//------------------------------//
// Boyfriends and Threats 
// Story: A Dinky Love Story 
// by Cryptid-Kid 
//------------------------------//

"Rumble! Rumble? Hellooooo? Anyone home?" 
Those words rang through his head, passing by his ears without alerting him as he stared intently at the center of a group of ponies running around the school lawn, his watchful eyes full of envy and distraction that pulled him away from the outside world. He wasn't watching all the ponies; he was watching the particular white-and-brown earth colt with the scruffy brown mane he had come to dislike and developed a sort of jealousy due to Dinky's sudden preference of him over Rumble. Pipsqueak, of course. He tried not to look too obvious that he was staring but to no avail; he was so emotionally hurt inside that he couldn't control flashing Pipsqueak a glare of envy unintentionally.
"Rumble!" A stern voice interrupted his apparent death glare directed at the colt he'd dubbed his rival for the time being, and made him snap his head back with wide eyes to the pony he had been talking to when Pipsqueak had caught his eye.
"Uh." Rumble shook himself, his unsteady glance alternating between the pony in front of him and Pipsqueak. "Oh. Sorry, Dinky."
"What's going on? Why were you staring off into space?" the unicorn tilted her head at him and shot him a confused and somewhat irritated glance.
"Oh... It's nothing," Rumble responded, looking deep into her eyes for a split second before the pain in his heart forced him to look away.
"You sure?" Dinky gave him a slight smile, washing away some of her impatience and stirred the steady pain rising inside of Rumble.
"Yeah," he lied, his eyes lying flat at the ground, focusing nonchalantly on a beetle weaving in and out of the short green grass before his hoof.
"Rumble... you aren't acting like yourself today. What actually is the matter with you?" Dinky gave him a stern look.
As he opened his mouth to respond, he was saved by the familiar ringing of the old school bell, signaling class was about to start. Thankful that he didn't have to answer as the loud ringing swam through his head, Rumble didn't hesitate to say goodbye, bolt for the school door, and leave Dinky trailing behind with a ton of questions she would never get answered.
Rumble didn't bother trying to pay attention in class that day. The only thing he could think of was the fear of when Dinky was going to ask Pipsqueak to the dance. Maybe I should try to talk her out of it. Unless she already asked him! Celestia, what do I do? I don't wanna watch! Dinky's gonna go to the dance with Pipsqueak and they're gonna get together and become a couple and it's all my fault, I should've just gotten over my dumb fears and asked Dinky to the dance! Stupid idiot, Rumble berated himself in his head. But this wasn't the end of his panic attack that was going on in his head. 
Dinky's gonna be Pipsqueak's girlfriend and they're gonna be so much in love they're never gonna break up! They're gonna totally leave me and everyone will go, "Awww, what a cute couple" as they pass by which is one of the things I wished they'd say about us one day and they'll hold hooves and go on dates and one day out of the blue years later they're gonna get married and Dinky'll invite me to her wedding and how am I ever gonna go to her wedding if I'm so heartbroken?! I mean I know I should be happy for her but how can I be happy for her if she's getting married to Pipsqueak?!
It wasn't until his teacher called on him to answer a problem on the board when he realized how ridiculous he was being and how obsessed he was with the problem... and quite possibly Dinky as well.
"Rumble!" His teacher called to him. His eyes shot to the front of the room and he blushed in embarrassment for his name having to be called out more than once to get him to pay attention. "Rumble, come up and solve the problem on the board."
"Y-Yes, Miss Cheerilee," he mumbled, reluctantly sliding out of his chair and slinking his way up to the board, his nervous gaze flicking back and forth as he could feel what seemed like a million judging eyes pin on him.
Glancing up at the board, he carefully read the problem. Had he been paying attention in class, he would have known how to answer the math question.
"Uh." Rumble smiled nervously as he addressed the class. "First, you..." He turned back to the board, gripping the piece of chalk in his mouth.
"Go on," Cheerilee prompted.
