Irony taps her phone and holds it to her ear, she hears on the other end, "This is Mindy."
"I feel good about this facility. They don't seem to be on high alert right now. But they are pretty busy. And I haven't seen Dust. But I have seen horses in use. She's got to be here, I just really have a feeling."
Silence from the other end. Irony looks at her phone to make sure the call wasn't dropped. She puts it back to her ear, "Mindy?"
"I agree with you, Irony. This is very likely. We are loading up now, give us nine hours. We will be there, sit tight, wait for us. And we will back you up."
"If I see Dust, no guarantees. I'm getting her."
A big sigh on the other side of the connection, "Do you want me to teleport there?"
"No, bring all three teams. This is a big facility. They seem to be processing the coca leaf here. It's pretty big. They can't pack up as easily as the last few facilities we've raided. Just hurry."
"Copy." The connection goes dead. Irony powers down the phone. She checks out the scenery, her beloved 442 is concealed, and she's been hiding in the brush. Two days of observation have been tedious, but necessary. This does belong to the Spectrum Group, through various shell companies that Mindy was able to track down. Dust has to be here.
A few hours after calling Mindy, she sees a man lead a light brown horse through the compound. It's wearing large saddle bags, she can't see it's flank. She keeps her eyes peeled for a single hint of Dust's unique coloration. But…nothing. She growls faintly as she waits. Her friends should show up very early in the morning. So she needs to keep her eyes peeled, and not give them any idea they are under surveillance.
As the sun finally sets, gasoline generators are fired up. And she watches the peasants from the local villages file in. She growls again at how they use the poverty of the locals to allow them to process their drugs.
"Damn it Irony. You can't save everypony. Or every human. We need to focus on Dust."
Yet her heart goes out to the poor humans, working for decent wages for the area, but would be a pittance back home. They didn't ask for this, and the cartels keep using them, and are making billions of dollars. As a former military member, she hates most drugs with a passion. But she knows that the United States war on drugs has been a failure. As evident by the drugs still being produced. She leans back and tries to close her eyes for a little while. Relying on her ears to sense any problems.
***
"Irony." A fierce whisper wakes her. She looks over, Moon Shadow is moving stealthily towards her. She smiles happily at her love, she accepts a nuzzle then follows Moon Shadow back to the chariots and her car.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Mindy asks.
Irony takes a look at Mindy, she's about four months along, but she is beginning to show. "Mindy, shouldn't you stay at home?"
She cocks her head to the side. "So, because I'm pregnant, I'm not a part of the team anymore?"
Uh oh, treading on dangerous territory right here, "No. Mindy. I'm not saying that, and you know me well enough that I would never say that. I'm just worried about you."
The unicorn starts to look actually angry, but then smiles brightly, "got ya." And she giggles.
It's so nice hearing Mindy giggle, Irony chuckles, "We will hit them just before sunrise. I'm going to crash through their gate with my car, and I'll have a few pegasi with me." She looks at Moon Shadow, "And you, as well. Moon Shadow. We are going to have to hit them hard. I've seen a few likely places where Dust could be held. All my instincts tell me Dust is here."
"Why do you think that? We've thought Dust was at some of the other locations. But none of them panned out."
Irony looks over at the low lights coming from the location in the distance, "It's not just a feeling. Though I can feel her close. I can feel her pain. But this is a big production facility. This is the hub for this entire area. This would be the place they would keep Dust."
Mindy puts a hoof on Irony's withers, "I trust your judgment, Irony. We need to get our friend."
Irony grits her teeth, "Yes." She looks at the assembled ponies, "Cloud, you keep an eye on the compound, and the rest of you, get some rest."
***
"Hey, Reynaldo, quiet night?" The relief guard comes up. He crushes out his cigarette as the man he's relieving does the same.
