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Rain fell in heavy tides on the apple orchard that morning, soaking the trees, turning the dusty ground into a heavy mud, and drenching the inhabitants. Big Macintosh trudged his way through the foul weather, annoyed after it caught him in the middle of his morning chores, slowing his progress. Still, his face remained as stoic as always, not betraying his frustrations with the squall even as he fought to pull his hooves from the bog-like mud as he walked back to the safety and shelter of home. He paused suddenly as the sound of somepony giggling caught his ear and something rushed underneath him. Mac craned his neck down under his chest to look and found himself nose to nose with a little pegasus filly. She stared back at him with a wide grin before kissing the end of his nose and running out from under him. Mac pulled his head back up and his face bore a gentle grin as he watched his daughter zipping around him through the rain. Cellini had been aiding him that morning as she often did, being of little actual help and just barely managing to not be a hindrance, but Mac was still glad for her company. Her enthusiasm for tasks that had long since become routine and mundane to him gave him renewed determination to see them through and do so with joy in his heart. As he stood there, watching his daughter, Mac began to feel the cold sinking deeper into his body and chose to resume his march toward the house. Cellini followed after, though in a less direct fashion as she ran in circles behind him taking care to jump into every puddle she found along the way.

The walk to the kitchen door seemed to have tripled in distance in the downpour, but finally they had made it. Mac reached for the door handle and turned back to call Cellini to him, interrupting her as she was catching rain drops on her tongue. Turning back to the door, he began to walk inside when the flat of his face crushed against the door. Mac recoiled back, perplexed at the door failing to open and his face unexpectedly becoming acquainted with it. It had opened just fine early that morning; had the rain water made it swell? "Daddy?" Cellini asked, confused about her father walking into the kitchen door. "Door's jammed, hun." He said to her before returning his attention to the door, "Ah'm gonna try an' force it open." Mac planted his hooves as firmly as he was able to on the slick ground, grabbed the door handle and pushed with all his strength. A loud cracking noise emanated from the door causing him to nearly lose his footing in shock, concerned he may have broken it. He pulled himself back to his feet and backed up to examine the door. It looked alright, although still closed. Big Mac was relieved, but he and Cellini were still stuck outside in the rain. Going through the kitchen was not an option, it seemed. That left the front door which may as well be locked given the unique circumstances of that day. Peering in the window, he saw through the kitchen and into the living room and saw the floor therein, sparkling immaculately with his reflection in it, staring back at him. Fluttershy had picked that morning to give the house a thorough cleaning and she had already finished with that end of the house from the looks of it. Going through the front door would mean getting mud all over the living room floor and ruining his wife's hard work and incurring her ire. One of the unexpected discoveries he had made about her when the two married, was that Fluttershy, who had no issues getting her hooves dirty and had spent much of her adult life sharing a home with wild animals, was obsessed with cleanliness. Immediately after, he discovered that for such a sweet and timid mare, she had great power to instill a sense of dread and guilt with little more than a stern disapproving stare.

Mac thought for a minute, then raised his large muddy hoof and knocked on the door, hoping to catch Fluttershy's attention. Perhaps the door could be opened from the inside, or the two of them opening it together would be able to unstick it. At the very least he could get her consent to track mud on the floor rather than have to plead for forgiveness later. A few minutes passed and Fluttershy did not appear. Mac looked through the window and wondered where she could possibly be, contemplating knocking again. He stood in front of the jammed door thinking, trying to work out another solution in his head when Cellini let out a squeaky sneeze. Mac looked back at his daughter as she wiped her nose with her front hoof. "C'mon 'Linni, we're going in through the front." Mac said as he started around to other the side of the house. "Bah Daddy!" Cellini protested, "Ah thought we wer’n’ s'possed to go in the front door with dirty hooves?" "We aren't, but usually we have a kitchen door to go through instead." Mac answered as the two completed the short journey to the front door. Mac kneeled down and bade Cellini to climb onto his back, reasoning one set of hooves would make less of a mess. Cellini went to hop onto her father, but her slick, muddy hooves made the jump harder than it should have been. Mac watched as she kept jumping on to him, only to not quite make it, and slide off again before he finally reminded her of her wings. Without a hint of embarrassment over the obvious oversight, she made one more leap at her father, this time with her small wings buzzing away, easily clearing the hurdle and almost falling off the other side of him. With Cellini secure on his back, Mac carefully rose to his feet and went to open the front door. He quietly pushed it open, taking care to look for any sign of Fluttershy. Seeing none, he turned to his head to Cellini then put a hoof to his lips and made a shushing sound to her. Cellini did not understand why they had to be quiet, still she closed her mouth and ran her hoof from one end to the other, letting him know she would be silent. Mac walked into the house, making his steps as wide as he was could trying minimize contact with the floor. He just had to make it into the kitchen to wash off his hooves and maybe he would have enough time to clean the mud off the floor before he was found out. "Ahem!" Mac froze and his hair made a valiant attempt to stand on end in its water logged condition at the annoyed vocalization from behind him. His head slowly craned around and he beheld the familiar aggrieved glare of his wife, apron clad, mane and tail bound up, still carrying her wash bucket from her raised foreleg.

