//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Life Redux // Story: Breaking the Wall // by Radiant Dawn //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Life Redux The ride home was much more calm for Big Mac, though he was oddly unnerved at just how quiet Pinkie was being. While usually he enjoyed quiet, he didn’t like seeing his friend so unlike herself. Still, he was glad that he had found gifts for the princess, and had come to realize that Pinkie had been onto something when she recommended he just spend time with Princess Celestia. After all, it was her birthday, and he knew that with her favorite student still out of action, she needed someone to distract her and raise her spirits; Luna could only do so much after all, being only one person. After arriving back in town, he and Pinkie parted ways with a hug, leaving him to wile away the remaining two hours of daylight as he mentally planned for tomorrow. It was going to be interesting no doubt, as a princess’ birthday celebration was likely to be as stiff as it was gaudy, which meant Big Mac would likely just keep silent to avoid talking to any nobles that were sure to be there. Every time so far that he had met one of the Canterlot elite, they had instantly branded him a commoner, and downright sneered at him when he spoke. Big Mac wasn’t the type to actively look for trouble, but he refused to be talked down to by anyone, let alone someone who was unlikely to have done an honest day’s work in their entire life. He shook the latter thought away, grumbling to himself. Hatred was an emotion he kept clear from, as it was like a sickness that could poison the mind and destroy lives. Still, he remained a mortal man and had bouts of the unfortunate emotions, just as everyone else did. Big Mac wouldn’t allow it to rule his life though, nor would he let it ruin what was to be a birthday celebration for one of the kindest people he had ever met. With his musings, Big Mac held the chest and enchanted box up to eye level to look at them; without a doubt the princess would love them, but he found himself focusing on what Pinkie had said before they parted ways: “These are just the appetizers, Mackie. The real gift is something only you can give.” His mind swam with the possibilities of what she had meant, and shamefully, about half of the ideas were sexual in nature. If Big Mac was honest with himself, he had secretly fantasized about what it would be like ‒ being with a princess. He knew that such thoughts were far from uncommon for the despairingly low male population of the kingdom, but since he knew both princesses personally, it made him loathe himself a little. Sure, Celestia and Luna were beautiful in a timeless way ‒ and he would be lying if he claimed to not have snuck a few dirty magazines into the washroom with him as a teenager ‒ but fantasies somehow felt disrespectful when he knew the person, not just the idea of them. After entertaining the slightly shameful ideas for a moment longer, he turned his thoughts to more tame possibilities, and one in particular he realized was quite a bit more likely: maybe Princess Celestia had just gotten very lonely, and wanted a real friend. It was no secret that as a splendorem the world seemed so far away, even though they ruled it. Most didn’t think about it, but having both princesses as close friends had given him unique insight into how they saw the world, and what they thought. He knew that the life of an immortal princess was lonely, as many saw only the crown, not the person, and out of misguided respect, did not seek to offer them the same friendship that all sapient beings desired. “I guess I’m the one then.” Big Mac thought to himself. “If the rest of the people can’t see them for who they are, then I guess it’ll have to be me.” Responsibility was a part of who Big Mac was, but even he knew that this particular responsibility might be a little bigger than he imagined. Applejack had taken care of things once she returned home, which meant it was up to Big Mac to fix himself a dinner of leftover apple-stuffing pork chops and mashed potatoes. With the sun just getting ready to set, the house was quiet save for the idle tapping of his fingers on the countertop. “Another day done, pa.” he spoke aloud, just audible enough to hear himself. “Ah’m goin’ ta see tha princesses t’morra, and Ah’m gonna make sure Princess Celestia has tha best birthday possible.” He cleared his throat as he leaned against the wall next to the oven. “AJ’s strugglin’, but Ah think she’ll be alright.” Finally, after a long few minutes of silence, a tear trailed down his cheek as he said, “Ah miss ya, pa...and ma. ‘bloom shoulda’ got a chance ta meet her grandparents, but Ah’ll tell ‘er all about ya when tha time is right. I’ll see ya both again