//------------------------------// // Major Problems // Story: The Strongest There Is // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "Um, girls? Did we ever come up with a plan for when an Ursa Major attacked?" Twilight asked her friends as the giant bear started to advance towards them. They could hear ponies beginning to panic in Ponyville, no surprise given the monster tht was walking towards them. In fact, the Elements of Harmony themselves were trying not to panic as well, given how the Ursa's head was the size of Ponyville. The Ursa Minor cried out for its mom and the Ursa Major headed right for them. "Alright, what should we do Twi?" Rainbow Dash asked as she nervously hoofed the ground. "Do we run? Fight? Scream?" "I...I don't know," Twilight said as the Ursa rose to its full height, it's body blocking out the sun and casting a shadow on them. "I think it be best if we-" "Even punier bear think it a match for Hulk?" The ponies all turned to Hulk, who was looking up at the new opponent with a smile on his face. Pinkie immediatly knew what was going to happen and went to intervene. "Don't you dare," she said as she raced in front of him. "Even you are no match for an Ursa Major! That thing is the strongest creature in the history of Equestria! It will-" The Ursa Major spotted Hulk, who was standing next to the Ursa Minor. It roared and charged to them, almost reaching them in two steps. Hulk roared in return and threw himself up at the bear. He was about the size of a pea compared to it and yet all of the ponies gasped with what happened next. Hulk rammed into the Ursa's gut head first with an impact that shook the earth. And the most powerful creature in Equestria...doubled over. "Did he just...?" Applejack began, unable to finish her sentance. Hulk then lept up from the creatures gut and drove his knee into the beasts head, snapping its head back. As he sailed into the air over the Ursa, he lifted both hands over is head and prepared to strike. But the Ursa Major recovered faster than he thought and swung one of her massive paws into him, sending him flying into the center if Ponyville. Hulk shook his head as he pulled it out of the dirt and looked up to realize that a number of ponies had gathered around him. "Are you okay, Dr. Banner?" one of them asked. Hulk looked over and realized that it was the foal that Banner had saved a few days ago. All of these ponies were looking at Hulk with looks of concern, not one of them seemingly afraid of him Hulk had just pulled himself out of the ground as a massive paw came heading down towards them, the size of it casting them all in shadow. Hulk quickly realized what was about to happen and sprung up, lifting both hands over his head as he did so. "IF PUNY PONIES WANT TO LIVE, GET UNDER HULK!" he screamed at them. Most of the ponies were hesitant, but the foal ran under immediately and the others quickly followed just as the paw came crashing down. The ponies screamed as the ground underneath then shattered from the force of the Ursa Major driving it's paw down. Buildings were broken as the paw crushed them completely and the ground shook as the ponies screamed. But their screams were quickly drowned out by the roar that Hulk gave as he caught the massive paw, his body shaking under the weight. But as strong as the Ursa Major was, the Hulk was stronger still. "GGGGRRAAAAAAHHHHH!" he roared as he began to push up on the Ursa's paw, pushing the creature back. The ponies under him, the ponies around that weren't under the paw and even the Ursa itself looked at him with awe as with a massive burst of strength, he threw the Ursa's paw off of him, the force causing the Ursa to take a step back. "TINY BEAR THINK IT CAN SMASH HULK!?" he roared to the heavens with his arm outstretched, the sheer thought of him losing to this creature driving his rage through the roof. "HULK SMASH BEAR!!" Hulk shot off towards the Ursa with such force that the ponies under him were blown away by the shockwave. Hulk roared and brought a fist back, heading straight for the bears head. The Ursa opened it's mouth to catch him in mid air, biting down on the Hulk as he entered her mouth. The ponies gasped as the Ursa smiled, believing her foe to be beaten. Then the smile faded as her jaws began to open, two green hands lifting the teeth apart. Hulk roared as he pushed the Ursa's jaws open before stomping down on her tongue. She roared in pain as Hulk grabbed the top of her mouth and swung himself up onto her snout, running up it and driving his fist right between her eyes. The Ursa Major's eyes rolled back in her head as the sounds of bones cracking could be heard and she collapsed to the ground. "HULK END YOU!" Hulk roared as he landed, growling as the bear got back up. It roared at him as it slammed it's claws into the Everfree forest and lifted a massive chunk of rock over it's head, looking down at the Hulk with a growl. "We're all going to die," a pony by Hulk whispered. Hulk looked up at the massive boulder with a smirk, knowing how to deal with it. With another roar, Hulk shot himself in to the air towards the Ursa, slamming his hands together once he had gotten close enough. The shockwave generated by the Hulk slammed into the Ursa and