Growth

by Squinty Mudmane

3: Festivals and sibling troubles

Applejack awoke to the sensation of a weight pressing down on her chest. She forced a bleary eye open to see Winona sleeping peacefully on top of her.

“C’mon, girl, you know you can’t sleep in mah bed,” Applejack said with half-hearted sternness. The farmdog raised her head at the sound of her owner’s voice and her face broke into an open-mouthed, tongue-lolling smile

“Arf!” Winona declared happily and gave Applejack’s face a lick, before jumping off the bed and fetching a well-worn rubber ball—one of her favourite toys—which had inexplicably wound up beneath Applejack’s bed. She looked up at her owner expectantly, her tail wagging excitedly, until Applejack finally relented and threw the rubber ball down the stairs into the living room, with Winona in hot pursuit.

Fumbling for her hairbands on the nightstand, Applejack tied up her mane and tail in her preferred manner, stealing a glance at the alarm clock as she did. It was almost a quarter past eight. She furrowed her brow a bit and mentally chided herself; she had really slept in this morning. She took her hat from its place on the coat rack on the wall, making a small detour to knock on the door to Apple Bloom’s room down the hallway.

“Mornin’, Bloom. Gonna go make breakfast now. Come down soon unless ya want it cold,” she called. A grumbled, sleepy reply from the other side of the door confirmed that her sister was at least awake, if only barely. Satisfied, she headed downstairs to the kitchen, passing Winona on the way, who was busy rolling back and forth on the floor while chewing on the rubber ball.

A short while later, after a bit of work in the kitchen, Applejack sat at the table, enjoying a small stack of pancakes with a healthy dollop of maple syrup as well as a cup of coffee. A tray of toast, cheese, oatmeal and more pancakes stood on the middle of the table for general use, along with glasses and a beaker of apple juice. Apple Bloom came downstairs not long after, no doubt drawn by the enticing scent of food.

“Heya, sis. You told Granny we’re havin’ breakfast yet?” Applejack asked as her sister petted Winona on the way to the table. The farmdog had been given her own breakfast and was happily—and noisily—wolfing down the contents of her food bowl.

“Ayup,” the filly confirmed, sounding a great deal more awake now than she had back in her room. “She said she’d be down in a bit, an’ that she’d like the peppermint tea this mornin’.” She sat down at the table and helped herself to some toast and pancakes.

“Peppermint tea, got it.” Applejack drained her cup of coffee before heading back into the kitchen. She filled a kettle with rainwater from a bucket that had been placed outdoors overnight—Granny Smith preferred it to tap water nowadays—and placed it on the stove. Granny’s considerable trove of tea was contained in an ornate carved wooden lockbox that the Apple siblings had gotten her for her 80th birthday. Applejack took the container from its place atop one of the kitchen cupboards and browsed through it for the peppermint tea, noting as she did which types were running low and would need restocking next time she came by the Ponyville market.

Flicking through the various packs, she spotted one particular brand: ‘Ki tea’, it was called. Applejack had bought a box of it when she and the girls had gone to Manehatten to support Rarity during a fashion contest. Applejack had been walking around the harbour, looking at the great ships docked there, when she had spotted a stall selling tea. The merchant had insisted that the name of the tea brand was pronounced ‘chi’, and he had told her in great detail how it was the name for the vitality and life energy that the herb drew from the earth into its leaves during growth in its native soil, far to the east and across the ocean.

Applejack had not really understood how that differed from any other plant growing in soil back home, but before she could ask, she had been forced to move on as Pinkie had insisted they all went to visit a nearby theme park. When Applejack had later tried the tea for herself, she had discovered that it did make her feel curiously invigourated, much more so than any other kind of tea she had tried.

Wonder what else there is to see out there? she thought idly. She briefly envisioned herself as a crewmember aboard one of the ships sailing the trade routes to distant, exotic shores, then shook the notion from her head. Cute. Why not make yourself a pirate captain while you’re at it?

