Inside the living room of a cloud house a rainbow maned pegasus mare with a cyan coat aptly named Rainbow Dash and a navy blue maned pegasus stallion with a white coat named Soarin’ were both getting ready to leave for the night. The white pegasus was busy packing stuff from cupboards in the room into blue saddle bags while the cyan pegasus had something else she was busy talking to her foalsitter, making sure she knew what she was doing.
“Alright Scoots, here’s the deal,” Rainbow Dash said to the orange pegasus with a purple mane, sitting on a blue couch. “Just keep a close eye on Cool Breeze and Corona Flare. If they get hungry I’m pretty sure you can feed them, and if their thirsty get a drink for them, but keep an eye on them. Especially Corona.”
“Don’t worry, I will,” Scootaloo said.
“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said. “Make sure both of them get to bed at a good time. So that means not when you go to bed.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it,” Scootaloo said with a wave of her hoof. “I’ll make sure they’re to bed by eight. Don’t worry about it. I’ve got this. You two go and have fun.”
“Are you sure?” Soarin’ asked from across the room.
“Yeah I’m fine,” Scootaloo said.
At this point in time their daughter Corona Flare, a red pegasus filly with a red, orange, and yellow mane, wearing white slippers tightly yet comfortably around her hooves rushed into the living room at speeds that would make Rainbow Dash proud and ran past her mother to look up at Scootaloo. She had a large smile on her face, a face filled with anticipation for the night ahead.
“See, there you go,” Scootaloo said with a small smile on her face. “Something tells me I’ll have no problem keeping an eye on her.”
“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you’re so sure.”
“Go on guys!” Scootaloo said. “I’ve got this.”
Soarin’ finished packing and walked up next to his wife. As they both came together their son Cool Breeze, a light blue pegasus with a blue, light blue, green, and purple mane walked in and plopped down on the couch next to Scootaloo.
"You know you don't have to do this," Soarin' told her. "We could still go get Fluttershy to foalsit them if you wanted us to."
"Yeah, but I'm going to," Scootaloo said. "I want to. Besides, you guys both adopted me, so if anything I owe you this."
"Alright, if you're sure," Soarin' said.
“Well…see ya,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Bye mommy!” Corona Flare said. “Bye daddy!”
“Bye mom. By dad,” Cool Breeze said.
“Bye kids,” Soarin’ said.
Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ both walked away for their date. Before long after they left and the sound of the door closing resounded in the living room Corona immediately hopped onto Scootaloo’s lap, much to her surprise. Cool Breeze gave a tiny laugh at that and Scootaloo’s cry of shock.
“Alright I get it,” Scootaloo said, her vision blocked from everything except for Corona Flare. “So Corona, what to do you want to do?”
“Can we pway Battlecwoud?” Corona asked. “Canwecanwecanwecanwe?”
“I don’t know Corona,” Scootaloo said, chuckling at her enthusiasm. “Battlecloud is a two player game. Don’t you think we should play something else so Cool Breeze can play also?”
“Nah, I’m good,” Cool Breeze said. “You two can play.”
“Alright Cool, but if you want to play something, feel free to ask,” Scootaloo said.
Corona quickly got off Scootaloo’s lap and ran to one of the cupboards to grab the game. Scootaloo got down off the couch and walked to the carpet waiting for Corona to grab the game. Soon afterwards the bored was set, the pieces were on, and the game. But after only a few rounds passed, a knock on the door sounded.
“I’ll be right there!” Scootaloo yelled. She then looked back at Cool Breeze. “Hey Cool, can you start this game with your sister while I check the door?”
“Sure,” Cool Breeze said quickly. He jumped down of the couch and took Scootaloo’s place as she walked over to the door to answer it.
As soon as the door opened Cool Breeze said in as nonchalant of a voice as possible without looking up, “Rumble’s at the door.”
Corona looked up from her game with surprise, and was even more surprised when Scootaloo said from the other room “Rumble?!”
“How did yuw know that?” Corona asked. Cool Breeze just shrugged his shoulders and went back to playing the game. Corona was about to as well but then she realized something.
“Rumble?” Corona whispered to herself questioningly before she realized something. “Rumble!”
Corona’s face turned to one of anger and her fur coat turned to the color of lime green, and it wasn’t because she was a changeling. She looked behind her to the entry way where Rumble was walking into. As she looked she secretly imagined Rumble tripping and falling backwards out of the house, even though it was close to the ground.
