Rumble was anxious all throughout the day. Fortunately, it was Wednesday, so he only had half a day’s worth of class.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders noticed something was up, though, and so did Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They couldn’t get him to talk about it during recess, or at least get more information out of him other than ‘It’s a surprise’, but when Stella walked into class at the sound of the final bell around lunchtime, they knew whatever was happening, it would be big.
“Okay, class, Rumble and Stella have something to announce,” Cheerilee said as Rumble walked up to join Stella at the front of the class.
Rumble cleared his throat. “Umm, well, err, first of all I wanted to say again that I’m sorry I wasn’t always as friendly as I should have been. It’s just that with me and my brother being so close to rousettes, we kinda ended up following their rules, and, well, it got a little tricky.”
Stella nodded. “Rumble was just trying to do what was right by rousette standards and pony standards, even if those two don’t mix very well.”
Smiles lit up the class, except for where Scootaloo was sitting. She was almost rigid with nerves.
“Anyway, what I wanted to say is-” Rumble started.
“What we wanted to say is-” Stella continued.
Rumble took a deep breath. “We’re getting wedlocked this Friday night.”
A deathly silence descended on the classroom. The pupils all froze, and the pupils’ pupils narrowed to dots from sheer shock.
“And I would like to invite you all to the ceremony,” Stella announced.
Cheerilee was the first to snap out of it. “Wait, you two are getting married?”
Rumble idly kicked the ground. “Umm, sorta, but not really. It’s not like a pony marriage.”
Stella nodded. “No, it’s completely different. We just have to swear undying loyalty to each other and have our souls be bound by the rites of the bat ancestors. It is completely different from a pony marriage.”
Cheerilee’s left eye twitched. “Are you sure it’s not a marriage, Rumble?”
Rumble smiled at his teacher. “Sure, I’m sure. Marrying kids is against the law, and this isn’t against the law, so it can’t be a marriage. This just, umm, makes you more acceptable to rousettes, which I wanna be.”
Stella nodded. “And most of the time, whomever you wedlock is whom you marry when you’re grown up, so the two rites are separate. Related, but separate.”
Cheerilee shook her head to try and make sense of it all. It did not work. “But you’re ten!”
Rumble rolled his eyes, embarrassed. “I know, I know, I should have done it three years ago, but something kept coming up. And now that we’re together, we wanna be wedlocked just like other rousette children.”
Stella smiled up at the mare. “I assure you it’s perfectly normal for a rousette to do this. In fact, our kind has been doing this for several centuries, and every rousette in Ponyville has either done it or is going to. ‘Tis tradition.”
While she wasn’t always the most proactive when it came to correcting her students’ behaviour, Cheerilee couldn’t see how child marriages were okay, nor how this was, in fact, not a child marriage. “What do your parents have to say about that?”
Stella didn’t break eye contact. “I lost my parents to the plague, Miss Cheerilee. But I know that they would want me to be wedlocked. It’s a rite of passage for rousettes, a sign that they are ready to take on adult commitments. As for Rumble’s parents-”
“They’re out of town,” Rumble interrupted. “You know, for Royal Guard business.”
Cheerilee glared at the boy. “They’ve been doing that an awful lot lately, Rumble. Are they okay with this?”
Rumble nodded. “Uhuh. Thunderlane’s okay with it, too; he did the same thing when he was little. It’s just a ceremony where we make vows to each other, it’s not like we’re getting married for real.”
“Goodness no, darling, that’d be outrageous. You’d have to get a job,” Stella remarked.
“Me? You’d have to get a job, too, you know.”
Stella chuckled. “Obviously, but I’m of noble descent; I’m already going to be an ambassador like dear Nox. You, on the other hoof, would have to start looking for a job.”
Cheerilee wondered if her jaw could go any slacker without dropping to the ground. It seemed to hold for the time being, but this conversation wasn’t exactly helping.
“Well, then, will you come?” Stella asked the class.
The class was still flabbergasted. Diamond Tiara, ever in the lead, spoke up. “Why would you want us there? Isn’t it a big ceremony for you two?”
“Yes, it is. It’s one of the most important ceremonies in a rousette’s life, in fact,” Stella replied. “And I would like to have my friends there. You are the only friends I’ve managed to make here in Ponyville, so… your answer?” She winced ever so slightly, that aristocratic façade finally showing cracks.
“I’d love to!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed. “I’ve never been to a rousette party before. Are there going to be princes and princesses there?”
Rumble shrugged. “I think Lord Nox is gonna be the highest ranked noble there, and Stella’s technically a Lady, so she already counts. But there’ll be lots of Night Guards, probably, and some of those are knights and dukes. Does that sound okay?”
