//------------------------------//
// Challenge? 
// Story: Why She Serves 
// by Natedogg2006 
//------------------------------//

Tempest clicked the button on her stopwatch as a pony in mid sprint finally lost the obvious battle he'd been having with gravity and his own legs and collapsed to the ground just a few feet in front of her. His soft pink mane was completely soaked as he tried his best to take deep lungfuls of air. The sad sight in front of her only somehow became more sad as a few other ponies passed him while coming to a stop. 
These ponies were also out of breath, but still fairing better then him. They were followed by a few other ponies, then a few more. Writing times in a notebook as they arrived she finally spoke. "I guess we've finally found something you're good at." She couldn't tell through his exhaustion if this made any impact on his disposition. She proceeded nonetheless. "You might actually be very well suited at running away it seems."
She made to walk in front of the roughly gathered group, who all instinctively started to move to their usual positions. Even the still panting mass on the ground dragged his legs against the dirt to try to get them under him. She made a gesture for them to stop as she spoke up. "Stay at ease, take time to recover. You're going to need it."
She finished writing notes as she stood before them. They all seemed to be very cautious as they watched her, trying to anticipate her next move. She smiled cheerily. They all reflexively took a step back. 
"I have great news for you all. For the rest of the week you get to participate in my all time favorite training activity." Anypony who had recovered enough actually managed to look optimistic at that. Maybe the smile really had taken them off guard. Perfect. "Survival training. All alone in the woods, no food, one days worth of water, and a knife for each of you." She gave them another cheery smile. "Doesn't that sound fun."
There was a collective cringe from all around. She smiled more wickedly at that. "Guards will be going with you, but only to observe. They will be under strict order to render absolutely no assistance whatsoever, no matter what hardships you might end up facing. Although if you ask nicely enough I'm sure at the end of the week they'll help you remove any of your fellow cadets who are, for whatever reason, unable to leave the woods under their own power."
And that finally led to despair. The ponies around her looked completely horrified and broken at this idea. And so she decided to add just one more push. "And, since he somehow managed to place first on the obstacle course, sissy mane over there will be in charge." Eyes widened and breaths caught at that. Heads turned to the stallion who was shakely attempting to stand, the news causing him to fail that attempt. Eyes turned back to Tempest, but none were brave enough to voice their protests.
"Prepping starts now, although considering your load is predetermined it shouldn't take any of you too long to prepare. Physically anyway, mentally is up to individual discretion. You'll be leaving after grub, so feel free to enjoy your last meal." She gave one more warm smile as she finished.
While her briefing did seem to be sufficiently menacing, judging by the looks of abject horror she was getting, even she didn't think it sounded like her usual style. But she had to admit, she didn't mind. She knew this was one of those types of training that she couldn't really help on, which she was ok with. She had other plans for the week that were occupying her thoughts. 


