//------------------------------//
// Budding Romance 
// Story: Sweet Affection 
// by Masterob 
//------------------------------//

The next day came, both Rumble and Dinky were waiting at the park, near the same tree they met with the Crusaders the day prior. Flitter, Cloudchaser and Derpy were at a bench not too far from the location as they chatted among each other while keeping an eye on their foals.

"This is so exciting, I can't wait to see what the Crusaders are planning today," Dinky said, a big excited smile on her face.

"Yeah, so excited," Rumble said, not as excited, feeling a bit of nervousness.

"You ok Rumble?" Dinky asked, rubbing his foreleg a bit. "Relax, like I said, I'll help you with Sweetie Belle, you gotta trust me ok?"

"It's not that simple Dinky, I mean Sweetie Belle is the most beautiful filly in Ponyville, and-" Rumble stopped a moment tried reconsidering his words. "Um, not to say that you aren't pretty either Dinky, but-"

"It's fine Rumble," Dinky interrupted. "You're not wrong, Sweetie Belle is very beautiful, don't be so worried about complimenting her around me, I'm your friend after all, I won't get jealous."

Rumble chuckled a bit nervously, "Right, sorry, but you still get what I mean right? What if I'm not good enough for her?"

"Why wouldn't you be? You're a nice colt with the looks to match, plus I can help put in a good word for you, though you still need to lighten up and at least try to make an impression on her, otherwise you're gonna lose out," Dinky explained.

"I just hope I know what to do when the time comes," Rumble said.

"You will, I have faith in you," Dinky said. She then pulled Rumble into a reassuring hug. "But no matter what, I'll always be your best friend, I'll be there for you if you need me."

Rumble smiled as he returned the hug, "Thanks Dinky, I don't know what I'd do without your friendship."

"You won't have to worry about that," Dinky said, then saw the Crusaders heading their way. "Here they come."

The Crusaders arrived, Apple Bloom with her usual smile, Sweetie Belle with hers and Scootaloo, once again looking away shyly.

Rumble felt nervous again once seeing Sweetie Belle, but Dinky patted his back reassuringly. "Relax, alright?" She turned her attention to the other fillies. "Hey girls."

"Howdy, glad yer here," Apple Bloom said.

Dinky looked around, looking for somepony, "Wasn't there gonna be another pony with you?"

"You mean Tender Taps? He'll be here later, he's busy with some dance practice," Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah, for now Rumble still has all us fillies for himself, lucky colt," Sweetie Belle said while shifting her eyebrows.

Rumble gulped and started to sweat a bit, is she flirting with him? Does he really like him like he likes her? This is so confusing.

"So anyway what do we do first?" Dinky asked. "Right now we can't go too far, our foal sitters need to see us." Dinky pointed to Flitter, Cloudchaser and Derpy.

"There's some fun things to do here, maybe later we can pass by Twilight's place, I'm sure she'd have some fun things fer us to do there, I'm sure yer foal sitters wouldn't mind going there," Apple Bloom said.

"I'm not sure, the last time Derpy went there she got lost," Rumble reminded.

"She wasn't lost, she just took a wrong turn," Dinky said almost defensively, though felt somewhat unsure herself on that.

"Yeah it is a big place, though we know our way around, we've been there a few other times," Scootaloo said.

"Helps that our sisters are friends with Princess Twilight," Sweetie Belle said.

"Anyway fer now, let's just play some other games, ah brought a ball fer us to kick around," Apple Bloom said, showing off the ball in question.

Dinky grinned a little, "Oh I love this game, I'm pretty good at it," She then eyed her Pegasus friend, "Though Rumble here's a natural, like he is at everything he does."

Rumble blushed a bit, feeling a bit flustered at the sudden praise, "I'm not that good Dinky."

"Don't be so modest, come on and show off," Dinky encouraged.

Rumble felt flustered at the attention, he's not one for glory, especially considering the very filly he has a crush on is watching. The last thing he wants to do is mess up and she laughs at him, ruining his chances with her.

"It's just kicking the ball around, we can even see how long web can kick it before somepony misses, sounds like a fun game don't it?" Apple Bloom suggested.

Rumble and Dinky exchanged a glance, then nodded.

"Sounds good to us," Rumble said.

"Go for it," Dinky said.

"Good, come on," Apple Bloom said and tossed the ball, the others forming a circle.

