He entered with that smile of his. It was like he understood it all, and how to take charge of it. He was in his element, as he usually was. "Officer Orchard Blossom, a pleasure." He dipped his head only faintly towards her. "You have been quite busy."

Blossom smiled in kind, but hers was less self-certain. "Nice to see you again. Felt ah should visit... Thanks to yer kindness, been able to settle in real good, and get to work."

"And you've met with the princesses, and become one yourself." This all sounded like it was good news to him. "Marvelous. But you didn't stop there, hm."

Blossom colored faintly. "Ah like helping ponies, and ah couldn't help city ponies as a, uh, vigilante. So ah joined the force, learned the rules, and do it right." She reared up to clop her hooves in a firm strike. "So ah don't make no trouble fer other ponies while I'm at it."

"Delightful. I couldn't ask for better." With a glowing horn, he selected a bottle and poured out two even glasses, tall and narrow. "A toast, to good acts performed the good way." He floated one glass towards her, keeping the other by himself.

Blossom took the glass, the color around it shifting as she took over holding it in her own magic. "Ah'll drink to that." She tinked her glass against his. "Heard you were openin' a night club?"

Fancy took a soft pull from his tall glass, letting out a sigh of contentment at the flavor. "Yes. Not my place, I will fully admit, but it brings such delight to others. Better a pony spend the evening dancing with others than many other things they could be doing." He chuckled softly. "They can't all be battling crime."

"Suppose not..." She had come for a reason. That reason was hard to think of with Fancy right there. Dang stallion! Why did he have to... be kinda great at being? "Um... Ah wanna admit somethin'. It ain't nothin' bad or nothin'. Ain't nopony gettin' hurt, promise."

Fancy raised a well-kept brow. "I struggle to imagine anything you would care to confess to would result in that, Miss Blossom. But whatever you say will be held in the utmost confidence, if you desire it."

So good! "Right. So... Ah didn't come from nowhere." She turned and pointed towards Ponyville. "Ah was a pony, just a pony, an earth pony."

Fancy hummed softly, but his hooves remain firmly planted on t he ground. He took a little pull from his glass. "That explains why the princesses took so long to find you. There's nothing wrong with earth ponies. I say, that must be a first, however. We've had unicorn ascended, and pegasi..." Even as Blossom colored, he went right on ahead. "Something to be proud of."

Blossom rubbed at a too-warm cheek. "Y-yeah... but ah wasn't this." She waved over herself. "Not even just this, but not a princess. Ah... Ya been there, to Ponyville. We even met before..."

That put a little thinking frown on his face. "Have we? I feel certain I would remember that... Such a lovely mare does not pass from my mind so quickly."

Blossom felt her pulse quicken. "T-thanks." No, that wasn't the right response! "Uh... You were with that mare, right pretty one... Flower?"

"Fleur," corrected Fancy with no annoyance on his face. "Lovely mare, yes. She keeps others away."

Blossom blinked softly. "Others?"

"Oh, yes." Fancy partially turned away, eyes on a window and the dark beyond it. "I will sound ungrateful, but being a known pony has its prices. An eligible bachelor spotted alone is a target. And there are plenty of mares willing to take that shot." He raised a brow. "Which they are entitled to do, but having Fleur around lowers that quite a bit."

Blossom's blush abated, replaced with a building confusion. "Now... don't take this the wrong way... but what is she, to you?"

"A very good friend." He nodded. "A precious dear, but not that way. Still, she is very tactile, and allowing her to drape over me is like a worn cloak to keep off the rain of other mares' attention. Quite effective, I've found."

Blossom turned an ear flat and to the side. "Oh, um... So, Ponyville!" She raised her hoof to point. "Ah'm from there. Like ah said... we met before, and this is gonna sound strange. Real strange! Ah don't want you gettin' upset."

But he just smiled, as if everything was alright. "That makes two ponies from Ponyville that I have a fond relationship with. Something clearly blessed the town to keep producing such fine ponies to share with the world. Do you know a Rarity?"

Blossom finished her drink and hurriedly set the glass aside on a counter. "Yeah, know her plenty well."

"Quite the up and comer." Fancy raised a hoof to his chin. "She has her eyes set on the upper crust, but that isn't really what she is, dear thing. Not to speak ill of her, because she is wonderful, but she is an everymare that doesn't realize it. She's passable at pretending to walk in those circles, but that isn't where she shines, and she does shine. The masses need her, of many economical strata." He moved that same hoof up and down as if to show the different levels one could be at. "From country ponies to city dwellers with bits to spare. She can find what they need as others fail to do."

Blossom smiled, thinking of the fancy-speaking Rarity. "She'll get what she's after. She ain't one to leave a plan unfinished."

"Oh, mercy no. Quite a diligent pony." His eyes refocused on Blossom. "But I've drawn away from the topic. As you were saying?"

"Right." Oops, that had been a nice moment of distraction. "Do you remember a pony, not unlike me? Coulda said he was mah brother. On some levels, ya wouldn't even be wrong." She could feel sweat beading. The fear of rejection was spiking and she forced a smile despite it. "Apple farmer."

