Author's Note

Trying something new again.

Smaller connected chapters that are pretty much just one scene each.

I usually write several scenes in one big chapter, but this way I can get them out faster and editing is more fun.
I write and edit three 2000 word chapters much faster than one big 6000+.

Tell me what you think. Do you want bigger chapters with longer waiting time or is it ok like this? I finish this "arc" and ponder my next steps according to the feedback.

No Pain No Gain 1/?

"Come on! Five more! You can do it!"

Sweat poured down in streams from Hard Knock's face as he finished his last set at the weight bench. The cheers and support of Rainbow Dash drove Hard Knock to go beyond his limits. Besides sex, flying and cider, his marefriend loved nothing more than working on her body and helping others with their fitness.

Ponyville gym was a quaint little place to spend time together. Doctor's orders were strict with limits of his rehab program at first, but he was making leaps and bounds at improving his physique to the point they reconsidered. Medical forecast spoke of four more months in the wheelchair, Hard Knock was walking small distances after two weeks and didn't need it anymore after four. The treating staff at the hospital was dumbfounded at his progress while Rainbow couldn’t be more proud of her coltfriend.

The result of his efforts was a growing attractiveness. Rainbow Dash wasn't a mare to swoon over hunks, but the clear gain in muscle let her eyes and mind wander to places. She caught herself stroking over the defining biceps and broad chest in combination to sleeping more often on his soft belly.

The little pudge had to stay. She loved his pudge.

The sex had improved to new heights, making her a quivering mess when he treated her like a goddess between the sheets. She loved the challenge to match his enthusiasm in the bedroom which made it less frustrating to lose against his lead in experience and insatiable lust for her body. Every time she thought she got him, Hard Knock pulled out something from his endless bag of tricks to widen the gap again.

Rainbow had yet to see a ceiling to his prowess.

"Six, seven, eight…" Hard Knock blew past the set goal as usual and she relished in his go-getter attitude.

"Fine, then do ten! Let’s go!"

The heavy weights lifted for the tenth time and sank into the holder with a loud bang.

"Well done!" Two lips pressed against his mouth for a quick kiss. "Awesome as always and to be expected from my amazing coltfriend!"

Hard Knock smirked at her behavior. Out in public, she had developed the habit of being more affectionate and louder with proclaiming their status as a couple. Several stallions and mares turned their heads and he could tell that Rainbow knew them as regulars.

She was boasting, showing off her stallion for the world to see and Hard Knock played along. "Only half as amazing as you, Rainbow. You killed it today at the treadmill. I’ve never seen someone run this hard."

"Not half as hard as your massive cock when we-"

His hoof pressed over her mouth. "Now you’re laying it on too thick."

Rainbow grinned. "Not as thick as the girth of your pulsating-"

This time he used his own lips to seal hers. "Now you are just messing with me, aren’t you?"

"Maybeee," Rainbow giggled as he nuzzled her cheek.

How foreign girlish giggling had been not so long ago. The coltish mare wouldn’t have been caught dead acting anything other than tough and badass. Love set your priorities straight because now she couldn’t care less if somepony called her lame for being affectionate towards her coltfriend.

“We are done with training earlier than usual. We can pick up Scootaloo from school.”

Some days, Rainbow Dash believed this to be all a just a wonderful dream. Her coltfriend was a driven, loving and hardworking pony with a knack for children. She lived the perfect life according to Rarity and with a career as Wonderbolt on the horizon, she had to agree with all of her heart.

“I grab my stuff and change,” Rainbow Dash said and gave Hard Knock a good look at her flank as she turned. She looked sinfully good in her tight-fitting yoga pants. No mare, he was sure of that, had ever bought a pair for the intended use of keeping sweat from equipment. Other stallions might have objected to their marefriend showing of her curves, but Hard Knock only felt the satisfaction in making public what she got and only he can have.

A piggish attitude for sure if she weren’t enjoying it, strutting with a hip sway and brushing his side long enough for a squeeze. Rainbow didn’t care that everypony was watching her getting groped on the bun. She challenged them to say anything so she could respond with “Yeah, he gets that every night! Jealous?”.

“Save energy for Scoots. She hasn’t seen you all week and wants your help with hoofball training,” Hard Knock scolded, which was less effective due to his hoof stroking over her cutie mark. It was invisible through the pants and he trailed the rainbow bolt of lightning perfect from memory, pressing roughly into the flesh under the cloud.

“Spoilsport…” Rainbow removed herself from the touch of her coltfriend. “I’ll be quick, don’t forget where we left off!”

As soon as she was gone, Hard Knock hunched over and took a few shaky breaths. Equally shaky hooves inched for the bag under the bench, fumbling with the zipper and getting a bottle out. More fumbling and the stubborn cork plopped off and spilled a few pills. He took one, then changed his mind and just poured half a dozen into his mouth.

“Your mare has a fine piece of flank, dude!”

“Thanks?” Hard Knock stowed his meds away and turned his attention to this special gentlecolt. The guy was big and maybe just a few inches shorter than Big Mac, with a coat that was a light shade of brown. Massive wings on his back identified him as a pegasus.

The way he smiled lecherously as he drove a hoof through his greasy mop of black mane identified him as a sleazeball. “I can’t believe how much the stallion repellent has changed for the hotter. I wouldn't have tapped that plot with a ten hoof pole and now she sweetens my workout with a prime view on the bouncy goods. All thanks to you, dude!”

The stallion pointed to a workout bench across the room. The scratch marks on the floor suggested he pulled the equipment to the perfect spot to ogle at Rainbow.

