Usually, coming back Home happened because I needed something. Returning home from whatever reality I was working in had the same feel as the running errands. There was nothing really important I needed on this side of my life, not usually anyway. Maybe I just needed to refresh the supplies in my Bag, or maybe I just needed new information about the worlds I was living in.
That’s what Home had become, for me. Not a place of rest, or a place to join with family. It was a bus stop in between my adventures. It was a homebase- my own Starfleet Command, when I would much rather be out there flying on the Enterprise.
(Someday...)
I couldn’t say for certain when I became more disconnected from this reality. Could it have been my first jump across, back on my 10th birthday? Could it have been somewhere in puberty, and what I think is a deep reasoning of baby bird flying the coop is just disguised teenage angst that’s been going on forever?
Still...there were people I cared about here. Few and far between, but they were here. Though I may be lying to them about every aspect of my life, I did care about my parents and brothers. My human friends were...I don’t know what they were. Being connected to people back Home felt like a bad idea waiting to happen.
Even now, as I’m waking up in a hospital bed with so much of my body aching, I wondered if those friendships had turned out for the better or not. Those are just the humans here. The misplaced Equestrians? They would have to be a whole other debate set aside for later.
There wasn’t time to worry about my crumbling social life (if it had ever existed in the first place). Time to put on my big girl panties, and complete a rescue mission.
The Plan is simple enough. Step 1: Get those other two out of jail. Step 2:Take the seven Equestrians back to Equestria. Step 3: Convince everyone in my life that this was a successful LARPing campaign, and that I am an excellent actress. Step 4: Bring Lilac over for ice cream then immediately go back tp never return until Lilac is old enough to drink alcohol.
Yep.
That’ll work.
That Plan is too solid to fail.
The hospital room was silent as I woke up. Despite my aversion to hospitals, I had woken up in them countless times before. This was just one of the rare times where it wasn’t from a bullet or stab wound.
“Hello?” I coughed, my voice croaking from soreness. Ugh. This sucked.
“She’s awake!”
Ah. My friends are here, that’s great.
One such friend leapt at me, hugging me. A head of pink hair alongside a high pitched squeal of glee told me who had attacked first. The rest of the armada followed her lead. When the hands of death came off I got a look at my friends.
Anna, Caroline and Maddie were some of the huggers. Twilight and Fluttershy joined in at one point but Pinkie was still hugging my legs.
“Pinkie. Could I get my legs back?” I asked.
“Sorry Morgan but you woke up and you slept for almost a whole day!” Pinkie excused.
Wait what.
It’d never been that long before.
What the hell?
Ugh- I hate this spell, and I literally can’t hate it more than now.
“Perfect. Just perfect.” This was the point where I felt a weight on my chest. “Pinkie. Seriously?”
Pinkie hopped off me, sticking her landing. I groaned in annoyance- and maybe some pain, she was thinner as a human and those knees hurt. Pinkie just giggled in response.
“We’re so glad you’re okay!” Anna told me.
“Great, yeah, awesome.” I sat up, ignoring the small aches in my body as I did so. At least nothing looked broken. That’s a plus, I suppose. “Hey...where are my parents?”
“They stepped out to check on your brothers.” Caroline answered.
Good...good...I don’t wanna deal with them just yet. That’s a wrench in the Plan. “Okay. That’s fine. When can I leave?”
The humans stared at me in surprise. “Leave? Morgan, you’re in a hospital!”
“Yeah, and I’m fine now.” I countered. “I need to leave. We all need to leave.”
“Why?” Caroline asked.
“Because two of our friends are in jail?” I reminded them. Pressing the button on my bed, I called for a nurse. There wasn’t time for sitting around. “We have to go get them back.”
“How- how did you know that?” Twilight asked.
I gave her a flat stare. Where the hell was the nurse? “The spell you stole from my house? It’s not great. So I heard you. Time to save Rainbow Dash and Applejack, hopefully before they cause too much damage.”
“But you should rest-” Caroline insisted.
“I slept in a bed, I rested plenty.” I countered.
This set off a round of disagreements from all eight of these fuckers. Why did I need Rainbow Dash and Applejack again? They would only add to the cacophony of noise. It would only get worse with my parents involved...and I was stressing myself out. Remember the Plan, Spencer, remember the Plan.
Luck was on my side for once. The nurse walked in. “Alright, everybody out. The patient needs quiet.” He instructed.
Though hesitant, all eight of the people in the room walked out. I relaxed against the bed. “Okay, nurse? I would like to check out please.”
The nurse went about the usual nurse process of checking on a patient. I’d woken up in medical beds to know the whole routine. “We can’t be sure just yet. You need to stay here until we’re sure you’re okay.”
“Okay, okay. That’s fair, I get it. But I’m fine.” I insisted. “See? I can see you checking my readings. I’m healthy. Passing out like I did is common in extreme causes of panic attacks.”
The nurse gave me a raised eyebrow. “You really trying to write this off as a reaction to a panic attack?”
“Can you prove that’s it not?” I countered.
“There are a lot of other things that are giving us concern.” The nurse explained. He finished up the checkup, walking towards a small nightstand by my medical bed. “So we’re just checking everything.”
That wasn’t reassuring.
“At least your friends left you with something to read.” The nurse handed me a book from the nightstand. “Those kids haven’t left your side through all of this, even when your parents walked out.”
Yeah, great, awesome. That’s helpful. My friends stayed the whole time and my parents left. That’s fine, whatever.
I needed to go save Rainbow Dash and Applejack. That’s what matters first.
“Wait a book? They got me a book?”
The nurse shrugged. He handed the book to me. “You can look it over while I find your doctor.” He left without another word.
The book couldn’t have been from my friends, I would learn. Because right on the first page read:
‘Beginners Luck: What To Expect When Expecting Travels’
In fancy calligraphy on the bottom was the author’s name.
D. Patterson
It had to be Delilah.
I was holding another book by Delilah...by another one of my kind...and she...she wrote this with other people in mind! So people could learn- so our people can learn.
It was too good to be true...something must be wrong with it...nothing else makes sense. It fits too well...I hate to find out what’s wrong...
==DMLE==
He can’t believe she actually thought he was a nurse. Okay, technically, he had been once. Anyone could agree that a degree from a Scrubs reality hardly counts.
She had a book now. Maybe she’d finally learn to keep her head down...everything was already turning into a bigger mess than it needed.