“Hey Scootaloo,” the light gray pegasus colt with a dark gray mane said nonchalantly. “What’s up?”
“What are you doing here?” Scootaloo asked.
“Asking what’s up,” Rumble jokingly said with a smile on his face.
“I’m foalsitting Corona Flare and Cool Breeze tonight,” Scootaloo said. “Sorry Rumble. It’s Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash’s anniversary so I promised I’d do this for them. So we can’t hang out tonight.”
Corona put a smile on her face at the thought that Rumble was going to leave, but it was dashed instantly.
“You sure about that?” Rumble asked. “You said you were foalsitting right? Well do you need some help with that? ‘Cause I could help if you want.”
“Really?” Scootaloo said. “That sounds gr…I mean: I don’t need it but if you want to, then sure.”
“Of course I want to,” Rumble said. “We don’t spend a lot of time together on the weekdays, so if foalsititng is what it takes to spend time with you on a weekend, than why not.”
Rumble walked farther in and both him and Scootaloo continued on into the living room. “Hey you guys,” Scootaloo said. “Rumble’s here to help me foalsit you guys.”
“Hi Rumble,” Cool Breeze said still without looking from his game.
“Hey Cool,” Rumble said. “Only a few years ‘till you can finally start flying huh? Bet you can’t wait.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Cool Breeze said without much enthusiasm in his voice.
Rumble walked up to Cool Breeze and patted him on his head. “Don’t worry Cool,” Rumble told him. “Trust me, when you get up in the air, you’ll love it.”
“Alright,” Cool Breeze said, still without a lot of enthusiasm. “A6.”
“Miss,” Corona Flare said bitterly, alerting Rumble to her presence.
“And hey Coron…ahh!” Rumble said. When he faced her he finally noticed her unusual lime green coat. Rumble took a step back from surprise, and only really knew that was still Corona Flare because of her mane and her golden eyes.
“Hey Corona, what’s up?” Scootaloo asked, knowing what that lime green coloring meant. “What’s got you annoyed this time.”
“Nothing,” Corona Flare lied.
“Oh yeah I…forgot her coat changes colors when she’s angry,” Rumble said.
“Yeah, you get used to it after a while,” Scootaloo told him. “It’s not anything really bad, she just for some reason has unicorn magic in her instead of pegasus magic. I didn’t really get Twilight’s whole magical babble why but whatever. It’s not like it matters.”
“Yeah, I know,” Rumble said. He coughed a few times to get the nervousness out of his voice before giving Corona Flare a half smile. “So how’s it going Corona? “
Corona Flare looked up at Rumble with her annoyed expression before going back to her game. “C4,” Corona Flare said deliberately.
“Miss,” Cool Breeze said.
“Well you two keep on playing for a bit longer,” Scootaloo said. “I need to talk to Rumble for a few seconds in the other room.”
Rumble and Scootaloo both walked out of the room leaving Corona Flare and Cool Breeze alone for a few seconds. Corona Flare naturally didn’t take this well and her fur turned into a deep blue color. Also something Cool Breeze noticed from her yet she didn’t notice herself was a small rise of temperature in the air around her.
“Gweat,” Corona Flare said with all the malice a four year old could muster. “I could have had a night awone with Scootawoo, but then Rumble came here to steal her again. He’s aways stealing Scootawoo away!”
“It’s not that bad,” Cool Breeze said.
“Not that bad?” Corona Flare asked. “Rumble just took Scootawoo away from our game. And now they’re gonna ‘tawk’. Bet they aren’t doing any tawking. Rumble is gonna keep Scootawoo from playing with me.”
“Corona…” Cool Breeze said, looking to his left where Scootaloo and Rumble walked off to, but he decided not to say anything. “F5.”
“I’m gonna do something about that,” Corona Flare said. “I’m not gonna wet Rumble keep Scootawoo away from me.”
Corona got up and began walking for the kitchen, where Scootaloo and Rumble were. Cool Breeze just rolled his eyes at his sister’s behavior. He knew no matter what Corona planned to do would break them up, but he also knew the futility of trying to talk her out of it.
~
“Listen Rumble, we can’t do much together tonight,” Scootaloo said. “I have to keep an eye on Cool Breeze and Corona.”
