Consultation
“Okay, Scootaloo. This is it. It’s the Junior Wonderbolts Derby,” Rainbow Dash poked and prodded the little filly’s shoulders to massage some of the tension out. “Are you ready to win this thing?”
“I’m ready!” Scootaloo shouted, before bolting out of the starting block-
“Hey, wait for the-”
-and immediately falling flat on her face.
“Signal. Okay, so pretending it’s a contest doesn’t help, either,” Rainbow Dash said with a groan, marking that off her mental list.
It was a bright and sunny day over Ponyville’s racing track, with the exception of one cloud Rainbow Dash liked to keep around for emergency napping purposes. But other than that, the skies were cleared, the sun was shining, and the Weather Patrol Captain could direct her full attention to the task at hand.
Flying lessons, the Rainbow Dash way.
Rainbow Dash hovered over the ground, looking down at her charge. Today, it was just her and her surrogate little sister on the track. Not that either of them knew what ‘surrogate’ meant, but it had ‘Sir’ in it, and it sounded official, and that was good enough. “Okay, Scootaloo, pick yourself up and try again. You can do it!”
The track was abandoned, for the most part. Still, Scootaloo felt a thrill go through her little body as she confidently strode back to the starting line, the eyes of her hero, neigh, her idol, fixed on those little wings.
“On your mark,” Rainbow said.
Scootaloo braced herself and snorted in anticipation. This was the track where Rainbow Dash had tested her pets. This was where every able-bodied pegasus in Ponyville had trained for tornado duty. On this track, skills were honed, metal was tested - although she may have misunderstood that part: she skirted the rules of spelling occasionally - and limits were broken.
On this track, Scootaloo would fly. This, she swore. At least, she’d sworn it upon arrival. After that, she’d kept the rest of the swearing to herself.
“Get set.” Rainbow raised a hoof.
On the sidelines, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood, watching with anticipation and milkshakes.
“You think she’s ready to fly now?” Sweetie Belle asked, before taking a sip of her drink.
“Well, she ought to be. I mean, we’ve had our cutie marks for a while now, and Scootaloo’s got a wing on hers. No reason to think she can’t fly at all.”
“Except for, you know, not being able to fly at all.”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously.” Apple Bloom took a good gulp of her milkshake.
“Go!” Rainbow lowered her hoof.
Scootaloo erupted from the starting line, flapping those little wings of hers like crazy. She buzzed, she bolted.
She got about half an arm’s length off the ground.
Despite her frantic flapping, she dragged her hind hooves over the ground, kicking up a dust cloud as she went. Much to her dismay, she was going at the speed of a light trot, rather than the speed of light, period. And before long, even that became too much for her to bear, leaving her flopping down on her belly unceremoniously.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Not okay, but, better. It's not exactly what I was hoping for, but getting better.”
Apple Bloom pondered the sight of her friend dragging herself back to the starting line. “Hmm…”
“What are you thinking?” Sweetie Belle asked, before slurping loudly.
“Well, just look at her,” Apple Bloom whispered as Rainbow Dash got Scootaloo back into launching position and started psyching the girl up, pointing out proper posture and how to best kick off for a blazing start. The little Earth pony finished her milkshake and the two went towards the nearest bin, taking the excuse to talk where the pegasi wouldn’t hear. “If you saw her standin’ next to anypony in our class, you wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong with her, would you?”
“Of course not. I mean, aside from her wings being so small.”
Apple Bloom looked back. “Are they, though?”
Sweetie shrugged. “She did say they were, back when Diamond Tiara got under her skin.”
“But are they? Really, how many pegasi has she measured it against?”
“Well, they’re smaller than Rainbow Dash’s wings,” Sweetie Belle argued.
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes at that. “Yeah, but Rainbow Dash is a grownup. Her everything is bigger than Scootaloo’s.”
“That’s true. I guess you would have to put her next to a pegasus our age to really compare.”
“Exactly. And if you saw her on her scooter, you’d think she’s actually really, really good, right?” Apple Bloom dumped the empty cup in the trash, then turned back towards the track as Sweetie Belle followed suit. “Her wings must be crazy strong.”
“Totally.”
“Go!” Rainbow shouted. This time, Scootaloo leaped for takeoff. She managed to fly just fine, for a second or two. Then gravity decided she’d had enough fun, and she ended up taking a face full of grass as she skidded off the track.
Apple Bloom huffed. “So why would she have so much trouble with this? She’s helped out other ponies just fine, why wouldn’t she be able to help herself?”
“To be fair, she never helped anyone with a flying problem. That’s what Rainbow Dash is doing for her right now.”
“Hmm…” Apple Bloom pondered again. “Maybe we should ask Diamond Tiara.”
This almost threw a spanner into the cogwheels of Sweetie Belle’s mind. Fortunately, a mere shake of the head cleared that right up. “Umm, why?”
“It’s like you said. Back when we were competin’ for flag bearers? Diamond Tiara got under her skin. She said every pegasus our age can fly.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, Diamond must know somethin’ about it. Maybe she knows some other pony who can help.”
“I don’t know, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said. “Do you really think Scootaloo needs more help than Rainbow Dash can give her?”
Right at that moment, Scootaloo yelped as she came crashing down from a straight vertical drop.
“Yup,” the Earth pony girl said flatly. “Definitely gonna need a second opinion on this.”
Scootaloo was still shaking blades of grass out of her hair and trying to get the taste of green off her tongue by the time they got to Diamond Tiara’s house. “I still don’t get why we have to go here.”
“Diamond Tiara knows more about the ponies in our school than we do.”
“So? We know everypony in school, too, Sweetie Belle. They’re in our school, after all.”
“Actually, Scootaloo, everypony in school knows us, not the other way around,” Apple Bloom remarked.
