Ventrilocest

Unlike Sugar Belle and Big Macintosh, Applejack didn't sleep very well that night. Right up until the very last second that she waited for her brother in his bedroom, she still harbored a lingering doubt about everything. Perhaps Sugar Belle had been mistaken. Perhaps he had been lying to her about it. But there could be no denying it after what had just transpired.

Applejack laid there in the dark on her bed, still mentally wrestling with this newfound revelation. Her brother loved her as more than a sister. He was attracted to her as a mare, to the detriment of not only his marriage, but his own mental health. The clever ruse that Sugar Belle had orchestrated was the kind of cathartic release that he clearly, and desperately needed. Applejack could still vividly remember his voice confessing his love for her through his tears of guilt, shame, and joy.

Applejack cared about Big Mac. She wanted him to be happy, and healthy. It pained her to know the kind of turmoil he had been living in for so long. Part of her wished that she was capable of returning his feelings. But in the end, she loved him as a brother, and no more. Nothing could change that. But like it or not, their relationship was changed forever now that she knew how he felt about her.

The morning sun woke Applejack from what little sleep she had managed to get. Tired as she was, she still got out of bed and headed downstairs to begin the day. Sugar Belle and Big Mac came down shortly after. They both looked like a disheveled mess. It was no mystery why. Likewise so, they were both practically glowing for it.

Applejack placed the dishes of pancakes onto the table and took a seat to join them. Sugar Belle and Applejack wasted no time digging into the delicious breakfast. Applejack felt his hoof brush against hers under the table. She shifted a little bit away and he moved his to follow hers. Applejack looked across the table and saw that he was looking back at her with a big, goofy grin plastered across his face. Applejack averted her eyes and focused on her food. His hoof continued to caress hers, hidden from Sugar Belle's view.

Applejack finished quickly and bused her plate to the sink, making haste to head out to work in the orchard. Mac followed shortly after, and then Sugar. Whether it had been intentional or not before, Mac had paid Applejack nary a glance the previous day. But today, he always kept himself within sight of her. He tried not to let his work suffer too much for it, but whenever she looked over at him, he was always looking back at her with that same content smile.

Big Mac was hardly a dour pony. But Applejack had never seen him smiling so much before in her life. It was actually a little unnerving. Applejack couldn't tell for sure, but she knew that it was impossible for Sugar Belle to not notice the change in his demeanor.

Applejack hadn't said a word to either of them all day. Not even a 'good morning' at breakfast. She even just had a few spare apples for lunch out in the orchard to avoid them a little longer. But once it got dark, it was unavoidable once they all headed back inside for dinner.

"I'm going to go wash up," Sugar Belle said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Applejack started to get to work on making dinner. She felt hooves wrap around her from behind.

"Hey!" Applejack yelped.

"Hey," Big Mac whispered into her ear, giving it a little nibble before kissing her cheek. "Now that we're alone..." She felt his erection moving between her legs, grazing the underside of her belly.

"Mac! No!"

"Shhh. She'll be in the shower for a while. We have time."

Applejack wrenched herself from his grasp and turned herself around.

"Mac! Last night-"

"Last night was amazing!" He said, pulling her into a kiss. Applejack felt her stomach flip when her brother pushed his tongue into her mouth. She squirmed away from his lips and shoved him away with her hooves.

"Sugar Belle!" Applejack screamed at the top of her lungs. Big Mac pulled away at the sound of hooves thundering down the stairs. She hadn't even turned the water on yet.

"What!? What's wrong?" Sugar Belle ask, expecting a fire or somepony bleeding out.

"We need to talk about last night!" Applejack yelled.

"N- No we don't!" Big Mac said, flushed with panic.

Sugar Belle looked back and forth between them. Applejack's eyes were wide in shock and Big Mac was trying and failing to not look guilty. His rigid erection still bobbing beneath him was the most damning of all. Sugar Belle put her hooves to her mouth and gasped.

"Oh, dammit! I should have known this would happen!" Sugar cursed herself. "You tried to have sex with her!?"

Mac looked back and forth between the two mares in terror.

"But Applejack, you said-" He looked at her, "But you said it was her idea!"

"Yeah! Last night was my idea!" Sugar Belle said, moving between them. "But I'm your wife! You only have sex with me!"

Big Mac looked increasingly confused.

"But last night I-"

"That was me," Sugar Belle said. "That was me on the bed."

"But Applejack was-"

"I was behind the bed talking to you while you two..." Applejack trailed off with an implying motion. "She told me about how you felt and the trouble with you two were having a foal together because of it. So I agreed to take part in her plan to trick you." A wave of understanding and disappointment washed over his face, and then giving way to melancholy.

"But it worked though," Sugar Belle said. "We were able to... You were able to..." Sugar trailed off, but expected him to be elated. It was good news. Big Mac's frown recovered somewhat, but his expression was now neutral at best.

"So last night, when you said... all that stuff...?" Mac asked.

"I was acting. Yeah," Applejack said.

"So you don't really... love me?" he asked.

"Mac, I do love you. But only as a sibling. And I'm sorry, but that ain't never gonna change," she said.

Big Mac just stood there and looked at her for a moment as the words sunk in, confirming what he had always known for so long. A single tear escaped the corner of his eye. He blinked the rest back and just nodded in understanding. His nose sniffled and he swallowed back the rest of his sorrow, burying it down deep along with the rest of his repressed emotions underneath a mountain of guilt and shame erupting back up to the surface. He turned away, unable to look his sister in the eyes.

"What you must think of me..." he whimpered. Applejack moved in front of him.

"Mac, it's okay. I ain't angry about how you feel," she said. "If you wanna have her borrow my hat and... do all that stuff, I won't mind. I just don't feel the same way about you, is all. Okay?"

He nodded. He didn't feel good about the outcome, but at least she had assuaged some of his guilt regarding his love for her. That would have to be good enough.

Until it wasn't.

The days fell off the calendar but Sugar Belle's heat remained. The stallion of few words had become the stallion of no words as he slipped deeper into depression. He still couldn't bear to look at his sister after everything that had happened and Sugar Belle grew increasingly worried. She felt like she was losing her husband.

Applejack and Sugar Belle stood side by side as they washed the dishes from breakfast. Sugar watched Mac through the kitchen window. He moved from one tree to the next, going through the motions of bucking apples. He just stared off into nothing as he worked, like an emotionless robot.

"Applejack, you have to do something," Sugar Belle said. "I'm worried about him."

"Hey, I'm worried about him too, but I ain't fucking my brother! So don't ask me to!" Applejack said.

"I don't want you to fuck my husband either, but we have to do something!" She said. "It used to just be performance issues before, but now he doesn't even bother to initiate anymore, it's like he's lost all interest in it. Could you try, just... acting, like last time?" Sugar asked.

"That ain't gonna help his problem, Sugar, it'll only worsen it!" Applejack said.

"His problem isn't his infatuation with you," Sugar said. "It's his depressing from the guilt and shame because of it. It's like it's draining his soul out of him."

Applejack slammed her hoof on the sink counter. "Ya think I can't see that!?" she snapped. "Ya think I don't feel like I'm losing him, too? But I don't love him like that. And if we try to pretend otherwise again, he ain't gonna be fooled twice!"

"I know," Sugar said. "But I think it would help him just the same."

"I ain't lying to him again!" Applejack said.

"I'm not asking you to lie to him this time."