The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when Twilight Sparkle, prized pupil of Princess Celestia, awoke from her slumber. The last few days of bad weather had put a dampener on her recent… experiments, but today was going to be sunny skies all day long! Despite not normally a morning pony, Twilight was feeling pretty chipper.
She cast a muffling spell on her hooves, not wanting to wake the baby dragon that slumbered in the basket at the foot of her bed. The… experiments she had been working on were top secret, one she couldn’t tell her number one assistant about. She silently made her way downstairs and fixed herself a hearty breakfast as well as a packed lunch. Her recent experiment often left her with little energy afterwards, so she taken to eating a bit more in the mornings.
Twilight left a quick note for Spike, saying that after his chores were done he could do what he liked. She placed a small pouch of Bits on the table next to the note in case he wanted to go out and after triple checking her checklist of the mornings routine, she left, failing to notice a pair of green, serpentine eyes watching her from the top of the stairs.
*~*
She’d catch him this time, no doubt about it! Well, at least that’s what Applejack told herself as she watched her older brother pack away the heavy farm tools and buckets full of apples. In recent days, he’d been waking up hours earlier to get all his chores done by mid-morning. While he’d occasionally done so before, if he’d ever had some other place to be, but he’d never done it several days in a row before, Applejack was starting to get a little worried. Was somepony taking advantage of him?
“But every time ah follow him, he vanishes… jus’ where the heck are ya going Big Mac?” Several thoughts had occurred to her, the number one place going to Mac meeting a mare in secret. Applejack had decided to bring the topic up with her friends yesterday, with varied results.
~~~
“Big Mac’s sneaking off?” Rainbow repeated. “Maybe he’s working on a super-secret-cider recipe?”
“Nonsense darling!” Rarity replied vehemently. “Given the fact that he has the eye of almost every mare in Ponyville, why I’ll place my wager on that he’s meeting one in secret.”
“Ooh, Ooh, Maybe Maccy’s a super spy!” Pinkie waved her hooves in the air… all four of them… without falling. “He’s working for the Crown and protects our nation’s secrets… like Princess Celestia’s real age and weight and why nopony will let me buy coffee!”
“Perhaps he has a hobby that he wants to keep secret?” Fluttershy asked, tucking something away in her saddlebags, something that looked like a ball of wool. “Everypony is entitled to a secret or two.”
Twilight didn’t reply, she was muzzle deep in a thick book about something Applejack couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
“Well, ah don’t like it!” Applejack said. “He’s never kept a secret from me before… so why now?”
~~~
“Well, ah’ll get to the bottom of this, no matter what!” The stubborn Earth Pony stomped a hoof with a determined grunt. Big Macintosh was now making his way towards Ponyville and AJ hurried after him, sticking to the tree line next to the road to avoid detection.
*~*
Twilight sat at a small café, one she frequented often due to their delicious daisy sandwiches. But this was the first time she had would be meeting him here. They always met at different locations, making harder for somepony to follow them. A nearby bush blinked as it watched Twilight giggle and then blush fiercely.
“Just what the heck are you doing Twilight?” The small dragon concealed within the bush wondered to himself. He was used to Twilight going out with her friends often enough, but this was with somepony he didn’t know. He’d asked Rarity yesterday afternoon when he was assisting her. The beautiful Unicorn had paused before answering, but giggled and said that none of her usual friends was meeting with Twilight in the mornings.
So just who was she meeting? It didn’t have anything to do with the Princesses, otherwise Spike would have received a letter about it, and Twilight would have told him.
His answer came soon enough when somepony approached Twilight… A very familiar red stallion in fact.
“Hey there Big Mac!” Twilight greeted him with a smile. “Right on time as usual.”
“Eeyup,” he grunted a greeting. “Ah actually thought ah was runnin’ a little late.”
“Well, you are exactly one-point-oh-three minutes behind your usual time,” Twilight replied. “But I don’t think it’s much of a problem.”
“Big Macintosh? She’s meeting with him?” Spike pondered and then let out a muffled yelp when somepony leapt into his bush. He turned to see Applejack crouching next to him.
“Applejack!?” Spike said with a hushed tone. “What the hay!?”
“Huh? Spike?” AJ paused, not expecting her hiding bush to already have an occupant. “Whut in tarnation are you doin’ in here?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Spike replied. “But seeing as how your brother’s over there, I can already guess.”
Applejack paused and then peered through the leaves. And saw that Spike was correct, Big Mac was having a cheery conversation with Twilight.
“What the what? Twilight’s the one that been meeting with Big Mac!?” Applejack put a hoof to her mouth. That was something she hadn’t expected.
“It seems so,” Spike replied. “I was curious as to what Twilight was up to in the mornings. Meeting Big Mac was not on my guessing checklist.”
“Y’all made a checklist?” Applejack laughed.
“You try living with Twilight and not developing the habit,” Spike defended himself.
Little did they know, their conversation had left the lands of whispering and now two ponies were frowning as they listened in on it.
“I take it that you couldn’t sneak away either?” Twilight asked with a monotone voice.
“Eeyup,” Macintosh groaned. “What do we do?”
“Well, it’ll cost a bit more energy, but we don’t have a choice.” She gave the stallion a salacious grin, “Ready to go?”
Mac nodded, knowing what was coming. “Eeyup!”
