"Tons!" Lyra clopped her hooves softly. "But most of them break down to taking the day to focus on what makes you happy. So if your ladyfriend's down, get her what she loves to do, not for work, for fun, for herself." With a twinkle of her horn, a lyre sprang into being over her head. "Now that's tricky. We ponies sometimes get the two mixed up. That lyre there is my job." She pointed up at it.

"But it's also my passion. When I can just play it and not worry about anything but the next note? Mmm, just the thing to feel better when I'm down. I call those days 'practice days'. I get something out of it, and I feel way better. Friends who aren't jerks understand, and the ones that are jerks at least admit a practiced musician is a good thing. Sugar's a baker, right?"

"Ayup." Big Mac inclined his head. There were days he just wanted to... But he couldn't take that option often. The orchard had no pause button, and they didn't have so many workers they could rotate them in and out. He thought back to Blossom's night off, that had been... kinda nice. Maybe... "Ah should talk to Applejack."

Lyra blinked at that coming out of nowhere. "Why? Oh! I'm an idiot!" She clopped a hoof to her forehead. "This is Applejack? You are the best brother!" She laughed merrily. "Whatever, doesn't matter. There's a mare you care about that's looking down, so get her what usually puts a smile on her face and make enough room around her for her to wallow in it. That'll help. At least, it helps me every time."

Big Mac reached for her shoulder. "Thanks. That helps."

Lyra stuck out her tongue as she played a few notes on her lyre. "If it makes the world a happier place, than this conversation was entirely worth it, right?" She winked. "If you see me looking mopey, just remind me that it's practice day."

"Ain't today." He waved over her. "Yer lookin' ready to go."

"Aw, thanks." Lyra hopped to her hooves, playing lyre floating overhead. "I do feel great. And I got a show later! Speaking of that, I should get going." She lifted a hoof in a wave. "So you take care, and good luck taking care of the ponies around you, you sweetheart."

Big Mac's lunch was done, as was the time they had agreed on. He had work to return to. "Sis," he asked, returning to his post behind the counter. "What do ya like to do? Not what yer good at, but could be the same, ah suppose, but what ya like to do?"

Applejack hummed. "Didn't expect that question none... Hm, well... Ah like movin'!" She trotted in place. "Ah like playin' a mean tune where ponies can dance! Um... Once in a while, bakin' somethin' tasty. What brings that up of all thin's?"

Big Mac nodded. "Alright. Ya should get a chance to do some of that."

Applejack blinked. "What? Now, that sounds nice, but we're both mighty busy ponies. Ah take 'em when ah can get 'em. Speakin' ah which, ah better be off. ain't gettin' much done standin' here, ya know?"

"Ayup." He waved at the departing form of Applejack. The next time she looked down, he promised, he'd step in, big brother it up, and send her off to a 'practice' day. She would have fun, instead of working through it. That'd be nice...

"Hm?" He spotted a small dragon scurrying from Twilight's castle. Barb wasn't that odd a sight, but she was holding a bag of dice and a bunch of books of obvious source. "Where ya goin'?" Big Mac called to her. "Today ain't game day."

Barb slid to a stop, coloring. "Oh, um... It's not our game day..."

Big Mac blinked owlishly at that announcement. "Who's game day is it?"

Barb pointed in the direction she had been going. "The crusaders are waiting for me. We have another game, uh, going... Don't be mad!"

"Why would ah be mad?" Big Mac smiled at his little game master. "That sounds right nice. How're they doin' at it?"

"Super high energy." Barb burst into giggles. "It's fun, in a different way. They don't think nearly as hard about what might happen, so they get into all kinds of trouble. It's fun helping them get in and back out again."

"Shucks, that does sound right nice." Big Mac felt no urge to try running O&O on his own. That was way too much talking and taking social charge, even for his new talkative self. "Nice yer makin' some friends 'round yer own age too. Not that ah mind yer company none."

"Oh, um..." Barb raised a hand burdened with a bag of dice against her cheek. "It is kind of nice... In a different way, I mean! Um... By the way." She glanced left and right. "Dragons have their own... things... but ours ends with an egg, like it or not. Pretty obvious when that's happening. Since you asked before."

Big Mac colored faintly, perhaps missed with his already red cheeks. "Oh! Um... Ayup." That word worked so nicely when he lacked for others in that moment. "Well, if ya need a friend, always got one right here." He curled a hoof to point at himself. "Ya know that, right?"

"'Course I do!" She bounced up, balled fist against hoof in a quick hoofbump. "Now, I better get going. Nocreature else is going to run that game."

They waved at one another as Barb scurried off towards her other game. "Right nice..." Big Mac turned his attention on a pony approaching, back to serving up apples with a big smile. All his mares were happy, even the ones that weren't his. Every single one of them.

"She's not as sneaky as she thinks she is."

Big Mac jumped in surprise. "When'd you get there?" He scowled at the sudden Discord.

"When I wanted to be." Discord tapped Big Mac on the nose. "Barb was trying to be so sneaky about it, but now we've both seen through her wicked lies."

