//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Apple of my eye // by Eros //------------------------------// The cold night air ruffled the fur of everypony present, but they didn't care. The Summer Sun Celebration was a big deal all over Equestria, and none of Princess Celestia's loyal subjects would be put off by a few gusts of wind. The normally dark expanse of sky that hung over Ponyville was full of glittering lights and thumping bassy music permeated the ears of every equine gathered. The streets bulged with ponies swaying, dancing to the music, drinking and just having a good time. Sweet Apple Acres had had a good harvest that year and the apple family had generously given at least half their orchard to the bakers, who had outdone themselves with the variety of applely treats heaped on table all around town. There were fritters, pies and various pastry-based products. This was the one night where foals stayed up all night and everypony had fun dancing with their partners, or by themselves. Vinyl Scratch, the resident DJ had prepared an entire night of electronic music that carried with it a sense of surreal meaning. The bass would twist the insides of anypony and induce euphoria among the crowd. Not to mention that Princess Celestia was quite fond of such musics herself. She sat on her impromptu throne in the center of the stage, nodding her head to the beat. It was a strange sight, to see the ruler of an entire country enjoying herself in such a simple way. Down in the center of the flashing town, one small tan pony giggled as the resonating bass slide over his body, making him tingle in ecstasy. Caramel closed his eyes and let the music do whatever it wanted with him, allowing the synths to guide his path as he danced around the town square without a care in the world. He couldn't dance to save his plot, but tonight wasn't about being good at dancing. This was the only night that Caramel ever felt safe, mostly due to the communal atmosphere. It was the only time he came out of the usually very closed in shell he kept himself in. Also, the cider helped a lot. A wide grin was plastered across his face. This was the happiest night of the year. Not however, for a certain large red stallion watching the proceeds from a lonely lamp a few meters from the mass of dancing ponies. Big Mac idly kicked pebbles about and tried to stay out of the way. If there was one thing Big Macintosh didn't like, it was painfully loud electronic music and large crowds of ponies he didn't know. He really saw no point to it, it was just a mess of effects to him. He sipped his 4th bottle of cider. His inner voice piped up, as it always did when he was bored. "Why did Ah come tah this? T'ain't nothin' important happenin.'" He trotted over to a table laden with apple pies and casually bit into one. It tasted good, but it lacked a certain something Granny Smith's pies always seemed to have. Big Mac wasn't really concentrating on the taste much anyway. Out of the corner of his eye, the bored steed spotted a brown pony who seemed to be experiencing a state of elevated happiness. His carefree smile intrigued Big Macintosh. He seemed to enjoy the music a lot. The way his soft brown mane bounced in time to his gyrating body, the way his flank moved incredibly out of time with the music was really silly. It was obvious that he couldn't dance, yet even more obvious that he didn't care. It was almost... cute. This admission that he found a stallion cute was slightly unnerving. Must just be the cider. The copious amount of cider he had consumed was certainly taking a toll on Big Macintosh's better judgment. The night air suddenly didn't feel so cold and the way everypony was dancing did look kind of fun... Especially that colt with the three blue horseshoes for a cutie mark. The one who couldn't dance to save his life. "Hmm... it is pretty easy tah dance tah this kind o' music" Without even realizing it, he was swinging his hips to the music, allowing it to caress his very soul. Booze seemed to have a very good way of lowering inhibitions, although anypony could have told you that. Closing his eyes, the farmpony allowed this new sense to overlap all his other senses and simply followed the beat. He was normally into a more country style of music, but this random mess of effects was upbeat and exciting, something Big Macintosh didn't get much of working on a farm. Here he was, slightly drunk and having fun. And it was going well, really it was. Until he bumped into a certain beige stallion with a blue horseshoes cutie mark. Both of them were too stuck in the music to realize where they were going, and as a result they crashed into each other. Hard. They fell on the ground painfully, while the rest of Ponyville danced. Pebbles embedded themselves in Caramel's soft fur. "Uhhhhhh" Caramel rubbed his aching snout while Big Mac comforted his throbbing shoulder. Big Macintosh stood up and turned to his attacker meaning to apologize, until he saw who it was and blushed. Caramel looked up from the ground into the eyes of the pony above him. Those deep, apple green eyes were so alluring, so full of life and strength. "... His eyes..." Shaking himself out of Caramel's ice blue eyes, those beautiful pools of radiance, Big Mac offered a bare hoof to the colt. Caramel placed a hoof in Big Macintosh's and used the red pony to stand up and steady himself. Big Mac was thankful for his fur, or his cheeks would have been redder then something that's really red. He nervously rubbed a hoof behind his head. "Ah'm