My Little Wastelander

Chapters

One
Flashback: Friends back in Canterlot
Two
Three
Four
Five
Flashback: Grabbing Grub
Six
Seven
Eight

One

Minuette

Minuette was a unicorn with a light blue coat, periwinkle mane and tail with a pigment blue streak, her eyes were of a steel blue, and she bore the cutie mark of an hour glass. A usually passive mare, and not exactly sociable. A little voice inside of her head was constantly warning her of how she was going to be late for an appointment.

It didn't matter though, she needed to be alone to clear her head and gather her thoughts, after all, how many other ponies have been brainwashed by a changeling queen to assist in the imprisonment of a alicorn princess? (Aside from Lyra and Twinkleshine, who just so happened to be part in the same event.) Nopony she knew of, that's for sure.

Attempting to dispel the feeling of annoyance coming over her from the memories of the wedding, she moved on to thinking about the happier things, after all, her life wasn't all just a marathon of unfortunate events. Her visit to the Crystal Empire was huge fun, even better is that she'd be visiting again if the Crystal Empire held the Equestria Games, she'd need to bring Rose, she'd refused to believe her when she told them her mane and fur became crystallized after the sheer joy of the residents caused the Crystal Heart, the relic that keeps the empire safe from the forces that wish darkness upon it, to discharge. Sure just being in range long enough would have crystallized her body, but the fact that there was a huge explosion of colors overhead while it happened, was totally wicked.

She'd gotten so consumed in her thoughts it took a moment for her to realize she'd reached the Everfree Forest.

It was a beautiful day despite the slight chill in the air.

Nothing in the world could possibly be wrong right now!

That thought was about to change, fast. Before Minuette could knew what was happening, or could even react what looked like a tear through the fabric of space ripped itself into existence, what followed was nothing short than ear-splitting cracks, bloodcurdling screams, howls of pain, and a explosion that shook Minuette to the core. Fire and smoke erupted from the tear. And suddenly... Pony.

The explosion had launched it through the portal, given it's velocity, and then the tear in space quickly healed itself, the sounds of a nightmare fading away. Three minutes later, Minuette realized she'd been standing still, unblinking. Then, she looked towards the lump of cloth and dark blue fur. She could see a horn, so unicorn, giving the face a good look, she came to a conclusion that said unicorn was a male. He looked like he'd been through Tartarus, soot, dirt, and cuts littering his face. He wore a pair of black shades, one Minuette swore she'd seen in purple before, just without cracks lining the lenses, along with a just-as-dark trench coat, with a brown-red shirt, and earthly colored vest. Looking at his mane, it was pitch black, with a strip of dirty red running through it. This pony hadn't seen a shower in a very long time, by the look of him.

I should probably check to see if he's alive.

The mare leaned down and put her ear to the stallions chest, sure enough, she heard the rhythm of a heart, time mattered more now. She needed to get the stallion to the hospital. She bent down and wedged her head under his chest, then stood upright to get him in a comfortable position on her back. Minuette had just began her trek back to the town when suddenly a weight fell out of one of the stallion's pockets. It landed on the ground with a couple of strange clicks, a sign that the object had moving parts. The mare turned around to look at it, it looked like a small sort of tool, made out of a dark metal, and what she assumed was the handle was covered in black rubber for a grip. Her curiosity buzzed, then she realized she was still carrying a unconscious stallion of his back, and the weight wasn't getting any better. She stuffed the tool back into his pocket then started towards Ponyville.

Rusty Fortune

Rusty Fortune yawned, only to yelp at the pain it caused. The memory of the explosion came back to him quickly, now he didn't even know where he was! His vision was blurred, but he'd reached for his sidearm enough times he knew perfectly were it was, and doing so had become a reflex to danger.

It wasn't there.

Where's my rev-... Where are my clothes?! Am I laying in a bed?

The unfamiliar feeling of comfort and warmth answered the last question, that or the mutant that was trying to swallow him whole had a very dry mouth, not exactly uncommon in the wastes. From what he'd heard from multiple beast hunters. He questioned whether he could even stretch.

The pain which followed his next attempt at movement was his only reply. It was obvious he had hurt himself, he was starting to feel multiple burn marks, and noticed bandages around his midsection. But he did prove to himself he wasn't in the mouth, or stomach, of a giant mutant.

Beep.

What was that?

Beep.

More questions than answers. Rust tilted his head to his left, and recognized the sound machine as a heartbeat monitor. Before he could mentally comment there was a clicking sound from the door. Somepony was opening it, but had stopped to talk with somepony else. Rust pulled the plug on the monitor.

They aren't getting information from me, I need them to think i'm dead.

There was one drawn out noise, accompanied the flat line eerily pursuing the edge of the screen. The pony outside finally opened the door, more haste than before, focused more on the dark blue unicorn than her previous conversation.

"Nurse Coldheart! Nurse Coldheart!" Rust could see a mare, blue coat, minty green mane, her yelling was enough to hurt his ears. She turned, and with a final "Oh Celestia." she ran out of the room. Probably getting ready to throw up.

Now it was time to escape, he couldn't go out the door, that left only one option, suddenly, he found a annoyingly familiar phrase echoing in his head.

THROUGH THE WINDOOOW.

He shook his head, and attempted to get to his feet. Ignoring the absolute agony he was causing himself. He eventually found himself on his feet, shaky, but he was standing. After allowing himself a mere seconds to recover, he limped along his bed, he could see out the window. He grimaced at the thought of his idea, it already felt like he had spikes in his legs.

The stallion braced himself, then ran to the window, and with a strained effort, pushed himself into the air, and towards the window. The glass shattered easily, he was free! He felt some of his worries melt away, until he looked down.

Screaming for his life suddenly seemed like a good idea.

He wasn't on the first floor, not even on the second, he had been three stories up all along. Fear and remorse consumed his thoughts, then something occurred to him, still airborne; the grass wasn't dead and burnt, the trees had leaves, and healthy bark, the air was clean, and the earth was not cracked.

Then, he was caught by the ground. His hooves touched first, and when his legs buckled, he hit his head with about the same force as his hooves.

Rust lay there for a few seconds, then he opened his eyes. Nothing other than a blur of colors, but the sun seemed to be rising, and he swore he heard birds in the distance. He felt at peace, as he listened to the sweet birdsong, and then he felt himself slipping away. Darkness was taking him once more, probably for good this time, it seemed to be only a matter of seconds. He vocalized one more thought.

"This is beautiful." He voice cracked on the last word, and blackness consumed him.

*Nurse Coldheart*

The nurse had seen much in her lifetime, so many injuries, and even a fatality which seemed to break her heart, she felt like she could have saved a life that day, but she didn't. And when she heard the scream of Nurse Tenderheart, she could feel her heart skip a beat. Now, confused, she stared at the scene where it happened. The pony was missing, and the monitor was automatically shut off to prevent being thrown across the room due to annoyance. The nurse looked around, the room was far too small and organized to hide in, but she could tell something was off.

The window. Was that stallion crazy?!

She ran over to the window, hoping the stallion at least managed to climb down, but when saw the pony below, her fears were confirmed, judging by body position and the fact he was no longer moving, he had jumped out the window. The nurse turned and booked it to the staircase, down to the first floor, and finally through the door leading to the front of the hospital.

She quickly approached the stallion. Once she realized he was still breathing a heavy sigh of relief could be heard from her. He was alive, so far she recognized a out-of-place forearm, possibly a cracked skull, and a undoubtedly heavy headache when he woke up. She'd need one of the unicorn nurses to examine him, in case he had a cracked rib or any sort of internal bleeding. However she figured he'd survive, and should consider himself lucky, especially due to what the nurse what told by Minuette.

I'll have one of the nurses get a stretcher, probably some restraints too.

Flashback: Friends back in Canterlot

There was a stirring in the sunlit room, Celestia gracing it with her suns presence. The nurse sitting against the wall in a not-so-comfortable hospital chair looked up from her newspaper suddenly tense, readying to jump on a certain unicorn should he break out of his restraints and attempt to jump through the window again. The unicorn shouldn't have woken up so soon, the anesthetics should've kept him under longer! But either way, if he was coming to, she had some questions for the unicorn.

Rusty Fortune

Am I dead yet? His thoughts were back with him again. He remembered the feeling of comfort from the bed he'd laid on... How long ago was it? Felt like ages. Another several feelings told him he was restrained, coming at quite a annoyance to him, also that he seemed to be drugged, the memory of what had happened in the attempted escape of his enforcing that thought, because, come on, falling three stories isn't easy to just sleep off.

Well, i'm drugged, wounded, and restrained. Familiar. They'll probably have some questions for me now. He heard the antagonized voice inside his head.

"Hello there, sir?" Sure enough, he heard a voice of a mare, probably one of the nurses. "I have some questions for you."

Called it.

"I know you aren't sleeping anymore, so open your eyes and explain why you decided to throw yourself from the highest floor in the hospital." Her voice was a bit more stern now, demanding, in fact.

Rusty simply rolled his back to her, instantly regretting it with the pain it brought to his ribs, he didn't show it though. Instead, he muttered something about being comfortable, and for her to not stick her nose in his business, and maybe a rude curse directed at her.

"Comfortable huh? I can change that." She replied, he only heard the nurse get up after that. His thoughts did a quick calculation of what a uptight nurse would do in such a situation, he didn't like the answer he got.

She wouldn't...

He heard the clicking of his restraints being opened. Sure enough, he was airborne again, just for less time than his previous adventure. In the half second he had between the bed and the marble floor, his eyes went wide, just to take in the blinding light and taunting spectrum of colors.

Buck.

Rust

Several hundred years later.

Rusty Fortune, or simply Rust, as he preferred to be called, had lost all focus on the world around him. He seemed brain dead by the way he looked, but inside his head his brain worked hard to find the answer to one question:

How am I supposed to get all of this paperwork done?

Tap

The sound of the business end of a pencil mercilessly being shoved into a metal table was the only thing breaking the damp silence.

Finally, Rust broke off his deathstare on his pencil, and looked at the lazily stacked papers in front of him. Repair orders and gear requisitions, this is what he did all day when not on duty, this is what he looked forward to when he got home every day. Even after Equestria was nuked halfway to Tartarus, paperwork managed to survive, and implement itself into what remained of society. However, even as a simple mechanic, he'd found himself to be known as a man of justice to the surprisingly large settlement that it's founders had build atop the ruins of the city Canterlot, only adding more stress to his life, as everypony there relied on him to keep everything under control. The cities name had gone unchanged, to honor the princesses and represent the hope that they may return. It's inhabitants respected Rust's words and actions, the only ponies in town that didn't know him were the villians, and they always come to know him sooner or later.

As an avid fan of reading, a rare trait in the new Equestria, he'd taken up residence in a corner bookstore, where he'd tinker and pick books from the main room in what little spare time he had, then go into the back office to sleep off the tires of the day. On a bright midday the window shades would be open, and the door left wide open to welcome any passerby to visit for a book, place a repair/parts order, or simply to just examine the machines Rust managed to put together and get working.

After several minutes of staring at the paper, he finally sighed, and got up from his desk, he needed to go see his friends, he also wanted a drink.

Better idea; why not both?

The stallion grinned, he was a genius.

Acid Rain

"Ugh... Ugggggh." This was the sound of a half-dead pegasus mare, and she was being forced to wake up early, again.

"Acid, you there?" Crackled a voice from the radio on her bedside table.

When she turned her radio off, it was always for a reason (sleep, usually). And it pissed her off that her unicorn friend could just send a burst of magic and turn it back on at any time.

"Acid, it's Rusty, come in."

Maybe if I keep ignoring him he'll shut up. She turned her head to her clock. It's three in the morning, it can't be all that important.

The clock had been made almost from scratch, customized to represent her and her talent, precision. It was a present, built by Rust himself, same with the radio.

And just about every other device I own designed to make my life easier... Damnit... I owe him.

She grabbed the mic loosely with a hoof and press the transmit trigger with the other, she was in a bit of a awkward position, half of her body leaning out into middair, but she couldn't find it in herself to actually get off of her bed.

"Rust..." She groaned finally. "How are you, w'sup?"

"Wanna go grab a drink?" He replied. That is what he'd woken her up for?! But then her ears perked up, that was like; her most favorite thing to do!

"Yeah!" She said clearly, any groan or sign she was tired had instantly melted. But then she realized she was still having a hard time getting herself up, the bed was so warm and tempting...

"Hey," She continued. "When you're ready can you come get me?"

"I just invited you to one of your favorite things, and you still have trouble getting your flank out of bed?" Rusty deadpanned.

"Can you blame me? It's three in the morning." Annoyance was dripping off her tongue. "This was your plan, anyway."

"Alright, fine." Came the reply.

Her hoof gave out, and she finally flopped back down onto the bed and closed her eyes, she didn't have to worry about getting ready, clothes and armor just slowed her down, so she didn't bother with it. Now she could get some more shuteye before he arrived too. Acid Rain lived in a two-story building, and she slept on the top floor, causing her to be a little confused when she got up to investigate the knocking on her window, she opened her window to find her unicorn friend barely holding onto the window seal.

"Rust, what the buck are you doing?!" She screamed.

"I didn't wanna set off that annoying-ass alarm you always set when you lock your door, it wakes up half the neighborhood!" He moaned.

"It's not that loud." She deadpanned.

"Yeah, it is. You're just used to loud noises because you're always blowing your ears out with music, now let me in, I don't even know how I managed to get up here!"

She moved aside to let her partner climb through, grinning as he more or less fell through.

"Watch your step." She said innocently. Acid got a mumbled curse in return.

"So, what place did you have in mind?" Acid continued as her stallion friend stood up.

Rust brushed himself off and thought for a moment. "The usual place I guess, The Salty Chasm?"

"Sounds good."

*Rust*

Acid grabbed her sidearm's holster and they left together, Rusty taking the lead out the door, regardless of the fact his partner was probably staring at his flank.

She wont be happy about me bringing Cobalt, but i'd rather not get raped by her this morning...

Acid Rain was a pegasus mare about half a head shorter than Rusty with a green/black mane, her coat was a damp green with several black stripes running through it, she only really wore clothes to a formal event, but Rust never saw her leave home without a pair of silvery colored bracelets, both carrying a small red jewel, he had no idea what they were for. Any attempt of inquiry about the jewelry had failed.

Acid Rain could handle crazy amounts of booze, Rust knew this from experience, but she'd always go out of her way to get wasted when they all went out together, always racking up insane charges which HE always ended up paying for.

Rust didn't mind too much though, his job kept him in bits, but when Acid had too much to drink she tended to get somewhat... Rapey. Wasn't even a word, but it didn't matter because it was true, which was exactly why he always brought Cobalt with them, he'd learned to do that the hard way after the first time he and Acid went drinking, he barely got away.

After a walking a couple streets they came to the bar known as "The Salty Chasm", Rust had noticed the mare beside him getting more and more excited as they came close to the building, she'd even taken the lead through the doorway.

Then stopped dead.

The bar was usually empty around this time, asides from the owner, who stood at the bar cleaning his favorite mug, but this time a certain grey stallion sat at one of the tables.

"C-Cobalt, what are you doing here?" She stammered.

The earth pony looked away from his glass to the newcomers. "Good to see you too Acid, I was invited." Said, trying not to laugh, he and Rust both knew what she had been thinking on the way here.

"Quality time with Rust and no Cobalt to intervene." Yeah, sorry Acid but good luck.

At this, she seemed to deflate a bit, and her ears returned to their usually down position. Rust passed her heading to the table, giving her a playful bump and a look that said 'Just smile and try to have fun.', he got a weak smile in return and she followed him to the table where their friend sat.

"So," Cobalt began as they had all been seated. "What has our little emergency session been called for?"

"I really needed a drink." Rust said simply, then added when he got a frown from Cobalt. "And to see you two, of course."

The stallion across the table grinned. "Yeah, that's about what I thought."

"You're lucky you aren't constantly bogged down with paperwork." Rust replied. "What do you even do anyway?"

"Oh you know... Stuff."

"That didn't exactly answer my question."

"I know."

Rusty facehoofed while Acid giggled childishly beside him, finally the barkeep came up to take their orders. "Oh goddesses, it's you three, glad I stocked up big this time." He chuckled, and looked at Acid. "Let me guess..." He started.

"Enough vodka to carry me down a riverbed, if you will." She challenged.

"Still make a decent magarita?" Rust challenged, finally the barkeep looked at Cobalt.

"Water, i'm here to make sure these two don't go over the edge, well, Rust at least." The earth pony smirked.

