TheHybrid

The old inventor nodded slowly, "Yeah... were gonna kick his plot later, don't you fret." he said with a certain absoluteness, as if it weren't even a possibility that they wouldn't. Rusty looked back at the mare, "C'mon now, all the runnin' got us much closer to the plants! 10 more minutes of trotten' and we should be there..." he began trotting again, the dark cloud looming closely to the two, however it was out of sight.

Rusty was caught off gaurd by the tight hug, half of the air in his body being expelled through his mouth. After the hug, he coughed a tiny bit, gasping for breath "Sweet Celestia girl! You're hug nearly killed me..." he weakly grinned, still recovering from the mares death-grip-like hug. When he saw the mare trotting away, about to explain to him what had happened, he got up to follow her... and was quite confused when she brought him to a blank spot. After her explnation about the Cocatrice apparantly being right there, he scratched his head "So... if I remember rightly... Ah told you to use yur mirror to turn it into stone... and Ah'm guessin' since I'm free you did... but... now it's gone?" he asked, raising a brow. ((I was going to come up with an explanation for why it was gone, but I backed-off because I figure you got something planned.))

((I think if I remember correctly, in the episode, when the Cockatrice got beat, all of it's victims were free'd)) The stone encasing Rusty exploded in a white light, "-or!" he yelled out, still frozen in the moment right before he was encased. He blinked, looking around, obviously confused, then he looked at Pressy, looking for an explanation "Pressy... what the hay just happened?"

The two of them ran through the forest, the trees seemingly zipping by them. He looked at Pressy, "Ah have a plan!" his eyes shifted to her saddle bag, "Gimmie yur mirror, were gonna turn that thing inta-" he was cut off as he suddenly fell to the ground, tripping on a root. The cocktrice caught up with him, and jumped on his stomach, staring him in the eyes. Rusty's gaze locked on the eyes, they were.... mesmerizing "Pr-PResssy! Use yur mirr-" but before the last words could escape his mouth, he was totally encased in stone. The cockatrice looked up at Pressy, his cold eyes locking onto the mare. He began running after her, a determination set in his eyes.

Rusty smiled, "Great! Let's keep goin' then, we have a bit of aways to go before we find those plants... give me a sec though..." Rusty stopped trotting or a moment, and began stretching himself out. He chuckled a tiny bit, "Castin' out a dark entity sure does kill yur energy!" he shook himself out, then took a few deep breaths, equalizing any remaining upset emotions within him. However, he was interupted as a small creature popped out of a bush. Rusty took one look at it, and frowned "Just mah luck, huh?" the creature locked his eyes on Rusty. The creature was a small, snake-hybrid creature, it seemed to have the head of a chicken, and the body of a snake. Rusty, turned away from it, and began running "Don't look at the Cockatrice, Pressy! It'll turn ya into stone!"

Rusty solemnly nodded, his eyes staring at the ground as tears flowed freely down his cheeks. As she turned around, he sniffled, still not looking directly at her "Ya know... I don't really think those things about you... righ'? That.. plant... it amplifies your dark side... lets it take control over you, while you just sit in your head, watchin'... watchin' it do horrible... awful things to yur friends. However, it doesn't make you lie, it just takes your feelin's about things and twists them into... disgustin'.... things. Pressy, I'll be honest with you, at first I didn't like the idea of having an assistant, but... but now, Ah think it's the best thing thats happened to me in a long long time... and your horn, it's true Ah did find it slightly weird that ya couldn't do magic very well, but I thought what you could do with magic was amazing' and beautiful. You are a very beautiful pony, Pressy, and not just looks, nah, I'm talkin' about as a Person ((Or pony... not sure which to use here)) too. You're too strong to let that... thing get to you.... and Ah have a feelin'... we're not don't with it yet." he grins slightly, "We'll give em' what he is askin' for... a good ol' plot-woopin! How's that sound?" he looked at her, grinning mischievously, his eyes still moist and tear stains were still present on his cheeks.

Rusty faltered backwards a few steps, his coat color flickering back and forth from normal, to 'corrupt'. His eye twitched as he looked at PRessy, "L-look out! I- I'mma fix this... just... gah.... NAH!" his eyes turned green and were outlined with black which trailed off to behind his ears, almost looking like dark electrical tears. His horn glowed black and made a kind of negative-energy-wurbling sound, "Out! Get... out!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as a dark energy blasted from his horn, which clouded up above the two ponies. He collapsed onto the ground panting in exhaustion, his coat back to it's normal light-orangish brown. The dark-energy cloud about the two laughed menacingly, which sounded a lot like Rusty's laugh except corrupted in some way, and then simply flew away into the darkness of the forest. Rusty painfully got up, making grunting sounds the whole time, but when he got up, he was turned away from PRessy, refusing to look at her "Ah'm... sorry." he said slowly, his voice cracking with deep shame and sadness.

