By the time the two reached the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres, they were out of breath, their faces were red from the cold and they looked a complete mess, not that they cared in the slightest. There were other ponies hanging around the entrance, mainly young fillies and colts waiting for their parents to come and pick them up. Mac didn't mind that they were staring.
They stopped for barely a moment, and then began to walk slowly towards the festivities. On an empty field there were stalls that had been squeezed into half of it, the rest being kept clear for the fireworks. Mac could see many ponies milling about, chatting happily, and then there was his sister, running around the backs of the stalls and checking that each Apple family member was running everything okay and they had enough stock. If she didn't look so murderous when she saw him, he would have almost laughed. Applejack stormed over to her brother, not sparing a glance at Fluttershy.
"What in tha hay d'you think yer doin' back here so early? Why, I have the mind ta buck y'all the way ta Canterlot!" She stood close to him, glaring a hole through his head.
"Uh...well, ya see..." He scratched the back of his head and tried to avoid his sister's murderous glare.
"We left early."
Both Apples looked towards Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus saved Mac's flank at the last moment.
Oh, thank Celestia for that mare...
Before AJ had the chance to pick a fight with Fluttershy, Mac elaborated on his friend's excuse.
"Uh, yeah, we had ta leave early cus' the place was full up. We musta' waited fer about half an' hour for a space, but no-pony left."
The orange mare threw a glance that said "Oh really?" in Fluttershy's direction, to which she nodded, and then turned back to Mac.
"Well, if y'all say so...hey, Ah thought that Rarity had booked ya a table?"
"A-apparently somepony else offered to pay the place more than what Rarity paid fer the table, and it looks like they accepted."
"Huh! So that's how they do it these days...well, that's just downright sneaky, if ya ask me, buncha..." She trailed off into the distance, walking away to intimidate one of the stall-holders to see that they were doing their job. After they were sure that she had gone, they immediately sighed with relief and spoke again.
"Nice save, huh," Fluttershy said "but really, somepony paid higher?" She cocked her head slightly and frowned a little.
"S-sorry, it was just...the first thing that came into mah head, Ah guess." Fluttershy resumed smiling again. It looked prettier when she smiled, he thought.
"Never mind. I've never been to the Fireworks Festival before, you know! I was, um, always too scared as a filly, so I stayed indoors once my parents and I moved to Ponyville. And then all the other times, I was either busy or it got called off, so I never really had a chance...I've always wanted to try festival food!"
Mac smiled at Fluttershy. "Then Ah think we should visit the food stalls first, huh? Ah'm gettin' a little hungry mahself."
They walked, talked and joked their way around the stalls, Fluttershy buying every other thing and digging into it with vigor, and Mac making conversation with the stall holders. It seemed like Applejack had really pulled everypony in the family in to help with the Festival this year, and he even spotted some of his Appleloosan cousins through the crowds. He had just bought a caramel apple for Fluttershy when she spotted one of her friends and dashed off to talk to them. Mac was still looking at her in the distance when the stall owner, Apple Split, leaned over the counter and whispered to him.
"New marefriend, Mac? Nice catch." Big Mac snapped out of his trance and jumped back a little from his cousin.
"N-no, she's not mah marefriend!..." Even before he'd ended to sentence he could feel a weight of disappointment sink like a stone in his heart, which only made him more confused.
"Oh really? Well, not yet, anyway..." He trailed off quietly. "Good luck, Mac. Ah'm rootin' fer yah." He patted the red stallion on the back before going back to serving another customer.
Big Mac hesitated before taking an awkward step forward and continuing towards Fluttershy. That last comment had set the poor colt's mind into a frenzied dizziness. Good luck? Why had Apple Split wished him luck? Luck with what? With her?...
With her? With Fluttershy?
"Oh!"
Mac realized that he had been so caught up in his own thoughts, he had walked straight into poor Fluttershy. "Uh-ah, sorry, Fluttershy...are ya alright?" She nodded. He noticed that she had finished her caramel apple entirely. "Do you, uh, wanna go get some more food?"
"No, I'm full now. Twilight tells me that the fireworks are about to start! Do you know a good place we could watch them?"
He looked around, and saw that the barn roof would be in perfect view of the display. "We could sit on tha top of the barn, if ya want. Might be a bit cold, though..."
