Later that day, in the mess hall, Sky Bound sat off to the side, and waved to Rumble and Scootaloo. "Hey, Lovebirds!" she called out. The two turned to her and smiled.
Scootaloo sat next to her, setting her tray down next to her new friend. "Thanks for saving us a seat." Scootaloo said.
"No problem." Sky Bound replied, waving it off. "Pretty crazy first day, huh?" she smirked.
"You can say that again." Rumble said with an annoyed roll of his eyes.
"I'm guessing it has something to do with all of those work outs they made us do." Sky Bound said, talking about the amount of wing-ups Rumble did. Who at the moment, was currently, stretching his wings out.
"Yeah." he sighed "It's just been a while, you know?"
"Yeah." Sky Bound answered. "But exactly how long is a while?"
"Two months." Scootaloo interrupted, a smirk growing on her face.
"You were keeping track?" Rumble asked, turning to her.
"Somepony has to." Scootaloo shrugged, a growing smile on her face.
"Wait, why do you even know that?" Sky Bound asked her.
"Rumble and I did a bit of practice together, since we both figured we could help each other out in some areas. And I may have been a bit rough with him." Scootaloo said.
"A bit?" Rumble stated, raising an eyebrow at her.
"And by rough you mean..." Sky Bound started.
"Okay, so I made him do a ton of wing-ups from time to time." Scootaloo admitted.
"Yep. As well as wake me up early in the morning just to run around the town, making me fly through a ton of trees whenever you were trying to teach me agility, laughing whenever I'd get stuck in a cloud," Rumble listed. "I could go on."
"I did help you whenever you got injured though."
"The worst that's happened to me was a bunch of tiny scratches and scrapes."
"Hey, I never was the teaching-or the helping type, believe me, I've tried." Scootaloo said. Sky Bound burst into a hoot of laughter, howling as Rumble kept a blank, bemused expression on his face.
"I would've paid to see that." she said, hugging her sides.
"I wish you were there to hear Rumble's constant whining. You'd swear he was a foal." Scootaloo teased.
"Har har." Rumble said. "At least I didn't pass out."
"I never passed out." Scootaloo said.
"You nearly did." Rumble said. "Miss-I've-got-too-much-on-my-mind." he teased.
"Oh, shut up." Scootaloo said, playfully pushing Rumble with a smile and a roll of her eyes.
"I don't recall getting cheesy romance with my tray of food," Sky Bound said.
"Whatever." Scootaloo replied.
"How are you two so...." Sky Bound struggled to find the right words.
"Awesome?" Scootaloo suggested.
"No," Sky Bound said with a chuckle. "close?" she finally said.
"Well, it wasn't like that at first. And we're still not that close. At least, not to the same extent as other couples are." Rumble said. "We're more like nagging friends to each other than love interests."
"Really?" Sky Bound said, a bit surprised. "But you two are always acting like one."
"Nah, I wouldn't say so." Scootaloo said.
"How come?" Sky Bound said, a bit curious.
"Well, it's like this. Other couples give each other eskimo kisses, " Scootaloo pretended to gag. "or are always giving each other nicknames and kissing out of nowhere all of the time. But for us, we're just not that type of couple."
"There are types?" Sky Bound asked, perking up from the information.
"Well, yeah. What'd you think that they were all the same?" Rumble chuckled.
"Honestly, I don't know that much about relationships, at least those kind anyway." Sky Bound replied, blushing a bit from embarrassment. "I just never really got caught up in it, ya know?"
"I'm guessing you just didn't want to date anyone." Scootaloo thought aloud.
"No, actually." Sky Bound replied, glancing away. "I just never exactly got to it, ya know. I can only make assumptions from what I see, or what I find in movies. Sure there was that one friend here and there, but I just never really got that involved." she said, she started picking at her plate, before she realized just how much she ranted.
"What about you?" she quickly asked, trying to turn the conversation away from herself.
"Me?" Scootaloo asked, pointing to herself.
"Yeah, who else? Tell me what type of relationship you have, since you're so close and all."
"Well that's a long story. Maybe during free time." Scootaloo said.
"That long, huh?" Sky Bound asked, returning back to her original tone.
"Yeah, I could write a whole story on it." Scootaloo said.
"And it'd probably have over 40 chapters or something." Rumble chuckled in agreement.
"Well, I've talked enough about romance, how about something else?" Sky Bound asked.
"Such as...?"
"Maybe you could tell me about that stallion from earlier." Sky Bound suggested. Scootaloo's smile shrunk, and she tilted her ears down. Now it was her turn to start picking at her food, and she started chewing a bit more slowly.
"I saw Spitfire talking to you three, do you know him?" Sky Bound asked.
Rumble looked to Scootaloo, a sympathetic look on his face. Scootaloo stared at the tray, struggling to answer.
"I'm sorry, did I hit a nerve?" Sky Bound asked, noticing Scootaloo's change of tone.
"Kind of, yeah." Scootaloo replied softly.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Scootaloo looked back up at her, flashing her a small smile.
"It's fine, you didn't know."
Rumble and Sky Bound looked up in worry as Scootaloo stood up from the bench.
"I'm not hungry. I think that I'll just go get a breath of fresh air." she said. Sky Bound turned to Rumble as Scootaloo walked out of the room.
