Big Mac the Gardener

The next morning...

Zecora thrust open the door to her guest hut and motioned Mac over. He coughed and finished down the rest of his fruity juice morning cocktail before following her. He wiped off his eyes and went on over along the same familiar riverbed. He still felt rather embarrassed from falling asleep so early the night before, while talking with Zecora. He flashed back to how he had barely even managed to finish their conversation before keeling over. I guess whatever magical stuff the fertile tulips had coursing along themselves... it all sucked a lot of life out of me. Oh, well. I ain't gonna complain, especially since she made me breakfast and tried to explain more things this mornin'.

He carefully made his way along the slippery rocks and broken down branches along the stream. Zecora disappeared from up ahead once again, jumping in through the mysterious magical cave over to the side. Mac hesitated, just letting the water rush along the ends of his hooves for a moment. He looked back at the empty baskets, stacked into each other, that Zecora had just carried.

"Whatever explanations she's given me have only made me more confused, blast it," he muttered, shaking his head, "Goodness! So this cotius hortus siccus goes down deep inside the Everfree, stretching down along in big underground magical roots that'll look more like a fungus than a plant? And these pretty but horny little flowery bits stick up every so often? Ain't making a lick o' sense!" He picked up the buckets. Sometimes I just wish she spoke normally instead of those blasted rhymes. He sighed, and he ducked into the dark cave besides him.

He appeared inside of the same big clearing as the day before. Yet he could sense immediately yet things had changed. A faint pastel-sort of tone stretched over everything. The grass looked paler and shorter. The trees along the distance of the clearing appeared more foreboding, curling around with gnarly branches just like a typical Everfree tree than the picturesque stuff he saw before.

Mac took a gulp. His eyes flew all over. He couldn't see Zecora or the plant anywhere. He picked up the buckets and trotted over to the far right, where the trees and the green grass of the clearing met. He made his way over in a big circle.

"Zecora? Please? Is something wrong?" Mac asked. "Uh, I guess I know that the plant-- that she-- can become invisible. But now is not really the time." He stopped, sitting down besides a mossy patch of torn branches. "We're just feeding it and talking to it right? As well as picking up the beads?" Pollination is over. Or, at least that what Zecora seemed to say this mornin'.

"The situation has much changed. Our plans must be rearranged," said a voice from somewhere. It seemed to float about the air aimlessly like a leaf in the calm breeze.

"You said... wait..." He didn't even begin to understand anything, wiggling his ears around as he laid down on the ground. "Please, Zecora. Is something wrong with the plant?"

"She is dying, dear Mac."

"Dying? Wait? What!" Mac leaped upwards, jittering his hind hooves. He glanced all around, still seeing nothing but empty trees and empty grass. "She was fine just a matter of hours ago!"

"Her roots suffered another attack."

"Where in the hay are you?" He danced around in place, looking like a dog chasing his tail.

"There's nothing to worry, my dear. We are simply right here."

He blinked. He looked over his shoulder, and he spotted Zecora kneeling besides the massive plant. He trotted nearby, standing over it. His eyes moved from tulip to tulip as a huge frown crept over his face. The colors had started to fade, with an ugly dark gray tone overwhelming the pretty yellow and pink. The vines had dug into the dirt below. Overall, he saw it moving with far less energy.

"Zecora, I... I..." He blinked. He couldn't believe it at first, but he felt like crying.

"Mac, now is not the time for tears!" Zecora stood up and rubbed a hoof around his neck. "Now is, in fact, the time for cheers!"

He slanted his head to the side. Sheer confusion just seemed to drip from his face. He opened his mouth, just letting it hang in there. His eyes flipped between Zecora's smooth, content expression and the weak-looking tulips to their side.

"You made her every dreams come true. A special pollination happened, just from you." Zecora stepped over to the side, tugging Mac several feet to the right of the plant. "Such is the ways of this species of flower. Reproduction destroys almost all of their power." Mac shrugged. She dies after mating? That sounds... awful...

Mac watched as Zecora hopped from left to right. She dug her back hooves into the ground as she wiggled her mane and tail. He didn't understand at all, scratching his chin. She smirked, and she pointed straight downward. Mac's eyes followed. He took a deep breath.

He saw a a patch of tulips forming underneath a huge tree a few feet from the older mass of flowers. These new tulips, swaying side to side with the wind, had brilliant bright stripes going up along their big, red petals. Mac's eyes slid over from flower to flower back to his own big, red flanks. Exactly the same... He closed his eyes, and he held his head back.

"Zecora, are you telling me... seriously..."

"Are you not happy to see your daughter?"

"Daughter!" Mac screamed out, bucking back on his hind hooves.

"You're lucky to have caught her," Zecora continued, grabbing Mac and pointing over along the tops of the nearby trees. Mac blinked as their bodies rubbed up against each other. She held his head up and motioned it at a tall, foreboding looking oak. "You have strong seed. Better than any flower could ever need..." Mac squinted.

