Intermixture

Grif was awakened by Fluttershy, who was tapping on his shoulder lightly. He grunted and rolled off the couch slowly. Haley jumped down after him and they both stretched. After a couple seconds of Fluttershy staring awkwardly at Grif, he spoke up. "Uh, any reason you woke me up so early?"

"It's not early. It's one in the afternoon..." Fluttershy said quietly.

"What?" Grif said with a chuckle. "That's earlier than I thought it was."

Fluttershy looked at Grif and smiled and he let out a small sigh. "Alright, I'll bite." Grif grunted. "What's up?"

"Pinkie Pie wanted me to stop by her place." Fluttershy said. "So I was wondering if you would be able to, you know, look after some bunnies..."

Grif stared at her silently.

"Is it a lot of work?" Grif asked simply.

"Oh, it's none at all." Fluttershy said happily. "You just have to sit under a tree and make sure they don't run off."

"I guess I could do that." Grif said.

Fluttershy walked out the door to her yard and Grif followed her obediently. He looked out at the half dozen bunnies, running around and playing. He then saw two trees side by side and he sat down with his back on one of them.

"There really aren’t that many of them so they shouldn't give you any trouble at all." Fluttershy said.

"So there really is nothing else to it?" Grif asked after sitting for a couple seconds

"As long as you keep your eye on them, then it’s the easiest thing in the world." Fluttershy said.

"Okay, cool."

Fluttershy gave Grif a quick hug.

"Thank you." Fluttershy said, turning away. "I'll be back soon."

"No problem." Grif said, letting out a slight yawn.

Eyha came out of the house and walked towards the two.

"What's up?" He said.

"I'm going to be stopping by Pinkie's place. I'm just leaving Grif here to look after some bunnies." Fluttershy said.

"Well, that totally doesn't sound like the gayest and most boring thing I've heard all week." Eyha said. "Would you mind if I came along? I have absolutely nothing to do."

"Sure, if you want to." She said shyly.

"Cool. It'd be nice to troll Little Sin for a bit. You lead the way." Eyha said. Fluttershy started towards Pinkie's place. By the time they arrived Pinkie and Caboose were standing outside with a cannon, looking in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

"Hey Pinkie." Fluttershy said.

"Oh hi Fluttershy." Pinkie looked at Eyha. "What was your name again?"

"Eyha 'Ohsolee." He said.

"Oh hey Ehya 'Ohsolee. Sorry for forgetting your name. It's just that Little Sin mentioned you earlier and I didn't exactly remember how he said it." Pinkie said.

"Little Sin mentioned me? What did he say?"

"He said you are a fudge packer. Whatever that is." Pinkie giggled.

Eyha coughed. "Where is Little Sin?"

"Oh, he went to the place that smells like apples for some reason. Said he had to go do something important." Caboose said.

Sarge was laying against a tree deep in the forest of apple trees in Sweet Apple Acres relaxing. He set his new hat over his face and decided to relax for a while after a long day of apple harvesting. He began to doze off when he heard a twig break to his right. He put his hat on his head and stood up to take a look but nobody was around. Sarge grunted and began to make his way back to the barn when he heard another twig crack to his left.

"Show yourself!" He said without fear. Suddenly he heard yet another twig crack from behind him. He turned around and again there was nobody. Suddenly he heard twigs begin to crack from various different directions simultaneously. And soon enough he was in the centre of a rampage of cracking twigs, all coming from different directions. He crouched down into a defensive posture, prepared for whatever was coming. A strange sound could be heard, no decipherable direction, it seemed to come from every direction at once.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" A bunch of voices slowly cheered from every direction. They sounded like children, but they were distorted and sounded demonic and twisted. Sarge had no idea what was going on. Suddenly bits of confetti started raining down from the trees above him as the demonic children slowly and continuously cheered from every direction. It took Sarge a moment to notice that instead of the raining confetti being of different colours, the bits were blood crimson. At this point Sarge was beginning to worry for the safety of the apple family. He had no idea what was going on.

"Show yourself you coward!" He yelled defensively. Suddenly the slow, demonic cheering came to an absolute halt and the confetti stopped raining. Sarge looked to the ground to see the remaining confetti bits at his feet sink into the ground like quick sand. Sarge brought his hooves off the ground and yelled. "Come and face me like a man!" He yelled.

He heard a voice come from behind him. "I believe we have a score to settle." The voice said.

Sarge spun around to see Little Sin standing behind him, glaring at him.

"What score?" Sarge asked smugly.

"You touched my shotgun."

"You don't deserve to wield such a thing of beauty." Sarge said bluntly.

"I know what you think. I overheard the things you said when we were at the yellow one's home. I detest your ignorance."

"Ignorance is a fire which has fuelled the trigger to the shotgun for generations. It is something to be executed as an instrument of fear to inflict upon the eyes of those who would dare disgrace the name shotgun."

"What you speak is valid, however too many words can hinder ones ability to take action."

"If action is what you want. You'll get it."

"Its starting to sound like you care to settle this the old fashioned way."

Sarge narrowed his eyes. "Some things were meant to be settled the old fashioned way."

Little Sin dismounted the UNSC 8 gauge from his back and threw it at Sarge's feet, not breaking eye contact.

"If you really are a true wielder of the shotgun, you will meet me back here in 15 minutes, and we will settle this like men. Like shotgun men." Little Sin said. "You will either come, or be shamed. Your choice."

"Sarge never runs away from a fight." He said back. "You're on."

They both stared each other down for a few minutes until Sarge heard a twig break behind him. He turned to find the source of it but there was nothing. He turned back to Little Sin but he was gone, a small pile of colourful confetti where he was standing seconds before.

"For too long I have been kept from that which makes me whole." Sarge said to himself as he slowly walked to the weapon Little Sin had placed. He picked up the shotgun and looked at it. The sheer beauty of the weapon as it glistened in the sunlight to Sarge was absolutely breathtaking. It brought a small determined smile to his face.

"Sarge is back." He said as he narrowed his eyes and cocked his shotgun.

"And he's commin' with a vengeance."