Bad things happen to good ponies,. It's unfortunate, but a fact of life nevertheless. Another such fact of life is that invariably, when these bad things are bad enough, somepony, sometimes entirely uninvolved, ends up needing to deliver the news of whatever malady has occurred.
For the ponies in Fillydelphia Community Hospital, that job was passed to an Earth Pony mare by the name of Misty Eyes, whose soft beige features and kind hazel eyes sized just a bit too large for her face, combined to provide an easy face to talk to about unpleasant matters. In fact, delivering such bad news was her special gift, represented by a tragedy mask shedding a tear on either flank, and after a few rather abnormal interviews, landed her a job of confronting patients, or families of patients, with whatever bad news the doctor or nurse felt they couldn't deliver.
It was odd at first, for all involved, but after awhile it became routine, with doctors explaining to Misty what was going on and enough information to answer cursory questions, and the mare donning a nurses uniform and letting compassion and her talent take over from there.
Today featured the usual rigamarole of "I'm sorry but you won't be able to use magic for a month while your horn heals" and "You'll need to keep her indoors, preferably in rooms without ceiling fans, until she's over the Flutter Flu." Things of the 'unpleasant but thanks to modern medicine, not horrible' nature, that simply allowed the doctors to treat a few more patients in a day than they otherwise might.
Well, it started that way anyway. Around two in the afternoon, an unusually grave-looking doctor by the name of Bone Needle drew the 'Bad News Mare' aside for an unusually grim assignment. The youngest foal had fallen ill one day, and though seemed to be improving, fell into a sleep that the doctors haven't been able to interrupt, and the family had to be informed
It took nearly half an hour of briefing, a further hour of reading, and five long minutes outside of a thick oak door before Misty Eyes was prepared to face the expectant family. The mother was a graceful creature, with an off-white coat, and a long mane of amber, with round, brown eyes, and a smooth spiral horn upon her head. The father, an Earth Pony, was seated beside the bed and looking worriedly at his foal bore a deep coat of burnt orange with a short red mane. Their eldest foal, a young golden mare in her early teens with a long white mane had one hoof on her younger sibling's, wings fluttering occasionally in nervous energy, as if hoping for a smile and a hug from the unwell foal at any moment.
Putting on her best 'It's going to be alright' smile, Misty trotted in, closing the door behind her. "Good afternoon, I'm nurse Misty-" She was interrupted before she could even finish her own name, the worried family crowding her in an instant.
"What's wrong with my daughter?"
"Is my little sister gonna be OK?"
"Do you know what's wrong?"
Misty waited until they stopped trying to talk at once, eyebrows high in an expression of surprise, before she responded. "Your daughter is, for all intents and purposes, healthy. She's gotten over her fever, her heartrate is normal." With her words, the family seemed to calm, but then even as she spoke, looks of concern turned to confusion. "The only problem," Misty continued, "is that sometime during the night two days ago before the fever broke, she fell into a deep sleep. We were able to bring the fever down before it threatened her life, and it seemed she would be alright, but the following morning the doctors were unable to wake her. She's been unresponsive since."
The three ponies facing her were silent, the words sinking in as the mother quietly turned and walked to her youngest daughter's side, and rested her chin on the filly's barrel. "Wake up sweetheart..." she whispered, only audibe due to the silence.
Misty held back a compassionate tear at the sight, and turned to the father, who had begun addressing her. "So, when is she going to wake up?" From his voice, it didn't sound like he doubted it would happen at all, simply questioning when.
"Well..." Misty began, her voice soothing and calm, though her throat was tight, "We aren't... we aren't sure. Her brain activity is amazing, in fact sometimes it almost looks like she's in sensory overload, but others as if she's merely dreaming, so we know she's still alive and can wake. She could open her eyes any minute, but attempts at magically waking her have failed. It's almost like she's resisting waking up."
"Resisting waking-?!" "-wouldn't abandon-" "-help her!" The sudden din pinned Misty's ears back, and she was grateful for the supplemental reading the doctor had suggested.
"Please, please!" The beige earth pony called over the ponies, capturing their attention once again, "I understand how concerning and upsetting this is, but there is one more thing we can try, though it is an experimental procedure, and the doctors need your consent before they can attempt it."
The three ponies opposite her shared a look for only a moment, and in one another's eyes saw they agreed without a single word spoken. "Anything." spoke the father, to which the two mares nodded.
Misty Eyes nodded, looking once more to the foal so peacefully asleep with her small head on the pillow. "Alright. From what I've read, it's a fairly extensive process, as care has to be taken not to cause more harm than good. What you three can do to help," she momentarily paused, surprised by the intensity of the gazes on her, and for a moment she believed that the three of them would carry the sun and moon across the world for their daughter had it been asked of them, "... What the three of you can do to help her is to tell her stories. She's dreaming right now, so maybe you can help guide her out."
