//------------------------------// // Underlying Resentment // Story: Earning Freedom // by Daxisle //------------------------------// Underlying Resentment Macintosh breathed a sigh of relief as the train entered the Canterlot platform. The sun's creeping light threatened to break over the horizon any second, sending Luna's night into a loosing twilight with Celestia's day. Leaving his seat, and the awkward situation with Spike, Macintosh and his friends stepped out to the chilled air of the outside, nearly run over by an overly excited Rainbow Dash who flew in several tight loops outside, obviously to excited for her own good. "C'monc'monc'mon!" She complained as the rest of her friends exited the cart. "Settle down naow." Applejack eased. "Th' show ain't gonna start fer 'nother three hours, no need tah rush." Rainbow scoffed in disbelief. "Are you kidding?! We need to get you there so you can go over the routine with the wonderbolts!" The cyan mare held her apple friend's face in her hooves, her own coming uncomfortably close. "Soarin himself came up with it short notice, and we can't let it fail." Calmly, Applejack placed her hoof between the two and pushed the pegasus away. "Don't worry Dashie!" Pinkie chirped happily, patting her friend's head motherly. "Three hours is plenty of time for them to prepare! That's, like, fourteen batches of cupcakes time!" Beginning to protest, Dash stopped herself, arguing wouldn't get her anywhere, and more importantly; it wouldn't get Applejack anywhere. They agreed to stop by the arena and check to see if the earth pony's presence was required. If it wasn't then all eight of them would simply wonder about the city for an hour or so then head back to their seats. On a snow covered, forest ridden mountain summit, Sin stood looking down to the low base, a gentle falling of crystallized water being the only movement to readily observe. He looked around slowly, his eyes lidded though slightly recognizing. The dark trunks of trees and dead leaves were a stark contrast to the pure and white flakes that had accumulated around him. He'd been here before, but where it was exactly he wasn't sure. This memory was old, very very old. Before he'd dropped out of school, hell probably before he even went into school. But why was his mind showing him this? A gentle breeze sent the snow around him into a frenzy, but he couldn't feel the cold. He couldn't even feel the properly melting snow beneath his hooves, dreams were funny like that he supposed. "Come on!" A young voice cried out to his right. The stallion turned to find a young brown pegasus running to him, a smile a mile wide and eyes as young and playful as a happy foal free from school. "Come on, Grandpa! We're here!" "I'mma commin'!" Sin's breath caught in his throat, and for the first time in years; a happy and warm feeling grew through his body. That voice... that rugged yet kindhearted voice he'd come to know through so many years of teaching... How long had it been since he heard it with such clarity? Clarity that not even his most vivid memories could replicate. As the young colt approached, the broken winged pony could tell with out a doubt who he was looking at. He saw a much younger version of himself hopping happily in place, eagerly awaiting for the older stallion to catch up. Sin knew his grandfather wasn't a push over yet, but he had a bit of an injury at the time and he took the moment to study the dream colt before him. He was a little smaller than Macintosh's youngest sister, but with unbound pegasus wings and a darker color scheme, but they did share one thing in common, their eyes. The colors didn't match, but there, right there, covering the upper right of the pupil and retina; a shimmering, bright white glow. The glow of a young and happy spirit. "Oh boy." Sin looked on with anticipation as the darker grey earth pony pulled himself up onto the more level ground. The dream forced a smile onto his face, there stood one of the greatest ponies he'd ever have the pleasure of meeting. The older stallions wild white and black mane sat in an ratty mess that some how always kept a charm of sophistication with the way he always pushed it back. The classic dark maroon cloak he wore hiding the saddle bags full of asparagus and other needed tools to cook and collect firewood. Mandylion looked around for a moment. "Great choice for a camp site." He huffed before looking at the dream Sin. "Next time, you think you could be a bit more friendly on an old colt's sprained ankle though?" The younger Sin giggled. "Grandpa!" He said teasingly. "You're not old yet! You've got ten more years till you're old." "Ten years eh?" The stallion said, putting his hoof to his chin in mock thought. "Hmm, nope. I think I'm old now." Dream Sin rolled his eyes and chuckled again. All the while the real Sin could only slam his face into his hoof in embarrassment. Rolling eyes? Bouncing? Giggling like a filly? Tapio's beard he was a lame colt, thank Milikki no one was around to witness this. There was shame he could live down and then there was this... Mandylion dismissed his grandson to go and fetch firewood while he set up the camp and started a spark. Once Sinny, referring to the dream