New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

163 - Show of Arms

Ponies crowded together, calling and cheering with wild stomps on the ground. They had gathered for the two ponies in the center. Prickle Berry and Bulk Biceps sat on a weight bench each, with a heavy set of weights hanging on a bar for each of them, waiting for them to lift and show off their ability..

They reach put their hooves on the bars. "Alright, let's keep this clean." They had recruited Rainbow Dash to play the referee. "We'll start small, and our helpers will put a weight on each time you finish a push. The first to not be able to lift the bar, loses. Simple. Got it?"

The thought of throwing the match when there was one little weight was there, but Prickle tossed it out. Comforting had coached her. Throwing the fight with no... fight... would leave Bulk doubting she had even tried. He would press her for a rematch, and he wouldn't even be wrong!

She took it with slow and even breaths. She could press the bar. She could press the bar with the little weight. Prickle made it a point to show she was breathing hard, effort ramping. The crowd's excitement reached new heights as the two competitors successfully lifted bar after bar, each one heavier than the last. Rainbow Dash was orbiting around them, watching their motions and cheering them both on with the crowd. "Let's see some pep! C'mon!"

Another weight. Another. Prickle felt... Nothing. She could lift those weights. She could lift all those weights. She could push them, and Bulk Biceps, and his weights too. She was a freak. Prickle took a shuddering breath as she purposefully slowed down, as if the weights were too much. They pushed another bar into place and she faked her struggle to get the bar back up. Bulk was grunting with effort, but he was still pushing.

She barely got past one more, another weight, and she gave up, pushing and heaving. She knew she could keep going. Maybe forever? What a strange filly she was. She hated it. With tears stinging in her eyes, She accepted the help of the spotter and rolled off the bench with a nervous smile.

The crowd cheered for Bulk, watching him go past her. Another weight, another, but he was working. He was putting real effort into it. He'd worked so hard to get that strong. She hadn't. She had just been born that way... a freak... An undeserved freak that had been just given that power and did nothing to earn it.

She was glad he could take that victory. She walked through the crowd, away from the contest she had lost. She bumped into something soft. "Mm?" She looked up to see Comforting's smiling face.

"First, good job." Comforting gently ruffled the top of Prickle's head. "But second... you look like you really need someone to sit down and listen, so... volunteering."

Prickle danced in place, awkwardly shuffling. "Um... Well... Um..."

Comforting crouched down to Prickle's height. "I'm not here to judge you. I think you're a lovely pony." She paused. "That was a judgement, sorry. A good one?"

Prickle cracked a little smile. "You are very silly."

"Yep." Comforting reached and with no objection given, she hugged Prickle gently. "And you are a hurt pony. Can I help?"

"It hurt." Prickle glanced back at the still cheering crowd. "Can we go somewhere..." They weren't there anymore. They were at Comforting's house. Cracked wasn't there, a thing Prickle picked up quickly. "Where'd she go? She's usually here..."

"She's on a mission," spoke Comforting with the dreadful weight of the matter. "One that she wants, and I want. I hope she succeeds, but she's still coming back even if she doesn't. But! Today is about you." She pointed at Prickle at that. "You looked really sad. And it wasn't because you lost."

"No..." Prickle rubbed one leg with the other hoof. "I wanted to lose. Thank you for helping me do that... It's... I'm so strange. It's not fair."

"It isn't." Comforting waved over her hybrid of a form. "This isn't fair either. I can do about anything, what's fair about that? It isn't fair."

Prickle inclined her head at Comforting. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"Why should it?" Comforting flopped to her bottom. "We're all given unique gifts, or curses. It's up to us how we use them. We can make them a wonderful thing, or a terrible thing. You don't strike me as the pony that'd do the latter. So, fellow gift-wielder, let's think about how we can make our gift a blessing, for us, the world, everycreature we can lay our eyes on." Her eyes flashed different colors with the last remark. "We have gifts others do not. It's up to us to put them to creative uses to make the world better than we found it."

Prickle huffed softly. "Even if... Even if... I did that." She rolled a hoof, looking quite unsure. "I'd still make ponies who work very hard look silly. He doesn't deserve that. He never hurt me, or anypony. Why should I outshine him like that?"

"It doesn't have to be a contest." Comforting flopped to her belly, facing Prickle. "Next time he asks, gently decline. You're not there to compete with him. It isn't fair, we went over that. Why rub it in his face? Just be. Be strong where it can help ponies. You already know you can win, so why bother?"

