> Rumble's Big Day
>  by Wise Cracker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Consultation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, Scootaloo. This is it. It’s the Junior Wonderbolts Derby,” Rainbow Dash poked and prodded the little filly’s shoulders to massage some of the tension out. “Are you ready to win this thing?”

“I’m ready!” Scootaloo shouted, before bolting out of the starting block-

“Hey, wait for the-”

-and immediately falling flat on her face.

“Signal. Okay, so pretending it’s a contest doesn’t help, either,” Rainbow Dash said with a groan, marking that off her mental list. 

It was a bright and sunny day over Ponyville’s racing track, with the exception of one cloud Rainbow Dash liked to keep around for emergency napping purposes. But other than that, the skies were cleared, the sun was shining, and the Weather Patrol Captain could direct her full attention to the task at hand.

Flying lessons, the Rainbow Dash way. 

Rainbow Dash hovered over the ground, looking down at her charge. Today, it was just her and her surrogate little sister on the track. Not that either of them knew what ‘surrogate’ meant, but it had ‘Sir’ in it, and it sounded official, and that was good enough. “Okay, Scootaloo, pick yourself up and try again. You can do it!”

The track was abandoned, for the most part. Still, Scootaloo felt a thrill go through her little body as she confidently strode back to the starting line, the eyes of her hero, neigh, her idol, fixed on those little wings. 

“On your mark,” Rainbow said. 

Scootaloo braced herself and snorted in anticipation. This was the track where Rainbow Dash had tested her pets. This was where every able-bodied pegasus in Ponyville had trained for tornado duty. On this track, skills were honed, metal was tested - although she may have misunderstood that part: she skirted the rules of spelling occasionally - and limits were broken.

On this track, Scootaloo would fly. This, she swore. At least, she’d sworn it upon arrival. After that, she’d kept the rest of the swearing to herself. 

“Get set.” Rainbow raised a hoof.

On the sidelines, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood, watching with anticipation and milkshakes.

“You think she’s ready to fly now?” Sweetie Belle asked, before taking a sip of her drink.

“Well, she ought to be. I mean, we’ve had our cutie marks for a while now, and Scootaloo’s got a wing on hers. No reason to think she can’t fly at all.”

“Except for, you know, not being able to fly at all.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously.” Apple Bloom took a good gulp of her milkshake. 

“Go!” Rainbow lowered her hoof.

Scootaloo erupted from the starting line, flapping those little wings of hers like crazy. She buzzed, she bolted. 

She got about half an arm’s length off the ground. 

Despite her frantic flapping, she dragged her hind hooves over the ground, kicking up a dust cloud as she went. Much to her dismay, she was going at the speed of a light trot, rather than the speed of light, period. And before long, even that became too much for her to bear, leaving her flopping down on her belly unceremoniously.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Not okay, but, better. It's not exactly what I was hoping for, but getting better.”

Apple Bloom pondered the sight of her friend dragging herself back to the starting line. “Hmm…” 

“What are you thinking?” Sweetie Belle asked, before slurping loudly. 

“Well, just look at her,” Apple Bloom whispered as Rainbow Dash got Scootaloo back into launching position and started psyching the girl up, pointing out proper posture and how to best kick off for a blazing start. The little Earth pony finished her milkshake and the two went towards the nearest bin, taking the excuse to talk where the pegasi wouldn’t hear. “If you saw her standin’ next to anypony in our class, you wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong with her, would you?”

“Of course not. I mean, aside from her wings being so small.” 

Apple Bloom looked back. “Are they, though?”

Sweetie shrugged. “She did say they were, back when Diamond Tiara got under her skin.”

“But are they? Really, how many pegasi has she measured it against?”

“Well, they’re smaller than Rainbow Dash’s wings,” Sweetie Belle argued.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes at that. “Yeah, but Rainbow Dash is a grownup. Her everything is bigger than Scootaloo’s.”

“That’s true. I guess you would have to put her next to a pegasus our age to really compare.”

“Exactly. And if you saw her on her scooter, you’d think she’s actually really, really good, right?” Apple Bloom dumped the empty cup in the trash, then turned back towards the track as Sweetie Belle followed suit. “Her wings must be crazy strong.”

“Totally.”

“Go!” Rainbow shouted. This time, Scootaloo leaped for takeoff. She managed to fly just fine, for a second or two. Then gravity decided she’d had enough fun, and she ended up taking a face full of grass as she skidded off the track.

Apple Bloom huffed. “So why would she have so much trouble with this? She’s helped out other ponies just fine, why wouldn’t she be able to help herself?”

“To be fair, she never helped anyone with a flying problem. That’s what Rainbow Dash is doing for her right now.”

“Hmm…” Apple Bloom pondered again. “Maybe we should ask Diamond Tiara.”

This almost threw a spanner into the cogwheels of Sweetie Belle’s mind. Fortunately, a mere shake of the head cleared that right up. “Umm, why?”

“It’s like you said. Back when we were competin’ for flag bearers? Diamond Tiara got under her skin. She said every pegasus our age can fly.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, Diamond must know somethin’ about it. Maybe she knows some other pony who can help.”

“I don’t know, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said. “Do you really think Scootaloo needs more help than Rainbow Dash can give her?”

Right at that moment, Scootaloo yelped as she came crashing down from a straight vertical drop. 

“Yup,” the Earth pony girl said flatly. “Definitely gonna need a second opinion on this.”





Scootaloo was still shaking blades of grass out of her hair and trying to get the taste of green off her tongue by the time they got to Diamond Tiara’s house. “I still don’t get why we have to go here.”

“Diamond Tiara knows more about the ponies in our school than we do.”

“So? We know everypony in school, too, Sweetie Belle. They’re in our school, after all.”

“Actually, Scootaloo, everypony in school knows us, not the other way around,” Apple Bloom remarked.

They got to the gates of the Rich estate and would have rung the bell, but Diamond was already out, and apparently entertaining guests by the pool. Three girls lounged by the side, all bearing some form of shiny hoofwear printed on their flanks. 

“Hey, look! It’s the filly scouts!” One of them called out. The girl was a pink Earth pony, a shade darker than Diamond Tiara, and with a white spot covering her nose and mouth, her mane and tail an orange-ish red. She had a pair of red ballet shoes on her flanks, with the toes pointed forward and the heels up. The shoes had sparkles around them, and were decorated with red gems. 

“Actually, Ruby, those are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Diamond replied. 

“Psh, those bland flanks are your so-called friends?” Another one said. This one was a clear celestial white, and a unicorn to boot, her horn sticking out through her neatly curled light blue mane, much like Rarity’s did. Her cutie mark was a single shoe, one that looked delicate and made of glass, and decorated with a diamond on the front. “Look at those hideous cutie marks, so tacky and gaudy, blegh. Those two girls are what you got your mom so upset about?”

“Puh-lease, that was just to put my hoof down once,” Diamond whined. “You know how my mom gets, I need to make sure I can get my way somehow. They’re not that special. They’re just… more useful than they look, is all. Even if they are dump rumps.”

“Uh, Diamond?” Apple Bloom called out. “Can we talk for a second?”

Diamond smiled nervously, getting up off her beach chair before groaning. “They’re probably trying to get out from under their duties again. I’ll be right back, girls.”

“Need any help?” The third one asked. A second Earth pony, more of a burgundy than bright pink, this one’s flanks had a pair of shoes tipped up at the heels, and both were a deep blood red. Unlike the other two, this one’s cutie mark didn’t have any sparkles on it. Her mane was longer, too, reaching down to her thighs when she sat, almost like Fluttershy’s style, except short enough at the front not to fall in her eyes. The blonde mane had a white streak through it, like a lightning bolt. It was obviously not a natural streak, though, as it was fading around the edges. 

Diamond Tiara scurried over to the Crusaders. “What do you posers want?! Can’t you see this is a private party?”

“Upper class friends, huh?” Apple Bloom asked quietly.

Diamond winced and lowered her voice. “Yeah. Ruby Slipper, Glass Slipper, Red Slipper. Old friends, we go way back. They’re little big shots in this dance recital up in Canterlot, former ballet elite. My mom really likes them, so obviously…”

“They expect you to be nasty to us. We kinda figured,” Scootaloo said.

“Hey, no boys allowed!” Ruby Slipper yelled when Scootaloo talked.

“Yeah, keep your boy bugs off our friend, louse-face!” Glass Slipper added, before snickering. 

“Huh?” The Crusaders all stared quizzically at each other.

“She means you, Scootaloo. Don’t worry about them, they just don’t like little boys very much. Or girls who look like little boys, I guess.”

“Uhuh,” Apple Bloom replied. “Are ya sure they’re your friends?”

Diamond shook her head ever so softly so it wouldn’t show. “Oh, they’re not, I know they’re not. They’re just ponies my parents want me to hang out with because they’re important, and they’re a little older than me, so they can kinda teach me how to be, you know... Besides, we do hang out a lot and, like, I can’t abandon them just like that without getting in trouble.” She flashed a very sudden and very nervous smile at them. “Speaking of which, what do you want and can you please not ask where they can see?”

“We just wanted to ask about the pegasi you know,” Apple Bloom whispered. 

“What?”

“She said: do your own homework, you ugly snob!” Scootaloo shouted, before winking.

“Hey, I don’t have to take that from a little cripple like you! You’re lucky I even let you write on Rich family stationery!” Diamond replied, equally loudly. “What do you need to know about pegasi?” she whispered.

“I still can’t fly, and I really ought to be able to by now,” Scootaloo replied in a hushed tone.

Diamond flinched. “What? What does that have to do with me?”

“You said pegasi my age ought to be able to fly, remember? That I should have been flying ages ago? Weren’t those your exact words?”

The filly beyond the gates winced. “The Equestria Games thing? Geez, I’d forgotten all about that. You really remembered it that well? I’m sorry.”

“I know you’re sorry, that’s not the point. The point is: what do you know about it?”

“Umm, nothing. Sorry, but I don’t know anything,” Diamond replied. 

“Wait, what?” Apple Bloom asked. “But you made Scootaloo think she was handicapped.”

“I am not a cripple! I just need to get a growth spurt, and at least I’m strong enough to keep trying! When’s the last time you even lifted?!” Scootaloo called out, before whispering again. “Seriously, I get that you just wanted to get under my skin and all, but you kinda made it sound like everypony else in class could fly. It’s not normal for me to not be able to fly, that’s what you said.”

Diamond rolled her eyes. “Well, duh. I lied. That’s kinda what I did back then, it’s what I’m good at. I’m sorry, but I was wrong when I said that, both ways. There aren’t any pegasus ponies in class who can fly, not really.”

“Say what?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a squeak in her voice, before going quiet again. “But I saw it when we were practising. We all did. The pegasus kids all flew for their acts.”

“Yeah, low flying, hovering, maybe a flip or two. That’s totally different. That’s like saying you can swim when you sink after one lap around the pool. Trust me, that was not flying. You haven’t seen kids flying, not by a long shot.” Diamond wobbled on her hooves, as if she had a wave of vertigo just thinking about it. “Anyway, there aren’t any pegasi our age who can fly, not in this town. And there’s nopony in our school who’d know how to help. Except maybe…”

“Maybe?” Apple Bloom leaned in close.

“There’s two ponies who might know. One is super fast, like, blink and you miss him, but he can’t fly, either, not for real, not for long. He can hover, though, and he can bolt like crazy. But he can’t get up high, not yet.”

“Featherweight,” Sweetie Belle said. “We could ask him.”

“Yeah, Featherweight’s your best bet.”

“Who’s the second one?” Apple Bloom asked, before making a big show of rattling the fence to seem more intimidating. The girls in the back snickered at the peasants trying to breach security. 

“Rumble,” Diamond whispered. “His name’s Rumble.”

“Wait, you mean Thunderlane’s little brother?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Diamond sighed, almost groaning. “Yeah, him. He can fly, really fly. I mean, really, really, really fly. He’s crazy good, but he doesn’t talk much. And I don’t think you could get him to help much. I mean, as good as he is, he’s still a blank flank.”

