"W-What?" Starlight couldn't quite believe her ears. Her daughter had apparently gone from having no interest whatsoever in her heritage to wanting to hear everything in minute detail, all in a heartbeat. "B-But I thought..."
"Not right away, but later." Sparkling shrugged her shoulders, as if she couldn't quite believe her own interest either. "I just thought it would be nice to find out a bit more about where I came from. T-That's okay, isn't it?"
"W-Why yes, of course it is, Spar... I-I mean, d-darl... um..." Starlight was almost ecstatic over Sparkling's apparent embracement of where she came from, but the unicorn didn't want to ruin it by constantly rehashing the name she hated. Or for that matter, using any other cloying terms of endearment this early in their relationship.
Sparkling seemed to pick up on this unease, and laid a reassuring hoof on Starlight's neck. "I just don't want to rush things, you know? Like you did with this silly name change, as I'm sure you'd agree if you really thought about it. I realise you feel it was your right to choose, but I was perfectly happy with my old one for years, and it would feel a bit odd to suddenly switch it now. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Droplets began gathering at the cusp of Starlight's eyelids, and she glanced down tearfully at her polite yet blunt filly. "I-I just wanted to call you by the name I had decided on from the day you were born. I-I've been waiting so long to see you again since you were ripped from my hooves, and to be able to finally think of you as my own. S-Sorry if that sounds selfish..."
Now it was Sparkling's turn to feel a bit of the ol' eye moisture dribbling down her nose. Darn it, now I feel like a heel. "N-No, it doesn't at all. I understand it must've been really hard for you to let me go, almost as difficult as it is for me to accept that I've been adopted all this time and a total stranger is my birth mother. But Daddy gave me that name himself, and whatever you might think about Spoiled's behaviour, he's been nothing but loving and supportive all along. So to take that one small thing away from him, kind of feels like you're trying to write out his contribution to my life. Which, if you knew how good he's been to me, I'm sure you'd see is a big mistake."
"U-Uh h-huh." Starlight went to wipe away the gathering fluid from around her cheeks, perhaps realising that the entrance to Sugarcube Corner wasn't the best place for a emotional meltdown. "M-Maybe I did let my dislike of your mother cloud my judgement somewhat, in deciding where to proportionate blame for the way you've been treated. If you tell me Mr Filthy has been a great father, who am I to disagree? I shall apologise to him the next chance I get for thinking otherwise. And, as for the name thing..."
Sparkling's ears pricked up as she heard these pertinent words. "Y-Yes?"
"I suppose we don't have to change it, if it means that means that much to you." Starlight gave a rueful smile at the-one-and-only Diamond Tiara's intense expression. "That's probably something else I should've consulted with you about first, including the whole 'grab you by the use of magic and force you into my lap' incident. You see, I was just desperate to hold you after so long, and after hearing such dreadful things about what'd gone on in my absence, I suppose my overprotectiveness got the best of me."
"Well yes, it was sort of disturbing, to be ponyhandled suddenly like that..." Diamond openly admitted with an obvious frown. "...But compared to being grounded for getting my cutie mark a few months too late, or shouted at all night for daring to finish in second place for a stupid Equestria Games pre-show competition, I'd say what you did was quite mild. I'm willing to put it behind me, if you are."
"R-Right." Starlight tried to remain calm through gritted teeth. Every new revelation about Spoiled's monstrous conduct while she was off ruling an isolated village made her want to resurrect Starswirl's old spell again to travel back in time and wring the lying mare's scrawny neck. "Shall we attempt to make a fresh start, then? You tell me when I'm doing the whole 'overbearing mother' thing, and in return I'll do all I can to tell you about where you came from. I-Including, about your real father, if you so wish. Deal?"
"Deal!" Diamond said without any further hesitation. As an honorary Rich, she liked to think she could spot a good transactional opportunity when she saw it. "Let's treat each other with respect, try not to get on each others' nerves, and hopefully by the end of it all Spoiled will be gone forever and life can be worth living again."
"Now, that's something I think we can both agree on." Starlight grinned happily as she and Diamond shook hooves to seal the arrangement. "And who knows, when this is over, the name 'Sparkling Glimmer' might just have grown on you..."
"Hey, things are going well for a change." Diamond arced a stray eyebrow at Starlight's little aside there. "Don't push it."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Come on, let's go back to the castle to see what Twilight has in store for us next. If it's any kind of overlong friendship lecture, feel free to hide behind me until it's finished. Unless you fancy having a mid-morning snooze." The mirthful unicorn laughed along with her equally amused filly companion, and the two of them finally left the cafe behind, already feeling much lighter than when they'd arrived. Despite, of course, all the fattening desserts they'd partaken of inside.
