//------------------------------// // The Shining Armor Effect // Story: The Bodybuilder // by Crayonpaste //------------------------------// You wave goodbye to your mom as she drops you off in front of the Forge. When you think about it, this is your first time going in alone. Every time you went to the gym, it was with your dad, but not this time. You enter the building, and find that same bodybuilder woman who rescued you from the bench press still working at the front desk. Her nose is buried in some workout magazine. Hopefully, she doesn't recognize you... "Back for more?" The woman says, causing you to jump in surprise. Her gaze is still fixed on her magazine as she talks to you. "Y-y-yeah." You laugh nervously, handing the woman your card. "Just...doing my best to stay in shape, you know?" "Actually, I wouldn't." She says flatly as she cards you in. "I was always the strongest person in my class back when I was in school; I could even lift my own gym teacher with one hand whenever I felt like it." 'No surprises there...' You think to yourself as she hands your card back. "Figured you'd have quit after that whole bench press incident..." She comments, going back to her magazine. "Hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" You say. The only reply you get back is just a small, gruff chuckle from her. "Well, welcome back. Have a nice workout, sir." You wave goodbye, and pull out a workout routine on your phone that your dad gave you. According to that, today should be biceps day. You begin roaming the gym in search of an empty bench for you to do your curls, until from the corner of your eye, you spot someone that makes you stop dead in your tracks. "Oh, great." You mutter, spotting your new gym-buddy Bulk Biceps doing curls with a pair of dumbbells the size of your thighs. You quickly look around, and find a nice, empty bench far away from that monster. You look behind one more time just to be sure before you begin to settle down, and begin your workout. Now...according to this workout routine, for biceps you should be doing 5 sets of curls with 5 reps for each arm, making for a total of ten each set. Sounds reasonable enough. You look to your left, seeing a lithe girl doing the same exact thing you're about to do with a pair of 10's. 'Hmmm, maybe I can handle 30's then.' You think as you grab them from the rack. You begin your first set without much trouble, alternating between your left and right arm. Before you even know it, you're done with your first set, and you sit back on your bench, proud of yourself. You pull out your phone, and set a timer for one minute. You take the time to stretch, and just keep an eye on Bulk Biceps. So far, he still hasn't noticed you, and you want to keep it that way. It also wasn't until just now though, that you realize the girl you're working out right next to is actually really good looking. Almost as pretty as Applejack. Come to think of it, you may not be going to the Fall Formal with Applejack, but you'd totally go with her if she said yes... 'But she's in the middle of a workout, idiot.' You think to yourself before you act. 'That would be so creepy if you suddenly just started talking to her as she's doing her curls.' Instead, you should try to impress her. Nodding to yourself, you get up, and grab a pair of 40 pound dumbbells. The 30's felt kind of easy anyways. 'These'll definitely snag her attention.' You smirk at the dumbbells, getting ready for your second set. You take a deep breath, and lift the two dumbbells upwards, and you immediately regret doing so. You really didn't think these extra 10 pounds would make this much of a difference, but they are. And just your luck, the girl stopped her workout, and she's looking in your direction. You have to finish your set now. 'One...' You count in your head. Just one curl is already difficult enough, but you need nine more. 'Two...' You're confident that your right arm can pull at least three...but now that you finished your first curl with your left, you're not so sure about this arm... 'Three...' 'Four...' Your left arm begins to shake violently only after it's second curl. However, you do your best to make it finish the set. Can't embarrass yourself in front of the ladies now, right? 'Five...' 'Six...' 'Seven...' Now you're right arm's hitting its limit... 'Eight...' You barely manage to get it through. Only through sheer willpower do you pull it all the way up. 'Nine...' You now have to rest your elbow and against your knee for the extra leverage to get it through. Your bicep's screaming in protest over the abuse you're putting it through, but you clench your teeth, and fight through the burning pain. You're almost there! You need to keep pushing through! With the last curl for your left arm, you clench your teeth as hard as you can, and tense up every muscle you can. The dumbbell's moving, but it's going at an agonizingly slow rate. 