I Dare You!

by Chocovich

Chapters

Chapter 1: Dare to Drink!
Chapter 2: The Morning After
Chapter 3: Race Against The Clock!
Chapter 4: Happy -1

Chapter 1: Dare to Drink!

As the final customer of the day trotted away with his mug of fresh Apple Family cider Applejack felt a sense of relief. Another year had come and gone, again thanks to her friends helping out the family with the cider making process, allowing them to quickly mass produce enough cider for every citizen of Ponyville to have two, or even three, full mugs. Now that they could pack up Applejack thought it would be the best time to ask all of them something that had been on her mind all day.

"How would you guys like to come over for a drink tonight?" Applejack asked, getting the attention of her friends and her brother, who had been busy cleaning up the empty barrels that they had lying around. Big Mac looked closely at Applejack before shrugging and moving on with his work. In all honesty he wouldn't mind drinking with Applejack and her friends, but he was fairly sure that none of them were going to say yes, given the fact that they had been working hard all day and probably wanted to go home to rest. When Big Mac came back from putting a small trailer full of barrels in the barn he found Applejack smiling happily as her friends trotted off to their houses behind her.

"What'd they say?" Big Mac asked as his eyes lingered on a certain rainbow maned Pegasus.

"They all said yes, now I'm going to go get it all set up, can you finish cleaning up here?" Applejack said as she started to trot away, leaving Big Mac with at least a hundred empty barrels that he would have to haul into the barn, for better or for worse. With a loud sigh he began to stack them onto the trailer one by one, grunting as he hitched himself up to the trailer for the first of many trips to the barn.

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Just as Big Mac came out of the barn for the last time Applejack's friends began to arrive, with Rainbow being the last. Big Mac silently stood behind them as they waited for Applejack to let them into the house, trying his hardest to keep himself from looking at each of them from where he was standing. The five mares that were in front of him were among the most powerful in Equestria, possibly even the world, and they were his sister's friends, if he did anything to them he would be signing his own death certificate.

"What are you looking at back there?" Rainbow Dash asked quickly when she saw Big Mac looking towards her, his mind having wandered off as he thought about what would happen to him if he did anything wrong to them.

"Oh, nothing!" Big Mac answered quickly, a blush being hidden under his red coat as he realized that he had been staring directly at Rainbow's flank for the entire time he had zoned out. Rainbow rolled her eyes before turning back towards the door, just as Applejack opened it too so she was able to fly inside. When Big Mac got inside he started heading straight towards the cider cellar, but Applejack stopped him.

"Let me get the cider tonight, you just go sit down and talk with my friends" Applejack said as she started to push him towards her friends, who were happily laughing about something on of them had said just before Mac had gone inside. He shot Applejack an angry look before he went to sit down next to Rainbow, which was one of the only two empty seats in the room. She gave him a weird look before turning back to the others, preparing to tell her friends about some old Wonderbolts story just as Applejack came back upstairs with a barrel of cider on her back.

"Ok, now we can get this party started" Applejack said with a grunt as she rolled the barrel off her back, which landed with hard thud on the wood floor. Without missing a beat Applejack set it up for serving and poured out seven glasses of cider for her and her friends.

"So, anyone want to make tonight even more fun?" Rarity asked, a devilish smirk creeping across her face as she looked at everypony that was there, "Who's up for a daring contest?"

"A what?" Applejack asked, giving Rarity a confused look.

"We give each other dares to see who's the weakest one of us" Rarity explained, her eyes settling on Applejack, "For instance, I dare you to let me give you a make over" Everypony except Applejack and Rarity gasped, all of their eyes focusing on the former as they eagerly awaited her response to the dare.

"You're on" Applejack said with a determined look, getting a chorus of surprised "Oohs" from everypony. Rarity quickly got up out of her seat, and from there Applejack went from a down to earth mare, to a pompous Canterlot mare. The night only got more rowdy and crazy from there, starting with...

"I dare you..."

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"I dare you to... *hic* ...kiss Rarity!" Rainbow said, her voice coming out very slurred and almost incomprehensible because of the cider she had been drinking. Of course, everypony else was just as drunk as she was, so it seemed like a perfectly reasonable and intelligent dare to all of them.

"You're on" Applejack said shakily as she tried to get up, swaying from side to side before she was able to get steady. As she trotted over to Rarity a strange, almost mystified, look came over her, causing Rarity to squirm in her seat. Rarity didn't expect Applejack to actually go through with it, and as their lips met she fought back, but it quickly turned into something they both enjoyed. They kept kissing for a while until Rarity moaned some random stallions name, instantly snapping Applejack out of her trance when her drunken mind realized that she was kissing Rarity, and not the stallion of her dreams.