“I know Scootaloo,” Rumble said. “I figured that out when you told me. Don’t worry about it. As I said before, we can just keep an eye on them together. That way we can hang out and you can still foalsit.”
The teenage pegasus chucked. “Besides, it might be good practice for if we have foals one day.”
“Wait…what?” Scootaloo asked, her face becoming a bright red causing Rumble to laugh.
“Don’t worry Scootaloo,” Rumble said through his laughter. “We’re still a little young for that, so we don’t have to worry about that now.”
At that moment a certain filly who’s coat was currently yellow walked into the room and hid under the table, listening in on Scootaloo and Rumble’s conversation. What she was going to do with it she didn’t know, but she didn’t care either. Anything she heard could be used to sabotage what she thought was going to be a date.
“So Rumble, need anything to eat?” Scootaloo asked.
“Sure. How about you make me a sandwich,” Rumble said, not missing a beat. Scootaloo gave him the obvious not amused look and after chuckling Rumble backtracked.
“Alright I’m kidding,” Rumble said. “Can you fix me up a sandwich? I don’t exactly know where everything is here yet.”
“What do you want?” Scootaloo asked in an annoyed voice with an eye roll.
“Daisy and lettuce,” Rumble answered.
Scootaloo flew up to the cupboards hanging high on the wall behind her. She grabbed out two slices of bread and threw them on a plate on the white table. She also grabbed a few daisies from that cupboard and put them between the slices of bread. Finally Scootaloo flew to the fridge on the wall to her left and grabbed some lettuce from there.
“There. Happy?” Scootaloo asked as she pushed the sandwich across the table at Rumble.
“Well…you could have put some mustard sauce, maybe some relish…” Rumble said jokingly much to Scootaloo’s annoyance.
“Scootaloo, I’m kidding,” Rumble said, but he got no reaction from Scootaloo. Instead Scootaloo sat in a huff and looked away from Rumble, her anger obvious.
To save face Rumble quickly walked counterclockwise around the table up to Scootaloo. While he was doing so, Corona quietly walked up to Rumble’s abandoned sandwich. While Scootaloo left the fridge open Corona looked in and grabbed some hot sauce. She proceeded to open up Rumble’s sandwich while he was distracted and poured the hot sauce in.
While Corona was doing that Rumble got up close to Scootaloo and flicked her mane away from her eyes to get her attention. Scootaloo looked up at Rumble just in time for him to plant a kiss on her. Rumble sat down and closed his eyes, reaching his right forehoof to Scootaloo’s back and massaging in circles under the base of her wings. Scootaloo’s eyes widened in surprise but she didn’t push Rumble away. Instead she enjoyed the kiss.
And while the two were kissing, Corona happened to look over and saw them. She repressed the urge to yell out “eww” and hopped back down under the table before she had to see more. Corona quickly dashed out of the room and hid behind the door, waiting for Rumble to take a bit of his sandwich.
“Trust me Scootaloo, I’m not one of those stallions that think mares only belong in the kitchen. Actually, the only place I think you belong, is in my heart,” Rumble said after breaking off the kiss. Though his mouth was still very close to Scootaloo’s and she could feel his breath on his lips. “Besides, I’m the only one between the two of us that knows how to cook anyways. I’m probably going to be cooking for you, much more then you’re going to be cooking for me.”
It took Scootaloo a few seconds to find her voice and even when she did it wasn’t strong. But when she did she said “We…should go back to keeping an eye on the kids.”
“Yeah we should,” Rumble said as he took a step back to give Scootaloo some space.
Rumble walked back to the other side of the table where his sandwich was waiting for him. While he was doing that Corona was looking on with anticipation on her now orange face. Cool Breeze walked up behind her watching the scene emotionlessly over her shoulder. They both watched as Rumble lifted the sandwich to his mouth and took a bite.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Corona Flare whispered as Rumble started chewing. But then Rumble continued eating the sandwich without pausing for a second. In fact after the first bite Rumble seemed to enjoy the sandwich more.
“Nice sandwich Scootaloo,” Rumble said. “Did you put spices with your lettuce or something? Well either way it was pretty good. I always like some good spicy food.”
“Uhh…I don’t think so,” Scootaloo said. “Whatever. You like spicy food?”
“Yeah I do,” Rumble said. “I never ordered any on our dates because I didn’t figure you would like it.”
“Are you kidding?” Scootaloo said. “I love spicy food!”
