> Friendship's New Flight: Change in Direction
>  by Masterob
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Change Starts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dinky groaned, "He said sorry sis."

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

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

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

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

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

Derpy nodded, "Yes Amythest."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rumble chuckled a bit, "Yeah, awkward."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Same here", Apple Bloom said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rarity glared, "I beg your pardon!"

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

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

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

Derpy scoffed, "I doubt that."

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

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

Dinky looked bummed, "Now?"

"Yes now, come on," Derpy instructed.

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

The Crusaders waved as Derpy left with Dinky.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dinky simply smirked and walked with Derpy, though still feeling bad for Rumble.
> Sisterly Love?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Ponyville, Cloudchaser eventually caught up with Rumble, he was standing near Sugarcube Corner, he looks like he had been sobbing a little, "I Found you kiddo."

Rumble looked around her in worry, "Derpy's not here right?"

Cloudchaser shook her head, "No, just me."

Rumble rubbed a tear from his eye, "Why is my luck so bad CC? I never meant to hurt any pony, do all our friends hate me now?"

Cloudchaser pulled Rumble into a hug, "We know that Rumble, sometimes you make mistakes, it's normal, you're only Equine. But please 
know that you're still very much loved by us, a least by your brother, my sister and me included."

Rumble rubbed his nose, "Even when I make you mad?"

Cloudchaser giggled a bit, as much as he's growing up, he's still got that childlike need to him. Not surprising, even Pinkie Pie has required hugs to make her feel better, and she's a grown mare. "Even then I would love you. You're still my little guy, no matter how old you get or how mad I can be at you. You can't say anything to make me stop loving you, because we both know when the anger is gone, we would still do anything for each other. I never believe for a second you would hate me."

"Good...because I don't, you're my best friend," Rumble said with a slight sniffle.

"You too", she rubbed his mane, "And don't worry about Dinky, accidents happen."

"What accidents?" they heard, both looked to see Twilight standing there with Thunderlane.

"CC, what's wrong?" Thunderlane asked.

"Dinky fell on Rumble, and Derpy caught them and assumed he was trying something, then he flew off", Cloudchaser explained.

Twilight glared at Rumble a moment, "Why did Dinky fall on top of you?"

"She was climbing a tree, she fell and I caught her," Rumble politely explained.

Twilight stared coldly at Rumble, "And why was she climbing a tree?"

"To get a ball she kicked up there," Rumble said, starting to feel a little nervous.

"...Why was she getting the ball? Why couldn't you fly up?" Twilight asked, her shadow now casted over Rumble.

Rumble gulped, "Because she told me she wanted to do it."

Twilight's stare didn't fade, it remained strong, much to Rumble's worry. "So because she said that, you just let her, without using your common sense to tell her it's a bad idea?"

Rumble cowered a bit, "I offered to help, but she wanted to do it...so she climbed and fell, then I caught her."

"All this could have been avoided if you told them this was a bad idea, you used this caution tactic before, why not now?" Twilight asked, getting a little annoyed.

Rumble backed away a little, fearing Twilight a bit. Cloudchaser stepped forward with a glare to the Princess, "Hey back off Twilight, he already explained himself, it's not his job to keep those fillies from hurting themselves. If Dinky does something stupid, Rumble shouldn't take any blame."

"Out of my way Cloudchaser, this is between me and Rumble," Twilight demanded.

"You're scaring him!" Cloudchaser turned to Thunderlane, "Why aren't you saying something?"

"Twilight knows best, she wants what's best for Rumble, she's just helping make him a better colt," Thunderlane said.

"That's bullshit Thunderlane, she's scaring him," Cloudchaser stated, gesturing to the trembling Rumble to further her point.

"She's just explaining things to him, that's all," Thunderlane said, trying to remain calm about all this.

Twilight used her magic to pull Rumble to her, "We're gonna talk more when we get back to my place young colt."

Rumble panicked a bit, "But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Lower your tone when you're talking to me!" Twilight scolded.

Cloudchaser growled, she wanted to clonk Twilight hard, but she knew that would be a bad idea, "Just don't make this worse Twilight, otherwise you're gonna deal with me!"

