Equestria was a land of many stories for many of its inhabitants. From may tales of famous battles between villains and heros to simple love stories between two ponies, there was always a story to be told. Between mares meeting the stallions of their dreams and colts finally asking the fillies they had a crush on for moons, the stories of stallions and mares being happily ever after are almost endless. However that scenario is not always the case for every pony…
On a bright and sunny day in Ponyville, the blue sky was shining and the warm weather was very comforting to everypony. At the train stop for visitors, two specific ponies could be seen standing at the doorway of a train. Upon closer inspection, the two could be identified as Princess Cadence and Knight Shining Armor. Cadence herself looked serious, content, and confident, Shining on the other hoof, looked a bit nervous and anxious.
“Cadence sure you sure about this, I’m still having second thoughts.” Shining said as he looked down with what looked like guilt.
Cadence reached her hoof out to comfort him, “Shining I want you to do this, I’m the Princess of Love and I know who you are. I love you for who you are and I want you to be able to accept it yourself, please do it for me.” She said as she brushed some hair out of Shining’s face as he looked back at her.
“Cadence, I love you and it means a lot to me that you’ll let me do this.” He said as he hugged her affectionately.
Cadence hugged back before returning to the train alone, “I’ll see you soon Shining, have fun and good luck.” She said as she returned to the train and waved through the window.
Shining Armor breathed in and attempted to look more secure, “Okay… I guess it’s time to try it…” He said as he made his way out of the train station, looking at the guards deeply for a moment…
In what looks like a food truck oriented area, many carts were seen with various themes, one was selling tacos, one was selling burgers, one was selling pizza, one was selling cotton candy, and there were many more. One of the carts was themed with assorted apple themed goods, and the owners were Applejack and Big Macintosh, and they appeared to be selling to a purple mare pegasus.
“Thanks so much for these apple pies! My friends are coming over and it’s their cheat day on their diets so I can eat these without feeling guilty around them!” She said as she handed a large bag of bits to Big Mac in exchange for the three pies.
“Oh wow… Uh thanks miss, but it was only ten bits.” Big Mac said as he tried to give the bag back.
“Hey don’t worry about it…” She said as she winked at him, “Getting these from such a sweet stallion like you was worth it all.” She said as she winked again and walked off, blushing.
Big Mac was surprised at that response and Applejack instantly took notice, “By golly did ya see that? That gal was totally into ya!” Big Mac himself just squinted his eye in response.
“Eeyup…”
Applejack looked over and seemed excited, “Hey bro, I know I was about to head out to see my friends but I can watch the cart for a while if ya wanna go and talk to her.”
“Nope.”
Applejack put her hoof on her forehead in annoyance, “Come on Big Mac, ya always do this, a pretty mare comes by and you completely ignore her, why is that?”
Big Mac looked over and his expression turned from nonchalance to mild anger, “Applejack we’ve been through this! I told ya I ain’t lookin’ for a girlfriend right now! And I’d appreciate it if ya would stop pesterin’ me ‘bout it! Besides, the last time a sister tried to set me up I almost ended up ruining the farm and marrying somepony I barely know! He said, referencing the time his sister gave him a love potion.
Applejack sighed, “Alright, but I just wish ya would keep an open mind at least.” She said as she got out of the cart and began to walk away, “I’ll see ya after Pinkie’s party.” She said as she walked away, only to rush back instantly after, “Hold on, gonna need bus fare…” She said as she reached into the bag of coins Big Mac received, then walked away again.
Big Mac waited until she officially left, then sighed to himself, “Honestly I wish you would keep an open mind too…” He said quietly to himself.
At what appeared to be an ice cream cart, Shining Armor could be seen standing in line. He was close to the front but for some reason was seen staring at the stallion serving the ice cream behind the cart counter. He was staring for so long that he didn’t even notice he was next in line, with the people behind him looking annoyed, “Huh? Oh… Sorry guys…” He said as he walked to the counter.
