Storm of New Experiences

A Storm of New Experiences

By Boltavio

Chapter 1: A Gentle Breeze

The streets were a bustle with noise and the sounds of construction. The town of Appaloosa was being built and everyone was busy. “Braeburn, get over here!” Called one of the other ponies.

“Huh… oh!” Braeburn was lost in thought about a billboard showing off the Wonderbolts being put up. He trotted over, as they were all talking about what their new lives would be like in this new town. Braeburn hadn't thought about that yet. Although he knew that he would have to take over the farm one day.

“Well… ah guess it’ll be a big change for all of us!” He said in an excited tone, secretly afraid.

Braeburn was quite a shy pony when he was younger. A quality he found in himself was much more kindness and caring than the other colts, who would tease and bully each other for fun. He wouldn't cause any trouble and mostly kept to himself. He was risen with the Apple family who had old traditional values and kept him going down the same path all of them have gone. They had set him up for a life with a family and a town to raise. He didn't question this, just followed.

The day was getting late and everyone was exhausted from working and retired back home. Braeburn was kicking a can on his way home, when he noticed the billboard again. He never seen a Wonderbolt before and wondered if he’d ever see one, being out in the middle of desert. He turned his head back down and continued trotting home. A couple was nuzzling and Braeburn felt somewhat jealous. He was always being harassed by his parents to find someone to date. Maybe that’s what he needed, but he was never interested in any of the ponies they tried to set him up with. “Why was this?” He always thought. He never seemed interested in mares. Sure he found the beautiful at times, but just never attractive.

He remembered when he was younger, he had a colt best friend that he did everything with. His named was Caramel. He always thought they would be together, and maybe closer than friends, but quickly destroyed this thought when he got older and realized that wasn't the way stallions were supposed to think about other stallions. He never thought twice about it and never got any suspicions. He just never believed there was a thing called love because of his absence of love toward the mares.

“SLAM!” The sound of beam accidentally falling woke Braeburn from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes and sat on the end of his bed. Another boring day. He just went back to working on his new town.

Alone.

The skies were full of fliers from the Wonderbolt Academy. Today was a day off and they were all working on their training. Soarin was one of them with his new friend Spitfire.

Soarin was much different stallion. He grew up with a very distant family. They showed their love by just feeding and housing their children, but not much affection was present, although, he longed for this affection, from anyone really. One day, Soarin decided to be different than everyone else and rise to the top, changing his whole life in one summer. He excelled in flying and took that up as a hobby, job and main focus and it paid off. He was accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy at a young age. Soarin knew who he was. He was a stud who had a lot going for him. He was at the top of his class at the moment and everyone loved him. He just felt like he was missing the one thing he really wanted. Someone to explore his life with. Spitfire was a good match for him, but she wasn’t interested at the moment. She was more focused on her training.

“Soarin! That’s not the right technique!” Called Spitfire, his new friend called out. Soarin was trying out new flying techniques to show off to the coaches at the Wonderbolt Academy. His throat tightened with embarrassment and anger. He was trying his best but was having a hard time.

“Gah!” grunted out Soarin as he landed down next to Spitfire. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!" He rose and hoof and stomped on a cloud. "It’s like my mind is somewhere else. I think we need a break Spitfire.” sighed Soarin and looked down. His mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about more than just training.

They headed back to the academy. Soarin went to go take a shower, to get the sweat off. He turned on the shower and laid back against the wall. The water hit him softly and he put his head down, letting the cool water drip down his wind-blown mane. He felt empty, but he had to keep up his appearance of being the confident young stallion on campus. He turned off the shower and dried off. Tomorrow he was sure he was going on vacation. He didn’t know where to. Maybe that Ponyville place? Everyone has been there once. It seems to be a good place to meet others too. They have all kinds of excitement there from what he heard from the stories of friends. He went over to Spitfire, who was studying some books on flying techniques.

“Hey Spitfire, remember what I said earlier?”

“Yeah? About a break or something…” She said still focused on the book.

“Yeah… Let’s go. Tomorrow. Okay? I just… need to get away from this for a bit.”

“Ummm…” She looked up from the book and gave him an annoyed stare. “Really?”

“Yes! Will you come? We will be the hot shots Wonderbolt trainees that everyone will admire. I say we go to Ponyville.” He needed a reason for her to go.

“Ugh.” She sighed and put the book in her satchel. “Fine.”

Soarin let out an excited neigh.

Braeburn was heading down to the post office to see if he got any mail. He usually just got nice messages from family members and such, but he was surprised to see a letter from Applejack.

Howdy Brae! Ah just wanted to know how you were doing. Ah heard your town it coming together nicely! Ah sure wish ah could come and see it. Why don’t ya head down to Ponyville for nice break? Ah heard you’ve been working your plot off! Ah would also like to see my cuz too! Well, ah hope you come down, hope to see you soon!