one day.” His daily duties now completely finished, he slumped against the wall behind him. “Mac?” called a concerned voice from the dining room to his right. He took a breath before turning his head and smiling at his sister. “Hey AJ. How was work in town?” She let her concern go for the moment, walking over and leaning against the wall next to him. “It was good. Dash dropped by askin’ about ya,” she then scowled, “as did just about ev’ry other girl in town.” Taking the bait and smiling with a hammy wiggle of his eyebrows he replied, “Jealous sis? We can’t all be tha ‘Big Apple’ of Sweet Apple Acres.” “Careful Mac,” she warned, walking to the sink and filling a nearby glass with water, “we don’ need two little kids runnin’ around here.” He rolled his eyes. “Ah learned mah lesson, sis; much as Ah love her, Ah ain’t ready fer another little one.” Further thoughts on the matter were interrupted by a frantic knock at the door, causing both siblings to look at each other in confusion before making their way to the front door. As Big Mac pulled the door opened, it revealed a panting Rainbow Dash, who yanked the two Apples through the door as she exclaimed, “Twilight’s awake!” Big Mac nearly locked up in shock, but retained enough of his mental faculties to grab Applejack by the arm as she attempted to run away. “AJ, get some pants on!” His younger sister looked down at her happy-face graphic underpants before blushing and smiling sheepishly, rushing into the house. Rainbow Dash stood completely still for a few moments before commenting, “You should have just let her go like that. I wonder how long it would have taken her to realize she was about to run to the hospital in only a tee shirt and a pair of boxers.” “Ah have ta live with her, Dash.” he replied, crossing his legs and leaning back against the railing of the porch. “Ah’d never hear the end of it if Ah let ‘er make a fool of ‘erself.” Rainbow Dash smirked. “You didn’t stop me from flying through the town butt-naked when we cracked open your special cider.” He chuckled at the memory. “First, it was nighttime. Second, Ah don’t have ta live with ya.” Mere seconds after his sentence, Big Mac and Rainbow Dash were privy to a (now-clothed) blur nearly breaking down the front door and sprinting into the fields, heading toward the gate to town. The two looked at each other and smiled before chasing the retreating girl. Big Mac’s longer strides and Rainbow Dash’s wings made it easy to catch up with Applejack, and they all arrived at the hospital together and rushed into the waiting room. As soon as they stepped inside Big Mac flagged down Blue Cross, causing her to smile and motion them over. “You’re here to see Twilight, right?” The three of them nodded, so she began walking down the hallway with them in tow. “Follow me and I’ll take you to her.” With their course set the three followed the doctor, gasping for breath as they did so. This caused the young doctor to glance back at them and ask, “Did you three sprint all the way here or something?” Big Mac gulped down another breath of air before replying, “Y-yeah.” Blue Cross stopped and stared at them for a moment before shrugging and continuing to walk. “I suppose if someone that important to me was waking up after months in a coma, I would probably bend heaven and earth to get to them.” With another glance over her shoulder she added, “So don’t get put into a coma, Macintosh.” As they continued to walk Rainbow Dash whispered, “Seriously dude, how do you do it?” Big Mac shrugged his shoulders with a grin. “Secret to a good life: be yerself. Ah don’t do nothin’ special, Dash; you know that.” She shrugged, her breathing now calm due to her extremely athletic nature. “I do, but it still worked somehow. You seem to be working your way through just about every girl in town.” He shrugged again. “It ain’t like that though, Dash. Ah’m waitin’ fer ‘tha one’ b’fore Ah settle down. Ah ain’t found ‘er yet, but ta find anything, ya gotta look.” Big Mac reached up to scratch the stubble of his chin. “An’ Ah’m so popular b’cause Ah don’t break on bad terms. If it ain’t workin’, it ain’t workin’; ain’t no reason ta fight about it.” “Or,” Blue Cross began with a toss of her cobalt hair, “it could be the fact that you have a silver tongue.” She chuckled good-naturedly. “When you broke it off with me, not only did you convince me that it was a good idea, but you somehow made me think it was my idea. It was only months later that I realized what had happened, but I couldn’t even be mad at you because we are better off.” “He’s a regular ladykiller is what he is.” Rainbow Dash quipped with a grin. Big Mac shrugged. “Ah don’t get how, but Ah ain’t complainin’.” “Seven-to-one male to female ratio will do that, I guess.” Rainbow Dash commented. Blue Cross nodded. “It’s been that way ever since ‘The Purge’ a few thousand years ago, or so the stories say.