“Don’t get it twisted, bro. I’m just browsing with hooves off your merchandise. By my luck, the hot chick would turn back to dyke right after pinching her from you. A stallion that can turn somepony like her into something halfway decent earned to keep his hard work. We cool?”

The stallion was a little spooked from Hard Knock’s blank face, but relaxed when it turned to a smile. "Do you need a spotter?"

On a closer inspection, the pegasus would have noticed how wooden that smile was. “Thanks bro, most guys in here seem too wimpy to lift their own hooves off the ground.”

The stallion sat on the bench and put the largest weights available on the bar, looking around for nearby mares. A few took notice to his great glee and he positioned himself in time to miss their eye rolls.

“I’m Brute Peel.” The weight came of the holder and Brute Peel realized that he might have overdone the amount in the pursuit of impressing mares. He had to rely on his new buddy to get him through this set.

“I don't care what your damn name is.”

Unfortunately, his spotter was in a state of quietly simmering rage.

A sudden push let the metal bar slip out of the stallion’s grip, leaving his throat as next resting place.

“Dude help…” The lack of oxygen made itself visible by the coloration of his face.

Hard Knock looked bored with the plight of his partner and leaned on top for some added weight to his windpipe. “If I’d thought you were malicious in your actions, you would choke on blood and vomit by now. As it stands, I think you are just stupid.”

The building pressure made all struggling useless during the one-sided conversation. From the casual tone you could not have guessed Hard Knock was wringing the life out of this stallion.

“In what way is that a good idea? Insulting my marefriend? Insinuating you could take her from me if you wanted? Putting your physical integrity into my hooves?”

Another round of wet gurgles.

“See? I don’t know either.” Hard Knock leaned further down, touching the muzzle of the stallion with his. “From now on, you will appreciate my marefriend from an appropriate distance and respectful manner. Afterwards, you can take these mental images home to fantasize and jack yourself blue for all I care.”

The adrenaline of his anger gave Hard Knock enough strength to push through the screaming pain of his muscles as he lifted the weight of the stallion with one hoof. Doing it like that was stupid and unnecessarily harder, but he felt the need to leave an impression on this guy.

And based on the shaking hooves of Mr. Peel it was working.

"Stupid pants get off my butt!"

As enticing the form fitting yoga pants made her flank, they were even harder to take off than to put on. The sexy sportswear was a gift from Rarity and Rainbow couldn't use the usual approach of ripping it off without angering the seamstress for her carelessness. It left her with a one-sided struggle against the piece of clothing, rolling and writhing on the ground for a working angle to push them finally off.

"Miss Dash, could we talk for a moment?"

The voice came from the door. Two stallions stood there with red faces, trying their best not to look in her direction. The blushing came from Rainbow's current display on the ground; face down and flank raised with her pants around the ankles.

"What do you want?" Rainbow growled at the two gazers. She had no problem with Hard Knock seeing everything of her body, but anyone else was her decision to allow. There was a huge difference between targeted teasing and getting stares at your cooch during an inopportune moment.

The two gentlecolts at the door were doing the latter.

*rip*

"Sorry Rarity," Rainbow thought with mournful looks at the shredded remnants of her legwear. "I will make it up to you, but I can't let another stallion have this kind of view. It belongs to him and only him!"

Her agitation wasn't lost on them and the smaller one of the two stallions stepped forward. "I am Cross Fit, the owner of this gym and this is Long Cardio our health instructor. We would like to speak to you about the health of Mr. Berry."

The bristling mare relaxed at the air of professionalism they portrayed. These two weren’t like the other horny dirtbags who had taken a sudden interest in the brash tomcolt in town. Nopony had ever approached her before and now when she had gotten the stallion of her dreams, Rainbow had to beat them off with a stick.

The worst were the glances Hard Knock got in her presence, stallions measuring themselves to her coltfriend and thinking they had a chance.

Not in a million years would she trade down to one of those douche bags.

"He's awesome, isn’t he?"

"Yes, too awesome for a fact," Cross Fit said without a hint of amusement in his voice. "We believe there could be other factors besides sheer determination and exercise at play here." Rainbow recoiled at those accusations, but the stallion continued. "Our gym is more than a shack to bulk out, Mrs. Dash. We are certified to oversee long time rehabilitation of former hospital patients."

Long Cardio chimed in. "The focus being the words 'long term'. The progress of Mr. Berry isn't just unlikely. It's impossible with normal means."

"What are you saying?" Rainbow asked with a sudden dry throat.

The stallions saw her distress and Cross Fit gave a small smile. "We can do nothing without evidence, but for the sake of your special somepony, we advise you to have an eye on him and act when anything is wrong."

Long Cardio didn’t smile. "We are sure Mr. Berry is unwell."

"Whatever..." Rainbow passed the two stallions in a huff, angry at them for dampening her perfect mood. Everything was fine. Hard Knock healed faster than usual, so what? Her coltfriend was just awesome this way and didn't conform to these eggheads and health nut jobs. That was the story and she would stick with it

Hard Knock was fine.

This was the mantra Rainbow repeated as she made the way back to her coltfriend. She ignored the stallion besides him standing attention with a nervous sweat, looked at her coltfriend and froze at the sight.

“You’re bleeding!” Rainbow yelled with more dread than she wanted as the thin red trail ran down the chin from the left corner of his mouth.

Hard Knock didn’t miss a beat, wiped the blood away and gave a reassuring smile."Must have bit my lip while training..."

"Yeah..." Rainbow responded weakly, fixating on the numerous red splotches on his white teeth.

Hard Knock was fine.

He had to be.