Scarlet Foal

Chapters

Beach Bully
At a loss
Money
Incoming
Welcome to the World
Big Mac
Old Friend
Wonderbolts
Paparazzi
Reconcile
Ringing
Kinky
Epilogue
Epilogue two
The real end
Bad Day

Beach Bully

A/N; Hello and welcome to the sequel of Gentle Red. If you haven’t read it I would suggest you do, but I think you can make it without reading it. Thank you all coming and I appreciate reviews. I also thank my beta reader BlackRoseRaven. If any of you have ideas for the foal I would love to hear them.

Ditzy yawned as she opened her eyes to the blinding sunlight that crept through the window, the smell of the night before still evident on the sheets. She smiled as she felt her husband's leg holding her tight to him. It was unusual that she woke up before Macintosh, but she enjoyed the feeling of him caressing her. She couldn't break out of his tight hold even if she wanted to. She felt Macintosh's strong heart and steady breathing, it was comforting.

Carrot Top's timeshare was very nice. It was close to the ocean, and it had a lot of things to do and see, although Ditzy had seen how much this timeshare cost Carrot Top, and was glad that she didn't have to pay for it. The timeshare itself was a small beach cabin with a porch and a living area, not that they spent much time in the living area.

Ditzy was surprised at how she suffered a lot less morning sickness and cravings than her second pregnancy, with the unborn Honeydew. Even though it was very early on in the pregnancy, Ditzy worried about the foal all the time, but she didn't let it get in her way.

Macintosh rolled over in his sleep, releasing Ditzy from his tight grasp. Ditzy rolled herself quietly out of bed. She stretched her muscles to get the sleepiness out of them. She opened her wings and gave them a good stretch as well.

She looked over at Macintosh, and smiled. She was glad she had this time to spend with him, alone. Applejack had, surprisingly, taken Dinky in for the week. Macintosh thought it was a good idea, because Applejack and Applebloom were kind of her aunts now. Ditzy still called though, just to make sure everything was okay.

Macintosh yawned, and clicked his mouth a few times. The honeymoon had been great so far. It made her feel a little sad, because as soon as they got back Macintosh would have to go back to work, and so would she.
Ditzy opened the curtains, letting the flood of light come in to the room. Big Macintosh grunted and yawned, as he turned away from the light. She saw his eyes half open, green irises reflecting the morning glow.

"Good morning, Hon." Ditzy greeted her still half-asleep husband. Big Macintosh shook his head, clearing the clouds of sleep from his eyes.

"Mornin', Sugar Cube." He responded with a yawn. He raised his large form from out of the bed. "Ya want to go for breakfast?"

The resort served a very nice free breakfast. Ditzy was partial to the delicious banana-nut muffins they served. Ditzy looked at herself then to Macintosh. "We might want to clean up a bit first."

Big Macintosh nodded in agreement. He walked to the bathroom and started the large bath. It was just the perfect size for Macintosh and Ditzy. Macintosh called to her: "Ya coming?"

______

Ditzy felt squeaky clean, as they walked to the resort house. Ditzy fluttered onto Big Macintosh's back, happy to let Macintosh carry her to breakfast. He smiled as he felt her weight on his back. She didn't weigh enough to slow him down at all.

The sun was already beating down on the beach with hot rays. Salty sea air blew in from the ocean to cool the ground just a little. It all added to the atmosphere as Ditzy ate her muffin.

She nibbled on it, as Macintosh was still grabbing food of the buffet. He eventually sat down across from her with a plateful of pancakes and toast, and lots of other food.

"Geez. You got enough food there?" Ditzy asked him. He gave her a sly smile, and took a bite of his pancakes.

"Ah worked up a mighty appetite." Macintosh responded. Ditzy felt her cheeks warm up a little. Instead of responding, she just took another bite of her muffin. Macintosh gave a satisfied smile as he continued to eat.

Ditzy was only on her second muffin when Macintosh went up to get a third full plate. Ditzy was still awed at the amount he could eat, and yet he maintained his fit physique. The large red stallion was starting to slow as he ate, a sign, Ditzy knew, that he was starting to get full.

"You are going to explode if you keep eating." She informed him. He looked down at his plate, and then rolled his shoulders, as he leaned back in the chair he was sitting in.

"Ah think Ah might explode now." He groaned. Ditzy gave him a 'told you so' look. He responded with a burp and a sheepish smile. "Excuse me."

"What are we going to do today?" Ditzy inquired. Big Macintosh looked up into the sky as he thought.

"It looks like nice day for a day on the beach." He said. She nodded in agreement; the day was going to be much too hot to go inland. A day of lounging sounded nice to Ditzy… just her and Macintosh relaxing on the beach.

________

Ditzy laid on her stomach, wings spread, absorbing as much sun as she could. Big Macintosh laid next to her, reading: something that Ditzy didn't enjoy too much, but Macintosh seemed to get enough enjoyment out of it. Ditzy just laid in the sun listening to the sound of the ocean, and little colts and fillies playing in the water. Ditzy thought that Dinky would have loved to come along, but that would have left Macintosh and her little intimate time. That, and the fact that resort would have charged them to have filly along, convinced Ditzy that she would be just fine at the Apple family farm.

Macintosh stood from his prone position. He asked her: "Ah'm goin' for a swim, ya want to come?"

"No thanks, Mac." Ditzy said. She didn't have much taste for swimming in the ocean, her wings always a handicap as the feathers would absorb water like a sponge, making it hard to actually swim, and then they would dry and leave her wings caked with salt. She felt him block the sun for a moment as he passed over her and lumbered on down to the water.

Ditzy sighed as she got back to her day dreaming. After a while a shadow came over her, she thought it was Macintosh for a moment, but opened her eyes to see a large white unicorn stallion. The stallion had to be the largest unicorn she had ever seen. He was about the same height and built as Big Macintosh.

"Hello there, what's a fine mare like you doing out here alone?" He asked. Ditzy knew exactly where this was going.

"Sorry, but I'm married." Ditzy explained without moving from her position. He didn't move.

"Well, that don't affect me any just trying to be friendly." The white unicorn said. Somehow she doubted that. "My name is Glowing Star."

"That's nice." Ditzy said. She hoped the Macintosh would see and come back to see what was going on.

"Yeah, I'm just one of the royal guards on leave is all." Glowing Star seemed impressed with himself.

"Uh-huh." Ditzy tried to ignore him. Luckily, her previous prayer had been answered.

"Howdy there." Big Macintosh’s deep voice greeted the white unicorn. "I see ya meet my wife, Ditzy. Oh, where are my manners, Ah'm Big Macintosh."

The unicorn stallion turned to see Macintosh. He seemed taken aback by Macintosh being slightly taller than him, but Glowing Star regained his confidence. He took the hoof that Macintosh had extended to him.

"I am Glowing Star of the Royal Canterlot Guard." He said proudly.

"Well, nice to meet ya." Macintosh said kindly. Ditzy relax a little. She had been worried that Macintosh would over react to this egotistical unicorn talking to her.

"It is nice to meet some of Equestria’s less intelligent folk, so yes it is nice to meet you hayseed." Glowing Star said confidently.

"Excuse me?" Big Macintosh had a hint of hurt in his voice.

"I was just saying that it is nice to meet the backward back country folk every now and again." Glowing Star mentioned. He was trying to aggravate Macintosh, it was obvious.

"Eeyup. Y’all have seen any 'round here?" Macintosh asked tactfully. By this time Ditzy stood beside her husband, silently wishing that the unicorn would go away.

"I'm looking at him." Glowing Star said frustration in his voice. Ditzy chuckled to herself, as she thought: If he's going get Macintosh angry, he's going to have to do a lot better than that.

"Listen mister. I don't want any trouble." Big Macintosh warned. Glowing Star looked at Ditzy, she didn't like the way he looked at her.

"I don't want any trouble either, so I challenge you to a contest." Glowing Star challenged.

"Well, Ah'm gonna have to decline the offer. Ah'd rather just spend the day with my wife." Big Macintosh said. Glowing Star took a step back, not used to being refused.

"You do not just refuse a member of the Royal Guard." He argued with Macintosh. Big Macintosh started to walk away from the unicorn stallion. Glowing Star was starting to get desperate; he would not be refused by a back country hillbilly. Glowing Star focused and picked up a nearby rock and threw it at Ditzy.

Big Macintosh blocked the rock with his body. Ditzy could see the fire in his eyes, as much as she wanted the unicorn stallion gone, she didn't want Macintosh hurt or him to hurt anypony. She knew that if Macintosh hurt the stallion, he would feel guilty about it later.

"Let's just go, Mac." Ditzy pleaded with her large stallion.

"Challenge accepted." Macintosh said determination burning in his eyes.

________

Ditzy sat nervously with a small gathered crowd. Macintosh stood across from Glowing Star, rope in their mouths. This seemed similar to the iron pony completion that Ditzy had attended a while ago.

A referee pony stood at the center of the rope, and tied a red cloth around the rope. "Ready, set, go!"

Glowing Star pulled hard on the rope, as Macintosh set his large hooves into the ground. There was an awkward stalemate, before Big Macintosh pulled back. He slowly dragged the other large stallion across the sand. Ditzy could see the sweat form on Macintosh's brow, but he continued to pull Glowing Star across the line, which left Macintosh the victor.

Ditzy cheered at her husband's victory. Macintosh had a satisfied look on his face, while Glowing Star grunted.

The next challenge was a race. Big Macintosh stretched his muscles; he wasn't very fast, not nearly as fast as Applejack could run. Glowing Star had a confident look on his face. The ref stood at the start line that also functioned as the finish line.

"Alright, you two run down the beach, around that palm tree and back here. Ready, set...GO!" The ref yelled, as they both broke off into a gallop. Glowing Star was ahead, but Macintosh was gaining speed though momentum. Ditzy watched as they reached the turn. Glowing Star rounded the turn with ease and quickly surpassed Big Macintosh. He had a large lead on Macintosh, and the lead grew until he reached the finish line. Glowing Star was the victor by a large margin.

To Ditzy's surprise, Macintosh had a smile on his face, even though he lost. Glowing Star had a smug look on his face as he looked at the hayseed. Ditzy could tell this wasn't going to be over quickly.

Through a long series of events, Macintosh and Glowing Star came out even. So Glowing Star decided on a final challenge. An eating contest. At Glowing Star's expense, nearly 25 pies were placed in front of each of them.

Big Macintosh looked hungrily down at the pies. The ref signaled the start and they both began eating at roughly the same pace. One pie down, then two, then three, and so on and so forth. Ditzy watched in awe as the two stallions kept eating, and then eating some more.

They timer ticked down. Ten seconds left. Glowing Star and Big Macintosh had eaten the same number of pies. Five seconds. They dug into the pie. Then it was over, Macintosh had half the pie left, but Glowing Star had eaten the whole pie.

Macintosh frowned. "Ah guess ya win."

"Yes I do, you ignorant, hayseed. I will stand as a testament to unicorn superiority. As I bonus I have humiliated you in front of your mare!" Glowing Star said triumphantly. Macintosh looked at Ditzy. She expected to see needless shame in his eyes, but instead she saw a sly spark.

"The way Ah see it. Ah got some exercise while having a good time, and you bought me some pie, and Ah even have half a pie to share with my love." Macintosh rebutted. He started to chuckle that soon turned into a roaring laugh.

"Don't laugh at me you...you...earth pony!" Glowing Star yelled. Big Macintosh was still laughing; even some of the ponies that gathered to watch started to laugh.

"Ah'm mighty grateful that you bought me this pie." Macintosh chuckled. Ditzy smiled as she walked over to the side of her crimson husband. Ditzy took a bite of the pie.

"Mmmm... Good pie. Not as good as Granny Smith's but it’s still good." Ditzy added on to Macintosh's bit, and that was when the punch came to wallop Macintosh on the side of the head.

________

Ditzy held the ice pack to Macintosh's face. She smiled gently as she touched the sensitive bruise, which caused him to wince.

"Ah'm mighty sorry Ah ruined the day with my pride, Sugar Cube." Macintosh apologized for about the hundredth time. The punch made quite a hit on Macintosh, which left him unconscious and with a nasty bruise on the side of his face. Ditzy had taken it into her own hooves to kick the unicorn stallion in a male’s sensitive area. She wasn't much of the violent type, but she wasn’t about to let Glowing Star getaway with punching her husband.

"Its fine, Mac." Ditzy assured him, but he didn't look convinced. "Tell you what; if you really feel that bad you can give me a massage when your swelling goes down."

"Deal." He agreed. Big Macintosh took the ice pack and held it to his own face. The swelling had already started to fade.

"Did you really have fun competing with that air-head?" Ditzy asked. Macintosh thought on it a moment.

"Eeyup." He didn't go any further than that. Ditzy shot him a look. Macintosh sheepishly smiled: he knew Ditzy wouldn't accept his one word answers he gave everyone else. "Ah mean it was good exercise. Keeping this physique ain't easy, ya know, and Ah’ve been eatin' a bit too much."

"Oh, you mean going back for thirds was too much?" Ditzy teased. Macintosh smiled at her. "Okay, your swelling has gone down, now get to it, big boy."

Ditzy laid on the nearby bed and spread out her wings. Ditzy sighed as he rubbed his hooves into her back. She felt the release of tension in her back, and she left out a satisfied sigh. Ditzy smiled: if him being prideful meant she'd get rubs, she would let Macintosh be prideful as much as he wanted.

She turned to look up at him. She saw a slightly sad look in his big green eyes. Ditzy said: "Thank you, Mac."

"Fer what?" Macintosh asked, confusion on his face. He kept on rubbing her back; as he moved to her wings he lightened the force he put into the rub, to avoid hurting the sensitive wing tissue.

"For defending my honor." Ditzy said.

"Ah didn't do that well, Ah got my clock cleaned." Macintosh said; he didn't seem too happy about that. "Although, Ah heard that ya gave him quite a kick."

"That's not what I meant. You weren't a sore loser. You didn't embarrass yourself by being grumpy about losing." Ditzy explained to him. She didn't look, but she could almost feel Macintosh smiling at her.

"Ah love ya, Sugar Cube." Macintosh whispered into her ear.

"I love you too." Ditzy whispered back. Macintosh stopped massaging her wings. "Hey! I didn't say you could stop."

Big Macintosh chuckled. He began to rub her lower back, and Ditzy sighed again. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could just relax actually. I would like to go to the spa or something." Ditzy sighed.

"Eeyup. Ah need to make myself look pretty." Macintosh teased. Ditzy laughed. "Ah don't have your natural beauty."

"Not with that bruise on the side your face." Ditzy giggled. Macintosh stopped massaging her back, as she folded her wings in. "I imagine you’re probably not too hungry."

"Nope. Twenty four and a half pies left me full." Macintosh said.

"Well, let's work some of that off." Ditzy said slyly, as she pulled him down to the bed.

A/N: Well, that was a chapter alright. Now, I know this chapter seemed happy-go-lucky, but they deserve it don't you think? Anyway if you have any ideas for the foal, names and such, or any ideas, suggestions, or fixes I'd love to hear them. Also does anyone like the cover art?

At a loss

A/N: Welcome. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I implore anyone who has any ideas for the foal please let me know, and I thank reviewers and readers, and my beta reader.

We rejoin Ditzy delivering the mail, two months after returning home from her honeymoon.

Ditzy whistled a happy tune as she put letters into the mail slot on the door of the Ponyville home. Ditzy walked along, putting the correct mail in each home. Ditzy looked at the next set of letters; they were going to the Mayor's office. That was strange; usually the Mayor's mail was delivered directly to her, leaving Ditzy out of the equation.

Ditzy trotted directly to town hall, knowing that this mail must be important. She wasn't that far from the town hall in the first place, so she made good time to the Mayor's office. Ditzy walked into the building, ready to just drop the mail into the 'in' box on the secretary's desk. Ditzy put the mail in the box, and started to walk away, but the mayor's secretary stopped her.

"Wait, Ditzy, the mayor has told me to tell you something...what was it..." The secretary thought for a moment as Ditzy stood there awkwardly, feeling the bulge of her stomach press against the inside of her legs. The secretary looked through her clipboard of notes, and found what she was looking for. "Oh yes. It is my regret to inform you...blah blah blah...that your position as mailmare has been terminated. You will receive your final paycheck by next Monday."

"What?" Ditzy asked in a hurt voice. The way the secretary had put it, the way she sounded like she didn't give a damn about how she might need this job. Ditzy was also hurt that she had taken a large pay cut and still she was being fired.

"Ugh. You’re fired, get it?" The secretary asked, annoyed by Ditzy still standing there. Ditzy, unsure of what to do decided it was best if she fought for her job.

"I demand to speak with the mayor about this!" Ditzy put force behind her voice. Ditzy felt a small pulse of pride that she was being assertive.

"The mayor is out today." The secretary mentioned off-hoovedly; but as she said that the mayor walked in through the front door with a young mare at her side.

"Mayor Mare, what did I do to get fired?" Ditzy asked, desperate for it to be some sort of trick or miscommunication.

"Well, you were getting too overpriced for your work so I decided to replace you." The mayor said as if it were a totally rational thing to do.

"I was only being paid 8 bits an hour!" Ditzy argued. She felt anger well up in her. How dare she fire me! I took a huge pay cut, worked my flank off to make sure I stopped delivering the mail to the wrong houses, and she knows I have a foal on the way with a family to help provide for. Ditzy thought angrily to herself.

"Yes, but my niece here needed a summer job, and she'd work for seven and a half bits an hour." Mayor Mare put a hoof on her niece's shoulder. Ditzy felt another surge of anger; she fired me for half a bit!

"But..." Ditzy had about a million nasty things she wanted to yell at the mayor, but she couldn't form words to any of them.

"Let's be honest, you weren't very good at your job anyway." Mayor Mare mentioned, as if being told she were bad at her former job was going to help.

"I haven't delivered mail to the wrong place in two months." Ditzy fought for her job.

"Now, I'm going to ask you to leave the premises." The mayor commanded. Ditzy grumbled, as she walked out the door. Ditzy took a few deep breaths: she knew that being overly stressed was not good for the foal. The deep breaths helped a little, but she knew she needed to talk to somepony to really blow off steam.

Ditzy dragged her hooves as she walked back to the house. She felt bitter, to say the least: she didn't observe anything as she walked along, head down, and ears flat against her head. She mumbled obscenities to herself as she moved along. With Big Macintosh and Carrot Top at work, Ditzy didn't have anypony she could rant to, so she settled for grumbling to herself.

Ditzy swung opened the door to her house. She spotted the newspaper that had been delivered to their home earlier that day. She picked it up and turned to the classifieds. Ditzy looked at the jobs, almost none of them she was qualified to do or she refused to do.

After a while of looking at the help wanted section, Ditzy laid down on the couch with the newspaper spread out over her face. She sighed, her anger at the mayor replaced with an empty sadness. She supposed this was how other ponies felt when they were fired, but that didn't give her any comfort.

She put a hoof over her stomach, and said to the foal: "Well, mommy got fired today, and the only job in the help wanted section that I was qualified for was phone sex line… no way am I doing that. I guess we're lucky we have your dad, otherwise we'd be screwed."

Ditzy felt a little better talking to the foal: it was somepony to rant to, and the foal wouldn't argue with her. "The stupid mayor, replacing me with her niece for half a bit an hour."

Ditzy continued to rant to the air for a while. The longer she ranted the better she felt. It didn't remove the hurt feeling of being fired, but it was nice that she could vent her feelings and feel like somepony was listening, even though it was a foal in her womb in early stages of development.

Ditzy felt...not good but not bad either, and she also felt very hungry. She went to her kitchen and grabbed some cinnamon apples. She put them in a bowl before taking a few bites of the apples. She went back to the living room to look out the window as she ate.

"You like cinnamon apples, sweetie?" Ditzy asked her unborn foal, not expecting a response; she continued to eat the apples.

Ditzy saw a large crimson pony pass over the window for a second. The door swung open, and Ditzy expected to see Macintosh's face with his usual half smile, but he walked in with a slight frown on his face. He looked at Ditzy, and she could see him register that all was not right with her as well.

"What's wrong?" They asked each other in unison. Ditzy was taken aback that Macintosh could read her emotion when she displayed so little on her face.

"I got fired and replaced for half a bit an hour." Ditzy decided to relay her problems first. Macintosh looked surprised.

"Ah'm sorry, Sugar Cube..." Macintosh trailed off. It looked like this new information had put a heavier weight upon his shoulders. "But, the farm was hit with an infestation, and to keep the farm from goin' bankrupt and keep Apple Bloom in school, Ah have to work without pay."

This news hit Ditzy hard. They would have absolutely no money coming in, and Macintosh would still have to go work, so he couldn't be looking for another job.

"Oh..." Ditzy was stunned. Macintosh looked at her with large hurt eyes. She saw the pain it caused him to not be able to provide for his family. "Well, let me make you some lunch before you go back to work."

Macintosh smiled sadly. "Thank ya, Sugar Cube."

________

Ditzy walked through town in an attempt to find work. She had found odd jobs, but none of them paid enough to make it worth it. Ditzy had even considered foal sitting for the Cakes to get the rust off her skills of taking care of a foal, but they had Pinkie Pie.

"Hey Derpy!" Rainbow Dash called from above. Ditzy was taken by surprised as Rainbow Dash landed in front of Ditzy.

"Hi Rainbow Dash." Ditzy responded, a little more harshly than she meant to. Rainbow Dash still called Ditzy, Derpy, and it still annoyed her.

"You look down. Marriage troubles?" Rainbow Dash asked. The security in her voice caught Ditzy off guard. Rainbow Dash wasn't known for being able to pick up on ponies’ emotions, and Ditzy realized that she must look pretty down if Rainbow Dash picked up it.

"No...financial problems..."Ditzy trailed off, consumed with her own thoughts. "I got fired, and Apple family farm has an infestation, so they can't afford to pay him anymore."

"So you need work?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah." Ditzy responded, as she started to walk away, hoping to find a new job. Rainbow flew in front of her and stood in Ditzy's path.

"I have work for you." Rainbow Dash said. Ditzy raised an eyebrow, as she gave a questioning look.

"You know I'm not particularly good at flying, right?" Ditzy asked, and Rainbow Dash nodded.

"I know that, but that's not what I want you to do. My house is a mess, and I'm much too busy with my awesomeness to clean it. So, I'll pay you to do it." Rainbow Dash concluded, and before Ditzy could respond Rainbow and grasped her and took off to the sky, and off to Rainbow's castle of a house.

The immense cloud structure stood before Ditzy, as Rainbow landed in front of the house. Rainbow Dash opened the front door, and Ditzy's jaw dropped. The house was not just messy, it was destroyed, and there was almost nothing in the right place. It looked as if Rainbow performed her sonic rainboom in her house.

"Yeah, it's pretty messy. So I was thinking 35 bits to clean the whole house." Rainbow Dash said. Ditzy wasn't sure if taking the offer was the best thing to do.

"Alright..." Ditzy said nervously.

"Great!" Without another word Rainbow Dash flew away, leaving Ditzy alone, and with a massive mess to clean.

_____

Ditzy swept the last bit of trash into a bag. Ditzy sighed: "Living room: done."

Ditzy moved on to the kitchen. She banged her head against the wall, as she saw the disaster area of a kitchen. It was a good thing that the walls were made out of clouds, otherwise she might have hurt herself.

Ditzy stepped carefully around the discarded food containers to move to the center of the room to see how bad it was. The place looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a year. Old food crumbs plastered the counters, food boxes and drink containers littered the floor, and overripe food was scattered everywhere.

Ditzy grabbed a clean rag, and wetted it down. She wiped some of the counter clearing a spot in the layer of crumbs. Ditzy looked back at the mess and thought for an insane moment that burning the mess would be more effective. She shook herself from her thoughts and cleaned.

Ditzy finished the counter after about a half an hour of cleaning, then she moved to the floor.

______

She was done, finally done. After six hours of cleaning, she finished cleaning Rainbow's house. Ditzy calculated in her head she was making just under six bits an hour. She knew that wasn't enough to even come close to making up what she should have been paid if she still had a real job.

Ditzy had to admit, when the cloud house wasn't plastered with trash, it was a nice house. It wasn’t long after she was done to when Rainbow Dash arrived.

"Great job Derpy!" Rainbow Dash praised Ditzy. Ditzy sighed: she had never put in so much work for so little pay before. Rainbow Dash walked into her house and almost closed the door.

"Ahem." Ditzy grunted.

"Oh yeah. Here ya go." Rainbow Dash paid Ditzy before quickly retreating into her home. Ditzy held the pouch of bits in her mouth, as she dove down to Ponyville. She landed in front of her home.

When Ditzy opened the door, she found Dinky was sitting on the couch with a worried look on her face.

"There you are mommy." Dinky greeted. Ditzy could hear Dinky trying to hide worry from her voice. "You didn't come to pick me up from school today, and then you and daddy weren't at home..."

Ditzy felt the words tug at her heartstrings. She hadn't thought of Dinky while she was cleaning Rainbow's house. "I'm sorry Muffin."

Ditzy stopped before she told Dinky she lost her job: no need to worry Dinky about financial problems. Ditzy went and sat next to Dinky and wrapped a leg around her.

"How was your day?" Ditzy asked, but before Dinky responded, the door swung open. Big Macintosh walked in, looking very tired. He had bags under his eyes and the smell of sweat on him.

"Daddy!" Dinky squealed, as she struggled free of Ditzy's leg. Dinky tumbled over to Macintosh.

"Howdy, Sugar Cube." Macintosh greeted Dinky, then he turned to Ditzy. "Howdy, Sugar."

"Hey Mac." Ditzy said. She gave him a sympathetic look. "You should go take a nap, I'll wake you when dinner is ready."

He gave her a look that said, 'thank you.' Macintosh walked in the bedroom. Ditzy heard the bed frame squeak as he laid in the bed. Ditzy pulled herself up from the couch, and walked into the kitchen to start making dinner.

After she had placed a plate with food in front of Dinky, Ditzy went to the bedroom. Macintosh was already in a deep sleep.

