Rumble and Scootaloo are ending up spending time together more and more. But it seems Rumble's already got a girlfriend...with bat wings. And Scootaloo's trying desperately to hide her dark secret from them both.
(unrelated to Scootaloo's Second Skin)
Things sure have changed for Scootaloo, now that she can fly. Rainbow Dash is finally giving her lessons, her secret hasn't come out yet, life is good.
Except... Rainbow Dash isn't teaching her everything, and instead keeps telling her to pair up with Rumble for some reason.
Not that that's a problem; it's not like Rumble doesn't want to hang out with her, even if he does already have a girlfriend. A girlfriend with bat wings, that is. And with the upcoming holiday just for special someponies, that girlfriend is starting to get more and more clingy, even though Rumble claims there's more to it.
Turns out Scootaloo isn't the only kid in town who's... 'complicated'.
The grey pegasus colt admired himself for a moment. With no one else in the house, he had full access to the mirror in his parents’ bedroom and, given the importance of his task, he needed it.
“Okay, Rumble, you can do this.”
Rumble took a deep breath and steadied himself in front of the mirror. He patted his chest with a hoof and took some more deep breaths for good measure. His eyes wandered to the two-pony bed behind him, but he shook his head before any bad thoughts could surface. No need to get distracted now.
“Just go out there and ask her. That’s all you need to do.”
He did not go out, not yet. His head began pounding just at the thought of asking her again. He didn’t want to think about what might happen. He shook his head and went over his checklist one last time.
“Hooves: check.”
He looked at the bottom of his right front hoof, then his left. He was squeaky clean underneath, nothing to remark there. He checked his hind hooves next, same story. His mom would say they were ‘pristine’, even. He shoved that thought aside.
“Arms and legs: check.”
He gave his limbs the once-over with those pinkish eyes, noting with no small amount of glee that he was getting nice and toned already, though not bulky like a workhorse. He’d seen some of the heavier pegasus kids around in Canterlot, and whatever they did to get that buff, he didn’t think he had the guts to do himself. That is, not yet, at least.
“Chest: check.”
The boy jutted his chest forward proudly, gulping in the air to make it swell even more. He was flat and hard on his front, just as he had to be. All those push ups since his last failed attempt had paid off.
“Wings: check.”
He turned so he could see his wings in the mirror. Even with the small size of his flappers, he knew they were in perfect order. They were about as big as Scootaloo’s, even, maybe slightly larger, and judging by how fast she could go on her scooter, that must have meant her wings were powerful. And if hers were, his probably were, too. He’d wanted to ask his dad about that sometime, but he never got around to it. He forced himself not to dwell on it. Dad probably wouldn’t have been able to help, anyway.
“Hair: check.”
He ran a hoof through his mane one last time, just to make sure he looked okay. Dry, shiny, not too greasy, his mane was groomed to perfection.
“Okay, Rumble. You’re ready for it this time. You just have to walk up to her and ask. You’re not gonna fail like you did before. You can do this.” He nodded to himself, desperately reaching for whatever reserve courage he could muster.
Without further delay, Rumble turned and jumped out of the window, opening his wings to glide down gently onto the street, right where Tuber Lane blended into the normalcy of Ponyville. Every town in Equestria had a street like Tuber Lane, a place where the trees kept everything in a perpetual shade and where proper ponies never came. The place was haunted, some ponies claimed, and overgrown with poisonous plants. No pony ever wanted to get caught in the shade of Tuber Lane, which was just fine, since Rumble’s place was outside of the tree line.
The boy trotted along the main road on the edge of town to find the pony he was looking for, always keeping one eye on the sky just in case he caught her. If he knew her schedule well enough, and he did, she would be at the lake, and he’d ask her.
Just one simple question. He just had to ask one simple question.
It didn’t take him long to find her. His heart raced as he picked up the pace. Today would be the day. Today he’d ask.
“Okay, Scootaloo, you’re doing good. Just keep going back and forth; you gotta get those wings used to it.”
Rumble skidded to a halt. Up in the sky, at about the height of the trees around, was Rainbow Dash, with a flying Scootaloo. The filly had to flap her wings hard to stay up, but not as fast as her usual buzzing rhythm. Scootaloo was flapping her wings with a lot more force than speed, and actually staying up, to his surprise. She was doing figure eights over the water, an exercise Rumble knew was meant to strengthen her core muscles and maneuvering skills.
Rainbow Dash was so preoccupied with Scootaloo she didn’t even notice the colt until he reached the water’s edge. “Oh, hi, Rumble. What’s up?”
Rumble’s eyes darted from Rainbow Dash to Scootaloo, who stopped her exercise to flap in mid-air. He cleared his throat. “Umm, are you giving Scootaloo flying lessons?”
Scootaloo squeed and nodded. “Yup! I finally managed to fly a couple of days ago. Isn’t it great?”
Rumble felt a bead of nervous sweat roll down his neck. “Uh, yeah, that’s great, Scootaloo. Congratulations. Guess you don’t have to worry about that anymore now, huh?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nope. So what brings you here? You wanted a swim?”
The colt looked away and idly kicked the ground. “Not really, no. I was kind of, sort of, hoping to ask you for, you know…”
Rainbow Dash landed in front of him and chuckled. “You wanted another flying lesson from me, is that it?”
Rumble gulped. As much as he hated to admit it, he did need some pointers. But Rainbow Dash was the best pony to teach him, and she was the only pony who’d offered, so there he was. “Yes, Ma’am.”
“Well, I’m kind of in the middle of training Scootaloo right now. You two could fly together, if you like. I’m sure it’d be good for both of you.” Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t hide the look that Rumble knew and dreaded. It was the same look every mare in Ponyville had shot him at least once, the look that said “You’re so cute, and if you do this you’ll be even cuter. Please do this, cute stuff?”
He got that look a lot from ponies, and it usually wasn’t much fun for him.
Rumble’s heart sank, and suddenly his mom’s voice in his head started to sound a lot more menacing. “Umm, no, that’s okay. I don’t really need another lesson right now, and Scootaloo’s got more catching up to do anyway. I don’t wanna get in the way.” He was sincere with that, of course, because Rumble was a good boy, as everypony who knew him would attest to. Still, a hint of disappointment and embarrassment shone through his words.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Suit yourself. But between you and me,” Rainbow whispered as she leaned in, “you should probably just ask her sometime anyway. Trust me, you’ll both like it.”
Rumble blushed and backed away. “I’ll keep that in mind, Rainbow Dash. I think maybe I’ll just stick my normal schedule, make sure I’m ready, since, you know...”
“Hey, last time was different, I’m sure you’ve gotten better since then. You look a little more buff than before, too. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of girls to choose from for the Blue Moon Bloom, too, huh, big guy?” She gave him a playful nudge.
If his heart had sunk before, he could feel it turn to goop and drop down into his hooves then. The nudge felt like a blow to his chest. He couldn’t quite remember that one day, that one accursed holiday, feeling so utterly wrong.
Rainbow backed away once she realised she’d hit a sore spot. “Oh, sorry, I forgot-”
“I think I’d better go. See you around, Rainbow Dash. You too, Scootaloo!” He turned away from the pair just as Scootaloo came in for a landing.
“See you around, Rumble!”
He went from a walk to a steady trot to try and clear his head, but even so he heard the telltale sound of hooves dragging against dusty soil, the mark of a new flyer who hadn’t managed a proper landing yet. He heard Scootaloo sneeze and then another sound he couldn’t place.
It sounded like some kind of magic being cast, but none he’d ever heard of. It wasn’t a snap, or a crackle, or a pop. It sounded more like a rock being cast into water, with the sound of ripples following shortly behind. It only lasted a split second, though, and in that split second he turned just in time to hear a very clear splash of water.
Rainbow Dash stood there, sheepish grin on her face. It looked like she’d pushed Scootaloo into the water for some reason.
Rumble shook his head and resumed his trek towards Ponyville.
Rainbow sighed in relief once Rumble was out of earshot and out of sight. “Okay, he’s gone now.”
A black pony came out of the water, or at least something that looked like a black pony. It had the transparent wings of an insect, though more jagged around the edges than a dragonfly’s and without the little air pocket cells. Its pale purple mane looked less like it was made of hair and more like it was made of a form of webbing or silk, while its skin had an uncanny shine to it that looked more at home on a plastic figurine. Its forehead was adorned with a black horn that curved up into a sharp dagger-like point.
“Sorry, Rainbow Dash. It just slipped.” The thing spoke with two voices at the same time: one that belonged to Scootaloo, and one that sounded like Scootaloo’s aunt Vinyl.
“Yeah, I know. You sneezed, and you slipped.”
Scootaloo sighed and conjured her normal pony form back on. “Do you think Rumble noticed?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Nah, he probably thinks I just pranked you. Do you think you can stop that from happening next time you sneeze?”
The filly nodded. “I think so. I mean, I sneezed while I was on my scooter getting here, and that didn’t make me change. Maybe I just can’t let it sneak up on me.”
“Okay, so it’s only if you don’t see the dusty stuff coming. That’s not too much of a risk.” The mare breathed a sigh of relief.
Scootaloo let her head hang. Rainbow Dash lifted it back up with a hoof. “Look, kid, I know this is a big change, but just remember you’re still the same pony, alright? So keep your chin up. Even if you got turned into a changeling because of some mumbo jumbo in your blood, that doesn’t change who you’ve been. Besides, it let you fly now, didn’t it?”
Scootaloo perked up at that. “Yeah, that is a pretty big upside, I guess. As long as nopony finds out about it, I’ll be okay, right?”
“Of course you will. And don’t worry: nopony will know, not before you’re ready to let the world know. Me and my friends will make sure of that.”
Rumble lay on his parents’ bed, alone. He’d blown it.
It was just one question. One stupid question, and he’d blown it.
Why couldn’t he just take lessons with Scootaloo? Why did he have to say no? Rainbow Dash said it would be good for him, and she’d know.
That was wrong, though. He didn’t want to hang out with Scootaloo just because Rainbow Dash said so; that would be dumb. Scootaloo was a good athlete, he frequently caught himself staring at her as she did tricks on her scooter, racing through Ponyville like a real daredevil. Not that she’d ever noticed. No one ever noticed him.
He’d never talked to her, though, not really. What was stopping him?
He looked to the pillows on the bed. One for mom, one for dad.
That was the only thing that was stopping him, really. Was it a good enough reason, though? It couldn’t be. Other pegasus colts could talk to girls and hang out with them. Rainbow Dash knew Rumble better than anypony else did, except maybe Thunderlane. If Rainbow Dash said he should ask Scootaloo, then he should ask Scootaloo. It was just that simple.
But Thunderlane would tell him not to. He probably wasn’t too happy about Rumble asking Rainbow Dash in the first place.
Life at Vinyl Scratch’s place was never truly calm, but what chaos reigned there was a controlled chaos. Partly this was due to the presence of Octavia, a mare whose patience was angelic. Another part of that was due to the house’s occupants leaving the place on a regular basis and taking their chaotic tendencies with them.
Vinyl and Octavia had made their home a safe haven for Scootaloo, letting the girl stop by and sleep over through the weekdays when her parents were needed at the weather factories in Cloudsdale, or whatever part of Equestria that required their attention. It was certainly a better alternative than having to adjust the girl’s schedules to her parents’, or Scootaloo having to face the guilt of forcing her parents to abandon their important posts.
Still, even with their irregular schedules, her parents could come pick her up some nights, if a bit late.
Scootaloo sighed as she packed her things: a white canvas shirt and pants, and a white belt, along with lots and lots of bandages and padding. “You’re absolutely sure this is okay?”
Octavia rolled her eyes at the girl. “Really, darling, we’ve been over this: you need to take these classes if you want to control your changeling powers. Twilight Sparkle said so, your mother and father agreed, and it’s right on Vinyl’s route.”
Vinyl Scratch swung her backpack over her shoulders. “Exactly. I’ll be a little earlier than usual, but you might as well tag along.”
Scootaloo felt a knot form in her stomach. Her non-existent horn throbbed with nerves. “But what if I slip up? What if somepony finds out I’m a changeling now? What if they think I’m not the real me?”
Vinyl patted the girl on the head and gently nudged her towards the front door. “You’ll just have to do your best to stop that from happening. And if it does, your mom and dad can come down to clear things up. But in the meantime, I’ve got a radio show to get to and you’ve got a self-defense class to get to. Now scoot, Scoot.”
With a sigh, Scootaloo walked out the door. Any debate about her changeling nature was silenced. It had to be.
Nopony can find out.
Nopony will find out.
“Oh, look who it is.” Vinyl nodded towards the light black stallion with a grey mane. “What’s up, Thunderlane?” She moved to sit across him as the train conductor blew his whistle. Outside, the sky had turned red with the setting sun.
“Vinyl Scratch, haven’t seen you around in a while. I’m just off to catch Radio Canterlot’s show live.” Thunderlane smiled in greeting.
Vinyl chuckled. “Always nice to run into a fan.” She nodded towards the colt sitting next to him. “Hey, Rumble. Who’s your friend?”
Scootaloo hopped up on the seat next to her aunt and looked over Rumble and his companion. She knew the light grey colt from school, of course, and Rainbow Dash had mentioned him a few times, but Scootaloo had never talked to him for long. She’d never known him to talk to anypony else in class, either, but in Ponyville lots of kids seemed to appear and disappear depending on when one looked. She’d heard he was a very competent flyer for his age. Rainbow Dash had been trying to get her to hang out with him for a while now, at least since the girl’s change.
That stuck with her, still. Even in her pegasus pony form, Scootaloo could feel a horn on her head, one that throbbed with magic, and even though she currently wore feathers she knew she had the transparent wings of an insect hovering somewhere in her consciousness. It was like being in a dream where she had eight legs or something. At least Scootaloo looked like a regular pony now.
The same could not be said for Rumble’s companion. Where Rumble’s grey coat was a greyish white, the girl he was with was a more definite dark night grey, while her mane was the same shade of dark blue as Vinyl Scratch’s, but cut short and combed back similarly to Rumble’s look, only hers draped more along her neck and the light blue stripes were slightly more on the whitish side. Her eyes had pupils that weren’t round like a pony’s, but slit like a cat’s. The girl blinked, and her pupils turned round just as the train was leaving. Apart from the eyes, there wasn’t that much to tell this girl apart from a pegasus pony.
That is to say, not that much, ignoring the fangs and bat wings.
“I’m Chitter!” the girls exclaimed cheerfully, “and I’m going to martial arts class with Rumbly-Wumbly here.” She wrapped a wing around Rumble’s shoulder, eliciting a nervous blush from the boy.
“Err, yeah. Scootaloo, this is Chitter. Chitter, this is Scootaloo.” Rumble didn’t pull away from Chitter’s embrace, but he looked embarrassed about it. Not that Scootaloo could blame him.
Vinyl chuckled. “Oh, is she your special somepony for the Blue Moon Bloom, then?”
Scootaloo perked her ears. “What’s a Blue Moon Bloom?”
“It’s an old tradition, you’ll probably hear about it in school soon,” Thunderlane replied. “It’s like Hearts and Hooves Day, but instead of being a special holiday for two special someponies, it’s more of a holiday to ask special someponies.”
Rumble looked away from Scootaloo as Chitter’s wing hung over him clingily. Scootaloo arched an eyebrow. “And is she?”
Rumble gulped. “It’s complicated.”
Vinyl noted the boy’s nervousness and quickly changed the subject. “So, Chitter, can’t say I’ve seen a lot of bat ponies around. Where are your parents?”
“Oh, they’re on duty in Canterlot right now. And I’m not a bat pony, Miss Vinyl; my kind is called a rousette.”
“My mistake. And you’re doing a self-defense class? Same one Scootaloo’s going to, maybe?”
Rumble furrowed his brow. “You signed up for ‘Defense Against Changelings’ too?”
Scootaloo smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I-wait, Defense Against Whatnow?”
“Changelings,” Chitter replied. “You know, big bad black things, with ugly holes in their legs and scary fangs, that glue you to the ground so they can suck the life and love out of you.”
Scootaloo’s stomach almost turned when she heard that awful yet accurate description of what she was now. “Yeah, I know what they are. But they teach you how to defend against that? How does that work?”
Chitter shrugged. “Pretty standard stuff: how to drain them back, how to block off your energy paths if you’re being drained, what to do if they use a draining spell instead of just regular feeding…”
“How to see through their disguises?” Scootaloo finished with no small amount of dread.
Rumble frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Vinyl quickly pulled the girl closer and rubbed her back. “She’s just a little scared of changelings ‘coz she was in the wedding hall when that whole mess with that queen happened. And since this is just a couple of classes, we figured we might as well show her how to handle it if she ever gets into real trouble with one.”
Scootaloo did her best to look brave. Thanks a lot, Twilight Sparkle, and aunt Vinyl, and Octavia, and mom and dad, for signing me up. Oh, and thanks for not telling me I’ll be learning to defend against what I am now. Oh, and thanks a lot for setting it up so I’ll be surrounded by ponies learning just how to beat changelings like me.
Whose bright idea was this again?
This is going to be a long night.
Rumble always felt an odd sense of peace in the changing room. The floor was rubbery and covered in nubs to stop from slipping, the showers were within reach, and there was always the scent of sweat hanging in the air. The smell of effort, he felt, of a good night’s work, and of accomplishment. That, and deodorant, but that was a given.
Featherweight wrapped his long legs in bandages after putting on his hoof padding. “So have you heard about this Blue Moon Bloom thing?”
