Grin

by Dradavar

Awakening

Chapter VIII: Awakening

please ....

My eyes rush open. I look around, an almost panical look on my face. I'm confused as I notice that I'm alone.

I could have sworn.... I heard somepony.

'Maybe I did.... it's not like I'm the only pony in this castle' I yawn, yeah that has to be it.

Something was still off. I was still lying in the probably cuddliest bed in the world, snuggled into the sheets, a fluffy pillow under my head-

But still...

I was freezing, like I was out in the frozen tundra in the north alone without special clothes, naked.

I sat up looking at the windows and doors, both shut.

I was getting even more confused right now, bringing a hoof up to my forehead. No, as far as I can tell I have normal temperature. This was getting stranger and stranger.

The door opens quietly, Luna walking in. She notices me and smiles but doesn't say anything.

It's getting even stranger. The very moment I was in her presence my body feels like it was inside a bathtub filled with boiling water, I felt like my skin was baked and ready to be crumbled off, it was a very unsettling feeling.

please ....

My eyes widen. Again.

"Did you hear that?" I ask Luna. Luna looks at me with a curious look, but doesn't say anything as she shakes her head.

She looks at me, smiling again. She nods and goes out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Okay, something is definitely off. The very moment she was gone my body returned to freeze. I didn't know what to do, I was so confused that I only noticed Lunas returnal through the heat returning in my limbs, together with the feeling of being burned alive. I didn't know what was worse, freezing or being baked.

I decided to go with baked.

"Princess Luna?" I ask quietly, Luna, who was almost out of the door again, looked back to me, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Is it okay if I accompany you?" my voice was quiet and meekly. I look into her eyes, they doesn't seem to move at all. She turns around opens her mouth-

please .... wake up...

There it was again. A distant voice, mumbling something. It felt like I knew the voice, and what it was calling but I can't make any sense of it.

Luna stands before me, a concerned look on her face.

"You okay Grin?" she asks. It was hard to understand her, it was like my ears were filled with water.

'Is this a late sideeffect of the concussion?' no it couldn't be. The doctor said I was as good as normal, just yesterday after I met Shield.

Princess Luna was still looking at me, her eyes filled with worry and concern, "Grin?" she asks.

I shake my head, "Oh, I'm sorry princess. I'm.... okay" I answered, still meekly.

"You look a bit distant" she states as she leans back, "you sure you're okay? We could go to the doctor again."

I shake my head again, "No, no. I'm fine, really" I don't know why I said that. I definitely am not okay, but still, I felt like I had to say that.

Lunas curious look was still on me, I knew she wasn't believing me. After a few seconds she shruggs with her shoulders.

"Maybe you're just nervous, I would be too if I were about to see my mother again."

Oh, right, today was the big day.

Mother would return.

"Yes" I nod, "maybe that's it."

"Well, you ready?" she asks, a bright smile on her face, "after all we need you to open a path to her realm."

I look up, looking at her. I flap my ears a few times, trying to get them clear of the strange sensation. It felt like cloth was wraped around my ears, damming most of the sound.

'What is going on?' I'm more than a little bit confused, but I slip out of the sheets and jump of the bed. I look back at Luna and nod.

Whatever was wrong, I can think about it later.

It was time to wake mother.

"Good morning Grin" Celestia greets me as we walk into her study. I look at her curious, tilting my head a little bit. Her voice wasn't muffled. I could hear it clear as crystal.

"please... wake up... can you hear me?"

Celestia was looking at me. Her expression still serene and collected.

"It's rude to stare" she suddenly states.

I shake my head, trying in vain to get this strange feeling off of me.

"I'm very sorry, wasn't my intention" I answer meekly.

My eyes widen.

'Normally I'm not meekly and shy! What is going on here?' I shake my head. Something was off, very, very off.

Luna, who had excused herself for a second, walked into the study. I was preparing myself for the strange boiling sensation.

But the strange sensation was gone.

I felt totally normal, besides my ears that still felt like they were wrapped in cloth.

"You look confused Grin" Celestias expression showed worry, "Are you sure you're okay?"

I open my mouth and try to answer-

A white flash covers my sight.

"RUN! ..." Somepony screams, the feel of something hard and heavy hitting me in the side throws me to the ground as the light disappears.

