Session 2

With their first session behind them, Starlight went into her next meeting feeling in a sense calm. She wasn't scared nor intimidated as before, but these sessions with Luna were meant to teach her important life lessons.

"Good morning, Starlight," said Luna as Starlight walked over to Luna's desk. "I trust you had a very nice week since we last spoke. Have you encounter any judgmental ponies yet?"

"No, princess. I haven't. In fact, everything has been quiet in that regard. Nopony has come forward judging me for my past misdeeds. Even if it doesn't show, I'm still working on moving on from my past misdeeds."

Starlight then let out a deep sigh, much to Luna's worry.

"Beg your pardon, Starlight," Luna said, raising an eyebrow. "Is something troubling you, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Well, yes. I've just been thinking about how I kept bottling up my anger in front of Trixie."

"Bottling up your anger? How did you do that and why was Trixie bothering you?"

"Luna, Trixie…" Starlight tried to say, but was having trouble finding the words. "How shall I put this? She was being…arrogant to me. I was trying to help her teach some spells and somehow, she ended up making the friendship map disappear. Believe me, I was angry at how she screwed up and well, I couldn't bring myself to telling her how I felt so I kept my anger hidden in a bottle until…Trixie tried to take and it ended up affecting three random ponies."

As Luna listened, she couldn't help but wonder why Twilight's former student would do something that was considered unhealthy. However, that was why she had started these meetings with Starlight.

"It wasn't until things got out of hand that I finally confessed how I felt. Even though it was tough for her to hear, Trixie admitted that she needed to hear me unleash my anger at her."

"Starlight, pray tell," replied Luna. "But we must never bottle up our feelings from others. It's unhealthy for our minds and bodies."

"Since when did you become a doctor, Princess Luna?"

"I'm not a doctor, Starlight. But, like you, I've been in similar situations and unfortunately, it led me down the path to becoming Nightmare Moon and eventually being imprisoned in the moon for 1,000 years. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to telling my sister how I felt and I just kept getting the anger inside of me bigger and bigger until I finally snapped, determined to bring eternal night to Equestria."

"Wow," gapsed Starlight, amazed by what Luna had said. "I'm…I'm…I'm at a loss for words. You let your anger end up sending you to the moon?"

"Yes, because even though it was Celestia who sent me to the moon, it was really my own doing, Starlight. And it was because I couldn't control my anger. I've always found that my own alicorn magic is tied into my emotions."

Luna then demonstrated her horn to Starlight, lighting it in her dark blue aura for a brief second before enhancing it and cause it to flare up.

"Do you see my horn flaring up, Starlight?" Luna asked. "This is what happens when we let our anger go out of control. I fell into the same trap you did and I ended up stuck on the moon for a thousand years."

"Yes, but the anger that came out of me was in the shape of a giant red cloud," answered Starlight, who then used her magic to show Luna the red cloud that represented her anger. "This is the cloud that came from my horn."

"To be honest, I didn't have that sort of cloud," remarked Luna, who then produced a jet black cloud with her magic. "Mine was black as night because that was how my anger was, black and angry. And I let this cloud grow, because I had nopony else to turn to but me. They all loved Celestia more than me and I just found it hard to accept."

"In a way, I kind of let my cloud grow just as large, Princess Luna. Only that it didn't send me to the moon, it nearly caused me to lose my friend, at least in my mind. Luna, have you ever felt like that if you keep your anger bottled up, you won't lose your friendships?"

"I did because I was blind to why my night wouldn't be viewed as much as my sister's day. I didn't want to lose her as a sister, Starlight, just as you didn't want to lose Trixie as a friend. I failed to control my anger, but it is not too late for you, Starlight Glimmer."

"What do you want for me to do?"

"I want you to remember that if you feel like Trixie or any of your friends is bothering you, you have to tell them how you feel. What happened here was that you used magic to solve your problems and that is something that we are going to have to start working on together because I am still trying to get over that hurdle myself."

…

Later that night, Starlight sat in her room and wondered just exactly how she was going to have to get over the fact that not all magic could solve her problems. Yes, even if what Luna said was indeed true, Starlight didn't believe it right away.

"What am I going to do?" Starlight thought to herself. "How am I going to control my anger without solving magic? I don't want lose my friends because of my anger, so what is it that Luna wants me to do? Maybe there is some kind of breathing exercise that I could do to help control my anger? Only way to find out is to wait another week…"

"Or you can find out the answer now."

Starlight then turned to see Luna standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't very clear about what I had said to you about techniques to control your breathing, Starlight Glimmer. There is a breathing exercise that can help you control your anger."

Starlight would find out the truth about how to control her anger soon enough…