//------------------------------// // Apple Shampaloo // Story: Montrose // by TLC //------------------------------// A playground sits in the ambiance of the laughs and cries of foals. Two sets of eyes meeting each other in a competitive silence. An author who's consistence matches that of the weather. Celestia's bright and almighty sun watched from high above the playground behind Ponyville Elementary, young ponies prancing about playing games of tag, dodge ball, two square, and the dare I say-four square? But amongst them, sitting at a wooden table across from each other, we find Scootaloo and Rumble engaged in one of Equestria's most intense rounds of The Staring Contest ever. Like, ever After finding that they kept catching the other staring, they had decided to turn into a game. Eyes burning, numerous rounds were won. During class, each lesson was loss and forgotten as mere background noise and distraction. All there was for the two young ponies were each other's violet gems. This was now a game of chess. A game of wits and cunning, courage and overshadowing playground romance. If only Rumble knew how to play chess, Scootaloo just grinned as she noticed another twitch from her competitor. And like another chink in the armor of a knight in battle, she fought to act on this sign of weakness from the colt. Rumble gritted his teeth, his hooves clutched the edge of the bench he sat upon. He could feel the dry air against his near watering eyes, the strain on them wearing his endurance thin. Across from him, Scootaloo sat determined, a grin inching across her lips. His mind barked at him, ordering him to blink. He needed to blink. For a split second, Rumble thought of blinking...all until an evil trick came to. A dirty trick. Looking deeper into the orange filly's eyes, Rumble puckered his lips and blew a kiss at Scootaloo. Not only did she blink, but a subtle pomf was heard as her wings shot out behind her. In which, Rumble fell backwards off the bench, shutting his eyes and laughing at the flustered filly. "N-Not cool!" Scootaloo stammered, trying to fight the heat in her cheeks and regain control of her wings. "You cheated!" Wiping a tear from his eye, Rumble rose back up to the bench. "Hey, I saw an opening! So now what do you wanna do?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes, resting her head on her hooves. "I don't know, I've actually gotten used to just staring at you." Now it was Rumble turned to be flustered, as his attention snapped to the filly at her statement. "R-Really?" She shrugged. "Maybe...why are you sitting on that side, and not over here with me?" She asked slyly, watching as the colt's muzzle tinted a slight pink. He then flapped his wings and hovered over the table top and landed on the bench besides the filly. "Now-" She grabbed the colt into a headlock, hearing him chuckle as he started to struggle. "-about you cheating!" Rumble was barely fighting against the filly, knowing he could easily break free from her grasp, but stayed there for a few moments just out of the fact he was so close. But soon, he flapped his wings once, lifting both into the air and launching them into the grass. They both wrestled against each other before breaking up, huffing and puffing, sharing looks two hunters would give each other. Across the play yard, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom sat beside each other as only across the way their fellow crusader and her crush played together. They sighed, all knowing looks upon their faces. "Ya know what, Applebloom?" Sweetie spoke up, sitting in the grass and felling the sun's warmth on her fur. "I don't think they'll need our help after all." Applebloom nodded. "Eeyup! It's only been half a day and look at em'!" She giggled, just as Rumble attempted to tackle Scootaloo only for her to dodge him and tumble into the ground. "It is like one of those romance novels my sister reads!" Sweetie smiled. "Or like one of them fictions mah brother reads!" Applebloom nodded with the same smile. Though it only lasted a moment, for it faded as she noticed two fillies begin to make their way amongst her other classmates on the yard. "Oh no..." "What?" Sweetie asked, turning to where Applebloom stared. Then, her expression broke out in disbelief. "Aw, come on! Not now!" ~*~*~ "Ha! Gotcha!" Rumble said, snatching at Scootaloo's tail with his teeth. Scootaloo turned and struggled against him, chuckling. "Aha, Rumble let go!" "Yeah, Rumble. Let go!" Both pegasi cringed at the voice from behind them, both knowing very well who it's owner was. Slowly turning to its source, Rumble spat out Scootaloo's tail and faced the snobby fillies standing side by side. "What do you two want now?" Scootaloo glared, taking a step towards the two, only to notice as Rumble took a step beside her. "What we want, Blanky, isn't from you." Diamond Tiara hissed, not even turning to face Scootaloo as she took a step towards Rumble. "Hey, Rummy." "Rummy?" Scootaloo rose an eyebrow to Rumble, watching him shiver at the nicknamed bestowed on him from the snobby filly. "Rummy, why are you wasting your time on somepony as useless and unattractive as this blank flank?" She asked, flipping her mane with a hoof. "When you could be spending with with somepony as pretty and talented as moi?" Rumbled rolled his eyes. I don't know which one is pushing it more, pretty or talented... "Anything you have with him, you have with me!" Scootaloo said sternly, remaining