They got to the gates of the Rich estate and would have rung the bell, but Diamond was already out, and apparently entertaining guests by the pool. Three girls lounged by the side, all bearing some form of shiny hoofwear printed on their flanks.
“Hey, look! It’s the filly scouts!” One of them called out. The girl was a pink Earth pony, a shade darker than Diamond Tiara, and with a white spot covering her nose and mouth, her mane and tail an orange-ish red. She had a pair of red ballet shoes on her flanks, with the toes pointed forward and the heels up. The shoes had sparkles around them, and were decorated with red gems.
“Actually, Ruby, those are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Diamond replied.
“Psh, those bland flanks are your so-called friends?” Another one said. This one was a clear celestial white, and a unicorn to boot, her horn sticking out through her neatly curled light blue mane, much like Rarity’s did. Her cutie mark was a single shoe, one that looked delicate and made of glass, and decorated with a diamond on the front. “Look at those hideous cutie marks, so tacky and gaudy, blegh. Those two girls are what you got your mom so upset about?”
“Puh-lease, that was just to put my hoof down once,” Diamond whined. “You know how my mom gets, I need to make sure I can get my way somehow. They’re not that special. They’re just… more useful than they look, is all. Even if they are dump rumps.”
“Uh, Diamond?” Apple Bloom called out. “Can we talk for a second?”
Diamond smiled nervously, getting up off her beach chair before groaning. “They’re probably trying to get out from under their duties again. I’ll be right back, girls.”
“Need any help?” The third one asked. A second Earth pony, more of a burgundy than bright pink, this one’s flanks had a pair of shoes tipped up at the heels, and both were a deep blood red. Unlike the other two, this one’s cutie mark didn’t have any sparkles on it. Her mane was longer, too, reaching down to her thighs when she sat, almost like Fluttershy’s style, except short enough at the front not to fall in her eyes. The blonde mane had a white streak through it, like a lightning bolt. It was obviously not a natural streak, though, as it was fading around the edges.
Diamond Tiara scurried over to the Crusaders. “What do you posers want?! Can’t you see this is a private party?”
“Upper class friends, huh?” Apple Bloom asked quietly.
Diamond winced and lowered her voice. “Yeah. Ruby Slipper, Glass Slipper, Red Slipper. Old friends, we go way back. They’re little big shots in this dance recital up in Canterlot, former ballet elite. My mom really likes them, so obviously…”
“They expect you to be nasty to us. We kinda figured,” Scootaloo said.
“Hey, no boys allowed!” Ruby Slipper yelled when Scootaloo talked.
“Yeah, keep your boy bugs off our friend, louse-face!” Glass Slipper added, before snickering.
“Huh?” The Crusaders all stared quizzically at each other.
“She means you, Scootaloo. Don’t worry about them, they just don’t like little boys very much. Or girls who look like little boys, I guess.”
“Uhuh,” Apple Bloom replied. “Are ya sure they’re your friends?”
Diamond shook her head ever so softly so it wouldn’t show. “Oh, they’re not, I know they’re not. They’re just ponies my parents want me to hang out with because they’re important, and they’re a little older than me, so they can kinda teach me how to be, you know... Besides, we do hang out a lot and, like, I can’t abandon them just like that without getting in trouble.” She flashed a very sudden and very nervous smile at them. “Speaking of which, what do you want and can you please not ask where they can see?”
“We just wanted to ask about the pegasi you know,” Apple Bloom whispered.
“What?”
“She said: do your own homework, you ugly snob!” Scootaloo shouted, before winking.
“Hey, I don’t have to take that from a little cripple like you! You’re lucky I even let you write on Rich family stationery!” Diamond replied, equally loudly. “What do you need to know about pegasi?” she whispered.
“I still can’t fly, and I really ought to be able to by now,” Scootaloo replied in a hushed tone.
Diamond flinched. “What? What does that have to do with me?”
“You said pegasi my age ought to be able to fly, remember? That I should have been flying ages ago? Weren’t those your exact words?”
The filly beyond the gates winced. “The Equestria Games thing? Geez, I’d forgotten all about that. You really remembered it that well? I’m sorry.”
“I know you’re sorry, that’s not the point. The point is: what do you know about it?”
“Umm, nothing. Sorry, but I don’t know anything,” Diamond replied.
“Wait, what?” Apple Bloom asked. “But you made Scootaloo think she was handicapped.”
“I am not a cripple! I just need to get a growth spurt, and at least I’m strong enough to keep trying! When’s the last time you even lifted?!” Scootaloo called out, before whispering again. “Seriously, I get that you just wanted to get under my skin and all, but you kinda made it sound like everypony else in class could fly. It’s not normal for me to not be able to fly, that’s what you said.”
Diamond rolled her eyes. “Well, duh. I lied. That’s kinda what I did back then, it’s what I’m good at. I’m sorry, but I was wrong when I said that, both ways. There aren’t any pegasus ponies in class who can fly, not really.”
“Say what?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a squeak in her voice, before going quiet again. “But I saw it when we were practising. We all did. The pegasus kids all flew for their acts.”
“Yeah, low flying, hovering, maybe a flip or two. That’s totally different. That’s like saying you can swim when you sink after one lap around the pool. Trust me, that was not flying. You haven’t seen kids flying, not by a long shot.” Diamond wobbled on her hooves, as if she had a wave of vertigo just thinking about it. “Anyway, there aren’t any pegasi our age who can fly, not in this town. And there’s nopony in our school who’d know how to help. Except maybe…”
“Maybe?” Apple Bloom leaned in close.
“There’s two ponies who might know. One is super fast, like, blink and you miss him, but he can’t fly, either, not for real, not for long. He can hover, though, and he can bolt like crazy. But he can’t get up high, not yet.”
