More Than A Stallion

Big Macintosh’s room was the quietest in the Apple house, the perfect reflection of its occupant. Still unable to sleep after such a crazy day, he stretched and sighed in his bed, and laid himself still over his quilted covers, staring into the button eyes of Smarty Pants.

He sighed. “What am I tah do…?” he asked the doll.

Cheerilee had gone home after staying over for dinner. There was hardly any conversation at the table, before, during, or after the meal; it was mostly 'please, pass the potatoes' and 'thank you'. It wasn't that he minded the silence- it wasn't rare for a meal to go by without a single word being said between the family members. What bothered Big Macintosh the most was what caused the silence. He could see it in his younger sisters’ eyes. They seemed intimidated in his presence. Did he overreact earlier when he was mobbed by questions? Did that… scare them?

Looking back on it, he was less angry about the questions, and more angry about the fact that until today, he'd been an ordinary pony. But suddenly, he's an alien from not-even-Celestia-knows where and he can't help but feel like despite his sudden gain of power, he's completely helpless to the hooves of fate.

A creak at the door snatched Big Macintosh out of his rumination. He looked up and was greeted by Granny Smith—apparently electing to stay up past her bedtime. Her aging features carried with them a sense of quiet seriousness.

"Yes, Granny?"

Granny Smith looked at him with a gaze that could only be described as containing the kind of wisdom a pony gains only from one hundred plus years of life experience. "Big Macintosh, I have somethin' you need tah see." She walked out of sight, and Big Macintosh dutifully followed her, closing his door quietly behind.

As grandmother and grandson walked down the hall, they were stalked by a pair of wandering eyes the color of apple juice. Applebloom crept quietly after them, careful to not make a sound.

The two walked in silence, broken only by Big Macintosh occasionally trying to ask Granny what it was, only to be rebuked with a quiet shush. Granny Smith led Big Macintosh out of the house, through Sweet Apple Acres, and into a part of the orchard he hadn’t been to in ages. The trees here were fewer. They huddled around an ancient, decrepit barn like nuns around a holy effigy.

Granny Smith led him into the barn and took a kerosene lamp down from the wall. She turned the tiny knob on the old, tarnished lamp and it lit up, casting a dim glow over the barn. The old mare led him to a stable in the far corner. The stable’s floor was buried under hay. Granny Smith brushed the hay aside with a few brisk movements, revealing a wooden door that one would normally use for an apple cellar.

While the two were distracted by the relatively loud sounds of the hay being brushed aside, Applebloom darted into the barn and hid behind some barrels.

Granny Smith opened the door and revealed not a staircase to a store of apples, but a large, vaguely apple-shaped hunk of metal. The sides gleamed like a ruby, with streaks of sapphire blue running its length. Small runes of gold stood out on the surface, but one in particular resembled the 'S' upon the armor that Luna had given him...

Granny Smith looked him in the eyes. "Big Macintosh, this is what I found you in. When the princess came, we took out that suit o' armor you're wearin' and hid it away fer safekeeping. After that, we closed the door. I tried tah open it again after the princess left, but I never could get the darn thing tah work."

Granny Smith smiled at him. "Since you already know how I found you, I figgered that you might as well see it fer your own two eyes."

Big Macintosh looked at the metal pod cautiously. He reached out slowly and gently stroked the surface of the pod, his hoof resting on the ‘S’ symbol. It was cool and smooth, and Big Mac could tell just from this one touch how heavy it was.

When he tried to pull his hoof away, it felt… stuck.

Suddenly, the golden runes on the contraption lit up, glowing with the light of a sunrise, and the machine spoke in a distinctly male monotone.

"User D.N.A. Recognized: Hello, Kal-El."

The machine released his hoof, and the door popped open. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh flinched back a bit in fright, but soon leaned in to see what secrets lie within. Applebloom's eyes widened in awe, and she silently mouthed the word 'wow'.