Their pegasus bartender smiled and nodded, then went off to get their drinks, only a few minutes later he had returned to their table, somehow managing to balance all three drinks perfectly on one wing. A second later, everypony had their drink.

"Really glad you all came here, seeing you two makes all the crap I do bearable." Rust said slowly, almost mumbling.

"Easy there Rusty, don't give us another friendship speech." Cobalt said quickly.

"Wait what? When did I give a friendship speech?"

"Last time we were here, but most of it was slurred." The grey stallion deadpanned.

"Really?" The mare at the table looked confused. "I understood him just fine."

"Huh. Must be a drunk thing, what was he say-" Was all the stallion got out before having his unicorn coworker's hoof shoved in his mouth.

"The friendship speech never happened." That was the end of that, Acid just shrugged and began downing her drink, Cobalt tried saying something, letting Rust know it was time to take his hoof out of the earth pony's mouth. The hour would see that this had been the best morning he'd had in a long time, not just because of what he was drinking, but because after all this time, all the violence in the world, he still had his friends. Was he starting to get soft? Surely not, must've went a bit over the limit, he pushed his glass away from himself. He'd usually be tipsy by the time Acid was pushing herself on him, and that's when he'd quit.

"Eck, think i've had enough." The stallion said. Exhaling.

"Whatever, you've barely drank anything, you're such a lightweight!" Yelled his mare friend, nudging him.

And somewhere inside his brain, better judgement was totally failing. "Bullshit!" He replied. "I could easily outdrink you."

What did I just say...

"Challenged accepted, Rust!" She was in his face now, it was apparent Acid took drinking challenges very seriously. "Barkeep," She continued. "How big are your kegs?" Cobalt was probably telling them they'd had enough, but with a wave of their hooves he was completely ignored. Rust was going to take this challenge as seriously as Acid, he was going to win if it was the last thing he did! The kegs had come out, they were behemoths. Some of the bat pony inhabitants of the city had stopped in to watch the competitors. In no more than five minutes, Rust would not remember a thing.

Burnt Cobalt

This is bad, Rust tells me to make sure he doesn't drink too much, and then he goes overboard with the stuff! How do I stop him somepony who can just throw me through the window when I get close!?

The challenge had started, several bat ponies and early pegasi scavengers had all gathered and were cheering at the two competitors. Acid and Rust were both upside down, held up by some bystanders, upping as much of the alcoholic beverage as the could before the other failed to drink anymore, when both ponies were done, the barkeep would measure both of the containers. Cobalt had no idea how the barkeep came up with this, but he was imaginative.

Finally, the drinking mare spit out some of the beverage and fell to the ground groaning, the were a series of cheers but they died down quickly, Acid was known as one of the best drinkers in the city, but Rust was still going... Maybe he was just taking his time? Everypony in the room was looking at him with a confused expression, where was he putting all this stuff?

After a few long and awkwardly silent minutes, Rust stopped drinking and slowly descended, perfectly landing on his hooves. Then let out burp strong enough to repel a mutant diamond dog, the recoil putting him on flank, almost comically. Cobalt quickly rushed up to the kegs, feeling confident when Acid's was easy to lift, then he went over to Rust's.

It took him half the strength to lift it as Acid's.

How...? Where did he put all of this!?

His eyes wide as he turned to Rust, still sitting on his hind, grinning from ear to ear. The cheers resumed, it was evident Acid had lost. The pegasus mare came up unicorn looking like she was about to say something, until she was cut off by probably the biggest hug she'd ever gotten. So that was it then, Rusty Fortune outdrank the best. The look of shock on Acid's face was priceless, and she began to flush red. Cobalt was sure to remember that. Ponies were starting to return to their homes or occupations. Before long the bar was empty once more, aside from three friends and a bartender.

And it still appeared to Rust that Acid was his personal teddy bear. The initial look of shock was gone, still blushing, she was smiling almost as much as the stallion that captivated her. The sight was almost enough to make Cobalt sick.

This is a disaster, I need to get these two home.

"Rust." He started. "We need to get you home."

"No worries Cobahlt, *hic* i'm comfortable here."

"We can't stay in the Salty Chasm, trust me on this one."

"Alright, alright." The drunk stallion looked down at his mare friend finally registering her arrival. Later, they had set off to the library, Cobalt having to drag two ponies instead of one because Rust refused to let go of Acid, it was like a child and their stuffed animal. The concern that had been bugging him since the drinking really kicked off had finally come to be when he had to get the drunk unicorn into bed.

"Rust, come on, you can't bring Acid to sleep with you." There was surprisingly little reaction from the mare of subject.

"Why not... She's so fuzzy..." Rust slurred.

"She's not a teddy bear, and you told me to keep her from getting in bed with you." Cobalt replied slowly.

"Calm down, Cobalt." Rust had somehow manage to resurrect his authoritative tone. "I know what I said, and I know she's not a teddy bear, get yourself home and get some *hic* ... Damn it... Rest."

Burnt Cobalt sighed in defeat, the two drunk ponies had closed their eyes. The pegasus wrapping a wing around her friend protectively and Cobalt knowing he was going to get barked at in the morning, even if it wasn't his fault.

Whatever, i'm sure he'll understand not wanting to intervene after almost being flung out of a window. It wasn't even from the unicorn like he'd thought, Acid was actually the one who almost threw him out.

Rust

The following morning.

My head feels like it's going to split, shouldn't have drank so mu-

His one-track thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of movement and bodily warmth around him, and he reluctantly pried an eye open, thankful that the window blinds were shut. He found that a familiar set of gleaming green eyes were looking back at him.

Both ponies started at the same time. "Oh, shit."

Almost as soon as he realized what was going on, even hungover he'd managed to compile a list of things to do for the day;

Find out if he did anything to Acid or vice versa.

Find out why Cobalt didn't do his job(optional).

Kick Cobalt's flank.

Two

Rusty Fortune

Why does this keep happening? He was coming to again, not entirely sure if that was a good thing with the possibly homicidal nurse, and not even his worst hangover could match this headache. However... He might've been a bit of a flank to the nurse, what if she had really just been trying to help this whole time?

NO! No one is trustworthy in the wasteland!

Then something occurred to him, was he really in the wasteland? What of the colors he saw? The birds he heard?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, had to be, Equestria has been dead since the bombs fell.

But yet those sounds he heard. He'd never heard anything remotely like it, it sounded beautiful. Was his mind really capable of playing that much of a trick on him, did he end up somewhere else, somehow?

He sighed just thinking about it, he needed to get outside, he needed to hear those sweet sounds again.

Rust felt a hoof jab him in his arm, apparently he'd managed to somehow screw it up, because the contact felt weird, not exactly painful, but he could also recognize a painkiller spell when he saw one, or in this case felt.

"Hey, you, with the head trauma." It was a playful sounding voice, didn't sound like a homicidal nurse. But voices can be pretty deceiving. They can have some really good ideas, and not even be real.

He managed to peel one eye open, and looked towards the voice. There was a unicorn mare sitting to the right of his bed, who had very interesting colors, they reminded him of...

Toothpaste... Colgate. I probably shouldn't tell her that unless I want to earn a few more bruises.

His throat was dry, unsure whether he could even speak, he just kept his mouth shut. He just blinked, to let her know he had her attention.

"I'm Minuette, how are you?"

He made some unintelligent noise, it would have to do, because his was pretty sure a two-way vocal conversation was impossible at this point. Some overly-polite part of his brain clicked into action. Hell, she was cute, can't be rude.

Wait what? Damnit! I've only been awake in this place for probably a hour total, and I've already called a mare cute.

"Ponies usually respond with words, i'm going to take it your throat hurts?" She said, pretty much the same amount of emotion a rock had went into that one.

Rust nodded, and hoped to the goddesses that maybe, just maybe, this mare, Colg-... Minuette would get him some water. Preferably not irradiated, and if possible, clean. Then she simply nodded, got up, and left. And Rust was left alone to his thoughts, he felt pretty safe in the hospital now, convinced they wouldn't kill him... Yet. So he mostly focused on the events of the explosion, or, explosions, rather. For one, what was he thinking firing his revolver in the warehouse he had, undoubtedly destroyed, with all that flammable junk in there? Actually, better question, how in Tartarus had there been so many barrels of fuel, or whatever it was, in there? Stuff was about as hard to get as platinum.

There was a click of the door as it opened.

Didn't even notice it closed, maybe the reason I keep getting brought so close to death is that I have the attention span of a sleepy old mare.

Rust brightened up a bit as Minuette walked back into the room, but he assured himself it was just because she had his water.

Minuette

She resumed occupying her seat by the bed when she gave him the water. Then watched as he gratefully (and sparingly, Minuette noticed) drank it. This happened over the course of about five minutes, and the mare sat there, watching the stallion, eventually he gave her a glance, hardly moving his head, a look something of curiosity on his face, and it made the mare realize she'd been staring. She blushed a bit, and looked away.

The look in his eyes made it seem as if the simple cup of water to him was like a big perfectly-cut diamond for Rarity, the fashion designer in town.

Finally he'd finished the water, he set the cup down on the bedside cupboard, sighed gratefully, and then looked at her, for a moment they kept eye contact, and she was afraid she'd combust from his stare when he finally spoke.

"Thanks." His voice was deep, not Blueblood's moneybags deep, but probably about as deep as the voice she imagined Big McIntosh had as a younger stallion.

Eventually, he spoke again, "How much do I owe you?" Her eyes widened a bit at that.

"You don't owe me anything," She replied. "It's just water." She'd noticed his eyes had widened when she'd said 'just water.'.

An awkward silence fell upon them for a time, he was staring into space since she'd said that, and paranoia was getting to her.

"Hey..." She started. "Would you want to go outside and get some fresh air with me?"

Bingo.

He'd snapped out of it, and his ears, previously deflated, perked up. She swore she'd seen his mouth curve upward a bit, but then frowns took over again.

"Can I even move?" He deadpanned. "It took almost every ounce of will I had just to get up and jump out the window, then I fell three stories."

"Well..." Minuette started, and she let her happy expression falter. "That's where it gets challenging... You're paralyzed waist down... Permanently." His eyes seemed as if they were going to match the size of the moon, she was already beginning to see his colors fade to grey.

Rusty Fortune

Paralyzed. He couldn't survive like this. Had to be a nightmare, he'd already reached for his revolver twice, twice realizing it wasn't there.

Has to be a bad dream, and I only know one way to get out of bad dreams.

Minuette

"Oh, by the way, none of that is true, you're fine. You'll be able to get up." She chuckled. Evil as it may be, the look on his face was priceless.

And when he'd given her a look that'd turn ponies ponies to stone, she just continued giving him her innocent little smile. Eventually he'd sighed, and started moving to get out of bed.

"I got you a spell that should make the pain easier to... Stand." She'd almost stopped when she realized a pun was coming, but she went through with it anyway.

The stallion's ear flicked a couple of times, and his eye performed a few more twitches. Minuette was obviously hitting his sanity hard. When the stallion was finally to his unbalanced feet he turned to face the tormentor of psychology, and opened his mouth to say something, but Minuette just shoved her hoof in it before he could speak, something she as good at doing.

Once she was convinced he felt too defeated to say anything, she started towards the door, gesturing for him to follow. It was at this point she saw the stallion's cutie mark, two cogwheels grinding against each other. Must've been some sort of mechanic?

Or maybe he makes clocks! She thought giddily.

This reminded her of the odd looking tool, she had put it in a saddlebag after bringing... That inconspicuous unnamed stallion to the hospital.

Minuette grabbed her bag, then walked out of the hospital room, the stallion she'd rescued right behind him.

Rusty Fortune

"So," Minuette started as they exited the room. "I don't know your name yet."

And this matters... Why?

"I'm Rusty Fortune, just call me Rust though." He informed the mare, ignoring his shell thoughts.

"Huh." The mare mumbled. "How'd you get a name like that?"

Rust thought a moment, he hadn't really had to explain it before. "Well, I was a colt when my parents were killed..." He started, and heard a gasp from Minuette.

"I'm so sorry." She pleaded.

"It happens."

At that, Minuette gave him a look as if he was crazy. "Um, anyway..." He continued. "I was rescued by a scavenger, he was a great stallion, started to think of him as my father. After he saved me, he noticed I was talented at finding anything of value in old buildings, piles of rubble, machines, ect., so he named me Rusty Fortune. I was suffering from a mental illness known as amnesia, so neither of us knew our real name, and couldn't just keep calling me 'kid'."

"Amnesia, yeah i've heard of that, so what's your actual name, just out of curiosity?"

"Who says I ever recovered? Hell, I bet my brain was doing me a favor." Rust deadpanned.

"Right, so what about your scavenger friend?" The blue mare trying to get more information, pried.

"Well, I never got his real name out of him, something I guess he wanted to leave in the past, everyone called him Trump Card. By the time I was a young stallion, he taught me everything he knew about machines, after that, Trump more or less just vanished." By the time Rust had explained this, they had made it to the hospital doors, they retracted as he got close, and he slowly advanced into the outside world. Everything was so colorful, the world seemed very much alive. He got off the stone into the grass, and scanned for any sign of an illusion.

"This is very different then were I came from." Rust mumbled to the mare accompanying him. "By the way, where are we?"

"Well, our humble little town here is called Ponyville."

Click

Mental gears were turning, faster then ever. Also, where I come from, Ponyville is a big empty bomb crater.

So that meant one thing. The portal he used was meant to get him beyond the Crystal Mountains, supposedly were the Crystal Empire was, a place where either nopony made it to, or just never came back.

Instead, he was sent to the past. Huh, that's different.

And then he heard the birds, and he began to laugh, uncontrollably, and Minuette seemed to be trying to figure out if this was a good idea.

"Hey!" Minuette prodded him with her hoof. "I wanted to ask you about something that fell out of your pocket."

This got Rust's attention. He ceased his laughing and looked towards her questioningly. And that's when she levitated his revolver out her saddlebag,

That would be my revolver, the thing I use to end the lives of mutants and fellow ponies alike, ma'am.

He tried not to look uneasy, but on the inside he was panicking. Should she begin pull the trigger, the hammer would come back, and if not released carefully it would strike the firing pin. This would ignite the primer inside the bullet currently at the top chamber of the cylinder, ultimately causing the bullet to be launched at speeds fast enough to break the sound barrier, and would easily kill a unarmored pony.

"Minuette," This was difficult, from his history books he learned there was little to no major conflict and crime rate was minimal in the past, or present, given the situation, if anypony in this time found out he was carrying a weapon that'd end their lives with a mere pull of finger, they'd freak. "I need you put that on the ground, carefully."

"What? Is it dangerous? Doesn't-" At that moment, the business end of the barrel had been faced to Rust. He instinctively put up a barrier, scaring Minuette, and of course, causing her to pull the trigger.

Everypony in Ponyville heard a loud crack, similiar to the ones they heard yesterday, but closer, and they all stopped what they were doing to look around cautiously before returning to their occupation.

Minuette

Minuette was frozen stiff, the object had made the same sound as the ones she heard before finding Rusty. Looking at said stallion, she noticed the flash of light was a barrier, only it was now cracked, and it flittered as if it was going to disappear. At the origin of the cracks sat a small metal pellet, it had been launched at an amazingly fast speed. If his barrier had broke, the pellet would've went straight to his chest. Minuette dropped the weapon, she was shocked, and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Her vision blurred from the tears, but she could see that Rust had lowered the magic barrier.

"Why in the hell would you have something like that?!" She was screaming at the unicorn stallion. "I... I would've killed you!" She found herself backing away from the mysterious stallion, the one she was starting to think she should have left back at the forest.

"I suppose this is about the time I should tell you i'm actually from a violent, war-torn future." He sighed.

"What." She gave him a questioning glare. He'd said that entire sentence with a serious face.

Rust had levitated the weapon to him and pulled out the cylinder part, causing more shell-covered pellets to fall out. Picking them up he spoke again. "Show me where all my gear and clothes are, and i'll explain better, I don't feel comfortable having my gun out in public like this." There was a sudden darkness to his voice.

Minuette eyes narrowed, but she nodded and began to lead him back to the hospital, where the nurses had come out to investigate the noise.

So, unicorn comes through a portal followed by explosions and "gunshots", nearly kills himself, then I nearly kill him. I should probably go talk to Twilight Sparkle first chance I get, but for now I guess I should just get him back to the hospital.

Rainbow Dash

She'd seen the whole thing, Minuette levitating the gun out of her bag, the barrier getting shot, and them heading towards the hospital. She may be a little overprotective, but she knew a really dangerous stallion when she saw one, and if he could kill a pony just like that, they needed to know.

