//------------------------------//
// Chapter 52. Life is Not Without it's Complications 
// Story: Dust on the Wind 
// by Sparky Brony 
//------------------------------//

"Good little one, you done?" I say to the small form suckling at my teats, Mischief pulls away, I gather her up and bring her to my shoulder, I use my wing to rub her back, and in moments a small belch is emitted from the small white form. Almost four months of age, and she's demanding, my teats hurt, even with the lotion that Dr. Ray gave me. Her first teeth are coming in, and they are sharp as hell, it all adds up to quite a bit of pain on my part. She seems exhausted from the ordeal of eating, falling asleep in my arms. I transfer her to one foreleg, and walk with the other three over to her crib. In moments the tiny pegasus is sleeping peacefully. I'm getting better at transferring her without the aid of hands. I'm glad the press tour is over for now. A very hectic week for the entire family, but word of the ponies is starting to get out. That brings a smile to my face.

A hand rubs behind my ear, "You did good Dust."

"It's easy, Helen, just had to figure it out with the new appendages."

She pinches my ear a bit, causing me to look at her, "That's not what I meant, and you know it, Dust."

We both look at the sleeping form, I sigh, "Yeah, I know. I was lucky, Star did a good job too."

She chuckles, "Star had a bit of pleasure, you got to carry her for eleven months. It was pretty different being the oven rather than the turkey baster."

I laugh, "You know my part was a little bigger than that."

She sighs, "I know, Dust."

"What brings you up here, Helen?" I'm still not comfortable feeding Mischief where others can see me. I've been female for only three years, so, it's a bit of a stretch to do to the pony version of breast feeding in front of people, even those that I love.

"Sunset is ready."

"Back to Dubuque?"

She nods, "You girls are going to try to find the book, Sunset has been doing a bit of research online. Trying to find where she lived as an Equestrian on Earth. She found the house, finally. She said it took a lot of searching with Google street view. She didn't remember the street name, just had to search for days, until she found a familiar place. But she's ready to go."

I look at the beautiful bundle in the crib, she's moving around, and her wings are certainly growing, I can't wait to take to the air with her before too long. From what I've seen so far, pony foals mature slightly faster than human children, though walking is easier, since we use all four legs for walking unlike the human two. But she's babbling once in a while, and her first words are on their way. I sigh as we walk out of the room, I look up at Helen, "Tell me that I am making the right decision, staying here instead of going to Equestria."

She chuckles as she rubs behind my ear, "Dust, you made the best decision available. Will it be easy? No. But it will certainly be interesting, and Mischief is going to live in a wonderful world."

I sigh and follow my wife out the door, I smile as I watch Irony and Moon Shadow get ready to join us, Mindy will be staying home this time, she wants time with the foals. 

"Okay Dust, I'm ready." A male voice says behind me, I turn.

"Dr. Ray, you coming?"

He smiles sheepishly, "Yeah, I've been to focused on things here, I want to join you guys, and on an easy trip like this, it should be fun."

I smile, "Glad to have you, love." I move up and give the stallion a kiss, keeping it chaste since Hannah and Mindy's foals are in the living room as well. I nod to Sunset Shimmer, "Ready?"

She nods and we all leave the house, a quick trot down the street and we are heading to the parking area where we keep our chariots, along with housing for the pegasi whose job it is to pull the chariots. Though I have to slow down as we walk.

"Damn, all the ponies!" I breathe excitedly, easily a thousand ponies are in my view, a couple of hundred pegasi are up in the sky, though the cloud city has been gaining population by the day. I hear a dozen languages, everything from English, to Chinese, Spanish, and quite a bit of Equestrian. This is a bustling city now, with nearly fifty thousand souls living here, it's amazing! Then I see something that stops me in my tracks.

"They are real?" I mumble, too awestruck to think of anything else to say.

Sunset looks where I'm looking, then back at me with a smile, "Yes, they are real."

Two ponies are sedately walking down the street, yet they aren't like any pony I've seen before. Their elongated ears, slitted eyes, and most tellingly, leathery wings folded at their sides, "I never knew." I say in wonder.

Sunset giggles, "There are about a hundred of them in New Beginnings, a few have even signed up for jobs pulling chariots."

