That Time We Swapped Spit

Five months later

“Almost….almost.”

Knock knock knock

Rumble pitched backward in his chair, the knock at the door startling him out of his intense concentration. With a groan of pain and a shake of the head, he hoisted himself off the ground and wiped the guts of the sandwich he’d been so carefully constructing off of his face whilst simultaneously cursing whoever it was that had the nerve to come knocking at lunchtime. Throwing the door open a tad more angrily than he meant to, Rumble blinked in surprise when he was met snout to snout with a manically grinning Button Mash.

“She said yes!”

“What are you-” A set of light brown hooves were thrown around his neck and he was subsequently strangled in a hold that felt far more aggressive than it did jovial.

“Shesaidyesshesaidyesshesaidyesshesaidyes-” Rumble tore himself out of his friend’s grip and heaved in a handful of greedy breaths before stopping the recursive blabbering coming from the other colt with a hoof to the maw.

“Button, what the hay are you even talking about?” Button breathed into the hoof covering his maw and flexed the tension out of his limbs.

“Ok, remember like two months ago when I was trying so hard to get a date?”

“How could I forget? You came over to my house like every other day to complain about how badly your dates went.”

“This one’s different.”

“Oh yeah?’

“Yeah. She’s smart, and cute, and she’s got a great sense of humor.”

“Are you sure she isn’t just gonna stand you up like what’s her name?’

“Her name was Cyan Skies. And she didn’t stand me up. She happened to contract the feather flu the next day.”

“So why haven’t you been on a date with her since then?”

“Her sister told me she was still sick.” Rumble rolled his eyes in a way that was impossible for Button to miss.

“Button, that’s what girls tell you when they decide you’re not cool enough to be seen with.” Incredulousness slowly bled into every crevice of Button’s face.

“Are you calling me uncool?”

“No, but that’s probably why she stood you up. Take it from me, girls look for every opportunity they can to make you feel worthless.”

“Are you trying to convert me?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Rumble intoned, making his way back toward the kitchen with Button trailing a few steps behind him.

“So, what’s this lucky mare’s name?”

“Aura.”

“Where did you meet her?’

“I met her in History class. We got paired up to do a project on Equestrian Civil War.”

“Are you sure she even likes you?”

“She actually laughed at my jokes, Rumble. No mare’s ever laughed at one of my jokes before.”

“Yeah, your jokes are pretty terrible.” Button made a face at the backhoofed comment heaved in his direction.

“That has to count for something, right?”

“Any idiot can make a mare laugh, Button.”

“Yeah, but I usually can’t even talk to girls, let alone make one laugh.”

“You must be doing something right…” Rumble sighed just wistfully enough to sound offended.

“You’re kinda being a dick, dude..”

“Well, excuuuuse me if I’m not crying tears of joy for you both.” Button’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared dangerously.

“I thought we were past the whole ‘in love with Button thing.” Rumble reeled in a state of unguarded surprise that ponies who’ve taken an unexpected slap to the face usually wore.

“That’s not even what this is about!”

“Oh please, Rumble. You’re being so transparent it’s ridiculous. Every single time I came to your house complaining about my dates, you were more than happy to comfort me; but now that I finally found someone that actually likes me back, you suddenly turn into a huge dick. What gives?”

“Maybe I’m just sick of hearing you whine every time a girl dumps you.”

“You know, I don’t think that’s it, Rumble. I think you’re scared that whoever I decide to date is going to steal me away from you.” For the barest fraction of a second, Rumble’s face displayed open mouthed disbelief before quickly snapping back to guarded wariness.

“Button, you’re being an idiot.”

“No, you’re being an idiot!” Button snapped. “The whole reason that I even came over here was to because I wanted to take you to Sweetie Belle’s first gig and introduce you to my girlfriend, but i can see that you’d rather be left alone.”

“Button, this is ridiculous.”

“Enjoy spending the day alone.” At that moment, something inside Rumble snapped. The moratorium on his self control torqued like the hinges on a switchblade, and words-sharp and glinting-accosted the light brown earth pony standing in the threshold of his front door with unyielding ferocity.

“Fine, go hang out with your new girlfriend. I bet she’s a huge nerd, just like you!” Button looked back at Rumble with an absolutely scorching fire wreathing the pits of his eyes.

“Buck you.”

“No, buck you!” Rumble slammed the door hard and sunk to the floor behind it, the heated exchange leaving him with a mixture of feelings that threatened to make a roiled mess of the bile in his stomach.

What had he just done?

Rumble slumped down onto his bed as a pervasive wave of nausea seeped into him and stained his very soul a foul, sickly shade of green. Flashes of the fight a few days prior played out in Rumble’s mind almost as if they had been woven by master wordsmiths and lain out with the greatest of care on the most ostentatious of tapestries.

Every harsh, accosting word that left his muzzle with a callousness he wasn’t aware that he even possessed took a firm hold left of center of his chest. And every time he saw hurt flash in the beautiful brown eyes he swore he could lose himself in, it felt as though the gaping crater in the left side of his chest grew deeper and stretched wider.

