Scootaloo wiped away a tear as Rumble sat down in front of her. The boy was breathing heavily, though how much of that was from the chase and how much was from the emotional weight on his chest was anypony’s guess.
“Okay,” she said, “what do you wanna say?”
Rumble closed his eyes and gulped. “Before I do, could you please show me what you really look like now?”
The girl winced. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. I can’t say it if you have to hide.”
With a sigh, Scootaloo enveloped herself in a green flame. When it passed, her fur had been replaced by a shiny keratin-like armour, her mane and tail had made way for a web-like silken material, and her wings were replaced by insect wings.
Rumble appraised the girl for a moment, before smiling cautiously. “You don’t look that bad, you know. You kinda look like a faerie.”
Scootaloo chuckled nervously, giving Rumble a definite listen to her double voice. “Thanks.”
“No holes?”
“The doctor said they’d grow in when I’m a little older. It won’t hurt, and my fangs won’t get too big, either. It’s kind of a clothes and uniform thing. Nopony really knows what a regular changeling looks like when they’re not fighting, so…” She let that trail off. Doctor’s visits had become quite interesting since her change, after all.
“Right. Okay, so, umm, first of all, I’m sorry I got angry at you, and I’m sorry for chasing you, and scaring you.” Rumble forced himself to look her in the eyes. “I swear it wasn’t because I thought you were ugly or evil, because I don’t. I just thought you weren’t, you know, you. I thought the real Scootaloo was kidnapped, and that I was talking to a fake. And I’m sorry I freaked out like that.”
“It’s okay, I understand. Easy mistake to make.” The changeling smiled.
Rumble let his head hang. “So why, umm, why did you drop your disguise when you did, anyway?”
Scootaloo couldn’t bear to look at him for that. “I just got distracted, and then I sneezed. It doesn’t happen when I can focus, but you were saying some pretty weird stuff, and, well, you caught me off guard, okay?”
Rumble nodded and gulped again. He heaved a sigh as if to try and lift the weight on his chest. “So, you’re like this now, and you’re keeping this a secret, right?”
Scootaloo wiped her eyes to catch another stray tear. “Yeah, I have to. I’m still figuring everything out. I barely know how draining works, I only managed to fly after I turned into this, and I can’t work this out if everypony is going to ask questions I can’t answer.”
The boy nodded solemnly. “Then what are you gonna do about me?”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I know your secret now. Aren’t you gonna ask Twilight to make me forget? Or can you do that by yourself?”
Scootaloo shook her head vehemently. “No. I don’t want you to forget; you’re a cool guy. I want us to be friends, I want you to know. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle know. Suppose something happens when we’re practising, and you don’t know what I am? I-I’m kinda glad it happened. I just wish it didn’t have to happen like this.”
Rumble’s breath quickened. “Do you trust me with this?”
The girl shrugged. “I want to. I think I can, but I don’t know anything about you. I wish I did. I mean, you hung out with Rainbow Dash before I did. You look like you know a lot of awesome moves, I wouldn’t mind learning them, from you, I mean. It’d be nice if I had somepony else to talk to, somepony who can fly like me.”
Rumble noticed her breath was quickening, too. Her gauzy wings shivered as she talked. He tried to steady himself. “But you’re still scared I’ll tell?”
She winced. “I’m sorry, Rumble. I know that’s not fair, but we’ve barely hung out. I don’t know if you can keep a secret or not. But I want to trust you.”
Rumble blew out another gust of a sigh. “If I told you mine, would that help?”
“What?”
Rumble shuffled closer. With a mere look, he asked for permission, which Scootaloo gave. They wrapped their arms around each other, both rigid with stress.
They both held each other tightly, too confused and too scared to let go. Rumble put his head on the changeling’s shoulder, both to rest and to avoid looking her in the face. “If I told you my secret, then you could keep it for me, and I’d keep yours. If I ever let yours go, you can let mine go. Then we’d be even, right?”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “So you’ve been trying to set up Rumble and Scootaloo? You never struck me as the matchmaking type, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow let her head hang guiltily. “You caught that, huh?”
Spike chuckled. “What were you trying to do? Get them to kiss?”
