Rumble woke up to a loud and annoying beeping sound close to his ear. He opened a sleepy eye and looked at the source of the noise: an alarm clock on his bed. The clock read 8:00 am. Rumble was thankful that his brother had yet to bang on his door to wake him up; he still had at least an hour before school started.
That thought woke Rumble up. He had one hour until school and his math homework wasn’t finished. Scrambling out of bed, Rumble found his pencil, book and paper on the desk in his room, paper neatly tucked inside the book with the pencil lying on top of it as though he had finished it. Rumble opened the book to check that the homework wasn’t finished; one was close to being finished, but there were three more of the twenty left. It was a B grade by most students’ standards, but Rumble wasn’t even sure all of them were correct. He had Cloudchaser’s and Flitter’s help on some, but not all which meant he wasn’t sure if all of them were right. Rumble frantically tried to remember what Cloudcha—
“Rumble!” the pegasus colt heard Thunderlane call. “Rumble! It’s time to get up for school!”
Rumble panicked and packed up his things in his saddlebags hurriedly. “Coming, Thunderlane!” he called down the hall. Rumble took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and made sure his other homework was in there: a set of history questions, a science assignment he had to finish, the book report, and what was finished of the math homework. Eventually telling himself he could talk with Cheerilee about tutoring for the math assignment later, Rumble took his saddlebags and walked out to the kitchen.
Thunderlane was there with a piece of cinnamon toast, a sliced apple (fresh from the Apple family farm) and a glass of milk. Rumble sat down at the table and ate while Thunderlane got himself a set of the same thing.
“Hey, little bro!” Thunderlane said as he sat down at the table. “I heard you had a fun time with Flitter and Cloudchaser last night. Did you get your homework done?”
Rumble’s eyes drooped. “No. I had a hard time on the math and didn’t get it done. Flitter and Cloudchaser helped me out, but I couldn’t do all the assignments.”
Thunderlane sighed. “You’d have perfect marks if it wasn’t for that math grade. You seem to be doing fine with everything else, except for that one subject. What is it about math that makes you so frustrated?”
“I don’t know!” Rumble pouted. “I was going to ask Cheerilee for some tutoring if things don’t get better.”
“It’s alright, little bro,” Thunderlane said gently. “I’m not mad at you. I just want you to do well in school and that’s the one area you have problems. If you need me to, I can find a tutor either in Ponyville or in Cloudsdale that can teach you one-on-one for math for half an hour to an hour every other day.”
Rumble nodded. “Thanks bro. Are you on weather duty today?”
Thunderlane downed his milk glass in three large gulps, smacked his lips and licked the milk off his lips. “Yeah. Rainbow Dash is pushing us hard since the harvesting season is coming up. I should be able to meet with you to pick you up from school, though.”
Rumble nodded. “Alright.”
Rumble finished eating, then put an apple in his saddlebags and followed Thunderlane out of the house and onto the cloud perch just outside their house. Thunderlane spread his dark grey wings wide and watched as Rumble followed suit. Thunderlane took a powerful leap and caught a current of air and began easily gliding down towards the ground. Rumble followed his brother’s example and was soon coasting alongside him. Thunderlane guided Rumble as they used the air currents to glide all the way from Cloudsdale to Ponyville. It wasn’t a long flight, and soon Rumble and Thunderlane were touching down just outside the Apple family farm.
“Alright, I’ll see you later Rumble,” Thunderlane said. “Remember to talk to Miss Cheerilee if you keep having problems. And here’s some bits for the hot lunch today.” Thunderlane handed Rumble over five bits, the usual cost of the school lunch. Rumble put those in his saddlebags and waved goodbye as Thunderlane took off into the clouds and back to Cloudsdale.
Rumble started walking through the streets of Ponyville in mostly a good mood. The sun was still low in the sky, but it was nice and warm outside, the skies clear and the day bright. Rumble could see the other fillies at the school coming out from their houses, two of them passing him in the opposite direction to go to Sweet Apple Acres.
“Hey, Rumble!”
Rumble turned around to see a blue earth pony filly with a bow and arrow cutie mark. The filly ran up to Rumble, saddlebags bumping her sides as she ran up to him to catch him. Rumble stopped and waited for her to catch up and continued walking alongside her.
