Chapter 2: A Small Criticism
Big Mac walked through the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, heading back toward the house.
During much of the trip, which Bloomie made riding her big brother, she scolded Big Mac for being 'mean' to the 'nice friendly big doggie.'
Innocent lil' mite, Big Mac thought to himself. She ain't yet learned the world can be mean and cruel. That it can gobble up a lil' filly and not regret it one bit. Life an' Light, I wish she never had to learn no different!
Sadly, the outskirts of a hell-forest were no place for innocent trust. And Bloomie might have to grow up fast when it came to survival. Granny had been only eight or nine years old when she'd ventured into the Everfree, in search of food for her family, and stumbled across the Zap Apples. She'd run her own deadly race, with Timber Wolves, and won -- and if she hadn't, she'd have been dead over ninety years, and neither Mackie nor Bloomie would ever have been born. Lives sometimes hung on such chances.
Big Mac disapproved of dissimulation, and that went double where important facts of survival were concerned, so -- though he hated to disabuse Apple Bloom of her innocent notions -- he told her the truth:
"Weren't no dog, Bloomie," he said solemnly. 'Was a bear."
"Was a friendly bear!" Apple Bloom said.
"Bears ain't friendly," Mackie informed her. "They's wild animals. They're not tame like dogs. They'll kill yeh and eat yeh, if'n they get the chance. Like Timber Wolves."
Very technically speaking, that last bit was untrue, as Timber Wolves did not directly eat meat. Instead, they killed animals, tore off their flesh, and used it to fertilize the trees to which their bizarre lives were linked. Big Mac was very pragmatic about survival, and extremely honest, but he saw no reason to tell a three-year-old filly something that might well give her screaming nightmares if she thought about it -- and it was a fact difficult not to think about, when one heard the Timber Wolves howl in the winter nights.
"That bear was friendly," Apple Bloom insisted.
"He tried to tear mah ... uh, flank ... clean off!" Big Mac protested. He chose the tamer term at the last moment, almost forgetting to do so in his indignation at his sister's statement. He generally tried to avoid bad language around Bloomie; he did not want her to grow up potty-mouthed, as if she were some sort of Whitey hill trash.
Of course, his main goal was to make sure that Apple Bloom lived to grow up. And to that end, he considered it to be important that Bloomie did not confuse wild brown bears with friendly old hound dogs.
"He didn't like yew," Apple Bloom commented, with impeccable logic. "He liked me."
Big Mac nearly got angry, then considered what she had just said. Bloomie was right -- as far as her reasoning went. It was obvious that the bear could have killed Apple Bloom any time it had wanted to do so. It may or may not have really liked her, but it obviously had not meant her harm. Maybe it liked her, or maybe it just hadn't been hungry, right then and there.
The bear had just as obviously been trying to hurt him, though. It may have felt threatened by his charge, or wanted to teach him a lesson, or maybe it was just annoyed that he'd taken its little filly-toy away. Something had set the bear off, though Mackie wasn't exactly sure what.
That was, indeed, the problem. Bears were smart enough to be unpredictable, but not smart enough to think through the consequences of their actions. This made them extremely dangerous. The bear may have liked Apple Bloom at that moment, but there was no guarantee that it would have liked her the next moment.
And the bear might still be lurking right outside the farm.
Even if it makes Bloomie cry, Big Mac realized, Ah'll have to drive off that bruin. Hunt it, scare it away if I can -- put it down if I cain't. Mackie was not entirely comfortable with the notion of killing something as smart as a bear save in defense of his family, but in defense of his family he would have massacred dozens of the beasts.
"He could've hurt me bad," Big Mac said.
Apple Bloom hmmphed skeptically.
"He wasn't chasing us just to say 'howdy,'" Big Mac pointed out. "He tried to cuff me hard, and if he'd hit, I'd 'a been lamed, or worse. He might have torn yew up, too, if'n he'd caught us. He definite wanted to hurt me."
"You were mean to him," Apple Bloom countered. "You yelled at him."
Big Mac wasn't sure what to say about that. His tactics had been aggressive -- but necessarily so.
"I had to yell at him. Had to run in fast. To save yew!" he protested.
"You're a meanie," Apple Bloom decided. "I'm mad at you!" Her little yellow face was screwed up with all the considerable determination of which she was capable.
Big Mac sighed. He felt shipwrecked upon the rock of his little sister's disapproval. He was more than six times her age and size, but being bigger meant little in this sort of situation. He loved her; he had acted out of love for her; and she thought he was just being cruel.