Big mac huffed. "She didn't lie. She just didn't tell us."

"And that's better?" Discord vanished before the counter in front of Big Mac, just to pop up as a little filly, with his classic beard still worn. "Maybe I wanted to join that game too!" It didn't help that he still sounded like Discord, with the body of a filly or not. "I could be an adventuring crusader!"

Big Mac snorted at the strange form of the filly with Discord's beard and eyebrows, and voice on top of that. "Ah don't think the girls were lookin' fer that."

"How would they know?" He sprung up into his usual self. "Not like Barb asked them. A high energy game? That sounds kinda fun... Oh the trouble we could get into..." He rubbed his hooves together schemingly. "Not that I don't like the other game, of course."

Big Mac rolled a hoof in the air. "Well, instead ah complainin' ta me, why not try askin' the girls, and not scarin' them while ya do it? If they say yes, well, then yer in. Ain't much else to it, the way ah see it."

Discord blinked, looking to the complex web of lines and circles he had drawn up at some point. "Can it be that simple?!"

Big Mac chuckled softly, amused by Discord's antics for the moment. "It sure can be. Give it a try. Worst they'll do is say no."

"I don't want them to do that..." Discord stroked at his beard, plotting. "Oh, there's one." He casually vanished, giving room for a stallion to come up with an apple-related question. He snapped back into being with a pop when they were gone. "As I was saying, I don't want that. How do I get them to say yes?"

Big Mac hiked a brow. "Be polite, to start." A thought clicked. "Now, ah may not want to do it too often, but the crusaders? They may get a real kick out of hoppin' in the game. Just don't get in the way of Barb's story and they could all have a real good time. Young thin's, a chance to run around as their fantasy selves may be real fun fer everypony."

Discord clapped his hands together with the force to drive away the clouds above, making the weather pegasi quite confused. "Now you're thinking! Alright, so... I have to do the 'friendship'--" He rolled his eyes, still not 100% sold on the concept. "--thing, then show them what hanging out with me can bring." He hiked his thumbs at himself. "and, you know, that includes a lot!"

"Good an' the bad," chuckled out Big Mac. "It's a big package. Don't scare 'em."

"Nice and easy." He rolled up like a scroll and vanished in a puff of chaos, off to get what he wanted, or at least try, a lot, possibly to the annoyance of others.

Big Mac finished out his day, pulled the resulting bits into a bag out of the register, and flipped the sign from open to closed. A technicality, that sign. If there was a pony standing there, they were open. If not, they were closed. It was hard to be unsure with a stand like that.

But he didn't go home. He packed his saddlebags and went up to the castle, where Barb sure wasn't, but a certain princess was.

She was waiting for him in her throne room. "Evenin', Twilight."

She spotted his heavy bag. "Need any help?"

"It's the good kinda weight." He settled at the stable, sitting on the floor. Perching on one of the thrones felt wrong. "Result of a hard day's work sellin' apples."

"A good day." She smiled, looking him over. "That you look happy about."

"Oh, ah am. Every mare in mah life's happy, and it's reflectin' on me." He thought about that. "Wait a second... Yer a mare."

Twilight blinked. "Thank you for noticing. I am one of those." She smirked a little. "But I am happy, so you can put me among the mares in your life that are pleased."

Big Mac clapped gently. "Good! Was just gonna ask. Um... related to what we were talkin' 'bout, ah'm more and more sure Blossom ain't me, and ah ain't Blossom. We're sibling souls, hooked together. Closer than any two ponies could ever get, but stuck further apart than a pony could 'magine. Only way to talk is by letter."

Twilight hmmed. "Well, you're not the first pony to have a pen pal. Still, I gather what you mean. Even a pen pal, one could, in theory, arrange a visit. It would be... difficult for you to even entertain the notion when only one of you can be conscious at a time. Still, with your memories perfectly shared as you've described, how can you so certainly declare you and her are different ponies?"

"It ain't just memories." He pointed to himself. "When ah think of the time ah spent with Fancy Pants, ah think of it different than when she thinks about the same thing. We both got that same memory, all of it, but we come out of it different... It was fuzzier before. When we think of Sugar Belle, we feel 'bout the same thin'! We love her, a lot, physical an' not."

"I see." Twilight brought her hooves together. "So... Even with the same memories, how you respond to them varies... Hm..." A quill held in her magic dutifully scribbled her thoughts on it. "Have you tried other things? Romantic questions are the most obvious and immediate, but favorite color? Favorite kind of music? Maybe there are other things that vary, despite your shared memories."

Big Mac clopped once. "That's some clever thinkin' right there! Ah'll make a list ah things, then Blossom'll fill out the same sheet and we can compare. Actually... Would you make a list?"

Twilight sat up. "Me? Make a list? Well, if you insist..." She was only doing a middling job of hiding her general desire to make lists. "I'll have it ready by tomorrow."

Author's Note

The day wasn't over yet! Big Mac and Twilight have an idea to further tease out how much he and Blossom are the same pony, or not. What result are you hoping for?

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