The clean air of the apple orchard was good for clearing away the toxic cloud of Svengallop's influence and Rara was thankful for that. Discarding the Countess for a show wasn't that hard, but changing the rest of her life to be (as she had declared) just a pony? That took time and effort.
Thankfully, she wasn't alone.
Of course, Rara wasn't sure she deserved Applejack's friendship - but then friendship wasn't earned, was it? She sighed internally at that thought. More of Svengallop to unlearn.
"Thinkin' about it again, ain't ya."
Rara smiled without looking over. "Not as much as I did, AJ." But she faltered, lips wavering to a half-frown. "But more than I want to."
Applejack didn't hesitate to put a calming hoof to her friend's shoulder. "It's only been a week since you kicked that good for nothin' to the curb. Can't grow a tree in a day."
That little bit of bolstering was enough to bring back Rara's smile. "Thanks. And thank you for being here to help me with it."
"No problem, sugarcube. It's what friends do, right?" Applejack winked playfully. "'Sides. You stayin' at the farm for a little bit to recuperate and get yourself back in order just means we get to catch up on lost time."
They shared a smile and continued on into the south orchard. The early autumn weather was still warm enough to not worry about a coat beyond their natural, even though the dry air had a hint of the coming chill hiding in it. But the leaves were still green and the apples nearly ready for the last harvest of the year - not yet, but soon. Part of why they had come out was for Applejack to gauge just how far off that harvest was; that, and to continue helping her friend decompress.
Row after row of trees passed, the time marked only by Applejack's occasional pause to inspect the fruits of her soon-to-be labor. For Rara, it was a simple day - no commitments, no concerns. Just enjoy the company of a good friend, breathe the clear air and --
Trot outside and you see the sunshine
Something's in the air today
Rara froze.
There were a number of things that she could have guessed would break the silence of the orchard. An acapella quartet was not one of them. "W--what was that?"
"Hm?" Applejack looked up from the roots of a tree. Her ears swiveled, taking a moment to lock on to what Rara was hearing. Then she cracked a little knowing smile. "Oh, that there's the Pony Tones. C'mon." She motioned with a hoof for Rara to follow her.
Together they crept forward, sneaking across three rows of trees. In the last, they hid behind a thick trunk and watched out towards the Crusader's clubhouse. The three small fillies sat on the ramp of their treehouse while the four singing ponies stood at the base, serenading their impromptu audience.
From afar. Rara watched as the Pony Tones bounced from song to song. Each was only a few stanzas - their practice slid haphazardly through their repertoire as the members would abruptly shift to a different song and challenge the others to keep up with the melody of the medley. But most striking to Rara was that they were smiling.
Her thoughts flashed back over years of performances, searching for a moment like it. There were few - Svengallop had always held that the Countess should share the stage (and the fame) with no one. A grudging few charity case schoolfoals and nopony else. Even in her brightest moments, she couldn't think of a time that was quite as happy as these four friends having a simple practice under the trees.
Applejack noticed none of it. "Unicorn there's Rarity, in case you don't recognize her. She's the one that sings the highest."
"Soprano," Rara corrected without even thinking.
"Right." Applejack barely acknowledged the correction. "Other mare's Torch Song. Then there's Toe Tapper and, well." She chuckled quietly. "You know my brother."
Rara looked to the large stallion from her hiding place. Over the past week, she'd spotted Big Mac around the farm... but a far different one than who she was seeing now. Taciturn and quiet, he'd barely said a dozen words to her in total. Now his bulky barrel was belting out a rumbling bass with a broad grin.
She tilted her head slightly. "I thought I did," came her reply.
Harvest was still a bit away but there was no shortage of work to be done. Checking trees for signs of disease or parasites, noting down areas where they'd need to shore up the ground in preparation for spring erosion, shooing Rainbow Dash out of her latest napping spot... No, there was no rest for a farmer.
