Advice
After Granny had finished breakfast, Applejack had rushed downstairs to join Mac, Rainbow and Fluttershy at the table, Applebloom giggling as she bounced around on her back.
Mac rose an eyebrow at his little sister. “Are ya sure Applebloom is safe like that?”
“Sure Ah'm sure Mac! Little gal's got quite tha grip!” She replied, turning to nuzzle the little filly who squealed and giggle a little more. She then noticed the other little foal sitting in the spare high chair next to Rainbow. “An' who's that? Did tha stork bring us another sister?”
“Not quite, Dearie,” Granny replied, setting a stack of pancakes down on the middle of the table. “Ah'm lookin' after her fer a friend.”
“Okay!” Applejack said, brightly, setting up another high chair beside Scootaloo's. “Why don't ya make a friend, Applebloom?”
The group watched as Applejack sat Applebloom down and said foal glance at the new orange one. She smiled and booped the Pegasus in the nose who, in turn, booped her back giggling.
“Aw well ain't that...” Mac was interrupted by a knock at the door and stood to answer, Rainbow following suit, noticing that Scootaloo was preoccupied with Applebloom to notice her escape.
They opened the door to find none-other than Rarity standing there, another sleeping foal on her back and several bags under her eyes. “Uh...Hi Rarity?”
“Yo,” Rainbow added, eyeing the suitcase next to her. “What's the bag for?”
Rarity huffed and glared at the ground in front of her. “My parents have gone on vacation and only just told me this morning! They just dumped Sweetie Belle on me, told me to pack my bags, get the foal's things and go to the farm!”
“...That might actually explain what the letter was about,” Rainbow mentioned, not really knowing what else to say. Rarity sighed, ignoring Rainbow's comment and was about to pick up her bags before Lil' Mac did it for her.
“Yer the guest, Ah got 'em,” He said, picking up the handle and slowly making his way inside.
"Thank you, Mac," Rarity replied before she noticed the look Rainbow gave her and rolled her eyes. “Mac's always been like this, Rainbow, no need to get jealous.”
“Who said I was jealous?!” Rainbow snapped back, defensively. Rarity sighed, rubbing her eyes with her hoof.
“It's too early in the morning for this, I'll probably see if I can get some slPancakes!” She exclaimed, immediately losing all semblance of fatigue and sat at the, oddly enough, already laid out seat for her. It would seem that Granny knew she'd be coming.
Rainbow huffed and turned to Lil' Mac, who smiled innocently to her. She smiled back, but part of her was a little annoyed that he helped out a stressed pony who was having a bad morning and...
Okay! We are not falling into jealous Fluttershy territory! She thought to herself as she sat back down in her place next to Lil' Mac, who was currently dousing his pancakes in syrup. “Would you like some pancakes with your syrup?” She asked, playfully.
“Eenope,” He replied, a little grin appearing on his face when he heard her giggle.
“Granny, Ah finished tha chores! May Ah go ta tha park wit' Rainbow?!” Lil' Mac called into the house, fetching the picnic basket up from the table. Granny Smith popped her head round the corner and nodded to him.
“Sure ya can Dearie, have fun wit' yer friends,” Granny said, before returning to the knitting she had picked up as a recent hobby.
“Uh...Actually, it's just Rainbow...” Lil' Mac admitted, actually visibly blushing through his red fur. “It's kinda...Well it is a date...”
Granny immediately halted her knitting and turned to her eldest grandchild in surprise but, mostly, she seemed quite happy. “Well that's great, Sweetie! Look at you, gettin' yer very first fillyfriend! Yer father only started courtin' yer mother when he was twenty-six!” She laughed, causing Mac to fidget a little more uncomfortable than before.
When she noticed that, she cut herself off and gave Lil' Mac a reassuring look. “You'll be fine Mackie, don't be nervous.”
“How did ya know Ah was nervous?” The red colt asked, deciding to do a quick check of the inventory of the picnic basket.
“Well, fussin' over that there basket is a start,” Mac immediately stopped messing around with it once she caught him out. “An' tha fact ya told me it was a date at all, yer Pa never told me bout yer Ma 'til bout three months later.”
“Did...Did dad date a lot o' ponies then?” Granny whistled and rolled her eyes.
“Yer Pa was certainly a ladies colt, let me tell ya. Made it all tha better when he found yer Ma an' he knew she was tha one,” Mac looked at the ground, thoughtfully, before looking up again.
