Anthology series taking place after the Titanverse trilogy featuring Big Macintosh living his day to day life while keeping his newfound powers a secret from the populace and Princesses.
A few weeks have passed since Chrysalis had reformed and turned over a new leaf after having her time in the spotlight as Equestria's resident Titan. The spell book with the original growth spell has lost it's magic, the growth ray the Changeling hatchlings, Chip and Chirp created, had overloaded and blown up, and now everyone thought the whole Titan debacle was over and that no more Titans will tower over Equestria again. Right? Right?
Yeah no. This is Equestria. Nothing is ever peaceful for long.
Big Macintosh, having once previously been a Titan himself, had been shrunken back down to normal size after consuming a hastily made potion created by the Princesses Celestia and Luna with Twilight's help. But little did they know it had only mutated the wild magic within Big Macintosh, increasing it's potency. His earth pony magic had been risen to an absurd degree, giving him a massive control over nature as well as the size magic he had previously been struck with. Now, giving him full control over it's capabilities and allowing him to manipulate the size of himself or anything he wants with practically no limits. Here is an anthology series of Big Macintosh being his lovable self, living his life in Ponyville while trying to keep his magic a secret from everyone, due to their fear of Titans and at the same time, learn more about this mysterious macro magic he had been gifted himself.
Ponyville was no stranger to its occasional abnormal event. Whether it’s spirits of Chaos making the town his chaos capital of the world or the occasional Everfree monster attacks, there’s never a dull moment around the quaint little town. But today there was something a little more mundane happening. At the center of the town, ponies were gathering together in a crowd, facing the front of a stage that had been put up. Standing at the head of the stage was none other than the Apple Family’s eldest stallion, Big Macintosh.
What was Big Mac doing you may ask? Well, it had been a few weeks after the town and subsequently the entire Kingdom of Equestria had seen the large stallion get hit by an out-of-control growth spell. This resulted in Big Mac’s size increasing to unprecedented heights. First as tall as a house, then a building, then mountains, and eventually able to casually swat aside clouds. To say Big Mac had become a giant was an understatement. He had become an absolute titan of power and muscle.
But there was a reason why Big Mac had called for this brief press conference after the Princesses and Mane 6 managed to find some way to shrink him back down to normal. He wanted to actually talk to the ponies he had towered over not too long ago and speak to them one on one to answer any questions they might have or ease any lingering fears they might still be harboring deep inside.
“Big Mac! Over here!” Rose called out, standing on her hind hooves, and waving her forelegs in the air.
Big Mac and a few other ponies chuckled good naturedly at the enthusiastic display. “Yes Rose?” Big Mac asked, pointing a hoof in her direction.
“Why did you decide to go around Equestira and fix the damages those snobs in Canterlot caused when they were huge? Wouldn’t it have been better for them to accept their punishment and pay for the damages themselves?” Rose asked.
Big Mac nodded. Rose was referring to the start of the whole Titan debacle. A bunch of noble ponies in Canterlot had stolen the growth spell and made themselves huge. They had ended up causing a lot of damage to the kingdom as they carelessly stomped around.
“Well, ta be honest Rose, Ah couldn’t just leave them ponies ta suffer at the hooves of them no good nobles,” Big Mac answered honestly “When Ah got hit by that spell and grew all big an such, mah earth pony magic got a major boost ta it. Ah could manipulate mah surroundings to ah degree Ah could never dream of. An that included repairing different structures and nourishing vegetation. Mah Ma and Pa always said: If Ah had a way ta help out mah fellow ponies then Ah should. Them ponies lost their livelihoods, and their homes were completely damaged. Of course, Ah was gonna help them,”
The crowd let out a collective “Awwww” of happiness at Big Mac’s kind words. The press began to snap photos of the large red stallion while the remaining Apple family in the crowd looked on proudly at Big Mac.
As Big Mac continued to answer questions about his time as a Titan, Applejack leaned over to Granny Smith “If Ah didn’t know better, Ah’d say that Big Mac seems a lot happier ever since he became huge,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper “Ah can’t explain it, but he seems more…lively then before. Almost like he found something he was missing when he became ah Titan,”
Granny Smith nodded as she looked on proudly at Big Mac up on the stage “Well youngin, Ah can’t say for certain what brough about this change, but Ah am happy for him. He does seem like he came out of that situation all tha better for it. Ah’m so proud of him fer putting up Apple family values tha use like that when he was gigantic. Helping out tha little pony anyway he could. Never hurting them in any way as he gave ah helpin’ hoof.”
Applejack nodded as she looked on with pride in her heart. The conversation she had with Big Mac a few days ago rang through her head about how Big Mac had felt inadequate with himself during his time on the farm, about how he had felt forgotten about. Now, he had finally gotten his chance to shine, and the entire kingdom loved him for it.
The meeting was wrapping up, with Big Mac answering some questions a few foals from Apple Bloom’s class had, asking about how pretty the view was once Big Mac reached his largest size. Big Mac jokingly answered that he had his head in the clouds, so he wasn’t really paying attention. That got a laugh out of the crowd as Big Mac waved to them and began to descend down the stage as Mayor Mare took over. Thanking everypony for taking time out of their day and coming to the meeting.
“Whew! Glad that’s over with!” Big Mac thought with relief as he waded through the crowd of ponies. He may have been the one to have called for the meeting, but all those questions for the entire town could really wear a pony out.
“Big Mac! YEAH!” a loud voice shook Big Mac from his thoughts. A huge hoof slapped down onto his shoulder and pulled him into a big hug. Mac grunted in surprise from the sudden contact but nevertheless accepted the embrace.
“Good to see you back in action buddy! YEAH!” Bulk Biceps shouted happily.
“Eeyup!” Big Mac agreed, putting a hoof around Bulk as well, hugging him back. After Big Mac had returned to Ponyville from his few days out as a Titan, his longtime friend and workout buddy, Bulk Biceps had been one of the first to accept Pinkie’s party invitation welcoming Big Mac back. The day after the party was over the two of them met up and had a talk about what had happened. Bulk was fascinated to hear about Big Mac’s experience.
“Shame I wasn’t the one who got hit!” Bulk hollered playfully “If I was a couple hundred miles tall, I’d go around and give everypony in Equestria a big ol’ hug. Bulk Biceps style!”
Big Mac winced, having been on the receiving end of Bulk’s hugs quite a few times “Uh, Bulk? If ya did that ya might accidently squish somepony,”
Bulk thought over what Big Mac said before shrugging “I’d be careful! Wouldn’t want to hurt the little guys now would I!” he laughed, slapping Big Mac on the back again “Hey Mac, now that the Press conference is over, you wanna go to the gym and work out?”
“Ah’d love ta Bulk, but Ah gotta go back to tha farm and take care of a few things,” Big Mac replied.
Bulk nodded as he unwrapped his foreleg from around Big Mac “Alright then! See you around Mac!” he yelled joyfully before rushing off towards the direction of Ponyville’s gym, his large size and hugely muscled body effortlessly cutting through the crowd as he went.
Big Mac rolled his eyes with a small grin on his mouth “See ya around Bulk,” he said as he waved. Big Mac made his way back over to where Applejack, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom were.
