Ditzy and Mac's anniversary
Ditzy's eyes fluttered open. She yawned and clicked her tongue a few times. Macintosh was already up and out of bed, and she could hear him in the kitchen with their son, Carson. As she rolled out of bed she looked at the nightstand. A note addressed to her in Mac's best calligraphy was sitting atop the plain cloth that covered the ordinary wooden table. A rose sat atop the card; she smiled and sniffed it, then moved the rose aside. Ditzy opened the unsealed envelope and pulled free note that had the number sixteen on it. She opened the note and read the heartwarming letter Big Mac had left to her.
Sixteen years ago we were wed on this day, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I remember you looking beautiful as ever. I could ramble on forever about how beautiful you were then, or how beautiful you are now. For the past sixteen years, we've had some rough spots, but we pulled through. You are mother to my children, the listener to my troubles, and the wife that I wish I could deserve. Ditzy Apple, I love you. I know I've said it a million times, but I'll say it a billion times more, and it still wouldn't do justice to the feeling I have for you. Ditzy, my wife, my children's mother, and my best friend, I love you, happy sixteenth anniversary.
"Awww...Mac." Ditzy sighed as she read through the note again and again. Ditzy wished she had the way with words that Macintosh did, it made her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside and put butterflies in her stomach. She took out a piece of paper and wrote him a little love note in return.
Ditzy stood and quickly made her way to the bathroom to freshen up. After a quick shower and a bit of hair curling to make herself look pretty, she looked at herself in the mirror. Then she leaned in closer and spotted her current enemy. A single strand of gray hair cut annoyingly across her blond mane. She quickly picked it out in a fast motion that she had done countless times before. She really hated the idea of having a gray mane. It would look too close to her coat and then she would just look strange.
She gave herself a final look over before she left the room and went down the hall to the kitchen. Ditzy couldn't help but laugh at what she saw. Carson had been trying to make them breakfast, but that plan had gone bad. His face was covered in flour and his sandy-golden mane was streaked with sticky syrup, but he had his usual goofy smile on his face. Ditzy walked close to her son; she had to look up since he was already as tall as his father. A fact that she found quite annoying because he would sometimes lean on her head and tell her yet again she was the shortest one in the family. He looked down at her with his crooked eyes that held so much life in them that Ditzy thought they actually glowed.
"Ah almost got it this time, Momma." Carson said in his half changed voice from going into stallion hood. He had picked up his accent from Macintosh, obviously. Ditzy smiled warmly at her clumsy but sweet son. His docked tail flicked and a strangely large amount of pancake batter shook from the hairs of his tail. His cutie mark, a red delicious apple with wings, was dusted with powdered sugar. He had gotten his cutie mark from when he had flown with an apple cart to get it delivered faster. Now, because he could support the weight of an apple cart while flying Sweet Apple Acres sold apples in Cloudsdale, where Ditzy was employed to operate the stand with Carson.
"You'll get it soon. You just have to remember not to turn the mixer on high." Ditzy said lightheartedly. She didn't care that she would end up making breakfast; the same thing had happened the last five years. Every anniversary he and Macintosh would get up at their usual time, early, and Carson would insist on making them breakfast. He would always forget something that he knew he should have remembered. "Why don't you go wash up before breakfast?"
He trotted past her and down the hall to the bathroom. Ditzy got another box of pancake mix, and then another, and then a third. If there was anything she knew, it was that Macintosh and Carson together could almost eat anything. She had a bit of trouble trying to mix the batter by hoof. Then a large hoof came from behind her to help stir the batter.
"Happy anniversary, my big muffin." Ditzy said. She had picked up the nickname for him a while back, when Dinky wanted her to stop calling her 'my little muffin' because she was a big girl. So she started to call Macintosh her big muffin.
"Happy anniversary." He said. They kissed while they kept on slowly stirring the pancake mix into a thick paste. "Mmmm.. Ah sure do love pancakes."
"I would prefer muffins, but I know that if I make them you and our son will eat them before I can have one." Ditzy said from past experience.
"Ah guess that's true." He said. Ditzy looked back at her husband with a smile on her face. They kissed again, longer this time. Carson came back into the room and sat down at the dining table. After the batter had been properly stirred, Ditzy started up the stove and placed a skillet on the bottom left burner. She sprayed the pan with a non-stick spray and scooped a large dollop of batter out, then spread it around into an almost perfect circle. She waited about a minute, then flipped it over. Macintosh took a seat across from Carson and started to read a newspaper.
