Rust had been asleep for almost twenty minutes. He had placed his helmet on once more and kept all his equipment around him in case he needed it. The fire beside him was still going thanks to all the firewood he had collected from earlier which shone brightly showering his form in its orange glow.
However he was not the only one to experience the fires warmth as the six ponies observed Rusts sleeping body from no more than a few feet away. This allowed them to whisper among themselves. The purple one spoke first.
“Alright girls remember, we need to try to be very careful with this thing. If things take a turn for the worst then we’ll have to restrain him. Applejack, do you have your lasso”?
“Ah never leave home without it”. The orange pony whispered back as she drew out a long wrapped rope.
“Good. Fluttershy, it’s up to you now. Your ways with animals should get him on his good side. But if anything goes wrong, don’t worry. We’ll be here to protect you”.
The yellow Pegasus only managed to exchange a weak smile as her friends hid in the nearby bushes behind her to both ease the tension for the monster but also to ambush it if things did not go the way they hope for it to go.
Fluttershy took a step forward, looking down at the sleeping giant below her. She was about to make an effort to speak until Rust rolled over. The Pegasus leaped into the air backwards a few feet in a single second, allowing an “Eeeep” type sound to leave her mouth as she did. Luckily not loud enough to wake the human and startle it. She froze for a second until she realized that it must have been a reflex from its dream.
One part of Fluttershy was begging for her to turn tail and retreat to the safety of her friends. The other part tried to convince her that this thing was an animal in need of help. Not only should she be letting it down but also her friends. Something she wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Remembering why she was doing this, she mustered as much courage as she could, walked back over to the still sleeping human, raised a hoof and tapped it on the shoulder.
“Umm, excuse me? Sir”? This managed to get the humans attention as it woke up but kept its back on the pony. Needless to say, it was still slightly hazy from being woken up.
“Uhhh, da hell? Is that you Forest”?
Unsure what to do, Fluttershy gave a look back at the bushes her friends were hiding in. The instant she turned round, a purple hoof shot out of them bushes and gestured for her to keep going. So she did and lowered herself down to his level to make him feel more at ease, even if he wasn’t facing her.
“Well, we’re in a forest, if that’s what you’re asking”. This time round, Rust noticed the feminine voice and rolled over, talking as he did.
“Wha- who the hell are you”? He asked as he rolled over to face the figure in front of him only to by caught off guard as he was met by two gigantic blue eyes and screamed.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH”!!! He yelled causing the yellow pony to do the same as she backed away a couple of feet. Rusts reflexes kicked in, jumping back from the figure and grabbing the pistol from the holster before getting up on his two feet and aiming his gun right between the poor things eyes. Fluttershy was too scared to move and closed her eyes expecting the worst to come as she thought of the ponies she had come to call friends.
Before Rust dared to pull the trigger, he remembered that this was one of the few ponies he met. And upon that, this was the cowardly one who flew away from him. Why had she come back to him? Perhaps now was a good chance to start fresh. Slowly but carefully, he bent his elbows and lowered his gun by only an inch. Before he could lower his gun any more he got tackled by something fast and blue.
Rust landed onto his back hard. Luckily the grass underneath him was soft enough to cushion the fall. He didn’t even get the chance to raise his head as the blue thing pinned his arms down while staring at him face to face and man, did she look pissed.
Rust struggled and managed to get his foot stuck on the middle of the blue Pegasus’s stomach and kicked her off as hard as he could. Thankfully it worked quite effectively as the pony flew through the air, yelling in surprise as she did, before colliding with a thick branch at least ten feet above the ground causing her to fall into some more bushes which saved her from breaking anything important. Rust spun round, realising he had dropped his side arm when he got tackled. He muttered “Damn” to himself as he quickly looked round and saw the thing shining only a few meters away. He quickly made a run for it and nearly had it until He tripped on something.
As he landed on the ground, his head smacked into the ground. If it wasn’t for his helmet he could have been knocked out. He tried to get back up, onto his feet well enough until something pulled at his left foot causing him to fall over again. He turned round to notice a rope round his foot. “What now”? He complained as his eyes followed the rope up to an orange mare pulling the end of the rope with its mouth.
“Gods sake, how many of these damn things are there”? He asked in his head.
The pony gave a mighty tug on the rope, reeling the marine in like a fish caught on a line.
Realising the trouble he was in, Rust pulled out his knife and cut the thin rope with one swing causing the orange farm pony to fall on her behind.
Wasting no time, Rust shook the remains of his rope from his leg and grabbed the pistol in both his hands before aiming at the farm girl, ready to fire until… He couldn’t move his fingers. He couldn’t move his hands! Rust looked at his hands seeing that they were encased in a purple aura as his arms were forced into the air which pulled him from the ground a couple of feet. He took his eyes off of the gun to see the purple unicorn again.
Rust tore his eyes off of her fiery gaze to see that her horn was glowing in the same aura as his hands and gun. This gave him an idea. A risky idea but an idea none the less. Luckily this unicorn was close enough to be hit with his boot.
