//------------------------------// // Not stong enough // Story: Lets Talk // by odeeyou //------------------------------// Big Mac sighed and leaned back in a chair in the living room. Applejack was running the stand, Applebloom was off crusading and Grannysmith decided to go to the market today leaving him to a silent house on a Sunday afternoon. Quiet days like this didn’t come too often, and when they did he tried to enjoy them. He always failed though. Without the noise and work to keep him occupied, the silence would send his thoughts wandering directions he wasn’t always prepared to go. A small flash of silver caught his eye as the sun reflected off a silver filigree box on the mantle. With another sigh, he got up and retrieved it, sitting it on a little stand next to the chair as he collapsed back into his seat. There was a little turnkey that he cranked before opening the box. It was a little music box that played a simple tune called ‘Canterlot.’ It was from some popular musical he was once told. It was his mothers. It was one of the very few personal possessions of hers. She’d been a lot like him; a pony of very simple needs, which made those few personal possessions all the more precious. It would be Applebloom’s one day, when she was responsible enough not to break it by accident. It was given to his mother on the day of Applebloom’s birth. Applejack’s hat was another of their mother’s possessions. His… had once been a Smarty Pants doll given to him as a Hearth Warming gift when he’d been little. Though it had long since been lost, the one Twilight had used a spell on brought back a lot of fond memories. The farm had been his Mother’s. It was passed down to her by her dad as she had been the only one to stay at the farm after growing up. His father on the other hoof had been a blue collar Canterlot pony who came to Ponyville for vacation. When the two met, they said it was like magic. Even in his youth he’d seen just how crazy his parents had been about one another. After Applebloom was born… Mom got sick. She died a few weeks after giving birth. He and his father had been at her death bed when she passed away. She told his father to take care of the family. She told him to take care of his sisters. But his father… Not every pony could be as strong as his mother had been. His father was a broken shell of a stallion when his mother left. He tried to keep going. He tried to take care of the farm and his children… He failed. He took to trying to drink the pain and memories away. Suddenly he wasn’t his Paw anymore. One of the scariest moments of Big Mac’s childhood was walking into the old barn one morning and finding his father holding a scythe to his neck. He cried until his voice was hoarse. He’d only just lost his mother. He didn’t want to lose his father too. Applejack had never been so angry. Her father had failed them, failed his family and failed his wife’s last request. No matter how bleak life can get, there should always be enough love for your family to keep living. Big Mac knew better. Such tragedy was not unique to Ponyville. Similar stories were told in the news across Equestria. Broken ponies unable to piece their selves back together. Not every pony could be strong as his mother had been. Not every pony could be as strong as Applejack was. A few days later, his father was accepted into the Manehatten Mental and Psychiatric Hospital. His treatment and stay was paid for monthly by bits from Mac’s own wages. Unless a pony were to directly ask, Applejack was content to allow others to come to their own conclusions about their parents, or to just tell them straight out that she wasn’t going to talk about it. Though he’d never say it, Big Mac could never really blame his father. His father would probably never recover. In truth he hadn’t thought of that stallion as his father in years. Even though he continued to pay for his treatment and sent him letters that today were still unanswered. He was just a shell that looked like him now. His father was just a fond memory today. As he was the next oldest, the farm would fall to him when Grannysmith passed away. He wouldn’t risk it though, and went to the bank to put the deed in Applejack’s name. He was afraid he wasn’t strong enough to carry the farm… Not every pony was as strong as Applejack was. The second scariest moment of his life was when he’d almost married Cheerilee. It wasn’t that he couldn’t see himself falling in love. It was his fear that he might have taken more after his father than he did his mother. That if anything bad happened that he wouldn’t be strong enough to be there for others when they needed him. So he began to shy away from Cheerilee… regardless of how happy they’d been after testing the waters from the love poison incident. He worked harder and longer and avoided making close friendships, but not enough that ponies would notice and try to help him. If ever he failed them… failed his family… failed his friends… He wasn’t as strong as the rest of his family. Choking back a sob, he closed the music box.