The morning rays of the sun were what Big Macintosh, at this moment, was calling an "Asshole". He groaned as the beams of yellow light hit his face, making him roll over in his bed and face his wall. As he did however, his hooves hit something soft and lumpy, blocking his way. He opened his eyes slowly to see what it was and once he did, they flew open to their widest point.
"Well howdy cous'!!!! Bout' time ya'll woke up!!!!" Braeburn shouted with a look of glee in his eyes. In the next instant, Braeburn lept from the bed as Macintosh made a swipe at him, the big stallion diving after him.
"You come back here you bastard!!!" Is what he shouted, chasing the Appleloosen colt from his room and down the stairs of the farmhouse. Unfortunately for the stallion, his hoof missed the next step down and he went toppling forward, crashing onto the kitchen floor. Applejack was just putting the finishing touches on an Apple Fritter when she heard Macintosh crash to the ground.
She turned her head and chuckled "Well...guess Braeburn was tellin' the truth when he said he could yer lazy ass outta bed. Mornin' Macintosh!"
From the ground, Macintosh growled at Braeburn, his eyes wide and full of fury "Ah swear Ah'm gonna kill you Braeburn!"
At this, Applejack scowled and trotted over, bonking Macintosh on the head and shouting "Macintosh! Why have ya'll been being so mean to yer cousins lately?! Lam sakes, they're the ones who went through all the trouble to get yer hard ass set up with Fluttershy! That aside, they're family! You don't be mean to family, you love em to death and stick by em no matter what! Isn't that what yer always sayin'!?"
Macintosh frowned and muttered "Well they could have gone about helping me...differently. Their escapades ain't the most subtle or sensible."
Braeburn chuckled and headed for the door, shouting back "Yeah, but they WORK don't they!? Ah'm heading into town, gonna go meet up with Caramel. Later ya'll!"
Applejack looked over with a sad look in her eyes and said "Aren't ya gonna stay fer brunch?" She gave him the pouty eyes, just like Applebloom had done for Twilight when they had first met. Unfortunately, this didn't sway Braeburn one bit.
He simply laughed and shook his head, muttering "Very funny Jack, you n' ah both know that look only works on Macintosh. Ah'll catch ya'll at lunch, don't worry!" With that, he pushed his way out of the front door and into the beautiful morning.
Macintosh finally got up and took a seat at the table as Applejack brought him over the Apple Fritter, sighing as he set the plate down and muttered "What's got you so mad lately Macintosh? Yer usually the quietest, calmest pony ah know..."
Macintosh sighed sadly as he took a bite out of his Fritter and looked up at Applejack, swallowing before he spoke "Ah don't know...maybe the bouncer job's gotten to mah head. They technically pay me to be mad. As for Fluttershy...ah don't know. Ah just don't want to mess things up with her now that ah might be able to actually start seein' her..."
Applejack smiled a little and walked around the table, putting a hoof on his shoulder and whispering "And who do you have to thank for getting Fluttershy?" Macintosh nodded slowly, knowing she had a point but listening as she went on "Braeburn and Caramel may not be the most sensible of ponies...but they do try to help Macintosh. They've got spirit, that's what matters. They wanted to help you and look, they did! Don't ya think that deserves a bit of credit?" She walked over and picked up Braeburn's stetson from its spot on the coat hanger by the stairs and brought it to Macintosh "Here, Braeburn forgot his hat. Go after him and make amends, alright? Don't ya think it'd be worth it?"
Macintosh sighed, gripping the Stetson in his teeth and muttering "Eeyup..."
~~~
"Ha! Ah win again mother bucker!"
"That's horseshit!!! Yer cheating somehow!!!"
"Caramel, how in the hay does anyone cheat at this game!?"
"You had Knives a second ago! You changed it to Scrolls at the last second!"
"Horseshit, ah had Scrolls the whole time!"
"Braeburn yer an assh-"
The two of them were cut off by a plate of two donuts being set down in front of them and a very concerned Bon Bon whispering "Um...you two ok?"
Braeburn leaned back in his chair, nodding and smiling towards the mare as he said "Oh yes ma'am! Caramel and ah love this game, though we do tend to get a bit competitive at it at times. Thank you fer the donuts, though ah'm not quite hungry. You can have mine Caramel, as a token of appreciation for takin' gettin' yer ass kicked like a colt and not a foal!" Caramel rolled his eyes as Bon Bon giggled, walking back into the shop. Braeburn held up his hoof and smiled, saying "Alright Pussamel, best two outta three!"
Caramel sighed and put up his hoof, but stopped just as they were about to start, looking past Braeburn and muttering "Hey, isn't that Miss Fluttershy?"
Braeburn turned himself around and looked over to where he was pointing his hoof at and muttered "Eeyup...that's her." Fluttershy was walking down the street rather quickly, turning her head and looking down the street behind her every once in awhile. Braeburn frowned at this and looked down the street, wondering what she could be looking at. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes fell upon a group of four colts, each with sinister eyes that kept staring up towards the mare and smiles that were creepy in nature. He leaned his head over to Carmel, his eyes not leaving the group of four colts "Ah don't like this...let's get to followin'"
Caramel squeaked and whispered "W...why!? Braeburn don't you think that-"
Braeburn cut him off "Nope, we're goin'. Macintosh would kill us if we let anythin' happen to Miss Fluttershy on our watch!"
Caramel raised an eyebrow and whispered "Macintosh would kill us anyway no matter what we did..."
