//------------------------------// // Talk to the moon, awake from a nightmare and laugh // 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 VI: Awake from the nightmare 2 weeks later "Are you sure you should try it again?" Luna asks worried, "The last tries ended always in you fainting." "We have to do it anway" I answer rubbing my temples, trying to get away the annoying headache, "and if I don't try it from time to time I won't know when I'm ready to do it again." Luna nodds. I know she's right, but I have to try it anyway. 'Ts... If only Celestia hadn't done that...' I think grimly, 'smashing me into a wall like that.' Lunas cautious look rests on me. "We can still wait a few days" she says. "Afraid, that Celestia might change her opinion?" I ask. "No, that's not it" she shakes her head, "I'm more afraid she might attack Nightmare the very instant she sees her." "If everything turns out fine" I begin, "I could also link us into the realms so we could make sure they don't do anything stupid" Luna nodds. I take a deep breath. "Okay, let's do it" I focus my mind, try to overcome the headache, the pain that keeps on throbbing in the depths of my brain, in order to link my dreamrealm with Nightmares. I feel the my magical aura as it starts to gather my inherent magic. 'Looks good so far, the pain doesn't get stronger. Only a little bit more an-' A loud ringing starts in my ears. 'Dammit!' I grind my teeth. It get's louder and louder. Louder. Louder. I can't even hear my own thoughts anymore. It's just too loud. "Gah!" I lose my focus and fall on my haunches, holding my head in my hooves. Luna rushes at my sight, talking to me, saying something but I can't hear it. The ringing is too loud. The pain! It feels like someone is sawing at my brain with a rusty knife, not cutting cleanly through it but tearing it apart piece by piece, inch by inch. It's absolut crucial. "-in!" Luna shouts, looking down at me in worry. But I still can't understand her. My eyelids start to get heavy, darkness creeps up at the edge of my vision. I fall. The last thing I see is Lunas worried look. "GRIN!" I awake suddenly. I look around, still tired. I'm alone. "Hrmm" someone sighs right next to me. I turn my head slowly. Luna lies on the other side of the bed, under her own sheets. 'Where am I?' It's pitchblack. I look around and try to find a source of light or something to tell me what time it is. I turn my head to the nightstand on the right side, my side, of the bed. And there is a small clock, but it's too dark to read what it says. The clock suddenly puffs out a small trail of smoke which changes its colour and tells me in a dim night-blue it's a few minutes past 3 a.m.. Deep in the night. I yawn. 'Funny clock' I think tired. What waked me? It sounded like a loud cry. Another booming sound fills the air. I jump. Until now I didn't notice the faint sound, it sounds like... "It's a storm" Luna whispers, she startled me even though her voice was so quiet. She chuckles, "can't you sleep anymore?" she asks still whispering. I nodd, than I remember that it's pitch black and she can't see me. I open my mouth to answer when suddenly warm light illuminates the room. "So you're awake eh?" she looks worried, "how is your head?" she smiles weakly. I still have a faint ringing in my ears and now that I can actually see something I notice the dizziness. Rubbing my temples, the headache is still there too. "Could be better" I say. Another thunder bashes down on my ears, I flatten them against my skull. Luna slips out of the sheets, she streaks herself, making her back pop and crack a little bit. She stiffles a yawn. "Not used to this" she whispers to no one and walks to the door to the balcony. "What?" I say as I walk slowly after her. "Oh nothing" she turns her head and smiles, "getting up so early, that's all." I nodd. "Me too." Luna opens the balcony door, looks back at me, winks, and walks out into the rain. 'What was that all about?' I think curious as I tred behind. Unlike Luna I stop at the door sill. I look out, up to the sky seeing the rain fall. I never liked the rain. Never liked how it runs down ones spine and flattens the manes and tails, never liked how it moistens the ground so everypony gets muddy. I never liked rain. My eyes travel back to Luna. I look at her figure standing in the rain as if it was the most natural thing there ever was. The rain runs down her head, her neck, her hips, her flanks... I shake my head and force my gaze into a other direction. "Why don't you come out?" Luna asks, looking back at me her mane, tail and coat soaked. I shake my head, "I don't like the rain" I answer. "And why is that?" she looks curious at me with a smile, "rain is something beautiful. It reminds me of the most precious thing there ever will be" she whispers, closing her eyes she tilts her head towards the sky, "it reminds me that I'm alive. Rain is my favorite weather. You can hear rain, you can see him. You can smell the ground he rejuvenates, you can feel him. To me rain is something far too beautiful to be ignored." "Like you have been?" I answer queitly. Her head slowly lowers and she turns to me. Her expression shows something like pain. Yes she is hurt. I open my mouth, I want to say I'm sorry but I know even if I say it, it won't make it any less true. "Yes" she simply answers, "like I have been." I shake my head. "I'm