There was not much he could do. He'd tried reason. He could yell at her, or punish her, but that would simply confirm her opinion. He was the father-figure in her life, but he sometimes couldn't deal with her alone. He wished he had a mare to help him, to act as a mother to her. Things would be happier -- and a lot less lonely -- with the right mare at Sweet Apple Acres by his side.
Through most of his adolescence, he'd hoped to win one particular filly. She was really good with younger children; she could have dealt with Apple Bloom, found the right words to say to her. Unlike himself, Cheery had always been really good with words. She was as intelligent and eloquent as she was beautiful. Really nice, too.
But she'd gone on to a bigger life; a better life, at school in Canterlot. He saw her occasionally, when she came back to Ponyville to visit her mother Strawberry and her sister Berryshine. The last he'd heard, she had a colt-friend in Canterlot. No doubt her colt-friend would marry her: Big Mac could not imagine anypony passing up the chance to wed Cheerilee.
He sighed again. Had he ever had that chance? He was two years younger than her, and an uneducated hick compared to her. She'd been his friend, yes, and as children and young adolescents they'd played together; roamed all over these hills. They'd leaned, hugged ... a few times, even kissed. But that was just foalish flirtation. He had been a fool to think that she might ever really become his own.
That was fantasy. His responsibilities to his family were real life. Someday, perhaps, he'd marry some mare, probably an heiress from a nearby farm, who would want his strong back and keen mind to help her run her property. He hoped she'd be a good mare, sompony who would be kind and loving toward him. He intended to be kind and loving toward her, whoever she turned out to be.
But she wouldn't be Blackcherry Lee Punch. There was only one Cheerilee, and they'd broken the mold after they'd made her.
He sighed a third time, and walked the rest of the way home, silent in his own thoughts, as his sister was silent in her disapproval of his actions.
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I can definitely see how you came about Apple Bloom's current attitude. Just take the reckless, heedless ringleader of the Crusaders... then work backwards. Look on the bright side, Mac. At least she can't fly.
While Applejack's absence is sorely felt right now, it's interesting to note that Granny Smith's husband seems to still be present. A small comfort, but still a comfort.
I wasn't sure how to feel about the concept behind this story, but now that I'm seeing it in action, I'm quite enjoying it. Looking forward to more.
Huh, so Mac's parents are dead at this point (I assume), but Grandpa Apple is still kicking? Have you decided what became of AJ, Mac, and 'Bloom's parents in this universe?
And I am looking forward to seeing what else besides AJ's absence makes this universe different from the main one.
The phrase "Whitey hill trash" seems to ring a bell, but I can't quite place it?
What would happen to Sweet Apple Acres, in this universe? At the moment, of course, Granny Smith still owns it. By tradition, it'd go to Applejack upon her death - but with Applejack gone fancy in Manehattan, would Granny decide to buck tradition and give it to the stallion on the spot? (Disregarding, of course, what's actually going to happen in this AU which makes me grin at Big Mac's marriage expectations...)
6933952
"Whitey" refers to the Ponies who live in the back country of the White Tail Hills in my world.
It would probably be left to Apple Bloom, with Big Mac running the farm for her formally until her majority (18-21, depending on the province and the sphere of activity). Big Mac could be trusted to run it honestly in her interests, too, given the sort of stallion he is and the fact that he loves her.
6933301
Yes, but not for much longer. He's already near the end of his life. Of course, his family doesn't know exactly how long he'll live; they just know he probably won't live more than a few years.
This is going to be a rather short story, but there's going to be at least one more element in it which you'll see is different.
6933260
Exactly. It's worse in this AU because Apple Bloom doesn't really have a mother-figure to steady her; only a father-figure, Big Mac, and she can twist Big Mac around her hoof. He has a huge soft spot for her, made more extreme by the fact that he misses Applejack.
Big Mac is glad that there's nopony else as reckless and stubborn as Bloomie. He doesn't yet know that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo even exist. Nor does Apple Bloom yet, really, save as other foals she sometimes sees in the background.
6934000 Ah yes, I forgot she's also a possibility. That's assuming she manages to outlive Granny Smith, of course... and given what we've seen so far, that's not to be taken for granted
...
Great. Super. Cheerilee is MORE than meets the eye.
I don't think Bloom comes off "bad". She's a kid. The cold logic of dealing with dangerous wild animals is difficult even for many adults to accept.