> My Favorite Brother
>  by Sleestack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Lazy Day 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	He started to feel overwhelmed. Over a hundred trees surrounded him, and she could have been behind any one of them. He was walking at a calm pace before, but he was starting to trot with worry dictating his step as he called out her name.
"Britches? Britches, ya there?"
A small giggle could be heard, but not from any clear area or direction that he could tell due to the trees bouncing the sound all around.
"Britches?" he yelled, a little louder, with worry starting to creep into his voice. "C'mout c'mout wherever ya are!" His pace quickened a little again. He started walking around trees, just to see if she was hiding behind any any of them. Nothing. He could feel himself starting to sweat, and his breath beginning to get shallower, quicker. "Olly-olly oxen free!"
Another giggle, this time coming from a definite direction. He swiveled around on his hooves toward it and started sprinting. "Don't worry, Ah'm a comin'!" he shouted, weaving in and out of the tall apple trees, barely avoiding smashing directly into them. He came to the trees closest to the barn, and was about to walk around them, before stopping himself. He caught his breath and regained his senses and put on a slight smirk.
"Oh no, oh no, where could mah little Britches be? Ah'll never find her in all these trees! Oh no, oh no, oh no..."
Another giggle, coming from around the biggest tree. He started creeping towards it.
"Ah may as well just quit now, she's too good of a hider."
The giggling became constant, definitely coming from someone who was greatly amused.
"Ah'm just gonna go inside, and have myself a little snack, Ah'm sure one day, she'll find her way back, or maybe somepony'll find her out there..." he peeked around the trunk of the tree and saw her, the little gray filly with black bangs, having to suppress her laughter by pressing her hooves against her mouth. He ran up and picked her up by the scruff of her neck and tossed her onto his back.
"Aw, Macky! You heard me laughing! That's no fair!" she protested, still laughing jovially.
"Nah, Ah'll tell you what's not fair, is you tellin' me you were runnin' deep into the forest, and then not even leavin' the spot where I left ya!" he responded, starting to trot back to the barn.
"There's no rule against that!"
"Well, no, but it's still real sneaky of ya!" He smiled. "Yer gettin' a little too smart for your own good, y'know that?"
"No such thing as TOO smart, Macky!"
He opened the barn door and picked her up off of his back to set her on the ground.
"So, you wanna hide and I'll seek now?" she asked.
"Nope, Ah know for a fact yer waaaaay too slow. Ah'd be out there 'til tomorrow, and Ah'd only come back cause Ah'd be missin' breakfast!"
She crossed her forelegs out of frustration. "I'm not that bad of a finder!"
"Maybe not, but ya walk so slow... s'why I have to carry ya around everywhere."
She pouted and looked away. "Whatever." Under her breath, she muttered "I'm not a bad finder..."
Big Macintosh smiled and patted her gently on the head. "So, whaddya wanna do next, then?"
She looked up, her slightly angry face now morphing into a curious one. "Hmm... do we still have that Frisbee?"
A grimace came across his face. "Well, Ah think we do, but..."
"I wanna play catch with the Frisbee!" she proclaimed loudly. Automatically, his mind flashed back to the last time he attempted to play with her, and how he had to do most of the work... his neck and hooves were sore for the whole day afterwards.
"Are ya sure?" he asked.
She gave him a dirty look. 
"Well, cause Ah'm not sure where it is, exactly."
She smiled. "You took it into the house, remember? It's probably where you left it in there."
He had to suppress the sigh that wanted to come out of him. "Well, Ah'll go look for it. Don't you go anywhere."
"Very funny," she replied.

He walked into the house, headed for the closet, which was where he was at least pretty sure he had left it. He walked through the living room bound for the stairs, but was surprised to see Applejack, sitting on the couch, looking more agitated than she ever had in a long time.
"Hey there, J, somethin' botherin' ya?"
She jumped in surprise at the sound of his voice, obviously not expecting anyone to be home at this time. "Big Macintosh! Ah thought you were out workin' t'day!"