“That was such a cool story!” Apple Bloom said as soon as Big Mac joined them “Ah had no idea ya did all that stuff while you were huge Big Mac,”
“Darn tooting! I’m proud of ya big brother,” Applejack said approvingly.
“Aw shucks, thank y’all,” Big Mac said, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof, a small blush forming on his cheeks that was thankfully hidden by his red fur.
“So, what do Y’all plan on doing for tha rest of tha day now that this here conference is over with?” Granny Smith asked the assembled group of Apples.
“Ah’m going crusading with Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully “We’re gonna try becoming Cutie Mark Crusaders: catapult launchers!”
“Yer gonna what?” Applejack asked, looking inquisitively at her little sister while Big Mac just raised an eyebrow.
“We’re gonna become catapult launchers! We’re gonna put a bunch of stuff into a catapult that we all built and launch it around!” Apple Bloom said.
Big Mac blinked “Well, as long as yer all safe and don’t damage anything, then Ah guess it’s ok,” he drawled “Just make sure yer all back by supper, ok?”
Apple Bloom nodded enthusiastically “Sure thing Big Mac!” she said as she dashed off in the direction of her two friends.
“An don’t ya go launching yerselves ya hear?!” Applejack called after the disappearing filly.
Applejack rolled her eyes with a small grin as she watched her sister depart before turning to Granny Smith “Ah’m actually gonna go hang out with tha girls Granny. Twilight said she wants ta go have a talk with Chrysalis now that tha Changelings are on speaking terms with us and said that she invited her ta come to Ponyville and spend tha weekend at tha library with her so that all of us can get ta know her better. Chrysalis even said she’d bring along them other two Changelings. Chip and Chirp so they’d can see Ponyville cuz they’ve never really been outside the hive before,”
Granny Smith nodded appreciatively “Well that’s nice ta her Applejack. Ah’m happy ta hear that y’all are opening up ta them and showing tha Changeling some good ol’ fashion Ponyville hospitality. There’s nothing fer them ta fear from us. Glad Ms. Chrysalis was open ta tha idea in tha first place,”
“Eeyup,” Applejack said “It took all of us off guard when she agreed. But Ah guess she was really serious when she said that she wanted ta do better and be ah better Queen for her hive,”
“Precisely. That ol’ girl wants ta change an Ah say congratulations ta her! It takes a real strong will ta admit yer wrong and want ta do better by it,” Granny Smith said “Well then, get! Don’t let us keep ya then Applejack!”
Applejack smiled “Thank ya, Granny. See y’all later!” she said as she turned and galloped over to where Twilight and the rest of the girls were standing and waiting for her.
Granny Smith watched her leave with a small smile before turning to Big Mac “An what about you Macky? Got any plans for tha rest of tha day?”
Big Mac shook his head “Not really Granny,” he said “Ah just want ta take the rest of tha day easy after this here press conference. Ah already finished harvesting tha fields fer today an took care of all tha farm animals so Ah have a lot of free time left,”
Granny Smith nodded “Alright then Big Mac, Ya go on home then an relax. Ah’m gonna stay her fer a bit and talk to tha mayor about some upcoming town events. See ya then,” she said.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac said as he turned to go.
“Oh, one more thing Macky,” Granny Smith called. Big Mac stopped and turned to look at her with a questioning expression.
“Ah don’t think that shrinking potion worked all tha way,” Granny Smith commented offhandedly. Big Mac’s began to sweat nervously “What makes ya say that granny?” he asked. “Yer still a tad bigger than normal,” Granny Smith said with a giggle.
Big Mac chuckled, albeit a little anxiously “Yeah, how about that?” he said quickly as he waved goodbye to Granny Smith and walked back down the path towards Sweet Apple Acres. The truth of the matter was that Big Mac had secretly kept his magic that was gifted to him by the out-of-control spell. And it had mutated further due to the shoddy shrinking potion that the Princesses had made from scratch.
It wasn’t really a bad thing by any means, Big Macintosh had reasoned to himself. All it had done was give him direct control over his magic. He could grow and shrink himself to whatever height he wanted. And that wasn’t even the extent of it. Instead of just being limited to himself he could also use his size magic on other things as well. Even other creatures. But Big Mac was still unused to this new power. It was completely different than earth pony magic. Earth pony magic was something that all earth ponies are inherently born with and unconsciously use when planting crops or working with nature. That’s why land tended to by earth ponies was always better than if it was tended to by Pegasi or unicorns. They couldn’t replicate what made earth ponies special.
With this new magic however, it was completely different than what he was used to. One half of it was given to him back an out-of-control spell book. Wild magic. And wild magic was always unpredictable. The other half was comprised of whatever miracle the princesses whipped up to make the shrinking potion. And since the two powers within him clashed, it resulted in Big Mac returning to normal size but gaining complete control over size manipulation. He needed more practice using it. It wasn’t like he could just go to Twilight and ask for help. For one, she already has her hooves full of helping the princesses establish good relations with Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings. And two, if he told her then she’d just tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. That normally wouldn’t be a bad thing, however given their determination to completely get rid of any more size magic, Big Mac highly doubted they would be pleased to find out that he still had it. No doubt they’d want to remove it as fast as possible from him.
“But If Ah’m being honest, Ah don’t want that ta happen,” Big Macintosh thought sulkily as he walked. He enjoyed having this new ability. It was a unique trait only he had now that the magic in the spell book had been completely drained. And it wasn’t like he was doing anything bad with it either. All he was doing was using his newfound abilities to help around the farm more. Now Big Macintosh usually tackles the fields by himself with a newer and more efficient method he developed. When he harvests the apples, he brings all the buckets with him from the barn, bucks the apples down from the trees into the bucket, and loads all the buckets back into the cart. If they all don’t fit, then he just shrinks both the cart and the buckets and carries them back to the storage cellar in the barn that way. It was easier that way, so he doesn’t have to keep lugging around such heavy loads back and forth. More apple harvesting got done that way.
Another time he had to repaint the barn because the paint was already starting to fade. The only problem was they were running low on red paint and the vendor that sold the specific color they were looking wouldn’t be in town until another couple of weeks. Big Mac told his family that he’d take care of it. Big Mac smiled inwardly as he recalled what happened.
“Are ya sure big brother?” Applejack asked as she stared at him from across the breakfast table.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac drawled “Ah can take care of tha barn no problem,”
“But we don’t have enough paint. Tha vendor don’t come back ta Ponyville until another four weeks,” Applejack said
“Ah know. Ah’m sure Ah can use tha remaining paint we have ta fix up tha barn good,” Big Mac replied.
“How are ya gonna do that?” Apple Bloom pipped up eagerly from her seat, sipping on some apple juice as she fixed her eyes on Big Mac. Hoping for some secret technique or grandiose plan on par with the schemes that she and the rest of the cutie mark crusaders come up with.
“Ah’ll just manage tha paint wisely an use what we have,” Big Mac answered honestly
Apple Bloom’s eyes immediately lost their shine at the boring answer. “Oh…” she grumbled “That don’t sound like much fun,”
“Eenope. It may not be fun, but it’ll do tha job,” Big Mac said.
“Me an tha girls are gonna go crusading today!” Apple Bloom announced “We’re gonna try ta get our animal helper cutie marks!”
