Face Off!by TheWingmanChaptersMonday: The CatalystTuesday: No Pain, No GainWednesday: Pumping IronMonday: The Catalyst"Hey Anon." Flash Sentry greeted his friend as he walks in the cafeteria, shaking his hand. "What's up, bro? "Same shit, different day." Anon sighs as the two sat down at the table. "Mrs. Cheerilee has ran me ragged with algebra work." Algebra was one of Anon's least favorite subjects in school. It's the major cause his school-related stress. Music Class with Ms. Octavia was his only outlet to vent. He was quite good with an acoustic guitar. Both he and Flash Sentry got out their guitars and started to have a jam session. "Don't be stressed, hombre." Flash Sentry says as he tunes his guitar. "We only have 4 months left of this place and we graduate." The knowledge that graduation is imminent and this phase of his life will be behind him gave Anon a sense of calm. Anon had some good times at CHS with his friends in the 'Riff Club', where all the guitarists in school would congregate and discuss guitar related stuff and have 'Riff Offs' where they will see who plays a riff the best. Those were the best of times for him, but he hopes to leave the bad times behind... *Crash* ... and speak of the devil, here comes one of those bad times. Blueblood, king douchebag of the students walks into the room like he owns the place, which he practically does. He's the alpha, the tip top dog in the school's social hierarchy. Most of the students would either obey him, least they get their asses kicked or would stay out of his way. Anon remembers the first time he ran into Blueblood where he was beating up some freshman. ==========Incoming Flashback:========== Anon was walking towards the library to study for a test in literature class. After hearing a commotion near a row of lockers, he went to investigate the source. He turned the corner to see Blueblood and another student in an argument. "W-what did I ever do to you?" the student fearfully asks as Blueblood forces him to back up towards the lockers. "You fucking bumped into me, wanker!" Blueblood angrily barks as he grabs the student by the collar of his shirt, slamming him into the lockers. "Disrespectful twat!" *Urgh*"It was an accident! I did nothing wrong!" the student says in pain from the impact. "Why are you acting like such an asshole?" There is one cardinal rule in the school's social order: Don't ever ever call Blueblood any names, especially 'Asshole'. The student was now going to pay the price. Blueblood lets the student go and takes off his gloves. Before the student could react, Blueblood grabs the student again, pulling his shirt over his head and proceeding to punch him in the abdomen. *Pow* "Don't..." *Pow* "you..." *Pow* "ever..." *Pow* "disrespect..." *Pow* "me..." *Pow* "like..." *Pow* "that..." *Pow* "again!" *Pow* Like that, the student was on the floor in a fetal position, crying and moaning in pain. The expression was one of pain and terror wrought on by the last person anyone would want to piss off on campus. "Next time, show some damned respect!" Blueblood says as he began to walk away and began to turn towards Anon's direction. Anon began to make a quick dash to the library to avoid him. There is another cardinal rule: Snitches get stitches, and it doesn't take much thought to figure out what that meant. That was why no one else but Anon knew of the incident, because if Anon told anyone, Blueblood would eventually find out, he always would. Anon spent the rest of the day studying for the test with the mental image of the incident plaguing his mind. ======================================== "Oh great, it's him." Anon mumbles as Blueblood walks whilst pushing aside some students in the way of his usual table. "Just don't make eye contact." Flash Sentry says as he and anon ate their respective lunches. As anon looks through his lunchbag, he found out that he forgot to pack a coke. "Shit." Anon mumbles "Ey Flash Sentry, you got a buck?" "Yeah, forgot a coke again?" Flash Sentry says as he hands his friend a dollar for the coke machine. Anon had a habit of forgetting to bring a drink with his lunch. "Yep." "That's five you owe me." "Heh, we're counting now?" Anon walks over to the machine and buys an ice-cold cola and walks back to his table. It wasn't long before Blueblood got the same idea. He tries to buy his favorite brand of soda and to his dismay and anger, the type of soda was sold out. it was his favorite brand... ...His Brand! He looks around to find out who had taken the last bottle of Cool Cola from the machine. He looks around for a bit to find out that it was anon who had taken the last. It was his personal champagne at school and he would have none of this. He then walks over to anon's table with neither Flash Sentry nor anon noticing. As anon was taking a few bites out his sandwich, Blueblood stealthily takes the half drunken soda and when anon put down his sandwich, blueblood pours the remainder of the soda on the sandwich in anger. Silence had filled the room, everyone knew that blueblood was going to put someone in their place and this was one way of doing it. "This... was supposed to be mine, asshole." blueblood growls as he walks back, throwing the bottle at anon. Anon took a few to process what had happened: the school's 'King' had turned his sandwich into a soggy mess with the soda he bought. The sandwich was particularly special in that the bread was homemade and it had his favorite fixings: swiss cheese, ham and spicy brown mustard. Needless to say, this finally pushed his patience with blueblood past the end. Anon has finally had enough of him. "And that was my lunch, you dick!" Anon blurted out at Blueblood as he got out of his seat to face him. The moment that Anon had said his retort, the whole cafeteria looked towards the two. The students were getting tense in anticipation for a possible lunchtime fight. "Well maybe you should've known not to take my favorite soda!" Blueblood snapped back. "Whelps like you should know your place." "In what reality says you can have a monopoly over a certain kind of soda here? None." Anon retorted. This vexed Blueblood, a student was defying his will. He was supposed to be head of the social order here. He won't let some common filth tell him what to do. "You... should know by now... that I'M IN CHARGE!!!" Blueblood yells while balling up his fists, preparing to punch Anon. "Oh, well, All hail king douchebag." "Impudent Pest!" "Snob!" "Common clod!" "Jumped-up jackass!" "Low class loser!" "Pretentious prick!" "Oh, that is soooo it!" Blueblood yells as he grabs Anon by the shirt collar and arching his free hand in preparation for a right hook. The tensions flared amongst the students as they prepare to witness another beat down right before their eyes. Just as Blueblood was about to turn Anon's face concave, the mood was broken by a voice booming from across the cafeteria. "Woah, woah, woah, woah!" said a tall, sightly portly student as he walked through the crowd of students. It was Golden Wheel, the school's resident bookie. Whenever a dispute, a bet, a contest or anything of the sort, he's the one who organizes the events and takes the bets on who will win. When it comes to matters pertaining to Blueblood, he's the neutral arbiter. "You all were gonna start a throwdown and not let me see it? Man, how damned selfish is that?" Golden says with an ounce of energy. "I could see that the both of you forgot the rules for these kinds of spectacles." As Blueblood lets go of Anon, Golden Wheel got between them to prevent any further premature squabbling. "Ok, here's how it is going to go down: After school on friday at Fairgreen Hill in the Everfree Forest. Be prepared and bring your anger because I want this fight to be the most epic of the year." Golden Wheel says as he walks back to his table "Alright people, taking bets!" Anon and Blueblood watch as the students gather around Golden's table to place bets on who will win the fight. Half of the students bet on Blueblood while the other half bet on Anon. Anon couldn't tell if the bets on him were of optimism or of pity, but that was the least of his worries. Anon was pulled into a fight and he is unprepared for it. "See you friday, whelp." Blueblood says as he slaps tauntingly Anon on the back and walks out of cafeteria. Anon slumps back against the wall in distress, knowing that he was going to get his ass kicked. *Sigh*"Oh shit, This is not happening. This is not happening!" Anon says in distress as he holds his head in stress. "Calm down, Anon." Flash Sentry says in order alleviate his friend's stress, to no effect. "Calm down calm down?!!" Anon says in utter frustration. "The way I see it, I have 2 options: Got to the fight and get my ass kicked or not show up, get laughed at and get my ass kicked! So for me to to calm down is a farcry!" Anon walks over to the vending machines an proceeds bang his head on the side of the nearest machine. *Bash* "Fuck." *Bash* "Fuck!" *Bash* "Fuck!" *Bash* "Fuck!" *Bash* "FUUUUCK!" *Bash* *Bash* *Bash* "Anon! Anon, calm down, now!" Flash Sentry said as he turned his friend around and pinning him against the machine. "It's no use losing your cool like this! Pull it together!" In that moment, Anon began to calm down just enough to see reason, but not completely. "Okay, Repeat after me: Count to four, inhale. Count to four, exhale." Flash Sentry instructs Anon as he follows suit. "Feel better?" Anon nods his head to confirm that he's calmed down, his mind at ease for now. "Now, I think I can help you." Flash Sentry says to reassure his friend. "Can you teach me how to fight?" Anon asks. "No, that ain't my forte." Flash Sentry says, much to Anon's dismay. "Oh that's just fucking great." Anon sarcastically says as he walks around in annoyance. "Wait, I'm not finished." Flash Sentry continues "I can't teach you to fight, but I know of someone who can." Flash Sentry pulls out his phone and browses through his contacts. "What are you doing?" Anon asks. "I helped this person out a few times last year. She owes me a few favors and I'm calling one in." Flash Sentry explains as he puts the phone to his ear. "Hello?" "It's Flash Sentry." "Yeah, it's nice to hear from you too." "I have a friend who needs you to help him toughen up. What do you say?" "Ok, Where can we meet after school?" "Sounds great. See you after school." "See you later, bye." "Okay, we'll meet with my friend in the gym when school ends today." Flash Sentry says to Anon. Anon felt relieved by this development, being taught to fight so he can stand some semblance of a chance against Blueblood. "Okay, thank you, Flash Sentry. I'll catch up with you later." Anon thanks Flash Sentry. "See you then." The rest of the day goes by the same as usual for Anon until his last class ends. ======================================== Anon and Flash Sentry arrived in the gym, awaiting the arrival of Flash Sentry's friend. It was empty, feeling all quiet like an old west ghost town. "What's keeping your friend?" Anon worriedly asks. "She'll be here, don't worry." Flash Sentry says in a calm tone. "She?" Before anon could finish his thoughts, A blue skinned woman, clad in athletic wear with rainbow stripped hair came out of the locker room area. At first glance, Anon recognized who it was: Rainbow Dash, the most athletic student in the school. "Heya Flash Sentry, How are ya?" Rainbow Dash says as she high fives Flash Sentry. "Doing good, trying to help out my friend here." Flash Sentry replies as Rainbow Dash turns her attention to Anon. "You must be Anon. I've heard about what happened earlier today." Rainbow Dash says as she shakes Anon's hand. "Wait... how did you-" "Word quickly spreads around school. Challenging Blueblood like that must be one bold move for you, buster." Rainbow Dash interrupts Anon. After the incident at A-Lunch today, word of the impending fight had spread around the school. Even in the B and C lunch periods, students talked about it and even placed their bets on who will get roughed up the worst. It was close to the end of the school year and they want an event to make this year go out with a bang... or some thrown punches. "Okay, here's how your week of training will go: Today, we will be actually teaching you to fight with some boxing and a practice fight. Tuesday will be endurance training to condition you withstand more punishment before you go down flat on your ass. Wednesday will be some strength training and we gotta build up those muscles. I see promise in those arms, but we need to make it show. On Thursday, It will be a mix up session to further test you and Friday will be a pre-fight, freeday-style warm up. What do you say?" Rainbow Dash Dash monologues as she gave Anon the rundown of his training sessions. For Anon, He's willing to endure the pain of his training to be able to be a match against his pretentious rival. "Alright, I'll do it." Anon agrees. "Excellent! Right this way." Rainbow Dash says as she leads Anon to the boxing room by his arm. Even though he hadn't been in this room before, Anon was impressed by the setup. It had a boxing ring for sparring, punching bags and everything else that can accommodate the school's boxing team. A radio that was set up in the room plays songs mostly of the heavy rock and rap variety. "Okay," Rainbow Dash starts as she hands him a pair of boxing gloves. "Go over to that punching bag an give it the biggest punch your strength can muster. I want to gauge your strength." Anon looked attentively at the punching bag, a face developed on him that is telling of great frustration over today's incident. The rest of the week will be a stressful one and he won't get that piece of mind back, he was looking to vent. Quickly, he gave the punching bag a strong, right hook jab, sending the bag back a decent distance. Anon turned to see what his friends think and... *Wa-Pow* The bag swings back and hits Anon, catching him off guard and sending him flying a short distance. His friends shared some short chuckles over Anon's honest mistake. Anon lifts his face up from the floor, his nose bloodied and blood dripping on the floor below. "Hello to all of canterlot, It's your favorite DJ, Vinyl Scratch and you're listening to 89.3 WHCL, Canterlot's premier radio station! I'm glad to put on these kickass tunes for you faithful listeners and I have another one to serve to you on an ivory plate of shock and awe!" As Anon turned back to the punching bag, his perception of the bag changes from the bag itself to a hallucination of Blueblood. "Weak and pathetic. You gonna cry to your mommy? Mommy, Mommy, some meanie hurt me! Hahahahahahaha!" The hallucination filled Anon with a brand of anger that he hadn't felt before: Rage. He looked upon the supposed visage of the one who is going to cause him the most stress for the rest of the week. That is one whole calm week he'll never get back. "RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!" Anon roared as he charged the bag and began to unleash a storm of punches and jabs upon the bag. The fury and relentlessness of his attacks was great that it made Flash Sentry's and Rainbow Dash's jaws go slack in awe at the sight and they could only mouth the words: 'Holy shit'. After a minute had passed, Anon relents and ceases the punching. "Anon, you alright?" Flash Sentry says as he slowly approaches Anon with caution. "I feel great." Anon says, huffing and puffing triumphantly. Rainbow Dash looks on at Anon and she sees that he has the drive for the road ahead. The only thing she senses he lacks is focus. "Alright, You got spunk, I'll give ya that. The only thing you need to build upon is where to focus that