'Come on...' You take a quick breath, and close one eye. You feel like you're about to have an aneurysm, but you're not giving up; you're so damn close! "Ten!" You gasp, dropping the dumbbells immediately. They crash loudly against the gym floor, causing some people to look over and see what's going on, but you don't care. Your head feels a little fuzzy, and you immediately grab your water bottle, chugging down its contents as fast as you can. When you finally put down the bottle, you can feel a rush of blood through your head and most notably, your arms. "Hey there." You hear the girl next to you and see her smiling. But you quickly realize she's actually looking at someone else. "Hi, Lyra how's it going?" You turn around, and see none other than Shining Armor waving at the girl. He then sees you, and smiles. "Oh, Anon! What's up?" He says. He raises his fist, expecting you to bump it, but you're way too exhausted to even raise your arm that high. "Jeez, you look like you've been through hell and back." Shining Armor laughs. "Working hard, I guess." "Yeah..." You reply, taking another sip of water from your bottle. "Working really hard." You never liked it when you're around to Shining Armor; you don't know if it's because of his outgoing and upbeat personality that brims with confidence, or because he embarrasses you in every sport you play in gym class together, or if it's just because he's the guy who stole your crush and then saved your life two days later. It's probably a combination of it all. You watch as he breaks into conversation with the girl who he effortlessly won her undivided attention from. He makes it look so easy. 'And here I am, just trying to get her to look at me.' You roll your eyes. At least you get to quietly put away the 40's that you're never going to use again without anyone noticing... "So, you know Anon?" Shining Armor points at you. "He's a cool guy, Lyra." "Hey." You wave towards the girl with a friendly smile. "That's me.......in case you didn't know already." "Hi..." Lyra replies slowly, narrowing her face into a neutral expression, bordering on disgust; it's the kind of look girls give to guys to try and make them feel uncomfortable, so they can leave. But her face immediately flips to a genuine smile the second she turns to Shining Armor again. "So...did you just get here, Shining?" "Actually, yeah." He says. "I'd love to hang around, but I gotta do my workout fast today; got swim practice at 6 in the morning tomorrow, you know?" "You're always so darn busy, Shining." She giggles. "Don't you ever relax?" "Sometimes." He shrugs. "Well, if you feel like skipping practice tomorrow, we could hang out at my place when you're done." She remarks as gives Shining Armor a half lidded gaze. "My parents are also out of town for a couple days too..." "Sorry, but I'm the captain; I can't skip." Shining Armor says, before pointing a thumb at you. "I'm sure Anon might be interested though!" And with that, Shining Armor finds a machine and begins his workout, leaving Lyra looking a little dumbfounded. She really looked confident that she'd get him to come over; you can relate to that feeling of being shut down. "You know...I've got nothing to do after my workout so-" "In your dreams." Lyra replies flatly. She then grabs her bag and walks out, audibly huffing with frustration. Welp...guess you can scrap Fall Formal Plan B. You must have been some kind of satanic puppy torturer in some previous lifetime to deserve this kind of treatment from girls. But at least Lyra's rejection didn't nearly feel anywhere as bad as Applejack's. You sort of just shrug it off as 'whatever'. You find your original dumbbells, and finish the rest your remaining 3 sets quietly before packing up and heading home. As you prepare to leave, you see Shining Armor preparing to do some bench presses before he motions you over with his hands. "Need something?" You ask. "Yeah..." Shining Armor replies. "Think you can spot me?" "I guess..." You yawn. "Just finished my workout anyways." "Sweet!" He smiles. "Thanks! I'm going for 6, just so you know." You watch as Shining Armor grunts, and lifts the barbell as if it's a feather, and begins doing reps with perfect form. You're amazed, especially considering how much weight he's got on too. It doesn't take long for him to finish his set, and rack the barbell. "How was my form?" Shining Armor asks, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Was I leaning on the left, or right, or anything?" "Dead on." You reply. After a small forty second break, he immediately begins his second set, with equally perfect form. He doesn't even need you here; he's easily got that barbell under control. "So...did you get Lyra's number?" Shining Armor asks, trying to create some small talk. "Did you?" "She told me 'In your dreams'." You reply, checking your phone for a brief moment. "So yeah, no." "Wow, that's really bitchy of her." Shining Armor frowns. "She could've at least been nice about it." "It is what it is." You shrug. "I hear this year's Fall Formal was gonna to be lame anyways." The truth though, is that you heard this Fall Formal was actually going to be awesome; Principal Celestia