Twilight was rushed toward the medical ward, although she was slightly bruised, she literally rattled the castle, everypony that is anypony was worried about her, and the pony they asked to know what happened was Sun Light.
And Oh how he loathed repeating the same story over and over again, first to her parents, then to the guards then to the cooks and servants, and when Prince Blueblood came to ask him how she was, he literally snapped.
“She’s a two minute walk in the medical ward, if you are so worried sick about her, go there and check up on her yourself,” He yelled, and that was the last time anypony asked him about her, and then he disappeared out of sight.
Since then, two days have passed since Sun Light stepped inside the castle. Evening Star went to the only place where he knew his son would be hiding, the western tower roof.
Because the western tower overlooked Canterlot Mountain, it is often regarded as the useless tower of the bunch. Consequently, it is seldom guarded and even less so visited. Sun Light took a liking to it from an early age. However, in order to alleviate his father’s worry, he only goes to the roof where pegasi might spot him if he gets into trouble.
Upon reaching the bottom of the tower, Evening noticed a lot of dust getting blown off the roof. Shaking his head he went inside.
The more he climbed toward the top, the louder the noise in the roof were getting. If he knew any better he swore he was hearing someone whizzing at very high speed.
The moment he reached the top of the stairs, he hesitated. He leaned his ear on the door, hoping to get an idea of what is going on, but he only heard whooshing.
He took a deep breath, then quickly opened the door, “Sun Light,” he screamed only to get blown away by a draft created by something moving at high speed.
Evening Star stared in awe as Sun Light skipped left and right barely touching the ground one instance only to be launched to another location, It’s almost as if he’s hovering above the ground, he thought as an old ache came crawling to his body. Let’s see how this goes, Evening stepped back into the shadows while carefully calculating his son’s trajectory.
No, skip. No, skip. No, skip. Sun Light have lost count of how many times he failed, a hundred? A thousand? For some reason, he kept repeating the same movement over and over again even though he knew it wouldn’t work. Perhaps it will work if I go faster, he thought… was it this morning or yesterday’s morning? He could no longer tell. All he knew was that the speed made him focus, it was a distraction, and it was what he needed.
No, skip. Sun Light was so caught up in his movement that he did not even see his father’s hoof wrapping around his chest, forcing him into an immediate stop before slamming him on the ground with shattering force while locking him in place using a stranglehold. “Easy, easy,” Evening ordered his son who was struggling under his grasp.
Only when he heard his son yell, “Dad, you’re hurting me,” did he let go.
“Sorry about that,” Evening said after releasing his son. Sun Light twisted over himself writhing from the pain of the slam, or the pain from the hold, or the pain from the stop… he honestly could not tell which part of him was truly in pain. Suddenly, his father’s hoof lifted him off the ground, “Come on. Walk it off,” Evening ordered, and Sun Light followed.
“What kind of a father would do something like that to his son?” Sun Light asked as the pain started to dull.
“When doing the heavenly steps, your energy rebounds from your hoof to your chest midway before returning to your hoof, which is why you exhale after the push and inhale before it, and you skip between heartbeats,” Evening Star explained, “I aimed for that high point so the feeling of pain is only due to being in shock, your earth pony magic as you describe it should have protected you from any harm. By the way, who taught you such an advanced martial arts techniques?
Sun Light looked at his father dumbfounded, “Martial arts? What in Tartarus are you talking about?” he exclaimed as the pain vanished, “I was only trying to…”
“…Teleport?” Evening finished his son’s sentence.
Sun Light nodded, “Celestia said that the second time is always the hardest because you need to ‘conquer your fear of the first try’,” He sighed, “I started out with what I was trying to do last time, jump higher, but I feared I might jump from the tower. So instead I decided on jumping further instead, and I kept repeating myself over and over again for some reason…” Sun Light trailed off for a moment, “the rhythm kept me from thinking.”
“Thinking about what?”
“About my job,” Sun Light replied, “about my future, about Celestia…About Her.” He said acidly.
Evening Star sighed, “What is it about Twilight Sparkle that you hate so much?”
“Where do I begin?”
“You have to start from somewhere.”
Sun Light sighed, “You aren’t going to let that go are you,” his father only kept an anticipating gaze as a response, he sighed again, “It’s because… forget it.” He picked himself and headed toward the door.
“If you don’t talk I wouldn’t know how to help,” Evening yelled as his son reached midway to the door, “We’ve been over this Sun Light, I will listen, I just want you to speak.”
“It’s because everything became about her!” Sun Light sudden outburst caused Evening to reel back, “I come home and you ask me about her! I go to the castle and Celestia asks me about her! Everywhere I walk everyone asks me about her! She gets a bruise because of a book and everyone rushes to check if she’s okay! While I nearly died in that armory and it took You, of all ponies, an entire day to even think to check up on me, and you are still asking why I hate her?”
Sun Light sniffed, when did he start crying? He could not tell, wiping away his tears he said, “I must look really pathetic now, huh?”
Evening walked toward his son, then with a big hug he whispered, “You did beautifully.” Letting go, he grabbed Sun Light by his shoulders, “But have you thought for a moment as to why everyone is so worried about her?”
Sun Light looked down, “No,” he gave a solemn reply.
Evening sat beside his son, then gestured for him to sit as well, “You know, ever since the first time you wandered off on your own, my heart grips whenever I see you take a step out of my sight. I get these weird thoughts, Is he okay? Will he return safely? What if something really bad happened to him? But every time you step outside of that house, you manage to return to it safe and sound. As the years have gone past, I managed to learn to temper my imagination with reality. So whenever you go out now, I just reassure myself that you will always return to me safely.”
“But what does all this have to do with my situation?” Sun Light asked.
Evening Star giggled, then pulled his son into a tight hug, “Sunny, you are a strong, exceptionally smart young colt, but you need to learn empathy. Twilight wasn’t raised in a castle, she didn’t always talk to the princess, she was never around guards before; of course, everyone would be worried. Everyone here wants what’s best for both of you, but who among you two need the more attention? The colt who memorized every secret passageway in the castle? Or the filly who, according to Barrack Thirteen, still don’t know the way to the bathroom?”
“I guess this is something to consider,” Sun Light concluded.
“Talk to her Sunny, it always helps to talk to other,” Evening suggested, “you of all ponies should know that.”
Sun Light opened his mouth to say something but then bit back his tongue. Evening sighed at his son’s discretion, “You told me once that you wanted to learn from her how to hatch a dragon’s egg, aren’t I right?”
“Yeah, you are,” Sun Light replied dejectedly.
“Then it will help you a lot to simply get to know her, who knows, maybe she’ll tell you her secret without much effort on your part.”
Sun Light thought for a moment, “Fine, I’ll see what I can do,” He said in exasperation.
“That is all I need to hear,” Evening stood up, and started walking toward the door, “and one last thing.”
“What?” His son replied in haste.
“Take a shower, you stink.”
Sun Light looked at his father quizzically, he the lifted his arm and took a whiff, only to regret ever doing mere moments later.