• Published 2nd Nov 2021
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Big Macy - Foal Star



Big Mac decides to transform into a mare to be in the Sisterhooves Social for Apple Bloom

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Chapter Three: Auntie Orchard Comes to Town

It was early one morning, and Apple Bloom was standing at the Ponyville train station waiting patiently for her mysterious aunt to arrive. She was standing with her other friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who both looked rather tired, seeing that they must've been standing there for quite a while. But Apple Bloom had this expression of desperate hope printed on her face with unwavering hope that Auntie Orchard would be arriving soon.

Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked over at their friend with nervous expressions on their faces. The orange-coated filly was the first to speak up, "hey Apple Bloom, we've been waiting for hours, ya sure she's coming?"

"Of course, I'm sure! She'll be here any minute! She said she'll be coming today, and I'm not leaving this spot until the train from Manehattan comes in!"

Sweetie Belle turned to see the sun setting and sighed, "alright, we'll wait until nightfall after that; I say we give up, besides. Didn't your Granny say this Orchard Blossom sounds suspicious?"

"Sweetie Belle, there's tons of ponies in my family, and Granny's old; I doubt she'll remember everypony." The little farm filly explained.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both looked at each other and silently agreed that nothing would sway Apple Bloom's resolve.

However, the little filly was unsure if this mysterious Aunt was actually going to show. All Apple Bloom could do was trot back and forth, wondering if maybe her mysterious aunt got cold hooves and decided not to come, or perhaps this was some elaborate prank. She never existed in the first place. But from the letters Applejack sent, she wouldn't be back for a few more days, and the Sisterhooves social is in two! Apple Bloom took a deep breath as she did her best to calm herself and continued to wait patiently until the sound of a train whistle was heard across the station. The fillies all started to get excited as they watched the train slowly pull into the station with loud chugs, which eventually stopped with a long grinding halt.

Apple Bloom held her breath as she felt her heart racing. She watched the train doors open with nervous anticipation hoping and praying that Auntie Orchard was on board. Then as the crowd of ponies started to pile out, she looked around, trying to see if any pony resembled a giant red-coated mare like how she described herself. She continued to look around the ponies as the group dissipated and then when Apple Bloom was about to give up. Out walked out a giant, red-coated mare with piercing green eyes and a bouncy straw-colored mane. She was sporting a cute white blouse with pink lining the shirt, paired with a light green skirt around her waist. Despite the skirt covering most of her rump, Apple Bloom could see that the mare had a giant green apple in the shape of a heart for a cutie mark. This struck her in awe as she did remember the letter she received that said her aunt would look similar to her brother Big Mac. Still, it was like if she was his missing identical twin. The filly snickered, wishing he was here and seeing he would be pretty embarrassed seeing how close this mare resembled him. Too bad he had to deliver a bunch of apples to Vanhoover.

Regardless the buildup of anticipation of seeing her suddenly came out like a torrent, and she couldn't hold back her excitement any longer. She didn't hesitate to run across the station and threw herself into the mare, shouting, "Auntie Orchard! You actually came!"

"Oh, Apple Bloom, it's so good to see you!" the mare exclaimed.

"I can't believe you're real! I was starting to think somepony was pranking me!" Apple Bloom cried out, still being in complete disbelief.

"Oh, I'm real alright," Auntie Orchard chimed as she flashed her eyelashes at the young filly. The older mare then turned to face her friends and asked, "and who are these two, if I may ask?"

"Oh, right, these are my friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom explained as she pointed to the fellow fillies beside her.

Sweetie Belle waved a hoof and chirped, "Hello Mrs. Orchard, it's nice to meet you."

"Yeah! It's great to see you came! We were getting worried you wouldn't show up!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Yes, I apologize, darlings. I'm the one to blame for the delay."

All three fillies immediately recognized the voice belonging to Rarity, and the cutie mark crusaders all turned their attention to see both now Rarity and Zecora trotting out of the train. Apple Bloom was also somewhat bewildered seeing the two mares climbing out of the train, wondering why they were on it in the first place.

Sweetie Belle was also rather surprised seeing eyes go wide as she exclaimed, "Rarity!? What are you doing here!"

"Oh, we went to pick up Mrs. Orchard Blossom, and if you must know, she's a model, and she's offered to try out some of my designs,"

Apple Bloom couldn't believe what she was hearing; her aunt was a fashion model!? "Seriously!? You're a model!?"

"Ey...y…yes…though…um… you've probably never heard of me because I'm not that famous," The mare stammered rather nervously with bullets of sweat running down her brow.

