Fact or Fiction

by Mocha Star

9) On another note: Tuff's School Life and Equestria Now

Several days passed after Pea Gravel left. Almost as unexpectedly as Pea had gone Daring Do went back to her cabin with a heavy heart and Rainbow Dash said she was off to visit family in Cloudsdale, to spend some time with family. As the summer grew older and fall was drawing near, the house Pea was going to have was bestowed to the lonely colt. It was small and lonely but strongly built, just like how he felt. As Tuff Boulder lived on his own, he didn't mind the fact that he had to start go to school along with the Crusaders, he rather enjoyed it.

Off and on again some bullies made fun because of his lack of cutie mark, "What assholes," He'd often think to himself but never became violent.

Day in and day out he had a smile slapped on his face so not worry anypony else. Twilight and her friends felt pity for him but weren't sure what to do besides the occasional visit and meal, since he hadn't gotten the hang of cooking for himself yet. The Crusaders would visit him, ebbing away his loneliness.

One day in at the school house, as all of the foals were enjoying recess, Tuff sat in his usual spot of next to a tree in the playground. He dozed off in the shade as the late summer air blew gently through the yellow leaves above his head. A cherry red pegasus colt, almost a junior high student, walked nearby with his little troupe of groupies, including Diamond Tiara. The pink filly pointed in Tuff's direction,"There he is, Fleet Wing! That's the one!"

Tuff opened one blue eye tiredly. He saw the cherry red junior high school colt with a proud, smug grin as he lead his little troupe up to Tuff. Tuff yawned as the foals drew a semi-circle around him, blocking off all exits. Fleet Wing smiled looked down at the deep red colt, Fleet's body blocking the sun from Tuff's eyes.

"So, you're the pony who's supposed to be from across the sea?" Fleet's hoarse voice questioned.

Tuff yawned in the shade, "Hi everypony. Am I being invited to a party or something?"

"Only if the pinata is your face!" Diamond Tiara said with a weasel's grin. Fleet Wing and the others laughed while Tuff sat stone faced.

Tuff rubbed his chin, "Last time I checked, there wasn't any candy in my head."

Fleet scowled at how unfazed Tuff was. The Junior stepped forward with a malicious grin, "I heard your names Tuff Bolder. Are you as tough as your name?"

The deep red colt rolled his eyes at the challenger, "You want to fight me?"

The troupe became incited, the tension of a fight began building. Fleet Wing scuffed his hooves in the dirt, "Me fight you? This'll be a piece of cake!"

"You're dead meat!" A foal shouted in the slow building crowd, "Kick his butt, Fleet!" shouted another. Tuff stood up and the bystanders almost cheered, this skinny colt was going to get beat to next Sunday.

Fleet stepped up to Tuff, only a foot apart and two feet difference in height. The group began chanting, and the Junior took the first swing. Tuff's wheeled around after the stinging force of Fleet's punch and the junior took no time to go for another strike. The audience was in an uproar, the first school yard fight in Ponyville since anypony could recall. Fleet wing became relentless in his strikes against his smaller opponent, Tuff ducked and dodged the best he could. Fleet was hitting Tuff around like a rag doll. Now the entire class of Ponyville School watched in a shouting ring at the brawl between the two colts.

Tuff's nose dripped blood and his vision was blocked by a black eye. The strikes from Fleet were becoming more rough. Fleet Wing knocked him to the ground and kicked at his ribs. While the bystanders either cheered or watched in disbelief, Tuff did something unexpected. While Fleet grinned to the crowd Tuff inched back up. Fleet flexed his wings and grinned proudly to the crowd. Tuff's head was aching, throbbing with pain. Three teeth on the left side of his mouth were loose among other injuries. His limbs shook when he tried to stand.

Fleet Wing turned to look at the beaten colt, "You're standing back up?"

"Yeah, are you going to try to knock me down again?" Tuff spat out a loose tooth.

Fleet wavered, "You're not hurt?"

Tuff wiped away blood dripping from his broken nose,"Nah, I've seen worse," The crowd of fillies was speechless. The way Tuff looked, any other child his age would be squealing in pain or running of to their mother. Tuff's small stature was rigid as he looked at Fleet Wing, "Are you going to finish what you started?"

Fleet tried to keep a chilled look, "Beating you up, yeah I am!"

Tuff shook his head, "No. Fighting is only half the job, you need to finish me, if you want to keep going." The concept of killing flew over the children's heads completely.

