A day like this one, filled with anger and heartache, was one of the few experiences where Rumble couldn't find a reason to smile, his heart deflated with the pain that followed through with the stinging feeling of rejection and heartbreak.
It was one of those days when even though the sun was smiling contentedly and glimmering radiantly, giving off its beautiful rays, Rumble felt as if there was a dark storm cloud hanging over his head, shading him and cutting off any feeling of happiness that might have been trying to reach him above.
Grumbling as he reached his house, the pegasus wasn't in any mood to say hi to anyone. He practically kicked open the door, sulking his way to his room without a word, ignoring the older dark gray pegasus that waved to him when he stormed inside. A slam of his bedroom door did not hesitate to follow his furious entrance.
A few minutes of grumbling, moping, turning over, staring at the wall and striking his pillow with his forearm did not cure his discouraged state. He had been waiting the whole trip home to cry and scream into his pillow to vent out his frustrations, but Thunderlane, his brother was home and Rumble didn't want him to hear him sobbing like a baby. Instead he smote the pillow over and over until his hooves were sore, falling back on his bed with a defeated grunt. Tears rolled down his chin and dampened the pillow as well as the crook of his neck, and as much as he fought against himself to push the bad thoughts out of his head, he felt an old flame ignite at the constant dark feeling of being less than someone, of someone being preferred to him, of the mare he felt a passionate interest in completely turning him down for Pipsqueak without her even realizing it.
His face scarlet as a strawberry, Rumble groaned as he turned over roughly on the bed and wiped many a tear out of his eyes. This continued for a minute or two before the sound of a pony knocking heavily on his door echoed through his ears.
He dried his face, which was dampened from the tears that flooded his eyes at a steady rate, and sniffed loudly, lowly muttering for the pony knocking at the door to enter.
The door creaked open, and Rumble turned over, his back facing the door, his face being buried into the soft white pillow before him. Rumble drew his blankets over him, moaning and not bothering to greet his visitor.
"Rumble?" Thunderlane said quietly.
He didn't respond, and only closed his eyes to blink out several tears that were surfacing and strained back.
"Rumble," Thunderlane growled now, and Rumble could hear his brother walk up to the bed. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he responded gruffly, shaking off the hoof Thunderlane had laid on his shoulder. His voice was hoarse and clouded with anger and sadness, and Rumble didn't even try to pretend like he was okay.
"It's not nothing," Thunderlane said calmly but firmly. "Tell me what's wrong."
Rumble muttered something so low that Thunderlane didn't hear him.
"What?"
Sighing, Rumble growled a response under his breath only a bit more intelligible.
"I didn't hear--"
"Never mind what's bothering me! Please just leave me alone!" Rumble snapped, turning around to face his brother with a rage that he didn't mean, but it sparked inside of him when he was genuinely hurt.
Rumble got his wish; Thunderlane exited the room without a single word. Through his fury he could hear the door close quietly behind him, and the sound of hooves on wood floors growing fainter and fainter as his brother headed down the hall.
Thunderlane didn't hear from Rumble at all after that, at least not for the rest of the evening. He guessed someone at school must have been giving Rumble a hard time, and figured he wanted some space for the time being.
The sound of his phone going off next to him was what had woken up Rumble. He shook his head, realizing that he must have drifted off after what he called his "quiet meltdown." His hooves were wrapped around his pillow, which was odd considering he had pummeled it a few minutes before, but he guessed he sought comfort before anything else and hugging a pillow was the closest thing to it.
Not in the mood to talk to anypony, Rumble let it ring, the loud alarm blaring in his ears for a few seconds before he began to get irritated. Covering his head with his pillow, Rumble moaned as the annoying ring was muffled by the pillow held tight around his ears and face, and eventually the offensive noise was cut off altogether.
Rumble tossed and turned at the thought of Dinky with Pipsqueak. They weren't even that close! Sure, they used to be friends, but they grew distant from each other as time went on. But there was no doubt Pipsqueak was in love with Dinky. You had to be stupid to not notice his obvious crush on the beautiful mare.
This wasn't the first time Rumble wished he had someone else's life. He wished things were different between him and Dinky; in a sense where she liked him and he liked her and everything was cool between them. They wouldn't be tied back with the restraining bonds of a normal, platonic relationship that stung every once in awhile.
And it's all thanks to Pipsqueak, Rumble growled to himself inside his head. Well, I guess I could've been less shy around her. Maybe I could've just told her I liked her.
He shook himself for even thinking that. She obviously didn't like him back, and that thought tore at him once again and he sighed with the exasperation that brought him down again.
