The Bodybuilder

by Crayonpaste

Diver

"...And when you're reaching the end of the pool, you gotta do a flip turn, and kick off the side of the pool like this." Shining Armor explains, motioning his hand over his head in a weird, sweeping form. "You're probably gonna get water up your nose since it's your first time doing it, but don't worry, you only gotta do it three times."

"Wait, what?!" You exclaim. "Three?"

You signed up for the 100 meter freestyle, didn't you?" He asks. "That's twice back and forth across the pool!"

You remember when your dad tried giving you swimming lessons when you were a kid; you were always the one who'd go full panic mode as soon as the water's too deep for you to stand on your toes. Well, what better time to face your fears than now? Besides, it's just a tryout. Half the people are probably going to be just as clueless as you are, right?

Only that Fluttershy's watching...Yeah, no pressure at all.

"By the way, you'll need these." He tosses you a blue piece of fabric. Upon catching it, you notice it's a speedo with the Canterlot High logo printed dead center on your butt. "You're a medium, right?"

"No." You say firmly. "There's no way I'm wearing this thing in front of a whole crowd of people, let alone Fluttershy."

"Come on, you're gonna be in the water most of the time anyways." He says encouragingly. "These are guaranteed take off at least two seconds on your time compared to regular swim trunks!"

"You know how ridiculous I'm gonna look in this?" You point at the speedo. "I'll might as well be fucking naked!"

"Well if you plan on getting naked with Fluttershy anytime soon, it won't hurt to give her a sneak peek." He grins.

"Shut up." You snap. You feel your face burning up as you glare at a snicking Shining Armor.

You look at your phone to see you still have fifteen minutes before the tryouts begin. You'd be lying if you said you weren't nervous...You've never really been into sports at all, so this would be your first "real" sporting event. As you scroll through your phone, you check Facebook one last time, and see that Applejack updated her profile picture; it's a picture of her in a form fitting, deep emerald satin dress that you can only guess is what she's going to be wearing to the Fall Formal. She looks absolutely stunning, and it takes you two seconds before you realize that you've probably been staring a little too long.

'Would it be awkward if I liked her picture?' You think to yourself, as you go through all the comments. 'I mean...its not like I broke up with her or something; all I did was ask her out...'

"Rarity picked out that dress, what do you think?" Shining points out, causing you to jump a little. You look at him awkwardly, and he returns with a confused look, before staring at the ground, avoiding eye contact with you. "Oh yeah, I forgot......she rejected you, right?"

"Yeah." You nod weakly. "It happens though, right?"

"I know, it sucks." He replies, taking a seat next to you. "I bet you low key kinda hate me, don't you? Stealing away the girl you liked?" You look at him in the eye for a moment, before looking back down at your phone.

"How do you do it?" You ask.

"Do what?"

"You know..." You reply. "...Get girls to like you?"

Shining Armor opens his mouth to talk for a moment, but hesitates. You can tell he's trying to be very careful with the next couple words he's about to say.

"You just go for it." He says simply. "Plain and simple."

"What?" You raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean just 'go for it'?"

"'Go for it' as in you walk up to a girl you like, and just ask." He replies. "How many girls you think I asked to go to the dance with me before I got Applejack to say yes? Take a guess."

"Zero." You say with confidence. Let's be honest; what girl wouldn't want to date a guy like Shining Armor? He's tall, he's got abs that can shatter rocks, he's a confident, natural born leader and a captain of the swim team.

"Four." He reveals. "First I asked Rarity, then Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, and Lightning Dust; they all said no."

"What?!" You exclaim. "No fucking way!"

"What makes you think I'm lying?" He asks.

"Y-y-you're Shining Armor!" You stammer.

"So?" He shrugs. "You make it sound like I'm the pope or something."

"The more girls you ask out, the higher chances one of them will finally say yes." He explains. "If you try out ten different shirts instead of two, you've got a way higher chance of liking one of 'em, right? Same logic."

'No fucking way' You think to yourself as you look at him in bewilderment. 'No way...there has to be some kinda trick, a way you gotta act, a way you dress, smile...something.'

Your look back down to your phone, back to Applejack's bright radiant smile, your subconscious desperately searching for some excuse for why things didn't work out but it can't. With a heavy sigh, you get out of Facebook and see it's about time for the tryouts to begin. Freshmen start first and then sophomores, meaning you...

Now that you remember, you didn't actually sign up with Coach Iron Will, and tell him that you're trying out; you could sneak away and nobody would notice...

"You just do it." Shining Armor says. "Just like the way you're going into these tryouts."

You turn to your left, and see a mirror, with your reflection staring intensely back at you. You need to squint to see it, but there's a small, kindling fire in those eyes, daring you to do what you need to do. You slowly rise from your seat, with the speedos still in hand, and take a deep, long sigh.

