Linkin Pony Recharge: Chasing the Sun

by Kaciekk

Chapter III: The Book

I stepped from the living room into the kitchen. I saw my father sitting at the table, a cup next to his hoof. He also had some sort of paper.

I stood there aimlessly for a moment, then finally spoke. “Good Morning.”

“Good morning,” Dad replied without turning his head.

“Where’s Mom?” I asked.

“She went out to get some foods.” He said it in a way that wasn’t serious, I could mostly tell this by the way he said ‘foods’, with a long ‘S’ (and also, that sentence did not need an ‘S’ on ‘food’).

I spotted the digital clock on the microwave. “Eeh, it’s after nine.”

“Is that a problem?” Dad questioning my thoughts I had said out loud.

“I don’t know. I don’t like getting up so late.” I sat down in a chair.

I glanced at my father. His left cheek laid on his hoof. His beard was now cut cleanly(which gave me relief for, again, some reason I did not understand). His eyes looked downward at his paper. A pen was being levitated by magic, and sketched some lines on the paper. He was drawing, but I could not recognize what it was.

The grayish blue stallion lifted his head, and his eyes slid to my direction. He was studying me, just as I was studying him. But this time it was a staring contest. When he placed the pen to the side, he tilted his head slightly.

“Would you like your…. thing now?” He did not know what to call it.

“I guess so.”

“ ‘Kay.” He pushed the chair out and got up. After circling around, he exited through the door frame.

I waited a couple of seconds, which existed in my mind longer than they were. I glared at his cup of coffee. I reached over for it with both hooves. Placing it to my lips, I sipped the bittersweet drink.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped quickly and stood up straight in my chair. My father gave me an expression that read ‘really?’.

“Sorry. You never let me have any coffee.”

“You can get a cup, just don’t tell your mom.” He pointed to the counter.

It was not that my mother thought coffee was bad for me, it was just that she did not want me stay up to late(and coffee was more of a luxury than a necessity).

I stood up and pulled the coffee pot out. Steadily, I raised it up and let the dark liquid pour into my cup. I carried it carefully over to the table in one hoof.

“So what did you get for me?” I asked.

Dad pushed a book to the center of the table. “This.”

Immediately I thought that he should have given this to Mom, since it was a book. He must have raided a book store. I took the book and scanned it. It was a hard cover and had stars on the cover. It read ‘Magic for Beginning Unicorns’.

“What is this?!” I said with a raised voice. I may have overreacted. I glared up at my dad.

“It's too help you… because… you know. You need help practicing magic.” He said with a meek voice.

“But this book would be for young ponies! I’m not a foal!” I was overreacting. I guess I gave away the idea that I thought that Dad thought that I was a baby. This may have been, because Dad’s face looked as if he was hurt. But this was not true. I was not upset at him, I was upset with myself, because I cannot perform magic.

“I’m sorry Dad,” I sighed. “I’m not angry at you. I just wish that I could use magic like every Unicorn my age.”

“It’s alright,” Retorted the stallion. “I know you’re sensitive about that, but I think maybe you should just look at the book. I’m sure your mother has given you books like this before, but you never know if there’s an extra hint in one.

I drank a little bit of coffee, but I suddenly did not feel like drinking anymore. “Alright, I’ll look at it.” Just to make Dad happy, but I doubt there was anything in this book to help me. If both my parents, and their Unicorn friends cannot help me, then what use is there?

The book was sitting on the ground of my room, opened. I paced for a few moments before consulting myself to the book. I glared down at the first pages.

It was everything I already knew. The introduction explained how energy worked, and that Unicorns converted their energy into magic. Using too much magic would leave them exhausted.

The first section declared ‘Let’s start with simple levitation! Turn the page!’. And there were instructions on how to do simple magic. The things I had been told a million times. Concentrate. Think clearly about what you want to do. Just ‘believe’ as the book states, naively. ‘Be still and dip your head down so your horn points to the page’. Focus, keep your eyes on target.

The page lifted up, and it was surprisingly easy to turn. That must have been because I have been practicing forever, and a page turn was simple. But the next page read ‘now, try the next page, it is made much heavier than the first’. Well, thank you book for making me seem like a weakling!

I did as the book told me, but the next page was more of a challenge. The page almost reached the midpoint, but then my magic slipped. Damn it! It fell back in place. Frustrated, I threw my hoof up in anger. But my hoof slid across the page and there was a ripping sound following the paper flying across the room.

“Shoot!” I said aloud.

Coming upon the ripped page, I grumbled under my breath. I would have been more angry with myself, but the book was probably old anyway. I decided the answer would be tape.

I exited my room and went to the closet(which was more of a storage shelf). I browsed the shelves up and down until the tape caught my eyes. I picked up the roll with my mouth and headed back to my room. The page having been put back in place, I ripped off a pieces of tap to re-mend the book. I flipped the page to do the other side.

When that task was finished, I grabbed the tape roll and went back to the closet. Before I got to the shelves, I was halted by my father.

“What did you do?” He questioned.

I leaned over and placed the tape down. Then I retorted, “Nothing…” Ha, what an obvious answer. Dad lowered his brow, flustered. I huffed. “Okay. I ripped a page-accidentally- out of that book you got me.”

“Did you do it with magic?” The stallion curiously asked.

I glanced down. “No…”

Dad’s eye’s lost their glow and he said disappointed “Oh.”

“That book is old anyways…” I added.

Damn it, why did things have to be this way? I just wish my father could be happy with something I did. Ripping out a page isn’t something to be proud of, but of I would have done it with magic, my father would have been so excited.

Author's Note:

You may not notice, but I do go back and forth between tenses. Originally I wanted this story to be in present tense, but I realized how hard that is to do in first person(GentleSketch's mom did it in her book :P ). Instead, it is in past tense like usual. But there is some present tense, thoughts. Most thoughts should be in present tense, and actions are in past, as if GentleSketch is looking to what happened in the past, maybe only a few seconds ago. Anyway, with thoughts, it describes what is currently happening, so if he describes a character, he is not describing what they use to be like, but how they still are.
You will probably see more of present tense thoughts in the following chapters.

Comments

[MongoMango]

This is not the end, this is not the beginning
Just a voice like a riot rocking every revision
But you listen to the tone and the violent rhythm
And though the words sound steady something empty's within them
We say yeah with fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something that's invisible there
'Cause we're living at the mercy of the pain and the fear
Until we get it, forget it, let it all disappear

Sorry, couldn't help myself . Keep working at it!