I - Being Watched

“Rumble!” the dark grey Pegasus called down the hallway. “Rumble! What are you doing?”

A voice came from the back of the house, through a door cracked slightly open on one side. “I’m trying to do my homework! Miss Cheerilee wants this book report done by tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Thunderlane called back. “Can you come out for one minute so I can tell you something?”

A light-grey head with a darker mane and violet eyes popped out from the door and stared quizzically at Thunderlane. “What is it?”

“I’ve been called in for weather duty at Ponyville,” Thunderlane said, quieting down from the shouting. “I don’t know how long this storm will last, but I need to be there to help get clouds into position for the rain and to help disperse them when the storm’s over. Since I wasn’t given a time frame, I’ve asked Flitter and Cloudchaser to come over and watch you and the house. If you have any troubles with your homework, both are really smart and should be able to help you out.”

“Okay. What about dinner?”

“Cloudchaser said she’s stopping by the sandwich shop and Sugarcube Corner for dinner for the three of you. I gave her your usual order of a daffodil and daisy sandwich, add carrots and mustard.”

“Thanks, brother.”

“You’re welcome. They’ll be coming in five minutes. I’ve told them to call inside to let you know they’re here. Be in bed by ten, okay!”

“Okay. Bye, Thunderlane!”

“See you later, Rumble.” And the dark grey pegasus left the house, leaving Rumble to himself.

Rumble didn’t mind. The pegasus colt hadn’t been stalling on the book report, but he did want the time to add a few more things he thought he missed. Then there was the math homework he needed to do, as well. Rumble went back to his desk and grabbed the pencil in his mouth again before setting himself back to work as the sounds of a Canterlot symphony came from the CD player in his room.

A few minutes later, there was a few knocks on the door. Rumble, remembering his brother’s instructions, kept quiet and continued working. The knocks returned, and still Rumble didn’t get up. After a few moments of silence, there came a voice from outside the house.

“Rumble! It’s Flitter and Cloudchaser!”

At last, Rumble got up and left the room. He trotted down the hall and over to the door, opening it to see two faintly-lavender pegasi mares standing just outside. One had a lighter teal mane that fell down around her neck and shoulders, while the other had a lighter blue mane that was wild and went out in all directions. The light teal mare was holding two bags in her mouth, while the light blue mare had two videotapes in hers.

“Hey, Flitter. Hey, Cloudchaser,” Rumble said as he let the two pegasi in.

Flitter set the two bags on the counter and began shuffling through them. “Hey, Rumble! Thunderlane already left for weather patrol?”

“Yeah,” Rumble said as Cloudchaser went into the living room and started messing with the TV.

“I’m guessing he didn’t have time to fix dinner,” Flitter said, “since he called us to get dinner for all three of us on the way here.”

“You really think Thunderlane can cook?” Cloudchaser said as she found a program on Equestrian wildlife. “He can hardly make a proper salad to save his life. Didn’t he burn it once?”

Rumble giggled and nodded. The giggling soon extended to Flitter, who Rumble noticed had a slight blush in her cheeks. It soon disappeared and Rumble just figured that it was due to Cloudchaser’s comment about Thunderlane, who she had started dating a few weeks ago. Rumble didn’t mind; he liked Flitter and was happy when Thunderlane had broken up with a brash pegasus mare a few months earlier.

“Well, you hungry?” Flitter asked, pulling out a few sandwiches and passing one to Rumble, who immediately inspected the contents. It was a standard daffodil and daisy sandwich, with a few carrots added in and a small amount of mustard spread over the bread. Flitter put the sandwich on a plate and gave Rumble a few of the potato chips she had picked up to go with it.

Cloudchaser walked over to the counter as Rumble took his plate to a cloud table nearby. “Hey, squirt!” she said to Rumble. “You got any homework?”

“Yeah,” Rumble said. “There’s a book report and a math assignment due tomorrow. I’m almost done with the book report, though.”

“Ah,” Cloudchaser said. “Here’s some more incentive to finish: Flitter and I brought over two of the Daring Do films, including the adaptation of ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’! Ever seen it yet?”

“I went to see it with Thunderlane in the theater, but I wanna see it again!”

Cloudchaser took her plate and sat down next to Rumble, tousling his mane with one of her hooves. “Make sure you finish your homework, then! And don’t forget either me or Flitter can come and help you if you need it.”

Flitter got her plate ready and the three ate their sandwiches while Flitter and Cloudchaser started talking about weather patrol, every once in a while adding a note to Rumble about something Thunderlane had done that he would find particularly cool, such as getting new personal records in cloud-kicking and leading teams in kicking thunder clouds to fight off enemies from the Everfree Forest that strayed too close to Cloudsdale or Ponyville. Rumble found the stories cool, but he found it funny when Cloudchaser and Flitter started playfully arguing about who would tell him about what event. Dinner ended before the arguments got too heated, and Rumble thanked Flitter and Cloudchaser for the meal before heading back to his room to continue his homework.

Back at his desk, Rumble added a few sentences to the book report and pushed it aside, glad to have gotten the major assignment out of the way. Rumble went over to his saddlebag backpack and pulled out a book, a calculator, and a few pieces of paper before heading over to his desk to begin his math assignment.

Rumble hated math. He liked almost every subject in school, but he didn’t like math. It wasn’t that Miss Cheerilee was a bad teacher; it was just boring sitting around in class listening to his teacher describe how to add fractions or how to do long division. His grades weren’t suffering, but only because he often got his brother to tutor him a few days before the test. Rumble managed to make his way through four of the twenty problems on his math assignment before he felt his brain fry and became unsure of what to do.

“Flitter!” Rumble called. “Cloudchaser! Can one of you help me with my math assignment?”

There was a bit of silence as Rumble attempted to continue the problem, ignoring the shuffling, then scuffling, that was going on in the living room. Eventually, Cloudchaser walked in, hair more messed up than it usually was and a small red mark on one of her shoulders.

“Math assignment, huh?” Cloudchaser said, looking over Rumble’s shoulder at the book and paper. “Let’s see what you got… well, it looks like you’re going in the right direction, so what’s your problem?”

Rumble showed Cloudchaser the problem, and the mare began guiding the young colt through the next three problems, showing him how to do two of them and watching as he did the third on his own. Rumble smiled and flapped his wings happily.

“Thank you, Cloudchaser!”

“You’re welcome, squirt,” Cloudchaser said, offering a smile back; her cheeks were redder than her sister’s were earlier at the dinner table. “I was never that good at math either. Keep it up and you’ll be smarter than your brother.” Cloudchaser winked, then turned around and left the room.

Rumble’s smile changed into a confused stare as Cloudchaser left the room, unsure of what happened. He shrugged after a minute and continued with his math homework, taking note of the clock on his dresser blinking to 7:30. He continued on with the work as best as he could, remembering the steps Cloudchaser had shown him as he worked through each problem individually.

“Rumble!” the colt heard Flitter call. “You’ve been in there for nearly two hours. Are you done yet?”

Rumble looked at the clock and saw 7:45. “I finished the book report,” Rumble called back, “but I’m still working on the math assignment. I got half the problems done, now.” And he started on the eleventh problem, wishing Thunderlane was there to help him.

There were a few moments of silence before a soft knocking came at his door. Rumble turned around to see Flitter standing there. “Me and Cloudchaser were gonna put in ‘Daring Do’ now. Do you want to come out and relax a little before continuing? We got some cookies from Sugarcube Corner for desert.”

Since he wasn’t the best at math already, Rumble normally would have declined and asked to save it for a little later when he was done. However, no one could pass up one of the sweet treats from Sugarcube Corner, especially those made by Pinkie Pie, the expert in sweet-tasting goodies. At that moment, Rumble heard Cloudchaser opening up the second bag and the smell of warm, fresh-baked cookies soon reached Rumble’s nose, the colt taking a deep sniff of the smell.

“I suppose a short break wouldn’t hurt.”

Rumble followed Flitter out to the kitchen where Cloudchaser was preparing napkins and a few glasses of milk. Rumble took one of the napkins and a glass of milk Cloudchaser gave him and walked over to the living room, taking a seat on the couch as Flitter set up the video. It wasn’t long before Rumble forgot about his math homework as he sat on the couch eating the cookies and drinking the milk, Flitter on one side and Cloudchaser on the other as he watched the tale of Daring Do play out before him. A little bit later, Rumble got up during a quiet part to go use the restroom and took a short stop in the kitchen for a drink of water before returning. As he left he glanced at the clock.

“Nine thirty!?” Rumble exclaimed. “It’s nearly time for bed and I—”

“Rumble!” Flitter called. “Are you okay?”

“I lost track of time!” Rumble said, wings flapping in panic so fast he started to float off the cloud floor. “I need to finish my math homework, but it’s nine thirty and big brother wants me to be in bed by ten!”

“Oh, come on!” Cloudchaser said as she paused the Daring Do film. “You do most of your other assignments, don’t you?”

“I do all of the assignments!” Rumble protested.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cloudchaser said. “Homework is for making sure that you know how to do the stuff, and you were able to figure it out. Besides, a few points loss isn’t going to hurt your grades too much.”

“But I only know because you showed me!” Rumble protested again.

“Oh, lighten up!” Flitter said, coming into the kitchen and pushing Rumble back into the living room. “Cloudchaser’s right; a few points off one assignment isn’t going to put you in jeopardy.”

Rumble started flapping his wings as fast as he could and before Flitter could catch him the pegasus colt had turned into a grey blur that bolted back down the hall and into the bedroom before closing the door. Rumble frantically picked up the pencil in his mouth and started working on the homework again. He managed to get through three more problems before the knocks came again.

“Rumble!” he heard Cloudchaser call from outside the door.

Rumble tried to ignore Cloudchaser. La la la… I can’t hear you… I need to do my homework…

“Rumble!” Cloudchaser called again. “It’s ten fifteen.”

Rumble looked at the clock on his dresser and jumped in surprise when he noticed that Cloudchaser was right. It was fifteen minutes past his bedtime, and who knew when Thunderlane would come home. Rumble started picking up his homework and put it away in his pack, but before he could get his math put away Cloudchaser called again.

“I know your bro said bedtime was ten, but he’d understand if you were still up if we were helping you with your homework, wouldn’t he?”

Rumble paused.

“So, I’ll cut you a deal: you can stay up and finish your homework, but you have to come out with me and Flitter while we watch the other ‘Daring Do’ movie. Think of it as having a little background noise while we finish and you get to finish your work. You up for it?”

Rumble stopped. Thunderlane would get mad at him for staying up much later, especially with school the next day. However, being out in the living room with Flitter and Cloudchaser meant the two mares would be able to help him whenever he needed it and he might actually be able to finish his homework.

“…okay. Give me a minute.”

Rumble gathered up his supplies as Cloudchaser opened the door, and the two made their way out to the living room. Rumble set his paper down on the living room table and started to work, going through the problems as the next Daring Do movie played, having the slightest feeling that Flitter and Cloudchaser were watching him more than the movie.

After a short while, Rumble still had four problems left on the assignment, and one wasn’t even finished, but he could feel his head drop as it became later and later. There was even one point where he sort of slumped over and laid his head down in the book, but propped himself back up and shook his head to stay awake. Eventually, he felt a soft tapping on his back.

“You tired?” Flitter asked.

Rumble nodded.

“Here,” Flitter arranged herself on the couch until she was sitting with her back legs dangling off the couch; Rumble remembered Lyra sitting like that once on a bench down in Ponyville and getting a few amused stares. “You can lay down here for a minute if you want.”

Rumble decided that sounded like a good idea and climbed up on the couch between Flitter and Cloudchaser, lying down in Flitter’s lap and closing his eyes as he felt Cloudchaser gently pet his grey coat.

“He’s so cute!” he heard Cloudchaser whisper excitedly above him.

“And his coat’s soft!” Flitter said.

“He’s probably cuter than Thunderlane,” Cloudchaser said teasingly.

“I’ll admit, it’s a close call,” Flitter said.

Rumble fidgeted a little in Flitter’s lap, trying to convince himself to stay up if only for a minute longer to finish his homework. Laziness prevailed. As did Cloudchaser singing.
Hush now, quiet now,
It’s time to lay your sleepy head.
Hush now, quiet now,
It’s time to go to bed…

II - School Daze

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Rumble woke up to a loud and annoying beeping sound close to his ear. He opened a sleepy eye and looked at the source of the noise: an alarm clock on his bed. The clock read 8:00 am. Rumble was thankful that his brother had yet to bang on his door to wake him up; he still had at least an hour before school started.

That thought woke Rumble up. He had one hour until school and his math homework wasn’t finished. Scrambling out of bed, Rumble found his pencil, book and paper on the desk in his room, paper neatly tucked inside the book with the pencil lying on top of it as though he had finished it. Rumble opened the book to check that the homework wasn’t finished; one was close to being finished, but there were three more of the twenty left. It was a B grade by most students’ standards, but Rumble wasn’t even sure all of them were correct. He had Cloudchaser’s and Flitter’s help on some, but not all which meant he wasn’t sure if all of them were right. Rumble frantically tried to remember what Cloudcha—

“Rumble!” the pegasus colt heard Thunderlane call. “Rumble! It’s time to get up for school!”

Rumble panicked and packed up his things in his saddlebags hurriedly. “Coming, Thunderlane!” he called down the hall. Rumble took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and made sure his other homework was in there: a set of history questions, a science assignment he had to finish, the book report, and what was finished of the math homework. Eventually telling himself he could talk with Cheerilee about tutoring for the math assignment later, Rumble took his saddlebags and walked out to the kitchen.

Thunderlane was there with a piece of cinnamon toast, a sliced apple (fresh from the Apple family farm) and a glass of milk. Rumble sat down at the table and ate while Thunderlane got himself a set of the same thing.

“Hey, little bro!” Thunderlane said as he sat down at the table. “I heard you had a fun time with Flitter and Cloudchaser last night. Did you get your homework done?”

Rumble’s eyes drooped. “No. I had a hard time on the math and didn’t get it done. Flitter and Cloudchaser helped me out, but I couldn’t do all the assignments.”

Thunderlane sighed. “You’d have perfect marks if it wasn’t for that math grade. You seem to be doing fine with everything else, except for that one subject. What is it about math that makes you so frustrated?”

“I don’t know!” Rumble pouted. “I was going to ask Cheerilee for some tutoring if things don’t get better.”

“It’s alright, little bro,” Thunderlane said gently. “I’m not mad at you. I just want you to do well in school and that’s the one area you have problems. If you need me to, I can find a tutor either in Ponyville or in Cloudsdale that can teach you one-on-one for math for half an hour to an hour every other day.”

Rumble nodded. “Thanks bro. Are you on weather duty today?”

Thunderlane downed his milk glass in three large gulps, smacked his lips and licked the milk off his lips. “Yeah. Rainbow Dash is pushing us hard since the harvesting season is coming up. I should be able to meet with you to pick you up from school, though.”

Rumble nodded. “Alright.”

Rumble finished eating, then put an apple in his saddlebags and followed Thunderlane out of the house and onto the cloud perch just outside their house. Thunderlane spread his dark grey wings wide and watched as Rumble followed suit. Thunderlane took a powerful leap and caught a current of air and began easily gliding down towards the ground. Rumble followed his brother’s example and was soon coasting alongside him. Thunderlane guided Rumble as they used the air currents to glide all the way from Cloudsdale to Ponyville. It wasn’t a long flight, and soon Rumble and Thunderlane were touching down just outside the Apple family farm.

“Alright, I’ll see you later Rumble,” Thunderlane said. “Remember to talk to Miss Cheerilee if you keep having problems. And here’s some bits for the hot lunch today.” Thunderlane handed Rumble over five bits, the usual cost of the school lunch. Rumble put those in his saddlebags and waved goodbye as Thunderlane took off into the clouds and back to Cloudsdale.

Rumble started walking through the streets of Ponyville in mostly a good mood. The sun was still low in the sky, but it was nice and warm outside, the skies clear and the day bright. Rumble could see the other fillies at the school coming out from their houses, two of them passing him in the opposite direction to go to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Hey, Rumble!”

Rumble turned around to see a blue earth pony filly with a bow and arrow cutie mark. The filly ran up to Rumble, saddlebags bumping her sides as she ran up to him to catch him. Rumble stopped and waited for her to catch up and continued walking alongside her.

“Hey, Archer,” Rumble said. “You finish the book report?”

“Yeah,” Archer said, jumping excitedly. “You finish the science experiment?”

“I got most of it done in class,” Rumble said. “I just had to finish the summary.”

“Cool,” Archer said. “Hey, I heard Flitter and Cloudchaser were at your house yesterday. Did you get to see anything between them and your brother?”

“What? No! Thunderlane was on weather duty and had them watch me.”

Archer shrugged. “Ah, well. You still have a thing for Cloudchaser?”

“Nah. She’s just nice.”

“Good.” Archer looked one direction then the other, as though making sure nopony was looking at them, before turning to Rumble with half-shut eyes. “Because that means you’re free now, right?”

Rumble raised an eyebrow. “…what.”

Archer blinked. “Something wrong?”

Rumble shook his head. “No. Nothing’s wrong. Let’s just get to school.”

Archer nodded and she and Rumble continued making their way to the school house on the edge of Ponyville. It was small (there were only about twenty students there), but Rumble liked it and the teacher, Miss Cheerilee, was one of the best anypony could ask for. Rumble and Archer made it to class and took their seats towards the middle of the classroom and pulled out their work and waited for class to begin.

“So, Rumble…” Archer said. “Are you doing anything this weekend? I heard they were going to have a fair passing through here and setting up with a bunch of rides and games and music. Do you… do you want to go with me?”

Rumble didn’t even look up from his papers. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

“You’ll think about it?” Archer said hopefully. “Does… does that mean yes?”

Rumble looked over at Archer. Unlike normal, the blue pegasus filly had two red spots on her cheeks as though she was blushing. Her eyes were twinkling in his direction when he looked, but she looked away as though hiding and trying to not look directly at him but just over in his direction.

Rumble raised an eyebrow. “Archer… are you okay?”

Archer nodded. “It’s just that… I…” The filly seemed to be struggling to get the words out.

“You’re…?”

Archer shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’ll tell you later.” Then she went back to her papers.

Rumble was dumbfounded at his friends’ behavior.

He didn’t have much time to be, though, as Miss Cheerilee walked in soon after, the dark pink Earth pony holding her bag in her mouth and flopping it on the desk before beginning. “Alright, class! I need your book report, your science homework, and your math homework passed up front!”