real sorry 'bout that. Ah guess I got kinda caught up in the moment." Caramel giggled. His eyes screwed up as he laughed in a somewhat feminine way. "No worries, I was kind of a slave to the sound myself." It surprised Mac to hear such eloquence from a pony who had a reputation of being rather klutzy. They stood staring at each other. Neither of them could think of anything to say, yet neither could find the strength to stop staring. The way the flashing multicolored lights played over Big Macintosh's muscle-bound figure was intriguing. Likewise, Big Mac couldn't tear his gaze from Caramel's almost glowing cyan irises, a color Big Macintosh would never be able look at the same way again. "I-I'm Caramel" Caramel offered a hoof to Big Macintosh, giving him a wide grin, his cheeks puffing out with what appeared to be joy. A light blush tinted his cheeks. Big Mac shook the hoof in front of him. "Ah'm Macintosh, but everypony calls me Big Mac." Somehow, touching Caramel's hoof made Mac's stomach weak and his legs trembled. Caramel's eyes took in his size. "I can see why. Nice to meet you Big Mac." Macintosh apple suddenly felt sheepish of his size. He was almost twice the size of Caramel, a fact that was evidently not lost on the smaller stallion. Big Mac had no idea what to say. He was generally a very silent pony at the best of times, and now, surrounded by noise, and an entire town and staring at somepony he.... well it was true, Big Mac wasn't very talkative. "Eeyup" Caramel gestured vaguely around the mass of ponies. "Great party huh?" he yelled over the music, that had chosen that particular moment to increase in volume. Big Mac shook his head as he shouted back. "Ah'm not much inta this sorta music." Caramel's eyes took on a wicked glimmer. "You sure seemed to be enjoying yourself earlier." Finally, Big Mac gave in and smiled warmly at him. "Okay okay, yah got me. Ah guess Ah like this music a lil more than Ah'd like tah admit. Ah always assumed it was jus' a mess o' instraments." The torrent of words surprised Caramel. Being a small town, most everypony knew about each other, if not knew each other personally, and Caramel had come to understand that this huge red steed was usually quite quiet. Caramel gave him a toothy grin as he unconsciously started moving with the lights and music again. "I love it. This type of music can represent almost any emotion at all. Without lyrics, the mood of the music is up to you. It's great!" Just then, the music faded. Everypony turned to the hastily erected stadium to see Princess Celestia watching her little ponies with pride. It made her glad to know that her subjects were capable of having fun and relaxing. That made one less town to worry about, one less town fawning over her and her sister. She smiled royally at her ponies. "My little ponies, we are gathered here tonight to celebrate another wondrous summer. My thanks go out to the Pegasi for the amazing weather, the Earth ponies for the delicious food and the Unicorns for the management of everything else. It is truly an honor to be your Princess and I look forward to many more years of peace." Everypony shifted and sat down. Caramel just sat where he was, next to Big Macintosh. The Princess's wings unfurled and she elegantly lifted herself into the air, her horn glowing with a sparkling yellow aura. The sun peeked over the horizon and as it made it's ascent into the air, Big Macintosh's hoof somehow made it's way into Caramel's. Their hooves delicately made contact for the whole of the sunrise, and it was only after the Princess had touched the ground that Caramel realized Big Mac was holding his hoof. "Umm... Big Mac?" The apple turned his gaze from the ruler to Caramel. It took him a moment to register where his hoof was. His stomach flipped. He jerked it away. "Ah-Ah'm sorry." Caramel gave him a trademark smile. "No worries." The crowd around them started to dissipate. Tired foals - most already asleep in their parents forelegs - cantered around the town square in a desperate attempt to stay awake. Ponies trotted home to sleep. It would be around midday before anypony went out again. The amount of full apple trees still in need of bucking made Big Macintosh regret staying out so late. He stretched and yawned. "Ah'd better go. Got a lot a' work tah do later today." Caramel was self-employed. He ran a small bakery on the far side of town, although he didn't get much business due to the presence of Sugarcube Corner. Still, he made enough to get by and being a generally nice pony, he was never bitter about Sugarcube Corner getting the majority of customers. Of course, being both self-employed and not very well known, he could afford to sleep as late as he wanted. Something about this stallion with the apple cutie mark interested him. Maybe it was the way his heart had fluttered when he looked into his eyes, or maybe it was the shyness and the air of mystery Big Mac seemed to possess. "You work at Sweet Apple Acres right?" Big Macintosh chuckled. "Ah pretty much own the place. Applejack - mah sister - ain't around too often, what with her bein' an Element o' Harmony an' all. Mah granny's too old and mah other sisters too young to work, so it's jus' me." Caramel risked another glance at his impressive physique. It definitely looked like he worked a lot. "From what I've seen of it, that's a lot of apple trees. It must take you forever." "Nah, t'ain't so bad. Does take a while though." The gears turned in Caramel's head. This was silly, he really didn't need to do this. "I really