drive." Rainbow Dash says as she Puts some boxing gloves on. "Meet me in ring when you are ready. Clean up your blood first though." Anon looks in the mirror to see that a moderate amount of blood has dripped down his face from his nose. The blood had flown as far down as the upper part of his shirt. "There goes another good shirt." Anon laments as he cleans his face up and plugs his nose to stop the bleeding. It was one of his favorite shirts, a souvenir from a concert 2 months ago. Anon then climbs into the boxing ring where Rainbow Dash is waiting for him to test how he can handle himself in a real fight. "Okay Anon, Let's see how you would handle a fight!" Rainbow Dash says as she puts up her gloved fists. "Remember: Focus on your opponent and pay close attention to their movements." Anon looks on at his gloved hands, briefly taking his focus off of Rainbow Dash. His train of thought was interrupted by Rainbow Dash punching him in the chest, sending him stumbling back into the ring's border ropes. "What did I just get done telling you?" Rainbow Dash says with a hint of annoyance. "Get up and put 'em up." Anon slowly gets up and positions his fists in anticipation for another attack. He won't let himself get caught off guard again, the game was on. He charged Rainbow Dash with a left jab, barely hitting her in the left shoulder. Rainbow Dash retaliated with a light and sharp jab to his ribs, causing him to slightly recoil, but barely losing momentum. Anon countered with a punch to her left jaw, causing her to briefly lose focus long enough to follow up with a right jab to her abdomen. "Impressive, you got skill." Rainbow Dash replies as she tackles Anon unleashing an assault of punches. " But not skillful enough!" Anon struggles to get Rainbow Dash off of him as he is getting pummeled by his rainbow haired mentor. Eventually, he manages to kick her off of him and gets up. Anon looks on at his mentor with a face of determination, wanting to win this sparring session. Rainbow Dash charges at anon for another assault of jabs and punches. Anon anticipated this move and responds with his series of blocks and counters. He looks closely and at the corner of his eye, he notices that Rainbow Dash has left her legs open to attack. A good hit there would make her tumble over like a jenga tower. With the next wave of Rainbow Dash punches, Anon counters and shoves Rainbow Dash which allowed Anon to do a leg sweep, sending Rainbow Dash tumbling backwards. Anon wasted no time in getting on top of Rainbow Dash and unleashing punches. After his assault was done, Anon relents and gets up while extending an ungloved hand, helping Rainbow Dash up. "You did good, kiddo." Rainbow Dash says as she dusts herself off. "That was an amazing feat to best me." Rainbow Dash and Anon climb out of the ring to meet back with Flash Sentry. "Anon... remind me to never piss you off." Flash Sentry says as he puts his hand on anons shoulder in a congratulatory gesture. Anon walks out of the boxing room with a tired satisfied expression on his face. IT was his first step towards getting done with this week-long debacle... if he succeeds that is. "Well, that is all the time we have for today, Anon." Rainbow Dash says as she pats Anon on the back. "Tomorrow, We'll train you to stay on your feet longer before you go down for the count." Rainbow Dash exchanged farewells with Flash Sentry and Anon as they go their separate ways for the day. On the drive back home, Anon wonders about what the rest of the week will be like now that there's an impending fight between him and the defacto despot of the students at school. He chose not to dwell on those sort of things and relax the night away, wanting to keep a level head for the remainder of the long road ahead. "Hey sport!" Anon's father greets him as he walks through the door. "Why so late?" "After school activities with my friends." Anon says as he walks to the kitchen to get some dinner his father made: Pasta Carbonara. "Remember not to stay out late. Ok?" Anon's father asks. After the divorce, he was granted custody of Anon after a lengthy custody battle that took a mental and financial toll on him. He was happy that he can raise his son away from his abusive ex. "Ok dad. Night." Anon says to him as he walks in to his room. "Night son, Sleep well." Anon's room was fairly standard for a highschooler: TV, Computer, and a Radio. A few posters of various bands adorned his wall. His father would take him to concerts whenever he had the chance. Anon climbs onto his bed with his dinner and flips on his TV to see what is on. Welcome back to our special report on that crash on the northern canterlot freeway. Just an hour ago, two cars collided with each other and both hit opposite sides of the lane. We have very little details on the matter, but what we do know is that one of the persons involved was pronounced dead while the other is in critical but stable condition and is being treated at Canterlot Mercy Hospital. As of now that section of the freeway has been closed pending cleanup efforts. *Click* Why, Mr. Hooves? Why have you betrayed our love?! *Wwwhhaaaaaaa!* "I hate soap operas." *Click* Meow. Anon looks down to see that his cat, Caesar, is sitting near the bed. Anon pats his hand on the end of the bed, inviting his cat to join him. With a swift motion, Caesar jumps onto the bed and struts towards him. Meow? "Just another hectic day, that's all." Rrrrr-eow. "Blueblood is wanting to fight me and I worry that I'll lose." Mmmrrreow.*Rubs head against Anon's arm* "Awwww, thank you, furball." Meow.*Purring noises* Anon then rests his head on his pillows and attempts to drift off to sleep. His anxiety of what will happen tomorrow keeps him asleep. After an hour or 2, he finally feels the pull of rest gripping him. Author's Note Sorry for the wait. College and coming up with good ideas kind of bogged me down. Hope you'll enjoy this! :) Trivia: The part in the flashback portion was modeled after this: [youtube=https://youtu.be/aGYWJVZyVqg?t=1m7s] Tuesday: No Pain, No GainAnon was at his locker, getting his book for Mrs. Cheerilee’s algebra class. He flipped through the book to see if he missed anything in regards to next week’s test. Thanks to some after school tutoring, He felt more at ease than the last time. As he closed his locker and turned away, he saw a sight he knows all too well: It was Blueblood, staring down at him. “Hey, remember our conversation from yesterday?” Blueblood says in regards to the soda incident that sparked the impending fight. A smile adorns his face, albeit a false one. It was not an actual smile, It was a “Asswhooping Imminent” grin. Anon recoils slightly in nervous fear, not knowing what Blueblood has planned. “W-w-what do you want?” Anon stammers as he motions to run, but it was too late. Blueblood grabs anon by the shirt and throws him at the lockers behind him. Anon laid on the ground, moaning and writhing in pain. It felt like he fell off that jungle gym in grade school, but it was more painful. Blueblood then picked up Anon’s textbook and hovers over him, text book raised, poised to strike. “Payback.” Blueblood growled as he brought the book down on Anon’s face. *Smack* “Arrrgh!” *Smack* “Urrgh!” *Smack* “Aaahhhrrg!” *Smack* “AAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhhhh!!!” Anon was jolted from his sleep by the shock of his nightmare, panting at how it almost felt real. “Fuck... what a dream.” Anon, still feeling startled by the sudden awakening, looks out his window to behold the sun just rising over the horizon. "Damn it." Anon says as he feels a furry presence rubbing against his arm. *purrrrrrrrrr* Mrrreow! "Caesar." Anon says as he scratches his pet's ear. "You furry little devil." Meow! "Heh, I know. Come on, get." Anon get out of bed and does his daily morning routine of shower, shave, coffee and toast. As he got does getting ready for the day, He goes into the kitchen to see his dad brewing the coffee. "Hey pops." Anon greets his father as he prepares to go to work. "Hey sport, how's it going?" Anon says as he pours a cup of breakfast roast and looks at the news. He likes to see what goes on in the world as his age makes him more weary. "Not a whole lot." Anon says as he sips his drink. "Test nervous more than anything." Anon didn't keep much from his father, but the word of his fight on friday is one thing he wants to keep his dad in the dark about. He shudders to imagine what he'll think about him getting into a fight. "Are you sure nothing else is bothering you?" His dad asks, sensing unease in his sons tone as if by fatherly instinct. Anon paused for a second before saying anything. "No." No was all Anon could say in response as he walks towards the door. "Okay, have a good day in school." Anon's dad says as his son walks out the door with a wave of farewell. He climbs in his car and turns it on. "GOOOOOOOOD MORNNNIIIINNGG, CANTERLOT! It's Vinyl Scratch and you're listining to 89.3 WHCL! How is everybody doing this bright and early? Here's some tunes to help wake ya up!" It was a good 10 minute drive to the school and the whole drive there had Anon worried about the coming friday. He didn't know how the students would react since now the entire student body knows about the title match. As he parked his car, he held on to the steering wheel for a minute, breathing nervously. "Come on, Anon. Relax, you can do this. Fear is the mind killer." He whispers to himself as he got out of the car and into the school. As he walked through the halls, He noticed his fellow students were glancing at him and whispering something among themselves. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but he knew it was about the friday fight. When he neared his locker block, He say a familiar sight he wasn't wild about seeing: Blueblood. Blueblood caught sight of Anon, approaching him and getting in his face. "Well well well, look who's here?" Blueblood says in a taunting tone. "Ready for the beatdown this weekend?" Anon shows a modicum of fear cloaked in anger has he stares down his nemesis. "Ready to end this for some peace of mind." Anon growled in anger. He still wasn't wild about friday. It has caused him stress that felt like a clown maniacally drumming him on the head with a mallet. Blueblood smirked in smug satisfaction as he know that his opponent's mind is beginning to crack. "Well, I'll savor that moment when I turn your face concave, bucko!" Blueblood says as he ruffles Anon's hair and walks away. Anon was both angered and frightened by Blueblood's taunt. The first thing that happens at school today was his enemy getting in his head, all over a petty grudge over soda. Anon tries not to let it get to him as he got to his locker and takes out his world history textbook. As he looks through the book for class, he felt a hand touch his shoulder, making him jolt about in fear. As he turned around with his textbook in a striking pose, he looked to see that it was his friend Flash Sentry, making him rest his head on the door of his locker. "FUCK!" Anon said, relaxing from his tension. "You alright, buddy?" Flash asks in a concerned tone. *Sigh*"Bluebitch tried getting in my head earlier." Anon says as he closes his locker. "He really means business." "Don't sweat it." Flash says as he puts his arm on his friend's shoulder. "He's trying that psychological warfare shit on you, trying to whittle down your morale. Don't let him." Anon starts to feel the stress lift from his mind through his friend's reassurance. No way was Anon going to let some pre-fight jitters get the best of him. "Thank you, Flash. You've been a real bro." "No problem, you do remember the after school thing with RD, right?" "I do, haven't forgotten about it." "Alright, just checking. I'll see you later Anon." "Likewise." With those parting words, Anon walks to his world history class where his teacher, Time Turner, awaits his students. "Morning Mr. Anderson." Time Turner says as he notices Anon walk through the door. "How are you today?" Anon tries to get the incident from earlier out of his head as it would set off a red flag. "Uhhh... nothing, sir." Anon nervously says as Time Turner stacks his papers. "You alright, my student?" "It's nothing, just nervous about today's assignment." "Don't be, I have quite an interesting lesson lined up for the class today." "About what?" "We'll be discussing the history of the ancient roman empire." "Sounds about right." Anon says as he sat down at his desk. As anon tensed up at his desk, more students flocked into the room at a steady rate. As they saw Anon staring into space, they started to chatter among themselves regarding friday's event. There was slight whisper as more and more students arrive until Time Turner closes the door, beginning the class. "Okay class," Time Turner started. "Today, we will be talking about the history of the roman empire and its emperors." Time Turner says as he starts to write on the chalkboard. The class rolled along as usual with the exception of friday looming over his head like storm clouds blanketing over a town. As the class had 10 minutes left, the tension gripped him until he couldn't take it anymore. He packed his stuff up and got up from his seat, making his way towards the door. "Anon, where are you going?" Time Turner asks. "Leaving early, I have to help Mrs. Cheerilee with something." "Okie dokie then. Have a good day." As Anon walks out of the room, he then heads over to the bench area and sat there for rest of the 10 minutes. He was beginning to break a sweat as the anxiety began to overwhelm him. As he began to breakdown, He felt a slight nudge to his arm. "Ey, why are ya feeling down, Anon?" Anon turns to see that it was Rainbow Dash hovering over him. "Oh, hey RD." Anon says in an exhausted tone, holding his head with his arm. Rainbow Dash sat down next to him. "How are ya holdin' up?" Anon lets out a long sigh as RD looks on in concern. "Not well." Anon moans. "I was intimidated by Blueblood earlier and I had a nightmare about him kicking my ass last night. The stress is starting to eat at me and I'm losing it!" In a sign of friendship, she puts her arm on his back and pats it. "Don't worry, Anon." RD says with a look of reassurance. "I know you can flatten that pretentious punk." As Anon hears those words, he snaps out of his fearful stupor. "I don't if I can. He'll just beat me within an inch of my life." Upon hearing this, Rainbow develops a stern look on her face and grips Anon's shoulders, looking him in the eyes. "Look, An attitude like this is the first step into failure. Don't let yourself be intimidated by that bully. A lot of the students here that have been victims of him look up to you with hope. This is a chance to be a hero to them." The words touched Anon as he starts to know what is at stake for this fight if he wins or loses. At last, his worry and woe starts to be lifted as a new purpose was given to him. He gives Rainbow a hug of gratitude, catching her off guard. "Ummm... Anon, You're crushing me." Rainbow Dash squeaks, causing Anon to let go of her in embarrassment. "Sorry about that." Anon apologizes. "But, thank you." Before Rainbow Dash could say anything, the end of class bell rang, signaling that it's time for Anon's least favorite class: Algebra. "Catch you after school." Rainbow dash says as she and Anon went their separate ways. It was time for his least favorite class, but one he had to focus on more than the others. Algebra class went on the usual way with Anon struggling to keep focused so he could understand with out dozing off. The class lasted for another 90 minutes before the A-Lunch bell rang. It was a sign