Friendship is Gambling

"Oh, whoa! The Princess herself is visiting Cloudsdale?"

"Oh, yes. Twilight just told me."

Fluttershy was stopping by Rainbow's cloud sanctuary to say hello, and the two of them were right in the middle of discussing something important. Apparently, Luna hadn't yet paid a visit to Cloudsdale since her banishment to the moon, and was hoping Rainbow Dash would be willing to show her around. The message had been relayed from Twilight to Fluttershy who was just then informing Rainbow Dash. Such an honor wasn't expected, but was most welcomed in the eyes of the cerulean pegasus.

"She'll be there in less than thirty minutes," Fluttershy warned as Rainbow nodded her head, thankful for this interesting news her friend had kindly given her. As she departed her home and ventured towards the cloud based city, she waved goodbye.

As she gazed throughout the bustling town, she saw a great number of pegasi who were busy with their daily activities, but most could be seen shopping at the street vendors. Typically, the very entrance was where everypony chose to set up their stalls, wanting the advantage to show off their goods to any newcomers, passersby or sometimes simply the citizens re-entering their home town.

Without anything to do and no bits in her possession, Rainbow Dash sat down upon the comfortable, fluffy surface and yawned as she patiently awaited her royal guest. Abruptly, she noticed all the ponies had suddenly come to a halt. They had stopped everything that they were doing at that very moment, and bowed before her. Confused beyond all belief, Rainbow Dash tilted her head and mumbled, "Huh?"

"No need to be at alarm, Ms. Dash. They're just behaving as to be expected," a familiar, and soothingly calm voice reassured the mare.

Astonished, Rainbow leaped back with a short flap of her wings, and turned herself around only to see her Highness standing in front of her. She had the sun shimmering behind her glorious azure mane. The aura Luna owned could easily be compared to Celestia's, but it resembled the starry night sky instead, not to mention the way her dark blue coat gleamed harshly with a silver lining.

"Y-your Highness!" Rainbow blurted out. She then lowered herself before the Princess of the Night. This made Luna blush.

"Come now, Rainbow," Luna said, lending her hoof out to the pony. She brought the much littler Rainbow Dash back up on all fours. "You don't have to be so modest, you know. After all, aren't you supposed to be the one showing me around town?"

"Oh, yeah! Right... uh, let's begin!" After Rainbow Dash snapped herself out of her starstruck status with a quick shake of her head, she chuckled.

So far, Luna had seemed fascinated with the town. She at first appeared mostly interested in learning about the progress that the city had gone through over the passing millennium. For example, she kept observing the still standing puff towers, and the newly built cloud factories. The tour of those two sites alone wasted over an hour and a half, so by the time the two of them had finally reached the race course, Rainbow was already feeling excited to hopefully stretch her wings.

Little did Rainbow Dash know, but this was also the location where she would make one of the most embarrassing mistakes of her life.

"As you can see," Rainbow said as she pointed to the circular checkpoints. "Most of the fliers will race through each and every single of these hoops in the attempts of winning. For those who aren't racing and just floating around, they're asked to keep low and away from the actual track. Now, if a racer misses one, they have to return to it immediately and go through it in order to advance to the next ring."

Luna nodded her head compliantly as she said, "Sounds like fun! What does the winner get if he or she wins?"

Rainbow chuckled to herself, and then responded, "Nothing! It's all about having fun."

"Oh, that's not fun at all," Luna said with a smirk. "A prize would make things so, so much more interesting, don't you agree?"

"What are you saying, your Highness?" Once again, Rainbow was getting herself into a mess of trouble with her egotistical ways. This time, however, she was going to be taught a lesson, and it's a simple one. Never gamble with a Princess.

"I'm thinking we should bet something on a race!" Her Highness announced, "You and me, a race for… hmm… Now what would be a good thing to bet?" She placed a hoof on her chin, and then thought for a while.

Rainbow's mind came up with a devilish scheme that was ultimately going to bite her in the flank later on. "Why not our overall freedom?!"

Even as the words exited her fragile, and blue lips, she realized just how wrong it really sounded. There was nothing that she could do about it once it had been said though. She would have no choice but to live with it.

Luna's stunned face looked at her tour guide, but she soon obviously became delighted. "Are you suggesting that the winner gets the loser? As in, she has to be the winners... servant?"

"For a week," Rainbow said with a grin. It was the worst poker face in the history of poker faces. "And yes, that's exactly what I'm offering."