sorry, that was insensitive." "Yes it was" her expression still shows pain. Suddenly it changes. She grins, a cold happy mischievous grin. I know what she is planning. "Oh no you don't!" I stumble backwards, but it's too late. Her horn ignites and a pale blue aura surrounds my body. Her grin widens. "No,no,no-no-no-no" I stammer, "please don't!" "Too late for mercy" she answers with a giggle. She levitates me up and pulls me quickly out of her room into the cold embrace of the rain. ... Wait a moment. It's not cold. She lowers me back down to the ground right next to her. I stand there, soaked to the bones but not cold. I look at the clouds above us, confused. "Strange" I say. "What?" Luna asks, still grinning. "I expected the rain to be cold" I hear Lunas giggle and turn my head to her, "what?" "Well" she explains and points up with her hoof, "these are special magically enchanted clouds. I got them from Tia, she remembered how much I loved to watch the rain" her smile fades a little bit and her voice gets a little bit quieter, "they only rain if I want them to and of course the rain has a most pleasant temperature." "Why?" "You think I want to catch a cold?" she asks in disbelief, "it's mid october!" ... I facehoof. Luna giggles again. 'Of course it is so simple!' I snap at myself, 'idiot!' ... We stand there in the rain both silent, just listening to the sound of the falling rain. I close my eyes and just like Luna did before I tilt my head up and let the rain fall on my face. She is right. Rain can be something pleasant. "I wish I had these on the moon" Luna suddenly says. I look at her. Her expression is quiet and sad as she looks up to the clouds above us. I don't dare to say something. "Up there" she points to the sky at the position where her moon should be right now, "there is nothing, just the cold gray ground. It's so quiet and cold up there. I never knew if I was still alive or already dead" I look at her eyes and I see tears escaping her eyes. I look away. Most ponies think they can hide their tears in the rain. They are wrong. Luna and I are silent again as before just listening to the sound of rain falling down. I don't know how long we stood there but it never got uncomfortable, like a warm liquid blanket that gets wrapped around you. It was a nice feeling. "Come on" Luna suddenly whispers and nudges me, "let's get back inside." I simply nodd and follow her. At the door sill she stops and ignites her horn creating a blue barrier in the door. She walks right at it and through it. Every drop of water on her body stops at the barrier and flows down to the ground. I follow her, and just like before every drop of water in my coat gets caught at the barrier. Back inside I'm completly dried. Luna dispells her magic and the barrier fades out of existence. "Useful" I state. She simply nodds, her expression looks kinda far away. As if she is no longer here atleast mentally. She closes the door to the balcony and walks back to the bed. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask, she shakes her head and looks back at me. "What? Excuse me, did you say something?" "Yes, I asked if you are okay?" I say a little bit worried. "Oh. Oh, yes I'm fine. Just lost in my thoughts." "I noticed." Strangely she smiles at this comment. She yawns and lays down on the bed. Her smile widens. "Good night" she whispers and falls asleep almost instantly. 'Okay... that was.... odd' I think confused, 'whatever.' I walk back to the bed and slip under the sheets on my side of the bed. The light goes out on it's own. I yawn. "Good night" I whisper back. Luna is still smiling. ~~~~~~~~ I must have been asleep a few hours. I open my eyes. I notice what is pressed against my snout. I blush. Apparently, I managed to turn around in my sleep. Luna did the same. Apparently she is really grabby in her sleep. I am embraced by Luna, again. This time face to face. My nose is pressed against the warm soft coat of her neck, both of her forelegs are around my chest and keeping me locked in the embrace, her head rests on the pillows. 'Again?' I think tired, trying panically to find a way out of her embrace without waking her. I stop in my thoughts. There is no way. I sigh. "Princess Luna?" I whisper as softly as I can. No response, "Luna?" I whisper a little bit louder. No response. I sigh. "Luna" I say loudly, she doesn't move, she doesn't even flinch. 'Something is off' I wirggle myself out of her embrace and look at the sleeping princess before me. My eyes widen. 'What is that?' I ask myself in a stupor. I look down at the princess. At the dead princess. Dark, crusted blood covers her whole lowerbody. Dark red and brownish stains are on my coat and on my hooves, a knife, stuck in Lunas belly tells me what killed her. Looks like she has been dead for a few days now. But that couldn't be, I jump around and look at the clock on the nightstand. It's 5:52 p.m.. No, it can't be, Luna was still alive 14 hours ago. I hear a door open. "Good morning Lun-" Celestia looks shocked at the scenery in front of her. A stallion covered in blood sitting in a bed that he obviously shared with the now very dead princess, a knife stuck in her belly. Celestias horn ignites. I die instantly. Desintegrated by the suns heat. Darkness. "Grin" Nothingness. "Grin" Loneliness. "Grin" Whispers. I can hear them. "Grin!" I open my eyes. Luna sits next to me a worried look on her face. "Grin are you alright?" she asks worried, her voice wavering. I growl and close my eyes to shield them from the bright light that shines into the room. 