The Day My Life Ended

by Authora97

Chapter Twenty-Two (Revised)

‘’They didn’t let me go alone, obviously. The moment I tried leaving home they all followed behind me.

The others kept looking over my shoulders. They didn’t even have to do that. The plan was completely open and exposed on my map. All of their looks blocked the sight of the quickly moving pencil. Worse yet, they argued and yelled about shoulders in the eyes or taking their spot.

“Hey!” I shouted. The ponies all shut up. Finally, they could hear my voice as I spoke. “Anyway, like I was saying, then of course there’s this entrance, and that one. If he’s smart, he’ll have filled the balcony with three of his guys. The stairs are beside the main entrance, so it's a mixed bag for safety along with an advantage.” I scribbled another stickman by the door outline.

Caroline glanced back at me, then to her sister. “Do you know that much about Angelwood?”

Anna shook her head. “But Morgan’s been at it longer than us. She’d know more.”

“She knows the code for the roof access. I don’t think Mrs Spencer knows that.” Caroline pointed out.

“I learned the schedules for police officers in a building I planned on seeing in a worst case scenario.” I pointed out, drawing more lines. “And you think I don’t know every inch of a building I visit every day?”

Anna and Caroline blinked. “Good point.”

Twilight leaned over my arm. She pointed at the page, at two stick figures. “What’s that?”

I held back a sigh. She’d asked that earlier. “The stage.”

“Oh. It’s still that? I thought you-”

“No, that’s the balcony.” I pointed to it on the page. “The stage hasn’t fucking moved.”

“How do you know he’ll stand there, though?” Dash asked.

“He kidnapped my daughter and brought her to my high school, just after school let out for the day. He’s a dramatic bastard that wants to make a show of beating me. Obviously he’d pick the biggest room in our school.” I reasoned.

Pinkie hopped up on my other side. The side by the door. I chose not to question it. “Where are we?”

Then I drew more figures, mostly outlines of their cutie marks. “There. Now-”

“We’re almost there.” Anna told us.

I nodded. “Okay, going over the plan again-”

“Yah haven’t gone over it at all.” Applejack pointed out.

“You’re lucky I included you at all.” I snapped. My jaw clenched, and the words came out as a harsh growl. The ponies tensed up. “Chamberlain wants to make this a dig at me, to punish me for breaking some rules I never learned. He doesn’t expect me to bring you all along, because it’s so unbelievably dangerous that it’s insulting to bring people that only ever fixed problems by befriending them.”

“We’ve punched ponies too!” Dash argued.

“I don’t want to punch anyone.” Fluttershy mumbled, brushing her hands through her hair. “Even if they’re meanies, I don’t like hurting anyone.”

“Yep, that. Right there. See? It’s be stupid to bring you so I’m bringing you because it’ll give us a chance.” I held up the paper. “Anna, Caroline, you make sure my parents are kept far away from that area. This time of day? Mom’s waiting for parents to get their kids, and Dad is lesson planning.”

“What about your brothers?” Anna asked. “They would still be there.”

“My brothers are going home with classmates to work on a project.” I answered, confident in that.

“And you know how? You’ve been gone all day.” Caroline pointed out.

I smiled, reaching for my phone. “I cloned Mom’s phone.”

“...you cloned your mom’s phone?”

“Yeah. And sent texts saying it was okay for them to go home with others.”

“Seriously?”

“My daughter was kidnapped, I can fake some texts.” I tucked the phone away again. Caroline didn’t react in disgust or rage like I suspected. She just nodded, a look on her face that said she shouldn’t even be surprised. Then she frowned, looking at her sister who kept her eyes on the road. “Fluttershy, Rarity, you’re gonna fight. Fluttershy, I know-”

“I know what I said.” Fluttershy gulped. “But they took sweet little Lilac. I’ll fight to help you, Raspberry.”

...right she’s the Element of Kindness. And doing this would be a huge kindness, so I can’t be too upset.

“Right, okay, right yeah.” I gulped, trying to work myself down from the accidental ledge I put myself on. “Course.”

Having support from a group this big? I’m definitely not sure how to handle it. Well, I did know how to handle it. All the feelings and emotions raging inside of me got pushed so far down that I couldn’t feel them. Feelings led to panic. Panic led to people dying. I’m going to be at my best today, for her.

That doesn’t mean I’m not preparing for the worst. This man has been killing for decades. An untold number of humans in this world were dead because of him, not to mention any people that died in the worlds he traveled. I’m not so prideful to think I’ll be the one to take him down. Anyone in this car can do that. No, I think I’ll be the one that leads the charge. The messenger.

Everybody knows what happens to the messenger.