Zecora chuckled as she explained, "Mrs. Orchard has motion sickness that makes her queasy, so I tagged along to make her something to help make her journey more easy."

Apple Bloom couldn't help but tear up seeing all of this support for her being quite overwhelming. Not only did her mysterious aunt come all the way here to help her compete in the Sisterhooves Social. But Rarity and Zecora also went out of their way to escort her here and made her journey comfortable. Apple Bloom choked back tears as she stammered, "Y…you didn't have to do all of this…."

"Oh, of course, we did! We can't have you not competing in the Sisterhooves social? Now, can we?" Auntie Orchard responded as she was also overwhelmed with emotion as she hugged her niece. Apple Bloom was taken aback by the sudden gesture, but she was overwhelmed by the warm embrace of her aunt. Being so close to her, she could smell hints of apple and cinnamon wafting from her mane and coat, seeing she must be wearing some perfume. It was unlike anything Apple Bloom had experienced before being hugged by her friends and family, but this was without a doubt the most comforting hug she's ever experienced. Everypony stood by, letting the two have their moment after the two broke off their embrace. Apple Bloom then turned towards her friends. "Hey, thanks for staying with me until my aunt came, but we're good from here."

"Right! From now on until the Sisterhooves Social, we're rivals!" Scootaloo proclaimed as she pointed a hoof at them. "So don't think I'm gonna go easy on you two; Rainbow Dash and I are gonna leave you in the dust."

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and scoffed, "As, if Rarity and I have been training a lot since last year, and you better believe we'll be taking first place."

It wasn't long until the fillies were bickering back and forth, and the fashionista nudged her sister, "now enough of the boasting darling." She then turned to Orchard Blossom and said, "I guess you can try on some more outfits tomorrow. After spending some time with your niece, of course."

"Ey-I mean that's fine," Orchard Blossom squeaked; she then quickly trotted off down the road with Apple Bloom skipping along. As much as she would love winning first place, she was just happy she was competing at all.


As the two trotted down the dirt road heading towards Sweet Apple, Acres Apple Bloom started to ask a ton of questions.

"So why haven’t we seen you at any apple family reunions!?"

"Oh, I don't get out of the city much. I'm rather busy with my modeling gigs."

Apple Bloom was a bit confused about what models did from her perspective; they just dressed up in fancy clothes. "Um, what do models do exactly?"

"Oh, um, we try on outfits and show them off to the public! That's why I'm also here to help Rarity show off her new fashion line."

Apple Bloom shrugged; she assumed as much, seeing how she and Rarity were hitting it off. Hopefully, that won't get too much in the way of their binding time. However, looking at her aunt's cutie mark started to make her curious, wondering why it seemed so similar to Big Mac's? With curiosity eating at her Apple, Bloom then asked, "so how did you get your cutie mark!?"

Orchard Blossom paused before she said, "I got my cutie mark as a young filly wandering the big city. I found myself at a fashion show and snuck on, and yes, the ponies there were quite astonished to see a young filly there on the catwalk. But they were captivated by my beauty, and that was when I received my cutie mark!"

"Ok, that's interesting," Apple Bloom mumbled as she eyed the older mare; she assumed she wasn't lying. Still, that story sounded way too similar to how Applejack got her cutie mark. But it could just be a coincidence. However, there was something off about her aunt. But for now, she'll make sure she's given her utmost hospitality seeing she was her ticket into being in the Sisterhooves Social this year.

As they came to their house and went through the front door, she heard her Granny shout, "See what did I tell ya! There's no auntie Orch-"

Apple Bloom had a smirk on her face as earlier this morning, Granny Smith bet that this Auntie Orchard was a fraud and that she was wasting her time waiting for her at the train station. The little filly couldn't help but savor seeing her Granny's mouth drop upon confronting the massive red-coated mare now standing in their doorway. Apple Bloom held up a hoof and exclaimed, "Granny Smith meet Auntie Orchard!" The mare in question seemed a bit shy as she bent her head towards the wooden planks beneath her and waved a hoof.

However, the older mare just glared at them and grumbled, "guess I'm doing your chores for a month as we agreed."

"Yup!" Apple Bloom squeaked as being chore-free for a month was just an added bonus to proving her granny wrong.

Orchard Blossom then looked up and said, "it's nice to meet you, Granny Smith; I've heard a lot about you."

"Funny ya say that because I never heard of you in my life!" Granny shouted back.

Auntie Orchard gulped, looking somewhat nervous again as she said, "I'm a cousin of Bright Mac's and was twice removed, plus I'm a model. So, of course, you never heard of me."