“Well, helpin’ out blank flanks is what we do, ain’t it, girls?” Apple Bloom smiled. 

“Yeah, I know, but I wouldn’t bother with him if I were you. Ask Featherweight. Namby Pamby did an article on Ponyville’s tornado run right before he quit. Featherweight should still have a copy of Namby’s notes, and pictures of training. Every able-bodied pegasus in Ponyville was there, lots of different kinds of ponies. You might just be, like, built a little different, Scootaloo, maybe you need different training. Featherweight’s your best bet. He’d give you stuff to read, stuff you can use.”

“Why not just ask Rumble from the getgo?” Scootaloo asked. “If he can fly, can’t he teach me?”

Diamond gulped at the very thought, a shiver running down her spine. “Rumble is kinda… uptight. You don’t wanna interrupt him while he’s practising, trust me. He wouldn’t have time to teach you, if he even could. Ask Featherweight, seriously. Don’t try Rumble unless it’s an absolute emergency.”

“Huh. Well, okay, then.” Apple Bloom raised her voice. “Fine, we’ll get you your oatmeal, but this is the last time! And no more callin’ Scootaloo a chicken!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo yelled, joining the act with full abandon. 

“Or a dodo!” Sweetie Belle added for effect.

“Yeah!”

“Or a turkey!” Apple Bloom added for even more effect.

“Okay, girls-”

“Or an ostrich!”

“Let’s not get carried away here-”

“Fine!” Diamond shouted in reply. “You can leave now, and take your penguin friend with you!”

“Penguin?!” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.

“Well, you gotta admit, you have been doin’ a lotta bellyflopping lately,” Apple Bloom joked.

Scootaloo groaned. The girls Diamond was entertaining laughed. 

“Thanks,” Diamond said quietly. 

“Don’t mention it,” Scootaloo replied. “Seriously.”

“Hope it works out for you, Scootaloo. Take care.”

The Crusaders turned, leaving Diamond behind the gates. For the slightest moment, her neck gave way, just enough to lean against the bars of the Rich estate gates, like a caged animal. She smiled and turned her back to the Crusaders, right back to socialising with the girls who were better than her. 

“You too, Diamond Tiara,” Scootaloo said, quietly. “Take care.”





“So what do you think, girls?” Apple Bloom asked. 

“Hmm. Featherweight probably has better notes, but Rumble’s got more experience.” Sweetie Belle said. “What do you think, Scootaloo? Do you want to play it safe with Featherweight, or risk talking to Rumble?”

Scootaloo grumbled. “Can’t we do both?”

As if on cue, the girls spotted their first target: a lanky pegasus colt. White and nerdy, with a common as mud brown mane and tail, he stuck out like a loose nail in Ponyville, with all the colourful fillies and mares running about. 

“Hey, Featherweight!” Apple Bloom called out. 

His big ears perked at the mention of his name, prompting him to turn around. “Huh? Oh, hey, girls. What’s up?”

“Umm, not me,” Scootaloo replied as they trotted towards him. “That’s kinda what we wanted to talk to you about.”

He grimaced. “Uh, okay. What’s the matter?”

“You can fly, right?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Err, ahem, well, sure, I guess, sort of? It kind of depends on what you mean by ‘flying’.” He held his hooves up for air quotes.

“What do you mean, what do we mean? Can you get off the ground or not?” Scootaloo asked. 

Featherweight sighed and started flapping his wings, doing just that. “You tell me. I can take off and hover okay, but getting up high is still a problem. This is as high as I can go, and I can’t do it for long.”

Sweetie Belle tilted her head, looking at the mere inches of empty air between the boy and the ground. “Really? I’m pretty sure I can lift you higher than that.”

Featherweight set down and huffed. “Sure, but you get magic lessons, from Princess Twilight Sparkle. Of course you’re good at magic.”

“Actually, we haven’t had Twilight Time since she got her new castle.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good place for us to run around in, what with all the sharp corners and everything,” Apple Bloom noted. “Anyway, point is: you can sort of fly, right?”

“It’s more like hovering, really.”

“Well, that’s more than I can do right now. Do you know how it’s done? What I’d have to do to learn?” Scootaloo asked. “Diamond Tiara said something about Namby Pamby?”

He rubbed his chin with a hoof, thinking. “Umm, not really, no. I mean, I don’t know how I learned to fly, or hover, exactly. I just kinda got out of bed one day and started hovering when I flapped, instead of falling. But yeah, Namby Pamby did write some stuff about it in the Foal Free Press a while back, with that tornado duty thing. It was his last article and everything. The drafts are probably still in the archives. Would that help?”

Scootaloo smiled nervously. “It might. Do you think you could get that article for us?”

“Oh, sure, no problem,” Featherweight said as he turned in the general direction of the school. “Anything to help a fellow flyer.”

“Speakin’ of which, do you happen to know any other flyers? We heard there was one other kid who could fly,” Apple Bloom asked. 

“Oh, you mean Thunderlane’s little brother, Rumble?”

Apple Bloom’s ears twitched at that. Second time in a row. Coincidence, perhaps? “Yeah. Him. You know where we could find him?”

Featherweight stopped and stiffened. “Err… why would you want to find him, exactly?”

“So we could ask him about flight practice,” Scootaloo said. “Obviously.”

The colt bit his lip. “Oh, of course. You might wanna ask somepony else, then.”

“Why?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Wouldn’t he help if we asked?”

Featherweight let out something in between a sigh and a nervous chuckle. “I don’t know, and I’m not sure if I want to risk finding out.”

“What?” Apple Bloom flinched. “I thought he was your friend?”

Featherweight flinched right back. “My friend? Why would you think that?”

“Well, I saw you talkin’ to him when we were going for that flagbearer thing. Wasn’t he on your team?”

“Eheh, I think you got the wrong idea.” He rubbed the back of his head and resumed his walk towards the school. “Sure, I’ve talked to him. I don’t think that counts, though. Maybe you haven’t heard, but Rumble is kinda crazy. He wasn’t on my team; he was the team, I just happened to get dragged along because we couldn’t do solo acts. He wanted to try out, I didn’t. After all, nopony was ever gonna beat you three. I didn’t stay for practice, but he did, we both got disqualified. He would have done the whole thing on his own if the rules allowed for it. He might have beaten you in a solo act.”

“Really? He’s that good?” Scootaloo asked. 

Featherweight nodded emphatically. “Better than good. He’s crazy good. But he’s also kinda crazy. And he absolutely hates girls.”

This was news to the fillies.

“Wait, what?” Apple Bloom asked. “He hates girls? Why?”

“Beats me. But every time we were practising, when Rainbow Dash talked to you, he started freaking out. Couldn’t concentrate, dug his hooves into the ground, kept gulping in air and looking towards you and the rest of class. I’m telling you, he’s nuts. Maybe he’s just got a grudge against Diamond Tiara. She never did invite him to her cuteceñeara.”

“We never invited him to ours, either,” Sweetie Belle realised. 

Apple Bloom pondered it. “Well, gosh, if that’s all it is, we just gotta apologise. I’m sure if we talked it out, we could come to some understanding.”

“Maybe.” Featherweight shrugged. “But I wouldn’t bet on it. He likes being alone.”

“We’ll see about that. Do you know where I can find him, by any chance?”

“No. Rumble just kinda… disappears.”

Apple Bloom grumbled. “Okay, girls, we’ll split up. I’ll ask around, see if anypony on the Weather Patrol knows where I can find this high-flyer. You go and look around in the Foal Free Press Archives.”

“Wait, what? Don’t you think I should be the one asking Rumble?” Scootaloo asked. “I’m the one who’s learning to fly. Rumble’s brother is friends with Rainbow Dash, I should be the one to talk to him.”

“Maybe, but you don’t have a big brother like he does,” Apple Bloom argued. “And no offense, Scootaloo, but you and Rainbow Dash are still new to this whole big sister thing. I ain’t. I got more experience in dealin’ with a stallion’s pride than you. If he is that touchy, he’s less likely to get mad at me. I know what to ask for, honest.”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said. “But if you can’t find out anything good, I’m asking him, too, okay?”

“I promise I’ll get ya something good, Scootaloo.”




It didn’t take Apple Bloom long to find a pony who knew Rumble’s hangouts. Derpy Hooves was known in Ponyville as being the go-to mare for anything regarding boys, doubly so when it came to pegasus boys. According to her, Rumble had his own private spot on the far side of Ponyville, on the road to Canterlot. 

Apple Bloom followed the road up to where the last pond in Ponyville was, just as she’d been told. Any further, and the next bit of water she’d see would be in the mountains. If Derpy was right, and she usually was, there should have been a colt flying around. 

A loud thump broke her reverie. She felt the impact through her hooves before she realised she’d seen something fall down from the corner of her eyes. 

She gasped when she turned. Right before her, at ten paces, lay the lifeless body of a pink Earth pony filly. 

She rushed towards the body. “Oh my gosh, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

Apple Bloom put her ear on the girl’s back just in time to hear a voice call her.

“Why are you talking to a doll?”

The girl prodded the pink thing, then flipped it over, revealing the buttons where its eyes should have been. It was a doll. A lifelike doll, proportionally accurate and quite heavy, but a doll nonetheless. It even had a fancy mane and tail style, along with reinforcements on the hoof ends that looked like shoes, probably to stop it from tearing at the seams. Judging from the feel of it, it was filled with seeds of some sort. 

She was, indeed, talking to a doll. Big Mac would be proud. 

She looked up as the colt descended. He was a dull grey, with a dark grey mane that was combed up and back, and which had a light streak going up the middle. His eyes were the same pink as Scootaloo’s, and both his mane and tail were obviously combed and kept very meticulously. His coat even had a vague sheen to it, but that may have been a trick of the light. The way the sun shone through the dark grey clouds in the distance and happened to hit him just right to create a golden halo certainly added to the effect. 

But the one thing she noticed most was how he moved. He flew, really flew. He glided through the air effortlessly, hooves down, wings calmly flapping, not a hint of exertion on his face. He flew as easily as most ponies walked, as easily as Rainbow Dash flew. 

This was definitely what she was looking for. 

“Umm, never mind. You’re Rumble, right? Thunderlane’s little brother?”

The boy made a smooth and seamless landing, not one thump or tremor from going from afloat to solid ground. “Uhuh. And you’re Apple Bloom, right? Applejack’s little sister?” He folded his wings against his sides, never breaking eye contact with the girl. 

“Yeah, that’s me.” Apple Bloom’s ears folded back. His voice was awfully high-pitched, more like a toddler’s or even a filly’s than most of the boys she’d heard. His face looked girlish, as well, with his smooth, round snout and hardly any chin to speak of. 

Maybe that was why he didn’t like girls: ponies must have confused him for one once too often. 

Before the moment could get any more awkward, Rumble picked up the filly doll and swung it over his shoulders, then turned his back on Apple Bloom and marched off. “What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you, actually. I wanted to talk.”

“Okay.” He stopped, turned around again, and plopped his rump down on the ground. “You found me. You can talk.”

Apple Bloom took a moment to muster up her resolve. “Err, well, here’s the thing: my friend Scootaloo is learning to fly now. You know Scootaloo, don’t you?”

“Rainbow Dash’s favourite. I know,” he said flatly. 

His tone made it sound like she’d hit a sore spot. Still, she had to try. “Okay. Anyway, she’s learning how to fly now, but it’s not working for some reason. So I wanted to ask you about it.”

Rumble shrugged. “Flying trouble sounds pretty normal to me. It’s not something you learn in your sleep.”

“Yeah, but, you see, when we were doin’ the whole flagbearer thing for the Equestria Games, Diamond Tiara got it into our heads that every pegasus pony our age ought to be able to fly. Only, now that’s she’s kinda nice to us, we asked her and she said that, actually, no pegasus our age can fly. No pegasus, except maybe Featherweight and definitely you. We asked Featherweight about the tornado thing Ponyville’s pegasi did a while back, but I thought maybe, if it’s okay with you, you could tell me a little more about how you learned to fly?”

