When I'm Old and Grey: Chapter Two

A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.

Stendhal

NOTE: I worked VERY hard on this and the others chapters, if you could PLEASE rate, follow, track or spread this, I would be the happiest pony in the world! <3

NOTE 2: I've ever-so-slightly rewritten everything to make the chapters longer, and you MAY notice a missing part! That is OK! Nothing is wrong :) just continue reading as you normally would, but now ignore the part that I have removed! <3

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Derpy felt pleasantly warm, the feathery down of the thick blanket trapping the heat inside. She opened her eyes slowly, bright sunlight pouring through the nearly closed blinds, illuminating the room even from just a couple stray rays. She curled up tighter in her cocoon, refusing to relinquish the warmth of the blankets to the morning air. As she lay there, she reached her hoof to the left of her, trying to feel if Big Mac was still there.

Her hoof came across his familiar indent left in the bedding, still warm from where he must have gotten up minutes before. She even noted that the blankets were neatly tucked in around her, either by her own doing or by him. She wasn't sure.

She rested her hoof against the indent for but a moment, savoring the heat that had come off of his body. He must have left fast, because she couldn't hear any sign of him outside her room, or anywhere in the house. She took a quick look at the clock sitting on her nightstand, noting the hands only pointed out 8:16, and decided her still sleepy eyes could get a couple more minutes of sleep. As her mind shut down once again, she began to dream of the night before...

= = =

Derpy opened the door to her home, greeting the cloaked stallion in under the cover of darkness, quickly closing it behind him. As he uncloaked his head, revealing his flaming orange mane and his deep red coat, she smiled wide and they nuzzled briefly, closing their eyes as their snouts rubbed gleefully. The night was cold outside, the cold winds blowing in from the east, sending storms and frost their way, but no snow yet thankfully.

Big Mac had just finished harvesting the apple orchard just a few days ago, and since then he had spent his days inside looking out, his quiet usual self. However, when the dark cloak of nigh fell, he donned his hood and made his way through the village as per his lovers orders, avoiding the night-loving ponies. Every night that he wasn't exhausted from working on the farm, he would meet her at her home. They would laugh, they would cry, cuddle, whatever suited Derpy's day.

As Mac hung his coat on a nearby hanger, Derpy greeted him happily, nearly bouncing up and down at the happiest moments of her life. When Mac came over.

"Did you eat anything today?" She asked, her voice being its usually warbling self, "Are you hungry?"

"Nope." Mac answered in his usual tone, flicking the straw he held in his mouth into a small wastebasket nearby. She opened her fridge and, spying the empty spaces and lack of substance, she closed it quickly afterwards, glad that he wasn't hungry. Money was hard to come by in this day and age, especially when the mail-business was at such an all time low. She considered taking up another job, but her eyes made things extremely daunting for her, and she decided against it, not wanting to cause more trouble than she already did.

She felt a warm snout press against her neck as she closed the fridge door, warm breath flowing down her mane as Big Mac crossed his neck over hers in an affectionate cuddle. He knew how her day went. It went like every other day she told him about. Somehow, he knew how to make things better.

"Hey Mac..." She queried slowly and thoughtfully, savoring every word like a delicate flower, "Promise me that you'll always be here for me?"

A warm and comfortable silence stood in the room, laying a calm hush over everything. Derpy could hear her heart beat in her ears, as well as feel the vein in Mac's neck as it pulsed.

"Ah promise you," He began, defying his usual speech to give it more meaning "Ah will never leave you alone. Ah will always be here for you."

He nuzzled her closer, trying to share as much skin contact as possible. Like a lost puppy, she responded more to contact and physical gestures from him than anything.

"Thanks Mac..." Derpy responded quietly, turning around and cuddling him even closer.

They stayed like that for a half an hour, locked in each other embrace, Mac softly giving her loving kisses occasionally and Derpy returning the favor.

To anyone who would have seen Mac enter the house and leave the following morning, one would assume the worst, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Their relationship was much more than a friendship, but neither one had ever thought of sharing anything more than their hearts with each other, and neither of them felt like that would be an issue anytime soon. It was deeper than that. They exchanged kisses and emotional support, and they were both fine with that.

It was the perfect relationship for both of them.

= = =

Derpy awoke once more, but this time with a terrible start, her alarm clock ringing like a happy foal covered in bells. Her arm flew out and tried to smash at the clock, causing her to fall and lose her balance on the bed. She laid there huffing for a moment and her alarm fell off the nightstand, cracking its glass front but ceasing its incessant ringing. She sighed, and blew a stray lock of her mane away from her face. One of those mornings.

But wasn't every morning one of those mornings?