“Sounds perfect. Count me in.”
“Me too,” Silver Spoon agreed.
“Me three.” Lance raised his hoof.
“And four.” Featherweight chimed in. “Assuming the groom’s allowed to bring his friends, too?”
Rumble didn’t answer that painful question, but Stella happily took it off his chest. “Of course you may show. Can’t have my little angel be lonely on his big day, can I?” She pulled him closer with a wing, eliciting a bright blush.
Meanwhile, most of the class had raised their hooves. Only the Cutie Mark Crusaders hadn’t joined in.
Rumble looked at Apple Bloom with a concerned on his face. “Apple Bloom?”
The girl grimaced. “I don’t know, Rumble. It sounds like it’s kind of forced, for no good reason. Do ya have to wedlock Stella for some reason?”
Rumble and Stella exchanged a glance, pondering. “Umm, sort of. I like her, and that’s a good enough reason for wedlock. It’s either that or not be around rousettes at all.”
Stella nodded in agreement. “Try to understand, Apple Bloom, that in our culture a rousette isn’t deemed pure of heart if they cannot share their affections with another. A wedlock ceremony is a purifying rite, and a protecting one. It’s a mark of adulthood, like cutie marks, except unlike cutie marks we get a choice in the matter.”
That remark stung, but Apple Bloom had to admit it was a fair point, somehow. “It still feels kinda wrong, sorry.”
“Look, it’s okay, Apple Bloom, really. This is what rousettes do, and I’m doing it with one of them. It’s tradition,” Rumble said.
That got the filly’s attention. “Tradition, huh? It’s tradition for you to exchange vows when you’re that young? Then I suppose it’d be rude for a pony not to respect your traditions, right? I mean, rousettes respect pony traditions, too, don’t they?”
“Exactly,” Stella answered. “Just think of it as a cultural exchange. I promise it’s not as bad or as strange as it sounds. You don’t have to show up if you don’t want to, of course.”
Apple Bloom thought it over for a moment. The seed of a plan had formed, and was beginning to take root. “Where and when is it, exactly?”
“Canterlot Hall, the day after tomorrow, seven at night sharp,” Stella answered.
A murmur went through the class, and no objections were voiced. By train, it was a fairly close event, after all.
“Okay, I’ll show. Are we supposed to bring any gifts?” Apple Bloom asked.
“No, Apple Bloom.” Rumble rolled his eyes. “That’s only for a real wedding. What about you, Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie Belle had her arms down. She let off a grunt. “I had my hoof up the whole time, you just weren’t watching! Of course I’ll show up!”
Rumble chuckled. That just left one pony. “Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo shook her head dejectedly. “I can’t make it.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle winced. They both knew Scootaloo liked Rumble a lot, but they hadn’t quite thought that she’d be romantically interested in him, certainly not enough to care he’d be doing a mock wedding to someone else. Scootaloo and romance just didn’t blend.
Diamond Tiara frowned. “What? How can you not make it? It’s a rousette ceremony, why’d you wanna miss that?”
Scootaloo kept her eyes planted firmly on her desk and shrugged. “I don’t want to miss it. I just can’t show up.”
“Listen, blank flank, I don’t know what your problem is, but-”
“Diamond,” Cheerilee interrupted. “That’s enough.”
Scootaloo was tense. Her hooves were shaking, and her wings quivered. She looked like she was about to cry.
Diamond huffed. “Sorry, Miss Cheerilee. I just don’t get what the big deal is.”
“It’s my wings, okay?” Scootaloo blurted out.
And there it was, the thundercloud that had been hanging over the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“There’s something wrong with my wings again and I have to go to Trottingham Hospital to get it checked out. I have to be there at five Friday night, and I have to stay there all weekend so the doctors can, I don’t know, watch me or something. So I can’t make it to the wedlock or whatever.”
Apple Bloom felt something catch in her throat. She was about to say something, but Silver Spoon beat her to punch. “Wow, that sucks.”
“Yeah,” Diamond agreed. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“Well, I didn’t tell you. No biggie.”
Diamond still pouted. “Hey, I could tell my butler to videotape it for you, so it’d be like you were there. You wouldn’t have to miss anything.”
Scootaloo forced out a smile. “Thanks. Sorry to be a downer, you two.” She turned her head towards Rumble and Stella.
Stella, for her part, gave the girl a sympathetic smile. “That’s quite alright, darling. I hope everything turns out well for you. And we can visit you afterwards, can’t we?”
Rumble nodded. “Sure we could.”