Luna chuckled at this proposal and accepted wholeheartedly. There wasn't even any hesitation. Once the two had signed themselves up to take the course for flight, both of the mares prepped themselves thoroughly at the start.

The race happened in a flash, and all the audience members were stunned to see the amazing speed of Luna. Her velocity was almost enough to create a sonic rainboom. Her controlled force, however, kept her from doing so. Leaving Rainbow Dash in the dust who was baffled at how this could've happened, Luna finished things up in record shattering time.

That was pretty much it for Rainbow. The show was over, and all she wanted to do now was go home. The Princess approached the huffing and puffing mare, and she smiled without a single drop of sweat which naturally was the polar opposite of Rainbow. She was perspiring wildly.

"Well, Rainbow Dash… That was fun! Now then, go to your house and pack your things. My carriage will arrive shortly to pick you up and take you to Canterlot."

A few ponies got blown by behind her Highness, still caught by Luna's residual whirlwind.

In defeat, Rainbow hesitantly flew off for her house. She wandered while still contemplating on how she, the self appointed fastest flyer in Equestria could've lost. The answer was obvious, but well beyond her.

In no time at all, her essentials were packed. Rainbow's toothbrush, her Daring Doo books, and her mane care products were unfortunately ready to go. She had even almost forgotten her pajamas. This all felt utterly unlike herself to be doing. In fact, she even felt a little bit scared towards the mere thought of being the newest servant for the Princess of the Night. She waited outside, though, and looked down at the few steps of stairs that led to her front door. She had gotten herself into servitude, and she knew that there was no way of getting out of it. The golden carriage at last pulled up with Luna sitting in the back, and she smiled blithely.

Rainbow reluctantly got in, so to help her out, Luna pulled her close and gave her a tight squeeze while proclaiming, "This will be so much fun! Don't you agree? You're going to be the best servant I've ever had!" As she loosened her grip for a moment and allowed the pegasus to lean on her, she continued, "I mean, you're the first mare I've ever had, but then, I bet if I ever had any others, I'm sure you'd rival them all the way!"

Rainbow asked a question that had been on her mind ever since the Princess showed up in town. "How come you're awake during the day?"

Luna giggled and explained, "I used an awakening spell so I could see the town during the day time. I'll likely be fast asleep come the next morning, though."

Luna resumed cuddling with her Rainbow Dash. The ride was taking a little less than four hours to arrive at Canterlot leaving them plenty of time to cuddle.

Reaching the entrance, Rainbow couldn't help but to feel beyond nervous while getting out of her seat followed by the Princess.

"Now then," Luna said while leading the way giddily. "This night will count as one of the seven total days of you being my servant. You should know what is required and requested of you to do. Follow orders to the tee regardless of how much you dislike them."

Rainbow nodded, and said, "Yes, ma'am..."

"Any time I want you, you're to be at my side immediately. Just to make sure you understand this, I've decided to keep you in my room. I had originally thought about letting you have your own quarters to stay in, but then... Well, that would just mean I'd end up constantly summoning you, and I'd rather just reach over and tell you to do something."

The two entered Luna's room. To say the least, it was an interesting place to be in. The walls were all completely lined with magically enchanted stars, and then, there was the big, round, golden bed. Finally, the ceiling was even made out of glass so that Luna might keep an eye on her treasured moon whenever she'd like.

"So... where am I supposed to crash?"

As Rainbow asked this, Luna laughed.

"See, there's the thing… You'll be sleeping with me!"

Though Rainbow wished she hadn't even heard that at all, she understood that she didn't have much of a choice since she needed to own up to the initial bet. Luna pulled a box out from underneath her bed and opened it. An outfit shined in the glow of the setting sun that came from just outside of the balcony window. Rainbow gulped with rising embarrassment.

A maid's outfit, skimpy and every bit revealing was to be her attire for this evening, and probably for the rest of the week as well. If there was one thing Rainbow disliked, it was playing dress up. She could barely enjoy trying on one of Rarity's custom made hats, so having to put on an entire outfit such as what Luna was proposing was, of course, immensely hard to deal with.

It slipped on whether Rainbow liked it or not, and she then looked at herself in the mirror. Rainbow Dash was loathing every minute of this, and Luna squealed in delight.

"This is going to be one hell of a week," Rainbow thought to herself as Princess Luna began hugging her.