Rumble pulled the required papers out of the pile and passed them forward, dreading what could happen if Cheerilee noticed his math homework had gone unfinished for the fifth time in a row. For the time being, Rumble didn’t say anything about it and Cheerilee didn’t say anything about it either. Instead, the Earth pony teacher just collected the papers and started working on the day’s lessons as she had before.

The day passed by as normal until Cheerilee let the class out for lunch and recess, when Rumble and Archer went out and joined the line for special hot lunch. Today was rose and lily soup with a daffodil and daisy sandwich, a fresh salad, and a warm slice of apple pie for dessert, along with a carton of milk and a small bottle of orange juice. Rumble gathered his lunch and sat down with Archer and a few others, including pinto Earth pony colt Pipsqueak, yellow and red Earth pony Apple Bloom, the white unicorn Sweetie Belle, and the orange pegasus Scootaloo, Archer’s twin. Rumble and the others greeted each other before sitting down at the table.

“Hey Rumble,” Sweetie Belle said. “My sister Rarity wants you to tell your older brother ‘thank you’ for saving her again.”

“I’ll make sure to pass it along,” Rumble said. “Hey, did any of you catch the cloud soccer game between Cloudsdale and Canterlot?”

“We don’t exactly have a good tee-vee,” Apple Bloom said.

“Rarity had hers on that one home network channel all evening while she worked,” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Dad had it on all last night,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes in the direction of Archer. “Have you ever seen him so excited?”

“Never,” Archer agreed. “We thought he’d blow the roof off the house with how excited he got and how fast his wings were flapping once Cloudsdale scored that goal. Did you catch any of it?”

“No,” Rumble said. “I had too much homework. I caught the first few minutes, but didn’t see the end.”

“Cloudsdale won,” Scootaloo said. “Score was seventeen to twelve.”

“Cool.”

“I remember going to a game once in Trottingham,” Pipsqueak said. “That was really fun. A cloud came into the stands and nearly hit my brother square on. I got to throw it back in, though. Trust me; it’s much better watching it from the stands than it is on the screen.”

“I’d imagine so,” Archer said.

Apple Bloom took a look at Rumble. “So… you still don’t have your cutie mark yet?”

“Well, no…” Rumble said. “I haven’t quite figured out what I’m good at yet.”

“You could join our club,” Scootaloo said. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders. We could all go out searching for our cutie marks together.”

Pipsqueak nearly spat out his orange juice. “Wait a minute, you don’t have your cutie marks either?”

Scootaloo shook her head.

“Then how come I’ve never heard of this club!?”

“You don’t want to!” came a jeering laugh from another table.

The six foals looked over at another table with a pink Earth pony wearing a tiara and a grey Earth pony with a pair of glasses; Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

“What do you two want?” Archer called.

Diamond Tiara laughed. “That club is nothing but a stupid excuse to hide the blank flanks. My daddy always said they were nothing good. Hey, Archer! Why don’t you come over here and join us and get away from those blank flanks?”

“These blank flanks are my friends, Diamond Tiara,” Archer said. “I’m not leaving them.”

“Suit yourself,” Diamond Tiara said. “Sit there and stay contaminated.” And she and Silver Spoon laughed.

“Not much to laugh about when Filthy Rich didn’t get his cutie mark until he was older than Thunderlane is now,” Rumble commented.

Diamond Tiara immediately quit laughing and a glare came over towards the table. “What did you say about my daddy?”

“I said he got his cutie mark late,” Rumble said.

Rumble felt like he blinked and the whole exchange was over, only now Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were on the ground amidst a pile of Archer, Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, and himself. Cheerilee was wearing a whistle around her neck and blowing it hard as she could and causing a shriek that could be heard over the din of students looking at the fight. Cheerilee looked at the group with disapproval.

“Everypony continue eating lunch,” she said sternly. “You six, come with me.”

Pipsqueak, Archer, Scootaloo, and Rumble followed behind Cheerilee solemnly. Rumble could hear Diamond Tiara’s laughter behind them.

“You too, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”

Rumble smirked to Archer as the laughing stopped. “Wha-what!? But Miss Cheerilee…”

“No excuses! All six of you, get inside the schoolhouse for a talk.”

The six foals entered the school house and sat in three rows of two in front of Miss Cheerilee’s desk. Cheerilee herself entered soon afterwards, shaking her head in disbelief as she paced back and forth in front of the six students.

“I can’t believe it!” she said. “Of all the years I’ve taught here, I’ve never seen a fight between so many of you as this! Can someone explain to me what happened that could have started a fight between six of my twenty students?”

The six started erupting all into conversation at once.

“One at a time, please!” Cheerilee said.

“He called my daddy a blank flank!” Diamond Tiara shouted while pointing a hoof at rumble.

“No, I didn’t!” Rumble said. “I just said your dad got his cutie mark late after you started laughing at my friends for being blank flanks!”

Cheerilee looked over to Diamond Tiara. “Did you…?”

Rumble thought the Diamond Tiara’s response was the stupidest in two words he’d ever heard.

“Well, duh…”

It was out of her mouth before she even realized it. By the time she did, Cheerilee had given her detention for a week for bullying and was ushering them all outside to finish recess except for Diamond Tiara, who was getting a stern talking-to by Cheerilee while she started washing off the desks.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen her notice Diamond Tiara doing anything to us,” Scootaloo said.

“That’s weird how she just let the rest of us off the hook without another word, though,” Archer said. “You think she would have at least threatened to call our parents or something since we got into a fight at school.”

“At my old school,” Pipsqueak said, “there was a three strikes thing where they wouldn’t call until after the third time getting in trouble.”

“But even then,” Scootaloo said, “she didn’t even get us a warning.”

Rumble continued listening to the conversation between Pipsqueak and Scootaloo, but couldn’t help but feel bad for Silver Spoon, currently walking away and going back to her lunch with a dejected and almost lost look on her face.

III - Unwanted Attention

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School went as normal for the rest of the day, or at least as normal as it could get with the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the class. Diamond Tiara continued to call them “blank-flanks” under her breath when she thought Cheerilee wasn’t looking and, during the study period after lunch they were trying to draw up new plans on getting their cutie marks. This time, however, their attention soon turned to Rumble, sitting in his chair going through his math book again.

“Hey, Rumble,” Apple Bloom asked. “Would you like to come with us crusadin’ next week?”

“I guess that would be fun,” Rumble said. “What were you going to try getting your cutie marks in?”

Apple Bloom looked back and forth as though suspicious of her surroundings before turning back to Rumble. “Well, Sweetie Belle brought up the idea of a kissin’ cutie mark.”

Rumble was aghast. “You want… you need me to… you’re trying to get… wha…!?”

“Oh, come on, Rumble!” Apple Bloom pleaded. “You know it’s a little problematic for a mare to kiss another mare… I don’t think Applejack or Rarity would be too pleased.”

“Wha… but… I don’t get…”

“It’ll be fun!” Apple Bloom said, keeping quiet and looking over to make sure Cheerilee was still not paying attention. “Just think: you with us, a few tries at kissin’… maybe even a little private time in the clubhouse…”

“Uh… I-I think I’ll pass…” Rumble said, grabbing his desk and scooting it away from Apple Bloom. The scratching of the desk along the classroom floor was what made Cheerilee finally look up from her work.

“Rumble! Apple Bloom! What is going on back there?”

Rumble tried to seize the opportunity. “Miss Cheerilee! Apple Bloom is—”

“…just gettin’ his help on one of the homework assignments!” Apple Bloom cut in quickly. “And I was just seein’ if he wanted to help us with a study session later on.”

Cheerilee put an approving smile on her face as she looked over in their direction. “Helping others is a great way to succeed! A lot of jobs later on will have you work in groups, so it’s good to learn and get comfortable with working with others.”

Rumble slammed his head on the desk. You’re not helping…

Apple Bloom turned back towards Rumble with a smirk on her face. “You heard what Cheerilee said,” she whispered mischievously. “We have to learn how to help others and work in groups.”

“That does not apply to kissing,” Rumble mumbled.

“I don’t get what the problem is,” Apple Bloom shrugged.

“It’s not that I don’t like you or anything, but don’t you think you’re a little, um, young to get a kissing cutie mark?”

“Well… I… I suppose you have a point… but it isn’t too early to start, is it?”

Rumble let his head hit the desk again.

“What I mean is do you really want your life to be based around a kissing cutie mark?”

“Well, I guess not… but we could still do it.”

Rumble let out an exasperated sigh. “What exactly are you trying to do?”

Apple Bloom went silent. Her eyes looked away from Rumble, and the colt noticed a small amount of red appearing on the filly’s cheeks. “Well, Applejack’s been tryin’ to get Big Macintosh to have a marefriend. She was sayin’ somethin’ along the lines of he should have had one years ago.”

Rumble was flabbergasted. “You’re saying you want a coltfriend?”

Apple Bloom looked down and rubbed her front hooves together. “Maybe…”

Rumble had no more time to ask about it. Cheerilee was calling the class back together.

* * *

After class was over, Apple Bloom had run away so fast that Rumble had been unable to speak with her again. It was a little much for him to process that Apple Bloom had practically asked him to be a coltfriend. Rumble wasn’t sure if he wanted one anyway, but he felt a little bad for Apple Bloom for making her feel bad. He didn’t have the chance to tell that to the other Crusaders with how fast they went out to catch Apple Bloom.

Rumble met up with Archer and started walking out of the classroom when a voice came from behind Rumble.

“Rumble! Can I speak with you for a minute, please?”

Rumble turned to Archer. “I’ll only be a minute, Archer.”

“Alright. I’ll wait just outside.”

Archer trotted outside and sat down on a bench near the door as Cheerilee closed the door behind her before trotting back to her desk.

“Is this about my behavior at lunch?” Rumble asked.

“I think I heard enough once I heard Diamond Tiara practically admit to bullying you all for not having cutie marks,” Cheerilee said. “What I actually want to talk with you about is your homework.”

Rumble gulped. “Um… you mean my math homework?”

“Yes.” Cheerilee pulled out the paper from her pile. “I was grading this today during lunch. You probably should take a look at it.”

Rumble looked at the paper. The page was covered in red marks to the point where Rumble’s own work was almost unreadable. It was horrible. Then Rumble looked at the grade at the top.

“I’m pretty sure that would normally be a failing assignment, Miss Cheerilee…”

“Nonsense. I wanted to call you in because that is the best assignment you’ve done recently.”

Rumble looked at the grade and back to the marks. “Miss Cheerilee… I believe this is more marks than I had on my last assignment that I got a sixty-eight on.”

“They’re all very small mistakes.”

“But I only did seventeen problems of the twenty.”

“But you’ve done a decent attempt at it. I gave Apple Bloom full credit once because she did eighteen of the twenty. But the thing is you attempted the assignment.”

“Didn’t Apple Bloom do an extra credit problem with that assignment?”

“That point is that you tried.”

“…you’re avoiding my question.”

“Oh, who cares? It’s just one assignment. I have no doubt you’re at least trying to do the math, as opposed to some other students.”

There was another paper filled with almost as many marks as Rumble’s paper. The name at the top was Diamond Tiara, and the score said fifty-two, the grade Rumble was currently feeling he should have got.

“But… why me?”

Cheerilee opened her mouth to respond, but her cheeks went pink. It was an expression Rumble had only seen her have once when she had managed to get a Hearts and Hooves day card from all of her students, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Realizing what she looked like with her mouth open and her cheeks pink, Cheerilee shook her head. “Why don’t you run along now?” she said to Rumble. “I’ll speak with you tomorrow.”

Rumble gave the paper back to Cheerilee and headed out. Archer was waiting just outside.

“Well, I didn’t hear any yelling or scolding,” Archer said. “Everything turn out okay?”

“No,” Rumble said. “It didn’t feel right at all.”

He’d never been so disappointed about an eighty-eight percent in school before.

* * *

Rumble and Archer walked through Ponyville. Rumble was to wait just outside Ponyville for his brother to come and get him. Archer’s home wasn’t too far and Scootaloo was supposed to be at Sweet Apple Acres not far away, anyway, so she decided she’d join him. The two were sitting on a small bench a few yards away from the last houses within sight of Sweet Apple Acres, and Archer was still bugging Rumble about what happened.

“Were you talking to her about Diamond Tiara?” she asked.

“No. She said that was cleared up at lunch,” Rumble replied.

“Were you talking about your science homework?”

“No; I did everything right there.”

“Did you talk about you leaving on vacation?”

“No. I’m not even going on vacation anytime soon. I would have told you if I was.”

“What about Apple Bloom? I saw her blushing when she was talking to you during study time and she certainly left in a flash.”

“I couldn’t even talk to Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo about what happened to her. They all left so fast.”

“I’ll talk to my sis about that later,” Archer said, waving a hoof dismissively. “Why don’t you tell me what you were talking with Cheerilee about!?”

“I got an eighty-eight percent on my math homework. There, happy?”

“You’re depressed about an eighty-eight percent?”

“You should have seen the paper. I could hardly read my own writing! I did worse than Diamond Tiara on that assignment! I didn’t even finish the assignment, and got more points than I should have received!”

Now Archer was beginning to see why Rumble was upset. She put her hooves over her mouths and gasped. “So she just gave you the grade?”

“Basically. I’m not satisfied. I should earn the grade, not be given it.”

Archer stared at him. “And Cheerilee didn’t believe it?”

“No!” Rumble nearly shouted. “I don’t get it!”

“Don’t get what?”

Rumble and Archer looked around, noting the voice that had appeared. The two looked up and saw a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane staring down at them from a small cloud overhead.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” Archer said.

“Hello, Miss Dash,” Rumble said.

Rainbow Dash took off the cloud and landed next to them with a thud, causing Archer and Rumble to jump an inch off the bench. The cyan pegasus flipped her mane and walked over to them. “So, what’s going on?”

Archer shrugged. “Just school stuff.”

“School?” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Just wait until you get into the real world. With what I’m doing, some basic stuff is required, but it pays good without as much schooling. Rumble probably could do it easy soon as he gets of age.”

“Anyways,” Rainbow Dash continued, “that’s not why I’m here. Rumble, your brother has to work an extra few hours on weather patrol. He asked if I could fly you home since I’m off already.”

“Will you be staying afterwards, Miss Dash?” Rumble asked.

“Nah,” Dash said. “He won’t be too late, so he said you could be home alone for an hour or two. But there’s a gale coming through here shortly, so you wouldn’t be able to fly upward when that comes around.”

Rumble nodded, then turned to Archer. “I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Archer nodded but didn’t say anything. Suddenly, Archer’s normally blue cheeks got a very vibrant shade pink. Rumble barely had time to process what she was doing before the dark blue pegasus filly had thrown her hooves around him and had hugged him. Even quicker, there was a quick peck on his cheek before releasing him.

“Yeah,” Archer said, like nothing happened. “See you at school.” Before Rumble could ask her anything, Archer dashed off back into Ponyville almost as quick as Apple Bloom had shot out of the school house.

Rainbow Dash looked curiously at Archer. “What’s gotten into her?”

Rumble shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“So, you ready for take off?”

“Yes, Miss Dash.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

With two powerful flaps, one from Rainbow Dash and one from Rumble, the two were soon off in the air and flying back over Ponyville to Cloudsdale.

“You know, you can stop calling me ‘Miss Dash’,” Rainbow Dash called to Rumble flapping alongside her.

“You’re my bro’s boss,” Rumble said. “You should at least have some formality.”

“Eh, formality’s not my thing,” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug of her shoulders. “And I may be over your brother, but I’m not head of the weather team. There’s someone above me.”

The two flew in silence for a while.

“Do you mind me asking what exactly you and that blue Scootaloo were talking about?”

“Her name’s Archer,” Rumble said. “She’s Scootaloo’s twin. And we were talking about a homework assignment I got points for that I shouldn’t have.”

“You mean Cheerilee’s picking favorites now?” Dash asked.

“I guess. But that’s not it. It’s not just Cheerilee. Apple Bloom and Archer have been acting weird around me lately. That hug back there was not normal for Archer. We’re just friends.”

“That looked like more than a hug. That looked like a kiss, too.”

“So that’s what happened when she tapped me on the head.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged again as they entered Cloudsdale and slowed their pace. “Sounds like somepony’s a mare magnet.”

Rumble raised an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“Dude, two fillies already got an eye on you and you’re still in primary school?” Rainbow Dash laughed. “You’re already hitting it off with the fillies! Heh, I don’t blame them either.”

Rumble touched down and landed on the bouncy cloud outside his home. Rainbow Dash remained airborne. “What do you mean?” Rumble asked, digging around his saddlebags for an extra set of keys for his home.

“Well, you are kinda cute for a colt,” Rainbow Dash said, coming down to the cloud. “I mean, you got the air-blown mane and tail, stunning violet eyes, nice lot of wingpower in there… Heck, you might be an eligible bachelor when you get your cutie mark. I bet your bro is jealous of your looks.”

Rumble was getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute, especially since Rainbow Dash had been walking towards him the whole time and her face was now only a few inches from his own with a rather relaxed look. “Um, what are you doing, Miss Dash?”

“I told ya, squirt,” Rainbow Dash said. “Stop calling me ‘Miss Dash’. Heck, I might even let you call me ‘Dashie’.”

Rumble found his keys. “I have to go now Miss Dash thanks for taking me home I’ll tell my brother everything went fine thank you again.” In a flash, he unlocked the door, let himself inside, and slammed the door before Rainbow Dash could say or do anything more.

He needed to have a talk with Thunderlane, and it had nothing to do with the math assignment.

IV - Preposterous Pegasus Passivity

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It wasn’t until Thunderlane came home that Rumble came out of his room. He was calling him from behind the closed door, and he could hear his brother’s muffled voice from the entry saying he had picked up dinner for them on the way home. Rumble crept to the door and inched it open, making sure not to come out until he found Thunderlane was the only pony in the house besides him. Finally, he trotted out.

“Hey there, buddy!” Thunderlane said when he saw Rumble emerge from the hallway. “How’d things go today? Did you turn in your assignment?”

“Yeah,” Rumble said.

Thunderlane pulled out two salads and pushed one over to Rumble, pulling out a small container of hay fries to go with it. “You don’t sound too happy about that,” he said. “What’s up? Cheerilee return it with a bad grade? Do you need a tutor?”

“I might, but that’s not what’s wrong.”

“Rumble,” Thunderlane said, disapproving but gentle. “You can’t say that you got a bad grade on an assignment and need a tutor and tell me that’s not what is wrong.”

“It’s not the fact that I need a tutor. It’s been the fact that I’ve started to notice weird things happening to me every time I’m around a mare.”

