Ainsley was having a hard time trying to find Rainbow Dash compared to his brother finding Fluttershy. The pegasus wasn't exactly someone who spent a lot of time on the ground, so it was hard to tell where she could be most of the time. Plus, considering the fact that she was a Wonderbolt, that would mean she would not be around a lot of the time, since she'd probably be staying over at the Wonderbolt Academy. Luckily, when Ainsley asked around, they have confirmed that Rainbow Dash is indeed in town, all that was left to do was find her.
Ainsley spent at least another half hour walking around Ponyville trying to locate Rainbow Dash, but just when he was about to give up, he saw a small cloud floating above him and noticed a cyan figure lying on top of it.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Ainsley called out.
The cyan figure atop the small cloud started moving and raised its head, revealing a rainbow-colored mane. The cyan pegasus named Rainbow Dash rubbed one of her eyes, seeming as though she just got up from a nap, and looked down at the one who called her name.
"Yeah? Who are you?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm Ainsley! I've been looking for you!" Ainsley answered, having to raise his volume a bit due to being on the ground.
"Why? Something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to talk to you!"
Rainbow Dash then shook herself awake and began flapping her wings, jumped off the cloud, and slowly descended to Ainsley's eye level. "Sure, dude! What's up?"
"Well, I've heard about you quite a lot. Almost everypony talks about you. I remember a few years ago, when Earth and Equestria first united, I saw the entire thing on TV. I remember you and all your friends standing on that huge stage, Princess Twilight shook hands with the President and all the other world leaders, former princesses Celestia and Luna were there as well to see the entire thing, I kinda wonder how they're doing nowadays, and all the crazy speeches you guys made."
Rainbow chuckled. "Heh, yeah, that was a pretty crazy day."
"And then the final show you put on for everyone!" Ainsley's smile widened.
"Aw, yeah!" Rainbow grinned back.
"THE SONIC RAINBOOM!" the both of them said in unison.
"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life! I remember the faces of the President and all the other world leaders when that happened. The internet wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks!" Ainsley said gleefully.
"Even when I got back down, everyone still had that look on their faces! I gotta say, I did pretty awesome," Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves.
"You sure did, Rainbow Dash. Actually, what do I call you? Just Rainbow? Or just Dash?"
"Eh, either one's fine, but most ponies call me Dash."
"Alright, Dash. Do you wanna find somewhere to...talk? Is there anywhere you can think of?" Ainsley asked.
Dash put a hoof up to her chin to think about it. "Hmm...actually, I think there is a place."
"Oh my gosh...the spa?!" Ainsley exclaimed.
Ainsley and Rainbow Dash stood in front of the Ponyville Day Spa, a double tent-shaped building with tulips planted along the walls, and a heart-shaped wooden sign hung up above door depicting a mare with luscious hair.
"Yeah, you don't mind, do you?" Rainbow asked with a smile.
"No, not at all. I couldn't imagine anywhere better," Ainsley said with enthusiasm. "Didn't expect someone as tomboyish and athletic as you to wanna hang out at the spa of all places," he said with a sly smile.
"Yeah, I know. But it's fine for somepony to like more than one thing, even if they don't fit your image."
"True, true."
Dash's smile then disappeared and she now had a more hesitant-looking face as she stared at Ainsley. "Hey, uh...Ainsley, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry if this is kinda coming outta nowhere, but you're...a guy, right?"
"Yes, actually. I am," he answered plainly.
"Oh, okay. Just making sure. Not tryna judge or anything, ponies have thought I was a guy several times in my life, so I know the feeling."
"I can kinda see why. You are kinda boyish."
"What?! Okay, maybe I don't always like typical frou-frou filly stuff, but I'm still clearly a filly! I'm smaller than a guy, I don't even have a guyish face!"
"Maybe it's your voice. It is kinda raspy, kinda like a little colt's voice," Ainsley pointed out.
"C'mon, AJ's got a way deeper voice than me, and nopony ever confuses her for being a guy!" Dash complained before smiling at Ainsley again. "Besides, you're one to talk. You sound way more like a filly than I do a colt."
"Jokes on you, I purposefully talk this way! I mean, I've always had a pretty feminine voice, but I try to add a bit more to complete my image."
"Yeah, you even dress like a filly, too! Even I don't always go out of my way to dress up like a colt!"
