//------------------------------//
// IX - Relative Normalcy 
// Story: Mare Magnet 
// by Revenant Wings 
//------------------------------//

	“Rumble!”  Thunderlane peeked his head down the hall.  “Rumble!  It’s time to get up for school!”
The grey pegasus colt’s head lazily drifted from his room.  “What…?”
“I’ve got breakfast ready.  Are you ready to go for school?”
“Almost.  I have to pack up my homework from last night.”
“Did you finish your math?”
“Yeah.  Miss Twilight helped me with some of the older stuff last night, though.”
Thunderlane nodded and Rumble disappeared back into his bedroom.  Thunderlane had poured out two glasses of milk before Rumble had trudged into the kitchen with his saddlebags full of school supplies.
“I went ahead and packed a lunch for you,” Thunderlane said as Rumble sat down.
“Thanks,” Rumble said with a yawn.  “I didn’t think it’d be that exhausting tutoring with Miss Twilight.”
“She certainly can talk an ear off,” Thunderlane said.  “How did the homework go?”
“Alright,” Rumble said.  “She helped me out a little, but I’m still a little behind on the material.”
“One step at a time, bro,” Thunderlane said gently, putting a wing around Rumble and holding him close.  “Maybe things will go easier now that the magic’s off you.”
Rumble smiled and leaned into his brother’s shoulder for a minute before Thunderlane released him to finish their breakfast.
“You said you had a science project coming up?”
“Yeah,” Rumble answered.  “I was going to go over to Featherweight’s today to work on it.”
“How long do you think?”
“We were gonna try and go for two hours.”
Thunderlane thought it over as he ate a pancake.  “That would work.  Oh, and I’ve got Flitter coming over for dinner in a couple of nights, so I need you to help clean the kitchen and living room.”
“Going out?”
“No.  Just coming over.  I was gonna try a new recipe I found.”
“It’s not that nicoise salad, is it?”
“No, no.  Something else.  I wanted to try and impress Flitter.  Now go brush your teeth if you’re done.”
Thunderlane waited until Rumble was in the bathroom before picking up the dishes and putting them in the sink to clean later.  He made a quick call to see about his schedule and packed his own lunch by the time Rumble came out from the bathroom.
“Teeth brushed and face washed?”
“Washcloth’s over the small rack.”
Thunderlane looked around and down the hall to see a small washcloth hanging over the metal rack.  “Alright, then.  Get your stuff and let’s go.”
It was a quick flight to Ponyville’s schoolhouse, where Rumble arrived fifteen minutes early.  Thunderlane and Rumble gently touched down to see Cheerilee standing outside in the playground with a couple of other colts and fillies; Archer, Diamond Tiara, Silverspoon, and Pipsqueak were already there.
“Anything weird, anything at all, you tell me,” Thunderlane said.  “So, what time do you want me to pick you up?”
“Around four,” Rumble said.  “That would give us two hours.”
“Alright.  Where’s Featherweight’s house?”
“Three houses down from Sugarcube Corner heading this direction.”
“Alright.  I’ll hover around until you come out.  Might have to make a stop by Sugarcube Corner anyway.  See you later, little bud.”
Rumble waved to Thunderlane before approaching Pipsqueak and Archer, looking over their science books.
“Hey Rumble,” Pipsqueak said.  “How did tutoring with Miss Twilight go?”
“It was good,” Rumble said.  “Actually think I managed to do okay on the math assignment this time.”
“My sister Scootaloo’s going to Twilight’s after school sometimes,” Archer said, looking up from her book.  “Something about a new way of trying to get her cutie mark.”
“How’d they come up with that?”
“Apparently that whole thing about a kissing cutie mark kind of fell through,” Archer said.  She laughed.  “They saw Big Macintosh and Miss Cheerilee kissing once and thought it was disgusting.”
“Hey, you still up for going to Featherweight’s today?” Pipsqueak asked.
“Yeah.  I can stay until four.”
“That should give us some time.  Miss Cheerilee wants us to get a question and hypothesis in by sometime next week.”
“Aw, I wish I could hang out with you guys,” Archer said.  “It’d be so much better than hanging around with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”
Rumble looked around to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon bouncing a ball back and forth on their heads.  They looked decently happy, though Rumble wondered what would happen if he went over and tried to talk to them.
“You also meeting up for the project?” Rumble asked.
Archer sighed and nodded.  “I can’t wait until this stupid thing’s over.”
“Maybe we could all go out and get ice cream tomorrow.”
“I’d like that,” Archer said a little too enthusiastically.  Rumble felt himself seize up in horror for only a moment before Archer continued.  “Except I have archery practice with Miss Silverspeed tomorrow.  We’re finally doing moving targets!”  Archer was nearly jumping up and down with excitement.
Pipsqueak’s mouth dropped.
Rumble nodded.  “Sure thing.  Maybe some other time.”
“Yeah.  I’ll probably need it after this project.”
Featherweight arrived and the bell rang.  The fillies and colts entered the classroom and were called to order, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sitting on either side of Rumble.  Cheerilee called for the students to start handing up their homework and Rumble went to pull his assignment out of his saddlebags.
A sharp push caused Rumble to start flailing to keep himself from falling out of his chair.  It took his wings to help stabilize him and Pipsqueak reaching up to help to pull him back into the chair.  Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the class talking and pulling out papers, were laughing.
“Aww…” Diamond Tiara was sneering at him.  “Did the poor blank flank almost fall out of his chair?”
Silver Spoon laughed.  “I guess you were right.  Blank flanks do have poor hoof-eye coordination.”
“That’s more a problem for the optometrist as opposed to you,” Rumble said, pulling his papers out while the two fillies were too busy laughing.
