22 - Start Episode 6: For Science
All the other foals were very supportive, at least the ones that knew what was coming up. Even Diamond pat Prickle on the back. "I heard you're doing something today. Silver refused to say what, exactly."
Prickle's ears went back, then sprung back up. "Diamond, we need to talk."
"We are," she pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "What's up?"
Prickle pointed at Diamond, then herself. "I don't love you, but!" Her heart was starting to race. "I would... like to be closer. Friend closer?"
Diamond frowned sharply at Prickle. "You don't like me, do you?"
Well... "N-no, but I don't know you." She gave an uncertain smile. "We can fix that, maybe?" She could see a thousand ways it could all go wrong, explode in an angry berating and leave her sad and destroyed, but better that than trying to live a lie, or so she decided.
Diamond stared at her evenly an uncomfortably long moment before the littlest smirk touched her lips. "After all that, you finally grow a spine. The way I see it, you have me at a disadvantage now. Don't think I don't see how you've gotten Silver Spoon's attention. If I say no, well..." She rolled a hoof a little lamely. "At a disadvantage," she repeated, sounding upset, but curiously not angry. "Is this your game?"
Prickle was quick to shake her head. "I'm not trying to hurt you."
"As if you could!" She spat, but then went quiet and sank to her haunches. With a hoof she gently nudged a rock. "Guess I was a bit silly..."
"Huh?"
Diamond smiled. "Thinking somepony might... think that way about me. Sure, I was confused it was you of all ponies... but it... It was a little nice. I thought..." She was going red and having difficulty getting the words out.
Prickle took the step forward and hugged her tormentor. She hugged her tight, but not too tight. "How can ponies love you if you don't let them?"
"Let them?!" She squawked, frowning. "What do you mean by that?" She pushed at Prickle, though she had no hope of forcing Prickle to let go. Fortunately, Prickle did not mean to hold Diamond captive and released Diamond to scramble just out of reach. "I give ponies plenty of chance. I'm always where they can see me, and I'm super important. What do you mean 'let them'?"
Prickle pointed up, far up, to the city on the mountain, Canterlot. "You know Princess Celestia, right?"
"Duh." Her brows furrowed. "What about her?"
"She's always in public, and super important. I bet she doesn't have a coltfriend at all."
Diamond's frown eased away. She went from angry to confused to pondering to confused again. "What would you know?" she spat defensively. "You don't have one either."
"I do have friends," said Prickle with a smile. "Good friend who care about me."
"I..." Diamond trembled. She really only had one friend. "Are you making fun of me?!"
"No!" Squeaked out Prickle. "You have friends too." Diamond stared. "You do! Besides Silver Spoon, the crusaders are ready to forgive too."
"Forgive what, exactly?"
Prickle felt ice wash down her back. "For... picking on them?"
"I told them they don't have cutie marks, and it was through that, through us." She made an odd gesture, pointing at something that wasn't there and herself. "I got them their marks. I made them. Why should they be angry at me?"
Was that how Silver Spoon saw it? Prickle tilted her head a little. "And me?"
Diamond sat up tall. "You're not very scared anymore. You were when I first met you. Good job."
Prickle's head swam. Diamond saw herself as a dispenser of the toughest love? "Why?"
"Why?"
Prickle nodded. "It's not nice, making ponies sad."
"Don't get carried away." Diamond shoved at Prickle, though it only made her sway a little before she caught herself. "Don't question my destiny." She pointed back at her cutie mark. "Somepony has to take charge around here, and that somepony is me. I may not have become the... whatever, that was for foals anyway. I'll still be in charge. I have to be!"
"Why?" Prickle asked. "Why you?"
Diamond stomped her forehooves on the ground. "Because that's what I was raised to do!" she almost screamed.
Heads turned as other foals got curious about the yelling.
Diamond quieted. "We'll... talk later." She rose up to her hooves and walked away, nose turned up.
Prickle was quietly glad to escape the conversation. Still... She had stuck to her guns and no longer had to deal with the idea of somepony thinking she was in love with them. The only pony she had love for was her mother, as daughters should. Then again, there were different kinds of love. "I love Ponyville," she said to herself just before a pony tackled her. It was Apple Bloom.
