Another One Bites the Dust

by ElderXelpud

Cute and Fluffy

Fluttershy, the shy butter yellow Pegasus, was at her cottage, feeding her animals. Carrots for the bunnies, seed for the birds. Every animal she fed gave her a grateful look that just said, “Thanks for the food.” She was about to give acorns for the squirrels when she heard a rustling in the bushes. She put the acorns down and the squirrels started eating them, but she was too busy investigating the sound. She peeked into the bushes and saw… Tiny little bunnies? Fluttershy began to coax them out, thinking that they were a lost litter. When they came into the sun, she saw that they were grey and fluffy.

“Oh, you’re so cute!” Quietly exclaimed Fluttershy. The bunnies seemed to ruffle in the wind.

“Would you like a nice, juicy carrot?” asked Fluttershy.

If they were lost, then surely they must be hungry. But when she offered the tasty veggie to them, they refused it.

“Oh… Then what will you eat? We could see what I have in my cottage,” Fluttershy offered.

They followed Fluttershy into her house, and she led them to the pantry. Presenting carrots, peas, lettuce, and other vegetables, she asked, “Do you see anything you like?” The rabbits looked up and down the open pantry, until their eyes settled upon a small layer of dust on the bottom shelf. They quickly jumped into the pantry and began to lick it clean. When they were done, one of them sounded a small burp of appreciation. “Oh? You eat dust? You look like dust too… I think I’ll call you Dust Bunnies!” Fluttershy was quite happy now that she knew what to feed them. Then she noticed one of the bunnies making a “bloorp” sound. Where there was previously only one bunny there was now two. “Oh my! Isn’t that interesting,” remarked Fluttershy. The bunny had reproduced somehow. Fluttershy decided to name the new bunny James, keep the bunnies, and introduce them to the other animals.

The animals had different reactions, ranging from trying to eat them, to plain old detesting them, to cuddling them lovingly. Lastly, she showed them to Angel Bunny. He sniffed them a few times then used gestures to convey to his owner that she should forcefully throw the dusty rabbits back into the pit in the Everfree Forest from whence they came. Fluttershy showed her disapproval of this. “No! I would never do that! They’re too cute, and besides, they’re harmless! You’re just jealous of them.” Then Fluttershy spotted her white unicorn friend walking up her trail, dressed in lots of frills as usual.
“Oh, hello Rarity! Is our spa treatment today?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yes, Fluttershy dear. Oh, what have you there?” answered Rarity.

“Oh, I found them in my bushes, I call them Dust Bunnies! They eat dust, and they look like dust.”

“They eat dust? That sounds wonderful! I bet everypony in Canterlot would love to have one! Can I have a few, dear?”

“Oh, why certainly, you can have a few,” the Pegasus replied, and she handed Rarity a few of the bunnies.

“Don’t forget to keep them fed!” Fluttershy cried after her friend, who had started down the trail.

Rarity was pretty excited about these animals, so she set off immediately. Then Fluttershy heard a “kaplooie!” noise and turned around to find that one of the bunnies had just exploded into dust, which the other ones were eating. “EEK!” screamed Fluttershy. James had just exploded! “Uh oh,” the Pegasus said, as she realized what this meant. They make dust, and they are going to be all over Canterlot, a city full of prissy ponies who want their hooves to be sparkling clean with not a hint of dirt nor dust on them. She dashed down the trail to catch up with her friend. Behind her, Angel banged his head on the nearest wall. He had warned her.

Rarity opened her saddlebags and took the bunnies out. They were awfully cute. They gazed at her with cute, blue little eyes. She decided to give them a test before she peddled them to the masses. She immediately thought of her incredibly dusty old basement.

“Alright, my darlings, I have a task and a feast. You see, my basement is incredibly dusty.” The bunnie’s eyes widened in realization of what that meant. “Yes, you know what I mean. Get to it, now.” Rarity told them. She opened the door to the basement and they charged in, and began to lick the floor ravenously. *Slurp* *slurp* went their tongues, as they licked every particle of dust in the basement. After about 3 minutes, they were done with a job that would have taken a professional cleaning pony at least 2 weeks to perform.

“Splendid!” Rarity exclaimed, quite pleased with the result. “I think I’ll take you right now!” Rarity packed her bags and left for Canterlot.

