//------------------------------// // World of Decisions // Story: Blank Flank! // by Dusty Sunrise //------------------------------// Dusty waved Steam Gadget off as he left to go back to the jewelry shop, somehow Steam Gadget was able to get a job there but he wouldn’t tell Dusty where he lived, so he just guessed that Gadget still lived in that old apartment at Manehattan, but that kind of seemed ridiculous, I doubt he would continually get on a train to Ponyville every morning, he doesn’t have the money or the mental capacity to do that, Dusty thought, but this would have to be an adventure for later, for now, Dusty had to see if Spike held his end of the bargain, Dusty stepped outside and was nearly blinded by the sun as he forgot what time it was, with a groan of pain, he covered his eyes and collapsed, I hate Mondays!, “Dusty!” A voice rang out, and he felt someone pick him up, How is it that when I hurt myself, someone is always right there to help me? He thought, Must be some sort of conspiracy, “Can’t see…can’t see…” he kept muttering, his eyes hurt a lot, he couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or not, either way, everything was a contingent of random colors, “How do you always get caught in these situations?” the voice asked, “Who’s there?” Dusty shouted in a random direction, “It’s me, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash responded, Dusty saw a bright splotch of light blue in his vision, “Oh, hey Rainbow, how’s it going?” he asked nonchalantly, Absolutely nothing is going on, he thought to himself, “You promised we’d go roller-skating today, and I find you covering your eyes cowering on the ground, and we are on our way to Twilight to see if she can’t help at all,” she explained, and he realized they were in the air, finally, Rainbow Dash presumably finally landed because he heard the knocking of a door, “Oh, hey Rainbow—DUSTY!” Twilight shouted, Rainbow quickly explained what happened, and Dusty heard a door slam shut and after a few minutes, open up again, “Stand still,” Twilight commanded, not that Dusty had a choice, if he moved, it would hurt his eyes, the twinkling of magic was heard, and after a few minutes, his vision slowly returned to behold the purple unicorn, with librarian glasses on, “Can you see?” she asked, Dusty didn’t know if he was hallucinating or not so just in case, he asked, “Are you wearing glasses right now?” and Twilight looked at him in relief, “Yes, I am wearing glasses.” She pushed them up slightly, as if to show them off, “You look pretty good—WHOA!” Dusty shouted as Rainbow dropped him on the ground, “Dusty?” Rainbow motioned towards the skate park, “Remember?” “Oh, right, roller-skating.” Dusty gave Twilight a kiss, “Thanks Twilight, I’ll see you around.” He stopped midway as the CMC came up to him, asking them to join them on yet another life risking quest, “Dusty?” Twilight called, “Can we talk?” she asked, Dusty felt time freeze as his mind wandered from each choice he had, Twilight is my fiancé, she deserves my respect, he thought, his mind drifted to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Now’s my chance to prove my meddle, and find my cutie mark, plus, these kids need a bodyguard, then his mind drifted to Rainbow, Friends are important, and I should treat Rainbow as such. They continued to wander in his mind, and then he looked toward his home, Home is where the heart is…and mine needs rest. “Well, Dusty?” Rainbow said, “Come on, Dusty, let’s get our cutie marks!” Scootaloo commanded, “Dusty, this is really important…” Twilight’s voice became bitter, Dusty stood helpless in the middle of the ponies surrounding him, whatever choice he would make would affect his life in a certain way, each one held a purpose, Dusty turned to Twilight, then to the fillies, then to Rainbow Dash, he just couldn’t decide on what to choose, and he wasn’t going to just run to his home and cower in the corner, he had to choose,. Though the choice was hard, he finally made up his mind, he looked at Rainbow, “I’ll stop by your place when I’m done here.” Rainbow nodded, and actually gave a smile, Dusty felt his heart ease, and he looked at the Crusaders, “I am sorry, I can’t join you on your quest today, but if I have time, I’ll meet up with you.” Dusty said, the Crusaders all smiled and ran off, Dusty finally turned to Twilight, “What do you need to talk about?” Dusty asked, Twilight motioned for Dusty to come inside, he turned around and pushed the door shut, as he turned back around, Twilight was a few centimeters from his face, and when she did that, he knew something would happen, he looked over her shoulder and saw a foal, but the young’un looked similar to Dusty, “You’re a father, Dusty.” Twilight said, Dusty didn’t understand, he shot a questioning glance at Twilight, “She’s your daughter.” She smiled, “Papa!” the toddler clapped and waddled towards Dusty, his eyes began watering as he laughed at the goofy little kid, he lifted the foal up and nuzzled her, “She’s beautiful…” Dusty nearly cried, “I knew you would approve, but now you need to wake up…” Twilight began to tear up, and with a flash of light, Dusty woke up on his couch, the game system that Gadget brought over was stacked sloppily in front of the television, the word that the foal spoke rang in his mind, and a longing for a family forced his way into his mind, In due time… he thought to himself, he got up and ate a hearty breakfast, until some pony knocked on the door, Dusty got up lazily and opened the door and saw Rainbow, “Hey, Dusty, you ready?” Rainbow asked, handing Dusty a pair of roller-skates, Dusty slipped them on and gave Rainbow a challenging look, “First one to the skate park wins!” Dusty shouted as he bounded off, with Rainbow right next to him as they raced toward the skate park, his mind would wander at the thought of a family and pictured the foal from his dreams, Eclipse… he thought, Yes, that sounds like a good name… Dusty and Rainbow eventually arrived at the skate park, and Dusty tried to force the image of the foal out of his mind, In due time, Dusty! He told himself.