I sit down and rub my eyes with my hooves, then stare at the bat-ponies once again, "Amazing!" I search back in my memories, there are still holes and gaps in them. Apparently the bat-ponies are among the gaps, because nothing of them surfaces as I search my memory. After the fruitless search, I shake my head and regain my hooves. My family with me as we continue to walk through the town.

"Oh, Dust, you've not been through town very much recently. In case you didn't know, the Walmart has opened, and a few other national chain stores are vying for space in this town. And we have bronies visiting all the time. We've actually started building a hotel for visitors. This town is continuing to grow, Lightning Dust. In fact, we are now the third largest city in Montana. And we are getting nationally known restaurants, stores, and entrepreneurs wanting to work with ponies. While we don't require them to hire ponies as a condition of coming here, they do anyway.

I can only shake my head, finally we are at the transportation hub for New Beginnings. The chariots are being built at a prodigious rate, but we only have so many pegasi qualified to pull them. We walk over to one that is owned by my family, and two pegasi emerge, they are ready to fly for us. I'm going to use my wings, but my family will take the chariots.

"Lightning Dust!" A voice calls out. I turn around a look. Then I smile.

"Twilight Velvet!" I shout, the mare herself is coming at a gallop, her ever present shadow, Rainbow Blaze, is flying behind her. 

She skids to a stop, "I saw your appearance on TV, I got here as fast as I could."

"You know, we could have sent a chariot for you."

She waves a hoof, "I only use those things occasionally, I much prefer my own hooves." 

I chuckle, looking at the blue pegasus next to her, "So, we were just about to leave, do you want to join…"

"Oh, no, I've got important work to be doing, you talked about Spectrum in your interview." She cuts me off with.

I flinch, Spectrum is a very sore subject for me, the older mare comes forward and nuzzles me quickly, breathing into my ear, "I'm sorry to give this to you so late, Dust. But some of the information was just confirmed, and I think you will want to handle it."

Her horn alights, and a small satchel is levitated off of Rainbow Blaze over to me. I sit down and rummage inside, official looking government paperwork, we are over twenty years into the twenty-first century, and our government still runs on paper, though I do spy a flash drive among the documents, I look at the mare, "What is all of this?"

She sighs, "Proof, of twelve ponies that were at the site that you raided before the first time the portal opened, that did not die of natural causes."

I feel my breathing more than double, my wings flare aggressively, by the look on my face, Twilight Velvet takes a step back, I paw through the documents, pictures fan out, I look at the ponies shown. I don't recognize the names, but the ponies, six earth ponies, four unicorns, and two pegasi, their pictures burn into my brain. My hoof comes down, scattering the papers all around as I whirl away from the unicorn. I walk a few steps, my wings folding around to hold my shaking.

"Twelve of us, killed."

I hear the chime of magic, and the refilled satchel is placed in front of me, Twilight Velvet sounds like she's about to cry, "Dust, I don't have the capability to do anything about it, but I do know you have the ear of the President, this is very damning evidence against an Admiral Volker, who authorized their transfer to Spectrum, and authorized the experiments."

All breath leaves me when I hear the last word, I whirl around to face her, "Experiments?"

I see tears in her eyes, "I've already read the entire file. And I've watched the videos. It's gruesome."

I shudder, my wings are still tight with rage, I take a long time composing myself, then move over to Irony, "Love, I want to handle this, can you and the rest take care of trying to find that book?"

Irony places a forehoof on my withers, "Of course, Love. Do you want any of us with you? To watch your back?"

I chuckle, pushing magic through my wings, electricity crackles and pops among my feathers,  "I don't think that's necessary, Irony. I will take care of this son of a bitch myself."

She cocks her head to the side, "Are you sure? I can go with you."

I shake my head and shrug the satchel onto my back, "I'll take care of him, love."

She nods and steps onto the chariot, I sit and watch as the chariot quickly becomes a speck in the sky to the east. I turn to Velvet and Blaze, "Thank you for this. I will see that justice is done." Without another word, I'm in the air, I'm certain my sonic boom is audible with as fast I took off. I'm in the air, once again, as I'm flying, my mind casts back, to when I met the mare.

