Big Macintosh plodded down the lane to Ponyville, huge hooves squelching as he tracked through the soggy mud. Apple Bloom sat on the bit of fabric between his saddlebags. Any other trip to town, whether for market or to see her friends, and she would have been walking by his side. Actually, bouncing would be a better way to put it, along with rushing over to the fence every few seconds, having spotted something that might give her a cutie mark. Today, though, Granny had told him to keep her out of the mud. It was a special occasion, after all.
Suddenly, he felt his sister perk up, before a new weight on his head and his yoke told him where she was now standing. He smiled, holding back a chuckle.
“Wow!” Apple Bloom gasped, and Macintosh could practically hear her massive smile. He spotted her hoof hovering about a foot in front of his eyes. “There sure are a lotta’ ponies comin’ to see this, aren’t there, Mac?”
He followed her hoof all the way across the fields to Ponyville. Big Mac nearly let his eyebrow rise; it did indeed look like every pony for miles around was descending on their little town. The roads were full, like a load of little multicoloured streams that all drained lazily into the lake that was Ponyville. Except for one: the biggest and the widest. If this one were a stream, it’d be bone dry apart from a few specks of white.
“Eeyup.”
Now it was Apple Bloom’s turn to look where he had, over to where those white specks turned out to be large ponies, with golden armour that shone a little under the afternoon sun. A few of the Royal Guard stood in a huddle, while a little further on a couple of their unicorn members busily tightened the strings keeping a sign up.
“Look at how much work’s gone into this whole thing, too!” He still couldn’t see Apple Bloom, but, with her legs pressing into the back of his neck, it wasn’t difficult to picture the little twinkles he knew were in her eyes. “Wish I coulda’ helped! I bet there would’ve been somethin’ doin’ that would’ve given me my cutie mark.”
It was only then that Big Macintosh let out his chuckle. “Eeyup.”
He nearly stumbled as Apple Bloom clambered all the way up his neck, before she lay down on top of his head. “Speakin’ of that, big brother… Do you mind me standin’ with my friends for the parade?”
Mac pursed his lips for a second. “Nope.”
He felt her creep even further forward. “Big Mac?”
Looking up, he found himself staring into those orange eyes of hers. They stared right back, big and wide and promising tears if not given a good answer. “Are you gonna’ say anything other than ‘yup’ and ‘nope’, today?”
He grinned. “Maybe.”
He watched as her face cracked into a matching smile, and she fell back off his head, still laughing as she landed back on the fabric with a soft slap. She rolled around for a couple of seconds, partly from him shifting under her as he walked but mostly from her giggling.
“Big brother,” she said, her laughs fading with one last, squeaky wheeze, “you sure do know how to joke when you want to.”
Still grinning, he turned back to face her. “Eeyup.”
She looked like she was about to reply, but before she could her face lit up, and she started pointing her hoof ahead of them.
“Look, Mac!” She wiggled her hoof even more. “There’s Granny!”
Sure enough, right after the point where the dirt track branched off from the rest of town, was Granny. Still tottering along, her legs shaking like leaves in the breeze every time she went to take another step. Macintosh let out a tiny smirk.
It had been a good idea for Granny to get going a couple of hours early.
Before long, Mac had caught up with Granny, and he stopped beside her, feeling shift so she could face her. Granny didn’t notice them, though. She kept walking, never once letting her jittery legs slow her down, never once letting her aching back make her stop, and never once letting her head droop into a nap.
Mac smiled, before letting a sigh smooth it away. Again, he walked until he was alongside her, and this time he tapped the ground with a hoof. Granny stopped, ears gingerly climbing until they stood alert, and she peered ahead of herself with bleary eyes.
“Whuzah—”
“Granny!”
Mac’s lips pursed for a moment as Granny creaked into a jump, and she turned to face him. The clouds in her eyes cleared.
“Ooh, howdy there, Macintosh,” she said, smiling at him, before it fell away into a confused look, and her eyebrows disappeared into her forehead. “Gosh-darn it!” She tapped her head with a hoof, and then shook it about until her eyes swivelled. “My hearin’ must be actin’ up again! Why, I thought you were little Bloom for a secon’ there, Mac!”
She turned away, her grumbles running away with her, before she got back in control. “Speakin’ of her, I take it you’re lookin’ after her good and proper, aren’t you?”
Macintosh smiled, and he took a step forward.
“Hi, Granny!” Mac could feel as Apple Bloom sat up just a little bit straighter.
