Waking Upby Paladin-mlpChaptersThe FallLearning to FlyThe AttackThe Good MemoryInner DemonsFacing Your FearsFacing FactsWhat Dreams May ComeThe FallFalling, you’re falling… You’ve had this dream before, several times before. Yet this time it felt different, you could feel the wind against your face. It felt so real. Yet this dream usually is much shorter, you hit the ground and then you wake up, but not this time for some reason…. “WAKE UP!!! YOU’RE FALLING, WAKE UP!!!” A frantic feminine voice yells at you. “Wait, what’s going on?“ “YOU’VE FALLIN ASLEEP WHILE FLYING! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” The female voice screams at you, a wail of fear and panic filling her voice. “What… OH FUCK!” This realization hits you, you remember you were in the middle of making a late night delivery, you were nodding off, the cool fall air felt comforting against your fur, you were tired and weak, you were sick, you should have stayed home but went to work anyway because you didn’t have any PTO… You were going to die if you don’t wake up… You begin to focus on waking up. Your consciousness begins the process of pulling out of deep sleep. You can feel the wind against your wings, you try to flap them but nothing happens, you are still pulling out of deep sleep, you do not have motor functions yet. A few seconds passes, feeling like an eternity, you finally pull out. You open your eyes to see the city streets below, dangerously close and rapidly drawing near. You attempt to stabilize from the free fall, adjusting and wildly flapping your wings. You partially begin to resume control and then… SLAM … “GHHUUUUUAAAAAH!!!!” You painfully let out a gasp for air as it enters your lungs. “Stay with me!” A strong feminine voice yells to you from the distance. Excruciating pain covers your entire body “Listen to me, you need to focus!” You try to curl up into a fetal position, and in doing so are overcome another immense wave of pain. As you attempt to curl your legs into your chest, you realize that you cannot feel anything below your kneecaps. “Relax, remain calm!” Shock overtakes you. You try to cry out for help, but the pain overtakes you, blackness overtakes you. … You come back to your senses. The overwhelming pain has left your body, but the memory of it is still fresh in your mind. You shudder remembering how terrifying the pain was. You try to open your eyes, but all you can see is blackness. The top of your legs are submerged in what feels like wet sand. You try to flap your wings, but they feel restrained. You try to move your legs, but you are unable. Fear begins to overtake you, and you feel yourself slowly sinking into the sand. You try scream, but you can barely make a sound. “He…” You struggle just trying to speak just a few syllables. “Heell” The sand slowly creeps further up over your body. “HELLLP MEEE!” You manage to cry out the best you could. Panic begins to take hold of you as the sand moves up to your neck. You sense a flash of light occurring far off in the distance. “Where are you, speak!” the familiar yet unknown voice calls out. The sand makes its way up to you lips. “H-H-HELLP MEE, I-I-I’M S-S-SINKING!” You take one last breath of air as the sand moves to your nostrils. “I can barely sense you, hold on I am coming!” The unknown voice calls out. A faint blue glow approaches from ahead of you. You cannot make out the blurry form in the darkness. “Where are you, say something?!” You let out a pathetic yelp, and sand fills your mouth in the process. The sand covers your head and you are completely submerged. You are overcome with terror and you feel yourself quickly plunging into the wet sand. You feel the sand compressing upon your body as your lungs begin to pain for air. You try to move your limbs once more, but to no avail. You come to realize that this is it. You are going to die here. You let your body go limp. As the lack of air begins to overtake you, the sand against you skin begins to feel familiar. You remember a time when there was sunshine, sand, water… it was a beach. There was someone else there too; you were playing together in the sand. You were both young, she said it would be fun to see how big of a hole both of you could dig in the sand… A blue aura surrounds you. You begin to feel yourself being pulled upwards. “I have you! Hold on!” A feeling of hope begins to fill your mind, and the panic is begging to subside. However, the lack of breath is taking its toll on you, you are becoming light headed. “You shall not pass out! Stay with me!” Confused by the loud and angry voice, you begin to drift off, but you continue to try to recall who was with you that day at the beach… Was it a friend? No… It was family member… It was your older sister. Together you were able to dig a pretty deep hole in the sand, but then… the walls of the hole collapsed on top of you… you couldn’t breathe… “Enough of this…” The unknown voice says to herself. The aura surrounding your body disappears and instead shifts to the sand above your body. Suddenly, as if a land mine went off, the sand above your head explodes into the air. You gasp for oxygen and your lungs rejoice as they are filled. You remember your sister… she saved you… she dug you out of the sand pit. The first thing you saw after she brushed the sand off your eyes was her face, the sun shining brightly behind her. Her face filled with tears and fear. She grabbed you in her hooves and pulled you close… The dark sky begins slowly illuminate with light. Everything appears blurry, but you clearly see the tan sand beneath your hooves. You can hear waves of water calmly hitting the sand behind you. As the sand settles you begin to see a tall dark figure with a blue aura hazing in and out of view. “T-t-thank y-you s-sis, thank you...” You manage to welp out to the mysterious figure as tears roll down your eyes. She pauses for a moment, as if you caught her off guard. “I am not your sister.” She says in a stoic tone. “Do you know where you are?” “S-s-sand, quick s-sand.” “No… let us start with a simpler question. What is your name?” “I..I…my n-name… is…I…I.. .d-don’t …know.” “Listen...” the voice says with a sigh “You have been in an accident, there was a period of time where your brain was deprived of oxygen. I need to gauge how much damage has been caused. I need you focus and answer my questions. …I am afraid that if you are nothing but an empty shell, I will have to let you succumb to your demise…” After taking a second to comprehend what was said to you, fear grips your mind. Have you become nothing but an empty shell of your former self? Are you still you? You begin to feel the sand pulling you down again. “What is your name?” The voice sternly asks. You look down, the sand is slowly enveloping your body again. You continue to stare in fear as the sand moves past your legs and up your torso. “Tell me you name!!” The voice yells, grabbing your attention. “I-I-I’m…” Realizing that if you don’t say something soon you will be doomed, you say the first name that comes to your mind. “DASH, RAINBOW DASH!” The voice pauses for a second, then replies. “What?!? No… you not even a mare... Your real name! What is your real name!?” Your mind erupts into fear and chaos, swirling all over the place to try to remember who you are. The sand begins to approach your lower lips. The voice of the dark mare becomes bleak. “I am sorry, but the brain damage appears extensive… There is only one thing I can do to end your suffering… Try to relax, it will all be over soon…” The encroaching sand begins to hit your lower lip. Your mind scrambles over what appears to be random flashes of memories, you recall sitting at a desk, surrounded by several other ponies. A teacher reading off a list of names. “Rainbow Dash” “RAINBOW DASH!” “Sorry, sorry, here” “Starry Eyes” “Here” “Candy Floss” “Here” “Moon Glider” … … … “HERE!” You let out with a cry, tears forming in your eyes. “What?” The mare’s voice confusingly asks. “M-M-MOON.” “SAY IT!” “MOON G-GLIDER.” “YES!” The blue aura surrounds you and stops you from sinking further. “What country are you from Moon Glider?” “I-I’m from E-E-Equestria.” “YES! You’re doing great! What is your profession Moon Glider?” You think for a second, then remember yourself sitting behind a counter in front of a cash register. “C-c-cashier.” The voice pauses, and then replies with a little less enthusiasm. “Hmm… yes, you were a cashier in the past, but what was your most recent job?” You pause as you try to remember. You remember a lot of soaring through the sky. “I f-flew.” “Why did you fly?” You recall being strapped to something, a heavy load burdening you down as you flew, you remember an angry pony, your asshole boss yelling at you. “I was a d-d-delivery p-pony…” Then a memory stirred deep inside you, the memory of the intense pain came back to you. Your vision begins to fade to black. “Moon Glider focus! You are going to cause a collapse!” The sand surrounding you disappears. The blue aura in front of you begins to fade. “Moon Glider, you must relax and-” Her voice is cut off, a familiar blackness overtakes you. Learning to FlyFalling… you come to your senses only to realize that you were falling. You instinctively try to spread your wings to try to catch yourself, but they feel bound. The falling sensation begins to hit your stomach, filling you with nausea. Fear once again begins to grip you, and as you do the wind begins to hit your face even faster. You look down to see how far away from the ground you are, but you see only grey clouds in a dark sky. Something seems familiar, this has happened to you before, you remember falling several times during your dreams. But this time was different, you had been falling for quite a while, but you have not waken up. You begin to relax as you come to the realization that you are not actually falling but are in a dream. Yet a lingering fear still exists in the back of your mind, knowing that something is wrong… “H-Hello?” You speak out into the windy dark sky, barely able to hear yourself over the howling winds. “H-hello, is anyone there?” You try to make sense of what is going on. You remember something about quicksand, and a dark mysterious mare, and a blue aura. She kept asking questions, asking who you were. “W-who am I?” You ask yourself, then memories of your inquisition within the quick sand hauntingly come back to you “M-Moon Glider, from Equestria, my n-name is Moon Glider…” “Yes it is.” The familiar voice of the mare replies. “Now listen to me Moon Glider, I need you to focus and remain calm, can you do this for me?” You nod your head. “You need to stop yourself from falling, you are a pegasus, FLY!” “B-B-but my wings…” “What about them?” “I ca-ca-can’t move them.” “Yes you can! Focus! Start with your right wing!” Your mind focuses to your right wing, you can feel the wind blowing against your feathers. You try to extend it, but it feels painfully stiff. “Extend your wing!” A jolt of pain hits your wing, but you manage to extend it slightly, “Further!” The wind begins to fall under you right wing, suddenly it becomes easier to extend. “Almost there Moon Glider!” The pain and stiffness is still present but you manage to fully extend your wind. However with only one wing extended you begin to spin in a downwards spiral. Nausea and panic begins to grip you. “Quickly, extend your left wing!” Between the pain of trying to open you wing and the dizziness from falling at high speeds, you begin to black out. “THOU SHALL NOT!” The mare violently slaps you across the face with her blue aura. The taste of blood fills your mouth, after a few seconds of recovering from the pain and shock of the slap you open your eyes and realize that you are still in a downward spiral. Memories flood you mind, learning to fly for the first time, taking that first plunge. You have been in free falls before, you recovered from free falls before. You attempt to extend your left wing, the stiffness and pain are no longer as severe. With both wings extended you can feel the wind passing along your feathers. The stiffness and pain is still present whenever you try to adjust your wings, but it is manageable. You begin to stabilize out of your spiral, rocky at first but eventually you are able to maintain a continuous glide. You are no longer falling, you are instead gliding along with the wind. A blurry figure of a mare glides beside you. “Nicely done! I knew you could do it!” The mare says in glee. A drop of blood drips from your mouth. The mare pauses and then speaks in an apologetic tone. ”I’m sorry I struck you, we could not risk another collapse like last time.” The taste of blood still fresh in your mouth, your tongue moves against one of your molars, which is now loose. “N-no worries, I b-barely f-felt a thing…” You say with a smirk as you spit out the excess blood which built up in your mouth. The mare let out a surprised chuckle, but her tone quickly became more serious. “Night Glider, you’ve been in an accident, you are currently stuck inside of a coma.” Memories of fear and pain begin to overtake you and a jolt of blackness temporarily strikes your vision. “Remember what I said Moon Glider!” The mare yells. “Focus! Do not let the fear overtake you again!” The stern voice of the mare frightens you at first, but the realization of the statement begins to set in, you begin to calm down. “BETTER, better…” The voice replies becoming noticeably calmer. “Do you know who I am Moon Glider?” You gaze at the dark mare beside you, but cannot make it out, the image is too blurry. “N-n-no, I can b-barely see you.” “Hold on, I can help with that.” The blue aura beings to shine brightly, a dark blue horn becomes apparent in view. Your eyes trace the horn to a face, it’s still blurry but you can tell that it is the face of a mare, but not a normal looking mare… The aura continues to illuminate, and you being to see the rest of her body, very sleek and thin compared to the bodies of other ponies. You notice a set of wings on her body. “A-alicorn, Y-you’re an alicorn!” “Correct! Do you know my name? “ The aura continues to illuminate, and you can see a crescent moon on here flank. You come to a startling realization. “N-NIGHTMARE MOON! YOU’RE NIGHTMARE MOON!” Memories of being a colt and listening to horror stories about Nightmare Moon flood your mind. Fear begins to overtake you again and another jolt of blackness strikes your vision. “P-PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!” You notice the mare making a saddened and disappointed expression on her face. “Moon Glider…” The mare says in a dour tone. Your mind begins to process her expression and tone, and suddenly a sting of memories floods your mind. The fear turns to embarrassment, “F-fuck me... I-I’m s-s-so s-sorry, Princess L-L-Luna…” Luna lets out a sigh. “It is ok, I get that a lot, especially when I am trying to help foals overcome their nightmares…” You can’t help but make an embarrassed smirk due to this situation of insulting the immortal-all powerful-co-ruler of Equestria. Luna notices your smirk and makes a grin of her own. “EASY Moon Glider, let’s not get too carried away…” You bite your tongue, the still present blood in your mouth reminds you to know your place among this goddess. “Given the circumstances I suppose your show of humor is a good sign. Perhaps the damage isn’t as extensive as I previously thought.” From that statement the humor of the situation immediately fades. “H-How bad… H-how bad is the d-d-damage?” “It was significant… but you are making a strong recovery, both physically and mentally.” “D-d-did I always have this s-s-stu…stu…” Grief strikes you before you can attempt to finish you sentence. Tears being to form in your eyes. “No… this stutter was not present prior to the accident. However, your medical records indicate you had a minor speech impairment when you were young, but this was overcome with the help of a speech therapist.” Memories flicker in the back of your mind, reciting flash cards over and over again with an, old, kind mare… “The return of this impairment may be due to the brain damage you suffered… or perhaps trauma of the accident caused you to revert to an older state of mind.” Luna sees your dismay. ”We are going to get through this, OK?” You shake the tears from your face and look the mare in the eyes. Princess Luna is here to help you, if anyone was able to help you, it was her. “Thank you Princess.” You say to her, a glimmer of hope in your voice. “Luna… please just call me Luna…” The mare replies. “Luna, yeah, you got it…” Another thought crosses your mind; you look down at your legs. You can see them, but as you attempt to move them, they appear motionless. “M-m-my legs… what ha-hap… what h-happened to them?” A bleak expression fills Luna’s face; you could tell she was choosing her next few words carefully. “Your legs suffered extensive damage after the fall…” “W-why c-can’t I f-feel them?!” You worryingly ask Luna, although the look on her face has already answered your question. Luna’s face becomes blurry due to the tears building up in your eyes. “Moon Glider, before I answer that question I’m going to need you to listen to what I say, do you understand?” You pause, still caught up in grief. “MOON GLIDER!?” “Y-yes…” “GOOD… now… You are currently located in the manifestation of a memory located deep within your subconscious. I can only reach you when you have consciousness within one of these memories. If this memory were to collapse, I will not be able to re-enter your mind until you regain another memory is manifested, which can be… awhile…” You divert your gaze from the mare to the infinite dark horizon ahead of you. “This m-memory was from the ac-acc-acc…” The horizon begins to illuminate before your eyes, you can see a skyline of Canterlot coming into view. You can feel your head nodding off. Black flashes begin to strike your vison again… “Moon Glider, relax! Look at me Moon Glider!” Your gaze returns to Luna. “Episodes of intense pain and emotion can cause a memory to collapse, so I need you to relax and focus!” Luna’s face begins to fade from view… “MOON GLIDER. REMEMBER, RELAX! FOCUS!” A bright light from in front of you distracts your gaze from Luna, directly ahead of you is the city street, you are flying directly into it. The fear of reliving this experience takes hold of you, as the street rapidly get closer and closer there is nothing you can do but hopelessly watch. Luna, realizing another collapse is imminent, attempts to yells one last time, but before she can you slam into the city street, and blackness overtakes everything. The AttackRING RING A door chime rattles in the background. You open your eyes. The images are blurry at first, but then come into focus. A door just opened, a mare and her filly just walked into a convenience store. The mare smiles to you and nods, a young filly trots along beside her, her eyes fixed on all the candy strategically placed at her eye level. “Hello, good afternoon.” You say to the mare as she begins to stroll through the aisles. You stand behind the counter, a large cup of soda and several scratched off lottery tickets at your side. A rumble occurs outside. You look out the window; streaks of green can be seen falling from the sky. “What? …Wait…oh n-no…NO!” Memories begin to flood your mind…quick sand, falling, the accident, Luna, memories of what is about to occur… “N-no no NO, F-FUCKING NO…why this?!?!” You look at the mare and her filly near the door way, they are looking outside at what is happening. “Ru-Ru-Ru….get the fuck out of here!!!” The mare continues to look out the window, grasping here filly close by her side. Explosions begin erupting outside, getting closer and closer every few seconds… “They’re c-c-coming, h-HIDE!!!” The mare looks at you with a bewildered and scared look on her face. “Mommy, what’s going on?” The filly asks her mother. The mother looks into her eyes, not sure what to say… “REMEMBER… FOCUS… RELAX… focus… relax… Luna…. LUNA!” A guard pony rushes up to the doorway of the convenience store and begins to yell to the mare and filly standing in the doorway. “Take shelter! Get out of he-” A green streak lands directly on top of the guard pony. The explosion rips the poor pony to pieces. The glass door of the convenience store shatters to pieces. The mare and filly are thrown several feet backwards into the store. You try to duck as the explosion occurs, but you can’t bend your legs… Small pieces of glass shrapnel scrape your face. A cloud of dust and debris forms from the aftermath of the explosion outside the front of the convenience store. As the cloud begins to settle two blue glowing eyes open and can be clearly seen within the cloud. They divert their gaze to the stunned mare and filly lying on the floor. “L-leave her alone Y-YOU B-BASTARD!!!” You yell trying to distract what lies inside the dust cloud. The blue eyes begin to move forward from the cloud of dust. The changeling monstrosity comes into full view, its wasps like wings, its jagged, jet-black body, the long, sharp fangs… “L-Luna help… Luna… p-please help!” Tears begin to form in your eyes, you are not sure you can watch this memory happen again. A jolt of black sticks your vision, everything around you shakes, you shudder as if a struck by a chill. The mare regains her composure from the blast. While prone, she looks around for her daughter. She sees her lying a short distance away, unconscious. The mare then begins to get back on her feet… “O-O-over here, you changeling fuck! L-Look at me, n-not her!” You try to lift your front hoof to throw something at the beast. You put all your focus into moving your right front hoof, your hoof begins to shake, but stops. It feels as if you hoof is glued to the ground. Anger begins to boil inside you. The mare makes it back to all fours. With her eyes on her child she takes a step towards the filly, but then stops. She turns her neck around towards the entrance of the convenience store, the blue eyes of the monster lock gaze with her own. The monstrosity lets out an awful shriek, both you and the mare cringe in fright. The black monstrosity begins to charge towards the mare. Paralyzed in fear the mare watches in horror as the vile creature draws near. “NOOOOOOOOO!...” You cry out in fear and anger. The fangs of creature sink deep into the throat of the mare. The mare lets out a scream of agony, but the scream is muffled by the blood pooling in her throat. In a wild frenzy you sway back and forth, trying to move your legs. In the process you knock yourself onto the ground. A flash of light appears beside you. The sleek, long, dark blue legs of the alicorn materialize directly in front of your gaze. “LUNA S-S-SAVE HER!” You cry to the alicorn. Luna notices you strewn on the ground and then turns her gaze to the horrific scene occurring in the middle of the store. She watches in disgust and anger as the fangs of the monstrosity continue to tear into the mare. A large pool of blood now covers the floor. “Moon Glider, STAND!” “I-I-can’t-” “YES YOU CAN!” “My legs-” “You lost them out there, not in here!” The horrific scene is currently out of your view, but the sound of bones snapping and blood gushing fills you with disgust, you feel vomit building up in the back of your throat. “This is your mind Moon Glider! You are master of this domain, but only if you allow yourself to be…” You look the alicorn in the eye as she tells you this. You return your gaze and concertation to your front right hoof… “Focus, Moon Glider…” Luna replies, voice lowered in volume. Your hoof begins to shake once again… “Avenge her…” Luna whispers. Your hoof slowly begins to rise to the top of the counter. The crewing noises continue in the background. You grab hold of the counter and begin to pull yourself up. “You are almost there Moo-” “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Luna’s words of encouragement are cut off by the shriek of the filly watching in horror as the monstrosity gouges upon her mother. The black beast, now covered in blood, stops feeding from the carcass of the mare and gazes upon the filly. “N-no you don’t, F-F-FUCKER!!!” You yell at the beast as you successfully regain footing on all fours. The beast lets out another bone chilling screech, and then begins moving towards the filly. Luna sees the spear of the dismembered guard pony from outside the store and grabs onto it with her blue magic aura. “Moon Glider, CATCH!” She throws you the spear and you catch it firmly in your front hooves. Using your back hooves you leap from behind the counter and propel yourself into the air using your wings. “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!” You let out a cry as you fly towards the monster, spear in your hooves. The beast diverts its attention away from the filly and turns towards you. Right as it turns your spear meets with its chest. The beast lets out gut-wrenching howl, but you remain unwavering and continue to push the spear into the beast. “D-DIE YOU MOTHER FUCKER!!!!” The beast swipes at you with its hooves, but thanks to the long shaft of the spear you are out of reach. The beast looks you in the eye and its brow lowers in anger. The horn of the beast begins to glow, and suddenly the creature turns bright white. The creature then quickly transforms into the mare which lie gutted on the floor. The mare looks at you and in agonizing pain says “PLEASE STOP! PLEASE!” Despite knowing that this mare is a hideous monstrosity in disguise, you are momentarily fazed by this illusion. Your grip of the spear loosens. Grabbing this opportunity, spear still in its chest, the mare lunges towards you. You quickly strengthen you grip on the spear, the mare still out of arm’s length, but closer than before. “I SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR FLESH PATHETIC PONY!” The mare screeches in its horrifying voice. The mare grabbed the spear with her front hooves and pushes it further into her chest, further closing the gap between her and yourself. You watch in horror as the mare slides closer and closer. Luna, realizing that you can use some assistance, yells out “Moon Glider, now might be a good time to fast-forward this memory. Remember how the changelings were removed from Canterlot?” It takes you a second to realize what she was saying, then you remembered, the only reason you survived that day of the attack was because of the… A flash of light occurs outside; a rumble begins to occur, low at first, but growing louder and louder. “F-F-FEED ON THIS YOU MOTHER FUCKER!” The rumble now became a thunderous roar. You lift the spear and the mare-disguised monstrosity up into the air. A wall of magical energy enters the convenience store, the wall safely passes through yourself and everything else in the store, but when it reaches the monstrosity on the end of the spear it carries the beast directly into the brick wall behind it. The beast momentarily lets out another high pitch screech but is quickly silenced as it is sandwiched between the brick wall and the wall of magic. The wall of magic keeps moving, while the brick wall holds firm. The monster’s body is instantly liquidated and green and black fluid flies everywhere across the convenience store. The smell is horrible… You wipe the fluid from your eyes. The walls, floor, and ceiling are smeared with the disgusting fluid. The traumatized filly lie there covered in fluid as well. You walk towards the filly, slipping and sliding in the fluid along the way, and clean the fluid from her eyes. “It’s ok… y-you’re safe now…” The filly, completely traumatized, buries its face into your chest and begins wail in anguish. You wrap a hoof around the filly to comfort her. Your gaze looks to Luna, surrounded by a spherical magic shield that is covered in the green and black liquid. Luna carefully deactivates the shield spell, avoiding getting any liquid on here mane and fur. She glances at you with an embarrassed look on her face. She bites her lower lip for a second before speaking to you. “Uhh…sorry… this is a fairly common nightmare for a lot of ponies... When you’ve been in the business as long as me you know when to dodge out of the way of the blood and guts… It just really messes up my mane…” You stare at her blankly for a few seconds while the filly continues to bawl her eyes at your side… Luna replies to your blank stare defensively. “Do not give us that look! Thou can smell that vile stench, can thou not? ‘Tis a cockroach and excrement smoothie! We must smell this every night whilst trying to help ponies overcome this horrid nightmare! ‘Tis not just a few ponies, every pony in all of Canterlot has this nightmare! If only Shining Armor had been able to tell the differences between bug fornicating with bug and fornicating with a pony none of this would have ever happened!” You continue to stare blankly at her for a few seconds… but you can’t help but to let out a smile followed by a chuckle. As you chuckle some of the fluid gets into your mouth. The foul tastes instantly makes you gag. “Oh… let me help you with that, I think saw some clean napkins back here.” Luna reaches underneath the counter and pulls out a sealed package of napkins with her hoof. “HUZZAH! We hath found thee!” She yells with glee as she thrusts the napkins into the air to show you she found them. While thrusting one of her hooves into the air the top heavy mare throws herself off