CHAPTER 1. June 6th/02/3:06 PM/3rd person.
Big Mac was working around the farm as he normally would, plowing the fields and preparing the ground for new crops. After many hours of work, starting as soon as the sun had risen, to now, he decided it was about time for a break. Unhooking himself from the plow he began heading for the farmhouse; after a few minutes of walking he arrived at the back door, quickly opening it and making a b-line for the kitchen.
Once in the kitchen, he poured himself a cold glass of cider and headed out to the front porch. Once outside he took a seat in one of the 4 rocking chairs that were outside, slowly chugging the contents of his glass. After finishing his glass, he began looking around, observing the world around him.
After a short amount of time, he began nodding off, not noticing the young woman approaching him. "Um…excuse me" the woman said in a meek voice.
He looked up slowly to see who was speaking. He recognized her as one of Applejack's friends. "What can Ah help ya with?" he asked curiously.
"Oh…I…um…i-is Applejack around?" she asked, stammering quite a bit.
"Nope," he said simply.
"Oh...ok, I'll just come back later," she said and began walking away.
"Are ya sure Ah can't help y'all with anythin' ma'am?" he asked, offering any assistance.
"Oh no, I wouldn't want to be a bother," she said in a gentle voice hardly above a whisper.
"It ain't a problem ma'am, if it involves apples, then it's my job ta help ya," he said in a matter-o-factly tone.
"A-alright…if it's not any trouble, I'd like to buy some apples," she said, dialing the volume of her voice up a slight amount.
"Alright," he said as he stood up. She seemed a little frightened by his size and began backing up, not taking into account the few steps leading up to the porch right behind her.
Once she stepped on the edge of the first step, she immediately lost her balance and began falling backwards. "Oh no!" she said in a panicked voice, as she began falling. Without thinking, Big Mac sprung forward and grabbed one of her flailing hands and tugged her back onto the porch. Once realizing she was safe, she opened her eyes and realized she was leaning against Big Mac, with her head against his chest. She immediately started blushing and backed up quickly, making sure not to fall this time.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" she was saying before getting cut off.
"It's alright," he said in a calming tone.
"…Th-thank you," she said, still blushing.
"No problem ma'am, now, how many apples did ya need?" he asked, getting back to business.
"Um…a crate," she said, not sounding exactly sure.
"A whole crate?" he asked, sounding somewhat surprised.
"…Yes…I need them for my animals," she said, clearing up Big Mac's confusion a bit.
"Any specific kind?" he asked curiously.
"Um, no, I don't think the animals will mind," she said gently.
"Alright…feel free ta take a seat, Ah'll be right back with a crate of apples," he said and began walking to the other side of the building.
Once on the other side he unlocked and opened the cellar door, heading down the stairs and examining the crates and reading the date on each. He grabbed a somewhat older batch (as the animals surely wouldn't care) of McIntosh apples. Hoisting the crate onto his right shoulder. He began his walk back to the exit, locking the cellar as he exited it, continuing his walk to the front.
Once arriving at the front porch he noticed her sitting in one of the rocking chairs, quietly singing a song he had never heard before, he noticed she hadn't seen him and decided to listen in.
"I want to fly high…so I can reach the highest of all the heavens. Somebody will be…waiting for me, so I've got to fly higher…" she finished, lingering on the last note.
"Y'all sing mighty fine ma'am," he said as he approached her from the side.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as she jumped in surprise, looking to her side to see him.
"Ah'm sorry Ah startled ya, Ah jus' wanted y'all ta finish yer lovely song," he said as he walked up to her and stood next to her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bug you with my singing," she said, blushing furiously and hiding her face behind her long pink hair.
"Yer a great singer, Ah reckon Ah could listen to ya all day," he said, reassuring her.
"R-really?" she asked, standing up and looking up into his green eyes with her teal ones, causing him to blush very slightly.
"Eeyup," he said honestly.
"O-oh…thank you, Big Macintosh," she said in a quiet but grateful tone.
"Y'all know my name?" he asked curiously.
"Yes…Applejack talks about you sometimes," she said.