child, returned, he saw the older Federalist striking his legs together, small sparks emanating from the point of contact. Sin scoffed and smirked. to this day, he still didn't know how his grandfather had started a fire in less than two minutes with that method. Hell, it always took him at least three times that to this day. The dream continued on for a time, Sinny gathering firewood, while Mandylion set up the camp site. The duration of which, the dreamer's emotion's of happy nostalgia rapidly degenerated to feelings of curiosity and annoyance. Why was he seeing this? In the blink of an eye, night fell. Sinny and Mandylion were now observing the stars overhead, the elder of the two finishing a conversation not seen. Suddenly, a topic came up that Sin had almost forgotten through the years, one that made him bit his lip in shame. "Hey grand pa? How come you live in the woods?" At the time, the question was innocent enough. After all, civilized citizens lived in buildings and homes, close to their families, but Mandylion lived very far away. Three days trot to be exact, and to a child, that might as well have been a million miles away. Sin was always curious about his grandfather's life, why he always seemed so happy when others were more distant and cold, why he only ever wore a cloak and seemed to have so much more energy than anyone else. On the winter before the young colt began public school, his grandfather agreed to take him for a single month, away from his family and society just the two of them to see how the happy stallion lived. At first, Sin was excited but when he heard about the lack of any kind of modern day appliances or any kind of stable living conditions, second thoughts began to emerge. Still in the end, he agreed. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that if anything bad were to happen, his beloved grandfather would be there to protect him. Little did he know, however, that on that night; that small question, that innocent and rushed question he wanted to get out of the way before he was sent back home would lead to a speech that would change his life forever. Mandylion sat silently, a strange contrast to his typically happy and warm demeanor. Believing he'd asked a stupid question, Sinny was about to apologize before he was cut off. "Sin." Mandylion called, his voice far deeper and more commanding than ever before. He turned his face and eyed his kin. "What I'm about to tell you, I want you to listen and take to heart what I have to say." Sinny pressed his lips in uncertainty and nodded. "I live alone because society is wrong..." he let those words linger in the air for a moment, allowing them to sink in before continuing on into a speech that lasted the better part of three hours. Though the cold couldn't understand the majority of it at the time, he listened with eagerness and wonder, letting the emotions of his grandfather carry the tales and associating the words with emotions displayed. Subjective morality, individual preference, non-aggression, self sufficiency, victim-hood and his disdain for it, were only a few topics that he could remember. "But I want you to remember, Sinbad." Mandylion placed a hoof on the colts shoulder with a soft smile. "No matter who tells you any differently, you should never compromise your own beliefs and ethics because someone tells you that you're being selfish of uncaring. Creatures like these only want to manipulate you to do as they see fit," he paused for a moment, adding more intensity to the already thick atmosphere, "you were not put on this earth to serve another." And with that, the images began to fade to white with Sin standing alone to dwell on what he saw. The stallion lowered his head, his insides feeling empty and hollow. Such heavy and extreme concepts at such a young age. Back then, he could only understand a fraction of it, but he wanted to learn. By Tapio's beard he wanted to learn. The atmosphere, the conversation, the idea's the attention, the pony telling it all to him, it was one of the most intense and impacting moments of his life. Especially considering the contrast he lived in, with the boring and neglectful home he came from. His father had just taken over the family business, and his mother was always busy with his younger brother. To have that kind of attention and be on that kind of adventure, mixed with all of the experiences of learning how to start a fire, identify and gather edible plants and other skills made him want to never leave. But as much as he wanted to stay, he knew that he needed to go back home. "Hello?" A voice called out. Sin looked up, expecting another dream sequence to start but nothing came of it. The feminine voice called out again and he turned to fine Princess Luna of all ponies, standing a few feet away. He replied and she quickly closed the space between them, but still leaving enough for their persons. Wow, first he dreams of his childhood, than the princess of the night. There must be some serious issues his subconscious is trying to make him face. 