Granny Smith made her way downstairs just as the water began to boil. Applejack poured the peppermint tea for the elderly mare while her sister prepared a bowl of porridge.

“Mornin’, Granny!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully, placing the bowl at Granny Smith’s habitual spot at the table.

Applejack pulled back the stool a bit so that their grandmother could take a seat and gave her a slightly concerned look. “Did ya have a good night’s sleep?”

“Oh, you two are such darlin’ pumpkins. An’ I slept jus’ fine, Applejack, thanks fer askin’. Mah hip’s doin’ much better now with that fancy new medication,” Granny Smith said, giving them a kind, gummy smile, having not yet put in her teeth for the morning.

“Well, that’s mighty good news,” Applejack said with a relieved smile, returning to her seat. “I’ll be sure to thank Dr. Stable when I see him.”

“Big Macintosh’s comin’ home today, ain’t he?” Granny Smith asked, taking a sip of the steaming cup balanced between her hooves.

“Tomorrow, Granny,” Applejack gently corrected her. “He’s comin’ home tomorrow, around noon.”

“Oh, of course, silly me. I must’ve lost track o’ the days.” The elderly mare shook her head in mild self-admonishment. “Sometimes I’m afraid I’d lose track o’ mah own tail iffen it weren’t stuck to mah rump.”

Apple Bloom reached out and stroked Granny Smith’s foreleg with a hoof. “It’s okay, Granny. We miss him too.” She looked over at Applejack. “You think he’ll remember to bring back a souvenir?”

Applejack smirked as she refilled her coffee cup and took some toast with cheese. “I’m just hopin’ Cheerilee’s been keepin’ him on enough of a leash so’s to keep him from buyin’ every little doohickey that’s caught his eye. Don’t you worry ‘bout that, sis.”

Granny Smith smiled fondly. “Ah, lil’ Miss Cheerilee; she’s such a nice young filly. So polite and helpful. I sure hope he asks fer her parents’ consent while he’s there.”

“Consent for what?” Apple Bloom asked.

Applejack held up her hooves and chuckled. “Whoah now, Granny. They just went to meet them an’ get introduced—”

“Consent for what?” Apple Bloom repeated, looking from one to the other insistently. “For Cheerilee to come to dinner again? Because he so should ask for that! It was super fun last time she came around!”

“Well, coming ‘round more often for dinner would be one thing, for sure…” Applejack said with a little smile.

“One thing? What else would it be?” Apple Bloom asked with a slightly puzzled expression, then clamped both hooves to her mouth, her eyes widening in hopeful excitement. “Ohmygosh! Is he gonna ask her to be his special special somepony? Are they gonna get… married?!”

Applejack leaned over and placed a calming hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder before the filly could launch from her seat out of sheer glee. “How ‘bout we wait for ‘em to get back home an’ tell us what’s what before we go ringin’ any bells, all right?”

“Okay, yeah, I guess we should,” Apple Bloom agreed, settling down for a moment before bounding out of her seat and jumping around in little circles. “Wheeheehee! Mah big brother and Cheerilee! I knew we were right about it! This is gonna be the bestest thing ever!”

Applejack clucked her tongue and shook her head a bit in resignation. “Just don’t go tellin’ everypony anythin’ until they actually get back. Like I said, we don’t know for sure what they have and have not talked about with Cheerilee’s folks in Baltimare. Don’t be spreadin’ rumours. Not even to Sweetie Belle an’ Scootaloo.”

Apple Bloom paused her revelling mid-jump and gave Applejack an affronted look. “What? Why can’t I tell Sweets and Scoots? They’re mah best friends! We tell each other everythin’!”

Applejack stood up and gave her sister a stern look. “Just be a good sister and do like I says, Apple Bloom.”

The little filly returned the look with a resentful glare of equal strength. “Fine! I won’t tell ‘em, but I’m still gonna go see ‘em now. Or am I not allowed to do that either?”

