Paper Romance

by CrackedInkWell

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Soarin, Alternate Universe, Romance, Original Character, Braeburn
Length: 36106

Set in a hundred years after settling Appaloosa, Jonagold Apple is trying to do some research to find out what her great-great-grandfather was really like as a pony.

Warning: The story you're about to read is currently unedited and contains M/M shipping. If you don't like one or both of those, you know where the exit button is.

Set in a century after the settlement of Appaloosa, Jonagold Apple decides that for her school paper that she would research on her relative, her great-great-grandfather, Braeburn Apple. She goes to the town's library and asks if they have any primary sources. The only thing they have is a dusty box containing the correspondence between her ancestor, and a stallion named Soarin Cloudline.

Published 2016-11-27 05:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-06 04:00:41 UTC

Envelope 1: June – November 999 A.B.M.N.

Author's Note

Final Warning: This story is currently unedited and contains some M/M shipping. You have been warned.

Envelope 1: June – November 999 A.B.M.N.

Appaloosa has grown in the last one hundred years since its founding. A green oasis in an orange, rocky land where there is an apple tree right next to everypony’s home. The once humble settlement has grown up into a modern town that has one hoof in tradition and the other in the future. Pave roads and elegant lamp posts stood next to preserved buildings of the settlement’s golden age. A fountain that on the top stands proudly two figures that have to lead its citizens to peace and prosperity – a statue, cast in bronze of Braeburn Apple shaking hooves with Little Strongheart.

Flying through the streets of shops, restaurants and antique stores, a mare was making her way towards the town’s library. A structure with the foundation of the local desert rock, the wooden and glass building stood two stories tall in its traditional western style and warm colors. The Pegasus landed in front of the doors to the library, catching her reflection in the glass. Pushing a few strands of her morning blue mane out of the way of her bronze eyes and giving her yellow coat a quick dusting, she pushed through the doors open and trotted inside.

The Appaloosa library was quiet for the most part in the afternoons, the lofty spaces between the bookshelves and flat computers, with the light from the windows streaming through, gave the impression of a sort of temple from one of those old Daring Do books to the teenager’s mind. She walked towards the very center of the library where an old stallion with a short beard looked up. “Can I help you?” he asked softly.

“Uh… yeah,” she said as she stopped in front of the enormous desk. “I need some primary sources for my research, can you help me?”

“Primary?” the gray earth pony pushed his swivel chair towards a computer that was just as ancient as he was. He typed on the keyboard for a moment before returning his attention to the teenager, “And what exactly are you researching on?”

“It’s for my Psychology class,” she responded. “We’re assigned to make a case study on a historical figure but using primary sources. So I’ve decided to do mine on my great-great-grandfather, Braeburn Apple.”

“Really?” the librarian raised an eyebrow, “You’re related to him?”

She nodded, “My name is Jonagold Apple, sir. I’ve been asking everypony in my family to see if they have, well, anything on him like a journal or letters, or even a biography, but I’ve turned up nothing so far. But I was hoping that maybe the library has something on him that could give me an idea what he was like.”

“I see… Give me a moment…” the stallion typed away, narrowing down the results on the screen. “Huh… I never knew we had that.”

“What?” Jonagold leaned forward, “Please tell me you’ve found something.”

“As a matter of fact, there is a collection of letters in the basement. It says here: Original Letters from Braeburn Apple to Soarin Cloudline, 999 to 1004. Now that is interesting because I never knew we had that.”

“Could I see them?” the teen asked.

“You can,” he got out of his seat, “Though I must tell you that while you may look at them and even touch them with gloves on, you’re not allowed to take them out of the library.”

“I’ll take anything at this point,” she said.

“Very well, you wait at that table over there while I go down to fetch it.”

Jonagold did so, about ten minutes later, the librarian returned with a box that had some numbers on the side and a pair of gloves. “Here you go,” he carefully set the box down onto the table along with the white gloves. “All the original letters are right in here.”

“Oh thank you so much,” the young mare said, “I bet these would be perfect for my work.”

“Be sure to put whatever you find back before you leave in the order you found it,” he said before walking back to his desk.

Pulling the lid open, she found that the box had a series of yellow envelopes that had a layer of dust on them. Picking the first one from the top, it read in pencil, “June – November 999. A.B.M.N.”

“Okay gramps,” she said as she puts the gloves on, “Let’s see what you were really like.” Carefully letting the first set of letters slip through and onto the table, she noted that there were eight letters in total. She began to read the first one on top.

Dear Soarin,

Starting tomorrow, with Celestia’s blessing, we’re heading west for a whole new beginning! I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally have a land of my own that ain’t my parents. It’s all rather exciting that I’m gonna be independent for once, now I’m going to be the ones to help others achieve that goal. I wonder what this place we’ll be settling will be like we’ll be settling. The maps tell me that it’s all nothing but desert for miles around, but I don’t believe that. Why else would we settle in a place where none of us will be able to grow our apples? Besides, Princess Celestia herself has given us the okay to go there.

Before I hit the hay, I wanna take a moment to ask you how you’re doing on your end. Are they treating you well over there? Grant it, I’ve heard that Wonderbolt Academy can be difficult, but is that true? I know pretty well that you’re a tough guy, and that you’d never let ponies that scream in your face day in and day out to get you down. After all, being your dream and all to play a part in a team like yours is something you talked about when we were younger.

Though, truth be told, I would be lying to you to say that I haven’t been missing you. It may have been a couple of months since we’ve parted, but already I want to spend a little more time with you. Will you ever get the chance to take leave and come to visit me? I do hope you do once we’ve set up this new town. After all, from what I understand, there won’t be any trees to build our new lives on so we have to carry the lumber to the new location. I imagine that it’s gonna be a lot of hard work, but I’m not afraid to get my hooves dirty.

In all seriousness though, if you ever get the chance to come and see me, would you please do it? The folks that are heading out with me are good ponies, but they’re nothing compare to you. I miss your humor as well as your laugh. I miss having you around me, regardless of what we end up doing. It would be a breath of fresh air to at least read a response letter from you.

Yeah, if you find yourself that you can’t come soon, could you at least try to write to me? Anything from you is better than no word at all.

Your best friend,

– Braeburn.

Dear Braeburn,

I’m really sorry I could respond to your letter right away, these exercises have been draining to the point where I couldn’t do anything else but flip face first into my cot. I’ve been starting to feel guilty that I haven’t spoken to each other since I got into the academy. You’re right that I should really write more. It has been a while since we’ve last hang out.

Since I’m writing this, I’ve got some bad news on my part. I’m afraid that I won’t be going on leave anytime soon. There’s training that needs to be done and trying to impress the Drill-Sargent with what I got. It’s really tough, well, becoming a Wonderblot I mean. There’s a strict schedule we all have to follow, wake up at six sharp, tidy up the bed in under a minute, do flight laps a couple times before breakfast, train some more, stop for lunch, train some more, have dinner, train some more, have Drill-Sergeant Spitfire tell you what you did wrong today, do some more training before taking a shower, hit the sack by midnight.

Everything here has to work out like clockwork. If you miss a step, you get to do extra exercises that slow your assigned team down. So everything must be perfect if you want to get on the Drill-Sergeant's good side… which is almost never.

If anything, I’m actually jealous of you right now. I know that you still have to do some work, but I’m willing to bet you that it’s not as difficult as this. That you can raise with the sun instead of before, that you can take breaks without being told, and that the place you're settling is a good deal peaceful than the academe.

I’m trying to keep things together as it is, and I would love to read some mail from you. Just give me something to reassure me that what I’m doing is worthwhile; just say something as simple as “you’re stronger than you know,” would be enough. In a place like this, a good friend would be just the thing I need.

Waiting to hear from you,

– Soarin.

Jonagold hummed, making a mental note to find out to see who this Soarin was. She flipped the letter over to the next one and continued reading.

Dear Soarin,

Thank you so much for replying to my letter! I’m rather relieved that you were able to get it.

Like you, we’ve been busy too set up the town. As I’m writing this, we are for the moment in the middle of nowhere. (And I do seriously mean nowhere.) All around us, there is desert, cartas, and sagebrush as far as the eye can see. The only saving grace so far is that there is a well of drinkable water. For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been raising buildings left and right. So far, we’ve been just buildin’ our homes. Mine is about half way done, it just needs another floor and a roof to make it complete. I would say that it ain’t too shabby, since I’ve placed my claim on a hill, giving it a good view of the town that is yet to be, and the orchard that is perfect for planting.

I must say that when I read your letter the other day, I did feel mighty sorry for you. Being up there with a tight deadline for everything, I suppose it would make anypony go a little crazy. But I know you Soarin; I do believe that you can get through this with no problem. You dreamed of having a better life, well don’t sour it now, just hang in there as much as you can until it passes over. While I may not know to the full extent of your training, I will say that if I can build a home with what I have, I can get through boot camp with no problem. Just remember that you can do hard things if you just work hard enough.

While I am a little disappointed that you can’t come down here, I do understand – I’m not exactly ready to show anypony of this new settlement just yet. I tell you what, do what you need to do to get through this, and when you find the time to write back, do so. I would love nothing more than to hear how you’re doing. After all, I’ve been missing having you around. But we’re adults, and we both have some hard work that needs to be done.

Soarin, I have a confession to make: even with these ponies that are looking forward to making a new life out here, I can’t help but feel rather lonely. I know it sounds weird, but have you ever been someplace crowded where ponies are havin’ a good ol’ time but you’re not. It’s as if that you don’t exactly feel a connection with anyone. I don’t know if this is making any sense, but that’s what I feel at the moment. Even as I write this, I could sense that you’re probably thinking, “Uh, just get a marefriend.” If only that was so simple.

I do hope things will get easier for you over there. Do try to keep in touch; while I can’t hear your voice now, I can easily imagine it when I read your letters.

Your friend from nowhere,

– Braeburn

Jonagold raised an eyebrow, what did her great-great-grandfather mean in that paragraph? ‘If only that was so simple?’ It was clear to her that he had some sense of insecurity, but over what exactly?

Dear Braeburn,

I know it’s been a while but good news! I’ve finally become a member of the Wonderbolts! Isn’t that great? What’s more is that now all my training is over, I’ve been granted some time off so we can finally catch up now. I’m so looking forward to seeing the little town you guys have created. A week ago, I’ve seen a newspaper with your picture on it. Good job at creating Appaloosa bro! You should be proud of yourself.

Since I’m writing this, I want to tell you thanks for your letter. While it was short, it was enough to help me pass. I wanna thank you for what encouragement you’ve given me. This academe has been quite the ordeal for everypony, I’ve seen firsthoof of a couple of ponies that dropped out. But you were right, as difficult as this was, I could do it. The thought that somepony out there believes that I can accomplish the impossible was enough for me to keep enduring, keep pushing, keep going until I archive my dream. I can’t thank you enough Brae, I promise that we’ll hang out very soon.

I’ve read about the part when you described being lonely, to answer your question, no, I don’t find it weird. I felt it too when I have those moments of peace at night before I go asleep. Perhaps you just need to give it some time, after all, you’ve moved into a settlement and I’m sure that there’s bound to be other ponies coming to town that want to live there as well. If I were you, I probably give new ponies the grand tour, just to get acquainted with everypony, you know?

Though, something that you’ve written in your last letter has gotten me worried. You said that I would respond getting yourself a marefriend and you added with, “If only that were simple.” What do you mean by that? I’m not exactly sure what you were talking about. You can tell me anything you know, I’d be glad to help.

I am looking forward to hanging out with you soon. Don’t worry buddy, I’m coming.

Your friend,

– Soarin

The young Pegasus blinked as she flipped through the last few pages. Did she miss something? In the last letter that Soarin wrote, he was struggling to get by in the Wonderblots and now he is in? It was then that she came to a realization. 'Aw crap,’ she thought, ‘Some of the letters are missing! Great! Just what I need.’ She sighed, hoping that there’s enough in the box for her paper. She continued on with the next letter.

Dear Soarin,

Before I start this letter, let me just say that I’m mighty proud of you! Congrats Soar! When you get the chance to come down here, we should celebrate! The Salt Lick Saloon has just opened its doors a week ago, so maybe I can pay for your drinks. The fellas here would be glad in meeting ya.

Appaloosa has been growing in leaps and bounds. Slowly but surely, more ponies are coming to our little settlement, bringing with them more wood and some luxuries from their homes. There’s even talk of setting up that newfangled telegraph so that, if it works, it would make things easier to send messages to all over Equestria. Wouldn’t that be great?

Not to say that we haven’t run into any problems. We have actually. You see, as soon as we’ve started planting our trees, we’ve quickly found out that this desert isn’t uninhabited. Turns out, what nopony bothered to tell us was that there’s a Buffalo tribe in the region. They’ve stampeded right through our farmland, crushing many seedlings along the way. Now luckily we were able to get just enough trees to start growing, but most of us are worried. We don’t know who this tribe is nor what they want. So until then, some of us have been keeping guard of our new orchard day and night to be sure that none of the crops gets uprooted.

I guess that it’s about time I’ve addressed the hydra in the room, isn’t it? Even before I sat down to think about how to write this here letter, I wasn’t exactly sure how to make any sense to you because I could barely grasp it myself. Perhaps I could say that it’s complicated, but let me at least try to explain. Now it’s not like there ain’t any single mares running around in Appaloosa, there are. Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty looking gals walking around. But there’s something I’ve noticed though, none of them here… well… clicked with me – if that makes any sense. And it isn’t that none of them are anything but nice; many of them are as we work together building this town. I think even a few have flirted with me once or twice, but I confess that when that happens, it’s only… uncomfortable.

Please do me this favor, if you do find an opportunity to come and visit me that would be appreciated. I would be more than overjoyed to know when you’ll be coming around.

Your friend in the middle of nowhere,

-Braeburn.

Jonagold raised an eyebrow, she wasn’t quite sure, but from what she read, it sounded like there was a little more to her ancestor then how the history books depicted him.

Dear Braeburn,

Okay buddy, since I have some time to squeeze in this letter, I do have good news. As it turns out, we do get to go on leave when Hearths Warming comes around. I know that it probably be a couple months away, but concerning with all the training, learning new maneuvers, get our timing just right, and the tours we’ll be going on… at least there is an open window of opportunity in which I can take the train down towards Appaloosa. I am genially sorry for all of this dude, really, I am. I guess I was so focused on achieving that dream that I didn’t anticipate what the cost of it would be. But now you have my promise that I will be able to keep.

After all, I’ve been missing you lately. Between meals and just before I fall asleep, I’ve come to realize that I’ve been missing listen to you talk. I know it sounds a touch creepy, but I guess I’m missing out our talks. Still, I can’t wait to see you down there to see how ya been.

I hope you get to resolve that problem with the tribe soon. Though I wish I could offer something to make things easier for you, I just can’t. I do wonder why those buffalo are doing that though. You know the old saying, “Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, but three or more then something is going on.” If this is happening more than once, then maybe they’re not doing this for no reason. Not everypony does that without some reason, right?

As to your other “complicated” problem… if I can be honest with you, I’ve been having the same kind of problem with the Wonderbolts. We’ve got a couple of hot mares on the team, no denying that – but, I haven’t met the one that’s my type, you know? Oh, we’re pretty good team players once you know what the rules are and all. We’ve been socializing too, yet… none of them have made me go, “Oh, I wanna date that one.” So no, you’re not exactly alone here. Perhaps when I can come down to that town of yours, maybe we could sort this out. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll end up chasing some tail, if you know what I mean.

Please write more often, I’d like to hear more from ya.

Your pal,

-Soarin.

(P.S. From the time I’m writing this letter, we’ll be going towards Manehattan in a couple of weeks, after that to Canterlot, then Vanhoover, but after that, I’m not certain. Thought I let you know.)

‘Okay,’ Jonagold thought, ‘so both of them are experiencing the same problem of can’t get a date, but they’re way too busy. But they sure do miss each other.’ She flipped on to the next letter.

Dear Soarin,

You don’t have to apologize if anything, you celebrating our town’s first Hearth’s Warming would be perfect! What better way to catch up then do it in time for the holidays? Besides, for the first time in months, I do have some good news to share.

From the surviving trees that have been growing, the weather is pretty much the same all year long – summer hot. Which means that if we’re lucky, we might be growing enough apples so we can plant and harvest all year long – that would mean that if there any apples on Hearths Warming, I could make my family’s apple cider we like so much.

In the meantime, I’ve been keeping myself busy when I’m not planting apple trees. Remember that fiddle that I used to play? Well, I’ve been thinking of picking it up again as a sort of hobby. I figured that I might as well give myself something productive to do. I did say of possibly forming a buckball team, didn’t I? Just figured that as soon as we get just the right Pegasus and Unicorn to play, maybe we could show the town some real fun, that, or become a coach for the young ones.

On the dating side, I’m still single so far. Although it has been a couple of months since I’ve moved here, already I’m getting those questions from my neighbors. You know the kind: “Seen anypony special lately Braeburn?” “Where’s your marefriend?” “You still single?” “When is a young fella like you ever gonna settle down?” I just get a bit irritated when I hear them to be honest. I mean, I have been busy with settling this town you know. That and other things too! As nice as having a special somepony, it’s just not realistic given the current situation. Perhaps when all these problems are sorted out, the tribe isn’t threatening to trample our crops, then… who knows.

I’ll be looking forward to seeing you in Appaloosa; I promise that you’re gonna like it here.

Oh, and before I forget, would it be possible of sending a couple of photographs of those places your team is going to? I’ve wanted to know what those places are like.

Your busy friend,

-Braeburn.

Dear Braeburn,

Everypony on the Wonderbolts can’t wait for Hearths Warming to come around. Even Captain Spitfire is itching for some time off. I’m excited to tell you that there is an opening for me to come down to see you. It will be on the week of Hearths Warming that I will take the train towards Appaloosa so we can really celebrate!

I don’t know about you, but I could really use a real vacation. One that doesn’t require me to do this many backflips and this many dives into the audience before steering upward just in time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really fun once you get it all down, but I just need a break from it. So you could probably imagine me just counting down the days that I would be free to see ya.

The stuff you’ve said in your last letter sounds incredible to me. I can’t remember the last time I had your guy’s cider or even played buckball for a while. Probably gives me all the more reason to look forward in coming over to visit. I wonder if it would be possible for you to bake those apple pies since I know you’re pretty good at making them, I can practically imagine myself swan diving head first into that sweet goodness.

Also, thanks for clearing things up with the whole dating thing. Buddy, I completely get it, you’re really busy with setting up the whole town. Considering my being new to the Wonderbolts, I don’t have time to date anyway. After all, I’m still learning the ropes and whatnot. I guess that once I move up in ranks a little… who knows?

I’ll be seeing you real soon buddy,

Your pal,

– Soarin

Jonagold flipped the last letter over, after placing them back into the envelope, she pulled out the next one in the box. This time it was marked: “January – March 1000 A.B.N.M.”

“Huh?” the teenager looked at the last envelope she’d read through, “Why is there no December?” But she pushed her curiosity aside to open up the next one before gently dumping its contents onto the table.

Envelope 2: January – March, 1000 A.B.N.M.

After carefully pouring the contents out onto the table, Jonagold picked up the first letter on top of the pile, which was signed by her ancestor. Only, she noticed that this letter was torn stained as some of the words were smudged somewhat, but she could still piece together what it was trying to say.

Dear Soarin,

I honestly don’t know how to start this. After what happened on Hearths Warming… Soar, I swear that I still have no idea what had happened exactly. All I can remember is that we were hitting pretty heavily on the cider, just havin’ a good time in between Celestia knows how many pints of cider. What happened after that, no matter how hard I try I still can’t figure out how we... or rather if we did anything when we got home.

