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  The Apple in the Observatory part1 

By: Double Mallow

(Author’s note: Please do NOT judge the whole story based on this one piece. I keep this un-edited to remind myself of things NOT to do in a good fanfic, and to mark progress. I know, it’s terrible, but bear with me, it gets MUCH better.)

  Big Macintosh had never really been one for formalities, but still tried his best to be a gentlecolt. Sure, while he may not say much, he thought of himself as a good communicator, so why couldn't Applejack's friends just understand that no meant NO? He never went into town much because he knew that he would have to practically snap at the mares to get them to leave him alone. Big Mac only cared about one pony in Ponyville: Rainbow Dash. She was what he wanted to be: uncaring, having an easy job. But above all that, he wanted to fly. He often daydreamed of flying when he took time off from buckin' apples. The wind in his hair as he would glide through the night sky, sleeping on a cloud under the full moon. Being able to gaze at the stars so much closer, and finally relax for once in his life.

  He had only ever told one pony about his wish to fly; only in the hopes that maybe she could do something to change his current… 'Abilities', and that was Twilight Sparkle. Of course, he didn't tell her about his feelings for Dash, otherwise she probably never would've tried to do anything, seeing as how she had a crush on him as well. But the only spell she had was the one that she used for Rarity, and even though he was just going to fly around for a little while (or at least as long as he could to try to satisfy his dream of flying), but he couldn't be seen with those awful, girly wings.

  Of course, he needed to concentrate. He knew Dash wasn't like most of the other mares in ponyville, so merely talking to her wouldn't make her swoon like other ponies, she wasn’t girly, so a bouquet of flowers certainly wouldn't do it. He had to think of just the right thing that would make her accept his offer…

  Big Mac had been walking down the road to the town square from Sweet Apple Acres, and had been so lost in thought he hadn't realized he had reached, and in fact passed his turning point, crashing into a familiar pink pony. Or rather, she crashed into him, he stood unshaken, offering a hoof to the dizzy Pinkie Pie.

"OhheyBigMacintoshwhereyouofftoinsuchahurryanywayIjustbought—" Pinkie was stopped by a red hoof raised to her face.

  "Ah' don't mean ta interrupt Pinkie Pie, but Ah was hopin' yuh could help meh find somethin' ta give Rainbow that Ah could use ta win her over for a date." Big Mac interrupted with a slight blush.

  "Oooooh!" Pinkie cooed, "somepony has a crush on Rainbow Daaash!"

  "Eeeeeeyup." Big Mac replied. He was just glad his face was already a deep enough shade of crimson that nopony could ever tell he was blushing.

  "Hmmmm…" Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin as she tried to think for a moment, "Ooh! Ooh! I know! What's the one thing Dashie loves about herself besides being fast?"

Big Mac replied with a blank stare, only shifting the wheat sprig in his mouth to the other side.

  "Being cool! And you do that already, so it shouldn't be a problem at all Mackie!" Pinkie exclaimed as she shoved a green-apple flavored cupcake in Big Mac's mouth. Her facial expression suddenly changed as she said softly: "though if Rainbow Dash isn't 'tasty' enough for you, let me know…"

  And just like that, Pinkie was back to herself, skipping (or, jumping?) down the street back to Sugarcube corner.

=====================================================================

  Pinkie hadn't been much help, but Big Mac figured if he approached Rainbow Dash acting even cooler than usual, maybe he could impress her enough to get her to go on a date with him.

  As he back-tracked to the town square, he saw the pony he wanted to be with flying through the air, clearing the few clouds that were in the sky. She made it look so easy, like she didn't have to try…

  He blinked and shook his head at himself in surprise as he realized he just accidentally rhymed in his head. Oh well…

  Rainbow Dash finished clearing the clouds and landed over by the town fountain, slightly out of breath, and dunked her head in the water. Big Macintosh walked over to her, real casual like, to ask her his question. She brought her head out of the water, shaking her multi-colored mane free of water, some droplets landing on Big Mac.

  "Oh hey Big Mac!" Dash said, giving her hair one final flip.

  "Howdy Rainbow. Some sweet moves yuh be doin' up in that ther' sky." He said with a sly smile.

  "Oh, you thought that was something?" inquired Rainbow Dash "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" She crouched down, about to take off like Fluttershy after a limping bunny, but Big Mac held up his front hooves for her to wait.

