Big Mac pushed with a gentle nudge. "Ayup."

"I'm on it!" Apple Bloom saluted and charged off towards school.

She was a good filly, and a fine sister. Weren't nothing confusing about her... Unlike himself. He went out to start his day's work with a soft sigh. The thoughts of what had happened played in his head over and over. How could he forget it?! He had kissed her... That wasn't so odd. She was his girlfriend. Kissing was well within expectations...

Doing it while he was a mare was the new part. What followed followed that path right off the tracks and ran over a few towns in its rampage... Sugar Belle was... alright, no... Alright was too passive. She enjoyed... relished? She wanted to do things with Orchard Blossom. His cheeks darkened as he worked, thinking about the specifics they had done. It had felt... kinda good actually. Really good, dang good... He had done things as a mare and it was strange and new and very satisfying!

He stomped a hoof on the ground, pausing his work to get it out in an angry little fit. Was he not a stallion? Was he a mare? Stallions didn't... like that, right? But he was a stallion... he was pretty sure. He'd done stallion things, and those were quite enjoyable too! He wanted to be Sugar Belle's stallion. But he hadn't minded being her mare either... Was there a word for that?! There probably wasn't...

"Hey." Rainbow Dash landed just in front of him. "You see AJ around here? We're supposed to do a thing, and she's late."

Big Mac considered the sudden pegasus. Would she have the answer? The odds were against him... "Uh..." And talking to much anypony but Sugar Belle came slowly if at all. "Got a moment?"

Rainbow blinked in a recoil. "Woah... What's wrong?" She flew over him, hovering just ahead and above him. "That's more than I usually hear you say. You alright?!"

Was he that obvious?! "Hm..." But how to ask what he's wanted to ask? He sat down slowly and brought up his hooves. "Gotta question... Keep it a secret?"

Rainbow made a zippering motion as she settled to the ground. "You got it, big guy! You've always been there for me." Not that she needed him a lot, but he tried to be reliable. "What's on your mind?"

"Alright... Um... A word, for a stallion..." His words came slowly and with struggle as he fidgeted. "Stallion one day, um... mare the next night... What is that?"

Rainbow rubbed at her head with a hoof. "Like, forever a mare, or just for a little bit a mare? There's a difference!"

There was a difference? Maybe he had asked the right pony. He smiled with some relief that they had gotten that far. "Sometimes. Back an' forth."

"That would be gender fluid, Big Mac. Stallion sometimes, mare sometimes, whatever you're in the mood for. Some ponies switch often, or not very often, depends on the pony." She looked Big Mac over with sudden new suspicion. "Are you trying on mare's clothes again? I mean... if you like it, cool... But don't go sassing me again!"

He could feel his face heating up. "Sorry..." He had gotten a bit carried away that time... "An' thanks..."

"No biggie." She waved it away. "Seriously though, what's up? You made me all curious and I don't even know how to ask without being rude, which I'm not trying to be." She put a hoof over her mouth. "You already swore me to secrecy."

He had done that... But... How does one even approach that? "Uh... Learned a pony ah know, uh... swings both ways. They learned it too, didn't, um, know."

"Somepony came out as bi? Neat." Rainbow didn't look nearly as confused by the idea as Big Mac would have guessed, and she knew another strange word. "Anypony I know?"

"Uh..." He examined the rainbow-colored athlete. "Are you... one of those?"

"Bi?" She laughed softly as she sat back. "Could say that. Awful forward of you, asking that. If I didn't know you were so frazzled, I'd be pissed off." She darted in, cupping his cheeks in her hooves. "Good thing I know you better than that. I like it when ponies are paying attention to me, when I'm the top of their world... That applies there too... Mare or stallion matters less. Not like you can't have fun with either."

The heat became unbearable as he swooned, almost flopping with the news. "Oh! Um..." That was all educational... but he couldn't apply that to his situation much at all. A sudden new thought cropped up in his shortcircuiting mind. "Wait! Um... No offense... But you... Are ya chasin' mah sister?"

Rainbow's laughs were powerful enough to shake the apples closest to them. "Wow! Way to just go straight for it, Big Mac. You must be... really out of it." She frowned softly. "Really out of it... Look, do you need help? Stop beating around the bush and just talk. I'm here for you."

That she cared brought a smile to his face, but he wasn't sure how to answer that exactly... "Yer used to magic, right?"

"With Twilight as a bestie? Hard to not be." Rainbow snorted softly. "Look, you're overheating. How about we talk as you get to it? You're always calmer as you work."

That wasn't a bad idea! He got up to his hooves and approached a tree in need of his attention. "Right. Now 'magine... 'magine she made a mistake, poof, yer a stallion now."

"Twilight would do something like that." Rainbow rolled her eyes as she followed after Big Mac. "I'd be so annoyed with her."

"She says she'll work on it, but it'll take a day, and she needs alone time."

"That also sounds like Twilight." Rainbow snorted with a smile. "You listen to her more than I thought? Alright, so, stuck as Rainbow Blitz for a day, got it."

