//------------------------------// // Rather Spectacular Realizations // Story: A Little Lost Without You // by NadyaAnn //------------------------------// Ani Me followed hot on Applejack's heels as she trotted enthusiastically out into the mid-morning sunlight. The rickety screen door slammed annoyingly behind Ani Me as her eyes flashed with excitement as she spotted Big Macintosh mingling about the sturdy red barn that sat several yards away. He was removing the encumbering plow from his brutish body as Applebloom bounced and jittered around him, her words small and fast in the distance. Ani Me peered even longer at Big Mac and his unmistakable handsomeness, his glorious legs of pure muscle moving about as he avoided stepping upon Applebloom as she squirmed around in unexplainable excitement. "Are you even listening to me?", a sharp voice pierced Ani Me's concentration and undivided attention. "Wha...What?", she turned to face Script who had a look of slight annoyance on his solemnly sculpted face. "I was just asking if you would be ever so kind as to either move to the side or vacate the porch.", the white pony spoke in a bland yet not all together rude tone. Ani Me cocked her head to the side and blinked a few times as his words began to right themselves within her head. "Oh! I'm sorry!", she exclaimed, scrambling quickly down the steps to join Applejack who was imagining a day when Script wasn't so frank. He glided down the steps and trotted in the direction of PonyVille, "I will be in town if you shall need me I shall be fending off Pinkie and her exuberant....spirit, as well as other filly's of this nature." Ani Me's eyes followed his steps down the path before he finally disappeared and began to open her mouth to speak before Applejack sighed and commenced to yell at the two ponies in the distance, "Applebloom! Come on! We're going into town. Big Mac, go rinse off in the river and we'll meet you there!" Applebloom's eyes got wide and a grin spread across her face as she scrambled across the slightly muddy and ever verdant grass toward her sister and newest guest. However, Ani Me was thinking furiously of a way to get to be alone with Big Mac. A little rinse? It won't hurt to go peek... "Ani Me! Come on, there will be many a pony who will be delighted to meetcha!" Applejack interrupted her thought and began to move down the path with Applebloom glued to her side. The little filly was staring suspiciously yet wondrously at Ani Me as she attempted to look graceful and grown-up in her strange guest's midst. Applejack began ranting and raving about some historic PonyVille fable from years past and something about a sugar cube... Ani Me watched as they disappeared from sight, Applejack unaware that she was not in their presence and looked once again in the direction of the barn. The plow had been successfully unattached and Big Macintosh had just emerged from the barn's depths and vanished behind the tree that he had earlier been spying on her from. Ani Me panicked and after glancing anxiously down the path to where she was supposed to be heading, she bolted for the tree, flinging mud and bits of grass behind her with every hoof she raised in haste. She was adamant on speaking with him. She also thought, with a blush on her cheeks, that seeing him in a state of peace, serenity, and wet sexiness couldn't hurt either. Upon reaching the tree, winded and frantically looking around, Ani Me spied Big Mac and got a devilish grin upon her otherwise innocent face. She crept after him, walking in the giant hoof prints he left in the sodden, muddy grass. She held her breath as she prayed to be undetected in her scandalous pursuit of the oblivious stallion that had selfishly as well as unwittingly captured her heart. His flanks were rather muscular as she gazed at him and his stride from behind. She exhaled quietly and stopped dead in her tracks when suddenly Big Mac stopped abruptly. Ani Me raised her head and squeezed her eyes tightly shut as she waited to be caught and possibly scolded. "AAAAAAAAa------CHHHOOOOO!!!!!!!" the noise frightened Ani Me more than the thought of being found out in her stalker-ish state and reared back, eyes flying open, a hoof over her mouth so as not to gasp. She stared furiously at the stallion who shook his burly head, mane tossed about, and continued at a leisurely pace toward the stream that Ani Me hoped would bring them together. She let out a long sigh and commenced in her secretive and heart wrenching operation. She could only hope that Applebloom, Applejack, Granny Smith, or even Script would not suddenly and ever so conveniently show up and embarrass the cutie mark off of Big Mac the opposite for Ani Me. Despite tailing Big Macintosh in a rather awkward manner, Ani Me was rather at ease. The birds flew joyously through the intertwining limbs of the apple trees, playing innocent chasing games with each other. The wild flowers that lay in small bundles swayed delicately in the wind. She turned her head to either side and took in the trees as they began to enclose them in a skinny path that Ani Me assumed was the ever secretive path to cleanliness. As Ani Me, unbeknownst to her, began to speed up, she heard a light splashing noise that commanded her attention quite prominently. Big Macintosh had just stepped into a quant and slender stream that glistened a magnificent crystal-like blue. The graceful and soft water tugged gently at the dirt that laden the small banks of the river. Ani gasped softly as she gazed upon the contrast of the gorgeous blue water against Big Macintosh's masculine red coat. The vibrancy of the colors as they mixed together slowly caressed her mind as she was unable to look away from the scene. Big Macintosh was still facing away from her and had only moved his body to the side as he wetted his hooves and began to bring small samples of the droplets to his withers in a repetitive manner. The water glided down his wonderfully bulky shoulders in a rather enticing way and Ani Me stepped a feminine hoof forward. She simply had to speak with him. To hear that voice she had only first heard that morning. As she did this, Big Macintosh dipped his handsome face into the surface of the gentle and soothing stream and swiftly removed it, slinging a mixture of water particles and sweat onto his back. Ani Me's eyes widened as he slowly began to turn his head and she panicked. 