“Nice,” Rumble said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Corona Flare yelled softly as her coat suddenly turned to green.
“I told you that wouldn’t work,” Cool Breeze said.
“Fine, I need to think of something ewse then,” Corona said. “I wiw get rid of Rumble!”
Cool Breeze rolled his eyes before walking back on the couch to lie down. He figured he’d let his sister do whatever she wanted, so long as she didn't get hurt, since he knew convincing her wouldn’t work. He could see her plotting and nothing could break her thoughts.
“Alright we’re back,” Scootaloo said as she and Rumble walked back in. “So how did the game go?”
“Fine,” Corona said. “Let’s pway hide and seek.”
Corona suddenly scurried off faster than the eye could see. Both of the teenage pegasai blinked for a couple of seconds, wondering what had happened before looking uselessly around the room. After realizing that Corona obviously was not there they both stared at one another.
“What just happened?” Rumble asked.
“We have to find Corona, that’s what,” Scootaloo said. “Come on Rumble, let’s split up. I’ll search upstairs, and you search down.”
“Why do you get upstairs?” Rumble asked.
“Because that’s where all the bedrooms are,” Scootaloo said as she ran off towards the main entryway where the staircase was.
“Uhh…alright,” Rumble said to himself. He looked at Cool Breeze who was lying belly up on the couch with his forehooves behind his head and hindhooves crossed in a similar fashion to how his mother sometimes laid on clouds. “Cool, do you know where your sister might be hiding?”
“I dunno,” Cool Breeze said without opening his eyes.
“Well that helps,” Rumble said sarcastically to himself. “Guess I’m on my own here.”
Rumble once again took a look around the room before deciding to try going in the kitchen to look. When Rumble entered the kitchen at first glance nothing was off but then he noticed a bit of red on the other side of the table at the base. Rumble quickly ducked under the table and proceeded to walk around silently to surprise Corona.
As soon as Rumble walked close to the patch of red he saw he came face to face with some golden eyes that were looking angrily at him. Rumble smiled and was about to yell out that he found her, but a small yellow hoof ended up on his mouth before he was able to. Corona began smiling when that happened before she quickly hopped up and hit the base of the table.
The table shook and Corona quickly darted off. Rumble was about to walk off after her but before he was able to something suddenly landed hard on his head. It shattered into many pieces and those pieces fell to Rumble’s side, luckily not cutting him. Rumble stayed on the floor, dazed from the impact.
“Rumble broke a pwate!” Corona Flare yelled from the living room.
Before Rumble was able to get back up Scootaloo already made it back to the kitchen and stared down at him from behind. Rumble looked backwards at her and blushed. Scootaloo just rolled her eyes and groaned.
“Rumble, we were supposed to find Corona, not catch her,” Scootaloo said. “And try to be more careful.”
“But it wasn’t my fault,” Rumble said.
“Then who’s fault is it?” Scootaloo asked. “Corona’s? You know, the four year old that can’t fly yet or reach the table? Or manipulate clouds like most pegasus?”
“Well…when you put it that way,” Rumble said but it was too late. Scootaloo already walked out of the room and back into the living room. Rumble quickly got up and ran after her.
“Now where did she go?” Scootaloo asked as she looked in the living room to see nopony.
“Not only that, but Cool is missing as well,” Rumble noticed. “Great, what are those two planning now?”
“Planning?” Scootaloo asked.
Unknown to both of them, hidden behind a yellow chair in the exact direction the two were facing Cool Breeze and Corona Flare were putting a CD inside a CD player. Corona Flare had a giddy expression on her face while Cool Breeze was more annoyed that he was brought to do this. Eventually the CD was put in and Corona began pushing it out from behind the chair.
“Can I leave now?” Cool Breeze asked.
“No,” Corona Flare said. “If you leave Scootawoo and Rumble wiw see you. We need to surprise them.”
Corona Flare smiled as she got the CD player where she wanted it. She immediately turned the CD player up as loud as she possibly could. Before pressing play though, she took a quick look behind her.
“This wiw pway woud music to scare them right?” Corona asked as she looked back, but when she managed to do a 180 she noticed Cool Breeze was gone. Corona Flare quickly peaked out at Scootaloo and Rumble and saw that they were still looking around so she decided to go ahead with the plan anyways. Corona went up to the CD player and pressed play, jumped back away from the player, got low on the floor, and pressed her hooves against her ears waiting for the music to blast.