“Spike!” Twilight gave him a gentle tap on the back of his head. “They’re far too young to be thinking of that, even considering pegasus mating traditions. Though I will admit, they look cute together.”
“Thank you, Twilight. No, I didn’t want them to just kiss. And no, I don’t just think they look cute together, even though they obviously do. It’s a little more complicated than that.”
Silence fell.
Twilight returned to furrowing her brow. It was exactly this kind of stressful and line-inducing situation that kept Ponyville Spa up and running. “So what exactly were you trying to do, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow sighed. “Did Fluttershy ever tell you about the afterschool lessons she got?”
Twilight held a hoof to her chin, pondering. “No, I don’t think she did. What kind of classes?”
“Every Sunday morning, she’d go to Canterlot to go see this unicorn teacher, for etiquette. Fancy frou-frou stuff, like using the right cutlery, walking with a book on your head, singing lessons, that kind of stuff.”
“She never mentioned that to me. Spike?”
Spike shrugged and shook his head.
“Then she never said I took those classes with her, either, huh?”
Twilight’s brain needed a moment to restart after that. “You took lessons in etiquette? Really?”
Rainbow Dash smiled, as if playing the scene in her head again. “Yup. Ever since Flight Camp, me and Fluttershy went to this special class, every Sunday. For about three years, we learned how to sing, how to walk, even how to hover, like proper, well-educated ladies. Went to a ball and everything.” She did a curtsy motion for effect. “That’s how we met Rarity, too.”
“I don’t get it,” Spike said.
Rainbow shrugged. “I hated it, of course, at least at first. All those rules, all that stuff about being polite and ladylike, it just wasn’t me. But Fluttershy liked it, and after a while I kinda got into it. And the funny thing is, I learned a lot about balance from that posture training, and I learned a lot about breathing from learning to sing.”
“I think I see where this is going,” Twilight said. “You spending time with somepony very different from you taught you some crucial skills you didn’t realise you needed. You thought you could do the same by having Scootaloo and Rumble learn from each other.”
“You have no idea. Scootaloo’s got a lot of talent, but she’s not organised. And Rumble? Rumble’s just intense, but he sticks to his schedules so much he ends up moving like a machine. He doesn’t have any fun flying, and that’s a real shame, ‘coz he’s good at it. I thought, maybe they could take a hint from somepony else, meet in the middle.”
“Great plan,” Spike remarked snidely. “Why not just teach them yourself? You know that’s what they want.”
“Exactly. They both want to fly with me, train with me, be just as fast as me. But I’m a fully grown mare, Spike. There’s no way either of them can ever keep up with me. Who have they got to compare to, besides me? What kind of standard have they got to work with?”
“All grownups,” Spike conceded.
Twilight nodded in understanding. “Or teenagers in clubs. So you just told them to hang out and didn’t think to mention the reason because…”
“Because they’re a boy and a girl, and when a grownup tells a boy and a girl to hang out, there’s only one real reason they’ll believe. I’m new at this whole mentor thing, okay? I didn’t think this was gonna happen.” Rainbow pointed a hoof towards the room upstairs.
“Uhuh. Speaking of which, Rainbow Dash, would you mind telling me how you got Rumble to calm down so easily?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
Rainbow Dash looked away. “Ponyville Weather Patrol. It’s my job to keep an eye on every kid who can fly, especially the ones who do it in competition. Rumble can fly, and he’s good enough to race, so I keep an eye on him. I know the kid, and I know his family. And he’s going through a rough patch right now, so I kinda keep both eyes on him.”
“Oh.” Twilight flinched. “Well, if he needed help, all he had to do was ask. I am certified to offer counseling, after all.” Twilight went to one of the nearby bookcases to fetch a tome on child psychology.
“It’s not that kind of rough patch, Twilight. It’s complicated.”
“Complicated, how? Psychological trauma? Developmental issues?” Twilight fetched one heavy book per topic.
Rainbow sighed. “It’s really complicated.”
Twilight thought it over for a moment. “Does it have anything to do with his parents, by any chance?”
“It’s really, really complicated.”
“Does it have anything to do with the fact that nopony’s ever even seen Rumble’s parents?” The unicorn persisted.
