The Elements of Turmoil

By RadaVonVon

Chapter 2: Rebellion

The morning light filtered in slowly through the blinds of modest house, filling the room with light, very slowly. It began to illuminate the room with a soft dawn glow before spreading its golden rays across the room, spilling around the home as darkness faded to dawn.

When Fluttershy rose, she found the other side of the bed had been long since cold, messy and unkempt. She smiled sheepishly and slowly made the bed, smiling and humming quietly to herself. Big Mac had most likely been out there since long before sunrise. She quietly trotted downstairs and knocked on the door nearest to the kitchen. When there was no answer, she slowly creaked it open and poked her head in.

“Applecore, dear?” She whispered softly. “It’s time to get up…” She quietly moved forward, and when the filly, wrapped up in the blankets that were strewn across the room didn’t stir, she quietly nudged the foal pegasus' head.

“Mmfmm…” Applecore grumbled, raising her pale orange head and glancing sleepily at Fluttershy. “Whaaaat?”

“O-oh dear, it’s just, I thought because your father might be tired and hungry when he comes back, so I thought that maybe, oh, maybe I was wrong…”

“Eeyup.” Applecore grumbled, putting her head under the pillow and immediately falling back asleep with a loud and satisfying yawn.

Fluttershy paused, first opening her mouth to say something, but then smiling to herself and gently closing the door. She went outside and began to prepare breakfast, just as Big MacIntosh waltzed in the door. “Ya wouldn’t believe just how hot it is out tharh…” He grumbled, moving forward and kissing Fluttershy for a moment, who blushed.

“Oh… Is it really that bad? Should I he-“

“Naw. Ya’ll just stay here, now. Ah’ll take care’a this here farm we have, and that Ah maintain.” He mumbled proudly, nuzzling Fluttershy’s neck for a minute and sitting down. “What are ya cookin’, applesauce?”

“Oh, uh…” Fluttershy stammered, blushing. “Nothing, just some eggs. I thought I’d let Applecore sleep in today… She was tired…”

“Ah hope so. That girl can really run around. She tired me out, eeyup, she did.”

Fluttershy smiled at him. “She does that to me, too.” She cracked several eggs and fried them quickly, and set five before Big Mac.

“Aww, darlin’, yer so sweet…”

Fluttershy smiled sweetly and poured him a cup of coffee, just as Applecore stumbled out in her pyjamas. “Mornin’…” She murmured, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Why, good morning.” Fluttershy turned and smirked quietly, kissing her daughter on the top of the head. “Did you sleep okay?

“I did.” She nodded, sitting down, and Fluttershy set two eggs in front of her.

“Daddy’s been out since it was dark.”

“Really, dad!? Did you buck all the trees?”

“Sure did, sweetheart.” Big Mac chuckled, smiling at his daughter as he chewed on the lengthy piece of grass. He was still sweating slightly.

Fluttershy served herself last, sitting down with her plate of two eggs and smiling across from Applecore, whom was fixated with breaking the yolk in her egg and swirling it around the egg white.

The first time Fluttershy was aware someone was outside was when she heard a crack, and a small cry of pain from outside. She jumped up from her seat, hurrying out the door to find Big MacIntosh, doubled over in pain, his forelegs crossed against his chest, panting.

She scurried outside, fear lighting up her eyes as she jumped out and darted toward the large stallion, hooves clopping against the packed earth as she rested beside him. “O-oh dear!”

“Augh…” The red pony grunted, forcing himself to his feet, while Fluttershy stopped him by planting a hoof on top of him. “Oh, no, please, don’t do that…” She murmured quietly, staring at him in worry with blue eyes wide. “Y-you’ll be hurt.” Fluttershy felt weak in the knees as she struggled to help the earth pony somehow, fluttering all around him from various angles. “O-oh… You hurt your knee…”

The muted yellow Pegasus, from her angle, could now clearly see that his knee was bent at a grotesque acute angle, and she landed softly. “Okay, erm, MacIntosh, ah, Big Mac, uh, Mac, earmm… MacIntosh, okay, uhm, well, you see, you should, uh…”

“What, ya little filly?” MacIntosh was staring up at Fluttershy, through his painfully obvious agony, he managed a sore smile from the ground and the awkward angle his neck was bent at. Fluttershy looked up again, assessing the damage of the situation. He had been trying to lift what appeared to be several heavy boards of wood, and then… She spotted a small rock near his foot. That must have tripped him, of course…

“Dad! D’ya need any help today?” Applecore asked, racing around the large crimson stallion with her chest puffed out. Big Mac grinned, taking off his hat and putting it on her. He paused for a moment. Oddly enough, it seemed to fit her rather well. He grinned to himself, reminding himself to give her one of her own later.