"Umm... You, uh, would have to..." His eyes were busy scanning the problem that to anyone else would be a breeze. He racked his brain for any piece of information he could possibly withdraw from deep inside, but his mind went blank at that exact moment.
3x ÷ 98y -4 + (-7x ÷ 9) • 8y •12x - 3/8 ≥ 78 • 28. 
"So, first, you would need to... uh..." A sudden piece of vague information hit him like a ton of bricks at that exact moment. "Um, you'd... combine like terms?"
	
"Yes?" Cheerilee nodded towards the board, signaling for him to do just that.
Students looked up, some in boredom while some in amusement, as Rumble still struggled with the problem he had no idea how to solve. He was doing most of the parts he knew how to do in his head, and to everyone else he was just staring lifelessly at the board, focused squarely on the harsh question.
This went on for a few minutes before Cheerilee said out of impatience, "Thank you, Rumble. Would anyone else like to solve the problem?"
Nopony volunteered, and Cheerilee plucked a random pony out of their seat to switch places with Rumble, who sheepishly trotted back to his shamed seat as everyone snickered silently on the inside at his apparent incompetence. What was worse; Rumble noticed that the student who replaced him finished the problem fairly quickly, at least much quicker than he probably would have completed it, even if he had been paying attention.

Indulging himself in his sorrows and self-pity, Rumble remained that way until lunch period, where an ecstatic Dinky that was feeling about the exact opposite of the way he did then: his heart was aching, hers soaring. 
Her yellow eyes were gleaming with beauty, happiness and confidence, all reflected in a way that Rumble could bring himself reluctantly to admit that she must have asked him, and he must have said yes.
"Did you ask Pipsqueak?" Rumble said almost too roughly as they walked together across the sun-warmed green lawn, but it flew under Dinky's radar due to her happy mood.
To his surprise (and relief,) she squealed, "No!" yet she looked as if she were going to burst out of her skin any second.
Rumble was slightly perplexed at her excitement despite the fact that she didn't ask him yet, but he was so relieved at the moment that his obsession with the mare led him to reign in a brief wave of triumph. There was still time to talk her out of it! His heart was swollen with pain so much that the faintest gleam of light at the end of the tunnel seemed like a miracle to him, and brought him back from the darkest corner in his depression. Grinning as well, his pale purple eyes were washed over with a gleam of happiness that made them look so much more lively and vibrant.
Without another thought he began racking his brain for reasons why she shouldn't go with Pipsqueak. He had to convince her:
"Great! Cause I was thinking, you know--"
"HE ASKED ME!" 
In one significant moment Rumble's hopes were shattered along with his heart.... again. "Oh...? And you said..."
"What do you think?! Of COURSE I said yes!" Dinky hugged him, squeezing him tightly. "Oh, Rumble! I'm soooo happy! I've finally got a colt to go to the dance with!" Her grip around him tightened as her level of happiness soared through the ranks. 
"Ach! Can't.... breathe," Rumble gasped, and used that as an excuse as to why there were tears struggling to break out of his eyes at the moment.
Dinky's squeeze tightened only for half a second more before she let go of him, and the breathless pegasus flopped onto the ground on his back.
"Ouch-- hey," Rumble almost snapped, hitting his head on the unforgiving hard earth beneath him as he was left with nothing to help him keep his balance. As he got to his hooves, which were trembling pathetically, Dinky clapped hers together.
"Rumble! Isn't this great? Someone actually likes me!" Dinky let out a squeal of joy as she let herself fall onto her back, grunting softly as she hit the ground, but she seemed to be so happy it didn't affect her too much. "There has literally never been any colts at this school who liked me! This is the first guy who's ever had a crush on me!"
"I'm sure that's not true," Rumble said gruffly and irritably, brushing the dirt off of him. The pain that was caused by falling on his back was nothing compared to the bitter pang of coldness and anger that was rushing through him at the moment. Annoyed considerably, the pony's heart was as cold as a glacier right then. "There had to be somepony other than Pipsqueak, don't you think?"
