The Mailmare and the Farmer

Ditzy awoke early the next morning feeling excited at meeting the new colt, she still held high hopes that he would be somepony that she could be friends with.  As she cleaned herself up for the day she smiled in the mirror, she felt that this day was going to be better then the last.  After she combed her mane she put a few of the muffins that she kept for lunches in a bag and walked out the door, she could see the early morning sun peeking over the high hills in the distance, the air was cold but it didn't bother the filly.

She usually left early to avoid dealing with the other students, this also allowed her to take her time and think on the way, which on this day was filled with the thoughts of the new student, she imagined him being tall and strong, since he did work on a farm for the majority of his life.  She almost skipped down the streets on the way to the schoolhouse, the sun finally began to shine down on the cold ground and warming her fur.

As she approached the schoolhouse she was surprised to see a pony already standing outside, she could tell that he was a colt judging by his short orange mane.  He seemed almost bored sitting there, his eyes almost looked half closed as if he was sleep walking, his fur was a very sharp scarlet and a large green apple represented his cutie mark.

She walked up to the colt cautiously.  "Umm... hello."

This got the colt's attention, he turned and looked at her, when he spoke his voice already had a deep baritone voice.  "Howdy."

"Are you the new colt?"

He nodded his head.  "Eeyup."

She stuck out her hoof to her fellow student.  "Nice to meet you, my name is Ditzy Doo, what's your name?"

He returned the shake, it was very firm.  "Big Macintosh."  He looked her straight in the eyes, a small smile spread across his face, it was rather shy for a pony so large.

They both waited for the school to open, it was extremely early for anypony to be there yet, Ditzy didn't know what to say to him, it wasn't that he was unapproachable, it was that she really didn't know what to say, most ponies would've already said something about her eyes, but this one didn't, which was a very good sign.  So far so good...

She scratched the back of her head.  "So where are you from Big Macintosh?"

He looked out towards the edge of town.  "Sweet Apple Acres, it's a little ways out of town, but still within walkin' distance."

"What do you farm?"  After she spoke she wanted to hit herself.  He pretty much already said!

He chuckled.  "Apples of course, but we can grow a whole lot more then that."

"Do you like being a farmer Big Macintosh?"

He shrugged.  "Call me Big Mac, and yes I do like farming, its what mah family has done for the longest time."

They lapsed into silence, Ditzy didn't really want to bother the farmpony anymore then she already had, some of the other students began to show up, which caused Ditzy to become a little nervous.

She already played through a few scenarios in mind, this could be that she would get bullied and Big Mac wouldn't do anything, or this could play out that Big Mac would join in on the bullying in order to fit in better, either way she began to brace herself for the inevitable.

"Look its Derpy and the new colt, you already making him lose braincells?"  The pony that spoke was one of the meanest around, she was a very spoiled filly who seemed to always get her way with the other students, she was always surrounded by a group of her "friends", that meaning that they joined in with her in order not to be picked on.

She glanced at Big Mac, she wasn't going to say anything back to the snotty filly, but she really wanted to see what Big Mac was going to do, she was surprised to see a frown spread across his face.

"What are you talkin' about?"  The filly was surprised to see him take up for Ditzy.

"Don't you see her eyes?"  She pointed accusingly at the pegasus.

He looked into her eyes, his being a deep emerald, he didn't betray any emotions with his gaze.  "No, ah don't see anything wrong."  He shifted his gaze back to the surprised filly, she didn't comeback with anything.

Eventually Ms. Oak finally got to the school building, nopony bothered to mess with Macintosh and Ditzy after him fending against the mare.  They quickly filed into the building and sat in their seats, some of the other stallions tried to get Big Mac to sit near them, claiming that he wouldn't want to sit near Ditzy, but once again he defended her saying that there wasn't anything wrong with her, so he took the seat that was right next to Ditzy.

Class started and many of the students were whispering back and forth to one another, some cast angry looks at the scarlet stallion, but he ignored them, unfazed by their looks.  Ditzy was impressed by his ability to simply ignore all of the glares, it warmed her heart that he was being kind to her, and for the first time in a long while she actually enjoyed class.