'Like your repressed sexuality?' No comment. "Hello Sin." She greeted polity, met with only a small nod. Well, at least he can interact with this dream, that was some thing. "I'm not a dream." Said Luna with a tint of motherly condensation, explaining her power to enter the dreams of others. Apparently, her power over the moon and night also gave her authority to invade the sanctity of other's minds and visit their subconscious's attempt to communicate with the ego. Seems legitimate. "Right." Replied the stallion, setting his thoughts of 'why' aside so as to deal with her. "So what can I do for you?" With a sense of nonchalance that showed how little regard she had for invading the privacy of some other pony's dreams, the princess of the night began to slowly circle around the stallion and looked around the white void, as if admiring some kind of scenery. "Oh, we just had a question for you, is all." "A.. question?" Sin repeated hesitantly. Luna nodded, her horn glowing and the white void dissolving back into the landscape it was before, doing nothing for Sin's previous embarrassment. Even worse, she giggled madly at the frozen image of his younger self asleep by his grandfather. "Aww, thou lookest so cute as a colt." The stallion had to redouble his efforts to maintain his composure, such a tender moment reduced to a princess amusement was hardly the high point of his day. Still, he couldn't stop the low mumble of choice words that escaped his lips. "Don't worry, young one, we wont tell a soul." She said teasingly. "Right, so what exactly is this question of yours?" Sensing her time of fun at its end, Luna replaced her vigor and addressed in a more proper fashion. "Yes, we were hoping to um," she paused awkwardly for a moment, her face betraying her uncertainty, "question you about your relatives." Sin quirked a brow. What the hell? Where did this come from? "In relevance to?" A short pause. "Malich." Oh so that's it. Guess he must have told her they were siblings. "What of my brother?" Luna gasped, her eyes widening to saucers. If he hadn't known any better, Sin would have thought he'd just told her the meaning of life by her look of dumbstruck. After a few very awkward seconds of silence, the alicorn shook her head and let out a sigh. "So it is true." True? Damn, I've just over played my hand. Still, what reason would she have for wanting to know about their relationship? When Questioned about it, Luna scratched the back of her neck and dismissed the matter, failing to hide the nervous guilt she felt about being called on it.. "Indeed." The stallion sighed, his sense of curiosity loosing to discomfort and embarrassment at the fact his mind was being invaded and memories seen. He just wanted her gone. "Is that all?" Luna nodded and took a step backwards. It looked like she was about to walk off into the moon but, she suddenly stopped. "Don't be to angry at her, she's still upset about losing her grand son." "Losing her what?" Sin repeated, though sudden and stark pain on the top of his head took priority, as did the crumbling of dream scenery around him. "OW!" Sin jolted awake and rubbed the sharp, searing pain on the top of his head. Blinking back the tears from both sleep and pain, his hooves came over his eyes to find his goggles missing. "So, yer finally awake, eh?" Said an older, gravely voice. Where was he? Right now he couldn't remember too much of anything other than Luna and Mandylion, not that the grogginess helped. "I am." Replied, trying to put authority into his voice. "May I please have my goggles?" "Eh? What dija say?" "My goggles, I would like them, please." A moment of anticipatory silence passed, Sin chancing a squinting look to the marshmellow green pony before him. he couldn't tell much from the momentary glance, but it was enough to know that she was the only one in the room besides him. "Yer a strange type o' coltcuddler ain't ya?" Colt-what? "But Ah ain't here tah wait on ya hoof n' tail, buster!" He felt something, presumably a hoof, jab into his chest. Gritting his teeth, Sin resisted the urge to simply swat her hoof away, moving his hoof so he could look for the eye wear himself. Luckily they were on a light colored wooden night stand next to him. Ignoring the mare's banter, he quickly grabbed them and replaced them, adding some comfort to his situation. Well, it was, until he opened his eyes. The lense in his left eye was gone. Well, half gone, small jagged edges of glass remained around the rim, as if something had stepped on them. A look to old mare confirmed his suspicions, her smug grin and sadistic eyes spoke of her pride. "Somethin' wrong, deary?" She asked sarcastically. Silently removing the broken eye wear, Sin allowed himself several long and deep breaths before his eye began to twitch. It was a useless attempt to keep himself calm, so was the grinding of his teeth and the constant stress and relaxation of his muscles. There were three things nobody, no pony, no griffin, no minotaur, no donkey, not even a centaur could ever get away with by him. First and foremost, destruction of his property. Fuck the dream, fuck Luna, fuck why she was there and fuck not knowing where he was or how he got here... He opened is eyes and looked directly into hers. The mare's smug look only hastening his raising anger. Lowing his head and baring his teeth, the stallion sneered in challenge. She was gonna pay.