Rumble's Offbeat Yet Tender Romance

by Daemonabacus

A School Day with Unexpected Complications (Part 2)

"Alright class, I think we've covered enough about polynomials for the day. Which means, you can all start working on your Hearts and Hooves Dance posters!" Cheerilee cleared the dusty chalkboard of the day's notes and began re-writing.

The schoolhouse of fillies and colts, awakening from the mathematically induced haze, rose to attention like Meerkats greeting the dawn.

"Miss Steps, this year's dance instructor and show director, specified to me that your posters can be as creative and colorful as you'd like. However," Cheerilee cleared her throat, "there are some rules." Rumble rolled his eyes from the back of the class.

"1. The posters should be clear to read: 'Hearts and Hooves Dance, all are invited.' Your names should be written discreetly in a corner." Cheerilee looked at no-pony in particular.

"2. The posters shouldn't be larger than this poster board." Cheerilee lifted a stack of paper for the class to use and set it down on her desk. "We aren't making billboards here." Cheerilee eyed Diamond Tiara.

"And finally, 3. All contents of your posters should be school appropriate. I'll define what that means, so please ask me if you aren't sure what that means." Cheerilee eyed Snips and Snails.

Leaving the rule ridden chalkboard, Cheerilee rolled out the arts and crafts cart for her students to use. "Ok class, you can get to work, and remember this is a friendly competition so have fun!"

---

Rumble sat hunched over his desk with drooped wings, a pencil in mouth, and a very sullen scowl. A cutie mark crisis, girl problems, and a sudden lack of confidence were together the worst blend of bad-day Rumble had woken up to yet. Now what, he had to make a poster?

Rumble sighed.

The poster competition initially sounded like a fun distraction, some artsy assignment that could be done with minimal mental effort; a relaxing challenge. But when Cheerilee said "Hearts and Hooves Day" and "rules" in the same sentence all the things bothering him returned to the forefront of his mind.

'Hearts and Hooves Day is the shallowest, phoniest holiday on the Equestrian calendar,' Rumble thought.

All across equestria, Mares and Stallions will spend their time and bits on nick nacks for their special someponys. Maybe some tasty flowers or chocolate, a romantic outing, a lovely song?

Whatever, point being: all those things would supposedly culminate in a romantic setting so entrancing and suffocating that a couple's true love for each other would blossom, they would see eye to eye, and everything would be perfect. Hay, the couple could get married right there and then! Because Hearts and Hooves Day helped them see: it was always meant to be!

Why did so many ponies buy into this? Does anypony realize how silly it is to say you're going to do something special for somepony else, at the same time as everypony else? And, the same hoof full of things no less?

Which brought cutie marks to mind.

How do cutie marks make anypony special if we all get them? Sure they are a 'rite of passage' as some like to say, and a little celebration and support amongst family is welcome (Rumble would admit that much) but why jump to the conclusion: since you got your cutie mark now, it should be the thing that guides the rest of your life? And not yourself?

It's foolish to call something so arbitrary destiny but it's the norm and it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A foal gets their cutie mark, society tells them it's super duper important, they rationalize why they even got it, and boom: it was always meant to be!

Just like Hearts and Hooves Day.

You wouldn't jump to marry the first pony you date, so why would anypony want to marry the first special talent they get? Because of an arbitrary cutie mark? Which mind you, we still don't have an understanding from where or why they appear.

All of these bogguss rules and ideas which ponies just seemed to eat up so easily (Hearts and Hooves Day will help you find true love, or your cutie mark will lead your life) all frustrated and depressed Rumble in ways no foal should have to deal with before adulthood. Why couldn't others see the world for what it really was? Why couldn't anypony else see the contradictions?! Was Rumble the only pony thinking outside the box?

Rumble looked down at his desk, feeling completely defeated. Crafts paper, scissors, crayons, and sap-based adhesive were at his disposal to create the most beautiful poster he could imagine. But that thought had been spoiled by his new world view; everything seemed so phony now. Nothing was safe from the ridiculousness of cutie marks!

Rumble took out The Catcher in the Hay from his saddle bag and wondered while staring at the cover: 'Maybe I would have been better off not knowing...'

Rumble continued looking at the notorious book that had opened his eyes.

