Something smelled good. I sat up, rubbing my eyes. The room was still so tiny, and dark. I curled under the blanket. Where's my mom? Or- or is it my aunt? Or the others, where did the others go?

"Oh! I forgot." The room became brighter. I flinched. "There you go. Light."

The blanket fell away. The voice sat at the edge of the bed, digging into a large dresser and taking things out. Mom folded things before tucking them. Instead of the bag becoming big and lumpy, the bag immediately flattened out. Mom stuffed in three more shirts. The same kind of flattening thing happened.

"Mom?" I asked, using my sleep sweater to rub the sleep from my eyes.

Mom pointed.

A plate sat nearby of yummy pancakes. I crawled over the bed to them, grabbing the fork. I quickly ate two pancakes. They were good!

Mom chuckled. I turned, tilting my head. My blue hair dangled by my face. "Sorry, you have some syrup on your face."

I squeaked. "Oh no! Ugh, I'll get the syrup sponge."

"No, no. It's okay. We just need to wipe it."

She climbed up the bed, crawling over to me. She grabbed a napkin from the nightstand, holding me upright. Her eyes were amber- no trace of purple. It's really Mom. She's holding my face, wiping syrup away with a napkin. It comes off my skin easier than it ever came off my scales.

Huh.

Cool.

Mom tossed the napkin away. She set the plate off on the nightstand again. She held my face again so I was looking at her. It's really hard to imagine looking at anything else. I missed my mom a lot.

Her words from yesterday floated back in my head. Her hand was warm. Dragons are usually always hot but now I'm shivering. Mom swept me up in another hug, covering my head in kisses. I giggled at a kiss to my nose.

"Mom!" I giggled.

Mom laughed too. "Yeah?" She kissed the side of my head, followed by a big kiss on my cheek.

"Stop!" I tried shoving her face off mine. Mom ignored me to kiss my forehead again.

Mom made a gross face. "Eww, time to brush your teeth."

I gawked. "What- Nonono! Kiss my face again. It's-"

"Nope." Mom rolled off the bed. She stood up, brushing off her pants. "Teeth. We got a lot to do today, and barely any time to do it. Go brush your teeth."

I whined. "But all you're doing is packing! I don't gotta help!"

"Yes you do." Mom replied. "And it's not just packing. We gotta go out. So go brush your teeth."

I crossed my arms, raising my nose. "Nope! Don't gotta! Cause my-"

A tiny blue toothbrush landed in the fold of my arms.

Mom went back to the dresser. She tossed another few shirts away, moving to another drawer full of pants. "Toothpaste is in the bathroom. Third door on the left. You're also getting dressed when you come back. Hurry! I gotta empty the laundry machine soon."

Grumbling, I went out into the hall. It's days like this that I really miss Auntie. Auntie would've had me eating more pancakes before making me brush my teeth.

"Oh! And don't talk to anyone. Any of them. Not a single person. Okay?"

I nodded. Stumbling off, I opened the door.

Nobody was in the hallway. The noises come from downstairs- more of that delicious smell of pancakes. I sniff, enjoying the smell. The hallway was saturated in the smell so I stood still to soak it in.

Someone bumped into me. I tumbled against the stair rail, catching myself on it. I turned back.

A young human ran past me. He held a toy ship, making it whoosh around as he ran sure footed to the stairs. "PANCAKES! PANCAKES! PANCAKES!" He leapt down the stairs- but not good enough, cause the stairs turned. He landing on the fifth before tripping over himself and hitting the stair wall. His toy ship fell. "WAAHH-!"

"Oh!" I rushed to get him. He startled sniffling, big blue eyes watering up. I picked up the toy, handing it back. "Here! You dropped it."

He sniffled, rubbing at his tearing eyes. He yanked the toy out of my hand. "I want pancake!"

"Yeah." I turned, unable to see the kitchen from the stairs. "They're so yummy."

"You eat them? All gone?" He looked ready to start crying again.

I shook my head. This poor kid! "No! I just had two. I can smell more!"

"Chocolate milk?" He asked. "That too?"

"You have chocolate milk?!" I gasped. "Why didn't Mom get me any of that?!"

The boy pushed himself up to his feet. "We go see?"

I paused. Mom told me to go brush my teeth. It would be the right thing to do, listening to my mom. She also told me not to talk to anybody…but the kid was nice! Ugh, but I should do what Mom says. "It's okay. Mom told me to brush my teeth."

The boy made a gross face. "Yuck!"

"Yeah! Yuck!"

"Junior, who are you talking to?" A new voice asked. I paled, scrambling to get up the stairs. That's her! That's the woman from the hospital. My grandmother!

"Mommy! Mommy, it blue!" The boy cheered. Wait, does that make him my uncle? I tucked away into a side room before the woman could see me.

"Yes, yes, the ship is blue. Are you alright? I heard you tumble."

"I tumble! I okay! Mommy BLUE!"

"Come on, Junior. Let's have some pancakes."

"PANCAKES!" The boy leapt off the stairs again.

I let out a breath.

BEEP

"AHH!" I jumped back, slamming myself against a door and the doorknob. The pain of that made it impossible to scream. "Golly!"

A giant machine was beside me. Red lights blinked on it. I backed away again- the knob hitting my back but not hurting it. The machine next to it rattled and crankled, shaking on the ground. I gawked at the two things.

BEEP

I whimpered, curling away again.

