Ruferd

The dismissal bell rang. Discord walked out of the classroom. "What a boooooring lesson!" he said. "I mean, it was enough for Rarity to burst in class like that! But to then teach us about fashion?"

"Discord, you have two seconds to SHUT UP before I kicked you." Sweetie Belle snapped. She tilted on her hooves, almost falling over. "UGH! Why do hangovers hurt so ba-ha-had?"

Lord Tyrant shrugged. "I dunno." he replied.

"Don't forget, you guys are helping me babysit the Cake Twins" Silver Spoon said. Snips and Snails nodded. Ruferd waved as two grown ponies came over.

"Hello Doctor Thomas! Hello Doctor Turner!" Ruferd said. 'Thomas!? What the b- heck is he doing here!?' Diamond Stroke thought. Oh dear. This could be a problem ERROR VIRUS Oh hush up I'm part of your system. I am the Medic Console. But yes, why is Thomas here? I suggest we all let Ruferd have complete control for this interaction. CONFIRMED. STANDING BY.

Thomas stared at the child. He limped closer. "Hello Ruferd. I trust you have been sticking to your diet?" Ruferd gave a large nod and grin. His breath reeked of meat. "That's good to hear..." Thomas looked at the Noble pony. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Button Mash saw Tyrant's ears twitch downward slightly, along with a slight shaking in the cloak. Compressed fear. Button Mash quickly answered. "He goes to eat at parties a lot."

"Ya probably saw him stuffin his face." Applebloom answered. She then got a look from Tyrant that confused her. It was a glare, with a look of relief.

"And how are your parents all doing?" Thomas asked. He had to see if Mango Peach still had a chance at being a mother for Ruferd, or if that position was taken.

Ruferd's and Button Mash'es faces gained a sad look. They didn't make eye contact with Thomas. Applebloom realized she hasn't seen Button Mash'es father for a while. "Uh. Maybe we shouldn't answer that" she replied nervously.

"Oh.. Well now I feel awful." Time Turner said.

Thomas gave him a look. "You weren't even the one to ask the question!"
*
FLIMFLAM JUICE STAND
*

Susan bounced her ball out of boredom. She looked at her back. "UGH!" she complained. "You have been our ONLY customer!" she shouted towards the apple stand. "Who's got a knife?"

"Say what now?" Applejack wasn't sure how to react.

Susan reached for the back of her shirt with her mouth. A rip sound was heard. Susan felt surprisingly relaxed now that her wings were no longer cramped. She then acted casual, continuing to bounce the ball. But now ponies were coming her way. She had gotten attention for the stand, and that meant business.

Gona's jaw dropped. There was an unknown Alicorn right in Ponyville! He had to report this. Gona ran to find Father Snow.

Banana Pie tackled Gona in a hug. "Heloz, brotha! Were you going?" he asked.

Gona let out a smile as he got to his feet. He pulled Banana Pie in for a hug. They both stood on their hind quarters and held each other shoulders. "Brother Pie! There is an Alicorn of unknown origin in town! I must report this to Father Snow."

Banana Pie looked confused. "Wut? WHUT? Yas. We must report this- OH! We also must make sure news of dis does not leave Ponyville! Can not have Sun Princess find out!" Banana Pie in his excitement kissed Gona on the beak. He quickly bounded a few feet away.

"W-what!?" Gona sputtered. He then spat on the ground. Gona rubbed his beak with his paw. "D-don't do that!!!"

Banana Pie grinned. He considered kissing Gona again just to tease him, but decided against it. "You cute, but not that cute. Maybe." Gona sputtered again. "Kidding. But we moost quick tell! Go! FLY!"

Gona nodded and gave a salute. He then quickly flew to find Father Snow.
*
SUGAR CUBE CORNER
*

Pinkie looked at the group Silver Spoon had with her. "Wow! You picked up a crew! Here's a list of everything you need to do." Pinkie shook her head, allowing a scroll to pop out of her hair. She hopped out of Sugar Cube Corner.

Silver Spoon unrolled the scroll. She and the others watched as the scroll kept unrolling. "Wow." Snails commented. "That scroll is bigger then it looked. It's a good thing we all are helping."

"Sort of like your boxcar, Snails." Sweetie Belle commented as the scroll continued to unroll.

