“Well?” Rumble folded his arms in front of his chest.
“Umm, what does it look like I’m here for?”
“It looks like you’re here for a story. If you’re lying about Diamond Tiara sending you to me-”
“No, I ain’t, honest. I don’t know…”
He let out a quick snort. “Then it looks to me like somepony else wants to hear what I have to say about what happened at tornado duty. Did your big sister want to know about Rainbow Dash’s mistakes, maybe?”
Apple Bloom flinched. “Oh. Right. My big sis and her do tend play a little rough with each other.”
“Rough enough to want to get dirt on each other?”
She sighed. “Honestly? They might. But I wouldn’t get in the middle of that. They ain’t enemies or nothin', they just like testing against each other. You know what that’s like, right? Wanting to measure up?”
“Yeah, I do. But if that’s not it, then why are you more interested in me than you are in the training?”
Apple Bloom looked away. “It’s hard to explain. I’m just looking to see what you know, honest.”
“To help Scootaloo? Or to help yourself?”
Apple Bloom looked up in surprise, huddled down to make herself small. “That obvious, huh?”
“You came out here to talk to me. So talk. Please? Are you here for your friend or for yourself?”
“I guess, if I’m totally honest… a little bit of both?”
He kept up his glare. “Go on.”
“It’s just that… me and my friends, we joke about stuff, you know? Including Scootaloo. And she laughs when we do, but… sometimes I get the feeling I’m crossin’ a line I shouldn’t. And I can’t tell when or why. I just wanted to try and find another pegasus pony who was like her, see if maybe there’s something I can keep track of.”
“What, so you need me to tell you when Scootaloo might get offended?”
“Something like that. I guess what I’m trying to say is: I don’t know where she’s coming from. When she talks, the way she moves, I don’t know how much of that is Scootaloo being Scootaloo and how much of that is Scootaloo just being a pegasus.”
“What about Sweetie Belle?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armour a couple of times, too. I think I got a pretty good grasp on what to expect from a unicorn. But for pegasi, the only ones I know personally are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. And I don’t know if you noticed it yet, but…”
“They’re both extremes, on opposite ends.”
“Yeah.”
“So why go through all this trouble? Why not ask Featherweight about it?”
“I’ve worked with Featherweight, for that old gossip column. He ain’t exactly standard issue, either, if that makes any sense.”
Much to her surprise, though, he put his arms back down and cracked a smile. A friendly, understanding smile, the likes of which she usually only saw on her family. “Oh, now I get it. That’s why you’re here: your friend can’t fly and there’s nothing you can do about it, and that’s tearing you up inside because you’ve joked about it and you don’t know if that was right. Only now that it might be a real problem, you can’t take the jokes back. You’re here because you feel guilty.”
Apple Bloom grimaced. “Don’t say that! That’s a horrible thing to say!”
“But it’s true, isn’t it? That’s why you’re here. To do something about it. Or at least try. Out of the three of you, you’re the only Earth pony. You’re the only one who can’t relate, the only one who hasn’t had that kind of scare.”
Now he getting downright offensive. “Listen, Mister-”
“No, you listen,” he interrupted. “You’re an Earth pony, and that’s different from pegasi and unicorns, and you know it. What you have is strength, and that’s not the same as magic or flight. The thing we worry about is something that never comes up for you.”
“It’s close enough,” she argued. “Earth pony strength is the same as pegasus flight or unicorn magic.”
“No, it’s not. There’s a difference, a big difference: Earth pony strength comes in sizes. You’ve got crazy strong ponies like your brother, and you’ve got weaker ones. But they’ve all got a little strength, at least. Flight isn’t like that, and neither is magic. You either have it or you don’t. There’s no grey area. Either you can fly, or you can’t. Flying a little isn’t flying at all. That’s why you’re here with me and not any other pegasus kid in town, because I’m the only one who has it. You don’t want to know if she’ll ever fly or how, you just want me to tell you that she’ll fly.”
Apple Bloom looked away and bit her lip.
“I’m sorry if that sounds harsh. I don’t mean that in a bad way, either. It’s good that you want to help out a friend like that, really. Wonderbolts don’t bail out on their friends. But you can’t expect to somehow magically make Scootaloo fly just by asking me. Even if there’s nothing wrong with her, it’s gonna have to be ponies who know their way around flight, who can teach her, properly.”
“You mean ponies like you?”
He grumbled and looked away. “I mean ponies like Rainbow Dash, ponies who are responsible for her. The ones who are already on it.”