The book's cover was a bright red and cream. A sketch of the Manehattan cityscape and park was its backdrop and at its front and center: a dejected pony trotted; metaphorically trapped cycling in a carousel, around and around, never able to escape the confines of his life defined by his cutie mark.

Despite the grim symbolic image, Rumble was captivated. The book's cover was actually sort of pretty. The colors were bold, the sketch lines rough but clear, and all together the dramatic display was rather poetic given how the novel ended.

'How could somepony be so sad, yet look so pretty too?'

Then memories of Tender Taps' dancing came flooding back to the forefront of Rumble's imagination. The orange colt stood still inside the dancing school. He then began dancing. A spotlight appeared and followed him around as the rest of the class faded into darkness.

Tender Taps twisted and turned elegantly with a sturdy rhythm, his gestures and strides were effortless yet powerful. Tender Taps was an earth pony but, at that moment, he could fly.

Suddenly Miss Steps entered the scene, she appeared as a dark silent shadow and she too danced.

Taking the role of a shadowplay villain, aiming to ruthlessly stop the hero, Miss Steps approached Tender Taps. The shadow raised her body and front limbs upwards and forwards, conveying a shunning gesture, and without a single word or sound Tender Taps fell. His once graceful dancing stopped, his body fell limp, his mane tousled.

The villainous shadow then bowed, picking up a life-less Tender Taps. The shadow carried Tender Taps over with a skip and a twirl, and placed him inside a bright red carousel.

Having finished her evil plot, the shadow exited. Tender Taps then slowly rose again, beginning to dance as the carousel began to spin.

The once graceful colt now took small strides, he bent his body in the cramped carousel trying to recreate the movements he had done before, he slowly came back to life but his prison impaired his movement.

Rumble was angered by the scene, he imagined himself shouting from the darkness, encouraging the colt to not give up hope.

Then, as if responding to his cries, Tender Taps began to glow a faint red. He stood up and ignited into a hot red blaze! His features were outlined with bold charcoal strokes; he became a dancing flame.

Tender Taps became the Carousel pony. He was unable to do anything else but dance, stuck spinning around and around, but he gave it his all. The flames coming off of him grew and the glow became brighter than a carnival. The carossle began to bulge and bend outwards with the intense heat, giving Tender Taps just enough room to continue dancing elegantly again.

His movements were nothing short of awe inspiring. He was beautiful.

Entranced by the fantasy, Rumble knew what his poster had to be. He couldn't care less about Hearts and Hooves Day but if the ponies of Ponyville were going to attend the dance, it would be to see Tender Taps perform.

Without so much but a gentle shake, Rumble exorcised all the bad thoughts previously haunting his mind. He set his book aside and began picking colored paper from a crafts bin. Rumble coated his poster board with adhesive, meticulously cut colored paper, and laid down every snipping of paper in a zen-like state, with coordination rivaling that of Tender Taps' elegant dancing. Everything else seemed to fade away.

Rumble didn't notice all the other fillies and colts leave class for recess, not until he had finished his poster and Cheerilee had appeared behind him. She tried not to disturb his concentration with a quiet complement, but Rumble was startled anyway.

"Wow, very nice Rumble, I see you must have really enjoyed that book I recommended," Cherilee said kindly.

"Oh, uh thanks," Rumble replied still a little startled.

"I do have to ask though, what about the Hearts and Hooves Dance made you think of The Catcher in the Hay?"

Rumble thought for a moment, looking back to his poster and retracing his steps. Cheerilee was an adult, she had read the book too, maybe she would understand him.

"I saw a colt dancing in the morning, he was actually practicing for the dance..."

"Oh, really".

"Yeah, he was really, really good too. He seemed like a professional dancer, but..." Rumble looked away from Chirelie unable to make eye contact, "he was also sort of sad."

"Why was he sad?"

"He was having a lot of fun dancing his own way, really making a show of things and experimenting, until his teacher told him to stop and do some boring dance she choreographed for the event." Rumble sighed, "it was like she took the life out of him. One moment he was happy, the next he was sad and bored; it reminded me of Golden in the book."

"AH, I see. So his colt you saw, is the one on the poster," Cheerilee looked closer at Rumble's art, "...and you drew him like the carousel pony because...he was sad?"