Granny Smith was still eyeing her and wanted to interrogate her more. Still, Apple Bloom could see that her aunt looked rather uncomfortable from all the questioning. This made her concerned and somewhat angry at Granny Smith; she then got into her grandma's face and snapped, "Granny, like it or not, Auntie Orchard is here to help me, and there's no reason for her to lie. So can you stop questioning her? it's not like she's a changeling."

Apple Bloom turned around to her aunt, seeing how despite being interrogated, she was remaining calm. However, Apple bloom noticed that she also looked exhausted with heavy bags under her eyes. Celestia knows how long the train trip was and how much sleep the poor mare has gotten then added. "Hey, granny, why don't we let Auntie Orchard take Big Mac's room? She looks like she's gonna pass out."

Granny Smith was still eyeing Auntie Orchard as she said, "that's fine, but though I gotta ask why do you look so much like my grandson Big Mac? You look almost exactly like him?"

Apple Bloom paused as this exact thought was nagging in the back of her mind since she laid eyes on her. The farm filly waited patiently to see what Auntie Orchard would say; she looked a bit squeamish. But eventually, the older mare said, "oh, I do get that from time to time, and I am from Bright Mac's side of the family."

"Uh-huh? And who exactly are your parents?" Granny Smith asked once more.

This time her aunt was taken aback, now being visibly uncomfortable with sweat dripping from her face as she nervously scratched the back of her mane. Apple Bloom was now becoming really angry with her granny. "Hey! That's enough. Can't you see you're making Auntie Orchard uncomfortable!?" She then took her aunt by the hoof and said, "come on, I'll take you to Big Mac's room."

She then led the older mare as they climbed up the stairs to her room. Despite Apple Bloom having her own suspicions of the mare, she felt that Granny Smith was extremely rude. On top of that, she could only hope that Granny didn't just scare off the only hope she had of competing in the Sisterhooves Social.


They were now in Big Mac's room where Apple Bloom was tidying up the room a bit, taking some O&O pieces scattered about and stacking up some comic books. As she finished, Apple Bloom turned to face her aunt, who was standing by patiently just looking around and said, "Sorry, my brother isn't the cleanest pony."

"That's quite alright," Auntie Orchard said as she trotted over to the bed and picked up an odd-looking ragdoll. Apple Bloom turned her head and groaned, seeing the infamous Smarty-pants doll that caused everypony to go crazy when Twilight put a "want it to need it" spell on it. Later, she remembered they even photographed him with the doll not long after under the guise of "Gabby gums." She didn't know why he had the doll even with the spell being removed for months now, but it was still rather embarrassing he kept it around. "Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know why he keeps that old thing. I keep telling him ta toss it."

Auntie Orchard just threw a hoof, placing the doll on the bed. "It's alright; I think it's cute; a big strong stallion has a soft spot."

Apple Bloom shrugged; she guessed it was nice seeing Big Mac is a bit softer than most stallions. "Yeah, I guess so; anyway, I hope ya enjoy your stay. I'll get Granny to make ya somthin' like apple cobbler or apple pie. Whatever you prefer."

"Oh, that does sound nice; some apple cobbler paired with some warm apple cider sounds wonderful," Auntie Orchard chimed.

Apple Bloom gave a nod writing the order in her mind. "Ok, I'll bring that up ASAP. Also, tomorrow we'll get ya signed up for the Sisterhooves Social, then after that, I can give you a tour of Ponyville!"

"Ey'yup," Orchard Blossom yawned as she stretched her hooves.

Apple Bloom saw that it was probably best to give her aunt some space and let her rest up, seeing they would have a busy day tomorrow. As the filly started to trot out of the room, she paused, seeing that she hadn't even said thank you. If Applejack were here, she would've already scolded her for being so rude. The little filly then turned around and said, "thanks for coming down, I hope ya enjoy your stay here."

"It's no problem," Auntie Orchard responded with a tired smile as she started to undress.

Apple Bloom then slowly closed the door and trotted downstairs with her mind filled with questions about her. But she didn't want to come off as rude as how Granny Smith was interrogating her. She was so lovely and calm, almost too much like her older brother Big Mac. With a creak of wood, Apple Bloom paused right before she came to the landing below. What if Auntie Orchard really was, in fact, a lost older sister? It wasn't just her looks that were similar to her brother? She had the same demeanor. Plus, didn't she hear her say her brother's favorite catchphrase, ey'yup? Apple Bloom's mind was now made up; she had to know if Orchard Blossom was, in fact, her sister!