the rock it was carrying and knocked them both over. The Ursa collapsed next to the town with a groan, the rock falling on top of the Ursa and rolling off of it. Hulk jumped onto her and stood triumphant on her head, letting loose a roar into the sky. "GGGGRRRRAAAHHH!! PUNY BEAR THOUGHT IT WAS STRONGER THAN HULK! BUT PUNY BEAR NOT STRONGER! NO ONE STRONGER! HULK IS STONGEST THERE IS!!" "Well I believe him," Pinkie said, looking at the carnage with disbelief. Hulk then jumped down from the top of the Ursa and jumped to the forest, uprooting one of the trees and breaking off the bottom of it so it would have a sharper edge. He then jumped back up to the barely conscious Ursa and walked over to it's eye, lifting the tree over his head. "Puny bear try to hurt Hulk. But Hulk make sure that puny bear never bother Hulk again," he growled, waiting until the ber had opened its eye before he went in for the finishing blow. "Hulk stop!" Hulk turned and looked down at the ponies. Fluttershy had joined them and they were all looking up at him. He snarled and went to drive the tree down, but Pinkie appeared in front of him and stood between him and the Ursa. "Move," he growled. "No," she replied. "Hulk, don't do this. The Ursa Major didn't come here trying to pick a fight with you. That Ursa Minor you beat up on is her child. The only reason she attacked you was to defend her child. Please, let her go." Hulk frowned at the pony, not believing that she was trying to talk him down. Hulk was about to push past her when the Ursa Minor pushed itself to it's feet and limped over to its mom, whimpering and nudging her with its nose. The Ursa Major looked up at Hulk, her eyes seemingly asking him what would he do next. Hulk looked down at her, feeling the weight of the tree in his arms and the rage in his body. Then he felt the rage subside a bit and with a sigh, Hulk threw the tree back into the forest before looking the Ursa in the eye. "Leave. And never bother Hulk again," he whispered. He then hopped off along with Pinkie and watched cautiously as the Ursa stood back up and rubbed her head. The Ursa Minor limped over and put its face in its mothers arms. The Ursa Major rose to her full height and walked back off into the forest, eventually vanishing from view. Once she was gone, Hulk sighed and turned around, heading back for the forest he had been earlier. The Elements of Harmony watched him go, looking on is disbelief. "I don't believe it," Fluttershy said as she looked around at all the carnage. Ponyville was a wreck, the ground had been completely devestated and the two Ursa's barely walked away from the fight. "All this destruction. Why did it happened?" "It happened because Hulk is incredibly stubborn," Twilight said with a frown. "Pinkie told Hulk not to mess with the Ursa's, but Hulk didn't listen and picked a fight with them instead." "Well, he might have brought the trouble here, but he did help us," Pinkie said, trying to at least give him some credit. "Yeah, but that's only because the Hulk hated the idea of something being stronger than him," Rainbow Dash said with a frown. "Trust me, if he didn't have a grudge against those two, he wouldn't have bothered to help. He only cares about combat, not anything else." "We should be glad that it's over," Twilight said with a grateful sigh. "Come on, let's see how many were lost this time." The ponies headed into the town, preparing themselves for the worst. However, they found no bodies or any of the death that they had expected. The destruction level was high, but there had been no lives lost. Applejack and Twilight started talking to ponies and seeing what the damage was. Pinkie immediatly headed for the spot where the Ursa's paws had come down, expecting the ponies there to be the most distraught. But much to her surprise, she found a number of ponies talking excitedly to themselves. "Hey everypony, what's happening?" she asked the group with a smile. An excited foal came rushing over to Pinkie's side with a huge smile on his face. "Pinkie! I can't believe you missed it!" he said excitedly before coughing a little. "Dr. Banner landed in front of us in his huge monster form just as the giant paw was coming down. We all thought we were gonners, but then Dr. Banner told us to gather around him and he stopped it with his bare hands! I've never seen anypony so strong!" "Wait a minute," Pinkie asked, certain that she had heard him wrong. "Did you just say that the HULK saved you?" "Yeah! It was amazing! He told us to get under him while he lifted up the Ursa's paw!" the colt said with barely contianed excitement. "I thought we were dead, but he saved us!" The colt ran over to his mother to retell the story as Pinkie looked around with amazement. The ponies all around her were talking about how Dr. Banner (or the Hulk) had saved them. But Hulk found the ponies as annoying, so why would he bother to save something that bugged him? She had to find out. So faster than anypony could fathom, Pinkie shot off to find the Hulk. ---=-=--- Hulk could feel the weariness beginning to get to him. He hadn't been out this long for a while and his strength was beginning to waver a bit. Normally this was around the time that Banner would take over, but