food, as the filly was still attempting to digest all the events of that morning and the preceding evening before even attempting to do the same with her meal.
"H-Huh? Oh, yes. I-I suppose so..." Diamond's eyes shot open upon hearing Twilight's voice, and she straightened up in her chair. "I-I just started to feel tired again, for some reason."
"Well, I can't say I really blame you. Spike does like to draw out his exploits a bit sometimes when we have company..." Twilight gave her devoted assistant an affectionate glance, to which he only responded with a pronounced scowl before swallowing his jawful of jewels. "Anyway, you'll be glad to know I've had a little talk with your mo... with Starlight, and I genuinely think she sees that she may have been a little too indiscreet with her administrations yesterday, and she'll try to reign them in from now on. Until you get settled in of course, and grow more comfortable with her being around."
"T-Thank you, Twilight." Diamond was grateful for the alicorn's help, even if she used a few too many long words to describe simple things. Maybe one of the items she'd request the princess bring her from home later on would be a dictionary. "I-I want to be happy here, even if everything seems strange to me now. I-It'll take a lot of getting used to, but I hope over the next few weeks, with all of your support and Daddy's, I'll be able to..."
"You can count on me, Sparkling! I'll be there for you whenever you're good and ready, all you have to do is say the word!" Starlight made a startling entrance, wandering over to the table and sitting down gleefully in front of the three other occupants with an air of confidence about her.
"That's great to hear Starlight... but, who's Sparkling?!" Twilight and Spike looked around the room in confusion while Diamond gazed pensively at the mare who claimed to be her real mother. She had a really bad feeling about this.
"Why, that's my daughter's new first name!" Starlight grinned happily at this sudden announcement, as if everypony should be happy that she'd taken this impulsive initiative. "It never sat right with me that Spoiled got the chance to name my daughter when she lied from the beginning about her personal circumstances, and when I found out how she mistreated my filly over so many years, as far as I'm concerned she lost that privilege. I looked through the contract as signed by us, and what do you know... it gives me carte blanche to give my child a 'fresh start' by removing the last trace of her terrible past, which would only serve as a reminder of everything terrible she's been through, after all! So, starting from today, she'll be known as... Sparkling Glimmer! What do you think about that, sweetheart?!"
...And that's how Diamond Tiara came to be known by a quite unusual new name.
It's also how you reduce a room with a chewing dragon, a chattery know-it-all and a boisterous filly to utter silence.
In case anyone ever wants to try it sometime, of course.
*facepalm*
Starlight, Starlight, Starlight...you just can't stop yourself, can you? Here's hoping Twilight can be there to make sure some sense is knocked into her when necessary. Great chapter though.
Good lord, Starlight, you really need to rein yourself in.
The whole idea is ridiculous, of course, but I thought Sparkling Tiara did make sense (before she dropped the second part). It... kinda works. But still. No, Starlight! Bad!
i.imgur.com/PLChY.jpg
8531457
Let's hope so... and thanks.
8531467
Maybe she can keep Tiara as a second name. But even so...
8531496 Let's just hope she doesn't have to write any obituaries for the local paper anytime soon...
That certainly didn't go how I expected.
8531524 I try not to be predictable. This is a good thing, right?
Oh Starlight...
8531496
This fits the end of this chapter perfectly!
Meh.
8531587
Not every chapter can be action-packed. Hope the next one is more to your taste.
8531594 No, I didn't mind that the chapter wasn't action-packed. I actually meant Diamonds new "name". Starlight is trying too hard, ease into it. If anything, Twilight has parenting experience with Spike. In fanon, much more experienced because of the foals and children that come in her care... The most famous being Nyx.
8531603
Oh okay. Thanks more the more detailed explanation, and for what it's worth I agree with you. I've read a couple if fics where Nyx has a crush on Diamond Tiara, most amusing...
Even I would never change my child's name and I'm single.
*facepalm* Starlight, you're not thinking things through. Again.
is it sad that i could see the shows starlight doing something like that also shes stupid
8531642 Yup
8531652 Aw, don't be like that... she's just a bit overenthusiastic with her new role! Or... very.
8531658
well at least applebloom isnt aj's daughter in this verse ......right? acoully that would be kinda of intresting
8531666
Where did you get that idea from? This is based on canon MLP, not on any existing fan fiction 'verse'. So, in answer to your question... nope.
8531667
i got it from a fan fic a read a while back where aj was raped
8531679
...Think I'll be giving that one a miss.
