//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash: Loyalty's Love 
// Story: Dark Terrors 
// by Dragon Angel Knight 
//------------------------------//

	Loyalty's Love


Once more, Princess Luna traded the moon for the sun, and went to sleep herself. Celestia was the pony that was usually awake during the day, and that was fine, because dreamwalking ended up taking a lot out of Luna. Celestia could do it too, but her presence was not like Luna's was. Which is to say that Celestia's presence in the dream realm, unless she was sleeping and actively dreaming, was like looking into the sun on a hot summer day. A bad idea at the best of times and potentially harmful at the worst. So, Celestia and Luna agreed that the former shouldn't enter dreams unless it was absolutely necessary, while the latter would be able to enter them at will, in order to ease the dreams of the common pony and grant them a good nights rest.


Minuets later, or so it seemed to Luna, the Lunar Princess began waking up and shaking the last vestiges of sleep from her mind. She prepared to greet her Night Court and help her sleeping ponies through another night of restless sleep. Provided, of course, the nobles were not too long with their requests. Most nights it took Luna using the Royal Canterlot Voice to get them to back down and run with their tails between their legs (something Luna quite enjoyed doing, if she was honest with herself). Others, it took a calm demeanor and a smouldering glare that spoke more than words could ever convey. 

This night, was one of the lucky few nights where nothing major was happening in the world. A noble request of aid for ponies affected by a hurricane here, a dumb request for a party there, and the odd request from somepony claiming that the Lunar Plot was the most beautiful thing he had seen, and as thus, should be molded and put on display in a museum. Luna had to, unfortunately, decline this last request, much to the disappointment of the stallion making the request, but did thank him for the compliment (At least Luna thought it was a compliment. She wasn't entirely sure, especially with the way modern ponies had been approaching her as of late.) and asked that the next petitioner be brought in.

"There are no more, ma'am," the guard at the doors said.

"Very well," Luna said, "Guards, attend me! It is time again for my dreamwalking."

And shortly after that, Luna cast her spell, and began searching for errant dreams that she could help a pony deal with. Not too long after her spell began, Luna found a dark cyan splotch just above and outside of Ponyville. So, Luna entered the dream of the pony, and watched the dream to a point where she could intervene.

`~`~`~`~

As the dream came into focus for Luna, she found the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and herself, surprisingly, surrounding a mare with a rainbow colored mane and tail. It seemed she was in quite a bit of distress as well, judging from the look on her face and the words the characters in her dream were saying. 

"Yer a damn filthy abomination, RD," Applejack was saying harshly, "Ah can't believe I was ever friends with you."

Fluttershy, who was staying quiet, gave Rainbow Dash a look that said more about what she was feeling towards the pegasus than words. She looked away and walked off, fading from view along with Applejack, who had the gall to spit on Rainbow Dash before walking off with Fluttershy.

"I may be one for romance and such every now and again, but this is just plain filthy," Rarity was saying as she slapped Rainbow Dash across the face. She too walked away and faded into the background.

Pinkie Pie was acting completely out of character for her. Her mane and tail were completely straight and her colors were slightly grayed out, as if Discord had managed to get into her head, again. Pinkamena did not say anything, like Fluttershy, but instead pulled out a cannon and blasted Rainbow Dash off of her hooves with a brightly colored ball of confetti and streamers, before leaving the same way the others had.

Twilight looked down at the prone form of Rainbow Dash and said, "A filly fooler? Why couldn't you have just stayed in the damn closet about this?"

"I thought you guys would understand!" Dash screamed miserably, "I can't help who I am, damn it! Just like you can't help loving your books!"

The dream-Luna came forward next, and with a terrible thud, knocked Rainbow Dash away. The dream-Luna looked down on the sobbing mare in contempt and said, "In what world could I have ever loved you?"

Rainbow Dash continued sobbing into her hooves as the real Princess of the Night dispelled the dream characters and wrapped her wings around the pegasus mare comfortingly. Eventually, Rainbow's sobs died down to the occasional sniffle and she started speaking.

"What? A dream you wasn't enough torture?" Dash asked petulantly, "Just had to come here and rub more salt in the wound, is that it?"

"No," Luna said simply, "But I am surprised you could think this way about your friends. They would not abandon you over some triviality such as sexual orientation."

"I know that in here," Dash said, bringing a hoof to her heart, "But my head always wants to argue for the worst thing, y'know?"

"Yes," Luna said, "I was much the same when I told Celestia about myself."

"Really?" Dash said incredulously, looking up into Luna's eyes.

"Indeed," Luna said with a smile, "Would you like to know what she did?"

"What did she do?" Rainbow asked.

"She laughed heartily and said, 'Well, I guess this means I won't have any nieces or nephews to spoil any time soon'," Luna said with a laugh, "Then she hugged me and said that if I was happy, then it did not matter what she thought. But that she would support me in any way she could."

Rainbow chuckled as Luna explained and said, "That must have been a relief, right?"

"It was indeed," Luna said with a smile, "The point of that story, however, is that you should not worry about your friends reactions. They will love and support you, no matter what."

"W-what about...." Rainbow Dash trailed off, then found her courage, "What about my crush on you?"

"Crush?" Luna asked curiously, "What do you mean by that?"

Dash began blushing, the flushed red of her cheeks contrasting cutely with the cyan of her fur. She scratched the ground with a forehoof before saying, "I, um, kinda like you. As in a relationship....."

"Oh," Luna said. Then she got what Rainbow Dash was trying to say, then said, "OH."

Dash winced and asked, "Silly, right? I knew this was a bad idea.... Just couldn't keep my damn mouth shut to save my life, now could I? Stupid, stupid, Dash!!"

Luna silenced Dash's self destructive rambling with an azure hoof and said, "I.... I would like to see where this could go. If you still want to, that is?"

Luna was blushing profusely herself as Rainbow stuttered for a second. She then took off  and did a couple of loops, shouting out, "WOOHOO!!!!"

Dash landed with a muffled 'whump' and promptly kissed Luna on the mouth. Luna was shocked at first, but melted into the kiss. All to soon, Dash pulled herself away and said, "You can bet your primaries I do, Princess."

"Just... Luna," Luna said, "We are going to be... lovers, so titles would only get in the way... right, Dashie?"

Dash suddenly looked a bit apprehensive and asked, "When I tell my friends.... Will you be there with me?"

"Of course," Luna said, kissing Dash on the cheek, "All you need do is ask, and I shall help in in anyway possible."

Dash smiled and hugged Luna again. The spent a while like that. Talking about this and that, asking questions about each others lives, and learning about each other. Before long, though, Luna started to feel the tug of the Moon on her magic and made to leave.

"Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow," Dash said, "That I shall say good morn til it be the morrow."

"That was.... surprisingly eloquent," Luna said, "And very sweet of you, Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, well," Dash said as she rubber the back of her head with a free hoof, "Don't tell Twilight, but I have a soft spot for Shake Spear. Twilight would never let me hear the end of it if word got out that I read the classics...."

Luna kissed Dash, this time on the lips, and said, "Our little secret, love."

Dash nodded, and waved good bye as Luna left the dreamscape and Dash began to wake up. Once more, upon leaving the dream, Luna noticed a shadow flitting away from the dream. She tried to track its progress, so she could attempt to corner it at a later date, but it always disappeared whenever she looked right at it. Resolving to try again later, Luna came back to the waking world, and performed her duties as Princess of the Night, before heading to bed herself, dreams of a certain rainbow maned pegasus dancing in her head.