With the winter break in full swing and nothing else to do, Granny Smith decided it would be best for the apple family to brave the roads and stop by the city to stock up on things that the city's feed shop could not provide.
As his grandmother and sisters prepared for the drive, Big Macintosh elected to stay behind and care for the farm. Even with the plants no longer producing for the winter, there were animals to feed, rooms to clean, and chores to be done. Apple Bloom was not allowed to stay alone still. He was expected to help with the trip, mostly just looking for the car’s plugin cup warmer for the hot chocolate. Big Macintosh also added what he wanted to the list of things to pick up in the city, including a box of chocolates that he knew Fluttershy would like.
Speaking of Fluttershy...
He excused himself to the restroom, where he had time for himself to make a quick text to Fluttershy that it was safe for her to come over, which was the other reason he decided to stay, since spending the day and night with Fluttershy would be spending time together. Fluttershy joked about it as "playing house."
She arrived an hour after they left, and kissed her boyfriend the second he opened the door for her. They stayed that way, until the sudden realization that they were in the harsh cold of winter with a warm house they could do anything in just a few feet away.. They walked inside and to the coat closet, where Big Macintosh helped Fluttershy out of her heavy coat and hung on a rack, the snow on it already starting to melt in the warm interior. In the living room, the fire was bright, with a few logs set aside for the day ahead.
"What do you want to do now?" he asked, reading her bedroom eyes.
"II don't know..." she said. The answer came instantly with a growling noise coming from her stomach.
"I guess ya want to get some lunch?" he asked. She nodded and wrapped herself under his arm as they walked over to the kitchen.
Their lunch was microwaved leftovers of rice, coleslaw, and mustard slathered pork chops. As they ate, big macintosh had to ask again about her animal-loving ways and her eating meat.
"Animals eat other animals all the time. It's part of life. I can't just not have protein because I love animals. I can't tell foxes, tigers, or wolves not to eat other animals."
From the kitchen, they moved to the living room, where they watched television for a few minutes and then began to kiss as soon as the first commercial aired. Their kissing went from pecks to something more intense. It was the first time they’d ever tongue kissed, so they just used their tips. The two's tongues were dancing with each other, or the tips at least. They backed out after a few minutes and agreed it was too gross. With the fire burning and the television acting as white noise, the two napped with each other as the snow continue to blanket the world around them.
They were awoken with an alarm on Mac's watch hours later. When he realized what it was for, Big Macintosh had a grin that went from ear to ear.
"Hey Fluttershy, you wanna see something cool?"
They got off of the couch and back to the to coat room. Once they had their heavy winter coats on, they exited the house and shuffled towards the outside, which was dampened with a layer of fresh snow.
"What are you going to show me in the barn? If you wanted to show me something you could have showed me at the house," she said with a wink.
"You'll love it," Big Macintosh assured her.
He opened up the barn doors, which got the attention of the farm animals. Fluttershy was excited to see the animals but was hurried along to the horses. There were two of them, a mare and a stallion. Fluttershy stared back as Big Macintosh hopped over the small wooden fence and into the horse pen, which was freshly cleaned earlier that day. He grabbed the stethoscope that was hanging off a nail on a post and went up to the mare, which was laying down with a bloated belly. He pressed the metal end against the belly and listened as the stallion looked on.
"Hey Fluttershy, come and hear."
Fluttershy went over and put on an eartip She heard a strong heartbeat, and then a smaller, weaker, heartbeat. The smaller beat was erratic and not harmonizing with the louder heartbeats. Fluttershy's heart melted.
"She’s expecting?" she squealed.
"Eeyup. She will have a foal in the spring!" he smiled.
Fluttershy placed her head on the belly and moved with each bated breath the mare took. She felt the foal kick, and it made her squeal happily.
"Will it be a filly or colt?" she asked.
"We don't know. I don't want to know until it breaches. Makes it more fun that way," he chuckled.
***
For the rest of the day they stayed on the couch and cuddled, watching the television and being in each other’s company. They only got up to use the restroom, eat dinner, which consisted of pizza and soda delivered to them, and to use the shower. Separately, of course. As they’d done the entire day, they fell asleep locked in a cycle of giggling, cuddling and kissing in front of the fire.
"We have to have more days like that," Fluttershy said as they shared one last kiss next to the abandoned farm by her house, which was a step up since she would only let him go as far as the fork in the road.
"Eeyup, need to do that more often,” he said as they parted with a hug.
Big Macintosh walked the road home with a smile. From the trail to the farm he thought about what happened the night before, about the odd feeling to have a special someone, and what to tell Granny when she would bring up the missing leftovers.
Eh, the thought as he shrugs his shoulders in the cold, bright, morning, that's future Big Mac's problem.