Big Mac chuckled and ruffled her mane as he got up from the table, walking over the hat rack and putting on his cowboy hat “Ya have fun with that Bloom. See y’all later tonight,” Big Mac said as he waved goodbye and headed out.
Big Mac remembered that when he got to the barn and retrieved the paint, he saw that there was only less than a quarter can left. He waited till Applejack and Apple Bloom left and for Granny Smith to fall asleep before beginning. Big Mac grinned for coming up with a solution for the paint problem. Every time he ran low on paint while painting, he simply grew the amount inside the can. Leaving him with ample amount left to complete the barn. Of course, growing something that precise was not easy and it took a few tries. Resulting in a few accidental giant chickens and pigs before he got it right. After shrinking the animals back down to normal he was able to get back to work. But it just goes to show that he still needed practice using his size magic. Which he has been doing in secret by himself.
And Granny Smith hadn’t been imagining things. Big Mac was indeed taller. But that was only because he had practiced his growth magic on himself earlier that day for more precise control over it. And because he enjoyed being bigger. Big Mac would say he was just a little shorter than Princess Luna now.
Big Macintosh looked ahead, now spying the familiar road leading to Sweet Apple Acres. With the barn and wooden home just a little further down. “Sorry fer not joining ya today Bulk,” Big Mac thought as made his way onto the farmland and towards the house “But Ah wanna do some more daily practice today with mah magic. Though now that Ah think about it, Ah could probably knock out two birds with one stone. Get Mah workout in today while practicing,”
Big Mac changed course, instead walking over to the barn. Pushing open the doors he quietly walked over to the back where he left one of the carts he used to haul all the apples in the fields. His eyes flashed green, and the chart shrank down to about a millimeter tall. Big Mac walked over to the miniature cart, said cart was trembling on the ground due to the vibrations as Big Mac walked, and picked it up, tucking it inside his yoke.
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said as he walked out of the barn. Closing the doors behind him he made his way over to the Apple family house.
As Big Mac entered the house, he quickly formulated a plan as to what materials to get next. He walked over to the kitchen and to the cupboard, taking out some toothpicks and gumdrops Pinkie Pie had dropped off for Apple Bloom earlier for when she tried baking an apple cake. Next, grabbed a little bit of cotton and a flat eraser from a nearby drawer.
“Ah think that should be enough,” he thought as he tucked those materials into his yoke as well, alongside the shrunken apple cart. Big Macintosh nodded with satisfaction before walking back up to his room. Closing the door behind him, he made his way over to his desk and began to get to work. Big Mac carefully set the tiny apple cart on his desk along with the rest of the materials. He carefully broke one of the toothpicks in half and placed gumdrops on either side of the ends. Next, he took the other half and did the same to both ends as well. Finally, he took another toothpick, one that was unbroken and attached the final two gumdrops on each end.
“Ah think that looks alright,” Big Mac thought “Ah made mahself some makeshift dumbbells and barbells. An Ah can use tha eraser to do fer bench pressing, an use tha cart for transporting them around.”
For the next part, Big Mac would need to actually try using his makeshift gym. And in order to do that, he needed to be smaller. Concentrating hard, Big Macintosh expelled his magic over himself this time. The now familiar green magic was expelled and surrounded his form until he gradually began getting smaller. Big Macintosh watched with fascination his room and surroundings increasing in stature. Chairs became skyscrapers, desks became mountains, and his mirror could practically touch Cloudsdale.
Being tiny was still a relatively new experience for him due to the fact that most of the time he didn’t need to become tiny at all. For the past few days, he’s been experimenting while Titan sized. Testing out his magic, terraforming the country on occasion before changing it back to normal, and going on his nightly walks across Equestria while supersized. He tried to avoid turning tiny because generally when something is shrunk down, their magic shrinks with them, greatly reducing any power they had. How did Big Mac know this? Well, on occasion he would go through the Everfree forest in the middle of the night instead of going on his nightly Titan walks to try testing out his enhanced nature magic there. What better place to try and tame nature in a place where nature was said to be untamable?
But one night he was unfortunate enough to run across a hydra. A very large, six headed hydra. Spitting and growling at him before charging towards him. If any other normal pony had been there, they probably would have met their maker at that moment. But thankfully, Big Macintosh was no longer a normal pony. In a panic, he released a burst of magic, falling back on his rump with his eyes screwed shut in anticipating fear.
Nothing.
When he opened his eyes, the hydra was no longer there. Confused, Big Mac had gotten back up and walked around trying to figure out what happened. That is, until he heard a high-pitched squeak of fear somewhere down on the ground. Turning his attention to the ground, Big Mac saw with shock, the very same hydra that had just tried to eat him, was now tinier than an ant, fleeing from Big Mac’s hooves after nearly getting squashed like a bug. It had tried spitting fire at his hooves but as the fire connected with the tan bottom of his hoof, Big Mac couldn’t feel a thing. A pang of guilt swept through Big Mac as he quickly grew the hydra back to normal.
“Sorry about that,” he had said.
The hydra’s eyes bugged out, looking at him with fear, before turning around and dashing off into the woods, yipping like Winona does in panic.
That was very interesting to note for Big Mac, that other living creatures have their power and magic diminished when their size is reduced. The only other time he’s shrunk something else was the castle of the two sisters, a nonliving object, the day he discovered he kept his powers.
Now, back in the present day, Big Mac had discovered something interesting. When he became tiny didn’t really have any effect on his magic. In fact, it was as strong as ever. Just to test it, he ran across the floorboard towards the gigantic leg of his wooden desk chair, which was fading with age. He tapped his hoof against the chair leg, sending a pulse of magic though it. Big Mac backed up and watched as his magic swirled around the entire chair, manipulating the wood, fixing any broken pieces and de-aging it, before completely repairing the chair. It looked brand new!
“Eeyup!” Big Mac said proudly “Ah guess Ah can add shrinking mah self as part of tha tests now. Looks like Mah magic ain’t effected at all. Now then, let’s see if Ah can go even smaller than this,”
Spawning in a vine from the floorboards, Big Mac had it reach up to his desk and grab his ruler for when he did any wood carving projects. The ruler descended down towards the ground before touching down, shaking the ground slightly and sending a shudder though Big Mac’s tiny frame. He ran over to the ruler and checked his height, bringing in another vine draw a line with a quill approximately where his head was.
Currently, Big Mac was about 1 centimeter tall.
“Alright, let’s see if Ah can do better than that,” he said and activated his magic again. Once more it engulfed him, and Big Mac’s size began to diminish again. His surroundings were getting even bigger than ever before, reaching into the heavens that was the ceiling of his room. The ruler next to him became just as big and mighty as the mountain of Canterlot itself. The single floorboard he was on began showing more and more detail the tinier he got. Soon he was able to distinguish individual cracks in the wood of the board, each increasing in size as he continued to shrink. Eventually the gaps between the floorboards became too wide to cross. It had become as big as a ravine!
When he finally stopped shrinking, Big Mac’s eyes widened as he looked around in awe. Tiny couldn’t even begin to describe how small he was now. It was like a whole new world had been opened up to him. The floorboard he was standing on in the middle of was practically the size of a city now! He could even see some dust particles in the air floating. Bringing the now absolutely gargantuan ruler over to him, Big Macintosh checked his size.