“Aw… and how’s Granny’s prized little Pippin feelin’?”
He didn’t let his face show it, but Mac braced himself.
Apple Bloom jumped about in that springy way that only little fillies could manage. “I feel great, Granny! This whole parade’s gonna’ be amazin’; I can just feel it!” she cheered, and Mac didn’t have to look to know how happily she was beaming.
His brace slipped away, and a nice warm feeling took its place, bringing a laugh with it; he couldn’t even remember the last time AB didn’t groan when Granny called her that.
He held the chuckle back, though.
Granny Smith’s took its place. “It sure is, little Bloom. Why, I remember the last time they brought this whole shebang to Ponyville. Course, it was back in them days ‘fore your Ma an’ Pa got together…” She looked up at the sky, a fond smile growing wider across her muzzle. “… And little Shimmy Longstride had the whole crowd eating out of his hooves!
“Oh, listen to me!” A frown flattened her wistful look. “Jabberin’ on like that when there’s something’ important to be gettin’ to! You two better get goin’ if you want good spots!”
“But Granny, don’t you want us to wait for you?”
She dismissed Apple Bloom’s worries with a waved hoof. “Now, don’t you fret nothin’, little filly.” For the first time in a long time, Mac couldn’t see any trace of fog or dullness in his granny’s eyes; they burned brightly, proud and determined. “Nothing’s gonna’ let me miss this.”
Apple Bloom’s chuckle took a little off Granny’s sharp tone. “Sure thing, Granny.”
“Now get along, little doggies!” Granny called out, her voice back to normal, whacking Mac’s side. Well, nudging it.
With a smile and a happy little snort, Mac set off again for the town.
Big Macintosh strode on through the crowd of ponies, who flanked him on either sides in great walls of colour, with only the occasional pair of eyes standing out, almost piercing. Deafening noise filled his ears, as whoops, cheers, claps and shouts all blended into one unfamiliar din.
A shiver ran up his back, and it had little to do with Apple Bloom doing the same.
Dipping his head to fit under a sign and a flag, he finally heard things he recognised.
“There she is!” called a sweet little voice.
“Hey, Apple Bloom!” added a second, this one slightly rougher.
“Over here, Apple Bloom!” finished the first.
So often had he heard that in the past, he already began preparing to clear up a load of sappy hoof-prints and give three fillies his sternest look, but he quickly stopped. Instead, he smiled, as Apple Bloom leapt off his back and scampered off to join her grinning friends.
Then he noticed the thing behind them.
It really was a thing. It looked like somepony had taken the top part of the farm’s old storage silo and added wheels to its sides. Then painted it bright blue, and dumped a load of glitter on it before it could dry.
“Hiya, Mackie!”
The chirpy voice punctured through the racket, and he knew at once who it was. Then again, if he’d remembered Applejack’s stories about her friends, he would have known already.
He turned to face the pink mare suddenly at his side and smiled. “Mornin’, Miss Pie.”
She stared at him for a moment, then burst into giggles. Light and sweet, they tugged a smile out of Mac. “Oh, Mackie! You forgety-forgeterson, you!” Her hoof tapped at his side, and then she waved it from side-to-side, grinning all the while. “Didn’t I already tell you that all my friends can call me Pinkie?”
His smiled matched hers. “Eeyup.”
He tried to keep his eyes on her, but simple curiosity carried him back to that… tube-thing. What’s that rope doin’ attached to the back of it? It doesn’t look long enough to tie it to anythin’…
“Ohh, do you like my new Party Cannon, Big Mac?”
He watched as she hopped over to and then slammed a hoof down on one end of her… Party Cannon, so hard he was sure that it crumpled, and a great bang echoed through his ears. Confetti of all colours shot out of the other, open end of it, and every nearby foal kept their wide eyes trained to the shimmering flakes as they fluttered down, while the adults stared with gaping mouths at the new cloud that hung over all their heads.
“Wow! That’s awesome Pinkie Pie!” cried that little orange filly AB hung out with, eyes twinkling.
“Aw… Thanks, Scootaloo!” Pinkie tapped her creation, beaming proudly. “Twilight said that this parade was going to have a carnival atmosphere, and that there’d be tons of streamers and flags and ponies having fun, and I thought ‘That sounds just like a party!’ But then I took a look at how many ponies were going to be turning up, and suddenly my little old party cannon didn’t seem like it’d be able to keep up with all their needs. It would be all squeaky and wheezy and I’d need to refill the confetti receptacle, so that’s when I got the idea for this baby.”