Not that Big Mac minded. Sure, a day off here or there was nice but he'd grown up in Sweet Apple Acres. This was the only life he'd known and quite honestly he was okay with that. He had his hobbies, of course, but there was a lot of difference between a hobby and a trade. He might enjoy a game of O&O, but you'd never find him trying to make it any more than the occasional fun evening. Same with the Pony Tones - it was fun and they did a few events here and there, but he'd never been in it for the money.
So while the work was hard, Big Mac didn't hesitate in doing it - caring for the trees with a bounce in his step and a hummed tune on his lips.
What he hadn't expected was for the trees to hum back.
Mac stopped, head canted and ears flicking to try and zero in on the sound. But when he stopped humming, it stopped too. The solution was obvious.
He tapped his hoof for a few seconds to get the beat before leading off the tune again. "Bum, bum, bum-ba-da, ba-da Bum, bum, bum-ba-da ah..."
And his singing brought some in reply - not Rarity or Fluttershy's high soprano or Torch Song's alto, but an unfamiliar tone in between. "There's music in the treetops--"
He stopped singing; so did she. But one line had been enough for Mac to zero in on the source's location.
She knew it too as his eyes locked on to the tree she was concealed behind - Rara stepped out with a little smile on her lips. "Hey there."
Big Mac relaxed - he hadn't been expecting Applejack's friend, but she was a guest and so belonged on the Acres. He'd already chased off Rainbow Dash twice - a third would just be gratuitous. "Mornin'," he stated with an even tone and a small nod.
"Sorry if I surprised you." Rara stayed under the tree's shade, her side still up against the rough bark. "I guess I was feeling a little playful."
"'S alright." Mac shook his head. "No harm." He turned away again, headed back to his work.
All of three steps later, Rara spoke back up. "You sounded really good," she spat out quickly and brought him to a halt. "Yesterday, I mean. AJ and I heard you singing for the fillies."
The only reason she didn't see him blush was because he was facing away. "...Thanks."
They both stayed where they were - Rara, unsure how to approach him further; Mac, not clear on if she was done or not. But the conversation was in Rara's hooves, and she pushed ahead. "You know," she ventured, "It had me start thinking. Since I got here, I've spent a lot of time catching up with AJ. Granny Smith has been very kind to me when we've talked. And of course Apple Bloom's just a sweetie belle." Not being a local, she missed the joke in her statement entirely. "But I haven't really gotten to know you. I see you eat breakfast and then you're gone until evening. I think I heard you sing more words in an hour yesterday than you've said around me the rest of the week." She laughed, amused at the little paradox.
Big Mac blushed again. "Don't like sayin' much," he confessed. "Ah prefer to pick words carefully."
"I guessed that." Rara chuckled again, quiet and soft. "I'd still like to get to know you, Big Macintosh. Maybe if words aren't your thing, I can just go around with you today?"
He considered that before nodding. "Learn from doin'?"
And she nodded in reply. "You seem like the kind where actions speak louder than words."
A little bit of a smirk pushed up the ends of Mac's mouth. "Eeyup."
After three days, Big Mac felt confident enough in Rara that he started only double-checking her work rather than watching over her shoulder. She'd picked up the essentials quickly, reminding Mac that this wasn't a big Manehatten musical star - this was the kind of humble filly who'd gone to camp with Applejack. She just needed the chance to break out of that fake glittering shell..
It helped that she'd adopted Big Mac's way of going about the work: she'd ask questions, but her work was as quiet as his. They hadn't needed to exchange words, simply working the orchard in near silence.
That bothered him.
It was early afternoon when he drew up beside her in a grove of honeycrisps and cleared his throat. Words were at a premium, so the implication he was going to speak had her attention instantly.
"Y'know," he intoned with the force of a slow-moving cart, "Just because Ah ain't one for words doesn't mean you have to be, too."
Rara tilted her head at that. "What do you mean?"
Waving a hoof between them, Big Mac brought out another sentence. "Ah might be economical about what Ah say, but you're not the same. Don't see a reason you should change who you are."