About 0.06 millimeters. The same size as a grain of sand.
“This is so cool!” Big Mac squeaked out ecstatically, prancing about in place “This here opens up so many possibilities!”
And it was true. Normally he had only been experimenting growing himself, but now, he will definitely try the other way around. Experiments with shrinking himself and other things to test and see how well his magic holds up and how small he can go.
“Ah’m starting ta sound like Miss Twilight going on about running all them fancy experiments,” Big Macintosh chuckled to himself. Now it was time to test out his makeshift home gym. Summoning his vines again, all the makeshift gym equipment is carried over and shrunk down to an appropriate height for Big Mac. He can use the dumbbells he made from gum drops and a broken toothpick. He can get all the cardio he wants because all he has to do is keep shrinking himself and he’ll have an endless space to run around on the floorboard.
Wasting no time, Big Mac set off jogging. It was a very interesting experience he had, knowing that he was running around on a single floorboard. A floorboard that, if he was normal sized, would have been too small to fit under a single one of his hooves. After running around and getting his cardio in for half an hour, Big Mac moved onto weightlifting. He brought over the cart he had shrunk previously and picked out one of the dumbbells he had made. As he practiced lifting the weights, he attempted to use his magic and increase the weight of the gumdrop. And surprisingly, it worked. Now this way he wouldn’t have to keep making new dumbbells, he can just modify a single one for multipurpose use!
As the minutes passed, Big Mac was able to make full use of his makeshift gym set and the single floorboard he was confined to. But eventually, he felt the ground begin to shake rhythmically.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Big Mac felt his heart leap into his throat. Somepony was coming! And he was still tiny! Hurriedly, he activated his magic again and quickly grew himself back to normal size. Well, as normal as he could have. He might have overdone it a little bit, now standing at roughly the same height as Princess Cadence.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Big Mac cleared his throat, trying to stop his heart from racing so much at the close call “Who is it?” he asked.
“It’s me Macky!” came Applejack’s voice from the other end “Can Ah come in?” she asked.
“Eeyup,” was Big Mac’s only reply as he opened the door and Applejack trotted in. “Ah just came ta check up on ya now that tha press conference is over. How are ya feeling?” Applejack asked, looking up at him with concern.
“Ah’m doing alright AJ. To be honest, tha press conference wasn’t as bad as Ah thought it was gonna be,” Big Mac replied, “Not too many hard questions, most everyone there were pretty friendly, an Ah think Ah did a good job answering them honestly,”
Applejack brightened up “Ah’m happy ta hear!” she said as she gave him a small hug “Ah don’t know how that whole Titan business was, but it don’t sound all that pleasant. There were so many things that could have happened or went wrong. Luckily tha princesses were able ta get ya back ta normal size. So, all’s well that ends well,” Applejack giggled.
She moved past him and back towards the door “Tha girls an I are meeting up at Twi’s library right now. Chrysalis will be here in a few so Twilight wants ta greet her and welcome her an her those two Changeling foal Chip and Chirp ta Ponyville. Who knows, maybe tha Crusaders could make friends with them,” she chuckled as she stepped out into the hallway “Then who knows how much trouble all of them could get into,”
Laughing, Applejack waved good bye to Big Mac and left, walking outside and setting off in the direction of Twilight’s Library.
Big Macintosh let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as he closed the door again. That had been way too close. He should count himself lucky Applejack had knocked first instead of barging in like Apple Bloom and her friends would have done. Otherwise, he would have been in a pretty sticky situation. He shook his head and absentmindedly wandered around his room thinking about what he could do differently next time. “Well, fer one, Ah definitely need ta put a lock or something on tha door if Ah’m gonna practice mah magic here. Two, if Ah need to, Ah can just go back into tha Everfree an practice there. Maybe Ah can try doing it at that old castle AJ and her friends are always going to since it’s abandoned now. An three, Ah need ta-”
CRUNCH!
Big Mac froze, his eyes widening as he looked down and slowly lifting up his huge hoof as he felt something break underneath it.
He had squished his new makeshift gym set.
Big Macintosh let out a frustrated snort “Eeyup. Ah definitely need more practice with this here magic,” he sighed, shaking the debris from the bottom of his hoof and leaving to go get a broom and dustpan.
As the sun began to set behind the horizon of the kingdom, guided by Princess Celestia, the moon began to rise over the skies of Equestria, guided by the younger sister, Princess Luna. The two of them, standing on opposite sides of the castle outside their respective towers nodded to each other from their balconies before turning in for the night. Celestia yawned, unceremoniously tossing off her crown, regalia, and kicking her hoofshoes off into a corner before swan diving into her bed for a good night’s sleep.
Concurrently, on the opposite side of the castle, Luna stepped back into her chambers, having just gotten out of bed and ready to start her night. She donned her royal effects, a dark counterpart to the pieces of jewelry and footwear Celestia had thrown off in her room so callously, and exited the room, walking over to the throne room to begin night court and dream viewing. With the moon in the air, it signaled to all the creatures around the world that the day was over and that it was time to get a good night’s sleep.
One by one, ponies bade each other good night, wandering into their bedrooms and closing the doors behind them as they prepared to sleep. Lights went off in their homes as they settled in for the night.
Except for one house.
The door to the farmhouse on Sweet Apple Acres slowly creaked opened and a large head poked out. A large red head with an orange mane. Big Macintosh cautiously looked left and right. Letting out a snort, he carefully pushed the door fully open and stepped outside into the cool night air. Closing the door to the house behind him, he set off on a brisk trot over to the orchard and into the Everfree Forest.
For nearly every night after he had acquired his newfound powers, Big Macintosh had been sneaking off into the forest to continue his practice over it and eventually gain mastery of it. It was a long process, trying to learn exactly what extent of control he had over nature as well as the chaotic size magic within him. And so far, the results he had found were staggering. Nearly everything he had tried had ended in success.
For example, one time a hydra (he was pretty sure it was the same one he had accidentally shrunk) had rampaged through a deeper part of the forest, resulting in a ton of birds and squirrels losing their homes and nests. Wanting to do what he could to help, Big Mac had initially contemplated going back to the farm and getting some tree seeds to plant here for them. But he realized that would be no good because the weather team had planned a huge storm for that week. A storm so big that it will cover even the Everfree itself. And that would mean that these little guys would have nowhere to go. And as kindhearted as Fluttershy was, there was simply no way all of these animals would be able to fit inside her house.
And that was when an idea came to him. What If he tried to use his enhanced earth pony magic to repair the trees that had been destroyed? He had done it by accident before when he first acquired his magic and accidentally supercharged the trees in the orchard. Making them taller, healthier, and producing more fruit. Could he possibly try something like that again, only this time to fix these trees here? It was worth a shot.
Big Macintosh had tapped the ground, concentrating with all of his might to channel his magic into the trees. His eyes and cutie mark glowed green, and light emanated from his hoof, traveling along the ground and onto the remains of the tree trunks. Big Macintosh and the forest critters all watched on with amazement as their surroundings glowed emerald green, the silhouette of the trees began to grow larger as the tree trunks reassembled themselves. When the light faded, everyone was greeted with an astonishing sight. The forest had been grown completely back to normal, with the trees now stronger and healthier than before and leaving plenty of room for the woodland critters.
