Revenge is Family Business

Mac had skipped most of his afternoon chores to get himself ready for his date. Apple Bloom teased him more than just a few times, because he was really going out of his way to look the best he could.

Applejack kept her distance from the farmhouse while her brother got himself ready. Although she claimed that she wanted to deal with his chores, he knew that she felt guilty for what he would do to Luna. He thought it was a good sign that she felt bad about it. A good pony had to feel awful for what they wanted to do and he just refused to believe that his sister was a bad pony who would relish such actions.

As he walked up to Ponyville station he reiterated his plans for the day over and over. He would embrace her as soon as he arrived in Canterlot and not let go of her for the rest of the evening. They would take a walk across the city and search for a place to watch the night sky. While they admired Lunas stars they would savor the special cider he brought. Sweet Apple Acres was known for some of the best cider in Equestria and this was the really good stuff.

After the Cider would have been consumed, they would head for a place where they were among themselves, just the two of them. If Luna wanted it, they would spend the night like mare and stallion, no words, just emotions.

At the end of the day, he would wait for the princess to fall asleep. Since he didn’t know if the princess of the night needed any sleep at all, he had prepared some of the cider with soporifics and marked the bottles inconspicuously. Once she was fast asleep, he would inject her an even stronger anesthetic to make sure she wouldn’t wake up.

His eyes dropped to the floor, he felt terrible for thinking about how to end a life this special. He even actively avoided to think about how he would kill her. Only one thing was already decided, Luna wouldn’t feel anything and he would not inflict any harm to her body.

The sun disappeared over the horizon almost half an hour before the train hit Canterlot station. All the while Mac imagined how Luna shapeshifted into her disguised form and then got all dressed up for her special night.

When he finally arrived at their agreed meeting place, he searched for the dark blue unicorn mare with the shooting star for a cutie mark. Oddly enough, she didn’t seem to be at the track, although Mac had expected her to be eager to see him.

He strolled around the station for a few minutes in search of his date, until something jumped onto his back. Dark hooves covered his eyes and a deliberately poor attempt to mimic Nightmare Moon’s voice stroke his ear. “You walk around carelessly, my little pony. Are you not afraid of me gobbling you up?”

Mac couldn’t help but chuckle. “Nope. I have some candy on me.”

Luna dropped the act and her voice took on a more seductive tone, one that Mac had never heard from her before. “What if I have no interest in your candy?”

The red stallion started to wiggle slightly. “Then you give me no choice...” Within an instant the minor wiggle became a major earthponyquake.

With a dull thud, Luna fell of Macintosh's back and looked at her stallion with eyes as wide as dinner plates. She watched him for a few seconds before she got up and tried to give him a sulky look. Which proved to be rather difficult with the, not so small, smile on her muzzle.

With an apologetic look in his eyes Mac nuzzled her neck. “Sorry, if i’ve been rude. Did I hurt you?”

Luna shook her head and nuzzled him back, once again enjoying the small stature of her shapeshifted form. “It is fine, I have always found a good prank to be enjoyable.”

She chuckled slightly. “Besides, it will take much more than that to hurt me”

After a shared laugh, they started to leave the station and began their special night.

The first stop Luna had wished for was a movie theater. She had learned that couples often went to watch romantic movies together and politely asked if they could do that. Mac didn’t like this sort of entertainment, but he was determined to fulfill every wish Luna had, so he agreed anyways.

After the movie was over and they left the theater Luna glared daggers at the place. “This movie was awful. The mare constantly lied to both stallions about each other and yet, they still seemed to adore her more than their own lives after they found out. Who would like a mare as indecisive and dishonest as that one? It even looked like they would kill each other over that stupid slob in the end. I have seen many stupid and disgusting dreams over the years but this was just … Blearg.”

Macintosh chuckled at Luna’s rant and slightly nuzzled her. “I never liked those things either. They just don’t feel like the kind of love I would enjoy.”

Luna smirked at the stallion. “Oh? What portrayal of love would you prefer then?”

He had to pause for a minute to think about what he actually would enjoy to see in a love movie. “I actually would go for something like the story of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. AJ once told me how they met and I think it would make for quite a good movie.”

Luna cocked an eyebrow. “You know how they met each other? You definitely need to tell me that!”

Although Big Mac submitted his proposal to search for a private place, Luna insisted that she wanted to go to a restaurant first. She admitted that she never before went to a restaurant with a stallion and therefore was curious about how this would be. She admitted that her sister had provided her with more than enough books on the subject of ‘how to bond with your special somepony’ to give her quite a number of ideas.

Naturally Mac gave in and invited Luna to the best restaurant he could afford and declined any offer from her to handle the payment. But since Luna was rather persistent in that matter he had to resort to some sort of trump card. “Was in your books never mentioned that a true gentlestallion has to pay if he invites his beloved to a restaurant?”

Luna opened and closed her muzzle a few times before she looked down and mumbled. “It was stated that the common conception is that the stallion has to pay for the mare.”

She looked him in the eyes and pouted. “But I do not want this. I like that you treat me nice and caring and give me the feeling of beeing really special, but I do not wish to be pampered by you.”

She nuzzled against his chest and her voice was only slightly louder than a whisper. “Mac, the servants at the palace do this to me day in, day out. They treat me like a foal. Princess do you want us to do this? Or Princess do you want us to take care of that? I sometimes feel like they are on the brink of asking me if I want them to wipe my ...”

Mac cleared his throat and Luna seemed to realize instantly what she was about to say. She buried her face in his coat and mumbled few unintelligible curses into his chest.

Finally, she looked back into his eyes and her face had taken on a pleading expression. “Please Mac, don’t treat me like you are my servant.”

