It was late. He could see the moon, so odd now that Luna was no longer trapped there. The trees, with their apple blossoms, gave the breeze a light caress as it flew across their leaves. He loved the smell of apple blossoms.
And all he could think about was the red pony, who was most likely asleep by now. Caramel felt a deep pain in his heart, and took a quick breath to ease away his tears. It had been so long since he had thought about Mac. The big colt had never given out any hint of wanting to be with Caramel, so he lapsed between daydreaming and trying to forget his crush. All that did was bring more pain.
Caramel forced himself to stop. I will see Big Mac tomorrow, he told himself, even if it hurts to be near him. So he turned and walked away from the farm, slowly making his way home.
The next morning, after he had gone through his route, Caramel bought some roses. Then, he had a small letter written:
"From Your Secret Admirer, see you soon"
After paying, he headed off towards Sweet Apple Acres to help out cleaning the final blossoms from the orchard. As Caramel arrived, he saw the messenger pony carrying his roses up to the door. At the chance of seeing Mac, he sauntered over and followed the pony into the Apples' household. Applejack walked up to greet them, and upon seeing the flowers, called out, "Macintosh! Another somepony's sent ya' roses!"
Caramel walked over and sat in the loveseat at the far side of the room, just as the red colt came trotting in.
"Thank ya' kindly," he said, taking the roses. Then, he looked at the card.
"Well, can't say who 't might be from," Applejack, who was interestedly studying the note, said.
Mac turned and set the bouquet on the dining room table, walking back in after a moment. He came over, chewing away at a hay stem, and sat by Caramel.
"So, what are we doing today?" Caramel enquired, uncomfortable yet excited that he was so close to Mac.
"I'll reckon we clean out the flowers in the field, like we're expected to," AJ said.
"And I'll have t' go fix the back rooms for guests tonight," Mac stated, switching sides with his hay stem.
"I'll help! I'm staying over anyways," Caramel said, toning down the amount of enthusiasm in his voice.
Mac just raised an eyebrow, then turned as more of the Apple family started heading out. Caramel reluctantly straying behind, they all began gathering blossoms.
They worked into the evening, finally clearing away all the downed petals before sunset. Granny Smith had been in the kitchen with Applejack, studiously preparing a feast for the exhausted team of workers. Caramel's legs were sore, and he was tired, but it had been fun.
Smiling as he walked up, he accepted an assortment of treats from AJ and continued on to Big Mac. On his plate was a mix of caramel covered apples and apple pastries, along with a small glass of apple cider.
"So Mac, when are we getting the rooms done up?" heasked.
"Already done," said Mac, a slightly playful tone to his voice.
"But I was gonna help!" Caramel whined.
"Yeah, I know, but ya' looked tired whn I came to get ya', so…" he shrugged.
"That's not it though. I really wanted to help…" the pony sighed sadly.
At this, Big Mac raised his eyebrow, rubbed his teeth together over his hay stem, and reached over to put a hoof on Caramel's shoulder. The unexpected touch made him jump, and he stepped away, pelt shivering.
"What's tha' matter Caramel?" Mac asked, confused at his friend's reaction and the pained look in his eyes.
Caramel shook his head, afraid to speak. Then, he turned and ran into the Apples' home, head low to the ground. He ran through the house, past guests who gave him worried looks, and towards the back rooms. Once he had made his way to the largest guest room, he huddled up under the covers and fell asleep to troubled thoughts and a fluttering heart.
That morning, as Caramel awoke, he could smell breakfast and hear ponies talking below. But as he got up, he heard the door behind him open and close.
"So, go ahead, explain yourself," said Applejack, without her usual accent and a worried frown.
"Explain what?" Caramel asked, trying to avoid this conversation.
"Ya' know full well. I saw it. That look you gave him was the same as many I've seen- that of somepony who's deeply in pain- love pain. So go ahead, clear your mind an' talk to me about it. You know you hurt Big Mac's feelings, the way you acted last night.
"Hurt his feelings?! How do you think I feel? For years now, I've been mooning over him like some stupid filly! He'll never love me, will he AJ?"
