Morgan woke up to a fucking enormous headache. This was weird.
This by itself wasn’t that big a thing. Headaches are a very common thing. Millions of humans get them every day. Ponies get them too- just not as much or as often. Headaches happened often.
This particular brand of headache was- how much did I drink last night?
The funny thing was that Morgan hadn’t had anything to drink in at least a week.
(She and Discord wanted to party after his reformation- so they did
Even if it made Twilight have an aneurysm. Discord was a high powered being- how was he such a lightweight?! Worse yet- how were he and Morgan have such a coherent conversation about philosophy?!)
Morgan hadn’t had so much that she’d had a week long hangover. Then again, it was entirely possible this was just another form of grief.
It had only been two months ago
Morgan fought back tears. It was too early to start crying, her head hurt too much to deal with emotions.
She sat up in the bed. She adjusted to having a pony body, stretching out her hooves until the ache eased. She rubbed at her tired eyes, which craved a few more hours of sleep. Funny, since she’d gone to sleep at her normal time. She had to, or else-
“Mommy?” An equally tired voice spoke up.
Morgan put on the best smile she could this early. She turned to the other creature in her bed, brushing down on the child’s head fin. “Good morning, princess. Want some breakfast?”
Lilac tiredly nodded. She yawned, curling herself in a ball under the sheets. “I want fruit.”
“Think we got strawberry and banana.” Morgan mused. She climbed out of bed. “Come down when you’re ready.”
Lilac made a tired groan of agreement. Morgan left her bedroom, headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Lilac hadn’t slept in her own bed in weeks. Morgan saw no reason to send the baby dragon away. Both of them struggled with what they’d seen. After the Hell Week that was January (cause it felt like an entire month, instead of a couple days), neither Lilac or Morgan had felt peace.
Morgan had already suffered this way before. Losing Darcy all over again, knowing that death was the end of her. You would think that would make it easier but no. Just dead. Like, worse than when Loki did it over and over in the MCU. Cause at least when he did it, there was a post-credit scene proving they were alive. Darcy got no post-credit scene. Not even a title card that said ‘Darcy Anderson will return’. Just...dead.
Lilac hadn’t really suffered before. Not at the level she had in that week. Morgan had been desentized to having guns pointed at her head and being threatened with death. These were Lilac’s first real experiences with them. She was so sheltered in this world. Morgan hadn’t wanted anything more for her.
This wasn’t how she wanted Lilac brought into her other life.
Well...no changing the past.
Just working to make Lilac’s future better.
Morgan handed her daughter breakfast. Her headache had grown into a headache plus nausea. Her nightmares usually took her appetite. Still, Lilac didn’t move to eat until Morgan was drinking from a hot chocolate.
The breakfast was quiet.
Far too quiet when a 5 year old sat at the table.
Morgan pretended not to be upset by it.
They finished the routine of a peaceful meal. She went to the door. Despite it. Being Saturday, she had work to do in town.
As she worked on her saddlebag- a disguise of her Infinity Bag- she saw her daughter walking to her side. She took a strap of the saddlebag in her claw.
“Gonna hang out with your friends today?” Morgan asked.
Lilac answered by holding tighter to the saddlebag.
Morgan nodded. “Got it. Cool. Did you want to ride my back again?” Lilac nodded. Morgan knelt down. The baby dragon hopped on.
“It’s not going to be fun. I’m doing chores for the day.” Morgan explained.
Lilac leaned forward, almost resting against her mother’s mane.
Morgan gaven. She always gave in for this one.
Morgan Spencer opened the door.
Raspberry Stardust walked out of the house.
At the sight she was met with, Raspberry brought a pair of sunglasses out from her Bag. The sun didn’t usually shine down this bright.
“Mommy...the sky is weird.” Lilac pointed out, holding tighter to the bag.
Raspberry looked up the clouds. “Yep...that’s today. Of course it is. Of course it’s today.”
Lilac tilted her head. “What’s today?”
Raspberry sighed. “Magical Mystery Cure...come on.”
Lilac leaned forward more, until her scaled cheek touched the back of her mother’s mane. Despite the oddness of the sky, the soft locks reminded her that her mother was there.
It wouldn’t be so bad.
Her mom would fix it.
==WMCITM==
There was a musical number happening in town.
Raspberry was doing her best to ignore it.