Twilight glared, "Excuse me Cloudchaser, but was that a threat?"

"Call it whatever you want, I'm leaving, and when I see Rumble again he better not be scarred by your so called 'explaining'," she flew off in a huff. 

Twilight turned to Thunderlane, "Let's go Thunder"

Twilight had taken Rumble home with Thunderlane, the teen colt looking really nervous.

Cloudchaser flew back to where Applejack and Rarity were, the two had been discussing what Derpy had said, though it was mostly disagreement.

"Honestly what nerve Derpy had saying that", Rarity said.

"She's a little paranoid, ah mean Rumble learned his lesson, besides I'd rather he be the one to take their virginity. He cares about them at least, it's like having friends with benefits", Applejack said.

"Hey girls", Cloudchaser said, getting their attention.

"Hey CC, ya find Rumble?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, but then Twilight did, and she assumed the worst about him. I hate this so much, Rumble has such a delicate psyche, he shouldn't be interrogated like this, we have to do something!" Cloudchaser said.

"Right, ah say enough enough, let's go find yer sister and Fluttershy, we'll confront Twilight about this", Applejack said.

Cloudchaser nodded, "Right...what about the girls?"

Applejack looked to them, "Girls, I need y'all to go home, or rather y'all can go to yer tree house, me, Rarity and Cloudchaser need to go find Twilight!"

Apple Bloom nodded, "Sure thing sis!"

Applejack turned to the others, "Let's go"

Meanwhile in the market place, Spike waiting for a bucket of oranges to be ready, he then noticed Amethyst nest to him browsing through the fruit, "Sup Amethyst."

She turned around, "Hi Spike, nice day huh?"

"Yeah, just grabbing stuff for Twilight," Spike said.

"How are things with her and Thunderlane?" Amysthesty asked, grabbing her food.

"Pretty serious, they've only been dating a few months and they really care for each other, don't be surprised if they tie the knot sooner rather than later," Spike said with a coy grin.

Amethyst looked surprised, "Already? Wow that's fast."

"Keep in mind Thunderlane has known Twilight as a friend for quite some time, that basically warmed them up," Spike said.

"Well that's great, he's a nice guy, though hard to say that about his kid brother, that kid's a lot of trouble," Amythest complained.

"Yeah, he is, but the problem with Rumble is that he has all these mares backing him up. All the mares love Rumble because he's cute, but it's plain stupid, why should he get all this special treatment despite the crap he does? I've talked to Twilight about it, she's at least trying to straighten the kid out, but if I mention it to the others they all have something to say", Spike cleared his throat. "Applejack says to go easy on him he's just a foal, even though he's like 14 and should know better. Rarity tells me that I sound jealous and that it's not healthy on me. Fluttershy also refuses to believe he's a bad colt, I'll let that slide since she's the element of kindness, so it's in her nature. Flitter told me not to say bad things about her favorite little guy, I swear she babies him too much. Finally Cloudchaser said, and I quote, 'Shut your damn mouth you annoying little dragon, before I knock you all the way to the Crystal Empire and back', I mean seriously."

Amethyst looked surprised, "That's an issue, we need to nip this now before it gets out of hand."

Rumble nodded, "Right, come on let's go talk to Twilight."

As they walked they ran into Lyra, who simply glared at Amethyst. "What?"

Lyra continued her glare before shouting, "You stole my hairstyle!" Amethyst simply shook her head in shame and ran off with Spike, Lyra shaking her hoof, "Hair stealer!"

At Twilight's home, she is still talking with Rumble, "Do you understand why I am not too happy young stallion?" Rumble pouted with a scrunchy face as he looked away from Twilight, this caused some annoyance, "Rumble, here's the situation, the fact that you just allowed Dinky too do something that dangerous and reckless shows poor judgment, suppose you weren't fast enough and she got hurt? You're the only one there that could fly, you should know better and tell Dinky you'll handle it, not to mention that somepony could get the idea that you wanted Dinky to get hurt so that you can swoop in and 'tend' to her, this is only hurting you Rumble."

