//------------------------------//
// Chapter 25, Back to Business 
// Story: Dust on the Wind 
// by Sparky Brony 
//------------------------------//

"Ugh, this is boring!" I moan at my computer in my office. The rest of the bodies of the ponies killed by Discord were delivered to us by federal authorities, allowing us to perform last rites according to each pony's tribe. The earth ponies were buried. The unicorns were subjected to magical dissolution, and the pegasi were cremated. The mourning was nearly complete after a week. I've been trying to focus on my family, my loves, and my company. 

Though with my office staff, there wasn't much for me to do. Business was hectic, we've been inundated with work longer than I've owned this company. And summer is always the busiest of times. I use a new innovation that one of my guys developed for ponies to type. It replaces the standard keyboard, and has two paddles and a floor switch. Each letter and number has a direction, best thought of in the cardinal and ordinal directions of the compass. With the hoof switch used to actually confirm the letter or number I was trying to type. North and north is A, North and North East is B, and so on. That gives sixty four different combinations. My former engineer turned electrician explained to me. With a few days of practice, it's natural to me. The new oversize mouse helps when using with hooves. Now all we have to do is market that to the ponies in this world. 

I have to laugh. How many ponies are going to stay here? Are we able to reproduce in this world? If we do, are we going to be a competing species on this planet? Or in symbiosis with the humans? I sincerely hope the latter. We can help them with so much. Though with the human's magic coming back slowly, will we see what that manifests as. I 
check my email, nothing new. I'm caught up. This elicits a grin. I hop off my chair and move around my desk. Just as I'm reaching for the door handle, someone knocks on the door. I smile as I open it. Trixie stumbles back, she wasn't expecting such a  quick response. 

"Hi Trixie!" I say as I spread my wings and start to hover.

"Dust, Trixie is happy to see you. But Trixie is troubled, and doesn't know who to really talk to about this."

I suppress a sigh and gesture for her to enter the office. I end up back in my chair, she sits in the guest chair and closes the door.

She looks unsure for a moment, then she finally speaks, "It's Mindy. Trixie is worried about her friend, Mindy."

That gets a grimace from me, Mindy has been closeted at the farm pretty much since we got back from DC and Iowa. She's communicated with Equestria Daily, and a couple of other popular brony sites, letting them know that any humans turned ponies can turn to us for help if they need it. With the revelations from DC, we are much harder to keep secret. We aren't widespread knowledge, but we aren't hiding. She's been on an earnest search, so she says, for more ponies. She's even had me help her make a youtube video, for ponies just starting their transformation. That video has over five million hits. And no doubt a lot of bronies checking their thighs daily for a cutie mark. Though the time frame was stressed, they have to be twenty five after May the first of this year. But I can see Trixie's point. She's turned into a recluse. 

I think for a moment, "Mindy is mourning. She has to work through her grief her way. She's been like that ever since we were little, the highs are really damned high, but the lows are pretty damned bad. I want to say she'll snap out of it, but it may take an outside influence."

"It will have to be you, Dust. Trixie has tried, but has only been rebuffed." 

I think. "It's been nine days since his death. She's gone through the most traumatic thing a pony can go through. Our best bet is to support her, and when she reaches out, grab on with everything we've got. But you try to bust through and make her, she'll put up a wall, and you'll drive her deeper. Trust me, Trixie. When her dad turned to the drink, she went through a very rough time, but she did come out of it. Have faith in our friend."

She looks sad, "Trixie will try. But it hurts Trixie to see a friend in so much pain."

I smile at her, "It hurts Lightning Dust too."

I get a smirk from her for that. But she hops off the chair and opens the door. We head outside, Trixie heads over to the car she used to get here. Calling over her shoulder, "And Trixie likes the new sign."

Sign, what new sign? I turn and take a look and then head immediately inside. I head into the office.

"Pat, what the hell?"

She looks at me, a big grin on her face, "Don't you like it?"

"Why would I like it?"

"It's you."

I sigh, I spy the collection of business cards on her desk for visitors to grab. They mirror the new sign on my shop. The old Lightning Electric words, but now there's a new silhouette behind it, instead of a pump jack, a pegasus with its wings spread, standing on its hind legs with the front legs kicked out. And to top it off, on the business card, under proprietor, someone grabbed a vector off the internet of me. And my smiling pony mug is on the card.

