//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Show // Story: The Roadie and the Show Stopper // by Br0nyb0y123 //------------------------------// Ponyville is a nice town to visit, it sure is a breath of fresh air after what I see every day in Appleloosa, I just see sand, cacti and the occasional tumbleweed pass by every now and again, and I may seem all happy about my hometown in front of my family and friends, when the truth is I'm sick of it. I need to see new places, so that's why I'm taking a hiatus away from apple bucking and anything to do with apples in Appleloosa. So I've been in Ponyville for about a week and a half now, taking up temporary residence at my cousins Applejack, Applebloom and Big MacIntosh's apple acres, along with my Granny Smith, Applejack's husband, Caramel and their daughter, Toffee. They don't mind me staying there as long I help out with farm work and all that good stuff, but the place they've made me sleep in is kinda a shit hole, though I can't blame them for it, because there ain't anymore rooms in the house for me to sleep in, so I have to sleep in the shit smelling barn, though I will admit, the hay is comfortable. So I'm probably not going to stay in Ponyville for much longer, I don't wanna overstay my welcome. And on one of my final days, before I part elsewhere, Applejack and Caramel were kind enough to invite me to a Pegasi flyin' show, The Wonderbolts Grounded show or something like that, I've never heard of them. Along with us were their friends, Applejack's friends, who I'm familiar with from their visit to Appleloosa, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Fluttershy and Twilight. And also Caramel's friends, who I'm not familiar with as well as Applejack's friends, but I do know from Applejack and Caramel's wedding, and I do get along with them. There was Lucky, who is my cousin-in-law's best friend, Noteworthy, Thunderlane, Pokey Pierce, who is Pinkie Pie's husband and finally, Comet Tail, who is Twilight's husband. The show was being held just outside the village, near Sweet Apple Acres, there was around five stands of seats, each looking like a set a stairs, with the front row of each stand being the lowest row of seats, and the fifteenth and last row being the highest. We were all sitting at the middle stand, in the second to last row, I was sitting in the middle of the row, beside me to my left was Rainbow Dash and beside me to my right was Caramel. I couldn't help but think that this show could be absolute bison crap. Because most shows I see either have square dancing or something else related to an Appleloosan stereotype, I ain't never been to see The Wonderbolts, let alone, heard of them. Maybe I'll enjoy it, I'm not sure though. It's weird, I feel like I'm going through a mid-life crisis, but I'm only twenty-eight years old, so that makes it seem weirder, maybe in another twenty-eight years I'm gonna die, when I'm fifty-six, and that seems pretty bad. I guess it ain't as much of a mid-life as it is just me trying to figure out who I really am. I'm bored of life, maybe because ah haven't found my place in it yet, and a lot y'all would be thinking, "Oh, your place in life is to buck apples". Yeah, just like almost every single member in my family has been doing since the Dawn of Time. I'm sick of that, "Braeburn? Yo, Brae?" A faint voice I heard that was releasing me from my daze, "Braeburn?" I shook my head, clearing my mind and the voice sounded much more clearer, I turned to my right to see it Caramel trying to get my attention, "Braeburn, you OK, pal?" Caramel asked me, "I've been trying to tell your popcorn's here, I've been calling your name for about two minutes but it looked like you were about to doze off" "Yeah, um....sorry, that was my fault. I'm just a little tired is all" I groggily replied as I took the passed popcorn, "Thanks for the popcorn, 'Mel" I thanked. "You say you're a little tired?" Caramel asked, "Did you go to sleep late?" "Nah, I woke up early" I replied. "I see" He said, "Well, just try to yourself awake and enjoy the show, trust me, The Wonderbolts are awesome, if you have any questions about them, then it's better you ask the cyan mare sitting beside rather than me" Caramel told me. "Right" I uttered. "Cause Rainbow Dash is a huge fangirl of The Wonderbolts" He told me before turning his attention to Rainbow, "Ain't that right, Dashie?" Caramel asked her. "Hell yeah, I'm a huge fan" Rainbow Dash proclaimed, "So as Caramel said, you can ask me anything about The Wonderbolts and I'll be sure to answer them" "Huh, yeah" I mockingly chuckled much to everypony's ignorance, "I'll keep that in mind, Rainbow Dash" The two of them both looked in front and waited for the show to start, whilst I took a taste of ma popcorn. It tasted awful, it was too buttery, in fact, there might've been more butter than fucking popcorn. I can't really say that I don't want the popcorn, because I don't wanna be rude to them after they kindly offered me popcorn. So the show was just about to start, and all the equipment was set up for the Pegasi to do their tricks, "Ladies and Gentlecolts, welcome to the first venue for..." A loud announcer's voice boomed from the microphone, "THE WONDERBOLTS GROUNDED TOUR!" As soon as the latter four words were spoken, everypony cheered for The Wonderbolts. And much to my surprise, a trail of cloud passed quickly by the crowd, leaving a line in it's place in front of the crowd. The crowd cheered as the whoosh of cloud curved up and flew up towards the skyline, the further it went, the slower the trail of cloud became, soon fully revealing that it was an extremely fast female pegasus with a white mane, wearing a skin tight blue suit, that kinda look like a wet suit and she was also wearing air goggles and then she came diving down. ah leaned over to the side to ask Rainbow Dash something, "What's her name?" I asked as I pointed to her. "Oh, her name is Fleetfoot" Rainbow Dash replied to me before sighing about something. "What are ya sighing about?" I asked her. "The costume change, it doesn't suit them" Rainbow Dash replied. "Was that a pun?" I chuckled. "No, well, an accidental one, yes" Rainbow laughed back, "But you get my point" "I know" I replied, "What's different about these costumes?" "Oh, the previous outfits had um.." She paused to think, "They had like a mask