"And so the six new friends, the power of their friendship so strong that even Nightmare Moon couldn't overcome it, rose into the air. Shining like stairs, the Elements of Harmony began to glow as they prepared to unleash the most powerful magic in the whole wide world!"
It was a quiet afternoon in the hospital room that in the past month had become warm and a piece of home, with quilts keeping the filly on the bed warm with posters on the walls, and beside the bed with a book held in her hooves, the filly's mother read in a rich voice, the cadence of her words making the morning sun all the brighter.
"Twilight Sparkle, the special Unicorn that had been so unaware of the magic of friendship, opened her eyes as her tiara shone, and a glorious rainbow gathered from each of those wonderful friends to strike the darkness of the Nightmare, and though nopony is sure just what happened next, when the six awoke Princess Celestia was waiting for them with the sun shining in the sky, and before them, a small Alicorn with a soft, blue coat rested, recovering in the shards of black and blue that had been Nightmare Moon. The ponies rose to their hooves-"
"It's time for her treatment, Daybreak." The voice cut off the white unicorn, for it belonged to Misty Eyes, the mare that over the past several weeks had taken it upon herself to tend to the wounded family. It was only the second treatment since they had begun, and it was scheduled for once a week, to carefully monitor the effects and watch for any signs of improvement.
The fire stolen from the Unicorn's narration, the mare seemed to fold in on herself, holding back a sob as she forced a smile onto her face, giving one more look to her daughter before closing the history book. "May I...?"
"Of course." Misty responded immediately, and together the two of them lifted the bed onto its wheels, and Daybreak pushed her daughter, following Misty Eyes, down the halls of the hospital, earning many sympathetic looks from passing doctors, nurses, and patients alike.
Two ponies already waited in the dimly lit room full of strange machinery, Daybreak's husband and daughter, the two looking up with forlorn, and yet hopeful smiles. Not a moment passed that one of them wasn't there with their daughter, in case she opened her eyes. In silence, the bed was taken to one of the largest of the machines, a cylinder filled with soft lights. Doctors gave Daybreak a moment to kiss her daughter's forehead, before they wheeled her into the machine, connecting small pads with wires within to shaved flesh, hidden by the youngster's mane.
A Unicorn sat in a small booth visible through a window, and soon with a soft hum the machines in the room began to whirr to life with gentle hums and magical glows, several observers from the Royal Canterlot College and other doctors watched quietly through a window on the opposite wall in respectful silence, and for a long while, there was only the hum of machinery and occasional glows of spellwork making minute adjustments to technical settings or the magical field around the small pony. Eventually though, the young mare couldn't handle the silence any longer.
"Please, tell me again what this is supposed to be doing for my sister." asked the young golden teen of one of the doctors still in the room, monitoring equipment. Her voice was subdued, as it had been since her sibling had fallen ill. At first, she received no response, as though she had not even spoken, but after a few adjustments and another glance at the monitor, the stallion, a Pegasus as well with a deep blue coat and fire-red mane turned to her with a patient smile.
"Well Summer Cloud," he began, having spoken to her the first treatment as well, "your little sister is stuck in a very powerful dream, and she can't wake up. We think she doesn't even realize she's dreaming, but this machine is letting us touch on her dreaming mind and try to guide her back."
Summer Cloud nodded, looking over to her sister, then back. "But, if it can do that, then why isn't she waking up?"
"That's because we have to be careful with how much we touch. A sleeping mind can be delicate, and we need to ensure she doesn't struggle and dive deeper into her dreams." Explained the doctor,, his eyes lingering on the young filly and a bit of sadness touching his face. "We aren't sure exactly what she's experiencing, but testers on this power said that the machine changed small portions of their dream. For example, two balls and a cube appeared in a book in one ponies dream, and we were using those as the test input."
"Test input? So, you're making her dreaming self experience stuff?" Summer asked curiously. This was news to her, and judging by her parents reactions, to them as well. "Then, what are you making her dream about?"
"Well, we weren't sure what would be best, so we've started off just trying to make her dream about what's been going on around her lately, in hopes that remembering her surroundings will help bring her back to them." Responded the doctor, eyes flicking to his colleagues and then to the family. In truth he and the other ponies were just as unsure as the family.
After a few quiet moments passed without further questioning, the Pegasus stallion turned back to his work, and they listened in silence to the humming. That is, until Daybreak tapped her hoof a few times on the Pegasus doctor's shoulder. "Could... Could we maybe talk to her? With this machine I mean? Maybe if we told her stories, or just... just talked..." Tears filled the Unicorn's bright gold eyes, and she had to look away, back to her husband.