Cheerilee looked out from inside the schoolhouse, she had seen fights before at her school. The look she saw from Tuff though, it stunned her.In fact she was more worried for Fleet Wing then Tuff. She ran out to the mob,"Alright, move kids! Break it up!"

The bystanders scattered and Fleet had a guilty look when Cheerilee walked closer. She looked down at the two colts with a demoting glower, "Alright boys, who started it?"

Fleet Wing blurted, "I didn't! I was just walking along and he dared me to a fight, I couldn't say no in front of all my friends..."

Cheerilee looked to Tuff, "Is this true?" She asked.

Tuff wiggled a loose tooth with his tongue, "Sure, teach. I'll take the sheep's blame."

Cheerilee blinked in surprise. The days Tuff had gone to school there he was always quiet, now he was talking like a pony much older then a colt. The school teacher glared severely at Fleet Wing, "You better run back home before I tell your father you were fighting a colt five years younger than you!" Fleet shifted his hooves nervously. Cheerilee stamped,"Now Fleet Wing!"

The pegasus flew quickly into the air. Cheerilee knelt next to Tuff, "Oh you poor dear! Let's get you cleaned up,okay?"

She led him inside the schoolhouse and produced a first aid kit from behind her desk. She told Tuff to sit up on her desk while she wiped away the blood off him. When she wiped over dark purple spots on his head and chest he winched only slightly. She bandaged Tuff up as well as she could, "You took quite the beating out there," she said.

Tuff didn't respond. He just stared off into space. Cheerilee thought about the strange colt. He did decent in his classes but only had three friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who didn't have many friends anyway. He was only ten and lived on his own like a stallion in college. She looked at the battered clot, "Tuff, is there something bothering you?"

Tuff touched his black eye tenderly, "If a fight broke out like this one back home… somepony would've been eaten."

Cheerilee's eyes widened, "Really now? I don't think your Aunt would be very happy about that."

Tuff smiled a broken tooth smile, "Nah, she's eaten meat before."

The teacher shook off the gruesome comment, "A-alright Tuff, the school day is over. Go on home now… and please try to stay out of trouble?"

Tuff nodded and hopped off the desk. He trotted out the school house without saying a word.

---

Meanwhile, Discord was in a state of deep thought. He sat in Fluttershy's cottage, his usual quirky self was deflated in puzzling thought. He lay on the couch in her living room like a wet blanket trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle. Flutteshy floated in with a tray of tea to try to cheer the mishmash creature up.

Fluttershy set the tray on a little table and sat near Discord, "Dose Discord have a tummy ache? A sore throat?"

Discord sighed, "No Fluttershy. I just… well there's someone in Equestria I've never met before. He's different..."

Fluttershy sipped tea, "You're different and are wonderful company. I think this mystery pony… er… thing could be a new friend."

Discord shrugged, "Perhaps… but I can't find him. I could find anypony anywhere easy, he's just slipping under my radar," Discord said as his eyes blinked like radar screens.

Fluttershy giggled, "Maybe it's like hide and seek, just a big game?"

Discord sat up and took a tea cup. The tea pot sprouted wings and flew up to his cup and poured for him, after the little cup was filled the pot promptly landed. Discord took a swig,"A big game of hide and seek, eh? This'll be fun!" He hopped up and a detective's suit flashed onto him, "Let's round the ol' gang and find this mystery character!"

Fluttershy made a sheepish face, "We can gather up everypony except Rainbow Dash."

Discord raised an eyebrow, "Why? Is she busy with something?" He asked taking out a note pad to write clues on.

Fluttershy poured herself more tea, "No, no. She's off in Cloudsdale. Family business is what the note said."

Discord pouted,"It just won't be the same with a part of the team missing," A light bulb glimmered above his head, "I know! I'll dress up as Rainbow Dash!"

Fluttershy grimaced, "Ummm… I don't think blue and rainbow are your colors."

Discord grumbled and snapped his fingers. Before Fluttershy could respond they disappeared from the cottage. They were now on a forest path with Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They all looked around with confused looks until they saw Discord. He had a magnifying glass the size of a beach ball in his paw and paced around.

"What in tarnation are we doin' out here?" Applejack asked.

"On a case," Discord said puffing bubbles out of a pipe, "We're after a mystery character."

"Got any clues?" Pinkie asked now wearing a similar plaid coat and hat.

Discord took out his note pad,"Well, I know that he's not from here. He hasn't made any contact with the Ponies of Equestria aaaand… he's got... Oh! Chaos magic!? Wonderful!"

