Forced

"So how'd you like not getting fired the other day?" Diamond rested her hooves under her chin as she watched the red pony wrestle with the pitchfork in his teeth, only for him to drop it with a sigh.

"Very funny." Macintosh chose not to look at the little filly as he crossed the barn. Late afternoon sunlight shown just between the wooden board walls of the barn, a thin stream of light resting upon a sack of sunflower seeds. Macintosh ducked his head into it, filling one side of his mouth before he returned to work.

"Ooo is that grouchiness I'm hearing" Diamond pushed herself up from the grain sack she was laying on in order to rest her front hooves on her hips.

"What're ya doin' here anyway?" Macintosh said around his mouth full of seeds, taking care not to spit as he addressed the filly. Diamond settled back down on the grain sacks with a small smirk on her face.

"I came to play to with Applebloom." she said as she crossed her back legs, her fronts resting under her chin again.

"An' why exactly did ya not leave with her to Scootaloo's?" Macintosh paused his rummaging through the toolbox he had picked up. It had seemed he had misplaced several flathead screwdrivers.

"Cause I've already got my Cutie Mark, therefore I wouldn't need to go with them to try weightlifting." She paused and inspected the scuffed corner of one hoof. "I doubt Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo will keep up with Applebloom though."

"Pickin' favorites?" Where exactly did the brand new screw boxes go?

"Pssh...it's called biology." Diamond Tiara asked back, buffing the scuff out against her chest fur.

"Scootaloo don't seem tough to ya?" He made a mental note to pick up more lumber from town later, the stock in the barn was awfully low.

Diamond dropped the hoof she was polishing and emphasized her reply by starting it off with a scoff.

"Does Rainbow Dash seem very tough to you?"

Macintosh spit a number of empty seeds out through the barn door and answered without looking at the filly.

"Seems like a lot o' hot air to me."

"Exactly. I feel like puking every time she talks about 'saving Ponyville from evil!'." She deepened her voice a bit in her best imitation of the resident Element of Harmony, even going as far as flapping her hooves in placement of the mare's wings.

"An' that's how you see Scootaloo?" The stallion tried not to picture Scootaloo, her tiny wings buzzing about, "saving the day" and bragging about it to anypony that would listen.

"That's how I call it." The filly answered with a nod. "You almost done in here by the way? I'm bored."

"Not sure why ya came in here in tha first place." Macintosh smirked as the filly jumped up, an expression on her face like somepony had told her she was tubby.

"Well EXCUSE me! I'm just trying to be nice and talk to a pony that spends all his time in an hayfield." The filly jumped down from her grain sacks and stood waiting for a response from Macintosh.

"Well?" She asked, after no sound but the clinking of nails met her question.

"Well what?" The stallion asked, again not bothering to look at her as he rooted through his toolboxes again.

"...You're not as fun as Applebloom." She marched up to Macintosh before he could question her statement and held out her hoof. "My name is Diamond Tiara by the way, I don't think I introduced myself the other day."

Macintosh fidgeted with the seeds in his mouth before he held out a hoof to shake the filly's. She had a weak shake, but it was a good try for a filly of her age.

"Macintosh Apple. Um...Big Mac, fer short."

"Mhm. Big Macintosh." She said with a wry smile.

"Yeah I know." Macintosh replied with a sigh, the gimmick of his name having lost its charm many many years ago. He took his hoof back with a small smile, perhaps now thinking a bit more highly of the filly who had pulled a fast one on him only days before.

"Ya plan on getting out of this barn anytime soon though?" Diamond kicked at the dirt floor, now not caring that she was probably scuffing her hooves again.

"Suppose I could have a bite ta eat. I'm supposin' you wanna come too?"

"About time don't you think?" She led the way through the barn doors into the late afternoon sun. It was rapidly sinking on the horizon, painting shadows here and there along the fence-line. An hour ago, when Diamond had first walked into the barn, the heat had been doing its best to slow her trot. Now it seemed to caress her muscles and tickle the fur with occasional breezes.

"You don't talk much do you?" Diamond asked the towering figure next to her. He spit the remaining seeds out into the tall grass near the fence and shook his head.

"Nope."

Diamond cocked a smile and trotted faster to keep up with the slow yet large strides the stallion was taking.

"I wish I had more friends like that." She said simply, not actually expecting Macintosh to reply. And of course the pony did not, but rather simply smiled.

The two were met with supple aromas wafting about when they entered the Apple family home. Granny Smith had apparently just prepared dinner for her grandchildren, two hungry from working the farm and another from what had probably turned out to be a life or death situation. Typical Applebloom.

"Granny ya mind settin' up for one more? Ms. Diamond's gonna be joinin' us." Big Macintosh motioned for Diamond to join Granny in the kitchen.

"And whatta about you? Yer lookin' a bit thin lately Macintosh Apple." Granny shook her ladle at him, one end slick with soup broth.

"Gonna bathe first." Macintosh motioned with his neck towards the stairs. Indeed, accumulated mud and sweat didn't seem very comfortable to wear needlessly.

"Well, come on young un', let's get ya fed. Where's yer pa by the way?" the old mare asked, leaning upon the stove where a pot of vegetable soup sat in wait.

"He's at home. He was sick this morning when I woke him up." Her Daddy had indeed fell ill that morning, as evidenced by the gagging and chokes she had heard beyond the bathroom door.

Granny sighed as she ladled out the thick soup. The poor stallion seemed like he had been doing better by the end of his last visit, but she was no fool.

"How bout' I just put some for you an' your pa in somethin' ta carry home?" Granny asked, already reaching for a large plastic container on the dish shelf above the sink.