Soar; please tell me that you’re not angry that we’ve woken up in my bed.

This sentence alone caught Jonagold completely off guard. She had to reread that same sentence to make sure that it was, indeed, real. ‘Holy Celestia,’ she thought, ‘Does that mean that he is…?’ her cheeks took on a pink shade before she shook her head. ‘Now hold on, let’s not try to jump to conclusions here. Maybe there’s more to this story then meets the eye. But then again, with these stains, why would he be upset?’ Now curious, she continues to read the letter.

I completely understand that’s probably the reason why I haven’t heard anything from ya. Not that I wouldn’t blame ya in your horseshoes, but the fact of the matter is, I really had no idea how or what we did in my bed. Though, I would be lying to say that it did scare me as to what all of this means. Part of me thinks that we just simply fell asleep; after all, we were drunk. But there’s another part of me wondering if we…

Soar, maybe I’m overthinking this but, do you think that this could explain why I haven’t had any interest with mares? I mean, when I woke up on that morning, all I can remember was that I think I was kissing you without realizing it. When that happened, I felt warm, safe even, like I could probably spend a good eternity on those lips. Perhaps it was the best kiss I ever had until I felt you push away until you fell off the bed.

Though, why did you just up and run? I hardly knew what was going on myself, and I tried to call you back so we could talk about it. But you were already gone before I could do anything about it. Soar, I really do hope you don’t hate me. Please, can you just write something, anything back to me? I’m really scared and I don’t have a clue what we did on that night. We’ve been friends for so long, I don’t want what we have to end because of this.

Soarin, whatever happened that night, and the… unexpected kiss I’ve given you, that we won’t end our friendship like this. So please Soarin, write to me. I don’t want to lose you over this.

Yours,

– Braeburn.

Jonagold sat there completely stunned. Of all the things she had heard about her ancestor, from being a founder of the town she lived into setting up relationships with the Buffalo tribe, this was not what she expected to find out about him. She looked down at the century-old letter, pondering over it.

‘Is this suggesting that because my great-great-grandfather had gone to bed with this guy that he might have been gay? If that were true, then why dose my parents and grandparents say that we’re directly related to him? Even if that weren’t the case, this is opening a whole new perspective on the guy that I didn’t know before.’

The pegasus gently lifted the letter to the next one, in hopes that this might be the reply.

Dear Braeburn,

Okay, before you say anything, I want to let you know that I’m not angry at ya. In fact, I hadn’t been writing to you this past couple of weeks wasn’t because I was mad. Rather… after reading your letter, I think that you deserve to know why I left. And please, read through the whole thing before you jump to conclusions.

Unlike you, I do have a pretty good idea what happened around the time you’ve blacked out. You see, we were pretty drunk by the time we stumbled out of the Salt Lick. We had to lean against each other as we tried to walk back to our place. You were giggling like a filly nearly the whole way before we even set hoof on your front porch.

After we’ve walked in, I set you on the couch so I could close the door behind us. You started talking about how lucky you had me and wished that I could live in Appaloosa with ya. Well, by then I just plopped right next to ya and I think we talked about if we ever got laid or something like that. Then, I remembered that you gave this smirk before you did something that really surprised me. Without warning, you grabbed my face and… well, kissed me.

Now, I was taken aback by this, but, I didn’t pull away. While it was clear that we were drunk, at the moment it just felt, well, right. It was as if it was supposed to happen. But when we pulled away, you fell over on my lap and started snoozing. At the time I thought it was because of the cider that you did that. But I on the other hoof came to realize something, I liked it. I liked kissing you.

However, since you just passed out, I had to carry ya into your bedroom. And don’t worry, we didn’t do anything else that night, although I was so tired that I just fell asleep right next to ya. I guess I didn’t take a second thought about what would happen the next morning.

That part when you woke up, I hate to break it to ya, but it’s not how I remembered it. That’s because when I woke up, you were still asleep. I don’t know how long I lay there, remembering how you smooched me last night; I thought about what it would be like if I was the one doing it. After all, you hadn’t woken up and I got curious as to what it be like now sober. And you can probably guess the rest when you suddenly woke up.

If there’s anypony that needs to be apologizing, it’s me. After reading your letter, I feel so stupid of just leaving you behind like that since I’ve been trying to figure things out myself. Like you, I don’t want to stop being best friends either, only, how can I even so much as write to you considering after what I did? Braeburn, I am so sorry for taking advantage of you, even if it was a kiss. I have been feeling so guilty not just doing it, but also leaving you behind without talking it out.

Brae, if it would be possible, could we find the time to start over? I do want to be your best friend, but at the same time, I’ve been having weird thoughts about ya lately which have been the main reason why I’ve been having trouble writing to you in the first place. Maybe we can start anew and go from there.

Your friend,

– Soarin

Dear Soarin,

With Hearts and Hooves day just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about your letter. On the one hoof, I’m relieved that you’re not upset. I’m rather glad that you still at least write to me, which lifts quite a burden off of my conscious. On the other hoof, I have been giving myself some self-reflection for the past several weeks. As I have labored in the sun to plant seeds, preen the waterspouts, bucking apples and keeping watch over the orchards on some nights, I have been thinking about us.

Since that earth-shattering revelation on Hearths Warming, I have been asking a big what if. In this case, what if there’s a reason for me not finding any attraction to mares? What if me being drunk and kissing ya was a wake-up call? But the biggest question that I think even you should ask, (and there’s no other way of saying this) is it possible that we might have feelings for each other?

On my side of the world, I guess I do care about you. After all, we have been best friends for over a decade. We’ve made so many memories together, countless hours of jokes to entertain ourselves and we’ve gone to school together from elementary to high school. When you’ve been around last, that lonely feeling that I had ever since I came here disappeared like a puff of steam. You do make me happy whenever we get the chance to hang.

But with all those years of friendship, do you think it could turn to… affection? Reading from your last letter, if you did kiss back, what’s to say that maybe, just maybe, the relationship we have could give us the one thing that we wanted – a sort of romance? Soarin, you know that I cannot do anything without you saying so, but I guess I have to ask, is it possible that such a relationship might work?

Personally, I have heard about gay relationships before, and the stereotypes that came with it. If we are to have such a relationship, I don’t want to be the kind where all we care about is fashion, interior decoration, talk about gossip like a pompous hen, or to be annoying. I guess, more than anything that if we do see each other again, can we still do the stuff that we’ve always done? Like playing buckball, cracking jokes, compare and complain about movies (which reminds me, rumor has it that a pony has promised to set up an outdoor theater for films), or in other words, can we just be us? I don’t want to pretend to be a stereotype, I want to be me. And knowing you, so do you.

If we do decide to become a couple, we’ll be headed into uncharted territory. But then again, we are pioneers, aren’t we? Nopony can know what lies in the unknown, the only way to truly find out, is for us to take the courage to take the first steps.

I’ll wait to hear from you.

Signed, your buddy in the desert,

– Braeburn.

“Wow,” Jonagold leaned back in her seat. At the moment, that’s all she could say about it. Never mind the fact that she was reading these out of an assignment, she was in on a forgotten secret of one of her famous ancestors. She had so many questions from these letters, but noticing the time, she knew that she didn’t have much at this rate.

The only course of action now was to take pictures of each and every page of those letters in order. Taking out from her saddlebag, Jonagold positioned her electronic camera over every letter, taking one picture after another. Since she cannot take the physical letters out of the library, she might as well bring some digital copies with her, as well as noting down the dates from each envelope.

Once she accomplished this and put the letters back into the dusty box, she returned it to the old librarian, “Thanks for this.”

The gray, bearded stallion took hold of the box, “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“I think so,” the young mare replied. “I think this will help me with my class – and finding out other things about my great-great-grandfather that I didn’t know about.”

“Maybe I should give these a read sometime,” he commented. “Can I help you with anything else?”

“Nah, I think I’m good,” with that, Jonagold left the library and started to head home.

_*_

After a quick dinner, the pegasus mare walked into her room and with her camera headed towards the small computer on her desk. It only took a few minutes for her to connect it to her camera to upload the pictures she took in the library. On the screen, rows of the century-old letters lined up in a row, and Jonagold grouped them by date as closely as she could.

“Okay, now where was I?” she flipped through the digital copies until she came to the familiar pages. “Here we go,” she said to herself, “now let’s see what happened next.”

Dear Braeburn,

Firstly, I’m just as relieved as you are that you’re not mad at me. The second thing is that I just want to tell you that no matter to what degree our relationship goes, as long as I can be with the same guy that has to help me survive high school, I’ll always be there for ya.

With Hearths and Hooves just a couple days away, I found myself that I have another opportunity to come down to see you again. After just leaving you on Hearths Warming, I do wanna make up to ya somehow. I don’t really care what it is, just so that we can have a fresh start.

I have been thinking about your question lately, the one if it might be possible that I might have feelings for you. Well, I would be lying to say that it hasn’t kept me awake at night sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the possibility that I might is a bad thing, like you, I’m not exactly sure myself. After hours of training or preparing for our shows, I tend to look straight up at the ceiling at night, thinking back on how big of an impact you had on me.

And there’s a lot to consider! I mean, you’ve helped me get through basic training from your letters. We’ve managed to keep each other sane back in both High and Jr High School. We trust each other about what we really think about our families, teachers, and our futures. We’ve been loyal to each other, even when our other friends fade away with time.

You’ve always been fun to talk to, and even listen to even when you ramble on (no offense). You’re the most dedicated, hardworking, goal driven pony that I know. Not to mention brave (I mean, what another kind of pony would leave everything behind to set up a town in the middle of nowhere?), have a great sense of humor, and bake the best apple pie on the planet. You’re a jack of all trades from being a really good athlete to playing the violin, and even know how to build stuff when I can’t hammer in a nail.

So… when you ask if it’s possible that I might have feelings for you, I guess that I do care about ya as well. If it's love, then I’m not exactly sure since it’s kinda too early to tell. Who knows by the time I get down there where things might go? Maybe we could become a kind of couple, or maybe we don’t. Like you, I don’t exactly know how the whole gay thing works, so perhaps we could make up the rules as we go. A little trial and error if you will. Perhaps it’s just me and the situation, but I guess I wouldn’t mind too much if we play buckball with a side of making out.

But in all seriousness, let’s plan on meeting up again on Hearths and Hooves day and let’s focus on just having a good time hanging out again. We can try to figure things out from there. After all, I on my part have a lot to make up for.

Your friend at three thousand feet,

-Soarin.

“Awe,” Jonagold said out loud, “well, whoever Soarin is, he’s such a sweetie.” She clicked onto the next letter and began reading.

Dear Soarin,

I want to first apologize that I haven’t been writing to you in a while. The Buffaloes have been acting up more than usual that finding the time to write to ya has been tricky. You know how sometimes we have to import new trees from elsewhere to replace the stomped crops that tribe left behind? Well as it turns out, they’re now targeting the trains that carry those trees! I’m still in disbelief that they would do something like that! We’ve been lucky to get by with what we have, but to have those buffaloes stealing away our replacement crops too! I’m practically convinced that they’re doing this for a reason, but nopony knows what exactly. Don’t they know that we need those trees so that we have a food source to eat from?

(Sorry about that rant, but Celestia does this really get to me!)

Anyway, I cannot thank you enough for the visit a couple of weeks back. I hadn’t had that much fun since I first moved to Appaloosa. Like that hoofball game between us and the kids, that apple catching contest, or how you danced like a chicken at that wild west dance (which, by-the-way, I am never gonna let that go). In all, it was really a breath of fresh air to have you around.

As much as I want to have you move down here so that we might do… well, let’s called it for what it was, go on a date again, the only communication we have been through these letters. Even though our little weekend lasted for a couple of days, I want to do it longer than that. But I have a town to rise and you have to perform your fancy tricks with those Wonderbolts. So it goes without saying that in between visits, these letters are the only way we can get to know each other better. Because after your last visit, I was hoping that we could become closer, even though we are miles apart.

I’ll let you know that I’m doing fine so far. There hasn’t been any newcomer in a while though, which is a bit disappointing if you ask me. While the train comes and goes with relatives of the town, nopony new has moved in. You know having new folks out here would help us in the long run.

In other news, remember that outdoor movie theater that I’ve mentioned about awhile back? Well, the good news is that it’s now open for business. It’s located on Tumbleweed Lane and it only cost ya a bit per show. Not a bad deal since it’s located not too far from my house, so whenever I get off duty of being the lookout for those buffaloes, I can trot my way down to see a movie. A couple nights ago, I saw that new comedy: “Duck Soup,” I can’t remember who was in it but I hadn’t had that good of a laugh since you were here last. If you ever get the chance to go see it, I recommend it that you do.

As much as I want to continue on, I need to get some shut-eye because tomorrow night is my turn to watch the fields and I’m gonna need all the sleep I could get. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting to hear something from ya, and tell me how things are going with those Wonderbolts.
Sighed your buddy underneath the stars,

– Braeburn.

Dear Braeburn,

Celestia is Spitfire keeping everyone busy. As I’m writing this to you, I’m in Cloudsdale where tomorrow is the Best Young Flier's Competition and I’m having mixed feelings of going to it. Oh don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that we don’t have to perform, and that we’re the grand prize for whoever flies the best. In fact, we’re the ones that’re judging the whole thing… and that’s the only problem I have personally. Considering that some of the contestants are as young as teenagers… deep down I have a feeling that it’s only going to get rather cringe-worthy. However, I’m trying to stay optimistic and hope that we might see something new.

Besides that, tonight is our last show here in Las Pegasus. We’ve been doing a couple new moves thanks to Spitfire’s creativity. They’re so new that the captain has sworn us to secrecy as to how the stunts are done. So you can probably guess she’s making us work our flanks off just to get it perfect in time for the finale of the competition. Other than that, we had some breathing room to unwind like go see some of the shows or pig out at the never-ending buffets.

I know it hasn’t been long since we’ve last met, but already I’m starting to be really missing you. As fun as Las Pegasus is if you know where to go to, it does make me wish that you were there with me. Maybe, one day, which I might take you up here just to see this place – especially at night when all the lights are turned on. Besides from the fact that these hotels and casinos are enormous, just walking down the strip is something to see at least once in a lifetime. So many colors, distracting lights and all the crazy ponies that roam around are something to be seen to be believed.

You know, I hope you get that buffalo problem sorted out. Yes, I know how much rising up this town means to ya. I wish there was something I could do, but being a Wonderbolt, I have my calling that is needed elsewhere. To me, it’s not really fair that I can’t do anything about it to help you in some way. But I’ll tell you what, as soon as I’m able, I’ll come right down there and do whatever I can to make things easier for ya.

And maybe, do you think you want to go out with me again? I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to, if anything, it would give me a break from all the hustle and bustle of being a Wonderbolt for a while. Perhaps, (as incredibly corny this is going to sound as I write this) maybe we could go out for a picnic under the stars. I wouldn’t mind the quiet as long I have you to be there with that amazing apple pie of yours. (Note: I just realized how dirty that last sentence was; I meant the dessert you know.) Or maybe we could see a movie at that place you said just opened up.

Can I ask you something Brae, about the town? If we were able to become a couple, how do you think that the folks down in Appaloosa would react to it if they knew? Since I know that even in a place like Equestria, there is prejudice towards anypony that some would view as “different.” I’m asking this because I don’t want to see you get hurt when I’m not there. Hopefully, I might be wrong in my assumption, but since we’ve kinda figured that we like stallions, I just wanna make sure.

Yours from the City of Lights,

-Soarin.

Jonagold rubbed her eyes from the light of the screen. She took a moment to notice the time, “Huh, it’s almost eight already?” getting up from her seat, she walked out of her room and headed towards the kitchen, craving for a bowl of ice cream.

While she was taking out the white bowl from the cabinet, a spoon from the drawer and the ice cream from the freezer, she suddenly heard a voice calling out. “Hey Jo, are you in the kitchen?”

Sighing, the Pegasus replied, “Yeah dad. You need something?”

“No, just want to know who’s in the kitchen.”

After she set the ice cream on the counter, a thought came to Jonagold, “Hey dad, can I ask you something?”

“What about?”

“Have you heard of a pony named… uh, what’s was the name… Oh, I got it! Soarin Cloudline, ever heard of him? He was supposedly in the Wonderbolts a hundred years ago.”

As the young Pegasus started to scoop out her frosty dessert, she heard from the other room her father getting off the couch, followed by his hooves stepping into the kitchen. Jonagold looked over her shoulder to the deep sea green stallion with a blond mane and beard poking his head in.

“Soarin Cloudline?” he asked, his face scrunched up in confusion. “You know, the name sounds familiar to me, but for the life of me, I can’t remember exactly why. So why do you ask?”

“Remember that paper I’m doing in Psychology? Well, I just went to the library to get my resources to use, that they have to be primary like journals or letters and stuff. Anyway, I asked the librarian if he has anything on Braeburn Apple, and surprisingly enough, the only thing he has is a bunch of letters between him and somepony name Soarin. Do you know who this other guy might be by any chance?”

“Sorry Jo, I’m afraid that I haven’t even heard of him. Though I guess I could look him up on to see what comes up on my computer.” He was about to leave before he paused for a moment, “What did you find out anyway?”

“Well…” the young mare’s cheeks became warm. “Dad, I think that I might have a good reason to believe that the letters I’ve found from my great-great-grandfather, are in fact love letters to a guy name Soarin.”

Her father’s eyes went wide, “Wait, really?”

“My exact reaction,” she said as she put the lid back on the ice cream. “I had no idea that we had anyone in our family tree that was gay. Only, what I don’t know is why I haven’t heard of it. I tell ya, it’s almost like stumbling onto a family secret or something.”

“Now I’m curious too,” Jonagold’s father replied. “This is news to me as well. I don’t know anything about this either. So I’ll tell you what, as soon as I find out who this… what was the name again?”

“Soarin Cloudline.”

“Right,” he nodded, “as soon as I can find out who this guy was, I’ll come by your room to tell you about it.”

“Thanks, dad,” she said as she picked up the bowl in one of her hooves. “I’m gonna read some more of those letters to see if I can find another clue to all of this.”

Envelope 3: April – May, 1000 A.B.N.M.

Jonagold closed her bedroom door behind her before she trotted over to her desk. Setting the bowl of ice cream by her computer, she clicked onto the next letter from her ancestor. Right away, she noticed that unlike the other letters, this one was apparently written in black ink which made it easier to read from.

Dear Soarin,

I wanna take a moment to respond to your question in your last letter. In which you asked how folks here in Appaloosa might react to a gay couple. To be honest with ya, I don’t really know, and that scares me. This is because here, all the couples, married or otherwise, are straight. Never once have I heard anything regarding gay ponies aside from jokes here and there. There’s a huge ambiguity here that, in my eyes, probably makes things all the riskier. After all, I would rather have a general conscience that this town supports/condemn something then to have probably gambled everything.

Soarin, after nearly a year since I first moved here to start a new life, and now I’m wondering if I told these folks the truth, that we might be putting both of us at risk. I’m not exactly sure how open-minded everyone is here, even if they are kind and hardworking. Sometimes, the thought that if I say the wrong thing might jeopardize my safety is enough to keep me up at night. I could already sense as you’re reading this of what you might say, “Oh common dude, don’t be like that. It’s not good to hide who you are from the ponies that you worked with for this long.” But let me ask ya something: how much is your safety worth? What do you do to make sure that you have a roof over your head, or that you have ponies to rely on, or to have a job, and to make sure that someone will come to your side when you call for help? I’m starting to think that the price that I have to pay, is my silence.