Much to her relief, Rumble actually cracked a smile at that. It wasn’t a big smile, but it was a friendly one. It certainly wasn’t a crazy one, like she’d feared. “Oh, like that. Right, I guess Diamond would say that. Umm, I’d love to help, but there’s not that much to tell, sorry. I started practising, I learned to fly, and then I learned to fly really well.”

“But did you just wake up one day knowing how to fly?”

“No. I don’t think so. I woke up knowing how to hover, maybe, but flying is totally different. No, I started learning pretty early. Earlier than most pegasi do when they live on the ground, like kindergarten early. It took a lot of hard work, but I could already fly well by the time tornado duty came around.”

Apple Bloom squinted. “So, you were there for that tornado thing, then?”

“Of course I was. Every able-bodied pegasus had to be there. I’m a pegasus, and I was able-bodied, so I was there.”

“And you trained with Rainbow Dash? With the other grownups?”

He nodded with pride. “Yup. Did my best, like anypony else would.”

There was an angle she could work with. Getting notes was one thing, but a witness account from someone actually doing the training, at their age, that might be more useful. “Umm, is it okay if you told me about how that went, then?”

“Okay, but why would you want to know? There’s nothing I can tell you that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t.”

She sighed. “Because my friend’s tryin’ to learn, and she doesn’t know what she’s doin’ wrong, and I wanna help. Rainbow Dash is tryin’ her best, but she’s just one pony, and a grownup. You’re a kid, like Scootaloo, like us. If you really think about it, it’s not Rainbow Dash Scootaloo’s trying to be like; it’s you. I don’t know how old Rainbow Dash was when she learned to fly, but-”

“Two years younger than us.”

“Oh.” Apple Bloom winced. Not a good sign.

“Which is what you usually get with pegasi that live close to the clouds. Growing up with mountain air helps.”

Okay, maybe not too bad a sign. “So if we got Scootaloo up on a mountain?”

“It wouldn’t make much of a difference. It’s a breed and breathing thing, as far as I know. You’d have to get her up there for weeks, months. And even then, it probably wouldn’t speed up anything, since it takes that long to work.”

The girl grumbled. Another option down. “Okay. But see, stuff like that, that’s what I’d like to know. You obviously know your way around it, but you’re still a kid, so you wouldn’t miss whatever it is Rainbow Dash might be missing. I’d just like to know what you did, see if there’s anything different we might use. O’course, if you’re too busy practising-”

“It’s okay.” He held up a hoof. “I’m not really supposed to be practising too hard today. I was just blowing off some steam.”

“With that?” She pointed to the doll.

“Yup. Emergency interception: dive after a falling pony, catch them before they crash, but still be able to pull up in time. It’s a Wonderbolts rescue thing.”

“Umm, you let that one crash.”

“Hence the practice.” He started walking back towards Ponyville. “The Weather Patrol will start a rain shower in a few minutes. There’s a gazebo not too far from here, we’ll be nice and dry there.”

Apple Bloom squinted and followed him. “You were gonna practise in the rain?”

“Uhuh.”

 “Ain’t that a little dangerous, for getting sick and whatnot?”

“Sure. But a lot of accidents happen in the rain. You gotta be able to handle rough weather if you wanna be a Wonderbolt.”

“And… do you? Want to be a Wonderbolt, I mean?”

His smile faded. His wings bunched up against his sides ever so slightly, and his tail swatted away a non-existent fly. “Maybe. It’s just practice right now. But I try to do everything the Wonderbolts way, sure.”

Apple Bloom followed him, staying behind by a respectable distance. 

Rumble’s ears twitched, and he turned his head to look at her. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no, nothin’. It’s just…”

“What?”

“Well, I kinda asked a couple ponies about you before I came over here.”

“Derpy, huh? Yeah, she always keeps an eye on the boys in town. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash look after the girls.”

Apple Bloom grimaced. “That too. I just, umm…”

He stopped, and she made a point not to walk past his waist. “What is it, Apple Bloom?”

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Apple Bloom said. 

Rumble furrowed his brow. “Oh, you talked to Featherweight, right.”

“Yeah.”

Now it was his turn to wince with embarrassment. “Is he still mad about the flagbearer thing?”

“Are you?”

He shrugged. “It happened. No point in staying mad about it.”

As much as she didn’t want to upset him or pry, she had to know. “What exactly did happen?”

“What did he tell you?”

“He said you were crazy good at flying, but kinda crazy, too. And that you don’t like girls. I might have understood him wrong, mind you.”

“No, no, you got the right idea.” He walked along again, at a slower pace. Apple Bloom took the hint and walked next to him now, rather than behind him. “I don’t usually talk to other ponies, so the ponies I do talk to don’t, umm, get me, you know?”

“Okay. But was he right, then? Do you hate girls?”

“Nah. Just got a little frustrated when we tried out for flagbearer and he couldn’t keep up. It was my fault, really. And you and your friends getting all that attention from Rainbow Dash kinda stung. I, umm, overreacted a couple of times, and getting disqualified didn’t help.”

“Oh. Oh, like that, okay. But you ain’t got a grudge against me or my friends, then? Or anypony else?”

Again, he shrugged. “Of course not; nopony ever got it in for me, why should I? You won, fair and square. Rainbow Dash picked Scootaloo, she picked you. She even stopped a train so she could get Scootaloo, even though Scootaloo had given up the same way Featherweight had and the same way I had. And she was right to do that. I didn’t even get a team, so she never even saw me. You carried the Ponyville flag for the Games, I didn’t. No biggie.”

To Apple Bloom, though, this was a biggie. Fair play is everything, Applejack had taught her. And grudges didn’t have a place in competition. 

“If you say so.”

Before long, they saw the gazebo. Up above, the clouds were already being gathered, making everything turn dark. 

“There,” Rumble said. “It’s nice and warm to sit there. No need to stay on the grass, or in the rain.”

“Do you come here often?”

“Every day, from four to six, except on Wednesdays. And on weekends, it depends if the tracks are taken.”

“Wait, you practise every day?”

He held his head high. “Yup. Every single day. Four to six. My big brother’s a future Wonderbolt, after all. Gotta uphold the good family name. You know what that’s like, right?”

Apple Bloom found a tightness in her chest making its way to her throat. “Umm… sure. I know exactly what that’s like. But what do you do after practice, then?”

“I go eat dinner,” came the stoic reply. “Then some more practice, from seven thirty to nine, depends what day it is. Just keep on working hard, that’s me. Just like you on the farm, right?”

“Err, yeah. Exactly like that.” At this point, Apple Bloom was starting to see why ponies warned her about Rumble. 

He sat down and leaned against the railing, his practice dummy parked and turned so it could serve as a cushion. “So, what do you want to know about tornado practice?”

Apple Bloom stared at the doll. It looked so detailed, like he’d modelled it after some random damsel. It bore a slight resemblance to Diamond Tiara, even, if looked at from a distance. And he was sitting on it. There was something about it that seemed off, illogical. Like something was obviously missing on it, but what? 

He scooted over to sit on the thing’s head and patted the rump area. “You want the soft seat?”

She shook her head.

Get a grip, Apple Bloom. He’s just a regular pegasus boy. He’s already explained himself, no need to be scared of him. Besides, even if he does have a grudge against ya, you’re an Earth pony who can buck the apples off a tree. What’s the worst he can do? 

She sat down on that rump and smiled at him. It was pretty soft, she had to admit, and warmer than the boards of the gazebo. “I guess the first thing I’d have to know is how you ended up on that if you’re so small. Even if you could fly, I don’t think there were any other kids who were on duty. Featherweight wasn’t.”

Rumble nodded. “Well, it all started when we got the announcement from Cloudsdale…” 





Featherweight led the girls into the office, going straight for a cabinet. “Okay, Namby Pamby’s articles should be right… here. First rule of journalism: always keep a spare.” 

Scootaloo’s ears twitched. “Articles? Like, more than one?”

“Uhuh.” He put a stack of newspapers on the desk. “He did a whole series on the tornado thing. Kinda wanted to go out with a bang, you know?”

Sweetie Belle ooh-ed at the picture on the front page of the first newspaper. “Hey, there’s Bulk Biceps. Rainbow Dash said he’s a Wonderbolts reserve, too.”

“And he was on Ponyville’s relay team for the Equestria games. Maybe he could help you out,” Featherweight said. 

Scootaloo nodded. “Uhuh. Maybe.”

“Let’s see… oh, here it is,” Featherweight got out another article, an illustrated one this time. “This one’s from when practice started.”

“Wait, that’s Thunderlane, right? And that’s Rumble next to him?” Scootaloo asked, pointing a hoof at the picture. 

“Yup. Like I said, he’s crazy good at flying. Always has been.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “Wait. He didn’t train with them, did he?”

“Yes, he did. Every able-bodied pegasus joined in for training. That’s the rules.”

“I didn’t. Did you?”

“No,” Featherweight replied matter-of-factly. “Because I wasn’t able-bodied back then.”

“I didn’t know you were handicapped,” Sweetie Belle said. “What’s wrong with you?”

Featherweight rolled his eyes. “When a pony says ‘able-bodied’, they mean ‘able to keep up with other ponies.’ So an able-bodied unicorn can do magic, an able-bodied Earth pony is really strong, and an able-bodied pegasus can fly. That’s all that word means. I couldn’t fly, I still can’t. My body isn’t able to fly, so I am not able-bodied. Rumble was and is able-bodied. So he joined in the practice.”

“But…” Sweetie Belle sat back, thinking. “Are pegasus ponies our age usually able-bodied?”

“About as usually as unicorns being able to cast spells at our age,” Featherweight said. “And how many unicorns do you know who can do magic already, Sweetie Belle?”

“Umm, good point. Wow. Must have been rough, training with that many adults for something you’re not even supposed to be able to do yet,” Sweetie Belle said. 

Featherweight nodded and shuffled the pile of pictures. “Ah, here it is, all the pictures Namby used.”

“There’s Blossomforth and Flitter doing wing push-ups. Have you tried that, Scootaloo?” 

“My wings aren’t big enough for that yet, Sweetie Belle.”

“Didn’t stop Rumble,” Featherweight noted.

“Huh?”

“Look.” He pointed to the background. “He got a pair of chairs so he could do it, too.”

“Wow. Where’s the workouts, though?” Scootaloo leafed through the pictures.

Featherweight leafed through the pile on his desk. “We should find something here. Let’s see, every able-bodied Ponyville pegasus, unicorns and magic, fits into the old military tradition, yaddayaddayadda, everypony capable of flight is to gather at the local track for practice. The goal is attain a high enough wingpower to break the Equestrian record.”

“Doesn’t it say how they practised?”

He shuffled through some more papers to check. “Not this one, no. Let’s see… here: the Ponyville pegasi are giving it their all: doing wing lifts, wing pushups, wing kicks, and of course full body workouts, to strengthen the core. Their goal: to be able to attain a wingpower of ten each.”

“What’s wingpower?” Scootaloo asked.

“It’s a weather pony term,” Featherweight said. “It measures the force of the wind you’re able to make. It’s easy enough to measure the result, but really hard to calculate and predict, because you don’t just add up force.”

“Err, yeah, you do,” Sweetie Belle said. “Why wouldn’t you?”

Featherweight rolled his eyes. “Because if one pony’s making a wind with wingpower ten, and then another pony rides that wind and adds a wingpower six, you don’t end up with sixteen wingpower. The slower pony doesn’t have to put as much effort into it, so they end up having eight wingpower while the faster pony has twelve. Add that up by a couple dozen and…”

“You can get a huge wingpower, even if you don’t have very strong ponies, as long as you have enough. Wow. That’s really cool,” Scootaloo said. 

Sweetie Belle’s ears perked. “Hey, look, there’s Rainbow Dash talking to Fluttershy,” she pointed to another picture.

“What’s that smudge on the bottom? Is that Rumble?”