So yes, I cloned my mother’s phone. And opened her notes app. On it, I left a very clearly detailed list of things to do when I died. There’s a lot she doesn’t know, that she needs to be aware of when handling my affairs. She needed to know about the granddaughter I’m leaving her with. Sure, I would trust literally any of the people in this car before I trusted my mother with Lilac, but the ponies will die when I do.

Lilac needed a family. And these were the only family I had left.

==DMLE==

The school was still as boring and plain as always. The walls were the same as before. They hadn’t physically changed since I came by last.

My motorbike was where I left it. That’s good, yeah. It’ll help Mom believe me.

Twilight put her hand on my arm. I took a deep breath. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. It’s a lie that I’m used to telling. People always believed it, even the ponies. “As I can be.” A more palatable pill to swallow. Under these circumstances, anyone else would panic and fret and cry. None of them would’ve believed I was okay. Saying I was within a reasonable amount of stress, that’s the most believable thing they can hear.

It’s been a long day for me. I ran out of panic energy somewhere this morning. Now I was just in this odd state of stress. They say diamonds are made under pressure. Maybe that’s why Lilac likes me so much. I’m a walking, talking diamond.

Twilight squeezed my arm in support. It felt- It felt wrong. Being supported felt wrong, how fucked up is that to say? More fucked up to mean it. Being comforted by the literal embodiments of friendship and harmony should feel good. I should be so overwhelmed with peace and love that I cry. Instead, I kept up a too wide smile and forced my eyes to crinkle enough for sincerity. The touch burned. The love burned.

My daughter was in trouble. Everything in me burned. Screamed. It wanted her safe, and fuck everything along the way that said otherwise.

Instead of reacting or being emotional, I shoved it all down. Time to be a fucking professional. “Are you guys ready?”

The Equestrians all nodded. Dash even punched her palm to prove she was ready for a fight. Something in Pinkie’s eyes made me remember Equestria is a death world in disguise, and that she was way scarier than me.

“Then let’s go.”

==DMLE==

School should make you feel safe, that’s what my mom and dad always said. School is where you meet new friends, learn things about your world, and grow into who you are. As usual, they’re partially right.

As usual, I learned the wrong lessons. School isn’t somewhere safe. School isn’t learning math or science or english. It’s learning how to fit into society’s expectations of normalcy. Normal people do homework on time. Normal people make friends. This standard is worse when it’s a Christian school you attend. Not only do you have to conform to normal human standards, you gotta conform to a religion’s standards.

Mom and Dad built this school because the old one wasn’t Christian enough, and it didn’t make the kids normal enough. Angelwood was better than that, they advertised. People believed it because they were able to put their school in a big church. How can it be a bad idea to make school more Christian, if a church stands beside them? People flocked to them over it.

When you’re not Christian and your parents stuff it down your throat 24/7, it grates on you. Dad gave sermons every morning, and an hour long sermon weekly. Mom led worship on the same rotation. They encouraged my brothers and I to join. My brothers jumped at the chance. I dragged my heels.

I walked into the chapel room. A room I often ignored. During all the speeches and songs, I sat in the back to observe this room.

Dominic Chamberlin stood at the pulpit. Dad’s favorite spot. He had my complete focus and rage. The guards were in the spots I expected them to be, all of them thinking they were properly hidden from me.

I didn’t care for any of that.

Only one seven year old girl had my attention. I’ve never seen her human before.

She had hair now. Short midnight blue locks, brushed to the side of her head. Those big blue eyes stayed the exact same- even to the dragon-like pupil, tinted red with the tears she’s been crying. Her skin was tanned, like mine, but with no freckles to speak of. That face came with angles that she’d grow into, and baby fat that I wanted to keep forever. She’s always been short but now, compared to the man beside her, Lilac is wilted. She looked even smaller thanks to her lilac purple baggy hoodie, and long dark blue sweatpants.

She was beautiful.

And Dominic Chamberlin held her in his hands.

“Hello.” His hands stayed on Lilac’s shoulders. Even from my distance, his knuckles curled crueler on her. Lilac wilted at the contact, jerking and shying away from it. Dominic jerked her back into the position. “Look who it is. Our guest is finally here.”

The little girl didn’t look at me. I don’t blame her for that, ever. The friends outside reacted horribly to all the scars and wounds. Lilac shouldn’t ever see me like this.

“Go on, kid, look at her.”

“Don’t listen to him.” I said. My voice somehow stayed perfectly level. Having trouble with public speaking? Turn off your feelings. You don’t need them anyway. “Close your eyes and don’t open them.”