should be working today. I need the bits. Although..." "Mind if I swing by and give you a hoof later today? Applebucking sounds like fun." Big Macintosh looked at Caramel's figure. He looked pretty average in the muscle department, nothing like himself. Which wasn't too great, due to the muscle required to buck apples. "It would be nice tah have somepony tah talk to, but Ah wouldn't want tah keep yah. Ah'm sure you have your own stuff tah do." Caramel gave him a smile that was almost as infectious as a Pinkie Pie smile. "Nonsense, I wouldn't have offered unless I was free." Which he wasn't. "I really wanna spend more time with him." Big Mac shrugged, trying to maintain his nonchalant attitude, despite the fact that his heart pounded at the thought of getting to know Caramel better. "Sure Ah guess. If yah really want to." "Great. I'll see you around 2?" "See yah then." A very tired Big Macintosh and an even tireder Caramel parted ways. Big Mac slowly plodded off in the direction of the apple farm and Caramel went up to the back of the stage to help Vinyl pack up her equipment. Vinyl Scratch saw him coming and waved an energetic hoof at him. Sometimes her energy rivaled Pinkie Pie's. "Hey there Melly. Wicked party huh?" He got onto the stage and bumped her shoulder with a hoof. "Yeah it was. You were great. I think even the Princess liked your music." Vinyl smiled widely and Caramel smiled with her, seeing himself reflected in her purple goggles. She enjoyed it when she was able to make other ponies have fun. "You need some help packing up?" "Yeah. I could use it." Vinyl had really gone all out with this party and there were lights and speakers everywhere. Caramel gathered up a few cables and started twisting them around his hoof. Vinyl did the same. "So Caramel..." "Hmm?" "I saw you with that red guy from the apple farm." Caramel almost dropped the cables. "You did?" Vinyl Scratch smiled eagerly. "You two looked like you were gettin' along reeeeeaaaaal well." Caramel almost dropped the cables. Again. "It's nothing like that. We just bumped into each other." "Suuuure. Then why are you blushing?" Caramel only just realized that she was right, he was indeed blushing. "I don't... I don't know." Vinyl laughed. Her voice took on a teasingly singsong accent. "Caramel's in looove, Caramel's in looove." Caramel gave her an irritated look. "Stop that." "With Big Macintosh." Caramel suddenly remembered something. With a devilish grin, he turned to look behind Vinyl. "Oh hey there Octavia, how nice to see you." Vinyl Scratch started and spun around, only to find thin air. Caramel on the other hoof was laughing his flank off. Vinyl glared at him before blushing and resuming her work with the cables. "That wasn't funny. I-I hardly even know her!" "But you liiiiiike her." The tables had indeed turned. "N-no I don't I... just think she's... kinda nice." "Well, it's the same for me. I don't know if I like Big Macintosh yet. I don't know if I'll ever like him like that." At this point, he was mainly talking to himself. “Well I think you guys'd look cute together.” This statement carried a surprising amount of seriousness from the usually very immature pony. It seemed everypony was out of character that night. Still, it was strange of her to say that. Same sex relationships were tolerated in Equestria, but just barely. For that reason nopony but Caramel knew about Vinyl Scratch's attraction to Octavia. “Like I said, I don't like him like that. Yet.” Caramel added that last part to himself under his breath. They finished cleaning up in around half an hour and when Caramel got home he was so tired he considered just sleeping all day. But no, he had a Big Macintosh to see. A Big Macintosh he really wanted to see. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Applejack greeted her brother as he walked into their house. "Howdy Big Mac, yah hungry? Ah got some pie left over from the celebration." Big Mac remained stoic. "Nope" "Well, alright then. Ah'll see yah later on then at the south field." "Eeyup." Big Macintosh climbed the stairs to his room, noting that the third one was squeaking. He closed his door behind him and collapsed on his bed in exhaustion. His thoughts turned to Caramel. "Ah can't wait tah see him tomorrow. Ah wonder why that is?" Big Macintosh wanted to take this time to try to sort through his emotions but unfortunately, it was super early in the morning, which is when your brain decides to remind you about every embarrassing thing you've ever done. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Caramel flopped onto his bed. The walk from the town center had taken half an hour and having stayed to help Vinyl clean up, he had gotten too tired to fall asleep. He lay on his back and gazed around his fairly plain room. He had a few books he had been meaning to read, but 6 a.m in the morning, having spent the entire night partying, didn't seem like a good time to read a book. He thought of the stallion he had met. “Big Macintosh.” “Big Macintosh.” Caramel liked saying his name. It rolled off the tongue quite nicely. “God I'm weird. Why do I enjoy saying somepony's name?” Just has he was beginning to think about what exactly his feelings were towards the big red pony, his mind interrupted him with the perfect comeback he could have used against an angry customer he had had earlier that day. Of course, lying awake while trying to sleep is always the best time to think about what you should have said to somepony who was mean to you. Neither of them slept very soundly.