"Antithesis" Taupe called. "Can you go chop the ice?".

"Ya give me a second" He replied, throwing a scarf on and heading for the door.

"Are you sure that's all you're going to wear?” she asked. “I know you like the cold but that's not enough.”

No response came, only the sound of a closing door. Thees grabbed the ice chopper off the back porch and made his way to the front to start. Antithesis saw some lighter white ice and put down his tool deciding he’d use his hooves to break it.

After clearing the small patch he went over to the thicker ice and gave it a kick, not much happened considering it was a solid chunk of ice. He turned around to go back and get the chopper but in doing so he slid on a small piece of ice sending him backwards on the unbroken sheet. As he fell he reached down quickly hoping to grab on to the ground and regain his balance but he missed shattering the sheet of ice with his bear hooves.

“Woah” he said to himself holding up one of his hooves. Antithesis rushed inside to tell his mom what had happened.

Taupe looked at her son as he told his story giving a simple response. “You're starting to grow up. Us earth ponies aren't usually able to use our tellus properly till we are sixteen.” she explained. “Until then you’ll have to be careful these.... short bursts of strength. They'll will happen every now and then.”

“Be careful, got it.” Antithesis said, excited to finally be able to use his tellus.

Unlike Unicorns who can cast spells from young ages because they are born with their horns, or Pegasuses who are also born with their wings. Earth ponies have to wait till their bodies develop before they can take the strain.

Taupe examined the young stallion for any injuries, finding none she sent him back out to finish while she cleaned the snow he tracked in.

Antithesis was nearly finished clearing the ice on the walk when somepony called to him.

"Hey Thees!" Astra called from down the walk way. "Check what I got".

Excited Thees came closer to see what his friend was holding, it was a thin hard cover book called "Getting fit". Astra had scrounged up some bits and bought a work out manual.

It took a little bit of convincing but the two colts had gotten permission from their parents to do training on the farm since they plan to join sports, it also helped that Maple offered to bring Astra. After a quick drink of water the two went to the fields with their book in tow, leaving the two mares to themselves.

"Alright this should be far enough let's crack open that book," said Thees.

The book wasn't anything special; it was a general pony guide to getting fit with little notes here and there for different types of ponies.

"Let's start at the beginning, let's not jump ahead of ourselves" Astra suggested.

"Sounds good to me" replied Thees, taking a seat.

"The first step to fitness is making sure your heart can handle it. Running can increase stamina, blood flow and work your core." they read together.

"If you're new to fitness start slow and find your limits". Thees read aloud.

"I guess that's a good start, how big is this place anyway?" Astra asked

"I think sixteen acres" Thees stated.

"Well I don't know how that translates so let's just go till we can't." Astra said as he stretched.

"But the book said take it slow." Thees replied.

"Ya, AND learn your limits". Astra said, pointing to the text.

"Fine. lets go." Thees said as he stood.

They both ran for a few minutes letting the cold air flow around them before Astra slowed down to a stop. Thees slowed less exhausted than Astra and went back to his friend who was panting.

"You good?" Thees asked while wiping his forehead.

"Ya, I'm, good." Astra said breathing heavily between words.

"Let's take a break" Thees offered.

"No, keep, going" Astra demanded.

Eventually Thees also became tired after another seven minutes of running. The two of them slowed to a trot making their way to the house in the middle of the farm. Arriving they were greeted by Taupe and Maple on the porch next to them a pitcher of cold water. Taupe poured a glass for the two sweat soaked boys.

"Thanks" they said in unison.

"How about you two get cleaned up before dinner." Maple suggested

The two of them headed upstairs to get washed. Astra headed in first while Thees got him a towel. When Astra finished he hung out in Thees' room while he got washed.

Looking around he made note of what Thees had in his room, the room was plain with a hard wood floor and a dark green carpet next to his bed. Looking at the old desk he saw two candles a pencil holder and a stack of pink, gold and purple cards. He came closer to inspect the cards, they were Princess Force cards, a popular female comic series. Astra starred at the stack in shock blinking only when he went to pick the top one up.

"Princess Kalia, huh" he read aloud going for the next card.

"Woah, hey what are those doing there. How about we put those away!" Thees shouted startling Astra.

"My bad I didn't mean to look through your stuff." Astra apologizing.

"It's fine." Thees said dropping his head down. "You probably think I'm fillish now don't you?".

Astra stopped for a moment then placed a hoof on his friend's shoulder.

"Are you kidding me, I just got Princess Zentier !" Astra said, "Plus have you looked in the mirror lately your anything but fillish."