She slithered out of her tangled mess of blankets and trudged to the kitchen, throwing on a housecoat in passing. The blinds were open here, letting the full blast of Celestia's great sun beams into the room and illuminating everything more than she was ready for. She let out a soft groan and stumbled towards the kitchen counter, passing into the small enclosed area where she cooked her food.

The air hung light with the smell of something warm and nice. As she passed the counter, she ran her hoof along it to keep her balance as best as she could, but she nearly tipped over a bowl of something. Cursing to herself she finally made it to the fridge, opening it up in a sorry attempt to see if she had ANY food to eat. As the absence of any edible items in her fridge became clear, she simply grunted and pushed the door closed, stumbling around the kitchen once more like an newborn foal. As she turned to find her piggy-bank, her eyes came to rest on the small bowl sitting on her counter. She hadn't put it there. Did Mac leave his dishes lying around?

As she got closer, she saw it was indeed filled with something. By the smell of it (the same smell that had pervaded the room since she entered) it was oatmeal, and as she pulled out a spoon and began to eat it, she tasted finely powdered sugar mixed in.

A huge smile played across her face, replacing the normally sad face of a normally sad pony. Mac must have made oatmeal just for her. She kept on her smile the entire time while eating it, and she thought to herself that maybe, just maybe, today might be a good day.

As she stuck her hoof outside for a small spell, quickly retracting it when she felt the cooler winds outside, she talked to herself:

"Okay Derpy, this is your day to shine!" She put on her boots and threw a warm mid-weather jacket on, "You control your future, and if your careful, people will like you!"

She stepped outside, instantly craving the relative warm of her cozy (if not slightly small) home, and began her trek to the mail-office to open up for the day.

= = =

Big Macintosh sighed deeply as he surveyed the barren fields. Each harvest for each crop had been completed simply days before the killing frost came in, and he knew he would have to try harder next year, just in case the frost decided to come faster than expected. A chilly wind cut to his bone as he trekked back to the farm-house. Applejack awaited him in earnest.

"Is it finished Mac?" She inquired as he walked through the door, shaking off the cold by the fire.

"Eeyup." he responded quietly, looking into the fire as if staring off into some strange other world, his eyes focused on something far away.

Applejack let out a stiff huff as she took her place next to him.

"Ah know yer thinkin' you have to do this Mac," She started hesitantly, trying desperately to stop her brother from doing something he would regret, "but Ah'm here right now tellin'ya ya don't. You can wait one more tiny little year can'tchya?"

Her voice was so sincere, full of concern for her brothers well being, and as much as he admired that, there we're just things he had to do. He seriously doubted that Derpy could last one more year the way she was.

"Ah don't think Derpy HAS one more year Applejack," He started, his voice showing his concern for that small grey mare that he so loved, "Ah think if I don't do something about her soon, she might just...fade away on me."

Applejack was the only pony that knew about Derpy and Big Macintosh, and she handled the news quite well. At first when Big Mac told her about his growing affection for his friend, she was slightly worried and taken aback.

"You have to be joshin' me," she had said, a small laugh had erupted from her, "Derpy hooves?"

After telling her that it was his decision and that she wasn't allowed to make fun of her, she took it a little better. As time went on and he told his sister more about Derpy, she slowly warmed up to the idea, even going as far as greeting the mare when she saw her on the street. After several months, she was ready to trust her brother on nearly anything related to his love interest.

This was... one of those "nearly anything" times.

"Mac, the snow'll be fallin' any minute now, you really wanna do this alone?" She ventured, "Ah can come with you, Ah can help you find it!"

He shook his head and wrapped a hoof around her middle, shaking her slightly. Even when it was simply his cross to carry, his burden, she was still willing to help him the entire way.

"No can do little sister, you know the rules," he laughed a little at her stubbornness, "only one pony can pick it, or else it wont work."

Applejack sighed a deep relinquishing sigh, as she called Applebloom down from upstairs.

"Coming!" they both heard as hoofsteps smashed down on hardwood above as the hyper little pony came down from whatever she might have been doing up there. As Applebloom galloped down the stairs, nearly tripping as she carried a pair of heavy satchels on either side of her. As she teetered towards them, they both laughed.

"Hey! Ah could get my cutie mark by balancing stuff If I wanted!" she chirped at them in mock anger, setting her packs down in front of Big Mac.

"We thought we could give you some help packing," Applejack, still sad, informed him as Applebloom opened up one of the packs, pulling out a thick woolen jacket that looked like it had been designed for arctic explorers, "so I had Rarity stitch this up for you when you told me you had to leave."

He didn't know what to say, he really couldn't believe his sister was THAT supportive of his decision. Even though she was worried sick for him and scared he wouldn't come back, she still gave him her all to help him with whatever he needed. She trusted him to come home safe, and was doing everything she could to help him. That was Applejack for you, dependable until the very last minute.

