Iron Will’s Iron Abs Workout Core Blast Zone

by Shaslan

Chapter 1: Failure

“Come on, maggots!” bellowed Iron Will, his booming voice barely audible over the thumping music. “Push yourselves! You gotta really push!”

The hapless ponies arrayed before him strained and grunted, shoving with their hooves against the dumbbells that weighed them down, but not one of them managed to shift the weight.

Iron Will waited, his own biceps tensed and straining beneath his charcoal fur, hoping against hope that one of them would be the one. The pony who could finally lift the weights that Iron Will himself could. All they needed was the mental strength. The willpower to see beyond what their body would do and make believe in what it could do.

But the little ponies in this room were just like all the rest. They sweated and panted with good grace, but not one of them had the grit to follow through. None of them cared enough.

His ears tipping back in disappointment, Iron Will passed a blunt-clawed hand across his face. It was over. Another three-week long training course finished. Another failure. Another crop of ponies who fell at the very last hurdle. Even Strongbuck, the big earth pony mare for whom he had harboured such fond hopes, floundered beneath her minotaur-weight dumbbell. And another of Iron Will’s dreams bit the dust.

“Enough,” he said, kicking the gramophone with one hoof to shut it off. The music skittered into silence, and the shocked ponies looked up from their futile efforts at their coach. He couldn’t even meet their eyes.

In silence, he walked from pony to pony, relieving them from their ribcage-crushing burdens, stacking the dumbbells in his arms like so many toys. Their movements unsteady with fatigue and shame, the trainees got to their hooves and shuffled in one sad line to the door. None of them could muster the strength to meet his eyes. Strongbuck was the last to go, her tail tucked between her legs and her head dipped so low her muzzle almost brushed the floor.

As the double doors of Iron Will’s Iron Abs Workout Core Blast Zone swung shut behind her, Iron Will replaced his weights one by one onto the racks. The silence stretched like the chain of a lat pulldown machine, long and heavy and painful.

“Iron Will’s my name, and training ponies is my game,” he muttered, but not even his tried-and-true catchphrase could spark any emotion.

Despondently, he plodded over to the doors and flipped the sign to ‘closed’. Perhaps Iron Will’s Iron Abs Workout Core Blast Zone would never open its doors again. When he had first cut the red ribbon across those doors, he had felt invincible. Nothing could stop him. But now…he felt empty, somehow. Over and over he had tried, and over and over he had failed.

It had been a bet that sent him into Equestria, almost twenty-five years ago. A quarter of a century since he had last trod Asteria’s rocky shores, since he had watched those beloved peaks dwindle into the distance as he sailed away.

It began with a wrestling match, as it always did for minotaurs. Every bullock and heifer had to prove themselves once they came of age, and the Hammerfest was the highlight of Asteria’s annual calendar. Iron Will had felt readier than anyone. His massive strength had been one thing, but his sheer charisma and strength of character had all but guaranteed him the Golden Horn and the ultimate victory. Perhaps it was that overconfidence that had been his undoing.

When somebody tries to block, just show ‘em that you rock. And he had been ready to show them all that he rocked. He had been ready to hear the screams of adulation, ready to let the calves ride on his shoulders and let the adults tousle his hair.

He had been so sure, that he had made a bet. Secure in his self-confidence, he had gambled on himself, and he had lost. Words were thrown, and everyone was watching, and before he knew it he had shoved Cloven Hoof square in the chest and challenged him. Of course I can beat you! You’ll be so easy to pummel I’d bet a pony could do it.

And Cloven Hoof, always so clever and so suave with his infuriating little smirk, looked up at him and grinned. Wanna bet?

When the moment came, when Iron Will had charged and Cloven Hoof had sidestepped and sent him sprawling in the dirt, when their horns had locked and Iron Will had slipped and fallen once more, Cloven Hoof had stood over him and laughed. Guess you’d better get rowing if you want to make it to Equestria by nightfall, Little Will. Good luck finding a pony that can beat me.

