Sight

by Hot Dog Jones

Thoughts

“Wha- huh?”

I awoke in the same alley I fell asleep in.. Or at least, I thought I fell asleep in. And I thought it was the same alley. Ugh. I wiped the dried tears off my face and attempted to get up from my lying position, but.. Something was in the way. I felt the figure above me.

Correction- Somepony.

I jerked back in surprise. What? Who was.. My mind went blank as I tried to wriggle out from the pony’s grasp. Whoever it was, they were really grabbing me tight, as a sort of hug. Failing to bring myself from the arms of my captive, I attempted a different approach.

I poked the limp, snoring form. “Uh.. H-hey, you awake?”

The pony woke up, and I heard the familiar voice of my newly gained friend. “H-wha,” Twilight said, waking from her deep sleep. “Oh, h-hi there, Day,” she greeted, blushing as she released her death-grip from my body and awkwardly got off of me.

“So, um.. Yeah,” I said back, getting up and trying to stifle my own blush. There was a silence, both of us standing there, our faces red. I decided to end it by saying, “Hey, listen, um.. Thank you.” I smiled at the purple pony, who seemed to have an unsure look.

“Thanks for what?” she questioned with a chuckle.

“Thanks for, well, listening. You’re the only pony who’s really listened to me before.. None of the other ponies even talk to me, so..” I looked at the floor. “And thanks for, y’know, last night. It was all great before Tough Stuff showed up.. I really enjoyed it before that.”

Twilight could only smile at what I had said. “Yeah, I did too.. It’s too bad I couldn’t have shown you the rest of the castle or anything, it’s-“ She froze. “Oh, shit!” she said before putting a hoof to her mouth, embarrassed by her swearing. “I’ve got to go, Celestia is gonna kill me!”

“Wha-“ was all I could get out before she continued her worry.

“My curfew! Luna’s space suit, my curfew! Oh, jeez-“ She turned to me and stopped her panicking temporarily. “I.. have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow, Day, okay?” She pulled me into a quick hug, making me blush for the second time that morning, and then ran off through the alley.

“Hey, w-wait!” I yelled after her, but it was too late. Twilight had already gone, on her way to the glamorous castle in which she resided. “Damn.. Where am I going to go now?” I said to myself, lying back down on the ground in my new state of loneliness.

***

Unfortunately unknown to me, my sister was looking for me.

“Daaaaay! Daylight! Where are you, you..” my dear sister Turntable yelled in the streets of Canterlot, then changing to a mumble so nopony could hear her profanities. She was always a caring mare, looking after her brother, and even her father when the need arose. She was still young, but very wise, and it tended to shine through in her personality.

But when she lost her temper, she really.. lost it.

“Oh, Daylight, I am gonna kill you when you get back,” she said quietly to herself. “Running away from mom like that, and now hiding. You’re just great.” Noticing her rage, a poor soul decided to come up and talk to her.

“Uh, miss, are you okay, or-“

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SMART ASS!” she yelled. The stallion cowered in fear. Turntable gasped, realizing what she had said, then returned to her natural daintiness. “I-I mean, yes, I’m fine, thank you. Please, sir, tell me- Did you see a yellow pony with glasses and a cane pass by here?” She gave the scared pony a bright smile, hoping she could get an answer from somepony.

The caramel colored stallion stayed in his hunched, scared position, but pointed to a nearby alley slowly.

“Thank you!” Turntable exclaimed cheerily, trotting to the point in which the pony described. He said nothing, but just backed away slowly, his face still showing obvious fear.

***

I paced around the alley, thinking of what to do next. The pacing didn’t help, but it seemed to come naturally in my conflicting emotions. I should go home, but I can’t go home.. I can’t go back to Twilight, and I don’t have classes today..

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SMART ASS!”

What in Celestia’s mane was that?

“DAYLIIIIGHT!”

Oh no.

My sister had seen me, and she was maaaaaaaaad. Ulp. I ran the opposite way down the alley, but was stopped by a dead end. It was too late to go back. I had to face my angry sister, and take it like a stallion. And that’s exactly what I planned to do.

I heard her hoofsteps coming towards me. I faced her and tried to look confident as possible, standing up straight and putting on a serious look. Little did I know what she was going to do next.

She kicked me in the balls.

She reared back and nailed me, right where it hurt the most. I clutched my stomach and fell over, grimacing in pain. “T-turn.. What the h-hell,” I managed to push out in a much higher than usual voice, shots of pain rushing through me with every blood-pumping heartbeat.