"Ah am, ah am, just headed in for a little shade. Don't wanna overwork myself in this heat."
"Oh, well alright." she took a breath to center herself. "And to answer yer question, just a little disagreement happened today and it got me all riled up. Some ponies are just too sensitive."
"Eeyup," agreed Big Mac.
"Well, Ah won't be here much longer, I was just stoppin' by to collect my thoughts," she said.
"Alright." He stopped, turning to face Applejack again. "Hey, AJ, by the way, did you happen'ta see where that Frisbee we had went?"
She turned her head towards him, with a slightly perplexed look on her face. "Uh, Ah think it's in mah room."
He nodded and looked away, thinking some thoughts to himself. He remembered something that he wanted to discuss and forced out a laugh. “J, you remember when we used to play with that Frisbee?”
She thought about it for a while, her brow furrowing and her mouth scrunching up. “Ah’m pretty sure we bought this one a not too long ago... maybe even this year. AhI don’t think we ever played with it.”
His stomach was tying itself up in knots, and his mouth got dry. “Well, what about that old one we used to toss around? That was real fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, Mac, sure was...” she huffed and closed her eyes, blocking him out.
He wanted to ask her something else from when they were young to try and stir up any kind of nostalgia, but resigned himself to a sigh and headed up the stairs again. He had a sudden realization at about halfway up them. "Wait, why is it in yer room?"
She didn’t bother to open her eyes. "Oh, me and Applebloom were tossin' it around sometime last week. Y'know, just summin' to pass the time."
"Yeah..." He looked down. "How is Bloom doin' lately? She's been so busy, runnin' around with her little friends, Ah haven't gotten the chance to talk ta her in a while."
Applejack smiled a bit. "Oh, jus' fine. Them and all their shenanigans, y'know. Always summin' new with them."
"Is she happy?"
Her smile faded just an ounce. "Course she is, why?"
"No reason." He quickly averted his eyes from his sister and continued up the stairs into his sister's room. For some unknown reason, his eyes were watering as he searched through her room, occasionally stumbling across a picture of himself and Applejack when they were much younger, before Bloom was born. He found exactly two of those pictures. They made him happy. That was when he had a little sister all to himself that he could spend all the time he wanted to with. He found one of all three siblings, taken a few years back, and three of Applejack and Applebloom by themselves. They made him less happy. His little sister had a little sister of her own now, and he felt far away from both of them. He found none of himself with Applebloom, which made sense, seeing that Applejack probably wouldn't have pictures that didn't have her in them in the collection of things that reminded her of her happiest moments. His eyes still continued to water slightly against his will, though. He left that corner of the room and began searching elsewhere, trying to keep his mind off of pictures he was never in.
He found the frisbee, and picked it up, trying not to think of the last two ponies that used in, in fear that it would only continue the flow of this irritating water. He trotted at a quickened pace out of the room and walked down the stairs, not looking at his sister, walking out the back door, even though he knew he'd have to walk around the house anyway.
He trotted towards the barn, trying to clear his mind. Britches could always tell when he had something on his mind. It was like she was crawling around in his brain and could tell whenever something was wrong, especially when it had something to do with his sisters for some reason. She really was too smart for her own good, or at least his.
He opened the barn door, and sure enough, Britches was exactly where she was when he had left. He laughed. "Y'know," he said, placing the Frisbee on the ground so he could close the barn door. "If you were any other little filly, Ah would'a expected ya' to have wandered off while I was gone."
She smiled. "Well, I have more patience than most filles my age." She watched him as he placed a latch on the barn door. It wouldn't stop anyone from actually coming in, but it would keep the wind from blowing it open. "Why're you closing the door? I thought we were gonna play Frisbee?"
"We are. In here." He picked up the disc and reared his head back to toss it at her.
"But why? There's not as much room here."
He sighed and placed the disc on the ground. "Cause mah sister's home."
"And?"
"And... Ah don't want her t' know we're playin' with her Frisbee without her permission."
"Why didn't you ask her for her permission? Macky, is something wrong?"
