Friendship's New Flight: Change in Direction

by Masterob

Change Starts

Rumble sighed deepy, wondering how his life had changed in the past year.

The moment he, his brother, Flitter and Cloudchaser befriended Rainbow Dash was such a special occasion, prior to that, he was mostly a shy young colt who had trouble making many friends, especially with fillies. After befriending Rainbow Dash though, it was quite a bumpy ride, it took the four Pegusai a while, to befriend the others, especially Applejack, but it worked out in the end, thankfully.

Not long afterwards, Rumble had to deal with the growing affection The Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom liked him right away, citing that he's a nice, sweet and cute kid. Sweetie Belle seemingly hated him at first but she grew to love him, revealing she always had but wasn't too confident in admitting that. Babs Seed also hated him at first but grew to love him as well, stating he's actually a cute kid and finally Scootaloo who invited him into the group, then kicked him out due to a whole mess of things, but have since made peace.

Rumble also helped settle a rivalry with between Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust, befriending Lightning and her marefriend Trixie in the process.

Then things started going bad for Rumble, it all started the night he and Sweetie Belle got together very intimately, the anger in Rarity's eyes, the trouble he caused, the awkward position he put himself in, he couldn't bare it. After that he had punched Diamond Tiara, clocking her really good, getting him in more trouble. He, along with his brother, foalsitters and Rainbow left for Cloudsdale for some time until they were all invited to the Crystal Empire.

There Rumble had made things worse for himself, having slept with all the crusaders, plus Dinky, despite being warned not to by her foalsitter Derpy.

Soon he was mouthing off, disrespecting others, including Derpy and Spike, even getting into a fight with the dragon, that landed him in huge trouble, and to make things worse...Rainbow and his brother had stopped dating after an incident of Rainbow cheating on Thunderlane.

Now Thunderlane is dating Twilight Sparkle, and Rumble hates it. Twilight is nothing like Rainbow, while Rainbow was fun, Twilight wasn't. While that's how Rumble sees it, Thunderlane has a different opinion.

Twilight cares about Thunderlane very much, they would always spend time together, unlike with Rainbow Dash where it was usually competitive. While Rainbow seemed to mostly care about getting her fill of raw love, Twilight was a bit more gentle, actually sitting and talking with Thunderlane, enlightening stuff.

Now you think that Rumble would be ok with a more leveled marefriend for his brother, but Twilight has been a bit overbearing on him.
Ever since the situation with the fillies, Twilight has cracked down on Rumble big time, always keeping an eye on him, making sure he stays in line, he couldn't see the fillies unless an older pony was nearby. She was also just plain boring, she didn't bond with him like Rainbow did, she played too much authority.

Plus spending time with Twilight also meant Rumble having to deal with Spike, and it's no secret that Rumble dislikes Spike to a great extent.

To make things worse, Thunderlane and Twilight have really gotten serious over the last few months. Their dating had increased exponentially, it got to a point where they had quite a few sleepovers, though neither did much sleeping. It started to dawn on Rumble that their relationship was growing a lot, and he didn't like it.

One day Rumble was playing in the park with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, with Applejack, Rarity and Cloudchaser foalsitting. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle still liked being with Rumble, Scootaloo wasn't sure what to make of him though.

Soon Amethyst Star and Derpy arrived with Dinky, the young filly eager to play with her friends.

"Howdy Amethyst, howdy Derpy", Applejack greeted with a tip of her hat.

"Hi girls, me and Derpy came to leave my sister to play with the Crusaders", Amethyst looked to find Rumble among the girls and frowned, "Why is he still even around those girls?"

Applejack looked over to Rumble, "Ah know y'all have mixed feelings about Rumble, but he's a really nice boy, he just made a few errors in judgment, it ain't to fair to judge him fer that."

"Yeah, major errors in judgement, seriously how can he still be around those girls like nothing considering everything they did in the bedroom," Amethyst said.

