(Drak POV)

It has been about five days since I helped Trixie from the fight with the gang. Thankfully, she has been recovering nicely, and we have both started hanging out with each other a bit more often. More often than not, I would just come over to her place and hang out, listening to her talk about random things of the day, or let her show me a trick or two. She said she couldn't show the more grand tricks, since she lacked the required supplies, but she was able to show me a few things, such as some nice card tricks that made me wonder if she was really using magic or not, cause not once did I see her light her horn up. In any case, we always had fun, and I ended up finding her rather interesting to be with. It's like what Applejack said, she is a nice pony, just needs someone to steer her in the right direction.

Of course, that isn't all I have been doing during that time. Everyday I was always up rather early, thanks to a certain speedy pony, making me get up and at them as she pulls me out of bed, sometimes literally, and starts to get me really involved with the work outs. True to her words, she rather quickly ramps up my exercise once I was fully healed, and she was not gentle about it. Thankfully, I was quick to adjust and follow her lead, and while I still can't do what she claims is her full workout, I am keeping up in my own way.

Other than that, I would also help out around the library some, nothing too much, just with a bit of cleaning and even some cooking...with Spike's help, of course. Turns out he's a rather good chief, able to make all sorts of different dishes and treats.

Ever since I got my memory back of my training, I've also been practicing my staff once again, going out behind the tree to swing it, since I didn't want to knock any books down. Twilight was worried at first, seeing me using the weapon again, but when I promised her that I just wanted to do it to get myself back in shape without Rainbow's help, she agreed to let me continue, as long as Spike was there to watch me. The young dragon didn't mind at all as he found it to be rather cool, watching me swing my stick around and pretending to hit random enemies...or myself, which happened every so often, though I was learning (or relearning) rather quickly.

On this particular day, I had already finished with my staff training and was taking a walk around the town, to get myself more used to the place. The ponies were starting to warm up to me rather quickly, a few of them even giving me a wave, to which I replied in kind, if a bit slow. It was during this walk that I had today when I was greeted by Rarity, the white pony having need of some help with one of her outfits.

And so that is where I am, patiently standing on her stand as she admires the work of the suit I was wearing, if it is a bit large on me.

"My goodness Darling, you are just the perfect model for this suit. I may have to make one for you later of this similar design." Rarity says, adjusting her glasses a bit as she carefully sews some additional materials on the clothes I was wearing.

"I still don't see how I'm needed for this...not that I'm complaining, just curious." I ask. "Don't you have your own mannequins that you can use?" I ask, doing my best to not twitch a single muscle...which is much harder than it looks.

"Oh of course I do, but they are all for ponies, none for a bipedal being, and this one that I'm doing is for a minotaur client, and they are way too big for Spikey to help, so I need somepony much larger...or in this case, some human." She says, looking up at me with a playful smile.

I chuckle and give a very small shrug, trying to not move too much...again. "If you say so Rarity, though can we pause for a moment? My legs are starting to get stiff."

She takes a quick look at the clothing for a few moments before letting out a small sigh. "Well I suppose so." She agrees, lighting her horn a bit more as she lifts the stuff off of me.

I feel myself get freed of all the clothing and let out a small sigh myself, stretching and shaking out the stiffness from my limbs. I can certainly see why Dash doesn't like doing this. "Still not sure why I'm a better model than Spike. I mean, sure he is shorter than me, but-"

"But that's it darling. Minotaurs are huge! Not to mention they aren't always the most cool headed being out there." She says. "I mean, I still remember when one called Iron Will came to Ponyville with his being assertive class. Turned our poor Fluttershy into a very mean and rude pony." She says, placing the clothes on a hanger and hanging it up.

I can't help but to raise an eyebrow at this. "Wait, really? Her into a mean and rude pony?" I still remember meeting her before when I went over to her house with Rainbow, and sometimes we run into each other in the market when she was shopping. From what I could tell she is one of the most shy beings I have ever met...which isn't saying much, considering my amnesia.

"Oh yes. Thankfully Pinkie and I were able to convince her to return back to her more normal self. At least most of it." She pauses as she rubs her hoof to her chin. "Come to think of it, she did end up learning a couple of things from it after all."

