//------------------------------// // Apples, Chores and Coltfriends // Story: The Teachings of Lost Love // by ChaoticHarmony //------------------------------// [}—–{ Lessons of Lost Love }–—{] Apples, Chores and Coltfriends Cheerilee pushed the last desk back into place, sighing to herself as she let go and set her hooves back onto the floor. “I wonder what Big Mac is doing right now.” Shaking her head to banish the sudden image of Big Macintosh staring into her eyes, Cheerilee trotted over to her desk and snatched the fresh apple that was resting on its surface. “Probably just doing chores at the farm or something, knowing that workhorse.” She smiled at the apple, whose smooth skin reflected an upside-down smile back at her, before she took a large, satisfying bite out of the fruit. After swallowing the succulent flesh, Cheerilee let out a satisfied moan. “Oh my gosh, I love Big Macintosh Apples.” A full five seconds passed as her mind mulled over the implications of what she had said. When the mental gears had finally clicked into place, a burning blush spread across the teacher’s face. “Well, what I mean is… erm… I like how the apple tas-“ Cheerilee stuffed a hoof into her mouth to stop herself from babbling to the air. After a few moments of steadying breaths, the mare set her hoof back onto the ground and smiled to herself before taking another bite out of the apple. “You know, I havn’t sheen Big Macsh Latshy.” Cheerilee swallowed the morsel that was butchering her speech. “I hope nothing bad happened to him. “ She sat there for a few minutes, idly checking the room around her, which had been cleaned to perfection, for any out-of-place objects. When she found none after her third search, Cheerilee picked up her saddlebags and pushed open the door, shielding her adjusting eyes to the sudden brightness of the sun. Sighing to herself, Cheerilee set out into the world outside of the classroom. “Good afternoon, Miss Cheerilee, might I have a word with you?” The harsh voice nearly made Cheerilee jump out of her skin. As it was, she did leap into the air and land on her flank after nature’s unkind warden, gravity, pulled her back down. Cheerilee blushed furiously as a hoof looped under her leg. She turned to look at the pony who had been waiting for her, only to feel as if a train smashed into her skull. “Um, are you all right, Cheerie?” The mare knocked away the hoof that was touching her with a disgust that had exploded into existence. “I’m fine.” Pushing herself to her hooves, Cheerilee brushed away the dirt that was clinging to her body. After maintaining a moment of terse silence, she sighed and rounded on the brown stallion. “What did you want, Filthy?” The stallion’s smile instantly fell into something resembling a grimace. “I prefer the name R-“ “I know what you prefer, and I don’t care.” Cheerilee noted with some sort of vehement satisfaction that the other pony flinched back as if she had slapped him, which was something that she very much wanted to do. Despite the stallion’s pain, she continued relentlessly. “What did you come here for?” Filthy Rich stood there for a moment, staring blankly into the glare that Cheerilee was throwing at him as if the look could somehow be turned into a knife. “Well… I wanted to say...” A few seconds passed with Filthy stumbling over words as if they were obstacles in a course. “I was just here to inform you that Diamond Tiara isn’t going to be at school tomorrow, she’ll be busy visiting her grandmother.” Cheerilee opened her saddlebag and pulled out her teacher’s planner along with a pencil. After she had crossed out the filly’s name in the role sheet and stashed the journal in her bag, the teacher looked up at the stallion with a neutral stare. “Is that it?” Filthy seemed to war with himself for a few seconds before shaking his head. “No, that’s all. Sorry for taking up so much of your time, Cheerilee.” The sleek-haired stallion turned away, setting off at a swift trot that was only slightly stiff, as if he still had something he still wanted to say. Cheerilee stood there for a few minutes until the outline of the pony she had once loved became just a dark blur on the trail. After letting out a weary sigh, she hefted the heavy saddlebags that seemed to have gotten heavier over the course of her conversation and set off down another path, this one leading towards her home out in the outskirts of Ponyville. As she trotted amongst the low bushes and occasional tree, Cheerilee couldn’t help but wonder as to what Filthy Rich had been going