“Slow down Lyra, I can hardly hear a word you’re saying.”
Vinyl found herself once again early to school, apparently having a good sleep cycle was another superpower she gained. She was trying to calm a hyper Lyra as she rambled near the school’s statue. The green haired girl took a few deep breaths before repeating.
“Vinyl! The girl said something about just missing the webs, right?”
“Yeah….what about it?”
Now that she looked closer, Lyra’s eyes had dark eye bags hanging under them.
“Lyra, have you slept?”
“Nope! Energy drinks kept me up! Because I was making you this!”
Lyra reached deep into her bag and pulled out a bulky, metal device with a strap under it. She beamed with pride as she showed it to Vinyl.
“I….what is it?”
“You’re no longer missing the webs!”
“....Huh?”
“This, my dear Vinyl, is a web shooter! Well they’re not actual webs, but watch!”
Vinyl quickly shoved the device back into Lyra’s bag before the girl could put it on.
“I don’t know what a ‘web shooter’ means, but whatever it is I think it can wait till we’re not surrounded by people.”
“O-Oh, maybe you’re right….”
Lyra blushed slightly as she zipped her bag back up.
“Okay, but I’m so showing you after school.”
“Sounds like a plan. Now, don’t you have to show that new girl around today?”
“Oh right, I should go and do that…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll come with ya, it’s on my way to class, anyways.”
The pair walked into the school building, Lyra looking out for the student.
“So, you know anything about this girl?”
“I have a rough idea what she looks like, she looks liiiike….that!”
Lyra bounced forward to a brown haired student in the crowd, Vinyl struggling to catch up. But when she did, she froze in place.
“So my name is Lyra Heartstrings and I’ll be your guide for today! I’ll be attending the same classes as you so you can get a feeling for Canterlot High!”
“Oh thank you, my dear, to be honestly the size of this school is overwhelming and nothing like my last one.”
Stood in front of Lyra and Vinyl was the same girl she had rescued from a mugging the night before. She had to rub her eyes to make sure it was real, but there she remained.
“My goodness, where are my manners. I’m Octavia Melody, and your friend here is?”
“Oh that’s Vinyl, I guess you’ll get to know her today too”
“Oh! Well hello Vinyl, I hope we get along!”
Vinyl shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.
“Y-Yeah I hope so too. You know if you’re looking for a less boring guide, I can clear up my classes for today-”
She was cut off by Lyra punching her in the arm, which earnt a small chuckle from the other girl.
“Oh I’m sure your friend here will do lovely. Actually before we start I require to see the uh, ladies room…”
“Down the hall to the left”
“Thanks Vinyl”
Her eyes lingered on Vinyl for a while before she headed off to the restrooms. The blue haired girl looked at her friend with wide eyes.
“Something wrong, V?”
“Uh, yeah so….Octavia was the one I saved last night….”
Lyra looked at Vinyl, then looked at the direction Octavia went in, and then back again.
“No fucking way”
“Way”
-----
The day was certainly a different one, but a good one. Lyra and Vinyl showed Octavia all around the school, introduced her to Bon Bon, and where all the bathrooms were, for future reference. They now sat in the cafeteria, Bon Bon having joined the group just beforehand. Octavia went on about how small and low tech her old school was and how Canterlot High was so different in comparison.
“I mean, it’s just all so new to me, I only moved to this city a month ago and so much has already happened. I even got saved last night.”
Lyra and Vinyl shot each other a look, trying not to give away anything as Bon Bon listened, very interested.
“Oh? Saved? What do you mean?”
“Well, last night I happened to run into two thugs who wanted my things. I’m not too proud to admit that it freaked me out.”
“Oh honey I’m so sorry that happened! Please tell me you called the police.”
“Didn’t need to, actually.”
“Oh really?”
“Some kind of….hero saved me.”
Bon Bon leaned in, eager to learn more as Vinyl tried her best to look as calm as possible.
“A hero?? Oh dear you gotta tell us more.”
“Well, they crawled down from the wall. And then they flipped all around! Taking them both out like it was nothing! They were making fun of them the whole time too, which really annoyed them.”
Lyra looked at Vinyl, eyebrow raised, it seems she left the joking detail out of last night’s texts. Vinyl reflected on last night’s experience, she never felt so alive, and she was doing it all to help someone that needed it. She never really thought of herself as selfless, but this new experience had her questioning a lot. Maybe Lyra had a point…. Bon Bon simply responded with excitement in her voice.
“That sounds so cool! I’m sure glad someone like that showed up.”
“That’s not all, she turned invisible! I know that sounds crazy but I know what I saw! Afterwards we talked, it seems like she’s new to the whole hero thing or something. But yeah, I’m glad she showed up, it really was something.”
“Oh? It’s a she?”
Octavia slightly blushed, poking at her food.
“Y-Yes, she sounded like one. And she uh-”
She quickly shoved a fork load of mashed potatoes into her mouth. Bon Bon looking on confused.