“Hey, Archer,” Rumble said. “You finish the book report?”
“Yeah,” Archer said, jumping excitedly. “You finish the science experiment?”
“I got most of it done in class,” Rumble said. “I just had to finish the summary.”
“Cool,” Archer said. “Hey, I heard Flitter and Cloudchaser were at your house yesterday. Did you get to see anything between them and your brother?”
“What? No! Thunderlane was on weather duty and had them watch me.”
Archer shrugged. “Ah, well. You still have a thing for Cloudchaser?”
“Nah. She’s just nice.”
“Good.” Archer looked one direction then the other, as though making sure nopony was looking at them, before turning to Rumble with half-shut eyes. “Because that means you’re free now, right?”
Rumble raised an eyebrow. “…what.”
Archer blinked. “Something wrong?”
Rumble shook his head. “No. Nothing’s wrong. Let’s just get to school.”
Archer nodded and she and Rumble continued making their way to the school house on the edge of Ponyville. It was small (there were only about twenty students there), but Rumble liked it and the teacher, Miss Cheerilee, was one of the best anypony could ask for. Rumble and Archer made it to class and took their seats towards the middle of the classroom and pulled out their work and waited for class to begin.
“So, Rumble…” Archer said. “Are you doing anything this weekend? I heard they were going to have a fair passing through here and setting up with a bunch of rides and games and music. Do you… do you want to go with me?”
Rumble didn’t even look up from his papers. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.”
“You’ll think about it?” Archer said hopefully. “Does… does that mean yes?”
Rumble looked over at Archer. Unlike normal, the blue pegasus filly had two red spots on her cheeks as though she was blushing. Her eyes were twinkling in his direction when he looked, but she looked away as though hiding and trying to not look directly at him but just over in his direction.
Rumble raised an eyebrow. “Archer… are you okay?”
Archer nodded. “It’s just that… I…” The filly seemed to be struggling to get the words out.
“You’re…?”
Archer shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later.” Then she went back to her papers.
Rumble was dumbfounded at his friends’ behavior.
He didn’t have much time to be, though, as Miss Cheerilee walked in soon after, the dark pink Earth pony holding her bag in her mouth and flopping it on the desk before beginning. “Alright, class! I need your book report, your science homework, and your math homework passed up front!”
Rumble pulled the required papers out of the pile and passed them forward, dreading what could happen if Cheerilee noticed his math homework had gone unfinished for the fifth time in a row. For the time being, Rumble didn’t say anything about it and Cheerilee didn’t say anything about it either. Instead, the Earth pony teacher just collected the papers and started working on the day’s lessons as she had before.
The day passed by as normal until Cheerilee let the class out for lunch and recess, when Rumble and Archer went out and joined the line for special hot lunch. Today was rose and lily soup with a daffodil and daisy sandwich, a fresh salad, and a warm slice of apple pie for dessert, along with a carton of milk and a small bottle of orange juice. Rumble gathered his lunch and sat down with Archer and a few others, including pinto Earth pony colt Pipsqueak, yellow and red Earth pony Apple Bloom, the white unicorn Sweetie Belle, and the orange pegasus Scootaloo, Archer’s twin. Rumble and the others greeted each other before sitting down at the table.
“Hey Rumble,” Sweetie Belle said. “My sister Rarity wants you to tell your older brother ‘thank you’ for saving her again.”
“I’ll make sure to pass it along,” Rumble said. “Hey, did any of you catch the cloud soccer game between Cloudsdale and Canterlot?”
“We don’t exactly have a good tee-vee,” Apple Bloom said.
“Rarity had hers on that one home network channel all evening while she worked,” Sweetie Belle replied.
“Dad had it on all last night,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes in the direction of Archer. “Have you ever seen him so excited?”
“Never,” Archer agreed. “We thought he’d blow the roof off the house with how excited he got and how fast his wings were flapping once Cloudsdale scored that goal. Did you catch any of it?”
“No,” Rumble said. “I had too much homework. I caught the first few minutes, but didn’t see the end.”
“Cloudsdale won,” Scootaloo said. “Score was seventeen to twelve.”
