Spicy Hot was running like the wind. He knew he wasn't running as fast as Rainbow Dash, but just having a magical pegasus girl at his side made the run easier than normal. The running also gave his brain some time to itself, and one word kept popping up: bisexual.
Gay was something that had clicked for Spicy Hot. Ever since the first time he had tried to date, he had found his eyes sliding toward guys. Bisexual was always a label for people who didn't care their partner's sex—at least as Spicy thought of it—and that wasn't how he felt. Sex was important to Spicy, but there was something about Rainbow Dash that called to him despite her being female.
Spicy let another mile go by under his feet before he poked the idea any further. He liked guys. He had never looked at a feminine body and thought of it as hot the way he thought of guys as hot. But Rainbow Dash was hot with a capital H O T. What had clicked for him earlier had been that he was gay and enjoyed dominance enough that Rainbow Dash was desirable for different reasons than what was between her legs.
Rainbow Dash excited Spicy Hot because she was strong, she was amazing, and she wanted to do things with him. It was as simple as sexual attraction, but coming at things from a different angle. He liked Rainbow Dash because to him, she was just what he wanted. He hadn't fully squared away his feelings for her, but Spicy knew a better tack to take.
Unable to fail noticing the little glances Spicy kept giving her, Rainbow Dash tried to ignore them and keep running. Instead, she looked around the gymnasium, taking a look at the other clientele. On a rowing machine was a big guy, his skin as white as Rarity's, his hair was vivid blue, and with a "navy" tank-top straining over some very impressive muscles. Rainbow Dash watched him sliding back and forth on the rails, the movement of his arms and legs straining putting a smile on her lips.
Then Rainbow Dash saw someone she actually recognized. Wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and long sweatpants, a gray-toned girl that took a few seconds to remember. "Marble Pie?" The girl in question was on a strange machine (cross trainer, though Rainbow Dash didn't know its name), her arms and legs all moving out of all possible sequence. Beside her was a similarly styled woman, but like the guy rowing she wore a tank-top (and a sports bra under it), as well as the smallest shorts Rainbow had ever seen. Like the rower, her muscles were prominent, although not quite bulging like "Mr. Navy".
Marble Pie hated having to be around others, but she had to agree with Limestone: no one here was looking at the weakling sweating on the cross trainer machine. The workout was actually good, in a way. Marble got to just look down and throw herself into the routine—it only took her ten minutes to get her arms and legs both going the same way.
It was all fine until Marble heard someone say her name. She froze, looked up and around, and then caught sight of one of Pinkie Pie's friends in a mirror. Rainbow Dash she knew from reputation, and the way Pinkie spoke of her, Marble knew that reputation was a huge part of Rainbow. But for one thing she would have gone into a panic: Rainbow Dash's attention shifted first to Limestone Pie, and then to the gymnasium trainer. Ducking her head down again, Marble reestablished her rhythm, and let the world fade so she could think about her latest experiment some more.
"That's enough running. Take a sip of your drink and tell me if you need more." Short Track turned the treadmill into its wind-down state, and looked at Rainbow Dash more closely. She was definitely working up a sweat, which was good, but there was something he was missing up until now. "Your wings."
Winding down, Rainbow Dash stared at the empty bottle in her hand. "Huh? What about 'em?"
Short Track's mind was racing, he could see his job becoming more complicated every time he spoke to Rainbow Dash—it excited him. "Can you fly?"
"Kinda. When we all get together I can—me and my friends that is—or when I get totally into something. I remember when I helped out with a pep rally, I felt as light as a feather." As she slowed her pace down, Rainbow Dash realized her legs felt like she had used them. Since the latest bout of magic, nothing had tired her. Reflecting, she realized she hadn't pushed herself at magical speed for any major length of time.
"So, could you fly now, for instance?" Short Track's blue eyes speared the girl, and he could see he had her off balance. "That's a no?"
Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, her thoughts taking a few moments to get in order. "I haven't— I mean, I should be able to, I guess? Want me to try?"
"I've got some ideas for that, but later. Next I want you on a bike. Follow me." And with that, Short Track turned and left Spicy Hot still running on the treadmill, and had Rainbow Dash in tow. "When Spicy told me I might have someone with magic powers wanting to workout here, I took it with a grain of salt—"
"I heard that!" The yell cost Spicy some effort, his lungs too busy working to feed his muscles with oxygen to be talking.
"But I did look around for a more solid exercise bike. That's when I found this old thing." Short Track gestured at the last bike in a row of such machines. It looked a little older than the rest, but also a little more sturdy. "I straightened the fins out a bit. It should be less resistance and more capable of speed."
"Whatever. It won't keep up, you know?" Rainbow Dash vaulted onto the bike and set her feet (in their new shoes) in the stirrups. Peddling was a different action to running, but her legs felt built for either. She started slow, and heard a thrumming coming from the back wheel. "Should I keep going?"
At a nod from Short, Rainbow Dash leaned into the bike's action, looked down at the floor, and lifted her rear from the seat and started to move faster than any human could. The thrumming behind her built up toward the levels of a helicopter's blades, and when Rainbow Dash looked up she saw Limestone Pie with the guy from the rowing machine standing beside her.
Rainbow Dash stopped pumping her legs and let the bike wind down. From the front, she could see that while the guy had a navy shirt, Limestone wore a similar one with army printed on it. "S-Sorry for that, I'm kinda new here."