"Well, who else?" Dinky tilted her head in confusion. "Nope, I can't think of anyone else." She shrugged, and Rumble was once again irritated by obliviousness. Her dreamy expression on her face could tell that her heart was fluttering at that very moment, and quite possibly her mind, too, judging by the reddish tint to her face that rapidly grew as she dozed off into her own dreamland. "I... I'm so happy somepony actually likes me! Nopony ever has before!"
Suddenly a brave flame ignited in Rumble. If there was no future between the two of them, he should at least try to make a pathetic attempt to tell her how he felt.
"I like you," Rumble muttered, narrowing his eyes and glaring down at the ground when he was sure she wasn't looking, and he transferred to a neutral expression when her big yellow eyes pinned his.
"No, I meant in a romantic way," she explained, and Rumble face-hooved inside his mind. He simply gave a curt nod and pushed away his lunch bag, too disheartened to eat at the moment. How oblivious could one pony be when she was in love?!
That thought raced through his mind repeatedly and sparked a sensitive question that was difficult to ask when he was so hurt. "Do you... love him?"
Dinky's face instantly grew scarlet. "Oh-- Umm-- N-No! I mean, yes? I mean-- I don't know! H-He's a cool pony, okay?"
"I bet he loves you," Rumble gruffly stated in a matter-of-fact sort of tone, and Dinky was so flustered at the moment that she didn't notice the clear bitter tone of jealousy that ran through his voice.
"No," Dinky whispered, though obviously happy at the thought, judging by her obvious smile plastered across her face and her dilated pupils, which were scanning the ground in front of her. "He just... could like me. It doesn't mean he's in love with me."
"No, I've seen the way he looks at you," Rumble insisted, though to anypony who wasn't as cheery as Dinky at the moment his tone would have sounded envious, cold and a bit pitiful. "He's been... in love with you since the sixth grade..."
She didn't respond, but instead blushed and smiled, half to her self, oblivious to her best friend's passive aggressive tone and the fact that he was way beyond green with envy at that moment. Sometimes his friend's naiveness wasn't the best quality of hers. As much as he wanted to burst into tears, fly into a strange rage and scream at the top of his lungs, "DINKY, I LOVE YOU!" He was able to control himself, despite the fact that he was seething with anger at the moment, trying to contain it all inside the depths of his heart.
Still, he tried his best to pretend like it didn't bother him, and that he was happy for her, though his heart was about as black and stale as a slice of charred bread that had been left out for two weeks straight.
 "I'm glad you have somepony to go with."
"Hey, who are you going with, Rumble?"
"Nopony. I don't think I'm even going," Rumble muttered stiffly.
"Well you should," Dinky told him, smiling warmly as if she thought her good mood would rub off on him when he was in that depressed state. "I'd miss you if you weren't there."
Those words only made his heart ache. He wanted to say: No, you wouldn't. No, you'd be fine without me. You have Pipsqueak. But he still had some self control and simply told her he'd think about it over the weekend. 
That was when Dinky, who didn't seem all that oblivious anymore now that they had slowly begun talking about him rather than her, spoke. "You've been looking really sad lately. Is there any reason why?"
	
"No, I told you this morning," he coughed. But she was right. Ever since yesterday he had been... well, he had been a wreck. He hadn't been feeling like himself at all. His cheerful, happy nature dissipated into thin air and was replaced with a grouchy, bad attitude. He guessed he didn't realize how obsessed he had been with Dinky until she showed no interest in him.
Dinky opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes focused on something else behind him, which obviously made them light up light a sudden fire in a dark cave of shadows.
Rumble looked over his shoulder only to find the one pony who he did not want to see right then. 
A short white earth pony with brown patches in his fur was standing right before him, his chocolate eyes alit with love and happiness. He still looked bashful and rubbed the nape of his neck, ruffling the end of his sleek brown mane.
"Hi, Dinky," Pipsqueak muttered in that strange Trottingham accent of his. "Oh, h-hi Rumble."
"Hey, Pipsqueak," Rumble simply responded, not meeting his eyes for fear of Pipsqueak realizing the jealous glint in them.