"Oh, I, uh..." Applejack stuttered as her face turned a shade of red that rivaled her brother's, but now that she had done what she was dared to do, she could have some fun.

"Big Mac, I dare you to wear Applebloom's bow for a month" Applejack said, narrowing her eyes at her brother as he started squirming uncomfortably in his seat. Rainbow, who was still sitting next to him burst out laughing when she noticed his face was turning a darker shade of red than it was normally. Without him knowing Rarity pulled a bow that Applebloom had left on the back of the couch towards his mane with her magic, quickly tying it up so tight that he wouldn't be able to get it off.

"Sorry Mac, dear" Rarity said as she levitated a mirror up in front of his face, "But you don't have a choice"

"If it's any consolation you look adorable" Twilight said with a giggle, which quickly made all of them erupt into laughter before Granny Smith smacked the floor from her room, making them shut up immediately. Big Mac sighed before looking over at Rainbow, who was making baby faces at him and poking the bow while giggling. He wanted to get back at her, and knowing her competitive nature he was going to give her a dare that she would never go along with...

"Rainbow, I dare you to..." Big Mac trailed off as an evil look came over him, "Marry me"

"Ooh, you're good..." Rainbow said, a confident smirk creeping across her face, "You're on" Rainbow's competitive nature made her accept the dare, but now she needed a way out of the house with Mac.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow said suddenly, making her shy friend jump so high she almost hit the room, "I dare you to make out with Pinkie, right here, on the table!" The two mares looked at each other in surprise before Fluttershy was pulled onto the table by Pinkie, their passionate make out session just about to begin. With everypony else distracted Rainbow used the opportunity to pull Big Mac out of the house, and towards Ponyville.

The two of them didn't speak much during the walk, save for a few short conversations about the dares that had been asked earlier that night, and whether or not anypony noticed they had left. As they got further into town Rainbow's goal came into view, Ponyville Hall, the one place they could get married at this hour. When they got inside they found Lyra running around turning off the lights, but she froze on the spot when she saw the two of them standing at the doorway.

"What do you guys want?" Lyra asked in an annoyed tone as she trotted back to her desk, sitting in her custom chair in her unusual way.

"We're here to get married" Rainbow said confidently, the request surprising Lyra for only a short moment before she reached into her desk and pulled out a few pieces of paper that they had to sign. Without asking any questions the two of them wrote down everything they had to, even checking the "Wife is an Element of Harmony" box that was suspiciously placed on the bottom of the list for some odd reason. Once they finished the forms Lyra took them away, filed them, and then pushed to newlyweds out of the hall so she could leave.

"Now go home!" Lyra said angrily as she got them over the threshold, causing Big Mac to smash his face into the ground since he lost his balance. With that the two of them headed home, a triumphant smile on Rainbow's face. She had done what no pony thought she ever would, and for probably the stupidest reason they would ever hear of. Little did she know Big Mac was silently cheering and celebrating inside his head. He never told anypony, but he thought Rainbow was fairly beautiful, and had a slight crush on her. Now he was married to her, and he couldn't be happier, but he didn't let Rainbow see it.

"So, now what do we do?" Rainbow asked as they got back to the farm house, the sounds of the other mares snoring creeping out from the windows.

"Well, there's something I want to give you" Big Mac said as he led Rainbow inside and towards the old cabinet they had in their living room. Reaching inside he pulled out a small wooden box with an apple carved on top, and when he opened it up Rainbow was greeted by a beautiful emerald and ruby apple earring, which looked like it had been through quite a bit in it's time.

"What's this for?" Rainbow asked, as she looked closer at the earring.

"It's yours, since you're my wife now" Big Mac said with a sheepish smile, which made Rainbow smile and giggle. He had never acted that way around anypony else, and it was just too precious to Rainbow right now. Taking the earring in his hoof Big Mac attached it to Rainbow's left ear, finally sealing the deal that she was his wife. Once he had his earring in, which was almost identical to Rainbow's, albeit quite a bit smaller, the two of them headed upstairs to Big Mac's bedroom, which begged Rainbow to ask him something.

"You want to do it tonight?" Rainbow asked, nudging Big Mac in the ribs. He chuckled before giving Rainbow a kiss.

"No, not tonight, I just want to spend it with you" Big Mac said, making Rainbow blush as he climbed into bed, patting the spot in front of him to get Rainbow to climb in. After some short hesitation she climbed in, nudging herself between his legs so that he would hold her close as they slept.

