Linkin Pony Recharge: Chasing the Sun

by Kaciekk

Chapter XXVII

Halfway down the road I was beginning to feel achy already carrying all of my bags. I just need rest and a good meal.

We had to go almost all the way to the end of the street before turning right. About ten houses down was correct house. At least I believe so. It seem like the largest house in the neighborhood. The yard decorations included an Equestrian flag, small windmills shape like flowers, and vibrantly colored rocks. Who has time for this much decorating. Who paints rocks for that matter? (Well, as being an artist, I guess I can see the point.)

We entered the unlocked picket gate. Dad knocked on the door. A few moments later, it opened, a cream colored Earth-pony answering. She pushed her shaggy green mane away from her glasses to properly see us. She appeared to be a few years older than Dad.

“May, I help you?”

“Um, yes,” Dad started. “You see, we came to Haythorn to help with the rogue problem. We ended up getting stuck in the rogue camp for a week. We saved the captured ponies there… but the rogues took our supplies and now we have no food and-um… Long story short: We need a place to stay for a night. Somepony directed us to you.”

“Oh,” The mare said. “Well of course. How many of you are there?”

“Four,” Dad replied.

“Four, hmm.” She looked over Dad to see the rest of us, yet her eyes stopped on me.

She parted through my companions. “Could it be?” Standing in front of me, she said, “GentleSketch?”

“Um… how do you know my name?” I asked, uneasy. I glanced away.

“Oh, it is!” The mare held my shoulders.

“Should I know you?” I questioned, embarrassed.

“Oh, I suppose not. It was quite a long time ago. Nine years now, maybe?

“I’m SugarPine. I took care of you when your mother… left you here in Haythorn, but she had good reasoning.”

“Yeah” I spoke, “I know about that. But.. it was you?”

“Indeed. Oh, and how you’ve grown! But you still have those chubby cheeks!” SugarPine squished my, probably red, face with her hooves.

Dad added, “His cheeks were chubbier but he hasn’t really eaten anything since we’ve been in the rogue camp.” My face was definitely burning now.

“I’m sure I can fix that,” SugarPine assured. “Please, come in.” She beckoned us.

We entered the very roomy house. There were knick-knacks everywhere. This mare sure has a lot of times on her hooves.

“Cedar!” SugarPine called down a hallway. Then came a young beige stallion.

“You remember GentleSketch, right?”

“Of course I do,” he eyed me.

“You were Cedar’s favorite playmate when he was little,” SugarPine informed.

“I feel bad that I don’t remember you guys.” I looked at the floor.

“Oh it’s okay sweetheart,” SugarPine said. “It was a long time ago, and you were really young.”

“And who are these guys?” Cedar asked.

SugarPine pivoted to Dad. “I assume you are his father?” Dad nodded. “And..”

“This is my friend HyperBlitz and his son, JumpingJolt,” Dad replied.

“Oh yes!” SugarPine acknowledged HyperBlitz. “I remember you. You came with HeartFelt when she came to pick up GentleSketch.”

The mare gasped, changing the subject. “Oh, I should get supper started. I’ll make all of you the most splendid meal you have ever had.

“Cedar, darling, could you get these four settled? They can leave their things in the guest room. We’ll have to decided who will sleep where later.”

“Follow me,” Cedar guided. He went through the hallway. We were brought into a room, a bit smaller than my parents’ bedroom. There was a double bed, just like theirs.

“This is the guest room,” Cedar notified us. “Two of you can sleep in here. One of you can sleep on the sofa… but I guess the last one will have to sleep on the floor. Sorry about that. We’ll be sure to give you lots of pillows and blankets.”

“I think we’ll be fine,” Dad confirmed. “I’m sure it is much better than that gross rogue hotel room.”

“Alright.” Cedar left us.

“Why don’t you boys have this room,” Dad suggested. He looked at me. “You definitely need your rest.”

“Should we put our stuff in the living room?” HyperBlitz asked Dad.

“Sure. Might as well.”

Hyper dragged his things out of the room.

