Rumble sat in his room doing math homework. The tutoring was going well; he often went through most of his homework before needing any help, and either Twilight or Cheerilee were willing to help him clear up any small misunderstandings. He was scoring higher lately – only around a C, but it had been a far cry from the Ds and Fs that often plagued his math homework, and Cheerilee expected a turnaround by the end of the year to a passing grade.
The particular evening marked two major occasions: it would be the first time that Rumble had finished his homework before dinnertime, and Flitter would be coming over to have dinner with Thunderlane. Rumble would be joining them for dinner but would retreat to his room to keep away from Thunderlane and his date and respect their privacy. He’d had enough of crazy love-type things, magic or no, and decided they weren’t for him.
Thunderlane was in the shower. Rumble was in his room. He was on the lookout for Flitter to arrive. Cloudchaser would not be coming tonight; with Thunderlane and Flitter cooking a meal at home, Rumble did not need a caretaker. Even Thunderlane remarked he could almost be left at home alone for short times if he got out of school early or Thunderlane had to work a little late. But Rumble preferred the company, though lately that meant more time with Pipsqueak and the Cutie Mark Crusaders down in Ponyville rather than an adult like Cloudchaser to come and watch him.
It was about a quarter to six when Rumble heard a knock on the door. Thunderlane heard it, too.
“Go check the door, Rumble!” he called through the wall that separated the bathroom from Rumble’s bedroom. “It’s probably Flitter.”
Rumble left his desk and walked down the hall. He went to the door and looked through the peephole to see it was Flitter, standing outside with a small flower in her mane and a few grocery bags in her saddlebags. Rumble opened the door and stepped out of the way to let Flitter in.
“Hey there, Rumble,” Flitter greeted him politely. She came towards him with a small smile and gently ruffled his mane. “How are you?”
“Good,” Rumble said. “I’m doing better with the math homework. Cheerilee and Miss Twilight are tutoring me.”
“Good to hear. Where’s your brother? Still in the shower?”
“Yeah. He should be out soon.”
Rumble helped Flitter unload the contents of her grocery bags on the kitchen counter. There were bright red bell peppers, cheese, bits of tofu, beans, rice, and an assortment of vegetables; olive oil and pepper, paprika and cumin, salt and lemons and limes. Rumble surveyed the items on the counter as Flitter pulled out a box of cookies from Sugarcube Corner.
“Are you trying to teach Thunderlane to cook again?” Rumble asked. “This looks like the ingredients for stuffed peppers.”
“I’m sure he takes good care of you as is,” Flitter said with a slight laugh, “but he really should learn to cook a little more. I’ve even brought him a gift.” She leaned in and whispered in his ear. “It’s a copy of ‘Ten Minute Meals’. I got it from Twilight; the library had a spare copy.”
Rumble giggled and began to help wash the peppers.
The shower soon turned off and there was a quick tapping of hooves and Thunderlane shot off to his bedroom. Rumble had helped with the peppers, lemons, and limes by the time Thunderlane emerged from his room, a small white collar with a black bow tie around his neck.
“Is this too formal for a night in?” he asked.
“No, it’s perfect.” Flitter left her spot chopping peppers and went over to gently nuzzle Thunderlane. “At least, I don’t think it’s too formal.”
“Well, I’m just happy you didn’t show up in a dress of any sorts.” Thunderlane leaned forward and sniffed the flower in her hair. “Chrysanthemum?”
“Well, well, well, look at you!” Flitter gave an impressed grin. “You must be learning from Roseluck or Lily.”
“Dad used chrysanthemum in his chili,” Thunderlane said. “It’s the one thing I can cook.” He turned to Rumble. “Come on, bro. You have to admit that.”
“It’s only because dad wrote the directions down so specifically on paper it’d be hard not to get it right,” Rumble said cheekily.
Thunderlane blushed and scrunched his nose while Flitter laughed. “Oh...”
Flitter picked up a hoof and gently turned Thunderlane to face her. “Hey, I believe you. And now, I can teach you stuffed peppers. And I have a little something for you...”
Thunderlane blushed again, but no longer out of embarrassment. He quickly turned to Rumble. “Why don’t you go finish up your homework and wash up?” he asked. “We’ll finish preparing dinner.”
Rumble nodded and trotted off back to the room. He finished the remaining problems of his math homework and closed the book with satisfaction. He made a mental note to take it to Twilight to review after school tomorrow before heading into the bathroom to wash his hooves, then back to his bedroom to read a portion of a history assignment early.
It wasn’t long before Rumble was being called in for dinner. Rumble trotted back down the hallway and found Thunderlane taking something out of the oven, with Flitter watching over him.
“That’s it... nice and easy... alright, so just set it on the pad and we’re done.”
Thunderlane carefully maneuvered a tray filled with stuffed peppers over to the counter and onto a thick pad for cooling. Already finished were a skillet with a rice and tofu mixture and a large bowl of refried beans lightly steaming.
“Rumble, get the milk, why don’t you?” Thunderlane said.
Rumble nodded and got out three glasses, two large and one small, and got the milk from the fridge. He poured the two large glasses for Thunderlane and Flitter and the small one for himself before placing all three glasses in their proper places on the table.
“Well, Rumble, your brother didn’t do too bad for stuffed peppers,” Flitter said. “I helped him, of course, but I think he may be able to do it soon.”
“With your help, I will,” Thunderlane said. “I won’t be a Canterlot chef any time soon, but I at least will be able to manage the oven.”
“And the skillet, but that comes later.” Flitter leaned over and actually gave Thunderlane a quick kiss.
It was a relief for Rumble to have Flitter to be more interested in Thunderlane than him. More than anything, that to him was the sign that things were at least as normal as everyone else. She was still kind and polite as she was before, but he was merely a hoofnote in the evening’s events, there at the same house as him but not interested in him.