This song started out slowly and soft with a soft melody and a steady guitar beat which surprised Corona, but she hopped that it was just doing that before suddenly getting louder, like some of the songs she’s heard. But after the first twenty seconds passed that seemed completely unlikely, especially after the lyrics came up.
“What is that?” Scootaloo asked as she heard the music.
“A song I guess,” Rumble said. “I don’t know.”
The two sat there and listened to the song for a little while longer but eventually Scootaloo spoke.
“Hey…Rumble?” Scootaloo asked. “Would you…if you had the choice…” Scootaloo looked away, obviously embarrassed by what she was about to say. “You know what, never mind.”
“No, ask,” Rumble said.
“No it’s…stupid,” Scootaloo said, avoiding Rumble’s eyes.
“I don’t care, just ask,” Rumble told her. “I won’t judge you.”
“Well…would you die for me?” Scootaloo asked.
“Of course I would Scootaloo,” Rumble said. “I’d take your place no matter what.”
“Well…thanks,” Scootaloo said.
“Oh come on!” Corona yelled. “I wanted to scare them, not make them sappy! Coow Breeze towd me this was woud!”
Of course as soon as Corona yelled that the two teenagers both looked up realizing Corona was behind the chair. Corona realized this so she dashed out of the way before Scootaloo and Rumble got the idea to trap her behind the chair and ran off into the main entryway.
“There she goes again,” Rumble said.
“Come on, let’s catch her!” Scootaloo said.
“What about Cool Breeze?” Rumble asked. “We still don’t know where he is.”
“I’m not as worried about Cool as I am Corona,” Scootaloo said. “Cool Breeze is a year and a half older and actually has pegasus magic.”
“Point taken,” Rumble said. “Let’s go.”
They both ran into the main entryway, which had a door leading to the right side of the house across from them, a staircase leading to the upper floors of the house to the right, and the door leading outside to the left with a rainbow colored welcome mat on it. Beyond that the only other things in the room were a few pictures of the family.
“Great, so where did she go this time?” Rumble asked.
“You go upstairs and look around, and I’ll check the rec room across the hall,” Scootaloo said.
“Oh, so now I’m allowed upstairs?” Rumble asked.
“Yeah, ‘cause there’s less things to break up there,” Scootaloo said, without any seriousness in her voice as she walked towards the other side of the room.
“I didn’t break the plate!” Rumble yelled after her.
"I heard you the first time Rumble," Scootaloo said without looking back at him. A small smile slowly spread across her face at his annoyance.
~
Corona ran through the second floor hallway, past the master bedroom, and ran into Scootaloo’s room on the right to hide. Scootaloo’s bedroom, aside from being adorned with the usual cloud floor and walls, also had a purple carpet on the room, a Wonderbolts poster on her wall, and a large picture of her and Rumble sitting on a tree branch smiling for the camera, their tails hanging off the branch and intertwined. On the other side of the room next to the window, Scootaloo had an orange bed with a purple blanket on it, and on that same wall she had a desk with a lamp on it.
Corona Flare looked around the room, searching for the thing in that room to help her get rid of Rumble. The pegasus filly listened in on Scootaloo and Rumble talking downstairs so she knew Rumble was coming upstairs soon. That only gave her a limited amount of time to find the object she needed. And she knew just what to do to trap him.
Corona saw it on Scootaloo’s desk. Scootaloo’s diary. Something that she owned that she probably would deny to her friends she had. Corona even wonders whether Rumble knew Scootaloo owned and wrote in one, but whether he knew or not, he was about to find out.
With a hop Corona grabbed Scootaloo’s diary into her mouth, placed it in the middle of the room on Scootaloo’s carpet, opened it to a random page, and then listened. When she heard Rumble’s hoofsteps coming her direction Corona proceeded to loudly walk towards the bed so Rumble heard her, and ducked under it.
Rumble walked in to Scootaloo’s room, a room he had only been in once or twice before. As soon as Rumble walked in there, he momentarily forgot he was searching for Corona and instead just took a good look at Scootaloo’s room, taking in every detail. After a few minutes though Rumble snapped out of his reverie and proceeded to see if he could find Corona.
“Corona!” Rumble called out. “Where are you? Come out and I promise I won’t be mad!”