Jonagold was stunned when she read this paragraph. Even though her great-great-great-grandfather had died about a century ago, long before she was born, she could sense the very insecurity that bleeds from those words. In a way, it was heart-wrenching to reading something like this, because form those words, she could only come to one conclusion: her own ancestor was afraid.

“Whoever knew that somepony like who that’s been looked up to is scared of the ponies that helped build this town?” she thought aloud. The pegasus mare took a moment to jot down some notes before she continued on reading.

In a change of subject, I’ve been trying to keep myself distracted as much as possible to get my mind off of… that. Plus, I do have some good news: the trees that had been trampled on from the Buffaloes have recovered and they’re starting to really grow. This means that, if we’re lucky, we’ll have a surplus of food come autumn. There’s been talking that maybe we could sell our apples outside of the town so we can get some bits flowing in. I think it would help us a good deal in the long run, perhaps create a town for tourists, but maybe I’m just thinking ahead.

The pegasus mare couldn’t help but snicker at that last paragraph, “Oh if only you knew gramps.”

Oh! Before I forget, do you remember a while back when I said that I was picking up the fiddle again as a hobby? Well, a couple of days back when I was on my porch, I was improvising on my day off. Just making up a tune when I suddenly heard someone calling out to me, this turned out to be the manager of the Salt Lick saying that I was pretty good. So much so, that he asked me if I could come to play at the place and he’s willing to pay me for doing so. Well, I refused at first, sayin’ that it was all just a hobby, but he ended up persuading me to go over there and do it in front of all those ponies. You could imagine that I was probably in a nervous wreck after standing up there for a good hour or so improvising, but in the end, the ponies did like it. Plus, I was paid fifty bits from that one performance. So I guess I got myself another job!

So how was that Young Fliers Competition? I’m guessing that by the time you get this letter you would already have an opinion on that event. Or even if nothing happened over there, it would be nice to read something from ya. Your description of Las Pegasus makes me wish that I could have walked down those streets with ya to see those colorful lights. I kinda want to see the controlled chaos of those casinos up close or have a seat next to ya during one of those fancy shows.

Soarin, I confess that I’m actually rather jealous of you. That your team has the means to travel to cities and other places throughout Equestria, and probably beyond that. I wish that I could be as free as you are to go off to these far off places that I only read in books. Perhaps, if I’m really lucky, do you think you can take me with ya to those places? I do want to see besides Ponyville, Appaloosa or the outskirts of Manehattan. Do you think it would be possible for us to go to other places for the occasional adventure? Like seeing the Crystal Empire of the north, or go through the jungles of the Mysterious South? Or maybe Saddle Arabia to have a look at the sea of sand that I read about when I was a colt?

But I gotta wrap things up now, it’s already past six and I still haven’t eaten dinner yet. I wish I had the time and creativity to write long letters to ya. I wish there were other ways of telling you that I miss to having you around. Appaloosa seems complete to me when you are over my head, cracking jokes at everyone and everything you see while I try my hardest not to laugh. I also missed our kiss as well Soarin, perhaps the next time I see you, I ought to give you a good one.

Seriously though, do find the time to come see me as soon as you’re able. I’ll be waiting.

Yours from the desert,

-Braeburn.

Dear Braeburn,

Boy, where do I start? So many things have happened to me that it’s kinda difficult to put it all down on paper. Maybe I should start at the Young Fliers Competition first because I’ve got quite a story for you!

So after we’ve made our grand entrance, we took our seats to start judging who among all these ponies would get to hang out with us. We sat there for at least an hour or so, watching one pegasus after another do their tricks with speed, grace, and acrobatics that we could do if we were brain dead. (I realized how harsh that sounds but with all seriousness, I was getting so bored from having to watch all of that.) And just when I thought nopony could bring up anything new, one of the contestants, a unicorn I think who had these butterfly wings had suddenly started falling. Of course, we’ve jumped right in to rescue her, only she was screaming and flailing around so much that she kicked us off balance. We were falling with her when suddenly, out of nowhere it seems, another pegasus with a rainbow mane dove straight down and flew so fast that she broke the sound barrier. Not only that, but I swear to Celestia that I saw the sky had rippled out a rainbow of color. In no time at all, the mare scooped us and saved us from hitting the ground, all the while taking all of us at a speed that none of us had thought possible!

You can tell who we determined who the winner was when we’ve finally gotten the chance to talk to her, she said that her name was Rainbow Dash.

Jonagold had to do a double-take when she read that name. “Wait a minute…” she scanned through the last few paragraphs again. “He’s not talking about that Rainbow Dash isn’t he?” Putting the photographed letter aside, brought up the internet and typed in the keywords: Rainbow Dash Young Fliers Competition and went straight to the top result. To her astonishment, the account that this Soarin gave and the historical record of what happened matched up perfectly! She clicked back to the letter to see what else it said.

I can tell ya Brae that she really is a huge fan of us. She practically hung on every word we’ve said after the competition. If it weren’t for her age, I would easily mistake her as a filly on the ultimate sugar high. Though I can’t blame her, she saved our necks after all after doing something called the Sonic Rainboom. Captain Spitfire later told me that it was a rare stunt that, according to the local legend in Cloudsdale, a filly was going so fast that she did essentially what she did. This Rainbow Dash had pulled off what was considered impossible right before our very eyes. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We’ve listened to her in not only how she’s a big fan of ours, but now that she has this dream of joining us someday. Given from what we’ve seen, I can tell you that the team has come to a consensus that maybe after she’s gone through boot camp, that she could very well qualify as one of us. I too agreed with them, there’s potential in that filly.

“Oh you have no idea,” Jonagold commented before she read on.

Another thing that’s happened recently is that I came out to Captain Spitfire about our new relationship. Now before you start panicking, just read this through, okay? Remember how I promised that I would try to find some time to come and see you? Well, in order to have some time off, I have to get permission from my superior, in this case, from Spitz. I went into her office the other day and asked if it were possible for me to take some time off in the near future. She asked me why, and I told her was because I wanted to spend a little more time with my date. This took her by surprise as she told me that she didn’t know I was seeing anypony before she asked me who it was. I won’t lie, I did hesitate for a moment in that I had no idea how she would react that I was dating a stallion. But when she repeated her question, I told her the truth and said that I was going out with you.

The look on her face as she took off her sunglasses is something I kinda wish I could put it in a frame because her eyes went as wide as her eyes, her cheeks were blushing a deep pink (something I’ve never seen her do before) and her mouth hung ajar for what might have been a good five minutes. Finally, she said, “Wow. I didn’t take you to be the kind of guy who has a coltfriend. I guess you learn something new, huh.” She then asked me how long this was going on and I told her it was a couple months and that we’re mostly communicating by letters.

Long story short, she gave her permission in that she’ll let me be on leave in by next month.

As for your situation in Appaloosa… I admit I don’t really have an easy answer here. I really do wish that I have something to give ya that would cheer you up. It’s kinda heartbreaking to read from your last letter how much you’re afraid of the very ponies that you’re relying on. The only thing I could come close to as advice is as a rule of hoof: safety first. Try to listen, and if necessary, try to find out how your neighbors would react to us. Perhaps give some bait into hearing their opinions on the subject. I don’t mean just ask them upfront about it, but rather give a sly way of provoking an answer. Chances are, you might be able to find those in your town to maybe more accepting then you give them credit for.

Expect me next month from now. I do hope that you might give me some ideas on how to make you feel secure.

Until then, your pegasus,

-Soarin.

“Hey Jo?” she heard her dad knocking on the door, “You got a minute?”

“Come in.”

Jonagold’s door opened in which her father walked in, “I know why the name Soarin sounded familiar to me now.”

“Okay, so what did you find?”

“As it turns out,” the deep green stallion sat down before her. “I found out that he grew up in the same town as our Braeburn in the rural area of Manehattan, after which he was in the Wonderbolts a hundred years ago. Right around the time when Rainbow Dash joined, he had done stunts across the country, had taken part of the Equestria Games, and even was one of the ponies that were on the front lines when the second Changeling invasion happened.”

“Did your research come up with his relationship with my great-great-great-grandfather?”

“Well… yes and no,” he said scratching the back of his head. “From what I could find, he did move to Appaloosa eventually and has gotten to known Braeburn pretty well. So much so, that I was stunned to find on his biography that he did marry him. So yes, they were a couple, but that’s where all the info went dry.”

“Huh?” his daughter cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that’s pretty much it. There’s nothing about what their marriage was like, or if they adopted foals, or anything. Although, I did find that this Soarin had outlived Braeburn by a couple of years. Perhaps there’s some clue in that. Maybe after he died, Soarin had gotten so grief-stricken that he just locked everything about their married years away or something.”

“Do you think that’s why we haven’t known about this until now?”

Her father shrugged, “It’s possible. I mean it has been a hundred years so Celestia knows what could have been lost in that time. So what did you find out?”

“In short, Soarin is a little more opened than Braeburn. From what I’ve read, the Wonderbolt had told his superior about his relationship, but Gramps hasn’t told anyone because he wasn’t sure how the settlers would react to them. Essentially, I think he was afraid.” She looked over at the computer screen, “You know dad, I actually feel sorry for him. I know it’s silly to feel bad for a guy who lived a century ago, but the more I read these letters, the more I wonder how he didn’t go mad from hiding himself all the time.”

“I don’t know any more than you do,” her father scooched over and wrapped a foreleg around her. “Still, it’s amazing to me that you were able to find these letters at all. This is an amazing record you’re creating for future generations to come from your paper to let the past finally speak. I bet that your great-great-great-grandfather would have been proud that you’re doing this for him.”

“But I still have so much to go through,” Jonagold pointed out. “And my paper isn’t due until next week. I still have a lot go to through.”

“Of course,” he looked up at her desk, “You finished with that ice cream.”

“Take it.”

After picking up the bowl and before her father headed out, he said to her, “Jo, thanks for sharing this with me.”

“You’re welcome, and good night dad.”

Once her father left her room and closed the door behind him, the young mare clicked on the next letter. This one came from her ancestor.

Dear Soarin,

First of all, I apologize for not writing back to ya in the past several weeks. The Buffaloes have caused us more problems since the last time I wrote to you. To put things short, there was a fire that broke out in the orchards not too long ago. Right in the middle of the night, somepony was shouting “FIRE! FIRE! WAKE UP! FIRE!” so some of us went outside what was going on to see there was an orange glow where one of our fields was. Everyone was in full panic as we took whatever buckets, bowls, or whatever we had to create a pony chain to put the fire out. It took a good deal of time but after what might have been an hour or so, it was put out but the scent was still strong in the air. By morning, we found a burned up arrow that was embedded on a tree.

No surprise then that many folks here are beyond angry. But there are still some, like myself that still wonder why in all of Equestria that this tribe would do such a thing to us. If only we had an idea where they were, then maybe we could at least get an answer to destroying our crops.

But you don’t have to worry too much, there’re still enough trees to feed us thankfully. We’re expecting to get new trees to replace the burnt ones, but some of us are worried about how many trees the tribe would rob from the trains that will come down here. My cousin, Applejack, said that she will give us a sapling sometime soon, possibly in June. I already told her about the train robberies and she replied back that she’ll bring the tree up here herself. (I’m rather looking forward to showing off Appaloosa to her anyway; it’s been a while since an Apple has come to see me.)

I’m relieved that your captain not only gave you permission to come to see me but has approved of us as well. And yes, I can’t wait to see you again as well. With all the troubling stuff that has happened in the past few weeks, and I fear for what is about to come, I anticipate the day when you fly in. I need your ray of sunlight to disperse the gloomy clouds of uncertainty. Call me impatient, but I simply can’t wait as a foal waits for Hearths Warming morning to see you on my doorstep. I miss you, and at a time as tense as this, I need you now more than ever. But if I have to wait just a little longer to see your smiling face, then I’ll do so.

Yours from the scorched earth,

– Braeburn.

(P.S. Before I forget, can you tell Captain Spitfire that I said thanks? P.P.S. Does the rest of your team know about us too? Just out of curiosity.)

By now, Jonagold yawned and looked over to the clock on her computer. “It’s past ten already?” She looked at the screen at the other unread letters, “I guess I’ll try to read you guys tomorrow.”

After turning her computer off, the sleepy Pegasus tucked herself under the sheets of her bed and turned off the light. Letting her mind drift from all she learned about her ancestor and his growing love for a Wonderbolt. Before she could let her mind slip into the land of dreams, she half wonders if she would dream of being in Appaloosa all those years ago.

Envelope 5: October – November, 1000 A.B.N.M.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come?” Wind Catcher asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice. “Especially for those fried tortilla chips?”

It was a Saturday afternoon when Jonagold’s buffalo friend asked her. They were walking over towards Wind’s home since they’ve finished their lunch. The Pegasus shook her head as they walked by the sidewalk where the cemetery was, a row of trees was the only thing that provided them shade from the sun.

“I’m sorry Wind; I can’t really stay for long now that I’ve got so much on my plate as it is. Besides, I need to read up as much on those letters as possible for that paper.”

“Speaking of which, have you found out anything interesting about Braeburn?”

“In a way, yeah,” she took a moment to lean her back against the raw iron fence. “As it turns out, he was really insecure about letting the town know about his sexuality. But as I found out last night, he was able to come out to Little Strongheart after the truce.”

“Really?” the buffalo raised an eyebrow, “How did she react?”

“From what I’ve read, she was really curious about the whole gay thing. Apparently, she had never heard about homosexuality before and I don’t think she was grossed out but saw it as intriguing I guess.”

Wind Catcher put a hoof to her chin, “I guess that would make sense. I mean, our tribe didn’t even adopt the whole marriage equality thing until Strongheart came around. Because before then, there are no stories about gays or lesbians before she came around. Though looking back now, I’m actually impressed how much ahead of her time she really was while still holding on to tradition.”

“You know, I kinda wonder why I haven’t heard any of this before. Dad had called up everypony in the family to ask who Braeburn’s spouse was and as it turns out, none of them had a clue.” Jonagold looked through the fence at the rows of tombstones, “If only I can just figure out why is that none of us…” she trailed off as her eyes widen.

“Jona?” Wind Catcher tapped on the iron bars, “Hello?”

“Oh Celestia,” her wings spread open. “Uh stay here for a sec.”

“Hey,” her friend started to take flight. “Where’re you going?”

“I need to see something.” With that, the young mare flew over the railing and over into the cemetery. She didn’t fly too far in before she stopped a couple of rows in a particular set of tombstones. “Holy Luna! Hey Wind, get over here!”

“Why?” she asked, her face pressed up against the bars. “What are you doing?”

“I’ve found them!” the pegasus called out. “Come take a look!”

“Found who?” not getting a straight answer, the buffalo galloped down the street towards the entrance of the cemetery. It took a while to run there and down the row where her friend sat. “Phew!” she huffed, nearly out of breath. “I hope… there’s a… good reason…”

“Look,” Jonagold pointed and Wind traced her hoof to the pair of tombstones.

Braeburn Apple

992 – 1039

Settler, teacher, ambassador, violinist, farmer, buckball player, friend, and father.

“Nothing lasts in this wicked world, not even our troubles.”

Spouse:

Children:

Fuji Delicious

Sunrise Glory

Thunder Clap

Soarin “Cloudline” Apple

993 – 1051

Wonderbolt, buckball player, teacher, friend and father.

“I told you I was ill.”

Spouse:

Children:

Fuji Delicious

Sunrise Glory

Thunder Clap

“Okay,” Wind raised an eyebrow, “So you’ve found where they’re buried.”

“No no!” Jonagold pointed at the carved stones, “Look again, do you noticed what’s missing?”

The buffalo returned her gaze, “That’s odd, there’s a list of kids names at the very bottom on both of them. But under spouse-”

“It’s been chiseled out.” The Apple finished her sentence. “Don’t you see what’s going on here? Somepony at some point in time has tried to erase the fact they were married.”

Wind Catcher placed her hoof on Soarin’s stone and rubbed over the spot that was cut out. “This is solid granite, whoever it was; they sure didn’t want anypony to know. Maybe it’s someone in your family perhaps?”

Now it was Jonagold’s turn to raise an eyebrow, “What do ya mean?”

“I mean think about it. You noticed that they’ve left the names of the kids on here? Now, why do you suppose they would do that?”

The pegasus thought for a minute, “Because, they probably knew them?”

Wind nodded, “Clearly, this was an act of vandalism. Maybe it was from their kids or their kid’s kids, the point is that whoever it was, they were trying to distance themselves from the fact that these two were married. If it were somepony else, then these would have been defaced, but they’re not. Even after all these years, we can still read them. So what if,” she held her hooves up, “and this is just a big fat ‘what if’, that someone in your family was trying to distance themselves from these two as much as possible?”

“But who would have done such a thing?” Jonagold asked as she looked at the stones, “If this was a hate crime, then who would have gone this far to wipe out the fact that these two guys were in love?”

“You’re the one who’s diving into family history,” the buffalo pointed out. “Maybe you can narrow down who it was by what they’ve done to see if there’s any link to this. But that’s enough detective work,” Wind got up on her hooves. “Are we still gonna play those games or what?”

“Yeah, give me a sec,” she said before she took out her camera and took a couple of pictures of the tombstones.

_*_

Dear Braeburn,

By the time I’m writing this, Nightmare Night is in full swing at the academe, but I don’t feel like celebrating. Oh, it’s not because the party is boring, if anything, Captain Spitfire has gone to the extra mile with the whole costume ball where she’s turned the inside of one of the storage hangers into the interior of a ballroom of a haunted house. Not only is their fake cobwebs everywhere, but it has lit candles, creepy looking portraits, antique furniture, and a buffet of all sorts of goodies. The costumes we had are pretty good too. I went as the ghost of Commander Hurricane, though I could say that my helmet was a little too big but it was the only one I could get.

I didn’t stay too long at the party, and I’m here writing this to you, wishing that you would show up. While I’m glad that things are going well for you, I up here in the clouds wish that you could have some fun with me. Perhaps I’ve been daydreaming more than my own good, I so want you to be here with me. You would have loved the party that’s going on as I’m writing this. This would have been the perfect place for you to just relax, let your guard down and have some fun. They have bobbing for apples (a game that I know you would win in a heartbeat), a chocolate fountain, and me to dance the night away.

As you can guess by now, going to these parties isn’t the same without you. Even if you’re not interested in the party, and just wanted to hang out, I would welcome that. Things seem less lonely whenever you’re around, and it does make me wish that you can come with us when we do our tours. We’ll be going to Prance in a couple of weeks to perform our stunts as honored guests. I was told there will be a day set aside for us to go wander around Paris. The most romantic places on the face of the globe and you’ll not be there is a really depressing thought.

I’ve been looking out of the window to the clear night sky (well it’s always clear since we’re so high up), and each time I do, it brings me back to those times when we’ve stargazed. I recalled when I had my wing wrapped around you; it only makes those cold dots of light seem much warmer. Now that I am alone, I could have sworn that I could see your face in the dark sky, as if as a reminder that you’re somehow always near.

Perhaps, I guess it should be pointless to finally write to you something that I guess we’ve both known for a while now. Braeburn Apple, I think I’m in love with you. I wish that I can be with you more and be happier together. When I find the opportunity, I’ll hurry to you as soon as I’m able.

Till then, I am as I always was and ever shall be,

Yours,

– Soarin.

Jonagold pushed away from her computer and rubbed her eyes. She had been taking notes from the letter and copying down direct quotes for her assignment. Next, to the keyboard, her open notebook contained her messy writing that had sections that were circled and long arrows. The young mare rubbed her eyes for a moment. “Okay, on with the next letter.” She grumbled as she clicked on the next letter.