Just as Spike and AJ finished arguing, there was a flash of light and a ‘pop’ and Twilight and Mac vanished into thin air.
The two concerned siblings emerged from the bush, realising that they’d been found out and that their targets had escaped with teleportation.
The two sighed as they looked at each other. “Aw ponyfeathers!”
*~*
Some hours later, a breathless Twilight and Macintosh lay in the empty field they had spent the day in.
“I think I’m getting better at this,” Twilight smiled. “As they say, practise makes perfect~”
“Eeyup,” Macintosh grinned. He had been a bit apprehensive at first, not even knowing how he was going to ask Twilight to help him. In the end, he had swallowed his pride and taken a risk… and surprisingly enough, Twilight had been open to the idea.
Ever since then, they’d met up almost every day and Big Macintosh couldn’t have been happier. He was like living a dream and the sky was the limit.
But he knew that they’d cut it close today. Applejack was getting more and more determined, and Big Macintosh wasn’t sure how long he could keep it a secret.
“What’s on your mind?” Twilight asked him. “Is it about Aj and Spike catching us?”
The stallion nodded. “Ah don’t know whut to do. If AJ finds out about our little secret, then ah’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Spike really looks up to you, and Applejack respects you like no other,” Twilight replied. “You shouldn’t feel guilty for enjoying this, it’s only natural to want something you’ve never had before.”
Mac nodded, “An’ it’s thanks to you that ah can have it… but, AJ’s proud, an’ stubborn… and ah don’t know if she can accept this.”
“Macintosh… I-” Twilight never got to finish her sentence before the sound of hooves thudding on the ground caught their attention. The two ponies turned to see Applejack running up to them, Spike clinging to her back.
“A-Applejack!?” Mac stammered as she cantered over to them, her face creased with a deep scowl
“Big Macintosh Apple!” she said sternly. “Just whut in tarnation do ya think yer doin’? Sneakin’ off with Twilight and…” The mare paused as she realised that she still had no idea what the two ponies were up to. But a quick look around told her everything. The grass had been flattened in several places, both Mac and Twilight had messed manes and looked exhausted, their coats shined with a thin layer of sweat.
“Y’all got five seconds to explain yerselves!”
“Well, uh that is…” Big mac froze as he wilted under the stern gaze of his little sister.
“An’ Twilight!” Applejack fixed her glare on her as well. “Sneakin off with mah big brother and leavin’ Spike by himself. That aint responsible, not in the slightest!”
“Well, I can look after myself” Spike felt the need to defend his big sister. He’d put two and two together here and he couldn’t be prouder. Twilight Sparkle was finally getting some!
“T’aint the point,” AJ said. “If they aint doing anything wrong, then why do they gotta sneak around like this?”
“Hmm, well… you do have a point there I suppose,” Spike agreed. Yes he was proud, but this was some fine blackmail material for later as well.
Twilight suddenly turned bright red, as did Macintosh. “Wait, you think that Big Mac and I, that we’re…”
“Well what else could it be?” AJ said. “Y’all sneak off all day, yer more tired than Rainbow Dash after a lecture and yer bein’ all sneaky about the whole thing!”
That was it, secrets be damned. As a stallion of pride and honour, Big Macintosh wasn’t about to let Twilight’s reputation be besmirched all because he wanted a little wish fulfilment. He stamped the ground with a hoof, causing his sister to jump at the sudden movement.
“Now look here AJ!” he started. “Ah won’t stand by while you talk about yer brother and yer best friend like that!”
“Big mac, ah-” Applejack started, but Mac raised a hoof to silence her.
“The reason we sneak off is because ah’m helping her practise magic. She’s practicing her ‘wings’ spell, so she can cast it more easily. So ah get mah wish of being able to fly and Twilight’s gets to practise her magic. Got it?”
Applejack and Spike paused. So they weren’t together? Twilight was just practising and Big Mac wanted to fly?
“Y-you never told me y’all wanted to fly,” AJ said quietly. “And how did you know Twilight could use that spell anyway?”
“Cause yer friend Rarity mentioned it last week,” Mac replied. “And yeah, ah’m an Earth Pony… but ah’ve always wanted to fly… Is that a problem?”
Applejack was stunned, but quickly snapped out of it and shook her head. “No, it’s not a problem at all. Ah don’t know why you didn’t tell me sooner Mac.”
Big Mac scuffed at the round with his hoof, all his bravado petering out. “Ah dunno, ah figured that y’all might laugh at me, flappin’ about with pretty rainbow wings.”
Applejack snorted in amusement. “While that is a mighty entertainin’ thought, ah’d never laugh at a pony fer wantin’ to live their dreams.” Applejack gave her brother a hug and smiled warmly.
“Why don’t you practise on the farm tomorrow? Ah’d like to see you fly myself.”
The stallion nodded and after saying their apologies and goodbyes, AJ and Spike let them be and Twilight soon found herself alone with Big Mac once more.
“See?” Twilight smiled, leaning up against him. “That wasn’t so hard.”
“I suppose yer right,” Big Mac leaned down and gave the Unicorn a little nuzzle. “Ah’m jus’ glad they didn’t show up during our ‘cooling down’ exercises…”
“Eeyup~” Twilight giggled and then pounced on him, eager to ‘cool down’ some more…
Author's Note
Yeah, so I wrote this on a whim after seeing a rather amusing comic. (Based on this comic)
I hope you all liked it.
