Blank Flanks

Blank

Flanks

Six

Spike walked down the stairs the next morning to find Twilight  shuffling something into a saddlebag. "Hey Twilight," he asked, "Did you, you know, sleep at all last night."

"What? Oh, I don't know."

"You'd think you would notice something like that." Spike laughed.

"Yeah, well, you'd think I would notice a lot of things, but sometimes they slip by me for a while, but when I finally notice those things it feels like being stabbed in the heart a couple dozen times." Spike started picking up on the bitterness of Twilight's voice. "Twilight, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's nothing, are the kids at the community center?" she said as she loaded up her bag. "Yeah, they don't have school so they should be there by now," Twilight headed out the door, "Where are you going?" Spike yelled to her.

"I'm going to try to do the right thing."

*    *    *    *    *

"You know what, I really hate that storm," Evergreen said to Apple Bloom while the two mopped the floor of the community center. "Really, why?"

"Why? Why not? All the bad shit that happens to us is because of it. One psycho after another gets some freaky power. The probation worker, the puppet guy, the vampire bitch, and a fucking robot stallion. It's ridiculous... also why is it I'm the only one without a fucking power. It's bullshit. If I knew who caused it I would right him a very strongly worded letter, and punch him in the throat while delivering that letter."

"I think you're actually the lucky one. If you ever wanted to, you could just walk away from all this and still be normal. Us, on the other hoof, just have to deal with what we've got."

"Well, even without a power I'm not exactly what you'd call normal, now am I?"

"No, no you ain't," Apple Bloom laughed.

"Besides, I can't leave now. You guys would fall apart without me."

"What'dya mean by that?"

"it has become a sort of norm for us to face life threatening situations, and without your leader you all wouldn't last a minute."

"Excuse me?! Leader? You are definitely not the leader."

"Well then who is?"

"Nopony, nopony is. Despite how cool it sounds, we're not a super powered team from some adventure book, constantly fighting evil. We're just... at the wrong place at the wrong time I guess."

"So, all the good we've done was mostly in self defense. So what? We've got something, something that makes me think about the situation."

"What's that then?"

"Potential. We could be great, we should be great, we can do things that no mere mortal pony could ever do before. We can't just sit on our asses all day doing nothing with them. There's got to be a reason why all this shit's happened to us. Maybe it was all right place at the right time."

"Well, if ya think about it, the thing that makes the most sense is if there's no reason. Besides, with our powers, we would be the worst super team ever."

"Probably, but it still would be cool. Maybe that's what our cutie marks are."

Apple bloom thought about this for a moment, "Yeah... Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! Come in here!"

They entered with Thunder and Daring. "How does super hero cutie marks sound?" Apple Bloom asked. "What would that even look like?" Scootaloo asked. Just then, a light yellow mare with a pink mane rushed into the community center. Even though you could tell that she was in a hurry, she seemed to make an effort not to make too much noise, lest she be a bother to anypony.

"Umm... excuse me... have any of you seen Twilight? It's urgent and I really need to talk to her," Fluttershy said in a hushed voice.

"Sorry, we haven't seen her today," Sweetie Belle said. Fluttershy started to look even more worried than before.

"Oh... okay, sorry to bother you." She rushed out of the building at almost blinding speeds.

Almost immediately after she left, Twilight burst into the community center, much louder than Fluttershy did.

"Oh, Twilight, Fluttershy was in here a second ago and-" Sweetie Belle began, but Twilight quickly cut her off. "Ok my little ponies, I've got-"

"We're not little," Evergreen interrupted.

"What?"

"The youngest of us is fifteen, and most of us are taller than you."

"Ok, you're not little. I'm trying to say that I've got an ultimatum for you. Turn yourselves in."

"Turn ourselves in for what?"

"Don't bother trying to cover it up, I know you killed your probation worker. I have proof, I'm just saying that if you turn yourselves in, the punishment might not be as bad. I'm doing this because of our friendship, but I'm completely willing to give the evidence to the police if you don't turn yourselves in."

"And what, pray tell, evidence do you have that we committed such a crime?" Daring asked. Twilight then took a large piece of metal out of her saddlebag. "What is that?"

