//------------------------------// // In sickness and in health... // Story: Big Mac's Confrontation // by GroanyBrony //------------------------------// Big Mac's Confrontation Chapter 7: In sickness and in health... Applejack and Toffee raced towards the tree, a thousand thoughts running amok within their minds as to what could have become of the two ponies beneath it. They were both aware of the worst scenario and prepared for the worst. As they approached, they saw both stallions sprawled on the ground, unconscious. Big Mac lay on his side, a deep gash running along his flank. Caramel however seemed to have taken the brunt of the incident; the branch that had been struck lay across his side, pinning him to the ground. Several deep gashes ran the length of his torso and one of his front legs appeared bent out of shape. "MEL!" his older sister yelled. She dashed to his side, placing her body under the branch and lifting it as far as she could off of him. Applejack, after attending her own sibling and insuring that he was in no immediate danger came to Toffee's aid and dragged out caramel's body from under the branch. "Mel wake up!" Toffee screamed, distraught at seeing him in such a state. "We gotta get 'em to the hospital" Applejack calmly replied, seemingly unfazed by the events "if'n we don’t they'll just die out here." "Alright! Ya'll get Mac and ah'll carry Mel." "Ah can't carry Mac all by mahself. Not for long anyhow. Ah'll never make it back to Ponyville with the extra weight." "We'll come back fer him, but right now we need t-" "Ain't no way ah'm leavin' him. Run on back an' ah'll keep an eye on 'em." "Well ah ain't leavin' Mel lie this!" "APPLEJACK!" came the familiar voice of a certain cyan pegasus. "Thank Celestia you're here. Are you crazy?! Oh gosh...what happened?" "Rainbow am ah glad to see you! We need yer to rush back an' get help! Hurry!" Applejack explained. "Right! I'll be back quicker than you can say Rainbow Dash!" The pegasus hollered as she flew off into the distance. "Ah hope so..." Applejack whispered under her breath. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Rainbow finally returned, along with Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie who, despite the circumstances, was bouncing along giggling to herself. "Girls! Thank Celestia yer here! Quickly now, we need to get 'em to Nurse Redheart quick as can be" "Of course. Rarity, lift Caramel onto Fluttershy's back. Keep the magic going though." Twilight replied, already having devised a plan to get them all back to Ponyville with no more injuries than were already inflicted. With both stallions enveloped in the magic of the two unicorns, lying on the back of the two pegasi, the seven ponies rushed back to Ponyville. As they approached the gate, Nurse Redheart was waiting with two stretchers to carry the injured away. "Quickly now! Be careful! Lay them down gently." the nurse stammered. "Oh my...they're in worse shape than I expected! We need to hurry and quickly!" she shouted as she and the others dashed to the hospital. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Big Mac slowly regained consciousness, his eyes fluttering open as he struggled to take in the surroundings. The room was pristine, with medical equipment scattered throughout. As he opened his muzzle to speak, he noticed the plastic bubble around his mouth. Applejack stirred next to him and practically jumped out of her seat when she saw that Big Mac was awake. "MAC! Ah've never been so worried. Why in Equestria would you run off like that!?" She screamed. Yet behind her anger, she was worried for her brother. He was never a reckless pony and to do something so foolish wasn't like him at all. Big Mac attempted to reply but the breathing apparatus muffled his voice. "Oh you're awake! Let me just run a checkup..." the doctor exclaimed as he entered the room. "Yep! Everything seems okay to me! Now you should be fine so long as you rest. I don't want to see you back in here because you ripped out your stitches. I recommend plenty of bed rest and if you can help it, to-" "Where's caramel?!" Big Mac asked as he ripped off the breathing apparatus. "Hmm? You mean the other stallion that came in with you? He's just come out of the operating theater. Now as I was saying, bed rest and-" " Can ah see him? Ah really need to see 'im!" "Well I'm not entirely sure if that is such a good idea. You see he-" The doctor was interrupted as Big Mac clambered out of his hospital bed and collapsed on him as the pain shot through his flank. "Careful! You really shouldn't be out of bed right now." "Ah...ah need to see...Mel" Big Mac replied through gritted teeth. He limped painfully towards the door and through the numerous hallways until he finally reached the room in which his friend lay. As he entered, he almost cried out in anguish at the site. Caramel was connected to several tubes and wired up to a machine that monitored his heartbeat. He also adorned a similar breathing apparatus that Big Mac found himself in. The tubes were attached to several bags filled with various liquids; Blood and what he could only