A Kindred Spirit

"First things first," said Rainbow. We were standing in an open field near Sweet Apple Acres, after a short trek across town. "I'm gonna have to go over all the basics today to make sure you're in shape. It's gonna be boring, but isn't the first day always boring?"

"Pretty much," I answered, in my usual concise manner. Dash then proceeded to inspect, well, me.

"You seem to understand how to care for your wings...your muscle tone isn't too shabby...you don't look too heavy-set for your height..." This was rather bizarre, having this mare walk around ticking off different aspects of my physique. From a pensive thread being raveled mostly to herself, she broke off and asked this of me.

"...hang on. You do know flight dynamics, right? Don't tell me I'm gonna have to teach you physics!"

"Yeah, I know a fair deal."

Dash seemed intrigued by my answer. She asked a question. "What are your four main forces?" Makes sense that she'd wanna do a little pop quiz to make sure I wasn't just saying that.

"Thrust, lift, drag, and gravity," I listed.

Her expression transformed from skeptical to joyous but confused. "I thought you said humans didn't fly!"

Oh, right. That.

"We don't fly with wings or magic, but with machines."

Rainbow's face seemed to light up with this information. "That's awesome! So, how do they work?"

Interested in how they work...?

I started into my explanation on airplanes."Well, there's two main types of flying craft. The one that's probably going to make the most sense--" I broke off and looked at Dash--"and is the fastest and most agile--" Here I looked away and continued pacing (and my explanation, of course)--"is... a lot like a bird, actually, but the wings are fixed in place and the tail has a vertical fin. There are different flaps on the wings and tail that can be adjusted so as to direct the craft."

Finishing, I realized that my explanation was not exactly put into the simplest terms. Much to my surprise, Dash seemed to absorb all of it.

"Makes sense... but I'd want to see one."

Did she really get all of that...?

This statement reminded me of Earth. Due to the fact Dash wanted me to explain something technical a minute ago, I'd lost myself in my explanation (and therefore, my mind) and was just sort of routing my thoughts through my mouth at this point.

"I'm not really sure if that would ever be possible. I don't even know where Earth is from here, never mind how we'd actually travel there... that would probably be a bad idea anyway. Flying sentient aliens that look like little ponies? That wouldn't go over well. They'd detect us instantly. Unless they put to down to radar anomalies or something..."

"Umm..." Rainbow cut into my ramblings, leading to their succinct cessation and a dose of self-consciousness.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Not a big deal. Anyway, I'm glad I don't have to teach you all the textbook-y stuff. It's not like you'd need to be doing math problems in the sky or anything, but it really helps if you know what goes on up there." It was obvious she was relieved she wouldn't have to be a physics teacher, but just a coach. I just nodded. This led to the removal of her focus from conversation for a moment, and a short period before its return.

"Now, let's get you running. Best way to actually check a lot of stuff; general muscle health, cardio, joint strength..." she explained.

I didn't know how to run yet. I looked down. "Yeah.. about that..."

"Haven't figured it out yet?" she supposed, dead on.

"Nope."

A short sigh from the athlete. "Well, it's not like I can explain that, so just watch and learn, I guess."

She started waking at a brisk pace. I kept time, my stride being a little longer, without much effort. She sped up, gradually, and before I knew we broke any sort of trot/canter barrier, we were soon approaching a speed the fastest human sprinter could only dream of running. There was a definite shift between the trot and gallop. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I trusted it to my instinct, which had a track record of being infalliable. I'm not exactly sure of what the separation between the two is, but somehow I managed to pass over it without fail; my feet knew what to do. Dash took wing right next to me, almost blowing me over in their wake.

"Ten laps around the border of the field!" I heard her yell. I groaned to myself; it had to be a mile around this thing. Two small groves of forest made up the two long walls, and the fence and road made up the two short ones. I dropped my pace a little from sprint to endurance, and carried on.

Much to my surprise, I ran the entire thing without unbearable protest from any of my muscles, joints, or lungs. Of course, running that distance ended up with me breathing heavy and my legs tired, but what was to be expected? I stopped and sat down. Dash landed, along with a few more gale-force winds spawned by her wings.

"Nice job. Take a breather." She'd been above the whole time, spectating. I sat down to catch my breath.