balance. The slippery floor caused the mare to stumble backwards and fall on her side. The pulpy remains of the monstrosity completely cover half of Luna’s fur and almost completely soak her main and tail. “FUCK! BY CELESTIA’S TAINT NOT AGAIN!” Despite the grieving child at you side, and her mother’s mutilated corpse not too far away, you can no longer help yourself. You being to laugh uncontrollably. Luna pulls herself up and sees you laughing at her. At first her dark blue face almost turns red with rage, but after she catches a glimpse of her reflection in store window her mood lightens up. She also begins to let out deep laugh. After a minute of laughing you both calm down, both distracted by the wails of the filly. You are overcome with a wave of sadness. “In the actual memory I c-cowered in fear behind this counter as both this mare and filly were m-mutilated by that m-monster. Everyday I’m haunted by their s-screams. Everyday I hate myself for not trying to save them… just s-sitting behind the counter like a fucking c-coward.” Luna, gazes at you, then speaks in a soothing counseling voice. “We all have our regrets Moon Glider… not everyone can be a heroic monster slayer.” “But I should have at least tried, these two might still be alive…” “Fight or flight… you chose flight. Considering you had no idea what you were up against, no combat training, no weapons, no reinforcements… you made a choice which allowed you to survive. Whether it was right or wrong… well… right and wrong are both subjective aren’t they…” “But it was my fault…” “Did you maul them to death Moon Glider?” “...No… but” “Then it is not your fault! You can’t keep living a life of regret! There is no reason another pony’s life should be ruined because of what happened here. If you want to honor that mare and filly then get out there and help make the world a better place!” You look at the filly as she continues to cry at your side. “Listen, what happened in the past cannot be undone... but if you are looking for some sort of redemption or some sort of happy ending, then this is your chance… Now would please do something about that kid, that crying is going to give one of us a migraine, and that’s the last thing either of us needs right now...” You look at the mutilated corpse of the mare on the ground, she is far from a possible recovery. You look back at Luna and give her a shrug… “Don’t look at me, be creative, it’s your head!” “Umm…” The wail of the child continues… You lift the chin of the child up with your front hoof. “Don’t worry kid, you mom is going to be just fine” She pauses her wailing, looks at her mother’s corpse and then stares at you confusingly. “Really?” “Yeah…uh…she just needs some first aid…” You scan the around the convenience store looking for things which might be able to help you in this predicament. You walk over to the aisle which contains a small assortment of medicine. The section mainly contains cough syrup, headache pain relievers, and condoms. You did not carry any serious first aid equipment in your store… “Let’s see here…” You grab a box of band-aids and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. You look at Luna, she tries to hide a grin as she sees what you have in you have in your hooves. You begin to back to the corpse of the mare, but then stop, something in the aisles catches your eye. “AH-HA! Just what I was looking for.” You grab a roll of duct tape from the shelf and then walk back to the mare. You kneel down next to the mare, a close look at her mutilated corpse almost makes you want to vomit. You look at the filly, her eyes are staring at you expectantly… “Uhh... d-don’t worry kid, I’m a fully trained EMT… now let’s see here…” You grab the hydrogen peroxide and begin pouring the bottle upon the large gaping wounds, the once bloody scene is now a combination of red and white foaming bubbles. You unroll the duct tape and begin patching the large bite marks where the monster ripped out large chunks of flesh from the mare. You look at Luna, she has a bewildered and embarrassed look upon her face. She looks as if she really wants to say something to you, but instead she simply nods and smiles in encouragement. You take out the band-aids and begin applying them to the mare, mostly in random locations. You look at the child. “All right, we need now is a little defibrillator action and she will be as good as new.” You look back at Luna. “Luna, would you be so kind…” Luna shoots you a worried look. “Of course…” Luna charges up her horn and quickly zaps the mare’s corpse with a bolt of lightning. The majority of the band aids you put on fly off from the impact. The corpse is now charred and smoking. The child lets out a scared gasp. “SHIT! I wasn’t ready for that! One more time Luna, maybe tone it down a notch this time…” Luna rolls her eyes, the annoyed and skeptical look on her face shows that she wants no part of this farce, but she still charges her horn one more time. A bolt of lightning strikes the mare. “GHHUUUUUAAAAAH!!!!” The mare takes in deep breath. “HOLY SHIT... IT WORKED!” “MOMMY!” The young mare runs to the side of the newly reanimated mare. “What happened?…” The mare asks in confusion. “Just another day in Equestria ma’am…” You say as you let out a sigh. The mare looks around her and sees the absolute carnage of the store, as well as the pool of multi-colored bodily fluids covering the floor. She gets to her feet and signals to her daughter. “Let’s go home baby…” The mare and filly begin to walk towards the door. Before the mare leaves the store she pauses and then looks back to you… “Oh, I almost forgot…” “No thanks necessary ma’am, happy to help.” “Can I get a pack of Camels, 100s.” “What?” Your jaw drops… “…and a pick 4, boxed.” Luna lets out a chuckle but then quickly bites her lip. You let out a disappointed sigh. “Yeah… just a sec…” You proceed to the cash register to ring her up. “That will be 12 bits and 47 cents.” The mare, still covered in blood and duct tape, places a twenty bit piece on the counter. You give her change and her receipt. “Thank you, have a good day…” The mare and filly finally leave the store. “I hated this fucking job…” Luna walks up beside you. “Not too shabby Moon Glider, you are beginning to get the hang of this.” “Please get me out of this hell Luna…” “Gladly, although it is not going to be easy…” “I’m prepared to do whatever it takes, I can’t keep reliving these terrible memories…” “Then you’re probably not going to like my solution…” Luna says hesitantly. You let out a sigh… “Let’s hear it…” “In order to get you out of your coma we need to trigger increased amounts of brain activity. In order to do that we will need to go through as many key memories as quickly as possible.” Your heart skipped a beat upon hearing this… “Remember, you need to keep your composure during these memories. Extreme levels of pain or emotion will cause a collapse… and Moon Glider, I’m not sure you will be able to recover from another collapse… It took you quite a while for you to manifest consciousness since last time…” “H-how long have I been in this coma?” Luna pauses and then carefully answers the question. “Quite a while… but your ability to achieve stability in a traumatic memory such as this is very promising. Your lucid dreaming skills have also been steadily improving. After what I just witnessed here I’d say that you have a fighting chance of pulling through this!” You noticed how Luna dodged your question, but you decide it is probably for the best you didn’t know for sure. Still you shudder just thinking about it… “Are you ready to move onto another memory Moon Glider?” You look her in the eye, hesitation grips your mind, were you going to be able to do this? “We are going to get through this Moon Glider.” She makes a determined smile and places her hoof on your shoulder. “Yeah, I’m ready… Let’s do this!” “Excellent” Luna says as she begins to charge her horn. “Hey, your stutter is not as bad as before Moon Glider, that is a really good sign.” She’s right, you hadn’t noticed yourself but after she pointed this out you are filled with a renewed sense of hope. Luna extends her front right hoof to you. You extend your front left hoof. She tightly grasps onto it. “You are going to want to hang on tight, and remember what I told you Moon Glider…” “Relax and Focus…” “You got it! Alright, here we go.” Luna’s horn turns a bright white, both of you are surrounded by her white magical aura. Your vision is slowly overcome with a bright light. The convenience store slowly fades from view. Whiteness completely overtakes your vision… The Good MemoryFrom the whiteness you can begin to see your hooves materializing into view. Luna’s form also begins to fade back in. A bedroom begins to fade into view. This seems very familiar; this is your old house! You are in your parents’ bedroom. You look around the room. “No way… this memory can’t be what I think it is…” Your gaze shifts to the king-size bed in the middle of the room. On top of the bed lies a cyan colored mare with a rainbow colored mane. “This is the memory of when I first got laid!” You look at Luna; she immediately lets out a sigh and places a hoof upon her face in dissatisfaction. “Oh no…” Luna says to herself. “Looks like we got the house to ourselves Moon Glider…” Rainbow Dash says to Moon Glider in a sultry voice. “…Wanna have a little fun?” “What do you mean little?” You reply to her quickly. Both you and Rainbow Dash laugh, while Luna remains quite. “Wow Luna, I’m glad we finally got around to a good memory-” “Good for you maybe…” Luna says as she rolls her eyes. “Hey! I know how to keep mares from being disappointed, right Rainbow Dash?” “Enough talk Moon Glider…” Rainbow Dash says to you with a desirous look in her eye. “Well then, I hate to keep a mare waiting…” You say as you begin to climb upon the bed. “Moon Glider…” Luna says in dour tone. “Oh no…” A terrifying thought strikes your mind; jolt of blackness strikes your vision. “Were my legs the only limbs that were severely damaged during the accident… or… d-did anything h-happen… to…” You look at Luna with a scared look on your face. “What?... Oh no, it was a little bruised up from the accident, but your stallion-hood is completely intact and fully functional.” A huge burden is lifted from your chest as you let out a sigh of relief. “THANK THE STARS!... and the moon…” You slyly say to Luna with a grin upon your face. You use your wings to propel yourself into the air and land directly on top of Rainbow Dash. “Ahh! Hehe… Moon Glider…” Rainbow Dash says as she lets out a surprised giggle. You feel the warmth of her body against your belly. Her soft cyan fur feels wonderful as it rubs against your own. Your face directly in front of hers, noses just barely touching each other, both of you with a playful grin on your face. You begin to feel a tingling sensation from between your legs, disproving your fears that something terrible may have happened to you during the accident. You lock gaze with one another, you move in to kiss her on her welcoming lips… “AHEM!” Luna interrupts before you can proceed any further. You look back at her, her face looks a little blurry for some reason; you rub your eyes but pay no mind to this. “Oh… sorry Luna, this shouldn’t take too long.” “-It better not!” Rainbow Dash interjects. “Feel free to check out my parent’s house while I’m taking care of this memory…” Luna looks you in the eye and replies “Moon Glider I-” “But if you want to watch, I mean, that’s cool, I don’t mind…” “NO! What I am trying to say is-” “A threesome! Well I don’t know… I guess if Dash is ok with it-” “Shut up Moon Glider! You cannot have sex with this mare!” Luna yells. A small blurry spot appears in your vision while you are looking at the angry expression on Luna’s face. “WHAT? WHY?” “The chance of a memory collapse from achieving orgasm is too great!” “Wait, really? How much of a chance are we talking about?” You say in disbelief. “Probably about 90%.” “Well… there’s a chance it might not happen…” “You will be trapped in this coma forever! No consciousness! Your body will gradually shut down one organ at a time as your brain slowly shrivels up and DIES!” You let out a deep sigh. “I guess…” As you look at Luna’s face your vision is starting to be noticeably obscured with an aura. The room is filled with silence for a moment and then Rainbow Dash lets out a quick remark. “But it’s still ok if only I cum, right?” “SHUT UP DASH!” Luna yells at the mare. “And why is our vision getting so blurry!?” “Oh, that’s happening to you too?” You say to Luna. “ARGH…” Luna grumbles aloud, but then regains her composure. “Moon Glider, You are having a migraine… I told you to silence that kid in the store!” “But I didn’t have a migraine the first time I had sex with Dash…” “That’s because this is an actual migraine, you’re having it right now…” You pause for a second and then respond. “Yeah… I think you’re right.” You dismount from on top of Rainbow Dash. “Now that I think about it… I remember having a migraine during a dream once… and even my dream was blurry. Who would have thought you could get them inside of a coma… while inside a memory… while almost inside Rainbow Dash…” Luna lets out deep sigh. “Just our luck… migraines are different for everyone, tell me what normally happens when you have one Moon Glider…” Luna asks in a frustrated voice. “Well…An aura obscures my vision for about 40 minutes, just a little bit at first, then a whole lot after about 15 minutes.” “We are probably at the 5 minute mark right now.” “After that I regain my vision, but I have a nasty headache on only one side of my head, often with intense dizziness and nausea.” Dash interjects! “Yeah! I remember when you had one of those during class, you puked your brains out! You were so loud when you were vomiting they heard you in the classroom across the hall! It was so gross. That sounded painful!” “…that’s because it was painful Dash…” You respond with an annoyed tone. “What do you usually do when one occurs Moon Glider?” Luna asks. “I take some pain relievers, which pretty much do nothing… the best thing usually is to just lay down in a dark and quite room.” “…and since I’m in your head, I guess I’ll be sharing these same exact symptoms too…” “Ooo… Sorry about that.” You say with a cringe on your face. “We might as well wait it out here, this memory is both safe and stable. Moving on to another memory while this migraine is occurring could be dangerous.” Luna’s horn begins to glow “I’ll get the lights…” Looking out the window you see the sun begin to set, darkness, the moon, and an array of stars fills the night sky. “Wow… nicely done… I wish I could do that.” You say in awe. “…You can…” Luna murmurs. “Oh yeah… it’s my head…” Luna climbs into the bed, she brushes aside Rainbow Dash with her large wing. “Leave Dash.” Luna says bluntly to the mare. You look at the colorful pony as she is sitting on the bed beside you. “Sorry dash… looks like now is a pretty bad time… I’ll call you.” “OH COME ON!” Dash shouts in disappointment. “I’m not happy about it either, but believe me, you don’t want me vomiting on your stomach from this migraine when were in the middle of things.” “Who says I don’t…” Dash says with an erotic look in her eyes as she slowly rubs your belly with her hoof… slowly moving downwards… until- “BE GONE DASH, OR WE SHALT SPAY THEE!” Luna yells as her horn begins to glow. “OK OK…” Dash quickly bolts out of the bedroom. You look at Luna, angrily hunched over in the bed. A few seconds pass. “Hold on, I’ll go get us some pain relievers, they may not be real, but maybe the placebo effect will help dull the pain once it comes…” You leave the room and walk to the bathroom. “The things I do for my subjects…” Luna says to herself. You open up the medicine cabinet and from the top shelf pull out a bottle of generic pain relievers. You look at the bottle and let out sigh. “These do jack shit in real life, they ain’t gonna do shit here either… oh well… can’t hurt anything I guess…” You then proceed down the hallway to the kitchen. You grab two glasses and begin to fill them with water at the sink. Your vision is getting significantly blurry. Just as you turn off the faucet, Rainbow Dash appears outside the window above the sink. “Moon Glider! Let’s get a quickie in while Luna is occupied?” It takes you a moment to consider this. If you were going to die in your own memories, this would be the best way to go. “...No Dash…” You regretfully tell her. “OH COME ON. Listen I’ll be real quick!” “I’m not happy about it either dash, now please just go!” “In and out in just 10 seconds flat!” You slam the window shut and close the blinds. “By Celestia… she’s relentless… I love that mare…” You grab the glasses and the pills and proceed back to the bedroom. “Here you go Luna.” She levitates the glass of water up with her magic and removes two pills from the plastic container. She swallows both of them in one gulp, you follow suit. A few seconds pass, you stare awkwardly at the alicorn lying down in your parents’ bed where you were just about to have sex with Rainbow Dash. You begin to make your way to you father’s reading chair. “Well I’ll just sit over here-” “Just get in the bed Moon Glider.” Luna says in aggravation. “-Ok.” You quickly reverse course and get into the bed with Luna. Your vision is now extremely blurry; it’s hard to make anything out. You close your eyes to avoid nausea. A few minutes pass. “We need to keep you awake and talking to stimulate brain activity.” Luna says in a serious tone. “Ok, what would you like to talk about?” “Do you have these migraines often?” “No, one every few months or so.” “Good…” Luna replies bluntly. A few seconds pass. “Luna…” “Yes?” “How many ponies have you successfully brought out of a coma?” She pauses for a second, you caught her off guard. “Uh… several.” You can easily tell that she was lying. You know that calling her out on this will not do anyone any good. “…How many memories do you think we’ll have to go through to wake me up?” “I don’t know for sure… That might depend on the intensity of the memory. Hopefully this migraine isn’t going to set your progress back too much.” A few more moments of silence passes. “How do you do it Luna?” “Do what?” “Help ponies overcome their nightmares? There are so many ponies out there, and just one of you.” “It’s not easy, I can’t be everywhere at once. Those who need the help the most receive it first.” “Do you need to help some other pony while I rest out this migraine?” “No Moon Glider, I’m not going anywhere. You are at the top of my list of ponies to help right now.” You pause for a second, emboldened, as this sinks in. “…Wow, thank you Luna.” “Happy to help.” You open your eyes to see her smiling at you with her eyes closed. Your vision is still blurry, but aura is beginning to subside. You close your eyes again. A few more moments pass by. “So tell me where you went to school Moon Glider…” “I went to, CCC, Canterlot Community College, the Cheapest Closest College…” Luna lets out a chuckle. “What did you study?” “I went in undeclared and dropped out after two years…” “Oh…” An awkward silence fills the room, you attempt to break it. “So where did you go to school? You must have a psychology background with all this therapy work that you do.” “Well about 1500 years ago I went to the University of Equestria. And actually no, I have a bachelor’s and master’s in astronomy.” “Really?” “But I took a psychology 101 course back when I was in undergrad…” “Oh…” There is a brief pause but then both of you let out a chuckle. Luna opens her eyes. “The aura is gone!” She quickly sits up, and doing so a jolt of pain hits her head followed by a stint of nausea in her stomach. “Oww…” “It’s best to lie down for another hour Luna… and you’re going to want to avoid moving your head quickly.” “Yes, we think you are correct…” Luna says, trying to shrug off the pain. Luna lies back down on the bed. “Do you have any tips for the next memory?” You ask Luna. “Maintain control, always keep the end goal in sight, relax, focus…” “You keep saying that.” ”Yes… it is my mantra… it helped me get through… the years… of isolation…” You open your eyes to see the alicorn shivering slightly. “…I’m sorry that happened to you Luna… that wasn’t right… no one deserves that sort of torture… but the fact that you made it through that for 1000 years… your resolve, it’s heroic…” “Please… let us talk about something else…” “Of course…sorry…” You begin to feel a bit nauseous. Talking is definitely not helping… but you need to keep your mind busy like Luna says. You try to lighten the mode. “I never slept with a unicorn before…” Luna quickly opens her eyes and gives you a peeved look. “I mean the opportunity never strongly presented itself, if it did I would have taken it… but I’ve always been scared that they would roll over in the middle of the night and stab me in the eye with their horn…” “WHAT?!” Luna says in surprise, completely taken aback at what you said. She pauses for a few seconds. “Would it help if I put a tennis ball on the tip of my horn?” She says with a grin. You let out a chuckle, but in doing so the nausea begins to take its toll, you can see Luna flinch from the nausea as well. You both take a second to try to ward off the sickness overtaking you. “No, Luna… that wouldn’t be necessary… I trust you… my life is in your hooves… I don’t think I ever trusted someone more than you…” The nausea and pain is no longer tolerable, both of you roll to opposite sides of the bed as vomit quickly begins to make its way up your throat. Luna lets out a painful cry as the vomit leaves her mouth. After a few seconds of gagging and strain she turns around to Moon Glider, to see him still hanging over the side of the bed, yet to vomit. “Just let it out Moon Glider!” You try to vomit but you can’t, it’s as if something is blocking the vomit from leaving your throat. Tears begin to fill your eyes and your face turns red. You move your hooves to your throat signaling to Luna that you are choking. 1…2…3… “MOON GLIDER!” Luna quickly bolts to your side and attempts to use her magic to clear your throat. Nothing happens, you continue to choke. ”WHAT!” Luna confusingly cries as she is unsuccessful in her attempts of clearing the blockage from your throat. 15…16…17… “No… you are actually choking in real life… you are lying on your back… NO!” Tears begin to stream down Luna’s face. “IT’S OK… IT’S OK… a nurse is monitoring your heart rate… they will soon notice that something is wrong and turn you on your side!” Luna waits and continues to watch helplessly as you are asphyxiating. She is well aware that the clock is ticking, three minutes without air is all it takes for someone to begin risking brain damage and death. Three minutes… and the clock is ticking… 45…46…47… You look her in the eyes. You are extremely scared. Panic begins to grip both you and Luna as you realize the nurse is not coming. “Moon Glider hold on! We are pulling out of this memory, we are going to save you!” Luna disappears in a flash. You lie alone in the bed… trying not to panic… the pain begins to strike your lungs… flashes of blackness start striking your vision. You continuously repeat the mantra Luna told you in your mind… relax… focus... relax…. focus…. relax…… … 1 minute 1…2…3… Luna awakens on her bed at the Canterlot royal palace. She quickly gets out of bed and stands on all fours, the sudden movement causes a jolt of pain to hit her head. “AHHH!!” She cries, but quickly regains her focus. She needs to save Moon Glider, but she doesn’t know exactly where he is. He is in a hospital room somewhere in Canterlot, but she doesn’t know which one. She charges her horn. A flash of light and a second later she appears on the steps of the main entrance of Canterlot General Hospital. 1 minute 20…21…22 She bolts in through the front door. The ponies in the waiting area are completely caught off guard as Luna enters. She runs to the check-in counter and yells at the receptionist. “This is an emergency! I need to know which room Moon Glider is in immediately!” The receptionist, an older earth pony mare, wastes no time and quickly begins searching through the hospital patient manifest. After a few seconds of searching, the older mare makes a disappointed sigh and looks Luna in the eye. “I’m sorry princess, but we have no patient in the hospital by that name…” “…NO!” Luna is struck with a wave of dizziness from the grief knowing that somewhere Moon Glider was slowly dying, alone and helpless. Tears begin to form in her eyes. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing another patient. She begins to waver from side to side, the nausea and pain taking its toll. 1 minute 45…46…47… “PRINCESS!” The old mare yells to grab Luna’s attention. “Mercy Hospital! Try Mercy Hospital!” Luna’s head darts upwards… realizing that it is not too late. “YES! Mercy Hospital!” Luna cries, “Thank you!” Luna charges her horn again and flashes away instantly. Luna was less familiar with Mercy Hospital. She had only passed by it a few times from the air, she never went inside before. Due to the lack of familiarity, instead of landing her directly at the main entrance her teleportation spell placed her in the middle of a busy intersection right next to the hospital. An earth pony hauling a wagon full of goods is quickly galloping through the intersection as Luna appears right in front of him. Before he can react he crashes into Luna, hitting her forcefully upon her side. Luna is thrown several feet and knocked off her hooves. The wind is knocked out of her from the blow. 2 minutes 1…2…3… “What the fuck are you doing in the middle of the intersection you asshole?!?” The stallion yells. He first makes sure that his wagon is all right before paying any mind to the pony which he just slammed into. He eventually brings his gaze to Luna, and realizes who he has just rammed into. “PRINCESS LUNA…. I… I…” The stallion stands paralyzed in fear at what he has just done. Luna slowly picks herself up. Her face is bleeding from scraping against the ground. She struggles to regain her breath as she stumbles towards the glass doors of the hospital. Luna attempts to use her magic to open the glass door, but overcompensates, slamming the glass door off the hinges and shattering it into a hundred pieces on to the ground. The ponies inside the waiting area gasp in fright at the sound of the door. They are equally scared once they see a bloodied Luna enter the waiting area. Luna darts to the main counter. A long line is currently formed at the counter; the ponies not fast enough to move out of the way are thrown aside as Luna’s larger frame easily pushes them. Luna reaches the receptionist at the main counter and struggles to speak as she is still regaining her breath. “Moon… Glider… Emergency… Where is Moon Glider?!” The receptionist, a younger unicorn mare, newly appointed to this job, stares at Luna in fear. “TELL US WHICH ROOM MOON GLIDER RESIDES!” Luna roars. The receptionist quickly looks through the patient manifest. She carefully scans the document before saying… “I-I don’t see a Moon Glider in our records…” “THOU SHALL LOOK AGAIN!!!” Luna yells, refusing to believe her. The mare, now shivering in fear, scans over the documents another time. “509…HE’S IN 509!” 2 minutes 30..31…32… Luna spreads her wings and lifts off into the main atrium. Flying up to the main atrium balcony brings her to the second floor. She quickly scans for and identifies the nearest staircase and proceeds to zoom up the multiple flights of stairs until she reached the fifth floor. She proceeds down the hallway until she reaches a large metal security door with a sign reading “No Admittance Without Proper Visitor or Security Badge.” Luna charges her horn, shoots a bolt of lightning and rocks the metal door with a huge blast. The door is blown to pieces, as well as parts of the surrounding ceiling and walls. Fire alarms begin to go off from the blast and sprinklers begin to spray water in the hallway. Luna continues to fly down the hallway. The hallway ends with a sign pointing with the direction to where each set of rooms are located. 500-504 pointed to the left. 505-509 pointed to the right. 