“Featherweight,” Sweetie Belle said. “We could ask him.”
“Yeah, Featherweight’s your best bet.”
“Who’s the second one?” Apple Bloom asked, before making a big show of rattling the fence to seem more intimidating. The girls in the back snickered at the peasants trying to breach security.
“Rumble,” Diamond whispered. “His name’s Rumble.”
“Wait, you mean Thunderlane’s little brother?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Diamond sighed, almost groaning. “Yeah, him. He can fly, really fly. I mean, really, really, really fly. He’s crazy good, but he doesn’t talk much. And I don’t think you could get him to help much. I mean, as good as he is, he’s still a blank flank.”
“Well, helpin’ out blank flanks is what we do, ain’t it, girls?” Apple Bloom smiled.
“Yeah, I know, but I wouldn’t bother with him if I were you. Ask Featherweight. Namby Pamby did an article on Ponyville’s tornado run right before he quit. Featherweight should still have a copy of Namby’s notes, and pictures of training. Every able-bodied pegasus in Ponyville was there, lots of different kinds of ponies. You might just be, like, built a little different, Scootaloo, maybe you need different training. Featherweight’s your best bet. He’d give you stuff to read, stuff you can use.”
“Why not just ask Rumble from the getgo?” Scootaloo asked. “If he can fly, can’t he teach me?”
Diamond gulped at the very thought, a shiver running down her spine. “Rumble is kinda… uptight. You don’t wanna interrupt him while he’s practising, trust me. He wouldn’t have time to teach you, if he even could. Ask Featherweight, seriously. Don’t try Rumble unless it’s an absolute emergency.”
“Huh. Well, okay, then.” Apple Bloom raised her voice. “Fine, we’ll get you your oatmeal, but this is the last time! And no more callin’ Scootaloo a chicken!”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo yelled, joining the act with full abandon.
“Or a dodo!” Sweetie Belle added for effect.
“Yeah!”
“Or a turkey!” Apple Bloom added for even more effect.
“Okay, girls-”
“Or an ostrich!”
“Let’s not get carried away here-”
“Fine!” Diamond shouted in reply. “You can leave now, and take your penguin friend with you!”
“Penguin?!” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.
“Well, you gotta admit, you have been doin’ a lotta bellyflopping lately,” Apple Bloom joked.
Scootaloo groaned. The girls Diamond was entertaining laughed.
“Thanks,” Diamond said quietly.
“Don’t mention it,” Scootaloo replied. “Seriously.”
“Hope it works out for you, Scootaloo. Take care.”
The Crusaders turned, leaving Diamond behind the gates. For the slightest moment, her neck gave way, just enough to lean against the bars of the Rich estate gates, like a caged animal. She smiled and turned her back to the Crusaders, right back to socialising with the girls who were better than her.
“You too, Diamond Tiara,” Scootaloo said, quietly. “Take care.”
“So what do you think, girls?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Hmm. Featherweight probably has better notes, but Rumble’s got more experience.” Sweetie Belle said. “What do you think, Scootaloo? Do you want to play it safe with Featherweight, or risk talking to Rumble?”
Scootaloo grumbled. “Can’t we do both?”
As if on cue, the girls spotted their first target: a lanky pegasus colt. White and nerdy, with a common as mud brown mane and tail, he stuck out like a loose nail in Ponyville, with all the colourful fillies and mares running about.
“Hey, Featherweight!” Apple Bloom called out.
His big ears perked at the mention of his name, prompting him to turn around. “Huh? Oh, hey, girls. What’s up?”
“Umm, not me,” Scootaloo replied as they trotted towards him. “That’s kinda what we wanted to talk to you about.”
He grimaced. “Uh, okay. What’s the matter?”
“You can fly, right?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Err, ahem, well, sure, I guess, sort of? It kind of depends on what you mean by ‘flying’.” He held his hooves up for air quotes.
“What do you mean, what do we mean? Can you get off the ground or not?” Scootaloo asked.
Featherweight sighed and started flapping his wings, doing just that. “You tell me. I can take off and hover okay, but getting up high is still a problem. This is as high as I can go, and I can’t do it for long.”
Sweetie Belle tilted her head, looking at the mere inches of empty air between the boy and the ground. “Really? I’m pretty sure I can lift you higher than that.”
Featherweight set down and huffed. “Sure, but you get magic lessons, from Princess Twilight Sparkle. Of course you’re good at magic.”
“Actually, we haven’t had Twilight Time since she got her new castle.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good place for us to run around in, what with all the sharp corners and everything,” Apple Bloom noted. “Anyway, point is: you can sort of fly, right?”
“It’s more like hovering, really.”
“Well, that’s more than I can do right now. Do you know how it’s done? What I’d have to do to learn?” Scootaloo asked. “Diamond Tiara said something about Namby Pamby?”
He rubbed his chin with a hoof, thinking. “Umm, not really, no. I mean, I don’t know how I learned to fly, or hover, exactly. I just kinda got out of bed one day and started hovering when I flapped, instead of falling. But yeah, Namby Pamby did write some stuff about it in the Foal Free Press a while back, with that tornado duty thing. It was his last article and everything. The drafts are probably still in the archives. Would that help?”
Scootaloo smiled nervously. “It might. Do you think you could get that article for us?”
“Oh, sure, no problem,” Featherweight said as he turned in the general direction of the school. “Anything to help a fellow flyer.”
“Speakin’ of which, do you happen to know any other flyers? We heard there was one other kid who could fly,” Apple Bloom asked.
“Oh, you mean Thunderlane’s little brother, Rumble?”
Apple Bloom’s ears twitched at that. Second time in a row. Coincidence, perhaps? “Yeah. Him. You know where we could find him?”
