//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3. Can This Get ANY Worse? 
// Story: Dust on the Wind 
// by Sparky Brony 
//------------------------------//

"Rainbow Dash!" I scream as she streaks ahead of the rest of the Wonderbolts. I'm as fast as her, but I'm keeping with the rest of the team as we all streak towards Discord. I get to watch as she is zapped by Discord's magic, turning into white mist. Soarin and Spitfire are in formation with me, I can feel the charge of magic along my wings. One thing is nice about being me, I'm a magic user pegasus. I can throw lightning, and it's not just ordinary lightning. It's a special time based lightning, so that what I hit with the lightning can be brought out of phase with time. It’s been effective before, and I hope it’ll work against Discord. I look at my wing ponies, they are going to distract the monster as I attack from a distance. I watch Spitfire streak right next to Discord and smashes him in the face at full speed with her hooves. The monstrosity that is Discord slams her to the ground with his lion's paw. I throw a lightning bolt at him and it connects with the paw as he's about to throw another spell at her. It disappears, causing a hiss of pain from the draconequus. His mismatched eyes turn to me, "You are going to be trouble."

I smile as I dodge a bolt from him, "Yes, that's my specialty, Discord." I throw another bolt at him, this one he deflects without doing any damage. Soarin comes out of nowhere with another kick to the face at high speed, dislocating the monster's jaw. He grabs it with his eagle's talon and puts it back in place, sending a bolt after Soarin that he barely is able to dodge. This monster is fast!

"Fluttershy thought she could tame me, the spirit of Chaos! It's time all you ponies know the power of Discord," he screams at us. I smile, let him talk, I'll kick his ass. I throw another bolt at him, this time hitting his hoofed leg. It promptly disappears and he nearly falls down, his wings taking his weight as he flies up into the sky. I see an orange streak come up with an uppercut, Spitfire is getting her hits in. I throw a few more bolts at Discord, each one he deflects with ease.

I'm nearing exhaustion right now. I look and see that some reserves have arrived. It's time for me to back off and rest for a moment, I see a likely ledge a few miles from Ponyville, I angle over to it and land. I turn and survey the battle. In moments, Soarin is next to me, huffing and puffing. He's as tired as I am. I smile at him, "Glad to see you aren't mush yet Soarin."

He smiles back, "Takes more than the spirit of chaos to kill me."

I look at the ponies harassing the draconequus. "I think he's toying with us. He can do what he wants with a snap of his fingers, why is he bothering with that weird spell he used on Rainbow Dash. I wince as a white flash announces the disappearance of another Wonderbolt.

Soarin thinks for a moment, "I think he's using a different spell, one that takes more power than to simply kill us."

I know my reserves are low, but we can only rest for so long. I flare my wings and am held back by Soarin. "Lightning, we need to rest, there is a reason why we have the reserves. Six ponies can't take care of threats by themselves. Give it a few more minutes." I subside, I know the wisdom of his words. I look around, and I see some clouds being maneuvered closer.

"The big guns are being brought into play, those are pretty nasty clouds coming in." We watch as the pegasi start bucking the clouds, sending hundreds of lightning bolts at Discord. He howls as a few of them score direct hits. I flare my wings again and see that Soarin is ready to go as well.

"Let's kick his flank." I say as we execute a perfect high speed takeoff. As I'm heading back, I notice a familiar pony in the fray, golden fur, white mane, he's too far for me to see his cutie mark, but I know that cutie mark, an arc blast. I howl over the wind, "Flash, catch!" I wait a moment and send a bolt at him.

He turns his head and sees the bolt coming in, he catches it in his wings, I throw another bolt at Discord and he directs another of my bolts at the monster, a two pronged attack, he sees one coming and bats it away, the other hits his eagle's claw, once again flashing the body part out of time. He howls and flails, missing both of us. I throw another bolt, this one he almost casually deflects. It's good to know he has to be aware of the bolts to deflect them.

"You are a one trick pony," he sneers as his lion’s paw comes around and smacks me, hard. I slam into the ground, and I'm stunned.

