Rumble propped his head up with a hoof, listening with mock interest as his friend, Button Mash, rambled on about some show the pegasus kind of remembers hearing something about before.
"I swear to Celestia, nine years all for nothing!" the brown colt exclaims, throwing his head in to his hooves.
"Dude, you're only fourteen, so what does it really matter?"
"What does it matter?" Button asks, looking back up at his friend. "It means that we met his true love in the first episode, and the whole thing could have been done within the first five minutes of the pilot!"
Rumble smiles and laughs the outburst off. "Whatever, man."
He wouldn't have even been able to tell you the name of the show being talked about, but when one of his closest friends was as wrapped up in it as he was, the colt felt obligated to try and talk about it whenever it came up, which luckily wasn't very often; he usually lied his way through a conversation such as this one anyway. However, he actually managed to get a basic understanding of the problem when he read an article about this particular show's finale the other day, so he had that going for him. Rumble saw that Button looked like he'd calmed down just a little bit, so he decided to take a shot and try and change subjects.
"So...you do anything else recently?"
"No, man, not really. Just kind of sat around, you know?"
The pegasus nodded, which brought the conversation to another stand-still. He knew, and was sure that his friend knew as well, that it was really shaping up to be just another one of those days; neither party involved had done anything whatsoever, and conversation, despite everyone's best efforts, would be drier than some of Sugarcube Corners' worst of the worst products. Even more unfortunately for the two kids, it wasn't even one yet, so, should they head home, who knows what kind of chores and errands they'd be roped in to doing. Button Mash must have been thinking this exact thought, because the next thing out of his mouth was an invitation to go hang around in their schoolyard. Rumble accepted, then started walking, with his friend moving to match him.
"So, what do you want to do over there?" he asked, glancing towards his friend, who was watching his own hooves as they made their way.
Button shrugged, which threw him off a step or two, but he fell back in line rather quickly. "We could just sit around on the swings, I guess."
Rumble mulled it over, noting that two teenages such as themselves running up and down to use the slide would look incredibly foolish, which really only left the swings. Either way, they were going to look stupid using playground equipment designed for smaller children, but it all boiled down to what would make them look less stupid.
"Alright, swings it is."
The two walked in a relative silence, each one listening to the hustle and bustle of an average Sunday in Ponyville, most of which came from the market near the center of town, where countless ponies made countless purchases in preparation of yet another week full of delicious meals and snacks. The teens talked about taking the long way to their destination, maybe even score a free bite or two if they were lucky, but decided against it when Rumble pointed out that seeing any member of either of their families could bring their day together to an abrupt end.
They passed by Sugarcube Corner, the sweet aroma of fresh cupcakes smashing its way in to their nostrils, tempting each boy to waste what little bits they had. It would have worked, too, were it not for their current task, which was to simply stay out of everyone else's way for the rest of the day. Still, that didn't mean they wouldn't try and swing back by later.
The schoolyard was directly in front of them maybe a minute or so later, and each boy was, for some reason, getting more and more excited with each step they took. Taking a quick look around, neither could see anybody else anywhere, so they decided to sprint the last few feet, then each practically jumped on to a swing. They laughed at their own ability to be as easily amused as they were by just running a few feet, then quieted back down and returned to keeping silent, neither wanting to start any conversation before the other.
A tension soon started to grow between them. Luckily, before Button Mash lost his mind and started doing anything to fill the silent void, something caught Rumble's eyes, and he quickly alerted the other colt; a white-coated female unicorn walked alone some fifty feet away, staring up at the sky as it moved. Though neither would ever admit it to their mothers (out of fear of the subject never being dropped), they did find her kind of cute from afar, and it was this common interest that finally helped their conversation pick back up.
"What do you think, man?" Rumble asked, turning away for just a moment to gauge his friend's reaction.
"Well, she looks like she could be a real looker, I'll give her that. I actually feel like we've seen her before somewhere."
The two furrowed their brows and thought long and hard, knowing that there was no possible way one would have been able to see her without the other knowing. Did she go to school with them? Was she the daughter of one of their mothers' friends? Was she even from Ponyville?
