> Hello Equestria
>  by Mr Lullaby
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: The Tutorial?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What the?” Rufus stood there in clean, bright marble room, “This doesn't look like Deponia.”

“That’s because it isn’t.” a female voice said from behind. Rufus turned around only to find no one there.

“Who said that?” Rufus looked about the room in search of the voice. “Hello?” Rufus asked.

No answer.

“Helllooo!?” Rufus’s voice echoed throughout the room.

Again, no answer.

“HEY! ANSWER ME!! Where Am I?”

Still no answer…

“Darn, why won’t she answer me?” he asked himself. Rufus stood there for a moment thinking when a thought struck him. “Oh, please don’t tell me that…” stopping mid-sentence he released an ugh then dumbly spoke, “Talk… To… Voice…”

A bright flash lit the surrounding area, “You know, you don’t have to say it.”

“Then why didn't you answer me!!” The deponian angrily blurted.

“That’s because I was busy taking care of some things.”

“Well that’s great! Now that you’re done, can you answer me a few questions? Like, who are you, or Where am I?”

“That doesn’t matter right now. Look, I need somepony to help me fix the harmony vault. And I was told that you could do it.”

Rufus scoffed, “I Don’t need help fixing a harm-you vault.”

“Frist off, its harmony. Second, I’m the one asking for help.”

The Deponian crossed his arms and smirked, “Well then, I guess it’s your lucky day, because you can just sit back and relax while I, Rufus, fix the vault all by myself!”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally.”

“Okay, then. Sweet.”

Rufus looked around for a couple seconds, “Um? Where’s the vault?”

“It’s to your left.”

“I knew that.” Rufus said approaching the vault, “Let’s see…” the boy stood there for a couple of seconds.

“Um,” The voice said, “Aren’t you going to look at the door? You know, so you can figure out what’s wrong?”

Rufus looked back toward the direction of the voice, “I am, but the Eye Icon won’t work.” He replied.

“Eye…icon?” The voice asked quizzically.

“Yeah, it’s the icon that lets you look at an object. I’m trying to use it, but it’s not responding for some reason.”

“Maybe that’s because it doesn’t exist.”

“Wait!” Rufus shouted, “Are you saying that I died three times trying learn this crap, only to find out that I can’t even use it!!?”

“Well, yeah, I guess.”

“WHAT THE HELL’S WRONG WITH YOU!”

“HEY! I wasn’t the one who taught you that stuff! The only thing that I’m here for is to make sure the vault gets fixed!!”

“Well then, I guess you’re on your own because I don’t even know how to do a dam thing!” Rufus scoffed.

“What are you talking about? All you need to do is look at it!”

“Oh sure, and how do I do that?” He said sarcastically, “With the magnifying glass Icon? Or the binoculars Icon?”

“No! Just look at the thing. Turn your head and focus your eyes on the object you want to look at.”

Rufus was taken aback by the voice’s instructions, “An-And that’s it? Just look at it? That’s all there is to it?”

“Yep.”

“No, Icon or anything? I don’t even need to click on it?”

“Nope.”

“Wow,” Rufus said with other shock, “That’s awesome! Though I'll do miss the clicking sound, the mouse makes.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Rufus turned back to the vault, “Okay, looking at the vault, here I go!” Rufus clicked his tongue before scanning the door. After some time inspecting the door he deiced to report his diagnosis, “Ah HA! Yes! I did it!”

“And?” the voice pressed.

“And what?” the Deponian curiously asked back.

“The vault,” it asked irritably, “did you figure out what’s wrong?”  

“Oh that, ah, yeah. I couldn’t find the problem.”

“Really?! Because it's pretty obvious!”

“Oh yeah? Then tell me little Miss know-it-all, what’s the problem?” Rufus snarked.

“The wards on the vault have expired and need to be reset.”

“Shshhh! I’m trying to think.” He hushed looking back at the door. “Ah ha, I see the problem now! The wards on the vault have expired and need to be reset.”

“That’s what I just said.” the voice deadpanned.

“Yeah, sure you did.”

“You know what-” Rufus cut the voice off before it could finish, “Quiet!" He said, "I’m still trying to fix this door.” Rufus’s eyes fell upon a control panel. “That looks promising.” He grinned as he walked up to the panel. On the panel, he found a button and a switch. “I’m guessing this has to do with setting the wards?”

“Correct. The red-”

“Hey! Relax, I can figure this out by myself.”

“Well, okay then.” The voice said with growing irritation.

The Deponian looked back at the terminal, “Hrm. The red button with the exclamation mark must be to arm the wards. And the switch is used to reset the wards.” Rufus grabbed the switch and flicked it down. The vault door then lit up with symbols and hummed softly.

“Now all we need to do is test it.” Replied the voice.

“I was just about to say the same thing.” Rufus then grabbed a crumpled up piece of paper from his coat and approached the glowing door.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m testing the door.”

“But-”

“Hey!” Rufus barked, “Didn’t I tell you to relax?”

“Well, yeah But-”

“Then do it! You don’t need to worry about me; I’ve got this covered.” Rufus then prepped himself for his overhand throw. “Here’s the windup…”

“Wait!”

“Annnnd, here’s the…”

“Stop!”

“Pitch!” right as the wad of paper was released from the man’s hand, the paper ball lit up with purple energy and stopped in mid-air. “What the?”

The voice let out a sigh of relief, “That’s was close.”

“Hey, what gives? What did you do? Why is the paper floating?”

“I stopped it with my magic before you set off the wards.”

“Why would you do that?” Rufus felt his anger building up.

“Um, I don’t know? Maybe to, oh? Save your life!”

“You know what! That’s it! You've been harassing me since the beginning of this tutorial; I demand that you show yourself, NOW!!”

“ME! Harassing you!? YOU'RE the one that's harassing ME!" The voice let out a sigh, "Let's just get this over with. Can you please-”

Rufus interrupted her, "No! Whatever it is, I'm not doing it. Not until you reveal yourself to me."  

The voice let out a groan, "Fine, Look up."

“Look…Up?” Rufus tilted his head up to find a flying purple horse staring down at him.

“Hi! I’m Twilight Sparkle.” The mare said swooping down to eyelevel.

Rufus’s pupils widened. He stood there frozen in terror, then promptly let out a long shriek, “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Rufus stumbled backwards into the door.

“Uh oh.” Twilight watch as the light of the door engulfed the deponian and vaporized him.

The pony looked the spot where moments ago Rufus stood, “Well, on the bright side princess Celestia will finally be able to have a good night’s rest again. But I wonder, how's Discord going to take the news?”
> Onto Act Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The study was dimly lit, and the sound of paper and pencil echoed off the walls of the room. He wasn’t used to this. Not at all. But what choice did he have? He was forced into taking up a responsibly far greater than he could even imagine. More so then his past life. The fate of the so many on his shoulders, including his own. And he'll be dammed if he was going to live the rest of his life back down there.

He scowled at his latest embarrassment of a plan and rightfully tossed it in the trash where it belonged. Space propellers! What the hell was he thinking?! Propellers don’t work in space! He let out a sigh and rubbed his temples. “What am I going to do?”

He sat there consumed in thought. How would he do it? Is it even possible? What if he fails and gets them all killed? So many questions, but not one clear answer.

A knock at the door broke him away from his worried mind. Clearing his throat he mimicked the voice of his ex-archnemesis, “Um, yes, who is it?”

“It’s Goal, can I come in?” a sweet, calm voice spoke from behind the door.

“Goal? Oh, heheh, yes come in!” He picked the pencil back up off the desk and pretended to draw something intelligent. The sound of the air-power door whispered behind him, and he heard the footsteps of his fiancée approaching him.

“How are the plans going?” She asked.

That was not the topic he wanted to talk about right now, but never the less, he’d decided to follow through, “Not good I’m afraid…” He glanced at his scribbling’s of various plans, all of which in his book were utter failures, “I just can’t seem to find a solution! Every time I think I have one, I put it down on paper only to find that it would never work!” He hunched of over his plans. Hands over his head and elbows on the table. “What am I to do Goal?” Tears began to welled up around his eyes, “This whole situation just seems hopeless.”

Goal put her arms around him and spoke softly, “I know it does dear. But it only seems that way, because you choose to look at it like that. Nothing is entirely hopeless.”

The man looked back at his fiancée, “But Goal! I’ve exhausted every possibility! I don’t see how-”

“Don’t talk like that! You’ve done the impossible. You’ve proved all those who doubted you wrong. You are Rufus, the one who saved Deponia and made it to Elysium. I know you can do it honey; you just gotta stick with it, and use that imagination of yours. I believe in you!”

“But-” 

“I don't want to hear another word. Now if you need me, I’ll be in the engineering helping doc out with some calibrations.” The girl then left the room.

“But, I’m not Rufus…” He whispered to himself as he remained focused on the door. He turned back to his plans. Worthless, all of them worthless. If only he was the one that fell. If only it was that incompetent blabbering baboon who was saved! Not him! Then he would be thrust upon this situation. It would be that moron going through this misery, not him! But then again… Goal was right that man could do the impossible. He could’ve probably saved Elysium. His imagination knew no bounds! He was optimistic in an odd cynical way. His spirit could never be crushed. He could do anything once he set his mind to it! And he would never give up!

But the one that sat here was not that man. The one sitting here was Cletus, a meticulous, uncreative, and pessimistic snob, whose methods were always by the book. And even though he was becoming more like Rufus with each passing day… His imagination was still just like this room, nothing more than a dimly lit bulb, flickering against the darkness.

