“Did I mention those apples were delicious?” Brianna asked, prompting Brandon to raise an eyebrow at her.
’Tension destroyed. Way to make me nervous.’ Brandon thought, facepalming.
“Well, they WERE Red Delicious after all if I remember your brother’s apple correctly.” Vinyl joked, earning a groan from Brandon and a giggle from Brianna. “Come on, it wasn’t THAT bad.”
“I thought it was funny, Vinyl.” Brianna replied.
“See? It wasn’t that bad.” Vinyl told Brandon, who still mentally disagreed.
The two were led to a barn that was a fair distance from the main house. Once Vinyl opened the doors, the twins saw equipment and training stations set up for various activities. There was a wrestling ring, sheathed swords off to the side, among other accessories.
“Whoa, this barn’s pretty spruced up! What’s the occasion?” Brianna asked, to which Vinyl stepped back outside and pointed above the door. On that spot was a small sign that read “Ponyville Team Training Barn.”
“At some point, I thought we didn’t need the sign anymore since it was obvious where this was, but I didn’t feel like taking it down.” Vinyl said, shrugging at her past laziness. “Besides, it feels good to have something labeled as a team effort.”
“So, what’s this team for?” Brandon asked the obvious question, to which Vinyl tilted her head at them.
“You…don’t know?” Vinyl said, sighing and shrugging again. “Oh well, I don’t mind telling you guys anyway. It’s for the Equestria Games. We’re using this place to train for it.” She explained, walking around the barn that really looked more like a gymnasium now. “Sure, it’s not the best place one can train for an event like this, but I say it works just fine. We’re making good progress with our team and I can even see us winning gold medals if we keep our pace up.”
“I guess it’s like an Equestrian Olympics.” Brianna whispered to Brandon.
“Same thing, really.” Vinyl replied, making Brianna jump in surprise. “You’re really bad at being quiet enough to whisper, just so you know.” She grinned. “She’s normally a bit loud, so that might explain it.” Brandon pointed out. The remark led to him being thwacked in the back of the head by her. “It’s the truth!”
“I can tell you two can brighten up dull moments. Even if you aren’t competing, maybe you can stick around a little while to bring some life here.” Vinyl suggested to them.
“Training can’t really be that boring, can it?” Brianna asked.
“It’s not really boring, but it’s obviously straining. A pair of twins lifting people’s spirits might be all we need to keep going.” Vinyl answered. “But hey, that’s your decision.”
Vinyl began to stretch to start her workout, leaving the twins to just watch her for the time being.
“Being an Apple and training for an Olympics equivalent…I wonder if she’s still a DJ.” Brandon thought out loud, though Vinyl was too focused on working out to notice their conversation.
“How about you ask? I mean…not directly ‘hey, are you a DJ?’ Just dance around that a little bit.” Brianna suggested.
Brandon simply nodded and walked up to Vinyl. “Mind if I ask you something?”
“Go right ahead.” Vinyl said, switching to squats.
“When I heard the applebucking earlier, the one you did sounded like music. I’m guessing you have music-based magic, right?” Brandon asked her.
“I sure do. Sorry I made your sister deaf for about a minute before. I think I made it a little too powerful by mistake.” Vinyl replied.
“That’s alright, you didn’t know she was there.” Brandon said back. “This might sound weird, but…would you happen to know anything about being a DJ?”
“I’ve learned some things about it at the Royal University of Manehatten. It sounds cool, but I don’t think I have the time to do it right now.” Vinyl said back.
“You’d rather help out at home, huh? I can understand that, especially with Sweet Apple Acres’ reputation.” Brandon told her.
“Not only that, but with me and AJ working together, we can double our output of Zap Apples once it comes time to harvest them. That’s just the icing on the cake of being there with my family.” Vinyl said back, watching Brianna approach. “If you have something to ask, go right ahead.”
“Mind if we have a squat competition?” Brianna asked, with Brandon raising his eyebrow at her again for the second time in the past few minutes.
“Ah, a challenge, is it?” Vinyl grinned, taking a breather. “How long should we go for?”
“Exactly sixty seconds, most squats wins.” Brianna told her, grinning back.
“Ah’m finished, Vi’, if y’all want a shower.” Applejack’s voice came from the back of the gym. She came out in a yellow tanktop and some workout shorts. She stopped once she noticed Brianna and Vinyl having a stare-down. “Ah hate to interrupt, but who are they?” She asked her sister.
