diff --git a/public/openapi/write/topics/tid.yaml b/public/openapi/write/topics/tid.yaml
index 4c1acab3d6..2413e94631 100644
--- a/public/openapi/write/topics/tid.yaml
+++ b/public/openapi/write/topics/tid.yaml
@@ -61,7 +61,12 @@ post:
               status:
                 $ref: ../../components/schemas/Status.yaml#/Status
               response:
-                $ref: ../../components/schemas/PostObject.yaml#/PostObject
+                allOf:
+                  - $ref: ../../components/schemas/PostObject.yaml#/PostObject
+                  - type: object
+                    properties:
+                      index:
+                        type: number
 delete:
   tags:
     - topics
diff --git a/src/api/topics.js b/src/api/topics.js
index cc761e9542..4f63301c57 100644
--- a/src/api/topics.js
+++ b/src/api/topics.js
@@ -107,7 +107,6 @@ topicsAPI.reply = async function (caller, data) {
 	}
 
 	const postData = await topics.reply(payload); // postData seems to be a subset of postObj, refactor?
-	const postObj = await posts.getPostSummaryByPids([postData.pid], caller.uid, {}); // standardized API response
 
 	const result = {
 		posts: [postData],
@@ -123,9 +122,9 @@ topicsAPI.reply = async function (caller, data) {
 	}
 
 	socketHelpers.notifyNew(caller.uid, 'newPost', result);
-	activitypubApi.create.note(caller, { post: postObj[0] });
+	activitypubApi.create.note(caller, { post: postData });
 
-	return postObj[0];
+	return postData;
 };
 
 topicsAPI.delete = async function (caller, data) {
diff --git a/src/topics/create.js b/src/topics/create.js
index de3f8bd36c..20bd127587 100644
--- a/src/topics/create.js
+++ b/src/topics/create.js
@@ -228,35 +228,22 @@ module.exports = function (Topics) {
 		return postData;
 	};
 
-	async function onNewPost(postData, data) {
-		const { tid, uid } = postData;
-		await Topics.markAsRead([tid], uid);
-		const [
-			userInfo,
-			topicInfo,
-		] = await Promise.all([
-			posts.getUserInfoForPosts([postData.uid], uid),
-			Topics.getTopicFields(tid, ['tid', 'uid', 'title', 'slug', 'cid', 'postcount', 'mainPid', 'scheduled', 'tags']),
+	async function onNewPost({ pid, tid }, { uid }) {
+		const postData = (await posts.getPostSummaryByPids([pid], uid, {})).pop();
+		await Promise.all([
 			Topics.addParentPosts([postData]),
 			Topics.syncBacklinks(postData),
-			posts.parsePost(postData),
+			Topics.markAsRead([tid], uid),
 		]);
 
-		postData.user = userInfo[0];
-		postData.topic = topicInfo;
-		postData.index = topicInfo.postcount - 1;
-
-		posts.overrideGuestHandle(postData, data.handle);
-
-		postData.votes = 0;
+		// Returned data is a superset of post summary data
+		postData.index = postData.topic.postcount - 1;
 		postData.bookmarked = false;
 		postData.display_edit_tools = true;
 		postData.display_delete_tools = true;
 		postData.display_moderator_tools = true;
 		postData.display_move_tools = true;
 		postData.selfPost = false;
-		postData.timestampISO = utils.toISOString(postData.timestamp);
-		postData.topic.title = String(postData.topic.title);
 
 		return postData;
 	}