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “That name makes it sound so ominous.” She snorted, raising her fingers in quotations. “‘The Purge’. More like a curse is what it is. Granted that nowadays like half the population of women has eased into same-sex-ness just fine, but for girls like me who need a guy, it sucks.” “The Purge” referred to a story that every man woman and child knew by their fifth year on the world, as it explained the frightfully uneven ratio of men to women. Big Mac remembered his father telling the story to him as a young boy, saying that Princesses Celestia and Luna fought a great evil in ages past that got the last laugh by killing every male on the planet, and then making boys being born naturally quite the rarity. While it was unknown whether the story was completely accurate or not, Big Mac couldn’t help but admit it would be a great way to slowly kill off one’s enemies, though the “great evil” hadn’t counted on just how much the two young princesses were willing to do to ensure the survival of those they ruled. The answer was inelegant and simple: a royal mandate for any and all men of age to donate their “male essence” four times a year to royal facilities that would work with women looking to conceive, putting that donated genetic material to use. It was without a doubt strange at first, and before the act was fully implemented, there was the very real threat of the next generation never happening. However, the two princesses persevered, and personally ensured that their people would continue to thrive. Idly, Big Mac wondered how many children he had indirectly fathered to date. “Oh, speaking of that,” Blue Cross spoke, turning to glance at the farmer, “your appointment is coming up in two months, Macintosh. Make sure you don’t miss it;” she then smiled warmly, “we could use a few more like you in the world.” Rainbow Dash then slapped Big Mac on the shoulder while wearing a smoldering grin. “Yeah, spread that baby batter around, man!” When he rolled his eyes and shoved her away, the alatum chuckled and shoved him back playfully. Big Mac’s smile faded and he looked over at his sister, who had been completely silent the entire time, and noticed her eyes had not once left the path in front of them. In her irises burned a determination and hope that he’d never seen there before, but he knew just how much she was looking forward to when they arrived at the room to Twilight...and to her emotional salvation. “Alright,” Blue Cross announced, pointing to a room in front of them, “she’s right in here, in the recovery ward.” She pushed the door open and led them to a long hallway of doors, all leading to patients on the mend; in one of them was their destination, and happiness. After an agonizing few minutes of walking, she stopped at a door and turned the handle, peering in for a moment before opening the door fully and ushering the three people inside. The one thing that Big Mac knew for sure at that moment was that he’d never seen a larger smile on Applejack’s face. “T-Twilight…” Applejack whispered, an uncontrollable choke of a sob escaping from her throat. The young raven-haired girl looked over to the farm girl, and smiled just as large. “Applejack, you came.” Big Mac watched as his sister nearly tripped over herself to make her way to her love’s side, while he and Rainbow Dash stood a bit away, letting the two lovers have their reunion after so long. Applejack had streams of happy tears running down her cheeks, and she just barely restrained herself from wrapping the inferiorem in a crushing embrace, for fear of hurting her just after waking. Besides that, a part of her was still expecting this event to be a happy dream; Twilight being unable to respond or move had become a regular part of her life ‒ so regular, in fact, that even though it was a good thing she was now awake, it seemed strange somehow. After a few moments of simply smiling at each other, the farm girl stopped resisting and laid herself across Twilight, hugging her tightly as she sobbed in happiness. Rainbow Dash took Big Mac’s hand in her own and gently pulled him away while whispering, “I think we should give them a few minutes before saying hi.” He nodded in agreement and allowed himself to be led back out into the hallway. It took quite a bit longer than a few minutes until the two heard the muffled sobs stop from behind the door, allowing three other young women to arrive ‒ the remaining Element-bearers. While Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were dressed in clothing that was simple and functional, Rarity was dressed in an elegant white dress befitting someone expecting to be in the company of someone