Creech and Friends One-Shots

Chapter 1: Panic Attack

It was a beautiful day at the home of the Christian-Crystal Guardians. Skipper Riley was reading by the window, Rarity was working on a dress design, Pinkie Pie was making random balloon animals, Applejack was working with her lasso, and Sunset Shimmer was writting in her notebook when Skipper's electronic watch beeped, startling them (and causing Sunset to drop her pen in surprise). Tapping the "Call" button, Skipper was met with Wallflower Blush's worried face. "Did I startle you at all? Sorry if I did so."

"Wallflower?" Skipper asked. "What happened and where are you?"

"First of all," Wallflower replied, "me and Dusty are currently at the school helping out. Second of all, I think something's wrong with Dusty; he was covering his ears harder than usual and was breathing unevenly. When I touched his shoulder and asked if he was alright, he ended up screaming and running right into the restroom."

Skipper sucked in a breath. "Sensery overload," he whispered.

Ever since the battle, the Guardians' powers had all increased and become stronger and easier to handle. Which was fine and all, but Dusty also ended up with super enhanced hearing, which made him hear pretty much everything. It was okay and all, but when it comes to overloads-it makes him sound like everything's dialed up to over 20. Having been previously told what to do in this situation, Skipper told the four worried girls to get what Dusty needed before racing out of the house towards the school with inhuman speed.
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All day long, Dusty had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. He tried to brush it off, but it kept coming at him, his arm hair standing on end. Everything just went normal until several minutes to the end of class. The teacher had just happened to spot a mouse under her desk and in a second she freaked out. The kids also screamed, having never seen this type of animal in a classroom before. Unfortunately, the screaming was too loud for Dusty. Concerned, Wallflower touched his shoulder. "Dusty? Everything okay?" she asked.

But Dusty just screamed and ran out of the classroom in a hurry, making Wallflower more worried than ever. She decided to follow along behind him after taking care of the mouse to make sure he didn't run into anything. Meanwhile, Dusty was running with inhuman speed to get to the restroom, but only made it to the nearest stall in time to throw up.

Wallflower was outside, feeling concerned. She was sitting on a nearby bench reading a book that she got from the library when she heard footsteps. Knowing them to be Skipper, she stood up and waved to him as hew came by. "Where's Dusty?" he asked.

"In there," Wallflower explained, pointing to the restroom. "I didn't go in there after him because his hearing senses are all dialed up past 10. That, and I figured he needed some space."

"Don't blame you," Skipper replied, patting her on the shoulder before entering.

Moving slowly so as not to stress Dusty out more, Skipper first turned off the dripping water at the sink before slowly making his way to the unlocked stall where Dusty lay, ears covered and knees digging into his eyes. Heart breaking at the sight, the old war veteran entered the stall, knelt down beside the young man, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dusty? Dusty," he whispered. "Dusty, can you hear me?"

A pale face greeted Skipper as Dusty slowly turned his head to him, baby blue eyes filed with tears. "Ski...Ski..." he tried to say, but it was no use.

Knowing how it felt, Skipper gently took Dusty's hand and placed it on his chest, directly over his heart. "You feel my heartbeat, kiddo?" he asked. "Try and focus on that for me, okay? Just breathe with me."

An hour later, Dusty was finally calm, leaning on Skipper. "Too...loud..." Dusty whispered. His voice sounded so harsh and scratchy that Skipper could hardly hear what he said.

But understanding what he said, Skipper gently sushed his son, pushing his hair out of the way. "It's okay, sweetie. I'm gonna take you home, okay?"

Dusty nodded. Skipper smiled and sent a quick text to Wallflower.
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Five more minutes later, Dusty felt himself being lifted into strong arms-Skipper's arms. The former crop duster-turned racer-turned firefighter-turned Christian Guardian groaned a bit and leaned his head on Skipper's shoulder, snuggling into his warmth. Skipper himself smiled as he cradled him close and carried him out to the hallway, where Wallflower woke up with a start, having been sleeping. "Sorry," she whispered, being careful not to wake up Dusty and give him another panic attack. "But I was getting sleepy while waiting for you guys. Plus, school ended an hour and five minutes ago."

"It's alright," Skipper replied as he walked through the hallways and outside the school, Wallflower walking alongside him.

It was a long walk home, but they didn't mind that a bit. It was about 5:20 when they finally arrived, the others having been informed of the situation. Wanting to test it out, however, Ripslinger got an air horn ready and prepared to blow it. Luckily, Sunset managed to get a pair of noise-canceling headphones on to Dusty's head in time a second before the horn sounded, making everyone flinch and cover their ears. "Really?" Spike muttered.

"Ripslinger you idiot!" Butch exclaimed, punching him in the face which soon turned into a fight. Luckily, Pocahontas, being the woman she was, was able to stop it from escalating any further.

While that was happening, Skipper had managed to get Dusty to his bedroom, where Applejack was waiting with a bottle of Tylenol pills. Skipper thanked her, knowing that Dusty probably got a headache by now. Taking two of the pills and a cup of water from Rarity, he had Dusty take the medicine after he put him in bed. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie activated the Sensery Overload Protocol; a few weeks ago, Twilight Sparkle had made certain protocol types for a certain time. She had always wanted to try one of them out, so when the resent protocol came in contact, she was pleased to see it was working grandly.

Seeing that Dusty was going to be fine for tomorrow, Skipper was about to leave when he felt a hand on his wrist. And there was Dusty, looking up at him with big eyes as blue as a lake. "Please don't leave," he whimpered.

Skipper smiled. "Alright, kid," he chuckled.

And that was how he found himself sleeping with his son in his arms. And he wouldn't trade this moment for the world.