The next day, Apple Bloom was given a ride to school and was escorted inside by Applejack, to make sure everything was alright.
To beat the rush, they got there a little late meaning everyone saw Apple Bloom with her broken leg. As quickly as she could Apple Bloom made it to her desk while Applejack told Miss Cheerilee what happened.
"... And the doctors say it will take four weeks to get better. So... I told her she can't go on that field trip to Canterlot." she finished.
"We'll look after her Applejack," Miss Cheerilee said smiling her 'you can trust me' smile.
"Thanks Miss Cheerilee," Applejack said heading for the door, slightly worried how the class would take Apple Blooms broken leg.
After Applejack left, Miss Cheerilee turned to see all eyes were on Apple Bloom who had her head down on her desk.
"How about you tell us how you did that to yourself Apple Bloom?" she said getting everyone's attention.
"It was a riding accident..." was all Apple Bloom said. "I'll be like this for four weeks."
"Bet the dumb horse bucked you off the moment you got into the saddle," Twinkle, one of the class room bullies said in a laughing voice.
"Like you'd of done any better with MY horse," Apple Bloom said scrunching up a ball of paper and throwing it at Twinkle to make her shut up.
Just as Twinkle was about to throw it back...
"Enough both of you," Miss Cheerilee said. "Twinkle, that was not a very nice thing to say, Apple Bloom you shouldn't have thrown that ball."
"But she insulted Honey-Crisp..." Apple Bloom said anger in her eye.
"I heard that," Miss Cheerilee said trying to calm Bloom down a bit "But you still shouldn't of thrown it. Now..." she said walking back up to the front of the class "Back to History."
Within five minutes most of the class were writing down notes or copying out of text books. Apple Bloom on the other hand was drawing doodles of her version of what she thought Twinkle should really look like, going through a series of pains.
On Mondays, Fluttershy met up with her friends round town. It was their 'get together day' as Sweetie Belle's sister Rarity, a very popular dress designer, normally called it.
Most of the time though everyone was too busy so it was normally just the two of them at the spa.
"Any plans for next week darling?" Rarity asked as they soaked in the hot tub together.
"Um... Why does everybody keep asking that?" Fluttershy asked looking away from her friend as her hair was toweled up.
"Why it's a very important day darling," Rarity said "Your five year anniversary of you and Mac. You simply have to do something about it."
"Well I think it will be just a ride though the forest, like the last few years." Fluttershy didn't really want to say anything about the 'secret grotto' Appleseed took her and Mac to all those years ago when they were still friends. It turned out, that Mac's parents used to go there. One of the trees even has their initials carved into it, inside a arrow struck heart.
"Oh but that must be simply boring," Rarity said as they went to the steam room.
Saying nothing Fluttershy just smiled. "It gets a bit exciting when the wolves come..." she said quietly thinking back to last year when a few wolves came into the grotto supposedly smelling the picnic.
"W... Wolves?" Rarity asked paying more attention.
"Uh huh..." Fluttershy said "But we don't see them much."
"Well I'm glad of that dear," Rarity said relived, as they now made for the massage beds.
"But you must have something more exotic planned for your five year anniversary."
"Nope" Fluttershy giggled as she used one of Mac's favourite words.
"A meal out, a movie, a trip to the beach, a night out?" Rarity listed somethings getting no responses. "Nothing?"
"We just go with it when the time comes, Rarity." Fluttershy said.
Sighing with defeat "Well whatever it will be, I hope you'll both like it."
Back at the farm...
"So how exactly are you gonna ask the question big brother?" Applejack asked helping Mac with the apple picking.
"I haven't gotten that far yet sis," Mac said placing the full baskets on the truck, and getting out more that were empty.
"So, you're getting the ring, and you know you want her," Applejack said "But you don't know how to ask her yet..."
"Nope." Mac said chewing on a hay strand."It was go to the grotto like always," he said "But then I remembered the tradition about the barn." According to Granny the barn was a popular place for Apples to confess their love to one another and ask the question to each other.
"If you ask me Mac, you began that five years ago remember," Applejack asked a smirk on her face. "That morning after Honey was born, and you were alone in the barn with Appleseed. You started talking about Fluttershy to him. Shame she stopped you isn't it?" Applejack replayed the scene in Mac's head making his ears go a bit pink.
"But that was to dad," Mac said sitting himself under one of the trees, "That was me asking if I could have a chance with her. Not 'I love you will you marry me?' to her. She just came back as I was going though all that." he said looking out over the farm sighing.
"Well whatever you were saying would be a good place to start." Applejack said sitting down too taking her hat off.
