//------------------------------// // Chapter XXI: Father/Son Brawling // Story: Linkin Pony Recharge: Chasing the Sun // by Kaciekk //------------------------------// We entered our room, all exhausted. Today had been a long day but more preferable than the days before because I had Dad with me. After all, I had made him proud of me, despite my abilities being a lie. No, maybe it wasn’t a lie. Magic aid is an energy boost, so maybe all I need is an energy boost to use magic. “You need to rest,” HyperBlitz said to JumpingJolt. “I know, I know. This is the first time I could rest all day.” “You couldn’t rest earlier?” “The rogues wouldn’t let me.” “You should have said something. I know I said something,” Hyper reminded. “Don’t make them push me around. Tell them you’re injured.” “They don’t care, Dad.” “They should know you would work better after you heal. I told you that you need to rest, you can’t be moving around.” “I’ve had no chance. It’s not my fault, they yell at me if I do,” Jolt explained. “You need to stand up for yourself. That leg won’t heal if you walk on it.” “I’m not trying to, Dad. Stop nagging me.” “I’m not nagging you,” Hyper claimed. “Yes you are.” “Hey-” Dad interfered from the bed, “Stop arguing. I want to get some sleep.” I curled up on the bed next to Dad. I glanced at him. “Ugh, I’d love to wash myself. I feel gross,” Dad muttered. “They don’t give us enough time. He paused. “Why are you looking at me like that?” “Your beard.” “My beard?” He raised a brow and touched his chin. “It’s longer, it doesn’t look right on you.” “Oh, yeah. I haven’t trimmed it in a couple of days. I doubt they’d let us have razors or scissors… Eh, HyperBlitz is worse; He doesn’t look right with facial hair.” I looked at HyperBlitz, whose shadowy face made him, like everything else, look older. “Dad, I can do this myself!” JumpingJolt expressed, snatching the sheet from the Pegasus. He rolled it up for his injured leg. “Stop babying me.” “I’m not babying you,” Hyper took with offence. “I’m trying to help you.” “I can help myself.” “Hey, what did I say?” Dad snapped. “We need to go to bed. This is the only time we get to rest.” JumpingJolt and HyperBlitz just coldly glared at each other silently. Getting up early is something I can do, but not when it means there are ponies hovering around and ordering me. Stalling, I observed several ponies who shouted and cursed at one another. My father, HyperBlitz and JumpingJolt stood to my left. GearClank prompted himself in front of us. “Today,” the Pegasus began, “You will help us with our Hybrid problem.” I scoffed at the word “help”, for we were going to be forced to work. He continued, “We will set you up with some other ponies. Do not even try to run away, or we will hunt you down. You have twenty minutes to prepare yourselves.” Not much time, I thought. I followed my companions back to our room. “This is stupid,” I muttered, hopping onto the stained bed. “Why do they keep us here? Why do we have to make us into slaves?” I spoke thoughts that repeated in my mind ever since I had reached the rogue camp. “It’s not like we can do much, GentleSketch,” Dad replied. “I don’t like this just as much as you do. We just have to keep going along until we find an escape.” “We should just leave,” I huffed. “You know we can’t. They are always guarding, and do you think we can stand up to guns?” Dad pointed out. “No…” I looked down. JumpingJolt joined the conversation. “Why don’t we just run when we’re out on this Hybrid mission?” My father shook his head. “They would hunt us down.” “We’ll run fast! We can trick them!” The orange colt said enthusiastically. “Jolt,” his father spoke, “Your leg is hurt, I doubt you could run very fast.” “But I could-” “Jolt, it’s no use.” JumpingJolt dropped his head. “I always mess things up.” HyperBlitz stepped towards him. “JumpingJolt… it’s not your fault, we just can’t leave.” “If I didn’t hurt myself we could have been out of here already!” The Earth-Pony growled. “I can’t ever help. I always screw things up, and get in other ponies’ way!” “No you-” “Yes I do!” Jolt stomped his forehooves. “If I don’t, let's just leave!” “Jolt, we can’t!” HyperBlitz exclaimed, his voice raising. His son swirled around and flicked his tail.