Applejack and Pinkie Pie tore through the snowy and crowded streets of Bitsburgh as soon as they caught sight of Big Mac, and the object of their affection didn’t even see ‘em coming until Pinkie catapulted onto his chest in a big hug, Applejack bringing her little bro into a bear hug before he could even fully react to Pinkie.
“Woah, hey girls!” an unfamiliar man’s voice said in mild alarm and confusion, and Applejack was gonna just brush him off until she realized he was staring right at Applejack and Pinkie, and Big Mac seemed more flustered than receptive to the two girls’ hugs.
“Uh, sorry Mac,” Applejack said bashfully, stepping away from him and brushing his shoulders— and also removing Pinkie from him. “Didn’t realize we were interruptin’.”
“That’s okay,” Big Mac chuckled and gave Applejack a hug, patting her on the back before kneeling down and giving Pinkie a hug too. “Didn’t expect to see y’all here! Kinda caught me off-guard, is all.”
“Same, honestly,” the man standing next to Mac said. “These your sisters, Mac?”
“Yeah, basically,” Big Mac nodded, and the way he smiled at the man standing next to him, Applejack could instantly tell that he was really special to her little bro, which meant he was important to Applejack too. “This here’s my big sister Applejack—”
“Pleasure to meetcha, hon,” Applejack shook the silver-furred unicorn stallion’s hand hardily, even though she had to basically reach across the aisle to make it happen.
“—and this here’s my honorary sister Pinkie Pie,” Big Mac added, Pinkie jumping forward and holding out her hand, though the blue-maned stallion didn’t seem interested in taking it.
“After Applejack and I get married, I’m gonna upgrade from ‘honorary sister’ to ‘sister-in-law’,” Pinkie grinned cheekily, getting a laugh out of Big Mac and Applejack.
“Didn’t realize we were makin’ weddin’ plans, Pinkie,” Applejack said jokingly, though the image of Pinkie in a wedding dress did immediately cross Applejack’s mind and it wasn’t exactly an unpleasant image. Oh geez, Applejack was blushing now.
“So!” Applejack cleared her throat. “Who’s yer friend, Big Mac?”
The man standing beside Big Mac carried himself more than a mite defensively, but Applejack couldn’t exactly blame him since two obnoxiously enthusiastic women just assaulted his friend with affection out of literally nowhere.
He was a unicorn stallion, and a pretty fit one at that; he wasn’t quite as tall as Mac, but he didn’t have to look too far up to meet Mac’s gaze either— though Applejack mused how that still made him look like a baby compared to her.
He was dressed in some mighty fancy casual clothes, you’d almost mistake his getup for a finely tailored suit at a glance, and the mostly black outfit looked pretty good against his shimmering silver coat and ocean-blue mane.
But his most striking feature were his eyes, which seemed to glitter with an ethereal glow. They almost looked familiar— Applejack swore she knew someone with eyes just like that, but she couldn’t quite place ‘em.
“Applejack, Pinkie Pie—” Mac said bashfully, taking the unicorn’s hand with a giddy smile on his face, and he didn’t have to explain his relationship with the man— Applejack got it right away and was thrilled; especially with the way the unicorn looked back at Mac and smiled sweetly at him. “This is my boyfriend.”
Pinkie screamed in delight, flailing her arms in every direction possible, and Applejack just beamed brighter than the sun and gave a hearty laugh.
“AAAAAA!!” Pinkie squealed. “You’re Big Mac’s boyfriend!! Ohmigosh we’re so excited to meet you!”
“We sure are!” Applejack added, and then laughed nervously. “Sorry our first impression, uh, sucked. If we’d known Mac was with a man, we wouldn’t’a charged him like we did.”
“I would’ve,” Pinkie said casually.
“She would’ve,” Bic Mac nodded, and Applejack laughed. Big Mac turned to his man and patted him on the chest. “I hope you’re not too put off by my girls.”
“Not at all,” the man chuckled, and he seemed to relax a tad. “I was just caught off-guard is all, and that makes me antsy.” The man held his hand out to Pinkie Pie, who shook it vigorously, and then to Applejack who shook it a little more chill. “Mac’s had nothing but glowing praise for his family, so I’ve actually been really looking forward to meeting you both!”
“So who the heck are you!” Pinkie shouted. “We haven’t even gotten your name yet! Don’t leave us in suspense!”