to say, each of the different possibilities along with her imagined reactions to them playing over and over in her mind. The wind howled with her shrieks of anger and whistled with her voice of calmness, at least until it pushed her over into one of the bushes that dotted the side of the road. Now most ponies that were in her situation would have simply pushed themselves up from the foliage and continued on their way, but Cheerilee somehow managed to end up further in the bush the more she struggled to pull herself out of it. The mare stopped for a moment, taking in a few calming breaths while staring at the sky through the breaks in the leaves. Am I really having trouble getting out of a bush? After calmly extracting herself from the jabbing sticks that were hidden amongst the green, Cheerilee shook the bits of twigs and other various plant material out of her mane. Setting a pace of a slow but steady trot, she smiled at her own silliness. Oh, I can only imagine how my little ponies would have reacted to seeing their teacher having trouble with a simple bush on the side of the road. Then, as if by some Celestia-given reason, Cheerilee glanced off to the right to see the bright red of Sweet Apple Acres’ barn house as well as the vast fields of apple trees that surrounded the entire area. For a few moments that seemed to stretch into eternity, the teacher stood where she was, staring off at the distance splotch of red amongst green. When those few moments were over, she had made up her mind. I wonder how Big Mac has been doing. The stallion in question had been doing quite tired lately, what with picking season for the entire west orchard aligning with the season of the northern fields. He, Applejack, and little Applebloom had been working non-stop to send the apples tumbling from the branches of the trees into the wooden buckets that had been laid under their wide branches. The two females had retired to the farmhouse for supper long ago, leaving Big Macintosh to go from tree to tree in the afternoon light and kick each of the tall producers of the red fruit that shared his color as well as his family’s name. At another of his powerful bucks, a cascade of crimson marked yet another tree being cleaned of its bounty. Big Macintosh couldn’t help but sigh as he stared at the rows upon rows of trees that were waiting to receive the same treatment he had given the one that was still shuddering from the strength of his kick. He noted that the tree was shuddering significantly less than its predecessors, only taking a few seconds to still itself. Ah should bring in these last few buckets and turn in for the night. Ah’m a mite too tired to be doin’ this for another hour. The thought came with an air of reluctance, as did his movements to gather up the buckets that were filled with the afternoon’s harvest. He hated more than anything to let down his family, which he had promised that he would remain for at least three hours after supper, but he knew that he couldn’t keep harvesting lest he end up like Applejack did when she tried to undertake Applebuck season all by herself. A smile crossed his face as he recalled his sister’s extreme aversion to breaking the bet as well as the mayhem that she caused by trying to do both the bet and the various things that she promised her friends she’d do. The apples in the buckets swayed side to side as he pushed them along the bumpy ground towards the cellar that they were stored in before going to market. He found himself struggling to move the line of apple towers, more tired than he had originally thought. As he topped another foot tall hill, panting, something besides gravity had sent the beautifully grown apples tumbling to the ground. That something was the stallion that had been pushing them, who leapt up into the air at the sudden sound of a mare’s voice beside him. “Hello there, Big Mac!” As the carefully gathered fruit cascaded onto the beaten path, Cheerilee felt as if a firestorm had been started beneath her face. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, Big Mac.” “That’s all right, Miss Cheerilee, Ah didn’t see you there.” Big Macintosh set all four hooves onto the ground, wary of the apples that were still rolling in every direction on it, and looked curiously at Cheerilee. “Pardon mah askin’, but what are you doin’ out here at the farm?” The teacher snatched a few of the troublesome fruits and tossed them into the bucket. “Oh, nothing, I just figured you might like to go out and get some coffee but…” she gestured helplessly towards the multitude of apples that were now occupying the area under their hooves, “I suppose you’re just a little busy with chores at the moment?” “Eeyup, just a little.” After sharing a chuckle with Cheerilee, Big Macintosh cast his glance downward and sighed. “Well, more than a little.” Cheerilee blushed again, following Big Macintosh’s look to the ground and cursing herself for not making herself known earlier. “Yeah… I’m sorry about that, Big Mac, I didn’t know you were going to jump like that.” Reaching down, the mare threw a few more recovered apples into the nearly empty buckets. “Do you think I could make it up to you by helping you?” “Nnnope. Ah’m not goin’ t’ask a mare like you to help me pick up some apples, t’ain’t that ha-“ The rest of whatever Big Macintosh had been about to say was cut off by an apple smacking him clean on the nose. After blinking a few times, he looked up to see Cheerilee hefting another apple and fixing him with a mischievous smile. “I know you can do it yourself, but I bet it’ll be more fun if we work together.” With that, Cheerilee threw the apple up into the air and thwacked it towards Big Macintosh, who was only just able to prevent it from smacking him in the nose again by throwing the bucket between him and the speeding fruit, which landed in the bucket with a satisfying thunk. “What do you say, Big Mac? Should we play a little game?” Big Macintosh looked at the bucket in his hooves and smiled, looking up to the teacher with a look in his eyes that mirrored hers. “Eeyup!” Wasting no time, Big Mac swept out his hoof and came up with a good legful of apples, just right for tossing. “Here they come, Cheerilee!” The apples flew from his hoof and soared towards the purple mare, who just narrowly avoided a barrage of apples pelting her nose by lifting a bucket just like Big Macintosh did a few seconds before. Not one to stand by and wait for the next assault, Cheerilee hefted a few more apples with her tail and launched them like boulders from a catapult. The metaphorical boulders crashed down onto the stallion, who was only able to catch a few of them in a bucket before the rest landed on his back with soft thuds. As he shifted the barrel off his back, Big Macintosh turned to see Cheerilee standing next to the only bucket that still had its pile of apples undisturbed with an evil smile plastered on her face. Now, Big Macintosh was anything but a weak stallion, so most ponies would have figured that a bucketful of apples fresh from the trees wouldn’t pose much of a threat if they were dumped onto him. That is, most ponies that haven’t had a bucketful of apples dumped on them without warning. As it stands, the red stallion was buried in a metaphorical avalanche of apples. Cheerilee stood over the pile of fruit, admiring her handiwork. “Had enough yet, Big Mac?” She leaned in closely to the pile, listening for the voice of the defeated stallion that was muffled by the apples. After a second of listening, she got the answer she so desired. “Eeyup. You win, Miss Cheerilee.” “Now I suppose we should pick up all these apples, right?” Big Macintosh shifted aside the apples enough so he could poke his head out of the pile and survey the carnage of the battles of the red fruit. “Ee….yup. Looks like we got a bit more work than what we started with, Miss Cheerilee.” “Eeyup.” The mare giggled as she mimicked the stallion’s mannerism, setting about to clear the pony free of the avalanche. “We’d best get started then.” After picking up the even larger amount of fruit on the ground, Cheerilee threw herself panting and gasping for air onto the ground, smiling to herself with the sheer amount of fun she had been having. “I never… thought that… picking up… a bunch of apples… could be so much… fun.” She rolled over slightly to smile at her cleaning companion, who returned her expression with a smile of his own. “And so… tiring.” “Eeyup. Ah never quite thought that either. Ah wasn’t ever able to make sense of Applejack and Appleblossom with their games that they liked to play.” Big Macintosh chuckled at the memory of watching his sisters bounce around like foals that had gotten into a bag of sugar. Cheerilee mimicked his laugh and sighed as it died in the air. They sat silent for a moment, each of them recovering from their unexpected bout of exercise and mulling over their own thoughts. “Y’know, Miss Cheerilee,” Big Macintosh was the first to break the silence with his rumbling voice, “Ain’t nopony come down to the farm to help me without havin’ some dept to pay