Finally, the end was near. It was day when apple bucking season was over. Only one tree stood between relaxation and a red stallion. Unfortunately for him, the weather team decided to plan a storm for this exact day. Determined as he was, the stallion decided to brave the weather and headed towards the tree.
As he approached the tree, the weather grew fiercer. It was raining so hard that the poor stallion could not see his own hoof in front of his face. Each mud puddle trapped his legs. Thunder shook the ground and made him unsteady. The wind caused the trees to shake violently. All that mattered none. The weather couldn’t stop him.
“Big Macintosh! You get yourself back in the house this instant!” screamed an orange mare, “You could get hurt in weather like this.”
“Eenope.” Big Mac said. He pointed in the direction of the tree.
“We can get that one tomorrow! Rainbow Dash said this storm was gonna be a doozy, so come in now!”
“Eenope.” With his final words,Big Mac trudged on.
Within a few moments, he reached the tree. There was nothing particularly special about it except that it was the last one to buck. By now, the weather had really begun to worry him. He needed to get this over with and head home. Fortunately for him, the catching baskets were already strategically placed for maximum apple harvesting. He only needed to account for the wind and slide them over accordingly.
Big Mac walked up to the tree, and then tapped it. He was feeling for the perfect spot to kick. It took him a while, but he finally found it. A smile appeared on his freckled face. Soon rest and relaxation would be his. He planted his front hooves firmly into the soil around the tree and nonchalantly kicked. As luck would have it, his front hooves slipped causing him to fall flat onto his stomach.
“…” Big Mac said visibly agitated. He fell directly into a mud puddle. After consoling himself, the stallion rose up. He wiped the mud out his eyes, looked towards the tree, and nodded. Once again he planted his hooves, in a different spot, and bucked. This time he carefully aimed where his strike would hit. He took a deep breath, brought his legs in, and bucked.
This attempted ended up being a success. All the apples fell into a basket; all except one. This wasn’t a problem. He just lightly tapped the tree which caused the apple to fall directly into his hoof. He wiped it on his red fur, and took a bite.
“Eeyup.” He grinned. These apples were at their peak. Alas, his bliss was interrupted when he heard a cracking noise. When the stallion located the source terrible sound, he was shocked. The combination of the weather and his bucking had cause the tree to crack and tilt in his direction.
“Eenope…nope…NOPEE!!” He yelled. His voice filled with fear as he ran for his life. As he ran, the flashes of lighting would show the tree’s shadow hastily overtaking him. He broke into a full gallop, but it was no use. The tree collided with the ground stopping the red stallion in his tracks. When it had settled, an apple with one bite missing fell out of the leaves.
<><><><><><><><><>
Big Mac woke up only to see blurred colors. On his left, Orange merged white. In the middle, Pink, Blue, and yellow were hovering. One his right was something lavender. He squinted, so he could try to focus his eyesight. He only managed to see three smaller colors of white, orange, and yellow bring in a big black tower. Unable to see, he took a deep breath and smelled something burnt and charred.
“What is that, girls?” To Big Mac it sounded like his sister’s friend, Twilight.
“Well, we decided to bake Big Mac a cake!” He heard his youngest sister, AppleBloom, say.
“And try to earn our cutie marks!” The two other colors chimed in.
Big Mac took another sniff. By the smell of the cake, it wasn’t going to be an enjoyable one. He decided to give his eyesight another try. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in his bedroom surrounded by both his sisters’ friends. The main one he noticed was the Pink one who was hovering thanks to balloons tied around her torso. He sighed. He really needed to get some guy friends, but he concluded that it wasn’t bad to be surrounded by mares.
“Everypony calm down! I think he’s waking up to!” said the Pink one. He remembered her name was Pinkie Pie.
Applejack ran over and hugged her brother tightly. “How ya feeling?!”
“Eeyup.”
“I was worried sick when ya didn’t come home during the storm. Then I saw the tree had fallen. I told ya not go!” bellowed Applejack. Tears began to run out her eyes. “I’m just glad your back.”
The rest of her friends went in for a group hug. Surrounded by mares, a slight blush appeared on Big Mac’s face. Of course, no pony could see it. He secretly thanked Celestia for his red fur. When the hug ended, his younger sister sat a piece of cake on his lap.
“Try a piece!” she said, “Tell us how you like it!”