“Look, we-“ Twilight tried to speak but was interrupted as one of the humans feet smashed into her horn which interrupted the magical flow releasing Rust and his gun as he landed on both his feet. The unicorn rubbed her head in slight pain as she opened her eyes only to see the barrel of the magnum placed on the centre of her head. Rust had had enough of these things once and for all. He began to press the trigger again until…
“STOOOOOOOOOOOP”!
Both Rust and Twilight spun round to the sound of the voice and saw the yellow Pegasus right next to them. She was not happy, that much was clear as a slight hint of anger was detected from everybody around, even the ponies who still hid in the bushes, not given a chance to act.
She walked up to the pair, both remained as still as statues. Once she had reached them, she turned onto Twilight.
“Twilight, This creature didn’t mean any harm! What made you think you could attack him when he was trying to defend himself”?! She nearly yelled in a slightly louder than normal voice at one of her best friends. Twilight did her best to respond.
“But it-“.
“HE! Not it”! Fluttershy was just inches away from Twilights face.
“But-“.
“But nothing Twilight. I know you meant well but you should have known better”.
Twilight hung her head in defeat, knowing that her friend was right, she had nothing to fight back with which got Rust smiling a bit. Relief at last as he opened his mouth to say thank you to the little yellow pony until.
“And as for you”! Fluttershy turned round to face Rust.
“Oh crap”. He thought knowing that this wasn’t going to end well.
“What made you think you could just try to hurt us for just trying to help you”!
“But I thought-“.
“Thought nothing! There’s no reason to just attack us because we accidentally scared you”!
“I thought you were-“.
“Did we do anything wrong? NO! Did we try to hurt you? NO! What made you try to hurt me and my friends”!?
“Because… I…”. Rust managed to say as he tried to muster his courage. To a small cute looking pony that was three quarters his size.
“Well”? Asked Fluttershy wanting an answer. Rust sighed, dropping his magnum on the floor.
“Because I’ve lost people I cared about! OK? Is that a good enough answer for you and your friends”?! Rust growled, causing Fluttershy’s own anger to suddenly disappear.
“I had four brave soldiers- No! Four friends who were killed only hours ago and another who could also be dead or alive OR HURT OR WORSE!
Everypony, including Pinkie and Rarity in the bushes stepped forward to listen to the marines tale of woe.
“So I attacked you and your friends! I know I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did and I’m sorry. But after going through the hell, THAT I SUFFERED IN LESS THAN A DAY, WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU HAVE DONE”?!
The marine finished ranting, breathing heavily as he tore his gaze from the yellow pony and walked over to his scattershot to pick it up and moved over to his magnum and bent down to pick it up when something softly bumped against his side. Fed up, he turned his head to tell the pony to get lost until something caught him off guard, the yellow pony, now beside him was now nuzzling him, with tears softly strolling down her face.
“I’m sorry”. She managed to speak between sobs, giving the marine a look sad enough to erase all of his anger he had only moments ago.
“I’m so sorry. I- I didn’t know”… The marine looked at her and raised an arm and put it round the young Pegasus and pulled her into a hug.
“I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to yell at you”. And unknowingly to any of the ponies around him, a tear escaped his eye.
Everypony else, except Rainbow dash who kept her distance, closed in and waited a minute until the human broke the hug, grabbed his pistol sliding it into the holster and stood up.
“Never thought I’d be hugging mythological creatures in my life”. He thought in his head. His attention was soon drawn to Twilight who made the next move.
“I’m sorry too. We all are”.
Rust looked round him to see everypony nodding their heads in agreement while offering friendly smiles, apart for the one with rainbow hair. Guess there’s no pleasing some people, or in this case ponies.
“Well, thanks I guess”. Rust spoke up. “At least you’re all not as…hostile as I first thought”.
Rust felt a small tug on his leg, looked down and saw the yellow Pegasus, smiling.
“So, if you don’t mind me asking, what is your name”? She asked gently.
“Just call me Rust”.
Twilight stepped in once again. “Well, Rust. Perhaps we could make this whole misunderstanding up to you. How about we offer you a bed for the night? The moon will be rising soon and we don’t want to be out here after dark”.
“I’ll manage here”. Replied Rust. This received a shocked gasp from half the ponies causing Rust to raise an eyebrow although it was hard to notice with his helmet on.
“But I thought you forgave us”? Asked Twilight with concern.
“I do, it’s just that I still need to find somebody else out here and going back to that town won’t help the issue”. Replied Rust with confidence, knowing he had survived worse during the covenant war years ago when he had to sleep in the remains of a destroyed building with no roof, hard rain, thunder and lightning with nothing but his armour and an SMG.
“Trust me, I’ll be fine”. This caused the white unicorn to jump into the conversation.
“Oh but Darling, we couldn’t possibly let you spend a night in this dreadful, cold… messy place”.
“Why not”? The hardened marine asked not understanding the danger.
“The plants grow,”. Began Twilight.
“Animals care for themselves,”. Continued Fluttershy with fear.
“And the clouds”. Rainbow Dash spoke after Fluttershy had finished.
