//------------------------------// // Chapter Eleven (Revised) // Story: The Day My Life Ended // by Authora97 //------------------------------// When I say Lilac means everything, I meant it. She had been a surprise- yes. No one expects to be a mother at fifteen, least of all to a baby dragon. Her creation had been an accident. Not long before my arrival into this world, I wondered what it would be like to have a dragon like Twilight did. As I thought about it, I wanted to know what the relationship was between unicorns and their hatched dragons. Was it parent-child, or siblings? I had hoped beyond all hope it would be parent-child. Mostly because it was a great headcanon to find in fanfictions about Twilight and Spike, and another was that I had always been so excited to be a mom. Finding Lilac had been a dream I hoped to never wake up from. Not even a full hour in Equestria, she had run up to me shouting for her mom. It had taken me a while to accept that she wasn’t a figment of my mind. To her, I was truly her mother. But for her sake, I lied. She had no idea of my powers. No idea about the powers that had brought me here, that had made her, that kept us together. I had Planned to tell her. Years from now. She was only seven- I had hoped to wait until she was ten. The same age I was. Guess that’s my own fault. Having a Plan with the Mane 6 around. There’s never a good age to find out your parents have been lying to you. We all dealt the Santa-Talk. Lilac would have to get the ‘Your Mom Can Jump Between Realities’ talk. That was arguably worse. At least Lilac didn’t have ponies telling her ‘your mom doesn’t belong in this reality’, like we all did with Santa-Haters. She deserved a childhood. And whenever I dreamed of becoming a mom, that was the thing I swore to do before anything else. Give my children a childhood with happy memories. ==DMLE== After a certain point, Lilac’s tears had slowed down. I held her against my side, letting her cling to my neck as I continued rocking her. Celestia and Luna had waited on my porch. They were so polite, when they weren’t shouting at an eardrum piercing volume.  “It’s okay, princess, it’s alright.” I assured Lilac, brushing my hoof on her head. Lilac shook her head. “It-It’s all my f-fault. I-I tried really hard to keep them out but Spike started talking to me and I wasn’t paying attention-” “No, no Lilac, no. It’s not your fault.” I promised her. Lilac sniffled, pushing her face into my shoulder. I rocked her in my hoof, walking on the other three towards the door. “Everypony agrees it was Twilight. She could’ve asked, you know.” But Lilac kept sniffling. I didn’t really expect her to stop. Sometimes with Lilac, she just needed to get her cry out. She was, to put it mildly, an easy baby. Which considering she was a dragon was an Author-send. Usually she calmed down quickly, but she had a lot of emotions running through her tiny body that just needed to be let out. After some more sniffling and a lot of cuddles, she would get back on her feet and want to paint. It was a routine system. At the door, I smiled thankfully at the Princesses. “Please, come in. There’s some tea I could make-?” “No need, Raspberry.” Celestia replied. “We must talk of where my little ponies are.” ‘Great...more chances to tell the truth.’ I smiled tightly. “Right...take a seat.” The Princesses settled in my living room. I sat down in a chair, rocking Lilac with two hooves now. She’d stopped crying. She just wanted to be held now. She was seven, and had been left alone for Author knows how long. She was allowed to need affection. “You will explain now.” Luna commanded. Lilac buried her face against my coat, hiding from the Princesses. Mom-Instincts activated. Luna was a friend, but as my friend I was unafraid to punch her in the face.  “I would ask that you watch your tone, Princess Luna.” I advised. “My daughter has just gone through a...really bad day. We wouldn’t want her to have a bad night, would we?” Luna glanced to the purple baby dragon clutching at my shoulder. Her sharp green gaze softened at the idea I was hinting at. If Lilac had a nightmare tonight because of everything, then Luna would be duty-bound to help. However if Luna had done something to scare Lilac- IE: yell at her mother- then Lilac would be less likely to accept her help. It was an awful thing to do to my friend. Nobody liked being reminded of the time an entire planet equated them to a nightmare demon. I’ve fought nightmare demons. Luna is an angel by comparison. But I never wanted to make her feel like one.  