Thunderlane smirked. “Do tell.”

“Well, Flitter and Cloudchaser last night were arguing over who was going to tell me what, then invited me out to watch ‘Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone’ with them. When it was time for me to go to bed, Flitter let me lay down in her lap on the couch and I fell asleep there.”

Thunderlane went from a smirk to a frown. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, but they were helping me with the homework.”

Thunderlane’s frown remained, but his voice backed off. “Alright. What else?”

“I go to school today and get into a fight with some bullies, but Miss Cheerilee lets me off without even a warning. Then Apple Bloom starts asking me about trying to get a kissing cutie mark – and that’s after she, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo invited me but no other colts without cutie marks in the class to join their Cutie Mark Crusaders – but she leaves the class feeling sad because I told her no. Then walking outside of Ponyville Archer hugs me and kisses me before I leave, then Miss Dash who you sent to pick me up and bring me home starts saying things about me being cute and how I look and starts acting really creepy.”

Thunderlane’s eyebrow rose. “So… she wasn’t just playing a joke on me when she told me she thought you were cute…” He brought a hoof to his chin. “Either this is an elaborate ruse or something is out of whack.”

“It’s not a ruse!” Rumble said, putting his front hooves on the table.

“Hooves off the table, please,” Thunderlane said quietly.

“It’s not a ruse!” Rumble repeated. “It’s like every mare in Ponyville is getting attracted to me and I don’t even know what I did!”

“I highly doubt that’s the case,” Thunderlane said. “I’ll go down tomorrow after weather patrol and talk with Miss Cheerilee about your math homework.”

“Brother!” Rumble pouted.

“Unless you can give me one good piece of evidence…”

“I got an eighty eight on that math assignment when the highest grade I could have gotten was an eighty-five!”

“And you’re complaining about it?”

“I want to earn the grade! Five points a problem times seventeen problems and the max I could have gotten was eighty five, but she had the paper all marked up so I couldn’t have gotten that.”

Thunderlane scoffed. “I’ll go down and have a talk with Cheerilee tomorrow. That ought to settle things straight about this whole issue.”

* * *

Rumble lay down on the bench just outside the schoolhouse. He had a hoof over the side of the bench and was swinging it back and forth, making a tiny dirt groove below the bench. The schoolyard was mostly empty except for one little filly looking eagerly down the road, but she wasn’t even looking at Rumble.

Eventually, the door of the schoolhouse opened up. Thunderlane came out of it with his eyes almost as tiny pinpricks.

“What’d she say?” Rumble asked.

The bottom of Thunderlane’s eye quivered. “We’re going to see Twilight Sparkle.”

Rumble cocked his head. “…right now?”

“Right now.” Without so much as another word, Thunderlane started walking down the main road towards the great oak tree in the center of town.

“What did Cheerilee say?” Rumble said.

“Enough for me to know you weren’t lying. Study group for a kissing cutie mark… I can’t believe Cheerilee would endorse that sort of thing…” Thunderlane trailed off into mumbles that Rumble couldn’t make out.

“What are you saying?”

“It’s nothing. Just that you need Twilight to help you with your math assignments anyways.”

* * *

Thunderlane sat down on a cushion in the center of the upstairs study. Rumble sat down in the center while Twilight Sparkle held up a small flashlight in her purple aura and looked around at Rumble, checking his ears, his throat, his eyes, even his nose with the flashlight to make sure nothing was wrong. She also brought out a tiny hammer and knocked all four of Rumble’s knees with it and watched his reaction. She also brought out a stethoscope and listened to his heartbeat.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Miss Twilight,” Thunderlane said, “but I don’t see what is the point of all this when I asked you to check for any magic on him.”

“Sometimes there are outer signs that magic is present,” Twilight said. “Lowered heart rate while maintaining cognitive thought processes, or even speeding up without any visible presence of activity or adrenaline.” Twilight brought her face back to look at Rumble’s eyes, hoof with the stethoscope still pressed against Rumble’s chest; the colt could feel the edges of her hoof against his coat. “Or, even the presence of dilated or diminished pupils.”

“Wouldn’t doing magic just solve the problem quicker?” Thunderlane asked.

“Oh, it would,” Twilight replied, “but first we need to make sure there isn’t any harmful or strange effects on the body. Sometimes magic could hurt someone so young, and we must make sure he’s in top condition.”

“So I could have just taken him to the doctor for a checkup like I did two weeks ago.”

Twilight slowly turned away from Rumble to look at Thunderlane. “You mean to say I’m doing all this just because?”

“N-No,” Thunderlane stammered. “I just k-kind of figured I’d n-n-need to let you know we d-did that already.”

Twilight turned back to Rumble, staring at his eyes again with a small smile on her face. “Now, explain to me what has been going on so far. Let’s start with the beginning.”

Rumble coughed and began. “Two of my brother’s friends from the weather patrol were invited over to help take care of me when he was out late on weather duty. They are friendly normally, but that night they seemed to be fondling over me.”

“How old are they?”

“Around Thunderlane’s age.”

“Alright.” A notebook with a pen appeared at Twilight’s side, but her head didn’t even move to watch it. “What happened next?”

“Well, at school the next day, I had Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom ask me to join their club the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I told them no, but Apple Bloom tried to get me to come over there to help them get a kissing cutie mark.”

“Interesting…” Twilight said. “I see nothing wrong with trying to get a cutie mark.”

“In case you were wondering, it was nothing more than an excuse.”

“Oh, they’re just little fillies that are eager to grow up, is all.”

“Look, Miss Twilight,” Thunderlane stepped in, “I’m all okay with schoolfilly flirting, but that seemed a little forward for somepony as young as Rumble or Apple Bloom.”

Twilight rolled her eyes but didn’t turn to Thunderlane. “Let’s move on, then. What else?”

“I did really bad on a math homework assignment, but Cheerilee gave me an eighty-eight percent on an assignment.”

“How many problems did you get out of how many on the assignment?”

“There were twenty problems and I did seventeen.”

“That is disconcerting…” Twilight said, a tone of worry finally hitting her voice.

The unicorn mare looked off to the side before returning to staring at Rumble’s eyes again. The constant staring of the older unicorn mare was beginning to get uncomfortable, especially since she was rarely blinking. “Miss Twilight?”

“Yes…?”

“Could you please blink? Your constant staring is beginning to unnerve me.”

Twilight blinked. “Better?”

“Not quite.”

“Whatever,” Twilight said. “There’s something more important. Quickly summarize whatever else has happened during that time.”

“A friend of mine named Archer hugged me and gave me a kiss on the forehead, which she’s never done in the time we’ve all gone to school together. On the same day, Thunderlane asked Miss Rainbow Dash to pick me up from school since he was late getting off, but on the way home Miss Dash insisted I call her ‘Dashie’ and continually complemented me on how I looked.”

“I don’t get what’s wrong with being called cute,” Twilight replied.

“From the way I heard it,” Thunderlane butted in, “it sounded like Miss Rainbow Dash was… insinuating things.”

“Okay…” Twilight said uncomfortably. “Have I told you how pretty your eyes look?”

“Miss Twilight…”

“Oh, sorry, Rumble. I didn’t mean for that to come out.”

Finally, Twilight walked away from Rumble and paced around the room as she examined her notes. Rumble, who had been holding in his breath, let out a long sigh.

A few minutes later, Twilight turned back to Rumble. She closed her eyes and her horn began to be surrounded in a purple aura. A short while later, Rumble himself was surrounded in the purple aura. Rumble felt himself be lifted a few inches off the ground, unable to control his own movements and unable to escape from the purple glow. Rumble gradually let himself relax as the magic poked and prodded him everywhere from his head to his wings to his tail to his hooves. After some time spent poking and prodding him almost everywhere on his body, Rumble felt the magic gently set him down on the table and Twilight’s eyes opened.

“Strange…” Twilight said. “This is unheard of…”

Thunderlane jumped off his cushion and ran over to Twilight. “What!? What is it? What’s going on with my little bro, huh!?”

“Calm down, Thunderlane,” Twilight said. “It’s nothing detrimental.”

“I don’t know what’s detrimental and what’s not in the realm of magic,” Thunderlane snorted as his tail flicked. “Just tell me straight out what’s going on?”

“Alright, alright!” Twilight said defensively. “Just calm down a moment! Your little brother has a strange type of innate magic not normally found in pegasi.”

“What is it?”

“Well, it has to do with being able to attra—”

“I meant innate magic. What is it?”

“Oh. Well, there are certain types of things that come easily to certain races. Earth ponies have innate magic that makes them able to grow crops and shape the land better than other races. Pegasi have innate magic that allows them to treat clouds as solid objects and walk on and kick them. Unicorns have the ability to wield and use certain objects that are powered by magic even if they don’t know any they can cast themselves.”

“Alright. So what’s going on with my brother?”

“His innate magic is quite silly and not often found in pegasi. It’s a rare breed of magic that simply increases others attraction towards him.”

“Is it general or specific?”

“It seems to be specific. Rumble’s magic, from his own testimony, only works on mares. I’ve heard of it attracting stallions before, but it won’t if the owner is not interested.”

“How is it not found in pegasi?”

“Research shows pegasi don’t need it. They’re rate of breeding is about average. Earth ponies have a slightly higher than average rate of breeding, and unicorns have a slightly lower than average rate. This sort of magic would normally be found more in unicorns for the purpose of attracting mates.”

“That sounds like it’d be something left over from a long time ago,” Rumble said.

“It is,” Twilight said, smiling towards Rumble. “This sort of innate magic is one of the rarest there is. Since times have advanced and we live in societies where it’s easier to communicate, this magic is nearly lost; only one out of every one million ponies has it, and there are millions of ponies in Equestria alone.”

“Is there anything we can do about it to bring sense back into these mares?” Thunderlane asked, sufficiently calmed down from earlier. “I hate to think what would happen if Rumble were to have an encounter with Miss Dash again…”

“There is a spell to turn it off,” Twilight said. “However, I think I have to ask Princess Celestia to send me the book that has it.”

“How long will that take?”

“Oh, I’d say two days at the most if I send a letter off to her today.”

“Please, could you do that?”

“Of course. Now, when did you want tutoring to start?”

“Two days from now,” Thunderlane said quickly.

Twilight looked from Rumble, who showed no signs of protest, back to Thunderlane. “Are you sure?”

“Two days.”

Twilight nodded sheepishly. “Gotcha.”

V - Outlier

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Later that evening found Thunderlane in the bathroom. Rumble, his little wings flapping just hard enough to keep him afloat, was brushing Thunderlane’s mane until it went straight down along his neck.

“Flitter likes the mohawk, you know,” Rumble said through the brush.

“Yeah, but I wanted to take her somewhere special tonight,” Thunderlane replied. “For the place we’re going, I gotta look good.”

“Oh, psht,” Rumble scoffed. “Even if I do have that innate magic, she always has eyes for you when you’re in the room.”

“I’m half suspecting she’s just using that to get to you,” Thunderlane said, barely able to contain a bout of laughter. “But anyway, she’s nice and friendly and funny, and I’m glad she actually agrees to come out on a date with me every once in a while.”

“Still better than the time you dated Miss Dash. Sure, she was nice, but way too brash.”

“I know. That mare would run me into the ground if I wasn’t careful.”

“What do you do with Flitter that you didn’t do with Miss Dash, though?”

“We don’t argue as much.” Thunderlane picked up a wet washcloth and rubbed his face with it. After a minute, he set it down with a gasp and reached for a nearby dry towel, rubbing himself off with that before letting Rumble continue. “Ow! Mind the knot. Where was I…? Ah, yes. We also actually have conversations. Dash is getting better, but she’s still got some ego.”

Rumble finished taming a set of wild hair before setting the brush down on the counter and gently setting himself on the cloud floor. Thunderlane examined himself in the mirror, turning his head left and right.

“What’s going on with me tonight, again?” Rumble asked.

“Cloudchaser is coming over,” Thunderlane replied. “She agreed to watch you while I’m gone.” He turned to Rumble. “Is that alright? I mean, you barely mentioned her in your talks with me and Twilight.”

“She’s fine, I guess,” Rumble said. “She’s the one that helped me on the first few problems from that one math assignment.”

“Ah, yes.” Thunderlane turned back to the mirror. “The three that had no marks. She knows what she’s doing, alright.”

“Why didn’t you go out with her?” Rumble asked as they left the bathroom and headed into Thunderlane’s bedroom. “I mean, she fits your competitiveness.”

Thunderlane picked out a white collar with a tie around it and put it on, adjusting the tie as he spoke. “She’s a gentler Dash for me. Flitter at least knows when to work and when to play with me. I tried going on a date with Cloudchaser once, back when we were still living with mom and dad before they had to move to Manehattan for business.”

“How did it end up?”

“I woke up on the couch; she woke up on the table. I don’t quite remember anything else other than a large keg of cider in the kitchen.”

Rumble giggled.

Thunderlane looked at himself in his bedroom mirror. Rumble stood alongside him.

“Do you think she’ll like this?” Thunderlane asked. “I mean, I’m not overdoing it, am I?”

“You’ll be fine, bro. She likes you. And it’s not like you having a tie and a brushed mane is going to make you overdressed for a restaurant.”

“Yeah, you’re right. At least, I hope so.”

There was a ringing sound, causing both Rumble and Thunderlane to look out the door.

“They must be here,” Rumble said.

Thunderlane looked at a nearby clock on his nightstand. “About time, too,” he said, trotting out of the room. “We’ll be ten minutes early for our reservation.”

Rumble followed Thunderlane out of the bedroom and down the hall towards the kitchen entry. Thunderlane adjusted his tie before opening the door. Flitter was standing directly outside with her lighter teal mane wrapped up in a ponytail and a small dress that matched her mane. Cloudchaser stood behind her, her wild light blue mane as unkempt and wind-blown as ever and a plastic bag in her mouth.

“Hey Rumble,” Flitter said cheerfully. Then she turned to Thunderlane and her cheeks went red. “Hey, Thunderlane.”

“Hi, Flitter,” Rumble said politely back.

Cloudchaser made a muffled greeting through her plastic bag.

“Hey, Flitter,” Thunderlane said, his own cheeks turning pink. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah. Cloudchaser picked up something for her and Rumble for dinner, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, no,” Thunderlane said. “I don’t think we have any leftovers from last night, so that works out perfectly.”

“Cool. See you later, Rumble.”

“Bye, Flitter.”

Thunderlane turned to Rumble. “Same rules as last time. I’m not back by ten, make sure you’ve taken a bath and go to bed, and wash your back; it doesn’t smell good from time to time. You got all your homework done?”

“I read a little of the book and finished my history questions.”

“That’s all? No math homework tonight?”

“No; the lesson’s not until tomorrow. I only had literature, history, and science today.”

“Alright, well make sure nothing’s missing.” Thunderlane smiled and waved as he left the house. “See you later, little bro.”

“Bye, Thunderlane.”

Cloudchaser waved after Thunderlane and her twin before stepping into the house. Rumble watched Thunderlane go for a minute before closing the door and following Cloudchaser into the kitchen. Two bowls of salad were out, in addition to a couple of packets of sauce.

“You know, you could have almost made one of those here,” Rumble said.

“Yeah, I could have,” Cloudchaser said. “I just didn’t know if Thunderlane would have had anything left by the last time he cooked something.”

“Probably a good idea considering his track record,” Rumble agreed.

Cloudchaser pushed a bowl with some dressing over towards Rumble. He went over and set it on the table as Cloudchaser brought her own bowl over and they began eating.

“So, you finish your homework today?” Cloudchaser asked.

“Yeah. I don’t have any math homework tonight, so I got it all out of the way already.”

“Good.” Cloudchaser took a bite of her salad. “What were you planning to do?”

“I dunno. Read, draw, play with some of my toys. Thunderlane got me a Wonderbolt set for my birthday.”

“Oh, really? You know, I always wanted to join the Wonderbolts. They’re fast, agile, strong, and all of them are really cool.”

“Thunderlane wanted to, as well. He was thinking of sending in an application sometime soon.”

“Mmm…”

The two ate in silence for a while.

“Do you want to watch a movie later?”

Rumble shrugged. “Which movie?”

“I dunno. I brought two over in my saddlebags. One’s an animated comedy, the other is an adaptation of that Mare of the Rings series, if you were interested in either.”

Rumble shrugged again. “Maybe later.”

For the first time since arriving, Cloudchaser’s face fell. “Oh,” she nearly mumbled. “Alright. Well, were you going to your room?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh… well, I suppose I’ll be out here, if you need me…”

Rumble watched as Cloudchaser threw out her empty salad bowl and trudged over to the TV, where she put in the first film. After a while, Rumble shrugged and put his salad bowl in the trash and headed back to his room, where he pulled out a book.

After a little while, Rumble began to think. Something was not right with Cloudchaser, even with comparison to her behavior from before. It was as though she was depressed when Rumble headed off to his room and left her alone. She didn’t seem to be sad when she arrived; she looked more than happy to be able to take care of Rumble while Thunderlane and Flitter were out at dinner. The more Rumble thought about it, the more he began to realize something.

“Maybe she’s been affected by it, too.” The pegasus colt tapped his chin with a hoof. “Archer didn’t want to kiss me until I was leaving, and Apple Bloom didn’t get all fussy until I told her I didn’t want to try it out with her.”

Rumble looked at a nearby clock. Seven-thirty. He’d need to take a bath soon, and he’d need to have time for his wings to dry.

There was enough time.

Rumble took his book, left his bedroom and trotted down the hall. Cloudchaser was still in the middle of the first film, which Rumble recognized as the Mare of the Rings series. Rumble went over to the couch and sat down. Cloudchaser didn’t even notice him until he had jumped on the couch, creating a little thump that shook her end of the pillow.

“I thought you had stuff to do in your room,” Cloudchaser asked, looking at him curiously.

Rumble took a nearby pillow and set it down at an angle on the couch so that he could lean back against it. “I can bring a book out here,” he said. “Besides, Thunderlane said I was old enough to watch this one now.”

Cloudchaser smiled as Rumble opened his book. “It’s not that bad,” she said as she settled herself into a lying position on the couch, head towards Rumble. “Sure it’s a little violent, but it’s all fantasy and there’s no blood.”

Rumble nodded and continued reading. The movie went on as they sat there, and eventually Rumble set his book down as three cloaked figures began to attack the ponies, though one of them had fire and was driving them away. It was dark and violent as Cloudchaser said, but it was also pretty interesting and Rumble had to admit it may have been better than the Daring Do series.

“Miss Cloudchaser?”