The critters all scampered back to their restored homes, happy as can be.
As Big Macintosh walked further into the forest, his mind continued to wander through the other times his nearly limitless power had come into play.
Another example of this was one time he saved and befriended a manticore. Yes. That actually happened recently.
Earlier in the week
Big Macintosh had been doing what he was doing right now, walking through the forest to get to his usual practice spot, the abandoned castle of the two sisters. It had been a quiet and peaceful night, the sound of the owls hooting, the wind rustling the leaves, and the soft crunch of grass beneath his hooves. But suddenly, Big Mac heard a loud noise. Almost like a creature was in pain. He had rushed over to the noise bounding though the trees and crashing though everything in his way.
It wasn’t long before he found himself inside a clearing, and there he was met with an astonishing sight. There before him was a manticore, lying down on the ground injured and bleeding. And towering over it was the same hydra from before, snarling at it. Big Mac watched on, frozen, as the manticore attempted to stand back up on it’s paws, only for the pressure to be too much and he collapsed back down on the ground. The hydra was practically laughing at it’s defeat, all of it’s heads hissing in the manticore’s direction as it began to move it. The manticore turned his head around and snarled frantically, and to Big Macintosh’s shock, two little heads popped out of the bush behind the manticore. Two manticore cubs. The big one’s children. He was telling his children to run away and save themselves.
Having seen enough, Big Mac stepped in. He wasn’t about to let these two cubs lose their father. Much like how he had lost his own so long ago.
“Hey you!” Big Mac had called out to the Hydra.
The Hydra paused, temporarily ceasing its hissing and spitting on the downed manticore as it heard a new voice. Who would possibly be foolish enough to challenge him? He was the king of this forest! No one else! The hydra turned around, determined to give this idiot a piece of his minds.
…Only to spot the strange red stallion that had shrunk him a few weeks ago.
Instantly, the hydra began to sweat, staring at the pony with wide eyes.
“Ah think you’d do well ta step away from tha manticore. Wouldn’t ya say?” Big Macintosh told the hydra cooly.
Instantly the hydra’s eyes bugged out before it turned away and began yipping frantically. Running off into the forest.
Big Macintosh rolled his eyes, watching the large beast turning tail and running off into the trees. He turned his attention to the downed manticore, who was watching him with calculated eyes, he said “Are ya ok?”
The manticore growled in response, but it wasn’t threatening, it was more docile, like an acknowledgement of what Big Macintosh had just said. Slowly, the beast shook his head. Big Macintosh walked over, all fear seemingly gone after the exchange and looked over the manticore, spotting the injuries the manticore had gotten on his paw and back from the hydra.
Big Macintosh frowned “Ah may not be as good as miss Fluttershy at animal care, but Ah’ve got some experience on tha farm. Ah’ve got ta try,” he thought. His eyes flashed and a few plants suddenly sprouted up, typically used for medicinal purposes. The manticore’s eyes went wide at the display of magic. Big Macintosh quickly grounded them up and applied the paste to the creature’s wounds, the manticore cubs watching anxiously from the sidelines.
Slowly the manticore felt the pain began to subside, he looked down at where his wound used to be in disbelief, before slowly looking up at Big Macintosh. This pony had healed him? But why? Ponies usually ran away from him and his kind, not helped. Well, aside from that other smaller pony…
But nevertheless, this one had helped him and given him another chance to protect his cubs, which he really appreciated. He growled in thanks, shakily standing up onto his paws and walked an unsteady pace over too his cubs. The two of them latching onto his forelegs, crying in happiness.
Big Mac smiled at the scene, happy to have saved the manticore. But later that night after he had left the manticore with its family, he had found him following him again, after leaving his cubs behind with his mate at their nest. But the manticore had no aggression within it. In fact, the manticore had seemed more curious than anything else.
“Ah wish there was a way Ah could understand this big feller here,” Big Macintosh thought glumly as the two stared at each other silently. Suddenly, an idea came to him. Maybe a potential way for him to communicate with this seemingly harmless manticore.
“Ah’ll be right back!” he called to the manticore, dashing off further into the Everfree, with the manticore looking on in confusion. Big Mac raced though the woods, cutting though trees, jumping over flowers, and veering off the path occasionally. Hey, he’s been coming here so much that he knew the forest like the back of his hoof. It wasn’t long before he had reached his destination. Zecora’s hut.
Sauntering up to the front door, Big Macintosh knocked on it.
“Is that a knock on the door I hear? Please wait friend, I shall be right there!” came the familiar rhyming voice on the other side. A small smile was on Big Macintosh’s face as he heard the voice of his sister’s good friend, Zecora. Once upon a time, he had, much to his shame, also been with the town in their silly superstition that Zecora was an evil enchantress. The kindhearted shaman had quickly become friends with his little sister Apple Bloom, after the latter had gone and sought her out multiple times. And it wasn’t long before the same followed with Applejack. Now, Big Macintosh was doing his best to give the zebra his time of day, to let her know as well that she was always welcome to spend time with him and his family, as well as Ponyville.
It wasn’t long before the door opened, and there standing before him was the zebra Zecora herself “Ah, a pleasant surprise we have here, Big Macintosh has come to visit me, what a cheer!”
“Howdy Zecora!” Big Macintosh said with a smile “How are ya doing today?”
“I’m doing quite well my friend! Thank you for stopping by, is there a matter you need me to attend?” she asked, tilting her head curiously.
“Actually, there is. Recently Ah came across an injured manticore. Now, Ah did treat tha poor thing’s injuries, but after Ah did so, he did try nothing funny. In fact, tha manticore seem more content ta just follow me around and growl. Not in any aggression mind ya. So Ah was wondering, do ya happen ta have a potion of any kind ta help me understand tha manticore? Or maybe make tha manticore speak ta me?” Big Macintosh asked the shaman.
Zecora hummed, bringing her hoof to her chin as she contemplated the conundrum. This was the first time she had been asked something like this. And yet, there actually was something she could do to help. Zecora asked Big Macintosh to follow her into her hut. He followed her over to a nearby shelf, where she pushed through various bottles and pouches of magical powder and dusts until she found what she was searching for: a small vial containing a glowing green liquid inside. Zecora handed the potion over to Big Macintosh “This is the potion I was looking for, hidden behind my tea. Give this to your friend and he shall speak, free as can be!” Zecora chirped happily.
“Thank ya kindly miss Zecora,” Big Macintosh said taking the vial, dropping it between his yoke “Ah’ll head back then, don’t be a stranger,”
Zecora saw him off, waving to him as he made his way back to where the manticore was waiting curiously. Big Mac then played a game of charades with him, trying to explain what drinking the potion would do. Though it took a while, he did eventually manage to convey the message to the huge creature. The manticore opened his mouth, allowing Big Macintosh to pour the contents of the vial in. The manticore shuddered for a second as he felt the bitter after taste of the potion linger on his tongue.
“My word, what in the world did you give me?” he rumbled in a deep voice.
There was a pause. Followed up by a yell of joy as the manticore registered what had happened.
And that was how Big Macintosh helped create the first talking manticore. From there, Big Macintosh and the manticore had gotten down to talking. The manticore expressed his gratitude to Big Macintosh for saving him and his cubs, Big Macintosh replying that he was happy to help.
