Sugarplum paced restlessly around the farm. Her practiced eye found things waiting to be done: sorting apples with Granny there, a barrel to be mended here, gathering up stray apples with Apple Bloom way over there. But as soon as she considered taking on a task, the thoughts that occupied her mind would overwhelm her, and she would go right back to her aimless walking. She was in fact so preoccupied that she didn't notice Applejack and Big Mac until she had passed them.
“Hey there, Sugarplum!” Applejack called out. “You look tense enough to bite through a nail!” Sugarplum turned and saw the two ponies; each were pulling a cart-full of apples and looking at her with a bemused grin.
“I guess I am a bit,” she admitted.
“Worried about your parents meeting the Princess?” asked Big Mac.
“No. Well, yes. But no.” Seeing a pair of blank stares, she tried to explain. “I mean, I'm not worried about them meeting the Princess specifically. They can handle it. Dad was a Marine, and Mom, well... She has her own way of dealing with stress.”
“...Fortunately, I'll be handling most of the 'media', as you call them,” Celestia was saying. She gave Sugarplum's dad a reassuring smile across the coffee table. Sugarplum's mom came into the living room with a tray of tea. Celestia's horn glowed as she took her ice tea. “Thank you. And I wanted to mention, you have a beautiful home.” She took a healthy drink, being a bit parched. Her eyes blinked, then watered. She raised a hoof to her mouth and surpressed a cough. “What's in this? Tequila?”
“Oh! I'm sorry, Princess,” the mother said, smoothly switching glasses with her. “That one is mine.”
Back in Equestria, Applejack asked “Then what is it?”
Sugarplum took off her hat and ran fingers through her hair. “Its this whole 'First Contact' thing.” She paced back and forth. “Revealing yourselves to my world. Nothing like this has happened to my kind before. I mean, how are we gonna handle it? Will people panic? Can they accept magic, talking ponies and dragons and everything being real? Are those scientists right, and we have some kind of instinct to destroy anything that could compete with us? If so, can we overcome that?”
“Sugarplum?” said Applejack.
“Will all the gold and gems you guys have crash our economy if we trade? Will a human country try to attack you for your wealth? Can pegasi help with climate change? What happens if Celestia decides to take in human refugees? How are humans going to handle magic? How are ponies going to handle our technology? Farm equipment alone could put a huge number of earth ponies out of work. And what are the furries going to make of you? Some of those guys are just creepy.”
Applejack tried again. “Sugarplum.”
“Can Equestria join the U.N. if you're from another world? What if its the poines who freak out? I mean, human society isn't exactly rosy. I know Equestria has some dark chapters in its past, but those are all hundreds of years ago. You guys have had peace and prosperity so long, can you handle seeing war and poverty? Does the Princess still know how to handle slick politicians and fast-talking businessmen? What if they want to open a McDonald's in Ponyville? What would they serve? And how is-”
“Carrie-Ann!” Big Mac's use of her human name jarred her out of her rant. He stepped closer to her. “T'ain't for us to worry about.”
“Its not?” Her brow furrowed and she made a confused smile. “Mac, this could change everything. Everything.”
“Sure could,” he agreed. “But its out of the hooves of folks like you and me. No use fretting about it.”
“Plenty enough to worry about here on the farm,” Applejack said. “Got trees to buck, apples to sort, tools to patch up, pies to bake...”
“So your answer is to just carry on like normal?” Sugarplum looked from one to the other, her arms hanging at her sides.
Applejack smiled and tilted her head in a pony-shrug. “What else can we do?”
Sugarplum paused thoughtfully, then gave a shrug of her own. “Nothing, I guess. I'll go see if Granny needs a hand.” She gave Mac a kiss on the forehead and walked away.
Applejack looked at her brother. “Reckon its natural to be nervous about all this.”
“Eeyup.”
“Its harder when you can't reckon what's to come, and you don't know what to do.”
“Eeyup.”
Applejack nodded. “Eeyup.” She looked at the sky a moment, as though trying to read something from it. “Well, back to work.”
Sugarplum stepped through the portal into the familiarly round and book-lined library of Ponyville. Without pausing she stepped over to Twlight and hugged her around the neck with her free arm (the other busy holding a book bag).
“Glad to see you too!” Twilight said with a smile and return hug. “I always worry you'll get quarantined again when you go over there.”
