Living for Today

by Minds Eye

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Rumble, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Featherweight
Length: 885

What good are the past and future if you don't care about the now?

Rumble, the youngest participant in the rainwater tornado and hopeful future Wonderbolt extraordinaire, works too flipping hard. Featherweight justs wants him to loosen up for two seconds.

All work and no play makes Rumble a dull colt, after all.

Thanks to Lambent Dream for giving this a quick preread.

One hundred percent approved by Twilight's Library.

Published 2014-06-28 23:00:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-28 23:00:03 UTC

What do you say?

"So now you're trying to say this is a good thing?"

"A healthy thing, Rumble. Good is purely subjective."

"I don't think they'll see it that way."

"Dude, this is exactly my point! You need to lighten up."

"Easy for you—"

"'Featherweight,' yeah, I saw that coming a mile away. Try harder."

"I just don't think this is the right way to go about it."

"There's no wrong way to go about it. You just have fun. You do know what fun is, right?"

"Of course I know what fun is! Fun is riding the junk winds pumped out of the weather factory. Fun is going down loop-de-loop cloud slides. Fun is—"

"You're not in Cloudsdale anymore, kid. This is what passes for fun around here."

"Spying on fillies is fun?"

"Yeah, if you do it right, but this isn't spying. They're right out in the open."

"So are we."

"They haven't looked up, have they?"

"Why would they?"

"Exactly."

"Tabloid journalism rears its ugly head, huh?"

"Hey, Diamond Tiara can be very persuasive! She upgraded my camera for me after I took those pictures of the Cutie Mark Crusaders—"

"The same Cutie Mark Crusaders we're spying on."

"Not spying on! I'm the editor-in-chief now, and I have a reputation to uphold. The Foal Free Press no longer engages in gossip, rumors, or unfounded—"

"This from the colt that spent a weekend stalking the streets of Canterlot, looking for a close-up shot of Fleur de Lis."

"Hey, I didn't hear you complain! You were right there with me! And again, we were out in public. It isn't spying."

"And yet here we are, hovering over three unsuspecting fillies. Three fillies minding their own business, playing in the park—"

"What is with you lately? You're acting more uptight than usual."

"I am not uptight!"

"Look, man, I get it. You got yanked out of flight school and moved from Cloudsdale to earth pony central a few months ago, and then you got roped into a tornado only to get overshadowed by the weakest flyer—"

"Low."

"—the weakest flyer in town, even though you were just a colt taking on an entire tornado! I wasn't there, and I've lived here my whole life! And Fluttershy got all the glory!"

"Low!"

"Your brother was out sick too, wasn't he? I don't even want to imagine what that felt like, seeing him get fawned over by two smoking hot flanks like Flitter and Cloudchaser after he did nothing. And there was Rumble the Triumphant, standing alone."

"Low!"

"True!"

"True, but low!"

"Journalism!"

"What are you trying and oh-so-spectacularly failing to tell me?"

"That you need to let off steam! You're a good flyer—"

"Great flyer."

"The best flyer. I couldn't match you if Pinkie Pie tied lead balloons to your wings. And then knocked you out with a hammer. Tell me, what does that mean? What has that ever really done for you? Why does it matter?"

"I got to fly in the tornado! Not every pony gets to do that, and it was the most exciting thing I've ever done."

"Yeah, but it's over. Not every pony gets to do it because it doesn't happen every day. You gotta find something else to hang on to now."

"I got to fly in front of Spitfire! Not just any Wonderbolt, I flew in front of the captain! That's worth hanging on to."

"Spitfire said how impressed she was with you, huh? She pulled you aside at the victory party, ruffled your mane, and said how proud she was to see a little colt fly so well?"

"You are dead set on ruining that day for me, aren't you?"

"Not at all, but the past is the past. You got a good memory out of it, but you've done jack all since."

"Yes I have! Thunderlane is trying to get into the Wonderbolt Academy, you know. He got this training kit from them in the mail, and we've both been working with it. I'm not much worse than he is, and—"

"And you really think that means something?"

"Hey, he isn't that bad!"

"That's not what I meant. Do you really want to just sit at home until you're old enough to try out for the team?"

"It's called 'training' numbskull. You can't just clap your hooves three times and be a Wonderbolt."

"So you break your wings off working the tornado, get no recognition for it, and you still call it a win. You're going to bust your rump all over again for years and years for the chance to prove something to yourself. When all that's over... what then? How are you going to enjoy where you are if you don't know how to stop looking forward? Rumble, when are you going to just be?"

"Wow, that... that actually sounded like you know what you're talking about."

"Because I do know what I'm talking about. Look around. You know what I see? Opportunity. The world is yours, Rumble. You can't live in the past, the future will come on its own, so take control of the now."

"So this plan of yours—"

"Consider it flying practice."

"And the Crusaders—"

"Are opportunity."

"So the water balloons are—"

"Fun. What do you say?"

"Bombs away."