Cloudchaser turned to look at Rumble. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for the help on the math assignment.”

Cloudchaser tilted her head in confusion. “What brought that up?”

“The three you helped me with were the only ones I got right.”

Cloudchaser giggled and went back to watching the film. “You gonna go get tutoring for that?”

Rumble put his book aside. “Twilight Sparkle’s supposed to teach me starting the day after tomorrow.”

Cloudchaser nodded. “She would know what to do. Might help you study as well as get your homework done.”

“Yeah…”

“…hey, Rumble.”

“What, Miss Cloudchaser?”

“You can just call me ‘Cloudchaser’. Also, don’t get so down. Math’s not an easy thing. I didn’t do too well in Calculus in college myself. It’s a little bump, but you’ll get over it.”

Rumble smiled. “Thanks.”

Cloudchaser went back to looking at Rumble. “Anyone ever told you you’re cute?”

Here we go again… “Yeah. Lots of times.”

“By who?”

“A lot of ponies. I had one mistake me for a filly once because of the shape of my muzzle and that I was too cute to be a colt.”

Cloudchaser gave of an incredulous grin. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope.”

Cloudchaser burst out laughing. “I can’t believe it! You’re a little bulkier than a filly and don’t exactly sound like one.”

“I know, right?”

Cloudchaser laughed for a little while longer before calming down with a sigh. “He he, it’s been a while since I had that good a laugh. You take on after your brother, you know? I bet the mares will be all over you once you get older.”

Rumble didn’t quite know what to say about that.

“Shouldn’t you be getting in the bath soon?” Cloudchaser asked after Rumble had been silent for a while. “Your bro said you needed time for your wings to dry.”

Rumble nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go get in.”

“Call me if you need anything,” Cloudchaser called as Rumble got off the couch and headed back down the hall.

Taking a towel and a washcloth, Rumble went into the bathroom he and Thunderlane shared and turned on the warm water. Soon, the bathtub was full of warm water, Rumble’s washcloth was on the side near the soap and his towel was over the rack, and Rumble clambered in. He liked the feel of warm water in his coat. He used to take cold baths for a long time until he started flying, when his brother said the warm water was better for cleaning the wings. It was all part of the nitty-gritty work.

After a while of soaking himself in the tub, Rumble started washing himself, taking a bit of soap to his mane and scrubbing it before dunking his head underwater to rinse. Then he put some soap on the washcloth and started to wash his body. He was almost done within a few minutes until he couldn’t reach a spot in the middle of his back. He sat there and pondered his situation before gulping and strained to call out.

“Cloudchaser!” He paused, but nothing happened. “Cloudchaser!”

This time, his call was answered. There was the sound of trotting down the hall before Cloudchaser’s head peered into the bathroom.

“There something wrong?”

“Thunderlane says I keep missing a spot on my back, but I can’t reach it. Can you help me?”

“Sure. Face the wall and give me the washcloth.”

Rumble turned in the tub and sat down to face the wall. Cloudchaser took the washcloth and began to gently go over his back. Rumble could feel the hooves gently press against his back and rub him from top to bottom.

“Relax,” Cloudchaser said calmly. “You’re tensing and your wing joints are hiding the middle of your back.”

Rumble tried his best to relax as Cloudchaser continued washing his back, but it was sort of odd and uncomfortable. He was used to Thunderlane do it, but the combination of Cloudchaser being a mare and his knowledge of his innate magic made him uncomfortable, even wary of what Cloudchaser was doing, even though it seemed to him everything was fine. He even began to enjoy it for a minute as Cloudchaser started gently going over his wings, gently ruffling the feathers to clean in between.

There was a splash and Rumble felt the washcloth below the water’s surface. This was followed from the sound of a slap from somewhere behind him, but Rumble himself wasn’t touched. Rumble turned around to see Cloudchaser rubbing one hoof with another.

“What happened?”

“It’s nothing,” Cloudchaser said, straining to speak. “I just… finished and dropped the washcloth, is all.”

Rumble looked towards Cloudchaser’s hoof and found a small red mark on it. “Are you okay? Your hoof is all red.”

“Perfectly fine,” Cloudchaser said unconvincingly. “I just hit it on the table in the living room when I was coming over here.”

“…you didn’t have that entering the bathroom.”

“Well, sometimes injuries take a while to appear. I’m sure it’ll be gone shortly.” Cloudchaser stood up. “I’ll… I’ll be in the living room if you need me.” Then she trotted out of the room.

All Rumble could do was watch her, confused.

A few minutes later, Rumble was letting water out of the tub and drying himself with the towel. When he was dry except for his wings, he returned to the living room and sat on the couch. Mare of the Rings was still playing, with the group now in a city of ponies with really long ears that looked prettier than the other ponies.

“You all finished?” Cloudchaser asked hurriedly.

“Yes.” Rumble thought to ask of her strange behavior, but he left it alone. Instead, he sat on the couch and pulled a wing towards him before he started slowly biting and preening the wing.

“Do you need help with that?”

“…I suppose. You could start on the other wing.”

Slowly, Rumble extended his other wing. Cloudchaser, equally as slow, came forward and gently teased the feathers with her teeth, separating them and straightening them. Despite her own hesitance, Cloudchaser still finished the wing faster than Rumble did his and helped the young colt with cleaning and straightening his other wing. A few minutes later, both wings were neat and clean and Rumble was lying on the couch with both wings extended to let air through them.

“Thank you,” Rumble said. “That was quick.”

“You have to learn to work from the inside out,” Cloudchaser said gently. “It’s less work that way. I know Thunderlane does it outside in all the time, but he takes longer and has to go back and fix.”

“I’ll have to remember that.”

After a few minutes of watching the movie, Rumble felt his eyes drooping and it wasn’t even ten. His wings started gently dropping and he occasionally struggled to keep himself upright.

“Are you feeling tired?” Cloudchaser asked.

Rumble nodded.

“You could go to bed right now if you wanted.”

Rumble shook his head.

“Alright, if you’re sure.”

But Rumble was soon fighting to stay awake. By the time Cloudchaser had disappeared for a moment and come back to the couch, Rumble was almost sleeping sitting upright. It wasn’t long before Cloudchaser was sitting down on the couch with her back against the pillow and legs dangling off the side before she pulled Rumble over and laid him in her lap. Rumble’s wings gently folded as he felt Cloudchaser pull over a brush and gently brush his slightly-damp mane. Rumble hardly even bothered when the brush was put aside and Cloudchaser was simply petting him with a hoof.

Almost half an hour later, Rumble was fast asleep. Cloudchaser gently slid off the couch and put Rumble on her back. Rumble moved around but didn’t wake up as Cloudchaser slowly walked back to his bedroom. He looked ready to wake up, but he was soon lulled back to sleep by the gentle sway of Cloudchaser’s steps. It wasn’t long before Cloudchaser was gently sliding Rumble off her back and into his bed before covering him up with the blankets. The room felt stuffy to her and she cracked open a nearby window; no odd weather patterns were coming through tonight, so it was safe to open. The light was turned off and Rumble’s alarm clock was turned on before Cloudchaser gave Rumble a quick kiss on the forehead and left the room.

VI - Schoolyard Shenanigans

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Rumble sat in class the next day feeling unsure of himself. Math was going smoothly, and in a few minutes, he’d be out for lunch. He’d gotten full score on a quiz from his writing and grammar class, and literature wouldn’t be too much of a problem since he was on-task, not to mention the science project they just received should be a piece of cake. Apple Bloom had come back to school today in good spirits and hadn’t asked him about a kissing cutie mark, and Archer had come back to school having completely forgotten about the kiss.

With all that combined, things should have been considered okay.

But they weren’t.

Rumble had himself a packed lunch. Rumble nearly always brought himself a packed lunch unless there was hot lunch served, which Thunderlane would give him the money for. Rumble’s lunch was a small salad and an orange, along with a glass of Apple-family apple juice, along with a few sugar cookies. Rumble nearly always packed himself this lunch unless his brother had decided to make him a daffodil and daisy sandwich on the way out, which made things easier.

On the outside, everything was normal.

Except for a single slip of paper in the bottom and the fact that the bag had been packed the previous night.

Rumble knew who did it, but he hadn’t seen them afterwards.

All he remembered was watching Mare of the Rings and falling asleep in Cloudchaser’s lap. It hadn’t been long before Rumble was nearly awoken only to be rocked back to sleep; the last thing he remembered was gently rolling into his bed and a light, wet thing on his head. He woke up the next morning with a brown-paper bag in the fridge marked “Rumble” in clean, generic font.

Thunderlane was confused when he saw it.

Rumble told him he considered it forethought if only to keep it from his brother.

As the bell rang for recess, Rumble took out and quickly read the note, which was read in a more girly, though still rather clean, hoofwriting.

Hey, Rumble! You were so tired last night I went and put you to bed early. Thunderlane came home not long after, but I made you this lunch before I left. Hope it’s right; Thunderlane says it’s what you always put in there. Anyways, I wanted to apologize for some of my behavior last night since I think I made you uncomfortable. Talk to you later!

Cloudchaser.

“Hey, Rumble!”

Rumble looked up from the note. Archer was waving him along, standing near Pipsqueak and Featherweight. “Come on, Rumble! We’re gonna miss lunch!”

Rumble nodded, put the note back in the bag, and grabbed the bag with his mouth before running off to join Archer. The four of them selected a table under a tree where it was nice and shady. Nearby were two tables containing the Cutie Mark Crusaders at one and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at the other. The Crusaders, Apple Bloom in particular, kept stealing glances at him, though Rumble thought he saw Diamond Tiara look his direction as well.

“Ever since you got in a fight with Diamond Tiara you’ve been the talk of the school,” Pipsqueak said. “No one else has stood up to her like that and managed to get her in trouble.”

“I didn’t want to get her in trouble,” Rumble said. “I only wanted to stop her from bullying you guys.”

“Intentional or not,” Archer said, “Scootaloo says she almost always gets away with bullying her and the other Crusaders, along with Silver Spoon. Sure it’s a little extreme, but it feels like the first time that she’s been called out on it.”

Featherweight shook his head and pointed to his camera.

“Yes, there was that time with the Foal Free Press,” Pipsqueak said, “but that was an isolated incident and treated like she was just being a tough boss to all of us, not just them.”

“I don’t want to be a hero,” Rumble said. “And I don’t want to be the center of attention. All I want to be is a normal colt.”

“You’re not normal,” Archer said. “You were brave to stand up to Diamond Tiara, you’re smart, you’re kind, you’re cute, you’re…”

The three colts stared at Archer. Featherweight raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Archer protested. “He is!”

Rumble just set his head down on the table and sighed.

“Are you all right in the head, Archer?” Pipsqueak asked.

“I’m fine! I’m just…” Archer spluttered and tried to start a sentence, her cheeks getting redder and redder. “How are you… how do you not… why can’t you… you!?”

“…I didn’t get any of that,” Rumble said.

“Me neither,” Pipsqueak agreed.

Featherweight, eyebrow still raised, shook his head.

Rumble went and unpacked his lunch and opened the salad. He ate without trouble, though Archer still looked flustered and was unable to complete a sentence. Featherweight started discussing one of the new articles for the Foal Free Press as Rumble finished his salad and pulled out the orange, causing the note to flip out and come tumbling town.

Featherweight pointed at the note on the grass.

“What?” Rumble looked at the note. “Oh, thank you.” Rumble bent down and picked it up, making sure it was folded before putting it back into the bag. He picked up the orange and took a bite from it, only to see that the other three were staring at him, not to mention Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom from the other tables.

“…what?” he asked expectantly.

“What does it say?” Archer asked.

“Whose it from?” Pipsqueak said.

Featherweight made a motion akin to zipping his mouth shut before whistling innocently.

It’d be weird if they found out. “It’s from my brother,” Rumble said. “He just wanted to tell me that he’d be a few minutes late leaving weather patrol. He would have told me normally but he had to leave early today.

Seemingly satisfied, Pipsqueak and Featherweight went back to eating their own lunch. Archer didn’t seem convinced.

“You didn’t even read it!” she said.

“You didn’t see me in class before lunch?”

“You hardly looked at it!”

“I just skimmed it. I got the gist of it. I know what it said.” Rumble raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so interested?”

“I…” Archer blinked, her eyes widening. “I don’t even know. I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s come over me…”

“No need to be sorry when you can’t even figure out why.”

There was no mistake about who that snooty voice belonged to.

“Stay out of this, Diamond Tiara,” Rumble said, getting up and walking around. “Or would you rather get a black eye this time?”

“Oh?” Diamond Tiara said, walking around herself. “It’s not my problem I’m not over there with those losers. Look at them! Fat lot of good they are to you.”

“Hey!” Rumble shouted. “Don’t you talk that way about my friends! Are you so angry because you got in trouble that you’re just gonna take it out on everyone whether or not they deserve it?”

“No,” Diamond Tiara scoffed. “Look, it’s my way of telling you there are better fillies and colts that you could be hanging around with. Look what you got: an editor of a trashy paper, a filly who has a nearly useless talent, and… and…” Diamond Tiara looked lost for a moment. “…and a colt with a weird accent.”

Featherweight snorted and growled.

“I’m not useless!” Archer said. “I got first place and won money in a tournament not long ago!”

“Don’t you make fun of my home country, Brittania!” Pipsqueak shouted.

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Look, Cheerilee says we have to pick someone else to work on the stupid project for science with. We’re not gonna pick any of those other losers, so why don’t you come on over and join us?”

“…weren’t you teasing me a few days ago because I was a blank flank?”

“We could help you get your cutie mark while we’re at it.”

“Oh, really?” Rumble shot, disbelieving. “And how would you plan to do that amidst planning an experiment, coming up with a hypothesis, testing, reading data, looking at the results, coming up with a conclusion, writing a report and building a small display for the class?”

“I could just get my dad to do it,” Diamond Tiara said.

Rumble took a step backwards in something of a mixture of surprise and horror. “Does Cheerilee even know you do that…?”

“It’s not like she’d care. Besides, me and Silver Spoon could help make sure you aren’t the last in the class to get your cutie marks.”

Rumble turned around. Archer and Pipsqueak were shaking their heads and pointing at Cheerilee, while Featherweight was making an ‘X’ with his hooves.

Rumble turned back to face Diamond Tiara. “I’m sorry,” he said, forced as it was, “but I’m not gonna do it. That’s a bit underhoofed, if you ask me.”

Diamond Tiara scoffed. “Fine! Be that way! You could have been one of the cool colts. Maybe I’d even recognize you when I got further along in the world.”

“Um…”

“…but you didn’t take the offer.”

“I’m not sure I want to, what with how big a jerk you are.”

“What?” Diamond Tiara nearly spat. “Me? A jerk?”

“Hard to believe,” Pipsqueak deadpanned.

Diamond Tiara either didn’t hear or wasn’t paying attention to Pipsqueak. “I’m trying to invite you in on a group for the science project! I’m trying to make this easier for you! I’m trying to have fun and let you hang out with me!”

Rumble, Archer, Pipsqeak, Featherweight, and even Silver Spoon all stared at Diamond Tiara.

“…what was that?” Archer growled.

Diamond Tiara sighed irritably. “I meant ‘us’. Me and Silver Spoon.”

“…and you thought he’d say yes to that?”

“I don’t see a reason why shouldn’t he.”

“Because you’re a jerk!” Archer shouted. The little blue filly took pounding steps towards Diamond Tiara until she was right in her face. “Because you’re a bully! Because he nearly got in trouble because of you!”

“And you think you’re gonna stop him from making a decision?”

“Don’t do it, Archer…” Rumble said warily, backing up a few more steps.

“I’m not gonna stop him,” Archer growled. “I’m gonna stop you.”

“She did it,” Pipsqueak said.

Without much more warning, Archer flung herself at Diamond Tiara, causing the three colts to jump back out of the way. Soon, there was a pink and blue dust ball rolling around the grass near the tree. Pipsqeak, Rumble, and Featherweight were all huddled against the trunk, trying to keep themselves away from the flying hooves.

Featherweight pointed a hoof at his head and spun it around.

“Yeah, Featherweight,” Rumble said, “Pipsqueak was right. Archer’s gone crazy.”

“Do you think we should tell Cheerilee?” Pipsqueak asked.

Featherweight grimaced and pulled at the camera around his neck.

“I’m afraid of going anywhere near that fight,” Rumble asked.

It wasn’t long after that Apple Bloom came up tiptoeing over to where the three colts stood around the tree.

“Hey Apple Bloom,” Pipsqueak said.

Featherweight waved a hoof.

“What’s up, Apple Bloom?” Rumble said.

“Hey, Pipsqueak,” Apple Bloom said. “Hey, Featherweight. Rumble, can I ask you a question?”

Rumble shrugged. “Sure, so long as it doesn’t deal with that dust ball over there.”

“It won’t, I promise. I was just wondering if you had a group you could work with for the science project.”

Rumble slapped his forehead with a hoof.

“How come I never get invited to these things?” Pipsqueak asked no one in particular.

VII - Shallow or Truthful?

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Rumble walked out of the schoolhouse after class alone.

Diamond Tiara and Archer were serving detention for their fight. Diamond Tiara had a black eye and Archer had a few scratches, but otherwise neither was too severely hurt although they did have to spend the next hour helping to wash desks and clean the classroom for tomorrow while Cheerilee graded papers. When asked what they were fighting about, Cheerilee had mercifully stated that Rumble didn’t have to work with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon on the science project if he didn’t want to.

Rumble walked out of the school grounds and down the road to where he normally waited for Thunderlane. A few minutes was nothing much, so he could sit around a while longer while he waited for his brother. Not like he had much to do anyways; just sit around at home and do homework before having the rest of the evening to himself. Rumble went over to and sat on the bench he usually went to and waited on for Thunderlane to arrive.

After a few minutes, Thunderlane didn’t come. There was another pegasus coming towards him, though, and he could tell by the wild mane who it was almost immediately.

“There you are, sport!” Cloudchaser said as she touched down next to Rumble. “You waiting for Thunderlane?”

“Yeah,” Rumble said. “He said he’d be a few minutes late.”

“Change of plans,” Cloudchaser said. “He’s working an extra hour at the cloud factory. I’m supposed to fly you home.”

“He certainly works a lot now lately,” Rumble said, getting off the bench and taking off into the air with Cloudchaser. “It seems like half this week he’s been out late for either work or other business.”

“He’s just trying to provide for the both of you,” Cloudchaser said. “It’s not easy when you have yourself and a little brother. Flitter and I didn’t find our own place until we had our own jobs, while Thunderlane had to do so before he could fully adjust himself to work. He’s probably due for a raise any time now and wants to make sure they know he’ll earn it.”