"Huh, interesting." I say, taking a seat on one of the chairs nearby. "Perhaps I should go talk to her again sometime. After all, I still owe her for taking a look at me after Rainbow bulldozed me over." I say mostly to myself as I place my hands into my hoodie's pockets.

The white unicorn walks on over to me and takes a seat across from me, floating over a small box of mints, holding it up for me, to which I politely refused. Taking one for herself, she takes a closer look at me before asking, "Have you even changed out of that hoodie of yours? I don't mean to be rude, but it's just all that you wear."

I blink as I looked down at myself, spreading the hoodie out a bit. It's true, it is all that I wear, and while I now had over a dozen T-shirts to wear and more heavier clothing (thanks to the pony who I'm talking to) I always find myself just wearing my hoodie and an undershirt, this time the shirt being white. "Actually...now that I think about it..." I say.

I see her give a small sniff as she looks away. "So it is true. You don't like any of the clothing I made at all? It's ok to tell me dear." She says, even if her face tells me different.

I quickly try to patch things up. "N-No that's not what I meant! I just like wearing my hoodie since it's one of the few things I woke up with." I explain, to which she turns to look at me. "You're clothes are amazing, really. And I do end up wearing a few of the other shirts and such that you made, I just feel more comfortable wearing this." I give a small tug on my hood as I get it to fall down and over my face. "Plus, the hood kind of keeps me more calm when I go out and into more...public places."

She gives me a curious look, her sad face slowly vanishing. "So...you don't hate my clothes?"

"How could I? I kind of need clothing to live, especially in the current weather, and not only is yours very high quality, but it's super comfortable." I admit as I raise the hood back off of my head. Looking around I lean in and add, "Plus, it does make me feel rather stylish as well."

"Oh good! I'm so glad to hear that darling!" She says, smiling, all traces of her previous sadness vanishing. The sudden emotional switch causes me to almost do a double take, but thankfully I was able to cover it up.

I give a small sigh of relief as I lean back, only to wince as my left leg cramps a bit. As I move down and rub it, the unicorn speaks up. "Are you ok Drak? I've seen you rubbing your leg much more often as of late."

I keep rubbing my leg as I glance up at her. "I'm fine Rarity, just a bit sore from all the workouts and such. Not only that but my leg keeps on cramping every so often now."

At this she gives me a curious look. "Workouts? With Dash I'm assuming?"

"Yea, she has really amped up the difficulty factor now, but I think I'm still managing it. Of course, along with my own personal staff training, it's starting to get-"

"Wait, since when did you...oh, once you got the memories back from your trainer/friend?"

I blink and pause my rubbing. "How did you know?"

She just waves a hoof at this. "Please, as soon as it happened Twilight told the rest of us. I'll be surprised if she didn't send a note to Princess Celestia as well." She tells me.

I just nod as it makes sense to me and continue rubbing. "Yea, since then. I just wanted to do something to pass the time, but surprisingly it's rather easy for me to pick up. I mean, sure I had a few...mistakes, but besides that, it's going rather well. Twilight was concerned, but after I assured her I would be fine she was ok with just having Spike keep an eye on me, just in case."

"Oh, that will explain why I saw him twirling one of my batons around earlier." She says, giggling.

I chuckle in return. "Yea, I think he's finding it rather enjoyable himself." I add, before giving a small hiss as another cramp hits me, causing me to rub my leg even harder.

"Dear, I'm rather concerned about your cramps and workouts." She admits to me with a slight frown. "Judging by how intense Rainbow takes her workouts, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a few bruises, and then with your staff training...heavens knows that comes with it's own injuries as well."

"Yea, Rainbow is tough, but all I get is tired and satisfied, so that isn't a problem. Plus, the doctor said I'm fully recovered now, so why shouldn't I take care of myself? Besides, it helps me from becoming bored, and the staff training is...is all I got from my past for now." I admit, my mind going back to that one memory with Aryas.

"Even so, it's important to take care of your body in more ways than just exercise." She says. "I know that Rainbow would agree with me as well. Even Twilight knows that she needs to work out every so often instead of staying indoors with her books."

I pause at this. "Twilight...works out?"

She nods. "Of course, how else did she get fifth place in the Running of the Leaves?"

I blink at this. "She got fifth?!" Now I'm even more confused than ever. I remember Rainbow telling me about it during one of our workouts, and how she and Applejack always participate in it. Apparently it's a race through the Whitetail Forest, knocking all the leaves off of the trees during the fall season. Ok, not really a race, but the way she explains it makes it feel like it is.