Rumble walked forward and it was then he finally noticed the diary lying on the floor. Rumble paused for a second when he saw the white pages contrasting with the purple carpet. Rumble wanted to look away and continue looking for Corona but he noticed his name on there. After taking a few seconds to put two and two together a thought passed through Rumble's mind.
This is Scootaloo's diary. It must be. There's nothing else it could possibly be. Scootaloo actually has a diary. Wow that's...interesting.
While Rumble was distracted Corona picked this time to slowly walk out from under the bed and around Rumble. Once she got past him without being detected the pegasus filly gave a silent cheer, her coat turning back to its natural? red. She quickly scurried off to go find Scootaloo and tell her that Rumble was reading her diary.
Meanwhile Rumble still stared at the diary, the fact that he was looking for Corona well out of his mind right now. The thought of why it was even there did pass through his mind, but it was recessive compared to a more dominant thought.
I…can look, Rumble thought. I can just take a quick peek. Just to see what Scootaloo thinks of me. She’s downstairs, so she won’t notice. And I can finally, finally see what Scootaloo thinks. Scootaloo’s…not exactly the show your feelings type of filly. She’s opened up more to me as we’ve dated but still…I can get it straight from the pony’s mouth.
Rumble moved a bit closer but then logic reached him. No! I can’t! Scootaloo…even if she doesn’t see me doing it I know she would hate me for it. Besides…I trust her. I might not know exactly how she feels about me, but I know she loves me and that’s enough. And I’m sure Scootaloo isn’t hiding anything from me that I need to know. No…I’m not going to.
Rumble closed his eyes and lowered his wings to the ground. He hesitated for a second, but after shaking his head Rumble quickly flung his right wing across the carpet, feeling it’s many furs against his feathers, until he hit the book and flipped it closed. Once closed, Rumble opened his eyes and grabbed the now closed book with his mouth.
As Rumble was placing the book on the desk Scootaloo and Corona Flare ran in. Rumble turned back nonchalantly with a smile on his face. Scootaloo gave him a questioning look, and one full of worry, so Rumble explained himself.
“I saw your diary on the floor open, so I closed it up for you and put it on your desk,” Rumble told her.
“Really?” Scootaloo asked. She looked Rumble directly in the eye, because she knew he could not lie when looking into her eyes. “Because that’s not what I heard. I heard you were reading it.”
“Nope,” Rumble said. “I looked at it sure, but I didn’t read it. I didn’t need to. I trust you Scootaloo, so I don’t think I’ll find anything in there I don’t already know.”
Scootaloo looked guilty at something, and she could tell that everybody knew that. The pegasus filly looked at Rumble, then to her diary, and she lowered her head. Scootaloo sighed before she opened her mouth to speak.
“Actually I…” Scootaloo looked at Corona. “Hey Corona, would you mind waiting outside my room for a few seconds? I have to talk to Rumble alone.”
“Fine…” Corona groaned as she left the room.
Scootaloo closed the door after her before crossing the room to her desk. Rumble got out of her way as Scootaloo walked up to it and reached her diary. Scootaloo began flipping through it, looking for a specific page and while she did she talked to Rumble.
“Actually…there is something I haven’t told you,” Scootaloo said. “You know how we can’t hang out much on the weekdays because I always head to Canterlot?”
“Yeah,” Rumble said. “Why? You just do that to go with Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash while they’re at Wonderbolt practice during the weekdays.”
“Actually…if I wanted to, I was told I could stay here during the weekdays,” Scootaloo said. “They trust me enough to stay in this house during the weekdays while they’re gone if I wanted to. But…I have other reasons for being in Canterlot. And well…here.”
Scootaloo grabbed her diary and gave it to Rumble. After that she turned to look away from him and closed her eyes. Rumble looked at the diary then back at Scootaloo. Scootaloo, feeling Rumble’s gaze, nodded to give him her confirmation.
“Well here I go again,” Rumble read. “What, no dear diary?”
“Why the heck would I do that?” Scootaloo asked. “It’s not like my diary can read what I’m writing into it.”
Rumble shrugged his shoulders and went back to reading.
“I still can’t believe I’m doing this. So what if I’m old enough now to go to prom? I shouldn’t even like prom! I’m not the kind of filly that likes doing fancy stuff like this. But I know Rumble loves doing stuff like this with me for some reason. And while I know he won’t hate me for not going to prom with him, I know how much he’ll love doing it. So I needed to take dance lessons so I don’t look like an idiot out there.”