“You’re probably right,” Rumble agreed.

The rest of the flight was silent. Cloudchaser maneuvered Rumble through an errant draft that the pegasi were trying to contain, but otherwise nothing eventful happened and Rumble safely touched down. He pulled out the keys to his home and unlocked the door and opened it but didn’t go inside. He turned around to see Cloudchaser standing outside looking at him.

“Are you leaving?” Rumble asked.

“I thought about staying just until your brother gets home,” Cloudchaser said. “He and Flitter were supposed to be getting off at the same time, anyways.”

Rumble considered this. “Do you want to come inside?”

Cloudchaser nodded. “If you don’t mind.”

Rumble shook his head and headed inside. Cloudchaser walked into the kitchen and Rumble shut the door behind her. Cloudchaser got herself a glass of water and sat at the kitchen counter while she drank. Rumble, meanwhile, went to the back and dropped off his backpack, getting himself ready to start his history homework.

“Rumble.”

Cloudchaser was calling him. Rumble organized the books and paper on his desk and left his room. Cloudchaser was still at the counter as Rumble walked down the hall and entered the kitchen. Rumble pulled up a seat on the opposite side of the counter and sat down in front of Cloudchaser. The pegasus seemed to have a far-off look in her eye, and she looked at Rumble as though she was staring through him.

“How was school today?” she asked.

Rumble couldn’t tell what, but something was off. Cloudchaser didn’t normally care about that sort of thing. While she was a close friend of him and Thunderlane, Rumble only really knew her through Thunderlane. “My friend Archer got into a fight with Diamond Tiara,” he said.

Cloudchaser smiled as though she was about to laugh, but there was something melancholy about it. “I used to deal with her father, Filthy Rich, as part of public relations. There’d be a big storm over Ponyville and he’d think he could just pay to not have rain on his property for the day because he’d have a big party. At least he was a genial fellow about it; we usually complied because he’d be polite about the issue. I’ve heard Diamond Tiara thinks she’s privileged.”

“She always bullies a few of us because of not having cutie marks or because we’re not as rich as she is,” Rumble said.

Cloudchaser nodded. “Is that why the fight started?”

Rumble shook his head, wondering where this was going. “No. It was about something else.”

“What about?”

“…Diamond Tiara wanted me to join her for a science project. But she’s been a jerk to me beforehand. But for some reason she was insulting everyone else but wanted me to join her for the project with the promise of trying to have fun.”

“You don’t have a cutie mark yet.”

“No. But she didn’t talk about it.”

“Your brother is just a worker at Cloudsdale’s cloud factory and weather team.”

“Yes. But she didn’t talk about that, either.”

“So, by all standards, she either wouldn’t have noticed you or should have bullied you for this. Did Cheerilee say anything on the issue.”

“…Miss Cloudchaser, why do you want to talk about this?”

Cloudchaser dropped her smile. She folded her hooves and set them on the table before resting her head across them. “Thunderlane told me you have some innate magic within you. He also told me about Miss Cheerilee’s behavior a few days ago when Apple Bloom asked if you wanted to have a kissing cutie mark.”

“Were you thinking you could do something about it?”

“Not entirely. I figured you probably need an extra set of eyes or ears in case something goes wrong. He didn’t give me any details, but, I figured maybe you could use someone else you could talk to in case things start to go a little awkward.”

Rumble’s cheeks went red. “Miss Cloudchaser…?”

Cloudchaser tilted her head to the side a little. “What is it?”

“…you’re not immune, you know.”

Cloudchaser lost the far-away look in her eye. “What?”

“You’ve been acting as strange around me as anyone else has.”

Rumble could see the hairs around Cloudchaser’s neck stand on end. “Define ‘strange’ in this context.”

“Diamond Tiara isn’t bullying me, Archer kissed me, Rainbow Dash said I was handsome, Cheerilee gave me a higher score than I deserved on the math assignment, Apple Bloom tried to get the kissing cutie mark, Twilight tried to delay the cure for my magical predicament so that she could spend more time with me during tutoring, and you… you’ve been a little more forward about things, if you don’t mind me saying.”

Cloudchaser gasped.

“I mean, think about last night when you were foalsitting me while Thunderlane and Flitter were on a date. Bringing dinner and setting up a movie is perfectly normal. But helping me in the bath like you did, not to mention the whole ordeal with your hoof, and helping me preen is something I’d normally associate with someone closer. Like a mother. Or… or even…” Rumble didn’t want to say it.

Cloudchaser looked down. She looked like she was about to cry.

“No one else knows about it,” Rumble continued. “I’m supposed to have it cured tomorrow with Twilight’s help. By tomorrow evening, I won’t even have this magic in me anymore. Frankly, with all the problems it’s caused at school recently, I’ll be glad to be rid of it.”

“I’m sorry…”

Rumble thought about continuing on, but he didn’t. He could see a tiny glimmer appear in Cloudchaser’s eye.

“I’m sorry about last night,” she said quietly. “I… I wasn’t thinking straight. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“You’re right. I didn’t do anything.”

That was all she left it at, but that was all Rumble needed to know. “But… M-Miss Cloudchaser… why?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!” Cloudchaser grabbed her head with her hooves as though she was having a migraine. “I just don’t understand why I’m not thinking straight! I don’t get what’s going on! I’ve had these sort of thoughts before, but I didn’t expect them at one point to be towards you of all ponies!”

“Cloudchaser! Calm down!”

“Oh, Celestia, what will your brother think!?” Cloudchaser’s head started whipping around, knocking over the glass of water with her elbow so that it spilled all over the counter all over the floor, dripping down through the cloud and falling into the earth below. “He trusted me! He trusts me to be able to take care of you when I can’t even take care of these things myself!”

“Cloudchaser! Please!”

“Oh, Celestia, and what about my sister or my job? What happens if my supervisor Rainbow Dash finds out? Oh god, she’ll rail against me to the boss for sure! I’m not supposed to be thinking like this! Not when I have a job!”

“CLOUDCHASER!”

Rumble’s hoof launched out and swung hard across the hysterical Cloudchaser. Cloudchaser was hit so hard she nearly fell over and the stool she was sitting on rocked a little before settling back down. When she managed to regain composure after nearly falling, the pegasus mare was still a nervous wreck but she wasn’t yelling anymore.

“You need to calm down!” Rumble nearly shouted. “It’s not just you! And it’s not your fault! It’s me! It’s this stupid innate magic that I have that drives every mare around me for an extended length of time crazy!”

Cloudchaser was still shivering and sniffling, but not quite crying as she watched Rumble.

“You’d think it’d make me happy to have all the mares around me. But no! I’m sick and tired of it because they start getting strange thoughts in their head that I’m technically not supposed to start thinking about for a few years! It’s… it’s… it’s immoral! But – don’t you start going hysterical on me again! – it’s not your fault!”

“Rumble… please stop… please stop yelling.”

“I’m sorry,” Rumble said, much quieter than before. “But you’re making me scared with how you’re acting. But think about it; you were all focused about what you were thinking about you’re forgetting you didn’t actually do anything.”

Cloudchaser gasped again, but this time a little of the glimmer that had been in her eye wasn’t there anymore.

“Archer lost control of herself twice and ended up kissing me and getting into a fight with Diamond Tiara. Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash lost control of themselves and started advancing on me. But you… you controlled yourself. And, to be completely honest, I don’t think that’s something anypony else has done to me ever since I started noticing these strange things happening.”

“You mean… I’ve probably been the best behaved?”

“Likely so. You’ve had those thoughts but haven’t acted on them.”

Cloudchaser finally smiled and wiped away the tears from her eyes. “I’m still sorry. I shouldn’t have acted that way.”

“It’s fine, Miss Cloudchaser. Thunderlane and the others won’t have to know about this.”

When Thunderlane came home with Flitter, they arrived to Rumble finishing his homework in the living room while Cloudchaser looked over him. The TV was on some nature program that Rumble liked and the house was relatively quiet with the exception of Cloudchaser occasionally giving pointers. The counter and floor was clean and the tipped glass was over in the drainer. Cloudchaser and Thunderlane talked for a little while before Cloudchaser left with Flitter and Thunderlane walked over to Rumble.

“Tomorrow we’ve got a meeting over at the cloud factory,” Thunderlane told Rumble. “We’re all supposed to be there. Twilight did say she has the spell-book, though, and should be able to take the innate magic off you and help you with your math homework. Do you think you could head over to the library for a little while until I pick you up?”

Rumble nodded. “I’ll be glad to be rid of this thing. I don’t want another scuffle like what happened today at school to happen again.”

VIII - Final Hours

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As Rumble walked up to the schoolhouse the next morning, he already knew something different was going on. Instead of hearing the bell at the top of the schoolhouse ringing and the fillies and colts of Ponyville running into the school house of fear of being late, the bell was silent and it seemed like all of the colts were playing around outside. A young stallion, caramel-colored with a brown mane and tail and sporting a red whistle around his neck, was standing around watching the fillies and colts.

Rumble found Archer, Pipsqueak, and Featherweight standing around under the oak tree where they usually had lunch. Featherweight was messing with his camera, but had an ear towards Archer and Pipsqueak, who seemed to be relatively heated. Rumble snuck up quietly, carefully stepping along the grass so that they couldn’t hear him, but they seemed to be too involved in their argument to care.

“…I don’t understand what’s gotten into you, Archer,” Pipsqueak was nearly shouting. “First you didn’t mind working with us four, and now you just want it to be you and Rumble on the project.”

“I don’t care if you get it or not!” Archer shouted, her normally blue cheeks a very bright pink. “I don’t see what the big deal is, though. Can’t we just work on the project with us two?”

“Look, you’re just rambling on, now. Besides, Cheerilee wanted at least groups of three for the science project.”

“Then I’ll invite Scootaloo. I’m sure she would be willing to take me up on that offer.”

“I thought your sister was going to be with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. They already put their group in to Cheerilee yesterday.”

“We can change things around, I’m sure. We can always talk with Miss Cheerilee and say Scootaloo just wants to change groups.”

“Are you out of your mind!?” Pipsqueak finally shouted, going red in the face and the eyes. “First of all, that group is locked in, which means it can’t be changed. Secondly, that would leave Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle with one less group member than the requirement.”

“So? You can go with them. And Featherweight can go with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon and everypony’s happy.”

Featherweight looked up from his camera. He glared and growled at Archer, who seemed to not pay attention.

“Archer, I swear, I’ve never seen you so insensitive before the events of this past week!”

“And now we’re back to square one,” Archer huffed. “You just don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?”

Rumble could see the hairs on the back of Pipsqueak’s neck stand up, along with three sets of ears as he spoke. Featherweight waved to Rumble and Pipsqueak turned slowly around, his eyes as big as Archer’s.

“I’ll be right back,” Archer giggled nervously. “I… I need to see if Scootaloo has her math homework with her. Catch up with you later!” And she shot off in a blue streak.

“What’s gotten into Archer?” Rumble asked, watching as she ran across the schoolyard.

Featherweight made derpy eyes and cycled a hoof around his head.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Pipsqueak said. “Ever since we got here she’s been talking about rearranging the groups for the science project once Cheerilee got here.”

“Where is she now?”

“Talking with Filthy Rich about Diamond Tiara getting into a fight yesterday, I think,” Pipsqueak said. He turned to Featherweight, who nodded and pointed to the tan pony as Pipsqueak continued. “Anyway, Caramel’s our substitute again, but he’s just waiting until Cheerilee gets here. She’s supposed to be speaking with Archer’s parents, too, when school gets out.”

Rumble shrugged. “Any idea when she’s supposed to be here?”

“No,” Pipsqueak replied, “but Caramel said we need to have our groups ready to tell her by the time she gets here. Half of the class already has their groups set up, but there are still ten of us that need to get one together.”

“So that’s what Archer meant when she was talking about moving around the groups.”

“Yeah. She wanted to kick one of us over with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and the other with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon just to be able to work with you alone.”

“But Cheerilee said they were supposed to be groups of three.”

“That’s what I don’t understand. She’s so insistent on it.”

Featherweight pointed to his chest, then acted like he was pulling something above his head.

“Seems like it,” Rumble said.

Pipsqueak looked over to Featherweight, who went back to fiddling with his camera like he did nothing, then looked over to Rumble. “What did he mean? That’s the only one I haven’t been able to decipher right now.”

How does Featherweight know anyway? “Uh… what he meant was Archer’s letting her fee—uh, intuition go before her rational thinking.”

“Okay. Anyways, should we still try and have Archer in our group?”

“Maybe it’s just a phase she’s going through,” Rumble said. “When we get together and do the project, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Featherweight put away his camera, pointed to himself and Rumble, then pointed to an empty spot of the field away from the tree.

“You… wanna speak with me alone?”

Featherweight nodded.

“Come on, Featherweight!” Pipsqueak said. “You can tell me, too.”

Featherweight shook his head.

“Aw, fine. Don’t take too long.”

Rumble followed Featherweight until they went to the empty area of the field, the nearest group was in the sandbox nearby and Caramel was talking with them after one got hit in the head, so they weren’t even paying attention to the two colts.

Rumble watched as Featherweight took a piece of paper from his camera bag and handed it to Rumble. It was of Rumble in the library with Twilight and Thunderlane.

“How did you know I was heading over to Twilight’s that day?”

Another picture, this time showing the front of the schoolhouse. Thunderlane was barely a small grey dot inside the schoolhouse as the other fillies and colts were dispersing. Rumble was another small mark, this time on the bench.

“I suppose that behavior is a little unusual for me and Thunderlane. But, how come you didn’t say anything?”

Featherweight pointed to Rumble and made a gesture like he was zipping his mouth shut, then pointed to himself and made the same gesture.

“That’s very considerate of you. But, what do you think? How come Archer’s acting so weird now when she wasn’t before?”

Featherweight shrugged.

“What do you think about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?”

“If it goes the way I think it will, by tomorrow, they won’t care.”

“How come you only spoke that one line?”

Featherweight shrugged and said nothing before walking back to where Pipsqueak was.

* * *

Miss Cheerilee didn’t come to the schoolhouse for half an hour. While the deep pink mare seemed to be in a happy mood, she was followed by a very angry and rather humiliated Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Rumble wasn’t sure if he was happy to see them actually get in trouble for their actions or afraid of if something worse was about to come along.

Even so, he followed them into the schoolhouse and took his seat at his desk. Pipsqueak and Featherweight took their seats at the front of the class and Archer took her seat next to Rumble like usual, but instead of being talkative the blue filly acted like Rumble wasn’t even there. Rumble tried poking her on the shoulder as she reached into her bag to bring out some paper and a pencil, but she didn’t even respond.

Miss Cheerilee talked with Caramel for a little bit about the class behavior before he gave her the sign-in sheet and Caramel left. Cheerilee made a few more notes on the sheet before bringing out a ruler and tapping her desk a few times until the classroom quieted down. She was smiling brightly at the class as she spoke.

“Thank you all for behaving yourselves for Mister Caramel,” Cheerilee said cheerfully. “I had something planned for the science lecture today, but I suppose I’ll skip that for now and make sure you all have your groups for your projects. Now, I know some of you already have your groups together, so I just want to make sure. We’ll go down the remaining list alphabetically.”

Archer stood up beside her desk proudly. “Miss Cheerilee, I would like my group to co—”

Cheerilee’s expression turned from bright and smiling to glaring at the earth pony filly. “Archer,” Cheerilee said sternly, causing Archer to shut her mouth immediately. “I’m not giving you a choice. You have to work with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”

Even Featherweight gasped.

“B-But Miss Cheerilee!” Archer protested as she clambered back into her desk. “I wanted to work with Rumble!”

“You will have other chances to work with Rumble,” Cheerilee said, “but I can’t have my students getting into fights with one another. I’ve spoken with Filthy Rich about his daughter’s behavior and I want you three to work together. I’ll be checking in with both your families to make sure that you’ll be adhering to these rules.”

Archer went from whining to suddenly rather angry. “Why are you making me work with them? They’re the biggest bullies in the class! We’ll spend more time fighting than doing the project! Why don’t you put someone else with them instead?”

“Archer!” Cheerilee shouted. “I won’t have you shouting at me in my classroom! Neither Diamond Tiara nor Silver Spoon want this, but I will have order and I won’t tolerate you fighting. If you all want a good grade, you’ll have to work together on this project. That is my final decision.”

The entire class sat in horrified silence. None of them had seen Cheerilee go off like that before, and it was quite apparent from the look on their faces that they weren’t keen on seeing it again.

Cheerilee herself remained silent for a few minutes and took a few deep breaths. It was only when she had noticeably calmed herself down that she returned to the list of students. “Let’s see… next on the list is Featherweight. Featherweight, do you have a group ready?”

Featherweight nodded and pointed to Rumble and Pipsqueak.

“Alright. Featherweight, Rumble, and Pipsqueak are in the group. Anyone else?”

Archer raised a hoof.

“Anyone else?” Cheerilee repeated.

Archer put her hoof down and no one else said a word.

The last group was made of the remaining four ponies without incident. Afterwards, Cheerilee decided to give the class a few minutes to get into their groups and talk about what they could do for the science project as well as go over the rubric she was giving them. Rumble went to talk with Archer, but the little blue filly picked up her stuff and walked away before Rumble could even get a word out.

When the groups were together in various corners of the classroom, Rumble’s group was close to Diamond Tiara’s group. Archer avoided eye contact or even looking at Rumble, but Diamond Tiara ended up having something to say.

“I thought she was gonna put you with us because we tease you about being a blank flank. This’ll have to work since Archer has a cutie mark, but you just should have accepted the offer so that it didn’t come out to this big mess.”

“It was a mess to begin with,” Rumble said. “And, far as I know, a mess it’ll stay.”

“It could have been different,” Diamond Tiara said. Rumble noticed her usual traces of condescension weren’t present. “We… we could have actually been…”

“Who or what is to say we can’t be?” Rumble said, though he wondered if he would regret it later. “Cutie marks? That’s just what you’re good at. I don’t know what I’m good at yet, but I’m still young. I have time to figure it out. You might have figured out what you’re good at already, but do you know what you’re going to do with it?”

Diamond Tiara looked away from Rumble and didn’t say anything.

Rumble turned back around and started talking with Featherweight and Pipsqueak.

Neither Rumble nor Diamond Tiara said anything to the other for the rest of the day.

* * *

Once school was out, Rumble walked out with Featherweight and Pipsqueak.

“You wanna come over to Featherweight’s house and start thinking up some ideas for the project?” Pipsqueak asked as they stopped for a minute at the road.