That forced smile of Scootaloo’s relaxed just a tad. “That’s okay, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”
Sweet Apple Acres farm was, as always, a quiet, calm place. How could it not be, when it was managed by a family of level-headed, calm, and above all, understanding ponies?
“They’re doin’ WHAT?!” Applejack shouted loud enough for the cupboards in the kitchen to rattle.
“Wedlock. That’s what they called it,” Apple Bloom replied. She’d given her sister the message right after getting home, of course. She didn’t mention her own thoughts on the matter, but the Apple family seemed to be in agreement on the whole thing: this was not okay.
“Oh, for pity’s sake. First Scootaloo turns into a changeling, then there’s a whole buncha bat ponies hidin’ in town, and now Rumble’s gettin’ hitched to one? I’m startin’ to think Ponyville just ain’t a good place to raise a child anymore.”
Granny Smith finished her pumpkin soup, always the last in the family to finish her meals. “Well, it ain’t goin’ to the flyin’ dogs just yet, but havin’ youngins say their vows already just ain’t right. Doesn’t matter if it’s a pony or a bat or whatever they like to call themselves.”
Big Mac nodded in kind, cleaning out his dish with a piece of bread. “Eeyup.” He munched it down, thinking, as he always did. “Ain’t the pony thing to do, that’s for sure.”
A whistle sounded in the kitchen. Quite appropriately, the tea kettle’s noise mimicked what was going through Applejack’s mind.
Apple Bloom winced. “I know. It’s so weird. I mean, Rumble’s just a boy in my class, but it still feels like we should do somethin’ about it. Do you think maybe we oughtta protest with the mayor?”
Applejack sighed and took a deep breath to calm herself down. No sense getting into any silly shenanigans over nothing, after all, certainly not when she’d already made friends with Rin. Nectarine’s talks with her, combined with this new information, made her rethink her stance. “No, Apple Bloom. We have our ways, bat po-rousettes have theirs, that’s just how it is right now. We gotta respect their traditions, same as they respect ours. If they’ve been doin’ this with their own kids for this long, and if a pair of pony parents would let’em do this with two sons, it can’t be as bad as it sounds. What did Rumble say, exactly? What’s this ceremony for?”
Apple Bloom shrugged. “I think they said it was somethin’ about adulthood, that a boy and girl being tied to one another made them adults, and it’s purifyin’ and protectin’, or something like that. But he did say it wasn’t a marriage. The ones who wedlock just end up married eventually, I guess.”
Applejack pondered. “That’s still awful close to marrying kids. And Rumble’s parents are fine with this? They know?”
“The way I heard it, they’re out of town again, but they know. And apparently, Thunderlane did the same thing, when he was only seven. Can you believe that?”
The facts fell into place. Of course Thunderlane had done it already; he was Rin’s lifemate, that’s what that word meant. Whatever connection the two had formed, Rumble wanted the same with Stella. Rumble was doing the same thing his big brother had: trying to get closer to rousette society by living by their rules. She had to admit, it was a noble endeavour, and part of her was impressed at the colt’s dedication, not only to his girl of choice but to his supposed mission.
But still, being tied by a vow was a decision a child simply couldn’t make. It was almost as bad as children being indoctrinated to say a pledge of allegiance.
Granny Smith went to get the kettle off the stove while Big Macintosh grumbled to himself.
Apple Bloom looked up. “So what do we do?”
Applejack sighed. “I don’t know. If they’ve been hidin’ just to stop us from objecting to something worth objecting to… well, I think we have a right to object to that.”
“Too right,” Granny Smith agreed. “No good bat ponies, never even so much as said howdy for as long as Ponyville’s been around.”
While no one at the table would admit it, Granny Smith hit the nail on the head on that sentiment. If the rousettes had been a part of Ponyville for as long as they had, they’d have had to go through some extreme measures to hide from the Apple family. The town had started with Granny Smith’s family, every family that came afterwards knew the Apples to some degree. And yet these ponies, or bats, had avoided them, shunned them.
It was hard not to feel offended by that, just a little bit.
“So do I have to tell Rumble I’m not gonna show, then?” Apple Bloom asked.
It then dawned on Applejack that the problem itself made no sense: if rousettes wanted to hide from ponies, why invite ponies to a ceremony at all? Some of them, evidently, did want to mingle with ponies, even at the risk of exposing some questionable rites.
The mare shook her head. “No, no, that wouldn’t be right either. Even if it’s not okay, we’ll show up, dressed nicely, and we act civil. We’ll just watch what Rumble and that Stella gal do, and if anything happens to be goin’ on that we don’t agree with, then we let them know nicely. No bickerin’, no threatenin’, no raisin’ your voice just ‘coz you don’t see eye to eye. That means you, Big Mac.”
