//------------------------------//
// 58 - End Episode 13 - I Am Different 
// Story: Prickle Berry Tries to Be Careful 
// by David Silver 
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With their tremendous meal of sweets residing, at least partially, in wanting bellies, Rarity stood up. "Shall we head back?"

Prickle shrank at that. "To the conference?"

"Not if you don't want to, darling." She reached out and gave the smaller pony a pat on the head. "But you aren't going to wander the city. That's just not proper, dear. Where are you staying? We should get you checked out and we can have you on your way back home. Where is that confused friend of yours? The one that doesn't move if she can help it."

Prickle suddenly winced. She had abandoned Immovable! "O-oh, oh no... She doesn't have any bits at all and I just... left her..." She started dancing in place, bouncing from one hoof to the next. "What's she gonna do? She'll be lost in the city!"

Rarity pressed down gently on the dancing filly. "Calm down, dear. She lived in a city before she even met you, if I recall properly. She knows her way around. Besides, she's a pegasus. They have ways. Why, I bet she'll beat you home and probably just be a little irate about your hasty departure."

"But we're so far away..." Prickle slowly sank to her haunches. "How can you be so sure?"

Rarity smiled as she touched noses with Prickle. "I happen to have two, very dear, pegasi friends. Neither would tolerate being lost for long. They know how to get home, and her home, is Ponyville. She's likely wondering where her little mentor went running off to, worrying herself into a tizzy much like you are, darling. There's only one solution, really." Rarity gestured her snout towards the door. "You know what you need to do."





The train rumbled softly beneath them as the entire party waited impatiently to arrive.

Small sat beside Junebug. "So... you're her mom, right?" Junebug did not answer. "I get it, I'm not 'in the circle' and stuff, but c'mon... I mean, good job." She smiled at the larger mare. "She's a good filly. A little confused right now, sure, but--"

"--Thank you," cut off Junebug.

Small let it die for an awkward moment or two before glancing over at Immovable two seats ahead. "So, how has she not figured this out by now?"

Junebug let out a sudden sigh. "I know you're trying to be friendly, and I appreciate the help you've given already, but, please... I just want her back."

Small gave a single nod and hopped down. "We'll get her." She left the stricken mother and considered her targets before hopping up next to Twilight. "Hey."

"Hello." Twilight looked Small up and down. "I remembered your name, but not your, what is it, specialty? From what I gathered, most ponies in your profession have very particular specialties."

Small perked up. Talking about her job sounded far more interesting than moping around. "I'm a bit of a generalist, I admit. It showed in the contest. I didn't beat anyone at any specific thing, but I got best in show." She clopped her hooves together. "I'm strong, reasonably agile, and tough enough. Some of the others say I'm the 'boring' kind of super, just a little super at everything, instead of really super at one thing, you know?"

Twilight gave a thoughtful hmm. "I see. That sounds dynamic to me. You can adapt as the situation calls for it."

Immovable had, at some point, moved to the seat just in front of them and was up against the back of her seat, peeking at the two of them with a sudden grin. "But can you take an explosion, boom!?"

Twilight's snout wrinkled. "I would hope to avoid that, but I presume you can?"

"Sure can." Immovable bobbed her head.

Small pointed at Immovable. "But if a wagon was on top of a pony, could you get it off of them?"

Immovable's confidence broke. "Oh, uh... I'd get Tiny Titan to do that. That's why we're a team."

Twilight murmured softly. "I see... Small, I gather you could weather that explosion better than I could?"

"Well, I don't want to compare myself to a princess..." Small gave a nervous little laugh. "But I can take some punishment, sure."

"It's a classic conundrum." Twilight looked pleased. "Is it better to specialize? I confess, I am guilty of some specialization. It seems to come naturally to ponies, perhaps in part due to our cutie marks. We realize what we're good at and continue to seek to hone that specific thing." Her eyes lowered to Small, and her clothed rump. "If you don't mind, what is your mark?"

Small suddenly looked quite sheepish. "Oh, well, it's... nothing special..."

Immovable gave a huge grin. "Mine's a big set of spread wings, to block everything!"

Twilight raised a hoof. "Or like a shield, to protect those you love."

Immovable's grin faltered a little. "Wow... that was... deep." The smile returned fiercely. "I love it!"

Small gave a small clip-clop of her hooves. "That's very nice."

"So, about yours?" Twilight pointed at Small's left rump.

Small shrank a little. "I... rather not go into that?"

Immovable suddenly jumped over the back of the seat she had been perched on, pouncing Small. "Aw, c'mon! We're all friends here, let us see!"

Small easily shoved the non-planted Immovable off her chair, snorting and fur raised in objection. "We only just met, I'll remind. A girl can keep a few secrets."

Immovable quickly sat up on the floor. "You're already keeping your name a secret. How many secrets do you need?"

Small stuck out her tongue. "I can keep as many as I want, thank you."

Twilight waved a hoof lightly. "It's alright. If you don't want to say, I won't force you. I'm just curious how your mark led you to a generalist outlook on things."

