//------------------------------//
// Not The First 
// Story: Montrose 
// by TLC 
//------------------------------//



The patrons of Sugarcube Corner looked on in confusion as they witnessed a red faced Rumble dragging out an even more confused Thunder, the former pulling him by his tail from the booth and out the door, leaving a frozen Scootaloo alone with herself.

As they walked outside and the doors shut, Rumble turned to his brother with manic eyes. "Of all the times to randomly appear?!"

Thunder held up his hooves, alarmed by his younger brother's reaction. "Yo whoa, Rum! I didn't know, my bad!"

Rumble's left eye twitched. "Your bad? Your bad?! Do you know how close I was?" He held up his hooves, bringing them extremely close together without the touching. "This! This close, Thunder!"

Thunder held up his hooves in defense, legitimately terrified. "Bro, relax! I-I mean it, I'm sorry. Look, I'm only here cuz Flit and CC emptied the fridge-"

"Again?" Rumble groaned.

"Yes. Again." Thunderlane shook his head. "So...you were on a date or something with that filly?"

Rumble sighed. "Kinda, not really. Scootaloo was meeting with Rainbow Dash here and-"

"W-Wait!" Thunderlane placed a hoof over his younger brother's muzzle. "Rainbow Dash is in there?"

Rumble forced the stallion's hoof away. "Ugh, yeah! Why?"

Thunderlane pondered for a moment, before answering. "Then I'm staying."

Rumble deadpanned. "No."

"Make me leave." Thunderlane teased, narrowing his eyes and grinning. "Besides, Ra like you can handle two chicks at once."

"Yeah, because since Cloudchaser and Flitter moved in you've been doing so well yourself."

Thunderlane glared. "Bite me."

Rumble grinned. "Ask Flitter, she might."

Thunderlane snorted, chuckling shaking his head as he passed his brother. "Whatever, man come on. Can't keep our ladies waiting, can we?"

Rumble rolled his eyes, following his brother back into the bakery. "Right."




~★~★~




Scootaloo sat in the booth alone, her face still hot and hooves fidgeting after having almost finally...maybe...kinda of almost kissing Rumble. Only to have his jar headed older brother end up completely killing the moment and probably ruining her chances of getting that boost of confidence back.

Though she had to admit, it was pretty funny watching how Rumble reacted. She smiled thinking back to the colt while hot in his cheeks standing from the booth, grabbing the stallion's tail in his teeth 

She sighed, her ears then perking up at the sounds of hooves coming towards the booth. The site of Rumble turning into the booth brought a proper smile to the filly's face, but it faltered once he sat down and laid his head down on the table with a thud.

"Hey..." She said, laying hoof on his head. "What's up?"

Rumble turned his head, looking up at the friendly filly staring back at him. Once their eyes met, the irritation his brother left him vanished, replaced by the sudden fluttering in his chest. He leaned back against the booth's cushioned seating and leaned his head on Scootaloo's shoulder, prompting a giggle from the pegasus. 

"Hehe, Rumble! So forward." Scootaloo teased.

"Blah, sorry about...that." He said. "I can't believe the timing my brother has sometimes."

"Don't worry about...Rummy." Scootaloo grinned. "Besides, there's always time for that later."

Rumble's cheeks suddenly felt very warm.

"So...where is he anyway?" Scootaloo asked, leaning away from Rumble to peek over him and out the booth. "Did he leave?"

That's when she heard Rumble let out a heavy sigh, which prompt her to look him in the eyes. "Rumble?"

He then shrugged, a grimace on his face. "Have...I ever told you that your mane looks absolutely fantastic in this li-"

"Rumble..." Scootaloo narrowed her gaze, crossing her hooves.

Rumble sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Okay, so...it may be possible, and don't freak out or anything-" Because this may or may not affect our situation in anyway... He thought as he spoke. "-but he may or may not-"

"Rumble-" Scootaloo softly interrupted, bringing the colt to silencing himself. "Get to the point."

"He may have a crush on Rainbow Dash." He said, dipping his head. 

Scootaloo stared, a few moments passed before she brought a hoof to the bridge of her muzzle and sighed. "Well that's fantastic."

"Yup." Rumble said, his ears flattening against his head. "I'm sorry."

Scootaloo punched the colt lightly in the shoulder, causing him to yelp. "Aw, don't be sorry. Now it's like a double date!"

Rumble's lips twitched. "D-D-Date?"

Scootaloo smirked. "Maybe." She then looked up, her smirk dropping to straight line as the offending before mention stallion came around to the booth, baring several different pastries on a plate on his back.

Thunderlane sat down across from the two, laying his plate down and grabbing one of the many cupcakes. "Don't mind me, you two." He grinned. "You can get back to smoochin', pretend I'm not even here."

He covered his muzzle and laughed at the red faced young ponies sitting across from him. Rumble glared at his brother, one he shared with Scootaloo, who sat with crossed hooves. "Oh Celestia, you should have seen the looks on your faces!"

"Yeah, I remember my first date." Thunderlane reminisced, balancing the cupcake on his hoof. "Eeyup, took her out to dinner, then a movie, then we sat out on a cloud-one I had picked out earlier that day-" He added with a smirk, "and watched the stars. Yeah, really wooed that one."

