Once they got back to the house, Big Mac put on a shirt, a tight black T-shirt that showed off his muscles. As he pulled out a chair for Twilight to sit at the kitchen table, Twilight silently prayed that she could resist feeling him up. The two sat at the table in awkward silence.
“So…” Twilight attempted to say.
“Yes?” Macintosh asked.
“I understand that you’ve requested various novels in the past from the library.”
“Eeyup. I mean, yes.”
“May I ask why?”
“I find that the written word is extraordinary. It has the ability to tell stories, teach lessons, and invoke thoughts of all kinds. For me, one that can do all that is the best kind of book there is. Those novels usually meet that criteria.”
Twilight was dumbstruck. She had no idea Mac had such eloquent thoughts about books. Still, she saw the opening and grabbed it.
“How fascinating. Please go on.”
“Well, I admire Orwell for his scathing criticisms of society, Twain for paving the foundation of the great novel, Dickens for his commentary on the plight of the poor…”
Twilight was amazed. Not only was Mac a lot more distinguished than she’d realized, but his thoughts of those famous authors were eerily similar to her own.
“And Wells for starting science fiction and commenting on lower middle-class life.” She put in.
“Yes, exactly!” Mac said, looking more excited than Twilight had ever seen him. “Here, I’ll show you!”
Macintosh took Twilight by the hand and led her upstairs. As they went, Twilight blushed at the sight of his giant hand gently holding on to her much smaller hand. They ventured into his bedroom which contained a very large bed, a large bookcase filled with books almost exactly like the one Twilight had, a record player with albums of all kind, a majority being Bruce Springsteen, and a large poster of the movie Apocalypse Now.
“Just have a seat here.” Mac said, sitting Twilight down on his bed.
As he began searching through his bookcase, Twilight began internally shrieking once it completely sank in that she was in Big Mac’s bedroom and sitting on Big Mac’s very soft bed. She felt her face burning as all kinds of thoughts began racing through her head about what these circumstances could lead to.
“Now, this here’s one of my favorites.” Mac said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Big Mac sat down next to her and showed her the book: Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens.
“A lot of people only recognize Oliver Twist as Dickens’ best example of the poor protagonist rising above his dismal beginnings, and yes, this one came before Nicholas, but I personally prefer this one, as Nicholas reminds me of me. His father dies, leaving him to care for his mother and sister, having to work in hard conditions…”
Although Twilight had read Nicholas Nickleby before, but she suddenly found it so much more engrossing with Macintosh’s baritone voice describing it.
Outside, Applejack was bucking apples when Apple Bloom came over.
“Applejack, Big Mac and Twilight are in Mac’s room. And they’re talking about books!”
Applejack smiled as she looked up at Mac’s window.
“Ah knew they’d find a common ground. Now that Mac’s broken the ice, Twilight will open right up to him.”
“But don’t you think he’ll-“
“Hold yer tongue, Apple Bloom. You know Mac better than that. He won’t do nothing to Twilight at all. Now, make yourself useful and go look for Braeburn. He was supposed to spend a few days here helping out, but his train came in two hours ago! Where in tarnation is he?”
The truth was that the long train ride had left Braeburn feeling very stiff and he’d decided to visit the Ponyville spa, having heard that they were magicians at getting rid of aches and pains. The minute he walked in the door, Aloe and Lotus were instantly smitten. Braeburn may not have been musclebound like Macintosh, but he was still a charming, handsome, decently built cowboy with gorgeous green eyes, an infectious smile, and beautiful golden hair.
As Lotus led Braeburn to the back of the spa to their ‘special’ room, Aloe quietly changed the spa sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed’ and followed them. Now, Braeburn was lying in a lounge chair in pure bliss, with a towel around his waist, with Lotus massaging his shoulders and Aloe massaging his feet, their magic fingers doing wonders.
“Enjoying the treatment, Mr. Braeburn?” Lotus asked.
“Oh, yeah.” Braeburn moaned rapturously.
“Your muscles are so tight.” Aloe cooed. “You must be a hard worker.”