"Dinner's ready." Ditzy said gently, but he didn't move. "Mac..."

She looked at him, and saw how tied he looked. She sighed to herself as she went to go retrieve a plate of food. She brought it back and set it on the nightstand next to him.

"Good night, honey." Ditzy said as she kissed him on the cheek.
A/N: Thank you all for reading.

Money

A/N: Hello. I want to thank you guys for all the great suggestions for names of the foal. Please read and relax.
We come back to join Ditzy about a month and a half later.

Ditzy felt Macintosh get up, the start of his early morning routine to get to work on time. Ditzy knew he tried his best not to wake her up, but he usually did anyway.

"Morning Mac." Ditzy said quietly. Macintosh sighed as he realized he had awoken his wife up...again.

"Sorry for waking ya, Sugar." Macintosh said gently. Ditzy smiled at his concern.

"It's alright." Ditzy started to roll herself out of bed. Macintosh began to trot to the attached master bathroom. Ditzy felt a pinch in her stomach; it was a strong pinch. "Ow."

Macintosh turned to look at her with tired eyes.

"Mac, the foal kicked!" Ditzy said excitedly. Macintosh's expression changed from tired concern to excitement. He trotted quickly over to Ditzy and put a large hoof on her side, and the foal kicked again.

"It's got quite a kick." Macintosh chuckled. Ditzy smiled, glad the foal was developing well.

"It's got a kick like its dad." Ditzy said, while she nuzzled her happy husband. Macintosh had a wide grin on his face. Ditzy was glad that Macintosh could go to work with a happy thought in his head. Macintosh trotted into the master bathroom and started the shower.

"Well, you've certainly got your dad's strength." Ditzy spoke to the growing foal in her womb. She remembered when she was pregnant with Dinky. When Dinky had started to kick, her kicks were softer then this foal's.

Ditzy laid back in bed. In a short while she felt herself drifting off into sleep. She was jarred back awake as Macintosh left the bathroom. She looked at him. He looked different, but Ditzy couldn't put a hoof on it. He still had a smile on his face, but he just looked different.

"Would you like breakfast?" Ditzy asked. Macintosh shook his head.

"Nope. Ah'm still full from dinner last night." Macintosh said, before he quickly left the room. Ditzy thought about his statement: she didn't recall him eating anything for dinner. She shrugged the thought off as she walked into the bathroom to clean herself up.

________
"Have a good day at school Muffin!" Ditzy called as Dinky trotted into her regular elementary class. Ditzy turned and headed into Ponyville to find any odd-jobs that needed doing. Ditzy had managed to find odd-jobs to do every day. It managed to pay for groceries and the like, but Ditzy knew that the bills would catch up to them eventually.

She walked through town. Carrot Top waved from her shop for Ditzy to come over. Carrot Top had given Ditzy many odd-jobs. Ditzy had refused to take Carrot Top’s money for free, so Carrot Top had found her things to do to help out.

"Hey Ditzy, how are you doing today?" Carrot Top asked.
"Good, I felt the foal kick for the first time today." Ditzy said, a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Oooooo! Can I feel?" Carrot Top asked excitedly. As if on cue the foal kicked again. Ditzy was starting to get annoyed with the strength of the foal.

"Ow...yes." Ditzy answered. Carrot squealed as she put a hoof and Ditzy's side, and the foal kicked again. She really wished it would stop kicking because the kicks were starting to get uncomfortable.

Carrot Top squealed again as she felt the foal kick. Carrot Top regained her composer and said: "So anyway, I have a job for you. I need you to go and pick up my mail from the post office."

"Doesn't your mail get delivered here?" Ditzy asked confused, Carrot Top stuck her nose into the air.

"I refuse to have my mail delivered by somepony with so little experience." Carrot Top said with a smug smile. Ditzy smiled at that. Macintosh had also canceled having their mail delivered in protest, and now Carrot Top had picked up the protest as well.

Ditzy turned to walk to the post office. She trotted along happily, and watched the other ponies go about their individual lives. She took her time in getting to the post office, as she let her mind drift to her foal. She had many different versions of the foal in her mind, both fillies and colts, but as soon as she started to day dream, she reached the post office.

Ditzy opened the post office box that contained Carrot Top's letters, and took them out. Ditzy then went over to her own p.o. box and retrieved the mail from the box. Ditzy sighed when she saw them: they were bills. Ditzy didn't open the mail; she would have plenty of time later.

Ditzy walked back to Carrot Top's house. The walk back was quicker due to Ditzy not lollygagging on her walk.

"Hey Ditzy." Carrot Top greeted Ditzy, as she arrived at Carrot Top's store. Ditzy placed the mail on the counter, and Carrot Top paid Ditzy a lot more than the minor task was worth.

"Thanks, Carrot Top." Ditzy thanked her generous friend, but she knew that her friend's odd-jobs could delay the inevitable. "You mind if I look at my bills here?"

"Of course not." Carrot Top said; she would have said more but a customer came into the shop. Ditzy sat in a nearby chair that had a side table by it, and set the bills down the side table.

Ditzy first opened the bank statement. She looked at the dreadfully small amount of bits they had left in the bank. Next, she opened bill after bill, subtracting more and more from the money they still had left. She arrived at the food bill: they had been putting tabs on food instead of paying on the spot, so they had to pay it all at once. Ditzy looked back at the sheet she was using to do math on and saw that they only had 114 bits left to pay for food.

Ditzy felt a large wave of worry come over her, because their normal cost of food was almost three times that. Ditzy tore open the bill and was surprised at what she saw. The total food cost was 109 bits. They had a whole 5 bits left over. Ditzy realized that the food bill was much too low.

She thought about what she had bought that month. Then realization hit her like a ton a bricks. She knew Big Macintosh looked different and now she knew why. She couldn’t believe she had missed it, he was her husband and she was disappointed in herself for missing it. He had barley ever come home in the last mouth, always saying that he always had a few of the non-infested apples. He ate very little at dinner, usually passing his leftovers onto her or Dinky. He was getting thinner... He was starving himself.

_______
Ditzy soared above Ponyville. She flew at her top speed to Sweet Apple Acres. Ditzy would put a stop to it. Macintosh would not starve himself if Ditzy had anything to say about it, and she did have a lot to say about it. Ditzy spotted Macintosh walking through the rows of healthy apple trees. She rolled into a dive and landed in front of him.

"Oh howdy, Sugar-" Macintosh was cut off.

"Don't sugar cube me. Why aren’t you eating?" Ditzy asked. Macintosh's expression quickly changed from surprise to trying to hide a guilty look on his face: he was terrible at lying.

"We can't afford to feed me. Ya need the food more than Ah do, with the foal and all." Big Macintosh reasoned. Ditzy looked at him, and she couldn't believe that she missed it before; his ribs were visible, bags under his eyes, and his usual strong presence was greatly diminished.

"When's the last time you ate anything sustainable?" Ditzy asked, it came out in a tone like a mother telling her child was doing something wrong.

"Three days ago..." Big Macintosh trailed off.

"Three days! Mac, you need to eat." Ditzy implored him. Then she realized where they were at. "Just eat some of the apples."

"None...these apples we need to sell." Macintosh stood his ground. Ditzy took the money she got from Carrot Top and tossed it at Macintosh.

"There, I just bought some apples, now eat them!" Ditzy demanded. Macintosh looked rather annoyed that she had used the loophole, but under his expression she saw look of thanks. Big Macintosh went up to one of the trees. He bucked it, but no apples fell.

Ditzy saw exhaustion on his face. She was about to just fly up and pick some apples, but then he fell over. Ditzy galloped over to him. His breathing was shallow, and he was out cold. Ditzy tried to push him, to her surprise, she could, but that didn't make her feel any better: he would have to had lost a lot of weight for Ditzy be able to move him. She knew she wouldn't be able to move him to the hospital.
Ditzy took a deep breath, then called: "Applejack!"

It didn't take long for Applejack to gallop to the source of the call.

"Get the cart!"

________

Ditzy sat at the side of Big Macintosh. He had an IV in his leg dripping in nutrients his body was in desperate need of. He was going to be alright, the doctor told her, but he was going to have eat a lot. She knew that they had no money for the medical bill, let alone food.

The doctor had suggested they file for government help. Ditzy knew she would have to take it. There was no way her odd-jobs would pay near enough for the bills. Filing for government help would require her to go to the town hall.

Ditzy gathered herself and marched into town. She walked quickly, avoiding eye contact with the other ponies. They all seemed a lot happier then she was. Her dread increased as she came up to the governmental building.

She stepped inside and waited in a line of ponies. It took nearly ten minutes for Ditzy get to the front of the line. Ditzy had already filled out the form for government help. She set the form on the secretary’s desk.

The secretary looked it over, and as she did the mayor spotted Ditzy. Mayor Mare said: "Oh hello Ditzy. What are you doing here?"

"I need financial help from the government..." Ditzy trailed off. The mayor grunted.

"Oh. That's just like your type of pony, at the first sign of trouble you go and ask the government for help. You're just a leech on society." The mayor said in an arrogant tone. Ditzy went wall-eyed, but then quickly refocused.

"What! You think I want to be doing this? You think I was to beg the government to feed my family! My husband starved himself to keep me and our daughter fed, and it's all your fault!" Ditzy yelled at the mayor. All the ponies turned to look at the scene she was making. Ditzy had never felt so angry in her life: she felt like she was about to explode.

"Well, I-" The mayor started.

"Shut up!" Ditzy screamed, and the mayor shrank back. "You fire me over half a bit, and replace me with your niece! I'm pretty sure that's illegal! I took a huge pay cut to keep my job, do you take a pay cut? No! You don't! You actually raised your own and your secretary’s salary! You fired me when you knew I had an incoming foal, but I guess that doesn't matter to you, does it? As long as it saves you money!"

"I'm going-" The mayor's secretary tried to speak.

"And you!" Ditzy pointed at the secretary. "You didn't show the slightest sympathy at me being fired! ’Oh yeah you’re fired' what kind of way is that to tell me? You know what, buck you both!"

Ditzy finished letting loose her fury upon the governing ponies. Ditzy felt as if steam were coming out of her nostrils. It felt good to vent her feelings at the ponies that caused them. Satisfaction welled up as she saw the mayor at a loss for words.

"I'm going to send a letter to the Princesses and see you fired, see how funny it is then, huh?" Ditzy said as she started to leave.

"Whoa! No need to do anything rash, we can work this out, right?" The Mayor suggested. Ditzy had been bluffing with the letter thing; she had no idea that her letter would affect anything.
"Nope." Ditzy took her husband’s line.

"I can give you your job back, with a pay raise." The mayor was getting desperate. Ditzy considered this for a moment.

"I don't think I could work for someone like you." Ditzy felt proud of herself for saying so. "Just file the form."

Still feeling that same pride, she left the building.

_______

"I'm proud of you." Carrot Top exclaimed after Ditzy told her about what happened at city hall.

"Thank you. It felt good." Ditzy said. She truly felt better for yelling at the mayor, but she wouldn't make a habit of it.

"So, how are you going to support yourself?" Carrot Top asked out of concern.

"Well, with government help I should be able to hold off bankruptcy until the farm can afford to pay Macintosh again." Ditzy replied.

"So...how is Mac doing?" Carrot Top asked. Ditzy had gone to see him again before she gone to see Carrot Top.

"The doctor says he'll be fine...he just needs to eat." Ditzy said. "I can't believe I missed it..."

"I'm sure you mind was just busy with all that’s going on in your life right now." Carrot Top reassured her friend.

"He's my husband, Carrot Top. I should have noticed." Ditzy said. She voiced very little of her insecurities; on the inside she was very worried. Am I a bad wife? I missed him starving himself... Who misses something like that?

"Well, I've seen that poker face of his, and I'll tell you it's a good one." Carrot Top said. "Come on, let's go get some muffins, my treat."

A/N:Thank you for reading. I really appreciate reviews and I thank my beta reader BlackRoseRaven. Also do you think the chapters are too short? I could make them longer but updates wouldn't be as frequent.

Incoming

A/N:Hello and welcome to another chapter. Thank you for your fine ideas on the foal, I'm pretty sure I know what the foal is going to be, but if you still have ideas, that would be nice.

We rejoin Ditzy a few months after she sent her complaint letter to the Princess.

Ditzy felt a pang of satisfaction as she looked at the newspaper. The headline read "Mayor Mare removed from office." Ditzy wondered what would happen to her now, not that she really cared. Ditzy took a sip of milk from a glass she had sitting by her and sighed.

Ditzy struggled to pull herself up from the couch. The foal had grown a lot in her womb. The size of it further provided evidence that the foal would be a lot like its father. Ditzy thought of Big Macintosh: the farm had started to get back on its feet, and she hoped that Macintosh would start getting paid again soon.

Ditzy walked out the front door. She had taken to going for a walk during the day to keep herself healthy, and since being late in the pregnancy kept her from doing odd-jobs, she had a lot of time on her hooves.

Ditzy didn't walk very fast; she took it at a leisurely pace. She was dreadfully bored all day: Big Macintosh refused to let her do anything that required the slightest bit of labor. Ditzy walked around Ponyville, going nowhere in particular.

Ditzy thought about going to find her daughter, but she was busy running around with her little friends during the summer, and there was no way she could keep up with the little filly’s energy. Ditzy eventually came to the market square.

She spotted Fluttershy in the distance. After the bachelorette party Ditzy had started to talk to Fluttershy more often. She walked as quickly as she could over to Fluttershy.

"Hey Fluttershy!" Ditzy said happily. Ditzy must have surprised her because Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her mane. "It's just me."

"Oh...sorry. You surprised me." Fluttershy said quietly. Ditzy somehow always managed to surprise her.

"What are you doing here?" Ditzy asked.

"Oh. Angel wanted a special dish out of a cook book, but I didn't have the ingredients I needed." Fluttershy explained. Ditzy decided that she would spend as long as she could with Fluttershy to stave off boredom.

"What do you need?" Ditzy asked the shy pony.

"I have almost everything on my list, but I still need a cherry." Fluttershy said. Ditzy looked and saw the cherry stand was nearby.

"Well, why don't you go buy one off that stand?" Ditzy asked. Fluttershy shrank back.

"Last time I tried to buy a cherry off that stand, he wanted to charge me 10 bits." Fluttershy said in almost in a whisper. Ditzy was surprised: she would never pay over one bit for a cherry.

"Do you want me to go and get one for you?" Ditzy asked: it would have been better to convince Fluttershy to do it herself, but that was a lesson for another day.

"Thank you." Fluttershy nodded. Ditzy trotted over to the cherry stand.

"I'll give you a bit for a basket of cherries." Ditzy said. She knew how to haggle after many years of having to support herself and Dinky, and she knew how to get a good deal on almost anything.

"You'll give me three bits for two baskets." The stand owner obviously knew how to haggle as well.

"I'll give you one and a half bits for two baskets." Ditzy rebutted. She was working it so she was getting the better deal.

The stand owner thought for a bit then responded: "You'll give me two bits for two baskets… and I'll throw in some cherry jam."

"Deal." Ditzy said, and paid the stand owner. She brought the two baskets back to Fluttershy.

"I only needed one cherry." Fluttershy said timidly. Ditzy smiled, she knew Fluttershy only wanted one, but she couldn't imagine paying a whole bit for just one cherry.

"Well, I got you two baskets." Ditzy said.

"Why don't you take one home?" Fluttershy suggested. Ditzy nodded: she knew Dinky loved cherries, so when she got home there would be a nice surprise waiting for her.

Ditzy quickly returned home to put the cherries on the dinner table. She returned to Fluttershy, who was still standing in the market.

"So, do you need anything else?" Ditzy asked. Fluttershy shook her head no, causing her long mane to sway. Fluttershy started towards her house, and Ditzy did her best to keep up, but the extra weight she had was making it hard to keep up with the graceful movements of Fluttershy.

"Can you..." Ditzy huffed out a breath. "Slow down...extra weight here."

"Oh I'm very sorry." Fluttershy said. Ditzy looked at the timid pony and saw that she really did want forgiveness for outpacing a very pregnant mare.

"It's fine Fluttershy..." Ditzy took in another deep breath. "I just need to catch my breath."

They stood in silence for a minute, Ditzy regaining her breath. To Ditzy's surprise Fluttershy asked: "How is the foal doing?

"It's doing well." Ditzy said as they started to walk towards Fluttershy's house again. "Although I'm afraid if it gets any bigger I'm gonna explode."

"That can happen?" Fluttershy gasped in fear.

"No, no it can't. I meant that this foal definitely got it's dad's size." Ditzy said, and Fluttershy calmed down. They arrived at Fluttershy's quaint little cottage. Fluttershy held the door open as Ditzy walked inside.

The cottage seemed cozy on the inside, perfect for someone like Fluttershy. One thing that separated this house from others Ditzy had seen was that there were animals all around; one of them, a white bunny, hopped right up to Fluttershy with a cute, yet somehow angry look on its face.

"Oh, I'm sorry it took so long, Angel." Fluttershy explained. Ditzy thought it strange to be apologizing to a rabbit, but she really wasn't one to judge. "I'll make your food right now."

Fluttershy rushed into her small kitchen, and started to make the special dish for the bunny. Ditzy, unsure of what to do, made herself comfortable on the couch. Small animals gathered around her as she sat down. It was odd to her, since she never really gotten close to any 'wild' animal before, but she supposed that if they were being taken care of by Fluttershy they would think most ponies were like her.

"Umm...hello?" Ditzy said questioningly, unsure of what to say to animals. They just stared at her with big adorable eyes. Fluttershy came back from the kitchen with a large plate of food. Even though it was for Fluttershy's bunny it looked really good.

"There you go, Angel." Fluttershy said as she placed the plate of food in front of Angel. The bunny ate happily, as Fluttershy took a seat next to Ditzy on the couch.

"So... You certainly have a lot of animals here." Ditzy said, looking at the many animals that had gathered around.

"Yeah, I just love them all so much." Fluttershy exclaimed. Ditzy saw that glitter in her eye and knew that she really meant it. "So...um...how do you know when you’re... um...pregnant?"

Ditzy found this a strange question, but she answered anyway: "Well, sometimes feel really sick, or have cravings for stuff that's really strange. Like, I once had a once craving for pickled onions… they tasted great at the time, but I tried them again...and let's just say the toilet was my friend for the next few minutes. Why do you want to know?"

Fluttershy's eyes dilated and she hid behind her mane. Ditzy felt awkward for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then a knock came from the door that broke the awkward silence. Fluttershy was too busy hiding to answer it, so Ditzy struggled up from the couch and went to the door.

She opened it to see Applejack with the Cutie Mark Crusaders under hoof. Applejack's face registered surprise as she said: "Howdy Ditzy. Is Fluttershy home?"

Ditzy looked back at Fluttershy, who hadn't moved from her spot on the couch. Ditzy said: "Fluttershy, Applejack's here."

Fluttershy moved from her spot and came over to the door. "Hello Applejack."

"Howdy 'shy. I was wonderin' if ya would mind watching the fillies. Rarity is too busy with her new clothing line and Ah'm too busy with the farm today to watch them." Applejack said.

"We don't need Fluttershy to watch us." Apple Bloom complained.

"Yes ya do. Cutie Mark Crusaders barnstormers?" Applejack reminded the three fillies. They slumped down. "Ya almost killed your brother."

Ditzy was surprised by this: Macintosh hadn't told her about almost getting killed. She felt like it was something she ought to know.

"Sure, I'd be glad to take them for the afternoon." Fluttershy responded, coming out from behind her mane.

"Thank ya." Applejack said quickly before the trotted off back to the farm. The three fillies stepped past Ditzy and into Fluttershy's home. They wore disappointed expressions, like their fun had been ruined.

"Alright girls, who wants to play the silent game?" Fluttershy asked. The Crusaders didn't look too thrilled by the idea. "Alright, let's start."

The silence lasted about three seconds before the Crusaders were running around. Fluttershy sighed: "That's not how you play girls. Um...would you rather do some chores? I have lots to do."

"We'd rather get cutie marks." Scootaloo complained. Ditzy was going to say something, but suddenly she felt liquid run down the inside if her leg and she froze with fear. Ditzy thought to herself: Oh no oh no oh no! Please no! Ditzy stood, unable to look at the liquid running down her leg: all that filled her mind was sheer terror.

Apple Bloom was the first to take notice. She stopped and stared at Ditzy with a questioning glance. "Uhhhh...ya alright?"

When Apple Bloom mentioned it, the other Crusaders and Fluttershy looked at her. Fluttershy said: "I...um...have a bathroom, you know?"

Ditzy was confused for a moment. She looked back at her leg, expecting the worst, but she saw it wasn't blood. It was clear liquid, like water, and realization hit Ditzy like a train: she was relived, but now she had a new problem.

"Crusaders...go get Macintosh." Ditzy commanded. The Crusaders looked confused.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders messengers yay!" They said in unison.

"Just go get him..." Ditzy groaned. "Please hurry."

They ran out the door. Fluttershy looked at Ditzy with a face of confusion and concern. She asked: "What’s going on? You know...if that’s okay to ask."

"I'm going into labor..." Ditzy said, and the first contraction hit her. She went back to the couch and laid down: it helped the pain of the contraction a little. Fluttershy eeped.

"What do I do?" Fluttershy asked: she looked very nervous, like she was going to faint.

"I just need Macintosh...to get me to the hospital." Ditzy explained. Fluttershy looked sort of sad that she couldn't do anything, so Ditzy said: "Some water would be nice."

Fluttershy quickly went to the kitchen and fetched a glass of water. Ditzy took the water and gulped down the liquid. She felt the first contraction retract which would mean she would have a while before the next contraction.

Fluttershy looked pale, and Ditzy was pretty sure she would faint pretty soon. "Okay, Fluttershy, I'm going to need you to stay awake."

"Oh...okay." Fluttershy said nervously. Ditzy looked at the clock: the fillies should have gotten Macintosh and gotten him back to Fluttershy's by me. She had planned out the labor: Macintosh would come and get her to the hospital quickly, but in his own gentle way. She had planned it for when she was at their house, and hopefully Macintosh would be home, but she supposed that at least she was indoors. "They should be back by now..."

"You think they got lost?" Fluttershy gasped. Her eyes dilated again and she panted with fear.

"No...Calm down Fluttershy, I'm sure they'll be back soon." Ditzy assured her shy friend: she found it strange that she was the one going into labor, and she had to comfort Fluttershy. Ditzy sure hoped that they would be back soon: it wouldn't be too long until the next contraction started, and from there the space between contractions would be getting shorter.

Too late. Ditzy winced as the contractions started again. Fluttershy eeped again, and this time she fainted. Ditzy looked over at the unconscious pegasus. "Fluttershy?"

Ditzy was stuck on the couch, unable to move with the pulsing pain of her contraction. Okay stay calm. Macintosh will be here soon. He'll get me to the hospital. Just think of the new foal you'll have in a few hours. Ditzy thought to herself. The thought calmed her, a new foal. One that she bore from her love.

Ditzy laid there for a while. She was starting to think the Cutie Mark Crusaders had gotten lost; somehow Ditzy knew that being massagers would not be their special talent. She groaned with pain. The animals had long since cleared out of the house, so Ditzy was all alone.

She turned to look at the clock: it had been almost two hours since the Crusaders had left to get Big Macintosh.

Finally, the door swung open. Big Macintosh stood on the other side with the three little fillies sitting on his back, eating ice cream.

"Oh yeah...that was why we needed you." Sweetie Belle said through mouth full of ice cream. Ditzy almost face hooved. "I guess we forgot."

"Ya forgot that?" Macintosh's eyes were wide as he galloped to Ditzy, and shook the fillies off his back. "Sorry, Sugar Cube."

He pulled Ditzy on to his back, as Apple Bloom said: "Well, we got hungry on the way, so Ah guess we forgot that she was here. Hey! What happened to Fluttershy?"

"Y'all stay here and make sure she's alright." Macintosh commanded the fillies as he shifted Ditzy on his back to make it comfortable for the both of them, then he broke into a gallop as soon as he hurried outside the home.

"What took you so long?" Ditzy managed to sputter out.

"The girls came to get me about two hours ago. They couldn't seem to remember why they came to get me, so Ah took them to get a treat, and then after that Ah was gonna go on home, but then Dinky came along and wanted my help with getting a kite out of a tree. After that I brought the girls home with me, and see how ya were doing, and that's when Apple Bloom remembered..." Big Macintosh explained. They reached the hospital in mere minutes.

As soon as they arrived, Ditzy was taken into the room where she would wait in labor until the time for her to give birth.

A/N:Thank you for reading. This chapter to a while to write due to a headache but I did get it done, but this is the last chance to voice any ideas about appearance or names, I would really appreciate it. But anyway I thank my Beta reader BlackRoseRevan.

Welcome to the World

A/N: Welcome back. I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I really appreciate all the favorites and reviews and the reads. Thank you all.

Thirteen hours. That's how long it took from the time she entered the hospital to when she gave birth. Ditzy was truly exhausted; she barely had time to see the foal before she passed out. The foal had been large, definitely had gotten that from its dad. Ditzy felt a lot lighter with the foal out of her. She had heard it cry when it was born, and that was enough to tell her that the foal was alright.

Ditzy came to after about two hours of sleep. Big Macintosh was sitting in a chair nearby lightly dozing, she saw a large smile on his face even though he was sleeping.

"Oh good, you’re awake." Nurse Redheart said. Ditzy hadn't noticed the nurse in the room, which wasn't a surprise since she still felt really drowsy. "I'm not sure if you were awake to hear, but you had a beautiful baby colt."

Ditzy smiled as she fought through the haze of sleep to ask something: "A pegasus or earth pony?"

"A pegasus, and might I say he's a strong one. He has to be one of the largest newborn pegasi I've ever seen." Nurse Redheart complimented. Ditzy chuckled to herself; she knew first hoof how big her foal was, but she was still surprised how much easier childbirth had been a second time compared to her having Dinky.

Ditzy saw Big Macintosh's eyes slowly open. He clicked his tongue a few times. It took him a moment to realize where he was, but as soon as he did, he came to Ditzy's side.

