//------------------------------//
// A colt with Anxiety 
// Story: Rumble's Offbeat Yet Tender Romance 
// by Daemonabacus 
//------------------------------//

Rumble found himself outside of the dancing school again. Although he was a little apprehensive of seeing Tender Taps again so soon, he decided it was for the best. Rumble took a deep breath and walked in, the doorbell ringed as he entered.

To his surprise and slight relief, the dancing school was almost empty. Instead of a room full of students practicing, like what he saw in the morning, there were only around four still here. Only one of them was still dancing, and of course, it was Tender Taps.

Like in the morning, everyone turned to look at him but quickly turned away once he had been seen. Tender Taps, however, was too distracted dancing so Rumble still had a choice to back out.

'No. I'm already here. I can do this right this time, just relax and keep your cool.'

Rumble began to approach Tender Taps at the far corner of the room but was intersected by Miss Steps.

"Hello dear, nice to see you again. Why are you here? May I ask?"

Rumble took only a moment to put his words together, "Hello Miss Steps, Miss Cheerilee told me to bring these to you," Rumble opened his saddle bag and handed over the posters, "they are the posters my class made for advertising the Hearts and Hooves Dance. You know, for the competition."

"Ah, yes!" Miss Steps responded, "I need to grade these... Well, thank you for bringing them to me personally little colt, it was very kind of you and your class to make these for us. I'll make sure to look at all of them very carefully." 

Miss Steps placed the posters on a nearby desk and looked back to Rumble, "is that all you came here for? Or did you want to visit your friend again?"

Miss Steps looked in Tender Tap's general direction, he had been watching them but he looked away pretending he hadn't been eavesdropping.

'So much for the element of surprise,' thought Rumble.

"Ugh, yeah. I did come to see him too, is that ok? It looks to me like class ended..."

"Yes, class is over. You are free to stay as long as I keep the school open. Which won't be much longer..." Miss Steps looked at the clock and began to walk away. "Have fun!"

With her departure, Rumble looked towards Tender Taps again. He took a moment to relax, breathe in and out, and finished closing the distance.

"Hi again," Rumble declared.

"Oh, hello," Tender Taps stopped dancing and greeted Rumble with a hoof-shake and a smile, "I see you came back. Any luck with the filly?"

"Huh? Oh. No. I avoided her again, actually," Rumble admitted a little bit ashamed.




'Alright Scootaloo you can do this!'

Scootaloo stood up on her hind legs and boxed the air like Rainbow Dash to rally herself up. This was going to be it, she was going to ask Rumble out on a date!

Well, not really a date, Date. More like a casual hangout session... for cool ponies like themselves.

Yeah!! 

Totally.

First they would just hang out. She would show Rumble how cool she was, complement how cool he was, and bada-bing bada-boom they'd hit it off as cool-buddies! 

...And once they were cool buddies, the next logical step would be... to become cool special someponies together.

Scootaloo imagined herself landing an awesome flip on her scooter, then skidding to a stop. Rumble landing next to her after performing a loop-de-loop in the air. They'd strike an awesome pose, like from a Daring-Do book! And then, after an explosion went off in the background, they'd end up in a passionate embrace, followed by a passionate kiss. Rumble would take her in his hooves, spread his strong muscular wings, and they'd take-off into the sky together, like the awesome power-couple they'd be.

Scootaloo shook herself awake from her hormonally induced fantasy, a blush again tinted her cheeks. She needed to focus, and stop blushing! Cool ponies don't blush!!!

Taking a relaxing breath or two, Scootaloo gained the confidence to leave the little fille's restroom and finally confront her one true love head on.

'Alright, I can do this. I will do this!'

Scootaloo exited the restroom, scanned the School house, and locked her eyes on Rumble. She made her way over to him, completely confident in her next move... for only as long as Rumble wasn't looking at her.

"HHhaayyyyyyyyyy....", Scootaloo bagan but it was too late to back down. Dread slowed her to a crawl.

Rumble looked up from his desk and the poster he was working on, his eyes widened, "Oh... hi."

"Ugh...", Scootaloo was sweating, she could feel her body going tense and she couldn't stop herself from smiling weirdly. "...so... yeah, how. How you been?"

"Um, fine I guess. And you?" Rumble was fidgeting with a pencil in his wing and he began looking around the room.

"Uh. Good, nothing wrong here. No sir!". Scootaloo saluted Rumble, she tried to lean on a chair to strike a cool pose and appear super-chill, but she slipped and made a greater fool of herself.

"Um, so..." Rumble began, trying to find a way to escape, "Did you finish your poster for the competition?"

