Post by Lancewing on May 5, 2014 12:25:56 GMT -5
Parental Guidance
Sweetheart awoke to the scent of blueberry pancakes, her favorite. She sat up and stretched before getting out of bed. She glanced at the picture on her head board: It was a picture of Teddy with Sweetheart after a trip to the fair. She sighed contentedly and headed for the bathroom…
Teddy groaned as the sun glared into his eyes. Couldn't he sleep for just a couple more minutes? He got up and looked at the picture of himself and Sweetheart on their trip to the fair. He smiled at the image of the little white pony, she was way too nice to him, but he was glad that it was one of her traits. After all, it DID help to prove his innocence when Melody’s tape recorder disappeared. Teddy got out of bed and walked toward the bathroom.
Sweetheart walked into the dining room practically floating to the smell of the pancakes. She stopped next to her mom, who was making the pancakes. “Good morning Sweetheart,” her mom greeted.
“Good morning Mom.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, I really, truly did. Did you?”
“I did, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Where’s Dad?”
“He’s in the family room.”
“Okay, thank you,” Sweetheart went towards the family room. Her father was on the couch reading the newspaper. “Good morning Dad.”
Her father turned to look in her direction, “Good morning, Sweetheart, how are you?”
“Good. And you?”
“Good, just reading the paper.”
“Oh...anything interesting?”
“Not really.”
“Oh…” Sweetheart went back to the kitchen, where her mom was putting the last of the pancakes on a plate.
“Ready to eat,” Her mom asked.
“Ready,” she said.
“Okay. Is your dad ready?”
“Yes, I am,” Her dad entered.
“Okay. Oh and I heard you and Teddy spent some time together at a restaurant last night.”
“Well, it wasn’t just me: Melody and Patch were helping us get Ace and Starlight together.”
“Oh… But you do seem to hang around him a lot…”
“Well… Yeah…”
“How come? A lot of people say he’s kind of a bully…”
“Oh...Well, they don’t really know him…”
“But still, I’m surprised he hasn’t hurt anyone. Even so, his influence could rub off on you.”
“But he’s a really, truly good boy…”
“Well, we want to meet him.”
“Well, I’d have to tell him…”
“Okay, but do it after we eat.”
“Okay…” Sweetheart began to feel her face grow warm.
Teddy walked down the street toward Lancer’s house. What he didn’t expect to see from the corner of his eye was Sweetheart. He stopped to look and, sure enough, it was Sweetheart. “Sweetheart?”
“Hey Teddy.”
“Hey...I wasn’t expecting to see you, how are you?”
“Um...I could be better…”
“Oh? What’s wrong?”
“My parents want to meet you.”
“Oh? What’s the problem with that?”
“Well… They don’t see you the way I do… So… Yeah…”
“Well, I’ll try my best, for you, Sweetheart.”
“Thank you. When do you want to meet them?”
“Um...I dunno...I think I should maybe get lessons from Lancer. He is a goodie-two-shoes after all.”
“I heard that,” Lancer said as he was walking up.”
“O-oh...h-hey Lancer…”
“So… Goodie-two-shoes, huh?”
“Uh...yeah, but I mean it in the best, possible way,” Teddy grinned.
“Uh huh…”
“Yup…”
“Anyway…” Sweetheart interrupted, “Do you think you could help Teddy?”
“Help him with what?”
“My parents want to meet with him, they’re afraid he’s a bad influence.”
“Well, he is the bully four times out of five.”
Teddy’s head hung low, “But I want to change, especially for Sweetheart, she’s the only one outside my family who cares about me.”
“Okay, shall we begin once we get to my place?”
Teddy’s head raised, “Really?”
“Sooner the better, right?”
“Uh...yeah! Sure! Thanks, Lancer!”
“Anytime.”