Rumble continued to look away all angry like, Twilight groaned at that, she wasn't gonna take that from him. "I don't like your behavior Rumble! I'm doing this because I love you, I just want what's best for you, we're gonna be so much closer soon."

Rumble looked curious, "How?"

Twilight blushed, "I was gonna wait until later but I just need to say it now", she cleared her throat, "Your brother Thunderlane and I...we're getting married!"

Rumble's eyes bulged and his jaw dropped, "What!?"

"We're gonna get married, two months from now we're going to be in-laws, and you'll live with me, then I can really shape up your life. You can be like my apprentice, granted you're not a Unicorn so you won't know magic but the possibilities are still there!" Twilight grinned a little. "Who knows? Maybe you can become an Alicorn Prince one day, Cadance started off as just a Pegasus too after all."

Rumble was speechless, he barely even heard the last part, not that it interested him. He likes flying, not being a Prince. But knowing that Thunderlane is marrying Twilight? He didn't want them to get married, he was still holding out hope that Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash could work something out.

"We're gonna wed in Canterlot, our families will be there, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, my brother...of course he's gonna find out through an invite, see how he likes it," Twilight said with some annoyance in her voice. "All of our friends will be there, I'll contact Pinkie and Cheese and let them plan a super great party. Speaking of which I need to send her a letter soon, same with Rainbow Dash. Maybe I can even invite Trixie and Lightning Dust, provided neither of them try to show off, do or say anything stupid. I can also Coco Pommel, she can help design my dress with Rarity, it's gonna be so great!" Twilight hugged Rumble, "You and I are gonna bond a lot, and I promise that after some strict discipline,  you're gonna be a great stallion."

Rumble wasn't gonna be able to handle this, his life was gonna take a strange turn.

Just then the door had knocked, "Go upstairs Rumble, we'll talk later."

Rumble reluctantly went upstairs, but remained close by out of curiosity. Twilight approached and found Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Flitter and Cloudchaser standing there.

"Girls, what brings you here?" Twilight asked.

"It's about Rumble, we think you're being too hard on him," Applejack said.

Twilight sighed at this, she knew how these girls could be too protective of Rumble, "You can't be serious, I'm just doing what's best for him."

Thunderlane walked up to them, "What's going on?"

Applejack walked over to Thunderlane, "You can't let Twilight do what she's doing to yer brother, it ain't good fer him."

Thunderlane sighed, "Twilight's doing what me, Flitter and Cloudchaser should have done, help him through this stage in his life. He's going through a lot, which I can relate because I've been there. and his acting out is probably understandable, though also why he need's Twilight's guidance."

"But Thunderlane, think about it...do y'all really want this fer Rumble? Cloudchaser thinks Twilight's being too strict, we just need to set a few rules and make sure he follows them, he's done well thus far," Applejack said.

Rarity stepped in, "Exactly, he's a perfect little gentlecolt, not arrogant jerk who just wants to be surrounded by mares."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "None of you can be serious right now"

"We're very serious Twilight", Flitter said.

"Yeah, back off a bit, remember me and Flitter have known Rumble longer, we can handle his discipline", Clouchaser said.

"Your discipline hasn't been working though, you're too easy on him," Twilight said.

A voice appeared by the now clear doorway, "That's an understatement"

They all turned to see Spike standing there with Amethyst.

"Oh great it's you", Cloudchaser said.

"Don't 'Oh Great' me, Twilight is absolutely right about everything, none of you have the slightest idea on how to deal with that kid, he's too spoiled," Spike said.

"Watch it Spike, Rumble isn't spoiled!" Cloudchaser said.

"I'm disappointed in you, I thought you were finally smartening up to Rumble's antics, but once he started using that charm all of a sudden he's all cute and innocent again, that's a lot of crap and you know it Cloudchaser!" Spike shouted.

Cloudchaser gritted her teeth. "Watch it Spike!"

"I mean seriously, he gets away with so many things, he barely gets punished, the one time Twilight tries to punish him, he gets dragged off too Cloudsdale, you know why? Because he's manipulating your girls, he knows that he's cute enough to get away with anything, you act like he's the most cutest creature in Equestria, it's really damn annoying honestly!" Spike complained.