She didn't answer immediately, turning her head instead to look down the long row of trees. "One of the things I learned on stage was that there's a time to be loud and a time to be silent. Some of the most powerful moments in a show are when you stop playing. And with how loud my career has been up to this point, I think a bit of silence is just what I need."
Big Mac held up a hoof to stop her. "Quiet and silence ain't the same thing," he pointed out. Then he canted his head, ears flicking about to listen. At his cue, she did as well.
What she had called silence wasn't - the air was full of tiny sounds, each individually nothing. But it was out there: the wind making tree limbs creak and leaves rustle; the tap of nearly ripe apples against wood as the trees swayed; the distant percussion of a woodpecker.
Rara's eyes closed as she listened and a slow grin came to her lips. "Music in the treetops," came her half-whisper alongside a little laugh. "I sang it, but I didn't get it before."
"Quiet," Mac pointed out. "Not silence."
She didn't respond - Rara was listening still. She lifted her foreleg slightly, swinging it back and forth to scuff her hoof against the grass and dirt. Then her head started to bob with the beat her hoof was setting. Beat became a tune as she started to hum with it. Catching the cue, Mac took a few seconds to find her rhythm before taking up the hum with his own low bass rumble. Freed from it, Rara turned her voice from humming to singing a string of nonsense 'la da dee' syllables that changed tune to song.
There wasn't much to the song by the very nature of it. No real words, no instrumentation, only just barely a beat… it was the quiet Big Mac had pointed out writ large.
Her leg stilled - stopping the beat which stopped the tune which stopped the song. It faded, but the quiet of the orchard remained.
This time, it was Big Mac who spoke up. "That was mighty beautiful, Rara. Ah can see how you got all famous."
Rara let out a long, deep sigh. "I got my fame because Svengallop buried me under so much razzle-dazzle that even AJ could barely see the real me."
"Don't change what was under there," came Mac's counterpoint. "Fella needed talent to work, else he'd have put lipstick on a pig instead."
That image was enough to make Rara laugh again - lighter now, backing a little smirk. "Maybe. It's still sweet of you to say, Big Mac."
Bashful as ever, Mac shrugged and couldn't quite meet her gaze. "Just observin'."
"We should practice together!" The idea popped into Rara's head abruptly. She eagerly trotted the short distance from her tree to his, a bounce in her step. "I'd love to sit in with you and the Pony Tones! I know that would make you a quintet instead of a quartet, but it sounds like a lot of fun." Another thought struck her like a bolt. "Maybe next time I'm in Ponyville, I can have all of you on stage with me for a number! Or maybe we could do a song together for my next album?"
The smile vanished off her face in the same moment that Big Mac physically recoiled. He recovered quickly, but the damage was done. "Ah, uh. Think that might be a touch big for us," he hedged. "Mighty flattered by the offer, though."
Enthusiasm gone, Rara nodded and took a step back. "Oh. No, that makes sense. I'm just so used to big crowds…"
She trailed away and he set his jaw. Closing the gap again, Big Mac got close enough to put a hoof on her shoulder. "Wouldn't mind a bit of practice. Gotta take a break here and there, after all. No harm, right?"
And just like that, Rara's smile returned. Not quite as bright, but there none the less. "I think I'd like that."
The stars glittered overhead and in Rara's eyes as she climbed the hill. The Acres sat quiet as night rolled in, the Mareless moon climbing slowly.
On the hilltop, Big Mac waited in quiet.
She didn't say anything as she ascended up the hill and flopped out on the grass beside him. Both stared into the sky, watching the stars and listening to the crickets.
In time, he was the one to speak up. "Have fun?"
"Eeyup." And they both broke out into giggles as she said it. "It was good to have the time with AJ's other friends. They're really an interesting group."
Big Mac nodded in firm agreement. "Real special mares."
"This whole town's special. Ever since I came here, I've met so many wonderful ponies." Rara sighed happily. "And I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much."
Beside her, Big Mac chuckled. "Enjoyed farmwork?"