"Howdy Sugar Cube. How are ya feeling?" Big Macintosh asked in a gentle voice as he touched a hoof to her face.

"Like I just lost a lot of weight." Ditzy joked weakly. Macintosh smiled one of his special half smiles. "Did you see him, Mac, did you see our boy?"

"Ah did, and might Ah say it was one of the proudest moments of my life." Macintosh said, a gleam of pride in his eyes. He nuzzled her gently.

"Would you like to see him?" Nurse Redheart asked. Ditzy felt her heart race, she felt the words come up her throat before she said anything.

"Of course!" Ditzy tried to contain her excitement: if she hadn’t been so tired she was sure that she would be jumping around like a little school filly. Nurse Redheart smiled slightly as she left the room. Ditzy pushed herself into sitting upright. She looked at Macintosh and she saw how excited he was, and it just added to her own excitement.

After a few minutes of waiting, Nurse Redheart came back with a foal wrapped up in a blanket. She gently put the foal into Ditzy's waiting legs. The foal was asleep, as Ditzy admired the fruit of her labor. He had a coat that was a shade of red so gentle that it was almost gray. His mane and tail were of a faint sandy yellow and Ditzy felt his small wings at his sides. Ditzy felt tears of joy brimming in her eyes. As she looked up at Macintosh, she heard the little foal yawn. She quickly turned her head back to the foal. The little foal’s eyes fluttered open. One eye looked curiously up at the new sight, the other drifted off into a direction. Wait...what?

Ditzy looked at her son's whole face, his eyes wall-eyed, kind of like Ditzy's were sometimes became, but instead of refocusing his eyes stayed that way. Ditzy looked up at Macintosh and Nurse Redheart in concern.

"Is he alright?" Ditzy asked with a quiver in her voice. Macintosh looked just as concerned as she was; he hadn't seen the eyes before.

"Oh, yes, about that..." Nurse Redheart said, as she looked at a nearby chart. "It appears to be strabismus. Other than that it's too early to tell if he's ret...I mean has a mental disability."

Ditzy felt a bit of sadness, but then she felt a surge of determination. "Well, I don't care. He's my son and I love him."

"Ah do too. ‘Sides the eyes add character." Macintosh put in with a soft smile on his face.

"That's nice to hear. Oh, it appears you have a visitor." Redheart nodded towards the door. Ditzy looked towards the door and saw Carrot Top with Dinky under foot. "I'll just leave you alone; I'll be back when it's time to fill out the paper work for the foal."

Nurse Redheart left as Carrot Top and Dinky entered. Dinky ran up to Ditzy's side, and without thinking she jumped up on her mother. She looked excited and kept trying to peek at the foal. "Hi, mommy! Can I see the foal, please?"

"Shhhh...Muffin please try to use your inside voice." Ditzy warned her daughter gently, seeing that she was disturbing the foal. Dinky craned her neck to get a look at him.

"He's so cute!" Dinky almost yelled, and the foal's lip quivered like he was about to cry. With a chuckle, Macintosh pulled Dinky off her mother, despite the protests of Dinky.

Carrot Top walked up to the side of Ditzy, on the opposite side of the bed from Macintosh. As she leaned in to get a view of the foal, she said: "Hello, little one, welcome to the land of Equestria."

Ditzy smiled as her best friend greeted the newest addition to the Apple family. She could see that Carrot Top registered his little eye problem, but she didn't say anything about it. Ditzy looked back to her foal. He was looking at Carrot Top with a curious cock of his head.

"He sure is cute, Ditzy. Have you picked out a name yet?" Carrot Top asked. Ditzy looked up at Macintosh who smiled and nodded back.

"Carson. Little Carson Apple." Ditzy said. Carson was a type of carrot. Ditzy had convinced Macintosh that they should name the foal after Carrot Top, who had been a good friend for a long time. It took a moment for Carrot Top to realize that they had named the foal after her.

"Eeyup. We thought that we ought to name our foal after somepony who helped us in our time of need." Macintosh explained as he tickled the chin of the little foal. The foal turned its attention up to its father, its eyes wide as it took in the immense size of the stallion.

"I am honored." Carrot Top sniffled, a tear running down her face. Dinky had gotten tired of waiting and climbed back on the bed, more gently this time. Dinky snuggled up next to her mother to get a good view of the foal.

"Meet you little brother, Muffin." Ditzy said to her daughter.

"Howdy." Dinky shook Carson's little hoof, he just looked confused. Ditzy giggled. The new born foal yawned, tired out by the minutes of activity. He fell asleep quickly in his mother's legs. Nurse Redheart came back just as Carson settled in.

"So, shall we begin?" The medical pony asked. Ditzy nodded, as she gave the foal to Carrot Top. Nurse Redheart put a pen into her mouth. "Name?"

"Carson Apple." Big Macintosh said. Carrot Top gave him the foal after she finished ogling over the newborn. Nurse Redheart filled out the rest of the birth certificate.

"So, we're going to suggest that we keep the foal here for a day or two, to make sure there are no complications." Nurse Redheart explained. Ditzy nodded as the tiredness from before resurfaced. Redheart filled out the rest of the paperwork. "I'm supposed to take the foal back to the nursery now...but I think I can come back and do that later."

"Thank ya kindly." Macintosh said. Nurse Redheart left the room with the paperwork. Big Macintosh looked down at his son, who was asleep in his legs; he had a fatherly smile on his face.

"Well, I got to get back to mind the store. Congratulations you two." Carrot Top said as she walked out the door. Ditzy felt an inner peace. Her family now had its fourth member, and all of them were in the same room. Ditzy let herself drift off to sleep as she wrapped a leg around her daughter.

"Boy howdy! Y'all have a mighty cute foal, Macintosh!" Applejack's voice shook Ditzy out of her sleep, too soon for her liking. Macintosh was still holding the foal when Ditzy opened her eyes. Applejack and Apple Bloom were looking over his shoulders to get a view of the still sleeping foal.

"Eeyup." Macintosh didn't look up from his son. Then Ditzy turned towards the door, as she heard the click drag of Granny Smith's walker. In a few moments, Granny Smith pulled herself through the door.

"Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy pants hospitals. We gave birth in the home." Granny Smith complained, but Ditzy smiled. It wouldn't be a visit from Granny Smith without her complaining about something, and Ditzy could see the smile on her face as she shuffled over to Macintosh. "How do ya feel, now that you’re a dad?"

"Ah was a dad before..."Macintosh winked at Ditzy, he was the only one who had noticed her waking up. “But now Ah have a son, and one that can fly as a bonus."

"You’re gonna be a great dad, grandson." Granny Smith said. Ditzy could see by the way Macintosh shifted at the compliment, that it meant a lot to him. Granny Smith shuffled closer to him. "Looks like he's gonna be a big one."

"Just like his pa." Applejack punched him in the shoulder. Apple Bloom hopped up to her brother’s back to get a better view.

"Maybe me and the Crusaders could get our cutie mark in foal sitting!" Apple Bloom said.

"No!" Ditzy, Applejack, and Macintosh almost shouted in unison. The sound of loud voices woke Carson. He started to cry, and Macintosh sighed. Almost as soon as the foal started to cry, Nurse Redheart came in and took the foal from Macintosh.

"I'll just put him in the nursery for a while." Redheart said. She took the foal with the gentleness of an expert, and carried the crying foal out of the room.

After a while of visiting, Applejack had to get back to work on the farm. She took Apple Bloom and Granny Smith with her. Big Macintosh woke Dinky and took her outside to play a little bit so that Ditzy could get some rest.

Ditzy settled herself back into her hospital bed, and almost slipped back into much needed rest when she heard some very soft hoof steps. Ditzy opened her eyes, and saw her timid yellow friend standing in the doorway.

"Oh sorry, did I wake you? I um... I'll just come back later." Fluttershy nearly whispered as she started to back away.

"Fluttershy..." Ditzy sighed: she was very tired but she supposed she could stay awake long enough to talk to her. "Come on in here."

Fluttershy shyly stepped into the hospital room. She half hid behind her long pink mane. Ditzy sat herself upright. Fluttershy said quietly: "I'm sorry that I...um...fainted."

"It's alright." Ditzy forgave her. She would have done it anyway, but Fluttershy's sad eyes made Ditzy feel bad.

"So...um...where is the foal?" Fluttershy asked in her normal voice, which Ditzy still had to strain to hear.

"He’s back in the nursery. I think you can go see him if you want." Ditzy said. Her vision blurred a moment, and she yawned.

"Oh, it's a colt?" Fluttershy asked with interest in her voice.

"Yeah. He's a big one too. Nurse said he's the biggest pegasus foal she had ever seen." Ditzy said. Fluttershy smiled gently, as she came up to the side of Ditzy.

"There were no problems, right?" Fluttershy asked: she had genuine worry in her voice. It took Ditzy back about how much she cared about everyone of her friends.

"Well...um... He seems to have a case of strabismus." Ditzy said. Ditzy wasn't sure how she felt about the issue yet, but she did know that she loved Carson no matter what.

"Oh no! Is he going to be alright?" Fluttershy gasped and started to pant.

"Yes, strabismus is where his eyes are off center, kinda like how mine are sometimes, but his are stuck that way." Ditzy explained, and Fluttershy calmed down from her frantic pants. Ditzy patted her shy friend's shoulder. "Now, I need to take a nap."

"Oh okay...see you later..." Fluttershy shyly.

"Of course you will." Ditzy said, as she went to sleep for some much needed rest.

________
Ditzy woke up in the middle of the night. Her internal clock was messed up due to the labor taking her though a whole night. Big Macintosh had taken Dinky home and was going to spend the night at home with her.

Ditzy laid in bed for a while, but quickly got bored, so she decided to sneak out to go see Carson. She quietly rolled out of bed; she hadn't stood in a while so she stretched a little. She crept out into the hallway and looked both ways to make sure it was clear.

She snuck down the hall, narrowly avoiding the sight of an inattentive night nurse. She found her way down to the nursery: it was mostly empty but she spotted her little boy. She opened up the door to the nursery; the lack of security kind of concerning.

Ditzy stepped as quietly as she could up to where Carson was sleeping. She looked down at him. His small sleeping form warmed her heart; she felt the same connection to him as she felt to Dinky. She knew she wouldn't be able to stay long.

So she told him how she felt: "Welcome to the world, Carson. I will try my best to make your life the best it can be, every day I will try to raise you up to your potential. I love you muffin, good night." It was the same promise she had made to Dinky when she was born. She kissed his forehead then snuck back to her room.

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope I didn't disappoint. I thank thewaffler for his idea to name the foal after Carrot Top. Also I would have had the foal been an earth-pony but bloodwolf432's comment changed my mind on that. So I thank him and any others who gave me ideas. I also thank my beta reader. Also I am going to take some of the assumptions I get from watching the Baby cakes episode, like how fast foals seem to be able to crawl around at 1 month.

Big Mac

A/N: Hello and welcome back. I hope I didn't disappoint with Carson. I thank all you people for taking the time to read and review this story.

We come back to Ditzy about a month and a half after Carson's birth.

"Oh no you don't, mister." Ditzy pulled Carson out of the air as he tried to escape his mother. She quickly changed his diaper. Carson had started to fly at about a mouth, and he liked flying around, but he wasn't particularly good at it. After she finished, she let Carson go. His little wings buzzed as they carried him up into the air.

He was a point where he looked at everything curiously, and Ditzy found it adorable. She watched as he buzzed around the living room. A wall mirror held his attention. He stared into the mirror with his off center eyes. He saw himself in the mirror and flew straight towards the mirror, ramming his head into it.

Ditzy caught him as he fell from the air. His lip quivered for a moment, and then he started to cry. Ditzy wrapped him in her for legs and kissed him on the forehead. "Shhhh....shhhh... Mommy will make it all better."

She bounced him gently around slightly as he started to calm down. She set him down on the ground, and went to the refrigerator, and grabbed a bottle of milk. Carson crawled into the dining area.

"You hungry, Muffin?" Ditzy asked. Carson was always hungry; he was his father's son after all. She picked him up from his crawl, and put the bottle in his mouth. She put his little hooves on the sides of the bottle as he gulped down the milk specially mixed to promote growth and healthy development.

He finished the milk quickly. Ditzy set him down to let him crawl around again. Ditzy started to make herself some lunch. She pulled a loaf of bread from a cupboard and started to get the other supplies for the sandwich, when two large hooves covered her eyes.

"Hello, Mac." Ditzy said with a smile.

"How did ya know it was me?" Macintosh drawled. Ditzy had to admit he could be quite sneaky when he wanted to.

"It could be that your hooves cover almost all my face." Ditzy said. He removed his hooves from her face, and she continued to make herself the sandwich. Carson crawled into the kitchen, and Big Macintosh picked him up and set Carson on his back.

"Howdy little Sugar Cube." Macintosh said, as he tickled his son's chin. Carson's little face formed into a smile.

"What are you doing home so early?" Ditzy asked; not that she didn't like him being home.

"Applejack found me a paying job." Macintosh said. Ditzy's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Did you quit the farm?" Ditzy asked. She didn't want him to quit the farm. She knew how much he loved working on the farm with family.

"Nope, but the farm work is a bit slow right now, so Applejack said Ah should go make some money to pay off the medical bill." Macintosh informed her. The medical bill had been expensive and they couldn’t put off paying it forever.

"What's the work then?" Ditzy asked. Carson buzzed off his father's back and over to Ditzy, but he didn't have very good control and crashed to the ground. Before he could start crying, Ditzy gathered him up and kissed his owie. "All better."

"Ah'm going to go build railroads." Macintosh said. "Ah hear the pay is good if we can keep it on schedule."

Ditzy thought about it for a moment. Ditzy was awfully bored, even if her hooves were full with taking care of her adventurous son. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Ah don't see why not." Big Macintosh said. Ditzy smiled warmly at him. Carson was already over his little bump and crawled around Mac's legs. "Y'all had any trouble with him today?"

Ditzy was much more experienced than Macintosh at taking care of a foal, seeing as she already had a foal before. So, Macintosh tended to worry about Carson more than Ditzy did. She appreciated his concern, but she could handle any problems the foal could have.

"Just the usual. He can be very clumsy at times." Ditzy said. She knew how it felt to be clumsy.

"Oh well, it's cute." Macintosh said. Carson tucked his legs under himself, and yawned. Ditzy looked up at the clock.

"Alright...nap time." She said quietly as she picked him up. She took him to his nursery with Big Macintosh following close behind. Ditzy set him in his crib. The crib was designed for pegasi, so they couldn't fly out. Carson sometimes would sleep-fly, so the crib kept him in.

Carson snuggled up to Macintosh's old doll. He had given it to Carson after he had found it in Mac and Ditzy's room. Ditzy leaned affectionately into Mac. He nuzzled her in the back of the neck. Ditzy turned on the foal monitor as they left the room.

"Where's Dinky?" Big Macintosh said with a sly smile. Ditzy gave him the same smile back.

"She's out running around with her friends; we have the house to ourselves." Ditzy said stopping in front of their bedroom. "When do you have to go build the railroads?"

"Not for another hour or so." He whispered into her ear. She kissed him on the lips deeply and passionately. They made their way to the bed. Ditzy prepared herself for lovemaking with her stallion. Macintosh smiled at her. She kissed him again, and her adrenaline started to pump. Then a cry came from the foal monitor.

Big Macintosh chuckled: "Ah'll get him, Sugar Cube."
Big Macintosh left the room for a minute, and the crying stopped. He came back with Carson half asleep on his broad shoulders. Ditzy gave him a questioning look.

"When Ah walked into the room he stopped crying." Macintosh explained.

Ditzy giggled: "Looks like somepony wants attention."

Ditzy took the foal from Macintosh and set him on the bed. She blew into the foal's stomach and Carson giggled. Macintosh tickled Carson's tummy causing him to giggle again. Carson's wings fluttered from under him as he laughed.

_________
The day was sunny, and very hot. The haze of heat hung low over the rails. Ditzy unfurled a wing to guard Carson from the intense heat of the sun. Macintosh stood chewing a sprig of wheat in his mouth. He hadn't chewed wheat in quite a while; he had stopped after beginning to date Ditzy. Ditzy knew he only chewed his wheat when he was trying to look masculine…well, more masculine than usual.

They trotted up to a cluster of stallions gathered around another stallion with an orange mane on a pedestal. "Lads, we're behind schedule, if we don't get to the other side of that mountain we're not getting paid."

Complaints and foul words were yelled at the pony, who was obviously the manager of the railroad. Big Macintosh stepped closer to the crowd.

"Ah can take ya there." Macintosh's voice bellowed out. The stallions turned to look at him. Most looked at him skeptically but Ditzy could see some hopeful faces.

"And when do you start building railroads?" The manager asked him skeptically.

"Today." Macintosh said stoically. He picked up a nearby hammer with his mouth. He trotted over to the unfinished railroad. He swung the hammer at a rail spike. The hammer made contact with the head of the spike and with a crack and some sparks, the rail spike was rammed straight into the ground.

The stallions looked on in awe as Macintosh pounded another spike into the ground. Apparently it was quite a feat to strike the large nail into the earth.

"Alright lads, let's get back to work!" The manager called out. Ditzy held Carson close, as the stallions ran around her and back to the railroad. Macintosh swung his heavy hammer and hit another in. He kept going like this for a while, and the railroad was making good progress.

Ditzy watched for an hour. They had made almost a quarter of a mile in progress. Ditzy sat herself under a shady tree. She played with Carson while the stallions worked. She could see Macintosh working up a sweat. Ditzy was starting to wish she hadn't tagged along: it was hot, humid, and Carson was starting to get cranky from skipping his nap earlier.

Ditzy stood and started to walk towards Macintosh to tell him she would be taking Carson home. Then she heard a hiss. She froze. Ditzy feared a snake as under hoof, but then she heard a whistle. She looked around, and saw in the distance a metal machine coming towards the cluster of stallions working on the railway.

Ditzy went to investigate as the machine pulled up.

"What do you see, oh brother of mine?"

"I see an unfinished railroad, and a bunch of lazy stallions." Ditzy saw the stallion that was standing on the machine. He was wearing a tacky straw hat and a striped shirt. Ditzy saw the stallion's brother was wearing the exact same thing, but he had a mustache. They looked vaguely familiar to Ditzy, but she couldn't put a hoof on it.

"I agree. You think that's why the rail company hired us and our speedy railroad builder 9000. Let us introduce ourselves, I'm Flim, he's Flam, and were the world famous Flim-Flam brothers." The one without the mustache announced.

Ditzy remembered them, and she saw that Macintosh did as well. The other stallions started to yell at the Flim-Flam brothers, about how they had worked hard and deserved to be paid. Flam started up the machine, and the worker stallions started close-in on the brothers.

"Whoa fellas, Ah have a way to settle this." Big Macintosh got between the stallions and the machine. Ditzy found it hard to believe that he was protecting the Flim-Flam brothers, seeing as they had tried to destroy the Apple family business. "Ah issue y'all a challenge."

"And why would we accept?" Flim asked.

"Because Ah'm the only thing standing between ya and these fine folks." Macintosh said. Flim whispered something to Flam, and then Flam whispered something back.

"What is your challenge, hayseed?" Flam asked.

"Ah say if Ah can best this here machine, the pay we were promised is ours." Big Macintosh challenged.

"And if we win?" Flim asked. Ditzy really hoped Macintosh wouldn't offer something crazy, like their house.

"Ah keep these stallions from touching y'all or your machine." Macintosh set the terms.
"I think we have a deal." Flim said, as Flam started up the machine. A hiss of steam rolled from the side of the machine. It had a pneumatic hammer that was prepared to pound in rail spikes. Ditzy watched as her husband took position on the other side of the rails.

A whistle sounded. Mac swung his hammer and the pneumatic hammer hit their respective rail spikes and pounded them straight into the ground. The crowd cheered, as Macintosh pounded another spike in. Macintosh had an early lead, but Ditzy saw as Flim turned up the power the lead started to shrink and soon they were neck and neck.

A hiss of steam blocked Macintosh from view, and the machine started to pull ahead, pounding rail spikes into the ground. They were quickly reaching the end of the tracks and Big Mac was still behind.

Ditzy put Carson into his carrying pouch, and flew up to Macintosh. He had a thick glaze of sweat all over him, as he swung his hammer.

"Sorry Sugar Cube, looks like Ah lost." Macintosh said between breaths as he swung his hammer as fast as he could.

"Not yet." Ditzy kissed him on the cheek in a attempt to motivate him. Macintosh moved faster, pounding the rail spikes into the ground. He caught up to the Brother's machine. They raced towards the end of the tracks: the machine was at top speed and Macintosh was starting to pull ahead.

Macintosh made it to the end and pounded in the last spike, resulting in his victory. The Flim-Flam brothers’ speedy railroad builder 9000 pulled up beside Macintosh. Ditzy trotted up beside him.

"Ah beat your machine. Now, the bits we were promised are ours." Macintosh demanded.

"It’s true brother of mine, he did beat us." Flam told his brother. Ditzy didn't like the way he said it: the tone was sarcastic.

"Yes he did, but I don't think we're going to pay them, are we?" Flim said more than asked.

"No, we aren’t ,and I'm going to tell you why, good brother. We're not going to pay because they were fired by the good company that hired us." Flam explained. Flim nodded like the statement was reasonable.

Macintosh, who was always honest, looked shocked by this. Ditzy looked at him with a look that asked: 'you didn't see this coming?' Ditzy took Carson out of his carrying pouch and gave him to Macintosh.

"Hold Carson for minute." Ditzy said. She was determined to get those bits: they needed the money badly, and she wasn’t about to let them get away with stealing it. She flew up to the platform that the brothers were standing on.

"Your stallion there sent you up here to try and get the bits?" Flim asked. "Well you can forget it!"
_________
Ditzy walked proudly with a pouch of bits in her mouth. Macintosh followed close behind, Carson asleep on his large back. She had gotten the money from the Flim-Flam brothers. Macintosh had a slight smile on his face. Ditzy knew that it was one of pride for the fact that he had such a strong wife.

"Wow, Sugar, just wow." It was the first thing Macintosh had said since she had showed the brothers a thing or two.

"I know. I'm pretty good, aren’t I?" Ditzy tried to sound arrogant, but she couldn't hold it and laughed.

"Ah'll think before upsetting ya." Big Macintosh said. They had received just enough bits to pay off the medical bill from having Carson, and it was a relief.

As they arrived home, they saw Dinky playing with her friend Twist.

"Hi Muffin, you want me to play with you?" Ditzy made sure she spent time with Dinky, so she wouldn't feel that the new child was replacing her.

"Can we play with Carson?" Dinky asked. This hadn't been the first time Dinky had asked. Ditzy had always said no: it was concerning how clumsy Twist was, but today Ditzy felt different. She picked Carson off Macintosh's back, and Mac gave her a questing look.

"Sure, but Muffin you have to be very careful." Ditzy warned as she placed Carson, who was just waking up, on the ground.
"We will mommy." Dinky assured her mother. Ditzy stood by Macitosh as they watched Dinky and Twist play with the foal. Ditzy leaned into her husband. He looked down at her, putting on one of his half smiles.

"Ya know...that looks like fun..." Macintosh said quietly. Ditzy giggled.

"You want to play, Mac?" Ditzy asked, he nodded in response. "Well, let's go."

A/N: Thank you for reading; it may not be the most exciting chapter but thanks for reading. The whole train thing was inspired by the American Folk Legend John Henry. I also thank my Beta Reader BlackRoseRaven.

Old Friend

A/N: Hello and welcome back. I'm glad so many of you enjoy this story, or at least I hope you do. My beta reader gave me the idea for this chapter, so I thank him for that and for beta reading it.

We rejoin Ditzy a week later.

The day had perfect weather: the temperature was comfortably warm, tempered by a soft breeze, and a few clouds sitting in the air. Ditzy watched her son carefully. He was buzzing around in the air. This was the first time she had let him fly outside. He was doing well so far, but even the soft breeze would blow him off course. He was working hard to keep himself in the air, and Ditzy prepared to catch him when he enviably over-worked his little wings.

He had only been flying a few minutes when he was blown from the air. Ditzy was there to catch him, and she gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "You did well today, Muffin."

She ticked him, and she got a giggle in response. She was happy to see him happy, just like she was happy to see Dinky or Macintosh happy. Carson had been sick the last few days: a shot of whisky was very bad for a young foal, and with Macintosh at work most of the day, she had to deal with their son being sick. After the whisky accident, Macintosh has been trying to help Ditzy with Carson and Dinky as much as he could, but Ditzy was still a bit mad.

Carson rolled around in the grass, having a great time. Ditzy looked off in the distance as she saw Dinky playing with her best friend, Twist. Dinky was playing tag. Ditzy wasn't sure how they could play tag with two ponies, but they managed it.

Carson noticed a mud puddle, and before Ditzy could stop him, he jumped in. He splattered mud all over himself. Instead of getting frustrated, Ditzy let herself laugh. He was having a good time, even if it made him dirty, and she was going to let him have his fun.

His grayish-red coat was quickly becoming covered with mud. After a while, he looked up at his mother and held out his legs to signal that he wanted to be picked up.

"Oh no mister, we got to clean you up before I pick you up." Ditzy giggled, as he crawled towards her, a bubbly smile on his face.

Ditzy saw a shadow pass over and looked up. She saw a dark streak across the sky with lightning coming out of it. The clouds were being led by a pony. Ditzy didn't know that the Wonderbolts were coming to town. While she was distracted, Carson hugged his mother's leg, covering it in mud.

"Heh...I guess you got me." Ditzy let out a sigh. She looked up into the air, and the dark streak was gone. She turned back to look at her son. She reared back when she saw there was a stallion in a Wonderbolts uniform on, with goggles over his eyes.

"Hi Ditzy!" He said. His voice sounded very familiar. He stood slightly taller than her, and from what she could see of his coat, it was a light green, and he had a brown mane.

