Lila Chamberlin continued to look at me. My body was the same broken and beaten from two days ago. At best my injuries had better bandages now. Maybe this convinces her, maybe it doesn't. Either way I think teleporting in from a giant portal gets me some credibility. This time I didn't even fuck up the bandages.

It's not fair. I know it's not fair. As her mother, it's my responsibility to take care of her. I have to teach her about life.

Life isn't fair.

People aren't going to care. America isn't like Equestria. Equestria has ponies and creatures full of friendship and love. There are dragons that can learn to love. Ponies can see you crying. Their response is to give you their hoof of shoulder. One pony in particular throws you a party. Resolving problems by offering friendship is their go-to method these days. They care. They want you okay and they want peace.

People? People as a whole rarely care so much. People do not want peace, they want quiet. They want you quiet. Because if you are screaming and crying it disturbs them. People do not want to be disturbed- or reminded of things that can disturb them. It doesn't matter what happened to you. Even if you were dying, even if you woke up screaming because you were dying in another, your mother is supposed to make you quiet. They teach you to be quiet. As you scream and cry, jerking around looking for inter dimensional wounds, your mother tells you 'be quiet'. You listen, you obey, you are silent.

You don't make a fuss. You don't ruin her reputation. You stop behaving poorly. You wake up in pain, but you swallow the pain away. No scream passes your mouth. No tears drip down your face. You are quiet, and your mother made you so. The people finally have their peace, and you never scream out your pain again.

It's not fair. Life was never meant to be, especially not to my family. Now it's my job as a mom to do it, and I don't know how. How am I supposed to do that to Lilac? How can I make her quiet when the best sound in the world is her laugh?

'Then don't do it.'

My fingers tightened.

Lila swallowed. "D-dad- dad said you were-"

"Dead? Rumors are crazy in small towns." I replied.

'Really. Don't. Just don't tell her to stop. Let her be herself. My mom tried stopping me, and look where that got her. Can you really do better against a dragon?'

"But he did try his hardest." I grinned so very wide. It's almost a disarming smile. The smile didn't fit the situation I was in. This smile belonged to someone meeting over coffee. It's possible this smile will help Lila calm down so I can be reassuring to her. "So you see why I need some help?"

Lila gawked, swallowed, then continued to gawk. This is only completely fair. I have no rush. My daughter is waiting, but I need to teach her about disappointment anyway.

'No. No way. You aren't allowed to hurt the kid. Not like that, not like us. We AGREED!'

I grit my teeth. The smile became fixed. Ignoring my sister is my seventh favorite pastime. "Anything you're willing to give."

Lila shook her head. "No."

"No?" My eyebrow arched.

"No. No- you'll just kill my dad." Lila continued shaking her head. "Or someone else. I- I can't- I can't help you if you'll just kill people."

Reactions. Reactions are chemical, neurological, physical, instinctive. Most of mine were trained out of me centuries ago. Yet at those words, something inside cracks again.

I see my daughter's teary face, my hands covered in dark red blood. In my imagination, the smile only grows wider.

Pain. Pain. Pain. My head- a familiar stabbing pain. My sister is screaming.

Honestly, she's like a child. So I ignored her again.

"Okay! Okay. Promise I won't kill anyone." I said.

Lila lost her nerves. She relaxed, sighing back until she pressed against the wall. "Phew! That was close. Glad you promised!"

"Yep!"

"Okay. Okay, then I promise to help you!" Lila said. "What do you need?"

==DMLE==

Twenty minutes, given what I need, I then snuck out of the building. The window ledge was high. There's nothing too horrifying as I climb down. Sometimes, a reality traveler becomes part of the circus.

But as I approached the road, things came to focus. Something made me pause. In between bushes and behind a tree, my eyes spotted something up the road. A gas station. A familiar gas station. Certain things clicked way too fast.

When you have a secret motorcycle, you need to learn the best gas stations. Or even just the closest. They can't be too close to home or you risk running into your parents. If your parents see you owning a vehicle that they did not give you permission to own, they get angry. Their reputation is at risk. That's not allowed.

There was a specific gas station. It's around the corner, but it's also not the first gas station around the corner. That one is just after an intersection. A few more seconds of driving brings you to two gas stations next to each other. A fourth gas station is closer to the highway, there's a chance my father would've gone there before making that turn. The second is on the right side of the road, the other on the left.

This building has done some shit. This building was where I was tortured for hours. This building holds the man who killed a woman and has gone away with it for 15 years and anyone who helped him do it. This building holds the man who took my daughter.

And as I look at the gas station, I know it. That is the fifth gas station. It's my gas station.

This fucking building is 2.4 miles from my fucking house.

==DMLE==

Angry footsteps brought me back. Each step towards home sent me further into madness. Darcy and I bickered the entire walk home.

'Your house. He's been close to your HOUSE!'

Does he know? He has to know. He'd be an idiot not to know.

'Then what has he done about it? If you live so close, and he knows that, what has he done?'

True. True. You don't invade a high school when it's easier to give carbon monoxide poisoning. Or make it look like a home invasion. Why go to the trouble of attacking the school?

'Cause he's fucking insane.'

Oh. Oh, yes. That's it.

'What? No. No you were supposed to do the Criminal Minds profile thing to say-'

But he is! He's insane. He's a cornered dog. They lash out. He's not being rational because he can't be. He's just trying to stop me.

'He wants you silent, not quiet. Quiet means you you still exist.'

