Chapter 5
Persuasion.
“We need to talk.” Macintosh began without preamble. The large stallion stood tall a corn field, just south of the farm house. He was red blot in a field of green stalks. Apples were the main stay of Sweet Apple Acres but it wasn’t the only thing grown on the farm.
“What is there to be talking about?” His younger sister, Apple Jack answered without looking back. She busied herself examining a corn leaf with a practise eye for any signs of insect infestation or infection. “Ah overheard what you and gramps were talking about last night. What more is there to say?”
It wasn’t what he had expected, though he didn’t know what to expect. “Ah see.”
“My hoof you see!” She spun around, the stiff hairs of her blond tail nearly snapped across his nose. “Mah best friend is pregnant with mah brother’s foal. While mah other best friend is suggesting an abortion ‘cause she thinks nopony will be lending a helping hoof and she is not the least bit concern that she’ll be killing a foal. A foal that is our friend’s first daughter and mah first niece. And then ah’ hear ma’ brother is not going to pony up to his responsibilities!”
Macintosh was silent, speechless.
Apple Jack continued to glare at her brother. She wasn’t patient enough to wait for a reply from the large earth stallion. Too much of a cold-blooded pony in him, Apple Jack concluded. Immovable and slow… Troublesome.
“So what were you thinking of doing? Abandon Dash like that cad of a unicorn, Muffin Bran did to poor Ditzy Hooves?”
“Muffin Bran didn’t abandon his family.” Macintosh defended. He did so almost on reflex. There were few enough stallions in pony society, about one stallion born to every four mares and there were few enough stallions in Ponyville that they were almost a community within a community. “He headed east to find his fortune.”
“There is only one mare left in Ponyville who believes that story and its Ditzy Hooves.” Apple Jack answered back. “Ah won’t have my best friend sitting at the train station every evening waiting for a pony who will never come.” Slowly she looked at Macintosh in an almost pained look. “You should have seen Dash. She was crying her eyes out.”
Macintosh's voice was low. “Ah didn’t know that. Ah, never meant to hurt her.”
"You did.” She stated. “Regardless of yer intensions, you hurt her bad. So, will you do the right thing?"
“It would be one mistake compounded over another.”
“But if you don’t love Dash, then why in land sakes did you sleep with her?” She asked in frustration.
“She was drunk. Ah was drunk. Drunk ponies make mistakes.”
“Mistakes are when you wake up late in the morning and forget to feed the pigs. Siring a foal with yer sister’s best friend who is also the town’s Weather Manager isn’t.”
Macintosh knew what his sister meant. The talk would never die down. Rainbow Dash might not act it but she was a prominent member of the community. The Weather Manager was second only to the Mayor as weather control was of the life blood of a farming community like Ponyvile. “You can’t make a pony love another pony just by yer say so.”
“Please Big Macintosh, ah know you have a big heart. So please, can’t you find room for Dash. Can’t you love her? She needs you, more than she knows herself.”
Macintosh didn't answer immediately. His forehead wrinkled with lines of a frown. Certainly there was still doubt hanging at the back of his mind. Macintosh fell into a deep thinking once again. His shoulders sagged with burdening uncertainties
“She a fine mare, though a bit on the lazy side when she thinks nopony is a looking. And has a tendency to help herself to an apple or two” Apple jack chuckled tensely. “But a fine mare all the same.”
“It won’t be right.” he finally spoke. “Apple Jack,” he turned to his sister. “Ah can’t give Dash something ah don’t have.” His tone was weary. “And the fact of the matter is ah don’t….ah don’t think if she even sees me in the same way. Sis, have you ever asked what ah want?”
Those few words sounded selfish even to his ear but it had to be said. He regretted saying it but didn’t gramps make a point about marrying for the wrong reason? Was marriage simply going to heap one bad decision over another?
“A bit late now,” Apple Jack retorted hotly. Macintosh could only look away. She continued glaring at her older brother until she let out a heavy sigh. “No.” She admitted guilty. “Honestly, ah haven’t. Ah kinda figured that ya would do the right thing on yer own. So what do you want?”
Macintosh was silent. “Ah -” There was nothing to say, nothing but the truth. “Ah don’t know.”
“Landsakes,” Apple Jack swore and jabbed her hoof to her forehead “Fine,” Apple Jack cut in, tired, and frustrated that she was getting little headway. “If you can’t do what is right by Dash, can you at least do what is right by yer own blood. Yer foal deserves a father. ”
For the first time in a long while, he had been blindsided.
** *** **
“Feeling better?”
The question hung over the table in Twilight’s kitchen like the cloud of steam over the tea mugs the two mares had between their hooves.