“Perfect timing, AJ!” Vinyl said, inviting her over. “I’ll introduce you in a minute, since Brianna and I are gonna have a squat contest.”
Brandon had stepped away for a moment, returning with a stopwatch. “I’ll count squats for Brianna.” He announced.
“Ah guess ah’ll count for Vinyl, then?” Applejack said, still a little confused as to who these two were.
“Can you make some music to go with this, Vinyl?” Brianna said, taking a few steps back and getting into a ready stance.
“With pleasure, Brianna.” Vinyl replied, generating waves in her hand and tossing them into the air to act as background music. “Once the music starts, hit the button!” She instructed to Brandon. Vinyl kept her hand glowing, acting as the trigger for the music to start whenever she pleased.
Brianna and Vinyl continued their stare-down as Vinyl still held her magical trigger. Brandon looked focused, making sure to hit it the exact moment the music would start, though he was nervous seeing as he didn’t know what Vinyl would do to trigger the song. Applejack…still wanted an explanation, but would kindly wait until all was said and done to get one.
Vinyl snapped her fingers, the floating stands generating notes…but the music wouldn’t start until they hit the bar near the G clef, nearly causing Brianna to have a false start.
‘Crap, crap, crap!’ Brianna quickly thought, managing to get back to her stance just before the first note hit. ’READY!’
The first note started a relatively bombastic piece of music, sounding hilariously unfitting a simple squat contest. Brianna and Vinyl both took off performing their squats at an equal rate, with Brandon relaxing after knowing he got the stopwatch running on time.
After a few seconds, both of them sped their squats up. As for their spotters, they kept quiet to make sure their counting was accurate. They had been mentally cheering for their sisters, sure, but now wouldn’t be the time as their task required the utmost of silent focus.
With every few seconds, the two kept speeding up and speeding up. Brianna might’ve been keeping up with Vinyl, but she seemed to be pushing herself more than Vinyl was. The music kept up the tense atmosphere, reaching a point where less instruments seemed to be playing, yet building up to an epic confrontation as the challenge neared its end.
Brandon slightly brought the stopwatch up to where it was visible, yet could still perfectly see Brianna’s squats. He kept an eye as the timer ticked up to 55...56…57…58…59…”STOP!”
Both girls immediately ended their motions, with Brianna letting out a gasp to get some air. Vinyl had been panting for a moment, but nowhere near as pronounced as Brianna. “You REALLY should join our team.” Vinyl suggested.
“Thanks…but…no thanks.” Brianna replied. “I can go for short bursts, but that’s about it.”
“Hey, some of the events are all about that. Maybe you can be a sudden edge in the competition, coming out of nowhere like you did.” Vinyl told her, still excited by the prospect.
“Maybe if I called myself the Lone Wanderer, I’d draw some fans.” Brianna laughed. “Or, maybe the Mysterious Stranger.”
“Both good names, in my opinion.” Vinyl replied as Brandon and Applejack came forward.
The spotters had whispered the results to each other, both pleasantly surprised at the results. “Well, Vinyl…y’all got 52 squats.” Applejack reported.
“Yes, a new personal best for one minute!” Vinyl cheered.
“What’d I get?” Brianna asked.
“Well, sis…you got…”
Author’s Note:
Bet you’re eager to see the result of that ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny, huh? Oh, by the way, that whole squat competition came from
PSYCHE! Here you go, I’m not gonna pull a Deal or No Deal on ya! XD
-------------------------------------
“52.” Brandon stated.
“She really kept up with ‘er!?” Applejack said, amazed by her performance.
“She did, AJ.” Vinyl replied. “You didn’t need to count us up to see that. We went squat for squat, even when we sped up.”
“Wow…I didn’t even notice that!” Brianna said. “Good thing we tied there, cause that’s probably the only thing I can match that kind of strength in.” She told Vinyl. “That’s just because it’s the only exercise I’m really good at.” She sheepishly said, putting a hand behind her head and glancing at Brandon. He knew the reason why she liked squats so much.
“Still, I bet if you applied that to an actual exercise routine, you could go pretty far; at least far enough to endure more of the pain.” Vinyl said with plenty of encouragement.
“Maybe I should! I’d still rather watch those Games from the sidelines, but who knows? Maybe I could compete in something else someday.” Brianna said.
“That’s the spirit!” Vinyl said, putting her hand up for a high five.
Brianna accepted the high five as the two grinned at each other.
“Well, if you want to…” Brianna said, giving her competitor a thumbs up. “Hey, I’ll play with you some other time!”