"Well, this sucks," I say as I get slowly to my feet. I spread my wings and feel that they are uninjured. In moments I'm back in the air as more of the Wonderbolts reserves continue harassing the draconequus. One other magical pegasus is using his special talent, telekinesis, to throw massive boulders at Discord. He reaches out to squash the Wonderbolt, only to have the limb zapped away by a desperate bolt sent by me. The other magic user dives to safety, still throwing anything he can grab with his power at the monster. I fly up high, so I've got a clear shot. I start charging my wings, I'm going to send this bastard a decade out of time. I can feel my magical reserves draining as the power leaps among my feathers. I know I'll be done for a while, complete magical exhaustion, after firing this bolt, but I've got no choice. It’s better to end the threat and fall from the sky rather than let him continue his rampage.

In moments my charge is ready, I bring my wings together in front of me in a mighty flap, loosing the bolt from both wings at the same time. Just as I fire, his head turns to me and he sends a bolt of power right at me. In horror I watch my bolt and his magic mingle for a moment, then the entire mass of energy comes right at me. I have no magic left, I can't defend myself. It hits me. I scream as his voice fills my ears.


"Five score divided by four,
Your memories removed, your body confused!
For your insolence you must pay,
Cast off to a land far, far away!
I've scattered the six, and that's just the start of my tricks,
Your mind shall be weak, your outlook bleak!
Forgetting everything and living like a fool,
You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!"



I feel my own body dissolving into mist as I keep screaming. Then it's over. I'm in blackness. I look around. I look at myself, I have my own body. I hear the clip clop of hooves. I turn and see the source of them, a light blue-green pony with a two toned blonde mane. I know this pony. She comes up to me and opens her mouth…

My eyes pop open and I jerk up out of bed. I look over at my wife, she is sleeping peacefully. I rotate in the bed so I can put my feet on the floor and switch on the bedside light to its lowest setting. I look at my feet in the dim light. My middle toe is wider and it looks as though the rest of my toes are starting to fuse together. I sigh, I'm going to be walking on hooves now. That's going to be interesting. I pull forward my boxers, and yup, it's still there, thank God. I change into some pajama pants so I can walk around the house. As I'm heading down stairs, I can hear the television playing something. It takes me a moment to identify the voice on the TV. That sounds like Twilight Sparkle. Sounds like my daughter is up, watching more of that show. I check my phone and see it's five in the morning. I finish coming down the stairs. Then I stop, looking at the blonde head visible. That hair cut isn't shoulder length blonde, it's buzz cut blonde. It's my son. This is a surprise. I come around and sit down, twitching my tail to the side as I sit. I get a good look at my son, he has tears in his eyes.

"Not so cool now, is it Dylan?"

He apparently didn't notice me sitting down. He jerks and then uses his sleeve to wipe his eyes.

"Want to talk about it, son?"

He looks down.

After several seconds, "No matter what, Dylan, I'm still your dad."

He jumps up. "No, you aren't going to be my dad for much longer, you are going to be a pony mom!" his voice cracks as he yells at me. "I had a cool dad. He worked really hard, but he also spent as much time with me as he can. He took me fishing, he helped me get my first deer. He even gutted it for me." The tears are coming hot and heavy right now, I reach out to hug him, and he spins away and glares at me, "And now, he's dying. He's going to be some weird pony." He sits down on the couch and covers his face with his hands. "What am I going to do?"

I sigh. "I'm not dying, Dylan. I'm not leaving either."

"You aren't going to Equestria? Back where you came from?"

I spread my hands wide. "Dylan, damn it, I don't even have the first clue where Equestria is. And my priorities haven't changed. I may have this crazy body change, but the man you know as your father will live on…" I take a moment and gather myself. "Maybe in a new body, but I'm still me. You aren't going to lose me."

"What about Aunt Maddie?"

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it." I sigh. "I don't know what she is going to want to do. But for all I know, Discord banished us all here, and there is no way to make it back to Equestria."

"Do you want to go back there?"

"Dylan, I have no clue what Equestria is really like. All I know is from the little bit we see from the show. I don't know what happened to the Princesses, I don't know what happened to Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends. I wasn't even a background pony, I was…" I search for words, waving my hands around, "a guest pony I guess. I have about forty minutes of screen time in five seasons of this show. First as a reckless foil for Rainbow Dash, and then I am redeemed by her, and join the Wonderbolts. The trouble is…" I feel tears starting to form in my eyes. "I can see a lot of how I am in that pony. And I'm not talking the body. When I was younger, before my life was complete with you, your sister, and your mom, I was a lot like her. I was a wild child. I drove my parents to distraction. I was the kid jumping off the roof of the house with the plastic bag thinking it would be a parachute. I was the one who got on the skateboard and looked for empty pools to ride in. And what I did with a bicycle, I don't want you even attempting. I was crazy, and I pushed myself to the edge. It's a wonder that I never broke a single bone in all my adventures."

