The Question
“Phew!” Big Macintosh exclaimed as he brought his heavy hoof up to wipe away the sweat that was streaming from his titian brow. Having reached the end of the final row, he sat back on his haunches and gazed out upon the freshly tilled field that had been his morning's work. Afternoon’s work too, more like, he thought to himself as he lifted his squinting eyes up toward the slowly retreating sun. Breathing deep the farm fresh air, Mac allowed himself a quiet moment to enjoy the satisfaction that accompanied a few hours of honest labour and a job well done, before slowly turning his mind to the next chore on his list.
He rose back to his feet; though a little slower than he had been able to manage just a few short years ago he noted wryly. With one last contented sigh, he turned his back to the golden warmth of the sun and headed toward the tool barn. The massive plow tugged upon his heavy yoke as he walked through the fallow surrounding the bright red building at the center of the Apple family farmland. Moving around the barn, absently pulling the plow behind him as though its considerable weight was nothing more than a mere logistical annoyance, he made his way to the large double door entrance.
“Hmhp,” Big Mac grunted as he noted the doors were standing wide open. Could have sworn Ah’d closed up after mahself. Stupid horse, he shook his head softly in annoyance, this is how you get your barn full up of squattin varmints again. A shiver ran down his back as he recalled the strip AJ had torn off him last time he had left the barn doors open all night and a family of opossums had decided to hole up for the winter.
Shrugging it off, Big Macintosh entered the barn and started to put away the plowing equipment. A tiny smile tugged at his lips as he walked across the pristine interior of the tool barn and placed his reins back on the rack. Then again, even if we did get ourselves another infestation, quicker just to wait till the whole dang barn gets destroyed again then try an’ evict them. Reckon it happens about every moon or so anyway. Big Mac chuckled at the thought.
He had just collected his heavy wooden toolbox, making extra sure it contained a full box of nails this time, and was about to set out towards the often broken gazebo in the picnic area of Ponyville Park (this particular instance due to what he suspected was the rambunctious actions of a few accused but as of yet unconvicted young fillies he was familiar with), when he heard a soft rustling coming from the storage loft near the back of the barn.
Ah dang it, Big Mac grit his teeth in annoyance. Varmints! I’ll never hear the end of it now. Applejack’s long memory and quick anger at anything that compromised the working condition of the farm was still recent in his memory. He took a quick look outside to make sure she wasn’t headed his way. Seeing nothing, he quietly crossed the hay-strewn floor toward the loft’s access ladder. He reached out and took into his teeth one of the old corn sacks from a pile, its rough burlap still soiled with dirt and covered with corn silk from last year’s harvest. If I scoop this critter up real quick, I can drop it off at Miss Shy’s cottage on my way to town and AJ’ll be none the wiser, Big Mac’s lips curled in a tiny conspiratorial smirk.
Big Macintosh mentally prepared himself and kept his muscular limbs primed for a quick snatch as he eased himself quietly up the ladder. As he climbed past the midpoint, his considerable weight caused a rung to voice its distress as a painfully loud creak. Dang it, he cursed himself as he froze mid-step and listened. The soft rustling ceased and was replaced only by the sound of wind lightly swishing through the grass in the surrounding fallow field. Dang it, he cursed himself again, hoping the critter wouldn't bolt as soon as he peaked his head above the floorboards. Doubling his readiness and gripping the sack hard in his teeth, Mac climbed the remaining rungs and quickly scanned the loft for the offending animal, lifting his chosen weapon high.
Surprise took him before he could act however, for instead of some wayward critter nestling into a pile of loose hay, he saw the soft orange hue of the largest pair of eyes in all of Equestria. And they were staring right back at him. Apple Bloom was sitting alone amongst stacks of cardboard boxes, her eyes wide and glittering in the soft amber aura of a low wicked oil lamp, her brows knit in confusion and worry. Big Mac’s protective instincts flared up instantly.
