Dinner
Dinner
"Ah still can't believe mah brother got a mare pregnant." Applejack said, shaking her head in both disappointment and disbelief. This was either the fifteenth or sixteenth time she'd uttered those words during dinner. Spike wasn't sure which but with each time she grew less and less energized over it.
At first, the apple mare almost pounced her brother and tried to smack him silly. Going on about how it was only proper to wed a mare before omitting to a child with her. The drake shuddered as he was finally told the truth about where foals come from and was in full agreement with AJ. As far as he was concerned, Macintosh should have married her before doing... that.
"Oh git over it, missy." Granny dismissed with a smile. "Ah'm finally gettin' me some great grand babies! O' course, Macintosh'll be marryin' her 'fore too long, right?"
Spike looked up from his brussle sprouts and eyed everypony around the table. The apple clan in it's entirety were present of course, himself as well as Twilight, Uppity and Pinkie Pie. All three coming to congratulate the new soon to be parents and celebrate. Spike was content to eat in silence, he'd talked enough today and was content to watch the interactions around him.
"Oh course he is!" Applebloom interjected. "Can't have a baby with ou' bein' married!"
Oh how wrong you are, Applebloom.
'You thought the same thing until Twilight pulled you aside and explained that ponies didn't need to be married to have se-
I know already, geeze.
"We aren't sure about a wedding date yet." Anna said, taking a bite of her food and rubbing her tummy, smiling serinely.
Macintosh nodded, but expanded that there would be a wedding soon. He wanted to keep it small and on the farm. Family and close friends, but even then, an Apple wedding of any kind would turn into a "wild hootinany" with the small army of relatives that were bound to show up.
Spike and Twilight shared a look, the memory of their first day in Ponyville and visiting the farm flashing through the dragon's mind and uncountable cousins that each tried to stuff some kind of apple related food stuffs down Twilight's throat. Spike remembered the days events far more fondly than the unicorn did.
Mac finished his food and placed a foreleg around his mare, pulling her into a one armed hug. Applebloom smiled and sighed, Twilight, Pinkie and Uppity beamed and Applejack frowned pensively.
The news shocked all of Mac's family, each recovering with varying degrees of disapproval for their lack of official matrimony, but AJ was the worst of all. While Applebloom was more confused than anything, and Granny regarded it with slight disapproval, both were content to accept the pregnancy and give support to it. Applejack, however, remained reluctant to show support or say any kind words at all. She wasn't being openly hostile or anything, but her constant muttering and scowling told her feelings well enough. Spike wasn't about to say anything though, conventional wisdom dictated he kept his mouth shut.
"So, whach y'all gonna name him or her?" Applebloom asked.
"Umm, I haven't really thought about that." Anna replied, with Mac shrugging. The farm filly placed a hoof over her mouth before rattling off a few suggestions, all revolving around apples of course. Though, the elder stallion declared that he and Anna would come up with their own name in due time.
Pinkie was bounced with excitement, already setting up play dates between the new foal and the Cake twins. "It'll be super fun! They can crawl together and play with toys, and go to the park, and when they are done, they call all nap in a little pony pile!" She gasped and jolted to her hooves, her eyes going wide and pupil's dialating. "Oh my gosh that'll be the most adorable thing EVAR!"
"Easy Pinkie." Twilight said, trying to bring her the party mare back down to her chair. "They'll still be foals, but I think Pound and Pumpkin Cake might be a little to old to play with the new foal."
Pinkie scoffed. "What are you talking about? Everypony loves to play with foals, especially other foals!"
Twilight admitted that was true but argued that foals of certain ages began to disassociate from those a younger age. Siting a book on child rearing she was reading that suggested the infant and toddler ages were the first to separate. With the cakes being well into toddlerdom by the time the new baby arrived.
"Why would you be reading foal rearing books?" Spike teased, finally speaking for the first time all night. He didn't think Twilight had a special somepony in her life, but he had been rather busy lately.
The librarian blushed as all eyes suddenly went to her. "No! No it's nothing like that! I was just reading because I thought it was interesting is all!" She stammered quickly. Everyone else shared a look before giving her a knowing smile. Again, save for Applejack, who maintained her disapproving scowl with the entire situation.
"I'm hurt, Twilight." Uppity humphed. "You're looking to carry a foal to term and you didn't even tell me you had somepony special. I thought we were friends."
