• Published 29th Jun 2013
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The Strongest There Is - Onomonopia



Banner (and Hulk) in Equestria. What else to say?

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One, Big, Hulking...

The clean up after the battle between the snake and the Hulk was grisly, to say the least. Luna had brought some of her night guards down to the town to help clean up what remained of the snake. They were used to odd jobs, because Luna and her guards took care of things that went 'bump in the night.' Twilight had assigned Applejack and Rarity to help repair the homes that had been destroyed in the fight, while Rainbow Dash had been sent off with Pinkie to see if Fluttershy was alright. They found her alone in her cottage, crying on her sofa with all her animals trying to comfort her.

"Hey Shy, are you okay?" RD asked as they entered the cottage. Fluttershy, whose face was buried in a pillow, shook her head to show that she wasn't. Rainbow sat down next to her while Pinkie looked at the pictures on the wall. All of them were of Fluttershy and her animal friends. She came across one that showed Flutterhsy with Susie before the gamma took control of her. Pinkie frowned and turned to the two, just as Rainbow Dash managed to get Fluttershy to talk again.

"She didn't deserve it," Fluttershy whispered, wiping her red eyes on her arm. "Susie was always such a nice snake, she never wanted to hurt anypony. It wasn't her fault that Banner had a poison in his blood that caused her to go crazy. She would normally never hurt a fly."

"Yeah, but she was poisoned and she did go out of control," Rainbow said with a sigh, wrapping a wing around her friend, trying to comfort her. "There's one thing I want to know, though. If a small dose of Banner's blood could make her go out of control like that, how the hay does Banner remain as sane and in control as he does?"

"Because Banner's not sane, he's even more insane than me," Pinkie said with a smile. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked at her like she was crazy. "Yeah, think about it. He has to live every day knowing that he's responsible for the deaths and destruction of so many lives. Yet he acts perfectly normal. But that's all that it is, an act. He's actually hiding his true self, and that true side of him is the Hulk, the side filled with rage and hatred for all who turned him into it."

"How did you know that?" Rainbow asked with a bit of amazement.

"Because I live crazy," she replied with a smile. "And I know a crazy pony when I see one."

"You talk like Banner and the Hulk are the same, but they're not," Fluttershy said in a whisper. "Banner is a kind pony who helps others and tries to keep us safe. Hulk is a monster that only knows how to destroy. They are not the same." Pinkie and Rainbow Dash looked at each other nervously, neither of them able to remember the last time Fluttershy had gotten so angry.

"Hey, you wanna go see Twilight?" Rainbow asked, hoping to take her mind off of everything. Fluttershy nodded slowly, her mind still on the Hulk. Pinkie opened the door and Fluttershy sulked out, Rainbow Dash looking at Pinkie with a shrug. The three of them walked through the streets of Ponyville, which was being rebuilt remarkably fast. A number of Luna's personal guards were helping ponies put up new walls and roofs faster than most unicorns could do. The center of town had sustained the most damage, and that's where Twilight was supposed to be, but none of them saw her. Rainbow Dash asked a pony where Twilight was and he pointed to the library. The three headed inside, wondering why she was here and not helping outside.

"Yo Twilight! You in here?" Rainbow Dash yelled out.

"Down here!" her voice said, coming from the basement. The three followed her voice down into the basement, where they found Twilight at her desk. She had her microscope on top of it and was constantly looking into it before scribbling notes down furiously on a piece of parchment. She turned to greet her friends once they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Girls, this is unexpected. What can I do for you?" she asked with a grin.

"We thought it would be best to get Fluttershy out of her house for awhile," Rainbow Dash said, looking over at Fluttershy who just stared ahead blankly.

"What'cha working on?" Pinkie asked with a smile, hopping over to Twilight's desk and taking a look. Twilight quickly covered up her parchment and hid whatever was on the microscope.

"Sorry Pinkie, but this is a secret project," Twilight said, having to move the slide to keep Pinkie from getting a look at it. "Please don't ask why. I don't want anypony to know." She moved it behind her back only to have it snatched away from her by Fluttershy, who looked at it with narrow eyes.

"This is a piece of Susie," she said in a deadly whisper. Twilight leviatated the slide back over to her, looking around at her friends with a bashful smile.

"Okay, you caught me. I was examining a piece of Susie so I could compare her blood and DNA to the Hulk's," she said with a sigh. "It's just been bugging me. I've never seen anything so resistant and so stubborn as Banner's--or the Hulks--blood. Nothing I used worked on it: Chemicals, spells--I even just tried blasting it and that didn't work. I wanted to see if another creature that had been infected by gamma would be just as resilient."

