A Flashing Star

The young Pegasus had run home, her eyes salty with tears, and locked herself in her room. She couldn’t even acknowledge her Mother, as she ran past her, while she tried to greet her with a warm comforting smile. All she could think about was how bad things had turned out for her in the last hour. “I don’t deserve the life I’ve been given.” she said between sobs. “My family loves me no matter what, and I take it all for granted and insult the love they’ve given me just because I fail to become a guard. Why do they put up with me?”

“Starburst.” Starburst’s ears perked up when she heard her mom call her. “Honey;” Twilight continued “Is everything alright, you seemed upset and in a hurry when you came home.”

Starburst remained silent, in her mind she didn’t deserve to receive any help from her mother; not after the way she acted. She couldn’t even bring herself to lie and tell her mom ‘Everything’s fine’.

“Honey, if something happened, you know you can always talk to me.” After receiving nothing but silence again, Twilight grew more worried. ‘She must’ve failed her final test, but if she doesn’t want to talk about it, things could turn out worse for her in the long run.’ she thought to herself.

“Let me have a go at it.”

Twilight turned around quickly, just to meet her husband’s gaze. “Did she…...” she started.

Without another word, Flash nodded, confirming Twilight’s concern. “This is something me and her need to discuss, she said some stuff and….let’s just leave it at that.”

Twilight wasn’t too sure about what her husband was getting at, but then she looked into his eyes and understood. His eyes looked the same way when he and she had discussed putting Starburst in the tryouts for the guards. “It was about me wasn’t it?” she asked.

Flash knew he couldn’t lie to her, but he knew that she didn’t even need a response to understand that she was correct about her concern. “What she said was in the heat of the moment, and I assure you that she regrets it. It’s why she refuses to talk to you or say anything at all; she’s concerned about keeping her relationship with you and she’s scared about losing it.”

Twilight perked up a bit at this, realizing that her husband was right. She knew that he had to talk to her, and help her lose the fear of losing their relationship. “Just promise me one thing?” she asked walking away.

“Anything.” Flash responded.

“Don’t tell her to give up her dream.” Twilight said with a smile and a wink.

Flash simply smiled back at her and nodded. He then turned his attention back to his daughter. “Starburst it’s me.” He waited for a response, but instead heard hoof steps; and before he knew it, Starburst had opened up the door and let him in.

Without hesitation, Flash stepped inside and shut the door behind him, locking it. He looked at his daughter as she slumped back to her bed and sat back down on it, her face painted with sorrow and worry. “She knows doesn’t she?” she asked her father.

“She knows that you had a bit of a meltdown and said some stuff you regret, but no I didn’t tell her what you said exactly. However, I need you to listen to what I’m saying right now.” Flash spoke to his daughter firmly but compassionately as well. He resumed when he was sure that she was giving him her undivided attention. “Honey, you’re an amazing soldier; one of the best that I saw out there. I know your condition is the reason you failed the final test, and it may not seem like it’s fair to say you only failed due to your issue. The truth is however; your 'problem' IS a good reason as to why you did fail; and the reason why, is the exact reason that your trainer stated: It will do nothing, but put your life in danger.”

“But Dad, no matter what I do I can’t it from happening. I’ve tried seeing a doctor, seeing if Annie or Mom can find a spell to help, and I’ve even gone to see Zecora to see if she has a brew of some sorts that can help; and no matter what, it’s come up as a failure every time. If my condition is the only thing holding me back, then I’ll never be able to become a royal guard. Which means I’ll have disappointed both of my parents.” she finished, tears starting to fill her eyes.

Flash was hurt to hear his daughter so heartbroken by this, and tried to figure out something to say, that is until he thought hard about everything she had said in that statement. “Well honey, I’m sure we could always figure something………WAIT! What do you mean that you’ll have disappointed both your parents?”

It hadn’t occurred to her what she had just said until her father had pointed it out to her. She tried thinking of an idea, or something; anything that could help her convince her father that she hadn’t meant what she said. When she looked into her Father’s eyes however; she couldn’t bring herself to lie to him. In her Dad’s eyes, she saw nothing but a willingness to listen, to help her; and that’s when she knew that she had to tell him the truth no matter what. “Okay Dad here’s the thing; I’ve never seen eye to eye with Mom, which is why she wasn’t all for this whole stuff about me being a guard. Since me and her got into such a big fuss over my decision to become a guard, I felt like I had disappointed her, and that no matter what I do I would remain a disappointment in her eyes.”

Flash was taken aback from hearing this. “Star, don’t ever doubt that you Mom isn’t proud of you. You remember how hard it was for you to walk around with your wings when you were younger right?”

“Dad, seriously do you have to remind me about that whole ordeal?” Star responded, embarrassed by her Father’s question.

“Yes, because it fits with the point I’m trying to make here. You see honey; you may not remember it fully, but you couldn’t take three steps without tripping over you wings. Half the time you would even trip on them and slide on them whenever you walk down the hallway.” he said, partially snickering.

“DAAAAAAADDDDD!”

“Right sorry; anyways, the first few times you fell you were always brought to tears because you would hurt yourself. However; before you could start the waterworks, you would be helped by your Mom to stand up again, and almost immediately you would stop yourself from crying. Twilight said how you would look up at her whenever she helped you up and you would just smile at her and sometimes hug her leg. She said that after a while you would fall, but you would pick yourself right back up and continue walking; laughing as loudly as ever. That’s when she became proud of you, and that pride is still around today.”

“The pride that I can walk around and if I trip on my wings I won’t cry. No offense Dad, but I don’t see that point of you telling me this, because in case you haven’t noticed I don’t trip on my wings anymore.”

Flash simply laughed at his daughter’s ignorance. “Honey, the point had nothing to do with her being proud of you tripping and picking yourself up. It’s the ideas behind both concepts that her pride for you comes from. She’s proud of you because of how determined you are to see something through till the end, and she’s also proud of how strong you are, both physically and mentally.”

Flash’s words had a big impact on Star’s view; she finally understood what her Mom had to be proud of her for. ‘That’s why she let me train, and why she stopped freaking out about my condition. I really do make her proud.’ When this thought went through her head, more tears started to stream down her face, except these were tears of joy.

Flash quickly embraced the young Pegasus, and comfort her. “She really does love you, and I know she’s still looking for a way for you to lose your condition, it’s the whole reason she said you weren’t ready for the training. The whole time, she was just hoping she could make it impossible for you to fail.”

“I guess that means I should have listened to her.” Star said, in between sobs. “I’m sorry for doubting her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to her; I promise.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Flash said, looking into Star’s eyes. “Now, how exactly would you have disappointed me?”

In a flash, Star’s smile faded, her tears dried up, and her face heated up as a deep blush appeared on her face.