Winter Wrap-up had come to an effective close and spring had started smoothly. Equestria was tranquil and free of tension; a perfect day for relaxing. Rumble, though, was anything but relaxed.
Rumble sat in a tree’s cool shade, reading one of his favorite books so far: The Catcher in the Hay, by: J. D. Stallionger. Its story was rather straightforward: a young colt (Golden Hayfield) had become disillusioned in contemporary pony society and the constraints that cutie mark-culture put its ponies in.
Cutie marks are a pretentious thing; ponies claim that marks outlined a pony’s destiny and true calling but Golden, and likewise Rumble, believed that marks gave ponies a superficial sign of direction with no real thought behind them. “Following your mark” was a silly and hollow way to live, and no pony wants to be a “phony-pony”, as Golden put it.
It had been less than a year since Rumble attended the CMC’s Cutie Mark Camp. Sure, his first voicing for independence had been a bit rash and quite a bit foalish; but he had since matured and re-evaluated his beliefs. Rumble had now begun to read the literature, which better allowed him to vocalize his concerns.
Cutie Marks hampered a pony’s agency and Rumble did not want to get one, regardless if it was something cool. The fact of the matter was: if Rumble had gotten his cutie mark in flying like he originally wanted, he would have grown up to be like Thunderlane; some sort of performer or soldier with a dull, predictable, and routine life. Rumble would be forced to train and perform all day, stuck in the training field dreaming hopelessly of what else he could have done with his life. And fundamentally, it was the same with all marks. Rumble would be forced to commit to one thing and his freedom and excitement in life would die, just like Golden’s foalhood wonder in The Catcher in the Hay.
Looking up from his book Rumble sighed; he was struggling with his newest philosophical conundrum:
‘How do I know if I’m free? If I ever can be free?’
While The Catcher in the Hay had allowed Rumble to identify his concerns, it offered no answer to his worries. Stallionger had been a breakthrough but the author only pointed out the problem and offered no clear answer himself.
‘I want to be a free pony like Golden, always thinking outside the box, but…how can I be sure that I won’t stop challenging myself once I get my mark?’, A fear that shook Rumble to his core as he recalled the CMC's recent Cutie Mark Camp fiasco that had kick started all this.
‘The CMC claimed they still tried new things despite crusading, but that’s not actually true. Almost all of their time was spent crusading and they hardly do anything apart from that. Besides, having free time doesn't change the fact that a cutie mark forces a pony to shape a great part of their life around it’.
‘If only there was a way to skip getting a cutie mark…have no sense of obligation or predetermination keeping me in a box’
But that wasn’t realistic, no one could prevent or get rid of cutie marks. That was a fact.
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed field on the outskirts of Ponyville, a certain lavender mare, with a particularly dark past, was having a picnic with a distinctly great and powerful marefriend, when she felt a shiver go down her spine. The Lavender mare coughed out a piece of sandwich and her magic dropped her yellow teacup.
"Starlight, are you alright?", asked the blue magician.
“Oh no, did I break your tea set?” apologized Starlight, looking around at the small mess she had made.
The magician stood up and sat in front of Starlight. With a face that emitted only care and concern. “It’s Okay Starlight, I can always make more teacups.”
With those silly words Starlight relaxed and even chuckled a little, “Right, yeah. Sorry, I guess I imagined somepony out there needing my advice…and well reflexes.”
“Starlight…”, the magician began “I destroyed that magic counselor ring of yours for a reason.”
“And I’m happy you did Trixie,” Starlight smiled and used her magic to clean up her spilled tea.
“Well, now that I know my marefriend is okay…”, the magician stood up and began waving her hooves, “I have a trick I've really wanted to show you.”
“You have my undivided attention” smiled Starlight; she truly had the greatest and most loving marefriend a mare could ever wish for.
Meanwhile, back under a tree, Rumble continued to struggle with his dilemma with no foreseeable answer, or help.
‘Maybe if I tried getting an obscure talent…a cutie mark with no clear meaning or pre-made path…at least that way I could decided what my mark meant instead of…No that's not right, I’m still not thinking outside the box’
'Ugh! I’m going to stop this before I go crazy’, Rumble closed his book, feeling completely defeated.
Looking up to the clear morning sky, Rumble got up on his hooves with new determination.
‘Buck, if I don’t get flying I’m going to be late for school’.
Tightening his saddlebag, Rumble extended his winds to start flying, when suddenly he heard somepony shouting.
"Rumble! Are you there?"
‘Oh, not again’.
With a single hard flap Rumble launched himself into the air and disappeared, not at all oblivious to the crazy filly shouting at him to stop.
“Pony feathers! He didn’t hear me,” Scootaloo skidded to a stop and hopped off her scooter. Scootaloo watched Rumble vanish into the clouds when the rest of the CMC arrived behind her.