The herb looked different now, it wasn't the blue plump leafed plant Rusty picked up, or at least it didn't look like it anymore. It was now a twisted, shrivled up flower. Rusty snickered as she went to pick up the the plant, "Look at'chu, can't even do your job right... that aint the plant I was talkin' bout, stupid." he frowned, "If you were actually any use to me, you'd KNOW thats the dark rose. And you would also know it makes ponies dark side come out, but you obviously dont since yur here pickin' it up with yur teeth! It aint even in its camoflauge... but yur a lucky idiot today, cause it looks like its drained." he kept on throwing insults at her, and his anger seemed to just keep going, though something was off about it. It got to a point where it might make anypony snap, with all the horribl nasty things he was saying, "Yur so incompetant, ya cant even use yur horn! What kinda stupid unicorn cant use their horn?" he flicked her horn, grinning manically, tears streaming down his face. It seemed like the insults were being forced, like he didn't want to say them.((I'll rp the bush rustling thing after this bit.)) ((Also, hint hint, slap him))

Rusty slowed down to a quiet trot as they entered the thick, and quite foreboding forest. Surprisingly enough, he found the forest to be very similar to the one he remembered back in modern times, except it seemed thicker and darker, and maybe more noisey. He stopped for a moment when he saw a blue, plump leaf connected to a thick steam, however there was only one of them, and no others could be seen anywhere near it. He squinted, "That's a mite... suspicious.... ain't it?" he picked up the pace and trotted closer to it, wanting to see if it was the real-deal. He got closer to it, inspecting it. He noticed that it looked exactly like the leave they were after, however something felt off about it. He shook his head, "oh... I'm just bein' paranoid! This has got to be the real deal... right?" he went to pick it with his mouth, chomping on the stem and lifting it up. Suddenly, he dropped the leave as his whole body seemingly drained of color, turning into a grey with only a ghost of it's original tones. He turned and looked at the mare, a look of hatred and anger seemed to occupy his eyes. He snorted, "Ah don't need you! I c'n work fine, by myself! Why're you followin' me, huh? You think Ah'm weak in the head or somthin'?" something was defintly wrong, this was not the Rusty the mare knew, it seemed to be a... darker side of him

Nods, "Eyep, we're gonna have to be real stealthy like if we're gonna be goin' in there... though, Ah think it'd only delay the inevitable... if you're gonna go into that forest, 'specially in these times where it's even more crazy then it is in modern times, then you're gonna run into something. So it's not a matter of if we run inta somethin', it's when we do, and how many things we run into." he grins, "Though, these old bones hasn't seen action like this in years! So maybe it'll be good for me..." then Rusty paused for a moment as he felt the chill of the weather seemingly drop a few more degrees, once again reminded they were working with limited time. He looked at Pressy "C'mon, we gotta hurry! Thing's ain't gettin' any warmer..." and with that, he went off into a full gallop, which was surprisingly fast for a stallion his age and with his physique.

Grins as they exit Unicornia, now trotting on a dirt path "Well you're in for... somethin', Ah guess! The Everfree... *shivers* very freaky forest." he looks over to the forest in the distance, frowning "Can't tame em', wont listen to us. Clouds do what they want, plants grow without us growin' them, animals care for themselves... it just ain't natural... nope, not one bit." he shakes his head, "Then o' course you got them huge and dangerous critters in them! Timber wolves, manticores, hydra's..."

Thought for a second, trying remember "Huh... oh... it's been... what... ten years since I collected these things? Well... if I remember rightly, they were blue, large, and had one big fat leave on a skinny stem. And yeap, they're real deep in the everfree... but it'll be worth it!" he said nudging her, "You know, the everfree ain't that bad, all ya need to know is how to navigate it. Once you know that, it's like walking through Ponyville park! 'cept... you can get killed... and..." he mumbled off for a moment, obviously getting lost in his thoughts, which was odd because it hasn't happened in a while. He shook his head, stammer "B-but, if ya... uhm... jus' follow me, and you'll be good! 'less you've already 'splored the Everfree, and know your way 'round it."

He smiled at her, chuckling sheepishly "Sorry, still don't have much control over this thing..." he tapped his hoof on his horn, then looked back at her putting on her scarf. He frowns, reminded that they have no time to waste, "C'mon, let's go, we gotta go get them herbs..." he begins trotting away, though his face was faster then his normal one, which was usually slow and relaxed.

Rusty frowns at the barkeeps taunt, his eye twitching, barely ignoring every fiber in his body screaming at him to buck the stallion in the face. He quickly picks up his pace, making it out of the tavarn, and when he made it out he took several deep breaths, "I swear to celestia... I could just... GAH!" he yelled put in frustration, causing a large shot of magical discharge to shoot out of his horn.

Chuckles, "That is true too... guess we'd have to ask em on how this whole thing works..." he thought about the idea for a while, finding it interesting that there may be spells that only Alicorns can cast. However, his thoughts were swiftly interrupted by a cool breeze, reminding him and Pressy of how little time they actually have. He thought, "Well... I could just... repair the essentials of the time machine... ya know? Repair just enough for us to be able to do the original mission, and then to get back home, where I would be able to fix my machine up real easy!" he made a quick mental list of what would be essentials, mulling one or two items over a few times in his head, before deciding to add them as well. He looked at her, smiling warmly "Well Pressy, we should be gettin' goin' now! Got some herbs to pick in the everfree!"