Lilac actually perked up at the tunes.
Until something cut off Twilight’s final note. The messed up weather patterns up in the sky. Yes, actual patterns. Clouds were perfect checkered squares in the sky, letting perfect squares of sunlight shine down.
Raspberry stayed where she was. At least this spot of Ponyville had a shady cloud above it. She could see someponies were stuck under snow clouds or breezes.
Not pretty.
Funny, considering it was Rarity doing this to the weather.
“Mommy, are you gonna help?” Lilac asked.
Raspberry hummed. “Oh. Right. Yeah. Give me a second.”
A blink.
“Are you gonna help-“
“Okay, I should’ve seen that coming. I literally watched that joke become a thing.” Raspberry turned her head back to Lilac. “I mean- give me a minute. Twilight will come to me.”
“But shouldn’t you go to her?” Lilac wondered.
‘I have a migraine that says otherwise’ Raspberry thought to herself. “Twilight and I have a thing since she found out the truth. If she wants answers, she can’t be afraid of asking questions. It’s a whole thing.”
Lilac made a confused face. Still, she didn’t ask questions. She wanted to ask about this thing. She wanted to know what started it, if it happened before or after Tricia took over everypony. But Lilac knew her mom was in a bad mood today, so she kept her questions to herself. Besides, they would probably get answered before long.
Case in point, Twilight was running their way.
She stopped in front of them, panicked. “Thank Celestia! Raspberry, do you see what’s going on?!”
“I literally just woke up.” Raspberry noted. “What’s there to notice?”
“The clouds?! In the sky?! Don’t they look funny to you?” Twilight asked, throwing a hoof in the air.
Raspberry glanced up, peering through her sunglasses. “That one looks like. A square.
“THEY ALL LOOK LIKE SQU-“
Twilight’s shout was cut off by Raspberry’s magic on her muzzle. Even with the sunglasses, Twilight could see the annoyed look in Raspberry’s eyes. Twilight quieted.
The magic faded.
“Thank you.” Twilight swallowed. “But you do see-“
‘The sky is covered in squares, duh there’s something wrong. You were shouting ‘nothing could possibly go wrong to the sky’ how could it not all be going wrong?’
“Yes, Twilight, I see.” Raspberry replied.
“I see too!” Lila piped in. She raised her claw, waving at Twilight. “Hi Miss Twilight!”
“Hi Lilac. Raspberry, what’s wrong?” Twilight pressed.
“You did bad magic. Everypony’s marks are all screwy.”
“That’s not what it is!”
==WMCITM==
One dragon grab and song later, Twilight was singing a different tune.
Twilight brought Spike, Raspberry, and Lilac to the Library. Already, Twilight was stressing out.
“Well?”
“Okay it’s exactly what you said.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you say?” Spike asked Raspberry. “What’s going on? Why is this happening?!”
The pink unicorn winced. She hissed through clenched teeth. It felt like she’d been hit by a typhoon. Lilac brushed her neck, but Raspberry shook her head. While it was usually a comfort, just now her headache was making touches like that hurt. Her child curled her arm around her chest. Her eyes weren’t watering but obviously that could change.
“Sorry- sorry it’s not you. It’s the headache.” Raspberry excused. Lilac nodded, mute. “I told Twilight she messed up a spell-“
“But I didn’t cast one-“
“Twilight.” Raspberry deadpanned.
Twilight paused, her eyebrows scrunching together in thought. She pondered and pondered until WHAM! It seemed to hit her all at once. The confusion gave into understanding into realization and finally fear.
“Last night when you were taking one of your seven-hour bubble baths, I got a special delivery from the princess.” Twilight explained to Spike. “I-”
“You read it outloud.” Raspberry pointed out. “And reading unknown spells out loud has always gone so well for you.”
Twilight winced. Spike and Lilac did too. Everypony in the room could remember that time in startling clarity. Most of the events from that terrible week were started off by Twilight reading a spell by Morgan out loud. A spell that later Morgan herself was botched, rushed, and shouldn’t be used unless in cases of emergency. Thanks to Twilight, it had caused one.
Just like it had caused this one.
“I just wanted to find out what it did!” Twilight excused.
“And now you know!” Raspberry snapped.
“How do I fix it?” Twilight begged.