"And was she?" Rainbow Dash asked while Fluttershy glared at Twilight with venom in her eyes. Twilight rubbed the back of her head and looked down at her notes.

"Well...no. With a number of different spells and chemicals, I was able to cure the gamma poisoning in Susie's blood," she said, showing them the now normal piece of snake. "That tells me that only the Hulk is indestructible. Even if we were to give another creature a dose of his blood, it would probably only mutate them, not put them on the same level as him. This is all hypothesis, of course."

"So Susie didn't have to die?" Fluttershy asked in a whisper. When Twilight didn't answer, she walked right up to her and glared into her eyes, forcing an answer out of her.

"W-well, no. I suppose she didn't have to," Twilight said with a stammer. Fluttershy turned and headed for the stairs. "Wait, where are you going?"

"To give the Hulk a piece of my mind," she said with venom. She reached for the door only to have a rainbow bolt stop her.

"That's a bad idea, Shy," Rainbow Dash warned her. "You remember what Hulk did the last time you yelled at him and I think that was because he was too tired to kill you. Don't go and make him angry, that doens't end well for anypony." Fluttershy shook off Rainbow's hoof and opened the door, leaving the library to go find the Hulk. The three ponies looked at each other with worry.

"One of us should go with her," Twilight said.

"I'll do it," Pinkie volunteered. When her friends gave her skeptical looks, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "So far, I'm the only pony around that can talk to the Hulk without being made into pancake in the process. Mmm, pancakes. Er...I mean that he tried to smash me, but was unable to. I'm going to go with her." Before either of the two friends could argue, Pinkie shot up the stairs and out of the library. She hadn't just agreed to go to keep Fluttershy safe, but also because she too had some questions for the Hulk. She spotted Shy in the distance and galloped after her.

---=-=---

As he tromped through the forest that was on the outskirts of Ponyville, Hulk growled to himself at what had happened during the battle with the snake. It had been a lot weaker than he had been expecting, even if it had his blood. He had hoped it would have put up a bit more of a fight than it did. Then there were the ponies. Even after he had smashed the snake, they still wanted to hurt him, he could see it in their eyes. The only 'plus' that he had gained was that Banner was no longer talking to him. He had only agreed to save them if Banner left and so far he had kept that promise.

"At least Hulk is alone now," he grumbled to himself, looking around at the scenery. The trees had yellow and orange leaves on them, leaves that gently floated off the trees to the ground beneath his feet. While most would see this as beautiful, the Hulk saw it as annoying. "Stupid leaves bug Hulk. Why can't anything leave Hulk alone?" he growled, coming to a small clearing. He spotted a stream and knelt down beside it, cupping one massive hand and scooping out some water. He was about to drink it when he heard a sound that annoyed him--the sound of someone crying. He stood up and headed for the source of the noise, planning to make whoever it was pay. He eventually came across five ponies, three of whom were laughing at another who was in the dirt.

"Look at you. You're so frail and weak, yet you want to be a great adventurer?" a pink one with a crown said with a smile. "You're so pathetic that I'm certain that even a small bug would be able to beat you." The pony in the dirt didn't respond, he just pushed himself back to his hooves with tears running down his face.

"Yeah, you're just a...pipsqueak!" a yellow pony with bluish-green hair laughed. His buddy next to him, who was blue with brown hair, laughed as well. Only the grey one didn't laugh, she just stood watching through her glasses. The white pony with the brown spots pushed himself to his hooves and glared at the others.

"Pipsqueak is my name, that's not what I am," he spat. The pink one raised an eyebrow with a smile.

"Who said you could talk? After all, that yap of yours is what got me in trouble in class today," she said with a frown. "Snips. Snails. I think he needs another mud bath." The two dumb-looking ponies grinned and advanced towards him.

"Don't bother fighting, you're too puny to fight back," the one called Snails said as he grabbed his arm.

"Maybe I am now, but one day I'll be...Hulk," Pipsqueak whispered, his eyes looking through the trees at the monster that was standing in them. All of the other ponies turned to face him with fear in their eyes as he stomped out of the forest, walking over to the two that were holding onto Pipsqueak. They dropped him and ran behind the pink one, cowering with their hooves over their eyes. Hulk marched over to her and glared down at her, while she glared back up.

"I don't know why you're here, you ugly freak," she said with a sneer as she looked at him, "but I'll have you know that my daddy is one of the most important stallions in town and if you so much as touch me he'll--" Her words were cut off mid- sentence as Hulk grabbed her with his thumb and index finger, growling at her as he brought her to eye level.