Rumble rolled his eyes. "What a load."

"Hey, Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash poked her head into the booth. "Believe it or not, The Cakes say they're out of Rocky Road-" She cut herself short, seeing Thunderlane indulgence himself with the treats before him. "Uhh...do I know you?"

Thunderlane looked up, turning to the rainbow maned pegasus with surprised eyes and a muzzle filled with cupcakes. Scootaloo and Rumble remained silent as the two older ponies stared at each other. 

Rainbow turned to the younger ponies, her eyes narrowing. "Is this stallion harassing you two?"

Rumble raised a hoof to say something, only to have his muzzle covered by Scootaloo's hoof. "Y-Yes!"

Thunderlane snapped to attention, nearly spitting out the half eatten cupcake. "What?! No I'm not!"

Rainbow Dash glared, her wings slightly rising in warning. Rumble saw this and bit his lip, he didn't know what Rainbow Dash was capable of but from seeing Scootaloo's ploy he knew this could turn out bad for Thunderlane. He turned to Scootaloo, who watched Rainbow stared Thunderlane down like a lion to a gazelle, then to his brother who watched the same mare.

He thought about stopping the situation, about how he could prevent Thunderlane's possible beating from the older tomboy. He thought about how he once heard Scootaloo talk about how Rainbow and Applebloom's sister spared for fun, and knew enough from the young pegasus how tough Dash was.

He thought about saving Thunderlane for a second, then thought about kissing Scootaloo.

Thunderlane turned and pointed a hoof towards Rumble. "What are you talking about? I'm his older-"

"He threatened to pluck our feathers out like chickens!" Rumble exclaimed. Ponies around the bakery turned their heads at the scene unfolding at the booth, Thunderlane's jaw dropping and eyes growing to the size of dinner plates. Scootaloo had to hold both hooves over her muzzle to prevent Rainbow seeing her face splitting grin.

"WHAT?! Rumble, I'm gonna pound the crap outta yo-" Before he could finish his threat, Thunderlane yelped as Rainbow Dash grabbed him by his tail and started dragging him away from the booth. "W-Wait! I didn't say that I swear!"

Rumble and Scootaloo poked their heads out from behind the booth and watched in amusement and slight terror as Rainbow dragged Thunderlane to the front doors of the bakery, customers sharing a group of laughter at the stallion's mare-ish screams.

"Like plucking feathers off foals, eh?!" Rainbow Dash growled. "Let's see how you like it, creep!"

Thunderlane stared off towards the booth, his scared expression turning to one of bitter anger. "I'll get you back, bro! Just wait, when you get home you're so dead!"

Just as the doors closed, Rumble could still hear Thunderlane's shouts though muffled from the outside. He and Scootaloo sat back in the booth, both bursting out in laughter.

"Wow! I can't believe you did that!" Scootaloo said, holding her stomach.

"Heh, you gave me the idea!" Rumble snickered, turning the plate of treats left behind by hi doomed brother. He reached over and grabbed a chocolate cup cake with orange icing and held it out to Scootaloo. "Well, I guess we can't let this food go to waste..."

Scootaloo smiled, reaching out and taking the treat. "I guess we can't."




~★~★~




"Come on, Scoot!" Rainbow Dash teased from her living room, musing at the two young ponies on the front porch.

Scootaloo and Rumble sat outside Rainbow's cloud home in silence, only smiling and staring at each other mindlessly. Rumble's tail swished behind him as Scootaloo's hooves trembled slightly, both anxious and thinking the same thing.

"So..." Rumble said. "I guess I should be going..."

"Y-Yeah..." Scootaloo said, turning to look at the porch.

Rumble turned out towards the direction of his house, rubbing the back of his head with his ears pinned back. "So, I'll see you at school?"

"Yeah." Scootaloo answered quickly.

Rumble nodded, rising from his seated position and backing towards the edge of the porch. "A-Alright..Later." He turned around and extended his wings, about to leap off. Just before he could he felt a sudden weight on his back, keeping him still. "What the-"

He felt a hoof manually turn his head and suddenly he was face to face with Scootaloo, her cheeks a bright crimson. His own cheeks burned as their muzzle's bumped and he felt her breath on his face. "Scoot-"

Fireworks. Fireworks, supernovas, and one million Sonic Rainbooms let out in chorus within the minds of these two young ponies as Scootaloo brought their lips together, practically stopping time in its tracks and bringing their heart beats up to an almost unimaginable speed. Rumble's eyes were wide open for the first few seconds before closing, turning himself to wrap a hoof around his filly.

It was an innocent act, nothing more than an everlasting smooch before both pulled away with soft pants. Rosy cheeks and glazed eyes, Rumble and Scootaloo smiled wrapped in each other's hooves.

"That...was..." Rumble's inner vocabulary reached critical error as Scootaloo giggled.

"That, Rumble, was to make up for earlier." She said, nuzzling his cheek. "Goodnight."

Rumble let go of Scootaloo and back away slowly, a goofy smile on his lips as he fell backwards of the porch. Scootaloo jumped up and ran to the edge. "Rumble!"

She looked down and let out a sigh of relief, rolling her eyes and chuckling as She watched her colt fly off towards his home, the setting sun flaring around him and leaving him but a shadow against it.