//------------------------------// // Training Grounds // Story: A Princess’ Conundrum // by CalmNQuiet //------------------------------// “And in the year six-hundred-sixty-nine, I headed a diplomatic mission to the Griffon Kingdom in secret,” Celestia narrated. Her voice contained the slightest touch of excitement from a long untold tale. Twilight scratched her quill idly across the notepad. Staring at her quill, which happened to be blue, she wondered why it was so difficult to pay attention today. Normally, she loved Celestia’s weekly “unwritten history” sessions, but this week all she could think about was Rainbow’s nervous smile on the parade ground at the start of training. She caught herself and forced her mind back into line—no daydreaming! Her face contorted to an odd smile as Celestia donned the traditional garb, at the time, complete with poofy bundles of fabric around each limb. Twilight mused as to why Celestia would keep such old clothing around, but it was irrelevant as the lesson continued. “Full traditional clothing at the time was a terrible decision. It was particularly warm that time of the month, and the heat combined with the corset was completely unbearable. So, seeing no alternative at the time, I parted myself from the cumbersome clothing. It ruffled quite a few feathers.” A knock came from the door and a guard stepped in. A sort of half-laughing, half-choking sound escaped his lips as Celestia demonstrated her previous statement by dropping all the clothing off herself in one swift motion, retaining only her crown and shoes. It took a moment, but he composed himself quickly and threw up a quick salute. “I apologize for interrupting your weekly get-together, but Princess Twilight’s captain is currently in the infirmary.” Forgetting the flaring blush upon her face from Celestia’s energetic display, Twilight leapt to her hooves in surprise. “What? What happened?” “The doctor wasn’t specific. Something about soreness in the morning and an injury to the posterior.” Celestia chuckled and leaned down next to Twilight’s ear. “Twilight, you really should be gentle with your captains—especially your first night with them.” Twilight shifted through several shades of red. “N-nothing like that happened! Rainbow simply took me to bed when I wasn’t able to myself. I...” She stuttered as her overworked brain reprocessed what she just said. The blood rose to her ears involuntarily when the alternative interpretations of her statement dawned upon her. She looked to Celestia and then to the guard, finding both of them with barely suppressed grins. Not wanting to embarrass herself any further, she made for the door. “I think I’ll go check up on Rainbow!” “Twilight, let me know if you want to borrow some of my special balm!” Celestia called out after her as she briskly made her way down the hall toward the infirmary. She trotted swiftly through the castle, her heart pounding. By the time she reached the infirmary door, she was a little more worn and weary than need be, but at least her blush had finally faded. Taking a deep breath to recompose herself, she pushed open the door and walked up to the nurse manning the front desk. “I’m here to see my captain. I’ve heard she’s been injured in training.” Twilight winced at the coldness of her tone. She did her best to rectify with a smile. Deep down, she felt a little guilty for not being there with Rainbow. She definitely didn’t want Rainbow getting hurt on her account. The nurse didn’t seem to mind and smiled back. “Certainly, Princess. She’s currently resting in room C-4. It’s on the left. Would you like me to show you the way?” Twilight shook her head unconsciously. “Oh, no, that’s quite all right. Thank you.” She turned away from the desk and walked down the hall. She turned her head left to read the placards on each of the room doors. Finding the room, she raised her hoof and knocked lightly on the door. “Rainbow? Are you alright?” The door was slightly ajar and creaked open as her hoof made contact. Her jaw gradually dropped as she beheld Rainbow resting upon the bed. The spectrum-hued tail hung down from Rainbow’s upturned bottom raised high in the air, the mess of colors tucked neatly between a pair of well-toned blue legs. A large packet of ice rested on Rainbow’s buttocks. Twilight gulped as the heat rushed to her face. Her next response was to yelp in surprise at the unexpected sight of Rainbow’s blue butt in the air, sending her wings into the air immediately after. Rainbow spun around in surprise and yelped as well. Her own wings shot into the air due to the sudden noise and intrusion into her room. When she lowered herself down, she winced in pain and was forced to raise herself back up into the air. She stared at Twilight, a blush of her own forming upon her cheeks. A scurry of hooves rushed down the corridor and