//------------------------------// // 4) This isn't what I Wanted (part 1) // Story: Fact or Fiction // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// The noon sun shone brightly over the Ponyville Literature Festival, the first of it's kind. A bit thirsty from the summer heat Tuff Bolder wandered the tent filled park. Among the stretched tarps were a variety of ponies; Rich, poor, smart and not-so-smart. Each tent he passed by advertised some author's newest book or additions to a series. The colt didn't much care for books, even with Twilight's tutoring he could barely read. He passed a mellow drama series about a misbegotten fictional princess and yawned. When he opened his eyes the orange filly Scootaloo was standing in front of him, alone. "Uuuh...where are your friends?" Tuff asked puzzled. "Looking at some kids books. Not me! I found one so much more… awesome!" Scootaloo grinned slyly. "Like what?" Tuff blinked. "Well...uum," the filly looked around at the other ponies nervously,"Promise you won't tell anypony I saw it?" "What book is it?" The colt sniffed nonchalantly. "It's back in the grown ups spot… it's called Forces," Scootaloo said quietly. "That's the book Auntie… er… Boatswain is writing. I know her pretty well," Tuff nodded but was interrupted. "Really?!" Scootaloo gasped with amazement,"There's a lot of ponies looking at it!" "I don't see why they find it amazing… I've done some cool things too..." Tuff huffed. "Like what?" The filly asked bright eyed. "I… I… saved a princess and beat up a dragon!" The colt puffed out his chest. "Really? Wow… you must be really strong!" Scootaloo beamed. "Yeah," Tuff brushed off his arm casually, "I might have to write a book about my adventures." A familiar voice came from behind him, "Quit it Bluff. I won't have you making an ass of yourself." "Aaw...what?" Tuff groaned, "I thought you were showing off your booky thing." Standing behind the colt was Tuff's aunt with a tired look. She was wearing the cloak Rarity made her and her mane was tied back away from her face. The long fabric covered her metallic legs easily. Tuff scuffed the grass below with his hoof. Pea rose an eyebrow, "I am… or was. I'm just taking a breather and found you telling tall tales to Scoots here," Pea put on a maternal look, "And that she was in a part she's not old enough for." Scootaloo stiffened,"N...No way! I was b-back here, I didn't see anything about Forces!" "Mmhm, I'd buy that for a dollar. I can't be gone for long," She glared at Tuff then at Scootaloo, "Stay outta that part of the Fest. Tuff, you keep her from it too." She drew close to Tuff and spoke in a harsh whisper, "Remember, Pea Gravel isn't real here. She lives in a book, your Boatswain's nephew as long as we're here now. Okay?" The colt nodded with a bead of sweat on his brow. Pea turned and walked briskly back to the 'Grown Ups' side of the Book Festival with an annoyed look. Scootaloo groaned once the grey mare was out of earshot. "Come on! This isn't fair!" Scootaloo pouted. "Why? She told us and you not to go back there,"The colt snorted. "But it's such a cool story!" Scootaloo buzzed,"I skipped through a bit but once Pea Gravel got into that Ridge Dog fortress it got CRAZY!" "Yeah I know, a big gnoll was killing Count Dobervitch's mercenaries left and right, blah blah." Tuff turned and began walking. "That was so… hey! Where are you going?" Scootaloo called after him. "It's boring here, I'm going somewhere else," Tuff said sourly. "But books aren't boring, well… some aren't," Scootaloo said as she trotted up beside Tuff. Tuff ignored her. He kept walking as Scootaloo followed. They made it through a few alleys of tents before bumping into Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. They seemed surprised to see Tuff. "Well lookie here, it's Tuff!" The farmer filly giggled. "We haven't seen much of you since we met you at Sweet Apple Acres. Whatcha been doing?" The young unicorn asked. "Bleh...Twilight's been 'tutoring' me. Reading, writing and some other stuff like that." Hearing this the three fillies giggled playfully. Tuff took a defensive air. "What's so funny?" He squinted. "You're a little old to be learning to read aren't you?" Scootaloo snickered. "Aren't you a little old to not be able to fly?" Tuff asked harshly. The fillies' smiles faded. Scootaloo seemed shocked and became teary eyed. She took off running away from the quiet festival. Sweetie Bell ran after the hurt pegasus and Applebloom gave Tuff a look of disbelief before she followed her friends. The colt stood angry for a moment… then crestfallen. He slumped like a wilted flower. "What did I say… why did I say that?" He couldn't muster the courage to face them so he wandered back to find his Aunt and ask for advice. He eventually found the way by looking for odd looking