“Twilight I have a headache the size of your mistakes.” Raspberry hissed. She rubbed at her forehead, just below her horn. “Rarity’s weather is making hiding from the daystar worse. So my headache is worse. Talking makes it worse.”
“Mommy will it be like this forever?” Lilac asked, fretting with her claws.
“No. It’ll be done by...” Raspberry paused to think it over. “...sunrise.”
“Sunrise? It’ll happen on it’s own in a few hours!” Twilight cheered.
Raspberry gave Twilight a look. A discouraging stare, Twilight reasoned. Why was Raspberry so expressive even through those sunglasses?! “You wanna leave our friends like this overnight? Sure. Go for it. See where it gets you.”
Twilight winced. She couldn’t imagine her friends suffering like this for that long. Rarity with Rainbow’s cutiemark, Rainbow with Fluttershy’s, Fluttershy with Piinkie’s Pinkie with Applejack’s, and Applejack with Rarity’s? All her friends were miserable. She couldn’t stand it like that. She wondered why Raspberry could stand it. Or maybe that was why she was so frustrated.
“How do I fix it?” Twilight asked. “If you know what started it, you have to know how to fix it!”
“Rule 25: You make the mess, you clean the mess.”
“What?!”
“Twilight, you need to calm down.” Spike assured her with gentle brushing on the neck.
Twilight let out a breath. “You’re right, Spike.”
“Just Spike?” Raspberry noted.
Lilac patted her mother’s head.
Raspberry calmed down.
“Can’t she just cast a counterspell? Fix everything?” Spike asked.
“She could, if there was one.” Raspberry explained tensely, rubbing at her head again. “She was told it was an unfinished spell by Starswirl the Bearded. Unfinished tends to imply he never saw the consequences, thus had no need to write a counterspell for the effects he didn’t see.”
“Why doesn’t she just use that memory spell she used to fix everypony when Discord was here?” Spike asked Raspberry.
“It’s not their memories, Spike. It’s their true selves that have been altered!” Twilight explained.
“But nopony else notices.” Lilac noted. “Why is it just the four of us?”
Raspberry huffed, pushing harder at the aching spot on her head. “Rarity will later note it was like waking up from a dream. Everypony in town is caught up in the dream too. Presumably, it didn’t show anypony outside of here reacting to it.”
“Spike and I can tell because we were in the epicenter of the spell when it was cast.” Twilight reasoned. “But what about-”
‘You really think I would leave my child and house exposed to your reckless magic again?’
“My magic blocked it.” Raspberry deadpanned.
Twilight nodded, assuming that Raspberry meant her reality altering ability blocked her from the effects. Since Lilac was a product of that magic, she was immune too.
Raspberry saw no reason to correct her.
“Well, maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe our friends will grow to like their new lives.” Spike offered.
Twilight shook her head, beginning to cry. “No, Spike. They’re not who they are meant to be anymore. Their destinies are now changed, and it’s all my fault.”
Raspberry hated that she couldn’t even disagree.
Twilight was her friend though.
And true, true friends helped a friend in need.
“I warned you that you had until sunrise. You’re gonna waste time moping instead of thinking?” Raspberry snapped.
Twilight sniffled. “I don’t know what I can do!”
“Think, Sparkle of Twilight. Think like I know you can!” Raspberry encouraged her. Though it did sound like more enraged shouts. “These are our friends struggling, friends that we know and love. Friends that YOU loved, right?!”
“I love them more than anything!” Twilight snapped back at her, tears on her cheeks. “But I don’t kno-“
Her eyes fell on the display case. The one that had gotten them in this mess in the first place. The one displaying the Elements of Harmony. The Elements besides Twilight’s own were all discolored.
Something in twilight’s eye glimmered.
That was just the stat.
Her whole body began to shine.
As it foot brighter and brighter, so gained the strength of Raspberry’s headache.
“I’ve got it!” Twilight rushed to the case, lifting it up. She gathered up the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Ashe dropped her’s on her head. “I know what to do!”
“You do?” Spike asked Twilight.
“I may not be able to remind them of who they are, but I can show them what they mean to each other. They’ll find the part of themselves that’s been lost so they can help the friend they care about so much!” Twilight grabbed Spike, dropping him on her back. The Elements of Harmony were floating behind her.
Raspberry let out a hissing breath. She reached for her forehead again. She wondered if this was the pain Harry dealt with whenever he had a vision from Voldemort.