"HI, Pip!" Dinky flung her arms around her apparent date, wrapping him in a warm embrace that he returned happily.
Rumble watched him out of pity and disgust. Pipsqueak didn't deserve her! Maybe it was just out of his deep longing to be with Dinky, but Rumble didn't like this new Pipsqueak character. He'd seen him around before. Always hanging around girls, who simply adored him cause of his accent and hair. Though he was supposedly in love with Dinky, Pipsqueak always flirted with all the other fillies in his class, with the exception of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a group of teens devoted to helping other teens get their cutie marks. Rumble didn't know anyone in their class who didn't have one yet, and the last he'd heard they just kept calling themselves that even after they got their cutie marks, but that was a story for another day.
"Pip, you know Rumble, right?" Dinky grinned warmly after Rumble, her eyes dancing between the two of them after she broke the hug.
Rumble nodded and stuck out his hoof to bump hooves (a common gesture of courtesy often distributed when meeting someone new here in Ponyville, or saying hello to someone when you don't really know them too well) with Pipsqueak, who refused the offer in a stuck-up sort of tone.
"Sorry, we don't usually bump hooves in Trottingham, you never know where others' hooves have been," Pipsqueak told him in an aloof fashion.
Keeping his annoyance to himself, Rumble simply nodded curtly and placed his rejected hoof back on the ground where it apparently belonged. Is he saying my hooves aren't clean? They are perfectly clean, thank you! He looked back at his hooves to further stress his thoughts to himself, and flinched when he realized they had mud all over them. Oh, great! Why didn't anyone tell me?! Now I look like a fool!
Embarrassed, Rumble tried to scrape some of the mud off his hooves but ended up collecting more in the process. Dinky tilted her head as the flustered colt dug at the ground, trying to shake off the dampened earth from his pale gray hooves, stained with a muddy shade of brown now.
"Is something wrong, Rumble?" Dinky asked, worry spreading through her content emotions.
"No," Rumble said sheepishly, giving a weak attempt at a smile. 
Dinky simply shrugged as Rumble kept trying to shake the mud off his hooves to no avail, and turned to Pipsqueak. "So, Pip? What's up? What did you need to talk to me about?"
"Oh, nothing, just wanted to say hi to the prettiest mare in Ponyville," Pipsqueak cooed, nuzzling her as if they had been dating for awhile.
Rumble rolled his eyes. Not in real life, of course, but he was thinking of doing it in his head.
"Aw, you're sweet," Dinky pecked the side of Pipsqueak's face sweetly.
"So, are you two a couple now or are you just going to the dance together?" Rumble asked, half out of curiosity, because at this point, he really couldn't tell himself.
Dinky and Pipsqueak stared back at each other, then back at Rumble, "I guess?" Dinky whispered, her face turning a deep red color.
"Yeah?" Pipsqueak looked away, though he was holding Dinky's hoof now.
The conversation was making him sick to his stomach. Not wanting to say anymore, the sound of the bell ringing would have been music to Rumble's ears if it hadn't been so loud and startling. 
"See you in art class," Dinky told Rumble, hugging him briefly before skipping off with her (apparent) new boyfriend.
Rumble could just barely notice the devilish look Pipsqueak shot him so subtly as they ran away together that he wasn't sure if it had been his imagination or not. 
Whatever, Rumble thought angrily to himself, not wanting to care anymore. She can have him. I don't care! Once again, he was lying to himself.

The next few days were slow and were growing increasingly painful to Rumble on the inside. Every time he saw Dinky and Pipsqueak together, laughing, talking, holding hooves, it turned on a cold element in his heart that secretly added to his depression. Thunderlane had picked up on the fact that Rumble was growing depressed, and tried to get him to talk, but he would simply say he was fine and that there was nothing to worry about.
"You've been acting like something has been bothering you lately," Thunderlane told him at breakfast, which Rumble had barely eaten for the past couple of days.
"How so?" Rumble asked, but wouldn't meet his brother's concerned golden gaze.
"You've just been acting... weird. Like, upset," Thunderlane responded, not sure how to put his thoughts to speech. "Did anything happen at school?"
