Orchard huffed at... her girlfriend? By most measures, that is what Sugar was. "Why are you taking this so easily?"

"I am not." Sugar sank back to her haunches. "I'm actually super nervous, but also super excited. You are... a lot of things to me. I love you, boy or girl or anything else." She threw up her hooves. "You are you! If Twilight missed a spell and poof, you were a dragon, would I be a good pony if I decided I didn't like you anymore? I think not!"

Orchard turned one ear back. "Ah wouldn't like that..." Becoming a dragon and losing Sugar Belle, both were horrible. "But ya wouldn't do that."

"I wouldn't." Sugar raised a hoof, dancing in the air. "Because I love all of you. Because you'd be Big Mac, the dragon. Jus' like right now you're Big Mac, the mare." She looked Orchard over discerningly. "A mare that thinks I'm something else."

Orchard colored quickly. "You keep sayin' things like that! Do you want me to... as a mare?"

"With anypony else, I would say no." Sugar leaned in with a slow smile. "You aren't anypony else. If you came up and kissed me, I'd be wondering if I liked it... not trying to run away..." She coughed softly, setting her hooves down. "May I admit something?"

"Ah course ya can." Orchard smiled at her girlfriend. "You always could."

"Because you're Big Mac, my boyfriend." Sugar seemed quite certain at that point. "Now... I think... you're kinda... pretty. Not the sort of pretty I'd normally chase, but... I don't have to chase you. You're already here, in my lap. I just have to... say yes, and we can kiss, like two mares aren't supposed to do." Which seemed to be an idea--"And I want to."

Orchard danced away from Sugar with an irritated snort. "Yer not thinkin' clearly! Sorry for wakin' you up so late at night. Ah'll go..."

"Wait!" Sugar thrust out a hoof to the already turning Orchard. "You'll be there in the morning. Can we talk more, during day hours if you want?"

"Don't promise anythin'." Orchard threw herself out the window and took off on unfolding wings. "Sleep safe." She vanished into the night without looking back.

Sugar Belle watched where Orchard vanished to. "Heading back to the city..." She had gone in the direction of Canterlot. "Don't forget me." She dusted herself off on the way to bed. "Because I'm not forgetting you, either of you, which is you." She rolled her eyes softly. "And it's really obvious!" At least, it was to her.

Sugar climbed up onto her bed and sank down. "We're going to have a chat when I wake up." Sleeping didn't come as easily as she hoped, but she sat still and waited for sleep to eventually find her.

Big Mac woke up and stretched out on his bed before he rolled up to his hooves. "Time fer a new day." He got to trotting down the stairs, but a mare was waiting for him down there. "Oh! Um... hi..." He smiled nervously at his girlfriend. He hadn't forgotten the night before. "S-should..."

"You're feeling better, good." She smooched his cheek and waved onwards. "Granny made us some tasty food, so it's time to eat and get to work!"

Big Mac advanced past her with stiff steps. "Right kind of her..." He went to the breakfast table and sank down next to it. "Shouldn't you get back to yer work?"

"That eager to see me gone?" She hopped up across from him, watching him intently. "I'm just fine, thanks. What'd you do after you ran off on me?" Sugar could see him tense up at the question. "Nevermind that. I'm still here today because you're not at 100% and, trying to be a good girlfriend, I'm here to help."

"Right kind of you." Sure, he was repeating bits of his words. He wasn't sure what to say! He chewed at the home fries and slathered on some applesauce on the next nibble. It was good, as Granny tended to make. "What's the, uh, schedule?"

Sugar Belle leaned forward, head resting on her hooves. "Good question. I asked sister AJ before she wandered off. Seems we need to do some pruning on the west side. Are you up for that?"

"Ayup." Pruning! He could do pruning. There were no great big questions there. "Ah'll get the sheers." He licked off the last of the sweet mashed apples and hopped back to his hooves, only to find Sugar was right at his side. "Ya don't haveta."

"Yes I do." She loped along with him. "You're not all better. Besides... I think Luna may be shadowing me."

Big Mac blinked at that. "What fer?"

"Are you hiding from her?" Sugar thumped against Big Mac from the side. "Naughty! Go talk to her so she stops chasing me."

"Oh." He glanced away and back. "Ya know... If... If ah get involved with her, ah'll have even less time fer you."

"You are not dating Princess Luna." Sugar Belle rolled her eyes mightily at the idea. "Don't even dream it. You go say hi like a princess to a princess. I feel sure there will be zero kisses involved. After that, you come to me for smooches."

"Was... that a joke?" Dreaming of Princess Luna was exactly how most ponies dealt with her. "Um... Ya sure? She may want me to be a princess princess. Ya know, in charge of thin's."

"She may." Sugar grabbed the sheers on the extending pole before Big Mac could, getting it into position along her body. "But she probably won't. If I had to guess, which I do..." She tapped at her chin. "She wants to make sure you're not a random creep or bad pony running around on her watch."

"But ah ain't!"

"And she knows that?" Sugar advanced past Big Mac out of the barn. "Now this way." She headed towards the trees in need of love. "She doesn't know that, and you've been hiding, which just makes you even more mysterious, new princess."