Cloudchaser growled, "You know what I think? You're jealous! That's it you're just jealous that he's cuter than you and stole your spot as the cute guy with the group of mares!"

Spike rolled his eyes, "You know I'm considered a hero in The Crystal Empire right? If I wanted to be surrounded by a group of ponies to love and worship me I would go there and ask for whatever I want, but I don't, you know why? Because I know better, Twilight taught me better, she's the most perfect older sister anypony can ask for, that's something Rumble desperately needs. I don't need some mindless mares complimenting me so much, I mean don't get me wrong it's nice, but it doesn't replace true friendship."

Applejack shook her head, "This is a load of nonsense Spike, Rumble just made a few mistakes, nothing too bad."

Spike crossed his arms with a disappointed glare. "To think I had so much respect for you girls, at least for Applejack and Rarity. Applejack was a pony I looked up to because she represents hard work and honesty, and Rarity I can now just admit I had a crush on, because she was pretty and fair and knew what was right, now I almost feel ashamed to know you, look how far you've both fallen, how long before this bad behavior rubs off on your sisters?"

Rarity and Applejack looked pretty upset by what Spike said, everyone else was surprised he even said that.

Cloudchaser however had enough, "I'm not gonna stand here and let you disrespect mine and Flitter's influence on Rumble, and I won't let you disrespect Applejack and Rarity, are you jealous of their love too? Because you couldn't get Rarity?"

"Hey Applejack can have Rarity, I'm over her, maybe I can find a mare that actually has some self respect," Spike said with attitude.

Applejack glared, "Don't talk about mah mare like that Spike"

"What are you gonna do, chase me?" Spike taunted.

Applejack stomped her hoof, "Don't give me any ideas!"

Fluttershy stepped in, "Come on everypony, please stop your fighting, this isn't how friends should act!"

"Hey, I only say this because I care, I hate what Applejack and Rarity have become. Even if it's harsh I just hope they eventually snap out of this and go back to being the mares I once respected.", Spike said.

Fluttershy shook her head, "With all due respect Spike, you can handle this a little bit better."

Spike shrugged, "Probably, at this point I don't even know how to respond to any of them, really upsetting."

Thunderlane groaned in frustration, "Listen, I appreciate that you all care about my brother, but Spike's right, he needs Twilight's guidance, just trust her, she's a princess for a reason, she's Celestia's pupil for a reason, or was a pupil I think, anyway just trust her on this."

Amethyst nodded, "I think Twilight's great for that kid, she has my support"

The 5 reluctant mares glaced to each other a bit, Twilight had an idea, "Let's get Rumble here, we can work this out now." She went to find Rumble, "Rumble! We need you a moment!" She looked around, "Rumble!?" no sign, "Rumble where are you?"

As she looked for no one, we see that Rumble has left, he didn't want to be near there anymore. Between Twilight's news, plus hearing everyone yell and fight over him, it was too much.
> Accepting the Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rumble ran to the lake in the park where he sat at the edge and sobbed a bit, his tears dripping into the water.

"I hate this...I miss Rainbow Dash...why did Soarin have to come in and screw things up!?" Rumble shouted in sadness and anger. He slammed his hoof down, "Now my life sucks! Ponies hate me and I have to deal with Twilight! This isn't fair!"

He slammed the ground with both hooves and kept crying, "Damn Thunderlane, why couldn't he just work things out with Rainbow Dash?She didn't mean to break his heart, she made a mistake, she's only equine...Rainbow Dash, I miss you so much. Why did this have to happen?"

Rumble's tears flowed like a fountain, then a voice behind him called, "Rumble? What's wrong?"

Rumble turned around and saw Derpy, she looked very sympathetic for the teen colt. Rumble still felt some worry about her, "If you're here to tell me off or whatever, then do it, I don't care anymore."

Derpy shook her head, "I'm not here to do that, I came because I heard crying, then I saw you. Rumble if you're sad, then I wanna help you."

"But..." Rumble felt at a loss for words. Why is she being nice now?