"Naw, I'm sure it will be fine. We'd best get going, if we're to get there in time."
When they arrived at the barn's loft, however, they were greeted with cobwebs, a few small piles of hay, and the ladder - two rungs missing.
"...Oh! Ah'm sorry, Fluttershy, Ah didn't know it was broken! A-Ah'll try and find the missing rungs...they should be somewhere around here, right?" He began to search, but Fluttershy placed a hoof on his shoulder.
"I'm sure we can find some way up. Look - it's only two rungs, right? You should be able to climb up safely if I help you. You climb up first, and I'll fly up afterwards."
"Well, okay..." Mac walked over to the ladder and cautiously took a step onto the first rung, testing it with a hoof. It was stable. Positioning his front hooves on the rungs above him, he slowly made his way up the ladder, stopping when he reached the top. The last two rungs were missing. "Er, Fluttershy? Ya might have to help me with this last bit..." He said, looking down at her with a slight frown.
"Oh! Right." She flapped her wings and began to hover in the air, hooking her hooves under Mac's arms and lifting him up so his front half lay in the cool night air on the roof.
"Thanks - urgh!" He cried as he slipped, desperately trying to get a hoofhold on something. He fell alarmingly close to Fluttershy's face, (as the yellow pegasus had still been hovering to make sure he got up safely) providing her with a full-on view of his rather shapely hindquarters, to which she blushed furiously and jumped away from - however, the image didn't seem to leave her mind for some time...
Mac recovered his grip on the rooftop and managed to scramble up, Fluttershy flying up after him and landing gently next to him. She sighed, and shuffled up to him, lightly resting a wing on his back. It was a friendly gesture - she did it all the time - but why, then, did it send slight chills up his spine, like she'd never done it before? Maybe it was the cold. He shuffled a little closer to her.
Down on the field, they spotted Twilight trotting out into its empty half and igniting her magic, which was but a small, colorless twinkle in the dark. "It's starting," Fluttershy whispered, "look!"
Twilight shot some smaller bursts of magic at the rockets, barely visible in the night, and ran like hell, safety instincts kicking in. A few moments later, the pair heard a sharp soar, followed by a large bang and a beautiful array of green, red and gold igniting the night sky with light and beauty.
Fluttershy gasped, completely mesmerized by the sight. She looked on avidly, eager to see more. The fireworks continued to go off, a variety of shapes, colours and sounds, the yellow pegasus drinking in every single one like it was some sort of life force. Mac turned his head and smiled, happy to see that his friend was enjoying everything she saw. The look of wonderment on her face was akin to a foal's, and something in his heart twanged a little, like a string being plucked. Fluttershy turned and smiled widely at the red stallion, but there seemed to be something different about his smile. Like, it was tinged with sadness. Her smile dampened a bit, and she whispered, "What's wrong?...You seem...sad."
In that instant, Big Mac decided on something. He decided to do something, something bold, brash, maybe. He didn't care. Maybe it was the wine flowing through his veins, or the pure euphoria from watching the fireworks with a pony he cared about, a pony he cared for a lot. The pony he cared for most.
He leaned into the left side of her face, tilting his head slightly and closing his eyes softly, brushing his lips against hers oh-so-gently, heart racing a million miles a minute. He couldn't quite put a hoof on why he'd done it, but it just felt so right, like it was meant to be. However, Fluttershy pulled away.
Mac's heart sank through his body like a lead weight. She'd pulled away. A thousand thoughts came crashing down on him, before they were cut away by speech.
"Um, wait. I-I...before you...I wanted to, uh, say something...I've wanted to say it for some time."
He turned, inquisitive.
"For some time...I don't know how long, but, I...you see, my attitude to you, my thoughts about you, they, er, changed? I guess that's what happened. I started viewing you in a different light, as it were," She emphasized her point with hoof gestures, "and I guess...I started to fall...in love. I couldn't have put my hoof on it if I'd tried, 'cus I'd never really, uh, felt it before, but I guess it was only until tonight and when Rarity sent me on that *date* that I realized what she was trying to tell me what I'd been thinking all along. That...that you were more than just a friend. You were my best friend...the pony I cared for the most. I love you, Mac."
She beamed up at him, seeing the tears sparkling in his eyes and the smile on his face, and leaned in to kiss him, wiping away the tears with a hoof.
"Ah love you too, Fluttershy."