Hulk hadn't heard from him ever since the battle with that giant snake. Maybe Banner had vanished for good. "At least Hulk finally alone," he muttered to himself as he stared at the forest below him. Hulk had climbed up a steep cliff after the Ursa's had wandered off just as the sun set again. He wanted to be alone so he could try and make sense of what had just happened. He had never spared a creature that had fought with him in the past, so why did he this time? He grunted and decided not to think about it. He laid back and tried to take pleasure in the fact that he was fina- "Hiya Hulk!" Hulk let loose a roar of rage and sat up to find Pinkie sitting on his chest with a smile. "What puny pony want?! Hulk told pony to leave Hulk-" "Yeah yeah, leave you alone, I've heard it," she said with a grin. "But why would you want to be alone when you could instead be spending time with us?" "Because puny pony annoying," Hulk growled, trying to swat her off his chest, but she vanished before he could hit her. He sat up and looked to his right where Pinkie was now sitting. "What puny pony want? Don't bother thanking Hulk for fighting bear." "Why would I bother thanking you?" she asked with a smile. "It's your fault that the Ursa's attacked our home anyway. If you hadn't been so stubborn and listened to me, none of this would have happened." "If puny pony hadn't said bear stronger than Hulk, Hulk wouldn't have had to prove pony wrong!" Hulk shot back. "Well if yooouuuuuu had any brains in your green head, you would realize that you don't have to pick a fight with anything that somepony says is stronger than you," Pinkie replied. "What if I said that the sun was stronger than you?" "Then Hulk smash sun," Hulk replied with a grunt. Pinkie sighed and rolled her eyes, amazed at how thick Hulk could be. But despite how it had started, Hulk had saved them and protected some ponies from the Ursa's wrath. That deserved thanks at the very least. "But...thanks for protecting those ponies in the town. I honestly didn't expect that out of you. I thought they annoyed you, so why'd you save them?" "Hulk didn't save ponies. Hulk just wanted to show that he stronger than bear," Hulk replied. "Uh-huh," Pinkie said, not believing him. She was skilled at telling when a pony was lying or not and Hulk was definitely lying, but he'd never admit it. "Anyway, to say thanks I got you this." She pulled out a large present and balanced it on the top of Hulks head. "It's a little gift from me to you." Hulk reached up and grabbed the present, which was fairly small to him. His hands were too big for it so Pinkie had to open it for him. He snarled when he saw it was a picture of him and her with the words best friends under it. "Hulk don't want it," he growled, throwing it back at Pinkie. "Okay, then how bout this?" She asked as she held up a small cake, which Hulk also tossed back at her. Pinkie caught it and looked up at Hulk with tears in her eyes. "W-why?" she asked him with a sniffle. "Don't you want to be my friend?" "Hulk don't want friends," Hulk growled. His rage was reaching its boiling point and the fact that he was tired wasn't helping matters. "Hulk wants to be alone." "But I'll even set up a party for you at Applejack's farm," Pinkie protestes, oblivious to the fact that Hulk was getting angrier and angrier. "All the ponies will be there so they can thank you." "Hulk doesn't want a party, Hulk wants to be-" "And Twilight also wants to talk to you. I mean, she wants to talk to Banner, but that's you in a-" "NO! PUNY PONY BE QUIET!" Hulk roared as he spun to face Pinkie, his rage shaking the earth beneath them. "HULK NO WANT PARTIES! NO WANT TO TALK! HULK JUST WANTS TO BE ALONE!" Pinkie backed up a little, surprised where this sudden rage had come from. But she had been getting angry at him and his stubborness as well. "Well I want to talk! Like why won't you try and make friends? Or why are you always so anrgy?!" she yelled back. "I have tried to be nice to you since you showed up and all you've done is scream at me and threatened to smash us! What is your problem? Why won't you let anypony be your friend?" "BECAUSE HULK SMASH HIS FRIENDS!" He roared, shaking with rage. "HULK'S FRIENDS ALWAYS SAY THEY HULK'S FRIENDS, BUT THEN THEY TRY TO HURT HULK AND HULK FORCED TO FIGHT THEM! ALL HULK'S FRIENDS TRY TO HURT HULK! HULK IS TIRED OF HAVING TO FIGHT SO-CALLED FRIENDS! HULK TIRED OF FIGHTING AND TIRED OF SMASHING! ALL HULK WANTS IS TO BE LEFT ALONE SO HULK NO SMASH!" When Pinkie didn't respond, Hulk tured and lept off into the forest. Pinkie sat stunned, shocked by what she had heard. Hulk was tired of fighting? But that's what he lived for, wasn't it? And did he say all his so called friends hurt him? Was that why he refused to trust others, why he wanted to be alone? "Hulk..." she whispered to herself as she watched the Hulk jump off once again. She realized that talking about friends probably brought up bad memories for him. She couldn't imagine her friends trying to hurt her and from what Hulk had said, it happened multiple times. And the reason he wanted to be alone was so...others wouldn't get hurt? "Hulk...have you being trying to protect us from you, just like Banner?" Pinkie asked herself.