//------------------------------// // Sink or Swim // Story: The Bodybuilder // by Crayonpaste //------------------------------// It's 7:10 in the morning, and another Tuesday at school is about to begin. People walk in all random directions, and everyone seems preoccupied with either last minute homework, or trying to find their friends. Through the crowd of students however, you finally spot Shining Armor, who notices you as well. Without a word, you follow him into the cafeteria, and find empty seats. In the morning, Shining Armor looks a lot less impressive than he usually does; his hair's wet and unkempt from swim practice, and he walks slouched over, holding his phone with one hand and a cup of ice coffee with the other. "You alright?" You ask Shining Armor. "I'm telling you Anon, 6AM swim practices suck." He yawns, before taking a large sip of his coffee. "You ever woken up at 5 every single day for a whole semester before?." "Sounds like hell." You cringe. "Do you even sleep?" "You just go to bed earlier, that's all." Shining Armor shrugs. With another large sip, he finishes his coffee, and throws the empty cup into a trashcan behind him, before turning to you. "Alright, Anon..." His tired eyes suddenly opening with intensity. "So you remember what to do right? Remember everything I told you last night?" "Yeah..." You nod. "Stand straight, push my shoulders back, don't slouch when I'm talking, and talk with confidence, even if I'm not." "Spot on." He gives you a thumbs up. "Now...let's pretend I'm Fluttershy, Anon. How are you going to approach me?" "Right after Chemistry class." You reply. "No, I mean what are you going to say?" Your brain stops dead in its tracks. What were you going to say again? It's been so long ago since you and Shining Armor were talking about it last night, that they all felt like a blur. "Well, I'm going to have you with me for the whole Tom Cruise Effect thing, right?" You point at Shining Armor. "Yeah, but I can't ask Fluttershy out for you." He says. "What would you say to Fluttershy to start the conversation, and eventually move on to the Fall Formal? Pretend I'm Fluttershy right now, Anon. What would you say to me?" You try to recall the line Shining Armor said to use as hard as you can, but to no avail. "Hey, there, I...." You stammer with your words, trying to remember the line word for word. "I......I heard you... need help with.........Chemistry homework?" Shining Armor facepalms and just shakes his head. "Chemistry homework?" He looks at you as if you just said the world was flat. "That's your best? Come on, that sounds like something my sister would have said!" "What do you mean?" You look at Shining Armor confused. "That felt perfectly fine to me." "'Oh, I already did the homework, Anon. See ya.'" Shining Armor says, mimicking Fluttershy's voice. "...and there goes your chance to ask her out." "Then what am I supposed to do?" You ask. "She's a shy girl Anon." Shining Armor says. "That means you'll have to ask first. Compliment her, take an interest in her hobbies. Make her feel comfortable around you and once she opens up, that's when you do it!" "If only it's as easy as you make it out..." You grumble. ****** Your Chemistry class ends the way it always does: you frantically trying to keep up with Mr. Starswirl as he writes at the speed of light on his blackboard, while not understanding a single thing he says. The bell finally rings, and you sigh in relief. You pack up your things, and when you walk out the classroom, you spot Shining Armor leaning against a wall with an smirk on his face. "She's right across the hallway." He smiles. "This is your chance!" You peek your head around the corner of the hallway and sure enough, you spot Fluttershy talking with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. As her head turns your way, you quickly duck back behind the corner, and turn back to Shining Armor. You can feel your heartbeat starting to rise as you begin to panic. Fuck, you never prepared for something like this! "Damn it, she's with her friends!" You look at Shining Armor desperately. "What do I do now?" "I'll go distract them." Shining Armor whispers, as he takes a peek himself. "Once you see them walk away from Fluttershy with me, go in." "You know......I think we're rushing this a little..." You gulp. "What? What do you mean?" He raises an eyebrow in confusion. "We didn't plan for this!" You say. "We're planning right now!" He answers back, pointing a finger into your chest. "Come on, you got this!" "I mean......maybe we should take a day or two to think everything through, you know?" You answer. "I......I can barely remember any of the pickup lines you've told me, anyways! We should take some time to-" "The Fall Formal's in two days!" Shining Armor cuts you off. "You don't have time!" "No, seriously!" You say. "We still got tomorrow-" Before you can finish your sentence, Shining Armor grabs your shoulders, and flings you out into the hallway. You barely keep your face from flying into the lockers as you turn around to face three of the most popular girls of Canterlot High. Fluttershy stands in the middle, staring at you oddly as she's flanked by Rarity on her left, and Rainbow to the right. The two girls close ranks and their shoulders block you off from Fluttershy, as if they already know what you're planning on doing. Ever since middle school, you were terrified of talking to girls; you wouldn't even talk to them unless it was completely