//------------------------------// // 9 Running* // Story: Alternate Beginnings: Year One // by Doug Graves //------------------------------// February 26th, 993 Rainbow Dash wakes up to the annoying beep of her alarm clock. Her legs are still stiff from the exertion she put them through yesterday. She tries stretching them out but can’t seem to really get the kinks out. Her wings rarely get this sore, even when she does long distance cloud runs. She knows how to stretch them out before and after a hard workout. Her legs, on the other hoof, are a bit of a mystery. When Doug had mentioned running as a way for him to get in shape she had laughed it off. The biped sure didn’t look like he would be able to keep up with her. Though, she is reminded of their wrestling match. She hadn’t expected his lanky build to be as strong, or for him to have the fortitude to keep fighting after she had bull rushed him initially. The muscles on his thighs and arms are certainly more defined than her own, but he has less of them. Although, neither of them have much body fat at all, so it's mostly that her coat hid her rippling muscles. The same muscles that no other stallion seems to care for. Well, maybe after she finishes her Wonderbolt interview she will have time to date somepony, but even then most, if not all, stallions want a mare that will stick around. When she makes it into the Wonderbolts she will be traveling all the time, either for shows or for training at the Academy. Last week had been the first run with Doug and the two had done a lap around Sweet Apple Acres. Doug was winded from the several mile run but Rainbow had been absolutely exhausted. She didn’t want to look weak in front of Applejack’s stallion, not that she thinks that Doug would gossip about her. It would just be uncool, you know? Doug had unfortunately noticed how hard she was pushing herself. While she was grateful for the breaks that he made them take, surreptitiously to check some of the fencing for needed repairs, Rainbow hates that she needed them. She isn’t sure how much she will be able to devote getting her body to the point where she is beating him in these long distance runs but she can definitely get her body to where she can keep up. Doug had mentioned how horses back home would literally run themselves to death. Rainbow had tried to laugh that off, but his cavalier attitude towards the subject still frightens her a little. Well, she certainly doesn’t want him worrying about her. She enjoyed the run but was a little sad she had to leave so soon after to get started on her weather work. Rainbow wanted to blow it off, but she is rapidly rising in the ranks and doesn’t want a black mark on her record. She wasn’t able to get back to talk with him more that day, but today is her day off from weather duties. She is looking forward to meeting him again, challenging both herself and him. It hopefully won’t mess with her Wonderbolt training. Rainbow prides herself on being the fastest pegasus in Equestria, and a large portion of that comes from her dedicated training. She has to refrain from pigging out at a lot of Pinkie’s parties. She gets up early every day to train, then gets a head start on her weather duties, then takes a quick nap while her body rests. She hopes the amount of effort getting her legs in shape won’t add too much weight, or detract from keeping her wings in top condition. Rainbow slowly flutters into her kitchen, not wanting to walk on her overworked legs. She grabs one of the apples she keeps in a bowl, brushing past the bottle of estrus pills she keeps just in case her upcoming heat gets too bad. She had felt whispers yesterday, tiny shudders that coursed through her body when she had gotten close to some of the stallions on the weather patrol. She knows it will only get worse, and the pills are very much a last resort. They totally sap her energy, make it harder to wake up from her naps, and screw with her timing. One of the tricks she is working on, her Filly Flash, requires absolutely precise timing. Rainbow finishes her apple and flies up to the door, landing on the edge of the cloud she has built her house on. The rainbow fall nearby cascades down, slowly dissipating as the wind blows. Rainbow notes the air pressure around her and takes a hard look at the ground below. Sixteen hundred foot drop, wind from the southwest at three knots, slight hint of an updraft. The way the rainbow fall is blowing suggests that the speed drops to nothing below twelve hundred feet. Rainbow moves to the edge of the cloud and leaps off, counting the hundredths of a second in her mind. She chances a look to the ground to double check her height, noting she is exactly on time. She readies her wings and flares out as she gets close to the ground, a rainbow contrail behind her. ‘Perfect!’ she smirks to herself. Alright, one trick down. Now, what to do for the next one? Rainbow performs a couple of loops and spirals as she flies towards Sweet Apple Acres. None of them are flashy enough for a second trick, but might work as filler. She flies until she spots Doug. The human is sitting down, watching the sun rise over the Everfree Forest. She softly lands next to him, wincing in pain as her sore muscles impact the ground. It must have shown on her face because Doug looks at her, concern in his eyes. “You okay there, Rainbow?” “Pff, I’m fine. Nothing wrong here!” Rainbow bends her legs and bounces up but grimaces as her left front leg seizes, nearly buckling underneath her. Doug taps his thigh, “Alright, you. Put your leg here.” Rainbow looks at him, one eyebrow raised, “What do you plan on doing?” “Helping. Were you able to stretch out the soreness in your legs? I