“What about them”? Asked Rust, hardly affected by their efforts.
“They move all by themselves”! She ended dramatically. This got the marine to just stare at them as though they were crazy and uttered one word.
“Seriously”?
“MMM HMMM”. Everypony nodded in unison, again Rust didn’t seem phased in anyway.
“I think I’ll survive easily enough”. He said sarcastically. In an instant, Rarity was at the front of him as to block his path.
“Now see here, we shall not allow our new friend to wander the most dangerous forest in Equestria. Especially not alone! We can find your friend in the morning but for now, you must allow us to help you in your time of need”!
Rust made a note of that. Equestria. Interesting name for a forerunner location.
“I appreciate it but-“. Rust was quickly cut off.
“You must”.
“Yeah but-“.
“You must”!
“The thing is-“.
“YOU MUST”!
“OK OK FINE! I BLOODY MUST”! Rust finally gave in.
All the girls gave a slight cheer with victory even though none of them knew what the word “Bloody” meant.
With everybody all set and Rust had sorted all of his equipment out, they headed back to the town. The walk was long so everypony thought to ask Rust some questions to help pass the time.
“So Rust”, Began Twilight with a smile on her face. “What species are you”? Rust turned to face her as he walked.
“I’m a human being. Homo-sapien if you want to be fancy”. He replied almost emotionless. Rarity seized the opportunity to ask the next question.
“What type of outfit are you wearing darling? I do not mean to be rude but what you have right now just screams for new colours! I’m thinking a light shade of blue, followed by-“
“I like my armour the way it is thanks”. He replied calmly which let the unicorn keep her mouth quiet. Though it didn’t stop her for thinking up new ideas to dash his armour up.
“Do you like to party”? asked a certain pink pony, who was hanging from the top of Rust’s helmet giving him a real shock as he met her head upside down. He took a second to calm down before responding, not really wanting to know how she did that.
“Not much. I haven’t been to a party in a long time. And please get off of my helmet, I can’t see a thing”.
“Oki Doki Loki”. She responded gleefully before lifting her head back up and out of Rusts sight, although when he turned to look at her half a second later, she was the furthest pony away from him.
“Talk about fast”. He thought. If only he knew the truth.
“So um, Mister Rust”? Began Fluttershy, being so quiet, Rust had to crouch slightly just to get the gist of what she was saying.
“Do you ummmm… have any pets of your own”? This caused Rust to sigh.
“I had a dog once. Nuff said”. He seemed to be avoiding the questions but the very personal ones he seemed only to give a single sentence.
“Ya don’t talk much do you”? Asked the farm pony who noticed this.
“Nope”. Shortest answer ever. Surprisingly this gave her something to laugh about.
“Ya really remind me of ma big brother. Perhaps if y’all get the chance, you could meet him and the rest of the Apple family”. Rust just exchanged a smile and nodded showing that he would love to.
Before any of them could say another word, a mighty roar sounded off not too far away. Only instead of a roar of anger, this one seemed to be one of pain which caught the attention of one particular Pegasus.
“Oh my”! She panicked before flying rather quickly towards the sound of the roar. Everybody quickly followed and eventually, Rust.
“What the hell is she doing”? Complained Rust knowing that if there was an unknown creature roaring loudly, you were supposed to turn and head the other way instead of running towards the bloody source!
“Jest trust her on this” Replied the orange pony with a wink. Eventually, they came across the source of the pained roaring and Rust couldn’t help but say.
“Oh shit”.
If front of him only a few meters away, Fluttershy was patting a big lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail. And several serious wounds in its arm. Normally Rust would have put the beast out of its misery with a scattershot blast to the head but Fluttershy was already working on a different, less lethal method.
“There there. It’s ok”. She soothed the beast as she looked at the beasts round shaped holes in its arms.
“Oh you poor thing. What did this to you”?
Slowly but surely, Rust raised his hand declaring himself responsible which earned him a shocked look from everypony.
“What”? He began noticing all the looks around him. “That thing tried to eat me alive for Gods sake! It’s not my fault”!
Twilgiht stepped in front of him and spoke.
“We’ll talk about this later”. She turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, are you going to be ok”?
The yellow Pegasus responded cheerfully. “Oh yes of course Twilight. My cottage isn’t too far from here. I’ll be alright”.
“Alright then. I guess we’ll see you tomorrow”.
The group left Fluttershy alone with the beast which seemed quite content with Fluttershy around. Rust thought it actually looked friendly, especially when it wasn’t trying to rip him limb from limb this time round. Eventually curiosity got the better of him and he had to ask.
“Hey uh, Twilight was that thing”? The purple mare nodded, happy that he could remember her name.
“What was what”?
“What was that big lion bat thing we just saw”?
“Oh that was a manticore. A baby one at that too”.
This shook Rust slightly. THAT was only a baby?! That thing was almost twice the size he was! What an interesting location Requiem had sent him. However, none of them noticed a small floating orb with an orange light glowing in its centre watching them from afar among the trees. It spoke in a high pitched feminine voice.
“Curious”.