Opening Up

by Dizzy Daze

Chapter Six

Big Mac waited outside the cottage for what felt like hours. Looking back, he probably should have asked his sister if Fluttershy had gone somewhere else after their house, but he was afraid of returning home without the recipe for his granny. When that mare got mad, she got furious.

So he sat there by the river, idly feeding some birds from a bag of seed that lay nearby. Finally, he heard a chattering voice coming up the path. He tried to make out the words, but they didn't seem to make any sense.

Fluttershy and Angel came into view, walking along the path up to their home. Big Mac hastily stood up and brushed the seed off. He hid himself slightly under the bridge and waited for them to approach.

Angel saw him first. He pointed at the bridge and chattered something to Fluttershy. She stepped down by the river, and Big Mac met her there.

"Oh, good afternoon, Big Mac," she said, surprised to see him. "Did you need to stop by for something? I hope you weren't waiting long."

He cleared him throat. "My granny sent me to come an' ask for that cookie recipe you used. She said they were some of the best she ever tasted."

Angel poked a paw at himself proudly, and Fluttershy flushed. "It was really mostly Angel's doing. I'm glad everypony liked them, though. Why don't you come inside, and I'll get it for you."

Angel pushed the door open with his tiny paws, and it swung open effortlessly. Big Mac stepped tentatively over the threshold, peering in at the cozy living room within. Fluttershy followed and gestured at her couch. "Make yourself comfortable in here. It might take me a while to copy it down. Would you like some tea?"

Big Mac shook his head. Fluttershy disappeared into the kitchen, and Angel started to follow. He stopped in the doorway and narrowed his eyes at the large, red stallion. He stared back at the bunny calmly, settling himself down onto the couch. Still skeptical, the rabbit followed his mistress into the kitchen, throwing a warning look over his shoulder.

Big Mac surveyed the room around him. It was small, but homey, sort of like his own house. He spotted a beat-up book on the table next to him, and carefully picked it up. The title was worn off the cover. He set it on the couch next to him and flipped it open to a random page in the middle. He read the first few lines:

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

He recognized the poem. In fact, he owned the same book. It usually sat on his bedside table, unless one of his sisters went into his room. He didn't like them to know that he read poetry for fun.

Big Mac continued to read through the book until he heard hoofsteps coming from the kitchen. He hastily, but gently, shut the book and returned it to its spot on the table. He stood up just as she entered the living room.

"I'm so sorry that took so long," she apologized. "Angel put the cookbook back in the wrong place, and I couldn't find it right away. But here it is. Tell your grandmother I'm happy she enjoyed them."

Angel held up an envelope. Big Mac bent down and carefully took it from his tiny paw. Fluttershy looked out the window and gasped in concern. "Oh no!"

Big Mac turned in confusion. Outside the window, a team of pegasi was quickly arranging a blanket of dark gray clouds to cover the sky. Big Mac shrugged. "Ah'll be fine. Ah can just ask them to wait a few minutes to start the storm up over the farm."

He bid goodbye to Fluttershy and Angel and approached the team's leader. "'Scuse me, miss," he called up. A purple pegasus flew down to meet him.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked, a tinge of annoyance in her voice. "We need to get this storm started."

Big Mac smiled nervously. "Ah'm sorry, but Ah was just wonderin' if y'all would be able to wait just a few minutes to get this storm started. Ah gotta bring somethin' home for my granny, you see, and Ah don't want it gettin' all wet. Ah just live over at Sweet Apple Acres. It won't take long."

The pegasus chuckled. "Sorry," she said in an amused tone. "The storm's already started everywhere else in town. This is the last place we gotta set up, and we're almost done. Why don't you just stay here, spend the night with your marefriend?"

Big Mac sputtered. "She's just my sister's friend. Ah don't even know her that well. Now Ah gotta intrude on her again? How long is this storm s'posed to last?"

The weather team began wrapping up overhead. They positioned themselves above the cloud layer, ready to strike. Their leader flew up to join them. "Guess so. Tough luck. It's supposed to take all night." She called down.

Big Mac sighed and trotted back over to the door of Fluttershy's cottage. He put a hoof up to the door to knock, but it swung open. Fluttershy stood on the other side, one hoof on the door, smiling kindly. "I hope you don't mind, but I heard your conversation. I wanted to make sure you could make it home without any trouble. Come inside before it starts."

He quickly stepped inside, and almost immediately the clouds poured down buckets of rain. Big Mac shivered and stared wistfully outside. It was almost completely dark out. "I'm sorry to be intrudin' like this," he apologized.

Fluttershy waved it off. "If it's anypony's fault, it's mine for taking so long in the kitchen. You might've been out of here earlier."

