//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash Begins Her Training 
// Story: Roses and Rainbows 
// by Brian Jacko 
//------------------------------//

	 Rainbow awoke the next morning. She quickly got out of bed and looked at the time. She was late. She hurried over to the kitchen and devoured her breakfast. She left as quickly as she could. 

Upon arriving at the academy, she saw Soarin' sitting on a cloud patiently waiting for her.

"Come on!" he said. "We need to hurry before the other Wonderbolts need their time to use the equipment." 

Rainbow Dash flew off with him and entered the building. She had never been inside this building before. She had been through the academy training before, but this must have been a special place for Wonderbolts only. 

Soarin' took her to the weight room. Inside, he had her start out on the wing weight lifting machine. Soarin' had her go through some reps. He was impressed with the amount of weight she could handle. He knew Rainbow was indeed a very strong mare and that she was incredibly fast, but he knew what her weakness was, and that weakness would be put to the test on the day of the race. He went through every kind of exercise he knew. He even had her work on flexibility and stretching. He saved the most difficult part of the training for last. Stamina training.

He took her over to a giant wind tunnel. "OK Rainbow, this is going to be our final task for the day. I'm going to put your stamina to the ultimate test with this machine. I need you to hover inside the middle of this wind tunnel for one full hour. As the time progresses, I'm going to increase the air resistance. You'll notice that there's a red line at the bottom inside. If you fall past that line, then it's game over. Just keep flying above that line and you'll be fine. Oh, and you'll need these." Soarin' tossed her a pair of goggles. 

She put them on and entered the tunnel. Soarin' closed the door and locked it. She stood there at the bottom and waited for Soarin' to give the signal. Soarin' climbed up the steps to where there was a control board. He lifted his hoof up in the air and signaled for her to start hovering in the air. Soarin' pushed a button and the fan slowly started to build up wind. 

Rainbow began to flap her wings harder as the wind pushed her back a little bit. She was doing well for the first twenty minutes, but as time kept going on she was beginning to struggle to keep up. She had no idea how long she was in there for. For all she knew,  it already felt like it had been an hour. 

Soarin' increased the resistance and she was almost blown back by the force. 

She looked through the glass window to the side at Soarin'. She had the expression on her face that looked as if she was saying, "Are you serious?" 

Soarin' simply nodded his head at her and looked back down to the controls on the board. 

Rainbow turned her head back and clenched her teeth as she felt the burning and pain in her wings. She began to see the red line on the bottom and began to panic. She flapped her wings with every bit of strength that she could muster up. She held her ground for several more minutes and then her wings completely gave out and she tumbled backwards and landed hard against the cushioned back of the tunnel. 

Soarin' immediately turned off the machine and hit the switch that unlocked the door. He hurried over and opened it. 

Rainbow fell to the floor gasping for air. She looked as if she had just been hit by a train. She tried to speak, but the words couldn't come out. Eventually, she caught her breath and was able to stand again. "H-h-h-how did I do?" she asked. 

Soarin' bit his lip and said, "You did fine, Dash. Great effort!" 

Rainbow was still breathing heavily and asked in a weak voice, "But how much time was left for me? I need to know." 

Soarin' felt bad that she didn't even make it to the final level of air resistance. He looked down at her and said, "You had another fifteen minutes to go Dash. I'm sorry." 

Rainbow's confidence took a huge blow. She stood up and lowered her head. "I gave it my best. I just couldn't go on. I'm so sorry." 

Soarin' came over and hugged her. "Don't be sorry," he said. "I'm still proud of you." 

Rainbow became anxious again and asked, "Do you still think I have a chance to win the race?" 

Soarin' knew it would be very unrealistic for her to win this race. He didn't exactly know who she was going up against, but he knew that things didn't look good. He put his hoof on her shoulder and said, "Dash, according to your performance, your results tell me no, but I'm still rooting for you and I believe if you if you keep trying your very best, you may be able to win." 

