//------------------------------// // Coming to Terms // Story: My Big Batty Not-Wedding // by Wise Cracker //------------------------------// Nectarine felt a shiver go down her back. But then she remembered this mare was known for exaggerating the negative side of things on occasion. “What do you mean, ponies are ‘sort of’ rioting?” “Oh, everyone was talking about it in the park. Lily, Rose, and Daisy were so upset.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yep, they would be.” “And, um, if you don’t mind me saying so, I’m a little upset about this, too. Are you in charge of the rousettes at Tuber Lane?” “Nectarine is the Captain of the Night Guard here, yes,” the mayor replied. “She’s quite the authority.” Nectarine smiled as politely as she could muster. “Technically, Lord Nox is higher in rank than I am, though.” “But he hasn’t lived here as long as you have,” the mayor remarked. “Point taken. Yes, you could say I’m in charge of them. What’s the problem?” Fluttershy looked away. “Um, it’s nothing, really, it’s just that… Rumble’s such a nice little boy, and he’s so quiet. I’d hate to think he’s getting in over his head. Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?” Rainbow Dash nodded. “He’s sure, Fluttershy. I know him, and so does Rin.” “Yes, we’ve both foalsat him. He’s not being forced into anything.” Even as she said it, she felt a pang in her chest. Technically, Rumble wasn’t under duress, but if he didn’t go through with the wedlock, he’d be considered a shame on his family. He really didn’t have a choice, but Rin wasn’t about to admit that in front of ponies. “Oh, well, um, if you’re sure. You might want to tell that to the other ponies in Ponyville, if, you know, you think that’s best. We don’t really see much of your kind around here, so we don’t know what to expect. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course.” Nectarine nodded. “I know. We were just discussing that, actually.” “Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt you, then. I’ll just leave you alone.” Fluttershy turned to leave. “Fluttershy, wait,” Nectarine called out. “Just so we’re clear: if you ever spot any more dangerous creatures, or if you should find the Everfree becoming louder, just head over to Tuber Lane. There’s always a Night Guard on duty, even if you don’t see them. They’ll show if you call out.” “Umm, I thought Rainbow Dash was the one I was supposed to tell?” “We’re switching things up a bit.” Rainbow pulled Rin closer with a wing, as if to advertise the newfound friendship between Weather Patrol and Night Guard, even though they’d been cooperating for years. “Oh, okay. Bye, Nectarine!” “Bye, Fluttershy.” Rin clenched her teeth. Just being around ponies made her uneasy. They were herd animals, the lot of them, prone to xenophobic panic at the drop of a hat, especially a striped or bat-winged hat. And yet, they were nice, and they lived together in harmony, mostly. As much as rousettes liked to remind themselves and each other that their neighbours were crazy, even casual observation would tell anyone that ponies, despite their faults, were not monsters. The fear was a fear of the unknown, nothing more. Her thoughts wandered back to Pound Cake. Part of her wanted to get up and ask the Cakes how they managed as Earth pony parents to a pegasus child. Rousettes didn’t go airborne until they were three, at least, which was just fine considering the trouble they might get into if they could fly that early. If pegasus babies had that mobility, without the maturity to stay away from danger, and considering neither of the Cakes nor their apparent foalsitter could fly, their knowledge on the topic must have been immense. If Rin ever had a pegasus child, she’d be lost. She’d have to resort to pony sources to check. She wouldn’t have minded a word with the Cakes right then and there. She held herself back, though. It just wasn’t the rousette way to ask. The mood in the library was split right along the middle: on the bottom floor, ponies were panicking and rummaging through any works on rousettes and rousette culture they could find. In the top room, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had their post-lunch post-homework meeting. Scootaloo didn’t talk. Apple Bloom opened the meeting and immediately made the changeling the topic. “Okay, Scootaloo, what’s really goin’ on here?” The filly shrugged. “Nothing you need to worry about, honest. I’m fine.” Sweetie Belle cringed. “You don’t look fine, and you sure sounded like you weren’t fine. Are your wings really getting worse?” Reluctantly, Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah. I’m losing my pegasus magic, and my regular shape’s not holding up so well, either.” Apple Bloom gulped. “So are you gonna drop your disguise, then?” “It’s not like that. I’m fine, really. It’s just like Rarity said: my pegasus magic’s run out, and now I have to do everything with changeling magic. I think it works, but it’s, well, different.” “What did Rumble have to say about it?” The girl shrugged. “He said I just need to practise some more, race as Truck again. Can’t even take credit for winning if I do.” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom could almost hear Scootaloo’s heart breaking. They didn’t blame her, either, considering Rumble had only opened up to anypony mere days ago. Apple Boom tried to see the bright side of it, though. “It’s okay, Scootaloo. Once Rumble gets hitched, you can hang out with him and Stella. That’ll be fun, right?” “I guess. I still need to get the hang of being a boy, though.” Sweetie Belle grimaced. “Yeah, and you need to make sure Stella doesn’t find out you’re a youknowwhat, too.” Even that prospect didn’t get a response other than a shrug. “I don’t think it’d matter much.” Apple Bloom squinted. Something was off about Scootaloo, and it wasn’t the dip in energy. She couldn’t put her hoof on what it was, though. “I still don’t get it,” Sweetie Belle said. “Rumble’s always been kind of a loner when his brother wasn’t around, and if he talked at  he only ever talked to other boys, but he was like that since kindergarten, I remember that. Isn’t kindergarten a little early to start living like a rousette?” “His brother started it,” Scootaloo lied. “Thunderlane hung out with a lot of rousettes when he was little, Rainbow Dash told me. To them, Thunderlane is one of theirs. And now Rumble’s gonna be one, too. That’s what he told me.” “Maybe you should ask Chitter next time you do that self-defense class.” “They stopped teaching Defense Against Changelings, Sweetie Belle. Now it’s all sumo wrestling, and I don’t wanna make myself fat enough for that.” Sweetie Belle pondered it. “Apple Bloom? What are you thinking?” “It doesn’t make any sense. They’ve been livin’ right under our noses. They’re a part of Ponyville, always have been, and we never knew. What did ponies do to them that they’d be that skittish about even today?” “Sorry I’m late, girls, but things are a little bit hectic right now with Rumble’s announcement.” Twilight said as she entered, Spike in tow. “I heard that,” Spike added. “That’s five times I had to tell somepony rousettes aren’t vampires. You’d think when ponies go to a library for research they’d check if their book says it’s fiction or not!” Twilight nodded in sympathy and sat down. “That’s just mass hysteria for you. And to answer your question, Apple Bloom, you may have heard that they were cursed.” Apple Bloom nodded. “I did hear that. Ponies cursed them, didn’t they? Over somethin’ silly, vanity and greed and whatnot?” “How do you know?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom made a mental note of the question, as well as the fact that Scootaloo apparently knew more of the finer details. “Applejack was here once or twice to read up on our bat-winged neighbours. I didn’t get the details, though. Was it really that bad?” ”From what I read, yes. Because of the vanity of unicorns, Earth ponies, and pegasi, a lot of rousettes died. That’s the story, at least. They say that shortly after the first Blue Moon Bloom, the rousettes started falling ill. Some lost their mane, their tail, even their wings started getting eaten away.” Scootaloo looked around and lowered her voice to a whisper. “You mean like the kind of stuff changelings are immune to?” Twilight shook her head. “I doubt it. Whatever disease or curse the rousettes got, it apparently killed them quite quickly, and, if I read it correctly, quite gruesomely.” Sweetie Belle winced. “Exactly how gruesome are we talking here?” “Let me put it this way: if they made a movie out of it, you wouldn’t be allowed to see it even with a responsible adult there.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “Okay, that part kind of makes a little sense, even if it is a little long to hold a grudge about that. But I still don’t understand why they’d have to get married, or wedlocked, whatever they call it. They can’t seriously think boys and girls can’t be together if they ain’t hitched to somepony already. Where did they come up with that stuff?” “Apple Bloom, it’s good that you’re concerned for a classmate, especially if it’s a boy you don’t even know that well, but rousette history separated from pony history after the curse. When the pony tribes united, we shared our friendship and banished the Windigos’ power. We stood together, the rousettes stood alone. And yet today, apparently, Equestria’s main defense against creatures like Windigos is the Night Guard, who are all rousettes. How do you think rousettes survived that blizzard that nearly destroyed the old tribes? How do you think they protected their children, when they were still weakened?” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “By makin’ sure every family was connected somehow. Of course. But that doesn’t explain why they keep boys and girls apart like that.” Twilight smiled in approval. “Probably to enforce a discipline so the bond actually works as protection. Or maybe it has something to do with their class system, who knows? Now, I know this is hard to accept, but Rumble is doing a good thing here. He’s going to be one of the few ponies who is accepted into rousette society. I hear he’s already introduced you to Stella. Do you like her, at least?” Apple Bloom’s ears perked again. Something was off here, but she couldn’t put a hoof on what. “She is kinda nice, and Diamond Tiara’s nice around her, too. It wouldn’t be that bad if Stella was around Ponyville more,” Apple Bloom said. “Or Chitter,” Sweetie Belle offered. “She already lives in Ponyville, even if we haven’t ever seen her around. You think maybe she’d want to switch schools?” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Okay, then, let’s not forget why we’re here. Scootaloo, if you please?” Scootaloo rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, before changing back into her dark-skinned and dagger-horned form. Apple Bloom squinted as her friend started blowing out balls of energy and swallowing them again. Is it just me, or is that horn bigger than it’s supposed to be? Rin groaned in relief as she stretched her legs out. Ponies passed her by without noticing her, thanks to some of her innate stealth magic, but Rainbow Dash still knew she was there. They took off, both headed in the same general direction. “You’re not still mad, are you, Rin?” “Mad? No. No, I suppose it’s true: the Night Guard’s been muddling the mixtures with their duties, and we can’t just rely on the the Weather Patrol to do all the more public things. At least a few rousettes should be less skittish about working with ponies. And if they’re not, they ought to learn. We shouldn’t have let it get as far as it has.” “I’m sorry, you know, for stepping out of line. I’ll try not to anymore, and I’ll make sure ponies around here stop asking Twilight to do everything for them.” Rin sighed in relief. “That would help a lot, thank you. It’s not your fault, either, Rainbow; you’ve got too many loyalties to juggle around. Honestly, I don’t know how you stay sane.” “It helps to kick back and just fly around a bit every now and then.” “I’ll have to try that sometime, then. And I’ll try to get some presence in town, see if the communities can come a little closer together.“ “So does this mean you and Thunderlane are gonna, you know…” Rainbow Dash smirked. “No, I don’t know. Me and Thunderlane are going to what?” “Make it official that you’re together? I mean, you’ve been wedlocked since you were seven, for crying out loud, and you just said rousettes should be a little more public. Don’t you think Thunderlane’s deserved a little reward by now?” Rainbow did a spin around the rousette to burn off some of her excitement. “I appreciate the sentiment, and your loyalty towards my mate, as a friend. But really, I don’t think he needs to be treated differently from any other rousette. He’s kept it a secret, too. The mayor knows, you know, Applejack knows, the Night Guard knows. Who else needs to be told?” “Oh, I don’t know. There’s Cloud Chaser, and Flitter, and Blossomforth.” “What?” “Oh, and then there’s Rose, and Daisy, and Lily.” Rainbow Dash started counting on her wings, just using her magic to stay aloft. “I don’t follow.” “Oh, and then there was Rarity. Ooh, and don’t forget Fluttershy! That was just painful to watch. Cute, but painful.” She winced. “Rainbow Dash, what are you saying?” “I’m saying that Thunderlane might be a rousette to you, but to pretty much every pony in Ponyville, he’s still a pony. And single.” “So?” Rainbow Dash chuckled and flew closer, even bumping her hip against Nectarine’s. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Rin, but Thunderlane’s pretty good-looking. He always has been. Trust me, he had a lot of girls to choose from back in Flight School, and he’s got a lot in Ponyville, too.” “I see. And, err, do you know if he ever, ah, after we were wedlocked, I mean.” Rainbow shook her head. “Did he ever date anypony? No, not ever. Actually, when he was in grade school, before he met you, he had to get checked by a doctor because he didn’t talk. Did he never tell you about that?” “A doctor? Goodness, no. What happened?” “They thought he was a… what did they call it? Selected mule? Celery hoot?” “Selective mute?” “Yeah, that’s the one. That he couldn’t talk around ponies who weren’t in his family.” Rin winced. “It was that bad?” “Oh yeah. Teachers thought he was being beaten or something. They thought he was sick because he slept in the day, too, and he didn’t wanna tell anypony it was because he was used to batnaps. He didn’t tell me until we were in Flight School. And then, you know, I kinda started covering for him. I still do.” “Like how you covered for Rumble by introducing him to a girl he was supposed to stay away from?” “That was different, and that’s not my point. My point is: Thunderlane’s done a lot to keep this whole thing a secret, and if you’re gonna be more out in the open, sooner or later ponies are going to see you two together.” Nectarine stopped in mid-air. “Was Thunderlane really that popular?” Rainbow stopped right alongside her. “Uhuh. He was pretty cute when he was little. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Rumble is one cute kid himself.” Rin chuckled. “I did notice that, yes. I’m surprised he made so many friends so quickly, though. I thought he was always alone, like Thunderlane was?” “He was, as far as I know. But that didn’t stop him from doing what he liked. Turns out a lot of girls wanted to know what that was. Only now they can’t really have a crush on him.” “Not now that he’s spoken for, no.” Rainbow nodded. “Exactly. Can you imagine how hard it must be to have to tell that many girls he can’t hang out them, without telling them why?” “Are you talking about Thunderlane now, or Rumble?” Rainbow Dash answered with a sigh. “Look, I know it’s not any of my business, but Thunderlane’s my friend, even if I don’t agree with him all the time, and Rumble looks up to me. Rumble’s managed to lie his way out of it now, he’s out in the open about the fact he can’t be with other girls, and he’s not even old enough to like girls, not like like them. But Thunderlane’s an adult stallion, and there are adult mares who are interested in him. As far as most ponies know, Thunderlane is just single, and weird. If you want to keep it that way, that’s your call, but if you ask me, it’s pretty unfair that you bats get to call dibs on a boy when he’s seven without letting the rest of us even get to know him.” Rin mulled over that a bit. Rainbow Dash took a turn down, towards the library, presumably to calm the ponies there. Rin flew on, towards home. Someone down there had some affection due. Thunderlane barely had time to say ‘Hi’ before Rin pounced and pinned him down on the couch. She planted a kiss firmly on his lips, and licked his nose as she came up. The stallion blushed as red as a tomato. “Umm, not that I’m complaining or anything, but what was that for?” “I just had a talk with Rainbow Dash about you, and I thought you deserved a little something special.” “Wait, what?!” Thunderlane squirmed under the Night Guard who was not only his lifemate, but also capable of hitting at least five pressure points in quick succession, two of which could make him vomit. “I swear, we were just friends.” “I know, angel, I know.” She leaned in and nuzzled his forehead. “She told me about all the mares you’ve had to turn down.” “Eheh, well, that’s just Ponyville for you. Not a lot of guys on the Weather Patrol.” “Doesn’t make a difference. I’ve been hogging you all to myself for years, and none of the other girls in town knew. That’s hardly fair, is it?” “It’s the rousette way,” Thunderlane replied. “Yes, it is our way. But ponies don’t live by our ways. And you had to live like a rousette among ponies while you were little.” “Oh, come on. You’re acting like you didn’t know. You knew I went to pony school, you knew I only hung out with other rousettes, you knew-” “Shut up and take my cuddles.” She draped her whole body, wings and all, over his and squeezed, rubbing her face against his neck. Thunderlane sighed. “Well, if you insist.” “I’m going to go to the market tomorrow, you know.” “You already told me.” “And now I’m telling you again. I’ve made up my mind, and I’ve decided I’m going to work on our image, make some contacts with the ponies in town. And if anypony asks, I’m your lifemate, and future wife. Assuming you want me to be.” Thunderlane hugged her back, though the confusion still ran through his head. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? Is this about Rumble?” “Yes, actually it is. Rumble’s done a very brave thing, something no rousette in Ponyville has done before him: he’s admitted he’s in love with a rousette to ponies, and he’s told every girl who might have a silly crush on him that he’s spoken for. He’s made it clear that he is with Stella, even though that meant he had live by rules his friends didn’t. He’s gone public, to ponies, and he’s only ten. I think it’s about high time I did the same with you, Mister. I want everypony in town to know that until further notice, you are mine and I’m happy with that.” “Won’t that cause any trouble? I mean, think about your job. You know how ponies can get around rousettes, or anything that’s not a pony.” “If any rousette wants to question me, let them. I may not be knighted and nighted like your parents, but I’m a Captain in the bordertown of the Everfree, that counts for something. My boss is a pony, the highest authority who can judge me is a pony, and besides, have you been around Lord Nox lately? He’s barking mad, and a loudmouth, yet no one questions him. I think I’ve worked hard enough to deserve the right to consort with whomever I choose, in public. And so have you. Who’s going to fire me? There’s not a pony in town that would dare. If they’re not scared of me, they’re scared of what I help keep out.” Thunderlane reached up and kissed her on the lips. “Can’t argue with that, I guess. So you really are sure you’d want to marry me some day?” “Some day soon, I hope.” “What about, you know…” The playful cuddle turned into a vicegrip. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore, angel, and neither will I. No child of mine is going to be pressured, or shunned, just because of how they were born. Can’t have another little heartbroken heartbreaker running around here, can we?” Thunderlane would never admit it, and Nectarine would never bring it up, but there was a shine in Thunderlane’s right eye then. He’d say it was just dust, she’d insist it was an allergy. But in reality, a tear went down Thunderlane’s cheek as he lay there with the love of his life, just locked in an embrace, enjoying each other’s warmth.