Dear Soarin,

Before I begin I wanna say that I was flattered by your last letter. And yes, while it is sad that you’ll be heading off to Prance without me, I still have that picture on my nightstand of you to kiss goodnight. But even I admit that this alone won’t be enough, I prefer to have the real thing at my side.

Anyway, I want to keep this letter short now that Nightmare Night in Appaloosa has come and gone. This time around now that the tribe isn’t destroying our crops, I’m glad to report that there was plenty to go around. I’ve seen foals carrying around candy and caramel apples in their bags, and even some of the buffaloes had joined in the celebration and played our games out of curiosity. (And yes, I was really good at bobbing for apples; nopony can get them out as quickly as I can.)

In other news, remember how I’ve mentioned about my fiddle playing at the Salt Lick? Well, last Friday a couple came up to me, telling me that I was very good, and they’ve asked me if I was interested in possibly teaching their filly in playing the violin once a week for twenty bits. Well, I thought “Why not?” and agreed to it every Wednesday before lunch. Days later, their daughter came to my house with a new violin case on her back. Her name was Jumping Seed, a nine-year-old who has barely any idea how to play the violin or how to read sheet music. So you can tell that I’ve got a good deal of work ahead of me.

The little dear was willing to learn. I taught her the very basics like what notes the open strings are and the basic C Major scale – after I did teach her that, something rather interesting happened, she started to improvise on that scale. My first impression is that what she lacked in the very basics, she did makeup she started to make up a song (one string at a time). She has a sense of rhythm and emotion, but as far as I can see, Jumping has a ways to go.

A change in subject, Strongheart has been asking about us again. This time it was about our distant relationship, she wonders how is it that although we’ve hardly seen each other, how can we be in love when most of the time we communicate through letters. She explained that in their culture, getting messages from a lover who isn’t married to them yet suggests that the partner isn’t all that interested in them. I had to tell her that I’ve known you for many years already, after all, you’re technically my best friend (and even more so). Understanding this, she remarked, “I think it’s too bad that you have to be apart from him, I’m rather curious to see what this Soarin is like.”

In a way, she’s right. It is still unfair that you have to go to places where I can’t exactly follow. What wouldn’t I give to take a stroll down the River Seine, under the twinkling lights of the Eiffoal Tower? Then again, given how much you miss me, I can easily imagine you conjuring up an imaginary me when you walk down those streets. Perhaps you’ll imagine my reflection in the glass of those countless windows as you pass by, or do the same thing when you’re sitting down at a café with an empty seat across from ya. I confess that I’ve been doing the exact same thing down here in Appaloosa.

I guess what I’m trying to say too is, when you find the time to fly down to see me, please do so, I would like to see you again as well. Be safe at your shows Soarin, and have a great time in Prance.

Till then, I am as I ever was and ever shall be,

Yours,

– Braeburn.

(P. S. Apart from sending me a postcard, I want to ask ya something since you’re going to Prance: Is it true that the Persians are super snooty?)

Jonagold’s attention was turned away as she heard a knock on the door. “Joe, it’s Grandma Fritters, she’s on the phone.” Getting up, she opened the door to which her father handed the young mare the house phone.

“Yes?” she answered the call.

“Jonagold, how are you?” a kind but elderly voice came on the other line.

“I’m still working on that paper,” she said as she flopped onto the bed.

“The one about Braeburn Apple?” the older mare inquired and the pegasus told her that it was. “Anyway, your father called me up after you’ve shown him the gravestones. In particular about the names of the children that were on both of them. Well, I’ve been cracking open the family genealogy books and I’ve turned out something interesting.”

“Oh? And what did you find?”

“Well… Hold on dearie let me get to the right page… Here it is. Although in the book under Braeburn Apple’s spouse, like the tombstone is been left blank. But I’ve been following the bloodlines of the children that were listed under Fuji Delicious, Sunrise Glory, and Thunder Clap. The first child, Fuji was the eldest but she had died tragically young in an accident when she was in her early twenties. But the other two siblings had not only both married, but they have children as well.”

“Okay, so why are you telling me this?”

“After doing so research, I think I have a pretty good idea why this Soarin’s name was crossed out, and even who. And I’m sorry to tell you this dear, but the one who did it so happens to be your great-grandfather.” Jonagold sat straight up.

“What?”

“Yes. Your great-grandpa, Rotten Apple was a descendant of Braeburn Apple. And from what I’ve read, he was a huge bigot. That pretty sums up his character from the old press clippings had said about him. He was a member of a hate group that was against buffaloes, dragons, gryphons, and yes, even gay ponies too. The stallion was outspoken about limiting rights of others in Appaloosa, and said several times that those he deemed to be abnormal had contributed nothing good in all of history. My guess that at some point, he had found out about Braeburn’s spouse and had done everything he could to edit history as much as possible.”

“Even going as far as to desecrate their tombstones,” Jonagold finished.

“That would seem the most likely. It’s probably the reason why nopony in the family has even heard of Soarin up until now. You know Jonagold, it’s really a miracle that you were able to find those letters at all. Whoever would have known that one of our famous ancestors preferred stallions?”

“I would never have guessed either. It makes me wonder how these letters had survived.”

“Where did you find these letters again?”

“They’re still at the library. I only got digital copies, but the originals are still over there. You have to ask for them and they give you a pair of gloves to touch them.”

“I think I would do that sometime myself. How are you coming along with that paper thing?”

“Just taking notes so far and I’m still reading the letters. I have to say there are a lot of them that I have to go through.”

“Then I won’t bother you any longer.”

“Oh no, if anything grandma, you were a huge help in solving a mystery here. But you’re right; I still have work to do.”

“I’ll leave ya to it then and thank you Jonagold, for your family and your great-great-great-grandfather as well.”

“You’re welcome, bye grandma,” after they hang up, the teenager returned to her computer and clicked on the next letter.

Dear Braeburn,

Geez, dude, you’re now a settler, a farmer, a violinist that plays at a bar, a guy that teaches the violin, an ambassador on behalf of your town, a great buckball player, the best apple pie baker on the planet and my coltfriend. Don’t you think at some point you might need a break? I get that you’re a hard worker and all, but Celestia dude! At what point are ya gonna burn out before somepony else asks you to do something else? Even Captain Spitfire doesn’t make us work as hard as you are.

Now putting that aside, I can tell you that Paris was interesting, and to answer your question, yes, there are Parisians that are the most uptight group of ponies that you’ll ever run into. I would easily argue that it gives those in Canterlot a run for their money. However, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any nice ponies over there, actually, there were. Some as it turns out to speak pretty good Equestrian too.

Since Heaths Warming leave is around the corner, and considering your last letter, I’ve been thinking of something that I want to see if you would approve of. For a while, I’ve been feeling guilty of traveling all over the place while you are stuck in the middle of the desert. You’ve been working your flank off all the time and we haven’t seen each other for a while. So, I wanna ask, do you want to take a vacation with me? It can be anywhere you want to go. As of now, money isn’t an issue so all we need now is a plan. After all, I think it would be good for you to take some time off with me. We can go to Las Pegasus, or Canterlot, Baltimare isn’t a bad choice. Oh! Or maybe we could take a cruise to the Bahamares and rent ourselves a desert island? We could drop into Neighpon to experience the surrealness (is that even a word?) of Trotkyo if you like. Just name it and we’ll have some fun!

The leave starts after the fifteenth of December and it goes on until the day after New Year’s Day so we should have plenty of time. (Besides, I wouldn’t mind in saying hello to Little Strongheart. If she’s cool about us, then the least I can do is to give her the chance to talk to me.) Truth be told Brae, I can’t wait. You’re right that we don’t go on enough dates as we should be, we both know it for nearly a year now, but I do hope that we can make up for lost time the next time I see you.

In the meantime while I wait, I’ve received news from that a cousin of mine, Thunderlane is thinking about going into the academe next spring. If luck would have it, he might have enough to get in, and it’s pretty hard for me to imagine him not to – the guy pretty much pumps iron for a living. At the same time though, I while I have come out to my teammates, I’ve never told anypony in my family. I realize that if he does get in, he’s gonna find out sooner or later. But I won’t worry about that for now.

Just so you know, when the fifteenth comes around, I am coming to pick you up. All you have to do is to tell me where to go. Here’s to hoping on seeing you soon.

Yours,

– Soarin.

Dear Soarin,

I have to say, this is really sweet of you. Besides you’re right, I have been overworking myself for my own good to the point that I just need something different. To be honest, I think I went into shock when I read that you’re willing to take me anywhere. Kinda a mighty big decision ain’t it? Ah, have so many possible ideas as I’m writing this that it’s rather difficult to narrow it down.

Now, putting that aside for just a moment, I have to say that I’ve never known anypony that is willing to spoil me. I’ve never recalled any other normal couple that has taken their special somepony to a different country on a date before. Then again, we’re not exactly a normal couple, you being a celebrity and me a settler. If this is because of you're higher than mine income or that you get good means of travel that made you come to that conclusion, then I must say Soar that I’m flattered.

But where to go on vacation? If it were up to me, I would love to see Neighpon at least once in my life. Out of all the countries that I’ve read and seen pictures of, that island nation is the most exotic place I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen pictures of the robes, some of their food and even their buildings that I kinda wonder what the place is really like in real life. Or as an alternative, take an adventure on those sailboats around the sea. Regardless where we end up going, I do hope that it’ll be a view of an ocean that is as blue as your eyes you are.

I’ll be sure to have my things packed by the time you get here. I’m rather looking forward to you picking me up… in more ways than one.

Soarin, I have a confession to make. Do you remember a couple months back that you said that if I was willing, we could have a… roll in the hay? Okay stop! I know what you’re thinking, but just stop whatever you're thinking and just continue on reading. Now look, I won’t lie to you that I’ve been feeling rather lonely recently, especially in my… nightly activities that my mind tends to go back to you. My thoughts have become a little too graphic that for the sake of decency I won’t dare put it down on paper. But as we’re drawing towards our first anniversary as a couple, I’ve been longing deep down to do something that I would never do unless it’s a pony that I trust.

Well, I trust you Soarin, but if it’s really gonna happen, I want it to be on my own terms. You know, if we’re seriously considering doing it, I want it to be memorable at least. Perhaps on a desert island maybe?

But anyways, just to let you know that when you come flying down, I’ll be waiting for you.

Yours from an adventurous stallion,

– Braeburn.

“Why am I not surprised,” Jonagold pushed away from her desk and took a moment to take notes. She remarked how her ancestor wished for adventure outside of Appaloosa and how Soarin was looking forward that his cousin was gonna join the… Just then she stopped when a thought came to her. A cousin? She clicked back on the previous letter at the name of Thunderlane and wondered, “If Soarin has a cousin, does that mean that…” her eyes went wide, “What if this Thunderlane has a bloodline? And if he has decedents, and Soarin is married to my great-great-great-grandfather, then that means that… we could have lost relatives!”

Setting the letters aside, she opened up the internet and typed in, “Are there Geologists in Appaloosa?”

Envelope 6: January – May 1001 A.B.N.M.

The next day with a saddlebag that held her computer, Jonagold rechecked the address she written down: 2320 Red Delicious Ave. After looking up at the white brick house, she noted that it wasn’t very big as its neighbors. If anything, the one floor house was very modest with its green roof and grassy lawn as the pegasus walked up to the green door. She didn’t have to wait very long after ringing the doorbell, it was answered by an old mare with a white mane and a cream but wrinkly coat.

“Yes?”

“Afternoon ma’am,” the young pegasus nodded. “Are you Mother Time, the Geologist?”

The old mare tilted her head in curiosity, “I am. Can I help you with something?”

“In a way, yes – I was hoping if you could help me tracking a certain bloodline to see if there’s anyone still around.”

“Whatever for? I could help you, but why would you need to?”

“Because I have a hunch that we might have extra relatives in our family tree than my family might know about and I just wanna double check to see if there’re any living relatives around.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say so?” she stepped aside and let Jonagold inside. The old mare’s house, as the teenager quickly found was between cluttered and organized with charts, papers, and stacks of books that coincide with furniture and decor from another era. In a way, it reminded her of her grandparents’ home. “Let me fetch my computer, while you just wait on the couch over there. Oh, do you want a lemon bar?”

“No thanks,” Jonagold hopped on the stripped green and white couch that was next to a thick stack of papers. While she waited for Mother Time, the young Apple looked over at the stack next to her. It had scans of old newspaper clippings that as she flipped through them, they were all about a pony name Button Mash from a century ago. In some she spotted a picture of that stallion showing to a news conference a sells pitch of a “new” game. “Huh, so that’s who made Maneio Brothers.”

“Kinda interesting ain’t it?” Jonagold nearly jumped out of her seat when she quickly found that Mother Time was right next to her, levitating a laptop next to her. “That fella right there had started out as a gamer geek when he was a colt, and he was caught up with the video game phenomena to the point where when he grew up had started a designer company to make better, even I dare say, revolutionary games. For example, did you know that it was Button Mash that had purposed for a virtual reality gaming long before it was made possible years later?”

“No. I never knew that.”

“The past has so many stories of individuals that there’s no way your history book could contain them all. But then again, I understand,” she sat herself down next to Jonagold, “That stack right there details the life of just one pony among thousands. But I’m getting off track; you said that you have a bloodline you wanted to see?”

“Yes, ma’am. To make it a long story short, I just found out who the spouse of my great-great-great-grandfather was, and recently I’ve found the name of that spouse’s cousin. His name was Thunderlane Cloudline and he lived around the year 1000.”

“Okay…” Mother Time opened up her laptop. “Let’s see what I can find from the old census…” For a couple of minutes, the old unicorn narrowed down the names, scrolling through the list until, “Hello. What do we have here?” After clicking on the name, a picture of a black pegasus with a light greenish blue Mohawk appeared along with a close-up of his cutie mark which was of a storm cloud with a bolt of lightning. “I think this might be it. Thunderlane Cloudline, 973 to 1061.”

“Okay, this looks promising. Now, is there anypony alive today that’s related to him?”

“From the looks of it, his biography says that he has a brother name Rumble. Now, this might take me a while…” she looked over to her, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve asked your name.”

“The name is Jonagold Apple, but you can call me Jo for short.”

“Well then, Jona,” Mother Time said, “this might take me a while to go through the database. You may help yourself to those lemon bars while you wait.”

“That’s fine, I’ve brought some homework with me that I need to read up on.”

“You can use the kitchen table; it’s over there on your left. I’ll come to you if find anything.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” getting up from her seat, she made her way to the kitchen that was unusually clean compared to the organized chaos in the house. Past the whitewash cabinets, the fridge, stove and a glass pan that held the neon yellow and covered in powder sugar dessert she headed towards the wooden table in which she set up her computer.

After turning it on, she went to the photo file and looked to where she left off.

Dear Braeburn,

Before I head off to the train station and start making my way back to the Academe at this time in the morning, I want to take a moment to write out this note to say: thank you.

First of all, thank you Braeburn for being the perfect pony to be with on our vacation to Neighpon. I love every moment when we were out there and you have a comment on every little thing you saw from the hustle and bustle of the city to the toilet that squirts water at ya (which, by-the-way, I am never gonna let that one down!), and for you being so adventurous with the food then I could be. If I knew that you would be as this fun to be with while traveling around, I would had foalnapped you into it a long time ago.

Second thing: thank you for not only being my coltfriend, but for finding happiness. Even with being a Wonderbolt, achieving the dream to be one of the best flyers out there, to push myself further than I thought possible, that you being in my life has made it all so sweet. You know that I anticipate your letters and I’m overjoyed when you’re physically here. If anything, I can sum you up by a lyric of a song that I can’t remember where it’s from: “They say happiness is a thing you can’t see, a thing you can’t touch. I disagree. Happiness is standing beside me, I can see him. He can see me. Happiness is whatever you want it to be.” You sir, are that, happiness in the flesh.

The third thing: Braeburn, I thank you for having to place so much trust in me. With me being your first and all, it was still rather touching. Of course, walking around the next morning was rather sore but it was worth it from all the-

Jonagold’s muzzle was blushing bright red when she read that, ‘Oh! Thanks for the visual!’ She decided to skip the rest of that paragraph and head on to the next one.

So I’ll be heading out to get back in time for training, getting ready for our shows in the spring while letting you sleep. By the time you do wake up, I just wanna let you know that I still love you. Just remember to write more, and to let me know how things are doing. Oh, and that envelope with the pictures? Let’s say those are for those nights when you get lonely and you’re missing me. Who knows, maybe you might return the favor, Applebutt.

With love,

– Soarin.

The young Apple looked at the screen, her cheeks still hot, “Applebu… I don’t wanna know.” She mumbled before clicking onto the next letter.

Dear Soarin,

Now that spring has begun, how are things with ya? I wonder if the Wonderbolts have a role in Winter Wrap Up alongside with your training. Since everypony has a role in cleaning up winter, I can imagine that you fellas probably push the winter clouds out of the way for the sun to come through. Of course, down in Appaloosa we don’t get any snow, the only way we can tell if its spring is by the apple blossoms on the trees. All I’ve been doing for Winter Wrap Up was to prune the trees.

I want to let you know that I’m fine on my side of the world. As always, I’ve been keeping myself busy and going out to see a movie whenever I get the chance to. Strongheart has been sharing more of stories that she learned from her tribe to me (as well as asking more questions about us like, “So does one of you act like a mare in the relationship?”). Violin lessons with Jumping Seed have been progressing; she’s trying to familiarize the notes on the page to know where she needs to put her hoof on what string. More ponies are coming in as tourists or to move in.

Soarin, I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of this town. We’ve started with nothing, odd were set against us with an unforgiving environment, a misunderstood tribe and rough harvest. Yet, we’ve endured, there is green in these parts of Equestria. For the moment, we’ve found peace.

However, whenever things settle down, and things get awfully quiet, I tend to daydream or outright pretend that I would see you come flying down from the sky. On some days, my imagination would run wild to the point where I could have sworn that I heard your voice asking if I needed any help while I’m in the orchards. Call it crazy if you like, but on some nights, I would envision your ghost coming up to me to kiss me goodnight. Even as I’m writing this by the flickering flames of my lamp, I have turned around to my shadow and pretend that the fella with the messy mane was you.

Can you blame me for wanting- no, needing you? I confess that I held every picture close to me that I hid in my pillow case. For the most part, I want to hear your voice that tells witty jokes. I want to see your heart melting smile to make the coldest, dull days become warm and bright. I want you to cuddle by the fireplace and have you scratched that spot behind my ears forever. All this and much more do I wish for any news of you to come to make this life more complete.

Lately, I’ve been collecting your letters and notes to be kept in a box with a padlock. I tend to think of it as a treasure chest where I keep my most prized possession, your words. From time to time I do take them out to see how our relationship has progressed and bloomed. More importantly, every time I read them I could hear your voice clearly as if you are speaking to me face to face. Please keep writing Soarin, your letters are worth more than Celestia’s crown jewel collection put together.

But I think that’s enough gushing over ya for one night. I think that it’s about high time that I head off to bed. Tomorrow morning I’ll be sending this letter to you, and when it gets there, I want to know how you are doing. Is there anything from the Wonderbolts that you like to tell me about? Or maybe anything from them recruits that might be worth sharing because I would really like to hear from ya.

Good night, my Wonderbolt.

Until we meet, I am as I ever was and ever shall be,

Yours,

– Braeburn.

“What you’re reading?” Jonagold looked over her shoulder as she noticed Mother Time just entering into the kitchen. “Looks like a letter, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she closed the screen of her laptop. “Did you find anything?”

“It took a while going through the records, but I’ve managed to find a couple of ponies that are currently living.” Her horn lit up and lifts the tray of lemon bars, “Want one?” After thinking it over, the teenager said that she would try some so the old mare got out a plate to serve it on.