"I don't rightly know. But so long as need be, you're safe wit' me. Just find some time to get Big Mac to yourself and talk to him in private. For now though, come eat," Applejack said with an odd look in at Caramel, and a smile with the last as he brightened up to food.
So Caramel followed AJ into the dining room. Mac was sitting at the far end, his sisters to his left, Granny Smith on the other end, and a chair was empty to his right- in which he sat, leaning over to touch Mac's hoof.
"Ah'm sorry Caramel, I didn't mean to upset you," the red pony said in a light voice.
"It's ok now, Big Mac, let's just eat," said AJ, handing out platters of oats and apples in honey.
So they tucked in, Caramel even gaining a good appetite. After a bit, Applebloom spoke up, " Um, what does your cutie mark mean, Caramel?"
"Well, I have really bad luck."
"That sucks… How'd you-"
"Not now Applebloom," Applejack cut her off before she started on another question and answer session.
Once they had finished eating, Caramel contemplated talking to Mac. Thoughts swirling in his head, Caramel asked Mac to follow him back to his room. He sat on the bed, eith Mac wlaking around, rearranging things.
Caramel cleared his throat, "So…about last night."
"Eeyup?"
"For starters, I don't know how to put this…"
"Put what? Ah saw your eyes when ya' jumped. Like I had stuck you with somethin'"
"Yeah, about that… Mac, I-" he broke off, realizing now that Mac had been moving around to get closer to him. When Caramel looked up, the other pony was leaning in to hear him.
"You what? Come on Caramel, speak up"
"I love you," he whispered, hunkering down and away incase Mac reacted badly.
"Come again?" said Mac, leaning in more. Caramel could feel his breath now.
"I said I love you, ya' big lug!" Caramel's voice rose to the normal level. Then, he looked up into Big Mac's eyes.
Mac looked sort of shocked, then, recovering, he hesitated and forced the words out of his heart, "So do Ah." Tears were leaking out of his eyes now.
After a few moments, letting it sink in, Caramel replied, "I hear a 'But' in that."
Mac closed his eyes and said, "But I can't be with you, not yet at least."
"Not yet? What's that supposed to mean?"
There were more tears flowing now, from the both of them. Caramel cried because he knew he was being shot down. Mac, for what he had to say now, "I can't be with you because it's wrong. Colts aren't supposed to like colts."
Mac stood , and then crouched to kiss Caramel on the cheek. "I'm sorry," he whispered, after pulling away. Then, unable to face the whimpering colt, he turned and walked out of the room.
Caramel just sat there, his hopes slowly crumbling into powder. The only thing he could do was sit and relive that moment of love again and again, before his heart began to burn with the pain of it all.
Hours later, Applejack walked in to a disheveled earth pony sobbing into his pillows. She stopped at the door, stunned by his state of hurt.
"How'd he let you down? Was he mean about it?" she asked, coming over to soothe the younger colt.
"He…he…" Caramel took a breath and another heavy sob came over him, pulling him down into the pillow again.
"What is it? What'd he do?" Applejack was worried now, "Look, Caramel, take a deep breath."
He took a breath and held as best as he could.
"Now let it out slowly"
He breathed out, more tears beginning to well up in his eyes, and spit out, "He said he… he loves… me, Applejack… he loves me."
Now it was here turn to tear up, "He's a coltcuddler? When did this happen?"
"I don't know, but he said… he won't be with me anyways…" the little colt said, breaking into another long sob at the reminder of what was happening.
"Now why would he do a thing like that? He's in for it now! I'm gonna go have a word with that him, right now!" she almost yelled, storming out of the room.
He heard her coming, even at this end of the orchard.
"BIG MACINTOSH! Ya' get your sorry flank over here right now!" yelled AJ.
Readying himself for a tongue-lashing, Mac hung his head and walked over to her.
"Eeyup?"
"Ooh, don't you dare 'Eeyup' me! Why did ya' tell that poor little colt ya' couldn't be with him?"
"Ah just cant. And lower your voice, I don't want all of Equestria to know!"
"You 'just can't'? Big Macintosh, you explain yourself right now!"
