Sweet Apple Summer: A Braeburn and Pinkie Pie story

Pokey Pierce winced in agony as Braeburn had him pinned against the railing of the balcony with his leg wrenched painfully behind him in an almost unnatural angle.

"Savage!" he yelled. "Molester!"

"Ah'm the savage?" Braeburn asked. "You're the one who charged at me with that horn of yours like a rampaging bull."

"Pokey, what's wrong with you?!" Pinkie Pie asked in a panic. "I've never seen you act like this before!"

Pokey Pierce, without answering, pointed his horn upward, and once again, channeled his arcane energy through it. He produced another blinding orb of light, but Braeburn quickly ducked his head down and shielded his eyes with the brim of his hat.

"What?!"

"You think Ah ain't never seen a trick like that before?" Braeburn responded before wrenching the unicorn's leg even harder, to which Pokey responded by letting out an involuntary, feminine-sounding squeal.

"You okay, Darlin?" Braeburn asked concernedly, not taking his eyes off his opponent.

"I had a feeling that was coming, so I shielded my eyes. He kinda does that alot," She answered.

"Good," Braeburn responded. "Partner," he said to Pokey. "Ah'm gonna let you go. Ah suggest you take a few breaths and check your attitude. And if you try to attack me again, Ah reckon you should use somethin' better than a cheap shot, or some cheap parlor trick. Because if it don't put me down, Ah'm putt'n you down. You dig?"

"Who in tartarus uses that expression anymo—"

Braeburn torqued his leg harder.

"AHHH OKAY, I DIG!"

Braeburn released his grip on the unicorn who stumbled backwards and rubbed his throbbing joints. "You think this is some silver screen western flick where it's okay to just assault someone at the drop of a hat?" Pokey spat.

"Partner, you came at me," Braeburn countered.

"Shut up!" Pokey Pierce growled. "Come on, Pinkie, I'm here to rescue you from this savage!"

The irate unicorn grabbed pinkie by her foreleg, then attempted to pull her away, but his attempts were in vain as she threw her free leg over the back of Braeburn's neck and tightly anchored herself to him.

"Let me go!" Pinkie demanded. "You're jumping to conclusions again, Pokey!"

"I know filth when I see it!" Pokey said as he pulled on her even harder.

"Pokey, you're hurting me!"

Braeburn's eyes flashed as he took Pinkie and pulled her away from the unicorn, setting her behind him then taking a firm, protective stance in front of her, obscuring her from view as she rubbed her bruised leg.

The staunch protector smiled dangerously and imposingly. "Sir, Ah will have you know that Ah detest violence, and Ah will always avoid engaging in confrontation whenever possible - but if you lay another hoof on Pinkie, you're going to see a whole nother side of me that Ah do not wish for her to see." He then turned his head slightly. "You okay, darlin?"

"I'm fine." Pinkie said with a smile as she rested her head on Braeburn's back.

"Darlin?" Pokey scoffed. "You Apple Family kin really are a bunch of rednecks, aren't you? No wonder manual labor is the only thing you're good at."

Much to Pokey Pierce's annoyance, the golden stallion only retorted with yet another gleaming smile.

"Pokey!" Pinkie Pie yelled in surprise. "What's wrong with you all of the sudden?"

"You want to know what's wrong with me?" Pokey Pierce pointed an accusing hoof in Braeburn's direction. "You are what's wrong with me! You think you can just come to this town and do whatever you want? You come in here with your... your... muscles, and your chiseled features,,, and your...your...hat!"

"That's what Ah been doin' so far, Ah guess," Braeburn laughed innocently.

The silver-maned unicorn's upper lip curled into a sneer. "You leave Pinkie Pie alone. She doesn't like you!"

Pinkie Pie stepped out from behind Braeburn and snuggled up to the side of him, all the while looking up at him with a blushing smile. "On the contrary," she giggled.

Pokey Pierce's jaw nearly dropped through the ground. "How?! How did you do it?!"

Braeburn cocked an eyebrow. "Do what, partner?"

"You used a love poison, didn't you?" Pokey Pierce hissed. "You slipped a roofie in her punch, didn't you! Oh, thank Celestia, I got here just in time before you assaulted her!"

"Pokey!" Pinkie Pie cut him off. "He didn't drug me. He's not using a magic poison. And stop treating me like a child! And if you say one more mean thing to my Braeburn, I'll... I'll.. Bite your face!"

Pokey Pierce fell silent for a moment. "'Your' Braeburn?"

"That's right," Pinkie answered with a harrumph.

"And you'd actually jump to his defense - against me?"

"Mmhmm," Pinkie answered with a high pitched hum, her eyes closed and muzzle lifted in a haughty expression.

"It's okay, darlin'." Braeburn said soothingly as he pulled Pinkie Pie closer. "Ah think Ah get the problem here." He made direct and determined eye contact with Pokey Pierce. "Ah think his heart's just been broken. Ah think this is just his way of venting his frustration."

"Don't you judge me, Braeburn!" Pokey Pierce suddenly snapped.