Whatever, Rumble concluded, I'll just have to act like it doesn't bother me. I can easily get over Dinky, he thought, knowing very well that he was obviously lying to himself. Stupid dance. I'm not even going!
With that, Rumble slammed his head down on the pillow with a huff and flung the covers over his body. He was busy thinking of what exactly he'd like to say to Pipsqueak if he could when sleep overtook him unexpectedly.
It was a beautiful sunset that Rumble found himself lost in, for once forgetting the sorrow of his lost crush. He waited by the calm lake that stood before him, the setting sun falling over it and painting it in a shaded light that reflected on its blue waves. He had came here to relax, to get his mind off Dinky, and he smiled for the first time in weeks at the sight of the amazing scene. The gray pegasus watched a dragonfly zip past him, catching up with its dragonfly family, and zoomed past the water, diving beneath the ferns at the other side of the pond. A duck quietly sat on the water, grooming itself, looking very peaceful and content, as if it had found the place in which it had belonged, a feeling Rumble had been searching for his whole life.
The hum of the soft wind ruffling the grass beneath him soothed his ears, and Rumble sighed as he leaned against the willow tree he was propped up against. It wasn't until she spoke that he noticed she was there.
"Rumble."
He looked up and there she was, sitting beside him, her face just inches away from his this time. He seemed startled that Dinky could sneak up on him without him noticing, but he dismissed the thought soon as he was probably so absorbed with the peaceful scene before him that he simply didn't notice.
"Dinky?"
"Hey Rumble," she whispered and gave a smile that lit his darkened heart.
"What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you." She leaned her head against his shoulder and he was perplexed at her sudden affection towards him. But he didn't care at the moment, as long as Pipsqueak wasn't there, and he got to be alone with Dinky.
They didn't say anything to each other for a long time, until Dinky finally whispered, "Rumble, I like you."
He nervously gulped, and smiled at her. "R-Really? I thought you liked Pipsqueak."
She shook her head. "No, I figured he wasn't the right pony for me," she said quietly and smiled shyly. "I realized that I belong with you."
Rumble's wing unfolded and he found it gliding over her shoulders, pulling her closer to him as he whispered, "I like you too."
They stayed like that for a long time, watching the sun fall until it got darker and the land grew shadier, and soon enough the stars were out in the sky, and Dinky was cradled in his arms, shivering from the cold.
"It's s-so freezing," she gasped, looking into his pale purple eyes.
Rumble gave a weak smile as he leaned closer, pressing his lips slowly to hers. She melted into the kiss; it was a sweet kiss, short yet loving, light but passionate all the same. When they broke apart Dinky's face reddened and she turned away.
She muttered something unintelligible.
"Huh?" Rumble asked, turning closer towards her so that they stared into each others' eyes.
"Rumble, your alarm clock," was all he heard her say before the piercing shrill of his alarm cut through his visions and dreams.
Groaning as he turned in bed, Rumble shook himself fully awake. His head was ringing, everything was swimming before his eyes, and the world seemed to be spinning in separate ways before he shook off his sleep-fog.
Grumbling and shriveling up his face, wincing from the beam of sunlight that attacked his eyes, Rumble shifted so that he could faintly read the alarm clock, blinking and screeching as it was.
7:30.
He moaned as his hoof struck the "stop" button in a lazy yet annoyed fashion, weakly sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. Dinky had vanished. The lake was nonexistent. The alarm clock had dragged him back from his happy dreamland, no matter how hard he tried to refuse and shrug back into sleep where he belonged at that moment.
Stretching out his tired limbs, which were still half-asleep and barely functional, Rumble practically slithered out of his warm, comfortable bed onto the cold hard floor, his face meeting the wood under him. Dragging himself up with what seemed to be no motivation whatsoever, the pegasus managed to haul himself out the door with what little energy he had.
He didn't bother to get breakfast, all he did was brush his teeth, look himself in the mirror once with tired eyes that he noticed had dark circles around them, and fix his hair briefly, which was sticking up in every direction possible.
Thunderlane had already left for work, and Rumble dragged his feet on the cement, not caring that he was scratching them as he stomped down the gloomy path to school sluggishly. He dreaded seeing Dinky or Pipsqueak there, and just wished he could stay home from school altogether.
But he knew he could not.
This time the weather seemed more appropriate for his current state of mind. Many a dark cloud lingered over his head and the shaded school building, and his eyes searched for a small golden drop of sunlight, but there seemingly was none.
His eyes did, however, find a certain light purple unicorn mare sitting, waiting for him by a similar tree to the one in his dream, whose face brightened at the sight of her best friend, and she waved to him.
He didn't know what else he could do other than smile, wave back, and walk over to her reluctantly as his heart shrank to the size of his self confidence.