"I know it's me, but I'm thinking we should stay low key."

"Well, it's popular, we've gone through a box of the cards already."

I sit heavily, each box contains a thousand printed cards. "So, our name has been getting out."

She smiles, "Yes, and we've actually gotten more applications for work. Apparently there are some brony electricians, I've got six journeymen going through the hiring process, they will be ready for interviews in a week or so. And we are already lining up the work for them. And since we've got more journeymen coming in, that means we can hire about a dozen more apprentices. You know that that means."

I am floored, "We need to buy a dozen more trucks. Boy, the Chrysler company is going to be happy with us. Have you lined out new service beds yet?"

"They are on order, as well as multiple complements of a new truck setup when it comes to tools. We have the checklist going."

I smile at her, such a big expansion in business might mean we won't be having to delay the purchase of the roustabout company for very long. I finally trot out of the shop with a big grin on my face. Things are looking up. And I know I'm stuck here for at least the next two and a half years. So, we are in good shape. I end up bouncing out of the shop. 

***

At the farm, I knock on the door.

"Go away, I'm busy."

I press my forehead to the door, "Mindy, you are always busy. We need our friend back."

"I'm still here, Dustie. I'm just super busy."

I'm finally tired of waiting, I press a wing to the door handle, it's locked. I surge my magic through my wing. I hear the handle drop off the inside and I can push the door open easily. I get a good look at my friend, her coat is matted and dusty, her perfectly straight hair is dirty. And the room smells badly of horse. I crinkle my nose.

"Mindy, you get in the shower, or I'm going to have to drag you outside and bring a raincloud down, I'll even perform the rainblow dry on you. But it will be cold. Easier to do it inside.

"But Dustie, I've got to keep track of the systems here. There are likely ponies starting their transformation right this instant, and I need to help them."

I roll my eyes, "Mindy. I'm declaring a girls night out, you are coming with us, either of your own volition, or you are being dragged."

Her horn lights, "You wouldn't."

I grin at her, "I would, and you may be a very powerful unicorn, but would you be able to stand up to both Moon Shadow and Trixie?"

Her ears fall and her horn extinguishes, "I guess not." 

I smile brightly, "Then hop in the shower."

***

Less than an hour later, Mindy, Moon Shadow, Irony, Trixie, and I are in one of the bars in town. I throw them a credit card to start a tab, we are going to have a good time tonight. Irony brings over the first round. I love how ponies are no longer a sensation every time we show up. In fact, one of the bartenders is a pegasus. And he's as dexterous with his wings as any human with hands. We take up a table and settle in.

I decide to start, "Since Discord, I've been noticing my memories of Equestria have been coming back. Slowly."

I get nods from around the table.

Moon Shadow looks happy, "And I've been talking to Princess Luna quite often in the night. It's so good to have her council back."

Irony takes a sip of her drink, "I remember the second changeling war, I remember more of Princess Twilight Sparkle. But a lot is still foggy."

Mindy giggles, I'm glad to see my friend at least be able to giggle. I nudge Irony with a hoof under the table. She gets my hint. We both work to try to get Mindy to open up more. And it happens, slowly. 

Pretty soon, her words are slurring, and I've got a very slight buzz going on. I don't feel like getting wasted, so I keep ordering drinks for Mindy, but I keep to soda. I notice everypony but Mindy has gone off alcohol. 

Eventually she's on her way to a real rip roaring drunk. But she remains herself. I hear a lot more giggling from her. 

I've got Mindy hanging onto my shoulder, tears starting to form, but she's able to control herself. I see the look, "I miss Soarin too. He's gone."

"He's not completely gone." She giggles.

I know that the five stages of grief are somewhat debunked, but some of them apply, and denial is not something that Mindy has ever been party to. She takes things as they are. I start to open my mouth.

"You want to know how I know he's not completely gone?" She breathes her boozy breath right in my face.

I roll my eyes, "Because with our memories of him, he can never fully die?"

She giggles, and keeps giggling. Soon she's full on laughing, we all look around, embarrassed at how much of a spectacle she's making. Her only excuse is she is beyond simply three sheets to the wind right now.

Finally her laughing dies off, "No, silly. That's not it. While it's true, but our memories of him are not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a part of him that is alive. Actually alive."

Confusion all around. She looks around brightly, smiling.

"You don't get what I'm saying, do you?"