  "what is it?" she said, crossing her front legs.

  Big Mac gulped and pulled at the harness around his neck, realizing it suddenly felt so tight and heavy. "Well Rainbow… Ah was wonderin' if'n'ya was at all busy tonight."

  "Oh… that was what you wanted. Listen… I…" She blushed and Big Mac took that as a sign to push further. He just hoped he could wrap this up before she had time to say no. He forced himself to relax and put on his most winning smile.

  "So listen, meet meh at the edge of the Everfree Forest and we'll have a great naght, Ah promise." Big Mac walked off before she could do anything else. Whew, he thought to himself, I reckon that could'a gone a lot smoother.

  He smiled and looked up at the bright sun, squinting his emerald eyes. It was only high noon, so he knew he had plenty of time to prepare for his night with Dash.

=====================================================================

  Big Mac was waiting at the edge of the forest, his light brown saddlebags full, bulging and full of lumps from all of the things he had packed. He looked into the sunset, and thought about the way he handled the last part of this afternoon's conversation, realizing it may not have been the best way to end it. What if Rainbow Dash didn't show up? C'mon now, Big Mac, you're over thinkin' things…

  His worries were extinguished as he saw a small blue speck fly his way from the other side of Ponyville. The one thing he loved about her the most: watching her fly. She was just so…graceful? No --definitely not-- He just couldn't find the right word to describe it. By the time he had already thought of the right word, she landed in front of him.

  Big Mac had of course, done what he could to dress for the occasion (as much as a working earth pony could). He combed his hair back and had on a green bow tie, which was given to him by Rarity, who assured him it "fit with his look". He even picked out a new wheat sprig from the fields on his way over. He hoped he wasn't overdoing it, but he just wanted to show Dash how much he this night meant to him.

  Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, hadn't really done anything to return the feelings, but Big Mac knew she was like him: not showing much of anything, usually inept to showing much but one or two emotions. Not to the extreme, such as himself, but he chalked it up as another thing they had in common.

  "Well look at you, all fancy tonight and everything." Dash joked with a nervous chuckle.

  "Weeell thank ya kindly Rainbow"

  "So, why are we out here?" She asked, looking around him into the dark forest.

  "Oh Ah just thought Ah'd show ya somethin' nice." He replied, turning and trotting into the woods behind them.

  They walked for a short while, making small talk about the events in Ponyville and such. When they finally reached their destination, Rainbow Dash looked at the all-too-familiar castle in front of her, where vines had started growing into the walls, and flowers were sprouting out of the floor.

  "Well this was a nice place to bring a date." Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.

  "Now just hold yer horses fer a gosh dern'd minute," Big mac replied with a smile. “Ya haven’t even been inside.”

  He opened a large wooden door close to where they were standing that led to a flight of stairs. As they reached the top, Dash looked around the large circular room for anything cool, but all she saw was that the ceiling was a huge curtain. Big Mac took a quick look at Rainbow Dash's face, and continued to look as he pulled a small rope with his teeth that was against the wall.

  What she saw made her jaw drop. Dash was staring into one of the most beautiful night skies she'd seen in Equestria for as long as she could remember. They were in a huge observatory on top of the second highest tower of the solar sister’s old castle, the glass still perfectly intact, magnifying the beauty and detail of the moon and the night sky. Although Dash wasn't much of a pony for appreciating nature, the sight could take anypony's breath away, as it had Big Mac's when he first found the place.

  "Care for something ta eat Miss Dash?"

  Rainbow Dash finally came back to reality, looking over at Big Macintosh, who in that time had set up a candle-lit checkered tablecloth laying flat on the ground, and an incredible looking meal placed upon it.

  "Wow…" Dash gulped nervously. Big Mac motioned with a hoof for her to sit with him.

  "Oh god you're going to make this so hard," she said under her breath as she walked to the center of the room to join him. He began to get out two plates from one of his saddlebags, hoping that she liked his apple-nut salad.

  "Listen, Big Mac," Dash began, her voice sincere. He turned to look at her and noticed she had a pained expression on her face. She looked to her left suddenly, and he followed her gaze to the bottle of Apple Acres wine he had brought. He looked back to her as she quickly grabbed the bottle, quickly tipping it back and guzzling half the contents.