“Thanks,” the pegasus said. “Out of curiosity ma’am, do you work anywhere, I mean with all this stuff lying around.”

“I used to be a librarian, but I’ve retired and picked up a new subject to keep myself busy,” Mother Time took a seat next to Jonagold. “Besides, I’m a grandmother whenever I’m not doing genealogy. I have grand kids that tend to pop in every now and then, but most of the time I get visits from older folks who want to learn about their families in the past. So color me surprise when a young one like yourself pops up on my doorstep, doing something that only grandparents do before they have reunions.”

“For me, it all started with a school project,” Jonagold said as she started to nibble at the custardy treat. “I’ve found a couple of original letters that were written by Braeburn Apple, who I’m related to, which reveals so many things that nopony in the family knew about. My friends tell me that I’m taking this a little too personally, but the more I read these letters, the more I want to know certain things.”

“Like what?”

After taking another bite of the lemon bar, she carefully responded, “Like if his three kids are really his or adopted.”

“Ah… I see. From those letters, have you found what you were looking for… what was your name again?”

“Call me Jo, and not yet. There’s a ton of letters that I haven’t gone through yet and I’m just waiting to see where my great-great-great-grandfather gets hitched and start raising foals. So far I’m just reading a series of letters that turned from a friendly catching up to love letters. But for me I’m still looking for clues to see where we really came from.”

“All of a matter of identity isn’t it?” the old mare inquired.

“Not just that, but I guess it’s more of a family pride thing that being thrown into question. Are we really related to Braeburn Apple at all or what?”

“Would it matter either way? Dearie, I do understand where you’re coming from, but if you found out tomorrow that you’re related to him by adoption somewhere up in that family tree of yours, would you and your family’s heads be a little less high? In this town, having the name Apple is quite an honor for anyone. Don’t let anything take away that your family’s name has changed history for the better in more ways than one.”

Jonagold ate the last bit of her lemon bar in thought; there was truth in what this old unicorn was saying. Even if she did found out that their ancestor had adopted, it wouldn’t make them any less of an Apple. But as she swallowed, her mind returned to what she came for. “What about you? Did you find anyone still living from that Thunderlane guy?”

“Ah! Yes, that’s what I came in for.” Mother Time laughed, “Nearly forgot. I was going to say that I do have some good news. After tracking down through the bloodlines from him and his brother, there is a family that is currently living. I’ve already written some names down in the other room.”

“Great, let’s see if I might be able to contact them.”

“Though, before I do, I must ask something of you,” she gave the young pegasus a stern look. “What exactly are you trying to accomplish with this? I understand about finding lost relatives, but is that the only reason why you’re searching for these names?”

Glancing at her computer for a moment, she replied, “Partly to find a family that we’ve never known we’ve had, and partly to see if they have any stories from Braeburn’s spouse.”

“Very well, let me go get the list,” Mother Time said as she got up, “Did you like the lemon bars?” After telling her that she did, the old mare left the kitchen for a moment before returning to her the list that was written on a yellow notepad. “Here it is Jo, this is all the current living relatives that I could find.”

Jonagold took the list and found that it was a rather short list of seven names that she had never heard of before. There were no names of address, but rather the birth year from each. “I think I can take work from this, thank you, ma’am.”

“You're quite welcome young lady,” Mother Time told her as the pegasus took her laptop, “I enjoy the company. You are welcome in my home at any time dearie. I do hope you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

“So do I, and thanks for the lemon bars,” she said before she showed herself out.

_*_

It took some time after spending some time on the internet to identify the ponies that were on the list. Out of the seven names, she was able to find three of them that had a business number to call them from. One of them was an accountant, one was a buckball coach and one was a real estate teacher. All of them had the exact same last name: Cloudline.

Jonagold didn’t exactly know how her call will play out with the phone in her hooves. If anything, she wasn’t exactly sure what to say once she dialed the first number. ‘It’s like I’m about to talk to a total stranger,’ she thought. ‘Only… they’re not. Each of them is technically a long lost family member.’

She decided to first call the real estate teacher and waited as the other line rang. Then came a voice on the other end, a mare’s voice that spoke in a professional tone: “Cloudsdale Real Estate School, how can I help you?”

“H-Hi,” Jonagold stuttered. “Is this…” she looked back at the list. “Home Finder Cloudline?”

“This is her. Do you want to register for a class?”

“Not exactly,” she confessed. “If anything, I want to talk to you regarding… family matters.”

“What do you mean?”

“Okay, first of all, my name is Jonagold Apple, I live in Appaloosa and…” she gulped. “Believe it or not, we’re technically related.”

There was a pause from the other line, “Excuse me?”

“Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe that a complete stranger would call you up and say that we’re related but just hear me out. Before you hang up on me, let me make it clear that I’m not asking for bits, or for you to send me anything, I just want to reach out to a relative that I’ve just found out that we have.”

“Why do you keep insisting that we’re related?”

So Jonagold explained to the mare on the other line of what started as a class project to find primary sources to write a detailed report of a historical pony’s personality, turned into a search for their family’s true past. She told Finder of how she learned that her ancestor’s spouse had cousins that she had to go to a mare that studies genealogy to see if there were any living relatives. The mare on the other line listened to her and didn’t interrupt apart from the occasional question, after Jonagold told her story to her, she concluded, “Which brings to me why I called. I want to know really if there’s anything on your side that could shed some light here.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know… like family stories, or journals lying around or… something that would give us an idea what our ancestors were like. All I have to go off of are some old love letters, which are lucky to have survived all this time that I haven’t gone through all of them yet. I was hoping that by calling one of you guys that maybe you might have some info on a question that’s kinda bothering us lately.”

“About Soarin?”

“Yes.”

“Look uh… Jonagold, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll ask around with my dad and brothers to see if I can find anything. Now I won’t guarantee that we’ll find what you’re looking for, but I can at least try. And by the way, are your parents’ home?”

“My dad is, why?”

“Because, since I just found out that we have some lost relatives, I want to talk this over with someone else in your family about this.”

“Give me a sec,” she got up, out of her room she went to the living room where her dad rested on the couch. “Dad, I want to meet a lost relative I’ve found, this is Home Finder Cloudline and she wants to speak to you.”

Blinking, the stallion took the phone into his hoof and put it to his ear. “Hello? Yes I am… What? Oh I’m Johnny Apple… editor for your local newspaper… Home, excuse me for a sec,” he turned his attention towards his daughter, “Jo, I want to speak with Ms. Cloudline alone.”

“That’s okay, I still need to do some reading anyway, but be sure to give my phone back, okay?” Her father nodded and left to return to her room, wake up her computer and resume to reading the next letter. This time it was from Soarin.

Dear Braeburn,

I’m sorry for not writing to you for the past few weeks, things up here have been so busy that I have to force myself to put off this because of what was going on. I’ll tell you why just to get this out of the way for I can sum it all up in two words: Rainbow Dash. Remember the mare that saved our hides back at the Young Fliers? Well she has joined in as a recruit for the team, and it was just recently that Spitz had just confirmed that she’s passed basic training with flying colors.

We’re really excited on the team to have her really join us in the near future. All she needs now is to pass a test so she can be on the reserve before we can find a position for her with us. I tell you Brae that nopony, not even Spitfire has ever seen a flyer like this, and the whole team is really looking forward to the day when she does become one of us. And given how big of a fan she is, I can imagine that it won’t be too difficult to see that becoming a reality.

Admittingly, I do want to see ya again too. I’ve been keeping your picture close to me, even under my uniform. As of now, it is the most valuable possession I have. I always take it out every night and take a long hard look at the image of you leaning up against the railing of that bridge in Trotkyo. No matter how often I looked, your eyes still glowed warm, and your smile is still as welcoming as ever. Like you, I prefer to have the real thing next to me when I drift to sleep.

I’m not the only one that wants to see you. At the academe, the team is increasingly getting curious as to what you’re really like. They know that I miss you, that they caught me looking at that picture and writing you these letters. If anything, I have a feeling that sooner or later, they would want to meet you. Of course, the only way for that to happen is if the Captain gives her permission to have you come up to visit. Perhaps, if I play my cards just right that maybe I can get you to come up here to meet the team. But if that does happen, just to let you know to be on lookout for Fleetfoot, Misty Fly and Sun Chaser because I don’t think they have any filters when it comes to the… personal aspects of our relationship.

Hopefully, this coming June, I could take you flying not just around the academe, but to show you some of the most breathtaking places in Equestria. Though compared to you, I say the landscapes have some really stiff competition. But in all seriousness, I can’t wait to see you again Applebutt, it’s been too long since our vacation a couple months ago. When you do, I like to probably swing by Canterlot for a proper date. But for now, I’ll have to settle with this picture of you to kiss you goodnight.

Before I close this, I want to ask how are things with the town and the tribe?

Yours from the skies with love,

– Soarin.

“Hey Jo,” the pegasus’s ears perked up at the sound of her dad’s voice.

“Yeah?”

Her door opened and her father came in with her phone. “Well, that was interesting.” Jonagold asked what did Home Finder say, “We’ve had an enlightened conversation about the stuff you’ve found. Though, I can’t believe that you were able to track down someone that was on Soarin’s side of the family. How did you even find her?”

“Turns out, there’s a lady in town that is spending her retirement doing what I’ve just picked up. Her name is Mother Time and she was the one who was able to track down some living relatives who are descendants of a cousin of Soarin. I was thinking that if I got a hold of them that maybe they could solve whether or not Braeburn had adopted those three kids.”

Johnny sighed, “Jonagold, I’m pretty much sure that we’ve told you this already, but you need to consider something. Even if it turns out that the foal that we’re related to had belonged to a different family once, it doesn’t make you, me, your uncles and aunts, grandma and grandpa any less of an Apple then we are.”

“Mother Time had said something like that earlier,” his daughter replied. To which her father put a hoof on her shoulder.

“We’re telling you this because it’s true. Jo, I understand that this is a matter of identity, after all, I had given up my family name to have it changed to your mother’s. And you know that my name used to be-”

“Johnny Two by Four,” Jonagold finished what he was going to say.

“Yes, but when I got married and became Johnny Apple, I’ve adapted to a life of orchards, of trees, sweet pies and mouthwatering fritters. I’ve also adapted a way of life where hard work, self-determination, honesty, and looking after you. That Jo is what being an Apple is all about, not because of a name but what we do with it. Even if we’re not directly related to Braeburn by blood, having someone that was even adopted by him and his partner is still an honor in my book.”

“But I still wanna know…”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Just remember what really matters.” The bearded stallion smiled, “So, do you want to take a break from this and get some ice cream?”

“You know what,” the young pegasus pushed a button to put her computer to sleep. “Chocolate peanut butter sounds good right now.”

Film Reels #1: The Wedding.

Jonagold looked over her rough draft, the one that she had been slaving over for the past few days in putting together whatever information she found into a neat, and insightful look of her ancestor’s personality profile. She made the necessary corrections that her father had written out over misspelled words and grammar as she retyped it onto her computer screen. While her work isn’t due for another few weeks, she was already feeling tired out from doing nothing but intense research and wished for some distraction.

It came when her laptop sounded a “Ding!” which could only mean one thing: she just received a new email. Setting her assignment aside, she opened up her electronic mailbox to see that it was a message from Home Finder Cloudline, the mare that she had spoken with days before. Curious, she opened it up to find something rather surprising.

Dear Jonagold,

After digging around in every attic and storage room from my parents to my aunts and uncles, I’ve stumbled onto something that, as it turns out, that you were correct. In my Uncle Glider’s basement, we’ve found something that I think would interest you. We found three old film reels of home movies, all of which are in black-and-white and they each come with a record that has the name of Braeburn and Soarin on them.

While we don’t have a projector, if you guys are able to happen to have one, we’ll gladly let you guys borrow them. Now, I don’t exactly know how good the condition these films are, after all, they’re just over a hundred years old so you probably want to handle these things with care if you ever do decide to take a look at them.

If you do decide to do so, could you do us a favor and probably record it on your cameras so that we may see the films too since, again, we don’t have a projection player. Ever since you’ve called me about our family history, it has gotten our family rather curious in trying to figure out who these ponies were. Now that we’ve found some ye old home movies, perhaps you might be able to share them with us too.

I’ll be waiting to hear from you,

-Cloudline.

Out of all the things she was hoping to get from this project, this was certainly the last thing the young pegasus expected. Film reels? This alone made her stare at her computer screen because of the very idea that it presented. All she knew about her great-great-grandfather Braeburn came from his letters. But this… This was different because, if they were lucky, these films hopefully should be intact enough to let her see and, more importantly, hear her ancestor.

“Hey dad!” she called out, “Do we know anypony that has an old movie projector?”

_*_

Days later, every chair, couch, and pillow in Jonagold’s living room was pointed towards a blank, white wall. Johnny nudged a small table over to the very back of the room before he heard the doorbell rang. “Jo,” he called out.

“I’ll get it.” The young mare trotted over to the front door to unlock it. Opening up the door, she found two familiar looking ponies that caused her to hug them both. “Hey Grandpa Applesauce, Grandma Fritters.”

“Hey Jona,” the wrinkly cheery stallion patted her on the back.

“How’ve you been?” her soft pink grandmother with thick glasses asked as she walked through the door. “Are you still working on that assignment?”

“That’s why we’ve called you.” Jonagold told them, “I hope you brought that projector, did you?”

“I’ll go get it,” the old unicorn trotted away from the door, “But hold the door open for me.” A moment later, her grandpa came back with a dusty mechanism that Jonagold only seen in old movies. A projector with a sooty lens that’s attached to a phonograph, “I bet you have the films?”

The young Pegasus shook her head as her grandpa stepped in. “The Cloudlines have it, and they’re not here yet.”

“Where do you want it?”

“Over here gramps,” Johnny called out. “Here on this table.”

The old unicorn walked into the living room and whistled, “Now how many ponies are coming to this screening?”

“As far as I know,” Jonagold’s father answered. “Home Finder and her husband are coming along with her brother and father. Of course with us together that makes eight unless there’s more.”

“Then you should have made some popcorn,” Granny Fritters joked.

Jonagold rolled her eyes, “We’re doing this because I might need it for my assignment. Besides that, at least we get to meet some distant relatives.”

“When do you expect them to be here?” her grandpa asked, and before the teenager could respond, their doorbell rang. “Huh, nevermind then, I’ll just go ahead and set this up.”

She nodded as she went over to open the door, there on the other side on her step were four ponies that she never saw before. “Ms. Jonagold Apple?” the mare with a copper mane inquired. Her mane was tied up loosely in a bun. Her coat was plum purple, and she had a pearl necklace around her neck.

“Yes ma’am,” she nodded. “Thanks for taking all the trouble form coming down here from Cloudsdale.”

“When you can fly anywhere, it’s not that difficult,” the white stallion next to her chuckled as he lifted a wing. “Besides, it’s no problem at all.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you guys again?” Jonagold asked, pointing a hoof towards the three other stallions.

“Oh! Where are our manners? I’m Stargazer, this here’s my dad Air Liner and my brother Rule Book.”

The sky blue earth pony with a cardboard box nodded to her, “So I guess you have the projector?”

“Yeah, my grandpa is setting it up now. So come on in.”

The four of them stepped in, with the bearded gray stallion walking in last. “You know, I didn’t think that we were related to you Apples,” he started out saying, “When Home had told me that she may have found evidence that might show us about Soarin’s relationship to your family, we just had to see it for ourselves.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Jonagold confessed. “It might help me a great deal with my school project I’m working on. All I had to go off are from old letters, but to actually watch what happened would give me some tremendous help.”

Once the Apples and the Cloudlines had settled down in the living room, Rule Book reached into the cardboard box and pulled out a tin case. “Let’s do this one first. It’s the oldest.” Grandpa Applesauce nodded as he popped open the lid to pull out the reel of film and a record in a yellowed paper case. The old stallion weaved the ribbon of celluloid over the wheels of the machine and hooked it to another reel. He then placed the record on the turntable and turned it on.

“Hold on,” Johnny questioned, “Don’t you need to put the needle down?”

Grandpa Applesauce shook his head, “No need. This model should synchronize with the film so we don’t have to. So then-”

“Wait!” Jonagold flew up, “Sorry, let me get my notebook real quick.” She rushed off to her room and came back with it and a pencil before turning off the light. “Okay, ready.”

The projector was turned on, shining a white rectangle on the wall before he flipped for another switch that moved the film along. Of course, he had to adjust the lens when the numbers showed up, counting backward. As it counts back to five, from the phonograph a beeping was heard that matched up the numbers down to zero in which, everything went black.

From the phonograph, a young voice was heard, “-ere, I think it’s on.”

“Are you sure?” questioned an older male voice.

“Yeah, the light is on and everything.”

“Rumble, is the film in?”

“Uh-huh.”

“The record?”

“Yes,” the colt’s voice answered with annoyance.

“And did you make sure to get the cap off before you started that thing.”

There was a pause before they finally saw the light from the projector, it was in black-and-white and the camera was looking up to the face of an embarrassed colt. “Just now,” he said. “But other than that I think its working.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I can hear it going and everything,” suddenly the camera moved and there on the white wall was a skeptical pegasus who was mostly black that had his forelegs folded. Behind him was an apple orchard that had ponies setting up chairs, streamers, and balloons. “So I think it’s working Thunder.”

“If you say so, I don’t want my cousin to get mad at me for not getting his wedding on film.”

“Don’t worry, it’s working right now.”

“Okay,” Tunderlane sighed. “Now that we’ve got that figured out, let’s go find the grooms to get them on camera before the ceremony.”

The camera tilted a bit, “Sure but, where are-” whatever Rubble was about to say was cut off. Suddenly the scene had changed from an apple orchard to a door that Thunderlane knocked on.

“Hey Soarin, you decent?”

“Uh yeah, come on in,” the doorknob was turned in which the camera saw a bedroom where a pegasus stallion in a suit was sitting on the edge of a bed. He was hunched over while writing something in a book when he looked up, “Hey cousin.”

“That’s Soarin!” the eldest Cloudline pointed at the wall.

“So how’s my favorite Wonderbolt?” Thunderlane’s voice was heard along with some hoofsteps. “You excited for the big event?”

“Yeah, and just a bit nervous too,” he set the book down when the camera moved until it settled down on a nightstand when Rumble entered the frame. “Still glad you guys came, how you’ve been little dude?”

“We’ve just got a new camera,” he pointed at the lens, to which the pegasus looked.

“Yeah, I can see that. So hopefully you guys know how it works?”

It was then that Thunderlane walked on screen, “Barely, we’ve kinda figured out how to turn it on.”

Soarin laughed, “Well, I can only hope that my wedding won’t be filmed upside-down. So besides you guys, who else is here?”

“Uncle Nimbus is here,” said Rumble, “along with Aunt Windy with her kids, Cousin Tiger-Lilly, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Ramen and Aunt Linguini, and Uncle Hurricane and Aunt Rain are here setting things up in the fields.”

To this, the Wonderbolt looked up at them in surprise, “Mom and Dad came?”

“Yeah, they did,” Thunderlane nodded. “Along with the whole Wonderbolt team is out there as promised. And they’re all excited as you are,” he looked over by the bed, “What’s that?”

“It’s nothing,” Soarin said quickly, his hoof pinning the book beside him. “So what are you two doing in here for, you know that the wedding itself won’t happen for a while.”

“Yeah,” Rumble went over to pick up the camera. “Be we thought that we might wanna film you saying something nice about… if Braeburn gets married, would that make him our uncle or…?”

Soarin shrugged, “I don’t know, these sorts of things are really complicated even to me. So what do you want me to say?”