At that, she sped off towards Twilight Sparkle's library.

Three

Rusty Fortune

Rust slowly pulled his clothing and Kevlar. Doubling the time needed to pull every strap, button every button, and zip any zipper. How was he going to explain his where he was from to Minuette? Ponies in this time were so peaceful, sure most of them probably knew how to fight, but thing is; they didn't need to. He'd taken his time putting on his gear to give him some time to think of how he'd explain it to the mare, sure he could just tell her the bare, explicit truth, but that really wouldn't get him very far.

He'd finally ran out of things to check, his gear was in order, it had also been cleaned, apparently, and even his grey Stetson was there. He'd done a check to see what he had brought with him through the portal. In his pockets he had a total of eleven .44 rounds for his revolver, a spare clip for his hunting rifle, which he'd left in the warehouse, a compass, and a completely useless map. He found his beloved gas mask in his side bag along with his journal, enchanted to send to his friends the second his heart stopped or burn to a crisp should they be deceased.

"Well." Minuette huffed. "Looks like you just ran out of distractions, are you going to tell me what you are now?"

Huh. She's good. And what's that supposed to mean; 'what I am'?

"I could have sworn you'd figured it out by now, i'm a unicorn stallion by the name of Rusty Fortune." He retorted. Making sure his Stetson was balanced perfectly on his head.

"Haar haar. Let's start off with your home."

"Canterlot."

"You seem too much of a 'ruffian' for Canterlot."

He sighed and facehoofed. "Didn't you catch that part about me being from a war-torn future earlier?"

"No, I was dealing with the fact I almost ended your life."

Don't worry, at this point you would've probably been doing me a favor.

"Well." He started. "Risking a possible small paradox, in the future, Equestria has more-or-less been burned to a crisp. A lot of ponies knew it would happen so they went down in bunkers, but not enough to preserve culture I guess, so many died, and hardly anypony knew how to operate the tech at our disposal once we ascended, before that, animals mutated, ponies went crazy and murdered everypony in the same bunkers as them, gangs formed, and our princesses completely abandoned us."

Minuette was obviously shocked by the last part, she shook her head and asked another question. "Well how're you still here? Time magic lasts for a very short time, like, minutes, at the most."

"That's the thing, I didn't actually use magic, it was a machine, wasn't even made for time travel, but it malfunctioned during a firefight and I found myself here, rescued by a certain mare." He pointed sarcastically at her.

"Huh." She mumbled.

"You believe me?"

"I guess, I did see you tossed through some type of portal no pony has ever seen, and i'm pretty sure 'guns' haven't been invented yet."

"Be thankful for that." He mumbled.

"I am." She looked at the clock at the front desk. "I've got to get to a dental checkup, you should probably come along, i'll be able to introduce you to one of the elements."

Err... Elements? "Sure." He said slowly, making it obvious she had no idea what the buck she was talking about. Then once more, they headed off into the outside world, Rust chuckling again as he heard the birds.

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight stepped back from the bookshelves to examine her work, perfect, every book had been rearranged perfectly, now she had one more thing to check off of her "To Do" list. Using her magic she brought her list over to her, surprisingly she had complete all the tasks she'd written down for herself, and it was only midday. She was considering whether she should go get some fresh air when the sudden crash of a window announced the arrival of her multi-colored Pegasus friend.

"Rainbow Dash! I though I told you about using the door!" Twilight said, fuming.

"Sorry Twi but you need to drop your egghead stuff right now!" Dash exclaimed. "Minuette's in trouble, we need to go help her."

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the word 'egghead'. "Minuette... The dentist?"

"Yeah! Tell the girls there's some dangerous unicorn out there." And with that, she rushed out the door.

Twilight considered this for a moment, they had just returned from saving the Crystal Empire, and already there'd been signs of trouble, with any luck Rainbow Dash was overreacting. Twilight shook her head and decided to follow the Pegasus, she wanted to see this unicorn for herself.

"Never anytime to just sit down." She huffed.

Rusty Fortune

"So... You're a dentist then?" He tried, they hadn't spoken to eachother since they left the hospital, was she deep in thought? Or scared? What if she was just thinking of a way to get away long enough to alert some sort of authority?

"So... You're a killer then?" Was her grim reply.

Unbelievable. Bucking hardhead.

Rust stepped in front of Minuette, keeping her from going any further. "That's enough of that."

"I come from a dangerous time Minuette, yes, I... kill. But I kill to defend the ponies I care about, I watched over the entire ruin of Canterlot, tons of innocent ponies that just want to get through life, live normal and safe, like most of you already do. If I wasn't there to kill or preferably restrain dangerous ponies or whatever else, they wouldn't be able to do that."

Rust paused and looked away from the mare, his ear twitched towards the sound of wingbeats. He noticed that they were now in a more public place, something of a market area, so he'd have to speak quieter to not draw attention. He sighed and continued. "Listen, I am not a bad sta- The hell?!" He screamed, suddenly being sent flying across the street by the impact of a certain cyan Pegasus.

"Minuette, run!" Rainbow Dash barked.

"Uh... What?" A confused Minuette mumbled.

What in Tartarus am I being attacked for? I thought these ponies were sweet and innocent. Getting up he noticed his attacker was already about to charge him again, on reflex, he grabbed his revolver in his magic, but let it go.

"Nothing lethal." He silently promised. Then the mare finally launched herself at him. Rust rolled to the side of the pissed off rainbow's attack. While she circled around, Rust thought of a spell he could use to incapacitate her. He was pissed enough by the attack, what he really wanted to was send his attacker sailing to the ground at breakneck speeds, but he figured that'd cause more problems.

If I can get my hooves on her I can apply a good enough electrical shock to have her squirming on the ground for a few minutes. So it was decided, electricity would solve another of his problems.

Just as he was charging up his horn for the spell, a new voice brought Rust and the Pegasus to a halt. "Rainbow Dash, stop this!" Rust turned to see the voice coming from a lavender unicorn mare. She didn't seem to be hostile, but he didn't need a spell to feel the magical energy radiating off of her, and he kept his readied stance.

"Good afternoon," The mare said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, sorry for the rude welcoming, you seem to have startled my friend Rainbow Dash here."

Rust nodded at the formal greeting. "I'm Rust." He stated simply.

"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled. "What are you doing, he's dangerous!"

"Rainbow we don't know until we've gotten the chance to actually interact."

"He could kill somepony at any-" She was interrupted by a dark red aurora flicking her nose, the same aurora originating from Rust's horn.

"I don't know what your problem is Dashie, but if you think I just go around killing random ponies, you're wrong." He scowled.

"I'll show you 'Dashie'." The Pegasus growled, charging at him yet again. Rust just grinned and readied his spell, the only time he'd actually got the chance to shock a pony was when he was trying to restart their heart, so he'd have to use less voltage than he was used to.

Just before impact, Rainbow Dash was grabbed by a magical aurora identical to the one originating from Twilight's horn, coming to a full stop. Again Rust was forced to let the electricity sink into the earth.

"Both of you need to cut it out," Twilight commanded. She turned to Rust. "Is there a reason my friend was so freaked out about you?" Rust just shrugged, he actually had no idea why Rainbow Dash attacked him.

"It's that metal thing under his jacket!" She cut in.

My revolver. She's been spying on me.

Twilight looked at Rust expectantly. Eventually he sighed and began pulling the gun of it's holster, he'd noticed Twilight seemed to be readying a shield spell. Being a bit of a firearm fanatic he loved talking about his gun, but he really wished it was under better circumstances.

"This is my .44 revolver, it fires a lead projectile at the speed of roughly four-hundred-sixty meters a second." Twilight's eyes widened, along with the comical drop of Rainbow's jaw.

Rust slowly restored the weapon to it's holster. "I'd really love to talk more but me and Minuette were on our way to an appointment." He hinted to his companion.

"Uh..." She mumbled. "Oh, yeah! That's right, we're going to be late." She took off towards her office.

"So uh, guess we'll talk later." Rust copped out. Leaving two mares behind.

"Well," Rainbow started. "Don't you see now? He didn't even try to hide what that thing does, he's dangerous."

"He seems friendly, but you're right. We should keep an eye on him. Also, i'm going to see if I can't find out more about him."

Finally away from those crazy mares.

"Hey Minuette, wait up." Rust huffed. He was eventually cantering beside the mare.

"I'm surprised you actually told them what that thing does." She started.

"Yeah... Figured I might as well, i'll probably be seeing them again soon, besides that Twilight one seemed like she had enough magic to blast my flank straight to the moon." He chuckled.

They slowed down as they finally reached their destination, Minuette held her hoof up to Rust to stop him from entering the building. "Listen," She started. "I was gruff with you back at the hospital, i'm sorry."

"Don't be, I get that you were panicking, and I was being a bit... insensitive? Also I know what kind of time i'm in, I doubt i'll ever need to use that thing again unless I find a way back to the future." He reassured her.

"Back to the future... Okay then. Shall we?" She said, motioning for the door.

"After you." The stallion replied, pulling the door open with his magic.

"Such a gentlecolt." She cooed.

On the other side of the door waited two Earth ponies, one was a filly with pale yellow coat and reddish hair, the other was a grown mare with an orange coat and blonde hair, she wore a brown Stetson instead of Rust's grey. The mare's green eyes turn to the newcomers as they walked in.

"Well howdy there Minuette!" She beamed. "You ready for 'yer checkup Applebloom?" She said, turning to the filly.

"Well, yeah, ah-ah guess so." The filly murmured, nervously scuffing her hooves against the floor.

"Don't worry there Applebloom." Minuette started cheerily. "You've got nothing to fear from checkups." With that, she started walking into the other room, Applebloom, obviously unsure about the dentist, trailing behind.

Huh, I try to take good care of my teeth but maybe I should consider an appointment, the city didn't have a dentist until very recently. He canceled any further dental health thoughts as he realized the grown earth pony had walked up to him.

"Hi there, never seen you 'round these parts so ya' must be new, 'ahm Applejack." She said warmly, holding her hoof out.

"I'm Rusty," Shaking her hoof. "I did actually just arrive here, nice to meet you."

"Ah see 'yer one for the hats too, huh?"

Rust tipped his hat with magic. "Never leave home without it."

"So where 'ya from originally now?"

"Canterlot, actually."

"That's mighty strange, you don't seem like one them noble types." She deadpanned.

"Yeah I've been getting that lately. Unlike those noble snobs, I actually work for a living."

This got a laugh out of Applejack and a pat on Rust's back. "Oh boy, you'll fit right in, here in Ponyville."

As she regained her composure, Rust took the initiative to look curiously examine his surroundings, what appeared to be half an hour later, Minuette returned from the back room with Applebloom smiling by her side.

"We're all done here Applejack, your little sister takes very good care of her teeth."

"Ahm glad t' hear it, thank you Minuette, I guess i'll see you 'round then Rusty?" She said, turning to the unicorn.

"Yeah, I imagine." And with that, the two sisters left, leaving just Minuette and Rust alone in the dentistry.

"Well then, looks like you've gotten at least one of the Elements of Harmony to like you." She chuckled.

Rust looked at her quizzically. "Those two from earlier, the Rainbow one and Twilight Sparkle, they were elements?"

"Yeah, sorry forgot to mention that, thanks for not hurting either of them by the way, they're both patients as well."

I've totally pissed off one element, and made the other suspicious, great.

"Hey don't freak out," She tried to reassure him, noticing the concern on his face. "They wont hassle you without a good reason, and it seems to me like you've got one on your side."

At that moment, Twilight Sparkle just happened to walk in to the office, a totally inconspicuous smile on her face.

"Buck." Rust murmured, scanning the building with magic for the best possible escape route.

"Hello Minuette, and... Rust, wasn't it?"

"Hi Twilight." Minuette responded softly.

"Yeah, you got it right." Rust mumbled.

"I figured i'd drop by and uhm... Apologize for what happened earlier with Rainbow Dash, not the best welcoming pony, she can be really cautious towards ponies she doesn't know." Twilight continued.

"Yeah. I noticed."

"Erm. Right, anyway..." Twilight levitated a list seemingly from thin air. "I was wanting to get to know you better."

"Sorry," Rust joked. "I'm not dating right now."

Before their eyes, Twilight's face was absorbed by red. "I... That's NOT what I meant." The mare exclaimed.

Minuette chuckled and cut in. "If you two don't mind, I have to close up."

"Okay, we can take this to the library."

"Uh... What?" Rust mumbled, just before being teleported into a completely unfamiliar place.

He'd been absorbed by a bright light, and when it subsided he found himself in what seemed like the interior of a giant hollow tree, it was almost dark, the only light coming from the open windows, but a there was the sound of a switch being flipped and immediately the entire room was illuminated. The walls around him had carved-in bookshelves. In the center sat a table made from a smaller tree's stump. Atop it lay a statue of a stallion.

"Welcome to the library!" Twilight beamed. "I just finished reshelving today!"

Rust slowly examined the rows of books surrounding him. "How often to you reshelve all these books?"

"About once a month, why?"

"No reason. Anyway, you had some questions?"

"Ah, yes!" Twilight brought out her checklist once more. "Let's start with your name and hometown."

He'd managed to get a good look at the checklist, this was going to take too long. "Rusty Fortune, Canterlot."

Twilight gave him a curious look, but continued. "Parents?"

"Deceased." He mumbled. "Never had the chance to know them, raised by a Pegasus."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Anyway I heard from the nurses you arrived through some sort of portal."

You already know too much.

"Yeah uh, the portal was unstable, there was a accident with my magic. There's probably a smoking crater where I came from but luckily I wasn't around anypony." He lied, partially.

"Happens a lot, good thing you weren't hurt, a lot of unicorns get hurt badly when their teleportation spells go wrong. So what about what happened at the hospital? You dove headfirst through a third story window." She eyed Rust suspiciously.

He just shrugged. "Morphine is one hell of a drug." After getting a scowling look from his interrogator he continued. "I was freaked out, actually, I looked for an escape route and I just jumped through, had no idea I was on the third floor, or WHY I was on the third floor."

"Ponyville hospital gets a lot of patients because it's one of the best." She explained. "That floor actually used to be an attic until they realized they should just get a storage building so they could care for more ponies."

At the end of her explaination there was the sound of a door opening, and both ponies turned to look at the entrance. In came a pink maned yellow Pegasus with the cutie mark of three butterflies.

"Uhm... Twilight I came to give you back those... Meep" She stopped and stared wide-eyed at the unfamiliar unicorn in the room. It looked like she was about to run out when Twilight spoke up.

"Oh hello Fluttershy! It's good to see you. If you could put them over there..." She pointed to her small podium to the side of the room. "That'd be great."

The timid Pegasus stood still, and whispered something unintelligible that Twilight, somehow, managed to hear. "You don't need to worry about him, he's new to Ponyville, his name is Rusty.

"Hi." He spoke softly, waving his hoof.

"Hi." The Pegasus responded quietly.

"This is Fluttershy, she takes care of a lot of the animals around here." Twilight intervened.

"So like a veterinarian, kind of?" Rust said cheerily, hoping not to scare another pony.

"Yeah... Uhm... Kind of." Fluttershy spoke. "I'm sorry Rusty, but can I talk to Twilight, alone?"

You sure live up to your name, don't you, Fluttershy?

"No worries, I should be heading off anyway." He reassured her, silently thanking her for giving him an excuse to leave.

"Oh okay, well i'll talk you later Rusty, okay?" Twilight called after the unicorn as he was walking out the door. It closed without his response.

Finally outside, he quickly examined the area, it was starting to get dark, the area look more like it was sort of a home district. He saw a familiar toothpaste themed unicorn nearby, and realized she had probably been waiting on him. Just as he was approaching her, a impossibly familiar DJ-sort of pony walked by him wearing purple shades.

"W'Sup Rusty." She greeted him as she passed. A look of sheer confusion and slight terror on his face.

The hell?

He shook his head and continued his path, Minuette noticed him as he approached and met him halfway.

"Hey there," She said warmly. "She tear you a new one?"

Rust chuckled. "Her asking all those questions, felt like my brain was going to shut off."

"What did you end up telling her?"

"I lied about maybe half of it, you know, the part about the teleportation, Equestria in flames, that stuff."

"Right, I figure you wont want me to tell anypony about your background huh?"

"Yeah, I'd prefer that."

"It's getting pretty dark, you even have a place to stay?" She questioned him.

"No, haven't any bits to rent a place, haven't even had time to look." He deadpanned.

