Dawnstar slowly made his way towards Sweet Apple Acres, a small bag of cinnamon bread in his magic's grasp. As the brown bag floated in front of him he couldn't help but giggle at his color scheme. For being Princess Luna's son, he was definitely colored more like Princess Celestia's. Now that would be a trip. His ear twitched as he casted a quick glimpse at his cutie mark. Then again... when your in charge of the peace and justice of Equestria; it makes sense. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of splashing coming from the pond. He would've just thought it was Apple Bloom and her friends swimming, if it weren't for the sadistic laughing that came from it.
As he rounded the top of the hill, the brown bag dropped to the ground as he saw a brown stallion supposedly forcing another pony under the water. He then felt his anger rise when he noticed a familiar crimson and pink mane break the water's surface, only to be forced back into its watery grave. He started off in a dead sprint, reaching towards the pair with his magic; flinging the attempted murderer into a tree and pinning him to the beach, while carefully bringing a barely conscious Roseluck out of the pond. Their eyes met for only a second before she passed out, which broke Dawnstar's concentration on his prisoner. Not that he had to worry, since the air in Filthy Rich's lungs was forced out of him when he made contact with the tree. Dawnstar's cries for Rose to awake were in vain as she lay there motionless. His anger spiked again when he heard Filthy Rich coughing and spitting out insults.
"You bastard, who dares to intervene in my business!?" His persona quickly dissolved when he noticed the figure in front of him. "P-P-P-Prince Dawnstar, w-w-what a surprise. I-I don't suppose that the Son of-"
"SILENCE!" Filthy Rich felt his heart jump to his throat when Dawnstar turned towards him. His eyes were aglow with the same aura that his mother gained when she took control of the moon. His voice was strong and fierce; yet it was also frightening. Dawnstar's mane and tail erupted into a fiery blaze that glowed a magnificent orange. The noble gulped his heart back to its original position as the angered prince moved closer. "THOU DAREST TO DISTURB THE PEACE OF THY LAND WITH MURDER!?"
Filthy Rich felt himself being lifted back into the air, the haunting stare of the prince scaring him out of his wits. Before he could speak he felt himself being thrown back against another tree, this time being held there by Dawnstar's magic. After struggling to get his lungs back to working normally, he started to beg for his life in front of the prince. "Please don't kill me! I'll do what you want; I'll even tell you everything I know. Just please don't kill me."
Dawnstar paused for a second, his grip never loosening on the, now crying, noble. He took a deep breath, his body returning to its form. His azure eyes showing no mercy for stallion held in his magic. "You... are the lowest form of pony aren't you?" His horn glowed a bit brighter as a pair of hoofcuffs appeared on Filthy Riche's front and back legs. "I'll be sending you to my mother. There you are to tell her everything; from what happened today, to who you were working for. Failure to do so will land you into the depths of Tartarus, where scum like you are sent at the mercy of the beast that dwell there." Before Filthy Rich could say anything, he was teleported away to face Princess Luna's judgment.
Dawnstar turned towards the unconscious Roseluck with flattened ears, he felt a single tear roll down the side of his cheek as he watched her. With a saddened sigh, he lifted her up onto his back and headed towards the hospital. On top of the hill, he paused at the brown bag with its contents spilled on the ground. Only good for the birds now, he thought to himself, six bits wasted for bird food. With another sigh he used his magic to pick up the brown bag, leaving the bread to be left as a snack for the birds.
Song
The next few days went by painfully for Dawnstar, each day seemingly slower than the last. Roseluck lay in her hospital bed, with him by her side. Princess Luna had stopped in a couple of times to update him on current events and the like. According to her, Filthy Rich's testament was enough proof to help her bring Blueblood's plot out in the open; granted several days or months may be needed. Twilight and her friends would stop by often to see how she was doing, but they would leave shortly after. One day, while Dawnstar was watching the ponies go about their daily lives outside, a voice came from the doorway of Rose's room.
"Excuse me, Your Highness?" Dawn recognized the voice as Lily's and turned to acknowledge her, after a small bow she stepped into the room. She made her way next to the skulking stallion and sat next to him, her eyes on a still sleeping Roseluck, "Is she going to be ok?"
"The doc said that she should be waking up soon. She was just exhausted from what happened." Dawnstar turned back to the window, watching nothing in particular. Lily, on the other hoof, placed a leg over his shoulder as a means of comfort.