"Goodnight Rainbow" Big Mac said as he gave Rainbow a kiss on the head.

"Goodnight Mac" Rainbow said back as she nuzzled his chin with the top of her head, the two of them both falling asleep quickly once they were comfortable, and now neither of them were going to move until the morning.

Chapter 2: The Morning After

Rainbow's eyes fluttered open as the early morning sunlight landed on her face, the light blinding her because of the hangover she had. With a loud groan Rainbow rolled over onto her back in the bed, her right hoof landing on something hard and soft at the same time. When she looked at what she hit her eyes shot open in fear and surprise, and all that came out of her were some unintelligible mumbles.

"Big Mac?!" Rainbow said in a hushed shout when her brain managed to make the sounds she needed for the words to make sense. Apparently Big Mac, and everypony else in the house for that matter, were still fast asleep, considering how it got so quiet after Rainbow's shout that you could hear a pin drop a mile away. Rainbow continued to stare at Big Mac until her brain started to remind her of what had happened last night, up to the part where things started to get hazy. The last thing Rainbow could remember was Twilight daring Pinkie to eat healthy for an entire week, which was followed by lots of whining and complaining, but after that all Rainbow could remember was laughing a lot and nothingness.

"Oh Celestia what did I do last night..." Rainbow said quietly as she rolled over to face the edge of the bed, curling up into a tiny ball in the process. She had a sliver of hope that by some unknown Unicorn magic Celestia had actually heard her and was going to come down from the clouds to answer that question, but of course that was never going to actually happen. With a loud sigh Rainbow slid out of the bed and landed with a thud on her hooves, still not waking up Big Mac, as evidenced by him rolling over so that his back was to her, showing her the bow that he had in his mane by accident. She tried to stop herself from giggling, but she couldn't help but let out a tiny laugh, but it quickly stopped when she saw the tiny earring Big Mac had in his left ear. It was small, but it was big enough for her to notice it.

"What did I do last night?" Rainbow asked, sounding almost desperate as she slowly curled up into a ball beside the bed, her mind coming up with thousands upon thousands of possible scenarios as to why she was in bed with Mac, and why he had a wedding ring in his ear. She started to shake on the floor as her panic attack got worse, eventually giving her the thought that she had gone for a roll in the hay with Mac the night before. Just as she started stroking her tail she heard Mac start to wake up, which shut her up immediately.

"Ugh, my head..." Big Mac groaned as he got out of the bed so he could stumble his way downstairs. He didn't seem to notice Rainbow silently wishing she had never been born on the floor beside his bed, which she was partly thankful for. She knew he was soft spoken and polite, but she didn't know how he would react to her laying on the floor next to his bed right after he woke up. Meanwhile, Big Mac was making his way downstairs, his sleepiness and his hangover somehow making him oblivious to the fact that there were five passed out mares, one of them being his sister, in the living room, each of them sprawled out across the floor in different ways.

"Ugh..." Big Mac moaned as he stepped over Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie without even knowing it so that he could get to the kitchen. Once he was there he shoved his head in the sink and turned the cold water on, waking himself up almost immediately, and helping to lessen his hangover. When he pulled his head out of the sink he backed up into the empty cider barrel from last night, rolling it over just enough to reveal three red "x"s on the side of it.

"Applejack grabbed the hard cider?" Big Mac asked out loud in confusion, trying to figure out why she would do that when it was her friends that had come over. They only ever brought out the hard cider when the older ponies got together after the reunions, or when somepony in the family passed away, not for drinking with friends, and they certainly didn't go through an entire barrel in one night.

"Oh, Granny is going to be mad..." Big Mac said, knowing that even though Applejack was the one to get the barrel, he was going to get hell too because he didn't check to see if it was the right one. Knowing better than to dwell on the issue Big Mac decided to head upstairs, but when he looked into the living room from the kitchen he noticed the mares all passed out on the floor. They must have drunk a lot, Big Mac thought in his head as he looked at all of them, his eyes stopping when he saw Applejack and Rarity cuddling in front of the couch.

"Oh that's just too good" Big Mac said with a big smile as he quickly ran off to get the camera. He may be one of the nicest ponies in town, but even he couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some dirt on his sister that he could use whenever he needed to. Once the camera was one he got in position to take the shot, and the flash ended up making all of the mares wake up, meanwhile Big Mac was rolling around on the floor laughing.

