A/N: Hello and welcome back. I hope I didn't disappoint with Carson. I thank all you people for taking the time to read and review this story.
We come back to Ditzy about a month and a half after Carson's birth.
"Oh no you don't, mister." Ditzy pulled Carson out of the air as he tried to escape his mother. She quickly changed his diaper. Carson had started to fly at about a mouth, and he liked flying around, but he wasn't particularly good at it. After she finished, she let Carson go. His little wings buzzed as they carried him up into the air.
He was a point where he looked at everything curiously, and Ditzy found it adorable. She watched as he buzzed around the living room. A wall mirror held his attention. He stared into the mirror with his off center eyes. He saw himself in the mirror and flew straight towards the mirror, ramming his head into it.
Ditzy caught him as he fell from the air. His lip quivered for a moment, and then he started to cry. Ditzy wrapped him in her for legs and kissed him on the forehead. "Shhhh....shhhh... Mommy will make it all better."
She bounced him gently around slightly as he started to calm down. She set him down on the ground, and went to the refrigerator, and grabbed a bottle of milk. Carson crawled into the dining area.
"You hungry, Muffin?" Ditzy asked. Carson was always hungry; he was his father's son after all. She picked him up from his crawl, and put the bottle in his mouth. She put his little hooves on the sides of the bottle as he gulped down the milk specially mixed to promote growth and healthy development.
He finished the milk quickly. Ditzy set him down to let him crawl around again. Ditzy started to make herself some lunch. She pulled a loaf of bread from a cupboard and started to get the other supplies for the sandwich, when two large hooves covered her eyes.
"Hello, Mac." Ditzy said with a smile.
"How did ya know it was me?" Macintosh drawled. Ditzy had to admit he could be quite sneaky when he wanted to.
"It could be that your hooves cover almost all my face." Ditzy said. He removed his hooves from her face, and she continued to make herself the sandwich. Carson crawled into the kitchen, and Big Macintosh picked him up and set Carson on his back.
"Howdy little Sugar Cube." Macintosh said, as he tickled his son's chin. Carson's little face formed into a smile.
"What are you doing home so early?" Ditzy asked; not that she didn't like him being home.
"Applejack found me a paying job." Macintosh said. Ditzy's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Did you quit the farm?" Ditzy asked. She didn't want him to quit the farm. She knew how much he loved working on the farm with family.
"Nope, but the farm work is a bit slow right now, so Applejack said Ah should go make some money to pay off the medical bill." Macintosh informed her. The medical bill had been expensive and they couldn’t put off paying it forever.
"What's the work then?" Ditzy asked. Carson buzzed off his father's back and over to Ditzy, but he didn't have very good control and crashed to the ground. Before he could start crying, Ditzy gathered him up and kissed his owie. "All better."
"Ah'm going to go build railroads." Macintosh said. "Ah hear the pay is good if we can keep it on schedule."
Ditzy thought about it for a moment. Ditzy was awfully bored, even if her hooves were full with taking care of her adventurous son. "Mind if I tag along?"
"Ah don't see why not." Big Macintosh said. Ditzy smiled warmly at him. Carson was already over his little bump and crawled around Mac's legs. "Y'all had any trouble with him today?"
Ditzy was much more experienced than Macintosh at taking care of a foal, seeing as she already had a foal before. So, Macintosh tended to worry about Carson more than Ditzy did. She appreciated his concern, but she could handle any problems the foal could have.
"Just the usual. He can be very clumsy at times." Ditzy said. She knew how it felt to be clumsy.
"Oh well, it's cute." Macintosh said. Carson tucked his legs under himself, and yawned. Ditzy looked up at the clock.
"Alright...nap time." She said quietly as she picked him up. She took him to his nursery with Big Macintosh following close behind. Ditzy set him in his crib. The crib was designed for pegasi, so they couldn't fly out. Carson sometimes would sleep-fly, so the crib kept him in.
Carson snuggled up to Macintosh's old doll. He had given it to Carson after he had found it in Mac and Ditzy's room. Ditzy leaned affectionately into Mac. He nuzzled her in the back of the neck. Ditzy turned on the foal monitor as they left the room.
"Where's Dinky?" Big Macintosh said with a sly smile. Ditzy gave him the same smile back.
"She's out running around with her friends; we have the house to ourselves." Ditzy said stopping in front of their bedroom. "When do you have to go build the railroads?"