"Uhhhh...." Ditzy stammered. His mouth formed into an 'O' of realization. He took off the goggles and pulled back the mask. Ditzy's eyes went wide in surprise. She tackled him in a hug. "Peashooter!"

"That's right, kid." The green Wonderbolt said. Carson looked up at him with wide eyed interest.

"Oh this is my son: Carson." Ditzy picked up her filthy son. Peashooter raised an eyebrow. Dinky had noticed the new pony and had started to come over.

"Your son? Is the father... around?" He drifted off; a look of genuine concern was on his face.

"Yes, he is. We're married now." She said, just as Dinky came over, and Peashooter smiled.

"Dinky? Is that you? The last time I saw you were just a foal." Peashooter said. Dinky looked confused.

"This is Peashooter, Muffin. He helped mommy through a very rough time." Ditzy said. She thought back: he had been there for her after she had found out she had been impregnated by the rapist. He had provided her with a place to live, and food to eat. Peashooter had ended up giving her his house, and even got her the mailmare job. They had even dated a little, but they had decided that it was better to just to stay friends; he was more like a brother than a lover. "So you’re a Wonderbolt now?"

"Yep. It took a lot of work, but I did it." Peashooter said with pride. "Sorry we haven’t had contact in a few years, but I've been so busy with training for the 'bolts, and then we were on tour for a long time."

Ditzy smiled: she had forgotten how much she liked his confidence that was never arrogant. "Yeah, I've been busy with Dinky and Carson here."

Peashooter ruffled Dinky's mane, then Carson's. Ditzy saw him register Carson's off center eyes. He asked: "Is it just the eyes?"

Ditzy knew what he meant: was Carson 'special?' Ditzy responded: "We think so… he's a strong flier, he's just a bit clumsy."

Peashooter laughed. "Who is that like?"

Ditzy smiled at his teasing. Dinky left to go back and play with Twist. "Sounds like you."

"Exactly." Peashooter responded to her banter. Ditzy's heart felt light as talking to him brought out old, but good memories. "So, can I meet this husband of yours?"

"Sure, but he's at work right now, so why don't you come over with me now? I have to get Carson cleaned up."

"Alright. What does your husband do?" Peashooter asked.

"He's a farmer. He works at Sweet Apple Acres." Ditzy said as they began to walk home. "Dinky, we're going home. Remember don't go with any strange ponies and be home by 5:30."

"Sweet Apple Acres? Soarin' got a pie from there once, and he still talks about it." Peashooter said. "So how are you doing?"

The change in subject surprised Ditzy, but she said: "Well, I'm doing alright, but I'm a bit tired. Macintosh and I have had a few...um...arguments through the last week about how to raise Carson."

Ditzy didn't want to pour her problems onto a friend that she hadn't seen in a long time. Peashooter gave her a gentle look. He said: "I'm sure you'll work it out."

They walked and talked for a while. It took them about ten minutes to walk to Ditzy's house. "And this is the new house."

"A good step up from what I gave you." He said. Ditzy unlocked the door and they went inside. Ditzy went to the bathroom with Carson, followed by Peashooter. Ditzy ran the bath until it was about a quarter full then put Carson in the water with a few bath toys.

Ditzy washed the dirt off quickly then let him play with the toys a bit.

"You have a cute son. He looks like he could be a Wonderbolt one day." He said, watching Carson splash around in the water.

Ditzy had to laugh at the comment. "If you saw the size he's probably going to grow to, you wouldn't think so."

"Why?" He asked. "I mean he looks about the right size for a 6 month old."

"He's three and a half months." Ditzy chuckled when she saw the look on his face.

"Geeze, he's going to be the size of a large earth pony." Peashooter said. Ditsy pulled the plug, and the water drained slowly from the tub.

"I'll be right back." Ditzy said. She stood and went into Carson's nursery and grabbed a fresh diaper. When she came back into the bathroom, Peashooter was drying Carson off with a towel.

"I thought I might as well wipe him down." Peashooter said considerately.

"Thank you." Ditzy thanked him. She was surprised that he even thought to do that. It just reminded her how considerate he was. "Nap-time, Muffin."

Ditzy picked him up and brought him back to his nursery to put him in his crib. Ditzy smiled to herself. Every time she saw Carson or Dinky asleep, peacefully, it reminded her why she loved to be a mother and how glad she was that she had Macintosh to provide a future for her children. Ditzy made a mental note that she would finally let the whisky thing pass tonight.

"Speaking of muffins...you still make your world's best butterscotch-banana muffins?" He asked, and Ditzy nodded. "Good. I can't tell you how much I've missed them."

Ditzy laughed. "Yes I do still make them, would you like some?"

___________
Peashooter nearly ate a whole muffin in one bite. He groaned in delight at the taste of the muffin. He said: "These...are...great!"

"Oh come on, they aren’t that good." Ditzy blushed slightly at the compliment. She felt kind of strange of blushing at him. Peashooter ate another muffin in one bite.

"This Macintosh fella is one lucky stallion." Peashooter said after swallowing the muffin.

"Speaking of him, he should have been home by now." Ditzy murmured. He was almost never home late from work. They talked for a little while longer before Peashooter gave a large yawn.

"Boy am I tired... I better get back to the hotel: need my sleep, we're preforming a show tomorrow here." Peashooter said.

"You can take a nap here if you want, I have things to do. Then you can meet Macintosh, I'm sure he'll be here soon anyway." Ditzy suggested.

"Thank you, I think I'll take you up on that offer. Umm...where should I put my uniform?" He asked. Ditzy had forgotten that he was still wearing the Wonderbolts clothing.

"You can put it on the dresser." Ditzy told him. He nodded his thanks and walked into the master bedroom.

Ditzy did a few chores before Macintosh finally came home. Ditzy greeted him with a warm smile and said: "Hey Mac. How was your day?"

He halfheartedly returned the smile. "It was long, Applejack took the day off."

Ditzy sighed. She knew how much work it put on Macintosh to have Applejack take a day off, but Ditzy was starting to get frustrated with her sister-in-law: it was the fourth time in the last two weeks she had taken a day off.

"I think you should take a day off, Mac, spend time with the kids...and to spend time with me." Ditzy said softly. He nuzzled her gently, in a very loving way.

"Ah would love to Sugar Cube, but the farm is just about on its feet again, and then Ah can finally get paid." Macintosh said. She saw the gleam of happiness in his eye at the prospect of being able to provide for his family. "Ah'll wash up real quick."

He walked to the bedroom, then stopped, eyes wide with surprise. "Uhhhh... Sugar, ya know there a stallion sleeping in our bed, right?"

"Oh that's an old friend of mine, Peashooter." Ditzy said as she stepped beside her husband. Peashooter looked up lazily from his sleep. Then when he realized somepony new was standing at the door and rolled out of bed and stood up tall.

"Oh hey, I'm Peashooter, an old friend of Ditzy's." He held out his hoof. Macintosh took it cautiously. Peashooter didn't seem to notice that Macintosh stood at least two heads taller than him.

"Howdy...I'm Macintosh; most ponies call me Big Mac or just Mac." Macintosh responded. Ditzy noticed a slight change from his usual relaxed demeanor. Peashooter smiled genuinely at him. "How do ya know my wife?"

"Well, it's a long story, and I'm sure you've had a long day so I'll just give you the short version. Well one day, after a hard day of training, I decided to get myself a treat from Ponyville. I was heading to the newly opened Sugar Cube Corner, but I passed a mare sitting on the side of the road, a basket of muffins and a little cardboard sign that said: 'muffins 1 bit.' So, I decided to buy one, and I ate it. Then I bought another, and another, and before I knew it I had bought them all. So I laughed at myself for ruining my whole day of training by eating so many muffins." Peashooter chuckled at the memory. "Then I said to her: 'You sure have a lot of bits to bring home tonight.' But she looked down and mumbled that she didn't have a home."

Macintosh had relaxed from his tense state. He had an interested look on his face, as Peashooter continued: "I wouldn't be having that. So I offered her a place to stay, but when I did I swear she looked like I was the worst pony to have ever lived. She flew off quickly, but I gave chase. I don't usually toot my own horn but it didn't take much to catch up. I reasoned with her-"

"By reason he means tackle to the ground." Ditzy put in. Peashooter shot her a look of playful scorn.

"Yes, I tackled her to the ground. She tried to struggle, but I wasn't going to let her stay out on the street, not with how well she bakes. Then she told me what happened to her." He said quietly, letting the words sink in. "Needless to say I felt like a jerk, but I wasn't about to let a pregnant mare who could make butterscotch banana muffins like no other go homeless. So I convinced her to come live with me. In the house right next to the post office. Sorry, I've been rambling, I'll let you be."

"Eeyup. It was nice to meet ya." Macintosh said.

"Nice to meet you too, Big Mac. I'm glad Ditzy found somepony she can depend on." Peashooter said. Ditzy gave him a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow. I have a show tomorrow; you two should come see it."

"I'd love to." Ditzy said.

"Ah'm sorry. Applejack's takin' the day off to watch that very same show with one of her friends... Miss Dash if Ah recall. So Ah have to take care of the farm." Big Macintosh said. Peashooter looked disappointed as he took his Wonderbolts uniform and left the house with a last quick good-bye.

"Applejack is taking another day off?" Ditzy asked, putting concern in her voice, even though she was annoyed with the situation.

"Eeyup. Ah don't mind, she's young and needs time with her friends." Macintosh reasoned. Ditzy could see past the mask of contentment with his situation, and see that he wasn't really okay with Applejack taking the day off, but she knew he would never say anything.

"Mac, we're not that old ourselves, and we've barely had any time to spend together." Ditzy said. The way he talked it made them seem like an old couple.

"Ah know, Sugar Cube, but Ah promise as soon as Ah get paid again, Ah'll put a day aside just for us." He said. Ditsy nodded slowly. "Now, Ah need to get washed up."

_________
Ditzy sunk into his legs, embracing him in a kiss. She felt hot and cold swirl in her stomach, as she got closer to him. She felt like she wanted, no, needed him. She felt her wings grow stiff, as she straddled the stallion. Her heart fluttered as she looked into his green eyes. The hot passion of love filled her entire being. She was going to let him have her. She looked down on her lover at his wings spread out under him. His confident face and athletic body. His wind swept mane splayed out under his head.

"I love you Ditzy." He said.

"I love you too… Peashooter."

Ditzy's eyes shot open, and she was breathing hard. She thought: Did I just dream about... him? Oh no oh no oh no oh no. It couldn't be. We left that behind long ago. I love Macintosh...I love Macintosh...I love Mac...I love...

She felt Macintosh stir. He wrapped his leg around her, embracing her in a tight hug. "Sugar Cube? Ya alright?"

"Yeah...just a bad dream." She whispered. The thing that scared her was that she wasn't so sure it was a bad dream.

A/N:Thank you for reading. Please review I really appreciate it.

Wonderbolts

A/N:Well, Welcome back. I was issued a challenge to find a unique solution to the problem. Well that was hard to do, and I had to a lot of thinking really late at night.
The next day.

Ditzy woke up in a cold sweat. She had the dream again. The sun had just started to peek through the window. Ditzy rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom; she turned on the faucet and splashed water in her face.

Macintosh got out of bed and walked into the doorway. He usually got up early so he didn't look tired. He had a slight smile on his face. "Y'all were talking in your sleep...and your stiff wings kept on pokin’ me in the sides. Ya have an interesting dream?"

He had put inflection on 'interesting.' Ditzy froze, she really hoped she hadn't said anything incriminating. Macintosh had his normal relaxed mood, so Ditzy felt she had been in the clear. She felt bad that she was...fantasizing about Peashooter.

"Nah. It's one of those dreams that you can't remember." Ditzy felt terrible, she had just looked him in the eye and lied to him. He shrugged as he walked past her and into the shower. Ditzy stared at herself in the mirror for several minutes before the steam from the shower clouded over the mirror. Macintosh stuck his head out around the curtain.

"Would ya like to join me?" He asked. He had a sly smile on his face. Ditzy thought about it for a second, but shook her head no. Macintosh shrugged again and retreated back into the shower. Ditzy walked out of the bathroom, unable to share the room with Macintosh and her shame.

She heard Carson stir through the foal monitor. She trotted over to his nursery, and watched him as he woke up. It was early for him to wake up. His crooked eyes fluttered open and stared curiously up at his mother. He cocked his head, and then started to give his usual bubbly smile. Ditzy smiled warmly back and picked him up when he held his legs out.

"Good morning Carson." Ditzy said and, set him down on her back. His small wings fluttered a bit before settling back down. Ditzy walked slowly to keep Carson balanced on her back. Macintosh was already eating his breakfast when she got to the dining area. He looked up from his meal and smiled. Ditzy set Carson in his high chair as she went to fetch his baby mush.

"Y'all going to head down to the show today?" Mac asked. Ditzy poured the baby mush into a bowl and brought it over to Carson. She picked up a spoon and started to spoon feed him the mush, rather than let him dig in.

"Yeah. I'm going to take Dinky and Carson. Hopefully he'll behave himself.” Ditzy said. Carson seemed like he was in a good mood, but Ditzy knew first hoof how fast that could change.

"Ah hope ya have fun." Macintosh said with a warm smile.

"Anything interesting going on in your day?" Ditzy asked, feeding Carson another spoonful of mush.

"Work mostly. Ah heard my cousin Braeburn is coming to town, says he's meanin' to talk to me about something'." He said. Ditzy took a second to remember which one of his cousins was Braeburn. She remembered quickly who he was. She wasn't sure how she could forget his... excitable cousin. It was surprising how different Macintosh was from Braeburn.

"What would the somethin' be?" Ditzy inquired. Ditzy put the spoon into the bowl, and then realized it was empty.

"Ah don't know it must be important." Macintosh said finishing, his plate of food. He stood up and kissed Ditzy on the cheek, then Carson on the forehead. "Ah'll see ya later."

"Bye Mac." Ditzy responded. She quickly made herself some breakfast, and ate it. She pulled Carson out of his high chair, much to his delight, and set him on the ground. She heard a knock on the door, and went to go answer it. She opened the door to see Peashooter, a rose held in his mouth.

"Oh hey Peashooter...What's with the rose?" Ditzy asked nervously. She tried to hide the nervousness, but a little managed to flow into her voice.

"As I recall the rose was your favorite flower." He said, giving her the flower, and she blushed. She wasn't sure what to do with it. The gesture was suspicious to Ditzy. He seemed to read her thoughts when he said: "I got it from some mare on the way here, so I thought you might like it."

Ditzy breathed a sigh of relief. Calm down Ditzy. He's just being friendly...just control yourself. I love Macintosh. Ditzy thought to herself. Peashooter stood in front of her, a confident smile on his face. Ditzy gave him a hug in thanks for his gift.

"Shouldn't you be preparing for the show?" Ditzy asked as she set the rose aside, and gestured for him to come in.

"I've already done the stretches. So I thought I'd come over to visit." He said. "Oh, hey there Carson!"

Ditzy heard her son's wings buzzing right behind her. His wings were growing to be very strong for somepony of his age. Peashooter's grin grew wider. "I still think your boy could be a Wonderbolt one day."

Carson buzzed slowly into a crash landing. He wasn't very good at landing yet, but he was doing surprisingly well for somepony as clumsy as he was. Ditzy heard Dinky get out of bed a few rooms away.

"So, I couldn't happen but notice you're not the mail mare anymore… what happened?" Peashooter asked. Ditzy sunk back. She gave him a look that told him that she didn't want to talk about it. He pulled her into a hug and whispered: "Alright...we won't talk about it."

Ditzy sighed. The hug felt good, and the way he whispered, quiet but with underlying support that made her stomach fill with butterflies. The feeling scared her, and she thought: Why? I shouldn't be feeling this way. As much as she hated the feeling it still comforted her. Peashooter released the hug as Dinky walked into the room.

"Good morning mommy." Dinky said with a yawn. "Hey Peashooter."

Carson crawled over to his sister and wrapped her small leg in a big hug. Ditzy felt her heart almost melt at the pleasant scene. Peashooter voiced his thoughts: "Well, isn't that just the cutest thing you ever saw."

Dinky was trying to hide a smile as Carson bear hugged her leg. As annoying as her little brother could be sometimes, she really did love him. She tried to shake him off her leg but he seemed to be glued on.

"So you're coming to the show right?" Peashooter asked. Ditzy nodded her head yes.

"Do I have to?" Dinky whined. She didn't enjoy flying or watching others fly, and that was part of the reason Ditzy rarely flew.

"Muffin-" Ditzy started to say, but she was cut off.

"You don't like flying?" Peashooter trotted straight to Dinky and looked her in the eyes. His face serious.

"N-no..." Dinky sunk back. Peashooter picked them up and put them on his back in one swift movement. Carson looked confused by the new event.

"Well, I'm going to change that." Peashooter said, and he started to galloped outside. Ditzy didn't say anything, she was curious to see what he was going to do. As soon as he was outside he took off at breakneck speed. Ditzy giggled to herself as she heard Dinky scream in terror and Carson laughing, happy as could be. Ditzy knew he would keep them safe so she just watched as he did a few tricks in the air, nothing too fancy, but it was still like a mini Wonderbolts show.

After a few minutes he came into a running landing. Peashooter put Carson on the ground, who crawled over to his mother. Dinky still sat on his back, mane blown back. Her eyes wide and face emotionless.

"So what do you think of flying now?" Peashooter asked. Dinky climbed off his back, face still emotionless.

"That was.... awesome!" She yelled. "We were going so fast and those backflips. I want to do that again!"

Dinky was surprised at her daughter's reaction to the fast paced flying. Now she would probably get non-stop requests to go flying, but Ditzy couldn't go close to the speed that Peashooter could.

"Well, maybe later today. I have to go get ready for the show." He said, and took off.

_______
"And then we were like whoosh. Then we spun around and went into a backflip and it was like swish, and then-" Dinky was telling Ditzy the flying story for about the hundredth time since it had happened an hour before.

"Yes, sweetie, you told me this before." Ditzy could only take so much of the same story, but Carson seemed to like the story: after about the fifth time she had told the tale he had fallen asleep on Ditzy's back as they waited for the Wonderbolts show to begin.

The show was going to take place above a large field to the west of Ponyville. A lot of ponies had gathered around and were looking up into the air, waiting for the Wonderbolts to streak across the sky. Ditzy shifted Carson on her back to get him into a comfortable position.

"Do you think we can have Peashooter stay longer? He can stay with us, can't he?" Dinky asked excitedly.

"I wish he could." Ditzy said. She really did want him to stay longer, but with the... dreams, she just wasn't sure. "But I'm sure he has lots of important things to do."

Ditzy heard the rumble of thunder in the distance; she looked up and saw the dark streaks coming over the field. Dinky climbed on Ditzy's back, taking no caution and accidentally stepping on Carson. With the speed of an experienced mother she got Carson before he started to cry. She calmed him down, then set him on her back again.

Ditzy turned her attention back to the sky just as the Wonderbolts came overhead. They came across in groups of five, four groups in all. Everypony looked up in awe as they performed arial tricks started easy and built up in difficulty. Ditzy spotted Peashooter, but he was moving too fast to follow; then she caught him doing his signature nose dive, picking up speed to break the sound barrier. Right before he touched the ground he did a twist, then he was galloping on the ground at near sonic speeds before he opened his wings and caught the air, finally creating a sonic boom.

The crowd cheered as each Wonderbolt did a unique trick. Ditzy and Dinky were totally focused on the show. Carson was just watching the pretty streaks of color across the sky, clapping his little hooves together and giggling, but he soon got bored with watching the colors and buzzed off his mother's back. He wanted to go fly with Wonderbolts.

He buzzed towards the fast moving, athletic pegasi. It only took Ditzy a moment to notice the lack of Carson's weight missing. She looked around frantically for her boy.

"I didn't know Carson was in the show." Dinky said. Ditzy's eyes went wide as she spotted Carson flying in the flight path of the Wonderbolts. Ditzy knew she couldn't just fly into the show, she would end up getting hurt and hurting whoever crashed into her, but Carson was going up a lot higher than he had ever before. Ditzy tried to push through the crowd but no pony would budge.

A heavy gust blew in from the east, and Ditzy looked up in horror as Carson was blown off balance and started to plummet the ground. What was worse was that he didn't know he was in any danger, because his mother always caught him when he stopped flying, so he didn't even try to regain flight. Ditzy was frozen, eyes wide in terror. Then a flash of green passed over Carson and he was gone.

Next thing she knew Peashooter was standing in front of her holding Carson. She took Carson in her hooves and in a flash Peashooter was gone. Ditzy held Carson: she felt like crying in relief. Carson just looked confused on how he had gotten into his mother's legs.

"Wow! Did you see that? He just ... whoosh, and then he was in front of us! That was so awesome!" Dinky shouted from Ditzy's back, and went on watching the show. Ditzy couldn't focus on the show, she just held Carson tight, not letting him go again.

The show went on for another hour, Ditzy holding Carson tight the whole time. After the show, Dinky got herself a Peashooter action figure. Ditzy didn't even know he had one; not everypony on the Wonderbolts was famous. They were all great athletes, but not all of them had the star quality that Soarin' or Spitfire had.

Ditzy walked home, keeping a close eye on her son. Dinky rattled on: "And then he did another sonic boom!"

She was starting to get tired of Dinky retelling things they had just seen. As she arrived at the house, Peashooter landed beside her. The smell of sweat hung on to him. Ditzy wrapped him in a hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek. It lasted a little longer than she meant it to.

"Thank you." She whispered. She felt herself starting to get hysterical.

"Hey, hey... It's alright." He said calmly. He smiled but his eyes showed concern. Luckily, Dinky was there to break up the moment before Ditzy got too upset.

"That was awesome! You guys were flying so fast!" Dinky praised. Peashooter ruffled her mane.

"You mind if I use the shower here?" Peashooter asked.

"Sure, go ahead." She said, and he nodded his thanks. He walked inside her home making a beeline to the bathroom. Ditzy sighed and followed. She put Carson in his playpen to give herself a moment of rest. She heard the shower start and went to the kitchen to start making a lunch for four.

Dinky ran around playing with her new Peashooter figure. Ditzy found it strange to have a toy of him and the real thing in the same house. She shook herself from her thoughts. She was making a some salad for Dinky and herself, but a more substantial meal for Peashooter.

Right as Ditzy finished making the meal, Peashooter came out from the bathroom.

"Smells good." He said, as he sat down and Ditzy put his plate of food in front of him. He ate like he hadn't eaten in a few weeks. Dinky was complimenting him over and over about his tricks during the show, and Ditzy sat quietly eating her lunch, and Carson wasn't at the table: he had fallen to sleep in his playpen.

"So when can you take me flying again?" Dinky asked.

"He just came from a show, I'm sure he's tired." Ditzy said firmly: she didn't want Peashooter to overexert himself just to take Dinky flying twice in one day.

"I am a bit tired." Peashooter said, and Dinky groaned in disappointment, causing Ditzy to give her a stern look. "But I'll take you flying later today."

"So where are you going to do a show next?" Ditzy asked, swallowing a bit of tomato.

"I'm glad you brought it up. A few of the older Wonderbolts are retiring this year, and we're going to spread out to look for ponies that could potentially replace them." He said. Ditzy had a feeling she knew where this was going. "So I volunteered to look here and Cloudsdale for some eligible pegasi. So I was wondering..."

Before she realized it she said: "Of course you can stay with us."

"Yay!" Dinky shouted loudly. Ditzy sighed as the loud yell woke Carson in his room, and he started to cry.

"I got it." Peashooter said, and he took off to Carson's nursery. Ditzy was going to get up, but suddenly the crying stopped and he came back.

"How did you do that?" Ditzy asked, surprised. Even she couldn't get Carson to stop crying so fast. Peashooter half smiled.

"Well, I've learned a few tricks in my time." He said mysteriously.

"How would you know anything about taking care of a foal?" Ditzy asked. She saw the sly smile on his face, and knew what he was going to say, but didn't speak fast enough to stop it.

"I took care of you, didn't I?" He said, and got a punch in the shoulder in return.

______
Ditzy sat on the couch, reading, because Peashooter was taking a nap, and Dinky had gone out to share her stories with her friends. She didn't read very much, and she would never admit it, but she was reading a book meant for someone of Dinky's age: Daring Doo. She found them when cleaning her daughter's room, and now they were the only thing she read regularly.

She closed the book as she heard the front door open. Big Macintosh walked in. He looked like he had something important to say: it didn't look like it was bad news, but it interested her.

"Hi, honey. I'm glad your home." Ditzy greeted warmly. Macintosh gave her a half smile.

"Howdy, Sugar Cube." Macintosh said in his stoic but affectionate way. He took a seat next to her.

"So what did Braeburn want?" She asked. Macintosh looked like he just remembered something. He wrapped a leg around her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"He offered me a job." He said. Ditzy looked up, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Not a permanent one, but the harvest has come early, and he didn't have time to find good farm workers, so he hired me."

"How long will you be gone?" Ditzy asked. She wished that he had talked to her before he accepted the job.

"Ah'd say about a month." He said.

"I'll miss you Mac." Ditzy leaned into him. He nuzzled her gently. "I should probably tell you Peashooter is going to stay with us."

Macintosh raised his eyebrows. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and she felt kind of offended that he didn't trust her.

"You trust me Mac?" She asked him, and he gave her a gentle look in return.

"Of course Ah do, Sugar. It's not you Ah don't trust, it's him." He said quietly.

"You can trust him, Mac. He took care of me in my time of need, and he's been my friend for longer than Carrot Top." She told him. He sighed.

"Alright, Ditzy, if ya trust him... Ah guess Ah can too." He said, and Ditzy smiled up at him. Dinky ran into the room.

"Daddy!" She shouted as she wrapped his leg in a hug.

"Howdy, Sugar Cube. How was your day?" He asked, and Dinky told him all out Peashooter's tricks. After about five minutes of Dinky talking about Peashooter, Macintosh interrupted: "Would ya like do something? Ah got to go away for a while tomorrow. "

"No thanks, Peashooter's gonna take me on another flight." She said. Ditzy looked over at Macintosh. He looked disappointed and a little bit hurt.

