//------------------------------// // Chapter 19. Senator Corddis // Story: Dust on the Wind // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// "You what?" "I think I've found Discord!" Mindy chirps. I shake my head, Discord is back in Equestria, why would he banish us to get us out of his hair, only to come here himself, "That's impossible." "No, it isn't. I was looking at the searches that Soarin has done. And it gave me an idea. We've noticed that ponies that upload videos and pictures of themselves to the internet don't go viral, all the major governments are denying our existence despite evidence that is leaking out. So, what do we get? There is something that is suppressing things spreading." I think for a moment, "But the President said…" "I know what he said, Dusty, and I adjusted the search algorithms to compensate for active government interference. And yet, that didn't stop the hits. So I kept digging, and I found him." I leap up onto my hooves, "So maybe we can kick his flank?" "Uh huh!" "I've got to tell Irony, we need to get going." "Hold on, Dustie, you aren't confronting him without me, I have a bone to pick with him." "Where is he?" "Washington DC, where else?" I sigh, "Mindy, Montana is the opposite direction. That will add to our drive. But we will come get you." "No need, I've figured out a new spell, hold on a second." I hear the chime of her magic, then there is a pop and she's right in front of me. In thin air. She smiles at me for a second, I blink a few times, why isn't she falling? Then I realize, I open my mouth to scream don't look down, when she looks. She panics and starts to fall. Gotta love those cartoon physics, but screw physics, she's Mindy. I launch myself at her, catching her with feet to spare. Then I gently set her on the ground. "Ya could have told me that you were on a cloud, Dusty!" She says after catching her breath. "How did you do that?" "Oh, the teleport? I figured out I can use the cell phone connection to teleport to the location of the other side of the line. I tried it a few times, but I didn't expect to end up a thousand feet in the air." I give my oldest friend a hug, "I'm glad I was able to catch you, Mindy." "You and me both, sister." We trot into the farmhouse and gather up Irony and Moon Shadow. Trixie and Flash plan on taking the bus with some of the ponies that want to hang around on Earth back to Montana. As we are loading up into the 442, I hear a voice behind me. "Going off on an adventure without me, big sis?" I turn and see Soarin, a goofy grin on his face, he continues, "You know, this time, I'm not getting left behind." And before I can say a word he's in the back seat of the car. I sigh and climb in the front with Irony. And with a twist of the key, we are off in a spray of gravel. First thing, Mindy updates everyone on what she told me. Then she expands upon it, "From everything that the search systems are telling me, and I'm not the IT specialist that Soarin is." Soarin smiles and nods, "You've done a fine job, Mindy." She smiles at him warmly. I take a moment, is there something going on with those two? I shake my head as she continues, "Well, I've found the main place the government is affecting things, and it's our friends over in Fort Meade and San Antonio, Tx." The NSA? Well, that's actually pretty obvious, they have the premier cyber security duties along with the Military Cyber command in San Antonio. My dad, a former Army man, knew enough to be cautious of them, and has warned me repeatedly about them. "But after filtering out their interference, I had to dive pretty deep into some of the shadier parts of the internet." She smiles again at Soarin, "But those security programs you wrote are doing the trick, I've got zombies all over the world doing the actual searches, and tracing it back to Montana would be an absolute miracle." Soarin grins back. I look at Soarin, and over at Mindy. Eeyup, when have they had time to start something? Well, I can't think of a better mare for Soarin. I shake my head again, I need to keep focused. Soarin speaks up, and his words are nothing but geek to me. I have a passing interest in computers, I know enough not to click on things to screw them up. And I have an IT guy at the job, who also maintains my personal computers. Mindy and Soarin geek back and forth until Soarin is happy with Mindy's answers, then she switches back to English for us commoners, "But in the end, I was able to trace most of the interference to one point, and it's a server in Washington DC. And after a little digging, I was able to pull up the identity information." "C'mon Mindy," Irony growls, "Who is it?" She puffs out her chest proudly, "Senator Corddis." "The senator who is challenging the President?" "The one who will be President if the polls are to be believed." I slowly sink my head to the dash of the 442, "So, us five ponies are to go up against a Presidential contender, arguably one of the most powerful men in the world. What are we going to do?" I hear a low growl deep in Irony's chest, "Are you sure it's Discord?" Mindy giggles, "Well, that's the most obvious thing. Cord Dis, Dis Cord. It's an obvious play on his name." "I've seen more unusual family names. Are you sure?" Irony asks. "Sure I'm sure, Irony. The odds that it wouldn't be him, given that I can't find any real history about him up until a few years ago, yet he has all the documents associated with a person of his apparent age. He's either a Russian plant, or he's Discord." I roll my eyes, "I would believe Russian plant from the bad old days easier, if I didn't know Discord was real." She giggles, "I know." Together we speed to the east. ***June 1st, 2020*** Another long day of driving. Mindy, Moon Shadow, and Irony all sharing driving duties while Soarin and I spend some time in the air from time to time during the drive. We do happen to see a few ponies driving west as we head to DC, but finally we are on the beltway. Another night time start to a mission, but we are in luck, the sun is just about to set, and we are in the