MLP: It's Better Together
Chapter one: That's what friends are for
The midday sun shines down on Equestria. On a dirt road below the treetop, a brown male unicorn with a dark red mane and tail trots along, pulling his cart on the road paved by the passing of many hooves. Below the cool trees of the wood, he's protected from the hot sun, or the journey would be very uncomfortable. The harness was rubbing his fur and was starting to itch a bit, but he was almost at his destination. He trotted over the last hill, and saw the pastel buildings of Ponyville spread out below him.
Rust Rise smiled in relief. "Finally!", he exclaimed, "I can get this harness off." instead of simply pulling the cart the rest of the way down the hill, he slips out of the harness and braces the wheel of the cart with a stick before taking a seat on the cart. Using his magic, he lifts the stick. The cart begins to roll down the hill, picking up speed as it went. It rolls into the town and ponies gasp and jump out of the way. A red glow surrounds the carts wheels and it screeches to a stop outside a soft green building with a thatched straw roof. Rust steps off the cart and tosses his head importantly, but his mock seriousness is broken by the wide grin on his snout. He walked purposefully into the blue shop. It would have been a perfect entrance, if his red cape hadn't gotten stuck in the door.
THUD. "Meh?!" He squawked from the floor. He turned his head and tugged his cape free from the door. "Man...When Photo Finish said 'no capes' she really meant it." he clambered to his hooves. He peered around the empty shop, and spied a box on the counter. He raised an eyebrow at it.
"Hello? Is anypony there?" he called, poking the box with a hoof. A rattling noise came from inside and he stopped.
He heard a creaking from the door behind the counter and from the door came a golden yellow unicorn with a brown mane and a blue coat pushing a box to the front. The unicorn stared at Rust Rise with tired brown eyes and tilted his head. "Can I help you?" he said in a soft, concerned voice.
"I well um. I rented this shop. For me. The flat above it too." Rust Rise said, pulling all four hooves together and standing as tall as he could. He looked nervous.
The unicorn looked up at him, blinked, and walked into the back room. He came back with the deed to the shop and showed it to Rust Rise. "I'm your roommate." he said in a monotonous voice.
Rust Rise peered at the paper with his red eyes, and pointed at it. "Is that you?" He asked, gesturing at a scribble. "I can't read that."
"Yes. My name is Dragon Soul."
"Rust Rise! Pleased to meet you!" Rust stuck out a hoof to shake.
Soul looked at Rust's hoof with wide eyes and then looked at Rust and slowly raised his hoof to shake his. "Likewise." he said with a soft smile.
Rust rise shook the hoof vigorously and beamed. "Well, if I got a surprise roommate I'm glad they're nice! Now then, what do you sell, how long do you take up the bathroom, are you a 'talk about your day' pony, or a 'never talk about work' pony? Are you studying magic? I am. What's in the box?" Rust Rise rambled. When he asked what was in the box, he began poking it again, and with each poke it rattled.
Soul looked at the box, picked it up with his magic, and put it on the counter where he opened it. "I'm a 'doesn't talk much' kind of pony, however don't take my silence as a bad thing." he said with another soft smile. "I'm… just ever so slightly shy is all."
"And bathroom time?" Rust said urgently.
"I wouldn't worry."
As light shone on the counter, the box began to shine different colors.
"Ooooh! It's shiny!" Rust placed his hooves on the counter and looked into the box. "Gems! There are GEMS in here!" Rust gasped. "Why are there gems in a box?"
Soul pointed at different boxes in the back. "That's food, that's to sell, that's my bedding, that's also food, and that's for decoration." he said and looked at Rust.
Rust stared at him blankly. "What?"
Soul looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What? A pony can't have decoration gems?"
Rust intensified his stare. "What." After a moment, he shook his head and said "Food? Gems are food?"
"What else would I eat?" he said.
Rust tilted his head. "Hay."
"Hi."
"No, hay."
"Hello?"
"No, hay." Rust turned around and marched out of the store. He returned a second later holding a bundle of hay with his magic. "This is hay."
Soul walked around it a couple times with eyes of wonder. "Looks like dry grass." he said blankly.
"It is dry grass. It's what I eat. Also, apples, lettuce, bread, candy, CAKE, oats, carrots...vegetables and fruit."
Soul looked at Rust and took a few steps back. "Well… plants aren't my deal. I eat gems for… reasons." he said with wide eyes as he walked to the back room to grab more boxes and set them up.
"Okay then!" Rust trotted out the door and levitated his boxes out of the cart and floated them upstairs. The staircase opened up into the living room, and the kitchen could be seen at the back of the house. Opposite sides of the living room were two doors. Rust trotted over to one and opened it.
"Nope. Bathroom." He said, shutting the door. He pranced over to the other door, and it opened into a decent sized bedroom. Rust plopped his boxes on one side and began sorting through them.