"Holy Buck." Lord Tyrant said under his breath. "Still can't figure out how to get mine to work. Now, we should probably split up the work load."

"Uh, guys? Pumpkin can do magic and Pound is walking on the ceiling." Button Mash said, looking away from the still unrolling scroll.
*
TWELVE MINUTES LATER
*

Discord watched with his hands covering his eyes slightly. He was told not to help, so he couldn't cause any trouble. But currently, there was pure chaos, and it wasn't his fault. Sweetie was using a broom to swat toys that were flying about, and was quickly getting tired. Applebloom was trying to clean up the other messes with everypony else.

"Finally got the babies! Tyrant, go to the kitchen and cheer them up!" Snips shoved Tyrant in the kitchen and headed back out to battle the toys and mess.

The twins were crying loudly. "B-but I'm no good with children! H-hey!" Lord Tyrant looked at the Cake Twins. He did his best to hold the two of them at once, forcing him to sit down, a baby held in each arm. "Buck it! How do I-"

"Buck et!" Pumpkin Cake stopped crying and started laughing. "Buck et! Buck et!"

"Dang nabbit! Why are you swearing now?!?"

"Dang nabbit!" Pound Cake cooed.

Lord Tyrant closed his mouth, but it was too late. The twins continued to swear and laugh. The others entered the kitchen.

"Alright partner! We managed to clean up the room and stop the toys... why are they swearing?" Applebloom and the others stared.

"I- I'm no good with children." Lord Tyrant softly said. "I'm sorry." His ear lowered.

Diamond Tiara looked around awkwardly. It was super strange to see Lord Tyrant as anything but a jerk. When he wasn't, it was like looking at a different pony with the same face.

"Aww..." Discord floated above Tyrant. "You taught them their first cusswords! Too bad I didn't get a-" Discord couldn't finish his sentence, for Tyrant had thrown the babies in the air and punch him.

Sweetie Belle and Snails quickly caught the twins, who began crying again.

RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE HARM KILL KILL THE CHAOS MAN KILL Ruferd could feel the anger radiating off of Tyrant.

Discord was punched into the stove. He snapped his claws. Nothing happened and he grew concerned. Discord screamed in pain as he felt sharp teeth sink in his neck. He was filled WITH RAGE. RAGE ATTACK HURT KILL

Applebloom screamed as Discord threw Tyrant off of himself, only to tackle Tyrant. "STOP IT RIGHT NOW!"

Discord had to fight to kill- no. He had to fight for his mind. Something was infecting it. He held Tyrant at bay with his claw. He winced as Tyrant bit into it. Blood was drawn. Discord tried to focus. He was knocked against the stove. It was hard to think with so much screaming.

"We need to go get help!" Silver Spoon said as she raced for the door. It slammed shut and turned to iron with a black glow. She tried it. It was locked. Silver Spoon ran to the windows. Iron bars appeared on them. She tried breaking the wall. It was replaced with steel. "OH SWEET CELESTIA! WE'RE GONNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

Discord threw Tyrant against the stove. Tyrant dragged him. Discord's hand felt the heat of the stove top. The pain was enough to clear his head. And enough so Tyrant's cloak lit on fire.

Scootaloo screamed even louder now. "Tyrant! You're on fire! You're cloak is on fire!"

HATE HATE HATE KILL RAGE- FIRE. FIRE FIRE FIRE FEAR "AHHH!" Lord Tyrant snapped back to reality. His cloak was on fire. He let go of Discord and ran about, trying to put out the fire. "Put it out put it out!"

"Take off your cloak!" Applebloom shouted.

"Nononono put it out put it-" RIIIP!

Lord Tyrant stopped. So did Discord. And soon, even the Cake Twins stopped to stare in shock. Tyrant's cloak lay torn near the oven, where it had gotten snagged.

They could see all his scars. Every stitch. The sewn on symbol of cake on his chest. His wings. His dragon tail. His patterned legs. Lord Tyrant ran to a window. It had iron bars on it. Every way out was blocked by means of his own magic. Lord Tyrant broke down. He slumped down to his hind quarters and cried. Flour drifted gently in the air, slowly covering everything. Lord Tyrant sobbed. His tears poured heavily down his face. And finally, he let himself have a voice with his tears.