got Applejack to help me a little on my back, but I was able to get my legs and arms myself.” “Nah, dude, it’s cool. I’ll be fine!” Rainbow starts walking around but can’t help but wince every time her leg comes down. She sighs, “Fine. Whatever. Do your thing, then let’s get a move on!” She walks over to Doug and lays down, putting her hoof into his open hands. Doug begins by lightly pressing his hands on her cannon, slowly moving his way up to her elbows. He then starts pressing harder and Rainbow breathes a huge sigh of relief. She feels the soreness leave her leg as he alternates pressing his left and right hands on her powerful muscles. He works his way back down to her hoof before releasing her leg, leaving Rainbow gasping. “Wow. Did you do this for a living before?” Doug smiles, “No, not quite.” Rainbow extends her right foreleg. Doug goes through the same process; while the pain isn’t as bad the contact feels amazing. “Did you practice on Applejack or something? You are really good at this.” Doug laughs. “Nope. My main customer was my mom, she really liked it when I dug into her shoulders.” Rainbow pulls her right leg back when Doug finishes with it. She moves her head into his lap so he can easily reach her shoulders and withers. “Alright, then, can you do me?” Rainbow can feel him shudder next to her. She waits somewhat impatiently for him, finally pushing her head against his stomach. Doug replies, somewhat hesitantly, “Alright Rainbow, let me know if there are any areas I should focus on.” He moves his arms to her sides and begins pressing his hands into her. His long strokes probe out which muscles need more work and Rainbow can feel the last of her soreness in her front legs pass away. She moans, pressing her head against him again, trying to get him as far back as she can. As Doug finishes on both sides she feels him lightly pushing her away, prompting her to look up at him. He makes a circular motion with one finger. Rainbow gulps before slowly turning around. Her brain feels like it is on autopilot, still recovering from the endorphins released from his massage. Her hind legs push up while her front legs collapse, tail flicking wildly to the side. As Doug’s hands firmly grasp her hips she realizes that she is, in no uncertain terms, inviting him to mount her. Even worse, her body refuses her half-hearted commands to stop. Her wings flare out; she wants him to mount her. His hands move up and down the sides of her body, firmly gripping her flanks. She shudders again as he devotes his attention to her left side, working his way down the muscles on her leg. She tries to back up slightly but finds the muscles in her legs unresponsive, merely holding her in position as Doug makes his way all the way to her hoof. She holds her breath as he moves behind her, shaking at the air flowing from the movement. Her tail whips out again, trying to find purchase. Instead, his hands move to her right hip and work their way down, finding each kink in her muscles. As Doug finishes her right leg Rainbow finds herself gasping again, her body finally remembering to breathe. She manages to force out, “You about ready back there, big guy?” Doug’s voice shakes as he replies, “Yup. You feeling better?” Rainbow finally regains full control of her body as he backs up. She slowly gets to her hooves as her wings fold to her sides, testing out her leg muscles. Whatever massage Doug performed has done the job and then some; she feels ready to race the whole course! She turns to face Doug, smirking a little at the embarrassed look on his face. She briefly takes flight, hovering over to Doug and kissing him on the cheek. “Hey, thanks. You’re a really good friend, you know that, right?” At Doug’s unsure nod Rainbow wraps him in a hug. She stammers, “Uh, look, I’m no good with this mushy stuff, alright? It’s just… I mean, you’re cute and all, but I really gotta focus on the Wonderbolts and training and weather stuff. You get that, right?” Doug squeezes Rainbow in return, “I understand, Rainbow. It’s okay. You ready to go?” Rainbow releases Doug from the hug, nodding. The two begin their slow jog along the edge of the trees. To Rainbow’s delight, it doesn’t look like she will need to stop for breaks this time, though their pace is a little slower than before. That massage gave her a bunch of pent up energy she really wants to burn off but she still has to focus on breathing. She sure wouldn’t mind another massage at the end of this run, though. As they finish the last bend Rainbow’s exhaustion begins to catch up to her. Doug seems to notice and begins to slow down, but at her head shake he speeds back up, jogging beside her. She smiles, realizing that he is breathing hard as well. Maybe it won’t be too far a stretch to beat him in endurance runs! They finish the run together, Rainbow falling to her side on a shady patch of grass. Doug retrieves a basket and brings it over, sitting down close to her in the shade. Rainbow gratefully accepts one of the apples Doug brought, trying to pace her hungry stomach. Maybe she should eat more at night, some hay pasta, to keep her energy up for these runs. Doug passes her the gallon of apple juice he was drinking from and she takes it, tilting it up and drinking greedily. “Did ya bring any cider?” she asks hopefully as she finishes her drink. Doug grins, “I might have a bottle stashed around here somewhere.” He pulls it out of the basket he has stored the rest of the food in and places it next to him. Rainbow rolls over and smiles, her body next to him. She takes the bottle in one hoof and sets the other in his lap, looking up at Doug expectantly. He sighs, taking her hoof in his hand and starts massaging