very important, which if Big Mac knew the princesses like he thought he did, might very well be the case. Even if that wasn’t the case though, the other four knew better than to comment on the fashionista’s choice in clothing, as unneeded as it seemed. Finally, after what felt like over an hour, a familiar voice from within the room called, “Big Mac? Are you out there?” He smiled and pushed the door open, allowing the four women next to him in before also stepping inside. He smiled at Twilight and nodded to her. “Right here Twi, and so are tha rest of tha girls.” Twilight’s face lit up as she saw all of her friends in the room, and she held open her arms wide as the other four girls scrambled to embrace her, all of them overjoyed that their special group of six was whole once again. Giggles came from the huddle, along with a few murmured words of joy. Though Big Mac wanted more than anything to join in the fray, he knew it wasn’t his place; close though he and his past flame might have been, he didn’t share the same bond with her as she did with the other Element-bearers. Brought together by destiny itself, they shared a bond that few could fathom ‒ a bond that Big Mac knew he didn’t have any right to intrude upon. The group finally broke apart after a short while, and Twilight’s hand reached through the group of her friends toward Big Mac. “Mac...come here.” Big Mac strode over, his tall form towering over everyone else in the room, and reached out to take the offered hand as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moved aside to make room for him. Without preamble, he leaned in close as the others moved away and wrapped his arms around Twilight’s form, holding her firmly against him as she wrapped her own arms around his body. For a silent minute, the two simply held onto each other, the world seeming to blur into distant fuzziness in the background. Reluctantly the two separated, but both still smiled at each other as they did so. For a scant few seconds, the two privately remembered why they had fallen in love with each other, but then also remembered why they had fallen apart. The spark of true love just hadn’t been there for either, but they could still admit to themselves that they had been good together. The silence was broken by Applejack clearing her throat with a raised eyebrow, causing Big Mac to rub the back of his neck sheepishly and back away. He knew that his sister knew there was nothing between he and Twilight anymore, but he also knew that Applejack had a jealous streak a mile long, and was more than a little protective of those she cared about. Deciding it wouldn’t be worth indulging his desire for closeness with someone he cared about, he allowed himself to retreat to stand by the door… Just as it was nearly torn from its hinges by someone shoving it open...right into his face. With a groan of pain Big Mac cracked open one of his eyes to see the slightly manic expression on Princess Celestia’s face, who had quite obviously been the one to inadvertently assault him. However, with such an important thing happening to her adoptive daughter, he ignored the blow to his forehead. Next through the door was the younger princess of the night, who stopped to lend aid to Big Mac as the door closed behind her. Princess Luna gazed up at him with concern as she pleaded, “Please forgive my sister. It is quite obvious to any who knows anything about her that this is a very important day for her, so she is not thinking clearly and-” Big Mac shook his head as he placed two fingers on the princess’ lips, causing her to cease speaking and blush. “Luna, it’s alright. Ah know how much Twi means to yer sister, so Ah can look past it.” He then looked to the fawning solar princess and sighed. “Guess she won’t need too much cheerin’ up t’morra.” “I still want you to come, Big Mac.” Princess Luna replied softly. “Tia would love to have you, even if she is being rather ‘focused’ right now.” The princess then smiled. “Perhaps I shouldn’t be telling you this, but when I told her of you coming to her celebration tomorrow, she was in a wonderful mood for the rest of the day.” She then leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Perhaps your reputation precedes you.” Big Mac chuckled and shook his head again. “Ah don’t think some farmer seducin’ one of tha rulers of tha kingdom would go over too well. Ah happen ta like not bein’ in the dungeons. ‘sides, Ah don’t work that way.” Princess Luna patted him on the chest playfully. “It was a jest, Big Mac. I know there is far more to you than that, as does Tia. No...she was excited because one of the only people of her kingdom that treats her as an equal is coming to visit her on her birthday, which is quite the treat, even for a princess.” “Is it really that import’nt to y’all?” he asked curiously, glad the headache from his recent run-in with the door was fading quickly. Princess Luna nodded firmly. “It is; imagine if everyone you live around ‒ everyone in the town of Ponyville ‒ refused to ever look directly at you, even when speaking to you. Imagine that you received gifts and praises you didn’t feel you deserved, and everyone would rather tell you what they think you wish to hear instead of the truth.” After a moment of imagining the scenario, Big Mac grimaced. “Ah reckon Ah’d be mighty uncomfortable. Ponyville jus’ wouldn’t feel like home no more.” Princess Luna nodded with a frown. “And that is how it feels for Tia and I, though so few know or even care.” Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she reached up and caressed his cheek with her delicate hand, smiling. “Our home is not our castle, nor is is even Equestria; our home is with those who care about us as people, not princesses. Wherever those people are, that is where our home is. So you see,” she started, gently jerking her head toward the bed where Twilight was being reunited with the only mother she’d ever known, “our home is not a place, it is you, Twilight, and any others who will look upon us as imperfect people, instead of perfect princesses.” She reached to his side and took his hand in her own as she turned them to look at the scene playing out before them. “Respect is due when we are looked upon as the experienced rulers we are, but beyond basic respect as another living being, we don’t wish for more than that with the few who would see past the crowns. In the realm of friendship and love, we are all equal; no one is greater than the other, and we all deserve to be loved fairly, regardless of our political standing.” Slowly and gently, Big Mac’s hand closed around Princess Luna’s, and he smiled. “Ah understand, princess. Thanks fer trustin’ me enough ta tell me that.” “With time, you will find that while we are seen as being more powerful than any others, we are still vulnerable in many ways…” she whispered smiling sadly as she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, “some more than others. It is because of this that we trust so few with our inner thoughts and feelings, because they are the weak points in the armor we wear every day.” She then squeezed the larger hand she held a little tighter. “I don’t believe our trust has been misplaced though...not this time. I sense uniqueness in you Big Macintosh, some of which I do not think you fully realize yet. And yet, I also sense honesty and kindness the likes of which few can match.” Big Mac raised his eyebrow while pointing a finger at two of the gathered women. “Fluttershy’s tha Element of Kindness, and mah sister’s tha Element of Honesty; Ah’m pretty sure they got me beat.” Princess Luna grinned softly, her eyes twinkling. “Tell me Big Mac, what do you believe true kindness is?” He thought for a moment before replying, “Ah think it’s doin’ what’s best fer someone, even if sometimes they don’t like it. Gotta be cruel ta be kind, sometimes. More ‘n that, Ah think it’s doin’ tha right thing, even if it hurts ta do it.” “Because you know that doing so will bring about the best in someone, correct?” the princess asked knowingly. Big Mac nodded. “Yeah. Ain’t always tha most popular choice, as Ah’m sure Applebloom could tell ya, but it’s worked well enough so far, and me ‘n mah kin have done pretty good b’cause of it.” The princess gazed at him with triumph clear in her grin. “You see, you understand that being kind is not simply making sure someone is as comfortable and happy as possible, but rather being sure that the best is being done for them, keeping them happy and healthy, even if at times it is painful for them. Fluttershy is still learning that lesson, even though her potential for kindness is nearly limitless.” “Ah really think yer puttin’ a bit more importance on me than ya need to.” he suggested, blushing a bit in embarrassment. “At tha end of tha day, Ah’m just a farm boy that’s made mistakes in life and learned from ‘em, and there ain’t nothin’ particularly special ‘bout that.” Princess Luna smiled at him again, this time leaning her head on his shoulder as they turned their eyes back to the group of seven chatting women. “I think you place far too little importance on yourself. To your family, you are the world; why can it not be something similar for anyone else?” Not waiting for a response, she added, “Eons of experience tend to alter the way one sees the world, and the people within it. Perhaps with time, you will come to understand how we see life.” As Big Mac stood next to the night princess, holding her hand and watching the happiness of friends and family reunited, he found he quite liked the way a princess’ hand felt against his own.