He sighed and put the letter down. Maybe he was working too hard. He was working nonstop with the town since he got there. Maybe he should head down to Ponyville. He went back to his home and started packing. The thoughts of Ponyville and a break gave him some happiness and hope. Maybe something will change there. Take him out of this monotonous life of work.

The train station was pretty much empty, except ponies coming in. He bought a ticket for Ponyville and boarded the train when it arrived. Boarding the train, he thought of his cousin and the farm there. He guessed he would just work on their farm during his stay. He went to his cabin and slumped onto the bed. He was so sore from the construction and hadn’t even noticed. The train began to pull forward. Braeburn stared out the window. He thought goodbye for now as he watched the town drift away from sight as the train drove away.

He began to think about his life, but quickly fell asleep before anything serious came up. He dreamed of his town being finished, and him having a family. But this family was different. There was no kids, and there were two stallions.

Whaa…? Braeburn thought as he saw this. The yellowish stallions was certainly him, but who was the other stallion… and were they… nuzzling?!

Braeburn woke up in a cold sweat. He shook his head. What could this mean? He thought back to memory he had from his father and mother. His father was very strict and his mother would always follow what the father would order. There were a couple of stallions that were coltcuddlers, and his father would tell him See them stallions? They're coltcuddlers. We don't want their kind in our little town. He would spit in their direction. This made Braeburn scared and angry at them. He grew up with a hate for them and would join in on homophobic remarks with his friends.

He got up and went to the food cart, trying to dismiss this weird dream. He got some breakfast and felt better. The train was going to arrive in Ponyville soon and so he got ready for getting off the train.

When the train lurched to a stop, he saw the small town and was amazed to see all the different ponies around. Pegasus flying around, unicorns and earth ponies associating. He was used to only seeing earth ponies in Appaloosa. He got off and wandered toward the Sweet Apple Acres. It was early morning still and he was walking by all the locals examining them. He was excited to see Applejack, Granny Smith, and Big Macintosh. They were always a happy bunch. He always was happy to see them especially at the reunions where their whole family would gather and meet.

He approached the farm and sighed. He saw an orange mare in the distance, probably Applejack. She turned randomly, almost guessing he’d be there, and shouted.

“Braaaaebuuuurn! Over here!” He laughed and trotted over quickly, giving her a big hug.

“Heya cuz.” He said, smiling.

“Well don’t you look mighty great? How’ve you been?! We have been dying to see you since y’all moved.” She said.

“Pretty good.” He said quietly. “Busy mostly.” He chuckled.

“Why don’t you get settled in a bit and come out when you’re ready to see the town.” She pointed toward the house. He nodded and went inside. He placed his satchel on the couch and laid out. He let out a funny noise from his mouth and thought for a bit.

Big Macintosh walked by and said “Howdy” and continued by. Braeburn sat up and looked surprised.

“Howdy” he called back. They weren't very close for whatever reason. He just felt like Big Macintosh was in his own world and didn’t really feel like his should disturb it. He got up and went back outside. Applejack was waiting. She wanted to show him everything. She showed him the farm, which took a while seeing it was so big. It was getting late and she wanted to show him the town before nightfall.

"Why don't we go see the town?" Asked Applejack.

"Why not?" Braeburn shrugged.

Soarin was flying down from the academy with Spitfire toward Ponyville. They both packed light knowing they would have to fly there. He wore a Wonderbolt jacket and she wore one too, showing off that they were trainees. Soarin was feeling confident. He flew in loops as they flew, doing barrel rolls and flips.

“Woohoo! Were finally gonna take a break! So sick of training. Maybe we can get some pie here too!”

Spitfire laughed. “Calm down Soarin, Were gonna be there soon, and I don’t want you crashing.”

Soarin laughed and flew forward. He spotted the town out in the distance and gasped. “There it is! Let’s first find a room and then hit the restaurants for some food.”

Spitfire nodded and started descending down toward the town. Soarin followed.

They landed by the town hall and looked around. Some stopped and eyed the Wonderbolt trainees. They walked confidently to the closest hotel.

“Two rooms please!” Soarin ordered and laid back against the counter, nodding toward some mares with a sly smile. The mares giggled and walked away. He also saw some stallions and nodded toward them. They gave him a weird look and walked away. Soarin shrugged and turned back to the counter. He was used to stallions rejecting him (he was interested in both mares and stallions).

The hotel manager went back and grabbed two keys and gave them to them. He tossed some bits onto the counter and dashed to the back. They went to their rooms and placed their stuff down. Soarin immediately grabbed Spitfire from her room and dragged her out. She shouted at him, wanting to unpack and relax for a second but he was ready to go.

They explored the small town. It was sunset and the area was abuzz with ponies. The lights were hanging above on ropes with many different colors and the streets lights made the area glow with activity.  It was quite beautiful. The lights, the sunset, the shadows…

And him?