Braeburn shrugged in response. "You're right, sir. Ah'm sorry."

"Now you're mocking me!"

"Ah would never kick someone when they're down."

The blue unicorn's voice suddenly became high pitched, and very offensive to the senses. "What?! Down?! I'm not down! What does that even mean?! You think you can take me down? Well, c'mon, then! I'm not afraid of you!"

Pinkie gave Braeburn an affectionate smile. "Here he is being all mean to you, and you respond to him with kindness, forgiveness, and understanding." The pink mare's eyes shimmered with a new found appreciation for Braeburn. "You're just too sweet!" She then put her hooves against him, stood up on her hind legs and reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Sugar," Braeburn whispered. "As much as ah appreciate your gestures of affection, you should probably hold off on them in front of him. Ah think he likes you."

"What?!" Pinkie Pie revolted in surprise. "No, no, no, no, no. Pokey is a friend... I think... I'm not sure anymore with how he's been talking to you..."

"It's true, Pinkie!" Pokey admitted.

"We have known each other for four years. You've never even once given me a hint that you liked me."

"It's because I'm a coward! I admit it!" Pokey Pierce made melodramatic gestures with his hooves. "And here comes this clown!" Pokey pointed at Braeburn, "and he steals you away from me!"

"He didn't 'steal' me away from you. He openly admitted his feelings for me after only being her for two days." Pinkie Pie pointed out matter-of-factly. "You had four years!"

"So, if I had just came out and told you that I liked you, you'd end up being with me?"

Pinkie Pie thought for a good long while with her hoof on her chin. "Probably not."

"This is turning into a soap opera," Braeburn commented under his breath before looking out from the balcony. "Look, mister, Ah'm sorry about your broken heart, and Ah know it's painful, and the last pony in the world you probably want to hear that from is me, but if you ever need someone to talk to, Ah'm stay'n at Sweet Apple Acres with mah kin." Braeburn then turned slowly and gave the unicorn a fierce scowl. "But Ah better never hear about you laying a hoof on miss Pinkie again, and if you come down to sweet apple acres to talk to me, you better leave the drama at home. Ah ain't gonna fight you for Pinkie Pie like a couple o' stupid roosters over the mating rights to a hen."

Pokey Pierce glared at Braeburn as if he were trying to intimidate him before they both heard a loud thump from inside Pinkie Pie's room.

"Pokey Pierce, Ah'm gonna turn you inside out!"

"Her vision wasn't suppose to come back to her for another hour!" Pokey's eyes widened in sudden terror before running over to Braeburn and cowering behind him. "Tell your cousin I'm not here!" he blurted.

"Pokey? That you? Where you at, boy!"

"Ah think she knows, partner," Braeburn laughed.

Apple Jack threw aside the pink curtains and revealed herself, standing there looking around with flames where her green eyes normally were. "Where is he?!"

"Where's who?" Braeburn laughed innocently,

"Don't play games with me, cuz, Ah heard him out here!"

"What happened?"

"That darn polecat blinded me with some kinda spell! Ah was trippin' and stumblin' around like Berry Punch for a good ten minutes before mah vision came back to me!"

Braeburn shot an outraged look at Pokey who still coward behind him. "You used that filthy, cheap spell to blind mah cousin!?"

"I didn't mean to!" He lied.

"Pokey? That you?" Apple jack asked as she frowned at her cousin who stood defiantly with his chest out.

"N-no..." he responded.

"Braeburn... Move..."

"Ah will not, cuz."

"This is between him and me. I owe him a few good licks for what he did to me, then ah owe him a few more for the things he said about you when he was down stairs."

"Cuz, you know words don't hurt me."

"Ah know, but the things he was say'n about you—"

"If an ass called you an ass, would you get angry? No. Because getting mad over being called an ass - by an ass - just ends up making you look like one."

"Did you just call me an ass?" Pokey whispered.

"Yup," Braeburn responded with a bored expression on his face.

"Well, fine, you obviously don't care, but Ah will take an eye for an eye! Now move!"

"Cousin Apple Jack!" Braeburn chided before smoothing out his voice again. "An eye for eye only makes us blind."

Apple Jack glared resentfully at her cousin for a moment, hating him for his wisdom.

"Take a few breaths, cuz."

Apple Jack glared a moment longer before sitting down, relaxing her posture, then breathing in and out deeply a few times.

"Feel better?" Braeburn asked with a smile.

"...yeah..." She said solemnly as her eyes darted to the sky. "Dang it, cuz, why do you gotta be so... Pacifistic."

"Ah'm not a pacifist, cuz. Pacifism implies that Ah wont fight, no matter what. Ah'll throw down if Ah gotta, but never to even a score. But if it's to protect mahself, or someone I care for..." He smiled at Pinkie, then turned a hard gaze to Pokey.

"Right," Apple Jack rolled her eyes. "It's gettin' to be that time, cuz. We gotta work tomorrow, and Sweetie Belle passed a message onto Rarity to give to me, so Ah could give it to you.

"What's the message?"