They spent the next few minutes kicking the ball around, tension building as it went on. None of them wanted to be the first to miss the ball. Scootaloo and Rumble were both the best at this, neither of them having any trouble. As time went on those two were the only ones who hadn't missed yet after several rounds of the game.

Scootaloo of course showed off a bit, hoping to impress Rumble, slowly gaining the confidence to do so. Rumble however just kicked it, not wanting to show off too much, though he occasionally flashed a nervous smile, which Dinky groaned at.

"Come on, Scootaloo's showing off, why can't you?" Dinky asked.

"Scootaloo's a little more confident than me, besides it looks like Sweetie Belle finds it annoying," Rumble said, gesturing to Sweetie Belle, who had just missed the ball and looked annoyed at Scootaloo's mini dance celebration. "I'm not such a big fan myself honestly."

"Good point about Sweetie Belle, she is pretty fancy like, maybe she doesn't care for the show off types," Dinky said.

Sweetie Belle herself took the time to whisper to Scootaloo, "Quit showing off so much, Rumble's watching."

"So? He doesn't seem to mind, though he's barely looking in this direction...you think he's finally noticing me and is becoming too shy to look at me because he thinks I'm cute?" Scootaloo then realized what she blurted out then turned away. "Not that I care but...just curious."

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, "You know this would be easier if you just admit your feelings for Rumble."

"I'll do that when you admit your feelings for Button Mash," Scootaloo said.

"I'm waiting for him to make the first move, my sister says it's only proper," Sweetie Belle said.

"Your sister reads too many romance novels," Scootaloo muttered.

After a couple more rounds, Apple Bloom went to grab the ball, "Wow, you weren't kidding about Rumble there Dinky, he's a real natural, just like Scootaloo."

"You two would make quite a team, maybe you should spend a little more time together," Sweetie Belle said and turned to Scootaloo while shifting up her eyebrows, "Doesn't that sound fun?"

Scootaloo blushed and turned away, "Yeah I guess."

Sweetie Belle shook her head at Scootaloo's behavior, "Anyway that's enough of this, it's obvious neither of you are gonna miss, let's try something else."

Before Apple Bloom could say anything, she saw Tender Taps make his way over. "Oh good, Tender Taps is here."

Tender Taps approached the group with his cheerful smile, "Hello there girls, good to see you." He noticed Rumble and Dinky nearby, "You must be the new ponies Apple Bloom told me about." He approached them while holding out his hoof, "I'm Tender Taps, a friend of Apple Bloom."

Dinky shook his hoof, "Name's Dinky, and this is my best friend Rumble."

Rumble waved shyly, "Hello."

Tender Taps shook Rumble's hoof, "Nice to meet you, say you're Thunderlane's little brother right?"

Rumble nodded, "Yeah, why you know him?"

"I've seen him around, he's usually with Rainbow Dash, are the two of them dating or something?" Tender Taps asked.

Rumble shook his head, "No, I don't think so, she doesn't even seem to like him, or anypony for that matter."

"Hey you know how some girls are, they act tough, but deep down they can be pretty soft," Tender Taps said, gesturing slightly to Scootaloo.

Rumble didn't understand pay too much mind to the gesture, but he just went along with what Tender Taps was saying, "Yeah I guess, Cloudchaser's like that."

Apple Bloom got their attention, "Now that Tender Taps is here, what do ya'll wanna do now?"

"Let's go see Twilight," Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Oh, I'd love to go see Princess Twilight Sparkle, she's really amazing," Tender Taps said, blushing a bit at the thought of the Princess of Friendship.

"Yeah, I thought she was cool for a long time, she even talked to me a little during the Tornado Day thing," Rumble said.

"Oh yeah, didn't she mistake you for a filly though?" Dinky asked.

Rumble blushed angrily as he glared at Dinky, "I told you not to tell anypony."

It was Dinky's turn to blush, "Oops, forgot about that, sorry."

Rumble shook his head, "Don't worry about it, she did apologize later on. Besides it's not like she wasn't the only pony who thought that. I 
feel like only Rainbow Dash knew I was a colt, probably because she knew my brother."

Scootaloo approached him shyly, "Question...what's it like flying with the other Pegasus ponies?"

Rumble was confused at first from Scootaloo's shyness, though he figured she felt embarrassed about asking, she is a Pegasus Pony after all, she feels like she should be flying now.

"It's ok, hard at first since I have to fly with adult ponies but it was fun. Fluttershy was pretty amazing," Rumble then muttered a bit angrily, "Even if she barely practiced with us."