“Mommy?” Lilac asked, concerned.
Raspberry shook her head.
“Come on, everyone!” Twilight called out.
Raspberry blew out a long breath from her nose. “You heard the lady.”
“Mommy is your head hurtin’?” Lilac asked.
“Yes, princess. But Fluttershy needs help.” Raspberry dismissed. She lifted Lilac onto her back. Wincing once more at the splitting pain in her skull, Raspberry ran after Twilight.
==WMCITM==
Twilight and Raspberry convinced Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash with her animals. Fluttershy hesitated until Twilight pointed out it’s what a friend would do.
They brought Fluttershy to Rainbow’s. The butter yellow pegasus corralled all the animals into their little habitats and fulfilled their heart’s desires.
She woke up.
Twilight started to sing.
Raspberry pretended that it wasn’t going off like a gong in her head.
“A true, true friend helps a friend in need, a friend will be there to help them see.” Twilight sang.
Fluttershy joined in.
“A true, true friend helps a friend in need To see the light that shines from a true, true friend.”
Rainbow Dash piped in. “Hello? Friend trap-WHOA!”
Raspberry tilted the metal cauldron Rainbow had been trapped in. While the ponies of Ponville were stuck in a dream, it was clear the animals were less so.
“Rarity needs your help. She’s trying hard, doing what she can.” Twilight explained
“Would you try, just give it a chance?” Fluttershy chimed in at Rainbow’s hesitant look. “You might find that you’ll start to understand.”
==WMCITM==
Rainbow Dash proudly displayed her original cutiemark- twined with Rarity’s.
“Applejack needs your help. She’s trying hard, doing what she can.” Dash explained to Rarity. “Would you try, just give it a chance? You might find that you’ll start to understand.”
Raspberry ignored the steady pounding behind her eyes.
==WMCITM==
Rarity proudly showed off her three diamonds cutiemark. At the word from Twilight, Rarity started singing.
“Pinkie Pie is in trouble.” Rarity started walking Applejack down the streets of town. “We need to get there by her side. We can try to do what we can now. For together we can be her guide!”
The more of them were restored, the more the town woke up from this hell dream.
Raspberry again ignored how the same seemed to apply to her headache. She thought the headaches came from the magic needed to block her and Lilac from this curse.
But what if it was something else?
Why did it feel worse than just a side effect from Twilight’s spell?
Why did it feel like a ‘Raspberry’ mess?
==WMCITM==
Applejack had her three apples back.
Pinkie Pie was still droopy, stuck in the magic still.
“The townspeople need you, they’ve been sad for a while. They march around, face a-frown and never seem to smile.” Applejack sang. “And if you feel like helpin’ we’d appreciate a lot if you’d get up there and spread some cheer from here to Canterlot!”
Pinkie stood on a fountain, quickly getting the town to smile.
==WMCITM==
It had been going too well.
A sure sign it was going to fall apart so fast.
Twilight’s eyes glimmered again. “A mark of one’s destiny, singled out alone, fulfilled.”
She gasped.
Raspberry snapped her head around.
“Wait a second, that’s it! I understand now! I know how to fix the spell!” Twilight realized.
“Twilight-”
“From all of us together, together we’re friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!”
The ache between Raspberry’s eyes exploded.
Yeah. She should’ve expected that.
It all went black.
==WMCITM==
She woke up someplace else.
Itw asn’t the beautiful space full of blues and greens and stars that Twilight had found herself in.
This place was familiar to her, in an odd sort of sense.
It washer new office. The walls were a grayish sort of beige. The floor was still linoleum- she remembered they hadn’t put in carpet yet. The furniture was just boxes from IKEA, the furniture pieces still inside. She hadn’t had time to build it yet. She had insisted a dozen times to the people- her people apparently, because she had that now, a people- that she wanted furniture made with her own hands. The windows were still big and covered most of a wall, the curtains were wide open.
She didn’t like it.
She hated this office.
Hated what it meant.
She hated what she lost to get it.
Lost her sister.
Lost her family’s trust in her.
Lost connections with her Earth friends, that had thought so nicely of her before this.
She lost her daughter's peace of mind.
She won a crown.
How had she lost so much in turn?
She reached up to close the windows. It was her human hand. She was human again, howannoying.She grabbed the sandy brown- Mrs S’s instanced- curtaino ya kitshut.