"Ya have fun now." He said, trying to put a lightheartedness in his voice, but Ditzy caught the hint of hurt in it.

"I will." Dinky said as she left the room. Macintosh grunted and pulled himself up from the couch. He was going to go to the kitchen, when Peashooter bumped into him.

"Oh, hey Big Mac." Peashooter said cheerfully.

"Howdy. So I hear ya had quite a show today." Macintosh attempted to make conversation.

"Yeah. Hey, thanks for letting me stay here." Peashooter held out a hoof, and Macintosh reluctantly took it.

A/N: Thank you for reading. Thanks to my Beta Reader BlackRoseRevan

Paparazzi

Welcome back. I will be on vacation in Hawaii so I won't be posting for a while.

A week later.

Ditzy yawned and clicked her tongue a few times. The warm morning sun forced its way through the small crack in the curtains. She felt something wrapped around her, and her eyes shot open. She looked down and saw a light green leg wrapped around her mid-section. Ditzy started to breathe quickly, almost to the point of hyperventilating. Ditzy thought back, but she couldn't remember anything. She focused as hard as she could, but the last night was just blank.

She remembered putting Dinky and Carson to bed. She remembered that Peashooter had asked her something, and she had agreed. Peashooter stirred in his sleep, and she felt him grip her closer. Ditzy was scared. If they had...done the deed, she was in more trouble than she cared to think about... She hoped against hope that she hadn't slept with him.

Ditzy tried to pull out of his wrapped leg, but he was surprisingly strong. In her struggling, she managed to wake him. He quickly unwrapped his leg from around her. She twisted in bed to face him. He looked tired, but he wore a smile.

"Good, you're okay." He said, relieved. "I was afraid you were hurt with the way you were moaning."

Ditzy had no idea what he was talking about. She just stared at him. The way he looked at her didn't give away any sort of hint as to what had happened. He shook his head, causing his mane to sway.

"We had fun though, didn't we?" He asked. Oh no. I....slept with him. I just know it. She thought. Was he wearing protection? What if I get pregnant? Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no...

"Heh...yeah." She said weakly, and he immediately gave her a look of concern, with a soft supporting smile.

"Your head is still hurting, isn't it?" He asked. Ditzy had no idea what he was talking about, so she kept quiet. "You just stay in bed, and I'll make you some breakfast."

He rolled himself out of bed, and went over to open the curtains, and then he left the room. As he went to the kitchen, Ditzy started to look around for signs. She sniffed the sheets. They smelled of sweat, not a good sign. Next, she went to the bathroom, and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was messy, well... more messy than usual and she looked tired, more bad signs.

Ditzy sighed. She looked in the trash: there wasn't anything incriminating in it, which was a good and bad thing. If they did have sex and he didn't wear any protection, there would be a major problem. Ditzy had to ask him if he used anything. She was pretty sure that they did.

She laid back down in the bed to wait for him to return. She had feelings swirling in her stomach and thoughts going a hundred miles an hour in her head. She played in horror about what Macintosh would say when he found out. She could see him now; he would stare at her with his big, sad green eyes. She could already see the hurt in his eyes, the betrayal, and his anger. He would only say a few things to her, he would take Carson and she would never see either one of them ever again. These thoughts played in her mind at high speeds.

The smell of breakfast shook her from her thoughts. Peashooter came in with breakfast on a tray. He set it on her lap. The food looked all right: she could see he burnt the toast and didn't shake the orange juice, because a lot of pulp was sitting in her glass. She smiled weakly at him; she needed to ask him a very important question.

"Did...did you use protection?" Ditzy asked nervously. Peashooter stopped and stared at her, a confused look on his face.

"No, why would I?" He asked. Ditzy felt her heart drop, she knew what that meant.

"To make sure I didn't get pregnant!" She shouted at him. He reeled back, he looked very lost.

"W-what? I think you’re confused." Peashooter said. Ditzy sat up, tipping the tray over. She couldn't believe that he hadn’t even considered being safe.

"You have sex with me and don't even bother to think I might get pregnant?" Ditzy yelled at him. She was loud enough for Carson to start crying in the next room over.

"Wait...Wha-? Had sex with you? Ditzy, what do you think happened last night?" Peashooter asked, stuttering in several places.

"I can't remember what happened, but all the signs point to it!" She shouted. Carson grew louder without somepony there to comfort him. Peashooter suddenly had a look of realization on his face.

"Ditzy, we didn't do that together… for one that would be impossible, but don't you remember after you put Carson and Dinky to bed, we still felt wide awake, so I said we should go out flying, and we did? We were having a good time until a southerly gust blew you off balance. You went and crashed into a tree...." He stuttered for a moment. "And you weren't moving, and I...I was afraid you died, but then I found that you were just unconscious. So I brought you home, and watched over you to make sure you were okay. After about three hours of watching, I found that you were just fine, and I decided to just sleep in this bed." He finished his story, and then it all came back to her. The flashes of memory became one and formed into a coherent memory.

"Oh..." Ditzy murmured. Peashooter smiled gently at her.

"Ditzy... I respect you, and I would never...sleep with you; I love you Ditzy, but not in the way Macintosh loves you, but more like a sister.... and there are other reasons too." He said with a soft voice. Ditzy didn't know what to say; she was relieved that she hadn’t actually slept with him.

"What other reasons?" Ditzy asked, curious now that she knew she hadn’t done anything and he face hooved. He looked like he wished he hadn’t said that.

"I'd rather not talk about it." He took a seat on the edge on the bed. Carson was still crying in the other room: Ditzy was about to get up to go calm him down, when Peashooter spoke up: "You can't tell anypony..."

"You can trust me, Pea." Ditzy said reassuringly. He sighed and looked at her with fear in his eyes.

"I-I've never told anyone this....but I'm a..." He whispered the last part so she didn't hear what he was. Ditzy put a reassuring hoof on his back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that last part." Ditzy said. He sighed.

"I'm a-" He whispered the last part again so she still couldn't hear again.

"Please, you're going to have to speak up." Ditzy said softly.

"I'm a colt cuddler!" He shouted. The sudden change in his attitude surprised her as much as the news. She didn't know what a colt cuddler was, but he seemed to be upset about it.

"What's that?" Ditzy asked: she didn't know why but she pulled him into a hug, and he leaned his head onto her shoulder. She felt her shoulder start to get wet.

"I'm a homosexual." He whispered into her ear. Now it was Ditzy's turn to be confused.

"Now, what's so bad about that?" Ditzy asked. Carson was still crying in the other room: it was starting to wear on Ditzy's nerves, but Peashooter who needed her more right now.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" He asked: she had never seen him this way, so she figured he must have been really torn up about it.

"Peashooter, it doesn't matter what orientation you have, you’re my friend, and I love you too. Anything you want to do, I support… or anypony for that matter." She added the little joke at the end. She gave a soft smile. He gave her a look that told her that the joke wasn't very funny.

She heard a little click and then a flash came from the window. They both turned their heads to see a pony in the window with a camera, and he looked excited. Ditzy had no idea how long that pony had been there but he was gone in an instant.

"Oh no." Peashooter winced.

________

Three days later…

Another whiskey bottle hit the floor and shattered. The magazine cover read, Wonderbolt caught in affair with married mare. The cover photo showed their bed, Ditzy laying in Peashooter's legs with the clock by the bed reading just past one in the morning. The article was on the first page. It told about the photographer, how he had been following Peashooter since he had first sighted him with grey mare. It went on to say he came upon them sharing the bed, according to the photographer the photo was too low quality to see it but they were both sweaty and there had been obvious signs of sexual interaction.

Big Macintosh just stared at the cover, taking another swig of his liquor. He wasn't usually a pony who drank when he was sad, but he wasn't sad... He was destroyed, his world shattered. All of Equestria was enthralled with the story: it was in every newspaper, every magazine, and on every news show.

Macintosh hadn't heard anything from Ditzy. Not that he really wanted to see her. His heart was shattered, and he started to write his final letter to her.

Dear Ditzy, I won't be coming home. You broke my heart, and I will be staying here with Braeburn in Appaloosa. I know you will disagree, but I want custody of Carson and I will be sending my sisters over to get him, don't fight it or I will throw everything I have left to get him. I...

He didn't finish it; he just crumpled it up and threw it into the pile with the others. He couldn't finish any of the letters; they just never came out right. He found himself starting to sob silently, again. Macintosh looked over to the door as it opened. Braeburn stood in the doorway, his usual happy face replaced with one of concern. He kicked one of the empty bottles over to Macintosh.

"Come on, Mac. Let's go out on the town." Braeburn said. He had been trying to get Macintosh out of the house for days. Macintosh just looked at him through his drunken haze. He reached for the pack of cigarettes he kept nearby, but Braeburn beat him to it. He had kicked cigarettes years ago, but the sudden stress of the situation broke his resolve to never touch the things. "Now, Macintosh Ah'm not gonna let you stay in here and kill yourself."

"What are ya gonna do about it?" Macintosh grumbled. Braeburn may have been strong, but he wasn't strong enough to pull Macintosh anywhere if he really didn't want to go.

"Big Macintosh?" A strong female voice said, and Macintosh's eyes shot open.

"A-Applejack?" Big Macintosh stuttered. His little sister stepped out from behind Braeburn.

"Hey Mac. How ya doing?" She asked softly. Macintosh sunk back he didn't want his sister to see him like this: drunk, depressed, and craving a cigarette.

He didn't say anything in return, he just grunted. Applejack walked closer to him, knocking some bottles out of the way. She could see she wasn't going to get him to talk about it, so she took a bottle from him and took a long drink.

"You're too young to be drinkin'." Macintosh's brotherly protectiveness came out in a flash.

"Ah've been out drinking before, Mac. How about you, me, and Braeburn go out to the saloon?" Applejack suggested.

"Nope." He grunted. Applejack looked to Braeburn, who shrugged back.

"Fine, Ah won't push ya. Ah just want ya to know, Apple Bloom has been wanting to see ya, but Ah won't let her see ya like this. It would crush her to see her big brother all depressed." Applejack said as she left the room with Braeburn. Macintosh just went back to the paper on his desk and began writing.

Dear Ditzy....

________

The same day.

Ditzy was frantic. She had been getting ponies all day and the previous day coming to her door to asking her lots of questions. Peashooter was trying to stay out of sight of the paparazzi, who was constantly circling the house hoping to get a shot for their respective newspapers and magazines.

Ditzy could barely hold the spoon to feed Carson. Ditzy knew she had to get to Macintosh, to explain what happened, but she couldn’t get out of the house, let alone get to the train station. Peashooter walked into the room cautiously.

"They aren't gone, are they?" He asked, and Ditzy shook her head no. Suddenly, she heard the front door open and close quickly. Carrot Top trotted into the room.

"Ditzy! Finally, I've been trying to get here for days. They are ravenous." She said and looked over at Peashooter, sizing him up. "You two didn't actually....

"No!" They both shouted. Ditzy cringed, she knew the reporters outside heard the shout. It was like she could feel them all scribbling on their little note pads.

"Okay. Have you seen Macintosh yet?" Carrot Top asked. Somehow she knew Macintosh had seen the magazine.

"No..." Ditzy said sadly. "He's in Appaloosa."

"Well, I have too much invested in your marriage to see it fail." Carrot Top weakly joked. "I'm going to get you to Appaloosa."

"How? Ditzy asked.

"We're going to need to get Pinkie Pie."

Well, I hoped you enjoyed it. I'll try to get another chapter in before I go to Hawaii but I can't promise anything. Thank you for reading, and Thanks to my beta reader.

Reconcile

Hello, so I didn't think I would get this out before I went to vacation but I did. So, please read & relax.

One day later.

The lighter sparked and lit the cigarette. Macintosh took a long drag on it. Braeburn had finally gotten him out of the house and down to the saloon, but all that managed to do was have him out in public drinking and smoking. The lighthearted bar music didn't help his mood. Ditzy consumed all of Macintosh's thoughts, his heavy drinking wasn't helping, but he was willing to keep on trying to drown his sorrows.

Braeburn was busy wooing the mares in a nearby booth. He had been trying to get Macintosh to talk to somepony, but after a while of trying he had left him to his moping. Macintosh downed another shot, and the bartender filled it up again, like he had so many times before.

"Ya look down, mare troubles?" The bartender asked. Macintosh looked up at the stallion. Macintosh grunted in return, but somehow that was enough for the bartender. "Yeah... If ya are in need of some... company we have lots of mares who would love to roll in the hay with ya."

"Nope." Macintosh responded. The bartender shrugged and walked down to the end of the bar to talk to some mares. Macintosh took another drag on a cigarette. As expected the mares at the end of the bar came down to Macintosh.

"Hey there, big boy." One of them said. Macintosh didn't look up to see which one it was. Two of them took the seats on both sides of Mac, and one stood behind him. "You look lonely."

Macintosh put out his cigarette in the ash tray. The mares were getting closer to him. Another one said seductively: "Why don't you come with us?"

"Nope." Macintosh grunted. The mares were getting very close. One of the mares put a hoof very near to a stallion's sensitive area.

"Oh come on, I know you want to." The one behind him said.

"And I can feel it..." The one with the hoof near his area said. Macintosh's eyes shot open as she touched his sensitive area. "Oooo... You are a big boy."

"Go away...please." Macintosh slurred. He didn't think the mares were going to leave him alone. "If Ah give you the money for y'all... services, will ya leave me alone?"

"Nope. We're going to have fun with you." They whispered in his ear. Macintosh decided enough was enough and stood up.

"Braeburn!" Macintosh called to his cousin. "I'm gonna go."

He started to walk, but his vision was blurry, and he was forced to sit back down. The mares surrounded him again: they were like vultures.

"Now, ready for a good time?" The mares asked. Macintosh grunted as he downed another shot.

___________

"I can't believe that worked." Ditzy said as the train started to pull away from the station. Carson was looking out the window with his usual happy face and buzzing wings. Dinky was holding her Peashooter doll, or action figure as Peashooter insisted she call it.

The plan had just been crazy enough to work. Pinkie Pie had started a party that encompassed the reporters and photographers. Then, while the party was going on, Ditzy and company had snuck out of the house. They almost got away smoothly, but a photographer has spotted them and soon they were caught in a race to the train. They had just managed to get on the train before it left the station.

"Of course it worked. I'm the one who made the plan." Carrot Top said. The train was gaining speed as Ditzy checked the map. The train had three stops before it reached Appaloosa: it worked out to be an eight hour train ride. "Now, Appaloosa is pretty far away, so we should probably plan out what you're going to say to him."

"Well, I think I should probably tell him that I didn't sleep with Peashooter." Ditzy said.

"And he's gonna believe that?" Carrot Top questioned. Ditzy shook her head no.

"No...Probably not." Ditzy muttered. Peashooter looked like he had an idea, but he wasn't sharing it. "Pea, do you have anything?"

"I...I could tell him I'm gay." He said. Carrot Top raised an eyebrow at this, and Ditzy gave her a look that told her not to say anything.

"If you could even get close enough to him to tell him that without him clocking you." Carrot Top said. "So, maybe we can't plan out what to say..."

The train pulled itself along steadily. The hours passed and the landscape changed. Carson had fallen asleep in his mother's lap, Dinky was also napping, and Peashooter was quickly succumbing to the rhythmic movements of the train along the tracks, rocking itself gently.

Ditzy was too worried to sleep, and Carrot Top wanted to stay awake for her friend. "So what condition do you think he'll be in when we get there?"

Ditzy didn't want to think about it. Several worst case scenarios played through her head at once. He could have wanted revenge, and had sex with another mare, or ten mares. He was still quite handsome. She could see him now with so many different mares, slowly forgetting about Ditzy and the family he left. He could have gone crazy and started hurting ponies. He was big and strong and nothing short of the Royal Guard could stop him. He could kill with his kicks if he really wanted to. Another scenario was that he could have...killed himself, but that was too horrible for her to even think about.

"I don't want to think about that." Ditzy mumbled. Carrot Top sat back in the bench chair of the passenger car.

"You know why I think Macintosh will believe you?" Carrot Top asked. Ditzy gave her a look like she didn't want to talk about it. Carrot Top sighed. "You remember your bachelorette party?"

"Yes." Ditzy said, confused by the sudden change in subject.

"You remember when Fluttershy asked you 'how he was in bed?'" Carrot Top asked. Ditzy remembered that vividly. She remembered that she tried to shake that question off, but Carrot Top and the other mares wouldn't let her avoid it. So she answered the question. She definitely remembered how hot her face had felt, when they started to ask more questions.

"Yeah." Ditzy responded.

"You remember what you said that he said every night before you went to bed?" Carrot Top questioned. Ditzy nodded, she knew it, but it wasn't that special.

"Ah love you." Ditzy repeated, even copying his drawl. "What about it?"

"You know how many couples, married or otherwise, say anything like that before they go to bed? Not many, I'll tell you that. If you go up to him, look him straight in the eye, and say 'I love you,' he will know." Carrot Top explained.

"Thank you."

___________

"Ah said no." Macintosh was starting to get frustrated; the bartender had stopped serving him alcohol, the mares still wouldn't leave him alone, and Braeburn had returned to the farm. He wasn't sober enough yet to walk back to the farm, he had downed another mug of the coffee the bartender said would sober him up real quick. The coffee was awful. It wasn't pure; it had several different ingredients that were supposed to help.

"Last chance, you're letting the best time you've ever had slip through your hooves." One mare said. Macintosh grunted in return. He was out of cigarettes too, and that wasn't helping his mood any.

"Buck off." Macintosh cursed. "Ya hussies have been botherin' me for the past two hours! Ah don't care to roll in the hay with y'all because y'all are whores, so many stallions have been inside ya Ah wouldn't touch ya with a ten foot pole. Now get! I don't want ya to annoy me anymore or we're going to have a problem, bitch."

The mares looked like they thought about trying again, but decided against it. Big Macintosh stood. finally sober enough to get himself home. He stumbled out the door. The bright light blurred out all his vision for a moment. He swung by the general store to buy another pack of cigarettes, before walking to Braeburn’s farm.

____________

The train grinded to a halt. Steam hissed into the night. The train was far behind schedule; in fact they had arrived six hours after their scheduled arrival. There had been a breakdown with one of the axles, then the stop in Manehattan had taken longer than expected, and finally, some of the passenger cars had been disconnected from the rest of the train.

"Sorry, we're late folks." The conductor said in a tone like he knew he was going to get fired. Ditzy stepped off, carrying both Carson and Dinky, who were sleeping.

"Excuse me, Mr. Conductor, but where is the nearest hotel?" Carrot Top asked. The conductor thought for a moment.

"I don't believe they have one in Appaloosa. Although I think the saloon has a few rooms to rent." The conductor said as he hopped back on the train, and then he waved his bull's eye lantern to signal the train engineer that they were ready to get moving.

The train hissed in response, and lurched at the beginning of its movement. Ditzy looked at the company she kept. Carrot Top looked tired, and Peashooter looked nervous. He knew that a lot of Macintosh's relatives lived in this town.

"Come on, let's go." Ditzy said. The saloon was close to the train station so it didn't take long to reach it. Ditzy pushed open the double swinging door to come to a large room with tables and a bar, a few card tables, and a staircase leading up to a second floor. There were a few ponies in the room, most of them drunk and half asleep sitting at the bar.

Ditzy walked up to the bartender as he sized her up, then asked: "Y'all looking for a room?"

"How did you know?" Peashooter asked.

"Ah heard the train arrive. A room will be 10 bits." The bartender said. Ditzy shrugged, the offer was reasonable and she paid the stallion. She received a key in return. They walked up the stairs and into a room that had a number one nailed into the door. The room had two beds, and Carrot Top immediately fell into one and was fast asleep. Ditzy put Carson and Dinky next to her. Peashooter and Ditzy looked at the other bed.

"You go ahead; I'm going to get something to drink." Ditzy said. Peashooter looked at her thankfully as he fell into the bed. Before Ditzy could even get out the door she heard Peashooter's breathing becoming deep and even with sleep.

She trotted down the stairs and over to the bar. The bartender asked: "Ya look like ya need a gentle drink, help ya sleep, and am Ah right? A hard lemonade sound nice?"

Ditzy nodded. She was surprised that the bartender could guess what type of drink she wanted by just seeing her. So she inquired: "How do you do that?"

"Ah guess it just comes with experience. Like earlier today, there was this stallion, a large, red colored fella, and cousin to an Apple farmer round here and I could tell just by the way he walked what type of drink he wanted. He wanted whisky, and a lot of it, nearly paid my whole day trying to drown his sorrow." The bartender shared his story.

"Orange-ish mane and freckles?" Ditzy asked. The bartender nodded. "That's my husband."

"Oh... Ah know it probably not any my business, but did y'all have a fight?" The stallion asked. He took a seat behind the bar, interested in the current conversation. Ditzy thought on it a moment, it truly wasn't any of the bartender's business, but she decided to tell him anyway.

"Not exactly... It's a long story..." Ditzy trailed off.

"Well, as you can see, Ah'm not particularly busy at the moment, so I have time." The stallion said as he picked up a mug and started to clean it.

"Well, I'll just make it short. He thinks I cheated on him." Ditzy gave the very short of it.

"Did you?" The bartender asked.

"Of course not, but the problem is that I have to convince him that I didn't." Ditzy said. She was still stuck on that, how would she prove that.

"That sure is a pickle. Although Ah think he still has some faith in ya." The bartender said. He usually didn't get involved in other's problems, but it was a slow night so he thought 'why not?' Ditzy raised an eyebrow to ask what he meant. "As Ah was saying he was in here and some mares tried for about two hours to get him 'in the roll' but he refused. Ah've never seen anypony not take those mares up on their offer. They are quite tempting."

Ditzy was glad that Mac still faithful, even if he thought she wasn't. Ditzy took a drink of the lemonade. After she finished about half the bottle, she started to feel very tired, but before she left she paid for the bottle and left a large tip. "Thank you."

"Ya are welcome. Ah hope it works out between ya."

_______

Ditzy woke up as soon as the sun started to peer through the window. She had fallen to sleep in the chair that was in the room. Her back hurt from sleeping in a sitting position. Ditzy was surprised to see Carson was already awake, and by the smell, he was in need of a diaper change.

Ditzy quickly changed his diaper and got a bottle of milk they had brought with them. Carson sucked down the liquid quickly. He looked up at his mother with his crooked eyes and bubbly smile, and hugged his mother's leg. It warmed Ditzy's heart and gave her new resolve to keep on working to fix the problem she had.

Ditzy heard ponies in the room next to theirs. It was quickly evident that a stallion had bought one of the mare's services; before she heard too much else, Ditzy left the room with Carson crawling under hoof. She trotted down to the bar. Ditzy was surprised to see it was the same bartender working.

"You're still awake?" Ditzy asked, as she sat at the bar, putting Carson in the chair next to her.

"Ah don't get too much sleep anymore, I suppose it's the amount of caffeine I drink." And as if to prove his point he took a long drink from a coffee mug.

"Do you know where I can find the Apple family orchard around here?" Ditzy asked. The bartender nodded as he grabbed a napkin and began to draw a map.

"Okay, this is the saloon, then you take main street down to the general store, turn right down this road and y'all come up to a fork road, go down the left path, and that will bring you straight to the orchard." The bartender handed her his quickly drawn map.

"Thank you." Ditzy said as, she looked down at the map.

"No problem, always here for a pony in need." He said, and then went to serve another pony. Ditzy heard some hoof steps coming down the stairs, and she looked up to see Carrot Top and Peashooter coming down, with Dinky right behind.

They had a cheap bar breakfast before setting off, following the bartender's map. They saw the rows and rows of apple trees long before they actually reached the farm.

They came up to the front gate to the orchard. Ditzy took a deep breath, knowing that there would be a lot of pain and emotion coming out very soon. She shifted her back to get Carson into a comfortable position. Carrot Top put a reassuring hoof on her back. They pushed through the gate and walked up the dirt path to the farm house. Ditzy saw some of the farm workers staring at them. They were Macintosh's relatives, Ditzy vaguely recognized them all, and she knew that they recognized her.

She could hear them following, hoping to see what they thought she had coming. They picked up their pace and they quickly reached the farm house. Braeburn was sitting on the attached porch. His eyes wide as he saw who his visitors were.

"What are y'all doing here?" He said in a very deep, brooding voice.

"I-I've come to see Macintosh." Ditzy responded, trying to sound confident. The farm workers were around them now, waiting to see some difference from their regular days.

Braeburn thought on it a moment then called: "Macintosh, somepony is here to see ya."

Everypony watched as the front door to the house opened. Ditzy's eye went wide as she saw her husband. He saw her, and stopped in his tracks. He took a drag on a cigarette he held in his mouth, letting a cloud of smoke out on his exhale. Ditzy took a few steps towards him. He just stood there, unmoving, his face emotionless. Ditzy looked into his half open eyes.

"Go away." Macintosh grunted. He looked down, unwilling to meet her gaze. Ditzy didn't move from her spot.

"Mac, I didn't sleep with him." She tried.

"Yeah, right. Ah suppose you just ended up in the same bed by accident." Macintosh mumbled.

"It was an accident!" Peashooter shouted. He flew in between Ditzy and Macintosh. Big mistake. "She flew into a tree and I was just watching over her, and-"

He didn't finish, because Macintosh punched him right in the face. He flew about ten feet before hitting the ground with a horrible thunk. He didn't get up: he was out cold.

"Why did you do that, Daddy?" Dinky ran up to him. That caught him off guard, and he accidentally showed emotion. Ditzy saw the pain that he was holding back. He quickly regained his emotionless face.

"Cause your momma's a whore." Macintosh said. Ditzy felt like her heart had just been torn out. He had never, ever said a harsh word about her. Dinky looked up at Ditzy, a confused look on her face.

"W-what's that?" Dinky stuttered. Before Macintosh could answer Ditzy pushed Dinky aside. She took a deep breath looked in straight in the eyes.

"I love you." She said clearly. She didn't know what she expected. She hoped that that he would see the honesty and sincerity she had in her eyes and believe her. Macintosh looked at her a moment. He opened his mouth, and she thought he was going to say something, but instead he blew smoke in her face.