Featherweight stopped and stiffened. “Err… why would you want to find him, exactly?”
“So we could ask him about flight practice,” Scootaloo said. “Obviously.”
The colt bit his lip. “Oh, of course. You might wanna ask somepony else, then.”
“Why?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Wouldn’t he help if we asked?”
Featherweight let out something in between a sigh and a nervous chuckle. “I don’t know, and I’m not sure if I want to risk finding out.”
“What?” Apple Bloom flinched. “I thought he was your friend?”
Featherweight flinched right back. “My friend? Why would you think that?”
“Well, I saw you talkin’ to him when we were going for that flagbearer thing. Wasn’t he on your team?”
“Eheh, I think you got the wrong idea.” He rubbed the back of his head and resumed his walk towards the school. “Sure, I’ve talked to him. I don’t think that counts, though. Maybe you haven’t heard, but Rumble is kinda crazy. He wasn’t on my team; he was the team, I just happened to get dragged along because we couldn’t do solo acts. He wanted to try out, I didn’t. After all, nopony was ever gonna beat you three. I didn’t stay for practice, but he did, we both got disqualified. He would have done the whole thing on his own if the rules allowed for it. He might have beaten you in a solo act.”
“Really? He’s that good?” Scootaloo asked.
Featherweight nodded emphatically. “Better than good. He’s crazy good. But he’s also kinda crazy. And he absolutely hates girls.”
This was news to the fillies.
“Wait, what?” Apple Bloom asked. “He hates girls? Why?”
“Beats me. But every time we were practising, when Rainbow Dash talked to you, he started freaking out. Couldn’t concentrate, dug his hooves into the ground, kept gulping in air and looking towards you and the rest of class. I’m telling you, he’s nuts. Maybe he’s just got a grudge against Diamond Tiara. She never did invite him to her cuteceñeara.”
“We never invited him to ours, either,” Sweetie Belle realised.
Apple Bloom pondered it. “Well, gosh, if that’s all it is, we just gotta apologise. I’m sure if we talked it out, we could come to some understanding.”
“Maybe.” Featherweight shrugged. “But I wouldn’t bet on it. He likes being alone.”
“We’ll see about that. Do you know where I can find him, by any chance?”
“No. Rumble just kinda… disappears.”
Apple Bloom grumbled. “Okay, girls, we’ll split up. I’ll ask around, see if anypony on the Weather Patrol knows where I can find this high-flyer. You go and look around in the Foal Free Press Archives.”
“Wait, what? Don’t you think I should be the one asking Rumble?” Scootaloo asked. “I’m the one who’s learning to fly. Rumble’s brother is friends with Rainbow Dash, I should be the one to talk to him.”
“Maybe, but you don’t have a big brother like he does,” Apple Bloom argued. “And no offense, Scootaloo, but you and Rainbow Dash are still new to this whole big sister thing. I ain’t. I got more experience in dealin’ with a stallion’s pride than you. If he is that touchy, he’s less likely to get mad at me. I know what to ask for, honest.”
“Okay,” Scootaloo said. “But if you can’t find out anything good, I’m asking him, too, okay?”
“I promise I’ll get ya something good, Scootaloo.”
It didn’t take Apple Bloom long to find a pony who knew Rumble’s hangouts. Derpy Hooves was known in Ponyville as being the go-to mare for anything regarding boys, doubly so when it came to pegasus boys. According to her, Rumble had his own private spot on the far side of Ponyville, on the road to Canterlot.
Apple Bloom followed the road up to where the last pond in Ponyville was, just as she’d been told. Any further, and the next bit of water she’d see would be in the mountains. If Derpy was right, and she usually was, there should have been a colt flying around.
A loud thump broke her reverie. She felt the impact through her hooves before she realised she’d seen something fall down from the corner of her eyes.
She gasped when she turned. Right before her, at ten paces, lay the lifeless body of a pink Earth pony filly.
She rushed towards the body. “Oh my gosh, are you okay? Can you hear me?”
Apple Bloom put her ear on the girl’s back just in time to hear a voice call her.
“Why are you talking to a doll?”
The girl prodded the pink thing, then flipped it over, revealing the buttons where its eyes should have been. It was a doll. A lifelike doll, proportionally accurate and quite heavy, but a doll nonetheless. It even had a fancy mane and tail style, along with reinforcements on the hoof ends that looked like shoes, probably to stop it from tearing at the seams. Judging from the feel of it, it was filled with seeds of some sort.
She was, indeed, talking to a doll. Big Mac would be proud.
She looked up as the colt descended. He was a dull grey, with a dark grey mane that was combed up and back, and which had a light streak going up the middle. His eyes were the same pink as Scootaloo’s, and both his mane and tail were obviously combed and kept very meticulously. His coat even had a vague sheen to it, but that may have been a trick of the light. The way the sun shone through the dark grey clouds in the distance and happened to hit him just right to create a golden halo certainly added to the effect.
But the one thing she noticed most was how he moved. He flew, really flew. He glided through the air effortlessly, hooves down, wings calmly flapping, not a hint of exertion on his face. He flew as easily as most ponies walked, as easily as Rainbow Dash flew.
This was definitely what she was looking for.
“Umm, never mind. You’re Rumble, right? Thunderlane’s little brother?”
The boy made a smooth and seamless landing, not one thump or tremor from going from afloat to solid ground. “Uhuh. And you’re Apple Bloom, right? Applejack’s little sister?” He folded his wings against his sides, never breaking eye contact with the girl.
“Yeah, that’s me.” Apple Bloom’s ears folded back. His voice was awfully high-pitched, more like a toddler’s or even a filly’s than most of the boys she’d heard. His face looked girlish, as well, with his smooth, round snout and hardly any chin to speak of.
Maybe that was why he didn’t like girls: ponies must have confused him for one once too often.
