//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Big Macintosh's Thoughts // Story: TwiMacVerse Part 1: Apples Are Magic // by ThatBronyWithTheClipOns //------------------------------// Authors note: This is gonna be a longer one than usual, since it deals with Big Macintosh's feelings and thoughts. The second half has less dialogue and more description. Hop you don't mind. The Apple Family was sitting down for dinner. Applejack had done the cooking this evening. Granny Smith’s health wasn’t great at the moment, so she took responsibilities till she got her strength back. There was silence for about twenty minutes starting out, till Granny Smith broke it. “Well. Any ya’ll have anythin new tah talk bout?” asked Granny Smith. “Nnnooope,” responded Big Macintosh. “Nother ordinary day, Granny.” “What are ya talkin bout Big Mac!?” chimed in Apple Bloom. “What about Twilight Sparkle askin yah fer farmin lessons?” Big Mac nearly chocked on his food. “Well now,” thought Granny Smith. “Aint that nice. I spose there aint no better teacher in Ponyville than our own Macintosh.” “That’s certainly what Twilight seems tah think,” commented Applejack in a bit of a sarcastic manner. “Now what’s your problem, sugar cube?” asked Granny Smith. “She’s just upset that Twilight didn’t ask her,” said Apple Bloom. “Apple Bloom!” yelled Applejack. “What!?” said Apple Bloom. “Sure seemed that way when you found out she was askin him for the lessons.” “I aint nothin special, Apple Bloom,” said Big Mac. “She just figured ah’d be the best choice since I’m tha eldest and been workin the farm the longest.” “Don’t be so modest, Macintosh,” said Granny Smith. “Yer the best farmer I seen since yer pa. Carter sure was one heck of a farmer.” “Yeah. Dad could buck like nopony’s business,” commented Applejack. “Eeyup,” said Big Mac sullenly. “I wish I’d known mom and dad better,” said Apple Bloom. “We all wish you had, sugar cube,” said Applejack. “We all do.” The Apple Siblings didn’t bring up their parents too often. When they did, it mostly brought back sad memories. Apple Bloom wasn’t even a year old when the accident happened that took the lives of their father, Carter Blue Apple and his wife Bella Donna Apple, nee Orange. “Well, Twilight Sparkle certainly is a fine young mare,” Granny Smith said, breaking the silence once more. “She sure is, Granny!” said Apple Bloom. “She’s real smart too. And helpful, and really pretty!” “I’m sure our big brother here noticed that already,” Applejack said with a sly smile. Once again Big Mac came close to choking on his food. “Ah don’t know what ya’ll are talkin bout!” said Big Mac defensively. “She wanted a lesson, and ah didn’t wanna be rude or nuthin.” “Nuthin wrong with thinkin Twilight’s pretty, Big Mac,” said Apple Bloom. “Why I’m sure most ponies can see that. I wish my mane had three different shades. HEY! Maybe I could get my cutie mark from dyeing hair!” “Why not wait till Sweetie Belle gets back from the fashion show for that, Apple Bloom,” said Applejack. “But that aint gonna be fer another four days or so,” said a pouting Apple Bloom. “Ya’ll gotta learn some patience, little one,” Applejack commented. “Good things come to ponies who wait.” “Darn tootin,” said Granny Smith. “Eeyup,” added Big Macintosh. “Yeah, yeah,” said Apple Bloom. “Well, guess we all should get ready for bed. Specially you, Big Mac. Ya’ll gotta busy day ahead, now that you also gotta new pony to teach all you know bout farmin.” “You certainly make a good point there, sugar cube,” said Applejack. “Spose it would be best for us all to get some shut eye. Come on Apple Bloom, I’ll read ya’ll a story before you sleep.” “Great!” yelled Apple Bloom. “Night Big Macintosh! Night Granny Smith!” “Night night, yungin,” said Granny Smith. “Good night, Apple Bloom,” said Big Mac Applejack and Apple Bloom headed upstairs. Big Macintosh and Granny Smith remained downstairs for a little longer. “So. Twilight Sparkle, eh?” said Granny Smith. “It aint nuthin special, Granny,” said Big Mac defensively. “Ahm just helping out the friend of mah sister. That’s all there is to it.” “Ya’ll can’t fool me, Macintosh Chelmsford Apple,” said Granny Smith. Big Mac hated it when Granny Smith used his full name. “Honesty runs in this here family,” she continued. “Every generation of Apple ah know has never been able tah lie convincinly. So ah can tell ya’ll aint bein honest with yerself.” Big Macintosh hated when Granny Smith was right too. Nopony could fool her. “Yer right, Granny,” he said. “Ah got feelins for Miss Sparkle.” “Well aint that nice!” she said. “Are ya gonna tell her how ya’ll feel?” “Like I’d ever have a chance,” he said morosely. “Now, why would ya’ll go and say somehin like that?” said Granny Smith. “Yer just as good as any other colt.” “Granny, Miss Sparkle is the top student of Princess Celestia,” said Big Mac. “I’m just a simple farm pony with a primary school education.” “Now that aint yer fault, Macintosh!” said Granny Smith. “Yes it is, Granny,” said Big Mac. “I made the choice to give up school and work on the farm full time.” “It aint yet fault what happened,” continued Granny Smith. “And I’m mighty grateful yah gave up school tah help me out here on tha farm.” “There weren’t nopony else to help you, Granny,” said Big Mac. “At least nopony who could stay all year round.” “And I’m thankful everyday