//------------------------------// // Waking Up // Story: Broken Arrow // by Army Brony //------------------------------// “ACKERMAN!!!!!” My whole world starts to spin. The color and light start to blend together, spinning down into what could only be described as an invisible drain, darkness left in its wake. Wake. Wake. Awake. I need to wake up. I need to be awake. I start to open my eyes. Ugh, what happened? I feel like hammered shit... I opened my eyes to see a purple blur in front of me. The blurred colors that filled my vision were painfully bright. I haven't felt this shitty since my twenty-first, I thought. “He's awake,” a female voice stated. “Quick, somepony bring me a cover!” Wait, did she just say- oh no. My vision started to clear up. The purple blob started to become more defined. “Are you okay?” Twilight asked me. “Yeah, I think so,” I answered. “What happened?” “You started to run upstairs and just when you were about to reach the top, you passed out.” “Oh.” It must have been a result of blood-loss, I thought. “That's not all,” Twilight spoke again. “We came rushing up here, and you were writhing and squirming about.” “I was?” She nodded. “You must have been having a terrible nightmare, because after about two minutes you started yelling about how they're all dead.” I didn't speak. Twilight took this as a sign to continue. “Just before I yelled at you to wake up you said- er- well- um...” Twilight trailed off. “What? What did I say?” “Well- um-” Twilight was obviously reluctant to tell me what I said. Rainbow Dash interrupted, finishing for her. “You were talking about three dudes, Blaze, Frost, and Rapidfire.” Rainbow Dash put more than enough emphasis on the last name. “Yeah? So what?” I stated a little too defensively. Rainbow Dash took notice of this. “I thought it might be just a little coincidence that two outta the three names you mentioned are Wonderbolts, but then you said 'Rapidfire wants to give me a brohoof,'” She did the best impersonation of my voice as she could. “That- um- that's a very common term back on earth,” I lied. “people use it all the time” “Really? Is that so?” Dash spat. “Well then I guess that it's perfectly normal for humans to have this in their possession?” She held up a plastic bag. Oh no. “Yes it's perfectly normal to have a bag with a picture of their family in it! How is that a bad thing?” I answered, hoping that in the process of being brought here the patch fell out. “No! Not the picture of your family!” Dash screamed. “THIS!” She held up the object in question, a unit patch that was an uncanny representation of her cutie mark. There was no more hiding it now. Or was there? “Bwahahaha! And what is soooo wrong with my old unit crest?” I stated sarcastically. Rainbow Dash flared her wings out; which to be quite honest, intimidated me quite a bit. She turned to the side and, bringing the unit patch down, matched it with her cutie mark. “That.” Rainbow Dash hissed. “What is that?” I asked, pointing to the cutie mark, desperately trying to hide my secret. “That,” Twilight interrupted. “is a cutie mark. Ponies get them when they discover their special talent.” “Special talent?” I asked. “Yes. Rainbow Dash's talent is the ability to break the sound barrier, creating a sonic rainboom. Fluttershy's special talent is handling and caring for animals.” “And what's yours?” I asked, trying to make myself to look as foreign to this world as possible. “My special talent is magic,” Twilight answered. “I wonder what yours would be?” “I'd say lying.” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Rainbow, come on now, give him a break. Why would he ever have a reason to lie to us?” You'd be surprised, Twilight, I thought. For the longest time everypony was silent, and I was left alone to my thougts. I'm starting to wonder if I am actually in Equestria. The droids are smart, but they do not have the capacity to understand emotion, human or pony. The analytical mind of a droid would come up with the most logical response for Rainbow Dash. That rebuttal that she gave was far from analytical. Then again, the droids could be utilizing references outside of the show. It only makes sense that the droids would build the world to be as realistic as possible. But it wouldn't make sense to a droid to build a world that contains content from non-canon sources, such as FiMFiction. They would try to stick with facts. But are there enough facts in the show alone to build a simulation that would be believable? From what I know, going through my bag is not very loyal. But the problem is whether or not this fact supports or disproves the theory. I wish I could ask them questions about the show without seeming like I have prior knowledge of this world. “Um, Ackerman?” Twilight said, breaking me out of the world in my head. “Huh? Oh! Um, yes?” I stammered. “You look... distant. Is something troubling you?” “No, I'm quite alright Twilight,” I answered. “thank you for your concern, though.” “Not a problem.” I yawned. “You really should get some rest, Ackerman. You must be tired after losing so much blood.” I opened my mouth to object, but just ended up yawning again. “I suppose you are right.” I chuckled. “Here, let me show you to your bed in the guest room.” I followed Twilight down the hall to the guest room. The room was medium-sized (for pony standards, that is) and had two windows and a small bathroom. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and the spaces that weren't were covered with a book wallpaper. That's Twilight for ya. I thought as I chuckled inwardly to myself. “Something funny?” Twilight asked. “No. Well, actually there is.” “And what's that?” “It's just that anyone with half a brain could tell that you are borderline obsessed with books.” I chuckled. “Oh she's waaay beyond obsessed.” Rainbow Dash chimed in from downstairs. To this, Twilight simply rolled her eyes. “Well here we are,” Twilight stated. “I'll just step on out so you can get some sleep.” “I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am.” I said. “For what?” I nearly fell flat on my face at her response. Does she really not know? “For this. The bed, the room, my healed wounds. All of it. Everything. Right down to the simple act of you listening to my story.” I was starting to tear up again. Not out of depression, but jubilation. Something about this place seemed to make me feel emotion as if I never had emotions before. “And for that, I thank you.” “Don't you worry one bit about it,” Twilight said as she walked towards the door. “now do yourself a favor, and get some sleep. Luna knows you need it.” I laid down in the bed as Twilight shut the door behind her. And for the first time in seven years, I slept. No dreaming, no nightmares, no mortar strikes waking me up at night. Just sleep.