assume was water. Apart from the monotonous beeping of the monitor, the room was silent. "He's on a lot of painkillers. He suffered the worst of the accident. I'm sorry" the doctor quietly explained as he entered behind Big Mac. "Is he gonna be alright?" "I...I'm so sorry Big Mac...the lacerations to his torso were deep and he lost a lot of blood. He suffered extreme blunt trauma to his chest and as a result, a collapsed lung." No one spoke for several minutes. Big Mac just walked over to his friend and stared at the broken body that lay before him. He finally broke the silence after 10 long minutes of silence. "Will he...will he make it" Big Mac asked through his sobs. "I'm sorry. I can't say for sure. His odds are...they're slim" he replied somberly. The doctor left the room, leaving the two friends to themselves. "Hey Mel. Ah wish we could meet under better circumstances" he chuckled lightly to himself. "Ah...Ah'm so sorry. Ah'm sorry fer everything that happened. Ah've done some stupid things in mah time but...this was the worst. You were mah friend and ah...well ah wasn't much of a friend was ah?" He went silent for a few minutes, crying softly as he rested his head on his friend’s chest. "When ah kissed yer ah...ah never felt somethin' like that Mel. It was somethin' magical. I realized that ah...ah love you. Ah love you more than ah’ve ever loved anything. Heck ah'd trade Smarty-pants fer you any day!" The silenced that followed was broken when Caramel weakly removed the breathing mask and spoke in a raspy voice. "You still have that old doll? You'll never live this down." He chuckled to himself. "Yer...Yer awake! Thank Celestia ah thought..." "I'm not giving up that easily" Caramel replied. "Ah love you Mel. Ah really do. When yer better ah'll-" "Don't. Don't pretend that I’ll get better Mac. I know just as well as you do that I'm not getting any better. I know it hurts but...please, don't lie to me or yourself." "Ah don't wanna lose you Mel. Ah just got you back and now ah have to lose you again? This ain't fair." "You know it's funny. I always imagined that, someday we might get married." "What?" "I know, I know. It's silly but...I always imagined that we'd get married under the stars, under the tree that...well that caused all this." "You really wanted to get married? To me?" "Of course i did you dumb colt." Caramel weakly punched Big Mac's muzzle, gaining an even weaker smile and more tears from the stallion he loved. "Oh well. Not every dream can come true." He smiled as he looked into the eyes of the stallion before him, hopeful that he could pass in the arms of his true love. "Perhaps this one can though" came a voice from the doorway. Both stallions looked over to see Twilight Sparkle and her friends at the door, all fighting back tears as they approached the couple by the hospital bed. "I read a boom once about weddings. It might not be the wedding you always wanted but...It's better than nothing right?" Twilight asked, smiling at the couple. "You would do that? Fer us?" Big Mac asked. "Of course. Anything to help" she said with a smile on her face. Big Mac leaped over to her and hugged her harder than he had ever hugged anypony before. "Thank you! Thank you so much." He cried. "It's no problem...really." Big Mac returned to his friend's side and grabbed his hoof, holding it as if it was the only thing keeping him alive. "Okay then. Do you, Caramel, take Big Macintosh, to be your lawfully wedded colt, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?" "I do" he replied, a smile rivaling that of Pinkie Pie's biggest smile spread across his muzzle. "And do you, Big Macintosh, take Caramel to be your lawfully wedded colt, from this day forward, for better or for-" "I do." Big Mac interrupted, smiling back at his love. Nopony was fighting back the tears anymore. Everypony cried freely and held each other for comfort. Twilight sobbed as she proceeded. "Then I now pronounce you stallion and stallion. You may now kiss the-" Before she could finish her sentence, the two stallion's locked muzzles and held each other as tight as they could. As they kissed, the slow, monotonous beeping that came from the monitor, became a continuous, high pitched noise that nopony could mistake. No pony made a sound. Big Mac just held his lover close and sobbed into his mane, as he relished the feel of his best friend's coat for the final time. "At least you got your final wish" he said with a sad smile. "Goodnight" he sobbed, closing Caramel's eyes with a hoof. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you everypony who supported this story. If it wasn't for you guys and girls, I wouldn't have had the confidence (or the motivation) to finish this. I hate to leave you guys with an ending like this (to be honest I planned the ending to be MUCH different!) but I feel this ending worked so much better than the other one. This is really my first venture into writing and it went a lot better than I expected! Once again, thank you so much for all your kind words and support! A very big thank you to "theMusicalCake" for the help with my earlier chapters!