"Rainbow Blitz?" He turned an ear as the rest of him remained focused on his work.

"My guy name. Nevermind." She waved that notion away. "Then what?"

"Um... so then Applejack comes up to ya... an' she really likes the new you... An' things happen..."

Rainbow colored only faintly, though it was all through her face. "Woah! That's your sister you're fantasizing about.. Alright, so... things... happen... What's the question?"

"She likes both of you." He bucked a tree, making apples rain down into waiting buckets. "An' she wants to be with you, both of you. Does that makes you happy or not?"

Rainbow suddenly bounced off of him. He was sure she was standing a distance away, but suddenly she was crashing into him, pushing off with her hooves in a mighty bounce. "Big Mac! This is... a new side of you. Did she put you up to it?" She leaned forward, a sly smile spreading. "She's testing me, seeing how I feel through her brother. Tricky..."

"It ain't that!" The idea of being chased by his sister for making a mess loomed. "Please don't think that. Ah'll be quiet too." He put a hoof over his mouth as she had done. "Won't say a word."

She considered him quietly. "Well... fine... If we're both keeping quiet... It's a promise!"

"An oath." He nodded firmly. "So what would you do?"

"Sheesh." She rubbed at her warm cheek as she paced in a slow circle. "I mean... No offense or nothing but your sister is hot. Stubborn as all get out! I don't like that part, but the rest of her is A+. Now... I am not gender fluid." She pat herself on the chest. "All mare! Even if a spell went zap! I'd be a mare in the body of a stallion, not a stallion." She could see he was getting confused. "Just means I would want to spend most of my time as a mare. Maybe bust out the Blitz for special occasions or whatever."

Rainbow folded her arms. "If Applejack didn't get that, then we aren't getting along very well... Maybe it isn't working out. That'd make me sad, but it'd be way more sad to get with a pony that doesn't accept the real me. That isn't healthy, and it'd piss me off, a lot..." She leaned in with a cocky grin. "Not sure if I made it clear, but I like me, all of me. If you don't like me too, then we have a problem, so far as special someponies go."

"Huh..." Big Mac sped up into a proper trot towards the next tree. "Thanks."

Rainbow smiled, letting Big Mac wander off. She had helped! Or she decided she did. He seemed in a better place than when she first found him. "Later!" She zipped off in search of Applejack.

Big Mac was able to get to work with a clear head. Um, more clear? His mare liked him, all of him. Girl or guy, she wanted all of him. It was... He dropped a basket into his wagon and reached for the next. It was a compliment. He was great, all the time. No matter which body he was in at that moment, she was there with the same love in her eyes... "Lucky..." Yes, he was lucky. How many other ponies could say they had that!

"Hey." Applejack was coming closer without a Rainbow Dash in sight. "You alright." She was looking over Big Mac with a concerned look. "You look fine..."

Had Rainbow told on him?! "Ayup."

"Good." She patted him on the shoulder. "Look, we Apples can be a stubborn lot. If yer feelin' off, jus' tell me. We're sibs! Apples togther! Ah'm ready to help."

What had she shared with his sister?! He could feel the tension rising with the worry of what that could be. "Jus' fine." He stepped out of the harness that held the cart against him. "Found some apples needed buckin'."

Applejack leaned in over the baskets, sniffing gently. "Yep, jus' in time too. Good job! Ah'll get 'em off to market." She stepped right into the same harness he had just freed himself from. "Ah'm serious though! I'm your sister. You can rely on me."

The wondering was getting too much. "Did she say somethin'?"

Applejack raised a brow. "Who? Oh, Rainbow? She said you were a bit frazzled today is all." She looked him over from top to bottom. "She don't know you that well. You look mostly fine to me."

Big Mac relaxed with a smile. She hadn't squealed. "Jus' hot. She brought water."

"That's right good of her then." Applejack started away, the cart rolling behind her. "Ah'll be back!" And off she went towards town with his small harvest.

Big Mac nodded at her and turned back to the field. "Hm." He wandered out in search of work needing to get done. There was rarely a lack of things to do. Like that fence. It needed repair and he knew how to do it, so he got right to it without being asked and with no reward planned other than having a farm that was working properly. That was reward enough.

"Hm." But why did he have to be all that only at night? Did he have to? He clopped down on a fence post with a heavy hoof, driving it into the ground. Couldn't he, as Big Mac, work to save the day, right there in Ponyville? He suddenly went dark. Ponies would expect him to say things and interact with them. That sort of job wasn't one somepony could be silent with easily... But... Hm.

He worked the slats between the poles, getting it all firmly connected in a fine fence. "Ayup."

With the fence mended, he got to walking towards the town. He had a sister to visit. She'd tried the whole heroing thing. He felt silly on some levels for not asking her about it earlier. Maybe she'd have hints!

Author's Note

Big Mac searches for answers as he wrestles with his own place in the world.

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