Sugarplum stood back up, her mouth pulled to the side. “Longest month of my life. And that includes my first month here. Anyway,” she unzipped the book bag and laid the contents on the table. “Here's your electronics textbooks, and I burned some DVDs of those documentaries you wanted. And NASA sent some more stuff.” She added a pair of flash drives to the books and discs.
“Great!” Twilight said as she magically drew a book to her. “I think I'm making progress on making a magical charger for my laptop.”
Sugarplum looked over at a desk that was pushed off to the side. The top had been sanded and painted to hide the large scorch mark it had recently gained. “Well, now that you know the difference between AC and DC, the rest should be easier.”
It was Twilight's turn to smile wryly. She sat down with her textbook and put bookmarks in the parts she wanted to study. Before she got far in her reading, she noticed Sugarplum looking over a letter in her hands. The human's brow was furrowed thoughtfully. “What's that, Sugarplum?”
She looked over. “A letter from my college. I can go back next semester.”
“That's great!” Twilight said. Then she noticed her friend's lack of excitement. “Isn't it?”
“No no, it is.” She sat down next to Twilight. “These past several months have just been so unreal, you know?”
“You don't say.” Twilight grinned.
Sugarplum smiled in spite of herself. “Its just... I had my plan, you know? Get my degree, get a job, get married. Then I ended up here, and I had to rethink everything. And just when it looks like I got things figured out here, things change again. I do want to finish my degree, but I'm just not sure where to go beyond that now.”
“Are you still going into-” Twilight rolled her eyes up thoughtfully as she tried to remember. “Climate science?”
Sugarplum nodded. “Its still what I want.”
“Well, if you want to find a job over here, I'll help.”
Sugarplum reached over to give Twilight another hug. “Thanks, I might take you up on that.” She looked at the letter again, and tapped it with her finger. “I'm going to have to be away from Mac a lot, you know? Probably only going to be back on weekends. Maybe less, depending on the portal schedule.”
Twilight smiled sympathetically. “It won't be forever. And it'll be hard for him, too.”
“Yeah.” Sugarplum glanced at her friend. Hmmm, should I ask her for advice about Mac? Well... No, not yet. I like Twilight, but I should ask someone more experienced first. She stood up. “Well, I better get back to the farm. You're not the only one who worries when I'm gone.”
They said their goodbyes, along with more hugs which by now were becoming gratuitous, and Sugarplum headed off for the Apple's farm. She waved to the ponies as they went about their business. Soon she was at the farm. The sight of it gave her a warm reassurance. Everything was changing so much she couldn't even hold it all in her mind, but the farm was still the same. Here she could pretend it was still just her and the Apples, with no doctors taking blood samples in hazmat suits or people calling her “horse-slut” on the internet.
She looked around for Big Mac, finding him loading up a cart with apples. Without pause, she walked up, hugged him around the neck and buried her face in his mane. He put an arm around her, and she wondered if he hesitated or if she just imagined it.
“Guess ya missed me,” he said.
She kissed him on the forehead. “Of course I missed you, Mac. I always miss you.”
“Well,” he began then just smiled awkwardly. “So uh, you find out about your college yet?”
“Yup, I start again in the fall.”
“That's good.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I gotta go with Applejack to sell these apples at market, so...” He went to hitch himself to the cart.
“Wait Big Mac.” She laid a hand on his shoulder. “You've been kinda distant lately; is something wrong?”
He looked at her shyly, like he did when she first arrived in Ponyville. “Nnnope, not really.”
“Then what?”
He looked away. “Heck Sugarplum, I understand. I mean, you were stuck here, couldn't get no stallions of your own kind. Now ya can.” He gave her a worn, kind smile.
She felt a cold tingle on the back of her neck. “But Mac, I-”
“C'mon Mac, we're burnin' daylight!” Applejack shouted from outside the barn.
Mac shrugged and smiled apologetically. “I better go.” He quickly trotted out of the barn to join his sister.
“Mac!” she yelled. When he didn't come back, she sighed and went to the house to find Granny. The old mare was in the kitchen, peeling and coring apples. “Granny, I need some advice.”
Granny patted the floor next to her. “Well, help me a spell and we'll talk.”
