57 - Where the Heart is
"Well, I wasn't in the back. I just saw her go off and didn't see her again until she came out to start kicking those rumps." Immovable nodded at Junebug.
Small popped up between the two, her small stature helping her get between the irate mother and the target of her displeasure. "I was there. I can take this part of the story."
"Please." Junebug sat back. "Go on."
"She was nervous, I could tell that, so I tried to be by her side the whole time." Small thumped her chest. "We're both strong small ponies, so I felt a bit of a kinship right off the bat, you know? This big jerk, Rolling Thunder, makes fun of how small she is, but I defended her." She clopped her hooves together. "Oh right, best part! He came over and gave her a mean hoofbump, knocked her arm aside, so she gave him one back that sent him through the wall. Ha! Shoulda seen the look on his face. It was classic." Small smiled at the memory. "Anyway, she went out for her bit, but when she came back, she looked really nervous about it. I couldn't put my hoof on why though. She was acting like she messed up, but she ended up with the biggest prize!"
Junebug's eyes darted from Small back to Immovable. "You were watching the stage, what happened while my hedgehog was on it?"
Immovable sat up when called, jerking to attention. "Oh! Right, so she came out, all bashful, but she started her routine right up! She took the barbell they had and she just kept lifting it like it wasn't even on, oh, it was magic. She kept going and going and going. She was doing it so hard she started to sink into the floor! They had to stop her from going. Who knows would have happened if she just kept going... Maybe she woulda drilled through the world... That would have been pretty cool..."
Small blinked at Immovable. "Get out! She did not!"
"She did too!" Immovable stuck out her tongue at Small. "I was there, I saw it. They made her stop and had her put down the weight super slowly, then it was on to the obstacle course. She didn't do perfectly there. She made a few mistakes, but she didn't do too badly, compared to the others I saw." She wobbled a hoof in the air. "I'd give her a B if I had to grade her. Fulcrum deserves that pin. Wow, that stallion! Every move, pow, right where it needed to be. He's strong up here." She tapped at her own head.
Junebug lightly bonked Immovable on the head. "Focus, please. So, what then?"
"Oh, right, the 'explosive strength' contest!" Immovable clopped her hooves. "They brought out this big padded target, and they punched or kicked it. Simple as that. Well, it shoulda been, but not for my Titan! She kicked it and it just snapped right in half like it was made of little sticks. It fell over before she even came back to the ground. You shoulda heard the crowd. They were so amazed! So, yeah, she won that! The last one was supposed to be endurance, but they couldn't give that to her."
Twilight tilted her head at that. "Why not?"
"Well." Immovable lifted her shoulders. "They needed her to be near or at her limit to test that, but she never even got close to her limit, so how can they test it? So they just sent her back."
Junebug put a hoof to her face. "My poor little hedgehog..."
Small made a little face. "I'm starting to get a better picture of what happened."
Immovable blinked softly. "What? I don't get it. She showed everyone up! She should be happy."
Twilight set a hoof on Immovable's shoulder. "Not everyone likes to stand out. P--Tiny Titan, well, she became a hero to..."
"--Hide," completed Junebug. "She hid behind her mask, because how strong she was made her uncomfortable." She rubbed her forehooves together. "And it's my fault... I am the worst mother ever..."
Small cleared her throat loudly. "This won't get us Tiny Titan any faster! Let's go get us a filly and bring her home."
Junebug shook her head as she rose to her hooves. "You're right, of course... We need to find her. She... is probably somewhere dark and out of the way. She... liked to burrow... just like a little hedgehog." She smiled a little, a few tears struggling to escape. "She would hide until she was sure the bad things had gone past, or until I found her..." She jerked with a new thought. "Oh! What happens if something bad happens to her? The city has more dangerous dark places."
Small raised a brow at Junebug. "We are talking about Tiny Titan here. If it can be punched, then she has nothing to fear from it. Shoot, with how upset she is, I feel more sorry for anyone trying to mess with her right now. Pow, right out of the city!" She clapped one hoof on the other, then hopped up to all fours. "Let's go save the city's criminals from a peeved little superhero."