"Please don't blame yourself, Your Highness, I'm sure it could've happened to anypony. Besides," She reached up and pulled him into a hug, "She was saved by the one she loves; I know that she'll never blame you for that." Dawnstar allowed a grin to make his muzzle its home for a brief second before he noticed movement on the bed in the plain white room. To say that Dawnstar was relieved to see Roseluck's eyes slowly flutter awake was a vast understatement. He felt like the entire world had been lifted off of his shoulders. Lily must have noticed Rose stirring as well, since she immediately went galloping out of the room looking for a nurse. The golden stallion got onto his hooves, making his way next to the beige colored beauty that lay in the bed.
"Rose?" Her ears percked up and a visual blush appeared on her cheeks as her eyes fully opened. She turned her head towards Dawnstar and was about to say something, before he surprised her with a kiss. She felt another chill like before go down her spine as she lost herself in Dawnstar's embrace. Their tongues doing a complicated dance as the kiss dragged on for a few seconds. The sound of somepony clearing their throat behind them was the only thing that stopped them from going farther. Both ponies blushed as an annoyed looking doctor and a flustered Lily stood in the doorway. The doctor let out a sigh as he levitated a clipboard off of Roseluck's bed.
"Your Highness, I respect your authority and feelings for this young mare, but please remember that you are in a hospital." He raised an eyebrow towards the golden stallion, then turned back to his charts, "Now let's see here; nothing was broken, no internal damage done, you seem to be in control of normal body functions. Miss Roseluck; I do believe that you are now free to leave the hospital." He turned back to Dawnstar with a flat tone, "I suggest that she doesn't do strenuous activities for at least two more days, and that does include more physical activities. Since she had been out for three days she does need to watch herself. I hope that you can be sure of that, Your Majesty?" After receiving a nod from the prince, the doctor turned to his patient and spoke again. "I hope that you are more careful in the future Miss Roseluck. Now if you excuse me; I must continue on with my duties." The doctor turned towards the door and left, leaving the three alone in the hospital room.
Song
Several weeks went by as the new couple went back to their daily lives. Roseluck's new shop was a huge hit on the market; earning herself and her friends an excellent reputation in several towns. Meanwhile, Dawnstar was granted permission to perform his royal duties in Ponyville in order to give Twilight some extra backup with her duties as well. Not that she needed it; it was mainly a fancy excuse for him to stay with his marefriend.
He had visited the Chronicler several times since Roseluck's recovery; however it was essentially to visit the old sage; who very much seemed to appreciate the company. Princess Luna had explained to Dawnstar that she had created the Chronicler as a means of safeguarding information that could help prevent future happenings. Which in turn lead her to the conclusion that she must've been older than she thought, considering.
Eventually weeks transformed into months, and the couple found themselves getting more intimate and serious with their relationship. Roseluck had settled in with Dawnstar, Twilight, and Spike, and the two would often sit in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea discussing the days events. The topic of tonight's subject being the upcoming Hearts and Hooves day celebration that weekend. Roseluck couldn't help but notice that something seemed off about Dawnstar recently. Normally when she would come home to the library; he'd be sitting with a book that was related to the moon and night sky. However, the past few weeks he had either been out late talking to his mother, or working somewhere. What really puzzled her was why a royal wanted to work when they had all the bits they wanted; granted the two thousand that he gave her quickly answered that. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a familiar nuzzle under her chin.
"Hey, everything alright?" Dawnstar .lay down next to her on the floor by the fireplace. She couldn't help but take a deep breath and revel in his warmth as he spread a wing around.
"Yeah, I'm okay." she replied back, giving him a small kiss on his cheek as a means of assurance. A smile plagued his face as he returned the kiss as acknowledgment. Of course, their time alone was soon interrupted when they heard a disgusted voice come from the stairwell.
"Ugh, don't you two like, have a room that you can do that in? your gonna make me throw up, and that's never a good thing." Rose turned to see a small purple dragon standing atop the staircase with his finger pointed to his open mouth. As Spike made his way down the stairs, she felt Dawnstar's wing lift up from her and return to its master's side. A small chuckle came from him as he decided to have some fun with the baby dragon.
"Oh come on Spike, don't tell me that you don't have mares and fillies wrapped around your claws." Rose watched as Dawns gave the blushing dragon a wink, "Don't think I haven't seen you and Sweetie Belle around town, Mister." The dragon's blush got redder as Dawn continued, "Relax, Mate, I'm just messing with you. Did you require something?" It took a few seconds for Spike to regain his composure.
"Uh, y-yeah, T-T-Twilight wanted to talk to you about something, Dawnstar." He finished his trip down the stairs and started towards the kitchen, as Dawn let out a small groan.