"Colts aren't supposed to like colts," he said, hunkering down for her response. The only pony he was ever truly scared of was Applejack when she was mad, and she was furious at the moment.
"No? Just like Dash's not 'supposed' to like me? Even if your point was good, you owe Caramel. Go look at him! Even if you can't come to terms with yourself, now you have to go back and apologize, you have to at least try for him!"
"But-"
"No, Mac, Ya' go see your coltfriend right now," she said, grabbing hold of his harness and dragging him towards the house.
"Well? Go on!" She yelled, when Mac just stood there, unmoving and unwilling to see the pain he had wrought for Caramel.
He sighed, and the slowly walked back to Caramel.
Once he had made it up the stairs, Apple jack trailing behind, Mac opened the door slowly and stepped in. Hearing the lock turn outside, he turned.
"Ya' don't come out till this is resolved!"
He looked around the room, noting the pictures on the wall and the wooden floor. The bed in the middle of the room had been rolled on, sat on, crumpled, and was now occupying a silently sobbing Caramel. The smaller colt looked miserable, with his mane all messed up and his body tightly curled into a ball. Mac walked over and gently climbed into the bed, not daring to touch him in case last night happened all over again.
"Caramel," he whispered, laying to one side and speaking into an ear.
The brown-haired pony shifted away from him, sniffling a little, and buried his face again.
"I'm here now Caramel. I'm sorry for saying what I did, I really am. I just want you to know I'm not going away again."
Caramel turned his head enough to peep an eye out at Mac. Then, through another sob and after a breath, he said, "Why?"
"Because I love you. Even if I believe this is wrong, it doesn't mean I don't want to be with you."
"But you said-" he turned more towards Big Mac, who cut him off.
"I know what I said. It's just that I've grown up believing this is wrong. I've always tried to be 'normal'. I just don't know how to deal with this, nor do I know anything about coltcuddling… and I don't want to hurt you, Caramel."
"Well. You did," he said, fully sitting up now, "and you're in the bed with me."
"Um, yah, Ah…uh, sorry, Ah'll get up…" Mac said, uncomfortable at the look Caramel was giving his body.
"No, stay here! We are not done. It's not okay of you to just…just…" he started tearing up again. Mac was getting flustered now.
"Caramel…hey, don't cry…it's okay," the red pony said, reaching out to hold his crying coltfriend. As he comforted the brown-haired colt, he noticed the smooth contour of Caramel's front legs and neck. Feeling himself blush, Mac buried his nose in Caramel's hair, only to feel lips softly brushing his chest. Caramel definitely wasn't crying anymore, as he started hugging Mac around the waist.
Struggling with his newfound friend, Mac pulled him up so they were face to face.
"Now, are we together? And I would prefer if we start slow. I'm still sorting myself out."
"Yes, I accept your apology. No, we aren't together- you need to ask properly."
Mac was dumfounded at this. Thinking before he spoke rashly, he got up and called out to Applejack, "Ya' can open up now!"
"Caramel? Can I unlock the door?" she replied.
Smiling, Caramel said, "I dunno…he apologized, but apparently he has no clue how to ask a colt like me out."
"Alrighty then…" Applejack opened the door, smacking Mac over the back of the head with a hoof before hugging Caramel.
After a moment, she whispered, "So, who's hungry?" Both of the colts perked up.
"I guess that means Caramel's staying with us tonight?"
"Eeyup," caramel replied, shooting a sly look at Big Mac.
The colt just raised his eyebrow and grabbed another hay stem, "Eeyup."
After their late dinner, as AJ was putting dishes away, Mac and Caramel sorted out sleeping arrangements.
"Caramel, you'll stay in the same bedroom and Ah'll-"
"You'll go to your room."
"Ah'll sleep in my room"
"Yeah, no sneaking into each other's rooms," Applejack cut in, "I don't want to walk in on you two in the morning."
"It's not like that!" they cried in unison.
"Either way, I'm going to bed," she yawned, walking over up the stairs.
The colts just sat and stared at each other for a while, until Caramel spoke, "So where's Granny Smith and Applebloom?"
