Chapter 11- Weight Problem
Mac strained against his yoke, the sweat beading down his neck as his veins bulged in concentrated strength. This was the biggest dead tree in the southeast field, and it was putting up quite a fight. Ordinarily, he could just buck the tree down, but pulling out an entire tree was a lot easier than trying to remove a stump. It was hard work, probably the hardest job he ever had to do.
Plowing was simple, unless he hit a rock. Applebucking didn't even seem like work, and pulling the apple cart into town might as well have been a leisurely stroll.
Mac stopped pulling and glanced over his shoulder. The roots were beginning to budge, but it was barely noticeable. He exhaled sharply before turning back around, his old yoke pressing into his shoulders as he continued to give it everything he had. Sure, he could pull a house, but a house wasn't rooted ten feet into the ground.
A tree this size usually only took a few tugs, but this one was certainly being stubborn.
"Hey Mac, how's the tree clearin' comin'?" AJ's voice stopped him in the middle of his effort as he unclenched his eyes.
"How's it look like it's comin'?" he grunted, taking a sip from a small canteen of water he had slung over his shoulder. This tree was getting on his nerves.
"No need ta get snippy, Ah was just askin'," she shot back.
Applejack looked to the many smaller dead trees around him. "How come you're startin' with the toughest tree first?"
"Makes the work get easier as I go, instead of harder," he replied, setting himself for another attempt. He planted his massive hooves in the dirt, and tightened the chains around his yoke. He was damn near ready to give this tree everything he had to uproot it.
With one final tug, he felt the stubborn roots give way, and heard the dirt rip from the ground as he took a few steps forward to avoid having the tree land on him.
"Mind tellin' me where you went for six hours after supper last night?" AJ asked sternly, as Mac unhitched himself from the chains wrapped around the now felled tree.
"Ah was at Rainbow's, and she wasn't there, so Ah waited on her ta get back," he explained, taking a break to finish all the water he had on him. "It was pretty late before she got home, 'cause she—" Mac stopped himself. It wasn't exactly his place to go spreading her good news around. Then again, he had read the announcement in the Ponyville Gazette, so he figured AJ must have as well.
"'Cause she what?"
"She made it into the Wonderbolts," he smiled, unable to hide his happiness for his marefriend.
His sister's eyes sparkled at the news. Apparently, she hadn't read the morning paper.
"She did? Well hot damn! Ah bet she was thrilled when she finally got home!"
Mac shifted his eyes away from her, "She was somethin'," he muttered.
"C'mon back to the barn Mac, lunch is ready," she said, looking behind him to the fruits of his labor, "You've earned it."
He followed his sister into the farm house, more than willing to chow down, and grab some food for his no doubt hungry marefriend as well.
After lunch and finishing his afternoon chores, Mac decided to pay Rainbow a visit. He remembered how drunk she'd been the night before, and how well she did with hangovers, so he figured she could use some food and apple juice. Packing the items in his saddlebag, he departed, but not before readying another batch of the potion he needed not to fall through Rainbow's house. This was a fresh batch, and he was honestly starting to get used to the taste.
It usually took about the time needed to walk to her house for the lightness potion to kick in. He hoped she'd been drinking a lot of water since last night, but it was already almost four, so he figured she'd at least be conscious by now.
Once he had arrived, he waited for the tingle in his legs to signal it was safe to ascend to Rainbow's house.
No sooner had he set his hoof on the first rung of the ladder did he feel himself begin float skywards. Mac clutched the ladder between his forelegs as he continued to climb like a balloon set free on the breeze.
"Rainbow!" he shouted, praying she was home. Who knows how far he would have floated it he'd let go. He certainly didn't want the dubious honor of being the first pony in space. "Rainbow, help!"
It had only been a few minutes after she began to sink into the depths of self pity when Rainbow could have sworn she heard Mac calling her name. Playing it off as nothing, she stared back down at her belly. How could she have let this happen? She was Rainbow Dash! Always in control, always the master of her own destiny, but this! This was a cosmic curveball she should have seen coming. She and Mac had never once thought about the consequences of their bedroom antics. She knew there was a chance, but figured as long as he 'pulled out' she wouldn't end up like this.