But when Big Mac asked the manticore if he had a name, he replied that he didn’t. So Big Mac had named him Leo, a name that the manticore was all too pleased to have. As it turned out, Leo had actually received help from a pony before, and that pony was none other than Fluttershy. Big Macintosh was shocked when he first heard this. He had heard the story from Applejack before but the odds of him actually running into the same manticore was incredible. After Leo had returned his cubs to his den and safely with his mate, he returned to Big Mac and asked him if there was anything he could do to repay him for his kindness.
A sudden idea had crossed Big Mac’s mind, and he asked Leo if he would like to help him experiment with his magic. And from there, and in the weeks that would follow, Leo would accompany Big Macintosh whenever he went into the forest at night to partner with him as they focused on testing out Big Mac’s magic more and more. Sometime, Leo even let Big Mac test it on himself. For the first test the pair had done, Big Macintosh increased Leo’s size. Wanting to see the effects his magic would have on a creature that was not a pony. The results were more or less the same. He had begun by growing Leo as tall as the trees. Something relatively small considering Big Mac’s big standards.
But growing Leo to that height did have its benefits. In no time at all, he had become the alpha predator of the forest. Even being able to resist the Cockatrice’s petrifying stares, immune to the magical effects of the poison joke, and big enough to frighten off any would be predators. Before long, Leo’s den and his territory (which included Zecora’s hut) was perfectly monster free.
Back to the present day
Big Macintosh made his way into a clearing. Standing ahead of him was the castle of the two sisters. Now, currently dubbed the ‘testing grounds.’ Ever since Leo had chased off all the monsters here, they’ve been able to lurk around however they wanted. It wasn’t long before he heard the soft thudding of heavy footsteps. And the groaning sounds of trees getting pushed aside from something large as it waded through them. Big Mac turned around to see the greatly enlarged form of Leo the Manticore squeezing though the treeline. Now standing at a hearty 20 feet tall. The perk of being the biggest and toughest predator in the forest.
“Big Macintosh my friend!” Leo’s deep voice shook the ground as the lion spoke “So good to see you again!”
“Good ta see ya too Leo,” Big Macintosh replied, looking up at Leo’s towering form smiling down at him “How’s tha family?”
Leo waved his paw “Same old. The cubs are still as mischievous as ever, keeping me and my dear mate busy, Heh heh.” He chuckled “We’ve also been able to completely clear out most of the other creatures away from the perimeter of your pony town. Now they won’t accidently wander in and hurt someone,”
“Ah appreciate it greatly Leo,” Big Macintosh said, the two of them hoof bumping each other, sharing a laugh. Leo had become a close friend to him over the following days, the two of them regularly talking about personal and family affairs while dealing with Big Mac’s magical experimentation.
“So, what’s the plan today?” Leo asked, laying down heavily on the ground, causing it to rumble and birds to fly off from the trees in a panic.
“Ah wanted ta try out some more of mah nature magic. This time, Ah want to see how many trees Ah can nurture when Ah’m small.” Big Macintosh said.
Leo’s eyes lit up “Mind if I join you? I’ve gotten so used to being this tall, a change in perspective could be nice,” he asked, pawing the ground as if to emphasize the point.
Big Mac nodded “Sure. Ah’ll shrink both of us down. You can explore while Ah practice a bit more an try ta build up mah nature magic,” he said.
Once Leo agreed, Big Macintosh cast the magic on both of them, dwindling down in size until they were both about an inch tall. The grass effectively turning into a forest for the two of them.
The two of them giggled like children as they looked around excitedly at the change in scenery before they scurried off to go explore. For Leo, it was like he had been introduced to an entirely new world. What was once familiar and normal had been transformed into something completely alien. The grass had become the trees, the trees stretched up into the heavens, flowers towered over them like mountains, and even the dirt beneath his paws had grown considerably. The individual grains were as big as boulders to the tiny manticore and pony. Leo looked up in awe at a nearby mushroom, which had been increased into the size of a house. While he clambered up onto it and began to bounce up and down on it like a trampoline, Big Macintosh skittered as fast as his tiny legs could carry him over to the edge of the grass line and back onto the path, looking up at the gargantuan trees.
So far, he had only been able to manipulate smaller things when he was tiny, such as the vines that aided him when he made his home-made tiny gym set. He wanted to keep practicing his magic to expand the scope of what he could do and increase his range of nature magic. Concentrating hard, a burst of magic emanated from his hoof and shot over towards the trees far off in the distance.
Nothing.
Frowning, Big Mac tried again, trying to make them grow fruit.
The green magic hit the tree and traveled up it, causing the tree to quiver before settling back down. Still nothing.
“Alright, third time’s tha charm,” Big Mac thought, casting another beam of magic towards the trees. The magic traveled through the ground and up several tree trunks. The trees began to glow like a beacon as they became infused with magic. The ground rumbled as the magic glowed brighter still, before finally, various fruits began to pop up on the top most branches of the trees.
“Success!” Leo cheered from atop the mushroom, hopping up and down in place. Flushed with his success, Big Mac joined him, the two of them extremely excited that Big Mac’s magic was growing more powerful by the day.
“Well, Ah’ll be. If Ah can do all this all small like, Ah wonder how strong tha magic will be when Ah’m normal sized, or huge?” Big Mac wondered out loud. Leo shrugged “Who knows? Probably pretty powerful!” he exclaimed.
But amidst the celebration, the ground began to shake. Rhythmic steps began to reverberate through the ground. Someone or something really big was coming!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The ant sized Big Mac and Leo slowly looked up nervously as they fell in the shadow of whatever had been walking towards them. Their eyes traveled up the skyscraper of white and grey strips, a gigantic cloak with a hood adorning a mountainous form with piercing yellow eyes and a mohawk mane.
It was Zecora. She had been woken up from the bright flash of green and the shaking and had come to investigate.
She looked around curiously at the nightly surroundings of the forest. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. That is until a glint caught her eye. Turning around, she spotted the newly spruced up trees. The grove glittering brighter and more vibrantly than all of the other trees in the area.
“How curious the trees look over there, they do not resemble the ones I’ve passed on my way here,” Zecora said out loud, cocking her head to the side. She wandered forward curiously, wanting to get a closer look at this new phenomenon.
Big Mac and Leo nervously huddled together on the mushroom as the sky darkened, Zecora taking a step forward. Their ears flattened against their heads as the underside of Zecora’s hoof began to descend towards them.
“Ya better skedaddle!” Big Mac yelped as he and Leo scampered off the giant mushroom. Just in time as the even bigger castle sized hoof slammed down behind them. Squishing the mushroom into sludge.
Squish!
Bits of wet mushroom remains and chunks flew off in all directions as it was crushed under Zecora’s mighty hoof. It remained there for a second before a loud squelching sound echoed though the air, audible only for those with tiny ears, and her hoof lifted up, the remains of the mushroom now at the bottom of her footprint as the giant zebra walked away, the entire world shaking as she lumbered past the speck sized duo.
From their place laying on the ground, Big Mac and Leo watched nervously as Zecora’s hind leg lift up, and they watched her walk away.
“So, uh, how about we practice closer to the castle next time?” Leo chuckled, bouncing around on the shaking ground as the giant walked around in the background.
