I just wanted to punch something. Something big, and warm. My fists wanted to feel a heartbeat, to be splashed with red hot blood. It would be easy. Just letting my fists take control- to give in to this rage boiling over inside of me.
The monster deep down wanted to be let out. Letting them free felt so good. It’s the most relaxing thing ever. Not only that, but it’s the quickest way to solve my problem. Who needs an hour to think? I need five to get in Chamberlin’s space.
Why did I stand in it’s way?
“Morgan?” Caroline asked.
No. I didn’t stand in the way. They stood in the way. Ponies and people alike. They blocked me from getting my daughter back. From keeping her safe.
Looking up from the floor, my eyes found Rainbow Dash. She stayed closest to me. Her hands literally held me down. I could break those fingers. Sprain her newly gained carpal, metacarpal, and all connecting phalanges. She’d been in intense pain but out of my way. The pros and cons of having hands. Her wings would go next. A downed pegasus is a dead pegasus, or however Gobber said it.
Dash seemed to sense the trouble coming her way. She gripped harder to my arms. As I tried to break away, Dash moved to wrap her arm around my shoulders. Sadly for me I was already on the ground. To counter I stood up on my feet. My hands grabbed hers, still gripping me.
“Morgan!” Caroline asked again.
I paused. Right. Yes. Multiple targets, not just the one. If I did this wrong, Twilight could catch me with magic and hold me still. She was a fast one with her spells. If I threatened to break Dash’s wings after breaking her hands, that could buy me time. Twilight would never risk her friends like this.
“Who’s Lilac?” Caroline asked. “Why is she important?”
I laughed.
Why was Lilac important, what an ignorant question to ask. Lilac is the most important thing that ever existed. Ever. She’s the only important thing that will ever exist.
“Why is- why would that guy take her away?” Caroline kept going.
“She’s-” Twilight began. “Lilac is Raspberry’s daughter.”
Caroline and Anna stared at her in confusion. They turned to me for understanding.
“Punishment.” I stated in a low, dangerous voice. “He’s taking her as punishment.”
“For?” Dash asked.
I show up in my house, missing all day, covered in cuts and bruises. This morning I broke you out of jail. Jail, because you fought in my hospital room in front of my parents. You, Rainbow Dash, made a show of yourself. It’s all you know how to do, isn’t it? Because of your unstoppable need for attention, my daughter’s life is on the line.
“What do you think?” I growled. My fingers flexed.
“Rainbow Dash, stop!” Fluttershy scolded.
Dash gawked. “Me?! Why should I stop?”
My fingers curled.
“Just- just let her go.” Fluttershy asked, quieter. “Please?”
Applejack stepped forward. Her hand held Dash’s shoulder. “Come on, sugarcube.”
Rainbow Dash let go of me. Slowly. Hesitantly. Like she expected to grab me again.
I wasn’t ready to let go of her.
But there wasn’t time. They were letting me go. Gift horses, indeed. My instincts wanted to go wild. The freedom allowed me to attack all of them. Their shock and fear would give me the time I needed.
Time, unfortunately, that Lilac didn’t have. So I put aside my demon so I could escape.
When I ran to the door, my world became pink and purple. Damn- faster than I expected.
“Morgan, you can’t just run off without us!” Twilight said. “We- we need to think.”
“I am trying to THINK!” I roared. The girls all flinched back. “You know what I THINK, Twilight?! I think I had Lilac in my arms thirty minutes ago. Now I’m stuck here with you and she’s with him. All because I picked you over her. I think if I’d made a different choice, my daughter and I would be safe! But she’s not! Because-”
“Because of us.” Twilight nodded.
I stopped. My inner monster stopped. Denial was expected. For the past two days, any problem was my fault. The past few years too. All of my time with Twilight, all problems led back to me. She’s told me as much multiple times. With words and with actions.
Now she’s...taking credit?
Actually...acknowledging fault?
“What?”
“I missed up. That’s on me.” Twilight put her hand over her heart. “You came back to clean up the mess I made- that I dragged you into, and all of my friends.”
“You- huh?”
“What happened to Lilac, being taken, it’s my fault. Not yours.” Twilight said.
“Yes it is. I’m her mother, I should’ve been with her.” I replied.
“And you were, until I made you leave.” Twilight reminded me.
Her magic lowered me to my own two feet. With all of her friends watching, and the only two of mine, I stared at Twilight. No shaming, no demons, just genuine confusion.
Because that’s- that’s not how it was supposed to go. She was going to get mad at me, we’d fight, and I would be able to run away with them holding me back.