"Braeburn, is the still running?" Macintosh called to his cousin. Braeburn nodded. Macintosh started to walk into the apple rows. Ditzy wasn't going to give up so easily, so she followed him. She brought Carson with her in hopes that their foal would help convince him, while Carrot Top stayed to look over Peashooter with Dinky.

She knew Macintosh saw her following him, but he didn't say anything. She followed him to a shed with one wall missing and a still inside. Macintosh turned a valve and a clear liquid poured out and into a jar. He turned the valve and the liquid stopped. He took a long drink of it. Ditzy thought for a moment then recognized that it was a moonshine still.

"What are ya still doin' here? Go away." He said between drinks.

"Macintosh, please, believe me, I didn't have sex with him." Ditzy said. "Peashooter is a homosexual."

"Lies!" Macintosh hissed at her.

"Mac..." Then she heard a hissing sound. Macintosh's eyes shot wide open before he tackled Ditzy. Then the still exploded and the world went black.

Well, I'm off to Hawaii. A twelve hour flight, yay. I hoped you enjoyed. I'll be back on the 24th. Thank you all for your time. Thanks go out to my Beta Reader.

Ringing

Aloha, I'm back from vacation, it was very nice. Thank you all for waiting through it for the chapter. Happy Birthday on the 26th to Green_Hooves. I thank my beta reader.

A high pitched ringing sound was all that filled Ditzy's head. Then the harsh mechanical beep of a heart monitor. She felt the uncomfortably tough bed underneath her. She heard her own breathing. She tried to force her eyelids open, but only managed to catch a glimpse of the room she was in before her eyes shut again.

The room had white walls, adorned with all manner of medical posters. She deduced that she was in a hospital room, but she couldn't think of much else with the ringing that filled her every thought. She searched through the fog that had her mind in its grasp.

She decided to do a self-check. She moved her front legs: they moved, but had spots of pain scattered all over them. She stretched her hind legs: they felt better than her front, sore but no real pain. She turned onto her belly and opened her wings; she felt a burning of pain on her right wing. She managed to open her eyes for a quick look, and saw that the feathers on her right wing were slightly charred. She hurt all over, but otherwise she felt that she was in one piece.

That left her to worry about other things, like if Carson was okay, or if Macintosh was injured. Her heart sunk at the thought of Macintosh as she remembered the way he had been acting before the explosion. He had good reason to be angry, but Ditzy had looked him in the eye and told him the truth and he still didn't believe her… then again, he did save her from the explosion. Whether it had been only to save his son was yet to be seen.

Ditzy focused through the ringing and opened her eyes. The blinding light from the florescent bulbs overhead caused her to squint, but her eyes quickly adjusted to the light. She was indeed in a hospital room. Ditzy looked around: she was separated from another patient by a curtain. In the corner was a chair, which was occupied by Dinky, who was curled into a ball. On the side table was a mirror. She saw that she had a bandage wrapped on her left cheek and that her mane was burnt to about half its original length.

Ditzy sat up. She couldn't tell where she was: the window was covered by thick drapes. So she called very gently: "Dinky, hey, Dinky. Wake up, Muffin."

Dinky stirred from her sleep, and looked up. Her eyes went wide before she jetted over to Ditzy.

"Oh mommy... You’re okay....I thought you were d-d-dead..." Dinky started to cry. Ditzy took her daughter in a tight hug.

"Shhh...Shhh... I'm okay. Everything is going to be okay." Ditzy soothed Dinky. Dinky continued to cry into her mother's chest. Ditzy was sure everything was going to be okay, but she needed to calm her child.

Dinky blubbered on for a few minutes as Ditzy held her in a tight embrace as she gently rubbed Dinky's back. After a few minutes she started to calm down.

"Muffin, where is Carson?" Ditzy asked, even though she was afraid of the answer she would receive. Dinky wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I don't know." Dinky said. Ditzy looked around for something to call the nurse. She found a call button and pushed it, and it gave a slight ding in response.

In a few moments, a nurse that looked a lot like Nurse Redheart came in. "Dinky I told you to stop- oh you’re awake."

"Where am I?" Ditzy asked. The nurse went over to the window and opened the curtains. Ditzy saw the large buildings of Manehattan.

"Manehattan. Do you remember what happened?" The nurse asked. Ditzy thought for a moment, the last thing she remembered was Macintosh tackling her and then the explosion.

"All I remember is the explosion… then it's black." Ditzy said.

"That's not unusual." The nurse looked down at the clipboard that was attached to the end of the bed.

"Is my son okay?" Ditzy asked fearfully. She was terrified of the answer that she might receive; she didn't think she could take the loss.

"Your son..." The nurse looked down at the chart again. "Oh yes. It looks like he is in the infant care unit. Shattered wing."

Ditzy cringed. Pegasus wings were extremely sensitive and a shattered wing would hurt a lot, and for a long time. "Can I see him?"

"Well, let me get a doctor to give you a physical. If you check out all right you can go." The nurse said. It sounded like a suggestion but Ditzy knew it wasn't. She nodded and the nurse left to go fetch a doctor.

"Have you seen daddy, Muffin?" Ditzy asked.

"No." Dinky said quickly. "Auntie Carrot Top says I shouldn't."

That wasn't a good sign. Ditzy had come through the explosion mostly unscathed, but Macintosh had taken the brunt of the blast.

"Where is Auntie Carrot Top?" Ditzy questioned. Dinky's face scrunched up in thought.

"Last I saw she was with Peashooter." Dinky recalled. She rolled off Ditzy and onto the floor. "I'll go get them."

"Wait-" Ditzy started to say but Dinky was already gone. Ditzy looked around again. She pulled back the curtain that was beside her. The bed on the other side was empty. As she looked around the other side of the room, the doctor pony walked in. It was a mare that had a serious face and professional looking glasses with a name tag that read 'Dr. Cross.'

"Good day, I am Dr. Cross." The medical pony gestured for Ditzy to try and stand. Ditzy's muscles felt sore as she got to her hooves. "Alright you can stand, that's good."

The doctor shone a light in Ditzy's eyes, nodded and proceeded to do many more tests.

"Well, you seem to be in one piece and in control.... I'm going to release you." The doctor signed a piece of paper, then turned back to face Ditzy. "Do you have any questions?"

"Is my son going to be okay?" Ditzy asked again. Not that she didn't trust the information that she had received from the nurse, she just wanted a second opinion.

"Your son...Carson? Yes. Compound fracture in the lower wing and shattered upper wing, but he hasn't woken up yet, so we can see if anything else is wrong. Physically he is fine....on the other hoof your husband..." The doctor trailed off. Ditzy's eyes went wide with worry. "He's in the intensive care unit. He took a lot of shrapnel: eight hours in surgery to remove the shrapnel, and he had several broken bones."

"Is he going to make it?" Ditzy asked the dreaded question. The doctor gave her a gentle look, losing the cold professionalism that she had been trained to put on.

"We're not sure... If he were a lesser pony he would already be dead." The doctor said, then rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, realizing that her statement didn't help the situation any. "But with as strong as he looks I'm sure he could pull through."

"Can I see him?" Ditzy asked.

"Not at the moment. He's in surgery to get pins in his left hind leg." The medical mare said. Ditzy looked sadly down at the floor. "If you want, I can take you to see your son."

"I'd like that."

______
Ditzy felt her heart skip a beat when she saw him. He looked so peaceful even with a soft cast on his wing. His breathing was heavy with sleep. Ditzy put a hoof softly on his forehead. Ditzy felt guilty for having brought him along to the still, he could have gotten hurt a lot worse than he had.

Carson stirred in his sleep and his eyes fluttered open. He looked up at his mother for a moment, and then he started to cry. The way he cried hurt Ditzy. It wasn't his usual cry for his mother's attention; this was deep and full of real pain. Ditzy wished she could somehow comfort him, but she knew that if she tried to pick him up she would just hurt him more.

"Can you do anything?" Ditzy asked the doctor.

"We can't give him anything too strong, it could make him very sick." The doctor warned. Carson looked at his mother between cries. The look was full of pain and it broke at Ditzy's heart. "We can give him a little something to put him to sleep."

The doctor got a syringe and filled it with a liquid from a glass bottle. She poked it gently into his leg causing him to cry harder. She squeezed the syringe and the liquid pumped into his leg. It took a few minutes, but he stopped crying and fell into a drug induced sleep.

"There you are!" Ditzy heard a shrill female voice. Ditzy didn't even get to turn before she was embraced in a strong hug.

"Hey Carrot Top." Ditzy said quietly.

"Thank goodness you’re okay. Peashooter! She's in here." Carrot Top called. Peashooter walked into the room with a black eye and a smile. He was missing one of his teeth.

"I'll just step out for a moment." The doctor said, and then she left the room.

"Hey kid." Peashooter said, slight slur to his words. "Your husband packs a wallop. Gave me a concussion and knocked out a tooth."

"So...what happened, you know, after the explosion?" Ditzy asked.

"Well, we all heard the boom; everypony ran to see what happened. Apparently the propane tank got too hot and exploded. We found you three and made a quick decision that the doctor in Appaloosa didn't have the supplies to help you, so we decided to send you three to Manehattan. Peashooter here flew Carson here as fast as he could." Peashooter nodded overzealously: the concussion was affecting his metal state. "And we put you and Macintosh on the next train."

"How did Macintosh look?" Ditzy asked a touch of fear and nervousness in her voice.

Carrot Top looked back at Peashooter for help, but he had a dazed look in his eyes and a bubbly smile, his mind no longer on the conversation.

"I'm going to tell you the truth..." Carrot Top looked her friend straight in the eyes. "He...didn't look like he was going to make it."

Ditzy buried her head in Carrot Top's shoulder. She held back her sobs for as long as she could, which wasn't very long. Carrot Top rubbed her back gently to provide support.

The doctor stepped into the room again. She coughed to get Ditzy's attention and said: “I can take you to see him now. I can't promise that he'll be responsive though."

"O-okay..." Ditzy stammered.

_________
Ditzy stood at the wooded door that separated the hall from the room that held her husband. The intensive care unit didn't inspire confidence in what condition Macintosh was in. She saw ponies attached to more machines then she had ever seen before. Carrot Top stood next to her and placed a supportive hoof on her shoulder.

"I'll go in with you if you want." Carrot Top said supportively.

"No, thank you, but no." Ditzy almost whispered. Carrot Top nodded and backed away. Ditzy took a deep breath and opened the door, then closed it quickly behind her.

She stopped dead when she saw him. He was attached to an oxygen tank and a heart monitor with its slight beep. He had an IV in his leg and he had scars of varying lengths and number of stiches. Macintosh had a lot of burns on his side. Ditzy wasn't sure what sort of mental state he was in, but she decided to say something.

"Macintosh?" Ditzy said quietly. His jaw tightened, so he was awake and he was in a good enough mental state to recognize who she was. "I know you’re awake, Mac."

His eyes opened slowly. He still had a pained look in his eyes. His breathing wasn't deep and steady like what Ditzy used to fall asleep to: it was shallow and shaky. He reached up and removed his breathing mask.

"How is Carson?" He asked. Ditzy was kind of relieved that he didn't just tell her to go away.

"His wing was shattered." She cringed when she said it: thinking about it was bad enough.

"Painful?" He asked, noticing Ditzy's cringing. Ditzy nodded. "P-poor boy."

"The doctor says he's going to be alright..." Ditzy trailed off.

"How are you?" He asked, and that caught Ditzy off guard.

"Not much more than bumps and bruises... Thanks to you." Ditzy said softly. He closed his eyes for a long moment.

"Sugar Cube.... Did you do it?" He stared right at her. He didn't want to believe that she had cheated on him, but he wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

"Mac, I did not do it. Peashooter took me to bed after I ran my head into a tree." That got Macintosh to raise an eyebrow. "Then he watched over me most of the night to make sure I was okay, but then fell asleep."

"Okay." Macintosh agreed. Ditzy took a few steps towards him.

"Why didn't you believe me before this happened?" Ditzy asked, relief filling her voice.

"Ah was heartbroken... And mighta been drunk." Macintosh admitted.

"Why believe me now?" Ditzy took a seat on the edge of his bed.

"Ditzy...Ah don't think Ah'm going to make it.-" Macintosh was cut off.

"Don't say that Mac. You're going to be fine." Ditzy interrupted. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. On some level she knew his chances were slim.

"Sugar, we both know that Ah don't look good." Macintosh said grimly. They sat in silence for a long time. Ditzy thought she could see the strength leaving him and his life slowly fading away.

"Look at the mess we've gotten ourselves into." Ditzy mumbled. She put a hoof on his leg, receiving a cringe in return.

"Ah’m sorry, Ditzy for... this." He tried to sound strong, but his voice was waning.

"It's not your fault... It's the damned photographer's." Ditzy comforted him. "You just focus on getting better."

The beep on the heartbeat monitor was getting slower and irregular. She saw that Macintosh heard it as well.

"Ah just wish Ah didn't had to work so much before....this." Macintosh said. "Ah realized Ah haven’t spent any time with ya for months. What kind of husband never makes time for his wife?"

"You were just trying to make ends meet and you are a great husband." Ditzy looked down at the floor. She felt more tears start to form on the edges of her eyes. "I'm sorry for yelling at you for accidentally giving Carson whisky."

"Ya were just looking out for his health, and ya were right: Ah should have just given him pain medication." Macintosh sighed.

"Mac...you are a great dad." Ditzy felt a sob choke her.

Macintosh laid his head back down. His words tugged at her heart: "Ah wish Ah could tell how much Ah love ya...how much Ah love our family."

"I know Mac." Ditzy felt herself breaking up. "P-please ju-just pull through..."

"Ah'll try my best, Sugar Cube." Macintosh gave a weak smile back. "If Ah...don't make it...don't give up, Carson and Dinky need ya, Sugar. Promise me that."

"I...I l-l-love you." Ditzy said between heavy breaths of sobs, and kissed him.

"Ah love you too." He responded. He coughed: it was scratchy and his breathing became shallow. Mac put his oxygen mask back on and sank back into his rest.

She started to walk away. She opened the door to leave, only the beep of the heart monitor breaking the silence. She felt her heart drop, as the beep became weak and unsteady.

Dinky was waiting for her as she closed the door behind her.

"Is daddy going to be okay?" Dinky asked in a very small voice. Ditzy wrapped her daughter in a hug.

"I don't know, Muffin, I don't know." Ditzy started to sob.

Thank for reading.

Kinky

Thank you guys for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate it. So I think the story is winding down so I hope you enjoy. I thank my amazing beta reader

We rejoin Ditzy and Mac a week and a half later...

"Good morning, Mac." Ditzy greeted warmly. Macintosh was jolted out of his dream by her voice. Macintosh had been well so far, his vital signs were within normal limits, but the doctors wouldn't let him go until the end of the week… but at least they had transferred him to the Ponyville hospital, so he could be close to home. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and gave her a warm smile back. With a yawn he pulled himself into a sitting position.
It had been a miracle. Mac had pulled through, and beyond anypony’s expectation. His had regained his normal calm mood and he didn’t have any permanent damage besides a scar along his side. Mac could walk and probably run, but nopony was willing to let him try.

"Mornin'. How'd it go?" Macintosh asked. Ditzy smiled and betrayed her answer before she could even give it.

"Well, we got them to pay for all the medical expenses, plus a little more." Ditzy said happily. Peashooter had sued the photographer for printing lies, and since he was a Wonderbolt he had some of the best lawyers in Equestria. So they had won the case and gotten the medical bills paid for and a little compensation for the grief it had caused.

"That's good." Macintosh said, before he let out another long yawn. Ditzy sat on the end of the bed, looking at him. She saw hope in his eyes: hope that she had brought him something to do. He got dreadfully bored with nothing to do; he had read most of the books he was interested in and only occasionally somepony would come to visit, mostly Ditzy or Applejack and Apple Bloom. "Where are the kids?"

"Dinky is 'hanging out' with Twist." Ditzy put inflection on ‘hanging out’ because Dinky insisted that she wasn't a little filly anymore and she didn't go on play dates. "And the Cutie Mark Crusaders are watching Carson."

Macintosh's eyebrows raised high into the air. He sounded nervous when he said: "Uhhhh... Sugar, is that a good idea?"

"It's fine, Mac, really Granny Smith is watching Carson, and the crusaders are just helping." Ditzy assured him. Macintosh exhaled a sigh of relief. Granny Smith may be old, but she knew how to take care of her great grandson, and do it well. "How are you feeling, Macintosh?"

"Each day Ah feel a little bit better, only thing is there ain't much to do. The soap operas are terrible." Macintosh sighed.

"Hey, General Hospital is pretty good." Ditzy reasoned. She didn't watch T.V. much seeing as they didn't own one, but she did try to watch General Hospital when she wasn't busy and a T.V. was available. "I brought cards, if you want to play."

You would never think cards could bring such joy to a pony. He nodded his head vigorously and Ditzy produced a deck of cards. Ditzy shuffled the deck a little. Macintosh asked: "Poker?"

"I don't know how to play... How about blackjack?" Ditzy suggested, and without waiting for a response she dealt out the cards. Ditzy took the role of dealer. Macintosh looked down at his cards: he had a 5 of hearts showing. He hit and Ditzy gave him another card. He took a look and grunted. He flipped his cards over; he had a total of 23.

"Ah bust." He said. They played a few more hands, Ditzy winning some, Mac winning others. After a while Macintosh broke their concentration on the game, saying: "How about we make this interesting?"

"How so?" Ditzy asked, as she won another hand. She gathered the cards up in her hooves and shuffled again.

"Whichever one of us wins a hand gets to ask any question, and it has to be answered." Macintosh said. Ditzy shrugged: the idea sounded kind of boring… she thought they could ask each other anything anyway.

"Sure." Ditzy dealt another hand. Macintosh grinned happily as he flipped his cards over as soon as he got them; he had a Jack and an ace.

"21, Ah win." He said like she didn't already know. She gathered up the cards as he thought about his question. "Did ya have a crush on anypony when ya were small?"

Ditzy thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I did. It was silly, he was way older than me... what was his name...anyway his nickname was the King..." Ditzy blushed at the memory. "He was the lead of some boy band....I can't remember the name of that either, but I guess I had a crush on him. I had so many posters up in my room, it was like wallpaper. How about you?"

Macintosh smiled smugly. "Ya will have to win to find out."

Ditzy dealt another hand. She was lucky: she got two tens and Mac busted out. "Alright Mac, your turn… did you have a crush when you were little...or less big I guess."

"Well, Ah suppose that Ah did. Ah had just got my yolk and was just getting into school. Ah remember that my teacher had to go away for a while so we had a substitute teacher. She was nice and for some reason Ah developed a crush on her." He chuckled. "Ah even brought her flowers once and asked her on a date." Ditzy laughed and Macintosh smiled sheepishly. "Obviously, she turned me away and told me that Ah should wait to find my real special somepony." He looked at Ditzy. "Ah guess she was right."

"Awwww... Mac..." Ditzy cooed and gave him a kiss. She shuffled the deck quickly. Macintosh smiled smugly and showed his hand, two kings. Ditzy had sixteen so as dealer she had to hit. Ditzy nervously flipped the next card. "Yes! 21! Alright Macintosh... Who was your first marefirend?"

"Well, my first real marefriend was..." He thought for a moment. "Cheerilee I suppose, we were in the same class and all. It never got too serious and we just decided to be friends."

Ditzy nodded in response and dealt another hand. Ditzy won again.

"Ya wouldn't be cheating, now would ya?" Macintosh grunted at his third defeat in a row.

Ditzy gasped and said playfully: "Macintosh, I would never cheat. Now when was the first time you got past first base?"

Macintosh reeled. He obviously hadn't thought that the questions would go in this direction. He looked at bit shaken as he composed an answer.

"Ya really want to know? Well, after Cheerilee, Ah got to be a bit... desperate and Ah dated a mare, Ah won't give out the name, but she was known around school to be a bit of a... anyway, we started getting real serious real fast, and Ah wasn't thinking with my head, but with... ya know... well, Ah brought her home. Ah knew Granny wouldn't approve so Ah snuck her in. We started by just kissing." Ditzy tried to hold back laughter as her husband became a deeper red. "Then we got to touchin' and we almost went all the way but Applejack came bursting into the room wanting me to show her how to buck... again. Needless to say it didn't end well."

Ditzy had to let it out. She laughed, hard and full of joy. "Alright, that was a good one."

She dealt another hand. Macintosh won. He smiled like he was going to ask her the same question she asked him; luckily she had already prepared an answer.

"Have ya ever wanted to be..." He blushed again. Ditzy raised an eyebrow. He wasn't going to ask the same question. "Kinky?"

"Kinky?" Ditzy looked at him questioningly. She looked behind her to make sure the door was closed. "I guess..."

"Wow. Great answer, Sugar Cube." Macintosh looked at her, unsatisfied with her answer.

"Well, what do you want?" Ditzy asked.

"Well, what have you wanted to do?" He asked.

"Well, you'll just have to beat me in another hand." Ditzy said playfully as she dealt another hand. He stayed at 18, Ditzy had 17 and she had to stay as dealer.

"Ah win. Now what have ya wanted to do when you were feeling kinky?" Macintosh specified the question. Ditzy blushed hard at the question.

"Well, it's more like role playing..." Ditzy could not believe she was saying this. "Like nurse and patient, cop and crook, or stuff along those lines."

Ditzy started to shuffle the deck again, but Macintosh stopped her by putting a hoof on the cards. "If ya haven't noticed we're in a hospital...alone, the nurse doesn't come around for a while... and there is a nurse's uniform in that closet over there...we could..."

Ditzy hadn't blushed so hard since she first started to date Macintosh. "Mac, what if somepony comes in?"

"Nopony will come in." He assured her. He smiled at her slyly. She patted her hooves together nervously, but for some reason she really wanted to, even if they got caught.

"You're hurt Mac." Ditzy gave her last concern about the situation.

"Ah'm fine, the doctors just want to keep me here longer so they can get more money because we don't have to pay for it." He said. Ditzy nodded. She suddenly got really excited: she was going to fulfill one of her fantasies, and in a real hospital no less They sensation that they could get caught at any moment added to her excitement. Ditzy went over to the closet. She placed the paper hat upon her blond hair and slipped on the white clothing. She walked back in the Macintosh's view, and he gave a whistle.

"Now, Mr. Apple, time for your checkup." Ditzy almost giggled at how silly the moment felt and how excited she was.

____________

Carrot Top walked through the tastefully decorated halls of the hospital. Most hospitals were white everywhere and it felt very uncaring and sterile. However the Ponyville hospital felt warm and like the doctors and nurses knew everypony personally. Walking beside and slightly behind Carrot Top were Dinky and her friend Twist.

Carrot Top was wearing a saddle bag with board games and other entertainment. She knew how boring it could get in a hospital, so she decided to visit and maybe play a few games with him, Ditzy, and the kids.

"Dang. I forgot the room number again." Carrot Top said to herself, since she knew the fillies weren't listening. She stopped by a nurse's station. A nurse sat sleeping in a chair behind a desk. Carrot Top knocked on the desk to wake the nurse up.

"I'm awake!" The nurse almost shouted as she jolted out if her sleep. "Oh hello, can I help you?"

"Yes which room is Macintosh Apple in?" Carrot Top asked. The nurse looked down at the chart.

"Room 134." The nurse said, before leaning back in the chair and falling asleep again. Carrot Top was unsure how anypony could fall asleep that fast. Carrot Top continued on her way down the hall to a room with a 134 pinned to the door.

"Alright girls we're here." Carrot Top said. She reached for the knob. She twisted it and the door clicked opened. Carrot Top stuck her head in first.

Her face immediately turned red and became boiling hot. They hadn't even noticed her yet, and Carrot Top intended to keep it that way. It seemed that Macintosh was keeping himself quite entertained. Carrot Top forced herself to look away, from the very intimate scene. The fillies tried to squeeze past her, but Carrot Top pushed them back.

"Uhhhh... Macintosh is busy right now." It wasn't a lie. "We should come back later."

"I'm sure he would be fine if we came in to see him." Dinky said. Carrot Top closed the door to stop the fillies. "Why is your face so red?"

"We can come back later." She said but the fillies didn't look convinced. Carrot Top had to think on her hooves. "How about I get you girls some ice cream?"

The nodded their heads vigorously. Carrot Top breathed a sigh of relief: crisis avoided. She walked with the fillies to the exit.

_______________

Ditzy returned the uniform to the closet; no doubt that whoever received it next would wonder why it smelled so sweaty... among other things. She looked at the clock: it was almost time to pick up Dinky from Twist's and make sure that Carson was okay.

Macintosh whistled. "Ya looked mighty fine in the nurses outfit… then again ya look mighty fine now."

Ditzy smiled warmly at him. She gave him a kiss and began to walk towards the door. "I got to go pick of Dinky from Twist's, and I'm going to check up on Carson."

"Alright, Sugar Cube. Ah'm glad ya came to visit." Macintosh laid back into his bed.

"I am too Mac. I'll be back later." Ditzy said. She opened the door and walked straight into Carrot Top. Ditzy's eyes went wall-eyed for a moment, then snapped back to focus. "Oh hi, Carrot Top."

"Hello Ditzy. I just came by to see if Macintosh wanted to play a game or something." Carrot Top said.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that, but I think he's asleep right now." Ditzy looked back. Macintosh had already fallen back into his slumber.

"That's fine. I'll just leave the games inside." Carrot Top said, as she set the saddlebag full of games on the inside of the door.

"Hi mommy." Dinky said. Ditzy hadn't even seen her behind Carrot Top. She was standing next to Twist.

"Oh, I was just going to pick you up. Twist, would you like us to take you home?" Ditzy asked.

"That would be sssswell." She spat out the s. They group started walking towards the exit, with Dinky and Twist running ahead out of earshot.

"So you have fun with Mac?" Carrot Top asked. Besides the fact that it was a strange question, Ditzy thought she heard something strange about the way she asked it.

