Stephani stood with her hooves planted firmly in the sand and her back to the ocean. “If you’re stronger than me, push me into the sea, Timo!” she taunted the colt facing her. The sea breeze whipped her brown mane and tail. Her white coat was damp from the spray blowing off the waves behind her, but the weather was warm enough that she didn’t mind.
Her adversary planted his hooves as well, but looked nervously at the dozen other foals watching the confrontation. None of the foals were wearing any clothing, but that was typical in the Fresian earth pony tribes.
“Come on, Timo! Dunk me, or all these foals will know you’re a coward!” Stephani tilted her head pompously at the spectators, as if she was not also a foal herself.
“Yeah, Timo!” called a filly in the crowd, “make her drink salt water!”
Timo took a deep breath and lunged forward, thrusting his head and neck past Stephani’s and pushing against her chest with his own. The filly’s hooves slid backwards a few inches in the sand, but her legs held firm. Both foals’ hides stretched and rippled as the muscles underneath strained. The crowd burst into cheers and taunts, rooting for both wrestlers with gusto. Stephani turned her head to look back at the colt and gauge her distance to the waves.
“Is that...all you’ve...got?” she gasped, making a futile attempt to disguise how hard she was straining.
“It’ll be enough...for you,” Timo replied. He bent his legs to lower himself.
Stephani’s hooves slipped back a few more inches and she lowered her own body to match Timo’s. Her muscles burned, but she had been the one to issue the challenge, so she couldn’t back out now. She tried to push Timo back, but her hooves slipped a little more instead. She was going to look a fool if she didn’t do better than this. “Okay Timo, enough pretending!” She put every ounce of her strength into one great heave, then abruptly moved sideways.
Timo had desperately matched Stephani’s surge, but now suddenly found nothing holding him back. He stumbled forward, tripped, and fell face-first into the waves.
Stephani gave a panting laugh. “Who’s wet, Timo? Not me!”
Timo emerged from the ocean sputtering and dripping. “You cheated! I’ll show you wet!” He lunged at Stephani and kicked her in the side with both forehooves.
Stephani went down hard, but the sand cushioned her fall. She kicked at Timo’s legs, sweeping them out from under him, and he fell on top of her.
The two foals rolled around on the ground, kicking and biting. Some of their audience looked concerned, but most just cheered their favorite and taunted the other.
The combatants rolled apart for a moment, and Timo kicked a hind leg into Stephani’s stomach. While she was still gasping for breath, he stood up, grabbed her by the neck with his teeth, and started dragging her towards the ocean. Stephani flailed wildly, pounding Timo with her hooves, but he reached the water and dropped her in it. He stomped on her with his forehooves and held her down for a few seconds before backing away.
Stephani surfaced, coughing and gasping. She stumbled out of the ocean and fell prone on the beach. The salt water and sand stung everywhere Timo’s hooves and teeth had cut her. Timo was in a similar state, but he wore a huge smile. He had won, and all his friends had seen him do it.
Stephani got shakily to her feet and turned to walk through the crowd. They parted to let her pass. Walking was painful, but she forced herself not to limp, trying to preserve a small scrap of dignity. She had barely passed the group before hot tears started running down her face. Her body hurt, but her pride hurt more. She had been humiliated in front of all her peers, and she had nopony to blame but herself.
Stephani put some distance between herself and the others, but she didn’t head towards town. Instead, she followed an overgrown trail up the bluff and along the top to her special spot. It wasn’t hers alone, but none of the adults and only a few of the other foals knew about it. She checked that nopony was following her, then stepped carefully over the edge of the bluff, reaching for the ledge she knew was there. Her hoof found solid ground and she started walking down the ledge. Her overtaxed muscles protested the exercise, but she could not afford to humor them here. The path was not much wider than her slim body, and there was nothing on the seaward side but a long drop to sharp rocks.
Halfway down the cliff, she came to the cave entrance. Her cave. She followed the cave wall around until it opened towards the ocean again, near the bottom of the cliff. She walked out on the flat rock in front of the cave. The tide was out, so the shelf was still several feet above the water. Stephani sat in a tidepool and stared out to sea. The salt stung her cuts for a moment, but the warm water was very relaxing. Here, nothing would bother her. She was alone except for the wind, and the sun, and-
“Hey, Steph! You in there?”
Stephani rolled her eyes. “I’m here, Filos.”
A dark blue colt trotted out onto the shelf next to her. “I thought I’d find you here.”
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to make sure you weren’t hurt too bad after your little swimming lesson.”
Stephani swatted angrily at Filos with her tail, but he dodged it as easily as he had the last dozen times.
“I had a feeling you might be in over your head,” he continued, deliberately emphasizing the pun, “but I know how pushy you can be.” Filos dodged another swat from Stephani’s avenging tail and chuckled at his own cleverness.
“As if it wasn’t enough to be defeated in front of all the foals in the village, now you have to torment me here?” Stephani lamented.
“Pfft, get over yourself, Steph. That wasn’t nearly every foal in the village. Besides, they were all there when you dumped Timo in the ocean too, remember?”
Stephani just stared at the water.
“Come on Steph, you’re better than this.” Filos wore a serious face for the first time since arriving. “The filly I know is too tough to sit and sulk after losing one fight. What’s different this time?”
Stephani let out a long sigh. “It’s my fault this time. I got full of myself and challenged him. I made the whole contest about me, and then I failed. I deserve to be humiliated because I defeated myself.”
“Wow. Deep,” Filos said with a smirk. “But if you know what you did wrong, then you’ll do better next time, right?”
Stephani was quiet for a while, and then sighed. “Yeah...you’re right.” She gave her friend a small smile. “Thanks, Fil, you always know what to say.”
“Yes, I’m a genius. Most ponies can’t see past my rugged good looks.”
Stephani’s tail brushed his nose as he pulled his head back. “You’re still an awful pest though.”
“I try. Let me see that bite on your neck; it looks pretty deep.” Filos pushed Stephani’s head down so he could splash seawater on the wound on her neck.
She hissed as the salt made contact, but held still for him. “Ugh, everyone at practice is going to see me and Timo and ask who won. I wish I could cover myself with a blanket or something.”
“There’s no use in hiding your body; be proud of your effort, and worry less about the outcome.”
“Now you sound like my uncle.”
“I should; I’ve heard him say that enough times.” Filos let her sit up again. “Speaking of your uncle, we had better start back to the village. You don’t want to be late for practice.”
“Fine.” Stephani got up stiffly and let herself drip dry for a moment before starting to walk back. “This is going to be the worst practice ever.”
“Even worse than the time you knocked yourself out with a shield?”
“Hmm...yes. This will hurt more. Maybe I should knock myself out again.”
“Well, wait until sparring so it looks like I did it.” Filos grinned impudently.
Stephani laughed. “Nopony would believe that.”
“Hey! I’ll be a mighty warrior someday, you’ll see!”