Fragile Flower

by aidyr

First published 9th of June, 2018

Guidance counselor Starlight's day is passing uneventfully as ever. Until a young filly comes into her office with a simple but surprising question. "How do I make mommy love me?"

Starlight Glimmer is the guidance counselor at Twilight's School of Friendship. Since Cozy Glow, she's had students come in every now and then with small problems. Which is well and good, but mild grievances are solved pretty quickly. So while of course she's glad she's needed to some extent, Glimmer does wish her workdays could be a little more eventful. What'll she do when one day a young filly by the name of Water Lily comes to her with an interesting question. "How do I make mommy love me?"

Rated T for: Suggestive themes, mild language and referenced child abuse

Special thanks to hazeyhooves for being my editor for this story

Featured story on June 10th 2018
Two in a row, oh geez. Thank you everypony for reading my stuff I guess. <3

How Do I Make Mommy Love Me?

Since beginning her work at Twilight’s school, Starlight Glimmer hadn’t had much to do as far as being the resident guidance counselor. Since her first real job concerning a little filly by the name of Cozy Glow not too long back, she’d gotten several students in every now and again with minor grievances. It was nice knowing she was needed in some capacity. But that said, her days as school counselor still passed rather slowly and none too eventfully. Silver lining though, if no one was coming to her, that meant every-creature was pretty content with their lives and education. Which was of course, something to be glad about. Starlight watched the clock on the wall tick as she spaced out and drifted to mindless autopilot.

The unicorn sighed, her eyes focused on nothing in particular. Just the other day an earth pony colt stopped in for a quick piece of advice. Sandbar had said something or another about not being sure which of his classes to prioritize when studying. Starlight gave him a schedule to follow and sent him on his merry way. Seeing as how he hasn’t come back, that issue seemed to have been resolved without much effort. Which again, was cause for happiness. It meant that morale at the School of Friendship was high and Starlight was an effective counselor. But as she blinked in sync with the ticking of her wall clock, Starlight couldn’t help but wish there could be something, anything for her to do.

“Um.. E-excuse me, Ms. Glimmer?” Her prayers had been answered in the form of a shy young filly’s voice.

Suddenly hearing her name startled Starlight ever so slightly causing her to make a small yelp of surprise. After switching off of auto-pilot and giving her brain a second to restart, she was able to look down and find the tiny little pegasus filly that wanted her attention. “Oh um-Yes! How may I help you?” Starlight’s cheeks reddened a tint having just been caught zoning out.

“Ms. Glimmer, I um… I was told you could give me some advice?”

Starlight was never going to get used to hearing others addressing her by her last name. “Of course, I’m happy to help.” The mare cleared her throat and got herself in proper listening order. To effectively provide input to the situations of others, you need to be ready to give your complete and undivided attention to whomever you were listening. “What seems to be the problem?” She purposely put on the most silky smooth and comforting voice she could muster. Though after several moments of silence from the filly, confusion began to take over Starlight’s features. She waited a little longer for the pegasus to speak, but was met with nothing. “Erm... Did you… wanna tell me what you’re having trouble with or…?”

The little one had seemed lost in thought. She quickly shook her head and looked up at Starlight with sorry eyes. “O-oh my bad. Sorry, this is the first time I’ve ever asked anypony about this…” She took a deep breath and with the straightest face she could make asked, “How do I make mommy love me?”

Starlight blinked. “Pardon?” She asked, wanting confirmation.

“How do I make mommy love me?” The young filly repeated. This time, with more strength and emotion behind the question.

Starlight nodded her head. “Ok… Um… first, may I ask what your name is?”

“Water Lily.” The filly answered. Her name certainly fit her appearance to a T. Her coat was a gentle water blue. Her mane and tail a soft red, reminiscent of the color sometimes seen highlighting the petals of water lilies. Her cutie mark was of course, the very flower she was named after.

“Right, well okay then Water Lily.” Starlight started. “What makes you think your mother doesn’t love you? I’m sure that’s not the case.”

Water Lily wore an extremely disheartening expression. Her eyes downcast and her lips pulled into a frown. “But… that’s not what she tells me…”

“What’s not what she tells you?” Starlight asked.

“That she loves me…”

Starlight put on a frown to match Water Lily’s own. “She… doesn’t tell you that she loves you? Like ever?” Now that was something the unicorn couldn't at all relate to. Her parents, especially her dad, had constantly doted on her growing up. There wasn’t a moment either had let Starlight feel she wasn’t loved.

Water Lily shook her head. “S-sometimes… Sometimes she says.. She says that m-maybe she’d have been better off not having me… And she says other stuff too. I don’t really understand a lot of it but… It makes me feel sad. How can I make her love me?”

A pit dropped in Starlight’s stomach. She didn’t have any confirmation, but something in her gut told her this wasn’t a conflict as simple as many of the others she'd dealt with in the past few months. The unicorn was nearly afraid to ask, but she managed to push through her apprehension. “Water Lily, can you tell me about some of the other stuff she says? Even if you don’t understand all of it. If you can remember anything else I’d like to hear it. As long as you're comfortable.”

Water Lily looked down at the floor. She seemed to be studying the blue carpets of Starlight’s office with unbridled intensity. “U-um well… The other day she said something about ‘using protection.’ And uh… She complained about bills and about daddy. But I haven’t seen daddy in a long time. I don’t know why she’s mad at him.”

The little pegasus looked as if she were going to cry. Starlight couldn’t have blamed her. Confusion was now being replaced with concern. She took a deep breath and got up out of her seat. She walked over and sat next to little Water Lily. With an undying urge to comfort the child, Starlight reached a hoof out to place lovingly on the filly’s shoulder. The moment contact was made however, Water Lily flinched away.

