“Wha? How did you get here so early?” Caisson asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Early? BC, you dummy… I’m five minutes late because you didn’t stick around to walk back with me after school and I wasted time looking for you!” the taupe filly grumped, puffing out a cheek in frustration.

Caisson could always tell when his little sister was really ticked. The white blaze of fur that ran from her forehead to her muzzle would scrunch up with frustration. But his brain was having trouble catching up — she was looking for him at his school?

Oh.

Oh, horseapples.

“Holy hay, Cookie. I totally forgot that you’re goin’ to the high school now.I-I just fell back into my usual routine.”

“You big dummy.” Cookie harumphed, swishing her brilliant white tail and flicking her nose up in frustration. Her unruly, mane whisked out over her left shoulder as she tried (and failed, seeing as how her head barely met his shoulder) to stare down her nose at him with anger. “How silly do you think I looked on my first day at high school trotting all over the place calling out for my big brother!”

“S-sorry, sis.” Caisson folded his ears back. How had he forgotten that he’d walked to school with her? That Golden Harvest had reminded both of them that they could harness each other up once they’d gotten back home? Had he really gotten that distracted with the first day back?

“Sorry?” Cookie blew a hot blast of air out of her nostrils, clearly still upset. “I bet half the older kids think I’m some crybaby freshman filly now, galloping around searching, yelling out for her big brother to come hold her hoof.”

“N-naw I’m sure-”

A hard stamp of her forehoof against the barn floor cut him off. Her stomps always landed with flashes of white fury - likely because of her noticeable white-fur sock coloration. “It was exactly what I didn’t need after everything else that I’ve been dealing with today. So, y’know, thanks a lot.”

Caisson lowered his head closer to the ground, trying to make himself seem as small as possible. In reality, it barely brought his eyes down to Cookie’s level. He really did feel bad: high school was hard enough as it is — nopony needed to get off to a rough start and score a reputation that could follow her around for years.

“Shoot, Cooks.” Caisson mumbled. “I’m really sorry. I was actually lookin’ forward to walking home with you this year too. Don’t know how I forgot.”

“Hmf.”

“I’m sorry to hear you had a bad first day too…” Caisson lifted his head up, trying to catch his sister’s eye. “Wanna tell me about it while you strap me up? Don’t want Mom and Dad giving us tartarus for falling behind.” He gently rocked his back, making a couple of the tarnished brass buckles clink against each other.

“No.” She grumped, scuffing some loose hay on the barn floor. “Way I figure it, you should be harnessing me first after that stunt you pulled.” The corners of her mouth turned ever-so-slightly upward, from an outright frown to something more of a grimace.

Caisson rolled his eyes and let out a happy little sigh. One thing he liked about Cookie was she never bore any grudges and was pretty down-to-earth and quick to get over little tiffs. Being a little petulant about something as unimportant as who got to harness up first when both of them would end up harnessed was her little way of saying he was out of the hot water he’d landed himself in.

Besides, he preferred being harnessed last. It was always easier to twist down and around another pony to get to the tough to reach buckles without already having your own stuff cinched in.

“You really wanna go first, huh?” Caisson tilted his head and arched an eyebrow high as he shot a friendly grin at her.

“Really.” Cookie managed to hold her hurt expression for a total of five seconds before the beginnings of a smile and a giggle broke out. “You’re such a doof, BC.”

“Fair enough, sis.” Caisson began to shrug off his loose-fitted harness. “Just slip into your belly-band and make sure you cut me some slack, it’s been a long while since I strapped up any mare.” Caisson chuckled, gesturing toward her neatly hanging harness, a fashionable little thing that she’d gotten for her birthday. “Might help if you take a bit of a wide stance so I can figure things out easier.”

A little shiver rippled through Cookie and her posture and expression changed in a way he’d never seen her do before. Was it fear? Embarrassment? He couldn’t tell.

“A-actually,” Cookie mumbled, a blush starting to form on her face as she nervously crossed one forehoof to her other knee and tucked her tail tighter to her, “...maybe I should strap you in first.”

“Oh-kay?” Caisson shrugged, not understanding her sudden reluctance. He straightened himself up, wiggling his body to try to undo some of the harness removal steps he had just begun. “Whatever you want, sis.”

“Y-yeah.” Cookie took an uncertain step forward.

“Been a long time since we hooked up, hasn’t it?” Caisson remarked with a smile.

“Hooked up?” Cookie cooked her head at him, the blush across her muzzle reddening a bit. “BC, what pony ever called harnessing another pony ‘hooking up’?”

“I dunno, we hook-in don’t we? Why couldn’t we be ‘hooking up’?”

“Just shut it, BC.” Cookie groaned, stepping up to his front and reaching out to set his saddle strap. He could barely hear her as she muttered under her breath, “...dummy.”

“I can fix the front stuff sis, don’t worry.” Caisson craned his neck awkwardly to look down at his sister as she reached out and took hold of his left shoulder-strap.

“Yeah, but Mom says you still need help and that I had to keep an eye out for a sore patch on your left.” She reached next to him and grabbed from a small stack of wool pads kept on a nearby barrel. “Don’t want you getting hurt out there.”

“You talked to mom about how to harness me?”

“Sure.” Cookie’s eyes flashed nervously up at him before returning to her work of carefully setting the pad under the strap. “Just… y’know, been a long time since I last got to help you out. I wanted to do a good job.”

Caissan hesitated to reply, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly at his sister’s curious behavior. “Ah, Right...”

“Was almost looking forward to it.” She breathed as much as spoke, before emitting a cough to cover her lapse.

“Yeah.” Caisson replied, examining rafters to avoid staring too much at his sister — who seemed inexplicably shyer than he’d ever remembered her being. “Must be… what, four years since the last time we harnessed each other up?”

“Yeah. Uh, you got a lot more muscle since then,” Cookie grinned, taking the opportunity to trace a hoof down from his withers to his shoulder, along one of the larger cords of muscle fiber that bulged through his dark fur.

W-woah.

The feel of her hoof touching him, sliding down him like that. It made him shiver with sensation.

What was that?

Y-yeah…” Caisson gulped to clear his throat. His mind felt like it needed to reboot - like he’d just caught a blind-side blow from a windlass beam. Why did his sister touching him feel so…

Change the subject, Caisson!

“So! Uh, you said you had a rough day at school. Before my little buck-up, that is. What happened?”

“Ugh.” She tossed her mane again before cinching in his collar an extra notch. “I was the only filly in my class who wasn’t wearing a tail-bun. My friends and I had planned the whole darn summer about how we’d start dressing like real grown-up mares once we were in high school, and of course, I end up catching a late h-” Cookie suddenly cut herself off, standing rigid before biting her lip and continuing, “...of course I end up not being able to wear one.”

Author's Note

Poor little filly, nothing worse than being unfashionable. It can get you all hot and bothered!