Rumble nodded. “Yeah, it’s something Princess Luna used to do; if you like somepony, you give them a blue flower. If they like you, too, then you get a blue flower. If they like you, but they just want to be friends, they give you a white flower.”
Lance frowned as he got into his white uniform. “So it’s just for girls and boys to let each other know who they like?”
Rumble pondered it and shook his head. “Not just that. It’s a really old tradition, mostly for pegasus ponies, and it’s got more to do with having secrets for each other. If you give a blue flower, that means you don’t have any secrets for that pony. Give a white flower, and it means you do. Usually you only do that for ponies you like. It’s not even really for special someponies, just friends who might wanna be really close friends.”
The grey Earth pony smirked. “Huh. I think I know who I’m giving a blue flower, then.”
Rumble squinted. “Your one-time fencing partner?”
Lance chuckled. “Worth a shot, right? What about you, Featherweight? You gonna do anything special?”
Featherweight muttered something with a piece of a bandage still in his mouth. He put it in place, donned his shirt, then put his belt on before replying. “I don’t know. I don’t really know any girl I like that much. Why would I?”
Again, Rumble squinted. Every colt in class knew about Featherweight’s crush on Sweetie Belle. That none of the fillies had managed to find out was not so much a testament to Featherweight’s acting skills as it was a testament to how much the boys of Ponyville stuck together.
“What about you, Rumble? You got a blue flower for that bat girl?”
Rumble shot Featherweight an angry glare.
“Rousette. Sorry, I wanted to say ‘rousette’, I meant to say ‘rousette’.” Featherweight held his hooves up defensively and backed away.
Rumble sighed. “I don’t know if I want to do anything. It’s complicated.”
“So, err, you and Rainbow Dash, huh?” Rumble asked as the group did their warm-up laps.
Scootaloo nodded, not even winded from the brisk gallop. “Yup. She promised she’d show me her moves once I got the basics down.”
“That’s great. Just be careful she doesn’t wear you out too much: Rainbow Dash doesn’t hold back. Trust me, I know.” Rumble grimaced at the thought, then mentally slapped himself for admitting that to a girl. That’s what happens when one has zero experience in the matter. Still, he had to start somewhere.
The group stopped. Master Ten Kicks, a white unicorn stallion with a golden-hued mane who looked like the model for about half the Royal Guards Rumble had seen, called out the next warm-up exercise. “Alright, pair up and Breaking Wave kata. Any volunteers for the new student?”
Scootaloo flashed a sheepish grin at the rest of class. Rumble sympathised with the girl: she only really knew him and Featherweight from class, and he guessed she might remember Lance as the dark grey Earth pony with the blue mane and tail that Apple Bloom had fenced against during that Cutie Pox incident, but aside from that she was surrounded by strangers. It didn’t help that there were only eight foals her age, either, with another dozen or so ponies either in their late teens or adults. The colours on most of the belts were somewhat intimidating, too.
Though, granted, the subject of defending against changelings was a fairly new addition to the curriculum, and technically anypony could join the class at any time. It was just less of a threshold for ponies who’d already taken some martial arts classes before. Unfortunately, that also meant that there weren’t any other new students around, and most ponies tended to stick to their own sparring partners.
“I’ll show her.” Rumble raised a hoof.
Chitter pouted and glared at him, much to the boy’s embarrassment. She took out her frustration on Featherweight as the rest of class started. Master Ten Kicks walked up to Rumble and Scootaloo and nodded to the boy. “Okay, then, explain it as best you can.”
Rumble gulped. He looked down at his red belt and braced himself. “First you have to check the positions. You start standing on your hind hooves, just like this. You let your arms hang, don’t lean any way.”
Scootaloo mimicked his pose, Master Ten Kicks nodded his approval.
Rumble moved awkwardly towards her. “Then you lean forward and push your hooves here and here.” He pushed against her right shoulder and the lower left side of her stomach. He suppressed a gulp when he noticed how tight Scootaloo was; her skin hid the tight musculature of a true athlete.
It felt familiar, even comforting.
Scootaloo copied the motion again.
Rumble nodded in encouragement. “And then you feel out my energy and try to pull it out.”
Master Ten nodded. “Don’t worry if you don’t feel it the first time. It takes practice.”
Rumble suddenly felt a wave of vertigo wash over him. His face felt drained of blood, his legs started growing weak. “Umm, Scootaloo?” He wobbled and and tried to keep his head from lolling to the side, but that didn’t accomplish much. His limbs lost strength, his wings folded against his sides in a reflex.
He was going down.
Master Ten separated the two before Rumble fainted. “Whoa, there. Rumble, you’re supposed to block that.”
Rumble shook his head, returning to all fours. “I was blocking it. Scootaloo’s got a really strong pull.” He looked up at the girl.
Scootaloo blushed fiercely. “Umm… sorry?”
The white unicorn stallion leaned in and extended a hoof. “Try that again, please?”
Rumble looked on as Scootaloo tried to do the same thing, even getting a faint green glow in her eyes. It didn’t take long for Ten to withdraw. “Huh. That is indeed a very powerful pull you have there, young lady.”
Scootaloo cringed. “Is that a problem?”
The black belt chuckled heartily and patted her on the head. “Not at all, especially given you’re still a blank flank. It’s nothing to worry about; this technique is available to all creatures of magic, after all, you probably just have a talent for it.” He gestured to his own eyes, prompting Scootaloo to blink to try and get that eerie glow to go away. ”Plus, it’s pretty close to a pegasus pony’s cloud control. It doesn’t mean anything’s wrong with you, really. Just be careful, okay? Don’t pull too hard next time, and let Rumble here take a little bit back.”
The girl winced. “Doesn’t that, you know, contaminate our magics or something?”
Rumble shook his hooves to get the blood flowing again. “Not really, no. Mostly you can, um, sort of purify whatever comes in you, and you can only get vague stuff, at worst. You need a spell to really do any contaminating, or be a black belt with five stripes. And, like, even then most of the time you can’t do any real damage without casting a spell. Don’t worry about it, you just caught me off guard.”
Master Ten backed away from the pair. “Alright, then, Rumble, if you’re up for it: continue.”
“Thanks for showing me how to do those moves, Rumble,” Scootaloo started. It was nine at night, already past her bedtime. Not that she minded, of course.
Rumble yawned. He smelled of other ponies’ sweat, but for once it wasn’t Chitter’s smell that dominated his aroma. He rather liked Scootaloo’s smell, though he’d never admit it. “Don’t mention it.”
“Are you okay?” She looked him over.
Rumble was embarrassed about it, but his eyes were bleary tonight. He felt heavy all over, and the only thing keeping him from falling asleep on the spot was the cold night air. “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
Chitter came trotting by. “Aww, is Rumbley-Wumbley-Bumblebee all worn out? Here, lemme keep you warm.” She walked right in between Scootaloo and Rumble and put one of her bat wings over the boy’s shoulder.
Rumble didn’t see Scootaloo gag, or hear it, but he was sure she did. There was no way that kind of nickname would slip by.
“Hey there, kiddo! How’d it go?” Vinyl Scratch called out as she walked up the Canterlot street to meet them, Thunderlane right behind.
“It went okay,” Scootaloo replied.
Rumble perked his ears. “Not as scared of changelings now?”
The girl bit her lip. “Umm, would you mind not telling anypony about that?”
“Sure. But… are you?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “It’s not as bad now, but still a little.”
“You should pair up with me next time,” Chitter offered, her voice sounding cold all of a sudden. “My kind knows plenty of ways to deal with changelings.”
Rumble tried to keep his eye on Scootaloo, but with Chitter in the way that wasn’t an easy task. He still noticed her apprehension, though.
“You mean like how you can tell a real pony from a fake?”
Chitter’s cheerful tone returned, just like that. “Nah, not that. You can’t really tell that just by looking at a pony, or even by draining them. The only way to tell there’s a changeling is by forcing them to drop their disguise, and to do that you need to know which ponies are missing. A changeling is only revealed by their victims, that’s what the books say.”
Thunderlane rolled his eyes. “That’s enough, Chitter. You don’t want to give Scootaloo nightmares.”
Chitter chuckled nervously. “Sorry. You’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got a good pull; that means you can put up a good fight. Not like Rumbley-Wumbley here.” She shook the boy slightly with her wing.
“I’m fine, Chitter. I’ve been practising moving clouds lately, that’s all. I overdid it, okay? I can block a magic drain just fine, I just didn’t have a lot of magic left in the first place.” Rumble didn’t break away from the embrace, but it sounded like Chitter had hurt his pride.
Rumble sighed and looked past Chitter to Scootaloo. Even with his bleary eyes, he noticed she was avoiding looking at him. It was almost like she felt bad for accidentally draining him. Either that, or she felt bad about embarrassing him.
Strangely, though, Rumble didn’t mind it as much.
In fact, he found himself a lot less bothered by Scootaloo embarrassing him than he was by Chitter clinging to him.
Maybe he really should follow through with his decision.
The train from Canterlot arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville, nine thirty sharp. Vinyl and Scootaloo bade Rumble, Thunderlane, and Chitter goodnight, then went on their way.
Vinyl looked around the darkened town before turning to her cousin. She leaned in for a cursory sniff. “You’re gonna want to shower when you get home.”
“I know.”
Before long, they were at Vinyl’s place. Sitting at the living room table with Octavia were two pegasus ponies. One was a lemon yellow mare with a blue mane and tail, who had a raincloud for a cutie mark, the other was a chestnut brown stallion with a reddish brown mane and tail, and a shining sun on his flanks.
On the rare occasions that anypony ever saw Sun Dancer and Rain Dancer with their daughter, they’d swear that girl either took after her mother or her father, but never both. She seemed to possess the perfect mix of their colours, so it was hard to tell which one she resembled more. The Dancer family knew better, though. She wasn’t just the daughter of her parents; she was something special altogether, and they never let her forget it.
She ran up and jumped at her dad to hug him first, for no other reason than her mother being smart enough to leave somepony else to take the first blow.
“How’d it go?” Sun asked once the oxygen deprivation wore off.
“It went great. I got to practise draining and nopony thought anything weird about it.”
“That’s good,” Rain Dancer said. The mare gave her daughter a playful ruffle through her mane. “So, you ready to go? Your homework’s all done?”
Scootaloo sniffed the air. “Umm, yeah, but I kind of smell.”
“Not a problem, Scoot,” Sun Dancer added. “You can shower when we get home, and your bed’s been made. The only problem’s gonna be getting you to school in the morning.”
“I know, dad, I know. But now that I can fly, I kind of want to do it just once? Just from our place to school? Just to know I can do it, just once, please?”
Sun Dancer chuckled and got up. “Alright, then. But we’d better get going now, or you’re gonna oversleep.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Okay, dad.”
She was giddy with anticipation. While her Ponyville bed was great, and her weekday room was full with all of her stuff, her home in the clouds had a different air to it. Since she didn’t sleep in it as often, her cloud bed always smelled fresh and her sheets were always velvety soft. More than that, she was close to her parents there. With the grueling task of Cloudsdale’s weather factories and her parents’ irrefutable talents, it didn’t matter if they ever got better hours: emergencies happened all the time and needed to be dealt with, regardless of where they were. Cloudsdale was responsible for all the weather in Equestria, after all, and while she didn’t know the specifics of it, she did know that her mom and dad were important, and neglecting their duties meant hurricanes or floods somewhere.
She’d coped with it just fine. She had a good place to stay weekdays, a lot of fun when her parents could take days off, and a soft, warm bed just waiting for her.
Thunderlane walked his little brother home. “So you and Scootaloo, huh?”
Rumble shivered. The stallion’s tone sounded hard, and judging. “What about it? I just showed her some moves. She didn’t know anypony in class.”
“She knew Featherweight, Rumble. You should’ve let him teach her.”
Rumble grumbled. “Why?”
Thunderlane frowned. “What do you mean, why? What did Chitter have to say about you pairing up with another girl?”
The colt looked back. Chitter had flown off already, like she always did. She didn’t live that far from Rumble’s place, so there was no need for her parents to come pick her up, or an escort. Thunderlane always let her tag along. “She didn’t say anything, Thunderlane, because it doesn’t matter. I just showed Scootaloo how to do some martial arts stuff, I was trying to be nice. Aren’t I supposed to be nice to girls?”
Thunderlane grumbled. “You know full well that’s not what you’re supposed to do. What do you think mom and dad would say?”
The colt gritted his teeth. “We’re here.”
Thunderlane turned. “You gonna be okay, big guy?”
Rumble put the key in the lock and opened the door. “I’ll be fine.”
“Remember to wash behind your ears, alright?”
“I will. Good night, Thunderlane.” Rumble closed the door with a sigh and locked it, just like he’d been taught.
The house was deathly silent. With the ease of a routine calcified into habit, Rumble flipped the switch to turn on the lights and shed his backpack. He strode over to the washing machine in a back room and tossed his canvas gear and bandages in. He had spares, anyway, he didn’t need to wash anything tonight.
He sniffed himself. He didn’t need to wash anything, except himself.
The lights in the bathroom always seemed to blind him, but he guessed that had more to do with his schedule than any lighting schemes. He always showered late. The warm water ran over his bruises and the tiny chafes that managed to slip past the bandages. He liked the soreness of it all, though he’d never admit to it.
Once he was wet, he looked for some soap. Dragonfruit, lavender, orange, he could never just pick one. He didn’t really have the option of asking for any opinions, either. Dragonfruit tonight, just to smell special.
By the time he’d donned his pajamas and gotten into bed, the fatigue had gotten the better of him. Something weighed on his chest, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t from Chitter sitting on him, for once.
He didn’t need to wonder why he was feeling down. All he had to do was look at the family portrait on his nightstand. Mom, dad, Thunderlane, and him, all smiling. It wasn’t even an old picture. Felt like it was old, though.
“Good night, mom. Good night, dad. Please don’t be mad at me.”
Rumble let his head lean on his right hoof, eyes fluttering open and shut. At the edge of his consciousness, he heard Apple Bloom and Scootaloo mutter something or other about bats, but he didn’t quite catch it.
Everything felt heavy. His breath slowed down, his head wobbled back and forth on his hoof, he wasn’t even sure if he could really hear anything. The world around got tuned out for a little bit. It felt nice, actually.
“Rumble?”
The colt snapped out of it, sitting up straight again. “Umm, yes, Miss Cheerilee?”
“Were you sleeping in class?”
“No, Miss.”
“Then what have we been talking about?”
Rumble gulped. He remembered hearing something about the holiday coming up, so he went with his first guess. “Blue Moon Bloom.”
Cheerilee smiled, giving the boy hope right before crushing it. “Good answer. Why don’t you tell the class what you know about it?”
All eyes in class were fixed on him. Rumble grumbled. “Umm, okay. Blue Moon Bloom is a very old holiday, one that hasn’t really been celebrated by ponies in a thousand years. It started before the pony tribes were united.”
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. Rumble kept going, feeling the pressure on him mount.
“According to the legend, it all started with a wedding. A great lord of ponies wanted his son to marry a princess, and the marriage was arranged so their nations could have peace. All the powerful wizards were invited as witnesses, and all the princesses, all the alicorns, mortal and immortal, were supposed to give their blessing. All of them, except the Mare in the Moon. She wasn’t invited because ponies thought she was evil or wanted to start a fight with the others. But she showed up anyway.”
“Wait, so Nightmare Moon showed up? Wasn’t she imprisoned already, then?” Sweetie Belle interjected.
Rumble rolled his eyes. “Not Nightmare Moon; the Mare in the Moon.”
“But they’re the same pony, right? Princess Luna?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Not in the old stories, they weren’t. In the older stories, Nightmare Moon was an evil mare who ate little children. Nightmare Moon lived on the part of the moon that sunlight never touched. The Mare in the Moon lived on the part that light did touch, and she was good in a lot of stories and evil in a couple of other ones. But they didn’t have the same powers, and they didn’t do the same things. They’re different characters, at least in stories. And then you’ve got the Shadow Sovereign, and the Sovereign of the Moon, and even the Shadow Sovereign of the Moon, and they’re all different and based on Princess Luna.”
“I have to admit, I’m impressed you know that, Rumble. Keep going,” Cheerilee encouraged.
“Anyway, the Mare in the Moon walked in during the party and placed a gift on the table; a blue flower. It was a gift for the bride, and it had a spell on it that made it so whoever holds the flower reveals their heart’s desire, and makes them tell the truth about how they feel. If they didn’t, the flower would turn white. It was to make sure that if the bride was ever unhappy, the princess couldn’t hide it from her husband. It was supposed to keep them together, by making them be honest. But the flower also had a message written on the stem.” Rumble trailed off to catch his breath.
Cheerilee nodded. “And the message was?”
“The message was in the old pegasus language: Kallisti. It means ‘for the fairest’, or ‘for the prettiest’, I’m not sure. Anyway, back then the Mare in the Moon was also the guardian of magic, or magic knowledge, so the wizards and princesses thought it was a gift for them. A fight broke out, and it nearly started a war. But the king decided that if the ponies couldn’t agree who deserved the flower, then they’d just have to find someone who could judge it fairly. They asked a young prince from a small tribe no one really knew or cared about. The king thought someone neutral would be the fairest judge. Some stories say it was a child, some stories say it wasn’t even a prince, but a commoner. It depends.” Rumble fell silent after that.
Again, Cheerilee nodded. “Go on.”
