Chapter 13: Rainbow's Edge

Helmuth just stared at the two girls in front of him with an apprehensive smile on his face and an initial sense of enormous discomfort. His clothes felt tighter all of a sudden… wait… did the temperature in the room increase? His thoughts were racing through his head at a million miles an hour. He had to continuously remind himself that he was going wherever the wind took him here. Luna was right; he agreed that he needed to have a little fun himself, and that meant having an open mind. He had always been so worried about things going completely wrong that he had nearly forgot about actually having fun with what was allotted to him. He was a respectable man; excellent morals, great character and work ethic, and he felt he wasn't too hard on the eyes… so, why not use what was given to him within reason? That bit of rationalization enabled him to calm down considerably, enough to tune back into the real world:

"So… girls… Um, what did you have in mind?" he asked, taking the initiative.

"I'm sure we'll all come up with something together in a little while. I want to finish reading this and I'm sure Pinkie wants to finish baking. Also I don't wake up Fluttershy right now. Maybe Rainbow Dash or Applejack can tide you over until then?" Twilight asked somewhat reluctantly.

"That I can!" Rainbow walked in the common room. She was dressed in her general workout garb, consisting of a sports top and running shorts. Helmuth had to admit to himself, she looked pretty damn good. There's a certain beauty about a woman when they're not kept up, within reason. Then again, when did Rainbow Dash really doll out so to speak?

"Going somewhere?" he asked with his eyebrow raised, being sure to be modest with his gazing.

"After some scouting, I found out that there's a really sweet gym at the top of the hotel. Full track and everything! Wanna come with?" she asked with a slight smidgeon of hopefulness in her voice. Her pride could barely handle that. Helm pursed his lips in thought, fixing his gaze to nowhere in particular. He wasn't going to get a proper workout due to missing his drills for about a week, so this could be an adequate substitute. Also, he wanted to get to know the girls more. Might as well start somewhere!

"Sure! Let me change into something more suitable," Helm remarked before disappearing into his room. When he was gone, Rainbow turned back to Pinkie and Twilight.

"Oh yeah! Get him to myself for a while! In your face!" she gloated playfully. Twilight only rolled her eyes.

"Oh shut the hell up, Dash; as if anything memorable is going to happen at the gym of all places," Twilight said sarcastically. Luna had been spot on about the fact that the girls had already talked amongst themselves in regards to Helmuth. If any of them could break his walls down and acquire him, there would be no fights over it, no matter what. Several rounds of Pinkie Promises were in order for that small talk. However, there were no rules stating that they couldn't playfully chide each other.

"Don't be jealous, Twi. As you already know it takes quite a bit of experience to be able to be as smooth as that," Rainbow said cockily. Sometimes no one could really tell if she was dripping sarcasm or actually being serious… most likely a combination of both.

"But Dashie… to have experience means that you haf'ta have done something. What exactly have you done?" Pinkie quipped, although with an edge of playful malice. Twilight couldn't help but bring her hand up to her mouth and silently chuckle. Dash, on the other hand, was at a loss for words as she colored.

"Very funny… either way, I still get some alooone time. So suck on that!" Rainbow Dash offered her 'intelligent' rebuttal.

"Like you'll ever get the chance to 'suck on that,'" Twilight silently quipped as she continued reading and writing notes. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped at her innuendo.

"Twilight! Such language!" Dash poked fun, diverting the subject. Twilight looked at her incredulously with a sly grin on her face.

"You really believe me to be some sheltered girl, my dear Dashie?"

"Considering you're a virgin and buried in a book about magic and math and stuff half the time I see you, it's only natural for me to assume that your know-how on sex is still somewhat limited" Rainbow countered a bit. Twilight chuckled.

"You think it's only magic and math, bitch," she replied with a sultry smile. It took Dash a second to register that and once again, her face colored. Pinkie was heard giggling over the commotion in the kitchen.

Twilight reads dirty stuff?

"Woah woah WOAH! Just what do you read, huh?!" Rainbow asked disbelievingly, strutting up to Twilight to look at her reading material. Twilight laughed and shut her book.

"Hey! What'cha reading? Huh?!" Rainbow Dash demanded playfully, attempting to wrest control of the book. Finally, Twilight relented and showed her the cover.

"It's a math book, Rainbow Dash. If you really think I'm that much of a nerd where I touch myself to math equations then you can go fist a pony," Twilight retorted. Dash's mouth dropped while Pinky burst out laughing.

"What in the hell—did ah' just here the three words 'Dash,' 'fist,' and 'pony,' in the same sentence?" Applejack poked her head out of her room, sans Stetson, and eyed Rainbow Dash, whose mouth was just hanging open, attempting to say something as she fervently gestured towards Twilight.

"But—she—me…" she tried to sputter out. AJ raised her brow incredulously.

"Uh huh. Sure she did, Rainbow Dash. I guess we know yer fetish now," she quipped, chuckling as she receded back into her room. Rainbow still looked flabbergasted but was saved when Helmuth entered the room, sporting a muscle tank top and some mesh shorts. Quite the sight for sore eyes to a few single girls, in their opinion.