beside the colt. Silver raised her brow at her words, a smirk forming on her lips. "Aww, isn't that cute, Diamond?" She said, sarcasm dripping from her words. "The blank flank has a crush!" Scootaloo's cheeks reddened at Silver Spoon's teasing, but she bared her teeth and stood her ground in spite of her. "Oh, please! Like Rummy would even think of dating a chicken." Diamond snickered, a pink hoof covering her mouth. Though her fun was cut short as Rumble took a big step towards the two fillies with an annoyed expression. "Give it a rest, Diamond Tiara!" He said with a stern tone. "What has she ever done to you? Besides, I don't want to talk to you anyway." Diamond's lip quivered at Rumble's words. "B-But Rummy-" "Hey, I don't care what she see's in you! Don't yell at her, you jerk!" Silver Spoon spoke up, glaring at Rumble while he barely made a move. "Step off, or else, Silver Spoon!" Scootaloo stepped in front of Rumble. Just then, the four heard a whistling sound. And then Scootaloo hit the ground with a thud, after being his in the head with an apple. "Scootaloo!" Rumble gasped, before crouching besides his fallen friend as she held her hooves to the spot the apple struck. "Aha! Wow, how unlucky!" Diamond Tiara taunted, Silver Spoon laughing beside her. "Let's go, Silver Spoon. Before this blank flank's bad luck ends with us both getting fruit to the head." She glared down at Rumble. "I'm not done with you yet, Rummy. Seeya." Just as the toxic two walked away, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle rushed up and sat beside the two pegasi. "Is she alright?" Sweetie Belle panicked. Scootaloo groaned, holding her hooves to her head. "Ow...what happened?" Rumble held his hooves over Scootaloo's, rubbing them over the bump that was now forming. "Where the hay did that apple come from?!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom stood in silence for a few moments before looking to each other and giving a simultaneous, "We have no idea." Rumble helped Scootaloo to her hooves and layed a wing onto her back, holding her up with one of her hooves around his shoulders. "I'll get her to the school nurse, that could leave a really bad bump." He then turned and began to walk Scootaloo towards the school building. "Ugh...Rummy, huh?" Scootaloo chuckled. "Don't even start." Rumble smirked. A few moments before... "They're gonna mess everything up!" Sweetie Belle groaned, slamming her hoof into the ground. "We have to stop them!" Applebloom nodded. "Yer right, but how? We can't just jump in, it'll cause a big ole' scene and they'll get in trouble!" Sweetie sighed, bringing a hoof to her chin. A light bulb lit above her head. "Applebloom." Sweetie said. "Yeah?" The yellow filly asked. "Do you have an apple by any chance?" Applebloom raised her brow at the unicorn before turning to her side, finding her lunch bag and reaching into its contents. A moment later she pulled out a shiny red apple, freshly picked that morning by her sister. "Now I have an idea, and Applebloom?" Sweetie asked. "Yeah?" Applebloom said, with an unsure tone as she watched the apple in her hooves being surround by a green aura and float from her grasp. "I'm deeply sorry." She said calmly, taking aim at the back of Silver Spoon's head...supposedly. ~*~*~ "Ow!" "Hold still, young lady!" The school nurse told Scootaloo, placing an ice pack over the spot the apple had hit her. A small bump had formed on the side of her head from the impact, but nothing major the nurse had told her. "Just keep this on it for twenty minutes or so and I'm sure the swelling will go down." The school nurse smiled. "That was quite an unfortunate incident, random apples falling from the sky? Tsk, tsk, tsk." "Ugh, I know right?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm going to head out." The nurse said, grabbing a bucket and couple of towels from the nurse office closet. "A student threw up in the hallway." She sighed on her way out the door. "Again." Snickering, Scootaloo layed back onto the nurse office bed she sat on. This sucks...this is cold, I'm bored, and this sucks... "Visitor!" A familiar voice chimed in as the office door opened once more, Scootaloo sitting up and smiling at the pegasus hovering above her. "Rummy!" She teased. "Shut up." Rumble laughed, landing on the ground beside the bed. "How's your head?" Scootaloo moved the ice pack, revealing the bump. "It doesn't look too bad." He told her, looking away towards the floor. "Uh...so..." Scootaloo rolled her eyes, reaching out and bumping Rumble on the muzzle. "No. Bad, stop being awkward." Rumble covered his nose, snickering. "Okay, ow. Do you have to do that?" "Yes, because when you're awkward I'm awkward." Scootaloo said, holding the ice pack to her head and letting out a sigh. "Thanks for checking up on me." Rumble smiled. "No problem. What are friends for?" Scootaloo raised her brow, smirking at the colt. "Oh, so we're just friends?" Rumble's cheeks turned a bright pink, his mouth suddenly going dry. "I-I-I mean-I mean, of course I'm here to check up on you! C-Cuz-" His failing words died on his lips as Scootaloo placed a hoof to them. "I'm teasing, you dork." She giggled, staring into his eyes. "I mean it, Rumble. I'm happy you're here for me." Feeling her eyes on his giving him slight confidence, Rumble smiled, placing his hoof in hers. "No problem, Scoot." "Heh...this doesn't mean you're out of the woods with 'Rummy' though." "Crap."