Big Mac nodded without a word.
“That’s settled, then. We just show up, like good neighbours, and we won’t make any fuss that ain’t worth makin’. But if’n there is a fuss worth makin’, we’ll fuss about it all we like,” Granny Smith said.
Applejack sighed. “Let’s hope it’s not as bad as it sounds, then.”
Nectarine sighed along with the mayor. “Maybe I should have stayed in Tuber Lane.”
“Nonsense, Rin. It’s a lovely day out in Ponyville, and besides, we do need to talk.”
“Here you go, Missus Mayor, Miss Nectarine. One scone plate and tea. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you, Missus Cake,” Rin smiled at the mare.
Rainbow Dash came flying by, before landing and entering Sugarcube Corner. “All the rain clouds are set up, just in case. So, we good to go?”
Leading Lady nodded. “All set. Take a seat, Rainbow Dash, have a scone.”
Rainbow Dash sat next to Rin, opposite the mayor. “Okay, so what’s the plan? Are we gonna change the schedule?”
The mayor got out a book, before nabbing a teacake. She nodded, once she’d swallowed a bite. “I think things have gotten a bit out of hoof with how the jobs are distributed around here, don’t you agree?”
Nectarine shrugged. “Can’t say I’ve noticed.”
“Come on, Rin, it’s just us. You don’t have to put up a brave face for us ponies,” the mayor remarked.
That was true enough. The rousettes under her command counted on her to be strong at all times, but here, it didn’t matter quite as much. She didn’t have any authority to lose here. “Okay, here’s how it is: we’ve let the Weather Patrol take over some of our daytime duties. But in exchange, we’ve been doing nightly Weather Patrol runs on top of the regular security detail and the magical creature patrol.”
“So your guys only get quick or stealthy runs in the day and then a ton to do at night, while my flyers have to do a Guard’s job they’re not really qualified for,” Rainbow Dash concluded.
“Exactly. I get why we do things like this, mind you, we did all vote on it. It’s a fine system as far as I’m concerned,” Rin lied.
“But it has contributed to rousettes lacking public exposure, and our Night Guard patrol isn’t as accessible as it could be,” Leading Lady concluded.
“This is Ponyville. You don’t really need us around here; there’s hardly any trouble to speak of. And unless I’m mistaken, what little trouble you do get, the citizens usually deal with on their own.” Rin nodded to the Element of Harmony next to her.
Neither of the two ponies got the hint. Rainbow Dash just shrugged. “Maybe, but there’s still a big difference between the Weather Patrol and the Night Guard, and if you wanna get ponies to listen to you, you need to let them know what your job is. That goes for my patrols and yours. We’re supposed to deal with natural disasters, not monsters. Monsters are your department, you’re trained for that. And you have to admit, we have gotten one or two monsters in town that the Weather Patrol couldn’t deal with.”
Rin nodded. “Sure, I’ll grant you that much. The parasprites…”
“The Ursa Minor,” Rainbow Dash added with groan. “That one couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
“Poor Spike,” Missus Mayor finished. “The Wonderbolts did their best, but he could have hurt them. They could have hurt him. Honestly, I’d feel a lot better knowing we have at least a few rousettes we can count on during the day, if only to neutralise a threat without harming it. It didn’t take a lot of ponies to deal with those monsters the way they did, but if we want to make it safer, would it take many rousettes, then?”
“I suppose not. But I don’t think any rousette would be happy to patrol during the day, especially around ponies, no offense.”
“None taken,” Rainbow replied. “But you could, I don’t know, maybe do a rotation, once every two hours? You’ve got a lot of Night Guards to shuffle around.”
Rin nodded. “If that’s what’s required of us, such a system would work. It doesn’t take us long to get reinforcements, anyway, and you only need one to get the crowds away in an emergency.”
“Exactly,” Rainbow agreed. “It wouldn’t hurt if ponies knew Ponyville’s a rousette town, too.”
Rin took a sip of tea. “No. But we still like to keep to ourselves, you understand that, right?”
“You are also natural guardians,” Leading Lady remarked. “And you can hardly guard something that you avoid, now can you?”
Nectarine chuckled. “That’s a very clever remark, Leading, and very, ah, political, if you don’t mind me saying so. Mind if I use that line sometime?”
“If it can make some of your colleagues feel better, be my guest.”
“Okay. What about the civilians, then?” Rin asked.
“You protect them,” Rainbow Dash said. “That’s your job.”