Mac kept smiling at Pinkie as she let loose another wave of confetti, this time with a few streamers chasing after them, before his ears swivelled after a high-pitched squeak that cut through the racket. His eyes followed, and landed on the same three fillies they usually did. AB was scrutinising a long, thin balloon that she’d stretched out in front of her, while Scootaloo did her best to rip one apart with tooth and hoof. Sweetie Belle had managed to loop one of them over her horn, and she stared at it with big eyes and a pout so heavy it nearly made his eyes water.
He’d see this before, and he knew exactly what they were going to say next.
“I guess we aren’t Cutie Mark Crusaders Balloon Animal Wranglers…” sighed Sweetie Belle.
Mac let out a quiet chuckle, one that could barely be heard. “You gonna’ be all right here, AB?”
Instantly, his sister’s face cracked into that big, cheery smile that just seemed so right. “Sure am, big brother.” She looked at the other two fillies. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Yeah,” said Scootaloo, rushing up to her side, “she’s with us!”
“Don’t worry, Mackie. I’ve got my eye on them,” added Pinkie, putting a hoof to her eye, and Mac was sure that it nearly popped out at him. He still smiled, though.
“And let’s not forget why we’re all here!” squeaked Sweetie Belle, finally crashing into the crusader pile.
Something else lit up in Apple Bloom’s eyes, but, for a moment, it looked to Mac like they were a little wet. “Yeah…” Then she turned them on him; they were bright and sharp as ever, and came with a cocked eyebrow. “Aren’t you forgettin’ something’, Big Mac?”
He smirked. “Nope.” Reaching back to his saddlebags, he nosed around under the flap for a second, before he pulled out a golden metal rod that had its top half wrapped in fabric.
He couldn’t even think before Apple Bloom had taken it into her own still-grinning mouth. “Thanks, big brother!”
Satisfied, and with a matching smile on his lips, Mac turned and walked back into the mass of ponies. Just before his ears became lost to the din, they picked up Pinkie’s chirp one last time.
“Okay girls, we’ve probably got about half an hour before Applejack get here, so do you guys want to help me with my new and improved Welcome Wagon?”
Big Macintosh ploughed through the crowd, a furrow just wide enough for him opening up and then closing immediately behind him. Even as they let him by, the ponies all around carried on waving the flags, shaking their banners and staring at the empty road between the walls of them. Cheering foals ran and darted about between the legs of the adults, sometimes stopping for Mac but not always.
Up above, streamers swam through the air, curling and dancing around banners hung between houses, all of which stood out against the backdrop of a pure blue sky. Except for when a lone cloud wandered over the town, and Mac watched as a rainbow streaked after it in hot pursuit. He smiled.
AB was right; there are a lotta’ ponies in town today.
So many ponies…
His smile faded.
So many ponies that he didn’t recognise from market.
A shiver trickled down his back.
So many ponies making so much noise.
Something a lot warmer and stickier dribbled down his brow.
So many foals running the gauntlet of his legs.
So many staring, unknown eyes…
He could feel it, now. His nerves coiled and tightened, latching into his muscles and gripping hard. Every step felt like it was going to rip his legs apart.
And yet, he never let his face show it.
Remember who you’re here for, Mac.
“Mac!”
His ears twitched; that warm, lilting voice seemed so familiar. He tried to pick out those green eyes from the crowd, but everything seemed to blend in.
“Big Macintosh!”
A waving hoof stuck out from the crowd, soon followed by the rest of a dark-pink mare who brought a little smile back to his face. She gave him a friendly one of her own, and that tightness seemed to just melt away.
“Afternoon, Cheerilee.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Big Mac. Although,” one of her eyebrows rose, and her smile became more of a smirk, “I am surprised at you.”
He pursed his lips, and looked back. Had she seen him leave AB with her friends? Was she worried about her being on her own with them? She would have a reason to be, for sure.
“It’s not like you to miss out on a way to make some bits.” Her eyes traced over the sprawling crowd, and retained their mischievous glint. “There doesn’t seem to be an apple stand anywhere around here.”
Now it was his turn to smirk. A little. “Not allowed.”
Realisation smoothed her smirk back into a smile. “Oh… So where are the other Apples? I would have thought you’d stick together.”
“AB’s with her friends, and Granny’s still on her way. And you know ‘bout AJ.”
She nodded, before narrowing her eyes a little at him, though it wasn’t harsh. At least, he couldn’t feel any of that tightness from before.