skidded in front of the open door. The nurse looked at the blushing princess and then over to the blushing captain. A look of realization filled her face and she slowly backed away from the scene. “Um...hey, Twilight. I guess one of the guards told you about my little accident, huh?” Rainbow tried to play it cool. She rested her head on her hooves and backed up on the bed a little so she didn’t feel quite so revealed. Twilight nodded blankly and attempted to pull her eyes away from Rainbow’s posterior. After a few difficult seconds, she finally made eye contact with her captain. “S-sorry about that. I spaced out after seeing you...hurt. Are you alright? How did this happen?” Rainbow sighed and gestured over to a chair in her room for Twilight to sit down. When Twilight settled in, she launched into her story. “So, this morning was pretty normal. We lined up like my days in the Wonderbolts Academy. Then, Spitfire showed up and yelled at us for being terrible pegasi and then left Soarin’ to do our training. I was pretty surprised to see her, but she didn’t even acknowledge it was me. I guess they have to be fair and impartial or something.” Rainbow shrugged and continued. “Anyway, training was pretty ridiculous. They each gave us a pie and told us to guard it. Pretty straightforward, right?” Twilight nodded slowly. “But why a pie?” “I have no idea, something about them having delicate constitutions like princesses. I don’t pay attention to metaphors when I’m training.” “I’m surprised you know what a metaphor is.” “If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t. But I’m getting off topic. So, they put the pie on the cloud and Soarin’ tells us he’s going to try to assault the pie. I wasn’t sure what he meant until he dived past the first rookie face first into the pie.” Rainbow suppressed a snicker. “When my turn came up, I wasn’t about to lose to some pie-diving Wonderbolt, so I grabbed the cloud and took off with it. Soarin’ was pretty worn out trying to chase down my pie. He never got it, so I was feeling pretty good.” Rainbow paused to take a breath before continuing. “Spitfire comes back, looks at the totally exhausted Soarin’ and back to me and muttered something about a record. Then, she gave this long boring speech about being constantly vigilant since attacks could come from the sky and it was up to us, the pegasi, to watch out for them. It all wrapped up with some silly little motto Soarin’ chipped in with: ‘Keep your eye on the pie.’” Twilight face-hoofed. “Really? I was starting to wonder if things had gotten lax since Shining Armor took off for the Crystal Empire, but this just seems downright silly.” “I thought that too!” Rainbow groaned and rubbed at her mane with her forehooves. “Boy, was I wrong. You know who showed up next?” “Who?” “That Viktor guy from the armory. He trots in with a few unicorn guards and pointed to different locations on the training ground while yelling ‘Put teleport here!’ It was totally confusing until he asked us to get spears from the weapon rack.” “Oh, I can see where this is going.” Rainbow nodded and reached behind herself to adjust the ice pack on her sore bottom. “Long story short, fighting a unicorn talented in teleportation really sucks. I managed to get a couple hits in on his armor before he nailed me good from behind. The guy felt pretty bad afterward since it looks like it’s going to bruise.” Twilight craned her neck and tried to look at Rainbow’s injury but Rainbow blocked her view with an extended wing. Pouting, Twilight got up off the chair and nuzzled at Rainbow’s cheek. “Just a little peek?” she pleaded. Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes. “Oh fine, just don’t laugh.” The wing fell away and Twilight stared at the patch of blue hair under the ice pack where the injury was supposedly located. She giggled and rubbed the back of her head with a forehoof, “Oh, heh, I guess I can’t really see bruising under your coat.” “Ya, think?” Rainbow snickered and ruffled Twilight’s mane with a forehoof. “But, thanks for checkin’ up on me, princess. I’ll be fine.” * * * Paperwork sucked. Twilight could’ve sworn there was an entire shadowy bureaucracy dedicated to generating more paperwork for the princesses. She couldn’t quite figure out why a simple land allotment for crops required multiple signatures across multiple forms. It wouldn’t be so bad if she had some company. But, Rainbow was training every single day and Spike was managing the library back in Ponyville. Her only companions were paper, ink, tea, and surreptitiously provided cake from an unseen source. She pushed the papers away and stared at the clock hanging on the wall: three o’clock in the afternoon. She groaned and banged her head against the desk. Rainbow’s training wouldn’t be done for another two hours, and she was already bored out of her mind. Normally, she’d default to reading about tax code, diplomatic intrigues, or something related to governance. She just couldn’t find the concentration to do so. For the past month, every time she tried to focus on reading her thoughts would drift to Rainbow. Internally, she felt a little guilty for all the unmentioned bruises, the slight limps, and the way Rainbow’s wings twitched in pain from the strenuous training. Even under so much pressure, her captain never complained once and determinedly soldiered on. This brought a slight blush to her cheeks as she realized Rainbow was doing this all for her. If only she could help out more, she’d feel a little less guilty. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and forced her upright in her chair. She grabbed her crown quickly and placed it atop her head (she still wasn’t used to it). “Come in, please.” The door swung open and Viktor stepped in. “Princess Tvilight Sparkle! Ve need to discuss your captain,” Viktor started immediately. “Rainbow? She isn’t hurt, is she?” Twilight’s voice cracked at the end as she leaned forward in her seat. “Nein, she is vell, but her training. It is...not so gut.” “What? Why? Rainbow tells me she’s doing well when I ask her how things are going.” “Ja, but she lacks ze passion!” Viktor exclaimed loudly and threw his forehooves up for emphasis. “Ze rainbow one is fast, is strong, is smart, is many things. But, she lacks ze flare in her eyes to be true guard. I vant you to come and help. You have ze magics!” “Me? What can I possibly do?” “Viktor vill explain if you agree to help. Keep in mind Princess, ze rainbow one needs you.” Twilight narrowed her eyes at Viktor. “This isn’t going to be dangerous, is it?” “Nein.” “And you promise this is for Rainbow’s sake?” “Ja.” Twilight sighed and pushed aside her paperwork. She didn’t want to do it anyway. “Alright. It’s the least I could do for Rainbow since she’s training so hard.” “Wunderbar! Follow me, Princess Tvilight Sparkle.” * * * Twilight rehearsed the shield-spells in her head as she followed Viktor to the castle training grounds. The plan was simple and incredibly clichéd: Viktor would instruct Rainbow’s unicorn trainer to simulate a dangerous situation targeted at Twilight. Hopefully it would snap Rainbow out of her self-conscious bubble and force her to act on instinct. Given the right conditions, Rainbow would perform admirably and gain the confidence to reach her full potential. Of course, that was the plan. Twilight gulped as she watched the veteran unicorns demonstrating the magenta-colored magi-blades to the recruits. Several straw-pony mannequin halves later, Twilight felt far less comfortable. Suddenly, postponing the plan seemed like a great idea. It would give her more time to practice her protection spells, give Rainbow some more time to train, and provide her with the opportunity to find a suit of dragon scale armor. “Attention! Ve have a very special vizitor today! Princess Tvilight Sparkle vill be observing!” Viktor’s heavily accented voice echoed out across the parade ground and all eyes turned upon the princess. Alas, Twilight thought as she forced out a smile with a little wave of her hoof. The hordes of expectant eyes upon her only increased her discomfort. The only familiar face in the crowd was Rainbow’s, and Twilight couldn’t quite tell what Rainbow was thinking. One thing was apparent though, Rainbow wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked rather confused by Twilight’s appearance. “Princess, please take a seat over there. Ve vill begin the special training for the rainbow one as soon as you are in place.” Viktor gestured to a raised wooden platform a couple feet off the ground. Twilight tore her vision away from her captain and made her way up to the wooden platform. Settling down on the seat provided for her, she watched the recruits take up their positions. Each one paired up with a unicorn and stood stiffly at attention. Viktor trotted down the line adjusting their posture and handing out spears until they were all armed. When he got to Rainbow, he pointed toward the wooden platform and exchanged a few words with the unicorn trainer. Rainbow nodded and traded spots with the pony directly in front of her platform. She wanted to offer a word or two of encouragement to her captain, but the determined look imprinted upon Rainbow’s face stole the words from her mouth. With nothing to say, she could only stare at the blue form before her. The view from behind was immaculate. Rainbow’s colorful tail stood out brightly against her taut muscled body. The firm che—. Twilight shook her head and fought back the blush rising to her own cheeks. Caught up in a flurry of inappropriate thoughts, she barely noticed Viktor taking up position next to her on the platform. “Ve begin!” Viktor called out and raised his hoof to