Like she was afraid…

Starlight felt a knot tying itself in her throat when the poor thing recoiled at her touch. That was absolutely a bad sign. No jumping to conclusions though. Starlight knew it was best not to assume the worst of the situation laid before her. She needed all the facts. She didn’t need to point hooves.

Water Lily looked to Starlight apologetically. “Oops… S-sorry Mr. Glimmer. I don’t know why I did that.” She fluffed her wings uncomfortably and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Starlight offered a warm smile down at her guest. “No, don’t be sorry Water Lily. You have nothing to apologize for.” Starlight thought for a moment. Touching her without warning had proved to be inadvisable. But maybe… “Hey Water Lily?” Starlight outstretched her hooves and made an inviting gesture. “Would you like a hug?”

She seemed taken aback at first. Not sure how to respond. But after a few moments of pondering it, the pegasus seemed like she really wanted to take the invitation. “Are you sure?”

Starlight simply nodded.

Water Lily crept forward gingerly. Her nerves were apparent to Starlight. Even seemingly wanting the hug, it took the filly forever to make her way into the embrace. But being a guidance counselor meant exercising patience. So she held out her hooves, gentle smile unwavering, until finally Water Lily made her way over.

When Water Lily buried her nose in Starlight’s chest fluff, she made a content sigh of relief. The young pony relaxed in Starlight’s hold and let herself feel the warmth of Starlight’s body. Once settled and once a moment had passed, Water Lily whispered to Starlight “It’s been a long time since anypony has hugged me.”

Starlight’s eyebrows creased and her frown returned. Without breaking the hug, she quietly asked “How long…?”

Water Lily shrugged. “Last time I saw daddy. Which was many moons ago.” Her voice then began to waver. “I… can’t remember how long it’s been. I barely remember what his voice sounds like.”

“That’s…” Starlight stopped herself just short of saying ‘that’s awful.’ Once again, she reminded herself that there could be anything going on here. She wouldn’t assume anything. “I’m sorry,” was what the unicorn opted to instead say.

After minutes had passed, finally Starlight began to pull out of the hug. Water Lily didn’t look as if she wanted it to end. But unfortunately they couldn’t have remained like that forever.

The pegasus looked up at Starlight with pleading eyes, realizing her question still hadn’t been answered. “So… how do I make mommy love me again?”

Starlight did her best to show a reassuring smile. “I need to talk to Head-mare Twilight first, okay? I just need to speak with her and think about some stuff. I promise I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”

Water Lily only barely managed to keep the complete extent of her disappointment from showing. She nodded a confirmation and sighed. “O-okay… If you say so Ms. Glimmer.” She turned to exit the office. Her slow and careful steps carried her to the door, but she stopped before leaving the room. “Thank you for the hug.” She looked back at Starlight with a small smile. Then she left.

Starlight stared off into nothing once Water Lily was gone. She’d wished for something to do, and something had certainly presented itself. But suddenly she was starting to wish she hadn’t hoped for something to happen. All that had just transpired was setting off a myriad of red flags in Starlight’s mind. She could only hope that nothing serious was going on.

Author's Notes:

Oki doki, I'm gonna try my hand at a multi chapter story. Almost any time I try to do these, I lose interest before I'm able to finish and end up discontinuing the story. But hopefully that won't happen this time.

I'll add new tags as I go to better fit the story. I don't know for 100% as of now that Starlight, Water Lily and Twily are gonna be the only main characters. If that turns out not the case, I'll change the tags.

Mommy Told Me Not to Talk to You

“So that’s the situation.” Starlight finished with an exhausted breath. She had been pacing manically back and forth as she explained her earlier conversation with Water Lily to Twilight. In fact, Twilight was surprised Starlight hadn’t paced a hole straight through the castle floor. It was obvious this was kind of stressing Starlight out. Understandably so. Water Lily’s predicament was more than a little eyebrow raising.

“Okay Starlight… Let me just gather my thoughts here.” Twilight wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes as she carefully considered everything Starlight had rambled on about for the last half hour or so. “So,” the princess began. “Water Lily came to you asking about making her mom love her. You asked why she thought she didn’t and what she said was… well… somewhat worrying to say least.” Twilight sighed, a heavy feeling weighed on her shoulders. “Starlight, you know as well as I that we don’t know enough about the situation to confidently say Water Lily’s circumstances are dire. But I’ll agree that based on what you’ve told me, this does require a bit of further investigation.”

Starlight nodded in agreement. “Of course Twilight. I didn’t think we needed to get foal protective services involved or anything like that. Not off of what little we know. But I would like you to maybe talk to Water Lily’s mother. And be careful what you say, just in case.”

Twilight rested a hoof on her pupil’s shoulder. “I’ll talk to Water’s mom. I’d like to get ahold of her dad as well, but based on what you've said I'm not sure how easy that'll be. I’ll see about it though.” The alicorn gave a tired yawn. Her wings stretched out behind her and popped as she did so, before folding back nicely against her sides. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention Starlight. I think I’ll fly over to Ms. Tiger Lily’s house now and inquire about little Water so I can get to bed. Long day of teaching.”

Starlight smiled at her mentor and friend. “Of course. And thank you for handling this tonight. I know you’re pretty beat.”

Twilight shrugged, small grin painting her lips. “Meh, don’t worry about it. I know you’d probably keep yourself worrying all night if I put it off till morning. And knowing myself, I’d probably worry over it too. May as well do it now.”

The unicorn pulled Twilight into a quick little hug. “You’re the best.”

Twilight chuckled. “Thanks, I try.”

