01: That Strong, Silent Type
"Is that the last barrel?" Bar Back called out.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied, hoisting the final barrel onto his back and bringing it through the back door. He placed the full barrel next to the five others he had brought in, grunting as he heaved the heavy cargo off of his back and placed it next to the others.
Bar Back patted Big Mac on the back. "Don't know how you manage to carry those in all by yourself." he said. "I don't think me and my other bartender could even get one of those babies off of the cart."
Big Mac simply nodded, not one for bragging about his immense strength. Bar Back laughed. "Hahaha! The strong silent type, huh? I'm surprised you're not fighting off the mares all day."
Big Mac didn't like talking about his love life, or lack of one, and changed the subject. "So, you ordered two more barrels of hard cider than usual. Any special reason?" he asked.
"Oh, we have a big show for tonight, even got ponies from Manehattan coming in for this one." Bar Back said. "You know that DJ who lives here part time, Vinyl? She's teaming up with this other mare, Starshadow. They're supposedly old friends and Starshadow herself has gotten pretty popular in certain circles. Haven't gotten a chance to hear them play together yet but everypony says that it's a hit. Not to mention they're both sexy as Tartarus. Heck, wouldn't mind a chance to even just watch them with another stallion, though I'd be willing to spend a thousand years on the moon for just one night with them."
Big Mac smiled and nodded. "Sounds like it'll be fun tonight." he said.
"You know it. Hey, why don't you stick around for the show? It's on the house, since you did save me the trouble of breaking my back about ten times to move even just one barrel." Bar Back offered.
Big Mac shook his head. "No thanks, I'm not much of a musical pony." he said.
"You sure?" Bar Back asked. "The cheapest tickets I have are selling for over three hundred bits. You'd be getting a VIP pass for nothing." Big Mac shook his head no again, making Bar Back wonder if the tough stallion had been bucked in the head as a colt. "Okay, if you're sure... but if you change your mind you're more than welcome to come back anytime. They're only playing tonight, though."
Big Mac nodded, understanding that he was rejecting what other stallions would kill to be offered. Big Mac walked with Bar Back to the back office to collect his pay before heading out. As Bar Back had other business to deal with, Big Mac saw himself out, walking down the hallway to the rear exit he had come in. As he exited the building he noticed another cart next to his, the second cart piled with all sorts of equipment that he didn't recognize. There was only one pony unloading the cart, though 'struggling unsuccessfully' was a better term to use. Big Mac saw that the pony was a mare, and a rather slender one at that. She had the same slim physique as Rainbow Dash, maybe even smaller, but not quite as toned as the rainbow colored pony. Her midnight blue coat caused her silver mane and tail stand out like the moon in the night sky, and her bright blue eyes pierced the night with her gaze. Even her cutie mark stood out to him, her four-point star standing out against a hypnotizing aurora background of green, blue, and red.
Big Macintosh slowly stepped forward to ask the mare if she needed any help, but before he could speak up he saw her loose her balance as she tried to pull free a coil of wires stuck underneath a large speaker. Though she was a pegasus she couldn't stop from falling backwards, and there wasn't enough time for her to flip over and spread her wings to stop from falling to the ground.
The mare let out a short scream as she fell but cut it short as her fall abruptly stopped as Big Mac caught her. She felt her savior gently lower her to the ground on her hooves. She tried to hide her surprise as she saw just how big the stallion was who had just saved her, she knew for sure that this was by far the largest stallion she had ever seen before.
"You okay, miss?" Big Mac asked her.
The mare nodded. "Y-yeah, um, thanks." she said.
"You need help with all that?" Big Mac asked while motioning to the cart of heavy equipment.
"Would you? I would greatly appreciate it." the mare said smiling. Big Mac couldn't help but return the smile. There was just something about her that he found himself being drawn to, but what exactly it was he wasn't able to put his hoof on just yet.
The pegasus stared in awe as Big Mac placed one of the speakers on his back, but her jaw dropped as he then picked up a second speaker and tossed it onto his back as well without breaking a sweat. "How did you... isn't that too much for you to carry?" she asked in disbelief.