  "Look, this is gonna be hard for me to say, since I never –hic—told anypony else." She stared at the label on the bottle of apple wine.

  He looked at her, the slight smile on her face betrayed by the sadness in her eyes. He knew what she was about to say would break his heart.

  "You're one of the coolest colts I've ever known, but… I'm…" She took a deep breath. "I'm gay."

  Big Mac fell back onto his tail end, sitting and absorbing the huge news she just told him. He shook it off like it was nothing, trying to put on a strong face like he always had in other times of crisis or bad news.

  "Wellllp, Ah guess that'll jut hav'ta be our lil' secret then, won't it?" he said with the tiniest smile.

  "Oh, thank Celestia," Dash sighed, relaxing once more. "I thought I was really gonna hurt you there for a minute," she said, laughing it off. She stood up, offering to help clean up the meal, but Big Mac waved her off.

  "Don' you worry 'bout a thang Miss Dash, Ah got it covered." He stood, and walked her to the entrance.

  "Are you sure?" she asked skeptically.

  "It's no big deal" he said.

  "Alrighty." She said confidently. "Say, do you think…"

  "What Miss Dash?"

  "Do you think you could help me get with your sister?" She was almost as quiet as Fluttershy around a new pony, dropping her head.

  "Hay," Big Mac said, lifting her chin with a hoof. "Ah'll do what Ah can Miss Dash."

And with that, she ran down the stairs and left.

  Big Macintosh walked back to his little 'night-picnic', sitting back down and dropping his head in supposed sadness. Although strangely, he didn't feel that heart-broken.

  Ah well, no good sense in lettin’ this here good food go to waste...

 Sitting and starting to eat the meal he had prepared, he looked back at the night sky. He found it strange, it hadn't looked anywhere close to this beautiful any of the other times he had visited the castle tower.

  CRASH! THUD! -- “EEP!”

  Big Mac slowly turned his head to the source of all the noise to see a certain deep blue alicorn standing in fear over a fallen stack of astronomy books.

_

_-=++=-_

~END OF PART ONE~

-=^&^=-

W

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(Part2)==>

The Apple in the Observatory part2

By: Double Mallow

Luna lay awake in her room in the castle, upon her circular bed. The early hour of the morning being evident by the slightest beginnings of the sunrise just peeking over the distant mountains. A single tear, barely noticeable, found its way down her cheek, behind the slight bed-raggled hair covering her face. She slowly lifted herself out of bed, the previous night’s fit of depression evident in the dark circles under her eyes. Luna quickly walked to her bathing area and assessed her morning look in the mirror, horn beginning to glow as she knew she would have to take care of a few minor annoyances to make herself more presentable.

After taking care of her grooming, Luna walked out onto her room’s balcony, taking off for a morning flight. It wasn’t the same as flying at night, under her wonderful creation, but she had been too upset to fly the previous night. She just wished somepony would appreciate and like her work, or that somepony would at least like what little she did for the kingdom besides raising the moon and stars after Celestia’s day. Even at nightclubs, though some ponies were awake at night, they were usually either too drunk, or inside too often to truly enjoy her work.

Luna sighed as she continued to fly out to the boundaries of Canterlot, debating on just circling the town or going farther to look at other parts of Equestria, to see how other towns and places had grown since her release from imprisonment.

She decided to return to the palace instead, hoping that she could find something in the contents of the great library to read to pass another long, boring day. As she landed back on the balcony, a small light purple unicorn with a long deep purple mane trotted out of Luna’s bedroom, her cutie mark covered by a pair of matching saddlebags. Luna drew closer, landing on the balcony railing that was outside her room.

“Good mor—err– hello, princess Luna.” The new pony said quietly while, making an effort to be slightly more formal.

Wait… she knew this pony, it was her sister’s student, Twilight…Sparkle? Yes, that was it. Oh dear, she thought, this is going to be so awkward...

“It’s fine, I take no offense.” Luna replied with a small smile. “What, may I ask… brings you to me on this dawn?”

“Well, supposedly there’s this meteor shower coming up, and it only happens once every hundred years,” Twilight began to pace back and forth habitually as she explained her reason for coming to Luna. Twilight began to speak faster and faster, “I don’t mean to be a bother, but I was hoping that you may know something about the meteor shower. I’ve tried desperately to find something on it in any of my books, but i just couldn't find anything about it except in the book where I first saw it mentioned... I... I need your help.” Twilight inhaled loudly, then looked at Luna with pleading eyes that would remind most of a certain yellow, red-maned filly with a large pink bow.

