Iron Will’s Iron Abs Workout Core Blast Zone

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Iron Will dreams of finding someone strong enough. Tirek is tired of being so weak, but ponies tend not to like it if you steal their magic just to bulk up. Maybe a little old-fashioned training is what they both need.

Chapters (4)

Chapter 1: Failure · 25th Oct 2021 · 1,410 words
1,410
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Chapter 2: Weakness · 25th Oct 2021 · 875 words
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Chapter 3: Training · 25th Oct 2021 · 337 words
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Chapter 4: Success · 25th Oct 2021 · 1,217 words
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Comments ( 11 )

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daOtterGuy

daOtterGuy #1 · Oct 25th, 2021 · 2 · 1 · Chapter 4: Success ·

Howdy, hi!

ENTRY CONFIRMED, OH YEAH!!!
(you have been successfully entered into the MxM contest, thank you for your participation and we look forward to reading)

headless_rainbow

headless_rainbow #2 · Oct 26th, 2021 · 2 · 3 · Chapter 4: Success ·

It's a war crime that they never met in canon.

SparklingTwilight

SparklingTwilight #3 · Nov 1st, 2021 · 1 · 2 · Chapter 1: Failure ·

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!

SparklingTwilight

SparklingTwilight #4 · Nov 1st, 2021 · 1 · 2 · Chapter 2: Weakness ·

And all he had to do to keep that certificate was…stay calm. Follow the rules. Acceptance not violence. Debate not hate. Support not retort. Professor Starlight had a great many rhyming and somewhat insipid lessons for him to abide by. And for the most part, they helped him keep his cool. It was easy, most of the time, to remember not to reach out and suck the magic from passing ponies.

Very amusing!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #5 · Dec 3rd, 2021 · 1 · 2 · Chapter 1: Failure ·

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.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #6 · Dec 3rd, 2021 · 1 · 2 · Chapter 2: Weakness ·

Professor Starlight had a great many rhyming and somewhat insipid lessons for him to abide by.

aww, a neat echo of Iron Will's catchphrases! loving the rhyming catchphrases as well. they feel like they're sourced from some real-life betterment program of some sort

Cozy snickered and turned to skip to the door. “See you two pm next saturday, grandpops.”

that darned pegasus filly continues to do nothing wrong

And if a pony could do it, why not Tirek?

huh, now i'm wondering how this theme could work with Rockhoof, since his muscles are magically generated as well.

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #7 · Dec 3rd, 2021 · 1 · 2 · Chapter 3: Training ·

He half-turned to leave, but Cozy’s mocking laugh echoed once more in his mind. Beaten by a child. The almighty Tirek, who had bested the Princess herself in hoof-to-hoof combat — beaten by a child.

i mean if it makes him feel any better, that child did almost commit a planet-wide genocide! not a pony to be underestimated

But then the stranger shifted his weight slightly, and Iron Will’s surge of hope left him as suddenly as it had come. A centaur. The newcomer was only a centaur.

ah, oof! though if minotaurs are so hard to come by, i do wonder how the pony characters were so familiar with what Iron Will was. well, this is certainly a rare pair of a meeting!

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #8 · Dec 3rd, 2021 · 1 · 2 · Chapter 4: Success ·

And they were both laughing, hard enough that Iron Will had to struggle for air, both alive and existing freely in this one, perfect, moment.

ah, i love this!

And there amid the ruins of Iron Will’s Iron Abs Workout Core Blast Zone, Iron Will finally allowed himself to believe again.

i loved the symbolism in the sheer joy in the destruction of the gym, which i read as Iron Will realizing that he found something better than what he had been fruitlessly searching for all these years. this last passage, the sparring and its aftermath, was absolutely gorgeously rendered and i adored every word.

loved the backstories and setup you had for these two. i would never have thought of them together in pretty much any context, but now all i can think of is just how much they have in common, and what could bring them together. i just really wish that there was more of this to read!

Prince Polaris