//------------------------------// // Follow your heart // Story: Big Mac's Confrontation // by GroanyBrony //------------------------------// Big Mac's Confrontation Chapter 5: Follow your heart After her anger had subsided, Toffee set out to return to her brother's house, in the hopes that should Big Mac find and convince him to return, Caramel would come home first, so she could greet him warmly and call him out on how much of a fool he had been to worry her like he had. In truth, she had felt somewhat guilty about how she had bullied Big Mac into searching for him. But, in her heart, she knew she had done the right thing. He had hurt her brother in more ways than he had originally assumed, and it was his responsibility to pick up the pieces. By the time she had left the orchard behind and set out on the road to the market, Celestia's sun had gracefully slipped behind the mountain ranges in the distance and allowed Luna's moon to greet the land with her beauty. The stars twinkled in the clear night sky like a thousand tiny gems. The animals of the night had woken from their slumber and were now hopping and dashing throughout the fields. It was a peaceful night meant for blissful dreams; yet Toffee's mind was clouded with worry and grief. She was worried that she may never see her little brother again, worried that he was alone in the world, with nowhere to run and nothing to his name. Most of all, she was worried that in convincing him to pursue the stallion that had broken his heart, she had played a part in his decision to abandon Ponyville. As Toffee approached the market, she glanced up at the home her brother once occupied and noticed the door was left slightly ajar. It was unlike Caramel to have forgotten something as simple as closing the door on his way out. For such an unlucky pony, he had the memory of an elephant! She began to feel nervous. What if somepony had broken in? She could defend herself in a fight, but they could get the jump on her. Brushing aside her worries, Toffee entered the house and stopped abruptly when she heard sounds coming from the lounge. However, they were not the sounds of a pony rummaging through belongings, looking for anything that may be considered an item of value; but mumbling, as if somepony was talking to himself. When she entered the lounge she saw Big Mac reading a note he had taken from the mantelpiece, his eyes darting frantically from left to right, his face contorting with despair as he read on. After a few minutes of standing silently in place, watching Big Mac as he read the note over and over again, he finally fell to his haunches and did something that Toffee had never expected a stallion of his reputation to ever do. He sobbed. His face in his hooves, Big Mac began to cry as he came to the realisation that he had lost a true friend that evening. Baffled by the way this large stallion had suddenly broken down in front of her, Toffee started towards him, wary of how he may react in his current state. As she came within a few steps of him, she was startled as he spoke in a voice that portrayed how empty he felt inside. "He's gone. Mel just up an' left. Ah dunno where he is. He's gone" he whispered, his voice barely audible over the sounds of the wind and the wildlife. "Ah know. Ah saw him leave when ah came to see you" she replied, barely able to contain the tears that threatened to escape. "Listen...Big Mac, ah-" "I'm sorry" "What?! Big Mac, y'ain't got a reason t'apologise to me. Ah was wrong to shout at ye like that, ah just...ah don' wanna see my Mel get hurt." "This is mah fault. Ah shouldn've shouted at him like ah did. He's mah... he was mah friend." "S'alright...ah know ye didn' mean none of it. You was shocked. You jus'..." "Jus' what?" "You jus' ain't a smart pony is all ye big oaf." Toffee chuckled weakly. Her attempts to lighten the mood in the dark lounge did nothing to lift Big Mac's spirit. "Jus' outta curiosity...why did ye say what ye did? Was it shock or some other silly thing like that?" "Honestly...ah don't know. After mah Ma passed mah Pa...he..." Toffee could tell he was struggling with what he wanted to say. These were memories that Big Mac had tried to keep repressed, but in the light of recent events had come to the surface. "He didn't see eye to eye with me on some things..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Big Mac ran from Caramel's house, tears of anger and frustration streaming down his cheeks. Approaching the farm, he barged through the front door and made immediately for the stairs and his room, where he could crawl under the safety of his blanket and cry for as long as it may take to wash the pain away. Just as his hoof made it to the top of the stairs, his father yelled from the kitchen. "Boy! Git down here!" his father growled, followed by the loud smash of glass on wooden walls. Big Mac wavered for a few short seconds, caught between a desire to recuperate from the loss of both his mother and his best friend, and not wanting to disobey his father. However, those few seconds were enough to rile his father, fuelling his anger more than his abrupt entrance already had done. "BOY! GIT DOWN HERE NOW!” his father screamed, voice echoing throughout the house. Another smash and some loud grumbling coming from the kitchen and Big Mac was heading down the stairs; unaware of what was to come. "Where've ye been, boy?" The stench of alcohol was overbearing and Big Mac could do nothing to prevent himself from inhaling the foul fumes of the bottled poison, even from where he stood on the opposite side of the kitchen to his inebriated, pitiful excuse of a stallion that he called a father. Glass littered the floor on either side of him and large dents could be seen in the wooden panels where half filled bottles had collided with them. Alcohol drenched the walls around the dents, permeating the air around him with the foul smell of cheap whiskey and cider. When Big Mac failed to respond, his father repeated the question through clenched teeth. "Ah...ah was at Mel's house. Ah wasn't-" "I knew it! You and that boy are getting awful close ain't ye? Ye sure y'ain't a coltcuddler?" He asked, his eyes judging his son as he attempted to find any evidence of a lie. Though in his drunken state, he would be lucky to walk in a straight line, let alone play lie detector for his own son. "NO! Pa ah ain't-" "DON’T LIE TO ME BOY!" he yelled, as he whipped another bottle at the wall next to Big Mac. It smashed as it collided with the wall and shards of glass rained down on Big Mac, cutting him in several places and opening small wounds as he cowered from the stallion. Wincing from pain of being sliced by the cascading shards of glass, Big Mac began to weep. He was scared of his father