“How do we know,” Thunderlane shrugged as he exited the picture, “you’re the one that’s getting married to the guy.”

“Thanks for being so helpful” he said with intense sarcasm. “Hold on, let me think…” the Wonderbolt tapped his chin for a moment with a pencil. He then smiled and looked right into the camera, “Hey Brae. Well, what can I say? I guess it’s been a long time coming that after all this time we’ve been going out that we’re actually tying the knot. To be honest with ya, I’m kinda nervous about this. You know that feeling deep in your gut that’s you can’t believe this is really happening? Yeah, it’s almost like the first day in boot camp all over again. However, I know that we’re making the right choice here. I know that once we say ‘I do,’ life may not be the same again, but you know what dude?” he smiled. “I don’t want it to go back. Braeburn, you’re really are amazing and I’m really lucky to not only have you as a best friend but as someone that I’m going to be legally calling you, ‘my husband.’ No matter what comes, we’ll be there to face them. I honestly can’t wait to see where our lives will take us from here, but at least I’m happy that I get to explore it with you. See you soon Brae, love you.” He then turned his attention to the side, “Okay, now can you guys please get out? I think I still need to finish this up.”

“Sure thing,” Rumble said as he took the camera away from Soarin and back into a hallway. “C’mon Thunder.”

The camera glided across the hallway. From the phonograph that crackled and popped, hoofsteps were heard before they slowed down to another door at the other end of the hallway. Thunderlane ’s hoof reached up for the doorknob and turned it.

“Here comes the groom!” both of them sang as they swung open the door. There on the screen, Apple's eyes widen in awe now they get to see their famous ancestor facing a standing mirror. It was extraordinary because for the first time because this wasn’t a granny photograph nor a bronze statue, but it was him on film. Moving and reacting as he turned around to see the brothers.

“Hey Y'all!” Braeburn’s face brighten as he suddenly came close to the camera. “Glad you fellas can come!”

“Brae…” Thunderlane’s voice croaked, “Too… tight…”

“Oh,” Jonagold’s ancestor stepped back into the frame, this time embarrassed. “Sorry you two, Ah’m jus’ so glad to see ya here is all. It’s been a good forever and a half since Ah’ve seen ya last.” He then looked right into the lens, “This thing yours?”

“We’ve just bought it last week,” Rumble’s voice was heard saying. “We could have got the film in color, but it’s really expensive. This is gonna be used for the wedding.”

“Does the thing capture sound?” Braeburn asked and the camera nodded, “You know, when mah Uncle Red had one of those their cameras, he used it ta film his vacation with. But when he got back ta show it, the whole thing was completely silent. Boy, you guys should’ve seen ‘em try ta fiddle around with the thing.”

“That’s nice but-” Thunderlane began to say but was quickly interrupted.

“Hoo! He was so mad when he couldn’t figure out why nothin’ was comin’ out of the phonograph. We had to watch the whole film like it was a silent film, and it was really funny when we dubbed in what was goin’ on.”

“Braeburn,” the colt tried to speak up but he too was cut off.

“It was really hilarious when it got to the part when he was skyin’ down a mountain and he-”

“BRAEBURN!” both brothers shouted.

“Yes?”

“We’re wasting film,” Rumble pointed out. “Do you wanna say something nice about Soarin.”

“Somethin’ nice?”

“Yeah,” Thunderlane said, “just something to have you two look back on.”

“Oh, why didn’t y’all say so? Now let me think…” he rubbed his chin in thought. “So I just talk in this here camera like Ah’m talkin’ to Soar, right?” the camera nodded. “Alright, how about this,” he looked into the camera and said. “Hi there Soar, I can’t imagine what you’re thinkin’ in that room jus’ down the hall. You’re probably nervous since neither us been married befor’. Ah don’t blame you, Ah’m strugglin’ ta keep calm mahself. But Ah ain’t gonna be up to an’ runnin’ because we both know that we’re makin’ the right decision. Ah do wanna spend as long as Ah have breath left in me to be with ya. Now, Ah may not have a crystal ball ta tell us what is gonna be happen ta us, but regardless whatever comes in our way, Ah’m gonna help ya make this work. Ah promise ya that because Ah love you more than anythin’.” Braeburn turned around to face the mirror again, “Quick question: do you fellas think this tie or the green one would look good on me?”

Just then, the scene was suddenly cut back outside. At the very center of the screen, holding hooves were Soarin and Braeburn that were looking into each other’s eyes. Between them was a younger Princess Twilight Sparkle who stood underneath an arch of roses. It was she who spoke: “-eak now or forever hold your peace.” There was a long pause before she continued before turning to the Pegasus, “Do you, Soarin Cloudline, take Braeburn Apple as your lawfully wedded spouse, for rich or for poor, near or apart, in sickness or in health, to cherish, protect, and to love for eternity?”

“I forever will,” the Wonderbolt answered.

“And do you,” Twilight turned to Braeburn, “Take Soarin Cloudline to be your lawfully wedded spouse, for rich or for poor, near or apart, in sickness or in health, to cherish, protect, and to love for all eternity?”

“As long as Ah live, Ah do.”

To this, the alicorn spread her wings, “By the power and authority as a Princess of Equestria, bestowed by its citizens in Ponyville, I hereby pronounce you as stallion and husband,” she folded them back up. “You two of you may kiss.”

The couple did, to which, cheers were heard from the phonograph as they heard hooves stomp on the ground, rice and confetti rain down from the air that filled the screen. The newlyweds broke the kiss and embraced in a deep hug, “Ah love you Soar,” Braeburn's voice could be heard.

“I know buddy,” Soarin replied before the film was cut out until there was nothing but a white screen.

“I still can’t believe we didn’t know any of this,” the elder Cloudline commented.

“You’re not the only one,” Grandma Fritters said. “After all, it’s rather surprising of all the things we didn’t know about Braeburn like for example he was married to someone who was in the Wonderbolts.”

“How many films are there?” Jonagold inquired as she turned to Rule Book. He was looking through the cardboard box that he had carried into the house.

“From what I could find, there’s only three that has their names. The other two are, ‘Braeburn + Soarin become parents.’ And ‘Soarin’s vacation.’”

“You know, as helpful as this is,” the teenager turned a page in her notebook, “I kinda wish that there’s something else out there that would help me with my paper. I mean the letters that I have and the films you got could only tell me so much.”

“Oh! That reminds me,” Rule Couldline dug through the box, moving aside the other two film canisters until he pulled out a book. “Do you recognize this?” Both families looked over towards the book that was held up. It was a simple notebook with a black cover and rusty spring that held it all together. Jonagold told him that he didn’t recognize it, “I think I know what our Soarin was writing in that film because I believe this right here is his journal.”

“What!” the young pegasus exclaimed. “Where did you get it?”

“More importantly,” Home Finder glared at her brother, “How come you’re only bringing this up now?”

The stallion’s ears folded back in embarrassment, “I uh… kinda forgot. I found this in Aunt Breeze’s basement at the very bottom of the bookshelf. Of course, it doesn’t look like much until you open it.” He flipped the notebook over to the first few pages, “Each enter has his signature on them. It’s dated between… February 1000 to… May 1003.”

“That’s when they were dating!” Jonagold flew over, taking the journal into her hooves and flipping it through. “This is going to be so helpful! Uh, do any of you guys mind if I borrow it?”

Air Liner put a hoof to his chin, “I suppose, but we want it back, just the way it is now.”

The Apple mare smiled, “Oh thank you all so much!”

“So,” Jonagold’s grandpa spoke up, “Are we going to take a look at the rest of these films or what?”

Film Reels # 2 & 3: The Birth and the Vacation

Grandpa Applesauce had weaved the film through the projector and replaced the record on the phonograph. “Alright, all set; let’s see what this one is about.” With that, the lights were shut off and the projector spun to life. They saw on the wall the numbers being counted down before the film showed a new setting. Again in black-and-white, it showed Braeburn pacing what looked like a waiting room of a hospital. In a corner of the room near a window was Soarin sitting in a chair.

“There we go,” Rumble’s voice was heard once more. “I think I’ve got it working.” The camera panned over along the wall where in the row of chairs and windows were earth ponies and pegasi that were seated, most of their expressions seemed as anxious as Braeburn and Soarin. The camera stopped moving when Thunderlane came into the frame, “So how much longer now?”

“For the millionth time Rumble, we don’t know.” The charcoal pegasus folded his forehooves. “We don’t know when the baby is coming until the doctors come in.” He sighed as his hooves now shifted to support his muzzle. “Though it’s been a while now, I hope Ms. Calvados is alright.”

“You don’t suppose that some complications?” this time the camera moved to reveal a nervous Braeburn who looked like he hadn’t had much sleep. “I sure hope that nothin’ is wrong with her or the foal. It’s been three hours now,” he looked over to a set of doors behind him. “You’d think that them docs would have somethin’ to tell us by now.”

“Hey,” Thunderlane put a hoof on the nervous stallion’s shoulders. “We’re all nervous about this as you are. But try not to stress yourself over this too much.”

“Well, of course, Ah’m stressed out! I and Soar haven’t any wink of sleep fer the past two days since we got here. And now we don’t have a clue as to what is goin’ on with Calvados.”

“Just give her time,” this time a new voice was heard on the phonograph. The camera turned to show a mare with three raindrops as her cutie mark and a mane that’s pulled back into a bun. The pegasus continued, “Giving birth for the first time is difficult for any mare. Being Sorian’s mom, trust me, I know. This is normal after all Braeburn; you just have to be patient with her.”

“Ah knows Rain,” the Appaloosa sighed, “There have been so many things that have been buggin’ me since Calvados’s pregnancy. Ah mean, Ah’m technically the father here, and Ah don’t know how well Ah’m gonna raise our foal. Heck, Celestia knows that Ah’m terrible with them if it’s just by my lonesome.”

“But you know that you won’t be,” Thunderlane pointed out. “After all, you got Cousin Soarin and Calvados to help you out.”

Before Braeburn could answer, the doors behind him were pushed open and everypony in the waiting room turned towards the doctor that walked in. Immediately, Soarin got up from his seat, “Well?”

The stallion in a white lab coat smiled, “Mr. and Mr. Apple, would you two like to see your daughter?” From there, the film was cut to another room, this time in a hospital room, the camera showed a group of ponies that were crowding around a bed. The sounds of cooing and adoration were heard from the phonograph.

While this was going on, Jonagold turned to her grandparents, “Who’s Calvados?” They shrugged, she turned to the Cloudlines, “You know her?”

“Hey! Let me see!” Rumble cried out, and on the screen, the Apples and the Cloudlines started parting away, letting the camera through until they reached the foot of the bed. On the right was Soarin while Braeburn was on the right, in the center lying on the bed with her back prompt up against a pillow was a mare with a frazzled mane. In her hooves, was a tiny filly in swaddling clothes with its eyes closed that in the film was gray.

“She’s beautiful,” the mare in the center said.

“And she’s ours,” Soarin reached down and gently felt the foal’s mane. “I never thought that we get to start a family.”

“Me neither,” Braeburn smiled. “You know, we’re grateful that you would do this, for us.”

“I did say that I wanted to have a child too,” the mare reminded him. “Besides, I can’t wait to help with you two to raise her.”

“What are you going to name her?” Someone in the film asked. The three of them looked at one another, then back to the newborn.

“That’s a good question,” Soarin began, “What are we going to name her?”

The three of them thought for a minute, “Does it have to be an Apple name?” the mare asked.

“It… it could be Calvados,” Braeburn said. “Only what name? Ah don’t really want to reuse someone’s name. It’s gotta be unique for a filly like her.”

“What’s the name of an apple that’s also named after a mountain in Neighpon?” Soarin ventured.

“You mean Fuji?” Calvados answered.

“Oh! That’s actually-” Braeburn exclaimed but was quickly shushed by everypony in the room. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “That’s actually a pretty good name. Fuji. And lookin’ at her now, she’s like a delicious ripe red… Ah’ got it. Fuji Delicious. It’s an Apple name and it hasn’t ever been used as far as Ah know.”

The other parents looked at one another and nodded, “Yeah, I like that.” The Surrogate mother replied.

“It’s a beautiful name,” he ruffled the filly’s mane a bit until it opened its eyes. “Hello there, little Fuji.”

“Welcome to the world little one,” the Appaloosa smiled.

“You’re in such good hooves now,” Calvados said as suddenly the film ran out.

Jonagold put down her pencil, “Well, that both answers and raises some questions at the same time.”

“What do ya mean?” Home Finder inquired.

“For a while now, I’ve been wondering if the children they’ve raised were either adopted or something. But this… I think this just answered the big question. Grandma, are we directly related to Fuji Delicious?”

Grandma Fritters nodded, “That’s right, and if that little movie indicates anything, it just reinforced the fact that we’re related to Braeburn by blood directly.”

“But something’s not right about this picture,” Jonagold put a hoof to her chin. “If that were true, why we haven’t we heard about this Calvados until now?”

Everypony in the room looked at each other, “That’s actually a really good question.” Stargazer said, “Even with the last minute study of our family tree, I don’t think I’ve ever run into a name like that. I mean, since you’re technically part of our family as well, I should have seen that name, unless it was removed.”

His wife looked at him, “Why would it be?”

“Could be a number of reasons, with being a surrogate, it could be possible that she wasn’t granted visiting rights to the child.”

“Now wait a minute,” Rule Book objected, “as a lawyer, I know for a fact that in regarding to custody laws, especially for the time, the mother would have the same rights to visit and look after the child of another couple unless those parents put a restraining order, only requested by a judge on the grounds of abuse or repeated neglect. So perhaps, and I’m not exactly sure mind you all, the reason nopony has heard about her, could be because that the parents, in this case Braeburn and Soarin, had to go to court to have her rights to the child completely be cut.”

“Now hold on,” Johnny spoke up. “Are you suggesting that this surrogate mother might have abused Fuji at some point?”

The lawyer shrugged, “I don’t know for certain, but from the point of view of the law, it might be possible.” He reached into the cardboard box and pulled out the last reel, “Who knows, maybe this would provide a clue.”

Now the living room had a sense of intrigue as the film was woven into the machine and the record being replaced. Soon the familiar numbers came upon the wall, counting down until the last film showed a bright, sandy beach. Unlike the last two, what they saw was in grainy color. It showed in the frame Soarin in the air, passing a striped ball down to a red filly.

“Hey, pass it to me,” the camera panned over to Braeburn, who was without either his iconic hat or vest but was wearing lime green swim shorts. The filly bucked the ball over to him in which he jumped into the air to catch it before rolling onto the sand, “Ah swear Fuji, yer really gettin’ good at this.”

“I’m just glad I can walk around again,” she replied as the ball was passed to her. On the wall, both of her fathers frowned as the glanced at one another before the film was cut to another scene. This time it overlooked a long, low table, although it was clearly nighttime, there were torches that lit up the open air dining room. Sitting around the banquet of colorful fruit, haystacks, coconuts, banana leaves, steamy rice and tiki mugs, were the same ponies that were at the wedding and the birth, this time in color.

As the camera went around the table of a tropical vacation, Grandma Fritters pointed out, “Is it me, or is somepony missing from this picture?” Everypony in the living room turned to her to ask what she meant, “Does it look like that Calvados lady is missing?” She was right, no matter where they looked at the smiling ponies that talked to each other, eating the food or gulping down their drinks, the Fuji’s mother was completely absent from the film.

Suddenly a voice cried out on the phonograph, “Hey Y'all! Hey!” The camera swing over to where Braeburn was, next to him was his daughter and his husband. But still, the table was still chatting away, it would only take a sharp whistle from Soarin to silence them. “Right then, as some of Y'all know, today is Fuji’s birthday, and ever since we’ve made plans to come here, she thought that she would have ta missed it completely. But,” he turned to his daughter with a smile, “Soarin and Ah made some arrangements fer a bit of a surprise fer our apple of our eye.”

Soarin’s torso bend away from the table, calling out, “Okay! Bring it over!” Then out from the darkness, much to the filly’s delight, lights were seen that got closer to the table until it was made clear what it was. On the back of two ponies, was a birthday cake. From the phonograph, that eternal song of “Happy Birthday to You” rose as the cake was being brought to the banquet table. When the singing quiet down, all attention was now towards the Fuji, and her nine lit candles, she looked at the flickering lights, as if she was thinking up of a wish before she blew them out.

The camera went around the table to Fuji, and Rumble’s voice was heard, “Hey cousin, what did you wish for?”

“I’m not telling you,” she said. “It won’t come true if I said it out loud.” She looked over to her cake, frowning, “I really do want it to come true.”

“Is it about your mom?”

At this question, the filly gave him and the camera a sharp look. Soarin waved a hoof in front of the camera, “Hey, let’s not talk about that.” The screen panned backward to a disapproving blue Pegasus. “Rumble, we’re here to have fun. So please, for the rest of this vacation, let’s not talk about her, okay?”

“I’m sorry.”

Soarin’s expression soften as he reached for a knife to cut a piece. “So, do you want som-” The film suddenly cut, this time it was towards a lit stage in which everypony in the living room busted out laughing. There on the stage was Soarin and Braeburn, standing on their hindlegs, they wore green palm leaves skirts and two halves of coconuts on their chests. The both of them improvised their dance on stage as ukulele music played on the phonograph.

“C’mon, admit it,” said Soarin. “You just wanted to know what I looked like in a dress.”

“Not intentionally,” Braeburn bumped his rump against his. “Though Ah has ta say, you’d look good in it.”

“Ha! I knew it!” From the record, more laughter was heard. “Is the coconut bra really necessary?”

“Hey, Ah’ wearin’ it too. It’s all part of the look. Jus’ think of the postcards ta send to yer team with.”

Soarin’s eyes went wide; “You better not!”

“Aw c’mon, where’s the fun in that?”

“I can put up being in a hula competition in drag, but have somepony take pictures of us and send them to the Wonderbolts, you’re dead to me.”

Braeburn overdramatically put a hoof to his forehead and fell into Soarin’s arms, “Oh it ain’t so! You won’t love me no more if anypony else sees us like this.” Here, the yellow stallion looked up at him with puppy-eyes.

Soarin spins his husband around until they were face to face, “You’re lucky you’re so adorable or I wouldn’t take that so seriously.”

“It’s jus’ mah charm that Ah can convince ya inta doin’ this in the first place.”

“…. Touché.”

The film was then cut to another scene, this time the screen showed Fuji and her parents sitting on the gray ground, holding very long sticks over a stream of orange hot lava, they roasted marshmallows, except for Braeburn who was roasting an apple at the end of his stick.

“This beats a campfire any day,” Fuji said as she pulled her toasted marshmallow away.

Braeburn pulled him away to inspect it. “Mine still needs ta go longer.”

“Still?” Soarin asked in surprise after swallowing his treat. “How’s that possible? We’re sitting next to a, what? Couple thousand degree lava river and it’s still not cooked?”

“So when will you eat it Pa?” Fuji inquired.

Braeburn placed the skewered apple over the lava once more, “It’ll be finished, when it’s finished.”

“Yeah, but when?” the filly asked.

The yellow stallion lowered his apple closer to the liquid heat until it burst into flames. “Done!” He immediately pulled away and blew on it until only a somewhat chard fruit remained. “Phew, that was close.” Braeburn took a small bite out of it, “Perfect.”

Abruptly the film was cut to its final scene, this time it showed the family on the railings of a ship. The three of them in tropical shirts with their luggage next to them, watching the islands grew smaller on the horizon. “What a trip,” said Soarin.

“Yeah,” Braeburn nodded. “Ah have ta say, that was really fun.” He looked down at his daughter, the film showed his smile fade. “Fuji? Ya alright?”