“It’s really, really, really complicated.”
Scootaloo tensed up. “You already told me your secret, Rumble. Chitter’s your girlfriend, and she doesn’t want you hanging out with other girls. That’s why you keep out of sight during the day, I get it.”
Rumble shivered. His throat went dry, making his voice croak. “Could you please just stop talking? This is really hard for me to say.”
“Okay,” Scootaloo whispered. She could feel his heart pounding, his grip tightening. Whatever it was, it was big. Rumble felt older, somehow.
“Chitter’s not my girlfriend; she’s my cousin.”
Scootaloo’s heart skipped a beat. Her mind raced with questions, but only one truly stood out. “What?”
Rumble pulled away so she could see the sincerity in his eyes. “Chitter’s not my girlfriend; she’s my cousin.”
The changeling sat there, staring in confusion as that bit of information twisted and wormed its way through her head. “But she hugs you. She’s so close.”
“Yeah, she does that, and we are pretty close, but we’re related. It’s not that kind of close.”
This raised another round of questions in Scootaloo’s mind. “But she’s a bat pony. A rousette, I mean.”
Rumble closed his eyes and nodded solemnly.
“What about her parents?”
Again, the boy nodded.
Scootaloo felt her heart skip another beat. “And what about your parents?”
Rumble shivered and did his best not to cry. “Them too. I’m one in a million: a pegasus pony who should have been born a rousette.”
The gears in Scootaloo’s mind were doing their best to keep up, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around it all. “But what about Thunderlane?”
Rumble bit his lower lip. “Another one in a million. My grandparents aren’t sure if it’s my dad’s fault or my mom’s. They like to argue about it, too, not to mention the blood tests.”
“Wait, I don’t get it, what’s the big deal? What does that have to do with anything?”
He let out a dejected sigh. “Rousettes have different traditions from ponies. They don’t even think of themselves as ponies anymore, remember? They, um, they kinda stick together more, and they really don’t like boys mixing with girls, not like ponies do. Rousette boys aren’t supposed to hang out with girls they haven’t been introduced to. They don’t get to choose, not right away. It’s only after they’ve got a girlfriend that they’re even allowed to talk to other girls or hang out with them.”
“So your brother-”
“Got wedlocked to a rousette girl when he was seven, that’s what they call it. It’s not really like getting married, but usually it ends up turning out that way. If you’re wedlocked, then you’re considered old and mature enough to be around other girls, but the girl you’re locked with counts for more. You don’t have to marry that one, but, you know...”
“Wait a second, that can’t be right. I’ve seen Thunderlane around plenty of mares, he talks to them all the time. I’m pretty sure he used to be close to Rainbow Dash, too.”
Rumble shrugged. “He was, but things didn’t work out. Since Thunderlane was wedlocked before he started hanging out with Rainbow Dash, it didn’t matter that much. They went to Flight School together, Rainbow Dash came over to our place a lot, but they never dated. Once she became captain in Ponyville and I learned to fly, she started keeping an eye on me, just to be safe and, you know, since it’s kind of her job. But Thunderlane’s wedlocked, like any other rousette. He’s really uptight about our traditions, too, and that makes him just one of them. Plus, he’s practically a Wonderbolt now, too, so they don’t mind him being a little different.”
“But what does that make you?”
He shrugged. “My family makes me follow the same rules any rousette boy has to follow. Chitter’s supposed to prepare me for when my parents would bring some girls over, they already have. She’s my mediator; she has to introduce me to any girl my parents want me to meet, and keep away any girls they don't approve of."
"Girls like me, you mean."
He winced. "It's nothing personal. She does like you, it's just that she's got a job to do, to keep my parents happy. They want me to get started meeting rousette girls, because I’m already kinda old, compared to how it usually goes. I ended up as more of a pegasus pony than a rousette, and they don’t really like that. That dinner at Chitter’s place? It was kind of like a ball, so I’d meet other rousettes, girls my parents don’t mind.”
Scootaloo felt her heart sink. “Then why hang out with me at all? What about this Blue Moon Bloom thing?”