“Eeyup, Ah couldn’t agree more,” Big Mac said, covered from head to hoof in the sticky chunks of mushroom.
Big Macintosh stared at his desk. On it sat a piece of wood he was carving into a sculpture. Or at least attempting to do so. Last night, while he had been on one of his nightly supersized walks (accompanied by an equally gigantic Leo) the topic of hobbies had come up.
“Me?” Leo looked at him in surprise, as he carefully set his humongous paw down next to a nearby city “What do I normally do in my free time?”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac rumbled, brushing Cloudsdale out of the way “Ah’ve been wondering about that. What do ya and tha other critters of tha forest do when ya ain’t prowling around for yer next meal?”
Leo paused, deep in thought “Well, here are a few things I do that I suppose you ponies can call hobbies,” he said “I usually try working on making the den for my mate and cubs better. You know, gathering more plants for the inside, a few flowers for my mate because she likes it, stuff like that. I also enjoy exploring the forest. Well, I used to,” the manticore chuckled, a deep rumbling sound that shook the ground. The tiny city by his big toe quivered slightly “Ever since I met you and you made me bigger, I think I’ve seen the entire forest by this point,”
Big Mac smirked “Glad Ah could help ya,”
Leo rolled his eyes with a small smile “And what about you? Any hobbies ponies do that I don’t know about?”
Big Macintosh thought for a second “Well, there’s one Ah’ve been meaning to pick up again. Back in tha day Ah used ta carve figures and other objects into wood. Ah had ta drop it fer a little while because tha farm needed ta be worked on. But now that Ah’m starting ta free up mah workload Ah think Ah should git back into it. Only problem is Ah don’t know what Ah should start making now,”
Leo pondered the question “Hmmmmm. I’m not sure,” he admitted, his paw tapping the ground absentmindedly, causing mild tremors rocking across the continent that somehow, did not wake anyone up. Leo occasionally glancing down to check and see his paw doesn’t accidentally land on top of the nearby city. Suddenly an idea hit him as he kept checking on the city. Looking back up excitedly he said “Why not make sculptures of all the cities and towns you’ve seen?
Big Mac raised an eyebrow “Pardon? How am Ah supposed ta do that? Ah don’t have nearly enough wood ta make ah building. Much less a city.”
Leo’s eye lit up as he reached down and scooped up the city by his paw, completely tearing it out of the ground and having it rest in his paw’s palm, holding it up to Big Mac’s face, who recoiled slightly as the tiny city was shoved directly in front of him “Why not make a carving of the city scaled like this? This was you get to make something unique as well as practice your skills with the precision you need when making all the buildings and streets!” Leo said excitedly.
Big Macintosh was initially going to wave it off, but the more he thought about it, the more the idea began to appeal to him. It honestly wasn’t that bad. He glanced down at the tiny city in Leo’s paws before looking up at the beaming manticore “Alright. Ah’ll give it a shot,” he said.
Back to the present day, Big Macintosh was carefully whittling away at the block of wood he was carving. He had decided to start first with making a miniature copy of Manehatten. The reason being that he had spent most of his time there when he was initially under the effects of the wild growth spell and thus had gotten a pretty good layout of the city in his mind.
He took his carving knife and continued carving out buildings that he had seen. A bank, an accounting building, apartment buildings, shopping malls, the stadium he had picked up whena a game was going on, and even the building he had helped the construction workers put together while he was gigantic.
The pieces of wood he had cut off fell down to his desk bit by bit as he continued cutting around the wooden block. After he was done with a rough cut of the city, he then needed to use sand paper and smooth out the ‘buildings’ he had just created. But how would he do this without damaging or breaking apart the small and fragile rectangles he had just crafted? Well, it was here he had to get a little creative. And use a bit of help from his new magic of course. Big Macintosh shrank both himself and some of the sandpaper down until the tiny model city he had been constructing began to look more like the size of the actual Manehatten.
“If Ah didn’t know any better, Ah’d think Ah was in a completely different world,” Big Mac thought to himself, looking up in awe at the roughly cut geometrical shapes of the soon to be buildings. It was almost uncanny. And a little unsettling too, being transported into this unfinished world and staring up at the blocky and unfinished brown structures all around him. Shaking his head, he got to work. He started sanding the bottoms of buildings by hoof, while he used his magic to spawn in a few vines. Said vines took some of the other discarded normal sized sandpaper and worked on the buildings from above. This way Big Macintosh could prioritize working from the ground level as well as the multiple buildings all around him with the use of his nature magic.
And through the night he worked. Trying to maximize his time as much as possible. Once he had finished sanding off all the rough edges of wood with a little help from the magically conjured up vines, he then took to carving out windows and floors in each one of the buildings. This time instead of using vines Big Mac reanimated some small dandelion flowers to give him a helping hoof and spread out around the city. Getting in some of the more intricate details of the buildings.
He didn’t know how, but somehow, someway, the flowers knew exactly what they were doing and exactly what the inside of each building looked like.
Big Macintosh was enjoying the physical work so much that he didn’t even notice how much time had passed by. It was mindless, yet at the same time it was therapeutic and relaxing. Good, hard, and honest work for the soul.
It wasn’t long before the sunlight began to peek through the window. Big Macintosh blinked, surprised at the sudden intrusion of light. Had time really passed by that quickly? He didn’t even notice. Wordlessly, he retracted the vines he had conjured up and stepped off the wooden replica and onto his desk. He then used one of the dandelion petals to float down to the ground and restore his size to normal. Big Macintosh looked down at his progress. So far so good. But he did need to acquire a few more details before he was fully finished with his little project.
“And Ah know just how to do it,” Big Macintosh thought as he stepped out the door and walked down the hallway. That would have to wait though, right now it was time to start the day.
Night had fallen on Equestria once more. Everypony lay asleep quietly in their beds as the stresses of the day washed away and they found themselves in the world of dreams. Well, all except for Big Macintosh once again.
The clouds parted way as the now 4000 meter tall stallion lumbered across the little landscape. On any normal night this wouldn’t have made any difference, many would assume the red titan was on his nightly walk. But tonight was different. Big Mac had a purpose for coming out tonight.
It wasn’t long before he made it to his destination. Manehatten. Only now it was as tiny as the model he was busy crafting. Reaching into the saddlebag that he had draped over his side, Big Macintosh took out a sketchbook and began to draw the city from all angles. Making sure to fine tune any lingering details in his drawings so when he actually translated the pictures into his sculpture it would look good. He even picked up the city at some point, turning it around in his massive hooves as he observed the tiny and delicate structures in his grasp. Once he was sure he had gotten everything he needed, Big Mac headed back home to resume his little arts and crafts project.
After returning back to the farm, Big Mac made his way back up to his room silently. Not that there was really any need. If there was one thing he noticed while being giant was that everypony tended to sleep like rocks. Completely undisturbed. Big Mac always wondered why no one ever woke up from the ground shaking every time he took a step as a titan or heard a thunderous boom shaking the air from his mighty form walking across the kingdom. He guessed that was the reason why.
Big Mac entered his room and placed his sketches all over his desk so he has his references to look at at all times. He stood at normal size this time, sitting at his desk as he continued chipping away at the wood. He had a file is his mouth as he rubbed it against the side of one of the several dozen buildings he had crafted, smoothing it out before shrinking a few more of his tools and letting more vines and roots take center stage and craft the remaining finer details of the city.