He could very clearly see himself slamming the door now, unable to recall the number of times the horrific vision had been looping in his head. Only this time, there was a definitive spark of understanding accompanying the scene of himself slumped behind his front door, choking on a hoof sized lump in his throat.

It was the genesis of many different feelings. It was anger. It was hatred toward himself. It was a familiar sickness; but most poignant of all, it was realization. The stark realization that he may have just lost one of the things that he treasured most in his life all because of petty jealousy.

The gravity of the situation seemed to hit him all at once, forcing him further and further into the bedspread and simultaneously trying to wrench his gut in two different directions. He squirmed and writhed as it enveloped him, his eyes quickly becoming wet and irritated again.

“Fuck, I’m so stupid! Why can’t I just get over him?”

Each time he asked himself, the answer seemed more and more unreachable, like a distant memory hedged and walled off by both sorrow and a strong unwillingness to let go.

He felt a dry sob shake him, the truth beginning to taste a little more like the medicine he could not bring himself to swallow as a foal. He couldn’t leave himself to atrophie and wither away like a starving child. he needed to get up. He needed to move on.

Rising to unreliable hooves, he wobbled toward the window and threw it open. The sobering gust of wind that caressed his feathers was like renewal given physical form. He opened his wings with a flourish, the open air between him and the ground  like a challenge made to be conquered.

He didn’t think about where he was going or why, he simply threw himself out the window and flexed the muscles in his wings, the air currents shepherding him along as gracefully as a dancer would their partner. There was no urgency or anxiousness in the way that he flew, he simply let himself be carried along the breeze with a carelessness that felt liberating after his extended stint with self loathing and regret.

“Rumble!” The sudden exclamation made him teeter a bit on the wind. A quick glance in both directions confirmed the source of the noise had come from one of the buildings he was now directly above. After a grand stretch of the wings to snag more favorable air current, Rumble looped around to head back toward whoever had called out to him, coming to rest just outside a cafe of sorts.

“Over here!” The waving hoof of Apple Bloom caught his eye. He fought courageously against the apprehension in his legs as he plodded over toward the waving female and her orange pegasus friend.

“Hey, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo.”

“Pop a squat featherbrain.” A hoof connected solidly with Scootaloo’s shoulder.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom threw a corrective glare in her friends direction. “What she meant to say was ‘have a seat.”

Rumble sidled around the fence and into the vacant seat Scootaloo pulled up for him with all of the reticence of a newborn kitten. “Uh, thanks.”

“So,” Scootaloo started. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Rumble shrugged. “Just out for an afternoon flight.”

“Is that so?” Apple Bloom shifted her eyes in a way that made it  look like she was thoroughly scrutinizing her scrambled eggs instead of the light blue pegasus colt sitting across from her. However, she hadn’t quite mastered masking skepticism in her voice, a fact that Rumble was quickly picking up on

“Is there a reason you called me over here?” Rumble’s raised eyebrow seemed to be no cause for concern for Apple Bloom.

“Just wanted to talk is all. Nopony’s seen hide or hair of you in a couple days. We was gettin’ worried.” Rumble rolled his eyes and stood from his seat, gesturing to himself with his wings.

“Well, you can clearly see I’m fine.”

“But are you really fine?” Scootaloo interjected pointedly with her fork.

“Yes, Scootaloo,” Rumble flared out his wings and puffed his chest out as far as he could.  “Look at me, I’m fine.”

“Rumble…” Apple Bloom’s eye went from shifty and scheming to soft and matronly in the time it took for Rumble’s wings to reach their full span. “We heard about your fight with Button.”

Apple Bloom could only compare the loss of stability the young colt experienced over the next few seconds to the deflating of a balloon.

“Who told you?”

“Sweet Tooth.

“So you know?” The two fillies nodded.

“But before you go an’ get all sore at her, she only came to us because she didn’t know how she could help you with your whole Button problem.” Rumble’s pupils inflated as pieces began to fall into place.

“So that’s why you guys were teasing me that time I was going to Button’s house.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom smiled wryly. “We feel absolutely awful bout’ teasin’ you like that, don’t we Scoots?” A forceful nudge from Apple Bloom prompted Scootaloo into complying.

“Yeah, totally rotten.”

“And we’d be happy to help any way we can.” Scootaloo found her shoulder was getting sore from all the nudging Apple Bloom was doing.

“Totally,” Scootaloo echoed. “You got four open ears right here dude.” Rumble felt a smile split his maw for the first time in he couldn’t remember how long. However, the almost alien curvature was replaced by a noticeably more somber, contemplative evening out of his entire face before any of them remember it even having been there.

“Can we maybe go somewhere more private and talk?”

“Sure.” Apple Bloom agreed, Scoots nodding her head in assent as the trio made their way out of the cafe toward the rolling hills on the outskirts of Ponyville.