The filly looked up at both of them and asked one question that shocked everypony in that living room. “Is mom going to take me away?”

Immediately, Braeburn put a hoof around her while his husband wrapped her with a wing. “We’re not going to allow it,” the pegasus stated. “We promise that we’ll do everything we can so that you will be with the ponies that genuinely care about you. You know that we love you, and we will protect you as long as we’re still alive.”

“I hope so dad,” the filly said. “I really hope so.” So with that, the film ended.

For a long time, nopony in that family room said a word. Neither Apple nor Cloudline had any idea what to say after the revelation of that film. Even Jonagold was stun to which she didn’t touch her notebook. “I… I got nothing.”

Rule Book leaned forward, resting both of his hooves underneath his chin, “I think that this might explain a few things. Obviously, something has happened that has involved with her and the mother. Something serious no doubt, though the question is of course, what?”

“Did she mention that her foreleg was broken at one point?” Granny Fritters asked. “Do any of you think that poor Fuji was abused?”

“I would be surprised if it wasn’t,” the elder Cloudline said, shaking his head. “Then again, we have very little to go off of.”

The lawyer thought for a moment, turning to the young Apple, he suggested, “Perhaps you might want to look up to see if Braeburn had gone to court for some reason. Maybe in civil court most likely,” when the teenager inquired if that was possible. “All you have to do is go down to the courthouse and ask since it’s been over a century, you should be able to see some record of a trial or a hearing of some kind. Of course, you just have to ask by name to see if they have it on the record.”

“Well,” Johnny spoke up, “I find this rather enlightening. Thank you guys for letting us see them.”

“Same to you,” Home Finder said, “Perhaps the next time we have our family reunion, we might include you guys as well.”

“You have our granddaughter to thank,” Grandpa Applesauce pointed out. “I suppose that whatever made us be separated, it is now thanks to her that we are brought back together.”

“It’s all just started as a school assignment,” Jonagold admitted, “Something that I still need to do.” She looked back at the old journal that she was given, “Still, I have to thank you all for helping me putting all the missing pieces together. I guess all I need to do know is to go through this and maybe go down to the courthouse to see if there’s anything there. Maybe something useful will turn up.”

Soarin’s Journal: Feb/14/1000

After dinner, Jonagold returned to her room once more for study, only this time instead of going to her computer, she pulled out the aged notebook and set it on her bed. Flipping through the book, she can see that not only was it defiantly in Soarin Cloudline’s hoofwriting. She had already put some sticky notes that marked his date with her ancestor that she really wanted to read about. Armed with her notebook that set aside and a pencil, she flipped through the old notebook to the first marked entry.

Feb/14/1000

This Hearts and Hooves day has been full of surprises. Then again, considering that this is the first time I’ve dated a guy, I really had no idea what exactly to expect from it all. But from what has happened today, I’m actually rather glad I did.

Perhaps, I should start from the beginning…

“Appaloosa!” the train conductor called out as he walked through the car. “This stop is Appaloosa! Population: One-hundred-and-seventy-four. The time now is five minutes ‘til eleven.”

Soarin, meanwhile, was looking out of the passenger window as that familiar town came near. He was feeling rather nervous about what he and his best friend had agreed to do. How could he not? The Wonderbolt had agreed in going on a date with him, on Hearts and Hooves day of all occasions. Not that this wasn’t the first time he’d been on a date, with a few mares, sure, but considering what was about to happen, he felt like he was an awkward teenager again.

‘It’s gonna be fine,’ he kept telling himself. ‘This is Braeburn you’re going out with for crying out loud! He’s not gonna just sneak in some knock-out drug and drag you to his place. You know that he isn’t like that at all. But… why can’t I shake off the feeling that something is bound to go wrong?’

The train pulled up to the tiny station. Soarin took with him the little box that he had been traveling with and tucked it under his wing before walking off. At first, he didn’t see his yellow friend anywhere, even with all these other cowponies going about up and down the single street, there seemed to be no trace of him.

“H-Howdy partner,” Soarin nearly jumped out of his hide when he spun to where that voice was coming from. He found Braeburn was right behind him, “Woah there! Ah’m sorry about that, Ah thought you’d noticed me by now.”

“Where did-” the Pegasus was about to say but shook his head. “You know what, nevermind that. Uh… here!” he pulled out from under his wing the box that was wrapped in shiny red paper. “I wasn’t exactly sure what you would like so I ended up getting you this.”

Tilting his head, the yellow Apple took ahold of the present and proceeded to tear the paper and flipped open the lid, at the sight of what was inside, he chuckled. “Chocolate Roses… how appropriate.”

“Yeah…” Soarin rubbed the back of his neck. There was an awkward silence between the two stallions for a very long minute before either of them spoke. As it turned out, it was Braeburn who broke the silence.

“Um, Soar, about what happened awhile ago-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” the blue stallion interrupted. “We’ve already forgiven each other on what went down on Hearths Warming. So let’s not try to make this any more awkward than it already is.”

“Ah think we’re a little too late fer that,” Braeburn pointed out. “After all, Soar, you know you don’t really have ta do this whole… date thing with me.”

Soarin shook his head, “But I really do want to make it up to you. I don’t know what will happen after this, but let’s do it for us to figure things out, you know? So I’ll tell you what, for the whole day, starting now, whatever you want to do, I’ll go along with it. You can have me do anything you want.”

The cowpony blinked, “Anythin’?” his friend nodded. “Buddy, this is really kind of ya and all but-”

“Dude, I meant when I wrote that I do want to make it up to you. So whatever you want us to do today, I’ll go through it.”

“Well… okay,” Braeburn looked down the street. “It’s gettin’ close ta lunchtime, you wanna grab somethin’?”

“Sure. Where do you have in mind?”

“Ah think Ah know a place,” the cowpony the lead his friend down the one road street to a bakery. After ordering a hot apple pie to go, they then took to the hillsides that overlooked the town before they sat down underneath a shady apple tree. He couldn’t help but notice Soarin linger over the view, “Ah don’t blame ya.” He said to snap the pegasus out of his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“You like our picnic spot?”

“Oh yeah yeah,” Soarin nodded dumbly. “Look, I’m sorry it’s just that,” he let out a frustrated sigh. “You know what? I’m just gonna be honest with ya here. I really have no idea what I’m doing.”

Braeburn raised an eyebrow, “What does that mean?”

“I’m saying that this whole date thing is different for me because, for one, you’re my best friend. I already know you. On the dates that I have been in the past, the point of those was to get to know them. With you, however…”

“So? What difference does that make?” he asked as he cut a slice of the still warm pie. “Didn’t ya say some time back that goin’ on a date is jus’ a glorified version of hangin’ out? Well, let’s do that. Like how are things with them Wonderbolts?”

“Besides the captain is driving me up the wall with training?” the sky blue pony chuckled. “You should have seen the routines we’ve been doing over and over. I swear on some days I wonder if we’re really practicing dance moves rather than flight maneuvers.” At this, Braeburn busted out laughing, “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, Ah jus’ think that the very idea of yous dancin’ is really amusin’ ta me,” he said.

Now it was Soarin’s turn to raise an eyebrow, “Define ‘amusing’. Like pole dancing or…?” At this, his friend immediately put a hoof over his mouth, his cheeks turning red as he tried to suppress a laugh.

This only lasted a moment before the cowpony stared daggers at him, “Oh that’s evil.”

“What? Teasing ya how you really want to see me?”

“…. Ah’m not gonna answer that.” Braeburn tried to keep a straight face, only to fail miserably as his friend too broke out laughing. “To answer yer question,” he continued on once they regained themselves as he passed the pie over to him. “Ah think it would be fun to teach ya a few wild west dances. It’s somethin’ that Ah don’t think you’ve ever done befor’. As well ta see how miserably you’ll fail at it.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Braeburn smirked, “Maybe.”

Needless to say, I failed miserably.

At this, Jonagold giggled.

Then again, it was my fault that I really didn’t know what I was in for. I had thought that a Wild West dance was something simple, but boy was I wrong. Turns out, there were so many complicated steps that I just ended up improvising. Brae was laughing so hard that he had to step off the dance floor so he could roll around on the ground. “Ya look like a chicken!” he said between laughs. Which was, unfortunately, true, I was waving my wings around so much that it only ended up making me look ridiculous. But I noticed, oddly, how much fun I was really having because he was laughing not at me but with me.

So we took a breather, sitting on the sidelines while other couples were dancing away at something that they clearly had more experience in. As I watched ponies move around on the dusty dance floor, I started to zone out because I wondered about our future. What would come out of this date? Will things be different between Braeburn and I from now on?

“Hey, you okay Soar?” Braeburn prodded a hoof at Soarin’s side.

“Huh?” his friend snapped back into reality.

“Ah asked if you were okay, you kinda went out of it back there.”

“Yeah…” the Pegasus stood up, “Hey can we go somewhere else? I think I wanna talk to ya about something.”

Braeburn complied, the two stallions exited the dusty space and back onto the dirt road. “So what’s up?” the cowpony inquired.

With a sigh, he replied, “Dude, please be honest with me when I ask this: where do we go from here?”

“What ya mean?”

“Do you want to be, you know, just friends? I mean I’m cool with that if you want. Or… Or do you want what we have to go deeper than that?”

“Ah think it’s still a bit too early ta tell. Bein’ our first... you know, date and all, that Ah can’t tell if things will change fer us. But you know what partner?” he smirked, “Ah don’t know about you, but Ah’m havin’ fun as it is, and it’s way too early to end it right here and now. Then again, Ah’m really glad to have ya around once more. Bein’ that Ah don’t get to see ya as often as Ah like with us havin’ different careers and whatnot that needs our attention elsewhere.”

“You got that right. If only you were born a Pegasus, and you’re in the Wonderbolts too, then it won’t be so stressful doing all these tricks, traveling around and have Captain Spitz come snapping at ya.” Soarin laughed uneasily, “I guess what I’m trying to say is… I miss you.”

“Ah know,” Braeburn patted his friend’s back. “Still, it’s really good to have ya here. More importantly, to be with me when Ah need it the most, with tryin’ ta figure out if Ah… you know. It’s jus’ so good to hear your jokes, listenin’ to me, pigging out on that pie, havin’ you takin’ up a challenge. Ya know you’ve been so selfless of doin’ this fer me, even after we…” he trailed off. “Well, Ah guess Ah miss ya too.”

“But that still hasn’t answered my question,” Soarin pointed out. “After this whole date thing is done, and I have to go back to the Wonderbolts, we do we go from here? I mean, we can’t be… coltfriends, if the other isn’t around that often.”

Just then, Braeburn stopped, “Well… why not? We still got the mail, don’t we? Plus that telegraph has been set up so we can send notes to each other. Because, to be honest, this is probably the closest thin’ Ah’ve gotten to a real relationship with anyone, and Ah don’t wanna lose that. Soar, bein’ mah best friend or not, Ah think Ah’m really startin’ ta like ya. And not bein’ able to hear so much as a word from ya would devastate me. Because, Ah don’t know about ya, but Ah hope that maybe… just maybe, there’s a chance that Ah could really know what it might be to be truly happy.”

Soarin’s cheeks gave a pinkish tint, “You… That’s what you think of me?”

Braeburn nodded. “Do you?”

His friend took in a deep breath, “I’m not sure yet. But I’ll tell you what, maybe by the end of the day, I’ll try to give you a real answer. If by the off chance that I don’t, then I promise that we’ll work through this. Who knows, maybe we might find somepony better, and given what our kiss may suggest, I guess our options have really been opened up,” he said with a smirk.

The yellow Apple looked away, this time it was his face’s turn to blush. “Yeah… thanks. So what do you wanna do know?”

It took a moment for his best friend to think of an answer, “Is it possible we can play some buckball?”

At this, Braeburn’s face brightens up, “Not only is it possible, but with you here, we can play a proper game. You know Ah’m the coach around these here parts, and while the team is mostly made up of kids, we should be able to go a couple of rounds if ya give me time to put the team together.”

“Let’s do it then,” Soarin insisted, “It’s been awhile since we’ve done anything like that.”

Within less than ten minutes, we’ve got a real buckball game going. The team was mostly made up of kids of course, and there was only one Pegasus that was around in the whole town that was their age, but we’ve managed. Of course, they were excited that they get to play with a real Wonderbolt so naturally, every single one of them wanted to be on my team. We ended up having them take turns with every round when one ball gets dunked into one basket or the other.

Even now, as I’m writing this, it’s still shocking how fast the whole game was. I and Brae were having so much fun kicking and blocking the ball with those kids that before we knew it, the calls to dinner were heard so our tiny teammates had to go. But I didn’t feel like ending our day just yet, and luckily, neither did Brae.

He ended up inviting me over to his house to cook for me. I would have insisted that I would cook for him if it weren’t for the fact that I have no culinary skills whatsoever. So an hour later after we called quits on our game, I was sitting by at his table, watching him cook up a storm.

The air in the kitchen was spiced with the smells of cinnamon and cumin, butter and black pepper, mint and thyme, coco and tomato that were mixed in that small space. Soarin couldn’t help but watch the yellow Apple juggle from frying pan to the mixer, nearly doing somersaults between the oven to the cookbooks, not with the skill of an artist, but an acrobat. Each step was methodically planned with the timing between dinner and dessert. A splash of apple whiskey here, a pinch of salt there, it was clear that Braeburn not only did this before but from the Wonderbolt’s perspective, he was putting on a show.

“Do you do this often?” Soarin ventured to ask while the Earth Pony opened a cabinet to take down some plates.

“What? Showin’ off?”

“No, I mean cook in general. I mean, I know you can make a mean apple pie but I didn’t think you’re capable of doing this.”

Braeburn shrugged as he set a plate in front of Soarin and another across from him. “Ah maybe livin’ out here in the middle of nowhere, but ya gotta eat.”

“What are ya making over there anyway?” the Pegasus inquired as the yellow Apple returned to the kitchen area.

“Ah figured jus’ some spaghetti and a brownie recipe Ah’ve learned a while ago from a neighbor.” He craned his neck over to where Soarin was sitting, “By the way, what do ya wanna drink? Ah’ve got some milk in the ice box, unless you want somethin’ stronger.”

“Do you drink wine?” Soarin wondered aloud. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink that stuff.”

“Only on rare occasions, but since this is one of those days… Ah guess Ah can get out a bottle.”

Ten minutes later, with food on the table, Braeburn returned to the table with a dark bottle and a couple of glasses. Not for the sort for wine, he set down a few mugs down. “This is the best Ah’ve got,” he said as he too sat down. “You don’t mind, do ya?”

“Hey, wine is wine, no matter what you pour it into, let me,” the Pegasus took the bottle in one hoof and a corkscrew in the other and pulled it open until they heard a pop from it. After this, he then poured for his best friend. “You know, I can’t believe that you would go out of your way to do this for me. None of the other dates I’ve been on have ever cooked for me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, usually I’m the one that treats the other out, so to speak. Paying for dinner, taking them out to shows, the whole nine yards, I’m the one that does everything; it’s kinda… refreshing to have someone like you to go through all the trouble for me.”

Braeburn nervously chuckled, blushing; he immediately went for the wine, “Yer too kind. This bein’ a date and all, especially with mah best bud, Ah just kinda hope to make an impression on ya.”

Soarin took up a fork to twist it into the pasta, trying to get at the red sauce before putting it into his mouth. “Woah…” he swallowed, “dude, you really should get a medal for this.”

“It’s jus’ spaghetti. Wait til’ ya tried the brownies, the gal Ah’ve got it from had a cousin that worked in some high-end bakery in Manehattan. So you know that they’re good.” The two of them fell silent as they dug into their plates until the cowpony spoke up, “Ya know, Ah kinda wonder why we haven’t done this sooner.”

“What? Eating?”

“Ah mean, our date. Compared to the other Heart and Hooves days that Ah had, this is by far the funniest. Do you kinda wish that we should have done this thin’ earlier?”

Soarin chewed through his mouthful of pasta before he answered, “To be honest, I’m rather glad that we did. Sure, I didn’t exactly think I would end up doing this, but yeah, I had fun too. At least I didn’t have to drop a fortune on a pearl necklace and flowers.”

Braeburn chuckled, “Shucks, what would Ah be needin’ those for? They’re impractical when you’re buckin’ trees or what have you. Although, takin’ me out to someplace fancy once in a while wouldn’t hurt.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Soarin deadpanned. “I may have a pretty good salary, but I’m not exactly a millionaire… yet.”

“Still, even with what Ah got, Ah hope Ah’ve made an impression on ya.”

“I think you’re a little too late for that,” the sky blue pony replied as he took in another bite of that spicy pasta. “You know, even if you don’t end up with me, I will even that pony you do call your special somepony. I mean, you’re a great cook, a great hoofball player, and one of the hardest working ponies I know.”

“Well Ah could say the same with you,” Braeburn said. “How many ponies can get the chance to date a real Wonderbolt? Someone that’s as open-minded as you are, and…” he blushed. “You know.”

Soarin raised an eyebrow, “What?”

His friend hesitated before he answered softly, “…. Ah think you’re a great kisser.”

“Um… thanks,” he took a sip of his wine. “Though remind me again, was that your first?”

Braeburn’s ears folded back, his cheeks still reddened with embarrassment, “Yes’m. Too bad Ah can’t exactly recall, bein’ drunk off mah flank and all. Though, of course, Ah do remember the morning after when you…” he sighed, “Ah still can’t get it out of mah mind. On the one hoof, Ah’ve locked lips with mah best friend, then again… Ah did like it.”

The table descended into an awkward silence. Soarin chugged down his glass before moving from his side of the table to plopping down next to the cowpony. “Maybe it’s the moment or the wine already talking but… do you want to give it another go?”

His friend’s eyes went as wide as the table. “Wh… What?”

“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t exactly mind at the time either and how we left off… I did say that I want to make it up to you somehow so… how about it? This time, I’ll totally go through with it if you really want to. But if not, that’s fine, just so you know that I’m willing.”

Braeburn blinked, “Y-You mean… like now?”

“I guess it can be or maybe some other night, all I’m saying that at any time you wanted to kiss me again, you can when you see the moment is right.”

“O-Oh… thanks,” he turned his head away, towards the table. “Let’s finish up eating’, then Ah’ll get the fireplace goin’.”

When dinner was finished, brownies were devoured and the dishes were put in the sink, the yellow Apple lit a fire in the hearth until it was brazing bright. The two stallions lay on the couch, watching the flames dance silently and the smoke drift up the chimney. Neither one said a word for a long time until Braeburn broke the silence.

“Soarin, thank you – fer givin’ me a date for Hearts and Hooves day.”

“I take it that I’ve made it all up to you?”

“Eeyup,” the yellow stallion looked over into his friend’s eyes. “Ah think this is somethin’ Ah would remember. Even if nothin’ comes out of this, Ah do thank ya fer givin’ me a chance to… show off mah romantic side.”

“You have one?” Soarin teased, and at this, he receives a playful punch to his foreleg. “Ow!”

“Oh, real funny Soar,” he shook his head and smirked at the same time. “What Ah’m tryin’ ta get at is Ah’m grateful that you’d be doin’ this fer me.”

“I know.” The two stallions returned their attention back towards the fire for several minutes. Then, from the stillness, Soarin felt a hoof reaching around the back of his head that made him turn towards his best friend. Now being forced to look at him in their eye, it seemed that all the forces in the universe, including time, had stood still to watch.

“Soar…” Braeburn gulped, “Do you mind if we uh… try again?”