Prickle flopped to her haunches. "You make it sound so easy!" she burst out, huffing and red in the face. "I just want to be a filly... I want to be a little pony, and get my schoolwork done, and maybe... get a job when I grow up..."

Comforting sat up slowly. "Sorry."

"Huh?" Prickle perked an ear. "What are you sorry for?"

"For assuming." Comforting smiled at her guest. "You don't have to rush out and throw your gift around if you don't want to. I like doing that... It makes me happy... But you're not me."

Prickle smiled suddenly. "Can you match me?"

"Match you?"

Prickle put out a hoof. "Push me. You can do anything. Make me lose."

Comforting's mismatched ears danced. She hopped forward and put out a hand of her own, flexing her draconic fingers. "I can try. Sure." They met with a thump of flesh and hoof and both suddenly looked quite busy. They were pushing with a fervor neither realized they even could do. Two unstoppable forces were vying. The pressure was creating strange sparks from the point they met as immense force rippled back up their arms.

Neither could move. Comforting was smiling, and it was growing by the moment. "Wow!" Even her chaotic powers were helpless in a direct match with that filly. She had one gift, but it felt... absolute. She was an unstoppable force. "I... love it."

"I'm making you look silly." For all their conflict, neither was actually so much as panting. They were equally opposed forces, but not straining ones. Like two opposed magnets, they just pushed and pushed without any sign of a stop. "You can't beat me. Shouldn't you be able to?"

Comforting reached out her other hand, waving it gently at Prickle. "Do you want to lose?"

"No... yes? Maybe?" Prickle's eyes were locked on that waving hand, though her strength didn't flag. They were even, perfectly matched at infinity. "You can't win."

"Okay..." Comforting reached out with her avian hand and ran her talons in delicate tickling motions along the filly's side with a grin. "If you say so."

Prickle exploded into laughter. "Stop that! Stop!" Her strength was absolute, but her focus was not. She swatted at Comforting, but the contest was over. She wasn't pushing against Comforting's hand anymore. "Oh..."

Comforting spread her hands. "Sorry. You're not perfect, and neither am I. I bet you could beat me, just not directly."

Prickle looked at her hoof as if something had happened to it, but it seemed unharmed for their match. "I lost..." She slowly smiled. "I lost."

"It was a good match." Comforting leaned in to put nose to nose. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, actually." Prickle rubbed one hoof with the other. "Yes... It's... strange, but I feel better, not being the winner. I can be beaten." She punched the air, causing a ripple of displaced air to project from herself and scatter against the opposing wall. "I'm not the strongest. Good."

Comforting gently stroked the filly down her back. "You are a good pony, and a good friend. And we happen to like that you're strong. So... don't feel nervous about being strong around us. But don't feel like you have to be either. Just be yourself, whatever that is, or becomes. we'll be cheering you on the whole way."

Prickle smiled, sitting instead of really reacting to the petting, but she didn't complain about it. "You're a very nice spirit."

"I've been told that." Comforting put her hands on her hips. "But, sometimes... it's hard to just accept that."

Prickle blinked. "Why? You're always nice."

"But..." Comforting waggled a finger. "I could be nicer. I could be fixing problems, lots of them, all of them? At least a lot of them... But I fix almost none of them. I know they're there. But I don't fix them. Is that nice?"

The thought was a lot for Prickle. She rubbed her cheek thoughtfully. "Um... Hm. I'm not a spirit. How do you choose which ones you'll fix and which ones you don't?"

Comforting lifted into the air. "That's the challenge! I have to pick which ones will do the most good without messing things up." She extended an arm and finger at Prickle. "You have to do the same. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you always do, or we wouldn't be here talking. I'd be off babysitting all of Equestria. That wouldn't be good for them or me, but it would be nice."

"Would be nice," she echoed, thoughts ringing in her head. "Um... I think I understand... I think." She rose to her hind hooves, standing bipedally. "We have gifts..." She rubbed her hooves together. "We can share them, or not... Um, we just have to think about how we do it."

"Exactly!" Comforting landed beside Prickle. "Yours is amazing. I love it so much. And you. I'm still learning you, but, so far, every bit is wonderful. You're not strange in a bad way. You're strange in a fantastically good way." She hiked both thumbs at herself. "Like me!"