"I know!" Rara rolled onto her side, facing Mac in the grass. "But I have been. It reminds me of being home again, before I left for Manehatten. It's hard, but it's the good kind of hard. Like having a long rehearsal." She paused. "Just with apples instead of backup dancers."
An amused snort snuck out of Mac.
In turn, she prodded him in the side. "You seem to enjoy it, why can't I? Or is this some sort of crazy only Apples have?"
"Eenope."
Rara smirked and rolled back to look at the stars again. They were quiet for a few moments before she took back up the previous thread of conversation. "All of AJ's friends were determined to show me a good time. They said this was one of the last chances I'd have, because once the harvest started they wouldn't see AJ or me for weeks."
"'S true," Mac observed languidly.
"Of course," Rara continued, "They also said they weren't sure how much longer I'd be around." Her cheer faltered, energy sapping out of her voice. "I admitted I wasn't sure, but I'll have to leave eventually. Rebuilding my career isn't going to be easy." She paused. "Rarity was already eager to help. She actually gave me the name of a designer friend of hers in Manehatten to help me get a new look. I can get rid of the Countess entirely." A pleased sigh slipped out. "New clothes, new name, new songs… maybe then I'll finally be rid of Svengallop."
That got a raised eyebrow from him. "You ain't already?"
Which drove Rara to a sour silence. "It doesn't feel like it," she eventually confessed. "I keep finding bits and pieces of him in things I do or say. Like two days ago!" A bolt of energy shot through her, head popping up. "When we were practicing our harmonies in the East Orchard? The break we took in the afternoon?" Rara didn't wait for Mac to respond, though he did nod slightly. "A few of the notes you sang were almost identical to the opening for The Spectacle and... I almost started singing it." Her face fell. "It just felt natural to do and I hate it."
She snuffled - and then he was beside her, wrapping her in a firm hug. "It'll be alright." Mac said it with the same simple conviction as always - unyielding, firm and steady. Rara closed her eyes and leaned into his hug with a shiver. "You got time. And you're not alone."
"I'm not alone now," Rara corrected with only mild bitterness. "Everypony here has been so supportive and helpful, but I can't restart my career here."
Big Mac frowned. "Vinyl and Octavia--"
She cut him off. "Are already established. They didn't just tell the pony who built their career to take a hike. I'm starting from scratch." Rara shook her head, though she did nothing more that would separate her from Mac's embrace. "I have to go back. Anything else would be abandoning my career and… Despite everything and what Svengallop did to me, I love music. I want to do it my way, not give it up." A small, sour laugh snuck out. "I don't think I could be satisfied being an apple farmer."
"Ain't many who can be," Mac pointed out.
Rara tried to smile, but her worry overwhelmed the scant humor. "I guess I'm just afraid. Maybe I won't be able to get back on stage again. Or maybe I'll find another manager who's just as bad as Svengallop was. Or I'll just--" She pinched back the words, lips tight as she tried to regain control of her careening thoughts.
Fortunately, Mac had an idea about where they were heading. "You're worried that you won't be happy again." The straight-forward stating of it broke Rara out of her spiral and she pulled back to look at him with a mixture of taut tension at what was coming and relief that he'd puzzled out her meaning. "'S a natural worry," he continued. "Thing is, Ah figure you've done the hard part. You threw away what you had for the hope of findin' something better. That's what most ponies can't do. Takes courage. Now it's just rebuilding, and you already did that once. 'Course now? You've got a bunch more help than you did the first time."
"No Svengallop, though," Rara pointed out.
"Eenope. But you got Applejack. An' Rarity. An' Pinkie Pie an' Twilight." Mac bobbed his head with each name, ticking them off.
There was a moment of silence. "And you," Rara added.
Big Mac blushed.
"Thank you." Leaning her head in, Rara kissed Mac's flushed cheek.
And they both stopped, frozen in that moment as she came in contact with him. Quiet became silent and neither they nor the world took a breath. The tiny hairs of his coat tickled her lips as he slowly turned his head to face her. And his lips grazed hers.
