Reflections

by Amethyst Flower

Chapter 4. -Reflections: Loyalty the Pegasus

The first time Luna ever met Loyalty, was when she was a rather young filly. She was in the palace of her father's home, where she was learning the big spell of how to raise and lower the moon, among other things.

She had no friends and no one to talk to other than her father. When Luna went to visit her mother and Tia in the sun palace, she got to see how wonderful Tia's life was. She had friends, was learning the sun rising spell faster than Luna ever could, and all-in-all had a wonderful life.

Luna felt jealous of all Tia's friends. Until that one day...

Luna was practicing her spell and was concentrating very hard when she heard a tapping on her window. She looked up and saw a purple pegasus with moon white mane and tail. He was banging on her window with his hoof.

Angrily, she got up, stomped over to the window, jerked it up and asked, in a not-so-nice tone of voice, "Who are you, and why are you BANGING ON MY WINDOW?!"

The pegasus rolled his eyes and said, "I was just going to ask you if you wanted to come play, but now I think I've changed my mind, miss snappy corn! It seems that it would be dreadfully boring studying spells all day long."

"Have you been SPYING on ME?!" Luna shrieked in horror. Secretly, she was pleased.

"Yes, I have," he answered honestly. "I think you're too interesting looking to be studying boring subjects all day long."

Luna was surprised, for no one had ever spoken like that about her. In fact, no one ever yelled at her, called her snappy corn, or spied on her. She was quite intrigued. Who was this strange pony who had dared to knock on her window? "What were you wanting to play?" she asked.

He grinned mischievously. "Oh... you know... stuff..."

"No, I don't know. I haven't been out a lot, as you should know, if you've been spying on me so much," Luna replies, coolly.

"Pranks, flying, races... fun things..."

Luna couldn't help but grin. "Sounds interesting," she said, with a coy smile.

"So, you're gonna come out with me?" the pegasus asked.

"Hm... I don't know... I don't even know what your name is..." she replied. "And I'm not supposed to play with strangers."

"My name's Loyalty. Loyalty Moon, actually, but every pony calls me just Loyalty."

"Alright, then 'Just Loyalty'. I suppose I could come out and play with you for awhile. But, I must warn you, studying all those spells has probably made me quite boring."

Loyalty laughed.

He helped Luna out of the window, and they went for a fly.

"So, you're Princess Luna?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, Princess Luna of the Night."

"Ooh, of the night. Nice title."

"Thank you. I am going to raise the moon when I am grown up and my parents are gone. So, princess of the night is my title. When I was younger I wanted to be the sun princess, but that position shall go to my older sister, Celestia."

"Well, I like the night better than the day. The night is cool, and mysterious. And I love looking at the stars. But my favorite part of the night is the moon," Loyalty said.

Luna nodded. "That's my favorite part too." She paused for a moment then asked, "Do you like dreams?"

"Yes, very much, in fact."

Luna decided, in that moment, that she wanted to know what Loyalty dreamed about. She wouldn't ask him, no, she could never do that. But she would visit them some night. Yes, that was an excellent plan.

The two, young ponies flew and flew, and then it began to grow dark.

"Oh, no!" Luna exclaimed. "I need to go back to the palace!"

"Okay," Loyalty said, somewhat sadly. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Well, if you spy on me, then I guess," Luna said, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"No, I mean, will you come out and do stuff with me again? I get bored by myself. I'm an only foal," Loyalty explained.

"Sure, I'll come out with you again. I had a lot of fun," Luna agreed.

The two young foals smiled, and then Luna flew back to the night palace that she shared with her father.

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After that, Luna would go out as often as she could to play with Loyalty. The two were inseparable. They played pranks, went for flies... they had their own little world.

Once, Luna's father almost caught Luna going out, but Luna, who was getting smarter all the time, made up the simple excuse that she needed some fresh air to clear her brain before she continued studying. After that, all Luna needed to ask her father was, "May I go out for some fresh air to clear my brain?"

Finally, Luna had someone who understood her. Someone she could talk to and confide in. Loyalty was one of the best things that could have happened to Luna. He showed her how beautiful the night could be, and how lucky she actually was, to be princess of the night.

He showed her what the stars were really like, how to truly appreciate the moon, and how she was a very special alicorn.

Luna was truly grateful to have a friend like Loyalty.

One night, Luna decided to see what Loyalty's dreams were like. She felt guilty at first, but pressed on.

And then she saw it, Loyalty's secrets. He was a run away orphan. He dreamed of being with Luna, and in one part of the dream she actually saved him from falling over a cliff (he could not fly, for his one wing was broken). And he dreamed of them. Together. Kissing.

At first Luna was appalled and stayed faaar away from Loyalty's dreams, but she soon became curious is this was what his dreams were like every night. She made another visit, feeling as guilty as ever. Same thing, only slightly different. She visited them over and over. Same things. Only slightly different every time.

One night, Luna decided to actually visit him in his dream -her father had taught her how- .

"Loyalty, why do you dream of kissing me?" she asked, in the dream.

Loyalty blinked, a little confused. Luna had to remind her self for a moment that, no, he was not dumb, did not mishear, or anything else. Though she was awake, Loyalty was actually sleeping and dreaming. "Um," he said, "What do you mean? Isn't this real?"

Luna had to suppress a wave of giggles. She could never get over how funny it was that when ponies dreamed they really truly thought it was real, even if it was the most ridiculous dream in all of Equestria.

"Not really. You're asleep, and dreaming," Luna told him.

"Um, wow. But then... you're not real, right now?"

"No, I'm real, I just... never mind. But, please answer my question."

"Uh... what was the question?" Loyalty asked.

Luna sighed. Ponies were also a lot dumber in their dreams. "Why do you dream about kissing me?"

"Oh, right. Well, if this is really a dream... it sure is a weird one... Um... dream about kissing you... because, I kind of, sort of always had a..." Loyalty began to fade out. Luna could tell that he was waking up.

"Stay asleep," she commanded. "Finish your sentence!"

"Because I..."

And then things went black.

"Loyalty!" Luna called. It was too late. Loyalty had woken up. Luna didn't know if he'd remember his dream or not, or if he did, if he would figure out that she had been visiting his dreams. Hopefully he wouldn't, but Luna figured that he would, seeing as how she had told him that she could visit dreams and everything.

Luna sighed. What had Loyalty been going to say? She didn't know, but she had a pretty good guess. No, maybe she was wrong... Maybe it just happened in his dreams. Ponies really have no control over what they dream about. She was probably wrong. But deep down inside, Luna knew that she wasn't wrong. A part of her wished that she would just know what he was going to say, kind of wished that she had future telling powers or something -not that it was possible. There hadn't been a single pony in history recorded that they had future telling abilities, though some phonies claimed that they did-. But another part of her didn't want to know. She didn't want her and Loyalty's friendship to be altered in anyway. But it could already be, if Loyalty had woken up and figured out that she had been watching his dreams -probably an unforgivable crime. Dreams were a very private part of a pony's life, and Luna had just invaded his privacy (a not-so-nice thing to do to your friend)-. Luna could only cross her hooves and hope for the best.