Applejack did her best not to sigh in exasperation. “Apple Bloom, don’t be like that…” she began, but the filly had already stomped up the stairs to get her things from her room. She winced a bit as the bedroom door slammed shut with petulant force. A few moments later, Apple Bloom came back down the stairs like a dark cloud, her Crusader-emblazoned saddlebag slung over her haunches.

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack called again, but the filly ignored her and left the house without another backward glance, slamming the door shut behind her. Winona let out a low, mournful whine. On most days, Applejack would have gone after her sister and tried to talk her down until she relented, but every now and then, she would just let the hotheaded filly go off until she cooled down on her own. Right now was one such moment.

She sat down and drained the last of her coffee. After a few moments, the sensation of a pair of disapproving eyes looking at her became too much to ignore and she looked over at her grandmother.

“Don’t ya think you were a lil’ bit too hard on yer sister there, young’un?” the elderly mare asked.

“You know I wasn’t, Granny,” Applejack replied with a little sigh. “They don’t mean bad, but those three fillies are always goin’ around tellin’ everypony everythin’ when they get excited, an’ Mac might not appreciate that. You remember that time with the school newspaper?”

The barb went out of Granny Smith’s gaze. “Apple Bloom’s learned her lesson since then,” she said in a softer tone.

“Maybe so,” Applejack replied. “Still, if Mac and Cheerilee came back without any plans for anythin’, it’d be awfully awkward for ‘em if everypony was makin’ assumptions. I don’t want to muck things up for Mac.”

Granny Smith let out a weary sigh. “I know, pumpkin, I know. I jus’ don’t like seein’ y’all fightin’, is all. Just promise yer ol’ granny that the two of you make up, would ya? Apple Bloom is jus’ happy fer yer brother.”

“I’ll try, Granny.”

Silence descended over the breakfast table for a bit. Applejack poured herself another cup of coffee, plopping a single lump of sugar into it. She watched the cube sink and quickly disappear beneath the black surface. She stirred the coffee with a spoon until she could no longer find the sugar cube with it.

She heard Granny slurp her tea for a moment before the elderly mare asked: “You sure are quiet, young’un. What’s on yer mind?”

“Just wonderin’ if Mac’s havin’ fun in Baltimare.” Applejack idly watched as the stirring of her spoon caused the surface of the coffee to ripple and swirl. It was a whirlpool at sea one moment, then became a turbulent sky the next. “I bet there’s a lot of stuff for a farmpony like him to see.”

“I’m sure he’ll have a bunch o’ photos to show when he gets back,” Granny said. There was the scraping noise of wood against wood, and Applejack looked over to see Granny Smith slowly stand up.

The elderly mare rolled her shoulders a bit, which produced an almost disturbing number of cracking and popping noises. “Well, I guess I better go have a look at mah flowers in the backyard. You oughta finish up yer breakfast too. Didn’t ya hafta help yer friends with the posters for that fancy rodeo thingy yer plannin’?”

“It ain’t a rodeo, Granny,” Applejack explained patiently. “It’s the Iron Pony competition, like the one we held last year. Rodeo’s just one of the contests in it.”

“Po-tay-tow, potato,” Granny Smith grunted with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Call it what ya like. I knows yer gonna win it, anyway.”

Applejack smiled, feeling somewhat embarrassed by the unconditional confidence, but also no small measure of pride. “Thanks, Granny.”

A few moments later, Applejack heard the door to the backyard close, and she sat alone with her coffee. There was a soft patter of paws against wooden floor, and she felt something warm against her thigh. She looked down to see Winona’s head resting on her leg. The dog was looking back up at Applejack with soulful eyes, her tail hanging listlessly.

Applejack gave the dog a little smile and scratched her behind the ear. “Don’t worry, girl. AB will be fine again soon.”

Winona wagged her tail tentatively in response.

“How about you come with me and help put up some posters, eh? Would you like that?”