"Hey Shining..." You ask. "Which side is the front?"

******

You can feel the goosebumps rising from every inch your entire body as you awkwardly walk to the other side of the pool. Just as you expected, the speedo makes you feel as if you're practically naked, and you've never really had a beach body to boast about either. It also doesn't help that the pool room is freezing; you can't imagine how much worse it'll be when you actually get in the pool. At the bleachers you can see three completely full rows of parents of people you know, and even a couple teachers. No sign of Fluttershy though.

"Alright, 100 free this way." You hear Coach Iron Will's voice booming across the pool. "Come on, 100 free this lane."

As you walk down the pool shivering, you spot a group of guys that all look like carving of Greek statues, with Shining Armor in the middle of them all cracking jokes and talking about something. You can only assume those are the varsity guys. You shift awkwardly through the line of tryouts until you finally come face to face with Coach Iron Will. All six feet and eight inches of him sitting on a stool hunched over with a clipboard and pen in his hand. The stool wobbles and struggles to keep his weight as he hands you the clipboard.

"Sign your name and year here." He says in a bored, monotone voice.

"Thanks." You mutter, before signing your name and year.

As Iron Will mumbles a brief thank you, you see him squint on the clipboard before looking up from it and staring back at you.

"...Anon?" He asks, a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Yeah coach?" You reply. "What, did I not write my name clearly or something?"

"You realize these are tryouts for a spot on the varsity team, don't you?"

You stare at the coach for a second, his rough, bull-like face staring back at you blankly as you realize what you've just done.

'What the fuck!' You think to yourself. 'Shining never told me this!'

"Well, it never hurts to give someone a chance." He shrugs. "We're sorting alphabetically, so you'll be the first one up. Good luck, kid."

"Wait! coach, I think there's a mistake! I was looking to-"

"Not right now, Anon." Coach Iron Will cuts you off. "Lemme tally up all the tryouts first, then I'll come back to you."

You can feel a wave of panic starting to settle into your brain --- You? Varsity? You don't even know how to swim; you can barely do the doggy paddle in a 3 foot kids pool. You don't know what's crazier right now; the shithole you dug yourself into or the fact that you somehow convinced yourself you could actually do this. As your brain starts imagining every possible embarrassing outcome that can happen in the next ten minutes, you suddenly feel a hand on your shoulder.

"Dang, you already started taking some early laps in the pool?" Shining Armor asks. "You look soaked!"

"No, that's uhhh, I think that's sweat." You say, putting a hand on your back. "...Wow, that's actually a lot."

"I was talking to her a while ago and I gotta say, I think she actually likes you." He grins, looking back at the bleachers. You follow Shining's gaze and you spot Fluttershy, waving back at you enthusiastically. "Smooth catch, Anon."

"Heh, thanks but I don't know about this, Shining." You laugh nervously. "I think I might sit this one out."

"What? Why?"

"These are varsity tryouts I'm doing, Shining!" You exclaim. "You didn't tell me this was freaking varsity!"

"What do you mean, you didn't know?" Shining says, giving you a confused look. "Canterlot High's swim team is varsity only."

"W-w-why didn't you tell me this Shining?!" You panic. "I don't even know how to swim!"

"I thought you already knew when you were signing up." He looks at you confused.

"Already knew?! I bullshitted that to Fluttershy on the spot!"

"Look though, it's probably not as bad as you think it is; just...try to at least finish the 100 meters." Shining says reassuringly.

"I'll be lucky if I finish." You say hysterically. "I'll be lucky if I don't drown or-"

"For God's sake, can you calm down?!" Shining says as he grabs your shoulders. "Look, I know you're in a tight spot, but panicking isn't gonna get anything done."

Shining Armor goes through one of his pockets, and pulls out a pair of blue and gold swimming goggles. He wipes the lenses with the sleeve of his shirt, and hands it to you. The goggles have the word 'State Champions' boldly written in a deep, royal purple on the band.

"You've got this, man." Shining Armor pats you on the back. "Just remember everything I told you in the locker room, and show Fluttershy what you're made of."

You close your eyes, and take a deep breath and exhale in an attempt to control the feelings of doubt in the back of your head. Just as you open your eyes again, you see a bunch of kids starting to line up at the pool's diving boards.

"You're on lane 1." Shining smiles, as he disappears into the crowd of students.

With a gulp, you slide on Shining Armors' goggles and start shifting through the students to your lane. Just your luck, your lane also happens to be the one closest to the bleachers, giving you a first hand look at all the people watching. You climb awkwardly on the rickety plastic diving board that feels as if you're about to fall off of it, and catch a glimpse of Fluttershy staring at you with eyes full of hope.