Dinky nudged Rumble, "Remember what Flitter and Cloudchaser said about that."

"Well Rainbow Dash yelled at my brother because she thought he wasn't trying hard enough yet Fluttershy got away with staying home all week," Rumble said a bit angrily.

The others looked surprised, Rumble usually doesn't seem like the type to get angry, even if it's just a little bit angry. Looks like he has his own frustrations.

"Do you not like them because of that Rumble? Do you fault Fluttershy for what happened?" Dinky asked.

Rumble shook his head, "No, I can't get mad at Fluttershy, even when I tried to it's hard to get mad at a mare that's really nice, not to mention she's very pretty, so that makes it harder, but still frustrating."

Apple Bloom tapped her chin, it seems like Rumble likes nice and pretty mares, which Scootaloo doesn't actively define. Apple Bloom knows Scootaloo is nice and in her opinion is a pretty filly, but the way she acts could counter those two qualities.

Rumble shook his head, "Forget I said anything, I guess I still feel some frustration over that. I like Rainbow Dash, she's a great flyer and I wanna be as great as she is, she's also pretty confident, something I wish I had. The problem is that she can be too full of herself at times, stuff like that makes me unhappy."

Now Apple Bloom was really worried, if Rumble didn't like ponies like that, it would be hard for him to like Scootaloo. But wait, Dinky told her that he liked a pony in the group, so far it doesn't sound like it could be Scootaloo. Then again Rumble did admit he likes how Rainbow Dash is confident, and Scootaloo is usually the most confident in the group, so maybe there is a chance. Perhaps Rumble doesn't see her as full of herself, he was pretty nice when he spoke with her a moment ago, plus he didn't seem to notice or care that Scootaloo showed off a bit, in fact for some reason he looked a little flustered, for all she knows he probably found the overconfident attitude cute on Scootaloo. Maybe Rumble's feelings on Rainbow Dash is just mainly for her and the way she played favorites against his brother in favor of Fluttershy, he did admit it was mainly frustration after all.

While Apple Bloom was in thought, Tender Taps took the moment to speak up. "I know how Fluttershy felt, both of us at one point weren't used to performing in front of crowds, well she was Flying and it wasn't a performance flight but still, I know how much that could make a pony nervous. It's a shame, I heard Fluttershy's more talented than she lets on."

"She is, she flew really fast, she was pretty amazing," Rumble said. "Too bad she doesn't like flying much, but I can respect that."

Sweetie Belle approached Rumble and patted his back, "Also don't worry about the whole frustration at the pony you look up to thing. I understand how it feels when you look up to somepony and they can be a little stuck-up about certain things."

Rumble blushed a bit at the fact that Sweetie Belle had pat his back, he was really close with her and could barely talk. "...Th-thanks."

Sweetie Belle leaned in closer to Rumble's face, unaware of how flustered the colt was feeling. "You know, you look up to Rainbow Dash to 
an extent, and Scootaloo really looks up to Rainbow Dash, you're a great flyer and she wants to be great, you're both athletic and talented, that's quite a lot in common isn't it?"

Rumble nervously nodded, "I guess..."

Sweetie Belle nodded in approval. "Good, maybe you and Scootaloo can be great friends, try getting to know her, I'm sure you'll really like it. Maybe we'll let you and Dinky join our little circle of friendship, then we can all play together all the time, and you can have some friendly competition, cool adventures...romance with a certain filly."

Rumble's eyes widened a lot, his sweat started to form faster, he was feeling very flustered around Sweetie Belle. His crush talking such sweet things to him. Sweetie Belle took this reaction as Rumble possibly enjoying the idea of being with Scootaloo, unfortunately for her, Rumble wasn't thinking of Scootaloo, but rather herself.

Dinky stifled a giggle at Rumble's response, deep down hoping that Rumble will finally get his marefriend. "Anyway I'll talk to our foal sitters so we can go to Twilight's castle."

"Think Spike will want to play with us?" Sweetie Belle asked, stepping away from the madly blushing Rumble.

"No way, last time we asked he said he 'Doesn't play with little kids' or something like that. He's only a few years older than us, yet he treats us like we're little babies and he's all grown up," Scootaloo said.

"Some ponies are like that, or some dragons in this situation, we can play among ourselves," Dinky said.

"Well, enough wasting time, let's go," Sweetie Belle said.

The foals agreed and started their plans to go see Twilight.