“Big Mac? What’s this?”
The young stallion looked at his little sister, and felt his heart sank in his chest. Why did he have to forget to hide it before asking Apple Bloom to help him cleaning up his room?
“It’s hmm, just a plushie,” he said, averting her gaze.
“It’s not just a plushie, it’s that plushie. Care to explain why you still have it?”
Big Mac looked on his right, then on his left, looking for a way out. The window was closed, and Apple Bloom was in front of the door. He switched for a different tactic, and faked a gasp.
“Holy cider! Look at your flank, you got your cutie mark!”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “It’s been a year we got our cutie mark. I won’t fall for that trick anymore.”
He cursed his brain that had managed to forget his little sister was becoming a grown up mare. In fact, the more she frowned, the more she looked his other sister Applejack. And these eyes were saying she was too old and too smart to buy any half-truth he could think of.
“Fine,” he sighed. “I decided to keep it after the... incident.”
“Are you sure you really decided, and not still under the influence of that cursed spell?”
Big Mac lowered his head. “I wish.”
His sister didn’t say anything, and he stayed like this for a moment. It’s only after a minute, and after he heard himself sniffing, that he felt a poke on his shoulder.
“Big brother? Are you okay?”
“Eeyup,” he whispered. “It’s just — I don’t know…”
“Tough topic?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Eeyup.”
“And what cousin Orchard Blossom would say about that?”
Big Mac smiled despite himself, and took his high pitched voice. “She’d say stallions shouldn’t be afraid to talk about their feelings.” He heard his sister giggling. At least, that was something he could still do. The idea cheered him up, and when he spoke again, his voice almost didn’t quaver. “I guess I just wanted to feel young again in a way.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Big Mac went to the window. He opened it and gazed at their orchard. “Do you know that feeling of innocence? The feeling that, no matter what happens, there is always an adult to take care of everything?”
“Kinda, yeah,” replied Apple Bloom from behind. “I always thought you or Applejack would catch me, no matter what.”
“Exactly. I… miss that feeling.,” he said. “When Ma and Pa left us, I had to take care of Applejack, and then, of you. Sure, Granny Smith was here too, but that wasn’t the same. It couldn’t be.”
Big Mac put his head on his hooves. He should have ditched this plushie long ago. Why dwelling on the past when the present was right here, right now? He knew his true place, and it was being the trunk on which the rest of the family could lean on. But still, he missed those days.
The nostalgia was about to overwhelm him when a warm head came to rest on his.
“I know we don’t have much time together, with the farm and all,” said Apple Bloom. “But maybe you could come see us during a cutie mark intervention? I know that seeing ponies happy makes me happy too. What do you say?”
Big Mac faced his sister. He was so proud of her. She had really grown up so fast; she was already wiser and more mature he could never be, but she had managed to keep the innocence and the ingenuity which always made him feel like a foal.
“Eeyup,” he said with a smile. “I’d like that.”