'Oh no! I'm dead!', she thought loudly and exasperatedly as she averted her eyes and swing her body around. "I-I'm sorry! I got uh....a little lost! Where are uh...the others?", Ani Me lowered her head, closed her eyes tightly and awaited her scolding. Big Macintosh stamped around loudly in the water as his face became obscured with horror and utter embarrassment. She was watching him? Is she lost? No, surely not? What in the name of sweet Celestia is she doing here? A succubus after his own heart? Ani Me began to walk away, crestfallen, as her face burned with shame and her body drooping, ears lowered. She felt stupid and overly hasty and felt like she could never speak to him again. He knew the truth, he's not stupid. He knows. "Don't go....Uhhh...do you need some directions?" Big Macintosh's voice was like heavy, silky black velvet as it met Ani Me's lowered ears. She turned slowly, her body becoming warm and she looked into his eyes before they both averted them in an awkward manor. Ani Me's mind began to reel 90 to nothing and she felt like crying. "I'm so sorry to have intruded on your privacy. I'm so stupid and ignorant. You probably think me a freak." Ani Me's voice was light and quiet. Big Macintosh observed her body language with interest, slowly removed himself from the babbling river, and walked cautiously to the slightly distraught mare that intrigued and embarrassed him so. His voice was shaky yet strong, "I-I could....I would never think anything of such a....an incredibly nice mare...such as yourself that is." He looked away, waiting for her to scoff and poke fun at him for his attempted consolidation. Instead, his expectations were shocked with tear brimmed eyes. "How could you possibly know that I'm kind? I intrude on your property, accept your kindness so easily, inconvenience your entire family, and for what? I'm the biggest burden in all of Equestria and I cling to every little thing I receive. Too selfishly, that is. I just....I'm lost. Not just the physical type...the mental type. I belong no where, to no pony. What a joke. A foolish nomad who wishes to stay, but can't." Big Macintosh looked at her nervously and glanced about, racking his brain for even a sliver of information that may come in handy in this situation considering his living with three females. However, he felt like he could only ask questions to satisfy his rampant and new curiosity. "Why did a mare, such as yourself, run away from a fine city like that? Ponyville seems bland in comparison." "Well, you see, I never seemed to be able to establish roots there. I just had to find some where I belong. I hope it's here, I really do. You and your family are the nicest, most accepting ponies I've met thus far. Do you think I could...stay with you?" Big Macintosh's eyes darted around as he processed her question, he knew not what to say but, "W-wouldja like to uh, walk to Ponville with me?" Ani Me's radiant eyes flashed up to look at the red stallion and she grinned crookedly, "Yes, I would like that...very much." They then simultaneously began to move in the direction that they had just came from moments before, with not a single hint of haste. The two ponies took turns eying each other while the other one was pretending to look away at some unidentifiable object that was elsewhere. Big Macintosh began to feel a small warmth envelope his body as it began to dry from his all too brief stream wash and he new that it wasn't just his temperature. This strange mare fell into his life and they have interacted so little. Yet, these small moments of yearning and innocent silences have impacted him in a new and intriguing way that he was incapable of describing or even begin to be able to place into words. He wondered, as he slowly watched her graceful, fluid movements, if she felt the same way. He watched her, hardly concerned with his surroundings, and noted how her long, glossy black mane is always placed effortlessly and beautifully to frame her elegant and curving face. He took in her down cast eyes and glimpsed a hint of green from their irises ever so often and watched as her long dark lashes, that added depth and severity to her already mesmerizing glance, bat a few times before they were cast up to meet his. He felt his face grow hot and willed his self to look away, but he couldn't. He wasn't going to childishly look away any more. He wanted her. Ani Me's smile broke apart for her to speak, "Big Macintosh, do you...have a special somepony?" The words hit him like a cart full of apples going ninety to nothing and he tripped over his fore hooves slightly before recovering smoothly. He had just gotten used to this mare and now she was gonna throw out a straight forward question like that? He liked it, in away. "I used to. That is, it wasn't really anything serious. A big mistake actually. It, uh, wasn't even supposed to happen." He scratched his head sheepishly and chuckled softly. "Oh? Is that so?" Ani Me couldn't help but feel a slight sting of venomous jealousy. Serious or not, she felt like Big Macintosh had been taken from her and he wasn't even remotely hers to begin with. Big Macintosh, though a male, picked up on her crestfallen tone and returned the question just as they emerged onto Sweet Apple Acres. "Oh? Me? No, never. I wasn't allowed to. There was this pony back in Phillydelphia and he was really weird when it came to me and males." Ani Me glanced at Big Macintosh, who she hoped hadn't thought that this revelation was weird in any way. Alas, he stared on, processing and putting puzzle pieces together. "You are running from him, aren't you?" Big Macintosh's voice was coated with sympathy and realization. Ani Me pushed forward without a word. Big Macintosh caught this and with held the words that ironically wanted to pour from his otherwise silent lips. He would protect her, that was for certain. As he took the image of her elegant body from behind, he felt a certain obligation toward her. She was placed so carefully and meticulously in his life. He felt a twinge of favor for his Ani Me. However, he knew nothing of this dangerous and powerful stallion and knew nothing of the darkness ahead. * * *