He sighed and continued his brainstorming. “As much as I hate to say it… I need you Rufus. Now more than anything…”



I admit it’s pathetic
The way I had end it
With Rufus, fated, to die on that day
But don’t you show fear
Don’t you dare, shed a tear
‘Cause truth is, my story, never ended that way
Yeah, there’s still more in store!
Before he hits the floor!
For a new world awaits for which he shall explore!!
So try not to lose your cool
Just fill up your popcorn bowl
And now, before I bore, let’s move onto act four!!
(Huzzah! Onto act four!!)


*Groan*……*Grumble*…“Ouch…” Rufus winced as he inched his way out of the human shaped hole. “Out of all my landings that one takes the cake.” Rubbing his sore neck, the man looked back at the impact site, “But the good thing is I’m still alive!”

Rufus gazed sadly at the ground, “However; I think my chances with Goal and Elysium died with that fall…” Rufus let out a sigh, “I guess I should make my way back to Kuvaq.”

After a few moments, the Deponian broke his gaze with the ground and took a look around. “Let’s see, judging by all the wooden pipes and fungi, I’d say I landed in either a sewer, or some sort of fungus farm.” He focused his attention to one of the wooden pipes, “Hey! I bet if I climb one of these I can find a way out!” The boy stumbled up to the one of the pipes sticking out of the ground.

“Wait!” He said with a sudden shock. Rufus leaned in to take a closer look at the pipe, “I swear I seen something like this before!” The man inspected the bottom of the pipe, the structure of the base was gnarled, and continuous, but the feature that stuck out the most was the bark-like coating.

The boy’s eyes widened at the realization of what he was looking at. He turned around and looked at all of the other pipes crowding the area. Rufus’s face scrunched up in confusion, “W-What the?!”

He glanced up at the roof. It was dense with strange green shapes branching out from the pipes’ extensions. “These are…TREES?!” He shook his head in defiance. “This is impossible, I mean trees grow here and there but never this many in one place!”

Rufus stood there trying to make sense of all this when a deep growl that furthered his consternation echoed from his surroundings. He looked about frantically for the source of the sound, though he was unsure if he even wanted to find it. The man nearly jumped out of his skin as another growl sounded; this one louder than the last.

“I…think, I can worry about the trees later.” Rufus cautiously started to tip-top away from the crash site, but his sneaking quickly turned into a sprint when the growl became a roar.

While trying to lose his unknown pursuer, Rufus begun to notice that his fall left more than a sore neck and a ruin Cletus costume.

He was limping… badly….

With each step, he took, a screaming wad of pain. To make matters worse, it seemed that no matter how far he ran, the snarling persisted right behind him.

“You know, maybe it’s just my stomach-" Just then a horrific beast leaped out from the trees. “Or maybe not!”

The injured man weaved his way through the darkness of the woodland in a desperate attempt for life, but much to his chagrin, the creature was quickly closing the gap between them.

The Deponian was now finding himself ducking and dodging the beast’s massive claws, and its scorpion tail. One swipe after another; each time it was a near brush with death.

As he ran from the monster he felt his legs begin to give way, “Crap!” the poor man fell to the ground. Rufus flipped himself over to see the pursuer closing in. He staggered backwards with his hands. The beast, now looming over him, snarled hungrily. “N-N-Nice kitty.” Rufus said.

The creature let out a roar as it raised its claws above its head, readying itself for the kill. The boy rolled out of the way of the attack into a patch of blue lilies. The beast glared at him and snarled as it paced in circles around the flower patch.

“Ahhh great.” Rufus watched as the creature continued to circle him. As he laid there in the flowerbed he begun to feel something odd. He felt his strength returning. “Ha! Well look at that!” He said as he picked himself up off the ground. The Beast let out a roar that reminded the fellow of his situation. He gazed at the angry thing. “Oh, what’s wrong? Is the big kitty afraid of some little flowers?” He teased. The cat snarled and took a step forward causing the man to take a step back in response. The creature looked like it was ready to pounce the Deponian as it neared the patch, but as soon as its eyes fell back upon the blue lilies, the beast stopped its approach.

Rufus laughed and pointed at the thing, “HAHA! You really are afraid of flowers!” The beast growled and batted at the air in a fruitless attempt to catch its prey. Rufus stuck his tongue out at the thing as it swiped the air a few feet away from him. “You can’t get me! You can’t get me!” Rufus mocked; the creature grew increasingly frustrated at the man. “Aw, am I’m making the poor kitty cat mad?” The beast then turned around and cracked its tail. The boy fell back as blood trickled down the spot where he was hit. “Ouch!”

The cat-like monster snorted satisfyingly as it gazed back at Rufus. It whipped its tail again. The Deponian jumped back barely missing the stinger. The creature continued to swipe at the man for the next minute, but Rufus continued to evade every attack it made. After its tenth failed attack the beast just stood there snarling.

“Face it pal,” Rufus snarked, “You, can’t get me. So why don’t you just give up and find some other guy to munch on?”

The beast’s ears then perked up, and the monster looked off into to the forest. It let out a low growl and looked back at Rufus before heading off into the trees.

“Glad to see you took my advice.” Rufus said to himself. The Deponian looked down at the flowers he stood on. “I’d better take some of these in case I meet my friend again.” Rufus picked a large batch of the blue flowers, “Now all I need is some rope...” The man’s eyes then fell upon a vine hanging from one of the trees. “Perfect!” He said as he took the vine, “Now I can test out my expert knots-men skills!” Rufus quickly tied the crude messy knot around the bushel of lilies. “Ah, the perfect gift for a lady, and apparently, a great monster repellent!” 

Rufus walked out of the flower patch and into the darkness of the forest. “I wonder how everyone’s gonna react when they see me? Hmm, now that I think about it, they’ll probably praise me! After all, I did save the world. I can just hear their voices now, ‘Oh Rufus, you’re our hero! Please take anything you want! Give me your autograph Rufus'-hey!” Rufus found himself back at the flower patch. “Wait a minute. I was just here!” He looked about, “Great…” He frowned, “how am I going to get out of here if everything looks the same?”

*AHHHHHHHHHH!*

Rufus look towards the sound of the scream, “Sounds like someone’s in trouble!” Rufus then took off in the direction of the scream, only to find himself back where he started. “OH, COME ON!!” Rufus grabbed a sharp rock on the ground and went off in the direction of the scream again, but this time he marked the trees as he ran.

Rufus eventually came across a clearing with a bridge and a ruined castle. “Looks safe enough.” He said staring down at the rickety rope bridge. The Deponian ran across the bridge as it wobbled and creaked. After crossing the gorge, he walked up to the castle doors. The man peeked through the open doors to find a quivering white figure hiding behind a pile rubble. “Goal! But how did she..?-” Rufus then saw his old friend clawing at the rocks where Goal was hiding. Rufus turn back away from the door, “However she got here it doesn’t matter. Goal is danger, and I have to do something!” He looked back the beast, “I could use my bouquet, but now that I think about it… I’ll probably just be eaten.” He took a step back from the doors, “I need to find a way to get the flowers to him without being spotted.”

Rufus glance at the window with a balcony, “Ah, ha!” Thinking quickly, the Deponian grabbed a nearby vine, and took off his headband causing his hair to flopped back into place. “Time to finally, put this to good use.” He tied the vine around the headband, then, giving it a few twirls, tossed the makeshift grapple hook up towards the railing of the balcony.

He cheered silently as the headband hooked the railing. “I hope this works.” Rufus grasped the vine and started to scale the wall. Reaching the top he climbed over the railing and hit the balcony floor with an oomph. Rufus grabbed the grapple hook and quietly crept to the other side of the room. He glanced down into the room to find the cat thing still digging at the debris. “Okay, now for phase two.” He hooked the bouquet on the headband. Chuckling quietly he began to lower the flowers down. “Hehehe, special delivery kitty cat, a lovely bouquet of flowers, courteously of your friend, Rufus, hehehe.”

As he lowered the bouquet, the vine got caught on the beast’s tail alerting it to his presence. The creature cut the vine with its claws and looked up to find its most hated pray of the day, Rufus. “Uh-oh,” Rufus said. The cat clenched the vine with its mouth and yanked.

The Deponian screamed as he was ripped over the decrepit railing. The beast opened its mouth wide waiting for its prey to fall in.

As Rufus fell; a blue flower that was stuck to his clothes fell off and into the beast’s mouth. The creature felt its body twist and warp from the inside-out into that of a baby.

*Meow?*

*SPLAT!!!*

Rufus crashed down face first onto the kitty, killing it in the process. “OWwWWww!” he moaned.

“Thank you so very much! Whoever or whatever you are!” Goal said with relief. “Are you okay?” she asked him with deep concern.

“I think its stinger is in my eye…” was what Rufus thought, but his actual response was nothing more than a thumbs up.

“HOPE!!” another voice called out.

Hope? Rufus looked up to find five pastel colored horses approaching him.

“Girls!” Shouted ‘Goal’ as she climbed out of the rubble to meet them. Rufus looked on with utter confusion, ‘Goal’, was a pony!!

“Are ya okay? We lost ya back there, n’ we were ‘fraid somthum awful happen to ya.” The orange one asked Hope.

The white pony nodded, “I fine now, thanks to this creature over there.” She pointed a hoof at Rufus.

The purple one with the horn and wings trotted up to Rufus. The mare circled him scanning him with her violet eyes. She then stopped and asked, “What is it?”

“I don’t know.” Replied Hope, “But whatever it is, it saved my life.”

“OOO!!! That means I can throw it a ‘thank you for saving Hope’ party!!” The pink one squealed, bouncing up and down.

“Pinkie dear, I hardly think that a party would be in order after all she’s been through. And besides we don’t even know a thing about that creature, for all we know it could be dangerous!” The white unicorn replied.

“Well, um, if it saved Hope’s life, then, uh, maybe it’s not that dangerous…” The yellow pegasus softly suggested to the group.