the unicorn trainers across the parade ground. On cue, all the trainers present saluted before turning to face their respective partners. The grounds filled with magenta blades and the sound of magic on steel. She watched in fascination as Rainbow danced through the air with her spear, dodging the blades directed at her time and again. Unfortunately, Rainbow couldn’t keep it up forever. Taken by surprise from behind, she grunted and thudded against the ground. Her spear dropped with a lifeless clunking sound against the dirt. Twilight rose to her hooves instinctively to help Rainbow up, but the pegasus pulled herself up while muttering to herself. “Again!” Rainbow called out gruffly. She spread her wings and held the spear in a defensive position. The unicorn trainer nodded and lit his horn once more. Twilight bit down on her lip. She could scarcely bear to watch. The magenta-colored blades soared through the air. Rainbow deflected the first, but the flat of the second one thudded against her hoof and sent her spear tumbling to the ground. Rainbow cursed under her breath and shook her hoof, most likely to ease the pain, before picking up her spear once more. She was so caught up watching Rainbow’s training (and other parts of Rainbow), she completely missed the knowing nod between Viktor and the Rainbow’s unicorn partner. Several seconds later, a pair of bright magenta blades soared in her direction without a single shielding spell between them and her exposed form. Normally, when a pony sees danger coming and has adequate time to prepare, the most obvious solution such as forming a quick shield spell would be reasonable. Sadly, Twilight was in no such position and the rapidly approaching blades combined with the previous demonstration set off all the alarm bells in her head. She screamed and dropped onto the wooden platform, covering her head with her forehooves—dreading the moment of impact. * * * “Heya Derpy! Here for your afternoon muffin?” Pinkie popped up from behind the counter of Sugarcube Corner. She quickly wiped a trace bit of frosting from the side of her mouth (she worked there, she could sample all she wanted)! “Hiya Pinkie! Yes, please!” “Which one do you want today? Blueberry? Banana nut? How about this apple pie one?” “Oh, they all look so good.” Derpy’s eyes wobbled slightly as she stared at each one. “I can’t choose! I’ll just close my eyes and point at one.” Derpy closed her eyes and swayed her hoof through the air in the general direction of the massive assortment of muffins awaiting her selection. Pinkie watched in fascination, but suddenly, she was overwhelmed by an even more exciting sensation. “Oh my gosh! Something amazing is about to happen!” Pinkie shouted as various parts of her body convulsed. “Hang on just a sec! I need to get something!” Pinkie rushed away from the counter leaving a very confused Derpy. Several loud bangs from upstairs later, Pinkie returned with a thin package. “I’m back! Did you pick out a muffin?” Derpy opened her eyes and stared at her hoof, it wasn’t pointing at a muffin at all. Her smile faded as she stared at the unappealing loaf of bread in front of her. “Aww, that’s not a muffin at all...” Her ears drooped and she dropped onto her butt. “That’s okay!” Pinkie held her package out to Derpy along with half a dozen muffins in a box. “Could you deliver this to Twilight in Canterlot, please? You can have these muffins as a delivery fee.” Seeing the box of muffins in front of her, Derpy perked right up and leapt up onto her hooves with a mock salute. “You got it! I’ll get these muffins to her lickety split!” She paused and rolled her eyes up in deep thought. “Wait...I meant I’ll get this package to her right away!” “Thanks, Derpy! Enjoy those muffins too!” “I will! Thanks, Pinkie!” Pinkie waved Derpy goodbye as she flew out of the shop. She dropped down onto her chair behind the counter and sighed happily. She was wondering why she woke up one morning covered in cider bottles at Vinyl’s place. Now, she knew why. And it was going to be spectacular. * * * “Twilight! Are you okay?” Twilight groaned as a hoof pressed against her cheek and nudged it a few times. She opened her eyes blearily and stared straight up into Rainbow’s eyes. She could see nothing but concern and worry in them which filled her cheeks with an embarrassed blush. She’d completely botched the plan. “Twi? Talk to me, I know I landed on you pretty hard...” The words came clearer now and Twilight could faintly make out the colors of Rainbow’s mane tickling at the peripheral of her vision. “R-Rainbow?” Her mind waded through the series of events up until the blades were nearly upon her. A flash of blue and a grunting sound. Her head smacked against the back of the platform and everything went black. Aside from a slight headache, she felt all right. But what happened to