necessary. While that fear's mostly gone now that you're in high school, Rainbow Dash and Rarity are the two exceptions; Rainbow for being way more athletic then you, and constantly embarrassing you in gym class, and Rarity for being able to weaponize gossip in ways that would violate the Geneva Convention. Now here you are with these two girls staring you down as Fluttershy meekly peeks over their shoulders at you. "Oh, hey Fluttershy!" You smile weakly as you lean sideways to peek at her as she's blocked by her two friends. "Didn't see you there......over you know...your friends." "Uhhh, who are you?" Rainbow Dash looks at you funny. "How do you know Fluttershy?" Your're digging through your mind, trying to find something witty to say, before all the sudden Shining Armor appears out from the corner, and gives a warm smile to the two girls. Immediately, the icy, unwelcoming bitch-faces of Rarity and Rainbow Dash melt as Shining Armor walks past you, and fistbumps Rainbow Dash. "'Oh, hey Dash!" Shining Armor waves to Rainbow. "I heard you and the girls kicked Crystal Preps' asses last night at the game." "4-0." Rainbow Dash says proudly, then points a thumb at herself. "And the last goal was done in the final ten seconds by yours truly." "Damn." He chuckles. "Way to pour salt on the wounds there, Dash." "Dude, it was the freest game ever!" Rainbow laughs. "Their goalie got an ACL tear so they threw in some poor freshman to take her place! I honestly felt bad for that sucker! How's the swim team holding up though?" "It's going..." He shrugs. "Our best relay guys were all seniors, so we lost them all but I'm trying to make do with what we have. But what I'm really excited about is the Fall Formal." "So is Applejack." Rarity says. "I'm really happy that you're going with Applejack; you two look so cute together! Did you find out what you're going to wear?" "You know, I was just about to go looking for you you ask." He replies. "Think you can help me out on this one, Rares?" "Oh, of course!" She squeals with delight. "What are you thinking of? A tux? A two-piece? Or maybe even-" "You know, why don't we go to your locker to talk about it?" He cuts her off, before briefly winking to you. "I wanna make sure we get this down." "Why certainly!" She exclaims. "Quick, let's go! The Formal's only in two days, we have to make sure you look your best!" You watch as Shining Armor walks away with Rarity, and you look back at where Fluttershy is. By some miracle, Rainbow Dash abandoned her post at Fluttershy's side to go talk to some of her other friends, leaving you and Fluttershy alone, who also happens to be looking at your right in the eye. Wait...was it because you were staring? Are you staring? Sweat begins to form around your forehead as you realize your chance has finally come. You briefly cross your heart, take a deep breath, and begin taking steps towards Fluttershy. "Hey, Fluttershy." You smile, trying your best to sound smooth, even though she probably knows you'r nervous as all hell. "Hey." She replies in almost a whisper. Uh oh, is that bad? Does that mean she's not interested? "Are you alright, Anon? Your face looks super red; do you have a fever?" Crap, is your face red? She probably knows what you're about to try to do. She probably... "Nah, it's just how I look when I'm really fucking nervous." You blurt out, before realizing what you just said. You're screaming internally right now; if it wasn't for the fact that you're out in public, you'd be kicking yourself as hard as you can right now. Did you really just say that?! Of all the things to say to Fluttershy, you said THAT?! "Nervous?" Fluttershy raises an eyebrow. "What's going on?" "Oh, you know..." You laugh nervously. "Tryouts for the swim team are today, and I was thinking of giving it a shot, you know?" It takes a couple of seconds, but Fluttershy's face goes from a look of awkward confusion to happiness. "Oh yeah, I totally forgot!" She exclaims. "Wow, that's really cool you're trying to do something like that!" "Yeah, I've been trying really hard to get in shape recently." You say. "It's tough." "I know, I saw you started going to The Forge." She smiles. You try your hardest not to cringe as you hear those words come out of her mouth. "That's really cool!" Before you can go in and go for the line though, you hear the bell ring and from the look of it, Fluttershy also looked like she wanted to say a couple things as well. "You know, I really admire people who go out of their way to try and make themselves better." She says. "I promise I'll be there after school to cheer you on." "Thanks." You wave to Fluttershy as she leaves. "I'll do my best." As she turns the corner, you walk to your next class with a warm, powerful feeling in your stomach. A sensation that makes you feel as if you could take on the whole world right now. A feeling that felt strangely familiar to the first time you met Applejack and fell for her. But this time it's different. It feels almost as if you can't go wrong this time, that you can't lose. With this surge of confidence, you subconsciously start to take longer, bolder strides as you walk down the hallway to your next class. On your way there, you see Shining Armor looking very amused. "You don't even know how to swim, do you Anon?" "Nope." You shake your head. "I can't back out though, right?" "You've got balls, Anon I'll give you that." He chuckles, before lightly punching you on the shoulder. "We'll see what I can do for you, bud."