Before the moment could get any more awkward, Rumble picked up the filly doll and swung it over his shoulders, then turned his back on Apple Bloom and marched off. “What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for you, actually. I wanted to talk.”
“Okay.” He stopped, turned around again, and plopped his rump down on the ground. “You found me. You can talk.”
Apple Bloom took a moment to muster up her resolve. “Err, well, here’s the thing: my friend Scootaloo is learning to fly now. You know Scootaloo, don’t you?”
“Rainbow Dash’s favourite. I know,” he said flatly.
His tone made it sound like she’d hit a sore spot. Still, she had to try. “Okay. Anyway, she’s learning how to fly now, but it’s not working for some reason. So I wanted to ask you about it.”
Rumble shrugged. “Flying trouble sounds pretty normal to me. It’s not something you learn in your sleep.”
“Yeah, but, you see, when we were doin’ the whole flagbearer thing for the Equestria Games, Diamond Tiara got it into our heads that every pegasus pony our age ought to be able to fly. Only, now that’s she’s kinda nice to us, we asked her and she said that, actually, no pegasus our age can fly. No pegasus, except maybe Featherweight and definitely you. We asked Featherweight about the tornado thing Ponyville’s pegasi did a while back, but I thought maybe, if it’s okay with you, you could tell me a little more about how you learned to fly?”
Much to her relief, Rumble actually cracked a smile at that. It wasn’t a big smile, but it was a friendly one. It certainly wasn’t a crazy one, like she’d feared. “Oh, like that. Right, I guess Diamond would say that. Umm, I’d love to help, but there’s not that much to tell, sorry. I started practising, I learned to fly, and then I learned to fly really well.”
“But did you just wake up one day knowing how to fly?”
“No. I don’t think so. I woke up knowing how to hover, maybe, but flying is totally different. No, I started learning pretty early. Earlier than most pegasi do when they live on the ground, like kindergarten early. It took a lot of hard work, but I could already fly well by the time tornado duty came around.”
Apple Bloom squinted. “So, you were there for that tornado thing, then?”
“Of course I was. Every able-bodied pegasus had to be there. I’m a pegasus, and I was able-bodied, so I was there.”
“And you trained with Rainbow Dash? With the other grownups?”
He nodded with pride. “Yup. Did my best, like anypony else would.”
There was an angle she could work with. Getting notes was one thing, but a witness account from someone actually doing the training, at their age, that might be more useful. “Umm, is it okay if you told me about how that went, then?”
“Okay, but why would you want to know? There’s nothing I can tell you that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t.”
She sighed. “Because my friend’s tryin’ to learn, and she doesn’t know what she’s doin’ wrong, and I wanna help. Rainbow Dash is tryin’ her best, but she’s just one pony, and a grownup. You’re a kid, like Scootaloo, like us. If you really think about it, it’s not Rainbow Dash Scootaloo’s trying to be like; it’s you. I don’t know how old Rainbow Dash was when she learned to fly, but-”
“Two years younger than us.”
“Oh.” Apple Bloom winced. Not a good sign.
“Which is what you usually get with pegasi that live close to the clouds. Growing up with mountain air helps.”
Okay, maybe not too bad a sign. “So if we got Scootaloo up on a mountain?”
“It wouldn’t make much of a difference. It’s a breed and breathing thing, as far as I know. You’d have to get her up there for weeks, months. And even then, it probably wouldn’t speed up anything, since it takes that long to work.”
The girl grumbled. Another option down. “Okay. But see, stuff like that, that’s what I’d like to know. You obviously know your way around it, but you’re still a kid, so you wouldn’t miss whatever it is Rainbow Dash might be missing. I’d just like to know what you did, see if there’s anything different we might use. O’course, if you’re too busy practising-”
“It’s okay.” He held up a hoof. “I’m not really supposed to be practising too hard today. I was just blowing off some steam.”
“With that?” She pointed to the doll.
“Yup. Emergency interception: dive after a falling pony, catch them before they crash, but still be able to pull up in time. It’s a Wonderbolts rescue thing.”
“Umm, you let that one crash.”
“Hence the practice.” He started walking back towards Ponyville. “The Weather Patrol will start a rain shower in a few minutes. There’s a gazebo not too far from here, we’ll be nice and dry there.”
Apple Bloom squinted and followed him. “You were gonna practise in the rain?”
“Uhuh.”
“Ain’t that a little dangerous, for getting sick and whatnot?”
“Sure. But a lot of accidents happen in the rain. You gotta be able to handle rough weather if you wanna be a Wonderbolt.”
“And… do you? Want to be a Wonderbolt, I mean?”
His smile faded. His wings bunched up against his sides ever so slightly, and his tail swatted away a non-existent fly. “Maybe. It’s just practice right now. But I try to do everything the Wonderbolts way, sure.”
Apple Bloom followed him, staying behind by a respectable distance.
Rumble’s ears twitched, and he turned his head to look at her. “Is something wrong?”
“Uh, no, nothin’. It’s just…”
“What?”
“Well, I kinda asked a couple ponies about you before I came over here.”
“Derpy, huh? Yeah, she always keeps an eye on the boys in town. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash look after the girls.”
Apple Bloom grimaced. “That too. I just, umm…”
He stopped, and she made a point not to walk past his waist. “What is it, Apple Bloom?”
“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Apple Bloom said.
Rumble furrowed his brow. “Oh, you talked to Featherweight, right.”
“Yeah.”
Now it was his turn to wince with embarrassment. “Is he still mad about the flagbearer thing?”
“Are you?”
He shrugged. “It happened. No point in staying mad about it.”
As much as she didn’t want to upset him or pry, she had to know. “What exactly did happen?”
“What did he tell you?”
