New Horizons

by BlackWing

Settled (4)

Settled

Learning my fathers history was a significant development though the question remained, how could such a thing be kept secret? Surely people couldn't help but talk about it and they'd be overheard? I get the feeling that Melody isn't the only case. Perhaps the kids know they're not supposed to know, so they pretend they don't even though they do? A secret that everyone knows, but nobody knows that everyone knows, so everyone tries, and fails, to keep it a secret, despite everyone already knowing anyway and just pretending they don't hear you when you slip up? What kind of living paradox is my dad anyway? It does explain why I have someone as chaotic as Discord as my uncle though, or maybe Discord being my uncle IS the explanation?

Whats more, surely he knew that if I traveled the world, eventually I'd figure it out for myself. Was him allowing me to go abroad his way of telling me, rather than sitting me down and explaining it to just let me learn the truth for myself? Instead of being told, being able to see the truth with my own eyes, was that his plan? No, that doesn't make sense. If that were true why would he go through all this trouble in the first place? Maybe it was only meant to last as long as my childhood, and heading off to school by myself means that I've become an adult and am ready for the truth? How much did he plan in advance?

I don't like it when people bow, it makes you feel unapproachable

"AS IF!" I shouted aloud, drawing stares from those nearby, I sheepishly tried to lose their attention as I flew slowly towards Cloudsdale weather factory. The reason you're unapproachable has nothing to do with people bowing, people want to bow precisely because you're unapproachable. An existence that defies everything conventional, normal people cannot make sense of it.

My head hurts. Mom used to say that Dad would always get lost in thought, is this what it was like for him as well? Will I wind up just like him? Except that he let me leave and choose my own path. The tension I was feeling as I thought about it began to melt away.

"I am free to choose my own path." I get it. This was the intent. The way he went about it was haphazard, but this is the end result. Wouldn't it have been easier to do it differently? Maybe he's a flawed person and made things more difficult for himself unnecessarily. Wouldn't that just mean he's normal? Then again, I don't know how it could have been done to make it simpler so I don't have room to talk. No, no matter how I look at it, he's definitely bizarre.

I shook my head to clear it of such thoughts as I neared the weather factory. The factory had a trade school attached. They would pay for your education for you and guarantee you a job after your training was complete. Is there a shortage of weather workers?

A guide directed me towards the school section where there was an introduction session taking place. It was fairly straightforward. They explained that the training would take 3 weeks after which you could begin working. You could be a cloud pusher who moves clouds to the correct location, and bursts clouds that are way out of position. You could work in the factory itself making clouds and rainbows, you could be on wind duty, or you could do the more boring administrative work. While the admin position required an education, all the others were on the job training.

While this isn't what I wanted to do with the rest of my life I would be a good job to make some money while I went to school. 3 weeks paid training, then I could work while I studied. While Twilight's school schedule was not flexible, the potential work hours were. Perfect.

I signed up to work in the weather factory making clouds.

"Well all right then! My name is Derringer. I'll be your manager." A sky blue pegasus with a pair of crossed pistols on his flank introduced himself. "You know, cloud making ain't glorious but somebody has to do it. Now, what do you know about making clouds?"

"Well clouds are classified based on what altitude they sit at, and also what shape they take. Generally nimbus are used for rain while cumulus are used to build cloud houses. You make them out of water from a reservoir. I've been traveling for a while so I've been making cloud houses to stay in, then I turn them into rain clouds to take a shower and disperse them at the same time." I replied.

"Well, it's good that you're so knowledgeable but in the future, I ask that you don't go making cloud houses without a permit. Mind you I'm saying this for your benefit." Derringer stated with a serious tone.

"Got it, no clouds without a permit. Speaking of which, where can I get a permit?" Uuuugh bureaucracy. I made a note to hide my displeasure.

"Admin office on the 3rd floor."

"I'll be sure to stop by after work today."

"Speaking of which, I'll be observing you for the first week to make sure you know what you're doing and can fill the orders properly. If you have any questions, you come to me. I'll be handling your punch clock as well. Once the three weeks are done you can give me your shift preference and I'll set up your schedule, and get you acquainted with your permanent manager. You're young yet, so I take it you'll be going to school as well?" Derringer asked.

"Yes, I'll be attending Twilight's magic academy in Ponyville."

"Hey, that might actually work out. If you work the night shift making clouds, if Ponyville is scheduled to have some that day we can have you haul some of them over on your way to class. Don't worry about putting them in the right place, just getting them there is enough. We'll have their weather team sort that out like normal. Just make sure to sign the clouds over to them when you complete the delivery."