Rufus, who was still trying to comprehend what he was seeing, saw a blur of color tackled him, pinning Rufus to the ground. He found himself staring at a cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. The pony glared at him with hostility. “I don’t know Fluttershy, it’s a creature of the Everfree Forest after all.” The mare stated while not breaking eye contact with the man.

“Rainbow Dash and Rarity are right.” The purple one said to the others, “We don’t know what this thing is or what it’s capable of. It would be foolish to give this thing the benefit of the doubt.”

“But Princess, It saved my life and when I asked if it was alright after its tumble off the balcony, it responded! That also means it’s intelligent!!”

“Hope,” the purple alicorn gave a concern look, “just because you got a response from it doesn’t mean that that thing is-”

“Excuse me!” All the ponies jumped in surprise, “This ‘thing’ has a name!” Rufus shouted finally coming back to his senses. The rainbow one jumped off the man and into the air. All of them look at Rufus in awe. “I-It can TALK!?” The orange one spoke in bewilderment.

“Yes, I can talk!” Rufus said. The seven mares stepped back as the creature rose from the ground. “Now,” He said angrily, “tell me what you did to Goal!”

“G-Goal?” The lavender colored one said, still in shock.

Rufus pointed to Hope, “Yes Goal! What did you do to her?!” He said accusingly. The purple mare, who finally recovered from the shock, look back at Hope then tilted her head in confusion, “You mean Hope?”

“No, Goal!”

The orange pony with the thick accented spoke up, “’fraid ya have her mistaken for somepony else, pal. That there is Hope.”

“What are you talking about? She’s Goal!” Rufus turned to Hope, “Go on, tell them!” All the ponies fixed their gaze on the white earth pony.

Hope’s face became increasingly uneasy. The mare let out a weak chuckle, “I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not this ‘Goal’ you’re talking about. Are you sure you’re okay?”

The purple alicorn looked at the creature. His face displayed a mix of confusion, anger, and unease. She then looked back at her friends whose expressions ranged from hostility to downright frightened. It was evident that if either side didn’t start getting answers, somepony was going to get hurt. “Um, excuse me but perhaps I should introduce ourselves?”

“Perhaps you should…” The boy narked.

The mare let out an uneasy laugh and forced a smile, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and that pony you’d mistaken as this ‘Goal’ is one of Equestria’s royal diplomats, Hopeful Spirit.”

The creature stared blankly at the Twilight. She widened her already awkward smile. “Sooo… Why don’t you tell us your name?”

The man crossed his arms and smirked. “I am the super cool, unbelievably awesome, Rufus!”

Rainbow Dash flew right up into Rufus’s face, “Super cool huh? Prove it!”

“Now Dash, don’t provoke the thing.” Rarity said out fear of what it might do.

“Too late!” Rufus took a step closer to the pegasus, putting him nose to nose with the thing. All of the ponies save Hope took an aggressive stance ready to take the boy down. Rufus snorted slyly then said, “I saved the world from being blown up.” He pulled himself back and posed smugly in satisfaction. The group broke the stance. The cyan pony fell to the ground and stared blankly at him for a moment, then it started to laugh.

“Bwah-ha-ha-ha! You, saved the world? Hahaha, Even Trixie’s stories are more plausible than yours. And besides, even if that was true, we saved the world like three times!”

Rufus shot the pegasus a glare, “Hey! It is true! I saved the world!” The rainbow haired pony laughed even harder. “I’m serious!” Rufus noticed some of the others were joining in on the laughing, including the Goal look-alike. “Stop laughing!” The boy was getting more and more frustrated by the contestant crackling, “I SAVED DEAPONIA!! DAM IT!!”

“De-Deponyia?” Rainbow squeaked, “Oh! Now I get it! You like to play make-believe! W-Well if that’s the case!” The pegasus flew up into the air and turned around to the group. Throwing her hooves up she shouted, “All hail the great and mighty Rufus!! Savior of D-DEPONYIA!!!” She then bowed at the man’s feet and choked out the last of her laughs. “I like you Rufus, your riot. But you really need to come up with something more creative than Deponyia.”

“It’s Deponia, not Deponyia!” He shouted at her.

Dash rolled her eyes and smiled, “Oh, of course! Sorry, my bad.”

“You know what-” Rufus was about to verbally, and possibly physically, assault the mare, but something she said stopped him.

‘Make-believe…’

“Wait,” Rufus said quizzically, “What did you mean by make-believe?”

“Well, obviously that you’re pretending, duh! I mean there’s no such place as Deponia.” the cyan pony responded dumbly.

Rufus looked off into space, piecing together his thoughts. He remembered the trees and the flowers. He walked over to the window and looked out; it was then that he noticed it.

There was no garbage…

He wasn’t sure how he missed it. Maybe it was because he was so custom to seeing it that the thought never struck him, or it was that he’d purposely tried to ignore it so he wouldn’t be bothered by the sight. Either way this world was definitely NOT Deponia.

He took a whiff of the air. There was no foul odor nor that burning sensation in his throat or lungs. Rufus closed his eyes and smiled softly as the clean air filled his chest, it was the most refreshing thing he had ever experienced. He took another breath this time deeper. The ponies watched as the Deponian exhaled and inhaled at the window. “We’re am I?” He asked calmly.

The group, puzzled by his expression, looked at each other. “You’re in Equestria.” Twilight replied.

Equestria… he thought that had a nice ring to it. “Is that the name of this world?”

“No, dear the world is called Equuis.” Rarity answered. Another moment past before she spoke up. “Um, are you okay dear?” Rarity asked the man.

Her words echoed in his head. Are you okay? He had gotten what he dreamed of, but…

Rufus looked at the sky. That gilded city was nowhere to be found. Rufus closed his eyes and shook his head with a frown. “No… I’m not.” He turned to face the group.

“Oh my, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked trotting up beside him. Rufus looked down at the frail thing and replied, “This isn’t my world… I-I shouldn’t be here.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy replied.

“Yeah silly, what other world is there other than Equuis?” Pinkie said.

“Deponia.” Rufus answered bluntly.

Rainbow gave an annoyed expression, “Oh, come on! Don’t start that again.”

Applejack looked at his sorrowful expression and frowned. Hope saw it too. “Girls,” The orange pony spoke, “I think he’s tell’n the truth ‘bout comin’ from ‘nother world.”

“Applejack don’t be absurd.” The purple alicorn laughed, “There’s no such thing as other worlds.” The student then held a hoof to her chin, “Now other universes on the other hoof…” Her eyes suddenly shot wide open, and the mare let out a gasp. The next thing Rufus knew was that there was a flash of light followed by the lavender pony appearing right at his feet. Twilight grabbed the man with her magic and hovered him at eyelevel. “OH, MY GOSH!! Are you really from another universe?” Rufus nodded hesitantly, and the mare dropped him to the ground.

“OwW! Hey! That’s the third time I fell today! Can we not try to kill me?” He hollered in pain.

“S-So this Deponia really exists?” Twilight asked.

“And you really saved it from being blown up?” Dash added.

“Yes, and yes.” Rufus rolled over on his back wincing from the pain to find the whole gang looking down at him. Before he knew it, all seven of them were bombarding him with questions.

“What’s it like there?” The purple one asked

“How’s the food? Do ya eat apples?” The cowpony said.

“Do you throw parties? OO! OO! Are they big? If so how big? Are there balloons? What about cake?” The pink one added.

“How did you save your world? I’d bet you had to fight through an army of bad guys didn’t you?” The cyan pegasus replied boxing the air for emphasis.

“Who’s this Goal? Is she your fillyfriend? What she like?” Hope asked.

“What kind of animals are there in Deponia? What about the plants?” The timid one said.

“Do all you Deponian’s smell and dress as bad as you do?” The white unicorn questioned.

Rufus, while normally liking the attention, felt overwhelmed. A pain welled up in his chest. It was as if the pressure of the pile of questions was pressing down on him. Crushing his chest, then his legs, followed by…

Uh-oh… Rufus said in his head. It seemed the pain from his injuries was returning. The ponies begun to notice it too, the injuries of cuts, broken bones, fractures, and lesions were appearing, or reappearing as it were, all over his body.

Rufus tried to suppress the pain, but it became too much, and the world faded to darkness…

> "First" Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Deponian slowly cracked his eyes open, flinching from the pain of the bright light bleeding through his eyelids, “Urgh… what happened?” He moaned, rubbing his head as he shakily rose to his feet.

“You woke the stranger.” Gizmo answer from behind his desk, “The Elysian girl. And then you got knocked out.”

“Goal?” Rufus said still trying to process what was going on. The boy then jumped in shock, whipping around to face Gizmo, when he realized whom the doctor was talking about. “Where is she? H-How is she?” He spattered in an array of confusion and worry.

“She’s still a bit confused.” Gizmo replied bluntly, “I think her implant was seriously damaged by the fall.” Gizmo glanced back at the hallway leading to her room before reasserting his eyes back on Rufus. “She is conscious now, but she’s just talking gibberish.” He added in puzzlement.

“Can I… talk to her?” Rufus asked unsure if Gizmo would allow it after a hard time that he gave the doctor earlier.

“Of course.” He said cheerfully but in a clam manner, “She’s lying in hallway 3, room . I took her into medical custody.” He paused for a moment then spoke. “Just don’t stress her out too much.” He said sternly. “First and for most she needs rest now.”

Rufus shrugged. “No problem.” He said coolly. “Thanks, doctor.” Rufus then quickly left the reception desk and pushed open the double doors that headed into the hallway. As he walked through the white corridors, he thought about all the things the two of them would do together. A day dreamy grin crept out from the corners of his mouth; he let out a small giggle. “I bet she can’t wait to see me.” He chuckled slyly. He smiled blissfully as he reached the end of the hall and put his hand on the doorknob of the room. He started to turn the handle, but a passageway caught the corner of his eye.