Prickle walked along the sidewalks. Could she have been bouncing? Sure, but she didn't feel like being Tiny Titan, and she was already chastising herself for the things she'd already done without the costume. "I hope he turn out alright..." She thought back to the homeless foalnapper. Had helping him been the right thing to do? He could just go back out, healthier and fitter, and grab more foals. Had she done the right thing?
She shook her head with a frown. He was a pony in pain. She did what she could. If ponies had... done that before, maybe he wouldn't have gotten into the foalnapping business to begin with." She brought down a hoof but stopped it just before the cement. "Watch it," she whispered to herself, setting down the hoof ever so carefully.
"There you are."
Prickle looked up in surprise to see a white unicorn with purple mane smiling at her. "Oh, hello Miss Rarity!" She glanced left and right before leaning in. "Convention over already?"
"No, but some little new and upcoming hero bolted out in the middle of things." She reached out a hoof towards the guilty-looking Prickle and drew the youngone closer. "And I got worried. Are you, no, nevermind that. If you were alright, you wouldn't be here. Care to share? We can discuss it over something sweet, my treat."
Prickle took an uncertain step back, not that Rarity could hope to stop her. "But... your booth! I--"
"--Handled." Rarity held up a hoof. "You think I didn't have backup?" She gave a gentle little titter. "Oh dear, no. One of my lovely assistants took my place. She's dressed up as the Maneiac and it seems to get some giggles from the customers, so that works. You should have seen our mock battles." Rarity reared up into a faux-fighting pose. "Stop right there, you bad excuse for a perm!"
Prickle giggled at the sight of Rarity and the imagined theatrics of it. "I'm glad I'm not... hurting you."
"Hurt me?" Rarity came back to all fours. "Darling, you are the one that's clearly hurt about something. Now, what sort of treat do you prefer? Are you an ice cream filly? Don't be shy, you're my little sister's favorite superhero. She would never forgive me if I didn't do my best to help."
Prickle looked around the city. There were so many options even in the small slice she could see. She pointed at a small and cozy looking restaurant. "We can go there... but I'll pay for myself."
Rarity nudged her. "That's very noble of you dear, but you're still a filly."
Prickle frowned at that. "I have bits... I'm not going back to the... you know, so... they're extra."
"We'll see about that." She trotted towards the eatery, making sure Prickle was coming with her. "But put away your bitpurse, you're my guest right now, so stop refusing me."
They were soon seated inside. Prickle felt better right away, not being on the street with what felt like thousands of eyes. She sank into the seat and gave an easy smile.
"You already look better." Rarity's horn glowed as she fussed over Prickle, straightening her mane and suddenly pausing. "Dear, when did you start using cosmetics? You did... a fine job." She turned Prickle's face left and right in her magic hold. "Very nice. You'll make the poor little colts faint from how enchanting you are."
Prickle's cheeks darkened through the subtle blush that had been applied to her. "Some little fillies did it... They earned their cutie marks."
Rarity tilted her head. "What a charming little talent to have. I wish them the best in their endeavors, but we're here for you, darling, not them." She waved down a waiter. "We'll take one of the biggest, sweetest, most decadent thing you have."
Prickle raised a hoof to object, but the waiter was already cantering off to get it. "Well, um... it's... better than mine?"
"Better than yours?" Rarity shook her head slowly. "I'm having a hard time imagining that. What's wrong with your talent?"
Prickle tapped her hooves together lightly. "Well... they get to make things, pretty things. They get to make ponies feel good, maybe help them find their special somepony... That's nice, really nice... What is my talent? I can hit things..."
Rarity raised a hoof. "Did you already forget how you became a hero?"
"I was trying to hide?"
"No no dear, besides that. Your very first time! I remember it, it's hard to forget, really. You saved that Silver Spoon filly, whisked her out of her burning home. Why, she still looks at you in that special way. You saved her, and she knows it. Did you 'hit things', or did you save a pony? Trick question, dear, since I know which it was."
Prickle stuck out her tongue at that. "I did both, actually... But... I did rescue her..." Her thoughts came to a halt as a huge platter was set between herself and Rarity. It was piled high with more ice cream than ever she had seen in one place before. It was done up like a volcano, with running 'magma' of caramel, pools of chocolate, and even candy trees and other things that would be victim of the oncoming blast. "Wow..."
