ColtCuddlers

Two powerful auburn legs pounded into the dark trunk of a thick apple tree causing several little green fruits to fall. The red stallion sighed and began to pick them up and drop them one by one into the wagons he filled daily. His sister ran by, having finished her work early thanks to a little help from her friends. He smiled back at her when she waved and continued on working, as he always does.

Day in and day out, nearly everyday of every week since he was a young colt trying to impress his father he worked hard on the farm. Even these many years after he'd lost his parents he still went on working; bucking apples, managing ledgers, selling cider. He did his best now to keep the orchard going and his family well and alive.

He finds joy in knowing he's done a good job. That he earned his bits and that he can keep the family well. Big Macintosh enjoyed the sweat on his brow, and the hard ciders and whiskeys tasted better after a good day of work.

He was the quiet kind, though more than simply educated. He had a few years in school but dropped out to work on the farm early when his family had issues. He taught himself, sometimes with Granny Smith's help, through textbooks from the library and that he'd found in the attic.

Somehow that made him seem desirable to a lot of mares. He had a marefriend now, somewhat- Cheerilee Ponyville's very own teacher. They weren't really dating but they were getting together often for dinner or theater, and occasionally they would have sex. Rumors got around about his...Big Mac...So he was 'hooking up' a lot lately. For whatever reason, Big Mac didn't care either way about it.

He was apathetic about sex, and he didn't know why. It wasn't always this way; his first few mares were incredible, but it somewhat rapidly declined after that until he just went along with the act. It just no longer interested him. Not that he would stop. He was always happy to make someone else happy.

Today Big Macintosh had been working slow, his muscles were stiff from a lack of sleep of late- for the imagined reasons. Usually he met quota halfway between noon and sundown and kept working until the evening. Now, it was just after he usually stopped working and he'd just barely made his keep. He hooked himself up to the carts and began to walk, thinking back in his deep ways as per usual.

When he unhitched from the last cart and walked out of the barn where he'd disposed them all, Macintosh paused. He felt something in the air, something different. He sniffed a few times before trotting off towards his usual bar.

Like normal the pub was nearly empty, Caramel sat with his head against the counter with a little bit of drool pooling out. Mac shook his head at his drunk cousin- once a good strong worker now reduced to a stumbling sob. Carrot Cake pushed over a bottle of whiskey, a signal for Big Mac to join him at his little table. The red pony nodded and came over, pouring a glass and looking around at the others while Carrot informed him of the few new going on's around Sugar Cube Corner.

There were just three others in the pub, besides the tavernmaster. In the corner sat another poor drunk, Diamond Tiara's father- Filthy Rich. At least he was rich before, the family had some pretty hard times and almost went bankrupt, when they did Filthy's wife left him. In the divorce she got the house, the money, the stock, and full custody of Diamond. Poor Rich had nothing left to do but drink himself to the grave, and nobody was able to stop him. At least they gave him severely watered down liquor.
Spike sat at the bar as well. Mac always wondered why he was allowed inside but he just assumed dragons didn't really fall under the pony age base- even if they did he was nearly as old as Twilight Sparkle and she was old enough to drink. He wasn't ever given much, just a few light beers a week and some milk. He came to the bar all the time anyway though (Whenever he could sneak off from Twilight) Mac remembered the first time she came to the bar and saw him. Everyone- especially the tavernmaster, hid from her. He didn't want to get into detail but almost all the bar's in Ponyville and surrounding areas had to be rebuilt and nobody saw Spike or Twilight for days.
The last pony caught Mac's eye though, and an unfamiliar twinkle returned. Mac looked over the blue pegasus who mulled over a glass of bourbon. He had a powerful looking build, something unusual for a pegasus- they were usually more lean and agile than they were strong. His wings were folded but obviously rather large, Big Mac guessed that they were able to thrust him pretty well.

Carrot Cake looked at Big Mac for awhile before he grinned and chuckled a little. Dropping a few bits on the counter before going he called out to his amusing friend.

"Hey Mac, Cup Cake'll be waiting for me early tonight- it's date night! I'll see you around."

Big Mac waved him off and carried the bottle of whiskey over to the table where the depressed looking pony sat.

"Hey...You're Soarin' Aren't you?"

Soarin' chuckled dryly without looking up.

"Not feeling that way right now friend...But yeah. I'm him."

Mac sat down and took a swig, filling the near empty cup of bourbon for the racer.

"Tell me about it?"

"I guess."

They sat there talking, Soarin' told about his issues with Spitfire- Big Mac had to hold in laughter when he heard who Spitfire was with (Applejack now owed him 50 bits.) But Mac never talked until Soarin' said "But it'll all get better soon yeah?"

"Eeyup"

The pegasus paused, his ears twitched and a smile began to form about his lips. He knew that voice, something from way back in his bast, something he couldn't dare to forget.

"MACINTOSH!"

Soarin' flew out of his seat-literally, and threw Mac into a big hug. He laughed and smiled as he led Big Mac out of the bar and into the night. They began talking about how they'd been and what they'd done since all those years ago.

When they were dating.