Author's Note
This is based in a slight combination of Horsecomix by Punkitt-is-here on tumblr and also the standard canon!! It takes place after their comic "Apple In the Orchard" and so Big ac (and Flutters) are both trans women here!!
High
Well that was the last time she was gonna let Fluttershy bring the treats to the hangout.
Big Mac could feel the wind in her mane as she zoomed up past the clouds. Of course she didn’t really blame the poor Pegasus. How was she to know that hash brownies weren’t just brownies with potato based dough. The girl trusted Pinkie Pie after all, so she had likely figured the higher price was just the result of pony inflation. Mac would have to talk with her cousin about the necessity of proper labeling techniques. Of course that would require her to have her own body, which right now she didn’t. Mac knew she wasn’t dead, fatal weed overdose just wasn’t a thing, especially at her size. She figured she was just high as one of Starlight’s kites. It wasn’t a bad high either as these things went.
Of course that’s when she saw the green alicorn form from a cloud.
Alicorns aren’t quite gods, Twilight was one after all, and she seemed pretty fallible. Not to mention Celestia’s well known list of losses. Still, they were pretty powerful, and meeting one while astral projecting from a half a brownie made by the inventor of “Forever Weed” line of treats seemed pretty intimidating.
“Wooaah, dude, long time no see.”
Holy shit. It was Rarity’s ex. Stoney Pony.
“Eeeyup, it’s been a while!! Lot’s happened for both of us I can see!!”
“I like your new hair dude,” said Stoney, eyes squinting to keep focus, “it’s, like, feminine and shit. Makes your eyes pop.”
“Thank ya Stoney, there’s, well, a reason for that. I’m still Big Mac, but I’m going by she/her pronouns now, being a lady and all that. But enough about me, since when are you an alicorn?”
“Radical dudette!! Being yourself is like half of living. The other half is getting mighty high, which you are also doing my lady friend...”
“Eeyup,” said a slightly disconcerted Mac, “but the wings and horn though? They seem a mite more impressive than just a new haircut and some changes in title...”
“Incorrect my friend!! All it took to get these was getting Celestia enough powerful cocaine that she imagined she was on the dark side of the Sun for like 50 moons, all from one sniff. What you did takes real bravery.”
“Aw Shucks, Stoney Pony, that means a- Dark side of the Sun?”
“But enough about that, see y’know how Luna patrols dreams and shit? Well I patrol the highs of every pony in this land. Ususally no one but Pinkie and Tree Hugger get zooted enough to see me, but I get the feeling you’ve had some of that bakers gooooooood shit.” The weed-leaf haired alicorn drew out the o in such a way that it sounded like a bong rip, and the news startled Big Mac a little. If her high was powerful enough that it was worth patrolling, then what was she about to experience?
Stoney’s face suddenly went stony, “Hey my lady friend, I can sense that worry. You need to keep on the chill side for this. As high as big as this one could be disastrous if you harsh your mellow.”
“I’ll, er, keep that in mind,” Mac said, thinking about how the warning seemed to harsh the mellow pretty harshly. But Stoney’s face went back to a calm smile.
“Noice, well I’ll leave you to it then. This is the kind of high that you get once in a lifetime, so have a good one.” Stoney Pony gave one last warm smile before merging back into the clouds. Big Mac figured if she was still in her body she would smell the absolute skunkiest of weed, but she couldn’t be sure.
At this point Mac wasn’t flying anymore, having come to rest atop the clouds themselves. It was a lot like how she had always imagined being a pegasus or alicorn would be. Which gave her an idea, if she was at this level of high, maybe she could..... nope, no luck on sprouting the wings or horn she’d managed when Luna had summoned to fight the Tantabus. She supposed a lucid high wasn’t quite the same as a lucid dream. Still, walking across the clouds didn’t seem a bad way to spend it, so onward she trotted.
The view was beautiful, like nothing Mac had seen. She’d traveled a good chunk of Equestria, but only on the ground and a few rivers. And, it occurred to her, not yet as a woman. Her world looked so different from up here, and she knew that even the ground itself would feel different when she got the chance to take a delivery again. Ever since she had come out to her family and town so much felt different, and always it felt better. Just being her was enough, even if ponies treated her the same, she no longer felt that subtle pressure that always informed her side of interactions. She still wasn’t as talkative as most other ponies, she preferred to listen, but she could carry a conversation more confidently now, as well as countless other little subtle improvements. Somehow, she thought, the glee of Mac as a woman even seemed to dwarf her mind literally being on Cloud 9. She supposed it was just how these things went, not to mention she knew Princess Twilight had a spell that would let her walk on clouds for real. She’d have to ask her about it after she came down, just to check and see if it was more soul-filling when one did it with a real body.