ponies reading odd books. Ponies who read tragedies or extremely violent ones. He eventually found the tent and even in his saddened state he was surprised. Standing behind a counter was 'Boatswain' and A.K. Yearling with business pony smiles as curious ponies looked at copies of the grey mare's book. Tuff remembered about something involving Twilight copying the words from the original to more paper, she was ready to teach him but he was an earth pony… he'd have to use a printing machine for the same results. In small clusters ponies noses were stuffed into the book copies as they sat near 'Boatswain's' tent. Tuff navigated through them and silently moved behind the two mares. "Auntie… I think I messed up," Tuff whimpered. Pea spun around, "You bet you did. I thought I told you not to be back here," She paused, "Where's your friend?" "That's just it… I think I hurt her feelings. Real bad..." Tuff slouched to the ground. Pea knelt beside the colt, "What did you say?" Tuff rubbed his shoulder, "I was talking with Scoots and her friends. When I told them Twilight was teaching me to read they laughed at me… said I was too old to be a beginner." "Ahh...I'm sure they didn't mean anything bad by it," Pea said reassuringly. Tuff leaned on his aunt, hiding his face in her cloak, "Then I said Scoots was too old to not know how to fly." Yearling gasped, "Tuff! That's a horrible thing to say to a young pegasus!" "I know, but… but how can I fix it? I hurt all of them." Pea stroked the colt's mane with a heavy hand, "Tuff you're going to have to apologize. It may be… well tough but I know you can do it. Your names Tuff Bolder, live up to it!" Tuff stood up timidly, "Okay...I'll try." Pea stood up as well, "There's my little stallion! Go on now, before they get too far away." Tuff scampered off through the crowd, feeling more confident with his aunt's reassurance. Navigating through the alleys of tents and out into the open space of the park, the air grew sour somehow. He looked around at the open field and trees in desperation. His eye caught a sea green shape sitting in a tree whistling like a songbird. The eerie whistle grew louder as Tuff trotted up to it. It looked like a pony but instead of hooves it had hands and feet like a monkey, even the tail was a monkey's. The fact that it had six fingers on each hand and foot. It's head had wide ears and a bald scalp, it's eyes were closed. It sat upright like a cat sitting on a branch ten feet up the tree. Tuff reached the base and looked up at the stranger. It continued whistling, eyes closed. "Excuse me," Tuff called, "Have you seen three fillies run by here?" The stranger stopped whistling, keeping it's eyes closed it sighed, "Why?" It's voice was male with a sound of sour carelessness. "Well… I made one upset and I need to apologize," Tuff replied,"Can you please help me?" "It'd be may you but yes. Yes I can," He reached behind his back. A blue green hand like his slid out of the ground like a groundhog a few feet away from Tuff. It pointed to a hill in the distance with a faint sign of a tree house, "Your little friends went that way, now run along Tuff." "Thanks mister," Tuff smiled as he started off,"Wait...how do you know my-" He turned around to see that the whistling stranger was gone. Tuff shuddered and headed for the tree house in search of the fillies. In the park a small breeze blew over the festival. It did little more then flip pages much to the reader's dismay. It glided gently through the tents, a feint cheery whistle could be heard. Pea stood with Daring in their tent rather bored of how slow the day was going. The breeze finally crept to them with the whistle in tow. Yearling gazed at the ponies reading the paper backs of their new book. It had already sold twelve copies in a few hours, much to Pea Gravel's surprise. The tan pegasus sighed happily, "This is one of my favorite parts of being an author, seeing everypony so happy with my work. Say, you see that unicorn mare in the suit?" Yearling pointed to a very official looking white mare with a bun in her blonde mane. "Yeah, is she a mortician or something?" Pea grimaced. Yearling giggled, "No silly, she's a famous book critic. She's given honest reviews on all of the books she's made articles about...some not so nice, but fair. She even wrote a review on my first Daring Do novel." "Did she like it?" Pea asked. "I'm famous aren't I?" Yearling laughed. "So if she liked your stuff… then maybe she'll like mine?" A greedy smile crept on the grey mare. Yearling nodded childishly. The two mares held their breath as they watched the mare flip through a copy, her eyes went from word to word behind a small pair of reading glasses. She stopped at a point near the end of the book and a small, almost undetectable smile was on her lips. Pea and Yearling sighed