***

May 11th, back in 2020, right before the FBI showed up, in fact, that night was when Irony and I first were together. Just after dinner, after Irony went back outside, I get a call from Soarin at the farm.

"Hey sis. Got an issue."

I sigh, I know that means something is going to be a pain in my ass, "What is it Soarin?"

He chuckles, he heard it in my voice, "I don't think it's that bad, but you need to get your hot plot to the farm."

I chuckle, as Maddie hit puberty, I would tease her about her looks, now Soarin is returning the favor, "I'll be right there."

A few minutes flight time, and a quick trot through the house, I knock on the door.

"Come in."

I press down on the handle, we've ponified all the doorknobs in this farmhouse, thank Celestia. I pause for a moment, did I really thank a pony that I really have no memory of? I smile as I complete opening the door. Then I stop, my haunches hit the floor as I recognize the pony sitting in the guest chair.

"Wow, are you the pony that I think you are?"

She chuckles, her rich voice triggers some memories for me, as a Wonderbolt based out of Canterlot, I knew many of the high society, and Twilight Sparkle's mother is certainly one that I have met at the various parties that I had to attend, though she wasn't always at the parties, too busy with her travels throughout the world. But I have met…"Twilight Velvet."

She furrows her brow, "You know me?"

I nod, "Canterlot Wonderbolts." She nods, and I notice a pegasus sitting next to her in the other chair, I shake my head, "Rainbow Dash's dad? Rainbow Blaze?"

He nods, "I remember a bit of the Wonderbolts, I was so proud of her when she joined, and the first thing she does is recruit you." He chuckles.

"You know it, she knew quality when she found it."

He laughs in response, "Well, judging by what you are doing here."

"We are trying, it isn't easy. But we will be able to take care of a lot of ponies."

Twilight Velvet turns to Soarin, "Blaze and I need to get going, can you help with the ponies? The Crystal ponies are very fragile, I'm guessing because of the trauma of Discord, and what has happened since."

I interrupt, "Crystal ponies? They are real?"

Soarin nods, "If you had paid attention while you walked through the living room, you would have seen them. Twilight Velvet brought us some ponies, she was an Army Ranger before she changed. They were on a mission during her change."

I wince, that couldn't have been fun, Soarin continues, "A Nicaraguan drug cartel was gathering ponies, the Rangers saved them, then Blaze started to change. Though their adventures haven't been the best. The US government is making their lives miserable. But we don't have enough details to go on."

Twilight Velvet jumps off the chair, walking past me, she whaps my rump with her tail, "Keep that tail down, Dust."

I blush, I guess she remembers my amorous nature back in Canterlot, I think I might have made a pass at her once or twice, not even caring that Night Light was there. Blaze smirks as he walks past me. I blow Soarin a kiss and turn to follow them into the living room.

I stop on my tracks, I know the human there, I didn't even notice him as I entered, so focused on seeing Soarin, "Eric Peterson, I can't believe it!" I trot up to the human with a big smile on my face, "Ronald keeps telling me about his son the Ranger."

He furrows his brow, "Huh?"

"Surely he told you, I had to let my employees know that I was a pony now. I used to be Mike."

He looks shocked, "My dad told me that his boss turned into a pony, but seeing you." He rubs the back of his head with a hand, "Amazing."

I chuckle as I move over to the ponies, "And who do we have here?"

Three ponies are sitting on the couch, a pegasus, and two earth ponies, all of them are crystal ponies.

Velvet points, "May I introduce Blue Sky, Amber Waves, and Arctic Lilly, formerly of the Crystal Empire, now they are here."

I smile at all of them, "Glad to meet you. We are building a community here, for as many ponies as are willing to stay. You are all welcome here."

A wing folds over my back, I turn and look at Soarin, "Well, big sis, looks like we are going to have a lot of ponies here before too long."

I nod, then remember that I still have things at home to do, I nuzzle Soarin and follow Velvet and Blaze out the door, they watch as I take off full speed, I've got to talk to Irony.


***

I've made the cross country trip in nearly record time, my rage powering my flight. I finally flutter down to the White House east lawn. A quick call around Illinois let them know I was coming and it was important. A secret service agent meets me, escorting me to the Oval Office. 

