Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bushido’s day was filled to the brim with training; first it was meditation in the morning, then calligraphy lessons before a light lunch. Later it was kendo, and her personal favourite, soccer. As focused as she was to becoming an honourable warrior, letting all her daily frustrations out on the field while chasing after a ball was much more exciting than meditating.

With all this in mind, and her steps carrying her towards the soccer field where she would first do her own special stretches before everyone else arrived, it wasn’t strange for her to utter out loud, unmindful of who might be nearby, “all this training is exhausting.”

Bushido prided herself on being stoic and not easily startled, but there was no stopping the surprised ‘eep!’ when a colt suddenly galloped right in front of her and yelled. At first she didn’t understand what he was saying, the words sinking in slowly. Then -

“Train you?” She repeated. Train him in what? Soccer, meditation, fencing? Had he been watching her? They’d never met. Was he an admirer? Did she have an admirer? How absurd!

“I... okay?” Bushido said, still looking confused and not really sure why she agreed but uncertain how to say no in the face of such enthusiasm and happiness.

As baffled as she still was, Bushido understood that she had been given the great and important task of teacher. This stranger clearly saw her as some sort of mentor; perhaps he had seen her on the field or watched her training? Perhaps he too longed to learn the ancient art of kendo? Well, they would get to that later.

“Follow me,” she said, sounding far more certain than she felt. She led him down the path to the soccer field (her parents were paying for lessons after all, she couldn’t exactly miss it...) and marched him into the middle of the large oval.

“Are you ready?” They would just go through some stretches until she figured out what else to do with him.

Being called master nearly had her fall over her own hooves, but she recovered, knowing he really didn’t mean the term in the way a warrior would devote themselves to a lord or teacher. He was just... excitable.

“Right,” she said, dragging out the moment. “Just... stand in front of me and mirror my movements.” Then she started her stretches. First one with her head bend between her legs, rear up and legs stretched. “Hold for twenty seconds.” Then they moved on to the next post. “Now stand on hind legs and,” she demonstrated stretching her front legs to the right. “Hold for ten seconds and then shift to the other side.”

Bushido could sense his growing confusion every time she moved into a different pose. Sure, it wasn’t very interesting but it wasn’t meant to be. She lifted her head out of another stretch and peered up at him. “Stretching is essential before any training exercise,” she told him with a frown.

Bushido pulled up out her stretch and stared at him. “You don’t throw in soccer,” she said, puzzled, and then, “or kendo.” And here was the problem: the fact that she didn’t know exactly what training he was after. A bit embarrassed, she looked aside. “I am... sorry. You will need to be a bit more specific with what training you wanted.”

She stared at him for a long time, too confused to be embarrassed. “A... what?” Bushido questioned.

Then the words took on meaning in her mind and she looked at him again, this time taking in his unique appearance, the tail, the red spots on his cheek and his remarkable resemblance to - “Oh my! You thought I was a Pokemon trainer?” She blurted out.

Bushido couldn’t help it, she started to laugh. “I thought,” she said between giggles, “you wanted me to teach you,” another bubble of laughter, “how to play soccer.” And to think she’d thought she had some sort of admirer. How silly.

“I’m so sorry. I wish I was. That would have been fun.”