It had been a lovely trip to Appleoosa, Twilight decided as she and Big Macintosh were saying their farewells to Braeburn. The day had been spent touring through the little town, grabbing a bite to eat and dropping in on some of Braeburn’s friends. Twilight even saw a few ponies that she recognized from her previous stay in the town, and had a couple of pleasant conversations with them. The day ended with the three ponies strolling through Braeburn’s flourishing apple orchard. Due to the warm weather hanging around the area, his apples were still growing.
Of course, all things must come to an end, and that’s what brought the couple to the train station now. They grabbed their saddlebags from Braeburn’s house not but twenty minutes before, then moseyed on over to the station where the train had just arrived.
“Well, Brae, thanks fer showin’ us around all afternoon,” Mac drawled, as he embraced his cousin.
“Not a problem, cous, not a problem at all!” Braeburn replied, beaming. “Y’all take care, and eat some of them apples I packed for ya! They’re the pick of the harvest, I say!”
Mac laughed, and reassured him that they would do so. Twilight approached Braeburn next, and began the awkward hoofshake-into-hug maneuver. Giggling, she said, “Thanks so much, Braeburn! It was great to see you again!”
“You take care of my little cousin here, now, ya hear?” he said. “Ya gotta make sure he behaves himself on y’all’s little journey!” As they broke the embrace, Twilight gave him a reassuring nod, then moved back towards Macintosh.
“Alrigh’ now,” Braeburn said. “Get on the train ‘afore it leaves without y’all!”
The couple did as he said, and quickly took their seat and let open their window. “We’ll see ya next time, Brae,” Mac said. “Ya take care while I’m gone, aight?”
“Don’t you worry none, cousin,” he said. “’Ole Brae knows a thing er two.”
At that moment, the conductor yelled out of the train’s doorway, “All aboard’s comin’ aboard!” He took a quick look around to verify everybody was on the train, before waving to the engineer to go ahead and pull out. The two ponies waved their goodbyes to Braeburn before relaxing into their seats.
Their next stop was a ranch in between Baltimare and Fillydelphia, where Mac’s family had raised dairy cows and grown apples for decades.
“So about these ponies we’re going to meet,” Twilight asked after about half an hour on the train. “What were their names again?”
“The patriarch of tha family is mah Uncle Hampshire,” Big Mac said. “His wife is Roxbury, but we jus’ call her Rox fer short.”
Twilight hummed as thoughts buzzed around in her head. “So, your Uncle Hampshire is…your dad’s brother?” she asked, screwing up her eyes as she tried to remember the little bit of Apple family history that Mac had once imparted to her.
“Eeyup,” Mac confirmed. “They both grew up with mah Granny on tha farm we’ll be at last. That’s mah great-great grandpappy’s farm, an’ it’s been in tha family ever since he started it.”
“Was that the first Apple farm?”
“Eeyup.”
At this time, an attendant came by wheeling a trolley full of in-transit goodies, and asked if they’d like anything. After both requesting just a cup of water, Twilight settled down into her coltfriend with a big sigh of content.
“I’m so glad we’re doing this, Mac,” she said. “It really means a lot to me.”
“S’not a problem, Twi,” he mumbled, nudging her into his chest more. “Ah mean, we may as well go on an’ get it outta tha way, right? Like ya said, if we’re gonna make it we gotta do this.”
“Mhm. That and…I don’t know, I feel like this trip will help us grow closer together. I know a lot about you, but…there’s just so much more to learn. And what’s better than spending several days meeting your family?”
Her stallion snorted and kissed her horn. “Ah tell ya what, if ya can handle meetin’ mah whole family and puttin’ up with all their nonsense, then Ah think there ain’t nothin’ ya can’t do in life, sweetheart.”
Twilight smiled as she gave him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, Mac. That makes me feel even more hopeful for our future than I already was.”
“Of course, Twi. Now, why don’t we try to get some sleep? We still got about seven hours ta Baltimare, an’ tha sun’s settin’ fast.”
“That sounds like a great plan,” Twilight said. She immediately stretched out and lay her head against her coltfriend’s flank and was soon sound asleep.
Welp, Big Macintosh thought, looks like I’m on my own for a little while.
And with that, he settled in and peered out the window, and watched the dark landscape whizz by.
***
Twilight felt a lurch as she darted up from her sleeping position on Mac’s chest, which she must have changed to sometime during the train ride. Her quick gasp of air was enough to cause her coltfriend to stir, as she felt his breathing pattern change.
“We thur?” he mumbled, rubbing an eye with the only hoof that wasn’t trapped under Twilight.
“I-I think so? I can’t tell, it isn’t light out yet.”
Just as she finished her sentence, the train came to a full stop, causing the sleepy couple to lurch forwards once more.
“Guess that answers that question,” Mac said, with a tired chuckle. “C’mon, let’s get our bags an’ get off.”
After strapping into their saddlebags, the couple stepped off into a cool, predawn air that seemed to permeate their very bones. Twilight shivered, and leaned in further to Big Macintosh.
“Cold, sweetheart?” he asked, placing his leg around her withers.
“A bit,” she guiltily admitted.
Mac reached over his shoulder into his saddlebag and pulled out a wool blanket he had packed along with him.
“Here,” he said. “Put this on. We got a bit of a ways to go ‘afore we get ta where we’re goin’.”
“Thanks,” Twilight said with a little smile. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, and his coat changed to a darker shade of red for a second. He turned to her and reciprocated her kiss with a peck on her lips before motioning them forwards.
