Big Mac sat up with a gasp. The bath had been so relaxing, and it was so late in the day, er, evening that she had fallen asleep, allowing him to awaken. "Drat..." He'd just have to hope that Fancy Pants and the maid treated her sleeping form well. They had given him little reason to doubt.

"Do I hear somepony special?" He knew that voice, but it surprised him. He rushed down the stairs to see a smiling unicorn mare. Sugar Belle closed the distance to nuzzle gently at Big Mac. "I knew I heard you. Your family says something distracted you the last few days, so I came to help."

He moved to get around her, but she got right in the way. "Nuh-uh. I'm here so you can have a break." She held up a hoof. "I said I'd lend a hoof around here, and you look out of sorts."

"Nope?" He was all together, as Big Mac. He had a house, and family, and everything.

"Don't you nope me!" She leaned in, breath washing over him in her angry huffs. "I can see you look out of sorts. The best I can offer is for you to come out, sit down, and watch me work."

"Yup?" If that was the best... Big Mac followed her outside. "Ya don't have to."

"But I'm going to." She smiled over her shoulder. "As an Apple, this is one of my jobs. What I get for getting attached to a big lug like you?"

Big Mac colored but said nothing. Even though he was guilty of doing it, he settled down as she got to work. He had the strength. He could have been helping!

There were a few apples raining down after she kicked the tree. She had not the strength or the training to get them to come down properly. Sugar Belle raised a hoof to her chin in tapping before she began to will them down, a few at a time. She was no Twilight Sparkle, and a few at a time were at her speed.

It was hard to miss the sigh full of exasperation. She turned towards him. "You came out here. I'm going to get these apples down, or we can have a serious chat." She pointed to herself, then Big Mac. "Which do you prefer?"

Big Mac sat up in his chair. Was that an act, the whole thing? He smiled a little at his tricky partner as he reconsidered her place in things. "Ah'm here to talk if ya want to." More words than he usually spared, but for her, well worth it.

She strolled away from the tree with her magic releasing the few apples she held into a basket on the way. "Well, fine then. Now tell me, what has you in a knot? It's really obvious you're worked up about something!"

Big Mac tapped the front of the chair that soon had a unicorn sitting on it. "It's complicated..."

"It always is." She solved it with gentle a nuzzle, rubbing her snout to his. "But I'm here. Wanna share?"

"Ah... need you to be secret about it." He tapped his hooves together slowly. "Cause it's a secret."

"That goes without saying." She raised a brow at him suspiciously. "But I'll promise that. Unless you're hurting somepony, they won't hear a word from me." She crossed her heart in solemn gesture.

Big Mac looked around for other Apples lurking about, but it seemed to just be him and Sugar Belle. "Ah..." But how did he even start to approach it? "Ya remember... mah dream?"

"Ya had a few." She turned a hoof on herself. "One's sitting in front of you." She leaned in and kissed the end of his nose with a giggle. "So that's one down. Which are we talking?"

Big Mac reached out to draw her closer. Her scent and presence were enough to calm him down. "Lucky to have the one." He kissed her cheek and snuggled in firmer. "But ah got a second thrown at me."

"Which is good... right?" Sugar perked an ear at him. "Stop playing coy and just tell me what the second is to start."

"Right... 'magined myself doin' more than just bein' a farmer." He waved in broad sweeps. "Ah do a decent enough job, keepin' things running... But what if I could do more? What if I could... really put a hoof on other pony's lives and turn them for the better?" An odd smile spread across his face. "What if ah could be a princess?"

Sugar tilted her head left and right rapidly. "You know you're a stallion, right?" Step one of being a princess! "I like you as a stallion, not going to lie about that. You have some pleasant qualities, as a pony, but my heart flutters for a big powerful stallion." She lifted her shoulders with a gentle flick of her tail. "Now I feel like I'm being judgey. Sorry. I just never felt a thing for another mare before, so it confuses me just thinking about."

Big Mac sat up as he pointed to himself. "Well, good news! Still a stallion." He turned in place as if to show himself off. "100% stallion." She began to applause as he sat down. "But it ain't so simple." He considered how to approach it. "Ya have dreams, like actual dreams, at night, right?"

"Who doesn't?" She smiled in a goofy expression of many teeth. "I once dreamed I was in a pie-eating contest, but there was no finish line. I just had to keep eating, forever... That was rough."

"Like that... But 'magine yer dream self was... real?" That got an odd look from her. "Real, real!" Big Mac threw his hooves wide. "Big enough that ponies start asking questions 'bout it. All the way real. You weren't here... but we fought for Princess Luna."

Sugar put a hoof to her chin. "I heard a little. A rumor, really. Wanna tell me about it?" She flopped against him. “I like story time when you're the one telling them.”