	
"No."
"Are you lying to me? Is there something I should know about?" Out of the corner of his eye Rumble could faintly notice Thunderlane's stern look directed at him.
"I'll tell you about it later," Rumble simply said, a statement he had no intention of keeping anytime soon. Thunderlane sensed that, because he raised an eyebrow and asked if he had gotten into any trouble lately.
"No!" Rumble immediately shot back. He almost shouted, and said in a much calmer tone this time when he realized Thunderlane's shocked expression, "No. I would've told you."
"Then what is it that you aren't telling me now?" Thunderlane retorted.
"It's..." The younger pegasus stared down at the floor, not wanting to respond. "You wouldn't understand... I have to go to school." 
With that, Rumble nearly fell out of his seat in the process of scrambling out of the kitchen, leaving a dazed and confused Thunderlane at the kitchen table, and out the front door, snatching up his backpack as he did so. He yelled out a goodbye to his brother before slamming the door behind him.

The school dance was drawing near, and Rumble spent most of the art classes by himself in the corner of the room pretending to work on designs for the dance while all the other ponies gathered around in a great circle working together to incorporate everyones' ideas into one theme. He had felt so hurt that he didn't talk to Dinky as much as he used to, not that it mattered, because she spent a lot of her time with Pipsqueak anyway.
One foggy day at lunch when Rumble was heading to the school's library, which was where he had been eating lunch lately, by himself at a short table by the window where he could spy on Dinky and Pipsqueak if he was lucky, when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
The pegasus turned around to see who else but his best unicorn friend, her horn glowing with a magical golden-colored veil surrounding it. She was using her unicorn powers to levitate a stack of posters next to her, floating above her head. She was also levitating a roll of blue tape.
"Hey Rumble!" she greeted him warmly.
"Hey Dinky." Rumble glanced up at the posters, and he could read the top one, which was decorated and printed neatly. It read at the top in blue ink, School Dance in the Auditorium-- Friday, April 20, 6:00 p.m.-- 7:00 p.m. Don't Miss Out! "What's that you've got there?"
"These are the posters for the school dance I made with a few students from the art class. I was wondering if you could help me put them up around the school?"
"Why don't you ask Pipsqueak, he's more special to you," Rumble muttered under his breath so lowly that he barely heard him say it himself.
"What was that?"
"I said, 'I'd be glad to help!'" Rumble coughed, giving her a nervous smile as his eyes pinned on the floor, hoping desperately that she didn't happen to hear his first remark.
"Thanks. Come on, let's go put one up in the school hall!" Dinky suddenly bolted down the hallway, leaving Rumble to lag behind. He wasn't quite as fast as his energetic younger friend.
"W-Wait, Dinky!" Rumble panted when they finally neared the school's first hallway. "Slow down, please..." He breathed heavily and stopped to catch his breath.
Dinky heard his call and slowed down to a trot, glancing over her shoulder to see him dragging himself sluggishly towards her, several feet away now.
When he finally caught up, she levitate a poster and the roll of tape in front of him. "Here. Can you fly up and hang this one on this wall--" She gestured towards the wall closest to Rumble, "while I run down to the other end of the hall and hang up another?"
"Sure," Rumble told her after he had regained his energy. He watched as Dinky cut off several pieces of tape for herself, carrying the tape and her poster in the air with her magic as she burst down the hall, the sound of hooves on marble floors accompanying her. 
Rumble grabbed the poster she had set down on the floor for him to pick up in his mouth, as ponies often did, and gripped the roll of tape with a hoof on either side, holding the roll firmly between his hooves. He sometimes wished he had magic like Dinky, as it must have been easier to hold things without using your mouth or hooves, which weren't exactly the best tools to pick things up with.
Spreading his wings, he beat them a few times before he lifted himself off the ground and  soared quickly up to the center spot on the wall, now grabbing the tape in his mouth as he held the poster against the wall with his hoof.