Neither said anything, but that was fine. Long, slow kisses under the stars rarely need words.
They were three days into the harvest, and every part of Rara ached.
She had a brave face on and continued her work without complaint, but the 'a good kind of hard' from a week before had long since faded into knotted muscles and rivers of sweat that lacked any sort of quaint romance.
Lunch during harvest season was carefully managed - a break during the hottest part of the day to give everypony a chance to recuperate and avoid heat stroke. Even with autumn on the doorstep, a day's worth of heavy work still could drive a pony to exhaustion. An hour out of the sun with a glass of cool tea could refresh even the hardest worker and Rara had already learned how essential it was.
So Big Mac's suggestion that she come out to the western orchard instead of the house for lunch was a bit confusing.
She still went. Even just a few days had shown that Mac had a talent for sweetness that his Mark didn't show. He was a procession of the little things - a bit of extra cinnamon with her breakfast oats; the coolest water bottle in the heat of the day; a nuzzle or a quick kiss or a sly smile and wink whenever their eyes met; a single flower blossom on her nightstand as she went to bed. He was the quaint romance that the work lacked.
This outing proved no different. He was waiting for her under the shade of a red maple by the side of a mid-sized pond. A tire on a rope dangled from one of the branches, stretched out over the water and slightly swinging in the breeze. Near the trunk was a checkered picnic blanket with the meal already waiting - salad with strawberries and spinach, a crusty loaf of fresh bread, a wedge of thick-rinded cheese and a large pitcher of lemonade.
And of course Big Mac, sitting on the blanket and watching the pond as he pretended not to be nervously waiting for her.
Rara led with a kiss to the cheek before sitting down with him. Despite putting all her weight against him as she leaned, Big Mac barely seemed to register her pressing into his barrel aside from a growing smile.
"Romantic picnic lunch?"
"Eeyup."
"I've got no idea how you found the time to make this." Rara shook her head with a smile, rubbing her cheek against his neck. "It's wonderful, though. Really sweet."
Big Mac's cheeks blushed brighter. "Well. It ain't quite lunch yet."
Rara pulled back, blinking in confusion. "It's not?"
"Eenope." Mac rose up to his hooves. "Gotta wash up first."
It took about the same amount of time for Rara to process what he said as it did for her to register that she was airborne. It was just enough time for her to yelp - right before she hit the water in a mess of flailing limbs.
After a hard day of work in the sun, the sudden rush of cool water sent shivers through Rara as she wildly churned her way back to the surface. She came up with a gasp of air and got ready to shout a few curses at Big Mac - and was promptly interrupted by him hitting the water with an even bigger splash. The wave momentarily put her under again.
Sputtering, Rara swam over to Big Mac and his stupid, wide grin. "How dare you!" She splashed him indignantly. "Don't you know that I'm a star? I only get dunked into pools of expensive, imported water!" Rara pouted petulantly at him - for about five seconds. And then she broke into wild giggles.
His smile never faltered, not buying her rant for a moment.
Flipping onto her back, Rara kicked her legs to float over to him. "I stand corrected. A romantic swim and then a romantic picnic lunch." She floated past - darting her head over to kiss the side of his soaked neck. "You've really outdone yourself, Mac."
"Can't hardly say Ah'm courtin' you if Ah don't put the effort in," he observed as he treaded water.
She splashed a little wave in his direction. "You're a lot more doing than saying, mister." Rara stuck her tongue out. "Any pony would be flattered to have their special somepony treat them like you treat me."
A brief shadow flickered over Mac's face. "Gotta get it in while Ah still can," he quietly noted.
And that brought her banter to a stop, too.
"I do have to go back," she eventually pointed out.
"Ah know," he countered. "Not gonna try to stop you."
Rara stared up at the branch overhead and the sunlight filtering through the broad leaves. "I'm thankful for that. I don't want to have to choose between you and my career."
For a moment, Mac considered his words. "Not your career," he settled on. "You care 'bout the music."