Button Mash walked towards Tyrant. Diamond Tiara gently tried ti hold him back, but was shrugged off. Button Mash sat down beside Tyrant. He hugged him tightly. Button Mash gently pet Tyrant, massaging his back and wings. "Shh. Shh. It's alright. Nopony is here to hurt you." Button Mash said softly.

"B-b-but I... I'm a monst-t-t-t-ter." Lord Tyrant sobbed. "I-I did this."

"You are not a monster." Button Mash gently responded.

Discord headed up stairs and grabbed some medical supplies from the bathroom. He came back to the kitchen.

Ruferd walked over to Tyrant ERROR PROJECT DATA REMEMBERED PROJECT MAIMJOY Ruferd commanded the Program to standby. Ruferd knew this was not the time to talk about what had just happened. So he had an idea to change the subject. "How do mirrors work?"

Lord Tyrant looked up. "H-huh?" He wiped his nose with his arm. Everypony looked at Ruferd in confusion.

"How does a mirror work?" Diamond Stroke asked. He saw what Ruferd was planning. "Because yes it shows your reflection, but how? It's not magic, just glass." Diamond Stroke himself was once a grown pony and didn't know.

The conversation started slow. But soon, as they all saw the purpose of the conversation, they all began speaking their ideas. Sweetie Belle bandaged Tyrant and Discord. Snips and Snails found a large blanket for Tyrant to wear.He wrapped it around Button Mash instead. Applebloom, Ruferd and Discord were using the oven as a battering ram on the door. Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Tyrant played with the twins, cringing whenever they swore.

"A few more swings ought to do it." Discord said. Finally, the iron door broke at the hinges. Pinkie Pie zoomed in.

"Oh my gosh you guys will never guess what I saw! There is a new Alicorn! A NEW ALICORN!" Pinkie bounced around the room. "She's really tall and pretty and-" she halted in the air for a second, turning her head about. The bakery now seemed more like a prison, Discord had bloodstained bandages on his neck, the Cake twins were swearing, and Tyrant was an Alicorn. "Wow! Looks like I missed out on a lot WAIT! Are you an Alicorn AND a dragon?!"

"Pinkie! Pinkie promise you won't tell anypony about Tyrant!" Button Mash quickly said.

Pinkie landed. "W-wait. You want me to promise to keep this a secret?" Button Mash and everypony else, including Discord, nodded. "Oh. O-okay! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie was horrible with secrets. But she would keep this one. "WAIT! I may be able to keep your body a secret, but how are we going to explain Discord's owies and the fact most of the bakery is now metal?"

There was silence. Lord Tyrant had a thought, but Pumpkin spoke it for him. "Buck et!"

"Dang nabbit!" Pound agreed.

"And that. That is also gonna be a problem." Pinkie said. Pinkie then looked outside. "And that. A really really huge storm coming from the Everfree. I think you all better get home."

"Tyrant, can't you fix this?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Lord Tyrant looked around at the bakery. "I- I don't know how. I didn't want anypony escaping when I was angry." Lord Tyrant could hear his voice cracking. So he turned to his snobbish voice. "I wanted to hurt everypony when Discord was talking. I made a huge mistake and he MoCkEd me." Lord Tyrant stopped. His voice sounded demonic at 'mocked'. "So I tried to hurt the one who made me mad, with plans to..." Lord Tyrant paused. He didn't want to say it.

Discord patted his head. "Don't worry about it. At least you used your magic to clean the blood from the kitchen!" Lord Tyrant shifted uncomfortably. "You didn't? But you bit my neck and drew blood. Where did the blood go- oh." Discord realized why no blood hit the ground.

"Indeed 'Oh'. And soon to be oh no, if something is not done." Thomas calmly walked in, wearing a soft yellow vest, and a bright orange saddlebag.

Lord Tyrant hissed and arched his back. "You!" he hissed. Button Mash immedetly took a defenceve position in front of Lord Tyrant. To his shock, so did everypony else. Pinkie even pulled out a party cannon and aimed it. Though she looked unsure as to why.

"Yes. Me. Hello, Maimjoy." Thomas calmly said. "I know what you're thinking. 'If he's here, then HE can't be far behind!'. I believe that is true. But worry not. I made a promise I intend to keep."

"IT'S LORD TYRANT! Get. Away." Lord Tyrant hissed.