"Not for another hour or so." He whispered into her ear. She kissed him on the lips deeply and passionately. They made their way to the bed. Ditzy prepared herself for lovemaking with her stallion. Macintosh smiled at her. She kissed him again, and her adrenaline started to pump. Then a cry came from the foal monitor.
Big Macintosh chuckled: "Ah'll get him, Sugar Cube."
Big Macintosh left the room for a minute, and the crying stopped. He came back with Carson half asleep on his broad shoulders. Ditzy gave him a questioning look.
"When Ah walked into the room he stopped crying." Macintosh explained.
Ditzy giggled: "Looks like somepony wants attention."
Ditzy took the foal from Macintosh and set him on the bed. She blew into the foal's stomach and Carson giggled. Macintosh tickled Carson's tummy causing him to giggle again. Carson's wings fluttered from under him as he laughed.
_________
The day was sunny, and very hot. The haze of heat hung low over the rails. Ditzy unfurled a wing to guard Carson from the intense heat of the sun. Macintosh stood chewing a sprig of wheat in his mouth. He hadn't chewed wheat in quite a while; he had stopped after beginning to date Ditzy. Ditzy knew he only chewed his wheat when he was trying to look masculine…well, more masculine than usual.
They trotted up to a cluster of stallions gathered around another stallion with an orange mane on a pedestal. "Lads, we're behind schedule, if we don't get to the other side of that mountain we're not getting paid."
Complaints and foul words were yelled at the pony, who was obviously the manager of the railroad. Big Macintosh stepped closer to the crowd.
"Ah can take ya there." Macintosh's voice bellowed out. The stallions turned to look at him. Most looked at him skeptically but Ditzy could see some hopeful faces.
"And when do you start building railroads?" The manager asked him skeptically.
"Today." Macintosh said stoically. He picked up a nearby hammer with his mouth. He trotted over to the unfinished railroad. He swung the hammer at a rail spike. The hammer made contact with the head of the spike and with a crack and some sparks, the rail spike was rammed straight into the ground.
The stallions looked on in awe as Macintosh pounded another spike into the ground. Apparently it was quite a feat to strike the large nail into the earth.
"Alright lads, let's get back to work!" The manager called out. Ditzy held Carson close, as the stallions ran around her and back to the railroad. Macintosh swung his heavy hammer and hit another in. He kept going like this for a while, and the railroad was making good progress.
Ditzy watched for an hour. They had made almost a quarter of a mile in progress. Ditzy sat herself under a shady tree. She played with Carson while the stallions worked. She could see Macintosh working up a sweat. Ditzy was starting to wish she hadn't tagged along: it was hot, humid, and Carson was starting to get cranky from skipping his nap earlier.
Ditzy stood and started to walk towards Macintosh to tell him she would be taking Carson home. Then she heard a hiss. She froze. Ditzy feared a snake as under hoof, but then she heard a whistle. She looked around, and saw in the distance a metal machine coming towards the cluster of stallions working on the railway.
Ditzy went to investigate as the machine pulled up.
"What do you see, oh brother of mine?"
"I see an unfinished railroad, and a bunch of lazy stallions." Ditzy saw the stallion that was standing on the machine. He was wearing a tacky straw hat and a striped shirt. Ditzy saw the stallion's brother was wearing the exact same thing, but he had a mustache. They looked vaguely familiar to Ditzy, but she couldn't put a hoof on it.
"I agree. You think that's why the rail company hired us and our speedy railroad builder 9000. Let us introduce ourselves, I'm Flim, he's Flam, and were the world famous Flim-Flam brothers." The one without the mustache announced.
Ditzy remembered them, and she saw that Macintosh did as well. The other stallions started to yell at the Flim-Flam brothers, about how they had worked hard and deserved to be paid. Flam started up the machine, and the worker stallions started close-in on the brothers.
"Whoa fellas, Ah have a way to settle this." Big Macintosh got between the stallions and the machine. Ditzy found it hard to believe that he was protecting the Flim-Flam brothers, seeing as they had tried to destroy the Apple family business. "Ah issue y'all a challenge."
"And why would we accept?" Flim asked.
"Because Ah'm the only thing standing between ya and these fine folks." Macintosh said. Flim whispered something to Flam, and then Flam whispered something back.
"What is your challenge, hayseed?" Flam asked.
"Ah say if Ah can best this here machine, the pay we were promised is ours." Big Macintosh challenged.