"Yeah, I guess." Ditzy said, unsure about how to properly respond. Carrot Top seemed to sense this.

"You have fun with him, Nurse Ditzy?" Carrot Top asked slyly. Ditzy's face turned as red as Macintosh's coat.

"You saw?" Ditzy asked, her face getting hotter and hotter.

"Nothing that bad, but more of Mac than I ever wanted to. You hadn't gotten... that far, thank Celestia, but you were close, I could tell because you were...um...groping among other things… do the words, "I need 20 ccs of you, stat' mean anything to you?" Carrot Top couldn't help but let out her childish giggles.

"Oh, I'm so embarrassed." Ditzy's face looked like it was about to burst, so Carrot Top decided it was time to stop teasing her.

"It’s fine, Ditzy. I'm just happy that you two have already put the past behind you." Carrot Top comforted.

"Thanks." Ditzy's face was losing some of its redness.

"I wish I had a stallion like that... So well endowed, I'm not sure how you walk after that." Carrot Top teased, and Ditzy's face went back to its original redness.

So by reading some of the comments I realized something: life isn't a soap opera, it's not a tragedy after tragedy. Life is a wonderful adventure full of laughter and love. Some serious moments do occur, but not every moment is sad. I have written the lives of these fictional characters in a way that, as I feel, doesn't represent what love is. Their life should have been a magical adventure occasionally dipping into darker topics, but the whole fic shouldn't be that. They should have been written in a much more real way, not tragedy after tragedy, but triumph after triumph. I have failed to do that, and for that, I am deeply sorry.

Please have a good day. Thank you.

Epilogue

Ditzy and Mac's anniversary

Ditzy's eyes fluttered open. She yawned and clicked her tongue a few times. Macintosh was already up and out of bed, and she could hear him in the kitchen with their son, Carson. As she rolled out of bed she looked at the nightstand. A note addressed to her in Mac's best calligraphy was sitting atop the plain cloth that covered the ordinary wooden table. A rose sat atop the card; she smiled and sniffed it, then moved the rose aside. Ditzy opened the unsealed envelope and pulled free note that had the number sixteen on it. She opened the note and read the heartwarming letter Big Mac had left to her.

Sixteen years ago we were wed on this day, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I remember you looking beautiful as ever. I could ramble on forever about how beautiful you were then, or how beautiful you are now. For the past sixteen years, we've had some rough spots, but we pulled through. You are mother to my children, the listener to my troubles, and the wife that I wish I could deserve. Ditzy Apple, I love you. I know I've said it a million times, but I'll say it a billion times more, and it still wouldn't do justice to the feeling I have for you. Ditzy, my wife, my children's mother, and my best friend, I love you, happy sixteenth anniversary.

"Awww...Mac." Ditzy sighed as she read through the note again and again. Ditzy wished she had the way with words that Macintosh did, it made her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside and put butterflies in her stomach. She took out a piece of paper and wrote him a little love note in return.

Ditzy stood and quickly made her way to the bathroom to freshen up. After a quick shower and a bit of hair curling to make herself look pretty, she looked at herself in the mirror. Then she leaned in closer and spotted her current enemy. A single strand of gray hair cut annoyingly across her blond mane. She quickly picked it out in a fast motion that she had done countless times before. She really hated the idea of having a gray mane. It would look too close to her coat and then she would just look strange.

She gave herself a final look over before she left the room and went down the hall to the kitchen. Ditzy couldn't help but laugh at what she saw. Carson had been trying to make them breakfast, but that plan had gone bad. His face was covered in flour and his sandy-golden mane was streaked with sticky syrup, but he had his usual goofy smile on his face. Ditzy walked close to her son; she had to look up since he was already as tall as his father. A fact that she found quite annoying because he would sometimes lean on her head and tell her yet again she was the shortest one in the family. He looked down at her with his crooked eyes that held so much life in them that Ditzy thought they actually glowed.

"Ah almost got it this time, Momma." Carson said in his half changed voice from going into stallion hood. He had picked up his accent from Macintosh, obviously. Ditzy smiled warmly at her clumsy but sweet son. His docked tail flicked and a strangely large amount of pancake batter shook from the hairs of his tail. His cutie mark, a red delicious apple with wings, was dusted with powdered sugar. He had gotten his cutie mark from when he had flown with an apple cart to get it delivered faster. Now, because he could support the weight of an apple cart while flying Sweet Apple Acres sold apples in Cloudsdale, where Ditzy was employed to operate the stand with Carson.

"You'll get it soon. You just have to remember not to turn the mixer on high." Ditzy said lightheartedly. She didn't care that she would end up making breakfast; the same thing had happened the last five years. Every anniversary he and Macintosh would get up at their usual time, early, and Carson would insist on making them breakfast. He would always forget something that he knew he should have remembered. "Why don't you go wash up before breakfast?"

He trotted past her and down the hall to the bathroom. Ditzy got another box of pancake mix, and then another, and then a third. If there was anything she knew, it was that Macintosh and Carson together could almost eat anything. She had a bit of trouble trying to mix the batter by hoof. Then a large hoof came from behind her to help stir the batter.

"Happy anniversary, my big muffin." Ditzy said. She had picked up the nickname for him a while back, when Dinky wanted her to stop calling her 'my little muffin' because she was a big girl. So she started to call Macintosh her big muffin.

"Happy anniversary." He said. They kissed while they kept on slowly stirring the pancake mix into a thick paste. "Mmmm.. Ah sure do love pancakes."

"I would prefer muffins, but I know that if I make them you and our son will eat them before I can have one." Ditzy said from past experience.

"Ah guess that's true." He said. Ditzy looked back at her husband with a smile on her face. They kissed again, longer this time. Carson came back into the room and sat down at the dining table. After the batter had been properly stirred, Ditzy started up the stove and placed a skillet on the bottom left burner. She sprayed the pan with a non-stick spray and scooped a large dollop of batter out, then spread it around into an almost perfect circle. She waited about a minute, then flipped it over. Macintosh took a seat across from Carson and started to read a newspaper.

Ditzy spent the next few minutes making a stack of four pancakes and brought it to the table. Carson pulled the plate towards himself. Macintosh put a hoof on the plate.

"What do ya think ya are doing?" Macintosh put the newspaper aside.

"Eatin' the pancakes." Carson pulled the plate towards himself again.

"Boys, I'll make more." Ditzy said. They didn't stand down. Macintosh set his right leg on the table in a hoof- wrestling position. "Oh come on, it'll only take a few more minutes."

Carson let go of the plate and put his hoof in his father's. Ditzy watched as their muscles bulged as each one fought for the rights to the stack of pancakes. Ditzy sighed: they did this a lot. It was always in good fun, but it tended to wear on her nerves when it happened sometimes, like when they were just trying to eat breakfast.

They were so focused on trying to win the stack, that they didn't notice when Ditzy slipped the plate out from under their noses. She took a knife and some butter, and spread the butter on the pancakes. Ditzy slathered some syrup on them and began to eat while watching her husband and son hoof wrestle.

"Keep at it." Ditzy said with a mouth full of pancakes. They took notice and turned their heads to see Ditzy eating away at the prize of their competition.

"Hey!" They both complained. Ditzy gave them a smug smile as she took another bite. There was no way she could eat four pancakes, but she would make them wait for theirs. Macintosh smiled, and then he started to laugh from the belly.

"Alright, Sugar Cube, ya made your point." Macintosh stood from the table and went into the kitchen to make more flapjacks.

Ditzy finished the second pancake and then slid the plate across the table to Carson.

"Thanks, momma." He said hungrily, before he took a large bite. Ditzy leaned back in her chair.

"Shouldn't Dinky be up by now?" Ditzy asked more to herself than anypony else. Carson looked away, a little too quickly to not be suspicious. "Carson...?"

"Well, momma, she made me promise not to tell..." Carson said, and then quickly put another piece of flapjack in his mouth.

"Don't give me that, what did you do?" Ditzy asked. She saw out of the corner of her eye that Macintosh was listening in.

"She made me promise, momma..." Carson pleaded. He was as honest as any Apple and Dinky knew it, so she sometimes exploited it, not to be mean, but usually so he wouldn't tattle.

"Ya tell your mother, son." Macintosh chimed in. Carson gave her a pained look and in return she gave him a gentle but firm stare. Macintosh had finished a stack of pancakes and set in on the table as he took a seat next to his wife.

Carson kept his mouth closed and Ditzy came to a sudden realization. "It's her coltfriend, isn't it?"

Carson said nothing but his eyes betrayed his answer. Carson sighed; he knew the jig was up. "In the middle of the night, Ah had to use the restroom, and Ah saw Dinky letting him in. She told me not to say anything."

Ditzy put a hoof on top of her son's hoof. It upset him to break a promise and to have to keep things from his parents. She was a bit irked at him for not telling her right away, but she could never stay mad at him. He always had a way to look like he hadn't meant to do it and it always melted her anger away.

Ditzy pushed herself out from the table, and started to walk down the hall, followed by Macintosh. Ditzy stopped in front of her daughter's door and pressed her ear against the door.

"Shhhh...My brother should have broken by now, he can never keep a secret." She could hear Dinky say. Ditzy's face scrunched up in confusion. Macintosh raised an eyebrow. Ditzy put a hoof on the knob and turned it slowly. She swung the door open. A loud boom and a spray of confetti blew out of the room.

"Happy anniversary, mom and dad." Dinky said. Her coltfriend stood behind her with a smile on his face and the confetti held in a hoof

Ditzy looked back to Macintosh, who looked as confused as she was. Ditzy stammered out: "Uhhhh... What?"

"You didn't forget did you? I didn't think you were getting old that fast." Dinky smiled.

"Well, when Carson told us that you snuck your coltfriend in..." Ditzy trailed off. Dinky's face became beet red. Her coltfriend started to chuckle behind her.

"Mom!" Dinky pushed her mother.

"Well, thank ya very much." Macintosh thanked. "Y'all waited hours just for us to come in?"

"Eeyup." Dinky copied her dad's tone. "Well, this has been fun, but we have places to be."

Dinky said as she took her coltfriend's hoof and walked past them. It took a moment for Ditzy to realize that they left without cleaning up the confetti...Ditzy sighed, she would have to pick it up later. Macintosh nuzzled her neck.

"Ya want to go down to Sugar Cube Corner?" Macintosh asked.

"That sounds nice, should we bring Carson?" Ditzy asked. Macintosh looked at her with a look that said, 'you even have to ask?'

"Do apples grow on trees?" Macintosh chucked as he began to walk down the corridor. Ditzy was about to follow him when she spotted something amongst the colored pieces of paper scattered everywhere. Somehow the confetti had managed to dislodge a picture off the wall. She hung it back on the wall and gave it a quick look over.

It was one of her favorites. It was a picture of Hearth's Warming Eve many years before. Carson was around five in the picture. In the picture Carson was holding a small yolk proudly in his hooves. Ditzy never thought that a yoke was actually a good gift, but the look on Carson's face after opened it was priceless. Dinky was in the background a circle of presents set around her: she had been unable to decide what to open first. Macintosh was sitting off to the side, a warm half smile on his face.

Ditzy wrapped a scarf around her neck. She loved that scarf; it had been given to her by Macintosh on their last anniversary. Since they had been married in the winter, a lot of their anniversary gifts happened to be about staying warm. This particular scarf was very soft and very warm, and most importantly, it was a gift from her husband. She slid a wool cap over her ears to finish off her preparation for going out into the cold.

Macintosh also had a scarf wrapped around his neck. He looked lovingly at his wife as she did the same back. Carson was already waiting at the door, ready to go to the sweets shop. He was tapping his hoof impatiently, but that just made Ditzy feel like going slower just to tease him.

Macintosh looked at Ditzy and winked. "Ya know what, Sugar Cube, Ah think Ah don't feel like sweets anymore."

Ditzy giggled silently, and said: "Yeah me either. Maybe we could go to the theater instead, watch a romance."

"That sounds mighty fine." Macintosh said playfully. Carson didn't pick up on the playfulness, and he had a very disappointed look on his face. Ditzy decided that it was time to stop, before Carson got too disappointed.

"Yeah, but now that I think about it, I do feel like sweets." Ditzy said and a flame of hope could be seen in Carson's gaze. Macintosh chuckled, before they trudged out into the cold.

Snow crunched under hoof as they walked the road down to Sugar Cube Corner. Ponies happily went along with their daily lives.

"Did we ever tell you, that your father and I's first date was at Sugar Cube Corner?" Ditzy brought up

"No, ya didn't." Carson responded. He was obviously forcing himself not to outpace his parents.

"Well, we did." Ditzy said unsure of what else to say.

"We weren't even planning to go there, but Ah was so nervous about the date with your mother Ah forgot to look for somewhere to eat." Macintosh kept the conversation going.

"Ya were nervous about dating mom?" Carson asked. They were getting close to their destination.

"Well, ya momma's quite pretty and Ah was just a farm worker, Ah didn't think Ah was in the same league as her." He said, Ditzy leaned into him affectionately.

"Your father's being modest. He was the one that all the mares wanted to be with, I was so nervous on that date I thought I would blow up. Your father was so handsome and kind." Ditzy said as they reached their destination.

The door hit a bell as it swung open. Ditzy spotted a table near a window for them to sit. Pumpkin Cake was taking the orders on that particular day.

"Carson, would you go and order us a few cupcakes?" Ditzy asked. Carson nodded his head excitedly, before he went to wait in line. Ditzy and Mac took a seat across from each other.

"This brings back memories, don't-" Macintosh was cut off.

"Shhhh...Mac look." Ditzy pointed to Carson, who was now standing at the front of the line.

"Hello, Carson. What would you like today?" Pumpkin Cake asked. Carson just stared at her, a blank look on her face. "Uhhhh...Carson?"

He shook himself out of his stare. "Howdy, Ms. Cake, ya look mighty pretty today." It took Carson a moment to realize what he said, and when he did his face became as red as Macintosh's coat. "Ah mean the sweets...they look...good."

Pumpkin Cake had a slight blush on her cheeks. "You don't have to call me Ms. Cake. I've told you dozens of times, call me Pumpkin."

"My dad told me that it was polite to call mares Ms." Carson said. Ditzy looked over at her husband, who had a proud gleam in his eyes.

"That's sweet." She leaned over the counter and gave him a little peck on the cheek. "Please, just call me Pumpkin. Also, there is a dance on Friday...would you like to go with me?"

"E...eeyup." Carson's face was bright red by that point. Pumpkin Cake giggled as he walked back to the table and sat down. He had a blank look on his face. Ditzy let out a giggle, her son's little crush was just too cute.

"Carson, you forgot to order." Ditzy said.

"Eeyup." He said blankly. He put a hoof to his cheek where Pumpkin had given him a peck. Ditzy knew she hadn't even heard what she said.

"Come on, Sugar, let's go order." Macintosh suggested. Ditzy nodded and stood up with her husband and walked to the counter.

"Oh, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Apple. I was wondering if one of you was going to order, Carson didn't actually order anything." Pumpkin had a friendly smile that came with all of the Cake family.

"Hello Pumpkin." Ditzy said as she looked down through the glass that housed the treats that tantalized her tastebuds. "I'll have a chocolate cupcake."

"Ah'll have the same." Macintosh said. He set a few bits on the counter and they took the muffins and started back to the table.

"Mrs. Apple?" Pumpkin spoke up. Ditzy turned her head, she could see that she had something important to ask her, and Ditzy had a feeling that it had to do with her son. She waved Macintosh to keep going. He shrugged and made his way to the table.

"Yes, Pumpkin?" Ditzy asked.

"Do you think Carson likes me? I mean he keeps calling my Ms. Cake and he doesn't seem to want to talk to me, is it me?" Pumpkin asked. She had concern plastered to her face. Ditzy could help but chuckling a little.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about, you're a very nice young mare." Ditzy pointed back to Carson who still had his hoof on his cheek. "Just give him a little time and he'll open up soon, but if that doesn't work a quick way to his heart is if you can bake...and I know you can bake."

"Thanks Mrs. Apple." Pumpkin sounded grateful.

Clink. Ditzy and Mac tapped their wine glasses together. They were at a nice restaurant, away from the kids, just for a little while. Ditzy took a sip of the white wine, before setting it on the table. They had already ordered and were waiting for their food.

"Ah like those earrings, Sugar." Macintosh complimented. Ditzy put a hoof up to her ear to feel the earring again: she didn't often wear jewelry, but for a nice restaurant she would spruce herself up a bit.

"Thanks. It's hard to believe that it's been sixteen years already, it's gone by so fast." Ditzy said. "Soon, Dinky will be leaving the house and we'll have grandkids."

"That boy best be marrying her before that happens." Macintosh said. It was kind of hypocritical, seeing as they had almost had a foal before they were married.

"And it feels like yesterday that Carson was just a foal, now he's a tall, strong young stallion." Ditzy went on.

"And by the looks of it he might be havin' a marefriend real soon." Macintosh added. "And if that ends up workin' out, Ah can look forward to free baked goods."

Ditzy chuckled. She looked across the candlelit table at her husband. She felt a deep, firm love for him in her chest.

"Happy anniversary." Ditzy said.

"Happy anniversary." Macintosh said and they leaned across the table and kissed. Their meal arrived to break the kiss. Macintosh looked down at his meal, with a disappointed grimace on his face. It was very small portions at this particular restaurant. "Ah paid 28 bits for this?"

Ditzy carefully cut her meal to make it last. Macintosh had his down it twenty seconds. "The point is to savor the meal."

"Well, not much to savor." Macintosh still looked very hungry.

They ate the meal, paid, then left. They walked through the cold winter's night, gazing up at the stars. They walked slowly back to the house, enjoying each other's company. Ditzy stopped to stare at the majesty of Luna's masterpiece, and then moved along to get out of the cold.

"Yes! A million times yes!" They heard Dinky shout as they reached to the door. Ditzy looked at Macintosh, who had a slight smile on his face. They opened the front door to see Dinky's coltfriend down on a knee and Dinky almost crying with a wedding band around her hoof. "Momma, I'm getting married!"

Ditzy squealed, and ran up to the side of her daughter to ogle over the wedding band. Carson stood in the doorway between the living room and the dining room, a tired look on his face. He was usually asleep by that time. Macintosh slapped Dinky's coltfriend on the back, throwing him a few feet forward.

Ditzy looked around. She was with her family, her husband, daughter, son, and soon to be son-in-law. Ditzy felt an inner peace. This was her life: it wasn't always perfect, but she wouldn't change it for the world, and she was happy.

The end.

A/N: Thank you all for sticking with me through these two stories, they have been a joy to write. It was a pleasure to see that people could enjoy my storytelling. Thanks to my magnificent beta reader, BlackRoseRevan. If you have anything to say, please say it now. (Bad comments to yourself please) You all of made this a great joy to write and I hope you have enjoyed your time spend on reading these tales. I have no idea what I'm going to write next.

Cheers, and have a good day.

Epilogue two

What woke Ditzy was her husband's deep rumble of snoring. She opened her eyes and rolled to her side to view the clock: 9:59. Ditzy smiled, she enjoyed sleeping late, not that it could really be called sleeping in, since neither she nor Macintosh had any reason to get up. They had been retired for almost a year now, and it was nice to be able to relax and watch their life legacy grow.

Ditzy really enjoyed when she got to spoil her grandkids. As grandparents Macintosh and Ditzy liked to have the grandkids visit, get them hyped up on sugar, and then send them back to their parents, in fact, Ditzy recalled that Dinky and Carson were visiting with their families today.

With some effort she rolled out of bed, her joints cracking with age. Ditzy walked to the master bathroom and looked in the mirror. She groaned: her roots were showing gray again. Ditzy had resorted to dyeing her hair to keep it from becoming gray, she really didn't want her mane to become gray, and it matched her coat and then she looked weird. Macintosh always told her that she looked beautiful, but she still dyed her hair.

The snoring stopped as Ditsy heard him jolt awake. Ditzy smiled and leaned her head outside the doorway.

"Morning hon." Ditzy greeted her waking husband. Macintosh looked at her with his big green gentle eyes, and smiled.

"Mornin', Taking a shower?" He asked, even though he knew the answer. "Let me join ya."

He pulled himself from the old bed with more trouble than Ditzy. After all the years of apple bucking he had slight arthritis in his joints, but nothing that a few common painkillers couldn't take care of. He trotted to the bathroom and after a kiss with Ditzy, he took a few pills. Then he stepped into the shower, and soon after Ditzy joined him. Just because they were old didn't mean they couldn't be romantic.

After the shower, Ditzy went to the kitchen to bake a batch of cupcakes for her incoming grandchildren. She heard the front door open and looked at the clock. They weren't supposed to arrive for another few hours. She slipped the cupcake pan in the oven then went to see who it was.

"Carrot Top!" Ditzy squealed, something she hadn't done in a very long time. She grasped her oldest friend in a tight hug. Carrot Top had moved away years ago to be with the stallion she loved, Ditzy was sad to see her go, but there was no way she was going to stop her friend from finding happiness. They visited each other from time to time, and wrote letters often, yet it was still a joy to see her.

"Hello, Ditzy!" Carrot Top responded, returning the hug.

"What are you doing here?" Ditzy asked. She hadn't been expecting a visit from her very best friend.

"Well, I just retired, so I decided to come around to visit all my friends here in Ponyville." Carrot Top explained. "The husband couldn't come along; he came down with a nasty cough."

"Oh sorry to hear that." Ditzy said as she retraced from the hug. "It's nice you came today, Carson and Dinky are coming for a visit."

"Oh good! I haven't seen then in years!" Carrot Top had a large grin on her aged face. "How have you and Mac been?"

"Everything is going just great. Admittedly, retirement gets a bit boring, but Mac and I have been able to keep busy." Ditzy went through her nice life, as she led Carrot Top to the dinner table. Big Macintosh was sitting with a newspaper in his hooves and reading glasses sitting on his muzzle. He looked up from his reading and a smiled formed on his face.

"Howdy, Carrot Top. It's good to see ya again." Macintosh's deep voice was quiet, but had an overtone of happiness to it.

They sat at the table and talked for a while, before Ditzy had to remove the cupcakes from the oven. Macintosh reached to eat one but Ditzy slapped his hoof away and said: "It's for the grandchildren."

As if on cue the front door swung open.

"Hello?" Came a deep bellowing voice from the living room.

"We're in the kitchen Sweetie." Ditzy called. Then a pattern of tiny hooves came running into the kitchen. A little filly no more than six slid into the room.

"Grandma!" Shouted the little filly as she jumped into her grandmother's lap and gave Ditzy an energetic and affectionate hug. "Grandpa!"

She ran over to Macintosh and did the same. "Howdy, Velvet."

Carson took a few heavy steps into the kitchen right next to Pumpkin who had a large belly from her second pregnancy. She looked tired, Ditzy knew how that felt.

"Hey mom, hey dad." Carson greeted. He stood a few inches taller than Macintosh now, yet Mac would always blame it on his age. "Have a seat, Pumpkin."

He pulled out seat for his pregnant wife, who took a seat. Then he noticed the orange mare sitting next to his mother.

"Auntie Carrot Top!" He said in surprise.

"Took you long enough, big guy." Carrot Top stood to exchange a quick hug with Carson. Pumpkin sat with a shy smile on her face.

"Come play with me Grandpa!" Velvet begged.

"Oh alright." Macintosh laughed as he pulled himself slowly up from the chair. He was being led by hoof by Velvet to the front room, where they kept all the toys for when the grandkids came.

"Come play with us Daddy!" Velvet suggested playfully. Carson smiled went to follow them.

When they left Ditzy asked: "How are you feeling, dear?"

Pumpkin gave a sigh before she said: "I get awfully tired lugging this foal around. It's easier than the first time, but I think this foal is a lot bigger than Velvet was..."

Ditzy chuckled: "I know what that feels like."

"When is the foal due?" Carrot Top asked. Pumpkin looked shy at the outgoing orange mare. "Oh sorry, I'm Carrot Top, an old friend of Ditzy's."

"Hi, nice to meet you... I'm Pumpkin and I'm married to Carson, but of course you know that." Pumpkin giggled. They had never actually met before; Carrot Top had been unable to attend the wedding. "But anyway, the foal's due in about a week."

"Oooo...I'll be here for that." Carrot Top squealed. Pumpkin put on a more confident smile.

After a long while of talking, Pumpkin became more and more relaxed with the conversation. Ditzy heard the ground door swing open for the third time that day.

"Hi grandpa!" A light masculine and feminine voice called in unison. Ditzy smiled. The twins that made her a grandma had arrived. Ditzy pushed off from the table and went into the living room. Mac was laying on the floor a filly and colt, about 10 years old, had him in a hug. The colt was Quill and the filly was Sunny.

Dinky stood next to her husband Pipsqueak. She was in her suit. Mayor Dinky Apple a name tag read. She had won in a landslide victory over the incumbent. Ditzy had never expected her daughter to get into politics, but she was proud of the integrity that she brought to the mayor's office.

"Hi mom." Dinky gave her mother a little kiss on the cheek. "Hey dad."

"Howdy, Sugar Cube." Macintosh said while he was being swarmed with a fourth grandchild. Dinky's had another little colt that was four years old. The little colt was named Pipsqueak Jr. he looked like a lot like his father.

"Auntie Carrot Top!" Dinky squeaked like a little filly. She almost tackled the old mare in a hug. "I missed you so much!"

"Hey there, silly filly, don't knock me over." Carrot Top laughed. "I've missed you too, and if I've heard right, you're the new mayor."

"Eeyup!" She beamed. "I won last November, and might I say, I think I'm doing a good job."

"More than a good job." Macintosh chimed in. "She's done a great job."

"Thanks dad." Dinky smiled.

"Ahem, a little help?" Big Mac asked, as he held a hoof up in a sign for help. Carson grasped that hoof and pulled Mac to his hooves.

"Awww...Grandpa we wanted to play a more." Quill groaned.

"Well, if you want to play so much, maybe you don't want the cupcakes I made." Ditzy teased.