nation's capital. Ahead of us is the Senate office building on Constitution avenue. Moon Shadow pulls the 442 into a parking spot. As the engine quiets, Irony gets out and moves to the trunk of the car. Inserting her key, a quick turn, and the trunk opens. She pulls out the duffel bag containing her armor, she pulls out another cloth wrapped bundle and sets it in front of me. "I made this, before I even met you. I didn't know it was for you until I saw you in action. There is no pony I know that can use this effectively, but you, Dust." With a flick of my hoof, the cloth falls away, revealing… "Oh my Celestia, Irony. You made Dust a set of wingblades." Soarin breathes. Memories surface, training with a set like this. I move closer, "Those are gold inlays, Irony." "Just leaf, I wouldn't let ornamentation override the functionality of them." I lift up the blades, the blades themselves are extremely sharp, "And the engraving? This must have taken weeks to make." Irony shrugs her shoulders, "It started as an unfocused project, where I just let my hands do what they will, by the time I figured out what they were, I was nearly done with the engraving. About two weeks of work, I'd say. Before I changed, I really didn't know what they were, with the hinges for them to stay along the leading edges of your wing so you can fly wearing them. When I packed to head to your place, I put them in because I felt I would meet the one these were for." She smiles brightly, "And I did." I place a hoof on them, "I can't, Irony. It's too much…" I feel tears leaking down my face. A hand is placed on my withers, "Dust, these are yours. I've learned that every pegasi has differences to their wings, each set of wing blades must be custom made for the pegasus that orders them. I'll bet you money they are an exact fit for you." "Go on, Dust. Put them on." Moon Shadow says. She levitates out another duffel, the zipper opens and a set of armor floats out and assembles around her body. The shaffron fits over her head, the crinet attaches to the shaffron and drapes back to protect her neck. The peytral hooks to protect her chest and finally the crupper onto her flanks. All of it is lacquered midnight blue, and on the crupper, Moon Shadow's cutie mark, a crescent moon partially hidden by night clouds with a purple star on the lower tip of the moon, is emblazoned on each flank. I step back from the now intimidating mare. "That is beautiful, Moon." She giggles, sounding quite odd coming from a mare that looks that fearsome, "Irony made it, and I made it better, it's enchanted, one of the few spells I could remember at first. It weighs less than ten pounds, it's similar to your inborn magic Dust. And a few other tricks I've figured out, I won't make a racket every time I take a step. And a few other surprises for any magic user foolish enough to attack me." Her smile becomes an evil smirk. Note to self, don't throw lightning at Moon Shadow. Finally we are ready. I find, after fitting my wings into the wing blades, which are a perfect fit, as Irony predicted, that I can fold my wings comfortably with them on, but ponies might want to not get to close to a pegasus with their blades on, though. We trot down the sidewalk. Heading into the building under the cover of Moon Shadow's privacy spell, we are able to make it up to an office. The label on the door read 'Sen. Corddis'. Irony opens the door without any warning and we all file into the secretary's office. Moon Shadow lets down the spell. The one person working, a bespectacled young man turns around with a jerk seeing five ponies, two in full armor, suddenly appearing in front of him. Irony steps forward, "We have to have words with your boss." She says as she places a hand on the door handle. Opening the door handle, we follow into the room. Which looks like a normal executive office. Leather sofa, huge oak desk, large windows showing the last glimmers of the sun in the western sky. The large office chair is turned to the window. I look around, "I would have thought Discord's office would look…" I feel the plush carpeting under my hooves, "different." I hear a low chuckle from the office chair. And in true super villain style, it rotates, slowly revealing our enemy. Finally I can see the Senator himself. And he looks completely ordinary. A man in his mid forties, a neat dark blue pin stripe suit, a solid light lavender shirt with and blood red tie. Though something about him makes me think he should have a white cat in his lap. "I don't think a cat would be appropriate, Lightning Dust. They shed." He says. Irony steps forward, "So, you are Discord." He waves a hand, "Corddis, Discord. Either works for me." She hefts her mace, "I'm going to kill you." "Oh, I don't think so. Irony." A snap of the fingers and we are not in the office anymore. "I am still Discord. Or more accurately, a shadow of the Discord you knew. The rest of me is back in Equestria. Firmly ensconced in power. And your friends from Iowa will not have a chance against me." I take a moment to look around, we are in a grass field, miles from civilization. Though the sun is up and bright in the sky. A flash of light and he's next to me, "And you, Lightning Dust. Ever since you discovered your nature, you've been following your plan." He laughs richly, "From the seat of the pants flier back in Equestria to a human who thinks ahead, and plans for contingencies, talk about a change." He bends down in a way impossible for the human form to stare at me in the eyes, "What part of Dust survived the change? Is there any of the old Lightning Dust in there?" He finishes with a knuckle to my forehead. He moves inhumanly fast to avoid a swipe from my wings. "Ah ah ah, your propensity to lash out is still there I see." He tilts his head back and laughs heartily. I look around, there are several Corddis around all of us, talking to each of us, but all I can hear is the one in front of me. I take a step forward and growl, "Enough of your tricks, Discord." "Oh, but I've only begun my tricks." Once again, he snaps his fingers.