"This is so nice!" Sugar peeked into her oven. "And they're almost ready."

"Ayup." Big Mac leaned against her in barely a touch. He knew better than to get in her way as she cooked. "Nice to be wit' you with the sun up."

"That too!" She smooched Big Mac's closer cheek. "I love both of you to absolute pieces, but there are things each of you can do that the other just can't." She flicked an ear as she got her mitts over her hooves and reached in to fetch the pan of muffins from the heat of the oven. "And I don't want to wander the city each time we get together. Prefer that being a special event."

Big Mac peered at the steaming muffins, but his mind whirred. "What can ah do that she can't?"

Sugar crossed her arms. "Are ya losin' faith in bein' a stallion? Ya can do somethin' right there that she ain't ever gonna do the same."

Big Mac colored at that idea. "Yup..." Couldn't rightly argue that... "But 'sides that. Ah mean... any stallion could do that."

Sugar hiked a brow at him. "I don't want any stallion, thank you. I want this one right here." She cupped Big Mac's cheeks, ruffling and squeezing with her hooves. "And as soon as those cool down, want a muffin?"

"Ayup." Big Mac smiled fondly at his girlfriend. "Yer muffins always were the best."

"Flattery will get you everywhere." She touched noses with him, gazing into his eyes. "And there's plenty of you to like. Ah like how strong you are, but gentle. Not with magic." She pointed at her horn. "But right here." She rubbed along one of his powerful legs. "It's not the same. Even when you carried me back home... It was nice, don't get me wrong, but not the sa--" She squeaked, interrupted by being plucked right off the ground into Big Mac's arms in a way Orchard Blossom couldn't quite match. "Like this," she sighed out, nestling with him.

He set her down on her favorite chair and went over to poke a muffin. Determining it was cool enough, he carefully extracted them out onto a plate and put the pan away for later cleaning. "All done."

"See, that right there." Sugar Belle sighed with a happy smile. "The princess ain't got time to do some baking with me."

Big Mac brought one of those muffins back to Sugar Belle, an offering that she accepted with a slow chomp of her teeth. He brushed her snout, cleaning off the crumbs as she giggled.

"Goof... My lovable, wonderful, goof." She took the muffin away from him just to return the favor in holding it in front of his snout in her magic. "Say ah."

"Ah." He opened his mouth wide and got a muffin put right in it for him to chomp down on, chewing with content noises. "Ya ain't lost it."

"I would hope not!" She put the muffin aside for the time. "Now, with the cooking done... How about we work on another oven?"

"Another oven?"

Sugar rolled her eyes. "Goof." She slid down from her chair and got to pushing him directly. "This is a recipe only you can get just right."

Some recipes only worked properly with the help of a stallion and a mare. That it was fun was a nice side benefit she didn't much mind.

"Greedy." Discord stepped out from behind Big Mac just in time to avoid being kicked in what caused a rainfall of apples. "But I am impressed."

Big Mac began nudging the filled buckets of apples around to more of a pile. "What fer?"

"So many ponies can barely even fill one of their miserable little lives." He floated over Big Mac with a big smile. "And here you are, two of them, all spoken for. But there's something you're not doing."

"Nope?" Big Mac lifted an ear at Discord as he got around his pile of buckets and started pushing them towards the barn. "What's that?"

"You aren't taking any 'me time'." Discord snapped his fingers, though reality didn't change, at least visibly. "Even Celestia gets a day off once in a while to just... get away. In fact, now that her little sister's back, those happen more often. Good for her! But that doesn't help you." He looped around Big Mac's large torso. "I know you and your snookie-kins have fun together. Why not grab her up and take her away for a while? No chores, just fun."

Big Mac shook his head. "That ain't how that works. She got work too. How she gonna keep her store open?" He curled a hoof on himself. "How's the farm gonna pay its bills? Apples still up in trees ain't doin' nopony any good."

Discord unwound from Big Mac. "Oh, those are serious things, hmm... If only you had some friends who could help with that... If only..."

Big Mac paused in his pushing to peer at Discord instead. "Are ya--"

"Nope, all busy." He flipped out a calender from nowhere with one hand, the other adjusting the glasses he hadn't been wearing. "Booked solid for the next week." He tsked with a pitiable face. "Dreadfully sorry."

Big Mac's face fell into annoyance. "Then why'd ya ask?" He returned to shoving the buckets towards their destination with the top of his head. "Makin' it sound like ya had an answer."

"Silly boy, as if I'm your only friend." He floated along Big Mac at a casual pace. "In fact, last I checked, you're better at collecting them than I am. You're just awful at asking them for anything. Like your sister, really. Runs in the family, I suppose." He shrugged dramatically. "Needing a hoof once in a while isn't that bad a thing. Not like you don't help other ponies out all the time."

Big Mac got the apples tucked in the barn safely and clapped his hooves as if dusting them off. "Right... Most of mah friends ain't farmers, is the thing. It's a lot of hard work. Don't begrudge it none, but it ain't easy. That'd be a big ask."