“But what if Rainbow Dash is missing something?”
“Why would she miss anything? She’s Rainbow Dash.”
“And she’s only one pony, a pony who can make mistakes.”
“She’s a Wonderbolt. She wouldn’t.”
“She missed you, didn’t she?”
For the briefest moment, Apple Bloom could have sworn he sniffled. “She did not. She was just distracted.”
“Same thing.”
Rumble groaned. “What do you want from me, really?”
“I wanna understand. I wanna know what happened, so that when things get rough for my friend I know what I can and can’t say. And I wanna know what it was like for you. I want to help.”
“You really want to know what it’s like? To fly?”
“Yes," she said, backing up a smidge when she realised how dangerous it was to say that around him. "But don’t go chuckin’ me into the stratosphere, now.”
He chuckled softly. “No, I’d never do something like that. I’ll tell you, it’s easy to understand. Look out at the meadows, at Ponyville. Pretend for a second you want to do some sports. Where can you run?”
“Pretty much all over,” she replied.
“Even at the market? Through the narrow streets? With other ponies getting in the way?”
“Okay, not everywhere. On long stretches, then. Or on the tracks.”
“On the dirt roads? Where you can trip?”
Again, she had to concede the point. “Well, no. Just through the parks, then, and some of the forest tracks.”
“Good,” he replied. “Where can you swim in Ponyville?”
“Couple of watering holes, the pond near the watermill, next to Sweetie Belle’s place.”
“And where can you fly?”
The filly looked up. “Well… everywhere. Oh.”
“There’s your answer. That’s what it’s like. Flying is the only sport you can do everywhere, without any baggage. You don’t need a pool, you don’t need a scooter. And you don’t even need space other ponies might use. If you want to fly from the library to the mountains, you can, and no one will get in the way. It’s the only sport that no one or nothing can stop you from doing. It’s the only thing you never have to skip out on. Even when it’s raining, all you have to do is get above the clouds. You’re free when you can fly.”
“And all alone.”
Rumble nodded. “Uhuh. If you really want to know what it’s like, go zip-lining, or on a balloon ride.”
“I’ve gone ziplining,” she noted.
“Then pretend there’s no line.”
She gulped. “What?”
“It’s the same thing, but with no line. No whicker basket keeping you up, just your own wings, your own strength. Just you, the sky, and gravity. That’s it.”
“That sounds scary.”
That got another friendly smile out of him. “You get used to it.”
“And what about making the weather? When you’ve got that wind magic?”
“Then you get to be in the middle of it. I’ve seen unicorn magic, it’s nothing like pegasus magic. It’s more like Earth pony magic, when you help stuff grow. You do it with your hooves.” He pointed to those hard-working hooves, that had already bucked a few trees in their day. “Unicorns do it with their heads, from a distance. Pegasus ponies throw their whole bodies into it.”
“Is that how they made that jumbo tornado, then?”
“Yup.” He nodded. “That took a whole herd of us.”
“‘Us,' as in, you too.”
Again, he nodded. “If Scootaloo ever wants to do that sort of thing, you’re going to want to make sure she’s thinking straight. It’s a lot harder than it looks.”
Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Are you… can I ask, how that went for you, that day? I mean, what can I expect? What can Scootaloo expect, if she ever joins Rainbow Dash on the job?”
“Rumble, where’s your lazy brother?”
Lazy. After all that, Rainbow Dash still called Thunderlane lazy. “He’s in Ponyville Hospital. He’s got the feather flu.”
His heart sank when he said it. Thunderlane had been pushing himself since day one. Of course he’d kept going through a little cough, why wouldn’t he? He had to, or Rainbow Dash would have scolded him.
Just like she’d scolded Fluttershy for leaving, twice, instead of training with the rest of the pegasi. She had scolded Fluttershy for her laziness, right?
He turned to look at Spitfire, the Wonderbolt that would be inspecting the proceedings. It was an official record attempt, after all, so no back-up would arrive, not until after they officially gave up. And with eight ponies out, that was looking likely.
Nevertheless, like a true Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash flew up, donned her goggles, and gave a rousing speech to get everyone fired up. “Forget the record. Cloudsdale still needs water. Come on, everypony, let’s give it all we’ve got!”
Rumble donned his goggles. He fiddled with them at first, because they were too big for him. He couldn’t fly without them, though, his brother would kill him if he found out.
He looked up at Cloudsdale. Time to make his big brother proud. Time to show Spitfire what he was made of. At the sound of the horn, the herd was off. He zipped in between a pair of mares as the wind started to kick up.