"There is nopony special!" Twilight exclaimed, sweat beading on her face.
The table erupted into laughter, all except for Applejack who decided to 'politely' excuse herself from the table in a huff. She stood from her place and calmly walked out of the dinning room and out the front door.
"Wha's with her?" Applebloom asked innocently.
"Don' you worry none 'bout that, youngin'." Granny replied, turning her gaze from the filly to the door, her eyes full of concern and guilt.
Spike knew that the Apples were more... conservative in their views, but it didn't sit right with him how AJ had been acting all throughout dinner. If granny and Applebloom could take Macintosh getting a mare pregnant before marraige in stride, why couldn't she?
The remainder of supper passed in a more subdued tone, the conversations continued, but the jovial mood was dead and burried. The entire flock of party goers funneled into the living room to indulge some apple cider and relaxation. Save for Applebloom, who'd been sent to bed.
After finishing up a rather elaborate conversation with Granny about a wedding date, Mac excused himself to go out and talk to his sister.
He walked outside and relished the cool, fresh evening air as it gently kissed his pelt. The silence of the night helping to clear his mind. Being an introvert, Mac took a moment to simply enjoy the quieter atmosphere outside. He loved his family and friends, but he needed his own peace and quiet too.
He looked to find AJ sitting at the end of the porch, looking out over the fields.
"Y'all righ'?" He asked, stepping beside her.
"Fine." AJ grunted in reply, obviously lying.
Macintosh gave her a hard look. "Y'all know better th'n tah lie, AJ. You were nevah really good at it."
The cow pony flinched, cursing her own honest nature. She turned to her brother with a scowl and said, "alrigh' fine. If'n ya must know, Mac, Ah don't approve of what happened one little bit."
Mac pressed his lips, he'd already gotten that much, but what he wanted to know why his sister was acting so passive aggressively. To his surprise, Granny had told Applejack about their grandfather leaving them. How granny got pregnant without being married and was wrong she was for allowing herself to have sexual relations with out safe guards to pregnancy or being married.
"Ah'm not sayin' that Ah don't think you'll be there for her, Ah jess don't like that ya were doin'... that before you n' her were proper husband n' wife." She finished. Macintosh looked down into her eyes and saw how serious his sister was taking the ordeal. Marriage for children was an unspoken rule in the Apple house, with granny and Pa being the biggest proponents of it. It made sense more today than back then, though.
The stallion sat down and placed a hoof onto his sister's shoulder. Unlike himself, Annabelle was raised in a different place, a different culture. Premarital sexual relations were becoming more and more normal in Equestrian society, especially among the younger crowds. Marriage was still prominent and heavily encouraged, of course, especially if foals were involved, but sex was something that happened regardless. He did love Annabelle and was committed to her though.
Getting Applejack to understand that would be difficult, though. Such behavior among his culture would be considered "horse", but when it came to AJ, blunt honesty was always the best policy.
"Ah don't know what tah tell ya. Applejack. We did the deed and it's done." Again, AJ flinched. Mac pulled her in a one legged hug. "But understan' tha Ah do plan tah marry her n' have a proper family."
Reluctantly, AJ began to slowly lean into her brother. She'd accept the situation for what it was, but she still wasn't happy about it. That was her choice and as much as Mac didn't like it, he'd respect it. "Ah jess wish I knew why y'all did it. Why ya couldn't wait."
He tried to explain how things worked outside of Ponyville, but as expected, his sister found the explanation lacking in consistency with her own values. It was only pony nature to judge everypony else on their own moral lens wen they were insulated within their culture the way one was in a small farm town like Ponyville.
"Ah guess." Applejack relented. The two sat in silence for a moment and looked up at the stars. No more words needed to be spoken, just a quiet moment together to show that they were still family and even if one of them had done something to anger the other, the bond of love would still hold them both together.
Spike, Twilight, Uppity and Pinkie left the farm in good spirits. They received an Apology from Applejack and a farewell from Macintosh before leaving, with the latter promising a get together with Spike some time later in the week.
They all split ways upon reaching the market district with Pinkie going back to Sugar Cube Corner and the rest heading to their own neighborhood. Spike briefly thought about joining the unicorn mares at the library for the night when offered, but he decided against it. He was pretty tired and wanted to get some sleep for the night.