“Arf!” Winona replied happily.

Applejack let out a chuckle. “Well, then let’s just get this table cleaned and we’ll be off.”

---

“So, Rarity, you plannin’ on competin’?” Applejack asked her friend with a wry smile as Rarity plucked another poster from the former’s saddlebags with her magic.

“Heavens, no,” the unicorn replied, levitating the poster to the noticeboard in front of them. “Though I shall definitely be watching with glee as you make an absolute mess of your coat and mane with mud and dirt. Again.”

Applejack pressed her hooves against the poster to keep it in place while Rarity lifted four nails in her magical grip to the corners of the poster, tapping them with dainty little swings of a hammer until they were—eventually—in place. Winona sat a few feet behind Applejack, watching the two bickering mares attentively.

“I’ll be sure to see if I can’t splash a bit of muck in yer general direction.”

“Well, aren’t you just the sweetest thing?”

Getting the poster copied at the printing press had taken a while longer than anticipated, but once all the ink from their ill-fated first attempt had been cleaned up, the rest of the process had been a cinch. Applejack, Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy had then split up to distribute the copies across Ponyville. Rainbow Dash had been too busy with the rest of the weather team fending off a bout of wild weather from the Everfree Forest to help out, and Pinkie had gone to see Mayor Mare regarding a ‘big surprise,’ which had left Twilight smiling rather smugly and the other three feeling rather puzzled.

At around the time Applejack, Rarity and Winona passed the town hall for the third time, they heard Pinkie’s voice calling out brightly:

“Applejack! Rarity!”

They both stopped and turned to see Pinkie come bounding down the steps of the town hall with excited leaps.

“Hello, Pinkie. You seem exceptionally cheerful today,” Rarity remarked.

Pinkie beamed as she skidded to a halt next to them. “I know, right? It’s because Mayor Mare has put me in charge of Operation: Iron Pony Entertainment!”

Rarity and Applejack glanced between them and back at Pinkie, who was bouncing up and down on the spot like a jackhammer.

“What’s Operation: Iron Pony Entertainment?” Applejack asked when it became clear that Pinkie was awaiting a prompt.

“I’m glad you asked, my good Applejack,” Pinkie said, ceasing her bouncing in an instant. She cleared her throat and puffed her chest solemnly. “Mayor Mare has decided to let me host—” she burst into gleeful jumping again “—a whole festival centered around the Iron Pony competition!”

“Goodness, a festival?” Rarity asked, holding a hoof to her chest. “I know you said you wanted to host a party, but… a whole festival?”

Pinkie let out an excited squee. “I know! Isn’t it super? Mayor Mare told me that since the Iron Pony competition would be so big this year, we could also make a big event around it that would be sure to draw everypony in and keep them entertained! She told me: ‘Pinkie, you’re the right pony for this job,’ and then she gave me this huge sack of bits and asked me to be frugal, which I don’t know what she meant by, but she also said she has complete faith in me and trusts me to do ‘the right thing’! I can’t wait to get started! There’s gonna be balloons and candy floss and maybe even a roller coaster! Oh, I’m so excited!”

“That sounds mighty nice, Pinkie,” Applejack said sincerely. “Havin’ a place to kick back after a bunch of hard contests will probably make everypony happy. Maybe you should consider teamin’ up with Twilight for it, though.”

“Oh, I’m going to! She’s the one that suggested it to Mayor Mare in the first place! I’m no good at number-crunching, but Twilight can do that stuff in her sleep!” Pinkie let out a giggle. “Why is it called number-crunching, anyway? It’s not like you eat the numbers like they’re candy. Oh! That’d make for a fun addition! A booth that goes: ‘Be a number-cruncher!’ And the joke is that you eat candies shaped like numbers! Get it?”

“Well, I am definitely keen to see what the two of you can come up with,” Rarity said gently but firmly before Pinkie could go off on another tangent. “But perhaps we should focus on finishing putting up these posters first.”

