"Oh, Big Mac, I ruined everything," Pinkie lamented, falling back on his bed with a massive sigh. Big Mac took a seat in the chair beside his desk, frowning.
"Ah don't quite understand, Miss Pinkie," he said with a furrowed brow.
Pinkie lifted a foreleg into the air, staring at it. After she'd gone to the lake by herself, Big Mac had shown up. The stallion had comforted her without words for at least an hour before asking if she wanted to go to Sweet Apple Acres. The pink mare had no objection to it, and only followed silently.
In fact, these were the first words she'd spoken to him.
"I... I broke up with Twilight." She squeezed her eyes shut and counted the seconds it took for Big Mac to reply. After twenty, it became apparent that he wasn't going to. So, Pinkie continued despite it feeling like an excuse. "I know I can trust you, Big Mac. After all, you're the only pony that knows about me and Twi, and you've kept it a secret up until now."
Pinkie swallowed. "You remember that Twinkie party I really wanted to have? It's never gonna happen, and Twi's never gonna want to be my friend again, and all the other girls are gonna hate me—oh, AJ's going to skin me alive!"
"Ah doubt she'd do somethin' like that," Big Mac said firmly, "and even more than that Ah doubt Twilight would kick ya to the curb."
"You don't understand..." Pinkie let her hoof fall back to the bed. "I told her I loved her, but now we're not together anymore; I told her we couldn't work."
"Why?" Big Mac asked, much more verbal than Pinkie could remember him ever being.
"Because if I didn't, she would've gotten hurt."
"Why?"
"The nightmares would never stop coming. I saw what it was like when she had them; it was terrible and I never want to see her go through that again."
"Why?"
"Because I love her, don't you get it?" Pinkie shot a glare his way, her fur bristling. Big Mac gave her a blank look.
"...Ah'm not sayin' I understand exactly what's goin' on between you two, but what I do understand is that you two love each other. Twilight's a smart pony, and I'm sure you two can find some sort of solution for all this nonsense that doesn't leave the both of you hurt."
Pinkie let her gaze wander to the floor. "...Princess Celestia herself was at the library. She told me there was no way no how I could keep dating Twilight and get rid of her nightmares at the same time."
"So?"
Pinkie sent him a shocked look, one that didn't fit her at all. "What do you mean? I'm talking about the Princess Celestia here!"
"Has it ever crossed your mind that even the princess can be wrong? Maybe she's testin' your relationship."
"What're you saying?" Pinkie Pie sat up, meeting Big Mac's eyes.
"What Ah'm sayin' is you should go talk to Twilight and work things out. I think you overreacted to the princess an' maybe you misheard." Big Mac shook his head, "Princess Celestia is a fair ruler. She wouldn't pull two lovin' ponies apart for a reason like that."
Pinkie mulled over what Big Mac was saying. On one hoof, she really wanted to see Twilight again and apologize and promise she'll never say something like that again, but on the other hoof she didn't feel worthy of Twilight any longer, and she didn't want to take a chance when it came to Twilight's wellbeing. Pinkie never was good at decisions.
Pinkie felt a familiar tug at her gut. Big Mac was a sensible pony, perhaps even more so than his sister. But was he more trustworthy than Princess Celestia?
