Beep... Beep... Beep...
Everything hurts...
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Why does everything hurt?
Beep... Beep... Beep...
Wasn't being dead supposed to be more... peaceful than this?
Beep... Beep... Beep...
And what is that grating beeping noise?
Light.
He had just become aware of light pouring into his eyelids, refusing to let the little bit of flesh that stood between his eyes and itself discourage it.
Annoying light.
He wanted to roll over... but he couldn't move... everything hurts... it was a numb pain, thankfully. Why did he feel like it should be so much worse?
After several minutes, he decided to seize the day. If he was dead... he'd have all of forever to rest.
So... he opened his eyes, slowly. The light burned them... but there was comfort to be found in the burning sensation. He welcomed the light... maybe... it would welcome him?
He didn't know what he expected... but it wasn't what he saw. Dull, greenish-blue walls. The smell of anti-bacterial materials wafting through the air. A dull, white ceiling. Where was he? Why was this scene familiar?
Slowly, he turned his head. It hurt to move. He felt like his flesh was taught, pulling itself apart as he moved, but he had to know more.
Near him was a nightstand. On it was a book - Daring Doo - and from a small knob floated some balloons that said 'Get Well Soon' on them. He could think of the color pink upon seeing them. Slowly, he turned his head again to look to his other side. A large monitor device, a line jumping with each beep to form a spike. That was a sight he knew. He let his vision crawl more over the rest of himself. His body was exposed, much as it needed to be - it was somewhat humbling to see that most, if not all of his coat was gone, exposing the soft, pink pony flesh beneath. Much of his body was covered in bandage, with outright castings covering all but one of his legs. Had they been broken? Was he really that unfortunate? Or were they being thorough?
He could barely remember intense heat and darkness.
"Hm...?... M... Mac?"
The voice was familiar. But it hurt to think.
"... Mac! McIntosh, yer awake!"
Stop shouting... it hurts...
"Nngh.." was all he could say in protest.
She seemed to get the hint as she soon came into his vision. She must have been waiting just outside his easiest field of view. An orange mare in a stetson with a blonde mane and green eyes... well... they were kind of swollen. Had she been crying?
"Nnh... Applejack?"
He winced a bit. It hurt to talk, and what he managed was tired and raspy.
"It's me big guy" she said, quieter than earlier, a smile growing on her face, fresh tears forming in her eyes. "Ya had us all scared somethin' terrible..."
McIntosh didn't respond. Suddenly, he became truly aware of just how... everything he was. His whole body was really sore, he felt like he could use a glass of water, and he wasn't sure but he was certain he had tubes in some very invasive areas. "Ugh... wh... what happened?"
Applejack smiled and gently wrapped her hooves around him and hugged him tight - well, tight as one might a pony who had been crushed and burned. "You became a hero... that's what happened."
That's when it came back to him.
"... Th... The library..."
Applejack nodded. "Yeah..."
"... An' Twilight...?"
Applejack smirked. "She's safe."
"... How long Ah been out fer...?"
Applejack's face became very serious and flat. "Big McIntosh... Ah dunno how ta say this but... you've been in a coma fer ten years..."
His eyes widened... well, much as his tired frame would let him. He mouthed the words 'ten years' at his sister, whose face suddenly began to crack into a grin. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Applejack..."
"Sorry..." she said, chuckling - he didn't fail to notice there was a hint of relief in that chuckle, as if she hadn't laughed in days, and that it was accompanied by another wave of tears which she promptly wiped from her eyes. "Ah don't suppose Ah know when Ah'd get a chance to do that again... in truth, ya only been out fer about nine hours... a good night's sleep, Ah guess?"
He nodded softly and lay his head back into his pillow. Even if he had gotten so much rest, he still felt very tired. Still, he felt the need to smile a bit. He had survived. He had risked everything to save somepony, and by all means, he figured he probably should be dead... but he had survived.
Maybe good deeds and hard work was rewarded after all?
Applejack smirked and kissed his forehead, hugging him again, before backing off a bit. Big Mac moved around a bit, trying to sit up some, but was rewarded for his efforts with a shot of pain running through his entire body, eliciting another groan from him as he steadied himself back to his previous position. Applejack trotted to his side and looked at him with a look that was half concern, half scolding. "Take it easy now, brother... the doctors had ta work really carefully on ya. Ya broke a lotta bones, an' they said maybe 75% of yer body was covered in burns..."