The train station was located a short ways out of Baltimare, and the city’s skyline was just barely visible as a dark outline against the grey sky. There were several lights on, but it was nowhere near as lit up as, say, Manehattan would be at this time. For the few times that Twilight had been there on friendship errands, she could have sworn that ponies in that city never took a break from anything.
There was a road leading towards the city lined with several stagecoach taxis. It seemed many of the drivers had moved inside to take a quick respite from the busy work they did during the twenty-four hours of each day, though a large portion were catching the attentions of ponies that had just disembarked the train. Going in the opposite direction of all this madness, however, was a small dirt road that seemed to lead to the edge of the dark world. There was a road sign pointing in this direction that had “Manehattan” painted on it, with a distance of 147 miles in neat, white lettering beside it.
“If ya walk far enough, ya do eventually get there,” Big Macintosh said, catching Twilight’s eye on the sign. “But really it’s just there for novelty. Ya’d be crazy ta go tha whole distance on foot.”
“It’d be hard to even teleport that far,” Twilight replied. “Train really is about the only way to get there quickly, unless you’re Rainbow Dash.”
The couple began walking through the chilly breeze, leaves from surrounding trees crunching underhoof as the Autumn set in more and more. Twilight leaned her head against Mac’s thick, corded neck, and lost herself in her stallion’s muscles moving under his surprisingly soft coat. After a moment, she decided to speak up.
“So, how are we going to do this?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“You know…introduce me. In a way that won’t have you immediately disowned and me getting run off before I even get to say ‘hi’?”
Her coltfriend didn’t respond, at first. He kept his course, didn’t look left nor right, and didn’t make a sound save the clopping of his hooves. After a moment, Twilight moved her head off his neck to look at him.
“Mac?”
No response.
“Maaaaac?” she said, this time very expectantly.
“Ah-ah don’t know,” he admitted. “Ah hadn’t really thought of that. Ah just figur’d we’d come on up here, an’ I’d introduce ya as mah marefriend, an’ then go from there.”
“That’s your grand plan?” Twilight asked sarcastically. “That’s it?”
“Well, yeah,” he replyed, sheepishly. “Ain’t no other way ta do it, really…”
“I’ll leave the judgment up to you, I suppose.”
A moment of silence passed, where only the lonely breeze and long-gone leaves spoke.
“If it means anything, Ah’m sorry,” Mac finally said. “It ain’t really these folks Ah’ve prepared fer.”
Twilight raised a brow. “Why didn’t you prepare for these ponies?”
“Cuz they ain’t as bad.”
“As bad as?” There was definite trepidation in her voice.
“As bad as the last ponies we gotta go see.” There, Mac thought. Ah said it. Hopefully she don’t kill me. He heard a big gulp, and looked at his marefriend. Her beautiful lavender coat seemed to have turned white, so he stopped and wrapped her up in a hug. “Don’t worry none, darlin’,” he said. “They may be bad, but Ah ain’t gonna let nothin’ happen to ya.”
“Thank you,” she almost whispered. She felt lips on her forehead, and turned to accept a full on kiss. After a moment, she broke the embrace and said, “Let’s keep going, shall we? It’ll be light, soon.”
Agreeing with her statement, Big Mac followed suit. The homestead they were headed to was just a little ways up the road, now, and had just begun to appear on the horizon.
***
A rooster crowed, and the long moo of a cow called out in response. Pigs began to shuffle around in their pin, and the hens were just finishing laying their eggs. The sun that embodied the great Princess Celestia began to show its face over the horizon, and the world seemed to be coming to life. Despite the bite in the air, and the browning leaves of the apple trees that no longer bore fruit, it was setting up to be a nice day.
Besides, thought the large, middle aged stallion on his front porch, mah little nephew is coming to visit today. How could it not be a good day?
And even as he thought this, he saw two silhouettes appear at the end of his road.
Ah, that must be them now!
Hampshire Apple was a large, russet colored stallion. He was even bigger than Big Macintosh, and it was always said that Mac got his size from this side of the family. When his brother told him that his wife was pregnant with Mac, Hampshire had said he would be a big one. And he was right, too.
“Rox!” he called over his shoulder into his home. “C’mon out, and bring the kids! Mac’s here with this marefriend he told us about!”
A mare’s voice called out in response as Hampshire placed a straw into his mouth and began chomping away.
Must be tha’ time already fer the lad. I remember when he was jus’ a foal…by Celestia how time does fly by. Can’t wait to meet this mare o’ his if she’s gettin’ him to settle down this fast.
At this moment, his wife, son, and daughter joined him on the porch. They all got into place just as Big Macintosh was crossing the threshold into his yard with…
“Howdy, Uncle Hampshire, Aunt Rox,” Mac called out over the short distance that now remained between them.
“Howdy, Mac,” Hampshire responded, with hesitation.
The couple got right up to the front porch and stopped. Mac was standing tall and erect, looking as proud as ever. This was in great contrast to Twilight, who was trying to appear as small and insignificant as she possibly could. In other words, she was very clearly uneasy.
“Uncle Hampshire, Aunt Rox, cousins,” Macintosh said, nodding at each in turn, “this here’s Twilight Sparkle, mah marefriend.”
Hampshire narrowed his eyes to bare slits. “Ya didn’t tell me, Macintosh, that yer marefriend was a spiral-headed spell-slinger.” He said this with all the venom he could possibly spit.
Mac’s gaze never hardened. It never changed. He held complete eye contact with his uncle the entire time. After an eon of silence, he brought Twilight into a half-hug, kissed her on the cheek, and looked back at his family.
“Eeyup.”