It was what one would call a pleasant day in south-east Equestria. It was not too humid and there was a timid wind in the air. Ponies were in favor of this weather and worked and played outside today.
I watched two orange ponies play ball together: JumpingJolt and a stallion who was a lighter and more yellow shade or orange. JumpingJolt chased the stallion, his eyes on the ball. The stallion smacked the ball with one golden hoof sending the object flying. Jolt’s head followed the ball which hit a wall. The colt pivoted his body to kick the ball back into the open area. The stallion lept with his hind limbs and hit the ball down with his forehooves.
After running past me, JumpingJolt skidded to a halt. He looked to me. “Oh, GentleSketch! Would you like to play?”
“Sure,” I said, although I am not big into sports nor am I any good at them.
I stood in the middle planning where I would go. Orange kept zooming past me and I failed to find my place. I was not good at keeping up for they were Earth-ponies, so they had a natural ability to run fast.
I saw the ball and headed towards it but gold hooves scooped it up before me. I ceased running and slumped down. Sports were no fun.
“Hey, Uncle BlazingFlair, could I have the ball?” I asked politely.
The stallion stared at me with green eyes. A forehoof flicked the ball in my direction. JumpingJolt raced in front of me and seized my prize right before my eyes. “Too slow!” He mocked.
“JumpingJolt! It’s my turn!” I pouted.
“There are no turns in this game!”
“C’mon, give him the ball,” BlazingFlair told Jolt.
“Fine.”
The ball rolled to me and I held it with a hoof. “What is the point of this game?”
“Pretty much taking the ball from your opponent,” Jolt said.
“And maybe get a goal,” BlazingFlair added.
After examining the area I asked, “What would a goal be?”
The stallion responded,“I dunno. Make one up. Use your imagination.”
Okay, I can do that. I shoved the sphere forward and succeeded after it. I was horrible at sustaining a straight path. The ball curved to the side and JumpingJolt kicked it up on an angle. It repealed off a wall, flying backwards.
BlazingFlair let go of his footing and landed on the ball. He wrapped his hooves towards his chest, tucking the ball under his belly. I trotted next to him. I poked his side. The stallion stuck his tongue out and shut his eyes forcefully as if he was in pain. I laughed. BlazingFlair always knows how to make me laugh.
“Come on Uncle blazing, get off the ball!” I requested, smiling.
“Yeah, Uncle Blazing,” A voice from the right repeated me.
A blue aura surrounded BlazingFlair and lifted him from the ground. His limbs flailed around helplessly. JumpingJolt swooped under the hovering Earth-pony and snatched the ball. He scurried away mischievously. The glow around Blazing faded and he dropped with a soft thud.
“Hey!” He said to the grayish-blue Unicorn standing before him.
“Sorry,” Dad apologized, “You’re kinda heavy”
Blazing stood up and brushed the dirt from his chest. He continued playing with JumpingJolt. I looked to my father.
“Having fun?”
“Yeah, sure.” BlazingFlair made things fun, the sport itself was not entertaining.
“I’m sorry to interrupt you but-”
“No, it’s okay.” I realized I was interrupting him. My head dropped down with embarrassment.
Dad did not mind. I glanced back up and he was smirking. “ I was going to talk with HyperBlitz about the trip and-”
Just then he was cut off again, this time by the sound of shattering glass and JumpingJolt’s shouting. We turned in sync. JumpingJolt stared at a broken window. BlazingFlair trotted to his side, He placed a hoof on the colt’s shoulder saying ,"That’s a goal!” Not even one bit angry. But the pony who showed herself on the other side of the window was angry.
“Sorry!” Jolt called.
I heard Dad chuckle. “As I was saying.I am going to talk with HyperBlitz about the trip and I wanted to know if you would like to come. It looks like your game is canceled anyway.”
“Okay,” I responded to Dad.
When we met with the yellow Pegasus he gave us a very loud “hi.”
“So about the trip…” Dad started.
“Yeah. It may take a couple of days to get there,” Hyper explained. “We could take the train, but we need to find out where the track goes. We’ll have to go to the Los Pegasus station.”
“And how are we going to negotiate with the rogues?”
“We gotta to the ponies in Haythorn, figure out what the problem is.”
“It’s kind of stupid going so blindly,” Dad pointed out.
“Ah, that’s part of the fun! We’ll probably run into Hybrids along the way.”
“Do we make them a priority? The resistance is built on fighting Hybrids.”
“Depends on how much of an obstacle they are. You’re bringing GentleSketch, right?” The stallion mentioned me.
“Indeed. I thought an adventure would be a good experience for him. He needs to get out of the camp and socialize with other ponies. A trip would also offer us some father/son bonding time.”
“Sounds good!” Hyper exclaimed. “I think that’s-” Suddenly he gave a huge gasp of excitement. It was much larger than I thought was possible, most likely because he is a Pegasus, a species with larger lungs for flying.