Dinky groaned, "He said sorry sis."

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that he was a real moron lately, acting on his stallion hormones and stuff," Amethyst pointed out.

Cloudchaser rolled her eyes and spoke up, "Rumble's received his punishment, he's taken it and he hasn't tried anything funny since. He's been around Dinky without anything screwy happening, just leave her here for now. Me along with Rarity, Applejack and Derpy can watch over him."

Amethyst sighed, "Fine...but if he tries anything at all."

"We'll watch him, don't worry dear", Rarity said.

Amethyst gave the notion for Dinky to go play with the others, then turned to Derpy, "You know what to do."

Derpy nodded, "Yes Amythest."

Once Amythest left, Derpy kept a close eye on the group.

Dinky had joined the Crusaders for their game and played a bit, so far so good, Rumble wasn't doing anything he shouldn't. He got along with the girls just fine, no surprise with Rarity, Applejack and Cloudchaser, contrary to the beliefs of many ponies. Rumble was very well behaved when it came to this stuff, he realized he did something he probably shouldn't have and since then had not done it again, despite his occasional urges.

Being surrounded by pretty fillies does take an affect on a young teenaged mind like Rumble's but he tries hard, and has his friends to remind him, as long as it's his friends.

Since Twilight had started dating Thunderlane, she has become a lot more instructive over Rumble, and if he even thinks of stepping out of line, Twilight swoops in and straightens him out.

But unfortunately for Rumble, he has a bad luck tendency. While playing with the girls, Dinky had accidentally kicked the ball they were playing with into a tree, leaving it stuck there.

"Smooth move Dinky! Now our ball's stuck!" Scootaloo complained.

"Scoots, relax, no big deal, Rumble could go get it", Apple Bloom turned to Rumble, "Ya mind flying up and getting the ball?"

"No problem", but before he can fly, Dinky stopped him.

"I'll get it, I got it up there, I can get it down."

Rumble raised his eyebrow, "It's pretty high, and you sometimes have trouble with your magic."

"My magic's fine, but I wanna do something fun!" Dinky then started to climb the tree to get the ball.

"Why is she doing that? What if she falls and hurts herself?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Don't worry, I'm fast enough catch her", Rumble reassured, almost arrogantly but truthfully.

When she reached the top, she was able to grab the ball and toss it down, but afterwards she thought she heard a snap.
She looked to the side and saw that the branch was breaking, "Oh crap!"

Once the branch broke, Dinky fell to the ground. Luckily Rumble flew in and caught her, or rather she landed on him. Rumble rubbed his head and looked up, Dinky was on top of him, her back on his stomach.

When Dinky turned around, she noticed Rumble and blushed when she noticed the position the two were in, "Awkward."

Rumble chuckled a bit, "Yeah, awkward."

All the foals sans Scootaloo chuckled, but it ended when Derpy was seen standing nearby, a cold glare on her face aimed at Rumble.
Rumble noticed her and her glare, believing that she has the wrong idea, "Uh oh."

Dinky also noticed and realized the situation, so she quickly got off Rumble with a look of worry in her eyes. "Nothing happened!"

Derpy didn't look too convinced, she continued glaring at Rumble, what made it more intense was how focused her glare was, her eyes weren't crossed like they usually were, they were totally focused on Rumble.

Rumble felt really uncomfortable at the glare she gave him, then remembered the last time he got her angry. He really doesn't wanna see that anger from her again. He quickly backed away a little and flew off, far away from the group.

The other ponies ran up to them, Cloudchaser looked for Rumble, "What happened here? We heard a thud...where's Rumble?"

"He flew away, Derpy thought he was up to something when she found Dinky on top of him", Apple Bloom explained.

"He left!? Where'd he go!?" Cloudchaser asked.

The Crusaders pointed in the direction and Cloudchaser followed in a hurry, wanting to check on the growing foal. Rarity and Applejack however glared at Derpy.