“I can’t today,” Rumble said. “Thunderlane has me taking tutoring with Twilight Sparkle for my troubles in math. I’ll be over at the library for the next hour or so.”

“Too bad,” Pipsqueak said. “I hear his dad’s got a cool collection of nature photography from around Equestria. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow will be better,” Rumble said. “I won’t have tutoring and Thunderlane may try and get extra hours so I’ll have a free day after school. See you tomorrow, then.”

“Got it! Later, Rumble!” Pipsqueak called.

Featherweight waved.

Rumble waved back before heading through town with his saddlebags towards the large tree in the center of Ponyville. Tutoring was part of the reason that he was going, but Rumble didn’t consider it the main reason. Today, Twilight should have received the spell-book from Princess Celestia, and soon the innate magic that plagued him the past few days was to be removed. Only then could he feel he could return to a life of normalcy.

As he approached the giant oak that held the library, he could hear the words of Thunderlane from that morning replaying themselves in his head. Now remember, Rumble. You might be going there for tutoring, but Twilight needs to perform that spell first. If she doesn’t have the spell-book, you are to leave immediately and tell her you are going to reschedule your tutoring session for another time. I don’t care if you have to give her an excuse of I had planned something for us later. If you have to leave the library, go to Sugarcube Corner. The Cakes and Miss Pinkie have been informed of the situation and will watch you there until I get off. But if she has the spell-book, don’t be afraid. Twilight knows what she’s doing more than anypony else, and you’re in good hooves with a magician of that caliber… so long as she does the spell first.

Rumble took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the library. There was the sound of steps coming from the far end of the library and soon the door opened to reveal the unicorn mare herself.

“You didn’t have to knock, you know,” Twilight said, opening the door so Rumble could come in. “The library’s open to the public for at least another hour or two.”

“I just figured I’d be polite,” Rumble said, not going into the library. “Did you get the spell-book for the spell to get rid of my innate magic?”

“Right here,” Twilight said, bringing out the leather-bound book and opening it to the exact page that noted the spell.

Rumble took a quick glance of the page, satisfied, and finally entered the library. Twilight closed the door behind him as he entered and went off through another door in the first floor as Rumble walked into the library. He followed Twilight to the door and found it was a small room furnished with a table, a few chairs, and a chalkboard. On the table stood a teapot, a small plate of cookies, and two cups, one specifically made to fit between a non-unicorn’s hooves.

“Right,” Twilight said, setting the book down on the table, “so which does Thunderlane want first: the spell or the tutoring?”

“He wanted the spell first,” Rumble said. “Nothing was to happen with the tutoring today unless you had that spell-book. Not that he blames you, but he just wanted to make sure nothing went… out of hoof.”

“Completely understandable,” Twilight said. “Now, come here, Rumble. I’m going to need you to stand perfectly still and pay attention to everything I say so that nothing goes wrong.”

Rumble came and stood in front of Twilight, the purple unicorn staring into his eyes. They stayed that way for a minute before Rumble noticed Twilight wasn’t blinking again.

“You’re staring again…” Rumble said, feeling his face get hot.”

“Oh, sorry. I just can’t help but think how pretty your eyes are.”

“Miss Twilight, are you going to get this spell over with or am I going to have to leave!?”

Twilight jumped as Rumble shouted at her and had to shake her head to clear her ears. Eventually, though, she gave him a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry. Better get this done so I don’t trail off again, huh?”

“The sooner, the better.”

“Right.”

Twilight’s cheeks went pink as she went and looked into Rumble’s eyes again, but this time Rumble could see Twilight’s horn start to glow with magical power. The magic soon started to travel up Rumble’s front hooves and soon his whole body was covered in a semi-translucent purple glow. Rumble felt himself lose control of his motor skills as he was gently lifted up into the air.

“Are you sure about this?” Twilight asked as Rumble floated into the air.

“Entirely!” Rumble shouted back. “Just do it before I change my mind and leave before tutoring!”

Twilight nodded and closed her eyes. A pink string of solid magic began to come out from her horn and wrap itself around Rumble. Rumble felt himself become tightened by the string beginning to wrap his hooves to his sides. Although he could breathe perfectly normally, he felt claustrophobic by the pink string gently wrapping itself around his body as it coiled around closer to his neck. It passed around his neck and covered his face and Rumble felt like he was floating amongst the pink magic. He felt like he couldn’t tell up from down and soon became sick as though from being spun around a long time.

A strand of purple came out from the pink and started pushing at Rumble’s chest. It pushed and pushed and soon felt like it broke through his coat and skin. Rumble could feel his insides moving around as it poked and prodded and more and more of the string went into his chest. Suddenly the purple string vanished entirely into his chest and he could feel things from his brain to his wings to his hooves get prodded by the magic inside him. He wanted to shout for Twilight to stop, but had the faintest idea the purple unicorn couldn’t hear him.

Almost when the feeling became unbearable to stand any longer, there came a pushing from the inside of his chest and the violet string started to pour back out from his chest. Rumble watched as the purple string floated out of his chest and soon vanished back into the pink void. As though the whole process was going in reverse, Rumble watched as the string soon vanished back into the pink magic cloud, which gently began to unravel from around him and back into Twilight’s horn until only the semi-translucent purple glow that held him in the air remained. Afterwards, Twilight set him gently down on the ground and Rumble finally felt the ability to control himself again.

Twilight looked at him expectantly. “Well? How do you feel?”

“A little sick,” Rumble said. The whole experience of floating in the magic field had made him a little nauseous.

Twilight poured a cup of brown liquid from the teapot into each cup before picking up the cup made for non-unicorn hooves and giving it to Rumble. “Drink this. It’s a mild sweet tea. It should help settle your stomach. Not many pegasi have to undergo invasive magic like that and the experience can be a harrowing one.”

Rumble sipped the tea. It tasted good, and after a few sips he started to feel better. “What exactly did that spell do?”

“Well, there’s no way to permanently remove innate magic,” Twilight said. “The most we can do is nullify it so that it doesn’t show up anymore. So I went and poked around in your magic aura and found the source of the magic and toned it down to the point it won’t appear. It still has a small effect, but since we can’t nullify it completely, I just made it where if it does appear, the level of magic is so small it would take decades of constant exposure to you to take effect.”

Rumble nodded. “Say I want it back…”

“Just come to me and I’ll dial it back up. We can make it where it appears enough for positive connotations but not enough to make every mare in the vicinity go haywire. Since the look on your face says you don’t understand, I’ll give you a practical example: fillies your age might find you attractive but you won’t garner enough attention to make Rainbow Dash interested in you again and you won’t have fillies fighting over you or fondling over you without your input after an hour or two of exposure.”

Rumble nodded.

“Did you bring your math book? I assume we have something of an hour until Thunderlane arrives. Oh, and feel free to eat the cookies. You’ll focus better with something in your stomach.”

“Miss Twilight? Before we begin, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“What do you think of me?”

“You’re cute for a colt your age, in the sense you have more delicate features than most. Your grades say you’re intelligent though your last few assignments prove you do need the work on the math.”

“Any attachment…?”

“I want you to succeed and am happy to tutor you. But that’s as far as it goes, if that’s what you were aiming for.”

Rumble nodded.

“Very well, then. Now, let’s see where you started having trouble and we’ll work our way onwards from there…”

IX - Relative Normalcy

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“Rumble!” Thunderlane peeked his head down the hall. “Rumble! It’s time to get up for school!”

The grey pegasus colt’s head lazily drifted from his room. “What…?”

“I’ve got breakfast ready. Are you ready to go for school?”

“Almost. I have to pack up my homework from last night.”

“Did you finish your math?”

“Yeah. Miss Twilight helped me with some of the older stuff last night, though.”

Thunderlane nodded and Rumble disappeared back into his bedroom. Thunderlane had poured out two glasses of milk before Rumble had trudged into the kitchen with his saddlebags full of school supplies.

“I went ahead and packed a lunch for you,” Thunderlane said as Rumble sat down.

“Thanks,” Rumble said with a yawn. “I didn’t think it’d be that exhausting tutoring with Miss Twilight.”

“She certainly can talk an ear off,” Thunderlane said. “How did the homework go?”

“Alright,” Rumble said. “She helped me out a little, but I’m still a little behind on the material.”

“One step at a time, bro,” Thunderlane said gently, putting a wing around Rumble and holding him close. “Maybe things will go easier now that the magic’s off you.”

Rumble smiled and leaned into his brother’s shoulder for a minute before Thunderlane released him to finish their breakfast.

“You said you had a science project coming up?”

“Yeah,” Rumble answered. “I was going to go over to Featherweight’s today to work on it.”

“How long do you think?”

“We were gonna try and go for two hours.”

Thunderlane thought it over as he ate a pancake. “That would work. Oh, and I’ve got Flitter coming over for dinner in a couple of nights, so I need you to help clean the kitchen and living room.”

“Going out?”

“No. Just coming over. I was gonna try a new recipe I found.”

“It’s not that nicoise salad, is it?”

“No, no. Something else. I wanted to try and impress Flitter. Now go brush your teeth if you’re done.”

Thunderlane waited until Rumble was in the bathroom before picking up the dishes and putting them in the sink to clean later. He made a quick call to see about his schedule and packed his own lunch by the time Rumble came out from the bathroom.

“Teeth brushed and face washed?”

“Washcloth’s over the small rack.”

Thunderlane looked around and down the hall to see a small washcloth hanging over the metal rack. “Alright, then. Get your stuff and let’s go.”

It was a quick flight to Ponyville’s schoolhouse, where Rumble arrived fifteen minutes early. Thunderlane and Rumble gently touched down to see Cheerilee standing outside in the playground with a couple of other colts and fillies; Archer, Diamond Tiara, Silverspoon, and Pipsqueak were already there.

“Anything weird, anything at all, you tell me,” Thunderlane said. “So, what time do you want me to pick you up?”

“Around four,” Rumble said. “That would give us two hours.”

“Alright. Where’s Featherweight’s house?”

“Three houses down from Sugarcube Corner heading this direction.”

“Alright. I’ll hover around until you come out. Might have to make a stop by Sugarcube Corner anyway. See you later, little bud.”

Rumble waved to Thunderlane before approaching Pipsqueak and Archer, looking over their science books.

“Hey Rumble,” Pipsqueak said. “How did tutoring with Miss Twilight go?”

“It was good,” Rumble said. “Actually think I managed to do okay on the math assignment this time.”

“My sister Scootaloo’s going to Twilight’s after school sometimes,” Archer said, looking up from her book. “Something about a new way of trying to get her cutie mark.”

“How’d they come up with that?”

“Apparently that whole thing about a kissing cutie mark kind of fell through,” Archer said. She laughed. “They saw Big Macintosh and Miss Cheerilee kissing once and thought it was disgusting.”

“Hey, you still up for going to Featherweight’s today?” Pipsqueak asked.

“Yeah. I can stay until four.”

“That should give us some time. Miss Cheerilee wants us to get a question and hypothesis in by sometime next week.”

“Aw, I wish I could hang out with you guys,” Archer said. “It’d be so much better than hanging around with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”

Rumble looked around to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon bouncing a ball back and forth on their heads. They looked decently happy, though Rumble wondered what would happen if he went over and tried to talk to them.

“You also meeting up for the project?” Rumble asked.

Archer sighed and nodded. “I can’t wait until this stupid thing’s over.”

“Maybe we could all go out and get ice cream tomorrow.”

“I’d like that,” Archer said a little too enthusiastically. Rumble felt himself seize up in horror for only a moment before Archer continued. “Except I have archery practice with Miss Silverspeed tomorrow. We’re finally doing moving targets!” Archer was nearly jumping up and down with excitement.

Pipsqueak’s mouth dropped.

Rumble nodded. “Sure thing. Maybe some other time.”

“Yeah. I’ll probably need it after this project.”

Featherweight arrived and the bell rang. The fillies and colts entered the classroom and were called to order, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sitting on either side of Rumble. Cheerilee called for the students to start handing up their homework and Rumble went to pull his assignment out of his saddlebags.

A sharp push caused Rumble to start flailing to keep himself from falling out of his chair. It took his wings to help stabilize him and Pipsqueak reaching up to help to pull him back into the chair. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the class talking and pulling out papers, were laughing.

“Aww…” Diamond Tiara was sneering at him. “Did the poor blank flank almost fall out of his chair?”

Silver Spoon laughed. “I guess you were right. Blank flanks do have poor hoof-eye coordination.”

“That’s more a problem for the optometrist as opposed to you,” Rumble said, pulling his papers out while the two fillies were too busy laughing.

“Hey, I wonder who is going to get a better grade on the project,” Diamond Tiara started to muse. “Will it be me, who already has a talent and a good question, or the blank flanks who haven’t started yet?” And she and Silver Spoon started laughing again.

“Why does it have to be determined by whether or not I have a cutie mark?” Rumble asked. “Can’t it be determined by intelligence?”

Diamond Tiara stopped laughing. “What? I… Well, I have more intelligence than you since you don’t have a cutie mark.”

“What are you going to do with a tiara?”

“…huh?”

“Your science project. What are you going to do with a tiara if your cutie mark means you’re more intelligent?”

Diamond Tiara went bright red and she glared viciously at Rumble. She might have started screaming at him if Cheerilee hadn’t finished collecting the papers and called the class back in to order again.

At lunch, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo passed Rumble with a quick “hello” before zooming off to an area under the tree. Rumble, Pipsqueak, Featherweight, and Archer headed over to another tree near to where a couple of colts were shooting balls into a hoop.

“That’s weird, what happened today,” Pipsqueak said. “Diamond Tiara mostly ignores you, doesn’t she?”

Rumble shrugged. “Normally. She keeps picking on those three.” He motioned to Scootaloo standing triumphantly on a branch in a tree and Sweetie Belle standing on Apple Bloom’s shoulders trying to reach the branch herself.

“Kinda weird how she does that, huh?” Pipsqueak commented. “I mean, she never teased any of us before, really.”

“Scootaloo says she’s not trying as hard on them lately,” Archer spoke up. “Something about calling them ‘blank flanks’ got old.”

“That’s right.”

The four turned to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon standing nearby. Diamond Tiara was still fuming.

“I can’t believe you!” Diamond Tiara said. “What makes you think that a little blank flank could ever be better than me!?”

“One has difficulty coming up with even the vaguest idea,” Rumble said.

Diamond Tiara let out an irritated ‘hmmph’. “Well, if nothing else, your brother’s worked under my dad, which means you should be nicer to me and do things for me.”

“I’m unsure if you’re aware, but that was a business relationship,” Rumble said, voice firmer.

“They still worked for my daddy!” Diamond Tiara said, walking closer to Rumble.

“Only because they were asked to politely,” Rumble almost growled, walking closer to Diamond Tiara. “If your dad hadn’t filled out a form and written a nice letter, Thunderlane and his company wouldn’t have done a bit’s worth of work.”

“See, that’s the nice thing, though,” Diamond Tiara nearly shouted, shoving her head in Rumble’s face. “My daddy can pay for anything he wants! He wanted your stinking brother to work under him!”

“That doesn’t mean he’s your servant!” Rumble shouted at Diamond Tiara, shoving his head in her face. “He was assigned to a job by his superior!”

“Who happens to be my father!”

“I meant his work superior, otherwise known as his manager!”

“Then how come he agreed to clear the sky that one day it was supposed to rain on my birthday!” Diamond Tiara lashed a hoof out at Rumble’s face.

“Because your father apparently didn’t hand down any of his decency to you and kept it all for himself!” Rumble tackled Diamond Tiara and the two were suddenly rolling around in the dirt in a flurry of punches, kicks, and mane-pulling.

“Don’t you dare talk about my daddy like that!”

“I was calling him nice and polite! You stop talking about my brother like that!”

“Ow! I’m just calling it like I see it!”

“Rumble!” Archer and Pipsqueak called from the side. “Let it go before you get in trouble!”

“And you’re not seeing the whole thing! Quit biting!”

“What would a blank flank know about what happened? Aah!”

“Diamond!” Silver Spoon called. “Don’t let Miss Cheerilee see you!”

“More than you just focused on – ow! – how you have a cutie mark!”

“Argh! And how come you’re not just accepting the facts, blank flank?”

“Quit calling me blank flank! I just haven’t – ack! – figured out my talent yet!”

“Have you – ow! – thought about what it was – eep! – like to be talentless?”

A shrill whistle blew from across the playground. Diamond Tiara and Rumble immediately froze as remained where they were on the ground as Miss Cheerilee cantered over to them, glaring at both of them.

“That’s the second time this month, Diamond Tiara!” Miss Cheerilee said, exasperated. “What am I supposed to tell your father?”

Diamond Tiara gulped and immediately sprang into action. “He… he was making fun of my daddy!” she started to cry. “And… and then he tackled me!”

“I don’t care what he said about your father,” Cheerilee said sternly. “If he’s bullying you, you should come to me.”

“I wasn’t saying anything about Mister Rich!” Rumble said, springing to attention. “She was saying mean things about my brother and then hit me!”

Cheerilee put a hoof to her forehead. “Rumble… I expected better behavior out of you. Both of you, follow me in.”

“It wasn’t his fault, Miss Cheerilee,” Archer spoke up.

“Yeah,” Pipsqueak said. “Diamond Tiara hit first.”

Cheerilee looked over at Rumble, standing firm, and Diamond Tiara, curled in a ball and crying. Rumble couldn’t see any actual tears coming from Diamond Tiara.

“Both of you are to spend next week at lunch inside for fighting,” Cheerilee said. “And Diamond, I might need to send you to a counselor.”

Diamond Tiara really started crying now. “No! Miss Cheerilee, please! Don’t do that!”

“My word is final,” Miss Cheerilee said. “Both of you, come with me so I can assess what happened.”

“How come Diamond Tiara really started freaking out after that?” Rumble asked before he left.

“Diamond Tiara’s mother is Ponyville’s psychologist and the school’s counselor,” Archer said. “Her father will let her get away with a lot, but she’s really in trouble now.”

X - Lunchtime Detention

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Rumble and Diamond Tiara sat in the classroom under the disapproving eye of Cheerilee. Lunch still had a whole ten minutes to go and both of them were not particularly happy; Diamond Tiara kept shooting death glares over at Rumble, who refused to acknowledge them.

Cheerilee steadily graded papers at her desk, but kept on looking at the clock every once in a while as though even she wanted it to end. It had been somewhat strange; Rumble was fully expecting to be scolded or shouted at, but for some reason this was worse, sitting in the quiet of the classroom with a disapproving Cheerilee until lunch was over. Even worse was the feeling that this was not the last time it would happen.