“Dance lessons?” Rumble asked.
“Keep reading,” Scootaloo said.
“And you know what I hate most about it? I actually like it. I like taking dance class, and I’m really good at it. Something about being really good a balancing, no duh. I’ve been riding my scooter for years not so that doesn’t surprise me. Anyways, now I’m daydreaming about me showing off my slow dance moves with Rumble to a really sappy romantic song. I’d love to do that too if it weren’t for the fact that I’m sure he would laugh at me for suggesting it.
And I deserve to be laughed at. Lately I’ve been feeling really mushy around Rumble. And he’s made me feel…I don’t know, like I’m a filly? I even came up with a lovey dubey nickname for him.
Rumbly Tumbly.
…Ok it’s official. I need to see a psychiatrist. I’ve reached a new low of girly.”
“Well…there you go,” Scootaloo said. While she wasn’t trying Rumble could tell she was trying to hold back tears. “…Now you know. So…if you want to leave then…just go.”
“YES!” Corona Flare yelled from beyond the door. The two teenagers in the room ignored her.
“Why?” Rumble asked.
“Because I’m girly now,” Scootaloo said.
“Really?” Rumble asked. “This coming from the filly who joined me and my friends in a burping contest? I don’t think that’s considered girly.”
“Well yeah but…” Scootaloo started but Rumble didn’t give her a chance.
“And this coming from the filly who dive bombed a mud pile to annoy Sweetie Belle? I don’t know anypony that would consider that to be girly.”
“Yeah, but still…” Scootaloo said but one again Rumble interrupted her.
“No buts,” Rumble said. “Scootaloo with all the things I’ve heard that are considered to be girly and not girly, I doubt anypony can be completely girly, especially not you. And it doesn’t matter either way. Scootaloo, I want you to be you. You, the awesome filly that can sometimes beat me in a hoof wrestle. You the filly that gives it all whenever she can. And so long as that doesn’t change I don’t care if you have a softer mushy side.”
Rumble walked closer to Scootaloo and with his right hoof he forced her to look at him. “And as for you taking dance,” Rumble continued, “well, I’m impressed. You were willing to do something for me that you thought you wouldn’t like. What idiot would hate you for that?”
“Well…thanks,” Scootaloo said.
“So are you done yet?” Rumble asked. “Because I hate it when you’re worried about me way more then I hate you ‘becoming sappy.’”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, I’m done,” Scootaloo said. “We should probably find the kids again.”
Scootaloo and Rumble nodded to each other and both walked out of the room. Of course naturally when they walked out Corona Flare was nowhere to be seen, because that would have been too easy. When Scootaloo and Rumble noticed that they both groaned loudly.
“Well, here we go again,” Rumble said.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Let’s go.”
~
“Come on, you can think of something,” Corona said as she paced her small blue-green hooves around in her room.
Corona Flare’s room was nothing spectacular compared to the other rooms in the house. It had her bed, a desk with a book light and a radio on it that was low enough so the young pegasus filly could reach it, but it didn’t have a carpet yet and the only picture it had was one of Scootaloo giving a wing noogie to Corona while she smiled and looked up.
“I need to think of something quick,” Corona continued. “My bed time is coming up and I haven’t gotten a chance to pway with Scootawoo. I have to get rid of Rumble now.”
“Why do you need to get rid of Rumble?” asked a kidish voice snapping Corona out of her thoughts. Corona looked towards the front of her room where Cool Breeze was standing.
“Because Rumble takes time I could be spending with Scootawoo away from me!” Corona said. “Just wook at today. Rumble got to spend so much time with Scootawoo and I got none!”
“Well maybe if you didn’t spend so much time running away from them…then you might have gotten a chance to play with them,” Cool Breeze said. “Scootaloo told Rumble that she needed to keep an eye on us, and she would have played with you if you didn’t run from her.”
“No she wouldn’t have!” Corona said loudly as she went into a little temper tantrum. “Rumble would have kept her away from me! It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair!”
Corona jumped up and down, crying as she yelled those words and as she did her coat was changing from green, all the way to blue, and was beginning to whiten out. Cool Breeze saw what was happening and knew she needed to calm down now. So he quickly ran over to Corona’s desk, looked into the CD player to see what CD was in, and once he was satisfied with what was in it he pressed play.
A soft music box like tune started playing.