Then she saw what was outside.
She knew what the courtyard of the Center looked like.
She held her sister’s funeral there. She’d never forget it.
The courtyard was different. This time of year, a Charleston February made it a dull green that didn’t get as much sun or water as it needed.
It never snowed.
And she was the only one that ever told at Darcy’s grave.
She ran out towards the stairs.
When she arrived at the grave, the figure was still there. She was dressed in a black long sleeved dress. The kind of outfit one wore to a funeral. But her hair was caramel brown straight to her waist.
Morgan couldn’t mistake that hair. It had been one of the many things haunting her in the past month.
“She was a good person.”
Morgan scoffed. “You didn’t know her then.”
Delilah said nothing.
“Why are you here?” Morgan pressed after a moment’s silence. “Thought I’d stop seeing you after it all fell apart.”
“Yes, it did look that way didn’t it?” Delilah mused. She turned to Morgan.
They didn’t have the same nose. Morgan’s was refined, while Delilah’s was a button.
Morgan’s eyes were a bright gold kind of amber. Delilah’s were more an ancient scroll sort of amber.
They looked nothing alike.
Yet Morgan felt a deeper connection to her than to Mrs S.
That should make we feel guilty, yes? That she felt a weaker connection to her the mother that birthed her, than a woman that died to give Morgan her powers? Daughters were supposed to be close to their mothers. Morgan had trouble connecting that way to her mother, always had.
But one look not Delilah’s light amber, so much more innocent and shining than Morgan’s dark haunted ones...Morgan saw someone that understood her more than Sarah Spencer ever could.
“You did something good today.” Delilah praised.
“I yelled at my friend until she cried.” Morgan countered.
“She was going to cry anyway.” Delilah replied. “You just made sure she finished faster.”
Morgan gave the former Traveller Queen a level stare. “Most people don’t make comments like that.”
“Most people don’t get involved in magical mishaps in the first place.” Delilah countered. “And you da y that like you don’t make similar comments.”
“Yeah but I don’t say them to people.” Morgan added. She glanced behind Delilah, quickly pretending she hadn’t.
Delilah noticed all the same. “She wanted you to rule the world, you know.”
Morgan scoffed. “They all do. I make a terrible overlord.”
“That you do.” Delilah nodded, speaking in a vague tone. “You just try to institute world peace in every country you have reach, make sure your friends stay happy for as long as possible, cuddle your daughter to sleep every night-”
“Make your point.” Morgan prompted coldly.
Delilah met the remark with a colder stare. “Don’t forget who was Queen before you. I had the same doubts, the same fears, the same stresses. You work towards your goals in spite of those fears. To spite those fears, some may say.”
Morgan pointedly ignored that. “You were leading toward that crown all your life-“
“You’ve been afraid of that power at the same time.” Delilah noted. “Scared of having the world in your hand, because you know you do. Scared of being like a second coming.”
“The last time I had control of the world, I bled it dry.” Morgan snapped. “Don’t tell me what I’m afraid of.”
“Quit giving into then.” Delilah replied. “Because the girl I’ve seen from behind those eyes, she’s not the kind of person who give into that fear. She pushes herself past it, works toward something better.”
Delilah threw her hand out to Darcy’s grave.
Morgan looked at the grave, trying so hard to keep her face blank. It was easy to see the pain in her eyes- the grief that shone with a color all their own.
“That’s the kind of thing she gave herself up for.” Delilah reminded Morgan. “Have you ever known Darcy Anderson to have doubts about you?”
Morgan shook her head, tears falling on her cheeks.
“Then do what you always wanted to do to the world you’re in.” Delilah told her. “Make it like the worlds you’ve seen.”
Morgan nodded.
==WMCITM==
She came back to feel the morning sun rising on her back.
She raised a hoof- her sunglasses had vanished at some point in all of this.
Only it wasn’t a hoof blocking the morning sun from her eyes.
It was a raspberry pink shaded wing.
Yeah...that was the kind of thing Darcy would do too.
Morgan couldn’t even be mad.
“You’re a princess too?!” A voice- Twilight’s, Morgan supplied- gasped.
Morgan stood up, showing off the two alicorn wings on her back. “Guess so.”
And I’ll be the best at it
Because Earth needs me to be
