Chapter Two
Familiar Faces
Big Mac felt a familiar yet still very painful wave pass through his body. It was almost as if somepony had taken a wrench and tightened every single muscle and bone in to their max, just before loosening them like rusty screws. He never enjoyed the sensation.
His eyes were closed as he tried to roll out the new kinks in his back. But as he opened them he realized he had made a mistake.
This was not Canterlot.
No.
This was all wrong.
The palm tree plants, the odd smelling air, the heat around him.
They were all wrong.
"RAAAAAAAAWWWWRRR!" The screech of an ancient and feral beast came from behind him.
Big Macintosh swallowed. He turned around to see a vicious, jagged tooth Ponisaur running towards him with an intent to kill and feast.
"OH BUCK! OH BUCK! OH BUCK!" exclaimed the red, juicy, prey galloping forward as fast as it could.
He jumped over one of the mini palm trees that were blocking his way, but he instantly realized that was a mistake as well. He had just jumped over a cliff!
Big Macintosh, with the grace of a drunken giraffe, fell butt first into the bottom of the ravine, six feet below. Hearing the approach of the Ponisaur he did his best to regain what composure he had left and find a place to hide and actually fix this. He looked around desperately, and was only just able to scurry into a small cave underneath where he had fallen before he heard the second roar of the reptile like creature above him.
He held his breath.
He could hear the beast scratching and sniffing the ground just above him.
The lack of oxygen began to hurt.
The Ponisaur roared one more time, then jumped across the ravine, and kept running.
Big Macintosh gasped, trying to get his breath back.
When he finally calmed down enough he angrily grabbed the letter from his pocket and flipped open his vortex manipulator. There must be some kind of mistake. Why would they send him here?
Perhaps he had forgotten how to use it properly, it had been over a year after all. Maybe he had just been stupid. He scanned over all the numbers and symbols flashing across the scene, his ears were flattened with annoyance and irritation from his situation.
Suddenly he hit himself in the forehead.
He had forgotten the zero in his coordinates.
"Stupid Macintosh," he muttered to himself as started pressing buttons to amend the problem.
With all the silly numbers back in their proper place Big Macintosh was just about to reactivate the Manipulator when he felt something tickling his side. Instinctively he looked down.
His eyes widened as he saw a spider the size of his face beginning to crawl on his flank.
"CELESTIA DAMN THE JURASSIC!" he exclaimed on an octave higher than he thought his voice could go. He jumped out of the cave, escaping the monster spider.
Hurriedly he pushed another button and then disappeared.
The warping and roaring sound of the time vortex echoed in his ears just before he collapsed on the cold metal floor. He groaned, feeling the same abuse of his body as before.
When he opened his eyes he found himself looking into the face of a pony that he wished that he could have forgotten a long time ago. But instead of forgetting, he remembered.
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The only way that Big Macintosh could describe the thing laying on the dirt ground of his field was by calling it utterly and absolutely ugly. It didn't have any fur at all, but rather wrinkly orange, brown and calloused skin. It's eyes were sunken deep into its skull, and look full of malice and darkness even closed. It didn't have fur, but as Big Macintosh looked closer he could see a few stray hairs popping up around it.
It was still breathing, but unconscious, something Big Mac was grateful for. He didn't want to be the reason why some poor wild animal had to die, even if that same animal had tried to attack him.
Truth be told he was more irritated by the Blue Pegasus that was speaking to him than the animal. He was quite something, and so were his eyebrows, very well defined. His coat was a deep ocean blue, and his cutie mark was the Orion Constellation. He was wearing an equally blue military jacket, fancy and covered with honors, it seemed to fit him very well. He was very good looking, however Big Mac didn't really roll the way this stallion wanted him to.
Thus the reason why he was becoming so annoyed for the compliments being dropped to him in between the explanation why they were taking this thing back to Canterlot.
"It's called a weevil, and no need to worry big fellow, there shouldn't be any more of them headed your way."
"An' who did you say you ponies were?" asked Big Macintosh watching as the green unicorn loaded the thing into a truck.
"We are with the royal guard. I'm Captain Jack Harkness, this is Captain John Hart," spoke the blue pegasus with the odd name, motioning with his free hoof towards a dark brown, slim unicorn who was wearing a red jacket.
This other pony looked to be feeling a little bitter about something as he stood there. Sending his compatriot an impatient look every now and then.
"They sent two captains just for this?"