“Hmm… I don’t want to wait for food,” I complained aloud.

Dad commented, “Hmm yeah. It’s probably going to be a while before dinner. I can ask her for a little something.”

“No, you don’t have to do that,” I protested. “I don’t want to bother her.”

“Ah, I don’t think she’ll mind. She seems pretty nice.” Dad exited without my consent.

JumpingJolt plopped on the bed, his limbs spread out. “I think I’m going to take a nap.”

I felt misplaced without the guidance of somepony by my side. I decided to tour the large building. It wasn’t that there were many room, it was just very spacious.

Something in my subconscious told me I was here before. I just couldn’t pull out one thing from my memory chamber that I recognized. It was like a house I had been in before in a dream. Déjà vu.

Then, looking around the living room, I remembered something. The fireplace. I recall vaguely sitting there, warmth radiating from the flames. Was it actually cold that day? It is never cold in the North Hills camp, maybe chilly at best.

I was probably about four the last time I was here. Knowing I have good visual memory, wouldn't that ability have picked up by then? Why can’t I recognize more than the fireplace. I at least remembered placement, and how to move around.

Back in the hall, I checked the guest room, two bedrooms, and another room. There were shelves stacked with books. A computer remained on a desk. One wall was halfway covered by crates.

There was a door at the end of the hall. I glanced outside where there was a garden tent and a wind turbine.

I strolled back to the living room. An L-shaped couch and two chairs surrounded a coffee table. On the wall right of me was the fireplace I remembered. All sorts of picture frames and trinkets covered the mantle. I scanned them: little ceramic figurines,glass bottles, and fake flowers. One of the flowers had golden petals and a really strange smile.

In one of the pictures there was SugarPine, her son, and a red stallion I assumed was her husband. Where is he now?

Another picture held all the same colors, except for a new one: light blue. It was me. Why did they keep a picture of me? In the photograph, the tiny me seemed so happy to be next to Cedar. My heart ached for I can’t remember this.

After returning to the guest room, I sat and read my book quietly. About thirty minutes later, SugarPine called everyone for tea. I drank some of my magic aid and then went to poke JumpingJolt.

“Huh?” He mumbled.

“SugarPine asked everypony to come to the living room for tea.”

The colt stretched his forelegs. “Aw, I was sleeping good.”

In the living room, Dad was sitting next to HyperBlitz on the couch. He slide over and gestured me to sit between them. I sat awkwardly. I shivered at the touch of Dad’s mechanical leg.

“How is your leg still working?” I asked at the thought of that.

He glanced at his limb. “ I don’t know. I guess the mechanicals of it were not damaged enough to keep it from working. It may still give me problems. It probably won’t shoot energy.”

“I bet I can get someone to fix it for you,” SugarPine offered.

“It’s alright. You don’t have to go to that trouble. It’s not like we're going Hybrid hunting on the way home.”

“Hmm.” SugarPine changed the subject, “I brought everyone some tea. And help yourself to some veggies.”

I eyed the large platter of sliced carrots and celery. I shot a look at Dad and back at the food. “Go ahead,” He granted.

I picked a carrot with my magic. Dad chuckled at the way I chewed, embarrassed. I hoped I wasn’t crunching too loud.

“Weren’t you making dinner?” Hyper asked SugarPine.

“Yes, but I did start early. It will be a few hours before supper. I’m sure you all needed a snack.” Dad must have told her. “And I thought it would be wonderful to catch up over some tea.”

“C-catch up?” I mused.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Um,” I peered around. “I saw you have a picture of me… why?”

“Well, of course I have one! To remember you. You may not realize it, but you were our favorite guest. You did stay for many months. You were like another son to me, basicly a foster son.”

Dad added, “So you really liked having him around, huh?”

“Of course! He was a joy to have around. He was the most precious little marshmallow.”

“Marshmallow?” I questioned, but nobody explained.

“Yes, he was so nice and sweet. He always drew pictures for everyone. I think I still have some.”

“Um…” I glanced away.

