In the end, the only ones that made a profit were Flim and Flam. They were smiling ear to ear, vindicated. "And they thought they were fakes." Flim gave a cackle.
Flam joined in. "Fortune conspired with us today!"
"Our one hundred percent--"
"--Maximally effective--"
"--One of a kind product saved the day."
Flam nodded. "Now there's just a little matter of payment."
A super pony, large and with muscles on their muscles, snorted softly at the both of them. "We just saved you."
Both shrugged in unison. "No returns," they spoke in unison.
A mare adjusting her glasses trotted towards them. On her chest was a pin that identified her as convention staff.
Prickle held out a hoof and Immovable's clopped against it. "Nice job. If you didn't get those, we mighta been in trouble."
Immovable beamed proudly. "I saw it across the way before everything went dark. I thought it was kinda funny. I mean, 'ghost blankets'? But bam, suddenly useful!"
Prickle shook herself free of the chills that tried to haunt her. "Glad you did. Now, about shopping..."
Immovable bounced in place. "Can we? Please!"
With peace restored, ponies were returning to their stalls and shopping was resuming all over. It seemed a little bad pony activity wasn't going to stop the heroes for long.
As they browsed the wares, Prickle's eyes never rested on any one thing for long. "Being strong isn't the end of the problem..."
Immovable tilted her head at that. "That's why we're a team. Sitting still isn't the end of the problem either."
Another pony put a hoof to the strange visor on their head. "Energy beams don't solve everything."
Immovable pointed at them. "See, none of us can fix it all."
Prickle nodded a little. "Yeah... I guess that's true. Hay, do you see anything you like?"
"Everything!" Immovable stepped up and put a hoof on a strange fuzzy ball. "What's this do?"
The young stallion behind the stall smiled at Immovable. "Well, hello there! That's a stress ball, designed to be tough enough for a superpony's unique demands. Squeeze it, burn it, freeze it, it'll bounce back for more!"
Immovable picked it up slowly, looking at the stallion. He nodded and she plucked it up the rest of the way. She tossed it from hoof to hoof, then wing to wing. "It feels great. Check this out." She thrust a wing and the fuzzy object towards Prickle. "See if it really measures up."
Prickle accepted it with an uncertain hoof. "I don't want to break it."
"Oh don't worry about that," said the stallion confidently, standing as tall as he could. "Give it your best shot."
Prickle paused a moment before she nodded. "If you insist." She let it roll around on a hoof. It did feel nice. She brought in her other hoof and gave it a timid squeeze, but it barely compressed.
"You'll have to squeeze harder than that, you're holding back. How are you going to work out your stress?" argued the businesspony with a smile.
She pressed a little harder, then a little more. She slowly brought her hooves closer and closer together. She was straining, not from the effort of squeezing, but from holding herself back right in the middle. It wasn't giving in.
Immovable slapped her on the back with a wing. "Stop holding back. He said give it your all!"
Prickle's hooves slapped together with a clop that was met almost instantly with a momentarily deafening bang. Bits of the stress ball rained down across all three as the businesspony's face fell.
"But..." was all the shocked businesspony could get out.
She dropped what little she was still holding, ears dropped to either side. "I'm so sorry! You said..."
"It's... alright..." He sank to his haunches. "I guess I still have work to do... Have you signed up for the Atlas competition? You'd be a shoe-in."
That caught Immovable's attention. She saw a pony walking past with a convention schedule. "Can I borrow that?" Secured, she flipped through it quickly in her wings. "Here it is. Atlas. It's in just an hour, what timing! A strength competition. You'll smash everyone!"
That was exactly what Prickle did not want to do. She gave a little laugh. "I'll think about it."
Immovable passed the schedule back with a wing as she frowned at Prickle. "You're being a big fibber! Why not?"
"Hey, look at these," said Prickle, already on the next stand.
Immovable stepped over to peer at the staggering collection of pins. "They're nice, but not as cool as a strength competition. C'mon! I proved I was good at not moving, why won't you show your awesome power?" She put a hoof to her chest where her own pin of invulnerability was proudly displayed. "Don't you want to show the world?!"
"No!" burst out Prickle in a strangled shout. Her ears dropped and she shrank, looking around to see who noticed her outburst.
A soft wing draped over Prickle as Immovable moved in closer. "Hey, relax... I won't force you. Besides, you're the boss... I just think it's a waste... Besides, bet they have really cool prizes."
That reminded Prickle. "Did you win something, besides the pin?"
"Oh yeah!" Immovable reached into a pocket and drew out a slip of paper. "I can't use it here, but I did win it."
Prickle leaned in closer and saw it was a gift certificate for the Ponyville Day Spa. "How... did you get that? Were they from Ponyville?"
"Nope! They asked me where I lived though and made it up on the spot. They said 'Since you obviously only move when you want to, have a day where professionals give you exactly what you want.'" Immovable clapped her hooves together. "I never went to a spa before, but look." She deftly flicked the paper, revealing there were two of them. "You're coming with me!"
Prickle's tension ebbed away. "That sounds nice. It's something to look forward to when we get back home."