“'What the hell?!' That’s what I should be saying to you, you.. Jeez. You run away from me and mom, not returning, we were both worried sick! We thought you would come back later, but no! You have to fucking wait until..” She stopped with a sigh, noticing my pain and calming herself. “Here,” she said, offering a hoof to help me up.

I took it, one hoof still on my stomach. That filly could really kick.. With a lot of pain, I finally got back on all fours. Finding my cane and giving a nod to my sister, I followed her back through the alley. I knew where we would have to go, and I knew I wouldn’t like it.

***

“Turntable, do I have to?”

“Yes, you do. I know it’s hard, I know she’s the cause of everything, but you have to. Now get in there and talk to her.”

“..But Turn-“

“Daylight, this is your mother we’re talking about here. You can’t just avoid her your whole life. You can be mad at her, Luna knows I am, but you have to accept her back.”

I sighed. Deep inside, I knew my sister was right. But my outside didn’t want to take it. That was one of my problems. I was stubborn. If you betrayed me, you didn’t come back. And my mother had.

After trying all I could to convince her, I gave in and stepped into the house. My mother called to me from the living room. “..Day, you’re back.”

I nodded at her, stepping through the door frame that separated us. “Are you.. mad?”

She looked at me sincerely. I could tell she was staring straight into my eyes, and I could tell her next words would be serious. “I.. understand. I left you, I caused your father’s death, I caused you two to live.. A much worse life than you should of. So, no. I’m not angry. I’m just... sad.”

“Sad? About what?”

“Sad you’ll..” She paused, and I heard a sob. “I’m sad you’ll never be able to forgive me,” my mother said before breaking into tears. She buried her face in her hooves, crying. I could do nothing but stand and witness it.

Things didn’t used to be like this.. We used to be happy..

I knew I had to ask her. And I knew I was dreading the answer. But I needed to know.

“Mom.. Why did you leave?”

The question hung in the air. My mother still let out sobs, and I stood next to her, waiting.

“Day.. I can’t..”

“Mom, I’m sorry, but I have to know,” I shot, my tone becoming more serious with every word.

She wiped her tears and let out a sigh. “You never understood, Daylight. One day you might, but you still don’t.”

I gave her a glare. “What don’t I understand?”

“You have to realize,” she began, letting out another sob, “I wasn’t in the best of places when I left.. and I’m still not..”

“And?”

“I’m sorry.. It was a lot of things, really, but what pushed it over the edge was..”

I finished her sentence for her. “Me.”

She trotted over to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Daylight, but it was nothing at all personal.. I just.. I couldn’t..”

“Couldn’t what?” I shot at her, pushing away her hoof.

She flinched and took a step back, surprised at my behavior. When she had regained herself, she said, “I couldn’t stand to see you fail.”

I stared at her for a moment, processing what she said. Couldn’t stand to see me fail? What was that supposed to mean? “W-what do you-“

“I know it sounds absurd. But I knew what you were going through. You were never social, staying cooped up in your room with your guitar. I knew your life would only go downhill, but you didn’t notice it..”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Not only was it insulting me, but it was surprising me. I had never heard my mother speak this way. “N-no.. That can’t be true.. You had high hopes for me! You always told me how well things were going for me, you encouraged me every day..”

“I know.. But that’s not what I really felt. I was a fool, Day. But it was only because of how much I cared for you.”

I fell back on a chair, feeling like I was going to faint. Resting my head on my hoof, I muttered, “So you’re telling me that everything.. Dad’s death, us living in poverty.. Is because of me?”

“Daylight, it’s not like that! It’s just-“

“No, it is. I know it, you know it, Turn knows it, and Celestia knows dad did.” I took a pause, sucking in a deep breath. When I let it out, it seemed more like a shudder. “I’ve always been the odd pony out of this family. I don’t.. I don’t belong here.”

“Don’t say that, of course you belong here! You’re my son, I raised you, I-“

“Mom, I need to move away.”

My mother stared at me in surprise. “Move away? But Day, you’re only barely legal age, and you don’t have the funds, and..” She tapered off, desperate to say something to make me change my mind.

I shook my head. “Legal age is legal age, mom. And I can find the funds. I can get a job. And besides, it’ll show you I can actually handle things on my own for once.”

She simply stood looking at me in a mixture of disappointment and worry. My mom was extremely protective of me since the day I was born, and now, here I was requesting- no, demanding to leave and live by myself. She must have been extremely concerned, if not angry, for having me do such a thing. Yet there we stood, as still as the room’s silence.

“Son, if you have any respect for my concerns and opinions, you won’t leave.”

“I’m sorry, mom, but I can’t have you controlling my life. Every bird has to leave the nest at some point.”