"I think I know what its for. Roseluck, could you please help Spike with dinner?" Rose felt a nuzzle behind her ear as she got up and nodded in agreement. When she got to the kitchen, Spike already had part of the meal ready; Spaghetti with a mixed veggie sauce was the main course for the night and it seemed apparent that he could use the help. Spike turned when he heard her hoofsteps and gave her a smile, motioning for her to stir the sauce while he worked on the noodles.
It was quiet to say the least, both where either stirring or chopping vegetables or getting silverware ready. Rose decided to break the silence, "So... um... you and Sweetie Belle?"
"No... yes... maybe... *sigh* I don't know, it's complicated." Spike kept his focus on the boiling noodles, testing one to see if they were ready. Rose didn't seem to like that.
"What do you mean by 'complicated?' Its not because your a dragon is it?"
"Its not, in fact she doesn't care that I'm a dragon, its just that... well... I don't know if we are official or not." Now that was sure interesting.
"Well, did you actually ask her out or did you two just start going out?" Spike paused in his inspection of the noodles, which were ready to be strained and served. Rose added a few more spices to the sauce and kept up her stirring; a couple of extra minutes wouldn't hurt.
"We just started going out together; first it was us and her friends, but recently it has been just us." Yep, Rose knew exactly what was going on, and the smile on her muzzle caused Spike to raise an eyebrow before placing the noodles in a bowl.
"You should ask her; make it official. That's what I'm thinking." Rose carefully poured the sauce in its own bowl and placed it on the table just outside the kitchen. "If she doesn't care that you are a dragon and is willing to look past the differences then I say; go for." She studied the wood grain on the table as she thought about her and Dawn. Spike smiled as he started towards the stairs to grab Dawn and Twilight.
"Alright, I'll do it!"
Dawnstar entered the room to a pacing Twilight Sparkle, a sight that he was used to seeing but he made tonight an exception. As he cleared his throat; she paused for a second, turned to him, nodded and continued to pace. Rolling his eyes as she kept pacing, he decided to take some time 'investigating' her study/ bedroom. Of course, by study he meant 'messing with Twilight's OCD about everything being in order.' He went over to her writing desk, which housed an ordered line of parchment, ink wells, and quills. Looking up and the still pacing violet alicorn, he grinned as he played a small game of "ShuffleeverythingonTwilight'sdesk." His plan backfired, however, as a purple aura quickly realigned her desk perfectly, but it did succeed in getting her to stop pacing.
"Don't. Touch. The desk." Her reaction was a bit different from what Dawn had expected, and it scared the moon out of him. After shrugging it off as a way to get her attention, she went about pacing, except actually talking to Dawnstar. "She's late, how can she be late? She was supposed to be here by now."
Dawn let out a defeated grunt at stopping Twilight's pacing, but decided to point out the very obvious. "You do know that my mother hasn't raised the moon yet, right?" The princess stopped and looked out the window in front of her desk. Celestia's sun was almost done setting, but Dawn knew that the moon had yet another couple of minutes before it needed to be raised. A visual blush appeared on Twilight's face as she let out an embarrassed "Oh". She walked next to Dawn and sat down, stopping her panicked pacing altogether. Really!?
After sitting and talking for a awhile, a bright flash of white light appeared before the two. when it disappeared, Princess Luna gracefully stood in its place. In her magic's grasp was a small stack of parchment, and a small white box; Which Dawnstar immediately took from her and opened up. Inside was the exact reason he had been out working so hard for the past several months; a Hay Jewelers engagement ring. The gold band that made up the ring had several jewels that intricately made up his and Rose's cutie marks on the top. It was worth the long days and nights; working at different shops and stalls in order to obtain this fifteen hundred bit beauty. Carefully closing the box and placing it under his wing, he tuned back into his mother and Twilight.
"Twilight, remember that there is now rush with this assignment. Much like your old friendship letter, Tia wants them to be done at your own leisure." Luna turned towards her son with a smile on her face, noticing the small bulge in his wing. "I see you got what you wanted me to bring, but... I want to let you know that I am proud of you, my son. Let me know what she says as soon as you possibly can." Dawnstar nodded as he gave his mother a quick nuzzle to her neck. "I love you too, now I must return to the world of Canterlot politics." Shortly after she vanished in a bright light. Spike knocked on the door several seconds later to announce that dinner was ready.
Twilight sat her assignments from Princess Celestia on her writing desk and headed towards the dining table, while Dawnstar went to his and Rose's room in order to hide the ring. After taking a second look at it, he smiled, walked over to the window in the small room, and hid it in a shelf just below it; looking towards his father's constellation before joining the other for dinner.