He patted himself on the face to psych himself up. “Okay, Rumble, you can do this. Seven wingpower, eight max, it’ll have to be enough.”
The winds pushed and pulled every which way, a maelstrom of magic formed to tug at the waters below.
His body tensed like a board, his lungs burned. Cold hit him like a hammer, his ears rang as he tried to stay stable in the onslaught.
The winds roared and rampaged around him as he kept going in tight circles. He gave it his all. Everypony did. The howling intensified, the tremors going through his body wracked him so hard he thought the wind alone might break his bones.
A stallion was flung off course, forcing Rumble to duck. Above him, a mare went spiralling out of control. The winds weren’t stable. The sick ponies were over-twelves, ponies who were supposed to add power and consistency to the thing. Rainbow Dash would have to compensate.
He turned to check where their leader was. Rainbow Dash was hovering over the water instead of staying in the tornado’s circles.
And then, all too soon, the storm collapsed.
Rumble blinked, something pushed him from his right side, and next thing he knew he’d landed in a tree.
Something had knocked him on the head, possibly a tree branch, maybe another pony’s hoof.
His ears rang. He barely heard a mare’s voice calling out.
“No! One more time! I gotta know we gave it our all! If I’m going down, I’m going down flying!”
He saw the source of the voice fly up. The ringing subsided just enough to recognise Rainbow Dash.
“Come on, everypony! Let’s make this happen!”
He got up and flew back into the fray. He still had energy left to burn, and burn it he would. It didn’t matter if Thunderlane was sick. It didn’t matter if no one saw the grey little colt in the grey mass of wind. It didn’t even matter that on top of all the sick ponies, they had a slacker who, true to her name, had shied away from her duty and practice.
He flapped and buzzed and pushed and groaned. Faster and harder he went, adding every ounce of strength he could spare to the whirling winds around him.
“So, yeah, we all had to dig deep to make it work,” Rumble said with a nervous chuckle.
“Whoa. That sounds intense,” Apple Bloom said. “But, wait a second, where were your parents, then? Wouldn’t there be more pegasi flying?”
“My mom and dad don’t work in Ponyville. Lots of pegasi don’t. There’s scheduling problems, you know? If you don’t work in the town you live in, you don’t have to fly, that’s the rule. I just figured that’s why Scootaloo’s parents didn’t join in, either.”
“Huh, yeah, Scootaloo’s... ‘parents.' Funny you should mention that.”
“What?”
“What? Oh, sorry, what happened then?”
Rumble’s ears rang with the winds rushing past him. He couldn’t feel his wings anymore, or the frogs of his hooves.
He could feel the wetness, though.
The water was rising.
“Just a little… more…”
“And then the water hit critical wind level and it got shot up into Cloudsdale,” Rumble said.
Apple Bloom blinked, surprised. “Really? That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“But what about Spitfire? What did she say about it? About you?”
He looked down and idly kicked his hooves. “She gave me a little wing badge, said I was one tough kid. You know, the usual.”
Apple Bloom smiled. “Gosh. That must have been really neat. Finally got a Wonderbolt to notice you, huh?”
He blushed and turned his head away. “It’s just tornado duty. Everypony did really well, and… umm, actually, Fluttershy made more progress than I did. I found out later she showed up to the tornado, and she helped us reach the critical number. I didn’t do anything special. She did. Maybe you should ask her what she did.”
“No. No, I’m askin’ you. What did you do?”
“I already told you. I’ve told you everything I remember.”
Apple Bloom threw her arms up. “But none of that helps, consarnit! I still don’t know how I’m gonna tell Scootaloo that all she ought to do is trot and do wing presses. If it was that simple, it would have been fixed by now. Why can’t you tell me what I need to know?”
“Because you’re not listening to me. Rainbow Dash helped train everypony, including Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash knows what she’s doing, you just have to trust her. She’s a Wonderbolt, even if she’s only a reserve. Wonderbolts know better, simple as that. If things are going rough for Scootaloo, it’s because they’re supposed to be rough. She’ll get off the ground soon enough, you’ll see.”
With a resigned sigh, Apple Bloom calmed down. “Okay, if you say so.”
“I do. The rain’s stopped.”
Apple Bloom looked out at the drenched landscape. It smelled nice, she had to admit. Still, the residual chill was something she didn’t care for. “Back to practice?”
“Umm, yeah, maybe. Sorry I couldn’t be much help.”
She smiled. “That’s okay. Not your fault.”