Thanks for the warning.
8531680
no problem
8531683
Have a good day
8531686
you too i look forawrd to the next chapter
I really like this chapter. hope Diamond likes her new name
Way to go Starlight.
Is Twilight going to see the last part in the contract, the one written in small size?
Sweet Faust Starlight's behavior is more cringe worthy than Watamote.
There's... ...There's just... ...There's just not enough
8531472
No prob.
8531715 Well there's only one way to find out...
8531823 I don't know who or what this is... looks up name on internet oh great, another show to add to my list to watch.
8531941
Muwahahahahah!! Yes my master plan is coming fruition soon I will have innconviencent everyone I speak to by forcing them to add more to their watch list Its also available in manga at your nearest book store.
8531941
and that's to wait for the next chapter
8531949
Listen, as long as there are good new shows to discover it's a nice 'problem' to have, so feel free to suggest whichever ones you want. Even if it means I'll have to postpone actual social time to watch them. Never chapter updates though, so don't worry.
P.S I've been meaning to say... cool avatar.
Diamond Tiara: No. I will accept my name can be changed, but I insist it contain Diamond, for diamond is what I am. Sparkling Diamond does have a nice ring to it.
(Remember that Diamond's talent is in giving orders and instructions. She will likely end being a CEO or being a drill sergeant when she grows up)
She might want to change her name back,, Filthy clearly was the loving parent and I expect named her. Though her official name is Diamond Dazzle Tiara, maybe it could be a compromise.
8532495
More will be revealed about that in the next chapter.
Oh and P.S, I didn't delete the comment below this one, and I'm not sure why the user did. I thought it was kind of amusing, myself. Oh well...
And the Darwan Award for 2017 goes to... Starlight Glimmer, congratulations.
I have only one question.
What the heck does that mean?
8533016
Talk a lot, basically. British slang.
8533233
Ah.
Starlight, put on the dunce cap and go sit in the corner.
*reads chapter*
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/7dfaebe6-ad1b-4235-9fd0-a382dcb9c8b6
*jumps off story and swims away.*
8533638
Well, I hope you enjoyed some of the ride at least.
8533648
I did. I just REALLY cannot stand Starlight being... Starlight. You'd think even SHE would have a little tact as not to RENAME a child whose just been uprooted from the only home she's known. I don't care if it's in character or not, it's just personally irritating.
8533674
I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily in character. Starlight does have a tendency to make bold decisions, which haters tend to make a bigger deal out of then necessary, but I don’t think she would actually do this sort of thing.
Starlight?
Wat you doin?
Starlight!
Stahp!
8533916
8533674
Well, if she's capable of almost destroying the entire word just to get petty revenge on Twilight, I think she's more than capable of taking it upon herself to rename the filly she gave birth to now. She might be 'reformed' now, but I'm sure traces of her old self still linger on, we saw in that hypnotism episode...
8534425
I don’t think either of those are good arguments. As you said she was different back then and even then her actions were fueled by anger. Anger is a powerful emotion and it’s possible for it to prevent rational thought from what I understand. As for the mind control thing, that happened because she still learning about how friendship. All she was trying to do was gain control of the situation and didn’t realize it was wrong until after Twilight confronted her about it and she truly regretted it afterward.
At the current point in time Starlight actually understands friendship and she hasn’t displayed any traces of her old self. She doesn’t really prioritize her own desires, like how you seem to be currently portraying her. The best example of this is the episode Uncommon Bond where she doesn’t do anything to prevent Sunburst from spending more time with her friends than with her. What I’m getting at is that she is considerate about how other ponies feel does what she can to avoid hurting them which can be seen in All bottled up and after Pinkie Pie breaks into her room in Rock solid friendship.
8535124 It's not really about 'her' desires, it's more down to trying to connect with her daughter and give her the 'fresh start' that she thinks she deserves. And people/ponies can slide back into bad old habits under extreme circumstances, and I certainly think finding your lost daughter after so long when she's been manipulated and abused by a domineering stepmother that she might act a bit irrational. Yes she is angry, but she's also terrified that Diamond might grow up to be as she once was, which I think explains her narrow and impulsive thinking when it comes to dealing with being a proper parent for the first time. Just my two cents, anyway.
I feel like I'm really watching an episode about Starlight the further this goes. Holy cow, you're really good at putting Starlight's cringe worthy actions into words here. Well done.