Prickle rolled with the tackle and sent Apple Bloom soaring, but she never let go and set the launched filly on the ground as if that were the plan the entire time.
Apple Bloom blinked softly. "What jus' happened?"
Sweetie Belle approached at a less hazaroud walk. "I think she just used one of her moves on you. It was quite spectacular."
Apple Bloom nodded. "It was kinda fun, now that I'm not s' dizzy 'bout it. Can ya show me how to do that?"
Prickle smiled at that. "It's more about technique than strength. My, uh, teacher." She had promised to never say who that was. "She told me how you move is way more important than how strong you are, though being strong helps."
"That's mighty swell! Ah'll look forward to a lesson or three, after ya finish with that other pony. We'll be there, promise."
Sweetie Belle bobbed her head in agreement. "We'll be there," she echoed. "Are you prepared?"
Prickle lifted her shoulders. "I hope so. I'll do my best."
"All anypony kin ask fer," assured Apple Bloom. "We trust in ya."
The rest of the school day passed without too much fuss. "Now class," spoke Cheerilee at the end of the day, "Please be careful. There's been a timberwolf sighting in the town. Hopefully that was a one time thing, but I don't want my students being harmed."
Apple Bloom thrust up a hoof. "Even if there were a dumb timberwolf, we have a super hero to beat them into splinters."
Cheerilee shook her head. "Be that as it may, having a masked vigilante is no excuse to forget how to be careful and take care of ourselves. That's how trouble starts in the first place. Let's be our own heroes, alright? And that means not getting into trouble in the first place." She waved out the door. "You're dismissed. I'll see you all tomorrow."
Most foals dispersed to their homes, but not all. The crusaders were quick to find Prickle and crowd around her. "We can walk with you up to the hill," declared Scootaloo, excitement easily heard in her voice.
Prickle wasn't sure that was a good idea. "This is going to look a bit odd, besides, I have to get dressed before I show up. We don't need to show her who I am when I'm not Tiny Titan."
Sweetie nodded with a sage look about her. "She's right. We shouldn't be going together. Prickle, we'll see you there."
Apple Bloom nodded. "The whole club'll be there."
Off they galloped, excitedly gabbing about something Prickle couldn't make out. That was alright. She went to change, pulling on her lightly-armored suit. It felt a bit odd, with little sheets of stiff protective something between the fabric, but if it meant she wouldn't be chomped as easily, it was a good thing. She'd have to work harder with Bon Bon to make sure she could do moves properly with it.
Donned for action, Prickle, AKA Tiny Titan, gave a powerful jump into the air. Out of habit, she scanned for anything out of place, but the town looked peaceful enough. She saw lots of ponies just walking here and there. They looked happy and peaceful. She landed on a roof and bounced off towards the hill.
Alone and bounding, she could eat up the distance swiftly. She saw the crusaders below and gave them a little wave before she hit the ground again. She wasn't sure if they had seen her bouncing back them, but there wasn't time for that. She had to focus. Jumping was a lot harder than it looked. If you let yourself get distracted, you could slip and fall instead of bouncing. Prickle didn't want that, but she was getting better at it.
She landed at the very top of the hill with a soft thud, dust wafting out in all directions.
With a mighty shower of sparks, the Mauler appears from out of nowhere. "You're early," she noted. "Are we to begin now?"
"Wait!" came the shrill cry of a filly. Silver Spoon was hurrying towards them. "That's not the real Manehatten Mauler!"
Prickle blinked dumbly before it turned into a scowl at the suddenly nervous costumed mare. "Who are you?!"
The Mauler thrust a hoof at Prickle. "No matter who I am, nothing has changed. We have a spar to do." She clopped her hooves together roughly. "Or are you giving up before we even begin?"
Silver Spoon got in easier speaking distance, panting and heaving from the panicked gallop. "The... real... Mauler isn't a unicorn!"
"Go away, little filly. I have business with Tiny Titan."
Prickle moved between the two. "Don't talk that way to Silver. She's a good filly, and my friend."
"If she's your friend, tell her to go. Fillies should not be in the way while we're fighting."
Prickle sighed as she turned to Silver. "I'm still going to fight them. Thank you for telling me, but please get back. I don't want you to be hurt."