Prickle allowed an unsure smile. "I suppose, if anyone was going to not be upset... It would be a little nice Discord."

Comforting ruffled the closest cheek of Prickle, enjoying the feel of the fur running through her fingers. "Don't say it like only I like it. Cracked liked it. The teens liked it too. There's a lot to like!"

Prickle swatted gently at Comforting. There was no malice there, almost playful, almost. "Why doesn't it bother any of you? A little pony shouldn't be this strong."

"But she is, and she's nice." Comforting waved at herself. "A little creature shouldn't wield the power I do, but I'm nice, so who's really upset about it? Not many. We're nice little strange things. We could do a lot, but we'd never hurt anything on purpose, ever. I know I wouldn't, and I think that's true for you too."

"Never," gasped out Prickle, appalled at the very notion. "Only bad ponies hurt other ponies on purpose... But what if..." She trailed a hoof on the ground. "What if I make a mistake? I could hurt a pony on accident. What do I do then? I can't make it better... You could. You could... But I'm not you. Strength wouldn't let me make a pony stop hurting if I do something bad."

Comforting brought her hands together gently. "You're not wrong. You could hurt a creature... But you'd never do it on purpose. Anypony could hurt somepony else. You apologize, you do what you can to make it right, and you learn from it, so you never do it again."

Author's Note:

Prickle has... concerns. Some of them are very valid, I say. She's still adorable and deserves all the love we have to offer, I say.

Join the special community of folks who like my stories, get updates early, and/or get your own here at atreon!

Don't want to do an ongoing thing? You could

Join my discord to chat!

Comments

[Emtu]

Hey, at least she's not going the same route as Saitama with impossible strength, getting utterly bored with it, trying to find something, anything, that is a challenge.

Edit: That said, I would be surprised if nobody has cast Prickle Berry as One Punch Mare. (If it's been done, I haven't seen it.)

[David Silver]

11716979
She would be perfect for the part.

[drFraud]

Need to comment before finishing.
Both fillies are missing one very important factor here: Prickle is an earth pony. A race of ponies with incredible outliers when it comes to physical strength.
Bulk Biceps is a pegasus, and, while incredible in his own right for a flyer when it comes to his physique he is no earth pony.
The way I see it, his talent does not lie only in physical strength, but (I'm guessing) also in the knowledge of bodybuilding.
Prickle should not feel so bad for being stronger, and Bulk should not be so bothered by a foal of the strongest race being stronger than him.
There... my two rusty cents.

[David Silver]

11716994
Even with the tribes in mind, which is a good call, mind, you have a filly who isn't trying to be strong vs an adult bodybuilder. The slant between the two isn't so severe that this is normal. The average earth pony filly is no match for Prickle. Even Rockhoof, legendary strong earth pony, would be overwhelmed.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

The conversation between Comforting and Prickle reveals some more about how Comforting thinks about her ability to do basically anything. Just because she can do something doesn't mean that she will.

[Prettypony]

This is very interesting, it seems like Prickle is somehow wielding a cosmic power.

[uis]

11716979
Comforting is Zero Punch Draconequus then

[Poparakelis]

Just remembered Pickle is an actual character and not an oc

[David Silver]

11717076
external-preview.redd.it/5sUmbrysIaVa1Fp4oj6bU54Fgk8UAMJ_Po25Misgb8E.png?auto=webp&s=c4faf4f3e58eacaf85c27e1231852142891a3eb2 Prickle Berry is among the best berries.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

It's very good that, since Prickle has a rare gift that makes her feel like she doesn't fit in, Comforting is there to help her with emotional distress. Maybe helping those who feel like they don't fit in is specifically Comforting's bigger talents.

[David Silver]

11717347
She has felt that sting before, surely, and she's there to offer a gentle hug and sincere words of acceptance. If nobody else, she thinks Prickle is pretty great. Fortunately, she knows other creatures that agree.

[geomease]

We see the birth and aversion of the One Punch Man, or rather One Kick Filly? We’ll have to workshop the name if she ever goes for her heros liscence.

[David Silver]

11717076
Oh, fun note, but I made up the name Prickle Berry myself. I figured berry would work, as she is the right color of many other berry ponies. Prickle for the hedgehog on her rump. Prickle Berry! I found out later at least a few others had arrived at the same name, but most focus on her having the braids of Pipi Longstocking? I don't agree with naming her after that, so I stick with Prickle Berry.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

11717348

Very good to not be alone.