"They went to another Apple family farm, after we explained that, uh, you weren't feeling well. They'll be back sometime tomorrow afternoon."
"Ok, well, g'night"
"Night, Caramel, I'll see you in the morning."
Mac woke up the next morning to a fresh, sleepy Caramel nibbling on his ear. The little colt had curled up beside him and was almost asleep himself as he tried to wake up the red pony.
Opening his eyes fully, and after a yawn, Big Mac stretched and prodded Caramel. Stopping his efforts to wake up Mac, Caramel sat up and said, "Morning sunshine! Nice bed-head."
Feeling self-conscious, Mac smoothed his hair and headed for the shower. As he was getting washed up, Caramel folded and placed the covers and pillow back on the bed. Finished cleaning, he turned and tripped directly into Applejack.
She shoved him off, then stood and said, "Didn't I say no going into each other's rooms? Come eat, he'll be down when he's done. So there is no need for you to guard the door until he gets out."
"I know," Caramel said, getting up. He could smell Applejack's famous pancakes in the kitchen below.
They walked down and sat at the table, and Caramel was halfway through his third pancake when Mac walked in.
"Pancakes! Caramel how many have you eaten?" Mac asked, filling his plate with a huge stack of them and sitting down beside him.
"Um, three, going on four. So I'm waiting for something…" He hinted, winking at Applejack.
"Yeah, and you're gonna have to wait an hour or two while I go get some things ready." Mac replied, and they both sat up, interested in what he had planned in asking Caramel to be with him.
So they stayed at the house while Mac left into town. First they cleaned the front rooms, and made their way through the house methodically. When Caramel got to his room, he was dismayed at the complete mess there was. Applejack helped him to set the covers over the bed and begin tidying up pictures and fluff out the carpet.
They finished at about noon. Caramel came down and sat in the loveseat, daydreaming about what Mac might do to ask him 'properly'. As he was about to dose off, the door opened and Mac came in. He was very well groomed and smelled so heavily like the apple he was named after, Caramel's mouth began to water.
"Are you ready, Caramel?" he asked, holding out a bundle of flowers.
"I believe so…if, you don't mind my asking, what am I supposed to be ready for?" Caramel spoke, taking the flowers and placing them in Applejacks hooves.
"Well, that's a surprise, so if you will follow me?"
"Oh, alright, I have to see this."
So Mac turned and they walked to the far end of the orchard, where all of the apple trees had begun to drop more leaves, giving their walk an ethereal feeling. A small table had been set up, with a candle and some treats garnishing fine plates upon it. Caramel noticed the craftsmanship of the table, and began to wonder what Mac was up to, past the point of getting into a real relationship. Then, he noticed a blanket of to one side, which was laid on the top of the hill. As he was looking around, Big Mac walked to the table and turned.
"So, what do you think?"
"It's nice, but all of this for me?"
"Only for you," Mac said, lowering himself into a bow, "and I would ask something in return."
"Go on," Caramel said, blushing at the intensity of what Mac was about to do.
"Caramel, would you like for me to be with you, to give you my love?" Mac said, just as the sun began to light up the sky with all those brilliant colors.
"I would love that Big Mac," he said, swooning a bit.
They moved closer and began to kiss passionately, ignoring the table and falling to the blanket. As Caramel took a breath, they looked at the sunset, and he thought, All these years, and Mac has always been hurting, waiting for me and not daring to ask me himself. Then he was interrupted as they kissed again, gently now, before the stars came out in the sky. Caramel fell asleep in Mac's embrace, glad that he had finally gotten some good luck, and that Mac wasn't like the other colts he had fooled around with. He was gentle and didn't rush into things, so maybe, just maybe, this might last.
Caramel sleepily opened his eyes, which were directly at Big Mac’s nose, and stifled a yawn. When the memory of last night finally bubbled up in his mind, he blushed. He remembered kissing Mac for a long time, cuddled in his warm and loving embrace. And then he had fallen asleep, so now he was heavily tangled in Mac’s mane…and, he realized with a leaping heart, their bodies were firmly pressed together. He began to untangle their manes, thinking over last night. Awake now, and still red enough to put the pony’s coat to shame, he jumped up.