Teddy, Lancer, and Sweetheart found themselves in Lancer’s room. “Okay...So…” Lancer went over to his closet, and pulled out a fake glasses and moustache combo, and a woman’s wig, and put them both on, “Let’s start by role playing the discussion.”
“Um… are those necessary,” Teddy asked.
“Yes, now,” Lancer sat on the bed, put the wig down, and said in a gruff voice, “How long have you been seeing our daughter?”
“Um… my dad doesn’t talk like that,” Sweetheart said.
Lancer gave Sweetheart a flat look, “Then how DOES he sound?”
“A little deeper, but not that much.”
“Better,” Lancer asked in a slightly deeper voice.
“Better.”
“Okay. Now… How long have you been seeing our daughter?”
“Um… For a pretty long while,” Teddy said.
“How long is that?”
“About a year I think.”
Lancer switched to the wig and said in a high-pitched voice, “And have you-
Both Sweetheart and Teddy laughed hysterically at Lancer.
“Now what?”
“Nothing,” Teddy said in a girly tone.
Lancer glared at them. “Hey, if Bright Eyes were here, she would be able to play the mother.”
“I hope not, you’re great!” Teddy burst into another fit of laughter.
“Because I’m funny? Is that it?”
“What do you think?”
“I can kick you out you know.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Please, continue.”
Just then, Bright Eyes walked in. An awkward look was etched on her face when she saw Lancer wearing a girl’s wig. “Uh...Lancer?”
Lancer turned and saw Bright Eyes, “O-oh...hey there, Bright Eyes…” He immediately took off the wig. “What’s up?”
“Um...I forgot…”
“Okay… So what brings you here?”
“Apparently you in a wig…”
Lancer quickly brushed the wig off, "Heh, I was trying to help Teddy."
"Sure you were..."
"Really!"
“And what are Teddy and Sweetheart doing here anyway?”
“Well…”
“My parents want to meet Teddy and Lancer was trying to help Teddy learn how to be nice,” Sweetheart answered.
“Oh. Okay,” Bright Eyes said, “and the wig was...”
“Role play,” Lancer answered, “Unfortunately, my ‘mom’ is worse than my ‘dad.’ Really need to have a girl with me to do that.”
“Okay… Well, I’d love to join in, but I think it would be a better idea to find out why he’s acting out.”
"What do ya mean," Teddy asked gruffly.
“I mean is there a reason why you act the way you do? You don’t bully Sweetheart, so that must mean something.”
“That’s my business, not yours."
"But we kinda need to know, what if Sweetheart's parents ask?"
“What makes you think they would?”
“Hey, we asked,” Lancer said, “What’s going to stop them?”
“It’s still not your business to know.”
“...Fine...but still, might come up.”
“Well...I’ll keep it in mind…”
“Yeah…”
“Now...Bright Eyes will you be the mom,” Lancer asked.
“Fine...but one, don’t wear the glasses, and two, I’m NOT wearing the wig.”
“Fine…”
Bright Eyes got up on the bed, “So what questions have you asked?”
“‘How long have you been seeing our daughter,’ and ‘How long is that’?”
“Okay, well I guess the next question might be ‘What have you done with her?’”
“Um...I’ve mostly just… talked with her at school, I haven’t done really...anything.”
“But you had dinner one time.”
“You mean last night? That was just us helping a couple of our friends.”
“At a resturaunt?”
“Yeah…”
“It can still be considered a date.”
“Well...we didn’t see each other much, and we were with others…”
“But it could kind of be,” Sweetheart pointed out.
“Not helping…”
“Oh...sorry…”
“Teddy, why are you being so mean to our daughter,” Bright Eyes demanded.
“I wasn’t. I was just trying to say that we weren’t dating.”
“But aren’t you,” Lancer asked.
“No.”
“Then what were you doing last night?”
“We were trying to get two of our friends together.”
“Together?”
“Yeah, basically one of my friends had a crush on one of his friends,” Sweetheart said.
“So we brought ‘em together…” Teddy finished.
