//------------------------------//
// Facing Facts 
// Story: Waking Up 
// by Paladin-mlp 
//------------------------------//

	You feel the warm comforting embrace of another pony upon your back.  The taste of vomit lingers in your throat.  You open your eyes…  It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust.  Before you lies a window.  It is a clear night sky.  The moon and stars shine brightly above, while the Canterlot skyline buzzes with life below.
You are very stiff, painfully stiff.  You attempt to stretch.  As you attempt to move your legs you realize that you can’t fell anything.  You slowly look down and there they are, stumps on the ends of your knee caps where your legs used to be.  You are overcome with an immense wave of sorrow and begin weeping uncontrollable.  You can feel the pony embracing you tense up upon hearing your cries, but after a few seconds their body relaxes… they pull you in closer…
“Everything’s going to be alright Moon Glider…”  Luna says to you.
You continue to cry… but are comforted by her warmth and embrace.  A few minutes pass, Luna continues to hold you in her hooves.  You slowly begin to regain your composure.
“Thank you Luna…Thank you…”
“You are welcome Moon Glider… you are… my first… successful rescue… I’ve never been able to bring someone out of a coma before… I was beginning to think it couldn’t be done.”
“Well I hope it was good for you as it was for me.”  You say with a snicker…
“I’ll never forget this assignment, that’s for sure…”
You both shudder thinking about the experience you just went through.
“How long Luna?…”
Luna lets out a sigh.
“…12 years, 4 months, 13 days…”
A wave of dizziness overtakes you…
“T-twelve years…”
“I’m sorry Moon Glider…”
You mind begins to shift towards the friends and family you had before the accident.
“My father… he was being treated for heart problems right before the accident… is he still alive?”
“No…”
Luna says in a somber tone.
“What about my mother?”
“…she passed away from cancer a few years ago…”
Tears begin to fill your eyes as another round of grief strikes you.  Luna continues to hold you in her in embrace.  A few more minutes pass by… Luna speaks to you.
“Moon Glider… I expect to you to make a full recovery… I will personally commission you a set of prosthetics made from the best craftsman in Canterlot.  I also will get you the best physical therapist.  I expect you to be up and walking in no time.”
Still deep in sorrow, you let out a bleak response.
“Thank you Luna…”
Luna slowly leaves your embrace and gets out of the bed.  You look at her real face for the first time.  The mare’s face is dripping with blood.
“LUNA! What happened to you?!”
“Oh this… nothing… just a flesh wound… my ribs though… I am not sure if they are broken or not…”
“HOW?”
“I had to get here in a hurry to save you from asphyxiating, remember…”
“Yeah…”
“My teleportation spell did not drop me in the most… ideal… location.  I am going to get patched up…”
She begins to walk towards the door.
“Luna… you’re a fucking hero… you know that right…”
She smiles as she looks back at you.
“Thank you Moon Glider…”
She opens the door with her magic.
“Once you are able to walk, come to my palace, alright…”
“…I’ll be there.”
“Good…good…”
She steps through the door and walks away.

…

A week passes since you’ve awaken from your coma.  You are still very weak.  You limbs are slowly regaining muscle mass.  In a few more days the doctor says you will be able to attempt walking with the prosthetic limbs.
Your next of kin are notified about your recovery.  You are the last of your immediate family, but several members of your extended family are still alive and happy to see you.
You a resting in your hospital bed after a long session of physical therapy and suddenly a visitor arrives to see you.  A middle age unicorn stallion walks into your room.
“Hello Moon Glider, I’m a reporter from the Canterlot Times.  I heard about how Princess Luna helped you recover from a coma… and I was wondering if I could interview you for a story?”
“I’m not really in the mood right now…”
“I completely understand… but… your recovery is truly an amazing tale … if ponies hear about this story… well I think there is a good chance that you can inspire a lot of ponies…”
You ponder for a second at what the reporter told you.  You really didn’t want any extra attention, but if you could help inspire hope in a few ponies… ponies which may be a little down on their luck and are in a bad place…  Memories of your past begin to flood your mind.
“Alright, fine…”  You say reluctantly.
“Great! Thank you, this story is going to do a lot of good.”
The report pulls out his notebook.
“Can we start from the beginning?”
Just thinking about the accident makes you cringe.  You give him your full account about what happened.  You don’t get too specific, especially about the details of the traumatic memories you had to relive to stimulate brain activity.  He attempts to pry for more details…
“NO! And stop asking!”
“Ok… sorry… well despite not having all the details I still think we have a pretty good story here.  I’ll probably run this story in the next day or two.”
“Fine… now please leave…”
You say bluntly, you have grown tired and annoyed with reporter.
“Of course, I wish you a speedy recovery”
The reporter leaves the room.  You quickly pass out on your hospital bed.