And so it was with relief that Rumble sat down to dinner with them. Thunderlane and Flitter talked politely and smiled at each other often – though Rumble noted with less interest than during the cooking exercise – and only really focused on Rumble when he asked a question or provided a comment.
But Rumble had little interest in the affairs of Thunderlane and Flitter, and so when dinner was over he politely asked Thunderlane if he could take a few cookies back to the room so he wouldn’t be involved in anything between them. Thunderlane agreed and Rumble happily wrapped two in a napkin and went to his room.
There was a Wonderbolt race on that night and Rumble was able to catch it on the small TV Thunderlane had bought for him as a gift for increasing his grades. Afterwards, Rumble put it on a comedy sketch show that Thunderlane let him watch while reading a book. He played a few minutes with his own figurines before deciding that, without the excitement of an extra playmate, he was thoroughly bored.
It was okay to be by himself, and Rumble figured it was a good idea to get used to it in case Thunderlane and Flitter decided to do more than just sit around and watch movies. He decided to use getting a glass of water as an excuse to see what was going on.
Rumble got off his bed where he had been playing and walked out into the hallway. He sneaked down the hallway to make sure he wasn’t interrupting anything and stopped at the end of the hallway, just out of sight from Thunderlane and Flitter. He peeked around the corner and looked at them curiously; both were on the couch and paid him no attention.
But there was something that Flitter said that made him stop in his tracks and didn’t continue further.
“Cloudchaser asked about Rumble today.”
Thunderlane looked over to Flitter. “Again?” he asked. He sounded somewhat... worried? Unsettled? “That’s twice this week.”
“I know.” Flitter’s voice was anxious, almost conspiratorial. Like she didn’t want to be saying it but it warranted saying anyways no matter the reaction. “I told her I was heading over here. When she heard about it, she wondered if she could come along. She wondered if she could even if we were staying here.”
Thunderlane sighed nervously. “...how serious do you think she is?”
“She’s still concerned about him like the innate magic is still active,” Flitter said. “She even asked me. ‘Do you know if Rumble is still having trouble with mares?’ I mean, if it was anyone else, I’d dismiss it. But after a few of those nights she told me about...”
“...I know.” Thunderlane’s voice was calm despite his own panic. He likely thought Rumble was still in his room instead of hidden around the corner listening. “Look, there’s not much I can do. She seems to be staying away from him, so that’s good. And Rumble is more focused on his schooling I doubt he even sees her at all.”
“It’s almost innocent,” Flitter said. “If it weren’t for the insistence of it, I wouldn’t have cared.”
“Neither would I. You two have known us for years, ever since we decided to settle down here instead of continuing to travel with mom and dad. But that innate magic must have been working on you guys for a long time.”
Flitter’s ears lowered. “I mean, I’d be lying if I didn’t care about Rumble myself. But I don’t want to know everything he’s doing.”
“So what do you think it is about her?” Thunderlane asked.
“I don’t know,” Flitter said. “I just don’t know.”
Rumble heard no more. He backed off to his room and quietly closed the door without getting anything from the kitchen.
So another twist to his magic had arrived. First it made Archer and Pipsqueak start to avoid him. Now, apparently Cloudchaser hadn’t gotten over the effects it put on her.
Rumble thought about it. Cloudchaser even under the influence of the magic had been a bit more gung-ho than others. She fought Flitter over the ability to tutor him the night he really started noticing it. Then came the incident in the bathroom where she hurt her own hoof, and the breakdown after being told she wasn’t immune to the magic’s effects. Now she was concerned about if he was still having trouble.
Was Cloudchaser...?
No, she couldn’t be.
But the more he pondered it, Cloudchaser was quite the enigma. Despite all that, her care was more motherly than attraction. And she even seemed to be disgusted by it herself; that was probably the reason why she hit her own hoof.
Rumble’s train of thought was interrupted by a knock at his door. He looked up to see Thunderlane opening the door. Even more strangely, Flitter was nowhere to be found and the sounds from the main room had gone silent.
Thunderlane walked over to the bed and sat near it. Rumble got up on the bed and sat on it. Thunderlane seemed nervous; his ears were down and he was sweating freely. He gulped once, then removed the collar and gasped as though he was feeling choked by it.
“Rumble... can I ask you something?” he said.
Rumble nodded.
“Have... have you spoken to Cloudchaser at all lately?”
Rumble shook his head. “I haven’t seen Cloudchaser since the night before Twilight used her magic on me,” he answered.
Thunderlane nodded. “Um... what do you think of her?”
How much to say? Rumble didn’t know. He decided to be somewhat vague. “She’s nice. And she’s kind of funny. But... she’s always acted a little weird around me.”
Thunderlane nodded again. “Um... weird how?”
“I dunno. Just says weird things then acts like she didn’t.” Close enough.
Thunderlane looked down at the ground. He looked back up at Rumble. “Um... not to panic you or anything, but I want to be frank with you. If you see Cloudchaser, I want you to tell me.”
Rumble nodded and looked at Thunderlane as though he didn’t understand why but knew Thunderlane probably had a good reason for it. Rumble knew Thunderlane probably did have good reason for it, but decided not to say that.
“Where’s Flitter?” Rumble asked.
“She... went home,” Thunderlane said. “We... I got bored.”
So it was. Thunderlane heard about Cloudchaser and decided that was enough. Rumble half wondered if he was going to sever ties with the twins to keep Cloudchaser away. At least they would all be preoccupied by work at Cloudsdale and at the Weather Factory.
Thunderlane looked around nervously. “Do you... want to play a board game? I’ve got the rest of the night free.”
Rumble nodded and went to pull out a checkers set. It would probably do them both good to have something to take their minds off their new information.