"Thanks." He sat down in her room, looking around a little. He didn't often have a reason to wander into Applejack's bedroom, except maybe to fetch Applejack. This time was not that... "This is... a bit sensitive."

"Figured." Applejack flopped on her belly, watching him. "Ain't many other reasons you'd pull me aside like this. Now, ah meant what ah said. We're Apples, together! So go on."

Big Mac pushed the door closed slowly as if even the click of its latching was too loud. "Now... ya... Ya know what it's like to be a mare."

Applejack hiked a brow at that. "Ah sure would hope so. Got a few years under mah belt... why?" She sat up slowly onto her haunches. "Is this why she was askin'?!"

"Huh? Um, who?" Big Mac looked around in surprise. "What?"

"Princess Luna, 'member? She was askin' 'bout yer alter ego. I didn't go an' forget! Now, how ya coulda caused trouble without me hearin' 'bout it, couldn't say... but..."

Big Mac proved that apple could be even redder than it started. "It ain't like that!" He calmed himself, forcing the issue with slow breaths. "Need a promise."

"What promise?" She assured nothing just yet.

"It's a secret." He waved between himself and Applejack. "What ah say stays wit' ya. Not fer sharin'."

"So long as you're not hurting nopony." She raised a brow even higher. "Ya ain't hurting nopony, are ya?"

"'Course not!" He looked around with fresh worry at his own outburst. "'Course not... Um... This ain't about hurtin' ponies. This is about love."

Applejack went from cautious and suspicious to confused instantly. "What?"

Big Mac shuffled slowly from hoof to hoof. "Uh... So... done learned somethin', 'bout me."

"And what's that?" she asked with uncertainty dripping from her words.

"Uh..." Her tone did not make him relax. "Ya see... Ah'm fluid."

"Yer what now?" She hopped down from the bed and went right up to deliver a single firm thump to his chest. "Nope, yer solid near as I can tell."

That wasn't what he meant! He tried to get his thoughts back in some kind of order. "Not that kinda fluid... Sometimes stallion, sometimes mare?"

Applejack's eyes widened slowly. "Ya mean more than makin' pretend to help out Applebloom? Uh... Good... on ya... fer figurin' this stuff out..." She worried her forehooves together fretfully. "Shoot... Ah ain't an expert on that..."

"Um... Not..." He fought for the right words. "Don't want no frilly dresses."

"Oh, um... Good... Ya look fine as ya are, if ya don't mind my sayin' so." Her eyes wandered up and down his form. "Havin' a hard time 'magining you dudded up like a mare... Not tryin' to be harsh or nothin'! But yer 'bout the stallionest stallion ah ever knew, brother. Ah mean that as a compliment." She coiled a hoof on herself. "Ah ain't much a mare. There are way more girly mares out there. Shoot, look at Rarity, or Fluttershy, they got it way better than me fer being all mare all the time."

Big Mac blinked softly. "Yer plenty mare-like." At least, in his eyes, Applejack was a lovely example of a mare! Not one he'd chase, being his sister, but still a mare! "Not a frilly mare, but still a mare, all the way. Don't think less ah yerself."

Applejack colored faintly. "Aw, right kind of ya to say that... But we ain't here to comfort me. So.. About you. Still tryin' to wrap mah head 'round it, but, 'gain, not 'bout me. So... ya like... What part of a mare do ya like? Ah mean bein'."

Big Mac shook his head quickly. "Nothin'! Uh.. Ah mean... Ah like what ah am, right now." He offered his profile. "Like ya said, ah'm a stallion, and ain't upset 'bout that."

Applejack nodded with growing uncertainty. "Alright... Good... So what part of this wants to, or is, a mare?"

Big Mac could feel the conversation slipping between his big hooves. "It ain't about wantin', but... Sometimes it happens, and ah'm happy then too..."

"Alright..." That Applejack didn't entirely get it seemed clear on her face. "Like... ya get in a mood, and ya throw on some shiny horseshoes?" She showed off her shoes, not at all shiny. She was not a girly mare.

"It ain't a mood... just happens." He frowned with thought, but shook it away. "Just accept that."

"Accepted."

He blinked. "Ayup?"

"Ayup," she echoed right back at him. "I said ah'm here for ya, so alright, what next?"

"Alright, so... bein' a mare... Run into Sugar Belle." He moved his hooves as if pantomiming two trotting ponies, bumping into one another with surprise. "But she ain't upset." The Sugar hoof shook her head and instead went up to nuzzle at the other hoof. "She's alright wit' it, an' me... Uh... reckon... she likes mares... and she likes me... even when ah'm that..."

Applejack had been trying to keep a straight face, but she couldn't resist the blush that was creeping up on her. "I see...." She was still trying, so very hard. "That sounds like... a good thin', ain't it?"

"Ayup... reckon it... is... but ah'm confused..."

Applejack set a hoof behind her head. "Well.... ah'd be confused too, so I'm with ya there!" In their confusion, the siblings found comradery. "But still... that's still you, bein' a mare, and she's happy with ya... She likes ya as a stallion still, right?"

"Ayup!" He nodded firmly at that. "Still likes old me, and new me. Likes all of me..."