"Hey, it's just my preference, Dashie. Don't be hating on me just because I look fabulous," Ainsley ran his fingers through his white and pink hair.
"Alright, alright, enough talk. Let's just get into the spa," Rainbow Dash chuckled as she flew off the ground and pushed Ainsley through the door.
Behind the counter of the spa's waiting room, stood the sisters Aloe and Lotus, one was a blue mare with a pink mane, the other being a pink mare with a blue mane. The two mares smiled widely and had sparkles in their eyes as they saw Rainbow Dash walk towards them.
"Rainbow Dash! How nice to see you again!" Lotus exclaimed with a heavy French ("or would it be Prench?" Ainsley thought) accent.
Aloe continued the greeting. "Would you like-?"
"My usual, yeah. I also wanna treat this new friend of mine, Ainsley here to your special treatments! On me, of course," Rainbow Dash said.
"Ooh, this is gonna be so much fun! I can't remember the last time I've been to a spa," Ainsley was jumping giddily.
"Trust me, dude. You're gonna love this place!"
Rainbow Dash was right, Ainsley did end up loving the place. It had everything one would expect from a spa, massages, hot rocks, warm baths, but a massage felt entirely different when it was being given by hooved creatures. Ainsley really had to give these spa ponies credit where credit was due, they really knew how to deliver the right amount of pressure with appendages as hard and solid as hooves. It was hard, like rocks being hit against your back, but it was also somehow soft enough to not hurt. It was a very different experience from being massaged with fingers, honestly hard for Ainsley to fully describe.
After all the other spa activities, the cyan pegasus and the feminine human man both laid down on the spa beds wearing robes, with towels on their heads, face cream, and cucumber slices on their eyes. Aloe and Lotus were both doing manicures, or hooficures in Rainbow's case, on the two of them. Human toenails were very different from pony hooves, though, they were smaller, significantly thinner, and there were ten of them instead of four, twenty if they did the fingernails as well. But Lotus did Ainsley's nails surprisingly well, which she revealed she did indeed get some practice, some of it through doing Spike's claws way back when.
"Ah...what'd I tell you? Is this the life or what?" Dash sighed.
"Yeah, you weren't kidding," Ainsley sighed as well. "So, Dash, tell me more about yourself. I mean, I've heard quite a bit about you already, but I wanna hear it straight out of the horse's mouth. Hehe, 'horse's mouth'," Ainsley chuckled at his own accidental pun.
"Well, there's tons o' stuff for me to tell ya. Whaddya wanna know?"
"Let's start with...what do you do?" Ainsley asked.
"Oh, I can do lotsa things! I am easily the fastest pony in all of Equestria! And I--"
"No, no, I mean...what do you do for a living? What do you work as? Y'know, that kinda thing."
"Ooohhh, okay, sorry. Well, as you probably might know, I am a member of the Wonderbolts, the best flyers in Equestria! I'm sure you've heard of them."
"Yeah, I have. So, they're some kinda aerobatics team, am I right?"
"Yup! Won't find anypony better. Even if Lightning Dust tries to say otherwise," Dash grumbled under her breath. "I also help manage the weather here in Ponyville."
"Oh yeah, the weather here is controlled by the pegasus. Back where I'm from, the weather acts completely on its own," Ainsley said.
"I've remember that! Man, it's so weird to think about. The rain just happening randomly when you least expect it without anypony actually making it happen, plus the fact that the clouds are so much bigger and so far away from the ground than here! It's all just so weird."
"Yeah, scheduled rain probably would make things a but easier back home," the feminine human commented.
"Oh! I also teach at the School of Friendship! I teach all about loyalty there, and also a bit of physical education."
"The School of Friendship? That big building across the lake from the Castle of Friendship, right? My dad's always wanted to look in that place. I'm kinda curious, too," Ainsley said. "By the way, you said you teach loyalty? Because you're the Element of Loyalty, right?"
"Yup!"
"What's the deal with those 'Elements of Harmony', anyway? I know you and your friends, including Princess Twilight, represent each of the elements. You're Loyalty, Princess Twilight's Magic, Pinkie Pie's Laughter, et cetera, et cetera. But how did you guys even become an element, anyway?"