"No biggie, I uh... Actually have a extra room."

"Seriously?" Rust's eyes widened, completely oblivious to the hesitation in her voice. "That'd be great."

Only a few minutes later they'd arrive at the two-story building Minuette announced was her home. The building was somewhat slim, but the second floor made up for that, the bottom floor having a kitchen and living room, leaving him to assume the bathroom and bedrooms were all upstairs.The two bottom having basic appliances, coffee table, small couch, along with books and clocks scattered within the room.

"You seem to be a bit obsessed with time, Minuette."

"Yeah, it's a something of a hobby, I guess." The mare murmured.

"Must be a pretty big hobby, given your cutie mark."

"I'm a bit curious why you've been looking at my flank." She said accusingly, then smiling.

"Sorry, can't help myself." Rust said jokingly. "So uh, seeing how i'm more-or-less your roommate for the night, you don't you mind if I get a shower do you?"

"Go for it. I don't care. I'm sure you'll be able to find towels and stuff on your own. So i'll probably be asleep by the time you get out. Goodnight Rust."

"Night."

Twilight Sparkle

In the dim light of a single candle there sat a lavender unicorn mare, Twilight Sparkle, personal protégé of Princess Celestia. Her magic allowing her to write a letter quickly and neatly.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I regret to inform you that a possible threat has entered Ponyville, he is a unicorn stallion by the name of Rusty Fortune, he holds a large amount of magic yet doesn't seem to know it, he was wearing what seemed to be light armor and carried a concealable weapon. While he didn't seem aggressive in any way, in fact the exact opposite, I can't help but have a concerned feeling. I anticipate your reply on the matter. Attached is a series of questions he was available to answer.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

She stepped back from the table she wrote the letter on, Rust had just arrived in Ponyville, if she sent this letter he'd only be less welcomed, but Twilight couldn't help the itching feeling of suspicion. She had to decide whether she was going to send this letter or not.

She folded it up and brought it upstairs. Sleep first, then she'd decide. She was more tired than usual and would rather not make the decision to either make or break a life when she couldn't think straight.

Four

Rusty Fortune

Day Two, date unknown - going to have to figure that out.

Met three of the six Elements of Harmony the other day, the earth pony Applejack seemed to like me, the other two, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle don't trust me at all. I was actually a little surprised when I didn't wake up to the sound of gaurds breaking down Minuette's front door. Minuette told me she'd show me the elements Kindness and Generosity, then said something about how Laughter would find me herself. With any luck I can get on their good sides before the princess' student decides i'm unfit to stay in Ponyville.

Rust lay on his bed wondering whether he should include any more details, but as the smell of burnt food reached his nose he decided to get up and investigate. Minuette's pain-subduing spell had worn off last night when he went to sleep, and putting any weight on his front hooves hurt, but he tried his best to ignore the pain and begun walking down the stairs, following the acrid scent.

"Son a... Motherbucker!" He heard Minuette scream as he'd finally reached the floor. "How in Tartarus do I even manage to burn eggs?!"

Here we go...

"Minuette?"

"Yes, Rust?" She sighed.

"Do you uh... Need help?" He hazarded.

Minuette gave Rust a look that made him feel like he'd spontaneously combust, then look back at the "eggs". She dumped them into a trashcan and threw the pan into the kitchen sink.

"Nah, i'd rather just go out to get something to eat. Restaurant around the corner makes some decent food." She mumbled.

Getting ready to leave Minuette looked back at Rust, who was ungeared. "Rust, you forgetting something?"

It took him a few moments to realize what she meant, then a draft from the outside reminded him he wasn't wearing his clothes. "Not many ponies here seem to keen on wearing much clothing, i'd rather not stick out like a sore hoof."

Minuette simply nodded in approval and grabbed her small saddlebag before walking out the door, once again opened for her by Rust. The two unicorns stepping out into the deserted street, Minuette was the first to speak.

"I still can't believe how well mannered you are." Minuette giggled.

"I still can't believe I've been sent to the past," Rust joked. "And hey, just 'cause I was raised after the apocalypse doesn't mean I wouldn't have manners."

He thought for a moment and lowered his voice. "It's kind of what's expected of me I guess, back where I come from."

"Really?" Minuette gave him a funny look. "Is there a mare?"

"Wha-? Oh... No, well, yes. Kinda. Her name is Acid Rain, I brought her onto the 'law' crew after I met her out in the wastes. So get this..."

Rust, several Hundred Years Into the Future

It had been almost three years since the disappearance of Trump Card, and almost one year since Rust stopped a bandit coup and met Cobalt. Another long-distance caravan had gone out a few months back, promising to bring any news they heard of Trump. To Rust's disappointment, they again returned empty hooved. Metaphorically. They were actually carrying bags of coins and a cart filled with trinkets. Either way, the feelings of despair had returned. His mother and father had been killed when he was a small colt and he could hardly remember anything of them. The doc called it amnesia, something about psychological trauma. What he did remember was terrifying; he remembered the pained faces as they were beaten and executed. The marauders take no prisoners, if they had found him, he'd have received the same fate.

And that is when Trump Card found him. A small defenseless colt out in the middle of the cruel wasteland, alone, screaming for help. Trump had heard the screams from a set of ruins only a few yards away, and flew in Rust's direction immediately, even as all instinct told him he was putting himself in danger he couldn't find it in himself to leave a young one behind. When Trump had found him he was maybe four years old, covered in soot from the rubble that used to be his home, no memory of who he was, he had a name, but he couldn't place it. All he knew is that some mean ponies had burnt down their house and put his parents into sleep, a sleep they would never wake up from..

"Hey there kiddo, what's wrong?" Trump said softly, but a look on his face revealed he already feared the worst.

"My parents." The small colt sniffed. "Some bad ponies came... They... They..."

Trump made a split-second decision and gathered him in a hug, trying to provide some comfort to keep him from having a breakdown. "Okay, i'm going to get you to a place called Canterlot, it's safe there, what's your name?" He asked.

"It's... I don't remember..."

"Okay, it'll be alright, i'm going to get you to a safe place."

With that, they traveled to Canterlot, Trump had held residence in the corner bookstore, where Rust continued to reside after Trump's disappearance. A few times taking the colt out on scavenging trips, trying to calm the young unicorn's nerves, Trump found he had a keen eye for anything of value in ruins. The colt still hadn't remembered his name, and so Trump decided he'd call him Rusty Fortune. Soon after that Trump had become something of an older brother, or father, actually. As Rust grew he learned everything Trump knew, both about scavenging and mechanics, which he soon earned his cutie mark in; two old cogwheels.

Eventually, Rust had grown into a young stallion, then suddenly; Trump vanished. No note, no signs, only the words he left with Rust: "I'm going on a important trip."

With that, the only father he could really remember was gone.

Rust shook his head, those memories would bring his downfall if he dwelled on them. By sundown he'd arrived at a abandoned section in Canterlot, one he'd promised himself he'd check for anything of value. He sat on his flank wondering which building he should check first. That is, until he heard the crack of a rifle accompanied by a bullet landing only meters away, sending him leaping behind a concrete wall.

"Eat lead you fuck!" The yell of a mare, obviously pissed. Too bad Rust had no idea why.

He heard the sound of a bullet being ejected from a bolt-action rifle, this meant he had time to run from cover to cover between shots, meaning he could flank the aggressor. Another bullet pinged nearby, and he ran from the concrete wall through a wagon-sized hole in the wall of an apartment building.

"Where are your buddies now huh?!" He heard another scream.

Rust pulled out his revolver, he was getting closer to the sniper, cutting through the building he arrived in the lobby, finding emptiness, aside from one shady looking wounded earth stallion sitting on the floor against the reception desk, he was suffering from two gunshot wounds and held a shotgun until Rust walked in.

"Damn." He mumbled, throwing his weapon to the side. "First we're ambushed by some crazy vigilante mare and now the Non-Sheriff just happens to walk in."

"What happened here?" Rust demanded.

"Acid Rain happened." The shady stallion deadpanned.

"Never heard of her."

Rust received a sigh in reply. "I don't have long, so might as well say it." The statement was proven true by a deathly sounding cough. "My crew screwed her over on some deal, after we left her for dead I guess she recovered, tracked us down, now this."

He looked like he was going to speak more, but bullets passing through your chest don't help your speech, blood erupted from the bandit as the bullet passed Rust only missing by mere inches. Causing Rust to, once again, dive for cover, he readied his revolver and peeked out from the reception desk. But there was nopony to be seen, rushing outside, he saw the mare the bandit had called Acid running down the abandoned street back towards the occupied ruins. In the darkness he saw a pair of wings that seemed to refuse to open. Immediately Rust gave chase.

Acid

Oh shit... I almost shot the sheriff, i'm fucked!

She was in panic, her wings refused to open, the state she was in; left for dead, dehydrated, starving. That didn't help. She was also covered in original bandages and probably had an infection. All she cared about up to this point was revenge, and she achieved that. Now what? Nowhere to go, and she was on the run.

"Acid!" The non-sheriff yelled. "Hold it!"

Her body was reaching it's limits, her only fuel for the past days had been bloodlust and maybe some dirty water. A voice in the back of her head told her that the journey was coming to an end. She rounded a corner and then ran down into a alleyway, if she had any tears, she would've been crying. This was how it ended - She had no reason to go on. The exhausted mare let herself fall beside a old dumpster and she began to pull out her sidearm.

Despite her pride, it was proving hard not to whimper when she held a gun to her head.

At the same time, from that point on no matter how much Acid wanted to end it, there was going to be a certain stallion that wouldn't let her. As the trigger was locked in place with magic, she felt her gun being levitated out of her hooves, Acid looked up to see a dark blue unicorn standing over her.

He tilted his head for a moment and spoke. "You've got issues."

"Bite me." Acid murmured, venom clear in her voice.

"Cannibalism isn't my thing." He said lightly. "Let's get you out of here. Safer back in town."

Before she could protest, she was surrounded by Rust's magic and lifted onto his back.

At this point, the words "Fuck it." rang through her head and she promptly passed out.

Minuette, past Equestria

"Wow." Minuette mumbled, they had sat down as they reached the restaurant. "She was going to kill herself, then?"

"Was." Rust smirked. "I had arrived just in time to stop her."

"What happened then?" It appears she'd been immersed by the story.

"Well," Rust started. "I got her back to the library and tried to more-or-less bring her back from the dead. She had suffered a gunshot that should have been fatal, she was starved, dehydrated, had an infection... She'd been through some bad stuff."

"Must've felt like you like you first woke up at the hospital." Minuette chuckled.

"Yeah, just no three story window to jump out." He replied.

At this time, their food had arrived. Minuette politely thanked the waiter. Afterwards, while Rust ravaged the food in front of him, Minuette consumed more slowly, slightly troubled by the haunting image her imagination had conjured of the shady looking stallion being killed, Rust may have been too descriptive.

Rust took notice to her discomfort. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have mentioned the bandit when we're about to eat."

"Ah, don't worry about it." She waved him off. "So tell me about Acid."

Rust swallowed some hay fries and took a deep breath. "Uhm... Acid... Let's see."

"Acid Rain," He started. "She was the third and last addition to the crew, about me and Cobalt's age. Damp green coat, she had some black stripes not sure why. A real fun mare to be around usually, the bane of my bar tab, too. Loves getting affection, which is pretty innocent until she goes out of her way to get drunk. The alcohol takes over and she starts to hit on me."

"Wow." Minuette chuckled. "Sounds like a real party type of pony."

"Kind of."

"So did you and her ever have a thing?" Minuette blurted, realizing too late how awkward it would sound.

Rust choked on another hay fry. Regaining control of his breathing he gave Minuette a funny look.

"Sorry," She mumbled. "Didn't realize how weird that would sound."

"Don't worry about it," He said softly. "I actually got asked that a lot so I should be used to it. Anyway, no, there was nothing there, we made jokes towards each other just to embarrass but it was just that."

"Oh." Minuette said.

Awkward, awkward, awkward.

Twilight Sparkle

"That's strange." Twilight said, scanning the area where Rust was found in magic.

"What's up, Twi?" Came her number one assistant, who was currently lazing about on the mare's back.

"I've seen this energy signature before, recently actually, it came from the Everfree Forest. These don't seem to be teleportation magic signatures though."

"Yeah, I think I remember, wasn't that right before you were turned into stone?" He chuckled.

"Spike!" She groaned. "That was not funny!"

She looked back at the site she was scanning. "Maybe I should scan that other area again."

"What about that one guy, Rust?" Spike started, hopping off Twilight's back.

She considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Spike, I need you to fetch him for me. If he asks why, tell him it's about his teleportation incident."

"And if he says he doesn't want to come?" Spike said, crossing his arms.

"If he wont come, i'll make him." Twilight... Growled, almost.

Spike's eyes widened, that was different. After a few seconds of wondering what could've brought on the disturbing response, he simply nodded and began running in the direction of Ponyville to seek out his quarry.

Five

Rust looked down to see the small purple dragon standing by their table, Rust had no idea who the small creature was and had to make an effort not to look uncomfortable at the fact that the small being in front of him could grow into a total monster and burn the village down. He was focusing on the dragon so hard he hadn't even realized it called him by name.

"He usually this way?" Spike asked Minuette, who just shrugged in reply.

"Rusty!" She yelled, clapping her hooves in front of his face for good measure.

"What? Oh, sorry. Just-... Dragons." He mumbled. "Anyway, w'sup?"

Spike chuckled for a moment. "Yeah, I know, we're attractive." He said, earning a disapproving shake of the head from Minuette.

"So, Twilight told me wants to talk to you about your teleportation incident." He continued.

Rust raised a single eyebrow. "I'm a little busy, can it wait?"

"No, I don't think so," Spike sighed. "She said it real... Strange, a growl sorta."

Rust grumbled something incomprehensible then glanced at Minuette. "Well, I might as well go see what's got her fur in the brambles." He said, earning a chuckle from dragon. "You wanna come?"

"Sure, schedule's empty, nothing better to do."

The purple dragon spoke up once again, proudly, holding his hand out. "I'm Spike by the way, Twilight's number one assistant!"

Rust let out a small chuckle and shook the dragons hand. "I'm Rusty, nice to meet you."

Rusty Fortune, just outside the Everfree Forest

"So, remind me again why we're heading to the Everfree." Rust spoke to Twilight, who was making a checklist of sorts.

"I never told you in the first place." She said back.

"Then tell me now." He replied, more flatly than the first attempt at information.

He heard a sigh more the mare before she spoke. "I went ahead and investigated the site you were found, this field, and-"

"Because i'm untrustworthy and you want information that i've already given you before you throw me out of Ponyville?" He cut in with his unenthusiastic guess.

"Why would-, no I wouldn't just kick you out just because you're... Mysterious." She said, slightly offended.

"Oh?" Rust said, actual surprise in his voice.

"Besides, I haven't decided you're untrustworthy... Yet. Anyway, I found that the signature left behind by your portal matched the same energy signature I found in the Everfree not to long a-"

"When she was turned into a stone by a chicken." Spike jutted in.

"Shut up Spike! And it was a Cockatrice!"

This inspired a large, hearty, laugh from the stallion of the group. And Minuette looked at him with surprise, Twilight with anger.

"Alright, alright. Let me get this straight," He said, struggling to get himself under control. "You let a chicken turn you into stone?

"Cockatrice." She grumbled.

"Pretty much a chicken," Spike teased alongside Rust. "Just with wings."

While Twilight simply started ignoring them, fuming, and mumbling something about scales, Rust and Spike brohoofed, Minuette giggling at the two menaces.

Oh yeah, me and the Element of Magic are going to get along just fine.

The next half hour or so passed mostly harmoniously, Spike had returned to the library, and Rust took some time to remember the signature at his point of arrival. After they began their journey he noticed they were walking around the forest instead of going through it, this raised some suspicion for the unicorn, and tapped Minuette's shoulder to get the mare's attention.

"Why are we walking along the forest, instead of going through?" He whispered.

The two slowed down, separating themselves from the other member of the group. "It's dangerous in there, the less time spent in it and the less far in you go, the better."

"Yeah, I do suppose Bambi poses a threat to the pony race." He mumbled.

"No, that's not all there is, probably stuff about as dangerous as you find where your from."

"Giant mutated insects?"

"Uhm... No..?"

"Oh, then I'll be fine... Hate those bugs." He grumbled.