Luna thought for a moment, trying to remember of anything before her “trip” that she had used, as far as her old hobby was concerned. She had loved gazing at the stars and the moon in her earlier years, before she had become a part of them. Now all it did when she looked at them was remind her of her imprisonment, and served to do nothing but deepen her depression. Luna decided then and there that it was a sore subject for her, but she musn’t allow that to affect her --and that she would help Twilight-- no matter the cost.

“Of course Twilight, if I may just have a moment to think.” She looked to Twilight, who nodded in eager anticipation as Luna returned to thinking. Luna turned back to the morning sunrise and began to think back, far back into her time before Nightmare Moon, before her stay on the moon, and before she had even started to feel jealous of her sister. She remembered placing each and every star in the sky, precariously placing everything exactly where she saw it, and where it needed to be. Luna remembered that she had written everything down in a blue book, everything that she had done with her beautiful night, but... where had she kept it? Where had she left the book?

“I know I have a book somewhere on the subject that I wrote, but I’m not quite sure what I did with it...” Luna swiveled around on the spot, standing straight and defiant, as if disallowing her memory to fail her. “I will go search for it and and bring it to you as soon as I find it!” She said, as she trotted back into her room, her horn ever-so slightly glowing as she picked up a clipboard and pen and began to make a list of places she would need to check.

“Oh... Princess please don’t worry yourself! If you don’t know where it is, you don’t have to--”

“Nonsense! I would gladly help a friend of the family!” Luna interrupted. She smiled softly at Twilight. “And besides, it’s the least I can do to help one of my saviors.”

Twilight blushed at the flattery. “If you’re sure...”

Luna nodded, still holding the warm smile. “I am.”

They talked more on the subject as Luna prepared to go, Twilight still thanking her as she walked out the door to look for look for her lost ‘book of the night’. And maybe --hopefully-- whatever else she needed to be able to get out of the rut she was in.

____________________________________________________________________________

Luna had been searching for hours, But still had no results; She had checked the most obvious places it should have been after a thousand years! She had searched the entire castle in Canterlot, and had  looked all day! I feel more useless now then ever, she thought to herself as she fell onto her bed in a heap. She curled up into a ball and tried to force herself not to cry, but the tears began to flow freely once more, leaving a shining trail down her face.

What seemed like hours later there was a tiny, almost unheard, knock at the door.

“Just a moment.” Luna raised a hoof to her face and wiped off her eyes. She really needed to get a hold of herself. She finished making herself as presentable as possible, and opened the door.

“Hello, sweet sister” said a familiar regal voice.

“Hello...” Luna replied as she looked into her sister's pink eyes. Remembering her frantic search last night for her book of the night. As she held back the searing tears of failure behind her eyes, she turned away and walked his sister into her room.

As Princess Celestia entered her sister’s room, she turned to the shelf to the left of her sister’s bed, picking up one of the various trinkets that filled the empty space on it. She set it back down, returning to her conversation with Luna.

“So it came to my attention that you were searching for something yesterday.” Celestia said with a blank face.

“Sister, I can explai--”

“Hold on just a moment.” Celestia said seriously. She then broke into a sly grin, “I heard you practically turned the castle upside down.”

Luna breathed a sigh of relief, as it was just her sister’s childish meddling. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle asked me to find my old journal on the night. And I made her a promise that I would find it.” She struck the ground with a hoof in defiance, as though that would make her failure dissipate.

“I wouldn’t dream of forcing you to break a promise. Whatever you're looking for, I’m sure it is in your old observatory. I... I left everything the way it was after your... accident.” Celestia cringed at her last words, knowing that they did not do the situation justice, but Luna knew she meant well all the same.

Realization hit Luna, as she turned and nuzzled her sister. “Thank you.” Luna then turned and ran out the door to her room, quickly sprinting down the hallway.

Celestia watched her go, hoping that Luna would find herself again, or if nothing else, at least find more than what she was looking for.