After a time, Cheerilee looked at the clock and seemed satisfied. She set down the papers she had been looking at and looked at them both firmly. She inhaled and exhaled once through her nose and looked straight down at the two.

“Never,” she said. She let a long silence pass as though to make them understand the gravity of the situation. “Never have I had such an unruly group of students as I do this year. I can’t believe it. Seriously! Three physical fights in one year! And both of you have had a hoof in causing all of them!”

“He started it!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“No, I didn’t!” Rumble immediately countered.

They would have continued had not Cheerilee slammed a book down on her desk and caused a large thump. She was quiet for a moment longer. “And your grades are surprising, too. Rumble, I would have expected someone who’s a studious as you are to be less of a fighter.”

Diamond Tiara stuck a tongue out at Rumble and sat there for a moment with a satisfied smirk.

“That’s a good thing, Diamond, not a bad thing,” Rumble muttered.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re still in trouble.”

“And you, Diamond Tiara.” – Diamond suddenly was staring straight at Cheerilee with horror in her eyes. – “You are all over the place! Sometimes I think your father does your homework more often than you do! Well, frankly, I am not going to stand it any longer.”

“How dare you accuse me of cheating!” Diamond Tiara yelled.

“You don’t know when to shut up, do you?” Rumble muttered.

“And how dare you get me into this mess!”

“Rumble got you in no mess, Diamond Tiara,” Cheerilee said sternly, bringing the focus back to her. “You did. Trust me, I’ve seen every single one of these fights, and I can’t understand for the life of me why you would pick on them. You are the instigator!”

“That’s not fair!” Diamond Tiara protested.

“That’s enough!” Cheerilee slammed a hoof down. She waited until she’d calmed down a little before looking over to Rumble. “And you... you’ve been involved in physical fights twice now. What is it? Why are you doing it? And I hope you can provide a clear reason.”

Rumble swallowed. “She was teasing us for being blank flanks and thought that made her superior to us because of it. But she wouldn’t back down.”

Cheerilee nodded. “Thank you. At least you provided a reason.”

Rumble said nothing; this was an odd change he’d hardly seen until recently, and wasn’t happy to be on the receiving end of it.

Cheerilee looked over to Diamond Tiara. “Why were you picking on them for being blank flanks?”

“Are you kidding me? A pony that doesn’t know what makes up their talent is considered worthless and that’s a fact! You told us that!”

Cheerilee glared at Diamond Tiara. “Your history grade tells me more than I need to know about that situation. First of all, it was considered that a foal had up until college to find what their talent is. Secondly, while that is true, it is also considered a very large day in a pony’s life when they do gain their talent. Thirdly, the practice of a pony being ‘worthless’ with regards to their mark stopped ten years after Equestria was founded and Princesses Celestia and Luna took the throne; everypony now makes worthwhile contributions to society. This pegasus you keep bullying” – Cheerilee pointed to Rumble – “helped in the last time Ponyville was required to make the tornado to send water to Cloudsdale!”

Diamond Tiara gave an odd look to Rumble. Rumble thought he knew very well what that meant; he’d seen it before. It was a look of “Wait... you did something meaningful?” Her eyebrow was cocked, her face was scrunched up in a scowl, her head slightly leaned backwards, and her upper lip curled slightly at one side.

Cheerilee looked over at Rumble and sighed. “You should know better. I know your brother a little. He’s a good, hardworking stallion, and I would half had expected him to have taught you not to get into fights!”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee...” Rumble said.

Cheerilee sat in thought for a while. “I’ve come to a decision. I can’t have you fighting all the time. I need to make you understand the value of each other and cooperating with each other. Rumble, you need to learn to work with ponies no matter what they do to you and control your emotions. Diamond, you need to learn to see others as equals and not superior to them. I don’t care how rich you are, unless they work directly for you, you have no right to treat others that way.”

She looked straight at the two foals. “Starting tomorrow, you two are going to be on lunch detention. And to obtain the values I want you two to learn, I’m going to make you do team-building exercises.”

“What?” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Rumble said.

“I am not,” Cheerilee said matter-of-factly. “I can’t have you two fighting each other all the time. I will spend time tomorrow thinking about what I will make you do. Be thankful I’m not sending you both to a counselor or doing worse. The quicker you learn to appreciate the other’s talents and learn to set aside your differences, the quicker you finish.”

Diamond Tiara huffed. Rumble said nothing.

The bell for end of lunch rang.

“Return to your original desks,” Cheerilee said. “I will be sending a note home with both of you, and I had better receive a response to it from a parent or guardian tomorrow.”

Rumble and Diamond Tiara nodded sullenly and went back to their desks.

XI - New Problems, New Solutions

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That afternoon, Rumble left the schoolhouse and started making his way over to Twilight’s for tutoring, a letter for Thunderlane in his saddlebags. This part wasn’t so bad; Twilight was at least supportive and he felt he was making headway; in just a few weeks, he already was almost up to speed with the rest of the class, and that was from starting back a few lessons behind.

“Stupid Diamond Tiara,” Rumble said to himself as he trotted towards the Golden Oaks Library. “If it weren’t for her bullying I wouldn’t be in this mess. She keeps carrying herself around like she owns the whole place. How come? I’ve met her dad before; he’s nice. How come she’s such a bully?”

A strange thought appeared in Rumble’s mind. “I kind of wish I had that magic on me again. I mean, it’s stopped Cheerilee from being overly nice to me, but Diamond Tiara didn’t pay much attention to me when I had it.”

Rumble sighed and dropped his head to the ground. “Oh, who am I kidding? It’s better without it, and it’s no good to wish I still had it.”

Rumble shook his head and cleared the thoughts of Twilight reinstating the innate magic on him. That wouldn’t help him. It wouldn’t keep him from fighting with Diamond Tiara, at any rate. Rumble continued onwards towards the tree library.

As he got closer to the library, Rumble noticed an interesting sight. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were standing at the entrance as though waiting. Rumble trotted a little faster, curious as to what they were doing.

“Hey!” he called over. “What are you all doing here?”

“Hey, Rumble!” Apple Bloom called. “Twilight is supervising us doing things to help with getting our cutie marks.”

“Oh. I thought she would be tutoring me today.”

“She is,” Scootaloo said. “She’s just going to get us started.”

“We’ll be working on our things while she’s tutoring you,” Sweetie Belle. “She’s starting us out with working with plants.”

“Oh. That sounds fun.”

“I don’t think it’ll work,” Scootaloo said. “Why can’t she have us doing something cooler, like working on scooters?”

“To be fair, I think she’s just doing something that won’t interfere with his tutoring,” Apple Bloom said.

“Hey,” Sweetie Belle interjected. “Hate to change the subject, but how come you and Diamond Tiara got into a fight?”

“Oh yeah, we saw you go into the schoolhouse with Cheerilee. What happened?”

“Diamond Tiara was insulting me and my big brother,” Rumble said. “I just couldn’t take it anymore and we got into a fight.”

“Did you get in trouble?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah. But so did Diamond Tiara. We’re going to be doing some ‘team-building exercises’ to help us work together.”

“Ooh, physical labor!” Scootaloo said, wings flitting excitedly so that she hovered above the ground a little. “That ought to bring Diamond down a peg!”

“Wow...” Sweetie Belle commented. “Cheerilee’s hardly ever scolded Diamond before now. She gave her a talking to during that whole issue with the Foal Free Press, but she’s never actually punished Diamond for anything.”

“Yeah, it’s a little weird,” Rumble admitted. “But I got in trouble, too. For fighting.”

“Doesn’t matter to us,” Apple Bloom said. “Well, it does, ‘cause fighting’s bad. But mostly we’re just happy because Diamond Tiara always bullies us and now someone’s actually stood up to her.”

“Really? You three never seem to have any problems.”

“Because we’ve got each other!” Apple Blooms said, wrapping a hoof around the other two fillies.

“Oh, great...” Scootaloo groaned. “She’s getting all sentimental again...”

“It is true, though,” Sweetie Belle said. “We’ve got each other for support. We don’t let Diamond Tiara get us down because we can rely on each other.”

“Wish I could say that,” Rumble said. “Not that I had friends; I’ve got Featherweight and Pipsqueak and Archer, but that she would leave us alone more often.”

“Eh, we still have our troubles,” Scootaloo said. “But yeah, I suppose we get through it alright and she hasn’t been bothering us too much lately.”

“Hey, want to join our club? The Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“Um, I guess,” Rumble said, perking up a little. “What do you guys do?”

“We just hang out and occasionally head out around Ponyville to try something to get our cutie marks,” Apple Bloom explained. “You can also see if Pipsqueak wants to join since he doesn’t have a cutie mark either.”

“What about Featherweight?” Rumble asked. “He already has his cutie mark, but he’s my friend, too.”

“He can come, too. We just hang out mostly, and he can still participate.”

Rumble smiled. “Cool. That sounds fun. Tell me after school when you guys want to head out and do something.”

“Alright!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “Normally, we do this whole initiation thing, but I think we can forego that this time.”

“What do you mean, ‘forego’?” Scootaloo asked.

“Just that we can skip it,” Apple Bloom replied. “And I agree. We still haven’t reworked that thing yet.”

Not long afterwards, Twilight opened the door. “Hello! Come on in! I’ll get these three started and we’ll pick up where we left off, okay Rumble?”

“Okay, Miss Twilight,” Rumble said with a smile.

* * *

About an hour and a half later, Rumble had gotten through another lesson. Twilight had started him on word problems and even a little algebra; Rumble seemed to have an easier time converting the words to letters than he did with words alone. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had difficulty with tending to plants – Scootaloo somehow managed to shrivel hers up by the end of the session – but Apple Bloom had actually had a somewhat strong, alive plant by the end of it.

The three were talking excitedly when Thunderlane came by.

“Alright, I gotta go,” Rumble said. “Thank you! See you at school tomorrow!”

“Bye, Rumble!” they called. “See you later! Hope your math goes well!”

Thunderlane and Rumble took off and headed off for Cloudsdale. Rumble swallowed a gulp of spit despite his mouth being dry and steeled himself. He had to tell Thunderlane about the letter he got sent home with eventually. He thought about it and was so focused on the letter that he ran into three clouds, which threw him off his flying and slowed him down a little.

Thunderlane laughed gently. “Something on your mind, bro?” he asked, slowing down and gliding alongside. “You’re a little more distracted than normal.”

“Yeah,” Rumble admitted. “I am.”

“That was Apple Bloom you were talking with it at Twilight’s, wasn’t it? Is the magic starting to come back?”

“No.” Rumble sighed. “I got into a fight at school today.”

Thunderlane frowned, but he didn’t seem mad yet. “What happened?” he asked.

“Well, I’ve been dealing with this bully named Diamond Tiara. She’s Filthy Rich’s daughter, and she lords her status all over school. She even thinks she’s superior and likes to act like we’re all beneath her.”

“Hm,” Thunderlane contemplated. “Her father’s been pleasant every time I’ve talked to him. We’ve done a few favors for him, but he’s always been nice about it.”

“Yeah. But she thinks that means we’re all her servants. So, when she ridiculed me and you, I... might have started a fight with her.”

Thunderlane looked sternly over at Rumble. “Did you get hurt? More importantly, did she get hurt?”

“We got a couple of scratches each. I think mine have all cleared up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if hers were. She’s an Earth Pony and hits harder than me anyways.”

Thunderlane sighed. “Rumble,” he said, voice not getting louder but definitely sterner. “I kind of get where you’re coming from, but you need to know that it’s better to tell someone if she’s bugging you. You can’t go around picking fights even if someone else is being a bigger bully.”

“I know...” Rumble said.

“And honestly, it is somewhat important to make sure you treat ponies like Diamond Tiara with respect,” Thunderlane continued. “If ever you have a problem with her, either talk to Cheerilee or me and we can speak with her father if things get too bad.”

“Yes, brother...” Rumble said.

Thunderlane and Rumble flew in silence until they reached home. Thunderlane opened the door and went into the kitchen, starting to prepare the evening’s meal. Rumble set his stuff down in his room and opened up his books.

“Rumble!” came Thunderlane’s voice from the kitchen.

Rumble got up and went out to the kitchen. Thunderlane was slicing up some large peppers, stopping only for a moment to gesture to a chair nearby. Rumble went and sat down as Thunderlane continued.

“Did you get in trouble at all?” Thunderlane asked.

Rumble nodded. “Miss Cheerilee is making us both do lunch detention. I also need a letter tomorrow.” He grabbed the letter Cheerilee gave him. “Miss Cheerilee sent this letter home explaining the situation. She wants a response tomorrow.”

Thunderlane looked at the letter. “Put it on the table. I’ll look at it in a minute. For now, go to your room and do homework. If you finish before dinner, stay in there and read.”

Rumble nodded and went back to his room. Thankfully he had no math. He read some of his history book and answered some questions, then worked on a science worksheet that they had been sent home with. By this time, Rumble smelled Thunderlane’s cooking and soon after heard his brother’s voice calling him to the kitchen.

Over a meal of stuffed peppers with cheese, Thunderlane read over the letter from Miss Cheerilee. He contemplated the letter for a long while and they did not speak, which Rumble hated more than the fact that his brother was mad at him. He never yelled, but when he got silent Rumble knew he was mad.

But after a while, Thunderlane gave a short chuckle and even smiled. “It’s funny,” he said. “Before we found out about that innate magic, you never had as many problems with her.”

Rumble nodded. “I was thinking about that, too.”

“Wonder if there was anything good about it.”

Rumble shrugged. “I’m kind of glad it’s gone. I actually had a nice conversation with Apple Bloom and her friends today, and I’m glad ponies like Miss Cloudchaser and Miss Cheerilee aren’t going crazy anymore.”

Thunderlane shrugged. “There is that. I’m glad; I’d be nervous if Miss Dash was around you any longer.”

Rumble nodded.

Thunderlane smiled at Rumble. “Well, I think Cheerilee’s current punishment is reasonable, even if it is multiple times. When you’re done, finish your homework and I’m going to have a few chores for you to do, but I’ll let you off easy this time. I’ll make sure to have a note for you before bed.”

Rumble smiled. “Thanks.”

“Wonder what she’ll make you do,” Thunderlane wondered. “Kind of unorthodox, isn’t it?”

XII - Team Work

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At lunch two days later, Rumble and Diamond Tiara left class and started making their way towards a large open space on the school playground. Silver Spoon was walking alongside Diamond Tiara, but no one walked alongside Rumble and the two muttered multiple jokes and insults under their breath at him. Rumble growled but kept silent and continued walking forward.

They found Miss Cheerilee standing next to two large wooden blocks and seemed to be looking around for someone.

“Go ahead and eat your lunch, you two,” Cheerilee said. “We’re still waiting for the last piece.”

Rumble sat down quietly and pulled out his lunch bag. Thunderlane had made him pack it last night as part of his ‘punishment’ but had helped him out along the way.

Cheerilee noticed Silver Spoon sitting there about to bring out her lunch with Diamond Tiara and frowned. “Go away, Silver Spoon. This doesn’t involve you, and these two are in detention. Yes, that does include Diamond Tiara,” she added upon seeing the incredulous look on the filly’s face.

“Just go do something for right now,” Diamond Tiara said. “I swear we’ll be done with this in no time. I’ll meet you later.”

“If ‘later’ is after school, then yes. If we finish early, you’re both going back inside and waiting out the rest of lunch in silence.”

Diamond Tiara was stunned into silence.

With fair reason, Rumble thought to himself. She’d never really been punished by Miss Cheerilee before this and so it came as a shock that she could be that willing to stand up to her due to her status.

After a time, Big Macintosh came over balancing a long wooden plank on his back. It was thick and rough as though it’d been recently cut from the tree. With ease, the stallion carried it over to Miss Cheerilee and set it down as she directed it in between the two blocks so that the width was smaller than the space between the two.

“Thank you, Big Mac,” Cheerilee said. “I hope that was from a dead tree and not a live one.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said.

“I’ll need you to come back in a little bit to pick these up if you don’t mind. You can use them for firewood or something, right?”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said again.

“Okay. So... maybe come back in half an hour.”

Big Macintosh nodded and started walking off.

Cheerilee turned her attention to Rumble and Diamond Tiara. “I’ll guide you through this first one, but afterwards you need to figure out how to do this.”

Cheerilee motioned her hoof towards the plank and blocks. “The goal is simple: set the plank so that it rests on top of the blocks. You’ll need to find a way to lift it and turn it so that it can rest evenly on the blocks. And no moving the blocks.”

The two looked at the plank. It was large and wide and almost immediately looked heavy to the touch. Rumble began thinking about how they were going to lift it.

“You try first,” Diamond Tiara said quickly.

“What? Afraid of getting a splinter in your hoof?” Rumble asked dryly.

“Uh, yeah. You ever hear about the diseases you get from that thing?”

“That’s why we’re vaccinated,” Rumble said. “So you don’t get them. You’re never afraid of the woodchips in the playground giving you splinters.”

“They’re manufactured to be smooth! Not like this rough piece of bark!”

“They also get worn away. There’s bound to be some splinters in there.”

Diamond Tiara scoffed. “Fine, Mr. Know-it-all. You still need to do it first since you seem to know what you’re doing.”

Rumble gritted his teeth and went over to the plank. He placed his front hooves at one end and heaved. The plank budged a few inches off the ground but no more. He heaved again but was unable to get it any higher. He began buzzing his wings and lifted himself off the ground, trying to lift the plank with him, but the stress began to hurt and he soon set down the plank.

“Well, that wasn’t very effective, was it?” Diamond Tiara smirked.

“Well, what do you think the point of this exercise is!?” Rumble shouted. “We’re supposed to work together. Of course it’s not going to work if I’m doing it alone!”

“Rumble has a point,” Cheerilee interjected. “Make use of your race’s abilities. Pegasi are good flyers and are known for their balance, while Earth Ponies are known for their strength and sturdiness. Use that to try and lift the plank.”

“My daddy never makes me work at anything like this at home!” Diamond Tiara whined.

“This is not home, and that’s why they call detention a ‘punishment’.” Rumble said evenly.

“Well, then, why don’t you help me out here!?”

“I’m the one doing all the work here? Why don’t you come in here and lend me a hoof!?”

Diamond Tiara scoffed, but approached the plank. Tentatively, she pulled out a hoof and began slowly stretching it to the plank. As she approached it, her hoof began to shake and her whole body began to tremble.

“What are you expecting it to do? Attack you!?”

“N-No! I just... it’s so dirty...”