With that, Twilight and Starlight both exchanged their farewells for the night. Twilight was off to visit the Lily residence and wouldn’t probably be back for a bit. So it was unlikely they’d see each other again until morning.

Once Twilight had flown off, Starlight went ahead and got ready for bed. She wasn’t as tired from the day as Twilight was. But sleepiness was still present. Once finished brushing her teeth and taking a short shower, Starlight tucked herself into the soft warm comfort of her bed. She anticipated seeing Water Lily at school the next day.

Starlight Glimmer woke up a little late the next morning. She had missed breakfast and Twilight had already left the castle. She only barely had enough time to shower, brush, and groom her mane and coat in time to make it to her office before the bell. Not that it would've mattered if she had been a little tardy. It'd be different were she a teacher, but nopony would terribly mind the guidance counselor being an hour behind. Even so, Starlight liked being on time. It made her feel good. It made her feel responsible. So to hear the bell ring moments after she'd entered her office made all the rushing to get there absolutely worth it.

The first few periods of the day came and went. Starlight toiled away her time as she usually did. Finally, after an eternity and a half of waiting, lunch rolled around. Starlight wouldn’t usually look forward to lunch break. Since what she’d be doing then would be about the same as what she did the rest of the day. But today she’d been waiting for a chance to go find Water Lily and ask if Twilight had spoken to her mother.

Gleefully, Starlight got up and pranced out the office door. With a small skip in her step she trotted through the school halls, occasionally saying hello to a passing student or two. It didn’t take too long to find the meek little pegasus. She didn’t appear to be talking to anypony else. Odd, given that’s what ponies usually did during lunch. Starlight didn’t think too much of it though. Or at least, she tried not too. She was pretty shy after all. That much the mare had learned yesterday afternoon. Maybe she just liked keeping to herself. Nothing wrong with being a little shy.

“Hey, Water Lily!” Starlight called out to the filly. When the pegasus turned to see who was calling to her, Starlight grinned and waved. To her surprise, Water Lily turned away. Promptly ignoring her. When the filly then began to walk- no, trot away, Starlight was quick to follow. “H-hey wait, Water Lily! I’d like to have a word with you, if that’s alright!”

No response.

A minute or so of not so inconspicuous following later, Starlight became impatient and resorted to lighting her horn and simply teleporting in front of the filly.

Water Lily jumped back in surprised, then without any hesitation turned to run away. Before she could manage though, Starlight put up a small magic wall in her path. Water Lily shrank as Starlight carefully approached her. The unicorn felt nervous and truthfully, kind of hurt by the display. What could’ve happened to make Water Lily afraid of her? “Water Lily? I just want to talk. Why’re you trying to run from me?” Starlight was gentle and slow with her words. She didn’t want Water Lily thinking she was accusing her of anything, or that she was angry. She only wished to know why she didn’t want to talk.

Water Lily had been holding her eyes closed, but as Starlight inched closer, she couldn’t help but open them. When she did, Starlight was welcomed with the teary eyed stare of a distressed and saddened young pony. “P-please… Ms. Glimmer.” Water Lily began. “Mommy told me not to talk to you anymore. Or Head-mare Twilight. S-so I can’t talk to you.” Her ears folded back against her head, and she sniffed from oncoming tears. “Please leave me alone…”

Starlight opened her mouth to ask for what exactly she’d meant, but was halted when her gaze fell unto Water’s left wing.

It was in tatters.

Feathers were askew and the way it folded against her side made it look as if it’d hurt to move further towards her body. The more Starlight inspected it, she was even able to make out discoloration around one section of the appendage. She held back her gasp as well as she could. “Water Lily…” She began. “What in Equestria happened to your wing? It looks like it really hurts…” Starlight looked around to make sure nopony was watching them. She leaned in towards Water Lily and whispered in her ear. “Water Lily…. Please come with me to my office. We can talk in private there. You don’t have to tell your mother. All I want to do is make your wing feel better… Go wait in my office for me. I’ll go fetch some stuff from the nurses office and be right back, alright?”

Water Lily looked at Starlight. She was hesitating. She looked afraid. But she also looked relieved. Heavy silence passed between the two, time seemed to stand still. But finally Water Lily nodded a yes. “Okay…” She quietly spoke.

Starlight smiled. She reached out to give a comforting pat on Water Lily’s head. Luckily she was able to stop herself. Remembering trying to do something similar yesterday, only to have Water Lily flinch away from her touch. “Go wait for me,” she said. “I promise I’ll be quick.”

The little pegasus did her best to smile. She brought her hoof up to wipe the tears from her eyes, before quickly getting up and galloping away in the direction of the guidance office. Watching her leave, Starlight took a quick and deep breath. “Okay…” She sighed to herself. Lighting her horn once more with her magic’s light blue glow, she cast a quick teleportation spell. She was gonna to be really quick like she promised. But before the nurses office, she used her magic to send herself straight to Twilight.

She materialized right in front of Twilight’s desk, much to the surprise of the purple alicorn. Twilight squealed an amusing squeal of surprise, falling back in her seat with a thud. She groaned and rubbed her head. “Starlight, for the love of Celestia, don’t do that.”

Starlight merely chuckled. “Heh, sorry Twilight.”

Twilight pulled herself up off the floor and breathed a soft exhale. “Now then, what can I help you with Starlight? Lunch break is over in about ten minutes, so if it’s something that’ll take a while it’ll have to wait until school is over. I’ve got a class to teach after this.”

“Actually Twilight, I’m in a bit of a rush too. I just stopped in to let you know something real quick.”

“Oh,” Twilight said. “Well then what is it?”

