A/N:

Title:
Brothers and Ponies

Genres:
Friendship, Adventure, Romance, War

Rated T for violence, coarse language, sexual references…

Disclaimer:
"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to Hasbro, not me. Nor do I own any songs that I may include later.

I only own my OCs, including Louis and Blaise, who are based on my brother and me respectively. "Louis" and "Blaise" are pseudonyms. Louis is a non-Brony and has no prior knowledge of Equestria and its inhabitants. Blaise, too, has no prior knowledge, but may become a Brony.

The other OCs are fictional, some of whom are also based on certain people in my life. Those who are based on actual people in my life are given pseudonyms and their physical traits altered so as to disguise their true identities.

Chapter 1: Leaving School

Melbourne, Australia

"Time's up! Please put down your pens and stop writing," announced the Chief Supervisor.

Louis's pen lay where it had lain for fifteen minutes - the boy'd finished the Literature exam thirty minutes ago. He'd spent the other fifteen minutes proofreading. Thinking that his spelling and grammar were perfect, he'd only needed to worry about the content, which appeared to be… good. He had written three essays in three hours – it was what was required of a Lit exam.

Louis's pen, a Pilot Dr. Grip 0.7 mm, was his tool of success. It had given him confidence when he was studying and gave him the boost he needed to excel in his exams. It helped him draw up ideas, solve problems, and was also a key source of idle amusement. Presently, in fact, he was expertly spinning it around his thumb.

As he had to stop writing, Louis withdrew his pen from the table and put it in his right pocket, patting it to make sure it wouldn't fall out. He removed the Swiss watch on his table and attached it to his left wrist. The time read 4:30 PM. Placing his hands on his laps, palms facing downwards, he remained seated quietly while the supervisors collected the exams.

Louis cast a furtive glance around him. The student next to him was hyperventilating. Her pen was hovering above the paper. Then it went down, wrote a few words, before going back to the same position. Actually, Louis guessed that many others were also disobeying the Chief Supervisor's order. Louis saw several students gripping their pens with trembling hands, still scribbling words onto their exam. Other students had their writing hand frozen in mid-air, while their faces paled. Luckily for them, the supervisors let them go this time.

A few other students were more like Louis. The room was primarily silent. Though Louis could hear some coughs. And throat-clearing. After the exams were collected, the students were allowed to leave the cool, stale, examination hall, which was actually the school's Auditorium, repurposed for the end of year exams.

Located at the western end of the South Wing of the high school, the Auditorium was like a gym, actually. Wide enough to fill two basketball courts, the facility had a polished wooden floor with yellow lines marking the boundary lines of various sports like basketball, volleyball, badminton... It was indeed sometimes used as a gym. There was a large storeroom at the back of the Auditorium, which stored some table tennis equipment. Louis had heard that his little brother Blaise frequently played table tennis in the Auditorium, and that it was Blaise who had set up the school's very own Table Tennis Club. The elder brother, however, couldn't care less about the younger brother's exploit - he didn't play table tennis, so why should he care?

The storeroom also contained some musical instruments, for the school's Performing Arts ensembles. There were music stands for Orchestras, Choirs, Concert Bands and Jazz Bands... These ensembles would either practise in the storeroom or, if it was a large group, on the stage at the front of the Auditorium.

The back of the stage was also used to store Performing Arts equipment. As a Literature student, Louis had had the privilege to visit that storeroom, playing around with a slapstick. As a prize Literature student, he had had the privilege to go on stage to receive the school's Literature Award on Graduation Night only a fortnight ago. Many people were there to witness his achievement, including his own family - the awestruck face of Blaise amused Louis a little, but the little brother's constant chatter afterwards annoyed the elder brother. Their sister was absent, however. She had to work that night - as the eldest child of the Li family and a doctor, she had responsibilities.

Currently on the stage stood a podium with the school's emblem in front. A white U, H and S artistically snaking around one another, on a green background: Unity High School. The school's motto was Amicitia Ac Fideliter ("Friendship and Loyalty"). What an irony, because it'd be the last time Louis sat in the Auditorium: he'd graduated, finished his exams, and now he was ready to break all the connections he had made with this school.

Louis got up. Tall and slim-built, he wore spectacles, a white jacket, a white T-shirt and pale yellow pants. He had black hair and black eyes. He'd let his hair grow long, so that his hairstyle was similar to a bowl cut. His skin was white, indicating that he didn't go out often. After all, he had spent all year preparing for his examinations. Excluding the fact that he'd sneaked in some games here and there. He looked smart, but his face was deprived of emotion.

Upon leaving the room, Louis was approached by a shorter student named David. David was in the same Specialist Mathematics class as Louis, but instead of studying Literature, he did English. For English, only two essays needed to be written for the end of year exam, one of which was a text analysis, the other a text response essay. Nonetheless, both boys were rather good at what they did, regardless of whether it was Literature or English.