"I was saying what chance did someone like me have with a girl like her..." Mac said looking away from his sisters shocked face.
"But she said you were saying things about her..." Applejack said.
"I was saying 'She's so smart and beautiful and was so popular at school, one of your friends," Mac began saying his speech word for word as if it was yesterday "Why can't I just say what I'm thinking when she's around'.... Then as I was getting to 'Why can't I just say I love you?' she cut me off by hugging me and giving me a kiss." he said reliving that day rubbing his cheek still feeling the kiss.
"That's what took her so long then..." Applejack said to herself though Mac wasn't really listening if she was talking to him.
The siblings worked in silence the rest of the morning picking the apples and sorting them so Applejack could take them to market the next day.
As they were finishing up, the alarm of Applejack's watch went off saying it was time to pick up Apple Bloom from school.
Before she left she turned to Mac and said, "Well, I hope you work it out big brother."
"So do I sis..."
"So when are we gonna tell Bloom our plan then Scoots?" Sweetie Belle asked a few feet away from Apple Bloom who was waiting for Applejack to pick her up.
"Closer to the date so she doesn't have a choice on the matter," Scootaloo said back.
At the desks Diamond Tiara was braiding Apple Blooms hair having a conversation with her about that morning.
"I'm er... Sorry for what Twinkle said about Honey, Bloom..." Tiara said crossing the hair into a standard plat.
"Why should you?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Well, before I became friends with you I was with her remember..." she replied.
"So you still stick up and say sorry for her?" Apple Bloom said rubbing her eyes free of the tears forming.
"No... It's just..."
But before Diamond Tiara could say what it was, Applejack came in.
"Ready to go Sugarcube?" she asked nodding to Miss Cheerilee thanking her for letting Bloom stay behind and wait.
"Yes," Bloom said taking up the crutches and making her way over to her sister, waving goodbye to her friends.
Just as they were about to leave too Miss Cheerilee called them back.
"Oh girls," she said waiting until they were all back inside before she continued.
"I just want to say, I think it's very sweet that you'll give up going to Canterlot to keep Apple Bloom company on Field Trip Day."
Laughing on the inside at the shocked faces, she continued.
"This room's not very big girls, I could hear what you were saying. That and I was at Sugercube Corner yesterday and caught your plans in there." she said smiling.
Sweetie was the first to recover. "But we don't know how to tell her we want to do it. Or how she'll take it when we do."
"My suggestion dears," Miss Cheerilee said wiping the board clean "Is wait until the last minute then tell her. That way she won't have her say in it. But if you do that, I suggest a... er 'peace offering' of some kind. You know how Apples can be stubborn."
"Like what?" Scootaloo asked getting out a piece of paper and a pen.
"Cupcakes... cards... flowers..." their teacher listed "You know, something to show your doing this by yourselves because your her friend. Maybe something to do with Honey..."
After a few more minutes the girls left ideas going though their minds, smiles on their faces as they went to Sweet Apple Acres to see Apple Bloom again.
Being a good friend like she was, Rainbow Dash sometimes helped Fluttershy out at the clinic, normally either walking the dogs, or feeding them.
The two of them were tending to the animals feeding hours when the talk returned to Mac and Shy's anniversary that was coming up.
"So chosen what ya gonna do on your big day then Fluttershy?" she asked the way a sister would when mocking the other one.
"Not yet," Fluttershy responded, "Like I told Rarity this afternoon, we normally just go with it. It's normally a moonlight walk through the forest."
"But that's boring," Rainbow said exaggerating. "Last month Soarin and I went to a monster truck rally. Then after that we went over to the hockey ring and I beat him 5 - 0," she said her head a little bigger than before Fluttershy thought.
"Well... Um... I don't think either of us will like that Rainbow," Fluttershy said scratching a mothering cat behind the ear, checking over the kittens.
"But Shy," Rainbow said scooping out another cup of dried animal food mixing it with water and giving it to a very bouncy puppy. "No!" she said to it holding the bowl out of it's reach until it stopped bouncing. "That's better." she said give the pup his food. "Now Shy, you two can't just go into that forest every year. What's in there anyway for you to keep returning to? Why don't you go to a movie for once, or a restaurant, or something?"
"Memory's are in there Rainbow," Fluttershy said turning to her sibling-friend. "Past memory's of... Of his parents, and new ones of the two of us.
"The first time we went in there together, Appleseed was showing us where Mac's parents used to have their dates." she paused her eyes starting to sting. "And I think him nearly going the same way his father did five years ago but surviving because of me and 'Jack is another good reason to keep going back, to thank the forest for not taking him. Don't you." she said shoving her half of the pet food into Rainbow's hands and running away to shut herself in her office to cry about how the thought of how she almost lost Mac five years ago to the descendents of the wolves that took the Apple siblings father.