"What's so funny?!" Applejack shouted as she opened her eyes, her hangover making Mac's loud laughter the most annoying thing she had ever heard. When her eyes had fully opened she found herself looking right at Rarity's half awake, half hungover face, which made her shout so loud that everypony in the room huddled down in pain.

"Stop shouting so loud!" Rarity cried as she held her hooves over her ears, accidentally shouting herself, which earned her an angry look from everypony else. Rarity quickly realized what she had done and a light blush appeared on her face, but it quickly went away when she saw the picture Mac had taken lying on the floor in front of him. Picking it up without any hesitation Rarity was met with a picture of her and Applejack, happily cuddling up with each other on the floor, their hooves wrapping around one another.

"Who took this picture?!" Rarity asked angrily as she threw it onto the ground in front of her, getting more angry looks from everypony because of how loud she was being. Once the pain he was feeling went away Big Mac picked up the picture and gave Rarity a devilish smile.

"I did" Big Mac said, sounding like it was all part of a diabolical plan that he had hatched to embarrass her and Applejack.

"Give it to me" Rarity ordered, putting her hoof out in front of herself, expecting the picture to be given to her in an instant.

"Eenope" Big Mac replied, still smiling evilly at her.

"Give it to me" Rarity ordered again, with a bit more force behind her voice this time.

"Eenope"

"Give it to me!"

"Eenope"

"I SAID GIVE IT TO ME!" Rarity whined, earning her a punch in the shoulder from Applejack, who could have sworn her ears were bleeding from how loud Rarity was getting. Big Mac stuck his tongue out at Rarity as he tucked the picture under his yoke so that no pony was going to get it from him. Meanwhile, because of the noise they were making downstairs, Applebloom was climbing out of bed with a moan and a groan since it was still early in the morning. As Applebloom made her way towards the stairs she glanced into Big Mac's room, seeing Rainbow still curled up in a ball next to his bed, and Applebloom could have sworn she was sucking on her hoof.

"Big Mac?" Applebloom called out from the top of the stairs, "Why is Rainbow Dash huddled in your room?"

"WHAT?!" everypony, including Big Mac, shouted from the living room before running upstairs to see Rainbow start to rock back and forth on the floor.

"Rainbow, dear, is everything okay?" Rarity asked, the news of Rainbow being in Big Mac's room having shocked her out of the hangover, if only for a little while. Rainbow seemed to notice that they were there and moved her head to look at all of them, Applejack's eyes shooting open when she saw what was in Rainbow's ear.

"Why are you wearing my mother's wedding ring?!" Applejack asked angrily as she ran up to Rainbow, barely resisting the urge to rip it right out. The shout seemed to snap Rainbow out of her panic attack long enough for her to notice the ring as well, which made her scream when she realized that it matched the one Big Mac had in his ear, except it was bigger. Unfortunately, Rarity now noticed the ring in Big Mac's ear, and quickly made the correct connection between the two.

"My guess is, Big Mac and Rainbow got married last night" Rarity said in a matter-of-fact way that made everypony look at her in confusion until she pointed out her reasons why, "See, they have matching earrings" Everypony looked between Big Mac and Rainbow closely, now seeing the connection that Rarity had made.

"Why in Celestia's name does Rainbow have mom's earring, and why do you have dads on?!" Applejack shouted as she ran up to Big Mac and held him up by the fur on his neck.

"I... Don't... Know..." Big Mac forced out, being barely able to speak with Applejack pretty much choking him out of anger. It wasn't that she didn't like Rainbow, or hated that they were going to be together, but it was because she hated that it was over night, and that there was nothing behind it. She wasn't stupid, she could tell they weren't together before, and now, after a night of fun they were hitched.

"Sis, why are you choking him like that?" Applebloom asked as she pushed her way into the room, her own eyes settling on Rainbow's new accessory, "Did Rainbow and Big Mac get married?!" When everypony looked at her she had a hopeful look on her face, as if she wanted it be true, that her big brother and the best flier in Ponyville were now married.

"Uh..." Twilight said, trying to come up with an excuse for it, but nothing came to mind, and everypony else was busy trying to figure out what could have happened that would end up with the two of them getting married. Nothing that made sense seemed to end up with them getting together, but when Applejack let go of Big Mac he gave the last piece of information they needed to figure out what happened.

"Maybe it has something to do with the hard cider you brought up last night" Big Mac said, giving Applejack an angry look, not only for choking him, but for making a scene in front of Applebloom. There was a chorus of "Oh..."s coming from all of the mares, who had collectively realized what must have happened the night before.

"What?" Big Mac asked, not quite understanding what was going on.