that was apart of the previous outfit, now the mask isn't there" "That it? It don't seem that bad" I told her. "It isn't, it's just that the image that symbolizes The Wonderbolts is their costume, and removing the mask takes it away, if you know what I mean. If they had their masks then they'd be 20% more cooler" Rainbow Dash explained. "Well, if it's tight polyester against their skin, it must strain them or something" I said. Rainbow nodded slowly in agreement, "That's a good point, actually" Me and Dash's little talk was interrupted by another trail of cloud left by another Wonderbolt, except this Wonderbolt was much faster than Fleetfoot, and the trail of cloud this pony left was much darker than her's. The Wonderbolt did the same as Fleetfoot except he was in opposite direction, and before I got the chance to ask who he is, Rainbow Dash nudged me and told me, "That's Soarin, he's my second favorite. I think he's cute" "Really?" I ignore her second comment, "Who's yer favorite?" We were interrupted once again, but this time, there was five more Wonderbolts, flying above the stands, in the shape of an arrow, with the middle pony leading them on. Rainbow Dash then nudged me once more and pointed to the middle pony and referred to my question, "Her. My favorite is her, Spitfire" Dash told me. Ah looked in front to see the five Wonderbolts dash by us, it was a pretty cool sight to see, they all flew gracefully and magnificently over to where they were meant to go and swiftly landed in their spots. I can't believe ah'm saying this, but so far, I'm enjoying this show, it's already got an exciting tone to it and it's only been on for five minutes. The show was finished and now I'm hanging out with everypony at Caramel and his pals' favorite bar, The Trapdoor Pub. All of us were sitting at this big table, enjoying each others company, drinking and chatting about random bullshit, "So, Braeburn, did ya enjoy the show, cuz?" Applejack asked me. "Yeah, I did, I wasn't expecting to, but I did" I replied, "Thanks for inviting me" "That ain't a problem, Brae" Applejack told me. "So, Braeburn, how come you're staying in Ponyville?" Twilight asked me, "Is everything OK back in Appleloosa?" "Yeah, everything's fine, I'm just taking a hiatus, is all, and besides I'm not staying in Ponyville for much longer, I'm leaving tomorrow" I told everyone. Applejack became shocked, as did everypony else, she then asked "Wait, tomorrow? Braeburn, where are ya gonna go?" "Dunno, AJ" I replied, "Wherever the road takes me, I guess" "Where the road takes you?" Caramel questioned, "Pal, you sure?" I nodded and took a sip of the bottle of cider ah have, "I'm sure, man. You and Applejack got enough to do, what with your daughter and everything, besides, I don't wanna overstay my welcome" "Darling, where are you going to stay?" Rarity asked. "Don't know, but I've got plenty of family across Equestria, I'll be able to find one place to sleep" I told her. "You sure you want to do this?" Caramel asked. "I'm sure, man" I replied, "I just wanna see new places, is all" I said as I took a sip of my cider. "I've seen this before, you're bored of your current situation in life, and you're wanting to find yourself" Thunderlane abruptly said. I almost choked on my drink once he said that. After I coughed from almost choking, everypony looked at Thunderlane with surprised and puzzled expressions, "Was he right, Braeburn?" Pokey asked me. I nodded at Pokey, "How did you know that, Thunderlane?" Ah asked. "I'm a psychology major, I've seen this before" Thunderlane explained. "Bullshit!" All the guys said to him. "You're not a psychology major, man. I've known you for fifteen years, you've never mentioned this to me" Pierce said. "Yeah, I don't believe that you did psychology, you're not really the brightest of our clique" Noteworthy uttered. "Neither are you, Blues, and you're one of the most educated out of us...." Thunderlane exclaimed, "Hell, I would think that Lucky and Caramel would be smarter than you, and they dropped out of college" "What the fuck is that meant to mean, Laney?" Lucky asked furiously. This can take a while, so I ain't gonna listen to it, instead, whilst Caramel's five friends were arguing about their education, I was still talking to Caramel, "So Brae, you sure you're wanting to go, you stay for a little while longer if you want" Caramel told me. "No, but thanks for the offer" I replied, "I really can't though, because I'm just in a weird place in my life just now" "I understand, man" Caramel said, "You're getting bored of yourself and you're trying to find yourself, I've been there" "Huh, yeah" I replied. "So you're not sure where you're going?" Fluttershy asked me. "Not yet" I told her, "Just wherever the dirt path takes me" "You know, if you're not sure where to go, then you could sign up for being a roadie for the Wonderbolts tour" Rainbow Dash spoke out. "Pardon me?" I replied. "You can sign up for being a roadie for the Wonderbolts, this is their first venue for the tour, you can sign up tomorrow, the pay is good, you sleep in the best hotels at the venues and it might be a good chance for to find yourself" Rainbow told me. Now Rainbow Dash is making a good point, maybe going on a little cross-country venture will make me think more about my current situation, also being a roadie mustn't be hard, you just need load and unload equipment, set up and tape wires. You also need to be able to lift a few hundred pounds and not fears height, shit, I can do that, hell, I even know some things about how to work technology, something that's kind of a rarity in my family (No Rarity pun intended), so that can help for the show. I guess ah might as well be a roadie, if I ain't doing anything else with myself, "Where about's did ya hear this, Dash?" I asked. "I saw a flier outside as we were leaving the show, it said you go back to where the show was held and you can sign up there" Rainbow Dash told me. "You know what Dash, I might just take you up on that" Ah replied. I made my decision after about a minute of thinking, and my decision that I'll become a roadie.... "Well then, how did you get your certificate as a Psychology major!?" Comet asked Thunderlane. "How did you get a certificate in Astromony?!" Thunderlane loudly asked back. "Please shut up, guys" I muttered quietly with my hoof against my forehead.