"Then confusin', sure... but not bad, so far as I can see... Ya went and picked up a new hobby and yer mare not only approves but wants to play it with you. Sounds like a happy endin' to me!" Applejack cracked a smile. "Yer worrying fer nothin'. I'd hug that silly mare extra tight, 'cause she's a keeper fer sure."

Big Mac smiled awkwardly as he considered that. "Ayup..." Hugging her was surely the right thing to do... "Um... am I less a stallion fer not bein' upset 'bout it?"

Applejack recoiled. "Woah, that's a way different question... hm." She curled a hoof to her chin. "If ah was made a stallion somehow and liked it, but then was back like ya see me, well, that'd still be my choice. Don't reckon ah'd want to try bein' a stallion while I was a mare." She looked back at her female form and forward at Big Mac. "Shoot, yer askin' the tricky ones today! Still... hope that helps? It's up to you. I'll support you either way, but I will also call you out if you wear somethin' that makes you look real silly."

Big Mac rose to his hooves. "Thanks... Ya... really helped." He turned for the door, feeling a little lighter than when he had entered. "Yer a right fine sister."

"And yer a fine brother." She moved to his side and they hugged gently in familial love. "Now... would ya be mad if I had like a thousand questions for yer mare?"

"Ayup!" He glared at her with a frown.

"Alright alright." She put up her hooves wardingly. "I figured ah'd go and ask first. Shoot... ya can't rightly blame me, can ya? You get on with things. Just know we're all good." She thumped Big Mac and got thumped in return. They were on the same page, for that moment.

Even if he hadn't laid out exactly all the cards.

"One thin'." Applejack was behind him, exiting her bedroom. "Granny may lose her marbles... or may not. Not even sure. She surprises me sometimes... Still, she usually likes things how she understands 'em and this is somethin' new, get me?"

"Ayup..." His hesitation was clear. He had gotten the alright by his sister, but his grandma may not surrender it so easily. "Um... What about Apple Bloom?"

"That is between you two." Applejack wagged a hoof left and right. "She's a grown enough pony to make up her own mind, even when ah'd rather she didn't! 'Sides, not like yer talkin' 'bout doin' nothing that involves her, really. Still your choice. Still you, Big Mac. Reckon she'll still love ya." She put a hoof to her lips. "An' ah won't tell her 'less you ask me to. So if you do tell her, kindly tell her to tell me, so that's one less secret to keep, ya hear?"

"Ayup..." But did he even want to bring it up with the growing pony? Probably best to settle it himself before he worried about that. "Thanks..."

"Yer welcome. Now, there are still hours in the day, so ah'm gettin' back to it." She trotted down the stairs, out of sight.

He had work to do himself, but first... He detoured away from the orchard to stop by the post office. He grabbed a paper and scribbled a note with his mouth-held quill. A quick bit given, and Muffins promised it'd head out. "Today!" she chimed with a big smile. "You got here just in time." She lifted the letter with a wing as another pony flew over her, snatching the letter. "See?" The mail pony was already heading out the door with it. "We're on the case!"

Sugar Belle accepted the envelope from the mail pony offering it. "Thank you kindly." She slapped it down and ripped it open. "Now what could, oh!" It was Big Mac, the writing clear to her before she actually read it.

Hello Sugar Lumps,

It's time. Let me know when it's convenient and we can swing by the castle, together. Thank you for standing at my corner even before you knew exactly where that corner was. I really appreciate it.

Yours,
Big Macintosh

She giggled as she folded the letter up to hide away. "You're so much more eloquent when you write..." She got a quill of her own and with a glowing horn, she got to writing a quick reply.

Hello!

I'm ready any time you are. I don't have any huge orders coming up, so swing by, pick me up... wait, can you do that? Are you going to carry me to Canterlot?! That's a long way, hon! Want me to grab a train instead? Let me know, or just show up with a smile and I'll laugh. I trust you to get me there safely either way.

With Love,
Sugar Belle

She underlined carry a few times for emphasis, then folded it up smartly and got it over to her own post office to begin its trek back to Big Mac. "This is going to be exciting no matter which way you cut it!"

But first, she had cake to make, and likely cut. The work of a baker rarely had long breaks. Still, she had a whistle as she got to it. Her stallion was ready to advance, and he was taking her along for the ride. She couldn't be prouder, of him, and the chance to be there with him. Even if he was sometimes a she. They were both attractive ponies, especially with the brain in them being one she happened to like. "Be honest."

She chastised herself a little, still coming to terms with that. She kissed a mare and she liked it. That was a thing... Even if Big Mac left her life, which she hoped against, she was a mare that was alright with kissing mares. That was still an unknown part of herself, but one she wouldn't turn away from. "What an enormous selection..." Without warning, her potential dating pool had doubled!

Not that she had any need of a dating pool. Sugar Belle had a stallion. She loved him very much, all of him... She got to a furious work, just to be sure she'd have her plate clean, whenever he arrived, or a letter telling her to get on a train. Either way, she'd be ready to take off as fast as she could to help him.

Author's Note

Sugar Belle deserves all the props, I say. At least a sugar cube.

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