She could have kicked herself for being so careless. Her fears immediately turned to her new employers. She hadn't had time to read the entire contract, and even if she had, she was no lawyer. What if they fired her, or worse, made her give back the money, some of which she already spent! There was no way she could ask Scootaloo's mother for that money back! She'd simply have to work it off. On a normal pony's salary, that would probably only take...
Fifty years, if I don't eat, and sell my house. she guessed, though she was no mathematics whiz.
Rainbow's ears perked up. There it was again! She knew somepony was calling her name, and whoever it was would soon feel the wrath of pregnant Rainbow Dash.
She made her way to her front door, ready to hurl some anger somepony's way, when she noticed Mac's predicament.
Her rage fading and her lips curling into a slight smile, she had to know; "How did you get up there?"
The very situation erased some of the turmoil she'd been wrestling with earlier. Drying her tears with a hoof, she contemplated what she was going to tell Mac about her 'news'.
"Ah took too much of that lightness potion! You're just gonna have ta visit the farm from now on!" he called with a hoof to his mouth, not daring to let go of the rope ladder with his other hoof.
"How's the view from up there?" she teased, unable to resist having a bit of fun at his expense.
"Will you please just take me ta Ms. Twilight's so she can fix this?" he insisted.
"You'd like to go see Twilight, wouldn't you?" she replied in an accusatory tone.
"Ah told you what Ah was doin' with her, now are you gonna help me or not?"
"I was just kidding, geez, keep your yoke on..." Rainbow mumbled, trotting to the base of the rope ladder and untying it from her house, gripping it firmly between her teeth.
"Hang on!" she managed with a mouthful of rope. Dash took off into the sky dragging Mac behind her, made her way to Twilight's treehouse. On the way, she recalled she'd always wanted to take Mac flying with her, though she knew she'd never be able to lift him on her own. This wasn't exactly how she would have wanted it, but it was close enough.
Her balloon coltfriend floating behind her, she finally made it to Twilight's. Upon landing, she pulled him down to the ground and sat on his back, momentarily keeping him grounded while she secured one end of the rope around his foreleg and the other around Twilight's mailbox.
"I'll be back in a second with Twilight," she told him, dismounting as he began to rise back into the sky like a big red party balloon.
"Why don't you just sit on my back and let me come in?" he complained, reaching his full height and drifting slightly in the afternoon breeze.
"Because. I'll be right back, I promise," she insisted, barging through Twilight's door without so much as a knock.
"Well just come right in, Rainbow!" Twilight snapped sarcastically, Dash having nearly knocked her over on her way in.
"Twilight... there's something I need to talk to you about," Rainbow whispered nervously. Twilight could tell by her shifting hooves and lack of eye contact that this must have been something huge.
"Okay, what is it?" she asked, forgetting her rude entry and striding toward the couch in her living room.
Dash glanced at Spike, idly sorting the day's library returns. "Uhm... I kinda need to talk to you, alone."
Twilight saw what she was getting at and removed her flank from the cushions, "Spike's still got some work to do, but we can head upstairs if you want," she suggested.
Rainbow nodded, forgetting all about Mac outside, focused on the growing problem in her belly. The two mares trotted up stairs and shut Twilight's bedroom door.
"Okay Rainbow, what's going on?" she asked curiously, her inquisitive nature now piqued by Dash's general evasiveness.
"Well... I... uhm..." Rainbow's eyes darted around the room nervously. C'mon Rainbow, don't be such a coward! If anypony would know what to do in this situation it's an egghead like Twilight! Now pony up and tell her you're pregnant! she scolded herself.
Twilight raised an eyebrow as she took a seat on her bed, still waiting on an answer.
"I'm... pregnant," she mumbled softly, Twilight still unsure of what she said.
"What was that? You're gonna have to speak up Rainbow, I couldn't—"
"I said," she roared, only to soften the next two words considerably, "I'm pregnant."
As Dash expected, her friend was silent. Her jaw opened slightly, just as hers had when she'd first heard the news.
"You... are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure! I went to the doctor and everything! Twilight, my life is ruined!" she moaned, throwing herself over Twilight's bed in a very Rarity-esque fashion.
"Uh... I..." the studious unicorn shook her head and regained her wits. "Rainbow, your life isn't ruined, you should be happy!"