“Sure looks like it. Huh. I wonder what he was trying to say to her.”





Rumble leaned back, squishing the girly doll’s face with his blank flank. “So, first Rainbow Dash dropped all those notes across town. They said that every able-bodied pegasus had to show at the library. I kind of figured they only meant grownups, but then at the library apparently they said that it really was every pony who could fly who had to do tornado duty.”

Apple Bloom scrunched her nose. “You had to? Why?”

“It’s civic duty, sort of an old tradition that goes back to when pegasi were all warriors. Anyway, since the meeting went past my bedtime, I didn’t go, but I did go the next morning. Everypony had to get tested for how much wingpower they could start off with first. Rainbow Dash let Thunderlane go first, to set the bar.” The boy cleared his throat at that.

“I heard about that. She thought he was just bein’ lazy and faking a cough. Guess she didn’t think it was serious, huh?”

“Never mind that. Anyway, Thunderlane went first, then Rainbow Dash, and she said we all had to get our wingpower up to ten within a week. She wanted Ponyville to get the wingpower record, and that meant ten for everyone. Everypony else measured up after Thunderlane, so they’d know how much they had to improve.”

“Uhuh. So how do you measure wingpower?”

“Normally you just blow with your wings, but since a tornado has to keep everything contained, it had to be measured flying in circles. Everypony went past this meter thingie to measure the wind speed.”

“And?”

He shrugged. “Everypony got around five to eight on the first run, Thunderlane got nine point three, Rainbow Dash got a sixteen point five, easy. Pretty standard. Getting even two points higher is a pretty big deal with wingpower, if you’re flying solo.”

“I don’t mean that, what about you? What’s your wingpower? What’s Scootaloo supposed to have for wingpower?”

He gulped and looked away. “Umm, mine was five point four. That’s what it was then.”

Apple Bloom blinked, trying to fit that number somewhere. “That’s about a five.”

“Yup.”

“Same as everypony else?”

“Yup. On the lower end of it, yes.”

She squinted, thinking. “But wouldn’t that be, you know, a big number for a pony your size, then? Your age, I mean? Scootaloo-”

“Scootaloo should have a wingpower of about one point five, two flat. Three point five if she really pushes it to the limit, but then she wouldn’t be able to fly for a day or so. That’s normal for ponies who are just getting off the ground, doesn’t matter how old they are.” Rumble looked at the ground, his snout curled up into a sulk, it seemed. 

“Did… is that a sore spot? I mean, that is somethin’ to be proud of, right? If you were that high already?”

Rumble forced out a smile. “Not really. My big brother and my foalsitters said it was awesome, but that’s about it.”

“Wouldn’t Rainbow Dash say somethin’ about that, then? If you’re that good, she woulda told you, right? No reason not to.”

Again, he shrugged. “She was busy doing her job: helping the stragglers. So she never had to bother with me.”

“But she must have at least patted you on the back, right? She must have noticed, or said something.”

“Honestly, I don’t think she ever even noticed me. ”
> "No, I'm not allergic to butts."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you mean, she never noticed you?”

Rumble shrugged again. “Just what I said: Rainbow Dash never paid any attention to me. She didn’t need to. She was busy with the other ponies, who needed to get up to ten wingpower.”

“But you just said your wingpower was already crazy high, for your age.”

He nodded. “It was. There were fully grown mares there that I could fly circles around. Some mares, I could still fly circles around today, I think. But I’m too young to join a club, so I can’t really check.”

“And nopony said anything about that? Not even Twilight Sparkle?”

“Twilight didn’t say anything. She just told me my number, wrote it down, let the next pony go. That’s all she needed to do.”

The way he said it was gut-wrenching, but she couldn’t tell whether that was because he was genuinely upset about it or because his voice was so high and squeaky that anything he said might sound like he’s upset. It was like listening to Sweetie Belle. 

Still, whether he was torn up about it or not, she sympathised with him.

Wow. Talk about droppin’ the ball on that one. No wonder he hates girls. “Umm, okay, then. So how did the practice go? Training, I mean?”

Rumble raised a hoof to his chin and pondered, leaning back on that vaguely Diamond Tiara-shaped doll. “You just want to know what Scootaloo could try, right?”

“Right.”

“Okay. First thing we did was fly laps around the course.”

“Which Scootaloo can’t do, because she can’t get off the ground.”

“Right. Then there was trotting exercises, all the different techniques.”

“Trotting… techniques?”

Rumble nodded. “Trotting techniques: different kinds, different rhythms. The trots are very important for your flying. Thunderlane’s a really good trotter, and I always do it for warm-ups.”

“How does trotting help with flying?”

Rumble got up and started trotting in little circles around the darkened gazebo, oblivious to any stray raindrops that might hit him in the deluge. “When you trot, you’re hopping up and down, like this. You get used to moving your body more lightly.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“Then there’s the bouncing. When you fly, there’s always a little spring in your wings.” He flapped his wings once, then twice, to illustrate. “Flying in place like this, hovering, that’s something you need good spring action for, otherwise you get tired and fall. Trotting helps you get that rhythm down. Does that sound like something Scootaloo could do?”

Apple Bloom nodded eagerly. “Yeah, actually, it does. I mean, she flaps her wings as fast as a hummin’bird, but she plummets after a couple of seconds.”

“That does sound like trotting practice would help, then.” He set down and proceeded to plump his rump down on that doll again, hard. “There’s a part of it that’s pure pegasus magic, if that makes any sense.”

“Do you know how you work pegasus magic, by any chance?”

“Sure, just regular flying and making tornadoes, or making straight winds. It’s the same as training your muscles. But training doesn’t make it happen when you don’t have magic already. Magic is tricky like that. You don’t really try hard and get it, you just, umm…” He looked away, blushing. “It’s hard to explain.”

“You just get out of bed one day and float instead of fall, I know.”

“Right, Featherweight told you. He’d know that better; he got it later. I was too young to remember when it happened, exactly.”

“Actually, come to think of it, is that why baby pegasi can fly, too?” She asked. “Or float, or hover, or whatever?”

“I guess. But not every pegasus can do that right away. There’s other stuff involved in it, I don’t really know what.”

“Okay, just checkin’. But you were saying, aside from the trotting?”

“Umm, second drill was wing push-ups.”

Apple Bloom checked Rumble’s wings. “Those things don’t look long enough to reach to the ground. And, are your wings the same size as Scootaloo’s?”

“Uhuh. Here, you can check. Hold out your arm.” 

He stretched his right wing out and let Apple Bloom measure with her arm. She had to suppress a blush from feeling his warm pulse, too. To the girl’s best recollection, he was about on par with Scootaloo’s wingspan. “Huh. Weird, I always figured her wings were kinda small compared to a regular pegasus. No offense.”

“None taken. But who told you they were small?”

“She did.” She withdrew her arm, letting him fold his wing back. 

Rumble nodded sagely. “Well, there you go. You can’t judge the size of a body part just by looking down at yourself; you need a mirror. Otherwise perspective gets in the way and things seem a lot smaller than they really are. So you can tell her to relax about that. It’s not the size that counts, anyway, it’s how you use it.”

“I think she’ll be happy to hear that. Did you learn that at the tornado thing, too?”

He smiled nervously and blushed. “Umm, no, most ponies learn that sooner or later. Well, most colts do. It’s a boy thing, you wouldn’t understand.”

Apple Bloom grumbled pensively at that. Maybe Big Macintosh could shed some light on that matter.

“Anyway,” Rumble continued, “if your wings are too small to push up on, you just find a pair of chairs or something else to push against. That works just fine.”

“And how many can you do? Push-ups, I mean?”

“Well, I don’t have any chairs here, but regular ones?” Rumble shrugged and proceeded to do his reps right in front of her.

“Umm, wait, I didn’t mean…”

“Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. That’s usually when I start getting tired,” he said. 

“Oh. Huh.” The girl sounded disappointed. 

“What?”

“Oh, nothin’, just… I thought it’d be more, since you’re such a good flyer and all.”

“Oh. Umm, it depends. At that speed, I do a couple of sets for a workout. If it’s just one, I can usually only get around ten, if I go slow.”

“How slow?”

Again, Rumble showed the girl. He went down with one careful breath in, then went back up in a slow, calm, collected motion. His face contorted with the exertion, though, and his taut chest bulged. 

With his muscles tensed like that, it made Apple Bloom realise that Rumble was quite thin, actually. Girlishly so, even. He could really stand to bulk up some more. 

Again, he went down, and up, slowly. 

Silence fell between them. Apple Bloom didn’t want to interrupt his training, after all. When he got to ten, his face was red. 

“Just like that.” He got back up and returned to his seat. 

“You do that every day?”

“No, of course not. That’d be silly.”

Oh, good, so he’s not completely overdoin’ it, at least.

“Muscles don’t grow when you overwork them, you gotta give them rest, and stretch them out in time. I only do that once or twice a week, not even every week. Wouldn’t wanna bulk up too much, after all.” He chuckled nervously.

Just mostly overdoing it, then. Apple Bloom tilted her head, confused. “Why not? You wouldn’t look half bad with a bigger chest. You’re obviously willin’ to work for it. Not that you look bad now, I mean-”

“I need speed,” he interrupted before she could make an even bigger fool of herself. “So I need to be built like Rainbow Dash or Spitfire.”

“Or Thunderlane or Soarin’,” Apple Bloom said. 

Rumble looked away. “Yeah. Them, too. Wonderbolts are hard and lean. I can’t afford to lose any speed for bulk. Look at what happened to Bulk Biceps at the Equestria Games.”

Judging from how his ears fell when he said it, she figured that was another sore spot for the boy. “Okay, so you were doin’ the exercises for Wonderbolts physique. You’ve seen Scootaloo, think she’s got what it takes?”

“If she’d been airborne by the time tornado duty rolled around, she would have been able to keep up, I’m sure. But that’s the thing: muscle first, magic second. Pegasus bodies are temples. You have to maintain them properly for the magic to stay.”

“What about Fluttershy, then?”

He fell silent. His jaw almost clenched at the mention of that name. Almost. “What about her?”

“I heard Fluttershy couldn’t fly, either. You were there when she went to practice, do you know why?”

He smiled at that. “Oh, Fluttershy could fly. She just, umm, didn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“She left after the first measurement.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Really? That ain’t how I heard it.”

“Then what did you hear?”

“I heard a couple of bullies made fun of her and chased her off.”

“Flitter and Cloud Chaser are not bullies,” Rumble replied. “They weren’t even talking to her; they were talking to each other. One of them giggled, right when Fluttershy went past, and then she just… stopped, in the middle of her measurement. She cried and ran, over nothing.”

“Oh, okay. And was there anything wrong with her, that you know of? Technical-like, I mean?”

He nodded. “Fluttershy has problems with confidence. That’ll work against you, big time. It blocks your magic; it’s a safety mechanism. Ponies started on land, so did pegasus ponies. If you don’t believe you can fly, your body blocks your magic. It stops you from trying, so you can’t hurt yourself. Or at least, it tries to. Do you think that might be what’s keeping Scootaloo down?”

“Gosh, good question. I don’t think so. She’s about as tough as I am. But that don’t mean I don’t get scared, wouldn’t mean she’s above it, either. Was there anything off about Fluttershy when she tried to fly? Anything to look out for?”

Rumble sighed and pondered. “Normally, when a pegasus pony gets scared, their wings lock up. Makes you a smaller target, you know? Plus, it’s easier to hide on the ground than it is in the sky. Do Scootaloo’s wings ever lock up like that? Like, fold to her sides, stop moving?”

She had to think long and hard about that one. “No. No, that ain’t ever happened. Matter of fact, I’m not so sure if I’ve ever seen her wings down at all. They’re always up.”

“Then it’s not a confidence issue. Pegasus wings, they’ve got a mind of their own sometimes. They can just pop up right out of nowhere, and they’ll stay up to look more imposing. Stand tall, look bigger, that sort of thing.”

“Like a Wonderbolt would?”