“He said you were crazy good at flying, but kinda crazy, too. And that you don’t like girls. I might have understood him wrong, mind you.”
“No, no, you got the right idea.” He walked along again, at a slower pace. Apple Bloom took the hint and walked next to him now, rather than behind him. “I don’t usually talk to other ponies, so the ponies I do talk to don’t, umm, get me, you know?”
“Okay. But was he right, then? Do you hate girls?”
“Nah. Just got a little frustrated when we tried out for flagbearer and he couldn’t keep up. It was my fault, really. And you and your friends getting all that attention from Rainbow Dash kinda stung. I, umm, overreacted a couple of times, and getting disqualified didn’t help.”
“Oh. Oh, like that, okay. But you ain’t got a grudge against me or my friends, then? Or anypony else?”
Again, he shrugged. “Of course not; nopony ever got it in for me, why should I? You won, fair and square. Rainbow Dash picked Scootaloo, she picked you. She even stopped a train so she could get Scootaloo, even though Scootaloo had given up the same way Featherweight had and the same way I had. And she was right to do that. I didn’t even get a team, so she never even saw me. You carried the Ponyville flag for the Games, I didn’t. No biggie.”
To Apple Bloom, though, this was a biggie. Fair play is everything, Applejack had taught her. And grudges didn’t have a place in competition.
“If you say so.”
Before long, they saw the gazebo. Up above, the clouds were already being gathered, making everything turn dark.
“There,” Rumble said. “It’s nice and warm to sit there. No need to stay on the grass, or in the rain.”
“Do you come here often?”
“Every day, from four to six, except on Wednesdays. And on weekends, it depends if the tracks are taken.”
“Wait, you practise every day?”
He held his head high. “Yup. Every single day. Four to six. My big brother’s a future Wonderbolt, after all. Gotta uphold the good family name. You know what that’s like, right?”
Apple Bloom found a tightness in her chest making its way to her throat. “Umm… sure. I know exactly what that’s like. But what do you do after practice, then?”
“I go eat dinner,” came the stoic reply. “Then some more practice, from seven thirty to nine, depends what day it is. Just keep on working hard, that’s me. Just like you on the farm, right?”
“Err, yeah. Exactly like that.” At this point, Apple Bloom was starting to see why ponies warned her about Rumble.
He sat down and leaned against the railing, his practice dummy parked and turned so it could serve as a cushion. “So, what do you want to know about tornado practice?”
Apple Bloom stared at the doll. It looked so detailed, like he’d modelled it after some random damsel. It bore a slight resemblance to Diamond Tiara, even, if looked at from a distance. And he was sitting on it. There was something about it that seemed off, illogical. Like something was obviously missing on it, but what?
He scooted over to sit on the thing’s head and patted the rump area. “You want the soft seat?”
She shook her head.
Get a grip, Apple Bloom. He’s just a regular pegasus boy. He’s already explained himself, no need to be scared of him. Besides, even if he does have a grudge against ya, you’re an Earth pony who can buck the apples off a tree. What’s the worst he can do?
She sat down on that rump and smiled at him. It was pretty soft, she had to admit, and warmer than the boards of the gazebo. “I guess the first thing I’d have to know is how you ended up on that if you’re so small. Even if you could fly, I don’t think there were any other kids who were on duty. Featherweight wasn’t.”
Rumble nodded. “Well, it all started when we got the announcement from Cloudsdale…”
Featherweight led the girls into the office, going straight for a cabinet. “Okay, Namby Pamby’s articles should be right… here. First rule of journalism: always keep a spare.”
Scootaloo’s ears twitched. “Articles? Like, more than one?”
“Uhuh.” He put a stack of newspapers on the desk. “He did a whole series on the tornado thing. Kinda wanted to go out with a bang, you know?”
Sweetie Belle ooh-ed at the picture on the front page of the first newspaper. “Hey, there’s Bulk Biceps. Rainbow Dash said he’s a Wonderbolts reserve, too.”
“And he was on Ponyville’s relay team for the Equestria games. Maybe he could help you out,” Featherweight said.
Scootaloo nodded. “Uhuh. Maybe.”
“Let’s see… oh, here it is,” Featherweight got out another article, an illustrated one this time. “This one’s from when practice started.”
“Wait, that’s Thunderlane, right? And that’s Rumble next to him?” Scootaloo asked, pointing a hoof at the picture.
“Yup. Like I said, he’s crazy good at flying. Always has been.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “Wait. He didn’t train with them, did he?”
“Yes, he did. Every able-bodied pegasus joined in for training. That’s the rules.”
“I didn’t. Did you?”
“No,” Featherweight replied matter-of-factly. “Because I wasn’t able-bodied back then.”
“I didn’t know you were handicapped,” Sweetie Belle said. “What’s wrong with you?”
Featherweight rolled his eyes. “When a pony says ‘able-bodied’, they mean ‘able to keep up with other ponies.’ So an able-bodied unicorn can do magic, an able-bodied Earth pony is really strong, and an able-bodied pegasus can fly. That’s all that word means. I couldn’t fly, I still can’t. My body isn’t able to fly, so I am not able-bodied. Rumble was and is able-bodied. So he joined in the practice.”
“But…” Sweetie Belle sat back, thinking. “Are pegasus ponies our age usually able-bodied?”
“About as usually as unicorns being able to cast spells at our age,” Featherweight said. “And how many unicorns do you know who can do magic already, Sweetie Belle?”
“Umm, good point. Wow. Must have been rough, training with that many adults for something you’re not even supposed to be able to do yet,” Sweetie Belle said.
Featherweight nodded and shuffled the pile of pictures. “Ah, here it is, all the pictures Namby used.”
“There’s Blossomforth and Flitter doing wing push-ups. Have you tried that, Scootaloo?”