Yes. Yes, that's exactly like it. It's what he wants. It's what he has always wanted. He told his child- presumably everyone else- that the threat was gone. I was a threat because I existed.

He said he wanted me to get rid of the ponies. The stipulation being that I was quiet. The plan went off without a hitch (being abducted doesn't count). He still abducted me. That wasn't the plan going wrong, Chamberlin never cared if it went perfect or not. Rescuing my friends was a trap that he laid perfectly. Attacking my school was a wild card but the talk of the town was that I invited them in. If I had died, sure the people would have mourned, but then called me an idiot getting mixed into that stuff.

He doesn't just want me dead. Nobody will blame me for a house invasion or a carbon monoxide leak. They would blame me if I snuck into a police station.

Morgan Spencer, dead in every way that matters. That's his goal.

'What I'm hearing is this isn't a friendship problem.'

So I stood in my yard. The winter sun shining down but not burning. It's cold. No heat reaches my skin. Something even colder has reached inside of me.

The ponies walked out first. Twilight walked up to me. The other sat back.

"She's okay." Twilight assured me.

I didn't react.

"She could really use her mom now." Twilight offered.

So I took a breath. It's easier to correct her than deal with my other problems. "You guys have lunch yet?"

Her face fell some. Twilight shook her head.

"Okay." I pulled out my phone. The notes I made with Lila Chamberlin still sat there. Simple, basic shit, but still better than nothing. Nothing about how they lived less than ten driving minutes from my house. "I'll get some stuff. And hey, quick check, some of you should be going home."

Twilight blinked. "What?"

"Yeah. Yeah, some of you should be going home." Online ordering is hard, and I cannot wait to live in a future where I just tell a computer to get me food. Fuck it, they would prefer daisy sandwiches at home anyway. "Any two can go, but I suggest Applejack and Pinkie. Rarity too, I guess, but she might need to wait a bit."

Twilight braced herself. "So we're going home?"

"For a bit." I conceded, too fast to process my promise. "Yeah. Umm. Lilac too. Applejack has company, so she can't watch her, but Rarity could do it."

"Company?" Twilight asked. "Who's the company?"

"Hey! AJ!" I called out, walking around Twilight to the house. "Rarity! Y'all gotta go home."

The girls glared at me.

Applejack walked up first. "You alright, sugarcube?"

My teeth clenched. "Peachy. Now, we're very lucky. Picking up Darcy paused time in your dimension. Still, I would rather everypony be returned home for the Harvest Festival."

'Tell them. Tell them the real reason they can't stay in your house. Do it.'

I pushed the thought away. The voices in my head won't take me over again.

The girls gasped. Applejack gasped loudest. "Cousin Babs Seed! I'm supposed to pick her up at the train station!"

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity realized. "She's staying with me for the festival!"

"I have a float!" Pinkie added.

"Exactly!" I pointed a finger at Pinkie. Pinkie smiled. I reached for the remote, switching on the TV. "Can you babysit my kid? She'd do better with you guys."

That got another reaction. Everypony wilted. Their eyes widened as they took the information in, reading between the lines. It's exactly the things I didn't want them to hear.

"For a couple days. I am possessed by the vengeful ghost of my younger sister." I reminded them. "We both love her very much but it'd be easier if my sister wasn't screeching in my head."

'You are so lucky I want the kid out of this dimension, or I'd kick your ass.'

"But what about Dominic?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We needed to stop-"

I grabbed Applejack and Rarity. The theme tune of My Little Pony played. My powers sucked the two away.

==DMLE==

The two appeared back in Ponyville. Our pony forms were comfortable and at ease in the Everfree Forest.

Applejack stumbled, standing up. Rarity gasped, shoving a twig out of her mane. "Wait, Morgan, we need ta talk about-"

My mind wailed in agony. Twin voices screaming without the need for air. Outside the brain, I laughed.

==DMLE==

The girls had put my unconscious body on the couch.

Darcy tried to take control again. Imagine, if you will, a bird hitting a window. She yelled in pain. I grit my teeth.

"Okay." Rolling off the couch, I landed on the floor. My knees caught me. "Next round."

"No!" Fluttershy came up beside me. "No. You need rest."

"I don't need shit-"

"You do." Fluttershy picked me back up, and wasn't that an experience. "How many times have you used your power today?"

"Like, four? It's fine. I can go again-"

"No you can't." Spike stepped in. He scratched the back of his head. I glared so hard it could burn a hole in his skull. "See, I've seen Twilight when she's used too much magic. You look, well, exactly like that."

"So?!" I sat up. My head spun. Shrimp colors exploded in my eyeballs. That's nobody's business. "Perfectly capable of taking Pinkie and Lilac."

Fluttershy shook her head. "What you need is rest, and you are going to take it. I can get lunch together."

"Salads are on their way-"

"Then you have even less to worry about." Fluttershy said. She brushed her hand on my hair.

Suddenly, fighting back exhaustion became difficult.

I sunk back on the couch. A comfy blanket was put over me. A thick comforter, probably borrowed from the night before. It smelled of cupcakes. My eyelids became so heavy.

"Get some rest. We have everything here." Fluttershy promised. "You were very kind to Applejack and Rarity. We can wait."

Huh. This feels so weird. But under the blanket, my eyelids falling shut, the summer sun failed to make me as warm as this moment.

Lilac came down the stairs. Her concerned expression was the last thing my mind could recall before darkness.

==DMLE==

AN: I let the dice decide if Darcy would take over the body at any point. Darcy rolled three Nat 1's. Ya girl was not having a good day.