“Yeah, exactly like that. Wonderbolts always stand tall, no matter what.”

She nodded. “So, what about after? You trained with everypony else?”

“Yup. Twilight got out her notes and her abacus, and she started running the numbers, to see how close we were to the record. The first day was basic warm-up and umm, trial, triage? Something like that,” he explained. “They split us up so the professional flyers wouldn’t be doing the same routines as the others. You had the faster ones, who were already over ten, and the slower ones, who couldn’t even make seven. In between that, you had the biggest bunch: the ponies who didn’t fly for a living, but who were in pretty decent shape.”

“Oh, and that’s where you were, too, huh?”

He shook his head. “No, actually.”

“Really? Oh, you got put into the faster crowd with your brother, huh?”





Rumble psyched himself up as he got back to the starting line, trotting in place to warm his muscles. On the sidelines, his big brother stood, along with Flitter and Cloudchaser. Everypony else, he didn’t really know. There was one filly from around town, but she hadn’t done a test run, so he guessed she was just there to watch.

“Okay, Rumble?” Twilight called out, never looking up from her paper. “Day one, second measurement. Ready?”

“Ready!” He called out with that girly voice of his. 

“Go!” 

The boy burst out of the starting lines. He kept his arms and legs folded close to him, just like his brother had said, he kept his wings beating in a steady rhythm, never rushing ahead of the flow. He flapped and beat as hard as he could, just like before. 

Rumble rushed past the meter, then skidded to a halt. “How was that?”

“Six point six. That’s gonna be a problem,” she said, moving some beads on her abacus. “You’ll want to talk to Blossomforth about getting faster; you should be over seven by now.”

His stomach knotted. He’d failed. Then again, Wonderbolts don’t let failure stop them. It still stung, though. “Oh, okay, will do.”

Rumble turned his back to the mare, pouting to himself. “Guess I’ll be with the slower ponies, then.” He gulped. Stay strong, Rumble. Wonderbolts don’t give up.





Spike was not amused when the colt walked away. “Uh, Twilight? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“If what is a good idea?”

“Putting Rumble with the slower ponies? I mean, they’re gonna be working double time.”

Twilight still didn’t look up from her paper, except to check her abacus. “Why not? She only got a six point six after a day’s worth of training, that’s too low. Aside from the stragglers, everypony else who’s not a professional flyer already got up to seven by now, seven and a half for some. We can’t afford anyone lagging behind, not with our schedule, not if we want the record.”

“Twilight? I’m pretty sure Rumble’s not a ‘she,’ but a ‘he’. You saw him just this morning. If you just turn your head a little...”

“Uhuh. Next up: Bulk Biceps! Day one, second run, ready?”

“Yeah!”

Spike let out a private grunt. Twilight had her nose in papers and calculations. Getting her attention when she was like this was a lost cause, if the historical record was anything to go by. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?” He asked. “She’d know this better than me and you.”

“I think she said she was getting another lazy pony trying to cheat out of their duties. And know what?” She turned to look at her anemometer as the breeze hit her. “Okay, Bulk, that’s a seven point o five, you’re clear!” As soon as she said it, more beads moved on her abacus, more notes were scribbled, more numbers juggled. “See? Bulk Biceps is on schedule. We all need to be, if we want to be number one.”

“Yeah!” came another excited roar.

“Don’t you think maybe you should talk to Rumble?” The dragon asked. 

“Why? If she can’t keep up, she needs to train more, same as everypony else.”

“I don’t think you’re really listening to me, Twilight.”

“Star Hunter!” Twilight called out. “Come on, you need to get your measurements.”

Spike groaned. “Never mind.”





“Oh, this is interesting,” Sweetie Belle said, holding up a chart. “According to this, there’s a growth chart for pegasus wing power. That’s what they used for tornado training, too.”

“Really? Wait, what’s a growth chart?” Scootaloo leaned in closer. 

“It’s a schedule for what you ought to be able to do after training,” Featherweight replied. “Like, if you’re out of shape, you can get five. If you can’t even get three, you have some kind of problem.”

Scootaloo grumbled. “Oh. How does that help?”

“Well, it says here that it only takes one day of training for a pony who doesn’t control the weather for a living to get up to the level of one who does. The ponies who do it regularly just need less effort to do it, because they’re used to it and all,” Sweetie Belle explained.

“So?”

“So, once you get flying it won’t take you that long to get up to a higher wing power. Right?” Sweetie turned to Featherweight.

“That’s the idea. Foals start out around one, they can get up to three if they train really hard for, um, a month or so, I think. Everypony on tornado duty had to be up to seven wing power after day one. That was the first plateau. They had to keep up with the rest, too. The slowest ponies had to work hardest to get up to ten.”

“Even Rumble?” Scootaloo asked.

“No, of course not,” Sweetie Belle said. “He’s only a little pegasus. They wouldn’t make him get up to ten wingpower that fast, especially if he didn’t even have to fly in the tornado.”

Featherweight raised an eyebrow. 

“What?” Sweetie asked.

“You mean you didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Back when that tornado thing was going on, Rumble wasn’t just there for practice: he was there for the event. And he didn’t just train with the adults; he was on the same schedule. He worked just as hard as they did,” Featherweight explained. 

“But… you can’t do that when you’re that young, can you? That’d be like me trying to teleport already.”

“I guess no one told him,” the colt replied. “Or they did, and he didn’t care. Like I said: he’s crazy.”

Scootaloo pondered it. “So… if everypony had to train really hard to get up to ten wingpower, how did he do it?”





“I ended up with the slow ponies. My wingpower was under seven after the first day, so I got lumped in with Blossomforth, Derpy Hooves, the slower mares. Well, slower sprinters. They were all endurance flyers, mostly. Extreme long distances.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head, confused. “But… I thought you said your wingpower was crazy high.”

“For my age, yes. But for an able-bodied pegasus, it was pretty low. So I just had to practise ten times harder. And if that didn’t work, twenty or thirty times harder.”

Apple Bloom felt her heart skip a beat then. Whoa. Heard that one before. “And, umm, that training was?”

Rumble got up and started trotting in place. “Mostly this. Lots of trotting, jumping, making sure you get your breath synched, that kind of thing. And then Blossomforth had everypony do stretches, ‘coz she’s super flexible. Scootaloo knows how to stretch, right?”

Right. I’m asking for Scootaloo. Gotta remember that. Don’t get distracted. “Uh, yeah, we got that covered already.”

“Then there was wing presses.” Rumble fell silent.

“Presses?”

“Umm, you know what a bench press is?”

“Oh, like you just push a bar up?” Apple Bloom did the pushing motion with her arms.

“Yeah, like that, but with your wings. We did that, too. But I wasn’t that good at it, because, you know…”

The girl nodded in sympathy. “Still only a little pegasus, I get it. Me and my friends get into stuff like that too, sometimes. It doesn’t matter if you’re little, as long as you pace yourself. Work with what you can.”

“Uhuh. Wonderbolts learn to improvise.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head and checked his physique again. He did look suspiciously like Scootaloo in terms of leanness and muscle. Why would the two be so different? “So how much can you lift?”

“Hmm? Oh, I can-”

Boom!

Apple Bloom jumped right up.

“Umm, I can lift about this much. And hold it for a while,” Rumble said.

Looking down, Apple Bloom realised she’d jumped into Rumble’s arms, and he’d caught her. And he was holding on to her. “Oh, okay. Sorry, the thunder kinda caught me off guard there.”

“It does that,” Rumble replied, looking out at the meadows being sprinkled by the summer shower.

“Nice catch, by the way. Ever consider dancing?”

Rumble’s body tensed. ”Umm, no? Why do you ask?”

“Well, I just mean, if you can trot that well, got a good sense of rhythm, and you can lift a girl off her hooves, you’d be pretty good at it.”

“I am not a dancer,” he replied flatly. “I’m a future Wonderbolt.”

“It was only a suggestion. You can put me down now, if you like.”

Carefully, gingerly, he let her down, hind hooves first. He was so gentle, her mind wandered to fairy tales of gallant princes. “Thank you. So, umm, how do you keep track of your progress? How do you keep going?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, how do you stay motivated? Do you compete with anypony?”

“No, I don’t do competition. Or team sports. Too young, remember? At least for flying. I measure my wingpower from time to time, make lists of the moves I can do. And I get good examples to follow, you know? I have, umm, posters of my heroes. Like Spitfire, Fleetfoot, all the great Wonderbolts.”

“And Soarin,” Apple Bloom added.

Again, Rumble looked away. “All the great Wonderbolts, yeah.”

So that was the part he was touchy about. The Wonderbolt stallions. She wondered why. “What about your friends?”

“What friends?”

“Didn’t anypony cheer you on for that training?”

“Sure they did: Thunderlane, Flitter, Cloud Chaser.”

“I don’t mean that. I mean other kids, like from our class."

“What does that have to do with Scootaloo and flying?” He asked.

“Umm, well, I dunno, if, umm… if Fluttershy had problems with her confidence and that kept her down, how do you avoid that kind of problem?”

He held his head up high. “I just think about what a Wonderbolt would do. That’s all I need to do.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s it? You don’t have any friends to cheer you on? Not even Featherweight?”

“Featherweight’s not my friend, exactly. Not any more than you were with Twist, if I remember it right. We’re in the same class, that’s it.”

“See, that’s what I don’t get. Shouldn’t you be more popular by now?”

He grumbled, annoyed. “Popular, compared to what?”

“Well, compared to... “

Rumble raised an eyebrow at her.

“Compared to me and my friends. I’m surprised Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon never tried to get chummy with you.”

Rumble fixed a glare on her then.

“Oh. They did try to get chummy with you, huh?”

The boy shrugged nonchalantly. “Diamond Tiara never gave me any trouble. She’s always been nice to me.”

“But her friends?”

He chuckled. “I try to stay away when they’re in town. They don’t like boys.”

“Those Slipper girls? Yeah, I noticed. But Diamond never gave you any grief? Ever?”

“No, not her. She wouldn’t dare,” he half-threatened. “But she’s not the cheering type, either.”

“Look, Diamond’s got it rough, she doesn’t mean to. Her family’s just different.”

He nodded. “Oh, I know. Me and Diamond Tiara, we understand each other. Her mom likes me, always has. So I do hang out with Diamond Tiara when she needs a boy to chaperone. Like, Canterlot parties, that sort of thing.”

“And Silver Spoon?”

“Not her. Just Diamond Tiara. I don’t really know Silver Spoon that well.”

This threw a wrench in the girl’s thoughts. “But if she’s so nice to you, why wouldn’t she invite you to her cuteceñeara?”

He shrugged and winced. “She did. I just turned her down.”

“Oh, okay. Wait, what?”

“I turned her down, why do you ask?”

Apple Bloom took a moment to collect herself. It did not help. “Why would you turn down an invitation to one of the most important parties in school, from a girl who likes you?”

He rolled his eyes. “Because I don’t eat cake, duh.”

This finally, and immediately, explained why he wasn’t very social. “Oh, now it makes sense. You got one of them butt allergies, don’t you?”

“Butt allergies?”

“Yeah, my cousin Corny told me about it. Some ponies are allergic to glutes, so they can’t eat cake. I never did understand how that worked, though.”

Rumble did what any pony would have done and stared at her blankly. “Err, I don’t know about any butt allergies, but that’s not it. I don’t have any allergies. I lost a couple of pounds of baby-fat doing that tornado training, and I need to be careful I don’t put it back on. That’s all.”

Apple Bloom took her turn in staring blankly. “You’re kidding. You don’t even eat normal?”

“Sure I eat normal. I eat oats and milk for breakfast every day, and some fruit. And I make my own veggie wraps for lunch, and smoothies for dinner, sometimes. And I eat rice cakes for dessert.”

Rice cakes? Ugh. “But, but…”

“Do you know if Scootaloo’s eating right?”

That, Apple Bloom took as ‘don’t push the topic.’ As much as she wanted to, she let it go. “I think she is. I’ve seen her eat the same stuff I do, and I get plenty of exercise.”