Minuette was about to say something witty on the matter, but was interrupted when Twilight called back to them that they'd have to enter the forest from where they were, not far apparently. But as the group entered the Everfree the air around them became damp, the sun was almost completely blocked out by the canopy of trees, and in general a dark gloom had descended which Rust knew all too well. After some careful navigation, three ponies found themselves in a faintly lit clearing.

"Okay everypony, this is where I found the energy signature." Twilight informed them before her horn lit up with magic and she scanned the area. Rust followed her in casting a spell to analyze the area while Minuette simply sat on her flank looking surprisingly calm.

This is... Disturbingly similar to my portal's signature, just without code that I know was from the machine... It almost seems as if I was... Relayed, somehow.

"Yeah." Twilight started. "This is almost exactly the same aside from the first bit."

Rust shifted around a bit, his destination had originally been far north, where the Crystal Empire supposedly lay. Would she be able to figure that out by studying the magical coding? What if she managed to find out he was from a different time?

He supposed with his luck that both of those were likely to happen, and the silence on Twilight's part wasn't helping. He was considering to walk away, to never been seen again, but then again that wouldn't exactly help him get back to his friends either, or to find out what went wrong. His thoughts were interrupted when a certain blue unicorn nudged him, pointing him to something of interest. The ground near a bramble thicket was occupied by a single feather, evidently a pegasi feather, cleaning it of revealed it to be somewhat pale brown in color.

At this, Rust was shocked. The world became unfocused for a minute. He hardly heard Minuette's joke.

"Guess Twilight wasn't the one with her coat in the brambles." She said cheerily.

Nah, can't be. It's just a feather, I can't tell anything from it. Besides how many teleportation signatures can there be? Wait, no, these are portals we're thinking of, wait... How do I know if this was portal? Because pegasi can't teleport, certainly not into the past. You don't know it was a pegasus. Really? Why not? There's a feather right there. That feather could be from anythi- It's a pegasus feather you twit!

Rust felt himself losing it, and he put a hoof up to his head in a futile attempt to calm the raging thoughts. Minuette noticed this and gave him a look of concern.

What brought you to think it's him anyway?!

Rust was screaming at himself on the inside, he scrunched his eyes together and tried to focus.

Because I can't bring myself to believe that the stallion who raised me is dead! One final voice screamed.

Then his head was finally clear once more, he opened his to find Minuette looking at him with concerned eyes and a hoof idly in the air, as if she was trying to figure out if she could help in some way. What seemed to concern her more now is that the stallion had just instantly recovered from the war he was fighting with himself and was smiling at her warmly. As he approached, she couldn't help but shrink back a bit cautiously, at that moment Rust wrapped her in a hug. Her face was flushed with red and she strangely returned the gesture.

"I know Twilight saw that little episode I had there, she might not act like it but she saw it. Didn't want her getting suspicious. How good are your tracking spells?" Rust whispered.

The mare let out a quiet chuckle before she replied in the same hushed tone. "I've had a lot of practice, ponies may not like it but their teeth are going to stay healthy on my watch."

I wonder if she puts something in her coat, I feel weird thinking this but... It's so comfortable.

The two unicorns ended the embrace to see Twilight Sparkle starting at them strangely, before shaking her head.

"I can't figure out much from these, other than a pony came out of them." She said, missing Rust magically slipping a feather under his stetson.

Good, the less you know...

Minuette

Hours later Minuette and Rust had managed to separate themselves from Twilight, with the sun setting, the two unicorns wearily entered the apartment.

"Ungh, confound Twilight and her scientific pursuits." Minuette said pitifully. Collapsing on the couch.

"I'm surprised she bothered feeding us. I need a drink." Rust mumbled, setting the pegasus feather on the couchside table.

"There's some fruity tasting purple stuff in the fridge, i'm not exactly sure what it is but it tastes nice."

"Alcohol Minuette, I mean alcohol."

Minuette laughed at her own misinterpretation. "So I figure you'd rather wait until tomorrow to find that pegasus?" She said, picking up the feather in her magic and looking it over.

"Yeah, it can wait until tomorrow."

"So what was with you earlier when you saw the feather?" Minuette pried, sitting up.

Rust came out of the kitchen holding a glass containing a tasty purple liquid. He sat down on the small couch and placed his glass beside the feather. He looked unsure for a moment until Minuette spoke again.

"You've told me about a lot of your past and I took it pretty well, I don't think this'll be much different."

That's a lie...

Rust considered this and then nodded. "I don't think Trump Card died in the wasteland. At first I just refused to believe it, but now I think... I think he wound up here, Minuette."

Minuette looked at him, smiling. "And you think that's his feather."

"Matches all the others on his wings." He shrugged, looking at the feather again.

Rust seemed idle for a moment, then looked back at Minuette. "Minuette, I ah... Gotta ask you something..." He said, a blush appearing on his face.

Minuette found her eyes widening. This sounded like it was going to be really personal. Luna help her.

"What makes your coat so soft? I swear I was hugging a warm pony-shaped cloud earlier." He finished.

At that, Minuette's face was infused with red. "I uh... Uhh..." She searched for words as Rust simply tilted his head waiting for an answer, as if nothing had been awkward about that.

As her heartbeat returned to normal she finally found the words she wanted to say. "I guess it's just naturally that way." She shrugged.

"Has anyone ever asked you that?" Rust chuckled. "Surely I can't be the first."

"Well I don't really give out hugs... At all... So..." She trailed off.

"Hah. No wonder you were so awkward." Rust teased. "You're inexperienced!" He prodded her with his forehoof.

"Whatever. I'm going to go get a shower." She said, faking a temper with the stallion.

Halfway up the stairs she looked back down at Rust, he had made himself comfortable on the couch and was rotating the feather in his magic. Something had been incredibly off about him.

Didn't matter though, save it for another day.

Rusty Fortune

Day Three, He wrote. He'd woken up in the dark hours of the morning somehow and decided to drag himself up to his room, where he woke hours later. Rust stared at the journal entry hoping it would just write itself, nothing happened.

Nothing. He finished, and closed the journal before it could taunt him any further with the blank pages.

Suddenly there was a strange rumbling, and he realized it was hooves, many hooves. He cautiously opened the door and began his descent downstairs.

"Minuette?" He called.

With no answer, he opened the front door and saw a storm of pink earth ponies, and one particular blue unicorn.

"Rust!" She screamed. She was helpless, surrounded, she'd been knocked off her feet.

He spotted her just in time to see one of the pink atrocities carelessly trample her in the rampage for fun.

He heard bone crack, and another scream, filled with pain. After that for a few moments everything was black. Surely he couldn't have fainted right? Not possible, he was more hardened than that, suddenly, vision returned.

His eyes widened at the scene, he'd pinned one of the pink earth ponies by the hooves and had his revolver shoved in it's mouth, hammer already pulled back, the mare eyeing it fearfully. His body screamed for justice, revenge, and blood, but had respectfully given his mind the final say. The world had seemingly stopped as the army of pink and a few other ponies stared at him. Something else clicked other than his revolver and he realized what the pink pony clones actually were.

"I assume you somehow know what this does?" He asked, the pink mare nodding quickly.

"You hurt my friend." He said darkly, the pink mare attempted what he thought was an apology, but simply ignored it.

"I know what you are, just a reflection from the mirror pool." He said, recalling the old legend. "But i'm not going to kill you, instead, you're going to leave, back into the pool, all of you. Leave the real pink mare behind."

The pink mare again nodded fearfully. It wasn't only the firearm that scared her, the stallion's fur had become darker, his irises had shrank and he was beginning to crack a smile that left him looking beyond insane. Eventually Rust nodded and stepped off her. She quickly got up, looked towards the others, and began to run for her life. As she did this the other reflections followed her example.

Rust holstered his revolver (He'd apparently brought the holster with him during the blackout.) and approached Minuette, his look of pure blood lust and insanity vanishing.

"Rust." She cried.

"It'll be alright." He said gently.

"It hurts."

"I'm going to get you to the hospital." He replied, using his magic to place her on his back gently as possible.

The mare chuckled a bit, worrying Rust as she had to be in too much pain for that.

"This is actually how I carried you to the hospital." She murmured.

Rust smiled. "Let's not make carrying each other around town like this a habit."

He was mentally kicking himself for not bothering to learn any pain numbing spells. He'd be physically kicking himself if he wasn't carrying the mare.

"I need a drink." Minuette mumbled.

"I don't have any water or that purple stuff with me, sorry."

"Alcohol Rust, I mean alcohol." She chuckled.

Finally they arrived at the hospital, Redheart and another nurse met them outside with a stretcher, which they quickly used to get the injured mare into a hospital room.

Once they'd admitted her, Rust got one of the nurse's attention.

"Excuse me, Nurse Redheart, was it?" He asked politely.

She had to consider even responding for a moment. "Yeah, that's me. Can I help you?"

"In a way I guess, how's Minuette?"

"Her left hind leg is broken, mild bruising. She's extremely lucky for a unicorn that just got trampled."

He sighed. "Yeah, I think I actually had something to do with that." He hazily remembered firing a shot off that hit the ground harmlessly, then blasted every pink pony near Minuette with a wave of magic.

The nurse chuckled. "I'm glad you were able to keep her safe."

"Not really." Rust mumbled. "I need to go find a pink earth pony, i'll be back later."

He turned around to walk out the door but stopped halfway, turning again to face the nurse.

"By the way," He started. "If I ever come here and act like a total jackass like I did to you when I woke up, just throw me out the window yourself."

The mare smiled. "Apology accepted."

Rust nodded, now off to find a pink mare.

About an hour of searching later Rust found himself pushing open the doors to the Sugarcube Corner, he found his quarry.... Along with 5 other mares, Rust recognizing most of them as Elements of Harmony.

Headcount.

Applejack, The Rainbow One, Twilight, Fluttershy, Posh Canterlot Unicorn, Ecstatic Pink Mare.

"Just a wild guess, you six all wield one of the elements don't you?" He announced himself.

They all look at him eyes-wide, previously unaware of him, aside from the pink one, who just smiled and squealed.

"We sure do!" She exclaimed. "You must be new! I'm Pinkie."

Then she let out a melodramatic gasp and started sputtering something about welcoming parties.

"No. Stop." He said flatly. The pink mare deflated, then seemed to notice how anger was radiating off of him. Her friends shuffled in their seats, noticing it as well.

"To put it bluntly, you're the reason Minuette was hospitalized." He said, ever so apparent venom in his voice.

This caused Rainbow Something to get out of her seat and Twilight actually went as far to ready her magic. Rust sighed and sat on his flank.

"Calm down, you two. If I didn't blow the door off it's hinges and charged in yelling louder than Luna you don't have a reason to worry about me coming for revenge."

Applejack, the only one it seemed apparent to that Minuette had been hurt spoke up. "What happened to her? Minuette, ah mean."

"She was trampled by several pink ponies screaming 'fun'." He deadpanned.

There was a series of gasps around the room. Rust continued, "I'm not here to guilt trip you or declare ever-lasting hatred for the elements, but i've seen how many bits Minuette had, she's obviously under-payed because ponies refuse to pay her the appropriate price for making sure their teeth don't fall out. I have no idea how or why she payed my hospital bill, especially after I set sail out the third floor window, but I doubt she has enough for her own. I don't want her to deal with anymore grief by owing the hospital bits."

He paused and the mares looked at each other for a moment. "So, i'm asking one of you to pay her bills."

"Now why should we or Pinkie do that?" Rainbow Mane began. "It wasn't Pinkie's fault at all, Minuette shouldn't have even wasted her bits on you in the fir-"

At that moment, several things happened. First, Rust sealed Rainbow's lips together with a darker-than-usual red aurora, at the same time holding her in the same spot, his irises shrank again his coat doing the same as with the Pinkie reflection, and there was a distinct click as he subconsciously pulled the hammer back of his revolver. Twilight and the annoying pegasus noticed this and a look of fear crossed their faces.

"Don't you even start. Every action has a consequence." Rust growled. Then looked at his hooves.

Get a hold of yourself, you more-or-less just threatened two of the Elements of Harmony.

His normal features returned as he calmed himself and he looked back up, releasing his magical grip, he spoke again.

"I-..." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. That was actually... I don't know what possessed me to do that."

"I'm sorry too." The Rainbow one said. "I was being a total jerk to you and Minuette."

Pinkie, who'd been silent the entire time, finally spoke up. "You weren't asking for anything unreasonable." She said producing a bag of bits. "This should cover it, when Minuette gets out of the hospital i'll throw her a recovery party!"

"Thank you, Pinkie." Rust said, gratefully taking the bag. He looked at the mare for a moment before giving her a hug.

Strangely enough, he heard a squeak as if somepony had applied pressure to a rubber duck. Rust tried to ignore this as he let go, took the bits, and walked towards the door.

"Spike." Twilight called once she was sure Rust was gone. The dragon, who'd been behind the counter the entire time, popped his head out. "Get me some paper, quill, ink, and royal seal if you have one on you."

Dear Princess Celestia,

Upon further encounters i've come to a conclusion that the unicorn Rusty Fortune does not mean harm and is extremely devoted to his friends, but may be unstable due to multiple deaths in his life. I've also seen telltale signs of a more aggressive form of Cutie Mark Failure affecting him. I request that he be escorted to a mental facility immediately.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

"Twilight, wait." Applejack said. "Don't send that."

"Why not?" The unicorn deadpanned.

"Look, he may seem bad, but he's a good stallion, ah've spoke with him, ah've seen the good in him."

"Sure there's good in him, it just needs to be set in motion by drugs and psychological experts." Twilight retorted.

"Twilight!" Applejack almost yelled at her friend, surprising her. "If anything that'd just do him worse. Let me talk to him instead."

Twilight stared at her friend, then looked back at Spike. A soft voice soon spoke up.

"Twilight, I think that... Uhm... Well I think he's a good pony too, I don't think we've known him long enough to pass a judgement like that."

Pinkie and Rarity nodded in agreement. Finally Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, who also nodded. Eventually Twilight sighed and handed the letter to Spike.

"Just hold onto it, don't send it until I say to."

Flashback: Grabbing Grub

Acid, day two in Canterlot

Acid Rain woke from a fitful sleep, but even at that it had been the best in weeks. Slightly startling was that she woke to the comfort of a bed. She stretched as she tried to remember what had happened the previous night, it wasn't pleasant, she ached all over. Not to mention she was probably in somepony else's bed right now.

Looking around to get a feel for her surroundings - she lay in what appeared to be a spacious backroom. Ignoring her stressed muscles she sat upright in the bed. A bottle of water had been left on a nightstand beside her, she swiftly grabbed it in her hooves and downed the liquid inside within seconds. Unsatisfied, she stood up off the bed and began her journey into the next room. Which had books. Many, many, books. Asides from that there were several strange machines sitting dormant on tables, while clocks and old-world photos covered the walls unoccupied by shelving. She trotted towards a large desk, mainly stacked with several papers, to the side sat an upright frame. The photo inside shown two stallions side by side. One was a brown Pegasus, the other looked like a slightly younger version of the dark blue unicorn she'd ran from.

The dark blue unicorn I'd ran from...

"Mornin', you're up early!" A voice came, causing her to shriek.

A now equally-startled unicorn stallion looked back at her. "My bad, didn't think I'd startle you." He continued.

As he began to approach her Acid instinctively stepped back. The stallion gave her a look amused concern.

"You shouldn't be scared of me, I think."

"No, I'm not afraid of anything." She said quietly.

"You looked afraid when you ran away."

"It was that or end up at the gallows... Or in jail, whatever it is you do here."

"I'm no expert in these things, well, yeah, I kinda am - but if I was going to hang you or throw you in jail I wouldn't have saved your life, made your wings un-fucked up, let you sleep in my bed while I utilized this amazing floor, and left clean water for you when you woke up." He finished with a smirk on his face.

Acid scuffed her hoof on the ground.

"Think of it as me paying you back for all the bandits, also I can almost see your ribcage clearly, I'm taking you to get some breakfast."

Acid didn't try to argue, her stomach groaned in agony at the very mention of food. Together they quietly exited the building and made their way down the cracked streets, on the trip her companion made no attempt at conversation and the silence between the two was getting to her.

"So last night... Or whenever that was... How did you know my name?" Acid asked the unicorn.

"I had a talk with one of those bandits before you performed rifle surgery on him, dropped your name."

"Oh." She muttered. Suddenly something occurred to her. "Wait, didn't I shoot you when I first saw you?""

He laughed. "No. Not quite, bullet hit a few meters away. You're really not that great of a shot."

Acid stared at him. "So you haven't looked at my ass?! My talent is precision, I think you just got lucky." She said in a matter-of-factly tone, jabbing him her wing.

