A Midnight Stroll

by Vargras

Racing a Rainbow

She still had much of the night ahead of her, and already, Luna was extremely pleased with herself. Not only did she have two new friends within Ponyville, as well as an invitation to another camping trip, but she had a wonderful new recipe to share with her sister - assuming Celestia didn't know what s'mores were, that is. She would have pondered it more, if not for the fact that she now found herself distracted by snoring coming from... somewhere. The Princess glanced around, searching for the source, and finally found it above her - a certain blue pegasi, asleep on a cloud. Luna knew who it was, of course - she recognized that rainbow-colored tail and mane from when she visited on Night Mare Night. She took flight and gently set herself down upon the cloud, not wanting to wake the mare - yet, anyways.

Luna had heard tales of her antics and her tendency to be brash and short-tempered, yet here, she looked so peaceful - not unlike a certain yellow pegasus, she mused to herself. Still, she was interested in getting to know her better, and wanted to wake her up as gently as possible.

"Rainbooooooow." Rainbow Dash snorted in her sleep, but nothing else. Determined, Luna tried again. "Rainbow Daaaaaaash."

She snorted once more and began to run - or attempt to, anyways. The pegasus was asleep on her side, so it wasn't as if she was making any real progress. Stifling a giggle, the Princess finally decided to poke her in the side, and finally succeeded in rousing her.

"...Ugh. Is it morning already?"

"No, Rainbow Dash. I'm Princess Luna, you might remember me from-"

Snoring again. She had gone back to sleep, and in front of royalty no less! Still, Luna did her best to keep her manners. She gave the mare another nudge, and at last, she actually woke up.

"I've still gotta be dreaming, 'cause I swear Night Mare Moon is right in front of me."

Luna huffed, agitated. "No, not Night Mare Moon. Princess Luna."

Rainbow Dash blinked, still half-asleep, and slowly sat up before coming to grips with what was going on. "...P-Princess?"

Luna nodded at her, smiling. "Yes, Princess. Do you remember me from Night Mare Night?"

The pegasus sat up, wide-eyed, and scowled at her. "You! You're the one that pranked me right as I was about to prank Twilight! You... you prank-ruiner!"

The Princess could hardly hide a smile after that. She heard herself begin to snicker a bit, but she did her best to curb it. "Well it looks like the stories about you were true. Yes, I'm the one that ruined your prank. I'm here, though, because I wish to make more friends."

"You? You want to make friends."

"Mhm."

"And you want me to be one of those friends?"

Luna nodded eagerly. She was so close to a third friend!

"Yeah, I dunno about that."

She blinked. Did... did she really just get turned down? "...why not?"

Rainbow Dash stared at her and pointed, in addition to several other hoof-gestures she threw in for good measure. "Because you're royalty! You're all hoity-toity and too busy with your frufru events!"

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Luna chewed on her lip, furious at the turn of events and unable to think of any way to turn things around - until an idea sprung in her head. A grin slowly spread across her face as she leaned towards the pegasus. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her, not sure what to make of it.

"What? Why are you grinning? You're planning something, aren't you!"

"How about this, Rainbow Dash. The two of us have a friendly little race - if I win, you have to be my friend."

"And if I win?"

"I'll let you go back to sleep."

Rainbow Dash seemed to contemplate it for a moment, then promptly turned around. "Nope. I can just go back to sleep if I want, I don't have to do your dumb race at all."

Luna snickered and played along, shrugging her shoulders and doing her best to act disappointed. "Oh, what a shame! I suppose I'll simply have to tell the Wonderbolts how the best flyer in Equestria chickened out of a race because she was too sleepy."

She knew she had Rainbow Dash hook, line, and sinker at that point. Oh how right she was. "W-what? You wouldn't tell the Wonderbolts that!"

"Why wouldn't I? They're at all the royal events, after all. I'm bound to eventually tell them."

The pegasus stomped up to the Princess and stood nose-to-nose with her, staring her straight in the eye. "Well... I am not a chicken! If it's a race you want, Miss Frufru, then you'll get it alright!"

"Very well then!"

Luna gave her wings a stretch, and she could've sworn she heard Rainbow Dash audibly gulp - she always forgot that she was bigger than most other ponies, wingspan included. She carefully drew a line in the cloud, and then took her place behind it. "There, Rainbow Dash. This will be our start and finish line."

