My Little Inktober Stories

by SparkleForever

Journey

Author's Note:

Sequel to Poisoned Love and Swing

Big Mac makes one of his last deliveries for Sweet Apple Acres. Little does he know, he's about to stumble upon the next chapter of his life.

Rolling hills turned to dense forests that rose toward mountain peaks. The uneven dirt road Big Mac traveled continued to stretch toward the skies above, and he found himself wishing that it would go on forever. The miles between him and Sweet Apple Acres still seemed far too few.

The yoke around his chest bumped and chaffed leaving him sore, but he didn’t bat an eye at the strain. All in a good day’s work, and he was accustomed to hauling goods. A cart of the Apple family’s goods trailed behind him, loaded with a fresh batch of apple cider and apple pastries. He was making a delivery to a remote town in the mountains. It would be one of his last.

He frowned, worrying his lip. Call him what you will, but he hadn’t yet had the courage to tell his family about his plans to leave the farm behind. But he was going to, and soon. He was growing increasingly restless going through the motions of farm life, and a pervasive listlessness seemed to emanate from his very being when he wasn’t working. His life had never looked so bleak.

After what happened during the infamous Hearts and Hooves Day incident, Big Mac had all but cut himself off from his sisters and Granny Smith. It wasn’t their fault, per say. What happened had been an accident.

But Big Mac remembered. And it was the remembering that left him awake in the dark of night, fighting back tears as he thought of the love that had been torn from his hooves.

Miss Cheerilee. The beautiful Ponyville teacher that taught Apple Bloom and her friends. He’d had a crush on her for years, but shyness had kept him from approaching her. And then it happened.

Like magic, she returned his feelings and his love for her only grew.

Quite cruelly, she was torn from him. And he was left wallowing in the aftereffects of a botched love potion, courtesy of Apple Bloom and her friends.

He drank a love poison, all because somepony decided to play matchmaker.

And afterwards his family dealt with him in the most humiliating way. He was publicly roped and dragged off to an isolation shed, where he spent the next hour throwing himself against the reinforced walls like a deranged stallion.

Looking back, he really was deranged under the poison’s influence. His steps suddenly faltered on the rough path and his vision dimmed as he recalled the vile things he’d said to his family at their “betrayal.” There was another reason he wanted to leave Ponyville. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t been in his right mind. The things he had said…his reputation amongst the townsfolk had been ruined. With a snort and a toss of his mane, he resumed his previous pace up the slope.

What hurt the most, Cheerilee didn’t like him in the least, afterwards revealing that the poison had no lasting consequences on her. She honestly didn’t remember most of what they had gotten up to during that few hours they spent in the grips of the enchanted elixir.

A deep sigh left him. Big Mac continued to ruminate as he steadily climbed the mountain roads. He only slowed as the air thinned, but by then he had already reached his destination. He looked around appraisingly.

The town was modest, home to only a hundred ponies or so. The architecture of the houses were the complete opposite of Ponyville, straight walled, colorless and imposing. He immediately knew that this wouldn’t be a place he’d settle down. As much as he wanted to distance himself from his hometown, he was certain that he’d grow to miss Ponyville’s iconic thatched roofs and patchwork colors.

As he was greeted by the townsfolk and he began to set up to sell his wares, the restlessness came back in full force. It was all he could do to keep from picking up his hooves as ponies began crowding around the cart. He nodded politely to the endless stream of conversation, but made no move to engage with them.

Face after face, bit after bit passed by blessedly fast, and before he knew it he was down to the last barrel and crate in the cart. Looking at the sky, he knew he needed to set off if he wanted to make it back to Ponyville before sundown. After a moment’s deliberation, he decided that the remaining goods weren’t worth the amount of time required to sell them.

Just as he hitched the cart to his yoke, he saw her. A slender face framed by mauve locks and crowned with a gleaming horn.The breath caught in his throat and a blush masked by his red coat spread across his muzzle. Then he realized that the unicorn was galloping toward him with saddle bags across her back, her eyes bright and pleading with him to wait. Big Mac smiled for the first time in what felt like weeks.

It was awkward, he stumbled over his words a lot, but he sold the remaining cider and pastries to her dirt cheap. And to his immense pleasure, she looked at him, really looked at him, and a shy smile spread across her muzzle.

Sugar Belle. Her name was Sugar Belle, and she was a baker.

Suddenly Our Town looked much more welcoming, and Big Mac knew right then and there: the next chapter of his life would begin here.