“Oh! I’ll help!” Pinkie said brightly, smiling at Applejack. “I need to talk to you anyway, bestest cousin!”

“Sure, what’s on yer mind, Pinkie?” Applejack asked as Pinkie fell in (bouncing) step next to them.

“Well, I heard back from Mom and Dad, and they said they’ll be coming over in two days, around the evening. Can they still come visit then?” Pinkie replied with a hopeful smile.

“’Course they can, sugarcube. If ya want ’em to get the full tour, though, it’s probably best to do that the day after when it’s daylight. Though y’all will be welcome to dine with us.”

“Yay, you’re the best!” Once again, Applejack found herself enveloped in an almost uncomfortably tight hug by Pinkie, though she mercifully let go before Applejack could feel her bones protesting. However, Pinkie’s expression soon fell into a more sober one. “Do you think they’ll want to stick around for the Iron Pony competition? I’d like for them to see the festival…”

“Don’t you worry about that, darling. I’m sure they’d love to stay for that,” Rarity said confidently, giving Pinkie an encouraging smile.

The wan smile that ghosted across Pinkie’s lips in return, so unlike the ones she typically wore, was worrying for Applejack to see, almost as troubling as the slightly pained look in Pinkie’s eyes. “Yeah. I’m sure you’re right, Rares,” she replied. She put an impressive amount of confidence into her voice, a confidence that was decidedly lacking in her body language.

Applejack nudged Pinkie gently with her shoulder. “So tell us a bit more ’bout what yer plans are for the festival, Pinkie.”

“Oh!” Pinkie brightened up considerably. “I’ve got lots of ideas! So there’s this one involving marmots and a pot of coffee…”

---

Applejack shuffled a bit from hoof to hoof as she waited on the station platform. According to the large clock on the wall at the far end of the platform, it was twenty-seven minutes to one in the afternoon. She waited alone, the only other pony at the train station being a lone clerk sitting in his office near the entrance.

The rest of yesterday had been spent hanging posters and flyers around Ponyville. Afterwards, Pinkie and Twilight had moved to the library to plan out the festival, while Fluttershy and Rarity had gone off to Carousel Boutique. Meanwhile, Applejack, a slightly battered Rainbow Dash and a handful of volunteers from the weather patrol team had begun setting up benches and other items in preparation for the contests.

Applejack had eventually gone to find her sister once Dash had assured her that she could oversee the work for a while. Much as Applejack had suspected, she had found Apple Bloom at the clubhouse with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. It took a fair bit of talking, coaxing and cajoling, but the filly had eventually stopped glaring daggers at Applejack. She was content to settle with that for the time being.

The sound of a train horn brought her back to the present. Off in the distance, she could see the cloud of steam that heralded the train’s arrival. Before long, the train rolled into the station and came to a laborious halt at the platform, puffing and hissing. The tram doors clattered open and a couple of ponies stepped out of the train. The two particular ponies Applejack was looking for emerged from one of the rear cars.

Big Mac was lugging a heavy-looking backpack in addition to a pair of saddlebags that looked fit to burst at the seams, while Cheerilee was carrying a bag that also looked to be of considerable weight slung over her shoulders. Big Mac stepped onto the platform first, offering a hoof to help Cheerilee off the train in a gesture that was both gallant and somewhat clumsy because of the weight he was carrying. Cheerilee took his hoof with a smile, however.

As her hooves met the station platform, Big Mac leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on her cheek. Cheerilee turned her head and caught the stallion’s lips in a kiss that was anything but chaste.

Applejack suppressed the urge to wolf-whistle and did her best not to grin as she trotted over to greet them, doffing her hat as she came closer. “Howdy, you two. Did ya have a pleasant trip?”

The lovebirds turned at her approach, Cheerilee’s smile unfazed, Big Mac’s blush mostly hidden by his already red coat.