“Anyway, the point is that the one they chose to judge hadn’t learned to read yet, so he didn’t realise he was supposed to look at who was prettiest. But everyone tried to bribe him: every princess, every wizard, they all offered some kind of reward for picking them. They didn’t really care about the flower, or the wedding, they just wanted to be, well, the fairest, I guess. Their vanity got the better of them. But the judge didn’t go for any of them. He just said the flower belonged to the bride, since it was on the table with the other gifts for her. The flower went to the bride, the fighting stopped, and they all lived happily ever after. That was the day that love and honesty won over vanity and selfishness, the day that an honest answer brought a happy ending.”
“Very good, Rumble.”
“Except for the one who’d judged it.”
“What?”
Rumble winced. “According to the legend, because he’d offended their vanity, every princess, every wizard, and every witch cursed the pony who’d been the judge, and his whole tribe with him.”
Cheerilee shook her head. “That’s not how that story goes, Rumble. You just made that up.”
Rumble shrugged awkwardly. “It’s just a story, Miss Cheerilee: depending on what pony you ask, it’s all made up.”
Scootaloo felt sorry for the colt as they went out for recess. She’d had her fair share of tiring and tired days, but she’d never fallen asleep in class. At least, she didn’t remember ever falling asleep in class. She did rest her eyes from time to time, of course, but that was totally different. She was always wide awake in class. In fact, she was sure all those notes Cheerilee was making her pass on to her parents and aunt Vinyl were about something completely different, like her amazing athletic prowess. Not that she knew what ‘prowess’ meant, but it sounded like ‘powers’, so it had to be good.
As the children from Cheerilee’s class all went out to the playground out front, Scootaloo found that she didn’t see Rumble anywhere. Looking around, the changeling in disguise realised that Rumble usually didn’t play with any of the other foals in class. Featherweight and Lance were getting ready to play dodgeball with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, but Rumble wasn’t joining in.
She walked around the school building to the back and sped up when she heard a wooshing sound. She looked on in surprise when she saw what Rumble was doing.
He was lifting.
He was flapping his wings to make a gust of wind strong enough to lift up and keep aloft a pair of tennis balls. It looked a bit like he was doing a doggy paddle with his wings, but his face was locked in intense concentration. She’d heard Rainbow Dash talk about Rumble’s talent for weather control, or rather his dedication to it. She wasn’t sure what to think of the fact that he’d been practising right under everypony’s noses all this time without anyone realising.
“So this is where you keep disappearing to,” Scootaloo said. “How come no one ever noticed that?”
Rumble jumped and flew up a tree, before gently settling down. “Gah! Oh, it’s you.”
Scootaloo shot him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Were you training your wings?”
Rumble looked away. “Um, yes. Rainbow Dash said she’s got some time later today, so I need to be awake.”
Scootaloo frowned. The boy’s eyes still looked bleary. “Wow. Are you sure you can do it? I mean, I did kinda suck out some of your magic the other night.” She nearly slapped herself for saying it. Why don’t I just wear a sign that says ‘Look at me! I’m suspicious!’
Rumble got his tennis balls and started up another small twister. “I’ll be fine. I just need to make sure I keep moving, and then I’ll take a power nap once school’s out.”
“Want me to help? I’m pretty good with doing stunts and all. I can do a triple spin on one hoof.”
Rumble switched from keeping the tennis balls up steadily to knocking them up with a left and right gust, one after the other. His eyes were fixed on those things, the better to channel his magic. “Nah, I’m good.”
Scootaloo turned. “Okay, suit yourself.” She walked off, thinking. That was weird. Why wouldn’t he want me to help?
Uh oh. What if he knows? What if I gave myself away there?
The wind Rumble was making kicked up just as she rounded a corner. A single leaf landed on her nose.
“Achoo!”
She felt the change happen in a flash, which was appropriate given it was a flashy change in the first place. Her horn poked out of her forehead, her wings were stiff insect limbs, and her fur made way for hard hide.
She didn’t let it last for long, of course. As soon as she changed back, she looked about furtively.
Rumble came up behind her. “You okay? I thought I heard someone cast a spell.”
Scootaloo rubbed her nose. “Probably just Snips and Snails doing stuff again.”
“Oh, right, probably.”
The pair went to the front of the school again, since neither had anything to do. Rumble had done his reps, at least judging by what Scootaloo could see of the notebook under his right wing, and Scootaloo wasn’t much in the mood for playing anything, not until she got her new abilities under control.
“Hey, Scootaloo?”
The girl turned as they came into view of the rest. Apple Bloom and Lance were clobbering Sweetie Belle and Featherweight, who at this point were probably regretting pairing two Earth ponies together for a dodgeball team. It made Scootaloo wonder what kind of surprises she might end up with with her species change. “What?”
“Do you really wanna help with, you know, moves and all?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Not if you don’t need it. Why, would you mind if I did?”
Rumble gulped. “Maybe. If I can keep up with Rainbow Dash this afternoon, then I won’t.”
“Okay. Let me know how that turns out.”
Rumble gritted his teeth as he pushed his wings to their limit, soaring through the sky. That afternoon nap after school had done wonders to refuel him, but even so he wasn’t quite up to flying with Rainbow Dash.
She turned a ninety-degree corner with no warning. Rumble pulled up and slammed his wings back to slow down and follow suit, biting away the pressure on his little flappers. In seconds, he was back to rushing into that distinct rainbow trail.
Come on, come on, just a little faster.
It was no use. The rainbow trail he was following went faint. Clouds rushed past, birds squawked in shock as they narrowly dodged one speedster pony after another.
Rumble fell behind.
Again.
The boy felt a tear roll down his cheek as he slowed down. His head pounded, his lungs burned, and his wings were about to fall off. He had to land, or he’d plummet. He managed to make it to the same lake he’d caught Rainbow Dash at earlier that week, but once his hooves touched the ground he knew it was over.
He didn’t even bother calling out to Rainbow Dash. He just sat down on his rump and rubbed his aching sides. Everything near his wings throbbed. Even his feathers felt like they hurt.
He didn’t get it. He did everything right. He did his pushups, his wing pushups, his crunches, everything. He had a routine, and he followed it.
Why can’t I keep up with her? Why can’t I fly like her?
Rainbow Dash landed in front of him. “Still can’t keep up, huh?”
Rumble panted and nodded.
Rainbow Dash put a hoof under his chin to make him look up at her. “Hey, don’t feel bad, okay? You’re gettin’ better. You lasted a lot longer than last time.”
Rumble shook his head. “Still not long enough. What am I doing wrong?”
Rainbow Dash looked away. “Beats me. Maybe you should ask Scootaloo sometime.”
The boy furrowed his brow. This again? “Scootaloo? Why? Can she fly like you?”
“No, not yet, but she might be able to help you out more. And Blue Moon Bloom is coming up. You’re not gonna get a better chance to ask.”
Rumble groaned. “You’re only saying that because you think we look cute together. And besides, you know I can’t ask her.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know, it’s complicated. Tell you what, big guy, if you don’t wanna ask a girl for help, that’s your call. If you do wanna ask, it’s your call, too. Just remember it’s your call, not anyone else’s, and if you ever need my help, just ask and I will. It’s my job, but you have to ask. You can make it back to Ponyville from here, right?”
Rumble looked at the ground and nodded.
“Good. And if you don’t ask Scootaloo for help, don’t complain next time you can’t keep up.”
Rumble bit his lip as Rainbow Dash took off. “I won’t. See you around, Rainbow Dash. Thanks for the help, anyway.”
She was already out of sight. Rumble pounded the sandy ground by the lake in frustration.
“Still not fast enough, huh?”
The colt looked up. Scootaloo was standing on her scooter, helmet donned as always. What struck him was where she was standing, though: she was right on the same spot Rainbow Dash had been when he’d heard her fly off. “Yeah. It hurts all over.”
“That sounds familiar.”
Rumble nodded. “Did your wings hurt when she was done with you, too?”
Scootaloo took off her helmet and got off her scooter to sit next to him. Both of them looked into the water at their reflections. “Uhuh. It hurt a lot, especially since I couldn’t even keep up with her.”
“I know, right? I’m supposed to be an ace flyer by now, I should be fast enough to keep up, but all she does is fly circles around me and tell me I should ask you for help, instead.” Rumble nearly slapped himself for saying it.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” The girl barely hid her ire.
“No offense, Scootaloo, but you haven’t been flying for very long. You can’t really help me out with anything. You’re good on your scooter, though, that’s something.”
Scootaloo glared at the boy. “Oh yeah? You think I can’t beat you?”
Rumble groaned. “You want me to tell you the truth, or be nice?”
“The truth, Rumble.”
“Okay, fine. The truth is, I’m sure you could beat me at flying, but not the kind of flying I do. I’m the fastest pegasus colt in town; my wingpower’s six point five. That’s twice as high as the national average, and way over what you need to pass Flight Camp’s final test.”
Scootaloo grumbled. “Wingpower’s not everything, you know.”
“I know. But if you want to compete with me, you need wingpower, and you don’t have that, not yet.”
The girl playfully slapped his shoulder. “Psh, right. So you’re telling me you could beat me in a race anytime you wanted?”
Rumble got up and stretched his sore wings. “I could race you right now, if you like.”
The changeling regarded him for a moment. Rumble didn’t show any kind of mockery on his expression, or pity, or anything that implied he was suggesting anything but a friendly competition. She grinned. “You’re on. But no cheating.”
The boy shrugged and pointed to a cloud in the distance. “We do one lap around that cloud over there, then come back here. First pony to cross this line wins.” He drew a line in the sand. “I’ll even give you a headstart.”
“You want to what? You think it’s not fair if I don’t get a headstart?” Scootaloo growled.
“Um, no, I don’t. I just raced Rainbow Dash, and my wings are still kinda tired. I need all the cooldown and rest I can get for a race.” Rumble gave a few cursory flaps. “You don’t think that’s fair to me, do you?”
Scootaloo kept her eye on him, but took her position behind the line, leaning down so as to get the best angle for taking off. “Okay, but don’t come complaining when a girl beats you.”
Rumble smiled brightly. “I promise I won’t, Scootaloo. You just go as fast as you possibly can.”
“Okay. On your mark, get set.”
Rumble shrugged and just stood there. “Go.”
Scootaloo bolted, flapping her wings at her usual racing speed. She tensed her body up to keep the speed going, just to make sure Rumble didn’t try anything funny. She saw the cloud rush to meet her.
Then it decided to leave.
She flapped her wings harder. The cloud was still getting away from her. Scootaloo looked down and found that despite her frantic flapping, she couldn’t keep herself up.
She barely had time to gasp when something grey zoomed past her, knocking her up with what she had to admit was the gentlest breeze to ever knock her anywhere. The grey mass passed the cloud, then tore off a piece, carried it along, and dropped it neatly under her before making its way to the finish line.
Scootaloo sat on the cloud as Rumble casually strolled over the finish line. She stomped her hoof into the cloud with a growl and rushed after him.
“You cheated!” She yelled after landing.
Rumble pouted, like the remark had really hurt him. It was only then Scootaloo remembered he didn’t hang out with girls with that much. The boy took a step back. “I did not cheat. You just have a bad flying technique, that’s all. You can’t go to top speed because you’re flapping the wrong way, so you fall when you go fast.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I want a rematch, and this time we fly through trees.”
Rumble looked away. “No thanks, I can’t really fly through trees.”
“Hah, see? You can’t turn very well, can you?” Scootaloo pointed a hoof at him.
Rumble shrugged. “Um, no? Why do you think I asked Rainbow Dash? I’m really fast, but only when I go straight. I can’t turn that well without having to slow down. So yeah, I guess you probably are better than me at that.”
Scootaloo tilted her head, confused. “Wait, you don’t want to find out? You’re just gonna take that? Come on, where’s your sense of pride?”
“Scootaloo, I just raced you, and Rainbow Dash, on the same day. I think I can call it quits for now. Besides, I’d bet you can’t turn very well, either.”
The girl chuckled awkwardly. “Actually, that’s about the only thing I can do really well, because of all the scootering.”
Rumble considered it for a moment. “Oh, right. I guess maybe you would. It’s not the same as when you’re up in the air, though.”
Silence fell between them. They looked at their reflections in the pond’s water again, both unsure of what to say. Eventually, Scootaloo had enough of the awkwardness, so she nudged him. “So, um, Rainbow Dash said you should ask me for help?”
Rumble nodded. “Yup.”
Scoootaloo nudged him again. Rumble didn’t get the hint. “What?”
“Aren’t you going to ask me for help, then?”
“Umm, I don’t think I should.” He shivered and looked up at the sky, nervous all of a sudden.
Scootaloo followed suit, and found a dark grey stallion going in circles above them. “Is it because of Thunderlane?”
“No, no! Well, kinda. It’s complicated. I appreciate it, Scootaloo, but I can fix it on my own.” Rumble turned to leave. “I just need a good planning, a workout schedule I can follow, maybe a new stretching routine.”
Scootaloo bit her lip. Planning? Schedules? Routines? She stretched, sure, and she worked out, but she never tried to do anything organised. “I can’t.”
Rumble froze. “What?”
“I can’t fix my problem on my own. And Rainbow Dash told me to ask you for help, too.”
“Really? Why?”
“Honestly, I think Twilight Sparkle is trying to play matchmaker, and she put Rainbow Dash up to it.”
Rumble shuddered. “I know what you mean. Twilight couldn’t stop smirking when I asked her for advice, either. She kept asking if I wanted to impress you.”
That took a moment for Scootaloo to process. “Wait, hold on. You asked Twilight Sparkle for advice?”
Rumble nodded. “Uhuh, on how to train for flying.”
“Why would you ask her about that?”
“Because Rainbow Dash told me to, obviously. She said Twilight knew more about schedules and muscles,” Rumble replied matter-of-factly.
“Oh. Did that work?”
Rumble shrugged. He caught himself looking more at the girl’s reflection in the water than his own. “Kind of. I’m a lot better than before I started, and I was already pretty good from the waterspout training, but it’s still not enough.”
Scootaloo clenched her teeth together. For just a second, she almost gagged, but once it passed, she shuffled closer to the boy. “Um, you know, if you’re not going to ask me for help, I might have to ask you.”
Rumble arched an eyebrow and looked at the girl. “Really?”
Scootaloo shuffled away, slightly apprehensive. “Not that I can’t fly perfectly fine on my own, of course. After all, I do have the coolest pony in all of Equestria coaching me. But, err, I can’t really tell if I’m getting better or not. And you did beat me, so you must be doing something right. Would you mind showing me sometime?”
Rumble bit his lip. Should I? I guess it couldn’t hurt. She is nice, and she’s a good athlete. She wouldn’t make fun of me or push me too hard, since she’s new to it, and she does have really tight sides. I’d bet she gives great hugs...
“What do you think?”
Rumble snapped out of his reverie. “Umm, I don’t know. Maybe.”
The girl raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
Rumble looked at the sky again, tracking that dark grey form as it busted some clouds before heading back towards Tuber Lane. “It’s complicated.”
“You don’t want to hang out with me because your brother doesn’t like me?”
“Sure I do, and it’s not that he doesn’t like you, it’s just that…” He clenched his jaw.
“What?”
Rumble sighed in resignation before smiling. “Never mind. It’s nothing you need to worry about, he’s just being silly. I’d love to hang out, and I’d be more than happy to help you out if you wanna catch up on flying. I think I could really use a flying buddy, honestly.”
Scootaloo tensed up and put her helmet back on, quickly scampering away. “Oh, um, come to think of it, now’s not really a good time. I just remembered I have homework to do.”
Rumble frowned. “This late after school?”
Scootaloo flashed him a sheepish smile. “Yup.”
“After everypony in our class is done with theirs?”
“It’s special homework.”
Rumble’s frown deepened. “And you need to do it really quickly, right now?”
“Rainbow Dash told me to.”
That was all the explanation Rumble needed. “Oh. Well, you’d better get going, then.”
Scootaloo hopped back on her scooter and revved up her wings. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later. We can meet up sometime when we don’t have self-defense class.”
“Sure, sounds good. See you around.”
“See you around!” And with that, she was off.
Rumble got back on his hooves and rubbed his sore wings again.
Huh. Kind of weird how she showed up right after Rainbow Dash left. And she’s been acting kinda weird, too. She turns out to be good at draining, she’s scared of changelings now, and she’s been getting closer to Rainbow Dash and me. And I haven’t seen her around Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle outside of class, either.
Rumble wrapped up his arms for another class. The air in the changing room was thick with anticipation for the Blue Moon Bloom, at least for the few colts who had it on their minds.
“So you are going to give Sweetie Belle a flower after all, then?” Lance asked as he put on his padding.
Featherweight shrugged. “I don’t know, probably. You’re supposed to, if you like somepony, right? Just to be nice? And if she doesn’t like it, she can give a white flower back.”
Lance nodded. “Right. You give her a blue flower, and she’ll give you a blue flower back or a white flower, or no flower. If it’s not blue, no harm done. That’s what everypony keeps saying.”
“Might as well do it, then. Suppose she doesn’t get any flowers and she starts thinking she’s ugly? That wouldn’t be right.” Featherweight winced at the thought.
“Exactly,” the dark grey colt replied emphatically.
Rumble didn’t join in on the banter. He just tugged at the padding on his arms and the bandages on his legs, then tugged again, then tugged again, then tugged again. It was only when he found he might be cutting off some bloodflow that he stopped.