The others weren't as happy to hear that piece of evidence. Discord floated around the trees looking with his magnifying glass. The mares couldn't help but follow along. They wandered quite a ways around for an hour or two, with no clue to be found. Rarity said the whole thing was ridiculous and said she was going home. She went only a few feet before a headless mouth appeared in the dark of the trees ahead of her. She yelped and darted back to her friends. They looked in surprise and a bit of fear at the smiling mouth.

"So you're looking for me? Am I that interesting?" the mouth chirped.

Rarity had a disgusted look on her face,"What is a… a mouth doing floating in the forest?"

Pinkie scoffed, "Smiling, that's what!"

Discord folded his arms, "Fiddlesticks. That wasn't much of a hide n' seek..."

"Sorry, just wanted to meet you all," The mouth chuckled politely, "The names Volm."

The mares wavered, "Pea Gravel told us about you!" Twilight cried.

The mouth vanished, the teeth turning into butterflies. A pair of yellow eyes and another mouth popped up in another spot behind them. Discord clapped his asymmetrical hands together ,"He's got my eyes! How delightful!"

The faceless apparition seemed to nod. He looked to the ponies, "Oh? And what, pray tell, did she say about me?"

"Horrible things," Twilight barked, "You're the reason she has those metal arms. She also said that you separated her from her friends!"

The eyes of the face welled up with tears and vanished again. Next to Fluttershy a blue green pony looking body materialized. It was curled up and it's face was hidden from view. "...I have done some bad things… but hasn't everypony?" Volm said, "With those new limbs she's stronger than she ever was before and what she called 'friends' were merely meat shields when she was fighting."

The crew drew away from him. Volm uncurled to reveal his monkey looking prowess. Unlike how Pea had seen him, he now looked more like he fit in Equestria. His teeth were flat and white, his skin was smooth and devoid of muscular depth, his once sunken eyes under a thick brow where replaced with two big and friendly yellow eyes. He looked at them like a scolded puppy.

"I will admit I've been bad, but I'm no killer. You've met Pea Gravel, she's killed a hundred things!"

Applejack looked at the stranger thoroughly. She could tell if someone was lying or telling the truth, but he was difficult to read. She didn't trust Pea Gravel anyway, even if this thing had been evil at one point He couldn't possibly be as bad as she was, right? She took his word was easy,"Yep, I reckon he's trust worthy."

Twilight looked to Applejack in shock, "Applejack! What are you talking about? Pea said that he's evil! Tirek and Sombra evil!"

Applejack rolled her eyes, "An' how are ya'll sure that metal legged freak isn't evil. She was talking about nothin' else but fightin' an' killin' and then leaves her kid here and takes off in a night without a proper goodbye. Dose that sound like a 'good pony'?"

The mares looked to each other for guidance. Discord seemed to be all aboard for this stranger being safe. He already learned to be careful about his friends, Tirek showed him that. Even if this 'Volm' was bad, being in Equestria probably healed his ways and treating him as a friend would only seal him into recovery.

Volm sighed, "Truth be told, once I came here...I didn't have any friends," He held up his six fingered hands and wagged his tail, "I thought ponies would be afraid of me..."

Fluttershy smiled sweetly, "Don't worry, Mister V. Everypony… er… thing is made different but is special in their own way."

Volm smiled and hugged Fluttershy, "Thank you, little yellow horse!" She looked a bit shocked at first but hugged back.

Twilight and Rarity were still unsure of Volm. Neither had never seen him before but the way Pea mentioned him to Twilight, he seemed like a force to reckon with. They all saw something completely different in the creature in front of them through; a lost pup instead of a ravenous wolf.

Rarity glowered at him, "So… Mister V, being a part of this 'immigration' that seems to be going on, how long do you plan on staying?"

Volm itched his ear like a dog, "Not sure. I suppose I'm just passing through at the moment."

Rarity asked Discord if he could take her back to her boutique due to the fact that she was in the middle of a dress. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie wanted to stay with the newcomer while Twilight left for Celestia's castle. Applejack walked through the woods proudly back to her orchard, glad to be rid of that pesky cyber.

Discord materialized a picnic for Fluttershy, Pinkie, Volm and himself. Fluttershy sat on a lounge chair while Pinkie and Volm sat at a picnic table, each had a tall cool glass of lemonade for them. Discord was wearing an apron and grilling flowers for them.

Pinkie stretched Volm's wide mouth,"Wooah, your skin is so funny!"