“Look, I can tell you how to do an interval training, how to stretch, how to hold the wings when you do a dive, but none of that matters if you can’t get off the ground in the first place. So, what can you tell me? Look at me, you’ve seen me flying and hovering. Is there anything off about Scootaloo you think might matter?” He took off and hovered there, flapping his wings at a slow and leisurely pace.
Apple Bloom thought long and hard. “No. She looks like a normal pegasus, her wings are as big as yours, or Featherweight’s. Just the way she moves them is different: faster flaps. Does that make a difference?”
Rumble landed and shook his head. “It shouldn’t. Flapping like that isn’t that uncommon. It’s different, but it works. Once the magic kicks in, you should be airborne. There’s another pegasus girl in town called Zippoorwhill, she flies like that, too.”
“But are ya sure there’s nothing you missed? No exercises she might try, no special stretches? No secret hoofshakes, any good luck rituals? Nothing your big brother does with you that Rainbow might be forgetting with her? It might be something small.”
Rumble shook his head again. “No, there’s nothing. Nothing Rainbow Dash wouldn’t know. It just takes time, honest. Some ponies fly earlier than others.”
“That ain’t helping, Rumble. What do I have to do to get you to talk? There’s gotta be somethin’?”
Rumble bit his lip. “There is one thing. Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash are both on the Weather Patrol, they’re both Wonderbolt reserves, they can take a break together. I can ask Thunderlane if next time, we can practise on the same court as Rainbow and Scootaloo. If they’re up for it, of course.”
Her ears folded back in surprise. “Umm, okay, thanks. Would that help, though?”
“You’re the one asking for second opinions. Why wouldn’t Scootaloo ask me?”
“I wouldn’t let her. You gotta understand, of the three of us, she’s the toughest one. Toughest little pony in town. Well, toughest filly, if what you said is all true.”
“I don’t lie about what I can do. Wonderbolts don’t make claims they can’t back up.”
With that squeaky, girly voice, it sounded so off. But she had to admit, he sounded sincere enough. “Then you’re made of even sturdier stuff than she is, I reckon. I didn’t want her to have to ask, is all. I’ve seen how she looks when being tough doesn’t cut it. It ain’t pretty. She always acts like the tough one for us, so I, umm...”
He smiled. “You just wanted to be there for her like she is for you.”
“Yeah. Especially after everything that’s happened. So, umm… is that it, then? What do I tell Scootaloo?”
“Tell her the truth. The only special practice I did to get faster was basic training, same as the grownups, same thing Rainbow Dash knows.”
She nodded. “You never told me how you got started, either. With the hovering. You’re sure you can’t tell me anything about how it starts?”
Rumble shrugged. “Not much to tell, no. One minute I’m in bed, next I’m hovering over the ground. That’s all there is to say. It was in kindergarten, I was too little to remember.” He raised a hoof to his chin, thinking. “Actually, now that I think about it…”
“Yeah?” The girl’s ears perked.
“There is one more thing. About Scootaloo getting offended?”
“Oh. What?” Down those ears went.
“If you’re really worried you’ve said the wrong thing, watch where she keeps her head.”
“Huh?”
“When you can fly, your size doesn’t matter as much. When you’re talking to somepony taller than you, you can just fly up to their eye level. When I started hovering in kindergarten, the teachers told me not to do that in class, because it’s disruptive. Thing is, half the time, I didn’t realise I was doing it. It took me a while, but I figured out why: they don’t want one kid who can look down at the teacher. Eye level is a lot more important for us than it is for Earth ponies and unicorns. If Scootaloo’s keeping her head down, make sure you keep yours lower when you talk to her. Pegasus ponies feel better when they’re looking down. It’s an instinct thing, I think.”
She perked up at that. “Oh. Oh, that’s good to know. Thanks, Rumble, I gotta remember that.”
“No problem.” He smiled brightly.
“But, while we are on the subject of lookin’ up or down at somepony, are you absolutely sure you’re okay with me and my friends? And with Diamond Tiara? If you’ve got any grief against us, we can talk it out. I don’t want any bad blood between us, and if Featherweight’s wrong about you hating girls, you should say something.”
He rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I’m fine, Apple Bloom. I don’t need to fix gossip with more gossip, and I don’t have any bad blood. I just… I wanted to win, and I didn’t. You did, and you should be as proud of it as I would have been. Not like I don’t get any support from my family, or my foalsitters.”
“Still ain’t the same as gettin’ support from somepony who ain’t obliged to give it.”