of relief for Anon... and a sign of worry for him as well. It was the lunch that he shares with Blueblood and he doesn't want to run into him. As lunch began, Anon sat at a table at the opposite side of the room from Blueblood. Eating his own packed lunch, his mind drifts away from his situation as he enjoys a nice meal. "Well hello there, contestant. How are ya doin'?" That voice sounded like a familiar one from yesterday. It was Golden Wheel coming to check up on the newest contender to Blueblood's throne. "Doing good." Anon nonchalantly says as he tool another bite of his sandwich. "You really kicked up the big nest, haven't you?" Golden says as he sat down. "The way I see it, you have the whole student body split: half are betting on you and the other half against you. It is really crazy what you did, slick." Anon was astounded at the effect his actions yesterday had. He wanted to laugh but he wanted to help Golden Wheel retain his neutral arbiter status. "As unintentional as it may be." Anon scoffs. "I just want some peace of mind." "If you do manage to pummel Lord Pretentious over there, you might just get that wish. All you have to do is work towards that. From what I hear, you have Rainbow Dash Trainin' ya." Golden's last remark grabbed Anon's attention "How did you know about that?" Anon asks in slight shock. "Me and her are good friends, not romantically though. If you want someone to depend on, she's the one you can always count on. With her as your trainer, she'll set ya straight. You're gonna need that because at your position right now, Blueblood is gonna thrash you around like a fucking ragdoll." Anon couldn't help but smirk at Golden Wheel's remarks as he does admit that RD has a strong sense of loyalty, sticking by her friends. He shook his head in agreement of Golden Wheel's little nugget of advice. "Seeing as I have 3 more days to get all that squared away, I can use all she has to offer." Anon states as he takes a sip of his coke. "That you will." Golden Wheel said as he got up from his seat. "Anyways, I have to go run my betting table. I'll see ya around." As he saw Golden walk over to his usual table, he noticed students starting to steadily flocking over to his table to bet on who will win the brawl. Anon was nonetheless uncertain of the outcome but resolved to work towards training under Rainbow Dash to be anything resembling a match for Blueblood. Before he knew it, A-Lunch was over and it was time for literature class with Ms. Moondancer. The rest of the day went along the same way it always had for Anon before school ended for the day. It was time for Anon to start Day 2 of his training regimen. He enters the gym to find Flash Sentry waiting for him. "Well, here comes day 2, amigo." Flash quips as he walks towards his friend. "Nervous?" "I try not to be." Anon says with a slight chuckle. It wasn't long before he saw Rainbow Dash entering the room. "How have ya been holdin' up today, bucko?" Rainbow Dash said, playfully punching Anon in the arm. "Better." Anon said with a tinge of relief as they made their way to the boxing ring again. "Ok Anon," RD starts "You have skill and that is respectable. But what really matters in the long run is how long you can last before you wind up drooling on the ground, out cold. We're gonna work on your stamina to help with your endurance. It will hurt and feel exhausting but the payoff will be well worth it, buddy." As Anon heard Rainbow's spiel, He hears a loud set of footsteps getting closer and louder, almost as if a giant was walking about. The steps got so close that he swore he could feel the ground shake. Just then, a shadow loomed over him, catching his attention. As he turned around, he noticed a big, muscular man behind him, clad in sports wear. It was Bulk Biceps, the assistant coach of the weight team and Rainbow's partner in crime. The sight of Bulk Biceps stature and physique intimidated Anon and shook him to the bone. "YEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Bulk bellowed out, making Anon lose his balance. "For future reference, you need tic-tac." Anon said as he got up, fanning his hand in front of his nose. "Bulk Biceps here will be helping me today." Rainbow Dash chuckled as Bulk steps into the boxing ring. "He's cool with the whole situation, so he won't rat on us." Anon was confused as to why someone who works with the staff would help him by proxy and be aware of the context of it. At that point, Anon didn't really think too deep on that subject. All that mattered to him was getting the whole ordeal over with and move on. Following Bulk Biceps, he enters the ring, approaching the bulked up co-trainer. "ALL RIGHT," Bulk shouted. "YOU"RE GONNA KEEP SWINGING AT ME AS HARD AS YOU CAN AND AS LONG AS YOU CAN! MAKE NO MISTAKE, I WILL SWING BACK, NO TRAINING WHEELS, WHOOOOO!!!" "Well, here goes nothing." Anon gulped and muttered as he began to unleash a flurry of punches upon Bulk Biceps. With each punch and jab, he began to tire, bit by bit He was caught off guard by a sock to his stomach, courtesy of his living punching bag. He stumbles back to the ring ropes and causing him to fall flat on his ass. Rainbow Dash approached the heavily panting Anon with a slight smirk. "Come on! Get off your ass! It's not over until you can't stand." Rainbow plead with Anon, to his dissatisfaction. "Well, It's certainly starting to get that way!" Anon snarked as he got up to face Bulk Biceps, standing at his original spot with arms crossed. Wiping a small amount of blood from his lip, he stared at his trainer with determined eyes. "Oh, now it's on, ya muscle-bound ogre!" With those words, he charged back towards Bulk Biceps, swinging with great speed. His punches hit Bulk most of the time with him only dodging a few. When he noticed Bulk beginning to arch his arm, he was able to dodge the resulting thrown punch and counter with a sharp jab to his chest. He continued to dodge and punch with each action and incurred blow tiring him out. After a while, Anon began to slow down on his assaults. Staring his opponent down, he makes a final furious charge and was only able to lay down one last punch before Bulk Biceps flattened him. In pain, he slowly crawled towards Rainbow Dash, moaning from the pain. "Looks like someone's tapped out." Rainbow Dash said in a playful tone. "No... shit... sherlock!" Anon moaned in pained annoyance. He still felt the pain from Bulk Biceps's assault earlier as he climbed out, holding his left rib. "Come on, let's head to the lockers and rest up a bit. Okay?" With that, RD helped Anon rest on the benches in the locker room, giving him ice packs for his bruises. He held the first one to his left ribs to soothe the pain from Bulk's right hook. As the pain died out, he began to understand the old adage: "No pain, No gain". He got up to stretch out his limbs to relax them because his training wasn't over. "Okay buster," Rainbow Dash says, entering the room. "Let's head out to the track." While being close to the top of the mark in the academic department, CHS never slouched on the athletic side of things either. CHS has their very own track team where the most athletically gifted join to compete against other schools in the Canterlot area. Th track doubled as both a running track and as a football field for the CHS Wondercolts. Anon Walked over to the starting line as Rainbow Dash and Flash Sentry watch on from the bleachers. He looks on down the path of the rubber-lined race track. "Okay Anon!" Rainbow Dash yells. "Here comes Part 2: Cardio! You'll run as many laps on the outer most ring as you can endure!" As many laps as he can endure, Anon felt that was a challenge. He gets into his stance to sprint when he heard an all too familiar sound that fills him with fear. "BETTER RUN LITTLE MAN!!! WHOOOOO!!!" Bulk Biceps charges towards him with the speed and panache of a stampeding bull. "oh shit, ohshitohshitOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!!! Aw Fuuucckk!!!" Anon screams as Bulk chases him around the track like a junkyard dog chasing its prey. He ran with all the strength, stamina and adrenaline he could muster. Was it fear of an impending thrashing from Rainbow's Muscle-Addled assistant. "Wow." Flash remarked as he saw his friend fleeing Bulk Biceps before turning to Rainbow Dash. "How many laps is that? " "4." Rainbow says observantly. "I wonder how long he can go for." "Well, let's watch the show." "Sounds about right." For 1 and a half hours, Anon ran 45 more laps around the the track. All the running left him a tired, sweaty mess as he weakly inched closer to the starting line. "oh fuck. oh fuck. oh shit." Anon swore under his breath as he got closer to the line. "damn it." He felt like the inside of his body from head to toe was in a sea of flames. He legs were buckling heavily from being overly taxed. As he began to feel the weakness over took him, he mustered up the last of his strength. "MAXIMUM EFFORT!" He yells as he hastily stumbles over the starting line finishing his 50th lap. As he watched on at his friends cheering him on, he felt lightheaded as his vision began to blur. He collapsed to the ground as he began to feel faint and his vision turning pitch black. ============================================================ Anon's vision slowly exits from pitch black as he began to notice a wave of coldness on his forehead. As his vision got less blurry, He notices Flash and Rainbow hovering over him, prompting him to try to sit up. "Woah, easy there." Rainbow Dash said while stopping Anon from getting up. "You nearly keeled over." Anon looked around for a bit to find out he is in the locker room, laying on a bench with an ice pack on his head. Rainbow Dash fed him some water to help him re hydrate after that non-stop running. "How did I do?" Anon moaned as Rainbow Dash fed him another bottle of water. "50 laps." Flash stated. "You went at it like a mad man." As Anon started to recover from his stupor, he began to sit up without pain. "Damn, my legs still feel a bit like jello." Anon says, noting the slight numbness in his legs. "It's gonna feel that way for a while, amigo." Flash Sentry says, handing his friend another bottle of water which he guzzled down, enjoying the refreshing hydration. "But ya did good out there." "Thanks, Flash." Anon said as he managed to get on his two feet, fighting to keep his balance. Rainbow Dash looked at him with pride. "That... was excellent! You damned nearly spooked us at the end, but that was nothing short of amazing." She says as she ruffles Anon's sweat soaked hair. Anon felt embarrassed by her gesture, but it was a welcoming one nonetheless. "Tomorrow is strength training, so you better rest up for tomorrow." Rainbow Dash says, stopping Anon from leaving the room. "But first, hit the showers. You smell like both wet dog and onions." His face blushing from that statement, he took a whiff of himself to confirm that Rainbow meant what she had said. Obliging her request, he took a good 5-minute shower and put on his backup clothes. It was as if he didn't do all those laps but the soreness in his muscles betrayed that thought. He, along with Flash and Rainbow, walked out of the school and towards the parking lot. "Well, I would like to thank the both of you for doing this for me. If there's anything that I can do-ohmyfuckinggod." As Anon looked on at his car, he saw that it was key-scratched. He took a closer look at the damage to see that the scratches were in the form of letters: D M F -BB "Dead Motherfucker." Anon interpreted the message. When he read the '-BB' scratch, he immediately knew who did it: Blueblood himself. This was one aggravation too far. A frown starts to envelop his face, subtly masking his seething rage. "First, he drags me into this mess over a damn soda and now he's violated my car!!!" Anon thought as he nodded yes while masking his outrage. "Yep. Now I'm going to fucking enjoy kicking his ass. Bastard" he muttered as he turned to his friends. "This is one casualty too far." "I know, but don't dwell on that." Flash advises Anon to cool his anger. It took Anon a few seconds of contemplation to determine that his anger was best saved for friday. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Anon said as he dug his keys from his pocket. "I'll see you two tomorrow." "Same here." "Later." With those parting words, the 3 CHS students went their separate ways for the day as Anon got into his car. Before he could back out of his parking space, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He opened up his phone to see that he got a text from his father. Have to work late. You'll be on your own tonight. Fix yourself something. -Dad Knowing that his dad would be kept up with work, He sped home and made himself some pizza bagles, gobbling them down. After that, he felt the grip of sleep gripping him once more. He wandered into his room and over to his bed. The second his body touched the bed was the moment that slumber had dragged him down to dreamland with his fatigue finally winning over him. Author's Note Sorry this took a long time to get out. I got side tracked by a number of things like writing other stories and life in general. I hope you enjoy this because there is more coming down the road. Hold on to your flanks. Wednesday: Pumping Iron*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BE-click* As Anon's vision began to become lucid, he arched his back and propped his knuckles and neck. Yesterday's exercise wore him out like a lightbulb and he still felt the persistent soreness of his leg muscles. He struggled a bit to get on his feet but was able to balance himself. He walked to his school calendar to see what was on the school's agenda for today. He was ecstatic to learn that it was a Professional Development Day which was code for: "Day off." he mutters to himself. He was relieved that he didn't have to go into school and deal with Blueblood today, especially after he key scratched his car. He was free to do what he please for most of the day due to the training arrangement he made Rainbow Dash. The more he thought of training with her, a feeling starts to swirl around in his mind like a cloud. He didn't know what that feeling was as he had never felt something like that before until Monday afternoon. His train of thought was interrupted by an feeling of unease and a rumbling in his stomach as hunger started to become dominant in his mind. Wasting no time, he trekked to the kitchen where he saw his dad in the living room, watching the morning news before work. "Heya sport, how were you last night?" His father asks as Anon pours himself a cup of coffee. "Eh, it was good." Anon says as he takes a sip of his drink. "Did some gym work with a friend that afternoon and I was burnt out after that." Anon Sr began to notice a pattern as of late. His son, since Monday, had been coming home exhausted and tired after his 'workout' sessions with said friend of his. He suspected that there was more to this story. "Ok, who is she?" Anon Sr asks his son, Surprising him. "What?!" "I'm not fooled. You're seeing a girl, aren't ya?" This elicited a nervous chuckle from Anon as he thinks he's seeing some girl and he is half right. "Okay, you caught me. I'm seeing this girl named Rainbow Dash." Anon admits to his dad. Now the feeling from earlier is starting to magnify with that statement. Anon started to recognize since Monday that he developed feelings for her. He wanted to ask her out but is afraid that it might get in the way of what he needs to do to prepare for Friday. After a moment of thought, he decided to play it cool for the time being. He then felt his father's hand