Rainbow lowered her ears in disappointment. They both stood there in awkward silence for awhile. 

Soarin' eventually spoke up, "Come on Dash, let's go for a little flight together, nothing strenuous, just a nice easy flight to chat and help get your mind off all that anxiety. I can tell that you're disappointed and anxious. 

Rainbow followed the stallion out the door and through the building. Once they made it out to the exit, Rainbow tried to lift her wings for takeoff, but she couldn't do it. They felt like rubber to her. She wasn't the kind of mare to complain about anything. She attempted to lift off the ground, but she fell to the ground with a less than graceful thud. 

Soarin' turned around and asked, "Do you need help, Dash?" 

Rainbow's pride was hurt, but she couldn't risk the chance of her wings giving out while flying. She simply looked at her companion with sad eyes and shook her head yes. 

Soarin' smiled and helped her stand back up. He squatted low to the ground and said, "Come on. Hop on my back." Rainbow wrapped her front legs around his neck and he took off. 

As they were airborne, he turned his head back to Rainbow and said, "Hey Dash, I think we should do one more thing to work on those wings."

Rainbow's eyes grew wide in horror. How could he say such a thing after all she just went through? She shot back at him, "Oh, no! I've had enough! I'm done for today. I'm not going through any more training." 

Soarin' grinned a little and replied, "Don't worry Dash, it will be nice. Just trust me. I'm your trainer, remember? I know what's best for you." Soarin' flew around looking for a rogue cloud to land on. He finally spotted one and took her over to it. "Come on Rainbow. Hop off." 

Rainbow unwrapped her arms from his neck and stood next to him.

"Alright Rainbow, lie down on your belly and spread your wings out," Soarin' instructed.  

She gave him a strange look and did so. She had no idea what he was about to do. Then she felt two hooves press against her wings. "Oh, sweet Celestia, did that feel good!" Rainbow thought to herself. Suddenly Rainbow thought about her friends and her incident at the spa, and how she couldn't bear to get any kind of pampering with her friends, "Oh, if my friends found out about this I don't know what they'd think of me, but wait, this was different," she thought to herself. "This isn't for pampering, it's for training. That makes it ok." Rainbow wasn't a fan of getting lady-like things done for her, but she convinced herself that just in this case it would be ok, but on the other hoof, she could see herself easily getting this kind of treatment done again. Rainbow's thoughts began to slow down and she closed her eyes. She let out a groan of pleasure and smiled.

"Feels good huh?" the stallion asked. "This will help your wings recover faster from the work you put them through." 

Rainbow's mind was drifting off to sleep. "You're the most handsome stallion ever. I love you." Rainbow muttered out loud. She didn't even know she said it. She was already half asleep and those words just came to her mind and she said them out loud. 

Soarin' smiled and continued to work on her wings. When he was finished he said, "Alright Rainbow let's see if you can fly again now." There was no response from her. The stallion gently shook her. "Rainbow? Rainbow?" Still nothing. She must have been in a really deep sleep. Soarin' sighed and smiled. She was just too cute lying there on that cloud and he didn't want to disturb her sleep. He gently scooped her up in his hooves and flew her back home. 

When he got there, he was surprised to find that the door was unlocked. He went inside the house and found her bedroom. He placed her down in the bed and covered her with her blankets. He kissed her forehead and turned to leave when suddenly, she called out his name. Soarin' turned around and said, "Yes Dash?" but she was silent again. Her eyes were still shut. She must have been dreaming. Soarin' smiled at her and turned to leave. He had to get home and take care of some things. 

Rainbow awoke a few hours later unsure how she ended up back in her home and in her bed. She suddenly realized that she must have fallen asleep and Soarin' must have carried her home. Goodness, she would have never thought in her life that she would be carried home by a stallion. She wasn't that kind of pony who wished for that kind of stuff. She was kind of embarrassed about it, but a small part of her really thought that was quite sweet. She was still struggling with these feelings. Rainbow found herself still quite exhausted and decided to go back to sleep.