Outcast

by RedScootaloo

Chapter 4: Past

Uaah, the mare next to Rusty yawned. The absence of her the smell that usually surrounded her made the grey stallion open his eyes up. The stench of alcohol, cheap cigarettes and depression: Sharon had recovered quickly after the return of her 'missing child', Rainbow Dash.

It took a while for them to move what they had to Ponyville, but it was worth it already. After they had finally transported everything worth taking with the help of Rainbow Dash and her friends yesterday, Sharon seemed to feel better each inch they moved away from the bad memories.

But for today Rusty had planned to work on the house they had gotten from Twilight Sparkle. Rusty had been speechless. He never had experienced such kindness in Manehatten. But first he'd have to get the bar up and running. Of course, there were other possibilities for ponies to get drunk in Ponyville, but this wasn't going to be a club like Vinyl Scratches', which was especially attractive for young ponies. It'd be more like a classy bar, at least that's what he'd imagined.

The old stallion noticed a warm hoof on his shoulder. Turning his head he saw the pony he had always loved, the pony that finally found her true self back. Apparently she fell asleep again. He kissed Sharon on the forehead and carefully crawled out of the bed.

Yawning, Rusty left the room and headed for the bath. It was a nice house. The walls were made of the bright colored wood almost everything in Ponyville was built of. It was so different from Manehatten, where his house had been pretty wrecked and made from nothing but dark wood, old stones and concrete. Also, this was his house. When the bar keeper remembered again how he got 'The Final Sprint', chills ran down his spine.

The dark brown coated pony ran down the streets of Manehatten, repeatedly looking back toward the pony following him. Scared as he was, already losing the track of where he was going and only deciding where to run in a split second each turn, he was chased deeper to more and more run-down houses.

Just when he was about to run into a small alley to his left, a black pegasus jumped from a pretty tall building straight ahead and raced at him. Rusty jumped on the spot and rose his back hooves. Unable to stop due to the high speed, the dark pony crashed right into them. Something wet ran down his legs, but Rusty had no time to lose.

Barely seeing through his now tearing eyes, the young earth pony continued. When his follower stopped, gasping at the sight of the lifeless body of his former friend the colt was far away.

About half an hour later Rusty eventually noticed the absence of his follower. Slowly reducing his speed he examined the buildings around him. Street lamps that had burned out marked the end of the path, shabby buildings blocked the space behind them. Not a single thing he'd be able to recognize.

His careless escape had lead him in more trouble than he thought. He'd have to find a way -

Did he kill that pegasus back there? He could still hear his bones crushing on the impact, feel the power of it in his hooves. His eyes followed the blood on them. About where his knee was, the blood stains stopped. Panicking he searched his body for wounds that could give another explanation than the obvious. Even though he knew he was unharmed he kept searching, sensing every inch of his body, until he finally gave up his hope.

No. He wouldn't return home, even if he'd somehow find the way. He killed a pony. He couldn't return to his old life now.

On this day he made a promise to himself. He would never hurt anypony again - Instead he'd do everything to help to make up for his mistakes.

He didn't have to walk further. Before he even got to a working street lamp, he decided to enter a small, pretty run-down house where he'd build up his new existence. He had luck, the original owners had left a lot of useful items, like multiple candles and even a box with matches.

Rusty tried not to think about what might have happened to the ponies who had lived here before him that they left such useful things behind. Sure enough the thoughts came anyways. And even though he tried to comfort himself that they just moved out like anypony else would, he imagined the worst scenarios in the back of his head.

Plagued by those notions and the chase he had just behind himself, Rusty searched for the bedroom and lay himself to sleep.

In the middle of the night Rusty got up to get a drink. He walked down the stairs, continued his way until he reached the kitchen. Taking a glass from a nearby shelf, he made his way to the sink. Yawning he let the water flow, but instead of it pouring in his glass, the water floated upwards and created what seemed like a pony's head. The head of the pony he had killed. Slowly, his surroundings crumbled. The ceiling came partly down until he found himself at the exact same building he had first met this pony. He was running. Automatically, he jumped on the spot and rose his hooves. Slow-motional the pegasus came closer. When he crushed into Rusty's hooves, everything went black.

Shaking and sweating Rusty awoke on the floor next to the bed he had slept in. It was just a nightmare.

Days, weeks, even years passed and Rusty grew to be a strong pony. But the dark brown coat he had slowly turned grey from his nightmares and his self-accusations.

It was raining heavily. Rusty tried to ignore the noises the rain made crushing on his windows. Clonk, clonk, clonk, clonk, clonk. Nonstop it hindered him from falling asleep, from resting in his well-known nightmare. Until he heard somepony knock on his door, shouting something he couldn't quite understand. He went downstairs, worried about the pony spending the night out in the rain, but still careful not to let his guard down. It wouldn't be the first time a thug tried to overwhelm him this way.

Author's Note:

You wanted to know Rusty's past in more than one chapter with a cliff-hanger ending the first one?
No?
Well, have it anyways, hope you enjoy it! Next chapter is already on its way, thanks to everyone for supporting me

[EDIT:] In retrospect, "on its way" really was a weird thing to say before leaving for over a year, but at least it's here now, if in a different form I ever imagined.
Also, tell me what you think is the right amount of clonks for the perfect rhetorical effect in the comments below if you like!