Ditzy spent the next few minutes making a stack of four pancakes and brought it to the table. Carson pulled the plate towards himself. Macintosh put a hoof on the plate.
"What do ya think ya are doing?" Macintosh put the newspaper aside.
"Eatin' the pancakes." Carson pulled the plate towards himself again.
"Boys, I'll make more." Ditzy said. They didn't stand down. Macintosh set his right leg on the table in a hoof- wrestling position. "Oh come on, it'll only take a few more minutes."
Carson let go of the plate and put his hoof in his father's. Ditzy watched as their muscles bulged as each one fought for the rights to the stack of pancakes. Ditzy sighed: they did this a lot. It was always in good fun, but it tended to wear on her nerves when it happened sometimes, like when they were just trying to eat breakfast.
They were so focused on trying to win the stack, that they didn't notice when Ditzy slipped the plate out from under their noses. She took a knife and some butter, and spread the butter on the pancakes. Ditzy slathered some syrup on them and began to eat while watching her husband and son hoof wrestle.
"Keep at it." Ditzy said with a mouth full of pancakes. They took notice and turned their heads to see Ditzy eating away at the prize of their competition.
"Hey!" They both complained. Ditzy gave them a smug smile as she took another bite. There was no way she could eat four pancakes, but she would make them wait for theirs. Macintosh smiled, and then he started to laugh from the belly.
"Alright, Sugar Cube, ya made your point." Macintosh stood from the table and went into the kitchen to make more flapjacks.
Ditzy finished the second pancake and then slid the plate across the table to Carson.
"Thanks, momma." He said hungrily, before he took a large bite. Ditzy leaned back in her chair.
"Shouldn't Dinky be up by now?" Ditzy asked more to herself than anypony else. Carson looked away, a little too quickly to not be suspicious. "Carson...?"
"Well, momma, she made me promise not to tell..." Carson said, and then quickly put another piece of flapjack in his mouth.
"Don't give me that, what did you do?" Ditzy asked. She saw out of the corner of her eye that Macintosh was listening in.
"She made me promise, momma..." Carson pleaded. He was as honest as any Apple and Dinky knew it, so she sometimes exploited it, not to be mean, but usually so he wouldn't tattle.
"Ya tell your mother, son." Macintosh chimed in. Carson gave her a pained look and in return she gave him a gentle but firm stare. Macintosh had finished a stack of pancakes and set in on the table as he took a seat next to his wife.
Carson kept his mouth closed and Ditzy came to a sudden realization. "It's her coltfriend, isn't it?"
Carson said nothing but his eyes betrayed his answer. Carson sighed; he knew the jig was up. "In the middle of the night, Ah had to use the restroom, and Ah saw Dinky letting him in. She told me not to say anything."
Ditzy put a hoof on top of her son's hoof. It upset him to break a promise and to have to keep things from his parents. She was a bit irked at him for not telling her right away, but she could never stay mad at him. He always had a way to look like he hadn't meant to do it and it always melted her anger away.
Ditzy pushed herself out from the table, and started to walk down the hall, followed by Macintosh. Ditzy stopped in front of her daughter's door and pressed her ear against the door.
"Shhhh...My brother should have broken by now, he can never keep a secret." She could hear Dinky say. Ditzy's face scrunched up in confusion. Macintosh raised an eyebrow. Ditzy put a hoof on the knob and turned it slowly. She swung the door open. A loud boom and a spray of confetti blew out of the room.
"Happy anniversary, mom and dad." Dinky said. Her coltfriend stood behind her with a smile on his face and the confetti held in a hoof
Ditzy looked back to Macintosh, who looked as confused as she was. Ditzy stammered out: "Uhhhh... What?"
"You didn't forget did you? I didn't think you were getting old that fast." Dinky smiled.
"Well, when Carson told us that you snuck your coltfriend in..." Ditzy trailed off. Dinky's face became beet red. Her coltfriend started to chuckle behind her.
"Mom!" Dinky pushed her mother.
"Well, thank ya very much." Macintosh thanked. "Y'all waited hours just for us to come in?"
"Eeyup." Dinky copied her dad's tone. "Well, this has been fun, but we have places to be."
Dinky said as she took her coltfriend's hoof and walked past them. It took a moment for Ditzy to realize that they left without cleaning up the confetti...Ditzy sighed, she would have to pick it up later. Macintosh nuzzled her neck.
"Ya want to go down to Sugar Cube Corner?" Macintosh asked.