“Oh geez,” Big Mac gave a single laugh, and the man just rolled his eyes playfully and fretted with Mac’s hair, “where are my manners? Applejack, Pinkie Pie, this is Shining Armor.”
“That’s a swell name,” Applejack said, nodding her head in approval.
“Thanks,” Shining Armor said proudly, puffing up his chest. “I chose it myself.”
“Oh, yer gonna fit right into this family,” Applejack grinned, putting her arm around Shining Armor, who smiled and laughed.
“Hey, Mac,” Shining Armor said, “you want to take a sec and catch up with your sisters? I can do the shopping on my own, if you want.”
“I’d like that, yeah,” Big Mac nodded, and Applejack could hardly contain her delight at just how smitten her boy was lookin’ at his man.
“Ooh, can I go with you, Shining Armor?” Pinkie asked, bouncing up and down. “I got so many questions I wanna ask you about! And cute embarrassing stories to tell you about Big Mac!”
“Well, how can I resist?” Shining Armor grinned at his man, who just rolled his eyes and blushed, Shining giving Mac a playful punch in the chest. “Sure, Pinkie. I’d love to get to know you better.”
Pinkie squealed in delight, and Shining turned to Big Mac, brushing some hair out of Mac’s face and giving him a soft kiss, Big Mac letting out a single bashful chuckle under his breath as he averted eye contact with his man and fretted with his bangs.
“Love you,” Shining Armor whispered.
“I love you too,” Big Mac said, and his face was already red cuz that’s just what his fur color was, but… you get it.
Shining Armor took off with Pinkie in tow, and Applejack just couldn’t hold back her giddy smile anymore and just beamed at Big Mac so bright and so damn hard.
“I like him!” Applejack said.
“I love him,” Big Mac added with a dreamy sigh.
Applejack and Big Mac sat down on a bench outside a bar, both of ‘em drinking sodas since the bar’s apple cider was frankly a disgrace to Equestria’s greatest and most powerful fruit. Ironically, the apple soda? Not half bad.
“So how’d you meet this guy anyhow?” Applejack asked, crossing one leg over the other and watching as busy ponies went all about their business in the nearby street. Bitsburgh was a bustling town, especially for its quaint size, and Applejack really dug that kinda hardworking energy.
“Took a mission up in the Crystal Mountains few months back,” Big Mac explained, pausing to take a sip of his cream soda and giving a refreshed sigh. “He picked me up and took care of me when the mission went kinda bad.”
“Oof, I’m sorry,” Applejack said instinctively. Big Mac wouldn’t be in the whole Slayer mess if it weren’t for Applejack’s cowardice.
“Don’t be!” Mac laughed. “I met a hot guy outta the deal!”
“Y’know what, that’s fair,” Applejack grinned ear to ear. “He’s really somethin’, huh? Like I ain’t into guys, but even I think he’s cute.”
“He is-” Big Mac bit his lip, probably to keep from saying something embarrassing, but Applejack just thought that was adorable “-extremely something.”
“His eyes are like—” Applejack clicked her tongue. “His eyes are like magical.”
“E-eeyup,” Big Mac nodded and tried to drink from his soda but fumbled it a bit; he didn’t spill it though, thankfully.
“I swear I’ve seen someone with eyes just like that,” Applejack pondered, trying to wrack her brain.
“Y-you don’t say,” Big Mac tapped his hoof against the concrete.
“Yeah, like the glow they have?” Applejack said. “Y’know what I’m sayin’?”
“N-nope,” Big Mac puffed up his cheeks, and Applejack just looked at him like he was making fun of her.
“How have you not noticed the eyes,” Applejack said flatly. “I noticed ‘em soon as I met him, and I ain’t even been starin’ lovingly into ‘em.”
“Just slipped my mind I guess,” Big Mac blurted out quickly, loudly slurping his soda. Something was fishy here.
But Applejack couldn’t remember who she’d seen with eyes like that. They looked so familiar, the way they glowed like th—
Oh! Twilight! Twilight Sparkle had eyes just like that!
And so did Fluttershy, now that Applejack was thinking about—
Oh.
Oh.
Oh no.
“Huh,” Applejack let that single word fall out of her mouth as she tapped her hoof against the concrete.
OH.
Applejack and Big Mac just kinda sat in silence for a bit. They both knew what the other knew, and knew that they knew it, but neither one wanted to say nothin’.