“Fuck it!” “JumpingJolt! Watch your language!” “Why? You always say it!” “That doesn’t mean you have to!” The Pegasus cried. “You should be better than me.” “But I can’t. I fuck things up.” “JUMPIMGJOLT!” HyperBlitz was furious. He then took a deep breath and lowered his volume(which still was not an appropriate speaking level). “Just because you are my son doesn’t mean you have to be like me. I want you to be better. That’s the point of having children: to raise someone to be better than you.” I realized JumpingJolt was going through some of the same things as me. He wanted to make his father proud, but felt like he could not ever do it. He was missing self acceptance, which is something I lack greatly, but maybe not as greatly as JumpingJolt. We both think we are useless in some way. Dad and I made eye contact, and both exchanging worried expressions. Whenever anything like this happened, no matter who it was between, I wanted to hide away. I urged to scoop up the covers beneath me and throw them over my head. Lifting a mechanical hoof, Dad interrupted the argument. “You guys, we don’t have a lot of time.” HyperBlitz glanced at the Unicorn and waved his hoof. “Just…” He went back to Jolt. “Dad,” My friend started up again, “How can I be better than you when I’m always making mistakes? I’m the reason we are in the hellhole to begin with! I got distracted and lost,you had to find us, I got hurt and we’re stuck here.” “We all make mistakes,” Hyper tried to reassure him. “Yeah, but that looks like that’s all I’m good at. I don’t ever think. I don’t ever think of anypony else. I’m just a burden.” “JumpingJolt, I know exactly how you feel. I’ve felt the same way before.” “Ha,” the colt sarcastically laughed. “Everyone tells me I’m just like you.” I looked over and my dad shifted forward. “Ah.. I’m just going to go to the bathroom.” The blue stallion stepped around HyperBlitz but neither he nor JumpingJolt were aware of his existence. “JumpingJolt, listen-” HyperBlitz was cut off by his son. “Why do you keep saying my name? Do you think I can’t hear you, HyperBlitz?” “Excuse me, I am your father and you will address me as such.” “Why? don’t hear you calling me ‘son’.” “It doesn’t work like that.” I slumped down over the side of the bed and reached for my bag. I scooped up the plastic bottle of magic aid. I took a quick gulp. Luckily I had a chance to get some before we left. If we ever left. “Nothing ever works the way it should,” Jolt huffed. He pushed himself up onto the other bed with his hooves, his back now turned to me. “Do you really think we could leave if we wanted to?” Hyper called out as he waved his hoof, gesturing to the door. “We need to save those ponies from Haythorn!” “Just leave without me. You won’t have me to slow you down. Your life would be better off without me.” Muttered Jolt. “What? That’s absurd.” “Is it really? It seems like the smart thing to do.” The way JumpingJolt was speaking frightened me. Could he really be feeling like this? The creaky bathroom door opened, and Dad stepped out behind the bickering father and son. “Would you two shut up?” HyperBlitz whipped his head to Dad and bared his teeth. “You’re acting like children. We don’t have time for this.” The Pegasus pointed to his agitated son. “He-” “No,” Dad said with an even voice. “Don’t even try to blame it all on him. You are acting just as childish. As much as you want him to be better than you, you can’t do it by setting a bad example. He takes after you, and you have to realize that. Anything you do, he will copy. So you should be the better pony.” I was confused by his statement. I guess my brain could not place words together to make sense. Perhaps the magic aid may have needed to completely settle into my system before I could think right again. (And/or the lack of sleep I got the night before.) Blinking, his frustration washing over, HyperBlitz stared at Jolt. He then placed himself next to the orange colt on the bed. “JumpingJolt, son,”The stallion said, now with a softer voice, “I wouldn’t ever leave you here.” “Why not? I’m no help. I shouldn’t even go on this mission.” “You can help.” “How?” “Maybe you can help in ways you don’t even know. Please come with us. You don’t want to be stuck here, they’re nasty.” My father went around to the opposite side of the bed I was sitting on. His blue magic lifted up his bag and he placed a water bottle and bandages inside. “Are we going to have enough energy?” I inquired. “I’m not sure. Hyper and I have some, but we really don’t want to waste it. Crystals can last a long time, but using them on Hybrids can be costly. I see why they don’t use it as a weapon,” Dad explained to me. “But aren’t there ways to stretch out how much you use?” “We’ve designed EPDs to stretch out energy as much as we can. It’s better than it use to be.” The older Unicorn twisted his head around. “Are you guys coming?” “Yeah,” HyperBlitz said as he pushed himself off the bed. He glared around, looking for what to bring. “Do you think we can find crystals when we are out?” I asked Dad. “We really don’t have equipment to find it. Even if it’s straight out in front of us, we don’t have the tools to harvest it.” “But don’t you have-” “Please no more question, we have to get moving.” I am a colt! I have so many questions! But I realized I was annoyed with myself from asking so many questions. I decided to shut up.