"Sure, but there's still a contest waiting for us." She thrust a wing at a nearby clock. "C'mon... please? What's the worst that could happen?"
"Everypony stares..." Prickle shuffled on her hooves. "I know you like that... but I don't..."
Immovable lifted Prickle from the ground. "I'll be there, rooting you on. You're a tough little filly. This is just another monster, and what do we do with monsters?"
"Kick them in the face?" offered Prickle with uncertainty, an ear lifting.
"Exactly!" Immovable set Prickle back down. "Let's go kick that monster in the face."
Prickle let out a little laugh at that. "I'm not sure they'd appreciate that..." Glancing left and right and back at Immovable. "I'll... try. I bet I'm not even that strong anyway..."
Immovable reached for a dangling bit of stress ball and plucked it off Prickle. "You keep telling yourself that if it gets you moving. You're Tiny Titan. Show off a little. Nopony will be mad at you, promise."
"Promise?" asked Prickle in a small voice."
Immovable squeezed her close with a wing. "Ultra mega promise! Now let's get you signed up."
Together they left the vendor hall and trotted towards the 'Olympus Room' where the event was scheduled. On approaching it, they saw a line already formed. Prickle looked left and right along it. "Do we have to wait to sign up?"
One of those standing in the line looked over at Prickle. "That depends. Are you watching or participating? This is for watching. I have a partner participating."
Immovable folded a wing across her front. "I have a partner participating too! Here she is." Those wings came in to lift Prickle, but Prickle danced away. "Where do we have to go to sign up?"
"Titan!" came an enthusiastic voice. It was Small Package, trotting towards them. "Are you joining? This is great! I want to see what you have."
Prickle's ears pinned against her head. "Oh, uh, I guess?"
"Great, C'mon!" She had to hop up to get a leg over Prickle, being even shorter than the filly. "Win or lose, it'll be nice to compete against someone closer to my field of view. Not that I plan to lose."
Immovable watched them walk off and looked over at the other sidekick. She knew they were one, as they were wearing a sidekick pin just like the one she wore. "So, your boss is in the competition?"
"It's a sidekick's life," she said good naturedly, and let Immovable slip in with her on the line.
Prickle found herself in front of a pony she knew. It was Bulk Biceps. "You're a super pony?"
"I wear many hats!" he declared proudly. "I'm just assisting." He thrust a clipboard towards Prickle. "Please fill this out."
Prickle looked it over as she turned away from Bulk Biceps, glad that he didn't recognize her, or maybe he just didn't say anything? She couldn't be sure. The form wasn't asking a lot about her. It was mostly a disclaimer. "Is this dangerous?"
Small Package snorted. "Only if you're bad at it. You'll be fine! This is just to cover their rumps. I mean, we are super ponies, things happen."
"I guess..." Prickle took the provided pen in her mouth and scribbled her name in the few places that called for it. "Here you go."
Bulk accepted the clipboard back. "Yeah! Your name will be called when it's your turn."
Small nudged Prickle along. "Let's meet the competition. All of them are big brutes that think size is everything. We'll show 'em wrong, right?"
"Right..." Prickle stepped forward with less confidence as they slipped behind some curtains.
There appeared to be about a dozen ponies ready to enter the competition. They were all adults and most were larger than average. A mare looked up when they entered and she gasped. "Awww, look at this adorable little one." She hurried up to Prickle. "You must be lost. This is where the strong ponies go. We don't want you getting hurt."
There was no malice in her voice, which made Prickle all the more annoyed. "I'm here to compete," she muttered, barely audible.
Small thrust a hoof up at the mare. "Quit yer motherin', even if it comes natural to you, Big Momma. This here is Tiny Titan, and she'll clean all your clocks but good!"
A stallion with a green laurel on his head laughed at the idea, laurel bouncing with each deep noise his lungs made. "Her? It's bad enough you think you can match us, Small Package. At least you're.... full grown." He snorted as he said it.
"Finished growing at least," amended another mare beside him. "Run your mouth all you want. You'll be squashed flat in the second round at the latest, maybe the first, if they don't put you against the newbie."
Big Momma spun on them. "You stop picking on them! I will not tolerate bullying, especially not here! We're super heroes, for Celestia's sake, let's act like it." She clopped the ground and turned up her nose.
They muttered something of an apology in the withering gaze of the powerful mare.
A scrawnier stallion approached. "Hello, Tiny Titan. It's always nice to meet a peer." He held out a hoof towards her. "I'm Fulcrum Shift. I may not... look very strong either, so I know how you feel, but it's about how you exert your strength, not how much you have that will matter in the end."
Prickle brought in a hoof to meet it but slowed at the last moment and barely tapped him, afraid to cause harm. "Nice to meet you, Fulcrum." He struck her as a nice pony, just as she amended Big Momma to be alright, if mothering, as was her schtick. "I look forward to seeing how you do. Let's have fun."
Big Momma's smile returned brightly. "See, she has the right idea. Let's enjoy ourselves and show what we can do. If we want to be aggressive, there are plenty of bad ponies out there waiting for us."