"No!" he yelled. Everything went silent as they both began to realize he was more irritated than they originally thought. "Ah mean... She seemed upset and Ah didn't wanna make her even more upset-"
She cut him off. "Macky, are you ever gonna tell your sisters about me?"
He stopped talking. He stopped thinking. He stopped breathing.
"I mean, we've been playing around for awhile now, and you've talked about them a lot, or at least you used to. They seem really nice. I wanna meet them. Or are they not as nice as you make them seem? Or are you embarrassed by me? Macky?"
He was no longer there. He was in some crevice of whiteness in which no questions had answers, alone by himself, where neither Britches nor his sisters were, and all air was stale and tasteless. The only noise that was happening now was the constant humming of some otherworldly beings chanting 'STOP' in a monotone drone that lacked any emotion other than fear. He closed his eyes and tried to chant along with them, but whatever came out of his mouth was definitely not any identifiable language. When he opened his eyes again, Britches was standing there, holding the Frisbee in her mouth.
"Hmmhmm?" she asked, probably meaning 'Ready?' She had a look in her eyes of worry, but she hid it well. He could tell she didn't want to bring up the subject again.
He nodded and took a few steps back, mouth open, ready to catch the disc. He was still a bit shaky from her question, but tried to straighten out his muscles to give off the illusion that everything was alright.
She reared her head back and flung it forward, sending the disc about five inches away from where she was standing. She whined. "Macky, I can't remember how you taught me to throw it. Could you show it to me again?"
He sighed a sigh that was a mixture of petty annoyance and relief. "Come on, ya gotta remember how to twist yer neck, at the last minute, right before ya let go. Try again."
She picked up the disc with her mouth, twisted her body all the way around, and jerked her head forward, sending the disc forward, but at a very un-aerodynamic angle, causing it to sail straight into the barn wall. She threw her hooves up in the air and yelled "Aw, darnit!"
He smiled and walked over to where the disc landed. "Ya got the general idea of it, but yer just a little early on the release. Here." He picked up the disc and tossed it to her so that it landed directly in her lap. "Here," he said, trotting over to her. "I'll help you."
She picked up the disc with her mouth as he walked behind her, placing his hooves on the back of her neck and the top of her head gently. "Alright," he said. "Now, like this..." he guided her head along, and she let go,it sailed through the air smoothly, hitting the dead center of the barn door. She clapped her hooves together happily as he patted her on the shoulder. "Exactly!" He ran over to where it landed and tossed it back to her again.
This time, she picked it up, and did a few practice throws without letting go. When she finally did open her mouth to release the Frisbee, it landed on the ground in front of her. She pouted.
Big Macintosh sighed. "Here, try again..."

After what felt like an hour, he sat down, completely exhausted. His neck was stiff, the joints in his leg screamed with pain every step he took, and there was a small crater in the ground where Britches had repeatedly thrown the Frisbee. She was finally starting to feel dejected. 
"I'm sorry I'm so bad at Frisbee, Macky..." Tears were welling in her eyes.
He patted the top of her head. "Don't worry about it. Nopony can be good at everything, Britches. And yer already so good at so many things."
"Yeah, but I'm stupid at Frisbee." She sniffed.
"Well, yer smarter than me at math. And science. And, heh, just about everythin' else, too."
She laughed and looked up at him. "But you're a lot stronger than me."
"Depends on what ya mean by strong."
"I mean you can buck all the apples off of a tree in one try!"
"Aw, that doesn't mean nothin'." He waved her suggestion off.
"You're really special, Macky. I wish you were my brother."
His face fell emotionless. A wave of anxiety rushed over him, and in the back of his mind, he sincerely wished that she hadn't said that. Or maybe he wished that he didn't agree with her. "Well, Ah think we're great friends, even though we're not related, don't ya think?"
"We could be brother sister, you know."
"Britches..."
"I mean, all you have to do is say..."
"Britches, Ah think we should move onto something else. Mah legs are gettin' tired."
"Oh, fine." she thinks for a minute. "You wanna play pretend?"
