//------------------------------//
// Waking Up 
// Story: One Last Mission 
// by Show Stopper 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3: Waking Up


The first sign to Twilight that something was wrong was the pain in her horn.

She'd suffered magic overload before, but it had never been enough to knock her out. Now she was dealing with a horn that felt like it was full of angrily pulsing jelly as her mind slowly began to take stock of her situation.

Lethargy. Horn pain. Sore all over. Mind full of cotton. Taste of blue in my mouth. Yep, this is magic overload alright. She lay still on a firm, itchy surface, waiting out the familiar sensations in their unfamiliar doses. She was vaguely aware that there were small sounds of movement nearby, but her mind was too muddled to try to figure them out.

Eventually, her mind stopped spinning and she found herself able to focus. She slowly sat up and opened her eyes, expecting to find herself in her library, or at least Ponyville Hospital. Instead, she was surprised to find herself in a large tent, filled with several long rows of cots like the one that she found herself sitting on. Most of the cots were occupied by unconscious ponies, and Twilight found her five best friends lying in the cots nearest her. She was confused for a moment, unable to figure out where she was.

All at once, it returned to her: waking up in a much smaller tent, the adult Crusaders, her and her friend's disappearances, the war, and the series of teleports that had wiped her out. She looked around the massive tent once again, realizing that she must be in - or more likely near, based on the size - Ponyville. No sooner had she realized this than an earth pony entered the tent. Although she was ten years older than Twilight remembered her, there was no mistaking the white coat and pink mane. "Nurse Red Heart," called Twilight softly, not wanting to wake her friends.

Nurse Red Heart looked over and smiled gently. "Miss Sparkle," she said softly, walking over. "You're up. How are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy," said Twilight, "and my horn hurts like crazy, but I've had worse."

Red Heart chuckled. "I can testify to that," she said. After a quick examination, she pronounced Twilight free from injury. "You'll want to take it easy with your magic for a while," she advised, "but other than that you should be fine. I've been told to take you to the Generals once you were awake, but," she looked around at the young unconscious Bearers, "maybe we'd better wait until the rest of them have woken up. They'll need someone to break it to them," she looked up at Twilight, "and someone to comfort them."

Twilight swallowed nervously and nodded. "I understand. I'll do my best, but I'm not sure how to tell them about everything. Especially Rarity and Applejack." She looked down at her two friends. "They've missed 10 years of their sister's lives."

Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to see Red Heart smiling kindly at her. "You'll do fine," she said. "You're their friend and you're there for them. A good friend is the best medicine that there is." She turned and headed back to the front of the tent. "I'm needed back at the hospital, but I'll check back in as soon as I can." Stopping by the tent flap, she turned and smiled again at Twilight. "It really is good to see you again, Twilight."

As Red Heart left, Twilight tried to decide how best to tell her friends about everything that had happened. Every scenario she went through in her mind had at least one of her friends - most of the time Fluttershy or Rarity - crying, and Twilight finally realized that there would be no easy way to explain things. Best to just rip the band-aid off as soon as she needed to.

"As soon as she needed to" turned out to be only a minute, as Rarity began to stir. At least it's not Pinkie, thought Twilight, not ready to handle that headache alone. "Rarity," Twilight called. "Rarity. Are you awake?"

Slowly, Rarity opened her eyes and turned to look at Twilight. "Twilight, darling, is that you?" she muttered. "Why are there three of you?"

Twilight couldn't help but chuckle. "Just relax, Rarity," she said. "I think you're just experiencing some mild magic overload. The dizziness should clear up soon."

Rarity slowly sat up, rubbing the side of her head. "Magic overload?" she asked. "Well, that would certainly do it. What ever was I doing that was so strenuous?" She looked around at the rest of the girls and raised an eyebrow. "And what happened to everypony else?"

"Probably the same thing," said Twilight, looking at them as well. "It's unheard of in pegasi and earth ponies, but I suppose if a large enough current of magic were being channeled through them, it could happen."

Rarity looked back up at Twilight. "Let me guess, dear. The Elements?" Twilight nodded. "Makes sense," Rarity continued. "The last thing I remember was going to Canterlot to use them on Discord's statue after... GASP! Twilight! Did it work? Are the princesses back?"

Twilight shook her head, both in response to Rarity's question and in disbelief that her friend was dramatic enough to actually shout the word "gasp" like that. "I don't think so, Rarity," she said. "Look, there's a lot to explain, and I really don't want to have to go through it more than once. Let's at least wait for the others to wake up."