He gave into his curiosity and looked at her cutie mark. "Crosshairs can mean a lot of things, like being an easy target."

"Nah! I earned this thing popping mutants over stretches of several hoofball fields." She boasted.

They rounded a corner and the air suddenly smelled of food, Acid's jaw went limp and she began to drool. Infront of them lay what was apparently the best post-apocalyptic diner Equestria had. Outside sat several tables for ponies to sit and eat, while in the middle of it all was a large open shack, inside held several ponies cooking meals for several of the hungry stallions and mares of Canterlot. Several of which noticed Rust as he came about.

"Sheriff!" One called out.

"He's Not-A-Sheriff, remember?" Another, chuckling.

The two carried on while several other ponies made their own shout-outs or some just raising their drinks to the stallion. Finally, Rust found a deserted table and guided his companion over to it.

"So, 'sheriff'?" The mare started. "Do you have an actual name?"

"Yeah, Rusty Fortune, but please, call me Rust." He replied.

"What's with the whole... Not a sheriff thing?"

Several readers who noticed the authors name begin to cringe in distaste and silently criticize what appears to be a self-insertion, and in the distant past, Pinkie Pie feels a disturbance in the force.

"Killed a large division of bandits with my friend, so I guess they started thinking we should be something of enforcers, I told them I didn't want to be somepony to keep everything under control, I was an engineer, for bucks sake. A day later I sit at one of these tables and people are calling me Non-Sheriff, or NotASheriff... Whatever it is."

"Neat." Acid said, trying to ignore the hunger pains. "Wait, if it was a bandit division, wouldn't there be more?"

Rust sighed. "Yeah, sadly. They're everywhere but these seem to be organized, it's hell on all the guys walking the battlements."

Acid's hunger pains spiked up once more as the the waiter came for their orders.

"Rust. Miss." He addressed them. "What'll you have?" The waiter was a light blue unicorn with short black and yellow mane. His eyes darted from Rust, then to Acid, concern crossing his face as her condition became apparent.

"Is it really that bad?" She asked, receiving a nod in reply.

Twenty minutes later Acid Rain was staring in disbelief at the biggest platter the cooks had ever readied. The warning for her to eat slowly was lost.

Rust

Rust looked around, the area was void of a certain grey earth pony who usually patrolled the area at this time of day. Acid looked up from stuffing her face and noticed him scanning.

"Something wrong?" She mumbled from a mouthful of food.

How ladylike. He chuckled mentally.

"Just looking for something." Rust responded.

"Some... Pony?" She pressed. Rust focused on her. "That scowl that was your face, the way you're studying points of entry. Makes you look like you expect a potentially annoying earth pony to round the corner."

"Boy is she right!" A charismatic voice joined the conversation. "Oh, and the fact that he's behind you."

Rust refrained from barking at the earth pony as he ruffled Rust's mane. His frown grew as the stallion walked around him and planted his rump at the side of their table.

This was Burnt Cobalt, the non-deputy, Rust's closest friend, as annoying as he could be, he was still damned fun and good to be around.

"So," He started. "Who's the bonemeal?"

Rust could tell that any good impression he'd already given Acid Rain had just vanished, the mare glared daggers at him, then turned to Rust. Speaking with a fierce venom. "You really shouldn't over feed your puppets, this one's gotten fat."

Rust's choked on his hayburger and Cobalt began grinning from ear to ear.

"Rust, you've found a mare with some bite, good for you." He joked, jabbing the stallion with his hoof while looking at Acid appreciatively.

Red appeared slightly on Acid's face and she stood up to revive her threatening posture. "I'll show you some bite when I use my teeth to rip off your-"

"Acid, Cobalt." Rust demanded. "I'm here for food, and goddesses help me if you manage to give me a headache or make a scene before I finish I will send your asses packing to the moon."

He realized Cobalt was about to start again, and Rust quickly shot him down. "Cobalt, this is Acid. Acid, Cobalt."

Cobalt smirked and held out his hoof. "Pleased to meet'cha."

Acid eyes shifted from his hoof to his face. "Charmed." She mumbled, finally shaking it.

Well that was easy, one would think the meeting between the two would end in violence. Hell, these two were going to be besties. Conversations lulled to an end as two ponies ate, the third pulling up a chair and taking a quiet watch. Shortly thereafter Acid stood up and coughed to get the others' attention.

"I'm going to go stretch my wings." She said quickly. A mere nod from Rust and she was off. Noticing Cobalt gaving him a look of disbelief, he turned to the stallion.

"Rust," Cobalt whispered. "Shouldn't you watch her? How do you know she'll come back?"

The unicorn chuckled to himself and pointed his hoof to the mare in question. "Just watch."

Acid carried herself out onto the street and spread her wings, stretching herself, she got into position and prepared to lift off, she gave her wings a strong flap and became airborne. She remained in the the air for a good five seconds and gained velocity before falling face first onto the cobble road. Cobalt instantaneously burst into laughter. Rust stood up, and walked to the mare, who was sitting shamefully in her crash position; nose in the ground, flank in the air.

"Acid, you hurt?" Rust said quietly, nudging her shoulder.

"Only psychologically." She mumbled.

Rust grabbed the mares right wing in his hoof and examined it, there was hardly any muscle on her bone, she might be feeling better, but she wasn't. It'd still be a while before she could really fly again. It explained why she didn't take off during their first encounter. Amazing that she managed to run, or even walk.

"I think i'm about ready to hit the hay again, still exhausted." She yawned making a disgustingly cute noise as she did. She got up and looked at Rust expectantly.

"... And you're expecting to sleep in my bed, again." Rust deadpanned.

"Yes."

The two stared at eachother in silence, neither blinked, neither looked away. But finally Rust looked away from her gaze.

"Fine." He mumbled.

Rust walked back to their table and got Cobalt's attention. "I'm taking Acid back to the library."

Cobalt only grinned and nodded. The unicorn turned and walked away. Surprise surprise, Cobalt didn't have any witty goodbye.

"By the way, wrap it before you tap it." Cobalt mused.

Without turning Rust spat a profanity and Cobalt and proceeded towards Acid, who didn't hear the comment. Did he walk into that one? Maybe. It was pretty damn funny though. Rust nodded to the mare and they took off towards the library. He glanced at her as they walked, if Cobalt actually thought he had the hots for this mare, he'd never hear the end of it.

Acid looked at him from examining one of her wings, she gave him a funny look but didn't say anything.

"What?" Rust said, returning the look.

"Didn't you say you preened my feathers earlier?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?" He started throwing the idea around in his head, yeah, he figured it would the polite thing to do, why was she asking about it now?

"No reason!" She said quickly.

Rust shrugged it off, they arrived back at the library, he was just unlocking the door as he heard somepony approaching them at a gallop. He turned around and recognized one of the earth ponies that patrolled one of the battlements surrounding the town, he stopped to catch his breath, the pony was in disarray, so Rust couldn't help but assume the worst.

"Rust," The earth pony gasped. "Bandits, we're going to need help, they're hitting the front gate."

"Bastards wont give it a rest." He grumbled. He turned to Acid. "I need you to go back and get Cobalt, tell him to grab his shotty and get to the main gate." The mare nodded and moved off.

He gestured for the earth pony guard to give him a moment. Rust slipped inside the library, in this life, you had to be prepared for just about any problem concerning a pony with malicious intentions, yanking a few floorboards out with his magic, he retrieved his answer for most of them. The hole was about a yard and a half long, and a hoof wide. It was enough to hold the anti-material rifle inside with room to spare for a few magazines, he quickly pulled it out and strapped it over his back. Returning outside, the guard gave him the look that implied overkill.

"C'mon, I want these bandit fucks off my lawn."

Six

Rusty Fortune

The house was empty aside from one Rusty Fortune, who was currently curled up on Minuette's couch like a crying dog. He'd paid the mare's hospital bills, and now the fires burning in him had settled down, enough to let him doze off. He'd miraculously managed to sleep into the next day it seemed, he tilted his head to look at one of the many clocks covering the walls. Ten AM. His lazy eyes studied the room, nothing was interested about it... Aside from a calender hung on the wall.

His deflated ears perked up and he unsteadily got to his feet to check the calender. Finally! He'd put off figuring out where he was, relative to time, for too long. X's marked the planning boxes up to the fifteenth of March, which was probably yesterday. March 16th. The four-digit number in the top-right implied the year was 4001.

"Wow, just couldn't resist giving me a odd number could you?" Rust deadpanned.

The sound of a bell announced the arrival of somepony at the door, Rust reluctantly tore his eyes from the calender and stumbled over to the door. He pulled it open to find a pale yellow earth pony. She had green eyes and a dark red mane with a light raspberry streak to the side. She let out a shrill noise of surprise when she saw the stallion.

"Sorry, I must have the wrong house." She said, retreating.

"If you're looking for Minuette you're in the right place." Rust replied. Slipping his shades back on. Deal with it.

"Oh, good." The mare said, letting herself in. "Where is she?"

"Erm... Hospital."

She looked at him quizzically in reply.

"Minuette got caught in that Pinkie Pie stampede." Rust continued. "She's in the hospital."

The mare's jaw dropped and she was silent for several moments. Rust began to wonder if he should close it for her when she spoke again.

"Oh no, what kind of friend am I when I don't notice this stuff?!" She pleaded, looking at her hooves.

"She's alright, just a broken leg." He mentally facehoofed as soon as those words left his mouth, ponies here probably thought of broken legs as a big deal. "I managed to get her to the hospital quickly and pay her bill."

"Oh, well still I should've known."

Rust shrugged. "It just happened late yesterday, you can't know everything that happens to your friends immediately."

"Good point, I guess." She mumbled. "Anyway i'm Roseluck, nice to know Minuette found a good stallion."

Rust's face turned red before he cracked up. Attracting a glare from Roseluck, whose face soon turned red as well.

"Ah... It's not like that." She mumbled.

"No, not quite." The stallion continued to chuckle. "When I arrived here the other day she took me in as a roommate kind of, anyway i'm Rusty."

"Nice to meet you, welcome to Ponyville then."

Several awkward moments passed between the two, looking the ground, the walls, sometimes at each other. Eventually Rust realized she had nothing better to do and was counting on him to say more.

"So hey, i'm not too familiar with this place, would you mind showing me around?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

She stared at him with wide eyes as a smile spread over here face. "I would love to!" She practically squealed. "First I can show you to Rarity's!" Rust smiled and grabbing his Stetson, the two began their journey.

As they began walking the streets Rust quickly regretted the decision to set hoof outside, it wasn't paranoia, ponies were actually giving him looks. Most of which were confusion, the others being fear, coming from those Rust recognized were nearby when he lost it in the Pinkie Stampede.

"I think it's because they've seen you around before you getting your Pinkie Party." A voice came to the side of him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Roseluck started. "When a new pony arrives in town they're usually acquainted with everypony else by Pinkie throwing a welcoming party, all of us attend, usually, so all of us get to know the newcomer."

"Wow." Rust deadpanned. "Pretty tight little society then."

"Meh, kinda. So why hasn't Pinkie thrown you a party?"

At that moment, a certain pink mare impossibly popped up from behind Roseluck.

"Hi!" She yelled. "Did someone mention Pinkie and party in the same sentence multiple times?"

"Yes, actually." Rust said, trying to work out where she came from. He'd noticed Pinkie's smile falter at his voice, even as she tried to hide it.

"Hi Pinkie!" Roseluck started. "I was just explaining to Rust how ponies are usually introduced to Ponyville, i'm surprised you haven't thrown him a party."

Pinkie looked at Rust with one of those "What do I say to that?" faces, so the stallion spoke up and filled in for her.

"She's throwing Minuette a party after she gets out of the hospital, I told her not to worry about throwing me a party and just do hers."

"Hah, that wasn't too smart on your part." Roseluck replied, referring to the stares of random ponies walking about.

Rust gave her a deadpan look and she continued. "Well Pinkie, we were going to visit Rarity, so we got to head off."

"Okie-Dokie-Loki!" She exclaimed, and as fast as she had appeared, she was gone.

Rust looked around, double checking for any sign of Pinkie and then looked back to Roseluck. Then checked a third time before speaking.

"Should I even ask how she does that?"

"Nope."

The next quarter hour would see that they reached their destination. Rose, as Rust had taken to calling her, trotted leisurely up to the door and pushed it open.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique!" A certain marshmallow unicorn exclaimed, not yet bothered to look at who entered.

"Hello Rarity, I brought you a new pony."

"Roseluck! Dear who could that-" Rarity stopped as she faced the two. "Why Rust, hello." She continued smiling.

Either you're somehow happy to see me, or you're just really good at hiding your disappointment. The latter, probably.

"Hello Rarity. It seems like most ponies in this town will figure out my name before I get theirs."

The mare laughed. "I'm afraid so, you've been the subject of many conversations in town, with the lack of anything interesting really happening here."

"Really?" Rust asked, tilting his head. "How often does something interesting like what i've been doing happen here?"

Rarity's face drooped slightly. "Almost every week, most of it happens to do with the girls and I. It's refreshing to hear about something I haven't been there to see."

The room went silent, the fashion designer gave Rust a funny funny look and approached him. She began to circle him while seemingly study his every feature. Oblivious to the uncomfortable stare she received from the stallion.

"Don't worry," Rose whispered. "She's doing her 'fashion diagnostic'."

He almost failed to keep himself from making a rude inquiry of what the hell that was.

"I know what you need. Why, with those shades you need a hat more... Sophisticated." She tutted.

"What do you have in mind?" Rust said cautiously. What was wrong with his stetson and shades combo? It was legendary in the wastes. Surely it had to mean something here.

Rarity walked to the hat racks on the other side of the room, it was as if there wasn't even a wall, just hats, mostly jaw-dropping in size, keeping it from being seen. Rarity looked through the hordes of head wear until her eyes eventually rested on one suave black hat, not overwhelming in size. As she pulled it from the others Rust could see what she held in her aurora.

It was a fedora, or just a gambler's hat, as it came to be known by many ponies, never bothering to learn the actual name. Rust had seen fedoras before, but covered with dirt and grime, worn to the brink of recognition. He looked it over, eyes full of want. Before if somepony had asked him if he'd ever consider wearing a different hat he was sure he'd laugh and walk away, but now he doubted that theory.

"Dear, I know I did a good job," Rarity said smugly. "But it's not just for eye candy, try it on."

He obeyed and took the hat in his own magic, jet black with a red ribbon, to match his mane. He took his stetson and laid it on the ground, donning the fedora in it's place.

"Why yes, it looks quite marvelous!" Rust agreed with a nod of his head.

"I'd be glad to take this off your hands..." He began. "If I had the bits to pay you."

"Nonsense." The mare chuckled. "Why don't you take it as a gift?"

Rust gave her a cautious look before she continued. "On one condition, we simply must get together for a chat sometime."

He shrugged and laughed a bit. "I'd be honored." Even as something did seem a bit off about the request. He was no stranger to traps, and the more he thought of it, the more it seemed like one. A hat that just happened to matched the color of his mane? Not to mention how out of place the hat was among the racks of its behemoth neighbors.

No matter, he'd play along either way.

For the next few minutes small talk was made, Rose made the announcement that they were leaving and the two had done just that. Rarity had even offered to repair Rust's stetson after realizing it's sentimental value. Knowing how worn down it was, he accepted the offer.

"What next?" Rust asked Rose, trying to sound as eager as possible.

The mare put her hoof to her chin and pondered, then a light bulb seemed to appear over her head. "What about the library?" She said hopefully.

Rust however, indeed remembered who owned the library. "I'll have to pass." He said, shaking his head.

Rarity popped her head out of the Boutique. "Why Rust, I almost forgot, Applejack wanted to see you, she'll probably be at the market around this time of the day, ta-ta."

Rust grinned at Rose. "Hey, there's a plan."

She shook her head. "My 'friendship' with Applejack has seen better days, to say the least, i'll show you there but i'm not coming with."

He nodded and gestured for Rose to lead on as they got out of sight from the Boutique, Rust took the hat off and examined it in his magic aurora scouring every thread of the hat for spell coding, they walked for what seemed for a minute or two, being lost in focus on the hat. He was sure he found something when he tripped over a convenient basket of apples. Unicorns had one very special weakness, if a unicorn is channeling magic, and somepony else takes hold of that unicorn's horn the flow of magic will stop. If something hits it whoever, it causes extreme pain and nausea. It was almost like being hit in the stallionhood. His horn hit the ground before he could stop channeling, he hit his snout pretty hard, but he was more concerned about the horn.