"Indeed, and it was her first one to boot." She says with a smile. "Now if she can go out and do a bit of a jog, that should tell you that you can do the same thing and just go indoors and read or relax your body in some other way. When was the last time you relaxed?" She asks.

I am about to answer her when I stop and actually have to think it over. "Um...does sleeping count?" I ask with a sheepish grin.

She gives me a deadpanned look at this. "No, it doesn't."

"In that case I think it was...almost three weeks ago. Actually, it was when I started working out with Rainbow that I slowly stopped reading, relaxing or doing...anything else really." I finally admit, realizing it fully myself. "Wow, that's not good, is it?"

She shakes her head. "Not at all. Even athletes like Rainbow and AJ take some time out of their day to relax for a bit." She tells me. She starts to think over something for a few moments, both of us falling silent before an idea seems to spark in her head. "Oh, I know! You can come with Fluttershy and I to the spa!"

I tilt my head at this. "The spa? I'm not sure that's a good idea..." I say to myself.

"Darling, trust me. Everypony can use a relaxing day at the spa. It will do wonders for your complexion and make you more relaxed than you've ever been." She explains, sighing as she leans back a bit with a smile on her muzzle. As I silently think about it, she adds rather coyly, "It will also help with those sore muscles and cramps~"

I look at her with a raised eyebrow, and she just smiles back at me. After a few more minutes I let out a small sigh and lean back as well. "Very well, I may as well give it a shot."

"Perfect!" She exclaims, suddenly getting up from her seat. "In that case let's get going." She starts to head upstairs to gather some things, leaving me a bit baffled and surprised.

"Wait, now?"

She looks back and nods. "Of course. Today is Tuesday, and we always go on Tuesday. In fact it's in a few minutes, so we might be a little late unless we get going now." She adds as she disappears up the stairs.

I look up at where she vanished for a few moments before letting out a groan and falling back, my head bumping against the wall. I really should learn when these things happen before agreeing to them.

---

As we walk through the snow, I felt my legs giving another shake as I wince, the cramps once again building up a bit, but I push on, looking ahead at Rarity. "We almost there?" I asked.

She turns around, wearing a rather large winter hat and coat. "Yes Darling, not even a minute more of walking!" She replies before turning back to face forward.

Sighing, I continue on walking with the white mare, and just as she said, barely thirty seconds later we arrive at a rather large, fancy looking building. Like most of the buildings here, it is colorful, but what made it stand out was the large sign of a pony with wavy hair swinging above the door.

Rarity, not bothering to wait another moment, opens the door and walks in, though she is kind enough to hold the door for me as I walk in. I give a nod of thanks as she closes it and take a quick look around. The waiting room is rather inviting and comforting, soft cushions to sit as we wait with a door leading to the other side blocked off by a purple curtain. A pony wearing a mane band sits behind the desk, smiling at us as we enter. A few ponies were waiting around, either for an appointment or maybe for a friend. One of them is rather familiar, her pink flowing mane giving her away, even as she hides behind it a bit.

Smiling, the white mare walks up to Fluttershy, giving her a greeting nuzzle. "Hello Fluttershy, darling! Are you ready for our weekly spa treatment?" She says, to which the pegasus mare nods.

"Oh yes, I'm very eager to begin." She replies softly, a small smile on her face.

"I hope you don't mind, but I invited another to join us, as long as you are ok with it."

The yellow mare gives a curious look to her friend. "Really? Who is-" She starts to say before she sees me approaching them. I give a small smile and a wave in return, to which she shyly nods back. Seems she is starting to get a bit more comfortable around me, so that's good! Before she barely could look at me before blushing and looking away.

Though of course the same could be said for me, since for some reason whenever I am around the shy mare I seem to get the same feelings. Now that I know about my empathy abilities, it made more sense to me why, but it still didn't make things any easier. She just emits a constant aura of calmness that I have yet to feel from any pony or anyone else.

"Hey Fluttershy. I hope you don't mind me joining? Rarity kind of persuaded me to join." I reply, rubbing the back of my neck lightly as I, once again, do my best to avoid eye contact. With the shy pony, it was rather hard to do.