Fluttershy sipped on some lemonade given by the chaos spirit,"Soo Mister V...what exactly are you? I've never seen a creature like you before," She looked at him with a hawk's eye.

Volm inched the pink mare away from him, "I think I'm the only one of my kind… I'm all alone."

Pinkie smiled, "Don't worry, you've got us!"

Volm blushed, "You all just met me… not to mention that you've heard bad rumors about me..."

Discord walked over with platters of veggie burgers, "Well Volm, I think we all should get acquainted. Hmmm… what's a good conversation topic… Oh, what's your favorite color?"

"CAKE!" Pinkie shouted.

Volm smiled, "I don't think cake is even a color. Mine though...hmm...probably a sunset orange."

Fluttershy smiled, "Oh, that's a lovely color. Mine, if you don't mind me saying, would be blue… o-or green."

The four talked and chatted for awhile, growing a fondness for the new comer's surprising charm. Fluttershy saw Discord and Volm were getting along very well. They both did random feats of magic with their chaos powers, all in good fun of course. Fluttershy smiled at the possibility that Discord was making a new friend like she met Tree Huger. She found Volm mysterious, like any stranger would be. Pinkie thought he was 'a real swell guy'.

It was noon now and Discord poofed Pinkie and Fluttershy back to their homes with a wave, "So Volm, how much of Equestria have you seen?"

"Uhh...not much, why?" Volm asked.

Discord turned to Volm, "Let's go sight seeing! How's that sound?" he said donning a Hawaiian shirt and shades.

Volm chuckled, putting on a similar shirt and aviators, "Alright Discord, lead the way!"

Volm and Discord floated around Equestria, Discord giving the newcomer a grand tour. They posed in front of monuments and played childish pranks on the unsuspecting tourists. Trying all kinds of foods they went from one corner to another. From Applewood to Horseshoe Bay and in between, they playfully terrorized the Equestrians. Using the classic 'chocolate rain cloud', making inanimate things walk or fly and one of Volm's; making ponies float like balloons for a short time. After a crazy day, they wafted into Discord's house in through the random void around his home. They walked in with suitcases and tan lines, chuckling all the way.

Volm set down his suitcase, "Remember when you painted Spike's statue at the Crystal Palace to look like cheese? That was classic!"

Discord grinned,"What about when you made all the buildings in Appeloosa into actual apples? That was a real hoot!"

With Discord as a trusted friend, Volm got to chat with the Equestrian Princesses and other royals that came and went. He found Luna interesting since she could walk through dreams like him. He found Celestia fascinating since she had such a great power from the sun. Volm became favored by anypony who met him, saying he was a fun loving critter, a real party player like Pinkie Pie. Whenever Tuff saw him, which was very rare, they met with uneven eyes. One didn't trust the other.

Celestia, Discord, Luna and Volm were in the Sun Princess' throne room relaxing as they usually did. Volm looked across the throne room to see all of the royal guards. There were droves of them ever since the centaur incident. Volm found their frowning expressions annoying.

"Your Highness Celestia, are you very worried about centaurs trying to come back?" He asked worriedly.

The Equestrians looked at him with confused glances. Luna lowered her brow,"Yes. More of what they may do to our subjects than us, per say."

Volm made a prideful smile,"Spoken like a true monarch. I must ask though...if it isn't too much to pry into..." He gathered the four of them closer,"Do you know anything about them, their leader?"

Celestia sighed, "We had good relations with the Centaur's kingdom at one point long ago. Tirek found something though, before he became king..."

Volm lifted his ears forward, "Go on, what was it?"

"You're aware of the Father of Kings… Tztalm?" Discord said in a hushed tone.

Luna shushed the chaos spirit, "We shouldn't speak of this where there are other ears to listen. Let's go somewhere else."

The four beings vanished from the throne room and were now in some dreamlike mist, Luna's magical void. Now that they were alone the three Equestrians talked among themselves, debating if they should let Volm in on this secret. Volm sat quietly and waited.

After a while Discord turned to Volm, "Do you promise to not tell anyone what we're about to tell you?"

Volm made an 'X' on his chest,"Cross my heart and hope to die."

Celestia sighed and began to recite their long kept secret,"One thousand years ago, Equestria had an incident with Nightmare Moon, a bout of power between my sister and I. A thousand years before that Tirek and his brother Scorpan migrated here, in Equestria. The great ocean that separates us from their homeland didn't exist yet. Scorpan was willing and happy to accept our ways, but Tirek had the blood of a warrior, not a mild mannered farmer. My sister and I did our best to save our kingdom… remove him from our lands..."