SugarPine continued, directed to me. “Cedar was so upset when you left. He wanted to know when you were coming back.”

“It took nine years,” Cedar, who sat in the other plush chair, said.

“Actually,” Hyper joined, “When we left, GentleSketch wanted to come back. He said he wanted to go home, thinking this was his home.”

I flustered, sipping my tea.

“As much as you enjoyed him, we were glad to have him back,” Dad expressed.

“Is the tea good?” SugarPine jumped the subject again.

“Um… yes, it’s good.” I placed the warm drink down and took another carrot.

“What’s wrong?” Dad sensed my uneasiness.

I hesitated. “It’s… that everyone is talking about me.”

“We’re saying good things,” Dad assured.

“Yeah, but that’s when I was younger. I can’t even that.”

“Aw, you don’t have to be so humble.” Dad ruffled my mane. “Anyway, usually the way you act when you’re younger will predict how you act when you are older.”

SugarPine confirmed, “Ah, yes. He was very humble back then too.”

I countered, “It’s not like we’re talking about anypony else. Shouldn’t you care about getting to know everypony else.”

Dad said, “Sketch, you need to learn how to take some praise once in awhile. I think you need this. It would help your self confidence. It’s not like I get to boast about you a lot. So let me- us- do so now.”

I loosened my posture. I relaxed as Dad’s hoof laid on my shoulder. Maybe I do need this. After all I’ve been through, I definitely need a confidence boost. I let them continue.

“Yes, GentleSketch was as humble and cute as he was smart. He was clever and a quick learner,” SugarPine stated. “I could never seem to hide treats without him finding them.” I laughed a little at the idea of me searching the entire house for treats.

“To be honest,” Cedar spoke up, “I always had him find them for me. But he’d also find anything I would hide, or even find something I forgot where I put.”

“That sounds like our Sketch,” Dad remarked.

HyperBlitz included, “GentleSketch was very intelligent when we- my wife and I- took care of him. He always wanted to learn. When we couldn’t teach him fast enough, we had to bring his mother is.

“You see, both CharmingRhythm and HeartFelt are very smart to begin with. And.. when you have two parents who are smart, you come out with somepony like this,” He gestured to me.

“You know you’re smart, right?” Dad teased.

“Um, yeah.”

Dad laughed. “That’s good. You’d probably use that to your advantage. Your mom does that a lot.”

“And how is HeartFelt?” SugarPine finally asked a question not about me.

“Oh, she’s doing pretty good,” Dad answered, “As she should be.”

“Well, that’s good. I guess I should have expected that. It’s just that when she stayed here, she was always so worried.”

I went to take another vegetable, but realized most of them had been eaten by JumpingJolt. Although he ate more food than me in the rogue came, it was not good food. I took a piece of celery. I watched Jolt crunch into his stalk, and I mocked him.

“She never seemed to get enough rest. She went out and worked, sometimes weeks at a time, to pay for rent, but I told her she didn't need to. We already had enough money, but I guess she wanted to give back. HeartFelt never took care of herself as much as she did GentleSketch. She always put him first. But, I guess that is what a mother in her case would do.”

Dad reported, “Well, I’ll let you know, she’s a lot less worrisome now. She still works hard, but we all have to. Of course, she leave time for fun and family.

JumpingJolt and I started crunching simultaneously behind their conversation. We must have been obnoxious.

“Boys!” Hyper snapped, awkwardly loud. “Leave some for everypony else.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright,” SugarPine admitted. “I can always get some more.”

The cream mare went to the kitchen to retrieve more refreshments. She came back to continue to converse, laugh, reminisce.

I never expected our host at Haythorn to be this nice. SugarPine is a wonderful pony. No wonder she took me and my mother in. She’d probably take anypony in.

Dinner was amazing. I don’t think I have eaten a meal like that in a long time. No, actually, I don’t recall I ever had one like that, at least not at home.

During dinner, Dad and HyperBlitz sorted out who was sleeping where. Hyper would sleep on the floor, for he needed space(which made sense considering how his wings covered Jolt). They only came to that conclusion after arguing that the other should take the couch.