The server didn’t seem to notice who his customer was initially, “Hello there, my name is Isaac Reim , how may I help y… Hey I know you!” He said a he recognized the unicorn, “You’re Shining Armor of the Royal Guards!” He said as he looked excited.
Shining blushed a bit with the man noticing him, “Uh yeah… that’s me, nice to meet you.”
The server initially seemed happy as well, “Nice to meet you too sir!” However his facial expression instantly switched from joy to deadpan annoyance, “We’re closed!” He said as he flipped over a ‘Closed’ sigh.
Shining Armor looked confused, “Really? Seems unusual, there’s still a lot of ponies here.”
“Oh don’t worry about them, we won’t be closed for long, just until you leave.” He said as he pointed away.
Shining Armor sighed and rolled his eyes as he knew what he meant, “Fine I get it…” He said as he reluctantly walked away, “Good luck climbing up the corporate ladder with that business strategy.” He sarcastically said to himself.
Shining began to walk around the festival in attempts to find another cart, but everypony seemed to notice Shining Armor and just pointed away and held up ‘Closed’ signs. Shining himself was not very surprised by this, he was used to ponies having mixed opinions on him like this. “In school I ate lunch alone, but at least then ponies were required to give me the food first…” He said to himself. He heard his stomach growl one more time and decided to try one last place, the last cart that was run by a single red stallion, that Shining himself widened his eyes at the first glance.
As the white unicorn made his way over to the cart, Big Mac looked over and his eyes widened as well, a stud like that rarely ever comes by and when they do he never has the chance to flirt. “Well howdy there stranger, I don’t recognize ya, ya new here?” He asked as he waved towards Shining Armor, who was surprised at that introduction.
“Really? You don’t know who I am?” He asked, before grinning at the chance he had to get some pie. He also looked over at the big red stallion and got a glimpse at how large he was and was befuddled by his muscular body…
“Nope, anyway, what can I getchya?” He asked as he pointed to all the apple products, “Considering all the apple pies, apple sauces, apple cider, and apple turnovers, ya can tell our theme is ‘hot dogs’.” Big Mac jokingly said, with Shining chuckling along.
“That’s funny, uh, I guess I’ll have an apple turnover.” He said as he reached out for his wallet, Big Mac grinned a little as he saw him bending down like that, he did like ponies who were agile.
“Nope…” He said as Shining looked back up in confusion, “It’s on the house, somepony earlier left me a tip that was enough to cover everything I’m selling, she told me ta keep it.”
“Really?” Shining responded, wanting to hear more of Big Mac’s voice, that thick deep voice with that southern drawl was very enticing to him. “She seems like a nice mare.”
Big Mac grabbed the turnover and handed it to the unicorn, “Eeyup, but she was flirtin’ with me, kinda made me uncomfortable…” He said as he looked closely at Shining Armor again.
Shining looked back at the red stallion and blushed a little, nervous about what he was gonna say, “Oh, already got a girlfriend huh? Well that’s nice I guess, she’s probably a lucky mare.”
“Nope, I ain’t seein’ anypony right now, I’m just waitin’ for that special somepony to come up and sweep me off my hooves…” He said as he looked into the unicorn’s eyes and both stallions started smiling a little. However both stallions then looked a little nervous and tried to change the subject quickly.
“Oh… uh… You know I didn’t get your name, what was it?” Shining asked.
“Big Mcintosh, but I also go by Big Mac.”
Something about that name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it, “Wait a minute, Big Macintosh, like the apple?”
“Eeyup.”
“Hold on, an apple, with a country accent, now I know where I know you from, you’re the brother of Applejack!” Shining said as he felt a large relief finally figuring that out.
Big Mac rolled his eyes and bent down to pick up a pen and paper from the bottom of the cart, “Eeyup that’s me… Here I’ll save ya the trouble of pretendin’ ta be my friend and just give ya the best ways to meet the Element of Harmony yourself…” He said as he started writing the notes down on the paper, visually annoyed.