Thees gave a light chuckle before speaking. "Ya I guess your ri--" he paused "Did you say Princess Zentier! I've been searching for her card for... ever!"

"Trust me it took forever to get it." Astra replied with a smile.

The two of them talked about their favorite comic series and collectable trading cards until Taupe called them down for dinner. The two of them ran down stairs in search of food, to find a good spread of roasted vegetables, along with two large loaves of garlic bread.

"You colts is hungry? Maple asked, carrying in two glasses of lemonade.

The pair nodded their heads, having exhausted themselves earlier. The group ate together sharing laughs and talking one could have mistook them as a family.Maple had decided to take Astra home before it started to become dark. The two of them brohoofed before his best friend began his way home.

Taupe kept the fire lit through the night causing the house to be hot to hot for Antithesis he hated the heat. Needless to say he didn't sleep particularly well that night.

When morning had come Antithesis' mom woke him up to take him into town for a grocery run. After a quick bowl of oatmeal they made their way into town. Their first stop was at a hardware store, Taupe had come to see what the price would be for a new bed frame for Antithesis since he was quickly outgrowing his current one.

"That much for a frame" Taupe said, exiting the store "At least I talked him down a few bits".

"I think If you didn't add the bread in with the purchase it would have counted as robbery." Antithesis joked with her.

"Whatever brat as long as we got it" Taupe replied.

"Where are we going next?" Antithesis asked.

"The general store" she answered "We're just browsing"

"Uh" Antithesis groaned, he hated when his mom walked around the general store looking at everything.

"I'll be in the spices, you can go look around if you want." Taupe said.

"Ok," he replied walking away.

Antithesis had spent enough trips around the store to know she took about an hour to travel the whole thing, and he was too tired to deal with that. He made his way to the books section he spent his time browsing the titles and maybe a peek at the comics.

When Taupe had only a few things in her cart when finally made her way to the books to find Antithesis waiting in his usual spot.

"Read anything interesting?" she asked, as she walked towards the counter.

"Not really, it's mostly all the same stuff." he said, hiding that he spent all his time over at the princess force comic section.

The two made their way to the register and began placing goods on the counter.

"How's it going Antithesis?" the clerk asked recognising the him.

"It's goin" Antithesis replied.

As he answered his attention drifted to what was behind the clerk. A strange row of grey plastic boxes with four symbols.

"You looking at this buddy?" the clerk asked following Antithesis’ line of sight.

Antithesis nodded his head in response, studying the object.

"Well it's called a Player." the clerk told him. "It's new and pretty cool."

"Cool how?" Antithesis asked

"It plays these little tapes making sound." he explained while pointing to a set of white tapes. "If I were you I'd get it now while it's cheap Thees babies are gonna fly off the shelf. Actually we got a bundle set that comes with headphones and spare battery."

"Maybe another time." Taupe interrupted.

"Oh right, your total is 23 bits," the clerk said, clearing his throat.

As they left the store Antithesis asked what most of those words meant, but Taupe didn't know herself.

"Maple is from Manehattan so she might know what he was talking about." Taupe said

"Really" Antithesis said with excitement.

"We'll have to wait though she is out of town right now, maybe when she brings Astra over again you can ask." she offered.

Their final stop was a clothing store on the far end of the market. It was a small shop but sold quality merch.

"What are we getting here?" Antithesis asked While holding the door for his mom.

"You are getting a running jacket" she answered. "So go find one that you like, if it fits get the next size up."

"Alright" he responded, making his way to the sports section in a trot.

He searched around waiting for something to catch his eye when he saw a red jogger with a sleek design on the back but sadly it was too small. He continued his search hoping to find a bigger size.

"BOO" a familiar voice shouted causing Antithesis to trip hitting his chin on the floor "Ah, I got you" a yellow unicorn said with a small laugh.

"Shure, what are you doing here?" Antithesis asked, getting off the floor.

"I'm here with my sister, she came with me to get a sporting outfit" Shure answered while putting a hoof on Antithesis' shoulder. "And for such a big pony you scare pretty easy".

"I didn't get scared, just startled," said Antithesis "What sport are you looking at?"

"I'm gonna join the markspony team, you could say it my calling." he said pointing to his flank.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Antithesis exclaimed.

"First do I have to, second when would I have told you? We haven't seen each other since spring break started." Shure said.

"Of course we're friends, and we spoke at lunch about joining sports." Antithesis replied

"Well, it's a recent decision." Shure answered, moving some clothes around on a shelf.