“Look, we don’t have all day. Why don’t you just try picking up the thing?”

Diamond Tiara touched the plank and flinched. Carefully, she opened up one eye and noticed she was okay. She experimentally poked the plank a few times and ran a hoof down a short length of it. Satisfied, she lifted a hoof under it and quite easily tilted the plank and made it sit up on its side, at which point she turned to Rumble with a grin that showed she was quite pleased with herself.

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Diamond Tiara said. “I can’t believe you’re such a wimp. You couldn’t even lift this thing up.”

“That’s because you’re an Earth pony. Earth ponies are naturally stronger than pegasi.”

“Well, how about I show you how to do this task effectively and why I’m so much better than you?”

Rumble looked at the size of the plank. Then he smirked.

“Go right ahead,” he said.

Diamond grinned evilly and heaved the plank above her with both hooves.

Almost immediately the grin vanished a she began wobbling and teetering under the weight and size of the plank. Diamond gritted her teeth and Rumble could already see sweat forming on her forehead as she struggled to keep it in place. Cheerilee and Rumble had to quickly dodge and fly out of the way as Diamond Tiara swung the plank wildly around trying to turn it, but she quickly lost balance and fell flat on her face.

Rumble gently landed next to Diamond Tiara.

“Go take a long walk off a short pier,” Diamond Tiara said through a mouthful of dirt.

Rumble waited until Diamond Tiara had pulled her face out of the dirt before speaking. “Getting any ideas in that head of yours?”

“No...”

“I thought you knew what to do. I thought you were better than me.”

“What? You have an idea?”

“Yeah, but I’m gonna let you figure it out.”

“At least tell me the basics...!”

“Earth ponies are strong. Pegasi are coordinated in the air. We have a plank that’s too heavy for me to carry alone, but too wide and long for you to keep balance.”

Diamond Tiara thought about it for a minute. Just when Rumble thought she wouldn’t get it, her face brightened and she grabbed Rumble with her hooves.

“I’ve got it! I need to pick it up, then you can help me keep it balanced while it’s in the air! Don’t you think it’s a great idea?”

“I’m the one who thought of it, smart one.”

“Oh, be quiet and help me move the plank.”

Diamond Tiara repositioned herself in the middle of the plank and Rumble positioned himself at one of the ends. With an easy heave, Diamond lifted it into the air and Rumble grabbed and buzzed his wings to keep it aloft and steady.

“Tell me which way you want to go.”

“My left.”

“Fine.”

Diamond Tiara gently swung the plank around and Rumble easily pushed the plank around in a circle. Diamond Tiara then easily set the plank down and rubbed her hooves together with a very pleased grin.

“Well, I think I did a good job,” she said.

“You both did a good job,” Cheerilee said. “It was very smart to think of that plan.”

“I know, I thought it up all by myself.”

“However...”

“What? I thought we were finished!”

“Well, you are for this time. However, you argued so much that I think we need to spend some more time on these.”

“Are you kidding me?” Rumble said. “Why do we have to do these stupid exercises?”

“Because this is part of the detention.”

“Yeah, but can’t we have traditional detention? Be inside and not do anything?”

“Well... you could...” Cheerilee pondered it. “I’ve usually had this work in the past, though.”

“But really? Doing this? Are you kidding me? This is... who even does this?”

“Alright. You want traditional detention?”

“Yes!”

“Diamond Tiara...?”

“My father will be going into conniptions when he hears about what we have to do.”

“He agreed to it. Remember the letter?”

“You’ve... gimme the regular detention!”

Cheerilee sighed. “Alright. But you’re both still serving the detention.”

* * *

Oh dear Celestia, please let this end...

Rumble had been sitting for five minutes. Neither he nor Diamond Tiara had been allowed to talk, work on their homework, or read. They just sat there while Cheerilee graded papers again. Two days ago, Rumble wanted the exercises. Yesterday, Rumble wanted to sit in the classroom. And now... how quickly he wanted to be doing the exercises!

Diamond Tiara had it quicker than he did. “Alright. This is absolutely boring! Can’t you make us do something?”

Cheerilee looked up from her papers. “I can’t exactly prepare an exercise that quickly, but I can call over our janitor and make you clean desks. There are sixteen here. You both have to wash eight. That work for you?”

“Yes!” Rumble and Diamond Tiara both shouted.

“Alright.”

A few minutes later, a pony came in with a bucket of water, some soap, two rags, and two large towels. Diamond Tiara and Rumble both grabbed a rag and set to work on opposite sides of the classroom.

“Wash the tops of the desk and the seats,” Cheerilee said. “Then dry them with the towels. I will be inspecting your work if done, and if you don’t do it well, you have to do them all over again.”

Rumble and Diamond Tiara both grumbled.

It was harder work than Rumble thought. There was the fact that he had to bend over for the seats and stretch his hoof across for the desk. Then there was the fact that some of the desks had so much stuff on them. Apple Bloom’s tracked dirt and apple juice all over. Truffle Shuffle’s always had some sticky, sweet stuff on it. Archer’s had eraser shavings all over it.

A knock came at the schoolhouse door. Caramel, serving as lunch supervisor, was at the door. Cheerilee ended up leaving the building, leaving the door open.

“You’re still working on it?”

Rumble looked over. Diamond Tiara was seemingly already done, the eight desks on her side looking sparkling.

“You... what?”

“Yeah. You’ve been taking your time doing all of it.” Diamond Tiara’s voice was low, as though trying to make sure Cheerilee didn't hear her.

“You know Cheerilee is going to inspect all of them when we’re done. Which means if she finds something you did wrong, you’re going to have to do them.”

“Nope. We have to do it. So you know what? You’re going to do them for me.”

“Oh, no. You wash it, you own up to it.”

Rumble continued and said nothing more as Cheerilee came back inside. He finished his fourth a little while later and continued working. At five minutes until lunch was over, he dried off the last desk and looked over to Cheerilee.

“Miss Cheerilee?” he asked. “I think we’re done.”

Cheerilee looked over to the clock and pondered it for a bit. “Yeah, that was probably long enough. So, did each of you take a side?”

The two nodded.

Cheerilee came walking through and inspected each desk and chair. She started on Rumble’s side, looking at each one carefully. Rumble found himself sweating and gulping as she closely inspected each, sometimes tracing a hoof across it.

“Rumble... the eight you did look clean enough.”

Rumble breathed a huge sigh of relief as Cheerilee went over to Diamond Tiara’s side, the pink mare proudly looking over it. But Cheerilee soon stopped beside a desk and traced a hoof over it... leaving a much cleaner mark than the rest of the desk.

“Diamond Tiara... you forgot to dry this one.”

Diamond Tiara looked at Cheerilee in shock.

“And this one... and this seat... and this seat doesn’t even look washed at all.”

“But I did what you said!”

“Are you sure you didn’t just lightly dampen the rag, barely touch the seat, and barely touch the dry towel over it?”

“Look, I did what you asked! And this is ridiculous; these are servant’s tasks that you’re making us do! Isn’t there something that says you can’t?”

“Actually, there’s something that says I can. I can’t do it permanently, and I can’t do it where you’re overworked. But something as simple as cleaning desks and tables is fine. It’s not asking much, and you’re failing to even do an assigned portion.”

“Well, what does making me do work like this have to do with my punishment?”

“Because you need to learn you can’t lord your status over us all the time!” Rumble shouted. “Do you not get it?”

“It’s not like you’re in any better a position,” Diamond Tiara said.

“He’s got a point,” Cheerilee said. “You’re going to have trouble later on if you can’t learn to treat others as equals and not just as servants to your whim.”

The three sat in silence.

“I have one more exercise in mind,” Cheerilee said. “But not tomorrow. Once you do that, your punishment is done. For now, Diamond Tiara, finish cleaning these desks. Rumble, head out with Caramel for P.E.”

Diamond Tiara groaned as she went back to the bucket, and Rumble walked silently but thankfully out of the schoolhouse.

XIII - Silver and Gold

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The next day, Rumble left the schoolhouse with Pipsqueak, Featherweight, and Archer. Today they had turned in their hypothesis for the science project and since Archer didn’t have to go to Diamond Tiara’s to work, decided to go to one of the local ice cream joints run by Berry Gelato.

“What are you guys doing for your science project?” Archer asked.

“We’re seeing if mice can see and use a colored line to navigate a maze faster,” Pipsqueak said. “What about you?”

“Oh, Diamond is doing this stupid thing about whether plants grow faster if exposed to sound. Trust me when I say your idea sounds way better.”

“I kind of like it,” Rumble said. “You could see if it likes Countess Coloratura or Sapphire Shores music better.”

“Oh, please,” Archer said. “Coloratura is way better than Sapphire Shores.”

“Are you kidding me?” Pipsqueak said. “She’s called ‘The Pony of Pop’ for a reason.”

“And what is that reason?”

Rumble and Pipsqueak both let out a long, drawn-out “Uh...”

Archer giggled. “I think I’ve won this one, colts.”

Rumble smiled. “Hey, so what’s it like having to work with Diamond Tiara?”

“Well, apparently Diamond Tiara had a note sent home with her. So her dad, Filthy Rich, has been supervising us the last two times we’ve met.”

“How many times do you have to meet with them?”

“Twice a week for at least an hour, and I have to have a notable contribution.”

“And what exactly defines a ‘notable contribution’?” Pipsqueak asked.

“Well, the plants are going to be at Diamond Tiara’s house. I get to select a choice of music and have it play. Then I get to measure and take down the measurements. Diamond Tiara has a control group plant and a classical, Silver Spoon is using Sapphire Shores, and I get to have hard rock group Revenant Wings.”

“Wasn’t that one started by a former guard?” Pipsqueak asked.

Featherweight pulled out a photo from his saddle bags and gave it to Rumble. “Hey, cool! Look at this; Featherweight actually went to one of their concerts.”

“Ooh... what was it like?” Archer asked. “I’ve always wanted to go.”

Featherweight stuck a hoof in his ear and cleaned it with a grimace.

“That loud, huh?” Pipsqueak replied.

“Yeah, remember when he came in one day deaf?” Rumble asked. “Day after their concert in Canterlot. They’re actually supposed to stop in at Los Pegasus soon; I’m trying to get Thunderlane to take me to see ‘em.”

“Sweet!” Archer said, pronking excitedly for a moment. “Scootaloo would totally be interested in that. Too bad this whole project thing is going to be wrapping up around then. Dad’ll probably say it’s too much work.”

“Well, that sucks. Anyway, how much input did you have in the science project so far?”

“Eh...” Archer said. “It’s been there, but who knows what will happen later. Filthy Rich has been able to keep them in line, but I’m not liked there with the exception of him. You thought Diamond was bad... whoo boy, her mother is worse.”

“Isn’t her mother the school counselor or something?” Pipsqueak asked.

“Yep.” Archer said with an affirmative, disgusted nod. “School counselor for Ponyville, and one of Ponyville’s two main therapists and psychologists.”

“You’d think Diamond Tiara would be better off if her dad is disciplined in business and her mother is a psychologist,” Rumble said. “Like they’d know how to correct her behavior or teach her how to manage her time and interactions with others.”

“I know, right?” Archer said. She looked over to Featherweight. “I mean, she wasn’t very good at the Foal Free Press, was she?”

Featherweight frowned and shook his head.

“Well, that’s why they made him editor,” Pipsqueak said. “He knows how to run a good paper.”

“Yeah,” Rumble said. “Wouldn’t be surprised if you went for a photography or journalism slant once we hit secondary school.”

Featherweight took out his camera and petted it slightly.

“What about photojournalism?” Pipsqueak asked. “Combine both in one.”

Featherweight’s ears perked up and he seemed to consider it.

By this time, they’d reached the ice cream shop. The four headed up and got their ice creams in small bowls with spoons and began wandering around looking for a place to sit.

“Hey, my sister’s over there with her friends!” Archer said. “How about we sit by them?”

“Sure,” Rumble said. “I don’t mind.”

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were all gathered around a table. When they heard the four approaching, they immediately scooted together and made room for them. Once everyone was settled in and had finished comparing ice cream, Apple Bloom turned to Rumble excitedly.

“Hey!” she said. “What did you guys end up choosing for the project?”

“If mice run a maze faster with a colored line guiding them to the end.”

Apple Bloom turned to her partners. “How come we didn’t think of something like that?”

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo said. “I mean, I thought seeing how fast we could run across different terrain would be interesting.”

“Oh, like which makes you faster?” Archer said. “That does sound cool.”

“Yeah, but we have to work for it,” Sweetie Belle said with a shrug. “I mean, I’m not as bad as my sister when it comes to that, but that means each of us running the same hundred-meter stretch three times a day. Blegh.”

“Too bad Noi is working on something else,” Rumble said. “I’m sure Pipsqueak and she would like to participate instead of you guys.”

“What are you volunteering me for?” Pipsqueak asked, as Rumble and Archer laughed.

Featherweight looked at the time and pointed to his camera.

“You have to go?” Rumble said. “What is it, Foal Free Press management?”

Featherweight nodded apologetically.

“It’s alright. We can try and do this again sometime.”

Featherweight nodded again and waved goodbye before leaving the ice cream shop.

“Hey, I should get going, too,” Archer said getting up from the table. “I have a lesson with Silverspeed today for archery and I left my bow at home.”

“Aw... well, we’ll see you at school tomorrow. And good luck with Diamond Tiara.”

“Thanks. I’ll need all of it.” Archer picked up her saddlebags and ran out the door.

Scootaloo regarded the scene with a vague interest.

“So, what were you guys going to do later?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I don’t know. I was going to head home after a while,” Rumble said.

“Same here,” Pipsqueak agreed. “I probably need to get started on the history assignment.”

“Hey, want to head over to our clubhouse?” Sweetie Belle said. “We could have something like a study group.”

“Oh, you mean like all of us working on the assignment together?” Rumble said. “Yeah, that sounds good. You up for that Pipsqueak?”

“I didn’t know you guys had a clubhouse,” Pipsqueak said. “Yeah, that sounds cool. I’d like to see it.”

“Hey, why don’t y’all come over, then?” Apple Bloom said. “And maybe you could help us with some of the other assignments, Rumble; you always seem to do pretty well in class.”

“Sure. I mean, I don’t know about my skill as a tutor, but I’d be willing to give it a try.”

So, when the five had finished, they threw their ice cream bowls and spoons away in the recycle and headed along the road that led out of town towards Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle launched into an explanation of it being Applejack’s old clubhouse and how they all had fixed it up, which Rumble found neat that the three fillies did all by themselves.

“You notice something?” Pipsqueak whispered at one point to Rumble when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were in the middle of an argument of who’s idea it was to color the place beige with pink trim.

“What is it?”

“You had some magic thing you got dispelled, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Ever note they’ve become a heck of a lot more civil since then?”

“Yeah. They’re actually not that bad when it comes down to it.”

It was then that Rumble noticed that Scootaloo seemed to have something to say to him. She kept looking over in his direction and looking away whenever he turned to look at her in return. And what times she was looking at him it was almost like she had something bubbling up at the edge of her tongue but she kept swallowing it and couldn’t get it out.

“Well... most of them,” Rumble said.

Pipsqueak nodded. “You think she actually, you know, likes you?”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Rumble replied. “Too... I don’t know, nervous? Worried?”

“Agitated, I’d say. Come to think of it, she’s been that way since we left Gelato’s.”

Rumble would have been distracted about it if it wasn’t for the fact that they had arrived at the clubhouse. Nestled in a small but sturdy oak tree, Rumble kind of envied the construction. It reminded him of the cottages down in Ponyville, but there was something extra in the fact that it seemed hidden away; Ponyville could be see through the trees, but otherwise it was almost as though it was closed off from the rest.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle proudly led the way up the ramp into the clubhouse, Rumble and Pipsqueak following behind and Scootaloo bringing up the rear. The five entered and were invited to set down their bags on a small, well-worn but still soft rug. Light came in through the windows, and a ladder led up to a small observation deck above the door. Rumble set his bag down and flittered about.

“Wow... and you guys did this all yourself?” he asked, impressed.

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle said. “Well, we built it from what was left of Applejack’s, but we did do the refurbishing.”

“That actually is really cool,” Pipsqueak said. “Certainly beats the pillow and blanket fort.”

“Oh, we still make those from time to time,” Apple Bloom said. “But we hang out here, mostly.”

“Hey, why don’t we see if AJ has any cider available?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yeah. And maybe one of her pies! You guys want some?” Apple Bloom said.

“Yeah, sure, if you don’t mind,” Rumble said.

“Alright. We’ll go and get them real quick. Why don’t you guys start and we’ll catch up to you later?” And before much of an argument could be made, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran off.

“What’s up with them?” Pipsqueak asked.

“They’re always hyper,” Scootaloo said. “Anyways, we should get started.”

Pipsqueak began shuffling around his bags, but before Rumble could get over to his own, he felt a tapping on his shoulder and turned around to see Scootaloo not too far away from him. She was red in the face and seemed quite flustered.

“I... I like your flying,” she said. “Who taught you?”

Rumble began to get worried. Was the magic coming back? Was Scootaloo suddenly interested in him? Rumble gulped. “M-My brother,” he said.

“Cool. Um... can I ask you a question?”

“Uh... yeah?”

“Okay. Uh, how well do you know Archer?”

“Well, we’ve been friends for two years now. Kind of right before you met up with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”

“Yeah... um, admittedly Archer didn’t see much in you at first.”

“What... what do you mean?”

“Well, she thought you were kind of dorky. And then, a few days later, she kind of liked you. A few days later, and she started hanging out with you, Featherweight, and Pipsqueak.”

Now Rumble was more worried than if Scootaloo liked him. “Where are you going with this?”

“Well... well, first let me just say Archer still likes you. Says you’re still kind of dorky, but that you’re nice and friendly and you have a few similar interests that make you cool. But... she didn’t forget her bow this morning. She had it with her all along.”

Rumble was frozen for a moment, trying to process it, Scootaloo looking on in trepidation.

When he finally figured out the implications... “Oh... oh no...” Rumble said.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “I... figured that’d be your reaction.”

XIV - Strange Attractions

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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.

Mare Magnet

by Revenant Wings

I - Being Watched

II - School Daze

III - Unwanted Attention

IV - Preposterous Pegasus Passivity

V - Outlier

VI - Schoolyard Shenanigans

VII - Shallow or Truthful?

VIII - Final Hours

IX - Relative Normalcy

X - Lunchtime Detention

XI - New Problems, New Solutions

XII - Team Work

XIII - Silver and Gold

XIV - Strange Attractions