Featherweight frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Rumble looked at the nub-covered floor as the first few stallions poured out through the door and into the fighting hall. “Nothing.”
Lance cocked an eyebrow at him. “You sure? ‘Coz it looks like it’s something.”
“It’s just that dumb holiday, is all.” Rumble grumbled.
“You don’t wanna give Chitter a flower? Or Scootaloo?” Lance asked.
Rumble glared at the colt.
Lance took a step back. “I’m just asking. If it’s really bothering you, you should talk to them. I mean, one of them, at least. Chitter’s probably gonna be hogging you tonight, she always does.”
Rumble sighed. “Probably, yeah.”
Featherweight leaned in. “You know, one of us can just take over sparring with her, if you’re really not okay with it.”
Rumble shook his head. “Thanks, but I have to. Chitter wouldn’t like it if I started sparring with Scootaloo now, not again. One of you guys can train with Scootaloo, it’s no big deal.”
Featherweight frowned again. “So… is Chitter your special somepony, then?”
The boys of Ponyville always had each other’s backs. While Featherweight and Lance had never been too close with Rumble, they were the closest any of his classmates got. And if something was wrong, they knew him well enough to want to help.
Not that they could, of course, but it’s the thought that counts.
Rumble just shook his head. “It’s complicated.”
Rumble had always had a fondness in his heart for grappling. Ever since he was little, he would attempt to jump his older brother and go for the arms or legs, which usually resulted in him being shaken off with little to no effort. That, or his brother would take him sightseeing around town until Rumble couldn’t hang on anymore, at which point Thunderlane would move the colt from his leg to his neck and carry him home.
Now that he was more mature, though, at least as mature as a ten-year-old could think himself to be, he understood the mechanics of it better. He relished the lessons where he might learn to take down an opponent without hurting them, and then hurting them afterwards if they tried anything funny. It was a trait Twilight had said was rooted in his genetics, as apparently the strong stallions who could take prisoners alive were thought of very highly in the old days, and they’d passed some of that skill and instinct along to their descendants. It gave the colt a sense of responsibility, even nobility, to be able to use force without violence.
And having a cute girl make full-body contact with him while he practised was icing on the proverbial cake. As vigorously as he would deny it, Rumble was and would always be a bit of a cuddler, one of the odd side effects of that genetic makeup.
Rumble went down as Chitter practised the arm hold again. He let his wings spread out evenly and knocked the ground to break his fall, then relaxed as the girl gently put a hoof on his neck while keeping her other hoof occupied with locking his arm under her shoulder.
“How’s that?” she asked.
Rumble wriggled and bent his arm. “I can still move. That doesn’t hurt.”
“How about now?” She lowered her grip to put more pressure on his cannon joint.
Rumble gave the ground a few hurried pats. “Yup, that’s the spot.”
She snickered. “Okay, then, your turn, Rumbley-Wumbley.”
Rumble blushed as the batty girl helped him up. He looked over to Scootaloo, who was currently sparring with Lance. A rough tap on his chest stopped him from looking too long, though. Chitter glared at him, so Rumble just did the same lock Chitter had and sent her down. “How’s that?”
Chitter winced and tried to wriggle her arm out of the lock. “Yup, you got it, ow.”
Rumble released and let her up.
“So have you got any plans for Blue Moon Bloom?” Chitter whispered.
The boy let himself get locked and dropped again. “No, why?”
“What do you mean, why? Haven’t you got a flower ready?”
Rumble grumbled and sent the girl down, quite a lot faster than before. “I haven’t decided yet. I don’t think I want to give anypony a flower.”
Chitter chuckled and nuzzled him while he was crouched over her. “Good thing rousettes aren’t ponies, then.”
Rumble snapped his head away just as Master Ten called the exercise to a halt with a curt shout. The unicorn hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation, much to Rumble’s relief, but Scootaloo’s ears were perked up towards the pair. Rumble grumbled. “Could you please not do this now?”
“Draining and blocking, go!” Master Ten called out.
Chitter went straight for Rumble’s chest. “Gotta be faster than that, little bumblebee.”
Rumble felt his energy leak out through the hoof on his chest, but it didn’t last this time. He took a deep breath and stopped the flow before countering, putting both his front hooves on her neck and pulling at her vital energy from two ends at a time.
She slapped his arms off and pushed him away. “You’re awful touchy tonight, Rumble. Am I gonna have to fight to get a flower?”
Rumble bit his lip. “No. I don’t know if I want to give any pony… anyone a flower. It’s complicated, okay?”
Rumble looked away, and instantly regretted it. The first thing he felt when he looked back at the girl was her weight on him. The second thing he felt was a rush of vertigo. Thirdly, he felt the floor say ‘hi’ to his back. With Chitter’s fangs bared and throat letting off an ominous hiss, he quickly found himself without options.
His left wing slapped her on the ear, his right followed shortly after. The shock stopped her attempted draining, and gave him some breathing room. Next he stuck out his arms towards her shoulders to push the girl off, then he rolled over so he’d be on top. Once he was in position, he crossed his arms and pressed against her neck, his whole body draped over hers. His belly pressed down on hers, their chests met, he was close enough for the girl to feel his hot breath.
Chitter didn’t seem to mind. “Go on. You’re supposed to drain me now.”
“Don’t push me like that. It’s not funny.”
Rumble heard the sound of of three knocks on the mat. Chitter had surrendered.
She rubbed her neck and flapped her bat wings a few times before squaring off in front of him again. “I’m sorry, Rumble, I just got a little excited. I guess you don’t really need to give me a flower, if you don’t want to. You just give one to whomever you like.”
Rumble looked over to Scootaloo and Lance again. Had she heard their conversation? Had she heard any word of it? He looked around the dojo, to the other pairs of ponies sparring. Had they heard anything? It didn’t look like it; most of them were too busy practising their moves.
That’s how it always went. Nopony ever noticed Rumble. Nopony saw or heard him. He could run right in front of a pony -- and had, in fact -- and they wouldn’t know it. Maybe that was for the best. Maybe he should just accept it and embrace it. Stealth was something to take pride in, after all. Blending in and being wholly unremarkable were good things.
He was just a grey little boy, with no real voice and no lasting impression. It didn’t matter what he did. He just never showed up on anyone’s sights, it was simple as that. A knot formed in his stomach as bad, damningly familiar thoughts kept forcing their way up. He didn’t want to just burst out and cry, not there, not then. Something tapped under his chin.
Chitter carefully pushed him back and sidestepped so he’d trip, but slowly. She leaned in close and smiled sympathetically once he was down. She put a front hoof on his chest, and Rumble could feel some warmth flowing back into him, banishing those awful thoughts of self-loathing.
“You look like you could use a hug. Want me to save you one for after class?”
Rumble gulped. “Yeah. Please do.”
The train ride helped Rumble unwind. The little bumps left and right along with the sense of speed while not doing anything, it all felt like a comfy flight on someone’s back. It helped that he had good company, of course, as he always did on this ride. Sat next to Chitter on the train with her wing around him, Rumble couldn’t quite remember why he’d been angry at the girl.
“So, Thunderlane, you got anything special planned?” Vinyl Scratch asked.
And there came the reminder. Why did Princess Luna have to put that stupid old holiday back in the spotlight?
Thunderlane smiled. “I’ve got plans, sure.”
“Got a special filly waiting, then?”
“Oh, you know how it goes. It’s complicated.” Thunderlane winked.
Rumble let off a deep yawn. Scootaloo frowned at him. “Are you okay, Rumble?”
Chitter rubbed her wing back and forth over the prone boy’s back. “Oh, he’s just worn out. He’ll be fine.”
Rumble let his eyes fall shut for a moment, before shaking his head to wake up. “Huh? Did you say something, Scootaloo?”
“I was just asking if you were fine.”
“Sure, just tired. Must mean I had a good practice, right?” He smiled nervously and shuffled closer to the rousette for warmth.
Scootaloo smiled awkwardly at the pair. “Yeah, of course. Do you still wanna do that thing we said?”
“The thing?” Rumble arched an eyebrow, sitting up. “Oh, the thing. Sure, if you’re free tomorrow afternoon. I’ve got my own little spot to practise, not too far from my place.”
Chitter pouted. “But aren’t you coming to dinner tomorrow?”
Rumble turned to Thunderlane. Thunderlane stared his little brother down. “You did promise, Rumble. It’d be rude to call it off.”
Rumble sighed. “I know, but there’s no reason I can’t do both, right? Dinner doesn’t start that early, and I really need the help with my flying. No offense, Chitter, but your wings just aren’t the same as mine.” He winced as he faced Chitter’s hurt expression. He looked back and forth from his feathered wings to Chitter’s bat wings, trying to look as apologetic as he could.
The rousette girl, for her part, considered it. “I guess it’s not that big a deal. Just don’t wear him out, okay? Little Rumbley-Wumbley-Bumblebee’s gotta be in shape tomorrow night.”
Scootaloo chuckled. “I’ll try to keep him in one piece.”
Vinyl Scratch snickered to herself. She wasn’t sure if she should be patting Rumble on the back for having two girls fancy him or to feel sorry for him. She was tempted to try and give him some sage advice, but with his older brother there she couldn’t risk it.
Still, at least Rumble was learning to handle girls gallantly and with consideration. That counted for something. She did wonder, though, just how much that batty girl could get away with.
The train arrived, the ponies parted ways, and the rousette girl flew off into the night.
Once they were alone in the dark streets, Thunderlane prodded Rumble’s side. “You okay, big guy?”
Rumble kept his head low and yawned. “I don’t know. I’m just tired.”
“Uhuh, then what was that with Scootaloo? You don’t want to go to dinner with Chitter anymore?”
The colt bit his lip. “I don’t know. Maybe. Can’t I just stay home?”
Thunderlane rolled his eyes. “You know you can’t, Rumble. You said you would, it’s your responsibility, and more importantly, it’s tradition. Besides, with your condition-”
“What condition?” Rumble snapped. “I’m fine, okay? There's nothing wrong with me, just like there's nothing wrong with you.”
Thunderlane almost choked on what he wanted to say. “You’ll feel better after tomorrow. And then you just have to tell Scootaloo you can’t see her. You know the rules.”
Rumble growled and finally snapped. “Well, what if I don’t like the rules? What if I’d rather do something else? What if I wanna have a choice?”
Thunderlane snorted. “Oh, you do, huh? That’s nice. I wonder what mom and dad would say if they heard that.”
The boy stopped. His wings fell flat against his sides, his hooves dug into the dirt of the Ponyville street. “That’s low, big bro. That’s really low.”
For the briefest moment, Thunderlane’s expression softened. “Sorry, Rumble. But you know what I mean. We all have to do things we don’t like sometimes, it’s part of growing up.”
Rumble let out a dejected groan. “I know.”
“It’s okay if you’re not looking forward to it, you know, but don’t give up on it just because you’re nervous. Things'll be better after tomorrow, you'll see. Besides, Chitter’s a smart girl, she’ll show you what to do. You just have to suck it up and go through with it,” the stallion offered.
Rumble trotted along happily, following the trail that led out of Ponyville Park and towards his special little spot on the western outskirts of town. He hummed to himself, letting his backpack bounce up and down his back as he went. Scootaloo joined him on her scooter just as he passed the hardware shop. He couldn’t think of why, but he had a smile on his face that just wouldn’t go away. Maybe it was the sunny weather. Maybe it was the prospect of sharing his hideout with somepony new.
Or maybe he just liked the company. Scootaloo rolled her scooter along, not bothering to flap her wings just yet. “So where are we going, exactly?”
“A pond near Turtle Hill. Fluttershy’s the only other pony who really goes there, and she only needs it for when the hatchlings are coming.”
Scootaloo had never heard of such a place, or of Fluttershy’s hatchling duties. “Turtle Hill?”
Rumble kept up his eager smile and shrugged. “It’s a hill, with a lot of turtles. Not where we’re going, though; the water’s a little too cold for turtles, and there’s kind of a cliff they can’t get past.”
Scootaloo didn’t press the issue. Rumble led the way past a line of trees, a field of clover, and eventually past a rocky hill that was covered in turtles and tortoises. There were brown ones with claws on their feet, green ones with flippers, and a few with red cheeks and a weird mix of claws and flippers. They didn’t pay much heed to the two little ponies, aside from a few who hissed at them.
“Don’t get too close to them. Fluttershy said they’ve got a nasty bite.”
Looking at those beaks, Scootaloo was inclined to agree. She followed him past the turtle sanctuary and towards the edge of a small waterfall. He flew down a short distance and landed in the shadow, motioning for her to do the same.
Once Scootaloo had parked her scooter and helmet where she wanted, she took stock of the place. The waterfall wasn’t too high, the pond that it fed was fairly deep, and the rocks and trees nearby gave the place a constant source of shadow and cold, not unlike the kind of colds she’d felt on her short trips to the upper echelons of the Equestrian skies. Rumble unpacked his bag and took out a notebook. “Here. You can compare notes, if you like.”
“Oh, sure,” Scootaloo nervously accepted the book and flipped through it.
Rumble watched as she leafed through it. She’s not impressed. She probably can’t make heads or tails out of my writing. She didn’t even bring her own notebook. She probably doesn’t even have a notebook. She probably doesn’t even need a notebook. This is never going to work out. Why did I even do this in the first place?
“Wow. Rainbow Dash was right: you do have a really tight schedule.”
“Umm, thanks?”
Scootaloo gave him the book back. “So what do you want to do?”
“Well, what do you usually do on a routine?”
The girl smiled nervously. “Er, I guess, I kind of, sort of, don’t have a routine? I just make things up as I go along.”
Rumble arched an eyebrow at her. This was supposed to be the strongest athlete in town, at least of his age. Rainbow Dash had assured him Scootaloo was on his level, and very likely better than that even with her delayed growth. And yet the girl had just admitted to not using a schedule for training. This did not sound right. “Oh. Okay, how about you try and do a basic dash, then?”
Scootaloo looked away and rubbed the back of her head. With her arm bent like that, Rumble could see the subtle definition of her body. Her wings, small as they were, were attached to a muscular shoulder joint that he could only imagine felt like rock to the touch. His own wings, though bigger, looked flimsy in comparison. Still, the inconsistencies piled up. “I can’t really do a dash yet. I keep losing my balance and falling down. You saw what happened last time I tried it. ”
“I’ll carry you, then,” Rumble blurted out.
Scootaloo tilted her head back in surprise.
“You know, so you can build up your strength. And I can build up mine with your weight,” Rumble hastily added.
“Don’t you think Chitter would mind?” Scootaloo asked.
The smile that had hung on his face since school had ended finally dropped. “She might, but she won’t, really. It’s complicated.”
“So she is your special somepony, then. Like your little girlfriend?”
Rumble bit his lip. “It’s really complicated.”
“Okay, then, would she be upset if you kissed another girl?” The girl looked away, thinking aloud.
Rumble winced. “I can’t really talk about it.”
“Well, would she?”
Reluctantly, Rumble nodded. “Yup.”
“Would she be angry if you said you liked another girl?”
“That’s personal,” Rumble hissed. “It’s none of your business, Scootaloo. Look, do you want me to help you fly or not?”
Rumble caught his breath when the girl took a step back and flared her wings up. He bit his lip and sighed.
Scootaloo grimaced in sympathy. “Sorry. I just wouldn’t want you to get in trouble, that’s all.”
Rumble let his head hang. “I know, sorry. I don’t want you to get in trouble, either. But Chitter’s fine, really. She won’t mind.”
“Are you sure? She was kind of hanging over you last night.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the thought. She hadn’t seen that kind of affection outside of Hearts and Hooves Day. “And what about Thunderlane? Doesn’t he want you to stay away from me?”
“No,” Rumble said coldly. “Thunderlane’s not around now, and he’s not the boss of me, anyway. Now come on, you fly up and I’ll keep you steady.”
Scootaloo went up with Rumble behind and beneath her. She tried to dash, but once her wings to their usual speed, she found herself plummeting. Luckily, Rumble was there to catch her and let her slow down.
Scootaloo groaned as she slowed her descent and just hung in the air with slow, powerful flaps of her wings. “See? This keeps happening, and I can’t figure out why. Rainbow Dash said I’d just grow out of it. What am I doing wrong?”
“It’s a posture thing.”
“A posture thing?” The girl looked incredulous.
“Uhuh. You didn’t notice how you’re hanging now? You need to do more backflips. ”
Scootaloo looked down at herself. Rumble caught himself looking the girl over as well, despite his best efforts. They were both hanging in the air with their hind hooves pointed to the ground and their front hooves at their sides, keeping their backs straight while their wings kept them aloft.
“When you fly forward, you keep yourself on all fours. When you’re just hanging, you’re upright, unless you correct it,” Rumble explained. “But if you’re used to curving your back the wrong way, you end up angling your wings all wrong when you go forward, especially if you’re trying to go fast. You just need to do some backflips.”
“How are backflips gonna fix that?”
“It lets you throw your weight around and curve your back instead of pulling you forward with your belly. Like this.” Just like that, Rumble threw himself backwards and did a dive, hooves first, into the pond.
He surfaced just in time to see Scootaloo roll her eyes again. “Well, obviously. I knew that.”
Rumble found himself pondering that. Scootaloo would know that sort of thing. At least, she should. She did a backflip just like he’d done, then poked her head out of the water with a grimace. “Ow, that kinda hurt!”