The big red stallion showed a smile as broad and loving as possible. “I would never treat you any other way. I only want to pay for you because I want to show you that you are worth more to me than bits.”

A single tear rolled down Luna’s cheek while Macintosh leaned in for a soft kiss.

Luna kept up thanking Mac for almost one whole hour after they left the restaurant. All the while he couldn’t do much more than smile and blush. It was a strange thought that the adorable mare in front of him, who had an almost fillylike joy written all over her face, was actually a nearly omnipotent and immortal alicorn princess. Oddly enough, that thought only made his marefriend all the more adorable.

After a long walk towards the castle they finally reached the royal gardens. Luna looked around suspiciously for a few minutes and Big Mac was given to understand that he had to be silent, at least until she signaled him otherwise. When she finally was assured that they were the only ponies in the gardens she dropped her shapeshifting spell and stretched her wings.

Mac admired her true form and felt another smile creeping onto his muzzle, she was simply stunning. “You’re beautiful.”

Luna chuckled and put her wings around his neck. “I have to admit, it feels really good to hear you saying that. Most ponies keep their flattery to Celestia.”

The apple farmer nuzzle his marefriend. “Well, mine is only for you. But what comes next? Do you want me to open up the cider I brought?”

The night princess shook her head and kissed him. “No, not yet. I had a special place in mind for our first night.”

Macintosh cocked his head. “Here in the gardens? I don’t see how...”

Another quick kiss from Luna silenced him. “Not here. I have a little sanctuary, which can only be reached using a special teleportation spell of mine.”

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “Not even my sister will be able to bother us there.”

Big Mac was hit by the sudden realization that he would never be able to come back if he decided to pull his plans off in Luna’s sanctuary. But a look into the princess’s eyes made this concern fade into nothingness.

Luna seemed to have notices something in his expression and looked concerned. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”

A firm shook of his head made her worries disappear. “No, it’s ok. I’m just a little stunned that you have a place like that. Magic is something astonishing, especially when you’re an earth pony.”

The stallion received a gentle kiss from the princess before a sudden flash of light encased both of their forms.

The scenery of Luna’s sanctuary was stunning. The night sky stretched above their heads and seemed truly infinite. Every star was perfectly visible and not a single cloud dared to hinder their view. All around the two ponies was a vast garden with plants Mac had never seen before, although they seemed to be vaguely familiar. Behind the garden was the biggest mansion he had ever seen, build in a style that was almost identical to that of the castle of the two sisters. But only if any pony searched for the silvery disk of the moon, they would truly grasp what they were experiencing. Because, between the countless small dots of light there was no moon, but Equestria itself.

The sanctuary of the princess of the moon was nothing less than the moon itself. She explained that she, or rather Nightmare Moon, had constructed her own palace on the moon after Celestia had banished her for one thousand years and that she just took it over after her reformation. Nevertheless, the view was spectacular.

Luna slept next to Big Mac, a pleased smile on her muzzle. The stallion looked down on his princess and sighed. One didn't need much to know Applejack would be furious, but the plan needed to be changed in regards to the exceptional situation he found himself in. He never would betray his family, but Luna had become part of the family too.

At the beginning, the dates where only to get close to her. She was Celestia’s sister and if he and his sister could take her away, it would give the sun princess a good first impression of the pain they had felt when she took their parents. But over time, things changed. Luna opened up, shared her thoughts and feelings with him and, that night, even shared the very essence of herself with him. He couldn't go on without her, not even if he wanted to.

But no matter how he looked at it, their plan, the oath he and Applejack swore at their parents graves, could never be fulfilled with Luna around. Even if he did not kill her, she would never let the Apples take revenge on her beloved sister and he had to admit, he could relate to that.

In the end, there was only one solution.

Big Macintosh pulled out the syringe with the anesthetic he brought with him and sat down next to Luna. He stroke her mane and gently exposed her neck. He knew that big veins ran down the sides of a pony’s neck and that from there the anesthetic would take almost immediate effect. It would take mere seconds for the heart to disperse it into her body and then he only had to see it through.

He searched for one of Luna’s veins, lined the syringe up and, as careful as he could, injected its content into the princess’s body.

After he had pulled the needle out, Luna only scratched the prick slightly with her hoof before she came to rest again. All the while, Mac sat next to her and thought about it. He could still call off everything he had set in motion. She was an alicorn, she would definitely survive the anesthetic he gave her, she would maybe sleep one or two days straight, but nothing serious.

He shook his head, it had to be done.

Out of his saddlebags, he produced a small flask with a dark purple liquid. AJ had placed it in his room when he slept with a note that said. Just in case. And he thanked her for that, this whole mess was definitely calling for their special mixed poison.

He went back to Luna, uncorked the flask and sniffed. Strangely, it smelled like apple blossoms, not really what he expect from a deadly poison.

Finally, he gently tilted her head, opened her muzzle and poured half of the poison directly into her mouth. The unconscious Princess gulped the liquid down and didn’t even flinch.

After his deed was done, he laid down next to Luna and kissed her nose. “I’m terribly sorry that I had to do this. But, I can’t break a promise I gave AJ and my parents. I hope you can forgive me in whatever world comes next.”

He gently stroke her cheek with his hoof. “At least you won’t feel anything.”

With a sudden jerk of his hoof he had brought the bottle to his muzzle and greedily gulped down every last drop left in it. After he was done, he threw the bottle away and smiled at Luna. “I will follow you. And I will suffer for what I did to you.”

Even before the last words escaped his lips he felt a bolt of pain pierce his stomach. He leaned forward to kiss Luna one last time. “I love you …” An exceptionally hefty jolt of pain ran through Mac’s intestines and he drew a few ragged breaths before he was able to smile at her one last time. “… My princess.”