He rest an arm around her as he flopped back. They were sharing the long chair, but it wasn't in a way he disliked. He had a mare, his mare. His beloved mare... "Um... Alright, so we... We fought a lot to keep Luna's dream demon from gettin' out... We did that."

"Yay." Sugar swirled a hoof. "Who's we?"

"We..." He glanced around, but saw no Apples. "We were the entire town. Quite a fuss... But we did it."

"Yay, but that can't be the end of it." She nuzzled under Big Mac's chin. "Unless that dream of yours was just to save a princess in a dream. You did that, and I knew you could." She had no evidence that Big Mac could defeat anything in a dream, but she looked the part.

He smiled at the compliment, however unearned it was. "In the dream, Ah was a princess, um, more a prince. Got a fancy horn." He pointed up to his lack of a horn. "Got big wings." He pointed to his complete lack of wings. "And could use both to help, to save the day."

She nestled closer. "It ain't fair a stallion don't have a chance at that, but that ain't the end of the story, I'm guessing. So what happened next?"

He sat up, partially nudging her out of the way. "When we were winning, I got thrown out of the dream. I woke up, but I wasn't me." He put his hooves on his chest. "I mean, I was. It was me, but 'me' was a lady, with a horn and wings." He didn't have them, but he tried to move the wings he didn't have. "I was Orchard Blossom, princess!"

Sugar Belle snorted instead of cheering. "Orchard Blossom?! That's the name... That's your fake name, isn't it?"

Big Mac colored swiftly at being called out. "It was, but she's real, all real."

"Look, alright." Sugar Belle raised her hooves placatingly. "Let's assume you're speaking the whole and complete truth. What does this have to do with you? So there's an Orchard Blossom out there, good for her. I'll cheer her on when she does something good, but you're still here." She set a hoof on his chest and felt that he was all there. "Yep, my Big Mac, so why would I care about her, or you care about her?"

Big Mac suddenly cupped Sugar Belle's cheeks. "She's out there right now! When Ah... When ah sleep, she wakes up."

Sugar hiked a brow from her imprisoned state. "You're kidding me."

"There are no jokes between us, not one." He released Sugar Belle carefully. "She's out there. I live through her... When she sleeps, I wake up. When I sleep, she wakes up..." But Sugar Belle was looking at him seriously. "You believe me?"

"Why wouldn't I believe you?" Sugar hopped to the ground smoothly. "You said there were no jokes. I said I was being serious. You are her, sometimes? That's crazy! Where is she?" She looked around as if she could spot Orchard Blossom if she searched hard enough. "Not here..."

"Not here." Big Mac quirked a smile at her as he pointed up at the mountain. "She's up in Canterlot."

"Well, bring her here." Sugar tapped at the chair. "Let me meet her. Who are you? Who is her?"

Big Mac colored at the idea. "But she's... She's her own pony."

"She's still you." Sugar snorted with a flick of her tail as she squinted at Big Mac. "Unless she forgets being you?"

"No! Thankfully..." That would make everything more and less complicated if they didn't know the other existed. "I know her and what she does. She knows me and what I do. We are the same pony."

"Great!" Sugar cantered in place. "Then she's in love with me the same way you are."

Big Mac's coloring only grew worse. "She's a mare, and ya just said ya ain't interested."

"I'm not interested in a random mare." She leaned forward. "This isn't a random mare. I want to be a part of what you are going through. At the least, I want to cheer you on. I want to know what she looks like. She is you, isn't she? So I'd cheer you on if you went off to Canterlot. Just sore you didn't bring me along."

Big Mac's arguments felt limp between his hooves. There was Sugar Belle, eager and raring to help him however she could. "You are just... too good to me..."

"One thing." She raised a brow. "Since you two are the same pony, ah'll get upset if she picks up a boyfriend."

Big Mac's cheeks found they could yet become a darker shade. He squeaked with a surprise he didn't even know was possible.

"I'm serious." She stomped a hoof down. "You two are one pony, so you get one pony, and you got one." She tapped her chest. "And she didn't kick you out for it, so respect me. I'll return the favor, promise."

Big Mac sat back with wide eyes. "She... knows me, but she is herself. She has thoughts I don't have. I have thoughts she doesn't. We think about each other, a lot. We think about each other's thoughts... But they ain't our thoughts. Ah don't want you bein' angry none! Yer an important pony."

"But she isn't entirely... you, huh?" Sugar Belle raised a brow. "Can you make her visit? I really want to meet this mare. Maybe we'll hit it off, maybe not. She's attached to you, clear-like."

He went for a nose rub and wasn't denied as they gazed into one another's eyes. "I can try, but she's meeting somepony and ah don't even know how that'll go... Ah... am real happy yer not lookin' at me like ah'm crazy."

"'Cause you're not." Sugar rolled her eyes. "You're my boyfriend, which is crazy enough! We'll get through this, promise."

Author's Note

Sugar Belle refuses to be chased away just on this count. She is a good mare.

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