Talon lay on the table situated between Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.
“Awwwww yeaaaah.” Rainbow's voice vibrated as the masseuse struck her back before moving on to deeper muscle massage. “These deep tissue treatments will help keep you from pulling muscles when I put you guys through your paces later.”
“Yeah, I thought the spa was only for girly stuff, but these help a lot with practice.”
“Yeah, hehe...” Rainbow laughed nervously while averting her eyes. “Girly stuff.”
Talon, who had already gone through a fur conditioning, claw polish and trim, scale moisturizing, and horn buffing, and was still scheduled for a full coat styling, looked over from his position on the central table. “What girly?”
“Oh, girly stuff is just froufrou stuff that make you look 'pretty'” Rainbow explained, making hoof quotes as she answered. “Rarity is all about that, but I stick with the massages and muscle relaxant baths.”
“Not allowed take spa bath.” He frowned as he remembered his previous experience. “Water make Talon sick.”
“What?” Scootaloo didn't even bother looking over to them, instead opting to keep her eyes closed as she relaxed. “How did a bath make you sick?”
“Water have leaves. Sick if eat leaves.”
Rainbow looked over at him in confusion. “You drank the bath water? Why?”
Talon glared at Rainbow indignantly. “Not mean to...”
After Talon had gotten his coat styled, he emerged to see a very uncomfortable and very shiny Emerald Cut. Rarity was regaling him with the positive benefits of the treatments he'd received, but neither she nor the giggles his partner had were making him any less embarrassed as he levitated his armor into place. Somepony had polished it while he was busy, resulting in several surprised shouts of pain as he trotted outside into the sunlight.
Rarity tossed her mane behind her with a practiced flourish. “I guess some stallions just can't handle a simple spa treatment.” She turned to face the others. “Well, darlings, would you like to join me for lunch? I heard that Garden Green's place has a new type of salad.”
“Sorry, sugarcube, but me and Bloom gotta get back to work on the eastern orchard.”
Apple Bloom waved as she trotted off with her sister. “See ya later, everypony!”
“Yeah, me and Scoots gotta work on setting up for this afternoon. Ya coming, squirt?”
“Of course!” Scootaloo mounted her scooter and zoomed off after Rainbow, who had already started zipping down the road.
Pinkie glanced down the street in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. “I would, but I have to help the cakes with this big order somepony put in. I didn't know there was that much of a demand for butterscotch cinnamon pie, but I guess there is. See ya later, girls!” Pinkie playfully pranced past, intent on making as many pies as the bakery could hold.
“Well, me and Spike are free for a few hours, so I don't see why not.” Twilight turned to where he sat on her back. “You wanna come with us, Spike?”
He shrugged his shoulders, scales still glossy from the spa day. “I guess. What kind of salad is his new one?”
“Oh, he said he whipped up some sort of raspberry dressing for the spinach salad. From the way he was going on about it, it turned out very well.”
“Um, me and Talon can come along, but do you know if they have anything on the menu that Talon can eat?” Fluttershy looked down at her newly-preened charge, concern evident on her features.
“Oh, Garden is such a dear, I'm sure he could whip something up for little Talon.”
“Oh, good.” Relief flowed over Fluttershy's features. “I wouldn't want him to get sick while he was training with Rainbow Dash this afternoon.”
“Oh, of course, darling, that would be simply... wait, this afternoon? But he just got his coat styled!”
Garden Green, proprietor and head chef of the Galloping Gardens, was used to waitstaff occasionally entering the kitchen in a state of panic. After all, they were known to cater to the tastes of many high-class visitors. The pony doing so now, however, usually had a reputation for being calm and collected. Green was about to ask what had his head waiter in such a state when said pony beat him to the punch.
“Princess Twilight is here!” The normally smooth voice of the stallion had gone up at least two octaves. Perhaps three.
“Is that it? You need to relax about this sort of thing, Sommelier. She lives in Ponyville, it makes sense she might come here. Take her order, and let me know if they need anything in particular.”
Sommelier attempted to slow his breathing, straightening his apron as he did so. “She has friends with her.”
Green rolled his eyes. “Fine, take their order, then.”
Rarity had spent the walk over to the restaurant alternating between recommending salads for her friends and repeatedly ensuring that Fluttershy promised to take Talon to the boutique the next morning to get his coat styling redone.
“... so you can't let him go to sleep without a bath, but make sure he dries off first, or we'll never get his coat to sit down properly. Oh, good, we're here!.”
The group entered through an ivy-laden lattice archway, passing the outdoor dining area to get to where a waiter stood ready to bring them to a table.
“I'm sorry madams I'll be right back so sorry.” The stallion, a light gray unicorn with a dark maroon mane and mustache, bolted as soon as he had finished his sentence.
“Huh.” Rarity glanced over to the others. “I hope nothing's wrong. I've never seen Sommelier act quite like that.”
Soon enough, Sommelier returned to them with a nervous smile on his face. “Sorry about that, everypony. If you'll just follow me, I'll get you to your table.”
They were led to a large table situated on a raised deck, providing a particularly nice view of the nearby countryside. Sommelier pulled out a notepad and pen using his magic after everypony had gotten themselves seated around the table.