Mac woke up at the movement and murmured, “Caramel, what is it?”
“Granny Smith and your family are back! We have to-” Caramel stopped. They were in the same clearing, but everything had been put away- the table, plates, everything. Even the blossoms that had lain upon the ground were brushed away.
“Don’t ya’ worry Caramel, Ah got it covered,” Mac said drowsily, sitting up and stretching out his legs.
“Oh, ok then…” he said, leaning over to lick Mac’s hair into place. After a moment he began to nibble on Mac’s ear, and then Mac had turned and they were kissing. Caramel felt himself swoon under the strong, but delicate pressure from Mac’s lips. Then, suddenly, he felt Big Mac pull away, and opened his eyes.
Mac was breathing hard, and he had a troubled look in his eyes as he quickly moved away from Caramel.
“What’s wrong?” Caramel asked, studying the colt’s face, noticing the beginnings of tears in Mac’s eyes.
“Ah…” Mac took a breath, thinking over his answer, “Ah don’t know, Caramel… Ah just can’t… this is so wrong!”
“How is it wrong? Come on Mac, you can talk to me,” Caramel said, stepping closer to brush Mac with his tail.
“Ah don’t KNOW! Just go do your work or something. Ah have to go say hi to my family so they don’t begin wondering where Ah am, and Ah need time to think, so please just leave me alone for a bit? Ah don’t know what to do, Caramel. Ah just don’t know…” Mac trailed off, expecting Caramel to come back with some hurt reply, but the other pony just stared at him.
“Ok, Mac…Think things through and I’ll be here tonight for dinner. I have deliveries to Sweet Apple Acres, so don’t expect me to stay away all day. I love you, and Mac- don’t be too hard on yourself,” Caramel ground out, keeping his feelings out of his voice. He really didn’t understand his coltfriend- they were dating, for Celestia’s sake!
“No promises,” Mac replied, whipping around and galloping up to his home.
So Caramel turned and headed to his own home, hurt and thinking about Big Mac. I hope he can figure his feelings out. Last night and this morning, he frowned at this troublesome thought, he did kiss me, but he felt reluctant. Like he wanted to pull away but couldn’t make himself. He pulled away just then as if he was doing something wrong and had been caught doing it. He really is having a hard time with this and- he stopped, startled by the ruckus in Ponyville
Applejack was diverting a stampede and multiple residents were running in circles screaming. Twilight was messing with some magic or other as Fluttershy finished helping AJ round up the cattle. Rarity was staring unbelievably at Twilight. It was pure chaos. As he was taking this all in, Rainbow Dash slammed into him.
“Oops, hey Caramel, what are you up to?”
“Trying…to get home…and start delivering,” he gasped out, pointedly looking at Dash as to inform her that she was crushing him.
“Oh, right, well…see ya!” she yelled, already zooming away.
Shaking his head, and once he had brushed himself off, Caramel plodded into Ponyville and headed through some side streets. Big Mac, he thought along the way, what’s going through your head? I wish you would talk to me. Why do you distance yourself so much?
Arriving at his front door not ten minutes later, he walked in, checking to make sure that everything was clean, before heading to the back. He was surprised, as the pile of boxes and assorted packages were only half as much as usual.
Picking up a dozen smaller items, he began his hurried route- dropping off a box here, finding this pony, running here to catch somepony for more important deliveries, and so on. Towards the end of the pile, which had taken four hours to sift through, Caramel finally found the Sweet Apple Acres deliveries and loaded them up with Derpy Hooves’ help. She told him that she would deal with the rest as he headed there and back.
So, pulling against the delivery cart, Caramel hurried down the road to the farm. About halfway there, he ran into Applejack.
“So how’d it go?” she asked, nudging his shoulder to get him talking.
“Really well last night, but AJ…I don’t know how well Mac is handling all of this.”
“What d’ ya’ mean? Mac seems to be fine and dandy. He came in and said hi to everyone, helped clean a little, then went out in the orchard to check over everything.”
