Big Macintosh opened the door and walked outside of the barn, bound for Fluttershy’s cottage to bring her in. He already asked her if she would be willing to work with them on the farm and she said yes, so he didn’t really have to worry about that. All he had to do was avoid the ever protective eye of his sister.
As he was walking forward towards Fluttershy’s cottage he passed by a very nervous looking Caramel who was heading towards the house. While they were passing by each other Big Macintosh decided to take the time and give him an idea of what he was doing. That…and make sure he understands him position right now.
“Ah’d recommend y’all be careful,” Big Macintosh said. “Y’all are on very thin ice.”
“Y-yes sir,” Caramel said in a very nervous tone.
Good. Maybe if ya understand that Ah mean business, y’all won’t break my sister’s heart again, Big Mac thought. Because if ya do, Ah’ll break every bone in your body.
“Good. Your first task is to fix the pig pen,” Big Mac said. “Ah’d have Apple Bloom do it but…” Big Macintosh looked over in the direction of Ponyville. “You’re in charge of it. Try not to screw up too much.”
“What’s going on around here?” Caramel asked. “I just saw Apple Bloom a few minutes ago and she didn’t look too happy.” Big Macintosh didn’t give him any details of why he was coming back yet. He thought it would be better for Applejack to tell him about Granny Smith.
“It ain’t my place to explain it to you,” Big Mac said. “Y’all can ask Applejack when ya see her. If she’s in the mood ta talk.” Big Macintosh left him without saying another word.
He decided to take the scenic route to Fluttershy’s cottage, avoiding Ponyville altogether. He could have walked through Ponyville but he would rather avoid talking to too many ponies. He was never known as the most talkative pony anyways, but he still didn’t want to do any interactions with anypony. With one exception.
Fluttershy’s cottage came into Big Macintosh’s view, along with the Everfree Forest behind it. Everypony in Ponyville, including Big Macintosh himself, wondered why the most timid pony in town stayed so close to the most dangerous place outside of town, but she didn’t seem to mind and nothing had happened yet.
Outside the cottage Fluttershy was flying around feeding all of her animals their usual feed. The yellow pegasus was quickly darting around carrying a medium sized bag of feed which she handed to some of the smaller animals and a saddle bag full of vegetables. Big Macintosh stopped to watch her as she went about her work, not wanting to interrupt her. And of course watching her fly around was a bonus to that. Big Macintosh wouldn’t really admit it but Fluttershy is one of the only things that can easily distract the down to earth pony.
Eventually Fluttershy noticed Big Mac was there and watching her so she flew down towards him. Nervously Fluttershy said to him “Umm…I’m sorry. I didn’t notice you were here. Is it…time for me to work on the farm?”
“Nah take your time Fluttershy,” Big Macintosh said. “If y’all need ta feed your critters then go and feed your critters. Ah don’t want ta break your schedule just so you can help you on the farm.”
“No it’s ok,” Fluttershy said. “I just need to give Angel his carrots and I’ll be able to come and help you.”
“Alright take your time,” Big Mac said.
Fluttershy walked over towards her pet rabbit, which was by the side of her cottage, with a few carrots in her mouth to give to him. “Here you go Angel Bunny,” Fluttershy said to him as she put the carrots in front of Angel for him to eat.
Angel looked at her with a look that pretty much said “are you kidding me?” He was about to put up his usual defiant attitude and stubbornly deny his food, but then he looked to Fluttershy’s right and a bit behind her. Standing there was Big Macintosh giving Angel a stoic yet powerful look telling him that he better eat now. Angel quickly took the carrots and ate them quickly to alleviate the stare down that Big Macintosh was giving him.
“Good boy Angel,” Fluttershy sad. “Now Mama’s going to be gone for the rest of the day. Be nice now.” Fluttershy walked off and when she wasn’t looking Big Mac gave Angel a look that said “or else” before following her.
“So Mac umm…” Fluttershy stuttered around for a bit as she tried to find the words to say to him. “How…are you and Applejack doing since Granny Smith umm…” in a very soft voice to the point where Big Macintosh could hardly hear what she was saying she squealed “died.”
“Well Applejack is tryin to hide her feelings by burying herself in work,” Big Mac said. “Ah’m worried about her which is why Ah’m bringin in some extra help, includin you. Ah got Caramel and Breaburn comin in. Maybe if she ain’t so focused in her work she can work past it.” Big Mac sighed. “It sorta reminds me on how she handled Mom and Dad’s death. She wouldn’t talk about it at any point in time, and wouldn’t think about it if she didn’t have to. If anypony brings it up, she tries to change the subject. She ain’t lyin about it if she didn’t think about it. It took her too long ta come to terms with it and even talk to Apple Bloom about it and Ah don’t want her to do that now.”
It took him a few seconds, but Big Macintosh realized that he spoke much more then he usually did. One would think when you put the two shyest ponies in Ponyville together you would get silence, but that didn’t happen at all. In fact, the two of them almost found it easier to talk with each other than others around them.