"Just like Lightning Dust?"

I smile sadly. "Just like her."

He looks at me, his green eyes penetrating my soul. "What changed? You aren't like that anymore."

I have to smile at him. "I'm still more like her than I'd like to admit. But, yes. I have settled down a lot, I had to. Once your mom told me she was pregnant with you, I had just started in the trade, and her and I sat down and set out goals for us to accomplish. Get the journeyman's, get a masters license, buy or build an electrical contractor. We set those goals, and I busted my ass and accomplished them." I sigh, "I'm not letting anything get in the way of taking care of you all."

The tears in his eyes are starting to ebb, "You promise, Dad?"

I nod.

I'm surprised by a hug, for the last couple of years, my son has been too cool to give his old man a hug, I hug him back fiercely. "No matter what, son. Everything will end up okay, even if I do finish transforming into a pony, I'm still here for you."

"Thank you, Dad." I can feel his voice on my chest.

"Morning, Dad." A small voice pipes up. I look over and see my daughter, her hair a sleepy halo around her head. She sits down and grabs the remote. I look up, Season 5, episode 25 and 26. The series finale of Friendship is Magic.

Forty four minutes later I sit back. "That was pretty intense."

My son looks over at me. "Even more intense after the season 4 ending. I thought Discord was truly reformed after that."

I look at him questioningly, I haven't watched enough of the show to understand. In answer, he inserts the season 4 disc.

After watching season four, it's early afternoon. Maddie and my wife are still zonked out. My wife can handle alcohol pretty well, but the emotional shock she's gone through, well. I know she needed the rest. I turn to my daughter.

"You've seen these episodes before?"

She nods.

"Hannah, so Discord wasn't truly reformed?"

She looks thoughtful. "I think he was tempted by more power than he had ever believed it would be possible for him to have. So he took the opportunity to take it. But the season finale didn't give details on why he turned, just that he turned evil again. I don't know why. Maybe when you and the mane six confront him…"

"Hold it, Hannah," I interrupt her. "I'm not confronting squat."

She stands up and points at the credits still rolling. "Daddy, he banished the mane six, he banished you, and the Wonderbolts. How many ponies did Discord banish to our world? We need to find them, we need to find a way to get you back to Equestria, so you can defeat him."

My son looks at his sister. "You want our dad to go away? To have us never see him again?"

She looks down. "Well, no. But all those poor ponies..."

I pipe up, "Can take care of themselves. We don't know how to get to Equestria. And I have to take care of both of you."

"But-"

"No butts, Hannah. We need to take care of ourselves. And we will certainly help any other ponies we find." I sigh again. "But our priority has to be this family." She crosses her arms and glowers at me. "Hannah, honey, they may not even be in this world? For all we know there are a lot of worlds that Discord sent the ponies too. Until I have more information, I'm going to focus on you guys, my sister, and your mother. Understood?"

She nods slowly as she subsides.

"Good morning."

I turn and see my sister, her face looks defeated. I know that feeling. I'm fighting that feeling myself. I nod to my children and they take the hint, it's time for Dad and Auntie to have some time to talk. My wife stumbles in just as the kids disappear upstairs.

I start off recounting my dream. "And what's so unusual, I have never been one to remember my dreams. And having one so vivid, and it being connected to a show I never watched until yesterday tells me there is a connection."

All through my recounting of my dream, Maddie's eyes were getting wider and wider. "I saw him hit you with his magic. I was trying to trip him up with a hard hit to the legs. I got him, but he swiped me with his tail and broke my wing. I ended up on the ground. One wing a ruined mess." Tears start flowing from her eyes. "It hurt so much. But I was so angry at Discord. He was destroying my home. He killed our Princesses! He must pay for that."

I look at my sister seriously. "Do you know how to get to Equestria?"

She looks down. "Well, no, I don't."

I bring my sister into a hug. "I don't know what the future holds, Maddie. But we are going to make things work. You will always have Helen and I to help."

She sniffles. "Thank you, Lightning."

"No problem." I guess I'm getting used to being referred to as Lightning. How much of this transformation is going to affect my mind, I wonder. I look at my sister, her skull has somewhat restructured itself. She's certainly got more masculine features right now. Her pony ears have grown a bit as well, and her eyes, I swear have doubled in size. I guess the animated look that the ponies have in the show are how we will eventually look. I sigh.

