“I was drunk last night,” Post Haste said evasively. “I don’t remember saying that.”
“You probably don’t,” Thunderhead conceded, “but that doesn’t mean you didn’t.” He sighed and stepped closer. Postie didn’t move, torn between what course of action to take. “A drunk pony’s words are a sober pony’s thoughts, after all.”
“We’re just worried.” The mailpony wheeled around and found himself facing Tranquil Sky, the former model wearing the same concerned look as her husband. She took a step closer and this time Postie tried to retreat, only to back into the wall. “We just want to help, dear.”
The younger stallion’s eyes darted as he tried to find a way out of this situation. His past, it wasn’t something he was comfortable talking about, not in the slightest. He’d told Rainbow Dash the whole story in a moment of weakness. He’d nearly done the same earlier with Tranquil, but managed to hold his tongue. Barely.
“I... err...” His resolve gave out when he properly looked at Tranquil Sky’s face. The look of motherly concern, it was just how he remembered his mother looking whenever he came home from school crying. He remembered how she had held him, told him everything would be okay and that things would get better. Not that they ever did, but he hadn’t cared.
Postie blinked as he began to silently weep. He wiped the tears away with a foreleg before looking down at the ground. His rear legs gave out and he sat down with a small thump, defeated. It was all too much. He couldn’t take it anymore.
Thunderhead and Tranquil Sky glanced at each other. “Come on,” the stallion said carefully, not entirely sure what to do. He helped the younger pony stand and led him to the living room. “Get him something to drink,” he ordered his wife. Normally, she would have protested, but these were hardly normal circumstances.
By the time Tranquil returned several minutes later, a small tray with tea cups in her mouth, Postie had told Thunderhead a lot of what he had told Rainbow several nights ago. He had calmed down considerably, meaning he could now string more than two words together. He was still crying, though.
“When I woke up the next morning she... she...” He broke down again, crying into Thunderhead’s mane. The older stallion looked very uncomfortable with the current turn of events. He wanted to get closer to the colt dating his daughter, but not this close!
“What did I miss?” Tranquil asked quietly. Thunderhead gave her a quick summary. Despite its conciseness, or maybe because of it, the mare found herself crying as well. “Oh, the poor thing. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about his mother.”
“And growing up without a father,” Thunderhead added, shaking his head in disbelief as best as he could.. “Amazing he’s so well-adjusted.”
“I’m right here,” Postie muttered under his breath, feeling more upset at being talked about like that. He took the cup that was passed to him and took a sip. The hot, sweet tea helped him a bit. “I’m sorry to burden you with all this,” he said louder, sniffing.
“Don’t be,” Tranquil admonished, briefly dropping into ‘scolding mother’. “I told you before, it’s not healthy to hold that sort of emotion in.”
“We care about you,” Thunderhead added. “You’re obviously a good colt, and nopony deserves to go through that kind of thing.” He stood up, having had enough of the amount of close contact he had had with the younger stallion. “Rainbow cares for you, and I can see why,” he said warmly.
Postie couldn’t help but smile a little. He had prepared himself for a barrage of emotional and verbal abuse, much like what he would have gotten had he explained this situation to anyone more than six months ago. He hadn’t expected them to be so understanding, and it took him a moment to realise that he really should have. They had been kind, protective and caring. Why would they act any different after finding out?
“Thank you. Both of you.” Postie looked at them both, his smile widening. “I... I’ve kept that secret so long, I forgot what it was like to get that off my chest.”
“You don’t have to keep that sort of thing secret around us,” Tranquil said warmly.
“Yeah, kid. You deserve to smile after having it so rough.”
“T-thank you,” he said, choking up from a fresh wave of tears. These tears, though, were happy ones, and he gave Tranquil Sky a shock when he grabbed in a tight hug. The mare gasped before returning the hug with a slightly awkward laugh. “Thank you so much.”
When Rainbow Dash got home, sometime before the sun was due to set, the first pony she ran into was her mother, in the kitchen. “Hey mom. Where’s Postie?”
“In your room, sleeping,” she replied, not turning from the salad she was tossing. “Could you wake him up? I don’t want him to miss dinner.”
“Okay,” Rainbow said, glancing briefly at her. She did a double take when she noticed the wistful smile she had. “Mom? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, dear. Check on your coltfriend, would you?”
Rainbow shot her mother one last look before deciding to do as she had been told. When she got to the room, she was greeted by the site of Post Haste lying on his side, snoring happily. Plastered on his face was a goofy smile, and the sight of him smiling like that was almost enough to make her not want to wake him up.
“Ow!” he exclaimed when a pillow hit him in the face.
Author’s Notes:
Very freaking short. Don’t complain. Well, complain all you want, I won't care in the slightest.
And does that count as a bit of a bait-and-switch?