it. Rainbow shudders again at the contact; she says in a shaky voice, “Hey, big guy, I know this might sound weird, but… can you use, like, twenty percent less pressure with this massage? I don’t want to lose control again.” Doug smiles, slowing down and taking longer strokes. “Maybe. So, what are you doing all that training for? It doesn’t seem the weather around here gets that bad.” Rainbow smiles; for once, talking will be the perfect distraction! “Well, I’m training to be a Wonderbolt! They’re only the most awesome flight performers in Equestria! They travel all around to do their shows, showing off their moves.” Doug finishes up with Rainbow’s left front hoof and scoots back, working his way down her back. He ignores her wings, rubbing along her barrel to get to her hips. “Sounds pretty impressive. Do they perform a lot around here?” “Well, they do shows up in Canterlot. Not so much in Ponyville. Though, the Wonderbolt Academy is pretty close to here. Might be able to catch some practices if you were nearby. Closer than Cloudsdale, at least right now. That’s where I grew up, me and Fluttershy. Where did you grow up?” Doug continues down her leg, a slight frown on his face as he thinks about his answer. Rainbow realizes what she asked, and looks a little dejected, “Hey, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories or anything.” Doug smiles at her, “Oh, it’s not that, just trying to think of a good comparison. I haven’t really experienced much of Equestria besides Ponyville. I would say, when I was growing up, I lived with a lot of people like Applejack, in a community like Ponyville. Little more suburban though? Kind of a split between a city and a town like this.” “Oh, so Appleloosa? There’s a lot of earth ponies like Applejack there. Ponyville is pretty mixed, just about every kind of background. You’ve got ponies like me, and ponies like Rarity, who like to act like they are in Canterlot.” “Yup. I’ve lived in an area like Canterlot, or at least very close to it. I hated having to go into the city though. Mostly it was the crowds; I don’t like having to deal with a lot of people or noise. I also disliked having to drive through traffic; I’m really glad that isn’t an issue here. Why did you decide to move to Ponyville?” Doug moves around to Rainbow’s other side, continuing his massage. She responds, “Well, a couple reasons, I guess. When my friend Fluttershy got her cutie mark working with animals, well, she didn’t really want to stay in Cloudsdale. She wanted to move somewhere lower. Closer to the ground. Ponyville was close to Cloudsdale at the time, and it borders the Everfree. Lots of animals in the Everfree Forest, plus they get injured a lot. She loves taking care of injured critters.” Rainbow feels her tail flip to the side and sighs again, “The Everfree is the other reason. Most ponies don’t really want to work the weather here, on account of the random storms it spits out. So, it tends to be a pretty junior place, lots of ponies transfer out as soon as they can. But that means quick advancement if you can hack it, and nopony handles weather better than me!” Doug nods as he finishes on her leg and moves to her back and sides. He starts at the top of her tail and works his way forwards, still avoiding her wings. “I’ve been in quite a number of storms, but I’ve always been inside. I can’t imagine flying through them. In fact, I helped a lot of people avoid doing just that, I helped them fly around the the storms.” Rainbow beams, “Ya, a thunderstorm is a piece of cake! Sometimes a good ‘nado is enough to send them packing, or at least break them up enough to make the rest of the work easier.” Doug looks at her in amazement, “But, a tornado is… like, a hundred knot winds! Or more. How do you do that?” Rainbow smirks, “With these!” Her wings flare out, showing off her plumage. She closes her eyes, looking up haughtily, “Yes, yes, I know, I’m awesome.” Doug slaps Rainbow on the haunch, causing the pegasus to yelp. She looks back with a half-hearted smile while rubbing her head, “Heh, guess I got a little carried away there. Although, if you want to massage them, I wouldn’t mind.” Doug shrugs, moving his hands to the base of Rainbow’s wings, lightly pressing on the muscles. As his hands slowly move along their length Rainbow scoffs, “Come on, dude, you can be a little rougher than that.” Doug responds, “Let me know if it’s too rough, then, it’s my first time handling wings.” He begins to move his hands a little faster, pushing harder into her muscles. He slowly makes his way down the edge, kneading her wing, trying to find areas that need work. Rainbow sighs contently but frowns as the pressure lets up. She turns her head back to see Doug straddling her, knees on the ground. She smiles and lowers her head to the ground. He resumes the massage, stretching her wing closer to his body. There wasn’t nearly as much tension in her wings as there was in her legs, but the contact still feels good. Rainbow moans as Doug moves to her other wing. Her estrus is going to be a long, miserable two weeks if this keeps up. Her thoughts are interrupted as her wing twinges in pain; Doug apparently tweaked one of her feathers. “Sorry,” Doug says as he pushes the feather back, rubbing the end of that wing. As he finishes the massage he says, “Hey, I need to head back. You want to join us for breakfast?” Rainbow shrugs, “Eh, sure, why not. Been awhile since I’ve been able to chat with AJ, let’s see what she’s up to.” She thinks to herself, ‘Maybe I can get AJ to help with a cooler, these massages really got me pent up. Wouldn’t want Doug to get the wrong idea if I asked him, I was acting like a filly during her first heat.’