on his head. "Don't be nervous about that. I've been there once when I was your age. It's a perfectly natural reaction towards the opposite sex as you become an adult. I was a little shy when it came to talking to girls. But I eventually came out of my shell and I had no problems since." His dad's words reassured him a bit but he had no idea on how to communicate his feelings to Rainbow. "But, how do I tell her that I love her?" "All you have to do is play it cool, be suave and subtle, and don't be nervous around her. Who knows? She might even make the first move if you're lucky." Anon started to see that his dad's advice was sound. He can't shake the nervousness of his infatuation towards Rainbow Dash but he decides to take his father's advice and play it cool with her. "Do you have school today?" "No, It's one of those 'Professional Development Days'." "Ah, alright." Anon Sr said as he walked towards the door to leave the work, only stopping when he opened the door. "Hey, I noticed that there were some key scratches on your car when i came home last night. What happened?" For a moment, the world around Anon froze. He felt as if his own father was on to what was really going on. He came up with a quick explanation to cover his tracks. "Some douchebag seniors pulling some pre-graduation prank. I'm gonna talk to Principal Celestia about it tomorrow." "Oh ok. Be sure to take it into the shop to get that fixed." Anon was relieved that his father bought his sham story. He is kept in the dark about his feud with Blueblood for the time being. With a "Goodbye Son.", Anon Sr got into his car and drove off towards his workplace downtown. As he slumped back on the couch, Anon breathed a sigh of relief that no outside forces were going to know about the fight, save for the students. "Holy fuck." He mutters as kicked back on the couch and contemplates what had happened and the recent developments. Thanks to his dad, his mind is starting to become filled with thoughts of a romantic nature towards Rainbow Dash. He couldn't deny his true feelings towards her but he worries that it would get in the way of the task at hand. He also wondered how it all happened. Anon had a good feeling that his sparring session on Monday with her could've been the root of it all. But as he contemplated, Anon's stomach complained in hunger. After wrangling a bowl of Cookie Crisp, he sat in front of his TV, playing one of his favorite video games. "What a great stress relief." he says as he guns down the final boss. He hadn't had any fun like that since Monday as the stress from the challenge kept him from wanting to enjoy himself. This brief respite allowed him a chance to vent his unease towards the whole situation. However, he knew that he had to prepare for Friday. He switched the TV to a movie channel as he began to do push-ups with each repetition starting to tire him out bit by bit. "995!" "996!" "997!" "998!" "999!" "1000!" After his 1000th push up, He collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. Anon's arms quivered in pain as his morning exercise rendered his arms to feeling like jello. But still, He felt that his workout wasn't finished and wanted to push himself more. He walked out of his house in a heartbeat and started out on his jog around his neighborhood. Thanks to getting the day off from school, he had all the time he wanted to keep his body and mind conditioned. It was all Anon's mind could think of before it suddenly switched to thoughts of Rainbow Dash. His heart started to race faster than before when he started out on his jog. Adrenaline and his thoughts of his secret crush fueled his drive to continue on with his run even as his body started to feel tired. When he arrived back his house, He was a sweat-soaked mess. He took a moment to catch his breath as he began to eye the clock. "2:30. Holy fuck." Anon panted in exhaustion as he got himself a glass of water from the kitchen. As he guzzled down his drink, he realized he had to prepare for his workout. He did not know where they'll meet him but he knew they'll figure something out. He got into the shower and got washed up and squeaky clean for the time being. The cool water started to soothe his arm and leg muscles and relieve the aching sensations in each limb. "Oh god, that felt soooo goood." Anon said to himself as he walked out of the shower. He stretched his limbs out so they wouldn't tense up and stiffen. Once all that was out of the way, he got on some gym wear in preparation for his training session with his friends. He then heard a familiar noise coming in from the living room. It was his ring tone and he could guess that it was Flash Sentry calling him. He walked over to his phone and answered it. "Hello?" "Hey Anon, what's up?" "Nothing really. What's on your mind, amigo? "Not a damn thing. Hey just a heads up, because of no school today, Rainbow said that Bulk Biceps is gonna let us use his personal gym at his house." "Ok, what time should I meet you all over there?" "3:30, the usual." "Ok, got it. By the way, I might be a tad late because I gotta get message Blueblood left on my car painted over." "It's all cool, take your time. Anyways, I'll see ya in an hour or so." "See ya." *Buzzzz* Anon received a text from Flash that gave him Bulk's address. He now knew what to do but he had to focus on getting his car fixed. He hopped into his car and sped off to the nearby garage. It was one of those that one would find along the road at some point but it would do. One of the managers of the garage approached his car "Eyyy, how's it going?" the manager said. "Not a whole lot." Anon started. "Just need a quick touch up on the paint, that's all." The manager looked around the car until he found Blueblood's message to Anon nicely scratched on his upper right car door. "Someone got pissed at you?" The manager asked in slight worry. "Something along those lines." "Alrighty. Exit the car and let me get to work. It shouldn't take me no more than 10 minutes for paint to be applied and dry." Over the course of 10 minutes, the key scratches were gone as if they were never there to begin with. "Ok, that'll be 12 bucks, sir." The manager said as Anon handed him the aforementioned amount. Anon's anger towards the school's king bully only grew after that. He now costed him a monetary loss, money that he'll never get back. As he got back into his car, He took a few seconds to do some calming breaths before departing for Bulk Bicep's house. After a 10 minute drive, he arrived at Bulk's house. It was a bit ways off from the sidewalk compared to the average house he sees and it looks like there is a separate building on the property that is smaller than the 2 story house it self. Anon figured that it's where Bulk's personal gym is, considering him being the school's resident muscle-bound fitness nut. Wasting no time, Anon walked over the building and knocked on the door where he was greeted by a familiar rainbow-haired sight. "Anon, so great to see you!" Rainbow Dash said as she wrapped Anon in a tight embrace. His feelings about her start to come to the forefront but he manages to repress those thoughts as she breaks the hug. "Thanks, Dashie." Anon said while rubbing the back of his neck. Without warning, Rainbow Dash grabs Anon by his arm and walks him to the Inside of the gym where Flash Sentry and Bulk Biceps are waiting. "Well, look who just wandered in, huh?" Flash chuckled as he saw his friends walk in. Bulk walks up to Anon with a slight thunderous sound from each step he took. The steps were light but enough to make some of the weights shake ever so slightly. "YEAH! WE'LL BE PUMPING SOME SERIOUS IRON TODAY! WHOOOO!!!" Bulk yelled out in his trademark vocal volume and energy. "Yeah, we'll be doing some strength training today. You have the endurance and moves. I'll give ya that. But those arms and legs of yours... man, they do need some work. I'll bet Bulk over there could snap them like twigs if he wanted. Since you got a bit of leg strength training done yesterday, we'll be focusing on upper body muscles." As rainbow dash walked a bit away from Anon, She began to stretch her arms and abdominal muscles. "Anon, you gotta stretch your muscles or it'll really hurt when you start lifting!" Heeding her advice, Anon began to mimic her stretches to get his body prepared for his afternoon of weightlifting. After 2 minutes of stretches, he was ready to start pumping some iron. Rainbow dash motioned him to a weight machine that had a pull down handle. "First up: Lat Pulldown." Rainbow Dash started as Anon got on the machine. "I'll set it to weight level 3, not too hard but not too easy either. If you feel like it, increase the weight to challenge your self." Anon gripped his hands on the handle and began to pull down. It was slow but he was able to bring it all the way down. He did 30 reps of this before he took a bit of rest to allow his muscles to recover. Listening to Rainbow's earlier advice, he cranked the weight level to 5 to challenge himself. He was getting serious about it. "Are you sure you wanna go from 3 to 5? Shouldn't you do 4 first?" Rainbow said with a hint of caution in her voice as Anon started doing more reps. "You *Erg* said *Erg* I *Erg* should *Erg* challenge *Erg* myself. *Erg*" Anon grunted as he did more reps slower than his last set. His upper arm and torso muscles start to tens up and harden with each rep he did. They burned like a blazing forest fire that spreads out of control. With his last rep, he slouched forward in slight exhaustion, panting and sweating. "I wonder how you lasted that long." Rainbow said in amusement. Anon turned his exhausted gaze to her. "Anger." Anon breathed. "Why anger?" "That little message Blueblood left on my car yesterday had set me back 12 bucks to have it fixed. That's 12 bucks that he costed me and 12 that I'll never get back!" Rainbow Dash understood his frustration as she let an amused hum escape her mouth. "Then use your anger as your drive." Flash said. "Let it fuel your exercise and motivate you." After his friend's words of encouragment, he continued on to the preacher curl station. Anon felt that his friend's words sounded like something from a movie he watches but he thought of it no further as he hopped onto the station. "Okay," Rainbow dash starts " the weights shall be set to 40 because there's 1 10lb weight on both sides. This station will test your upper and fore arms. Take it slow to get used to it and only kick up the level if you feel confident enough, bucko." With a pat on his back, Anon began funneling his anger towards Blueblood as he began to lift the weight slowly. The position of his arms on the machine and the nature of the exercise started to wear his arms out. He kept on lifting and curling until his arms began to cave after 25 reps, causing him to drop the weights. "Ow. ow. ow. ow." Anon moaned in a deadpan tone. His arms started quiver in shock and sweat a fountain ans he felt his muscles harden. "YEAH! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" Bulk Biceps yelled as he walks over to him, inspecting his muscles. "YOUR MUSCLES ARE ALREADY STARTING TO HARDEN! KEEP IT UP AND MAYBE YOU CAN BE AS MUSCULAR AS ME!" "I know." Anon groaned as he got off of the station, stretching his muscles and taking a breather on the benches. "My limbs have no mouth, yet they must scream." "Aw, that just means that your muscles are being shocked." Rainbow said as she sat on the bench, moving next to Anon. "That means that you should keep on going. Work through the pain and bear with it." Anon was too nervous by Rainbow Dash's proximity to him to consider her words. He felt his heart beat even harder from just being near her like that. He notices Rainbow looking at him with curious concern, wondering if he was alright. "Ummm, Anon?" Rainbow Dash said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you in there?" It took Anon a few seconds to snap out of his trance to be able to respond to her inquiry. "Nothing, just trying to relax. I should be good to go." "Alright. Get to going and start lifting. Let's turn those stick arms of yours into guns!" Anon continued working on his muscles over the next two hours, doing flies, leg curls, and everything involving strength training. His muscles were aching like he lifted the biggest boulder in the city but he didn't care. To him, it was no pain, no gain as he desired to continue on with his exercises. When he was at the dumbbells, he sat as he curled 2 heavy dumbbells, lifting one at a time. Anon didn't stop until Rainbow dash walked over to him. "You're doing good so far. Now, It's time for the big one." Rainbow said as Anon let go of the weights. "The big one?" Anon asked out of curiosity. "The bench press, silly!" She said as she led Anon to the bench press. The barbell had been set to level 8, something that made him nervous. "ALRIGHT! LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN BENCH PRESS 100!" With Bulk's shout, Anon knew that he was in for some serious pain. All he had to do was to just bite his lip, suck it up, and endure it. "Don't worry. We'll spot ya." Flash said as Anon gripped the weight. He took several deep breaths and a moment to build up his drive before he began to lift. It was heavier and more exhausting than the other weights he did before. He kept on benching the weights getting progressively more exhausted with each repetition. As he approached the 90 rep mark, he felt his arms starting to buckle. "92..." "93..." "94..." "95..." "Come on, Anon!" "97..." "98..." "NEARLY THERE!" "1... 1... 100." With that, Anon's arms gave in as he let the barbell rest on his chest, eliciting a pained moan from him. Bulk and Rainbow helped lift the weight off of Anon and helped him up. He was relieved to see Rainbow look on at him with a sense of pride. "You did... AWESOME!!!" Rainbow said with glee as she hugged a still sweaty Anon. "YEAH! WHOOO!!! GOOD WORK BENCHING 100!" Bulk shouted, knocking anon over. "Damn, your voice is as loud as a friggin' jet engine." Anon said as he got back on his feet. "Damn, my arms feel like they got liquefied by sledgehammers." "Don't worry, it'll go away in time. You just have to take it easy." Flash Sentry advised to his friend. As Anon began to walk to the exit, shaking Bulk's hand, he felt familiar hand grip his shoulder. "You did good today." Rainbow Dash said. "Remember tomorrow: it'll be a refresher on what ya did so far." Without warning, she gave Anon a congratulatory hug. Anon fought hard to prevent his feelings from coming out. He could do nothing to prevent himself from returning the hug. After all that, Anon, Flash, and Rainbow exited Bulk's property. "Hey Flash?" Anon asked. "Yeah?" "Can you give me a ride tomorrow? I'm not gonna chance bringing my car there after what Blueblood did yesterday." "Don't sweat it. Just don't keep me waiting when I show up." "Alright. I'll see you two tomorrow." As his two friends drove back to their homes, Anon sat in his car for a few minutes to ponder his state of mind. The stress form both his training and being bothered by Blueblood and his newfound feelings towards Rainbow Dash began to take a toll on his morale. He took comfort that not only will the fight come soon, he'll graduate later as well. Even then, the uncertain outcome of the looming fight began to eat away at him. Shaking his furiously, he held these fears at bay as he began to drive off towards home to relax before the next day comes around. "Can't fucking wait until this is all over." Author's Note Well, this chapter turned out to be shorter than the last 2. I suppose I did it to reflect the fact that Anon had the day off from school. 2 more chapters and an epilogue to go.
