“Honestly, Rumble, one of these days… ugh. Come on, let’s go home,” Thunderlane said gruffly. He turned to leave, gesturing with a wing for Rumble to join him.
“N-no,” Rumble said, trying his best to be firm, despite the noticeable tremble in his voice.
“What was that?” Thunderlane turned around again, now facing his little brother, the small stallion standing next to Cheerilee. The large, dark gray pegasus’ voice said he was angry, his eyes told a different story – one of confusion, almost fear.
“I said no, Thunderlane. I don’t want to go home with you. Not today. Not ev-ver again!” Rumble nearly shouted, defiance plain in his voice. “You’re an aw-”
“Rumble, why don’t you let me handle this?” Cheerilee interrupted, smiling down at the little colt. Rumble nodded, resigning to glare at his older brother.
“Now Mr. Thunderlane, as you may or may not be aware, Rumble spent the night at my house last night. During the course of the evening, he told me several things that I, as a responsible citizen, cannot ignore. It has been brought to my attention that you are rather neglectful of your younger brother, and, you being his legal guardian after… after your parents passed on, you are legally bound to look after him. You can’t be getting drunk when a mare dumps you, or staying out all night at your marefriend’s house. If you do not take adequate responsibility, I cannot allow this to continue and I will take legal action against your guardianship of Rumble,” Cheerilee stated firmly, trying not to allow emotion enter her voice, calmly stating the facts as she had received them from Rumble the afternoon and evening prior.
“How dare you spe-” Thunderlane started, furious, before cutting himself off. He held a hoof up as he closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath through his nose before exhaling audibly from his mouth. He began to talk again, much more calmly than before, measuring each word carefully as he spoke. “Miss Cheerilee, I must ask you to listen to me, please. You must consider that Rumble is eight and that I may not explain to him every detail of my life. Which, by the way, I don’t. I’m certain he told you about the incident after Blossomforth. For one, that happened two whole years ago. For two… did he tell you why I did that? Because I had already bought an engagement ring. I was going to ask her to marry me. And she broke it off over some fight we had… some stupid fight over… I don’t even remember,” Thunderlane trailed off, his voice shaking a little. He swallowed hard, but even after he regained his composure, his voice threatened to break. “After a week, Flitter and Cloudchaser came to see me. We’ve been friends since… gosh, I don’t know, since before we all moved to Ponyville, some time back while I was still at Flight School. They got me out of that funk, back on my feet, and back into being a helpful pony in society. After a while, Flitter told me how she felt about me, and, while I hadn’t really thought about it before, I realized I felt the same, but not just about her. Cloudchaser, too – it was kind of weird at first, dating two sisters at the same time, but it’s worked out so far. Doctors say it’s called ‘polyamorism’ or something, and while not common, isn’t an issue. Anyways… since we got together, I haven’t had an incident with alcohol like that.”
Rumble’s jaw had dropped some time ago, though he had resisted interrupting his brother until now. “You… you’re dating Flitter AND Cloudchaser? That’s not fair at all! Why do you get both of them? That isn’t fair! You… you don’t deserve to have Cloudchaser as your marefriend!” The outburst hit Thunderlane like a ton of bricks – his eyes widened with surprise and his lower lip began to tremble.
Ah, man, this sucks – a grown stallion about to break down and cry in public, just from one thing his little brother said. What kind of man am I?
Cheerilee decided now was the time to intervene, before the situation escalated further. “Rumble, please, I know you like Cloudchaser, but that’s a discussion you can have with your brother later. Now, though… that’s all well and good, Thunderlane, but there’s still the fact that you leave him alone at night, from what I understand, on a rather regular basis, to spend time with your girlfriends. I respect your so-called ‘polyamorous’ lifestyle, I have friends who live by it, but you need to take care of your brother.”
“Spending nights at Flitter’s? No, you’ve got it wrong. Ever since… ever since mum and dad passed away, I’ve had to work two shifts on the weather team every day just to earn enough bits to get by. Even working two shifts a day, supporting day-to-day life and two of the three best things to ever happened to me – Flitter and Cloudchaser – wasn’t feasible. I work another job at night, Miss Cheerilee, as a garbage pony. It doesn’t pay much, but every bit helps. Look, Miss Cheerilee, I just… money is tight right now. I don’t know when or if that will get better. I love my little brother dearly, but right now… Miss Cheerilee, can I talk to you, alone, for a moment?”