Rust then heard what sounded like rocks falling on the floor and when he turned to look he saw Soul dumping a bunch of gems in a corner of the room. On a shelf, Soul put a Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, and a Pearl right next to each other with a small clay figure that looked like a dragon. Soul then walked over to the window and looked out. "What a nice little town this is." he said with a smile. "Don't you think so Rust?"
"I think it's brilliant!" Rust exclaimed, "Everypony's so together and everypony seems to know everypony else. It's nothing like my home. I come from Manehatten, and it's a much bigger city. Where are you from?"
Soul froze in place. "Um… the… Dragon Mountains." he said reluctantly. "That's where I studied change magic."
"Change magic?! I study change magic too! Well, I say study, but I had a job as a performing pianist, so my time was kinda divided. But my friend really encouraged me to continue my studies. I learned all I could in the city, so I moved here because I figured the library here would have more magic books"
"You mean that big tree with windows over there?" said Soul.
"That's the library! Princess Celestia's star pupil lives there, Twilight Sparkle. She recently became an alicorn. What branch of change magic do you study?" Rust Rise asked as he lifted a miniature bed out of a box.
Soul opened another box and started placing gems around his pile of gems. "Self change magic." he said as he rolled a ruby around on the floor.
"Ah." Rust replied, enlarging the bed and placing it in the corner. "I study Outward Change magic. Living polymorph. I once changed a changeling into a real pony."
Soul looked at him with wide eyes. "A changeling? I thought they were just a myth."
Rust stared at him in shock. "You don't get out much, do you." it wasn't a question. "A couple months ago the changeling empire attacked Canterlot, and Princess Twilight saved the city by freeing Princess Cadenza from the crystal caves. The changeling queen, Queen Chrysalis, was thrown back to her kingdom. Sting, my friend, was a refugee from the war. He was tired of pretending to be something he wasn't, and asked for my help in becoming a real pony. My spell succeeded." Rust said proudly, "He went back to the changeling kingdom to convince others to follow his path, and I moved to Ponyville."
"Interesting tale. You are able to change others with no time limit on your spells?" asked Soul.
Rust explained. "Each of my spells lasts forever unless it's broken or removed by me. Some spells I design to break on their own, but the more complicated ones require specific circumstances to break. The changeling to pony spell requires the pony to grind a phoenix feather with some silt from a canyon river, and stand in the mixture on a night with no moon. A simpler spell, say...mouse to dog, requires an hour to pass and then it breaks. Unless, of course, I set a specific cure. What about your magic?" Rust said as he set up his bedside table and clock, "What do you turn into? How long does it last?"
Soul closed his eyes and when he opened them, his pupils narrowed until they were slits. Suddenly, his snout grew slightly longer, he grew fangs, his ears became fin like, and a few large scales appeared at the corner of his jaw.
Rust Rise leapt into the air and fell over ungracefully, yelping "Dragon! That's a dragon! You're a dragon! That's a magical creature!" he was still sitting on his tail.
"Yes. My spells last for as long as I awake. However I can only change a part of myself such as my tail, skin, wings, and face. Living in the Dragon Mountains has given me a chance to study dragons at a close range. I learned to live somewhat like them. Does this surprise you friend that I can turn into a magical creature?" asked Dragon Soul with a smile and a puff of smoke that was blown out of his nose.
"Magical creatures are incredibly hard to turn into, because you also have to mimic their natural magic." Rust stammered, heaving himself off the floor. "That's why ponies are so hard to change things into. Because they all have magic inside them. Can I demonstrate my magic?" He asked eagerly. "I'll need to use it on you."
Soul changed his face back and tilted his head. "Okay? Just be careful." he said with a worried voice.
"Hmm." Rust walked circles around Soul, his red hooves clopping on the wood floor. "Hmmmmmmm…Yes, that will do." Rust Rise concentrated hard, and a faint breeze blew through the apartment. His horn began to glow a bright red, and Soul began glowing too. He felt his skin hardening and his snout growing longer, sharp, uneven fangs pushing up from his mouth. His eyes began to glow a solid green, and branches sprouted from his fur, which was rapidly receding. Wooden claws extended from his hooves, which were turning into paws. He grew almost a foot in height, towering over Rust. The glow died, and Rust Rise blew out the breath he had been holding. The transformation was complete. A timber wolf stood where a pony once did.
Soul turned around slowly and then proceeded to run in large circles.
"Calm down!" Rust barked, "Calm...down. It's temporary; you can break it any time you want. Oh, and you can talk, too." He added as an afterthought.
Soul stopped. "Change me back!" he said in an extremely worried voice.
"Okay! Just tap your right front hoof...er, paw three times and spin in a circle." Rust said quickly.
Soul did exactly that as quickly as he could and the change started to recede and within four seconds he returned back to normal. He was breathing heavily. "Please never turn me into a timber wolf again."
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Rust said, aghast. "I didn't know, I'm sorry. I should have chosen a dog or a bear but NOOOO I just have to show off and choose a magical creature." Rust sniffed. "I'll just...I'll be right back." He raced out of the room.