"The bits are pretty nice." The words came out faster than she could think, and she immediately regretted them. Rara banged her head backwards against the water. "What I mean is that I enjoy being able to make a living while doing what I love. If I stayed here I could still sing and play, but not as much. It would be an occasional hobby - and I don't want that. Someday I'll have to retire from the stage, but I'm not ready yet."
A slight splash - and Big Mac pulled Rara by the leg and into a damp hug. "Ain't askin' you to. That wouldn't be right of me. You've got a life you're just gettin' the chance to fly with. Last thing you need's a different rock tyin' you down."
Rara tried to turn her head and glare at him, only to be foiled by the lack of leverage in the water. "You are not some rock weighing me down, Big Macintosh. Don't you even try pulling that with me."
"Yes'm, Granny Smith."
Rara shoved his head under the water. "Oh that's it! That's the last straw!"
Laughing, the pair thrashed and play-fought in the water - ending when Big Mac caught her lips with his in a long, slow kiss.
As it broke - because eventually they needed to breathe - he rested his forehead against hers. "'M serious, though," he gently pointed out. "Ah'll be here, no matter if you take a month or a decade."
"Not a decade." Rara was quick to put that thought down. "A few months, maybe. I know DJ Pon-3's producer tangentially, so I might be able to work something out so I can record my next album in her studio here. But then I'll have to go on tour again at some point." Hesitation and doubt crept into her voice. "That's a lot of time away, isn't it." Rara's whole body tightened, her tension rising. "Relationships are hard without one pony disappearing for months at a time. Maybe this won't--"
Mac cut her off with another kiss. This one, he held until she relaxed and her words stopped flowing. "Good things are worth waitin' for." He pressed a hoof to her chest. "You're a mighty good thing, Rara."
"I want to try." Her eyes locked with his. "I want this to work."
Big Mac nodded. "That makes two of us."
The leaves were already the color of apples - red and yellow and a riot of fiery shades. With the last harvest over, the trees had started their path into winter.
Rara's path was to the train station.
Each of Applejack's friends had hugged her in turn - the last being Rarity. "Now, do remember that letter of introduction I gave you," she reminded for the fifth time. "Coco is a darling and I'm certain she can solve your little image problem! She's quite brilliant, you know."
Rara laughed, giving the unicorn a reassuring pat. "I'm sure she is. Thank you." She turned to the rest of the crowd who had come to see her off. "Thank all of you. It's only been a few weeks but you've treated me like a friend you've had since foalhood."
"Well, that is true for some of us," Applejack drawled playfully.
Her reply was a tight hug. "And I've never been more thankful for it. You turned my life around, AJ. I'll never be able to repay you for everything you've done." Just as quickly, Rara cut off the protest she knew was coming the moment Applejack started to open her mouth. "Friendship isn't about repaying, I know. Let me say thank you, alright?"
Laughing, Applejack shrugged. "Well, alright. Since you insist."
They stepped back from each other, all smiles and only a little regret. "I'll be back," Rara assured. "Trust me, I have so many reasons to come back. Once I sort everything out and get my career on track, and then not an hour longer. You'll see me in Ponyville again before you know it."
Applejack nodded and gave her friend another squeeze before letting her go.
"And you'll see me again too." Rara darted in, giving Big Mac a quick kiss. He startled at the suddenness - but quickly returned the favor. Pulling her close, he kissed her for all he was worth - hard, fiery and unapologetic. The others stood in shock, gawking as he gave the kiss his all - and she gave back as good as she got.
When it finally broke, Mac was all smiles. "Eeyup."
Rara staggered slightly as she pulled away. Then with a slightly off-kilter giggle, she waved to her friends (old, new and colt) and boarded the train.
Barely recovered, Applejack spun to stare at her brother as he got a bro-hoof from Spike. "What in tarnation just happened?!"
Author's Note
Somehow Big Mac and Coloratura have never appeared in a story together on the site before. I have no idea how, you'd think they were a natural pair to interact!
Also this is story #100 for Coloratura! Milestones, baby!