"And if we win?" Flim asked. Ditzy really hoped Macintosh wouldn't offer something crazy, like their house.
"Ah keep these stallions from touching y'all or your machine." Macintosh set the terms.
"I think we have a deal." Flim said, as Flam started up the machine. A hiss of steam rolled from the side of the machine. It had a pneumatic hammer that was prepared to pound in rail spikes. Ditzy watched as her husband took position on the other side of the rails.
A whistle sounded. Mac swung his hammer and the pneumatic hammer hit their respective rail spikes and pounded them straight into the ground. The crowd cheered, as Macintosh pounded another spike in. Macintosh had an early lead, but Ditzy saw as Flim turned up the power the lead started to shrink and soon they were neck and neck.
A hiss of steam blocked Macintosh from view, and the machine started to pull ahead, pounding rail spikes into the ground. They were quickly reaching the end of the tracks and Big Mac was still behind.
Ditzy put Carson into his carrying pouch, and flew up to Macintosh. He had a thick glaze of sweat all over him, as he swung his hammer.
"Sorry Sugar Cube, looks like Ah lost." Macintosh said between breaths as he swung his hammer as fast as he could.
"Not yet." Ditzy kissed him on the cheek in a attempt to motivate him. Macintosh moved faster, pounding the rail spikes into the ground. He caught up to the Brother's machine. They raced towards the end of the tracks: the machine was at top speed and Macintosh was starting to pull ahead.
Macintosh made it to the end and pounded in the last spike, resulting in his victory. The Flim-Flam brothers’ speedy railroad builder 9000 pulled up beside Macintosh. Ditzy trotted up beside him.
"Ah beat your machine. Now, the bits we were promised are ours." Macintosh demanded.
"It’s true brother of mine, he did beat us." Flam told his brother. Ditzy didn't like the way he said it: the tone was sarcastic.
"Yes he did, but I don't think we're going to pay them, are we?" Flim said more than asked.
"No, we aren’t ,and I'm going to tell you why, good brother. We're not going to pay because they were fired by the good company that hired us." Flam explained. Flim nodded like the statement was reasonable.
Macintosh, who was always honest, looked shocked by this. Ditzy looked at him with a look that asked: 'you didn't see this coming?' Ditzy took Carson out of his carrying pouch and gave him to Macintosh.
"Hold Carson for minute." Ditzy said. She was determined to get those bits: they needed the money badly, and she wasn’t about to let them get away with stealing it. She flew up to the platform that the brothers were standing on.
"Your stallion there sent you up here to try and get the bits?" Flim asked. "Well you can forget it!"
_________
Ditzy walked proudly with a pouch of bits in her mouth. Macintosh followed close behind, Carson asleep on his large back. She had gotten the money from the Flim-Flam brothers. Macintosh had a slight smile on his face. Ditzy knew that it was one of pride for the fact that he had such a strong wife.
"Wow, Sugar, just wow." It was the first thing Macintosh had said since she had showed the brothers a thing or two.
"I know. I'm pretty good, aren’t I?" Ditzy tried to sound arrogant, but she couldn't hold it and laughed.
"Ah'll think before upsetting ya." Big Macintosh said. They had received just enough bits to pay off the medical bill from having Carson, and it was a relief.
As they arrived home, they saw Dinky playing with her friend Twist.
"Hi Muffin, you want me to play with you?" Ditzy made sure she spent time with Dinky, so she wouldn't feel that the new child was replacing her.
"Can we play with Carson?" Dinky asked. This hadn't been the first time Dinky had asked. Ditzy had always said no: it was concerning how clumsy Twist was, but today Ditzy felt different. She picked Carson off Macintosh's back, and Mac gave her a questing look.
"Sure, but Muffin you have to be very careful." Ditzy warned as she placed Carson, who was just waking up, on the ground.
"We will mommy." Dinky assured her mother. Ditzy stood by Macitosh as they watched Dinky and Twist play with the foal. Ditzy leaned into her husband. He looked down at her, putting on one of his half smiles.
"Ya know...that looks like fun..." Macintosh said quietly. Ditzy giggled.
"You want to play, Mac?" Ditzy asked, he nodded in response. "Well, let's go."
A/N: Thank you for reading; it may not be the most exciting chapter but thanks for reading. The whole train thing was inspired by the American Folk Legend John Henry. I also thank my Beta Reader BlackRoseRaven.