Past Conditional: More Speedfics and Drabbles by Present Perfect

by PresentPerfect

Pump It Up

Pump It Up
by Present Perfect

"Thirty-two... Nnngh... Thirty... three..."

Vinyl had pushed past her limit, all right. Sweat poured down her ivory skin, her arms shaking as she brought the iron crossbar down toward her chest. She wanted to make it to thirty-five. Thirty-five was a nice, round number, way cooler than thirty-three. But she was starting to get the feeling that, wherever this barbel set down, there would it lie forever.

Honestly, there was nothing to be ashamed of. She'd definitely overdone today's weight increase, with close to fifty pounds on either side of the bar. Plus, she was working out with no spotter in her cramped tenth-floor studio apartment because she was a big dummy, as so many people had told her so many times. But she'd cleared thirty reps with way more weight than she'd ever pumped before. She was doing awesome! If only that big, dumb jock could see her now.

She flexed her fatigued biceps, halting the bar's downward movement and trying to coax it back up on the stirrups. That's when her apartment shattered.

Well, it was just the plate-glass window looking out over Canterlot City below. But when that window took up a whole wall by itself and the glass sprayed into the entire room, it sort of seemed like everything was exploding.

Vinyl let loose a cry of surprise, first at the sudden interruption, and then because the stack of weights on the right side of the bar slid off and hit the floor with a loud crash. All she could do was let go of the bar, letting it crash off to her left.

At least the glass was hovering in the air above her. That was nice. She wasn't going to suffer a million lacerations this time.

"Octavia!" she screeched, not even looking for the cause.

"I'm sorry, Vinyl! I stopped the glass this time, look!"

Flapping her arms to try and soothe her aching muscles, Vinyl sat up from her weight bench, the glass shards pinging harmlessly off her head and floating out across the room. She turned, wobbling with head rush, to see a grey-skinned girl sitting on a broomstick that drifted a foot above the floor. She wore a high-peaked black hat and a matching frilly dress made up of too many petticoats to count. In her hand was a small wooden stick, the tip of which glowed with a soft white light, and her face was a mask of shock and dismay.

"For fuck's sake, Octy," cried Vinyl as the glow subsided and the glass pieces fell to the floor, "my landlord's gonna kill me!"

"I didn't mean to do it," said Octavia, dismounting her broom and using her wand to summon the glass into a pile at her feet. "This... this stupid broom just has a mind of its own sometimes!"

She kicked at the offending broom, which hovered backward out of reach of her high-heeled boot.

This was at least the third time in as many months Octavia had crashed her broom through something in Vinyl's vicinity. The first time had also been here in her apartment, and Mr. Stripes had given her a stern talking-to about the cost of window replacement in high-rise apartment buildings. Nevermind Vinyl had covered for Octavia without question -- the existence of witch magic wasn't something you let on to normal people -- it kept happening. What was wrong with her?

"I-I'm sorry, Vinyl," Octavia said, her words catching in her throat. "Give me a moment, I... I think I know a spell that can repair the window..."

As Vinyl watched her friend, Octavia's wand hand shaking and her eyes brimming with tears, all the anger and frustration at the mishap drained out of her body, leaving her numb.

Because Octavia was her friend. Her best friend. They'd been through so much together. Sure, this dumb witch school thing seemed to be causing them both no end of grief, but Octavia was trying.

The ache in Vinyl's arms reminded her that she was trying, too. And sometimes, you tried a little too hard and you overdid things just a bit.

"It's okay, Octavia," she said jovially, as she stepped over the strange whirling spirals of shards and threw her left arm around Octavia's neck. "I needed a break anyway."

She held up her right arm, curling it inward at the elbow and wrist. Aside from some tone under the skin, nothing changed.

"You're gettin' better at witchcraft," she said, "and I'm gettin' swole."

Octavia giggled and wiped at her eyes, patting Vinyl's lackluster bicep.

"You certainly are. I suppose we're both doing our best, aren't we?"

Vinyl smiled. That was all they needed to do.

Author's Note:

Literally just dreamed this scene up this morning and wanted to write it down. It's funny, the things I can dream up sometimes. :)

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

This feels like the setup for a very good, very silly anime. I like it.

[Icy Shake]

Well that was unexpected. Nice, though. Hope Octavia doesn't get Vinyl kicked out of her apartment, though, and Vinyl stops being such a dummy.

[howard035]

I want to know how Octavia will handle being a shark animagus.

[PresentPerfect]

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