The pastor’s spot was usually the best spot in the whole room. Every part of it was planned, coordinated, and placed to be perfect for a pastor to speak out to his congregation. From the people in the front, to the people way in the back tech booth. All of them needed to hear the pastor’s every word.

My daughter’s whimper was a knife to my heart. I let out a harsh breath through my nose. My jaw clenched, teeth grinding together in my mouth.

“Well that’s not very fair.” Chamberlin said. He spoke upbeat, celery, the way someone would speak to a seven year old. In normal circumstances, it’s condescending and rude. In these, I’m going to rip out his throat and decorate the walls with it. “My daughter got to see you. Why can’t your’s?”

Again, the reply came before I could stop it. “Your daughter never would’ve seen it, if you had left me alone.”

Chamberlin clenched his jaw too. His hand tightened on Lilac again. She flinched and whimpered again. For that, I take his fingernails. He knows I’m right. If he never met me in that hospital, if he never dragged me to his place, I never would’ve met his kid. Life would be better for us both if he avoided me from the start.

Yeah, I’d be robbed of my people, but my daughter would be safe at home.

“So then I’m an idiot. That’s what you said, yes?” Chamberlin grew a grin. A repulsive grin that looks like a disease. “I had her, and you called me an idiot?”

“Yep.”

“Remind me what you did to the last stupd person you met?” Chamberlin asked.

You fucking bastard. It’s not enough that she’s traumatized forever. You want her to find out what kind of monster her mother is too.

I am going to kill you.

It might not happen today. It might not happen tomorrow. But someday, hopefully soon, I’m going to kill you for this.

“Go on. Remind me.” Chamberlin leaned down to speak in my daughter’s ear. Shivers of disgust went through my body. “What did you do?”

“Got rid of her.”

Chamberlin shook his head. “No, you’re not getting off that easy. What did you do?”

I narrowed my eyes on him. The plan I told the ponies about required me to stand this close to the door. Instead, I took two steps forward.

His smile shook. He glanced around the room to his henchmen. “See? See! I knew it. I knew you were a threat.”

If they intended to surprise me, they did a bad job. The people stepped out of the hidden spots. This room came with enormous windows, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. There’s nowhere to hide here. I knew better than anyone the places to hide in here.

“You killed someone.”

“And you haven’t?” I countered, daring him to say otherwise.

Chamberlain chuckled. “For the good of my people. When it’s necessary.”

“And killing me is necessary?”

“You’re a danger. To my people, to our secret, to the whole planet!” Chamberlin replied. “Normal humans can’t know about us. Do you know what those humans do to people different from them? You’re exposing us! You need to go to keep everyone safe.”

My eyebrow went up. “Was that your excuse for Delilah Patterson?”

At that, a lot of interesting things happened. His eyes widened. His hands tightened again. The gunmen he brought along paused in their steps. All of them seemed to focus less on me, more on their leader.

“What? No. A random mugger killed her.” Chamberlin insisted. “Everyone knows that.”

“She had the slash marks on her arms to confirm that story. Except-” I held up my bandaged arms. “-I have matching wounds. And I didn’t get them from holding my arms up at my attacker. He tied my hands behind my back.”

“You- you copied her wounds? What? To make a point? Make it harder to cover up your death?” Chamberlin shook his head. “No. It’s not our first rodeo. No one has seen you for hours. Who knows what that band of freaks did to you all that time? It’s what your parents will say.”

My parents are hard to manipulate. You need to get it exactly right, exactly with what details they already stubbornly believed. Chamberlin stumbled on the right answers.

“She had a busted lip from the initial attack. Bruising along her stomach and throat.” With each injury listed, I pointed to the relevant spot on me. “Her wrists too. This mugger didn’t just want her wallet. They wanted her in pain. Suffering. Agonized.”

“How do you know what her wounds looked like? Hmm?” Chamberlin countered. “You would’ve been a baby when she died!”

“The coroner’s report was very detailed about it.” I replied. “It was right on your desk.”

“No it wasn’t. You were never near my desk!” Chamberlin snapped. “You were in-” He paused, cutting himself off before he could spill that oh so damning information.

“Where was I, hmm? Where did your cops put me? After they handed me over to you, drugged and sedated-”

“You attacked the Centre! People could’ve been hurt. My daughter was nearly killed by your stunt!” Chamberlin argued.

He squeezed Lilac again. Her eyes popped squinting open. My daughter yelped in panic.

“You filled our world with freaks! The only way we stop them is stopping you!” Chamberlin nodded at his team, near frothing at the mouth. “Kill her! Do it!”

“MOMMY!” Lilac screamed.

The men fired.

I ducked down, rolling away from the worst of it. The impact to the ground

“DASH NOW!”