"The poor dear hasn't had a proper relaxation day in over three weeks!" The fashion pony states. "He is constantly doing those workouts with Rainbow or practicing with that staff of his outside, yet doesn't spare a moment for himself to just breath! As soon as I noticed his sore muscles, I insisted he join us to get rid of that pain."

Fluttershy blinks as she looks back at me with more worried, and her aura quickly swells even more, making me nearly wobble on my legs. "Oh my, that's terrible!" She says, still in her soft voice if a bit louder from the shock.

"Y-yea, but I'll understand if you...you know, don't want me to join you or anything." I say, already planning on leaving, but of course she shakes her head and smiles back, if ever so small.

"It's no problem for me if you wish to join. Besides, Lotus has a wonderful technique for working on sore muscles that works miracles." She says. Seeing how I was going to be joining them, I just nod and smile back, unable to really stay sad when around her.

"So, are they ready for us?" Rarity asks. Before the pegasus can reply, the curtain leading out of the waiting room parts as a pink mare with a light blue mane walks in, looking around before seeing us.

"Oh Rarity, Fluttershy! My favorite customers!" She calls out, trotting to greet the mares. Her voice is rather different, the words she saying having hard emphasizes on certain spots, showing that she isn't from around here, at least not raised here. It made me curious, but now wasn't a time to ask questions.

Rarity smiles as she greets the mare, both of them giving a kiss on each other's cheek, while Fluttershy just returned the hug, if a bit timidly. "Greetings Aloe! Are our usuals ready?" The white mare asks.

"As always! We even have a new scented candle we wish to try for you, straight from our homelands." The pink mare, who I'm guessing is Aloe states, clearly eager if her words were anything to pick up on.

"Oh marvelous! I'm sure Fluttershy and I would very much love that." She says, squeeing in delight, the shy mare just nodding as her agreement. Before they headed out, the white mare stops the spa pony. "If you don't mind, we do have one more pony to join us."

Aloe stops and looks at her curiously. "Oh? One of your friends?"

"Yes, though I don't think it's one that you know." She replies, and I take this as my cue to walk up and introduce myself. As soon as I take a step, the pink mare looks over at me and her eyes go wide with surprise.

"Hey, I was told that...um...t-that you can help with sore muscles as well?" I replied, clearly feeling out of my element here.

She doesn't say anything for a few moments, just staring at me, her eyes looking all over my body. If I didn't know any better I would think she was trying to undress me. Before it could get really uncomfortable, she shakes her head and smiles, walking up and extending a hoof to me. "You must be Drakalian, the human, jes?" She asks. "Rarity and Fluttershy have told us so much about you!"

I pause as I'm rather surprised she knows my name, but hearing that the others told her about me, I just smile nervously and shake her hoof. "It seems my reputation precedes me." I say, giving a chuckle to try and calm my nervous.

She just giggles, covering her mouth with her hoof. "Oh please, it's hard to not hear about the human that suddenly appeared in our quiet little town." She explains. "All everypony talks about is what the new being is doing here and how exotic he is!" At this she bats her eyes at me, causing me to give a small swallow.

I tug on my hood again as I went over what she said. "I'm...exotic?"

"Oh jes, jes! Very much so. One of the few times when ponies were so excited to see a new creature around here, ever since Zecora showed up, though that was after they got used to her." She says, giggling a bit.

I raise an eyebrow at this. "Wait, who's Zecora and why were ponies scared of her."

"I can explain in the steam room if you don't mind darling. Right now, I'm hoping for us to get there first, if you ponies don't mind..." Rarity says before looking at Aloe. "And yes he will be the one to join us today."

"Oh so sorry Rarity, almost forgot that I'm still working." She says, giggling again. "Of course, come, come!" She says, motioning us forward, and with a flick of her tail she leads us through the curtain.

Rarity and Fluttershy smile as they are quick to follow, leaving me behind for a moment. After realizing I was almost being left behind, I speed up to catch up with them.

She leads us down the halls for a few moments before bringing us to a large door that seemed to be the steam room. "Here is the steam room, we will let you know when your rooms are ready." Aloe says, the two mares smiling as they start to head in. I'm about to follow when the Earth pony stops me. "Now hold on, we can't have you going in with all that clothing on, it will get ruined."

Realizing that she was right, I give a small nod. "Of course, makes sense. Care to show me where the changing rooms are?"