The President looks up from his desk, "Well, at least this time you called ahead."

I nod as I use a wing to guide a chair to the other side of his desk, hopping up, I toss the satchel on his desk. "I want his ass."

The President furrows his brow, "Who?"

I place a hoof on the folders as the President is going through the paperwork, "Admiral Volker, his ass is mine. And we are going to try him according to Equestrian laws, back in New Beginnings."

He looks at me sharply, "This man is a member of the US armed forces, he's not subject to your laws."

I growl, "That's why I came to you first, instead of abducting him. But I assure you, he will face justice, I'd rather do so with your blessing. I have to warn you, Mr. President, I haven't seen all of the evidence yet, so you and I can go through it together, but as far as I'm concerned, he should be in New Beginnings now."

He sighs and picks up a folder, "When we set up for New Beginnings for you ponies, we treated it along the same lines as a Native American reservation. You are essentially your own nation within our nation. It made it easier when we had to take care of the mercenaries that attacked your farm. Though we have good relations, right?" 

I laugh, "Oh, of course, most favored nation, I would think."

He laughs again, then the chuckles are cut off as he starts reading.

Three hours later, both of us have watched videos that have both of our stomachs roiling, ponies being dissected while still alive, and without the benefit of anesthesia, I wanted to puke, my wings have been tight with rage since the first video, which showed a pegasus getting every feather plucked while the doctor that I met when I raided there droned on about his observations, over the screams of the stallion. A pile of tissues are next to me, and one or two are next to the President himself.

He finally pushes away, "I've had enough. And you've shown me that not only did Admiral Volker authorize the experiments, he also authorized the transfer of the ponies into Spectrum custody. I can have extradition orders ready for you in an hour. Would you like some coffee while you wait?"

I shake my head tightly, I'm too angry.  

Within that promised hour, I'm winging over to the Pentagon, with a badge made at the White House to clear me through the secure sections, I'm glad that the President trusts me on all of this. My shod hooves are silent as I enter the building.  With ponies being in the news, there really isn't much uproar as I walk though the building. I've been told where to go, I follow the instructions and shortly I'm at the office that is my destination. I knock on the door. An Army MP is in tow.

"Come in." A voice calls.

I take a deep breath, and check my wings, folded at my sides as they should be, and open the door.

He looks pretty ordinary, skinny, dark black hair though he's graying, brown eyes, is this the face of a monster? I know what he's done, and while he didn't do it on his own, it was at his request, "Admiral Volker."

His face darkens as he gets a good view of me, "Yes."

"On behalf of Equestria, I am placing you under arrest."

His grimaces, "On what charges?"

"Twelve counts of murder."

He waves a hand, "Preposterous."

I narrow my eyes, my MP steps forward at my indication.

"Hold it right there Mister." The Army MP stops mid step.

"I have right here a signed extradition order from the President of the United States. You are coming with me to New Beginnings, to stand trial for the murder of the ponies."

He scoffs, "I was protecting the nation."

I smile, "Equestria has nothing like Miranda rights, but I'll tell you, anything you say can will be used against you in your trial."

His hand reaches towards a drawer in his desk, my wing flashes forward, the bolt grounds itself into the wall, missing his hand by inches, "Go ahead, give me a reason to bring a corpse back." He blanches and moves his hand away.

The soldier steps forward, producing handcuffs, Admiral Volker stands up and lets himself be cuffed, soon we are walking back towards the exit. I had a chariot follow me, with a quick call after I calmed down a bit while flying, I am not carrying this son of a bitch back to New Beginnings. 

He's pushed onto the chariot, two guard ponies, Blue Sky and another former Crystal guard are there in their armor. The pegasi pulling the chariot are in golden armor as well. This is as official as we can make it. I scrawl my signature on a log and look at the Admiral, "Anything else you want to say?"

His weathered face turns to me, "I acted to protect my nation."

My wings spring out in rage, "You killed ponies, that mean no harm to any human. Take him away."

The pegasi take off quickly, I let them get into the air before I take off, streaking past the chariot, I'll be home hours before they get there.