“No. It’s not. But it’s still support.”
“Look, if we’d known you were competing for flagbearer, we would’ve asked you, honest. We didn’t mean to steal your thunder.”
Rumble shrugged it away. “I didn’t have any thunder to steal. You girls won, fair and square, nothing to say about that. Wouldn’t wanna be a sore loser.”
“Except if you have a good reason to be sore. Rainbow Dash did kinda play favourites with us, if you think about it.”
“It doesn’t matter. You girls deserved to be flagbearers more than I did. Your act was better because it showed off all the different kinds of ponies in Ponyville: an Earth pony filly, a unicorn filly, and a pegasus filly. I was just one pegasus, and solo acts weren’t allowed. Nothing else to it. That’s just what happens when you compete. You win some, you lose some. Sure, getting beaten stinks, but you gotta wash that stink off. And speaking of which, I think I’ll head home, actually, maybe take a warm bath. It’s a little damp here, still.”
“Okay. See you around, Rumble. And, umm, thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s all in a day’s work for a Wonderbolt.”
Rumble slipped in and out of consciousness. His throat was dry, his head pounded. He wiggled his hooves, one by one, just to make sure they were all still attached.
One, two, three, four, five. Wait, five? Oh, yeah, tail. Perfect. What happened?
He rolled to stand up, but found himself falling flat on his belly again. Clumsily taking his goggles off, he looked up to see the greatest city in the clouds: Cloudsdale. The weather factories were pumping out clouds again.
He’d done it. Eight wingpower, maybe even nine or ten. Fastest foal in the Ponyville skies.
His vision went white with pain when he tried to flex his wings. Something shot down through his right wing’s muscles and stabbed him in the chest, making sure to wrench around his ribcage, too.
“Haaa…” His mouth hung open, leaving him gasping for air. That wing was not going to fold in again, no sirree. That was one limb that had to stay very, very still right now. He didn’t like how the other one was feeling, either.
No matter. He’d done it. He’d lived up to his brother’s reputation, made his mother and father proud, like a proper Wonderbolt stallion. Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t call him a girl now. Spitfire would no doubt commend him for his effort. If the ringing in his ears would just die down, he was sure he’d be hearing his fellow flyers applaud him for his efforts.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!”
Or it could be something else: ponies singing the praise of a mare who’d skipped out on practice, who’d cried over nothing, and only showed up late.
There he was, battered and bruised, with his brother in the hospital. No one so much as saw him. He ran a hoof through his mane. Wet, he must have gotten hit by a stray waterspout. Either that, or he’d gotten flung away when the other ponies slowed and disbanded, his wings and stabilisers too weak to stop his momentum. Thunderlane had warned him about that. He didn’t have the same weight to throw around as the others, after all.
Whatever it was, he’d gotten sloppy, and that had cost him. “Wait,” he rasped.
They left him. They played music, they sang, and they left him.
They practically danced away from him.
Looking down, he took stock of himself. Couple of bruises, a bump on the head, wings would be useless for a couple of days, and he was pretty sure his tail used to be longer.
Which just left one option for the little ace: a long walk to Ponyville hospital.
He took one step, then collapsed. “Ow…”
A flash of light interrupted his train of thought and misery.
Is that… a camera?
“You look like you have an interesting story to tell.”
Rumble chuckled mirthlessly. “Hey, Namby Pamby. Can I hitch a ride to the hospital, please? I think I overdid it a little bit.”
Apple Bloom found her friends just as they were coming out of Featherweight’s office. They did not look happy. “Err, girls?”
“Did you talk to Rumble?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Eeyup. Cleared everything up, no bad blood between us or nothin’. Turns out he ain’t so bad.”
“Did he tell you about the tornado thing?”
“Sure did. I got lots of tips for ya, Scootaloo. What’s wrong?”
“You might wanna have a look at this.” Featherweight gave her the last piece from Namby Pamby. It had Rumble’s picture on it, but he looked asleep, or dead.
Apple Bloom quickly scanned the text, then gasped. “What the… they left him? He told me Spitfire gave him a wingbadge. Why wouldn’t he tell me about that? Why wouldn’t anypony else know? How did we miss this?”
“Namby Pamby never published this one,” Featherweight explained. “That was up to the new editor-in-chief.”
“Diamond Tiara. Of course, she held it back.”
“Why would she do that?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“He told me she’d never go against him. Spoiled Rich really likes him, Diamond was probably tryin’ to keep her mom happy by keeping his image intact.”