"Very nasty creatures weevils can be," answered Captain Jack.
Big Mac sent a side glance to the body of the weevil. "Eeyup," was all he said, thinking how it bared its fangs before it ran at him.
He turned away from the guard ponies going back to the apple orchard where he was bucking apples.
He heard the one called Captain John speak angrily to his fellow Captain. "Jack, aren't we going to talk about this."
"Not now John," was all he got before Jack started trotting towards the truck.
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It was two months after Big Macintosh met the two Captains by the time he next saw them. It was early in the morning when he heard the knock on the door.
He had been full of trepidation as he opened the door, he hadn't been expecting anyone. But when he saw who the visitors were he only became confused.
"Er…can I help ya Ponies?" asked Big Mac to the pegasus and unicorn on his doorstep.
"Follow up survey," said Captain John quickly.
"We were just wondering if you have seen anything unusual lately. All the farming things going alright? Any unusual, unplanned weather? Creature sightings? And the Sun, anything odd with the sun lately?" asked Jack.
Big Mac peered past the two stallions, checking on the rising sun. Right on time for the season. Celestia seemed to be doing her job just fine.
"Nnnope, nothing unusual here. Did another one of them weevil's get loose?"
"No, not at all," spoke Captain John, who was wearing a forced smile. "Come on let's go Jack," he said grabbing his partner by the collar and dragging him away.
Big Macintosh watched curiously as they left. There was something odd about those two ponies. He wasn't certain what it was. But it was there. There was obviously some kind of tension between them, and some kind of history. Recalling the flirting demeanor that the blue one laid upon him last time he could make an educated guess that it was a romantic history.
But that wasn't his business.
Big Macintosh closed the door and went back inside.
"Who was that Big Mac?" asked Applejack, who was standing in the hallway behind him. Her mane was wet, and it clung to her damp coat like a million tiny dragonflies to a hillside. She was drying herself off with a towel.
Big Macintosh smiled a little bit. She looked so beautiful.
"Nopony important, just those guards I told you about before. Some kind a' survey," he told her as his mind furiously went to work trying to expunge all the wishful thoughts of them snuggling together and nuzzling by a fire as they dried off.
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Everypony was asleep that very night as Big Macintosh sat there in the kitchen with a spoonful of peanut butter in his mouth. He drew it over his mouth with his tongue as he went over his blizzard of thoughts with a fine tooth comb.
It was getting worse lately. How much he was thinking about Applejack.
How absolutely beautiful she was.
About how much he wanted to be with her, closer than they are now.
Parts of him, sensible, logical parts of him told him that he was being the same old stupid stallion he always was. She was his sister. To do something like that…to so much as tell her…it would betray the most sacred trust he had ever had with any pony.
Not to mention the genetic problems….
He stuck out his peanut butter covered tongue in disgust. A feeling that was aimed at himself.
He didn't want to do that with her. That would be so over simplistic that it almost made him want to break a pane of glass with his forehead. Maybe eventually… but he didn't enjoy allowing that idea to flourish.
Rather, there was one fantasy that kept cropping up in his mind. One that refused to leave no matter how many times he had tried to burn it, flatten it, hide it, or even flush it down his mental toilet.
He wanted to hold her tight and nuzzle against her chest, feel their fur rub against each other, and tell her, more than anything in the world. He wanted her to know that he loved her more than he loved anything else, even life itself. He wanted her to feel warm, and happy in his embrace. And maybe, just maybe, just a little, she would love him back in the same way.
Lust was for clopping and drunken escapades, cuddling was for ponies.
He smiled bitterly to himself.
What a stupid romantic he was!
Big Macintosh had great doubt that Applejack would ever have so much as a single thought like that about him. Or that she would even accept him as such.
Of course there was the other, more stubborn problem of his other responsibilities. Granny Smith would probably buck his teeth out if she ever found out he was thinking of such things. And Applebloom…how would he even explain it? The family depended on him, the only stallion of the house, to sustain the farm and thus them all.
Big Macintosh was, and always would be a farm pony.
He enjoyed it, he really did, the simple life. The chores, plowing, and bucking that he knew by heart. He loved his job. Not as much as he loved Applejack, but he still loved it.
Last week he had finally gotten around to reading those Daring Doo books everypony seemed to be reading. They were good, nice story, nice characters, wonderful adventures. However it was not long after he was done that he asked himself an odd question.