Rumble winced. “Right, sorry. That’s just some muscles you haven’t worked yet. It’ll get better if you practise, three times a week for two weeks is fine. And you should try swimming with just your wings, let them get used to carrying your weight up and forward. You’ll feel the difference soon enough.”
The orange filly nodded. “Thanks for the advice, I think I will do that. And umm…” She looked to Rumble again. “Could I ask you something that might be a little personal?”
“Is it about Chitter?”
“Yeah.”
Rumble groaned as he swam to the edge and got out. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“She’s a bat pony, right?” Scootaloo came out of the water and shook herself somewhat dry.
“The race is called ‘rousettes’.” Rumble clenched his teeth in frustration.
“Okay, is that a touchy subject? Because I’ve asked Lance and Featherweight, and they said you can get pretty scary when somepony brings it up. Is it just ‘coz you like her or is there something else to it?”
Rumble shook himself dry. “It’s a principle thing, that’s all. Rousettes decided a long time ago they didn’t want to be associated with ponies anymore, so they dropped it from their name. A rousette is a kind of bat, and it’s the closest thing to a rousettus pony, which is what they used to call themselves, so now they just call themselves rousettes. That’s the name they gave themselves, that’s what they answer to, and anything else is wrong. You wouldn’t like it if I called Apple Bloom a donkey.”
“Uhuh, and why don’t they call themselves ponies anymore, exactly?”
Rumble rolled his eyes. “You remember when I said the first Blue Moon Bloom ended up with one tribe getting cursed by all the others?”
“Yeah?”
“Those were bat ponies, back when they were still both bats and ponies. I’m not sure what kind of curses they got, but it was the kind that ran in families, and they can still get pretty angry about it.” The boy grimaced. “The day love beat vanity and selfishness for ponies is the day rousettes got cursed because of it. So yeah, they don’t like being associated with ponies nowadays.”
Scootaloo gulped. “Oh, okay, but, err…”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
Rumble frowned. “Oh, just say it.”
“It’s nothing, really.” She looked away, idly trying to look at a cloud to avoid the boy’s gaze.
“Scootaloo, what aren’t you telling me?”
Scootaloo bit her lip. “You remember when me and my friends were doing that newspaper thing?”
“Kind of hard to forget; your picture’s in a museum.” He groaned.
“Umm, we tried to run a story on you and…”
Rumble froze. “And?”
“And turns out nopony knows anything about you, good or bad. Nopony has ever seen your parents, not even Miss Cheerilee. So Diamond Tiara wanted to run a story about you being adopted by your brother. She would have if Featherweight hadn’t taken that picture of Princess Celestia and that cake.”
Rumble was not surprised. The boys of Ponyville always had each other’s backs.
Scootaloo idly kicked the ground. “So, umm, I guess what I’m trying to ask is… where are your parents?”
Rumble felt a tight grip on his heart and his throat. He’d never realised the horror he’d dodged when that thrice-accursed tabloid had been in town. “Nopony’s ever seen your parents either, or Apple Bloom’s. Does that mean you’re adopted, too?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “My mom and dad work all the way up in Cloudsdale, that's why no one ever sees them. They have to travel a lot, so they wanted me to go to school here. I just bunk up with my aunt Vinyl and her friend. It’s easier, and a bit more friendly with me being...” She nodded to her wings.
“Yeah, I get that. But you see my point? Just because you haven’t seen my mom and dad around, doesn’t mean they’re not, you know, around.”
“Then where are they?”
“W-well, they’re usually in Canterlot,” Rumble stammered. “With the Royal Guard. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen my dad around, actually.”
Scootaloo’s expression shifted when Rumble’s tone lightened. She shook off some more of the water, before accepting a towel Rumble gave her. “So… you don’t see your parents a lot, too, huh?”
Rumble shrugged. “You might say that, yeah. I’m used to being home alone.”
“Uhuh. And don’t you get… I don’t know, lonely?”
The boy looked away. “Sometimes.”
“Well, at least you’re not always alone, right?”
Rumble chuckled nervously. “No, of course I’m not. That’d be terrible.”
Scootaloo squinted. “Are you home alone all the time?”
He let off an annoyed grunt at that. “My big brother’s gonna come pick me up anytime now, we might as well call it here. I kinda forgot about the time, sorry.”
Given his reaction, Scootaloo decided to drop the topic. “That’s okay. At least you finally talked. Why do you always sit alone in a corner like that?”
Rumble shrugged. “Guess I just never bothered to do anything else. Rainbow Dash says I’m too much of a loner, and that it’s holding me back. Can you believe that?”
“At least you got Rainbow Dash to talk to you. You wouldn’t believe how I finally got noticed.”
Rumble chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe how she noticed me, either.”
The two foals regarded each other, and for a moment, there flashed between them a spark of understanding: some vague sense of kinship, of a shared destiny. For just a second, Rumble clenched his teeth together. It didn’t last, though. He’d made up his mind about Scootaloo.
“Hey, Scootaloo?” Rumble asked. “Since you were asking me personal stuff, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”
Scootaloo gulped. “Sure?”
“If you couldn’t ask me to help you with flying, who would you ask? Featherweight?” The boy looked anxious as he spoke.
Scootaloo shook her head. “Featherweight? Not really, no. I mean, he can hover, and he can get up okay, but he’s not like you.”
“And, just out of curiosity, who else do you know? Suppose I had to move or something, who’d you fly with?”
She shrugged. “Whoever Rainbow Dash says is good enough, I guess.”
“Right, of course. And, umm, just suppose, if it wasn’t for Chitter, would you give me a flower for Blue Moon Bloom?”
Scootaloo looked away nervously. “Well, I might, just to make sure you got one. Why do you ask? You don’t like her anymore?”
“It’s complicated.”
Scootaloo tensed up. “So say something more complicated than ‘It’s complicated’, for peat’s sake! Why do you let her hug you like that if she’s not your girlfriend? Do you want her to stop?”
Rumble felt a quiver in his voice. “Sometimes, I guess. We only hang out after sundown, but she can still keep me up. It’s a long story, it’s nothing to worry about. She is really nice to me, a lot nicer than anypony else I know.”
“But are you going to give her a blue flower?”
Rumble gulped and looked away. “I might, but it’s not what you think. I was just curious if you thought I was cute or anything, that’s all. Just being silly, I guess.” He kicked the ground shyly.
Scootaloo blushed. “Well, you kind of, sort of, are. Cute, I mean.”
“Really?”
“Kind of, sure.”
This came as a surprise to the boy. To the best of his knowledge, Scootaloo had never been one for sentimentality, and she’d certainly never shown any interest in him. Something was very wrong about this. He had to say something, though, it wouldn’t be right if he didn’t.
“So, um, suppose something happened, and I couldn’t hang out with you anymore. Would that be bad?”
Scootaloo grimaced. “Uh, yeah, that’d be really bad. Rainbow Dash said I had to ask you, and if you’re not around, who am I supposed to ask? Wait, are you moving?”
Rumble flashed her a nervous smile. “No, not really, I’m just asking. Just out of curiosity, that’s all.”
He could tell she didn’t buy it for a second. She looked worried, disappointed, even. “Rumble, is something wrong?”
Rumble bit his lip. “No. Not really. Maybe. I’m not moving or anything, I just-”
“Come on, hot shot, time for your big date!” a voice called from atop the waterfall.
Rumble groaned as Thunderlane poked his head out from atop the cliff. You just had to use the word ‘date’, didn’t you?
Scootaloo smiled knowingly at him. “Dinner with Chitter, huh? It’s complicated?”
Rumble looked up and packed his towel. “Yeah, it is, and I gotta go get ready. See you tomorrow.”
Scootaloo gave him his towel. “Don’t forget this.”
“You hold on to it. Try swimming some more, it’ll help. You can give it back tomorrow. Fluttershy’ll come around in about an hour to check up on me, she’ll help you get warmed up again, just in case you’re too cold to get home.”
Scootaloo waved as he went up to meet his brother.
“Helping her out with her flying?” he asked with an edge in his voice..
Rumble nodded, teeth clenched from sheer frustration. “Yes. Just helping out a classmate with her flying, that’s all. Is that a problem?”
“Better not tell Chitter about it. Feeling ready for tonight?”
“No. That’s why I have to get home and shower, isn’t it? And put on some perfume, and a bow tie…”
“Now you’re getting into the spirit of it.” Thunderlane ruffled his little brother’s mane, getting a slight chuckle out of him.
“Sure, maybe a little.”
Thunderlane smiled. "Don't worry. After tonight, everything will be better. You'll see."
Scootaloo did some laps around the pond, getting her wings nice and worked. She did notice the muscles in some places now, where before she hadn’t noticed anything. She knew where the problem with her angle was now, which was a big improvement. Even Rainbow Dash hadn’t fixed that for her.
“Rumble? Are you down there?” A soft female voice called out.
“No, it’s just me, Fluttershy!” Scootaloo replied.
“Oh, hi, Scootaloo. Um, sorry, but how did you find this place? You’re not supposed to be here.”
Scootaloo got out and noted the very marked chill that hung over her body. She was glad Rumble had brought a towel for her, since she caught herself shivering. “Achoo!”
Fluttershy frowned. “Um, Scootaloo, sweetie? You really need to be more careful about changing shape. If you can lose it that easily, somepony’s going to notice.”
The now revealed changeling wrapped herself in the big, warm, fluffy towel, before grabbing her helmet and scooter.
Fluttershy descended to take those off her hooves. “Can you still fly?”
Scootaloo changed back into her pegasus self and took off with the towel slung over her shoulder, despite the cold. Once they were at the top of the waterfall, the sun warmed the girl up. Even her non-existent horn felt warm somehow. She wrapped herself up again to dry off.
“Better?”
“Lots,” Scootaloo replied with a sigh.
They passed by the mound of turtles, who were moving along to continue their turtle business elsewhere. Fluttershy looked to the girl. “This is a turtle reserve, you know. It’s not a good place for little ponies like you.”
“Rumble showed me. He said it was okay. Achoo!”
To Fluttershy’s surprise, Scootaloo didn’t change shape the second time. “You can hold it in?”
“Of course I can. It’s only when I’m distracted that I can’t sneeze.”
“I see. And Rumble took you here, yes?”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yes, honest. I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to be here. He said it was okay.”
“It is okay, Scootaloo, I believe you. I told Rumble it was okay, as long as he brought a towel. A good boy always knows where his towel is, after all. He’s usually alone, though. He must really like you if he took you here.”
“I don’t think so. He just wanted me to learn how to fly right. He’s already got a girlfriend.”
Fluttershy’s ears perked. “Really? You’re sure?”
“Yup.”
The mare blinked in confusion. “But he’s so young. You’re absolutely sure he has a girlfriend? Somepony he hugs and kisses?”
Scootaloo grimaced. “I haven’t seen them kiss, but they hug a lot when they’re together.”
Fluttershy shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, my. I suppose it’s not that unusual. He is a very cute boy, after all.”
Scootaloo felt a pang in her stomach. “Yeah.”
“And he’s a really strong flyer, especially for his age. You should have seen him when we made that waterspout for Spitfire. She even gave him a button and took a picture with him.”
The pang in the disguised changeling’s stomach moved up to her chest. “Wow.”
“And I hear he does tricks and stunts on his own, just like you do. I’m sure a lot of girls would want to get to know him, even if he’s still a little young.”
Scootaloo cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’ll bet any girl would just love to be with him.”
“Including you?”
They both stopped. Scootaloo had walked right into that trap.
“Me? Nah, why would I want to be Rumble’s girlfriend? He’s just some boy in my class, and he’s smelly, too.”
“I’ve noticed. He smells like you.”
“I do not-” Scootaloo sniffed under her arms just to check. She smelled of pegasus sweat and water weeds. “Okay, maybe I have a little more in common with him than I think. Maybe.”
“Good lad, just sink your teeth into the flesh and suck it all up.”
Rumble was barely awake. The deep, burly voice guiding his movements was the only sound his mind could register. There was smoke everywhere, a thick incense that numbed his senses and seemed to nibble away at his memories.
Gotta keep it together. Don’t pass out, don’t stop drinking. Gotta do this right.
Rumble tightened his grip and sucked harder. His stomach churned in protest, and his face was getting messy with the thick, red fluid. The stuff was affecting his magic, he could feel it. A stinging sensation started in his wings, then a pang around his thighs, and then agony in his face. His eyes burned, and two of his teeth felt like someone was holding ice cubes to the roots.
Still, he kept drinking. He had to keep drinking. It was supposed to hurt. He couldn’t disappoint them, not again. He had to finish it.
Time passed in a blur after that, and if anyone said anything to him, it didn’t register.
Rumble’s head was spinning. He couldn’t feel his toes. He’d somehow managed to forget he didn’t have any toes. Or maybe he did, and they were somewhere else. His head wasn’t up for comparative anatomy right now. He was out of the smoke now, that helped. How had he gotten here? Where was here? Ground floor, it looked like.
“You okay, Rumble?” Something pushed into his sides as he moved through the room. Grey shapes loomed overhead, ominous voices grumbled and growled, and yellow eyes seemed to gaze into his soul, but never for long. They just turned briefly, passed their judgement, then returned to their own business. He was nothing here, just a grey little colt no one cared for. He could pass out right then and there and it wouldn’t matter. The red stuff in his stomach churned, almost making him vomit. He could barely keep his eyes open, but he didn’t dare close them.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Rumble shook his head to face Chitter. Even with her dark grey fur, her black dress made her look like a graceful dancer. It was just dark enough to make her own fur look light in comparison, her bat wings went from looking weird or menacing to just looking delicate, and the lack of frills and glitter made it enough to stop her from sticking out too much.
“You sure? Wait, you’ve got a little something on your neck.” Chitter rubbed her hoof against an exposed spot on Rumble’s neck. His own short-sleeved tuxedo matched her dress nicely; the rolled up sleeves made his arms look thicker, for one thing. He still wasn’t sure about the red bow tie, though, but apparently bow ties were cool now.
Chitter got some red stuff off of his neck and licked her hoof clean with a smile. “Well, guess you’re ready as you’ll ever be.”
Rumble looked around. They’d somehow managed to keep moving without him noticing. They were right next to a wall, close to an opening. He braced himself. “Chitter, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m not sure if I should do this. I mean, last time didn’t end up so great, and tonight’s gonna worse. I feel sick. Am I supposed to feel sick?”
“No.” Chitter draped a wing over his back. “You’re not. You should be feeling better now. You’re supposed to feel stronger, more confident. Don’t you feel stronger?”
“N-no. I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”
“I’m sorry, Rumble. You shouldn’t have let them do this. You should have said something sooner.”
“I didn't have a choice, okay? Can I go home now, please? Where’s Thunderlane?”
“I’m not sure. But look, just take a deep breath and relax.” She reached under his belly and gently stroked in circles. “Burp if you think you have to. I’ve got you, I promise.”
Rumble held up a hoof to block the gas coming up from his stomach. It didn’t help his dizziness, but it made his stomach feel better, at least.
“Okay, good. Now you’re ready to meet the girls.”
“I don’t think I can do this, Chitter. After last time-”
“Rumble, come on.” She put a hoof to the back of his head to push him forward, before kissing him on his forehead. “It'll be fine. It’s just some friends. I’ve told them all about you, and they really wanna meet you. I’ll be right there, you just have to talk to them.”
The pegasus colt sighed. The kiss made him feel stronger, somehow, more lucid. “Okay, I’ll just talk. But what am I supposed to say? What if they don’t like me?”
Chitter chuckled and nudged him along. “Aww, don’t sell yourself so short, Rumbley-wumbley-bumblebee. I’m sure my friends’ll just eat you up.”
Rumble lay on the couch in the living room, staring at the ceiling. Everything felt hot all over. His head throbbed like somepony was trying their best to drill a hole in it, his arms, legs, and wings felt shivery. He felt heavier than usual, his magic was probably on the fritz as well.
The colt closed his eyes, if only to let the burning sensation in them subside somewhat. What time is it? He couldn’t remember how long he’d just lain there. He remembered eating the lunch packet that had been made for him, and the rush to the bathroom that had followed. Before that, he remembered trying to read to get his mind off his upset stomach. He remembered eating breakfast alone, because Thunderlane couldn’t show up.
And before that, he remembered the party at Chitter’s place. His stomach churned just thinking about it. All those rousettes watching him like he’d wandered into the wrong house, and Chitter’s friends, all fillies, asking him questions throughout the night. What did he like? Was he in any club? Were they supposed to know him? Was he important at all?
Not to them, apparently. They were all in recitals, or clubs, or societies, or any other fancy word for ‘bunch of snobs who think they’re better than anyone outside their own little clique’. He pushed that thought away. After all, Chitter was just like that, too. She just didn’t let that stop her from hanging out with him, or anyone else she really liked.
He licked his lips. He still had that awful bile taste in his mouth. Rumble groaned to himself and tried to turn so he’d be on his hooves again. Rainbow Dash would be checking up on him soon, she’d promised.
Just as he managed to stand up and get some of his balance and energy back, the doorbell rang. He trotted over and reached for the handle to open up. “Hey, Rainbow Da-oh.”
He was greeted not by the sight of a blue mare, but rather that of a worried-looking orange filly. Scootaloo fidgeted in place, her scooter parked right beside the doorbell. “Err, hey, Rumble. Are you okay?”
Ponies have been asking me that a lot lately. Rumble felt a jab in his stomach, but he didn’t let it show. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little stomach bug, that’s all.”
