//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Oh… horseapples! // Story: Expecting // by Shahrazad //------------------------------// “What in tarnation is she doin’ here?” Applejack yelled. “Applejack!” Twilight barked. “Don’t yell at Trixie! Please, we just came to talk. Will you let us in?” Applejack stood firmly in the doorway, refusing to budge. “Twilight, ya must be nuttier than Pinkie Pie’s peanut brittle if’n ya think that one is welcome ‘round these here parts.” “Please…” Trixie moaned. “Trixie’s swollen and aching hooves need a rest.” “I did tell you I could organise transportation out here,” Twilight fussed, talking quietly to her companion. “Trixie is not so useless that she cannot walk on her own hooves… well, yet.” Twilight turned back to Applejack. “Please, Applejack. Let us in, we just need to talk.” “Fine,” Applejack relented. “But if she causes any trouble, Ah’ll toss her out with mah own hooves!” Big Mac gulped nervously as an all-too-familiar mare stepped through the door. The mare had certainly… put on some weight since he’d last seen her. Truth be told, though, last time he had seen her, it was pretty dark, and they were both pretty drunk. He gulped again, much louder. “Landsakes!” Applejack gasped, as Trixie stepped into the light. Twilight helped her remove her cloak, and levitated a cushion for Trixie to sit upon. “They been feedin’ ya good where’er ya been.” Granny Smith stood, hobbling over to the azure unicorn, a keen eye examining every inch. “Hmmm, it’s a biggun alright,” the elderly mare hummed. She turned around to find her grandson quietly attempting to slink out of the room. “Got somethin’ t’ say, Big Mac?” Applejack looked down at the Large and Overfed Trixie, and felt a bead of sweat drip down her forehead. She looked back to her Nervous and Retreating brother. “When?” Applejack asked her brother. “When Trixie was… last in town,” Trixie answered. Applejack turned towards Trixie, a burning anger in her gaze. “Ya take over our town, force us all inta slavery…” she growled. “Ah could fergive all that, but ya force yerself on mah brother, an’ have th’ gall t’ come here aft—” “She di’n force me,” Big Mac interrupted, before things got bloody. Applejack snapped her head back towards her brother. “What did ya jus’ say?” Big Mac gulped again, the sound echoing through the silent room. “Ah… Ah said she di’n force me.” “A-Ah can’t have heard right,” Applejack stammered, shaking her head. “‘Cause if what yer tellin’ me—” “So, Trixie is very interested in this… apple farming,” Trixie slurred. “Ain’t much t’ say about it.” Big Mac wore a goofy grin, swishing his cider about his mug. “Ah spend th’ day workin’ th’ farm, buckin’ trees and plowin’ th’ fields.” “Trixie is sure you do,” she responded, running a hoof over the stallion’s rippling chest. “Tell the Great and Powerful Trixie— would like you to… plow her fields?” The stallion smiled. “Eeyup.” Granny Smith scowled at her grandson. “Ah thought Ah taught you better than that, Big McIntosh,” Granny Smith chided. “Ah thought Ah taught ya t’ save yerself fer somepony special. An’ ya jus’ went an’ gave away somethin’ special t’ the first pony that lifted her tai—” “Trixie is right here!” Trixie grumbled. “Can Twilight still see Trixie? She is still here, right?” “Ah didn’t mean nothin’ by it… but Ah bet Big Mac here wasn’t yer first—” “Trixie is not here. Isn’t that right, Twilight Sparkle? Trixie is invisible and not here and can not be heard right now.” Applejack groaned and rolled her eyes. Granny Smith was very old-fashioned, and was sorely mistaken if she thought Big Mac gave anything special to Trixie… drunken boasting from Rainbow Dash had made that evident. “An’ what do yer parents have t’ say about this, missy?” Granny Smith asked, poking a hoof into Trixie’s swollen belly. “Trixie… Trixie has no family to speak of,” she replied, looking down at her hooves. “Oh, Trixie—” Twilight Sparkle pulled the seated mare into a wing hug. “Trixie does not need your pity, Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie said, gently pushing the alicorn away. “A family would have just held Trixie back from her stage show.” “Well, a life on th’ road ain’t no life for an Apple!” Granny Smith barked. “No… no it isn’t.” Once again, Trixie stared pointedly at her own hooves. “While Trixie might be able to skip a few meals after a bad show—” She directed a look towards Applejack and Twilight, who had the sense to look a little guilty. “—it is no life for a foal.” “Well, what’s done is done,” the elderly mare responded. “Now, Ah know Ah didn’t raise no ruffian. Big Mac, are ya gonna do right by this filly? We ain’t never had an Apple outta wedlock, an’ Ah don’t think we’re gonna start now!” Big Mac gulped. “Ya got yerself inta this mess,” Granny continued, “an’ that foal’s gonna be an Apple no matter what.” Apple Bloom finally piped up. “What does plowin’ a field have t’ do with Trixie?” “C’mon Apple Bloom, time for bed—let’s go,” Applejack said as she quickly ushered the filly out of the room. Big Mac looked up at the harsh glare his Granny was giving him, before turning to Trixie. “M-Miss Trixie,” Big Mac stammered, as he dropped to one knee. “Would ya do me th’ honor of bein’ mah wife?” “Trixie… is amenable to the idea,” she answered, carefully inspecting her hoof. The very pinnacle of nonchalance. “Very well, Big Mac, I accept.” “Ah’m gonna have a new sister!” Apple Bloom yelled from the door, darting under Applejack’s legs. “Ah’m gonna have a new sister!” she yelled as she bounced around the pregnant mare. “Welcome to th’ family, Trixie,” Granny Smith said, smiling as she pulled the mare into a hug. “Have ya thought of any names fer the foal yet?”