“It’s our fault Lilac is with Chamberlin.” Twilight repeated.
“Twilight no-” Dash began.
“I’m afraid Twilight is right, as usual.” Rarity frowned. She crossed her arms, holding them close to her chest. “We put Lilac in danger the moment we started all of this.”
“That’s not true! She wouldn’t have been in trouble at all if Raspberry hadn’t hurt us first!” Dash yelled.
“She never meant to.” Fluttershy pointed out.
“She trusted us, and we let her down.” Applejack nodded.
Pinkie Pie rushed over to hug me. Twilight’s magic long since faded from me. The only thing keeping me to the floor was confusion. The world felt tilted. Whatever balance my rage brought me disappeared. My head spun as it tried keeping track of all the changes.
“We’re sorry!” Pinkie sobbed. She held tighter to me, sobbing on my shoulder. Tear tracks fell fast down her cheeks on my torn up shirt. “We never meant to be bad friends!”
My hand moved. Dash flinched forward. Twilight held up a hand to make her stop. Carefully, slowly, trying to hold back my rage for her comfort, my hand tapped her mane.
“There, there, Pinkie?” Jaw clenched. Teeth ground against each other. My fingers curled and uncurled, desperate for his neck. It’s Lilac who should be in my arms, not the party pony. “I need to go now.”
Rarity gasped. “Not alone! Not when you’re in that state!”
I glared over Pinkie’s head. “It never stopped you from leaving me before.”
Rarity winced.
Yes. Yes, be pushed away. Let me go. Let me save her. Let me do one thing right.
“Then we’ll save her.” Twilight decided.
“He said come alone.” I argued.
“And you’re gonna listen to him?” Spike scoffed, giggling. “You never even listen to us.”
The reply was so perfect. “You never threatened to kill my daughter.”
Spike winced. “...Oh...yeah..”
Caroline walked through the group of ponies. She came up to me. I still had a crying pony in my arms. “You have a kid?”
“...yes.”
“And this guy, Chamberlin, he has her?”
The cuts on my body stung all over again. For all I know, Lilac’s got a matching set. “Yes.”
“And did he-” Caroline pressed her lips together. “-did he do this to you?”
I held tighter to Pinkie. “Yes.” Honestly, I’m proud my voice didn’t croak. It was a near thing.
“Okay.” Caroline joined in the hug. I stared, confused all over again. “We’ll get her back.”
I tensed. “You don’t know this guy.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’ll get her back.” Caroline stated.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you’ve got us.” Caroline said. “And we won’t let him hurt her.”
Oh
Oh okay
That-
Oh
They brought me over to the couch. As Fluttershy tended to my wounds, I explained the phone call.
“What’re those?” Pinkie asked.
I blinked. “Uhh. The school...? You’ve been there-”
“No, I mean in your hand.” Pinkie asked.
I looked down.
Sure enough, there were books in my hand. Delilah’s books. The one she wrote and published, and the one she left in Equestria. “They’re books.”
“Books?” Twilight reached for one. Startled, I yanked them both to my chest. Twilight paused, her hand still hovering between us. “But I can help research!”
“I’ve read the books already.” I stated.
“A re-read couldn’t hurt.” Twilight offered. The books stayed squeezed in my arms. “I’m only trying to help. Sorry.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Why not?” Anna asked.
Because it’s mine. It’s mine, and only mine, and nobody else can-
I paused. “It’s mine.”
“Yeah, that’s why we’re asking.” Anna said.
It’s mine. It’s mine, so how did her diary get there? How did Chamberlin get Lilac? How? How? How?
“Morgan?” Twilight prompted. “What happened?”
“Nothing, okay. It’s just a book about my powers. Back to the plan.” I went back into focus. Planning. Nothing came more naturally than that.
“You never really explained those.” Dash said.
“Yes I did.”
“You told them.” Dash nodded her head at Caroline and Anna. “We still don’t know anything. You make weird portals, and can go from being a normal pony to one of these human things.”
“I’m still confused on how you have a kid.” Caroline admitted. “Cause like, I would’ve noticed Morgan being pregnant with a kid.”
“Her parents would’ve said something too.” Anna added.
“Wait, why would Raspberry have been pregnant?” Pinkie asked. She gasped. “Raspberry, were you pregnant with Lilac?!”
“No? Pinkie I’ve showed you pictures of her as an egg-”
“YOU LAID AN EGG?!” Pinkie gasped.
I’d laugh, but...it’s not a terrible leap. “No. She was adopted. She showed up in my backyard as an egg, I did magic, and then she hatched. She was a baby, so I took care of her. She even called me ‘Mommy’.”