"Yes, it's always quiet, after we've let the government know it's not a good idea to mess with us." This gets a chuckle from both men. It's still quiet. No need to worry. Nothing ever comes out of the jungle. Their lazy morning is interrupted by two pegasi. Who silently land on top of the guard post and slide through the window. A hoof over the mouth while a wing blade impales them. Winter Storm and Blaze let the bodies gently down to the floor. A quick wave at the pony hovering near the trees confirms the assault is ready.
With only the slight warning of a racing engine, Irony's 442 crashes through the gates of the compound. Announcing their presence to the just awakening humans. Three chariots land as well, and the pegasi pulling them shrug out of their harnesses and join in the fray. Humans are screaming, ponies are screaming. Irony races towards the barracks. Moon Shadow heads out, blasting humans with her magic, paralyzing them.
Unbeknownst to Irony, Saul was in Dust's paddock when she crashed through the gate. Though she finds out when she turns around. She sees a human pulling the leads on a pony. At first her mind wants to ignore it, the same pony from the previous night. But then she notices something. On that light brown flank is… "Dust!" She screams as she unhooks her mace and runs towards the human. He gets the pony into the truck and turns back.
"She's mine you freak." He pulls out a pistol, leveling it at the charging mare, and fires. The bullets are deflected by Irony's armor as she continues her mad rush.
With a belch of diesel exhaust, the truck pulls towards the open gate. The man moves away from the truck and keeps firing, quickly exhausting his gun. He looks at the locked back slide. Then throws the gun at Irony, which she smacks out of the way. He draws his knife and lowers his body, ready for her. But he's underestimated Irony. With a underhanded swing, her mace connects with his groin. With a groan, he falls to the ground, blood streaming from his crotch, his pelvis ruined. She moves up and a great overhand swing ends everything for the human who was with Dust. She turns and watches the truck pulls out of sight.
"Mindy, Moon Shadow, that truck has Dust. You finish off this place. I'll take care of Dust." She rushes over to her 442 and throws it into first gear. With a spray of dirt, the car fishtails on its way to follow the truck.
***
Moon Shadow watches the 442 disappear out of sight. The impact of a bullet to her peytral brings her back to the present. She teleports the gun to another dimension and leaps forward, keeping her magic ready. What these humans consider heavy defense, isn't even a basic guard force to the ponies. Moon Shadow follows Mindy, who stubbornly refuses to wear armor, instead relying on her magic. She watches the unicorn turn a building into a flock of ravens, that fly away in every direction. She skids to a stop, did she just see that? Mindy bounces and teleports over to a human, who is spraying his AK-74 randomly. She grabs the weapon with her magic, and it turns into a dozen long stem white roses. Moon is close enough to hear her giggle, "You'd get better results with those big boy." Then the unicorn teleports to another human, this one unarmed.
"Tag, you're it," she shouts, as she pushes him into the mud. With a flash of teleportation, the unicorn is on top of the barracks. She's bouncing, but with every bounce, the building gets smaller. Humans start running from the building as the building shrinks. They stand there and just watch as the building is reduced to the size of a doll house. Mindy hops over to them.
"Sit down!" Mindy shouts, and every human sits immediately, without the use of magic. Moon would have felt that. Moon Shadow turns and watches her continue. While Mindy is busy with her playthings, all the other ponies have stopped what they are doing to watch. Just watching the party unicorn deflect everything leaves them laughing at her antics. The cache of drugs transform into a huge ball of goo, then rapidly expands as though being cooked, leaving a perfect twenty foot long by ten foot wide loaf of bread standing in the middle of the mud and muck. The humans that didn't sit stop too. Just watching the spectacle unfold before them in awe. Mindy stops and looks at every pony and human watching her.
"What?!"
Moon Shadow takes the opportunity to throw restraints on all the humans. Dragging them to the big yard in the middle. The fight is over. She trots over to the bouncing unicorn.
"Mindy, what was that?"
The magenta unicorn cocks her head to the side, "What was what?"
"You," Moon gestures with her hoof to the compound around them, "You did…this!"
Moon Shadow gets a gentle bop to the nose and a kiss on the cheek, "Of course I did, silly," giggles Mindy, "We need to go to Irony now."