“Uh… I already know Applejack, she’s just told me your name before and I recognized it.” Shining said, understandably confused and nervous. His response made Big Mac drop his pen in embarrassment and blushed at that.
“Oh… Sorry to jump ya like that… It’s just whenever anypony learns who my sister is they always forget I exist or try and use me to get to her…” He said as he opened a bottle of apple cider.
Shining understood how he felt easily, with his wife and his sister being Princesses it was not uncommon for ponies to pretend to be interested in him, “Oh I understand, I’m not mad bro.”
“Well it still wasn’t right of me to judge ya like that, I mean you’ve probably never had that problem so you don’t know how it can make ya act.”
“Actually it happens to me all the time, everypony wants to use me just so they can meet my sister and my wife.” Shining responded.
“Who’s ya sister?”
“Princess Twilight Spark...” Shining began… Until Big Mac spit out his cider in shock of that answer. Luckily Shining is used to unexpected blasts and instinctively put a shield spell around him in time.
“You’re the brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle!? That must mean you’re Shining Armor! The head of the Royal Guards!!!” Big Mac said eagerly, though Shining looked a little saddened.
“Yeah, that’s me…” He said as he took one step back, noticing Big Mac lifting his arm, expecting him to put up another ‘Closed’ sign. He was surprised to see that instead of that, Big Mac stood proudly and saluted the white stallion with great emotion, “What are you doing?”
“Saluting the biggest hero of Equestria! Ya risk ya life everyday to help keep simple hicks like me safe every day!” Mac decreed proudly before taking his arm down and staring at Shining again. Shining himself was surprised to see somepony who actually appreciated the work he has done for Equestria considering how everypony else seems to hate him for it. As the two stared at each other again, Big Mac thought to himself, ‘He’s cute, nice, and the biggest hero of Equestria… I need more…’ Big Mac had an idea pop up then, “Hey ya know what, I already made what I needed to make for sales today, why don’t ya and I head out and hang out?”
Shining was excited to hear that, this stallion was cute, humble, and an admirer, maybe he could be the one pony his wife told him about, “Well sure I guess.” He said as he looked around, and noticed all the other ponies were still looking at him with disdain. “Do you know any place private?”
“Well my house should be good, my sister’s at a party, my other sister’s with her friends, and my grandma’s been sleeping for long periods of time lately… We should be alone there.”
“Alright let’s go!” He said as the two walked off, completely ignoring the other ponies who were in line for apple products…
As the two walked to Big Mac’s farm, they both kept gazing at each other intensively, but neither one had admitted their attraction to each other, Big Mac assumed that a married stallion wouldn’t not accept such compliments and Shining Armor was afraid that a country boy like Big Mac would be repulsed by his attraction as the stereotype often exists for country folk to reject that life style.
“You know I gotta tell you something Big Mac, I’m surprised you actually respect the Royal Guards, everypony else I know always seems to get angry when I bring the topic of them up.” Shining Armor admitted, looking a little depressed.
“Really? How come? A big hero like you should have as many celebrations as Celestia herself if ya ask me.”
“Well it’s just everypony thinks that because we’re Equestria’s military, we are nothing but fighters who hate everypony who isn’t part of Equestria.”
“Eeyup?”
“It’s true, they think that I’m just some evil fighter who fights and kills because I hate everypony, they say I hate peace and that everything I do is wage wars I want to fight, and it’s hard to tell them otherwise.”
Big Mac stopped right where they were and he had a very serious expression of his face, “Now wait just a minute, Equestria’s military ain’t meant for fightin’, it’s only there to defend in case a fight breaks out!”
“Exactly, me and the Royal Guards are trained to almost never use violence and only to fight when it is absolutely necessary, it’s why I mastered my protection spell I used during that Changeling invasion, I did it not only to keep the Changelings from hurting us, but so we wouldn’t need to hurt the Changelings.”