Just as she was beginning to wonder how long the high would last (Pinkie was known for making several varieties ranging from minutes to several moons, surely she wouldn’t have sold Fluttershy one of the latter....) Big Mac came upon something strange. The clouds had turned from puffy white tinged pink by the sunset to an almost yellow green. Kind of like the grass at the... the orchard. Was she home? Surely she hadn’t walked all the way from Fluttershy’s to the farm. That would explain the trees, but the fruit on those trees wasn’t apple-ish to her. It was far too yellow, her family was known for making fruit as red as her coat, after all. They were too tall as well, almost more. Oh. They were pears. But even with Grand Pear having returned the trees they had planted had yet to reach fruit-bearing age, so wherever she was, it couldn’t be anywhere in walking distance of Fluttershy’s cottage.
Things only got more confusing when the barn came into view. It looked a lot like the Apple family barn, but not as she knew it. Sure the building had been rebuilt a few times, but this was beyond that. This was a design she hadn’t seen outside of pictures in Granny and Goldie’s old photo albums. In particular, the lanterns were bracketed on the side in a way that they hadn’t been since.
Mac decided to get a closer look, if nothing else, whoever owned this barn might need some advice on fire safety. No pony seemed to be at the door, but she heard a faint noise within. It sounded like somepony humming, a familiar melody even. But surely not, the only pony she knew who knew that song was...
If Mac wasn’t a weed-based astral projection she would have fainted right then and there. Buttercup and Bright Mac were bustling about the barn, gathering ingredients into a still for cider. Big Mac saw pears and apples alike being laid in the press, which squeezed into a roiling cauldron alongside the spices she knew well. Neither pony had noticed her yet, wrapped in their work as they were. Mac had always loved watching them bustle about the kitchen as a young colt, and that love had only grown in the few years she was able to join them in their cider-making.
Mac sighed in her remembrance of those days, and this was enough to alert the others to her presence there. The look in her parents eyes as they saw their eldest for the first time in over a decade was almost more than she could bear. Love, joy, grief, regret, and a desire to make up for lost time all flashed and mixed in a swirl of tears that formed pools that they desperately tried to blink away. They both rushed to embrace Big Mac, and she nearly tackled them back with her own embrace.
“Big Mac,” Buttercup started, “we’re so sorry we left you.”
“It’s okay Momma, you didn’t mean to, we all know it.”
“We’ve missed so much, I don’t know how you’re here, but you have to fill us in, please.”
Big Mac chuckled a little, “You wouldn’t believe the half of it Ma.” They broke the embrace, tears still welling up in and being wiped from all of their eyes. Bright Mac motioned to the table nearby.
“Please, take a seat, I’d love to hear it all from you,” Big Mac’s smile grew at her dad’s voice, “Son.”
Author's Note
this is the chapter that determines literally all of the genres i picked!! but it gets happy at some point i swear!!
Big Mac’s mind almost shattered. She should’ve thought about this. Mom and Dad had been; she didn’t like the word, but, well; gone for almost a decade now. They had no way of knowing about her, why hadn’t she considered that they’d need to have the news broken to em.
“You okay, son?” Asked Bright Mac, the term tearing into her like a hot knife through so much emotional butter. Was the barn this red a moment ago?
“‘m fine pops....” she said quietly, struggling not to revert fully to the“Eeyup”s and “Nope”s she had hid behind for so long. “Just, a lot to tell about.” So much had happened since that night. She had to tell them about Applejack’s role in saving Equestria, the new Princess who lived in town, Pinkie being a new member of the family, Apple Bloom’s Cutie Mark Crusading. She had waited to tell the rest of her family about herself, she could wait a bit longer to tell her parents, right? She stepped a little clumsily over to the chair they had moved out for her (was the ground softer than usual?) and began to regale them with the stories that had flooded the town in their absence.
They were enthralled in her stories, often stopping Mac to ask questions or congratulate their son (the word causing a wince she hoped wasn’t audible each time) on his (even worse) bravery. He (please stop) had become such a good man (Celestia please make it stop) since they had left.
“I need some air,” Mac said as he, no she, stood up suddenly. She had made it as far as telling them about their youngest’s Cutie Mark, having conveniently skipped over the events of the preceding Sisterhooves Social. She still had a lot to tell her parents about, what with Sugar Belle and their relationship, before she got to, well, herself. But something was wrong. Each time her parents said something without knowing it hurt, it hurt so much. Why couldn’t she tell them, it should have been the first thing from her muzzle. They didn’t mean it, they wouldn’t, they loved Big Mac.