Would he take the chance to have such a wonderful adventure if it meant leaving his farm and family? If he could see all the greatest marvels in all the world? If he could find a brilliant, clever, adventurous mare to spend his time with? If he could just gallop and gallop and never look back?
The answer, he decided only minutes later, was no.
He loved this life too much, even if it meant holding the pain of unrequited love, and the knowledge that no one would ever truly know him and the things that made him think.
Big Macintosh swallowed, and twisted the lid back onto the peanut butter jar. As soon as he put the jar back in the pantry, and heard the spoon clatter down in the sink he made to trot up the stairs and to his room.
But suddenly there was a knock on the door. Well, not really a knock, more like two large objects suddenly falling onto the porch.
Big Macintosh stood frozen on the base of the stairs. He as sure as Tartarus wasn't expecting anypony in the middle of the night.
He eyed the door suspiciously, not sure what lay behind it.
Now, Big Macintosh never before considered himself to be scared of many things that go bump in the night. But had he known what was behind that door he would have ran as fast as he could with his strongly built legs, all the way up to his room. He would have locked the door and jumped beneath his bed and closed his eyes and wait for day to come.
Because, what lay behind that door would drag him into a living nightmare, that would devour him like a pack of hungry timber wolves.
Big Macintosh did not know what was behind that door, because fate was a very cruel thing to ponies. So instead of running and hiding, he slowly walked to the door and opened it.
He gasped, instantly stunned by the morbid scene.
It was the blue stallion, Captain Jack.
His limp, bloody body lay on the porch.
There were dozens of bullet holes and stabbing wounds across his chest.
He was holding a revolver in his right hoof, a hoof that had some kind of contraption wrapped around its ankle.
Big Macintosh thought that he was dead. He didn't know what to do. He didn't even know what happened. How could he?
He knew that he should try to help somehow, but for that moment all he could do was stare in disbelief.
The pony he had talked to that very day was…just dead.
His eyes were open, but they weren't moving. It was as if someone had just stuck two off color marbles into a rag doll body.
It was horrifying.
Then, without so much as a blink, Jack let out a sudden gasp, inhaling greedily what air he could. His eyes brought back to attention as if they had simply been distracted.
"Oh Celestia! Are ya' alright?" asked Big Macintosh as he rushed to the fallen soldier's side.
Big Macintosh tried to figure out something he could do to help. Anything. But he could only watch in shocked awe as each bullet hole and seeping wound closed and healed.
It took only a few moments before the injured pegasus was breathing normally. That was when he began muttering.
"I…I have to…I have to stop him…" he spoke as if he didn't even believe himself.
"Who, stop who? Cap'n Harkness, what's this about?" asked Big Mac hopelessly confused.
Jack didn't answer the question, and instead starting tapping numbers into the little device on his ankle.
Big Macintosh threw his hoof down stubbornly. "What's this about Cap'n? And how did you manage that trick, I've never seen magic like that before?"
Jack's hoof stopped tapping, and he looked up to the pony who stood above him with an almost pleading look. "He…is going to destroy the world…I have to stop him, don't I…" he spoke, as if wanting Big Macintosh to tell him if he was right or wrong.
"Who's doin what!" exclaimed Big Macintosh, feeling genuinely frightened now. He reached out with his hoof almost trying to check whether or not his mere touch would cause the impossible stallion to disappear. That single touch on the Vortex Manipulator as it was activated.
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"Nice to see you again Big Mac, did you miss me?" asked Captain Jack Harkness extending a hoof to the fallen pony. Coincidently in the reverse situation they were in all those months ago.
"The immortal Captain Jack," spoke a piece of Macintosh's mind.
Big Macintosh narrowed his eyes and stood up all on his own. "It's been too soon, Jack."
"That's Captain Jack Harkness. And that's a nice suit you got there, Big Mac, very… suave," he winked at Big Mac who did his best to dust all the Jurassic dirt off his jacket.
Momentarily ignoring the pony who greeted him Big Macintosh took a gander around him. It had been a long time since he was in here. It looked much cleaner now.
He was standing on a platform, raised just a few hooves above the main floor. The room was part of some kind of cave, reinforced with a crisscrossing metal structure and the floor itself was made of the cold steel.
In front of him lay about a dozen of what Big Mac recognized as computer stations, with at least half of them currently occupying a pony. And at the very center was some kind of pillar, made of both red glass and metal and had a whole assortment of wires and cables attached to it.