Rumble gulped. “I didn't wanna upset my family, or you. I thought maybe I wouldn’t have to, that maybe if I just went to dinner that’d be enough, but it wasn’t. Thunderlane told me to keep trying, that there’s no reason I shouldn't be like any other rousette. I told him I didn’t like anyone there, but my family is still looking for girls for me to meet. I don’t know why, but it’s just not working out. I’m supposed to give Chitter a flower for this stupid holiday, so she can give it to whatever girl she introduced me to that I like, but none of them are like me, or like you. It doesn't matter if I try to be a little more like them, it's not enough. I have to follow tradition, all of it.”
The changeling sighed as the pieces of the puzzle that was Rumble fell into place. “So that’s why nopony ever sees you play on breaks. You’re not allowed to talk to girls, and you can’t avoid them without avoiding the rest of our class.”
Rumble gulped. “No, and there aren’t any all-boys schools in Ponyville, either. Not like I’d want to go to one. There aren’t any boys in town who are like me, either.”
“And that’s why you lied about your parents being in the Royal Guard.”
“I did not lie. I just didn’t tell you which part of the Royal Guard they were in. My mom and dad have important jobs… more important than I am.“
Scootaloo winced in sympathy. “I know how that goes. It doesn’t mean they don’t care, you know. My parents are like that, too, but they care about me. I know how it feels.”
Rumble chuckled. “I thought you would.”
“But, umm, what about when they are home?”
He raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”
“You said Thunderlane is just like one of them, but you’re not. Does that ever…”
The boy clenched his jaw shut. “I don’t know. Usually when they have the day off, they go places, other bat meetings. I’m not sure if my parents like how I turned out, but I can’t think about that. Thunderlane’s the one who’s been bossing me around, he’s the one who’s trying to call the shots. I wanna do stuff for me, or for ponies I care about. I don’t like not getting to pick who I hang out with, or having to treat boys and girls differently. I want to hang out with you; I like you.”
Scootaloo hugged him close again. “I like you, too. You’re really nice, and really strong, and a good teacher. And, don’t tell anypony, but I think you’re kind of cute when you try to go faster and your eyes go all squinty.”
Rumble hugged her back. “And I think you’re really brave, and fast, and agile. And, umm, that time you did that talent show? I thought you looked great in that costume. It looked pretty tight.”
The changeling chuckled. “Thanks, it was. You look pretty good, too. You’ve got those strong arms...”
“You should see me in a tuxedo. And you’ve got those limber legs…””
“But I totally don’t have a crush on you.”
“Obviously. We just like each other, and we like the same stuff.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Exactly. And we both like the look and feel of a real athlete.” She rubbed over his back just to feel the muscles around his wings, humming in approval.
“Uhuh, and we enjoy being together. That's not a crush at all.” He idly rubbed his cheeks against hers, just to feel that comfortable, familiar, if girly, softness.
"Nope," Scootaloo agreed. "It's just practical: we both wanna practise stuff, and some of that stuff, you gotta close to each other to do it. Like rescue dives."
"Or ballroom dancing," Rumble replied. "That's kind of a tradition for rousettes, too. I don't know if I can do that."
"I'd be happy to teach you. You just gotta know where to hold me-err, your partner. It's easy once you get the trick for it. But you do have to hold each other really close for that."
Rumble nodded. "Obviously. But that doesn't mean anything. We're just friends."
Scootaloo nodded in agreement, though she did note she was blushing just as much as he was. “Exactly. Friends that have to get close to each other for practical reasons. Not a crush at all.”
They both fell silent and broke the hug, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
“So what are you going to do?”
Neither would ever really be able to tell who had asked it first. But since Scootaloo had two voices speaking for her, democracy demanded Rumble answer first.
“Well, umm, I think I’m going to have to tell my parents that I don’t want to be part of their traditions anymore. They don’t want me to have pegasus girls for friends without me being wedlocked, they keep getting Thunderlane to butt in, and that’s not right. They can’t keep hiding behind my big brother like they are now. It’s not fair that I can be friends with Featherweight or Lance and not you, just because you’re a girl. They already don't like me talking to pony boys, but at least they put up with that. They can't just ban me from doing anything with ponies, just because it's with ponies.”