"That sounds nice, should we bring Carson?" Ditzy asked. Macintosh looked at her with a look that said, 'you even have to ask?'
"Do apples grow on trees?" Macintosh chucked as he began to walk down the corridor. Ditzy was about to follow him when she spotted something amongst the colored pieces of paper scattered everywhere. Somehow the confetti had managed to dislodge a picture off the wall. She hung it back on the wall and gave it a quick look over.
It was one of her favorites. It was a picture of Hearth's Warming Eve many years before. Carson was around five in the picture. In the picture Carson was holding a small yolk proudly in his hooves. Ditzy never thought that a yoke was actually a good gift, but the look on Carson's face after opened it was priceless. Dinky was in the background a circle of presents set around her: she had been unable to decide what to open first. Macintosh was sitting off to the side, a warm half smile on his face.
Ditzy wrapped a scarf around her neck. She loved that scarf; it had been given to her by Macintosh on their last anniversary. Since they had been married in the winter, a lot of their anniversary gifts happened to be about staying warm. This particular scarf was very soft and very warm, and most importantly, it was a gift from her husband. She slid a wool cap over her ears to finish off her preparation for going out into the cold.
Macintosh also had a scarf wrapped around his neck. He looked lovingly at his wife as she did the same back. Carson was already waiting at the door, ready to go to the sweets shop. He was tapping his hoof impatiently, but that just made Ditzy feel like going slower just to tease him.
Macintosh looked at Ditzy and winked. "Ya know what, Sugar Cube, Ah think Ah don't feel like sweets anymore."
Ditzy giggled silently, and said: "Yeah me either. Maybe we could go to the theater instead, watch a romance."
"That sounds mighty fine." Macintosh said playfully. Carson didn't pick up on the playfulness, and he had a very disappointed look on his face. Ditzy decided that it was time to stop, before Carson got too disappointed.
"Yeah, but now that I think about it, I do feel like sweets." Ditzy said and a flame of hope could be seen in Carson's gaze. Macintosh chuckled, before they trudged out into the cold.
Snow crunched under hoof as they walked the road down to Sugar Cube Corner. Ponies happily went along with their daily lives.
"Did we ever tell you, that your father and I's first date was at Sugar Cube Corner?" Ditzy brought up
"No, ya didn't." Carson responded. He was obviously forcing himself not to outpace his parents.
"Well, we did." Ditzy said unsure of what else to say.
"We weren't even planning to go there, but Ah was so nervous about the date with your mother Ah forgot to look for somewhere to eat." Macintosh kept the conversation going.
"Ya were nervous about dating mom?" Carson asked. They were getting close to their destination.
"Well, ya momma's quite pretty and Ah was just a farm worker, Ah didn't think Ah was in the same league as her." He said, Ditzy leaned into him affectionately.
"Your father's being modest. He was the one that all the mares wanted to be with, I was so nervous on that date I thought I would blow up. Your father was so handsome and kind." Ditzy said as they reached their destination.
The door hit a bell as it swung open. Ditzy spotted a table near a window for them to sit. Pumpkin Cake was taking the orders on that particular day.
"Carson, would you go and order us a few cupcakes?" Ditzy asked. Carson nodded his head excitedly, before he went to wait in line. Ditzy and Mac took a seat across from each other.
"This brings back memories, don't-" Macintosh was cut off.
"Shhhh...Mac look." Ditzy pointed to Carson, who was now standing at the front of the line.
"Hello, Carson. What would you like today?" Pumpkin Cake asked. Carson just stared at her, a blank look on her face. "Uhhhh...Carson?"
He shook himself out of his stare. "Howdy, Ms. Cake, ya look mighty pretty today." It took Carson a moment to realize what he said, and when he did his face became as red as Macintosh's coat. "Ah mean the sweets...they look...good."
Pumpkin Cake had a slight blush on her cheeks. "You don't have to call me Ms. Cake. I've told you dozens of times, call me Pumpkin."
"My dad told me that it was polite to call mares Ms." Carson said. Ditzy looked over at her husband, who had a proud gleam in his eyes.
"That's sweet." She leaned over the counter and gave him a little peck on the cheek. "Please, just call me Pumpkin. Also, there is a dance on Friday...would you like to go with me?"
"E...eeyup." Carson's face was bright red by that point. Pumpkin Cake giggled as he walked back to the table and sat down. He had a blank look on his face. Ditzy let out a giggle, her son's little crush was just too cute.