"You two got drunk last night" Rarity said, hoping Big Mac would be able to figure out the rest, but his blank stare proved otherwise.

"And then you two went to town hall" Twilight said, but Big Mac still didn't get it.

"And then you two got married" Applejack said, sounding like an upset little filly as she glared at Big Mac. It seemed like had finally understood it, but after a few seconds his face went blank again.

"So I'm married to Rainbow Dash now?"

"YES!" everypony shouted, including Applebloom, because they had already gotten tired of having to explain it to him.

"Oh..."

Chapter 3: Race Against The Clock!

The room was silent after Big Mac had finally figured out what was going on, which was only after they had pretty much explained it to him. Everypony was waiting for him, or Rainbow, to say something, but both of them stayed silent. Big Mac seemed to be thinking about it, but it didn't look like he thought it was a really big issue, and Rainbow was just sit down with her eyes glued to the ground. Eventually Rarity got annoyed by this and decided to try and get the conversation going herself.

"So, what do you two plan to do now?" Rarity asked, hinting that it would be a very good idea for the two of them to figure things out now, while they were just hungover, not drunk. The two of them looked up at each other for a moment before going back to their private thoughts, which made Rarity want to hit both of them. Rarity believed that a marriage should be something special, and that it should be a big, expensive, and wonderful celebration, not something that was finished within the span of five minutes. After some more waiting Rarity nudged herself over to Twilight, hoping that she would know of some way to get the two of them to start talking.

"Twilight, isn't there anything you can say to them that'll make them talk?" Rarity whined quietly, which slightly annoyed Twilight, but she started to think as well. As far as they could tell Big Mac and Rainbow had slipped out of the house while something was distracting everypony else, and from there they headed into town to get married, but judging by the time there was only one place they could have gotten married at...

"Town hall!" Twilight said suddenly, getting everypony's attention. They all looked at her in confusion until they started to think about what the town hall had to do with the situation they were in, and as soon as they figured it out all of them began to stare blankly ahead. Big Mac and Rainbow looked at each other in silence as they both came to the exact same conclusion.

"If we get to town hall before they file the paper we won't be married!" they both said, a hint of sadness in Mac's voice while Rainbow sounded completely overjoyed at the thought that they could prevent themselves from actually being married. When Rainbow realized how excited she had been at the thought she blushed quite a bit, almost becoming as red as her current husband was. It wasn't that she didn't want to be married to Big Mac, it was that she didn't want to be married to him right now. He was a good guy and all, but Rainbow liked being free from restrictions, and right now, being hitched to somepony who was stuck on the ground was a big restriction.

"So..." Rarity began to say as everypony turned to look at her at the same time, "Should we get going?"

"Yeah, we probably should" Twilight said awkwardly as she started to back up out of the room, turning around when she was in the hallway. Once she had started walking down the stairs everypony else began to follow after her, all of them feeling a strange sense of hesitation as though none of them wanted to stop this from happening. Applebloom was going to follow after them but Applejack pulled her back, telling her to stay at home so that she could explain what was going on to Granny.

"What was that about?" Rainbow asked when Applejack joined back up with the group.

"I don't want Applebloom tagging along with us, if she did she'd probably blurt out what we were doing to everypony we passed by" Applejack said, remembering the last time Applebloom's blabber mouth got out of hand. Applejack had locked herself up in the house for about a week because of some stomach pains she was having, and Applebloom had assumed what the cause was. Within two days the entire town had known, and believed, what Applebloom had thought of, and it ended up making the weeks afterwards extremely hard and awkward for Applejack.

"Well, that's probably a good idea" Rainbow said in agreement as she happily remembered Applejack having to run around dispelling rumors for an entire month after the last time she told Applebloom something important. After that the group was pretty much silent for the rest of the trip into town, until Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo came running up to them.

"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she jumped up to wrap herself around Rarity's neack, nearly taking her to the ground with her. Scootaloo on the other hoof just happily trotted up to see Rainbow and stopped perfectly in front of her, looking like an obedient little dog. Rainbow smiled at her and scuffed up Scootaloo's mane before pulling the little filly into a hug.

"What's going on?" Pinkie asked excitedly, bouncing up and down in a circle around the group, hoping that there was something really interesting going on with the Crusaders.

"Oh, we just got some news that somepony in town is getting married" Sweetie Belle said, making all of them freeze on the spot.

"What was that?" They all asked in unison, which freaked out Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo quite a bit.