"So um... what's the course gonna be?"

"Oh, we'll keep it simple. Let's say... to that cloud and back." She pointed off in the distance, and Rainbow Dash followed her line of sight, nodding once she had spotted it as well. "Got it?"

"And... that's it? Just to the cloud and back?"

"Mhm. Is that too simple for you, Miss Rainbow Dash?"

"Oh, no. I was just... curious is all. Yeah. Curious."

"So be it. We'll start on my count. Three..." Both of them visibly tensed, their wings outstretched and ready to go.

"Two..." Rainbow Dash swallowed hard, her face hot. Was she... sweating?

"One..." Luna grinned, ready to relish in it all - it had been far too long since she had last raced anyone. The last one was her own sister, she seemed to recall.

"Go!"

Rainbow Dash, true to her name, took off from the starting line incredibly quickly. She was deceptively fast, and may very well have been the best flier in Equestria were it not for the fact that she was racing one of the royal sisters - though she didn't train nearly as much as Rainbow Dash ever did, Luna had one thing Rainbow Dash did not: countless years of experience. She instinctually read the winds, adjusting her wings everso slightly, and quickly began to catch up to the pegasus. Clouds and birds alike flashed past them both as they raced through the night sky. Rainbow Dash strained to go faster, her wings carrying her as fast as she could go, but without the advantage of flying downward like in the Best Young Flyer's Competition, she quickly found her lead dissolving as Luna caught up. They both reached the cloud at nearly the same instant - Rainbow Dash, being smaller and more agile, simply hit the cloud and pushed off from it. Luna may as well have been the paragon of brute force. She simply plowed into the cloud, destroying it outright and losing almost no speed at all. As they neared the finish line, though, it was evident who would win. Try as she might, Rainbow Dash couldn't outpace Luna, the thunderous flapping of her wings carrying her to victory. The Princess reached the finish line ahead of Rainbow Dash by a nose - a close race, but still with a clear winner. The pegasus collapsed on the cloud, huffing and puffing as she caught her breath.

"Ah, wasn't that fun? I haven't had a good race like that in a long time!"

Rainbow Dash still lay panting, exhausted by the race. "I... I lost?"

"Indeed you did, Rainbow Dash, but it was still a very close race. Now, as per our agreement-"

"Best...best two out of three!"

Luna blinked at her. "What?"

"You heard me! That win of yours was a fluke. C'mon, best two out of three!"

The Princess tilted her head and stared at her. "It would hardly be fair. You're still tired, and I'm... well, I'm not an ordinary pony. Besides, the agreement was a single race."

Finally, Rainbow Dash nodded and sighed, admitting defeat. "Yeah, I guess we did. I do wanna ask one thing, though."

"And that would be?"

"Since we gotta be friends now and all... do you think you could teach me how you did that?"

"What? The flying?"

"Yeah! I've never seen anypony go that fast with so little effort! You gotta teach me!"

"I... I don't know. That might be difficult. It's something you only learn with experience. Still... I suppose we could try."

Rainbow Dash grinned and pumped one of her hooves in the air. "Awww yeah! Flight lessons from the Princess!"

Luna simply watched, rather amused by it all. Once the pegasus had noticed, though, she quickly regained her composure. "So uhh... can I go back to sleep now?"

"You may, Rainbow Dash, but there's one last thing I'd like to ask before you do: my sister, Celestia, was always the more physical of the two. How'd you like to try racing against her?"

At that, Rainbow Dash laughed nervously. "Yeah, I uh... I don't think I'll be able to. I mean, I'm awfully tired after that race we just had and all, so I don't think I'll be up for it."

Luna laughed and eyed her, giving her wings another good stretch before she prepared to leave. "I'll simply have her take a raincheck on that. Get some rest, Rainbow Dash."

"Night, Miss Frufru!"

Luna smirked to herself as she took off for the ground once more, leaving Rainbow Dash to slumber in peace - and with another friend, no less.

Comments

[Vargras]

28853 Come now, the Princess isn't THAT bad at cooking.

[ColtRazorZX]

Yep this is our Dashie alright XD

[Comma-Kazie]

How do you get everyone so perfectly in character? I'm jealous.

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Fun.