“Hello, Applejack!” Cheerilee replied brightly. “Yes, Baltimare was lovely, but it’s so nice to be back home again. I’ve missed all my little pupils.”

Nice recovery, Cheerie, Applejack thought, smirking internally. “Well, Apple Bloom’s been missin’ you too, I can tell you that much. I bet they’re all antsy to get back to school.”

The teacher let out a soft laugh full of mirth. “I should hope so! I’ve already got a whole slew of assignments lined up for them.” At Applejack’s slightly quizzical look, she added with a smile: “The fun kind of assignments, not the soul-crushing double-digit papers.”

“Right.” Applejack nodded. A sharp whistle rang out and the doors of the train clattered shut. After a moment, its engine kicked into life and the train lurched forward, rolling out of the station in a haze of steam. Once the noise had receded, she looked at her brother. “How ’bout you, Mac?”

To her surprise, Big Mac avoided her gaze, looking down at the tiles at his hooves and then glancing at Cheerilee. “Oh… uhm… Baltimare was nice, yup…”

Cheerilee saw his expression and put a hoof gently on his cheek. “Oh, sweetie, I already told you, it doesn’t matter what they think.”

The sinking feeling in Applejack’s stomach was only intensified by the crestfallen expression on her brother’s face. “I know, but… I’d just hoped that…”

“Mac…” Cheerilee slid her hoof from Big Mac’s cheek to under his chin, gently but firmly lifting it to raise his gaze from his own hooves to her eyes. “It changes nothing. I love you, and nopony is going to tell me otherwise,” she said in a voice that was at once full of tenderness and utterly unyielding.

A small smile finally crossed Big Mac’s face. “Thanks, shmoopy-doop,” he mumbled.

Cheerilee grinned and batted him lightly on the nose with her hoof. “Not in public, sugar bear.” She turned back to Applejack who was watching the two uncertainly, and the humour faded from her face.

“Well, let’s just say that the meeting with my parents didn’t quite go the way I’d hoped. As it turns out, they have their opinions, and I have mine. I’ll respect that, as should they.” Cheerilee’s eyes grew harder than diamond for a moment, and Applejack was silently grateful that she had not been present when that particular conversation had taken place. The fact that Cheerilee usually seemed almost as perpetually joyous as Pinkie only made the idea of her being truly angry all the more frightening.

Applejack simply nodded, unsure of what to say. Despite Cheerilee’s assurances, her brother still looked distraught, though he seemed to be putting on a brave face for Cheerilee’s sake. They stood in awkward silence for a few moments. All the other ponies had left the platform, leaving just the three of them.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to ruin the mood like this,” Cheerilee said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I think I just need to get home and unpack, then relax with a good long shower. I hope you won’t mind?” she asked, looking at Applejack.

“No, not at all,” Applejack replied, shaking her head. “We’ll, uh… catch up later?”

“Yes, please,” Cheerilee said with a warm smile. She turned to Big Mac and nuzzled his cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Right, sweetie?”

Applejack could almost see how her brother melted under the affection. “Eeeyup…” he mumbled with a nod.

Cheerilee smiled and kissed him tenderly on the lips. Then she hoisted up her shoulderbag and trotted out of the station at a brisk pace, heading for town and leaving Applejack and Big Mac alone on the platform.

Once Cheerilee was gone, the flimsy facade Big Mac had put on crumbled almost instantly and the crestfallen look returned to his face. Applejack walked over to him and nudged him softly with a shoulder so that the heavy pack he carried slid from his back onto hers. He did not even protest.

“Come on, big guy,” she said gently. “Let’s go home. You can tell me what happened on the way.”

The walk out of the train station and through Ponyville was spent in silence. Applejack waited patiently for Big Mac to speak, but her brother kept his eyes fixed on the ground in front of his hooves, a despondent look on his face. When they were about halfway along the road leading to Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack could no longer hold her tongue.

“Sooo… are you gonna tell me what happened?”

