Mistaken for Strangers

by Evan MacIan

Fake Empire

It had started to rain after they had got home. It brought enough of a chill that Big Mac built a small fire in the master bedroom’s fireplace.

Rarity set a quilt in front of the fire and laid down on it, worn out by the emotion of the day.

Big Mac lay down behind Rarity, wrapping one of his large hooves around her.

They watched the flames flicker, red and yellow, getting whiter near its base.

“Ah wonder who he’ll take after?” Big Mac said.

“‘He?’” Rarity repeated with some amusement.

“Sure,” Big Mac answered. “There's more’en enough fillies running around the farm as it is.”

Rarity laughed. “I wouldn’t mind a little colt. I just wonder if he’ll be an earth pony or a unicorn?”

Big Mac chuckled. “It’d be funny to see a unicorn with a docked tail.”

“Wait,” Rarity said, turning slightly to look at him, “you want to dock his tail?”

“Course,” he answered. “Apple boys always get their tails docked at birth.” He gave his own shortened tail a slight wave to accent his point. “Don’t want it gettin’ caught in harnesses an’ such.”

Rarity lips tightened slightly. “Well,” she said, settling back against Big Mac, “we can talk about it later.”

They lay silently.

“Rare?”

“Yes, darling?”

“How much do ya know?” he asked. “About what happened b’tween me and Ace?”

Rarity paused for a moment, then answered, “I know you beat him up. I know how poorly you were doing then, because of your parents dying. That you were drinking, and that Applejack ran away to Manehatten because of you.” She felt Big Mac tense up slightly. “I also know it doesn’t matter. I don’t know how you changed, but I don’t need to. I know who you are now.”

Big Mac pulled her tighter against himself. “It was right after Ah beat up Ace…”

Big Mac was humming a tuneless song as he stumbled up the path towards the farmhouse. His forehead ached slightly from where Ace had hit him, but he was buzzed enough to not care. He entered. Granny Smith was sitting in the living room in her rocking chair.

“Hey, Granny!” he called out cheerfully.

“Where ya been?” she asked. There was an edge to her voice. “Gone all night. Drinkin’, Ah don’t doubt.” She looked at the dried blood on his forehead. “Ah guess she was right. Out fightin’.”

Big Mac gave a smirk. “Weren’t much of a fight.”

She glared at him. “AJ’s gone.”

His smirk faded. “What do ya mean, ‘gone?’”

“She ran off yesterday.” Granny Smith answered. “Right after ya stormed off. She tol’ me she didn’t want to see ya get hurt. Tol’ me she was gonna go live with our relatives in Manehatten.”

“An’ ya jus’ let her go?!” Big Mac charged out the door.

“Ya think yer gonna talk her into coming back?” Granny Smith shouted after him. “She left ’cause of you!”

Big Mac galloped down the path. He cut through the northern orchard, taking a short cut towards the main road leading out from Ponyville. He ran out from under the trees and into a bare field, covered by a cloudy sky. It’s already too late to catch her, the more rational part of his mind said. She’s long gone by now. He started to slow down as he reached the edge of the field, coming to a stop where it met the road.

Granny Smith’s words echoed in his head. “She left ’cause of you!”

“It ain’t mah fault,” he said aloud. “This is ‘cause of the trouble ‘tween Ace an’ me. This is his fault!” He looked down the road towards the town.

“Ah oughta kill ‘em!”

Big Mac pawed the ground and started towards Ponyville at a canter.

That won’t bring her back.

“So what if Ah drove her off. So what?! Ah ain’t her pa! It weren’t supposed to be mah job to look out fer her!”

Ah should have been lookin’ after mah family.

“What do Ah care if she ran off?!”

They were mah responsibility.

“They all think Ah’m the bad guy, huh?!”

Applejack needs me. Granny Smith needs me. Apple Bloom needs me most of all.

He snorted. “Well, maybe Ah am the bad guy!”

Big Mac started to slow down.

“Maybe Ah am the bad guy,” he repeated quietly.

He stopped completely.

“Fine. So Ah’m the bad guy.”

Big Macintosh took a few more steps, then stopped again.

“Ah—” He looked up at the sky. “Help me. Help me, dammit!” His voice grew louder and louder. “You have to help! You have to! ” He paused, then screamed, “DAMN YOU! WHY WON’T YOU HELP?! YOU HAVE TO HELP!”