"She's coming down with her friends to Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow to ask you for assistance with a matter of 'dire' importance."

"She used those exact words?"

"Yup, the little drama queen is taking more, and more after her sister every day."

"Why couldn't she just give the message to Apple Bloom to give to me?"

"The three of them are having one of their little slumber parties in their clubhouse tonight."

"What could that little filly be up to?"

"Heck if Ah know, I'm just delivering you the message." Apple Jack let out an unladylike yawn, her mouth gaping open as a hippo would when attracting a mate. "It's about time we head on back home."

"You don't have to leave just yet!" Pinkie Pie interrupted before clasping herself around Braeburn, much to Pokey Pierce's frustration, who still lay hidden behind the bulky stallion.

Braeburn looked longingly at Pinkie Pie, wanting to spend more time with her now that they had reconciled their feelings for one another. "Ah'll come strait here after work tomorrow. Maybe we can watch some of them movies you got in that box of yours?"

"I'm holding you to that," Said Pinkie happily. "We can have us our own little horror movie marathon."

"Horror? Ah'd assumed that you'd be more into comedy."

"Horror is the ultimate form of comedy!" Pinkie replied insistently. "You think I'd wanna watch some boring love comedy? Puuulease! Give me zombies and chainsaws any day!"

"Chainsaws and zombies it is." Braeburn laughed before giving Pinkie another nuzzle. "Now, this is a lady Ah can show off to mom." he added proudly.

Apple Jack's tired expression slowly stretched into a wide, beaming smile. "Baeburn, you actually did it? You dog, you!"

"He's not a doggy," Pinkie giggled. "He's a stallion." She nuzzled up against his neck again. "He's my stallion," she sighed romantically.

"Dat swagger," said Apple Jack, slightly impressed.

"Did you just use the word 'swagger'?" Braeburn asked disapprovingly as a snuggling Pinkie Pie still latched onto him.

Apple Jack smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, Ah heard Rainbow Dash use it once. Ah wanted to try it out."

Braeburn raised an eyebrow and squinted. "Yeah, no."

"Pinkie Pie?" The sniveling unicorn interjected. "Do you still want me to stick around so I can help you clean up?"

"I think you should go home, Pokey." Pinkie responded, not making eye contact.

A look of genuine hurt showed on the unicorn's face. "So, now that somepony better looking comes along who gives you the attention you want, you just cast me aside?" Pokey raised from behind Braeburn with an accusatory scowl in his eyes.

Apple Jack watched silently. Braeburn opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but Pinkie Pie reach up with a hoof and silenced him before he could speak.

"Pokey," Pinkie said. "I have never seen you act like this before. You always tend to act a bit strange whenever a stallion comes along and starts paying attention to me. I disregarded it at first, thinking that maybe you were simply wanting to protect me like a big brother would for his younger sister, but now, I know it's because you had your own motives, your own means that you were serving. In your own strange way of thinking, you probably think that you are the one who has been betrayed, but you are the one who has actually betrayed me. If you really cared for me, you'd let me be happy with whomever I choose to be happy with. I'll still be your friend, Pokey, but I don't want to see you again until you have grown up."

Pokey's expression was completely blank as he replied with venom in his tone. "You are telling me that I need to grow up? This coming from an adult who can't control herself around sweets? This coming from someone who throws a little pity party for herself every time she brings up that one time some boy called her fat in grade school? By Celestia, Get over it already!"

Apple Jack finally spoke up. "Wait, what's goin' on?"

Braeburn took Pinkie Pie in his forelegs and pressed her face tightly to his chest, expecting the worst.

"Pokey," The protective stallion said darkly. "Every tear she sheds over that comment you just made - will be a bone in your body that Ah break. Ah'll give you only one word of advice: run."

The unicorn lip curved into a cruel smile. "I thought you said words—"

"Don't hurt," Pinkie interrupted before pulling her face away from Braeburn's chest, smiling that adorable smile of hers up at him. "If an ass calls you an ass?"

Braeburn smiled down at her before nodding proudly. "That's right, darlin."

Pinkie Pie looked at Pokey pierce one last time to stick her tongue out at him before snuggling back up into Braeburn's chest.

No amount of bones Braeburn could have broken, no comeback Pinkie could have quipped with could have left Pokey Pierce with the empty sense of defeat and loss he was left with after that. He simply stepped back with a sneer on his face. He bowed, then lifted his head, his eyes now wide and round, his smile now so wide that it was practically stretching to both of his ears.

"You two are really starting to make me sick, you know that?" He laughed. "I'll leave you two love birds in peace!" The daft unicorn then whipped his neck around and brought his horn down on the ground, creating a thick screen of smoke. When the veil of of smog was gone, so was he.

Braeburn, Apple Jack, and Pinkie Pie stared at the last remains of the smoke until it had completely cleared. Pinkie Pie suddenly broke the silence when she produced a noise maker from seemingly out of nowhere, blew into it directly into Braeburn's ear, scaring the hell out of him.

"Yay, we have his blessing!"