I had made my stand. Being my stubborn self, I knew I couldn’t let my mother restrict me any longer, and if she tried to, I had all the right to reject it. Instead of hearing any response she could make, I turned around and headed straight for my room. Walking up the stairs, I heard my mother call out, “Where are you going?!”

I looked back with a smug smile. “To start packing.”

Dear Celestia I was an idiot back then.

***

“So what, you’re just leaving?!”

“Eeyup.”

“Just, no question, hightailing it?”

“Eeyup.”

My sister laughed. “I always knew you were crazy, lil’ bro,” she joked, pointing a hoof at me.

“You say crazy, but I think this is the sanest thing I’ve ever done,” I replied with a grin.

Note: It wasn’t.

“Well, I hope everything turns out okay for you.”

Note: It didn’t.

My sister changed her tone to a much more serious one. “Day.. If you ever need help, you know where I am, okay? Mom’ll be here too, but I can always give you a place to stay or some bits or-“

“I’ll be alright, sis, really,” I said, giving Turntable a sincere smile.

There was a silence. I continued packing, and my sister observed and made the occasional comment.

“Hey, Day?” I looked at her, and she cocked an eyebrow. “Is this about a girl?”

I stepped back in surprise. “N-no! How did..”

Turn laughed to herself. “Ponies do crazy things for love, Daylight. I would call this crazy.”

“I’m not in love!” I protested, my face getting hot. “She’s just a friend! And this has nothing to do with her!”

My sister laughed once again. “Riiiight.. So, what, are you going to live with her? Gonna go rent a cottage in the city? Gonna get maaaaarried?” she teased, making faces and kissy noises.

“S-shut up!” I said, my blush getting stronger. “It’s not like that, okay? I’m living on my own, and we barely even just met!”

Turntable nudged me with an elbow. “Ah, but you still love her, don’t you?” I made no response, making the decision to simply stand there red-faced.. It's true, what they say- In every joke, there's a nugget of truth. “Alright, well, have fun with that, little bro,” she said, patting me on the back, “I’m gonna turn in. Night.” With that, she left me to pack in peace.

Not that I could pack in peace, though. Everything Turntable had said was rushing through my mind a mile a minute. I mean, I was living on my own, right? And Twilight was just a friend, right? Then there’s no problem, I thought to myself. You’ll go find a job and a place tomorrow after school, and that’ll be that. No sweat.

Pushing my troubles out of mind, I decided to finish packing in the morning. I was tired from the eventful day, and I could use the extra rest. Besides, tomorrow would be another huge, packed day. I mean, I was going to go prepare to live on my own, after all.

I let that sink in for a moment. Soon, my entire life was going to change. I wouldn’t be living comfortably anymore, I would be supporting myself. I would need a job. I would need to do everything on my own, totally alone.

Just the thought scared me. But then I remembered the words I spoke only a few hours before- “Every bird needs to leave the nest some time.” And I guessed I was right.. But I wasn’t sure.

I shrugged it off and hopped into bed. After all..

I had a big day ahead of me.

------------

AN: Well, here it is, everyone! The third chapter of Sight. Thanks for being patient with me, my writer's block has been huge lately. Next chapter should be here within two weeks.

Big shout out to my new pre-reader, Little Storm Cloud. Go give him favorites and watches and huggles. Couldn't do it without you, broseph.

Comments

[Midnight Gale]

Awesome! I'm really looking forward to the updates!

And, because it seems to be a custom on the internet,

First!

[Hot Dog Jones]

1049123
As a prize, I give you this dancing Twilight
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6tgipiLDM1r3gomwo1_400.gif

[Midnight Gale]

1059083

O-O

BEST.
PRIZE.
EVER!

My new Avatar!

[Obalie]

1059083

That. Is. Awesome.

[SgtRamen]

I fricken love this story!
But I have one question. When Daylight was packing, how could he have known that his sister was making faces at him? He's blind, isn't he?

[Hot Dog Jones]

1092085
This story is being told after-the-fact, so Daylight has information of what happened pieced together from his family and friends as well. This is good because it provides at least a bit of visual description, which is pretty much required in every story

[SgtRamen]

1092803 Oh thank you, that makes much more sense. I was reading the sentence over and over again going like "What?"

[Rubakor]

He has to accept that cuntwhore back? Since when are you forced to accept somebody back into your life? The whore just up and left for 7 fucking years and then returns like she was at her job for the day. She basically just blamed everything that happened on him. I'd have beat her before I left.

[dragenfire68]

3682314 woulda slapped the shit outta my sister for suggesting such a shit idea.