"Y'all could'a said that sooner…but, putting two and two together, y'all must be Fluttershy, right?" he asked.
"Y-yes…how did you-" she was about to ask, before getting cut off.
"Applejack talks a lot," he said honestly.
"Hehe…I guess…that's a good thing this time," she said and started blushing near the end of her sentence.
"Eeyup…" he said simply.
"H-how much?" she asked, changing the subject.
He looked at her with a confused look on his face, before remembering that he had a crate of apples on his shoulder. "Oh, a crate this size would be $40, but…Ah think we can let one go fer free, for a family friend," he said.
"Oh no, I couldn't possibly take it for free," she said in response.
"Don't worry about it, Ah could go ta the orchard an' get this many apples in less 'n ten minutes," he said honestly.
"You really don't mind?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Nope," he said simply.
"Oh…thank you again, Big Macintosh," she said, and continued. "Are you sure, Applejack won't be mad?" she asked.
"Applejack ain't who Ah'm worried about an' y'all can jus' call me Big Mac," he said plainly.
"Oh…ok, well, I guess I'll be on my way then," she said as she put her arms out for the crate.
Once giving her a quick once over and examining the crate, he decided that the crate was too large for her.
"Ah'll carry it," he said suddenly.
She gave him a shocked look before responding "I couldn't possibly have you do that, I've already taken up too much of your time," she said in an almost worried sounding voice.
"It's no problem, Miss Fluttershy, Ah'm happy ta help, just lead the way," he said genuinely.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Eeyup." he said confirming his answer.
"O-ok." she said, and began walking; Big Mac following close behind.
The two walked, heading into town to deliver the apples to Fluttershy's house. Big Mac quickly gained a decent amount of attention because of his size, he either didn't notice the many pairs of eyes staring at him or decided to ignore it. But Fluttershy on the other hand, being the meek woman that she is became quite distressed at all the people looking in her direction and began slowing down her pace.
Big Mac immediately noticing her decrease in speed (mainly due to him being a few paces behind her), slowed down as well and veered off to her left side, to avoid a collision with her smaller frame. He walked up beside her, noticing a look of uncertainty or distress on her face. He then spoke up to address the problem (whatever it may be).
"What's wrong?" he asked, gaining her attention.
"I-I'm not used to having so many people looking at me," she said in a meek tone, moving a small amount closer to him.
"It's alright, Ah'm sure they don't mean no harm by it," he said, trying to reassure her.
"I know, it's just…it makes me nervous," she said, still adopting a timid tone of voice.
"So…ya don't like people lookin' at ya?" he asked curiously.
"No…It makes me feel like they're judging me," she said.
"They can't really judge ya, they don't even know ya, maybe they're jealous...ya never know," he said, shrugging slightly and making a decent point.
"What could they possibly envy in me? I'm timid, weak and I can hardly even stand up for myself," she said.
"Whether that's the case or not, they don't know, they jus' see a beautiful woman walkin' through town, mindin' her own business," he said honestly.
"You think I'm…beautiful?" she asked hesitantly.
"Ah don't think yer beautiful, Ah know it, anybody with eyes could see that, jus' ask 'em," he said honestly.
She was silent for a few moments before she responded. "…You really think so?" she asked curiously.
"Eeyup," he said simply, causing her to blush.
"O-oh…" was all she said.
"If'n y'all don't believe me jus' ask someone, Ah'm sure they won't mind," he said simply.
"Oh no, I couldn't possibly work up enough nerve to do that…and besides, you're probably just being nice," she said in a somewhat glum tone, while she looked down at the ground.
"Stay here," he said suddenly, as he put his crate of apples down and briskly walked toward a small group of people. Leaving a surprised Fluttershy behind. Once he made it to them, he was out of clear earshot of Fluttershy.
"Sorry ta disturb y'all, but can Ah ask y'all a quick question?" he asked the small group of people, to which they said yes. "Y'all see that woman standing over there?" He asked while pointing toward Fluttershy. The group quickly nodded and/or said yes.