But my child was scared. Things like friendship mattered a little less at times like this. “What happened to the Bearers?” Luna asked in a more understanding voice. “Like I told you in Canterlot, Twilight tried a spell that not even I recommend casting and I wrote it.” I explained. Lilac shifted in my hooves, so I readjusted so she was held closer to my chest. She found this position easier for hugging purposes. “What does the spell do?” Celestia asked. “You have yet to explain that.” My own hoof tightened over Lilac. The dragon let the hold go on. “First promise you won’t get mad...again.” “Of course.” Celestia nodded her head. She turned to her sister. The blue alicorn’s cheeks had gone a bit purple. She still looked me in the eyes- no matter how short the look was. “We- I promise.” Though I had that promise...I still hesitated. This wasn’t a fun thing to do. Exposing my secret like this, giving it away to someone...this was terrifying. “Mommy?” Lilac asked. My hooves had tightened more around her- squeezing to a point of discomfort. I let my hold slacken enough to take that pain away. “I...I can-” Bracing myself, I reminded myself to just get over it. That this wasn’t a terrible choice. They promised they wouldn’t hate me. Not like the Mane 6 did. And oh, how their hate had hurt. But the Princesses had promised. And Lilac...Lilac’s opinion of me wouldn’t change...right? Only one way to find out. “The spell is only a more...it’s a less restrained version of what I can already do...naturally.” I explained. “I- I can move between worlds. Realities. The spell was an accident- a fluke thing but it was dangerous. I can do that normally without the spell...it’s a super power...haha.” “That creature I saw, in the forest.” Luna realized. “Hi.” I waved, a bit stupidly. “That was...that was me. Really, real me. I don’t- I wasn’t always a pony. What you saw, Luna, was my usual...body. You told the Bearers to break into my house to find...me.” Lilac sat up in her hold. She jumped out of my arms, stomping her foot in rage. If she were so inclined, I knew she would be breathing fire. She had a good grasp on it actually- but that’s not the point right now. “But they said you were a spy!” Lilac yelled. “You’re my mom, and my mom isn’t a spy! You’re good! They- they were just being mean! But you’re not mean. You let You raised me, you gave me a home, a bed, a family! They wanted to take me away from you.” Lilac’s yelling slowly turned into her crying again. “I don’t wanna leave you, Mommy.” So I held Lilac to me again, letting her feel her emotions again. Every instinct that was ingrained into me said “Crier get slapped” but Lilac was the exception to many of my rules. “You won’t, princess.” I looked up at the Princesses. Their faces perfect blank masks. If they were mad, I would understand. I had just admitted to not being one of their subjects. They would be well within their rights to arrest me or the like. They said nothing. So I talked more.  I told it all- from finding the Mane 6 in my world to coming back here. As much as I hated saying it, they did need to know why I came back without the Mane 6 and Spike. It was hard to admit I was running away from my friends. There wasn’t really a good reason in Equestria to run from friends, not if they were true friends. As I neared the end of my story, Luna’s poker face cracked. Not in anger, as I was long expecting. Her green gaze was looking away, seeming to be caught up in old memories. There was a familiar kind of sad frown on her face. She was possibly the only pony in Equestria that understood, sometimes you needed to be alone, even if just for a little bit. The two of us had a small smile in exchange. “What was your true name?” Luna asked. “As you are not Equestrian, I do not think your name is Raspberry.” “...Morgan.” My head was aching something fierce. At first, it could be brushed off. It came back in quick succession.  Morgan Oh Morgan The voice echoed again. It didn’t exactly hurt. It was just disjointing. This wasn’t a normal voice. This voice didn’t belong here.  Morgan I jerked back. Lilac slipped from my hooves as I did so. “Raspberry?” Celestia asked, standing to her hooves. “What is it?” Oh Morgan...poor thing. “I know this voice.” I tapped the side of my head. It did nothing to stop the gong like echo of the voice. “What voice, Raspberry?” Celestia asked. I focused harder on the voice, trying to hear her clearly. Her? Oh...oh Author...that’s who it is. Morgan it's Mom. Please wake up.” This is not good. “Morgan?” Luna asked. I came back to awareness, jarred. My eyes widened, staring around the room in momentary confusion. “Sorry I- I think I spaced out.” I pressed my hooves to my head, pressing to stop this pounding headache. “The spell- it’s still experimental...side effects.” I hissed a