Volm leaned forward intently,"Then what happened?"

"He nearly killed us," Luna said with a shaky voice,"Scorpan died to keep us safe, which made his brother go berserk at Scorpan's death. Tirek decimated miles of land, burning cities and mountains alike. My sister and I were running out of options… we had no choice..."

Volm was biting his lip, "Yes, yes? No choice but what?"

"To make a deal," Luna said solemnly," A deal with something not of this world, or theirs. A curse was placed here, making the deadly ocean ring around Equestria."

Volm was aghast, "Curse? Equestria is beautiful, how is it cursed?"

"It’s a finicky border. It’s kept most things out," Celestia said, "It's keeping our little ponies safe. You're obviously qualified, since you're a newcomer and haven't died."

Volm gulped, "You're killed if you're not good enough?"

Luna nodded,"This is true. We believe we can trust you and your powers similar to Discord's. It may prove...beneficial."

Volm wobbled, "This..this is quite an honor, your majesties!"

Celestia giggled, "He's humble too. I think you'll fit in wonderfully here."

---

Almost a month after Pea left Tuff was on his way to school, just an average morning. The weather was turning to early winter and the pegasi were busy in the air making snow clouds. Tuff walked down the dirt paths through Ponyville to school. He was looking at nothing in particular, then an orange filly caught his attention. It was Scootaloo nearby the school house and her face was soaked with tears. She was sitting out in the yard with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, they tried to cheer up the crying pegasus.

Tuff came closer, "Hey Scoots, are you okay?"

Scootaloo wiped some tears from her eyes, "H… hey Tuff. I'm just worried… that's all."

Tuff sat next to them, "Worried about what?"

Apple Bloom sighed, "Ah heard it from mah sister. Rainbow Dash is gone!"

Tuff cocked his head to the side, "Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"She means that Rainbow Dash isn't here, in Equestria," Sweetie Belle said,"Discord and his new friend looked all over for her. No one can find her!"

Tuff bit his lip, "Do you think… she followed my aunt?"

The three fillies gasped, "Sweet Celestia, no!"

Meanwhile at Twilight's castle, the five friends were in an uproar. They were debating about attempting to go find Rainbow Dash in the supposedly dangerous world. None of them knew where to start, there were no records of any kind Twilight could find about the 'outside'. This debate caught the attention of the princesses. Celestia and Luna flew over to the Ponyville castle to amend the situation. When they reached the door, Volm was there. His arms stretched across the doorway, blocking entry.

Celestia narrowed her eyes, "Volm, what are you doing here? I thought you were busy."

"Making flying trees with Discord can wait. I… I can't let you in there,"Volm stuttered.

"What reason do you have?" Luna asked.

"The mares inside and the one missing are very famous correct?" The princesses nodded to Volm's question, "What do you think would happen if everypony heard about this? You know that word would get out right, rumors of kidnapping and more about that centaur incident could be made. It'd be chaos… the bad kind, not the entertaining one."

Luna pursed her lips, "Do… Do you think Rainbow Dash is out with that cyber mare?"

Volm nodded vigorously, "No other place she could be. Trust me your Highness, both of you, Rainbow Dash is in good hands. Figuratively and literally. She'll be back soon and she'll be fine, I promise!"

Celestia smiled, "Alright. I will go inside and tell Twilight and the others that there's nothing to be afraid of. I even heard that A.K. Yearling has gone too," she had a look that needed reassurance, "So Rainbow Dash is in good care, correct?"

Volm side stepped and opened the door for the white alicorn, "Only here would be safer, your Highness."

Celestia, followed by Luna went inside and told the mares what was going on. A worried look came over all of them. Celestia reassured that Rainbow Dash would be fine and there was nothing to worry about. She said it was going to be an exciting adventure for Rainbow Dash, a story to tell all of her friends at home about. Once everypony calmed down the princesses bid good bye and left as they came.

Volm was outside waiting. When he saw the two princesses he bowed low and smiled, "I couldn't have handled it better myself, your Excellencies!" The princesses smiled and said good bye to the blue-green creature and began flying back to Canterlot. Volm vanished from view with his heart racing.

Volm was now sitting on Rainbow Dash's roof. He rested with his arms behind his head, "What is this place doing to me… I feel… wholesome? Happy?"

Comments

[Mocha Star]

Really jumpy, I kinda got lost in the grammar and tense errors as well as repeating words.
Was this chapter necessary?
Not a bad chapter but I don't feel a connection to the story thus far.