Big Mac’s Biceps, Now in Bulk
Chapter 7
Bulk Biceps finds his way to Sugarcube Corner, and walks inside. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, how can I help you today Sno— I mean, Bulk Biceps? We hardly ever see you in here, something about how you want to keep in shape?” Mrs. Cake says, barely catching herself.
“Yea, that’s true, candy and sweets tend to put a damper on workouts, and so I normally keep them to a minimal, like a single serving of syrup and jam with pancakes at breakfast. But that’s not why I’m here, although since I’m here anyway, maybe I’ll buy a cupcake.” He says, as he points out which one he’d like to Mrs. Cake. Mrs. Cake obliges, unlike most of the town’s residents, she wasn’t surprised to hear him say anything more than yeah. Being one of the few ponies in town to not frequent Sugarcube Corner, she had taken it upon herself to ask him why because she wanted to make sure he didn’t have any bad experiences there. He then pays, and gobbles the cupcake up in one bite. “Anyway, I’m here to see Pinkie Pie. Big Mac wants her to come by Sweet Apple Acres to plan for a cute-ceañera party.”
“Ooh, a cute-ceañera party?” Pinkie questions, coming out from behind a planter.
“Yeah.” Bulk responds.
“Sweet! Let’s bounce. Later Mr. and Mrs. Cake.” Pinkie calls out.
“Bye” Say Mr. and Mrs. Cake simultaneously, Mr. Cake’s voice being heard from inside the kitchen.
About an hour after Hondo and Cookie leave, Bundle Grains and Big Mac hear a springy bouncy noise getting louder by the second. “Is that Pinkie Pie?” Bundle asks.
“Eeyup.”
Pinkie bounces in as does Bulk right after. “Hiya Big Mac, I heard somepony was in need of a cute-ceañera.” She says, eyeing Bundle suspiciously.
“Eeyup. Little Bundle Grains here just got his cutie mark today.”
“Okay, what kind of party do you want?” she asks at Big Mac.
“Well why doesn’t he decide? Take him around the farm and help him come up with ideas. And don’t worry about the price, I’m sure we can afford whatever you want for the party, no holds barred.” Big Mac directs that last bit towards Bundle.
“Oh the price wouldn’t be an issue anyway Big Mac, I have plenty to spare in my Somepony-does-something-really-special-for-the-town-so-they-get-three-parties-free fund. I heard what you four did, and each of you deserve it, even if you don’t think so. Knowing you you probably DON’T think so but you’d be wrong. Anyway, let’s go have some fun planning this party Bundle, before Big Mac tries to say he’s going to pay for the party even though he’s not.” At that she grabs Bundle and hops on out of the house. She looks back in quickly at Bulk, her hair deflating, but then before anypony, save Big Mac, could notice it poofs back up again and she takes Bundle around the farm.
“So you wanted me to come back, hunh?” Bulk asks.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac replies.
“Why’s that?”
“Well, I figured we could, I dunno, hang out, or something. Would you wanna do that?”
“Yeah.”
They both smile at each other, and Big Mac leads Bulk outside.
“You know, Big Mac, when you took me to this weeping willow in a secluded area on the far side of Sweet Apple Acres, I was expecting you to propose we do something other than cloud watch.” Bulk Biceps smiles as seductively as one might think a pony like him could.
“Oh, um, should I have proposed something, else?” Big Mac gulps. He thought Bulk wanted to take things slowly.
“Nope,” Bulk mimics, “but I should be going, I have to get up early tomorrow, because Rainbow Dash talked me into helping with the weather in the mornings this week, seeing as Thunderlane’s still out sick, which is surprising because I’ve never had the feather flu for more than two days max, but she’s gonna pay me . Then I have to go to work after that, and I can’t cancel because I kept last week’s spots empty so I could train. I really can’t cancel on my clients, and I have to be alert for that. Anyway, would you like to try this again sometime? Maybe without the craziness and shying away from looking like pigs?”
“Eeyup.”
“Next Saturday, same time?”
“Eeyup, same place?”
“Yeah.”
After saying goodbye, Big Mac watches as Bulk actually flies back home. He rather thought the soft light of the moon made Bulk look even more amazing than usual. Heading back home himself, he finds that Bundle and Pinkie are nowhere to be seen. He looks around for them in the house, but they’re not there, so he stays up to make sure they get back alright. About an hour later he hears a familiar spring bouncy sound, signaling that the pair was finally back.
“Okey-Dokey-Lokey just one last thing to figure out. Ooh, there you are Big Mac, so when did you want to schedule his party for?”
“Next Sunday is fine.” Big Mac says, glad that Bundle was finally back.
“Alright, it’s settled. See you then!”
“So, what do you have planned?” Big Mac asks Bundle.
“A lot actually, but do you mind if I get some sleep before I tell you? I’m tired.” Bundle asks.
“Nope, I’m tired too, let me show you to your room.” He brings him to the same room Hondo and Cookie had slept in. He was glad he’d remembered to change the sheets after they’d left, just in case. “If you need anything just come get me, you remember where I showed you my room was, right?” Bundle nods his head. “Alright, goodnight Bundle.”
“Goodnight.”
Big Mac wanders up to his bedroom, partly wondering where his sister was, but mostly just ready to sleep. Tonight he hears the bittersweet sound of his father’s voice.
“Well I’m so glad those orphans are going to be placed in better hooves.” Mommy tells Bulk, “Tell me more about this colt Big Mac adopted.”