Applebloom passed him the coat, and he wriggled his way inside, loving the feel of it on his skin as he buckled it up.

"It's lovely." He said with a massive grin spreading across his face as he felt the warmth from his body already being trapped inside with him. The coat had barely any gaps at all and covered nearly his entire body. Just by standing by the fire he was already beginning to overheat.

"And don't you forget! I've packed enough food and water in there for a couple 'a days, and there's a sleeping bag in the other pouch fer when you need it."

A few moments passed as Mac thought of his journey ahead. It would only take a couple days, but not seeing Derpy would be hard. On the other hand, he would be able to think much better with the cold air of the mountains keeping him awake and alive. It nagged at the back of his mind that the same air could also kill him.

He stepped forward, wrapping his neck around Applejack and his front hoof around Applebloom.

"Ah love you guys." He said will a warm feeling in his heart, showing his compassion to his sisters like he did as usual.

They exchanged their goodbyes and "Ah love you"s, and soon Big Macintosh was on his way down the cold road, the sun still coming up in front of him as he set off for the mountains, intent on finding the one thing that would make Derpy happy.

= = =

As Big Macintosh trekked his way up the narrow part, past the nearly bare trees and the frosted grass, his thoughts wandered to the task ahead. Making Derpy happier than she had ever been.

Big Mac had been searching for months to find a surefire way to make Derpy happy, but with mixed results. No matter how much damage control he did, no matter how many times he slept next to her at night, holding her tight until he had to return to the farm, he couldn't make her happy. Sure, when he was there he made her ecstatic, he could tell, but it never lasted more than a couple hours before the rest of the ponies brought her down. He needed a permanent solution.

By imploring Twilight to read up on the subject for him and his mystery lover, he managed to track down a book. One singular book that was related to his problem.

The Wishing Garden

Mac spent the entire night reading through the book after he left Twilight at the library (after thanking her profusely). By daybreak, he had read through the entire thing, and was nearly ready to begin his search.

The Wishing Garden was a place of great mystery, factually told to be a legend, but rumors persisted that it existed on the very peak of the mountains near Ponyville, surrounded by storms and the chill of deep winter. Though the vicinity around the garden was told to be extremely inhospitable, the garden itself was said to be lush, warm and green. This was not beyond the realm of possibility, as there had been such places discovered in Equestria before, and the land was full of wonder and mystery.

However, it wasn't the garden itself that intrigued Mac, it was the certain flower that grew there. According to the book, a flower of amazing power flowered there. Wishblossom. The name itself was cheesy, but the power behind it was unparalleled.

A single Wishblossom was allegedly supposed to give you the one thing you wished for the most in the entire world when used properly. At first he had laughed at the creative name the old wizards gave the flower.

The garden was supposedly full of them, but only one Wishblossom grew every ten-thousand years. All Mac could do was hope there was a few left for him. Even one last one would do, because only one pony could pick one flower each visit. Stories persisted of pairs of lovers that went up to pick one together, and had never been seen since. Fear ate at the back of his mind, reminding him that he wasn't the best reader, and he could have made a mistake.

He set those fears aside. Mac needed to do this for Derpy. This wasn't about him anymore. It was about that small grey pony that needed him more than life itself. She needed to be happy, to have friends, to be loved by more than just him.

The cold wind began to get colder as the minutes passed, it was beginning to nip at his ears. He shrugged up the wooly hood that Rarity had sewn into the already wooly enough coat.

Mac shivered as he passed the treeline, the constantly thinning forest giving way to a barren slope and began his trek up the cold face of the mountain itself, clouds swirling above almost unnaturally. He gulped, but continued on. The mountain path was steep and rocky, working its way to the point through a series of switchbacks littered with snow, ice and rocks. As Mac climbed steadily to the top, the air got cold extremely quickly, frost beginning to attack his face with furious abandon. He felt his limbs begin to lose feeling, and at that point he knew he had to find shelter. As he pushed further and further up the mountain, he felt his strength slowly wean and fail, the great storm breaking apart his resolve.

"Dear Celestia, I can't do this on my own." He prayed, desperately hoping that she might give him the strength to carry on. But it fell hollow. No help came, and nothing felt any better inside him.

If it were anyone less than Derpy, he would never do this. But she needed this wish as much as she needed him, if not more.

But that feeling in the back of his mind still loomed. What if he didn't come back this time?

What if he left her alone?

= = =

- - -

HEY! Thanks again for reading this far, it means a lot to me! I tried to put as much as I could into this chapter and keep it interesting. Except GUESS WHAT! I need feedback from you guys!

So if you notice any errors, feel free to let me know!

Here are some things you can criticize:

-Plot

-Spelling

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-Conversation Plausibility

-Logic Errors or conflicting lore, etc

Thanks a bunch :)

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