I'm interrupted by an electronic chirp, I grab my phone, silently cursing its existence, it's one of the client companies. I thumb the answer call button.

"Lightning Electric, this is Mike."

"Mike, huh? You don't sound like him ma'am."

I sigh, my voice is changing apparently. "It's been an interesting day Juan."

"No kidding Mike, we've got a problem over at the Produced Water Injection station."

"What is it?" I reach over and grab a notepad and write down some of the details as Juan brings me up to speed on the PWI. "Alright, I'll get a guy on it."

Ending the call, I scroll down to the shop's on call phone, after a few rings I hear a gruff, "H'lo?"

"Jim, it's Mike, you need to hustle over to the PWI."

"No can do, boss man. There were apparently some lightning strikes out there last night, half the north field is down, I'm trying to find the burned line. I had to pull in all the linemen crew to take care of this. And remember, it's snowing right now."

I look out the window and see the soft flakes fluttering outside. I frown, "Do you need help? Should I call in more guys?"

"Nah, I got it, but it will be a few hours, and with three quarters of the field down, I'm going to have to stay out until it's done. Got anyone else who can hit the PWI?"

I sigh, the on call part of the job can be a real pain. "No, I'll have to take care of it." After ending the call, I turn to my wife and sister. "Well, such is life, gotta go."

My wife looks at me with wide eyes. "In your current condition?"

"What? My hands still work, and I've got a job to do." I think about it for a moment. "I'll wear the balaclava and my hard hat, that will disguise the hair."

“What are you going to do about the cartoon eyes and the fact they are gold?"

I smile. "Tinted safety glasses, what else?" I run upstairs to change into my fire retardant clothing. And in another twenty minutes, I'm on the road. No matter what, over a hundred people depend on me for their livelihood, I'm not letting any of them down.

***

"Hey Mike."

"Yes, Juan?"

"Why are you wearing sunglasses inside the PWI building?"

I smile at him. "Juan, I had a really wild night last night."

He just laughs at me as he walks me through the idle equipment. There is no power anywhere here. That's not a good thing. I walk outside and head over to the main switch gear. As I get closer, I can feel my nose flair, is that mouse droppings I smell? I disregard the smell and open up the harmonic filters, no indication of an arc blast or anything to tell me why the breakers tripped. I check, everything looks good, I open the main switch gear and use my new tools to open the access panels to get to the terminations on the thousand amp breakers. Pulling out my multi-meter, I check for continuity to ground, the meter stays silent and shows overload on the resistance meter, that's a good thing. No ground fault. After a few minutes of work, I notice the smell again.

"Hey, Juan. Have the mice been thick?"

"Insanely thick, Mike, we've been finding the little bastards in process vessels, and everything that gives them shelter to build a nest."

"Well, I can smell them here."

He sniffs a few times. "Don't smell anything."

I smile as I close everything up, I guess my pony senses are more sensitive than my old human ones, well, there has gotta be some upside to turning into a pony. "Well, stand back. I'm going to turn on the power."

I throw the switches for the three breakers. Lights come on, and I can hear the sound of small motors starting to whine. Sounds good to me. I follow him inside as he goes through the startup sequence and in a matter of about ten minutes, the PWI is back up and running.

"Juan, I want to check that main switchgear one more time. I've just got a feeling."

In moments I'm opening the main door on the outdoor switchgear. Pulling out an infrared thermometer, I point it at the breaker face, the temp isn't bad at all. Then I hear crackling. I look up and see sparking from the top of the gear. Oh no!

I slam into Juan, knocking him back from the gear as it fails. The arc is not being extinguished though, I see fire extending from the vent holes and then a bolt of electricity shoots at me, I feel something inside me and I reach out a hand. The bolt hits me and I can feel the power run around inside me. I also feel that, once connected, I have control of the power. I know what went wrong, a phase to phase fault, and since it didn’t clear, I know it's on the line side of the gear. I look over at the power pole on the edge of the location. The massive surge is causing the wires to jump. I will the bolt to die off and it amazingly does. Leaving the switchgear a smoking mess. I walk over to the gear, it's dead now. A quick glance shows two cutouts on the main are popped. That was amazing.

I turn and see Juan looking up at me from the ground. "What the fuck just happened?"

I reach my hand out to help him up. "That, my friend, was a phase to phase fault."

