Showmare

The burning in her lungs and limbs became a good a sign as any that Trixie needed to stop. She backed away from the punching bag, trying to stabilize her breathing and heart rate. It had been thirty minutes since she had started the exercise. To her, this was a good amount of time. Most matches did not last past five minutes, so the chance that she became too tired to fight was almost non-existent. Still, the chance existed, and to pretend like it couldn't happen was a taunt to death itself. Which only meant that she had to improve, but not tonight. Tonight, she had done enough.

Her body fatigued, but her breath more stable, Trixie took a look at New Guy. She was curious as to how he was doing. She was shocked to find him still pounding out combos on his punching bag. His hits were much slower than earlier, but the intensity behind them did not fade. Trixie had always heard that earth ponies had stamina well beyond that of the unicorns and pegasi. Witnessing it first hand only made her believe the rumors more.

She wasn't sure what to think of what she was seeing, until she noticed a few important details. New Guy's breathing was out of control, if it could be called that. A more fitting term would be wheezing. Sweat covered his entire body, matting down is coat into sticky clumps. A faint stumble could be seen when he moved, putting his legs in awkward positions as he transitioned between hits. The one thing that did not seem off was the intensity of effort he gave to the exercise.

Though his focus showed his desire to continue, Trixie knew that his body was pushed too far. He had gone beyond the limits of what he could handle. Trixie decided to head over to him, and let him know that he should give it a rest.

"Hey." she said, now standing to his side. She made sure to stand back, knowing that a wild swing would not be in her favor. New Guy didn't respond. He kept going at the bag with his burned-out limbs, still managing for his hits to have power. "Hey!" she tried again, amping the volume a bit. This time, it worked. His head turned to look at her. His eyes shined for a moment with what would be best called cold fire, before dulling into his usual icy stare. His hits stopped as he turned to face the interruption.

Sure that she had his full attention, Trixie said, "You need to stop."

He continued to stare at her as he took in sporadic breaths, slowly working his way to speaking. "I... can't."

Trixie did not want to hear it. "You need to. No excuses."

He lowered his head, turning his stare into a glare. "I... can't."

She shook her head, not believing the foolishness that he was displaying. "You have pushed yourself too far. You need to stop before you do permanent damage to yourself. Hell, you'll be lucky if you can walk tomorrow."

"I... need to... keep going." He kept his glare, showing no signs of moving away from the bag.

Out of frustration, Trixie snorted. She couldn't believe the situation she found herself. New Guy was ready to destroy his own body without a second thought, and was unwilling to listen to reason. She couldn't guess why he would want to do something that foolish, but she knew what she had to do. Stop him. He wouldn't listen to her words, so she had to try another method. One that seemed more his language.

Trixie swung her leg out, aiming to collide with New Guy's shoulder. His eyes widened as he saw the hit coming for him, but in his tired state he couldn't react. A sharp grunt escaped from his throat as New Guy took the hit full on. He felt a surge of pain pass through his leg, forcing him to fold it in; he found himself kneeling on the floor.

As he made a move to stand, Trixie placed a hoof on the same shoulder she impacted. New Guy winced while she applied pressure to the throbbing muscle.

"Don't you even think of standing." Trixie said, looking down at him with contempt. "You are taking a break. A long one."

New Guy looked up at her. His body was showing signs that it agreed with her sentiment, but his eyes played the same song they always played. Still struggling with his breath, he tried speaking. "I... need to-"

"Shut it." Trixie said. "Trixie has just shown you a perfect example of why you should stop now. If you hadn't exhausted yourself, you might just have been able to react in time to stop her attack. You also wouldn't be in such a weak position from something so simple. And you especially wouldn't be doing this." She pushed down on New Guy's shoulder, causing him to wince more. "You are going to stop and rest, or Trixie might just have to knock you out."

They sat there for a moment, looking straight into the eyes of each other. The fire of Trixie's determination met with the ice of New Guy's stare, as neither moved. Eventually, the silence was broken by a single word uttered between labored breaths.

"Fine."

Trixie smirked, pleased in her victory. Much to the relief of New Guy, she let up on his shoulder.  "Good. Now rest up. Spend the next half-hour stretching and cooling down your muscles. Otherwise, tomorrow will be a very long day for you. And don't exercise for at least a day. You've worn yourself down too much for back-to-back sessions."

New Guy nodded, acknowledging what Trixie said. Satisfied, she nodded back, and headed for the door. She had spent enough time distracting herself. A bed was calling her name back in her room, and she felt like answering. But when she reached the doorway, a firm command stopped her from going out into the corridor.

"Wait."

Trixie turned back to face New Guy. He was standing up, looking straight at her. He was forcing his breath to go at a deep and slow pace. It was a common technique to use while the body recovered from oxygen deprivation. It was certainly helping him recover from the quick, shallow breaths he was taking earlier.

"Why did you stop me?" New Guy said, speaking through breathing out. It allowed him to speak without disrupting the rhythm his breath was at.

"Why shouldn't Trixie have? You were going too far." Trixie said, pointing her hoof at him.

"I'm going to rematch you. Letting me harm myself would help you." New Guy said.

"Look, most fighters are lucky to get one fight with a champion. Almost none get to go a second time. Trixie would be surprised if you survive the next two weeks."

"I will get another shot." he said, a tone of confidence in his voice. Trixie could have sworn she saw something in his eyes while he said that. However, it disappeared quickly, and she brushed it aside, thinking her mind was just playing games with her.

"Still," she said. "Trixie wasn't going to let you do that to yourself."

"Why would you care?"

Trixie paused at the question, thinking about the best way to answer it. It was true that she didn't have to stop him, and that letting him have at it would increase his chances of not making it to another match with her. He was a good fighter. Not to mention he had expressed his view quite blatantly that the loser should die. But she had to stop him. She debated whether or not to tell him some fabrication. Something like 'Trixie likes to play with her food before she eats it.' However, she felt a small nudge encourage her to just tell the truth.

Trixie brought her voice to a solemn tone as she talked, lowering her gaze to the ground. "Trixie knows what it's like to go too far. At first it won't make a difference. You don't feel like you did the wrong thing. Then you do it again, thinking that it will be fine. Each time is more damaging, but you feel no big difference. Eventually, you start to feel the pain. But it's too late. You've done the damage, and it's near impossible to fix it."

New Guy kept his gaze while he listened to what she had to say. When she finished he stood still, letting silence overtake the room. Trixie continued to look at the floor, knowing it would be easier to stare down than him. Eventually, the silence started to bother her. She started to shift from side to side, feeling the icy stare of New Guy on her.

"It wasn't you."

Trixie looked at New Guy, arranging her features into a look of confusion. He seemed to pick up the hint.

"You didn't ruin yourself." he stated, sure in his guess. "It was somebody else. Your body is fine."

Trixie smirked, raising an eyebrow for added effect. "Glad you think so, handsome."

New Guy gave a small snort, which Trixie guessed would be the only reaction she could get at this point. "What did they do?" he asked.

Trixie looked at him for a moment, before slowly shaking her head. A small smile played on her face while she said, "Nothing. It wasn't somebody else. It was Trixie."

"What did you do?" New Guy asked again, specifying the question to her.

Trixie took another moment to answer, pondering on whether his question warranted the truth. "You don't need to know. Besides, you should rest, and Trixie is going to bed. And if you try to pull this again tomorrow, she won't stop you. She will just let you deal with the consequences." With that she turned back to the doorway, heading out into the corridor, and going to answer the bed that was calling her.

New Guy stood looking at the empty doorway for a long moment. Shaking his head, he looked down at his hooves. He experimented with a few basic stretches, before finally easing himself into a full routine.