"Cupcakes!" The four fillies and colts shouted on unison. Ditzy smiled, she would eventually give them a cupcakes, but not until she gave the proper amount of teasing.

"Nope, you said you wanted to play with grandpa more, well go ahead. We grown-ups will eat them." Ditzy prodded her grandchildren some more, but they gave her the eyes; those sad puppy dog eyes that she couldn't for the life of her resist. "Alright, alright, you can have them, just stop with the eyes."

"Yay." The scampered off to the kitchen.

"Giving them sugar, again?" Dinky asked with a chuckle. Dinky didn't care to count how many times her mother had sent her children home hopped up on so much sugar that they could possibly explode.

"It's our job." Big Macintosh grinned. A loud crash told Ditzy that her grandkids already found the cupcakes. They all took seats in the living room, Carson and Pumpkin on the couch with Carrot Top, Dinky and Pipsqueak in the love seat, Big Mac in his favorite recliner, and Ditzy in her personal rocking chair.

"How the harvest coming in this year, Carson?" Mac asked. Carson had inherited one third of the farm after Mac had retired, soon it would be half when Applejack decided to retire, not that Carson cared how much of the farm he owned, but it was good to own something.

"Mighty fine, the rain we ordered for the south orchard helped the granny smiths a lot, and Ah'm ahead of schedule on the bucking." Carson responded. "Aunt Apple Bloom is ready for the zap apple harvest, which Ah feel is going to come in great.

"That's good." Mac had a satisfied smile that meant he was proud of how his son was handling the farm. "How are ya folks doing, Pumpkin?"

"They're holding it together, Dad wants to retire, but mom says she could imagine not baking all day." Pumpkin explained. After a while of talking a second crash came from where the cupcakes used to be. Ditzy stood as fast as she could, which was pretty slow. She trotted through the door to the kitchen to find a smashed cookie jar on the floor.

"Quill did it!" Sunny shouted.

"Did not! Velvet did it!" Quill pointed a hoof towards the filly, whose eye went eyes went wide with surprise.

She gasped and shouted: "Nuh-uh! I didn't do it, Jr. did it!"

Out of all of her grandchildren Pipsqueak Jr. was the least likely to have actually break the jar, but her other grandkids knew he would have taken the blame without a fight. Ditzy wouldn't be standing for that.

"Well, I sure hope none of you are lying, otherwise Nightmare Moon will take you away." Ditzy had to force back a smile; this was the story that she was told when she was a little filly when her parents suspected she was telling a fib.

"N-nightmare Moon? She's just a myth... Right?" Quill stuttered. It had been a long time since Luna was saved from her curse and now it had become a tale to scare children.

"Oh no, she's very real, and she flies around all night looking for fillies and colts who told a lie, she takes them..." She took a dramatic pause for effect, and the grandkids looked up at her with wide eyed interest. "Gobbles the up!"

They screamed, and Quill said: "Okay I did it!"

"No I did!" Sunny squealed.

"We all know I did it." Velvet interrupted. Ditzy smiled in satisfaction, it was almost too easy to fool them. Ditzy opened a tall cabinet to expose a broom and dust pan.

"Alright the three of you, clean it up." They hung their heads and grabbed the broom and cleaned up the mess of cookies and glass. Ditzy stood by to make sure they didn't cut themselves of the sharp glass.

After that was cleaned up, Ditzy returned to the living room. It looked as everypony was getting ready to leave, this was the part of their visits that she didn't like, the part where she realized that they had lives that they had to get back to and families to take care of. She liked that they had lives and families, but was retired and now she didn't have anywhere to go.

"Sorry mom, duty calls." Dinky was at the door. "Come along kids!"

Sunny, Quill, and Jr. ran to the door to catch up with their parents.

"You aren't leaving without giving your grandma a hug, are you?" Ditzy teased. The filly and two colts ran to her and grasped her in an affectionate hug.

"Bye grandma!" They said before leaving.

"Well, mom and dad, we better are heading out too." Carson said in a deep rumble.

"But you just got here." Macintosh mentioned.

"Yeah, but ah still have a few deliveries to make." Carson explained.

"We've got to go sweetie!" Pumpkin called to Velvet, who came running. They stood and gave warm goodbyes to Mac and Ditzy.

"It's always so nice when they visit." Ditzy commented.

"Eeyup." Macintosh said, flipping his newspaper open again. Carrot Top had fallen to sleep on the couch; Ditzy placed a blanket over her.

"Hey Mac?" Ditzy got his attention.

"Yes, dear?" He didn't look away from his newspaper.

"Looking back would you change anything?" Ditzy looked out the window to watch her legacy walk away. Mac set his newspaper aside.

"Ah wouldn't change a thing." He said. "Would you?"

"Eenope."

I don't know why, but I felt compelled to write this. It was just a bit of fluff, and you know what, that's enjoyable sometimes so why not? Thanks for reading. Oh yes I may have missed something so if you find something wrong… like grammar (I'm bad at grammar)please tell me.

The real end

The steady beep of a heart monitor was keeping the mood somber as possible. It was a constant reminder to her mortality. The smell of cleaning fluids hung in the air, the light was a bit too harsh, the bed was uncomfortable as always, and the gown was ugly, but all of these things are small things, and in the end don't really matter. Sure, it was nice to appreciate the little things, but it was not the time to complain about such things.

It was time, Ditzy knew, she wouldn't be going out due to sickness, or slowly rot away in the hospital causing both an emotional and finical strain on her kids. It was simply that she had lived her life, and she had a happy one too, but she knew that it would only go downhill from here. So, she decided that she would go out on her terms on her time, and make it a happy passing so that she knew her kids, and her grandchildren, and her new great grandchild would remember her as fondly and say 'she was a good mom, grandma, or great grandma.'

The thought gave Ditzy comfort, she wouldn't be leaving a long painful road to her death, like some ponies do, and she would be leaving on good terms with the world. She had made her mark, even though she wasn't a super star, rich, or have been a leader to her country, but she was successful in her own way, raising two wonderful kids, with equally wonderful grandchildren, and great grandchild. That was enough for her, and then there was Mac.

She would finally get to see him again after all the years of his passing. She wanted her death to be like his, tying up the last loose ends, saying his good byes and leaving for the great beyond. He knew it was coming and he didn't fight it, nor did he want to ponies to be sad at his death, it was a happy time, he'd get to see his parents, Granny Smith and maybe the little foal they had lost so many years ago. She didn't know if she believed in the great beyond, but at this point it didn't matter, if it was real she would get to see her husband once again and if not, nothing lost, so in the end she chose to believe.

Ditzy had informed her kids that it was time and she wanted to see them and the grandkids one last time. She had a plan set in her mind, it was weird when she thought about it, planning your own passing but it was the only way she could be sure that her family had closure. At her death bed all she wanted by her side was her two children. She knew that it wouldn't go exactly as planned, but that's what make life fun, isn't it? This, her last night on their wonderfully vibrant world, would be a good one.

The door opened to room 34, Ditzy's room. Her children walked in, Dinky had tears brimming in her eyes, but wore a smile know that this is what her mother wanted. Carson wasn't smiling, he didn't want to lose his mother, his momma, but he knew that if he tried to get the doctors to keep her alive longer, he wouldn't just be making the passing harder than it had to, he would be betraying his mother's memory making her out to be somepony had died a horribly tragic death, and that he would not stand for.

Ditzy's grandkids were old enough to understand what was going on, but they knew as well as their parents that their grandma wanted them not to mourn her death, but celebrate her life as their loving, caring, fun grandma, who had crooked eyes, but wouldn't let anything in the world put her down for it. Her strength, her determination, to pass down to her kids then in turn they passed it down to their kids, and for Quill he past it down to his child. He was glad he had been able to share the first year of his daughter's life with his grandma, it was an opportunity that the rest of his cousins and siblings would never get to have. He would tell his daughter about his grandma, who stood in the face of ridicule and hardship with a sense of determination that made her the greatest pony he, had ever known.

Ditzy's grandkids gathered around the hospital bed first, their parents would come later and much closer to the time she would decide to pass away. The grandkids, fighting back tears told her how much they loved their grandma and how much they were going to miss her. She told them that she would miss them too but to remember her fondly. They exchanged stories, good times, bad times, funny, and sad. They shared, knowing that this was the last time, at least for a long time; they would speak to their grandma. Ditzy loved them all so dearly that it almost made her want to change her mind and keep on fighting.

Ditzy knew that isn't what she, or any of her family wanted, no matter how much they said they did. They all knew that if she kept up it would end up being less of a glad passing and more of a bitter one, and nopony wanted that. So, as much as she loved them, she wanted their love to be directed towards their old, yet lively grandma of past times and not the decrepit, shambling mare that would result if she kept up the fight.

Her grandchildren couldn't hold back tears. Tears of sadness, because their grandma was going to be gone, but tears of joy because they each felt that they gave her what she wanted, a good time of remembrance before her final breath. They each gave her the tightest hug that wouldn't break the old mare and kissed her on the cheek. They each said personal good byes, Ditzy reminded Sunny to find a nice boy, told Velvet she was going to miss her apple pies, praising Quill on how good on a father he was, telling Pipsqueak Jr. to follow his dream of becoming a world famous artist, and joked with Honeydew, Carson's second child, about how he could sell apples like no other, she told him he could 'sell salt to a snail.'

The grandkids gave her one last look of her alive before being led by Quill out of the room and back to their homes. Carson and Dinky stood on both sides of the bed. Their significant others had left with the grandchildren in order to give them the time they needed together before her time came, but Ditzy didn't want to say her good byes to her children in a hospital room, she wanted to be at home passing away in the bed she had shared with Mac for so many years. That house held so many memories that were dear to her heart and she wanted to be with them in her final hour.

"Take me home." Ditzy whispered loud enough for her children to hear. Dinky nodded to Carson, who nodded to his mother. A yellow aura of Dinky's magic surrounded her, living her ever so gently onto her son's bread back. Ditzy told him how much he reminded her of his father. She also told Dinky how much she reminded her of her husband. Carson walked gently not to disturb the pony whose time was near.

A nurse attempted to stop them, but when she saw what they were doing she let them pass. The nurse had seen so many deaths that the children or the parent pony had elongated so long that it was just painful to watch, so she wasn't about to stop a family who was giving their loved one their final wish.

Ditzy felt the cool night air wash over her as they stepped out into Luna's night. She gazed up at the magnificence of the stars that were to rarely watched, it was as if a million eyes were watching her tracking to her final resting place. Ditzy images them saying to her, 'You lived a good, long life. Now, it is time to take a rest you most defiantly deserve.' She smiled to herself. She also imagined Mac watching her from afar, waiting excitedly for his lover, wife, and best friend coming to stay with him. They would spend all day just doing normal things, but it would be special because she would be with her stallion. He would say 'sugarcube' with that half smile that could, until the day he died turn her insides to butterflies.

Carson and Dinky were talking to each other quietly, it was just the calm, before the storm of feelings that was about to follow. Ditzy loved her children; she knew that this would be her most difficult good bye. Two ponies she brought into the world that she would be leaving very soon. She could feel a tear trickle down her face and soak into that grayish-red coat that she was so familiar with. She didn't want to leave them behind, it was a selfish thought, but she knew that they had lives, jobs, and families that needed to be taken care of, and now they would have one less thing to worry about. Ditzy knew that they didn't think she was a burden, and she was determined not to be one. She was independent until the day she entered the hospital, and she would be leaving the world as independent as ever.

They reached the house that held so many memories that if memories were tangible the house would have been crushed under their sheer weight. The house was more special because Mac had bought to fit their family many, many, many years before. Ditzy loved that house, it was sturdy, cozy, and it fit well into the family lifestyle. She didn't know what was going to happen to it after she died; her will said the property belonged to both Carson and Dinky. She opened that Quill would live in it with his new family, and make new memories to flood the house over again, but if they wanted to sell it, that was their business and she respected their decision.

They entered the house, it was slightly cold due to it being fall, and the heater wasn't running. 'It smells like old ponies.' Ditzy thought to herself and chuckled, causing both Carson and Dinky to look back at her. They both gave assign of relive, that chuckle told them that she was truly ready for this, and anything their old mother could bear, they could too. Carson took her to the bedroom that she had slept and done much more in with Macintosh. He tucked his elderly mother into the sheets, just as Dinky arrived with a tray with two cups of tea and mug of coffee. In the center of the tray was one large banana butterscotch muffin.

Dinky gave the muffin to her mother saying that she shouldn't be on an empty stomach. She gave Carson the coffee and sipped on tea. Ditzy refused her tea, saying 'not right now' even though there would be no later to enjoy the tea with her children. She felt it coming, it was like a cold embrace that slowly crept over her entire being, she could have fought it off, she's did it before, but this time where would be no fighting.

Ditzy decided now was the time to spill her heart. She told her children how much they meant to her, how being their mom was the best thing she had ever done, and how much she'd miss them. She told them how much spice they added to her life and how much fun they had together, and most of all how much she loved them. All of Luna's stars and Celestia's sun couldn't compare to the deep love that she felt for her little muffin and her big boy.

They shared stories, like when Dinky was little she tried to be a private investigator, or when Carson got caught with Pumpkin in an interment position when they were dating. Ditzy shared stories from her childhood, happy ones that she had shared a million times, but her kids were just as interested as they always were. She didn't share any bad stories; Ditzy wanted this to be a happy moment.

"Good bye, Dinky, Carson, I love you, and I always will." Ditzy felt the cold embrace grow stronger, it would soon envelope her in eternal peace. Her breath became soft, so very soft, that almost no air was moving in or out.

"Good bye, m-m-mommy." Dinky wrapped her in a hug, tears soaking into the coat of the old mare.

"Good bye, momma, we love you." Carson stuttered as tears started to roll onto the floor. He wrapped his strong hooves around his mother and his sister. Ditzy felt her breath catch, and then she dove into the frigid embrace of death.

Then she opened her eyes again, she felt light as air. She found herself standing outside of her body, next to her son and daughter. Dinky was sobbing quietly, and Carson was holding her close. He was saying reassuring things like 'this is what she wanted' and stuff like that. Ditzy looked at herself, she looked like she was actually standing there, but she knew she wasn't really there. She looked about as young as when she first met Macintosh.

She looked up and reared back when she saw Celestia standing on the other side of the bed, a huge grin on her face. Ditzy had a feeling that Carson and Dinky couldn't see her either.

"Oh my, you're majesty." Ditzy took a bow. Celestia laughed.

"No need for that, my little pony, you have done enough of that in this world." Celestia's voice was warm and comforting. "I am here to take you to the Great Beyond, that is what your husband called it right?"

Ditzy felt weird, needless to say, being dead and then talking to a princess who was speaking like they knew each other for a long time. "Yeah..."

"Before you go, I must say, that was beautiful." Celestia said with a genuine smile, before her horn glowed bright white and Ditzy was whisked away.

Ditzy was face down in some grass, very soft grass. A gentle breeze blew her mane off to the side. She was in a large field with forests surrounding it. The day was nice and sunny, yet not too hot nor too cold, just right. A small village sat next to a creek in the distance. Ditzy tried to stand, before a large red hoof helped her to her hooves.

"Ah missed ya, Sugarcube."

I wrote this to give myself closure. It was easier to write than I thought, but this is the way I would want to die, with family and on my own time, not just rotting away in a nursing home. So as this is the last thing that will be put into this series, I felt that there had to be a fitting ending, I found I was happy with this one. I'm glad you all took the time to read Gentle Red, Scarlet Foal, and (maybe) Through Broken Eyes and I hope y'all have a fine day.

Bad Day

A/N: Welcome back. So I really appreciate all the favorites and reviews this story is getting. Please read and relax.
We rejoin Ditzy a month and a half later.

Carson buzzed around the room happily. Ditzy watched as he flew up above. Carson had newfound control over his flying ability: he still crashed, but it happened a lot less. His little wings buzzed very fast to keep him up at a steady altitude.

Ditzy went to the kitchen to retrieve some baby food. He had started feeding on real food, he still couldn't eat solids though. As soon as she brought the baby mush back, Carson flew straight into his mother. Just like his father, he was always ready to eat.

She picked him up and brought him back to the kitchen to put him in his high-chair. Ditzy undid the cap to the food and put its contents into a bowl. As soon as she placed the bowl in front of him Carson dove his face into it.

"You're supposed to eat the food, Muffin." Ditzy laughed. Carson didn't pay her any attention: he was too busy gobbling up the mush. It took only moments for him to eat, mostly because he got more food on him than in him. Ditzy grabbed a wash cloth, and wiped his face, revealing a happy Carson. She smiled back at her bubbly son.

Ditzy heard Dinky roll out of bed. In a few moments, the filly unicorn walked into the kitchen, yellow mane in knots. Carson looked to his older sister with his usual happy demeanor. Dinky ruffled his mane.

"Good morning, Muffin." Ditzy said. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"I don't know." Dinky yawned as she sat at the dinner table.

"Pancakes?" Ditzy asked. Dinky perked up, and gave a vigorous nod. Ditzy turned on the stove and put a pan on the heater. She quickly whipped up the quick pancake batter. The batter sizzled as it hit the hot pan. In a few minutes she had a plate of pancakes hot and ready. "Pancakes are ready."

Dinky hopped excitedly, and took her plate and began eating up the meal. Carson reached his legs out in a vain attempt to reach the hot food.

Ditzy quickly made herself some pancakes as well. She sat down and began to eat the pancakes. Carson was getting frustrated that he couldn't have the good looking food, and began pounding his hooves on his chair.

"Carson, stop that." Ditzy said gently but firmly. Carson stopped for a moment, and then attempted to fly out of his high chair, but he was strapped in to the chair. In frustration he took his bowl of food and tossed it at Ditzy. The contents splattered all over her. Dinky giggled, and Ditzy her shot her a glare as she wiped the food mush off herself.

Ditzy stood from her plate of pancakes, and walked over to Carson. She unhooked him from the high chair. Carson's little wings fluttered at the opportunity to be out of the chair, but Ditzy didn’t let him fly off. She took him into his nursery and set him in his play pen. She took the toys out of the pen, and closed the top of the pen to prevent him from getting out.

"Alright. Ten minutes." Ditzy said, more to herself than Carson. She knew the punishment wouldn't really stick with him, but Ditzy had to stop herself before she got too frustrated. She walked out of the room and back to the kitchen to find her plate with a large mess in place of the pancakes, and Dinky was in the other room playing.

"Dinky, did you eat my pancakes?" Ditzy asked as she began to wash the table.

"Eeyup." She drawled from the other room. Ditzy sighed as she wiped the table and plates. After a few minutes, she finished the cleaning job, and went to the living room to hopefully get a moment's rest.

As soon as she sat down on couch, she heard a soft zipping sound. Then a soft buzzing sound, and then Carson flew out into the living room. Ditzy reeled in surprise as he fluttered overhead. Dinky ran out after him, her lips formed into a guilty smile.

"Sorry mommy, I just wanted to play with him." Dinky said. Ditzy frowned. She flew up for a moment and caught Carson and brought him back down to the ground, holding him in her forelegs.

"Dinky, you know that you shouldn't do that." Ditzy said firmly, and Dinky sunk back. Then, Carson burped and spat up on Ditzy's chest. Ditzy sighed; it was going to be a long day.

___________
Ditzy looked at herself in the mirror. Her mane and tail were frizzy, she had bags under her eyes, she had all manner of Carson's spit up on her, and to top it off she hadn’t had time to eat since breakfast. She had finally gotten Carson to take a nap and Dinky to go play with her friends.

Just as she laid down to take a nap of her own, the door swung open and crashed against the wall. Ditzy looked up to see her husband: he looked tired as well.

"Howdy." Macintosh sighed. "Ah've had a long day..."

"So have I." Ditzy said, as she pulled herself up from the couch. Big Macintosh kept walking slowly into the kitchen.

"Staying home all day?" Macintosh asked: it sounded sarcastic. Ditzy knew he didn't mean it to sound sarcastic, but she wasn't going to let him get away with it.

"I woke up, tried to make myself look pretty, got Carson out of his crib, got him breakfast, made pancakes for Dinky and I, Carson threw his food at me, I went to put him in his play pen for ten minutes, Dinky ate my pancakes as well as hers, and she left a mess." Ditzy said, Big Macintosh was about to say something be she cut him off as she said: "Then, Carson spit up on me, he refused to take his nap, Dinky knocked a jar of jam out of the fridge and broke it, then she went to play as I cleaned it up, Carson made a mess in his diaper four times today, spat up on me a lot more than once, and somehow got himself so dirty he needed a bath, twice."
Macintosh mulled it over for a moment. "And?"

"And? That was a lot of work I put in today." Ditzy defended her hard work.

"I put in more." As soon as it came out Macintosh looked like he regretted it, but he didn't stand down from it. "Lots of hard, manual labor to do on the farm, somepony has to work to provide."

"Yeah." Ditzy snorted. "You are really providing with a job that doesn't pay anything."

"Applejack says she'll pay me when she can." Mac defended his position.

"I see the apple stand almost every day, making a profit. Why can't she give you a little bit of that profit?" Ditzy asked scornfully.

"Applejack says..." He stopped himself from saying the same thing twice. He snorted then continued on his walk into the kitchen. Ditzy laid back down on the couch; she hated when she argued with Macintosh, even if they did it so rarely. She closed her eyes and started to drift off to sleep.

Carson started to cry from the other room. "Mac, can you get him?"

She didn't hear anything, besides Carson's high pitched cry. She rolled off the couch and went to get Carson. She picked him out of his crib, and checked his diaper. She bounced him around gently.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Ditzy asked. Her son didn't respond, as expected. He kept on bawling his little eyes out. She looked in his mouth and realized he was teething. Ditzy sighed; he wasn't going to stop crying anytime soon.

After a few minutes of him crying, Macintosh came in, an annoyed look on his face. "What's the problem?"

"Carson's teething." Ditzy informed him. Macintosh took a moment to register the new information.

"Ah got just the thing." Big Macintosh said as he left the room. Ditzy tried to calm Carson, but it wasn't working. Big Macintosh came back with a bottle of whisky and a shot glass. "Old Apple family remedy: little bit of whisky clears the pain right up."

Macintosh poured a little bit of the alcoholic beverage into the glass. Ditzy pulled Carson back. "We are not giving our son whisky."

"It's just a little." Macintosh assured her, but Ditzy wasn't convinced. She wasn't about to give Carson any sort of alcohol. "Ah was given it when Ah was little, so was Applejack, and Ah gave it to Apple Bloom when she was teething."

"We can just give him some foal aspirin." Ditzy said, preferring to use the safe medication. Carson's crying was starting to wind down.

"Nope, whisky gives character." Macintosh argued.

"Character? He's a foal, and we are not giving him alcohol!" Ditzy said a lot louder than she meant to, Macintosh narrowed his eyes.

"Fine." Macintosh grunted. He drank down the whisky from the shot glass and walked out of the room. Ditzy got some foal aspirin from a bottle they kept in the room, and gave it to Carson. After a few minutes he stopped his crying.

Ditzy sighed. She walked back out to her bedroom to hopefully get a moment’s rest. She laid down in the bed and let sleep encroach on her.

"Ah'm going out, Ditzy." Macintosh called. His voice shook her from her sleep.

"Alright." Ditzy accidently put an uncaring tone to her voice. She heard Macintosh grunt and leave the house. She sighed, she would have to apologize for that or else she would feel bad, but for now she needed sleep.

__________
Ditzy woke as she felt her stomach rumble, reminding her she hadn't eaten all day. She rolled out of bed and walked out to the kitchen. As she did she passed the living room. She looked in for a moment, and saw Macintosh sitting in a chair, asleep with Carson in his forelegs, also sleeping. Ditzy smiled and went to the kitchen to make herself a quick dinner.

After she finished eating the dinner she made for herself, Ditzy walked into the living room. She looked at Macintosh, and then noticed the whisky bottle with a recently used shot glass next to it.

"Mac?" Ditzy asked. Her voice shook him from his slumber. He looked up at her, showing no emotion. "Did you give Carson whisky?"

"Uhhhh...well... Eeyup." He said, unable to come up with an excuse; not that Ditzy would have believed it anyway.

"I told you we weren’t going to give him whisky. I can't believe you went behind my back give him it." Ditzy scolded. Macintosh didn't look her in the eye. "How much did you give him?"

"Well, Ah gave him just a little..." He said. Ditzy sighed in relief, at least he didn't give him the whole shot. "But it slipped and he downed the whole sho-"

He didn't even get to finish the word: "What? He downed the whole drink! Why did you even fill it up that much?"

Big Macintosh looked ashamed, which would have usually been enough to make Ditzy stop scorning him, but this was their son and whisky was a strong drink. Ditzy took Carson out of his legs.

"Ah...Ah'm sorry." Macintosh pleaded.

"Mac...I'm sorry, but that's not good enough. I told you that we would give him foal-aspirin, not your family remedy!" She yelled at him. She knew it was too late now; the alcohol was already in his system. "Well, it worked, he's out-cold. What were you thinking? Oh, wait, you weren’t thinking!"

Big Macintosh looked hurt, but he knew that he couldn't say anything to make the situation better.

"Just go pick up Dinky from Twist's." Ditzy said angrily. "And don't give her whisky."

Macintosh slinked out of the house, head down and ears flat. Ditzy put her head to Carson's chest and listened to his heartbeat: it was normal. She would be watching him like a hawk, to make sure that he was alright. Ditzy was tired, frustrated, and angry. She doubted she would get any sleep: she would be awake all night worrying about Carson's health.

Ditzy loved her husband, but what had he had done was incredibly stupid, and Ditzy felt betrayed, that he went behind her back just to prove his point of family remedy over medicine, and then ended up having their three month old son down a shot of whisky.

Carson burped in his sleep, and Ditzy could smell the drink on his breath. Ditzy took him to the master bedroom and set him on the bed. She wouldn't be sleeping, but she would be watching him at all times.

Ditzy sighed to herself as she saw Carson's little wings buzzed from a dream he was having. She looked back on her day: all-in-all, it had been a bad one.

A/N:Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I also thank my beta reader BlackRoseRevan.