“So um,” Applejack blew gently on the top of her soda can, “were you gonna tell me that yer boyfriend is a dragon?”
“I wanted to,” Big Mac said shortly, “but we both know you can’t keep a secret.”
Applejack pointed furiously at Mac and opened her mouth to speak, but paused. Big Mac gave her a droll look, and Applejack puffed up her cheeks.
“Dang, I can’t even argue with that,” Applejack huffed. “Just so you know, I ain’t tellin’ nopony. And I ain’t got a problem with it either. Yer not the only pony with dragon related secrets.”
“You datin’ one too?” Big Mac grinned, and Applejack let out a scoffing laugh.
“Not me,” Applejack shook her head. “Pinkie.”
“Are you serious?” Big Mac blinked, and Applejack just nodded.
“When you ever known me to lie?” Applejack said. “Fun fact; remember that librarian I told ya about last time we talked? Turns out she was a dragon, but not the dragon Pinkie’s datin’! That’s a totally different, unrelated dragon!
“And now me, Pinkie, even Rainbow Dash and Rarity, are all travellin’ with these two dragons to— well, to someplace up north, to see if all this stuff we been fed about dragons our whole life is actually just a bunch of bull.”
“Wow,” Big Mac said with a pained look on his face. “Sounds like you got yer hands full.”
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Applejack shrugged. “I mean, you know, right? When you first learned yer man was a dragon, you couldn’t’ve been happy about it, right?”
“He never hid himself from me,” Big Mac said. “When he rescued me, he showed himself to me in his true form. And yeah, I was a little freaked out. But I couldn’t move, I was too badly injured, and a bad snowstorm meant Shining’s healer girlfriend wasn’t able to get to us for a few days.
“So I had nothin’ to do but lie around in a cave talkin’ to him, and he took care of me every step of the way. Made sure I had enough to eat and to drink, even went out into the storm to get me food when he realized I couldn’t eat gems.”
Big Mac chuckled, and Applejack smiled. Shining Armor sounded like a good man.
“After that,” Big Mac continued, “how could I go back to believin’ what I had been? I tried to! When I finally could walk on my own legs, I left the Crystal Mountains and tried to bury my doubts. But everything reminded me of him, and I wanted nothin’ more’n to see him again. So I made an excuse to go back, and… well, he won me over.”
“Dang,” Applejack said. “What does this mean for yer career as a Slayer?”
Big Mac shook his head.
“I can’t keep doin’ it,” Big Mac said coldly. “I already hated it, and now I just— I just can’t.”
“I feel ya,” Applejack sighed and hung her head. “I just can’t imagine what Granny Smith is gonna—”
“She’s fine with it,” Big Mac took a sip of soda as Applejack looked at him incredulously. “I already told her, and she didn’t mind. Not the dragon thing I mean, I ain’t tellin’ her about that.”
“Yeah of course not,” Applejack shuddered to think what Granny would say if she knew two of her kids were dating dragons now. Or about the thoughts Applejack had for Twilight that were uhhh, well they weren’t church-friendly.
“Apparently,” Big Mac said, “she dug up some old connections and got in contact with some old friends, and they’re helping her out with the money situation. So all is somehow right in the Apple Family world.”
“No kiddin’,” Applejack leaned back against the bench and tried to wrap her head around what a surreal conversation she was having.
“Cadance says hi, by the way,” Big Mac said.
“Cadance?” Applejack cocked her head. “Oh yeah, I guess if you were in the Crystal Mountains, the Empire’s pretty close so, guess you ran into her?”
“Wha—oh, no,” Big Mac chuckled. “Cadance is Shining Armor’s healer girlfriend that I mentioned.”
“Oh, okay tha—” Applejack paused. Wires connected in her brain and her face twisted in… disbelief? Bafflement? Not confusion exactly, but just… utter awe. “NO.” Applejack said. “NO WAY.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac nodded.
“That mad bitch actually did it!” Applejack laughed heartily. She didn’t know Cadance that well— mostly just through Rarity— but she’d seen her around a few times and was familiar enough with her. Cadance always seemed like a swell girl.
But if there was one thing Applejack knew about her for certain— that everyone in Equestria knew about her— it was that she was OBSSESSED with dragons. Everypony, especially in the Slayer’s Guild, thought she was absolutely bonkers for claiming she wanted to marry one.
And yet, the mad bitch really went and started dating one. What the hell.