Monday: The Catalyst"Hey Anon." Flash Sentry greeted his friend as he walks in the cafeteria, shaking his hand. "What's up, bro? "Same shit, different day." Anon sighs as the two sat down at the table. "Mrs. Cheerilee has ran me ragged with algebra work." Algebra was one of Anon's least favorite subjects in school. It's the major cause his school-related stress. Music Class with Ms. Octavia was his only outlet to vent. He was quite good with an acoustic guitar. Both he and Flash Sentry got out their guitars and started to have a jam session. "Don't be stressed, hombre." Flash Sentry says as he tunes his guitar. "We only have 4 months left of this place and we graduate." The knowledge that graduation is imminent and this phase of his life will be behind him gave Anon a sense of calm. Anon had some good times at CHS with his friends in the 'Riff Club', where all the guitarists in school would congregate and discuss guitar related stuff and have 'Riff Offs' where they will see who plays a riff the best. Those were the best of times for him, but he hopes to leave the bad times behind... *Crash* ... and speak of the devil, here comes one of those bad times. Blueblood, king douchebag of the students walks into the room like he owns the place, which he practically does. He's the alpha, the tip top dog in the school's social hierarchy. Most of the students would either obey him, least they get their asses kicked or would stay out of his way. Anon remembers the first time he ran into Blueblood where he was beating up some freshman. ==========Incoming Flashback:========== Anon was walking towards the library to study for a test in literature class. After hearing a commotion near a row of lockers, he went to investigate the source. He turned the corner to see Blueblood and another student in an argument. "W-what did I ever do to you?" the student fearfully asks as Blueblood forces him to back up towards the lockers. "You fucking bumped into me, wanker!" Blueblood angrily barks as he grabs the student by the collar of his shirt, slamming him into the lockers. "Disrespectful twat!" *Urgh*"It was an accident! I did nothing wrong!" the student says in pain from the impact. "Why are you acting like such an asshole?" There is one cardinal rule in the school's social order: Don't ever ever call Blueblood any names, especially 'Asshole'. The student was now going to pay the price. Blueblood lets the student go and takes off his gloves. Before the student could react, Blueblood grabs the student again, pulling his shirt over his head and proceeding to punch him in the abdomen. *Pow* "Don't..." *Pow* "you..." *Pow* "ever..." *Pow* "disrespect..." *Pow* "me..." *Pow* "like..." *Pow* "that..." *Pow* "again!" *Pow* Like that, the student was on the floor in a fetal position, crying and moaning in pain. The expression was one of pain and terror wrought on by the last person anyone would want to piss off on campus. "Next time, show some damned respect!" Blueblood says as he began to walk away and began to turn towards Anon's direction. Anon began to make a quick dash to the library to avoid him. There is another cardinal rule: Snitches get stitches, and it doesn't take much thought to figure out what that meant. That was why no one else but Anon knew of the incident, because if Anon told anyone, Blueblood would eventually find out, he always would. Anon spent the rest of the day studying for the test with the mental image of the incident plaguing his mind. ======================================== "Oh great, it's him." Anon mumbles as Blueblood walks whilst pushing aside some students in the way of his usual table. "Just don't make eye contact." Flash Sentry says as he and anon ate their respective lunches. As anon looks through his lunchbag, he found out that he forgot to pack a coke. "Shit." Anon mumbles "Ey Flash Sentry, you got a buck?" "Yeah, forgot a coke again?" Flash Sentry says as he hands his friend a dollar for the coke machine. Anon had a habit of forgetting to bring a drink with his lunch. "Yep." "That's five you owe me." "Heh, we're counting now?" Anon walks over to the machine and buys an ice-cold cola and walks back to his table. It wasn't long before Blueblood got the same idea. He tries to buy his favorite brand of soda and to his dismay and anger, the type of soda was sold out. it was his favorite brand... ...His Brand! He looks around to find out who had taken the last bottle of Cool Cola from the machine. He looks around for a bit to find out that it was anon who had taken the last. It was his personal champagne at school and he would have none of this. He then walks over to anon's table with neither Flash Sentry nor anon noticing. As anon was taking a few bites out his sandwich, Blueblood stealthily takes the half drunken soda and when anon put down his sandwich, blueblood pours the remainder of the soda on the sandwich in anger. Silence had filled the room, everyone knew that blueblood was going to put someone in their place and this was one way of doing it. "This... was supposed to be mine, asshole." blueblood growls as he walks back, throwing the bottle at anon. Anon took a few to process what had happened: the school's 'King' had turned his sandwich into a soggy mess with the soda he bought. The sandwich was particularly special in that the bread was homemade and it had his favorite fixings: swiss cheese, ham and spicy brown mustard. Needless to say, this finally pushed his patience with blueblood past the end. Anon has finally had enough of him. "And that was my lunch, you dick!" Anon blurted out at Blueblood as he got out of his seat to face him. The moment that Anon had said his retort, the whole cafeteria looked towards the two. The students were getting tense in anticipation for a possible lunchtime fight. "Well maybe you should've known not to take my favorite soda!" Blueblood snapped back. "Whelps like you should know your place." "In what reality says you can have a monopoly over a certain kind of soda here? None." Anon retorted. This vexed Blueblood, a student was defying his will. He was supposed to be head of the social order here. He won't let some common filth tell him what to do. "You... should know by now... that I'M IN CHARGE!!!" Blueblood yells while balling up his fists, preparing to punch Anon. "Oh, well, All hail king douchebag." "Impudent Pest!" "Snob!" "Common clod!" "Jumped-up jackass!" "Low class loser!" "Pretentious prick!" "Oh, that is soooo it!" Blueblood yells as he grabs Anon by the shirt collar and arching his free hand in preparation for a right hook. The tensions flared amongst the students as they prepare to witness another beat down right before their eyes. Just as Blueblood was about to turn Anon's face concave, the mood was broken by a voice booming from across the cafeteria. "Woah, woah, woah, woah!" said a tall, sightly portly student as he walked through the crowd of students. It was Golden Wheel, the school's resident bookie. Whenever a dispute, a bet, a contest or anything of the sort, he's the one who organizes the events and takes the bets on who will win. When it comes to matters pertaining to Blueblood, he's the neutral arbiter. "You all were gonna start a throwdown and not let me see it? Man, how damned selfish is that?" Golden says with an ounce of energy. "I could see that the both of you forgot the rules for these kinds of spectacles." As Blueblood lets go of Anon, Golden Wheel got between them to prevent any further premature squabbling. "Ok, here's how it is going to go down: After school on friday at Fairgreen Hill in the Everfree Forest. Be prepared and bring your anger because I want this fight to be the most epic of the year." Golden Wheel says as he walks back to his table "Alright people, taking bets!" Anon and Blueblood watch as the students gather around Golden's table to place bets on who will win the fight. Half of the students bet on Blueblood while the other half bet on Anon. Anon couldn't tell if the bets on him were of optimism or of pity, but that was the least of his worries. Anon was pulled into a fight and he is unprepared for it. "See you friday, whelp." Blueblood says as he slaps tauntingly Anon on the back and walks out of cafeteria. Anon slumps back against the wall in distress, knowing that he was going to get his ass kicked. *Sigh*"Oh shit, This is not happening. This is not happening!" Anon says in distress as he holds his head in stress. "Calm down, Anon." Flash Sentry says in order alleviate his friend's stress, to no effect. "Calm down calm down?!!" Anon says in utter frustration. "The way I see it, I have 2 options: Got to the fight and get my ass kicked or not show up, get laughed at and get my ass kicked! So for me to to calm down is a farcry!" Anon walks over to the vending machines an proceeds bang his head on the side of the nearest machine. *Bash* "Fuck." *Bash* "Fuck!" *Bash* "Fuck!" *Bash* "Fuck!" *Bash* "FUUUUCK!" *Bash* *Bash* *Bash* "Anon! Anon, calm down, now!" Flash Sentry said as he turned his friend around and pinning him against the machine. "It's no use losing your cool like this! Pull it together!" In that moment, Anon began to calm down just enough to see reason, but not completely. "Okay, Repeat after me: Count to four, inhale. Count to four, exhale." Flash Sentry instructs Anon as he follows suit. "Feel better?" Anon nods his head to confirm that he's calmed down, his mind at ease for now. "Now, I think I can help you." Flash Sentry says to reassure his friend. "Can you teach me how to fight?" Anon asks. "No, that ain't my forte." Flash Sentry says, much to Anon's dismay. "Oh that's just fucking great." Anon sarcastically says as he walks around in annoyance. "Wait, I'm not finished." Flash Sentry continues "I can't teach you to fight, but I know of someone who can." Flash Sentry pulls out his phone and browses through his contacts. "What are you doing?" Anon asks. "I helped this person out a few times last year. She owes me a few favors and I'm calling one in." Flash Sentry explains as he puts the phone to his ear. "Hello?" "It's Flash Sentry." "Yeah, it's nice to hear from you too." "I have a friend who needs you to help him toughen up. What do you say?" "Ok, Where can we meet after school?" "Sounds great. See you after school." "See you later, bye." "Okay, we'll meet with my friend in the gym when school ends today." Flash Sentry says to Anon. Anon felt relieved by this development, being taught to fight so he can stand some semblance of a chance against Blueblood. "Okay, thank you, Flash Sentry. I'll catch up with you later." Anon thanks Flash Sentry. "See you then." The rest of the day goes by the same as usual for Anon until his last class ends. ======================================== Anon and Flash Sentry arrived in the gym, awaiting the arrival of Flash Sentry's friend. It was empty, feeling all quiet like an old west ghost town. "What's keeping your friend?" Anon worriedly asks. "She'll be here, don't worry." Flash Sentry says in a calm tone. "She?" Before anon could finish his thoughts, A blue skinned woman, clad in athletic wear with rainbow stripped hair came out of the locker room area. At first glance, Anon recognized who it was: Rainbow Dash, the most athletic student in the school. "Heya Flash Sentry, How are ya?" Rainbow Dash says as she high fives Flash Sentry. "Doing good, trying to help out my friend here." Flash Sentry replies as Rainbow Dash turns her attention to Anon. "You must be Anon. I've heard about what happened earlier today." Rainbow Dash says as she shakes Anon's hand. "Wait... how did you-" "Word quickly spreads around school. Challenging Blueblood like that must be one bold move for you, buster." Rainbow Dash interrupts Anon. After the incident at A-Lunch today, word of the impending fight had spread around the school. Even in the B and C lunch periods, students talked about it and even placed their bets on who will get roughed up the worst. It was close to the end of the school year and they want an event to make this year go out with a bang... or some thrown punches. "Okay, here's how your week of training will go: Today, we will be actually teaching you to fight with some boxing and a practice fight. Tuesday will be endurance training to condition you withstand more punishment before you go down flat on your ass. Wednesday will be some strength training and we gotta build up those muscles. I see promise in those arms, but we need to make it show. On Thursday, It will be a mix up session to further test you and Friday will be a pre-fight, freeday-style warm up. What do you say?" Rainbow Dash Dash monologues as she gave Anon the rundown of his training sessions. For Anon, He's willing to endure the pain of his training to be able to be a match against his pretentious rival. "Alright, I'll do it." Anon agrees. "Excellent! Right this way." Rainbow Dash says as she leads Anon to the boxing room by his arm. Even though he hadn't been in this room before, Anon was impressed by the setup. It had a boxing ring for sparring, punching bags and everything else that can accommodate the school's boxing team. A radio that was set up in the room plays songs mostly of the heavy rock and rap variety. "Okay," Rainbow Dash starts as she hands him a pair of boxing gloves. "Go over to that punching bag an give it the biggest punch your strength can muster. I want to gauge your strength." Anon looked attentively at the punching bag, a face developed on him that is telling of great frustration over today's incident. The rest of the week will be a stressful one and he won't get that piece of mind back, he was looking to vent. Quickly, he gave the punching bag a strong, right hook jab, sending the bag back a decent distance. Anon turned to see what his friends think and... *Wa-Pow* The bag swings back and hits Anon, catching him off guard and sending him flying a short distance. His friends shared some short chuckles over Anon's honest mistake. Anon lifts his face up from the floor, his nose bloodied and blood dripping on the floor below. "Hello to all of canterlot, It's your favorite DJ, Vinyl Scratch and you're listening to 89.3 WHCL, Canterlot's premier radio station! I'm glad to put on these kickass tunes for you faithful listeners and I have another one to serve to you on an ivory plate of shock and awe!" As Anon turned back to the punching bag, his perception of the bag changes from the bag itself to a hallucination of Blueblood. "Weak and pathetic. You gonna cry to your mommy? Mommy, Mommy, some meanie hurt me! Hahahahahahaha!" The hallucination filled Anon with a brand of anger that he hadn't felt before: Rage. He looked upon the supposed visage of the one who is going to cause him the most stress for the rest of the week. That is one whole calm week he'll never get back. "RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!" Anon roared as he charged the bag and began to unleash a storm of punches and jabs upon the bag. The fury and relentlessness of his attacks was great that it made Flash Sentry's and Rainbow Dash's jaws go slack in awe at the sight and they could only mouth the words: 'Holy shit'. After a minute had passed, Anon relents and ceases the punching. "Anon, you alright?" Flash Sentry says as he slowly approaches Anon with caution. "I feel great." Anon says, huffing and puffing triumphantly. Rainbow Dash looks on at Anon and she sees that he has the drive for the road ahead. The only thing she senses he lacks is focus. "Alright, You got spunk, I'll give ya that. The only thing you need to build upon is where to focus that drive." Rainbow Dash says as she Puts some boxing