Starlight began to quickly spout off everything she felt needed saying. “I just found Water Lily. I want you to know we’re going to have to have a longer talk later about what happened when you spoke to her mother last night. But for now, I want you to know between then and now she’s gotten some kind of wing injury.”

“What?!” Twilight's eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, is she with the nurse? Is she okay? Oh, dear you don’t think that…” The princess couldn’t quite bring herself to finish that thought. The possibility that Water’s wing wasn’t accidentally injured was a painful one. Especially considering Twilight had seen the filly at home last night. With perfectly healthy wings. Cringing at the thought, she swallowed her words. Starlight knew very well what Twilight was afraid to suggest.

“I…I really hope not..” Starlight spoke, melancholy in her tone. “Let’s call that a worst case scenario. Just… Look, I have her in my office. I’m about to go pick up some supplies from the nurse and I have a few healing spells up my sleeve as well. Her wing will be fine. But I’m going to try and get her to tell me what happened.”

Twilight relaxed into her seat. “Okay, okay. Sounds good. You’d better go talk to her then. I’ll let whoever’s in charge of her next class know she shouldn’t be counted absent.”

“Will do.”

With that out of the way. Starlight was quick in retrieving everything she needed from the nurse. She grabbed some bandages and a wing brace in case it was bad enough to need it. She didn’t plan on using any large scale healing magic. Afterall, Starlight had spells essentially a few steps from necromancy at her disposal. But such extravagance wasn’t needed. And Medi-magic was pretty tricky. What with everything going on, she likely didn’t have the patience or focus to heal the wing to perfect health anyways. A little pain relief magic in combination with the bandages and such should do the trick.

Utilizing teleportation one more time, Starlight brought herself from the nurses office right to her office door.

Carefully, she peeked her head in and saw Water Lily had in fact come to wait for her. This brought Starlight much relief, as she’d been worried that maybe the filly would’ve just run off again after getting the chance. She knocked a couple knocks to let Water know she was coming in, then subsequently did just that.

“Hey Water Lily, hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

The pegasus didn’t immediately respond. Truthfully, she still didn’t look like she wanted to be there. Not entirely at least. But it was only seconds that passed before Starlight got her reply. “N-no… It was okay. Sorry to trouble you Ms. Glimmer.”

Starlight grinned, then waved her hoof dismissively. “No, no. You’re not causing any trouble. Don’t worry about it.” Her eyes fell again on Water’s wing. “Do you mind maybe showing me your wing? I’d like to heal it and wrap it up for you.”

Water Lily attempted to move her wing so she herself could look at it, but winced in pain at the feeling that shot through her torso when she tried. Warily, she nodded her head and turned so Starlight could better see.

The unicorn couldn’t help furrowing her brow at the sight. The base of her wing was obviously bruised from getting hit with something. The surrounding flesh purpled, turning her beautiful softened blue coat reddish. Her feathers, as mentioned, were a mess. Starlight frowned deeply at the sight. She didn’t want to believe anypony would do something like this to such a sweet little filly. She didn’t yet know that somepony did deliberately do this. But… her intuition was telling her…

So as to not alarm Water Lily, Starlight gave her a heads up before she began working her magic. She took hold of the wing, then took a deep breath and focused on relieving the nerves surrounding the inflicted area. It brought a small smile to Starlight’s face when she saw Water Lily slouch comfortably into her magic’s hold. Once her horn’s glow died down, she inspected the harmed bit of wing. Of course, it was still hurt. But now it didn’t seem to flinch and twitch. A telling sign that she had successfully lessened the pain a considerable amount. Satisfied with her work, she began bandaging everything up.

She finished and sat back. Making sure to give Water Lily some space. The filly turned with a look of great appreciation showing through all the fear and sadness that had been inhabiting her face. “Thank you.” She softly spoke. “That feels a lot better.”

“I’m glad…” With that out of the way, it was time to dampen the mood. It was a shame, but Starlight didn’t want to beat around the bush. “Actually Water Lily…. Would you mind telling me how your wing got hurt?”

Water Lily froze. She shook her head. She looked away.

“I can’t say.”

“Water Lily, please. I need to know. I care about your safety.” This was true. In two short days, Starlight had grown a sort of protectiveness over this filly. She wasn’t sure why, or how. But seeing the poor thing hurt in any way, shape, or form filled Starlight’s chest with feelings of anger.

“I’m sorry.” The pegasus whimpered. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” Starlight questioned.

“I can’t tell you that either.”

Frustration began creeping up on the unicorn. Her ear twitched in annoyance. She couldn’t take this, she needed to know. Without thinking, she went ahead and asked. Her voice was cold as ice, a growl hiding just behind her tone. “Water Lily… was it your mom?”

Deafening quiet fell over the two ponies.

Author's Notes:

Dun dun dun

Alrighty, two chapters in. That's a good sign. One time (my old account) I had an entire Fallout: Equestria story planned and it was gonna be super bad-ass and awesome but I gave up after writing chapter one.

Mommy Left a Scar

Water Lily reeled back in surprise. She sputtered, then did anything she could not to make eye contact with the guidance counselor. This was all the confirmation Starlight felt was needed. “Water Lily…” She said, the words falling slowly from her lips. “Please tell me, did your mother hurt your wing?”

