Rumble and a Belle {Open!}

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Sweetie trotted her way through the center of town, clearly on a mission judging by the pace of her hooves.


Judging by her smile, she was also happy to be on such a mission? Her mission, as she chose to accept it graciously, was to meet one of her schoolyard friends, Rumble.


After all, he was a good friend to her. He always supported her, hung around the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and was a blank flank just like her! They had SOOOO much in common! Of course they'd be friends!

As Sweetie squinted a bit, she could clearly spot what appeared to be the small colt in question up ahead by the Ponyville well. Smiling, she broke into a gallop of sorts, heading towards him quickly.


"Hey! Rumble, hey!"

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Rumble hopped from one side of the well to the opposite, and then to the ground. The colt was working off some nervous energy, something he seemed to have a lot of today. Sweetie Belle had asked him to meet up with her today, and that had thrown him off guard ever since. A fact that his big brother Thunderlane had teased him about since breakfast. He hadn't really hung out with Sweetie Belle outside of school, let alone without the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The gray blank flank had began hanging out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders during the winter. In the early winter he had started hanging out with Scootaloo after an incident involving Diamond Tiara, and began playing with the trio since then. His opinion of Scootaloo had changed since he started spending more time around her. No longer did they have highly drawn out arguments of who was the cooler Pegasus, Thunderlane or Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom was really friendly, and had checked to make sure he was okay when he crashed into her snow pony before yelling at him, and wasn't too mad after she found out it was just an accident. Sweetie Belle was the prettiest filly in class, and the little sister to one of the prettier mares in all of Ponyville. Somehow his brain couldn't function around her.

Case in point, when he heard her calling out to him his head snapped in her direction and he nearly tripped over his own hooves. Inwardly Rumble prayed to all three princesses that Flitter wasn't around to see that. She was one of the few ponies who knew of his crush for the Unicorn filly. "H-hey Sweetie Belle! Hows it going? Do any crusadering today yet?"

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Sweetie nearly let out a giggle as Rumble nearly tripped over himself as she approached. She stopped in front of him, still containing the laugh to a small giggle.

"Yep! Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are a bit busy today, so....I just figured we'd hang-out, you know?"


Believe it or not, Sweetie found Rumble cute to an extent. He certainly tried to act mature, which resulted moreso with him doing something silly or ridiculous. Even then, he was fun to be around.


Sweetie was more than happy to have a free day to do whatever was possible with him. They were just friends, after all.


Nothing wrong with that, right?

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"Didn't want to be stuck indoors with your sister all day?" Rumble had met Rarity twice that he could remember. Both times he had been drug in to get something nice for him to wear for fancy occasions. It wasn't the greatest of experiences for him. Bored colts tended to fidget around, foals who couldn't stay still during a fitting ran the risk of getting pricked by a pin. Words like handsome and dashing were thrown around while all he could think of was itchy and suffocating. Whoever invented ties should be sent to the moon... unless it was Princess Luna. She served her time and then some.

"Sooooo... anything you want to do? We can go crusadering for cutie marks if you want. I dunno if Scootaloo said anything but I told her I wanted to help you three out. I didn't know if you three were looking for more blank flanks to join, or if it was girls only or something." That last comment made the colt remember to do something important when he got home. He had inherited Thunderlane's tree house, and in it was a sign saying 'No Girls Allowed' that he, Shady, and Pip would hang out whenever they were up there playing. If he was going to have the girls over to his house he'd have to get rid of the sign.

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Sweetie Belle quickly shook her head in response to Rumble's second question.


"No no no! The Cutie Mark Crusaders is open for anypony who's still looking for a Cutie Mark...heck, anypony who wants to help other ponies get their Cutie Marks!"


Sweetie, for once, felt like an absolute genius explaining the CMC's mission above all. The truth was, the Crusaders hadn't ever been inquired about a member joining. It was a new experience to deal with, and Sweetie's explanation, as it went on, made it sound appealing as possible.

"-but anyways, I kinda figured we could just...hang-out, you know? Doesn't have to be Crusading..."

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Tech walked down the road in the middle of Ponyville, looking fairly weary. He'd been out on the road for awhile now, opting to do so rather than take the train in order to save a few bits. Sure he was tired, but he was also ten bits richer for it.

Ponyville hadn't been a town he had visited before. He'd heard about it though; that it was a quaint little village nestled at the base of the moutain Canterlot was on, and that the ponies who beared the "Elements of Harmony" lived here. Tech didn't really know what the Elements of Harmony were, as being a foreigner he wasn't really an expert on Equestrian mythos, but he did know those ponies were the ones who saved Equestria three times already. A pretty impressive feat in Tech's opinion. Why ponies so powerful would live in a tiny little town like Ponyville was beyond him however.

Not that all that mattered to Tech at the moment. Right now, the only thing on his mind was finding an inn so he could rest. He looked around at some of the nearby ponies. All of them seemed to be in a rush, probably too busy to help Tech at the moment (or at least too busy to want to help him).

Then, Tech spotted two young ponies talking by the well. Tech approched the two and asked, "Excuse me, but do either of you know where an inn is?"

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"I'm not in a big rush like you three to get a cutie mark, but helping sounds like it could be a lot of fun! It won't be so hard thinkin' up ideas for getting cutie marks with more ponies in the group. Joining the group seemed like a good idea. Aside from making more friends, if the group got bigger maybe Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon wouldn't pick on them anymore. Rumble was all for stuff that would prove those two wrong, or get them to stop bullying other foals.