Small's shoulders lifted. "Look, see... I found out the hard way. Ponies needed me, and, you know, I took action... Then I knew I could take action... so I couldn't stop, so I didn't... I didn't try to specialize or not, I just kept... doing what I could... It was a while before I met anypony else that knew what I was doing."

Twilight lifted a hoof to her chin. "A lack of educational emphasis... Maybe this is a systemic issue instead of a biological one." She leaned back in her seat. "Fascinating. Tiny Titan has a mentor."

"I have a mentor!" Immovable lifted from the floor on her wings, hovering to be equal with Twilight. "And she's awesome."

Twilight smiled at the eager Immovable. "That she is, but you visit her mentor as well, do you not?"

Immovable suddenly realized something. "Wait, isn't she another secret?"

Twilight rolled a hoof. "Keeping an eye on our local hero is a task I've given to some friends of mine. It's hard not to notice who she trains with. An unusual choice, I admit... I never would have figured she had any fighting ability, but she's done a remarkable job so far."

Small raised a hoof, lowered it, then slowly raised it again. "So... another hero?"

Twilight shook her head quickly. "Oh, no. I checked the registry for Ponyville, and she's not there. I did think of that though." She nodded at Small. "Good thinking. She's a candy maker, actually, and a good one at that."

Immovable licked her lips. "You're telling me? She gives me some when I get a lesson right, makes it worth it every time!"

Small's brows lowered in unison. "She's training you like a dog."

"Woof." Immovable let her tongue loll out a moment. "I'll roll over if it means I get more of what she has."

Small burst into laughter. "You are a master of saying things the wrong way."

Twilight seemed to not catch it. "What did she say?" Her head turned towards the window she sat by. "Looks like we're almost there."

The train slid smoothly into the station, prompting a flood of ponies coming and going. The group departed onto the platform together. Junebug looked left and right. "This is... a big place." Her eyes moved from one tall building to the next. "How do ponies find anything here? Oh, my poor little hedgehog..."

Twilight's eyes swept over the crowd and spied a familiar shade of berry-colored fur and an even more familiar white shade with purple highlights. "Rarity?" She trotted to meet her friend.

"Twilight, darling!" Rarity closed the distance and embraced Twilight. "Good to see you. What on Equestria brings you here?"

"I could ask the same." She smiled down at Prickle. "And you seem to have found someone."

Junebug suddenly rushed past Twilight, grabbing Prickle up and squeezing her tight. She said nothing.

Prickle squirmed faintly in the grip. "I'm... sorry?"

Rarity cleared her throat softly. "Yes, well, I found our little filly looking lost and took her under my wing, metaphorically speaking. Everyone is safe and sound."

Immovable moved in opposite of Junebug and hugged Prickle from the other side, joining the mostly-quiet embrace.

Twilight shook her head at the display. "This looks like a happy ending to me. Thanks for the help, Rarity. I was afraid we'd have to scour the city to find her."

Rarity waved it off. "As if I could do any less. Twilight, dear, you've come all this way. We can't just send you home now. You've barely arrived. Baltimare may not have the same charms of Manehatten, but it has many sights worth seeing. Come now, darling, we're not going to let this trip go to waste." She threw a hoof over Twilight's withers. "It's time to paint the city red!"

Small put a hoof behind her head. "Well, uh, good to see everyone is where they need to be... guess I'll just, you know, get going." She took a few steps away before a pegasus landed in front of her, wings spread wide to stop her. "Immovable, what's the deal?"

"You can't just go!" Immovable snorted in annoyance. "You went through all that trouble to find Tiny Titan and you're not even going to say hello?"

Prickle had been let go to the ground, but her mother hovered over her, hugging gently from behind. She was blushing softly from the attention, but she looked to Small. "T-thank you. You... didn't have to."

Small let out a little laugh as she struck a pose. "What are heroes for, if not helping find lost fillies?" She stuck out her tongue at Prickle. "Not that you're a normal filly. You're even better, so it was even better finding you. Everything alright?"

"No." Prickle backed up into her mother's embrace. "But that's alright..."

Small went still and quiet a moment before she nodded. "I know that feeling. Look, so... don't be a stranger, right?"

Immovable suddenly pounced Small from behind. "Ask already!"

"Ask what!" Small threw Immovable clear of herself. "There's nothing to ask."

Immovable rolled with the impact and came up onto her hooves. "That's a lie and you know it. You want to be part of the team. You totally do! You practically told me so."

"Oh, now you can notice things." Small frowned at Immovable. "You don't even see the obvious right in front of your eyes but you can see this?"

Immovable pointed at Prickle. "She doesn't want me to know, so I don't. When she wants me to call her Prickle, I will, not before then. Before then, I don't know who she is, because she doesn't want me to know, and that's her choice! I respect her. I respect her and I won't make her move before she's ready..."

Prickle's jaw dropped. "Y-you knew?"

Immovable squeaked and fell over, realizing what she had just done. "What? No! I don't know anything!" She gave a hysterical little laugh. "What are you talking about, Tiny Titan?"

Junebug looked off to see Twilight being hauled away by her friend, then back at her daughter and her friends. "Small Packages."

Small went into attention. "Yes, ma'am?"

"You've been... so helpful, would you care to visit for a little while?