Chapter 14: Waiting
2 WEEKS UNTIL DUE DATE
Celestia’s sun was shining down upon Sweet Apple Acres and the rest of Ponyville. Big Mac was working out in the fields, preparing for the upcoming applebucking season, which was about a week away. He was going through the normal procedure that he did every season: inspecting each tree, observing the fruit within the branches, cleaning the spaces between the trees for the carts to move easily, and other tasks.
His peaceful working atmosphere, however, was broken by a loud shout, “Big Mac!”
Raising his head up, he looked around to see who might have called his name. There was no pony that he could see.
Just as he was about to resume his present task, he heard his name yet again, “Hey, Big Mac!”
Turning to the sound of the voice, he finally saw the source of the shouting, a small purple and green dragon moving as fast as his little legs could carry him down the dirt path. Finally hurrying over to the red stallion, he stopped right in front of him.
“Howdy, Spike,” Big Mac greeted the exhausted dragon.
Spike was still panting hard from his running, “H….Hey….Bi-Big Mac….”
“Why are ya in such a hurry? Ah ain’t goin’ nowhere,” the stallion spoke.
“It’s….” Spike was still trying to catch his breath, “something important….”
“Important? Like what?” Big Mac asked.
He was finally able to speak, “It’s Rainbow Dash....”
This got the earth pony’s attention, “What? What’s goin’ on? Is she alright?”
“She just went into labor.”
“She what? But that means she’s goin’ in early,” Big Mac was in disbelief, “Where is she now?”
“The hospital. Twilight and Applejack took her over there,” Spike answered.
“Then we’re goin’ right over there now!” Big Mac started to gallop towards the town.
“Wait! Please don’t make me run all the way back there!” Spike pleaded as he tried to chase after the stallion.
Big Mac stopped and hurried back to the dragon, placed him on his back and resumed the full-speed gallop to Ponyville.
While he was running, he spoke to Spike, “Why didn’t anypony tell me she was close ta goin’ into labor?”
“I think she told Twilight that Rainbow didn’t want you to worry or something like that,” Spike answered, hanging on to Big Mac as he started to pick up speed.
“She wanted me ta not worry? She’s goin’ into labor, of course ah’m gonna worry!” Big Mac sighed.
Spike shouted back, “Hey, don’t look at me! They didn’t want me to go find you!”
As they reached the hospital, Spike got off Big Mac’s back and the two entered the hospital. Right away, Big Mac already hated the scent of the hospital. Quickly, Spike and Big Mac made there way toward the waiting room where the other ponies were waiting for to hear the news of how the birth went. The entire atmosphere of the room was tense, but also one of celebratory of the event.
Big Mac took a seat next to his sister.
“Ya nervous, Big Mac?” Applejack asked, offering a smile to him.
A million different possible responses were floating around in Big Mac’s head, ranging from annoyance that Rainbow didn’t want him to know she was going into labor early to joy about Rainbow's birth. However, Big Mac simply nodded and replied with a shaky tone, “Eeyup.” It was the truth.
Applejack smiled at her older brother, “Ya got nothin’ ta worry ‘bout, you’ll be a great father. An’ ya got all of us here ta help the both of ya.”
Big Mac smiled back, trying hard to push any and all fears he might have to the back of his mind.
Finally, the double doors opened to reveal Nurse Redheart. She trotted into the waiting room a bit before speaking, “Is there a Big Macintosh here?”
Everypony in the waiting room turned to look at the red stallion. Standing up, he raised his hoof, “That’ll be me.”
“Follow me, please,” she instructed.