His monocle fell free, dangling from its chain. "Now, I've made no claim to be the swiftest pony in the lands, but you... are you implying you were Big Macintosh?" His eyes wandered over her anew. "This is quite the change."

Blossom felt the intense desire for the ground to swallow her up and leave nothing behind. "It... ain't quite that, but it is... that..." She shuffled on her hooves that felt so heavy they may as well have been forged of lead and possibly glued to the ground. "Big Mac's still there, helpin' the family... but..."

Her words stopped with a touch. Fancy Pants put a hoof on her chest. "This is clearly upsetting you, ma'am. I will share none of this, and will listen. Know that I will do that. So, please, continue."

"Right..." Blossom rubbed behind her head. "Right... So... Ah'm still the same pony, up here." She tapped at her head. "There's two of me. One set of memories, two different, um, personalities... even if we're getting closer together... Still not the same." She shuffled from hoof to hoof, struggling for the right words. "But right now, right this very moment, ah'm Orchard Blossom. Nice to meet ya."

"A pleasure." Fancy's magic glowed around his monocle, setting it back where it belonged on his face. "But this does raise some questions, which can wait until you are done. Please, continue."

"Um..." She looked away. "Not sure there's much more to say... Just really confused, is all... Bein' two ponies, an' one... Ah... Blossom really likes Big Mac, and he really likes her, like brother and sister, but also the pony ah see in the mirror, lookin' out at me!"

"I can only barely imagine..." But it seemed he was trying at least. "Well, I will accept you as you are, not what you were, or what you may be." He inclined his head. "Is this... Can you plan it? That must make things quite awkward."

"Oh, no!" Blossom blurted. "It ain't random. When ah go to bed, then he wakes up, and the other way 'round. Ain't no suddenly switchin'. That'd be somethin' awful!" As if her situation was fine other than that. She pointed at herself. "Ah'll be Blossom until ah go to sleep. Big Mac'll get his sleep. He deserves it, workin' so hard for the family as he's been." She smirked at that. "That feels silly to say. I was there, doin' the work. Like I'm talkin' mahself up. Ain't that vain... Sorry, getting--"

She was silenced with a hoof at her lips. Fancy was watching her, matching eyes. "That's quite enough. You're in a tenous situation and quite stressful besides. I would have to be a monster to hold your lashing out against you, in this case. I understand, I think. You were Big Mac, and you will be again. Right now." He brought up his other hoof as the first slid, cupping Blossom's cheeks between them. "Right now you are Orchard Blossom, a princess of justice and the night, friend of Luna and Celestia. Friend of Equestria." He leaned in a little closer. "Hopefully friend of me too?"

Blossom felt blood rush almost violently into her face. "A-yup!" she got out in her classic fashion, any other words lost in that moment. All she could do was stare at that stallion, her heart pounding.

And she realized she was doing something awful. Something terrible. She stepped back away from him. "Ah shouldn't!"

"Shouldn't what?"

She took slow breaths, calming herself. "Ah... Ah got a special somepony. It ain't that I don't 'ppreciate..."

One ear wilted, the other remaining perked. "Oh, I had no idea. What a cad I've been, making the moves on a taken mare. Please, do forgive me. Who should I congratulate on their good fortune?"

Blossom reached for the glass, but it was empty. Without asking, Fancy refilled it, but only to about a quarter. "Thanks." She drank it down too quickly. Had Fancy predicted that? With only a quarter in there, her mistake was minimized. "She's a mare ah know, and love, as Big Mac... Ah told her about this." She waved a hoof at herself. "An' she... She still loves me. In some ways, ah think she loves me even more!"

Fancy inclined his head slowly. "Does she prefer--"

"--No! She, uh, likes both. Ah made her realize that, without even tryin'... And now here she is, with a special somepony who presses both of them buttons at once." She smiled awkwardly. "Lucky day for her, or night... Um, either way, ain't right to go cheatin' on her. We're steady together, ain't right..."

"I should imagine not... I would like to meet her." He willed the bottle onto its place on the rack it came from, a cork wriggling into place. "She sounds like a wonderful pony, accepting such a trying situation. You are clearly harried." He nudged her on the way past. "Come by again, and know that I am an ally."

"Y-yeah, thanks." She broke into a trot, jogging from the room. "Have a nice night." She was soon out on the street, not remembering actually walking there. Had she teleported? "Stupid," she berated herself. She had just teleported in front of Fancy Pants. That was rude... right?

Who had just admitted something! Something big! She got brighter and brighter as she walked along the road. He had said he was chasing her. He admitted it! No disguises, no hiding. He had just said it, like it was nothing... And she almost missed it. It was an invitation, and a request. If she never replied to it, he'd put it down and never look again.

But if she replied...

"Ah need to talk to her..." She accelerated into a trot. "Ah need to talk to her now!"

Blossom had a thousand questions, and only one pony she knew could give the proper answers.

Author's Note

Orchard Blossom has questions, but what is the correct answer to them?

She was given an answer she didn't realize. Did you spot it?

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