Their bulging bellies hadn't gone unnoticed by a few passers-by either, one of whom was a rather overweight filly with a knife and fork for a cutie symbol. "H-Huh? Why do you two look as though you've just had a four-course meal, when it's still only morning?"
"Oh, haven't you heard?" Starlight answered nonchalantly. "Mothers and daughters eat free today at Sugarcube Corner. If I were you though, I'd get there quick. After the feast we've just had, I'm not sure they'll be much left on the menu soon."
"Starlight!" Diamond chastised the loose-lipped unicorn with an irritated look. "I asked you before to keep the nature of our relationship private for now. There are actually things I'd rather wait to tell others about myself, before the rumour mill kicks into gear and everypony finds out."
The obese filly they were chatting to didn't seem too interested in Diamond's complicated parental situation though, instead homing in on the 'free food' angle.
"What?! Why haven't I hear about this before? There wasn't even any posters advertising this on the wall. Oh well, I'm not wasting another second longer if what you've told me is true. Hungry Horse! Blubber Butt! Come over here right now, and bring your moms! I just found out something very exciting, and I feel it's our duty to spread the word about it. Even if it does cost us more grub in the long run."
.......................................................
And so it was that Pinkie and the Cakes soon found themselves inundated with demanding customers, though perhaps not the kind they really wanted to see. A bunch of freeloaders is what they were, and as they proceeded to devour every single crumb in the joint, the usually jovial couple who ran the place stared at Pinkie with the intensity of a thousand daggers.
"Hey, it isn't my fault!" Pinkie protested vehemently to her peeved employers, as she zipped around at light speed to toss dozens of fresh muffins into wide open mouths with unerring accuracy. "It was Twilight's decision to treat Starlight and her daughter to a free meal, to bring them closer together. I was just the one who concocted that whole phoney baloney 'Mother And Filly Day' promotion, in order to avoid rousing suspicion. Brilliant, huh? They didn't suspect a thing! And now, we have more customers than ever! This really is the best of both worlds!"
"Pinkie, as usual, you're kind of missing the point." Mr Cake did his best to talk whilst trying to avoid being crushed by the stampede. "This is a business, and we're not making any bits today! Your little stunt has cost us a fortune! Didn't we tell you to run any random promotions by us first?"
"Yes dear, I am afraid that's true." Mrs Cake concurred with her husband's words, as she attempted in vain to make donuts quicker than the growing crowd could order them. "I'm afraid, as a one off measure, we're going to have to garnish your salary during the next few weeks to make up for the shortfall in profits."
Pinkie stopped her barrage of sweet treats temporarily to glance at the Cakes with an unreadable face, and for a moment the guilty couple thought maybe they'd been too hard on her.
"Garnish my celery?! Ooh, I'd love that! What other boring fruit and veg can we liven up, with frosting, topping and the works? Bananas? Tomatoes? Snozzberries? I have a very reliable contact I could get plenty of apples from, if you're interested. Trust me when I tell you she's very honest..."
Despite their current frustration with her latest shenanigans, the Cakes couldn't stay mad at the irascible funster for very long. They exchanged an affectionate eye-roll, before returning to the serving of customers with a renewed sense of purpose and levity.
Aww, that was sweet chapter! At least the two of them are now starting to get along.
9131120
I hope so.
9111589
I know and appreciate it.
9110958
Yep, and a lot more to come...
9108335
Are you going to have them go to the EG universe for a mother daughter day and run into that version of Diamond Tiara?
Another observation... I can never remember which story this is when I only see the title. That generally means that the title doesn't embody the focus of the story as well as it could.
Instead of remembering this, the first-person nature of the title always leads my mind to get stuck on "What story in the vein of My Little Chryssie have I forgotten?" Likewise, the relationship between Starlight Glimmer and Diamond Tiara is the primary focus of the story, so, when I think of this story without remembering its title, I can't remember the title because my expectations are for a title that either references the relationship or references both of the involved parties equally.
9142090
This story is a 'slow burner', which means the development of the relationship which you reference there doesn't take place until the latter portions.
And I believe the origin (correct me if I'm wrong) of the fic you referenced there is 'My Little Dashie', which I haven't read but I hear is quite polarising, to say the least. In any case, you won't find any MLP characters abandoned on Earth in this fic, you have my word on that.
9142067
Well, I'm not a great fan of the EG Universe, as you'll notice, out of the 90 stories I've written not one of them has been about that franchise. If I ever did watch it again, it would probably for research purposes only. Unless you're telling me the movies and shorts get better after the third film, in which case...'
9142099
The relationship may not develop until later, but that doesn't prevent it (or the lack of it, or attempts to create it, or failures thereof, etc.) from being "what the story's about".