'No I'm not alright' I think to myself grimly. "No I'm not!" I answer coldly. Luna shrugs at my tone. "Sorry" she looks down a frown on her face, "I was just worried. You mumbled something in your sleep, it looked like you had a nightmare. I was trying to wake you for the past minute." I sit up. And fall back on my back almost instantly, my head spins like a carnival attaction. And that's nothing compared to the massive pain in my brain. What felt before like a rusty knife is now a dozen rusty and broken saws, grinding and splintering their way through my brain. "What happened?" I ask whincing. "I don't know" Luna shakes her head, "we went back to bed this morning and after I woke up I found you like this." I open my eyes. "Wait" I say, "we went to bed together? So this wasn't a dream? Me and you standing in the rain?" Luna blushes a little bit, whatever reason she has to do so, but nodds. "I thought for sure it was a dream." Someone knocks at the door. Luna, trying to be as silent as possible, walks up to the door and answers. She is talking to somepony, but through the pain in my head, the things I can catch up won't make any sense. "Grin?" Luna whispers suddenly, standing right next to me, "there is someone who wants to talk to you. Do you want to or should he come back later?" she tries to smile, it's not a confident one. "Who is it?" I ask, still trying to fight off the pain. "His name is Marble Shield and he's one of the solar guards" she quickly answers. My eyes widen. 'Shield' I think about it for a second, maybe his reaction won't be too good, seeing me here. "Yes he can come in" I say after a few moments hesitation. Luna nodds and walks back to the door talking to him for a second. Shield nodds, takes his helmet off and comes in. "Looky there" he smiles, "if that isn't Sunny." Luna smiles as they both walk up to the bed. "I hate that pet name and you know it!" I answer with a weak smile, "Hi Shield, got any new burns?" I ask with a smirk. Shield growls. "Damn it, that happened only once and you know it!" "But it still happened" I snicker and regret it instantly. My head can't even take a simple laugh at the moment. "What happened?" Luna asks curious. I snicker again, I regret it again. "It's a funny story, you know..." I start, "around 3 years ago, Shield was registered as recruit for the solar guards. On his first day he had to guard one certain spot" I snicker, "well, that day Celestia got pretty mad at one of the griffon ambassadors if I'm not mistaking, well Celestia got so mad that day that she didn't notice that her anger had boosted the sunrays. Well little Shield here had the luck to guard the one spot in the whole of Canterlot that has sunshine, 18 hours the day. So after around 7 hours in the blazing sun, he collapsed. Of course he was sent to the infirmary" I start too laugh. Never thought laughing could hurt so much. After I calmed myself a little bit I go on, "the diagnosis was" I snicker again, "a heavy sunburn and a sunstroke" I laugh loudly again, and yes i regret it again, "so Shield here managed as the first guard in the history of the solar guard to get a sunburn and a sunstroke, he had to stay home another week for recovery before he could return to his work." I snicker again. Shield was quiet the whole story, now blushing he looked away, Lunas face was undescribable, it was something between a happy glee and at the same time she tried to be sorry for the stallion. It looked absolutly ludicrous, seeing her snicker and shiver, trying to stiffle the laugh and at the same time she tried to look sorry. After a minute Luna couldn't take it anymore, she collapsed to the floor laughing. I smiled, I had enough pain to go around for the next few days if I wanted to, so I suppressed my laughs pretty good. After a few moments Shield started to giggle, which increased to a full hearted laugh. It was good to see them laugh. After we all calmed down, we talked about all sorts of stuff, the weather, politics and all that boring stuff. But I noticed Shields eyes. He had questions burning on his tongue, but he never asked them. Later that evening, the clock chimed 9 p.m.. Shield looked at the clock, his eyes widend. "Oh damn it!" he sprinted back to the door, "I'm sorry, gotta go! Wasn't supposed to be here so long!" picking up his helmet he twirled around, saluted quickly and went out. Luna was still stiffling her giggles. "A sunburn?" she looks at me, still smiling. "True story" I answer earning another giggle from Luna. Her eyes wander over to the clock, she sighs. "It's getting late, maybe you should go to sleep and get some rest." "Okay" I nodd and try to sit up as she stops me. "What are you doing?" she asks, worried. "Trying to get up so I can go back to my room, getting some rest as you said?" I answer. "You are not going anywhere. You stay here" she demands. "But this is your-" a hoof to the mouth stops my retort. "No retorts! You are staying here tonight!" "But-" Luna gives me a stern look. I shake my head, "fine" I finally whisper, which makes her smile. I lay back down on my back pull the sheets up to my shoulders I try to get comfortable. It doesn't take long before tiredness overtakes and I fall asleep.