“I see, so you went to a public place together?”
“Yes...but that’s not really a date… because there were other ponies with us.”
“I see, any parents?”
“W-well...no...but there were adults there…”
“I see…” Lancer stroked his chin.
“Have you been treating our daughter well? Better than you treat your classmates?”
Teddy rolled his eyes, “I doubt they’ll ask about you.”
Bright Eyes glared at Teddy, “Don’t question my husband.”
“Fine…” Teddy sighed, “Truth is...I don’t think I treat her with the respect she deserves.”
“You don’t?”
“No, but I want to change that.”
“And why should we allow you to continue seeing her? You might NOT change.”
“I’ll do my best, she’s an amazing girl; she reminds me of my sister.” Just then, Teddy realized what just came out of his mouth. He looked at everyone else to see the same expression. “You didn’t hear that last part, did you?”
“Do you want the truth,” Bright Eyes asked.
“Um… No?”
“Didn’t hear a word.”
Teddy swallowed hard. “I guess I have some explaining to do, don’t I?”
“Ya think?”
“But you don’t if you really, truly don’t want to,” Sweetheart explained.
“Well, got this deep, so might as well…” Teddy heaved a sigh before, “Before I met Sweetheart, I had a sister who was kidnapped.”
Lancer’s eyes widened, Bright Eyes gasped, and Sweetheart bit her lip.
“Why didn’t you tell us,” Lancer asked.
“Cuz I don’t think it’s anyone’s business but my own...but I was gonna tell you, Sweetheart…”
“Oh,” Sweetheart sat down.
“Yeah… So...now you know my worst secret…”
Everyone remained silent before... “So just as a guess… IF you happened to have that teddy bear everyone was gossiping about, would it be because she gave it to you,” Lancer asked.
Teddy nodded, “I was getting bullied at school, and she noticed...so she bought me a teddy bear.” But his facial expression immediately turned into a glare. “But if you tell anyone, I’ll tell everyone about the time you and Ace were dressed as babies.”
“Uh...okay, we promise.”
“Okay…”
“Teddy, I’m sorry this happened,” Bright Eyes said.
“Yeah… It’s why I’m kinda nervous about this; I don’t want to lose Sweetheart, too.”
“Well, maybe if you told them, they’d understand.”
“Maybe, but what about my attitude?”
“Well...you may have to do a bit of explaining, but talking about your sister might help…”
“Are you sure?”
“I think it would,” Sweetheart grinned.
Bright Eyes spoke, “And that thing about you ‘being willing to change for Sweetheart’, that’d get me…”
“It’s true,” Teddy remarked.
“May wanna add that, too…”
“Okay…” Teddy looked out the door, “I think I need to go for a walk…”
“Okay, do you want me to walk you out,” Lancer asked.
“No...I can do it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah…”
“Okay…”
Just then, the phone rang. Lancer answered it. “Hello?”
There was a pause, before, "What?!" He handed the phone to Teddy.
“Um… Hello?”
Teddy’s mother spoke. “Teddy, I have some good news.”
“What is it?”
“They found your sister. She’s home right now.”
“WHAT?!”
“Yes. She really wants to see you right now.”
“Okay, I’ll be right over. Bye.” He hung up. “I gotta go, but I’ll meet you sometime later.”
“Um… Okay…”Bright Eyes said.
And with that, Teddy bolted out, running home.
Teddy burst through the door nearly ripping it off of the hinges. He was out of breath from his run, but he had to see if it was true. He ran into the living room. There he saw both of his parents hugging a familiar red pony with a yellow mane. Her cutie mark was that of a flame. Teddy nearly collapsed from the shock, but he let out a weak, “Flare…?”
Flare looked at her brother. She was scared at first, but she soon recognized who it was. “T-Teddy?”
Teddy slowly walked up to Flare and immediately hugged her. “I missed you so much…”
Flare hugged back. “I missed you too…”
