//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Big Mac Goes A-Courtin' 
// by Nuttmeg 
//------------------------------//

	Only a few hours remained of the Apples' visit. Apple Bloom was asking Maud about her cutie mark, and Maud was patiently telling her the story, and just as patiently answering Apple Bloom's constant interruptions with questions about rocks. Granny Smith was deep in conversation with Igneous and Cloudy, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie were in the kitchen having a grand old time, by the sounds of it. Limestone was with them.
Big Mac looked over at Marble, her hair glowing in the light of the fire, and felt something in his chest he'd never felt before. Marble looked over at him and smiled, and he smiled back, the feeling growing. They stayed that way for a few moments, just looking at each other. Then Big Mac gestured to the door with his head, a questioning look on his face. She hesitated, then nodded shyly.
Together they quietly slipped out the door into the brisk December air.
They walked for a while without talking, taking an ambling path around the farm. Big Mac let Marble lead, content simply to share silence with her. After a few minutes, though, she stopped and looked up at him thoughtfully.
“Hmmm...” she said. There was the faintest hint of a question tacked on the end. Big Mac nodded.
“Eeyup.”
Marble smiled, and turned them around, leading him down past Holder's Boulder. She glanced at him several times as they walked, and always she caught him smiling contentedly, which made her blush and look away. Eventually they reached the entrance of a mine filled with crystals reflecting shades of pinks and blues and greens, sprouting up out of the floor and hanging from the ceiling and even growing out of the walls. Big Mac felt his eyes go wide. He looked down at Marble, who was watching him in anticipation. When it seemed she had determined his reaction to be positive, she smiled a secretive smile and lead him further into the mine.
After several turns along a path that sloped down and then up and then down again, they came to a group of crystals that grew in an almost perfect circle. She walked to the center of the circle and sat down, then beckoned him in when she saw him hesitating. He sat down next to her, closer than he might have chosen to be otherwise, but the space inside the circle was not very big. Marble closed her eyes, breathed for a moment, and then opened her mouth and began to sing wordlessly.
It was not a tune Big Mac was familiar with, but it consisted of only a few repeating phrases in one key, and after a few iterations he was familiar with it enough that he thought he could hum along if he wanted to. He considered doing just that, but before he could open his mouth he realized that there was another sound underneath Marble's singing, a sound that was growing slowly louder. He lifted his ears and pointed them in every direction, but the noise didn't seem to be coming from any one place. In fact, it seemed to be coming from all around them. It was the crystals, he realized after a few more phrases. The crystals were ringing in tune with Marble's song.
The humming from the crystals grew louder the longer Marble sang, and when they were just on the cusp of overwhelming her voice, she opened one eye to glance at him, almost nervously, and then closed her eyes again and changed her song. Most of the ringing in the background died away, with only one or two crystals still singing, but soon more of them began joining in. She did this several times, and after a while Big Mac realized that she was playing the crystals like an instrument, using her voice to make them vibrate. The very idea was shocking in its beauty, though more beautiful still was Marble's execution of it. He wondered if there were any crystals in the circle that would respond to the deep tones of his own voice. The next time she changed key, he took a deep breath and joined in.
Her eyes flew open in shock, but luckily she did not stop singing. Big Mac smiled at her and then closed his own eyes, trying to find a crystal that would respond to him. He was an entirely self-taught singer, and he regretted his lack of formal education a little now, but eventually he caught one in his voice and felt it thrumming in the air around him. He risked a glance at Marble, and she was peeking back at him, her face bright with delight. His singing almost faltered then, but he shut his eyes again and concentrated. The deeper tone swelled, growing louder, until Marble switched keys and he scrambled to match her again.
The music continued like that—Marble switching keys and making Big Mac chase her across the musical staff—until finally their voices grew tired and they held the same, pure note, she two octaves above him, for as long as they could, the crystals thrumming louder and louder in answer. When it was almost too loud to bear, Marble reached out and touched his shoulder with her hoof. Their voices fell away together, the ringing immediately dying down as though the crystals were relieved to be finished.
Big Mac opened his eyes, and found Marble smiling up at him through her hair. He grinned foolishly down back at her.
“Beautiful,” he breathed, and she seemed to know he wasn't just talking about the music.