"Carson, you forgot to order." Ditzy said.
"Eeyup." He said blankly. He put a hoof to his cheek where Pumpkin had given him a peck. Ditzy knew she hadn't even heard what she said.
"Come on, Sugar, let's go order." Macintosh suggested. Ditzy nodded and stood up with her husband and walked to the counter.
"Oh, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Apple. I was wondering if one of you was going to order, Carson didn't actually order anything." Pumpkin had a friendly smile that came with all of the Cake family.
"Hello Pumpkin." Ditzy said as she looked down through the glass that housed the treats that tantalized her tastebuds. "I'll have a chocolate cupcake."
"Ah'll have the same." Macintosh said. He set a few bits on the counter and they took the muffins and started back to the table.
"Mrs. Apple?" Pumpkin spoke up. Ditzy turned her head, she could see that she had something important to ask her, and Ditzy had a feeling that it had to do with her son. She waved Macintosh to keep going. He shrugged and made his way to the table.
"Yes, Pumpkin?" Ditzy asked.
"Do you think Carson likes me? I mean he keeps calling my Ms. Cake and he doesn't seem to want to talk to me, is it me?" Pumpkin asked. She had concern plastered to her face. Ditzy could help but chuckling a little.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, you're a very nice young mare." Ditzy pointed back to Carson who still had his hoof on his cheek. "Just give him a little time and he'll open up soon, but if that doesn't work a quick way to his heart is if you can bake...and I know you can bake."
"Thanks Mrs. Apple." Pumpkin sounded grateful.
Clink. Ditzy and Mac tapped their wine glasses together. They were at a nice restaurant, away from the kids, just for a little while. Ditzy took a sip of the white wine, before setting it on the table. They had already ordered and were waiting for their food.
"Ah like those earrings, Sugar." Macintosh complimented. Ditzy put a hoof up to her ear to feel the earring again: she didn't often wear jewelry, but for a nice restaurant she would spruce herself up a bit.
"Thanks. It's hard to believe that it's been sixteen years already, it's gone by so fast." Ditzy said. "Soon, Dinky will be leaving the house and we'll have grandkids."
"That boy best be marrying her before that happens." Macintosh said. It was kind of hypocritical, seeing as they had almost had a foal before they were married.
"And it feels like yesterday that Carson was just a foal, now he's a tall, strong young stallion." Ditzy went on.
"And by the looks of it he might be havin' a marefriend real soon." Macintosh added. "And if that ends up workin' out, Ah can look forward to free baked goods."
Ditzy chuckled. She looked across the candlelit table at her husband. She felt a deep, firm love for him in her chest.
"Happy anniversary." Ditzy said.
"Happy anniversary." Macintosh said and they leaned across the table and kissed. Their meal arrived to break the kiss. Macintosh looked down at his meal, with a disappointed grimace on his face. It was very small portions at this particular restaurant. "Ah paid 28 bits for this?"
Ditzy carefully cut her meal to make it last. Macintosh had his down it twenty seconds. "The point is to savor the meal."
"Well, not much to savor." Macintosh still looked very hungry.
They ate the meal, paid, then left. They walked through the cold winter's night, gazing up at the stars. They walked slowly back to the house, enjoying each other's company. Ditzy stopped to stare at the majesty of Luna's masterpiece, and then moved along to get out of the cold.
"Yes! A million times yes!" They heard Dinky shout as they reached to the door. Ditzy looked at Macintosh, who had a slight smile on his face. They opened the front door to see Dinky's coltfriend down on a knee and Dinky almost crying with a wedding band around her hoof. "Momma, I'm getting married!"
Ditzy squealed, and ran up to the side of her daughter to ogle over the wedding band. Carson stood in the doorway between the living room and the dining room, a tired look on his face. He was usually asleep by that time. Macintosh slapped Dinky's coltfriend on the back, throwing him a few feet forward.
Ditzy looked around. She was with her family, her husband, daughter, son, and soon to be son-in-law. Ditzy felt an inner peace. This was her life: it wasn't always perfect, but she wouldn't change it for the world, and she was happy.
The end.
A/N: Thank you all for sticking with me through these two stories, they have been a joy to write. It was a pleasure to see that people could enjoy my storytelling. Thanks to my magnificent beta reader, BlackRoseRevan. If you have anything to say, please say it now. (Bad comments to yourself please) You all of made this a great joy to write and I hope you have enjoyed your time spend on reading these tales. I have no idea what I'm going to write next.
Cheers, and have a good day.