The sudden change of tone took Cheerilee by surprise, but she nodded, and motioned for Rumble to wait outside as she followed Thunderlane into the schoolhouse.
***
“Miss Cheerilee, do you know why I act like I do? Why I’m such a jerk, why ponies think I’m a pervert?” Thunderlane asked abruptly as the door closed behind him.
“I… I must admit, Thunderlane, I was beginning to think that was just who you were, but my views have been… changed, this afternoon, shall we say. Why do you act like that?” Cheerilee chose her steps carefully, walking between the desks to get around in front of the dark gray Pegasus.
“It’s because I’m terrified of being alone, Miss. When mum and dad died… all I had was Rumble, and he was too young to understand what was going on. Sure, Flitter and Cloudchaser visited, but no one… no one got it, you know? Adults said they were sorry, friends offered assistance, but nopony really understood. I think maybe that’s why I fell so hard for Blossomforth, she understood me, like nopony else. Well, except Flitter and Cloudchaser, but at the time… I just couldn’t think of them as more than friends. Then, when Blossomforth left me, I thought that was it, that I was going to be alone. So I tried to act cool, hit on everyone, so they would think I was someone worth hanging out with. It worked, a little, I had some ‘friends.’ Now I don’t want to be that pony, but I’m so afraid of being alone… I’ve been working a double shift as a garbage pony, too, Miss. I haven’t slept more than three hours a night in months. I want Flitter and Cloudchaser to be a part of my life forever, and they do too, we’ve already talked about it. I just need to get the money together. However… as much as I love them, I don’t want to have Rumble get left out or neglected. I saw you two this morning, when you were going to school. I was on my way back from my morning shift for garbage duty, and was going to try to get a nap in before my first weather duty shift. Anyway… he hasn’t looked that happy in I don’t know how long. You, too, Miss Cheerilee. Ok, that sounded creepy, but probably because it was… you know what I mean. You looked so happy. Miss Cheerilee… do you think… would you mind…” Thunderlane brought scratched the back of his neck with a hoof.
“Are you asking me to take care of Rumble for a while, until you can get things together?” Cheerilee supplemented, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
“Uhh, yeah, basically,” Thunderlane said. “So, you…?”
“Well, there are the legal proceedings to go through, but… yes, I’d love to. I know it’s not quite the same, and it’s only temporary, but I have always wanted foals…”
“I could help with th-” Thunderlane smacked himself across the face. “Sorry, reflex…”
Cheerilee giggled. “So, let’s begin working on this. We’ll have to go to Town Hall later, but we can get the basic intent written here…”
***
Ten minutes later, the pair reemerged from the schoolhouse, both quite happy. Rumble had been idly kicking a rock around the playground, the other foals long since having left. He perked up at the sight of his teacher and brother walking towards him.
“Well, Rumble,” Cheerilee began, “After some discussion with your brother, and with some other considerations that I had not known about earlier, we have come to an agreement.”
“Rumble, how do you feel about living with Miss Cheerilee for a while, as her adopted son?”
Rumble looked at Cheerilee. “Is he…?”
“Yes, Rumble, he’s serious. Your brother is an awful nice pony, there’s just some issues at the moment. It would be temporary, but he’s asked me to take care of you for a while, while he gets some things together and reaches a more stable financial situation. Also…”
“Rumble… I know you like Cloudchaser,” Thunderlane picked up, “but we’ve already agreed to get married. Rumble… I hope you believe me when I say that behind you, she and Flitter are the most important ponies in my life. I just need a little time for that life to stabilize, with all of us as a family. Plus… I’ve seen the way that little Scootaloo looks at you. I think she’s pretty cute, don’t you?” Rumble blushed intensely, his wings ruffling slightly. “Would you mind staying with Cheerilee for a while? Maybe a few months?”
Rumble was in a state of disbelief. His brother was actively thinking about him, being nice to him, and even offering to let him stay with Miss Cheerilee. “Is that really ok, Miss Cheerilee?”
“Of course it is, Rumble.”
“Then yes, I’d love to! Oh, thank you Thunderlane! I’m sorry I said those mean things about you! Please don’t be mad!” Rumble rushed over to his brother, little wings carrying him faster than a young pony with his stubby legs could ever hope to run, and hugged Thunderlane’s foreleg tightly.
“Hey there champ, it’s all good. I understand I haven’t really been the best brother, but I’m gonna fix that. I just need some time,” Thunderlane said, tousling his brother’s mane.
“Take all the time you need, Cheerilee’s the greatest!”