“I am indeed, ma’am.” Braeburn grinned, his eyes flitting back and forth between the beautiful sisters, their bosoms straining against their skin-tight strapless dresses. “Although, I’m nothing compared to the work you’re doing right here.”
“Why, thank you.” Lotus purred, tugging at the top of her dress. “Is it too hot in here for you, Mr. Braeburn?”
“Must be coming from you two ladies.”
“Well, aren’t you sweet?” Lotus said, pulling his head to look up so he could see the hungry look in her eyes. Lotus leaned in and gently kissed him, Braeburn immediately giving into her velvet lifts and lotus perfume. Aloe crawled on top of him and began kissing his chest.
“Careful there, tiger, Ah’m ticklish.” Braeburn warned.
“Oh, you are?” Aloe said wickedly.
“No…!”
“WHEE!”
Aloe yanked Braeburn off the chair and began tickling him like crazy. Lotus quickly jumped in.
When the sun hung low in the sky, Twilight and Big Mac exited his room, having spent the past several hours discussing Dickens and all of his novels to great detail. Both were surprised at how fast the time had gone and even more surprised that they felt a little disappointment in having to separate.
“I had a really nice time talking with you, Mac.” Twilight said as Mac walked her to the door.
“I’m glad. I did too.” He said.
“Do you think…maybe…we could do something like this again…sometime?” Twilight managed to say, blushing furiously.
“Of course. Ah mean, if you really want to.” Mac mumbled.
“Well, I would, so…uh, of course, I’d have to see what my schedule looks like, of course.”
“Of course.”
The awkward silence that followed made the hallway stretch for miles. When they got to the door, they stood there trying to think of what to do. Finally, they shook hands.
“Well, I’ll check my schedule and see when we can…uh, see each other again.” Twilight said.
“Eeyup. Do you want me to see you home?”
“No thank you, I’ll be fine. Goodbye, Macintosh.”
Twilight headed down the dirt road towards home, feeling like her head was going to burst. The afternoon with Big Macintosh had been nice, but now she had a fluttering in her chest and she felt like her feet weren’t touching the ground as she walked. She was clearly going to have to do some more reading and void everything on her schedule tomorrow.
Big Mac stood on the porch, watching Twilight leave with a wistful look on his face.
“So, you two have a good time?” Applejack asked from behind, spooking him.
“Huh? Uh-yeah!”
“You gonna see her again?”
“Well, we want to but that all depends on our schedules…”
“You’ll take her to dinner tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me.”
“But AJ, I thought we’d take this slow…”
“Mac, there’s slow and then there’s glacial which is the rate you’ll be going on your terms. Ah’m not saying jump in bed with her, but this’ll let her know you’re really interested.”
Mac sighed. AJ wasn’t right all the time, but when she was…
Applejack looked behind Mac and her expression darkened.
“Well, look who decided to show up!”
Mac looked behind him and saw Braeburn limping up the dirt path, his hat askew, his hair messed up, a stupid smile on his face, and, strangely, pink and blue smears on his face.
“And just where in the heck have you been?” Applejack snapped. “You promised you’d come to help do some extra work on the farm and you show up hours late, looking some drunk reprobate!”
Braeburn didn’t even seem to notice Applejack’s anger. He just stumbled past his cousins and into the house.
“Don’t worry, cousin, I’ll do double tomorrow.” He muttered as he tried and failed to hang his vest up on a hat rack.
“Yer darn tootin’ you well!” Applejack said as he headed upstairs for the guest room.
Big Mac was confused. Braeburn never missed work and he never went back on a promise. He also didn’t smell like he was drunk, he smelled like he’d been swimming in a field of flowers.
Applejack picked up Braeburn’s vest when she noticed something in the pocket. She and Macintosh looked to see what it was. It was a business card for the Ponyville spa, marked with two kisses, one pink, one blue, and a note: ‘Come back anytime, cowboy! XXXOOO, Aloe and Vera.’ The dots were replaced with hearts.
Big Macintosh and Applejack groaned.