with relief. In a moment she was walking to the tent. "Excuse me ladies," Her educated voice said,"My name is Golden Word and I have a question or two for you about your most recent novel. Do you have a moment to spare?" Pea grinned, "All the time you need, mam'." "Splendid!" Said the suited mare,"Now, I have been looking through your book. The title Forces fits in with the struggle you portray in the novel. I do have a comment though..." "Go right ahead, The Boatswain is ready for what you say," Pea said proudly. "The idea of ponies like us being well...on the bottom of the food chain. It's a frightful thought, and the idea of pigs being smarter than ponies is outrageous...not to mention all of these other things; 'Humans', 'Gnolls' and the like. It's very uncouth... " Pea and Yearling looked to each other hopelessly. Golden straightened her suit collar, "...But not unwanted. You've brought up something few other books I've seen do. Not the violence part, that's a genre of it's own. Oh, and one more thing." "Yes Miss Golden?" Yearling asked. "The ending. The protagonist, after defeating the gnoll creature, is known by many to be a fighting pony...but that's it. It just stopped." "Are you requesting a sequel?" Pea asked smoothly. "If there is more I'd like to read it, I'm wondering where Pea Gravel will end up in the world you made," Golden smiled. Hearing her name like that made Pea's stomach churn. She kept a smile on her face but felt a sinking feeling. How will I end up? she asked herself, Will I end it with me showing up here? "Thank you very much, Miss Golden," Yearling's voice broke Pea's trance," If somepony like you want's more, then there's no reason not to write it." "Excellent," Golden said turning away,"I'm looking forward to it." Once she was out of sight the mares celebrated. Pea wrapped her arms around Daring and hugged tight, both were giggling like school fillies. Some of the readers looked up at the two but then returned to their books. Pea released Daring and sighed,"We did it! Forces is a hit!" Daring was elated as much as her friend,"It's great! I know this sounds funny but when you were hugging me I felt something poking my chest, do you have a necklace on?" Pea smacked her forehead,"I knew I forgot something!" She reached in her cloak and slid a simple necklace with a blue gem of her and into her hand. Daring gasped when she saw it. "It's that gem, The Tear of the King! You're wearing it?" She asked bright eyed. "No, you are," Pea said as she slid the necklace over the pegasus' head, "You look great with it." "Pea… that's so sweet! Even though this gem has had some bad history..." Daring smiled meekly. Pea bumped Daring's shoulder playfully,"Then make some good history for it." Daring looked at the small crowd around them, "Okay, Miss Gavel. Sweet Celestia I'm hungry! What do you say about some food?" "Just sit tight, I'll get us some," Pea crinkled her nose, "I hope it's any good out here." "Alright, I'll hold the fort then," Daring Do giggled. Pea couldn't help but smile at her. The grey mare said goodbye and set off in search of food. She followed different scents of cooked goods for some time, but couldn't find them. She eventually found a pretzel stand that was less than busy. It almost looked empty but she heard ponies at work inside, walking up to the counter she found a platter with one little pretzel and a note with a goofy font ; "Free mini pretzels!" She picked it up gingerly with her mouth and munched down the whole thing. It tasted wonderful...for a moment. Time seemed to slow with noises and smells blurring. She wobbled for a second then her sight went black. Rubbing her eyes, she fought to regain sight. First came hearing and smell. The air was still and cold with a sour smell. A faint whistle could be heard when her sight finally came too. Around her was cavern walls glittering with gems. They shown because of an oil lamp, sitting in the far reaches of the lantern was a sea green figure. The grey mare froze when she saw the blue green stranger. The stranger smiled and leaned back on the rock he was sitting on. Instead of falling he disappeared and slid up in front of Pea's counter. He stood in front Pea for a moment, a dark blue shadow. The stranger's eyes opened, revealing the small amber pinpricks of irises. He smiled slyly, "Did you enjoy the snack I left you… Pea Gravel?" Pea's shock turned to rage. Her green eyes turned mint with a wrathful blaze at the stranger,"You...you motherfucker. How did you get here? Where did you take me?" The stranger winced playfully, "Tsk! Such a mouth on you," He slid his seven fingered hand on the gem encrusted wall, "So you've got some attention with your little biography I see. Have you mentioned me yet?" The stranger's voice dripped like a corrosive poison in the still air.