Glancing behind him Big Macintosh saw a wall made of tiles that would fit well in an underground train station. There was a word spelled out in large black bold font across it. A declaration of what this place was, and all it stood for. Only a select few ponies in all of Equestria had ever seen or heard that word, even fewer knew what it meant, as it was a secret word.
TORCHWOOD
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"So who are you people, exactly," Big Macintosh asked bitterly, standing over the grave of Captain John Hart with the blue pegasus standing by his side. He wore a bandage around his shoulder. The injury a parting gift from the dead pony.
"We are the Torchwood Institute. Founded by Princess Celestia three hundred and sixty four years ago, we are here to prepare Equestria for the future," Captain Jack spoke tiredly, his voice laced with the melancholy nostalgia that came from standing over his friend's grave. He had obviously given the introduction to many, many ponies before. But this time it was different.
"I thought that John could help us, I thought he would have been able to calm down just a little after all this time. It was useful too, finally having a fully functional Vortex Manipulator around. That's one of the reasons why I'm giving you this offer. The other reasons being that you fought hoof to hoof with a veteran time agent all across time and space, and somehow won, and saved the world.
"We might need your help, in the future. When the time comes, will you help us, for Princess and Country?" he asked. "The Vortex Manipulator is biolocked to you. You're the only one who can activate it now."
Big Macintosh swallowed.
"You can still use yours as a teleport."
"Some circumstances will need time travel," he replied.
"Fine, if you need me, then call me," Big Mac conceded.
"Good." Jack smiled grimly as he began tapping into the Vortex Manipulator on his ankle. "There is someone in Canterlot who wants to see you, just one last trip, I promise."
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"You didn't have any trouble getting here now did you?" asked Captain Jack, not failing to notice the dirtiness of Big Macintosh's 'suave' suit.
"I forgot to plug in the zero."
Captain Jack did some math in his head before giving Big Mac an empathetic look. "That must have been messy."
"Eeeyup," he replied nodding his head slowly.
A minty green unicorn wearing a headset trotted up the steps to the platform. "Captain, we dispatched Tugs and Martin to investigate the code blue."
"Good, have them report back as soon as they get there, Lyra."
"You're not going to go down?" she asked.
Jack shook his head. "I stopped chasing after code blues a long time ago. But, have you met Big Macintosh over here, I have heard he is quite the stud back in Ponyville."
"Oh, I wouldn't know about that, been very busy with the wedding plans, Jack," she said, rolling her eyes, somehow resting them on the device on Big Mac's ankle, she glanced at it curiously for just a moment before she retreated back to one of the computer stations bellow.
"Good pony, Lyra Heartstrings, hard worker," Jack said, watching as she left.
Big Macintosh cleared his throat, holding up the beaten letter he had received. The thing he dreaded for so long apparently taken so lightly by the Captain.
"That's right, very important things to deal with. I'm glad you came, Big Mac. I really didn't want to have to go all the way to Ponyville to fetch you."
"What's the emergency? And what time are we going to?"
"What makes you think we are going to a different time?" asked Captain Jack.
"I can't see any other reason you would need me."
Captain Jack lifted up his eyebrows suggestively, "How about for that fantastic plot?"
Big Macintosh just blinked. "Can we get on with it Jack?" his voice reflected how tired he was with all this already.
The flirty expression on Jack's face instantly melted, going back to a serious one. "Alright Big Mac," somehow he managed to sound just as tired. Perhaps neither of them really wanted to meet again in the first place.
"Follow me, I'll explain what I can on the way," Captain Jack directed him, turning around.
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Without any warning or fanfare Big Macintosh found himself in a different place entirely and feeling as though his body had just been used a horse shoe.
One moment he had been on his porch, and now, he was in…some place made out of tarnished metal.
"Stay here big fella, no one else has to get hurt in all this," Jack told him as he began to gallop down the corridor of the metal hallway.
"Wha…where are we?!" exclaimed Big Macintosh instantly chasing after the pony who took him wherever he was now.
He caught up to him in almost a heartbeat, and jumped on top of him, forcing him to stop.
"Tell me what's going on here!" he demanded, "What did you mean he was going to destroy the world!"
"I don't have time for this! Get off me!" shouted Captain Jack, struggling to throw the stronger earth pony off. Big Macintosh refused to yield.
After nearly a minute of wasted wiggling the trapped pegasus gave up.
