//------------------------------// // Waking Up // Story: Family Mares // by SolidFire //------------------------------// Waking Up Rainbow Dash woke with a splitting headache. She didn't know where she was, but she knew it was night. The room was dark and she could hear the sound of ponies lightly snoring around her. She sat up and looked around the room, thinking back to the incident at Twilight's library. There was a bright flash, then a feeling like that of a drill being forced through her skull. She had screamed, and then nothing. She saw the sleeping bodies of each of her friends. Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Soarin, Pinkie Pie (Her mane was laying flat across her face as opposed to its usual cotton candy like puff), Fluttershy (she was laying against Soarin, Rainbow would have to ask about that) and Spitfire. Spitfire, unlike her other friends, wasn't asleep. She was sitting on her haunches, staring at the little filly on the bed adjacent to Rainbow's. "Hey," Rainbow weakly let out. Spitfire turned around and bolted to Rainbow's side. "Are you alright Rainbow?" Worry was evident in her voice, and her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying. "I've felt better. How's Scoot?" "She's been out since the incident at the library, but the doctors expect her to be waking up any time now." "How long has it been? How long have we been out?" "Three days." "Oh Celestia. I hope she's okay." "Speaking of, the Princess made a few stops in here over the last few days. She wanted to see how Twilight was holding up as well as check in on you two." "How is Twi?" "We can't get her to stop blaming herself. She just got to sleep for the first time since we got here tonight." "Of course she blames herself, that's what she does. Where are we?" "Canterlot. Closest place that has hospitals dealing with magic related injuries." Spitfire nuzzled Rainbow. "I was so worried. You could've been killed!" "Twi's better with magic than that." "What did the doctors say?" "Apparently Twilight missed a step in the spell. The talons were still enchanted for your use. Twilight needed to remove the enchantment between those talons and you before enchanting them for Scootaloo." "So what happened?" "Basically, the enchantment ripped everything you learned about playing guitar from your brain and forced it into Scootaloo's. Where all Twilight intended was to enchant the talons for Scootaloo's use, she performed a memory transfer as well as the intended enchantment. It's possible there may have been more memories transferred from you to Scootaloo. They also mentioned a peculiar side effect." "What do you mean by 'peculiar side effect'?" "Apparently it's possible your mind will be linked with Scootaloo's. If you two are in a close enough proximity, you'll be able to pick up on each other's thoughts and even emotional and physical feelings." "Does that mean Scoots has the same headache I have right now?" "Only if you felt it in your coma." "Yeah, I didn't really feel too much when I was out." "She'll feel it when she wakes up I'm sure. The doctors said you'd have a pretty nasty headache when you woke up." "If I didn't want to talk to her so bad then I think I'd be fine with her being in a coma. It feels like my skull is being pulled apart by a Manticore." "So pretty much like a hangover then?" "Pretty much. I'm feeling sleepy Spitfire, wanna keep me warm?" "You've been sleeping for three days. Can't you stay up for a little while?" "I'd love to, but my body is telling me that it's nap time. You can sleep with me." "I could use the sleep. I haven't slept since the accident." "Then come here and enjoy my company. I know you, you'll be out within a minute." Spitfire crawled into the bed and kissed her wife. The hospital bed was certainly not made for two, but the two mares were much more comfortable in each other's forelegs than they would be alone. The two fell asleep in a tangled mess of limbs, but they couldn't have slept more peacefully. When the two mares woke up, they found their friends gathered around them. Scootaloo was still out on her bed. Rainbow spoke first. "Miss me?" "RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie's hair inflated at the sight of her friend waking up. Rainbow grabbed at her skull. Where she could normally handle Pinkie's volume, today her ears were incredibly sensitive, thus making her head scream as opposed to the throbbing she had been able to endure. "Keep it down Pinkie!" Twilight hissed. "This is a hospital! Rainbow Dash, I am so sorry, I thought I could do that spell, it was so simple, I made a beginner mistake I am so so-" "Twilight, will you shut up? It's alright, it isn't your fault. Scoot and I are gonna be alright." "But I should've remembered to remove that-" "Twi, stop. You're making my headache worse. Scoot and I are fine. And from what Spitfire told me last night, it would appear the spell worked better than intended." "Rainbow-" "Twi, what Ah think she's tryin' ta say is ya don't have to blame yerself." Applejack rested a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Everypony's gonna be alright. Quit yer frettin' an' go tell the doctors that Rainbow's awake." "I-" Twilight looked around. "Okay." Rainbow looked up and saw Fluttershy leaning against Soarin. "Take it easy you two. You guys only met three days ago." Fluttershy's face turned a shade of red that could only be described as adorable. Her wings fluttered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Rainbow and Soarin laughed. "I think she's joking Flutters," Soarin said and nuzzled his marefriend. "You'd be surprised at how close two ponies can get when their mutual friend and her daughter are comatose for three