Derpy held her hooves out, "Come on Rumble, you need somepony to hug, and I'm that somepony."

Rumble, despite having felt nervous around her earlier, decided to take her offer as he trotted to Derpy and hugged her close, "I hate my life! It's become the worst!"

Derpy rubbed his mane, "It can't be that bad"

"It is...but maybe I deserve it, I'm an awful colt, I hurt too many ponies, I was so selfish!" he cried onto her shoulder. 

Derpy simply patted his head, "Rumble...you just made some mistakes"

"Everypony keeps saying that, but my mistakes caused too much grief! I'm gonna end up like Trixie and Lightning Dust, hated by everypony. Maybe I should just run off with them, or just leave Equestria forever, life would be better without me."

Derpy patted him more, "That's not true, you have to know that no matter what happens that we'll always love you, if we didn't love you, we wouldn't care as much what you did. Maybe some of us were a little tough, maybe I haven't been too nice with you, but it doesn't mean I don't love you still."

Rumble looked to her with surprise, "How can you love me! I disrespected you and had slept with Dinky. You don't have to love me...oh wait...I get it, you're being kind to me so I would feel even more down."

Derpy shook her head, "No, I love you because you need it, Listen if I was hard on you it's because I want to make sure you don't repeat your mistake, I'm just worried about you."

Rumble looked up, "I love you too", he hugged her, "I'm so sorry"

"I know you are..."

Derpy just sat there with Rumble, stroking his mane a bit, she then kissed his head. Regardless of how much he's growing, to her he's still the same little colt that he's always been. Good thing he's still pretty small, it's easier to hug him, but that had to come to an end soon. "We need to get you back home."

"Get me to Twilight's, she's looking for me, I kinda ran away," Rumble said while rubbing his head sheepishly.

Derpy gasped, "You should know better!"

Rumble's ears drooped, "I told you I was a bad colt."

Derpy gave him a playful glare, "Don't worry, we'll be here for you, just don't do something like this again young colt."

Rumble nodded and walked with Derpy, but he stopped a moment, "Can you do one thing for me though before you go home?"

Derpy nodded, "Sure, what is it?"

"Twilight might ask you to send some letters, but I need to send a letter myself...I need it to get to Rainbow Dash," Rumble said.

Derpy nodded, "Sure thing my little muffin"

Rumble raised his eyebrow, "I thought Dinky was your little muffin?"

"I like having more than one type of muffin," Derpy said with her usual happiness.

Rumble chuckled and kissed Derpy's cheek, "You're so amazing."

"Thanks Rumble, you're still the sweetest little colt in Ponyville," Derpy said as the two made their way to Twilight's home.

Once Rumble got inside, all the mares approached and hugged him.

"We're so glad you're ok!" Flitter said.

"Don't scare us like that!" Applejack said.

"You had me worried a bit kid", Amethyst said.

Soon Twilight herself gave him a personal hug, "I'm so glad you're ok!" then her cheerful demeanor dropped for a serious one, "You're in a lot of trouble!"

Rumble groaned, "Great."

Twilight ruffled his mane, "We'll talk about this later though, right now I need to make an announcement to everypony", she cleared her throat, "Since I already told Rumble I figure it's best to tell all of you right now", Twilight approached Thunderlane, "Thunderlane and I are going to get married in two months."

All the mares had a jaw drop moment, this seemed very sudden. Spike however knew it was coming, so he wasn't as surprised.

"Wait! when was this decided?" Applejack asked.

"I proposed to Thunderlane last night during our date, we spent all night and all day discussing it, once everything was ironed out, he accepted the proposal. I'm gonna be sending out letters to Pinkie and Rainbow Dash so they can come to the wedding," Twilight said.

That made the mares feel unsure, "Rainbow Dash? You really think you wanna invite your fiance's ex-girlfriend?" Applejack asked.

"We know it could get awkward, but Rainbow's our friend, it's her choice if she wants to come or not, I won't blame her if she didn't. I just wouldn't feel right not inviting her, it might make her feel even more left out and I'm kinda hoping this will help her get over some things faster,then maybe we can reform that bond we all once had," Twilight explained.