***


Tempest Shadow stared at herself in the mirror of the locker room. Most ponies had their own pre-workout routines to get themselves in the zone, and she was no different. She knew she would soon be pushing her body until it begged her to stop, and then she would keep going. And she'd be doing it again and again and again. Thus she needed her focus, needed to be psyched, needed to know she wouldn't even show herself any mercy.
She glared at her own deep green eyes in the reflection, daring herself to back down from the challenge. With a snort she pushed away and began making her way into the main gym area, trotting with confident authority as she did so. Stepping through the door her eyes met and locked onto another pony about to enter it. The moment was frozen in time as her current unbreakable demeanor was met with a formidable challenge. 
"..... , ..... snort, bwahahaha." The instant she lost the battle with the image before her the flood gates opened and Fizzlepop could not hold back anymore. She now clenched a hoof to her side as her ribs began to hurt. "Bwahahaha, Sparky, what in Equestria are you wearing?"
Twilight had apparently decided to come to the gym prepared... by the standards of a pony who had never been in an actual gym in their entire life. She currently wore what looked to Fizzlepop to be some type of skin tight singlet that was probably about half a size too small around the alicorns slight pudge. Not more than an inch lower than where the singlet ended around her legs were the tops of some rather long and very baggy socks of some kind. Or perhaps they were meant to be some kind of leg warmers, she wasn't sure and was in no position to try to figure it out. And yet despite the presence of the leg coverings, all four hooves were also adorned with sweat bands that were awkwardly bunching them in what looked to be an uncomfortable way. Finally she was also wearing something at least a little average, a sweat band around her head. Or it would have been had there not been, for reasons that the mare could not even begin to understand, another matching sweatband around the bookish mares horn. 
Making it all the more amusing for Fizzlepop was that the first timer had apparently even taken the effort to make sure all parts of the ensemble matched. The only thing that was not particularly purple in front of her were the whites of Twilight's eyes from around her shrunken pupils as she cutely attempted to harshly glare down at the still laughing mare. In the back of her mind Fizzlepop wondered how Twilight could be looking down at her while doing such a bad job trying to intimidate her. After probably longer then it should have taken her, she came to realize that at some point during her laughing she had apparently ended up on the ground. Her fit slowly died down as she stared up at her workout partner for the day, willing herself to breathe evenly.
"Are you finally done?" Fizzlepop could only nod her head from her position at the moment. She worried that any sound escaping from her would set off more laughter and her ribs would not appreciate that at the moment. "Was it really that funny?" Again, Fizzlepop could only nod her head in reply, only this time slightly more vigorously. She was caught off guard when that made a smile come to Twilight's face. "Then it was totally worth it."
The mares horn lit and the outfit glowed for a second. With a flash and a pop it was gone, leaving the mare in a much more practical combination of sweat bands on her forehooves and across her forehead. Fizzlepop winced slightly with the effort as she managed to stand herself back up. "Wait wait wait. There is absolutely no way you wore all that just to get a reaction out of me."
Twilight gave her a very playful smile as she began to turn away and towards the rest of the gym. "Oh, you really don't think so?" She didn't turn away quite fast enough.
"You're blushing."
"No I'm not. Now let's see what the mighty Tempest Shadow does to keep herself in shape." Fizzlepop groaned as she came to stand next to Twilight, unconsciously raising her hoof to her side again as she did. "Fizz, are you ok?"
Once again she could only nod at the expression Twilight was giving her, this time for reasons she couldn't figure out. She considered for a few moments on how to put her next words in a way that wouldn't worry her friend. "I had no idea laughing could be so strenuous. There is absolutely no way I could handle my usual workout right now." She groaned again as she rubbed her side. "At least now I finally understand how it is that Pinkie Pie manages to not weigh five hundred pounds." Twilight giggled at that, nodding in agreement. "That being the case, I think a half speed workout will do for today. Does that sound good?"
"Sure thing. I might actually be able to keep up with you in that case. It sounds like we might be able to have some fun."