"Hey, Rumble," a feminine voice called out. It startled said pegasus out of his swing and down to the ground, which sent Button in to a small fit of laughter. The unicorn, however, didn't find the situation as humorous, as she was by his side in a flash, already helping him get back up on his hooves.
The pegasus shook to get any dirt and debris off his coat. "What the heck is your problem?! Why would you sneak up on us like that?"
"How'd you both manage to completely miss me walking over here?"
"I didn't!" Button chimed in, but shut his mouth when Rumble shot him a rather nasty look.
He turned back to the unicorn, exclaiming, "There's no way you got over here that fast! We stopped looking at you for, like, two seconds, tops!"
Button Mash joined back in, asking, "Who are you, anyway?"
The young unicorn didn't know how to respond to either of the ponies in front of her. Did they really not remember her from school? Well, that one would actually be kind of understandable, as they'd never hung out all that much, but why didn't they see her approach them? It also slowly started to dawn on her that perhaps the gray pegasus was just making one too many mountains out of a single molehill. Still, no matter what anybody's problems were, she would treat each boy the way she wished to be respected, a cheesy-sounding yet universal lesson in good manners that she'd learned way back when.
"Well, I'm Sweetie Belle - "
"Sweetie Belle, I knew it!"
"Ah, shut up, you big nerd."
Sweetie took a moment to make sure they were done talking. When she was absolutely certain they were, she began again.
"As I was saying, my name's Sweetie Belle; you two might know me as the less succesful half of Carousel Boutique, or as the filly that sat right in front of Miss Cheerilee's desk all through middle school."
"That was you?" asked Rumble, just a little bit confused.
"Yes, why? Is there a problem?"
"No, nothing's wrong, it's just...that was the only desk over by hers. What did you ever do to have to sit right there every day?"
"Dude," Button Mash cut in. "What if she was the one that was yelling 'Fuck Canterlot' during lunch?Remember that?"
"Of course I do, and she was screaming 'Fuck Chariots', you clutz." Rumble corrected.
"Now, why would anypony ever yell about that?"
"I don't know, but I'm almost one-hundred percent certain that, either way, Sweetie Belle here wasn't the one that said it."
At the mention of her name, she backed up a little bit, giving the two some not really needed room as their exchange carried on, mostly by the boys eliminating possible suspects. It hurt her just a little to know that they apparently remembered everyone but her, but she didn't care right then; she just wanted to finish telling her life's short story, and maybe hear theirs, provided they didn't turn out to be huge jerks about everything.
Finally, after what seemed like a whole school's worth of fillies, their conversation came to another end, and both ponies looked absolutely stumped. She took the silence as a chance to try and grab their attention again.
She cleared her throat and said, "I'll have you know, I didn't do anything; I chose to sit there."
Rumble snorted, but Button shut him up with a nudge.
"Yes, I chose, and I think it worked out wonderfully for my grades. I'm trying to get a real good career later on, you know, and Ms. Cheerilee said that it's better to start sooner rather than later."
The three little ponies fell silent after that, Sweetie Belle looking over both of the colts, and they themselves looking at anything but each other.
Thoughts raced through the minds of each youngster. Rumble, trying (and failing) to find the time of day using the sun's position, thought about what his brother was going to cook for dinner, and how he felt like the unicorn just a foot or so away seemed like a real teacher's pet. Button Mash, the shy kid that he was, couldn't help but be a bit embarresed by the little bit of weight he'd put on over the past summer, and sucked in his gut as best he could in hopes that Sweetie wouldn't happen to notice. Sweetie Belle herself was just trying to present herself as best she could in an attempt to make at least one new friend in the absence of her usual two.
Finally, the silence broke when Rumble spoke up, saying, "I think I do remember you now; you're Rarity's little sister, right?" She nodded, and he continued the questioning with, "Where'd your two friends go, Scooter and Applejack's sister?"
"Scootaloo and Applebloom?" Sweetie corrected.