“You might want to make sure, then. The breakfast of champions can make all the difference.”

She sighed and looked down. “Was it worth it?”

“Was what worth what?”

“Was losin’ weight and training that hard worth the speed boost? What difference did it make for you, I mean? How much faster did you get at the end of it all?”

“Well…”





Rumble stood by at the starting line. Just like before, Twilight had her nose in her papers, and one eye trained on the machine. “Okay, Rumble, day six, run two, ready?”

“Ready!”

“Go!”

Going to top speed didn’t hurt as much now. His wings moved all on their own, the burning in his lungs had subsided. His body was a lean, mean flying machine now. 

Plenty of energy left for more.

With a burst of sheer willpower, he blasted himself across the finish line, leaving a grey trail as he went skidding over the finish line.

“Seven point three! That’s still below what we need for the record, but it’ll do for the lifting. Bulk Biceps, to the starting line, please!”

“Wait, only seven point three? Didn’t I get any muh-” Rumble felt the ground shift under him. Something in his stomach knotted, and his head suddenly felt a lot heavier. 

“Whoa, there, big guy,” Thunderlane said as he picked up his little brother in mid-fall. He held a hoof up to hide a cough. “I think you overdid it a little bit.”

“But it’s not good enough,” Rumble meekly said. He clenched his eyes shut to try and will away the headrush that had built up. 

“Aww, don’t worry, Rumble, we’ve got it covered.” Cloud Chaser gave him a playful noogie and offered him a sports drink. “You just have to worry about helping get the water up, remember? Leave the record breaking to the grownups. Seven point three is great, you should be proud of yourself.”

Rumble grumbled. “Maybe I shouldn’t come tomorrow.”

“Hey, no slacking off, okay?” Thunderlane said. “Rainbow Dash would never let me hear the end of it.”

“But I’m only a seven point three and everypony else is a ten. I can’t fly tomorrow; I’ll be a laughing stock.”

“You are not going to be a laughing stock,” Cloud Chaser said. “You’re gonna do your best and you’re gonna do great. Wonderbolts don’t give up, remember?”

Rumble nodded. “Wonderbolts don’t give up, Wonderbolts don’t bail. But it’s still not enough, Twilight said-”

“Twilight’s just distracted, is all. Ask her, talk to her, she’ll tell you to ease up,” Thunderlane said. 

“Everypony over twelve wingpower, gather ‘round, please?!” A mare called out. “We need to do a calibration.”

“That’s us. Talk to Twilight,” Thunderlane said, pointing towards the unicorn. “Are you good? Not dizzy anymore?”

Rumble took a long sip of the drink and got back on his hooves. “Okay, I’m good.”

He walked towards Twilight as his big brother and foalsitters went to join the other ace flyers for coordinated wind making. 

Rumble walked, he didn’t stumble. He took that as a small victory in and of itself. 

He cleared his throat when he was mere paces away from Twilight Sparkle and Spike. “Umm, Miss Twilight? I’ve been thinking.”

“So what’s the verdict, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked as she landed right next to her friend. 

Rumble stopped. The mares hadn’t noticed him yet. Even Spike was busy with his papers. 

“Well, we’re all set to get the record. Everypony’s up to ten wingpower. Almost everypony.”

Rumble let his head hang guiltily. Just three more points and he’d be there. 

“Are you sure you can’t get Fluttershy back?” Twilight asked. “Every little bit would help, especially if you want to keep the record for more than a year.”

“No,” Rainbow Dash replied. “You heard her: she’s too embarrassed about her score. She can’t fly.”

This seemed pretty obvious to Rumble. Fluttershy hadn’t been training with everypony else. He didn’t interrupt the mares, though. Wonderbolts are polite, after all, and Rumble did everything the Wonderbolt way. 

“Actually, she can, she just doesn’t,” Spike noted. “Ow!”

Rumble winced. That hit Spike took looked painful. He wasn't about to step into that. 

“Spike, that’s a terrible thing to say.” Twilight put her hoof down after slapping him. “It’s not her fault she has confidence issues. How would you like it if everypony flew with ten wingpower and you only flew with two point three?”

“I don’t have wings, Twilight,” Spike replied, straightening the spike that had gotten bent from the impact.

“Still. You wouldn’t want to do it, either.”

“No, but I’d still do it,” Spike argued. “If ponies were counting on me, I'd do it.”

Rumble let out a quiet snort. The day had passed. He’d been there when Fluttershy had gone, before he’d given it his all. He’d been flying in the breeze then. He was shaking with exertion now. It didn’t matter. He saw things clearly now. 

Fluttershy was embarrassed about her low score, just like he was. She wanted to stay home, just like he was contemplating. 

Fluttershy could run, and no one went to get her, all week long. Rumble couldn’t back out. 

He still had to ask his question. Could he stay home tomorrow? Should he?

What would a Wonderbolt do?

Twilight was busy. He doubted she’d even noticed him.

There were other ponies to consider, he realised. Other ponies who were more important than him. A Wonderbolt would do what needed to be done. A Wonderbolt wouldn’t bail out on his team mates. The other ponies of Ponyville needed him. The numbers had to match. 

Every little bit would count. Even his. 

Ponyville had to be number one. 

And he’d be part of making it so.

“Did you want something, little girl?” Twilight asked, again only looking at him sideways. She was too busy looking in the distance to where Fluttershy had fled to. 

“No, Twilight. I’m fine, thank you.”

The headrush came back. He wobbled on his hooves, but only for a moment. Like anyone on the team, he had to get up to speed. Looking forward, he saw his brother leading the charge, making a proper maelstrom with the rest of the over-twelves.

He’d be fine. He just had to pony up. He’d earn his praise if he had to. 

Even if Fluttershy could just run away and cry with no consequence. 

After all, Fluttershy wasn’t Wonderbolt material. He was. It wouldn’t have been fair to hold her to that kind of standard. He’d show her. He’d show everypony.

Rumble had always prided himself in living by Wonderbolt rules. Don’t give up, always stand tall, never bail out. There were a lot of rules, and he probably hadn’t learned all of them yet. But there was one rule he never forgot. One simple rule that kept him going.

Wonderbolts lead by example.





“I went from five points to seven, maybe eight on a good day. That’s good, but it’s nothing special. Average pro level.”

As much as he tried to hide it, Apple Bloom noticed his distress. That little quiver in his voice, the subtle shininess in his eyes, even with the rain falling nearby, he couldn’t hide it perfectly. “Okay. Just one question: if two points is nothing special, why did everypony else have to train so hard to get that?”

Rumble looked away, at the rain. 

“I mean, you said most ponies started out around five or seven, and they ended up around ten. So they all got three or five points higher, after training that hard. Why would it be less of a big deal for you?”

He shook his head. “Okay, maybe it was kind of special.”

“I don’t get it, Rumble. Why do you pretend you’re too slow? I thought you were supposed to be crazy good?”

“Says who?”

“Says Diamond Tiara, and Featherweight.”

“They don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t have anything to compare to,” Rumble argued.

“And you do?”

He sighed. “Sure. Ten wingpower, that’s something to compare to. Wonderbolt level, that’s something to compare to. Wonderbolts get ten wingpower, easily.”

“Except you ain’t a Wonderbolt, and you ain’t gonna be until you’re grown up. You do realise you can’t get up to that kind of level until you’re older, right? If grownups have trouble getting that high in a week of trainin’ their tails off, I don’t think a foal is supposed to have it easy getting that high.”

He scowled. “What would you know about that? You’re the one asking me about flight practice. You’re the one asking me about a pegasus you think should be able to fly by now. What do you know about our levels? Why do you even care how I feel about my speed? Aren’t the numbers good enough?”

She flinched. “I care because I’m tryin’ to be nice to ya, and because you seem like a nice pony, too. Numbers are good, but they gotta serve a purpose. And I’m startin’ to get the distinct impression you got on the wrong end of some pony’s lack of attention. If somepony’s done you wrong, you ought to be able to say so and talk it out.”

“Maybe if you’re the one being wronged, but not me. Things are different for some ponies.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Why are you here, Apple Bloom, really?”

“I wanted to help Scootaloo.”

“If you really wanted to help, you’d have focused on the training. You wouldn’t even think twice about anything that might upset me. You’re not interested in her; you’re interested in me. Why?”

She put a hoof up in defense. “Look, I don’t know what other girls have been saying or doing to you, but I’m not like that. I don’t want you to get upset.”

He snorted and glared at her. “You’re not here just for training tips.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then why haven’t you asked about reps or sets yet? You’ve trained for athletic stuff, your Sisterhooves Social. You know what to ask for, but that’s not what you’re doing. You think I don’t notice how you cringe every time I mention something the least bit painful? You’re not here just for Scootaloo. If that was all it was, you wouldn’t even be trying me, and least of all alone. You’d have gotten her to see a doctor, or a dietician, or a massage therapist, or a… zebra witch doctor, or any number of ponies who’d know better than me. You could have gotten everything you wanted at Twilight’s castle library. Or, better yet, you could have just asked your good friend Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle herself. But you didn’t.”

“I guess I didn’t think this through.”

His voice softened at that. “Please don’t lie to me, Apple Bloom. I’ve been friends with Diamond Tiara for way longer than you have. I know a lie when I hear one. I may not know you that well, but I know your reputation. You’re smart, and you’ve always been smart. You wouldn’t just forget to go to somepony else. You want something from me, specifically. So why don’t you stop pretending and just tell me what it is? What are you doing here, really?”

“W-well, I…”
> The Grey Area
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well?” Rumble folded his arms in front of his chest. 

“Umm, what does it look like I’m here for?”

“It looks like you’re here for a story. If you’re lying about Diamond Tiara sending you to me-”

“No, I ain’t, honest. I don’t know…”

He let out a quick snort. “Then it looks to me like somepony else wants to hear what I have to say about what happened at tornado duty. Did your big sister want to know about Rainbow Dash’s mistakes, maybe?”

Apple Bloom flinched. “Oh. Right. My big sis and her do tend play a little rough with each other.”

“Rough enough to want to get dirt on each other?”

She sighed. “Honestly? They might. But I wouldn’t get in the middle of that. They ain’t enemies or nothin', they just like testing against each other. You know what that’s like, right? Wanting to measure up?”

“Yeah, I do. But if that’s not it, then why are you more interested in me than you are in the training?” 

Apple Bloom looked away. “It’s hard to explain. I’m just looking to see what you know, honest.”

“To help Scootaloo? Or to help yourself?”

Apple Bloom looked up in surprise, huddled down to make herself small. “That obvious, huh?”

“You came out here to talk to me. So talk. Please? Are you here for your friend or for yourself?”

“I guess, if I’m totally honest… a little bit of both?”

He kept up his glare. “Go on.”

“It’s just that… me and my friends, we joke about stuff, you know? Including Scootaloo. And she laughs when we do, but… sometimes I get the feeling I’m crossin’ a line I shouldn’t. And I can’t tell when or why. I just wanted to try and find another pegasus pony who was like her, see if maybe there’s something I can keep track of.”

“What, so you need me to tell you when Scootaloo might get offended?”

“Something like that. I guess what I’m trying to say is: I don’t know where she’s coming from. When she talks, the way she moves, I don’t know how much of that is Scootaloo being Scootaloo and how much of that is Scootaloo just being a pegasus.”

“What about Sweetie Belle?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armour a couple of times, too. I think I got a pretty good grasp on what to expect from a unicorn. But for pegasi, the only ones I know personally are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. And I don’t know if you noticed it yet, but…”

“They’re both extremes, on opposite ends.”

“Yeah.”

“So why go through all this trouble? Why not ask Featherweight about it?”

“I’ve worked with Featherweight, for that old gossip column. He ain’t exactly standard issue, either, if that makes any sense.”

Much to her surprise, though, he put his arms back down and cracked a smile. A friendly, understanding smile, the likes of which she usually only saw on her family. “Oh, now I get it. That’s why you’re here: your friend can’t fly and there’s nothing you can do about it, and that’s tearing you up inside because you’ve joked about it and you don’t know if that was right. Only now that it might be a real problem, you can’t take the jokes back. You’re here because you feel guilty.”

