I sat for dinner, but did not eat. I had my bowl in hoof and spoon at the ready, but I was not scooping up the millet and putting it into my mouth to consume.

No, rather, I was mindlessly swirling the spoon around the mushy food, staring into space. Well, I looked like staring into space. I was actually thinking. Thinking about what? About…

“Thunder, are you alright?” asked Mother, concerned.

“Hmm…yeah, I’m alright…” I answered nonchalantly.

“Are you sure..?” asked Mother with extreme doubt.

“Ngh...”

“Thunder!”

“Yahh!” I cried, accidentally throwing my bowl high up into the air. Hot steaming millet spilled all over me while the bowl landed on my head with a loud and painful ‘thunk.’ The spoon…well, it landed in Mother’s bowl, spraying some of her own food onto her as well.

I peeked from under my clay helmet. Mother would surely get angry.

“I’m sorry Mother…” I whispered, feeling her gaze upon me. It was surely an incensed gaze.

“Hm…mm…mhahaha!!” laughed Mother. “Hahaha!”

For a brief moment I sat there confused, unsure if I should relax and join in her mirth or prepare for an absolute mother-son slaughter-talk. For some reason, rebelling against my own mental protests, I joined the laugh, filling the night air with a joyful din.

It died down as quickly as it had started though.

“Go clean yourself up, you’re a mess,” said Mother.

“So are you!” I riposted, jabbing a hoof at the glob of millet sliding down her neck. She smiled nervously.

“Oh, it seems I am!” she grinned, retrieving a cloth to wipe herself clean before passing it to me.

Clean-up was quick and easy. Its aftermath was not. I desperately hoped that Mother wouldn’t ask me what I was–

“So, Thunder, what were you thinking about so hard that you launched your food into the air?” asked Mother with a devious smile as she poured a fresh cup of tea.

I tried to keep a level face. “Ah…it’s nothing, r-really, um…I was just, you know, thinking!”

It was unconvincing, really. I was aware of it. Mother certainly was too. Perhaps she decided to play along.

“Really? About…what?”

She leaned in closer as she asked that question. A bead of sweat began to trickle down my brow, certainly not caused by the hot steam rising from the cup Mother just hoofed to me.

I chuckled nervously. “Well, I uh, was thinking about thinking! You know, like those great philosophers who spend their time thinking about…thinking?”

Mother raised an interested eyebrow. “Ooh, my son wants to become a philosopher?”

“Hehe, y-yeah..!” I responded as quickly as possible.

“Hmm…I thought you liked to draw.”

Shoot. “U-uh, yeah, that t-too! Yeah, uh, philosophy and drawing! Ha!” I grinned, trying to give substance to my lie.

I apparently hadn’t learned that nopony bought lies because they were very expensive. To be fair, I was never the business type anyway.

Mother scowled with a face between utter incredulity and amused venality. She obviously saw through my bluff and was perhaps deciding whether to punish or praise me for entertaining her.

There was no hiding this time, no clay helmet to shrink away in. I sat there bare and open to Mother’s conflicted expression.

Unbeknownst to me, she cracked a smile.

“Poorly played son, but I enjoyed it. Well done!” she commented.

I looked up confused for the second time. “You’re not…mad at me?”

She giggled. “Is there reason to? Your lie was sooo unconvincing that I never thought of it as a lie in the first place!” She then collapsed to the ground in a fit of loud laughter. I didn’t join her this round, because I was more confused than amused.

“What’s so funny, Meiko?” called a gruff voice from next door.

“Oh, it’s none of your business Fugu! Go back to your mare!” laughed Mother.

“Wha– I don’t even have a mare!” riposted Fugu.

“Awww, are you…mareless? Haha!” mocked Mother.

“Sh-shaddap! I have a daughter, you know!”

“Well, if it comforts you” – she pointed a hoof at me – “Thunder here is mareless too!”

I could hear the cringe from next door. “H-he’s fourteen! Of course he’s mareless!”

“Hah, you’d be surprised. He’s actually been spending lots of time with your daughter!”

I sat there, staring at Mother, my hoofs so frozen still that my tea should have turned ice-cold. I flushed an alarming red, and my lungs had been squeezed dry of moist air. I was rendered speechless.

Mother flashed me a cheeky wink as Fugu collapsed into a fit of hysteric confusion.

***

It’s not like those romantic novels where the stallion bumps into the mare and they fall in love at first sight, or some small saintly filly with angel wings hides behind a bush and shoots a heart-tipped arrow into a stallion passing by. Those scenes can be considered miraculous at best, absolute crap at worst.

Tama and I grew up together. We played a lot, sat in class together, and…well, grew up together.

I do not know when, why, or how I began to wonder if we could be more than friends. It just came. Time only told when I realised it.

I was fourteen then. Fugu mentioned he’d gotten married at sixteen. Millet, the rice merchant, said he’d done it when he was thirteen. Well, that was all I ever remembered of marriage in the village. I’d grown up around more mares than stallions though.

