Blank Flank!

by Dusty Sunrise

An Anonymous Visit

Dusty trotted down the road, the streets suspiciously empty, everything was nice and quiet until…

“Hey, Dusty!” Applebloom shouted as she and the two others rushed up to him, they all began talking at once,

“Alright, one at a time!” Dusty shouted above the other three, he pointed to Applebloom,

“We came up with this cool idea!” she said, Dusty pointed at Sweetie Belle,

“We know you’re going to like it!” she squeaked, then at Scootaloo,

“We’re going to explore the Everfree Forest!” Scootaloo said, all three of them took a deep breath and shouted in unison,

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER EXPLORERS! YAY!” Yay? Dusty cringed,

“Come on, Dusty!” Scootaloo shouted as the three ran off, Well, I can’t stop them now, Dusty thought as he galloped after them, the least he could do was make sure they got out unscathed, the ponies passed Fluttershy’s cottage, sadly, she wasn’t home to give them the stare, It’s probably for the best… Dusty thought, Fluttershy wouldn’t really be happy to see me after she found out about me and Twilight. To Dusty’s understanding Fluttershy does not want to see him at all, and he could understand that, they once loved each other, and it’s just hard to see your ex fawning after another, it just didn’t seem cricket, Dusty completely understood that, but sometimes she seemed to take it too far, to barely talking to him to giving him the stare when he would try to apologize, Dusty knew Fluttershy didn’t like to use the stare, it seemed pretty outlandish but a lot of outlandish things happen in Equestria, it didn’t strike him as anything unusual, now if only he could…

“Dusty!” Sweetie Belle tugged at his mane,

“Ow, hey!” he looked down at her finally paying attention,

“Are you going to come?” she asked, Dusty looked at the other two fillies who looked as though they were waiting for hours,

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Dusty responded, finally every pony ventured forth, Scootaloo in front, Applebloom behind, and Dusty with Sweetie Belle following close behind, Scootaloo was having a conversation with Applebloom about something but Dusty didn’t pay attention, Why am I letting them go through with this? He began to think, his train of thought was cut off as Scootaloo tripped over what looked like a curved thorn, “Are you alright, Scootaloo?” Dusty rushed to help the little pegasus, an ear piercing shriek rang out, as well as a beastly roar, Dusty turned to see a beast looming over them A manticore… he thought fascinated, the thought hit him, I got to get the fillies out of here… so he scooped them up, had them hold on to his back as he galloped as fast as he could, Where is the way out? He thought to himself, he heard heavy breathing behind him, and realized that the manticore was faster than he had thought, every few seconds he would hear the fillies scream or gasp at random intervals, it didn’t impair his running, just annoyed him, and that impaired his running, “If you’re about to scream, cover your mouth!” he ordered, and that had helped as he noticed the distance between him and the manticore, and finally, Fluttershy’s cottage came in sight, as the adrenaline started pumping, he wasn’t paying attention, he didn’t see the log and when he did, it was too late, out of instinct he threw the fillies toward Fluttershy’s cottage, “Run!” he ordered, and they did, leaving him and the manticore to fate.

“Look out, here comes Scoots!” a voice rang out, suddenly Dusty was on a scooter, and riding towards Ponyville,

“Oh, hi Scootaloo.” He said nonchalantly, “Good timing.”

“Thanks, want me to drop you by your house?” Scootaloo asked as if she were the adult, and he the foal,

“Sure, that would be nice, thanks.” Dusty smiled, Scootaloo gave a little kid grin and suddenly stopped,

“We’re here!” Scootaloo shouted like a train conductor,

“Thanks, Scoots.” Dusty hopped off, “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“You bet!” And with that, Scootaloo rode off, Dusty turned and when into his room, and saw a note on his bedroom door, it was a list, to put it into detail, it was a list of things to get ready for the wedding, and Twilight had emphasized the fact that she wanted it done in order.

“Oh, Twilight…” Dusty chuckled, “You and your neatness.” Dusty took the list and read over it, finally, he heard rustling, followed by a small whimper, sounding similar to Spike when he runs out of gems, “Spike?” Dusty asked as he drew bag the leaves of a plant in the corner,

“Oh, thank Celestia, it’s only you…” Spike wiped his forehead, “I need some help here,” he said in distress, Dusty nodded in acknowledgement, “Twilight has been asking me for advice on guys, and she won’t leave me alone and each time she asks me for advice, it always leads up to her having fantasies about you and it just makes me want to vomit!” Spike started retching; Dusty panicked and brought him a plastic bag, which Spike began throwing up in,

“Wait a second, You’re in love with Rarity and Twilight complains about you talking in your sleep about her,” Dusty glared at him, Spike eyes widened but he looked down ashamed,

“I know, I can’t help it though!” He hugged Dusty’s forearm and pleaded, “Please, please get her to stop! I’ll do anything!” Dusty thought about it for a second then looked up at his list,

“Anything?” Dusty chuckled, he held out the list, “Get my wedding ready for me.”

Spike took it with enthusiasm, “Oh, thank you, Dusty!” Spike hugged Dusty and ran off,

“What a crazy dragon…” Dusty said aloud as he watched Spike prance down the street like the time when he got a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala, he sat on his chair for a short while until a knock came from the door, he opened the door revealing a yellow coated pony with a black and red mane, he stood there like a teenage pony would do, he pushed up his sunglasses and Dusty finally yelped, “Steam Gadget!” Dusty exclaimed,

“What’s happenin’ my bud?” Steam Gadget responded giving Dusty a high five, “Heard you were gettin’ married, and you didn’t send me an invitation?”

Dusty chuckled nervously, “I just got it processed through my head, sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Steam Gadget chuckled and took off his sunglasses, revealing his amethyst eyes, “Am I gonna be your best stallion?” he chuckled, Dusty thought of it, his buddy standing next to him banging his head to wedding dubstep music,

“You’ve helped me out with Twilight for so long, you figure that out,” Dusty chuckled,

“So, that’s a no?” Steam Gadget responded sarcastically, Dusty looked at him bitterly, “I'm kidding, bro, I’m kidding.”

“Honestly, I got to thank you for giving me that amulet, Twilight absolutely died over it.” Dusty laughed,

“She died?” Steam Gadget chuckled, “That’s not good.”

“Gadget…” Dusty looked at him annoyed,

“C’mon bro, cut me some slack, I ain’t seen you in forever.” Steam Gadget gave Dusty a bro-hug, “Shouldn’t you be plannin’ the wedding?” Steam Gadget asked,

“I got someone helping me, in exchange that I stop Twilight from asking him for guy advice.” Dusty chuckled, as did Steam Gadget,

“Is that the dragon who begged me for a certain necklace for a pony named Rarity?” he asked,

“That’s him.” Dusty responded,

“Never seen a dragon cry before, it was awesome.” Steam Gadget began to laugh, and Dusty laughed as well,

“Man, it’s been so long.” Dusty blurted,

“Yeah, man.” Gadget and Dusty stayed up all night playing on a game system that Gadget pulled out of some random place, Dusty never understood how he did that but he paid it no attention, since Dusty had the consistency of appearing in places where he really shouldn’t, We’re all a bunch of misfits. Dusty thought, suddenly a noise came out of the television,

“You killed me again! We’re on the same team!” Dusty shouted,

“I know that, it’s just hilarious to see you rage at the game.” Steam Gadget responded, Dusty grumbled, You’re going to get it… he thought.

Author's Note:

Thanks to my good friend I am Steam Gadget for letting me give him a special appearance in my story.