Rarity opened her mouth to reply, but was caught off by a slight moan as two more ponies began to stir. "Oh, my head," grumbled Applejack, starting to sit up. "Rainbow ain't gettin' off easy for this one."

"Oh sure," muttered the other pony, still lying on the ground and making no effort to even open her eyes. "We both have hangovers, and it's my fault? Probably some of your hard cider to blame."

Twilight and Rarity rolled their eyes at this exchange. "Really, those two," said Rarity. "Finally awake, and the first thing they think to do is start arguing."

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and glared at Rarity, a feat made difficult as her eyes were still spinning. "Not now, Rares," she growled. "Splitting headache here. Not in the mood to deal."

"You ain't the only one," Applejack muttered, finally opening her eyes as well. She looked around the tent and over to Twilight. "Alright, Sugarcube," she said, "what happened to us, how long were we out, an' where are we?"

Twilight chuckled nervously. "Good questions," she said. "Well, like I told Rarity, it's a long story and I really don't want to have to go through it twice. Let's just wait for Pinkie and Fluttershy to wake up."

"Um, it doesn't look like Pinkie's going to wake up any time soon."

Everypony jumped and turned to see Fluttershy standing next to Pinkie, examining a nasty looking bump on her head. "Fluttershy, darling!" said Rarity. "How long have you been up?"

"Oh, well I woke up at the same time as you, actually," admitted Fluttershy, "but I didn't want to interrupt, and my head really hurt, so I decided to wait out the pain." She looked back down at Pinkie. "But it looks like Pinkie's going to be out for a while. Something must have hit her very hard to make a bump like that."

"So that's it then," said Rainbow. "All of us are up that are going to get up, so what's going on, Twilight?"

Twilight swallowed nervously again. She looked around, desperately searching for some way to delay the inevitable. There was no distraction to be had, however. All she saw was the tent, the cots, the ponies...

In fact, one of those ponies looked very familiar. Twilight recognized the white coat, the pink and purple curls, and, most startlingly, the flank bare of any cutie mark. She realized that she was staring and tried to look away, but it was too late. The others had noticed that she was staring at something and had turned to look. At first they didn't recognize the older mare, but recognition soon dawned on Rarity's face. Her eyes grew wide, her jaw dropping a little as she stared at her sister.

She turned and looked back at Twilight, tears beginning to form. "How?" she asked quietly. "How long were we out?"

Rainbow and Applejack were confused, but Fluttershy gasped as she realized who the unconscious mare was. She stared at her, unable to believe what she was seeing. "But, that's impossible. She's older than we are. How did this..."

"Am I missing something?" asked Rainbow, scratching her head. "Who's the mare?"

Twilight sighed. Time for the band-aid to come off. "It's Sweetie Bell," she said, avoiding looking at Rarity. "Lieutenant Sweetie Bell of the Crusaders, special force of the Equestrian Military."

Applejack and Rainbow's jaws dropped as they stared back and forth between Sweetie Bell and Twilight. "Th- the Crusaders?" Applejack stammered. "But, that would mean..."

Twilight nodded, looking down to avoid any eye contact whatsoever. "Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, too," she said. "They should be alright, though, and Sweetie Bell's just out from magic overload."

"How long were we out?" Rarity asked again, tears running freely.

"Ten years." Everypony jumped again as a brown coated unicorn lying nearby stood up and looked over. "Ten years you've been gone. The better question would be, why haven't the six of you aged during that time?"

"E-excuse me," stammered Twilight, "But who are you?"

"And why were you pretending to be asleep?" demanded Rainbow.

"Good questions," replied the unicorn, pushing his black bangs to the side. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Show Stopper, top spy of Equestria, and thespian extraordinaire." He bowed deeply. "At your service, by orders, if not willingly."

"What do you mean, by orders?" asked Applejack.

"To answer the second question," said Show Stopper, ignoring Applejack, "I feigned unconsciousness so as to better observe all of you. I must say, the six of you are just like everypony described."

"So you were spying on us?" asked Rainbow.

Show shrugged. "I suppose you could look at it like that. I prefer to think of it as research and character study. I'm sure that they'll make a play of these events if we ever win this war, and as the greatest thespian in history, I'd like to be prepared for whatever role I'm assigned."

The five mares stared at him in confusion, not sure what to make of this stallion. "Wait," said Applejack. "What war?"

Show rolled his eyes. "Quote, 'Lieutenant Sweetie Bell of the Crusaders, special force of the Equestrian Military.' End quote. Really, that should have been a big enough clue."

"But, who in the world would Equestria be at war with?' asked Rarity, still shell-shocked.

