//------------------------------// // Grin // Story: Grin // by Dradavar //------------------------------// Grin By Dradavar --- My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic © Hasbro --- --- I do not own the intellectual properties this fan-fiction is based on --- Chapter I: Grin I open my eyes. I feel the cold breeze on my coat. I look up to the sky, the stars and the moon above me. 'Wait. Sky? Stars and the moon? What? Where am I?' I think confused. Slowly getting up I look around. Short grass, bathed in moonlight surrounds me, about 10 feet away all around me grow trees. I'm in the mid of a clearing of a forest. I slowly approach the edge of the glade, trying to find a way out of it, but I can't find a path or anything else that I can use to get out. I try to look into the forest, the trees. But I only see darkness. "Interesting isn't it?" something whispers. A shiver runs down my spine and I can feel the hair in my neck standing. I feel a cold breeze rushing through the trees, making them rustle, through each grashalm and through each hair of my coat, each of my feathers. 'Feathers?' I think tired, my mind feels foggy and slow, 'I don't have wings. I'm a earth pony.' I can hear a faint giggle, a childish, happy giggle. "No you are not." the voice whispers again. "In here, you can be anything you want." "Anything?" I ask to no one. "Anything" the voice whispers amorous. My eyes light up. "And can I do everything?" I continue. "Whatever you desire" the voice purrs. "Then I want to..." I stop midsentence, thinking about the possibilities. "...wake up" I finally conclude. A shrieking sound echoes through the beautiful glade, hurting my ears, but I don't try to cover them, I feel the wind rushing through the trees, the hollow, almost frightening sound it's making. I grin. Blood flows out of my ears, I stop hearing anything. I see the trees uprooting, the wind grabs them and throws them around. Cracks start to form at the edge of my vision. The world turns upside down, the earth breaks apart. I look down, I don't even pay attention to the blood that flows out of my nostrils and falls towards the sky under me. I just look down at the moon, it falls apart, the pieces rapidly drifting apart, descending to the ground. I close my eyes, seeing only darkness, waiting for the familiar feeling that should come any second now. There it is. The feeling of nothingness around me, of emptiness, of dread. The feeling slowly changes. At first it feels like the skin crumbles, like a shell of an egg that gets scrapped off. This feeling changes again towards a blanket like feeling, but instead of being warm it's a cold embrace. Like you're getting wrapped in soft, movable ice. Any other pony who is not used to this feeling would now fall to the ground, trying to get the warmth back into their appendages. But I won't. I open my eyes again. Everything has stopped. I look around, looking for something. And there, to my left I see it. Light. I turn towards the light and start walking to it, slowly. After a few moments I reach my location, a gigantic throne. And on the very top, sitting on a dark blue cushion she sits. Nightmare Moon. Looking down at me. Her black coat standing in total contrast to the white marble surrounding her. I slowly climb the stairs of the throne towards her. She follows every of my steps with her beautiful, turquoise coloured dragonic eyes. I walk up close to her, until I'm right in front of her, I look up to her. She doesn't say anything, she's just waiting. Rising up to my hindlegs I reach up with my head, stretching my face closer to hers. Closer and closer, so close our snouts are almost touching. She still looks at me with her beautiful eyes, not questioning my actions. Its like she is waiting for me to finish what I started. I move even closer, closer, closer... And laugh. Falling back on all my four hooves, I stand there laughing. She looks at me with cold eyes, her eyes haven't moved at all. She raises a hoof to her face, covering her mouth, she shivers and trembles. Her first reaction, she closes her eyes and starts to giggle, still covering her mouth with her hoof, she just giggles. Her little almost childish giggle rises into a loud laughter, and together we stand, or to be precise she sits, there, just laughing at nothing special. Just laughing. "You almost got me there, child" she manages to get out between the laughs. We slowly calm down, still grinning like foxes. She shiftes her position on the cushion a little bit, tapping now on the free room right next to her on the cushion. "Only almost, my princess" I answer. I walk up next to her and sit down, right next to her on the same cushion. Most ponies would expect it to be warm, but it's not. It's as cold as it could be. "But don't you think this was a little bit boring back there?" I ask, while pointing at the glade. "You know how good I am at telling the difference between dreams and reality." Nightmare giggles. "You are right, it was a little bit boring. But I didn't want to make you wait for too long, for this audience" she answers. I scratch the back of my head. "Are these dreamwalks really necessary just for these audiences?" I ask. "We don't even know if Luna took up her duty as "Dreamwatcher" again." "They are child. There are more than just Luna who can watch the dreams of ponies. And if Celestia ever finds any trace of me she will do anything to destroy them" her voice turned icy. "How far are the preparations, my child?" she finally asks with a warm smile. "Almost completed. The dreamers are almost ready to welcome you" I speak solemnly. "How long will it take until the preparations are completed? Will you be able to finish them before the summer sun celebration?" she glares down at me. "We will be, I promise" I answer with a little shrug. Her eyes don't look as warm or welcoming as they used to be anymore. "Good to hear" her glare returnes to the warm, motherly look. She tilts her head a little bit, looking down at me with this motherly expression, before she opens her wings to pull me in a rather cold embrace. "Thank you for your coming tonight, Grin" she whispers into my ear, a tear streams down her face. "You don't have to thank me for that..." I whisper back, closing my eyes and sinking deeper into the embrace of cold feathers and cold fur. "...Mother."