It took Corona a few seconds to notice the sound, however when she did she immediately stopped bouncing and listened to the sound. Corona as she listened to the sound felt her eyes becoming heavy and felt tiredness fill her. Corona went straight from nearly white to her normal red in the amount of time the song was playing. Eventually her eyes fully closed and she collapsed onto the ground, asleep.
Cool Breeze carefully lifted her up after she fell asleep and placed her in her bed. After making sure the rainbow colored blanket was wrapped snuggly around her Cool Breeze walked quietly out of the room. He then walked in the direction he knew Scootaloo and Rumble were.
~
Scootaloo and Rumble had both split up to run through the entire house, sweeping through to find Corona Flare. After they both looked through their respective sides they both returned back in the living room to report their findings. Even though they were both out of breath from running around.
“You find her yet?” Scootaloo asked Rumble.
“No,” Rumble said. “What about you?”
“I wouldn’t be asking you if I did,” Scootaloo said.
Rumble groaned. “Great,” he said as he nearly collapsed on the floor.
“Well she had to be somewhere!” Scootaloo said. “Let’s look upstairs again! We haven’t looked there in a while.”
“Alright,” Rumble said but she could tell he lost a lot of motivation.
“No, you don’t need to.”
Scootaloo looked left and Rumble looked right and they both saw Cool Breeze walk in. The young colt looked like he was about as tired as Scootaloo and Rumble were. They both could tell he was ready to sleep at any time.
“Corona’s in her bed sleeping,” Cool Breeze said. “You don’t hafta worry about her anymore.”
“Really?” Scootaloo asked, to which Cool Breeze nodded.
“I’m gonna go to bed too,” Cool Breeze said with a yawn. “Night.”
With that Cool Breeze turned around and walked away towards the main entryway and upstairs. Both Scootaloo and Rumble watched him as he left, before giving a sigh of relief when he was gone. They both then turned back to look at each other.
“Well I guess that’s it then,” Rumble said.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo replied.
“I guess that means we’re alone now.”
“I guess we are.”
“So, are you thinking about doing what I’m thinking?”
“Yep.”
Both Scootaloo and Rumble collapsed on the two sides of the blue couch, their eyes closing in the process. They both let out a sigh as they sat down, trying to relax their aching muscles. After a few seconds Rumble opened up his right wing and Scootaloo opened up her left wing and they both scooted close to each other. Once Rumble's right side and Scootaloo's left side made contact and they were pressed close against each other, they wrapped their respective wings around each other, holding each other close. With the comfort of being close to each other, Scootaloo and Rumble fell asleep, dead to the world.
~
Cool Breeze felt a combination of exhaustion and relief wash over him as he walked back to his room, even though he knew he had no reason for feeling either of those. He knew that besides tricking Corona into playing the wrong CD and getting her to fall asleep he hadn’t done too much, and the only relief he had was that Scootaloo no longer had to run around looking for her, which wasn’t really weighing down on him.
Also as Cool Breeze walked he began feeling secure and snug, like he was cuddling with his favorite blanket even though he was still a few rooms away from his bedroom, and he could feel a small bit of happiness. Cool Breeze smiled when he felt those feeling coming to him.
“Scootaloo must be happy now,” Cool Breeze said. “That’s good. I like it when Scootaloo’s happy. It’s better than when Scootaloo is sad or scared. I’m glad I helped her feel happy.”
Cool Breeze didn’t know why. He didn’t know why he knew what Scootaloo was feeing and nopony else but he didn’t care. It made him feel safe, since he knew whether Scootaloo was angry or not, and he liked it. With it he could make Scootaloo happy, and Cool Breeze was just fine with that.
Author's Note
Longest oneshot I have ever done. I really tried to go for detail here which is probably why it went so long. Also this oneshot went from what was initially going to be a straight up comedy with not much plot in it to a oneshot where Scootaloo and Rumble actually get some development into their relationship. I actually like it.
And of course naturally I have to have a twist ending. Because why not? At this point in time I swear it's almost a twist when I don't make a twist ending. But yeah Cool Breeze and Scootaloo are linked on an emotional level, to the point where they can tell how the other is feeling at the moment. Scootaloo hasn't noticed because as a teenager her emotions are much stronger than Cool Breeze's usually blocking them out, but it does go two ways. How did this happen? Well if you're asking that then you obviously haven't seen enough of my twist endings.