since my folks- well, since they didn’t take to my… romantic preferences.” “Romantic preferences?” Cheerilee looked to the stallion with confused eyes. “What do you mean by romantic preferences?” The stallion mumbled something that was just barely within audible range. “They didn’t say nothin’ about a she. They jus’ didn’t take kindly to my coltfriend.” Despite their conspiratorial air, Cheerilee couldn’t stop herself from shouting. “You’re a Col-“ she shoved a hoof into her mouth, blushing furiously at her outburst, before continuing, “I mean, you’re a colt-cuddler?” The teacher regretted her words instantly as soon as they left her mouth, wincing at the grimace that spread across Big Macintosh’s face. “Ah’d like it if you’d not call it that, Miss Cheerilee.” The stallion’s voice was bitter with the untold pains of the past. “Makes it sound unpleasant even when it’s just the same kind of love as a mare and a stallion lovin’ each other.” “I’m… I’m sorry, Big Mac, I didn’t mean to…” She fell silent as Big Macintosh turned away from her. “That’s fine, Miss Cheerilee. Ya didn’t know. Ah cain’t fault you for bein’ surprised.” The stallion shifted away, curling slightly inward. “Ah’m used to it by now.” Cheerilee yearned to touch the trembling stallion, yearning to comfort her friend who was so deeply in pain right now, but she couldn’t only move her hoof a few inches before stopping. “What… what did they do, Big Mac?” She very nearly recoiled away from the stallion as he turned away from the sky to face her, his eyes contorting with a pain that all too many ponies experienced in their lives: the pain of having your family reject what makes you happy. “Well, Ah had t’do some chores, so Applejack came into town t’get me. Ah was busy spendin’ my time with-“ Big Macintosh paused for a moment as he thought about how to tell Cheerilee without telling her, settling for simplicity as was his nature. “Well, anyway, she came and found me in the market with my special somepony, and we were out shopping for some things that he needed to fix up his house.” Big Macintosh passed for a moment as he allowed himself to sink further into the memory. “Ah remember now, it was because of the hole Ah had kicked in his bed frame last time Ah we-“ “Okay, back to the normal memory please?” The crimson stallion burned an even brighter red than Cheerilee as he coughed and wheezed with embarrassment. “Ah’m sorry, Miss Cheerilee, Ah didn’t mean to say that.” Letting out an uncomfortable laugh, Big Macintosh continued his tale. “Well, since he heard that Ah was goin’ back to the farm, he asked if he could come along. After Applejack had left, that is.” Big Macintosh grew softer as he spoke, so soft that Cheerilee found herself scooting closer to him to catch the near-whispers that escaped the stallion’s lips with an air of reluctance. “Ah didn’t see no harm in lettin’ come down and help me out ‘round the farm, so Ah let him come along. Ain’t no problem to me if somepony wants to help me with my chores.” “He wanted to make a game out of it, just like you did, Miss Cheerilee.” Big Macintosh sighed and idly waved a hoof in the air. “And after we had cleaned up, Ah figured we’d walk back into town, but he stopped me and looked at me with his gosh darn beautiful green eyes. They shined jus’ a bit brighter than yours do, Miss Cheerilee.” Sighing to himself, Big Macintosh stood up and kicked at one of the empty trees that surrounded them. “An’ that’s when Granny found us.” Silence pressed down on the two ponies, filling the air with nothingness as they both were left with their thoughts. “What… what did she do?” Big Macintosh didn’t turn around at her voice, instead opting to kick the tree hard enough to cause the wood to splinter where his hoof connected with it. “Big Mac?” “Past that day, Ah’ve only gotten a glance of him whenever Ah go out to the market.” “How does it feel?” “Miss Cheerilee, Ah think you should get going. It’s getting awfully late and Ah bet you have a ways to go to get home.” Big Macintosh still didn’t look at her, though his voice gave off every sign that he wasn’t going to say anything else to her. “Big Mac? Are you okay?” True to his voice, Big Macintosh didn’t react to Cheerilee’s question. “Um… I’ll go ahead and go then. I’m sorry for… for bringing it up.” As she trotted up one of the many hills that dotted the landscape around Sweet Apple Acres, Cheerilee turned back to see another tree shudder and let out a crack like thunder as the troubled stallion no doubt let out another burst of his anger.