"I know that, but the electricity came out and hit you. And you’re still alive!"

I look down at myself. The surge of electricity has singed all of my clothes, I'm smoking, and not in a good way, but I don't feel any pain. I unbutton my shirt and look at my chest, nothing out of the ordinary. What the hell? I should be on the ground in excruciating pain, burns all over my body. But I'm one hundred percent okay. I do the only thing I can think of, I pull out my pack of cigarettes and light one up, offering one to Juan, who takes one gratefully.

"You know we shouldn't be smoking on location."

I chuckle. "Too late." As I flick my Zippo to life and light my smoke., "Now, that. That was weird. They don't call me Lightning Dust for nothing."

All I get from him is a really weird look.

***

The gravity of what I did hits me on the drive back to the house. I look over at the setting sun. "What the hell am I going to do, I'm really turning into her!" I pull over on the side of the road and put my head on the steering wheel. "This can't be real!" I lean back and hit the steering wheel. That felt good, I hit it again, and again. Venting my frustration on an inanimate object is helping a little. 

My special talent is lightning, it's power, it's electricity. How much of Lightning Dust's personality ended up in Michael Shaw? Now I'm exhibiting her special talent. I let the tears flow. I don't have anyone to watch me break down like this. I don't like crying, but damn it, I don't have any choice in it right now. I howl at the injustice of it all. After about twenty minutes I'm able to pull out a handkerchief and wipe my face. I needed that. But I don't think I'll be telling anypony about it. Finally I'm back at the speed limit, heading home.

***

I open the front door, noting the smell of cooking. A few sniffs say that my wife is cooking and it's going to be Mexican food tonight. I smile as I head upstairs for a quick shower. In the shower I take notice of the changes my body has been going through. My feet 
are really hooves now, I've got light blue-green fur growing from around the hooves and is apparently slowly heading up my legs. I'm glad for the non slip tile in the shower stall, my feet are pretty stable here. My wife must have gone shopping while I was gone, I notice a bottle of mane and tail shampoo. I have to laugh at that. My wife thinks of everything. I lather up the tail and finish washing. Once I'm on all fours, this is going to be pretty hard. Thank God when I had the house built I had a large shower stall installed, it was specifically for fun times with the wife playing in water. And now it's going to be used to wash a pony. I sigh as I shut off the water and grab a towel. Exiting the shower I wipe off the condensation on the mirror and look at myself. My face has elongated, I have more of a muzzle now. And distinctly feminine features. I open my mouth and examine my teeth, they are flat for grinding food, and no canines I had as an omnivorous human. Ugh. I look down and see that the fur is slowly heading north, I guess I'll be saying goodbye to a part of me that I've had for thirty-five years. My hooves are pretty stable, but how it’s going to be once I'm quadrupedal, I have no clue. I flick my tail in annoyance and step into a pair of sweatpants and pull on a t-shirt. Everyone is sitting down at the table as I get down the stairs.

"Well, I know what that cutie mark on my flank means now." Four heads turn to me in unison as I take a bite of my wife's chicken enchiladas. I smile as I recount the events of the day.  My wife frowns.

"Honey, that could have killed you."

"I know, but I felt the power inside me as the electricity reached out to me." I stop for a moment, flexing my fingers, my middle finger is now wider than it was this morning, I'm going to be losing my hands soon. I sigh. "Lightning Dust had magic. I told you that earlier, but feeling it like this, it was amazing. I think once I have my wings, it's going to get interesting."

"What about the plant? I mean it's main power is out, right?"

"Well, they are going to have their power out until a new switch gear can be brought out and installed, and anything else that was damaged is replaced. Not something within the scope of the on call team. I'll have the guys handle it on Monday."

My wife looks at me seriously. "And what are you going to tell your crew?"

I stop for a  moment, I haven't even thought of that. What the hell am I going to say to my workers? "Crap, Helen. We need to get a hold of our lawyers, I don't know if I'll have anything to do legally when it comes to the company when I turn into a pony." I slam my hands down, "I know, I'll transfer ownership of the company to you." I grin at my wife.

"I don't know anything about your job, I'm a CPA damn it."

"And most of what you'll be doing will have nothing to do with being an electrician, it's all about organizing. Keep the guys working."

"And who'll be the master on record?"

"My card is good for another year and a few months, we'll get another master trained up. We've got a few go getters in the shop, we can persuade them to get that license. That's what I did, remember?"

She smiles at me. We might be able to make this work.