How I Met Your Pinkie

The next day I was released from the hospital, so to speak. The first thing I did was check around our hospital room, to make sure that my theory was correct. The power was still out in the room, at least, until I flipped the light switch outside of it. The leaky part in the ceiling was still there, until I turned off the sink left dripping upstairs. The one thing I couldn't understand was why the doctors and nurses wanted me to bond with those fillies. They did seem like they had some sort of connection, but that couldn't be possible, could it? That was their first time meeting each other, at least, all together. Or was it? One thing was for sure, I had to ask one of them.

As soon as I stepped out from the hospital, the chill of the morning hit me full on, sending shivers down my spine, of which still ached. I was tempted to run back into the hospital room and curl up under the covers of the bed, but I desperately needed exercise. After being in a bed for who knows how long, I had gotten a little weak. I figured the Ponyville park would be perfect for my workout, so I began journeying over there, trying to ignore the squishing sound of my hooves walking in mud. I was about two minutes away from the park when I realized I had wings (on a side note, I still do that sometimes. Stupid forgetful me.). Well, as it turned out, Rainbow Dash was sitting around at the park, still trying to hide from those bullies, or just giving up on the whole concept of flight camp altogether, I never really asked her.

"Hey Dash!" I shouted, watching her head swivel towards the call of her name. In a, you could say dash, she was over at my side.

"What's up?" Her head tilted a bit, knocking a few strands of her messy mane into her eyes. I resisted the urge to brush them behind her ear, knowing that she wasn't one for much mushy-gushy stuff.

"I was just going to do some training, and I was wondering if you wanted to join me," I shrugged, noticing an indifferent look in her eye. Time to set the bait. "Although, it is rather brutal. I doubt you could hold up. Never mind." The look in her eyes changed from indifference to 'challenge accepted'.

"Let's train!" She smirked, this girl was super predictable. I led her to my special training area, hidden within a group of trees. It wasn't really much, my training area. The ground was cleared of any foliage, so it would be easy to do push-ups and the like. The area was completely surrounded by trees, except for the opening that was used to get in and out from, so that it was almost like a building. Some crates sat in the corner, of which I had filled with food and drink, seeing as I was here a lot. Tree limbs poked out every now and then, making it perfect for agility exercises or speed training. But my favorite part was yet to come.

As Dash looked around the five-by-five foot area, I began to plan out the workout, writing down the sets in the dirt.

"Hey Dash, what's your feel on chin-ups?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the plan.

"Easy! I can do those in my sleep," she bragged, and I could just imagine the look of confidence on her face.

"That's what I like to hear." I motioned her over to where everything was written.

Workout for today

PART ONE, ABS NO. USING. WINGS.

-50 pushups

-Planks 20 min.

-40 jump pushups

-100 crunches

-35 chin-ups

PART TWO, AIRIAL WORK. USE. WINGS.

-agility exercises, more detail later

-cloud kicking, 1hr. (will also exercise hind legs. Two-fer-one!)

-race across the sky

-???

"So what d'you think?" I grinned, looking at Dash, who was trying to hide an uncertain look upon her face.

"Easy peasy."

"Shall we start then?" We got to the crunches before Dash started to tire out. I noticed her speed was giving out, so I tried to motivate her.

"C'mon, you can do it Dash!" I cheered between breaths. My legs were killing me, and my body was telling me to rest, but I ignored it.

"Yeah.. Yeah.. Whatever.." Dash panted.

"How about we finish the abs workout part, then take a break?"

"Sounds.. Good," she gasped out, increasing her speed by a bit. Did I mention that I had to bind her wings together so that she wouldn't use them? Well, we got to the chin-ups, and that was rather difficult to get Dash onto a tree's limb without flying. I ended up having to stack some crates for her to jump up on to a limb, then unstacking them and placing them back in the corner. I flew up beside her, on the same limb as her.