We all shake our heads. Then what she's saying finally adds up in my head. I narrow my eyes, "You're not."

She smiles, "Ahh Dustie, always the first."

Irony looks at me, then at Mindy, then back at me, "Are you gals saying what I think you are saying?"

Moon Shadow pipes up, "Are you sure you should be drinking if you are in that state?"

Mindy giggles, "I could drink each one of you under the table, one after the other. I'm a bit buzzed right now. But you gals want to get me drunk, soooo…" She takes a gulp of the shot in front of her, "I'm going to enjoy free booze." She giggles again, "And getting drunk this early won't do anything, many new mothers have figured that out, to their chagrin." Her face falls, "I was never able to tell him. I was going to when we got to Equestria."

"And you know this for certain?" Trixie asks.

"Eeyup."

"How?" I ask.

"It's not like I have a test to prove it. Our hormones are different enough from humans for a human test to not be accurate. I just know. And I'm talking twins!"

"You know?"

She nods her head, "I know. I went through some information on equine pregnancy here on the internet. And that only made me more sure. I even performed a magical test. I'm going to have foals!" She bounces up and down.

I see some of the curl is coming back to her hair. I smile at her.

She hops over and hangs on me, looking at all of us. "I was really down in the dumps. Thank you all for bringing me out here. It's really nice that you all look out for me…"

She interrupted by shouting on the other side of the bar. I look over and see a table tumbling and half a dozen humans are backing away. But a pegasus and another human are trying to stare each other down. I know this pegasus. Named Sparks, he's on the weather team. I can hear more shouting, but the general din of the bar doesn't allow me to hear what's being said. I pull away from my friends and head in the direction of the budding fight. When I see the pegasus rear back a foreleg and he smashes the human in the face. The human takes the hit pretty well. And apparently, both are quite drunk. They end up thrashing on the floor, both trying to get a good hit in, but both are so inebriated it looks like neither is really up to a real fight. I flash forward.

"What the hell is going on here?" I shout as I grab the pegasus and drag him away from the human. I can feel the pegasus sobbing in my grasp.

The human slowly stands up, bleeding from the nose and mouth. "That asshole hit me."

Sparks screams back, "Because you said I abandoned my race, my humanity by embracing being a pony."

I look at the human, "This has been a hard time for us all. Can this be the end of it?" I let go of the pegasus, who takes the opportunity to jump forward and bowl the human over. He ends up on top, sobbing and hitting the man has hard as he can in the face. I sweep forward and bowl Sparks over. I shout at him, "No matter what he said. Those are just words. Don't let his words bother you!"

"I'm right, you never were a human, you just wore a human face for twenty five years, you have always been a pony inside." The human says, causing me to whirl on him.

"You son of a bitch. This transformation has been hard on every pony involved. Some of us like this transformation, some don't. And you don't have any right to say anything about it."

I turn back to the empty space that the pegasus pony occupied moments ago. I look around and see the side door of the bar, it's slowly closing. I flash towards the door and slam through. Looking up, Sparks is on his wings, trying to get away as fast as he can. But he's not as fast as I am. I flash forward. 

In seconds I grab onto him. Old memories taking hold on how to take down an uncooperative pegasus. I'm off his center of balance, I spread my wings to act like air brakes.

"What the fuck, Dust? Are you trying to make me crash?"

I nod grimly as he tries to flap harder, but he's losing altitude.

"To give up, let yourself go limp, and I'll fly you back."

"NO!" He screams as he keeps flapping his wings. 

All I've got left is patience at this point. I angle my wings to direct him to crash on the street rather than crashing through someone's roof. He screams as we go down, I finally bring my wings in just before we hit the ground. I take the brunt of the impact and let us roll. In moments he's shaking his head. Dazed. I spread my wings and grab him around the barrel. I take him back to the bar.

"Uh oh." I say as I notice a familiar pickup truck with light bar flashing. Landing, I guide the pony into the bar. I hear the wail of another siren in the distance. I survey what's going on in the bar. Three sheriffs deputies are there, along with Bill Connelly, the sheriff. Irony and Moon are being interviewed, the human in the fight is sitting down, one of the deputies is working on him, first aid kit open on the table next to them. The siren finally stops. And quickly three paramedics rush through the door. I move over to Sheriff Connelly. 

"Here is the pony involved in the fight."

