Sweet Apple Summer: A Braeburn and Pinkie Pie story

"Looks like you're pretty popular with the ladies, Braeburn," Scootaloo commented with a cheeky smile as they proceeded along a dirt path through Ponyville.

"That's what mah momma always told me," Braeburn chuckled heartily with that roguish grin of his that seemed to be his trademark facial feature.

Scootaloo turned around to whisper to her two friends, hoping her voice was out of earshot for Braeburn to hear. "Do you think he knows?"

"Knows what?" asked Apple Bloom.

"He's turning the head of every mare we walk by," Scootaloo stated matter-of-factly. "Look." she pointed her hoof toward a familiar looking mare who had baskets of freshly picked carrots hanging from her sides.

Apple Bloom noticed that she was staring at her cousin, not even trying to hide the fact that she was gawking at him with her mouth open and her face blushing as bright as a tomato.

"Hi, Carrot Top!" Scootaloo greeted her, waving enthusiastically.

The carrot carrying mare's trance was instantly broken with a start as she looked down toward the three fillies, who she hadn't even noticed until they called out to her.

"H-hey, girls" she uttered in surprise.

Scootaloo pulled her two friends in closely. "Girls, we can use this to our advantage," she whispered to them mischievously before looking back at Breaburn, who was eyeing them curiously.

"What do you mean?" Apple Bloom asked with perturbation, knowing that her friend always meant well, but her schemes always seemed to lead to disaster.

Scootalo looked back again, appraising Braeburn's ruggedly masculine physique and perfect smile that could easily land him on the cover of every magazine in Equestria if photo finish ever found out about him.

"Take five, Braeburn, we have an issue we need to discuss really quick." She looked at him, then looked at Carrot Top who stood near the well, trying very awkwardly not to make eye contact with their male companion. "You look thirsty. Why don't you get some water?" Scootaloo shot him an innocent smile while pointing at the well that the bashful mare was standing next to.

"What're y'all cook'n up over there?" Breaburn asked, tilting his head with an inquisitive expression.

"Girl stuff," She responded. "You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you."

"Alright, then, you little ladies take your time doin' what ever you're doin'. Ah ain't gonna rush ya." Braburn said as he walked toward the well, eyeing them suspiciously one more time before finally deciding to just throw his curiosity to the wind.

"Scootaloo, what're you about?" Apple Bloom asked apprehensively.

"Just watch," Scootaloo answered tersely.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle watched as the awkward interaction between Braeburn and Carrot Top unfolded before them.

"Hey there, ma'am," Braeburn gestured politely, tapping the brim of his hat.

Carrot Top's eyes fluttered nervously a few times as she took a step back from the stallion and brushed a strand of her mane behind her ear.  "H-hi," she greeted shyly.

"If you'd allow me, miss," He offered as he continued to beam his perfect smile at her. "I'll draw the bucket for ya."

The mare struggled to shake off her nervousness before responding. "Th-thank you for the offer, but the crank for the bucket seems to be missing." She stood on the edge of the well with her forelegs, looking longingly into the darkness of the underground tunnel, "I was really thirsty, too."

"Why not just pull the bucket up by the rope?" He asked.

"Because," she explained. "I can't reach the rope." she demonstrated by bending over the stone of the well, and reaching toward the rope that was anchored to the bucket at the bottom, which seemed to be just out of her reach. "Plus," she added, "this is a really heavy wooden bucket, and the well goes really deep. Being the weak and clumsy ditz that I am, I'd probably end up dropping it, or collapsing from exhaustion before I've pulled it even half way up," she admitted abashedly while scratching the back of her head with her hoof.

"Oh, is that all?" And without another word, Braeburn leaned over the cobblestone well,  grasped the rope, and began to draw the bucket with a series of strong, fluid pulls.

"Scootaloo," Apple Bloom whispered. "Ah still don't get where you're going with this..."

Scootaloo stroked her chin with an attentive look on her face. "I'm thinking," she stated with a sly smile. "That gorgeous hunk of stallion could be the ticket to getting our cutie marks."

Flummoxed by her answer, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom turned toward her with perplexed expressions on their little filly faces.

"We could be," She paused for dramatic effect. "Cutie mark match makers! We could have little hearts for cutie marks!" Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly.

"That would be adorable!" Sweetie Belle's honeyed voiced cracked in a high pitch as it would do from time to time.

"Oh, no!" Apple Bloom protested. "No, no, no, no, no. Don't y'all remember what happened the last time we tried that? Big Mac still hasn't lived down them awful nicknames he gave our poor teacher!"

"This time will be different," said Scootaloo in a placating tone. "We're not going to use a love poison this time. We don't need one. Carrot Top's totally drooling over him, and with the right kinda push, I'll bet we could get Braeburn interested in her as well."

The three young fillies turned their attention toward the two standing near the well again. They gauged Carrot Top's expressions and body language with increasing interest as she surreptitiously scanned him from his muscular forelegs that rippled with every pull of the rope, to his golden tail that playfully swished around from side to side as he happily hummed a country tune, completely oblivious to the mare's lusty gaze.

"See that?" Scootaloo asked as she gestured toward Carrot Top. "She's totally checking him out!"

"Carrot Top is pretty cute," Sweetie Belle pointed out. "So, it shouldn't be too difficult to get Braeburn interested in her."

"Oh, don't tell me you're goin' along with this asinine plan, too!" Apple Bloom face-hooved as she shook her head disapprovingly.

"Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "Freaking hearts on our flanks! Hearts!"

"Yeah," Scootaloo added. "Not only would we finally have our cutie marks, but they'd be the cutest cutie marks ever!" She took a moment to look back at the two potential lovebirds. She watched as Breaburn had finally managed to pull the heavy bucket up by it's rope and set it down on the cobblestone ledge, which was a feat of strength that, even Scootaloo had to admit, was pretty impressive. The chivalrous stallion then grabbed the ladle from the nail it was hanging on, gently took the mare's hoof, and set it in the crook of her foreleg.

"Ladies first," he offered with a smile.

"S-such a gentlecolt," Carrot Top replied sincerely as she blushed an even brighter shade of red before taking a series of generous gulps, letting small streams of water escape from the sides of the ladle to run down her neck and chest. When she had realized the glutenous, unladylike display she had just presented, she wiped her mouth and glanced up at Braeburn with a sheepish smile. "I, uh, told you I was thirsty."

"Oh, it's alright, ma'am," Braeburn said playfully before taking off his hat, lifting the entire container over his head, opening his mouth as wide as he could get it, and pouring the bucket over him, soaking himself completely. Braeburn's comical display was successful in making the mare drop her bashful guard as she giggled with a hoof over her mouth.

"This is almost too easy," Scootaloo whispered.

"What do you mean?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Braeburn is acting silly," Scootaloo answered. "I think he's already warming up to her."

"He's always acting silly," Apple Bloom remarked "He lives to make ponies laugh, which is why he doesn't deserve to be used like this!"

"We aren't using him!" Sweetie Belle squeaked defensively.

"Lives to make ponies laugh?" Scootaloo asked. "Well, that sounds like somepony I know."

And just like that, with amazing timing, as if it was on cue, a loud and concussive blast reverberated through out the sky above them. Pinkie Pie's home made rocket exploded into a shimmer of dancing sparks that formed the words 'Welcome to Ponyville' in the sky as a shower of streamers and confetti rained down upon anypony who may have been within the radius of the blast.

All three crusaders, Braeburn, and Carrot Top stared dumbly at the fantastic display of aerial pyrotechnics.

Scootaloo was the first to break her gaze from the fireworks, knowing that a wild Pinkie Pie was about to appear and ruin everything.