Big Mac looked at her listlessly. “I mucked it up, AJ,” he said quietly.

“Why don’t you start from the beginnin’?” Applejack asked gently. “It can’t have been that bad. I mean, Cheerilee still seemed the same.”

Big Mac let out a reluctant sigh. “We got to Baltimare just fine. Had a hotel booked for the first night. Spent the day just walkin’ about in the city sight-seein’ an’ such. We were supposed to have dinner with Cheerie’s parents the next evenin’.” He trailed off and became silent after that.

“Go on,” Applejack said encouragingly.

“I had a bad feelin’ the moment we stepped into their home,” he muttered glumly. “They’re real fancy ponies, Cheerie’s parents; her pa’s a professor at a university, an’ her ma’s a secretary at a law firm. Ain’t never felt so unwelcome in a place before. I got the ol’ stink-eye fer not wipin’ mah hooves on the doormat properly, even though there weren’t no speck o’ mud or nothin’ on ‘em.”

Applejack was reminded for a moment about Rarity in a way that was most unkind, though perhaps not entirely inaccurate. “Well, I’m sure it can’t have been all bad once they got to know ya.”

Big Mac grimaced a bit. “Cheerie tried her best to get ’em to open up an’ steer the conversation, but they kept needlin’ me with questions I didn’t know how to answer. An’ by the time we sat down to eat, well… things got real bad from there.”

Applejack had a pretty good feeling she knew what was coming next, but she waited for him to go on regardless.

“They had this real delicate cutlery an’ three different glasses, an’ Cheerie’s pa asked me to pour the wine. I didn’t know which one to use, so I just picked the biggest one, but he said: ‘No, sirree, that there’s for the main course, not the appetiser.’ I didn’t just feel like a fish outta the water; I felt like a fish tryin’ to climb a mountain.”

Big Mac kicked a pebble off the road with his front hoof and looked at Applejack with distress written across his broad face. “I tried mah best to make a good impression fer Cheerie’s sake, but I just kept makin’ a mess of it. It was awful, AJ; I could see how painful it was for her to sit an’ watch me screwin’ up again an’ again. The last straw came when Cheerie’s pa had me pick up the gravy bowl an’ pass it along. It was shaped like some kinda bird, an’ the handle was so small I couldn’t hold it properly with mah hooves. I dropped it on the table an’ spilled gravy all over, includin’ on her ma’s dress.”

Applejack winced a bit. The description had an uncomfortable echo of a similar event years ago back in Manehatten. “Aw, Mac…” she mumbled sympathetically.

Big Mac’s ears flopped down and his gaze drifted back down to the road in front of his hooves. “Cheerie’s parents both started shoutin’, sayin’ I was an oaf who didn’t deserve to have their daughter’s hoof in marriage, that I should’ve just stayed in the barn where I belong. Then Cheerie stood up an’ started yellin’ back, an’ it all just went seven kinds of bad from there. Cheerie’s pa said that if she didn’t leave me, she could forget about ever comin’ back.” He glanced over at Applejack. “Y’know what Cheerie did?”

Applejack shook her head silently.

“She stood up, took me by mah hoof, an’ we left. Just like that. She didn’t even look back once.”

“And that was it?” she asked. Her brother nodded.

“We went to stay at an ol’ friend of Cheerie’s. Spent the rest of the week just… doin’ things. Goin’ places. Havin’ fun.” A small, sad smile crossed his lips. “She did everythin’ she could to make me feel better an’ forget about that dinner. She said she didn’t care what her parents thought, and… Well, you heard for yerself what she said about it.”

Applejack sighed softly. “But you care about it, don’t ya?”

Big Mac gave her an agitated look. “AJ, I ruined things between her an’ her parents! I… I made a mess of everythin’!” He hung his head dejectedly. “Maybe I should let her go. I don’t want to wreck her relationship with her p—”

“Oh no, you are not doin’ this to yourself!” Applejack snarled and leapt in front of her brother, shoving a hoof at his muzzle. “You finish that sentence, an’ I swear I will kick ya in the head until that stupid idea plops right outta yer ears!”