said there won't be breathalyzers, and rumors say there's going to be a sick afterparty at Rarity's when it was over too. Shining Armor stares at the ground in a moment of awkward silence, the only sounds in the gym being the music on the loudspeakers, and the clanging of weights from other people working out. It's a pretty slow day, so it's not as packed as it usually is. Forty seconds have long passed, and Shining isn't going onto his next set. He's just staring at the ground, with a serious, almost angry expression on his face. "Anon?" Shining Armor turns around, with an unsure look on his face. It's surprising, since you usually see him always so confident. "I wanted to ask something...it might be a little personal..." "Yeah?" "You don't......" Shining looks up at the ceiling, as if he's struggling to find the right words. "You don't hate me or anything, do you?" "What?" You raise an eyebrow. "I've recently been talking with Applejack, and...she was a little worried..." He continues. "Worried that you might have taken the whole rejection thing personally, or something." "Oh..." You say plainly. "Well...of course I'm upset; I got rejected by one of CHS's most beautiful girls. Who wouldn't?" "Yeah, you're right." Shining Armor says. "But you know, there's still other girls out there you could go to the Fall Formal with." "Like who?" You scoff. "Lyra? Thanks for trying to set me up with her, but I'm all good." Awkward silence ensues again, and Shining Armor sits back and starts his new set. But now that he's busy with his workout, you suddenly feel an urge to talk. "I planned that out for weeks, you know..." You continue on. "Rehearsing the same lines to myself in the mirror, trying to think of the best spot to say it......I wouldn't have put in all that effort if I knew it was all for nothing." "That does suck..." Shining Armor admits, finishing his set. "But come on, you're not even that bad looking, just a little scrawny, that's all. You could easily find a girl if you tried hard enough!" "The Fall Formal's in a week!" You say, pointing one finger to emphasize your point. "If I planned out almost a month in advance to ask out Applejack and that flopped, how am I going to get a girl in less than half of that time? Any girl out there who isn't taken already is either not interested, or looks like a complete trainwreck." "Not from what I know." He smirks. "Lemme finish my last set, and I'll tell you all about what I have in plan..." ****** "Fluttershy?!" You exclaim in disbelief. "I don't know about you, but if I can't even get Lyra to talk to me, how do you expect me to woo her?" "Relax buddy, things'll be different this time." Shining Armor reassures you. "It won't be like what happened with Lyra, I promise." The two of you step into the elevator, and press the ground floor. When the elevator doors close, Shining Armor looks back at you. "This time you're gonna have me, Anon." Shining Armor pats you on the back. "You're gonna have the 'Tom Cruise Effect' on your side." "The what?" You raise an eyebrow. "The 'Tom Cruise Effect.'" Shining Armor repeats himself. "It's how I got my first date." "What is this 'Tom Cruise Effect'?" You ask, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Well...let's pretend you're out clubbing with someone famous...like Tom Cruise." Shining Armor explains. "Obviously, people like him are going to attract girls by the dozens, right?" "Okay...?" "However, Tom's even attracting the ones who know they've got absolutely no chance to be with him." Shining Armor continues. "And that's the key." "'Cause if they can't get Tom Cruise...then what about the guy who's so cool that he's sitting next to Tom Cruise? He's gotta have something going for him if Tom likes him, right?" 'Wow...' You think. 'That...actually sounds like it would work; fake it 'till you make it, right?' The elevator reaches the ground floor, and the two of you walk out of the gym together in silence. Meanwhile, you're mentally debating with yourself over this whole... "Tom Cruise Effect". Would it really work? Well if it worked for Shining Armor, it'll work good enough for you. But even then, what's going to happen after? You step out of the gym, and are immediately greeted by a fresh gust of wind. It's not even October yet, so wearing nothing but gym clothes at night is perfectly fine. In fact, you welcome the fresh air. Shining Armor stops, and stands in front of you with his back turned, his tall chiseled figure reflects off from the setting sun, giving him a 'superhero' sort of look as the typical city sounds of cars rushing by echo behind him. "You know..." He says solemnly. "Full disclosure, I can't guarantee if this is gonna work; when I tried it, it was only because the girl also happened to like me as well..." "Yeah but at this point, I'm already used to girls shutting me down." You say. "What's one more?" "Don't say that." He chuckles. "Who knows? This could be your breakthrough, Anon." "Maybe." You mutter, as you watch the sun sink beneath the buildings of Canterlot. "Maybe."