now, where before he had seen him as a protector of the family. Now he saw a broken man, fuelled by hate and the loss of the only mare he had ever loved. "Ah'm n-not lying pa. Ah'm r-really n-not..." "Yer one of 'em ain't ye...a filthy, good fer nothin' freak. Well I'll tell ye...Ah ain't havin' no son of mine going around bucking colts. No sir! As far as ah'm concerned, ah have no son." The words came out slurred as he glared into his son's eyes, which were now wider than ever. The words cut deeper than any blade could, and Big Mac found himself bursting into tears as the shock of what his father had said sunk in. "Pa ah-" "NO!...Git out now or ah'll...or ah'll..." and with that, the stallion of the Apple household collapsed into a drunken heap on the floor, snoring heavily as he entered dreams in which him and his wife were still together, playing happily with their two children, their two daughters at the beach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "He never spoke to me again after that. If he had to, he would just grunt or snarl at me until I shut up..." Big Mac was weeping freely now, the tears flowing down his cheeks and onto the note that he had become unaware of once again. Despite the tears, Big Mac was in control and composed himself before speaking again, ensuring that he spoke clearly. "A few weeks later he left...left me an AJ to look after Granny Smith and Applebloom all on our own. Ah guess ah...ah may have taken some of his ideals from him 'fore he left. It was all ah had left of ‘im, besides the bruises that is. As much as he hurt me ah…he was mah father an’ ah loved him as such." "Ah'm sorry...ah... ah didn't know..." Toffee replied, crying freely with Big Mac as he recalled the story. It had struck her more than she realised and before she knew it, she was sobbing with him. "So...ye said all that...jus' cause ye father believed it?" "Mmhmm" he nodded, slightly ashamed of his actions. "It’s hard to think of him as wrong; even after all he did to us." “Us? You weren’t the only one he hurt then?” “He tried to hurt AJ an’ Applebloom but ah stood in his way. Ah weren’t about to let them suffer.” Big Mac hung his head, as if he was ashamed of the purely noble actions of his childhood. "Well...ye more of a buffoon than ah took ye for!" "What do ye mean?" "Yer father was a misguided fool. Sometimes ye gotta accept that ye parents ain't always right; that sometimes, they don't know what's best for ye. Ah'm sure they have yer best interests at heart, but parents can be a bit dim sometimes" She gently nudged him on the muzzle with a hoof, reassuring him that she didn't judge him any more. "Ah also acted like a fool today. Mel is gone...ah gotta accept that. He's a good, honest pony. Ah'm sure he'll do fine....Now! Go get some shuteye. Y'look like crap" and after picking him up, shooing him out of the house and giving him a playful wink, Big Mac was left alone, in the cold dark of twilight, to walk back home and sleep. *** Big Mac spent the nest few days alone. As soon as he returned, he crawled under his quilt, shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep. His nights were plagued with nightmares, the faces of loved ones ridiculing and criticising him for how he acted. The only time he ever left his room was to go for meals or to go to the toilet, but other than that, he kept himself confined to his room, his thoughts his only companion as the citizens of Ponyville began to prepare for the upcoming storm of the century. The pegasi were brewing a ferocious storm and the residents of Ponyville had been warned to prepare and get inside whilst they can, for the storm would be upon them in a matter of days. Trees were trimmed; the loose branches cut off and disposed of so as not cause any damage as they are hurled around by the wind. (One pony, however, couldn't help herself and redecorated more loose branches than she disposed of.) Windows and doors were being barred off to stop the worst of the wind from affecting the ponies inside. Big Mac's family had tried to get him to help, but he was too depressed to leave his room, let alone prepare for the disaster-to-be! On the third night after his return, Big Mac found himself looking over the note that Caramel had left, as he had done several times a day over the last few days. He read it because it reminded him of the mistake he had made, and he hoped that it would prevent him from making the same mistake ever again. Having had so much time to think about the grave mistake, Big Mac had come to realise how close-mined he had been. He had come to realise that it doesn't matter who you like, be they a colt or a filly. It was difficult for him to disregard all that his relatives had taught him, but he stuck to it, and listening to the wise advice of the only filly who had managed to snap him out of his despair, listened only to what his heart told him was right. At that moment he was content. In fact, he even dared to assume that he was happy. Now, as he re-read the note again and again, he found himself troubled by the words that Caramel had used. Something about what he had written for him unnerved him for reasons he couldn't explain. " I hope you don't feel the need to find me, but I won't stop you. This may be foolish of me and it may prove my downfall, but on the off chance that you grew a heart back there, you know where to find me...just look in that heart of ice...I'm sorry. " It was at this point that his heart leapt a hundred metres in the air and came hurtling back down. He had to double check just to make sure that he knew for sure what he was about to say. Again, he read that last part to himself, assuring himself that he was right. He knew he was. He had to be. He just needed to be sure. " you know where to find me...just look in that heart of ice...I'm sorry. " His eyes became wide and he grinned like a maniac. " you know where to find me... " His smile widened as he said out loud the thought that made him smile with such glee, and as the words escaped his muzzle, he felt the weight of a thousand guilty memories lift off of him. He was beyond happy. He was ecstatic. He repeated the beautiful words one last time before he raced out of his room, out of the farm and into the windswept town of Ponyville, disregarding the cries of his family as he raced out into the stormy weather. As he galloped down the dirt road that he had travelled too many times in the short time since the argument, the storm brewing and the clouds overhead ready to burst, the wind whipping at his golden mane, he whispered to himself once again, the words that had caused such a stir within him. "I know where to find Caramel!" Unbeknownst to him, he had just leapt from the frying pan and into the fire.