"Oh, dear, Celestia," he called out as he spotted more bright red tulips popping up far overhead on the oak's tallest branches. "I guess this new plant is gonna, well, spread all over the Everfree?"

"You're correct," Zecora replied, "It's a safe bet. Your daughter has already moved out for miles, indeed. Her reach shall envelop the whole forest with great speed."

"Well, alright then," he said, sitting down. He buried his face in his hooves. I have offspring. Kids. Children. And they have petals. Oh, dear sweet goodness, what have I done? How could I let all this happen? He rubbed his temples as he tried not to pant. What on earth will happen? Will I pay some kind of 'foal's support' or something? Am I supposed to water all of them? Do I protect them if somepony tries to pick 'em? He let out a low, long whine. "What the hay should I do?"

"Mac, you silly," Zecora said, pushing his shoulder. "No need to cry like a filly."

He glanced over at the tulips that he had pollinated the day before. He saw pile after pile of bright white beads that looked a lot like pearls, only somehow even shinier, and she stepped closer. The plant appeared to whither before his eyes as he moved, growing older in seconds the way that a normal flower would go through in days.

He closed his eyes once again, trying to think. He shivered. "Zecora, what do I have to do about my... my... uh... petal-covered offspring?"

"You need not be concerned with her, Mac," she responded, and he heard her picking up the buckets that they had carried. "She will expand all over by herself and will not come back." He nodded, sitting down once again. It all felt like way too much for him to take. "She requires no gardening, not for a long while. You can set her out on her own for years, so please just smile."

"Smile," he repeated. He wished he had a thick glass of cider to wash his torrent of emotions down with.

"Listen to me and open your eyes, now. Your money problems are finished, and this is how."

Mac lifted up his eyebrows and held out his hooves. She shoved three huge baskets of jewel-like beads right in front of him. He looked down, seeing thousands of little Big Macs reflected back at him, and he grinned. He glanced over behind Zecora's shoulder, seeing the dirty blank spot in the dirt where the original plant had sat. He felt content. He felt happy.

"Sure," he said. He paused, and he headed over to the dirty blank spot, ignoring the baskets for a moment. He dug at the ground a little bit, leaning over. "You know, miss flowers, I never was able to properly say goodbye. Nor did I properly thank you for such a wonderful evenin'. That's very ungentlepony like for me." He leaned even closer. "So, thank you."

As a few golden magical sparks went off within the dirt, he understood. He didn't have to say anything more. He didn't have to hear anything more. He pressed his forehead against the ground, and he smiled once again.

Several hours later...

After an impromptu 'Welcome Back' party, the Apple family went through a long period of total elation where Granny Smith and Applejack safely stored away their baskets of rare, expensive trinkets. They talked about investing in Applebloom's college fund. They talked about fixing up the barn. They talked about hiring even more ponies to work. They even talked about a vacation over in Hoofington-- a word that had seemed like a distant dream only a few days before.

All of that died down after not too long, and ponies resumed their chores. Mac leaned out his window and gazed into the distance. "With almost all the trees ruined or close to ruined, there seems to be almost nothin' to do. Surprisin' how much farm life ends up bein' jes' buckin' time. With that out of the way, it feels like an out-of-body experience." He took a sip of his iced tea on the counter table besides his bed.

He squinted out into the distance. He put a hoof to his eyes. Of course, I'm not gonna see the Everfree like this. He ambled through his room and picked out his new telescope. He aimed it over in the direction of the forest, carefully adjusting the sights. He smiled as he came along the edge of the gnarled, spooky-looking trees.

He moved up and down. Nasty clawed things scurried through the trees. He slid the telescope up and got a nice, long look of the full moon. He shifted it along the treetops and over to a lake. He froze.

He spotted familiar looking red tulips stretching along the patches of grass besides the lake. He looked over to the right and saw them along a mass of maples. He looked over to the left and saw them along a huge pile of mossy black rocks. He traveled along the new path, and tulips dotted besides the gravel every few yards.

"My goodness," he said, stepping back from the telescope. He picked it back up and placed it over into his closet. He leaned his body over the window again, taking a deep breath. "This means that I've got some strong 'seed'... or... uh... strong 'pollen'.

He finished off his iced tea, and he prepared for bed. I wonder how Applejack will handle visiting her, uh, niece? He brushed his teeth and washed off his face. I shouldn't think like that. Biology doesn't work that way. She's my plant. Not the same as a foal, not in the slightest. But I can feel proud, shouldn't I? He hopped into the sheets, pulled them over his head, and made a pleasant sigh.

"Well, I suppose ya'll can't call it 'the Everfree' anymore," he whispered. "Now, it's gonna be 'Big Mac's Garden'." He slid to the side, and he fell into a long, deep sleep.

The End