//------------------------------//
// VI - Schoolyard Shenanigans 
// Story: Mare Magnet 
// by Revenant Wings 
//------------------------------//

	Rumble sat in class the next day feeling unsure of himself.  Math was going smoothly, and in a few minutes, he’d be out for lunch.  He’d gotten full score on a quiz from his writing and grammar class, and literature wouldn’t be too much of a problem since he was on-task, not to mention the science project they just received should be a piece of cake.  Apple Bloom had come back to school today in good spirits and hadn’t asked him about a kissing cutie mark, and Archer had come back to school having completely forgotten about the kiss.
With all that combined, things should have been considered okay.
But they weren’t.
Rumble had himself a packed lunch.  Rumble nearly always brought himself a packed lunch unless there was hot lunch served, which Thunderlane would give him the money for.  Rumble’s lunch was a small salad and an orange, along with a glass of Apple-family apple juice, along with a few sugar cookies.  Rumble nearly always packed himself this lunch unless his brother had decided to make him a daffodil and daisy sandwich on the way out, which made things easier.
On the outside, everything was normal.
Except for a single slip of paper in the bottom and the fact that the bag had been packed the previous night.
Rumble knew who did it, but he hadn’t seen them afterwards.
All he remembered was watching Mare of the Rings and falling asleep in Cloudchaser’s lap.  It hadn’t been long before Rumble was nearly awoken only to be rocked back to sleep; the last thing he remembered was gently rolling into his bed and a light, wet thing on his head.  He woke up the next morning with a brown-paper bag in the fridge marked “Rumble” in clean, generic font.
Thunderlane was confused when he saw it.
Rumble told him he considered it forethought if only to keep it from his brother.
As the bell rang for recess, Rumble took out and quickly read the note, which was read in a more girly, though still rather clean, hoofwriting.
Hey, Rumble!  You were so tired last night I went and put you to bed early.  Thunderlane came home not long after, but I made you this lunch before I left.  Hope it’s right; Thunderlane says it’s what you always put in there.  Anyways, I wanted to apologize for some of my behavior last night since I think I made you uncomfortable.  Talk to you later!
Cloudchaser.
“Hey, Rumble!”
Rumble looked up from the note.  Archer was waving him along, standing near Pipsqueak and Featherweight.  “Come on, Rumble!  We’re gonna miss lunch!”
Rumble nodded, put the note back in the bag, and grabbed the bag with his mouth before running off to join Archer.  The four of them selected a table under a tree where it was nice and shady.  Nearby were two tables containing the Cutie Mark Crusaders at one and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at the other.  The Crusaders, Apple Bloom in particular, kept stealing glances at him, though Rumble thought he saw Diamond Tiara look his direction as well.
“Ever since you got in a fight with Diamond Tiara you’ve been the talk of the school,” Pipsqueak said.  “No one else has stood up to her like that and managed to get her in trouble.”
“I didn’t want to get her in trouble,” Rumble said.  “I only wanted to stop her from bullying you guys.”
“Intentional or not,” Archer said, “Scootaloo says she almost always gets away with bullying her and the other Crusaders, along with Silver Spoon.  Sure it’s a little extreme, but it feels like the first time that she’s been called out on it.”
Featherweight shook his head and pointed to his camera.
“Yes, there was that time with the Foal Free Press,” Pipsqueak said, “but that was an isolated incident and treated like she was just being a tough boss to all of us, not just them.”
“I don’t want to be a hero,” Rumble said.  “And I don’t want to be the center of attention.  All I want to be is a normal colt.”
“You’re not normal,” Archer said.  “You were brave to stand up to Diamond Tiara, you’re smart, you’re kind, you’re cute, you’re…”
The three colts stared at Archer.  Featherweight raised an eyebrow.
“What?” Archer protested.  “He is!”
Rumble just set his head down on the table and sighed.
“Are you all right in the head, Archer?” Pipsqueak asked.
“I’m fine!  I’m just…”  Archer spluttered and tried to start a sentence, her cheeks getting redder and redder.  “How are you… how do you not… why can’t you… you!?”
“…I didn’t get any of that,” Rumble said.
“Me neither,” Pipsqueak agreed.
Featherweight, eyebrow still raised, shook his head.
Rumble went and unpacked his lunch and opened the salad.  He ate without trouble, though Archer still looked flustered and was unable to complete a sentence.  Featherweight started discussing one of the new articles for the Foal Free Press as Rumble finished his salad and pulled out the orange, causing the note to flip out and come tumbling town.
Featherweight pointed at the note on the grass.
“What?” Rumble looked at the note.  “Oh, thank you.”  Rumble bent down and picked it up, making sure it was folded before putting it back into the bag.  He picked up the orange and took a bite from it, only to see that the other three were staring at him, not to mention Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom from the other tables.
“…what?” he asked expectantly.
“What does it say?” Archer asked.
“Whose it from?” Pipsqueak said.
Featherweight made a motion akin to zipping his mouth shut before whistling innocently.
It’d be weird if they found out.  “It’s from my brother,” Rumble said.  “He just wanted to tell me that he’d be a few minutes late leaving weather patrol.  He would have told me normally but he had to leave early today.
Seemingly satisfied, Pipsqueak and Featherweight went back to eating their own lunch.  Archer didn’t seem convinced.
