The Lucky One

by Evan MacIan

Lady Day

Chapter Five:

Lady Day

When Rarity came into Big Mac's room for the morning stretches, she noticed that he seemed to be having trouble looking her in the eye.

"Sleep well?" she asked mischievously.

"'s," he replied, sounding like Apple Bloom after she'd been caught eating dessert before dinner.

"You know," Rarity continued, as she removed the splint and bandages, "Sweetie Belle has a lovely singing voice, perhaps you two could form a duet?"

Big Mac muttered something under his breath as she gripped his leg with her magic.

As Rarity stretched out his leg she heard him stifle a grunt. She held the leg out, and could feel him trembling more than usual.

Rarity glanced over at his face as she released his leg, and noticed a drop of blood trickling from his mouth. She realized he had bit his lip.

A thought suddenly struck her.

"Big Mac," she asked, "did you take your painkillers this morning?"

Now he was definitely avoiding her gaze.

He mumbled something.

"Big Macintosh," she said, using her You-Answer-My-Question-Right-This-Instant tone she usually reserved for Sweetie Belle or Rainbow Dash, "look me in the eye and answer me: Did you or did you not take your painkillers this morning?"

Big Mac looked her in the face, and said fiercely, "No Ah didn't, an' Ah ain't gonna neither, an' there's nothin' ya can do 'bout it."

Rarity turned and stomped out of the room. She stormed into the kitchen where Applejack was eating breakfast.

"'Morning Rarity…" Applejack started, then stopped when she saw Rarity's expression. "Uh oh."

"Well I hope you're happy about that little stunt you pulled last night," Rarity said icily.

"Well, excuse me for not wantin' to see my big brother hurtin' so much!" Applejack replied hotly.

"Well thanks to your 'concern,' Big Mac's refused to take any painkillers at all. So well done!" Rarity replied.

"He done WHAT?!" Applejack shouted.

She stormed out of the kitchen and into Big Mac's room, followed closely by Rarity.

"Jus' what do ya think you're doing?" Applejack demanded to know.

"Ah already tol' Rarity, Ah ain't takin' any more of them herbs." Big Mac replied firmly.

"An' just what do ya expect to gain from doing a dumb thing like that?"

"They leave me all loopy," he answered, "An' Ah don't like looking like a fool in front of everyone."

"Big Macintosh," Rarity said, trying to control her tone, "I understand that you're embarrassed because of what Applejack did," and she paused to give Applejack a glare. "But that doesn't mean you have to stop using the herbs completely. How about we just make sure you don't get an extra dose again?"

"No deal," Big Mac said doggedly.

Rarity stamped her hooves in frustration. "Big Macintosh…"

He set his jaw resolutely.

"Big Macintosh!"

He turned away and glared at the ceiling. Applejack sighed.

"Forget it," she said to Rarity. "That pony is as stubborn as a mule." Defeated, she walked out of the room.

Rarity turned back to Big Mac, still glaring.

"Fine," she said. "But don't expect any sympathy from me."

"Ah don't remember asking for any," he replied.

They spent the rest of the session in silence, except for the occasional involuntary grunt of pain from Big Mac, which probably wasn't helped by Rarity being slightly rougher than usual.

They ignored each other all through lunch. It wasn't until the afternoon session that Rarity broke the silence.

She was still annoyed at him for being so obstinate, but she could tell how much it hurt for him to go without the anesthetics. She finally started talking in order to take his mind off the pain.

"I actually didn't grow up in Ponyville," Rarity started. "I grew up in Fillydelphia originally.

"We lived in a large tenement home, near the river. Father worked in one of the large grain-processing factories. Mother would work as a laundry pony. Father worked long hours, and always came home tired, but he would always make time for mother and me.

"During winter he would take us down to the park to go skating. Sometimes we were there when the nearby opera house got out. I remember seeing all the upper class ponies leaving the opera, and being entranced by all the ladies dressed in the most beautiful outfits. One night when they were coming out we saw Princess Celestia was attending. I've never seen her wearing a dress since, not even at the Gala, but that night she was wearing the most gorgeous gold and white gown. She was surrounded by important ponies all trying to talk to her, but I remember her looking over and smiling at us. I was so excited, I talked about it for weeks afterwards. After that I would always dress up for father when he got home from work. He used to call me his 'little princess.'"

Rarity smiled at the memory.

"Most of the fillies and colts in our neighborhood worked full time by the time they were my age, but father insisted that I get an education. I went to a private school, not a particularly expensive one, but expensive for us. I started studying to become a fashion designer. Mother and father were able to pay for half of my tuition, and I would work nights as a hotel maid to pay for the rest. It was around that time that mother became pregnant with Sweetie Belle. There were some, complications, during Sweetie Belle's delivery. Mom didn't make it."

Rarity paused for a moment, then continued,

"I dropped out of school to go help father. I don't think I'd ever realized just how hard he worked for us, supporting the family and putting me through school, until I moved back in. He seemed so much older then I remembered him, just all tired out after mother died. About seven months after the funeral, he just didn't wake up one morning. Heart failure, they said. After that, I moved to Ponyville with Sweetie Belle, took out a loan, and started my boutique."

Big Mac was silent for a minute.

They often talked while Rarity worked on him, she would tell him the local gossip, or some of the adventures she, Applejack, and their friends had gotten into, but she had never told him such a personal story before.

Finally he said, "That was a mighty selfless thing of ya to do, taking in Sweetie Belle like that."

"Oh, well, she's my sister, I had to look out for her," Rarity replied, caught slightly off guard.

"Ah reckon," Big Mac agreed, "but just 'cause something's your responsibility don't mean it's ain't a fine thing to do. 'Fact, Ah figure the most noble things a pony can do is what they're s'pposed to be doing anyhow."

Rarity thought about his words for a moment, then said, "That's why you're so uncomfortable with everyone calling you a hero for what you did, isn't it? To everyone else, it was an exceptional act of bravery, but to you, saving Sweetie Belle was just the decent thing to do."

Big Mac shifted, slightly embarrassed.

"Ah s'ppose," he muttered.

Rarity finished strapping on the last splint.

"Well, I think it was the decent thing to do; and also exceptional brave."

She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then trotted out, leaving Big Mac surprised and smiling.

---

Author's Notes:

The title of this chapter, "Lady Day," comes from the name of a Felice Brothers' song.

Comments

[ArcticPyre]

good, like the previous chapters. I'm guessing you wrote this, or had the idea, before the sisterhoof social episode came out?

[Silent Storms]

296154

he had posted it to EQD long before that episode, yes.

I'm glad to be able to re-read this story, I remember why I enjoyed it the first time around.

[Evan MacIan]

296154 Oh yes; you cannot imagine my annoyance when that episode so casually shattered my carefully constructed fanon.

[ArcticPyre]

296336

yeah, I have a feeling one of the upcoming episodes, the spike one, may do that for a story i have in the works

oh well, we can adapt, become better, faster, awesomer

[Comma-Kazie]

296336 There's nothing wrong with headcanon. Personally, I haven't considered anything SINCE Sisterhooves' Social canon due to the degrading quality of writing, so I convince myself that Past Sins is a published work rather than mere fanfiction.

[metroid_freak]

I LOVE the back-story you've created for Rarity. It really justifies her position as the Element of Generosity.