“Apple Bloom, is everything alright?” He quickly mounted the rest of the ladder and crossed the creaky floorboards toward the somber looking filly, dropping the burlap to the side as he spoke. “What are you doin' up here all alone…”
Big Macintosh halted his stride in an instant as a fear unlike anything the powerfully built stallion had ever felt froze his heart. A fear whose source was the sight of what lay at the youngest Apple’s feet. One of the older boxes in the loft, cardboard nearly turned back to soil by the combination of age and moisture, sat open. Decade old memorabilia, photographs and, most dreaded of all, parchment scrolls were scattered upon the floor as if dropped by an uncaring hoof. The rough letters upon the side of the box were now just barely legible but for Big Mac’s memory, where they were as crisp as the day he wrote them.
Neigh York City.
He felt his skin and ears flushed in panic as sweat beaded and rolled down his powerful shoulders. The teeth in his powerful jaw clenched hard enough to make his head ache. Land sakes, how much did she see? Ah havta get her out of here. Now! Big Macintosh mind reeled wildly as he attempted, in vain, to regain his composure.
“Common now Apple Bloom. You’d best get back to yer chores,” Mac somehow kept his voice steady and he did his best imitation of nonchalance as he continued his approach. Perplexed and troubled eyes were his only response.
Oh Princesses no, what does she have in her hooves? Apple Bloom's eyes fell away from Big Mac’s, down to the parchment she held.
Please, Celestia, Luna ... Discord, I don’t care who, just please don’t let that be… “Apple Bloom, ya heard me now! Go on, get!” Fear found its outlet through anger as he spoke. His footsteps felt heavy as he walked, as if the very air were resisting his advance.
“Big Brother, … what … what is this?” Apple Bloom’s face once more raised to meet his own.
He stood just in front of her. Trepidation stole any response he may have been able to voice. He did not dare say anything, not until he knew what exactly she held. Mac bit his tongue till he tasted blood, struggling to maintain a neutral expression. Apple Bloom’s eyes repeated her question, eyes flicking between his own and the parchment.
Dang it, no way outta this spot. I haveta say somethin. Big Mac swallowed hard, but first I have to know what she found. Standing across from her as he was, Mac couldn’t quite see what was written on the parchment. Perhaps this was as mundane and easy to explain as a rent receipt or some of the extensive notes he had taken during that period of his life. If so, all his fear and tension were for nothing and he could make the box and its contents disappear in a roaring bonfire after shooing the smaller pony away. But if it’s anything else...
No way around it. Mac clenched his jaw tighter and leaned forward with more hesitancy than as if he were peeking within a full grown dragon’s maw. As his gaze crested the top of the scroll and past, he could easily make out the crisp quill-work of the title.
Neigh York Regional Hospital
At once, the fear that had gripped his heart and set his skin aflame congealed into a cold dread that sank heavily into the pit of his stomach. Mac didn’t need to read the rest of the document. He knew it by heart. Oh no … no. Not now. Not after all this time.
“Big Brother, I don’t understand what I’m lookin’ at here,” the waver in Apple Bloom’s voice betrayed the war between suspicion and trust going on behind her eyes. “Ah was just searchin’ through these old boxes for a school project on family history. An when I open this here box, I find a bunch of things that make it seem like you used to live in the big city…” her tiny eyebrow raised with the question.
Oh princess, please let it stop there.
“... Eeyup,” Mac said, mind racing for a solution that it knew full well lay too far out of its reach.
No, not yet. Not now. The cold pit in his gut suddenly exploded into thousands of tendrils which squirmed under his skin and all the way through to his limbs, rooting him in place; as if the guilt he held in his heart were afraid he would flee before it had its chance to finally see the light.
“I don’t remember you ever saying that you lived in Neigh York City before, Big Mac…” Apple Bloom lead, giving him a chance.
Dang, she sounds like AJ sometimes. The same way of speakin', like she’s givin' you a test n’ letting you fill in the blanks. A flair of pride briefly lit his expression before he remembered himself. Mac attempted a dry swallow. I reckon this here is a test Ah can’t pass.