The pony in question is now having trouble staying conscious, he slowly lays down on the floor. His eyes starting to drift closed. He gets a hard thumb in the side from the sheriff, jolting him awake.

"Is that necessary?" I ask.

"Yes, he's going to jail. The witness statements are pretty much unanimous. He threw the first punch."

I look at the pony fighting to stay conscious, and back to the Sheriff, "He was being taunted."

"I know, but he is the one who took it physical." He looks at the pegasus, "You are under arrest."

"Wait a moment, on what charge?"

"Until everything is sorted out, he's going to spend the night in lockup. The charge will be drunk and disorderly."

I wing hug the poor pegasus. I look at the sheriff. "Can I take him for you?"

He looks at me sternly, "You know that's not possible."

I sigh, then look at the pegasus, "Just go with the sheriff. We will sort this out." He nods his head in a daze. I look back at the sheriff. "You are aware that ponies are a good deal stronger than humans."

He nods, "And we aren't going to have a problem with this one. Are we?"

He hangs his head low, "No, sir."

Sheriff Connelly smiles and walks the pony out to his truck. While we were talking, the paramedics had completed their work and were loading the human into the ambulance. I'm finally able to get back to my friends.

"I'm sorry, the Sheriff asked for my cooperation when it comes to any legal issues with the ponies."

Irony smiles and nudges me, "I know, Dust."

***

The next morning I'm at the sheriff's office, bright and early. My checkbook ready to write for the bail of the pegasus.

"Mr. Sparks was bailed out about an hour ago." The clerk responds. Apparently not early enough.

Huh?  "By whom?"

She looks at her list. And names a name. I sit back on my haunches, that was the very human who he was fighting with. I head out of the office and take to the air. I know where the human lives. He's a roustabout for the company I'm wanting to buy. I land and knock on the door. His wife answers the door.

"I'm here to talk to Elliot." 

She smiles at me and lets me in the door. I stop in the living room and gape. The pegasus is there, along with Elliot. And Elliot is sporting a new hairdo. It's purple. Or more accurately, it's streaked purple, he's in the process of changing.

"Oh God, you are turning into a pony." I laugh.

The pegasus turns and looks at me, "Turns out the reason he was so confrontational was he discovered a cutie mark, Go ahead, Elliot, show Lightning Dust."

The young man looks down, then finally stands up and lowers the side of his sweat pants. a rock, cut like a precious gemstone. My eyes get wider and wider. I know that cutie mark, and I know that mane. I fall over laughing.

"Oh my God. Pinkie Pie is going to have to wait for a while to see her sister again." I am on the floor, on my back, helpless as the giggles keep washing over me. I finally let my mirth die down and eventually regain my hooves.

"I'm so sorry about that," I say as I wipe an eye with a hoof, "I loved the episode with you, Maud."

"Are you sure, Dust?" the pegasus asks, "He's going to turn into Maud Pie? From season four?"

I nod, I know that cutie mark, and that mane. "Eeyup."

His wife sits down next to him, she pats her belly, "And what about what's going on here? I'm three months along. What am I going to do?"

"Maude will do the right thing when she fully becomes a pony. She's going to take care of foals, no matter whether they are human, or pony. Am I right?"

The human turning into a pony sighs and nods his head, "We've been trying since we got married a year ago, and finally, we've got one on the way. Then I have to be turning into a pony."

"What can I say? Discord was an ass. If you have to blame anypony, it has to land on his head."

He seems to feel even more crushed, I move closer, he moans into his hands, "What am I going to do?"

I fold a wing over him and his wife, "I don't think your boss will have much of a problem with you turning into a pony. What do you do?"

Sobs are starting, "I'm a heavy equipment operator. I move earth for him."

I think I have a solution,  I smile brightly at him, "And you will be able to keep doing that. And, you know, I've got some heavy equipment myself. So, if you want, I've got an engineer that's been working on ponifying equipment for us. It was his idea, he's already come up with alternate controls for skid steers, and a new keyboard that's hoof friendly. He's working on dozers and track hoe's next."

I smile at thinking of the mousy little guy who can barely bend 3/4" rigid pipe, but is an absolute genius when it comes to electrical engineering. I've tried to get him to head a new design build division of the company, but he likes the field work, he just really likes to tinker. I pat him on the shoulder. "If you guys need help, you know about the farm where I've gathered the ponies. If you want to spend time there, go ahead. Any pony is welcome."