He paused dramatically, in ‘thought’ “Ah don’t think so, sugarcube, but if y’all wanna keep me company, ah’d b-“

“Yay!” Applecore pranced around him, grinning in delight, occasionally bucking.

MacIntosh smiled to himself, glancing at the door. “Ya ready?”

“Mhm!” Applecore exclaimed, hopping toward the door while Fluttershy smiled. Big Mac kissed on the cheek. “Ah’ll be seein’ ya this evenin’, Ah’ll be sure we’re home just around sunset. Ah love ya.” He murmured, nuzzling her neck for a moment and smiling before darting out the door with his daughter, still awkward on her too-long filly legs.

“What’re we doin’, pop?”

“Well, we gotta take care’a the carrot fields, don’t we?”

“Okay!” Applecore skidded to a stop in a muddy puddle, splattering her orange coat with dark brown mud before she got to her hooves and followed her father to the designated field.

Big Mac sighed as Fluttershy let him down on her couch. “O-oh dear, this looks bad…” She murmured, examining his knee. “Uh, okay, I’ll, uh. I’ll get some bandages, okay? And then we… we can see what happens from there. I, uh. I’ll… I can bandage it and get you an ice pack, and uh, some erm… p-painkillers.” She murmured, dropping the end of her sentence.

“Some what?”

“Some painkillers…”

“Oh. Er. Ah’m okay, but thank’ya kindly.” Big Mac tipped his hat to the filly, with a weak, if awkward, smile. He forced himself to his hooves immediately, but toppled over once again onto the couch with an audible grunt.

Fluttershy gasped. “O-oh dear… She murmured, gently helping the massive red stallion to his feet and putting him down on the couch again. “N-now, Mister, uh, MacIntosh! You need to… uh…” She grew quiet and MacIntosh chuckled to himself. “Big Mac is fine, and ahlright, ahlright. Ah’ll stay here for a couple minutes ‘ta catch mah breath. Alright?”

“O-okay…” Fluttershy blushed, prancing noiselessly away and coming back with an ice pack and some bandages. “Should I let Apple Jack know you’re going to bed here for a while?”

“She’ll be fine. She’s a li’l impatient, but the gal needs to get over it mighty soon. Besides, lately she’s been busy with that… Blueblood boy. I dunno if I laik him. Snooty.”

“Oh… Uh, okay.” Fluttershy blushed, remembering Apple Jack had mentioned Blueblood a couple of times but not quite remembering why or in what context. She had been too busy with Angel’s sickness to really know.

Her eyes scanned over his bulk, strong, well-built shoulders, his muscular back… And his facial features were none too shabby either. She blushed immediately. She realised that she did, kind of, somewhat, somehow, perhaps… She kind of… liked him? The notion startled her.

When she was a filly, all of her friends had had crushes on all of the other colts. But never her, she had always been… Asexual or something. She blushed. Was she really thinking about this?

“Hah! Be careful thar, sugarcube!” Big Mac smiled, laughing for a moment and trotting over to push his daughter up, smiling. Her blonde mane was tangled, in spite of the fact that it was pulled up, with heavy amounts of mud, woven in like dark coloured streaks. Applecore shrugged, promptly shaking it all off and trotting off once again, leaving Big Mac in the dust, grinning to himself.

He recalled the last time he had let her work on the farm, and he looked at the missing chunk of her left ear with disdain, and his face fell, even as he ran. Never again. She wasn’t going to end up like Braeburn. He cringed.

Braeburn. Before the accident, the orange pony was… Well, he had come to visit them often. Him and Fluttershy. He had passed while Fluttershy was still carrying Applecore and MacIntosh was terrified at the notion of being a father. He still didn’t exactly know what he was doing. He still felt guilty for letting Applecore get hurt.

“DDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDD!” Applecore called from across the field. Big Mac realised he had stopped in his tracks. “Sorry, darlin’! On mah way!” He chortled to himself and set off at a canter toward Applecore.