I sit in Celestias study a distant almost dead expression on my face. Luna and Celestia look at me with worry, Lunas voice even oozes with worry as she speaks.

"Grin? Grin! Answer me!" she screams.

I shake my head.

"What? What happened?"

The thoughts were slow, so very slow. Like a child was thinking them, struggling to make sense of new learned words. A sudden fear wraps itself around my heart.

Another flash. This time in red.

"He might never wake up again"

The cry of a mare follows me back into the real world.

Luna and Celestia were whispering to each other.

Luna notices that I 'have returned' and turns to me, "Grin?"

"Yes?" my voice hasn't changed but it felt... different.

"I think we shouldn't try this today, you're obviously not in the condition for this."

"N-no! No, I-I'm okay" I stutter, "please, we have to do this!"

Celestias and Lunas expression are almost the same, both show worry.

Celestia sighs as she walks a step closer to me.

"Let's begin then" she says as she taps her horn against my forehead.

Another flash, blue this time.

I white colt running around in the park.

"Grin! it's time to go home!"

"Okay mommy!" the colt answers as he turns around, running towards his mother.

The happy, warm smile on the face of his mother turns into pure horror, as a loud clatter and rattling echoes through the park.

"Watch out Grin!!" she shouts.

The little colt stops in his tracks, looking to where the sound is coming from.

"Run!"

The light disappears.

"Grin?" I jump. Slowly I turn around. Celestia was behind me, concern and worry reflecting on her face.

"Sheesh, you royals have to stop sneaking up on ponies" I answer smiling. Celestias expression turns to curious as she answers with a warm, but kind of distant smile. It doesn't seem to reach her eyes.

"So Grin? Were are we?" I look around, remembering what we were about to do.

"It's my realm" I look around, having seen in thousands of times I notice the difference, "even though it's not supposed to look so... childish"

The dreamrealm shows off three things,

The age of a pony.

The psyche of a pony.

And that what he wants.

But all of these points can be changed with enough control over the own realm.

My room at the moment looked like that of a 6 years old. Toys and colouring books scattered on the ground, the furniture was made out of wood. A few picture were on the commode. A schoolback was also lying on the ground, pens and papers spilling out of it. All in all, it was not how my realm was supposed to look.

"Give me a second" I close my eyes, forging my realm. I reopen them.

Yes, this was how he supposed to look.

A lonely hill, surrounded by water, a cloudless nightsky above with the full moon shining down on us.

"Impressive" Celestia says, I look back. She looks around taking in the details and most of all the scenery, "were you always so... moon focused?" she asks with a smile.

"Of course" I answer, "as the child of Nightmare Moon, how could I not be?" Celestia nods.

I look up to the moon.

'Soon mother' I think.

I take a step forward. Something is under my hoof. I bring up my hoof again, looking at whatever may lie under it.

My eyes widen.

It's a old doll, to be precise it looks exactly like my father looked. Big, grey coat. A sword and hammer on his flank. I pick the doll up.

My 'mother' gave it to me after my 'father' died. I was 4 at that time. She said that she made it, she was tailoress, so I could remember my father and could even be close to him whenever I was lonely. I loved this doll, it even had a special place in my home. In the living room on an old armchair, his old armchair. He used to sit in it every evening after he came home from work. He loved this chair. On this chair the doll was sitting.

A tear was escaping my eye as I looked down on that doll in my hooves.

"Grin?" Celestia was next to me, looking at the doll in my hooves. I was sitting on my haunches, the doll pressed against my chest.

A sniff.

"I'm fine" I sniff again, trying to stop the tears, "I just didn't expect this keepsake here."

"What is it?" her expression was motherly warm.

"This doll *sniff* was made by my mother after my father died. She tried her best to make this doll look exactly like my father so I would always remember him and wouldn't get lonely." Celestia nods.

"It's quiet impressive, it looks so detailed. With enough imagination you could see it come to life."

I nod.

"I don't want to be insensitive" Celestia begins, her expression showing sadness, "but we really have to go. We don't have all night time."

I nod again.

"Yes. Of course."

I dropp the doll. It softly lands on the grassy ground and slowly turns to dust as a small breeze carries it away.

I close my eyes, the tear stains dry in the breeze. I channel the magic around me, in my realm, my body.