“Huh? What’s this?” he gazed in puzzlement at the open threshold next to him. Keeping one hand on the knob, he scratched his head and said quietly, “Was that there before?”

Rufus released his grip from the handle and crept up to the doorway. Peeking his head over the frame of the passage he stared down into the hallway, at the end of it was a lone open door with a single window set on the wall beside it. Rufus looked back at Goal’s room, “I’ll check that place out later. First, I should give a visit to Goal. After all,” He said grabbing the handle again, “It’s rude to keep a lady waiting.”

The Deponian twisted the knob and cracked the door open, “Oh, Goooal~!” he said softly, “It’s me! Your saviour!” The boy pushed open the door to find not Goal, but a large marble room with a massive glowing door labeled, ‘Harmony Vault’.

“Goal?” he spoke softly, glancing about the room in confusion. “Hmm, that’s odd. I could’ve sworn Gizmo told me she was in Room E43.” Where was she? Did she get up and walk away? Is she okay? Had he entered the wrong room? Maybe if he went back to Doctor Gizmo, he could help him find Goal.

Rufus double backed out of the room and head back to the lobby. As he neared the end of the corridor, he noticed something was off about the two doors he had entered the hall by, they looked as if they were painted onto the walls.

There was something written on the window of the left door, but it was too far away to make it out. Walking closer to the doors he read the message scribbled on the door.

+Really?!! What the hell man! How are you making something so simple this difficult!?+

“What the?” Rufus tilted his head in confusing, “Did one of the mental patients gets a hold of the markers again?”

*Slam!!!*

Rufus nearly jumped out of his boots as the sound echoed through the corridor. “H-Hello? G-Goal?” he shuddered as he peeked over his shoulder. His eyes darted from door to door; everything seemed to be in order that was except for one thing.

The door in the hallway next to Goal’s room was closed.

Rufus tip-toed up to the ivory colored door, being extremely cautious as to what might be ahead. When he reached it, he found no handle. Rufus held a hand up to the door and hesitantly knocked, “Hello? Goal? Gizmo? Anyone?” He waited for a response, but nothing happened. “Great…” He grumbled turning away from the door, he looked back at the white door and found another message.

+You can’t. This is the 2340513459th by the way, you lout!+

“W-Wait! Was that there? I… that… What’s going on!?” 

Rufus turned back to gazed down the hallway, and found that the layout had changed slightly. The doors to the reception desk were gone. In fact, all of the windows and doors had disappeared, however; Goal’s room and its door were still there.

Having no other option, he reentered Goal’s ward. Looking into it, he found that the room had changed too; it was now a regular ward room with a curtain, a bed, and a small desk. He noticed a small clipboard laying on the miniature table with a note scribbled across it.

+You know what Rufus? I feel bad for yelling at you earlier. Tell you what. Why don’t you get some rest, and I’ll bring you back when I’ve found a better solution. Ok?+

Rufus felt the world swirl around him into a blur of smeared colors. The sight, oddly, wasn’t sickening, if anything it was beautiful and serene, almost hypnotic. The rough adventurer began to feel his eyelids grow heavy. His legs buckled plopping himself face first right onto the infirmary’s bed. And then, almost in an instant, the world went black…

‘I hate to break this to you pal, but to you have to let go…’ a foreign yet somehow familiar voice echoed in the darkness.

A booming crack then snapped around him as the void lit up with a flash like a firework and shaped itself into large dirty orb amidst a starry field. Rufus found himself falling helplessly to the sphere below; the wind whistling past his ears and pressing up against his body, tugging at his coat is it did.

‘Let go.’

The words of the male voice echoed once more in Rufus’s head. Still, he found little choice but to watch the impending ground growing rapidly closer as the voice repeated what it said.

‘Let go… or nothing will thing change…’

There was a loud CRUNCH!!!

Then silence….



So Rufus was ach’n
And thus he was taken
To refuge in a place where he could get some care
In bandage he’ll wallow
Where questions must follow
About the two worlds and how they do fare
Cause when surrounded by ponies!
Claiming his world was just phony!
But in reality it turned out to be true to the end!!
Giving him benefit of the doubt
I mean, he just pass out
Will he befriend them? Well I guess that depends!
(Huzzah!! Guess that depends!!)



Rufus groaned as he lifted his eyelids to an agonizing display of blur and light. His ears were ringing, and every bone in his body was sore. He felt nauseous just from this illful cacophony his senses were producing. As his vision became slightly more tolerable, various blotches of distinct color came through. 

“Hey, you alright there pal?” a muffled voice asked, echoing around him as he tried to pin its source. He thought it came from that blue blob hovering in the air over there in the upper left corner.

“Urghh… What happened? Where am I?” the boy moaned as his vision came into full focus.

“Don’t you remember?” The purple pony asked him. 

“Remember…? I-I remember trees and Goal-no a ‘thing’ who looked like Goal.” Rufus stuttered, his head was pounding as he was still trying to get a grasp on reality. “GOAL!” He went to get up but the Deponian’s body screamed in protest. “Ouch!”

“Easy now, the doctor said not to stress your body, you’re still badly hurt.” The yellow one said rushing to his side and pushing him gently back down to the pillow.

“But Goal! She’s in the hospital, I have to find her!” Rufus shouted in hysteria, trying to shake off the hooves only to have another batch of pain surge through his body.

“There he goes with that ‘Goal’ pony again...” Applejack said to the rest of the gang.

“Fluttershy, get back behind me.” Twilight said firmly, gesturing her head towards the group positioned at her rear. The shy mare quickly glided over to join the safety of her friends.

The six stood there waiting for the newcomer to settle down. A few minutes past as it just kept muttering to itself about something.

Rainbow Dash bent down to Twilight. The alicorn’s ear twitched as Dash whispered into it, “It’s been three days and he’s still out of it Twilight. Are you sure this guy doesn’t have brain damage or something?”

Twilight gave a small scowl at her friend, and looked back at the bed to find the beast now fully awake and staring her and her friends down. She had to admit the last time she talked to this thing, she was caught up in the heat of the moment, especially when she and the others brought it here after those jarring injuries suddenly appearing all over its body. In hindsight, however; that was probably not the smart nor responsible thing to do at the time. But now, it didn’t matter. The fact was, this thing was here, and it was her duty, as a princess of Equestria, to find out if its intentions were hostile. But first, she need to determine if it was currently capable of harming the ponies of the land.

A moment uncertainty and fear befell Twilight’s mind, but she summoned up her strength and prepared herself for a second chance at first contact.

“Um, E-Excuse me…ah... Rufus, was it?” She said advancing a few inches forward from her previous spot. She was trying to control the quivering of her voice so that ‘Rufus’, as it called itself, wouldn’t think she was afraid of it.

The boy tilted his head and lifted a brow with suspicion as he glared at the young princess before him. “How do you know my name?” Rufus asked slowly and untrusting.

“You told us remember,” Dash replied before Twilight could answer.

“Really?” He responded with a raising of his eyebrow, and a sarcastic sneer.

“Yes, I believe you introduced yourself as the ‘super cool and unbelievably awesome, Rufus’ if I might recall correctly.” Rarity said placing a hoof to her chin and gazing up into space.

“Hmm, that does sound like me.” He mumbled to himself in thought, looking down at to tile briefly. “Okay, so let’s say I did tell you my name. That still doesn’t explain where I am, who you are, or why you’re ponies that can talk.” He said sternly, gazing back at them.

Twilight groaned in her head. Her face formed a scowl as she looked back at the others. She was sure she had made this clear to them. She was supposed to greet ‘Rufus’ first, and then, if she deemed it was safe, they could talk to it.

‘I mean, with all curiosity aside, they should know full well how dangerous this could be if this thing has any magic!’ She thought to herself as she angrily gazed at the five.

After her sneer serving as a silent reminder to the five friends about the plan, the alicorn shook her head and quickly recomposed herself to carry out that task at hoof. 

“I was about to get to that.” Twilight replied, taking another trot closer to the thing in the bed, but still keeping a safe distance away so that she could have time to react if it were to attack. “You see, you’re in Ponyville hospital.”

“Ponyville?” Rufus’s eyelids fell halfway, giving a bored yet sly expression as gazed at them. “Yeah, real creative there. Who named you’re town. A two year old girl?” He said chuckling under breath.

Twilight and the rest decided to ignore the creature’s comment figuring that lashing back at it was not the smart thing to do. “I’m not surprised that you don’t remember. You were in pretty bad shape when we took you to the hospital after you passed out in the Everfree Forest.” she continued as she took an additional yet hesitant short step toward Rufus. She kept a friendly smile on as neared the bed. “You’ve been out for twelve days and barely been conscious these last three, you see, when you arrived you were in critical condition.” Rufus looked down lost in thought.

‘Here we go…’ While he wasn’t looking, Twilight quickly lit her horn up and started to search for any potential magic. 

Rufus was still confused as to what was going on, the last thing he could remember was that he was looking for Goal in the…. Where was he again? A hospice? Or was it a hot tub? He… he couldn’t remember. Reality then rushed back to him, and Rufus realized that he must’ve been dreaming about finding her. Memories soon following, flooding his head with images of past events. The fall off the high boat, the forest of real living trees, the monster, the castle, the Goal-like pony whom these creatures referred to as Hopeful Spirits. He slowly being to remember it all.

“That’s right. This isn’t Deponia. It’s…” He stop to think of what they called this place. Ponacrodia? No that wasn’t it. Equalterria? Nah. Then the word finally came to him, “This is Equestria!”