gloves on. "Meet me in ring when you are ready. Clean up your blood first though." Anon looks in the mirror to see that a moderate amount of blood has dripped down his face from his nose. The blood had flown as far down as the upper part of his shirt. "There goes another good shirt." Anon laments as he cleans his face up and plugs his nose to stop the bleeding. It was one of his favorite shirts, a souvenir from a concert 2 months ago. Anon then climbs into the boxing ring where Rainbow Dash is waiting for him to test how he can handle himself in a real fight. "Okay Anon, Let's see how you would handle a fight!" Rainbow Dash says as she puts up her gloved fists. "Remember: Focus on your opponent and pay close attention to their movements." Anon looks on at his gloved hands, briefly taking his focus off of Rainbow Dash. His train of thought was interrupted by Rainbow Dash punching him in the chest, sending him stumbling back into the ring's border ropes. "What did I just get done telling you?" Rainbow Dash says with a hint of annoyance. "Get up and put 'em up." Anon slowly gets up and positions his fists in anticipation for another attack. He won't let himself get caught off guard again, the game was on. He charged Rainbow Dash with a left jab, barely hitting her in the left shoulder. Rainbow Dash retaliated with a light and sharp jab to his ribs, causing him to slightly recoil, but barely losing momentum. Anon countered with a punch to her left jaw, causing her to briefly lose focus long enough to follow up with a right jab to her abdomen. "Impressive, you got skill." Rainbow Dash replies as she tackles Anon unleashing an assault of punches. " But not skillful enough!" Anon struggles to get Rainbow Dash off of him as he is getting pummeled by his rainbow haired mentor. Eventually, he manages to kick her off of him and gets up. Anon looks on at his mentor with a face of determination, wanting to win this sparring session. Rainbow Dash charges at anon for another assault of jabs and punches. Anon anticipated this move and responds with his series of blocks and counters. He looks closely and at the corner of his eye, he notices that Rainbow Dash has left her legs open to attack. A good hit there would make her tumble over like a jenga tower. With the next wave of Rainbow Dash punches, Anon counters and shoves Rainbow Dash which allowed Anon to do a leg sweep, sending Rainbow Dash tumbling backwards. Anon wasted no time in getting on top of Rainbow Dash and unleashing punches. After his assault was done, Anon relents and gets up while extending an ungloved hand, helping Rainbow Dash up. "You did good, kiddo." Rainbow Dash says as she dusts herself off. "That was an amazing feat to best me." Rainbow Dash and Anon climb out of the ring to meet back with Flash Sentry. "Anon... remind me to never piss you off." Flash Sentry says as he puts his hand on anons shoulder in a congratulatory gesture. Anon walks out of the boxing room with a tired satisfied expression on his face. IT was his first step towards getting done with this week-long debacle... if he succeeds that is. "Well, that is all the time we have for today, Anon." Rainbow Dash says as she pats Anon on the back. "Tomorrow, We'll train you to stay on your feet longer before you go down for the count." Rainbow Dash exchanged farewells with Flash Sentry and Anon as they go their separate ways for the day. On the drive back home, Anon wonders about what the rest of the week will be like now that there's an impending fight between him and the defacto despot of the students at school. He chose not to dwell on those sort of things and relax the night away, wanting to keep a level head for the remainder of the long road ahead. "Hey sport!" Anon's father greets him as he walks through the door. "Why so late?" "After school activities with my friends." Anon says as he walks to the kitchen to get some dinner his father made: Pasta Carbonara. "Remember not to stay out late. Ok?" Anon's father asks. After the divorce, he was granted custody of Anon after a lengthy custody battle that took a mental and financial toll on him. He was happy that he can raise his son away from his abusive ex. "Ok dad. Night." Anon says to him as he walks in to his room. "Night son, Sleep well." Anon's room was fairly standard for a highschooler: TV, Computer, and a Radio. A few posters of various bands adorned his wall. His father would take him to concerts whenever he had the chance. Anon climbs onto his bed with his dinner and flips on his TV to see what is on. Welcome back to our special report on that crash on the northern canterlot freeway. Just an hour ago, two cars collided with each other and both hit opposite sides of the lane. We have very little details on the matter, but what we do know is that one of the persons involved was pronounced dead while the other is in critical but stable condition and is being treated at Canterlot Mercy Hospital. As of now that section of the freeway has been closed pending cleanup efforts. *Click* Why, Mr. Hooves? Why have you betrayed our love?! *Wwwhhaaaaaaa!* "I hate soap operas." *Click* Meow. Anon looks down to see that his cat, Caesar, is sitting near the bed. Anon pats his hand on the end of the bed, inviting his cat to join him. With a swift motion, Caesar jumps onto the bed and struts towards him. Meow? "Just another hectic day, that's all." Rrrrr-eow. "Blueblood is wanting to fight me and I worry that I'll lose." Mmmrrreow.*Rubs head against Anon's arm* "Awwww, thank you, furball." Meow.*Purring noises* Anon then rests his head on his pillows and attempts to drift off to sleep. His anxiety of what will happen tomorrow keeps him asleep. After an hour or 2, he finally feels the pull of rest gripping him. Author's Note Sorry for the wait. College and coming up with good ideas kind of bogged me down. Hope you'll enjoy this! :) Trivia: The part in the flashback portion was modeled after this: [youtube=https://youtu.be/aGYWJVZyVqg?t=1m7s]
Tuesday: No Pain, No GainAnon was at his locker, getting his book for Mrs. Cheerilee’s algebra class. He flipped through the book to see if he missed anything in regards to next week’s test. Thanks to some after school tutoring, He felt more at ease than the last time. As he closed his locker and turned away, he saw a sight he knows all too well: It was Blueblood, staring down at him. “Hey, remember our conversation from yesterday?” Blueblood says in regards to the soda incident that sparked the impending fight. A smile adorns his face, albeit a false one. It was not an actual smile, It was a “Asswhooping Imminent” grin. Anon recoils slightly in nervous fear, not knowing what Blueblood has planned. “W-w-what do you want?” Anon stammers as he motions to run, but it was too late. Blueblood grabs anon by the shirt and throws him at the lockers behind him. Anon laid on the ground, moaning and writhing in pain. It felt like he fell off that jungle gym in grade school, but it was more painful. Blueblood then picked up Anon’s textbook and hovers over him, text book raised, poised to strike. “Payback.” Blueblood growled as he brought the book down on Anon’s face. *Smack* “Arrrgh!” *Smack* “Urrgh!” *Smack* “Aaahhhrrg!” *Smack* “AAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhhhh!!!” Anon was jolted from his sleep by the shock of his nightmare, panting at how it almost felt real. “Fuck... what a dream.” Anon, still feeling startled by the sudden awakening, looks out his window to behold the sun just rising over the horizon. "Damn it." Anon says as he feels a furry presence rubbing against his arm. *purrrrrrrrrr* Mrrreow! "Caesar." Anon says as he scratches his pet's ear. "You furry little devil." Meow! "Heh, I know. Come on, get." Anon get out of bed and does his daily morning routine of shower, shave, coffee and toast. As he got does getting ready for the day, He goes into the kitchen to see his dad brewing the coffee. "Hey pops." Anon greets his father as he prepares to go to work. "Hey sport, how's it going?" Anon says as he pours a cup of breakfast roast and looks at the news. He likes to see what goes on in the world as his age makes him more weary. "Not a whole lot." Anon says as he sips his drink. "Test nervous more than anything." Anon didn't keep much from his father, but the word of his fight on friday is one thing he wants to keep his dad in the dark about. He shudders to imagine what he'll think about him getting into a fight. "Are you sure nothing else is bothering you?" His dad asks, sensing unease in his sons tone as if by fatherly instinct. Anon paused for a second before saying anything. "No." No was all Anon could say in response as he walks towards the door. "Okay, have a good day in school." Anon's dad says as his son walks out the door with a wave of farewell. He climbs in his car and turns it on. "GOOOOOOOOD MORNNNIIIINNGG, CANTERLOT! It's Vinyl Scratch and you're listining to 89.3 WHCL! How is everybody doing this bright and early? Here's some tunes to help wake ya up!" It was a good 10 minute drive to the school and the whole drive there had Anon worried about the coming friday. He didn't know how the students would react since now the entire student body knows about the title match. As he parked his car, he held on to the steering wheel for a minute, breathing nervously. "Come on, Anon. Relax, you can do this. Fear is the mind killer." He whispers to himself as he got out of the car and into the school. As he walked through the halls, He noticed his fellow students were glancing at him and whispering something among themselves. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but he knew it was about the friday fight. When he neared his locker block, He say a familiar sight he wasn't wild about seeing: Blueblood. Blueblood caught sight of Anon, approaching him and getting in his face. "Well well well, look who's here?" Blueblood says in a taunting tone. "Ready for the beatdown this weekend?" Anon shows a modicum of fear cloaked in anger has he stares down his nemesis. "Ready to end this for some peace of mind." Anon growled in anger. He still wasn't wild about friday. It has caused him stress that felt like a clown maniacally drumming him on the head with a mallet. Blueblood smirked in smug satisfaction as he know that his opponent's mind is beginning to crack. "Well, I'll savor that moment when I turn your face concave, bucko!" Blueblood says as he ruffles Anon's hair and walks away. Anon was both angered and frightened by Blueblood's taunt. The first thing that happens at school today was his enemy getting in his head, all over a petty grudge over soda. Anon tries not to let it get to him as he got to his locker and takes out his world history textbook. As he looks through the book for class, he felt a hand touch his shoulder, making him jolt about in fear. As he turned around with his textbook in a striking pose, he looked to see that it was his friend Flash Sentry, making him rest his head on the door of his locker. "FUCK!" Anon said, relaxing from his tension. "You alright, buddy?" Flash asks in a concerned tone. *Sigh*"Bluebitch tried getting in my head earlier." Anon says as he closes his locker. "He really means business." "Don't sweat it." Flash says as he puts his arm on his friend's shoulder. "He's trying that psychological warfare shit on you, trying to whittle down your morale. Don't let him." Anon starts to feel the stress lift from his mind through his friend's reassurance. No way was Anon going to let some pre-fight jitters get the best of him. "Thank you, Flash. You've been a real bro." "No problem, you do remember the after school thing with RD, right?" "I do, haven't forgotten about it." "Alright, just checking. I'll see you later Anon." "Likewise." With those parting words, Anon walks to his world history class where his teacher, Time Turner, awaits his students. "Morning Mr. Anderson." Time Turner says as he notices Anon walk through the door. "How are you today?" Anon tries to get the incident from earlier out of his head as it would set off a red flag. "Uhhh... nothing, sir." Anon nervously says as Time Turner stacks his papers. "You alright, my student?" "It's nothing, just nervous about today's assignment." "Don't be, I have quite an interesting lesson lined up for the class today." "About what?" "We'll be discussing the history of the ancient roman empire." "Sounds about right." Anon says as he sat down at his desk. As anon tensed up at his desk, more students flocked into the room at a steady rate. As they saw Anon staring into space, they started to chatter among themselves regarding friday's event. There was slight whisper as more and more students arrive until Time Turner closes the door, beginning the class. "Okay class," Time Turner started. "Today, we will be talking about the history of the roman empire and its emperors." Time Turner says as he starts to write on the chalkboard. The class rolled along as usual with the exception of friday looming over his head like storm clouds blanketing over a town. As the class had 10 minutes left, the tension gripped him until he couldn't take it anymore. He packed his stuff up and got up from his seat, making his way towards the door. "Anon, where are you going?" Time Turner asks. "Leaving early, I have to help Mrs. Cheerilee with something." "Okie dokie then. Have a good day." As Anon walks out of the room, he then heads over to the bench area and sat there for rest of the 10 minutes. He was beginning to break a sweat as the anxiety began to overwhelm him. As he began to breakdown, He felt a slight nudge to his arm. "Ey, why are ya feeling down, Anon?" Anon turns to see that it was Rainbow Dash hovering over him. "Oh, hey RD." Anon says in an exhausted tone, holding his head with his arm. Rainbow Dash sat down next to him. "How are ya holdin' up?" Anon lets out a long sigh as RD looks on in concern. "Not well." Anon moans. "I was intimidated by Blueblood earlier and I had a nightmare about him kicking my ass last night. The stress is starting to eat at me and I'm losing it!" In a sign of friendship, she puts her arm on his back and pats it. "Don't worry, Anon." RD says with a look of reassurance. "I know you can flatten that pretentious punk." As Anon hears those words, he snaps out of his fearful stupor. "I don't if I can. He'll just beat me within an inch of my life." Upon hearing this, Rainbow develops a stern look on her face and grips Anon's shoulders, looking him in the eyes. "Look, An attitude like this is the first step into failure. Don't let yourself be intimidated by that bully. A lot of the students here that have been victims of him look up to you with hope. This is a chance to be a hero to them." The words touched Anon as he starts to know what is at stake for this fight if he wins or loses. At last, his worry and woe starts to be lifted as a new purpose was given to him. He gives Rainbow a hug of gratitude, catching her off guard. "Ummm... Anon, You're crushing me." Rainbow Dash squeaks, causing Anon to let go of her in embarrassment. "Sorry about that." Anon apologizes. "But, thank you." Before Rainbow Dash could say anything, the end of class bell rang, signaling that it's time for Anon's least favorite class: Algebra. "Catch you after school." Rainbow dash says as she and Anon went their separate ways. It was time for his least favorite class, but one he had to focus on more than the others. Algebra class went on the usual way with Anon struggling to keep focused so he could understand with out dozing off. The class lasted for another 90 minutes before the A-Lunch bell rang. It was a sign of relief for Anon... and a sign of worry for him as