Rainbow's mood went from pitiful to angry in the time it took for her friend to say the word 'happy'.
"Happy? Happy?!" she growled, "You think this thing inside me keeping me from flying with the Wonderbolts should make me happy?"
Rainbow hopped off the bed and began pacing around the room, continuing to give Twilight a verbal lashing. "You think I'm ready to raise a foal? I hate foals! I can barely stand Scootaloo, and she isn't even my kid!"
"Rainbow, keep your voice down or the whole town is going to know!" Twilight hushed from her bed, standing to confront her irritated friend.
"I don't care! This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me! And..." she began, her anger fading back into sadness as she stopped her brisk pacing. "And... it's my fault. I'm such an idiot!" she admonished herself, tears beginning to cloud her ruby eyes. Twilight walked softly over to her, embracing her friend with a gentle hug.
"Rainbow, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, what matters is that it happened," she explained in the most gentle tone she could manage, though consoling a pregnant mare was certainly new territory for her. "You've got two options. Mares can give it up, or, you can have this foal, and give it the life you think it deserves."
Rainbow didn't think she could bring herself to end a life on purpose, but she did have other concerns. "But... but what if I'm a bad mother?" she whimpered, her true anxieties finally coming out after just a bit of coaxing. Twilight idly stroked her prismatic mane to try and calm her friend as she continued.
"You won't be a bad mother Rainbow," she replied softly, "If the princess herself trusts you with the element of loyalty, then I'd trust you with a foal. Do you think Scootaloo thinks so highly of you by accident?"
Dash could probably explain that particular example, but chose not to undermine Twilight's first and hopefully last attempt at sympathy for her.
"No... I guess not," she squeaked.
"See? Now, am I to assume that Mac is the father of this foal?"
"Y-yeah."
"Does he know?"
"Not exactly..."
"Well then you need to tell him. He has a right to know about this, Rainbow."
Dash sighed. She knew he did, and it was a jerk move not going to him right away, but she had bigger problems. "I know... but it's the mare's job to keep track of her heat cycle, and I didn't even know what that was until the doctor told me about it!"
Twilight looked a bit shocked. When Princess Celestia had given her 'the talk', she'd learned most everything she needed to from the books supplied. "So, your mom never... uhm... you know, told you about... stuff?"
"My mom was always uncomfortable with it, so she gave me a book on the subject. I don't think I have to tell you how interested I was in reading when I was a filly," Rainbow explained, "I just kind of figured it out as I went."
Twilight shuddered at the idea, but continued nonetheless. "Well what's done is done, why haven't you told Mac yet?"
"Because! It's the mare's job to make sure she doesn't have sex during her heat cycle, and I screwed that up! What if he hates me for letting myself get pregnant?"
Twilight stood Rainbow up on her hooves, whisking her to the bed to alleviate her flanks, which were fast falling asleep on the hardwood floor.
"Mac? Hate you? Are you sure we're talking about the same stallion?" she replied skeptically.
"Well... what if he's not ready for foals either? What then?"
Twilight patted Rainbow's head in an almost condescending manner as she answered, "If anypony in town is prepared to be a father, it's Big Mac. You just need to tell him, and you'll see." she finished happily.
"Okay, you're right," Rainbow admitted, running a hoof through her mane. "I'll just tell him...eventually," she mumbled.
I just need to think up a way to do it gently.
"Great! And Rainbow, whatever you and Mac decide to do with the foal, I'm happy for you," Twilight smiled. Rainbow threw her forelegs around her studious pal and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Thanks for listening, Twilight. Oh! There's something else I came by for," she added, hopping off her bed and into her usual hover.
"Really? The new Daring Do books are still on backorder, so I'm not sure when they'll—"
"No, not that, it's outside," Rainbow interrupted, fluttering down the stairs as Twilight followed close behind.
Rainbow Dash opened her front door and the two ponies stared up at the still floating Big Macintosh. A small crowd had gathered around him, wondering how the town's resident heavyweight was managing to float gracefully on the breeze.
"It's about time!" he shouted from the end of his tether. "Will one of y'all please get me down from here!"
Rainbow glanced over at the still slack jawed Twilight.
"Any chance you know how to fix this?"