"My promise was to keep Ruferd safe from Iron Taz. And I will keep that promise. I will also protect you. I do not need a scolding from Mango Peach about priorities, after all. Now, everyone, for you own safety, step away from Project Maimjoy. He has activated." A cold note grew in Thomas'es voice.

"N-No! Buck off, Mister!" Button Mash barked. "I'm not gonna let you hurt him! {Leave to the burning pits of the dark realm!}"

Thomas sighed. "I don't know where you learned how to speak Humgonian, but I only understand the basics. So there is no point talking or cussing to me in it. And I'm not going to hurt you. But Project Maimjoy will if he doesn't drink enough blood. And if you still think I'm a lying changeling, just look at his eyes."

Slowly, everypony looked at Lord Tyrant's eyes. "What? Tell me, what!?"

Button Mash spoke up. "Your... the whites... your eye is completely purple. Except for your pupil. It's pink."

"I will only say this once. I am not your enemy, nor do I plan to be. I am cold, racist, but I also have love for something I devoted years of my life to. Now, you were fine for years but because you have drunken blood in anger, your blood lust part of your program, which I know you know about, has awoken. Everyone, I am going to need you to let me draw some blood from you." Thomas watched everyone's shocked expressions with a calm stare.

Lord Tyrant let out a hungry growl. He quickly brought his hooves up to his mouth and held them around his jaw. He felt hungry and thirsty. But not for normal things. He let out another growl. He could hear all the hearts pumping blood in the room.

"So, who's first?" Thomas asked, pulling out an old looking blood transfusion device.
*
TWENTY MINUTES LATER
*

Almost everypony in the room had a bandage on their arm. Lord Tyrant sucked blood from the blood device tube. They all had given him some blood to satisfy his thirst. Ruferd's was the most calming. Oddly, Button Mash'es blood was also very calming. But Lord Tyrant still felt terrible. "Why was I made a monster?" he asked. During the past minutes, everypony in the room was told about the fact that Lord Tyrant and Ruferd were made from dead people. They all Pinkie Promised not to tell.

"You are welcome. Believe me, being a monster is far preferable than your original purpose. And please for the love of Celestia, don't ask what that was." Thomas shivered at the thought. "Now then, you are to have a daily diet of fish with all meals. Eat them fresh as alive if you can. Tell me where you live so I can give you further instructions on your care."

Lord Tyrant's ears flattened. He saw everypony staring at him. "I- I don't have a home..." Lord Tyrant felt like his entire world had crashed. Days ago ponies only knew him as a rich snob. Now, they knew he was homeless.

"What do you mean, no home?" Scootaloo asked. "You're bunking with Button, aren't you?"

Ruferd nodded. "Yes, that is your home! And mine is Sweet Apple Acres! ERROR RE-PRIORITIZING Did you say there is a new alicorn in town ERROR RE-PRIORITIZING" Ruferd shook his head. "That storm is picking up too much speed!"

Thomas looked outside. There was much wind. And now, a light rain. "We have much to discuss, but yes. Everyone, go. Home. Now."
*
Fluttershy's cottage
*

Fluttershy shivered as the rain beat against her home. Her animals had the heat going, so it was cozy inside. It was still quite scary. Fluttershy jumped as she heard heavy knocking on the door. She zoomed beneath her couch. "Hello?" she called out. To anypony else, it would be a whisper. She then realized that if somepony was outside, they were getting soaked. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed as she realized this. She rushed over to the door and threw it open. She lifted Discord in her arms and brought him to the couch. "You shouldn't be out in the storm! It's dreadful!"

Discord stared wide eyed as Fluttershy brought him a blanket and a bowl of soup. "Wow Fluttershy. I never realized how strong you are." He sipped from the bowl.

Fluttershy stopped rushing about. "um, Discord? Why were you walking in the rain?"

"Well now," Discord chuckled. "Why not? It wouldn't do much to me! And I thought a long walk might do me some good!"

"Oh! Why did you put on bandages?" Fluttershy moved her hoof to touch the ones on Discord's neck. He winced and quickly pulled away,

"Oh, no reason! And no need for you to worry! None at all!" Discord scooted away. He snapped his claws. The wound disappeared, along with the bandages. It still hurt. "Just crashed into a tree earlier. But really, no need to worry."

Fluttershy sighed. "If you say so." she quietly said. The two sat down on the couch together and drank soup.
*
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