509, it was right there at the end of the hall way. She quickly turned to the right flying faster than she ever flew before. She reached the wooden door and violently swung it open with her magic. There he was… Moon Glider… lying on his back… a pool of vomit dripping from his mouth… Luna wastes no time, she quickly runs to him and turns him on his side. After the vomit poured out of his mouth, Moon Glider let in a huge gasp of air. This is the second time Luna heard this poor stallion make such a gasp… “It is all right Moon Glider… I am here…” Luna pants, exhausted from flying. She looks down at the stallion, a pitiful site, all four legs amputated below the knee caps. The wounds where the amputation occurred have long since healed. His dark blue coat… his jet black mane… his cutie mark… a moon, obscured by the haze of a few clouds… a beacon light in the night sky, trying to make itself shown. Upon standing still for a moment Luna begins to realize how much pain she is in. The pain of the migraine gripping her head. Her side was extremely sore from the impact of the stallion. Her face stung due to the lacerations caused from sliding against the pavement. Suddenly a voice comes from the door way. “What’s going on here… PRINCESS LUNA?!?” A nurse, a young stallion unicorn with a pair of large oversized headphones around his neck stands in the doorway. Luna’s eyes builds with a fiery rage. “Monitoring Moon Glider be thy responsibility, be it not?” The nurse sees the vomit on the ground and as well as the alarms going off in the room from the elevated heart rate being given off by Moon Glider. The stallion pauses in fear and says nothing. Luna’s horn begins to spark. Luna’s blue magical aura grabs hold of the headphones around the stallion’s neck and violently rips them off. Luna holds the headphones directly in front of the eyes of the stallion. “Dost thou know how painful a death by asphyxiation can be?” Luna says to the stallion, her wrathful eyes locked with his. Luna uses her magic to ignite the headphones in a blue flame. As the headphones begin to melt she uses her magic to slowly compress them, first to the size of an apple, then to the size of a golf ball, then to the size of a grape. The flaming ball slowly begins to move towards right eye of the stallion. “I’m sorry, I fucked up- “DO NOT use such vulgar language in our presence, knave!” Luna interrupts. The flaming ball of plastic moves closer to the eye of the stallion. “I’m sorry Princess Luna, I’m so sorry… I should have been watching the monitors and listening for the alarms-” The stallion urinates himself in fear. “ENOUGH!” Luna says with a snarl. Luna releases the flaming ball with her magic and it falls to the floor. It hits the ground and the fire is extinguished as it lands in the pool of urine. The stallion watches the ball fall to the floor and then looks back at Luna’s furious bleeding face. “LEAVE!” “Yes princess…” “Do not let anyone disturb us while we are in this room… if one of you worthless fools tries to wake us up… we swear upon the moon thou shall wish thou hadst never been born!” “Yes, yes, I’ll make sur-” Luna slams the door in his face. She takes in a deep breath. “Relax… Focus…” She looks back at Moon Glider lying on the bed, his heart rate still reading elevated on the monitor. “Hold on Moon Glider, I am coming…” The mare crawls into the bed alongside the stallion. The bed is too small for her, let alone both of them. The mare takes the big spoon position as she moves Moon Glider’s back into the little spoon position against her stomach. “You are going to get through this… just… hold… on…” Luna quickly drifts off into slumber as she begins to enter Moon Glider’s mind. Inner DemonsLuna re-enters the memory. She phases in at the same location where she left, beside the bed. The room is still dark, it is still nighttime outside, except now there is a severe thunderstorm occurring. When she arrives she sees no sign of Moon Glider on the bed where she had left him. “Moon Glider!” She cries out. Lightning flashes and momentarily lights up the room. A deafening clap of thunder quickly follows. She thinks to herself. Moon Glider was able to keep the memory is this up… he was able to avoid a collapse… despite being a few seconds away from death… despite the minimal training she had given him… his resolve is astounding… but where was he... “Moon Glider where are you!?” Luna cries out again... Upon further inspection of the room, everything seems slightly off, it all appears to be slightly larger… “This memory is from the perspective of a foal.” Luna says to herself in fear. “He’s reverted to an earlier mindset.” She pauses, the rain continues to pound against the roof of the house. “MOON GLIDER, SAY SOMETHING!” Luna says, panic filling her voice. “he-he….help…” Luna hears a faint voice coming from outside the master bedroom. She quickly leaves the bedroom and darts down the long dark hallway. “I’m here Moon Glider, tell me where you are!” “He-here… I-I’m in… he-here… p-pl-please… h-help… s-she’s c-coming.” Luna is able to pinpoint which room the voice is coming from, she quickly runs to the front of the door and swiftly opens it with her magic. Looking straight ahead she sees a bed in the far corner of the room. On top of the bed she saw him, the colt version of Moon Glider, wrapped in blankets, cowering in the corner of his bed. Upon seeing the frightened child, Luna lowers her voice. “Moon Glider… it is ok… I am here…it is me, Princess Luna…” The child does not look at Luna as she speaks to him. His gaze continues to remained fixed on the far side of the room. “S-S-she’s in there… m-my cl-clos-closet… s-she’s in my cl-closet…” Luna’s stomach begins to sink in fear… “No one is in your closet Moon Glider… you are safe… try to relax.” “NO! S-she’s in there… pl-please you got to be-believe me… no one ever b-believes me…” “Moon Glider, p-please… do not be afr-” Luna is interrupted by a loud clap of thunder from outside. The child cowers in fear. The fear within Luna’s voice is becoming apparent. She knows what the child is afraid of, but given her present state she doesn’t know if she can handle this right now. A loud bump occurs behind the closest door. Luna cringes in fear upon hearing it; tears begin to form in her eyes. “Moon Glider, please listen to me, there is no one in your closet; it is just your imagination…” Another louder thud occurs in the closest and the door shakes. “NO! S-she’s here! H-HELP!” The child trembles in fear and places the blanket over their eyes. The closet door begins to rattle violently. “Fear not little one, we are here! We shall protect thee!” Luna stands in front of the closet door and braces it closed with her front hooves. “Focus… relax… we can do this…” The mare tells herself trying to remain calm. The rattling suddenly stops. A few seconds pass. “She is gone… Moon Glider it is ok... she is go-” A loud clap of thunder strikes again outside. Almost immediately after a huge crash knocks the closet door off its hinges. Luna is blasted back halfway across the room. The child gasps in horror at what they see in the closet, then goes deathly silent, paralyzed in fear. Luna, prone on the floor, slowly raises her head… Before her lies a vile monstrosity, present in the form of Nightmare Moon, herself. Its outstretched wings span the room as its horn scrapes the ceiling. The jet black creature bares its dripping fangs as its green eyes meet Luna's, the only points of light behind the shadowy haze surrounding it. The child lets out a terrified whimper, tearing the beast’s attention from Luna. Reaching out a long, gangly limb, it takes a step towards the child, its intentions clear “no… NO! Luna begins to stand up on her hooves. “YOU SHALL NOT HARM THIS CHILD! RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!” Luna begins to charge her horn. The beast continues to walk forward. Luna lets out a bolt of electricity at the beast. The bolt creates a hole in the chest of the beast from which a black viscous fluid slowly pours out. The beast continues to walk forward. “DIE FIEND!” Luna lets out three more bolts of lightning, two hitting the beast in the body, the third hitting it in the face. The head shot blows half of the flesh off of the creatures face, but below its white skull remains fully intact. Without the flesh the full extent of the creature long fangs are made apparent, which are now dripping with the creature’s black blood. The beast continues to move forward, unfazed… Luna begins to panic in desperation… she decides to change her tactics. Luna charges her horn and casts a shield spell, creating a bright white magical shield through the middle of the room. The creature approaches the wall and then stops. It looks at the shield and then stares deep into Luna’s scared eyes. Luna continues to focus all of her energy on maintaining the shield spell, although she has trouble ignoring the visage of the hideous beast gazing at her. “Focus…” She says to herself. The creature slowly raises its front right hoof and places it upon the magical barrier. Its gaze still locked with Luna. “Relax…” The beast begins to push its hoof against the shield. Luna struggles to keep the spell alive. The flesh of the creature’s leg begins to sear off as it is slowly pushed through the wall. A buildup of the creature’s black fur and blood begins to drip down the white magical shield from where the leg continues to progress. The skeletal remains of the leg continue to move forward though the shield. Luna, using all of her mental ability to maintain the shield spell, tries to ignore the hoof slowly moving towards her, but it gets to a point where the hoof is just a few inches from here face. At this point Luna can no longer help but to divert her gaze to the skeletal hoof. The second she does her shield spell begins to falter. The beast lunges its full body at the shield, breaking it to pieces. The skeletal hoof slams Luna across the room. She slams against a wooden dresser next to the bed of the quivering child. The beast returns its gaze to the child and begins move forward, slowly opening its mouth to reveal the long row of fangs dripping with the black grimy fluid. Jolts of black begin to strike both Luna and Moon Gliders vision as the creature draws near. The child eyes lay fixed on the sharp fangs slowly coming towards him. Luna slowly raises head. She realizes that a collapse is imminent, a collapse which Moon Glider will likely never recover from. She had failed to protect the child against the abomination. “Moon Glider… I’m so sorry…” Luna charges her horn, tears flowing from her eyes. “Please forgive me…” Luna strikes Moon Glider’s head with a bolt of lightning. … You can hear a mare crying… you feel a sharp pain in your head… you slowly open your eyes. Luna is standing over you. You are in your childhood bed back in your old bedroom. “What’s wrong Luna?” You ask the grieving Mare. Luna looks up, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “You still know who I am?” “Of course I do, how could I forget about you, after all we’ve been through.” “What is your name?” “What?! Moon Glider… haven’t we already been through this?” “What is the last thing you remember…” “Uh…” “We were lying down in a bed together… I…I mean we were in the middle of a migraine… I had to vomit… but I couldn’t … I was chocking… you left to save me… you saved me! “Do you remember what happened after that?” You try to remember, nothing comes to mind. “No… what happened?” “You reverted to an earlier mindset; you were stuck in the middle of a bad childhood memory… does the name Nightmare Moon sound familiar to you.” “Uh… no… sounds a bit ominous, who is she?” “Me. I am… was… Nightmare Moon.” You give Luna a confused look. “Moon Glider…” Luna’s head drops in despair. “You were having a childhood memory of imagining that Nightmare Moon was in your closet. The memory was too strong for me to handle. You were on the verge of collapse, I had no choice but to use my last resort spell…” “Last resort?” “It’s a spell I deigned for ponies which are victims of extreme trauma or sexual assault and have severe problems functioning because of the experience. The spell permanently erases memory of the incident.” You pause for a second, but then calmly reply. “Luna, its ok, you did what you had to do to save me from going back into a collapse. I think I can do without a few childhood memories of being afraid of things that go bump in my closest.” “No… it’s not that simple… certain memories can be linked to other memories… in my haste to erase the memories of Nightmare Moon I may have erased several other memories as well…” You pause for a few seconds… beginning to worry about what just transpired… “H-how do we tell?” Luna pauses, then replies in a serious tone. “How long has Celestia ruled Equestria.” “Since… forever.” “How long have myself and Celestia ruled Equestria together.” “Just a few years…” “What happened just a few years ago to cause this?” “Uh… you just sort of appeared, I’m not sure how…” “It’s alright… I’ll fill you in on the details of that later.” Luna says quickly while looking off to the side. Luna resumes her questioning. “What happens at the end of October?” “Uh… harvesting?” “Are there any major holidays that occur around this time?” “Uh… none that I can remember…” “Nightmare Night, costumes, candy… none of that seems familiar?” Fear begins to grip your mind. “Uh… n-no I don’t remember anything like that…” “When you were a colt and you went camping, do you recall telling ghost stories around the fire?” “My family never went camping much… we mostly stayed in the city…” “Ok… when you were scared in the night what did you do?” “Uh… I don’t know… I guess I would have gotten my parents.” “What were their names?” “Cloud Glider and Wind Glider…” “Good… good…” Luna says, letting out a sigh of relief. “Do you recall ever running to their room in the middle of the night about something being in your closest.” “No…” Luna looks out the door of Moon Glider’s bedroom. Moon Glider’s parents’ bedroom was far down the hallway; however there was another door directly across from Moon Glider’s bedroom. Luna begins to think, what if Moon Glider didn’t go to his parents’ room for help whenever he heard a bump in the night, what if he went to one of his siblings for help instead… “Whose room is directly across the hallway from yours…” You strain to think, but nothing comes to mind. This is your childhood home, but you don’t know what was in the bedroom across from your own. “I…I…I don’t know…” Luna’s voice begins to waver… “Did you have any siblings Moon Glider, who else lived in this house?” “No… only me and my parents lived here…” “Moon Glider…your sister… do you remember her?” “My… sister?” You ask in fear and disbelief. Luna recalls earlier when Moon Glider once mistakenly called her “sis” when she rescued him from them sand. “The sand… do you remember being buried in the sand…” “Y-yeah…” “In the original memory… who dug you out of the sand…” “I..I don’t remember… I had a sister?” Tears begin to pour down your face… Luna’s voice turns saddened as she comes to a realization. “She was the one who helped you overcome your fear of Nightmare Moon being in your closet. I’m sorry, but in erasing all memories of Nightmare Moon, I… erased all memories of your sister as well…” “What?!...” A bolt of blackness strikes your vision. “Moon Glider! You need to control yourself!” Luna yells trying to hold back sobs of her own. You begin to stabilize… still sniffling in fear… “So what does this mean?” “There is going to be gaps in your memories. She likely had a huge influence on your life so some things will no longer make sense. But we need to proceed! We need to get you out of this coma!” You pause for a second and then divert your gaze from Luna to the floor. Luna thinks to herself… in an effort to save this stallion’s life, she had just killed a small part of him… he had already suffered so much… it was not fair that he had to go through this too… “If you need a few moments-” “No! Let’s go!” Luna pauses for a second and then asks. “Are you sure you are ready?” “Yes, let’s move on to another memory.” You quickly raise your front hoof to Luna. “Alright…” Luna grabs your hoof and begins to charge her horn. You continue to look at the floor. “Look at me Moon Glider” Luna says to the sullen stallion. You lift your head and lock gaze with Luna. Luna sees the confused and conflicting emotions being displayed upon your face. She is unsure what to say to you. You see the saddened and unsure look on Luna’s face… “Luna… you did what you had to do… I hold nothing against you for that… you’ve helped me so much… do not feel guilty for what you did to me…” You come around to meet her face to face, and then place your other front hoof around her, embracing her in a hug. “Thank you Moon Glider…” As you embrace her Luna begins to shift both of you to another memory. Whiteness begins to overtake both of your visions. ”Thank you…” … You and Luna materialize into a hall of a nice building. You detach from Luna and looks around. In front of you is a doorway which contains a large amount of grieving ponies all dressed in black. In the center of the far side of the room lies a closed coffin. “We’re at a funeral, I remember being here, but…” Luna cringes upon awaiting your response. “I don’t know who this was for…” Moon Glider looks to Luna. “It was for her, wasn’t it…” “Yes…” Luna replies. “How did she die?” “I believe, like many other thousands of ponies, she died the day of the changeling attack.” Your mind begins to remember the attack, as well as the recent memory you just relived with Luna. The mare and her child being mauled by the changeling inside the convenience store. “That mare at the store… she died the same way my sister did.” “No… your sister died fighting, she was a guard… she managed to save a handful of ponies with her actions.” Luna motions to a couple of families sitting in the back of the room. You look around the funeral home and see the faces of several friends and family. Each of them quietly grieving and talking amongst themselves. “What did she look like?” “She looked a lot like you… even your cutie marks were similar…” You gaze upon the closed coffin. “Those bastards mauled her… that’s why this is a closed funeral… isn’t it…” “Yes…” You slowly approach the coffin. Luna slowly follows behind you. You see your parents sitting in the front row of seats inside the funeral parlor. They gaze upon you in anguish. “She was the successful sibling, I was the fuck up, wasn’t I…” “NO! Moon Glider, do not say such things!” “That day she died a hero… I kept on living a life as a regretful coward… and I don’t even know what she fucking looks like.” You place both hooves on the lid of the coffin. “Moon Glider, don’t-” You open the coffin. Inside there is nothingness, a black void of nothingness. Luna places a hoof upon your shoulder. “You both loved each other very much, there will be opportunities to relearn about her when you waken…” “If I awaken…” “MOON GLIDER! Listen… this is terrible I know… but you can’t give up now, you need to stay focused.” “…you’re right…” You reply. “Let’s move on.” You slowly and carefully close the coffin. “Very well…” Luna strengthens her grasp upon your shoulder as she begins to charge her horn. You take one last look at the coffin before whiteness slowly fills your vision … You materialize into being sitting at a table. You are drinking a bottle of hard cider. The cool crisp liquid slowly pours down your throat. That crispness and the alcoholic taste feel good upon tongue. You continue to drink until the bottle is empty. You swirl the bottle around with you hooves and then place it straight up above your mouth, gathering every last drop from the bottle. “Where are we Moon Glider?” Luna asks you. You divert your gaze from the bottle and look around. “We’re in my shit-hole studio apartment.” Piles of unwashed dishes are piled up in the sink. Your bed is unmade; various cloths are strewn about the floor. A thick layer of dust covers everything that is not used daily. Small pieces of food litter the floor. A large pile of unopen mail is building up on the floor in front of your front door. The garbage can is overflowing. Before you on the table lie eight empty bottles of Sweet Apple Acres hard cider. You feel drunk… your stomach is swelled from drinking so much cider. “I remember this…” You say as you wobbly stand up from the table. “After the funeral… I hit some pretty dark times.” You walk towards the refrigerator, wavering back and forth along the way. “A lot of good ponies have faced drinking problems in the past…” You open the refrigerator and grab another bottle of cider. “I’m not a good pony.” “Yes you are!” Luna replies quickly. “Luna… c’mon, really?” You place the bottle cap against your kitchen counter and hit it with the top of your hoof, the bottle cap pops right off. “Just look around you… look at this shit hole… look at me…good for nothing scum bag…” You take a large gulp of cider from the bottle. The familiar crispness feels soothing as it goes down your throat. “That’s not true-” “YES IT FUKING IS…” You yell at Luna while pointing your bottle at her. “You could be out there helping ponies who deserve your help, I sure as fuck don’t!” You place the bottle back to your lips and begin to take several large gulps. “Moon Glider, stop doing that to yourself! You will find no solutions to your problems at the bottom of a bottle!” You laugh at her… “Yeah… you got that right… but what’s the fucking point…shit job… shit life… there ain’t much waiting for me once I get out of this coma…” Luna, pauses. She realizes that without your motivation, you were doomed to fail. “You were not always like this, this was just a brief stint wasn’t it?” “Yeah… so…” “What brought you out of this?” You strain to remember but you can’t… “I don’t know…I probably ran out of money for cider…” “NO! She brought you out of it! Your sister! Even though she was dead, she still inspired you to stop drinking and turn your life around!” “She did…?” “YES!” You look down at the bottle in your hoof. Your mouth craved another taste of the crisp cool liquid. “She… she was a really good pony… wasn’t she…” You begin to cry… “Yes she was…” Luna replies. “Fuck…” You raise the bottle closer to your lips. The aroma of the cider fills your nostrils. “I bet I could never be like her… she sounds like one in a million…” The cravings to take another sip are very strong, your body craves more. “But… but... I sure as FUCK am gonna to try!” You raise the bottle above your head and throw it down into the kitchen sink. It shatters into several pieces. “I’M NOT YOUR FUCKING SLAVE!” You shout at the cider as it begins to drip down the drain. You look at Luna, she looks emboldened after watching what you just did. You focus your mind; you are able to eliminate the feelings of drunkenness and a bloated stomach which plagued you just moments ago. You extend your hoof to her. Luna looks down at you hoof, and then back to you. She grabs ahold of your body with both hooves in a massive hug. “We’re gonna get through this, I’m sure of it…” Luna replies, her emotion causing her to skip over her formal diction, tears of joy coming from her eyes. Her horn begins to glow, whiteness over takes your vision as your apartment fades from view… Facing Your FearsYou and Luna materialize onto the streets of Canterlot. The sun is shining brightly. You are sitting at an outdoor café with a group of friends eating lunch. Suddenly several ponies come frantically running down the street. A guard pony approaches the café. “Lord Tirek is approaching! Evacuate at once!” The guard yells. All the ponies in the café scream in terror and then frantically begin running down the road. The guard pony drops his spear and joins the herd. After a few seconds it’s just you and Luna standing alone on the street. You walk over and pick up the spear. “Are you sure you don’t want just to run away Moon Glider?” Luna asks you hesitantly. “Yup.” “Maybe it would be best if we tried a different memory…” You look Luna in the eye and shake your head, a determined look upon your face. “Just how are we going to take on Tirek?! All he needs to do is simply nudge you and the pain from that will be enough to cause another collapse!” She yells at you. You calmly look at Luna’s concerned face. “We can do this Luna…” You say to her softly. “NO! This is ludicrous, give me your hoof, we’re moving onto a different memory!” Luna begins to charge her horn and extends her hoof out to you. You stand firm. “Luna…” Tears begin to form in Luna’s eyes. “Please!” She cries “I… I don’t want to you die… Just take my hoof… PLEASE!” A rumble can be heard in the distance. You look down at her extended hoof. You then return your gaze to her distressed eyes. “Luna, I need you to trust me…” Luna pauses for a second, her sorrow turns to anger. “NO!” Luna shouts. “I’m not running away anymore! You shout back at the mare. “I’m not going to be that scared, stuttering, colt hiding under the covers… or that terrified cashier hiding behind the counter. I… I just can’t do it anymore… I’ve had enough of being afraid. I need to do this… and if I never come out of this coma because of my choice then so be it! At least I’ll be going out on my own terms…” The rumble in the distance grows louder. Stomp…stomp…stomp… Luna continues to stare at you. She considers grabbing ahold of you and moving you onto another memory without your consent. She can’t stand the thought of losing you, especially after all the progress you’ve made, but this was not her mind. Ultimately Moon Glider is the one who should make this sort of choice. To deny him this choice in his own mind would be a terrible thing to do… “Dammit Moon Glider” Luna says, slowly regaining her composure. “Alright then… so what is your plan…” “Well… in about 30 seconds Tirek is going to round that corner and come down this street. I figure I will hide in that alley over there, and once he walks by I’ll stab him in the face!” Luna pauses for a moment, a bleak expression upon her face. “That’s it…” “Yeah…” Luna lets out a sigh. “He’ll probably notice you in the alley… you are going to need a diversion…” Luna cringes. “I’ll wait in the middle of the street to distract him…” “What! Are you sure Luna?” She pauses. “Yes… I am sure… I trust you… now hurry into position, the fiend approaches...” You scramble down the alley with your spear. You hide behind a dumpster. STOMP… STOMP… STOMP… You can hear the footsteps of Lord Tirek approaching. The huge centaur rounds the corner. He stands two stories tall and is as long as a train car. You look down at your spear. You begin to wonder if maybe you should have just run away like you did in the actual memory. “No… you can do this Moon Glider… you can do this… relax… focus…” You tell yourself, steadying your nerves. Lord Tirek sees Luna standing alone in the street and approaches her. “Well if it isn’t Celestia’s little bitch!” Lord Tirek yells with a laugh. “Shouldn’t you be helping little foals overcome their scary little nightmares?” Luna holds firm, Lord Tirek continues to approach her. “You were absolutely no match for me the last time we met, this time will be the same. Do you know why? Because you are WEAK! You are PATHETIC! You are LITERALLY always in the shadow of your sister Celestia-“ “Enough Tirek, your reign of terror ends now!” Luna yells out. You continue to watch Tirek approach, just a few more feet and you will be able to ambush him from the side. “Oh really, your race of colorful, pudgy, little ponies is going to stand up against ME!” “You underestimate us Tirek!” Luna yells back. “No… I don’t think so… a civilization whose national pride comes from friendship? That has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve been alive for thousands of years! As soon as I absorb all of the magic out of you puny ponies, I shall SQUASH all of your skulls beneath my mighty hooves!” You continue to watch… he’s almost in position… just a few more feet… “Starting with YOU!” Lord Tirek opens his mouth. A red magical flame-like aura begins pouring from Luna’s horn as Tirek begins draining the magic out of her body. “Shit!” You say to yourself, Tirek is not yet in position, but you have no choice, you have to charge him now. You bolt out from behind the dumpster, spear in hand, flying faster than you ever flew before, aiming straight for Tirek’s head. You are nearly there, but at the last second Tirek notices you and quickly jolts up in surprise. Instead of the spear hitting him in the head, it strikes him in the neck. “AAAAAAHHHHHH” Tirek yells in pain. Tirek ends his magic draining of Luna, she falls to the ground. Tirek slams you with the back of his hand. He sends you flying; you crash into the storefront window of a hardware store. You continue flying through the store until you crashing into a shelving unit. “MOON GLIDER!” Luna yells in fear as she watches you disappear into the store. “PATHETIC!” Tirek yells. He pulls the spear out from his neck. “You tried to take me down with THIS?!? This is nothing more than a toothpick compared to me!” Tirek easily snaps the spear with one hand and throws it on the ground. Pain covers your entire body after the impact. You struggle to stand up, but you can’t. All of your limbs painfully ache. You look down at your limbs, your legs are severely contorted, likely fracture in multiple locations. Your wings are both completely broken, blood and feathers are strewn everywhere. Your vision slowly beings to fade to black. The pain seems so familiar to you. Memories of the accident come back to you. The blackness gets to a point where you can barely see anything around you. You continue to bleed out upon the floor. “n…n…no…” You struggle to speak. You try to focus as hard as you can on not passing out. Blackness completely overtakes your vision. Your memory begins to collapse; your sense of feeling begins to fade away. It feels as if you are floating in a void of nothingness… … You take a deep breath in. You exhale deeply. … “…no… no!” … You slowly begin to feel the pain again. “NO!” Your vision slowly begins to fade back in. “There goes your champion Luna!” Tirek yells to her as she lies on the ground. “I take back what I said, I will not crush your skull beneath my hooves, instead I am going to SKULL FUCK YOU TO DEATH!” Luna is lying prone on the ground beneath the monsters hooves. She raises her head. She sees clearly between his legs and has full view of the minotaur’s massive genitalia. She lets out a cry, “THOU SHALT NOT!” She charges her horn and with the remainder of her undrained magic she shoots a bolt of electricity at Tirek’s groin. The bolt is a direct hit with Tirek’s hanging scrotum which ruptures upon impact. “GHHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAA!” Tirek lets out a massive yell in pain. You look down at your legs which are all severely in pain. “They’re not real… the pain isn’t real… focus… relax… focus… relax…” You close your eyes and try to visualize yourself… you remember what you looked like before the accident… a strong healthy stallion… all limbs fully intact… Eyes still closed you attempt to stand up. You open your eyes. You are back on all fours. Your wings are back to normal as well. You look around the store to see where you are. Something on a nearby shelf catches your eye. You begin to grin… “YOU SHALL PAY FOR THAT BITCH!” Tirek picks up Luna in his massive hands and brings her body up to his face. He slowly begins to crush her with his mighty hands. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Luna lets out a scream in massive pain. “Let go of her you BASTARD!” You yell from the broken window of the hardware store. “You again!” Tirek throws Luna onto the ground and faces you. “You WEAK, PATHETIC pony dare stand up to me? You’re not even a unicorn, you can’t even cast spells! How do you expect to last a second against me?!?” You pick up a chainsaw lying on the floor beneath you. Holding it with both your front hooves you grab the pull string with your teeth. You pull the string back and the machine loudly comes to life. VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIM VRRRRIIIM VRRRRIIIM. The chainsaw growls loudly in your hooves, a grin forms upon your face as you look Tirek in the eye. The two story Tirek looks at you silently… he was not expecting this… you caught him off guard… “Let’s dance.” You bolt off flying at full speed towards Tirek, the growling chainsaw in hoof. Luna lifts her head from the ground and watches you fly toward the minotaur. Tirek shoots a large bolt of fire at you from his mighty horns. You narrowly dodge out of the way. The fire singes your fur as it closely misses you. Fear strikes Tirek as he continues to watch you approach, he quickly casts a shield spell around himself. Flying full speed ahead you approach the shield. “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” You scream at the top of your lungs. You swing your chainsaw forcefully into the shield. The shield instantly shatters into hundreds of tiny pieces. You continue to approach, aiming straight for his head. Tirek watches in utter horror as you approach. “NO…HOW…” Tirek says in confusion. You swing the chainsaw into Tirek’s left temple. The chainsaw instantly tears through his outer flesh and then begins to steadily cut through bone. Blood begins to spurt out everywhere, getting all over your face. Tirek drops to his knees; you maintain your grasp on the chainsaw as it continues to sink deeper and deeper into his skull. Your face and body becomes covered with more and more blood the deeper the chainsaw sinks into his head. “HOW’S THIS FOR WEAK AND PATHETIC, HUH TIREK?!” You yell at the minotaur as his face begins to go blank. He collapses from his knees to the ground. Chunks of brain and skull begin to accumulate in your fur. “YOU MOTHER FUCKING BULLY! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST PUSH US AROUND WITHOUT BEING PUSHED BACK!” The chainsaw gets midway through Tirek’s thick head and then gets stuck. You try to pull it out but it does not go anywhere. You proceed to pummel upon Tirek’s bleeding skull with your hooves. “MOTHER FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” Stomp! “DIE YOU STUPID FUCK!” Stomp! Stomp! “HOW DOES IT FEEL, HUH!” Stomp! “YOU JUST GOT YOUR HEAD BASHED IN BY A PUDGY LITTLE PONY!” Stomp! Stomp! “WHO’S WEAK NOW! WHO’S WEAK NOW!” Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Luna, in awe at what you have just accomplished, slowly struggles to pull herself to her feet. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Discord appears next to her. “Why hello Luna! It’s been so long since my last surprise visit, I simply love watching you work! What fruitless task are you trying to accomplish this time? Helping another colt overcome their fear of the dreadfully scary Nightmare Moon?” Luna shoots Discord a furious look, daggers in her eyes. Upon hearing Discord’s voice, you stop pummeling upon the pulpy remains of Tirek’s head and gaze over your shoulder. “You…TRAITOR!” Discord turns his head towards you… he stares blankly for a few seconds, the carnage of the scene before him too much for his brain to take in. He vomits in disgust upon seeing Tirek’s brains spread in chunks upon the ground. You place both of your front hooves upon the chainsaw lodged inside of Tirek’s skull. You place one of your back hooves against Tirek’s skull and plant the other firmly on the ground. You pull strongly, letting out a loud grunt in the process. After a few seconds of pulling, the chainsaw breaks free, blood and pieces of brain go flying. A small chunk of brain lands at Discord’s feet. Discord looks down at the chunk of brain right in front of him… he is paralyzed in fear. “This is all YOUR fault!” You yell at discord as you slowly walk towards him, completely covered in blood and chunks of brain. “We trusted you, and you betrayed us… YOU BETRAYED ALL OF US!” Discord gets ahold of himself… he decides he no longer wants any part of this and attempts to teleport away…but nothing happens… “Where do you think you’re going?” Luna says with a devious grin upon her face. Her magical aura gripping him, preventing him from escaping. You let the chainsaw roar as you slowly walk towards Discord. VRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM! “We accepted you Discord, despite all your past transgressions, we forgave you, and THIS IS HOW YOU RETURNED THE FAVOR!” You stand directly in front of Discord, he sees up close the blood and brain chunks dripping from your fur. Luna continues to watch silently. “PLEASE, I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again, I mean it, PLEASE!” The motor of the chainsaw continues running in the background. “Really discord? We pardoned you multiple times for your crimes against Equestria, yet you keep committing them. You can never change!” “YES I CAN! PLEASE! I’ll never bother Equestria again! I’ll leave every pony alone!” “How does that expression go… fool me once… shame on you... fool me twice… GET OUT YOUR MOTHER FUCKING CHAINSAW!” VRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM! The blade spins inches from Discord’s face. “PLEASE!” “Alright fine… I’ll leave it up to Luna. What should do with him Luna?” You look Luna in the eyes and she stares right back at you, smiling a sadistic grin. Discord desperately looks to Luna. “Luna please…” “I think you should decide Moon Glider.” Luna calmly replies. You laugh. “Oh really… alright then.” You roar up your chainsaw and slowly move it towards Discord’s face. VRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM! “NO PLEASE… MERCY” Discord yells as he drops to his knees. You stop the blade and gently slap Discord across the face with the blunt metal part of the chainsaw. “Meehh…” Discord lets out a pathetic whine as you touched him with your chainsaw. Discord looks up at you. “What’s the matter Discord, you never SAW that coming?” You begin to laugh, Luna also lets out a small chuckle. Discord stares at you bewildered. “Discord, you’re lucky I have a sense of humor… otherwise I’d cut off each of your fucking mismatched limbs and hang them on my wall.” “T-t-thank you…” Discord says, still in shock. You throw your chainsaw to the ground. You use your hooves to grab ahold of Discord’s face and bring it just a few inches from your own. “Now remember what you said Discord… If you even THINK about betraying us…” “I PROMISE, PLEASE!” “Well then, that’s just FANTASTIC! Looks like we're friends again! Oh… and do you know what that means?...” You pull discord up close to you and give him a long kiss upon the lips. Completely caught off guard, Discord squirms but cannot escape your grasp. After a few seconds you push him away. “You call that a kiss? Come on Discord, no tongue?” Discord tries to reply, but can’t. He opens his mouth to find that his forked tongue is missing. You look to Luna she has a large smile upon her face, both of you let out another laugh. “Come on Discord, this is comedy gold!” The scared Discord trembles in terror before the two of you… “Alright, enough’s enough. Luna let him go” Luna detaches her magical aura from Discord. “Now get the fuck out of here before I change my mind.” Discord vanishes in a flash. You look at Luna… “Funny, I don’t remember Discord being in that memory, how in Equestria did he get here?” “That was actually Discord.” Luna tells you with a smile upon her face. “What? NO…” “Yes, no joke.” she grins “Except for the ones you made. Every now and then he will enter the dreamscape in an attempt to annoy me. That wretched creature receives amusement by hindering my efforts of trying to help those who need it… although I don’t think he will be doing that again anytime soon… or ever…” “No shit… so I just successfully intimidated the god of chaos?” “Yes… you did.” “Wow…ok… so how did you know I wasn’t going to kill him?” “I didn’t…” She says with a smile… You pause for a second, looking at Luna’s devious smile. You both begin to laugh. A jolt of whiteness strikes your vision. You begin to feel a low rumble in the distance. “Did you feel that?” You say to Luna, you begin to feel funny. “It’s happening… Moon Glider it’s HAPPENING! You’ve triggered enough brain activity! You’re pulling out… YOU’RE WAKING UP” “I AM?!?” More jolts of whiteness begin to strike your vision, you look at Luna, she is becoming blurry. “LUNA… WE DID IT” “I knew you could do it Moon Glider! I knew yo….” Her voice begins to fade out. Her face slowly fades away as the whiteness overtakes your vision… Facing FactsYou 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…” What Dreams May ComeSeveral more weeks pass by. You are finally able to walk on your own using your prosthetics. You are a little jittery still, but you can manage. You haven’t seen Luna since the night you woke up. She seemed pretty adamant about meeting with you once you were able to walk, you would hate to disappoint her by making her wait. You had a lot of legal and financial matters to take care of after being in a coma for 12 years, but all of that could wait. You couldn’t wait to see her again. She was your savior, both of you had been through so much together. You figured the only way you were going to get an audience with Luna was by attending her midnight court. It’s the middle of the night, a taxi drops you off in front of the royal palace. Almost no one is around. In front of you stands a large stone staircase, at the top of which are the main doors to the royal palace. One lunar guard, an earth pony, guards the main door. He has his eyes on you. He notices that you are a quadruple amputee, and lets out a sigh. This is not what he wanted to deal with right now. You are tempted just to fly up the steps, but as your doctor said you shouldn’t become over reliant upon your wings. You slowly and carefully move up the steps. After about five minutes, you finally make it to the top of the stairs. “What do you want?” The guard pony speaks to you in a pissed off tone. “I’m here to have an audience with Princess Luna.” “No you’re not.” “What?...” You ask confusingly. “Her court ended early tonight, you’ll have to come back tomorrow- no wait… its Friday. You’ll have to come back Monday.” “Oh come on… why didn’t you tell me that before I climbed all those fucking stairs.” The guard pony laughs to himself. “So I could see the disappointed look on your face, that’s why.” “The fuck is your problem guy!” “YOU ARE!” The guard pony angrily yells at you. “Listen the princess requested an audience with me, I don’t want to keep her waiting any longer than I have too.” “Ain’t my fucking problem, my job is to keep deadbeats like you off the palace grounds.” “I’M NOT A FUCKIGN DEADBEAT…” You pause for a second. You realize that coming straight from the hospital you haven’t had much time for proper grooming of your coat and mane. Most ponies who visit the royal palace likely wore formal attire; you barely had a clean coat of fur... You try to control your anger. “Listen, can you please just let the princess… or her clerk… or just any pony in the palace know that Moon Glider is here.” “You better get lost or else I’ll shove those FAKE LIMBS DOWN YOUR FUCKING THROAT!” “FINE I’M GOING!” You quickly turn around and lose your balance. “SHIT!” You being to stumble down the stone stair case. Luckily your reflexes kick in in time and you are able to curl into the fetal position. By the time you hit the bottom you are a little roughed up but there is no serious damage. However, two of your prosthetics limbs fall off as you fall down the stairs. The guard pony laughs. “Serves you right!” The guard pony yells at the top of the stairs. The door to the palace slams open. An officer, a bat pony, comes out. “What’s all the commotion out here!?” The earth pony at the door salutes the officer. “CAPTAIN ORION, nothing to see here, just another bum.” The captain looks down the steps to see Moon Glider on the ground. The captain sees the amputee stallion and instantly recognizes who he is. “HOLY SHIT, that’s Moon Glider!” The captain turns to face the guard pony. “Don’t you read the fucking paper?!” The earth pony pauses for a second and then lets out a bleak response. “Uh…no…” The captain decks the guard in the face as hard as he can. The earth pony falters backwards several feet and struggles to stay on his hooves. ”You just pushed Moon Glider down a flight of stairs!?! You will receive forty lashes for this!” You begin to crawl upon the ground to collect your detached prosthetics. Hearing what is going on at the top of the stairs you decide to say something. “Hold on Captain… he didn’t push me down… it was an accident… I fell…” “Is that so…” The fuming captain looks at the earth pony, bleeding from his snout. “Looks like you’re getting off easy private… this time… something like this will not happen again, RIGHT PRIVATE!?” The private stands straight. “NO SIR, IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN SIR.” “You’re DAM right it won’t!” The captain yells. His attention returns to Moon Glider. The captain quickly flies down the steps and helps you reattach your prosthetics. Once they are secured he helps you back on all fours. “Come inside Moon Glider, Princess Luna will be most pleased to see you.” You fly up the steps this time; you quickly pass by the earth pony at the door. He continues to gaze straight as you pass, avoiding looking at you. As soon as you are inside you plop down on all fours. The captain closes the door behind you. “Sorry about that Moon Glider…” “It’s alright…” “Listen… can you do me a favor…” “What’s that?” “Please don’t mention that incident to Princess Luna, you’re really important to her and… she might overreact a little bit… and um… every once in a while…” The captain looks around to make sure no one is listening. He proceeds to speak silently to you. “Every once and while I get reports about ponies somehow mysteriously dying in their sleep… and well… I don’t want to write out letters to the next of kin of deceased guard ponies… especially in the middle of peacetime… it’s just bad for everybody…” You stare at him blankly for a moment, completely surprised. “Yeah… of course… besides that asshole got what was coming to him when you landed that punch!” “That was a pretty good hit wasn’t it?” You both let out a laugh. You continue to walk through the many corridors. The guard chats with you along the way. “I’ve been captain of Luna’s guard ever since she re-ascended the throne, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her as happy as she has been in the past few weeks.” “Really?” “Yeah, you improved her morale significantly Moon Glider. She deals with a lot of shit, way more than any one pony should handle. She takes it upon herself to protect the mental and emotional well-being of all ponies in Equestria! And most of the time she’s doing it behind the scenes, so most ponies don’t even notice that Princess Luna helped them. It’s a thankless job… and it sure as all fuck shouldn’t be…” “Dam…” “Yeah…” You arrive at the bedroom of Princess Luna. “Hopefully we can catch her before you goes back off to work…” Captain Orion knocks on her bedroom door. There is no answer. “Dammit… she hates being waken up while she’s working… but I think with you here she’ll make an exception…” Caption Orion opens the door to Luna’s bedroom. There she was… the magnificent alicorn… gracefully sprawled out upon her bed. Her facial wound was completely gone from the last time you saw her. Captain Orion looks at you. “You can have the honor waking her up… shit... you’re probably the only pony in Equestria who she wouldn’t be pissed off at for waking her…” You nod to the captain and you slowly walk over to her bed. You kneel down at the side of her bed and look at her eyes. Beneath her eye lids her eyes are quickly darting back and forth, she is in the middle of a dream… someone else’s dream. You feel a bit sorry for interrupting the pony she is currently trying to help, but can you wait no longer. “Luna… it’s me… Moon Glider…” Her ears twitch as she hears your voice… her eyes stop moving back and forth. After a few seconds she opens her eyes. “Moon Glider!” She says with a smile upon her face. Her body quickly spins around in her bed as she embraces you with a large hug. You are completely caught off guard as she hugs you while you are kneeling. The large mare tightly squeezes you to the point where you can barely breathe. Captain Orion sees the surprised look on your face and lets out a chuckle. He then quickly chimes in. “Princess Luna, I imagine you would like a private audience with Moon Glider, unless there is anything else you need from me will return to my post.” “We thank thee, thou art dismissed.” Captain Orion leaves the bedroom and closes the door behind him. Luna releases you from her embraces and you are finally able to breathe again. Luna leaps off her bed to stand beside you. You stand upright on all fours. Luna looks you up and down. “You are able to walk again I see.” “Yup, the physical therapist you assigned to me did a fantastic job.” “And the prosthetics?” “They are great!” You lift your front right hoof up into the air to show her. “Perfect fit, the weighting and balance is superb.” “Excellent!” Luna replies happily “How’s everything going with the friends and family?” “Great! Everyone has been really supportive… and turns out I have an 11 year old son…” Luna smiles at you. “Surprise!” “Yeah… tell me about it…” “Well it’s great to see you again, Moon Glider… but pleasantries was not the only reason I asked you to come here… I would like to offer you a job as a royal guard.” You stare at her with a skeptical look on your face. “What? Come on Luna, I can barely walk… let alone swing a spear.” “Not just any guard pony, you’ll have a very special role.” “…wait, do you mean like… in bed…” You say hesitantly. “Yes exactly…” She pauses for a second. “NO MOON GLIDER, NOT LIKE THAT!” She blushes through her dark blue coat and you try not to grin. “Dammit Moon Glider…” She lets out a sigh, followed as well as a small chuckle. “Moon Glider, I’ve seen firsthand what you can do with your mind. Your lucid dreaming skills, mental and emotional control, and ability to adapt and overcome to your surroundings quickly are exactly what I need for my mission.” “Your mission of using the dreamscape to help all the ponies of Equestria overcome their troubles?” “Yes, it is an ambitious mission I know… one that I cannot do by myself… that is why I am enlisting your help!” You stare at her confused… “But I thought that only you were able to traverse the dreamscape?” “This is true… I am the only one who can… with the exception of that vile creature Discord. But… it would be possible for you as well… as long as you are within my presence. We simply need to each cast a few simple spells, and then you will be able to ‘piggyback’ with me while we traverse the dreamscape.” “What do you mean by ‘We’ each need to cast a few simple spells? ...Are you using the traditional royal ‘We’ again?” You confusingly reply. “No.” Luna says with a smile on her face. “Both of us will need to cast spells…” “But I’m not a unicorn… I can’t cast the spells needed to do that…” “No… but I have something that may assist with that…” Luna walks to an antique chest in the far corner of the room. She pulls out a small, dusty, wooden box. Luna brings the box over to you. She slowly opens it up. Inside lies a golden jeweled crown. At the center of lies a unicorn’s horn, as well as pieces of the surrounding skull which the horn was once connected to. You stare, partially disgusted and partially horrified at the crown. “Luna...there’s a pony’s horn on that crown…” “Yes, you’ll be able to use it to cast spells and traverse the dreamscape.” “But… where did you get that from…” “Oh… this old thing, it was just lying around…” You continue to stare at her… “Hey, they don’t call me the Princess of the Night for nothing…” She says with gentle laugh. You shake your head, but can’t help but smile at her. “How does it even work?” “You just need to put it on and it will work.” You hesitantly look at Luna, and then back at the crown. “Well… here goes nothing…” You attempt to grasp the crown with your prosthetic hoof, but you are not able to maintain a steady grip on it. “Let me help you with that, it is best not to accidentally drop it… I only have one… I would hate to go through the process of ‘acquiring’ another one…” “Yeah…” You shudder thinking about what that process might entail. Luna grabs the crown out of the box with her magic. You get down onto your knees and lower your head to her. She slowly lowers the crown upon your head. As soon as the crown makes contact you can feel the magical power of the horn as it runs through your body. “Whoa…” After a few seconds the feeling of magic power begins to fade. You stand up. “So how do I use it?” You ask Luna. “You just have to think about it.” “Just think about it, how…” Luna shakes her head. “Here, let’s just do a test.” She walks over to an end table containing a large vase. “This is a priceless antique given to me by my sister Celesita for my birthday a few years ago…” She lifts it up with her hoof. “Catch it before it hits you in the face.” “Wait, what!” Luna throws the vase at you as hard as she can. “SHIT!” You close your eyes and flinch in anticipation of being hit. A second passes… nothing happens. You slowly open your eyes to see the vase being suspended in dark blue aura of magic “YOU DID IT!” Luna lets out with glee. “Wow… I did it…” You look closely at the vase you are levitating in midair. You attempt to move the vase to and fro with your mind. The movements a bit rough, but the vase mostly moves the way you want it to. “Hey, I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.” You say as you look towards Luna. Suddenly your concentration falters and the vase goes crashing onto the floor. You cringe as you look upon the shattered remains of the priceless vase. “Oh no… pity… that vase really tied the room together…” Luna says insincerely. “I guess next we’ll have to practice with all the antique dishes Celestia gave me last year.” “LUNA!” You yell at her. “Alright… alright…” Luna says with a laugh. You let out a sigh of relief. You notice a mirror hanging on a wall a few feet away from you. You walk close to get a better look at yourself wearing the crown. The gold and jeweled crown shines brightly in the light atop your head. The color of the horn is dark gray; it almost matches your coat. You continue to watch the mirror as Luna walks up to your side. “Never thought I’d become an alicorn before…” You say with a smile on your face as you look at Luna in the mirror. “Together we can do a lot of good Moon Glider, will you join me?” “Well, considering that I can’t make deliveries anymore…” Luna’s face begins to light up. “Actually… I don’t know, now that I think about it, I had a pretty good thing going back at that convenience store…” Luna lets out a laugh and replies. “Oh really?...” Your tone of you voice changes from joking to sincere. “Luna, you brought me out of a coma… you saved my life… I owe you so much… “ You divert your eyes from the Luna in the mirror to the eyes of the actual Luna. “I’ll gladly help you on your mission.” “Excellent!” Luna says with delight. We’ll start immediately. We’ll train your magical abilities while out in the field. We’ll start off with a few easy assignments and then work our way up to the harder ones” She pauses for a second. “I’m really not interested in having you around as an assistant, what I really need is a partner. I need someone who I can rely on… someone who I can work together with to overcome the extreme. This will not be easy, in the dreamscape anything is possible… unspeakable horrors will be common occurrence. We both have our weak..nesses…but…” Luna pauses for a second. The memory the Moon Glider as a quivering colt pops into her mind. The visage of Nightmare Moon blowing the closet door off its hinges as she desperately tries to keep it closed. Those long sharp fangs dripping with blood. She was powerless to stop her… powerless against… herself… “Luna.” You say to the alicorn, her eyes staring forward into space, as if she is caught in a trance. “Is everything alright?” She jolts up. “…What… yes, we are fine…” She looks at your concerned face and then quickly looks away, embarrassed. “Sorry, where were we?” “You were saying we both have our weakness… and I think you were going to add that with each other’s support… we can overcome those weaknesses… together…” “Yes…” Luna replies. “Yes, exactly…” Luna lifts her head high and her voice returns to a more enthusiastic state. “…And if this all works out as planned it will double the effectiveness of my mission.” The thought of you and Luna working together again to take on horrific nightmarish monstrosities both scares and excites you. “You have already thought this through haven’t you?” You ask the mare. “Yes, I’ve been searching for the right pony for several years now…” “Alright, let’s do this.” You say with a grin. Luna responds with a grin of her own. “Follow me…” You follow Luna to her bed. You get in and lay next to each other lying face to face. Her horn begins to glow; a magical aura links from her horn to yours, your horn begins to glow as well. “I owe you too Moon Glider… you helped get me out of a rut I was in… this job… can be straining…” You smile at her as you look her in the eyes. “Luna… we’ve been through quite a lot together haven’t we…” She smiles back at you. “Moon Glider… that was just the start…” The End