He looks at me gratefully, "Thank you Lightning Dust. And I'm sorry for my words. I freaked out."

His wife stands up suddenly, "You freaked out? We just found out you are turning in to a mare. You are turning into a girl pony." She screams, "And I've got your baby. What am I going to tell our kid? Oh, see that mare over there, that's your daddy."

"Honey, I wish I could change this, but I don't have a choice."

I look down, "There isn't much to be done, Ma'am. This was a curse, done by Discord. We banished him from this world, and from Equestria, but the effects of his spell are going to be going on for a while. More and more ponies are going to be emerging. The only thing I can say is, we will help wherever we can. If Maud here wants to keep working, he will be able to. But the changes cannot be stopped, or reversed. I've been talking to a few unicorns. They told me that the change is because the inborn magic of the ponies is reasserting itself. And if we use magic to stop the changes, it will be the same as if you close the valve on a high pressure pump."

She sits down heavily, "He would die?"

I nod solemnly.

Tears shine bright in her eyes, "So, what you are saying is I'll either have a dead husband, or a live pony?"

Once again, I nod.

She buries her face in her hands. He moves to hold her and she sobs onto his chest. He looks at me, "Thank you, Dust. We will do what we can. And I will support her wherever I can."

I reach out a hoof and get a shake from him, then I exit the house and wing my way back to the farm. Thank Celestia for Saturdays. I push into Soarin's old office, and sit in the chair with Mindy.

"Hi Dustie." I look up at Mindy, her hair has regained some of the bounce it used to. But she's still subdued.

"What's been going on in the realms of the internet?"

She smiles at me, "It's been pretty quiet today. I'm certain more ponies are starting their transformation, but I'm not seeing many reach out. Though I have found something interesting."

My ears perk forward, "What?"

"I've found two other sanctuaries for ponies. One is a large ranch in Texas, and the other is over in Florida. I've been talking with the ponies involved, and told them some of your ideas. They liked them, and they are sending a few pegasi over to be trained in weather management, based on what Soarin and Flash learned, we should be able to get them up to snuff in a matter of a few weeks."

I lean back, a happy smile on my face, "So, we can be beneficial to the humans?" 

She nods, "And you should see the latest email I got." Her magic chimes and her laptop floats in front of me. I take a moment to read the words on the screen. Then my ears fall, and I look at her in shock, "Mindy. This is amazing. Is this real?"

She nods, "I've been corresponding with them a few times. And we are working out a fee schedule."

"But the city of Los Angeles, it's huge. Weather management over a city that large would take hundreds of pegasi."

She nods, "I've got fifty trained volunteers already. The pay is going to be pretty good, and the mayor is offering housing for them. We will send about twenty unicorns that have volunteered who show some aptitude for weather to help. Also, as more pegasi are trained, we will get them to two hundred pegasi pretty quickly."

"Fifty isn't enough, but is two hundred?"

She nods, "Yes, but remember, some of the ponies there will also be on the lookout for other ponies, and we will hire them as well, if they can do the job. "

"What about management here?"

A big grin from my friend, "Until the big winter storms want to blow through, it will be fairly easy. The pegasi that didn't volunteer can handle it easily. And with the rate of new ponies showing up, we will have a hundred pegasi here by winter, maybe more. Do you have any idea how many ponies have shown up since we defeated Discord?"

I shake my head, "Seven hundred ninety four. Two hundred nineteen earth ponies, Two hundred eighty three unicorns, and the rest, pegasi."

Well, I was planning for a thousand, and we've exceeded that, "How many pegasi are training for weather duty?"

"All of them are trying, not all have the aptitude. But we have a lot of bodies here. Most are ready and willing to work on the farm, or help with the weather."

"And the rest?"

"Most of the rest are trying to get their hooves on the ground. And will make the decision on what to do."

"Have we lost any that just don't want to stay around?"

Her ears fall a bit, she nods, "Thirty four have decided they don't want to live with us."

Damn.

She brightens, "As you know, we've set up bank accounts for the farm's income and expenses, Mayor Mare apparently had instructions that Soarin left her with. They are given money, and whatever supplies they needed. And they took their own personal vehicles, and left. We still have to find a place for nearly three hundred vehicles though."

There is a banging at the door, and a unicorn opens the door, "Lightning Dust, we have a problem."