He grabbed a fork, wondered how he grabbed the fork with nothing to actually hold it, and then cut himself a piece. Hesitantly, he lifted it up to his mouth. Anxiety began to course through his veins as he placed the cake onto his tongue. He chewed once; he chewed twice, and smiled.
“Eeyup. ” He smiled. The three small fillies started cheering. While they were distracted, he quickly grabbed a napkin, spit the cake into it, and threw it out the window.
“Well Big Mac. In honor of your waking up and all, we all scrambled up some extra bits and got you a two week, all expense paid vacation to Canterlot!” Applejack said as she handed Big Mac a pamphlet about Canterlot, “It has everything a stallion like you could want: Games, sports, and...mares.”
When the red stallion looked around, he saw each one of the other mares rolled their eyes at the last thing Applejack listed. He reached his hoof under his pillow and brought out a pamphlet about Las Pegasus.
“Eeyup.”
“We already saw that, but Twilight, here, reminded us about your gambling problem. Remember when you lost your yoke to Pinkie in that cupcake eating match. “Applejack scolded.
“And it’s still hanging on my wall of victory!” Pinkie added.
“So we all decided on a nice, safe, relaxing place.” Applejack concluded.
Big Mac was about to give up that easily. He lifted up the Las Pegasus pamphlet and tapped it with his hoof. He noticed that he was getting nowhere, so he decided on his best puppy dog eyes to help him.
“Eeyup?”
“Look here, mister. It’s Canterlot and that is final. We all know you need a break from work and this is the best location. Now get up. Your train leaves in an hour!”
With those final words, Big Mac knew he was defeated. He rolled out of bed and began to pack. It was beginning to become awkward as he packed his items in front of mares, but he just ignored the feeling. Within minutes of packing, he started to cringe from a sudden pain that washed over him.
“Sorry. I forgot to tell ya that the doctor said to take these pills once a day.” Applejack said.
“Eeyup.”
<><><><><><><><><>
“Bye Big Mac! Have fun on your trip!” All the mares yelled in unison.
Big Mac waved back and sat in his sit as the train pulled off. He opened the Canterlot pamphlet and read. He actually thought he could be able to fun. That is, if the high class ponies didn’t bother him. He sighed and went back to reading, but was interrupting by another stallion.
“You must be the luckiest stallion in Equestria to have six mares and three foals wave goodbye to you.” The stallion nudged. He took a sit next to Big Mac.
“Ee-“ Big Mac stop his sentence short. He had just realized that he left his most valuable possession at home. Then, lavender smoke from a magic spell startled him. When the smoke cleared, it revealed Smarty Pants with a note tied to the doll’s leg.
You wouldn’t want to leave this behind
-TS
P.s I won’t tell anypony.
P.P.S Just in case you do get the urge to gamble, here’s a little something.
Another cloud of smoke appeared and Big Mac saw a pouch of bits on his lap. With a sigh of relief, Big Mac fell asleep with Smarty Pants in his arms. The other stallion politely left. Not wanting to see anymore of the awkward situation.
<><><><><><><><><>
“Next stop: Canterlot Railway!”
Big Mac woke up from one of the worst naps he had every taken. The constant shaking of the train plus the lumpy seats equaled a bad nap. In his mind,he told his sister to do that fancy math. After a quick laugh, he unloaded his luggage and got off the train.
Upon his exit, he looked up to see magnificent buildings, great architecture, and snobby high class ponies. He looked down at a slip of paper with the address of his home for the next two weeks. When he found it, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He was staying at the Royal castle.
The guards, who already knew of his visit, opened the gate and escorted him to the front entrance. The shock fully transfixed the stallion. He had never been in the Royal castle and began to feel that this was going to be a good trip. Before he could completely get in the courtyard, a blue colt ran up and pulled his tail.
“Mister, Mister! I need your help.”
“...”
“I really need you to help me!!”
“…”
“You just gotta! My mom is stuck inside a burning building! Will you help?”
“…Eeyup.”
Big Mac dropped his luggage and carefully set down Smarty Pants.He looked towards the sky and noticed wisps of black smoke. Quickly, he grabbed the colt and put him on his back. The colt, after he settled, pointed north. Without hesitation, Big Mac galloped in the direction of smoke.
“Your bags shall be waiting in your room upon your return.” A guard, without any emotional change stated.
“Eeyup.”