The place they were in had shifted. Gone were the cozy blankets and hay bales that had filled the barn, replaced with so much ash. The trees had gone fallow and Mac was once again glad she could not smell in her current state, rotten pears littering the ground. Her parents took no notice, she wondered how, wherever they were, they were perceiving the situation. They hadn’t registered any of Mac’s discomfort after all. Perhaps whatever they were kept them from noticing the bad? Mac had assumed they were spirits, angels even, but she couldn’t be sure. They could just as easily be hallucinations, her own subconscious attacking her.
She looked up to the sky, hoping to see stars, surely it was midnight by now with how long she had talked. What she received instead was a sky of flames and stone, seemingly descending, slowly, but enough to register and set her claustrophobia off. This wasn’t good. She had to fix this or get out of here. But she couldn’t leave her parents, they needed to know so much, they had such little time with their kids. They’d never gotten any time with her, not as her.
Mac tore her eyes away from the sky, and looked back to the barn. Her parents had concerned looks on their faces, Buttercup was approaching, a hoof outstretched as though to place it on her shoulder.
“Son?” she questioned, why did it have to be that. Big Mac backed up and bolted, but she couldn’t make it far. The ground had turned to quick sand beneath her, and she was being dragged in.
Her parents rushed to help her, grabbing onto her hooves as tight as they could, but under their strained exertion they kept saying it. Son. Each instance dragged her down deeper, she almost wished she would go under and this trip would be over. She looked to the sky once more, hoping to at least make this memory not associate with her beloved parents faces.
That’s when she saw her again.
“You have to tell them. It’s harshing your mellow, you have to let them know!!”
“We’ll save you son!!” Bright Mac said once more.
“I’M NOT ANYONE’S SON!!” shouted Big Mac, and everything seemed to freeze.
“I am Big Macintosh. I always have been. But I am not a son. I am a woman, your daughter, sister to Applejack and Apple Bloom, beloved girlfriend to Sugar Belle, and the proudest mare in all of Ponyville!!”
Buttercup and Bright Mac froze for several seconds more, hooves still grabbing Big Mac’s. Then they looked at each other, smiled softly, then pulled once more, bringing their daughter out of the ground and into their arms, embracing yet again.
“We’re so sorry, girl,” Buttercup began, “We didn’t know, we should have asked, what with the hair and the confidence and,”
“I didn’t meant to cause you any pain,” added on Bright Mac, “I only wish we had been around to help you find yourself sooner.”
“It’s okay Ma, Pa. I should’ve told you at the start. I waited so long to tell everyone else, and I didn’t want to jump the biggest news on you first.”
Buttercup held her daughter’s face in her hooves. “We love you Mac. We’re so proud you made it this far. We wish we could see more of you like this. We’re so sorry.”
“I say we make the most of what time we have here. You mentioned a Sugar Belle? I always knew my girl would find a special somepony.”
Mac chuckled, relieved. She and her parents spent what felt like hours talking about life and how things were. The friends she’d made, the stories she’d heard and been a part of. She could have talked for hours more, but he approached the family once more.
“Big Mac, I think you’re starting to come down my friend.” said Stoney Pony. Mac could feel it of course, much as she’d love to deny it.
“Will I be able to see them again?” she asked the alicorn.
“I may govern the world of highs, but to be honest I, like, don’t even know dudette. I’ve yet to see a weed world repeat itself, but anything is possible.”
Big Mac turned to her parents and embraced them one last time. They didn’t say a word, they didn’t need to. They knew, even apart, they were a family. None of them knew how long it’d be, but they’d be together again some day.
Big Mac was back in her body, she could tell cause her head was sorer than that time she fell in a pit trying to marry her sister’s teacher. She looked over to check on her friend. This was supposed to have been a trans woman night out, but it was clearly sunrise already. Fluttershy was seemingly just coming to as well, her forming blush making it clear she had realized her mistake. Mac decided she’d let her off for it. The result hadn’t been half bad. Pinkie was getting a talking to though. But first, she had to let her sister’s know just how proud their folks were.
Author's Note
and there we go!! a nice ending!! hope you like it, i spent way more time on this than any other writing i've ever done
Quick edit, I have changed the one time Stony Pony is referenced with gendered pronouns to be her proper gender!! Can't believe I never noticed that!!