"Do y'all think she's attractive?" he asked, to which everyone quickly said yes. "Alright, thank ya kindly," he said and made his way back to Fluttershy.
"What did you say?" she asked him curiously.
"If they thought y'all were attractive," he said as simply as he said most things.
"W-what!? Why would you do that?" she asked, sounding somewhat distraught.
"Jus' wanted to see what they would say," he said simply.
"…What…did they say?" she asked curiously.
"They all said yes," he said as plainly as he normally would.
"Really?" she asked.
"Eeyup," he said. "If y'all don't mind, Ah think we should keep goin'." picking up the crate of apples and waiting for Fluttershy's response.
"…Ok," she said as if she was in deep thought and began walking, Big Mac walking next to her this time.
They continued walking through town, on the way to Fluttershy's house, still garnering the attention of quite a few people; Fluttershy did however become a little bit more comfortable with the whole situation.
She then noticed two women she recognized, walking toward them from straight in front of her and Big Mac. The two women stared intently at her and Big Mac while they walked, moving to the side so they could pass around them, she then heard one of the women speaking loudly as they passed them.
"What are they doing together? There's no way that timid mess could be going out with him" one of the women said.
"Look at the crate, I'm sure he's just delivering something for her because she's too weak to carry it," the other woman said.
"Yeah that's gotta be it, there's no way she could woo that tall tan hunk of muscle," the first woman said.
After she said that Fluttershy couldn't tell what they were saying anymore, but it didn't really matter because she really didn't want to hear more; she then looked down at the ground as she walked, with a glum expression on her face.
"Don't worry about what those two were talkin' about," Big Mac said after he noticed Fluttershy's sad expression.
"Why shouldn't I? What they said was true," she said in response.
"Ah don't normally listen in on conversations, but Ah could tell that those two wanted us ta hear what they were sayin' because of how loud they were talkin', so what they said is most likely jealousy talkin'."
"How do you know?" she asked curiously.
"Ah don't, but believe it or not, Ah've been around the block a few times an' people ain't that intentionally mean unless they're jealous or envious of someone."
"Why would they be jealous?" she asked curiously.
"Haven't we already been through this?" he asked.
"…You think they're jealous of my…looks?" she asked with slight confusion backing her tone.
"It's possible, or because yer with me," he said, unintentionally bringing up a new topic.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, Ah don't leave the farm much fer a reason; because of women like them…luckily Ah had y'all here ta keep me safe!" he said half-jokingly.
"So…you're saying they were deliberately being mean because they were jealous of me…being with you?" she asked curiously, sounding somewhat confused.
"Somethin' like that."
"…Oh...well…you're welcome," she said somewhat jokingly.
"Heh, Ah didn't know ya had a sense of humor," he said, obviously not being serious.
"Hehe, I didn't think you had one either," she said in response.
He chuckled lightly and then looked at her intently for a moment, lingering his gaze on her eyes a little too long, provoking her to blush and hide her face behind her hair. "It's a shame we hadn't formally met until today Miss Fluttershy," he said honestly.
"Y-yeah…but I-I'm glad we did." her blush persisting
"…Eeyup."
They continued walking in relative silence toward Fluttershy's house, exiting the town and walking on a dirt path, sparking a bit of curiosity in Big Mac's mind. A woman who's afraid of her own shadow, living by herself a good distance away from safety, in a house right on the edge of a forest filled with potentially dangerous animals. This didn't sit right with him.
"Y'all live out here all by yerself?" he asked curiously.
"Of course not! I have my animals to keep me company," she said in a matter-o-factly voice.
"…Ah didn't think about that…but, don't y'all ever get lonely?" he asked curiously.
"You mean…like interaction with my own species?" she asked.
"Well, if y'all wanna be technical about it, then yeah, that's about the gist of it."
"Sometimes…but I have friends that I do things with every so often."
"Ah figured as much, Ah know one of 'em pretty well," he said, referring to Applejack.
"Hehe, I suppose you do don't you?" she asked with a friendly smile.
"Eeyup." he said simply.