"It's the head of a mister Felix Data. With all the fake skin melted or peeled off, it turns out it was completely robot. In it's memory banks is a little confession from one of you, telling the truth about what really happened to your probation worker," the ponies glared at Evergreen, "also proves that you six were there the day his house burned down. That, and the fact that he was a robot will make a very interesting story."

"Twilight," Apple Bloom said, with a tone growing in seriousness, "You have to understand. Whatever happened was an accident. None of us ever meant to hurt anypony, it was just an accident."

"Then why didn't you go to the police, tell somepony?"

"Nopony would have believed us."

"Then come to me, or your sisters. Don't you trust us at all?" Twilight's voice began to become despondent at the thought of losing friends she's known for years. As she finally started thinking about it, the feelings of betrayal began to cut deep.

As if right on cue, Fluttershy exploded into the community center and ran straight up to Twilight. "Twilight, sorry to bother you, but we have a pretty big problem."

"Sorry Fluttershy, I'm in the middle of something-"

"Too late, they're here," she yelped. Three dogs slammed against the doors of the community center and barked ravenously at the ponies inside. The group was taken aback by this, with Daring sounding off a, "What the fuck?!" out of surprise. Twilight, after absorbing the recent turn of events, looked to Fluttershy for an explanation.

"Fluttershy, what are those?"

"Oh, they're just some puppies I found near the Everfree forest. They were sick, so I started caring for them. I was looking for you to see if you could help me treat them," she said in her naturally soft tone despite the situation.

"Fluttershy... what disease do the dogs have?"

"Well, at first I thought it was just rabies, but there was something different about them, but yeah, mostly rabies."

"Fluttershy! I can't just magic up a cure for rabies! Why didn't you take the dogs to a doctor to have them put to sleep."

"Twilight! I could never do that to an innocent little critter," one of the dogs slammed his head into the glass door, creating a massive crack, "especially one that's sick." Two of the dogs ran around the back while the one dog started backing up to charge the door. At that point, there was no doubt that he would shatter it and be able to enter the community center.

"Quick, everypony into the main hall," Twilight told the others. They did as she said and barricaded the doors with various chairs and other objects. As they did this the dog burst through the glass door and rammed himself into the barricaded door several times, but to no avail. After the failed attempts, the dog started to simply pace around the floor, waiting for the ponies to come out.

"What's it doing?" Scootaloo asked.

"It's waiting to see what we'll do next," Thunder said.

"Those fuckers are smarter the the average rabid dog," Evergreen said, "I mean, the fucking dog is strategizing. Pretty soon he'll be talking and wearing clothes, like a top hat... or even a monocle."

"Three things," Apple Bloom said, "One, waiting for us to do something isn't a very complex plan, two, strategizing isn't a real word, and three, a dog learning to talk and wear clothes is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of."

"Ponies please!" Twilight said, trying to calm them all down, "We need a plan."

"Well that's easy," Daring said, "just teleport us out of here."

"Right," her horn lit up, but almost immediately it fizzled out, "Oh... that's not good."

"What's wrong?"

"I... I haven't really... exactly... been sleeping recently. I'm actually incredibly tired right now."

"Well that's just fucking brilliant that is, now our only way out is through the rabid dogs."

"Okay, hang on... let me just think." Twilight sat down, clearly exhausted. "I have an idea," Evergreen said. He grabbed a chair and broke off one of its legs. The others took the cue, and grabbed various blunt objects lying around; a fire hydrant, a mop handle, and a few chair legs. Neither Twilight nor Fluttershy grabbed anything, as they had yet to grasp the situation. "What's going on," Fluttershy asked nervously, as if she already knew the answer.

"Simple, we carefully remove the barricades, wait for the fucker to turn around, and beat the shit out of him until he dies." Fluttershy fainted, and Thunder was able to catch her and put her into a chair that hadn't been broken yet. "Look, I don't like this idea," Twilight pointed out, "It's dangerous, and also a bit inhumane..." her tone and face turned serious, "but its not like we have any other options."

"We... you mean just us right, certainly not you. You accuse us of murder and then you can't even teleport us out of here. Now we have to clean up an incredibly violent mess all over again," Scootaloo said, frustrated over the situation.

"Woah there everypony, we have to keep a cool head. It's the only way that the nine of us are going to get out of this in one piece," Apple Bloom said. The tension began to diffuse, until Daring froze in realization. "Wait! One, two, three...," he counted while pointing at each pony, "four, five, six, seven..." he pointed at himself, "Eight. Oh shit biscuits."