“Really? Diamond Tiara’s mother actually likes somepony in our class?” Scootaloo asked.
“I know, I was as surprised as you.”
Rumble dropped the doll in the hamper, before trudging over to the bathroom. A warm bath, that’s what he needed.
Just something to soak in and forget his worries. Maybe some rest on his bed afterwards.
Although, thinking about it, his bedroom was really bare, now that he’d taken down all of his Wonderbolts posters. Not like he could stand to keep looking at them.
As he turned the water on and stepped into the bath, he let his head hang and tried to will the water to wash out the thought that had gotten stuck in his head.
I’ll never be like you, will I?
He closed his eyes and tried to breathe. He’d done the right thing, hadn’t he? He’d told Apple Bloom everything. At least, everything she wanted, one little white lie wouldn’t hurt. He hadn’t lost his temper, not really. A few snaps here and there, but nothing too serious. A Wonderbolt has to be firm when they need to be, after all.
Do I even want to be?
A dull throb in his head roused him from his ponderings. He took the shower head down and put it in the tub, preparing to soak for a while and warm up. She hadn’t stopped his practice all that much; he’d already done his routine five times by the time she’d shown up. He only practised in the rain when he felt down in the dumps, anyway. Not like it mattered now.
Why even try?
He wouldn’t cry. It wasn’t right for him to cry. The girls had earned their win. Fluttershy had deserved her praise.
He hadn’t. He still hadn’t. His flank was still blank. He still had nothing to show for it all.
Because that’s the Wonderbolt thing to do?
He took a bottle of soap and put some on his hooves. It was a present from the Rich family, a fancy musk scent that came from up in the northern provinces. It made him smell like a deer buck. It was a token of the Rich family’s appreciation for chaperoning their daughter to a high-society event in Canterlot, one of many.
At least those ponies appreciated a future Wonderbolt.
His nose curled as he soaped up his wings.
Those ponies appreciated him, for now.
Wonderbolts don’t quit. Wonderbolts don’t bail out.
He sighed and laid back, letting the soap work into his feathers.
Wonderbolts lead by example.
Apple Bloom got to the end of the article. “Gosh, he did all that, for nothing? Now I really feel bad for not helping him out. No wonder he lied about it, gettin’ upstaged like that. I can’t imagine how much that hurt, bein’ grounded on top of it.”
“Speaking of being grounded, did he mention anything else, besides trotting and stuff?” Scootaloo asked with a nervous smile.
“Umm, yeah. He said it just takes time, and that it’s not something to worry about. You just get out of bed hovering one day, I guess.”
Scootaloo scrunched her nose. “Oh. Kind of like you, Featherweight?”
The colt chuckled nervously, carefully avoiding eye contact with the girls. “Err, yeah, really, that’s, umm, that’s how it is for pegasi. It just happens one day. That’s all. Nothing special. ”
Apple Bloom nodded. “But there’s more. He said you could ask Rainbow Dash to agree on a date sometime, and him and Thunderlane could go flying at the same court. Maybe if Rainbow Dash is missing something, Thunderlane would catch it.”
“Wow, that’s really nice, letting you borrow his brother,” Sweetie Belle said, having had some experience in the matter of borrowing siblings.
“And Thunderlane is a Wonderbolts recruit, too,” Featherweight said.
“You could tag along, too, if you like,” Scootaloo said. “I’m sure Rainbow Dash wouldn’t mind another flying student.”
The boy smiled and winced. “Thanks, but I don’t think I should. I’m not really into flying for stunts or races. I’ll just wait for Flight Camp, get up to speed there.”
“Suit yourself. Thanks for the help, Featherweight.”
“Any time. See you around.”
“See you around!” the girls called out as he trotted off.
“Say, girls, another thing. About Rumble,” Apple Bloom started.
“He got a pretty rough deal at the tornado, huh?” Sweetie Belle said.
“Yeah. Really rough. He did all that and nopony even noticed.”
“They were just distracted,” Scootaloo said. “Rainbow Dash didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Maybe not, but… after something like that, you’d think that’d be enough to earn a cutie mark, though, right? At the very least?”
“Right. Except Rumble’s still a blank flank,” Scootaloo said.
“Think we should help fix that?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Apple Bloom smiled. “I don’t see why not. He’s not a bad guy, he just got a little roughed up. We do kinda owe him a little for the flagbearer thing. And that sort of help is what we do now.”
“Then it’s settled,” Scootaloo declared. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders will be getting Rumble his cutie mark. I’m sure he’ll thank us for the help.”
The End.