Stunned Rainbow did the rest of the feeding in silence, marked it on the chart, left a note for Fluttershy, and left the clinic thinking to herself that a few hours of football practice would short herself out.
"So what are you getting Fluttershy, Big Mac?" Apple Bloom asked her brother that night at dinner, remembering why he wasn't there the night before.
"It's a surprise Apple Bloom," Mac answered as he served himself some mashed potatoes, ears turning pink.
"But if I know, I can help can't I?" Apple Bloom answered playing with her food looking upset. "You know since I won't be busy getting ready for the field trip."
Seeing how upset his little sister was, Mac sighed pushed his plate away and faced her. "I was getting a ring set up for her for our anniversary." he said smiling a bit.
"That's it?" Apple Bloom asked looking at her brother. "It's your five-year-adversary and you're getting her a ring?"
"Well it's a special ring Sugarcube," Applejack stepped in seeing how bright Mac's ears were getting.
"May I be excused Granny," Apple Bloom asked "I don't feel all that hungry tonight."
"Alright child," Granny Smith said "Would you like one of us to come and say goodnight to you?" she asked ask Apple Bloom got to the door.
"No thank you Granny." Apple Bloom said leaving the adults to have their dinner, as she went up to her room.
*
Back in the Dining-Room, Granny Smith had turned to Mac.
"I hear you're having problems deciding how to ask Fluttershy the question, youngin" she said.
Mac turned to Applejack who through a mouthful of vegetables had a slight evil smile on her face.
"I... I just don't know where to ask it," Mac said "Or what to say Granny." Mac said looking at his plate suddenly not feeling hungry anymore either. "I mean I want to ask her in the barn to carry on the tradition, but the forest is where we er... had our first date." he said ears going again.
"I suggest the barn Big Mac," Applejack said mouth now free. "You know so you can do it in front of Pa, and Honey seeing how excited she seems to be about it."
"Alright," Mac said agreeing with that idea "But I still don't know how to ask her."
"It's not until Friday isn't it?" Applejack said looking at the calendar. "I'm sure if you ask around or give it some time, you'll work it out."
"No offense Sis," Mac said getting ready to induce any pain he might get, "But I don't think you're friends would keep this secret."
But surprisingly nothing came.
"I wasn't talking about my friends Mac," Applejack said clearing her plate away. "I was talking about yours. I'm sure Fancy Pants would have some idea on how to start it off."
Fancy Pants was one of Mac's oldest friends, who now was living in Canterlot as a high aristocrat with his equally as rich wife Fleur de Lis.
"Or we can ask other Apple's for their ideas," Applejack continued. "I'm sure Braeburn would have some. I got an e-mail from him last week saying he just asked for the Chief of the Indians daughter's hand, in Appleloosa."
"I'll think about it." Mac said getting down and heading out for the barn to tend to the animals.
"You better hurry then." Granny said getting herself down and going over to Mac. "You only have until Friday youngin. And I want to see my Great Grandchildren before I go." she said going to her knitting room with a smile on her old worn face.
Sighing again, Mac shook his head and went out to the barn.
As he got to the barn Mac was greeted with the cries from Appleseed, Nutmeg and Honey-Crisp all wanting to know how far he had gotten with Fluttershy.
"Well, I just worked out to ask her in here," Mac said going over to calm them down a bit, getting their brushes out.
"Still don't know how to though."
As if by a joke Appleseed pulled away and bowed to him as if to say 'Like this'
"Yes dad I know how to do it," Mac said continuing as Appleseed got back up. "What I mean is I don't know what to say to her before I do." he said stopping sighing a bit. "I wish you were still here to guide me."
When Mac was about twelve years old and Applejack was around five, one night from coming home from a family reunion their father got attacked by wolves as the car they were in was being repaired. All anyone could find of him the next day was his hat that Mac let Applejack keep, since she had less memories of Appleseed.
"And I wish mum was here to help Apple Bloom through the dumps she's going through at the moment." he continued as he turned to Honey-Crisp seeing her pace around happily wanting to be groomed next.
A few months after the wolves the siblings mother died while having Apple Bloom. The doctors said it was because she was tired from grieving over Appleseed. So Apple Bloom never met either of her parents. All she had were the pictures in Granny's family photo album.
Mac continued the grooming in silence, thinking of his parents. After checking that everyone had what they needed for the night, he left the barn making doubly sure to lock it and went back inside the house and to bed.