Big Mac opened his mouth again to protest and apologize, but caught himself. Instead, he said, "Well, thank you for takin' me in. It's very kind'a you. Is there anythin' Ah can help with?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Angel did all of my chores for me before I came back from the hospital so I could just relax today. Normally, during a thunderstorm, I just like to watch it. You could join me, if you'd like. Or, I have books along that wall; feel free to take any you want. I'm sorry, I don't have much else for you to do."

She smiled sheepishly at the large stallion, and walked over to her couch, sitting down. A bright flash came from the window, followed immediately by a loud boom of thunder. Angel shrieked and scurried upstairs, where he crawled under his covers and hid. Fluttershy looked at the stairs distractedly, a mild look of concern on her face, but returned her attention to the window, fascinated.

Big Mac walked over to the chair next to the couch. He stole a glance at Fluttershy, and determined that she was too focused on the storm to notice anything else. He quietly picked up the book of poetry and picked up at his previous page.

A comfortable silence rang through the house, broken only by the occasional clap of thunder.

---

Hours later, after Fluttershy had made supper, the two resumed their previous positions. Fluttershy laid her head along the windowsill and let her hair fall around her face, blocking out everything except the storm. She had always loved thunderstorms; even though they kept her from most of her friends, she always got an indescribable feeling of happiness watching them. The gloomy skies and comforting rush of pouring rain made her cottage seem much more cozy, and it made her feel like she was wrapped up in bed with a warm mug of tea.

She felt her eyelids getting heavy, but didn't get up. She was so comfortable and sleepy that getting up would jolt herself awake. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the storm, sighing contentedly. She drifted off to sleep, already forgetting that she had a guest in her house, who remained silent in his chair, re-reading the same pages over and over again.

The candles in the room seemed to grow dimmer, as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky like the sun. Big Mac looked up from his page, focusing on the window in alarm. Fluttershy groaned quietly in her sleep and readjusted herself. The noise caught Big Mac's attention, and he gazed at the sleeping mare. Should he take her to her bed? She looked so comfortable. He looked at her positioning and decided to move her upstairs. He didn't want her to wake up in the morning with a sore back and neck when she was so newly healed.

He stepped quietly over to the couch and eased her onto his back. She was much lighter than the heavy apples Big Mac was used to hauling. She stirred slightly, and he held his breath. He didn't want her to wake up now and get the wrong idea about his actions. However, she simply burrowed into the back of his neck. No doubt in her sleep she thought it was her pillow, but Big Mac still blushed. He climbed the stairs carefully, but realized he didn't know which door was her bedroom.

He tried the first door, but it was locked. The second door held a bathroom, and the third held a menagerie of injured animals. He approached the door at the end of the hallway and nudged it open with his hoof. The room was rather small, and the majority of the floor was taken up by Fluttershy's bed. He approached the side and contemplated how to transfer the pony on his back to the covers.

After almost dropping her twice, Big Mac bent down so that his back was level with the bed. Then, he straightened his outside legs, tilting his back so that Fluttershy rolled off onto the edge of her bed. He winced; it wasn't the most graceful way to do it. He nudged her away from the edge of the bed with his nose and pulled the covers over her. He quietly stepped out of her room, closing the door behind him.

The door across the hall flew open. Angel had been roused from his bed by the rattling doorknob when Big Mac had tried to open it, and Angel had woken up. After a few minutes of trying to find the key, the little bunny had balanced on a lamp beside the door, unlocked it, and opened up the door to investigate. He saw Big Mac exiting Fluttershy's room and immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion.

He sprinted across the hallway towards the bewildered stallion and began forcefully thumping his tiny little legs against Big Mac's hoof. Big Mac picked his hoof up and inspected the little critter in surprise.

"What are you so worked up about?" he whispered. Angel pointed at Fluttershy's closed door and narrowed his eyes at the stallion, who suddenly understood the source of his anger. "It ain't like that," he whispered, embarrassed. "She fell asleep and Ah just brought her up here."

The rabbit crossed his paws, as if to say, Oh, really?

Big Mac shook him off. "Believe me or not," he grumbled, making his way back down the stairs. "It's the truth."

Angel started to chase Big Mac down the stairs, intending to run him out of the house, but a large crack of thunder sounded once more, and the bunny decided instead to go back to hiding under his covers.

Big Mac returned to the living room and stretched out on the couch. He might as well go to sleep, as well; he'd have to get up early in the morning to catch up on the chores he missed this afternoon. He closed his eyes and listened to the calming music of the rain as it lulled him to sleep.

Comments

[BobtheLurker]

Pretty nice, relaxing chapter, and I still can't make a single assumption!

[Dizzy Daze]

4449420
Well, then the next should cement things for you.

[Phenoix12]

Why does Angel get his own bed room?

[Crazy_Cat_Guy]

What a coincidence that I was reading this chapter during a thunderstorm