"Well...he probably did forget to eat again." Diamond, having already pulled a chair back at the kitchen table to sit in, pushed it back in politely with the top of her head.

"Macintoooosh? Macintosh Apple!" Granny did not wait between her fussy calls for the stallion to answer back. There was a commotion heard just above the kitchen, on the second floor where Macintosh's room was. A few seconds later found the pony trudging back down the stairs with a towel slung about his neck where his plow collar had previously been.

"Granny?" He asked, standing just on the last stair in case he was allowed to return to his business.

"Walk this young un' home," Granny hobbled over to Macintosh, carrying the nearly the thick vegetable soup in a red topped plastic container, "and be careful not ta spill this on yer way. It's for Filthy and the lil' missus."

Macintosh sighed and rubbed a hoof over his eyes. The bathwater that was waiting for him would surely be cold once he returned, and he simply didn't have it in him to waste the water by draining it. Slinging his towel over the railing of the stairs, Macintosh descended the rest of the stairs.

As Granny balanced the container on the lower portion of his back he nearly asked where Applejack was and if by chance she was not busy. But, with a glance at the filly in the kitchen, he supposed that Diamond was no more AJ's responsibility than she was his.

"Alrighty then Miss Diamond, tell your pa I said hi."

"Mhm." Diamond nodded at the elderly mare as she went to sit down in her rocker, forgetting entirely that she had been preparing dinner for her grandson and her soon to be arriving granddaughters.

Big Macintosh held the screen door open for the filly as she pranced out into the rapidly dying sunlight. Crickets and all sorts of insect life were already chirping loudly in the tall grasses of Sweet Apple Acres (thank goodness Twilight had figured out a way to implement magic to replace pesticides). A slight breeze had picked up, a welcome change from the heat of the day.

The two made their way down from the porch and onto the dirt road back to Ponyville. Aside from the drone of the insects, no sounds were exchanged. The two simply walked casually away down the road, Diamond every once in a while sneaking peeks at the stallion next to her.

"You look weird without that collar thing." Diamond said suddenly, her voice breaking through the white noise of the insect chirps.

"How?" Macintosh said with his usual bored voice, although he was actually a bit curious.

"Ya look lopsided." She said simply. Her eyes darted away from Macintosh and back again as the silence went on, like he was expecting more of an answer. "That's it."

Big Macintosh scratched at his neck with the back of a hoof, suddenly feeling quite naked on the dirt road. He didn't usually think much of what other ponies thought of his appearance, but his collar was quite nearly a second skin. And for a filly to point it out, somepony he couldn't truly argue with....

"It's too hot to be wearin' it anyway." Macintosh said, hoping she'd drop the subject.

"It's always too hot here. Ponyville weather is the pits." She grumbled back darkly.

"Ya like it cold?"

"I like the weather being NORMAL. The weather team here is always doing something stupid." Diamond paused and added with a frown, "But then I guess that IS normal here."

"What do ya mean? Ya don't like Ponyville?" He looked down at her this time, watching the frown deepen just a bit.

"Don't even get me started." She said, and even though Macintosh said nothing in response, she "started" anyway.

"School is lame, the ponies there are stupid, except Silver Spoon of course, there's no place any good to shop, everypony can't keep themselves out of MY business." She adjusted her tiara with a hoof as she went on, trying to keep her voice cool about the content.

"I just wish I was in Canterlot. At least there would be something to do everyday."

Macintosh thought about this for a moment. What WAS there to do for fun? Well there was Sugarcube Corner of course, what with Pinkie Pie there. That was one thing, but past that Macintosh found himself racking his brain for an answer. Ponyville simply wasn't that interesting of a place when it wasn't being attacked by a giant monster of some sort, which actually wasn't all that exciting as it was traumatic.

"Uuuuhhh what about Applebloom and her friends? Ya gettin' along with em'? Ya should bring round that Silver Spoon pony."

"Yeah..." Diamond huffed and replied in a voice barely higher than a whisper. Had Silver Spoon not been busy with her (pointless) piano lessons, her and Diamond would probably be eating ice cream in her room right now. She already had some serious damage control coming her way when Silver found out she'd been giving the Cutie Mark losers ideas.

"I'll talk ta Applebloom later. I imagine ya lied ta cover up for those three ditchin' ya."

Diamond's brow raised and she turned to look at Macintosh's thoughtful expression.

"I don't really care--"

"No Miss Diamond I'm thinkin' I understand right well what's goin' on. I know Granny told her ta be nicer to ya--well ...yeah." Macintosh trailed off, realizing his mistake. He snuck a glance at the filly, hoping she didn't realize the Apple family pitied her. Pitied her loss.

Thankfully, she didn't retaliate at Macintosh's words. But she understood what Macintosh meant, evident my her firmly closed jaw and her eyes that trailed the rocks and gravel at her hooves.

"I didn't mean ta..." Macintosh began softly.

"No, it's fine." Diamond quickly cut him off and raised her head with a curt sniff. "I just try not to think about it."

Macintosh was not naive enough to believe that though, but he did have to commend her performance as an actor. Her father, perhaps because of his business savvy nature, had taught her how to make a lie believable.

"Well...I mean uh...you're more n' welcome ta talk to me, if ya need to." Macintosh kept his eyes firmly on the road in front of him. In his mind, doing so made him feel less awkward about the sincere offer to the filly.

"Yeah well don't bank on it," Diamond said, but added a few seconds later, "thank you though."

"Mhm." The stallion nodded and remained silent as they reached the main streets of Ponyville, where several ponies were locking up for the evening.