I could tell you a story, kid, but… well, I can’t promise it’s gonna be an exciting one. It’s about this guy I knew. Just an ordinary guy.
 
He never did anything big or great or dramatic. All he ever seemed to do was his job. He’d go out, work, come home, sleep, then start the cycle all over again. Day in and day out, that was it.
 
So I asked him one day, “You trudge out there into those fields, you plow them, and then you go home. Doesn’t anybody ever thank you for all the hard work you do?”
 
And he says to me, “They don’t have to thank me. All the have to do is be there for me when I get back. That’s the best thanks I could ever get.”
 
It took me a bit to understand it, but once I did, that was when I really understood the meaning of the word “hero”.
 
You see, I never had anybody like that in my life. I never had someone who would trade the sweat off their brow and the blood in their veins just so they could see a simple smile once they got home.
 
The man was a hero. And… well, without ever doing a single thing for me, I think he might’a been my hero too. The world needs more heroes. And not just the crime fighters or anything of the like… just… simple heroes.
 
He died a broken, penniless death, but the smile on his face when he closed his eyes said everything. He didn’t care if he had nothing but the shirt on his back. To him, the family that he came home to every evening made him feel like the richest fella who ever walked the face of this unfair Earth.
 
Yeah, we need more heroes like that. We do.
 
[Drinks a pint of gin and cries]

@Painkiller  
I’m the eldest of 3, but i’ve had to remain at home to take care of things, mainly my disabled youngest brother who is mentally only ever 6 years old (he’s over 20). Middle sibling has a car, a successful job, a steady girlfriend/fiance, and I’m at home, doin chores, helping out the way I can. Nothing special, no one’s hero.
 
Every once in a while I do something stupid to get Middle Sibling’s attention, prove I got talent or be their hero, even for one day…

@b4betty  
no no no, the subversion was that they did win, but no show ever brings up misconduct on part of the protagonists. they always have everyone just happy the guy won, or he doesn’t win but learns a valuable lesson about friendship. my jaw straight out dropped when they actually took mac to task for pushing everypony aside and dragging his sister around like a limp noodle.
 
“aw, they won? I guess the writers are going to screw up the moral again–wait what?!”

@b4betty  
I didn’t realize that there were so many ways they could have fucked the episode up.
 
Also,  

 

Mac, you don’t have to be a hero to be an amazing big brother. Your little sister loves you, big guy.

I totally did not feel for Big Macintosh.  
||  
||

i actually cried to this

@Joshua
 
I… Never said it was a bad thing…
 
. -.

@gato  
Okay, so we got feels in some episodes, but I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.

We all thought this would be the season of something funny, like pancakes… But we were wrong…
 

 
Feelson 5

@pwingbrony  

 
Eeyup.

@b4betty  

@b4betty  
Beautiful.

@Background Pony #DF7B  
Can’t see why that would be happening. An episode in a cartoon where a male character dresses up as a woman is a staple of the genre, but the great thing about this episode is, even though it was set up to follow all the tropes, it subverted all of them.
 

@Background Pony #887B  
And with the only “bad” episode being Princess Spike, I got a feeling this will be the best season yet.

@Pagan
 
Weird, not sure why it didn’t display for me at first…
 
Can a mod delete that second comment, plase?

Season 5 seems to be the season of surprise emotional depth. We finally catch up to Moondancer years after Twilight brushed off her party, and discover how much Twilight missing that one event hurt her. Luna comes to Twilight and her friends for help, and we learn she still hasn’t forgiven herself for her past actions as Nightmare Moon. And now, at the end of a mostly comedic episode, Big Mac suddenly reveals that his biggest desire in life is just to be his little sister’s hero again.
 
I like this trend. It’s refreshing to see, and I honestly hope we get more of it.

@Collin Magney  
I’ll come clean, I wept on the inside.

Kinda irks me that, with a touching, introspective moment like this in this episode, some people are getting more bent out of shape on Mac pulling a Bugs Bunny

@marioandsonic  
Actually it did. :/

I really liked these lines, especially when Big Mac says he is “blaberin’ on about his feelings”, it’s really the kind of thing a introvert would say. Good job whoever wrote this episode…

@Eratosofcyrene  
One of the first episodes I ever saw was the one whos name escapes me, but the gabby gums episode. In what I assume is probably his previously longest speaking part when he’s chewing the CMC out on behalf of cold-shoulder Applejack. (The hearts and hooves episode might have more, but I never actually saw it.)

this part made me d’aww really hard. big mac is such an underrated character and i’m so glad the writers gave us a better glimpse into his character.

@Dirty Bit  
Probably. I called it “Luigi-vitis” because, Big Mac’s speech makes me think of Luigi. Always getting overshadowed by his brother, Mario, always under-appreciated despite the fact that Luigi can run faster and jump higher than Mario.