Soul curled up in his pile of gems and put his hooves over his snout. "Where are you going?" he asked.
Rust Rise doesn't reply.
"Rust Rise!" Soul called out.
Silence answers him.
Puzzled, Dragon Soul started to eat one of his gems. "Where did he run off to?" he asked himself. He got up and walked to the door and look outside of the room. The room is empty, except for a few boxes.
He walked down the stairs to the shop below to see if he was there. The front door was hanging open, and he could see the sky beginning to turn a brilliant orange as Princess Celestia lowered the sun and Princess Luna raised the moon.
Soul walked out the door and looked around outside. Ponies were walking around from place to place but there was no sign of Rust Rise. "Where are you friend?" he called out. There is no answer.
Soul ran from place to place asking if they had seen a tall brown unicorn with a red mane and a red cape. He searched all over Ponyville and finally, Soul found himself in front of the library. Soft sobbing noises were heard from the other side of the door, and another voice was speaking in a reassuring tone. Soul slowly walked into the door and saw a purple alicorn and a violet dragon staring at a pile of shivering books with worried expressions. Dragon Soul walked over slowly and looked at the shiver books. "Um… what happened here?" asked Soul.
The violet dragon with green spines turned to him and replied, "Some brown pony came running in here and now he's hiding under a pile of books, crying. He won't tell us what's wrong."
The purple alicorn walked over to Soul and whispered, "Are you his friend?"
Soul whispered back. "Sort of. We only just met today though."
"He's really upset. He could use your help." She replied, looking worried. "All he's told us is that his friend doesn't like him anymore. That isn't true...is it?" She asked, looking at him sadly.
Soul's eyes widened and shook his head. "Rust… I came all this way to look for you. You had no idea that I was afraid of timber wolves." Soul started moving a few books. "Come on now, you're still my friend."
A hole opened up in the books, revealing Rust Rise's face, which he immediately covered with his hooves and burrowed deeper. "You're just saying that. You think I'm weird, just like the others."
Soul lightly tapped at Rusts hooves. "Hey, if you're weird then I'm weird. I can change part of myself into a dragon. If that's not weird then I don't know what is."
"You're still my friend?" Rust whimpered.
"Without a doubt my friend." Soul said with a soft smile.
"Promise?" He said, taking his hooves off his eyes.
"With all my soul."
"YAY!" the pile of books erupted with pony, and Rust threw himself on his friend. A wayward book fell on the small dragon.
The purple alicorn smiled. "I'm glad that's cleared up. My name's Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike." she walked over to the small dragon and lifted the book off of him and he sat up rubbing his spines. "I do have a question though. You said you can change into a dragon?"
The small dragon shook his head and began to put the books back onto the shelves. "Yeah, how can that be possible? I mean, I'm a dragon, and I can't turn into a pony. If I could though...ha hah…" He said, trailing off and getting a dreamy look in his eyes.
Dragon Soul looked at the purple alicorn and demonstrated by changing his skin. His fur became scales and his ears became fins and his pupils once again became slits.
"AH!" Spike yelped, and fell off the ladder and into a pile of books. Twilight, however, observed the change carefully. "You are very gifted in change magic!" She exclaimed, "Am I right in assuming you observed dragons in their natural habitat for a long period of time before accomplishing this?"
"Yes. I studied them closely to a point where I learned how to mimic their magic. However my transformation is not a full one." said Dragon Soul.
Spike popped up out of the pile of books. "I have magic?" He said in confusion.
"Where do you think your fire comes from? Or your ability to send messages?" asked Soul.
"Huh. I guess I DO have magic!" Spike said excitedly.
"Dragons possess many different kinds of magic." he said to Spike. Soul looked at Rust. "How long have you been hugging me?"
"NOT LONG ENOUGH!" He shouted. After a moment, he let go. "Okay, that's long enough."
Soul started laughing at his comment. "Come on, let's head back and finish unpacking."
"It is getting late. Bye Twilight! Thank you for letting me hide in your books!" Rust cried, waving a hoof as he marched out the door.
The two walked back to the shop and finished setting up the place. "Looks good. But what do we name it?"
"How about the Crystal Castle!" Rust said, gesturing widely at the dark shop.
"Sounds good to me" said Soul with a smile.
Rust and Soul walked up the stairs and to their room. Soul circled the pile of gems, rolled one closer to the pile, and threw himself on it. Rust crawled under the covers and then threw his cape out from under them. He flipped off the light, and was quiet. For a solid minute, there was nothing but the sound of silence. Then he uttered a small squeak, before asking "Hey Soul? You awake?"
Soul opened his eyes slowly and raised his head. "I never really fell asleep." he said.
"Thank you for being my friend"
Soul smiled. "That's what friends are for. They stick with each other even in the toughest of times."
"Goodnight." Rust rolled over.
"Goodnight."