Putting a strong hoof around his wife's withers, the Earth Pony looked to the doctor questioningly, still wanting an answer on behalf of his wife, though he said nothing as he held her.
"Well, the treatment is usually an hour long, but... I suppose it wouldn't hurt if we let you talk to her for thirty minutes or so..?" The Pegasus looked uncertainly toward his colleagues, and the operator. None of them were able to offer more than uncertain shrugs themselves, but judging by the hopeful looks on the three ponies, none could find it in their hearts to say no.
It didn't take more than five minutes for them to set up a microphone and change the settings enough to let Daybreak sit down on a cushion, facing her daughter visible in the machine, ready to start talking.
At first, Daybreak wasn't sure what to say. What she could say. So instead, she spoke from the heart, looking at her filly's closed eyes.
"Please come home. Please sweetheart." It was all she could think to say, and it took every fiber of her being not to break into sobs. Even some of the onlookers had to dab a cloth at their eyes. "I... I don't know if you can hear me, but I love you. I'm here. Me and your sister, Summer Cloud, and your father Firelight. We all love you, my little pony. I... I brought one of your favorite stories..."
And she began to read, where she left off. She made the words on the pages come to life for her daughter, telling her about how Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all worked together to save Princess Luna, Princess Celestia's dear little sister, but before she could talk about the amazing celebration that followed, a hoof touched her shoulder. It was time to wrap up this week's treatment.
"I love you. Please come home." Daybreak said into the microphone once more, before the doctors set the machines back to their original settings, and the little filly continued to sleep.
Days passed, without the filly stirring, but nevertheless Daybreak, Firelight, and Summer Cloud stayed by her side, a second bed in the room utilized so that even at night they could stay with her. Days turned into weeks, and were it not for one thing it would have been unbearable. Were it not for one thing, her parents and sister would have questioned if their daughter would return to them.
She was smiling. In her dreams, she smiled, and it almost seemed as if she knew the treatment was coming, because every week she'd smile wider, and each time the doctors and her family would watch her, hoping she'd awaken. Each time her mother would open a story book or history book and read to her, and always, she would tell her, "I love you, my little pony. Please come home.
Please come home.
For months this continued, with the filly smiling, sometimes even murmuring in her sleep when her mother would read to her, but she wouldn't wake. For her family, it was a balancing act between hope and despair, and had even received letters from the Princesses congratulating them for their dedication, and asking if there was anything that they could to for them.
Doctors offered support, Misty Eyes visiting every day and somewhat unofficially becoming the family's caretaker, ensuring that the filly's needs were met, that food was always available for her family, and had even been labeled with the name 'Aunt Misty' by Summer Cloud. Even a few newspapers ran the story, at first one, then two, then four. It wasn't long until nearly every day flowers arrived for the family, and letters offering support and kindness, even admiration for the family that refused to give up on their daughter.
Still, hope and faith could only combat despair and helplessness for so long, and one night, Daybreak and Firelight sat watching their daughter with her small smile. They were keeping their daughter happy they knew. Their stories, their company, their love, they knew her daughter was in some way receiving it, but it tore at them that it wasn't enough.
They couldn't love their daughter anymore than they did, they couldn't wish harder for her to return to them. They couldn't dream more happily of her opening her eyes and throwing her legs around them.
The only thing they could do, was ask the doctors to turn the power of the machine up.
"Doctor Skylight," Daybreak began softly to the blue Pegasus that had been with them since the earliest treatment, "If nothing else we know we're getting through to her somehow, and seeing her smile is one of the greatest gifts we could get but... Please. It's not enough."
Heart catching in his throat, Doctor Skylight knew what Daybreak wanted of him, and there had been arguments to do it and against doing it amongst those in charge of the 'project' for weeks now. They had decided against it, for fear that it might hurt more than harm. It must have showed on his face, too.
"Please." This time the request came from all three ponies in harmony.
Nopony in that room could find it in their hearts to deny them, and with a shared look, they nodded to the operator, and the dull hum that signified the machine warming up as the filly lie there, turned instead to a whirring, lights brightening as a dial was turned very slowly.
The microphone was in its usual place, and Daybreak took her seat. Her daughter lied there, smiling as wide as her sleeping face would allow, as it usually did and then
I love you.
My little pony, my little pony...
Please
Come home
love
Home
Please
please
emoh emoC
Please my little pony, we love you. We miss you. Please come home to us. Please don't leave us. We love you with all of our hearts. Please come home.
Please wake up.
For us.