Inside, there was a model of a futuristic-looking city, colored a deep emerald. The model looked so intricately detailed that it looked like it had been shrunk down from a larger size, rather than crafted by hoof or machine. The entire thing was encased in a clear, glass-like dome, giving it some resemblance to a snowglobe. Beside it sat a small object that greatly resembled an ordinary flashlight.

Granny Smith's eyes seemed distant as she recalled the items. "When the Princess and I found you, we also found all these strange contraptions inside yer pod, but I just couldn't git the fing-fangled things tah work! I betcha it's like this here pod." Granny Smith thumped her hoof on the metal door. "Jus' needs the right touch."

Taking the flashlight out, he looked for a switch. He failed to find one, but the gold 'S' emblem appeared once more. Big Macintosh, after having seen how it worked with the door lock, assumed that it too had been made so that only he may access it.

Big Macintosh touched the emblem, and was rewarded with a bell-ring. From the mouth of the flashlight was conjured the image of a stallion and mare who both resembled Big Macintosh very closely—the stallion in particular. The clothes they wore seemed alien, almost like something out of a science fiction comic book.

Granny Smith smiled a little bit, and her eyes brightened. Despite being from another world entirely, those two ponies looked like Apples. It was a gift she supposed, being able to tell at a glance who was your kin. Even though she'd never seen them before in her long life, she'd always had an inkling that this was what his real parents looked like.

From behind the barrels, Applebloom saw the pair of ghosts as they were projected from the flashlight. She held a gasp of surprise, but kept silent. Kept watching.

The monotonous voice named the two figures, summing up the awe and mystery behind the two in a pair of small, alien-sounding names. "Message to Kal-El from Jor-El and Lara-El."

The figures began to move, but sound have yet to come to the phantom ponies.

The projection ponies began talking at the same time.

"You are our greatest creation; you are our son, Kal-El. And as we die with Kryptpon, we could not love you any more than the Apples, the family we have decided to send you to, will."

As we die. Big Macintosh's face paled in a mixture of fear and sadness. To know he was seeing the ghosts of dead ponies. To know he might not be what they expected. It felt terrifying, being told he was the last of his alien kind by ponies had been dead for almost twenty years at this point.

"Son, you are everything we have worked to achieve. You, Kal-El, are the last ember of Kryptponian civilization."

That answered only a few of the questions that Big Macintosh had, and it hardly kept more from cropping up.

”As you head to Earth, Kal-El, we pray you keep the strength of love and hope alive. You must never lose them—never give up, no matter what. You’ll face challenges, and you’ll fall, but you only truly fail if you give up. You must get back up every time you fall, Kal-El. And when somepony else falls, you must rise to pick them up, and help them back to their hooves.”

In the projection, the mare stopped speaking, and only the stallion's voice remained. It sounded like wrought iron- rough, but strong- proud even.

"That is why I give you my old armor: I expect you to protect them and save them from dangers that they can't stop on their own. I expect you to grow up and understand the need for humility- just because a pony is stronger than the rest is no excuse for them to smash others under-hoof. When you hear this, I won't be around to teach you how to use it, I'll be including it with this message." The stallion looked down towards the ground, choking back tears. "Rao, what I would give to be able to stand before you, instead of speaking through a cold projection drive."

Big Macintosh looked down at his body. It was still dressed in the armor that Luna had put on him.

"To put the armor on, press your hoof onto the emblem, and say something. It can be anything you wish it to be. Whatever it s you say, that will become the command for armor activation. It should expand to full size.

"To remove the armor, press your hoof onto the emblem, and say something. It can be anything you wish it to be. Whatever it it you say, that will become the command for removal. The suit should automatically compress down to the size of a badge, and you can put it away in a pocket or bag. That should cover everything you need to know about the armor. I'm sure you can figure the rest out. I just know you're going to put it to good use."

Big Macintosh placed his hoof over his chest and muttered something. As soon as he finished speaking, the suit came off of him, melting away like some sort of liquid metal goop. It was extremely fascinating to watch, like ocean waves running over his coat. The huge metal yoke actually shrank down to the size of his horseshoe and fell to the floor.