At this she gives me a puzzled look. "Changing rooms? I'm sorry, but we don't have those."

Now it is my turn to look confused. "But...but isn't this a spa? I assumed that you guys have places to put your...clothing...oh." I start to say, only to slow down as I realized the major problem there...why would ponies who rarely wear clothes need a changing room?

The pink mare looks at me questioningly. "What's the problem? If you need, you can always place your clothing in one of our lockers. I can even take it to them if you wish, I just-" She is soon interrupted by Rarity, the mare motioning her over for a moment. Still confused, Aloe walks over and the unicorn mare starts whispering into her ear. As the seconds ticked by, her cheeks slowly start to turn a slight red as her eyes go wide When they were finished, she turns back to face me, doing her best to remain calm, yet at the same time her cheeks retained the red to them. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize that about...humans." She tries to apologies. "Sadly like I said, we don't have a changing room, but I can bring you to a massage room where you can change in private if that helps."

I give a small smile and a nod. "That would be fine, thanks." I reply, to which she smiles and motions me to follow.

"We'll be in the steam room Drak, just join us once you are ready!" Rarity calls out, Fluttershy nodding as well. I smile and nod in return before following the spa pony to the massage room. Thankfully it was rather close, Just around the corner in fact, the room itself was rather empty, just having a single table where I'm assuming you lay down to get your massage.

"Just give me a call when you are ready." She says before pulling the curtain aside and leaving me all by myself.

I'm glad to have a moment to myself, and while I'm still a bit nervous, I don't see that there will be too much of a problem. Aloe works here, so she should be professional, and she has been so far...at least from what I can tell. Besides that, Rarity and Fluttershy have already seen me topless...and the former even seen me naked, if briefly...and as a mistake, but still!

Shaking such thoughts from my head, I start to strip, and in just a few moments I was in my birthday suit. Looking around, I'm thankful to find some towels still around, and taking the largest one I could find, I wrap it around my waist. To my surprise, it actually fits, if only a little bit tight, but I could tie it to my waist and there wouldn't be a way for me to be revealed...at least not on accident. Satisfied, I walk to the curtain and knock on the wall next to it. "Aloe? I'm ready."

The curtain parts to reveal the pink spa pony, and as she looks me over, I can't help but to get a small shiver going down my back. For some reason it feels as if she was examining me, as if I was on display. She takes a few more scans of me before giving me a pleasant smile. "Well Mister Drakalian, you look much more pleasant without all that clothing on you." She says rather softly.

I can't help but to blush at her tone, rubbing the back of my head. "R-Really? I mean, I have started working out, so I guess I did lose a bit of weight but I don't think-" I start to say only for her to shush me with a wave of her hoof.

"Nonsense darling! You look positively dashing!" She says, motioning me to follow her. As I walk with her, she continues. "I'm surprised you don't just walk around like this more often, the mares would swoon over you." She adds, her eyes fluttering at me a bit.

Stopping myself from swallowing nervously, I simply replied. "Perhaps...but I also like staying warm, and I can't do that with no clothes."

She ponders on this before giving a shrug. "Fair point Mister Drakalian, fair point." She concedes, giggling a bit. "Even so, your body has plenty of stories that can be told just by looking at it."

I give a confused look at this before she explains. "The scars for example. They look to be very recent. Seem to be the work of a large beast."

Realizing what she was talking about, I feel the scars with my right hand, rubbing them a bit. "Yea, that would be a basilisk."

Her eyes go wide as we stop right in front of the steam room. "A basilisk! Oh mer, that is horrifying! And you managed to survive it?" I give a nod and she continues. "Well I know you will have to tell me more about this story, perhaps during your massage? I'm sure my sister would love to hear as well, but for now the steam room awaits you." She says, motioning me to head to the steam room.

I smile and give a nod of thanks as I reach for the door, but she somehow manages to beat me to it. "Please, allow me." She says, her eyes giving that same flutter again. I just smile as I give a nod and head on in. "Now if you need anything please let us know darlings!" She calls before closing the door. As she closes it, I could have sworn, just for the briefest of moments...

...she gave me a wink.

Once the door closes, I just sigh and shake my head. Perhaps it's best to not think about it.

Next Chapter: Chapter 23: Fashion Advice Part 2 Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 16 Minutes