My Little Wastelander

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.