He sighs out of relief.. "Sure. Actually, it depends on what we'll be pretendin'. I don't wanna do anything too physical. I'm still pretty sore."
She ponders at this suggestion, right before an idea sparks in her mind. "Oh! We could have a tea party."
He laughs at the suggestion. "But Britches, we don't have any tea."
"A pretend tea party, silly. Yeah! And I'll wear my tea hat, and you can wear..."
"Oh, heh, whaddya know? Ah don't know where that is! Guess Ah can't wear it for the tea party..."
"Okay, Macky, geez, I get it. You don't wanna have a tea party. But then... Oh! I know!

The Queen sat on her throne rather unroyally, stretched across both hoofrests, basking in the sunlight coming from her stained glass window, when suddenly, her Number One Royal Guardspony busted through the castle doors.
"Your majesty, I have some urgent news!" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" she asked, straightening herself upright in her throne.
"Your Kingdom- err, Queendom is under attack!" he said, straightening himself out as well to be in the official 'Royal Guard Relaying Bad News' stance.
She gasped. "Oh no! By who?"
"By the Bee Ponies! They are here to steal all of your Queendom's Royal Honey!"
"Oh no! That's... wait, don't we get our Royal Honey from the Bee Ponies?"
The guard stood there for a second, dumbfounded. "Uh... yeah. But... they want it back! They say you aren't worthy to have it, your majesty!"
"Well I won't stand for that! Gather the troops! Prepare for war!" 
The guard bowed and hurried out of the room. 
The Queen was getting nervous, but calmed herself down with some self-affirmations. "At least I'm safe inside my castle, which is impenetrable."
"That's what YOU think, Queenie!" came a voice from outside the castle. Suddenly, a black and yellow striped pony with a sharp barb for a tail flew into her throne room through her stained glass window.
She gasped again. "It's you! The King Bee Pony!"
"Yes, and I've come to steal all of your Queendom's honey!" he said with a nasally voice that had an unidentifiable
Britches giggled. "You're really good at this, Macky!"
He smiled. "Yer a great Queen yerself."
"I'm afraid I can't let that happen, King Bee!"
"Well, what are you gonna do about it, huh?" he said, smirking to himself.
"This!" She picked up her throne and threw it at him, knocking him down out of the air and onto the ground.
"Nooooooooooo!" he yelled as he began spiraling down, to meet his dismal fate as he was inevitably going to crash into the marble floor.
"Hahahahaha!" the Queen laughed as she watched.
"Big  Macintosh?"
Everything froze.

Applebloom and her friends were standing at the door, staring at him laying on the ground on his back, as he stared back at them in complete shock. 
"Big Macintosh, what are you doing?" asked Scootaloo, who watched him in horror with a hint of distress, probably from seeing someone who she usually regarded as a rather down to earth-pony rolling around on the ground, buzzing like a crazy pony.
"Girls, Ah think we should leave him alone for now..." Applebloom said, turning around so that she could redirect everyone else as far away from the barn as possible. There was something in her voice, shame perhaps, or something close.
"Wait, is that a doll?" asked Sweetie Belle, who was leaning to the side so she could see around Big Macintosh.
"That's nunna yer business, now is it?" Applebloom yelled, quickly grabbing the two of them and pushing them back.
"It is! That is a doll!" yelled Scootaloo.
Applebloom successfully managed to push them out of his sight. He turned his head around, even though he knew he wasn't going to like what he saw.
For an instant, just one instant, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were right. What was once a little filly was now a doll. A doll that wasn't even his. A doll that was a somewhat gray-blue color with two mismatched button eyes, black pants with white polka dots on them, and with a string mane and tail. What was he doing? He was playing with a little doll. He was trying to make a little sister all to his own. He was-
"Macky?"
He blinked, and the doll was a little filly again.
"Macky, what happened?"
"Nothin' Britches. Nothin' at all. Ah was just... we were just playin' pretend was all." He smiled shakily.
She returned his smile as sweetly as only she could. “You play pretend the best, big brother.”