“That’s right, Equestria, or, if you’re going by world, Equuis.” The winged unicorn replied with an indifferent nod of her head, finishing the spell and cutting off her magic just seconds before he looked up.

‘Success!’ She shouted joyfully in her head. After determining that he was incapable of using magic of any kind, she preceded on with the plan. “I know that I already told you this, but my name’s Twilight Sparkle,” The mare said, putting a hoof to her chest and directing another soft smile to him. She then turned and held a hoof out to the rest of the group, “and they are-”

“Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and…” Rufus turned to the butter colored pony and tried to recall her name, and much like the name of the place, it came to him. “Fluttershy.” He finished.

“So, you remember our names…” Twilight replied. Rufus gave a faint nod as the pain from his injuries was still gnawing at him every time he moved.

“Sooo,” Rufus said scanning the room. “Where’s Goa-I mean Hope?”

“Hope? She had to go back to Canterlot. She said she wanted to stay with you till you woke up but, her assistant told her they had to go.” Twilight answered, looking back at the group and nodding with a wink.

Rufus let out sigh and took a moment to think calmly to himself. However; that moment was quickly ruined when a mass of pink sprouted up from behind the bed, and hunch over to greet his face. “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie! But you already knew that! I’ve been up for the past fifteen days trying to figure out what kind of welcoming party I should throw you! But I couldn’t think anything! I was freaking out saying to myself, ‘Pinkie, this new pony is depending on you to welcome him to your world! So, you better get this right!’ By the way are you a ‘him’? Because that would be really silly if the invitations I handout said ‘come welcome ‘him’’ when actually you’re a ‘her’. Where was I? Oh, yeah! The party! So I was planning your welcome party, but I didn’t know how to do it! I mean, you came from another world!! Right? What if I did something that would be considered a big no-no, back home! So then I got the greatest super-duper-rific idea ever! What if I asked YOU about what kind of parties are back in Deponia! I mean, I already wanted to hear about those parties your world throws, and I need help figuring out what I should do to make your party the besteady bestest party that the best party can be!”

Rufus felt his brain explode half-way through her block of words. “So, then about those parties…” the overly hyper mare replied, vastly slower than her previous speech.

Mustering all the scrapes of reason man had left he spat out, “P-Par…ties?” He was on the verge of having a heart attack as he pressed his head back against the pillow to give him a few inches of breathing room.

“Yeah, your parties! What are they like?” She asked, bending in further with a beaming smile that surpassed even that of Porta Fisco’s therapeutic rope salesman.

“Uh… good… I guess?” he said trying to avoid eye contact with the pink beast.

Pinkie’s face scrunched up and she gave a look of confusion and disappointment. “Good?” she repeated, “Just, good?” Rufus gave an uh-huh as confirmation. “Well that’s odd. I thought ponies as super-duper special as you, would throw parties that are even more super-duper special.” She said leaping from the back of the bed to a spot on the floor next to Twilight. “Oh well,” She shrugged, “I guess ya can’t blame a pony for being different.”

Rufus kept staring blankly at the area Pinkie’s face was just a few minutes ago. 'H-How did she do that?' He asked himself. A word from Twilight snapped him out of his puzzled trance, “So, Rufus… Why don’t you tell us about your world?” She said pulling out her notebook and quill with what Rufus assumed was magic.

“Or how you saved it!” The tomboyish pegasus shouted.

“I’d like to hear about the wildlife and the plants, if you don’t mind.” A soft voice said to as it returned to the right side of the bed.

“Don’t forget about the food!” The cowpony added with a smile.

“I’m for one particularly distraught about the fashion that you have over there. Please don’t tell me that ‘this’ is what is considerable acceptable to ware in public.” The white unicorn said holding out a patched-up version of the Cletus clothes in her magic.

“Girls, girls… Please. You’re smothering me.” Rufus said. The group shot each other odd looks. “I’ll tell you.” The six gathered around him, oddly the purple one being the one to be waaaaay to close to his comfort zone and not the pink. 

“It’s… Garbage!” He announced them. The six mares stepped back and gave each other bewildered looks again.

“Garbage?” Twilight repeated back with furrowed brow.

“Uh-huh.” The boy nodded.

“Seriously dear,” Rarity frowned, her violet mane shifted as she tilted her head, “even if the fashion is atrocious there, the world can’t possibly be that bad.” Her eyes fell back onto the folded clothing and she bit her lower lip. “C-Can it?” The mare asked him in a shaken voice.

“It can and it is.” He said bluntly.

Fluttershy flew gracefully over the bed to join the others once more. “Oh my! Why is it so bad there?” she said, hovering inches off the tile and pressing her forelegs against her chest.

“Is it that the tensions of international relations grew way too stressed, thus causing a global war involving highly dangerous weapons of mass destruction to be used against each side, thereby basically destroying all the established governments and turning the world into a barren wasteland full of anarchy in which one must fend for themselves?!”

Rufus and the five others stared silently at Pinkie Pie for a moment. The room’s attention was then directed back to Rufus with the six of them awaiting his answer.

“N…No… that’s not even close…” Rufus finally spoke up. The six ponies let out a sigh of relief in unison. “Deponia’s literally made of garbage.” 

“WHAT!!??” The whole room gasped. Twilight nearly dropped her quill and notebook when their guest said that. “T-That’s… That’s… IMPOSSIBLE!!!” She exclaimed as her upper body recoiled in disbelief. “If your world really was made entirely out of trash, then the emissions from the waste would make the air to toxic to breath! Not to mention the effect it would have on the atmosphere and the growth of deadly bacterial and viral diseases!!” She announced aloud, though mostly to herself. “No! ...NO! A world like that is simply uninhabitable!!” Twilight retorted, stamping her hoof down for emphasis.

“You poor thing, how could you ever live in such a place like that?” Fluttershy cooed sympathetically as she softly hugged the man, causing him to slightly flinch in pain.

Twilight pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. “I already told you! He can’t-!”

“He lived in Gar…bage…?” Rarity cut in immediately, eye and ear twitching.

“What?” Twilight asked cocking her head to the side.

“H-He lived in Garbage!” She repeated in shock. Twilight shook her head. “Rarity,” the alicorn said, “he’s lying. There’s no way that’s possible-.”

“Hey! It is too! And we don’t just live in garbage, we make everything from it too.” Rufus exclaimed.

“HE WORE GARBAGE!!!!???” Rarity face was a mix of horror and disbelief. “T-This outfit!! I t-touched it!” Rarity leaped back with a shriek as a thought struck her. “I-I HAD IT IN MY MOUTH!” She screamed in terror, clasping her head with a hoof on each side. The mare squealed some more, her feet scampering up and down in placed as she cried out in terror. Then the unicorn bolted out of the room screeching, “SOAP! I NEED SOAP!!!!” as she ran down the hallways of building.

The six silently kept their eyes fixed on the doorway for a moment, till Dash spoke up, “Great, look what you did!”

“Me!?” Rufus said taking aback by the mare’s accusation, “What did I do?”

“Ya got Rarity all worked up over that fancy shmancy trash suit of yours!” Applejack grumpily replied, waving a hoof toward the door.

“Not you to Applejack.” Twilight murmured, lowering her head and shaking it with a sigh.

“No I didn’t-!” Rufus was cut off by a scream. “OH DEAR CELESTIA IT’S FOLLOWING ME!!!” A voice cried out from the hall, realizing the clothing was still in its magic’s grasp.

The five ponies looked back and glared angrily at him. “Okay,” Rufus said gazing annoyingly up at the ceiling, “So maybe I said something wrong, but how was I supposed to know she was a germaphobe?” He gave a humph and glared back at them. “Besides,” Rufus said coolly, “That outfit wasn’t made from garbage.”

Rainbow Dash hovered up to him. “And you didn’t tell her this why?” she asked emphasizing the ‘WHY’ part with a twist of her hoof.

Twilight stamped, “That’s because his world was never made of garb-”

“Must’ve slipped my mind.” Rufus stated. Rainbow and Applejack all rolled their eyes. Pinkie Pie jumped up, placing herself between him the others. “So, does this mean that I should throw you a party made entirely out of trash!?” She asked, bouncing up and down eagerly.

“OH MY GOSH, IS NO PONY LISTENING TO A WORD I SAY!?” Twilight hollered in rage.

“WHAT? NO! I hate junk!” Rufus gagged in disgust, ignoring the disgruntled mare, “That’s the whole reason I decided to leave Deponia!”

“Oh! Well then I’ll throw you two parties! One for welcoming you to Equuis and another for succeeding in leaving Deponia!” The mare stopped for a moment and rubbed her chin. “What kinda cake you want?” Pinkie asked eyeing the boy and keeping her hoof on her chin.

“I don’t care, as long as it’s awesome and not garbage related. In fact, just make the whole party like that.” Rufus replied bluntly.

“Okie dokie lokie! Rainbow Dash,” She said. The cyan pegasus looked down at her, “I’m gonna need you help for cake picking. Oh, and party planning, if that’s alright with you.”

“Um… Okay?” The pony responded, raising a brow.

The pink one let out a giggle, hopped over to the door, and glanced back, “Well, gotta go! I’ve got lotsa work ahead of me if I’m gonna get your parties ready! See ya later alligators!” and with that the bubbly mare bounced out the room.

“That Pinkie. Always thinkin’ ‘bout her parties.” The cowpony said softly with a smile and a roll of the eyes. “So anyway,” Applejack said trying to get things back on track, “If your world is nothin’ but junk, then what do ya eat?”

“Food.”

“Well, ah, yeah. I knew that, but,” The orange pony replied looking away and rubbing her neck, “I meant what kinda food do ya eat? Like apples. Ya eat apples?”

“Apples?” Rufus whispered to himself in deep thought, “Oh yeah! Apples! Uh, those are those brown things with black mold spots on them, right?” he replied quizzically. 