Dad was still conversing with SugarPine in the living room when I headed to bed.

Did I dream last night? I don’t remember. If I did have a dream, it was not long or important. Was she in it?

I awoke feeling refreshed. The house felt cozy and my bones did not ache like the first night in the rogue camp. The air was filled with a sweet, fruity smell. Knowing how good dinner was last night, I couldn’t wait for breakfast.

In the living room, SugarPine’s son, Cedar, sat in a chair. He was reading a book. That reminded me of my mom.

“Good morning, Cedar,” I greeted, feeling strange to say his name.

He looked to me. “Oh… um, good morning.”

“Is it a good book?”

“Oh, uh. Y-yeah,” The Earth-pony replied.

“Well, my mom says every book is a good book,” I remarked.

Cedar smirked, “Yeah, that sounds like her.”

“Do you remember her?” I asked.

“Of course I do,” Retorted Cedar. “She used to read us bedtime stories. Well, when she had the chance.”

There was a pause. Cedar seemed slightly depressed. He was gazing to the left of me. I looked over, turning, only to find myself chasing my tail. Cedar laughed a little. At least I could make somepony laugh.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s just,” the young stallion hesitated, his smile fading. “You’re thirteen, and you have your cutie mark.” His green gaze shifted down. “I’m seventeen and I’m still a blank flank.”

“Oh.” I examined my cutie mark: an orange figure of a pencil creating swirled strokes. I went back to Cedar. “Not everyone get their cutie mark young. I’m sure you just have to explore a little.”

“How am I supposed to explore wn I’m always cooped up at home. Anyway, how can I figure out my talent is by my name? What am I: A tree?”

“Well, I’m sure you find it some time,” I encouraged. “My dad was seventeen when he got his cutie mark.” I hoped that made him feel a little better.

“Anyway, not everypony has a specific name or mark. My friend, JumpingJolt’s mom, has a vague name and mark. She’s not really sure what her talent is. But she’s found that she really likes taking care of ponies. She likes to make them feel better.” (Which is perfect because her husband is so clumsy and had a weak immune system)

“Hmm, maybe…” Cedar said, but I wasn’t sure why.

“Boys,” SugarPine called, her head popping out from the kitchen. “Time for breakfast.”

I remembered JumpingJolt was still asleep. I went to the guest room to wake him. However, I took a drink of my magic aid potion before I did.

In the dining room, Dad was helping set things up. Like last night, I was surprised how large the mahogany table was, and how many chairs there were. It was just Cedar and SugarPine here usually. What about SugarPine’s husband? I saw him in the photos on the fireplace mantle. I asked about him.

“Hmm?” The mare hummed through her teeth as she sat down a pot. “Oh yes, Carpenter. He works a lot, usually days at a time. But then he stays at home for days. Too bad he’s not here now. I’m sure he’d love to see you.”

“We can call him,” Cedar suggested. “Maybe he can come home early.”

“Well, we’re going to have to leave today,” Dad proclaimed, making me feel sad.

“You aren’t leaving until I pack a lunch for you,” SugarPine giggled.

Cedar left the room, and said, strangely out of place, “I’m going to call him.” They had a working phone?”

“Would you like some coffee?” SugarPine offered to me as we sat down. “Your father told me you like it.”

I looked to Dad, who sat next to me. “Um, could I?”

“Of course,” He smirked.

His blue magic levitated the kettle, and he poured the brown liquid into a ceramic cup. I tasted it. The coffee was sweetened and had creamer. I wonder where SugarPine got these ingredients. But I assume she has enough money to buy expensive supplies.

“It tastes awesome,” I remarked.

“That’s wonderful,” SugarPine commented delightfully.

Cedar returned to his seat. “Dad says he’ll be home as soon as posible,” He told his mother.

“Splendid,” SugarPine replied

“Well, I’m not sure he’ll come home before we leave,” Dad said. “I want to get back tonight, which means we leave early.