*    *    *    *    *

Dual was walking up the road towards the community center carrying a box of donuts. For sure, daring's rigged those straws somehow. There's no way in hell that I could pick the short one that many times in a row. He thought to himself. As he approached the community center he noticed two ponies he really didn't want to. "Oh look, one of the blank flanks," Diamond Tiara said in a very mocking tone.

Silver Spoon laughed with Tiara as Dual tried to simply ignore them and keep walking. "I really think Ponyville's gone downhill since the blank flank population's doubled," she said.

"What are you even doing out here?"

"Silver Spoon and I were simply on a refreshing morning walk, until we ran into you, Daring."

"I'm not Daring."

"What?"

"I'm Dual, his brother."

"Are you serious? Is this some kind of trick?"

"What? What possible reason could I have to trick you two into thinking I'm a non-existent twin brother?"

"Why don't we ever see you in school?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Cause I don't feel like it."

"Alright, how about you prove it," Tiara said.

"Ok, the community center is literally right there. We can just go in and see my brother who's in there right now."

"Fine."

"Alright." The three walked in silence towards the community center. Dual kept wondering why he was even doing this. He'd never actually met Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon before, but Daring and Evergreen both give detailed descriptions of how they act on a daily basis, and he had no desire to spend too much time with them. As they entered the community center, Dual noticed the broken door and starting to get worried.

"Hey, guys! I've got the donuts... and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, unfortunately." The two mares frowned at him, when the dog that had been waiting outside the main hall approached them.

"Why is there a dog here?" Silver Spoon asked. The dog walked toward them slowly getting in an attack position, until they heard somepony shout "Now!" and several ponies ran out of the hall and towards the dog. All of them were carrying blunt objects, but only Evergreen, Thunder Runner, and Scootaloo actually struck the animal, and beat him to death.

"What the fuck guys? That would have been a lot quicker if you'd actually help," Evergreen said, covered in blood.

"I'm sorry. Even if it has... well, had rabies, I couldn't just kill a poor little dog," Sweetie Belle said. The others agreed then turned their attention to the ponies standing in front of them. "What are they doing here?" Apple Bloom asked, obviously not happy to see them there.

"Oh, they didn't believe that I was Daring's twin brother. So, ladies, say hi to my brother..."

"Hello cunts," Daring said as he gave a little nod.

"So, now that we're all acquainted, I believe it's time for you two to leave."

"You all just... just killed that dog!" Tiara exclaimed, still shocked by the unexpected violence.

"Eeyup, and there's two more that we have to take care of," Evergreen pointed out. "And you expect us to leave?! They could be right outside for all we know," Silver Spoon said.

"Well, that is a pretty strong possibility, almost a certainty even," Apple Bloom said, "Well, have fun!"

"Apple Bloom, this is no time for jokes," Twilight said, emerging from the main hall.

"Who says I was joking."

"What are they doing here?" She asked. They explained it, but she really didn't care. At that point in time, all she cared about was resolving the situation without anypony getting hurt. "Ok, here's the plan. We need to split into groups and search for the dogs. We need to cover every inch of the community center if we're going to find them."

"Found one," Sweetie Belle said. One of the dogs rushed from behind and pounced on Diamond Tiara. As she frantically screamed "Get it off! Get it off!" Dual reacted before anypony else could. He broke the glass to the case that contained a fire axe on the nearby wall, and with one fell swoop killed the rabid animal. He pushed it off of Diamond Tiara and helped her up onto her hooves.

"Holy shit my friend, when did you become a badass?" Daring asked with a smile on his face. "You... you saved me," Tiara said to Dual.

"Oh... um... you're welcome?" Dual replied, not really knowing how to reply to that. "Ok," Twilight said, "new plan. Dual, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Scootaloo, take Fluttershy and go find help. The rest of you, see if you can find the last dog." They all complied and left to do their duties. Before leaving, Thunder looked back at Twilight, who was looking for something.

"Ok, I put the head right here, but where is it?" She said to herself. She looked around and saw that the door to the stairwell leading to the roof was open. "Oh no." She dashed up the stairs and burst onto the roof, and found Evergreen smashing the mechanical membrane to bits with a brick. "Now hear me out," he said, standing up and dropping the brick, "I'm going to turn myself in."