Big Mac almost went cross-eyed from looking at the hoof pressed to his muzzle. “But—”

“Do you love Cheerilee?” she asked, looking directly into her brother’s eyes. He flinched a bit before the intensity of her gaze.

“I—”

“Do you love her?!”

“Yes!” he yelled back, and this time there was no hesitation in his voice. He met Applejack’s eyes and nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“An’ after all that’s happened, do ya think even for a second that she don’t love ya back?” she pressed.

He shook his head.

Applejack nodded, satisfied, and let her hoof drop back to the ground. “Then that’s all that matters, innit?”

“What do ya mean, AJ?” he asked tentatively.

“You love her. She loves you. There’s nothin’ else to it; it’s just that simple,” she said with all the finality and confidence she could muster. Because I am definitely the perfect pony to be giving romantic advice, what with my abundance of experience and all.

Big Mac was quiet for several moments before speaking. “But her parents—”

“—Didn’t like you, I get that,” Applejack said somewhat impatiently. “But Cheerilee obviously doesn’t care about their approval, so why should you? It’s you she wants, Mac; maybe that ain’t what her parents want, but it’s what she wants.”

Her brother nodded slowly, a genuine smile spreading across his lips for the first time.

“For what it’s worth,” she continued in a gentler tone, “we all think Cheerilee’s great for you. Never doubt that. But even that shouldn’t matter in this. All that’s important is that the two of you are happy. Y’hear me?”

“I hear ya, AJ,” Big Mac replied. Then he scooped his forelegs around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Thanks, sis,” he mumbled into her mane.

Applejack smiled and returned the hug, patting his neck lightly with a hoof. “Anytime, big brother.”

Comments

[elmago02]

Wow, 17000 words and there hasn't been a single development in the Applepie romance. I kind of like that, you are taking your time with this.

[Misago]

Yeah, a nice slow pace is definitely welcome, though I am pretty damn curious about the characterization of the Pie sisters, especially Marble, for obvious reasons. If romance itself is as slow-paced as this, I am going to love this.
And with the amount of content you provided in such a short amount of time, I would not even have to wait too long. So is this about the update time/word rate we can expect? Because that would be awesome.

[Squinty Mudmane]

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I'm glad the slower pace isn't throwing either of you off. If you like it, you'll probably enjoy the rest of the story as well!

Regarding updates, the plan so far is about one chapter a week of roughly this length (5-6k words). The reason for the double update this time around is that I imagine some of you may be getting keen to meet the Pies, and we'll get to see them in chapter 4. Stay tuned!

[nemryn]

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Well, there's being slow-paced because you're taking your time and letting things develop organically, and then there's being slow-paced because you spend a bunch of time messing around with things that aren't part of the main premise, you know? And this is kinda looking more like the second, so far. Not really criticism as such, more of a random thought. Or, I guess it's really a problem with the description more than the story itself. It could probably be a little clearer that the Iron Pony competition is a big B-plot, IMO.

[Squinty Mudmane]

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A fair concern, although I can assure you that there's a purpose behind what is being introduced, even if it might not be apparent right away. I appreciate your candour, though.

[nemryn]

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Sounds good! I shall eagerly await further developments.

[elmago02]

Was there a little change in the description? I believe so. But 1 mistake, latest episode of MLP showed that Pinkie isn't the eldest, Maud is.

[Squinty Mudmane]

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Hmm, the story description hasn't been changed, at least as far as I know...

And you're right about Maud. Unfortunately, since I began working on the story before I knew about the episode, it would require a fair bit of rewriting to incorporate her seamlessly. I'll probably have to just leave her out. Damn you, canon.

[elmago02]

4090294 You could always say that Maud was busy in a trip to study rocks in a foreign country or something like that, then there's no need to mention her again.