“So how do Ah know if Rainbow's tha one cause, well...Ah really want her ta be,” Granny smiled at the little pony in front of her and patted his head.
“If'n that's tha case, she may well be,” She explained, noticing that he still looked jumpy. “Aw shucks Mackie, Ah'll bet that little Pegasus is just as nervous as you are,” Mac looked up, blinking.
“Ya think so?”
“Aw man! Why did I leave this so late?!” Rainbow complained, dragging a brush through her mane, but somehow not actually getting any knots out! It seemed like how ever many times she got one out, three more would take it's place.
“Just stay down!” She yelled, emphasising her point by yanking the brush down a little too harshly and cringed as the brush took some of the red part of her mane with it.
Applejack and Rarity passed by the spare room before they heard a loud yelp and ran back in shock. “You okay there, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked, concerned.
“No...” Rainbow sighed, pretty down. “I was practicing a few flight exercises and I lost track of time and now I have, at most, five minutes before my date!”
Rarity's eyes had widened considerably at the mention of a date while Applejack, having been already told about it the previous night (several times over) just rolled her eyes.
“Aw Dash, Mac won't care what ya look like. Ah know 'im an' Ah know that he likes you fer who yer are,” Rarity turned to Applejack, a little shocked by how lax she's being about this.
“Applejack! First dates are very...Wait this is your first date, right?” Rarity quickly asked Rainbow, who nodded allowing Rarity to finish her point. “First dates are very important! It may not seem like it, but appearances do count for something, especially since she and your brother haven't known each other that long!”
She then twirled round and grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders. “Don't you worry, Darling, I'll take care of your mane. Having a bad hair day on your first date is just the Worst! Possible! Thing!” She declared, before falling backwards onto a couch that seemed to just magically pop out of nowhere.
Before Rainbow can get over her surprise to ask how that red sofa got into the guest room, the mane brush she had in her hoof was suddenly encased in blue magic and softly went through her mane. “Don't fret, Rarity's here to scare the knots away!”
Applejack rolled her eyes and sat next to Rainbow at the vanity mirror. “Well while she has her fun, is there anythin' else ya needed advice on?”
Rainbow blushed a bit as she asked this, her brain not fully processing what she was asking before it was too late. “Well...I kinda wanted to see if he'd kiss...”
“Applejack's eyes widened in horror and she slapped her hoof over Rainbow's mouth. “Ew! Not helpin' ya wit' that!”
Granny had entered the kitchen to help Lil' Mac get some fritters for the picnic basket, since Mac remembered Rainbow saying that she really liked them from yesterday, when they found Fluttershy in the room with Angel, playing with the three foals.
Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle kept squealing and smiling as Fluttershy and Angel kept making silly faces at them.
So entranced she was, that the filly didn't notice Mac approach until he was right next to her, pulling a face of his own.
Fluttershy yelped a bit and scooted back, only for Angel to shake his head, implying that she shouldn't be scared of the, obviously, not threatening pony. Fluttershy blushed and, bashfully, scooted back to her original position.
Granny was too engrossed in finding the fritters, so couldn't really hear what was going on around them, so Fluttershy decided to do what she was meaning to do this morning.
She got some lilies out from under her wing and gave them to Mac. “Um...Here, they're Rainbow's favourites,” She said quickly, as to not give Mac the wrong idea.
Mac was a little surprised since Rainbow said that Fluttershy had feelings for him too, so why was she suddenly helping him?
She must of sensed his unease, so deciding to explain. “You seem to be happy with her and she's very happy that you like her too...” She mumbled, but knew that Mac would hear her regardless. “I may have had feelings for you...heck I still do, but I want you to be happy most.”
Mac was quite touched by this. He knew that a lot of mares and fillies in books and such usually did awful things to their friends out of jealousy. It was cliché, yes, but it seemed like it would actually happen and he was kind of preparing himself for it.
“This...This is very nice o' you Fluttershy, thank you,” Mac smiled, giving her a friendly one armed hug. Fluttershy blushed brightly, but smiled when she saw Angel smiling at her, proudly. “An' no matter what, you'll always have a friend in me, you know that right?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy replied, nudging him away. “Now why are you still here? You have a date!”
“Right!” Mac grinned back, putting the lilies in the basket that Granny hoofed over to him and grabbed the basket in his teeth. “Ish me uck! (Wish me luck!)”
“Good luck!” Fluttershy and Granny called to him as he trotted upstairs to meet Rainbow.
Fluttershy turned back and noticed the three foals and angel giving her big smiles and couldn't help but smile back.