A Bench by the Lake

If Big Macintosh heard the word "prom" one more time, he would scream. It was mid-May at Canterlot High, which meant prom season was here in full force. There was just no escaping it. Everywhere he looked, he saw people asking each other for a date, Facebook posts of dresses and happy-looking couples, heard people making plans. Even his best friends, Shining Armor and Bulk Biceps had caught a case of prom fever. Shiny wouldn't shut up about his plans to make the night "absolutely perfect" for his girlfriend Cadence, and Bulk was trying to work up the nerve to ask out his crush, Derpy.

Mac had no desire to attend the dance. He was not comfortable in large gatherings, and downright hated getting dressed up fancy. One of his teachers, Mr. Doodle had described prom perfectly during an off-topic tirade in class. "You spend ninety bucks to get in and three hundred for a tux, for some dry chicken you don’t like and to be surrounded by people you hate." In spite of his bluntness, the man had a point. To Macintosh, prom seemed to be a huge waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere, and a lot of unnecessary stress.

Despite his adamant desire to not go, his sisters had been bugging him about it relentlessly for the better part of a month. Applejack kept saying, "It's yer senior year. If ya don't go now yer gonna always regret it." He had told her multiple times that he would most certainly not regret skipping prom, but his words were having a hard time getting through her hat and into her brain.

Today's confrontation had been worse than usual. Apple Bloom had decided to join in on the pestering this time, and the two had finally eroded Mac's patience away. He considered himself a very calm person, but there was only so much a person could take before they finally snapped, and in his case, that limit was reached after a month of ceaseless badgering.

To say he had exploded was putting it mildly. Macintosh had gone absolutely ballistic on his sisters, telling them in no uncertain terms that he did not want, nor would ever want, to go to prom. He hated dressing up, he hated big social events, and above all else, he hated their pestering.

There was one detail he had kept inside throughout his rant. Applejack and Apple Bloom knew he was somewhat shy, and that contributed to his dislike of big crowds. But Macintosh also did not have a date. There was no one he felt comfortable asking, and even if he did, the thought of getting turned down kept him paralyzed in inaction.

Last year, his junior year, Macintosh had wanted more than anything to get a date for the dance. He had developed a crush on a girl in the grade above him, a knockout beauty by the name of Fleur De Leis. With some encouragement from Shining, he had worked up the nerve to ask her to the dance.

He had worked out a whole plan in his head. His idea had been to bake her an apple pie, and stamp "Prom?" into the crust. Granny had always said that no one could say no to an Apple family pie, advice Mac had taken to heart. Unfortunately for Big Macintosh, she must have overheard him discussing his plans with his friends in class. That evening he had gotten a phone call from a friend of Fleur De Leis', who had to explain to him that she wasn't interested. Initially Macintosh had not been convinced, until Carrot Top forced herself to send him the text messages in question, where Fleur had not only said she didn't want to go with Mac, but had also called him a hick and a number of other unflattering names. He had already baked his pie, and after scratching the offending question off the crust, ate it with Shining at lunch.

He had never told Applejack or Apple Bloom about it, as much as he had wanted to. He knew Applejack would have confronted Fleur De Leis about it and make a huge scene. He had just wanted the whole ordeal to be over with, so he never spoke of it to anyone again.

Big Macintosh had stormed out of the house and jumped into his red pickup truck, and took off for nowhere in particular. He needed to be alone for awhile to calm down. Fortunately, he knew a few places in Canterlot that were always empty of people where he could just sit down and think in silence.

Of all those places, there was one spot that was his favorite. Along the side of Main Street there was a small lake that was ringed with hiking trails and parks. Another street that fed into Main ran along the side of the lake, and in the space between the road and the water there was a small patch of grass with an old gazebo. At the water's edge there was a single wooden bench that faced the lake and offered a beautiful view of the water. Even though there was a basketball court right to the side of the small lawn, Macintosh almost never saw anyone there. That isolation, coupled with the relaxing sound of birds singing in the trees, the warm spring breeze and the calming vista offered by the setting sun's rays turning the entire scene a magnificent shade of gold made that little spot Mac's own personal slice of paradise, not five minutes away from his house. He threw his truck into park along the edge of the road and breathed a sigh of relief as he laid his eyes on the old gazebo. He had fond memories of playing here with Shining or his sisters since he was young, before he knew what the foul symbols carved into the wooden structure meant.

He was, for the moment, able to breathe easy. He had reached his safe spot, where no one would bother him, and he could be alone with his thoughts.

That would have been the case, had it not been for the redheaded girl that had parked herself on his bench, staring off into the sunset.

Macintosh groaned. It was Sunset Shimmer. Unlike most of the school, Sunset had never wronged him personally, and so he did not have the same grievances with her that everyone else did. He was more annoyed that there was someone there at all. He would have been equally irritated if anyone else had been sitting on that bench. Except of course, for his sisters. Then he would have been extremely angry.