"I'm sorry, I wouldn't have asked if I knew mentioning him would hit a nerve." Sky Bound said.
"Don't worry about it, Scootaloo's tougher than nails. She knows you didn't mean it."
"Should we go after her?" Sky Bound offered.
"Yeah, we probably should." Rumble said. The two got up from their sitting positions, following the direction Scootaloo went in. As they went, as soon as they were out of hearing distance of the cafeteria, Rumble spoke in a low tone to Sky Bound.
"That Comet guy came to a friend's birthday party a couple of months back," Rumble started. "I was talking with my friends, and Scootaloo decided to sit down on the sidelines for a bit. And he came up to her and started flirting."
"Did he hurt her?" Sky Bound asked quietly.
"No, he mainly made her feel uncomfortable, and he invaded her personal space. When she tried to get away from him, he grabbed her wing."
"He did?" Sky Bound asked.
"Yeah, but he did let her go, after Scootaloo left a bruise on his face." Rumble explained.
"Well she doesn't seem like the type of mare to let that sort of thing slide." Sky Bound remarked.
"She's not really suited for the role of 'damsel in distress'." Rumble agreed.
"So I'm guessing that he hasn't learned his lesson." Sky Bound said.
"He sure hasn't, if anything, according to Scoots, he's more flirtatious than ever." Rumble paused for a moment. Can you do something for me?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad that we ran into you. You seem to be pretty loyal, if he does anything to make her uncomfortable, and I'm not there, can you help her out please? "
"Of course. Scootaloo's pretty cool. I won't let that guy come 100 miles close to her if he tries anything."
"Good." Rumble said. "And one more thing."
"Yeah?" Sky Bound asked, pushing through the door in front of them.
"Scootaloo doesn't want to handle any future situations the same way as she did at the party. She told me she doesn't want me to either, since we could get kicked out if we start getting violent."
"I get it, so you want me to help her out, but not in a physical way." Sky Bound said.
Rumble nodded.
"Alright, but if he hurts her first," Sky Bound started.
"Go nuts."
They stopped outside, finding Scootaloo a few yards away and sitting in the grass. She seemed to be studying something when she heard the sound of quiet chatter.
She glanced up, finding Sky Bound and Rumble there. "Oh, hey guys." Scootaloo said, a bit surprised to find them there.
"What? Did you expect us to just sit in there the whole time?" Sky Bound asked with a smirk.
Scootaloo smiled. "No."
"They're going to assign rooms in a moment anyway, we should head back." Sky Bound suggested.
"Alright." Scootaloo said.
"Formation!" Spitfire screeched. The reserves scrambled into place, straightening up and staring directly ahead as before.
"Since there have been a few," Spitfire cleared her throat, whilst throwing one of the troops a glare. "problems in the past with rooms, the girls are to sleep in one, and the boys in the other. Do I make myself clear?!" Spitfire asked.
"Yes Ma'am!" the group cried.
"Good, now a few ground rules, if you can follow them, then maybe you can survive the camp. Rule 1, don't leave your bedrooms after curfew. And don't try to give me any excuses such as potty breaks. Each bedroom has a bathroom built in it for that specific purpose.
Rule 2, keep the rooms clean, this is an Academy, not a pigsty, clean up after yourselves for Celestia's sake. We're not some cleaning service meant to look baby you. I'm looking at you, Comet." Spitfire said.
Rule 3, Do not open the windows or bring food without permission into the bedrooms, last thing we need up here is for any pests or anything else up here to get in.
Rule 4, I do not, I repeat I do not want to hear any chatter after curfew. Any talking, running, or any other noises that does not pertain sleeping is strictly forbidden. You are all expected to be awake as soon as we alert you.
And lastly, just so that you little pranksters could know, failure to abide to any of these rules leads to immediate suspension, and you will fail this year. So disobeying rules to get a laugh is not acceptable, and will not be tolerated."
Do I make myself clear?!" Spitfire asked.
"Ma'am yes ma'am!" the group shouted.
"Good. Now you are aloud to pick your beds, but if you want any free time you'd best hurry." With that, Spitfire walked out the hallway, leaving the other two workers to lead the recruits to their designated rooms.
"See you in a bit." Rumble said to Scootaloo.
"Alright." Scootaloo said with a smile.
The mares filed out into the room, chattering about the multiple beds as well as the Wonderbolt's theme of the room. "I call this one!" Sky Bound said, sprinting over to one in the middle.
The rest of the mares went into a frenzy as they claimed their own beds, whilst Scootaloo walked over to the one adjacent to her new friend. The mares took off their goggles, since they had about a couple of minutes before curfew.
"Hey," Scootaloo said, turning to Sky Bound.
"Yeah?" the blue pegasus responded.
"Thanks for, well, being so cool with us. I appreciate that."
"Not a problem. I mean, it'd be a bit boring being here without any friends." Sky Bound said, wrapping her foreleg around Scootaloo.
"Yeah, that'd be pretty dull." Scootaloo agreed.
"Plus, you're pretty cool too, You've certainly got the skills it takes to be a Wonderbolt."
"You think so?"
"No. I know so. You're amazing!" Sky Bound said.
"You're not so bad yourself. In fact, I'd say you were pretty good too."
"Scootaloo, I can tell this is the start of an awesome friendship."
Scootaloo smiled. She definitely agreed.