//------------------------------//
// Friend Zone 
// Story: A Dinky Love Story 
// by Cryptid-Kid 
//------------------------------//

It was another bright day in Ponyville for everyone-- there was seldom a cloud in the sky, the sun was gleaming a beautiful golden yellow, giving off rays of its warmth and friendliness, and the birds were singing various bird-songs in different high-pithed octaves. Fillies and colts of different colors were scattered around the Ponyville school lawn, chatting and scampering to chase each other across the fresh-mown green grass, their hooves wet with dewdrops that blossomed with the dawn.
Everything was going smoothly that day-- it was a peaceful, sunny, lazy day that was just typical for Ponyville and its ponies. Squeals of excitement and laughter drifted across the yard as several foals tackled each other in a mock-fight after catching up to them. Others played hopscotch and jumprope over by the sidewalk, and there was a group of younger colts and fillies who were all arguing over who was submitted to the swing set next, as usual.
A light violet unicorn who wasn't particularly important sat away from the others, sitting on the fence of the school, the sun warming her back. Her beautiful long blonde hair was practically glowing in the harsh sunlight, her golden eyes all the same. She had a smile on her face as she talked to the only pony in the whole universe who truly understood her, who knew her better than anyone. Her best friend.
"And so then she said to me, 'Forget it, I'm waaaaaay cooler than you anyway!' and she just gave me this totally snobby look as if she was too good for me," the gray pegasus that was sitting to the right of the unicorn told her.
"Whoa, dude," the unicorn laughed. "Did you totally kick her tail?"
"Nah, I sorta just laughed it off," the pegasus responded, his purple eyes full of humor. "I mean, besides, I knows it's," he made a face and put on a false accent to imitate the pony in his story, "like, a lie, man!"
The unicorn giggled. "Rumble! What is her problem with you?"
"I guess she's still mad about me breaking up with her," Rumble shrugged.
"That was two years ago!" She threw her hooves in the air to stress her thoughts. 
"I think she's still just holding a grudge on me. Who knows? She didn't even really like me when we were dating! I'm so glad all that drama is over," Rumble said, rolling his eyes at the memories in which he always attempted to shove to the back of his mind. 
"Me too," his friend agreed. "She was too old for you anyway!"
"I can't believe I actually dated her," Rumble told her, shaking his head. "That really was a horrible relationship. But I knew I had to break up with her when she told me I couldn't hang out with you anymore!"
"That's ridiculous!" the unicorn stressed. "Why can't some ponies see that fillies and colts can be just friends?"
	Suddenly the school bell rang, interrupting their conversation and cutting off the comment Rumble was about to make.
The unicorn didn't wait for a reply; instead she sprung down the fence onto her hooves. Rumble soon followed, landing clumsily next to her, almost falling flat on his face as he had stumbled before leaping off the fence.
She snickered at his failure and he rolled his eyes and smiled too. 
"Well, I've gotta go to my next class!" The unicorn said gleefully. "See ya, Rumble!"
"Yeah, see ya, Dinky," Rumble responded, and pulled her into a quick hug.
Dinky smiled as they broke the hug, and galloped down the lawn to the school building's entrance. Rumble watched her go, following her at a slower yet still quick pace. Unfortunately Rumble was a year older than her, and they only had one class together at the end of the day, so they hung out at recess, lunch, before school, after school, on the weekends, pretty much whenever they could if their respective schedules allowed them to.
But Rumble went out of his way to see Dinky whenever he could. There had been times when Dinky cried to him over the phone and he ran out in the storming rain to her house to comfort her, and times when Rumble had stopped bullies from beating her an inch away from death, times where he refused to leave her side if she felt unsafe, times when he had cheered her up when she was scared to death. Rumble and Dinky had been inseparable for years, and Dinky practically depended on him. He knew that he was probably the most important pony in her life right now, because Dinky had a lot going on in her life at home that she sometimes downright refused to talk about, not to mention the hell she went through at school with bullies. Rumble stayed with her because he knew she needed him, and they remained extremely close. And Rumble had grown so attached to her that he might have fallen in love with her.
At first he neglected his apparent feelings for the mare and he went in such denial to the point where he wouldn't even talk to her if she didn't talk to him first for about a week when he finally realized he might have had some special, reserved feelings for her. He never spoke of it, and a lot of ponies were already suspecting that something was going on between them, but they both knew that their relationship was completely platonic at the moment. But Rumble somehow couldn't control his feelings, and his budding romantic interest only grew stronger and stronger as the time went on, much to his dismay. And he never had the courage to say how he felt, he wouldn't even bother flirting with her anymore. He tried quite a few times, but it flew past her radar and she didn't even detect it.