“Seriously Twilight, is it still too late to say that he has brain damage?” Dash whispered to Twilight.

“H-How it tarnation could anypony eat that?!” Applejack uttered in nausea.

“OH COME… ON!!” Everyone finally directed their attention back towards Twilight. Trotting up to the bed, the mare faced back towards the group and stopped her hoof, “Can’t you girls see that he’s lying through his teeth!?” Just then, Rarity came running past the room, “THEY’RE IN MY MANE!! THEY’RE IN MY MANE!!! THEY’RE IN MY MAAANE!!!!!”

Nurse Redheart, who witnessed the whole thing, walked into the room. “Is everything okay in here?” She asked worriedly, “This mad mare just came running out of your room screaming for some soap, and the next thing I knew, she was bolting out of the restroom yelling about something being infested with cockroaches and fleas.”

“OooH, that explains so much!” Rufus said slowly in realization and relief.

Redheart eyed the unusual patient with concern, “Anyways…” See said glancing back at the others, “I just wanted to know if everything’s alright.”

“Everything’s fine nurse Redheart.” Twilight Sparkle assured her.

“Yeah, we were just talking about the big guy’s world.” Dash stated, pointing a hoof in Rufus’s direction.

Redheart smiled and trotted up to them. “Are you now?” She said, “I’m a bit curious myself, never seeing anything like him that is. What kind of world did you say you came from?” She finished with a tilt of her head at Rufus.

“Don’t bother Miss. Redheart.” Twilight said catching the mare’s attention, “He won’t tell us.”

The white earth pony gave a sadden look. “Why not?”

“I don’t know, we asked him and all he said was that his world was made entirely from garbage!”

The nurse pony jumped slightly. “Garbage!” she stuttered. “Bu-But that’s impossible!” The mare replied shaking her head in disbelief.

The alicorn lifted herself in the air. “Finally somepony who believes me!” She shouted in a joyful relief with her hooves held high.

Redheart put a hoof to her chin and thought hard about something. “Though that would explain his test results…” she utter under her breath.

The lavender mare’s wings and head dropped to the ground. “You’ve got to be kidding me…” Twilight let out an ugh and trotted over to a corner of the room.

“Can we see them?” asked Fluttershy staring at the mumbling twicorn in laying in the corner.

“I’m afraid not. Unless your friend here is willing to sign some documents regarding patient confidentiality.” She stated firmly but not harshly.

“Oh, well forget that! I can barely move as it is!” The Deponian scoffed.

“Yeah, but fillin’ out some paper wouldn’t harm ya.” Applejack said casually.

“But, how do I know she’s not some con-artist trying to steal my identity?” He sneered accusingly at the nurse. Redheart stared awkwardly off into space, as the three, excluding twilight, gazed at her perplexedly.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Twilight shouted, grabbing the attention of the room yet again. The mare got up from her spot in the corner and walked up to the nurse, “Nurse Redheart, as princess, I request this pony’s medical documents.” She said stretching her wings out like Celestia would.

Redheart gave a bow, “Yes, of course your highness. I’ll get Doctor Stable to bring you them at once.” She said. The nurse pony then got up and stepped out of the room to fetch the doctor.

“Ehehehe, Let’s see how your little lies hold up against medical proof.” She said sinisterly, rubbing her front hooves together.

“Hey, didn’t know you were a princess!” Rufus exclaimed excitedly. “So? Where’s your castle?” He asked eagerly.

“I live in a tree.” She said bluntly.

“…….Wow, you are the worst princess I’ve ever met.” He replied.

“Hey!” Her three friends shouted.

“No, no.” Twilight said nonchalantly, “He’s right. That is pretty pathetic.”

Just then Doctor Stable and nurse Redheart came in. “You wanted to see these Princess Sparkle?” the goldenrod unicorn said as he offered the folder to her. Twilight gratefully took the medical file out of his hold.

“Yes, thank you Doctor.” Twilight said with a nod as she cracked open the folder. “Now let’s see,” she smirked, flipping through the papers. “Blood poisoning?” The mare said oddly, scrunching her nose up.

“Eh, yes.” Stable replied pushing his glasses up, “When he arrived he had a very severe case of it, possibly the worst I’ve ever seen.”

“So did you treat it?” Fluttershy asked hovering up the stallion with concern.

Stable nodded, “Yes, we’ve treated all his ailments, and I’m proud to say he now has a clean bill of health.” He let out a chuckle, “Though I have to tell you, this hospital never had a patient with so many medical problems before. It was amazing that he could even be alive!”

“Well, that just goes to show how amazing I am!” Rufus smirked proudly.

“Ya can say that again.” Applejack nodded with a smile. Rainbow Dash then flew down next to Rufus, leaned in, and held a hoof up to his ear.

“So, you’ve got to tell me, how did you save Deponia?” She whispered with an excited smile. Rufus grinned, “Patience… a good story must be told at the right time my feathered friend.” he whispered back into Dash’s ear.

“Speaking of Bill…” Applejack said, “How much is this here checkup gonna cost?”

“Well uh...” Stable shifted his eyes around the room nervously as he pulled the medical bill out.

Twilight took the bill. “Applejack, I’m sure whatever it is I can pay for it, and if not, the princess would gladlyHOOLLLY COOOW!!!!” She screamed in hysteria upon looking at the bill. The three others crowded around her letting out a gasp as their eye fell on to the total.

“Wow… that’s a LOT of zeros” Dash deadpan.

“That there’s worth more than Carrot Top’s an’ mah family’s farm combined!” The orange pony stuttered.

“T-There’s no way Princess Celestia will pay for this!!” Twilight’s eye twitched, “At least not without meeting him first!” all of the guests looked back at the room’s patient.

“What?” he ask blankly. The lavender mare rushed up to him.

“Rufus, you have no insurance, no assets, and no money. You can’t be discharged, unless your bill is paid.” She said levitating the receipt in front of him.

“So? Pay it then.” The boy replied.

Twilight bit her lip. With a look of distress and uncertainty written across her face, she replied, “Well that the thing, the only pony who can, is the Princess.”

“You’re the Princess right? So, I fail to see the problem here.” Rufus responded vexingly.

The alicorn shook her head, placing he forehooves onto a vacant spot of the bed as she calmly spoke, “No, I’m a princess in training, I was just promoted not too long ago. I’ve barely have a year under my saddle.” Rufus raised a brow and stared at her with both boredom and uncaring indifference. “I can request for your medical records, but other than that, the most I can do is write a formal letter protesting the hospital’s refusal to discharge.”

“So… I’m stuck here. That’s what’s you’re saying.”

“’fraid so sugarcube.” Applejack frowned. The deponian let out an irritated sigh as he slunk down into his bed.

“That is unless, you meet the Princess.” Twilight added. Rufus glanced over at the twicorn with a tentative gaze.

“You mean the princess that’s not you, but some other princess whose higher up, right?” all of the ponies nodded.

“That’s right, the highest authority in the land, Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria.” Twilight Sparkle replied pertinently and respectfully. 

“Really?” Rufus gasped.

“Um, co-ruler actually, her sister and her rule the land together.” The mare added with a weak grin tugging at the corners of her lips.

“Wow, Princess Celestia the ruler of Equestria, huh? Sounds kinda catchy.” He stated. Rufus then felt the wait of the words sink in. He had never met a ruler before.

“Yes, I suppose it is.” Twilight said glancing down at the bed sheets her hooves rested on. “But more importantly, you’re going to have to be on your best behavior for her if you’re even going to have horseshoe’s hope of paying this bill off. She may be nice to all of us ponies, but I don’t know how she’ll be around you.” The mare redirected her eyes to the Deponian. “So, pleeease.” She said leaning in, “Will you be good for her?”

“Don’t worry about it Sparky.” Rufus smiled, “I’ll be a perfect gentleman for your queen.”

“Princess.” Twilight corrected.

"Whatever."

Twilight sighed as she plopped backwards and returned her hooves to the floor. Turning to the others she said, “I think we’re done here for today. Doctor if you’ll be so kind as to duplicate the records of Mr. Rufus for me. Then I and my friends will be on our way.”

“Certainly Princess.” He and started out the door when Twilight stopped him.

“Oh, and Doctor.” The unicorn glanced back at her with a puzzled look.

“Yes Princess?” he asked.

“I prefer Miss. Sparkle if you don’t mind.”

Stable gave a chuckle. “Of course, my apologies Miss. Sparkle.” He replied with a weak smile as he left the room.

“Come on girls, we’d better let Rufus rest, we all have a big day coming up.” Twilight said.

“Oh come on Twilight!” Dash begged. “I still haven’t heard how he saved his world yet!’

“Or what kind of wildlife and plant life he has there.” The timed pony replied. She turned her head toward the man and asked, “You do have those right?”

“Yep! Sure do!” Rufus answered happily. The yellow pegasus smiled softly back at him. He loved the attention. The fact that some of them wished to stay to here and hear about him, his awe-inspiring feats, and the wonders he saw filled his pride beyond compare. It had made him almost forget about Goal. How was she doing anyway? Oh well, guess it doesn’t matter. Cletus was perfectly capable of keeping her happy; he was practically the closest thing Rufus had to a brother after all, albeit being a pessimistic snob. The purple pony’s voice broke the boy’s train of thought. “Come on girls, let’s go.” The Dash gave groan as the four departed the room with the nurse. Redheart closed the door. 

Then the room went silent…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Twilight exited the building with the medical documents and her friends, they friends noticed the sun was setting. It was obviously far past visiting hours. The mare wondered why they let her and her friends stay for so long though she already knew the reason. She let out a sigh as the four of them took off toward Ponyville.

