Author's Notes:

Her mane smelled like a summer night's breeze after the rain. When it touched his muzzle, it felt cool and airy; the shimmers of light tingling like droplets of peppermint oil. How a mane could have such a texture puzzled him. It should not be possible for something physical to manifest such ethereal properties, yet here she was.

Truly, she was an amazing creature.

"Oh, and there, my stallion, there do you see?" she said, pointing excitedly with her hoof. Big Mac looked in the direction she indicated, eyeing the collection of stars. "I named that one 'the Family' when I was on the moon," Luna continued, nestling closer to him. They lay on their backs beneath a large apple tree, staring up at the clear night sky. Luna kept her wings tightly folded to maximize the coat to coat contact they maintained. Big Mac loved the feel of her feathers.

"You don't have to talk about that time..." He told her gently.

Luna smiled at him, her green eyes aglow with the light of her celestial body above. "I do not mind. It is a lesson I have learned, and a part of my life to share with you." She placed a hoof lightly on his chest. "I saw in the monthly book of science that you had a letter published. My heart was joyful for you." Big Mac returned the smile.

"My article?"

"Yes!" She nodded excitedly. "Did you see, that night, in the sky? Over your barn. I made it for you. A bright falling star, most red."

"I saw."

"I could not get away as I wished. Royal duties." Luna sighed, looking away sadly. "Too often, these duties keep me from you."

"We knew... Luna," he began, nudging her gently with his muzzle, "from that first night on the ferris wheel, we knew this would be difficult."

"It is not fair, to sneak and hide!" She protested, sitting up and fluttering her wings in frustration. A look of consternation crossed her lovely face, and Big Mac sat up as well. "What if I wish to be proud of you?" She asked, pinching her brow together in a way that made his heart ache.

"Your position as a princess is far more important than that," he assured her. Luna shook her head and stomped a front hoof.

"It is not, Macintosh!" she replied. "I think nothing of it right now! In fact... it can go to Tartarus!" She snatched her crown from her head and heaved it mightily into the air.

Big Mac watched in horror as it sailed over the trees and vanished somewhere into the orchard.

"For moons I have been visiting you here at your apple tree, listening to your reasoning, your ideas, your theories. I have become enamored with your mannerisms, your way of speaking, with your presence. You are my stallion, Macintosh." Her tone was soft, pleading. He felt his heart thunder in his chest. Luna edged closer. He felt the warmth of her body and the cool sensation of her mane. "You would sire strong offspring..." She nuzzled his neck with her lips. "If you were to happen to do something... untoward... I would not stop you..."

Big Mac coughed uncomfortably, thankful his coat was already red. The Royal Sister kissed his muzzle.

"I am not your Princess, Macintosh. I am Luna." She lifted his chin with her hoof, making him meet her eyes. They were on fire. "And I am falling for you."

"Luna..." he replied, at a loss for words.

I'm nopony, he wanted to say. I'm a farmhand with an unfinished degree and no future and I never thought it would go this far...

But that was not all that was on his mind.

And Luna sensed it.

"My stallion..."

"Luna," he began, looking at her with all the openness and honesty he possessed. "I'm an earth pony. You're an alicorn."

"It does not matter," she said.

He held up a hoof. "You... will outlive me," he told her softly. Luna opened her mouth, then closed it. As he watched her face, it became clear this had not yet occurred to her. First, denial. Her eyes widened and she shook her head.

"No, no, that-"

"Yes," he interrupted.

Luna scowled. "Then we will simply make you an alicorn as well!" she retorted hotly, eyes furious and determined.

Big Mac shook his head again. "Every alicorn in the history of Equestria has been female. Celestia. You. Cadance. And now Twilight..."

Luna blinked, slowly. Big Mac nuzzled her muzzle softly.

"I don't think there can be male alicorns. Or there would have been one in the thousands of years before my sister's friend became one."