He pulled against the tape with his teeth, yanking off an appropriate amount to hold the poster against the wall without it falling off, and spread it across the poster's northern point. He repeated these steps several times before the task of hanging up the poster was completed. It was a difficult task and was rather time consuming, but he had gotten the hang of it once he had taped the first side down.
Dinky had finished with her poster and still levitated three more above her head. Rumble flew down to meet her and carried the roll of tape in his mouth. Once he landed he felt the tape being pried from his grasp by Dinky's magic after he had offered it back to her. She smiled at him and pointed towards the glass door to the outside, "Let's go hang one or two up outside on the school walls so everypony will see them as they walk in."
Rumble muttered agreement and the pair of friends walked outside. While they were busy hanging up the last poster, a certain boyfriend of Dinky's came up to visit them.
"Pip!" Dinky threw her hooves around him, abandoning the poster, which only had one side to tape down left.
Pipsqueak hugged her back, and Rumble simply nodded at Pipsqueak in his nonchalant behavior when the earth pony eyed him.
"I was looking all over for you," Pipsqueak beamed, putting a hoof around her shoulder.
"We were just hanging up posters," Dinky mumbled.
"Really? Because I saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tearing down a poster in the school hall."
"What?!" Dinky was off in a second, leaving the two colts alone in an unspoken rivalry. Rumble felt this awkwardness and began to walk after her, but Pipsqueak put a hoof in front of him to stop him.
"I think she has it under control," Pipsqueak murmured, looking back at the feisty young mare speed off across the lawn, apparently beside herself with anger.
Rumble opened his mouth to respond but Pipsqueak continued, "Rumble, I wanted to have a word with you."
"Umm, okay?" Rumble glanced at Dinky, who was running into the school building, then back at Pipsqueak, then back at Dinky but he realized she was gone by the time he did go to look after her.
Pipsqueak's cheery demeanor vaporized in the invisible tension between the two. He narrowed his eyes and his seemingly-friendly, childlike face began to slowly but surely turn into a threatening face that fashioned a death glare. "I understand you and Dinky are very close friends. Correct?"
"Uh, yeah?" Rumble stared down at the much-shorter colt, raising an eyebrow as Pipsqueak stood up higher in an attempt to look as tall as him.
"Well, now Dinky and I are together. So you better not think about trying to steal her away from me!" Pipsqueak hissed, and if Rumble couldn't hear the words he was saying he just as well would think that Pipsqueak was threatening to kill him or something, judging by his facial expression.
"Uh, I-I'm not trying to--"
"I'm not going to let you sabotage our relationship just because you're jealous!"
"I'm not jealous!" Rumble lied, looking away as he could never meet ponies in the eye when he didn't tell the truth.
"You stay away from Dinky, do you hear me?" Pipsqueak's muzzle was inches away from Rumble's now.
"I-- Calm down! There's nothing going on between me and Dinky!"
"If I see you less than ten feet away from her I swear I'll tear your wings off."
Rumble rolled his eyes. "Ugh! Calm down! Stop being so overprotective! There is nothing happening between us! She's dating you!"
"And I'm going to go out of my way to see that that continues to happen!" Pipsqueak growled, his eyes two dark brown flames that were busy piercing their way into Rumble's soul. "If you try and talk to her I'll shred you!"
	Rumble suddenly felt not only upset and disgusted, but irritated. "Yeah, and how are you going to do that? I'm like ten times bigger than you."
Pipsqueak now seemed infuriated. "I may be small but I'm still faster, quicker, and a better fighter!" He stamped his hoof. "And anypony who tries to get in between my relationship with Dinky'll have to learn that the hard way! Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Rumble saluted him in a sarcastic, exaggerated way, annoyed but still slightly amused at Pipsqueak's sudden temper tantrum.
"This isn't a joke! Dinky is my girlfriend, and she'll never love you! So stay away from her and don't you dare even think about going anywhere near her again!" Pipsqueak jetted off, kicking up a cloud of dust in Rumble's eyes as well as switching his tail over Rumble's face in the process.
Coughing from all the dust, when it finally cleared, Rumble was left baffled.
	What the hay just happened...?