With a loud shattering sound a crack on top of the hill, wide enough for a pony like Celestia to walk through, opens up.

"With this you should be able to meet mother."

Celestia nods as she walks to the crack.

My gaze follows her as she walks right through the crack. With another shattering sound the crack closes. I close my eyes again, channeling my inherent magic.

I open my eyes, Celestia in trance, sitting before me. Luna next to her.

"Everything fine?"

I nod.

Luna opens her mouth again-

"I'm very sorry princess. But could I go back to my room so I could rest some?" Without waiting for an answer I turn around, walking out of the study.

"Grin?" I hear Lunas voice behind me.

"wake up..."

I open my eyes slowly.

The doorknob turns quietly and Lunas head pokes into the room.

"Grin? You awake?" she asks quietly.

"Yes" I answer.

Luna opens the door completly, revealing herself and Celestia.

And somepony else.

A mare with grey coat, dark blue mane and tail, a crescent moon on her flank, her turquoise, dragonic eyes searching for mine.

I jump out of the bed, ready to run into her legs, her warm embrace.

A thunderclap interrupts that wish.

The world stops.

I can't move but I can still see Nightmare, as she moves closer to me, a warm motherly expression on her face. She stands right before me, leaning closer she kisses my forehead.

"Please wake up Grin" I see her face as tears stream down her cheeks.

Another thunderclap.

"Please wake up."

The sound of somepony crying fills my ears. A mare.

"Please wake up Grin" she cries.

I try to open my eyes, but they refuse to move.

The sound of a door opening reaches my ear, followed by hoofsteps.

"Miss Grace."

The crying stops for a second. I feel something move next to me.

"How is he doctor?" the mare asks, her voice filled with sorrow and sadness.

"No variance so far"

My thoughts are slow: 'What does this mean? Why is mommy crying? Why can't I open my eyes?' I try to move, and manage to do so, only a slight hitch with my backlegs.

Silence.

Again I concentrate to move, to open my eyes, anything.

Light fills my right eye. A light brown coloured unicorn-mare with glasses opens my eye with her magic and the light of a flashlight blinds me.

I see the eyes of the mare widen. Her magic disappears from my eyelid.

I try to open my eyes again.

Light fills my vision.

The face of my mother, tears streaming down her face as she smiles down on me. Her expression shows ease.

"Good morning Grin" she smiles as she huggs me.

"Morning mommy" I answer sleepy.

Lunas eyes open slowly as she smiles.

A knock on the door makes her turn around. Celestia standing in the doorframe.

"How was it today Luna?" Celestia asks.

"Success, he's is finally awake again."

"So the usage of psychological stimulation in the dreams of coma patience let them wake up?"

"Sadly, not all." She looks down on the files on her desk, "from the five ponies I tried to help so far only two managed to wake up again."

Celestia nods, "atleast we have a way to help them if the medicine failures"

Luna also nods. Her look still resting on the files.

Department:
Psychiatry and experimental usage of magic

Study:
Experimental use of magic on coma patients

Used on:
Patient #6624-B4-G.G.

Patient-Information:

Name: Grin Grace

Age: 7

...

Luna ripped her look off the patient history. Grins history was especially tragic. In short, after a day full of games and fun, it ended in pain as a out-of-control cart ran him over. While his inner organs were healthy, his brain had suffered severe damage. Following of that he fell into a coma.

Grin was the fifth patient, and only the second which managed to wake up again after Lunas manipulation.

Luna sighs.

"What is it Luna?" Celestia was right next to Luna, a waing folded around Luna.

"It's so sad" Luna pointed at the file in front of her, "that his day had to end this way."

"How long was he in coma?" Celestia asks quietly.

"Three months now. The only downside of this treatment is that it takes so much time and a pony that has to be able to use massive amounts of magic. So it's almost impossible for any common unicorn to use this."

Celestia nods.

"We can't help them all this way" Luna states.

"Sometimes, even we, can't help them."

Luna nods as she looks out her study window, looking at the full-moon.

"I'm happy I could atleast help this little colt" she whispers.

"Did you say something?" Celestia asks.

"No. No I said nothing" Luna shakes her head.

Luna waited till Celestia left her room before she dared to say anything else.

"Welcome back Grin" she smiled up to the moon.