In a matter of minutes the pegasi are hooked back up to the chariots and are airborne. Moon Shadow follows the road that Irony's car took, leaving the compound. They trace down the road for nearly twenty miles. And then they find what they are looking for.
Moon Shadow indicates for the pegasi to bring the chariot down. And they come to the scene of devastation. The truck's front end is mangled, and twisted in with the passenger side of Irony's car. Moon Shadow hops out of the chariot and rushes to the driver's door of the car. It's popped open, but no Irony. She looks at the driver's door of the truck, and it's been ripped off its hinges. A human is lying on the ground, skull mostly missing. She avoids going any closer to the body, she's had enough with death. Enough for a lifetime. She hears a soft earth equestrian nicker. She moves to the back of the truck and hops in.
Irony is there, she's holding the head of a horse, and she's sobbing. The horse neighs softly, nuzzling the despondent Irony. Moon Shadow moves closer, she can hear her love talking to the horse.
"Oh, Dust. What have they done to you?"
Moon Shadow looks around, "Where is Dust?"
Irony looks at Moon, "She's right here."
"That's a feral horse, Irony. Not a pegasus."
Irony slowly stands, she lets go of the lead and the horse moves over to her and nuzzles her, "And apparently it likes me."
Irony's voice is full of pain, "Moon, she's still got her cutie mark, that is Dust."
"No, that's imposs…" She trails off as she sees the cutie mark. Vivid against the light brown of the fur. She looks in the eyes of the horse, they've changed color to a soft brown, "No." Tears well up. "Is she lost to us?"
Tears continue to spill down Irony's face, "I don't know. But it doesn't look good. She can't talk, I pulled the bit they had put in her mouth, it is a very cruel bit, and would be very painful for the horse." She holds up the jointed pieces of metal. The spoon shows evidence of blood. Moon Shadow grimaces and Irony tosses it to the floor of the truck.
"The area is secure Irony." Cloud Kicker says as she lands inside the truck with the others. She lets out a low whistle, "That's Dust?"
Irony and Moon Shadow nod. "Damn," the lilac pegasus breathes.
Moon Shadow steps forward to Blossomforth, "Is she lost?"
The faintly pink pegasus gets close to Dust. She looks in Dust's eyes, she moves down her body. She looks back with tears in her eyes, "She's not lost…yet. Her cutie mark is still there. But she's pretty far gone. I don't know if we can retrieve her."
"How do we do that?"
Those tears start to fall, "I don't know."
Irony stands up and gently caresses the former pegasus, "I'm not giving up. We need to get home. Let's get her on a chariot."
They hop out of the truck. Irony looks at the ruined 442, "Oh, Irony. Your beautiful car."
Irony moves to the back of the car, which is relatively undamaged. She opens the trunk and unloads it into the chariot, "It's metal, and plastic. It can be replaced. We can't replace Dust. She is more important." She moves close to Moon Shadow, cupping her cheek with a furred hand, "And you are just as important to me as Dust is."
Moon Shadow leans her head into Irony's hand, "I know, love."
Irony leans down and kisses Moon Shadow, when she pulls away, "Let's save our love."
They board the chariots, heading north.
***
"Well, this is a first," Doctor Ray says as he lets his horn quiet, "I was a human, a veterinarian, I've worked on horses. Now I'm a unicorn, and I'm still working on Earth equines." He steps out of the barn, where Dust was put temporarily so he could work on her. Irony and Moon Shadow have updated Dust's family on her condition. But she's not ready for them to see Dust just yet. She wanted Dr. Ray to check out the former pegasus before anything else.
He heaves a big sigh, "If I didn't know better, I wouldn't be able to tell you that she was ever a pegasus. Her bone density is not pegasus, but the same as terrestrial horses. She's almost horse size, just about a hand and a half away from the height to be a horse, so technically she's still a pony. And she's had a very rough time. There are healed fractures in a good portion of her bones. I would say she's got signs of the worse abuse I've ever seen of a horse. Add in to her being raped. She's had a horrible time."