Scootaloo was taken aback by that. “Really? You’re sure?”
“Sure I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” He kept up a nervous smile for her.
“You don’t look so good. What happened with you and Chitter?”
Rumble looked away. “Nothing happened. It was just dinner with her family.”
Scootaloo gulped. “Okay, but what’s wrong with you, then? You missed class today.”
Rumble shrugged. “Just running a fever and my stomach hurts, that’s all.”
Without warning, the girl reached out for his right arm. “Come on, you’d better come with me.”
Rumble pulled back. “Why? Where?”
“Look, it’s a long story, but you just have to trust me. There might be something really wrong with you.”
Rumble rolled his eyes. “No, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine.”
“No, you won’t. Just please come with me, I promise it’ll be fine.”
“Scootaloo, what are you doing? What’s going on?”
Scootaloo sighed and let her head hang guiltily. “This is my fault, Rumble. I overdid it when I drained you and now you’re sick. You need to get checked out right now.”
“You think I’m sick because you drained me? No offense, but that was days ago, and you only did that once. I’ve been drained before, you know, and even changelings can’t do damage like this that fast; it takes hours at a time for weeks. Ask Master Ten.”
Scootaloo backed away, anxious but clearly relieved. “Oh. But you really don’t know what’s wrong, then?”
Rumble squeezed his wings to his sides. “Well, I kinda know?”
“What is it, then? Do you have the flu?”
“No.”
“Wing rot?”
“No.”
“Poison oak?”
“I have the trots, okay?!” Rumble blurted out. “I already told you it’s just a stomach bug, it’ll wear off by tomorrow. It’s just something I ate, that’s all.”
The penny finally dropped. “Something you ate at Chitter’s, you mean.”
Rumble sighed. “Uhuh. It’s this red fruit stuff. It’s got germs in it, but not bad ones. Well, they’re not bad all the time, but apparently they can make you sick the first time you drink it. They put it in this hollow fruit and you have to suck it out, it’s pretty gross but it’s kind of a ritual thing.”
“So you drank something you knew would make you sick? Why?”
Rumble looked to the ground. “Um, because I had to. It’s a rousette ritual, and Chitter’s a rousette. It’s something they drink if their magic is too weak, and since I don’t have any bat magic, I kind of needed it. Can’t really hang around rousettes if you don’t have any rousette magic. So I decided to drink it, and… traditionally, if you drink it, you drink all of it, even if it makes you sick. I wanted to fit in, I didn’t want to upset anyone, so I drank it.”
Scootaloo fumed. Her jaw clenched in outrage. “Well, fine! You wanna get sick over some girl, it’s your own fault. I was really worried about you!”
“Really? Why?”
A blush started appearing on the girl’s face, muddling her angry expression. “W-well, Rainbow Dash keeps telling me to hang out with you more, and I can’t do that if your girlfriend is making you sick.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to go in the first place, but I had to.” Rumble could feel his eyes watering, but he didn’t let any tears show, not in front of a girl.
“Because you didn’t want to upset Chitter?”
Rumble bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah. It’s complicated.”
“Whatever. See you tomorrow.” She mounted her scooter, revved up her wings, and took off, leaving the boy to ponder his mistake.
He stood there in the doorway, body flush with a fever, head pounding, and stomach just waiting for the next opportunity to torture him again.
Scootaloo is really starting to act weird. First she thinks she made me sick, then she acts jealous of Chitter. Scootaloo wouldn’t just rush off like that simply because of what I do with a girl. Scootaloo shouldn’t have any reason to think she could do more damage draining my magic, and she definitely wouldn’t be interested in me.
At least, the real Scootaloo wouldn’t.
The pieces of the puzzle fell into place once he factored in that possibility. Scootaloo could have been replaced by a changeling. The sudden aptitude in draining, the sudden interest in him, the aversion to Chitter, a rousette and as such a known enemy to changelings, it all made sense.
The only thing he couldn’t figure out was why a changeling would replace Scootaloo, or fixate on him. Ponyville had far more valuable targets, and changelings didn’t take risks with children, as far as Rumble knew. Master Ten had always stressed the importance of being able to defend against a disguised adult, since that kind of form allowed the imposters to preserve their strength. Why would any changeling give up such an obvious advantage?
His head throbbed again. Maybe he wasn’t thinking straight.
He closed the door behind him to go lie down.
Somepony knocked at the door before he got halfway. “Rumble? It’s me.”
“Rainbow Dash. Hi.” Rumble breathed a sigh of relief when he let her in.
Rainbow frowned when she saw the tension ease off the boy’s face. She waited until he closed the door and sat down on the couch. He kept his shoulders bunched up with nerves, and his wings were clenched tight. She slowly went to sit down next to him, not wanting to disturb him any more than he clearly was. “Rumble, what’s wrong? Did your brother say anything?”
Rumble shook his head. “He did, but it’s not that.”
“You want me to leave? I don’t wanna get you in trouble.”
The boy wiped his eyes to get rid of that pesky tear he’d almost shed. “No. Please don’t leave. I’ve got a problem, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Is it Chitter?”
Rumble sighed. “It’s nothing. Just something crazy, you’ll laugh.”
“No, I won’t. If Thunderlane’s upset you, or if Chitter’s said something, you can tell me.”
Rumble shook his head. “I think I’ll just go see my dad about it.”
Rainbow’s eyes went wide. “You what? It’s that bad?”
The grey colt nodded. “Yeah, it’s that bad. I think Scootaloo’s been kidnapped and replaced by a changeling.”
Rainbow let herself fall back onto the couch. “Oh. You just said that to make sure I’m the real me.”
“Not a lot of ponies know the truth about my parents. I’m sorry, I had to make sure.”
“It’s okay, kiddo.“ She ruffled his mane. “That’s really clever. But why would you think Scootaloo’s been taken? She still looks like the old Scootaloo to me, she still acts like it.”
“That’s just it: she doesn’t. Not around me, I mean. She’s doing these crazy things, it makes no sense.”
“Uhuh. Like what?”
“Well, for starters, she managed to drain me really hard when we had Defense Against Changelings. She’s got a really strong pull, she can suck out magic like it’s nothing.”
“So can your teacher,” Rainbow Dash argued. “And so can a lot of ponies with a talent for it, especially pegasus ponies. Being able to suck out magic or energy doesn’t make you a changeling, you know that. Changelings just do it more, and even they need to use spells to really hurt you. Have you seen Scootaloo cast a spell?”
“No.”
Rainbow nodded calmly and comfortingly. “Okay, so that’s not a good reason. Anything else?”
Rumble sighed. “She’s been acting really weird around me lately.”
“Weird, how?”
“Like, she sounded like she was impressed when I showed her my workout schedule. And she acts like she doesn’t just want to hang out with me to train. And then there’s the way she looks around Chitter.”
Rainbow nodded again. “Is Chitter making you feel bad?”
“No.” Rumble held his head in his hooves. “Not really. Chitter’s fine. Chitter’s great.”
“But?”
Rumble sobbed quietly. “But I had to go her place again last night and it was horrible. That red stuff, well, look at me, it made me sick.”
Rainbow nearly gasped when she heard him say that. “You drank the red stuff?”
He nodded, slowly and solemnly. “Yeah.”
“Did they make you drink it?”
“No,” Rumble lied. “I decided to. But that’s the worst part. I couldn’t talk to any of Chitter’s friends, either. I don’t have anything in common with them, and all the other rousettes there kept staring at me. But this isn’t about Chitter, it’s about Scootaloo. And Scootaloo’s started acting like me and Chitter shouldn’t be so close. It’s like she’s jealous of her or something.”
Rainbow Dash did her best to hide a grin. “Uhuh. And you don’t think that’s possible for the real Scootaloo?”
Rumble threw his hooves up in frustration. “Of course not. The real Scootaloo would only hang out with me because you told her to. And by the way, I still don’t get why you told us to hang out. I’m not getting any better with her around.”
“One thing at a time, big guy. You don’t think the real Scootaloo would be jealous of a girl who hugs you and smiles at you and kisses you on the forehead?”
“She hasn’t seen Chitter do that, but yes.”
“And of course you’d know what the real Scootaloo acts like, because you’ve known her for a long time.” Rainbow leaned in closer and raised an eyebrow.
“Well, not really, no. We only started hanging out after you told us to.”
“Then you don’t know what’s normal for her?”
Rumble sighed in defeat. “I guess not.”
“Then you can’t be sure if she’s jealous or not.” The mare smiled knowingly.
“But that’s ridiculous. Why would Scootaloo have a crush on me?”
Rainbow backed away with a chuckle. “Whoa there, big fella, nopony said anything about a crush. Maybe she just wants to spend time with you, get to know you, learn your moves a little, just be friends. That doesn’t sound too weird, does it?”
Rumble weighed it in his mind for a second. “Not really, no.”
“And then this other girl comes along, turns out you’ve been spending lots of time with her when Scootaloo’s not around, and this girl knows all about you when nopony else does. Scootaloo might get a little worried about you not being around when she wants you to be, right? I mean, just for practice.”
Rumble tilted his head left and right. “But what about Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle? I haven’t seen Scootaloo hang out with them in weeks. Isn’t that a little suspicious?”
She shrugged. “Scootaloo’s a busy girl. She’s finally learned how to fly, remember? She can hang out with me now, and you. She’s got a lot of catching up to do, but once that’s done, she’ll hang out with them again, I’m sure.”
“I guess.”
Rainbow Dash put an arm around his shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you, huh? You didn’t just come up with Scootaloo being kidnapped.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Is it maybe you just didn’t think any girl besides Chitter would like you?”
Rumble fell silent for a while. Eventually, he just shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about that, Rumble. You’re pretty cute, you know, and you’re a good flyer, and you’re dedicated. Lots of girls will like that, once you’re old enough.”
The boy shrugged. “I guess.”
“So is it maybe that you wanted an excuse not to talk to Scootaloo?”
Rumble grumbled. “What’s there to talk about?”
Rainbow Dash gulped. “I can think of one thing, but, err…”
“But Thunderlane told you not to butt in?” Rumble asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded. “He’s gettin’ a little angry about me talking to you. And I think you know by now how he feels about Scootaloo.”
Rumble’s heart sank. “Oh. Yeah, I guess he would tell you to stop.”
“He did. And I told him he was wrong, and that as a Weather Patrol captain it’s my job to make sure every young flyer in Ponyville is safe. I am supposed to look after you, you know that. It’s my job, just like it’s Cheerilee’s job or Twilight’s job. But if you don’t want our help, you’re the one who has to tell us. Thunderlane doesn’t like me talking to you. Do you?”
Rumble nodded quickly. “Yes, please. I need help. What am I supposed to say?”
Rainbow took a deep breath to steady herself. “The truth about you and Chitter.”
The boy groaned. “That’s just silly.”
“I don’t know, is it? If you’re going to start hanging out with ponies, sooner or later they’re gonna want to know what’s going on with you. Cheerilee’s been asking me for months, and Pinkie Pie’s got a whole file on you. I don’t know how much longer I can keep distracting her.”
“It’s Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash.”
“Okay, maybe you’re in the clear from her. But haven’t your friends asked about it, too?”
“Lance and Featherweight have, sure. But I can’t just tell them. I mean-”
“I know, Rumble, I know. I understand, really. But bottling things up like you’re doing is never going to work, not in the long run. Don’t you think maybe Scootaloo’s just curious about you? Don’t you think it’s worth trying to see if she’s okay with it?”
He groaned. “Maybe. But what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I have a crush on her, or if she’s got one on me.”
“Of course you don’t; you’re too young for that kind of sappy stuff. But maybe you could just open up once, tell her the truth so it doesn’t hang over the two of you when you fly together. Assuming you want to fly together.”
Rumble thought it over for a second. “I do. I’m tired of flying alone. And Featherweight doesn’t have my wing power yet, he doesn’t even try. Scootaloo’s the only pony around here I can talk to about that. I mean, besides you. Why couldn’t she just be another boy? I wouldn’t be in this mess if she was.”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Maybe you wouldn’t, but she is a girl, and you can’t change that, and neither can she. You shouldn’t have to avoid her just because she’s girl. Just tell her the truth, I’m sure she’d understand. And besides, tomorrow’s the best day of the year to do it. Thunderlane’s gonna be out of town then, he won’t be able to stop you. Just get it off your chest, just once, see how it feels. What do you say?”
Rumble sighed. “If I tell Scootaloo, do you promise to give us both a flying lesson? For real?”
“You mean the two of you together? At the same time?”
He smiled. “Wouldn’t be fair if it wasn’t.”
“Deal.” She extended her hoof for him to shake. “And no more talk about Scootaloo being kidnapped, okay? You’re going to give yourself nightmares.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe it’s just the fever talking.” Rumble groaned, along with his stomach.
Rainbow Dash smiled and patted him on the head before rushing to the kitchen. “Say no more. I’ll fix you up some soup that’ll get the grey out of your cheeks.”
“My cheeks are always grey, Rainbow Dash.”
“Then it’ll make’em a livelier grey. You just lay back and relax.”
Rumble did just that and thought of what to say tomorrow.
Today was the day. It was Saturday. It was Blue Moon Bloom.
And Rumble was, once again, on his own. Thunderlane was off to Canterlot with his girlfriend, giving Rumble the perfect opportunity. He walked through town looking for Scootaloo, figuring she’d be on her own today as well.
Rumble stopped when he passed by Sugarcube Corner. The Cake twins were out under a parasol with their mother, giggling as a beige stallion with a brown mane and tail tickled their tummies. A red mare sat next to him, nudging the stallion to stop. Mister Cake came out with some milkshakes for them, as well as for another couple by the same table. The stallion was a chestnut brown with a chocolate-brown mane, but it was the mare that caught Rumble’s eye. She had the exact same shade of orange fur as Pumpkin Cake. He guessed the Cakes were entertaining the twins’ uncles and aunts, probably their godparents, even.
He shook his head to clear it. No sense in getting distracted now. If Scootaloo wasn’t at Sugarcube Corner, and judging from the lack of noise she wasn’t riding her scooter, she was probably at the pond where Rainbow Dash trained. He went past the library and out of the town borders to find her, gathering up his courage as he went.
I just have to tell her. No more delaying it, no more lying. Rainbow Dash told me to, and Rainbow Dash knows best. She wouldn’t have ordered it if she didn’t think it would help.
Thunderlane’s off in Canterlot with Nectarine, so I’ve got until dinner, at least. I just need to make sure nopony on the Weather Patrol is watching, and I’ll be fine. As long as nopony tells Thunderlane, I’m in the clear.
He looked up. No pegasus ponies on duty. No familiar faces turning my way. No one’s spotted me. No one will know. No one’s going to tell Thunderlane or Chitter. I just need to find Scootaloo and tell her.
Just as he’d thought, Scootaloo was at the pond, going in slow circles and figure-eights to work her core. He quickened his pace when he caught sight of her.
Right when he arrived, she tried to dash, and instantly found herself plummeting into the water.
He came in at a gallop. “Are you okay?”
Scootaloo got out of the water and shook herself dry, unabashed about splashing the boy in the process. “Yeah, I’m fine. What did you want?” She held a cannon in front of her nose to block a sneeze. “Achoo!”
“Gesundheit. Umm, look, I talked to Rainbow Dash the other day and she made me realise I owe you an apology. So: I’m sorry.”
The girl sniffled, grabbing a towel to dry off her face. “Sorry for what?”
“For letting you get the wrong idea about me and Chitter. And I’m sorry for making you worry about me. I should have just come clean from the start.”
She smiled. “Oh, don’t worry about it, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have overreacted like that. It’s none of my business if you have a rousette for a girlfriend. I’m sure she’s really great.”
Rumble chuckled and looked away. “Yeah, she is. But, umm, the reason I wanted to talk to you, is... you know how me and Chitter are, well, complicated?”
She shrugged. “What about it?”
“The reason I don’t talk about it that much is because it’s kind of embarrassing, and it, well, it kind of hurts. I don’t usually talk to ponies. Any ponies.” Rumble forced himself to look at her as he said it. He realised then he’d forgotten his flower.
Scootaloo winced in sympathy. “I know. You don’t have to explain it.”
“Yes, I do. I’m used to hanging out with Chitter, I’m used to doing things the way rousettes do them, and rousettes don’t think of themselves as ponies. But that doesn’t mean I should treat-”
“Achoo!” She blocked another sneeze with the side of her cannon.
“Gesundheit. Anyway, Rainbow Dash told me I should tell you the truth, so here goes.”
“You don’t have to, Rumble, I already know what’s going on with you two.”
“No, you don’t.” Rumble gulped to get rid of a tightness that was building in his throat. “You don’t know. You don’t know anything about me. Aside from a couple of ponies and rousettes, no one knows anything about me, and I’m tired of it, and I’m trying to tell you so you’d understand next time we fly together. So could you please just let me tell you?”
Scootaloo winced. “Look, I don’t know what Rainbow Dash told you, but I don’t have a crush on you, okay? I just-”
“This isn’t about either one of us having a crush, Scootaloo! It’s just that…” He took a moment to catch his breath. “Rainbow Dash said we’d make a good team. And she said she’d give us both flying lessons if I just fessed up. And if you’re gonna fly with me, if you wanna hang out with me, there are a couple of things you need to know.”
“Why?”
Rumble gulped again. “Because you could get in trouble if we hung out, and so could I. And, to tell you the truth, I’m already in trouble, and I’m going to be in more trouble. So if you don’t want to risk it, just say so now and we can just forget about it.”
