//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Brotherhood // Story: [C] Big Rumble // by scribe-feather //------------------------------// Big Rumble By Scribe Feather Chapter One: Brotherhood ✶✶1✶✶ High above the valley town of Ponyville fluffy clouds drifted through the sky, giving the blue expanse a special kind of stillness. The pegasus Thunderlane rested on top of a cloud in the middle of this white layer of puffy clouds. His cloud slowly drifted through the sky as the dark gray stallion lazily napped. The weather pony’s morning had already been filled to the brim with a full schedule. He figured after all the work he had been doing, he earned himself a nap. And what better place to spend it then on top of a plush cloud. In his post-work laziness, it could have been very possible that he’d sleep the rest of the day like that in no pony intervene.. "Thunderlane!" a voice called out causing the snoozing stallion to jump, nearly falling off his pillowy cloud in a fit of panic. "Ah! What?!" the started pony said as he jumped to his feet, eyes hastily darting around. His eyes scanned the area, quickly spotting his little brother Rumble standing before him. The blueish gray colt’s eyes bulged out for a moment as his older brother flailed about. "What is it?" "You said you’d help me with my flight homework." Thunderlane sighed, relieved that it wasn't some kind of emergency. "Is that it?" the pony breathed rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "I’ll get to it later, alright? I’m busy." “Thunderlane, you’ve spent all day napping!” “Yeah, well I’ve had a busy morning. I’m tired.” “But you promised!” The older pony didn’t bother with a response. He simply fell right back to sleep again. Rumble huffed, realizing waking his brother up again would only just lead to them arguing again. Instead, he gave up and glided back down to the ground. Landing on solid ground, the frustrated colt was left to fume about his lazy brother. A slow walk home gave him plenty of time to dwell on the encounter. Before setting off on his journey, he adjusted the leather straps of his school saddlebags. Once he was sure the heavy text books in the bags were secure, Rumble set off down the winding, dirt path. Like many siblings, Rumble and Thunderlane didn’t always get along. The age gap and conflict of personalities always seemed to make their arguments abrasive whenever they had the misfortune of having one. Thunderlane never seemed to want to play with Rumble, much too busy working or napping or trying to woo a mare with an aerial trick. It seemed that the two ponies’ interests grew farther apart from each other with each passing year. It didn’t seem to always be like that, not as far as Rumble could remember. He could remember things being different a few years back, back before Thunderlane’s interest in mares became one of his strongest priority. Rumble, in his young mind, couldn’t see what the big deal was and struggled to understand his brother’s laziness and lack of motivation. If HE was the big brother things would have been completely different. He wouldn’t be as moody as Thunderlane. Down a ways on the dirt path Rumble suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His ears perked up as he heard distant voices chattering. He noted the voices were quickly getting closer as he could pick out three distinct voices. Acting on instinct, Rumble dove for the bushes and hid. The green leaves rustled for a moment as he darted for the hiding spot, not daring to say a word as the hoofsteps got closer. Three fillies emerged from the other side of the hill, slowly walking alongside each other as they chatted away. “It was just a book, Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle could be heard saying as the three came closer to Rumble’s hiding spot. “It’s no big deal.” "It's jus’ that Twilight took it away b’fore we could even look at it!" Applebloom answered. "Oh come on, Applebloom, what were we supposed to do with a book about hypnosis anyway?" Scootaloo replied. "I don't know,” Applebloom replied, “but if we wanna get our cutie marks we gotta look into everything." “Well we can forget that book,“ Sweetie Belle added, “Twilight was pretty firm on keeping us away from it.” “A minor set back,” Scootaloo confidently said with a gesture of her hoof, “who wants a book reading cutie mark anyway! Didn’t Big Mac say something about hauling some furniture?” “Yeah, it’s a small favor he’s doin’ fer Rarity,” “Well then that’s our next stop! Come on!” Scootaloo dashed out, shortly followed by Applebloom. Sweetie Belle trailed behind just a tiny bit, caught off guard by her friends’ sudden mad dash. “W-wait up!” Sweetie Belle called as her hoofsteps faded into the distance as well. Rumble stayed in his hiding spot long after the three fillies were gone. He listened as their voices faded into the distance. Once he was sure the coast was clear he poked his head out of his hiding spot. “Hypnosis?” the colt mumbled to himself in thought. He idly tapped his hoof on his chin as the single word started conjuring up possibilities. Already his mind stirred up ideas that could possibly solve his problems.