“You didn’t even read it!” she said.
“You didn’t see me in class before lunch?”
“You hardly looked at it!”
“I just skimmed it.  I got the gist of it.  I know what it said.”  Rumble raised an eyebrow.  “Why are you so interested?”
“I…”  Archer blinked, her eyes widening.  “I don’t even know.  I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s come over me…”
“No need to be sorry when you can’t even figure out why.”
There was no mistake about who that snooty voice belonged to.
“Stay out of this, Diamond Tiara,” Rumble said, getting up and walking around.  “Or would you rather get a black eye this time?”
“Oh?” Diamond Tiara said, walking around herself.  “It’s not my problem I’m not over there with those losers.  Look at them!  Fat lot of good they are to you.”
“Hey!” Rumble shouted.  “Don’t you talk that way about my friends!  Are you so angry because you got in trouble that you’re just gonna take it out on everyone whether or not they deserve it?”
“No,” Diamond Tiara scoffed.  “Look, it’s my way of telling you there are better fillies and colts that you could be hanging around with.  Look what you got: an editor of a trashy paper, a filly who has a nearly useless talent, and… and…”  Diamond Tiara looked lost for a moment.  “…and a colt with a weird accent.”
Featherweight snorted and growled.
“I’m not useless!” Archer said.  “I got first place and won money in a tournament not long ago!”
“Don’t you make fun of my home country, Brittania!” Pipsqueak shouted.
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes.  “Whatever.  Look, Cheerilee says we have to pick someone else to work on the stupid project for science with.  We’re not gonna pick any of those other losers, so why don’t you come on over and join us?”
“…weren’t you teasing me a few days ago because I was a blank flank?”
“We could help you get your cutie mark while we’re at it.”
“Oh, really?” Rumble shot, disbelieving.  “And how would you plan to do that amidst planning an experiment, coming up with a hypothesis, testing, reading data, looking at the results, coming up with a conclusion, writing a report and building a small display for the class?”
“I could just get my dad to do it,” Diamond Tiara said.
Rumble took a step backwards in something of a mixture of surprise and horror.  “Does Cheerilee even know you do that…?”
“It’s not like she’d care.  Besides, me and Silver Spoon could help make sure you aren’t the last in the class to get your cutie marks.”
Rumble turned around.  Archer and Pipsqueak were shaking their heads and pointing at Cheerilee, while Featherweight was making an ‘X’ with his hooves.
Rumble turned back to face Diamond Tiara.  “I’m sorry,” he said, forced as it was, “but I’m not gonna do it.  That’s a bit underhoofed, if you ask me.”
Diamond Tiara scoffed.  “Fine!  Be that way!  You could have been one of the cool colts.  Maybe I’d even recognize you when I got further along in the world.”
“Um…”
“…but you didn’t take the offer.”
“I’m not sure I want to, what with how big a jerk you are.”
“What?”  Diamond Tiara nearly spat.  “Me?  A jerk?”
“Hard to believe,” Pipsqueak deadpanned.
Diamond Tiara either didn’t hear or wasn’t paying attention to Pipsqueak.  “I’m trying to invite you in on a group for the science project!  I’m trying to make this easier for you!  I’m trying to have fun and let you hang out with me!”
Rumble, Archer, Pipsqeak, Featherweight, and even Silver Spoon all stared at Diamond Tiara.
“…what was that?” Archer growled.
Diamond Tiara sighed irritably.  “I meant ‘us’.  Me and Silver Spoon.”
“…and you thought he’d say yes to that?”
“I don’t see a reason why shouldn’t he.”
“Because you’re a jerk!” Archer shouted.  The little blue filly took pounding steps towards Diamond Tiara until she was right in her face.  “Because you’re a bully!  Because he nearly got in trouble because of you!”
“And you think you’re gonna stop him from making a decision?”
“Don’t do it, Archer…” Rumble said warily, backing up a few more steps.
“I’m not gonna stop him,” Archer growled.  “I’m gonna stop you.”
“She did it,” Pipsqueak said.
Without much more warning, Archer flung herself at Diamond Tiara, causing the three colts to jump back out of the way.  Soon, there was a pink and blue dust ball rolling around the grass near the tree.  Pipsqeak, Rumble, and Featherweight were all huddled against the trunk, trying to keep themselves away from the flying hooves.
Featherweight pointed a hoof at his head and spun it around.
“Yeah, Featherweight,” Rumble said, “Pipsqueak was right.  Archer’s gone crazy.”
“Do you think we should tell Cheerilee?” Pipsqueak asked.
Featherweight grimaced and pulled at the camera around his neck.
“I’m afraid of going anywhere near that fight,” Rumble asked.
It wasn’t long after that Apple Bloom came up tiptoeing over to where the three colts stood around the tree.
“Hey Apple Bloom,” Pipsqueak said.
Featherweight waved a hoof.
“What’s up, Apple Bloom?” Rumble said.
“Hey, Pipsqueak,” Apple Bloom said.  “Hey, Featherweight.  Rumble, can I ask you a question?”
Rumble shrugged.  “Sure, so long as it doesn’t deal with that dust ball over there.”
“It won’t, I promise.  I was just wondering if you had a group you could work with for the science project.”
Rumble slapped his forehead with a hoof.
“How come I never get invited to these things?” Pipsqueak asked no one in particular.