"Well, uh, we heard that somepony was going to get married soon because the stallion had proposed to his marefriend" Sweetie Belle said, her eyes trailing over to Rarity, "I thought you would want to make the dress for the bride" Rarity seemed to think about it for a second before smiling at Sweetie Belle.

"Sure thing, now could you go back to what you were doing and leave the adults alone?" Rarity asked, giving Sweetie Belle a sweet smile, but all that did was make her suspicious. The two fillies turned their backs to the adults and started to talk quickly before turning back to stare Rarity down.

"What's going on?" they asked together, making the entire group of adults start to feel uncomfortable. They shifted uncomfortably as they attempted to come up with some excuse they could use on the girls, but nothing seemed to make sense so they all gave up and sighed.

"We're going to town hall" Twilight said in a defeated tone of voice.

"Why?" Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow at Twilight. It was strange for all of them to be going to the town hall at the same time when there wasn't some sort of celebration or announcement happening.

"Well, we were, uh..." Rainbow said, squinting her eyes to try and find out what to say to, "Going to go see Mayor Mare so we could plan for..."

"Bon Bon's birthday!" Pinkie blurted out, making everypony look at her as she hung out of a tree by her hind legs. For a moment they wondered how Pinkie got up there, but they simply shrugged it off as Pinkie being Pinkie.

“It’s Bon Bon’s…” Rainbow said as she tried to find out what Pinkie was trying to think about, “Yup, it’s Bon Bon’s birthday soon” Rainbow turned to nod at Pinkie to show that she knew what the plan was, but the two fillies noticed something new about her, specifically her ear.

“Rainbow, why do you have a wedding earring in your ear?” Scootaloo asked inquisitively.

“And why does it look like an apple?” Sweetie Belle added on, making Rainbow turn bright red. She tried to figure out what to say as an excuse but everything she said was coming out as a weird jumble of words that one would expect to come out of some crazy old mare. Twilight and Rarity knew that she wasn't going to be making sense anytime soon so they quickly formulated an excuse.

"Oh, Rarity is trying out a new jewelry design for Pegasi, so she wanted Rainbow to try it out" Twilight said, winking at Rarity.

"Yes... Yes!" Rarity said to reinforce Twilight's lie, "I knew that if she wore it then we could see if it would stay on when she started flying at high speeds" The two fillies seemed to accept that as an acceptable excuse so they shrugged and moved on down the path, hoping to run into Applebloom so they could do some crusading later. Once they were out of sight the entire group let out a sigh of relief, happy to be out of that awkward situation and that the girls hadn't noticed the earring that Big Mac had, so they started heading towards the town hall again.

When they got in front of the town hall they all froze and looked up at it as though it was some impossible obstacle that was standing in the way of their epic quest to keep a drunken marriage from going through. As they opened the door they were greeted by fifteen or so ponies running around as they did their jobs. In the midst of it all stood Lyra, who was happily lounging in her chair with a big smile plastered on her face.

"Lyra, we need you to get a form for us" Rainbow said urgently, which earned her a chuckle from Lyra.

"Sorry, but you're about ten minutes too late if you're looking for that marriage form you and big red signed last night" Lyra said, looking at them with a grin, "Thanks for that by the way, I got a raise out of it for some reason" Rainbow had to fight to resist the urge to jump over the desk right then and there so she could strangle her, but Big Mac stepped in and played the voice of reason.

"I guess we're too late to do anything now, we might as well head back to the farm" Big Mac said, only being somewhat sad because he knew Rainbow wasn't completely happy about marrying him now that she was sober. She nodded her head slowly and started to walk towards the door as everypony looked at her with sad eyes. As Rainbow opened the door there was a loud pop, followed by the cheering of what must have been all of Ponyville.

"What the f-"

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

"WHY ARE ALL OF YOU PONIES HERE?!" Rainbow shouted at the top of her lungs, and when she looked down she saw three little fillies with mischievous smiles on their faces, "Oh you little shits..."

Chapter 4: Happy -1

As the party got underway Rainbow got away and managed to sit down at a relatively quiet table by herself. Somehow, in the midst of everypony trying to congratulate her and Big Mac she got out, but out of the corner of her eye she could see three little fillies running towards her.

"Hi Rainbow!" the three of them shouted as they skidding to a stop in front of her, each of them with progressively bigger smiles. Right now, the three last ponies that Rainbow wanted to see were them, but apparently all of her wishes and prayers for them to disappear from the face of the earth were going to go unfulfilled. The three of them didn't seem to notice Rainbow's sour mood so they attempted to make her talk with them.