"Aw, man, this brings back memories. I remember it was the first day me and everypony else met Twilight. She was sent to Ponyville by Princess Celestia to learn friendship, which was on the same day Nightmare Moon came back, who's actually Princess Luna in case ya didn't know."
"I may have heard about that."
"Yeah, so right after Nightmare Moon seemingly destroyed the Elements in the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight revealed that we were all the Elements of Harmony, because we all represented each element. So we got some cool necklaces made from the shattered Elements, Twilight got a cool crown thingy, we shot out a rainbow laser, defeated Nightmare Moon, and yeah, that's that."
"And where are the necklaces now?"
"Oh, they don't exist anymore. They got destroyed when King Sombra destroyed the Tree of Harmony," Dash answered.
"The Tree of Harmony? Oh, I didn't do too much research on that."
"Eh, it's fine, it's a long story. And it's all good, 'cause now we got the Treehouse of Harmony."
"'Treehouse of Harmony'? Never thought I'd hear about something like that in my life."
"Yeah, it's all pretty crazy. Plus, we don't need the Elements, because the Elements are already inside all of us!"
"That's good to know," Ainsley said, trying to process what he's hearing. Equestria was a pretty crazy place. "So you've obviously saved Equestria a lot of times with your friends, didn't you? What was the craziest one out of all of them? I mean, with so many country-threatening dangers constantly attacking all the time, they're all bound to be crazy in a lot of ways."
"Ooh, that's kinda tough to answer. They were all really crazy in their own way. I mean, Discord was a whole nutty experience, along with that thing with the Plunderseeds, and that attack on Canterlot by Chrysalis was weird, and then when she came back with Tirek and Cozy Glow by her side, that was really insane. I guess I really enjoyed fighting all those changelings in Canterlot, even if the changelings are all cool now, and fighting along with Flash Magnus and the Pillars against the Pony of Shadows was also neat. But, hey, enough about me. What's going on with you?" Rainbow turned to face Ainsley despite the cucumbers still covering her eyes.
"Me? Eh, I don't know. My life is nowhere near as interesting as yours."
"Aw, come on, Ainsley. Maybe you didn't have to fight a bunch of crazy bad guys and save Equestria from world-ending threats from time to time, but that doesn't mean your life is boring! So, c'mon, what do you do?" Rainbow asked the human.
"Uh...well...I work part-time as a waiter in my dad's restaurant. I know my attire doesn't really fit the whole mood of the restaurant, but hey, it makes the place more interesting and gets customers to come in," Ainsley shrugged as he answered.
"Ooh! Your dad owns a restaurant? Which one?"
"It's the new one here in Ponyville, 'Giovanni's'."
"Cool!" Rainbow said. "Wait, you said 'part-time', then what's your other job?"
"Uh...it's kinda awkward to talk about here. I mean, I'm not ashamed of it or anything, but...y'know, public area."
"Hey, it's okay. We're the only ones in this room right now, and Aloe and Lotus aren't the gossipy type. You can tell me, if you want to, that is."
"Well...I actually work as a sex worker," Ainsley answered, which caused Rainbow Dash to stare at him with her jaw dropped and the cucumber slices on her eyes fell off, and even Aloe and Lotus paused for a moment before continuing the manicure as if they didn't hear anything.
"Woah...really?" Dash still stared at him in shock.
"Yeah. I told you it'd be kinda awkward in a public place. Are you...against that kinda stuff?"
"No, no, it's just...wow, I've never actually met anypony who's a...ahem, worker. I mean, we have ponies here like that too, but I've never actually met one in person! At least, not that I know of."
"You'd be surprised how many of the everyday people around you actually does stuff like that."
"Heh, yeah. So...what's it like? Working a job like that? I can't imagine having to make yourself...pleasure complete strangers like that," Dash said with a shiver.
"Eh, it's different for everyone. I personally don't actually mind it that much. I actually like being with a guy, or even a buncha guys, an the pays actually pretty good, especially now after Dad's help. Sure, it's pretty nasty job, but it's honest work and money."
"Wait, your dad helped? Your family's fine with what you do?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, kinda, it's complicated. Dad was pretty upset about it when he first found out. You see, after I turned eighteen, I moved away from my family and never tried to contact them, and surprisingly, they didn't try to bother me either. I only came back to them several years ago, way before Earth made contact with Equestria, on my dad's birthday out of respect, and as you'd expect I was very different from before I left."
