My Little Wastelander

**

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."

**