"So, Rainbow, are you happy about marrying Big Mac?" Sweetie Belle asked happily, getting an ambiguous grunt from Rainbow. The Crusaders looked at each other in confusion for a moment before Scootaloo smiled again.

"Is Big Mac really sappy when he's around you now?" Scootaloo asked with a smile before she winked at the Crusaders, being confident that Rainbow was going to reply to her. Again Rainbow gave them an ambiguous grunt before she started to get up from the table so she could sneak away. When she turned around Rainbow ran straight into Big Mac, who had been looking for her since the party had kicked off.

"There you are, is everything okay?" Big Mac asked worriedly, which got him an angry glare. He backed off for a second but followed after her when she started to stomp away. Everytime he attempted to say something to her she would speed up for a few seconds, but after a while she stopped walking all together.

"Why are you following me?" Rainbow asked angrily, making Big Mac back off again.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay, you seem really angry about this" Big Mac replied, getting a completely pissed off glare from Rainbow. Of course she as pissed off about it, she wasn't planning on getting drunk and waking up with a husband, let alone getting drunk and marrying one of her best friend's brother. She didn't hate him for it, but he was fairly far away from her idea of the perfect stallion.

"Does it seriously look like I'm okay?" Rainbow snapped back at Mac, just as a Celestia's private carriage came down beside her, with the two princesses inside of it. Rainbow could swear her heart stopped completely for at least a minute, or long enough to make her feel lightheaded. Before she could faint completely the shock from the princesses arriving beside her wore off, which allowed her to somewhat compose herself before they began to speak.

"Greetings Ponyville!" Celestia said royally, and was met by the stomping of hooves from everypony nearby. It felt as though an earthquake was running through Ponyville, with a few of the signs hanging off the side of a shops falling off and smashing into the ground. Some of the younger ponies were actually shaking around on the ground because of how fast everypony was stamping.

"Where is Rainbow Dash?" Celestia asked as she scanned the ground, her eyes eventually following the pointing hooves that had come up, finding Rainbow trying to hide behind Big Mac, who was just staring flatly ahead. Without saying anything Celestia trotted towards Rainbow, just before smiling at her and Big Mac, which confused Rainbow. She had honestly thought that the almighty ruler would be upset that one of the protectors of Equestria got married because she got drunk. That actually brought up a good question, how did Celestia and Luna even find out about this, the form was only sent out that morning.

"Congratulations you two, I am so happy for both of you" Celestia said with a smile, which was followed by a nod from Luna, who was not used to still being up this early in the morning.

"But, how did you even know about this?" Rainbow asked, sounding just as confused as she actually was. Celestia gave her a confused look for a moment before smiling at her, a little bit of mischief in her eyes.

"Who do you think approved the form?" Celestia asked, making Rainbow facehoof harder than she ever had before. She had completely forgotten that any and all marriage applications had to go through her, and until she gave her stamp of approval no pony would be considered married. It was no wonder why she had found out already, there were so few marriages happening in Equestria that Rainbow's and Big Mac's would have been almost at the top of the list for Celestia to approve.

"Wait, so you made it official?" Rainbow asked, desperately hoping that there would be something she could use to get out of this, but when Celestia raised an eyebrow Rainbow could actually feel her hopes being crushed underhoof. Celestia briefly looked around to see how many ponies were nearby, and when she had done a complete head count she trotted towards Rainbow and Big Mac, leaning down to whisper into their ears.

"Meet me at the farm, I will explain more there" Celestia whispered quietly before turning towards the crowd so that she could interact with all of them, giving Rainbow and Big Mac time to sneak away so they could get to the farm. The two of them were dead silent on the walk towards the farm, with Rainbow being hopeful that Celestia would be able to annul the marriage, and Mac being somewhat depressed that his marriage to Rainbow might end as suddenly as it began. When they got to the farm the two of them broke apart and headed off to find something different for themselves to you, until they say the familiar carriage coming over the treetops.

"Are you really going to try and end this?" Big Mac asked before Celestia could land.

"Yes, I'm really not ready for something like this" Rainbow said, sounding almost offended that Big Mac had even asked if she was serious about it, "There's no way I'd get into the Wonderbolts if I was married and had a foal that relied on me" Right as Rainbow said that Celestia's chariot touched down, with Luna nowhere to be seen.

"So, I can assume by the way you were acting that this was not a decision you would like to go through with, correct?" Celestia asked, looking between the two of them. Both looked at the ground before looking at each other shortly, their gaze shooting back down to the ground quickly. Rainbow looked up at Celestia and nodded, feeling extremely guilty for trying to weed her way out of her marriage to Big Mac.