“Exactly, he seems fine, but he’s struggling with himself, me, everything about us. I don’t know if he can keep on fighting that back when he’s near me… this morning he basically told me to go away and leave him alone for a while,” Caramel said, trying to see if AJ had gotten anything else from him. It was logical that he would talk to his sister about this stuff.
“I didn’t know. Yesterday, he took you off to the other end of the orchard and like I said all I saw of ‘im today was this morning. He’s been off in the orchard doing whatever it is he does.”
“Well, I have this cart of stuff for the orchard, so he should come up to sort out where it all goes. And AJ, you do realize that this wasn’t all his idea. If it hadn’t been for you forcing him into this, he would have had an easier time sorting himself out.”
“Well, yeah…but if I hadn’t, ya’d still be sobbing into that pillow. Besides, Mac has no clue how this romance stuff works…I kinda ‘helped’ him plan your evening out,” Applejack said, looking away from Caramel and scuffing a hoof on the pathway.
Caramel considered her words for a minute, then began to heave the cart into a roll again. As he moved forward, he replied, “Well, I’ll just have to do something about that won’t I? And AJ, no more interfering, got it?”
Applejack gave him a look, then turned and followed him into the orchard. As Caramel pulled up, Granny Smith yelled, “Red Delicious, get out here and help this young pony with the delivery cart!”
Almost immediately, Big Mac’s cousin appeared and hurried over to help pull the cart the rest of the way into the receiving area. He had striking blue hair, and Caramel looked down as he began to get slightly flustered by the colt. Applejack noticed his discomfort and shooed her cousin away, before Caramel could start one of his bad luck sprees. Then they waited for Big Mac to show up.
It took about an hour, but Mac finally came in for a late lunch. He cantered up, not noticing Caramel at first, and called out to Applejack and some of the other Apples that were around. As he looked back over to AJ, he froze. The red colt turned and walked over slowly.
“Hello, Caramel, it’s nice to see ya,” he said. One of the younger ponies looked confused at hearing Mac speak, and was gruffly told to go inside before he could say anything.
“Hi, Mac, what have you been up to? I need help sorting this delivery out.”
“Sure,” Mac said, moving over to look through its contents.
Applejack slid away while he wasn’t paying attention, and the few other ponies lost interest and went on with their work. Caramel couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Well, all of this goes to the lower part of the orchard, so we can take the cart around before we start really moving the boxes out. These on the top go to the barn, and this goes to the fields. Okay, you ready?” Mac asked, and now even Caramel was stumped. One, he didn’t know where any of these places were. Two, Mac had just spoke more to him than he had in the last few days combined. Three, he had spoken more slowly and pronounced his words more carefully, which meant Mac was thinking about something.
“Okay… Can you pull the cart? And did you hear about the stampede?”
“Eeyup,” Mac sighed, hooking up the cart to his harness. He started forward, moving towards the barn.
“So, have you…uh…figured out anything?” Caramel inquired, and couldn’t help but look at Mac. The red colt had such a big, powerful body- and Caramel sighed at the slight movements of his muscles. Where Mac had a steady, deliberate pace, Caramel was constantly tripping and stopping to keep himself in check. It was a good thing Mac had taken the cart; he would have dumped it over by now on the bumpy road.
After a few moments, Big Mac looked back at Caramel and said, “Ah don’t know Caramel.”
He walked a few feet and Caramel opened his mouth to speak. Mac stopped then, taking a breath to say, “My heart and my body say that this is right, but Ah keep struggling with this doubt inside me that it is wrong.”
Caramel looked at Mac. This is how I was at first. When I was little, I hung around Big Mac a lot. Somewhere during that time, I began to feel for him in that more needing way. He must not be ready to face that, so he’s trying to hold up his belief that it’s wrong to keep the emotions he doesn’t know how to deal with from coming out. I need to get him to let go!
“Macintosh, why do you think that this is wrong?”
Mac though for a minute, and then shook his head. Caramel reached out and nibbled his ear. After a minute or two, as Mac relaxed some, Caramel said, “Go on, you can tell me. If you’re going to figure this out you need to talk about it.”