“My wings aren’t big enough for that yet, Sweetie Belle.”
“Didn’t stop Rumble,” Featherweight noted.
“Huh?”
“Look.” He pointed to the background. “He got a pair of chairs so he could do it, too.”
“Wow. Where’s the workouts, though?” Scootaloo leafed through the pictures.
Featherweight leafed through the pile on his desk. “We should find something here. Let’s see, every able-bodied Ponyville pegasus, unicorns and magic, fits into the old military tradition, yaddayaddayadda, everypony capable of flight is to gather at the local track for practice. The goal is attain a high enough wingpower to break the Equestrian record.”
“Doesn’t it say how they practised?”
He shuffled through some more papers to check. “Not this one, no. Let’s see… here: the Ponyville pegasi are giving it their all: doing wing lifts, wing pushups, wing kicks, and of course full body workouts, to strengthen the core. Their goal: to be able to attain a wingpower of ten each.”
“What’s wingpower?” Scootaloo asked.
“It’s a weather pony term,” Featherweight said. “It measures the force of the wind you’re able to make. It’s easy enough to measure the result, but really hard to calculate and predict, because you don’t just add up force.”
“Err, yeah, you do,” Sweetie Belle said. “Why wouldn’t you?”
Featherweight rolled his eyes. “Because if one pony’s making a wind with wingpower ten, and then another pony rides that wind and adds a wingpower six, you don’t end up with sixteen wingpower. The slower pony doesn’t have to put as much effort into it, so they end up having eight wingpower while the faster pony has twelve. Add that up by a couple dozen and…”
“You can get a huge wingpower, even if you don’t have very strong ponies, as long as you have enough. Wow. That’s really cool,” Scootaloo said.
Sweetie Belle’s ears perked. “Hey, look, there’s Rainbow Dash talking to Fluttershy,” she pointed to another picture.
“What’s that smudge on the bottom? Is that Rumble?”
“Sure looks like it. Huh. I wonder what he was trying to say to her.”
Rumble leaned back, squishing the girly doll’s face with his blank flank. “So, first Rainbow Dash dropped all those notes across town. They said that every able-bodied pegasus had to show at the library. I kind of figured they only meant grownups, but then at the library apparently they said that it really was every pony who could fly who had to do tornado duty.”
Apple Bloom scrunched her nose. “You had to? Why?”
“It’s civic duty, sort of an old tradition that goes back to when pegasi were all warriors. Anyway, since the meeting went past my bedtime, I didn’t go, but I did go the next morning. Everypony had to get tested for how much wingpower they could start off with first. Rainbow Dash let Thunderlane go first, to set the bar.” The boy cleared his throat at that.
“I heard about that. She thought he was just bein’ lazy and faking a cough. Guess she didn’t think it was serious, huh?”
“Never mind that. Anyway, Thunderlane went first, then Rainbow Dash, and she said we all had to get our wingpower up to ten within a week. She wanted Ponyville to get the wingpower record, and that meant ten for everyone. Everypony else measured up after Thunderlane, so they’d know how much they had to improve.”
“Uhuh. So how do you measure wingpower?”
“Normally you just blow with your wings, but since a tornado has to keep everything contained, it had to be measured flying in circles. Everypony went past this meter thingie to measure the wind speed.”
“And?”
He shrugged. “Everypony got around five to eight on the first run, Thunderlane got nine point three, Rainbow Dash got a sixteen point five, easy. Pretty standard. Getting even two points higher is a pretty big deal with wingpower, if you’re flying solo.”
“I don’t mean that, what about you? What’s your wingpower? What’s Scootaloo supposed to have for wingpower?”
He gulped and looked away. “Umm, mine was five point four. That’s what it was then.”
Apple Bloom blinked, trying to fit that number somewhere. “That’s about a five.”
“Yup.”
“Same as everypony else?”
“Yup. On the lower end of it, yes.”
She squinted, thinking. “But wouldn’t that be, you know, a big number for a pony your size, then? Your age, I mean? Scootaloo-”
“Scootaloo should have a wingpower of about one point five, two flat. Three point five if she really pushes it to the limit, but then she wouldn’t be able to fly for a day or so. That’s normal for ponies who are just getting off the ground, doesn’t matter how old they are.” Rumble looked at the ground, his snout curled up into a sulk, it seemed.
“Did… is that a sore spot? I mean, that is somethin’ to be proud of, right? If you were that high already?”
Rumble forced out a smile. “Not really. My big brother and my foalsitters said it was awesome, but that’s about it.”
“Wouldn’t Rainbow Dash say somethin’ about that, then? If you’re that good, she woulda told you, right? No reason not to.”
Again, he shrugged. “She was busy doing her job: helping the stragglers. So she never had to bother with me.”
“But she must have at least patted you on the back, right? She must have noticed, or said something.”
“Honestly, I don’t think she ever even noticed me. ”
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This...Is something I needed. A Rumble Story I can get behind. I will support you till the end of time.
Hmm. Well, I'm certainly intrigued thus far. Discovering Rumble's deeper issues should be fascinating, and there's clearly something eating away at him. It may just be wanting Dash to notice him, but it seems like it may be more complicated than that.
Also, I love the side details, like a few ponies quietly keeping an eye on the foals. Definitely looking forward to seeing where you go with this.
7056581 You said it!
7056721
I like that detail too. They may be sentient but their equine traits wont leave that easily.
Let's see where this goes...
There is something wrong with Rumble. I sense jealousy or a crush.
Hey, this is pretty interesting.
I originally started reading this for AB, but now I want to know more about Rumble. Thus far, it's very well written. No spelling or grammer mistakes. No plot-holes either. I also liked the DT part a lot. I found it quite funny when they'd randomly burst out and insult each other!