Sugarplum sat down and grabbed a paring knife and an apple. “Its Mac. He thinks I'm going to leave him for one of my kind.”
“And ya don't want to?”
Sugarplum paused, knife held poised above the fruit. “Of course not! I-” She broke out into a smile. “I love Big Mac. I don't want to end it.”
Granny smiled in turn. “I know ya do. Well, don't be angry with him. He's just thinking about what's best for you, that's all.”
“Best for me?” She smoothly cut away the peel and put the apple in the water pot. “I think I should decide that.” She looked sideways at Granny. “Besides, what's wrong with me choosing Mac? None of you ever said anything against it.”
“Well, speaking only for me, I figured it was good for ya both, seeing as both of you were kinda lonely.” She paused to work the apple corer with her teeth. “Its just cross-couples like yourselves have a bit harder time of it.”
Sugarplum shrugged. “Well, sure, I understand that. But if two people really love each other, they can overcome any obstacle, right?”
“Heck no.” Seeing Sugarplum's startled look, she smiled reassuringly. “Hold on now, I don't mean to say it so harsh.” As she spoke, she continued working on the apples, as though her hooves knew what to do without her input. “Love is a great thing, and you need it to make a life with somepony. But love ain't enough all by itself. I done seen plenty of couples who loved each other just fine, but it didn't work because they wanted different from life, or each other, or they had strong differences. Plenty of couples manage to compromise, but these's some things nopony wants to give up, even for love. You understand what I mean?”
Sugarplum nodded reluctantly. “I think so. But-”
“Now whether you and Big McIntosh can work things out, that's for both of y'all to decide. But if you want to try, reckon I'll support y'all.”
“Thanks Granny.” She quietly continued peeling apples, thinking and waiting for Mac to come back.
A few hours later, Mac returned to refill his cart. Sugarplum met him out in the orchard, her hands fidgeting. “Mac, can we talk? Its important.”
He nodded. “Eeyup.” He took a seat on the grass.
Sugarplum sat down beside him. “Mac, do you still want to be with me? Please don't worry if it would be best for me or not, just be honest,”
A smile slowly crept on his face. “Well, sure I wanna be with ya, Sugarplum. I like ya. You're a sweet, wonderful mare.”
She put a hand on his shoulder. “Then let's stay together, ok?”
He puffed up his cheeks in the pony-equivelent to blushing. “Well uh, where is this going, Sugarplum? Are ya stating your intentions?”
She felt her face heating up. “To get married?”
“Eeyup.”
“Well Mac, I...” She looked him in the eyes. “I keep picturing all the different ways my life can go after I get my degree. I try to picture you not being a part of my life, and I just can't do it. I- I love you Big Mac, and I want to marry you.” She put her hands in her lap to hide their shaking.
“I love you too, Carrie-Ann,” he said quietly. “Would you be happy with me, though? I mean, what about all those plans you had about being a scientist? What about foals?”
“Well, we could adopt. Or I could get artificially inseminated.”
“Arti-what?”
“Human technology. We can freeze sperm, and women can buy it to get themselves pregnant.”
“Huh. But y'all humans don't got a way for us to have 'em the usual way?”
“I looked into it, and there is a way. Its just super-dooper illegal.”
“Ah.” He gave an admiring grunt for human science. “Well, ya know my life is the farm. Sure ya want to be stuck with a farm pony when you could be doing science in your world, or Canterlot, or somewhere like that?”
“Hey! Anybody would be happy to be stuck with a good, honest supportive farm pony like you!” She poked him in the shoulder. “And I don't think that would be a problem. Really, from what Twilight has been telling me, I think I could get a decent job right here in Ponyville. Celestia wants to keep an eye on the impact any technology she imports. I could make sure the farms around here don't accidentally poison the water, or help the weather ponies work more effectively. Worst case is I'd have to commute to Earth or Canterlot; neither of those would be that hard. If Twilight doesn't mind making portals.”
“All that, huh? Sounds like you've given this some thought.” He leaned a little closer to her.
“I have, Mac. Everything seems uncertain right now. Except you.” She leaned towards him until their faces almost touched. “You're the one thing I'm sure of. Can we keep it that way?”
“Eeyup.” He kissed her, slowly and gently. He pulled his head back just enough to speak. “So we'll marry?”
“Eeyup.” She wiped a tear and kissed him again.