Big Macintosh's face pulled itself into an awkward grin, his usual unflappable demeanor shattered by the demure pegasus staring at him. "Momma!" Cellini cried in excitement, drawing Fluttershy's eyes to her, causing her expression to soften slightly. "We brought the pigs in, Momma!" she joyously proclaimed as a large dollop of mud fell from her mane. Fluttershy stood there a moment before inhaling sharply. "That's very good sweetie." She said, seemingly suppressing an annoyed tone before darting her eyes back to her husband. Mac was mortified, of all the things Cellini could have told her mother, that made it sound like the mud had come straight from the pig pen. "The…uh… kitchen door got stuck… Ah knocked…" he finally said. It was the honest truth and yet somehow it sounded like a poor lie from how the words had left his lips. Not helping matters, another large blob of mud fell from his belly, landing on the floor with an audible splat. Fluttershy looked down to the mess being made of her clean floor. She stared a moment, saying nothing as Mac broke into a nervous sweat. She closed her eyes, took a deep long breath as she raised her head back up, putting her nose in the air before exhaling equally long. "Big Macintosh." She began, pulling her head back down to face him, "Dearest?" she said, finally opening her eyes. Mac took a heavy gulp then forced an answer "Yes, ButterBuscuit?" his face pulled into a painfully wide nervous smile, trying to placate his irritated spouse the best he could. "You're going to go wash your hooves, then you're going to get yourself and our little angel into the bath tub. Quickly! Understood?" Mac nodded vigorously before giving his standard response for good measure. "E-eeyup!" "Aw, but Momma, I don' wanna bath!" Cellini whined, giving the best pouty lip and puppy dog eyes she could manage, but to no avail as her father dashed to the kitchen, eager to appease her mother. "No buts, 'Linni!" He said running, to the sink.

Fluttershy stood there, wordlessly watching as Mac rinsed the mud off his hooves, ran out the kitchen, up the stairs and to the bathroom stumbling a little in haste. Just as her husband had disappeared from sight with their daughter in tow and she tilted her head to one side and perked an ear up listening for the sound of running water. As the anticipated sound hit her ear her nose began to crinkle, a second later her mouth began to sputter and she put her hoof to it, struggling to suppress something before she finally burst into laughter. She rolled onto her back and began to kick her hind hooves in the air in jubilation as she held her front hooves over her mouth trying to stifle her uncontrollable chortling. She ran short of breath seconds later and was reduced to gleeful squeaks and wheezes as she tried to catch her breath. "Goodness!" she said aloud, "I didn't think I'd be able to hold that in the whole time!" she added, rolling back onto her stomach. She hoped Big Macintosh would not be too upset with her for having some fun with him, but the opportunity had mischief had presented itself and she was feeling particularly mischievous. Climbing to her feet, she looked at the mess left by Mac and mused if whether or not to clean it up right away or go join her husband and daughter for a family bath.

The original sketch:

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And here: DA link

My old WIP:

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Upvotes at import: 74 | Stars at import: 54
Posted previously at: 2018-07-03T05:54:31 | Posted previously by: ZONESS