As you and Rainbow fly through the crisp morning air above Ponyville, you have to fight the urge to call the session off and let ‘Dash get some more sleep. She is obviously exhausted, and this is confirmed by the deep bags under her eyes. She is obviously not used to waking up this early. You remember your first training session. You had fallen asleep in the middle of a complicated drill Spitfire was trying to teach you and almost broke your neck. Hm... What can I do to avoid that? Aha!
You slow down and stop. Rainbow Dash does the same, and looks at you with bleary eyes, saying, in a tired voice;
“Why are we stopping?” A yawn covers up the last syllable, and you smile as you realise you couldn’t have picked a better time for what you’re about to do. She looks tired enough to fall asleep now.
“I just want to get a drink. Come on, I see a lake down there.” You point with your hoof, and then dive towards it immediately. She follows you, at her own slow pace.
As you land, you go over to the water and start to drink, waiting for Rainbow to land. You hear her hit the ground and stumble a bit, but she is soon standing by your side. You straighten up and pretend to stretch as she starts to drink. Then, as if not realising it, you move your right hoof around and knock her into the lake. She lets out a shocked little gasp as she falls forward into the cold water. She immediately starts trying to get out, and you can see two things, both of which bring a kind of sadistic joy only known by trainers and teachers.
Firstly, she is definitely not tired anymore, and secondly, she looks very pissed off. She finally gets out, shivering, then fixes you with eyes that would make a Manticore turn and run. You spread your wings and shoot into the air, laughing.
“Come on, ‘Dash! Come catch me! Or would you rather swim?” You yell. She growls and takes off after you. Without waiting for her to catch up, you turn and shoot off.
Well, she’s definitely awake now! You think, a grin on your face. You look behind you and see Rainbow not far behind. Hm... Let’s ramp this up a bit. You suddenly start yelling at the top of your lungs;
“HELP! HELP! SHE’S GOING TO KILL ME!” You can see ponies on the ground look up and start pointing. You risk another glance backwards and can see Rainbow speeding up, trying to catch you.
She looks down for a moment and you take the chance to do a sharp turn and hide behind a cloud. She keeps going for a few moments, but stops when she realises you’re gone.
“Where are you?” She yells, at the empty space. You drop towards the ground, holding in your laughter. You land, and throw yourself behind a boulder, and let it all out. You can barely breath as you laugh, chuckle, giggle, and all things in between. But you stick your hoof in your mouth when you hear hoofsteps approaching.
You are relieved, though, when instead of a homicidal Rainbow Dash, it’s Fluttershy’s Coltfriend, with an amused look on his face.
“I hear Rainbow Dash is trying to kill you. Any reason why?” He asks, a grin on his face. You decide to have a little fun with your answer;
“I think she likes me. She just wants a piece of this.” You gesture to yourself, and smile suggestively. The colt laughs, and winks.
“I know what you mean.”
Suddenly, you feel yourself thrown backwards onto the ground. Rainbow Dash doesn’t look very happy with you. The colt winks at her --With a bit of hesitation, you notice-- and says;
“I’ll just leave you two... Alone.” He smiles mischievously and turns around. Rainbow looks at you. Then at him. Then back at you. Then realisation dawns. She recoils, and lands on her rump in front of you.
“Nonononono! I was just-- We aren’t-- He couldn’t-- WE WEREN’T!” She yells, her cheeks bright red.
The colt starts trotting away, and says over his shoulder;
“Suuuuure. See you two... Later.” Rainbow looks like she is about to chase after him, then turns to you and kicks you playfully.
“And why did he think that?” She says, a mix of frustration and confusion in her voice. You laugh and say;
“I don’t know. Never mind. Back to training? You certainly look awake now.”
She looks surprised for a moment, then nods slowly. Then her determined air comes back. She pulls off an exaggerated salute and says, in a fake guard voice;
“Aye aye, boss!” You smile and spread your wings.
“Let’s go then! Time for some real training.” Rainbow looks shocked, then says;
“That wasn’t the real training?” You remember you had the exact same reaction when Spitfire said the same thing, so many years ago. You nod happily.
“Yep! Come on. Let’s go!” You take off and smile as you hear her flying behind you.
“Come on! We’re going for a fly through Ponyville!”
Without waiting for any indication that she has heard, you turn sharply towards the ground, and fly through a course you had planned out on your way to Rainbow’s home. It looked complicated, but you know that Spitfire wouldn’t have a problem with it. --In fact, the fiery Wonderbolt would probably do it with her eyes closed-- But it should at least be a bit of a challenge for Rainbow. From what you knew, she just did stunts. She wasn’t used to obstacle courses.
Or, so you thought.
You have to hide your shock as you see the familiar rainbow-coloured mane slowly pushing ahead of you, matching your turns and flips with almost picture-perfect moves. She is still slightly behind, but only because you are the one leading the way. You finish the course you had set, and slow to a halt.
Rainbow looks tired, but not enough to stop training.
“So, I’m guessing you’ve had experience with obstacle courses?” You ask.
“More or less. At Junior Speedster’s Flight camp we did them about three times a week.”
“Ah. I never knew.” She looks at you questioningly.
“You didn’t go?” You shake your head sadly.
“No, I grew up in Manehattan. I never even saw Cloudsdale until I became a Wonderbolt.”
“What? Really? That must have been boring...”
“Ah, I found ways to make the city fun.”
“Like what?”
“That’s a story for another time...” You say, not meeting her eyes. Maybe when she trusts me enough to know why.
You shake your head, trying to think about other things while Rainbow looks at you with confusion.
“Now! Back to training!” You say, with false joviality. You take off, trying to figure out a new course for you both to take. You hover for a few minutes, high in the air. You don’t notice when ‘Dash catches up, floating around you on a cloud.
You are jerked out of your thought, though, when she throws a small piece of cloud at your head. It bounces off and floats away lazily.
“Hm?” You mumble. You had been thinking about something important, you know that... But now... It was gone.
“Come on! I thought we were supposed to be training!” Says Rainbow Dash. “Not just sitting here thinking!”
“Oh, sorry. Yeah. Let’s go. Hm... How do you feel about a rematch for last night?”
“Haha, unhappy about losing?” You roll your eyes.
“Of course, Rainbow. Come on, let’s get moving!” You cry, getting ready to take off for the horizon.
Rainbow Dash smiles and says;
“Um... We need a place to race to, don’t we?” You facehoof as she says this.
“Of course...” You say, sheepishly. “How about... The farmhouse at Sweet Apple Acres?” You say, pointing in what you think is the general direction of it. Rainbow smiles and flies over next to you. She takes your hoof and moves it to the left.
“That’s where it is.” You look her in the eyes for a moment, and she stares back. Then she shakes her head and releases your hoof.
“S-so, Sweet Apple Acres? Alright then, 321go!” She shoots off, and you realise too late you’re giving her a head start. You shoot off, trying to push the moment that has just passed from your mind. Alright, clear my mind like Spitfire told me to... Let’s do this!