//------------------------------//
// At the Counter 
// Story: Pinkintosh Tails 
// by The1Ryu 
//------------------------------//

At the Counter  

“Hiya Big Mac,” Pinkie Pie called out over the ring of bell that hung over the door of Sugarcube Corner.  She waved and smiled brightly to him, just as she had done with every customer before him, and would for everyone after him.  

She had agreed to treat him this way in town without complaint or even him properly asking.  She simply understood that this was the way he wanted things to be, like she seemed to understand so many things about him.  

If anypony were to ever watch one of their secret randevus, they would probably think that she simply droned on in endless conversation, while he listened with quiet contentment.  But in truth she always seemed to know what he was thinking, unless he choose to hide his thoughts from her, and he participated in the conversation nearly as much as she did.  

“What can I get you?” asked Pinkie Pie, as Big Macintosh made his way up to the counter.  Just like he was any other customer.  

Big Macintosh wondered why they were doing this, why he was doing this.  The secret was his idea, something he had wanted so much that she hadn’t even tried to argue with him about it.  Why had he wanted this?  What possible reason could there be to put on this act?  

He had been afraid, that was it.  The fear still tightly squeezed around his heart, but try as he might Big Macintosh couldn’t remember what he had been so afraid of.  

He was a popular stallion with all the mares, and could see them rising up in protest at his sudden lack of availability, taking out their anger on Pinkie Pie.  

Big Macintosh felt immediately embarrassed that he had just had such a ridiculous thought.  He might have been a popular stallion, but a town full of mares wasn’t just going to go insane because he started dating somepony.  

Even on the off chance that they did, Pinkie would swiftly quell their anger by throwing them a grand ‘Plenty of Fish in the Sea’ party or something like that.  Then she’d probably convince each mare that she didn’t need him to be happy, which of course they didn’t.  She was friends with everypony in town after all and knew them all so well.  

Maybe it was his family, Big Macintosh thought, he was eldest of the apple children after all, and the responsibility to find the right mare to settle down with and carry on taking care of the farm was on him.  They might reject his choice of the party mare, declare her unfit to be an Apple.  

Big Macintosh frowned, that fear had to be more ridiculous then the first.  Pinkie Pie might be wild and crazy at times but she was still a hard worker, and it wasn’t like his family had a shortage of odd ponies.  The Apples would welcome her with open hooves, and Pinkie would be swift to convince any who didn’t to change their minds.  

“Mackie, is everything okay?” Pinkie Pie asked with a hushed tone that did not suit her normally bubbly demeanor.  But with Big Macintosh just standing there stock still hiding all his thoughts from her, there was no way she couldn’t be worried.  

Everything wasn’t ok.  Big Macintosh was making Pinkie Pie hide her feeling, because he was afraid.  He didn’t even have anything to be afraid of, he was just scare of change.  Scared of the next step, scared of no longer just being him and becoming them.  He felt more than just stupid, he felt ashamed.   

“What-” Pinkie Pie started, but at that moment Big Macintosh set himself free from his fears and leaned across the counter.  His lips met hers, the patrons of Sugarcube Corner mirrored both her stunned surprise and adulation, as she pressed in to return the kiss they erupted in a choir of cheers and cat-calls.