Impatiently and almost a little angrily, Rumble answered. "Sort of. I drew him like the carousel pony because he's going through the same stuff as Golden...Tender Taps, that's the colts name, was perfectly happy until his teacher told him to stop being creative. He was happy dancing until an adult told him to grow-up and follow what his cutie mark says he's supposed to do."

"Oh," Cheerilee responded flatly, thinking and glancing down at Rumble's blank flank. "I guess that does sort of sound like Golden. Don't you think that's a little exaggerated, though? Maybe Tender Taps was behind and he needed to practice."

"No, Miss Cheerilee. You should have seen him, he didn't need the practice, that boring routine was nothing for Tender Taps... Just like the carousel pony, Tender Taps has to do what he's told and was sad as a result." Rumble declared, matter-of-factly.

Cheerilee wasn't entirely convinced, "Uh, Rumble... I'm not sure you understand what the carousel symbolizes then..."

Rumble stared incredulously.

"The carousel isn't a prison necessarily, it's deeper than that. When Golden sees the carousel pony at the end of the book, and how happy his sister is, he comes to an epiphany."

Cheerilee took Rumble's copy of the book and pointed at the cover, "The carousel pony represents a happy acceptance of maturity. As ponies grow-up and get their cutie marks they realize what their roles in life are supposed to be and then have to begin an endless cycle of constant maturity with no clear end in sight."

Cheerilee frowns just a little bit, but quickly regains a small smile, as to encourage Rumble to keep thinking about the book. "The carousel isn't a cage Rumble, it's like a circular path."

"I don't know Miss Cheerilee, ponies stuck going round and round in a carousel sounds pretty melancholy to me."

Cheerilee held back a sigh. "Well Rumble, that's what ponies typically get from the book. And lots of pony scholars have analyzed this book over the millennia." Cheerilee gave Rumble back his book, "Either way, I still think your poster is pretty, I'm sure it's still topical in some sense."

Cheerilee then took Rumble's poster and added it with the others. Cheerilee looked back at Rumble, "Say Rumble?"

"Uh, yeah Miss Cheerilee?"

"Would you mind taking these to the dancing school for me, Miss Steps will be grading them, not me. Maybe you could use the opportunity to cheer up that colt you saw in the morning."

Not wanting to argue further with Cheerilee, Rumble withheld how he had already told Tender Taps to ignore Miss Step's instructions. Cherilee was just like all the other adults. "Sure Miss Cheerilee I wouldn't mind..."

Author's Note:

I'm back Y'all! So, as I've already elaborated, it's summer so more chapters are on the way, hiatus over. YAY! I can't promise weekly uploads or anything like that, but I will be working at a ~constant~ pace now.

As always, constructive criticism is more than welcome and I hope you enjoy the story I hope to tell. Wish me luck.

Comments

[That One Strange Fellow]

The schoolhouse of fillies and colts, awakening from the mathematically induced haze, rose to attention like Meerkats greeting the dawn.

*meerkats, it isn't a proper noun.

Whatever, point being: all those things would supposedly culminate in a romantic setting so entrancing and suffocating that a couple's true love for each other would blossom, they would see eye to eye, and everything would be perfect . Hell, the couple could get married right there and then! Because Hearts and Hooves Day helped them see: it was always meant to be!

Rather than 'Hell,' try the more canon-friendly 'Hay.'

Does anypony realize how silly it is to say you're going to do something special for somepony-else, at the same time as everypony-else?

Hyphens are improper.

(Which mind you, we still don't have an understanding from where or why they appear.)

Brackets should be used extremely rarely in writing. The only time I've found when they're appropriate is specifically first-person stories.

Taking the role of a shadowplay villain, aiming to ruthlessly stop the hero, Miss Steps' approached Tender Taps.

Misplaced possessive apostrophe

"The carousel isn't a prison necessarily, it's deeper than that. When Golden sees the carousel pony at the end of the book, and how happy his fille sister is, he comes to an epiphany."

Fille? Is it supposed to be filly or 'a young unmarried woman'? I don't feel either word fits here.

...

Loving philosophical Rumble! Hope to see more of Tender Taps' personality in the coming chapters!

Also:

Hearts and Hooves Day

YYEEEEEESSSSSS!!!