//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 "Unexpected" // Story: "When's the Wedding?" And Other Rumbaloo Tales // by Candy-Sweets_12 //------------------------------// Scootaloo turned away, eager to turn around and keep from being seen. Rumble of course, was quick to realize, and turned towards her. And she couldn't help but find the look of concern on her face to be comforting. "Come on, we should probably get going." Rumble said. Scootaloo nodded, and quickly turned around, trotting in pace with Rumble. 'Please, don't let him see us." Scootaloo begged quietly. "Please, for the love of Celestia let that be somepony else." But despite her best wishes, from afar, the stallion looked down. Noticing the familiar pony, he smirked and flew down, landing in an over the top matter before the pair. Taking Rumble and Scootaloo back a bit. "Well, it's a small world after all." the stallion said, training his green eyes on Scootaloo. Smirking as he inspected her as though she was a meal. Scootaloo said nothing, and instead tried to move around the dark blue pegasus. But he stepped into her path. Scootaloo tried to go another way, but he once again blocked her. "Something wrong, Sweet Lips? Or are you just driven speechless?" 'Something's wrong, alright....' Scootaloo thought. Rumble glanced her way, pretty angry himself. The look he gave her nearly begged for a chance to intervene, but Scootaloo just gave a tiny shake of her head, leaving Rumble more than a bit confused. Though he didn't let it show. "What happened to the feisty mare I met a couple of months back? Or are you some sort of replacement?" the stallion remarked, edging closer. "Can you move, I need to go somewhere." Scootaloo said, deciding to ignore the last comment. At this point Rumble looked like he wanted to pulverize the stallion. "You sure didn't seem to be in a rush from what I saw." he grinned. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Well I am now. And I'd appreciate it if you got out of the way." "For what exactly?" the stallion said, walking at an invasive pace next to her. "To get as far away from you as possible." Scootaloo grumbled. Rumble followed close behind, giving Scootaloo looks that screamed, 'I'm going to kill him' "Aw, and here I thought you liked me." the stallion said, talking as though he was in shock. "Why would I like a pervert who spends his free time flirting with mares?" Scootaloo remarked, walking farther away. "Just seemed like we had some sort of connection, ya know?" the stallion said casually, rubbing a hoof through his purple mane and pushing himself closer to Scootaloo, bumping into her. "Well, we don't. And there's no way in a billion moons, that we ever will." she said sternly. "Now leave me alone." "There she is, there's the mare I was looking for." the stallion said. Scootaloo had to bite her cheek to resist the urge to scream at him. "Well she's not interested. Now can you leave?" Scootaloo said more sternly, a scowl forming on her face. "Oh come on, a little flirting never hurt no pony." "You're really pushing it." Scootaloo mumbled. "Am I?" the stallion said. "Little ole' me?" "Yes. And I'm going to say it one last time, so you and your selective hearing best listen closely; I'm. Not. Interested. Leave. Me. The. Hell. Alone." Scootaloo said, pausing with every word. "Is something wrong here?" a voice said. Scootaloo and the stallion turned, where Rumble was standing next to Spitfire, who took off her glasses and was shooting the two a piercing look. "Not anymore." Scootaloo said, walking away from the stallion. "Are you causing trouble, Comet?" Spitfire asked, moving closer to the stallion and giving him a piercing look. "No Ma'am." the stallion said. "Then don't give anypony any. Got that?" she said. "Yes Ma'am." Spitfire put her sunglasses back on and put her whistle to her mouth. Blowing at a deafening volume. "Formation! Now!" she screeched. Every recruit was quick to get in line, standing up as primly as they could manage. "So these are the recruits I get this year. " Spitfire said, walking in front of the line of ponies, who stared blankly ahead. "A bunch of ponies that think they're Wonderbolt's material." she said. "Yes Ma'am!" they replied. "Well let me tell you, you're not!" she said, poking Sky Bound in the chest. "If you were, you'd be a Wonderbolt. But that's why you're all here. So we can whip a bunch of hot shots into shape! And Maybe," she stepped in front of Scootaloo "some of you will make it into the reserves." she then walked over to Comet. "And some of you will fail. Some of you probably wouldn't even make it past the first clouds." she said. She stepped in front of another pony, who was a light orange with a scarlet mane and black stripes. "I bet you'd quit after the first course." she challenged. Smirking in the mare's face. Just as expected, she didn't get a response. "No response, huh? Good choice. We could use some more smart ones like you." Spitfire said. She turned away. "Your first task of the day, 20 laps around the compound!" she grabbed her whistle and blew another deafening screech from it. "Now!!" Everypony sprang up, eager to follow instructions, and started off. Scootaloo, who was glad to get away from this Comet guy, sped next to Rumble. "Up for another race?" she said above the wind. Rumble smirked. "You're on." "What?!" Scootaloo said, stopping just behind Rumble. "I can't believe you beat me!" "You shouldn't have been bragging so much." Rumble grinned. "Dang it." Scootaloo huffed. Rumble laughed. "You owe me." "Fine." Scootaloo said with a roll of her eyes. "What is it?" "I'll think about it." Rumble smirked. "Whatever." Scootaloo said. At that point, a few ponies were finishing up their last laps, taking their time rather than going at a speedy pace as Rumble and Scootaloo did. "Hey," Rumble said suddenly, turning to Scootaloo. "Yeah?" Scootaloo said, pretending she didn't know what Rumble was going to talk about. "What happened back there?" Rumble said. "It's like you said, I got distracted and-" "You know that I didn't mean that." Rumble interrupts, concern on his face. Scootaloo sighed. "You're right." she said. "Can we talk about this later?" "Now's a better time than anywhere else." Rumble said. "I just didn't want to snap, okay?" Scootaloo defensively. "I didn't want to end up hitting him again, it's not like it's going to have much of an effect. The last thing I want to do is get kicked out of here for fighting another recruit, when he didn't even threaten me in the first place." "But wasn't he invading your personal space? Didn't he make you feel uncomfortable?" "Of course he did. But that creep still didn't do anything to threaten me. He was just flirting, in an unacceptable way, but still flirting." "What if he-" Rumble stopped himself. "I won't let that happen. He's not going to hurt me. Not if I have anything to say about it." Scootaloo said. "Just...you trust that I'll defend you, right?" "Of course, but I don't want you to get kicked out of this place for something as silly as that. I've pushed you too hard to let that happen." she smirked. "Yeah, fair point. My wings still hurt from all of those wing-ups." Rumble teased, stretching out his wings in exaggeration, knowing it'd make Scootaloo laugh. "Oh stop being such a baby." she chuckled. Rumble smiled, glad to see her smile had returned, as if nothing had happened earlier. "Let's hope the rest of the week will go well." Rumble said. Scootaloo smiled, walking towards Spitfire, who was waiting for the pair to join her. "Finished early, I see." she said. "Since that's the case, how about you two start your wing-ups early." she said, adjusting her glasses. "Drop and give me 50!" she screeched. Scootaloo couldn't help but try to smother back a bellow of laughter. 'Spoke too soon.' Rumble thought. Sighing with defeat. "It's going to be a long week."