"Nnope, it's not that bad." Big Mac said, walking off back into the building. The mare picked up the coil of wires she had tried to free earlier and followed the large stallion inside. She couldn't believe that he was walking as if he didn't have a single thing weighing him down. She wasn't alone in her amazement; the other employees setting up everything for that night's concert slowed down as Big Mac walked past them with his heavy load.
The two ponies reached the stage and the mare pointed out where he could drop the equipment. As he gently placed each of the heavy speakers down the pegasus got a chance to look closer at him and couldn't help but notice his large muscles but also noticed that he indeed was not sweating a single drop. The other stagehooves were panting and sweating as if they had run two marathons in a row yet they carried much lighter items around.
"Just... wow. How did you manage that? It would have taken two ponies to just move one of those." the mare said in admiration. "I can't believe you just brought both of those over here by yourself."
"Ain't no problem, miss." he said humbly. He walked with her back to the cart and loaded himself up with almost all the rest of the equipment while the mare brought in the smaller pieces.
As Big Mac brought in everything and placed the items on the stage the mare couldn't help but run up and hug him as he finished unloading his back. "Oh thank you so much for your help!" she exclaimed. "It usually takes me over an hour to get everything inside and onto the stage, but you did it in fifteen minutes!"
"No worries, happy to help." he said politely, not wanting to brag at all.
He turned to leave but stopped when she called out to him. "Hey, hold on! You're not going to stay for the concert tonight?" she asked him. Big Mac was going to say no again, but as he looked into her bright blue eyes he swore he could see a combination of sadness and disappointment. He paused for a moment, trying to figure out if he could even summon the patience and calm to last more than two minutes on the crowded dance floor with the hundreds of other ponies attending the concert tonight.
"Well..." he said, but the mare cut him off as she walked up to him and draped her hooves around his stocky shoulders.
"Please? It would mean a lot to me. You won't have to mingle with the crowd, I'll let you stay backstage during the concert." she said, almost as if she could sense his dislike of being surrounded by the future crowd. His eyes betrayed his hesitance still, so the mare made him an offer no pony could refuse. "After the concert, we could go back to my room and have a nice quiet drink together." she whispered seductively.
That was all it took to seal the deal for the red stallion. "Alright." he nodded.
The mare put on a wide smile and kissed Big Mac on the cheek, turning his face even redder, if that was possible at all. "You will? Yes! I know you'll love the show tonight. Trust me, you'll have the best seat in the house." she said winking.
Before Big Mac could ask her what she meant by that Vinyl Scratch entered the empty room. "Hey, there you are! We gotta go over tonight's playlist and choose which song we want to do for the finale!" the DJ yelled out.
The pegasus looked apologetically at Big Mac. "Damn, I have to go. Promise you'll stay and watch?" she asked again, getting another nod of confirmation from him. "I'll tell the security ponies to let you backstage. Oh, I don't even know your name yet!" she realized in embarrassment.
"Big Mac." he replied, not sure how he even managed to say that much without stuttering.
"Big Mac, huh? That's quite the fitting name." she replied with a coy smile and extended her hoof. "My name's Starshadow."
"Starshadow...." Big Mac repeated, the name easily matching her beauty. He burned her name into his head, never wanting to forget it.
"Heehee, yeah, that's right." Starshadow giggled. "Hey, maybe later, you an-"
"Starshadow! Come on! We only have another hour before the show starts!" Vinyl yelled out, interrupting the mare.
Starshadow shot a death glare over at her fellow musician but knew the DJ was right. "I'll meet you backstage once I'm done." she said. "You'll wait for me after the show, right?"
"Eeyup." Big Mac responded. Though a short, simple answer, it was more than enough for Starshadow.
"Thank you." she said. "And I promise, you'll get a special view tonight nopony else will."
"Starshadow!" Vinyl called out again.
"Coming, I'm coming!" the pegasus yelled back, trotting backstage with Vinyl and disappearing into one of the back rooms. Big Mac shrugged and went to go find Bar Back to let him know that he would be staying after all. He was curious to see what one of these concerts sounded like, but he was even more curious to see what Starshadow meant by 'special view'.