Orchard Blossom awoke on a bed. The bed was soft and large with a soft... everything on top and underneath her. They had tucked her in as comfortably as possible and left to enjoy the rest of her slumber without bother.

She nuzzled out from under the blankets and, reaching the edge, she half-threw herself to the ground with a set of clops. "Allo?" She was entirely rested, clean, and felt ready to go, but did not know what she was doing. Orchard could remember the conversations she, er, he had with his lady-friend. She had welcomed Orchard Blossom with open hooves and a brilliant smile. Visiting her was an option, but she had a life.

And it was very confusing. Orchard stepped to the door and willed it open. With the sound of it opening, she learned they hadn't locked it. "Allo?" she called out as she trotted through the open door into the well-appointed hallway that stretched left and right from there.

"There you are." A familiar maid was rushing towards her. "He'll be so happy you've woken up."

Orchard perked her ears at the familiar sight. "Ah, hey there, did you go an' clean me up and find a place to put me?"

"Sure did." She looked proud of her job as she nodded at Orchard. "And you look so much better. Fancy Pants has something he wants to talk to you about. I don't know what, so you'll have to ask him yourself." She turned away and got right to walking in the direction she came from. "But I will lead the way."

Orchard Blossom followed her through the house as she eyed the fancy furnishings on either side along the way. They pressed through just one more door to find Fancy Pants enjoying a tall glass of something dark. He looked up at their entry with a smile. "Ah, she awakens. Good, good, now we can finish that conversation I had hoped for yesterday."

The maid dipped low and fled with no reason to require her services any longer.

"Hey, uh, so thanks for all the help you gave me, even if ah didn't ask for all of it." She inclined her head left and right at her would-be savior. "But it makes me kinda nervous and wonderin' if you were hopin' for somethin' in return."

Fancy Pants adjusted the monocle on his face with a raised hoof. "I have nothing untoward planned for you, this I assure. If you'd rather just walk out, I certainly wouldn't stop you." That he had some other thing in mind seemed plain to figure out without him saying so. "I can appreciate a real go-getter that's making the town easier to live in." He sat down to clap both his forehooves properly.

Orchard Blossom smiled awkwardly at the praise from the rich pony. "Ah appreciate yer kind words, but ya didn't want me around just to say that, did ya?"

"Suspicious, aren't we? I suppose I can't entirely blame you." He clasped his hooves together. "You've already told me that Lady Luna is on the lookout for you, which is reason enough for many ponies to turn you directly over to her." Orchard tensed at the idea and looked ready to flee. "Which is not what I'm doing." He waved for her to relax instead.

"No, I'm many things, but a snitch is not one of those things, I should hope. I would prefer to be a sponsor for a good pony doing good things." He willed a bag to lift from his pocket into view. "This is yours, if you continue doing what you do best. That's it. Once the money is in your hooves, then I will have no control over you. You could take it and go to a wild party on my bits and there wouldn't be much I could do to stop you."

"But you're assumin' that I won't be doin' that or you wouldn't just be givin' away yer money." Sure, Orchard Blossom was doing some powerful assuming of her own, but she could think of no better options. "So yer still hopin' ah go along with yer idea even if you're not goin' to be breathin' down my withers about it?"

"Which is to keep right on helping the ponies of this city." He clapped softly with a wry smile. "I've been asking about you and you've already lent a hoof. I'd rather you helped around here rather than wander off to Baltimare or some other place." He rubbed his chin softly. "They'd probably love you in Baltimare, but forget that! They already favor you right here."

Baltimare? She hadn't considered that city, but suddenly had a reason to start. "Ah see... They like me here?"

"Oh, quite a bit, yes." Fancy got back to all fours and began pacing around Orchard Blossom at a sedate pace. "You're a princess that gets her hooves dirty, which they like. They could probably do with you being less, well, dirty at the end. It is my hope that getting a proper sponsor will assist with that." His tone of voice implied that he had performed as a sponsor a few times.

Orchard willed the money closer and found little resistance after Fancy Pants released it just a moment after she began pulling it. "Ah don't owe you anythin'."

"But it'd be nice if you could show some appreciation doing what you clearly favor doing." He straightened his coat despite it already being quite straight. "I will gladly give you a bag like that next moon if you continue the good work. Not a, hm, princess' fee, but enough to be comfortable at least."

Orchard Blossom shook the bag with its soft jingles. "Thank you, um... I'll do my best fer the ponies." She already had been, but a promise to keep up that work felt safe from her view. "It's alright if I take a break once in a while?"

"Of course." Fancy Pants set a hoof on her tense shoulder. "You are a princess, even if you're not favoring the rule-setting part of it. I should expect you to take breaks as needed."