well. It was the lunch that he shares with Blueblood and he doesn't want to run into him. As lunch began, Anon sat at a table at the opposite side of the room from Blueblood. Eating his own packed lunch, his mind drifts away from his situation as he enjoys a nice meal. "Well hello there, contestant. How are ya doin'?" That voice sounded like a familiar one from yesterday. It was Golden Wheel coming to check up on the newest contender to Blueblood's throne. "Doing good." Anon nonchalantly says as he tool another bite of his sandwich. "You really kicked up the big nest, haven't you?" Golden says as he sat down. "The way I see it, you have the whole student body split: half are betting on you and the other half against you. It is really crazy what you did, slick." Anon was astounded at the effect his actions yesterday had. He wanted to laugh but he wanted to help Golden Wheel retain his neutral arbiter status. "As unintentional as it may be." Anon scoffs. "I just want some peace of mind." "If you do manage to pummel Lord Pretentious over there, you might just get that wish. All you have to do is work towards that. From what I hear, you have Rainbow Dash Trainin' ya." Golden's last remark grabbed Anon's attention "How did you know about that?" Anon asks in slight shock. "Me and her are good friends, not romantically though. If you want someone to depend on, she's the one you can always count on. With her as your trainer, she'll set ya straight. You're gonna need that because at your position right now, Blueblood is gonna thrash you around like a fucking ragdoll." Anon couldn't help but smirk at Golden Wheel's remarks as he does admit that RD has a strong sense of loyalty, sticking by her friends. He shook his head in agreement of Golden Wheel's little nugget of advice. "Seeing as I have 3 more days to get all that squared away, I can use all she has to offer." Anon states as he takes a sip of his coke. "That you will." Golden Wheel said as he got up from his seat. "Anyways, I have to go run my betting table. I'll see ya around." As he saw Golden walk over to his usual table, he noticed students starting to steadily flocking over to his table to bet on who will win the brawl. Anon was nonetheless uncertain of the outcome but resolved to work towards training under Rainbow Dash to be anything resembling a match for Blueblood. Before he knew it, A-Lunch was over and it was time for literature class with Ms. Moondancer. The rest of the day went along the same way it always had for Anon before school ended for the day. It was time for Anon to start Day 2 of his training regimen. He enters the gym to find Flash Sentry waiting for him. "Well, here comes day 2, amigo." Flash quips as he walks towards his friend. "Nervous?" "I try not to be." Anon says with a slight chuckle. It wasn't long before he saw Rainbow Dash entering the room. "How have ya been holdin' up today, bucko?" Rainbow Dash said, playfully punching Anon in the arm. "Better." Anon said with a tinge of relief as they made their way to the boxing ring again. "Ok Anon," RD starts "You have skill and that is respectable. But what really matters in the long run is how long you can last before you wind up drooling on the ground, out cold. We're gonna work on your stamina to help with your endurance. It will hurt and feel exhausting but the payoff will be well worth it, buddy." As Anon heard Rainbow's spiel, He hears a loud set of footsteps getting closer and louder, almost as if a giant was walking about. The steps got so close that he swore he could feel the ground shake. Just then, a shadow loomed over him, catching his attention. As he turned around, he noticed a big, muscular man behind him, clad in sports wear. It was Bulk Biceps, the assistant coach of the weight team and Rainbow's partner in crime. The sight of Bulk Biceps stature and physique intimidated Anon and shook him to the bone. "YEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Bulk bellowed out, making Anon lose his balance. "For future reference, you need tic-tac." Anon said as he got up, fanning his hand in front of his nose. "Bulk Biceps here will be helping me today." Rainbow Dash chuckled as Bulk steps into the boxing ring. "He's cool with the whole situation, so he won't rat on us." Anon was confused as to why someone who works with the staff would help him by proxy and be aware of the context of it. At that point, Anon didn't really think too deep on that subject. All that mattered to him was getting the whole ordeal over with and move on. Following Bulk Biceps, he enters the ring, approaching the bulked up co-trainer. "ALL RIGHT," Bulk shouted. "YOU"RE GONNA KEEP SWINGING AT ME AS HARD AS YOU CAN AND AS LONG AS YOU CAN! MAKE NO MISTAKE, I WILL SWING BACK, NO TRAINING WHEELS, WHOOOOO!!!" "Well, here goes nothing." Anon gulped and muttered as he began to unleash a flurry of punches upon Bulk Biceps. With each punch and jab, he began to tire, bit by bit He was caught off guard by a sock to his stomach, courtesy of his living punching bag. He stumbles back to the ring ropes and causing him to fall flat on his ass. Rainbow Dash approached the heavily panting Anon with a slight smirk. "Come on! Get off your ass! It's not over until you can't stand." Rainbow plead with Anon, to his dissatisfaction. "Well, It's certainly starting to get that way!" Anon snarked as he got up to face Bulk Biceps, standing at his original spot with arms crossed. Wiping a small amount of blood from his lip, he stared at his trainer with determined eyes. "Oh, now it's on, ya muscle-bound ogre!" With those words, he charged back towards Bulk Biceps, swinging with great speed. His punches hit Bulk most of the time with him only dodging a few. When he noticed Bulk beginning to arch his arm, he was able to dodge the resulting thrown punch and counter with a sharp jab to his chest. He continued to dodge and punch with each action and incurred blow tiring him out. After a while, Anon began to slow down on his assaults. Staring his opponent down, he makes a final furious charge and was only able to lay down one last punch before Bulk Biceps flattened him. In pain, he slowly crawled towards Rainbow Dash, moaning from the pain. "Looks like someone's tapped out." Rainbow Dash said in a playful tone. "No... shit... sherlock!" Anon moaned in pained annoyance. He still felt the pain from Bulk Biceps's assault earlier as he climbed out, holding his left rib. "Come on, let's head to the lockers and rest up a bit. Okay?" With that, RD helped Anon rest on the benches in the locker room, giving him ice packs for his bruises. He held the first one to his left ribs to soothe the pain from Bulk's right hook. As the pain died out, he began to understand the old adage: "No pain, No gain". He got up to stretch out his limbs to relax them because his training wasn't over. "Okay buster," Rainbow Dash says, entering the room. "Let's head out to the track." While being close to the top of the mark in the academic department, CHS never slouched on the athletic side of things either. CHS has their very own track team where the most athletically gifted join to compete against other schools in the Canterlot area. Th track doubled as both a running track and as a football field for the CHS Wondercolts. Anon Walked over to the starting line as Rainbow Dash and Flash Sentry watch on from the bleachers. He looks on down the path of the rubber-lined race track. "Okay Anon!" Rainbow Dash yells. "Here comes Part 2: Cardio! You'll run as many laps on the outer most ring as you can endure!" As many laps as he can endure, Anon felt that was a challenge. He gets into his stance to sprint when he heard an all too familiar sound that fills him with fear. "BETTER RUN LITTLE MAN!!! WHOOOOO!!!" Bulk Biceps charges towards him with the speed and panache of a stampeding bull. "oh shit, ohshitohshitOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!!! Aw Fuuucckk!!!" Anon screams as Bulk chases him around the track like a junkyard dog chasing its prey. He ran with all the strength, stamina and adrenaline he could muster. Was it fear of an impending thrashing from Rainbow's Muscle-Addled assistant. "Wow." Flash remarked as he saw his friend fleeing Bulk Biceps before turning to Rainbow Dash. "How many laps is that? " "4." Rainbow says observantly. "I wonder how long he can go for." "Well, let's watch the show." "Sounds about right." For 1 and a half hours, Anon ran 45 more laps around the the track. All the running left him a tired, sweaty mess as he weakly inched closer to the starting line. "oh fuck. oh fuck. oh shit." Anon swore under his breath as he got closer to the line. "damn it." He felt like the inside of his body from head to toe was in a sea of flames. He legs were buckling heavily from being overly taxed. As he began to feel the weakness over took him, he mustered up the last of his strength. "MAXIMUM EFFORT!" He yells as he hastily stumbles over the starting line finishing his 50th lap. As he watched on at his friends cheering him on, he felt lightheaded as his vision began to blur. He collapsed to the ground as he began to feel faint and his vision turning pitch black. ============================================================ Anon's vision slowly exits from pitch black as he began to notice a wave of coldness on his forehead. As his vision got less blurry, He notices Flash and Rainbow hovering over him, prompting him to try to sit up. "Woah, easy there." Rainbow Dash said while stopping Anon from getting up. "You nearly keeled over." Anon looked around for a bit to find out he is in the locker room, laying on a bench with an ice pack on his head. Rainbow Dash fed him some water to help him re hydrate after that non-stop running. "How did I do?" Anon moaned as Rainbow Dash fed him another bottle of water. "50 laps." Flash stated. "You went at it like a mad man." As Anon started to recover from his stupor, he began to sit up without pain. "Damn, my legs still feel a bit like jello." Anon says, noting the slight numbness in his legs. "It's gonna feel that way for a while, amigo." Flash Sentry says, handing his friend another bottle of water which he guzzled down, enjoying the refreshing hydration. "But ya did good out there." "Thanks, Flash." Anon said as he managed to get on his two feet, fighting to keep his balance. Rainbow Dash looked at him with pride. "That... was excellent! You damned nearly spooked us at the end, but that was nothing short of amazing." She says as she ruffles Anon's sweat soaked hair. Anon felt embarrassed by her gesture, but it was a welcoming one nonetheless. "Tomorrow is strength training, so you better rest up for tomorrow." Rainbow Dash says, stopping Anon from leaving the room. "But first, hit the showers. You smell like both wet dog and onions." His face blushing from that statement, he took a whiff of himself to confirm that Rainbow meant what she had said. Obliging her request, he took a good 5-minute shower and put on his backup clothes. It was as if he didn't do all those laps but the soreness in his muscles betrayed that thought. He, along with Flash and Rainbow, walked out of the school and towards the parking lot. "Well, I would like to thank the both of you for doing this for me. If there's anything that I can do-ohmyfuckinggod." As Anon looked on at his car, he saw that it was key-scratched. He took a closer look at the damage to see that the scratches were in the form of letters: D M F -BB "Dead Motherfucker." Anon interpreted the message. When he read the '-BB' scratch, he immediately knew who did it: Blueblood himself. This was one aggravation too far. A frown starts to envelop his face, subtly masking his seething rage. "First, he drags me into this mess over a damn soda and now he's violated my car!!!" Anon thought as he nodded yes while masking his outrage. "Yep. Now I'm going to fucking enjoy kicking his ass. Bastard" he muttered as he turned to his friends. "This is one casualty too far." "I know, but don't dwell on that." Flash advises Anon to cool his anger. It took Anon a few seconds of contemplation to determine that his anger was best saved for friday. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Anon said as he dug his keys from his pocket. "I'll see you two tomorrow." "Same here." "Later." With those parting words, the 3 CHS students went their separate ways for the day as Anon got into his car. Before he could back out of his parking space, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He opened up his phone to see that he got a text from his father. Have to work late. You'll be on your own tonight. Fix yourself something. -Dad Knowing that his dad would be kept up with work, He sped home and made himself some pizza bagles, gobbling them down. After that, he felt the grip of sleep gripping him once more. He wandered into his room and over to his bed. The second his body touched the bed was the moment that slumber had dragged him down to dreamland with his fatigue finally winning over him. Author's Note Sorry this took a long time to get out. I got side tracked by a number of things like writing other stories and life in general. I hope you enjoy this because there is more coming down the road. Hold on to your flanks.
Wednesday: Pumping Iron*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BE-click* As Anon's vision began to become lucid, he arched his back and propped his knuckles and neck. Yesterday's exercise wore him out like a lightbulb and he still felt the persistent soreness of his leg muscles. He struggled a bit to get on his feet but was able to balance himself. He walked to his school calendar to see what was on the school's agenda for today. He was ecstatic to learn that it was a Professional Development Day which was code for: "Day off." he mutters to himself. He was relieved that he didn't have to go into school and deal with Blueblood today, especially after he key scratched his car. He was free to do what he please for most of the day due to the training arrangement he made Rainbow Dash. The more he thought of training with her, a feeling starts to swirl around in his mind like a cloud. He didn't know what that feeling was as he had never felt something like that before until Monday afternoon. His train of thought was interrupted by an feeling of unease and a rumbling in his stomach as hunger started to become dominant in his mind. Wasting no time, he trekked to the kitchen where he saw his dad in the living room, watching the morning news before work. "Heya sport, how were you last night?" His father asks as Anon pours himself a cup of coffee. "Eh, it was good." Anon says as he takes a sip of his drink. "Did some gym work with a friend that afternoon and I was burnt out after that." Anon Sr began to notice a pattern as of late. His son, since Monday, had been coming home exhausted and tired after his 'workout' sessions with said friend of his. He suspected that there was more to this story. "Ok, who is she?" Anon Sr asks his son, Surprising him. "What?!" "I'm not fooled. You're seeing a girl, aren't ya?" This elicited a nervous chuckle from Anon as he thinks he's seeing some girl and he is half right. "Okay, you caught me. I'm seeing this girl named Rainbow Dash." Anon admits to his dad. Now the feeling from earlier is starting to magnify with that statement. Anon started to recognize since Monday that he developed feelings for her. He wanted to ask her out but is afraid that it might get in the way of what he needs to do to prepare for Friday. After a moment of thought, he decided to play it cool for the time being. He then felt his father's hand on his head. "Don't be nervous about that. I've been