Silver smiled, her lashes fluttering. "Of course, my hero. Good luck." She blew a kiss and walked away back towards where other ponies had started gathering.
Prickle's fanclub had assembled and already had begun to cheer and stomp for her. Prickle felt a blush coming on, though it wasn't visible under her outfit. "I-I'm ready," she declared, turning back to the not-Mauler. "What should I call you?"
She shrugged softly. "IF you win, you can ask that. Until then, may as well stick to Mauler." She hovered in the air a few inches, glowing softly with unicorn magic. "Shall we begin?"
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Those darn kids. How was I to know that using a fabric three values away on the Pantone scale would be discernable.
Big fight needs big crowd, big crowd needs big build up. big build up takes more than one chapter. At least noones trying to drive a Lear Jet down mean street, or brek Berry Punches place.
The question now is, which one is John Wayne, and which one Clint Eastwood.
Oh, now that can be intresting. Starlights experiments discover strange anti magical properties of a certain spa product. Produced by Zecora, used to treat thread, fabric, which Rarity then assembles. Low level spells pass through as normal, but mid to high level spells, usually attack bolts, reflect. Very high power spells reflect as much as possible before faiing.
AntiMagic coating? Two primary mechanisms spring immediately to mind. Polystyrene and other organics have a large energy gap in the UV region, they cant absorb energy and so heat up. The other is a phenomena called phase conjugacy, or time reversal. Really messes up lasers.
8018453
8018428 Ponies who have ambition with their talent and continue to press seem to get better at it. See Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash.
Prickle, so far, is serious about being good at what she does. I posit she will get better at it. Will this mean more raw strength? We haven't even measure what she has not, just what she's done. Who knows, really?
Let's see... what else? Harassment, theft of personal property, sabotage, blackmail.....
Heaven or Hell!
LET'S ROCK!
8018519
Explicitly looking down on them was definitely part of the bullying.
I said Diamond still has a long way to go and maybe one of the first is to stop not acknowledging that what she used to do was mean.
Blood, blood, blood, blood- oh, wait... *sees the rating* I mean, fight fight fight! So, who is the real Mauler then and who's this? Hmm.
Wouldn't it be funny if the real Mauler showed up?
So Silver reveals the first part of the treachery. Makes little difference for the spar.
Diamond seems to be feeling the pressure of relevance, only now starting to realize just how much her upbringing has twisted her perception (if only briefly).
Keep going! ;)
Ah, so this must be Wonderhorn.
Diamond pat Prickle - Diamond patted Prickle
bouncing back them - bouncing past/above them
the Mauler appears - the Mauler appeared
I'm fascinated with the way you're developing Diamond Tiara's character.
8018497
I will say... RD spent her whole life working back up to the miracle speed she attained as a child, and Twilight's power has always been vague. They both have definitely got better, Twilight learned a million spells and Rainbow stunts and weathering. But I'm not sure if their top ability went up or not, or by how much, given that they both had magic powered superfeats as children.
It's possible Prickle just got a big strength and magic injection and she'll just progress as anyone else would, or that she could become exponentially stronger.
However, learning skills and how to use her strength is definitely going to pay off.
8021238 Ultimately that's what matters. It's not like we have a hard number for her strength. What she lacks isn't strength. She needs control and finesse, which she's slowly improving on, so she doesn't have to be stuck in the hedgehog's dilemma.
8018497 Hm, I don't know why I didn't see this reply before.
I'm not suggesting that ponies can't improve at their special talent as they grow; I'm suggesting that such improvements come from non-magical sources, rather than the magical endowment that their cutie mark gives them, which seems to be static in nature. Rarity has improved at being a seamstress and businessmare because she'd worked hard at both of them. Applejack is good at applebucking and farming because she does it every day. Twilight has gotten better with magic because she's practiced and expanded her repertoire; her actual power is vague, but other than her alicorn ascension, she seems to have gotten better at versatility rather than actual aptitude (even levitating multiple critters simultaneously in Magic Duel was portrayed as an issue of physical effort via her racial telekinesis, rather than personal power).
Prickle is doing exactly what you'd expect of someone with a static super-power; she's focusing on how to use it more adroitly, rather than trying to increase it. Even she doesn't think she needs anymore strength, hence why she tossed away that energy-shake that her mother made for her.