"Yeah, them, sure. I remember you guys never really being able to go anywhere without each other."
"Well, we couldn't possibly be further apart right now. You see, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash went to Celestia knows where, and Applebloom agreed to help her sister out at some fair thing in a different town."
"Sounds rough."
And rough it was; both of her friends had departed over the past two days, and both had told her the same thing, that "they'd be back when they were back". She didn't know if they intentionally left her in the dark, but the boredom that came as a result of their abscences created a great black hole in her life that sucked all the fun out of everything.
"So, what brings you outside on this fine summer day?" Rumble asked, then both colts leaned forward in anticipation of her answer.
"Well, my sister asked me to come get some kind of fabric from the market."
"And are you going to get it soon?"
"No, I thought you guys would be a better waste of time instead."
She mentally reprimanded herself for that backhanded compliment. Now they would for sure hate her, and she'd have to spend the rest of the break wilting away inside Carousel Boutique.
Thankfully, the Earth Pony to her left brought her hopes back up when he nudged his friend and said, "Oh, looks like we've got ourselves a deserter, dude."
"What's that supposed to mean? And what are you two doing over here anyway?"
Button Mash was the first to reply. "You're a deserter, as in you've left your family and gone to do something far and away from what they want you to do. As for us, we're just hanging out; not too much to do today, and this is where we usually head when something like that happens."
"Yeah," Rumble added. "And we also may or may not be trying to avoid our families like you."
Sweetie giggled. "That's silly, because wouldn't they just come here? I mean, this is your go-to, right?"
"That's the best part; what my friend here just told you about these swings was a lie. Sure, we come here more often than some other places, but it really changes everytime we get together."
Now the unicorn was both confused and interested. Questions rushed around inside her head, but she told herself it would be easier for everyone if she didn't go snooping around in their business. Still, conversation had once again stopped for what felt like the millionth time, and she was quickly running out of things to talk about. Then, it hit her; something so simple and necessary that she almost felt stupid for not remembering to ask.
"What are your guys' names anyway?"
"I'm Rumble," the gray, winged horse said, flapping said wings for a second or two, almost as if he were trying to impress Sweetie with a show of sorts. Whatever he was doing though, she either didn't notice, or did and just didn't care.
"Button Mash," the other colt said, gesturing to his controller cutie mark.
"Wait, which came first; your name or your cutie mark?"
Button blushed, never knowing how exactly to answer the question. "Uh...well, you see, my Mom always said she knew that I'd taken a lot after my Dad, so I'd be good at something by default or whatever. Then...uh, let's see...I got the mark, and things just kind of worked out, best we can guess." He forced a small smile upon finishing.
Sweetie Belle wasn't entirely satisfied with the answer, but she nodded her understanding anyway. She did just meet two new ponies, after all, and the last thing she wanted to do was push them away before they even got close.
Rumble looked between his schoolmates, trying to figure out whether or not he wanted to spend anymore time having a pointless conversation with someone he hardly even knew. The answer came to him quickly.
"Hey, speaking of your mom, I think I hear her calling," Rumble mumbled. Button perked up and looked around, confused, but nodded shortly after, knowing that was their universal excuse for wanting to leave. Both colts hopped off of their respective swings and turned to leave.
"Wait, where are you two going?"
"Did you not hear? To go help Button's mom out."
"But I thought the whole point was to hide from her today."
"Well, yeah, but she called us out and away by name, and that's our only weakness. Are you saying you didn't hear it?"
She couldn't honestly say she did, but again did not want to say or do anything that made the two dislike her during their first actual meeting, so she simply replied, "No, I heard it. She sounds like a nice mare."
The two colts smiled and mumbled quick goodbyes before departing without another word, leaving Sweetie Belle alone beside the swingset.
"Well," she said to herself. "At least they don't hate me."
Author's Note
Thanks if you actually made it this far! As the title suggests, this will just be another teenage romance story, but hopefully I can throw in a twist or two here and there. Hope you guys and girls enjoy.
