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.