Big Mac is an ordinary country boy. Even though his little sister gained magical super powers, he's managed to stay out of most of the weirdness. But things go pear-shaped after he starts spending more time with his physics teacher, Dr. Discord. Thanks to Dr. Discord's time machine, Big Mac becomes stranded in the year 1993, and that's not even the strangest part.
No, the strangest part is that his mom keeps flirting with him.
Written for FanOfMostEverything's Villain Exchange Program contest.
Chapters (4)
Did you just slip a Big Lebowski reference into your Back to the Future story? Color me impressed.
In any case, this looks fantastic thus far. Eagerly looking forward to more. I can only hope Big Mac doesn't cause a slow-burn, self-deleting paradox... though going by the description, that seems regrettably likely.
Also, I see what Mr. Discord did with the console.
Great Scott! You're doing a good job with this :D
Also, "John Q. Discord"? I see what you did there.
Enjoying this so far. Should we expect Luna to act as Mr Strickland?
Also, I never realised the US ever changed the dollar designs.
So MLP and Back to the Future crossover, very nice, though it would have been cool to see more then just one woman falling for Big Mac, like Miss Harshwhinny or even Celestia and Luna, I bet that would be great to see happen.
> Teen Rated
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9204502
What did he do with the console?
9204896
What, ruin the mystery for everyone else before the story's even complete? I wouldn't dream of it.
9204502
I've never actually seen The Big Lebowski all the way through, but I've watched clips on Youtube. I've been meaning to watch it sometime.
9204516
Thanks! And I can't think of a better name for human Discord.
9204702
Luna's a kid in 1993. I considered giving Celestia and Luna cameos, but I felt that it would shift the focus away from Big Mac's family drama.
9204767
That would be interesting, but I have to meet a 20,000 word limit for the contest, and side romances might stretch it out toolong.
9205317
You are ever so welcome.
9205317
Well with two chapters so far you are half way there to the 20,000 word count, I can't wait to see what you got planned next for Big Mac.
Discord makes a fantastic scientist. He's like a much more responsible version of Doc Brown.
9205418
He kind of is a better scientist than Doc Brown. A scary thought.
9205418
My brain is breaking on the concept of Discord being more responsible than anyone, but I guess not having unlimited chaotic power to bail you out of problems might produce some responsibility.
9205702
If you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense in that it is completely unexpected. While the Equestrian Discord is fittingly unpredictable, chaotic, and irresponsible, his human counterpart has a strong sense of responsibility and scientific rigor, at least in certain regards. Human or draconequus, what fun is there in making sense?
Really liking this story so far. "BttF" is my favorite Sci-fi film series (the first most of all.) Discord is PERFECT for the role of Doc Brown
. Can't wait to see how the rest of the story goes.
Yup, simple substitution cipher, as I thought. And smartphones certainly make proving time travel easier. (Good thing Dr. Discord didn't ask who the president was...
)
Now there's just the matter of ensuring that this modern day Romeo & Juliet have a much happier ending than the originals.
9205702
When you can't get away with everything, you learn that your actions have consequences. Especially if you also study how the world works in hopes of finding loopholes. So goes the theory, anyway.
9206198
Thanks! I'm glad Dr. Discord works in this role.
9206238
Yeah, smartphones are useful even when they have no service.
No, don't tell Bright Mac, it would undermine the nobility if he's in the know.
While this is a good read, parts of it feel a little rushed. I know Discord is not Dr. Brown, but there should have a little more inquiry on his side, assumptions that Big Mac shots down.
9218153
Thanks for the comment. I'm writing this for a contest that has a 20,000 word limit, so it's hard not to rush this story. Still, I might go back and flesh out Dr. Discord's dialog if I have the time and enough words left over.
9218893
Fair enough
This is awesome.
Heh. It may not quite be what Big Mac had in mind, but I could see Pound Cake following in his mother's drumbeats.
Someone needs to post a video of Shatner performing Rocket Man.
And, as per Back to the Future convention, Big Mac leaves his past better than he found it. The ripple effects on this one should be quite the sight to see. Looking forward to them after the judging.
For now, this was a brilliant resolution, an excellent balance between the two worlds and the source material beyond them. Thank you for it.
AJ's hat should have remained and it should have been apples and pears in the photo. Beyond that. A fitting third chapter, too bad we didn't see the dry run, but nice thinking on the fly on Big Mac's part
9235202
So could I, but Human Pound Cake hasn't been born yet, at least not that I've seen.
Anyway, I'm glad the two story lines work well together.
9235480
I figured AJ started wearing a hat like her dad in his memory after he died, although I could see her deciding to wear a different style of hat if he were still alive. It was mostly a way to make the photo different.
9235702
Fair enough
Such a great ending. Good job.
Terrific ending!!
Dawww, that was a nice way to wrap it up. The Apple Pearents live!
9236495
9236769
9236851
Thanks! I'm glad the ending was satisfying.
9235202 The song at the end of the internet.
...Did Big Mac just try to place a call from Doctor Whoove's Tardis?
I don't get the console, I suspect I'll be annoyed with myself when it's explained.