“If she needs me to, I’ll be sure to help Applejack,” Fluttershy said. “After all, she’s my friend and I’d hate to see her hurt. But what about you? How are you feeling about it?”
“Ah’m fine,” Big Mac said. “Ah said my goodbyes and Ah’ve moved past it.”
“But it only happened a few days ago,” Fluttershy mentioned. “I know when I lost my grandmother I cried about it for a few weeks. It took both Rainbow Dash and Rarity comforting me before I was able to feel better about it. Have you even cried once about it?”
“Ah don’t need ta cry about it,” Big Mac said. “Ah got over it. Now Ah need ta make sure my family is able to get past it. They’re all still hurtin from it and Ah need to help them.”
“Umm…well I’m sorry for saying this but…you’re doing exactly what Applejack is doing,” Fluttershy said. They both stopped their walk at about the point where the Farmhouse of Sweet Apple Acres was in view but mostly on the horizon. They still had a few minutes to walk before they reached the farm itself.
Big Macintosh just looked at her silently, wondering what Fluttershy was getting at. He stayed naturally quiet, and tried not to look at her with an angry expression or a strict one, but one of wonder. Unfortunately that didn’t come across exactly how Big Macintosh wanted because Fluttershy backed up a bit away from the path because he thought Big Mac might be angry with her.
“I’m…sorry,” Fluttershy said before heading towards her house with tears starting to form in her eyes.
“Fluttershy wait,” Big Mac called after her quickly. “Ah’m not mad at ya. Ah just want ta know what ya mean.”
“Well it’s just…you’ve been focusing helping your family but…” Fluttershy’s eyes darted around everywhere but at Big Mac “you’re not helping yourself. You’re not thinking about how you. I’m sorry but…you’re bottling up your emotions and you don’t want let them out.” Fluttershy backed her head away and walked back a bit more. “I’m…sorry if that makes you angry but…it’s the truth.”
“So…y’all are saying Ah need ta...?” Big Mac asked.
“You need to open up a little,” Fluttershy told him. “Let out your sadness. Don’t keep all you emotions bottled up because that isn’t healthy for you. Yes you need to help you family through this but…that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get through it yourself. Maybe…you need to spend some time crying about it. I always feel better about something after I’m done crying about it.”
“Ah ain’t the type of stallion to cry about things,” Big Macintosh said.
“You wouldn’t think Rainbow Dash would be the type of mare to cry about thing either but she does,” Fluttershy pointed out. She focused on Big Mac’s eyes finally for the first time since they started talking. “She even told me that during that trial, when she thought she lost Scootaloo, before she came out of the forest she was crying. Everypony needs to cry every once in a while. Even if it is where nopony else can see you, you still need to let it out.”
“Ah…ain’t sure Ah know how,” Big Macintosh admitted. “Ah haven’t cried since mah parents death.”
~
“*Sniff* Big Mac, what are we gonna do now?” Applejack asked him with tears flowing down her face. “Without mah or pah…” She buried her head onto Big Mac’s shoulder.
“Ah…Ah don’t know,” Big Macintosh said. He wiped off the tears from his eyes. “But Ah promise ya that Ah’ll…Ah’ll get strong for ya.” He looked over towards his baby sister, still in her crib, completely oblivious to the sadness around her. “I’ll become strong for the both of ya. You and Apple Bloom.”
~
“Ah promised myself that Ah wouldn’t cry back then,” Big Mac said. “Ah promised myself Ah would stay strong for the both of them. So whenever they need it all they would hafta do is look at their brother for strength.”
“Mackie,” Fluttershy said, “come with me. Umm…if you want to that is. It’s just…I have something to show you.”
Fluttershy started walking over to Sweet Apple Acres, and Big Macintosh followed her questioningly. As she walked into Sweet Apple Acres she looked like she was looking around for something. She eventually walked up to the farm house and took a left. Each time she passed a window she would look into it until she reached the window that had a view of the living room.
“Look in here,” Fluttershy commanded in the least commanding voice possible.
Big Macintosh looked in to see his sister Applejack sitting on the living room couch with Caramel next to her. Applejack was crying into Caramel’s chest and Caramel was comfortingly rubbing his hoof in circles on Applejack’s back. Caramel didn’t really look like he knew what he was doing, but he looked like he was going to try and help Applejack as much as possible.
“I saw Caramel follow Applejack inside the house,” Fluttershy explained. “I knew Caramel would be doing all he could to help Applejack through her sadness.” Big Macintosh looked back towards Fluttershy. “So you see, you don’t really need to worry too much about your family right now. Applejack has Caramel to help her out. Any you…can have me help you. I’m here if you need a shoulder to cry on.”
“Ah…thank ya for that Fluttershy,” Big Mac said softly. “If ya don’t mind, can we take it deeper in the orchard? Ah don’t want mah family ta…see me weeping.”
“If you want me to,” Fluttershy said. The couple both walked away from the farm house and farther in the forest of trees to the back of Sweet Apple Acres.