Road Trip

by Milo_Chalks

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Rumble, Slice of Life, Thunderlane, Sad, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 4023

With tension rising in Thunderlane's family, they decide to go on an explosive road trip.

This is a prequel to Colts Don't Need to Talk as part of my Pip and Rumble universe. No knowledge of that fic is required to read this one though.

With both of Thunderlane's parents thinking they are right, the family dynamic breaks apart. In an attempt to save it, Rumble and Thunderlane are whisked away on a very emotional road trip.

Trigger warning:
This fic has very real themes and realities behind family and divorce coming from a mixture of my own and my friend's experiences. If this is a volatile or delicate subject for you, please consider avoiding this fic.

This fic is a concept piece right now, but I would love to turn this into a full fic. I want to see how it goes before going further into the story so please drop a comment about what you think, it would mean a lot, thanks! I hope you enjoy!

An enormous thank you to OkemosBrony, eye-cfox and Javarod for being my amazing editors/ Proofers. All authors I would reccommend.

The fantastic image used with permission from the amazing buizelcream

Published 2017-09-20 07:10:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-03-01 09:26:55 UTC

1: Unrest

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.”

Author's Note

Like I said in the description this fic right now is not at the immediate top of the priority list, I was mainly looking for a reaction to what people thought about it before I decided to continue. If you would like to, I would love to hear your opinion in the comments, I love to see what people have to say, good or bad :raritywink:

This does not directly reflect all family situations and I am not in any way intending to generalise the matter, for every situation, there are different circumstances.

This is a take on my own and my (annoynmous) friend's personal experience with this matter and I would love this fic to reach someone personally and evoke thought on the matter.

That is the last time I will probably bang on with that little disclaimer and in any other case, I hope you enjoyed! :twilightsmile:

2: Holiday

A little bit of hesitation at the door, my hoof went stiff at the thought of knocking on his door. Rumble was having a good day, I didn’t wanna ruin that with my ‘good news’. The fact of the matter is that he’s a smart kid, I knew he would instantly work out what it meant to go on a family holiday. Yet, the decision was made, the relationship maintenance mission was a go and Rumble and I were every part involved as they were.

Rumble was at my place again, he’d hung out with Pip for a while after school and came back here, I can’t blame him for wanting to come here. Mum and Dad were having a riot trying to sort out the details. That one there is mum’s fault. Based on what I had seen it was issue after issue, like she didn’t even want to give dad a chance...

Walking into the spare bedroom it seemed to have more Rumble than spare at this point. Comic books of his littered the floor, his school bag against the little desk I had, unopened homework which I would have to probably tell him to do later, he even had a poster up on the wall at this point, not that I minded. He is my brother, and he loved spending time here. If anything I knew I was a good brother, and that always gave me a smile.

“Hey Bro.” I walked over to the bed, sitting on it. He put his Daring Do book down and smiled when he knew it was me.

“Hey Thunder, what’s up?” Scooching closer he whacked a bookmark in his book and somewhat gracefully dropped it on the floor with a thud.

“Well I was gonna ask you the same question bro, but it wouldn’t take a genius to work out.” It was time to rip off the bandaid and ripped I really did. “Alright well, I was gonna talk to you about the… good news,” I didn’t wanna call it good news. It didn’t matter because he would see through my fake optimism in a matter of seconds. Mum and Dad told him today, he probably had mixed emotions with it then, now that he has thought about all the time with Mum and Dad mere meters apart, it would probably look about a thousand times worse in his head.

“The family holiday. Just you, me, dad and mum.” The look of horror on his face said it all. “We’re going to manehattan aren’t w-oof!”

He buried his snout into my stomach, clutching me tight and ripping the air out of me. “Let them go! Please Thunder, let’s stay, just you and me, I thought about it and I don’t want to go.”
I wanted to melt. I wanted to stay too, I wanted to just tell him that it’s okay, that we could stay and let them deal with their own squabble.

“Hey, it’s alright bro. They’ll keep their business to themselves, we’ll just go off and do our own stuff. I know, it sucks but we’ll all push through.”

His ears dropped the second he realised there was no getting out of this. He was a kid; family holidays were an inescapable imprisonment bounded by the unbreakable laws of guardianship and family. It was a mandatory yes and Rumble knew it, but he didn’t have to be happy about it. He buried himself further into my coat, it was actually starting to kind of hurt but he had to let it out somehow, I was just glad it wasn’t on vase or something. It broke my heart seeing a colt I helped raise and spent so much time with looking so upset. Things must have gotten really bad between the two, and in their blind disputes, forgotten that they had him there watching. To be honest I really wasn’t happy with either of them because if it wasn’t bad enough that this was happening, this whole holiday was dragging us into it too.

