Ventrilocest

Big Macintosh ate breakfast at the kitchen table along with his wife Sugar Belle, and his sister Applejack. Apple Bloom had moved out shortly after Granny Smith had passed, so now it was just the three of them. Apple Bloom still came by to lend a hoof at harvest time, but was otherwise now working full time as a teacher at Princess Twilight's School of Friendship.

Sugar Belle watched as Big Mac finished eating his breakfast and got up from the kitchen table to go head out into the orchard to start working.

"Hey Applejack, can I talk to you about something?" Sugar Belle asked, once the two of them were alone.

"Of course, Sugarcube. Anything," Applejack replied. Sugar rubbed her shoulder with her hoof and shifted nervously in her seat.

"Well, it's just that... it's kind of a sensitive subject," she prefaced.

"Oh? Well there's no need to be embarrassed. We're family now," Applejack assured her.

"Apparently not enough," Sugar grumbled.

"What?" Applejack wasn't sure if she misheard or just misunderstood what she meant.

"Um, well you know, Mac and I have been... well ever since we got married we've been... trying... to have a foal," Sugar said.

Applejack just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"If it's about the noise, don't you worry," Applejack assured her. "I am a very sound sleeper. To be honest, I haven't heard the two of you... trying at all!"

"Well that's just it," Sugar said. "There's been a lot of trying but not a lot of doing."

"I don't follow," Applejack said. Sugar Belle checked the window to make sure he was still far away. Even so, she moved closer to Applejack and lowered her voice.

"Mac has been having a lot of trouble... rising to the occasion," she explained.

"Oh? Oh!" Applejack blushed at the realization.

"Yeah," Sugar sighed.

"Well gosh, Sugar, I don't know what to tell ya," Applejack said. "I mean, I ain't no doctor. That sound like something you'd talk to a doctor about."

"It's..." Sugar Belle tried to find the right way to explain it. "It's not a medical issue..."

"Well then what is it?" she asked.

"It's me," Sugar said.

"What? No! Don't go blaming yourself! You just said that it was him with the problem."

"Well, yes, he does have problems," she said, going wide-eyed.

"Well I ain't a doctor, and I ain't no detective neither," Applejack said, growing frustrated. "So whatever the problem is, you need to stop talking in riddles about it, and just come right out and say it."

Sugar Belle grew increasingly anxious.

"Applejack, I'm already breaking promises just by talking about this with you," Sugar said. "What I'm about to tell you about him will shock you. It could ruin your relationship!" She was verging on tears. "I promised him I wouldn't tell anypony about his problems, but I'm getting desperate. I want foals! We both do. And it's for their sake I'm breaking this promise. Do you understand?"

Applejack was internally terrified about what horrible truth Sugar was about to reveal. Had her brother killed somepony? Whatever it was, he was still her brother. They would find a way to get past it. She took a deep breath and braced herself for the worst.

"Yeah, I understand," Applejack said. It was Sugar Belle's turn to take a deep breath.

"I say it's me because he's not attracted to me. He's attracted to somepony else."

"Wh- what!?" Applejack scoffed. Her eyes flared with anger. "He cheated on you!?"

"No no!" Sugar Belle said. "It's not like that! Big Mac and I love each other very much, and we've always been loyal to one another!"

"But- I don't understand."

"After he proposed to me, we promised each other that there would be no secrets between us," Sugar said. "And then on our honeymoon, when we tried to... consummate our marriage, he had trouble. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn't tell me at first. I reminded him about our promise, and eventually he told me what the problem was."

"Which is...?" Applejack asked, growing increasingly impatient. Sugar Belle got up from the table, walked over to the liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle and took a big swig. She coughed and sputtered a little and then set the bottle back in the cabinet.

"Forgive me, Mac," Sugar walked back and sat down at the table again. She closed her eyes and winced. "Big Mac is attracted to you." Applejack blinked a couple times. The words reached her, but something got jumbled on the way to her brain that made her eye twitch.

"I'm sorry," Applejack breathed, "Care to repeat that? I think I had something crazy in my ear."

"He confessed it to me," Sugar said. "He's attracted to you."

"Are you serious!?"

"I'm sorry! I should never have said anything!"

"So you mean he wants to... rut me?" Applejack asked.

"No! He would never act on it! He's a good pony, you know that!"

"But he wants to?" she asked again.

"Applejack, please don't be mad at him. You have no idea how ashamed he feels about this," Sugar said. Applejack was still reeling. She got up from her seat and walked over to the kitchen window, peering across the field at the same old hard-working stallion bucking trees. Her brother. She never thought he could be such a deviant. She looked back at Sugar Belle and grimaced.

"Why are you telling me this?" Applejack asked.

"Because it's part of the problem we're having," Sugar said. "We love each other, but it's so hard for him to get aroused for me without thinking about you."

"Oh my gosh, I feel so nauseous!" Applejack stumbled and controlled her fall to sit back down in her chair.

"We've tried everything," Sugar said, her face turning a deeper red. "I'd roleplay as you, give him your old bed sheets to smell. Sometimes I'd wear your hat after you fell asleep."

"I knew somepony was moving it!"

"It worked for a little while, but it's not enough anymore." Sugar Belle started openly sobbing into her hooves. "I still love him. He's a good pony. I just want to have foals, Applejack!"

Applejack felt like the room was spinning, along with the rest of her world.

The kitchen door opened and the red stallion walked inside. Applejack's eyes followed him as he walked across the kitchen to the sink. He filled a glass with water and drank it, giving her nary a glance. When he turned around, he saw Sugar Belle. She had tried to compose herself quickly, but he could tell she had been crying recently.

"Are you okay, Sugar?" he asked. She nodded quickly.

"Yes, I just, stubbed my hoof on the corner of the chair," she lied. Big Mac leaned down to kiss her hoof. Applejack's legs snapped together under the table and her tail covered herself from her brother's lecherous stare. But he didn't even lower his head beneath the table. He lifted Sugar Belle's hoof with his to his lips and he gave it a gentle kiss. Then he hugged and kissed his wife before going back out to work. Applejack suddenly felt a little silly for the way she reacted. He had done nothing wrong. Even still, her distrustful eyes followed him until he was back out of the house.

She realized that she had been holding her breath. Her heart was racing. She forced herself to relax and looked across the table at Sugar Belle. Big Mac didn't notice, but it was impossible for Sugar to not see how Applejack would never look at him the same way again.

"Applejack, I'm sorry! I've ruined things between you now," Sugar Belle cried. Applejack took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Sugar... I understand," Applejack said. "It's... a lot to take in. But I understand. He's a good pony. Just... with bad thoughts."

"And he would never act on them!"

"I gotcha," Applejack said, still trying to calm down. "But you came to me for help. And I don't know what it is you think I can do, or that I would do. Because if you think I would actually let him-"

"No, Applejack, I want me to have his foals! And I'm at the peak of my fertility tonight!"

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Applejack asked. The fact that Applejack was actually humoring her made Sugar Belle grin.

"Well, okay, you know how Mac is practically blind in the dark?" she asked.

"Yeah," Applejack said. "His night vision is terrible. He trips over his own hooves without a night light,"

"Well, I have a plan for that..."