//------------------------------// // 1: Unrest // Story: Road Trip // by Milo_Chalks //------------------------------// How does a twenty-something stallion spend his days off? I’ve heard plenty of proud mothers brag to their friends that they do paperwork, practice an instrument, work on their hobbies and do housework. These same mothers probably get very sensationalised letters from their sons, as all of the above are extremely unlikely if I am to be perfectly honest. Ask any other pony who has spent time with one of these stallions and you’d be quick to find that they will most likely spend their time drinking some cheap beer, playing video games and doing absolutely nothing. I am in no way an exception. I still go out with friends and chores will always need to be done of course. I take great pride in my cleanliness, in actual fact. But today, this extremely unextraordinary late Friday afternoon, I was doing absolutely nothing and loving it like a pig in mud. knock knock. I wanted nothing more than to put an answering machine out there. I somehow managed to eventually lift myself up from the couch. I quickly paused my video game and spritzed myself with some deodorant I had on the coffee table as I made my way to the door. I wasn’t at all surprised who was at the door when I opened it. “Hey mum,” I opened the door fully and let her in. “Uhm, hey… Thunderlane,” she replied, a sad, defeated tone, somehow managing to dampen the already cold night. A particular one-word question came to mind in this more frequently occurring encounter: “Dad?” It seemed horrible that this was a frequent situation, yet here we were for the fifth time in two months. “Yah,” She looked in sadly. “Mind if I stay the night?” “I just cleaned the spare room yesterday.” I gave her a smile and grabbed the small travel bag she had been carrying. I raced upstairs and plopped it onto the bed. When I got made my way back downstairs, Mum was on the couch looking at my beer. “Unno, every time I come here, I am so surprised to see how spotless you keep this place. It doesn’t even smell bad. I always wished you were more like that at home.” She gave me a weak smile. Her signature ‘It was a hell of a fight’ indicator. It was true regardless, I did try to keep the house fairly spotless. It is a really nice place and I intend to keep it like that. The living room, in particular, was my pride and joy. I designed it in my favourite colour, green. The carpet, walls, window blinds and couch, all warm hues of green that complimented each other in just the right way. When I had first done all of the renovations, I would smile every time I went in there. “Do you have anything to drink? I’d love something right now,” Mum asked after I had sat down on the couch with her. I gave her a smile and made my way over to the fridge. Sifting through packets of prepared meals and instant frozen meals, I found a six-pack of cheap cans of gin and tonic I kept for these particular instances. I pulled one off and cracked it for her, walking back into the living room and plopping it on the coffee table for her. We sat there, mum flicking the tv to some cheesy prime-time soap but not really paying attention, just sipping her drink and getting comfortable on the couch. After about a minute of a barely audible television in the background, I finally broke it. “So… wanna, talk about it?” I asked, scooting across the couch to her, letting mum lean against me. She smiled as her small body sunk into me. “Well, you could probably guess. He stopped caring, again....” She trailed off, taking another sip from her drink then resting it in her hooves as she went on. “It’s not even the work excuse anymore. He’s totally stopped spending time with Rumble now. He’s basically fatherless, aside from the morning. If it wasn’t for you and his school friends, he’d be lost. You’ve turned into the closest thing he has as a male role model. What sort of life is that?” And empty sigh came out her mouth. “Damn… that’s awful,” I shook my head as I wrapped my hooves around her. “I tried to talk about it to him. He denied it, argued against me and tried to make excuses. You know your father, shouting and getting angry when he gets challenged. Rumble was out the house at a sleepover, thank Celestia.” Mum clutched the can tighter, closing her eyes. I felt her let out a breath and loosened her grip, mine tightening around her. “He’s making the same mistakes he did with me, does he want Rumble to not want anything to do with him now? How in Equestria do you put up with him?” I asked her, turning the tv on mute. “Well, that’s the thing Thunder, I… don’t think I can anymore.” I rose in my seat, silently shocked at what she was implying. I knew she wasn’t exactly happy, but it had never gotten to this point before, even with the fighting. It must have been tough for her, especially with Rumble still at home. A pregnant pause filled the room; we both looked ahead at the noiseless soap, the light illuminating the dark room, “So it’s come to that.” I put my beer on the coaster. “I just…” She sighed and rested her head against my shoulder, letting the room once again go silent. After a long moment, she spoke up again. “I just hate to put Rumble through this, he doesn’t deserve to have to deal with a divorce. He’s done nothing here, except show guts and a strong head while his dad ignores him.” “Maybe Dad might start acting like more of a dad if you split. It would force him to be a bigger pony. If it’s this bad at home, it sounds like Rumble would be better off without the fighting anyway,” I replied. “I’m sure Rumble would understand.” “Yeah, well, I told your father I would give him one more chance, and I think he feels like things are on the edge right now as well. I just hope he decides to make a change,” Mum finished. Giving me a nuzzle, she let go and turned the sound up slightly. “Anyway, this is just between you and me right now.” I went back into the middle of the couch and grabbed my beer. “No problem, but why is he always my father when he’s in trouble?” I smirked and began watching the soap. “So you know not to be like him,” she laughed back. We spent another hour on the couch commenting on the television. The whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about the prospect of a divorce. I would be happy for mum, but devastated. I spent my whole childhood with my parents together, how would Rumble take it? What would happen with the family? How hard is this on mum? Neither are innocent in this whole thing, is mum really telling me everything? I should talk to dad... The thoughts started giving me a headache, so eventually Mum and I headed upstairs, hugging in the hallway as we both went to bed. __--__ Sniff…. Sniff sniff… A scent almost lost to memory gently woke me from my sleep, my nose involuntarily twitching at the smell. Fragrant, kinda greasy, but very distinguishable. Just a tiny odour slowly wafting through my senses, yet as soon as my body had time to properly process, I shook with anticipation. “Haaaaybacon,” I groaned as a rolled over, slurping up the drool trying to escape my mouth. I gently opened my eyes to my dimly lit room. Gently untangling myself from the bed sheets, I dragged myself up with a quicker pace than usual. After showering and getting ready, I made a quick pace to the kitchen. “Morning Thunder, come and get some breakfast,” Mum smiled as she flipped an egg on the hot plate, the sizzle quickly catching my interest. “Wow, thanks mum. Jeez, it must have been months since I’ve eaten one of your breakfasts.” I give her a smile and grabbed my loaded plate, making my way to the table. “So, how are you feeling? After last night, I mean,” I asked, jamming a piece of hay bacon into my mouth, melting as the greasy strip hit my taste buds. Mum came over with her own plate and a smile, the stove now off. “I’m fine, Thunder.” I didn’t really believe her, but I let her go on as she sat down. “Now, today I have to pick up Rumble from his friend’s house after breakfast.,” she thought aloud as she took a bite from her eggs. “I’ll come with you! I haven’t really seen Rumble properly in almost weeks.” I stuffed another egg in my mouth, chewing it down quickly before continuing on. “Who’s he hanging out with nowadays anyway?” “Still that little guy from Trottingham, they’ve been friends forever.” I smiled as I remembered seeing those two playing together, “Yeah, he has a keeper there. If you want me to look after Rumble for the rest of the weekend you can sort things out with Dad,” I suggested, gulping down a particularly large chunk of bacon at the same time. “As long as you don’t teach him to inhale his food…” She raised an eyebrow and resumed cutting up her hay bacon. “Then yeah, that would be good, Thunder. I just want to work out where I am with your father, he shouldn’t have to see that.” She looked into her eggs as if they held the answer to all her problems. It must have been quite a heated situation with dad last night for her to look as solemn as she did staring into her breakfast. The day was warming up nicely, what looked to be a pleasant spring morning. I’d pick up Rumble with Mum, she would head home to sort things out with dad while I kept Rumble distracted with brotherly bonding: video games, pizza and the occasional play fight. It was going to be a good Saturday; I loved hanging out with Rumble, and it sounds like he could of used some time away from home. Yet, all my planning was quickly dashed as I heard a knock at the door. Frowning, I leapt up and opened the door, not knowing who would call in on a Saturday morning. I most certainly wasn’t expecting who was actually at the door that was for sure. “Thunderlane! Son! I was wondering if you were home, and I could guess who’s with you. I was wondering if I could see your mother and you for a sec,” Dad replied awkwardly, standing at the door. Mum heard who it was, and the second she realised she got up and dumped her breakfast in the bin, leaning against the kitchen sink watching intently. “Sure... Dad, but I don’t think she’s too keen to see you right now. I’m sure she’ll see you at home soon, though.” I began shutting the door, but he quickly put his hoof in the door and looked at me intently. “I actually wanted to talk to both of you, together,” he replied, giving me a courageous smile. “Well… alright.” I let go of the door, letting him step inside. Giving us a winning grin, he stepped into the centre of the room. “Well everypony, I just wanted to come by to let you both know that you should block off your next week at work and pack your bags. Because…. We are all…. Going to go on...” He paused for suspense, his face leaking excitement. “A family holiday!” he exclaimed like an over the top salespony. It didn’t take Mum long to run upstairs angrily. __--__ We both sat there on the bed, Dad looking slightly hurt as he explained himself. “Things have obviously not been great lately. I’m sure your mother has made that apparent, Thunder.” He looked across at me, and I glanced at mum, who was not looking happy. “Well, I feel like this will be a great way of bringing us all closer together! Just think, the four of us, all out exploring the amazing city of Manehattan together. It’ll be so exciting! Just… Rosemary, please think about it,” Dad pleaded, looking at Mum. She finally turned to him. After a pregnant pause, Mum turned and looked directly at Dad. “Alright, fine, we'll talk about this at home. I will consider it and take everything you have to say seriously. Rumble can stay here with Thunderlane, but I don’t like this. “Okay, great. Thank you, I need to get to work now but I really think that this will be for the better. We will talk more about this at home!” Dad dashed off, leaving mum and me in the spare bedroom. Mum got up and began packing up her things like nothing had happened. I sat there for a while, thinking over everything that had just happened. “So… What do you make of this?” I asked her, heading to the doorway myself. She stopped packing and looked up at me “I don’t really know. He seems to think that after all the fights and disputes, this will make everything alright again. But… he is trying to make a change, I will give him that. I just didn’t really expect… this.” “I guess we’re gonna have to see for ourselves, huh?” I looked at the floor, running this idea through my own head. Mum looked down at the floor herself. “Yeah, I guess we will.”