Rainbow Dash snorted as she kept the steaming mug away from her mouth. It smelled like boiled weeds and was a tasty as it sounded, terrible. “A bit.” She admitted despite the unpleasant smell, and slowly she took a small polite sip if only to stop Rarity from staring at her. “What do I do now? Macintosh…”
It always came back to him, Rarity sighed. “Forget about him for the moment. As much as can be said about Macintosh, ultimately it is his decision. As for the foal, I think it would be shrewd if you ask yourself if you can actually afford one.”
“I’m giving birth to a foal, Rarity.” Dash replied dryly. “Not buying one at Rich's Barnyard Bargain. I mean… how much can a foal cost?”
“Darling, if you could only see the bills Sweetie Belle charges to my bank ledgers, you’ll sing a different tune.” A pencil and a sheet of paper flew over to Rarity as she cleared a space on the table. “Now then, I can help you go over your finances and see what kind of damage a foal would make to your budget.” Her red rim glasses lifted out her saddle bags on her snout.
Rainbow Dash moaned reluctantly. “Do I have to?” She asked, only to receive a searching look from Rarity. Dash relented. “Fine, where do we start?”
“Well, let’s start with the basics, income. How much money do you make?”
Little did Rainbow Dash know, that little question was the start of more heartache.
** ** **
The numbers didn’t add up.
In one long shuddering moment, stark realisation dawn upon Rainbow Dash. The pencil she held in her mouth tumbled and rolled away unnoticed. She had always been good with numbers, most Pegasi were, just as many Unicorns were good with the written word, but it was now very apparent she wasn’t any good at managing her Bits.
“We can fix this.” Rarity insisted firmly.
The figures on her bank ledges spelled it out in bold strokes of red ink. Her finances were in a horrible state, bad enough that it made Rarity cringe even as the Unicorn tried to keep her face blank and neutral. Rainbow Dash never lingered on her spending habits but now it was out for Rarity and herself to see.
It was glaringly simple.
“How?” Dash wailed in despair. “Nopony can fix this.”
All around her were her banking papers which she have had flown down from her home to library for Rarity to read. “I live from pay check to pay check, and I’m the village Weather Manager! I make more Bits than the other Weather mares and I can only make ends meet from overtime In the last two months of my pregnancy, I’ll be grounded, cloud bound, too heavy to be on Weather Security patrols.” Dash dropped her head between her blue hooves. “Without the overtime, I’ll have only on my basic salary and…I won’t have Bits to put food on the table.”
“As a temporary solution, I would suggest you can cut your spending on the Wonderbolts now.” Rarity interjected. “No more airshow tickets, no more memorabilia, posters and plushies. Put those Bits into your savings account to make up for the months while you are grounded.”
“Savings that I barely have,” Dash muttered while shaking her head. “It’s still not enough, Rarity. Most of my Bits are gone before it even gets into my hooves. I have a spending problem.”
“More than half,” The alabaster unicorn added. “You don’t so much have a spending problem as a too much house problem. You have committed too much of your income to mortgage payments. As a general rule, the maximum you should dedicate to a mortgage is 25% of you net salary. Above 35% you generally have not enough money for …well everything else.” The unicorn shook her head. “You are at 43%! Such a high housing cost percentage leaves you with no room for error.”
Dash cringed at Rarity’s words “I messed up okay!” She yelled defensively. She could already feel Rarity’s unasked question burning into her blue fur coat. “I got my place when I was in Cloudsdale… when I was going places.” She then added quietly, “when I thought I was going to be somepony. I wanted at place which said that.”
Rarity crossed her forehoove and levitated off her red rim glasses. “It need not be mentioned that was a bad financial decision. You are still repaying your education loan for Flight school, which you have to pay back in full given that you failed to graduate. “
“Don’t remind me.” Dash replied gloomily. “I had one chance when I was younger to make something of myself and I screwed up. I should never have done that Sonic Rainboom.”
“Why ever would say that? That Sonic Rainboom gave us our Cutie Marks. It made us all the ponies we are today.”
“Yeah it did,” Dash replied bitterly. “I flunked out of Flight School because of that and it isn’t even recorded in the history books as the first Sonic Rainboom. No proof.”
Rarity was shocked. “I didn’t know.” The unicorn held her hoof to her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Dash waved her friend off, yet the look of pain still plastered on her snout. “I guess it all balanced out in the end. Twilight got into her fancy magic school of hers while I got kicked out of mine.” Dash leaned back, wished her cushion had a backing to lean on. “I’m still paying for that screw up. Got to repay the scholarship for flunking out of Flight School.”