Sharing a brief hug, he bid Twilight good night and sent the lavender mare on her way. Uppity held him back for a moment and asked how Sin was doing. Smiling with arrogant pride, Spike rubbed his claws against his chest confidently. "I might have gotten my point across earlier today."
Uppity tilted her head and recoiled as Spike explained what exactly was said between the two.
She ducked her head, ears splaying wide with a pained look on her face. "Oh my gosh, Spike you didn't have to-"
The drake raised his claw to cut her off. "Don't worry about it." He said, hoping to ease her fears. "Sin's been a pompous jack ass who sat comfortably in hsi misery for a long time, somepony had to give him a wake up call and make him see the good things he has."
Uppity threw her forelegs around Spike and gave a tearful thank you to the dragon. He gave her a hug of his own and the two parted back to their respective homes.
Once inside, the dragon looked over to see the light in Sin's room off. Probably for the best he not disturb him tonight and check on things in the morning.
Laying on his cloak Spike stared up at the ceiling, feeling satisfied. Things were finally changing for the better. Twilight was happy and reestablishing her friendships, Uppity was happy, Mac and Annabelle were going to have a baby and Sin was finally getting his head out of his plot. With as good happy as he was, he almost didn't mind sleeping on the floor tonight.
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I actually expected something different from Granny, given the fact that trying to get someone to marry her over a pregnancy was tragic... That she'd say something to the effect of Annabelle being family whether or not there was a marriage. That she doesn't want bad blood to get in the way of raising her great grandbaby.
But... pregnancy marriage is a little different for the woman and the man. you know, because one is definitely stuck with the baby, at least or nine months... and even then has different motivations.
6707866 That'll be expanded upon. One doesn't usually bring those kinds of issues up at dinner parties.
Granny knows what it's like to be left alone while pregnant, I think it would stand more to reason to have her be a little more accepting during the "shock" period, and she was. You'll get the official "quite moment" chapter in due time. Probably the next one.
6708118 "Within every cynical person there is a disappointed idealist."
~ George Carlin
AJ, you're not going to do anyone favors by repeating the same sentence over and over.
Oh Granny hahaha.
Well, with this many ponies on the table with their different personalities, this will be VERY interesting.....wait....is Applebloom listening to this too?.....oh dear.
Smart move.
Eeyup. That answers my question.
You can say that again.
Aw good times. Southern hospitality at it's finest. You can be sure that you will leave that event with a full stomach and extra pounds of calories.
Haha. I can only imagine how happy Applebloom is, considering that she and the CMC tried to play cupid a while back.
That's good of them to do. Considering that the latter knew what it meant to have a foal out-of-wedlock, I'm glad that she is taking the supportive role. I feel bad for Applebloom's confusion. LOL.
I think that is a good idea.
I'm not sure Pinkie.
OHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!!!
ROFL!!!!!!
That was.....rude.
It is best that you don't know.
It is very hard for a hard-core traditionalist to be flexible when unexpected situations arrive. I still retain some modern conservative views, so I know where AJ is going through. It does not mean that she can be rude though.....now that I think about it, I think there is something else going on and it's much more personal. Don't want to spoil it, but I have a clue what it is.
Oh joy, here it comes.
Reasonable sentiment.
Honest to a fault.
Thanks for the info captain obvious.
....Okay, is there more?
While Big Mac's argument and conviction holds weight, I stress another point. Just because the majority of society does one thing does not make it right. The basis of absolute morality has to come from beyond society, mainly from a Divine Being who created the morals that society either chooses to adopt or ignore. This is my inner Edmund Burke speaking.
Huh, so "horse" is a derogatory term in Equestria. Interesting.
That is the important thing for AJ to understand. What's done is done. There is no need to dwell on it. Only to learn from it and move one.
That's good enough for me.
I'm happy now. All is forgiven.
On a side note, it appears I misinterpreted Applejack's personal motives earlier. Oh well, I can't always be right.
Lol. Que descarado Spike.
True.
Hmmm. I wonder if Sin is not there?
Looking at all of this, Spike played a role in everything listed here (except for Big Mac and Anabelle). He's done a lot of good here and has become a likable character. He may have his flaws, but he is still a good dragon and I'm happy in how you have portrayed his life and struggles. Wondering what the future will hold for him?