“Um…” The pegasus fidgeted in her seat. She looked extremely uncomfortable, but surely she knew there wasn’t any way out of the corner she’d been backed into. “Well… I mean, she didn’t… I mean…”

Starlight grit her teeth. She wasn’t angry or annoyed with Water Lily. No, on the contrary. She was angry and annoyed by the whole situation, and that Tiger Lily had likely frightened this poor filly into not spilling the beans. Starlight didn’t notice it immediately but her horn had begun instinctively glowing. Just as a unicorn’s horn would in fight or flight situations. It took her a moment, but the intense stare she had and the lit horn probably wasn’t making Water feel any better about opening up. ‘Deep breaths,’ Starlight thought to herself. She inhaled and exhaled, and with great self control reeled in whatever she was currently feeling.

The unicorn let out a tired sigh and massaged her temples with her hooves. “Okay…“ She began. She erased any anger or frustration from her voice and replaced it with calming reassurance. “Water Lily, look… In only two days, I’ve come to suspect some things. Things I don’t want to say just in case somehow I’ve misunderstood your situation. But as your guidance counselor, as an adult, as an observer and… and as your friend if you’d allow it… I’m worried about you. Please tell me who hurt your wing. I can help you. But I need you to tell me what happened.” She observed Water Lily’s body language. It was unsure. Though wanting. Starlight had an idea. “Would you like another hug?”

That was the ticket. It was sudden, but not at all unwelcome. Like a switch had been flipped Water Lily’s eyes began to shine with approaching tears as she scurried towards Starlight. The filly threw herself into the mare, wrapping her hooves around her ‘as if her life depended on it.’

At that thought, Starlight cringed. Definitely not an idea she wanted to entertain. “Water Lily…?” she mused. “Are you okay?”

What she got in return was a sniff followed by a heart wrenching whimper. It’d been a long time since she’d heard a sadder sounding cry. Starlight wasn’t extremely versed in the art of physical comfort, but she did her best. With a kind hoof Starlight rubbed circles over Water Lily’s back. Making careful sure not to accidentally put pressure on her injury. “There, there,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”

The filly took in air in an effort to control the sudden surge of emotion bubbling it’s way through her. She nuzzled into Starlight's neck like it were her only solace. Well, Starlight supposed this was only the second hug the little pony had gotten in quite some time. As much as Starlight wanted answers to all the questions she had, it was fine to wait until Water Lily got herself sorted out.

It took several minutes. But Water’s eyes managed to dry their tears and she was in all likelihood able to speak again without shuddering breaths.

Starlight had the mind not to break their hug. But once Water Lily had stopped crying, she felt the urge to ask, “Water? Do you think you’re able to talk to me?”

No words, just a small nodding of the head.

Starlight took that to mean she could restart the questioning session. Now that Water had cried a bit, and was in the safe and secure hooves of a trusted adult, maybe she’d be more comfortable talking. The mare hadn’t stopped rubbing the little pegasi’s back. Water Lily seemed to like it, so she kept on. “Okay, Water Lily. I’m going to ask you again. Did your mother hurt your wing?”

Water Lily didn’t do or say anything. Not immediately at least. It took her awhile, but Starlight could tell the gears were turning within the young one’s head. Tightening her grip around Starlight’s neck, Water Lily mumbled a reserved little “Mmhmm…”

Starlight choked back a growl. ‘I knew it,’ she thought to herself. ‘That sorry excuse for a parent piece of sh-’ That line of thinking was cut short when she felt the gentle prodding of Water Lily’s little hoof against her chest. She shifted her gaze to meet the filly’s. “Yes?” It took considerable effort not to pay more attention to the bandaged wing than to the anxious stare of the little pony.

“Please don’t tell her I told you,” came Water’s mumbled plea.

“Of course not…” Well, that’s what Starlight said. But for something to really be done about the situation, confrontation with Tiger Lily was unavoidable. Twilight, being the Princess of Friendship, could appeal directly to Celestia and have Water forcibly removed from the home. But then a new home would need to be found for her. They’d have to sort out adoption, or track down her father perhaps. That was assuming her dad wasn’t anything like her mother. Which didn’t seem to be the case going off their conversation from the previous day. But one never knew. There’d be a lot of work going into this filly now that she had confirmation from the victim herself of abuse. It was already apparent she’d been put through some emotional abuse at the very least. But now hearing it from Water Lily that Tiger had been the one to hurt her wing, she had more evidence to warrant an actual investigation. “Water Lily, would you mind telling me how she hurt your wing?”

Water Lily noticeably winced. At the question or at the memory, Starlight couldn’t be sure. But what Water Lily said next sent a chill shiver down the unicorn’s spine. “Well, yesterday after Head-mare Twilight left, she um… s-she just told me not to bring others into our business. She said uh… she said not to talk to you anymore. Then she hit me real hard. It messed up my feathers and it really hurt but… it wasn’t like sometimes where she’s really mad.”

“Excuse me?” Starlight’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly does she do when she’s really mad?”

Water Lily tapped a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. Though Starlight figured it wasn’t that she was trying to think of answers to the question, but rather, wondering if she wanted to answer the question at all. Luckily for everypony she started talking. “One time, when I spilled juice on the carpet, she threw a vase. It didn’t hit me, but the loud crash was scary. Then she made me pick up all the broken glass. Mommy said it was because I spilled my juice, which makes sense I guess. But I still didn’t like it.”

The thought that anypony would make a small child pick up shards of broken glass after they themselves broke it was infuriating to say least. After actually throwing the previously unshattered breakable at the child no less. Starlight shook her head roughly from side to side. “No, it doesn’t make sense that she’d do that to you. Don’t you dare think that was an okay thing for her to do.”

“But.. I did spill my juic-”

“I don’t give a damn! That’s unacceptable and-”

Starlight stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed the filly blanch. Thinking on it for even a second, it was probable that Water Lily didn’t have a good track record when it came to adults raising their voice at her. Starlight’s heart broke at the look on Water’s face. Sucking in a sharp breath of air, Starlight forced down her urge to shout. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. I wasn’t yelling at you, I promise.”