Her wide, toothy smile. She stumbled towards me. Her baby fat made it so hard for her. But she still smiled.
“Mommy!” That was her first word.
“Why didn’t we hear about any of this?” Caroline asked. “If you were raising a kid, we would see a lot less of you!”
“I-” I stopped myself. “Will you all believe me this time?”
“Yes.” Caroline replied.
Twilight nodded in agreement. “Completely.”
At those replies, I cracked the book open. “Chapter 3: Time Dilation-”
“Blech!” Dash grimaced. “That sounds like a dumb science-y thing.”
“...I thought the chapter was really cool.” I admitted. “It’s meant for fresh faced teenagers so it doesn’t go deep into the relative theory like I would like-”
“Just tell us how it works!” Dash groaned. She rubbed her hand over her face.
“I’m only gone for an hour.” I answered.
“You were with us for years!” Pinkie said. “I threw you birthday bashes!”
“I meant on Earth. On Earth, it’s always an hour. No matter how long I am in the other worlds. It’s always one hour back here.” I explained.
I have less than an hour to save my daughter. It’s probably why Dominic gave me such a short time. It ensures that I don’t leave anywhere for more time. He wants me rushed and panicked.
Rarity held up her hand. “Hold on a moment, darling. You were gone much longer the past few days.”
I shrugged. “My spell...the one you used to get here...has a side effect. Another reason I never used it. It does something weird to my...ability? It makes time move normally in both places.”
That spell is the reason my daughter is in danger.
“In Equestria, we’ve been gone for four days?” Twilight asked.
I nodded. “Celestia and Luna told them you’re solving a friendship problem, I think. It’s not too far from the truth.”
“All of this because I used your spell without thinking it through.” Twilight sighed.
I shook my head. “But I made the spell in the first place. It’s on me.”
“No. It’s my fault.” Twilight said. Her friends exclaimed denials. “I really should have known better in testing a spell before I used it.”
I stood up. Twilight stared at me. “You wanna help me get you back home?” I offered.
Twilight’s purple eyes widened. They hardened into a familiar kind of determination. The look in her eyes sent a sharp pain in my chest. The feeling wouldn’t shake off. Twilight nodded at me.
“Then I have a plan.” I looked at the others around here. “And it’s gonna need all of you helping me.”
I hefted my bag onto the coffee table. The heavy thud made the people jump.
“Anna, get in your car. We’re going to have to do this on the move.” As I spoke, I pulled out my other laptop. Anna fumbled to get her car keys. “Applejack, carry this.” I tossed the bag at Applejack.
She caught it, nearly crumbling under the weight. “Whoa nelly! What’s still in this thing?!”
“Stuff.” I opened the laptop, typing in the password. The screen loaded so I pulled up the websites I needed for my research. “Why are you all standing around? We need to get going. We’ll barely have enough time to reach the school by his deadline.” I started walking towards the front door of the house. All the while, I kept typing away.
“Uh, Morgan, it’s really not safe to-” Caroline began.
As she spoke, Rainbow Dash conveniently blocked my path. My laptop on my arm, I ducked under her arm without breaking stride.
Rainbow Dash came again to my side. She made sure to keep up with me as the rest of the girls came to join. “How did you do that? I was going way too fast!”
I couldn’t reply. I was reading a really important document, and the pictures with it.
“Hey! Where else have you been!” Dash snapped.
I paused at the door. I stared at my laptop, expression carefully blank.
“Equestria isn’t the only place you’ve traveled to, is it? The stuff you know, that you’ve done, those fighting skills, you didn’t get any of that from us!” Dash pointed out. “So where did you go!” She reached for my arm.
Without looking away from the computer, my free arm lashed out. My hand caught her wrist. Dash yelped. I spun her around by the wrist, pinning it to her lower back. She yelped again. She strained against it. My grip tightened. My heart pounded in my chest, racing as I stared at the horrific images on my screen.
“I’ll tell you when I get my daughter back.” I spoke softly, immediately letting her go.
The picture on my screen kept my full attention. An image of a woman lying prone on the ground, her body clearly moved to get a better shot of her injuries. Cuts all along her arms and face, like someone swatted at her with a blade. Sloppy, sloppy work. A first time kill. Or, one that came from being completely enraged.
All of it became worse by the idea that, if they had been intentional, they would look exactly like the ones on my arms. The cuts were practically identical in terms of location and length.
He’ll do to Lilac what he did to me, and what he did to Delilah Patterson over fifteen years ago.