Though his pride had been bruised, Iron Will had submitted with good grace. He had made a bet and he had lost, and he had been prepared to abide by its terms. He kissed his parents and his brother goodbye, packed a few meals in a small bag, and set sail in the family rowboat.

Seven days it had taken him to reach Equestrian shores. He found the first pony village within an hour of landing. He had strolled into town with a smile on his muzzle and a laugh on his lips, ready to tell them his story and win them over. Maybe one of them would be big and strong enough to take Cloven Hoof on.

But the ponies had taken one look at him and fled. Those who quietly turned and galloped away were the best of it. Worst of all were those who stared and those who screamed. It took Iron Will a while to understand. He was a monster here. A beast. Something horrifying and feral.

It took him time to come to terms with that. To figure out how to speak to the ponies so that they wouldn’t assume he was going to eat them. Once he understood how to speak softly and keep his posture low so he didn’t tower over them, he began to try to get a sense for their fighting ability.

What he found horrified him. Ponies were soft. Cosseted by their immortal princesses, served by the seasons themselves, nature delivered up on a silver platter daily, ponies had not needed to fend for themselves since time immemorial. Even the strongest of them had not half the muscle mass or the determination of a minotaur calf.

There had been one stallion who he had thought could be…could be the one. Two years after his initial arrival, already far longer than he had intended to take. He had met a stallion, with strong stocky legs and a huge frame that made him almost rival Iron Will in size. His name had been Woah Noah.

Iron Will had worked with him one-on-one for months, and under his tutelage Woah Noah’s muscles swelled to enormous proportions. Iron Will had never been as happy as when Woah Noah finally managed to pin him down. At last, there was a chance.

But when the time came, and he asked Woah Noah to join him on his journey back to Asteria, the green-coated titan refused. He had fallen in love, he said. She was pregnant, and he could not miss the birth of his unborn foal. He was sorry for Iron Will’s predicament, but he was asking too much.

Crushed and betrayed, Iron Will had left Canterlot the same day. In the years and decades that followed, he thought of his old friend often, but he never went back. Woah Noah had not stood by him, and it was over.

And time after time, Iron Will had repeated the cycle. Try to find a pony. Try to train them up. But every time, they failed, or were unwilling to join him on his long pilgrimage. Not one of his students had ever cared enough to help.

And here he was, twenty-five years later, still alone and friendless. Still no closer to going home than he had been on that very first day. Still no closer to finding his champion than he had been when Woah Noah betrayed him.

Iron Will sat down and leant against the racks, staring into the wall-length mirror at the only minotaur face he would ever see again; his own.

“Don’t be shy,” he murmured, as a tear coalesced in one corner of his eye. “Look ‘em in the eye.”

Comments

[SparklingTwilight]

But when the time came, and he asked Woah Noah to join him on his journey back to Asteria, the green-coated titan refused. He had fallen in love, he said.

A very interesting tie-in to an obscure lore character's parentage!

[Bicyclette]

Even Strongbuck, the big earth pony mare for whom he had harboured such fond hopes, floundered beneath her minotaur-weight dumbbell. And another of Iron Will’s dreams bit the dust.

mine too, all for this character i met just now!

The silence stretched like the chain of a lat pulldown machine, long and heavy and painful.

love this appropriately themed simile

“Iron Will’s my name, and training ponies is my game,” he muttered, but not even his tried-and-true catchphrase could spark any emotion.

the thought of Iron Will failing to pump himself up really is singularly tragic

His name had been Woah Noah.

that is a fantastic name

“Don’t be shy,” he murmured, as a tear coalesced in one corner of his eye. “Look ‘em in the eye.”

i am loving this origin story for Iron Will! though i admit my bias for depicting Equestria as a walled garden under the care of its immortal Princess, with ponies living soft, happy lives because they are able to. it gives Iron Will, a fun amount of depth, to have his exuberance and positivity be a reaction to a tougher world that he grew up in.