Fluttershy was almost to Ponyville. She was incredibly anxious. Oh dear, she thought nervously, what if I’m too late? What if she’s already left? Fluttershy started to hover off of the ground, and picked up her pace. As she hurried her way through Ponyville, she knocked over several fruit stands, apologizing after each one. Eventually, when she reached Rarity’s Boutique, her unicorn friend was gone. No! I’m too late! Fluttershy fainted on the spot. Then, she heard a voice speaking to her.

“Fluttershy? Are you alright? Do you need medical assistance?” The voice belonged to one of her friends.

The unconscious Fluttershy just laid there.

“Worry not! Doctor Twilight Sparkle, PhD, is on the case! Nurse, what are her vitals?”

A small, masculine voice replied. “Her blood pressure is 110/80. She’s fine, Twilight.”

Twilight was having too much fun being a doctor. “Nonsense! Apply the stimulant!” The doctor grabbed a syringe from nowhere and inserted it into a space behind her patient’s wing.

The unconscious Pegasus surged to life. “Who? What? Where? Twilight? Is that you? Why are you wearing a lab coat? Why does Spike have a nurse hat?” After just coming back to consciousness, she was quite confused.

Spike explained. “I don’t know, it just happened. Anyways, we were heading to Rarity’s Boutique, because we heard she was going to sell something.”

Fluttershy shivered. “That’s the problem! Her wares! They are evil!”
“Say what now?” inquired Twilight.

“They explode into dust! They reproduce by eating dust!” Fluttershy was in a panic now. “They’re going to be everywhere! EVERYWHE-“ Fluttershy was cut off by another syringe from Twilight and immediately fell asleep again.
“We should probably bring her to my house. Maybe she’ll stop freaking out.” The purple pony and baby dragon walked home, unconscious Pegasus in tow.

When they reached Twilight’s tree-library-house, Fluttershy woke up again, quite groggy. Twilight sighed. “Finally, you’re up. Now what’s this about evil wares?”

Fluttershy began to explain. “Well, one day I was feeding the animals when I found them in the bushes. I call them Dust Bunnies. They’re awfully cute, but they are evil! When they eat dust, they reproduce, and the new bunnies explode, making new dust, and they eat the dust, which makes more bunnies. It’s a vicious cycle!”

“I see,” said Twilight. “So Canterlot runs the risk of infestation? It’ll be Parasprites all over again… We need to combat them. Quickly, how do you get rid of dust?”

“Um, dusters and water?”

“Ok, this is presuming that the chemical structure of the Everfree forest creatures is the same as common household dust, but here’s the plan…”

Rarity had just finished setting up shop in Canterlot. It was a small rented shop, with a sign that said, “Rarity’s Exotic Dust Bunnies!” She had some cages in the shop for holding the Dust Bunnies. However, when she unpacked them from her bag, she could have sworn there were five more than previously. Rarity shrugged and put them into the cages. Business went slowly for a few minutes, before a gentlemanly stallion walked into the shop. He looked around him. “I say, what manner of merchandise is this? Rabbits?” He looked around the shop.
“Oh yes, they clean dust! I had a dusty basement, put a few down there, and in a few minutes it was sparkling clean! They only cost three bits.” Rarity said.
“I say! Walking cleaning services for only three bits? I’ll buy one!” He handed Rarity the money and left the shop, the bell on the door declaring his leave.
“Ah, my first customer. How satisfying!” Rarity said to herself.

That stallion must have spread the news, because other ponies came into the shop. A few times the rabbits would make *kaplooie!* noises in their cages, and then she would find more, but didn’t pay it much attention because it meant more money. One day, another stallion walked in. He was white, wore a strange red and blue cap, and had a star cutie mark. He went up to one of the bunnies, and enigmatically inquired, “I say there, monstrosity! Do you know the times?” Rarity was quite confused by this, but then he came up to her and said, “I’ll take it! I’ll take twelve!” He gave her the money and took the twelve he wanted. “Well that was quite strange,” mused the talking marshmallow. “Oh ceiling, why are you on the floor?” The marshmallow asked. “Because you are upside-down. Turn yourself over.” replied said ceiling.

Another sack of flour walked into the shop, obviously wanting to steal her lettuce, they always do. They always take the lettuce!
“Um, excuse me, why are you standing on your head?” he asked.

The marshmallow replied, “Because the ceiling was the floor, and it told me to.”

The sack was quite confused, and walked out of the shop, leaving the lettuce behind mercifully. The marshmallow growled.
“Get back here, floor! You’re not the ceiling!”