Water Lily had increased the distance between herself and Starlight. But with the apology she seemed to recover relatively quickly. “O-okay… Sorry.”

“No need to apologize… Anything else?”

Water Lily went quiet. She was clearly thinking about something. The pegasus looked up at Starlight, then down at her wing. She eyed the bandaged feathers with a completely unreadable look.

“Um…” Starlight nudged the filly gently. “Water Lily?”

The little one’s eyes fell down to the floor beneath them. She pulled herself away from Starlight. Starlight wanted to ask what the matter was, but her voice hitched in her throat when she saw what Water Lily then revealed.

“Water Lily…” Starlight gaped. All the anger, all the frustration and resentment she’d begun feeling for a mare she hadn’t ever met… it was nothing compared to what she felt for that mare now. Water Lily had unfurled her wings, well, as well as she could. Underneath the uninjured wing and expertly hidden from observing eyes was a nasty looking scar. Starlight blinked. That wasn’t an ordinary scar. It looked like….

“Is your mother a unicorn?” Starlight asked. Emotion had been sucked dry from her voice. When Water Lily nodded in confirmation, that was it. The straw to break the camel's back. Starlight knew exactly what that scar was from. And she was not thrilled about it.

“That bitch!” Starlight hissed through clenched teeth. She raced down the hall from her office, towards the school’s exit. She’d been quick to cut her session with Water Lily short, writing her a note and sending her to whichever class she was supposed to be in. They departed with a quick and simple goodbye. Starlight had told the filly she probably wouldn’t see her until the next day, but made sure to promise that everything would work out.

After that, she was out of there. Guidance would have to close for the remainder of the school day.

Running through Ponyville, it only took a little asking around before finding the Lily household. Unsurprisingly, Tiger Lily didn’t seem to have many friends. But plenty ponies knew her, as she worked at the local art gallery. Ponyville was an extremely close knit community. Ask around and you’d sure to be able to track down anypony around town.

“Tiger, you’d best have rock solid evidence you didn’t use modica inpulsa on your daughter or so help me-” Starlight pounded the front door with firm and aggressive knocks. She didn’t immediately get an answer, but in her angered state she probably wouldn’t have hesitated to zap the door down had it not soon opened. It did though, and when it did she was met with an exhausted looking unicorn mare. True to her name, her colors resembled both that of a tiger and a tiger lily. Her coat was light orange, with white fetlocks much like Starlight’s friend Sunburst had. Her mane and tail were short and black, matching her charcoal colored eyes. Just like her daughter, her cutie mark matched her name. In all honesty, she was quite a beautiful looking mare. Too bad she was a scumbag, Starlight thought. “Hello, I’m looking for Tiger Lily?”

Though the orange unicorn sighed, she managed to put on a smile for her new guest. “Yes, that would be me. What can I help you with?”

“Actually, funny you should ask.” Starlight began getting closer to her older mare, starting to invade her personal space. If Tiger Lily was at all put off by it, she did a good job concealing it. “You see, I was wondering if maybe you were at all familiar with magic? I have reason to believe you know a little spell by the name of modica inpulsa, no?”

At this, Tiger did have a noticeable reaction. It wasn’t big, in fact, somepony not so well versed in reading others probably would’ve missed it. But with this, Tiger did indeed flinch. Be that as it may, she offered Starlight her best smile. “No, don’t be silly. What in Equestria would a simple filly like myself use that kind of spell on?” Now that was a lie that sent a prickle through Starlight’s skin.

Starlight sneered. “You know, most ponies probably wouldn’t be familiar with the spell at all. Yet, you seem to know what spell I’m talking about. Care to tell me where you’ve heard of it before?”

Tiger’s smile dropped a bit. “Oh I don’t know, here or there. Anywho, I really must be going now. My daughter will be coming home a little later and I really should begin dinner preparations or-” As Tiger began shutting the door, Starlight shuffled her hoof in and stopped it from closing. “Um, sorry miss. Could you please move out the way?”

“I’m sorry, am I inconveniencing you?” Starlight honestly didn’t care how menacing she sounded. Truthfully, she wanted Tiger Lily feeling a little threatened. Starlight had the habit of slipping into her villain bravado every now and then. Sometimes she wished she didn’t. Now was not one of those times.

“Um… I’m sorry, have I upset you in some way?”

Starlight snarled. “Oh, have you upset me? Have you upset me? That’s so funny, because yes you sure as Tartarus have. But I shouldn’t be the one upset with you. The one who should be upset, for some Celestia damned reason, isn’t. She’s too innocent and brainwashed to know any better.” Starlight stepped another hoof through Tiger Lily’s door. She was beginning to lose herself in her whirlwind of feelings as she continued to chew Tiger out.

Tiger Lily shrank back from the piercing glare. “Miss, please leave. If you don’t I’ll have to call law enforcement.”

Oh, at this Starlight chuckled. She couldn’t help the grin plastering her face. “That’s rich! The only thing I can think of as ironic as myself accusing you of brainwashing, is you threatening me with police! Guess what, I’m the personal student of the Twilight Sparkle, you heard of her? Well, I promise you if she were here she’d-”

“Yes, Starlight?”

Starlight Glimmer spun around to find a mildly vexed Twilight looking back at her. The alicorn strode up to her pupil, and wrapped her in a wing, gently pulling her away from their suspect. Starlight began to speak but was shushed with a magical zipping of the lips. With a careful nudge Twilight ushered angry Starlight away from Tiger and away from the front door.