Scootaloo took a step back. “I don’t think you could get me into any more trouble than I’ve already been, Rumble. What’s the big deal?”
Rumble bit his lip. “I don’t have a lot of friends. If I have a rough day, the only one who ever cheers me up is Chitter. She always tries to make me smile, she always gives me…” He sighed.
Scootaloo’s ears perked. She could almost taste the despair wafting off the boy. “What?”
“She always gives me a hug when I need one, and she always means it. She’s the only one who does that for me. And the truth is...” He braced himself for it. “The truth is I can’t be around any other girl. I can’t hang out with you, I can’t fly with you, I can’t even talk to you, not with how things are now.”
Scootaloo frowned. “Why? I thought you wanted to.”
“I do. I really do. I thought I could, Rainbow Dash said I should, but then something came up and now I can’t and we’d both get in trouble if I did. But I really want to.”
“So why can’t you?”
Rumble took a deep breath. “Scootaloo, I’m-”
“Achoo!”
Rumble’s eyes widened. Before him, still surprised by her own sneeze, stood a changeling filly. There was no mistaking it: the web-like mane and tail, the gauzy wings with notches on the side, the black, hardened skin. She looked as shocked as he did.
I almost said it.
I almost said it to an imposter.
“You’re not Scootaloo.” He growled. He tensed his body, teeth bared and eyes burning with outrage.
“Wait, you don’t understand.” The changeling started to back away towards Ponyville, conjuring her disguise back.
“You’re an imposter, and you nearly made me… I’ll get you for this!” He lunged, she bolted.
Scootaloo ran for all she was worth. Rumble took off with a leap and flew after her. Scootaloo had the advantage on the ground, but he could outlast her in the skies, and she couldn’t shake him outside of Ponyville.
And inside of Ponyville, he could call for help. He forced out another burst of speed just as Scootaloo reached the library. She ducked in through the front door just as he skidded over the ground, and he rushed in right after her.
He swung the door open with a bang. “She’s a changeling! She’s kidnapped Scootaloo!”
Twilight didn’t waste any time taking charge of the situation. “Spike, get her upstairs, now. Rumble, calm down. It’s okay.”
Rumble didn’t listen. He just dove after the changeling in disguise as she ran up the stairs to safety. Spike quickly closed the door and blocked it with his body, Rumble stalked up after her. “Spike, that’s not Scootaloo you’re hiding. Scootaloo’s gone, she’s out there somewhere and that thing knows where.”
Spike shook his head. The dragon braced himself, and for a second Rumble thought he’d have to dodge a gout of fire. Instead, he found himself caught in a magic grip, lifted off the ground and held from all directions. He struggled and wriggled, to no avail. “Let me go!”
Twilight brought him back down and sighed. “Rumble, please calm down. Scootaloo is fine. I don’t know what you think you saw, but that’s no excuse to go chasing after an innocent girl.”
Rumble looked to Spike, who was coming down the stairs again. The door wasn’t blocked anymore.
The colt closed his eyes and reached within. While he wasn’t a regular in the martial arts classes, he had taken enough courses to know some of the dirtier tricks taught in the Royal Guard. He’d been particularly observant during the guest lecture from Shining Armour.
And he’d made sure to practise his defense against forcefields when he could.
With a growl and a surge of his pegasus magic, he brought his front hooves together and forced out a burst against his bonds.
Twilight recoiled as her grip shattered, closing her eyes and rubbing her head. “Ow!”
Rumble landed and immediately launched himself towards the door again. “I am not letting her get away!”
The next thing he saw was a blue blur with a rainbow trail. Rainbow Dash had flown in through the window to block his path. “Rumble, I can explain.”
The boy growled. “You’re fake. You’re all fake.” He chanced a glance towards the open window Rainbow had entered through, then made a break for it.
He crashed against a wall made of magic. He hit it and pounded it for all he was worth, but it wouldn’t budge. Even trying to cut it with his wings didn’t work, though he did manage a few scratches. He couldn’t cut it faster than Twilight could mend it, despite his best efforts.
“You’re not getting out of that one that easily.”
Rumble stopped struggling. Even if he’d learned how to break out of a regular grip from Shining Armour, it seemed he couldn’t break out of an advanced prison cast by Shining’s sister.
“What happened?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I was just flying over Sugarcube Corner, and then I saw you rush in here.”
“What took you so long?” Twilight rubbed her still sore head.
“I thought they were just playing or racing or something, but then I heard all the commotion. I figured I’d poke my head in to make sure everything was alright. What’s going on here?”
Twilight nodded towards the stairs. “Rumble chased Scootaloo here. He’s gotten some crazy ideas into his head.”
Rumble bared his teeth. “Don’t pretend you know me. I know you’re fake.”
“What happened, Rumble?” Rainbow asked.
“I was doing what the real Rainbow Dash told me to, and then that thing upstairs sneezed. That’s not Scootaloo up there, that’s a changeling. I saw her change.” He bared his teeth in anger.
Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly. “Okay. So you were gonna tell Scootaloo the truth, then? About Chitter and your parents?”
Rumble’s expression softened. “You’re trying to trick me. You got that from the real Rainbow Dash’s mind.”
“Hey.” Rainbow leaned in close. “What makes you think any changeling can catch me, huh?”
Rumble looked away. “How do I know it’s really you?”
“If I let you go, you could get your parents. They’d know.”
Twilight frowned. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?”
Rainbow Dash looked the boy in the eyes. For the briefest moment, the tension in the room seemed to dissipate. She smiled once she was sure. “Put him down, Twilight, he’s not gonna run. Not from me, he’s not. Right, big guy?”
Rumble nodded sullenly.
Twilight took a step closer to the bubble. “If you try to run again, I will have to knock you unconscious. I can wipe your memory if I have to. Do you understand that?”
Again, the boy nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”
Twilight closed her eyes, and as she opened them, Rumble was freed. He didn’t bother looking at the window, or the door up the stairs. He just looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes. “Alright. I’ll listen.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “You explain it to him, Twilight.”
“Scootaloo just pulled a prank on you, Rumble. Apple Bloom’s been experimenting with potions again and it just-”
“The truth, Twilight,” Rainbow coldly interrupted.
Twilight let of a resigned ‘if you say so’ groan. “Okay, then. Um, do you remember when Apple Bloom had the Cutie Pox?”
Rumble nodded. Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow.
“Well, that was a disease that gave ponies an unstable cutie mark. Actually, in her case it was a potion that simulated the disease, but you get the point. Basically, a long time ago, any pony who didn’t have their cutie mark yet was susceptible to all kinds of diseases, all magical in nature. All of these diseases would give them a cutie mark, but a contaminated one. It could be one that spread all over their body, one that made them obsessed with a certain task, even a few that just turned them into animals. The diseases would give a blank flank a bad cutie mark and then spread by changing what ponies usually did. By altering a pony’s behaviour, the disease would be allowed to spread, even flourish, kind of like a magical rabies, only not for dogs. But ponies who already had a cutie mark wouldn’t be affected, because their talents were set. Do you understand that?”
Rumble nodded. “Bad cutie marks on blank flanks, okay.”
“Good. Now, what we learned recently is that some ponies evolved to counter these diseases by simply not getting any cutie marks, ever. They were immune, because nothing, not even a disease, could give them a bad cutie mark.”
Rumble grimaced in confusion. “But a cutie mark is what makes a pony a pony. It’s part of our magic. You can’t just not get one, ever, everypony knows that.”
Twilight grimaced in kind. “Yeah, that’s the thing. Turns out that in becoming immune, these ponies also evolved a few other magics as a result. They became a lot more fluid, gained easy access to magics that for other ponies should be impossible. Magics like shapeshifting. And they stopped being ponies, basically.”
“So a pony without a cutie mark turns into a changeling?”
“It’s not like that exactly,” Rainbow Dash explained. “More like, if ponies wanted to survive, they either had to get sick and survive, or become a changeling and never get sick in the first place. A changeling isn’t just a pony without a cutie mark, but some ponies without cutie marks ended up as changelings, with the whole changing shape and feeding on love to go with it. We’re not really sure what magic came first, or how. All we know is losing the cutie mark started it.”
Rumble sat, slack-jawed. “So all those changelings who attacked Canterlot were ponies once? Any blank flank can become a changeling?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, no. You have to understand: there are two kinds of changelings, and we only knew about one until recently. At some point, some ponies simply weren’t born ponies anymore, so they were born immune. But that meant they had a lot of other traits, including weaknesses that ponies don’t have. Those are the changelings we know and always knew about. But in between those born as changelings and those born as normal ponies, there were ponies who were born as potential changelings. They weren’t changelings, but their bodies had a switch that could make them into changelings, permanently, in case a disease did break out.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Scootaloo had the right blood for it, and the right magic.”
Rumble frowned. “So when did it happen? When did she change?”
“During the Canterlot invasion,” Twilight replied. “The trigger is a sudden change in changeling density compared to pony density, or changeling magic compared pony magic. Her body was fooled into thinking ponies were dying because of a cutie mark disease, so it made itself immune, by erasing any chance of getting a cutie mark. That means she got the whole package and became a changeling.”
Rumble’s sighed and stared at the ground.
Rainbow sat next to him. “Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but that is the real Scootaloo up there. That’s the same girl who’s been in your class, and it’s the same girl you flew with. There’s a lot we don’t know about what happened to her, or why, and she could use a friend like you. So do you think you could go and apologise for chasing her like that?”
The boy nearly had a fit. “What?! Why should I? You’re the one who told me to hang out with her, you’re the one who keeps butting in. Did you want her to feed on me?”
The mare didn’t even flinch at his outburst. “I think you know what I was trying to do, Rumble. And I think you know what you need to do right now.”
Rumble grumbled. “Is this where you tell me to grow up and act like a stallion, like my brother?”
She patted him on the shoulder. “No. I could, but I won’t. That wouldn’t be fair. You’re not your brother, you’re your own pony, and it’s about time you learned that. So this is where I ask you to think about what you’re going to do. Do you really want to just walk away now, and leave Scootaloo to fend for herself? She’s not gonna go to another town, you know. And she’s not gonna go to another school, either. You’re going to have to deal with her being scared of you because you know her secret. She’s going to feel bad, just because you don’t want to tell her it’s okay. Does that sound like something you want to do?”
The boy let his head hang. Spike had stood flabbergasted for most of it, but he almost spoke up when he saw Rumble sob.
The colt didn’t cry, though. Even now, Rumble refused to cry. “No. It doesn’t. But nopony else gets to know, okay? Not even Twilight and Spike.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “I promise I won’t tell them anything.”
Rumble sighed and trotted up the stairs, unhindered.
Twilight stared at her friend in confusion. “What just happened?”
Rumble mustered up his courage as he reached for the door. He opened it, saw Scootaloo in the middle of the room, went in, then gently closed the door behind him.
He didn’t say a word as he walked up to sit in front of her. He tensed up all over, before letting out another deep sigh.
Scootaloo wiped away a tear as Rumble sat down in front of her. The boy was breathing heavily, though how much of that was from the chase and how much was from the emotional weight on his chest was anypony’s guess.
“Okay,” she said, “what do you wanna say?”
Rumble closed his eyes and gulped. “Before I do, could you please show me what you really look like now?”
The girl winced. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. I can’t say it if you have to hide.”
With a sigh, Scootaloo enveloped herself in a green flame. When it passed, her fur had been replaced by a shiny keratin-like armour, her mane and tail had made way for a web-like silken material, and her wings were replaced by insect wings.
Rumble appraised the girl for a moment, before smiling cautiously. “You don’t look that bad, you know. You kinda look like a faerie.”
Scootaloo chuckled nervously, giving Rumble a definite listen to her double voice. “Thanks.”
“No holes?”
“The doctor said they’d grow in when I’m a little older. It won’t hurt, and my fangs won’t get too big, either. It’s kind of a clothes and uniform thing. Nopony really knows what a regular changeling looks like when they’re not fighting, so…” She let that trail off. Doctor’s visits had become quite interesting since her change, after all.
“Right. Okay, so, umm, first of all, I’m sorry I got angry at you, and I’m sorry for chasing you, and scaring you.” Rumble forced himself to look her in the eyes. “I swear it wasn’t because I thought you were ugly or evil, because I don’t. I just thought you weren’t, you know, you. I thought the real Scootaloo was kidnapped, and that I was talking to a fake. And I’m sorry I freaked out like that.”
“It’s okay, I understand. Easy mistake to make.” The changeling smiled.
Rumble let his head hang. “So why, umm, why did you drop your disguise when you did, anyway?”
Scootaloo couldn’t bear to look at him for that. “I just got distracted, and then I sneezed. It doesn’t happen when I can focus, but you were saying some pretty weird stuff, and, well, you caught me off guard, okay?”
Rumble nodded and gulped again. He heaved a sigh as if to try and lift the weight on his chest. “So, you’re like this now, and you’re keeping this a secret, right?”
Scootaloo wiped her eyes to catch another stray tear. “Yeah, I have to. I’m still figuring everything out. I barely know how draining works, I only managed to fly after I turned into this, and I can’t work this out if everypony is going to ask questions I can’t answer.”
The boy nodded solemnly. “Then what are you gonna do about me?”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I know your secret now. Aren’t you gonna ask Twilight to make me forget? Or can you do that by yourself?”
Scootaloo shook her head vehemently. “No. I don’t want you to forget; you’re a cool guy. I want us to be friends, I want you to know. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle know. Suppose something happens when we’re practising, and you don’t know what I am? I-I’m kinda glad it happened. I just wish it didn’t have to happen like this.”
Rumble’s breath quickened. “Do you trust me with this?”
The girl shrugged. “I want to. I think I can, but I don’t know anything about you. I wish I did. I mean, you hung out with Rainbow Dash before I did. You look like you know a lot of awesome moves, I wouldn’t mind learning them, from you, I mean. It’d be nice if I had somepony else to talk to, somepony who can fly like me.”
Rumble noticed her breath was quickening, too. Her gauzy wings shivered as she talked. He tried to steady himself. “But you’re still scared I’ll tell?”
She winced. “I’m sorry, Rumble. I know that’s not fair, but we’ve barely hung out. I don’t know if you can keep a secret or not. But I want to trust you.”
Rumble blew out another gust of a sigh. “If I told you mine, would that help?”
“What?”
Rumble shuffled closer. With a mere look, he asked for permission, which Scootaloo gave. They wrapped their arms around each other, both rigid with stress.
They both held each other tightly, too confused and too scared to let go. Rumble put his head on the changeling’s shoulder, both to rest and to avoid looking her in the face. “If I told you my secret, then you could keep it for me, and I’d keep yours. If I ever let yours go, you can let mine go. Then we’d be even, right?”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “So you’ve been trying to set up Rumble and Scootaloo? You never struck me as the matchmaking type, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow let her head hang guiltily. “You caught that, huh?”
Spike chuckled. “What were you trying to do? Get them to kiss?”
“Spike!” Twilight gave him a gentle tap on the back of his head. “They’re far too young to be thinking of that, even considering pegasus mating traditions. Though I will admit, they look cute together.”
“Thank you, Twilight. No, I didn’t want them to just kiss. And no, I don’t just think they look cute together, even though they obviously do. It’s a little more complicated than that.”
Silence fell.
Twilight returned to furrowing her brow. It was exactly this kind of stressful and line-inducing situation that kept Ponyville Spa up and running. “So what exactly were you trying to do, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow sighed. “Did Fluttershy ever tell you about the afterschool lessons she got?”
Twilight held a hoof to her chin, pondering. “No, I don’t think she did. What kind of classes?”
“Every Sunday morning, she’d go to Canterlot to go see this unicorn teacher, for etiquette. Fancy frou-frou stuff, like using the right cutlery, walking with a book on your head, singing lessons, that kind of stuff.”
“She never mentioned that to me. Spike?”
Spike shrugged and shook his head.
“Then she never said I took those classes with her, either, huh?”
Twilight’s brain needed a moment to restart after that. “You took lessons in etiquette? Really?”
Rainbow Dash smiled, as if playing the scene in her head again. “Yup. Ever since Flight Camp, me and Fluttershy went to this special class, every Sunday. For about three years, we learned how to sing, how to walk, even how to hover, like proper, well-educated ladies. Went to a ball and everything.” She did a curtsy motion for effect. “That’s how we met Rarity, too.”
“I don’t get it,” Spike said.
Rainbow shrugged. “I hated it, of course, at least at first. All those rules, all that stuff about being polite and ladylike, it just wasn’t me. But Fluttershy liked it, and after a while I kinda got into it. And the funny thing is, I learned a lot about balance from that posture training, and I learned a lot about breathing from learning to sing.”
“I think I see where this is going,” Twilight said. “You spending time with somepony very different from you taught you some crucial skills you didn’t realise you needed. You thought you could do the same by having Scootaloo and Rumble learn from each other.”
“You have no idea. Scootaloo’s got a lot of talent, but she’s not organised. And Rumble? Rumble’s just intense, but he sticks to his schedules so much he ends up moving like a machine. He doesn’t have any fun flying, and that’s a real shame, ‘coz he’s good at it. I thought, maybe they could take a hint from somepony else, meet in the middle.”
“Great plan,” Spike remarked snidely. “Why not just teach them yourself? You know that’s what they want.”
“Exactly. They both want to fly with me, train with me, be just as fast as me. But I’m a fully grown mare, Spike. There’s no way either of them can ever keep up with me. Who have they got to compare to, besides me? What kind of standard have they got to work with?”