“Well he’s a light red unicorn pony, with a dark red mane and tail. His mane looks like Pinkie Pie’s does when she’s sad, and his tail looks like Rarity’s. He has light blue eyes, and even lighter blue hooves. Yesterday he got his cutie mark, which is a yellow, round bale of hay. At first I was thinking Big Mac was just trying to adopt him to get him to work on the farm, but then he told him that he didn’t have to work on the farm if he didn’t want to, but since his cutie mark was farm related, he might like it.”
“So when are you two going to go out on another date? It sounds like this one was kind of ruined.”
“It wasn’t that bad, and we’re doing it again Saturday, but like I said, I promised Rainbow Dash to help her with the weather this week, so I’d better head to bed. Goodnight, Mommy.”
“Goodnight, Bulkie.”
Big Mac awakes to the sounds of somepony yelling, and somepony else crying, so he goes downstairs to see what was going on. What he sees both dumbfounds him and angers him. There was Applejack, with an angry scowl yelling at Bundle, who was tied up and had apple jam smeared on his horn.
“Don’t you lie to me, I know for a fact that Big Mac isn’t allowed to adopt more than one pony because he’s single, and that one pony is missing, what did you do wi—” Applejack was saying when she is interrupted by a pair of hooves to her side that knock her into the wall.
“For being the bearer of the Element of Honesty, you sure as hay can’t tell when somepony’s telling you the truth now can you? The Princesses are overriding that rule in my case because of what’s been going on. Speaking of the Princesses, Applebloom and her friends are with them, apparently something crazy went down, and all three of them got their cutie marks, but Celestia thinks they could be a danger if they’re not taught how to control them, so she took them to watch over them, and she’s keeping them hidden so that nopony finds out what they can do until they can control them. Now you’d best get to your room and stay there until I can come have a little talk with you, got it?” Applejack nods fearfully and scurries on up the stairs as Big Mac unties Bundle. “I’m so sorry about that, are you alright, did she hurt you?”
“Only when she tied me up and dampened my horn, and I’m alright, but you don’t have to be sorry, I can see where she was coming from. I just wish I had someone that would stand up for me like that.”
“You do, me. And now that she knows who you are, I guess you got her too. Now let’s get you cleaned up.” Mac says, and brings Bundle to the bathroom. While Bundle was a little older than Applebloom, he still wasn’t so old that it’d be odd for a guardian to help him clean up. Big Mac fills the sink with water, and has Bundle tilt his head down to get his horn in as much of the water as he could. He then cleans Bundle’s horn off, and dries it, letting Bundle do the rest now that he could use his magic again. “I want you to go outside, but don’t leave the farm okay? Maybe you could go pick some apples. If you do, don’t just grab them telekinetically. Sometimes it’s hard to tell ripe apples from near-ripe apples, so if you pick them, shake the tree, or hit it with something heavy, and remember, you don’t have to do farm work if you don’t want to, but I still want you out of the house and a ways away anyway.”
Bundle nods and heads out the door. Big Mac heads to his sister’s room, and hears crying, which coming from Applejack is surprising but not unheard of, and she sees him enter. “You hate me now Big Mac, don’t you?”
“Nope.”
“You don’t?”
“Nope.”
Still sobbing, “Does that mean, we’re okay?”
“NOPE.”
“You’re really angry, aren’t you?”
“Eeyup.”
“What… what’re you gonna do?”
“I’m gonna send a letter detailing your recent behavior to the Princess. Which Princess I send it to, however, depends on how you act here-on-out, understood?” Applejack nods her head yes. “Now I think you owe somepony an apology.” And with that, she scurries out the door to go find Bundle. Big Mac, while he felt bad being like this to his sister, knew that the situation really does call for it. He also reflected on how to an outsider, the way his sister was acting around him right now would seem out of character, but he, unfortunately, has had to assume this role before. Ever since Pa died, he’s had to take up the task of disciplining his two little sisters, but unlike his Pa, he never (save for the events within this last week or so) used violence to accomplish this. Instead he used more psychological punishment. If she does anything stupid in the next week, he’s gonna send that letter to Princess Celestia. If she slips and does something trivial, but still wrong, he’s gonna send it to Princess Luna. If she behaves herself, he’ll just send it to Princess Cadance. He hated having to fulfill this role, but with all she’d done, he was not about to let her get off with a slap on the hoof.
Thinking about Pa reminded him of something, so he decides he was going to pay a visit to the library today.
“Okay all I need you to help me with this morning is moving these storm clouds from one side of town to the other once they’ve done their job. The faster we get this storm done, the better, I’ve always hated working with storm clouds, so I let Thunderlane deal with them. Unfortunately, he had to be out sick on the one week that it’s supposed to storm every day. You think you can handle it?” Rainbow Dash asks.
“Yeah.” Bulk replies.
After finishing the task, and sending the clouds on their way, Celestia’s sun begins creeping up into the sky, and Bulk heads to his day job. He was always surprised at how much everypony would pay him to train them. He’d never expected a job like that to be so successful. After finishing with his usual clientele, he notices his personal assistant had scheduled a new customer. “Are you Big Shot?” Bulk asks at the dark pegasus.
“Yes, and you’re Bulk Biceps?”
“Yeah! You ready to get pumped?”
“Absolutely.”
After the session, Bulk heads on home. He was glad that he got paid more in four hours than most ponies around town got paid in eight. On his way home, he sees Big Mac, but decides not to bug him, He’s sure he had his hoofs full with having adopted a son, and besides, not only did he not want to seem too eager, he also wanted to get home to tell Mommy the day’s events.