“What if,” He said with emphasis, “I brought JumoingJolt! You bring your son, I bring mine! A father/son trip!”
“What’s SweetHooves going to think about that?”
“I can ask her,” HyperBlitz stated. “I can do that now!”
Without our approval, he decided to canter away. Dad paced after him. We weaved through apartments and fences. We saw the mare in front of a door.
“SweetHooves! SweetHooves! SweetHooves!” HyperBlitz chanted his wife’s name.
The mare turned. She was holding a bucket in her teeth. The bucket having been set down, she said “Yes?”
“You know that trip I was talking about with CharmingRhythm.” A look at Dad. “I was- well he’s bringing GentleSketch.” A look at me. “I thought it would be cool, as a father/son trip, I brought JumpingJolt.” The way he said it made it sound like a statement instead of a request(I’m not sure if that was what he intended).
SweetHooves frowned. “There are going to be rogues. Rogues are dangerous.”
“Rhythm was saying he’d leave GentleSketch in Haythorn, I could leave Jolt there too. It’d be better is Sketch wasn’t alone.”
“You don’t know if that will happen. You guys always get into ridiculous situations.”
“Does that mean he can go?”
“No!”
I do not know how her statement could have made HyperBlitz think she meant Jolt could go. “Why not?” Hyper whinnied.
“Did you even ask him?” SweetHooves asked.
“No, but I know he’ll want to go.”
“I don’t want him too.”
“What about what Jolt wants?”
I questioned in my head why HyperBlitz needed approval from SweetHooves. Then I remembered how much he has agreed on having trust in a relationship.
“Oh boy,” Dad said, taking a step back.
“It’s too dangerous,” Insisted SweetHooves. “ I don’t want my little boy around rogues. I shouldn’t even let you around them.”
“Oh come on, SweetHooves. Please,” Hyper whined like a tiny colt.
“I said no!”
I spoke to my father, “Can you stop them?”
Dad shook his head. “When they start, there is no stopping them.”
“It would be good father/son bonding.” Hyper said.
SweetHooves argued, “If anything, JumpingJolt should stay here and bond with me! He bonds with you all the time.”
HyperBlitz grunted, “Ugh, that’s the problem? Why can’t you just let him go?”
“Because it’s going to be dangerous.”
“Fuck that! No it’s not. We will stay in Haythorn, and go negotiate with the rogues.”
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“It’s going to!”
“You’re going to be gone for a while,” SweetHooves stated, mockingly.
“Only for a week or so.” Hyper’s voice had bounced from enraged to dismal.
“I’m going to be lonely when you are gone.”
“Gosh. Don’t you ever think about anypony but yourself?!” HyperBlitz snapped with a growl in his throat. “Selfish!” He finished and stomped away.
SweetHooves looked down in emotional pain, her mane falling over her scarred eye. “I do think about other ponies. I think about others a lot.” I nodded, knowing this is true. SweetHooves is one of the most caring ponies I know. “I just couldn’t say the right thing.”
Dad stepped up. “ I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” She gazed to the direction her husband marched off to. “He doesn’t think before he acts. I guess I didn’t think before acting either.”
“It’s just,” The mare grimaced. “He’s going to go complain to JumpingJolt and then Jolt will come complain to me. Why do they have to make me the bad guy?”
“HyperBlitz will come around sometime,” Dad told her. “He’ll apologize and forgive you, but you need to forgive him.”
That evening, I sat with Dad as he showed what we would bring. I examined several different saddlebags, some were for me, some were for him
“How much are we bringing? Is it going to be heavy?” I asked.
“You’re probably going the lightest of all of us since you’re no use to carrying a lot.” He could have said I am not strong. “There are many necessities we need. Although it’s going to be mostly water and food. I’m bringing a blanket but I’m gonna wear it on my back like a cape.” He raised his arms up in the shape of a ‘V’.
“Wouldn’t that get hot?” I pointed out.
“Hmm, maybe,” Dad took in account. “I could always ball it up and carry it on my back if I’m not already carrying something there. You can do that with a blanket too.
I don’t want to carry too much, but we need to be prepared for the in between trips. We can get supplies from Haythorn, but I don’t want to bother them more than having to sleep there. That’s why we are bringing extra food.” Dad took a break to breath and think. “We’re going to have more supplies on the train, but we’ll have to leave them because we can’t take all of them.”
His eyes leveled with mine. “You will have to sleep in some uncomfortable places, that is why we are bringing blankets.” My eyes drifted away and I shrugged. “I do know how long we will be walking. I want to be on the train as much as possible but we never know when the track may be out of leads us in the wrong direction.”
“We have a map right?” I surmised.
“Yep! And a compass.”
“When are we leaving?”
“I don’t know. HyperBlitz says he’s not going until SweetHooves lets JumpingJolt come."
I hummed and look at the items on the floor.