“It’s sad isn’t it?” Fluttershy utter softly as they walked down dirt path.

Applejack looked back at the timed pony as they continued down the road. “What’s that sugarcube?”

“I was just saying how sad it is that he came from a world of garbage.” She said following her friends closely behind. Twilight stopped in her tracks and pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. 

“Fluttershy!” She said harshly, the tone of her voice made the mare shrink back into her mane, “How many times do I have to say this, a world made entirely out of garbage is impossible!!” Twilight stamped.

“Is that really so far-fetch there sugarcube?” Applejack questioned her friend.

“Yes!! Yes it is!!” Twilight scoffed.

“Then what about his smell?” Dash defended.

“Or how dirty he was?” Fluttershy added.

Twilight shook her head in defiance. “So? He was running about in the forest! You get dirty doing that. As for the smell, that just means he doesn’t have good hygiene. That’s what happens when you don’t shower; you end up smelling like waste buckets.”

“Hey, that’s not very nice!” a pink pony shouted, popping out from a nearby bush with a basket of berries hanging from her head.

“Ah, Pinkie. I think she’s comperin’ him ta the garbage pony.” Applejack said to the pink mare.

“Oh! In that case! Never mind!” The mare replied hopping out of the bush and down the path ahead of them; the basket bouncing and swaying from the hook of her mane as she faded out of view.

“Anyways,” Dash said rolling her eyes at the wild Pinkie encounter, “If he wasn’t from a junk world Twilight, then how do you explain that bug infested suit Rarity was flipping out about?”

“Simple, he doesn’t wash his clothes.” Twilight said plainly.

“What ‘bout his health? Ya don’t just get all that sickness from not washin’ your coat, ya know? Ya gotta be livin’ in a gutter for that ta happen Twi.” The orange pony stated.

Twilight’s eyes widened. Her friend was right. Sparkle quickly pulled out the documents from her saddlebags and started to rummaged through them: Tetanus, Herpes, ulcers and toxins of various kinds, liver poisoning, blood poisoning, not to mention the bone, skin, and several other cancers both known and unknown that were successfully purged from his body. Twilight bit her lip as she read through the first couple of pages briefly, realizing that these were just the tip of the iceberg.

“O-Okay,” She said looking up from the file, “I will admit that some of the stuff here is a tad excessive for a pony of bad habits.” She glanced back down at the records. Her eyes fell upon the list of contents found in his stomach fluid when it had been pumped: sludge, shrapnel, rust, an undigested piece of what was believed to be a plastic bag, and so on. “Oh, who am I kidding?” Twilight sighed in defeat, “His health record is way too terrible!! Even for a pony with no hygiene!” She put away the documents and looked up at the three ponies, “Still that doesn’t explain how he could survive a place like that.” She added.

The farm pony shook her head. “I don’t know Twi, He was tough enough ta survive his surgery.” Applejack replied in a ponderous manner.

“Yeah Twilight, the doctors didn’t have the right blood. Remember?” Dash stated as she swooped up to the alicorn.

“That’s right! They had ta make some.” The orange added.

“Remember when he was first checked in? Doctor Stable said that he wasn’t going to make it. But we just came back from talking to him.” The butter pony softly pointed out.

"If he could survive through that, then couldn't he be tough enough to live in garbage?" Dash finished.

“But that has nothing to do with surviving a land of garbage.” The princess replied, "A simple toxin could easy kill any creature regardless how strong they may seem."

Silence befell the group. A couple seconds passed before somepony spoke up. “It’s getting late…” Applejack said gazing at the glowing orb nearly touching the horizon.

“Oh, my gosh! Your right!” Dash said looking at Ponyville clock tower, “I better get going! I’ve got early weather duty tomorrow, and ten seconds or not, Mayor Mare’s gonna chew my hoof off if I’m late to the job again. Sorry, got to go! See Ya!” Rainbow Dash zipped off towards her house eager to get to bed.

“Well, Twi,” Applejack said softly, “I don’t know if he’s tellin’ the truth or not. But the one thing I do know is that that kinda health ain’t natural, and bein' able ta live with that an' all is even less natural. Ya should think ‘bout that before accusin’ him of lyin’ ta ya.” The cowpony waved a hoof over at Fluttershy, “Come on Fluttershy; I’ll walk ya home.”

“Oh, thank you Applejack.” The yellow mare looked back at Twilight, “Good night Twilight.” She said as she fluttered off with her orange friend, leaving Twilight all alone.

The young princess stood there for a minute with nothing but her thoughts to talk to. She was sure that he had been lying to them, even with the recent ailments that were discovered in his body. Then again… she had been wrong before; a particular incident involving a twitching pink tale was one that she had not forgotten either because of how ludicrous it all was or how painful it had been to experience.

Twilight stared down at her notebook. She found it was full even though she never recalled writing a word. It appeared that she had subconsciously written everything down about Deponia. The words of Doctor Stable echoed in her head after she thought about what Applejack just said.

'It was amazing that he could even be alive...'

The alicorn pulled out the file again and skimmed it over. At first glance, nothing of worth was suitable for challenging her view. However, her attention was then caught by a particular set of details found in the footnotes of the documents.

According to what they said, Rufus seemed to exhibit a potentially extreme immunity to bacterial, viral, and fungal based pathogens. To add to that he was also highly resistant to toxins. Twilight stared at the notes of Rufus’s file for a while, thinking to herself.

“A world of garbage, huh?” She whispered quietly to herself. Looking up from the folder and out at the sunset she uttered, “Perhaps that’s not so far-fetch after all.”
> Don't Look the Gift Horse in the Mouth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


~Three Days Later~


If there was anything Rufus hated more than Deponia, it was sitting in a bed with nothing to do. He recalled two days ago him asking if he could watch TV, to which he soon found himself forced into lecturing the ponies about the different entertainment his world had to offer. Even yesterday was quite a dozy as everything he said some way or another became about Deponia or how he saved it, and as much as he couldn’t believe it, it was really starting to bug him.

Aside from the constant shower of questions; there was another matter on his mind; this one regarding the purple one that they called ‘Twilight’. See, at first this pony was all against the possibility of a world such as Deponia. Then the next day, she came back quite interested in the idea of a garbage filled planet. As to why, he still didn’t know; much less care too. But there was a definite change in her behavior these past few days, as her stubborn hostility was gradually being replaced with open-minded curiosity.

With the addition of that mare’s odd change in behavior, the pink one known as Pinkie Pie, threw him a ‘Thank you for saving Hope from that manticore’ party, though to him it seemed this was just an excuse for Pinkie to get more information on what he consider to be a great party as each game was followed by a rating system. But hey, if he’s getting presents for it, he’s not complaining.

It should also be noted that his question about Equestria were not going unanswered. One question in particular was about what he was going to wear after being released from the hospital…

Turns out they don’t wear clothes….

“What!? Are you serious!?” Rufus replied to the group hunched over and looking at them as if they were all brain-dead.

“Yep!” the Pinkie chirped with an energetic bounce.

“Does that mean I’m gonna have to walk around butt naked!?” he asked in wide-eyed shock.

“You have a problem with that dear?” Rarity responded from within her biohazard suit. Rufus’s eyes widened even further as he straightened up his posture and stared blankly at the wall for a brief minute. “Nnnneeehyes! Yes ….definitely yes!” He responded back with a furious nod. As much as he would love to show this world his beautiful body, something about streaking up and down the town streets just seemed a little unsettling to him.

“Well if that’s how you feel, I can make you some clothes.” Rarity said with a twist of her hoof.

“This is not gonna be related to your last gift, is it?” He said waving his head at the human size quarantine bubble in the corner.

“Oh, come now, you’re not still upset about that, are you?” Rarity replied, rolling her eyes and batting her hoof. “Because if you are, I just want to say. It was all Twilight’s idea.” The mare said, smiling slyly as she pointed a hoof at the now wide-eyed princess.

“WHAT!?” Twilight shrieked in shock as her and Rufus gasped at the mare. The Deponian gazed at the alicorn and lifted a brow suspiciously. “Is this true?” he said morbidly. All of the residents fixed their eyes on the purple pony.

Twilight’s face turned red, and she rubbed her neck. “W-Well I… Ah, I… May have suggested it to her…” She admitted both fearful and embarrassed.

The tone of the room immediately change as the boy grinned happily at the mare, “Thanks, Twilight! I’ve always wanted one of these!”

All of the group, except Rufus and Pinkie, shot surprised looks at each other. “Y-You did?” All of them, save Pinkie, said in shock.

Rufus nodded back at them in glee. “Of course, now I can make that human sized marble contraption I always wanted to do!”

“Why would ya wanna do that?” Applejack said oddly.

“Why wouldn’t you want to do that?!” Pinkie and Rufus shouted at AJ.

“So you like it?” Rarity said dumbfoundedly.

“Hell yes!” Rufus nodded in one quick jerk of his head. He turned to Twilight with a big grin and said, “Thanks Twi, I can’t wait to try it out!”

“Oh well, um…? Your welcome, I guess…” Twilight mumbled back with a confused yet sheepish smile.

In a slight desperation for approval Rarity stepped forward and pressed a hoof against the chest of her suit blurting out, “W-Well it was I who bought it!” 

Rufus stared at her blankly, then gave a board expression, “Yeah, but it’s the thought that counts.” 

“He’s got you there Rarity.” Dash said smugly, pointing her hoof at the baffled pony. The mare’s face turned red, and her eye twitch as Dash and the other ponies chuckled around her. 

“B-But… it…I-I…” The bearer of generosity stuttered as she tilted her head down and rubbed her temples in an attempt to figure out what just happened. The words and tone of Rufus’s comment echoed in her mind; they dug into her heart like icy claws as she stood there completely confused and hurt by what he said. The pain of which was then soon replaced with spiteful rage, “Oh, never mind!” She groaned irritably, shaking her head as she trotted out the door in frustration.