Big Mac blushed as he followed her out into the fields. "Ah ain't tryin' to upset nopony."

"And I'm sure you weren't." She turned to catch his snout in a kiss. "I trust ya."

"You trust me a lot." He pointed to one proud apple tree. "Let's start there?"

"On it!" She advanced and raised her sheers up tall to snip eagerly with her extended tool at the raggedy edges of the tree. "Gonna make nice and round," she sang as she worked. "All neat and trim, like a pie we aren't baking, but you'll have some tasty apples!"

Big Mac raised a brow. "That didn't rhyme, not one bit."

"And it was still a song." Sugar bounced back, examining her work. "That looks better, right?"

"Right fine." He pointed to the next tree in need of care and they started towards it. "Are ya really fine, havin' a boyfriend who's also yer girlfriend? Ya... fine jus' havin' a girlfriend?"

"If that Girlfriend is Big Mac, yes." Sugar belle slipped the scissors from branch to branch in careful meticulousness. "Lucky me, she is. She also needs my help, which I want to give. Oh!" She paused to clap her hooves loudly. "Want to bring me with you, to see Princess Luna? I'll vouch for you being a great pony!"

Big Mac snatched the sheers from her, grabbing them in his mouth and yanking them free of Sugar Belle suddenly. The straps came loose with his great pull and soon he was wiggling into it himself. "Ah got the next one!"

"You could have just asked." She followed him with a pout as he trimmed at the trees far more quietly, but he was doing a good job of it. "I'm not joking. I love you, Big Mac. The form you're wearing doesn't change that, even if I think both of your shapes are pleasing in different ways."

Big Mac took a big slice off the wrong part of the tree. "Ayup! Wait..." He glanced aside at Sugar Belle. "Ya think she's pretty?"

"Didn't I say that." Sugar shrugged softly with a little snort. "Pretty sure I did! Wouldn't go up to her and ask her out, but we're already past that. She's you. You're her. I'm not kissing some random mare. I'm kissing Big Mac, who happens to be a mare."

Big Mac approached the next tree on stiff legs. "So, puttin' past... Ya know..." He kept glancing at her repeatedly. "Ya know..."

"What do I know?" Sugar trailed behind him. "Since when were you the one with big ideas?"

"Ah got ideas sometimes!" He puffed up defensively. "And ya sound like a pony what likes boys and girls, jus' happens to be shy about it."

Sugar slowed to a stop a bit before Big Mac did. "Huh... Huh! Huh... Wow..." She sank to her haunches. "Dang it, Big Mac! Why'd you go and get your idea all over me!" Still, she didn't fight the notion. "Huh... Um... No offense to you or nothin', but you're saying I would have been fine with a mare, if I was... more open about it and you weren't involved."

"Ayup." Big Mac took a careful snip at the next tree, slowly forming it up properly. "Guess ah'm lucky ah got ya first."

Sugar Belle set a hoof on her temple. "And you just called me a coward, maybe without even thinking about it!"

"If the horeseshoe fits." He was walking away in his trek to trim all the trees that needed his care. "Ain't nothin' to be sorry fer. Not like ah'm perfect."

"Like hay you are!" She hopped to her hooves and hurried after him. "You're the one running around as a mare half the time. And not sleeping? But still sleeping? I saw you! You were asleep! But you weren't... That's confusing!"

"Ayup." Big Mac was steadily cutting at the next tree despite how confusing his life had become. "Gonna go to bed and do the princess thing tonight. Each night is that. That's jus' how things are now."

"Wow." Sugar inclined her head. "If I became another pony like that, not sure I could just... roll with it. You're really showing off!" She shoved against him, not that it seemed to impress his dense mass of muscles. "I want to be a part! I'm still very set on that. Double! Triple! I want to be a part of you." She hugged Big Mac even as he worked on. "Take me with you to see Princess Luna. You'll be less nervous then."

Big Mac slowed in his work. "Huh." He looked over at her without turning. She would have been carried if he did anyway. "Ya sure ya wanna face Princess Luna? She might be mad."

"If she's mad at my Big Mac, I super want to be there!" She released him to scowl instead. "Nopony gets to be angry at my boyfriend without my say so. She'll have to get through me, and that'll give you enough time to fly away."

"Nope!" He shook his head and started towards the next tree. "Wouldn't ever want you gettin' hurt jus' for me."

"There isn't any 'just' in this." She trailed after him with an angry huff. "You're my boyfriend. If I can't get upset for you, who can I get upset for? No, no, and double no! Luna will have to explain to us both what she wants and we'll both decide if we like what she says." She pointed up at a tree. "Also, you missed a branch."

"Shoot. Thanks." With a loud snip, he corrected his mistake. "It's always better with a second set of eyes." He glanced over at her. "Guess that's true here too... If she likes yer--"

"Nope!" cried out Sugar Belle in a lyrical note. "She is you. You decide. Stop compartmentalizing so hard."

Author's Note

What would you do if you woke up as someone else suddenly?

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