“What do ya need help with!?” Applecore grinned, prancing around him, and Big Mac mockingly put a hoof up to his mouth. “Hmm. Weeeeelllll. If I had a little filly that could help me go around and pull up some of the carrots to feed the rabbits, maybe we could dig around the mud a little afterw-“

“OKAY!” Applecore exclaimed quickly, darting to the large plot that held the carrots and barreling through the field, reaching some sort of top speed. Big Mac slowly smiled to himself, about to stop her, but he thought better of it and dove in.

“Okay, are you… Are you sure you’ll make it back okay?” Fluttershy asked nervously, blushing and shuffling her feet. Big Mac glanced over at her and smiled weakly. “Yeah… Ah’ll be ahlright.” An awkward silence followed as Big Mac shuffled lopsidedly shuffled to the door.

He stood by the door for a minute, then looked over his shoulder. “Uh. Fluttershy, is it? Well, uh, Ah would like to personally, thank ya for yer kindness and help and Ah’d like to invite you to come over to the farm someday, to uh, for dinner.” Fluttershy noted that his face was an even deeper shade of red, and blushed as well.

“O-Oh… Okay!” She squeaked suddenly, looking at the floor and trying not to look up at him. Big MacIntosh smiled toothily. “Ahlright. Well, Ah’ll be seein’ ya, then.” He tipped his hat just as she looked up and slowly he walked out.

Did he just…?

No, he couldn’t have possibly. No one had ever really… They wouldn’t.

Though they were upright and walking, Fluttershy was leaning against Big Mac, yawning contentedly while Applecore pranced around them on those sticklike filly legs of hers that were still much too long. He eyed her bare flank for a while.

Still nothing. She was older than Applebloom had been, but, for some reason… His stomach flopped around inexplicably. Was there really any reason for him to worry? Apple Jack hadn’t gotten her cutie mark until she was two or three years older than Applecore. He shrugged it off. There was no reason to worry.

Everypony got their cutie mark at some age! He had heard stories about some ponies being born with them, and some ponies not getting theirs until they were Fluttershy’s age, but they were so rare, and ponies always got them…

He shrugged it off. Applecore would be fine. He looked over at the muted yellow, pink-maned pony leaning against him as they walked along the trail that spiraled into the Everfree forest. They had all just hosed down and eaten, and the last orange rays of the sun were casting a warm glow on the family of

three.

“I think we should get going.” Fluttershy sighed, smiling and stretching. Big Mac nodded and Applecore turned and followed suit.

Big Mac stood at the edge of the property he had just purchased with Fluttershy. The center of the Everfree Forest. He stared at the foundation of the new home, and the signs planted carefully at the edges of the property: ‘Gala Farm’ it read.

He trotted through the turned-up mud and glanced around. Fluttershy was in her home. When they had started to date and MacIntosh was bold enough to finally ask her to be his girlfriend, he remembered Applejack’s initial shock, then approval, claiming that she had always been hoping that Fluttershy would get a big hunk of stallion, and that no one was a kinder soul than he.

Big Mac smiled weakly at the memory. Their relationship was slow and awkward, but now, they were at a stage where it was completely comfortable, and they were comfortable with each other, and even showing some affection in public wasn’t really a problem for them anymore.

It had been three years. He had decided it was time to leave the Apple estate, as Apple Jack was going to take it over any way. To start his own plot and make his own living.

He was going to do it with the girl he loved. He was going to do it with Fluttershy.

They’d raise animals and grow things in the middle of the forest and return to Ponyville for supplies when necessary.

Braeburn may come out and help them, now that Fluttershy was pregnant and couldn’t do any work. The prospect excited him. Finally! He’d live on his own without Granny Smith tanning his hide for every little lost apple or bit.

They were trotting back now. Big Mac yawned. It was starting to rain, even as the sun set, and Applecore was steadily trotting ahead. “Wait just a minute!” He called but she sped forward. He sighed and shrugged, mumbling partially to himself, partially to Fluttershy, “That filly…”

A crack of thunder sounded and lightning flashed.

A strange, faint noise echoed through the night. A noise that made Big Mac’s hair stand on end as he started to canter forward, and he came across Applecore, lying limply in the mud.

Image credit to BlacksWhites on DeviantART. Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Spite Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 28 Minutes