"Ah thought you put this behind you!" Applejack said.

"I said I would forgive him, I never said I would forget what he did," Derpy pointed out almost arrogantly.

"You kinda scared him though, he's been really worried about this lately", Applejack said.

"I know he's feeling horrible about it, and the likes of myself, Amethyst, Twilight and Spike intend to keep him that way until we're sure he won't try this again," Derpy said.

Sweetie huffed, "Why is it such a big deal anyway? It was fun, I have no regrets"

"Same here", Apple Bloom said.

"Ditto", Dinky said, earning a flare from Derpy.

"This isn't a game young filly, this is serious."

"Wow Derpy, you're sounding like you're my mom", Dinky said.

"I am your Godmother, so that's pretty close I would say," Derpy pointed out.

"Still Derpy, you're being a little harsh with the poor colt", Rarity said.

Derpy groaned, "How can you be just fine with what he did to your sister, twice I might add, I heard the first time you were pretty angry, where's all that!?"

"I didn't realize that Sweetie made the first move, nonetheless, what's done is done, he's a fine young boy and he clearly took good enough care of my sister. No harm, no foul," Rarity said.

Derpy rolled his eyes, "This is why ponies think you're an airhead, what does that tell you coming from a klutz like me?"

Rarity glared, "I beg your pardon!"

Applejack stepped in, "Relax, I'll handle this", she turned to Derpy, "Look ah get yer concerned for Dinky but please go easy on Rumble, ah made the mistake of being too rough on him and it nearly cost me mah old friends and mah current ones. These young ones are going through puberty, it's a confusing time and when you really think about it, the blame falls on us for not taking the proper precautions on this. We should have made sure to take the time to explain this subject better, not to mention Rumble had bad influence from Rainbow Dash, Trixie and Lightning Dust in regards to this"

"Applejack...you're being too easy on him, in fact all of you are, you should have done something after the first time he did this, instead you let him runaway to Cloudsdale," Derpy said.

Applejack sighed, "Just take it easy, will ya? If there's a problem, we'll all step in."

Derpy scoffed, "I doubt that."

Applejack glared a bit but didn't want to drag this out any longer, knowing it would grow to be a bigger headache than she wants. "Do whatever you want Derpy."

Derpy simply turned to Dinky, "Let's go"

Dinky looked bummed, "Now?"

"Yes now, come on," Derpy instructed.

Dinky sighed, "Fine", she turned to the Crusaders, "Bye girls."

The Crusaders waved as Derpy left with Dinky.

Moments after they left, Dinky let out a groan, "Why did we have to leave? I was still having fun."

"Amethyst said to let you play for a little bit, besides I want to leave Applejack and Rarity to think about what I said," Derpy said.

Dinky looked to the side, "He's not a bad colt, he's really nice. Plus he really does care about us."

Derpy looked to the side a little. , "I know he's not a bad colt, but he's very hormonal right now. Believe it or not I'm worried about him myself, years ago he was the sweetest little thing, now he's had some issues, mainly due to the bullying he went through plus the bad influence. This is a hard time for stallions, they have that instinct to mate with the mares, not that mares have it easy, heat cycles are a pain." Derpy smiled a little. "But I know he's nice, I'm still grateful that he saved my job and he fessed up, takes a lot of courage to do that. But to make things easier on him, I really don't think he should be with you girls, if I left you the way you two were back there, he might have felt his instincts kick in, plus the last thing we want is for you fillies to act on your heat cycles."

Dinky scrunched her face in uncertainty, "I think you're just being too worried."

Much to Dinky's surprise, Derpy chuckled at that, "Only because I love you", she ruffled Dinky's mane, "You're my precious little muffin and I just want what's best for you."

Dinky simply smirked and walked with Derpy, though still feeling bad for Rumble.

Author's Note:

Poor foals, they're becoming mares and stallions, and it's not easy for them.