He waited, for what he didn’t know. The world around him was empty, cold, and silent. The only sound was his breath, ragged and desperate.

Big Mac lowered his head. “Please,” he said. “Please. Ah ain’t strong enough. Ah can’t change. Ah ain’t strong enough. Ah don’t have any choice. Help me.”

At that moment a tremendous thunder roared through the fields. It tore branches off trees and flattened the grass. The force picked Big Mac off his hooves and slammed him on his back, knocking the breath out of him. Looking up he saw a great expanding wave of color exploding across the sky. It dissolved the clouds in its way, like water washing away dirt. In its trail the sky was left a clear blue, the sun unveiled and standing brilliant and blinding above the world.

Big Mac gasped for air, his eyes watering. He drew a deep breath, then another. Rolling onto his stomach, he pushed himself up.

A sound, drifting across the fields from the direction of the farmhouse, reached his ears. He listened to the sound for a moment, then took off running towards home.

It was the sound of animals screaming in terror.

His back hurt like hell, and he could hardly breath, but he ran anyway. As he neared the house he could see the destruction the explosion had caused. It looked like a tornado had come through. There were tree branches scattered across the ground, and all the windows in the house had shattered. From everywhere came frightened squeals of the farm animals.

He looked around wildly. “Granny!” There was no reply. “GRANNY!” he screamed.

“Ah’m over here!”

He saw her come around the side of the barn.

“Ah’m alright! Ah had gone to check on the pigs, when....” she looked up at the sky and shook her head. “What happened?”

“Where’s Apple Bloom?!” Big Mac shouted. “Where is she?!”

“In the house—in her crib!”

He charged through the front door and into Apple Bloom’s nursery. She was laying in her rocking crib, crying her eyes out, but otherwise fine. Big Mac closed his eyes for a moment and let out a shuddering sigh of relief. He leaned over the railing and looked down at her, gently rocking the cradle back and forth. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “Ah’m here.”

Apple Bloom’s crying slowly subsided. She reached up with a hoof towards Big Mac’s face. He leaned in so she could reach.

She nuzzled his snout, giving a quiet coo.

Big Mac said, “Ah promise Ah’ll always look after ya.” A tear trickled down his cheek. “Ah know Ah haven’t been there for ya lately, but Ah promise Ah do better. Ah’ll always be there for ya, for you an’ for the whole family, no matter what. Ah love ya, Little Sis.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek, then went out to help Granny with the animals.

The fire had started to die down by the time he finished his story. Big Mac got up and carefully placed a new log in the fireplace. He then went and lay back down beside Rarity.

“That explosion you saw,” Rarity said, “it was Rainbow Dash. That was the day we got our cutie marks.”

“Ah know,” Big Mac replied. “Ah figured it out after AJ tol’ me ’bout how y’all saw it together. When it happened, it was like world was ending. Ah thought Ah was going to lose everything.” He was silent for a moment, then continued, “After that, Ah stopped goin’ out and getting’ drunk. Went and made peace with Ace, told him Ah was in the wrong. Ah started workin’ the farm, really workin’. Applejack came home soon after, and Ah did my best to take care of her an’ Apple Bloom.” He stared into the fire. “Ah hope Ah’ll be a good father.”

Rarity rolled over to look at him. “Of course you will be.”

“How do ya know?”

She gave one of her light silvery laughs. “If you asked anyone in Ponyville who the most dependable pony around is, who would they say?”

“Applejack,” he promptly replied.

“That’s right,” Rarity answered. She smiled, the same smile she always got when she was about to win an argument. “And if you asked Applejack who the most dependable pony around is, who would she say?”

“Well,” he hesitated.

She raised an eyebrow.

“... Ah guess she’d say me,” he finished.

She nodded. “And when Apple Bloom has a nightmare, who is it she comes and wakes up at night?” She paused. “Or interrupts, at least?”

Big Mac gave a chuckle at the embarrassing memory. “Ah guess that’s me too.”

“So if Applejack, Apple Bloom, and I all think that you can be counted on, are you really going to disagree?”

He laughed. “No. Ah’ve learned not to try an’ argue when the Apple ladies band together.” His laughter faded away. “Yer sure?” he asked quietly.

She gave him a soft kiss. “As sure as sunshine.”

I would like to thank RustedRabbit for providing the cover image, as well as Ponyfanficer and especially Hyperexponential over at Ponychan for their help in critiquing and vastly improving this story.