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// 12 Notched Flesh 
// Story: Alternate Beginnings: Year Five 
// by Doug Graves 
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March 10th, 997

Despite the cool spring breeze flowing through the air, Rainbow pants as they near the end of the second lap around the farm. She shakes her mane, droplets of water billowing forth, trying to form a bit of a breeze with her magic despite staying on the ground. She looks next to her; Doug is also breathing heavily, but turning to one of the barns instead of back to the farmhouse. She shrugs to herself as they continue their fast pace, finally slowing down to a walk as they get close. She stretches her legs as they pause outside the doors, "Hey, so, why the fast pace? Not that I minded or anything, you know."

Doug shrugs as he opens the door for her, "Well, wanted to try to get more in shape, I guess."

Rainbow cocks her head, poking her stallion in the side, "Um, I don't think you need to work out more, dude. We just, like, jogged ten miles." She looks up at the sky, "And it took us, what, an hour? A little more?" She shakes her mane, dashing for the large water jug Doug had placed before the run, drinking greedily before passing it to the human. He takes the water, a brief splash to his face and wiping a bit of the sweat out of his eyes before he takes a long drink.

"Well, I'll be focusing on other parts of my body this time." Doug trades the jug for a bucket, pulling out a few large nails, two metal brackets, and a heavy hammer, handing the two brackets to Rainbow. He pushes one of the crates next to the purple walls, taking the hammer in one hand while Rainbow flies up, holding the metal bracket in place against one of the thick vertical support beams. Doug holds the nail in place, hammering it in, making sure the bracket is secure and just underneath the cutout he made earlier in the beam. He drops down, walks to the other end, up the stairs to the second floor of the barn. He bends down as Rainbow takes the second clamp; she holds it against the beam that supports the second floor while Doug hammers in the second nail.

Doug comes back down and grabs a long wooden beam, picking up one end. Rainbow grabs the other end, grunting as they lift it up, carrying it to the second floor. Rainbow flies over so the beam crosses over the middle of the barn, setting it up to rest on the bracket on the other side and just inside the notched area. He glances up, the brown wooden beam looking a bit out of place next to the purple walls and pink beams. Maybe a good project to get the fillies involved. He rolls over, nearly hanging off of the second floor as he hammers a nail through the bracket to the horizontal beam.

"Like what? Don't you mostly use your legs?" Rainbow looks down, still holding the loosely secured beam, her forelegs beginning to get a little tired as her wings pump up and down. Doug drops down, grabbing onto the nearby crate, boosting himself up. He rest the beam on his shoulder, letting Rainbow get a bit of a break. He holds the nail out to her; she holds it in place while Doug drives the nail upwards.

"Well, I'm using this hammer." Rainbow grabs two more clamps and four nails, holding them in place as he fully secures the beam. "I mean, lower body strength is great, and a large part of many martial arts." They move to the other side, Doug dragging the crate over to give him a better place to stand as they nail the last of clamps, "You know Bulk Biceps."

Rainbow snorts, "Oh, please tell me that is your goal. Please."

Doug rolls his eyes, "Well, I would like to bench press Applejack like I can bench Fluttershy, but I doubt I'll be able to get there. In fact, I've probably already reached how strong I'm going to get, mostly because of my diet."

"So, just eat more." Rainbow watches as Doug moves over, grabbing a large red cylindrical bag. She points a hoof, "What's that?"

"Well, to answer your statement, I'm eating the wrong foods to bulk up." Doug walks over, standing the red bag on its end. "This is a punching bag." Doug throws a few light punches before grabbing a few ropes, threading them through the loops at the top. "Rarity made it out of heavy canvas, and I think she threw an enchantment on it as well, to make it more durable." He taps on the woe essence the ropes are strung through, "But you need to let the enchantment recharge after using it; you can sometimes hear it when it runs out of power. It takes about seven seconds, so just take a short rest when you hear it go off." He motions to the bag, "You would probably call it a bucking bag, because that is the, how shall I say, general pony method of attacking something, but something about the name sounds off."

Rainbow chuckles, "Yeah, saying you want to go practice with the 'ole bucking bag sounds, uh, wildly inappropriate. If accurate. Maybe it's a training bag instead."

"Fair enough." Doug takes the ropes, securing the bag to the beam they had just raised.

"So, you were saying about the wrong food? Bulk doesn't eat anything too different, just a lot more."

"Yup. So, my body doesn't process food the same as yours. In order to get protein or amino acids, the basic building blocks of my muscles, I have to eat it. Unfortunately, I can't just eat a bunch of hay, which does contain proteins and whatnot, because I can't digest the cellulose. I have to get it from somewhere, which is why I eat eggs and nuts and drink milk."

"Okay, so couldn't you just eat more of those?"

Doug shrugs, "Well, I could, if my goal was to get bigger in addition to bulking up. But, unfortunately, it's inefficient, and I would get a lot more calories than I require, so I would likely end up fatter in addition to stronger. And I don't want to get fatter."