“It was a long time ago, Apple Bloom. Before you were born. Ah never mentioned it cause I don’t give it no never mind anymore, and neither should you.”
Please, let that be it. Tendrils wriggled, making it seem his very flesh was crawling. A thousand scenarios, ways to end the conversation before it went further, flashed through his head. Deflect, avoid, rage, run—
“And then, Ah find this,” Apple Bloom continued as if he hadn’t spoke, turning the parchment over and giving him full view. Big Mac’s eyes flicked down as if against his will, and gazed at the source of his dread.
Neigh York Regional Hospital
Birth Certificate
This certifies that Apple Bloom of the Ponyville Apples was born in the Neigh York Regional Hospital of Equestria at 3:45am on the fifteenth day of the Hearth’s Hold Moon , 990 A.B.
Big Mac’s eyes skipped over the legalese that filled the rest of the document. It seemed to him that the cold pit in his stomach had now swollen, threatening to burst and fill his veins with ice water. Mac involuntarily shivered.
“Why does this say Ah was born during Hearth’s Hold, Big Mac?” Suspicion starting to get the upper hand in the battle being fought behind her words. “Mah birthday is on the 20th of New Star. This is a whole moon after that”
Panic formed words on Mac’s tongue quicker than his mind could keep up, “oh you know how it is, Apple Bloom. Haven a birthday so close to Hearth's Warming Eve would have been too hard on everypony, what with the gift buyin' an all. Ma and Pa figured we should push your birthday back, and give it a little room to breath.”
The lie sounded so ridiculous that Big Mac had to make a conscious effort to restrain himself from reaching out and trying to snatch back the words as they hung heavy in the air before him.
Stupid horse! Should have said it's a typo or somthin! There's no way—
“Big Mac… Momma and Poppa died on the 26th of New Star. Applejack showed me the newspaper clippings from the accident. Last year when I asked her about them,” Apple Bloom’s gaze sharpened and Mac heard the trust in her voice flicker as low as the flame in the weakly lit lantern that sat between them. “What’s really goin on?”
Big Macintosh said nothing. The hurt in the young Apple’s words caused the fear coursing through his system to finally find its way through his carefully crafted mask. His eyes grew wide and his lips pressed so firmly together they were nothing more than thin white lines. Sweat once more formed upon his brow and shoulders.
Seeing the change in his always unflappable and steady demeanor, Apple Bloom’s expression traded its confusion and suspicion for anger and a fear of her own. Fear of something she wasn’t being told. Something important.
“Well?” The words adopted a hard edge, though there was a frenetic distress underlying the anger. “What the hay is goin on, Big Mac?”
He said nothing. He couldn’t bring himself to utter a single syllable.
After what seemed an impossibly long silence and without another word muttered, the coward turned and descended the ladder, walking out of the darkening barn with head hung shamefully low on drooped shoulders.
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Intriguing, please continue. I always find different authors takes on the history of the Apple Parent's fate interesting, not to mention McIntosh's take on things as the eldest of the siblings. NYC, that's a new twist though. The siblings came back to the farm after the accident.
6737935
Hey, thanks for the kind words
Chapter 2 is all planned out and writing has started, should be on its way soon!
Very good. Please continue.
Big Daddy
Hmm, color me intrigued... :) Still, is this another one of those "Big Mac and AJ are AppleBloom's parents" sorta deal?
6738838
That's the plan
6739156
Eeyup!
6739254
Lol thanks! I assure you there is no incest in this story and applejack does not appear other than by mention. I won't say more than that until chapter 2 drops!
6738241 You're most welcome.
Hooooh my gosh~~~
hi big mac! um do you date pinkie or raity that's my question
from your fan Kimberly! byue
Wow...
Also, I face-hoofed at "Neigh York City". It's as bad a pun as Manehattan. I applaud you for it though.