"Sombra was a scholar at the Royal Court!" she protested. "Celestia took him under her wing!"

"And look how kindly history remembers the Tyrant King of the Crystal Empire," Big Mac countered gently.

"My sister... my sister can do anything," she said, but she did not sound like she believed it. "We have powerful magic. Magic that cannot be wielded by just anypony."

"Celestia has her reasons, Luna," Big Mac assured her, resting his chin against the top of her head as she leaned on him for comfort. Luna moved her head and peered into his eyes.

"Then I shall beseech my sister to take you on as a student. Twilight is no longer a Royal Scholar!"

"Luna..." Big Mac began. "I'm not a unicorn. Celestia has no use for me."

Luna scowled and stomped her hooves. "Then you shall become my student!" she said hotly.

Big Mac shook his head and made a soothing sound. "You've never had one before. I doubt she would let you have some earth pony stallion from Ponyville as your initial candidate."

Luna looked away, out over the field, toward the orchard. A light breeze began to blow. It rippled the leaves, turning the orchard into an undulating sea of green. Tears carved a trail in the soft fur of her muzzle.

"You do not understand dreams," she whispered. Her eyes were full of passion, and fire. As they blazed with determination, Big Mac could see, for that moment, the mare who had once become Nightmare Moon. "I do. Every night. I am dreams." She launched herself violently into the air, wings thrashing, feathers beating Big Mac in the face. He sputtered.

"Luna!" He called as she winged upward.

"Macintosh of the Apple family!" She shouted, hovering several feet above him. "I am your dream! Give chase!" She took off soaring across the field, toward the orchard. "Give chase and prove I am worth catching!" She vanished into the trees.

Big Mac lowered his head and began to gallop after her with everything he had, the scent of her mane still in his nostrils.

They did not emerge until long after sunrise.

Luna landed lightly and soundlessly on the balcony outside her chamber. She hummed to herself, unable to keep the joy from her face. Fluttering her feathers, she shook out her mane and pranced through the open balcony doors... right into Celestia.

"Sister mine!" she exclaimed, startled. "You are... in my chambers!"

"Luna! Good Moonset! I missed you at sunrise, and worried you were ill," Celestia said with a smile. Luna took a step back.

"Blessed Sunrise to you," she replied, returning their traditional greeting.

"When the moon set so late this morning, I became concerned, and came to check on you." Celestia blinked, giving her sister the once over. "Goodness, Luna... you look as if you spent the night in a barn." Celestia wrinkled her nose. "And you smell of apples... and stable." The elegant older alicorn tilted her head. "And where is your crown?"

"Ah..." Luna hoped the azure of her coat adequately hid her suddenly florid cheeks, for they burned.

Celestia laughed.

"You are well, and that is all that matters," the alicorn said warmly. Luna nodded, and Celestia turned to go.

"You've never had one before."

"Celestia..." Luna called as her sister reached the doors of her chamber. The elder alicorn paused and turned.

"Hmmmm? What is it?"

"I was wondering," the younger began, raising a foreleg delicately. "With Twilight no longer under your tutelage, might I begin to instruct a student of my own?" Celestia blinked. Luna's heart beat several times before her sister responded.

"Luna... you have so much to be responsible for already." Her tone was kind and patient, but... different. Luna sensed something hidden, a truth she wished not to speak. The smile she offered seemed disingenuous, somehow. Or was she imagining it?

"I believe it would be something I could excel in," she continued. "It would open my life to Equestria and allow me to connect with ponykind once more."

"Luna," Celestia said, perhaps too sharply. "You are overtired from your..." She looked Luna up and down again. "Exertions. Perhaps a rest will do you well, and we can discuss this more upon moonrise?"

Luna nodded. Satisfied, Celestia left for the throne room. Luna shut the doors to her chamber with a burst magic from her horn and narrowed her eyes.

In her heart, beneath the flowering blossom of love, a tiny seed of doubt took root.