After a short time, Dash gave her analysis. "The only thing that I see is that you seem kinda stiff. Being inflexible isn't going to be a help when you're trying to fly with any speed. So, I'm gonna have to make you do a lot of stretches and other warm-up type exercises for the next few days to see if we can loosen up all your connective tissue." She's really very eloquent, isn't she...?

"Sounds like a plan."

Dash donned another smirk. "Let's get started, then."

Twilight wasn't kidding when she said Dash was a tough coach, but I also wasn't wrong when I said I could handle it. She yelled a lot, jumped on things I was doing wrong, and didn't take any time for granted; the couple of hours were spent almost exclusively on exercises with very few breaks. I knew I was learning from the best, and I understood I had to perform to keep up with her expectations. It was a challenge I was up for, but the exertion left me feeling like a hot wet towel. I did have the satisfying worked-out feeling that came along with it, though; something I rarely had the chance to feel.

"You did good today. I honestly didn't expect you to be able to keep up with me during all that." Dash had undergone that shift that happens from the practice to off the field, and I became aware that I was talking to a mare again instead of a critical machine.

"Thanks, Dash," I said. Her congratulations actually did mean a lot.

"You stallions are a lot easier to coach than mares. I can yell at you, point out your mistakes again and again, call you names, and generally not cut you any slack," she finished, smirking. This revelation made complete sense; I couldn't imagine how tough it would have been for her to be so patient and lenient with poor Fluttershy.

"Yeah, well, it's not like we actually like it any more than they do most of the time, but we can just deal with it." I don't know why I felt the need to say things like this, but it was mostly because of a need to inform and/or clarify, I think.

"Well, come on, dodo, let's go get something to eat. I'm starving, and I know you are too." Dodo. She was so inventive with her nicknames...

"Alright." I started to follow her, no idea where we were headed.

"It's on me, of course." I was grateful for this, and still would have been, even if I had the money to buy it...

"Thanks a lot, Rainbow," I said, gratefully. "Like we have a choice of who could pay..." I mumbled darkly. Rainbow caught it.

"Naaah, don't worry about it. You'll have a job soon enough," she dismissed.

After that protein rich meal of double hayburgers (which Dash had trouble convincing me to eat) and fries, Rainbow briefed me on what the plan was for tomorrow and what to expect. Our dealings were mostly in a friendly but merely acquainted way; we were mentor and student, mostly. We parted ways soon after our short meeting, she having her life to attend to and me also, I walked down the quaint little street to Rarity's boutique, knocking on the door politely before entering. Her voice muffled down from the stairs.

"One moment! Be right down!"

The room I was in was a (assuming) fashion statement, obviously meant for business. This was a store as well as a home. I sat down on a couch, looking around the room whilst Rarity was coming down from whatever it was she happened to be doing. Upon reaching the bottom and rounding the corner to see who it was, she lit up at seeing it was me.

"Oh, hello!" she chimed, in her (frankly) charming accent. "How are you doing?"

"Good." It was true.

Charismatically, she responded. "Always good to hear." She proceeded, hesitantly, "You're a to-the-point sort of colt; I'm assuming you're going to want to see your room?"

"Yes, please." Her nature made me feel as if it would be a bit imprudent to use any informal alternative. "That is, if I'm not interrupting anything," I tacked on, quickly.

"No, no, of course not. Now if you'll follow me..."

"Here you are!" chirped the purple maned-mare.

The small room was upstairs, an extra, with a modest bed and a neutral and agreeable color scheme. In other words... a bit bland. Not like I cared. Besides, Rarity was generous enough to let me stay here, and complaining was in hideous taste and far out of the question.

Speaking of her, she had paused a moment, having me look around.

"I would have offered you my room, but--"

"No, I couldn't do that." I turned around to see her posing with a hoof out towards me, as in gesturing to something. I saw what she did there, and laughed shortly to myself, as she said, "--you would have protested."

"Really, I couldn't," I reaffirmed. There was not a snowball's chance in hell I would be taking her room. I was already taking up space in her home anyway.

"Well, I'll leave you to get settled." With that, Rarity left the room... probably to get back to work. I was going to go see if I could help her out, but I seriously needed to take a break. It was only about 4:00, but all that exercise earlier today left me drained...