***

"That. Was. Not. Fun."
Twilight lay panting on the ground. She tried to wipe sweat from her face again, but her bands had become completely soaked a fair time ago already. Fizzlepop looked on in concern as she stood above her, trying to offer water from a bottle she had already refilled twice for her. "I'm sorry Twilight, I really didn't think I was pushing you that hard." Even in her current state Twilight managed to shoot a familiar glare at her. "Sparky, now do you need some more water?"
"No, I'll be fine." Her resolve only lasted a few seconds before she swiped the bottle and downed a few frantic mouthfuls. "Why would you do that to yourself?" She weezed out between pants. "Some of those workouts seemed almost like they were designed to punish your body as much as they were made to build it. Maybe moreso on some of them."
Fizzlepop reached down to offer the mare a hoof up. She knew the other mare was in a state that probably meant that her words were to be taken sarcastically, but they hit a deeply buried nerve within Fizzlepop. As she stood and they started making their way away from the weight machines they'd just been occupying she had to think on how to respond. "I.. I think maybe they were at some point." This caused Twilight to look over to her with concern despite her current state. Fizzlepop shook her head at that as she continued. "For a long time I really didn't like myself very much, so some of what I did to keep myself sharp might have evolved into, I guess, some kind of punishment. Something unconscious, from deep down were I'd buried the feelings that what I was doing was wrong. I actually have been meaning to change my workouts for a while now, but they've become such habit at this point."
Twilight could tell that saying this out loud hadn't been easy for the normally tough mare. Knowing where this was going she looked around them. Despite her exhaustion she managed to redirect their path to a more secluded area of the gym that looked unoccupied. Before she could voice any protest, Twilight pulled her friend into a hug that had become somewhat practiced between them at this point. She held it until Fizzlepop returned it, only with one foreleg, but it would do considering where they were. She pulled away and finally spoke. 
"You've already acknowledged the problem, so you've already taken the first step to fixing it. And you even went half speed today, at least partially for your own benefit and not just because you knew I'd never be able to keep up."
This actually did make a small smile return to Fizzlepop's face. "Thanks." She was silent for a few moments, but did her best to shake it off. She took the initiative and led the way as they made their way back into the open gym, once again heading towards the locker room where they'd first met up. There was still some part of what had happened that she could not shake off quite yet. "... Do... Do you think I actually am getting better? Sometimes it's hard for me to even realize some of the things about the way I use to be were so wrong. Am I ever going to stop being the kind of pony who secretly hates things about themself?"
Twilight lifted a wing to wrap the other mare in a hug before responding. "Fizz, I know you're getting better. Think about this, did you even realize that a whole gym full of ponies saw you literally rolling on the floor laughing just a couple hours ago?"
Fizzlepop felt the hair on her back stand on end as those words hit her. Looking around she did in fact realize that many of the ponies in the castles gym had probably been there when she had first started her own workout. However she noticed something weird as she did so, particularly when she noticed a pony on a treadmill just a few feet away from her who looked over at her... and smiled.
"Nopony, is freaked out by me. None of them are even paying attention to me." She even noticed some of the older royal guards she had retrained who used to freeze up at the sight of her. They were lifting weights not far away from her right now. Their gazes tracked over her a few times but they didn't even seem to register her presence.
"Well, except for them." Fizzlepop followed the other mare's gaze. She felt her face go into a much more familiar expression as she scowled. 
"What are they doing here?" Two blonde maned stallions were on elliptical machines not far away from them and doing a horrible job of pretending like they were not looking in her direction. 
"Well I have recently opened the castle's gym up to the general public, just like I did with the library originally. So they're either here for a workout, or they just had to try to get another look at you."
Tempest glared in their general direction, whereupon they decided they were done with their workout for the day. Still covered in sweat and without even considering wiping down their machines, they quickly made their way to the public doors of the gym which led back out into Ponyville. She turned her glare back to Twilight. The alicorn was currently giving her a grin she might feel like punching off the face of any other pony. Words found their way to her mouth before she knew they were there. 
"You're lucky you're so cute." Both mares felt their cheeks heat up before turning away from each other. After a few moments of embarrassment Fizzlepop felt the need to explain herself as best she could while still mentally kicking herself for saying something so sappy. "Sorry, I'm just a little, off kilter. I.. I usually do my best to try to ignore ponies when they're trying to avoid me. No pony was trying to avoid me, so I guess I  somehow didn't even register anypony. Nothing felt like a threat so I guess I was able to, be at ease."
Fizzlepop had looked away while speaking, thus she couldn't see the look on Twilight's face as she responded. "Fizz, you don't have to explain yourself. This is a good thing. This is exactly what I keep telling you. I've always known there is such a good pony inside that you for some reason feel you need to keep locked away. And if you let other ponies see that part of you I'm sure they're going to love you."
That statement made something in Fizzlepop's chest stir, but it was drown out as she managed to look up and saw possibly the warmest smile she'd ever seen. Which was especially amazing considering it was on the pony that had given her more warm smiles then any other in her life. A part of her mind she realized was usually fuzzy and impossible to understand when she was around Twilight began giving her body unusual commands to lean her muzzle closer to that warm smile. Before it started sounding like an idea she really wanted to follow through on however, that warm smile turned away. 
"I think I should start joining you in the gym more often. A princess probably should have a certain image if she's going to command respect. Although I'm going to have to research some new workout routines that will be better for the two of us." That word hung in Fizzlepop's head for an extra second, but she brushed it off along  with all the other things she was doing her best to brush off. "In the mean time, I hope you don't mind if we call it a day. My everything hurts and I think I need a nice, long, bath after this."
Fizzlepop felt an odd feeling stir in her chest as Twilight began to walk away from her. They weren't actually parting quite yet, and yet the declaration that their day would be coming to an end made her suddenly feel the need to reach out to her for some reason. 
"Oh, ummm." She wasn't sure what the sound she just made with her mouth was, but it was all that would come out at the moment. Twilight turned back with curiosity in her eyes. "I.. If your not up for it today, are you going to need tomorrow to recover as well?" Yes, that made sense the way she said it. Completely.
Twilight seemed to consider the butchered sentence for a few moments before her face turned back to her usual smile. "Of course we can still see each other tomorrow. I am helping you work through some things right now, and I think spending time together is the best way to do it. You should be completely free tomorrow with the new recruits doing their training right? So how about since I decided to join you today, you get to decide on something for us to do tomorrow."
An odd mixture of joy and dread settled over Fizzlepop. Knowing now that she wouldn't miss a day with Twilight did put her at ease. But the idea of planning a date made her mind go on autopilot for a moment. "That sounds acceptable. I do believe I can find something that will be enjoyable for the both of us." Twilight rolled her eyes at Fizzlepop dropping back into a more serious demeanor. She immediately and instinctively dialed it back as she continued. "But for now we should probably go get cleaned up."
Twilight gave a little chuckle at that. "Yeah, we. Because you were totally working up a sweat while trying not to leave me in the dust on every workout. I'm sure you were getting drenched while trying to look like you were straining at least a little bit so I didn't feel bad." Fizzlepop blushed at the observation, but they managed to share a laugh as they made their way into the locker room.