Faved!
This is really good , write more !
First off, to everyone: thank you. I just noticed this got featured, and I'm honestly stoked. And here I was thinking I'd lost my touch.
But in all seriousness, though:
7056721
Wait 'till Thunderlane gets involved. You're gonna love him. But that's the sequel. For now, let's just say that much like Blue Moon Bloom, it is complicated. But it doesn't involve bats this time, I promise. Well, aside from one off-hooved remark, but that's nothing.
7056581
Rumble is one of my favorite background characters to play around with, so thank you. It's always reassuring to know I get that character 'right', so to speak.
As for there being mares that keep an eye on kids, it seemed sensible, more than anything else. When you get kids who run (or fly) off on their own all the time, it behooves you to know where they are in case of emergency. Once you think about that, it's just a question of which pony makes more sense as a guardian. Pinkie Pie would have been a perfect fit for that headcanon, too, for example, but her near-omniscience would throw a spanner in the works of any plot.
7056929
The Diamond Tiara part was a hoot to write, I'm glad other people have fun with it, too. There is some background coming on Apple Bloom's reasoning, too. It's not much (because it's a short fic), but there is a reason she's doing this and not the other two CMC.
7056937
I shall. Just another editing pass on the next two chapters and then updates. Then hopefully the sequel will be done at a reasonable time, and the third part won't take too long to write. The song, especially, is a nightmare, along with continuity errors.
*winces* Uh, wow, poor Rumble. Works crazy hard, is the best young flier in Ponyville, and the only people who pay his accomplishments any attention are his brother and his... friends, girlfriends? The relationship isn't very well defined. Anyway, he has a surprisingly good attitude about all of it, but I have a nasty feeling he's just suppressing his jealousy and resentment, and as Luna can attest, that is a very Bad Thing.
Damn, I just realized something. The Cutie Mark Crusaders never even noticed him despite being a blank Flank; Luna, completely skips over him, befriends Pipsqueak and helps Scootaloo, but never gets around to him; depending on your continuity, Discord actually helped the Crusaders, but ignored him as well; and Rainbow Dash, someone he no doubt looks up to, styles herself as Scootaloo's big sister, but probably doesn't even know his name; then you've got Twilight and Twilight Time, again, passed up for the Crusaders... WOW, this never occurred to me before, but Rumble has a veritable ton of reasons to hate the Crusaders, especially for a child. That he doesn't is certainly a credit to his character.
Furthermore, look at how this would appear to a child. The Crusaders, despite constantly getting into trouble, are coddled and rewarded, while Rumble, a dutiful, gifted little colt, gets completely ignored by those around him. He's a good kid, probably gets good grades, he's ambitious, works hard, doesn't get into trouble... but no one so much as looks twice at him. Heck, even Miss Cheerilee heaps attention on the Crusaders. Then you've got Scootaloo, who despite not working half as hard as he does and having virtually no talent at flying gets to have Rainbow Dash as a personal instructor. I guess it's true what they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Now this looks pretty interesting. Rumble is probably doomed though if he has like three stories to work through, one with each CMC.
Interesting characterization of him, I like what I'm seeing so far. Good expansions from canon regarding why he'd be at Hurricane Day but no other pegasus foal would be, and there is some really interesting potential regarding why he is the way he is base on what has been revealed so far.
7057746
I love how you make such a long list, yet appear to have missed pretty much all the points that are going to pop up in this particular story
Yes, this version of Rumble has it rough. Maybe he is biting down on his feelings of resentment. Maybe he'll take the opportunity to talk it out. In which case, good thing he's doing it with Apple Bloom and not Scootaloo, huh?
7058989
Dayum, little boy has it rough. And yeah, Scootaloo would not take it well, not to mention that she's a far better target for his resentment than Apple Bloom. At least with AB he seems to be making a connection (even if it is largely based around mistaken assumptions).
You know, this actually gives me an idea for a story. Years after canon Scootaloo applies to join the Wonderbolts and just barely scrapes by in her application tests, her final decider? The current leader of the Wonderbolts, Rumble, who quite obviously hates her guts. Now Scootaloo, an otherwise average flier at her physical peak, has to find a way to convince Rumble to vote in her favor before time runs out on her.
Essentially, the conflict boils down to this; Scootaloo's dream is to be a Wonderbolt like her surrogate big sister, Rainbow Dash, but she's just barely good enough to be a Wonderbolt in the first place, and she's currently in the best shape of her life. If she misses this chance she might not ever do this well again, she might not ever become a Wonderbolt, and so she needs Rumble to vouch for her. Problem is, Rumble despises her, he blames the Cutie Mark Crusaders for ruining his childhood and he wants nothing to do with her. This is all news to Scootaloo, who is now stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I think it would be a good way to show the other side of the story, how certain events in canon looked to a 'background pony.' And the effects they had beyond those shown, I actually have a few ideas on that front as well. For example, do you remember the school paper? How they had a news press and everything, how they sold to adults for actual money; what if that was all because of the work of a few industrious foals? Maybe they were looking to get a head-start on their careers. So they put their time, their effort, their heart and soul into that paper until Gabby Gums comes along and the Foal Free Press is shut down. Now, try and imagine what that would do to a child.
Or the Discord event, the Crusaders caused that to happen in the first place. Imagine how many lives were thrown into complete disarray because of their actions, try and think about what some of the long-term consequences to something like that might be. Furthermore, imagine how the adults in Ponyville would learn to treat children after dealing with the Crusaders for so long. Or how despite being a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they completely ignored at least four other blank flank children (Rumble, Pipsqueak, Dinky Doo, Ruby Pinch, etc.). The fact that it's so easy for me to come up with this stuff at all should say that something is wrong.
The surrogate joke had me crack up laughing.