“Rumble, dude… look. I’m gonna make sure that we have the best Celestia-damned time on this
family holiday with or without Mum and Dad’s couples counselling. Don’t be so discouraged by all that man, we are in this together,” I smiled down at him, giving his mane a ruffle and gently prying him from my now partly permanently constricted bladder. “Now, come on dude, let’s get you home, you got the weekend ahead, we aren’t leaving ‘till Friday so you can come ‘round tomorrow if you want.”
“Thunder, Ca-can I stay tonight?” He looked up at me with those stupid beady eyes and I couldn’t say no. I know, bad parenting, giving a kid everything they want or whatever but he did not wanna go home and I wasn’t gonna be the stallion to tell him to be where he is going to be scared or lonely.
I sighed, I already figured he was gonna ask and I was already gonna say yes, but I wasn’t gonna let him make a habit out of it, Mum’s cooking was a lot better. “Alright little dude, hang here for the night. You gonna hang out with Pip again tomorrow?” I smiled, getting up from the bed.
“Heck yeah, we only got halfway through our scary movie night, we’re gonna finish it tomorrow!” Rumble beamed, jumping after me and heading to the bathroom.
“Alright, but don’t watch too many of those, it’s bad enough you’re watching that one in the first place.”
“Pfft, whatever, we’ll be fine! We made it this far,” He shot back at me, shutting the door to the bathroom. I shook my head and headed to the kitchen to get another bowl ready for dinner.

Knock Knock Knock

I took a step back and shuffled my hooves, waiting for whoever was home. I heard slow lumbering hoofsteps and the click of a door latch, it was Dad at the door.

“Thunder? Hey! Son, what’re you up to?” He asked, sticking his muzzle outside and opening the door wider at the sight of me. He went in for one of those awkward father-son hugs which I returned in an equally awkward way, he never was much of a hugger. Part of mission ‘save the family’ I could only really assume.

I was really good at assuming the worst.

“Well, uhh, I just wanted to let you know that Rumble wants to stay at my place, I’ve got him doin’ his homework right now but he’s bent on spending a night with me unno? Get some.. Brotherly plans going for the vacation on Monday.” I was being way too over the top, I don’t know. I was selling it, but I think that was the last thing on his mind at the time. The… location of his… son… I mean, sounds harsh but, well, unno.

He gave me this huge blank stare that lasted way too long as he continued to hold the door open. “Great! Yeah! Sounds good to me-”

“Okay! Thanks Dad.” I began walking away, but I was quickly stopped.

“Wait! Thunder! Wait a sec.” He quickly called out, forcing me to turn around and continue on with the conversation. His eyes lit up when he kept my attention, quickly but silently closing the door. “I need to talk, about this whole thing.”

Here we go.

“Look, you know how your mum can be like, her blood pressure goes through the roof, she gets stressed and mad and you end up copping it when she storms out of here.” He looked dead at me as he said these things.

“Yeah, I know Dad, she can overreact at times. You guys need to talk but she can’t handle it, I know the story.” I rolled my eyes and humoured him.

“Yeah well, just… don’t let her boss you and Rumble around on this vacation.”

“Okay Dad, will do.” I gave him a smile with my lips pressed firmly together. I began to turn around, but once again I was stopped by a hoof on my shoulder.

“Look… Thunder… I’m not good at change. Y-you know that, but. I try, for her and for me but for you two most of all. Please, have fun on this trip, and I’ll show you all that I can change.” He gave me this big smile, this puppy dog smile where all the bunny rabbits in the world could have been no match. He was a sweet guy and to admit something like that wouldn’t have been easy. This time I went in for a much more liberal hug this time.

“Dad…” I broke the hug and smiled at him, I had a lot of love for the guy and despite his… issues, we meant the honest world to him. “That means a lot. And for you? We’ll have a blast.”

Author's Note

So this is really really really short and I'm sorry I just wanted to prove this fic was alive after a really rocky beginning. There is a lot going on right now and Uni is starting again so another update soon is... tentative. But I will NOT take 5 months to do it... that was just... lazy or something. I've officially committed to finishing this fic so have no fear. It will be done!