He let out a groan and clenched his eyes shut. He feared what that might mean. Applejack seemed to read up on it and held a hoof up. "The doc says he's certain you'll make a full recovery... at worst maybe a scar or two... so don't ya go gettin' mopey an' thinkin' yer gonna be lame. Yer a very, VERY lucky stallion ta even be alive, let alone in yer condition. Ah reckon a lesser stallion woulda been dead."
He supposed that was true. Years of hard work had probably saved him, what with enough muscle to pull a house, he reckoned he could take one falling on him better than your average earth pony. He closed his eyes and sighed a bit, a small chuckle escaping him. He didn't find anything so much funny... as he was just sort of relieved.
"Everything's fine..."
"Weeeelll not quite..." said Applejack, rubbing the back of her head. Big Mac slowly looked up to her and she coughed into her hooves, pondering over things in her head. "Well... first off... when Granny found out y'all saved a Princesses life she went on a tyrade about how in her day a princess married her savior, so ya might have ta put up with that fer a while..."
Despite the fact that Big McIntosh was fairly certain the Princess had never married in his grandmother's admittedly impressive lifetime.
"... Also, she said she was gonna knock ya upside the head fer runnin' into a burnin' tree alone without any form of backup, nearly dyin', and nearly givin' her a heart attack... so ya might have to put up with that..."
Well, that much was expected.
"Plus, the Cutie Mark Crusaders said they wanted to do somethin' for ya, so you may end up with more injuries before the day is done."
Could it get any worse?
"Finally..." she said, "... Even though the docs think you'll be healed enough within a week ta return home, they don't suggest you try anything particularly taxin'... such as manual labor... for at least two months..."
Big Mac mouthed the words 'Two months' silently.
"Now Ah know that sounds bad!" she began. "But! Because y'all saved a Princess, an' nearly died, a lotta ponies are offerin' their support, both financial and volunteer work, ta help us make up the difference!" She grinned a bit. "Rumor has it somepony's in line ta get honored when he's well enough to stand before a crowd."
The stallion let out a soft grunt. He supposed getting honored was alright, long as ponies didn't make a big fuss.
"Well, Ah gotta run home..." said Applejack. "Ah'm gonna tell everypony y'all woke up. Expect lotsa visitors today." With that, Applejack turned and trotted towards the exit, stopping to turn and wave and smile at her brother before leaving.
He sighed and closed his eyes.
What a strange past couple of days this has been.
***
True to her word, Applejack had told everypony of Big Mac's waking up.
And he was pleasantly surprised by how many ponies had come by to visit him.
Some of them were slightly more obvious. The ponies he played cards with made sure to come by and give their well wishes - while he expected Caramel, Snowflake and Lyra kind of surprised him. He considered them friendly acquaintances rather than friends before, but judging by their accolades and no shortage of teasing, he supposed they really were friends? Of course, family came by, and much as Applejack had promised, Granny gave Big Mac a healthy slap on the back of his head (which doctors had asked her not to do again) and teased him about how marrying a princess could bring a lot of status to the Apple family. Even his old friend Cheerilee popped by and gave him well wishes.
Then there were the less-than-obvious visitors. All of Applejack's friends came by, excluding Twilight herself who Applejack had informed him had been asked by the staff to remain in her room until they could confirm she was healthy to move around. Pinkie had given him a cake, which he truly loved - given it had applesauce in the icing, he supposed that he would love it. Rarity had promised to make him a dashing new tux when he was healthy enough to get fitted for it. Fluttershy, in an uncharacteristic display of openness, hugged and thanked him for saving her friend.
Then there was Rainbow Dash.
She simply stared at him for a few minutes. He didn't know what to make of it for a bit, before she punched him in his least injured shoulder (which still hurt like the dickens) and told him if he ever did something that stupid again she would lay him out. He could tell she probably still wasn't fully over the rejection, but she seemed to be taking it better than he had expected.
He even got some visitors that he was barely familiar with, if at all, visit him. He knew the Cakes well enough, but didn't know they considered enough of him to visit him in the hospital. They had baked him a dozen 'hero cupcakes', which had red icing and small toothpicks with little flags with his cutie mark on them (they had told him Pinkie Pie made the little flags). Mayor Mare appeared to tell him about the support the farm was going to receive as thanks and the heroism of his deeds and the plan they had to have a celebration in his honor (Pinkie Pie was going to plan a lot of the actual 'celebration' part of the deal) and, much to his surprise, he even got a visit from Princess Celestia herself, thanking him for saving her student. (He wondered if Pinkie Pie had a hoof in that too?)