Though he did have to be careful while he was doing this. Sitting on his desk was the shrunken city of Manehatten. Big Macintosh had decided to bring it back with him so he’d have the real thing with him as he worked. And it did wonders in speeding up the process. Big Mac held Manehatten up to his eye, observing one of the tallest banking buildings before turning his attention to his model and crafting a one to one replica of the real thing.
Slowly but surely more and more buildings began to take shape until at long last, Big Macintosh had finally finished his creation. A complete miniature copy of Manehatten. And it looked incredible! If Big Mac didn’t know any better, he would have thought that this was really another miniature city he had on his desks.
“Eeyup!” Big Mac boomed proudly, prancing in place with joy, ratting his room and shaking up the shrunken city on his desk like it was in an earthquake. Though from a certain perspective, it technically was. Big Macintosh stole a glance at his clock. About an hour before the sun came up. He had to put back the city he had plucked up fast and make it back home!
Snatching up the city, he unceremoniously dropped it into his saddlebag and jumped out his window. Thankfully, Big Macintosh had achieved a pretty huge leap in mastery of his magic that he was able to spawn in a slide made up smooth stones and roots from his window to the ground. Sliding down to the grassy floor of the orchard, Big Mac activated his magic again, blinking clouds out of his eye a second later as he once more grew to gargantuan proportions. It wasn’t long before he came across the several hundred wide meter crater that once housed Manehatten. The very same crater he had left behind when he had reached down and scooped it up into his hoof. Now he was reaching down and letting the city slide off his hoof and back into the crater neatly. Big Mac’s eyes flashed green and the cracks in the earth fixed itself. Leaving behind absolutely no damage and no indication that an entire city had been picked up by a several thousand foot tall stallion. Big Macintosh snorted in satisfaction in a very equine like way before turning around and heading back home, making it back just as sunrise broke through the horizon and rose slowly into the sky. But not before leaving behind a little gift for the residents of Manehatten as thanks for their time helping him with his project.
A little while later, Big Macintosh was sitting at the breakfast table with the rest of his family. Applejack sat at his right, Apple Bloom sat in front of him, and Granny Smith sat at the head of the table. All of them were devouring the plethora of apple pastries that had been baked the day before and were still extremely fresh and delicious.
“Ahhhh,” Applejack sighed contently “Ah love Sundays. No work in tha field and no chores ta do. We all got tha day off,”
Apple Bloom’s tail wagged excitedly “Exactly sis! That means me and tha Crusaders can try an find our cutie marks today!”
Big Mac chuckled, reaching forward and ruffling her mane “Yer always trying ta find yer marks, regardless of tha day Bloom,” he said with amusement.
Apple Bloom batted away the huge red hoof, puffing out her cheeks indigently (“And cutely!” Applejack added) “Well this time Ah’m sure we’re gonna git it! Ah’m sure!”
“Good luck then kiddo,” Granny Smith piped up from the other end of the table. She had just finished polishing off another apple strudel before turning to her other two grandchildren, addressing them “An how are tha two of you spending yer day off?” she asked, reaching for an apple fritter.
“Tha girls an I are gonna head down ta SugarCube Corner. Something about the Cakes about to have a sugar emergency for some event that’s happening in a few weeks,” Applejack said nonchalantly, tossing a whole apple pie into her mouth “Or at least that’s wut Pinkie said,”
Granny Smith nodded “Alrighty then! And how about you Macky? Got any plans fer tha day?” she asked.
Big Mac nodded “Ah’m gonna finish up a sculpture Ah was making in mah free time,” he said.
The Apples looked at him with interest “You were making a sculpture?” Applejack asked “What of?”
“It’s ah sculpture of Manehatten. Ah was trying ta challenge myself and see if Ah could replicate tha city,” Said Big Mac.
“Ain’t that hard? Manehatten ain’t exactly small,” Applejack stated, looking confused. She had a small smear of apple sauce on her muzzle that had gone completely unnoticed because she was so fixated by this new conundrum.
“Maybe it’s best if Ah just show you,” Big Mac said, getting up from the table and walking upstairs. Applejack, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom all looked at each other in confusion as they heard Big Mac retreating upstairs. The sound of his heavy hoofsteps filled the air announcing his return.
“Ooooo!” Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide with awe
There sitting in Big Mac’s hoof was a tiny wooden replica of Manehatten. It was uncanny and looked so well done.
Applejack whistled “Well slap me silly and call me apple cider! That’s some mighty fine work ya done there big brother!” she said impressed “Ya got a real eye fer detail alright!”
“Thanks AJ,” Big Mac said happily “Ah’m almost done with it. Just got a few more things ta add as well as some color and Ah think this lil’ feller should be all set!”
“What do ya have ta add big brother?” Apple Bloom piped up “It looks pretty finished ta me,”
“Ah still have ta add tha hoofball stadium, tha famous pony statue in tha harbor, an Crystler building,” Big Macintosh replied “An of course add some color ta tha whole thing,”
“You could start yer own side business with that. Making scuptures of landmarks and selling it ta ponies,” Apple Bloom piped up.
“Eeyup!” added Granny Smith “Ah think that’ll be a mighty fine idea Macky. If yer good at something, don’t do it fer free,”
“Alright, alright!” Big Macintosh laughed “That don’t sound like too bad an idea. Ah’m sure plenty of ponies would love ta get a city sculpture,”
Applejack rolled her eyes with a playful smirk “Just don’t let Dash get her hooves on one. Then she’ll start playing ‘Dashiezilla’ soon enough’ she giggled.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed “Can’t say Ah haven’t been guilty of that mahself once or twice,” he thought, smirking internally. Call it a guilty pleasure if you would. “Though now that Ah think about it, Ah wonder how all them tiny ponies in Manehatten reacted to tha ‘gift’ Ah left them?
It was something that would be talked about for months to come. Ponies all over Manehatten had woken up for the day, only to curiously still be shrouded in shadow. As they all left their homes and apartments, they were greeted by the most peculiar sight they’ve ever laid their eyes on.
There, towering high in the sky, looming over the buildings and skyscrapers themselves, was the biggest Apple Fritter they’d ever seen in their lives. Ponies slowly and cautiously approached it, unsure of what to make of the giant treat. That is until a few bold ones stepped forward and dug their hooves in the massive desert and sampled it.
Instantly their eyes lit up in delight, exclaiming how it was the most delicious apple fritter they’ve ever tasted. The outside crust was warm and flakey while the inside filling was soft and sweet. Never overwhelming or overpowering. It was perfect!
And thus, the flood gates opened, ponies clamoring all at once, trying to get closer to the giant apple fritter so they could try a piece for themselves. But rest assured, there was plenty to go around! But they were so enamored with the desert that they almost completely overlooked a note laying next to the apple fritter. A normal sized paper next to it that said “Thank you for your help, here’s a little something in return as thanks. Hope you enjoy it!”
Nopony could really understand what the mystery pony was thanking them for, but it wasn’t like they were going to turn down giant sized free food. Needless to say, everypony in Manehatten ate good that day. And the rest of the week too, thanks to Big Mac’s magic always keeping the Apple Fritter fresh.