breath through clenched teeth. “I- wow okay. This hurts. Like, really hurts.” “Mommy?” Lilac asked, in a trembling voice. Mom Instincts activated once again. Smiling through the pain, I gave Lilac my best look of assurance. “It’s gonna be alright, princess. Side effect of the spell, you see.” “What effect?” Celestia asked. “You see, my abilities let my soul- spirit, however you wanna see it-to the other dimensions. I checked it.” I explained. “However the spell has a side effect of: instead of moving my soul, it rips my soul to the new place. I...miscalculated...when trying to get away from my friends.” “And what of this voice you were hearing? What was that a side effect of?” Luna pressed. “Someone back Home...talking to me.” I explained. “I heard my mom. She wanted me to wake up. I- I think when I fell...they took me to a hospital.” What about Mom and Dad? How would they react to all of this? Would they be mad too? Will they be mad at me when I went Home? How much would they hate me? I waited for anypony to say anything. Anything to get my mind off Mom and Dad. “Your parents...don’t know, do they?” I buried my head in my hooves in shame. “I see.” Celestia commented, sounding a little disheartened. Well I don’t need any of that, thank you very much. “Why do your parents not know?” Celestia asked. “Where I am from people...they just don’t...well...use magic. At least not to my knowledge. I’m positive my blood or other parts of my body cans how others I’m not as human as I look. I read a book about it once. It didn’t end well for the testee.” They both gave me looks of shock. Lilac gripped my fur. I really liked that book. There was a hoof on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw Luna standing at my side. “My apologies.” Luna bowed her head. “You have revealed to us a great secret. I thank you for that.” I could only give a small nod in return.  “I see your pain, and hesitate to ask. However for the safety of my ponies, I must: how long until you can return?” Luna asked. I took a deep breath, in and out. “The spell is draining of me, I’m not...built...for spells like that. Tomorrow morning, I should be able to return.” Lilac sniffled, wiping away her tears with her claws. I reached up to do the same with my hoof. “But!” I started. “I am sure that Twilight is doing what she can to make sure that doesn’t happen to herself or the others.” “Morgan, your parents know. I tried to hide it but they know! They didn’t believe us, not until they started fighting Rainbow Dash. got violent. She and Applejack got arrested.” Twilight revealed. One day. I can’t leave those girls alone for one day. I’m screwed. “Mom, are you gonna come back?” Lilac asked me. “Always.” I promised her. I’ve been promising that- and with Lilac I had always kept it.  “First chance I can, I’ll come back and I will bring the others with me.” The Princesses gave me a kind nod. “Please bring them back whole.” Celestia asked me. “I will.” I promised. Celestia nodded. “Then we shall leave, allow you to have your peace to refresh.” She walked to my front door. Luna stayed by my side for a moment more. “Is there something you needed, Luna?” I asked her. “I can do something after I feed Lilac and put her to bed.” Lilac huffed. Smoke flew out of her mouth. “But Mom I’m not-” *yawn* “I’m not tired.” Luna and I giggled at Lilac’s child-like plea. “I assure you, you need not worry over this, Ras-... Morgan. Good night.” Luna followed after Celestia. She didn’t glance back in her retreat. Honestly, it was rather kind. I appreciated it. I swept Lilac up, placing her on my back. “So...sandwiches?” Lilac gave a tired nod on my back. “Peanut butter and jelly.” “Genius!” I praised her. “PB&J’s. You, my little dragon, are the smartest creature in the land. How did you know I wanted PB&J’s?” Lilac giggled. After a quick dinner, Lilac was tucked away into bed. She got her classic bedtime story but was asleep before the end. It wasn’t long before the lull of sleep claimed me too. ==DMLE== Celestia and Luna flew through the nighttime sky. They had heard what Raspberry Stardust, or Morgan as her family called her, had to say and it left them relatively shocked. “Do you believe what she said, Sister?” Celestia asked. “Her story was too shocking for it not to be. When she explained being experimented on I could almost see the fear in her eyes.” Luna explained. “Did any of what she said sound familiar?” Celestia asked. “Vaguely. Did it sound familiar to you?” “I believe we need to check the Vault.” Luna’s gaze quickly became worried. The Vault had been sealed for at least eight decades. If it needed to be opened then something was wrong. And Morgan was at the center of it.