"Don't just stare at it, as lovely as it is, eat up." She leaned in and took a bite right out of the side, a napkin sweeping in to clean the mess she had made without even thinking about it. "It's here for us to enjoy. Mmm, delightful. Nothing like visiting a new city and trying its decadences."
Prickle reached out and paused. She leaned in, and paused again. Every time she made a move, she didn't finish it.
"Darling, if even I can get my face in there, you can too." She chomped a candy tree and crunched it loudly a moment. "This is a time to let loose and enjoy the moment. If you don't tell, I won't either. Two things help a mare get past things, a good cry, and some good sweets. I bet you've already had the first."
Prickle darkened a moment. "Y-yeah..." She set her hoof down, nodded to herself, and lunged for the sweet mountain, burying several inches of her snout. The caramel ran over her nose as she chomped and licked at the sweet explosion that detonated in her mouth. It was lovely, and messy.
"That's the spirit!" Rarity stood up on her chair to take a bite from the very top of the volcano. "You know, ponies are talking about you, in a good way." Prickle was eating quietly, so she continued, "They admire you, look up to you, well not literally, but you know what I mean, dear. Ponies like you, me to start." She reached over and patted Prickle's shoulder. "You're a bedazzling jewel, to be treasured and loved."
Prickle sat back at that. "Isn't that just a nicer way of saying freak?"
Rarity tilted her head. "Freak is such a harsh word. Why, I'd say I'm 'freakishly' charming." She batted her lashes at Prickle. "But I wouldn't use those words. It's an ugly word, and neither of us are that. Why, my name means 'freak', if you think about it, but no, I am not a freak, and neither are you, dear. We are both rarities." She gave a firm nod at that. "And proud of it!"
"What's... the difference?" She pointed at Rarity. "You're not a freak."
"And neither are you." Rarity brought a napkin over with her magic and dabbed at Prickle's messy snout. "The difference is in how you use it. If you used your strength for bad things, well, that wouldn't do at all. As a hero, you are no freak. Ponies could call me that if I started using my overwhelming mare charms to make bad things happen and tempt good ponies towards the dark." She wriggled her hooves. "Like some sort of comic villain. Wouldn't that be a thing, oh my. No, I'm quite happy being on the good side. Why, I get the best company." She rested a hoof on Prickle's back.
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I bet Prickle would make a good construction worker. Lifting tons of materials and such. She'll always have that if she doesn't enjoy being a hero.
8344991
She'd be good at demolitions too.
I'm just wondering what the fallout from Prickles' encounter with the "bad pony" be when Mom finds out. Sure, it turned out fine in the end but if that wasn't Prickle it could have turned out all sorts of dark.
Rarity has had several years to tune her gem finding spell ability into her gem of a little sister CMC finder, generalised further to higher magical density, power values?
Which makes me wonder just how good Celestia is at stealthing her power level so that sensors dont overload when peering over the horizon in Canterlots direction.
... Junebug is pretty much telling Immovable Prickles identity isn't she? Oops.
I wonder if Immovable will be more willfully dense, though...
8344991 Maybe not so much a worker as a piece of construction equipment. Put her in a harness and get an experienced worker to 'drive' her.
8344991
Maybe she could find work in a tunnel-drilling project. Then this conversation would be inevitable:
"How's work?"
"Boring."
🤣
To quote Tubby the Tuba, "Oh, every time we play a new piece...you all get such pretty melodies to play. And i? Never Never a pretty melody."
the things she already did - the things she'd already done
She rest a hoof - She rested a hoof
Light on the typos today, but with extra feels.
Clearly a little generosity was the perfect topping for this stage of Prickle's journey to self confidence.
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Fix'd!
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Typos cleared to make way for all this ice cream!
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That's true, but there was also Scootaloo avoiding to say the word "death" by making a gesture instead, for which no reason was given in the story other than the implication that mentioning death is a taboo, which doesn't fit to Equestria at all, as I explained in my longer comment.
But the author fixed that in later chapters already, so that discussion I started there is over for quite some time now.
I send you a PM about the other stuff, once I have time.
Also, geez, I really need to get back to reading this story. I missed so much already.
Sometimes it seems that to matter how many people tell you something it just doesn't stick.
Perhaps she needs another freak not a friend to come from the other side?
Keep going! ;)
I always think Rarity is the most reasonable pony out of the Mane6. Good chapter.