"No it isn't. It's not an ask at all." Discord zipped in, snout to snout. "Because you won't ask."

Big Mac brushed Discord back. "Ha ha... Who should I ask then? The Ponytones? 'Magine them trying to do mah job." He snorted at the mental image of the musical group trying so hard, but comically poorly, at knocking apples from trees or carrying the results back.

"You're selling your friends short." Discord shrugged with an eh. "Hey, I get it. I didn't think much of you and Barb at first either. But you did what I thought wasn't possible, so... maybe give your friends a shot, hm? And be happy you have those."

"Ah ain't tired." Big Mac set out for the next tree. "Ain't bein' stubborn like mah sis. Got thin's worked out. Time fer all the thin's I want to do." He balanced a new set of empty buckets on his head and arranged them around a tree full of apples. "Tell ya what."

"What?" Discord perched on a branch in that same tree. "Lay it on me."

"When I do want a break, I will trust mah friends." Big Mac nodded slowly. "Y'ain't wrong 'bout that."

"Well, good!" Discord crossed his hooves. "Now tell me why you get more action than me, lord of chaos? Ponies should be climbing over themselves for a little of this, but no, the apple farmer's doing better."

Big Mac aborted his lining off of his attack, staring at Discord instead. "Eh... what? Do... Do you want that?"

"How flattering." Discord batted his lashes at Big Mac. "But our relationship doesn't run that way. Let's not make it strange by dating our O&O friends, hm?"

"Not with me!" Big Mac snorted at that misunderstanding, intentional or not. Not that he could tell with Discord. "Gotta girlfriend an' all already anyway. Still, didn't know you even had a care 'bout that."

"I don't, mostly." Discord waggled his brows. "It's more the principle. I should have to say 'no' more often because ponies at least ask, but... here I am. Most eligible bachelor in the lands, and nothing? How is that even remotely fair!"

Big Mac kicked the tree, knocking a new rain of apples free of it to fill the buckets he had set up. "If ya don't rightly care, maybe ponies notice. If they think yer not interested, less of 'em dare to ask. Um..." He considered a moment. "Like Celestia."

"Celestia?" Discord hopped down to Big Mac's side. "What about miss sun butt?"

"She's right popular." Big Mac nodded. "And very well liked. By those measures, she'd have a line 'round the corner of ponies makin' their wishes to her."

"But she doesn't. Not fair either." Discord crossed his arms, but perked. "Hey, think she'd want to form a club with me about it? That could be fun!"

Big Mac chuckled as he gathered the buckets together. He had a job to do, Discord or not. "Not what ah meant. More that she ain't interested. She don't make that subtle, and neither do you, ah reckon. Yer both busy bein' big and important and--"

"--and they're intimidated!" He slapped a fist against an open palm. "Of course! Poor things, they just don't dare to walk up to either of us. We're too imposing! This makes perfect sense." He stroked along his beard with a thoughtful look. "Maybe if I dressed down a little?"

"Don't think that'd work." Big Mac considered a brief moment. "Ya'd still be Discord, and everypony knows you too well. Ya have a big footprint."

"Hm, true..." He lifted a foot with a huge boot on it. "Thousands of moons worth. Well! What if I lay low?" With a puff, a new pony joined them, with a golden apple on his rump. "Call me Golden Apple, 'cous! How can I help?"

Big Mac considered his new relative. "Well... if yer bein' serious, why don't ya take these--" He pointed to the filled buckets. "Over to the farm." He pointed to the farm. "And come back with a new set of empties so ah can get on the task. We can get this done faster if yer up fer it."

"'Course ah am," promised the Golden Apple of Discord that was also a pony. "Watch!" And he got right to work. Sure, he made the buckets float along with him towards the barn, but he was doing the job and not entirely cheating.

Applejack came loping up with a basket on her back. "Hey bro! Brought ya some lunch. Who was that?" She let the basket slide to the ground near Big Mac. "With the apples? Somepony just wanted to help out?"

"Ya could say that." Big Mac decided against telling Applejack who that was right away. "Thanks fer the treat." He reached into the basket and produced some morsels to chase away the hunger of a day of work. "Right on schedule. We'll get it done on time."

"Right good to hear." Apple Jack nodded. "Mind if ah ask a question?"

"Sure?" Big Mac raised a brow at his sister. "What's on yer mind?"

"Just mighty curious, is all... Ah been good! Didn't tell Grannny, or nopony else. Been respectin' yer privacy an' what not... But ya got yer sister all burnin' with curiosity. When do I get to pester ya for details?"

Big Mac slowly tilted his head. "Ain't nothin' you already know 'bout. Ya been a mare for longer than ah have by quite a bit."

"True." She nodded at that with a little chuckle. "But ah ain't been a princess, or a police officer."

"Ya heard about that?!"

Apple Jack put a hoof to Big Mac's surprised face as the other produced a paper. "Princess Joins Force!" read the title, with a big picture of the graduating class, Orchard Blossom standing prominantly.

"It didn't take no big diggin' to notice."

Author's Note

This is a chill chapter in a lot of ways. No huge upsets, and that's fine.

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