Nods, "Yeah, that is real intrestin'... hm. I wonder if unicorns can still raise the sun or moon? I mean, these here unicorns are doin' it, so why couldn't one extremely powerful unicorn do it in modern times?" he scratched his head, "'less they made the spell forbidden to anypony who ain't luna and Celestia... yeah. That'd make sense" he trotted over to the single desk in the room, and quietly closed a book that was on it, a book he had been studying when he woke up in the middle of his sleep last night, "Hope you can remember that, and everything from this here trip, it'd make for some amazin' paintings!" he grins, "But Ah'm not sure anypony would believe you if you told them what happened to us..." he stared back out the window, a small smile appearing on his face as he felt a feeling of tranquility spread through out him.

Rusty slowly stirred, his eyes slowly opening. He sat up and yawned loudly while scratching his chest, "Mornin' Pressy... how'd you... huh?" he looked up at the mare, who was clearly awe-struck by something outside the window, so he looked over to it "Whatchu lookin'... huh?" he said as his eyes widened, and he stood out of bed "What the hay?..."

Nods, "Sure... Ah... mean... *yawn* wont matter much... cause we still gotta fix it... but uhm..." he thinks for a moment, "Ah guess... we could collect... the herbs we need... but uhm... don't worry about that too much one thing... at a time..." he seemed like he was holding something back, but he didn't say what. Surely nothing important. "Night Pressy, don't freeze or nothin'." and with that odd good-night, he fell asleep.

Rusty does the same with his sheets, at least two feet aways from hers. He scratches his head, "Well... this has been an intrestin' day... time machine failed, fought some timber wolves, became a unicorn..." he chuckled, "And now, were sleepin' in a tavern in Unicornia, a city that has been gone for a long time..."

Rusty opened the door when they got to it, grumbling something about the nasty plothole inkeeper as he unlocked the door. He trotted in, " That bar keep was... ahhh... nevermind. He must be bored or somethin'. he took off his saddle bags on the floor, "Ah'll sleep on the floor Pressy, you get the bed."

He thought for a moment, "Yeah, but Ah think it's easier if we jus' call it Ponyville for now, since if Ah'm right, it didn't have a name." he thought to himself as they approached the tavern ((was trying to think of the name before for a pub/inn but couldnt)) and trotted inside. He approached the bar counter, clearing his throat "Excuse me my good sir, but my neice here and I would like to rent a room for the night, preferably one with two beds." he opened up his saddle bag with his magic, "How much would that cost?" he asked, raising a brow. The bar tender thought for a moment, "Well, we only got one room availble, and it only has one bed... it costs 15 bits." Rusty nodded, and levitated out the five bits they got earlier, and ten more bits he had on him. The bar tender gave him the room keys, then winked at him "A bt wierd, goin' for your neice... but I don't judge." ((The accent the bar tender pony has is the sterotype english executioner type accent.. Cant thing of the proper name, but I do know it.)) Rusty froze, his fancy accent dropping "Pardon?"

Looked around as well, "I would say we can go back to Ponyville n' look there... but there is no way in hay we're gonna get an inn there... and uhm... Ah think I saw an inn built at a pub on the way here.. wanna go check it out?"

Shrugged, trotting over to Pressy and sitting down as well, "Ah wouldnt think about it too much.. not much we can do when we're still waitin' on the means to get home. Like my pa always said, 'Don't fret over things you can't control'" he thought for a moment, "One thing we need: somewhere to sleep and eat. Cause chocolate's nice, but it ain't exactly a meal."

Notices the blue box and grins, thinking to himself, "That crazy ol' time lord..." He looks out from the balcony... darn those pre-hearths unicorns... they were snobs... But they knew their stuff... his ears perked up when he heard Pressy ask him a question, and he turned to face her "In theory... yeah, Ah mean this horn would'a only attached to me if Ah had magic in me, which Ah theorized earth-ponies and pegasai did because it would explain some strange things each race is able to do. In short, yeah I could probably do some magic... and I had to study magic to make these horns, and the magic-to-go ones. The reason Ah had a hard time with the telekinesis spell with the other horn, was because the horn is still in very early devolpment. This one is jus' called a prototype because it's the first model, and I guess I still got some work ta do with it since Im wearin' it... Anyway, since I studied magic, I think I could do a few spells... les try." He closed his eyes, and focused on his satchel. After a few moments, some orange sparks flew out of it, until it caught a full orange glow, "Whoa, a bit different from the magic-2-go... But much easier!" he opened his saddle bag using his new found magic, and glinded out two candy bars. He gave one to her, "A nice view needs chocolate!" He took his chocolate bar, and grabbed it with his hoof, then rubbed his head "Ow... gotta headache now... eh, whatever." He took a bite out of his bar.

Tapped his horn, and was quite alarmed that he felt it. His eyes widen, "Oh sweet celestia... Ah'm... Ah'm actually a unicorn now..." he frowned, "Was afraid my theory was true.. that all ponies have magic in em', but only unicorns can use it directly because they have a horn! Guess Ah will have to figure out how to make it only work for unicorns when We get back home... and figure out how to become an earth pony again... but again, les just forget about this, and focus on the now. It's a beatiful view..."