Watching Macintosh
Fluttershy was up before the dawn as usual. She had many little pets to care for. Birds, squirrels, cats, and all sorts of other little creatures would be relying on her for morning meals. She stuck her head outside and shivered. Early spring was not kind in the ways of early-morning weather. Cocking her head, she went back inside her quaint little home, found a scarf, and came back out. Much better. Poofing some air at her bangs, she tossed her pink hair to one side so she could see better.
Humming idly to herself, she went about her morning routine of getting fresh hay, putting various kinds of foods into tiny food bowls hidden all over the place, filling bird-feeders and the like. It actually took a lot of tedious work to care for so many little creatures, but she loved them all so much it didn’t matter. She went to bed quite early, and was able to rise early. Leaning forward on her hooves a bit, she arched her back and spread her wings to streeetch nicely. “Hahh…” she said, going limber again and trotting along. The sun was peeking over the horizon, sending a mild pink over the sky. No one was awake yet, it was too early. Well, almost no one. There was somepony else that was awake at this hour, no doubt doing his own morning work.
Fluttershy took gently to the skies like a drifting dandelion seed, the slightest breeze pushing her gracefully about while she travelled. She rode the thermals with a coy smile, tilting back and forth to keep her bodily momentum. She’d seen Rainbowdash do it while weaving between trees. It turned out one didn’t need to go mach ten to use the trick, and she’d adopted it after some practice. “Oh my, hullo. Yes, yes. Good morning.” She was nodding the night time creatures. The owls. The bats and crickets. All getting ready for their own sleeping cycles and paying little heed to the peaceful cream yellow Pegasus gliding by like a graceful butterfly. Her voice was whispy and calming, even the most skiddish of creatures enjoyed it.
Arriving at her destination after a brisk spring breeze helped her to her destination, she landed with all the presence of a single snowflake. Sinking into bushes of foliage, she sidled forward, blink-blinking her huge soft eyes. The Apple family orchard was below, in a valley of sorts. The green and red orbs didn’t even waver in the dawn breeze, but Fluttershy was not there to see apples. Cocking her head as her ear twitched a little, she listened to all the regular morning sounds, but found the one she wanted and smiled.
It was a heavy sound, like fifty-pound, dinnerplate-sized hooves striking the ground at a slow pace. Idle scraping sounds were occasionally followed by a stallion’s grunting of effort. Fluttershy suddenly smiled broadly despite herself, and a small dog’s squeaky toy sound accompanied the expression. Big Macintosh was out plowing the fields. He was a great red draft horse with a yoke about his shoulders and a short-cropped tail to match his mane. “Mmm.” Fluttershy heard herself say as she eyed him up and down. Both her hooves came up and covered her mouth as she sank into her hidey bushes. Big Macintosh had not heard, still plodding along with a distant expression of stalwart thought on his face. A pony could lose herself in those eyes. Fluttershy felt heat rise in her face and she shook her head a bit, hiding her face behind her two long rushes of pink mane hair. Parting them like curtains, she admired him when a rock got in his way. This was the best part of watching him some mornings.
Big Macintosh turned his head about, looking idly between his back legs to the plow, which was stuck on a stubborn rock. Gingerly undoing his harness but leaving the yoke on, he patiently turned about. He looked back and forth, checking to see if anyone was about. Fluttershy held her breath, well within shadow. Satisfied no one watched him, Big Macintosh reared up and rudely CRUSHED the rock ‘neath his massive hooves. Shards scattered in a magnificent display. Fluttershy shivered with admiration, as though she were watching it in glorious slow motion. The coil of the muscles, the shudder of the body, the holding of the breath in that great big barrel chest of his. Then the roll of thunder as he brought it all down on the obstacle, shattering it with his clodhopper hooves. Exhilirating! “Yay—” Fluttershy said with her soft and whispy enthusiasm, settling onto her belly while she watched him.
Rock out of the way? “Eeyup.” He said to himself. Big Macintosh shifted the sprig of wheat in his mouth from one side to the other. Re-harnessing himself to the plow, he continued on. The apple orchard was slowly growing, and the Apple family relied on him for the heavy work like plowing. Morning exercise for him, less to worry about for the Apple family.
Boing.
Fluttershy’s brows rose and she looked back at herself. Her wings had gone completely rigid in the open position, like a flagpole raised up behind her. Panicking and hoping she was not given away, she quickly looked out into the field. Big Macintosh was looking her way! She held her breath and rolled onto her side, careful not to lay on any loud twigs or leaves. Gulping, she lay there with her heart thumping. Big Macintosh blink-blinked at the shadowy end of the bushes surrounding the fields, one hoof lifted quizzically. Not seeing or hearing anything else, he dismissed the sudden appearance of bright yellow something-or-other on his peripheral vision as a spark of his imagination. Fluttershy heard him continue plodding along in the field, and let out a sigh of relief. Her wings stock still where they were, she grunted a little to make them fold down again. Nothing, they were stuck that way. Worrying and huffing lightly, she decided to find bigger bushes so she could hide thus. Sidling along through the slowly waning darkness of the rising sun, she found bigger bushes on the other side of a string of apple trees. It was closer to the Apple family house, but no one else was awake yet, surely. She was safe for a little while longer, before she would need to retreat for the day.
Fluttershy tilted her head to one side, admiring Big Macintosh going up and down the fields. Such a handsome thing. She felt the heat rising when she heard a soft crunch-crunching sound next to her. “Mornin’ Sugar-philly.” It was Applejack, staring at her with a cocked eyebrow and a wry smile while she chewed on the day’s first apple.