The FallFalling, you’re falling… You’ve had this dream before, several times before. Yet this time it felt different, you could feel the wind against your face. It felt so real. Yet this dream usually is much shorter, you hit the ground and then you wake up, but not this time for some reason…. “WAKE UP!!! YOU’RE FALLING, WAKE UP!!!” A frantic feminine voice yells at you. “Wait, what’s going on?“ “YOU’VE FALLIN ASLEEP WHILE FLYING! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” The female voice screams at you, a wail of fear and panic filling her voice. “What… OH FUCK!” This realization hits you, you remember you were in the middle of making a late night delivery, you were nodding off, the cool fall air felt comforting against your fur, you were tired and weak, you were sick, you should have stayed home but went to work anyway because you didn’t have any PTO… You were going to die if you don’t wake up… You begin to focus on waking up. Your consciousness begins the process of pulling out of deep sleep. You can feel the wind against your wings, you try to flap them but nothing happens, you are still pulling out of deep sleep, you do not have motor functions yet. A few seconds passes, feeling like an eternity, you finally pull out. You open your eyes to see the city streets below, dangerously close and rapidly drawing near. You attempt to stabilize from the free fall, adjusting and wildly flapping your wings. You partially begin to resume control and then… SLAM … “GHHUUUUUAAAAAH!!!!” You painfully let out a gasp for air as it enters your lungs. “Stay with me!” A strong feminine voice yells to you from the distance. Excruciating pain covers your entire body “Listen to me, you need to focus!” You try to curl up into a fetal position, and in doing so are overcome another immense wave of pain. As you attempt to curl your legs into your chest, you realize that you cannot feel anything below your kneecaps. “Relax, remain calm!” Shock overtakes you. You try to cry out for help, but the pain overtakes you, blackness overtakes you. … You come back to your senses. The overwhelming pain has left your body, but the memory of it is still fresh in your mind. You shudder remembering how terrifying the pain was. You try to open your eyes, but all you can see is blackness. The top of your legs are submerged in what feels like wet sand. You try to flap your wings, but they feel restrained. You try to move your legs, but you are unable. Fear begins to overtake you, and you feel yourself slowly sinking into the sand. You try scream, but you can barely make a sound. “He…” You struggle just trying to speak just a few syllables. “Heell” The sand slowly creeps further up over your body. “HELLLP MEEE!” You manage to cry out the best you could. Panic begins to take hold of you as the sand moves up to your neck. You sense a flash of light occurring far off in the distance. “Where are you, speak!” the familiar yet unknown voice calls out. The sand makes its way up to you lips. “H-H-HELLP MEE, I-I-I’M S-S-SINKING!” You take one last breath of air as the sand moves to your nostrils. “I can barely sense you, hold on I am coming!” The unknown voice calls out. A faint blue glow approaches from ahead of you. You cannot make out the blurry form in the darkness. “Where are you, say something?!” You let out a pathetic yelp, and sand fills your mouth in the process. The sand covers your head and you are completely submerged. You are overcome with terror and you feel yourself quickly plunging into the wet sand. You feel the sand compressing upon your body as your lungs begin to pain for air. You try to move your limbs once more, but to no avail. You come to realize that this is it. You are going to die here. You let your body go limp. As the lack of air begins to overtake you, the sand against you skin begins to feel familiar. You remember a time when there was sunshine, sand, water… it was a beach. There was someone else there too; you were playing together in the sand. You were both young, she said it would be fun to see how big of a hole both of you could dig in the sand… A blue aura surrounds you. You begin to feel yourself being pulled upwards. “I have you! Hold on!” A feeling of hope begins to fill your mind, and the panic is begging to subside. However, the lack of breath is taking its toll on you, you are becoming light headed. “You shall not pass out! Stay with me!” Confused by the loud and angry voice, you begin to drift off, but you continue to try to recall who was with you that day at the beach… Was it a friend? No… It was family member… It was your older sister. Together you were able to dig a pretty deep hole in the sand, but then… the walls of the hole collapsed on top of you… you couldn’t breathe… “Enough of this…” The unknown voice says to herself. The aura surrounding your body disappears and instead shifts to the sand above your body. Suddenly, as if a land mine went off, the sand above your head explodes into the air. You gasp for oxygen and your lungs rejoice as they are filled. You remember your sister… she saved you… she dug you out of the sand pit. The first thing you saw after she brushed the sand off your eyes was her face, the sun shining brightly behind her. Her face filled with tears and fear. She grabbed you in her hooves and pulled you close… The dark sky begins slowly illuminate with light. Everything appears blurry, but you clearly see the tan sand beneath your hooves. You can hear waves of water calmly hitting the sand behind you. As the sand settles you begin to see a tall dark figure with a blue aura hazing in and out of view. “T-t-thank y-you s-sis, thank you...” You manage to welp out to the mysterious figure as tears roll down your eyes. She pauses for a moment, as if you caught her off guard. “I am not your sister.” She says in a stoic tone. “Do you know where you are?” “S-s-sand, quick s-sand.” “No… let us start with a simpler question. What is your name?” “I..I…my n-name… is…I…I.. .d-don’t …know.” “Listen...” the voice says with a sigh “You have been in an accident, there was a period of time where your brain was deprived of oxygen. I need to gauge how much damage has been caused. I need you focus and answer my questions. …I am afraid that if you are nothing but an empty shell, I will have to let you succumb to your demise…” After taking a second to comprehend what was said to you, fear grips your mind. Have you become nothing but an empty shell of your former self? Are you still you? You begin to feel the sand pulling you down again. “What is your name?” The voice sternly asks. You look down, the sand is slowly enveloping your body again. You continue to stare in fear as the sand moves past your legs and up your torso. “Tell me you name!!” The voice yells, grabbing your attention. “I-I-I’m…” Realizing that if you don’t say something soon you will be doomed, you say the first name that comes to your mind. “DASH, RAINBOW DASH!” The voice pauses for a second, then replies. “What?!? No… you not even a mare... Your real name! What is your real name!?” Your mind erupts into fear and chaos, swirling all over the place to try to remember who you are. The sand begins to approach your lower lips. The voice of the dark mare becomes bleak. “I am sorry, but the brain damage appears extensive… There is only one thing I can do to end your suffering… Try to relax, it will all be over soon…” The encroaching sand begins to hit your lower lip. Your mind scrambles over what appears to be random flashes of memories, you recall sitting at a desk, surrounded by several other ponies. A teacher reading off a list of names. “Rainbow Dash” “RAINBOW DASH!” “Sorry, sorry, here” “Starry Eyes” “Here” “Candy Floss” “Here” “Moon Glider” … … … “HERE!” You let out with a cry, tears forming in your eyes. “What?” The mare’s voice confusingly asks. “M-M-MOON.” “SAY IT!” “MOON G-GLIDER.” “YES!” The blue aura surrounds you and stops you from sinking further. “What country are you from Moon Glider?” “I-I’m from E-E-Equestria.” “YES! You’re doing great! What is your profession Moon Glider?” You think for a second, then remember yourself sitting behind a counter in front of a cash register. “C-c-cashier.” The voice pauses, and then replies with a little less enthusiasm. “Hmm… yes, you were a cashier in the past, but what was your most recent job?” You pause as you try to remember. You remember a lot of soaring through the sky. “I f-flew.” “Why did you fly?” You recall being strapped to something, a heavy load burdening you down as you flew, you remember an angry pony, your asshole boss yelling at you. “I was a d-d-delivery p-pony…” Then a memory stirred deep inside you, the memory of the intense pain came back to you. Your vision begins to fade to black. “Moon Glider focus! You are going to cause a collapse!” The sand surrounding you disappears. The blue aura in front of you begins to fade. “Moon Glider, you must relax and-” Her voice is cut off, a familiar blackness overtakes you.
Learning to FlyFalling… you come to your senses only to realize that you were falling. You instinctively try to spread your wings to try to catch yourself, but they feel bound. The falling sensation begins to hit your stomach, filling you with nausea. Fear once again begins to grip you, and as you do the wind begins to hit your face even faster. You look down to see how far away from the ground you are, but you see only grey clouds in a dark sky. Something seems familiar, this has happened to you before, you remember falling several times during your dreams. But this time was different, you had been falling for quite a while, but you have not waken up. You begin to relax as you come to the realization that you are not actually falling but are in a dream. Yet a lingering fear still exists in the back of your mind, knowing that something is wrong… “H-Hello?” You speak out into the windy dark sky, barely able to hear yourself over the howling winds. “H-hello, is anyone there?” You try to make sense of what is going on. You remember something about quicksand, and a dark mysterious mare, and a blue aura. She kept asking questions, asking who you were. “W-who am I?” You ask yourself, then memories of your inquisition within the quick sand hauntingly come back to you “M-Moon Glider, from Equestria, my n-name is Moon Glider…” “Yes it is.” The familiar voice of the mare replies. “Now listen to me Moon Glider, I need you to focus and remain calm, can you do this for me?” You nod your head. “You need to stop yourself from falling, you are a pegasus, FLY!” “B-B-but my wings…” “What about them?” “I ca-ca-can’t move them.” “Yes you can! Focus! Start with your right wing!” Your mind focuses to your right wing, you can feel the wind blowing against your feathers. You try to extend it, but it feels painfully stiff. “Extend your wing!” A jolt of pain hits your wing, but you manage to extend it slightly, “Further!” The wind begins to fall under you right wing, suddenly it becomes easier to extend. “Almost there Moon Glider!” The pain and stiffness is still present but you manage to fully extend your wind. However with only one wing extended you begin to spin in a downwards spiral. Nausea and panic begins to grip you. “Quickly, extend your left wing!” Between the pain of trying to open you wing and the dizziness from falling at high speeds, you begin to black out. “THOU SHALL NOT!” The mare violently slaps you across the face with her blue aura. The taste of blood fills your mouth, after a few seconds of recovering from the pain and shock of the slap you open your eyes and realize that you are still in a downward spiral. Memories flood you mind, learning to fly for the first time, taking that first plunge. You have been in free falls before, you recovered from free falls before. You attempt to extend your left wing, the stiffness and pain are no longer as severe. With both wings extended you can feel the wind passing along your feathers. The stiffness and pain is still present whenever you try to adjust your wings, but it is manageable. You begin to stabilize out of your spiral, rocky at first but eventually you are able to maintain a continuous glide. You are no longer falling, you are instead gliding along with the wind. A blurry figure of a mare glides beside you. “Nicely done! I knew you could do it!” The mare says in glee. A drop of blood drips from your mouth. The mare pauses and then speaks in an apologetic tone. ”I’m sorry I struck you, we could not risk another collapse like last time.” The taste of blood still fresh in your mouth, your tongue moves against one of your molars, which is now loose. “N-no worries, I b-barely f-felt a thing…” You say with a smirk as you spit out the excess blood which built up in your mouth. The mare let out a surprised chuckle, but her tone quickly became more serious. “Night Glider, you’ve been in an accident, you are currently stuck inside of a coma.” Memories of fear and pain begin to overtake you and a jolt of blackness temporarily strikes your vision. “Remember what I said Moon Glider!” The mare yells. “Focus! Do not let the fear overtake you again!” The stern voice of the mare frightens you at first, but the realization of the statement begins to set in, you begin to calm down. “BETTER, better…” The voice replies becoming noticeably calmer. “Do you know who I am Moon Glider?” You gaze at the dark mare beside you, but cannot make it out, the image is too blurry. “N-n-no, I can b-barely see you.” “Hold on, I can help with that.” The blue aura beings to shine brightly, a dark blue horn becomes apparent in view. Your eyes trace the horn to a face, it’s still blurry but you can tell that it is the face of a mare, but not a normal looking mare… The aura continues to illuminate, and you being to see the rest of her body, very sleek and thin compared to the bodies of other ponies. You notice a set of wings on her body. “A-alicorn, Y-you’re an alicorn!” “Correct! Do you know my name? “ The aura continues to illuminate, and you can see a crescent moon on here flank. You come to a startling realization. “N-NIGHTMARE MOON! YOU’RE NIGHTMARE MOON!” Memories of being a colt and listening to horror stories about Nightmare Moon flood your mind. Fear begins to overtake you again and another jolt of blackness strikes your vision. “P-PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!” You notice the mare making a saddened and disappointed expression on her face. “Moon Glider…” The mare says in a dour tone. Your mind begins to process her expression and tone, and suddenly a sting of memories floods your mind. The fear turns to embarrassment, “F-fuck me... I-I’m s-s-so s-sorry, Princess L-L-Luna…” Luna lets out a sigh. “It is ok, I get that a lot, especially when I am trying to help foals overcome their nightmares…” You can’t help but make an embarrassed smirk due to this situation of insulting the immortal-all powerful-co-ruler of Equestria. Luna notices your smirk and makes a grin of her own. “EASY Moon Glider, let’s not get too carried away…” You bite your tongue, the still present blood in your mouth reminds you to know your place among this goddess. “Given the circumstances I suppose your show of humor is a good sign. Perhaps the damage isn’t as extensive as I previously thought.” From that statement the humor of the situation immediately fades. “H-How bad… H-how bad is the d-d-damage?” “It was significant… but you are making a strong recovery, both physically and mentally.” “D-d-did I always have this s-s-stu…stu…” Grief strikes you before you can attempt to finish you sentence. Tears being to form in your eyes. “No… this stutter was not present prior to the accident. However, your medical records indicate you had a minor speech impairment when you were young, but this was overcome with the help of a speech therapist.” Memories flicker in the back of your mind, reciting flash cards over and over again with an, old, kind mare… “The return of this impairment may be due to the brain damage you suffered… or perhaps trauma of the accident caused you to revert to an older state of mind.” Luna sees your dismay. ”We are going to get through this, OK?” You shake the tears from your face and look the mare in the eyes. Princess Luna is here to help you, if anyone was able to help you, it was her. “Thank you Princess.” You say to her, a glimmer of hope in your voice. “Luna… please just call me Luna…” The mare replies. “Luna, yeah, you got it…” Another thought crosses your mind; you look down at your legs. You can see them, but as you attempt to move them, they appear motionless. “M-m-my legs… what ha-hap… what h-happened to them?” A bleak expression fills Luna’s face; you could tell she was choosing her next few words carefully. “Your legs suffered extensive damage after the fall…” “W-why c-can’t I f-feel them?!” You worryingly ask Luna, although the look on her face has already answered your question. Luna’s face becomes blurry due to the tears building up in your eyes. “Moon Glider, before I answer that question I’m going to need you to listen to what I say, do you understand?” You pause, still caught up in grief. “MOON GLIDER!?” “Y-yes…” “GOOD… now… You are currently located in the manifestation of a memory located deep within your subconscious. I can only reach you when you have consciousness within one of these memories. If this memory were to collapse, I will not be able to re-enter your mind until you regain another memory is manifested, which can be… awhile…” You divert your gaze from the mare to the infinite dark horizon ahead of you. “This m-memory was from the ac-acc-acc…” The horizon begins to illuminate before your eyes, you can see a skyline of Canterlot coming into view. You can feel your head nodding off. Black flashes begin to strike your vison again… “Moon Glider, relax! Look at me Moon Glider!” Your gaze returns to Luna. “Episodes of intense pain and emotion can cause a memory to collapse, so I need you to relax and focus!” Luna’s face begins to fade from view… “MOON GLIDER. REMEMBER, RELAX! FOCUS!” A bright light from in front of you distracts your gaze from Luna, directly ahead of you is the city street, you are flying directly into it. The fear of reliving this experience takes hold of you, as the street rapidly get closer and closer there is nothing you can do but hopelessly watch. Luna, realizing another collapse is imminent, attempts to yells one last time, but before she can you slam into the city street, and blackness overtakes everything.
The AttackRING RING A door chime rattles in the background. You open your eyes. The images are blurry at first, but then come into focus. A door just opened, a mare and her filly just walked into a convenience store. The mare smiles to you and nods, a young filly trots along beside her, her eyes fixed on all the candy strategically placed at her eye level. “Hello, good afternoon.” You say to the mare as she begins to stroll through the aisles. You stand behind the counter, a large cup of soda and several scratched off lottery tickets at your side. A rumble occurs outside. You look out the window; streaks of green can be seen falling from the sky. “What? …Wait…oh n-no…NO!” Memories begin to flood your mind…quick sand, falling, the accident, Luna, memories of what is about to occur… “N-no no NO, F-FUCKING NO…why this?!?!” You look at the mare and her filly near the door way, they are looking outside at what is happening. “Ru-Ru-Ru….get the fuck out of here!!!” The mare continues to look out the window, grasping here filly close by her side. Explosions begin erupting outside, getting closer and closer every few seconds… “They’re c-c-coming, h-HIDE!!!” The mare looks at you with a bewildered and scared look on her face. “Mommy, what’s going on?” The filly asks her mother. The mother looks into her eyes, not sure what to say… “REMEMBER… FOCUS… RELAX… focus… relax… Luna…. LUNA!” A guard pony rushes up to the doorway of the convenience store and begins to yell to the mare and filly standing in the doorway. “Take shelter! Get out of he-” A green streak lands directly on top of the guard pony. The explosion rips the poor pony to pieces. The glass door of the convenience store shatters to pieces. The mare and filly are thrown several feet backwards into the store. You try to duck as the explosion occurs, but you can’t bend your legs… Small pieces of glass shrapnel scrape your face. A cloud of dust and debris forms from the aftermath of the explosion outside the front of the convenience store. As the cloud begins to settle two blue glowing eyes open and can be clearly seen within the cloud. They divert their gaze to the stunned mare and filly lying on the floor. “L-leave her alone Y-YOU B-BASTARD!!!” You yell trying to distract what lies inside the dust cloud. The blue eyes begin to move forward from the cloud of dust. The changeling monstrosity comes into full view, its wasps like wings, its jagged, jet-black body, the long, sharp fangs… “L-Luna help… Luna… p-please help!” Tears begin to form in your eyes, you are not sure you can watch this memory happen again. A jolt of black sticks your vision, everything around you shakes, you shudder as if a struck by a chill. The mare regains her composure from the blast. While prone, she looks around for her daughter. She sees her lying a short distance away, unconscious. The mare then begins to get back on her feet… “O-O-over here, you changeling fuck! L-Look at me, n-not her!” You try to lift your front hoof to throw something at the beast. You put all your focus into moving your right front hoof, your hoof begins to shake, but stops. It feels as if you hoof is glued to the ground. Anger begins to boil inside you. The mare makes it back to all fours. With her eyes on her child she takes a step towards the filly, but then stops. She turns her neck around towards the entrance of the convenience store, the blue eyes of the monster lock gaze with her own. The monstrosity lets out an awful shriek, both you and the mare cringe in fright. The black monstrosity begins to charge towards the mare. Paralyzed in fear the mare watches in horror as the vile creature draws near. “NOOOOOOOOO!...” You cry out in fear and anger. The fangs of creature sink deep into the throat of the mare. The mare lets out a scream of agony, but the scream is muffled by the blood pooling in her throat. In a wild frenzy you sway back and forth, trying to move your legs. In the process you knock yourself onto the ground. A flash of light appears beside you. The sleek, long, dark blue legs of the alicorn materialize directly in front of your gaze. “LUNA S-S-SAVE HER!” You cry to the alicorn. Luna notices you strewn on the ground and then turns her gaze to the horrific scene occurring in the middle of the store. She watches in disgust and anger as the fangs of the monstrosity continue to tear into the mare. A large pool of blood now covers the floor. “Moon Glider, STAND!” “I-I-can’t-” “YES YOU CAN!” “My legs-” “You lost them out there, not in here!” The horrific scene is currently out of your view, but the sound of bones snapping and blood gushing fills you with disgust, you feel vomit building up in the back of your throat. “This is your mind Moon Glider! You are master of this domain, but only if you allow yourself to be…” You look the alicorn in the eye as she tells you this. You return your gaze and concertation to your front right hoof… “Focus, Moon Glider…” Luna replies, voice lowered in volume. Your hoof begins to shake once again… “Avenge her…” Luna whispers. Your hoof slowly begins to rise to the top of the counter. The crewing noises continue in the background. You grab hold of the counter and begin to pull yourself up. “You are almost there Moo-” “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Luna’s words of encouragement are cut off by the shriek of the filly watching in horror as the monstrosity gouges upon her mother. The black beast, now covered in blood, stops feeding from the carcass of the mare and gazes upon the filly. “N-no you don’t, F-F-FUCKER!!!” You yell at the beast as you successfully regain footing on all fours. The beast lets out another bone chilling screech, and then begins moving towards the filly. Luna sees the spear of the dismembered guard pony from outside the store and grabs onto it with her blue magic aura. “Moon Glider, CATCH!” She throws you the spear and you catch it firmly in your front hooves. Using your back hooves you leap from behind the counter and propel yourself into the air using your wings. “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!” You let out a cry as you fly towards the monster, spear in your hooves. The beast diverts its attention away from the filly and turns towards you. Right as it turns your spear meets with its chest. The beast lets out gut-wrenching howl, but you remain unwavering and continue to push the spear into the beast. “D-DIE YOU MOTHER FUCKER!!!!” The beast swipes at you with its hooves, but thanks to the long shaft of the spear you are out of reach. The beast looks you in the eye and its brow lowers in anger. The horn of the beast begins to glow, and suddenly the creature turns bright white. The creature then quickly transforms into the mare which lie gutted on the floor. The mare looks at you and in agonizing pain says “PLEASE STOP! PLEASE!” Despite knowing that this mare is a hideous monstrosity in disguise, you are momentarily fazed by this illusion. Your grip of the spear loosens. Grabbing this opportunity, spear still in its chest, the mare lunges towards you. You quickly strengthen you grip on the spear, the mare still out of arm’s length, but closer than before. “I SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR FLESH PATHETIC PONY!” The mare screeches in its horrifying voice. The mare grabbed the spear with her front hooves and pushes it further into her chest, further closing the gap between her and yourself. You watch in horror as the mare slides closer and closer. Luna, realizing that you can use some assistance, yells out “Moon Glider, now might be a good time to fast-forward this memory. Remember how the changelings were removed from Canterlot?” It takes you a second to realize what she was saying, then you remembered, the only reason you survived that day of the attack was because of the… A flash of light occurs outside; a rumble begins to occur, low at first, but growing louder and louder. “F-F-FEED ON THIS YOU MOTHER FUCKER!” The rumble now became a thunderous roar. You lift the spear and the mare-disguised monstrosity up into the air. A wall of magical energy enters the convenience store, the wall safely passes through yourself and everything else in the store, but when it reaches the monstrosity on the end of the spear it carries the beast directly into the brick wall behind it. The beast momentarily lets out another high pitch screech but is quickly silenced as it is sandwiched between the brick wall and the wall of magic. The wall of magic keeps moving, while the brick wall holds firm. The monster’s body is instantly liquidated and green and black fluid flies everywhere across the convenience store. The smell is horrible… You wipe the fluid from your eyes. The walls, floor, and ceiling are smeared with the disgusting fluid. The traumatized filly lie there covered in fluid as well. You walk towards the filly, slipping and sliding in the fluid along the way, and clean the fluid from her eyes. “It’s ok… y-you’re safe now…” The filly, completely traumatized, buries its face into your chest and begins wail in anguish. You wrap a hoof around the filly to comfort her. Your gaze looks to Luna, surrounded by a spherical magic shield that is covered in the green and black liquid. Luna carefully deactivates the shield spell, avoiding getting any liquid on here mane and fur. She glances at you with an embarrassed look on her face. She bites her lower lip for a second before speaking to you. “Uhh…sorry… this is a fairly common nightmare for a lot of ponies... When you’ve been in the business as long as me you know when to dodge out of the way of the blood and guts… It just really messes up my mane…” You stare at her blankly for a few seconds while the filly continues to bawl her eyes at your side… Luna replies to your blank stare defensively. “Do not give us that look! Thou can smell that vile stench, can thou not? ‘Tis a cockroach and excrement smoothie! We must smell this every night whilst trying to help ponies overcome this horrid nightmare! ‘Tis not just a few ponies, every pony in all of Canterlot has this nightmare! If only Shining Armor had been able to tell the differences between bug fornicating with bug and fornicating with a pony none of this would have ever happened!” You continue to stare blankly at her for a few seconds… but you can’t help but to let out a smile followed by a chuckle. As you chuckle some of the fluid gets into your mouth. The foul tastes instantly makes you gag. “Oh… let me help you with that, I think saw some clean napkins back here.” Luna reaches underneath the counter and pulls out a sealed package of napkins with her hoof. “HUZZAH! We hath found thee!” She yells with glee as she thrusts the napkins into the air to show you she found them. While thrusting one of her hooves into the air the top heavy mare throws herself off balance. The slippery floor caused the mare to stumble backwards and fall on her side. The pulpy remains of the monstrosity completely cover half of Luna’s fur and almost completely soak her main and tail. “FUCK! BY CELESTIA’S TAINT NOT AGAIN!” Despite the grieving child at you side, and her mother’s mutilated corpse not too far away, you can no longer help yourself. You being to laugh uncontrollably. Luna pulls herself up and sees you laughing at her. At first her dark blue face almost turns red with rage, but after she catches a glimpse of her reflection in store window her mood lightens up. She also begins to let out deep laugh. After a minute of laughing you both calm down, both distracted by the wails of the filly. You are overcome with a wave of sadness. “In the actual memory I c-cowered in fear behind this counter as both this mare and filly were m-mutilated by that m-monster. Everyday I’m haunted by their s-screams. Everyday I hate myself for not trying to save them… just s-sitting behind the counter like a fucking c-coward.” Luna, gazes at you, then speaks in a soothing counseling voice. “We all have our regrets Moon Glider… not everyone can be a heroic monster slayer.” “But I should have at least tried, these two might still be alive…” “Fight or flight… you chose flight. Considering you had no idea what you were up against, no combat training, no weapons, no reinforcements… you made a choice which allowed you to survive. Whether it was right or wrong… well… right and wrong are both subjective aren’t they…” “But it was my fault…” “Did you maul them to death Moon Glider?” “...No… but” “Then it is not your fault! You can’t keep living a life of regret! There is no reason another pony’s life should be ruined because of what happened here. If you want to honor that mare and filly then get out there and help make the world a better place!” You look at the filly as she continues to cry at your side. “Listen, what happened in the past cannot be undone... but if you are looking for some sort of redemption or some sort of happy ending, then this is your chance… Now would please do something about that kid, that crying is going to give one of us a migraine, and that’s the last thing either of us needs right now...” You look at the mutilated corpse of the mare on the ground, she is far from a possible recovery. You look back at Luna and give her a shrug… “Don’t look at me, be creative, it’s your head!” “Umm…” The wail of the child continues… You lift the chin of the child up with your front hoof. “Don’t worry kid, you mom is going to be just fine” She pauses her wailing, looks at her mother’s corpse and then stares at you confusingly. “Really?” “Yeah…uh…she just needs some first aid…” You scan the around the convenience store looking for things which might be able to help you in this predicament. You walk over to the aisle which contains a small assortment of medicine. The section mainly contains cough syrup, headache pain relievers, and condoms. You did not carry any serious first aid equipment in your store… “Let’s see here…” You grab a box of band-aids and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. You look at Luna, she tries to hide a grin as she sees what you have in you have in your hooves. You begin to back to the corpse of the mare, but then stop, something in the aisles catches your eye. “AH-HA! Just what I was looking for.” You grab a roll of duct tape from the shelf and then walk back to the mare. You kneel down next to the mare, a close look at her mutilated corpse almost makes you want to vomit. You look at the filly, her eyes are staring at you expectantly… “Uhh... d-don’t worry kid, I’m a fully trained EMT… now let’s see here…” You grab the hydrogen peroxide and begin pouring the bottle upon the large gaping wounds, the once bloody scene is now a combination of red and white foaming bubbles. You unroll the duct tape and begin patching the large bite marks where the monster ripped out large chunks of flesh from the mare. You look at Luna, she has a bewildered and embarrassed look upon her face. She looks as if she really wants to say something to you, but instead she simply nods and smiles in encouragement. You take out the band-aids and begin applying them to the mare, mostly in random locations. You look at the child. “All right, we need now is a little defibrillator action and she will be as good as new.” You look back at Luna. “Luna, would you be so kind…” Luna shoots you a worried look. “Of course…” Luna charges up her horn and quickly zaps the mare’s corpse with a bolt of lightning. The majority of the band aids you put on fly off from the impact. The corpse is now charred and smoking. The child lets out a scared gasp. “SHIT! I wasn’t ready for that! One more time Luna, maybe tone it down a notch this time…” Luna rolls her eyes, the annoyed and skeptical look on her face shows that she wants no part of this farce, but she still charges her horn one more time. A bolt of lightning strikes the mare. “GHHUUUUUAAAAAH!!!!” The mare takes in deep breath. “HOLY SHIT... IT WORKED!” “MOMMY!” The young mare runs to the side of the newly reanimated mare. “What happened?