Mare Magnet

by Revenant Wings


VII - Shallow or Truthful?

Rumble walked out of the schoolhouse after class alone.
Diamond Tiara and Archer were serving detention for their fight. Diamond Tiara had a black eye and Archer had a few scratches, but otherwise neither was too severely hurt although they did have to spend the next hour helping to wash desks and clean the classroom for tomorrow while Cheerilee graded papers. When asked what they were fighting about, Cheerilee had mercifully stated that Rumble didn’t have to work with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon on the science project if he didn’t want to.
Rumble walked out of the school grounds and down the road to where he normally waited for Thunderlane. A few minutes was nothing much, so he could sit around a while longer while he waited for his brother. Not like he had much to do anyways; just sit around at home and do homework before having the rest of the evening to himself. Rumble went over to and sat on the bench he usually went to and waited on for Thunderlane to arrive.
After a few minutes, Thunderlane didn’t come. There was another pegasus coming towards him, though, and he could tell by the wild mane who it was almost immediately.
“There you are, sport!” Cloudchaser said as she touched down next to Rumble. “You waiting for Thunderlane?”
“Yeah,” Rumble said. “He said he’d be a few minutes late.”
“Change of plans,” Cloudchaser said. “He’s working an extra hour at the cloud factory. I’m supposed to fly you home.”
“He certainly works a lot now lately,” Rumble said, getting off the bench and taking off into the air with Cloudchaser. “It seems like half this week he’s been out late for either work or other business.”
“He’s just trying to provide for the both of you,” Cloudchaser said. “It’s not easy when you have yourself and a little brother. Flitter and I didn’t find our own place until we had our own jobs, while Thunderlane had to do so before he could fully adjust himself to work. He’s probably due for a raise any time now and wants to make sure they know he’ll earn it.”
“You’re probably right,” Rumble agreed.
The rest of the flight was silent. Cloudchaser maneuvered Rumble through an errant draft that the pegasi were trying to contain, but otherwise nothing eventful happened and Rumble safely touched down. He pulled out the keys to his home and unlocked the door and opened it but didn’t go inside. He turned around to see Cloudchaser standing outside looking at him.
“Are you leaving?” Rumble asked.
“I thought about staying just until your brother gets home,” Cloudchaser said. “He and Flitter were supposed to be getting off at the same time, anyways.”
Rumble considered this. “Do you want to come inside?”
Cloudchaser nodded. “If you don’t mind.”
Rumble shook his head and headed inside. Cloudchaser walked into the kitchen and Rumble shut the door behind her. Cloudchaser got herself a glass of water and sat at the kitchen counter while she drank. Rumble, meanwhile, went to the back and dropped off his backpack, getting himself ready to start his history homework.
“Rumble.”
Cloudchaser was calling him. Rumble organized the books and paper on his desk and left his room. Cloudchaser was still at the counter as Rumble walked down the hall and entered the kitchen. Rumble pulled up a seat on the opposite side of the counter and sat down in front of Cloudchaser. The pegasus seemed to have a far-off look in her eye, and she looked at Rumble as though she was staring through him.
“How was school today?” she asked.
Rumble couldn’t tell what, but something was off. Cloudchaser didn’t normally care about that sort of thing. While she was a close friend of him and Thunderlane, Rumble only really knew her through Thunderlane. “My friend Archer got into a fight with Diamond Tiara,” he said.
Cloudchaser smiled as though she was about to laugh, but there was something melancholy about it. “I used to deal with her father, Filthy Rich, as part of public relations. There’d be a big storm over Ponyville and he’d think he could just pay to not have rain on his property for the day because he’d have a big party. At least he was a genial fellow about it; we usually complied because he’d be polite about the issue. I’ve heard Diamond Tiara thinks she’s privileged.”
“She always bullies a few of us because of not having cutie marks or because we’re not as rich as she is,” Rumble said.
Cloudchaser nodded. “Is that why the fight started?”
Rumble shook his head, wondering where this was going. “No. It was about something else.”
“What about?”
“…Diamond Tiara wanted me to join her for a science project. But she’s been a jerk to me beforehand. But for some reason she was insulting everyone else but wanted me to join her for the project with the promise of trying to have fun.”
“You don’t have a cutie mark yet.”
“No. But she didn’t talk about it.”
“Your brother is just a worker at Cloudsdale’s cloud factory and weather team.”
“Yes. But she didn’t talk about that, either.”
“So, by all standards, she either wouldn’t have noticed you or should have bullied you for this. Did Cheerilee say anything on the issue.”
“…Miss Cloudchaser, why do you want to talk about this?”
Cloudchaser dropped her smile. She folded her hooves and set them on the table before resting her head across them. “Thunderlane told me you have some innate magic within you. He also told me about Miss Cheerilee’s behavior a few days ago when Apple Bloom asked if you wanted to have a kissing cutie mark.”
“Were you thinking you could do something about it?”
“Not entirely. I figured you probably need an extra set of eyes or ears in case something goes wrong. He didn’t give me any details, but, I figured maybe you could use someone else you could talk to in case things start to go a little awkward.”
Rumble’s cheeks went red. “Miss Cloudchaser…?”
Cloudchaser tilted her head to the side a little. “What is it?”