"You ready?" I asked, to which she nodded in reply. "Ok, this isn't a race, mind you. Three.. Two.. One.. Go!" Up and down, and up and down, and up and down we went. Until I was on number thirty-one, then I heard a gasp from Dash, and I turned my head to look just in time to see her slip from the tree limb. Her wings struggled against the rope I had bound her wings together with. In a split second I was diving down to catch her, for I was not going to let another girl get hurt in my company. Her eyes closed in a brace for impact, and mine too, but only because I was slightly scared to see what I was doing. Everything else happened on impulse, as if by some sort of being was guiding me, the swoop under Dash, the turn upside down to catch her, the tuck and roll so that neither one of us would get hurt. I opened my eyes to see her magenta ones staring right back.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Can we take a break?" She rolled off me, to lying beside me, tugging at the knot on rope holding her wings together.

"Oh, we're going to be done for today. I'm sorry I pushed you so hard. I should've known that was going to happen.."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it, ok?" she tugged at the knot again. "Can you untie this? How do you tie a knot that good?" I chuckled and pulled one of the loops, letting the whole thing loose.

"Practice, of course," I shrugged. We lay there for a couple bits, letting the light making it between the holes of the leaf roof shine on us. If only the ground was comfier..

"So what is this Stealth program you want to get into?" Rainbow asked, her hooves behind her head.

"Its called the Royal Guard Stealth Program. From what I know, they are what is holding together Equestria right now, seeing as Luna is still missing and Celestia is being horribly over-worked," I smiled. Nobody had ever asked me about it before. Suddenly I remember something that my father had told me. "Hey, did you know that Celestia was thinking to enchant the sun and moon so that they would rise and set by themselves?"

"Nah, that couldn't be true," Rainbow Dash dismissed. "That is too weird. Who told you that anyway?"

"Would you believe me if I told you the captain of the guard?" I suggested.

"I really don't know what to believe with you, Bend."

"Aw, thanks," I winked. "Part of my talent is being mysterious and the like."

"Mysterious? Ha!" She laughed. "You? How did you get your cutie mark anyway?"

"How I got my mark. Well.." I glanced up at the 'roof', and noticed that the sunlight was starting to decrease. "I'll tell you later, I need to show you something. Follow me." I began flying up to the top of the trees, going around the limbs with ease, while Dash had a little bit of trouble. Maybe the exercise set her a bit off-balence? Soon we got to the top of trees, to where my balcony was located. It was a thing of beauty, my balcony, although it wasn't really a balcony, more of just a bunch of limbs holding each other up, making a floor and some branches poking out of the the end of them, sorta resembling handrails. Over in a corner sat a small desk, which an envelope rested on. Upon two branches swung a hammock, and pillows and blankets decorated the floor. Aside from the fact that I slept there every night, there were other reasons on why I loved it. For one, the view. It overlooked the Ponyville park's lake, and some of the town. You could see all the way out into the Everfree.

"Do you like it? This is where I live."

"You live here? What about your parents?" Dash asked.

"They live down in Canterlot, I wanted to go to school here though, so they let me stay, with strict guidelines for me to follow. Every now and then my mother comes down to spend some time with me for a day, shop for some groceries, or just play. Other than that, its all just me,"I beamed.

"That's cool. So why did you bring me here?" She tilted her head a bit, again knocking some strands of her mane into her eyes. This time I brushed them behind one ear though.

"The sunset. Dash, the sunset here is amazing." I walked her over to the edge, right before the guard rails, then sat beside her. "And you are just in time. Just watch."

"Ok."

The sun began to sink down behind the trees of the Everfree, and the sky turned into reds, oranges, and yellows, in every possible hue. The edges of the sky began turning into night, changing from the sky blue to a darker one. The reflections of the colors radiated off the pond, reflecting and bouncing the rays of light everywhere, so that it let off a beautiful glow. I felt Rainbow Dash's head rest on my shoulder as the sun sank ever so lower, and I may or may not have placed my wing around her, pulling her close to me, protecting her from whatever danger might appear.

"Hey Bend?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."