“No wonder you looked a little lost out here…” She glanced away for just a second. “Big Mac?”
“Eeyup?”
“Do you want to stand with me for the rest of the parade?”
Not five minutes later, Mac found himself a part of the wall of ponies, standing in the shade of a banner proclaiming its support for the visitors. Streamers and clouds of confetti still drifted by overhead, almost like they were being waved along by the flags below them. The cheers and whoops were still so loud that Mac felt like everypony making them was rushing down his ears, their hooves drumming on his skull. Off in the distance, another massive bang rang out, followed by three squeaky, jubilant voices.
But with Cheerilee by his side the whole time, that tension never got the opportunity to latch onto his legs.
“I don’t think it’ll be much longer.”
Mac focussed. There was definitely a larger noise coming from his left than his right. “Eeyup.”
“There they are!” cried a mare in the other wall. A little foal scampered up her neck, sticking its nose out of the crowd and peering up the road.
Mac smiled.
The special occasion had arrived.
The whole thing seemed to pass by like waves. At least, the first thing Macintosh knew about the passage was a great swell of noise, that broke over his ears and carried on down the pair of walls. Next came a pair of unicorns, proudly bearing the armour of the Royal Guard, their white coats standing clear against the blur of colour behind them. Horns glowing, they held a fabric at the very front of the parade, into which had been stitched Games of Equestria.
Behind them, a pair of stallions nearly Macintosh’s own size pulled on ornate carriage, chock-full of ponies. Little foals, just big enough to peek out over the sculpted sides; an old pegasus, carefully resting her bones on plush cushions; an earth pony couple, sitting with one hoof in each other’s; a pony with his mane carpeting the edges of his jaw; three more earth ponies, looking on silently at the crowd. They all waved their hooves at the ponies around them.
And the ponies around responded in kind. Mac was surprised that roofs hadn’t been torn away by the deafening roar that burst out around him, or were blown off their houses by the number of waving flags.
Then, just behind the roof of the ornate carriage, Mac spotted a very special flag.
It was huge; he thought for a moment that it might have been made from the steering vanes on one of those ‘airships’ he had read about. A calm, sky blue, it bore the image of Princesses Celestia and Luna, circling and shepherding their charges while keeping diligent watch over all their subjects, surrounded by neat patterns of stars.
The cheers and hoof-stamps built up further still, and Mac almost cringed under their weight.
He didn’t take his eyes off the flag, though. For most of the ponies there, that was the special occasion.
But for Mac, the special occasion was standing right underneath it.
If he was guessing, or in the mood for speaking, Macintosh would have said the same was true for Rainbow Dash, stood on top of a cloud, shaking her hoof and shouting so loud he could her hear over everypony else. And for that nice Fluttershy, who he could see leaping up and down next to Rainbow Dash, though he could barely see her lips moving. And for Ms Twilight, at the front of the opposite wall, beaming from ear to ear, while that little dragon friend of hers—Spike—brought his claws together in huge, exaggerated claps, hollering at the top of his lungs. And for Rarity, who covered a trembling smile with an even shakier hoof, a frilly hoof kerchief fluttering in her magic. And for Pinkie, standing almost completely still, shaking a little on the spot with a grin so wide it nearly blinded Mac when the sun caught it. And for his sister, and his friends, whose smiling faces he could see poking out from between legs on the other wall. And for Granny, just barely managing to raise her hoof up over her head, a smile spreading out in between all her wrinkles. And the Cakes, smiling and leaning against one another, foals in a harness on Cup’s back. And The Mayor, trying her best to make a welcoming speech under the cheers. And that sweet Carrot Top. And AB’s little friend Twist. And Caramel. And Zecora. And Lyra. And Bon Bon. And Daisy. And Lily. And Rose. And Derpy, with little Dinky at her hooves. And pretty much anypony whose name came to his mind.
And there was not a dry eye among them.
Finally, their special occasion came into view.
Her strong back held the massive flag aloft without even a wobble, just like she had the farm through all these years, and her friends during those adventures she told him of, and their family during the worst days of their lives. Her sturdy hooves strode steadily on, just like they she had done during Applebuck Season countless times before. Her smile grew ever wider, just like he knew it would in a couple of weeks.
They locked eyes. Pure, sweet happiness pooled at her bottom of hers, and slowly trickled down her cheek. He smiled back at her, while his own eyes filled with blurring heat.
“You must be so proud of Applejack, Mac…” breathed Cheerilee.
Only one word came to his mind.
“E-eeyup.”