“Cool.”
“I remember going to a game once in Trottingham,” Pipsqueak said. “That was really fun. A cloud came into the stands and nearly hit my brother square on. I got to throw it back in, though. Trust me; it’s much better watching it from the stands than it is on the screen.”
“I’d imagine so,” Archer said.
Apple Bloom took a look at Rumble. “So… you still don’t have your cutie mark yet?”
“Well, no…” Rumble said. “I haven’t quite figured out what I’m good at yet.”
“You could join our club,” Scootaloo said. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders. We could all go out searching for our cutie marks together.”
Pipsqueak nearly spat out his orange juice. “Wait a minute, you don’t have your cutie marks either?”
Scootaloo shook her head.
“Then how come I’ve never heard of this club!?”
“You don’t want to!” came a jeering laugh from another table.
The six foals looked over at another table with a pink Earth pony wearing a tiara and a grey Earth pony with a pair of glasses; Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
“What do you two want?” Archer called.
Diamond Tiara laughed. “That club is nothing but a stupid excuse to hide the blank flanks. My daddy always said they were nothing good. Hey, Archer! Why don’t you come over here and join us and get away from those blank flanks?”
“These blank flanks are my friends, Diamond Tiara,” Archer said. “I’m not leaving them.”
“Suit yourself,” Diamond Tiara said. “Sit there and stay contaminated.” And she and Silver Spoon laughed.
“Not much to laugh about when Filthy Rich didn’t get his cutie mark until he was older than Thunderlane is now,” Rumble commented.
Diamond Tiara immediately quit laughing and a glare came over towards the table. “What did you say about my daddy?”
“I said he got his cutie mark late,” Rumble said.
Rumble felt like he blinked and the whole exchange was over, only now Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were on the ground amidst a pile of Archer, Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, and himself. Cheerilee was wearing a whistle around her neck and blowing it hard as she could and causing a shriek that could be heard over the din of students looking at the fight. Cheerilee looked at the group with disapproval.
“Everypony continue eating lunch,” she said sternly. “You six, come with me.”
Pipsqueak, Archer, Scootaloo, and Rumble followed behind Cheerilee solemnly. Rumble could hear Diamond Tiara’s laughter behind them.
“You too, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”
Rumble smirked to Archer as the laughing stopped. “Wha-what!? But Miss Cheerilee…”
“No excuses! All six of you, get inside the schoolhouse for a talk.”
The six foals entered the school house and sat in three rows of two in front of Miss Cheerilee’s desk. Cheerilee herself entered soon afterwards, shaking her head in disbelief as she paced back and forth in front of the six students.
“I can’t believe it!” she said. “Of all the years I’ve taught here, I’ve never seen a fight between so many of you as this! Can someone explain to me what happened that could have started a fight between six of my twenty students?”
The six started erupting all into conversation at once.
“One at a time, please!” Cheerilee said.
“He called my daddy a blank flank!” Diamond Tiara shouted while pointing a hoof at rumble.
“No, I didn’t!” Rumble said. “I just said your dad got his cutie mark late after you started laughing at my friends for being blank flanks!”
Cheerilee looked over to Diamond Tiara. “Did you…?”
Rumble thought the Diamond Tiara’s response was the stupidest in two words he’d ever heard.
“Well, duh…”
It was out of her mouth before she even realized it. By the time she did, Cheerilee had given her detention for a week for bullying and was ushering them all outside to finish recess except for Diamond Tiara, who was getting a stern talking-to by Cheerilee while she started washing off the desks.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen her notice Diamond Tiara doing anything to us,” Scootaloo said.
“That’s weird how she just let the rest of us off the hook without another word, though,” Archer said. “You think she would have at least threatened to call our parents or something since we got into a fight at school.”
“At my old school,” Pipsqueak said, “there was a three strikes thing where they wouldn’t call until after the third time getting in trouble.”
“But even then,” Scootaloo said, “she didn’t even get us a warning.”
Rumble continued listening to the conversation between Pipsqueak and Scootaloo, but couldn’t help but feel bad for Silver Spoon, currently walking away and going back to her lunch with a dejected and almost lost look on her face.