As for My Little Dashie, I haven't read it either... though I have read a great many fics inspired by it. I mentioned My Little Chryssie specifically because of the combination of an OC/SI human as the main character (what my brain leans toward expecting when it sees a first-person pronoun like "My" in your title) and the fact that, for some reason, I associate My Little Chryssie most strongly with the "secret daughter" part, despite all My Little Dashie fics having that thread to them.
The reason I think that latter part doesn't work as well here is that the story begins with the secret being revealed to the rest of the main cast in your story and it doesn't play a huge ongoing role. Compare an MLD-family fic, which are defined by the intersection "a story about raising a daughter" and "a story about keeping someone's existence a secret to protect them".
9142126
Well, I think the title of the fic sums up the story quite well, regardless of other ones which might have similar titles. Starlight Glimmer has 'a secret daughter' which she tells the other ponies about in the first chapter, and then everything escalates from there. The plot description also indicates what it's about, in case there's any confusion. How good the quality is would be entirely down to the reader, but in terms of being as concise as possible with the setting, I don't think I've done too badly.
oh poor cakes
9142045
Thanking ye. More soon... (it feels so good to say that).
9142105 Personally, I think so.
Huh? That sounds like "I don't do anything" and in return "I tell you everything"
I guess I expected something like "I do that" and in return "you do that".
Well nice chapter.
9142356
Hmm, good point. I've now edited it so it reads better. What do you think?
9142417
This comment was written way before that episode aired. Starlight's character is evolving all the time in the show, and it will in this fic too...
9142425
Oops, I think I meant to respond to the comment you were relying to, but anyways, I'm pretty sure Starlight has kinda been that way throughout all of season 7, even if it's not as openly shown.
love it.
9142498
As always, thank you.
9142596
It's not going to be as straightforward as that obviously, with plenty of twists and surprises along the way. But yeah, laid out in those terms, it does seem pretty clear which would be the easier choice. Right now, of course...
It seems like things are going well, and in Pinkie's defense how was she to know Diamond was going to blab to everypony in town?
9142366
Yep I think that's already better thanks.
Well, things are progressing well now:-)
9142145
I'm just saying that you should keep what I said in mind when naming future stories. Picking a title which fulfills a title's purpose as a mnemonic tag in the reader's memory is as much a matter of anticipating reader psychology as of summarizing the story and it's rare that there isn't room for improvement.
(eg. There's a Harry Potter fic named "The Lie I've Lived" where I can't think of any better title they could have chosen... different titles, yes, but not better ones.)
9143521
Well, everything helps I suppose when it comes to efficient labelling. It's very rare someone studies the minutiae of writing to this extent, so far be it for me to ignore such thoughtful advice. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
9143375
For now, yes! (Not that I'm implying anything by saying that, just trying to raise a bit of suspense)
9142618
Actually if you read that part again you'll find it was Starlight, but yea. The same thing still applies.
No more of that stupid idiot 'Sparkling' name.
9145548
Is it any worse than Diamond Dazzle Tiara?
9146903
Sparkling is worse.
Please tell me there will be an update soon. I was really happy to see it int the feed again.
I’d have gone with Incontinentia Buttox.
9197850
Soon, I hope. I'm sure you'll get a notification when there is...
9204622
Randomly remembered this fic the other day for absolutely no discernible reason, having not read anything on this site for over a whole year - came back just to see if this one had concluded. It hadn't, but at least there were a few new chapters for me to munch on. I'm gonna hold you to the author's note on chapter 11 though... ;-)
I'd have liked to see this fanfic continued.
I'm sad that this hasn't been updated in such a long time....
More
More
More
MOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9974334
I forget what the story you are referencing is called, but I love it.
"Last update: August 2018"
Well I'll be damned, I was really hoping I'd get to see this story finished.
9984500
Hard Reset by Eakin: where Twilight Sparkle finds herself in the middle of a Changeling Invasion of Canterlot without any of her friends to help her out. Luckily for her, she is armed with a Time Loop that she ended up casting on herself accidentally that sends her back just an hour beforehand, and now she must find a way to stop the Invasion. Spoiler Warning: she ends up dying... a lot...
"Well, that didn't work. -Spike
Well things have been during good at between starlight and diamond tiara Although pinkie pie you gotta be careful what you're planning lol
Didn't Starlight only just come up with that? Needs to be reworded somehow, but I can't think of anything good at this moment.
I'm generally enjoying the story so far, but I'm a bit sad I'll be all caught up soon. Maybe I'll pick up another of your stories. I've got a bunch that intrigued me enough to get added to the pyre (to read list) over the years.