//------------------------------//
// The Truth 
// Story: The 7th Element 
// by thunderhawk7865 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 24: The Truth

"Here we are..." Rainbow Dash said as she landed gracefully in her cloud dwelling, Dan following closely behind her. "How you holding up back there?" Dash turned and chuckled as Dan more crash-landed rather than touched-down onto her cloud. Dan picked himself up and smiled cheekily, "Shut up, Dash."

Dan had struggled on the flight over for two reasons. One, his right wing was giving him problems. The wing Discord had cut. He couldn't flap it correctly, and because of this, he flew lop-sided. Dash just chuckled and helped him along as best she could, especially when he crashed headlong into a tree.

Second, he was racking his brain, thinking of an appropriate way to break the news to Rainbow Dash. It was tearing him apart on the inside, and this affected his flight pattern as well, making him look even more awkward. Dan was lucky he injured, because Dash just assumed as much.

"So, what do you wanna do, Ace?" Dash walked by, brushing her tail seductively under his chin, walking around him. Ace gulped, "Um, how about we just relax and watch...watch some TV? Or...or read together? Daring Do, maybe?"

Rainbow Dash chuckled and stopped walking, stopping in front of him, narrowing her eyes lustfully. "Oh please, Ace... Reading? TV I can understand, but...reading?"

"Worth a try..." Dan managed to mutter to himself as Dash leaned in and pressed her lips onto his. This wasn't how Dan planned to proceed. At all. "Crap crap crap..."

He felt her tongue trying to enter his mouth and Dan reluctantly opened his mouth and let her in.

As they made out, Dan could feel her attempting to pull them both into her bedroom. Dan widened his eyes and finally managed to break them apart. "Dash...I can't..."

Dash cocked her head, "Is there something wrong?" She looked worried. "Oh no, am I going to fast? Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, Dashie, you're not..." Dan nuzzled her and closed her eyes. "I like you a lot..."

"Then..." she backed away from him. "Then what's stopping you?"

Dan gulped. "Here we go..."

"Dash, I need to talk to you..." Dan sat down on a cloud couch and gestured her to sit next to her.

She sat down, narrowing her eyes and freaking out a little. "Are you...breaking up with me?"

"What?" Dan chuckled sightly as he twiddled his hooves. "No, no... I could never do that..."

Both ponies remained silent for what seemed like forever when Dan looked over at Dash, who was sulking, as if just waiting for Dan to break it off with her.

Dan started to sweat slightly, but then he remembered Celestia's words: "If she truly loves you back, she will accept you for what you really are. If not, and she disapproves, I will send you back home and wipe Rainbow Dash and Ponyville of any memory of you."

Dan smiled to himself and nodded. "Here goes..."

"Dash..." Dash turned her head to look at him. "Y-yeah?"

Dan inhaled deeply before turning to face her as well. "I'm...I'm not who you think I am, Dash..."

She looked confused, "What do you mean, Ace? That you're not what I think you are?"

"Dashie..."

"Are you concerned with what I really think of you? Ace, I'm crazy for you, you have to understand."

"Dash please..." A tear appeared in Dan's eye.

"Are you not really the 7th Element? Did you cheat or-"

"Dash!" Dan suddenly barked, wiping away the tear. "Please let me talk!"

Dash slowly sank down onto the couch, a worried look on her face,

"I'm..." Dan heaved in another breath. "It's not who I really am, persay it's more...what..."

Dash scooted closer to Dan, looking into his golden eyes. She widened her eyes suddenly and backed away slightly, "Wait a minute... Is what you're about to tell the reason you were able to kill Discord?"

"Dashie, I'm not really a pony!" Dan suddenly barked.

Dash and Dan were silent, both staring each other down. Dash narrowed her eyes, "That bump to the head did more damage than the doctor thought, didn't it?"

"What? N-no!" Dan shouted, standing up. "I'm not a pony, Dash! I'm...I'm not even from this world...or this universe, even!"

Dash's mouth was agape. "You're...serious..."

Dan wiped away more tears as nodded solemnly. "Yes...I am... I'm really what is known as a human, from a planet called Earth...in a different plane of existence entirely...Celestia gave me this form when she brought me here..."

Dash sat up, "Wait...the princesses were in on this?"

"Yes...I was having trouble back home and they...well, that's not important..." Dan sat down and grabbed Dashie's hooves, looking into her eyes. "The point is, I can't...progress, let's say...any more with you knowing I've been deceiving you this whole time. I care too much about you to keep on lying about who, about what, I really am."

Dash was looking down and off to the side. Both ponies were silent. "So...bottom line..." She turned back to him. "You're not one of us..."

Dan chuckled, "Yes...but-" Dan paused. "I...I just want to know that I have your support and..." Dan leaned in. "To know that I still love and care a lot for you."

"You...you love me?"

"Yes..." Dan said, leaning in for another kiss. "I do, Rainbow Dash."

But Dash put a hoof in his way before he could progress any further towards her face. She pushed him back lightly and stood up. "I...I think you should go Ace...or is that even your real name?"

"My real name is..." Dan smiled. "Is Dan."

"Dan?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side, "That's...that's no where near as cool as Blue Bass...or Ace..."