When all was said and done, the ponies stopped pouring in and he was finally left to his own devices. He turned his head to face out a nearby window, staring into the sunset. It was a beautiful sight, really. He would have preferred to be standing on a hill on the farm and enjoying it as it was meant to be enjoyed, true, but he supposed that for the next week, this was the best he could do.
"Hello? Big Mac?"
He turned to look towards the entrance to the room. Standing in the doorway was none other than Twilight Sparkle herself. She was wearing a hospital gown, as was fitting he supposed, and she was in a wheelchair, to help conserve her energy, pushed in by her number one assistant, Spike the Dragon, who had only a bandage around his head for his troubles (he was informed that when he had kicked the doors open, the dragon had been standing in the way - he still felt somewhat guilty about that.)
"Hi" he said with a nod. Spike pushed her chair into the room and brought her close to the bed, then stepped to her side and smiled up at him, waving. "Sorry fer the door, Spike..."
Spike waved a claw. "It's alright, Big Guy. I'd apologize more about letting Miss Smartypants get burned up than I would by hitting me with a door." The dragon grinned and crossed his arms. "I'm probably the single most durable thing in Ponyville! Even tougher than you!"
Big Mac supposed he couldn't argue that to a creature who wasn't bothered by lava baths and having pins stuck into his scales.
"I wanted to say thanks for saving me, Big Mac..." said Twilight. She still sounded tired, though she seemed to be in better condition than she had been in the past few days. For all she had been through, she only seemed to have a broken leg and a scrape on her head, so she wasn't doing so badly.
"'Twas nothin'" he said with a nod.
"No, it was something" she said, shaking her head. "... I have to be honest. It wasn't a surprise that you'd hurry to help get me to a hospital when I was just suffering from a poison bite... but that you risked your life to save me?" She smiled a bit and nodded. "That... shines pretty bright in a list of good deeds."
Big Mac would have shrugged if his shoulder weren't in such terrible condition. "Anypony woulda done the same."
Twilight shook her head. "Not just anypony. The fact you were the first to charge in says a lot... to be fair, Applejack said she was about to do the same thing, but you beat her to the punch..." she let out a small giggle, and shook her head. "What you did was... amazing. And I will never forget that."
The stallion couldn't help but smile at her kind words, and offered a gentle nod.
It was then that Twilight gently leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, much to his own surprise. Spike seemed to gag at the sight, which elicited a smirk from Twilight herself.
"I think a kiss for a hero is fair, right?"
Big Mac blinked a few times. "E... eeyup?"
The alicorn nodded. "We'll leave you to rest up then. Spike?" The baby dragon nodded, happy to end anything sappy before it became a problem to his poor young mind and turning the chair around, pushing Twilight out of the room, and leaving Big McIntosh to his thoughts. He sat there alone, staring at the doorway. Reaching a hoof up to rub his cheek, he pondered on recent events for a moment.
To get a kiss from a girl (albeit an innocent cheek kiss), all he had to do was save a girl from spider venom, fling her out a door, and have a house fall on him and nearly kill him?
He shrugged.
He wasn't sure if a simple kiss on the cheek was worth having a house fall on him... but he'd still do it again all the same if he could. At this thought, he chuckled and shook his head, laying back down and staring at the ceiling.
Heck, he'da done it again without the kiss.
That was just the kind of pony he was.
"Ahem."
Big Mac didn't want to look. He figured if he didn't it might go away. But he had to. Slowly, he brought his head up to look out the door and see none other than Granny Smith staring at him. She pulled, seemingly from no where, her old wedding band from when she herself had been proposed to and waved it around. Big Mac groaned and rolled his eyes. "How did ya even know ta be here?"
"That there pink friend of yers said somepony was gonna get a hero's kiss, somethin' about feelin' butterflies in 'er belly, warmth in her heart, and shakin' like a leak. Ah came on a hunch."
"Granny... Ah almost died..."
"An' Ah'm almost dead! Want me ta ask her for ya? Ah'll ask her for ya! Bend on mah knee n' everything, tell 'er you'd be honored to have her as part of the-"
"Granny!"