"You're the only one in your family like you, huh?"
"Yeah, I look and act nothing like the rest of my family. They're all traditional and old-fashioned. Unless someone told you, you'd probably never guess I was related to them. Just wait until you see them, you'll know what I mean. Anyway, my dad was pretty upset when he found out about my lifestyle, both the way I dress and what I do for a living, but he was mostly upset because my mom was so fucking distressed the moment she saw me."
"Yeesh."
"Yeah. My brother didn't care as much, not saying he defended me or anything, he mostly chose to stay away from the drama as much as possible. So you know, I talked to my dad about it, and at first he tried to talk me out of doing what I was doing, that was until I told him how much I earned for a living, that he agreed to help me out. My dad still didn't 100% like or understand my lifestyle, but he did everything he could to help me get through it better and improve it. He gave me a weapon and taught me how to defend myself, he demanded that I get paid three times as much as I did even though my pay was already pretty decent, but I'm not complaining, and he helped get rid of my old boss and made me the new boss."
"Really? What happened there?"
"Well, my old boss was...really bad. Luckily, I didn't have to put up with him everyday since I worked in a completely different place than he was usually in but still owned, and the guy running my place was much nicer than he was. One day, my dad found out about my boss's terrible treatment towards me, and he decided to do something about it."
"What did he do?" Dash asked again.
"My dad and my brother talked to all the workers about him, turns out everyone was not happy with the workplace treatment, and we all...um...voted him out, right after we gave him a piece if our mind. So my dad made me the new boss, and everyone was happy with it." Ainsley answered.
"Woah, your dad actually sounds pretty cool."
"'Cool'? That's a word I've never heard anyone use to describe him," Ainsley chuckled.
"So, how's the, uh...business going?"
"It's going fine. Unfortunately, I can't be around all the time all the time since I'm usually helping my dad with some things, especially now that we're expanding business to Equestria. So I'm kinda more of an overseer, and someone else actually manages the place for me. It's a win-win, to be honest. I've never really been that much of a 'boss' kind of person."
"So your dad's cool with what you do now?"
"Eh, like I said, it's complicated. He's not as against it now as he was when he first found out, he's definitely calmed down a lot and is always helping me with the business. But while he tolerates it a lot now, he's clearly also not completely on board, like he and everyone in his business still make snide remarks at me, but never really in a way that's meant to put me down so much, they pretty much talk to everyone like that, but I know that if my dad had the power to make me stop what I'm doing, he definitely would. My brother never really cared and still doesn't care too much now, he did help overthrow my boss so that's one thing, but like my dad he still makes snide remarks at me a lot, but I've gotten used to it now. My mom's the worst, though."
"Oh no, what did she do?"
"She didn't do anything, exactly, but that's kinda the problem."
"How?"
"My mom's a traditional Catholic woman, no surprise for any Italian kids, so I never expected her to take this easily. But she is still distressed about it to this day! I remember on the first week I came back to my family, she got so upset that she ran out of the house and locked herself in the local church the whole time! Even the priest couldn't get her out. Eventually, we finally managed to talk her into getting out the church, but that didn't solve anything because now she just locks herself in her room all day doing nothing but praying! My dad tried all month to get her out, but eventually he just gave up. I don't think I've ever seen her in the flesh since that first week. Now she's still back in our house on Earth."
"You don't think she could be...?"
"Dead? No, she's not. Judging by some of the food and cleaning products we never touched being left out when we got home, it's pretty clear she only comes out of her room when nobody's home. The moment she hears us coming, though, she runs right back in."
"Jeez, she sounds more dramatic than Rarity," Rainbow commented. "Wait, your mom and dad sleep in different rooms?"
"Yeah, my dad insisted on it. For business reasons," the human answered.
"Oookay. By the way, are you actually doing your...business stuff here?"
"Oh, no, no! Of course not! I'm not interested in sleeping with ponies, that's a line for me. Even if I was, Dad would never let it happen. He's already tolerating my current state as much as he can anyway. Hehe," Ainsley chuckled. "How about you, Dash? Are your parents anything like that?" he asked this time.
"No, actually, the complete opposite! My mom and dad never stop supporting me for literally anything! They were so supportive, that I didn't even tell them I became a Wonderbolt, because I knew they were never gonna stop bothering me about it. I mean, we're all fine now, but still! They cheered me just for hanging a towel! In my Wonderbolt locker room!"
