//------------------------------// // Day 10: Fort for Two // Story: Ponyville the Town of Youth // by Ironskull //------------------------------// "Hello Rumble." Rumble looked up to see that Dinky was speaking to him. "Hi." "What are you doing out here, sitting in the snow?" asked Dinky. "Aren't you cold?" "Not really cold," answered Rumble. "Kind of tired, actually." "Ah," said Dinky knowingly. The foals had spent the night sleeping at the Quills and Sofas building, as the Fort still made one's eyes water just by being near it. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had taken the liberty of waking everypony with a duet performed over the loud speaker. It was something that she was sure Rainbow Dash would only ever do as a joke. It was also a performance she would never forget. "So," said Rumble. "The others are planning the next scheme, or something?" "I guess so," said Dinky. "I wish they would just stop though. I have nopony to play with now." Rumble could tell that she left the last statement hanging in the air on purpose. "What you want to do?" he asked half heartedly. "I don't know. You want to go exploring?" "Nah. I would spend the whole time just brooding," said Rumble. "Oh. Um... Do you want to try a game of chess with me? Twilight taught me how to play, but I haven't had a chance to have a real game with anypony that I actually have a hope of beating without them letting me." Dinky smiled at Rumble, hoping that the joke would at least cause him to smile, but it did not. "I guess I could do that," said Rumble. "At least it will take my mind of things." "Take your mind off of what things?" asked Dinky. "Nothin' " responded Rumble. "Don't worry 'bout it." "If you say so," said Dinky. "Um... actually, Twilight's chess set is back in the Fort right now. Do you... want to go get it?" Rumble sighed. "May as well." "Huh," said Dinky. "You know, the smell in here isn't so bad today." "Yeah," agreed Rumble. "We could actually stay here, if we wanted." "Or we could take it someplace where there isn't a smell at all?" suggested Rumble. "Well, nowhere else is as cool as this place," said Dinky. "And we could have it all to ourselves. All of this space." "So?" "We could pretend that it's a castle," suggested Dinky. "And that I'm a princess." Rumble snorted. "Right. And I'm Shining Armor." "We could pretend we live together," said Dinky. "I'm out," said Rumble, who immediately flew for the door. "Hey!" cried Dinky. "Wait! I was just kidding around! Why are you so mopey?" "I told you, it's nothing." He hesitated for a moment. "I'm not playing castle with you." "Well, you did agree to play chess." "Let's grab it then." "Are you okay with playing right here?" "Sure, I guess." "So," said Dinky as she moved her piece. "You have a brother?" "Yeah," said Rumble as he watched her make her move. "He doesn't live in Ponyville though. And even if he did, he would be too old to be here." "Do you get along with him?" asked Dinky. Rumble snorted. "Sometimes." "Do you wish that he was here?" asked Dinky. Rumble didn't answer right away. He picked up a knight and made a move. Then, he said, "If my brother was here, he would definitely be helping the others pull off their pranks." Neither pony said anything for a moment. "Don't you find it silly that the knights are the only pieces that look anything at all like a pony?" said Rumble. "I said the same thing to Twilight," said Dinky in surprise as she made her move. More silence. "Don't you miss him? Your brother?" "Not really." Do you miss your parents?" "Perhaps." "I miss my mom." "Check." "What?" "My knight is threatening your king," said Rumble. "Check." "What was that" said Rumble in annoyance. "It's en passant," said Dinky uncertainly. "You can't even move to that space!" "It's a special move that Twilight showed me," explained Dinky. "That let's you capture my piece without moving onto it?" asked Rumble disbelievingly. "Yes?" "That's totally unfair!" "Well," said Dinky, "if you don't want to play with that rule, I can take that move back and we can ignore it." "Yeah," said Rumble. "Let's do that. I'm definitely going to ask Twilight about that, later." "I should have known that you would win, even without your fancy moves," said Rumble. He thumped his king over. "Anypony trained to play this game by Twilight has to win." "You got close," protested Dinky. "I guess so. Anyway, good game." "Good game," said Dinky. "So, what now?" "I don't know. No, wait. Actually, I'm hungry." "I think there's some ingredients for some daffodil sandwiches around here somewhere," said Dinky. "Ugh!" cried Applebloom's voice. "Let's not stay here long!" "No kidding!" cried Scootaloo. A moment later, the Cutie Mark Crusaders entered into the fort. "Oh, there you two are," said Apple Bloom. "Good grief, how can you two stand it in here?" "I don't know," said Rumble with a shrug. "We've just gotten used to it, I guess?" "What are you two playing?" "Just a game called Desert Treasure," said Rumble with a shrug. "What's that?" "Daring Do and her crew get stranded in the desert and their only hope of escape is to assemble the magical flying machine that they came to the desert to find in the first place," explained Rumble. "But if you're not quick, you'll get burried under the sand." "It looks... complicated," said Sweetie Belle. "It is," said Dinky. "But we're figuring it out." "Huh," said Scootaloo. "I didn't know that there were Daring Do board games." "They are not as popular as the books," answered Rumble. "Maybe I can convince Rainbow Dash to play. Later. We have things to do right now. Are you sure you two don't want to help us try to kidnap Pinkie?" asked Scootaloo. "Kidnap Pinkie?" cried Rumble and Dinky in unison. "Well, not really kidnap," said Scootaloo. "We just want to see if we can catch her and keep her from escaping. Just for fun." "That doesn't sound very fun," said Dinky. "Well, Pinkie thinks it's great," said Scootaloo. "We've already failed three times. We came in here to see if there's anything here that might help. Speaking of which, we need to hurry up with that. It smells awful in here." A few minutes later, Rumble and Dinky's game was interrupted again. "So," said Sweetie Belle. "You two have been in here all day?" "Yeah..." answered Rumble. "...Alone?" Rumble's face turned red. "Hey, Dinky's the only one who wants do something that's actually fun," he shot back. "If you say so," said Sweetie Belle with a grin. "Come on, Sweetie," said Apple Bloom. "Let's go!" Rumble and Dinky watched as the Crusaders ran off with several roles of tape and a bundle of rope. "They'll never catch her," muttered Rumble. "Never," agreed Dinky. "Dinky..." began Rumble. "I do miss my brother. And my parents." "It's okay," said Dinky. "I miss mine too." "... Do you want to go home?"