"Sounds good to me."

---

So I spent the next three weeks making clouds in the weather factory under Derringers diligent direction, while I slept in a small, single room cloud house that I had quickly thrown together at the permitted location. I didn't come across any problems and after that time was up he felt confident shifting me over to the night manager. In that time I had also officially accepted my attendance at Twilights school, got my schedule, submitted my shift preference to make sure I would have enough time to sleep and a day off once in a while, and I got a permit for a permanent cloud house on the outskirts of Ponyville. It did have a size constraint but I could always make it bigger if I applied for a larger permit. I didn't see myself needing too much extra space anyways. One of the benefits of living in a house made of clouds is you don't need to buy furniture, you can just shape it. Cloud bed, cloud drawers, cloud tables. Some pegasi like having something more solid and are willing to pay more to have wooden furniture enchanted so it can interact with clouds, but most of the time you just make your own. In fact it is this amateurish construction that gives Cloudsdale its artistic feel with swooping archways and spiral towers that, if made of solid material, would collapse due to structural instability.

The permit specified the location and maximum size of my dwelling, a maximum of 1000 square feet wide, which would be rather small for a ground dwelling, but a vertical limit of 300 meaning I'd have plenty of living space. It was on the north side of a local apple orchard so as not to block the sunlight below, and I'd gotten permission from Derringer to use a 'clear day' to get off cloud making for a shift and help the weather control team gather up clouds for building materials, meaning I could get building materials as part of my work provided I was willing to put in the extra effort of moving them instead of just popping them. A small price to pay to avoid going to the mayors office and petitioning to use the reservoir supply.

I started by extending and reinforcing the existing cloud room to a 25x25, where I'd put the dining room. I put a smaller room attached to the front as a foyer with closets, coat racks and the like. On the second floor I placed a kitchen, bathroom, (a stylized room with a bucket, given that there's so way to get plumbing 200 feet in the sky) and a living room, and on the third floor I made four bedrooms. For 'running water' I would of course use rain clouds, and I had to get various plates, cutlery and similar items enchanted. While a little pricey it's still far less expensive than enchanting an entire kitchen counter or dining table, and much less than having all my plates fall through my house and shatter several hundred feet below. I managed to finish the whole thing in about two days and now had a permanent living space.

With that out of the way I decided to go meet my neighbours. They had already gotten the news about me moving in and I had seen them working the fields while I was building my house, but it's better to have an official introduction. So, I flew down to go say hello.

That was a mistake.

"Well howdy! I was wonderin' when you were gonna come down an say hello! Mah names Applebloom. This here is our farm, Sweet Apple Acres, this here is Big Mac, he's mah big brother strong as an ox but half as loud, this is Applejack, mah big sister, she's friends with Twilight who runs the library over in the center of town, she's a princess but she wasn't always, and then there's...." An hour later she finally finished, having given me the entire history of Ponyville. "And then there's mah friends Sweetiebelle and Scootaloo, they're..." Rather than listening intently I simply let the stream of endless knowledge wash over me, taking in only the barest portions. Names, who they're related to, and what they do. Even then I felt as though I was drowning in the bottomless well of who's, what's, and where's. While I may be wrong I am now of the belief that the Apple family is related to half the population of Equestria. Given that they are a very old family that may not be far off. It was surprising that this young mare was able to memorize it all. Even more surprising is that she didn't seem to breathe when recounting it.

"Anyhow, what's yer name?" Sweet mercy she stopped.

"My name is Seth. Recently moved here from the Dominion to go to school. My history is nowhere near as extensive as yours." When I said that she blushed, having realized whats she had done.

"Err, sorry 'bout that. Anyways nice ta meet you neighbour."

"Likewise." So long as I never have to 'meet' her again. "Anyways, I work the night shift over at the cloud factory so you probably won't see much of me, other than maybe picking up some apples now and then. I should be fairly busy between that and school." As soon as I mentioned 'picking up apples' she immediately brought out an bushel. There's no way I'd eat an entire bushel before they go bad. "I don't need them right now, I'm still setting up and don't have a place to put them. I'll pick some up at market later."

"Well alrighty then." With that I flew back up to my house. Since I had gotten settled in, I decided I ought to write a letter to mom and dad, updating them.