____________________________________________________________________________

Luna had been walking around the Everfree forest for hours, trying to find her and her sister’s old home. She had no idea where she was, the forest ceiling so thick with branches that there was no way she could fly out or use the stars to guide her. She sat down in a huff next to an incredibly large tree, leaning on it for support as she began to criticize herself subconsciously.

I can’t even find my own home. She thought to herself. Why am I so USELESS?

Luna could feel her eyes began to glaze over, failure once again finding its way from the crevices of her mind to her eyes.

NO! I WILL find that book. I made Twilight Sparkle a promise, and I intend to keep it. Luna quickly went from sitting to flying, staying low to the ground and merely avoiding trees as she saw them. Her eyes, being so accustomed to the darkness, saw much of the forest as easily as anypony could during Celestia’s day. Luna continued to search the forest continuing her strange pattern as she zigged and zagged, until she had finally skid to a halt close to a dark stone wall.

Luna had never been so happy to see a wall in her life.

She followed the wall until she came to one of the decaying side doors that led to a tower across from the observatory, her horn lighting as she pried open the door with her magic abilities. She finally opened it enough for her to squeeze inside, hoping she hadn’t startled any sleeping animals by making so much noise. As she entered the small room, she took quick note of other things that she might want to come back for later, but she didn’t have time to grab all of her other things right now. Luna made a mental note to come back for some of her old books, her lunar diagram and the old comfy chair she used to sit on and read next to the fireplace, which was under a large portrait of her and Celestia raising their respective sources of light over all of Equestria.

Luna sighed and looked away from the painting, wishing things could go back to how they were those thousand years ago... so much change. She no longer felt like and equal, looking and being a thousand years younger. She looked to the corner of the room to find the staircase that led to the walkway connecting the observatory and her old private sanctuary. Upon doing so, she quickly rushed up the steps taking them six at a time, in such a rush that she was somewhere between galloping and flying simultaneously. Though she had forgotten how long the staircase was, and by the time she reached the top, she was dragging her feet and was about to collapse.

Luna looked up at the old door, standing over the top of the staircase, amazed at how perfectly intact it was. She slowly walked towards it, but a sudden sound on the other side made her stop. Was that... somepony else? Another pony? Why were they out this late at night? Who were they talking to? Luna placed an ear to the door, hearing muffled speaking. Yes, there was definitely somepony in there.

She slowly cracked open the door, peeking inside. Luna got a glimpse of a cyan blue mare with a multi-colored mane, and a red stallion with long blond-orange hair. Wait, that blue mare... that was one of the other ponies that had saved her, her name was... something Dash?

She listened to them speak, to find that the mare’s name was Rainbow Dash, though it also sounded like the situation wasn’t going very well for the stallion.

"You're one of the coolest colts I've ever known, but… I'm…I'm gay."

Luna was taken aback by this news. She knew she didn’t really know her, but it was still somewhat of a surprise, with her being one of the ponies that saved her those few months ago. She looked to the stallion to see how he would react, and she saw a slight flicker of shock in his face, but oddly, no hint of sadness. They talked a bit more, the handsome stallion assuring Dash that everything was okay, and that he was fine. She left, but not before asking the stallion for help with another mare’s name that sounded familiar to Luna.

Rainbow Dash left, leaving the stallion to return to his dinner. Luna found it odd that he seemed completely unaffected by the turn of events that just occurred. As he sat there and stared at her work, she began thinking to herself.

Maybe I can sneak in there quietly, grab the journal, and sneak out. Maybe I could levitate it over? no wait, I can’t even SEE it from my current position. Luna decided the first course of action would be more effective, as she quietly opened the door, and, keeping her eyes on the curious red stallion, silently made her way into the observatory--

CRASH! THUD! -- “EEP!”

-- And abruptly into a table with a stack of books on it.

_

_-=++=-_

~END OF PART TWO~

-=^&^=-

W

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<==(Part1) (Part3)==>

=====================================================================

I would like to personally thank everyone who encouraged me to write the second piece of this story. I’m sorry it took so long to update, but I had some issues with feeling that my first part wasn’t good enough, and with the rising standards, I told myself more and more I didn’t have any reason to continue. I hope everpony likes the second part.