“No, it is supposed to be my job, but certain, shall we say, elements in this community take it upon themselves to do it for me, without informing me, but still saddling me and my kind with the paperwork.”
The two mares went quiet at that.
Rin sat back, a fake mask of confusion on her face. “You didn’t know? I’m sure there are some files in City Hall on the matter, a few complaint letters from my flight, as well. Of course, I know things are very busy here in Ponyville, but still, do I need to go over the list?”
Rainbow and the mayor exchanged a glance, the sort of glance two lemmings would share when they realise they both took the same wrong turn at the cliffside.
“When our Sovereign of the Moon returned, what were we supposed to do? We knew her from our legends, we respected her. What did we get? Orders not to enter the Everfree Forest, to let ponies handle it, in case of, if memory serves, ‘conflicting allegiances’. All these years we’ve served without complaint, and the greatest joy in our generation, the return of our patron, we’re branded a security risk.”
“Now, that was out of my hooves, Rin. That came from a royal decree.”
“Oh? Okay, I’ll concede to that. What about everything that’s happened afterwards? Fluttershy found a Parasprite and spread its offspring over Ponyville, did anyone think to call us? No, not even the ponies who know we live here. When Discord returned, what were we to do? We’ve dealt with monsters like him, we know how to stop that. What did we get? Nothing but the message that Twilight Sparkle and her friends would solve it. And Spike, that poor little boy. There were mothers crying in sympathy over what happened to him, what ponies almost did to him. We know how to take a dragon alive, the Wonderbolts would have cut his throat trying. So why do ponies call them, all the way up in Cloudsdale, even when they know we can handle it?”
To that, Rainbow Dash shrugged. “They don’t know you’re here, maybe?”
“You know I’m here, both of you, and so does the whole Weather Patrol. Every time something happens that we are supposed to deal with, every single time we’ve moved out, there’s been an Element of Harmony already there, interfering with official business. Now, I can take that kind of action from you, Rainbow Dash; you’re qualified for most of it, and you do have your friends to look after. You, no one in Tuber Lane has a problem with. But everypony else? Honestly, what else was going to happen?”
Silence fell between the three.
Rin sighed. “I mean, are you really surprised? All we have ever heard since Princess Luna returned is ‘Let Twilight Sparkle handle it’. So we have, and the messes that came from it all are the result. If you are seriously suggesting we step up our activities, that’s going to mean the Elements stepping down from theirs.”
“Come now, don’t make excuses, Rin, it’s not becoming of you. You know as well as I do that rousettes have been isolating themselves for far longer than Twilight’s been here.”
“Yes, but we still did our jobs. We were still able to do our jobs without interference, with some amount of personal pride. The Ponyville Night Guard had a reputation, operating this close to the Everfree, but every time the Elements of Harmony take matters into their own hooves, it’s our names that are tarnished. Read the complaint letters again sometime, Missus Mayor. The reason the Night Guard lets the Weather Patrol take over their duties is because we are being phased out. Any time there is a threat to Ponyville, ponies scatter and panic, and no one thinks to call for help from the ones who know how to deal with it. Now, I’m willing to take responsibility for what’s happened to our duties, but the fault doesn’t lie on one end alone. So, if we are changing the schedules, Rainbow Dash, can I count on you and your Patrol to start following protocol in times of emergencies?”
Rainbow Dash gulped. “Err, yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I’ll tell the rest of my flight.”
“Thank you. I’ll see what I can do to improve our public ima-” Rin froze. Her eyes became fixed on the ceiling. Rainbow Dash and the mayor quickly turned to look at what had the rousette so startled, but it didn’t make sense to either of them.
It was just Pound Cake walking on the ceiling again. Pinkie Pie went up after him with plungers attached to her hooves and got him back to his crib in the private quarters of the bakery.
Rin did her best to hide her anxiety, but she couldn’t stop the tips of her wings from shaking. She took another long sip of tea, hoping the warmth would soothe her nerves.
The mayor was about to ask what was wrong, when a distraction most fortuitously stopped her.
Whatever possessed Fluttershy to try and talk to the three, Rin would never know. But Fluttershy struck her as a calm, understanding mare, and most of all: a mare who appreciated the virtues of keeping a low profile. So Rin was more than happy to give Fluttershy all her attention and not deal with the fright Pound Cake had given her.
“Umm, excuse me? I’m sorry to bother you, but, umm, I heard there was something going on with Rumble and a rousette ceremony, and I thought you should know there was a little bit of trouble on town square.”
Nectarine breathed a sigh of relief, then pretended to groan. “So ponies are rioting now?”
Fluttershy winced. “Umm… sort of, I think.”