“All grownups,” Spike conceded.
Twilight nodded in understanding. “Or teenagers in clubs. So you just told them to hang out and didn’t think to mention the reason because…”
“Because they’re a boy and a girl, and when a grownup tells a boy and a girl to hang out, there’s only one real reason they’ll believe. I’m new at this whole mentor thing, okay? I didn’t think this was gonna happen.” Rainbow pointed a hoof towards the room upstairs.
“Uhuh. Speaking of which, Rainbow Dash, would you mind telling me how you got Rumble to calm down so easily?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
Rainbow Dash looked away. “Ponyville Weather Patrol. It’s my job to keep an eye on every kid who can fly, especially the ones who do it in competition. Rumble can fly, and he’s good enough to race, so I keep an eye on him. I know the kid, and I know his family. And he’s going through a rough patch right now, so I kinda keep both eyes on him.”
“Oh.” Twilight flinched. “Well, if he needed help, all he had to do was ask. I am certified to offer counseling, after all.” Twilight went to one of the nearby bookcases to fetch a tome on child psychology.
“It’s not that kind of rough patch, Twilight. It’s complicated.”
“Complicated, how? Psychological trauma? Developmental issues?” Twilight fetched one heavy book per topic.
Rainbow sighed. “It’s really complicated.”
Twilight thought it over for a moment. “Does it have anything to do with his parents, by any chance?”
“It’s really, really complicated.”
“Does it have anything to do with the fact that nopony’s ever even seen Rumble’s parents?” The unicorn persisted.
“It’s really, really, really complicated.”
Scootaloo tensed up. “You already told me your secret, Rumble. Chitter’s your girlfriend, and she doesn’t want you hanging out with other girls. That’s why you keep out of sight during the day, I get it.”
Rumble shivered. His throat went dry, making his voice croak. “Could you please just stop talking? This is really hard for me to say.”
“Okay,” Scootaloo whispered. She could feel his heart pounding, his grip tightening. Whatever it was, it was big. Rumble felt older, somehow.
“Chitter’s not my girlfriend; she’s my cousin.”
Scootaloo’s heart skipped a beat. Her mind raced with questions, but only one truly stood out. “What?”
Rumble pulled away so she could see the sincerity in his eyes. “Chitter’s not my girlfriend; she’s my cousin.”
The changeling sat there, staring in confusion as that bit of information twisted and wormed its way through her head. “But she hugs you. She’s so close.”
“Yeah, she does that, and we are pretty close, but we’re related. It’s not that kind of close.”
This raised another round of questions in Scootaloo’s mind. “But she’s a bat pony. A rousette, I mean.”
Rumble closed his eyes and nodded solemnly.
“What about her parents?”
Again, the boy nodded.
Scootaloo felt her heart skip another beat. “And what about your parents?”
Rumble shivered and did his best not to cry. “Them too. I’m one in a million: a pegasus pony who should have been born a rousette.”
The gears in Scootaloo’s mind were doing their best to keep up, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around it all. “But what about Thunderlane?”
Rumble bit his lower lip. “Another one in a million. My grandparents aren’t sure if it’s my dad’s fault or my mom’s. They like to argue about it, too, not to mention the blood tests.”
“Wait, I don’t get it, what’s the big deal? What does that have to do with anything?”
He let out a dejected sigh. “Rousettes have different traditions from ponies. They don’t even think of themselves as ponies anymore, remember? They, um, they kinda stick together more, and they really don’t like boys mixing with girls, not like ponies do. Rousette boys aren’t supposed to hang out with girls they haven’t been introduced to. They don’t get to choose, not right away. It’s only after they’ve got a girlfriend that they’re even allowed to talk to other girls or hang out with them.”
“So your brother-”
“Got wedlocked to a rousette girl when he was seven, that’s what they call it. It’s not really like getting married, but usually it ends up turning out that way. If you’re wedlocked, then you’re considered old and mature enough to be around other girls, but the girl you’re locked with counts for more. You don’t have to marry that one, but, you know...”
“Wait a second, that can’t be right. I’ve seen Thunderlane around plenty of mares, he talks to them all the time. I’m pretty sure he used to be close to Rainbow Dash, too.”
Rumble shrugged. “He was, but things didn’t work out. Since Thunderlane was wedlocked before he started hanging out with Rainbow Dash, it didn’t matter that much. They went to Flight School together, Rainbow Dash came over to our place a lot, but they never dated. Once she became captain in Ponyville and I learned to fly, she started keeping an eye on me, just to be safe and, you know, since it’s kind of her job. But Thunderlane’s wedlocked, like any other rousette. He’s really uptight about our traditions, too, and that makes him just one of them. Plus, he’s practically a Wonderbolt now, too, so they don’t mind him being a little different.”
“But what does that make you?”
He shrugged. “My family makes me follow the same rules any rousette boy has to follow. Chitter’s supposed to prepare me for when my parents would bring some girls over, they already have. She’s my mediator; she has to introduce me to any girl my parents want me to meet, and keep away any girls they don't approve of."
"Girls like me, you mean."
He winced. "It's nothing personal. She does like you, it's just that she's got a job to do, to keep my parents happy. They want me to get started meeting rousette girls, because I’m already kinda old, compared to how it usually goes. I ended up as more of a pegasus pony than a rousette, and they don’t really like that. That dinner at Chitter’s place? It was kind of like a ball, so I’d meet other rousettes, girls my parents don’t mind.”
Scootaloo felt her heart sink. “Then why hang out with me at all? What about this Blue Moon Bloom thing?”
Rumble gulped. “I didn't wanna upset my family, or you. I thought maybe I wouldn’t have to, that maybe if I just went to dinner that’d be enough, but it wasn’t. Thunderlane told me to keep trying, that there’s no reason I shouldn't be like any other rousette. I told him I didn’t like anyone there, but my family is still looking for girls for me to meet. I don’t know why, but it’s just not working out. I’m supposed to give Chitter a flower for this stupid holiday, so she can give it to whatever girl she introduced me to that I like, but none of them are like me, or like you. It doesn't matter if I try to be a little more like them, it's not enough. I have to follow tradition, all of it.”
The changeling sighed as the pieces of the puzzle that was Rumble fell into place. “So that’s why nopony ever sees you play on breaks. You’re not allowed to talk to girls, and you can’t avoid them without avoiding the rest of our class.”
Rumble gulped. “No, and there aren’t any all-boys schools in Ponyville, either. Not like I’d want to go to one. There aren’t any boys in town who are like me, either.”
“And that’s why you lied about your parents being in the Royal Guard.”
“I did not lie. I just didn’t tell you which part of the Royal Guard they were in. My mom and dad have important jobs… more important than I am.“
Scootaloo winced in sympathy. “I know how that goes. It doesn’t mean they don’t care, you know. My parents are like that, too, but they care about me. I know how it feels.”
Rumble chuckled. “I thought you would.”
“But, umm, what about when they are home?”
He raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”
“You said Thunderlane is just like one of them, but you’re not. Does that ever…”
The boy clenched his jaw shut. “I don’t know. Usually when they have the day off, they go places, other bat meetings. I’m not sure if my parents like how I turned out, but I can’t think about that. Thunderlane’s the one who’s been bossing me around, he’s the one who’s trying to call the shots. I wanna do stuff for me, or for ponies I care about. I don’t like not getting to pick who I hang out with, or having to treat boys and girls differently. I want to hang out with you; I like you.”
Scootaloo hugged him close again. “I like you, too. You’re really nice, and really strong, and a good teacher. And, don’t tell anypony, but I think you’re kind of cute when you try to go faster and your eyes go all squinty.”
Rumble hugged her back. “And I think you’re really brave, and fast, and agile. And, umm, that time you did that talent show? I thought you looked great in that costume. It looked pretty tight.”
The changeling chuckled. “Thanks, it was. You look pretty good, too. You’ve got those strong arms...”
“You should see me in a tuxedo. And you’ve got those limber legs…””
“But I totally don’t have a crush on you.”
“Obviously. We just like each other, and we like the same stuff.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Exactly. And we both like the look and feel of a real athlete.” She rubbed over his back just to feel the muscles around his wings, humming in approval.
“Uhuh, and we enjoy being together. That's not a crush at all.” He idly rubbed his cheeks against hers, just to feel that comfortable, familiar, if girly, softness.
"Nope," Scootaloo agreed. "It's just practical: we both wanna practise stuff, and some of that stuff, you gotta close to each other to do it. Like rescue dives."
"Or ballroom dancing," Rumble replied. "That's kind of a tradition for rousettes, too. I don't know if I can do that."
"I'd be happy to teach you. You just gotta know where to hold me-err, your partner. It's easy once you get the trick for it. But you do have to hold each other really close for that."
Rumble nodded. "Obviously. But that doesn't mean anything. We're just friends."
Scootaloo nodded in agreement, though she did note she was blushing just as much as he was. “Exactly. Friends that have to get close to each other for practical reasons. Not a crush at all.”
They both fell silent and broke the hug, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
“So what are you going to do?”
Neither would ever really be able to tell who had asked it first. But since Scootaloo had two voices speaking for her, democracy demanded Rumble answer first.
“Well, umm, I think I’m going to have to tell my parents that I don’t want to be part of their traditions anymore. They don’t want me to have pegasus girls for friends without me being wedlocked, they keep getting Thunderlane to butt in, and that’s not right. They can’t keep hiding behind my big brother like they are now. It’s not fair that I can be friends with Featherweight or Lance and not you, just because you’re a girl. They already don't like me talking to pony boys, but at least they put up with that. They can't just ban me from doing anything with ponies, just because it's with ponies.”
The girl winced. “And if they punish you for that?”
Rumble forced out a weak smile. “I guess I’ll ask the mayor, or Miss Cheerilee, or even Twilight Sparkle. I know they’d help me if I really needed it and I asked. Missus Mayor said there’s a bed in City Hall if things ever get too bad. If my parents think I can’t break the rules of our family, I’ll just not be part of their family anymore. I’m sure Chitter would understand. You’d like her if you got to know her, too, you know.”
Scootaloo’s heart sank. The idea of him having to give up his family, his whole family, just because he didn’t want to abide by their rules, didn’t sit right with her.
“What about you?”
The changeling shrugged. “I guess I’m going to tell my friends that now somepony else knows my secret, and it’s somepony I can trust with it. But I won’t tell them your secret, that wouldn’t be fair.”
“Thanks. And, just in case you ever need it: you can drain me if you’re really hurt, or really weak. I won’t get mad.”
Scootaloo held back a tear. “Thanks. I’m still figuring that one out.”
“And, just one more thing.” Rumble looked down, before steeling his resolve again. “I don’t know exactly what it’s like for you, but I kind of do. You don’t look anything like your family, I don’t look anything like mine. Maybe it’ll be easier for you because you can change shape, but if you ever feel alone, just come looking for me, okay? I feel alone a lot, too. And, you know, if we're both feeling alone, it might be a little better if we can feel alone together. Does that sound okay?”
“That sounds great.” She squeezed him close again, and to her delight he did the same.
Everything was fine again. The big weight of their secrets had been lifted. Their shames had been faced.
But Rumble was the one who was about to lose his family, and Scootaloo wasn’t.
She sighed. “You really want to hang out with me that much that you’d risk getting in trouble?”
Rumble looked away. “Well, yes? I mean, I think I should. You’re the only other pony in town who’s a speedster like me, the only other pony who wants to be a really good flyer. It’s a principle thing.”
Scootaloo pondered it for a bit. “I know, I get that, but that’s not worth getting kicked out by your family.”
The boy growled. “I know. I don't want to upset anyone, but I don't have a choice anymore. No matter what I do, someone's gonna be disappointed in me, and if that's how it is, then I have to pick you over tradition. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t. I can fly okay, but you’re still learning. You know how to do stuff I want to learn, I know stuff you want to learn. And it’s not fair that we can’t be friends just because you’re a girl and I’m from a batty family.”
“But there’s got to be some other way. Do you really think your parents hate you just because of how you were born?”
“No, I don’t. I don’t want to think they hate me, I mean. But they always look at me funny when I bring up anything about ponies, and they always look embarrassed when they take me to a bat meeting. They don’t even take me all to the ones I’m invited to, not anymore. Even if it’s not them, it’s the other rousettes who don’t like me. And it’s really hard not to think it’s just because how I was born.”
Scootaloo winced in sympathy. “But your parents still care, right?”
Rumble nodded, albeit half-heartedly. “Sure, I guess. They always leave me with plenty of food, if they have to leave me alone. And they do trust some ponies to look after me, sometimes. That’s something.”
She nudged his shoulder. “Exactly. So you can’t just upset them. It’s not their fault, either. It sounds like it might just be Thunderlane overreacting.”
“Maybe it is. But what am I supposed to do, then? Rousettes don’t have the same kind of wings pegasi do. If I want to get better, I need a flying buddy, and so do you.”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Well, you could just get a different flying buddy.”
Rumble shook his head. “Like who? There aren’t any other speedsters in town besides you and me. You want me to find somepony in Cloudsdale and leave you out to dry? Do you even know anypony who might help?”
The girl tapped her chin, lost in thought. “Actually, now that you mention it, yeah. I can ask somepony else for help, you can't. You need a flying buddy more than I do, and I think I might know a guy.”
“Really? You'd do that?”
“Oh, yeah, definitely. I don’t go up to Cloudsdale that often, but I know one or two ponies there. And I think I can get one to start coming down to Ponyville, if you like.”
“Umm, okay. But is he like you, then? Can he keep up with me?”
Scootaloo grinned. “Oh, trust me, he can. You’ll like him.”
Rainbow Dash blew her whistle and adjusted her coach’s cap. “Okay, you two, time for some laps around the clouds. Try to keep up.”
Without any further warning, she was off, leaving the two young speedsters struggling to catch up. Rainbow dashed from cloud to cloud, leaving her signature streak in a zigzag pattern, even as it was joined by a dark grey streak and a purple one.
Once she got back to the pond, she took a moment to take in the pair. Rumble was faster in straight lines, but his new training buddy was better in turns, always gaining one little inch on him despite his best efforts.
They both crash-landed in the water, of course.
“Rumble? What do you think you’re doing?”
Rumble surfaced and raised an eyebrow at his older brother. “Thunderlane? What are you doing here?”
“Checking up on you. Chitter told me about what happened at Blue Moon Bloom. And what do you think you’re doing, Rainbow Dash?”
“My job,” Rainbow replied coldly. “These two asked me to give them flying lessons, and I’ve got a clear schedule for today, so if you don’t mind.”
“Uhuh. So who’s that you were flying with?” Thunderlane nodded towards the water.
Rumble reached under the surface of the pond and pulled up an orange pegasus colt with a purple mane and tail. His mane was done up in the Cloudsdale triple forward spike fashion, which was the style for boys at the time. That is, boys who followed the style, like Button Mash or Shady Daze, rather than setting it, as Rumble did.
The orange colt wasted no time hopping out of the pond and shaking himself dry vigorously enough to splash Thunderlane. Then, after flicking the last bit of defiant liquid off of his very rugged and decidedly un-girly unkempt tail, he extended a hoof towards the stallion. “Hey there. I’m Truck.” He spoke with an odd sort of drawl, the kind Thunderlane had learned to associate with surfer types.
Thunderlane eyed the weird kid for a second, before shaking that hoof. “Err, hi, Truck. I thought you were someone else. Isn’t Scootaloo flying with you, Rumble?”
Rumble got out of the pond and folded his arms over his chest. “No. I’m not allowed to hang out with her, remember? So I don’t.”
Thunderlane winced at his little brother’s shot of defiance. “Sheesh, keep it down, would ya?”
Rumble nodded towards his new friend. “Turns out Truck here’s a speedster, like me, so I don’t even have to hang out with Scootaloo anymore. Now I’ve got somepony else to compare to, somepony who isn’t a girl.”
Thunderlane nodded, if confusedly. “Oh, okay. Um, are you from around here, Truck? I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”
Truck chuckled. “Who, me? Yeah, I’m from around here, dude. I, like, hang out with the other guys, like String Bean. You’ve seen him around, haven’t ya?”
“Err, yeah, sure,” Thunderlane lied.
Rumble cleared his throat. “Right, so if you don’t mind, big brother, I need to get back to my flying lesson.”
“Right. You two take care. Nice meeting you, err, Truck.” Thunderlane turned and took off.
“Nice meeting you too, dude.”
Rainbow Dash did her best not to break out in raucous laughter. “Nice going, Truck. You don’t think he’s gonna ask around about a kid named String Bean?”
“Nah,” Rumble replied. “Colts come and go all the time in Ponyville; he’ll never notice.”
“If you say so. Okay, next, you’re gonna practice pulling up from a dive. You’re not always going to have water to break your fall, you know,” Rainbow Dash said.
Truck marched up to the imaginary starting line. “Roger. Just say where and when.”
Rainbow Dash pointed to a pair of clouds set up a couple hundred yards away. “You head on over there, make a left turn at the clouds, then swoop in and try to land on your hooves. Aim for the water the first couple of times. Got that, Rumble?”
Rumble took his spot next to his flying buddy. “You’re going down.”
“Well, duh, dude, we’re practising, like, our landings and stuff.”
Rumble grumbled and lowered his head, eyes set on those clouds.
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. “On your marks, get set…”
“This time I’ve got you beat, Rumbley-Wumbley-Bumblebee.”