…” The mare asks in confusion. “Just another day in Equestria ma’am…” You say as you let out a sigh. The mare looks around her and sees the absolute carnage of the store, as well as the pool of multi-colored bodily fluids covering the floor. She gets to her feet and signals to her daughter. “Let’s go home baby…” The mare and filly begin to walk towards the door. Before the mare leaves the store she pauses and then looks back to you… “Oh, I almost forgot…” “No thanks necessary ma’am, happy to help.” “Can I get a pack of Camels, 100s.” “What?” Your jaw drops… “…and a pick 4, boxed.” Luna lets out a chuckle but then quickly bites her lip. You let out a disappointed sigh. “Yeah… just a sec…” You proceed to the cash register to ring her up. “That will be 12 bits and 47 cents.” The mare, still covered in blood and duct tape, places a twenty bit piece on the counter. You give her change and her receipt. “Thank you, have a good day…” The mare and filly finally leave the store. “I hated this fucking job…” Luna walks up beside you. “Not too shabby Moon Glider, you are beginning to get the hang of this.” “Please get me out of this hell Luna…” “Gladly, although it is not going to be easy…” “I’m prepared to do whatever it takes, I can’t keep reliving these terrible memories…” “Then you’re probably not going to like my solution…” Luna says hesitantly. You let out a sigh… “Let’s hear it…” “In order to get you out of your coma we need to trigger increased amounts of brain activity. In order to do that we will need to go through as many key memories as quickly as possible.” Your heart skipped a beat upon hearing this… “Remember, you need to keep your composure during these memories. Extreme levels of pain or emotion will cause a collapse… and Moon Glider, I’m not sure you will be able to recover from another collapse… It took you quite a while for you to manifest consciousness since last time…” “H-how long have I been in this coma?” Luna pauses and then carefully answers the question. “Quite a while… but your ability to achieve stability in a traumatic memory such as this is very promising. Your lucid dreaming skills have also been steadily improving. After what I just witnessed here I’d say that you have a fighting chance of pulling through this!” You noticed how Luna dodged your question, but you decide it is probably for the best you didn’t know for sure. Still you shudder just thinking about it… “Are you ready to move onto another memory Moon Glider?” You look her in the eye, hesitation grips your mind, were you going to be able to do this? “We are going to get through this Moon Glider.” She makes a determined smile and places her hoof on your shoulder. “Yeah, I’m ready… Let’s do this!” “Excellent” Luna says as she begins to charge her horn. “Hey, your stutter is not as bad as before Moon Glider, that is a really good sign.” She’s right, you hadn’t noticed yourself but after she pointed this out you are filled with a renewed sense of hope. Luna extends her front right hoof to you. You extend your front left hoof. She tightly grasps onto it. “You are going to want to hang on tight, and remember what I told you Moon Glider…” “Relax and Focus…” “You got it! Alright, here we go.” Luna’s horn turns a bright white, both of you are surrounded by her white magical aura. Your vision is slowly overcome with a bright light. The convenience store slowly fades from view. Whiteness completely overtakes your vision…
The Good MemoryFrom the whiteness you can begin to see your hooves materializing into view. Luna’s form also begins to fade back in. A bedroom begins to fade into view. This seems very familiar; this is your old house! You are in your parents’ bedroom. You look around the room. “No way… this memory can’t be what I think it is…” Your gaze shifts to the king-size bed in the middle of the room. On top of the bed lies a cyan colored mare with a rainbow colored mane. “This is the memory of when I first got laid!” You look at Luna; she immediately lets out a sigh and places a hoof upon her face in dissatisfaction. “Oh no…” Luna says to herself. “Looks like we got the house to ourselves Moon Glider…” Rainbow Dash says to Moon Glider in a sultry voice. “…Wanna have a little fun?” “What do you mean little?” You reply to her quickly. Both you and Rainbow Dash laugh, while Luna remains quite. “Wow Luna, I’m glad we finally got around to a good memory-” “Good for you maybe…” Luna says as she rolls her eyes. “Hey! I know how to keep mares from being disappointed, right Rainbow Dash?” “Enough talk Moon Glider…” Rainbow Dash says to you with a desirous look in her eye. “Well then, I hate to keep a mare waiting…” You say as you begin to climb upon the bed. “Moon Glider…” Luna says in dour tone. “Oh no…” A terrifying thought strikes your mind; jolt of blackness strikes your vision. “Were my legs the only limbs that were severely damaged during the accident… or… d-did anything h-happen… to…” You look at Luna with a scared look on your face. “What?... Oh no, it was a little bruised up from the accident, but your stallion-hood is completely intact and fully functional.” A huge burden is lifted from your chest as you let out a sigh of relief. “THANK THE STARS!... and the moon…” You slyly say to Luna with a grin upon your face. You use your wings to propel yourself into the air and land directly on top of Rainbow Dash. “Ahh! Hehe… Moon Glider…” Rainbow Dash says as she lets out a surprised giggle. You feel the warmth of her body against your belly. Her soft cyan fur feels wonderful as it rubs against your own. Your face directly in front of hers, noses just barely touching each other, both of you with a playful grin on your face. You begin to feel a tingling sensation from between your legs, disproving your fears that something terrible may have happened to you during the accident. You lock gaze with one another, you move in to kiss her on her welcoming lips… “AHEM!” Luna interrupts before you can proceed any further. You look back at her, her face looks a little blurry for some reason; you rub your eyes but pay no mind to this. “Oh… sorry Luna, this shouldn’t take too long.” “-It better not!” Rainbow Dash interjects. “Feel free to check out my parent’s house while I’m taking care of this memory…” Luna looks you in the eye and replies “Moon Glider I-” “But if you want to watch, I mean, that’s cool, I don’t mind…” “NO! What I am trying to say is-” “A threesome! Well I don’t know… I guess if Dash is ok with it-” “Shut up Moon Glider! You cannot have sex with this mare!” Luna yells. A small blurry spot appears in your vision while you are looking at the angry expression on Luna’s face. “WHAT? WHY?” “The chance of a memory collapse from achieving orgasm is too great!” “Wait, really? How much of a chance are we talking about?” You say in disbelief. “Probably about 90%.” “Well… there’s a chance it might not happen…” “You will be trapped in this coma forever! No consciousness! Your body will gradually shut down one organ at a time as your brain slowly shrivels up and DIES!” You let out a deep sigh. “I guess…” As you look at Luna’s face your vision is starting to be noticeably obscured with an aura. The room is filled with silence for a moment and then Rainbow Dash lets out a quick remark. “But it’s still ok if only I cum, right?” “SHUT UP DASH!” Luna yells at the mare. “And why is our vision getting so blurry!?” “Oh, that’s happening to you too?” You say to Luna. “ARGH…” Luna grumbles aloud, but then regains her composure. “Moon Glider, You are having a migraine… I told you to silence that kid in the store!” “But I didn’t have a migraine the first time I had sex with Dash…” “That’s because this is an actual migraine, you’re having it right now…” You pause for a second and then respond. “Yeah… I think you’re right.” You dismount from on top of Rainbow Dash. “Now that I think about it… I remember having a migraine during a dream once… and even my dream was blurry. Who would have thought you could get them inside of a coma… while inside a memory… while almost inside Rainbow Dash…” Luna lets out deep sigh. “Just our luck… migraines are different for everyone, tell me what normally happens when you have one Moon Glider…” Luna asks in a frustrated voice. “Well…An aura obscures my vision for about 40 minutes, just a little bit at first, then a whole lot after about 15 minutes.” “We are probably at the 5 minute mark right now.” “After that I regain my vision, but I have a nasty headache on only one side of my head, often with intense dizziness and nausea.” Dash interjects! “Yeah! I remember when you had one of those during class, you puked your brains out! You were so loud when you were vomiting they heard you in the classroom across the hall! It was so gross. That sounded painful!” “…that’s because it was painful Dash…” You respond with an annoyed tone. “What do you usually do when one occurs Moon Glider?” Luna asks. “I take some pain relievers, which pretty much do nothing… the best thing usually is to just lay down in a dark and quite room.” “…and since I’m in your head, I guess I’ll be sharing these same exact symptoms too…” “Ooo… Sorry about that.” You say with a cringe on your face. “We might as well wait it out here, this memory is both safe and stable. Moving on to another memory while this migraine is occurring could be dangerous.” Luna’s horn begins to glow “I’ll get the lights…” Looking out the window you see the sun begin to set, darkness, the moon, and an array of stars fills the night sky. “Wow… nicely done… I wish I could do that.” You say in awe. “…You can…” Luna murmurs. “Oh yeah… it’s my head…” Luna climbs into the bed, she brushes aside Rainbow Dash with her large wing. “Leave Dash.” Luna says bluntly to the mare. You look at the colorful pony as she is sitting on the bed beside you. “Sorry dash… looks like now is a pretty bad time… I’ll call you.” “OH COME ON!” Dash shouts in disappointment. “I’m not happy about it either, but believe me, you don’t want me vomiting on your stomach from this migraine when were in the middle of things.” “Who says I don’t…” Dash says with an erotic look in her eyes as she slowly rubs your belly with her hoof… slowly moving downwards… until- “BE GONE DASH, OR WE SHALT SPAY THEE!” Luna yells as her horn begins to glow. “OK OK…” Dash quickly bolts out of the bedroom. You look at Luna, angrily hunched over in the bed. A few seconds pass. “Hold on, I’ll go get us some pain relievers, they may not be real, but maybe the placebo effect will help dull the pain once it comes…” You leave the room and walk to the bathroom. “The things I do for my subjects…” Luna says to herself. You open up the medicine cabinet and from the top shelf pull out a bottle of generic pain relievers. You look at the bottle and let out sigh. “These do jack shit in real life, they ain’t gonna do shit here either… oh well… can’t hurt anything I guess…” You then proceed down the hallway to the kitchen. You grab two glasses and begin to fill them with water at the sink. Your vision is getting significantly blurry. Just as you turn off the faucet, Rainbow Dash appears outside the window above the sink. “Moon Glider! Let’s get a quickie in while Luna is occupied?” It takes you a moment to consider this. If you were going to die in your own memories, this would be the best way to go. “...No Dash…” You regretfully tell her. “OH COME ON. Listen I’ll be real quick!” “I’m not happy about it either dash, now please just go!” “In and out in just 10 seconds flat!” You slam the window shut and close the blinds. “By Celestia… she’s relentless… I love that mare…” You grab the glasses and the pills and proceed back to the bedroom. “Here you go Luna.” She levitates the glass of water up with her magic and removes two pills from the plastic container. She swallows both of them in one gulp, you follow suit. A few seconds pass, you stare awkwardly at the alicorn lying down in your parents’ bed where you were just about to have sex with Rainbow Dash. You begin to make your way to you father’s reading chair. “Well I’ll just sit over here-” “Just get in the bed Moon Glider.” Luna says in aggravation. “-Ok.” You quickly reverse course and get into the bed with Luna. Your vision is now extremely blurry; it’s hard to make anything out. You close your eyes to avoid nausea. A few minutes pass. “We need to keep you awake and talking to stimulate brain activity.” Luna says in a serious tone. “Ok, what would you like to talk about?” “Do you have these migraines often?” “No, one every few months or so.” “Good…” Luna replies bluntly. A few seconds pass. “Luna…” “Yes?” “How many ponies have you successfully brought out of a coma?” She pauses for a second, you caught her off guard. “Uh… several.” You can easily tell that she was lying. You know that calling her out on this will not do anyone any good. “…How many memories do you think we’ll have to go through to wake me up?” “I don’t know for sure… That might depend on the intensity of the memory. Hopefully this migraine isn’t going to set your progress back too much.” A few more moments of silence passes. “How do you do it Luna?” “Do what?” “Help ponies overcome their nightmares? There are so many ponies out there, and just one of you.” “It’s not easy, I can’t be everywhere at once. Those who need the help the most receive it first.” “Do you need to help some other pony while I rest out this migraine?” “No Moon Glider, I’m not going anywhere. You are at the top of my list of ponies to help right now.” You pause for a second, emboldened, as this sinks in. “…Wow, thank you Luna.” “Happy to help.” You open your eyes to see her smiling at you with her eyes closed. Your vision is still blurry, but aura is beginning to subside. You close your eyes again. A few more moments pass by. “So tell me where you went to school Moon Glider…” “I went to, CCC, Canterlot Community College, the Cheapest Closest College…” Luna lets out a chuckle. “What did you study?” “I went in undeclared and dropped out after two years…” “Oh…” An awkward silence fills the room, you attempt to break it. “So where did you go to school? You must have a psychology background with all this therapy work that you do.” “Well about 1500 years ago I went to the University of Equestria. And actually no, I have a bachelor’s and master’s in astronomy.” “Really?” “But I took a psychology 101 course back when I was in undergrad…” “Oh…” There is a brief pause but then both of you let out a chuckle. Luna opens her eyes. “The aura is gone!” She quickly sits up, and doing so a jolt of pain hits her head followed by a stint of nausea in her stomach. “Oww…” “It’s best to lie down for another hour Luna… and you’re going to want to avoid moving your head quickly.” “Yes, we think you are correct…” Luna says, trying to shrug off the pain. Luna lies back down on the bed. “Do you have any tips for the next memory?” You ask Luna. “Maintain control, always keep the end goal in sight, relax, focus…” “You keep saying that.” ”Yes… it is my mantra… it helped me get through… the years… of isolation…” You open your eyes to see the alicorn shivering slightly. “…I’m sorry that happened to you Luna… that wasn’t right… no one deserves that sort of torture… but the fact that you made it through that for 1000 years… your resolve, it’s heroic…” “Please… let us talk about something else…” “Of course…sorry…” You begin to feel a bit nauseous. Talking is definitely not helping… but you need to keep your mind busy like Luna says. You try to lighten the mode. “I never slept with a unicorn before…” Luna quickly opens her eyes and gives you a peeved look. “I mean the opportunity never strongly presented itself, if it did I would have taken it… but I’ve always been scared that they would roll over in the middle of the night and stab me in the eye with their horn…” “WHAT?!” Luna says in surprise, completely taken aback at what you said. She pauses for a few seconds. “Would it help if I put a tennis ball on the tip of my horn?” She says with a grin. You let out a chuckle, but in doing so the nausea begins to take its toll, you can see Luna flinch from the nausea as well. You both take a second to try to ward off the sickness overtaking you. “No, Luna… that wouldn’t be necessary… I trust you… my life is in your hooves… I don’t think I ever trusted someone more than you…” The nausea and pain is no longer tolerable, both of you roll to opposite sides of the bed as vomit quickly begins to make its way up your throat. Luna lets out a painful cry as the vomit leaves her mouth. After a few seconds of gagging and strain she turns around to Moon Glider, to see him still hanging over the side of the bed, yet to vomit. “Just let it out Moon Glider!” You try to vomit but you can’t, it’s as if something is blocking the vomit from leaving your throat. Tears begin to fill your eyes and your face turns red. You move your hooves to your throat signaling to Luna that you are choking. 1…2…3… “MOON GLIDER!” Luna quickly bolts to your side and attempts to use her magic to clear your throat. Nothing happens, you continue to choke. ”WHAT!” Luna confusingly cries as she is unsuccessful in her attempts of clearing the blockage from your throat. 15…16…17… “No… you are actually choking in real life… you are lying on your back… NO!” Tears begin to stream down Luna’s face. “IT’S OK… IT’S OK… a nurse is monitoring your heart rate… they will soon notice that something is wrong and turn you on your side!” Luna waits and continues to watch helplessly as you are asphyxiating. She is well aware that the clock is ticking, three minutes without air is all it takes for someone to begin risking brain damage and death. Three minutes… and the clock is ticking… 45…46…47… You look her in the eyes. You are extremely scared. Panic begins to grip both you and Luna as you realize the nurse is not coming. “Moon Glider hold on! We are pulling out of this memory, we are going to save you!” Luna disappears in a flash. You lie alone in the bed… trying not to panic… the pain begins to strike your lungs… flashes of blackness start striking your vision. You continuously repeat the mantra Luna told you in your mind… relax… focus... relax…. focus…. relax…… … 1 minute 1…2…3… Luna awakens on her bed at the Canterlot royal palace. She quickly gets out of bed and stands on all fours, the sudden movement causes a jolt of pain to hit her head. “AHHH!!” She cries, but quickly regains her focus. She needs to save Moon Glider, but she doesn’t know exactly where he is. He is in a hospital room somewhere in Canterlot, but she doesn’t know which one. She charges her horn. A flash of light and a second later she appears on the steps of the main entrance of Canterlot General Hospital. 1 minute 20…21…22 She bolts in through the front door. The ponies in the waiting area are completely caught off guard as Luna enters. She runs to the check-in counter and yells at the receptionist. “This is an emergency! I need to know which room Moon Glider is in immediately!” The receptionist, an older earth pony mare, wastes no time and quickly begins searching through the hospital patient manifest. After a few seconds of searching, the older mare makes a disappointed sigh and looks Luna in the eye. “I’m sorry princess, but we have no patient in the hospital by that name…” “…NO!” Luna is struck with a wave of dizziness from the grief knowing that somewhere Moon Glider was slowly dying, alone and helpless. Tears begin to form in her eyes. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing another patient. She begins to waver from side to side, the nausea and pain taking its toll. 1 minute 45…46…47… “PRINCESS!” The old mare yells to grab Luna’s attention. “Mercy Hospital! Try Mercy Hospital!” Luna’s head darts upwards… realizing that it is not too late. “YES! Mercy Hospital!” Luna cries, “Thank you!” Luna charges her horn again and flashes away instantly. Luna was less familiar with Mercy Hospital. She had only passed by it a few times from the air, she never went inside before. Due to the lack of familiarity, instead of landing her directly at the main entrance her teleportation spell placed her in the middle of a busy intersection right next to the hospital. An earth pony hauling a wagon full of goods is quickly galloping through the intersection as Luna appears right in front of him. Before he can react he crashes into Luna, hitting her forcefully upon her side. Luna is thrown several feet and knocked off her hooves. The wind is knocked out of her from the blow. 2 minutes 1…2…3… “What the fuck are you doing in the middle of the intersection you asshole?!?” The stallion yells. He first makes sure that his wagon is all right before paying any mind to the pony which he just slammed into. He eventually brings his gaze to Luna, and realizes who he has just rammed into. “PRINCESS LUNA…. I… I…” The stallion stands paralyzed in fear at what he has just done. Luna slowly picks herself up. Her face is bleeding from scraping against the ground. She struggles to regain her breath as she stumbles towards the glass doors of the hospital. Luna attempts to use her magic to open the glass door, but overcompensates, slamming the glass door off the hinges and shattering it into a hundred pieces on to the ground. The ponies inside the waiting area gasp in fright at the sound of the door. They are equally scared once they see a bloodied Luna enter the waiting area. Luna darts to the main counter. A long line is currently formed at the counter; the ponies not fast enough to move out of the way are thrown aside as Luna’s larger frame easily pushes them. Luna reaches the receptionist at the main counter and struggles to speak as she is still regaining her breath. “Moon… Glider… Emergency… Where is Moon Glider?!” The receptionist, a younger unicorn mare, newly appointed to this job, stares at Luna in fear. “TELL US WHICH ROOM MOON GLIDER RESIDES!” Luna roars. The receptionist quickly looks through the patient manifest. She carefully scans the document before saying… “I-I don’t see a Moon Glider in our records…” “THOU SHALL LOOK AGAIN!!!” Luna yells, refusing to believe her. The mare, now shivering in fear, scans over the documents another time. “509…HE’S IN 509!” 2 minutes 30..31…32… Luna spreads her wings and lifts off into the main atrium. Flying up to the main atrium balcony brings her to the second floor. She quickly scans for and identifies the nearest staircase and proceeds to zoom up the multiple flights of stairs until she reached the fifth floor. She proceeds down the hallway until she reaches a large metal security door with a sign reading “No Admittance Without Proper Visitor or Security Badge.” Luna charges her horn, shoots a bolt of lightning and rocks the metal door with a huge blast. The door is blown to pieces, as well as parts of the surrounding ceiling and walls. Fire alarms begin to go off from the blast and sprinklers begin to spray water in the hallway. Luna continues to fly down the hallway. The hallway ends with a sign pointing with the direction to where each set of rooms are located. 500-504 pointed to the left. 505-509 pointed to the right. 509, it was right there at the end of the hall way. She quickly turned to the right flying faster than she ever flew before. She reached the wooden door and violently swung it open with her magic. There he was… Moon Glider… lying on his back… a pool of vomit dripping from his mouth… Luna wastes no time, she quickly runs to him and turns him on his side. After the vomit poured out of his mouth, Moon Glider let in a huge gasp of air. This is the second time Luna heard this poor stallion make such a gasp… “It is all right Moon Glider… I am here…” Luna pants, exhausted from flying. She looks down at the stallion, a pitiful site, all four legs amputated below the knee caps. The wounds where the amputation occurred have long since healed. His dark blue coat… his jet black mane… his cutie mark… a moon, obscured by the haze of a few clouds… a beacon light in the night sky, trying to make itself shown. Upon standing still for a moment Luna begins to realize how much pain she is in. The pain of the migraine gripping her head. Her side was extremely sore from the impact of the stallion. Her face stung due to the lacerations caused from sliding against the pavement. Suddenly a voice comes from the door way. “What’s going on here… PRINCESS LUNA?!?” A nurse, a young stallion unicorn with a pair of large oversized headphones around his neck stands in the doorway. Luna’s eyes builds with a fiery rage. “Monitoring Moon Glider be thy responsibility, be it not?” The nurse sees the vomit on the ground and as well as the alarms going off in the room from the elevated heart rate being given off by Moon Glider. The stallion pauses in fear and says nothing. Luna’s horn begins to spark. Luna’s blue magical aura grabs hold of the headphones around the stallion’s neck and violently rips them off. Luna holds the headphones directly in front of the eyes of the stallion. “Dost thou know how painful a death by asphyxiation can be?” Luna says to the stallion, her wrathful eyes locked with his. Luna uses her magic to ignite the headphones in a blue flame. As the headphones begin to melt she uses her magic to slowly compress them, first to the size of an apple, then to the size of a golf ball, then to the size of a grape. The flaming ball slowly begins to move towards right eye of the stallion. “I’m sorry, I fucked up- “DO NOT use such vulgar language in our presence, knave!” Luna interrupts. The flaming ball of plastic moves closer to the eye of the stallion. “I’m sorry Princess Luna, I’m so sorry… I should have been watching the monitors and listening for the alarms-” The stallion urinates himself in fear. “ENOUGH!” Luna says with a snarl. Luna releases the flaming ball with her magic and it falls to the floor. It hits the ground and the fire is extinguished as it lands in the pool of urine. The stallion watches the ball fall to the floor and then looks back at Luna’s furious bleeding face. “LEAVE!” “Yes princess…” “Do not let anyone disturb us while we are in this room… if one of you worthless fools tries to wake us up… we swear upon the moon thou shall wish thou hadst never been born!” “Yes, yes, I’ll make sur-” Luna slams the door in his face. She takes in a deep breath. “Relax… Focus…” She looks back at Moon Glider lying on the bed, his heart rate still reading elevated on the monitor. “Hold on Moon Glider, I am coming…” The mare crawls into the bed alongside the stallion. The bed is too small for her, let alone both of them. The mare takes the big spoon position as she moves Moon Glider’s back into the little spoon position against her stomach. “You are going to get through this… just… hold… on…” Luna quickly drifts off into slumber as she begins to enter Moon Glider’s mind.