Show raised a single eyebrow. "You really don't know anything, do you?" He looked over at Twilight. "You want to tell them, or should I just take you all to the Generals where I can hopefully dump you off and be done with it?"

"That's enough out of you!" The voice had been quiet, but it had carried a force that froze Show in his tracks. Everypony looked over to see Nurse Red Heart making her way over, glaring at Show.

"Hey, Hearts," said Show casually, as if he hadn't just been paralyzed with fear. "Thought you went back to the hospital."

Red Heart's glare only deepened at Show's nick-name. "I did," she said icily, "and then I heard just who it was that the Generals had assigned to escort these 6. You have an unfortunate track record of disturbing my patients, and I see that my fears are well founded. You could stand to learn some tact, thespian."

Show's cheerful face fell, just for a moment, into a hardened stare. "War leaves no room for tact." His cheerful demeanor quickly returned. "But I know how scary you can get where your patients are concerned, so I won't try your patience any longer, for my own safety. I'll be outside." Without another word, he trotted out.

Red Heart sighed, her face softening the instant he was outside of the tent. She smiled softly at the girls. "I'm sorry about him," she said. "He's an idiot."

There wasn't really anything to say to that, so Rainbow got right to the point, starting in where Rarity had left off. "So who're the bad guys, huh? Let's get the Elements and blast them out of Equestria!"

Red Heart sighed. "If only it were so simple," she said. She looked at Twilight. "Who would you rather tell them, you or me?"

Twilight looked over her friends and back to Red Heart, resigned to what she knew she had to do. "I'll tell them. You go ahead back to the hospital. If Show tries coming back in, I'll just set up a barrier to keep him out." Nurse Red Heart nodded and, with one final smile at the rest of the girls, made her way out of the tent.

"So," prompted Rainbow impatiently, "what's up? Who are we fighting? Why can't we just blast them with the Elements? And what did Show mean when he said we'd been out ten years? 'Cause I sure as hay don't feel 28."

Twilight sighed and sat down, motioning for the others to do the same. "Like I said," began Twilight, "it's a long story. It started right after we used the Elements on Discord's statue..."


----------***----------


Fluttershy and Rarity were still crying when Show decided to try entering the tent again. Twilight didn't try to stop him; nothing that he said could possibly have made the situation worse. Or so she thought.

"By the waterworks," he said cheerfully, "I'd guess that they now know that they live in a post-apocalyptic world where ponies die at 32 from radiation poisoning and foals eat their deceased parents to survive."

Five glares were leveled his way, and even the tears filling two of them couldn't conceal the loathing that all five of them felt.

Show sighed in defeat. "OK," he admitted," that was bad, even for me. Sorry.

"I'm surprised, though," he continued, looking at Applejack. "I thought you'd be in tears, too."

"I suspect they'll come soon enough," muttered Applejack. "Probably once I'm around my family again."

Show raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid I don't see what comfort a tombstone can offer."

"Why you little-" Rainbow was about to take off, but Applejack stomped on her tail before her wings could even spread.

"Ain't worth it, Dash," she said. "Soon as I heard that ten years had passed, well, we all knew that Granny Smith wasn't likely to make in another five anyhow. I figured she'd gone on. It was her time."

Show's other eyebrow rose to join the first. He hesitated, just for an instant. "Very mature of you," he said. His face lost all semblance of sobriety as he grinned and turned to leave. "Well, follow on!" he said. "Now that you're all caught up, we've got some generals to see."

"Pinkie Pie still isn't up yet," pointed out Twilight, still glaring, "and my magic is still too drained to carry her around all day. And no offence," she added, pouring as much offence as she could into her voice, "but I doubt a show-pony like yourself can carry her for long."

"Show-pony?" asked Rainbow. "I thought he said he was a thes- a thespa- whatever he said before."

Show rolled his eyes. "Thespian," he corrected. "It's another term for an actor or an actress, though if you'd payed any attention to my cutie mark, you might have been able to make that connection." He turned slightly to show us the stage on his flank, with the red curtain raised half-way up.

"Well sorry," said Rainbow sarcastically. "I don't really spend my time staring at a stallion's flanks."

"Save that for the mares, do you?" Ignoring Rainbow's outrage, he looked back at Twilight, smirking. "As for lifting Cotton Candy over there, well," his horn began to glow, "you'd be surprised by what a show-pony can do."

A blinding flash of light caused everypony to shield their eyes. When the light faded, they lowered their hooves to take in the strangest sight of the day. Standing where Show had been, still smirking at Twilight Sparkle, was Twilight Sparkle.