there once when I was your age. It's a perfectly natural reaction towards the opposite sex as you become an adult. I was a little shy when it came to talking to girls. But I eventually came out of my shell and I had no problems since." His dad's words reassured him a bit but he had no idea on how to communicate his feelings to Rainbow. "But, how do I tell her that I love her?" "All you have to do is play it cool, be suave and subtle, and don't be nervous around her. Who knows? She might even make the first move if you're lucky." Anon started to see that his dad's advice was sound. He can't shake the nervousness of his infatuation towards Rainbow Dash but he decides to take his father's advice and play it cool with her. "Do you have school today?" "No, It's one of those 'Professional Development Days'." "Ah, alright." Anon Sr said as he walked towards the door to leave the work, only stopping when he opened the door. "Hey, I noticed that there were some key scratches on your car when i came home last night. What happened?" For a moment, the world around Anon froze. He felt as if his own father was on to what was really going on. He came up with a quick explanation to cover his tracks. "Some douchebag seniors pulling some pre-graduation prank. I'm gonna talk to Principal Celestia about it tomorrow." "Oh ok. Be sure to take it into the shop to get that fixed." Anon was relieved that his father bought his sham story. He is kept in the dark about his feud with Blueblood for the time being. With a "Goodbye Son.", Anon Sr got into his car and drove off towards his workplace downtown. As he slumped back on the couch, Anon breathed a sigh of relief that no outside forces were going to know about the fight, save for the students. "Holy fuck." He mutters as kicked back on the couch and contemplates what had happened and the recent developments. Thanks to his dad, his mind is starting to become filled with thoughts of a romantic nature towards Rainbow Dash. He couldn't deny his true feelings towards her but he worries that it would get in the way of the task at hand. He also wondered how it all happened. Anon had a good feeling that his sparring session on Monday with her could've been the root of it all. But as he contemplated, Anon's stomach complained in hunger. After wrangling a bowl of Cookie Crisp, he sat in front of his TV, playing one of his favorite video games. "What a great stress relief." he says as he guns down the final boss. He hadn't had any fun like that since Monday as the stress from the challenge kept him from wanting to enjoy himself. This brief respite allowed him a chance to vent his unease towards the whole situation. However, he knew that he had to prepare for Friday. He switched the TV to a movie channel as he began to do push-ups with each repetition starting to tire him out bit by bit. "995!" "996!" "997!" "998!" "999!" "1000!" After his 1000th push up, He collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. Anon's arms quivered in pain as his morning exercise rendered his arms to feeling like jello. But still, He felt that his workout wasn't finished and wanted to push himself more. He walked out of his house in a heartbeat and started out on his jog around his neighborhood. Thanks to getting the day off from school, he had all the time he wanted to keep his body and mind conditioned. It was all Anon's mind could think of before it suddenly switched to thoughts of Rainbow Dash. His heart started to race faster than before when he started out on his jog. Adrenaline and his thoughts of his secret crush fueled his drive to continue on with his run even as his body started to feel tired. When he arrived back his house, He was a sweat-soaked mess. He took a moment to catch his breath as he began to eye the clock. "2:30. Holy fuck." Anon panted in exhaustion as he got himself a glass of water from the kitchen. As he guzzled down his drink, he realized he had to prepare for his workout. He did not know where they'll meet him but he knew they'll figure something out. He got into the shower and got washed up and squeaky clean for the time being. The cool water started to soothe his arm and leg muscles and relieve the aching sensations in each limb. "Oh god, that felt soooo goood." Anon said to himself as he walked out of the shower. He stretched his limbs out so they wouldn't tense up and stiffen. Once all that was out of the way, he got on some gym wear in preparation for his training session with his friends. He then heard a familiar noise coming in from the living room. It was his ring tone and he could guess that it was Flash Sentry calling him. He walked over to his phone and answered it. "Hello?" "Hey Anon, what's up?" "Nothing really. What's on your mind, amigo? "Not a damn thing. Hey just a heads up, because of no school today, Rainbow said that Bulk Biceps is gonna let us use his personal gym at his house." "Ok, what time should I meet you all over there?" "3:30, the usual." "Ok, got it. By the way, I might be a tad late because I gotta get message Blueblood left on my car painted over." "It's all cool, take your time. Anyways, I'll see ya in an hour or so." "See ya." *Buzzzz* Anon received a text from Flash that gave him Bulk's address. He now knew what to do but he had to focus on getting his car fixed. He hopped into his car and sped off to the nearby garage. It was one of those that one would find along the road at some point but it would do. One of the managers of the garage approached his car "Eyyy, how's it going?" the manager said. "Not a whole lot." Anon started. "Just need a quick touch up on the paint, that's all." The manager looked around the car until he found Blueblood's message to Anon nicely scratched on his upper right car door. "Someone got pissed at you?" The manager asked in slight worry. "Something along those lines." "Alrighty. Exit the car and let me get to work. It shouldn't take me no more than 10 minutes for paint to be applied and dry." Over the course of 10 minutes, the key scratches were gone as if they were never there to begin with. "Ok, that'll be 12 bucks, sir." The manager said as Anon handed him the aforementioned amount. Anon's anger towards the school's king bully only grew after that. He now costed him a monetary loss, money that he'll never get back. As he got back into his car, He took a few seconds to do some calming breaths before departing for Bulk Bicep's house. After a 10 minute drive, he arrived at Bulk's house. It was a bit ways off from the sidewalk compared to the average house he sees and it looks like there is a separate building on the property that is smaller than the 2 story house it self. Anon figured that it's where Bulk's personal gym is, considering him being the school's resident muscle-bound fitness nut. Wasting no time, Anon walked over the building and knocked on the door where he was greeted by a familiar rainbow-haired sight. "Anon, so great to see you!" Rainbow Dash said as she wrapped Anon in a tight embrace. His feelings about her start to come to the forefront but he manages to repress those thoughts as she breaks the hug. "Thanks, Dashie." Anon said while rubbing the back of his neck. Without warning, Rainbow Dash grabs Anon by his arm and walks him to the Inside of the gym where Flash Sentry and Bulk Biceps are waiting. "Well, look who just wandered in, huh?" Flash chuckled as he saw his friends walk in. Bulk walks up to Anon with a slight thunderous sound from each step he took. The steps were light but enough to make some of the weights shake ever so slightly. "YEAH! WE'LL BE PUMPING SOME SERIOUS IRON TODAY! WHOOOO!!!" Bulk yelled out in his trademark vocal volume and energy. "Yeah, we'll be doing some strength training today. You have the endurance and moves. I'll give ya that. But those arms and legs of yours... man, they do need some work. I'll bet Bulk over there could snap them like twigs if he wanted. Since you got a bit of leg strength training done yesterday, we'll be focusing on upper body muscles." As rainbow dash walked a bit away from Anon, She began to stretch her arms and abdominal muscles. "Anon, you gotta stretch your muscles or it'll really hurt when you start lifting!" Heeding her advice, Anon began to mimic her stretches to get his body prepared for his afternoon of weightlifting. After 2 minutes of stretches, he was ready to start pumping some iron. Rainbow dash motioned him to a weight machine that had a pull down handle. "First up: Lat Pulldown." Rainbow Dash started as Anon got on the machine. "I'll set it to weight level 3, not too hard but not too easy either. If you feel like it, increase the weight to challenge your self." Anon gripped his hands on the handle and began to pull down. It was slow but he was able to bring it all the way down. He did 30 reps of this before he took a bit of rest to allow his muscles to recover. Listening to Rainbow's earlier advice, he cranked the weight level to 5 to challenge himself. He was getting serious about it. "Are you sure you wanna go from 3 to 5? Shouldn't you do 4 first?" Rainbow said with a hint of caution in her voice as Anon started doing more reps. "You *Erg* said *Erg* I *Erg* should *Erg* challenge *Erg* myself. *Erg*" Anon grunted as he did more reps slower than his last set. His upper arm and torso muscles start to tens up and harden with each rep he did. They burned like a blazing forest fire that spreads out of control. With his last rep, he slouched forward in slight exhaustion, panting and sweating. "I wonder how you lasted that long." Rainbow said in amusement. Anon turned his exhausted gaze to her. "Anger." Anon breathed. "Why anger?" "That little message Blueblood left on my car yesterday had set me back 12 bucks to have it fixed. That's 12 bucks that he costed me and 12 that I'll never get back!" Rainbow Dash understood his frustration as she let an amused hum escape her mouth. "Then use your anger as your drive." Flash said. "Let it fuel your exercise and motivate you." After his friend's words of encouragment, he continued on to the preacher curl station. Anon felt that his friend's words sounded like something from a movie he watches but he thought of it no further as he hopped onto the station. "Okay," Rainbow dash starts " the weights shall be set to 40 because there's 1 10lb weight on both sides. This station will test your upper and fore arms. Take it slow to get used to it and only kick up the level if you feel confident enough, bucko." With a pat on his back, Anon began funneling his anger towards Blueblood as he began to lift the weight slowly. The position of his arms on the machine and the nature of the exercise started to wear his arms out. He kept on lifting and curling until his arms began to cave after 25 reps, causing him to drop the weights. "Ow. ow. ow. ow." Anon moaned in a deadpan tone. His arms started quiver in shock and sweat a fountain ans he felt his muscles harden. "YEAH! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" Bulk Biceps yelled as he walks over to him, inspecting his muscles. "YOUR MUSCLES ARE ALREADY STARTING TO HARDEN! KEEP IT UP AND MAYBE YOU CAN BE AS MUSCULAR AS ME!" "I know." Anon groaned as he got off of the station, stretching his muscles and taking a breather on the benches. "My limbs have no mouth, yet they must scream." "Aw, that just means that your muscles are being shocked." Rainbow said as she sat on the bench, moving next to Anon. "That means that you should keep on going. Work through the pain and bear with it." Anon was too nervous by Rainbow Dash's proximity to him to consider her words. He felt his heart beat even harder from just being near her like that. He notices Rainbow looking at him with curious concern, wondering if he was alright. "Ummm, Anon?" Rainbow Dash said as she put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you in there?" It took Anon a few seconds to snap out of his trance to be able to respond to her inquiry. "Nothing, just trying to relax. I should be good to go." "Alright. Get to going and start lifting. Let's turn those stick arms of yours into guns!" Anon continued working on his muscles over the next two hours, doing flies, leg curls, and everything involving strength training. His muscles were aching like he lifted the biggest boulder in the city but he didn't care. To him, it was no pain, no gain as he desired to continue on with his exercises. When he was at the dumbbells, he sat as he curled 2 heavy dumbbells, lifting one at a time. Anon didn't stop until Rainbow dash walked over to him. "You're doing good so far. Now, It's time for the big one." Rainbow said as Anon let go of the weights. "The big one?" Anon asked out of curiosity. "The bench press, silly!" She said as she led Anon to the bench press. The barbell had been set to level 8, something that made him nervous. "ALRIGHT! LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN BENCH PRESS 100!" With Bulk's shout, Anon knew that he was in for some serious pain. All he had to do was to just bite his lip, suck it up, and endure it. "Don't worry. We'll spot ya." Flash said as Anon gripped the weight. He took several deep breaths and a moment to build up his drive before he began to lift. It was heavier and more exhausting than the other weights he did before. He kept on benching the weights getting progressively more exhausted with each repetition. As he approached the 90 rep mark, he felt his arms starting to buckle. "92..." "93..." "94..." "95..." "Come on, Anon!" "97..." "98..." "NEARLY THERE!" "1... 1... 100." With that, Anon's arms gave in as he let the barbell rest on his chest, eliciting a pained moan from him. Bulk and Rainbow helped lift the weight off of Anon and helped him up. He was relieved to see Rainbow look on at him with a sense of pride. "You did... AWESOME!!!" Rainbow said with glee as she hugged a still sweaty Anon. "YEAH! WHOOO!!! GOOD WORK BENCHING 100!" Bulk shouted, knocking anon over. "Damn, your voice is as loud as a friggin' jet engine." Anon said as he got back on his feet. "Damn, my arms feel like they got liquefied by sledgehammers." "Don't worry, it'll go away in time. You just have to take it easy." Flash Sentry advised to his friend. As Anon began to walk to the exit, shaking Bulk's hand, he felt familiar hand grip his shoulder. "You did good today." Rainbow Dash said. "Remember tomorrow: it'll be a refresher on what ya did so far." Without warning, she gave Anon a congratulatory hug. Anon fought hard to prevent his feelings from coming out. He could do nothing to prevent himself from returning the hug. After all that, Anon, Flash, and Rainbow exited Bulk's property. "Hey Flash?" Anon asked. "Yeah?" "Can you give me a ride tomorrow? I'm not gonna chance bringing my car there after what Blueblood did yesterday." "Don't sweat it. Just don't keep me waiting when I show up." "Alright. I'll see you two tomorrow." As his two friends drove back to their homes, Anon sat in his car for a few minutes to ponder his state of mind. The stress form both his training and being bothered by Blueblood and his newfound feelings towards Rainbow Dash began to take a toll on his morale. He took comfort that not only will the fight come soon, he'll graduate later as well. Even then, the uncertain outcome of the looming fight began to eat away at him. Shaking his furiously, he held these fears at bay as he began to drive off towards home to relax before the next day comes around. "Can't fucking wait until this is all over." Author's Note Well, this chapter turned out to be shorter than the last 2. I suppose I did it to reflect the fact that Anon had the day off from school. 2 more chapters and an epilogue to go.