Mac ducked his head, looking down, and just stood there. He looked back up at the brown colt with a look of so much pain that it made Caramel suck in a breath. Mac hunched his shoulders, and whispered, “Like Ah said, Ah was brought up believing that this was a sick thing to do, that it was something only really bad colts did. Ah have been happy with fillies for years, but always this nagging thing inside me kept pulling me to you. Ah just don’t know what to do. When Ah say Ah love you…I have this thrill, but at the same time, I feel sick. I hate that so much…”
Caramel just walked beside him, head lying on Mac’s shoulder, until he could find a response. I don’t know what to say, Caramel thought. He wished he understood Mac more. His coltfriend was looking down at him expectantly, as though Caramel had his answer. Knowing he had to reply, he took a breath.
“I’m sorry, Mac. I gave up on trying to figure it out long ago. I mean, I couldn’t deal with it. It was either hurt and distance myself from everyone that I might get involved with or secretly love and hope for love in return. I had forgotten how hard that decision was…I want to ask you one thing.”
“Well, ask me then,” the pony replied, his pain still heavy in his voice. He stopped, as they had arrived at the barn, and began to unload boxes as he waited.
“Are you ready for all of this? I mean, to start off, Applejack pretty much forced you into asking me out. Then she prepared our dinner for you. She has pretty much directed everything you’ve done involving me.”
Big Mac flushed slightly, then sighed and hung his head before muttering, “And Ah was going to talk to her about that. Ah’m sorry, Caramel. Ah didn’t know what to do about our evening. But the day we…learned…of each other, Ah really didn’t know what to say, or how to say it, or anything.”
Caramel thought for a moment, and smiled at Mac. “It’s ok Mac. You don’t have to know anything about love or how to say the right things. I’m just glad that you’re talking about it in the first place. Besides, it’s sweet when you stumble around.”
Mac gave him a look, then he continued after some thought, “I was so scared that when Applejack found out, she would be mad. And then… then when you said you loved me, I acted in the moment. All those feelings I had repressed came out without my wanting them to. No, I wanted them to be out in the open, I was tired of hiding it. I need you, Caramel, whether I like it or not.”
This revelation, and the fact that Big Mac had put all of that together at one time without stopping to think about it, was startling and shocked Caramel. He had to think over it for a minute before answering.
“Well, Applejack is not going to interfere anymore. And we need to hurry- It’s almost time for dinner, and you never ate lunch. So… are we just going to leave the cart here or what? And Mac- thanks for talking to me about this stuff. I need you too,” Caramel replied, brushing Mac’s nose with his tail.
Mac turned, unhooking the cart, and they walked back toward the Apple family home. On the way, Caramel tripped once and hurt his left back leg. Mac, with a hay stem in his mouth, had silently helped him up.
“So…Caramel, why exactly do ya’ have such bad luck? Ah know it’s your cutie mark and all, but it doesn’t make sense why ya’ were cursed with this,” Mac said, looking down on the smaller colt.
“Cursed with what? The luck, or…you know,” Caramel said, blushing as Mac rubbed against him and walked forward to get him moving towards the house and food.
“Um…everything actually. Ah know that ya’ constantly trip and somehow manage to be part of the worst accidents. Then, like with your blushing thing, anytime you get around a…more handsome colt, you seem to freeze up or start doing weird stuff,” Mac replied, halfway jokingly. He leaned over and licked Caramel’s cheek. That was like a lightning strike to Caramel, who tripped once again.
Getting up quickly, Caramel said, “What do you mean by that? ‘Doing weird stuff’, if anyone is weird it’s you, Mr. Big and Silent.”
“Mr. Big and Silent? Really? And yah, Caramel, ya’ll do weird stuff. Like just then, you blushed and tripped as soon as Ah touched you. Before now, you would randomly faint or blush or something when I even got close or spoke to ya’. Like the grass seeds, you dropped them when I asked you to take them over to Applejack, when we were alone in the barn on Winter Wrap Up.”
“Okay, I see your point. And from now on I promise I’ll try to control my… um ‘blushing things’ and weird moments when I’m around you,” Caramel whispered, leaning over to nibble Mac’s ear.