'Guess there's no turning back from this.' You think as you get in position to dive into the water.

"On your mark." You hear Iron Will's voice echo through his loudspeaker.

The water below you is churning, glowing with a hostile arctic blue as you still struggle to keep your balance on the diving board that feels like it's about to collapse under your weight any second. You're replaying and trying your hardest to remember all the advice Shining Armor gave you about form, about how to dive into the pool, about how to do the flip turn, and you can feel your muscles tightening and blood rushing to your head as you wait for Coach Iron Will's whistle.

"Get set."

Just before you're about to dive in, you hear a loud splash followed by gasping and screaming from the crowd. You look up in confusion, and see that a man just fell into your lane.

He's not moving either.

A second ago, the pool room was dead silent as everybody waited for the whistle. Now, the entire pool room is a pandemonium of screaming. Without even thinking, like your body acted on instinct, you dive headfirst into the pool. It honestly didn't even feel like you wanted to do it; it was almost like you tripped or something.

The first feeling that your body registers is the freezing temperature of the pool, that's immediately followed by the distinct, all-encompassing sound of your ears filling up with water as you dive beneath the surface of the water. Your first instinct is to paddle up to the surface to get more air, but when you look up, you see the body of a middle-aged man slowly sinking to the bottom of the pool.

'Shit!' You think to yourself. 'I gotta do something!'

But you don't even know how to swim; what if you both end up drowning? But if you don't act, it'll be too late.

With a deep exhale of bubbles, you kick your legs in a squatting motion as hard as you can downwards and begin paddling your legs towards the man. The water almost feels like a force field, making every movement you do twice as hard and the constricting pressure in your head and ears only intensifies the deeper you go down.

It felt like you've spent an eternity underwater, when realistically you've probably only spent a couple seconds, but you finally grab a piece of the man's shirt, and desperately start paddling up. Your own body is starting to crave for oxygen now as you feel your lungs starting to beg for a breath of air. You can't though; you have to hold on. You have to hold on.

You look up, and from the bottom of the pool, you see one of the lifeguards has thrown a bright red float in the pool. You stretch out your other free arm, and start reaching for it. You start paddling your legs even harder, but you can feel it very clearly now; you're running out of air and the man's extra weight is severely slowing you down. If you let him go, you know for sure you can make it to the surface, but you shake your head furiously. There's no way you're doing that.

With one final burst of strength from your legs, you finally reach the surface, and grab onto the raft, and hold onto it like you've never held onto anything else before. Your lungs instinctively suck up as much air as it can possibly hold, only to get some water in your mouth, but you don't care. Your body feels reinvigorated with the new breath of air that you so desperately needed, and you pull up the man with all your strength onto the boat.

The lifeguards, along with Coach Iron Will are heaving the two of you to the edge of the pool where they grab your arms and pull you and the man you just rescued out of the water and another lifeguard pulls the man onto his back, and immediately begins doing what you think is CPR from the looks of it.

"Christ." You cough, pulling off your goggles and trying to get the last bits of water out of your throat. Your hands are shaking, and your knees are wobbly, probably from the adrenaline rush. Your head is also extremely light --- almost on the verge of throwing up as you take a seat on a nearby bench, trying to take in everything that just happened in the last twenty seconds.

"Dude, are you alright?!" Shining Armor runs to you. He immediately takes his towel, and throws it over you. "I saw what happened, holy shit!"

"Yeah..." You nod. "What happened?"

"That guy just suddenly fainted, or a stroke I think." Shining explains. "Then he fell into the pool, and you jumped in after him."

"You saved his life." He says. "You really did."

"I-"

Your conversation is interrupted by a violent coughing sound, causing both of you two to look over. An intense wave a relief washes over you as you see the man you just pulled out of the pool, now fully conscious and being helped up by a lifeguard. The two of you lock eyes for a moment, and as you're about to say something, you hear the sound of someone clapping. More people start joining in, and before you know it, a round of applause fills the room and breaks out into full blown cheering and whistling as everyone around you starts applauding what you've just done.

You look around the crowd, and right in the thick of it is Fluttershy, fervently clapping and cheering your name on.

Comments

[deathcombo99]

*SCREAMS IN FEAR*

[Silent Echo]

Sup dude.

[Bazing]

MOOOOOOORE

[Fluffy-Boi]

Holy fuck.. You go Anon!!

[ActivistVictor]

good to see this story is still going

[redandready45]

Good going you weakling.

[Bastion5758]

You know is good story' tho but cm you make version dark like mature violient like weakling about anon got more humilitaion deprsion and got revenge to shining i just my opinion