The girl winced. “And if they punish you for that?”
Rumble forced out a weak smile. “I guess I’ll ask the mayor, or Miss Cheerilee, or even Twilight Sparkle. I know they’d help me if I really needed it and I asked. Missus Mayor said there’s a bed in City Hall if things ever get too bad. If my parents think I can’t break the rules of our family, I’ll just not be part of their family anymore. I’m sure Chitter would understand. You’d like her if you got to know her, too, you know.”
Scootaloo’s heart sank. The idea of him having to give up his family, his whole family, just because he didn’t want to abide by their rules, didn’t sit right with her.
“What about you?”
The changeling shrugged. “I guess I’m going to tell my friends that now somepony else knows my secret, and it’s somepony I can trust with it. But I won’t tell them your secret, that wouldn’t be fair.”
“Thanks. And, just in case you ever need it: you can drain me if you’re really hurt, or really weak. I won’t get mad.”
Scootaloo held back a tear. “Thanks. I’m still figuring that one out.”
“And, just one more thing.” Rumble looked down, before steeling his resolve again. “I don’t know exactly what it’s like for you, but I kind of do. You don’t look anything like your family, I don’t look anything like mine. Maybe it’ll be easier for you because you can change shape, but if you ever feel alone, just come looking for me, okay? I feel alone a lot, too. And, you know, if we're both feeling alone, it might be a little better if we can feel alone together. Does that sound okay?”
“That sounds great.” She squeezed him close again, and to her delight he did the same.
Everything was fine again. The big weight of their secrets had been lifted. Their shames had been faced.
But Rumble was the one who was about to lose his family, and Scootaloo wasn’t.
She sighed. “You really want to hang out with me that much that you’d risk getting in trouble?”
Rumble looked away. “Well, yes? I mean, I think I should. You’re the only other pony in town who’s a speedster like me, the only other pony who wants to be a really good flyer. It’s a principle thing.”
Scootaloo pondered it for a bit. “I know, I get that, but that’s not worth getting kicked out by your family.”
The boy growled. “I know. I don't want to upset anyone, but I don't have a choice anymore. No matter what I do, someone's gonna be disappointed in me, and if that's how it is, then I have to pick you over tradition. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t. I can fly okay, but you’re still learning. You know how to do stuff I want to learn, I know stuff you want to learn. And it’s not fair that we can’t be friends just because you’re a girl and I’m from a batty family.”
“But there’s got to be some other way. Do you really think your parents hate you just because of how you were born?”
“No, I don’t. I don’t want to think they hate me, I mean. But they always look at me funny when I bring up anything about ponies, and they always look embarrassed when they take me to a bat meeting. They don’t even take me all to the ones I’m invited to, not anymore. Even if it’s not them, it’s the other rousettes who don’t like me. And it’s really hard not to think it’s just because how I was born.”
Scootaloo winced in sympathy. “But your parents still care, right?”
Rumble nodded, albeit half-heartedly. “Sure, I guess. They always leave me with plenty of food, if they have to leave me alone. And they do trust some ponies to look after me, sometimes. That’s something.”
She nudged his shoulder. “Exactly. So you can’t just upset them. It’s not their fault, either. It sounds like it might just be Thunderlane overreacting.”
“Maybe it is. But what am I supposed to do, then? Rousettes don’t have the same kind of wings pegasi do. If I want to get better, I need a flying buddy, and so do you.”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Well, you could just get a different flying buddy.”
Rumble shook his head. “Like who? There aren’t any other speedsters in town besides you and me. You want me to find somepony in Cloudsdale and leave you out to dry? Do you even know anypony who might help?”
The girl tapped her chin, lost in thought. “Actually, now that you mention it, yeah. I can ask somepony else for help, you can't. You need a flying buddy more than I do, and I think I might know a guy.”
“Really? You'd do that?”
“Oh, yeah, definitely. I don’t go up to Cloudsdale that often, but I know one or two ponies there. And I think I can get one to start coming down to Ponyville, if you like.”
“Umm, okay. But is he like you, then? Can he keep up with me?”
Scootaloo grinned. “Oh, trust me, he can. You’ll like him.”