“Scoot-aloo!...did’ja catch'em?”, Apple Bloom heaved.
“No, we just missed him”, Scootaloo responded disappointed.
“It's OK Scootaloo…*huff*…he didn’t…hear you…*gasp*” Sweetie Belle collapsed on the muddy ground, “You can just ask him when we all go to school today”.
Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo who still hadn’t turned away from the clouds where Rumble had disappeared.
“Scoots, I still don’t get whatcha see in him. Of all da nice ponies at our school, you just had ta fancy da one who can fly en’ getaway.”
“Not to mention…” Sweetie Belle mumbled into the ground still exasperated, “...he tried to sabotage our Cutie Mark Camp, he’s stubborn, and Doesn’t LiKe CuTie mARKS! THE THINGS Th-At MaKe A PO-ny SP-eCIAL!!” Sweetie Belle got her face out of the dirt, no longer tired, and said smiling with bright eyes: “...But if it's true love, I support it!”.
Apple Bloom gave Sweaty Belle a hard stare, resemblant of her big sister's.
Sweetie Belle cringed in embarrassment, “Sorry, I was exhausted'.'
Looking back at Scootaloo, who was still staring off into the clouds, Apple Bloom asked a rhetorical question: “Why do you have to go and like bad-colts Scoots?”. Of course Scootaloo liked the crazy ones, maybe all of those scootertrix had finally caused her some severe brain damage.
Regardless of Apple Bloom's comment Scootaloo sighed longingly, “I don’t know, he's just so cool.”
Rumble descended into Ponyville having lost the CMCs. Rumble was able to fly well but still being a young flier he needed to rest between sprints. Looking to the sun again Rumble realized that he had lost track of time, again.
‘Horseapples. I’m not going to make it today.’
Rumble was thoroughly exhausted from the short scare and flight he had to pull to flee Scootaloo and her friends. Scootaloo was a good pony, she really was. But she, and to the same extent the Cutie Mark Crusaders, were all a chaotic bunch of ponies. A bit of excitement was fun and all but Rumble preferred the quiet when he had philosophical questions on the mind. Besides, Scootaloo was essentially his polar opposite, and a little crazy; staying away from her was preferable right now.
‘The last thing I need now is for the CMCs to condescend me with their expert opinion on Cutie Marks, again.'
Walking through the dirt paths of Ponyville Rumble realized that he had landed in an unfamiliar part of town and now he had to figure out where the school house was.
‘Where am I?’
Looking around a particular building notified him where he was.
‘Oh, the dancing school. That means I’m just west of the schoolhouse, I’ll be in class in no time.’
Rumble walked towards the dancing school, he would walk past it, then make a few turns, and the schoolhouse would be right in his sights.
‘Perfect’
“Fillies! Colts! Stay in sync, we won’t be in shape for the Hearts and Hooves show if you don’t keep your form!”
‘Huh?’
Rumble turned his head to look through the dancing school window, inside he found the source of the shouting. A light lavender mare, the dance instructor as Rumble guessed, was trying to reconcile her student’s disappointing progress. The dancing school was filled with at least 8 couples, all young ponies, who were trying to follow a sort of Galla dance number; mostly all falling.
Except for one. In the far back of the room was a young colt who caught Rumble’s eye. He danced differently from the other students, instead of following the rhythm of the music he was dancing alone…and free styling? Whatever he was doing was impressive, a sort of tap dancing, with short strides and circular hops that looked silly yet playful.
‘Huh, he must be an advanced student he isn’t at all clumsy.’
Rumble looked past the glass, then the dance instructor approached the dancing colt.
“Tender taps, what are you doing!”, the lavender mare barked.
The orange colt stopped dancing and turned surprised at his teacher, “Sorry Miss Steps, I got lost in the moment.”
“You need to follow the dance routine, we won’t be ready for the event in time if you don’t practice your form", Ms.Steps commanded lightly. "Do I need to remind you again that freestyle is not acceptable! The Hearts and Hooves event is just around the corner and I need my class to be presentable!”
Miss Steps wasn’t yelling in a mean way, she was just a proud teacher who wanted her students to do the best they could, however that meant being zealous of discipline. Rumble was familiar with these types of ponies, he once had a piano teacher who behaved the same; good mentors but they put the art before having fun. Ms.Steps was probably just as impressed by Tender Taps' dancing as Rumble was, but form came first.
'wait'
It came to Rumbles attention then, his question from earlier that day. That colt was thinking outside the box! Tender Taps had a cutie mark in performance and he was dancing in a class, but rather than follow conformity and dance in sync with the class he chose to do his own thing.
Sure he was still probably happy that he had gotten his cutie mark in dancing, but maybe he might have something in common with Rumble. Could he like doing things unconventionally too?
Maybe by a force of fate, the solution, or the first steps to the answer Rumble desired, had been put in his path by chance.
‘I have to talk to him.’