I was wondering if the money change was going to come up...and it did!
That bit with 'suddenly moving away' and being bought out by the apples...if this were a different genre I'd be what you call Suspicious.
An interesting end. I would have thought Granny Smith would live with her family, given how family orientated the Apples are, maybe even Grand Pear and Winona would have kept her name.
However, it's nice that Discord gave Big Mac some advice with Sugar Belle.
9286875
I see your point. I had thought it might be awkward for two adult couples to live in the same house long-term, but if anyone could make it work, it's the Apples.
Grand Pear is still involved in their lives, but I couldn't figure out a way to work it into the conversation organically.
And yeah, Human Discord is actually giving good advice with Sugar Belle, unlike draconequus Discord. Of course, Human Discord has the advantage of knowing the future, now.
9288627
Actually three generations of a family living in the same house is historically as normal as a couple living on their own, if not more common, with the son of the elder couple/father of the youngest generation being the main provider for the family.
I concede that maybe there was no organic way of including Grand Pear as you wrote it, unless you considered Bright Mac's old man dying,
"All information will be indexed. All information that cannot be indexed will be destroyed."
—Gillion Extension 17428
In any case, lovely epilogue. Good to know
Marty's kidsMac's marriage doesn't need any desperate intervention from his past self. Thank you for one heck of a ride.This was fantastic! Okay, it helps that I'm a huge fan of the Back to the Future trilogy. Discord makes a fantastic Emmett Brown, and Big Mac is of course very different to Marty McFly, which makes for a great contrast.
I love how the Enchantment Under the Sea dance becomes the Fall Formal! I love how they don't stop at getting Pear Butter and Bright Mac back together but make plans to fix the feud between the Apples and the Pears! I love that the converse of the Unspoken Plan Guarantee is in force: we saw too much of the planned argument for it to happen the way Pear Butter planned it, and it's great how Big Mac decided to improvise a tweak on the plan (in classic Marty McFly fashion) which ended up working out better.
And then when they arrived back home and Discord asked "how many parents do you have", my heart shot into my mouth. Were you going to do a... different classic time-travel movie where the protagonist saves his dad from dying in a fire 30 years earlier? And then you really did it, and did it well: proper BttF style massively-improved future. Lovely work.
Many fun references strewn throughout as well. I remember the fun allusion to the Breakup Breakdown right at the end, but I'm sure there were plenty more throughout the fic.
Superb work, sir or madam! Thank you for writing this delightful story!
9288986
Glad you liked the ending. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, in healthcare and in relationships.
9291520
Thank you! I'm pleased that you picked up on the way I played with the Unspoken Plan Guarantee trope. I had thought about just doing a straight Unspoken Plan Guarantee, but then I wouldn't have been able to show the characters establishing a rapport. Then I started writing a version of the scene in which Big Mac tries to stick to Pear Butter's plan but accidentally messes it up. However, the conflict got so into the weeds that I couldn't figure out how to give it a happy ending (which would better fit the tone of both EG and BTTF). Finally, I scrapped that scene and wrote a version where Big Mac improvises at the last minute, and it still works out smoothly. I'm glad you liked the result!
Yay! Finally! Someone writes a story where they live!^_^
It's good Big Mac won't have to live with the pain of a dead parent. I know all too well what that's like. Too well.
And lots of other people's lives turned out better too in the future. Yaaay! You did good.^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^
9357819
I'm glad you liked the ending! And my condolences for your loss.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this one.
Just found thr story and it was a great read. Not that many back to the future stories on hefts
This was entertaining from start to end. It changes up what happen in some scenes in the original Back to the Future making it more original and unique but also follows enough of the original plotlines to feel unchanged entertaining and have some great references and callbacks. Nicely done. Would love to see a sequel.
9651193
Thank you! I'm glad I was able to blend the two series in a way that felt familiar but not too stale. I deliberately closed off the sequel hook because I didn't want the contest entry to end on a cliffhanger like the original BTTF did. But maybe after I finish the story I'm currently working on, I could start thinking about how I could write "Mac to the Future II."
This has me intrigued.
Huh. This is going smoothly.
On the negative side. There are nitpicks I have with this, but considering how time travel is a very difficult subject to tackle, I'm not gonna dwell on it and just suspend my disbelief.
Besides that, I have to say...this was great. I love Discord's character in this, and I love how everything played out in the story. I really love this. I will say that it is a big risk that Big Mac made to change the future, but it paid off in the end.
👏👏👏
Great story. Two thumbs way up. 👍👍
9769601
Yeah, the time travel paradox is an issue in the original trilogy, and I'm sure I didn't handle it any better, but hopefully it's not worse either.
I'm glad you liked Discord in this story! It was my first time writing him, and it was a little challenging, but it actually made it a bit easier with him being a human and having to worry about the societal consequences of being a jerk, unlike Chaos Lord Discord. And the idea of making him a high school teacher in addition to a mad inventor just fit naturally with EG. I'd seen him as a teacher in other fics, but I had thought of the idea before I read it in anyone's fanfic.
can we have part two?