Orchard backed away from the feeling hoof. "Well, alright then. I'm hopin' yer just as trustworthy as I heard..." Rarity had nothing but kind words for Fancy Pants, but it was Rarity. She was not Rarity, no matter how shiny her jewelry was. "Later."

"Travel safely." He tipped the hat he wasn't wearing as Orchard Blossom retreated. "If you need anything, do stop by. I may not be here, but I will inform the servants of this."

Orchard made good her escape on hasty hooves right out of the fancy house. The servants did not bar her movement and even opened a few doors as she approached them. They had been polite to her, all of them, from the top down. Some of them even wished her a good way on the way past.

So why was she so nervous about it? "Ain't used to it..." She had a bag of bits in her arcane grip and an itch in her ruffling wings. "An' this is mine..." The bag was hers. He had been clear. Whatever she did, she got to keep that bag and do whatever she wanted with it.

She had a city to protect, like before, and she'd gained a patron. As she walked down the street, she smiled and had a flutter in her chest. She wasn't poor no more! But she still had a Sugar Belle that wanted to see her down the mountain. She frowned suddenly at that thought and how to handle it.

Nothing stopped her from walking, and thinking at once, so she did that. Her thoughts were on Sugar Belle. Big Mac loved her a lot. But did she? She was Big Mac! Sorta... She had all his memories, present and past. He had all of hers in the same way. There were no gaps between them to speak of. She loved the Apple family, just like he did.

Thinking about Sugar Belle filled her with warm fuzzies from the top to the bottom. She liked that mare, but was it all the way or just as a friend? She could remember all the time she spent with Big Mac, both romantic and not. If nothing else, that was a mare that supported her, but was so far away. But was she really?

Orchard Blossom spread her wings wide and gave them a testing flap. She could sail down from Canterlot to Ponyville! The trip up didn't take all that long. A yelp reached a perked ear. Regardless of her thoughts on Sugar Belle, she had a mission to do.

She tucked away the bag of bits for later use and galloped towards the problem. "Stop right there!" There was a stallion trying to mug an older unicorn mare of her purse. "Ain't nopony gettin' away with things like that on my watch!"

The city's newest, and only princess that was also a vigilante, leaped into action with a roar of determination.

Luna touched down in the dream that felt right. "Orchard Blossom and Big Mac." Luna smiled softly as she prowled forward in the dream with her eyes sweeping. So far, that was the only dream that had held both scents for her to catch. "You must know something." Or they knew both of them? That was a small possibility that Luna couldn't entirely ignore.

She brushed aside some branches in the way and saw a pony working on a brick oven that had no business in the middle of the forest. Dreams were like this at times and Luna came closer without worrying about the illogical nature of it.

"I'm missing..." Sugar Belle didn't name an ingredient, nor was it terribly important. All that mattered was that it was missing, and she needed to get some of it as soon as possible. "Is it here or there?" She was willing her cupboards open and digging around with her hooves in a frantic search for whatever it was she was missing. "I knew I had some."

"Be at ease." Sugar Belle tensed and relaxed almost at once when Luna spoke. The fog of her dream abating quickly, leaving her sharp as she turned to gape at Luna. "I am here to speak with you, if I may?"

Sugar Belle perked an ear at the intruder in her dreams. "Well, hello there. Since you're here, maybe you know where I put my cinnamon?" The clarity had returned the specific name of a particular herb to her imagined lips. "I seem to have just lost it, and your sister will be quite mad if I don't have a fresh pie waiting for her."

Luna smiled at that. Sometimes dreamers were still a little sleepy when she tried to wake them up and she imagined that was exactly the case. "Right there." Her horn glowed with magic as she lifted a jar of cinnamon that hadn't been there into view. "Just what you need. Mind if we chat while you work?"

"Miracle worker!" Sugar Belle hugged her dear cinnamon close and got to cooking, even if the steps weren't quite in order. It didn't much matter in dream logic. "Do you like pie too? I owe you one for saving my flank like that."

"You can make up for it with a few questions instead. Have you heard of Orchard Blossom?" Luna leaned forward with a knowing smile. Maybe her answers would be even faster in coming than she had dared to dream.

"That's a secret." Sugar waved a hoof scoldingly but had no scowl on her face. "He'd get mad if I talked about her. Alright, pie! Something moon flavored... Moon... I bet I can think up a few things, so you just sit back and let the baker do her job."

Luna was watching Sugar Belle work, but curiosity was burning in her. "I have a reward for Orchard Blossom. They deserve that, hmm?"

Author's Note

Orchard Blossom is free, with bits, woo! Meanwhile, Sugar is questioned. What could come of either situation, other than exotic typos?

Join the special community of folks who like my stories and/or get your own here at atreon!

Don't want to do an ongoing thing? You could

Join my discord to chat!