Irony perks up, "Rape?"
Dr. Ray nods, "She's been raped multiple times, and not just the typical way, but I've pulled splinters out of there, both wood…" he looks unsure, and sickened, he takes a deep breath, "and metal.". The tearing is indicative of long term abuse. Frankly, I'm surprised she's alive. A terrestrial horse would likely have died under this abuse."
"Can we bring her back?"
His ears fall, "I don't know Irony. All the healing I know that I've been taught as a unicorn tells me that to attempt to heal her in this condition could cause her to slip away. Her magic is holding on by fingernails at this point. And she's in decent shape now. So, I don't think she will slip further away under these conditions, but bringing her back." He rubs the back of his neck, "I don't know. I do know that any attempt from me would probably be a step back for her."
"So what do we do?"
He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, Irony. I really don't know."
Irony turns to Moon Shadow, "Well, it's time to let Helen and the kids see Dust."
Moon Shadow recoils, "Already?"
Irony nods, "Yes, we can't guarantee she will recover, but her family needs to see her."
Moon's ears drop and she hangs her head, "You are right, I'll get them."
Twenty minutes later, Moon Shadow's magic opens the barn doors, and the three humans are brought to the stall that now houses Lightning Dust.
The former pegasus whinnys and tosses her head in greeting, she strains to get to Helen, who wraps her arms around Dust's head. Dust makes content noises, being touched by her former wife. She then nuzzles both children.
"She remembers us." Hannah says.
"Yes, it appears so. She's still in there, but I don't know if she can get out."
Irony lets them know what Dr. Ray told her about Dust's condition. Leaving out the rape. Not something to tell the children. They are sobbing by the time she's done. She sobs with them.
"Helen, Hannah, Dylan, we will bring her back. I promise you. We will get her back. It doesn't look good now. But I have faith in her. She's too damned stubborn. She won't let herself be lost forever. She remembers you, she remembers all of us. So, there is something that was Dust still there. We just have to bring her the rest of the way back."
***
Moon Shadow's eyes pop open. Many nights of trying to find Dust's dreams have been fruitless. As a feral horse, her dreams haven't shown up in the dreamscape. But this night, she spent most of it with Princess Luna. The Princess had very little knowledge of lost ponies. But she gave Moon Shadow some pointers to help. Moon extricates herself from the ponies and humans on the bed. She trots down the stairs and outside. She slowly opens the door in the barn. The small light inside barely illuminates two bodies in the stall. Irony is sleeping, leaning up against Dust. Moon Shadow smiles at her love's dedication. Both of them are dedicated to the pegasus, in different ways. She clears her throat, which is enough to bring Irony out of her slumber. Irony stands up from a sleeping Dust. She shushes Moon as she leaves the stall. They meet up outside the barn.
"How did your meet with Princess Luna go?"
"What she proposed is dangerous. We could both die in the attempt."
Irony looks into the barn, and back at Moon. Her ears fall, "I really don't want to lose the both of you."
Moon Shadow places a hoof on Irony's cheek, "Oh, honey. There isn't any question in my mind. I will start, first thing in the morning. I don't care about the risk. Dust is worth it. And I will do what I have to."
Tears spill down Irony's face, "But what if I lose you both?"
Moon Shadow's horn lights and she uses her magic to dry Irony's tears, "Sweetheart, Dust wouldn't want to live like this. The risk is nothing compared to the hell she's in. There is no other way. We've been trying for weeks now. And now her cutie mark has started to fade. I fear we only have days until she's gone. She's fighting as hard as she can, but she is slowly losing the fight. We need to act, and we need to do it as soon as possible.
"How long will it take?"
Moon Shadow shakes her head, "Time is subjective in the dream, it could be minutes, it could be hours, it could be days. I won't stop until it's done. Until we have our Dust back. Do you understand, love?"
Irony nods, "First thing in the morning then."