He yelped in surprise and pain, slamming his eyes shut, every curse he knew wanted to flow free as he grabbed his horn in agony. The nausea came quick, he hadn't ate since yesterday, but given the circumstances he was sure his body would find something to throw up. He opened his eyes and groaned as nothing in the world seemed right.

"You okay sugarcube?" Rust looked up, Applejack was leaning over her stand looking down at him.

"I'll be fine, just need a moment." He grumbled, rubbing his horn.

He eventually (after much suffering) got up and looked about, he was back in the market area of town, he began to burn up as he realized he was the focus of everypony in the area.

He cleared his throat. "Nothing to see here," He said, waving his hoof. "Move along."

They kept staring at him. Damn it! Go away!

Applejack eventually stepped out from behind her stand and approached the crowd. "Now ya'll don't want to go makin' Mr. Fortune here uncomfortable, after just arrivin', go on, get back to what ya'll are doing!"

The ponies dispersed, by the goddesses, Applejack's voice must be magic. Rust looked at her and nodded gratefully.

"Hi there Rusty, your day doesn't seem to be going well." She said, picking up his hat and dusting it off. "What happened t' the other one you had?"

"Rarity, said I need a hat more 'sophisticated' to go with my shades, i'm just glad she didn't give me one of those monstrously huge ones she had, anyway, she said you wanted to talk to me."

Applejack looked truly uncomfortable as he spoke. The mare looked down almost guiltily.

"Yeah, I do." She shuffled, looking unsure. "It's about your, uh... Behavior lately. I-... Well, Twilight..."

Rust only tilted his head in response.The mare was very uneasy, searching for words that would probably never come. It must've been something she'd need to choose just the right words or-

"Ah the hay with it. Rusty, Twilight's tryin' t' get you sent to one of them crazy ponies hospitals! She's drilling everypony that's seen ya for information!"

"Seriously?" Rust deadpanned. He thought for a moment, he'd been seen by many ponies in town, but interacted with few. His mind recalled Minuette, Rose, the disc jockey-looking mare, Nurse Redheart, the Elements of Harmony, and even the small dragon, Spike. How much info could Twilight get out of them, right?

Minuette was still hospitalized, she'd be vulnerable!

"Then I have a problem with her." He deadpanned. "Applejack, your friend is trying to get info that i'd rather leave in the past. If I told Twilight if I wanted her to leave it alone, what're the chances of her accepting that?"

Applejack frowned and shook her head. "Not'a chance, sorry Rusty, I can't help but be curious myself even."

Rust sighed, if he was back in the Canterlot Ruins, his request would be respected, and nopony would try to dig up his past. But then again, his past wasn't too different from everypony there. He needed a plan, he didn't think Minuette would just go and tell Twilight everything she'd learned about him, but with all the magic she had... She could probably just pry out the information if she wanted. Would Twilight, the Element of Magic, do that? He couldn't help but wonder, maybe the mare was just crazy enough. Suddenly he realized Rose was no longer following him.

"I hate to ask, but can you spring me a few bits and point me in the direction of the nearest flower vendor?"

"Uhh..." Applejack mumbled, giving him a funny look. "Sure, Roseluck sells them pretty cheap."

She slid two bits over the stand, Rust could have sworn she said something under her breath about Rose, but decided not to question it, and imagine that, a earth pony named Roseluck sells flowers, should've seen that coming.

"Thanks, I really appreciate this." He said, smiling.

"This is a one time thing Rusty." She said accusingly, but smiling back. "Rose's stand is on the other side of the market, not sure if she'll be there or not."

With a nod of his head, Rust turned and walked away, it was midday now, and ponies were lining up at market stalls to acquire goods or talk with the vendor and fellow patrons, by Celestia, the town was so peaceful, he felt at ease for once. Only interrupted by the occasional uneasy look from some random pony. But none of them spoke to him, and all of them looked away once he looked back at them. The crowd had thinned out a little by the time he reached the opposite side of the market, and a certain pale yellow earth pony became visible, trotting over to her stand she noticed Rust and gave him a innocent smile.

"I really wish you would've warned me when you decided to walk away." He deadpanned, still feeling sick from hitting his horn.

"Sorry it's just that... We were getting close to Applejack's stand and I wasn't thinking." Rose mumbled.

"Right, what's up with you and Applejack anyway?" She was kind to Rust hardly knowing him, how could she have fallen out like this with Rose?

"We disagreed on some very sensitive subjects, let's leave it at that." She said darkly, whatever happened was probably pretty personal. A few seconds passed and the mare managed to regain her happy atmosphere. "Anyway, wanna look around town some more?"

"No, sorry, I need to go to the hospital, Twilight's there, and I need flowers."

"For... Twi... Light?" Rose said slowly, giving him a funny look.

"No, i'm wanting to check on Minuette, Twilight will probably be trying to get information out of her and I need to seem inconspicuous, like I wasn't counting on her being there, as I gradually shoo her away."

Roseluck

"That's, uh... Okay, well what kind were you wanting?" Rose asked.

"Well..." Rust scratched his chin in thought. "If you give me something not seen as romantic, that'd do."

"You probably don't understand the difference of which flowers are casual and romantic huh?"

He chuckled, "Nope, not at all. Don't really have 'em where i'm from."

Rose tossed a couple ideas around in her head. On one hand, she could give Rust the kind of flowers he'd requested, and he wouldn't look too suspicious. On the other however; she could give Rust a rich red rose and perhaps get the ball rolling in the direction of romance? Rust seemed like a decent stallion, good build, Minuette would finally have a nice guy and that'd probably prevent any suspicion!.

Okay, the other hand it is.

"Well..." She started. "I have some roses. That should be just what you need. Here, take one. That'll be a bit."

Rust nodded and slid a single coin over the counter, Rose pulled a rose out of her deepest reds with her mouth and held it there by the stem for a moment as she spoke around it.

"Oh, and you should hold it like this." She said.

"Any reason why?" Rust replied, unsure.

"It'd be casual, instead of using magical energy to hold it." She smirked, setting the flower down.

Rust picked up the rose in his mouth, looking unconvinced, but he eventually shrugged, mumbled a thanks, and headed off in the direction of the hospital.

"It's that way Rusty." Roseluck said, pointing in the opposite direction.

What's the worst that could happen right? Sure Rust met Minuette just the other day, but she seemed like such a solitary mare aside from the few friends she had, never revealing anything about herself, hardly coming along on social events, and not a single date. Minuette wouldn't have taken in Rust if she didn't see something in him.

Or Rust was a extremely mysterious and potentially dangerous stallion that Minuette knew something about and wasn't revealing it to anypony else.

... Nah...

Seven

Rusty Fortune

Rust walked through the bleak hallway, the hospital had exceeded his sanitary expectations, but was horribly depressing. After asking Nurse Redheart where Minuette was she had looked at him funny, but told him the mare's room number anyway. He came to a stop at the hospital room door, his ears perked up has he heard voices from the other side.

"Minuette?" Twilight's voice came. "Why exactly did you take in Rust anyway?"

He frowned, he had guessed Twilight would be here. The stallion considered the rose in his mouth, suddenly recalling how he read a sappy romance novel to Acid that involved something like this.

Doesn't matter, game time.

Rust turned the door handle with magic, making sure it made the audible click, and pushed it open. The room as colorless as the hallway, but he rejoiced in the fact he was actually on the first floor this time.

He suddenly felt awkward standing in the doorway with that flower in his mouth. Twilight's wide eyes studied Rust, then shifted to the rose, then Rust again, before she turned her head to Minuette, who just looked back with equally, if not wider, eyes.

"Hello Rusty." Twilight said.

"Hey there Twilight." He replied, cheerily as possible.

The mare sighed. "I guess i'll head off, see you two later."

Rust stepped aside to let her pass, she shot Rust and Minuette a look before leaving, it looked like a mix of confusion and anger. He closed the door and walked over to Minuette, who was trying to look past those dark shades of his.

He reflected her stare. "W'sup?"

Minuette shrugged. "Just another day, unfortunately the food tastes like plot here."

Rust dropped the flower on the mares bed. "Sorry to hear it."

"Yeah." The mare mumbled, picking up the flower in her magic, she brightened. "Did you get this for me?"

Rust nodded.

"That's sweet of you." She said warmly. Before Rust could react she leaned up and wrapped her forelegs around him in a hug. He tensed out of reflex from the sudden contact, but eventually relaxed. He was left to assume the flowers Rose gave him had a little bonus to the desired effect, he'd address that later.

"So, how are you feeling?" Rust said, removing himself from the embrace.

"Well, i'm not in pain." She replied. A hint of disappointment in her voice. Despite Rust's best attempts she resumed her awkward stare.

Some moments of silence passed, Rust shifted uncomfortably in Minuette's gaze, her stare made him feel like those blue eyes of hers were going to disassemble him piece by piece. He coughed and bowed his head slightly.

"You okay Minuette?" He asked, bringing the mare out of her trance. "You're staring."

"Why do you always wear those shades? You're eyes are windows into your soul, you know."

Rust smiled wickedly. "Sometimes when you look inside a window you don't like what you see."

"Oh come on." She groaned. "You've been here for like three days and I've hardly seen your eyes."

"Maybe you should have been looking at my eyes instead of pointing my revolver at me." He replied, grinning.

"Wow Rust, way to live it up you child."

"There's nothing childish about almost getting shot." He deadpanned. "So, how long until you're back on your feet?"

"Few days maybe, the leg's alright thanks to magically accelerated healing, the hospital staff will probably be putting me through rehab soon."

"Good, I've been trying not to think about finding Trump but it's starting to gnaw at me."

Minuette offered him a smile. "Don't worry, you'll see your friend again."

"I hope so."

"I have to ask you about the Pinkie stampede Rust. What happened back there?"

"You were trampled." Rust said curiously.

"No. Something happened to you back there Rusty."

The stallion let out a sigh of discontentment. "Not entirely sure, but it's not the first time it's happened to me."

"Tell me about it."

"Not much to tell," He said honestly. "I black out, and when I come to there's usually a bunch of dead ponies at my hooves."

Minuette shuddered. "Any idea what causes it? That's probably something we should take precautions to avoid."

"Yeah? Try not to get trampled anymore. I would assume it's some crazy protective instinct."

"D'aww, you being protective of me?" She began teasingly.

"You weren't the only one." Rust muttered

Thunder cracked outside, Rust looked out the window to find it had begun to rain heavily and the sun had made way for the moon.

Little did he know a certain blue unicorn only a train ride away was seeking revenge on Ponyville, and he was going to be caught in the middle of it.

Trottingham, the same night

The moon held the sky as the rain fell. Ponies were safe and sound indoors, anyone out on the street would've seen a dark cloaked figured running between clutter and down the alley. The antique shop's door opened, a bell announcing the arrival of a potential customer.

The shop keep heard from the back room, a customer at this time of night would be strange, but still he began walking towards the main room. He heard several noises, as if somepony was wildly searching through the shelved items. Finally he appeared in the main room, lighting a match and acquiring the pony's attention.

"May I help you traveler?"

The mare, a unicorn, looked back at him. She'd seem to have come far, after having hundreds of traveling customers, he could practically read any expression.

He hummed. "Something drew you to my shop. Something powerful?"

The mare's eyes turned to his shelving and her hoof reached out from the robe to point at something. The Alicorn Amulet. Glistening in his glass container. It was told to have immeasurable power.

"Ah, you have a keen eye, the Alicorn Amulet is one of the most mysterious and powerful of all the known magical charms."

The mare pointed towards it again, more insistent this time.

"Err..." He began weakly. "I'm afraid this is far to dangerous."

She suddenly dumped a large bag on the counter, jingling and spilling the coins contained within. With that money, he could vacation for months. He grinned.

"Would you like that gift wrapped?"

Rusty Fortune

Rust wearily opened his eyes as Celestia's sun shone in his eyes. He inhaled loudly as the clockwork in his mind began to turn once more. He'd slept on the hospital floor, this time. Not wanting to go out into the dense storm. He'd laid on his side with a pillow under his head. Just next to the hospital bed and, unfortunately, facing the open window as the sun rose.

Rust looked up at the mare sleeping on the hospital bed, obviously asleep. It was a ridiculous sight, mouth wide open, snoring and drooling.

He rubbed the side of his hoof down his face in a futile attempt to regain full consciousness. The memories of the previous night were sloppy, but he remembered falling asleep on the floor. The pegasi weather teams had apparently scheduled a heavy storm to make up for slips in schedule. Stepping outside revealed he could hardly see ten feet ahead. Being new to the town he decided venturing out into the dark would ultimately result in him getting lost.

Minuette gave him an "I-told-you-so" smug face upon his re-arrival, having warning the stallion of what he went out to find.

"Yeah yeah, you were right." He had said, slightly annoyed by her grin.

The mare still snored on, Rust smiled to himself and, picking them off the floor, slipped his shades back to their rightful place in front of his eyes. Forcing his joints to work he started towards the door, he took on last look towards Minuette, curious how the mare could manage to have been in such a good mood.

Shrugging the question off and leaving the room, he spotted Nurse Redheart heading in his direction. Pushing a small book cart.

"Hey." She said with a smile.

"Morning." Rust replied. "Need help with anything?"

"I'm fine, wouldn't want to trouble you."

Rust tilted his head. "Trouble me? You patched me up, forgave the way I acted, and let me stay overnight, c'mon, hit me."

"Well," She chuckled. "If you could find me a gryphon liver for transplant, and perform the operation, that'd be great."

Rust shrugged nonchalantly. "You'd be surprised about the first request."

The nurse looked at him for a moment with a concerned face, causing him to assume she knew exactly how he'd acquire such an organ. Though eventually she smiled again.

"I'm sure I would."

After he left the hospital it wasn't long before Rust had spotted the one mare he'd been hoping to avoid, and she'd obviously noticed him. She lost her focus mid-cast, looking towards Rust slightly startled, her horn emitted a ball of purple energy, nailing a bird from it tree, shape-shifting into a winged orange before falling to the ground.

Rust approached her smugly, whistling appreciatively. "Nice shot, ever consider being designated markspony?"

Twilight sighed loudly. "That wasn't exactly intentional, and I don't even know what a designated markspony is!"

"I know," Rust chuckled. "I managed to steal your attention from yards away just by glancing at you, sorry."

"Good." She smiled slightly, she returned to her seat, Rust followed her, having nothing better to do, sat on the opposite chair. "So what was that designated... Whatever you called it earlier?"

Rust tossed his head around a bit, choosing the right words. "A pony who's very accurate with projectiles or projectile spells."

"Like an archer." Twilight said, receiving a nod in reply. "You seem to know plenty about weaponry, especially that uhm... Metal thing from earlier, what'd you call it?"

Whoops.

The stallion saw her fur rise slightly, was she anticipating danger?

"I called it a revolver." He said.

"Oh, right."

Twilight clapped her hooves together as they sat, her fur still on the rise, growing tired of the mare's paranoid behavior, he sighed and got out of his seat.

"Twilight, would you feel a little more comfortable around me if you knew how it worked?"

"Oh, well, I... Maybe, I really wouldn't want to trouble you." She fumbled.

Rust shrugged. "No plans. Still waiting on Minuette to get discharged from the hospital."

The mare smiled and nodded. "Okay then, let's go."

"Alright, I left it at the house, maybe I can tell you a bit about myself on the way."

Twilight smiled even more, any more and she'd break. "I'd really like that." Her notebook and quill was at her side once more, held in magic. Rust chuckled to himself and began walking to the more residential district of Ponyville.

"My story is a bit too long to explain on this walk, is there any specific thing you'd want to know?" He said.

Twilight hummed to herself, she looked at the paper Rust realized had the questions on it from earlier.

"You seem to be really fond of your shades."

"So what's the question?" Rust chuckled. "Just kidding, it's just that red eyes attract a lot of attention."

The mare gasped slightly. "Red eyes? May I see them?"

"I suppose, just this once." Rust's horn lit up and the shades were pulled off his face, his pupils shrinking from the sudden light.

"They're beau-... They're amazing."

Rust grinned. "Don't think I didn't catch that little slip." Twilight blushed with a frown. "You should see them when I use magic to brighten them, especially in the dark. Reactions I get from that are priceless."

"Hmm, another thing, that spell, what's it have to do with clockwork?"

"Wha-..." Rust looked and his cutie mark. "I'm a more of a mechanic actually, but why does it matter?"

"Ponies are usually only able to cast spells that involve their special talent, correct?"