David tapped Louis on the shoulder. "Hey, Louis! How did your exam go? Good?" he asked.

"Yes, not bad…" replied Louis.

They were both cruising their way through the school's canteen, which was thankfully devoid of people, except for those who'd just finished their exam. Louis paid little attention to the rows and rows of tables and chairs in the canteen. He glanced to his right and saw that the canteen shop was closed, as was expected at this time. Both students exited the canteen and headed for the staircase nearby. The stairs curled upwards, much like a DNA double-helix. They ascended the stairs without uttering anything.

"D'you have plans for the future; do you know what you're doing next," said David, once they reached Louis's locker, which was located next to the stairs on the second floor.

"Not really…" said Louis. On the contrary, I'm going to play a lot of games, he thought. Probably with Blaise.

"Well, it was your last exam, wasn't it?"

"Yes," replied Louis curtly, now opening his locker to take his laptop bag, which contained his Literature books, 'Ransom' and 'Life of Galileo', as well as his Android smartphone and his Lenovo laptop. Annotated all over, he was going to store those books on a bookshelf at home, never to be used again.

"Ah well, you're lucky – I still have another…" David remarked, in a hollow enthusiastic tone.

Putting his bag's strap over his left shoulder, Louis looked at his locker, which was now empty, for the last time before closing it. This time, he put both lock and key in a zip pocket at the side of the bag. He took out his pen from his pocket and deposited it in the same zip pocket, for security.

Louis felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw his friend, who was looking Louis in the eye.

"Hey, take it easy, 'kay, mate?" David told him, a serious look on his face.

Louis could feel a small smile forming on his own face.

"OK, and you too," Louis replied to his friend, who returned the smile, albeit a broader one. Then, they shook hands and nodded to each other. Finally, Louis went downstairs.

On arriving in the school quadrangle, Louis was met with a gust of wind. Looking above, he saw light gray clouds swirling and dancing. He thought he heard thunder even though there was no lightning. Not physically possible, he thought. So he'd probably misheard. Or didn't see the lightning behind the blanket of clouds.

The school quad was buzzing with voices of multiple school-leavers. Hugs and kisses, too. Particularly among the girls, who squealed with delight at the news of finishing school.

Passing fellow students, Louis heard his name being pronounced. He thought they were talking about him, as usual. As a studious person, he didn't really bother conversing with his classmates. Except for his close friends. But even then, Louis knew he was never going to see most of them after high school.

He did listen to some bits of conversation… Most of them were about how Louis would become the dux of the school. He'd often shrug these conversations off, just as he was doing now. As he sauntered out of the school and towards the local tram stop, he thought about his teachers' praise on Graduation Night a couple of weeks ago. The award he won. Those mattered to him, not idle chatter.

The wind blew against Louis's face as he waited at the tram stop. Even the tram shelter didn't stop the wind.

Cars drove past on the road in front of Louis. They travelled on the left side of the road, as was necessary by Australian road laws. Red, yellow, black, blue... Every car colour imaginable continuing on their journey from A to B. Double tram lines bisected the road. A thick white line separated the two tram lines, thereby separating the two directions of traffic.

Across the road was another tram stop for people who wanted to head deeper into the city. There was an indiscriminate mass of students waiting there, talking among themselves. Some were looking at Louis. A few even waved at him. Louis idly waved back and then turned his gaze back to the road. Staring at the tram tracks. Alone. Though he was actually focussing at nothing.

Suddenly, there was a screeching sound as a tram came to a halt. An icon of Melbourne, the tram, which thought itself a train but acted as a bus, arrived on time. Louis looked up and waited for the cars on the left of the tram to stop, before heading for one of the tram doors to the rear of the tram. He got on board, sitting on the right of the tram, not far from the door. The other passengers, some seated, others standing, were absorbed in their own activities. Some were reading, some listening to music, some texting, some gaming, while others looked around.

Just then, the tram on the other side of the road arrived. The mob of students swarmed around the tram, and flowed into it. Louis watched as the tram quickly filled up with people. It was clear the students were still talking amongst themselves. Louis noticed that the other passengers on board glanced at the students before going back to their little activities. Reading. Music. Looking out the window.

Turning his head to the window across the seats to his left, Louis looked at his former secondary school. Goodbye, he thought, just as the tram he was on board got back on track.

He was on his way home.

A/N:

So what did you think?

I'm sorry for not updating in a while... School's pretty tough; the exams are coming up soon. But after that, I'll be able to write practically every day! Yay! (Writer's Block notwithstanding.)

I've also re-written the first chapter, in case you didn't realise. I've reshaped it a little, applied tips from my colleagues. I hope it's better now!

See you soon, I guess?

SoloSlinger