Braeburn rolled his eyes, hopping off the chair and saying "Well...whatever, let's go anyway."
Fluttershy went into a slow trot, trying her best to move up the street and keep ahead of the group of colts. The colts however, kept speed with her, and even laughed as the mare bolted into a full out gallop. She tried to keep her breath under control and tried her hardest to unfurl her wings, to simply take off and escape. They were snapped to her sides out of fear however, her muscles refusing to budge. Tears flowed from her eyes as she took a turn into an alley, hoping to lose the colts in the maze of turns between the buildings. A piece of wood however had other plans, tripping the poor mare and sending her tumbling forward.
Braeburn shouted back towards Caramel as they gave chase to the colts who went down the alleyway "Come on Caramel!? Can't ya run any faster?!"
Caramel panted and wheezed "S...sorry ah'm not as...fit as you!"
Braeburn smiled as he thought of a quick idea and shouted "Oh look Caramel, here comes Big Macintosh! BOY he looks MAD!!!!" Caramel yelped and surprised Braeburn as he surged past him, galloping as if an Ursa Major were after him. As they turned into the alleyway, Braeburn immediately saw that the colts had surrounded poor Fluttershy, laughing their heads off. The colts looked up as the two cousins stopped, glaring towards the group and frowning.
One of the colts shouted "You better clear out, this isn't any of your business!"
Braeburn scoffed and pawed at the ground in front of him with his left hoof, shouting "Damn right it's not mah business, but ah'm bout' to make it mah business ya sumbitch! Put em up ya fillies, let's get to square dancin'!"
~~~
Big Macintosh sighed, gently holding Braeburn's stetson in his mouth as he trotted down the street. In truth, he was actually starting to feel really guilty about the way he had been treating his cousins over the last few days. Sure they didn't have a lick of sense, sure their methods were....crude, but they were family. He only wished that he could find Braeburn soon...tell him he was sorry...tell him that it was all thanks to him that he could take a leap of faith...to move past his shyness and actually be a part of somepony's life. His ears suddenly perked as he heard his name being shouted down the street. He looked up and frowned as Bon Bon came galloping towards him, shouting "Macintosh!!! Help!!! Some colts were chasing Fluttershy and your cousins went after them!!! Macintosh hurry!!!"
It was in that instant that a furious emotion of anger crashed through his veins and heart, his eyes lighting up with the color of fire and Shake's voice echoing in his head "Macintosh!!! We got a BRAWL!!!!"
"EEYUP!"
~~~
Braeburn smiled, even though his eye had been blackened and his bottom lip was bleeding. He shouted as the colt reared his hoof back "That all ya got?! You punch like mah Granny S- OOF!" The punch collided with his stomach, sending him down towards the ground. He looked over at Caramel, who had already been knocked out cold, and then over to Fluttershy, who was being forced onto her back by a pair of the colts.
As he tried to get back up, a hoof pushed his head back towards the ground, the voice of one of the colts dripping with venom "Nuh uh, you stay down there you hick! You even get front row seats, lucky you!"
"EEYUP! Front row seats to the biggest ass whuppin ya'll is ever gonna receive!!!!!" A voice shouted, causing everypony minus the knocked out Caramel to look towards the entrance of the alley. Big Macintosh stood to his full height, Braeburn's Stetson tilted back on his head and steam blowing through his snout. He shouted "Now, ah'm gonna give ya'll the count of three to get uh runnin', otherwise, ah swear on mah own family's name that ya'll ARE GONNA RUE THE DAY THAT YOU DONE MESSED WITH MAH MAREFRIEND!"
One of the colts laughed, pointing a hoof at him and shouting to his friends "You believe this colt? This guy isn't serious"
"ONE!"
Fluttershy squeaked as she tried to keep her legs closed, one of the colts shouting "Hold still dammit!"
"TWO!!!!"
Braeburn let out a loud "YEEHAW!!!", his smile widening as he knew what was coming. At that moment, Braeburn could have died right there and been the happiest colt in the world, hearing Macintosh's booming roar as he shouted in the best Appleloosen way imaginable:
"THREE!!! TIMES UP LET'S DO THIS, BIIIIG, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACINTOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!!"
The red stallion barreled down the alleyway faster then anypony ever thought imaginable, his head bowed and his hooves pounding the cement. The colt holding down Braeburn cried out as he was struck by the ramming stallion, flying backwards through the window of a nearby window with a thunderous 'CRASH!'. The second colt rushed over from nearby Fluttershy and made a move to punch the stallion. Macintosh simply swiped his hoof away gave the colt a hoof of his own, clobbering him in the face and throwing him right out into the street. The last two dropped what they were trying to do to Fluttershy and rushed over, one of the colts getting a good buck into his side. Macintosh seethed as his old wound acted up but shook it off, grabbing the two colt's heads and smacking them together with the force of Applejack's supreme bucking power.
Ponies in the street looked on with awe at the thunderous sound of fighting coming from the passage, already shocked that a colt had been thrown from the alleyway. Three more colts followed with him and scrambled to get up, tripping over each other and finally fleeing down the street.
Big Macintosh emerged a few seconds later, a trembling but smiling Fluttershy on his back and Braeburn at his side, carrying Caramel. The Appleloosen colt smiled and nudged the stallion, muttering "Not bad cuz..."
Macintosh simply smiled and tipped the stetson forward on his head, striking a pose and shouting "Eeyup!"