that yah did that, Macintosh,” she said. “But that don’t mean you aint good enough for any mare out there. Don’t matter how educated she is. What matters is who you are and her accepting you as is.” “I spose so, Granny,” said Big Macintosh. He didn’t show it, but what she said did make him feel a little better. Granny Smith always knew what to say, even when she wasn’t always making sense. “Ah should get to bed now,” said Big Mac. “G’night, Granny Smith.” “G’night, Macintosh,” she replied. “And remember, yer just as good as anypony out there.” Big Macintosh gave her one more smile and walked upstairs. His room was, like many ponies, his favorite place to be. There wasn’t a lot to it, but it didn’t matter to him. Since he worked all day, and little down time, it was sparsely furnished. There was his bed, a rug, and even a reclining chair. He even had a bookshelf, mostly with books on farming. But he had some fiction as well. Kept under is bed was something he kept secret from everypony. Smarty Pants, the doll Twilight had enchanted months ago that caused nearly everypony in town to go crazy. Even after the spell wore off, Big Mac couldn’t help but take it home with him. At the time he didn’t know it belonged to Twilight, he just liked the way it looked and figured nopony would be missing it. It wasn’t till a few weeks later that he found out it belonged to Twilight. He’d tried on various occasions to give it back to her, but could never strike up the courage. In a way it felt like he had her in his arms every night, which always made him feel happy and secure. While laying in bed, he was still trying to process everything that had just happened today. Twilight Sparkle, smartest pony he knew, had asked him to teach her how to farm? Him? Sure Big Macintosh taught his own little sister how to farm and apple buck. But, A.J. is family. It seemed only natural that he would teach her. It only made sense given that he was on the only able bodied pony on the farm at the time when she was old enough to learn. But Twilight? Why would a smart, beautiful mare like her want to learn farm work? Did she want him to teach her because he has the most farm experience? Or could she possibly have feelings for him? No, no, that can’t be it. Twilight was a student of Princess Celestia herself. She could have anypony she wanted. Not that he didn’t like the idea of her being interested in him. It didn’t matter what Granny Smith had just said, he still didn’t feel like he was good enough for somepony like Twilight Sparkle. Big Macintosh could never forget the day he first saw Miss Twilight. It was forever burned into his memory, and could see nothing changing that. He wasn’t sure, but he may have been the very first pony in Ponyville to ever lay eyes on her. She descended from the sky on a golden chariot, being driven by two royal pegasus guards. He couldn’t explain it at the time, but there was just something incredible about her. He’d seen plenty of mares around town of course, heck much of Ponyville was just mares. But she was so different. There was her lavender coat, and her mane with three different shades of purple. Even her cutie mark seemed special compared to anypony else. But the thing he noticed the most were her eyes. Big Macintosh once heard that the eyes were the window to the soul. Big Mac could tell a lot about a pony by their eyes. In her he saw a filly of great wisdom, but also loneliness. A filly who never seemed to have many friends, if any. Mac could relate to this. Even in school he never had many ponies to talk to. He was always big for his age and this made other ponies nervous. Being a quiet pony made many of his classmates think there was something wrong with him. He wasn’t a bad student really, in fact during primary school he was among the top ten in his class. But after the accident, he had to stay on the farm full time to provide for his family. This made him even more of a social outsider. When he was able, he’d go to the library to check out various kinds of books. When he found out Twilight became the new resident and librarian, he stopped going by. He was too nervous to go in and even try to check out a book. Most of the time he’d send Apple Bloom or Applejack, saying that he didn’t have the time to go himself; which was often true. He had even less experience in dating. He’d heard rumors around town of him being some sort of lothario. He found the idea of this hilarious. He’d gone out on a few dates here and there, but he never had anything real serious. He never had a mare friend, or even a very special somepony; he wasn’t going to count the Hearts and Hooves Day incident. Though there was one occasion when he was barely out of high school, and Mayor Mare seduced him. He was in town and she asked for help with her groceries, and Big Mac’s father said to always help out a mare in need. Years later Mayor Mare would apologize for what happened, but Big Mac told her he wasn’t angry and nothing bad came from it. That was another thing that worried him, lack of experience. He figured most mares wouldn’t go for a stallion who barely knew anything about girls. It wasn’t just a matter of sexual experience, just any kind of experience. But he finally managed to fall asleep, holding Smarty Pants tightly with a big smile on his face. Thanks to Smart Pants he rarely had a bad dream.