~DoubleMallow

=====================================================================

The Apple in the Observatory part3

By: Double Mallow

They stared at each other for a few moments, though to Luna, it felt like at least an hour or so. There was a slight breeze from somewhere, blowing Luna’s mane out of her face. She saw his reaction change as she assumed that he realized who she was. He seemed to be a stallion of simple taste, his light orange hair beginning to slightly un-furl from its combed back state. Luna crossed one of her front legs over the other and looked at the ground, unsure of what to do or say.

The large red stallion got up, beginning to approach the princess.

“Princess Luna--”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to eavesdrop!” Luna brought her hooves to cover her face, not wanting to see if she had angered the large pony.

“Ah was just goin’ to ask how Ah may be able to help you.” Luna brought her hooves down slowly, hoping she could just get her book and get out soon. Seeing he was bowing in front of her, she made a motion for him to rise as she continued talking in a less fearful manner.

“I was just hoping to get a book, I’ll just go look for it and--” There was another gentle breeze, as the food big mac had left over in the basket began to waft its tempting smell over to Luna’s nostrils. She caught a whiff of the scent, and cringed as her stomach audibly gurgled.

Although it was true that Alicorns couldn't die, much less on something as simple as an empty stomach, they could still get hungry, and Luna realised she must not have eaten anything all day, with all the running around she must have been doing. She felt her face grow warm realising that the large red pony in front of her had heard the hungry cry that had emanated from her stomach.

Luna snapped back to reality realizing she had stopped mid-sentence.

“--and then I’ll be gone...” Luna began to turn back towards the old bookshelves, when the large stallion spoke again.

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Ah apologize for my blunt nature Princess Luna, but it sounds as if you need to eat.” Big Mac of all ponies knew a hungry pony when he heard one. He was Apple family, after all. He motioned with his hoof for her to sit down with him, “besides, no point in lettin’ all this good food go to waste.”

He watched as Princess Luna slowly turned back towards the dinner, unease on her face as she took a step towards the checkered tablecloth that was laying on the ground a few feet in front of her.

“Are you sure? I mean, after what you just went through...” She crossed her hoof over her front leg again, and Big Mac could tell she was clearly nervous, but she also seemed concerned about him.

“‘Twas nothin’, just a first date gone sour.” He lifted his chin and gave a shy smile. He kicked a hoof at the ground nervously, drawing up a small cloud of dust that lazily re-settled at the area around his hoof.

The alicorn gingerly nodded in reply, “Well if you’re positive...”

“Ah am.” Big Mac tried to give a graceful bow, and would have succeeded, had his hoof not lost purchase on the dust covered floor. He took a few steps forward to counter the loss of balance, and in doing so found his face incredibly close to Princess Luna’s.

Big Macintosh was suddenly looking deep into her eyes, it felt like the night, as if he was in a large meadow, staring at the moon, his entire body touched by a gentle breeze.

“Ah’m sorry...” Big Macintosh stepped back, turning back towards the dinner. He sat down and reached into the basket he brought with him, turning slightly back towards Luna and holding out a bowl in each hoof.

Big Mac hadn’t really had any experience cooking most of his life, that was more of a thing his sister Applejack had always handled, but when he tried to make something with apples, it usually came out pretty good --although he had only been trying to cook for the last few days. He hoped what he had been able to scrape together was enough to please one of the solar sisters, though he figured as hungry as she was, just about anything would please her right now. It was just a simple salad consisting of some greens and fresh chopped apples, a quick dressing he had made, which was also made from his family’s bounty of crops.

Princess Luna looked at the bowl of salad with wide eyes, bringing a hoof to her mouth. She reached forward and took one of the bowls Big Macintosh was holding

“This looks delicious.”

“Ain’t nothin’ special,” Big Mac looked away from Princess Luna and down at his bowl. He didn’t really know how to take it, never really being the one in the apple family to serve food. He handed her the bowl as the Princess sat down, and he was worried whether or not she would like it.

She took a bite of the salad after cradling it with her magic, and the look in her eyes seemed to convey some form of awe.

“This is delicious!”

“Well, thank ya ma’am; ain’t nothin’ but good old Apple family cookin’.” Was it really that good? He didn’t think he had any sort of nack for making food. Big Macintosh looked up to see that Princess Luna had finished her salad, and was dabbing her mouth with a napkin.

Big Macintosh then reached into the large basket, bringing out the few other things he had brought.