He walked towards the water's edge quietly, tiptoeing over fallen sticks and leaves in an effort not to disturb her. Macintosh studied the way Sunset was sitting. Head trained toward the horizon, back hunched forward and arms crossed in her lap, it was clear that she was deep in thought. He managed to avoid catching her attention until he was practically on top of her, at a distance where a person could subconsciously sense people outside their field of vision.

"Sorry to disturb ya." He apologetically offered. "It's just I come down here whenever I need some time alone."

Macintosh's voice broke Sunset out of her musings. Her head snapped toward the source of the sound, startled. "So do I." She breathed. Sunset slid herself over, making room for Big Mac. "Want to sit? We can both be alone."

"Sounds good to me." Mac gently lowered himself down onto the bench, allowing the sound of the breeze and the birds to recreate the shattered silence. They both stared off across the lake, all but oblivious to the presence of the other, the only reminder of their existence being the tranquil and relaxed sound of their breathing.

After a few minutes, Sunset turned toward Mac. "If you don't mind me asking, what brings you here?"

"Prom drama." Big Mac said simply, not breaking his gaze from the trees on the other side of the lake. "My sisters are tryin' to push me to go but I ain't got no desire to."

Sunset Shimmer nodded understandingly. "I hear where you're coming from. All of my friends are going, and I'm not. Ever since the shit that went down at the fall formal… I've just decided to stay the hell away from school dances. For my sake and everyone else's."

"I just don't see it being any fun is all." Mac sighed, still holding his gaze across the water.

Sunset gave a slight chuckle at the remark. "Believe me, it isn't. I spent almost four years of my life trying to be crowned Princess or Queen or whatever at these dances. FOUR. YEARS. For something that's supposed to be a fun night, its way more stressful than it's worth."

"That's exactly how I feel!" Mac exclaimed, turning excitedly toward Sunset. "I mean, I reckon I'd have a hell of a lot better a night goin' out to a restaurant with my friends an' actin' like a bunch of idiots."

"Hell of a lot cheaper too." Sunset remarked.

He nodded. "I could probably get a new set of tires for my truck for as much as I'd spend on one stupid dance."

"You could get a fancy dinner for less and have it taste a lot better." She added.

"Eeyup." Mac sighed. This was… nice, he had to admit. He had never seen much of Sunset Shimmer before today. Even before she made nice with Applejack, the two stayed clear of each other, probably because Mac made a habit of keeping a low profile, which kept him under her radar for all of High School. He hadn't witnessed the events at the fall formal that Shining Armor had described as "a literal shitstorm", because he had decided not to attend that dance either. So unlike most of the rest of the school, he didn't have a low opinion of Sunset. This was the first time he had any real contact with her, and so far they seemed to be getting on well.

The silence came back, but this time it felt unwelcome. Macintosh may have come to be alone, but Sunset's companionship had been more of a relief than the alone time to think and reflect would have been. "So, if y'all don’t mind me askin', why aren't you wantin' to go?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me," She winked.

"Alright, alright." He took a deep breath. He had never opened up to anyone about this, not even his best friend. Mac was beginning to realize how heavily being turned down by Fleur De Leis before he got to ask had weighed on him. "Well, last year I was gonna ask some senior girl to go with me, but I guess she caught wind of it, and long story short, I got shot down 'afore I even got the chance to ask her."

"Her loss." Sunset snorted. Mac couldn't stifle a grin. That was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to him, and it had come from Sunset Shimmer, the same girl who was painted as her classmates as nothing but trouble, the pariah of the school.

"Yer turn," He smiled.

"Where to begin?" She asked aloud, "Like I said earlier, it's a lot more stress than it's worth. Even when you aren't trying to become prom queen, there's this whole sense that everything has to be absolutely PERFECT. I mean, even Twilight, who's probably the least frivolous person I know has gone berserk over the whole thing. Don’t get me started on Rarity. She's become a freaking monster."

"Yeah, I could see that." He didn't know Applejack's friends very well, but if he had learned one thing about them, it was that Rarity took pageantry way too seriously.

"Rainbow Dash has been unbearable too." Sunset added.

"Really?" That had been unexpected. To Macintosh, Rainbow Dash had always seemed like too much of a tomboy to get riled up over a dance.

"Oh Jesus yeah. Since Soarin asked her in front of the school at the pep rally last month, she's been on a warpath."

"Yeah, this is when you see the worst of people." Mac said.

Sumset Shimmer blushed, "Actually, that's the other reason. I will never, EVER be able to live what I did at the Fall Formal down. I tried to turn everyone into slaves. Christ, I turned into a DEMON, Mac."