“She what?”
Octavia’s blush deepened, she motioned her hands around her chest, making a big motion, causing Bon Bon to smirk.
“Oooohhhh, big knockers. Got ya.”
“D-Don’t say it like that.”
She wasn’t the only one blushing, Vinyl was busy trying to hide hers behind her carton of chocolate milk. Lyra pulled out her phone, Vinyl’s phone buzzing shortly with a text. Vinyl fished her phone out and checked it.
LyraH - Get in there ¬‿¬
Vinyl simply responded by punching Lyra, hard, in the arm. Lyra held it in pain as Bon Bon quickly went to pull her closer.
“Why did you do that to my Lyra, Vinyl?”
“She texted me some weird meme.”
Bon Bon scoffed as Octavia couldn’t help but chuckle, this new group she found herself with certainly wasn’t boring. Lyra quickly messaged another text while still in pain.
LyraH - SUPER STRENGTH
LyraH - ASSHOLE
V - Oh shit
V - Forgot lol
-----
Vinyl found herself once again in Lyra’s garage as she tinkered with the web shooter. She sipped her drink and looked over at Lyra’s work.
“So uh, what does it do?”
Lyra smirked, placing her screwdriver down and placing the device around her wrist.
“This! Is a web shooter! It’s design is….not great right right now, but I can always refine!”
“Lyra, I appreciate that, but what-”
“I’m getting there! So, I figured what would be a fast way to get around the city, and I thought about the webs comment. Did you know some spiders swing from their webs to reach places? Well, that got me thinking-”
Lyra aimed her wrist at a can she placed before, and pressed her middle and ring fingers down, causing a thick string of webbing to shoot out and attach itself to the can. Lyra flicked her wrist back and caught the can with her hands.
“Ta-Da! Webbing!”
“H-Holy shit Lyra! That’s really fucking cool!”
“Why thank you! My guesses are it can handle up to a ton or so”
“I’m sorry a ton!?”
“Yep! I mean, I really wanted to make sure it didn’t break while you were swinging around.”
“Swinging around?”
“Swinging around buildings of course! I did mention spiders swing from webs, now you can do that to get around the city.”
“Oh, oh fuck no, there’s no way you’re getting me to jump and swing from a fucking building.”
-----
“I can’t believe you’re getting me to jump and swing from a fucking building.”
There Vinyl stood, on top of a large hotel tower with the same outfit she wore last night, she figured it would be best to side aside an outfit for all this. She pulled at the new mask, looked the same but out of a much nicer material. She looked at the bulky web shooter on her wrist.
“You’ll be fine, Vinyl! Just remember to use your two middle fingers to shoot out the webbing!”
Vinyl gulped, looking back to Lyra.
“Didn’t you say that this has limited webbing?”
“Yeah, don’t worry I have extra cartridges, and besides you’d have to swing around for hours to use it up.”
She nodded, Lyra’s confidence putting her slightly at ease, she gave one last look to her.
“Remember in case this fails, alright? I’ll land in the river bank.”
“No problem, I’ll keep an eye out.”
It was half the reason this building was chosen to test this, it was built right next to the inner city Canterlot river. Vinyl’s enhanced body would mean it wouldn’t hurt if she landed in it from up here. Well, not hurt that much anyways.
Vinyl placed earphones in her ears, blasting one of her favourite tracks, music always did help her calm down. She looked to the edge of the building, and took a deep breath.
“Here goes nothing”
She ran up to the edge, using all her might to leap off it as far as she could. She wind whipped against her clothes as she fell rapidly towards the ground.
‘Better hope Lyra knows what she’s doing!’
Vinyl aimed her arm up, and pressed her two middle fingers together. It took no time at all before the webbing reached the building and latched on, sending Vinyl now swinging.
‘OH THANK FUCK IT WORKS’
That was the end of the test, it worked as intended, but Vinyl felt the confidence to go further. She detached the current web line and aimed to the opposite building, shooting some webbing out and swinging there. What was a terrifying experience quickly became exhilarating as she swung from building to building, gaining speed while doing so. After going a few blocks, she decided to try some tricks. She posed and aimed her legs up, calling upon the breakdancing she did at clubs into her swing. Spinning and rotating in the air, striking different poses. She never felt like this, the defied the ground, no, she styled on the ground. Only thing missing in her tricks and style was a second web shooter, oh with two she could pull off so much more stylish tricks.
After some time, Vinyl spun up and landed back on the roof of the hotel, Lyra looking on in amazement.
“Y-You did it!”
“I sure fucking did!”
“I saw your flips! You looked cool!”
Vinyl took a moment to breathe as she laughed, her heart still pounding from the experience.
“Lyra, you’re a fucking genuis.”
Lyra smiled and helped her friend back to the door down to the stairs.
“Any notes for me?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll need a second one.”
“Oh I can so do that”