Dear Mom and Dad,
I've arrived in Ponyville after touring Equestria. I decided to attend Twilight's School here and have a house on the outskirts, near the Apple family orchard, and I got a job at the Cloudsdale weather factory, and met the neighbours who were more chatty than I care for. Also, during my travels I've learned a bit about your past. We will discuss this.
Sincerely, Seth.

Author's Note:

Hey, so it's been like, what, a year and a half? Two years? No, I didn't die. I've been busy with work, and games, and other things. And, honestly, I'm kind of done with the fanfiction thing. That being said, I DO want to finish this one as leaving it hanging there doesn't feel right. The other day I found myself thinking about it again and had a bit of inspiration so I decided to make use of it while it's there. One of the issues with it is that story is driven by conflict and conflict resolution, but this is a slice of life story and that sort of thing isn't prominent.
In short, this is, as I said when I first started this story, something I'm only going to update sporadically, when I'm in the mood for it. Having a release schedule kind of takes the joy out of writing and that's the thing, I started writing in the first place because I ENJOY writing, and if I'm not enjoying writing, then why bother?

Speaking of which I've been writing some non-MLP, non-fanfiction, original stuff, like a webnovel, except I have no idea where to post this sort of stuff online.

One of my things is a sci-fi where there's a planet that is tilted on it's axis so the north always faces the sun, and humans have colonized the equator and northern tropics, while the north is a sun blasted desert and the north pole is molten, and everything south of the equator is a frigid wasteland, and the story follows the live of a miner who travels with a crew to the north pole during intermittent cool periods where it cools off enough that it becomes solid, and miners go there because all sorts of precious minerals come to the surface and are valuable, but then local wildlife, like silicon based lifeforms that swim in lava eat the minerals, the wildlife doesn't try to eat the people, it wants to eat their trucks which is a problem because you can get stranded and when the cool period ends if you're there you die.
I've got other ideas stewing too but I don't know of anywhere to write them to have other people read and critique them.

Comments

[CyberDragon89ponies]

Why did sweet apple acres become apple orchards?

[damnaion]

is alive!

[BlackWing]

9657992
....... fuck my brain. The whole chapter I kept referring to it as 'the apple orchards' because thats what it is to Seth, and forgot it actually had a name.

[Tesseract417]

IT LIVES!

Cool to see an update for this one. So many good stories just die a quiet death here, fading away into obscurity due to a lack of updates.
As much as I enjoyed the conflict-centric nature of Griffs stories, it will be nice to see a SoL view from Seth, in the aftermath of the world you've created.
All that said, take your time. Even if it takes 5 years to finish, better to see an ending than to have the eternal 'Incomplete' (or Cancelled, if you must).

[Veo Skride]

[Classy Fox]

Hm. That story idea you have in the author’s note sounds like an interesting read.

[Mr Good Guy]

You could try Fictionpress, Archive Of Our Own, and/or a blog? Maybe the fanfiction section on webnovel.com? Or maybe wuxiaworld? There are a couple of places you can try, just by using a google search.... Are you planning on making money off your original work?

[Mr Good Guy]

Oh, are you going to bring Trixie back from the dead?

[Nota]

This is a good page to publish original stories
https://www.wattpad.com/login
if the link does not go the page is called "wattpad"

I would say more, but I do not trust the translator very much ...

[TheGrandNil]

OMG, I was starting to lose hope for a second there, I really cannot wait for the next chapter, keep up the good work brother.

[Trickstermkcee]

Hello mr.Best dam writer I’ve ever seen in my life, i just wanted to say that I love your story’s,and personally want to be just like you one day, and just as funny
Sincerely Trickstermkcee

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Whats (apostrophe) more, surely he knew that if I traveled the world, eventually I'd figure it out for myself. Was him allowing me to go abroad his way of telling me, rather than sitting me down and explaining it to just let me learn the truth for myself? Instead of being told, being able to see the truth with my own eyes, was that his plan? No, that doesn't make sense. If that were true why would he go through all this trouble in the first place? Maybe it was only meant to last as long as my childhood, and heading off to school by myself means that I've become an adult and am ready for the truth? How much did he plan in advance?

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

So I spent the next three weeks making clouds in the weather factory under Derringers (apostrophe) diligent direction, while I slept in a small, single room cloud house that I had quickly thrown together at the permitted location. I didn't come across any problems and after that time was up he felt confident shifting me over to the night manager. In that time I had also officially accepted my attendance at Twilights (apostrophe) school, got my schedule, submitted my shift preference to make sure I would have enough time to sleep and a day off once in a while, and I got a permit for a permanent cloud house on the outskirts of Ponyville.