Rainbow Dash dropped her face between her hooves. If she wanted something better for her foal than a cloud pushing Weatherpony, her baby had to think about graduating from Flight School. But unlike her mother there wouldn’t be any helpful scholarship waiting in the wings after Basics. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to admit it but lineage mattered. Ponies were not born equal.
If her half Earthpony foal was born a Pegasus, the chances were she wouldn’t be fast. She would be slow, heavy boned and maybe even small winged. At best, she would be good for pulling sky wagons and carrying goods between Pegasi towns. It would be an honest living but she would be in the end, be nothing more that muscle, no better than her cloud pushing mother. Such a Pegasus would never win, let alone qualify for a scholarship at Flight School.
At worse, Dash couldn’t bear to think of it. Her foal would have dainty Pegasi wings, no better than a show piece. Something she was sure Scootaloo was an example off. Not strong enough to fly in any meaningful way, yet not Earthpony strong to take up traditional Earthpony jobs. Oh, Celestia what had she done. Dash couldn’t breathe. She wanted to scream.
Rarity took off her red rimmed glasses and reach out to hold Rainbow Dash by the hoof.
Rainbow Dash stare down into her teacup and began to bite her bottom lip with her teeth, an action Rarity found quite distracting, especially when it went against every book she had read on good manners. "Dear, please do stop that. You're going to make yourself bleed," Rarity admonished, although she wasn't so worried about that as she was of Rainbow Dash having another tear filled panic attack.
The Pegasus promptly stopped and sighed loudly, the sound portraying all the frustration and hopelessness she felt. Then the inevitable question came up. “What if she isn’t a Pegasus?” Her eyes were wide and desperate. "So far we’ve been talking as if she took after me. But what if she…” Her fore hoof hovered over her abdomen. “Takes after her fath… Macintosh... an Earthpony…what do I do then? Can I afford a roof over her head? How much does a house on the ground cost anyway?” she asked flippantly hoping to hide her growing dread.
Rarity let out a sighed. It was enough to cause Dash to swallow hard. A number was scribbled on a paper and passed across the table. Rainbow Dash gingerly pulled it open between her hooves.
There was a reason Fluttershy lived in a cottage so close to the dangerous Ever Free Forest. Living close to wildlife was on reason and the other was now staring back at Rainbow Dash “Great, just great,” was the first thing Rainbow Dash said out loud. She couldn’t afford an Earthpony foal. It was a simple as that. “Now not only I can’t feed her. I don’t even put a roof over her head. The cloudhouse draining all my bits is next to useless!”
“I screwed up,” She whispered. “I can’t afford her.” The last she added in almost a whisper.
“Stop that this instant,” Rarity snapped. Despair never helped anypony. It just let ponies wallow… in whatever ponies were supposed to wallow in. Perhaps self-pity… Rarity absently pondered.
Dash misunderstood the anger in Rarity’s voice and flinched slightly. "I'm sorry," she said softly, bringing her wing up and over her withers to wrap around herself like a little feathered ball. “I shouldn’t dump all this on you. It is my mistake after all. I wouldn’t be causing so trouble.”
Rarity’s frustration instantly dissipated, replaced instead with a pang of sorrow that news most other mares would treasure and eagerly await had instead become a terrible burden to her friend. “Think nothing of it. That is what friends are for.” The unicorn replied, then lowering her voice to a gentler tone, “Besides my parents always said if they had waited until they could "afford" a foal, my sister and I would never have been born.” Rarity managed a grin. “You still have eleven months,” Rarity trailed. “if you decide to keep her.”
“Ten.” Dash corrected. “But should I?” The whisper was so quite that Rarity had to swivel her ears to the side to hear.
“Pardon me?” Rarity asked although she heard well enough the first time.
“I’m asking you, as a friend,” Rainbow Dash looked to Rarity. “Should I keep her?”
"I don't know." Rarity answered, and honestly she didn't. The fact that she didn't have an answer for this situation or for that rouge Macintosh, irritated her tremendously. As a friend, she wished she had been better prepared.
“I…I am not telling you if you should keep your pregnancy or end it, but whatever you decided, I will tell you are in a poor financial state. You’ll have to spend less money, make more money, and likely sell your house for something more affordable. Renting may not be bad idea. You might want to consider getting an additional job. I believe Ditzy Hooves has some experience.”
”Derpy?”
“Rather rude to call Ditzy that.”
“I thought she was a Weathermare?”
“She is. But I also know she works a second job as the village mailmare. She works ever so hard to raise her daughter Dinky. I know all this because Dinky is a Unicorn. There ever fewer of us unicorn in ponyville, even less than there are Pegasi such that Twilight Sparkle and I have taken upon ourselves to hold special magic classes.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and hung her head over the figures written on paper under her snout. The math was simple.
“I can’t keep her.”