“Oh, good morning Applejack.” Fluttershy said dreamily, not taking her eyes off of Big Macintosh. Then, the greeting registered and she gave a girlish shriek, falling over as though she were suddenly a porcelain figurine with a panicked expression on her face. Her wings resisted the fall, being completely rigid, and she came to rest as a very impressive forty-five degree angle. “H-h-hi.” She stuttered, withdrawing her burning face into her pink, curtain-like hair. Busted!
Applejack kindly righted her, and Fluttershy began to shake uncontrollably as her back knees knocked together. Busted! So very busted! “How long ya’ll been makin’ googly eyes at Big Macintosh, huh?” she said, poking her head out to see what sort of view Flutteryshy had been getting. “Ohh, ah see how ya’ll are.” She said, withdrawing and chuckling. Big Macintosh was going up the rows at the moment, which provided an excellent view of his back flank. On the way back, he was easy to study from the front. Fluttershy turned a deeper red. Where she’d been originally had been a perfectly innocent profile view! If her wings hadn’t gone rigid and given her away she’d have been fine over in her other hiding spot! Fluttershy mumbled, looking every which way but Applejack. “Uh huh?” Applejack said, leaning forward some. “Whut was that, sugar?” she cocked her ear. Fluttershy withdrew into her hair a bit more, mumbling even softer. “Whut now?” Applejack came uncomfortably close. “Huh?!” Fluttershy squeaked nervously, what may have been words but embarrassment and shyness had squeezed anything intelligible from them. “Uhh, right.” The cowgirl pony retreated a bit after a long and awkward silence. But soon the wry smile returned. “So Big Macintosh, huh?” she said. Fluttershy looked at her, ashamed and very embarrassed. Another long silence of shyness. “Ya’ll might wanna maybe go talk with him at some point?” Fluttershy said nothing in return to the southernly-inclined farm pony, only sat there and burned in her own red-faced expression. “Hey, are your wings okay?” she said, leaning some to one side. “They look stuck.”
Fluttershy bolted, teeth clenched and eyes squeezed shut. “Oh-mi-gosh-I-can’t-believe-I-got-OOMPH!” she hadn’t looked which direction she’d been bolting and had run headlong into Big Macintosh himself. He’d stopped when she bounced off his flank, like a beach ball hitting a brick wall. Being all muscle, he’d not even stutter-stepped.
“Well that’s one way to do it!” Fluttershy could hear Applejack grumbling from the bushes.
Big Macintosh’s head slowly swerved about to get a look at what had run into him so suddenly. His large eyes blink-blinked at her, and the sprig of wheat shifted from one side of his mouth to the other. He lowered his neck and head down to get a good look at her. Fluttershy gasped, looking up at him with a terrified expression of embarrassment. How could she have run and run exactly into him!? “H-h-h-h-hi Big Macintosh.” She brought up a nervous smile as she tried to right herself with rigid wings and a rattled sense of balance. “N-nice morning.”
“Eeyup.” He said, bobbing his great head a few times. She got a closer look at his handsome face, so close to him. Trying to scramble to her hooves, she fell a bit with a yelp, holding one hoof up. Twisted. Big Macintosh hrrrm’d wordlessly, giving his rump a toss to be rid of the plow. Leaning down and letting her lean on him, he helped her upright.
“O-oh, thank you.” She whisped out like her voice might shatter something if she talked too loudly.
“Eeyup.” He said in his deep syrupy voice.
“I-I-I really must be going. I’m sorry I ran into you!” she worked the muscles of her shoulder-blades, but her wings still would not obey. What was this nervous tension that grounded her like this?! “I gotta go!” she said, making to start running away, but almost somersaulted over herself when her ankle screamed with pain. She stopped, holding one hoof up and staring at it with tears in her eye.
“Nnnope.” Big Macintosh shook his head at her. Clip-clopping with massive hooves, he slowly made his way to her, then settled onto his belly beside her. He gestured with a toss of his mane what she should do.
Applejack was watching from afar and out of earshot, and blinked with amazement as Fluttershy meekly got onto her brothers back and lay like a sack of potatoes. “Now ya’ll gotta be kiddin’ me.” She said, munching on her breakfast apple and cocking her head. This was a scene to behold, Big Macintosh carrying Fluttershy on his back like that. He crossed the field, not towards the house but towards the barn. The poor thing looked ridiculous and small on her brother’s back, her wings seemingly frozen in place and her expression both happy and a little frightened at the same time. Applejack felt her cheeks rise into a sort of giggly smile.
A few minutes later, Big Macintosh emerged pulling a small green wagon with Fluttershy in tow. It was usually meant for hauling apples, the scent of the vehicle told her, but it was comfortable for one pony to ride in. “Y-you’re taking me home?” she said meekly from the pile of straw in the wagon.
“Eeyup.” He said, nodding a few times. Walking confidently forward, he found the road and started on the way back to Ponyville. The ride back was slow and eas-going, and eventually Fluttershy’s wings relaxed and un-seized themselves. She flapped them idly, but laid them down when Big Macintosh checked on her over his shoulder. She smiled shyly at him, and he shot her a confident smile, wheat sprig and all.
They made it to the town at last, and just happened to pass Twilight Sparkle on the street, doing some morning grocery shopping. She stopped when she saw Fluttershy’s reflection go by in a store window. She turned about, opening her mouth to call out to her, then took in the whole scene. Big Macintosh? Wagon? Fluttershy? The gears didn’t take long to turn when she saw Fluttershy’s expression. Sitting on her haunches, wings all the way open, happy-embarrassed. It was the sort of pleased expression that went with the very self-conscious pony when she was genuinely happy about something and was really glowing on the inside. Fluttershy and Big Macintosh? Twilight Sparkle blink-blinked, her mouth a little agape, and she scratched her head. Huh.
The End
