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.