Applejack wasn't sure how well this would work out, knowing Rainbow Dash, she might take it as an insult and throw the invite back at her, but decided to go along with this for now, if anything she'll do her best to straighten everything out. "Alright Twi, we'll trust you on this."

"Oh and don't tell my brother until I send the invites, I want a little payback", Twilight said with an evil smile.

The other mares nodded, though they had mixed feelings about this. While they were happy for Twilight, in Cloudchaser's mind, she still was unsure about Twilight having influence over Rumble and possibly causing too much stress. For Applejack it just didn't seem right since it seemed a bit fast and she knows Rainbow won't like it. For Rarity she wondered what this meant for the group.

Later on Twilight gave some letters to Derpy for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, though before Derpy took the letters home, Rumble gave her a letter of his own for Rainbow Dash.

As promised, Twilight gave Rumble a lecture about running off like he did and warned him not to do this again, which Rumble just nodded and agreed, not caring too much about her opinion.

Later Rumble and Thunderlane went home, they had to get ready to move their stuff into Twilight's place especially since Rumble had the Sweetie Belle treatment here, he usually stayed with his brother like Sweetie Belle stayed with Rarity. Unfortunately for Rumble, due to his running off and 'mouthing off to Twilight', was grounded to his room for the first week, as if she wasn't on his bad side enough.

Derpy had sent the letters to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash as requested by Twilight. When Pinkie got hers, she and Cheese had a mini celebration.

"Wedding party!" Pinkie shouted.

"This will be fun!" Cheese shouted.

"We'll need balloons, cakes, streamers...!"

"Confetti, Presents, Chocolate...!"

Both then spoke at the same time, "AND MUSIC!"

Pinkie sighed happily, "Never thought I'd see Twilight get married, it's so great to see."

"I wonder what their future will be like as a married couple?" Cheese wondered.

Pinkie grinned and stood heroicly as she spoke in an accent. "The Future is theirs to decide!"

Cheese looked confused, "Huh? Why are you acting silly?"

Pinkie sighed a bit. "Still not Shulk time I guess."

The two ran shrugged that bit of conversation off and ran to make their preparation, taking note of their plans at lightning speed.

Meanwhile while in her room doing her wing-ups, Soarin had approached Rainbow Dash with the letters.

"Hey babe, you got two letters, once from Twilight, and one from your friend Rumble," Soarin said.

Rainbow grew curious, "Huh? Both at once?"

"Derpy personally delivered these, she said to read Twilight's first, don't know why though," Soarin said.

"Right, I'll trust her," Rainbow Dash said, taking the mail.

She read Twilight's letter first and felt her heart sink, even though she's with Soarin, part of her still longed for Thunderlane, her biggest regret was cheating on him.

She then read the other letter, the one from Rumble, which ached her in a different way.

'Dear Rainbow Dash, I'm sure you got this letter with the other letter Please you gotta come back Rainbow Dash, I don't want my brother marrying Twilight, she's no fun. I want you to marry my brother, you were always so fun and so caring, I really wish you come back home so things go back to normal. Please Dashie...I love you, I miss you, I want to feel your hugs and kisses like you used to give me, even if it did mess with your tough girl reputation. That just shows me how much you really care about me to not care about that, just as long as you can geta smile on my face, I miss your smile, even the confident looking ones, it just shows how awesome you are. But I'm miserable without you, the only way for this to have a happy ending is if you return, if you come back to us. I hope you come back soon, Love Rumble'

Rainbow felt a tear drop come and it landed on the letter, "I love you too Rumble", she hugged the letter as if it were the young colt.

Soarin noticed her sadness and decided to leave her be for a moment, he walked out the room while Rainbow continued hugging the letter, "I miss you Rumble...but I don't know if I could give you your happy ending."

She then looked to the stars, thinking of Rumble as she did so. Rumble did the same thing from Twilight's balcony. Both missed each other so much, and both longed to be with each other again. They can only hope to get that wish soon. But one thing's for sure, things are changing a lot, handling it won't be easy, but they know they have to try. They each made one final plea, as if making a wish upon the stars.

"Please...come back to me."