“…you’re not immune, you know.”
Cloudchaser lost the far-away look in her eye. “What?”
“You’ve been acting as strange around me as anyone else has.”
Rumble could see the hairs around Cloudchaser’s neck stand on end. “Define ‘strange’ in this context.”
“Diamond Tiara isn’t bullying me, Archer kissed me, Rainbow Dash said I was handsome, Cheerilee gave me a higher score than I deserved on the math assignment, Apple Bloom tried to get the kissing cutie mark, Twilight tried to delay the cure for my magical predicament so that she could spend more time with me during tutoring, and you… you’ve been a little more forward about things, if you don’t mind me saying.”
Cloudchaser gasped.
“I mean, think about last night when you were foalsitting me while Thunderlane and Flitter were on a date. Bringing dinner and setting up a movie is perfectly normal. But helping me in the bath like you did, not to mention the whole ordeal with your hoof, and helping me preen is something I’d normally associate with someone closer. Like a mother. Or… or even…” Rumble didn’t want to say it.
Cloudchaser looked down. She looked like she was about to cry.
“No one else knows about it,” Rumble continued. “I’m supposed to have it cured tomorrow with Twilight’s help. By tomorrow evening, I won’t even have this magic in me anymore. Frankly, with all the problems it’s caused at school recently, I’ll be glad to be rid of it.”
“I’m sorry…”
Rumble thought about continuing on, but he didn’t. He could see a tiny glimmer appear in Cloudchaser’s eye.
“I’m sorry about last night,” she said quietly. “I… I wasn’t thinking straight. I don’t know what came over me.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“You’re right. I didn’t do anything.”
That was all she left it at, but that was all Rumble needed to know. “But… M-Miss Cloudchaser… why?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!” Cloudchaser grabbed her head with her hooves as though she was having a migraine. “I just don’t understand why I’m not thinking straight! I don’t get what’s going on! I’ve had these sort of thoughts before, but I didn’t expect them at one point to be towards you of all ponies!”
“Cloudchaser! Calm down!”
“Oh, Celestia, what will your brother think!?” Cloudchaser’s head started whipping around, knocking over the glass of water with her elbow so that it spilled all over the counter all over the floor, dripping down through the cloud and falling into the earth below. “He trusted me! He trusts me to be able to take care of you when I can’t even take care of these things myself!”
“Cloudchaser! Please!”
“Oh, Celestia, and what about my sister or my job? What happens if my supervisor Rainbow Dash finds out? Oh god, she’ll rail against me to the boss for sure! I’m not supposed to be thinking like this! Not when I have a job!”
CLOUDCHASER!
Rumble’s hoof launched out and swung hard across the hysterical Cloudchaser. Cloudchaser was hit so hard she nearly fell over and the stool she was sitting on rocked a little before settling back down. When she managed to regain composure after nearly falling, the pegasus mare was still a nervous wreck but she wasn’t yelling anymore.
“You need to calm down!” Rumble nearly shouted. “It’s not just you! And it’s not your fault! It’s me! It’s this stupid innate magic that I have that drives every mare around me for an extended length of time crazy!”
Cloudchaser was still shivering and sniffling, but not quite crying as she watched Rumble.
“You’d think it’d make me happy to have all the mares around me. But no! I’m sick and tired of it because they start getting strange thoughts in their head that I’m technically not supposed to start thinking about for a few years! It’s… it’s… it’s immoral! But – don’t you start going hysterical on me again! – it’s not your fault!
“Rumble… please stop… please stop yelling.”
“I’m sorry,” Rumble said, much quieter than before. “But you’re making me scared with how you’re acting. But think about it; you were all focused about what you were thinking about you’re forgetting you didn’t actually do anything.”
Cloudchaser gasped again, but this time a little of the glimmer that had been in her eye wasn’t there anymore.
“Archer lost control of herself twice and ended up kissing me and getting into a fight with Diamond Tiara. Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash lost control of themselves and started advancing on me. But you… you controlled yourself. And, to be completely honest, I don’t think that’s something anypony else has done to me ever since I started noticing these strange things happening.”
“You mean… I’ve probably been the best behaved?”
“Likely so. You’ve had those thoughts but haven’t acted on them.”
Cloudchaser finally smiled and wiped away the tears from her eyes. “I’m still sorry. I shouldn’t have acted that way.”
“It’s fine, Miss Cloudchaser. Thunderlane and the others won’t have to know about this.”
When Thunderlane came home with Flitter, they arrived to Rumble finishing his homework in the living room while Cloudchaser looked over him. The TV was on some nature program that Rumble liked and the house was relatively quiet with the exception of Cloudchaser occasionally giving pointers. The counter and floor was clean and the tipped glass was over in the drainer. Cloudchaser and Thunderlane talked for a little while before Cloudchaser left with Flitter and Thunderlane walked over to Rumble.
“Tomorrow we’ve got a meeting over at the cloud factory,” Thunderlane told Rumble. “We’re all supposed to be there. Twilight did say she has the spell-book, though, and should be able to take the innate magic off you and help you with your math homework. Do you think you could head over to the library for a little while until I pick you up?”
Rumble nodded. “I’ll be glad to be rid of this thing. I don’t want another scuffle like what happened today at school to happen again.”