A Place To Lay My Head

"Now you three stay in this house and stay away from Pinkie Pie, got it?" Before the three members of the CMC could say anything, Big Mac shut the door and stormed off, his Pa's hat now on his head. He was mad, and there was only one place he went while mad; Fluttershy's. No matter how flustered he was, he could always go to Fluttershy's and she would calm him down.

He walked through the living room, giving a hug to Granny Smith on his way, and out the front door. It was still raining, pouring even, He didn't care though, his hat would keep him dry. Unlike his sister, he didn't need to trudge through the mud, he was big enough to simply power through it like he normally did.

His eyes were drawn towards the sky, dark clouds hung over the sky, lightning strikes could be seen in the distance. He hated these days, it stopped him from working safely, but it also meant Fluttershy would be inside. His mind was drawn to an event that happened a few weeks ago. Fluttershy had went outside during a thunderstorm in order to get some feed for her animals, like most pegasi she had decided to fly...even though she knew it was dangerous, but anything that let her help animals faster was worth it in her book.

At the time, Big Mac had been out in the orchards collecting some buckets Applebloom had left. He saw the small yellow pony being buffeted by the winds above. He knew who it was immediately, the pink mane and tail, slender frame. It was his Fluttershy. She was thrown wide by a rather strong wind, right into a tree. He watched as she fell, hitting the branches as he went. That was the first time he ever really felt....panicked. He was a kind soul that often took it slow, and his movements didn't betray that. But, in this one instance, he ran. Not out of the spirit of hardwork, but out of genuine panic.

When he came upon the scene, Fluttershy was lying on the ground, she looked hurt and broken, but she was still awake. Sure, this scene was terrible, and she shouldve been crying in pain...but instead she was worried about her animals more than herself. It was endearing, but troublesome...that night they stated together in the barn. Big Mac tended to her physical wounds, and Fluttershy tended to his mental ones.

Just that thought alone brought a smile to his face...it was something he needed, someone to listen to his troubles...someone to vent to. She was a truly magnificent pony, one of a kind and truly appreciated.

His bad mood completely disappeared with thoughts of Fluttershy, he was now trotting happily along the dirt path out of Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy had completely healed after the incident. Thankfully, pegasi have very fragile bones that mend very quickly. She was alright now, and that made Big Mac a happy stallion.

His thoughts drifted to this and that. When will the apples in the east orchard be ready? How long until cider season? Is Granny in good health? Stuff he normally thought about...then his mind drifted to the cotton candy trainwreck his sister called a house guest. She was taintin' the pure minds of the little ones! How could AJ condone such talk? She was raised with him, she was taught to believe that Celestia made colts and fillies for a reason. If mares were meant to be with mares, they would have parts that fit. It was simple logic! What he didn't understand is why some ponies seem to let that logic escape them.

Simply too dumb for their own good, he supposed.

--

Applejack trudged up the wooden plank to the clubhouse, her muddy hooves coming down hard on the sturdy planks beneath her. When the pony had said it was Pinkie, Applejack didn't rightly believe it. Pinkie didn't cry...well, not seriously anyways. Every once in a while a comically cartoonish fountain of tears would come from her eyes if she was frustrated or just being random. But sobbing? That wasn't a Pinkie Pie thing.

So, curious as to who this pony pretending to be Pinkie possibly was, AJ trotted right up the ramp and into the clubhouse. Sure enough, right there in the corner of the small clubhouse sat the one, the only, Pinkie Pie.She was soaked to the bone and crying. Not a good look for the normally ecstatic equine.

"Pinkie...?" Disbelief ran through the word like water through a riverbed. "Are y'all alright...?" The pink pony in the corner nodded, but kept her head down.

"Yeah Applejack..peachy." She let out a chuckle that sounded more akin to a sob than an actual laugh. "Get it? Apple? Peachy?" Applejack could only offer a halfhearted laugh and a sad smile.

"Not one of yer better ones, but clever nonetheless." Applejack was never good with...touchy feely stuff. She was a farmpony. She was alive to kick trees and sell apples....and from the look of the situation, Pinkie was not a tree and there were no apples to be sold...so AJ sat beside her friend, looking a mite uncomfortable.

"She said no..." The words came out slowly, calmly. Not like what usual inaudible stream of nonsense came from Pinkie.

"Who said no, Sugarcube...?" That didn't feel right...knowing what Pinkie was made it a tad more awkward talking to her in an intimate fashion. What if Pinkie took 'Sugarcube' or 'Darlin' the wrong way? This could end very awkwardly for her.

"Rainbow Dash..." Pinkie's hoof circled around the damp wood in front of her nervously. "She said...." A hard swallow. "She said she could never be with me...because I'm not a pegasus...or a stallion." Heartbroken. That was the right word to describe Pinkie's voice. It's such a simplistic thing for ponies to comprehend, yet so complex for them to understand.

"Oh, ah'm so sorry darlin'..." And there goes one of those words again. She mentally slapped caution tags on the affectionate words. Use sparingly, she reminded herself.

"I-It's okay...I just..I just don't know what to do anymore, Applejack." Pinkie sighed, a tear fell from her eye and onto the ground below, adding to the moisture that had already accumulated there.It just...something about the whole scene, a soaked and dejected Pinkie made that way by a bigoted Rainbow Dash. It just reminded her of what her brother said...it just...it made her so gosh darn angry!

Applejack stood. Not everyone was going to get away with being a mean bigoted pony today! Nu-uh! Her brother may have something to laud over her, but Rainbow Dash? Ohhh, Rainbow Dash was going to get a piece of Applejack's mind. The honest part of Applejack's mind.

--

Big Mac was at Fluttershy's now, and calmly resting with his little marefriend on the couch. It was always such a nice feeling, her slender frame against his gargantuan body. He just loved how she intimately trusted him, holding her, hugging her...heck, Applebloom was afraid to let him catch the chickens. Said he might squish 'em flat. So for someone as fragile as Fluttershy to trust him, it really meant a lot.

"Big Mac?" The little sound cam from between his hooves. It was angelic and called to him like a siren.

"Yes?"

"How is Pinkie Pie settling in over at your house?" The voice turned demonic in his hears, that darn name poisoned everything it touched. It was like a Cockatrice in pony form...

"Ugh.." Big Mac groaned as a sneer came across his face. "Discord in pony form, ah'll tell ya that."

Then something happened he wasn't expecting....Fluttershy glared at him.