The rest of the day went by slowly; that is until their final period that they shared together: art class. Dinky excelled in that class; as painting and drawing was her natural talent, while Rumble struggled far behind her, lacking the knowledge of artistic talent. Still he tried his best, and aimed to be as good as Dinky was one day.
They sat side-by-side at the corner desk in the back of the room while their art teacher rambled on about some dumb drawing technique that nopony except the two of them bothered to use or pay attention to in class. Rumble roughly copied the picture of the eye the teacher had drawn on the whiteboard in thin blue marker into his own notebook, while Dinky sketched out several different styles and ways to draw eyes, trying to figure out which one was best.
"And there you have it. On another subject," their teacher spoke, eyeing her students, "I don't think anyone was told yet, but the school is having a dance coming up in a couple of weeks, and we're in charge of the decorations."
Everyone in the room immediately sprung to life at the word "dance" and Rumble and Dinky could tell they were far less interested in the decorations than the dance itself and finding a date to go with them.
The teacher began to go on with the instructions and started informing everyone of what they were to do, how they were supposed to stick with a theme and not go out of order, etc. But none of the ponies in the room actually listened. They were probably too busy daydreaming of bringing their crushes to the dance or something.
"Alright, class dismissed!" Their teacher sighed, frowning when she realized she was out of time and that nopony listened to or cared about her speech.
Rumble and Dinky silently walked out of the classroom, camouflaging in the crowd of students struggling to get out of the abandoned room as soon as possible.
As they trotted down the road to Dinky's house as planned, Rumble noticed Dinky's awkward, suddenly quiet expression, and the fact that she refused to speak or look him in the eye. When he asked her what was wrong she simply shook her head.
Rumble rolled his eyes. "I've known you long enough to tell that something is wrong, so what's the matter?"
Dinky looked down at the cement as they slowed to a lazy pace down the sidewalk. "Nothing! It's just... well, the dance is coming up and I... I guess I'm just a little nervous."
	
"Why are you nervous? It's just a dance," Rumble responded, glancing back at the schoolyard. He put a wing around his best friend. "There's nothing to be worried about."
"No, it's just that there are only a few colts in my class that aren't dating this year, and I don't have anyone to go with," Dinky muttered, her eyes trained on the cement.
"You don't have to go with anyone," Rumble told her, slightly annoyed that she didn't even think to consider him an option, but he tried his best to hide it.
"But then I'll be that one loser in the class who doesn't have a date!" Dinky whined.
"I'm sure that's not true," Rumble shook his head, giving her a comforting glance that made her head turn away in embarrassment. "I'm sure there's got to be at least one other pony who doesn't have a date. In fact, I bet the majority of them don't have a date."
"No, that's not true! The majority of them are dating, or have crushes or something," she said gruffly as she kicked a pebble in front of her. 
"Then go with a friend." Rumble shot her another glance.
"Are you even listening? I said I'm probably the only one without a date, not a friend!"
"You know, you don't have to bring a date..."
"But what's the point of going if I don't have a date?!" She glared at him.
"You don't need a date to have fun, you can go with a friend," he assured her. 
"That's easy for you to say. You haven't had a date in two years," Dinky spat back.
"That isn't true!" He lied, blushing and turning away from her. "A-Anyway, if going to the dance with a date is really important to you, maybe you should ask a colt to the dance."
Dinky thought it over. "Hm."
Rumble cleared his throat nervously. "Do you have anyone in mind?" He glanced at her with warm, soft purple eyes. "Maybe someone who's already a close friend?" Rumble's face reddened so subtly that Dinky didn't notice.
"Well," Dinky muttered, deep in thought, and seemingly refusing to acknowledge her friend's implications. "No, not really...."
Rumble rolled his eyes and flattened his ears, a bit frustrated, but Dinky didn't notice; she was too busy thinking.
"Maybe your soul mate is someone who already knows you really well," Rumble coughed, eyeing her.
Suddenly her face lit up with a bright smile, and Rumble smiled too at the sight of her sudden ecstatic behavior. 
"Oh my gosh! Rumble, I get what you're implying, and I'll totally do it!" She squeaked, making him grin.
"R-Really?" Rumble blushed now.
"Yeah! Totally! Why didn't I think of this first? I'll go and ask Pipsqueak to the dance as soon as I see him!" Dinky clapped her hooves.
The name of the younger earth pony made Rumble's bright grin and happiness evaporate into thin air and his mouth drop. It was soon followed with a pang of shocked disappointment as well as embarrassment for thinking Dinky actually wanted to go to the dance with him.
"Oh," he said so lowly to the point where she had barely heard him, the redness from his face dying away immediately along with any hopes he might have absorbed from within his heart. There was a lump in his throat, and he shook himself and put on a fake smile. "I-- always knew there was a connection between you two," he laughed nervously, practically dying inside from the unexpected heartache. He cursed himself for being too shy and nervous to actually ask her; she'd probably say no anyway, as he'd expected. Tears threatened his vision, but he held them back inside of him, trying desperately to stay cool.
"You really think he'll say yes?" Dinky asked with bright golden eyes that shone within a dream.
As heartbroken as he was, Rumble couldn't bring himself to hurt Dinky's feelings. "Yeah, sure, why not?"
Dinky let out a squee of happiness, throwing her hooves around his neck. "Yay! Thank you, Rumble! I'm soooo excited!"
"Yeah," he sighed, too disheartened to hug her back, so he simply patted her back and pulled away. "Uh, I'm not feeling to well," he lied, not making eye contact with her. He tried his best to keep his expression neutral and emotionless, but he couldn't help noticing he might have come off as a bit dismissive and cold, but at least it was better than acting just plain rude or bursting out into a fit of childish tears, similar to what was happening in his discouraged heart right now. "I think I'm just gonna go home now."
Dinky's cheerful expression withered slightly, but she clearly bounced back moments later. "Oh. Okay. See you, Rumble!" She waved to him as they parted ways.
"Yeah... See you, Dinky," Rumble muttered as his upset purple eyes became fixed on the tear that rolled down his face and down the ground, making its way to the sidewalk before him.