"Well what's important now is that you've changed yerself, pardner. I can't rightly say our paths have crossed 'afore today, and you've been one of the nicest girls I've ever talked to."

"Thank you," She smiled, "And you're probably the most down-to-earth person I've ever met. Must be nice being able to stay out of drama."

"Not gonna lie, it has its perks." He laughed. Sunset picked up a rock and threw it, trying to make it skip. The stone hit the surface and sank. "Ya gotta use a flatter stone." He looked around on the ground to find a worthy rock to show her with. He found a small, disc-shaped white rock, and gave it a toss with a good amount of spin in it. Sunset's head bobbed as it skipped, once, twice, thrice, four times.

"Wow. You're something else." She said, eyes moving from the rippling water to him.

"Aw shucks, you're makin' me blush," Mac laughed, his cheeks turning a shade of pink.

They returned their gaze back to the water. The sun had gone down even further, and darkness was fast approaching. The sun's rays had changed from gold to a magnificent shade of orange, painting everything in a warm twilight hue. "Not that I want to go, but if I did, I'd want to take you." Sunset said at last, sliding herself closer to Mac.

"Same here." He grinned. "I think people take the whole thing wrong. Prom ain't s'posed be the best night ever. But it'd be nice to spend time with yer friends an' have fun."

"To be totally honest here, I think the whole reason people get so excited is they think they might end up getting laid." The remark had come from left field, drawing the whole of Macintosh's attention back to the redhead beside him. "And it's not like you need prom to do that."

"You implyin' somethin' missy?" He asked half seriously.

Sunset Shimmer looked him dead in the eye, her stare unwavering for a solid minute. Then, without warning, she leaned in and kissed him full on the lips. Mac pulled back out of surprise, but once the initial shock passed, he returned the kiss. He felt her tongue slipping into his mouth. He gasped. This was uncharted territory for him, and he found himself enjoying it.

After a minute, Sunset pulled herself back, their mouths still connected by a strand of saliva. "I'm implying alright. You doing anything prom night?"

"Eenope."

"Me neither." Sunset dug around in her jacket until she found a scrap of paper and a pen. She jotted down her phone number before folding it up and handing it to Mac, clasping his hand over the crumpled paper. "Pick me up?"

"Seven?"

"Seven sounds good."

"Y'all like ice cream?"

"Of course."

Sunset stood up, planting a quick peck on his cheek as she strode away. Before she was gone, Mac turned and called for her attention. "Hey Sunset!" He shouted.

"Yeah?"

"Can this not be a one-night thing?"

Sunset Shimmer ran back to his side. Delicately, she moved her mouth in close to his ear. "I wouldn't have asked if it was." Leaving him with that, Sunset made her way over to her motorcycle parked on the curb. She strapped her helmet on and sped off, leaving Mac to look at the scrap of paper in his curled fist.

421-490-0000 -Sunset Shimmer XOXO

Mac returned his gaze to the lake. He had come here to think about prom, but now he had more on his mind than when he arrived. Now however, he was awaiting prom night with a childlike excitement. He dug around in his jeans to find his cellphone. It was old, but it did what he needed it to. He slid it up to get at the keypad, and set off a text message.

TO: SHINING ARMOR

-So… might have gotten myself a GF.

- so proud of you bro! You gonna come to the dance?

Mac stared at his friend's answer and laughed to himself. "Eenope."

Author's Note:

They say to write about what you know.
This is SLIGHTLY based on reality. My prom-posal went about as well as Mac's did (minus the insults) and the little bench by the lake was one of my favorite spots in my old town.

I was intending for there to be a second, sexy part of this, but I'm absolutely hopeless at writing intimate stuff. Might give it a try later, but as of right now, i'll leave what happens to your imagination.

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NocturneD85

NocturneD85 #1 · May 21st, 2015 · 3 · ·

Love the last line. Usually stories like this make the character give the thing they don't want to do a chance in the end, but he stuck to his guns and I like that.

Psi-nova

Psi-nova #2 · May 21st, 2015 · · ·

A sweet ending and a charming interpretation. Good luck with the struggle on part 2

Imperator45

Imperator45 #3 · May 21st, 2015 · 4 · ·

Question:You gonna come to the dance?
Answers:Eenope

Macinstosh always know how to answers like a boss.

punzil504

punzil504 #4 · May 21st, 2015 · 5 · ·

The only part that disappointed me was the characterization of Fleur, since she and Fancy Pants are usually the more amicable of the Canterlot Elite. Especially since to get to Fleur, he had to go via Carrot Top, who is usually just as much of a "hick" as the Apple Family (there are photos of CT attending the family reunion! Scandalous!)

Over-analysis, sure... but all she really needed to do was play the "I'm already taken" card with Fancy Pants and she could have gotten off without the insults.

i_am_the_jam