Apple Bloom grimaced. “Don’t say that! That’s a horrible thing to say!”

“But it’s true, isn’t it? That’s why you’re here. To do something about it. Or at least try. Out of the three of you, you’re the only Earth pony. You’re the only one who can’t relate, the only one who hasn’t had that kind of scare.”

Now he getting downright offensive. “Listen, Mister-”

“No, you listen,” he interrupted. “You’re an Earth pony, and that’s different from pegasi and unicorns, and you know it. What you have is strength, and that’s not the same as magic or flight. The thing we worry about is something that never comes up for you.”

“It’s close enough,” she argued. “Earth pony strength is the same as pegasus flight or unicorn magic.”

“No, it’s not. There’s a difference, a big difference: Earth pony strength comes in sizes. You’ve got crazy strong ponies like your brother, and you’ve got weaker ones. But they’ve all got a little strength, at least. Flight isn’t like that, and neither is magic. You either have it or you don’t. There’s no grey area. Either you can fly, or you can’t. Flying a little isn’t flying at all. That’s why you’re here with me and not any other pegasus kid in town, because I’m the only one who has it. You don’t want to know if she’ll ever fly or how, you just want me to tell you that she’ll fly.”

Apple Bloom looked away and bit her lip. 

“I’m sorry if that sounds harsh. I don’t mean that in a bad way, either. It’s good that you want to help out a friend like that, really. Wonderbolts don’t bail out on their friends. But you can’t expect to somehow magically make Scootaloo fly just by asking me. Even if there’s nothing wrong with her, it’s gonna have to be ponies who know their way around flight, who can teach her, properly.”

“You mean ponies like you?”

He grumbled and looked away. “I mean ponies like Rainbow Dash, ponies who are responsible for her. The ones who are already on it.”

“But what if Rainbow Dash is missing something?”

“Why would she miss anything? She’s Rainbow Dash.”

“And she’s only one pony, a pony who can make mistakes.”

“She’s a Wonderbolt. She wouldn’t.”

“She missed you, didn’t she?”

For the briefest moment, Apple Bloom could have sworn he sniffled. “She did not. She was just distracted.”

“Same thing.”

Rumble groaned. “What do you want from me, really?”

“I wanna understand. I wanna know what happened, so that when things get rough for my friend I know what I can and can’t say. And I wanna know what it was like for you. I want to help.”

“You really want to know what it’s like? To fly?”

“Yes," she said, backing up a smidge when she realised how dangerous it was to say that around him. "But don’t go chuckin’ me into the stratosphere, now.”

He chuckled softly. “No, I’d never do something like that. I’ll tell you, it’s easy to understand. Look out at the meadows, at Ponyville. Pretend for a second you want to do some sports. Where can you run?” 

“Pretty much all over,” she replied. 

“Even at the market? Through the narrow streets? With other ponies getting in the way?”

“Okay, not everywhere. On long stretches, then. Or on the tracks.”

“On the dirt roads? Where you can trip?”

Again, she had to concede the point. “Well, no. Just through the parks, then, and some of the forest tracks.”

“Good,” he replied. “Where can you swim in Ponyville?”

“Couple of watering holes, the pond near the watermill, next to Sweetie Belle’s place.”

“And where can you fly?”

The filly looked up. “Well… everywhere. Oh.”

“There’s your answer. That’s what it’s like. Flying is the only sport you can do everywhere, without any baggage. You don’t need a pool, you don’t need a scooter. And you don’t even need space other ponies might use. If you want to fly from the library to the mountains, you can, and no one will get in the way. It’s the only sport that no one or nothing can stop you from doing. It’s the only thing you never have to skip out on. Even when it’s raining, all you have to do is get above the clouds. You’re free when you can fly.”

“And all alone.”

Rumble nodded. “Uhuh. If you really want to know what it’s like, go zip-lining, or on a balloon ride.”

“I’ve gone ziplining,” she noted.

“Then pretend there’s no line.”

She gulped. “What?”

“It’s the same thing, but with no line. No whicker basket keeping you up, just your own wings, your own strength. Just you, the sky, and gravity. That’s it.”

“That sounds scary.”

That got another friendly smile out of him. “You get used to it.”

“And what about making the weather? When you’ve got that wind magic?”

“Then you get to be in the middle of it. I’ve seen unicorn magic, it’s nothing like pegasus magic. It’s more like Earth pony magic, when you help stuff grow. You do it with your hooves.” He pointed to those hard-working hooves, that had already bucked a few trees in their day. “Unicorns do it with their heads, from a distance. Pegasus ponies throw their whole bodies into it.”

“Is that how they made that jumbo tornado, then?”

“Yup.” He nodded. “That took a whole herd of us.”

“‘Us,' as in, you too.”

Again, he nodded. “If Scootaloo ever wants to do that sort of thing, you’re going to want to make sure she’s thinking straight. It’s a lot harder than it looks.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Are you… can I ask, how that went for you, that day? I mean, what can I expect? What can Scootaloo expect, if she ever joins Rainbow Dash on the job?”





“Rumble, where’s your lazy brother?”

Lazy. After all that, Rainbow Dash still called Thunderlane lazy. “He’s in Ponyville Hospital. He’s got the feather flu.”

His heart sank when he said it. Thunderlane had been pushing himself since day one. Of course he’d kept going through a little cough, why wouldn’t he? He had to, or Rainbow Dash would have scolded him.

Just like she’d scolded Fluttershy for leaving, twice, instead of training with the rest of the pegasi. She had scolded Fluttershy for her laziness, right? 

He turned to look at Spitfire, the Wonderbolt that would be inspecting the proceedings. It was an official record attempt, after all, so no back-up would arrive, not until after they officially gave up. And with eight ponies out, that was looking likely. 

Nevertheless, like a true Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash flew up, donned her goggles, and gave a rousing speech to get everyone fired up. “Forget the record. Cloudsdale still needs water. Come on, everypony, let’s give it all we’ve got!”

Rumble donned his goggles. He fiddled with them at first, because they were too big for him. He couldn’t fly without them, though, his brother would kill him if he found out. 

He looked up at Cloudsdale. Time to make his big brother proud. Time to show Spitfire what he was made of. At the sound of the horn, the herd was off. He zipped in between a pair of mares as the wind started to kick up. 

He patted himself on the face to psych himself up. “Okay, Rumble, you can do this. Seven wingpower, eight max, it’ll have to be enough.”

The winds pushed and pulled every which way, a maelstrom of magic formed to tug at the waters below. 

His body tensed like a board, his lungs burned. Cold hit him like a hammer, his ears rang as he tried to stay stable in the onslaught. 

The winds roared and rampaged around him as he kept going in tight circles. He gave it his all. Everypony did. The howling intensified, the tremors going through his body wracked him so hard he thought the wind alone might break his bones. 

A stallion was flung off course, forcing Rumble to duck. Above him, a mare went spiralling out of control. The winds weren’t stable. The sick ponies were over-twelves, ponies who were supposed to add power and consistency to the thing. Rainbow Dash would have to compensate.

He turned to check where their leader was. Rainbow Dash was hovering over the water instead of staying in the tornado’s circles. 

And then, all too soon, the storm collapsed. 

Rumble blinked, something pushed him from his right side, and next thing he knew he’d landed in a tree. 

Something had knocked him on the head, possibly a tree branch, maybe another pony’s hoof. 

His ears rang. He barely heard a mare’s voice calling out.

“No! One more time! I gotta know we gave it our all! If I’m going down, I’m going down flying!”

He saw the source of the voice fly up. The ringing subsided just enough to recognise Rainbow Dash. 

“Come on, everypony! Let’s make this happen!”

He got up and flew back into the fray. He still had energy left to burn, and burn it he would. It didn’t matter if Thunderlane was sick. It didn’t matter if no one saw the grey little colt in the grey mass of wind. It didn’t even matter that on top of all the sick ponies, they had a slacker who, true to her name, had shied away from her duty and practice. 

He flapped and buzzed and pushed and groaned. Faster and harder he went, adding every ounce of strength he could spare to the whirling winds around him.





“So, yeah, we all had to dig deep to make it work,” Rumble said with a nervous chuckle.

“Whoa. That sounds intense,” Apple Bloom said. “But, wait a second, where were your parents, then? Wouldn’t there be more pegasi flying?”

“My mom and dad don’t work in Ponyville. Lots of pegasi don’t. There’s scheduling problems, you know? If you don’t work in the town you live in, you don’t have to fly, that’s the rule. I just figured that’s why Scootaloo’s parents didn’t join in, either.”

“Huh, yeah, Scootaloo’s... ‘parents.' Funny you should mention that.”

“What?”

“What? Oh, sorry, what happened then?”





Rumble’s ears rang with the winds rushing past him. He couldn’t feel his wings anymore, or the frogs of his hooves. 

He could feel the wetness, though. 

The water was rising. 

“Just a little… more…”





“And then the water hit critical wind level and it got shot up into Cloudsdale,” Rumble said.

Apple Bloom blinked, surprised. “Really? That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“But what about Spitfire? What did she say about it? About you?”

He looked down and idly kicked his hooves. “She gave me a little wing badge, said I was one tough kid. You know, the usual.”

Apple Bloom smiled. “Gosh. That must have been really neat. Finally got a Wonderbolt to notice you, huh?”

He blushed and turned his head away. “It’s just tornado duty. Everypony did really well, and… umm, actually, Fluttershy made more progress than I did. I found out later she showed up to the tornado, and she helped us reach the critical number. I didn’t do anything special. She did. Maybe you should ask her what she did.”

“No. No, I’m askin’ you. What did you do?”

“I already told you. I’ve told you everything I remember.”

Apple Bloom threw her arms up. “But none of that helps, consarnit! I still don’t know how I’m gonna tell Scootaloo that all she ought to do is trot and do wing presses. If it was that simple, it would have been fixed by now. Why can’t you tell me what I need to know?”

“Because you’re not listening to me. Rainbow Dash helped train everypony, including Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash knows what she’s doing, you just have to trust her. She’s a Wonderbolt, even if she’s only a reserve. Wonderbolts know better, simple as that. If things are going rough for Scootaloo, it’s because they’re supposed to be rough. She’ll get off the ground soon enough, you’ll see.”

With a resigned sigh, Apple Bloom calmed down. “Okay, if you say so.”

“I do. The rain’s stopped.”

Apple Bloom looked out at the drenched landscape. It smelled nice, she had to admit. Still, the residual chill was something she didn’t care for. “Back to practice?”

“Umm, yeah, maybe. Sorry I couldn’t be much help.”

She smiled. “That’s okay. Not your fault.”

“Look, I can tell you how to do an interval training, how to stretch, how to hold the wings when you do a dive, but none of that matters if you can’t get off the ground in the first place. So, what can you tell me? Look at me, you’ve seen me flying and hovering. Is there anything off about Scootaloo you think might matter?” He took off and hovered there, flapping his wings at a slow and leisurely pace. 

Apple Bloom thought long and hard. “No. She looks like a normal pegasus, her wings are as big as yours, or Featherweight’s. Just the way she moves them is different: faster flaps. Does that make a difference?”

Rumble landed and shook his head. “It shouldn’t. Flapping like that isn’t that uncommon. It’s different, but it works. Once the magic kicks in, you should be airborne. There’s another pegasus girl in town called Zippoorwhill, she flies like that, too.”

“But are ya sure there’s nothing you missed? No exercises she might try, no special stretches? No secret hoofshakes, any good luck rituals? Nothing your big brother does with you that Rainbow might be forgetting with her? It might be something small.”

Rumble shook his head again. “No, there’s nothing. Nothing Rainbow Dash wouldn’t know. It just takes time, honest. Some ponies fly earlier than others.”

“That ain’t helping, Rumble. What do I have to do to get you to talk? There’s gotta be somethin’?”