"Puny pink pony talk too much," he snarled, causing her eyes to shrink. He wanted to smash her, but then he looked down at the mud puddle and had a better idea. "Puny pony needs to be quiet." He lumbered over to the mud puddle and dropped the pony in it, smiling as she screamed in the mud.

"AAAAAHHHHH!! You stupid idiot!" She roared, looking up at him through the mud in her eyes. "Do you know how long it takes to get mud..." She stopped when Hulk got down to one knee and glared at her, his eyes narrowing.

"Puny pony call Hulk stupid?" he asked, looking from her to the other three. "HULK SMASH ALL SMALL PONIES!" He roared, throwing his hands over his head and charging towards them. They screamed and sped off back to town, leaving Hulk alone to smile. "Now Hulk can get some quiet," he muttered. He turned to go back to the stream, but found the small white pony with brown spots was in his way.

"Move," Hulk growled. The pony hide his face when Hulk growled at him, but then gingerly looked back up.

"Um...thanks for scaring the bullies off," he said timidly.

"Hulk no did it to help you. Hulk just want quiet," he snarled, causing the colt to hide under his hooves. Hulk growled and stepped over the pony, heading back into the forest. Pipsqueak brought his head back up and, going against his better judgment, followed Hulk into the forest.

"How did you get so strong?" he asked Hulk. Hulk growled and turned to face him.

"Hulk always strong. Hulk strongest there is," he said with a snarl, hoping to scare the pony off. While Pipsqueak did take shelter behind a tree, he didn't run away. Hulk noticed and growled yet again, slamming his feet into the ground and launching himself skyward. He landed far away from the small pony and found himself once again alone on a small grassy hill. He sighed and sat down, finally alone.

'Care to tell me what that was about?' Hulk roared in frustration and slammed his fist into whatever was next to him, but he hit nothing. 'I see that your temper hasn't improved since we last met.' Hulk growled at the silver mare and tried to crush her in his grasp, but she slipped through. 'We had this discussion last time. You're power means nothing to me.'

"Hulk can still ignore you," Hulk snarled, putting his arms on his knees and resting his head on them. Much to his annoyance, she sat down beside him and stared at the sky, which was just starting to show its first stars as the sun set. They sat in silence for a minute before she spoke again.

'You still haven't answered my question. Why did you intervene in that colts trouble?' she asked again. Hulk growled and put his hands to his ears, but her voice still echoed through them. He knew that she wouldn't stop until he answered her question.

"Hulk tired of hearing ponies talk, so Hulk made ponies go quiet!" he roared at her. She didn't even flinch as he glared at her, turning her attention back to the sky.

'So you did not go there to help him?'

"Why would Hulk help ponies? All Hulk wants is to be alone."

'I figured as much,' she said with a sigh. 'So why do you want to be alone so bad? What has happened to you that you hate to be near anypony?'

"Because all ponies do is bug Hulk!" he roared. "Hulk tired of being annoyed, tired of being attacked! That's why Hulk want to be alone!"

'You didn't say anything about being attacked,' she noted. 'Who would dare to attack you?' Hulk went to answer, then realized that she had tricked him into talking. He snarled at her and sat back down, closing his mouth. 'Well?'

"Pony starting to annoy Hulk," Hulk growled in a threatening manner. "If pony no go, Hulk smash."

'You cannot smash me. And you are not the only one getting annoyed at the stubbornness of somepony,' the silver mare said in a less-than-thrilled voice. 'All you do is complain about how you want to be alone and how everypony hates you, but from what I've seen, since you got here you have been very well-treated. I'd say that you are just afraid to get close to--" The moment she mentioned him being afraid, Hulk's fury shot through the roof and he spun to face her as he drove both arms down on her. But much to his surprise, his arms came to a stop over her head, caught in a silver aura. Then a flash of silver radiated from her and Hulk felt himself sailing backwards, smashing through multiple trees and rocks until he came to a stop. Hulk growled as he got to his feet, preparing to let out a roar...but stopped as he felt pain race through his chest.

"Pony...hurt Hulk," Hulk said in disbelief as the silver mare appeared in front of him. Hulk's wrath cooled down to a cold fury, his eyes narrowing as he took up a more defensive pose. The silver pony had managed to hurt him without much effort on her part, and there were few who could do that. He glared at her flickering body, which seemed to appear then vanish quickly.

'As I said, your power means nothing to me,' she whispered, before shaking her head and holding a hoof to it. Hulk prepared his next attack, when the silver pony suddenly turned her head to the side before she looked back at Hulk. 'I will say farewell for now. But I will speak with you again.' She vanished in a flash of light, leaving Hulk standing there confused.

"Hey."

Hulk growled and spun around...to stare right into the eyes of a very angry Fluttershy.