…

Another week passes.  The doctor says you are improving greatly.  You pretty much have full control of your wings back.  You can use them to move around, but the doctor advises you not to become to be over reliant on them, as neglecting using your legs will decrease muscle mass.  With the assistance of you physical therapist you are able to make take a few steps at a time using your new prosthetics.
One day, after another round of intense physical therapy, you are resting in your bed and a cyan colored pony with a rainbow mane shows up at your hospital bedroom.
“DASH!”
The mare closes the door behind her as she comes inside.
“MOON GLIDER!”
She cries as she comes to your side.  She pauses for a second before hesitantly hugging you.
“I came as soon as I read about you in the paper.”
“It’s been awhile…”
“Yeah it has…”
There is an awkward pause.  Both of you are unsure how to proceed with the conversation.  It’s been more than a decade since the two of you meet.  Your old relationship with Dash was complicated, you would always hook up whenever she was in town visiting Canterlot, but she spent a lot of time traveling for work.
“So how’s the Wonderbolt gig going?”
“GREAT!  I broke all sorts of records and invented a bunch of aerial maneuvers!”
“That’s great, I’ll have to watch you the next time you guys perform.”
Rainbow Dash pauses.
“…I don’t perform anymore, I’m a flight instructor now…”
“Oh…”
You can see the disappointment in her eyes.  You try to cheer her up.
“That’s still pretty cool!”
”Yeah…”  Rainbow Dash says, trying to hide her dismay.
“So…”
A few more moments pass, you decide go all in.
“I had a pretty sweet dream about you the other day… both of us on my parents bed…”
You give her a sultry look.  Dash smiles upon remembering that memory… but then frowns…
“I’m married now Moon Glider…”
You let out a sigh.   It has been 12 years; of course a beautiful mare like her would have been hitched by now.
“Oh… congratulations…”
“Thanks… we just had twins two years ago… they are quite a handful.”
“If they are anything like their mother I’d image they would be.”
Rainbow Dash smiles.
“So who’s the lucky guy, any pony that I know?”
“Yeah… Bulk Biceps-”
“BULK BICEPS!”
“Yeah… we got to know each other really well while working together at the Wonderbolt Academy…”
“…BULK BICEPS DASH!”
“…I know, I know…”
She lets out a sigh.
“…turns out he’s really good with kids…”
You shake your head in disbelief, you move your front right leg out from under the covers of your hospital bed and attempt to facehoof, out of habit.  Before you realize there is nothing there your face falls forward past your amputated leg.  You and Dash both look at the stump upon the middle of your leg.  You look back at Dash, she is still staring at your amputated limb, she notices that you are staring at her and quickly looks down to the ground.
“Sorry…”
“It’s ok Dash…”
Tears begin to form in Dash’s eyes.
“I… I wish things could have been different…”
“Me too Dash... me too…”
Dash approaches you again and gives you another hug, much more compassionate and sincere then her first attempt.
“There’s someone I’d like you to meet Moon Glider.”
Dash says as she walks towards the door.
“Dash… please don’t let Bulk Biceps in here…”
Dash chuckles. 
“It’s not Bulk Biceps…”
Dash opens the door.
“Moon Glider, come in here honey...”
“What are you talking about Dash, I’m right here?”
A small colt hesitantly walks into the room.  The colt has a dark blue coat, his rainbow colored mane contains several steaks of black.  A cutie mark containing a moon lies on his flank.
“Moon Glider… this is your son… Moon Glider… junior… SURPRISE!”
“WHAT!?!”
“Turns out right before the accident you ‘gave’ me a little gift to remember you by…”
“REALLY!?!”
“Yup!”
Dash, says with a smile upon her face.  Dash looks at her son.
“Well junior… don’t be afraid… go say hi to your father…”
The child looks at Moon Glider, lying stupefied on the hospital bed.
“H-h-hello d-dad…”
He looks just like you, he even has the stutter you had when you were young…”
“H-hello son…”