"What? Why?"

"Well, I'm not exactly what you'd call a good pony. Some may even go as far as saying I'm an asshole, even though I prefer the term brutally honest. I have never once done anything in my life for anypony besides myself. It's about time that changed. The others... they had nothing to do with it. It was all me, and I'll come quietly." Just as he finished talking the last dog lunged against him then turned and pinned down Twilight.

Evergreen lost his balance and tumbled backwards to the edge of the roof, standing on his hind legs trying to keep from falling. Thunder became visible and grabbed Evergreen's front hooves. "Pull me up! Pull me up!" he yelled, but it was no use. Thunder's hold slipped, and Evergreen fell, screaming, onto the community center garden's metal fence, with one of the spikes going straight through his chest.

Twilight killed the dog with her horn, and looked over the side at Evergreen's lifeless body. Guilt flooded her as she thought of every possible reason this could have been her fault. This was exactly what she didn't want to happen. The others heard his screams and rushed outside to investigate. Once they all got outside, they gasped almost in unison. "Oh my Goddess," Tiara said. Sweetie Belle, with tears in her eyes, turned away, unable to even look at the body. Daring said something along the lines of "oh shit" softly, under his breath.

All while this was happening, Apple Bloom ran straight to the body. She yelled, "He's not breathing! Somepony get help! Get a doctor, just get somepony! Anypony! Just get help!" her eyes began to well up as she slowly started to sink onto the ground. "You can't be dead, not you. Evergreen, why did you...why did you have to be such an idiot, and get yourself..." She couldn't say the words, and she broke out into a full on sob. Scootaloo left to get a doctor, and Sweetie Belle held Apple Bloom as she sat there crying.

The doctors recorded the time of death and sent Evergreen's body to the hospital morgue. Twilight explained to the police what happened, and they believed her. She arrived back at the library shortly after, and Spike was waiting for her. "What's going on?" he asked, the whole town is worked up."

"Something terrible has happened Spike."

"Twilight, you're covered in scratches, and blood. What happened?"

"Evergreen's dead. We were on the roof, he admitted to committing the crime, then a rabid animal attacked us, and he fell. Case closed." she walked to the bathroom to wash up, and all Spike could do was stand there stunned and speechless.

Twilight levitated a washcloth up to her horn and began rinsing herself. For a moment, she looked at herself in the mirror. Blood was on her horn, and some of it ran down her face with the water. She put the washcloth down and decided to take a shower instead. Afterwards, she walked up to her room and collapsed in her bed. She slept from the afternoon of that day to late morning of the next.

*    *    *    *    *

A few days later, the funeral was held. The six ponies were there, obviously, and so was Spike because Evergreen was his friend. Evergreen's parents were there, and so was Twilight, for her own reasons. They were the only attendees. That night, Spike, Apple Bloom, Thunder Runner, Scootaloo, Daring and Dual, and Sweetie Belle sat around a table that was set up in the Apple family barn.

"I got the hard cider from the basement," Apple Bloom said,"I know we're not exactly old enough..."

"It seems strangely appropriate, considering it was Evergreen," Daring said. They each took a glass of the cider. "He always was such an idiot..." Apple Bloom said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"To Evergreen," Spike said as he raised his glass, "it won't be the same without him." They all gave of a "To Evergreen", all except Apple Bloom. As they drank, they each told stories of Evergreen, how much he got on their and everpony else's nerves, how vulgar he could get at times, and all the crazy "adventures" they all had together. After a while it became less about Evergreen and more about the whole group. They never realized how close of friends they all became over such a short time, never realized until one of them died.

Out in Ponyville cemetery, six feet below the earth, Evergreen lied cold and lifeless, no longer the pony he was before. Now, he was just a corpse, an empty shell that would stay underground for the rest of eternity- HOLY SHIT! Evergreen thought as he gasped for air inside his casket. He felt his chest where the fence spike had gone through, and it had completely healed. "I'm immortal."

He laughed joyously. "Ha! I have a power! Ha ha ha ha! Yes! Immortal." He then just realized his situation. "Help! I'm alive!" He yelled as he banged his hooves against the coffin, "Help! I'm alive down here!" He stopped, realizing nopony could here him. He let out a deep sigh. "You buried me alive you dicks!"

To Be Continued...