days. "Rainbow Dash! I was sooooooooo sad when you were asleep for soooooooooo long and everypony was sooooooooo sad and I wondered how I could cheer everypony up but nopony wanted to be cheered up because they all wanted to stay here and..." "Pinkie, it's alright, I'm fine." Pinkie didn't hear a word Rainbow was saying. She didn't stop talking either. "Pinkie, we should go get something to eat," Rarity said. She knew that Pinkie's talking was killing Rainbow Dash at the moment. Rainbow mouthed a "thank you" to her friend as she half-dragged Pinkie to the cafeteria while she ranted. "Uggghh, my head..." Everypony in the room looked to see Scootaloo struggle unsuccessfully to rise from her bed. "I want some food... how long was I out?" At the mention of food, Rainbow realized that she was starving. Three days without any real substance would do that to a pony. "Hey kiddo. About time you woke up." During the previous conversation centered around Rainbow Dash, she had climbed down from the hospital bed. She walked over to her daughter and gave her a nuzzle. "What happened? Where am I?" Scootaloo was very confused. "There was a light, and then..." Her eyes went wide. "Mom, why in the hay am I thinking about your flank!?" Everypony shot Rainbow Dash a glare. She shrugged and giggled. "Sorry Scoot, that was me. How do you feel?" "Like a Manticore is prying my skull apart while gouging out my stomach. When can I get some food?" As she asked that, a doctor came in, bearing a tray boasting a heaping mass of food. Twilight walked in behind him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't made aware that you were both awake." "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize Scootaloo was awake!" Twilight said. "Twi, stop apologizing, she woke up after you left." Rainbow was getting annoyed. Why couldn't she stop blaming herself? "Well, here you are Mrs. Dash. I'll have something for Scootaloo in a-" "Give it to Scoot doctor, I can wait." Rainbow wasn't about to eat in front of her starving kid. The doctor gave the tray to Scootaloo, who practically dove into the tray. Rainbow was sure she'd do something similar when hers arrived. "I'll be right back with some-" A burst of magic interrupted the doctor. "Or SHE'LL be right back with some food. Twilight was nowhere in sight. Rainbow always hated when Twilight teleported. It was so creepy how she could just disappear and pop up wherever she pleased. But if it meant getting her some food faster, she could handle it. "I'm sure by now the two of you have begun to notice the side effects from the accident," the doctor said. "I got a vivid image of my mom's flank. How did that happen?" "Your other mom was giving her a look over." Soarin answered, to which Fluttershy giggled. Spitfire sighed. "Are you sure you're a mare? You think about sex more than any coltfriend I've ever had." "What can I say? I like it when the 'Wildfire' spreads all over me." Spitfire's face immediately turned crimson. No one could tell if it was rage or embarrassment. "Rainbow! In front of our friends?! In front of our daughter?!" "Trust me Spitfire, Ah've heard far worse come outta that mouth o' yours in front o' this crowd. Nopony has a problem with it. Now if Applebloom were here ta hear that, well, Rainbow's headache would be gettin' a might worse 'bout now." Just then, a blast of purple magic appeared in the room and Twilight materialized, bearing another equally loaded tray on her back. "Is this going to be enough?" Twilight asked as she set the tray down in front of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow immediately dove in. "Yeah, it'll *nom* be *nom* great *nomnomnom* Thanks *nomnom* Twi *nom* light!" "Uhh, you're welcome?" Twilight backed away from the tray's blast radius. After Rainbow finished, Spitfire took the tray in her teeth and set it on top of Scootaloo's. Scootaloo wasn't as fast of an eater as Rainbow and had finished at roughly the same time, so Spitfire proceeded to wipe the filly's face with a wet towel. Rainbow cleaned herself off and turned to the doctor. "Hey Doc, any way we can get rid of the whole 'sharing thoughts' thing? I don't want to see and hear it in my head whenever my mom gets frisky." Rainbow didn't realize until after she had finished her question that she had just translated half of it from her head and half from Scootaloo's. She face-hoofed and immediately regretted it when she felt her head throb again. Scootaloo winced in pain in unison with Rainbow Dash. "Why does my head hurt more now?!" "When Rainbow gets herself hurt, you feel it too." "I don't want to feel when Mom gets hurt! Can you separate our thoughts before my wife 'tastes the Rainbow' again?" Scootaloo's eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of her head. "What the buck did I just say?!" Her hind legs twitched and her wings fluttered. Spitfire couldn't take it anymore. "If there is anyway for you to separate their their thoughts, the sooner you do so the better! I can't hear stuff like that from my daughter!" "Yes, it's a simple procedure. One moment." The doctor's horn glowed and enveloped Rainbow Dash's and Scootaloo's heads in magical auras. The light soon faded. "There we are, you're thoughts are separated. I also returned all memories that detailed you and Spitfire back to the head they belong in." "I think my brain just got raped." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah. Did you just shove a magic dil-do down my ear canal?" Scootaloo asked the doctor. The doctor didn't know what to say to that. Spitfire sighed. She had the strangest family in Equestria, and nothing made her happier after these last three days than to see them awake and acting like nothing had happened.