“Hey, I wonder who is going to get a better grade on the project,” Diamond Tiara started to muse.  “Will it be me, who already has a talent and a good question, or the blank flanks who haven’t started yet?”  And she and Silver Spoon started laughing again.
“Why does it have to be determined by whether or not I have a cutie mark?” Rumble asked.  “Can’t it be determined by intelligence?”
Diamond Tiara stopped laughing.  “What?  I…  Well, I have more intelligence than you since you don’t have a cutie mark.”
“What are you going to do with a tiara?”
“…huh?”
“Your science project.  What are you going to do with a tiara if your cutie mark means you’re more intelligent?”
Diamond Tiara went bright red and she glared viciously at Rumble.  She might have started screaming at him if Cheerilee hadn’t finished collecting the papers and called the class back in to order again.
At lunch, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo passed Rumble with a quick “hello” before zooming off to an area under the tree.  Rumble, Pipsqueak, Featherweight, and Archer headed over to another tree near to where a couple of colts were shooting balls into a hoop.
“That’s weird, what happened today,” Pipsqueak said.  “Diamond Tiara mostly ignores you, doesn’t she?”
Rumble shrugged.  “Normally.  She keeps picking on those three.”  He motioned to Scootaloo standing triumphantly on a branch in a tree and Sweetie Belle standing on Apple Bloom’s shoulders trying to reach the branch herself.
“Kinda weird how she does that, huh?” Pipsqueak commented.  “I mean, she never teased any of us before, really.”
“Scootaloo says she’s not trying as hard on them lately,” Archer spoke up.  “Something about calling them ‘blank flanks’ got old.”
“That’s right.”
The four turned to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon standing nearby.  Diamond Tiara was still fuming.
“I can’t believe you!” Diamond Tiara said.  “What makes you think that a little blank flank could ever be better than me!?”
“One has difficulty coming up with even the vaguest idea,” Rumble said.
Diamond Tiara let out an irritated ‘hmmph’.  “Well, if nothing else, your brother’s worked under my dad, which means you should be nicer to me and do things for me.”
“I’m unsure if you’re aware, but that was a business relationship,” Rumble said, voice firmer.
“They still worked for my daddy!” Diamond Tiara said, walking closer to Rumble.
“Only because they were asked to politely,” Rumble almost growled, walking closer to Diamond Tiara.  “If your dad hadn’t filled out a form and written a nice letter, Thunderlane and his company wouldn’t have done a bit’s worth of work.”
“See, that’s the nice thing, though,” Diamond Tiara nearly shouted, shoving her head in Rumble’s face.  “My daddy can pay for anything he wants!  He wanted your stinking brother to work under him!”
“That doesn’t mean he’s your servant!” Rumble shouted at Diamond Tiara, shoving his head in her face.  “He was assigned to a job by his superior!”
“Who happens to be my father!”
“I meant his work superior, otherwise known as his manager!”
“Then how come he agreed to clear the sky that one day it was supposed to rain on my birthday!”  Diamond Tiara lashed a hoof out at Rumble’s face.
“Because your father apparently didn’t hand down any of his decency to you and kept it all for himself!”  Rumble tackled Diamond Tiara and the two were suddenly rolling around in the dirt in a flurry of punches, kicks, and mane-pulling.
“Don’t you dare talk about my daddy like that!”
“I was calling him nice and polite!  You stop talking about my brother like that!”
“Ow!  I’m just calling it like I see it!”
“Rumble!” Archer and Pipsqueak called from the side.  “Let it go before you get in trouble!”
“And you’re not seeing the whole thing!  Quit biting!”
“What would a blank flank know about what happened?  Aah!”
“Diamond!” Silver Spoon called.  “Don’t let Miss Cheerilee see you!”
“More than you just focused on – ow! – how you have a cutie mark!”
“Argh!  And how come you’re not just accepting the facts, blank flank?”
“Quit calling me blank flank!  I just haven’t – ack! – figured out my talent yet!”
“Have you – ow! – thought about what it was – eep! – like to be talentless?”
A shrill whistle blew from across the playground.  Diamond Tiara and Rumble immediately froze as remained where they were on the ground as Miss Cheerilee cantered over to them, glaring at both of them.
“That’s the second time this month, Diamond Tiara!” Miss Cheerilee said, exasperated.  “What am I supposed to tell your father?”
Diamond Tiara gulped and immediately sprang into action.  “He… he was making fun of my daddy!” she started to cry.  “And… and then he tackled me!”
“I don’t care what he said about your father,” Cheerilee said sternly.  “If he’s bullying you, you should come to me.”
“I wasn’t saying anything about Mister Rich!” Rumble said, springing to attention.  “She was saying mean things about my brother and then hit me!”
Cheerilee put a hoof to her forehead.  “Rumble… I expected better behavior out of you.  Both of you, follow me in.”
“It wasn’t his fault, Miss Cheerilee,” Archer spoke up.
“Yeah,” Pipsqueak said.  “Diamond Tiara hit first.”
Cheerilee looked over at Rumble, standing firm, and Diamond Tiara, curled in a ball and crying.  Rumble couldn’t see any actual tears coming from Diamond Tiara.
“Both of you are to spend next week at lunch inside for fighting,” Cheerilee said.  “And Diamond, I might need to send you to a counselor.”
Diamond Tiara really started crying now.  “No!  Miss Cheerilee, please!  Don’t do that!”
“My word is final,” Miss Cheerilee said.  “Both of you, come with me so I can assess what happened.”
“How come Diamond Tiara really started freaking out after that?” Rumble asked before he left.
“Diamond Tiara’s mother is Ponyville’s psychologist and the school’s counselor,” Archer said.  “Her father will let her get away with a lot, but she’s really in trouble now.”