"So, we're good for the gym?" he asked. Dash was relieved that she could be taken away from her taunting at the moment.

"Yes! We're off," Dash said as she dragged him out the door while the other girls burst out laughing once more. As the two rode the elevator upwards, Helm noticed that Dash looked extremely flustered and embarrassed.

"Hey Rainbow, you alri—"

"Peachy! Just peachy," she replied instantaneously, cutting him off and leaving him confused. Helmuth knew from first-hand experience that girls were confusing. He realized earlier in life that women were meant to be admired and loved for their beauty, personality, and other physical and inner qualities, but never to truly be understood. As one of his friends once told him: "Don't try to make sense of and understand girls. Girls understand girls and most of the time they hate each other!" He only laughed inside and just sighed in acquiescence.

The elevator 'dinged' upon their arrival at their destination. The large doors slid open, revealing an enormous area covered in a glass dome, which rested at the top of the hotel. It was nicely air conditioned UV protected under the amplification of the sun's rays through the glass. The large game-sized track was at the center of it all while other machinery and weights were set around its periphery. Both Dash and Helm beamed at the variety available to them. This would be a most wondrous workout. The two began to stretch a bit before Dash spoke up:

"Hold on a second…" she said. She closed her eyes and concentrated enough so that her figure glowed with a cyan blue aura. That aura then filtered to two places on her back, combined within itself, and jutted outward, forming two perfectly symmetric, magically composed cyan wings. Dash sighed in relief.

"Haven't got to stretch these babies in a while," Dash said with satisfaction, stretching her back before fluttering in the air for a little bit to stretch out her wings. She then took a hair tie out of her back and her rainbow hair released itself, falling to just below shoulder length. Rainbow Dash had been growing her hair out recently in the back. Although she kept her signature style for the front and top of her head, she decided to try something new and let the back grow out. Personally, she liked it, and none of the girls had any complaints, in fact they were quite thrilled. Helmuth was now able to get a good look at her. Rainbow Dash, although not necessarily 'ladylike,' was undeniably a gorgeous girl. Her toned figure combined with her hair down, wings out, and her natural womanly physique gave more than enough eye candy for Helmuth. He had told his eyes to avert his complacent gaze about ten seconds prior, but that didn't happen… because of reasons. Dash turned around and met his gaze.

"See anything you like?" she asked with a smug smile on her face.

Oh, so we're playing that game, eh?

"Depends on where I was looking…" he replied cryptically, albeit jokingly. Rainbow only raised her eyebrow a bit before both of them laughed.

"Shall we take a mile or two?" Rainbow asked, getting ready to take off and her wings fluttering in anticipation.

"I'd be insulted if you didn't ask," Helmuth replied. With that, the two took off on a light jog, an easier pace than what they were both undoubtedly used to so they could talk. After all, the whole point of this trip for Helm was to get to know others. His outlook on the situation surged and things weren't looking so bad after all. Conversation ranged from both of their childhoods to their current jobs, as well as their aspirations. They had been talking so much that they had realized that they ran about four miles on the track. They continued to work out, Helmuth opting for some weights while Dash did the same, albeit more sparsely; conversation never ceasing. Eventually, the two took a break, resting on a bench while they drank some much deserved water.

"… and that was the third time I lost the game," Rainbow Dash finished a story. Helmuth couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"Good lord, that's terrible," he replied, sighing in post-workout bliss. Dash did the same and they both happened to glance at each other. Both had an excellent workout to say the least. The light coat of sweat added a sheen effect to Rainbow Dash's exposed skin, making light reflect off of her and helping to define her. The fact that Helmuth was noticing this was rather odd to him… he had never shown this much visual interest in, well, anyone! But in the end, was it really something to be afraid of? Or was he just being a normal man?

"And just what are you lookin' at, bub?" Rainbow Dash asked with mock anger. Helmuth raised his brow.

"A pretty girl."

Woah! Where the hell did that come from?! No! I refuse to acknowledge that I said that. I said it, she knows I just said it, but I refuse to say that I said it.

While Helmuth was having an instantaneous internal battle within himself, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but blush furiously.

"You… you really think I'm pretty?" she asked… the brash and confident Rainbow Dash was now reduced to meekness.

Well, I apparently haven't dug my grave. Past the point of no return it is…

"While you may not be Rarity, and I'm sure you hear that comparison all the time and I apologize for that, but that's just you: You're not the embodiment of everything that is holy about a woman, but you've got some damn good qualities, and you excel at said qualities. So, in directly answering your question, 'hell yes you're pretty. Beautiful, actually.'"

Well then…

Dash had made use of her longer hair to hide part of her face behind it and avert her gaze… and interesting natural reaction for her. Rainbow then scooted close to him and embraced him in a tight hug that was filled with gratitude. He too started to blush at the sudden contact, but he didn't fret it at all. Go with the flow. He embraced her right back, and it felt nice.