"YYEas!" Scootaloo replied, a little too loudly. She got up on her hooves again and desperately tried to make eye contact with Rumble. She failed, the pathetic attempts only making her look even-less sure of herself; or mentally stable, generally speaking. 

"I, ie did. Mee and the girls allready turned it in. We're gg-going to win the competition... I'm sure of it! We made the coolest poster in the whole class...other that Yyour's that-is!" Scootaloo tossed her head aside as her blush threatened to return.

"Cool. So, you don't need to give it to me, I already have it..."

An awkward silence ensued.

"Um. Yeah, you do. But! I just wanted to wish you luck. Cuz' you're pretty cool yourself."

Rumble didn't know how to process that, so he just said: "thanks. You're... cool too, well sorry I gota'go." 

And with that Rumble shoved the posters into his bag and skedaddled out of there. Scootaloo collapsed on the floor once he left, a puddle of sweat covered the floor boards. The embarrassment should have been enough to kill her, but...

'He, he thinks I'm cool!!!'

'Wahooo!!!'




"Yeah, she was being weird again so I just left as quickly as I could...", Rumble confessed.

"Aw, don't put yourself down about it, you can just try again later," Tender Taps' expression shifted as he thought of a way to lighten the mood. 

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that your advice worked!"

"Really!? Miss Steps is going to let you perform how you want!?", Rumble was genuinely excited, had he managed to free Tender Taps from his metaphorical carousel prison?

"What? Oh, no." Tender Taps clarified, shaking his hoof, "I haven't asked her, she probably wouldn't agree with it anyway... No, I was going to say that you were right about the routine being more fun after I added my own personal modifications to it. I'm sure that I could choreograph a whole routine on my own if I tried!"

Rumble was a little disappointed.

"I wanted to thank you," Tender Taps continued, "for showing me that I can come up with my own dancing ideas! Before, I thought that I was just messing around for fun, but now!" Tender Taps click-clacked his hooves on the floor, "I think I've got what it takes to make it big in show business! I just needed someone to point it out for me." 

Tender Taps curled himself up slightly, as if trying to shield off embarrassment.

"Obviously!", Rumble was a bit angry that Tender Taps was so modest, his face was incredulous and frustrated but not aggressive, "you're like the best dancer in his whole town. You're going to be big, I know it!"

"Really? Thanks!", Tender Taps beamed and shut his eyes as he did a little jump-dance; the colt was alive again, which was enough of a happy sight to eliminate most of Rumble's frustration with him. 

But, that didn't mean he was off the hook...

"Taps, can I call you that?", Tender Taps nodded eagerly in response, "Taps, I'm happy that you feel more confident in yourself now, but why didn't you ask Miss Steps about changing the routine?"

"Um. Well, I thought... She's the teacher, I'm just the student, she would know better right? Besides, I couldn't possibly do all of the organization she does for the dance!", Tender Taps became tense again, he bit his lip and started to shake, "We only have a week until the show! Plus, I'd have to lead the other dancers, get the moves down, and that's assuming Miss Steps even agrees!!" 

Tender Taps became more agitated with every hurdle he listed, he fell to the ground on his haunches and became an anxious mess. Rumble looked at him, surprised only briefly, then a familiar sullen scowl of frustration returned to his features.

Groaning and rolling his eyes, Rumble pulled Tender Taps to his hooves and shook him a little.

"Taps! Snap out of it," Tender Taps looked at Rumble, his eyes full of worry, "I told you already, you're an incredible dancer. You are skilled enough to come up with moves all on your own..."

Tender Taps nodded in slightly reluctant agreement.

"...So," Rumble continued, still a bit cross but in a motivational kind of way, "you have all it takes to do this. You can do this Taps!...And you know what?"

Tender Taps listened attentively.

"...I'm going to help you. I'm going to make sure you dance at that show, not as a measly performer but as the lead-dancer you deserve to be. Everypony in Ponyville should be able to see you dancing, the real Tender Taps Dancing!"

Tender Taps looked at Rumble in awe, "You, you really mean-that?", Tender Taps murmured.

"Yeah Taps, I do. You're amazing, your talent shouldn't be left unappreciated because Miss Steps thinks she's the bee's knees."

Tender Taps giggled at that, then got to his hooves fully. He relaxed and then looked to Rumble hopefully, "Th-thanks Rumble. I think you're right."

Rumble took a step back and smirked, "You bet I'm right."

The two colts stood still for a while, smiling as the joy and hope for their new collaboration set in; it was the beginning of a nice friendship.