the blades? “Oh no! Rainbow! What happened to the blades? Are you hurt? You’re on top of me, that must mean—oh no...” “Twilight, relax, I’m fine. Sure, it hurt a little, but I knocked the first one away with my spear. The second one smacked me on the butt, but nothing I’m not used to.” “But... but...I saw the blades. They cut that straw-pony in half!” “Twilight, that’s just a demonstration of real blades. They wouldn’t use those during training.” “Oh, yeah. That makes sense. But Viktor...” Rainbow groaned and rolled off of Twilight. “In case you haven’t noticed, Viktor is a little nuts. I don’t know why he asked you out here but I promise you, I’m doing fine.” “But he said you needed help and you didn’t have that spark or something.” “Twilight, once again, Viktor is a little nuts. Just because I’m not lusting after the princess constantly—” Rainbow paused and her mouth clamped shut. She looked away as the heat rose to cheeks. Twilight blushed in response as well and stared off into the distance. “So, let’s not discuss this particular incident ever again?” “Deal.” “Princess, ve all saw vut just happened.” Viktor chimed in with a wide toothy grin. Twilight groaned and buried her face in her hooves. Being a princess was hard. * * * A guard knocked on the Twilight’s door. “Package for you, Princess.” “Come in, please,” Twilight called out from behind her desk. After her incident on the training grounds, she’d taken solace in hiding in her tower away from just about every single pony in the palace. She still missed Rainbow every day and wished she could spend more time with her captain, but she decided it was best to let Rainbow focus on her training without any more distractions. The door swung open and the guard deposited a thin package on Twilight’s desk. He saluted smartly and took his leave. Twilight peered at the package curiously. From the colorful wrapping paper, it was pretty obvious that Pinkie was the sender. She flipped the package over a few times in her hooves, inspecting it for any possible pranks. Finding nothing beyond a small note on the backside of the package, she flipped it open: “Share with Dashie.” Not completely sure what that meant, she shrugged and tore open the package to find nothing more than a simple cardboard insert with a record inside. “Well, that’s interesting,” Twilight mused quietly to herself. “I guess I’m supposed to listen to this with Rainbow. I guess it’ll have to wait until after dinner.” She put the record to one side and half-heartedly returned to her books, her curiosity nibbling away at the back of her mind. By the time dinner finally completed, she nearly pushed Rainbow up the stairs to her room. She was so eager to hear the contents of Pinkie’s record. She ignored the small possibility it was another giggling compilation or one-hundred-and-one-ways to tell ponies to smile. She rushed into her room and excitedly picked up the record with her magic and showed it to Rainbow. “It’s a record, Twi.” “I know! But it’s from Pinkie! It could be fun!” “Or it could be prank record.” “Rainbow, you don’t sound so enthusiastic about this...” “Oh, I am. I’m just really, really, extremely, tired.” “Maybe this record can change that!” “Well, put it on and let’s hear it.” Twilight nodded and dropped the record into the record player. A combination of guitar and drums filled the room. “What is this?” Rainbow’s tired smile slowly spread into a grin. “No way. Did Pinkie make us a training montage record?” “Training montage?” Twilight tilted her head curiously as she listened to the hypnotic beat. “Yeah. It’s the music that plays in movies when they want a bunch of stuff to happen and to show the characters getting more awesome! This song is one of the classics!” “So, we’re supposed to listen to this while training?” “Yep. It’s totally pump-me-up training music. In fact, you should bring all your stuff down to the training grounds and train with me. This way we can listen to it together.” Twilight’s mouth dropped open as she processed Rainbow’s suggestion. It was so simple, so elegant, so...silly it hadn’t occurred to her. “Of course! I’ve been stressing this whole time over not seeing you enough! I can just pick up my books, quills, and papers and take them outside! I don’t have to be in my tower all day.” Rainbow laughed and ruffled Twilight’s mane with a free hoof. “Wow, Twi, for a pony as smart as you, sometimes you miss out on some of the simplest things.” Twilight blushed and sighed. “I guess I’m a little silly at times. I get really caught up in the process of being a princess.” “That’s okay.” Rainbow lowered her hooves and wrapped them around Twilight in a hug. “You may be silly, but you’re my silly princess.” Twilight blushed in pleasure and nuzzled into Rainbow’s neck. “Thanks, Rainbow. I’m glad I have you as my captain.” Training Grounds by lostzilla