"Guess i'm the exception." Rust lied. The war obviously changed many things, every unicorn he knew could cast whatever spell so long as they knew it. Thing is, there were hardly any spell tomes to go around.

"That's strange, but more on it later. How many spells do you know?"

"Very few." Rust said sheepishly. "Levitation, glowing eyes, force field, electricity conduction."

The mare's eyelid twitched. "So you're pretty much saying you can whatever spell you so desire, but you haven't bothered to learn any?"

"Been busy." Rust said smugly.

They stopped at Minuette's door, Rust pushed it open and let Twilight in first, following behind her. One inside he levitated his holster, which he'd carelessly left on one of the couch-side tables, over to him. He sat on the floor and motioned for Twilight to do the same.

"So," He began. "I pull it out of it's holster, you wont send me flying through the window with a magic blast, right?"

"No Rust, I wont." Twilight chuckled.

The stallion nodded and revealed his firearm. A Smite & Worthy Model 29, he did not harbor a single regret for pulling it from the claws of the wasteland.

Twilight looked at him confusedly. "You... Named it?"

"No, Smite & Worthy were the manufacturers, 29 was the Model."

The mare began writing. "Okay... So you must've met these ponies right?"

"No." Rust shook his head. "They'd passed away by the time i'd gotten this. I pulled it from some old rubble and i've cared for it ever since."

"You... Cared for it?" Twilight gave him a funny look.

"Good maintenance is a must for all firearms." He smiled, and, without taking his eyes off Twilight, quickly disassembled the revolver in his telekinesis, she looked at Rust, surprised.

"Lots of practice." He chuckled. "I wont get into cleaning details right now, have a look at the parts if you want."

"Fine by me. Where'd you get it? Why do you even have it?"

Rust scratched the back of his head. "It's a dangerous world out there."

Twilight looked at her notes, and scratched her chin. "Hm. You said you were from Canterlot correct?"

"Yeah."

"Why'd you need that in Canterlot, when the town's constantly patrolled by gaurds?"

"Why'd you imply I stayed?" He said smugly.

"Okay, where'd you go?"

"Badlands." Rust lied, recalling old bandit stories.

Twilight nodded with a noise of approval. "That would make sense. Are you planning on heading back?"

Rust wasn't going to the badlands, no way. But would he head 'back'? Would he try, or even be able to? He scratched his chin in thought, he only had the apocalyptic world to return to.

No, that's not true, you have your friends.

"I don't know." He finally said. His back slouched and his head lowered as he thought of what to do. Up until now, he hadn't really considered. Most of his thinking time had been consumed by answering questions and hospital visits. Would he really just settle here? Abandoning all those po-.

Rust's stomach suddenly rumbled, breaking the silence that had befallen the room, he perked up quickly, taking a moment to register what the noise was.

"Hungry?" Twilight said.

"Uh, yeah. You can fry eggs without burning them right?" Rust chuckled.

Eight

Rusty Fortune

What's happened to me? The words echoed through the mind of a blue unicorn.

A battle raged around him, several fiery blasts of magic passed him as he lay on the ground, his clothing scorched, blood dripping from his mouth. The pain was immense, a huge magical burn just behind his left shoulder, there was a persistent ringing in his ears; all other sounds muffled. Time slowed, movement was blurred.

Summoning back his strength, he rolled to his stomach, able to see the scene around him. A azure colored unicorn was the first thing he saw. Donning a dark cloak, held in place by a strange winged amulet. Her eyes glowed a threatening red. He turned his head back to see a very aggravated Twilight Sparkle, was he hallucinating, or was her coat paling, and her mane catching flame?

"You DARE come into MY town, harm MY friend?"

Rust's attention hung on the word 'friend', was one of the Elements injured? This had gotten out of hand, though Twilight seemed to be containing the situation, he effectively took his leave and passed out.

Everything was black, or perhaps just dark. He still felt conscious, as if this was some sort of lucid dream, he made himself comfortable and sat in the emptiness, soon though a world came into existence around Rust. Like some nostalgic flashback, his Canterlot melded around him, to his front of course, the Salty Chasm, holding so many good memories.

He stood up and subconsciously started trotting home. Being in a dream world, it hardly surprised him he saw some things horribly distorted, large pieces of the ground were blurred or just simply missing, leaving oddly shaped holes leading down into the void.

Passing the diner he saw only faceless bat-ponies. He left that as soon as he could. Several ponies passed him, however, they were all members of the battlement security, as he could tell by the Kevlar and red bandanna wrapped around their left foreleg, and their faces were too missing. Finally he arrived at the corner library. He smiled, there was no discoloration, no smudges, or distortions. It was perfectly as he left it. He pulled down the door handle, but to his dismay it didn't budge, and of course, no key.

"Greetings, subject."

Rust calmly turned his head towards the voice, for a moment there was nopony there, after a few seconds passed however, a tall pony appeared before him, seemingly out of nowhere. It was an alicorn, surprisingly, but what really caught Rust's attention was her mane, it looked like the night sky. She regarded Rust with a pleasant smile, but her eyes widened and her smile faded as she began to examine the scene around her, the grim red tint to the sky, radioactive clouds in the distance, the crippled city, and it's towers.

She looked towards Rust again. A disbelieving look in her eyes. "What is this?"

"I'd rather know your name before I tell you anything, and why are you in my dream?"

"I... I am Luna, Goddess of the Night. I found it odd that somepony should happen to be asleep on such a beautiful day, so I stepped in to investigate."

Rust's hummed. "Never thought i'd meet the Goddess of the Night."

"Yes... Please, could you elaborate on the situation?"

"My name is Rusty Fortune, and i'm not exactly here of my own accord."

"Rusty Fortune, yes. I have heard thy name. My sister has mentioned it, reading from Twilight's reports."

"Glad to hear i've gained some popularity." He said smugly.

A gaurdspony Rust recognized approached him, his face was uncovered and he did not wear his red bandanna. He stopped and saluted him, smiling. Luna eyed the guard suspiciously while Rust returned the smile, only with sorrow.

"Just tell me where you need me."

He remembered it now, Acid had locked him out for fun again, and this aspiring young stallion had come up to him and said the same exact thing. "Find Hacksaw at the gatehouse," Rust had told the stallion. "He'll tell you exactly where you need to be." In the end he died defending the battlements during the second largest bandit raid Canterlot had seen. This was a dream, of course, but still, could he really bring himself to send the stallion back to his grave?

"Talk to Cobalt, you know where he lives right?"

"Sure thing, thanks!" The recruit replied excitedly, only this time his voice sounded distorted slightly. He left, leaving only the alicorn and the unicorn alone.

"His voice," Luna spoke up. "What caused it to do that?"

"Because that's not how it happened." Rust sighed. "This is a sort of memory, apparently, my brain is probably having to make most of this stuff up as I go along, because my actions are deviating from what I remember happening."

The goddess frowned. "That's not healthy, it affects your mind, and not in a good way."

"I could care less about my mental health at this point. Right now back in Ponyville i'm lying on the ground with a huge magical burn on my side."

"In Ponyville? What has happened?!" The princess demanded.

"Not sure, there was a lapse in my memory I guess, I remember some azure unicorn, she wore a black winged amulet with some red jewel in it. Oh and Twilight's mane had become a flame, but she seemed to be containing the situation."

"She is not." Luna said darkly. "I'm leaving, stay or wake up, it's your choice."

Rust watched her until she vanished. "She is not."

He was enclosed by darkness once more as the dream ended, true consciousness returned to him slowly. The first observation he was able to make was that he was still on the ground. He groggily looked to his side to find he was in the same condition as he was before passing out. Something was wrong, Ponyville had left him for dead, and it obviously had something to do with the azure unicorn.

He spat blood onto the dirt road he lay on and began getting to his feet. The world swirled as he got to his feet, he was hardly coherent enough to stand and was going to be sore the next time he awoke. Nopony was around to sugarcoat the fact that there was a giant dome resting on Ponyville, while several red and black flags were hung throughout the town either.

Twilight had not contained the situation. The situation had contained them, more like.

***

Rust arrived at the library, which looked as if it'd been recently uprooted, and knocked on the door. Several books lay around him, he picked a few up and set them on his back.

He knocked again. "Twilight?"

No answer. He sighed as his horn lit up, griping the door handle in his magic, locked. Rust tilted his head so that his horn nearly touched the lock. After mere seconds of piddling with the tumblers, there was a satisfying click and he was able to push the door open. Yep, still had it.

"Anypony?" He called.

The shelves were empty, their contents lay scattered all over the floor. He picked one off the floor, a sort of binder with a plastic cover, a photo album.

The stallion cracked a smile as he turned to the first page. He saw the six elements. They were posing heroically, all wearing amazing-looking necklaces, aside from Twilight, who donned a tiara with a large star-shaped crystal.

"Mares." He smirked.

There was what looked like a newspaper clipping under the photo. "The defeat of Nightmare Moon, and the new Elements of Harmony!" The header read. His eyes ventured down to the description. "Six brave ponies ventured into the Everfree Forest last night, their goal; retrieve the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon. The six found that they each represented a specific element, honesty, kindness, generosity, loyalty, laughter, and magic. Before her disappearance, Princess Celestia had sent her protege, Twilight Sparkle, to Ponyville with the aim of watching over the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and to 'make some friends'. It seems she managed both, and as-" A rip at the bottom cut the description short.

He was about to turn to the next page when a high pitched voice called out to Rust. "Hey! Didn't your mother ever... Oh, Rust, hey."

The stallion looked back at the doorway, a silhouette of a pegasus stood there, it's wings outstretched. A rainbow spread across the floor towards him, carried by the sunlight. The voice, he realized, belonged to Rainbow Dash.

"Hey." He replied sheepishly, knowing how suspicious it must seem, Rust having just broken into Twilight's place of residence.

"What's going on? Wasn't that door locked?" She said, hovering over to him.

"No." He lied. "Where's Twilight? I've been looking for her."

"Where were you? Twilight was thrown out because she lost in a magic duel!"

"Ground zero. I was a little offended when I realized no one had bothered to recover me while I was unconscious." Rust grumbled. He turned and showed the mare the magic burn.

"Woah, sorry about that. I guess we got caught up in..." Dash's facial expression turned to show fiery hatred. "Being forced to do that bitches bidding."

"Rainbow Dash, language!" Rarity called out from behind her. She looked at Rust. "My goodness dear! Are you okay?"

"Jolly." He said sarcastically. "What's the situation?"

Rainbow Dash answered. "Trixie has the entire town on lock! She's been forcing us to make her banners, carry her around, feed her..."

"And I accidentally stabbed my hoof while sowing!" Rarity cut her off with a whine. Sticking her hoof the Rust's face.

"Alright, alright." Rust sighed, pulling the mare's hoof from his face. "How do we get a hold of Twilight?"

"We can't." Dash spoke up. "The entire city is covered by a dome."

"A dome." Rust repeated. He put his hoof to his chin in thought. "A straight up dome? Like a bowl? No special curves or anything?"

"Yes. Only magical." Rarity said.

"Well, you have at least one river leading out into the forest right? We can probably just swim under it."

The mares gave him a look that obviously said they hadn't considered that.

"Okay, rally the troops, I think I've got a plan."

***

Five elements of Harmony, a baby dragon, and a stallion walked about the library, tearing into books, searching for magic that would explain what Trixie was doing.

"Rust," Spike said. "We can't find anything, and Twilight has every book of magic in here!"

"Keep looking, we need to know what we're up against."

Five of the Seven individuals began to hopelessly whine, Rust managed to tune them out as he flipped through the pages of a new book, he was half through with no results when a soft voice got his attention, he turned around to face Fluttershy as she handed a book to him. On the page was a picture of the jewelry he remembered Trixie wearing. "The Alicorn Amulet".

The wearer of this amulet shall be blessed with untold powers. Even though it provides great power, it corrupts the user. Once attached, a magical lock is triggered, allows only the user to remove it.

"Hell's bells." Rust murmured. He looked to Fluttershy and nodded gratefully.

"Hey!" He hollered to the group, each shutting their traps and turning to face him. "Fluttershy found it, read up."

He tossed the book over to Spike and waited as he waited for the dragon to read it out loud. Finally they looked at Rust.

Spike's face dropped as he spoke. "Trixie's the only person who can take it off."

"We need to get this information to Twilight." Applejack spoke up.

"But what about the force field?"

Rust walked towards to group and smiled. "If there's one valuable lesson that diamond dogs can teach us, it's that; if you can't go through, around, or over, go under. Spike, I need you to get me a map of Ponyville and a marker."

"Mar-kur?" The dragon said confusedly.

"Err... A piece of chalk will do."

And here I was thinking markers were such a trivial thing, apparently they don't have them.

Books were scattered throughout the room, Rust couldn't help but imagine Twilight's face pale as she came home, unsuspecting.

"How often to you reshelve all these books?" He had asked.

"About once a month, why?"

"No reason."

He looked at the mares, they all looked back, the group was disturbingly quiet as they waited on his plan. Rainbow Dash, with her aggressive glare, Applejack, bearing a straight face, Fluttershy, eyes darting around nervously, Rarity, looking extremely pitiful, and then there was Pinkie Pie, whom Rust had just realized she had no mouth, and looked as if she was going to burst.

Spike came down the stairs quickly, setting the map and chalk at Rust's hooves.

"Alright, gather around. This is how it will happen; we'll dissipate into three groups immediately after leaving the library."

Rust found the main river leading out of Ponyville, he marked two spots on a hill where the slope made adequate cover.

"I need two separate teams at these locations, this is going to sound corny, or like the type of romantic fan-fiction, but I'm just going to combine names here."

He pointed towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Team AppleDash." Then pointed towards Spike and Rarity. "RariSpike"

He ignored the scoffing from three ponies and looked at Fluttershy. "I'll take you with me, i'm pretty sure Twilight ran off into the woods, and you know the area best. We'll need to stop by Minuette's, I left my gear there."

He drew an arrow from Minuette's house to a position near the river where a house covered them from the river.

"MmmHmmMmph!" Pinkie's muffled voice came.

"Wha-? Oh, sorry Pinkie, you stay with Spike and Rarity."

The mare sat and crossed her forelegs, an agitated look on his face.

"I have no idea if there will be gaurds there." Rust continued. "Trixie may have noticed the gap too late and was too lazy to fix it, if there is, team RariSpike will make a distraction, I don't care how you do it, and you wont have to worry about being creative as long as it gets the job done."

"Team AppleDash will-" He went on, but was cut off by none other than Rainbow Dash.

"Hey, i'd rather call it RainbowJack, because AppleDash makes it sound like she's wearing the pants here."

"I... Why does that saying even exist? And no! Anyway, team AppleDash will intercept the guards if they're too much for team RariSpike to handle. Got it?"

Everypony nodded.

Rarity spoke up. "Hmm, this will be quite a dangerous mission, would it not?"

Rust tossed the question around in his head. "Maybe."

The mare hummed in response and thought for a moment. "I believe that I have just the designs for such a mission, ones I have been truly dying to try, if we can put it off for an hour or so."

"Eh." The stallion shrugged. "Sure, why not."

***

Wow. This is really comfortable. I owe Rarity way more than just a chat over tea.

Rust leaned against somepony's home. He wore a few-shades-lighter-than-black coat made from fabric he had no name for. The design was similar to the uniform Rarity had already made for Pinkie. Now, each member of the group had their own.

Rust pulled the hood over his face and nodded his head with enough force to push the dark red-lens goggles from his forehead to over his eyes. Rarity was a goddess, the sleeves came all the way down to his hooves and fit snugly and kept him cool, he wore his Kevlar under the jacket, Rarity had changed the cover fabric from brown to a grey just barely lighter than the jacket and made a tactical belt to go with.

He looked back to Fluttershy, she was dressed in a similar outfit, only with blue bunny ears, which he hadn't bothered to question. The sleeves of her outfit didn't go farther than her upper legs, a blue tactical belt was tied around her midsection and she wore boots of the same color.

Rust was right, Trixie had left a gap, the river ran freely right under the dome, however she'd thought to left guards. They were a strange sight. They were stallions, civilians, but their eyes emitted a red glow and they stood completely rigid.

He was starting to wonder how Rarity and Spike could possibly draw the guards away when Pinkie Pie ran up to one, pulled a colorful cannon out of thin air, and blasted the stallion, sending tablecloths, balloons, and confetti everywhere.

Rust shook his head as Pinkie Pie ran away, the two guards in pursuit.

"Okay Fluttershy, let's go, and stay close."