The princess, after pulling Starlight away, shot Tiger a look made of daggers. Starlight wasn’t going to get the final word, but Twilight did it for her. “Ms. Lily, I apologize for Starlight’s behavior. But I’d like you to know that your daughter will be in my custody tonight and that you’ll soon be visited by several ponies from Foal Protective Services. Please cooperate with them, and have a nice day.”

Turning to leave, Starlight noticed Tiger’s face shifting between a rapid concoction of angry, distressed, and exasperated. Tiger Lily closed her apartment door maybe a little too huffily. As Twilight walked Starlight away from the scene, she lifted the simple spell she’d used to keep the unicorn quiet.

Neither said anything for the first five minutes or so of their journey back through Ponyville. Eventually it was Starlight who kicked off the conversation. “How did you find me?”

Twilight sighed. “Water Lily came and told me you stormed out your office. I asked her why, and she told me about the conversation you had, and that you’d left right after she’d shown you something.. Knowing you, I figured you’d go straight to Tiger.”

Starlight furrowed a brow. “Did she show you what she showed me?”

Twilight frowned. “I’m afraid not. I rushed out here to find you, I didn’t have time to ask her for clarification.”

“Well…” Starlight started. “Don’t freak out. Well, I guess I don’t really have the right to tell you not to freak out. But um… she has a really bad scar. But it was peculiar looking. It didn’t take me long to realize what it was. It was a magic scar, left by… well… I think Tiger used modica inpulsa on her daughter.”

Twilight hooves stopped, her trot skidding to a halt. “Wait, what!?” Her eyes widened. “Seriously? That’s… Oh Celestia, that’s…”

“I know..” Starlight sorrowfully agreed.

“How does Tiger Lily know that spell?” The alicorn wondered aloud. “It’s not a particularly difficult spell to cast, but it’s a weird one to know without being a student to magic.”

“That’s what I’m wondering.” Starlight thought for a moment. She thought about how only days ago she’d been sitting in her office waiting for something exciting to happen. How did that feel so long ago? “Listen, Twilight. When we get to the castle, I want to ask you about the conversation you had with Tiger last night. Then I’d like to talk to Water Lily some more. You said something about her being in your custody, right? Is she staying at the castle?”

“Yup.” Twilight hummed. “I sent a quick scroll to Celestia informing her of the situation. She sent a scroll to Foal Protective Services demanding I be able to look after her until this whole mess has been sorted out.”

“Great.” Starlight smiled the largest smile she had all day. “She won’t have to go back under that roof tonight. I’m glad.”

“As am I.”

This new development was a breath of fresh air. There was still plenty more to do, that was for sure. But at least Starlight didn’t have to worry about Water’s safety that night. Or until everything had been figured out. It was a heavy weight off her shoulders, and Water Lily’s too most likely. From here on out should be easy sailing.

At least, that’s what Starlight hoped.

Author's Notes:

While writing this chapter, I made very in the moment decisions that kinda change a lot of the stuff I had planned for this story. Hell, just yesterday I told someone in the comments of the last chapter that Tiger would soon be pulling Water out of school. Well, she can't really do it when she's not in her custody, can she? Oh well, now I know where I want the story going at least.

Modica inpulsa translates roughly to: mild/moderate shock

Oh, and I have a one-shot in the works. That should be up sometime in the near future.

You Won't Be With Mommy Tonight

As soon as the duo made it back to Ponyville’s one and only Castle of Friendship, Starlight made her way to the nearest piece of comfortable furniture and plopped down with a tired groan. She was absolutely exhausted and it was only afternoon. Water Lily still had the rest of her day at school before she needed to be picked up and told her situation. Twilight had apparently finished all but one of her classes, and had gotten Rarity to sub for her. This gave Starlight a decent amount of time to relax and talk to Twilight about the past couple days and their events. She wanted to start by inquiring about what had happened when the alicorn spoke to Tiger Lily the previous night.

“Nothing really.” Twilight said, furrowing her brow. “I didn’t say anything suggesting we were suspicious of her, at least, I don’t believe I did. Our conversation was pretty straight forward and uneventful. I asked her if Water Lily was social at all with family or friends, and asked out of curiosity why she’d been registered with my school. At this point though,” The alicorn puffed out her cheeks and gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes, “I’m sure it was just to get Water Lily out of her mane.”

“Did you see Water at all last night?”

“Yeah, I did.” Twilight answered, “She was just reading a book. I waved hello, but we didn’t really talk.”

“I see…” Starlight had wanted to ask further about any conversation between Twilight and the filly. But seeing as how they didn’t really speak to each other, that line of questioning was severed. Instead, Starlight decided to push for smaller details. Not necessarily related to the conversation itself. “Did you notice anything about the home? Was there any mare or stallion around the house we could talk to? Anything that seemed peculiar in anyway?”

Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin, pondering the question. “Well,” she started slowly, “there wasn’t anypony else there. If someone besides Tiger or Water lives there, they weren’t home while I was visiting. While talking to Tiger I did stop to admire her bookshelf. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but she does have quite a few books on magic. Some that I myself own.”

“Such as?” Starlight cocked a brow.

“A few that caught my eye were ‘Ancient Equestria: The History and Development of Magic’, ‘Elemental Magic and Matrix’, and a personal favorite of mine, ‘Starswirl the Bearded Anthology: A Collection of Memoirs, Magical anecdotes and Mystical Writings.’” That last book title Twilight recited with a certain enthusiasm. “There were others of course. Those are just a hoof-full off the top of my head.”