"Thanks, Helm. It really… really means a lot, what you just said," she said through a sigh, not really sure what she could say in all honesty. Before Helm could really respond (he honestly didn't know how to), their gazes met: teal on magenta. Involuntarily, Rainbow was slowly inching her face closer to his, and he had little objection so it seemed. However, right before she was to press his lips to hers, he diverted his own face and instead nuzzled his nose with hers affectionately before pulling away. It was a nice… an interesting but nice, rather, feeling… but she was still taken off guard that he pulled away.

"That's all I can offer for now, Rainbow Dash," he said with a sincere grin before standing up and walking towards the exit.

"Now, I say we head back and get cleaned up. It's getting towards the later afternoon anyway," he said over his shoulder.

All Dash could do is just lightly feel her nose, still an enormous blush evident on her cheeks.

"Not the way I completely hoped this would end but damn that was smooth…" she thought out loud before joining him in exiting the gym.

Luna was sitting at a large round table, her officers cap proudly resting on her head… and her head not so proudly resting in the palm of her hand because…

"I am legitimately bored out of my damn mind. I already know how this meeting is going to end… maybe I can just do the 'people watching.'"

Luna shifted her gaze to the Crystal Empire Colonel who was speaking about something along the lines of building a new fortification close to a certain border, much to the chagrin of a few other Equestrian officers.

"Look at this excuse of a Colonel… 'asking permission' to build something 'within' his own borders. Complete lack of a spinal column, figuratively speaking, and I am certain that his troops hate him. He probably pisses sitting down like the little girl he is."

Luna's eyes were dragged elsewhere when one of the Equestrian officers accompanying her to the summit responded to the Crystal Empire claim… albeit rather harshly.

"Marshal Tread… you're an odd fellow. All you manage to do is screw up even the simplest of orders… then you make yet another mistake which somehow rectifies your first error. Just like the time when Celestia asked you to commission a new Brigade and you reported back with two new tank divisions. You're lucky we had use for them. It's Ditzy's job to be clumsy… and she's adorable at the same time. You're just a complete penis with a military suit and cap on. How you even got promoted is beyond me".

The issue was eventually resolved without Luna's intervention (she was glad), and another representative stood up, hailing from the Kingdom of Gry Phon. A female General by the name of Katya Rangefinder.

"General Rangefinder… you're outstandingly young for one of your position, but then again I look the same way. You have the aura about you that says you traded 'favors' for promotions and other amenities. From the ridiculous nonsense you're spewing out of your gob, a mentally disabled kitten could tell that you haven't the slightest clue of how to lead a force. Whoever let you carry that pistol on your waist should be dragged out back and shot. Yes, I'm most certain you didn't achieve the rank of General properly. Maybe you can 'find' the 'range' of phallus you've willfully taken to achieve your position… Good lord that was a terrible attempt at a joke. That was bad and I should feel bad."

Luna sighed and adjusted her outfit a bit before slumping back down once more, eager to get out of here as soon as possible, but there was still the grand possibility that the meeting would be delayed due to some national exercises that needed to be discussed. Actually, that would most likely be the case. Luna inwardly screamed in frustration. Part of her wanted to teleport out and set the room on fire because she horrendously disliked every officer in this room. Celestia probably set her up too. Luna would be sure to punch her in the face when she returned to Canterlot.

I just hope everyone else is having a better time… and I hope Helmuth is at least attempting to have fun with the girls…

Helmuth and Dash had returned and cleaned themselves up, re-emerging in casual clothing and ready to take on the day… or what was left of it. By this time, all the girls had gathered in the common room to just be in each other's presence when Helmuth joined them.

"Afternoon, girls," he greeted. "Did we still have anything planned for tonight? I got word from Luna that her meeting would be running over an hour or two," he stated. The girls all looked somewhat worn out from the long drive over, but at the same time they didn't find the idea of staying their first night in Las Pegasus in the hotel completely appetizing.

"Well, I do remember us passing a tavern on the way over here and it looked like a pleasant place to eat and get a few drinks. I am a bit worn out myself and am not up for a more enthralling adventure as of now, but a little fresh air and some nice food sounds quite lovely," Rarity suggested. The others smiled at that and nodded in agreement.

"To the bar it is then! Time to eat, drink, and be merry!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed enthusiastically. The others rolled their eyes and laughed lightly before they began to file out of the room, definitely ready to get some food and a drink or two in them. As they walked out, Twilight nudged Rainbow Dash as they lagged behind slightly.

"So… how'd it go? Get any 'aloooooooone' time with him? Make use of it at all?" Twilight taunted. She knew nothing happened. As a magic adept she could feel in Rainbow's aura that nothing particularly saucy happened, which was a relief to her… because that meant she could have a shot with him too. Rainbow Dash only sighed audibly.

"Twilight, Imma shove a unicorn horn up your ass if you don't shut up," Rainbow deadpanned. Twilight laughed heartily partially from her reaction to the teasing, but that Dash's rebuttal was so… specific. Unicorn horn?

So, in Helmuth's mind, nothing had gone awry yet. It had actually been quite successful so far! He still had five more girls to get more properly acquainted with. As of now, his worry had been considerably reduced. Either way, said six beautiful girls plus one guy were on their way to a nice tavern; No conceivable way that this could end badly...