"Yeesh, I can see how that'd be pretty annoying."
"Yeah. Scootaloo got pretty mad at me when I told them off, though."
"The orange pegasus filly?" Ainsley asked.
"Yeah, that's her. You've obviously seen her a few times around Ponyville, of course?"
"I have. I actually saw her and her friends the other day in Sugarcube Corner."
"The Crusaders? What were they up to that time? They're always up to something crazy."
"They actually caused my dad to choke on a cherry, by accident of course, and now he's going on this crazy investigation because he thinks it was deliberate."
"What?! Your dad doesn't seriously think they were trying to kill him, right?" Rainbow asked worriedly.
"No, thankfully he doesn't. Instead, he thinks that some mastermind orchestrated a web of events that would eventually cause him to choke on that cherry," Ainsley answered in a mockingly spooky voice. "Dad's always been a pretty paranoid guy."
"Hehe, wow, your family sounds pretty crazy," Dash chuckled.
"Trust me, you have no idea. But one thing my dad's good for is helping people, doing favors for them. He usually does ask for favors for him in return, but he's always happy to help if he thinks it's worth it."
"That's nice. How does he help?"
"He usually deals with business and protection. So if someone's having business problems or they feel like they might be in danger, or sometimes both at the same time, they go to my dad and he immediately straightens the whole thing out. Because of that, and also because of how good his restaurant is, he's a pretty popular guy."
"Heh, nice."
"So you know, just wanna say, if you're ever having any kind of trouble like that, or you just need help with something you and or your friends are having a hard time solving, our door is always open."
"Thanks, dude. I mean, me and my friends can handle things just fine, but it's always nice for others to offer help too."
"Yeah, it sure is."
After a half hour or so, their treatment was completed. The cyan pegasus and the feminine man dried and brush themselves off, and after the pegasus paid the spa ponies for the treatments, the both of them exited the spa. The pair were still talking with each other, chuckling and giggling the whole time. Suddenly, as they were walking away from the spa, they heard a voice calling Ainsley's names.
"Hey, Ains! There ya are!"
Walking toward them was another young human man, several years older than Ainsley, and he had greasy black hair, a yellow unbuttoned shirt over his undershirt as well as a gold chain necklace. Despite looking very different, Rainbow Dash felt this might be AInsley's brother, a thought that was immediately after.
"Oh, hey there, Gabe! How did you know I was here?" Ainsley asked.
"I didn't. I was walkin' 'round town, lookin' fa the most frou-frou places, I saw this place, and I made a strong guess," the young man answered.
Ainsley turned to the pegasus. "Hey, Rainbow, let me introduce you. This is my brother, Gabriele. Gabe, this is Rainbow Dash."
"Ay, how are ya?" Gabriele and Dash shook hand and hoof. "So ya the rainbow flyin' horse, huh?"
"Uh, yeah, pretty obvious, I guess," Dash chuckled.
Gabriele turned back to his little brother. "Hey, Ains, Pops' finished with the mines today. He's expectin' us fa dinner."
"Oh, okay. Sorry, Dash, I gotta go."
"It's alright. I'd love to hang out some more, Ains!" Dash said as she flew off the ground to the humans' eye levels.
"I'd love to! Now I'm hanging out with you and Rarity!"
"You've met Rarity? Guess I shouldn't be surprised, you two do look like you'd get along."
"Yeah, I've actually asked her to teach me to make clothes, too! Guess I'll be one of her students now too."
"With Sandbar and Yona, right? They're learning with her too. Hey, if you and your family wanna visit the School of Friendship one day, you're always welcome. I'm sure you'll love it!"
"Will do, Dash!" Ainsley winked at the pegasus.
"Hey, uh, Ains. We gotta go?" Gabriele cut in the conversation again, gesturing to the direction they need to go with his thumb.
"Oh, right. See you, Rainbow!"
"See ya too, Ainsley!" Dash waved goodbye and flew away, and the Silano Brothers walked away.
As Ainsley and Gabriele walked side by side in the evening, Ainsley asked his brother a question. "So, Gabe, how did your meeting with Fluttershy go?"
"Fuckin' nuts! That yellow bitch is a weirdo!" Gabriele exclaimed.