“Nope, it’s cute when you do that around me… just not when it might draw attention, if you can, ok, Caramel?” Mac whispered back, adjusting slightly so he was facing Caramel more.
“Okay, let’s go eat! I’m starving!” Caramel said, quickly pecking the red colt on the cheek and bouncing away playfully. Mac started after him, and they went almost into the yard before he caught up to Caramel and thundered past. They arrived at the door panting, and waited a few moments before walking in.
“Hey, Caramel, what’ve ya’ been up to?” Applejack asked from the kitchen. Granny Smith was sitting in the living room doing…whatever it is elderly ponies do.
“Nothing much, just finished putting all of the delivery stuff away.”
“Hi, Applejack, what are you cooking?” Mac asked, chewing away at his hay stem. He stepped into the kitchen and Caramel followed him.
“Oh, just some oats and barley. I have a cake in the oven…and be careful around Granny, she’s been grumpy about you not coming in and that it’s late. If she doesn’t forget that is,” Applejack added in a whisper. She turned and focused on her work, leaving the two colts in an awkward silence.
They sat for a few minutes in the kitchen before Applejack yelled “Supper!” at the top of her lungs. Caramel almost jumped into the ceiling and managed to send a chair flying into the other room. Mac patted his side with a hoof, just before a stampede of Apples attacked the kitchen and dining rooms, and went to get something to eat. Caramel took a minute or two before standing, but was caught by Big Mac, who had two plates. Caramel took one and they headed into the dining room.
“Thanks for getting me a plate, Mac.”
“You’re welcome,” the red colt replied before digging in.
Minutes later, as the hubbub had died down some, they went into the back of the house and closed the door to Caramel’s bedroom. Caramel sat on the bed and Mac moved around until he was sitting beside the smaller colt. They leaned close and began to nibble each other’s ears, moving slowly over until they were kissing. Caramel felt a wave of heat roll down his body from Mac’s warm, strong lips, and he tried to press Mac closer to him.
They rolled back on the bed, deeply entwined in each other’s embrace, as the door opened and Red Delicious walked in.
“Caramel?” Red whimpered, upon looking up. Both of the colts sprang up then, and Caramel blushed, the deep red flushing his whole face. Mac stared at Red Delicious in shock. The colts sat and stared at each other as Red began to shake from the silent sobs that wracked his body.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Red began breathlessly, and Big Mac moved quickly over to stand in front of the blue-haired colt.
“Why are you here?” He growled, stepping forward. Red hunkered down and started backing up.
“I thought that Caramel…I’m sorry, I didn’t know!” Red cried out as Caramel walked over.
“Red, you know you shouldn’t have come in here. You know why we broke up, so stop trying to get me back!” Caramel whispered, voice rising.
Mac looked at Caramel, then at Red, and back. After a moment, he said in a small voice, “So this is your ex-coltfriend?” He turned back to Red Delicious, “Go ahead and leave, Red. Apparently, you aren’t wanted, and Ah’m not too happy that you barged in on us. And don’t ever let me hear word of you telling anyone about this. Just leave!” Mac stomped a hoof for emphasis.
Red bowed his head, turned, and walked out.
“I’m sorry, Mac.” Caramel said.
“Ah was scared, Caramel,” Mac replied, his shoulders and head slumping. Caramel could see tears in his eyes.
“I know,” Caramel said, locking the door. He turned and began pulling the red colt back to the bed.
“Caramel,” Mac whispered, leaning in to nibble his ear.
“Yes?” Caramel asked, cuddling up to Mac.
“Ah love you.”
Caramel just pulled him in for another kiss, and they laid back. Mac began to run his hooves down Caramel’s back, and he shivered. “I’m sorry, but I can’t… you know…,” Mac whispered, and returned his hooves to Caramel’s hair, stroking it.
“That’s fine, Mac. I can wait until you are ready,” Caramel whispered back. They kissed again, and Mac fell asleep with his hoof still holding Caramel’s head close to his body. Not long afterwards, Caramel rolled his body closer to Mac’s and drowsed off to the red colt’s warm breath stirring his hair.