Big Mac angrily stomped a hoof down onto the ground, “Well what they say just ain’t right, if it weren’t for brave men like ya, all those haters would have to be fightin’ in battles much worse than what ya fight!” His expression returned from anger to compasionate, “Now listen here, ignore what all those dumb ponies try and say, ya are a brave solider and a hero, and nopony should be hating a strong and powerful and handsome stallion like yourself!”
Shining Armor’s heart felt like it was being tucked in with a heated blanket, “Big Mac it means the world to hear that because…” He began until he noticed the last thing he said, “Wait, handsome?” Suddenly Big Mac’s face changed again to nervousness and embarrassment, as he was not intending to say that. Shining Armor was shocked as well, and he was also a little excited at the possibility at what just happened. “Big Macintosh… Are you… Gay?”
Big Mac just sighed, honestly it wouldn’t be that bad to tell him as he does not live in Ponyville anyway so it wouldn’t hurt that much to admit it, “Eeyup…” He then blushed as he looked down and away from Shining Armor thinking that admitting that probably ruined any chance he had to even be friends with him.
“Wow, I… I wasn’t expecting that, I mean most folks from the country look down on stuff like that.” Shining responded, more embarrassed that he just stereotyped Big Mac rather than shocked by his confession.
Big Mac sighed and looked up, “Well that is true, it’s why my family doesn’t know that I’m gay, and I know I probably just made you all scared and stuff, so if ya don’t wanna talk no more I get it…” He said as he slowly started to walk away.
Shining Armor actually just grinned in response, “Actually Big Mac… I have a confession to make as well…”
“Eeyup?” Big Mac asked as he looked back and stopped.
“Big Macintosh, I’m bisexual, and I think you’re one of the most attractive studs I’ve ever seen.” Shining said as he went over to Big Mac and gave him a small kiss on the lips, making them both blush.
Big Mac couldn’t believe what just happened, not only did he meet his true hero but he got his biggest secret off his chest and the stallion felt similar attraction to him. “Shining Armor you have no idea how I feel right now to know you…” He began until a wave of guilt started to rush through him. “Wait a minute, aren’t ya married!?”
Shining looked down and scratched his mane, “Well yeah, in fact Cadence is the only pony who knew I was bi, I mean with her being the Princess of love and all it was impossible to hide it from her.”
“But she’s ya wife, wouldn’t she be mad at ya for kissin’ somepony else!?”
“Actually it was her idea…” Shining reluctantly admitted.
“Eeyup?”
“It’s true, she says that because I’m bi, there’s things she can’t fulfill for me. She thinks that I’m repressing that side of me and wants me to act on it, and sleep with a stallion.” He said as he looked Big Mac in the eyes with a puppy dogish expression. “Big Mac I want you to take me…” He said seductively.
Big Mac wasn’t expecting that at all, it’s the first time he had ever heard of somepony believing that cheating would be okay. A part of himself wasn’t sure of that was even ethical, but it was advice from a Princess of Love, so it probably wouldn’t be that bad. “Okay Shining! I’ll be ya first stallion! Where do ya wanna go!? He asked excitedly as it was his first time with a stallion as well.
Shining Armor didn’t even need to consider it, “You said you live on a farm, I’ve always fantasized about having sex in a barn!”
Big Mac initially grinned and rushed back to his house, “Eeyup! Then ya came to the right pony!” He said as he almost excitedly made his way to his home, before stopping in confusion, “Really? Out of all the places we could go with a high Royal like yaself ya wanna do a barn?”
“Of course, I mean Cadence and I have always had romantic getaways in places like castles, 5 Star Hotels and stuff, but I’ve never had the chance to do something rough and simple, and get down and dirty instead of always being so high up, is there a problem with that?”
Big Mac just grinned before returning to his excitement, “Nope!”