"Alright you want to know? It's Captain John, he's rigged a piece of space in the center of the sun to be linked to the inside of the time-space rift underneath Canterlot! If he activates that link then he will implode both the rift and the sun! The rift will destroy Equestria and then the sun will eventually expand to destroy the rest of the planet before collapsing again into a black hole! That's what I'm trying to stop, now get off of me!" he shouted again, his explanation was enough to distract the simple farmer so that Jack could throw him off before dashing back down the hall. Trying to stop the imminent apocalypse.
Big Macintosh sat there, seemingly dumbstruck. The words of the Captain worked their way through his mind. And, somehow, he realized what was happening.
Guiltily he found that his first thoughts, the first realization, was that if that Captain John Hart fellow was going to kill everyone, then he was going to kill Applejack. His second thoughts then going to Applebloom and Granny Smith.
But in the several seconds, in which those thoughts came to be, he was filled with resolve. To Tartarus he wasn't about that Celestia dammed unicorn get away with that.
His hooves suddenly found themselves galloping full speed down the hall, after the Captain.
It only took a few minutes for him to find the two Captains, all he had to do was follow the gunfire.
They were in a large room, one that was utterly destroyed. Pieces of complex machines and computers scattered about. At the very center was a pillar made of red glass and steel. Captain John stood beside it, the device on his ankle was wired into the pillar.
Captain Jack lay fallen before him, shot innumerable times.
The brown pony stood at the center of it all, lording over the scene of chaos and death with a look in his eyes that showed the true meaning of malice and hate. It didn't seem to matter that he and all the world was going to fall into oblivion.
The consequences having been dammed, and fates already decided, the nightmare of the simple farmer began to unfold.
Brought about by his own hooves.
John pressed a button on his device and the air behind him began to glow with a bright light.
Big Macintosh didn't hesitate for a second before he sprang into action.
He jumped with all the strength in his muscular limbs catching the malicious Captain by surprise.
His hoof collided with the Vortex Manipulator.
In a shower of sparks the two of them fell into the rift.
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"The problem is hard to explain, it'll be much easier once I show you. I can say, though, that it involves Princess Luna and events that transpired a long, long time ago," Jack spoke as his and Big Macintosh's hooves clopped with a metallic echo against the aged steel.
"So back in time it is, pre Nightmare Moon?"
"Yup. I will be going with you, your time partner. Best to use the buddy system when it comes to these things. I took two low-level perception filters out of the vault for the mission. The less impact we leave in the past the better."
The two broke into an awkward silence as they stopped in front of the elevator doors. There was much that they had refused to say to each other the last time. Big Mac decided that it if they were indeed going to be partners in all this then some of it needed to be said.
"Hey, Jack." He spoke as the elevator doors opened.
"Yeah?" Jack asked as they walked into it.
"I'm sorry, for…what ended up happening."
The silence returned.
"Yeah. Me too." They were both looking forward, at the door, as neither of them dared look at the other after the words were spoken.
"You never told me how long it was for you," said Jack.
Big Macintosh swallowed, "Three months. And for them, Applejack, Applebloom, and Granny Smith…it was only three days. The Vortex Manipulator was damaged when we fell into the rift. That was how it got biolocked to me, and him, but that wasn't all. The Vortex Manipulator got stuck to random, permanently. So every day I spent chasing after him, at five o two P.M. it would displace us both, some random planet, some random time. Three months was how long it took for him to fix it. I stopped him just before he was able to start again were he left off, destroying Equestria."
"That's almost one hundred times," Jack was surprised. He knew that it had been long enough to leave some permanent scars within Big Macintosh, but three months…
No matter the ordeal of Big Macintosh, there was one question that he had been begging to ask his fellow time traveler ever since he returned.
"Did he tell you why, John that is?"
"He…" Macintosh hesitated. "He said that you broke his heart."
That bitter smile was back on the mouth of the blue Pegasus. "Yeah, I was wondering if he would have bothered telling you the truth."
Jack sighed as the elevator came to a stop. "Well the past is the past, even for a time traveler."
They walked out, and the metal floor was replaced dark purple and white tiles. "Welcome to the tour of Canterlot Castle, ever been before?" asked Jack.
"Nnope, missed that field trip in school."
Jack led him down the corridors of the ancient and noble palace that was home to the royal sisters. This time stopping at a double set of doors. They were very large doors, very ornate, colored in deep purples and blues, the earmarks of a gateway to something of the highest importance.