He chuckled, “I think this would make it a… take three?” the pegasus, as blue as the sky lowered his eyelids until they were closed and waited. In that calm moment, he heard the other stallion licking his lips and breathing deep before leaning his head up to his. Needless to say, their lips did meet with that familiar warmth that came with it. Heartbeats raced and the electrical sensation of contact blended one second to the next to the point of rendering it meaningless. Warmth and wetness of their blind mouths ruled that space of eternity.

They pulled away, each wiping the saliva from their own hoof. “That was…” the cowpony began in a breathy voice but cleared his throat before he continued. “Ah’ll give ya this, at least this time, it was much better.”

Soarin chuckled, “Yeah… now, who taught you to kiss like that?” both stallions laughed as the yellow Apple reached up and messed with his dark blue mane.

“Guess it came naturally,” he smiled.

Brushing the yellow hoof away, the Wonderbolt asked, “You remember earlier when you wondered if it might be possible if we could have a relationship?” His friend nodded, “I think that when I find more time outside of practice, that we should probably do this more often.”

The cowpony’s jaw dropped, “Y-You mean?”

“Yeah. If there’s anyone that I want to go on a date when I’m not working my flank off, I want it to be with you. So thanks dude, for letting me.”

Braeburn hugged his neck, and Soarin in return wrapped his wings around him.

Naturally, I’m spending the night at Brae’s for a couple of days. He insisted that I can have his room while he sleeps on the coach, which is where I find myself to be writing from. Even though I have never dated a guy before, I’m really glad that at least I got to do it with him. I don’t know if this is the start of a relationship or not, at the moment, I feel happy that I can get to be with Braeburn. Too bad that it won’t be for long though, there’s still much to do with so little time to hang around with him. But tomorrow, I’m determining to make each moment count.

– Soarin.

Jonagold smiled, ‘That was so sweet,’ she thought. ‘I wonder if all of their dates are like this,’ immediately, the pegasus flipped the pages over to the next marked page.

Envelope 4: June – July, 1000 A.B.N.M.

For most of that next morning, Jonagold still couldn’t get those letters off her mind. Even with the school that her attention was demanded, she couldn’t let go of what she’d learned about her famous ancestor. She really wanted to know what became of him and Soarin. Sure, from her dad she knew they’ve gotten married, but what happened after that? Surely with those letters, there must have been something, anything to give her an idea of what had happened.

“You-hoo! Equestria to Jonagold, you there?”

“Huh?” the young Pegasus snapped her attention upward. It was a lunch period and she realized that she hadn’t touched her try for the past five minutes while her friends were talking. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“So we’ve noticed,” Wind Catcher rolled her eyes. The buffalo put down her apple as she asked, “So what’s gotten into ya today?”

“Yeah,” sitting next to her was an orange unicorn that had thick glasses below her tied back copper mane. “You seemed unfocused Jona, is something on your mind?”

“In a way… yeah Rosemary,” the pegasus nodded. “Remember that assignment in Ms. Mindpolk’s class? Where we have to write a paper on a historical figure and to diagnose whatever they had but we have to use primary sources?” they’ve nodded. “Long story short, I’m doing mine one of the founders of this town, Braeburn Apple. I went to the library and was lucky to find some letters he had written to somepony that I’ve never heard of before, Soarin Cloudline.”

Both girls exchanged some confused looks. “Who’s Soarin?” Wind Catcher inquired.

“He was in the Wonderbolts a hundred years ago. But that’s not the point; it’s what I’ve found out that’s gotten me all distracted.”

“Okay?” the unicorn adjusted her glasses, “And that being…?”

“Do you two really want to know?” they nodded. “As it turns out, both of those guys were best buds. And within a year after my great-great-great-grandfather had settled here, he fell in love with his best friend, who is a guy.”

Both of her friend’s eyes widen and their cheeks took on a shade of pink. “Whoa, really?” Wind asked.

“Yep,” Jonagold nodded as she scooped up some hayfries. “I have an ancestor that’s gay. Something that nopony in the family knows about apparently until now.”

“Wow,” her unicorn friend said. “I mean sweet Luna Jona, who would have guessed? The Braeburn Apple was into guys, and yet, you’re related to him?”

“I know… I know…” the pegasus told her. “I had the exact same thought that crossed my mind when I was reading a good chunk of those letters from last night. It makes me wonder about a lot of things really. For one, dad looked up who Soarin was and he found out that he was married to him but not much of anything after that. I don’t know if they’ve adopted somepony or they’ve gotten a mare to be a surrogate mother or what. And other thing is that I found out from Braeburn is that he’s a closeted gay guy that isn’t sure how the settlers would reacted to him and his partner. So there are a lot of gray areas in my family’s history that I honestly don’t know about.”

“But why is this troubling you?” her buffalo friend questioned, “I mean, grant it, this is unexpected, but why has this gotten you stressed?”

“Because, if you found out that you had an ancestor that’s gay and gotten hitched to somepony who’s the same gender as they were, do you wonder if you really have a bloodline with your family’s past, or someone else’s? Are we really Apples?”

Rosemary put a hoof to her chin in thought, “Why should ancestry matter? I mean, you’re still you, and your family is still the Apples, right? Even if you’re not related to him by blood, you are in your family name, and that’s what’s important isn’t it?”

“Besides,” Wind added, “I think it’s kinda cool that one of the founders of this town was gay. You don’t hear a lot of gay ponies in the history books that often.”

“Given the time period, is it really that surprising?” Jonagold deadpanned as she turned her attention towards her lunch.

“I’m just saying…” the buffalo shrugged.

_*_

As soon as Jonagold got home, she went to her room to her computer and opened up the photos of her ancestor’s letters. “Now if I’m right…” she muttered to herself, “June 1000 was when you guys made peace with the tribe. Let’s see what you have to say about it.” After looking through the grouped files and saw the marked date of it, she clicked on it to see that this first one came from Braeburn.

Dear Soarin,

This letter is gonna be short. It’s not that I’m so busy since you last came to visit me last week; rather, hardly anything has been going on. Which is sorta weird because there’s been nothing: no new settlers, no new trees, no Buffalo attack, no… anything really. There’s nothing to write about in Appaloosa because there hasn’t been much to talk about.

But anyway, I know I’ve already told you to think like a good thousand times and one, but I do thank ya for coming over to see me. I don’t know if I’ve already told you this but you sir, are full of surprises, who ever knew that you would be the romantic type? Like when you suddenly picked me right up and carried me through the sky, Celestia, I’ve never had that much fun in my life! To have only had your hooves around me into the bright, golden sunset, it really was incredible. I consider it poetic in a way, being up there with you when the wind blowing through our manes, being weightless above the orchards and desert. You definitely deserved that kiss afterwards.

Anyways, my Cousin wrote back to me saying that she is coming with her friends to drop off the tree. I’m rather excited to finally see somepony in the family, to be honest. With all the progress of how fast this town has sprung up in a year’s time, I just wanna show her everything.

I promise that as soon as something interesting happens, I’ll write to you.

Yours,

– Braeburn.

Dear Braeburn,

Thanks for the letter you’ve sent me. And yes, I know that you’re grateful from our last date, our kiss was evident of that. I did feel that you deserve that flight, with how much you’ve opened to me the last time we’ve visited. With us Pegasi, it’s a rather special thing to do that for a non-pegasi. To fly with their significant other so closely is an ancient test of trust, and I’m so glad you’ve passed. It’s still kinda sad that we have to be so apart.

In other news, I’ve fully come out to my team. Overall, the reaction to the fact that I’m dating you is either full acceptance or they’re not that interested. The mares, especially like Fleetfoot, Misty Fly and Sun Chaser, had so many questions for me about you. I think for your sake I won’t dare repeat some of the questions they’ve asked me because some of the things they wanted to know were… personal. They guys on the other hoof were taken aback for a while to the fact that I was dating a dude, but as far as I can see, they’re not treating me any differently before I told them.

Remember sometime back when you were worried over if you should come out? If I were you, for your sake that is, I would go out of my way to find somepony who I can trust absolutely. I worry about your mentality of having to hide yourself all the time, so maybe if you found a friend who you can drop the mask around, perhaps it would be of some help. Though, I won’t pressure you into it, heck, it took me months to make up my mind to come out myself. Only do so when you feel ready and see fit to tell the truth. I do get that it’s scary, it was for me too. But once you’ve found a friend who you can trust, just remember what you said to me when I joined the Wonderbolts, “Do the scary thing first, be afraid afterwards.”

I’m afraid that’s all I got so far, I could go on about the trainings at the academe, but I have a feeling that you won’t be interested in reading that. As I’m writing this, I’m trying to think of how to end this letter. Perhaps I could probably ask you a very personal question that you don’t have to write back about: Braeburn, when do you think it would be the right time, when we see each other again, do you want to get… intimate with me. Now before you jump to conclusions here, I already know what you’re thinking and no, I’m not ready for that yet. I’m just thinking that if we continue on with this kind of relationship, I think that eventually we might do it in bed. I will not pressure you into doing this unless you say so. Only when you feel ready bud that I’ll consent to, hopefully, giving you a night to remember, after all, I do trust you.

Yours from the skies,

– Soarin.

Jonagold blushed when she read that last paragraph. While she half expected that she would eventually run into something like this given the fact that these were private letters, she wasn’t exactly prepared to encounter her ancestor’s coltfriend making such a proposal. “Six months after you guys decided to hook up and already you wanna get busy?” she muttered. The pegasus shook her head to clear her thoughts before moving on to the next letter.

Dear Soarin,

What a week! There’s been so much that has happened in the past few days that have changed everything. But first thing’s first, I have gotta tell ya about what went down when Cousin AJ came to town.

It all started when the train rolled up to the station that I finally saw my cousin for the first time since the family reunion before I moved out here. I was so excited to finally to show off the town to her and her friends that I didn’t pay attention to what they were trying to tell me. Why it wasn’t until we got to the orchards did my cousin told me the news that her friends, along with the tree she promised to bring had disappeared when a herd of Buffaloes ambushed their train.

I can tell ya that they were pretty plum worried about them. They’ve crashed over at my home to sleep in, but in the middle of the night, I could hear them walking whispering, even getting up from time to time. I don’t think any of them got much sleep that night, they were planning on hiking into Buffalo territory to find them.

But the next morning, something incredible happened: not only did the rest of their friends appeared in town, but the very daughter of the chief of the Buffaloes came to talk! Well… we were gonna start saying something to each other, but Applejack’s friends started to start accusing each other over the orchards. Then the pink mare… I forgot what her name was, came up with an idea of trying to get us with the Buffalo together to make peace by song… Yeah, I wasn’t sure where her head was at the time, but let’s just say that it ended up backfiring to the point that it almost started a war.

“Ah ha!” Jonagold said as she tapped the side of the screen with her hoof. “Here it is.”

I don’t know if I’ll be able to describe the panic it caused up until the next day at noon. Ponies left and right was shutting up windows, building barricades with whatever we had, and making the pies for ammunition. At noon, the buffalo showed up, ready to stampede our town into rubble. There were so many of them that I thought that we were going to lose too! They came galloping down, bursting through our barricades so we started tossing our pies at them, trying to hit them in the face to blind them while they were at full charge. There was a lot of confusion as to what was going on, but all of a sudden, things became quiet as both ponies and buffaloes paused.

It was there that a funny thing happened when I looked to see what was going on, the chief got hit by a pie in the face when some of the mess fell into his mouth. Right there, he used his tongue to lick himself clean. Soarin, you should have seen ‘em, he loved the stuff! In fact, it was probably because of that, the chief had come up with an idea where we could start building a truce. You see, the reason why they’ve been attacking our orchards as it turns out was that we’ve planted on their stomping grounds. But as we finally gotten word to them that we need the apple trees for our food, a proposal was made in which we both agreed on. The Buffaloes would leave our trees alone as long as they get the fruit too, along with the pies as well.

Well, that’s exactly what we did. We cut a path through our orchard for the tribe to go through it and giving them each a pie after they’ve gone through it. Now, since this is the start of a new peace, it was also proposed that each side should assign someone to act as a sort of ambassador to speak to the other. Well, I volunteered to do so, and so did the chief’s daughter, whose name is Little Strongheart.

The only way I can describe this gal is that while she is defiantly defending her traditions of her tribe and will teach you when asked, she’s also curious about us since the truce. We have been meeting up every morning to learn a little more of our ways of life. I can safely call her a friend, even after we’ve talked about what our side needs that the other can provide like better ways of finding water or to fertilize our crops better (don’t ask). Overall, I think with our friendship that there’s a fighting chance for the both of us in the future of Appaloosa.

It makes me think though… can I trust her enough to let her in on my secret?

The young pegasus paused. Going off from what she knew about Strongheart, how her ancestor described her was very accurate. She’s even considered a hero in Appaloosa for bringing unity between her tribe and the settlers while finding a balance between tradition and the technology that the ponies brought. Though considering the question from the letter, it did make her think how much the then chief’s daughter knew about Braeburn.

But that’s enough of me rambling on, what about you? I can say that I’m glad that your team has accepted us. This gives me a good reason to sleep better at night knowing that you can be safe among your compadres. After reading your letter, I can easily imagine you being such a tease to the mares over there. Perhaps, if I find the time, I could probably pop up there so we can make so many practical jokes, and maybe get to know the folks that have made my Soarin into the Wonderbolt he is now.

As to the uh… proposal… I won’t lie in saying that it did take me aback when I read it. I do agree that if we keep going on with this sort of relationship, we might end up doing it sooner or later. To be honest with ya, if that were to happen, I would have no idea what to do. They don’t exactly cover this subject in sex-ED you know. I’m afraid of either not liking it or messing it up somehow. But even if you knew how, I on the other hoof think that in a serious relationship, one should wait at least a year to get to know the pony proper before having a roll in the hay. It’s not that I’m turning it down, but rather I don’t think it’s the right time for that just yet.

Welp, that’s all I got for now. With the truce in place, things are looking up from here. Let me know where you guys will be touring next.

Yours from a more peaceful desert,

– Braeburn.

Before Jonagold could click on the next letter, a knock on the door was heard. A moment later, it was opened by her father, “Hey Jo, you got a moment?”

“Sure,” she stood up from her desk. “I was about to take a water break so, what’s up?” she asked as she talked out of the door and headed towards the kitchen.

“Well,” he started as followed behind her. “I’ve been making calls during lunch, asking the family if any of them knew about Braeburn’s spouse.”

“Why?”

“I just wanted to make sure if they know about this since I certainly haven’t heard of it. Well, the first pony I called up was Grandpa Applesauce since he’s the oldest. I asked him if he knew who Braeburn was married to. He told me that he thinks it was a mare, only he couldn’t put a name to it. But here’s where it got really interesting,” by now they were in the kitchen. “No matter who I’ve asked, they all gave me the same answer: ‘I don’t really know what Braeburn’s wife was.’”

“So nopony knows?” Jonagold asked as she opened the cabinet and pulled out a glass. “I mean, no surprise there right? You said so yourself that maybe Soarin got so depressed that he just locked up everything about Braeburn away until everypony forgot all about it.”

“I’m starting to have doubts,” her father admitted and his daughter inquired why. “There’s something rather fishy about all of this. Take for example, do you remember last August when the Ms. Mint had lost her husband and she hid everything that reminded of her husband away?”

“Yeah?”

“Now, here’s a question for you: did anypony in the Mint family forgotten all about Mr. Mint?”

“Of course not,” the mare replied as if it was the most simple question ever asked as she filled her cup. “Wintergreen wouldn’t stop talking about him whenever she has tea in her backyard. And Pepper still misses him whenever I go to foalsit. Nopony just…” she shut off the water as she realized something, “You don’t just forget somepony that just recently died.”

“Even when it happens years later,” the stallion fished her conclusion. “You know Jo, I’m starting to think that there’s more to this family secret then meets the eye.”

“So you think that at some point, somepony tried to erase Soarin from our family history?”

“It’s a possibility, but I can’t figure out who would do that.”

Jonagold gulped down the water and set it aside on the sink, “I’m gonna read some more of those letters. So far, I’ve just to the one where Braeburn described the truce with the Buffaloes.”

“And I’ll get dinner going. How does a stir-fry sound?”

“That’s fine,” she said before she returned to her room and closed the door behind her. Returning to her desk, she clicked on the next letter and quickly noticed from the first paragraph that there might have been a letter or two missing.

Dear Soarin,

First of all, thanks for sending me those postcards in Applewood. I’m glad that your show went well, and thanks for giving me an eyewitness account on what Whinnyland is really like. Second, I hope that you’ll recover from the food poisoning; I know how you feel when I had that undercook pie a couple of years ago.

Thirdly… I have something to tell you about me and Little Strongheart that has happened today. Long story short, I came out to her – but before I can get to that, I do have to explain to ya how it happened.

You see after the truce was put into place, the gal has thought that maybe I should come over to her nomadic village to show how things work for the tribe. As it turns out, it’s about an hour and a half’s hike away from the town that up in the mountains. In truth Soarin, I’ve never seen anything like this village. The buffalo live in huge tents that they called teepees in which Strongheart told me that they can dismantle and reassemble very quickly. It’s very practical too in which its sturdy against the winds and has an ingenious ventilating system for the fire pit they build around so that it never gets too smoky in there.

As she showed me of how the tribe is able to survive in a place like this for Celestia-knows-how-long, I kept having the feeling that maybe it was time to let her in on my secret. In fact, as she showed me how they’ve made their wells in which they’re able to get clean water from the earth, I still remembered what I said to her. Which was, “Hey, Strongheart, can I ask ya somethin’?”

“I don’t see why not,” she replied. “You are always free to ask.”

I think I gulped at this point, “How well can you keep a secret?” she tilted her head and asked what I meant by that. “I mean, we can trust each other right? In the past month, we’ve been building up a pretty good friendship overall to the point that we can let the other know something personal about themselves.”

She smiled, “Well of course. That’s why we’ve made the whole truce thing on. On trust, although, I do find it strange that you’re asking me to withhold something.”

“It’s…” I looked back at her village, which was a good several yards away. Nopony was around so I told her, “It’s something that I’m not sure that my town is ready to hear. ‘cause I think that I might be putting my safety at risk if this… trait I have falls into the wrong hooves. And considerin’ yer culture, I’m taking a pretty bit risk just telling you this.”

Strongheart gave a concerned look, “Why? You didn’t do something bad, did you?”

“No. At least I don’t think it is, but not everyone would see it like that. Still, can I trust you?” she said that she could. So, after taking several, very deep breaths, I told her the truth. “Strongheart… I’m gay.”

Now, in that split second, I was terrified. I had no idea how she would react by either outright rejection or acceptance. But something interesting happened though, instead of neither, she blinked, tilted her head and said only two words: “What’s gay?”

You may laugh all you want Soarin, but I tell ya that she had no idea what I was talking about. I tried using other words like, “Homosexual,” and even the more demeaning phrase like “Colt-Cuddler.” But she still hasn’t a clue what I was talking about. It wasn’t until I explained it to her that it’s when two members of the same gender are romantically and sexually attracted to each other, did she start to get the concept. I asked her if there was anything like that in her tribe.

She sat there thinking for awhile, “Not really, I’ve never heard anything like it. Still, it’s rather curious. I never heard of such a thing before, is it a pony thing?”

To sum it all up, we’ve spent the day talking about my sexuality and she asked a lot of questions. She was really curious about it too, Strongheart wanted to know how it worked, who I’ve been with, why do I see you as something special, and a whole bunch more that if I were to write it all down, I will probably be sending you a whole book!

Luckily for me, she said she will keep her promise not to tell anyone about it. Though at the same time, I know that she’s gonna ask more the next time I see her.

Phew! That took longer than I thought of writing to you. My hoof is sore and it’s already time for me to hit the hay. I do hope that you’ll get well soon Soar, I miss you out here.

Yours,

– Braeburn.