They began to talk about each other, Luna mainly wanting to know about him and his family. He told her about his relation to Applejack, his usual work during apple season. The conversation became more personal as they began to trade more intimate stories. By the time they were finished, Big Macintosh felt like he had known Luna all his life.

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Well, I’m glad the food didn’t go to waste none.” The stallion chuckled, picking up the leftover dishes from the meal and placing them back in his basket. Luna couldn’t help but wish she could stay longer, but Twilight Sparkle needed that book from her.

“It was really good.” Luna smiled softly, closing her eyes and tilting her head causing a large section of hair that usually covered her left eye to move. When she opened her eyes again, she found the large red stallion staring at her, his mouth slightly agape, and his trademark wheat sprig lying on the ground next to his hoof.

“What is it?” She was worried for a moment she had done something wrong. She frantically reached for her hair and held it back in place with her hooves.

“Oh!--um-- Ah’m sorry. You’re eyes, they’re--uh-- pretty.” He looked down at his hooves, seeming slightly nervous. About what?

Luna forgot about it, as she remembered the she had came to the observatory in the first place.

“I just remembered! I need to get my book!” She quickly leaped into the air and flew over to the bookshelf in the back of the observatory. She flew, moving left to right and back again at the bookshelf before finding what she was looking for; she used magic to levitate out a small dark blue book, with silver accent engraving, and a large moon on the front. Though, she didn’t remember it being that fancy or finely detailed. Celestia must have done something to it. she thought to herself. Luna hoped she would get the opportunity to do something like this again.

Maybe I should ask him if he wants to do this another time? She thought to herself. She turned around and looked back at Big Mac while she was hovering in the air. He was picking up the remaining plates and bowls from their unexpected evening. He had just been so accepting, Luna could be herself around him, she didn’t have to be a politician or regal princess, she could just be herself. I could finally have someone to talk to, have a friend of my very own to write to like Celestia!

Luna flew back to the center of the room, a small smile on her lips as she softly landed across from her new-found crimson companion.

“We should do this again sometime.” She gave Big Mac her best smile, hoping that he would accept her offer and that she would finally have somepony to call a friend. Wait... that notion was ridiculous, they had been talking for the past 4 hours, of course they were friends. She just hoped she could see him again soon.

“Uh... sure. How about, um... next Thursday night?” Luna noticed he seemed a little conserved all of the sudden as he looked down and pawed at the ground again. She hoped she just hadn’t seemed overly attached.

“That would be great. I’m sorry I’m in such a rush, but I have to get this book back to Twilight Sparkle. She’s excited about a meteor shower that is supposed to occur soon, so...” She looked at Big Mac. “I’ll see you then. Same time?”

“Eeeeeeyup.”

She threw her arms around his neck, and just as quickly began to depart. Though while looking back from flying towards her exit, he seemed a notably brighter red... oh well. She faced back towards the direction she was going as she began the small journey to return to the castle, her book carefully resting on her back between her wings.

Luna continued her journey home, and by the time she touched down on the balcony outside her bedroom, she couldn't wait to see him again.

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As Big Macintosh watched her go he could only think to himself in confusion as he finished packing up the remnants of his dinner with Luna --er, PRINCESS Luna. They had grown to know each other so well he didn’t feel any hesitation to just call her by her name. Though he did his best to correct himself, for a mare as amazing as her, he should still try to show the proper respect, even if they were good friends... or maybe, he thought, just a little more.

He began to embark on the small trek home, and couldn’t  help but have the slightest pep in his step as he traveled back along the path to Sweet Apple Acres through the Everfree Forest. He looked at the night sky, only continuing to stare up at Luna’s work, and hoping she could stay even longer than the last time.

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~END OF PART THREE~

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W

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<==(Part2) (Part4)==>

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Dear readers;

I apologize for never updating and posting part 3. To be honest, I haven’t touched it for almost a month, I was intending to try and completely finish everything in part 3, but it looks as if this is going to drag into at least one more piece. However, I will most likely be writing shorter stories from here on in. I also have many concepts I may never get to, so if anypony wants to write, but just doesn’t have any ideas, be sure to ask. I have many (what I’ve been told are) great concepts, and I come up with many new ones every week. I am also willing to collab with other authors. Hope you liked Part 3! More to come in probably around six months! (JOKING, I hope.)

~DoubleMallow

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