"What are you going on about?" somepony asked.

Antithesis looked around not knowing who was speaking.

"I'm talking to my friend Meana," Shure replied, recognizing his sister's voice.

"Did you grab it yet I don't want to be here all day?" she asked, ignoring him.

Meaza came from behind an adjacent clothes rack revealing a light orange mare with dark red mane and white muzzle. Antithesis stood nearly as tall as the mare looking at her unique colorations.

Turning to his friend Antithesis told him "Anyway you should come over on thursday Astra and I, are doing fitness training in the morning and hanging out the rest of the day."

"I don't know, mom and dad are out of town on business and it's just me and sis at home right now" Shure said.

"We'll see if we have time " Meaza said

"Moving past that, what are you doing here?" shure asked

"I'm here to get a running jacket, by the way what color would look good on me?" Antithesis responded.

"Hm, what goes with dark brown?" Shure said, thinking out loud.

"How about this color." Meaza said holding up a mint green polyester jacket.

"Oh, that's lovely. " Taupe said as she approached "Let me look for your size"

Antithesis tried the jacket on standing in front of a mirror.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Shure told him.

"Ok I'll get it but what about you Shure?" Antithesis asked.

"I was thinking about getting a red one." he responded with confidence.

Immediately the Antithesis and Meaza began to laugh, even Taupe let out a chuckle.

"Follow me. I saw something while I was browsing earlier" Taupe said.

Following the mare she took then to a rack of smaller sizes and pulled out a baby blue hoodie.

"Something like this maybe? Taupe offered the hoodie.

"I was thinking something a little darker. If you don't mind." Shure said.

"What about this. Antithesis asked, pulling off the rack a violet jacket similar to his.

"Now we're talking," Shure said.

Shure was a smaller size than they thought he was rather short and skinny, luckily the clerk had what they needed in the back.
Taupe continued browsing the stalls with Meaza while the two colts followed, Thees was happily telling his friend about his accident yesterday.

"Hold on, you had to wait until you could use it. Thaaat's pretty lame." Shure concluded, giving Antithesis a light jab to the shoulder.

"Yea, kinda sucks" Antithesis agreed, following the mares to a stall on the end of the street.

Both Taupe and Meaza stood their quiet scanning the merchandise the hooded vendor had to offer. From the look of it, all Antithesis saw was junk. Though soon others gathered around about twelve ponies in total. Everypony as silent and still until a stallion spoke.

"I want all of it" The stallion Shouted shoving his way forward.

Tauped turned along with the rest of the crowd and began shouting at each other. Antithesis looked over at his friend who was equally surprised at what was happening.

Then the hooded vendor stepped forward removing the hood revealing a reddish orange and white mane. "Fillies and Gentlecolts, I can see that you have an eye for quality goods." He said with a smile on his face. "Why argue when we can let the bits do the talking."

Right after different ponies began shoving their entire coin purses at the merchant who was practically giggling. Seeing his mother reach to do the same he went to grab her shoulder and ask what was happening. As he did so Taupes hoof came at him swatting his hoof away.

He stepped back in confusion, since taupe only hit him when he misbehaved and hadn’t done so in a while. Meanwhile Shure did his best to snap his sister out of it.

Antithesis went to help his friend only stopping when he heard "Antithesis" coming from his mother. Before shedding a tear as a green tint faded from her eyes. He moved into her embrace. Finally letting go the two ponies approached the vendor.

"Hm, what can I help you two with?" the vendor inquired, rubbing his chin.

"You piece of shit!" Taupe shouted in a rage.

"Mam, I'll have to ask you to leave." the vendor said in a nervous sweat.

Antithesis meant to place both hooves on the stall to also yell at the vendor, however he had another burst of Tellus destroying the stall completely.

Antithesis stepped back about to apologise, but before he could somepony screamed out "You bastard give me my money back throwing a doorknob he had purchased at the vendor.

"Ah, seems like that's all today folks" the vendor said before breaking into a sprint, only to be chased by the mob that had formed.

Taupe wrapped her hoof around Antithesis once again and began apologizing. Meana also was free from her trance looking around in confusion.

After making sure they had everything they came with, Taupe and Meana decided it was time to go home. Antithesis watched as they walked away but before he looked away Meana looked over her shoulder and called to him. "Saturday sounds good?". She turned away before Antithesis could respond.

"So lunch for six on saturday?" Taupe said with a laugh.

Author's Note

I'm slowly making these chapter longer. Thx again for the advise.

I'd be happy to see any comments on how I could improve.