In this case, the bedroom of Princess Luna.
The royal guards who stood vigilant at the entrance and courteously opened the door for the Captain of Torchwood they were expecting.
Once again Big Macintosh was met with a familiar face. This one was more welcoming than the others. She had a white coat, bright pink eyes and a mane that was befitting of her name. Princess Celestia.
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It was night outside, and dim inside, but Princess Celstia still sat alone in her throne room with just one other pony. Big Macintosh. The farm pony from the town of Ponyville.
She had already dismissed Captain Harkness and the royal guard ponies so that she could have the time alone with this pony who had just saved her and all her subjects from near certain destruction. Now that they were alone Big Macintosh was nearly too afraid to speak in the presence of the princess.
"You saved Equestria, Big Macintosh. Not many ponies can say that. And even fewer can say that they accomplished such a task on their own. You deserve to be rewarded," spoke Princess Celestia to the smaller red pony who stood beneath her.
Big Macintosh did not look up at her. "I killed a pony." He told her simply.
Celestia's expression remained a kind one. "You did what was necessary in the face of a horrible situation. You are not the only pony who has had to be forced to sacrifice a life and their own innocence for the sake of the many."
Big Macintosh stayed silent.
"I should thank you for keeping Torchwood a secret on your own volition. I meant what I said, Big Macintosh, you deserve to be rewarded for your service to your fellow ponies. Is there anything that Equestria can do for you?" she asked once again, her voice soft and comforting.
A reward!? What an idea! What did Big Macintosh want? What could he possibly want?
The answer was obvious.
He wanted to be home again! To see Applejack again! He wanted to rest!
But there was something else, a horrible realization. Celestia said it herself. This was a secret. A secret that he wouldn't dare burden those he loved with. Even though he craved, more than anything, to let everything just explode! Everything bottled up in his soul from his hunt of the demented Captain.
He had seen travesties! Civilizations burning! Ponies dying! Monsters hiding in the darkness and taking the guise of the light! Echoes of a tortured eternity rang through his mind!
One hundred different times and different worlds!
He had seen magnificence! Worlds shouting out in celebration for just one more precious year of existence! Ponies living lives, falling in love! He witnessed beings of light twisting through the air, and entities of sound laughing with joy in his ears!
All the while clinging to the desperate hope that he could go back. That he could one day see his precious Applejack again without the Sun turning against Equestria and burning the planet!
Could he really not tell a soul?
The scars, inside and out. Was he really left to heal them all by himself?
Celestia watched quietly as tears began to drip from her red pony's eyes.
For the first time that night Big Macintosh looked up as he whimpered his request.
"I…I…I…would just like a pony to talk to, Princess. Just one…please…"
His crying eyes begged for pity from none other than the Princess of the Sun.
Big Macintosh had cried many times in his life. Too many times for him to count. However this was the first time he had ever shared his moment of despair with any other pony.
There was something humbling about crying. The shear exposure of weakness to the world, and open vulnerability of a wounded soul. And there was nothing more humbling than crying in front of the ruler of all Equestria.
Princess Celestia stood up and then stepped down from her thrown. She now stood directly over Big Macintosh, who had finally shut his eyes in shame.
"It is alright, it's alright, my little pony. It's alright," she told him as her horn began to glow in the dim light.
Big Macintosh felt and heard the gently pop of an alicorn teleporting. He suddenly felt warmer, and the ground felt so much softer beneath his hooves.
He opened his eyes to find that it was too dark to see anything at all. Princess Celestia had taken pity on him, now he could cry in the dark.
A soft and gentle wing enveloped itself around the crying pony, urging him to lay down. Big Macintosh didn't know what to do but comply, letting himself fall onto the bed.
"Princess…?"
Celestia drew herself close to the battle worn hero and embraced him. "You wished to talk to somepony, here is your chance, my dearest little pony."
It came to be that Big Macintosh did talk to Celestia. He told her everything, the deepest and darkest secrets he kept hidden even from Applejack, and all the stories of his travels. And he was comforted through every second of it.
He fell into a sweet dreamless sleep that night in the embrace of a Princess.
But not before he told a special secret. The reason he was able to bear being thrown through time and space, and fighting hoof to hoof with a great trickster.
The only thought that kept him moving forward, and fighting through it all.
He told princess Celestia that he loved Applejack.
And she kept his secret.
Thus was his reward.