Mad Lads (Patreon)

Gonna be exploring that dangerous, loathsome time in Bruce's past. When nothing made sense, and each day was an unpredictable churning storm of chaos and fear. I'm talking, of course, about the time Bruce grew a mustache.

Concept art! The teen bullies of Ponyville. There's supposed to be a third member, but he's eluding me for the time being. For now, this is shitty teen I-don't-know-how-to-manage-my-facial-hair Bruce, and his buddy Fisk. 

At least that's what I'm calling him for now. None of this is concrete, just gonna toss some ideas out there. Feedback is very welcome!

-Following the end of the Hooffield-Mccolt feud, the two families intermarried here and there. One such member of the new generation of witless rubes is Fisk Mccolt.

-Fisk is one of a baker's dozen siblings. With too many foals competing for attention, Fisk was paid little mind by his dirt poor parents growing up. Despite this, he's still expected to someday take over the family patch o' dirt (nevermind his own dreams), something he deeply resents. He and Bruce bond a lot over shitty parental expectations. It's actually how they met- Fisk's family provides netting, hooks, and gear for Cutthroat's fishing boat.

-Fisk is very intelligent, and his special talent seems to be debate, of all things. He's excellent at picking holes in arguments and spotting tiny flaws others may have missed. He'd actually quite like to join the school debate team, but due to his family's dismissal of "empty talk and hoity-toity book-learnin'", he feels too discouraged. Instead he pretends he'd never want to affiliate with a bunch of nerds, and slacks off in school. Why bother, he's destined for a dirt farm anyway. 

Fisk now uses his critical discussion skills to mostly be an ass. He enjoys playing devil's advocate, being deliberately contrarian, and being offensive for the sake of riling up others. He's a fan of kicking metaphorical hornet's nests and has almost gotten his ass kicked a few times, needing Bruce to bail him out quickly. Negative attention is better than none at all.

-He also quite enjoys fucking with Bruce, but their squabbles have an almost affectionate note to them.

-The pair of them like picking on the meek and vulnerable for fun. Make no mistake though, they're very unpopular, and considered cruel and crass losers.

-Fisk, much like Bruce, feels pigeonholed into the role of a "real" stallion. He doesn't allow himself to engage with anything remotely dorky or feminine, and he polices Bruce to do the same. They both certainly make fun of each other at the slightest show of vulnerability. They can't quite relax around each other, nor be who they truly are....It's more of an illusion of friendship than the real thing.

-Fisk bakes a lovely huckleberry pie, and secretly steals his mother's recipe cards to improve and decorate them. It makes him very sad that he has nobody to share his cooking with, save for his ravenous, unappreciative siblings.

-He's got a very strong southern drawl, listening to him and Bruce's accents speaking together will give you a headache. I kinda imagine he sounds like Stinky from Hey Arnold.