“Elemental Magic?” That sounded promising. “Like electricity spells? Like maybe Modica Inpulsa?” Modica Inpulsa was an odd spell for the average unicorn to know. A non lethal type of electrocution magic, used mostly in combat situations. It was more so meant to stun somepony than to cause lasting damage. Save for a burn where the spell hits. And of course, a magical scar much like the one Water Lily wore under her wing. “Assuming Tiger is generally familiar with magic, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to learn the spell if she knew where to look. Though it’s also possible somepony taught her the spell.”

Twilight’s face shifted into an incredulous look. “But who in Equestria…?”

“Just a possibility.” Starlight interrupted.

“Right,” The princess nodded. “Of course, that would raise more questions were that the case.” That it most certainly would. Had Tiger learned that spell of her own devices, the only question to answer would be why. If she’d been taught, that opened the floor to who taught her, when, why, and how.

“Let’s just remember it’s a possibility and nothing more.”

“Very well,” the princess agreed, flashing a small smile. “Well, these last forty eight hours have certainly been eventful if anything. Foal Protective Services should be with Tiger Lily pretty soon, and Water still has her last few classes.” Twilight said, glancing towards a clock hung on her crystal walls. “When school lets out for the day, I’d like you to go pick Water up. She seems to be comfortable with you. Until then, I need to go take care of some paperwork.”

More out of curiosity than anything else, Starlight asked, “What sort of paperwork?”

“Nothing interesting.” Twilight sighed. She seemed wistful as she spoke of the mountainous amounts of paperwork that always seemed to need doing. “Princess-y stuff, various forms and verifications for the school, that sort of thing.”

“ooh là là, sounds like you’ve got a fun evening planned.” Starlight nudged her mentor playfully, smirk dancing across her face.

“I wish.” Twilight smiled, meeting the unicorn’s playful gaze. “But alas, it must be done.”

“Well, best of luck with that. I’m sure I’ll be able to keep myself busy.”

The conversation came to a close, both mares leaving to go do other things. Twilight had her paperwork, but Starlight didn’t have much to do. Aside from sitting around killing time by doing nothing. She could go out and try to find a friend to talk to. Trixie may have had her wagon parked somewhere around Ponyville, and Maud was probably in one of the town’s few caves conducting geological research. But she didn’t much feel like going out. Starlight settled on passing her hours with a book. She levitated it over, flopping down on her bed. Though she read, she couldn’t focus on the words filling the leather bound pages. Her mind kept wandering to Water Lily.

Finally, the school day was over. Starlight skipped out her room, down the corridor, and through the doors of the crystal castle. She had bounce in her step, knowing happily that Water Lily wouldn’t be staying with Tiger that night. It didn’t take long at all to reach the School of Friendship, seeing as how it was practically attached to Twilight’s castle. Starlight waited eagerly by the entrance for the little pegasus filly she’d become quite acquainted with.

The wait wasn’t long. A couple minutes was all it took for Water Lily to appear in front of the school. She started her trot down the walkway but stopped when she saw Starlight waving at her. “Oh, hi Ms. Glimmer,” The filly greeted shyly. “Why did you run off earlier?”

“Actually, Water Lily.” Starlight moved closer to the little pony, making sure to give her a warm and loving look. “I’d like to talk to you about that. Do you think you could come with me to Twilight’s castle?”

Water Lily’s first instinct was curiosity, going off the puzzled look she gave upon hearing the request. But quickly it turned to apprehension. “Um… I don’t think mommy wants me being late coming home.”

“Don’t worry,” Starlight reassured, “me and Twilight spoke to your mother and-”

“Wait!” Water Lily’s eyes shot open, fear shone through them. “Like, not when Head-mare Twilight came to see us last night? Like today? Wait, wait, I thought you said you weren’t going to tell her!” Water’s wings fluttered nervously.

“Water Lily, calm down.” Starlight sternly interrupted the young one’s panic. “Your mother isn’t going to hurt you. In fact, that’s part of what I need to discuss with you. See, tonight you’ll actually be staying with me and Twilight in the castle and-”

“Huh?” The pegasus immediately went from being uneasy to being extremely confused. “I’m staying with you and Princess Twilight tonight? In the big castle?”

“That’s right.” The purple mare cooed. “Let’s just say that your mom is being visited by some important ponies right about now. And Celestia said we could look after you until…. Well, until everything is figured out.”

The filly’s eyes grew wider than they’d been moments ago at the mention of visiting her mother. “C-Celestia said…?”

Starlight nodded yes, “Yup. Let’s just say Celestia has taken notice of your situation, and just like me and Twilight, she wants to help.”

“Well…” Water Lily seemed unsure. Which was pretty reasonable. To her credit, she smiled and agreed to come to the castle after only a moment of thought. Which had to have taken guts given what all she’s been through.

Starlight led the little filly down to Twilight’s castle. It was a short walk filled with light banter and small talk. Looking down at the little pegasus, Starlight’s heart melted seeing her smile. She really was a precious little thing. Starlight hadn’t much experience with children. But the warmth she felt knowing she was doing something good for this little filly filled her with a special kind of happiness she hadn’t felt before.

Hopefully she’d eventually get a chance to talk to Water Lily without fear for her safety being a constant looming stormcloud. For now though, the unicorn needed to focus on the issue at hoof. As they entered the Castle of Friendship, Starlight looked down at Water Lily and prepared to sit her down for a talk.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was originally gonna be longer, but I decided to split it into two shorter chapters. Next chapter is gonna have some interesting stuff in it, so look forward to that I guess.

I have a one-shot written and completed. Like I said was a thing in the authors notes on the last chapter. I don't think I'm happy with how it came out though. So I think I'm gonna start over on it.

(It was a pinkiedash shipfic. )