"Kid, how's the- kid?" Mom asked.

I ran out of the room, rushing to her. "Mom, it beeped!" I hugged her side. "It- It's- It's gonna-"

"Princess, it's okay. I said the third door. That's the fourth." She advised. I frowned. "It's just the laundry room."

"Laundry room? Those are engines! They're gonna explode!" I told her.

Mom tilted her head. "It- no. That's just the washing machine. It washes clothes. It- geez, there's no time to explain laundry."

"A machine does your laundry?" I repeated. That sounded dumb. "But how does it scrub out the stains?"

Mom frowned. Her face twisted into an annoyed frown. "Go brush your teeth."

I squeaked. Moving around her, I went into the bathroom.

Mom continued grumbling to herself. She shivered, shuddered, then finally let out a breath. "Hey kid?"

"Yeah?" I asked, sad and still so confused.

"Want some pancakes?"

I gasped, excited, turning to her. "Really- Auntie?!"

Purple eyes met my blue. She smiled. "Come on. They smell awesome."

==DMLE==

Auntie Killjoy brought me to the kitchen. Familiar, in that I have been here, unfamiliar in that the woman and the little boy are there. The kitchen is clean and tidy, but the sink was piled up with dirty dishes.

The kitchen had just one boy sitting. The boy from earlier- eating pancakes off a plate and drinking from a sippy cup.

The woman saw me. She's furious immediately, glaring up at my auntie (currently possessing my mom's body). "You!"

Auntie grabbed a nearby purse, plucking sunglasses out of them. "Ooh, these are nice."

"Mommy see! Blue!" The little boy cheered.

I smiled, waving at him. The boy jumped from his chair, running over to me.

"Junior no-" The woman began. I tensed up. "Morgan, get her out-"

"Dad didn't tell you? She's here until her aunt gets her." Auntie said, not looking towards the woman. She grabbed pancakes on a plate.

The boy reached me. "Hi!"

"Hi!" I leaned down to his height.

He pointed at my hair. "Blue!"

"Yeah, blue." I replied. "Yours is yellow."

His eyes widened. "They're what?"

"Yeah!"

He gawked. "Mommy! Mommy! Yellow?!" He pointed at his own hair.

"Lilac. Enjoy some pancakes." She tilted her head, showing off her grin to the woman. Her smile smug as Diamond Tiara's, right before she started making fun of me. "Mom. Hi. Mind sharing?"

"Morgan-! That girl cannot be here!" The woman warned.

I cowered behind my aunt. The woman was being scary again- she's always scary.

"I took some earlier for her, so a few more can't hurt." Auntie said. She shoved me to the nearby kitchen table. I sat down, beside Junior's seat, confused but going along with it.

Junior sat back down. He grabbed his sippy cup. "Choc milk."

I nodded. "Yum!"

The woman narrowed her eyes at auntie. My aunt grinned without a care.

"Hey, be mad at her mom." Auntie said. Auntie walked around the woman, grabbing a cup and walking to the fridge. "She's made some pretty bad choices, you know."

The woman sneered. She focused that sneer at me. I shrunk down in my chair, turning back in my seat. "Yes. I can see that."

Junior held out his fork. A soggy piece of pancake was there. "Want?"

"No thank you." I tucked my own fork on my pancake. "It's yours."

He beamed, giggling.

"Honestly. Coloring your child's hair. She's too young for that. It ruined whatever her natural hair was." The woman remarked. "It's like I have been saying. You don't want to get mixed up with that crowd- we can lead people to the light of the Lord without dirtying ourselves. Her aunt could be worse."

Auntie hummed. "You'll find out soon." She put a cup down beside me. Chocolate milk splashed out, dripping on the table.

I smiled up at her, but smiling was hard. The woman is right- blue hair is wrong. I miss my scales. The only ponies saying anything about my scales were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

My aunt ruffled my hair, scratching it. I giggled, knocking her arm away. Auntie just pinched my cheek. I snorted. My head jerked away from the pinch.

"I'm gonna go get some work done. Should take me about an hour. Aunt Darcy is gonna take care of everything."

"You just said I had to help." I reminded Auntie. She'd been in mom's head. Didn't she remember?

"Yep! Yeah. That. Eat your pancakes, don't question me again." She went off towards the stairs. "See you in an hour."

I squeaked. Then, I got to eating the pancakes.

"What color was it before?"

Pancakes stuffed my mouth. I tilted my head at her.

The woman pointed to my hair. "Your hair. What color was your hair?"

Junior straightened up. He smiled big. "Mine is yellow!"

A big gulp of chocolate milk helped wash down the pancakes. "Umm...it's always been blue?"

The woman hummed again. She went over to the stove, flipping over pancakes. My cheeks become pink. Was something wrong with my answer? But it's true! By Celestia's mane, what do I do?! What if I get in trouble?!

I stood up, taking the plate with me. "S-sorry? I'm gonna brush my teeth."

She didn't say anything about it. The leftovers were pushed in the trash. The plate was carefully placed on the sink. She raised an eyebrow at me as I went back to the stairs.

"You be careful!" She called out. "And tell Morgan to give me back those glasses! She's already in big trouble this week!"

==DMLE==

A movie played on the TV. Blood showed on screen. I jumped back from it, turning away from it. My mom's body was on the bed with a note on her chest. I rushed to grab it.

'Getting your mom back. See you in an hour. Love ya kid, Aunt KJ'