I tried not to think about it when Tama said she’d made rice balls for me. Lots of them. I was not bothered. She did this occasionally.

Took me by surprise when I realised she said that it was “just for me.” And with a timid smile. Huh, she even shuffled her hoofs when she said that…how can I even remember all of this?

Well, I said my thanks and she left me to enjoy it. Turns out, they tasted the same. But what wasn’t same was that really, really weird feeling tickling my inside. I could’ve laughed out loud then.

She did that quite often, often enough to catch some questions from Midmare or some of the others. They didn’t say anything, but their eyes said it all, I swear. They smiled and winked at me. Oh, they knew.

I said nothing. She said nothing. The mares said nothing. Well, either one had to say something.

I count it a blessing that neither Conch nor Abalone caught wind of it. The entire land – I’m not kidding, the entire land – would’ve known of this unspoken romance had it been otherwise. On the other hand, it would at least serve the authorities something to feed upon other than war, war, war…

That evening, she came again, bringing the rice balls that she made just for me. I decided that I couldn’t keep the secret any longer. She would come and then go. It could be otherwise today.

“Thanks Tama,” I said with a smile.

“It’s no trouble,” she grinned. She turned to leave. C’mon, there was my chance!

“Hey, um…why don’t we share? I can’t finish it all by myself.”

Truth is, I could. But, not today.

“O-oh, um…are you sure, Thunder?”

“Yup. Plus, why don’t you taste your own work too? Enjoy yourself as well.”

She hesitated. Oh my goodness, the sunset painting her face..! It made those big eyes shine beautifully…

“U-um, ok.”

I moved a bit to give space on the log. My heart beat a little faster. Crap, I hope I don’t make her uncomfortable.

“Here, you go first,” I offered. She accepted it with a small dip of her head. I found that pretty cute.

Her face lit up at the first bite. “I never thought it tasted that good…” mused Tama. I giggled.

“You thought it tasted bad?”

“Oh, no, of course not! But I thought it would never match up with your mother’s, or any other mare’s cooking, for that matter…”

“Well, I like it, really.”

“Y-you do?”

I nodded with a smile. “Yup.”

She turned away, trying to hide that abashed face. “T-thanks.”

“Although, you could do better on the salt.”

She giggled, turning to face me. “I thought you said it was good!”

I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped myself to observe her face. A few grains of rice stuck to her mouth just under her nostrils, and the chewed remains of a flower hung lazily from her bottom teeth. Together with her big eyes and choppy, chocolate-brown mane, she looked…

Absolutely stunning. Cute perhaps, dorky even.

“Heh, you look really cute.”

***

“So, how long have you two been a thing, Thunder?” asked Mother with an interested, almost hungry, look. It looked kinda scary, obviously.

“A-a-a-about…a…m-m-m-month…” squeaked I.

“Tsk, needs to be longer.”

“Y-y-y-yeah.”

She turned to Fugu, who’d calmed down by now, though I doubted it would last long. They whispered in hushed tones, and I could only pick up questions like, “So, what’d you think..?” or, “Nah, it wouldn’t…”

I sat there, opposite the two parents, like a prisoner of war awaiting his fate. I’d been coerced into telling everything about Tama and me to the two of them, and now I was waiting for their sentence. My heart was beating pretty hard in my chest, and somewhere down there I felt the urge to pee…

“Thunder,” called Mother.

“Y-yes?”

“I’m very upset.”

I looked down, trying to appear submissive, in the hope of obtaining a more lenient punishment. “Yes, Mother.”

She took a deep breath. “I’M VERY UPSET THAT YOU’VE A BETTER LOVE STORY THAN MEEE!!!” She broke down and wailed.

Fugu joined in. “I TOO AM VERY UPSET THAT YOU GOT A MARE AT SUCH A RIPE AGE, MUCH LESS MY OWN DAUGHTER!!!”

Then, they both said together as one voice: “WE APPROVE!”

This scene can be considered exaggerated, like, something straight out of a comic. But their approval is no exaggeration, nor my absolute surprise. In fact, I consider the power of that approval more than enough to create and destroy worlds, universes in fact.

They calmed down pretty soon after. I was still trying to process the fact that they said yes. Mother, though, had one thing to say.

“Before you continue, Thunder…”

“Y-y-y-yes?”

“Apologize to Fugu for not obtaining his permi–”

My head immediately crashed into the ground.
“MrFuguIsincerelyapologizefornotaskingyourpermissionpleaseforgivemeThankyousomuchforyourapproval!!!”

Fugu leaned in and nodded his shaggy head, stuttering a pathetic “Yes.”

Why they approved just like that, I’ll never understand. But it seemed that Tama and I were actually a thing now.

I couldn’t wait for our next rice-ball date.

Author's Note

I enjoyed writing this chapter.