Then the mare began to speak, her voice soothing and motherly… and worried.

"Kal-El, this is Mommy speaking. What your father said about respecting your power is true, but there is some advice I want to give you too. I've sent with you a model of the city of Kantor, our home and your place of birth. Cherish it, and when you find find the pony you want to spend the rest of your life with, give it to them. Your father gave it to me when he wanted me to be Lara-El."

The mare, now identified as Lara, teared up and her voice broke on the last sentence. The stallion, who was without a doubt the Jor-El identified in the recording title, embraced her as the projection started to fizzle with static. Explosions could be heard in the background of the recording, and the projection rocked back and forth a little.

The two, eyes filled with tears, looked at Big Macintosh. Not simply looked at whatever had taken this recording, but at Big Macintosh.

"Kal-El, our only regret is that we could not watch you grow up. Goodbye, son."

The projection cut out, and the darkness of night returned to the decrepit barn. Big Macintosh stared into the space where the recording had been, mouth agape.

A single tear rolled down his cheek and hit the ground.

So that's what he was. He wasn't just some alien from another planet, he was the last survivor sent out of another universe.

Another drop fell.

Everything he knew about himself- his strength, his endurance, his intelligence- all were nothing but little hints at what he truly was. He wasn't 'Big' Macintosh Apple, he was just some freak.

Two more tears hit the ground.

He was the only one. It would've hurt less if he'd known there were more like him out there, but he was essentially alone.

Three tears dropped.

And now, as if fate had decided to be especially cruel, he'd lost two sets of parents. And he was only now finding out that his blood parents had to have been dead for nearly two decades after the fact.

Granny Smith moved to put her hoof around him He jerked away and lumbered towards the barn exit, dragging his hooves. Granny watched him go sadly.

"I'm going tah bed.." Big Macintosh looked to the floor, trailing tears as he plodded out of the barn. "I just keep losing family.

Applebloom huffed silently and indignantly.

Big Macintosh cain't just refuse tah let Granny comfort him like that, she thought, well I'm sure as hay not going to let him think it's not alright!

“But not if you fight for it.”

Big Macintosh jerked his head to the side, only to see a yellow-red blur slam him to the ground. It seemed that despite being strong enough to lift a train, a little filly traveling at full-speed was still enough to bowl him over. Or maybe in his depressive state, and he didn't really feel the need to brace himself for an impact.

Regardless, he was on the floor, feeling sorry for himself, and Applebloom was standing on his chest, glaring down at him.

"What do you think you're doin'?"

Big Macintosh had no reply.

"Well I think I know what you're doing, and I might not know what you're thinking, but I've got a pretty good idea of what you're thinking because I think you're thinking what I was thinking earlier, and Applejack told me to stop thinking like that and now I think you're thinking like that and I don't think Applejack would just sit by and let you think like that so I think I'm going tah talk some sense into you."

Big Macintosh gave a puzzled expression as his reply. Applebloom's words were less effective than she'd hoped for them to be. It seemed that this wasn't a situation where the Crusader approach of 'more is better' would work.

"What I'm tryin' tah say is, no matter what you're thinking after seeing that movie-thingy, you cain't just forget what they said." Applebloom stamped her hoof onto his chest. "They said they sent you tah Ma and Pa, and if they wanted Ma and Pa tah raise you, then that means you're still an Apple, and I reckon they're Apples too, because they'd rather send you here than tah Canterlot or Baltimare or wherever." Big Macintosh sat up, and Applebloom almost immediately latched around his neck.

"Where do you think you're goin'? I swear if you don't stop feeling down, I'll just have to try and get a cutie mark for knockin' some sense into ponies!"

Big Macintosh stayed seated, and hugged Applebloom back. Granny Smith smiled at her grandchildren. What they’d all learned was something terrible… but looking at them now, she could tell everything was going to be OK.