Sweetie was taking a day off from hunting down her Cutie Mark though, and wanted to do something else today. The colt thought of what he'd do if he were with Shady, Pip, or Featherweight, but he doubted that Sweetie Belle would like to play tackle hoofball and they'd need two others for it. "Well... we could go to Sugarcube Corner, or if Fluttershys home she might let us play with some animals."[/s]

Rumble was so hung up on trying to think of things that a filly like Sweetie Belle would like to do that when he heard Tech's question he didn't quite understand it. That didn't stop his mouth from moving though. "An in is the opposite of out so it'd be inside an outside. Miss Cheerilee said that once you have an outside it's easier to find the inside of something... or was it the other way around? Once you're inside its easy to get an outside..." Rumble and homework didn't get along.

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Despite the ideas presented, Sweetie's thinking couldn't hardly wrap around Rumble's answer to the griffon's question. She immediately groaned and placed a hoof on her head.


"Wow...that hurt..." She simply quipped, trying to comprehend everything her friend just spouted-off.

"...Who are you, anyway?" Sweetie looked up and asked, turning her attention to the griffon who had spoken before.


After all, she had never even seen a griffon since Rainbow Dash's friend Gilda. She was always fascinated with the creatures that weren't ponies, because it was always something new to explore in the lands beyond Equestria...

When the creatures came, it just made exploring the amazing that much more easier, and that much more amazing.

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Tech sighed as neither of the two ponies answered his question. The colt ignored him and continued rambling on about something that was obviously unimportant, while the filly just questioned who he was.

These two were probably not the best ponies to ask... Tech thought to himself. To be fair to the filly though, he got that question a lot. Griffons were rare in Equestria as Tech knew all too well, so when one carrying a bunch of bags wanders into town, the first thing ponies say to him is usually them asking who he was. Still, it would've been nice if she had answered his original question.

"I'm Tekalius Gaensweld, though I prefer to be called Tech. I'm a mechanic that's just passing through town. If you need anything fixed, or know anyone who does, I'm the guy to ask." Tech knew it was good to get the word out as to what he did to as many ponies as possible. A little bit of advertising always went a long way to finding him some work.

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Sweetie nodded, before smiling welcomingly.


"Nice to meet you! I'm Sweetie Belle, and this is my good friend, Rumble."


The last time a griffon was in Ponyville, it was Dash's friend Gilda...a rather unpleasant visit, as Sweetie could remember. Thus, it was a WELCOME change to have a seemingly-friendly griffon around.

"Let's see...you mean like a 'hotel' inn?..."


Many ponies never gave credit for Sweetie's problem-solving. She really was excellent at it...or at least, that's what she believed she was...

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Rumble's ears flicked reflexively at hearing he was Sweetie Belle's good friend, and not just a friend. He was good friends with the prettiest filly in class. There would be time to freak out over that piece of information later on. Right now there was a new person in town that needed directions. "Oooh... a Hotel. That makes a lot more sense Sweetie Belle, good thinking." The Griffon should have just said hotel in the first place if he wanted one.

"Well there's Dreamy Cloud's place. She has clouds in some of her rooms for visiting Pegasi. She might be a bit more expensive, but the rooms are a bit nicer. Banana Pepper runs his own place too that's supposed to be a bit more affordable.

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"Yes, like a hotel," Tech said in response to the filly, who introduced herself as Sweetie Belle. To his surprise though, the colt named Rumble actually answered his question instead. Tech had just assumed he was just ignoring him.

"Thanks." Tech was about to walk off, when he looked up in the sky and realized it wasn't even close to sunset yet. It'd just be a waste if he rested so early in the day, when he could be spending this time doing something productive. Even if he was tired, Tech decided it'd be best to find something to do until nightfall.

"...Just out of curiosity, you two wouldn't happen to know anypony that would need my expertise, would you? I'm running short on bits, and I could use the work." Back where Tech came from Griffons didn't say "anypony", but it was what they said here so he figured he should too.

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This question posed by the griffon suddenly put the two foals at an awkward impasse.

After all, they weren't really requiring of any mechanical service. They simply were going to..."hang-out", really. This being the case, Sweetie hesitated, looking around awkwardly.

"W-...welllll....I guess we could use some maintenance on the Crusaders' treehouse...I mean, it's been sort falling apart lately...Maybe you could help sometime?" Sweetie offered, finally figuring out an idea for him. After all, she didn't want to say "No" to this super nice griffon, and she didn't think Rumble wanted to, either...

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"Better ask Apple Bloom's family first about that." Rumble noted as a warning. "If Big Mac or Applejack found some random person poking around their orchard they might not like it. The colt didn't want to get this stranger in trouble, but Sweetie Belle did have a good idea. With only so many family members to tend to such a large piece of land there could be some chores the griffon could do that involved fixing things.

"Applejack can be found selling apples out in the market place. She's hard to miss when she's there." Rumble gave his wings a flap wanting to move them a bit. This was a good distraction, but he still needed to figure out what he was going to do with Sweetie Belle to hang out. "Hey Sweetie Belle, want to go to Sugarcube Corner for a milkshake, then go to the playground later?"

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Rumble's proposition, in fact, snapped her back into reality that her original objective of the day was to be with him. After all, she wanted to do something fun with her friend, of course!


"Oh, sure! That sounds good!" Sweetie answers back quickly with a nod and a smile, before turning back to Tech with a more guilty look.

"You don't...'mind', do you, Mr. Gaensweld?..."