Rainbow sighs, looking back at herself, "Well, I know you don't care, but sometimes I think I'd look better with a little more bounce in my flanks. More like Rarity or Fluttershy, you know?"

Doug moves over, tilting Rainbow's head up towards his. She rolls her eyes as they share a kiss, miming him as he says, "And you know I love you, regardless." He ruffles her mane as he continues, "And maybe you would be more attractive to other ponies if you had a bit more junk in the trunk. But that doesn't come without consequences."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I wouldn't be as fast, or as agile, or whatever."

"Sure. And Pinkie Pie does make some pretty awesome cakes. Kinda hurts to miss out."

"Mm, yeah." Rainbow salivates as she looks up at the bag, "So, what would you eat instead?"

"You really want to know?"

Rainbow smirks, "What, you'd have to eat ponies or something?" She laughs initially, but her face falls at his slow nod, his mouth pursed to a grim smile. "Wait, really? So, way back when Spoiled Rich asked you, there's a real reason for you to eat ponies?"

"Well, it's not a topic I bring up because it's uncomfortable, downright terrifying in fact, but yes. I mean, it doesn't have to be ponies, it could be just about any animal. Chickens or pigs would be the most readily available ones. But I refrain from that because, well, two reasons. One, just about everything here can talk, at least to Fluttershy, and I don't want to eat anything that talks. There are a few exceptions to the 'animals can talk' rule; fish, turkeys, a couple of the creatures in the Everfree. The other reason is, while it is okay for us to raise more chickens to get more eggs, it's a bit harder to raise fish or turkeys for the pure purpose of butchering them."

"Yeeaahh," Rainbow intones, "I don't think that would go over very well." She looks outside; the chicken coop, the pig sty, even the barns where the cows like to stay; all are in easy visual range. "Not well at all. I mean, Gilda, my griffon friend, she eats meat, and so do a couple of the other races. They just, um, tend not to talk about it, like, at all when they are here. Somepony scared em real bad several years ago."

"Huh. I wonder if I can order some meat from them. I've kind of resigned myself to this diet, and that I probably won't bulk up any more than I am." Doug jumps up, grabbing onto the beam and doing a few pull ups, testing the beam. "If I could get more meat that would be nice, but I don't have to."

"So, then, why are you working out more?" Rainbow gets down, her wings stretching out, tips on the ground. She does a few wing ups before getting back up, "I mean, I do exercises like that because it strengthens my wings, and helps me fly faster. And I can do a bunch of them. Heh, not much else to do when my magic is low, you know?"

"Certainly. And, well, humans use their arms for most activities, so it's pretty important to keep them strong." Doug drops down, moves up to the bag, a southpaw stance, landing a few jabs with his right hand.

Rainbow dashes over, spinning around and bucking the bag. It rocks backwards, the mare quickly dodging to the side and landing a second buck as it swings back to the center. She rolls forwards while Doug plants his foot forward, stopping the bag's movement with a cross from his left hand, a popping sound from the woe essence above the bag. He winces, shaking his hand a little as Rainbow laughs, "Oh, the sand in there too hard for you?"

Doug rubs his knuckles, "More like I'm not used to hitting things." He motions back at Ponyville, "I've got a couple weapons at Rarity's, things we used in the Badlands." He sighs, putting a hand on the bag, his pressure slowly bringing it to rest. "And if I was really trying to hurt something, then I would use one of those."

Rainbow flies over, nuzzling Doug on the cheek, "So, um, is there, uh, something that you are worried about? Something that could hurt you? Or us?"

Doug slowly nods, "Spoiled Rich is right. There are dangerous things out there, trying to get in. But I can't tell you more, Rainbow, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to trust me on that."

"Oh." Rainbow snuggles next to him, "Well, you aren't going to be one of those things, right?"

Doug holds tightly around Rainbow, sinking to the hay covered floor, "I sure hope not, Rainbow, I certainly hope not."

Rainbow wraps her forelegs around him, matching him squeeze for squeeze. "Well, you better not, cause if you do, I'll, like, buck your flank or something." She forestalls his quick retort, "And not in a good way!"

"You got it." Doug grunts as he stands, lifting Rainbow in his arms, the mare moving her forelegs to around his shoulders. "I might need you to get off for this next one."

"Aww." Rainbow rolls back, her wings keeping her aloft; she says, "Just know, if anything were to happen, I'll be right with you. We can, like, fight it off together!" She does a few midair jabs, hovering closer to the training bag and attempting a spinning kick. However, her spacing is a little off, her kick whiffing the bag and sending the pegasus spiraling into the floor.

Doug smirks as he reaches up to the horizontal beam. He jumps up, his hands gripping the beam from opposite sides. He hangs for a few seconds before repositioning, his hands on the same side. He grunts, lifting his body up in a chin up, a set of five before he drops down. Rainbow picks herself up, flying a little closer to the bag, wary about messing up her kick again. The two continue working out before they both call it quits, tired arms and legs off to whatever duties they have that day.