"After cider season Applejack threw a party, and both had a bit too much to drink" Rainbow explained, "One thing led to another and when we woke up in the morning we were married" Celestia looked over at Big Mac for confirmation, only to get a sad nod from him.

"Well, I am afraid to say this, but there is nothing I can do" Celestia said, giving Rainbow a sorry look.

"What do you mean there's nothing you can do?!" Rainbow asked loudly, "You're the Princess of Equestria!"

"Yes, but there is an old law that covers a situation like this, and even I don't have the power to go against it" Celestia said, getting confused looks from them so she began to explain, "Many years ago, even before Nightmare Moon, Equestria was ruled by me, my sister, and a council of elected representatives. Back them they made a law said any marriage to somepony who carried an Element of Harmony was to be permanent, and that no pony would be able to annul it. They had done an experiment and learned that when a carrier of one of the Elements was divorced, their Elements power would be cut in half, weakening it" When the last few words hit Rainbow's ears she could feel every hope and dream she had ever had being crushed right in front of her. She would never become a Wonderbolt, she would never get to travel the world, she would never be allowed to preform dangerous tricks again, and she wouldn't be allowed live wherever she wanted to. Without saying anything Rainbow slowly trotted away, hanging her head so low that her chin was almost dragging along the ground.

"You may want to go talk to her" Celestia whispered to Big Mac, who had been watching Rainbow walk away with a sad look on his face. He knew Celestia was right, but he didn't know what to say to her, she had been clear, she didn't want to marry him. What could he say to the mare who had actually turned him down after they got married? What would he be able to do to make her even remotely happy when he was part of the reason why she was feeling down and depressed? He briefly thought about telling Rainbow about his secret crush on her, but he still felt extremely uneasy about it, as though she would still turn him away, even now.

"I'll be back..." Big Mac said slowly as he started to walk after Rainbow, leaving Celestia to watch the two of them sadly from the path up to the farmhouse. After a few minutes Big Mac managed to find Rainbow sitting beneath a tree, crying into her hooves.

"Rainbow?" Big Mac asked slowly as he peeked his head around on of the trees, making Rainbow look up for a short moment. In that short moment he was able to see her tear stained wet cheeks and bloodshot eyes, which made his heart twist in his chest.

"What are you doing here?" Rainbow asked quietly in between her quiet sobs.

"I'm here for you" Big Mac said as he threw himself down beside Rainbow, sitting upright for a second before leaning against Rainbow and wrapping a hoof around her, "I'm sorry for everything"

"What are you sorry for, it's not your fault I was stubborn and let this happen" Rainbow said, pushing all of the blame for the pain she was feeling onto herself.

"No, it's my fault for even suggesting this, I know it was me, and I'm sorry" Big Mac said, his voice filled with regret. He managed to remember a bit more of what happened the night before, specifically him daring Rainbow to marry him, and her accepting the challenge of it.

"But I still went along with it, and I was probably the one that made you sign the papers just so I could prove something to myself" Rainbow said, her voice sounded more depressed than before. Big Mac slowly pulled Rainbow into a deep hug, which startled her.

"I'm sorry for not saying this until now, but..." Big Mac trailed off, a lump growing in his throat, "I kinda... love you" He could feel Rainbow stop breathing for a moment when he said that, but she quickly began again, this time her shoulders starting to shake. Big Mac slowly let go of her only to see her laughing instead of crying, as well as the big wet spot she had left on his chest.

"What'd I do?" Big Mac asked confusedly, not exactly sure what he said that had made Rainbow start laughing like she was.

"Was this really the best time to tell me that you have a crush on me? Really?" Rainbow asked, tears of laughter starting to find their way out of her eyes, "You jackass"

"Hey, I just wanted to try and make you happy, you don't need to laugh at me for it" Big Mac said, sounding a bit like a young colt after somepony proved him wrong.

"Oh don't worry, you did" Rainbow said as she wiped her eyes clear of the tears, "Maybe you aren't so bad after all" Big Mac looked up to see Rainbow with a big smile on her face, a dramatic contrast to her still tear stained cheeks. After a few moments Rainbow pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tight as though he was a giant teddy bear.

"What's this for?" Big Mac asked, knowing it was because he had managed to make her happy.

"I'm not sure, but I might be starting to really like you" Rainbow said as she nuzzled into Big Mac's chest, prompting him to wrap his own hooves around her so they would be closer. The two of them stayed like that for a long time, only moving when it had begun to get uncomfortable to be sitting on the ground.