After a short amount of time, Big Mac noticed what looked to be Fluttershy's house in the distance.
"Is that it?" he asked.
"Yes," she said simply in response.
"It's…really quite beautiful, Ah wasn't expecting this," he said sincerely.
"You really think so?" she asked.
"Not meanin' to sound rude Miss Fluttershy, but Ah don't say things that Ah don't mean; so yes Ah really think so," he said honestly.
"O-oh…I'm sorry," she said apologetically.
"An' y'all apologize even though ya didn't do nothin' wrong," he said, pointing out a trait of hers.
"I-I'm sor-" she was saying before being interrupted.
"There it is again…Miss Fluttershy, don't apologize fer things y'all shouldn't be apologizin' for," he said as he gave her a friendly smile.
"Ok I'm sor- I mean, alright," she said, correcting herself.
"There ya go!" he said enthusiastically.
After he said that they arrived at a small bridge, that went over a small stream in front of Fluttershy's house and shortly after, arrived at her front door.
"Hold on a minute," she said as she took a pair of keys out of one of her pockets and quickly unlocked her front door. "Follow me please," she said, opening the door and walking inside.
"Alright," he said as he followed her inside. Once he entered he quickly took note of how uniquely homey and attractive the inside of her house was, he noticed the intricate design of the wood that covered the walls, the somewhat simplistic furniture that was scattered about and the various openings and ramps for small creatures throughout the room and most likely other rooms. "Y'all got a nice place here Miss Fluttershy," he said honestly.
"I should've cleaned up a bit, it's a mess in here," she said, sounding somewhat embarrassed.
He took a quick look around the room with a somewhat confused look on his face before he responded. "This is messy? It looks pretty darn clean considerin' y'all let wild critters run around here," he said.
"You're just being nice, it's awful in here," she said and began walking again.
Big Mac having plenty of experience with women (from having two sisters a grandmother and at one time a mother) knew it was unwise to argue with a woman, and decided to stop while he was ahead. "If y'all say so," he said simply and left it at that.
They continued heading for a doorway at the back right of the room, which led to a small room that appeared to be a laundry room; Big Mac momentarily forgetting that this was indeed a woman's laundry room, gave the room a once over, quickly noticing Fluttershy's unmentionables, bras and other articles of clothing scattered about the room, he immediately turned a deep shade of crimson and looked down at the floor, luckily she hadn't seemed to notice and they continued walking, Fluttershy opened a door that led outside and held it open for him.
"Thank ya kindly," he said while looking away from her. He then quickly noticed a large number of animals of all kinds in her backyard, everything from a flamingo to a tortoise and a wide variety of others. "…Y'all really do have a lot of animals," he said completely astonished.
"Yeah…they're really good company," she said.
"Eeyup…" he said plainly, still averting his gaze.
She gave a slight look of inquiry, but decided not to say anything.
"Where do y'all want this?" he asked.
"Umm…where you're standing is fine," she said, still finding his current behavior slightly odd.
"Alright." he said and placed the crate down on the ground gently. He then stood up and looked around at the animals, trying hard to avoid looking at Fluttershy.
"Is everything alright?" she asked obviously confused.
He knew he couldn't avoid looking at her any longer without coming off as rude. So he slowly turned his head to look at her and instantly turned red again, but he knew he couldn't look away this time and quickly responded.
"Eeyup," he said quickly. "…Ah guess Ah'll be goin' now," he said as he was going to begin walking toward the gate that led to the outside of Fluttershy's property. "Goodbye Fluttershy."
"Wait!" she said a little louder than she intended.
He turned around and responded. "What is it?"
"O-oh…umm…w-would you like to…stay for tea?" she asked stammering quite a bit, with an unsure undertone to her voice.
"Ah don't think Ah can, Ah have-" he was saying before thinking about it a little bit, in all honesty he deserved a break, after all, he worked all day, he never asked for much and he never let his family down; and besides, he finished quite a bit of work for the relatively short amount of time he had worked. After a bit of thought, he decided what his answer would be.
"Eeyup," he said and finally ceased blushing.