Rumble bit his lip. “There is one thing. Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash are both on the Weather Patrol, they’re both Wonderbolt reserves, they can take a break together. I can ask Thunderlane if next time, we can practise on the same court as Rainbow and Scootaloo. If they’re up for it, of course.”

Her ears folded back in surprise. “Umm, okay, thanks. Would that help, though?”

“You’re the one asking for second opinions. Why wouldn’t Scootaloo ask me?”

“I wouldn’t let her. You gotta understand, of the three of us, she’s the toughest one. Toughest little pony in town. Well, toughest filly, if what you said is all true.”

“I don’t lie about what I can do. Wonderbolts don’t make claims they can’t back up.”

With that squeaky, girly voice, it sounded so off. But she had to admit, he sounded sincere enough. “Then you’re made of even sturdier stuff than she is, I reckon. I didn’t want her to have to ask, is all. I’ve seen how she looks when being tough doesn’t cut it. It ain’t pretty. She always acts like the tough one for us, so I, umm...”

He smiled. “You just wanted to be there for her like she is for you.”

“Yeah. Especially after everything that’s happened. So, umm… is that it, then? What do I tell Scootaloo?”

“Tell her the truth. The only special practice I did to get faster was basic training, same as the grownups, same thing Rainbow Dash knows.”

She nodded. “You never told me how you got started, either. With the hovering. You’re sure you can’t tell me anything about how it starts?”

Rumble shrugged. “Not much to tell, no. One minute I’m in bed, next I’m hovering over the ground. That’s all there is to say. It was in kindergarten, I was too little to remember.” He raised a hoof to his chin, thinking. “Actually, now that I think about it…”

“Yeah?” The girl’s ears perked.

“There is one more thing. About Scootaloo getting offended?”

“Oh. What?” Down those ears went.

“If you’re really worried you’ve said the wrong thing, watch where she keeps her head.”

“Huh?”

“When you can fly, your size doesn’t matter as much. When you’re talking to somepony taller than you, you can just fly up to their eye level. When I started hovering in kindergarten, the teachers told me not to do that in class, because it’s disruptive. Thing is, half the time, I didn’t realise I was doing it. It took me a while, but I figured out why: they don’t want one kid who can look down at the teacher. Eye level is a lot more important for us than it is for Earth ponies and unicorns. If Scootaloo’s keeping her head down, make sure you keep yours lower when you talk to her. Pegasus ponies feel better when they’re looking down. It’s an instinct thing, I think.”

She perked up at that. “Oh. Oh, that’s good to know. Thanks, Rumble, I gotta remember that.”

“No problem.” He smiled brightly. 

“But, while we are on the subject of lookin’ up or down at somepony, are you absolutely sure you’re okay with me and my friends? And with Diamond Tiara? If you’ve got any grief against us, we can talk it out. I don’t want any bad blood between us, and if Featherweight’s wrong about you hating girls, you should say something.”

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I’m fine, Apple Bloom. I don’t need to fix gossip with more gossip, and I don’t have any bad blood. I just… I wanted to win, and I didn’t. You did, and you should be as proud of it as I would have been. Not like I don’t get any support from my family, or my foalsitters.”

“Still ain’t the same as gettin’ support from somepony who ain’t obliged to give it.”

“No. It’s not. But it’s still support.”

“Look, if we’d known you were competing for flagbearer, we would’ve asked you, honest. We didn’t mean to steal your thunder.”

Rumble shrugged it away. “I didn’t have any thunder to steal. You girls won, fair and square, nothing to say about that. Wouldn’t wanna be a sore loser.”

“Except if you have a good reason to be sore. Rainbow Dash did kinda play favourites with us, if you think about it.”

“It doesn’t matter. You girls deserved to be flagbearers more than I did. Your act was better because it showed off all the different kinds of ponies in Ponyville: an Earth pony filly, a unicorn filly, and a pegasus filly. I was just one pegasus, and solo acts weren’t allowed. Nothing else to it. That’s just what happens when you compete. You win some, you lose some. Sure, getting beaten stinks, but you gotta wash that stink off. And speaking of which, I think I’ll head home, actually, maybe take a warm bath. It’s a little damp here, still.”

“Okay. See you around, Rumble. And, umm, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s all in a day’s work for a Wonderbolt.”





Rumble slipped in and out of consciousness. His throat was dry, his head pounded. He wiggled his hooves, one by one, just to make sure they were all still attached. 

One, two, three, four, five. Wait, five? Oh, yeah, tail. Perfect. What happened?

He rolled to stand up, but found himself falling flat on his belly again. Clumsily taking his goggles off, he looked up to see the greatest city in the clouds: Cloudsdale. The weather factories were pumping out clouds again.

He’d done it. Eight wingpower, maybe even nine or ten. Fastest foal in the Ponyville skies. 

His vision went white with pain when he tried to flex his wings. Something shot down through his right wing’s muscles and stabbed him in the chest, making sure to wrench around his ribcage, too. 

“Haaa…” His mouth hung open, leaving him gasping for air. That wing was not going to fold in again, no sirree. That was one limb that had to stay very, very still right now. He didn’t like how the other one was feeling, either.

No matter. He’d done it. He’d lived up to his brother’s reputation, made his mother and father proud, like a proper Wonderbolt stallion. Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t call him a girl now. Spitfire would no doubt commend him for his effort. If the ringing in his ears would just die down, he was sure he’d be hearing his fellow flyers applaud him for his efforts.

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!”

Or it could be something else: ponies singing the praise of a mare who’d skipped out on practice, who’d cried over nothing, and only showed up late. 

There he was, battered and bruised, with his brother in the hospital. No one so much as saw him. He ran a hoof through his mane. Wet, he must have gotten hit by a stray waterspout. Either that, or he’d gotten flung away when the other ponies slowed and disbanded, his wings and stabilisers too weak to stop his momentum. Thunderlane had warned him about that. He didn’t have the same weight to throw around as the others, after all. 

Whatever it was, he’d gotten sloppy, and that had cost him. “Wait,” he rasped.

They left him. They played music, they sang, and they left him. 

They practically danced away from him. 

Looking down, he took stock of himself. Couple of bruises, a bump on the head, wings would be useless for a couple of days, and he was pretty sure his tail used to be longer. 

Which just left one option for the little ace: a long walk to Ponyville hospital. 

He took one step, then collapsed. “Ow…”

A flash of light interrupted his train of thought and misery. 

Is that… a camera?

“You look like you have an interesting story to tell.”

Rumble chuckled mirthlessly. “Hey, Namby Pamby. Can I hitch a ride to the hospital, please? I think I overdid it a little bit.”





Apple Bloom found her friends just as they were coming out of Featherweight’s office. They did not look happy. “Err, girls?”

“Did you talk to Rumble?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Eeyup. Cleared everything up, no bad blood between us or nothin’. Turns out he ain’t so bad.”

“Did he tell you about the tornado thing?”

“Sure did. I got lots of tips for ya, Scootaloo. What’s wrong?”

“You might wanna have a look at this.” Featherweight gave her the last piece from Namby Pamby. It had Rumble’s picture on it, but he looked asleep, or dead.

Apple Bloom quickly scanned the text, then gasped. “What the… they left him? He told me Spitfire gave him a wingbadge. Why wouldn’t he tell me about that? Why wouldn’t anypony else know? How did we miss this?”

“Namby Pamby never published this one,” Featherweight explained. “That was up to the new editor-in-chief.”

“Diamond Tiara. Of course, she held it back.”

“Why would she do that?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“He told me she’d never go against him. Spoiled Rich really likes him, Diamond was probably tryin’ to keep her mom happy by keeping his image intact.”

“Really? Diamond Tiara’s mother actually likes somepony in our class?” Scootaloo asked.

“I know, I was as surprised as you.”





Rumble dropped the doll in the hamper, before trudging over to the bathroom. A warm bath, that’s what he needed. 

Just something to soak in and forget his worries. Maybe some rest on his bed afterwards.

Although, thinking about it, his bedroom was really bare, now that he’d taken down all of his Wonderbolts posters. Not like he could stand to keep looking at them. 

As he turned the water on and stepped into the bath, he let his head hang and tried to will the water to wash out the thought that had gotten stuck in his head.

I’ll never be like you, will I? 

He closed his eyes and tried to breathe. He’d done the right thing, hadn’t he? He’d told Apple Bloom everything. At least, everything she wanted, one little white lie wouldn’t hurt. He hadn’t lost his temper, not really. A few snaps here and there, but nothing too serious. A Wonderbolt has to be firm when they need to be, after all.

Do I even want to be? 

A dull throb in his head roused him from his ponderings. He took the shower head down and put it in the tub, preparing to soak for a while and warm up. She hadn’t stopped his practice all that much; he’d already done his routine five times by the time she’d shown up. He only practised in the rain when he felt down in the dumps, anyway. Not like it mattered now. 

Why even try? 

He wouldn’t cry. It wasn’t right for him to cry. The girls had earned their win. Fluttershy had deserved her praise. 

He hadn’t. He still hadn’t. His flank was still blank. He still had nothing to show for it all.

Because that’s the Wonderbolt thing to do?

He took a bottle of soap and put some on his hooves. It was a present from the Rich family, a fancy musk scent that came from up in the northern provinces. It made him smell like a deer buck. It was a token of the Rich family’s appreciation for chaperoning their daughter to a high-society event in Canterlot, one of many. 

At least those ponies appreciated a future Wonderbolt.

His nose curled as he soaped up his wings.

Those ponies appreciated him, for now. 

Wonderbolts don’t quit. Wonderbolts don’t bail out.

He sighed and laid back, letting the soap work into his feathers. 

Wonderbolts lead by example.





Apple Bloom got to the end of the article. “Gosh, he did all that, for nothing? Now I really feel bad for not helping him out. No wonder he lied about it, gettin’ upstaged like that. I can’t imagine how much that hurt, bein’ grounded on top of it.”

“Speaking of being grounded, did he mention anything else, besides trotting and stuff?” Scootaloo asked with a nervous smile.

“Umm, yeah. He said it just takes time, and that it’s not something to worry about. You just get out of bed hovering one day, I guess.”

Scootaloo scrunched her nose. “Oh. Kind of like you, Featherweight?”

The colt chuckled nervously, carefully avoiding eye contact with the girls. “Err, yeah, really, that’s, umm, that’s how it is for pegasi. It just happens one day. That’s all. Nothing special. ”

Apple Bloom nodded. “But there’s more. He said you could ask Rainbow Dash to agree on a date sometime, and him and Thunderlane could go flying at the same court. Maybe if Rainbow Dash is missing something, Thunderlane would catch it.”

“Wow, that’s really nice, letting you borrow his brother,” Sweetie Belle said, having had some experience in the matter of borrowing siblings.

“And Thunderlane is a Wonderbolts recruit, too,” Featherweight said.

“You could tag along, too, if you like,” Scootaloo said. “I’m sure Rainbow Dash wouldn’t mind another flying student.”

The boy smiled and winced. “Thanks, but I don’t think I should. I’m not really into flying for stunts or races. I’ll just wait for Flight Camp, get up to speed there.”

“Suit yourself. Thanks for the help, Featherweight.”

“Any time. See you around.”

“See you around!” the girls called out as he trotted off. 

“Say, girls, another thing. About Rumble,” Apple Bloom started.

“He got a pretty rough deal at the tornado, huh?” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah. Really rough. He did all that and nopony even noticed.”

“They were just distracted,” Scootaloo said. “Rainbow Dash didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Maybe not, but… after something like that, you’d think that’d be enough to earn a cutie mark, though, right? At the very least?”

“Right. Except Rumble’s still a blank flank,” Scootaloo said.

“Think we should help fix that?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom smiled. “I don’t see why not. He’s not a bad guy, he just got a little roughed up. We do kinda owe him a little for the flagbearer thing. And that sort of help is what we do now.”

“Then it’s settled,” Scootaloo declared. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders will be getting Rumble his cutie mark. I’m sure he’ll thank us for the help.”

The End.