Inner DemonsLuna re-enters the memory. She phases in at the same location where she left, beside the bed. The room is still dark, it is still nighttime outside, except now there is a severe thunderstorm occurring. When she arrives she sees no sign of Moon Glider on the bed where she had left him. “Moon Glider!” She cries out. Lightning flashes and momentarily lights up the room. A deafening clap of thunder quickly follows. She thinks to herself. Moon Glider was able to keep the memory is this up… he was able to avoid a collapse… despite being a few seconds away from death… despite the minimal training she had given him… his resolve is astounding… but where was he... “Moon Glider where are you!?” Luna cries out again... Upon further inspection of the room, everything seems slightly off, it all appears to be slightly larger… “This memory is from the perspective of a foal.” Luna says to herself in fear. “He’s reverted to an earlier mindset.” She pauses, the rain continues to pound against the roof of the house. “MOON GLIDER, SAY SOMETHING!” Luna says, panic filling her voice. “he-he….help…” Luna hears a faint voice coming from outside the master bedroom. She quickly leaves the bedroom and darts down the long dark hallway. “I’m here Moon Glider, tell me where you are!” “He-here… I-I’m in… he-here… p-pl-please… h-help… s-she’s c-coming.” Luna is able to pinpoint which room the voice is coming from, she quickly runs to the front of the door and swiftly opens it with her magic. Looking straight ahead she sees a bed in the far corner of the room. On top of the bed she saw him, the colt version of Moon Glider, wrapped in blankets, cowering in the corner of his bed. Upon seeing the frightened child, Luna lowers her voice. “Moon Glider… it is ok… I am here…it is me, Princess Luna…” The child does not look at Luna as she speaks to him. His gaze continues to remained fixed on the far side of the room. “S-S-she’s in there… m-my cl-clos-closet… s-she’s in my cl-closet…” Luna’s stomach begins to sink in fear… “No one is in your closet Moon Glider… you are safe… try to relax.” “NO! S-she’s in there… pl-please you got to be-believe me… no one ever b-believes me…” “Moon Glider, p-please… do not be afr-” Luna is interrupted by a loud clap of thunder from outside. The child cowers in fear. The fear within Luna’s voice is becoming apparent. She knows what the child is afraid of, but given her present state she doesn’t know if she can handle this right now. A loud bump occurs behind the closest door. Luna cringes in fear upon hearing it; tears begin to form in her eyes. “Moon Glider, please listen to me, there is no one in your closet; it is just your imagination…” Another louder thud occurs in the closest and the door shakes. “NO! S-she’s here! H-HELP!” The child trembles in fear and places the blanket over their eyes. The closet door begins to rattle violently. “Fear not little one, we are here! We shall protect thee!” Luna stands in front of the closet door and braces it closed with her front hooves. “Focus… relax… we can do this…” The mare tells herself trying to remain calm. The rattling suddenly stops. A few seconds pass. “She is gone… Moon Glider it is ok... she is go-” A loud clap of thunder strikes again outside. Almost immediately after a huge crash knocks the closet door off its hinges. Luna is blasted back halfway across the room. The child gasps in horror at what they see in the closet, then goes deathly silent, paralyzed in fear. Luna, prone on the floor, slowly raises her head… Before her lies a vile monstrosity, present in the form of Nightmare Moon, herself. Its outstretched wings span the room as its horn scrapes the ceiling. The jet black creature bares its dripping fangs as its green eyes meet Luna's, the only points of light behind the shadowy haze surrounding it. The child lets out a terrified whimper, tearing the beast’s attention from Luna. Reaching out a long, gangly limb, it takes a step towards the child, its intentions clear “no… NO! Luna begins to stand up on her hooves. “YOU SHALL NOT HARM THIS CHILD! RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!” Luna begins to charge her horn. The beast continues to walk forward. Luna lets out a bolt of electricity at the beast. The bolt creates a hole in the chest of the beast from which a black viscous fluid slowly pours out. The beast continues to walk forward. “DIE FIEND!” Luna lets out three more bolts of lightning, two hitting the beast in the body, the third hitting it in the face. The head shot blows half of the flesh off of the creatures face, but below its white skull remains fully intact. Without the flesh the full extent of the creature long fangs are made apparent, which are now dripping with the creature’s black blood. The beast continues to move forward, unfazed… Luna begins to panic in desperation… she decides to change her tactics. Luna charges her horn and casts a shield spell, creating a bright white magical shield through the middle of the room. The creature approaches the wall and then stops. It looks at the shield and then stares deep into Luna’s scared eyes. Luna continues to focus all of her energy on maintaining the shield spell, although she has trouble ignoring the visage of the hideous beast gazing at her. “Focus…” She says to herself. The creature slowly raises its front right hoof and places it upon the magical barrier. Its gaze still locked with Luna. “Relax…” The beast begins to push its hoof against the shield. Luna struggles to keep the spell alive. The flesh of the creature’s leg begins to sear off as it is slowly pushed through the wall. A buildup of the creature’s black fur and blood begins to drip down the white magical shield from where the leg continues to progress. The skeletal remains of the leg continue to move forward though the shield. Luna, using all of her mental ability to maintain the shield spell, tries to ignore the hoof slowly moving towards her, but it gets to a point where the hoof is just a few inches from here face. At this point Luna can no longer help but to divert her gaze to the skeletal hoof. The second she does her shield spell begins to falter. The beast lunges its full body at the shield, breaking it to pieces. The skeletal hoof slams Luna across the room. She slams against a wooden dresser next to the bed of the quivering child. The beast returns its gaze to the child and begins move forward, slowly opening its mouth to reveal the long row of fangs dripping with the black grimy fluid. Jolts of black begin to strike both Luna and Moon Gliders vision as the creature draws near. The child eyes lay fixed on the sharp fangs slowly coming towards him. Luna slowly raises head. She realizes that a collapse is imminent, a collapse which Moon Glider will likely never recover from. She had failed to protect the child against the abomination. “Moon Glider… I’m so sorry…” Luna charges her horn, tears flowing from her eyes. “Please forgive me…” Luna strikes Moon Glider’s head with a bolt of lightning. … You can hear a mare crying… you feel a sharp pain in your head… you slowly open your eyes. Luna is standing over you. You are in your childhood bed back in your old bedroom. “What’s wrong Luna?” You ask the grieving Mare. Luna looks up, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “You still know who I am?” “Of course I do, how could I forget about you, after all we’ve been through.” “What is your name?” “What?! Moon Glider… haven’t we already been through this?” “What is the last thing you remember…” “Uh…” “We were lying down in a bed together… I…I mean we were in the middle of a migraine… I had to vomit… but I couldn’t … I was chocking… you left to save me… you saved me! “Do you remember what happened after that?” You try to remember, nothing comes to mind. “No… what happened?” “You reverted to an earlier mindset; you were stuck in the middle of a bad childhood memory… does the name Nightmare Moon sound familiar to you.” “Uh… no… sounds a bit ominous, who is she?” “Me. I am… was… Nightmare Moon.” You give Luna a confused look. “Moon Glider…” Luna’s head drops in despair. “You were having a childhood memory of imagining that Nightmare Moon was in your closet. The memory was too strong for me to handle. You were on the verge of collapse, I had no choice but to use my last resort spell…” “Last resort?” “It’s a spell I deigned for ponies which are victims of extreme trauma or sexual assault and have severe problems functioning because of the experience. The spell permanently erases memory of the incident.” You pause for a second, but then calmly reply. “Luna, its ok, you did what you had to do to save me from going back into a collapse. I think I can do without a few childhood memories of being afraid of things that go bump in my closest.” “No… it’s not that simple… certain memories can be linked to other memories… in my haste to erase the memories of Nightmare Moon I may have erased several other memories as well…” You pause for a few seconds… beginning to worry about what just transpired… “H-how do we tell?” Luna pauses, then replies in a serious tone. “How long has Celestia ruled Equestria.” “Since… forever.” “How long have myself and Celestia ruled Equestria together.” “Just a few years…” “What happened just a few years ago to cause this?” “Uh… you just sort of appeared, I’m not sure how…” “It’s alright… I’ll fill you in on the details of that later.” Luna says quickly while looking off to the side. Luna resumes her questioning. “What happens at the end of October?” “Uh… harvesting?” “Are there any major holidays that occur around this time?” “Uh… none that I can remember…” “Nightmare Night, costumes, candy… none of that seems familiar?” Fear begins to grip your mind. “Uh… n-no I don’t remember anything like that…” “When you were a colt and you went camping, do you recall telling ghost stories around the fire?” “My family never went camping much… we mostly stayed in the city…” “Ok… when you were scared in the night what did you do?” “Uh… I don’t know… I guess I would have gotten my parents.” “What were their names?” “Cloud Glider and Wind Glider…” “Good… good…” Luna says, letting out a sigh of relief. “Do you recall ever running to their room in the middle of the night about something being in your closest.” “No…” Luna looks out the door of Moon Glider’s bedroom. Moon Glider’s parents’ bedroom was far down the hallway; however there was another door directly across from Moon Glider’s bedroom. Luna begins to think, what if Moon Glider didn’t go to his parents’ room for help whenever he heard a bump in the night, what if he went to one of his siblings for help instead… “Whose room is directly across the hallway from yours…” You strain to think, but nothing comes to mind. This is your childhood home, but you don’t know what was in the bedroom across from your own. “I…I…I don’t know…” Luna’s voice begins to waver… “Did you have any siblings Moon Glider, who else lived in this house?” “No… only me and my parents lived here…” “Moon Glider…your sister… do you remember her?” “My… sister?” You ask in fear and disbelief. Luna recalls earlier when Moon Glider once mistakenly called her “sis” when she rescued him from them sand. “The sand… do you remember being buried in the sand…” “Y-yeah…” “In the original memory… who dug you out of the sand…” “I..I don’t remember… I had a sister?” Tears begin to pour down your face… Luna’s voice turns saddened as she comes to a realization. “She was the one who helped you overcome your fear of Nightmare Moon being in your closet. I’m sorry, but in erasing all memories of Nightmare Moon, I… erased all memories of your sister as well…” “What?!...” A bolt of blackness strikes your vision. “Moon Glider! You need to control yourself!” Luna yells trying to hold back sobs of her own. You begin to stabilize… still sniffling in fear… “So what does this mean?” “There is going to be gaps in your memories. She likely had a huge influence on your life so some things will no longer make sense. But we need to proceed! We need to get you out of this coma!” You pause for a second and then divert your gaze from Luna to the floor. Luna thinks to herself… in an effort to save this stallion’s life, she had just killed a small part of him… he had already suffered so much… it was not fair that he had to go through this too… “If you need a few moments-” “No! Let’s go!” Luna pauses for a second and then asks. “Are you sure you are ready?” “Yes, let’s move on to another memory.” You quickly raise your front hoof to Luna. “Alright…” Luna grabs your hoof and begins to charge her horn. You continue to look at the floor. “Look at me Moon Glider” Luna says to the sullen stallion. You lift your head and lock gaze with Luna. Luna sees the confused and conflicting emotions being displayed upon your face. She is unsure what to say to you. You see the saddened and unsure look on Luna’s face… “Luna… you did what you had to do… I hold nothing against you for that… you’ve helped me so much… do not feel guilty for what you did to me…” You come around to meet her face to face, and then place your other front hoof around her, embracing her in a hug. “Thank you Moon Glider…” As you embrace her Luna begins to shift both of you to another memory. Whiteness begins to overtake both of your visions. ”Thank you…” … You and Luna materialize into a hall of a nice building. You detach from Luna and looks around. In front of you is a doorway which contains a large amount of grieving ponies all dressed in black. In the center of the far side of the room lies a closed coffin. “We’re at a funeral, I remember being here, but…” Luna cringes upon awaiting your response. “I don’t know who this was for…” Moon Glider looks to Luna. “It was for her, wasn’t it…” “Yes…” Luna replies. “How did she die?” “I believe, like many other thousands of ponies, she died the day of the changeling attack.” Your mind begins to remember the attack, as well as the recent memory you just relived with Luna. The mare and her child being mauled by the changeling inside the convenience store. “That mare at the store… she died the same way my sister did.” “No… your sister died fighting, she was a guard… she managed to save a handful of ponies with her actions.” Luna motions to a couple of families sitting in the back of the room. You look around the funeral home and see the faces of several friends and family. Each of them quietly grieving and talking amongst themselves. “What did she look like?” “She looked a lot like you… even your cutie marks were similar…” You gaze upon the closed coffin. “Those bastards mauled her… that’s why this is a closed funeral… isn’t it…” “Yes…” You slowly approach the coffin. Luna slowly follows behind you. You see your parents sitting in the front row of seats inside the funeral parlor. They gaze upon you in anguish. “She was the successful sibling, I was the fuck up, wasn’t I…” “NO! Moon Glider, do not say such things!” “That day she died a hero… I kept on living a life as a regretful coward… and I don’t even know what she fucking looks like.” You place both hooves on the lid of the coffin. “Moon Glider, don’t-” You open the coffin. Inside there is nothingness, a black void of nothingness. Luna places a hoof upon your shoulder. “You both loved each other very much, there will be opportunities to relearn about her when you waken…” “If I awaken…” “MOON GLIDER! Listen… this is terrible I know… but you can’t give up now, you need to stay focused.” “…you’re right…” You reply. “Let’s move on.” You slowly and carefully close the coffin. “Very well…” Luna strengthens her grasp upon your shoulder as she begins to charge her horn. You take one last look at the coffin before whiteness slowly fills your vision … You materialize into being sitting at a table. You are drinking a bottle of hard cider. The cool crisp liquid slowly pours down your throat. That crispness and the alcoholic taste feel good upon tongue. You continue to drink until the bottle is empty. You swirl the bottle around with you hooves and then place it straight up above your mouth, gathering every last drop from the bottle. “Where are we Moon Glider?” Luna asks you. You divert your gaze from the bottle and look around. “We’re in my shit-hole studio apartment.” Piles of unwashed dishes are piled up in the sink. Your bed is unmade; various cloths are strewn about the floor. A thick layer of dust covers everything that is not used daily. Small pieces of food litter the floor. A large pile of unopen mail is building up on the floor in front of your front door. The garbage can is overflowing. Before you on the table lie eight empty bottles of Sweet Apple Acres hard cider. You feel drunk… your stomach is swelled from drinking so much cider. “I remember this…” You say as you wobbly stand up from the table. “After the funeral… I hit some pretty dark times.” You walk towards the refrigerator, wavering back and forth along the way. “A lot of good ponies have faced drinking problems in the past…” You open the refrigerator and grab another bottle of cider. “I’m not a good pony.” “Yes you are!” Luna replies quickly. “Luna… c’mon, really?” You place the bottle cap against your kitchen counter and hit it with the top of your hoof, the bottle cap pops right off. “Just look around you… look at this shit hole… look at me…good for nothing scum bag…” You take a large gulp of cider from the bottle. The familiar crispness feels soothing as it goes down your throat. “That’s not true-” “YES IT FUKING IS…” You yell at Luna while pointing your bottle at her. “You could be out there helping ponies who deserve your help, I sure as fuck don’t!” You place the bottle back to your lips and begin to take several large gulps. “Moon Glider, stop doing that to yourself! You will find no solutions to your problems at the bottom of a bottle!” You laugh at her… “Yeah… you got that right… but what’s the fucking point…shit job… shit life… there ain’t much waiting for me once I get out of this coma…” Luna, pauses. She realizes that without your motivation, you were doomed to fail. “You were not always like this, this was just a brief stint wasn’t it?” “Yeah… so…” “What brought you out of this?” You strain to remember but you can’t… “I don’t know…I probably ran out of money for cider…” “NO! She brought you out of it! Your sister! Even though she was dead, she still inspired you to stop drinking and turn your life around!” “She did…?” “YES!” You look down at the bottle in your hoof. Your mouth craved another taste of the crisp cool liquid. “She… she was a really good pony… wasn’t she…” You begin to cry… “Yes she was…” Luna replies. “Fuck…” You raise the bottle closer to your lips. The aroma of the cider fills your nostrils. “I bet I could never be like her… she sounds like one in a million…” The cravings to take another sip are very strong, your body craves more. “But… but... I sure as FUCK am gonna to try!” You raise the bottle above your head and throw it down into the kitchen sink. It shatters into several pieces. “I’M NOT YOUR FUCKING SLAVE!” You shout at the cider as it begins to drip down the drain. You look at Luna, she looks emboldened after watching what you just did. You focus your mind; you are able to eliminate the feelings of drunkenness and a bloated stomach which plagued you just moments ago. You extend your hoof to her. Luna looks down at you hoof, and then back to you. She grabs ahold of your body with both hooves in a massive hug. “We’re gonna get through this, I’m sure of it…” Luna replies, her emotion causing her to skip over her formal diction, tears of joy coming from her eyes. Her horn begins to glow, whiteness over takes your vision as your apartment fades from view…
Facing Your FearsYou and Luna materialize onto the streets of Canterlot. The sun is shining brightly. You are sitting at an outdoor café with a group of friends eating lunch. Suddenly several ponies come frantically running down the street. A guard pony approaches the café. “Lord Tirek is approaching! Evacuate at once!” The guard yells. All the ponies in the café scream in terror and then frantically begin running down the road. The guard pony drops his spear and joins the herd. After a few seconds it’s just you and Luna standing alone on the street. You walk over and pick up the spear. “Are you sure you don’t want just to run away Moon Glider?” Luna asks you hesitantly. “Yup.” “Maybe it would be best if we tried a different memory…” You look Luna in the eye and shake your head, a determined look upon your face. “Just how are we going to take on Tirek?! All he needs to do is simply nudge you and the pain from that will be enough to cause another collapse!” She yells at you. You calmly look at Luna’s concerned face. “We can do this Luna…” You say to her softly. “NO! This is ludicrous, give me your hoof, we’re moving onto a different memory!” Luna begins to charge her horn and extends her hoof out to you. You stand firm. “Luna…” Tears begin to form in Luna’s eyes. “Please!” She cries “I… I don’t want to you die… Just take my hoof… PLEASE!” A rumble can be heard in the distance. You look down at her extended hoof. You then return your gaze to her distressed eyes. “Luna, I need you to trust me…” Luna pauses for a second, her sorrow turns to anger. “NO!” Luna shouts. “I’m not running away anymore! You shout back at the mare. “I’m not going to be that scared, stuttering, colt hiding under the covers… or that terrified cashier hiding behind the counter. I… I just can’t do it anymore… I’ve had enough of being afraid. I need to do this… and if I never come out of this coma because of my choice then so be it! At least I’ll be going out on my own terms…” The rumble in the distance grows louder. Stomp…stomp…stomp… Luna continues to stare at you. She considers grabbing ahold of you and moving you onto another memory without your consent. She can’t stand the thought of losing you, especially after all the progress you’ve made, but this was not her mind. Ultimately Moon Glider is the one who should make this sort of choice. To deny him this choice in his own mind would be a terrible thing to do… “Dammit Moon Glider” Luna says, slowly regaining her composure. “Alright then… so what is your plan…” “Well… in about 30 seconds Tirek is going to round that corner and come down this street. I figure I will hide in that alley over there, and once he walks by I’ll stab him in the face!” Luna pauses for a moment, a bleak expression upon her face. “That’s it…” “Yeah…” Luna lets out a sigh. “He’ll probably notice you in the alley… you are going to need a diversion…” Luna cringes. “I’ll wait in the middle of the street to distract him…” “What! Are you sure Luna?” She pauses. “Yes… I am sure… I trust you… now hurry into position, the fiend approaches...” You scramble down the alley with your spear. You hide behind a dumpster. STOMP… STOMP… STOMP… You can hear the footsteps of Lord Tirek approaching. The huge centaur rounds the corner. He stands two stories tall and is as long as a train car. You look down at your spear. You begin to wonder if maybe you should have just run away like you did in the actual memory. “No… you can do this Moon Glider… you can do this… relax… focus…” You tell yourself, steadying your nerves. Lord Tirek sees Luna standing alone in the street and approaches her. “Well if it isn’t Celestia’s little bitch!” Lord Tirek yells with a laugh. “Shouldn’t you be helping little foals overcome their scary little nightmares?” Luna holds firm, Lord Tirek continues to approach her. “You were absolutely no match for me the last time we met, this time will be the same. Do you know why? Because you are WEAK! You are PATHETIC! You are LITERALLY always in the shadow of your sister Celestia-“ “Enough Tirek, your reign of terror ends now!” Luna yells out. You continue to watch Tirek approach, just a few more feet and you will be able to ambush him from the side. “Oh really, your race of colorful, pudgy, little ponies is going to stand up against ME!” “You underestimate us Tirek!” Luna yells back. “No… I don’t think so… a civilization whose national pride comes from friendship? That has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve been alive for thousands of years! As soon as I absorb all of the magic out of you puny ponies, I shall SQUASH all of your skulls beneath my mighty hooves!” You continue to watch… he’s almost in position… just a few more feet… “Starting with YOU!” Lord Tirek opens his mouth. A red magical flame-like aura begins pouring from Luna’s horn as Tirek begins draining the magic out of her body. “Shit!” You say to yourself, Tirek is not yet in position, but you have no choice, you have to charge him now. You bolt out from behind the dumpster, spear in hand, flying faster than you ever flew before, aiming straight for Tirek’s head. You are nearly there, but at the last second Tirek notices you and quickly jolts up in surprise. Instead of the spear hitting him in the head, it strikes him in the neck. “AAAAAAHHHHHH” Tirek yells in pain. Tirek ends his magic draining of Luna, she falls to the ground. Tirek slams you with the back of his hand. He sends you flying; you crash into the storefront window of a hardware store. You continue flying through the store until you crashing into a shelving unit. “MOON GLIDER!” Luna yells in fear as she watches you disappear into the store. “PATHETIC!” Tirek yells. He pulls the spear out from his neck. “You tried to take me down with THIS?!? This is nothing more than a toothpick compared to me!” Tirek easily snaps the spear with one hand and throws it on the ground. Pain covers your entire body after the impact. You struggle to stand up, but you can’t. All of your limbs painfully ache. You look down at your limbs, your legs are severely contorted, likely fracture in multiple locations. Your wings are both completely broken, blood and feathers are strewn everywhere. Your vision slowly beings to fade to black. The pain seems so familiar to you. Memories of the accident come back to you. The blackness gets to a point where you can barely see anything around you. You continue to bleed out upon the floor. “n…n…no…” You struggle to speak. You try to focus as hard as you can on not passing out. Blackness completely overtakes your vision. Your memory begins to collapse; your sense of feeling begins to fade away. It feels as if you are floating in a void of nothingness… … You take a deep breath in. You exhale deeply. … “…no… no!” … You slowly begin to feel the pain again. “NO!” Your vision slowly begins to fade back in. “There goes your champion Luna!” Tirek yells to her as she lies on the ground. “I take back what I said, I will not crush your skull beneath my hooves, instead I am going to SKULL FUCK YOU TO DEATH!” Luna is lying prone on the ground beneath the monsters hooves. She raises her head. She sees clearly between his legs and has full view of the minotaur’s massive genitalia. She lets out a cry, “THOU SHALT NOT!” She charges her horn and with the remainder of her undrained magic she shoots a bolt of electricity at Tirek’s groin. The bolt is a direct hit with Tirek’s hanging scrotum which ruptures upon impact. “GHHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAA!” Tirek lets out a massive yell in pain. You look down at your legs which are all severely in pain. “They’re not real… the pain isn’t real… focus… relax… focus… relax…” You close your eyes and try to visualize yourself… you remember what you looked like before the accident… a strong healthy stallion… all limbs fully intact… Eyes still closed you attempt to stand up. You open your eyes. You are back on all fours. Your wings are back to normal as well. You look around the store to see where you are. Something on a nearby shelf catches your eye. You begin to grin… “YOU SHALL PAY FOR THAT BITCH!” Tirek picks up Luna in his massive hands and brings her body up to his face. He slowly begins to crush her with his mighty hands. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Luna lets out a scream in massive pain. “Let go of her you BASTARD!” You yell from the broken window of the hardware store. “You again!” Tirek throws Luna onto the ground and faces you. “You WEAK, PATHETIC pony dare stand up to me? You’re not even a unicorn, you can’t even cast spells! How do you expect to last a second against me?!?” You pick up a chainsaw lying on the floor beneath you. Holding it with both your front hooves you grab the pull string with your teeth. You pull the string back and the machine loudly comes to life. VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIM VRRRRIIIM VRRRRIIIM. The chainsaw growls loudly in your hooves, a grin forms upon your face as you look Tirek in the eye. The two story Tirek looks at you silently… he was not expecting this… you caught him off guard… “Let’s dance.” You bolt off flying at full speed towards Tirek, the growling chainsaw in hoof. Luna lifts her head from the ground and watches you fly toward the minotaur. Tirek shoots a large bolt of fire at you from his mighty horns. You narrowly dodge out of the way. The fire singes your fur as it closely misses you. Fear strikes Tirek as he continues to watch you approach, he quickly casts a shield spell around himself. Flying full speed ahead you approach the shield. “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” You scream at the top of your lungs. You swing your chainsaw forcefully into the shield. The shield instantly shatters into hundreds of tiny pieces. You continue to approach, aiming straight for his head. Tirek watches in utter horror as you approach. “NO…HOW…” Tirek says in confusion. You swing the chainsaw into Tirek’s left temple. The chainsaw instantly tears through his outer flesh and then begins to steadily cut through bone. Blood begins to spurt out everywhere, getting all over your face. Tirek drops to his knees; you maintain your grasp on the chainsaw as it continues to sink deeper and deeper into his skull. Your face and body becomes covered with more and more blood the deeper the chainsaw sinks into his head. “HOW’S THIS FOR WEAK AND PATHETIC, HUH TIREK?!” You yell at the minotaur as his face begins to go blank. He collapses from his knees to the ground. Chunks of brain and skull begin to accumulate in your fur. “YOU MOTHER FUCKING BULLY! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST PUSH US AROUND WITHOUT BEING PUSHED BACK!” The chainsaw gets midway through Tirek’s thick head and then gets stuck. You try to pull it out but it does not go anywhere. You proceed to pummel upon Tirek’s bleeding skull with your hooves. “MOTHER FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” Stomp! “DIE YOU STUPID FUCK!” Stomp! Stomp! “HOW DOES IT FEEL, HUH!” Stomp! “YOU JUST GOT YOUR HEAD BASHED IN BY A PUDGY LITTLE PONY!” Stomp! Stomp! “WHO’S WEAK NOW! WHO’S WEAK NOW!” Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Luna, in awe at what you have just accomplished, slowly struggles to pull herself to her feet. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Discord appears next to her. “Why hello Luna! It’s been so long since my last surprise visit, I simply love watching you work! What fruitless task are you trying to accomplish this time? Helping another colt overcome their fear of the dreadfully scary Nightmare Moon?” Luna shoots Discord a furious look, daggers in her eyes. Upon hearing Discord’s voice, you stop pummeling upon the pulpy remains of Tirek’s head and gaze over your shoulder. “You…TRAITOR!” Discord turns his head towards you… he stares blankly for a few seconds, the carnage of the scene before him too much for his brain to take in. He vomits in disgust upon seeing Tirek’s brains spread in chunks upon the ground. You place both of your front hooves upon the chainsaw lodged inside of Tirek’s skull. You place one of your back hooves against Tirek’s skull and plant the other firmly on the ground. You pull strongly, letting out a loud grunt in the process. After a few seconds of pulling, the chainsaw breaks free, blood and pieces of brain go flying. A small chunk of brain lands at Discord’s feet. Discord looks down at the chunk of brain right in front of him… he is paralyzed in fear. “This is all YOUR fault!” You yell at discord as you slowly walk towards him, completely covered in blood and chunks of brain. “We trusted you, and you betrayed us… YOU BETRAYED ALL OF US!” Discord gets ahold of himself… he decides he no longer wants any part of this and attempts to teleport away…but nothing happens… “Where do you think you’re going?” Luna says with a devious grin upon her face. Her magical aura gripping him, preventing him from escaping. You let the chainsaw roar as you slowly walk towards Discord. VRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM! “We accepted you Discord, despite all your past transgressions, we forgave you, and THIS IS HOW YOU RETURNED THE FAVOR!” You stand directly in front of Discord, he sees up close the blood and brain chunks dripping from your fur. Luna continues to watch silently. “PLEASE, I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again, I mean it, PLEASE!” The motor of the chainsaw continues running in the background. “Really discord? We pardoned you multiple times for your crimes against Equestria, yet you keep committing them. You can never change!” “YES I CAN! PLEASE! I’ll never bother Equestria again! I’ll leave every pony alone!” “How does that expression go… fool me once… shame on you... fool me twice… GET OUT YOUR MOTHER FUCKING CHAINSAW!” VRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM! The blade spins inches from Discord’s face. “PLEASE!” “Alright fine… I’ll leave it up to Luna. What should do with him Luna?” You look Luna in the eyes and she stares right back at you, smiling a sadistic grin. Discord desperately looks to Luna. “Luna please…” “I think you should decide Moon Glider.” Luna calmly replies. You laugh. “Oh really… alright then.” You roar up your chainsaw and slowly move it towards Discord’s face. VRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIMMMMMMM! “NO PLEASE… MERCY” Discord yells as he drops to his knees. You stop the blade and gently slap Discord across the face with the blunt metal part of the chainsaw. “Meehh…” Discord lets out a pathetic whine as you touched him with your chainsaw. Discord looks up at you. “What’s the matter Discord, you never SAW that coming?” You begin to laugh, Luna also lets out a small chuckle. Discord stares at you bewildered. “Discord, you’re lucky I have a sense of humor… otherwise I’d cut off each of your fucking mismatched limbs and hang them on my wall.” “T-t-thank you…” Discord says, still in shock. You throw your chainsaw to the ground. You use your hooves to grab ahold of Discord’s face and bring it just a few inches from your own. “Now remember what you said Discord… If you even THINK about betraying us…” “I PROMISE, PLEASE!” “Well then, that’s just FANTASTIC! Looks like we're friends again! Oh… and do you know what that means?...” You pull discord up close to you and give him a long kiss upon the lips. Completely caught off guard, Discord squirms but cannot escape your grasp. After a few seconds you push him away. “You call that a kiss? Come on Discord, no tongue?” Discord tries to reply, but can’t. He opens his mouth to find that his forked tongue is missing. You look to Luna she has a large smile upon her face, both of you let out another laugh. “Come on Discord, this is comedy gold!” The scared Discord trembles in terror before the two of you… “Alright, enough’s enough. Luna let him go” Luna detaches her magical aura from Discord. “Now get the fuck out of here before I change my mind.” Discord vanishes in a flash. You look at Luna… “Funny, I don’t remember Discord being in that memory, how in Equestria did he get here?” “That was actually Discord.” Luna tells you with a smile upon her face. “What? NO…” “Yes, no joke.” she grins “Except for the ones you made. Every now and then he will enter the dreamscape in an attempt to annoy me. That wretched creature receives amusement by hindering my efforts of trying to help those who need it… although I don’t think he will be doing that again anytime soon… or ever…” “No shit… so I just successfully intimidated the god of chaos?” “Yes… you did.” “Wow…ok… so how did you know I wasn’t going to kill him?” “I didn’t…” She says with a smile… You pause for a second, looking at Luna’s devious smile. You both begin to laugh. A jolt of whiteness strikes your vision. You begin to feel a low rumble in the distance. “Did you feel that?” You say to Luna, you begin to feel funny. “It’s happening… Moon Glider it’s HAPPENING! You’ve triggered enough brain activity! You’re pulling out… YOU’RE WAKING UP” “I AM?!?” More jolts of whiteness begin to strike your vision, you look at Luna, she is becoming blurry. “LUNA… WE DID IT” “I knew you could do it Moon Glider! I knew yo….” Her voice begins to fade out. Her face slowly fades away as the whiteness overtakes your vision…
Facing FactsYou 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…”
What Dreams May ComeSeveral more weeks pass by. You are finally able to walk on your own using your prosthetics. You are a little jittery still, but you can manage. You haven’t seen Luna since the night you woke up. She seemed pretty adamant about meeting with you once you were able to walk, you would hate to disappoint her by making her wait. You had a lot of legal and financial matters to take care of after being in a coma for 12 years, but all of that could wait. You couldn’t wait to see her again. She was your savior, both of you had been through so much together. You figured the only way you were going to get an audience with Luna was by attending her midnight court. It’s the middle of the night, a taxi drops you off in front of the royal palace. Almost no one is around. In front of you stands a large stone staircase, at the top of which are the main doors to the royal palace. One lunar guard, an earth pony, guards the main door. He has his eyes on you. He notices that you are a quadruple amputee, and lets out a sigh. This is not what he wanted to deal with right now. You are tempted just to fly up the steps, but as your doctor said you shouldn’t become over reliant upon your wings. You slowly and carefully move up the steps. After about five minutes, you finally make it to the top of the stairs. “What do you want?” The guard pony speaks to you in a pissed off tone. “I’m here to have an audience with Princess Luna.” “No you’re not.” “What?...” You ask confusingly. “Her court ended early tonight, you’ll have to come back tomorrow- no wait… its Friday. You’ll have to come back Monday.” “Oh come on… why didn’t you tell me that before I climbed all those fucking stairs.” The guard pony laughs to himself. “So I could see the disappointed look on your face, that’s why.” “The fuck is your problem guy!” “YOU ARE!” The guard pony angrily yells at you. “Listen the princess requested an audience with me, I don’t want to keep her waiting any longer than I have too.” “Ain’t my fucking problem, my job is to keep deadbeats like you off the palace grounds.” “I’M NOT A FUCKIGN DEADBEAT…” You pause for a second. You realize that coming straight from the hospital you haven’t had much time for proper grooming of your coat and mane. Most ponies who visit the royal palace likely wore formal attire; you barely had a clean coat of fur... You try to control your anger. “Listen, can you please just let the princess… or her clerk… or just any pony in the palace know that Moon Glider is here.” “You better get lost or else I’ll shove those FAKE LIMBS DOWN YOUR FUCKING THROAT!” “FINE I’M GOING!” You quickly turn around and lose your balance. “SHIT!” You being to stumble down the stone stair case. Luckily your reflexes kick in in time and you are able to curl into the fetal position. By the time you hit the bottom you are a little roughed up but there is no serious damage. However, two of your prosthetics limbs fall off as you fall down the stairs. The guard pony laughs. “Serves you right!” The guard pony yells at the top of the stairs. The door to the palace slams open. An officer, a bat pony, comes out. “What’s all the commotion out here!?” The earth pony at the door salutes the officer. “CAPTAIN ORION, nothing to see here, just another bum.” The captain looks down the steps to see Moon Glider on the ground. The captain sees the amputee stallion and instantly recognizes who he is. “HOLY SHIT, that’s Moon Glider!” The captain turns to face the guard pony. “Don’t you read the fucking paper?!” The earth pony pauses for a second and then lets out a bleak response. “Uh…no…” The captain decks the guard in the face as hard as he can. The earth pony falters backwards several feet and struggles to stay on his hooves. ”You just pushed Moon Glider down a flight of stairs!?! You will receive forty lashes for this!” You begin to crawl upon the ground to collect your detached prosthetics. Hearing what is going on at the top of the stairs you decide to say something. “Hold on Captain… he didn’t push me down… it was an accident… I fell…” “Is that so…” The fuming captain looks at the earth pony, bleeding from his snout. “Looks like you’re getting off easy private… this time… something like this will not happen again, RIGHT PRIVATE!?” The private stands straight. “NO SIR, IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN SIR.” “You’re DAM right it won’t!” The captain yells. His attention returns to Moon Glider. The captain quickly flies down the steps and helps you reattach your prosthetics. Once they are secured he helps you back on all fours. “Come inside Moon Glider, Princess Luna will be most pleased to see you.” You fly up the steps this time; you quickly pass by the earth pony at the door. He continues to gaze straight as you pass, avoiding looking at you. As soon as you are inside you plop down on all fours. The captain closes the door behind you. “Sorry about that Moon Glider…” “It’s alright…” “Listen… can you do me a favor…” “What’s that?” “Please don’t mention that incident to Princess Luna, you’re really important to her and… she might overreact a little bit… and um… every once in a while…” The captain looks around to make sure no one is listening. He proceeds to speak silently to you. “Every once and while I get reports about ponies somehow mysteriously dying in their sleep… and well… I don’t want to write out letters to the next of kin of deceased guard ponies… especially in the middle of peacetime… it’s just bad for everybody…” You stare at him blankly for a moment, completely surprised. “Yeah… of course… besides that asshole got what was coming to him when you landed that punch!” “That was a pretty good hit wasn’t it?” You both let out a laugh. You continue to walk through the many corridors. The guard chats with you along the way. “I’ve been captain of Luna’s guard ever since she re-ascended the throne, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her as happy as she has been in the past few weeks.” “Really?” “Yeah, you improved her morale significantly Moon Glider. She deals with a lot of shit, way more than any one pony should handle. She takes it upon herself to protect the mental and emotional well-being of all ponies in Equestria! And most of the time she’s doing it behind the scenes, so most ponies don’t even notice that Princess Luna helped them. It’s a thankless job… and it sure as all fuck shouldn’t be…” “Dam…” “Yeah…” You arrive at the bedroom of Princess Luna. “Hopefully we can catch her before you goes back off to work…” Captain Orion knocks on her bedroom door. There is no answer. “Dammit… she hates being waken up while she’s working… but I think with you here she’ll make an exception…” Caption Orion opens the door to Luna’s bedroom. There she was… the magnificent alicorn… gracefully sprawled out upon her bed. Her facial wound was completely gone from the last time you saw her. Captain Orion looks at you. “You can have the honor waking her up… shit... you’re probably the only pony in Equestria who she wouldn’t be pissed off at for waking her…” You nod to the captain and you slowly walk over to her bed. You kneel down at the side of her bed and look at her eyes. Beneath her eye lids her eyes are quickly darting back and forth, she is in the middle of a dream… someone else’s dream. You feel a bit sorry for interrupting the pony she is currently trying to help, but can you wait no longer. “Luna… it’s me… Moon Glider…” Her ears twitch as she hears your voice… her eyes stop moving back and forth. After a few seconds she opens her eyes. “Moon Glider!” She says with a smile upon her face. Her body quickly spins around in her bed as she embraces you with a large hug. You are completely caught off guard as she hugs you while you are kneeling. The large mare tightly squeezes you to the point where you can barely breathe. Captain Orion sees the surprised look on your face and lets out a chuckle. He then quickly chimes in. “Princess Luna, I imagine you would like a private audience with Moon Glider, unless there is anything else you need from me will return to my post.” “We thank thee, thou art dismissed.” Captain Orion leaves the bedroom and closes the door behind him. Luna releases you from her embraces and you are finally able to breathe again. Luna leaps off her bed to stand beside you. You stand upright on all fours. Luna looks you up and down. “You are able to walk again I see.” “Yup, the physical therapist you assigned to me did a fantastic job.” “And the prosthetics?” “They are great!” You lift your front right hoof up into the air to show her. “Perfect fit, the weighting and balance is superb.” “Excellent!” Luna replies happily “How’s everything going with the friends and family?” “Great! Everyone has been really supportive… and turns out I have an 11 year old son…” Luna smiles at you. “Surprise!” “Yeah… tell me about it…” “Well it’s great to see you again, Moon Glider… but pleasantries was not the only reason I asked you to come here… I would like to offer you a job as a royal guard.” You stare at her with a skeptical look on your face. “What? Come on Luna, I can barely walk… let alone swing a spear.” “Not just any guard pony, you’ll have a very special role.” “…wait, do you mean like… in bed…” You say hesitantly. “Yes exactly…” She pauses for a second. “NO MOON GLIDER, NOT LIKE THAT!” She blushes through her dark blue coat and you try not to grin. “Dammit Moon Glider…” She lets out a sigh, followed as well as a small chuckle. “Moon Glider, I’ve seen firsthand what you can do with your mind. Your lucid dreaming skills, mental and emotional control, and ability to adapt and overcome to your surroundings quickly are exactly what I need for my mission.” “Your mission of using the dreamscape to help all the ponies of Equestria overcome their troubles?” “Yes, it is an ambitious mission I know… one that I cannot do by myself… that is why I am enlisting your help!” You stare at her confused… “But I thought that only you were able to traverse the dreamscape?” “This is true… I am the only one who can… with the exception of that vile creature Discord. But… it would be possible for you as well… as long as you are within my presence. We simply need to each cast a few simple spells, and then you will be able to ‘piggyback’ with me while we traverse the dreamscape.” “What do you mean by ‘We’ each need to cast a few simple spells? ...Are you using the traditional royal ‘We’ again?” You confusingly reply. “No.” Luna says with a smile on her face. “Both of us will need to cast spells…” “But I’m not a unicorn… I can’t cast the spells needed to do that…” “No… but I have something that may assist with that…” Luna walks to an antique chest in the far corner of the room. She pulls out a small, dusty, wooden box. Luna brings the box over to you. She slowly opens it up. Inside lies a golden jeweled crown. At the center of lies a unicorn’s horn, as well as pieces of the surrounding skull which the horn was once connected to. You stare, partially disgusted and partially horrified at the crown. “Luna...there’s a pony’s horn on that crown…” “Yes, you’ll be able to use it to cast spells and traverse the dreamscape.” “But… where did you get that from…” “Oh… this old thing, it was just lying around…” You continue to stare at her… “Hey, they don’t call me the Princess of the Night for nothing…” She says with gentle laugh. You shake your head, but can’t help but smile at her. “How does it even work?” “You just need to put it on and it will work.” You hesitantly look at Luna, and then back at the crown. “Well… here goes nothing…” You attempt to grasp the crown with your prosthetic hoof, but you are not able to maintain a steady grip on it. “Let me help you with that, it is best not to accidentally drop it… I only have one… I would hate to go through the process of ‘acquiring’ another one…” “Yeah…” You shudder thinking about what that process might entail. Luna grabs the crown out of the box with her magic. You get down onto your knees and lower your head to her. She slowly lowers the crown upon your head. As soon as the crown makes contact you can feel the magical power of the horn as it runs through your body. “Whoa…” After a few seconds the feeling of magic power begins to fade. You stand up. “So how do I use it?” You ask Luna. “You just have to think about it.” “Just think about it, how…” Luna shakes her head. “Here, let’s just do a test.” She walks over to an end table containing a large vase. “This is a priceless antique given to me by my sister Celesita for my birthday a few years ago…” She lifts it up with her hoof. “Catch it before it hits you in the face.” “Wait, what!” Luna throws the vase at you as hard as she can. “SHIT!” You close your eyes and flinch in anticipation of being hit. A second passes… nothing happens. You slowly open your eyes to see the vase being suspended in dark blue aura of magic “YOU DID IT!” Luna lets out with glee. “Wow… I did it…” You look closely at the vase you are levitating in midair. You attempt to move the vase to and fro with your mind. The movements a bit rough, but the vase mostly moves the way you want it to. “Hey, I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.” You say as you look towards Luna. Suddenly your concentration falters and the vase goes crashing onto the floor. You cringe as you look upon the shattered remains of the priceless vase. “Oh no… pity… that vase really tied the room together…” Luna says insincerely. “I guess next we’ll have to practice with all the antique dishes Celestia gave me last year.” “LUNA!” You yell at her. “Alright… alright…” Luna says with a laugh. You let out a sigh of relief. You notice a mirror hanging on a wall a few feet away from you. You walk close to get a better look at yourself wearing the crown. The gold and jeweled crown shines brightly in the light atop your head. The color of the horn is dark gray; it almost matches your coat. You continue to watch the mirror as Luna walks up to your side. “Never thought I’d become an alicorn before…” You say with a smile on your face as you look at Luna in the mirror. “Together we can do a lot of good Moon Glider, will you join me?” “Well, considering that I can’t make deliveries anymore…” Luna’s face begins to light up. “Actually… I don’t know, now that I think about it, I had a pretty good thing going back at that convenience store…” Luna lets out a laugh and replies. “Oh really?...” Your tone of you voice changes from joking to sincere. “Luna, you brought me out of a coma… you saved my life… I owe you so much… “ You divert your eyes from the Luna in the mirror to the eyes of the actual Luna. “I’ll gladly help you on your mission.” “Excellent!” Luna says with delight. We’ll start immediately. We’ll train your magical abilities while out in the field. We’ll start off with a few easy assignments and then work our way up to the harder ones” She pauses for a second. “I’m really not interested in having you around as an assistant, what I really need is a partner. I need someone who I can rely on… someone who I can work together with to overcome the extreme. This will not be easy, in the dreamscape anything is possible… unspeakable horrors will be common occurrence. We both have our weak..nesses…but…” Luna pauses for a second. The memory the Moon Glider as a quivering colt pops into her mind. The visage of Nightmare Moon blowing the closet door off its hinges as she desperately tries to keep it closed. Those long sharp fangs dripping with blood. She was powerless to stop her… powerless against… herself… “Luna.” You say to the alicorn, her eyes staring forward into space, as if she is caught in a trance. “Is everything alright?” She jolts up. “…What… yes, we are fine…” She looks at your concerned face and then quickly looks away, embarrassed. “Sorry, where were we?” “You were saying we both have our weakness… and I think you were going to add that with each other’s support… we can overcome those weaknesses… together…” “Yes…” Luna replies. “Yes, exactly…” Luna lifts her head high and her voice returns to a more enthusiastic state. “…And if this all works out as planned it will double the effectiveness of my mission.” The thought of you and Luna working together again to take on horrific nightmarish monstrosities both scares and excites you. “You have already thought this through haven’t you?” You ask the mare. “Yes, I’ve been searching for the right pony for several years now…” “Alright, let’s do this.” You say with a grin. Luna responds with a grin of her own. “Follow me…” You follow Luna to her bed. You get in and lay next to each other lying face to face. Her horn begins to glow; a magical aura links from her horn to yours, your horn begins to glow as well. “I owe you too Moon Glider… you helped get me out of a rut I was in… this job… can be straining…” You smile at her as you look her in the eyes. “Luna… we’ve been through quite a lot together haven’t we…” She smiles back at you. “Moon Glider… that was just the start…” The End