“Good day, everypony, I'm Sommelier, and I'll be your waiter today. What can I get you to drink?” After the ponies had given him their preferences, he floated several menus out of his apron. “I'll be back with your drinks momentarily, everypony.”
After they'd gotten their drinks, everypony around the table sipped at them as they looked over their menus. Talon sat patiently between Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle; even if he could have ordered off the menu, many of the dishes had fancy names he didn't recognize. Soon enough, Sommelier returned, taking orders and retrieving menus with his normal poise. “Is that all for you today?”
“Actually, there is one other thing.” Rarity took a sip of her raspberry juice before continuing. “Could we possibly borrow Garden Green for a moment? We need to ask him about something.”
Sommelier nodded and tucked his notebook away. “Certainly.” Significantly calmer this time, he made his way to the kitchen.
“So, what can I help you with?” Green asked after he finished bowing to Twilight.
“It's nice to see you, Garden dear.” Rarity began. “It's just that Talon here can't eat a great many things and we were hoping you could make something he could eat.”
“Well, I'd need a minute, but I think I could manage that. What kind of dietary restrictions does he have?”
Fluttershy peeked out from behind her mane. “Oh, I have a list in my saddlebags, if you'd like.” She reached down to where her saddlebags rested on the floor, lifting out a scroll and handing it to him.
“Hmm... that's a lot to keep out of a salad, but... If I substitute rose leaves for those, and switch to a sweet cream for the sauce... add a few vegetables... yes, I should be able to whip something up. I might even put it on the menu, now that I think of it.”
“Oh, thank you.” Fluttershy turned to Talon and gestured to Garden with her hoof. “Talon, why don't you thank this nice stallion for helping you out?”
Talon turned to look at Garden, a smile on his face as his tail agitated the tablecloth slightly. “Thank you!”
“Well, it's no big deal, really. I'll have all of your...” He trailed off as he took in the sight of Talon. “That certainly explains a lot of that list.”
Sommelier brought out their salads just as promised, barely interrupting the ongoing conversations as he set the plates in front of each pony. The others had already started on their salads by the time Garden returned bearing a platter. “I give to you, the fruit sweet!” he announced. He opened it with a flourish, revealing a platter of mixed romaine, spinach, and rose petals. Apple, cucumber, carrot, and orange slices dotted the top, as well as crumbled soft cheese. Lightly steamed wheat lay in a pile on one side of the platter, as did a small dish of a creamy sauce with a few julienned pieces of celery sticking out on one side. “The sauce is an emulsion of honey, rose, and raspberry, mixed into a cream sauce.”
“Wow!” Sweetie looked up from her own plate. “I gotta get that next time!”
Talon looked to the platter, which was half the size he was. “Uhh... share? Good, but too much.”
“Thanks!”
Even with Sweetie and Fluttershy trying some of the salad, Talon had plenty left over. Emerald and Day followed him and Fluttershy back to the cottage, where they dropped off the salad before heading over to the field that Rainbow's house floated over.
Rainbow swooped down, kicking up a cloud of dust as she landed next to them. “Sweet, we can get started. C'mon, everypony.!”
They followed Rainbow Dash as she zipped over to a different part of the field, next to a series of bars and planks that had been put together haphazardly.
Fluttershy looked at the equipment worriedly as she poked a balance beam. “Rainbow, are you sure this is safe?”
“Yep.” Rainbow patted a set of bars and it wobbled momentarily. “Even had Scoots help me test it all out.”
Scootaloo beamed, her wings fluttering. “Yeah! It's totally ready for me and Talon!”
Rather miraculously, the afternoon had gone without too much incident. Only three of the structures broke during use, and none of the falls were bad enough to result in more than minor scrapes and bruises. Considering the role Scootaloo had in the construction, Fluttershy was more relieved than anything.
Talon grunted as he tried to lift himself by pressing his wings against the bars to his sides, collapsing after Scootaloo shouted “Five!”
Rainbow walked up, a clipboard held in one hoof. “Well, you did good in agility and flexibility, but your wing strength definitely needs work. Fluttershy, could you help him with endurance training and form practice during the week? He'll need at least those by the time his feathers grow back in.”
Fluttershy nodded. “I guess so. I'll need you to write down the directions, though.”
“Yeah, sure thing.” Rainbow scribbled something down on her clipboard. “Day, you should help with those. Your wings are more like his, so he should probably use thestral wing form, at least to start.” Rainbow looked over to Scootaloo. “You think you could practice with him after school this week, Scoots?”
Scootaloo saluted as she stood at attention. “Sure thing! I'll get the girls to come running with us, too! Sweetie needs to work on her cardio anyway.”
“Fluttershy, you'll need to make sure he gets a decent caloric intake and eats lots of protein. It's important for pegasi, so for him, it'll probably be even more important.”
Rainbow trotted back over to stand before Talon, who just continued to sit on the ground. “You should also practice using your wing's magic, okay? You ever done that?”
Talon stood up shakily. “Um, I think?”
Rainbow wave a hoof about wildly. “Well, come on, show me what you got!”
Talon closed his eyes and dug his claws into the grass as he flapped his wings as hard as he could, stopping only when he felt his wings start to get sore again. Panting, he opened his eyes to find that the others were gone. “Hello?”
Several heads poked out from behind the heaviest piece of equipment.
Rainbow was the first to speak up. “You know what, maybe you should do some control exercises instead.”