"Yeah, I thought as much, but-"

"Just leave, Ace...er, Dan..." Rainbow Dash walked towards the door and gestured her hoof towards the exit.

Dan just stared at her. "She rejected me..." He thought, getting up. He slowly walked towards the exit, his eyes never leaving Dash. She was looking down the whole time; a tear had fallen from her face. "Dash..."

"Anything else you lied to me about!?" She suddenly burst out, getting up in his face from the air.

"What! No, I-"

"Is that a lie too?" She pushed him towards the exit from the air. "How do I know that everything you say isn't ALL lies!?"

"Dashie, I-"

"Don't. Dashie. Me." She snarled. "Leave. Now."

Dan's mouth hung open in shock. He had never seen her burst out in rage like this before. Dan closed his eyes, his throat tightening up with emotion as he darted out of Dash's cloud dwelling, not looking back.

Dash then fell down onto her cloud bed and buried her head in her hooves and cried. She cried like she had never cried before. She hoped and prayed to Celestia she wasn't too loud for somepony to hear her.

"My true love had to be a bucking alien..." She bawled, slamming a hoof into her cloud pillow. "It's not fair! Why couldn't he be real!? He was perfect! PERFECT!"

"Precisely, Rainbow Dash. He is perfect for you... and that is one reason I brought him here..."

Dash sat up. The voice that just echoed through her mind was... "Princess Celestia!" Rainbow Dash quickly bowed, looked around. "W-where are you? I don't see you!"

"I am not physically present, I am in Canterlot..."

"Oh..." Dash said, sniffing blinking away a tear. "What...what do you want?"

"You should not have treated Dan that way... He truly loves you Rainbow Dash..."

Dash snorted and tried her best to act tough. "Yeah, well, screw him. He lied to me this whole time!"

"Can you blame him? Besides, it was I that ordered him to keep his true identity a secret..."

"Really?" Dash looked down. "Oh..."

"Yes, Rainbow Dash. Remember when he flew off with me earlier today? We talked. He expressed how much he cared about and loved you and asked me to send him back to his world..."

"What?" Dash sounded worried. "Are you gonna do it?"

"I might as soon as I receive his letter, telling me to wipe Ponyville's memory of him..."

"Say what now!"

"He asked permission to instead reveal himself to you and you alone and see if you would support him and forgive him for lying about what he really is this whole time. I am contacting you to say it's my fault, Rainbow Dash. It was I who ordered him to keep it a secret, I who sent him here to fall in love with you and spark the 7th Element needed to kill Discord, and it was I who suggested he reveal himself to you... For all this, I am sorry..."

Dash was silent. She looked down steadily, feeling horrible.

"Do you love him back, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky before responding: "Yes." She laughed awkwardly and smiled. "I never thought I'd say it, but yeah... I love him."

"Then go to him. Ask his forgiveness. And be with him. Quickly, before he write to me."

Dash hopped out of her bed and started running towards her exit without a word.

"Wait!"

Dash skidded to a halt in the air. "Yeah? Hurry!" She sounded desperate.

"Take these to him..."

There was a bright glow as Celestia transported something into Dash's hooves. She looked down at what Celestia transported to her and grinned. "Perfect!"



Dan was laying in his bed in Twilight's basement. He had with him a lit candle, a written letter to Celestia saying he wished to return home for good, and a quill, which he put down before sniffing sadly and looking over the letter. "Good-bye, Ponyville..." He looked around. At Applejack's apples, at PON-3's poster, at his guitar. "Thanks for everything..."

He reached over for the candle and held the letter over it. "And good-bye Dashie..."

Before Dan could lower the note, Dan heard Twilight's front door break open, Twilight scream in shock and shout "RAINBOW!" and then Dan's door flew open.

"Rainbow Dash?" Dan scowled. "Go away... You made yourself very clear..."

"No way, Ace!" Dash jumped forward and kissed him deeply on his bed. She broke the kiss and smiled, "I love you Ace. I don't care what you really are!" She tore the note from his hooves and ripped it up. "Please don't ask Celestia to send you home! Stay here!"

"Wait, how do you know about-"

"She contacted me magically. She told me it was her that told you to keep it a secret. I love you Ace." She kissed him again and this time Dan wrapped his hooves around the mare's torso, pulling her close.

They broke apart again and they stared into each other's eyes. "I've got a surprise for you, Ace..."

"What?" Dan said, grinning at the fact Celestia had been his unintentional wing-pony.

She reached back into her wings and pulled out two glowing tickets. "Guess what you're going to be my date for?"

Dan scratched his chin, "I...give up...what?"

"The Grand Galloping Gala!" Dash smiled and threw the tickets on Dan's night-stand. "Jeez, Twilight may have given you books on basic history, but you really need to learn about customs more... It's a royal ball, stupid..."

"Okay, you'll have to teach me about it sometime..." Dan said, nuzzling her face. "Hey, how about you teach me some of those customs now?"

She smiled lustfully. "I thought you'd never ask..."

Then kissed again and began to roll around on the bed. Twilight Sparkle came down to yell at rainbow Dash for barging in, but seeing what was happening in the other room, she rose a hoof to her mouth to stifle a gasp and closed the door with her magic.

She smiled as she walked up the stairs, "It was bound to happen sooner or later..." she frowned. "But boy, Applejack will be ticked..."