"You're one of Pinkie's friends, right?" Limestone deliberately didn't look at the guy beside her, keeping her attention on Rainbow Dash. When Rainbow nodded, Limestone did too. "Cool." And with that she turned and walked away.
When the rower didn't back off, Short Track stepped between him and Rainbow Dash. "Sir, I accept responsibility for our newest member's mistake. Please, we're all here to help ourselves become the person we want to be."
"Just giving you a warning. I know who you and your friends are, and I—" The big guy seemed to clamp his lantern-jaw down on something. "I know you helped my little sister. Thanks for that. But try to keep the magic stuff a little more on the down-low."
Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise. "Wait. 'Little sister'?"
"Twilight Sparkle." Shining Armor moved around Short Track, showing no aggression. "I'm Shining Armor, her big brother. Pushing her to those games was—" He bit back another statement. "Thanks. Again." He turned and walked off, heading for the change rooms.
"He's the brother of one of my friends. I don't 'know him' know him, but I guess he's just watching out for his little sister. So, what next?" Rainbow Dash looked at Short Track expectantly.
Short Track pointed to the other side of the gymnasium; where weight-training equipment stood. "We can move on to weights now. I did want you to spend some time on the cycle, but I'm going to have to work on a better way of providing resistance than a fan."
After Short Track had put Rainbow Dash through enough machines to gauge the girl's strength, he pulled out a sheet of paper and started writing on it. "Okay, your actual strength is about what a young woman should have, probably at the upper bounds because of your activity. What do you want to do?"
"Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash stared in confusion. "What do you mean? Aren't you supposed to tell me that?"
"If you want to have muscles, I can help you with that. If you want to have more strength, I can also help. But if you don't know what you want…" Short shrugged. "That I can't help with."
"Huh." Tapping at her chin, Rainbow Dash thought about what she actually wanted. "One of my friends is already super-strong, I literally can't compete with her for that, but I would like to have a bit more strength. Also,"—Rainbow Dash grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it midway up her torso—"a little six-pack would be cool."
Seeing a measure of fire in Rainbow Dash, Short Track grinned. It was time for him to lay things out. "A little more strength is never a problem, but a six-pack will take a lot of work."
Wiping down his arms with a hand-towel, Spicy Hot walked up to the pair. "What's the verdict, Doc? Can you save her from mediocrity?" His run left him feeling hot, but hungry. His thoughts turned to the "after our workout" part of the night he had planned with Rainbow Dash.
"When a magical flying woman is mediocre, you can stop running on the treadmill. What she wants is a six-pack and some muscle work." Short watched Spicy's reaction, noting he looked more than a little excited about the description. It confused Short Track, because he had pegged Spicy Hot as gay. "So, I want you doing these amounts, on each of these machines. You remember how I told you to use them?"
Rainbow Dash looked at the sheet Short showed her, remembering the names and instructions for each machine crystal clear. She nodded, and when that didn't seem enough added, "Yeah."
"Between each machine you run. Keep your heart-rate up, keep yourself warm. I want to see three sets of twenty on each machine, with the middle set being one notch higher. When that middle set becomes easy, raise the weights by one notch for that machine. And the number one rule—" Short Track cut himself off, pointing to Spicy.
"Warm-up stretches before doing weights, and again after." Spicy rolled his eyes for Rainbow's amusement, then cupped a hand to the side of his face. "If you ask me, Short just likes watching people stretch." His voice was plenty loud enough for Short Track to hear, of course.
"So you want me to do this now?" Taking hold of the sheet of paper, Rainbow Dash looked at the first machine on the list.
"No. This was your first day here. You can go home now, high on endorphin, and wake up tomorrow barely able to move. You're welcome." Short Track took a bow with Spicy's laughter and Rainbow Dash's dismay as his "applause."
"Come on, Rainbow. The torturer has given you the night off,"—Spicy Hot leaned in closer, put one arm around Rainbow Dash's shoulders and finished in a whisper—"but I have plans for you."
Rainbow Dash felt her legs wobble a little at the hungry, possessive tone in Spicy's voice. She struggled to keep her libido in check, but didn't know how long her resolve would last. "W-Well, I guess I will be coming back, so how much is this going to cost?"
This was the part Short Track hated: signing people up to a contract. He led Rainbow Dash back to the front part of the gymnasium, and explained her options to her. In the end he had been happy when she signed up for a "summer special" that would last through to the start of the new school season.
"I don't exactly know what I'll be doing. Vice-Principal Luna said there would be a lot of colleges scouting for applicants, and I was thinking of doing a sports thing to get in." Rainbow Dash just shrugged. "I just wanna keep my options open."
"You know, showing dedication to bettering yourself will reflect well on you for college selection." Short finished the paperwork and filed it. "There you go. Come in whenever you like."
Spicy had showered quickly while Rainbow and Short were doing paperwork, but he had something much more planned when they got back home. "So that's it? No more papers to sign her life away?" He only waited for Short Track to start to shake his head before putting his arm around Rainbow Dash's shoulders.
Having been put through the machinery needed to build more muscle, Rainbow Dash had a greater appreciation for the muscles she felt in Spicy's arm. She turned with him, and together they walked out of the gymnasium. "I'm still a little smelly, I didn't sweat as much as you did, but I still need a shower."
"Yeah, I know, and mine might be small, but I need to get more used to, well, you. So how about it?" Although he liked playing clean, Spicy had a deep appreciation for Rainbow's scent, particularly with the male deodorant highly in evidence.