“Wait!” Rufus called from his bed as she stepped into the hall, “What about the clothes?”

The mare stopped; glanced coldly over her shoulder, “They’re be ready in four days, just come by then and pick them up.”

She took one last look at the group before, snapping her head back with a ‘humph’ and sticking her nose in the air as she disappeared from view. The six stood there, in awkward silence, gazing back at the formerly occupied section of the hall.

“She does realize that I’m stuck in this bed, right?” Rufus said as they continued their stunned stare.

“I think she’s aware of that.” Twilight said worriedly, not breaking her gaze with the door.

Rufus turned his head towards the rest of the group and said, “Hey!” 

Without moving their heads, the ponies' eyes fixed themselves on the man in the bed. “You want to make a bet?” He cockily replied, furrowing his brow and grinning slyly at them as he spoke.

The five looked at each other, then turned around and gazed back at him. “Ah bet?” The cowpony said titling her head in interest as she mimicked the expression on Rufus’s face, “What kind of bet?”

“Oh, just little wager about my new clothes.” He grabbed Twilight’s notepad from out of her grasp then, using a set of colored pencils he had left on a nearby table drawer, started drawing on it. “I’ll bet you that the outfit Rarity makes for me is the same one I wore on Deponia.” He said holding up and tapping his index finger on his crudely made, yet colorful, sketch of his old duds. The group studied the design thoughtfully. It was a sloppy mess of waggled pencil lines, but decipherable to say the least. “If I win, I get twenty zlot- er, I mean bits from each of you.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and eyed the man quizzically. “And what if we win?” she asked in slowly.

“If you win, I’ll answer all your question for now on, more beating around the bush, and…” Rufus paused for a moment and smirked, “I’ll give you a day where I’ll do whatever you want me to; that’s an individual day for each individual bettor just to let you know.”

“You’re on!” Dash replied pointing a hoof at him.

“Sweet!” he said.

“Count me in too!” AJ answered confidently. She gaze up and put a hoof to her chin as she said, “Why, with his height and those claw- er ah, fingers of his, I reckon he could be mighty helpful around the farm.” Putting the hoof back down on the ground, she smiled tauntingly at the man, “Let’s just hope ya got the strength in ya when the time comes.”

“I assure you I’m quite strong AJ” Rufus said before looking at Twilight. “What about you Twilight?” he asked.

Twilight let a laugh, “Hah! The statistical probability of that exact outfit being made is practically impossible. You can definitely include me!”

“Much like the probability of my world huh?” Rufus smirked. Twilight cringed at his words as she felt a sudden drop of confidence.  Rufus then looked at Fluttershy, “How about you Flutters? Are you game?”

The quiet mare looked shyly at the ground and mumbled. “Was that? I didn’t quite hear that. You’ll have to speak louder.” Rufus said holding a hand to his ear.

The mare continued gazing down twiddling her hoof in minuscule circles as she talked, “Uh, well ah…” She looked up and gazed at the group, the sight of her friends staring at her made her nervous. All of them were nodding for her to take the deal, which was except for Pinkie Pie, who was shaking her head no. “I …uh,” 

“Uh-huh?” Rufus said vexingly while trying to egg her on.

“I-I…Uh,” Fluttershy squeezed her eyes closed tightly and lower her head as if something bad was about to happen, then gave a soft yet high pitched, “Yes!”

She paused for a moment then cautiously cracked open an eyelid as the room erupted in cheer.

“Wow!” Rufus said with enthusiasm, “I’ve never seen a group so worked up over a bet!” The Deponian directed his attention at the pink mare in the corner. “Pinkie, would like to join?”

The pink earth pony shot him an incredulous look like she wasn’t born yesterday. “What!? Are you nuts?” She retorted, scrunching her muzzle up in as she spoke, “I’m not gonna lose twenty bits to that! Count me out!”

“What’s that matter Pinkie Pie? Are ya chicken?” Dash taunted.

Pinkie glanced up at the mare. “How can I be a chicken without my costume?” she asked puzzlingly.

The four other ponies shook their heads and looked back at Rufus. Rufus shrugged his shoulder and picked notepad aging. He tore the page with the picture out of it and put it to the side. “Alright, ground rules. Twilight write this down.” Rufus said handing the pad back to Twilight. “First off, since the drawing of my outfit is only a rough sketch the clothes that Rarity makes for me doesn’t need to be exactly as shown here, but the color and design need to be relatively similar to it. Got that?”

The group nodded in confirmation as Twilight scribbled down the rule. “Hold it!” Rainbow Dash said. The mare eyed the boy with a distrust, “How do we know you're not gonna try to convince Rarity to make the outfit like the one in the picture?”

“And how am I going to do that? Last I checked; I’m stuck in this hospital, and every time she’s here she’s with you guys.” Rufus replied to her. Dash and the others weren’t buying it as they kept glaring at him suspiciously. “Alright, alright.” The Deponian groaned as he gave in, “I’m not allowed to try to influence Rarity’s design, however…” Rufus paused with a glare of his own, “That means that you can’t show her the picture nor describe it or any other kind of design to her. In other words, you can’t interfere with her work either.”

The ponies looked at each other; then the four huddled up. What followed next was a series of hushed murmurs then them turning back to face the Deponian ready to deliver their answer.

“Fine.” Twilight said, speaking on behalf of the group, “But if Rarity asks us for our help we give it to her, even if it’s an opinion about the design. And just to make sure things are fair, Pinkie Pie can be the judge for the outfit and can disqualify any cheaters if need be.”

Rufus thought a bit, “Okay, but if that’s the case then I should be able to tell my opinion for what the clothes should look like when asked.”

“Alright, but only when your asked, and only in an oral description, Deal?” Twilight responded holding a hoof out.

“I have no idea what that means, but deal!” Rufus said, catching the mare off guard as he greedily grabbed the offered appendage and shook it. The group eyed the odd shaking gesture Twilight was currently partaking with the man.

Rufus let go of the hoof and Twilight stood there frozen with her leg still extended. She felt herself trying to suppress the excitement of participating some alien custom as she spoke up. “I-It means only talking to her, no writing or drawing.” The mare happily stuttered as she gently place her hoof back on the ground.

“Oh! Well that’s going to be easy to do.” Rufus replied.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



~A Few Minutes Earlier~
{Hospital: Outside}


Rarity paced around the front lot trying to collect her thoughts and processed where she went wrong. She was trying, and she meant really trying when it came to likening him and to be his friend, but he didn’t even seemed to like her gifts he wouldn’t even pretend to appreciate them. What did she do wrong? Was it the scene she made with the clothing? Did that man just love hurting her feelings? It wouldn’t be too farfetched as he’d go all the way as to point out what he disliked about the present and he even make jokes about what she gave him too! And now the on gift he did like…

The unicorn took an aggressive stance hanging her head low as she growled furiously, “That ungrateful sadistic jackas-” Rarity stopped in mid-sentence and quickly recomposed herself giving a cough as she reasserted herself into a more dignified manner. “Really Rarity, control yourself, this isn’t the first time you had an issue with giving.” She said calmly, “You shouldn’t let some nonsense like critiquing your gifts bother you. And besides, you know that the bubble idea was yours in the first place.”

The mare paused for a moment. She heard faint whispering in the back of her head but couldn’t make it out. The murmuring caused her feel odd, like something was off but she couldn’t quite figure it out. She decided to rethink what she said, monologuing her thought process along the way, “It was Twilight who suggested it to me when it was on my mind at the time. And she suggest it when I was expressing my concerns to her about the many dreadful diseases he might be carrying. And it was her suggestion that finally caused me to go out and buy it.”

She gasped in horrid realization, “Does that mean that that gift didn’t actually come out from generosity of my heart, but out of fear for my own well-being?!” Rarity started pacing again as she continued talking to herself, “Putting yourself before others!? That’s practically the opposite of generosity!”

Rarity looked at the biohazard suit she was wearing. Once again the words and tone of Deponian’s comment echoed in her head. ‘It’s the thought that counts…’. The mare felt something in her chest sink; tears welled up around the base of her eyes. She wanted to push the thought out of her head, but something kept it in there. The phrase was now forever etched in her mind, piercing into her heart like sewing needles in a pincushion. She felt lost and confused. How many times did this happen? How many time did she give for approval? How many for her own well-being? Rarity continued to question the nature of her generosity till a voice in her head spoke…

‘It’s true that it’s the thought that counts… but what that thought is may not necessarily be a generous one… and thus if it isn’t, then the action at heart isn’t one of true generosity…’

The mare’s eyes widened in startlement at the thought the voice had put in her mind.

Rarity slumped to the ground and began to cry bitterly in silence, her makeup started to run as she did so. An array of emotions, anger, fear, saddens, now swiped her, but the two feelings that she felt the most was lost and confusion. It was a horrible and overwhelming experience. She had never felt one such like it since the weeks after Discord’s defeat. She continued to sulk there in the front lot of Ponyville Hospital. 

Rarity just laid there crying till she saw the shadow of a figure cover the ground before her. The distraught mare looked up from the cobblestone street to find Princess Celestia there looking down at her with concern. “What’s wrong my little pony?” she asked softly.

Rarity gazed up at her in saddens then down at the puddle of tears that laid before her. These past days with Rufus had been a disaster, he had made her look like a fool, criticized her gifts, and worst of all, made her question her own element.

The unicorn’s face turned to bitter anger, and she stared up at Celestia with it. 

The mare didn’t bother to beat around the bush or hesitate, she just told the princess exactly what was wrong, “It’s the newcomer, the one Twilight mention… he… he hurt me…”