//------------------------------//
// Chapter 56. Of Broken Wings and Steel Hearts  
// Story: Dust on the Wind 
// by Sparky Brony 
//------------------------------//

"Dust, what did you do?" Irony screams. The brown unicorn slumps to the ground, still impaled on my blades, I put a forehoof on his chest and pull them out.

"Irony, I…"

She cuts me off, "That was a member of our family!" Tears spring to her eyes, "That was the father of my foal."

"Irony, I had to…" 

"You had to? You had to kill a member of our family? Why?"

I wipe the blades clean of blood, "We were set up, and while the site was Spectrum, the constructs we just fought weren't. Those constructs had just been created, this was a setup to capture us. And this pony." I kick the prone body, "Was the one who told them where we were going."

"That's impossible, that is Dr. Ray he helped me, he saved my life," Her brow furrows, "He saved your life too, if you can't remember."

"No, this pony didn't do that…urk." 

I am stopped from talking as an armored hand wraps around my neck, lifting me off the ground. I can't speak as she brings my face close, snarling into my face, "That pony was Dr. Ray, he saved our lives, he joined me in Equestria, he did nothing but help us. I love him, almost as much as I love you. And you killed him."

She throws me to the ground, "Go, Dust."

My entire body drops, "Irony, you can't mean that, I was…"

She cuts me off as she whirls away from me, "Get out of here, you killed one of our own. You are so against killing, and yet you kill one who was as innocent as can be."

I raise a hoof, reaching for Irony, "Irony, you've got it all wrong…"

She turns her head so I can see the tears running down her face, "If I see you again, Lightning Dust. I will kill you."

I stand there for a long time, I look at the rest of my family, everyone seems to be hurt by my actions, but I did the right thing. I look at Mindy, her face is unreadable, though pain is shining through, "Dust, you had better go."

I look over at Helen, tears flow down her face, the same with Moon Shadow, and even Sunset Shimmer, "I did the right thing."

Irony growls and whirls, her mace in her hand, swinging at me with all of her might, I do the only thing I can do, I bounce into the air, my wings pulling me away.

"Get out of here, Lightning Dust, and never come back!" Irony screams. Fighting tears of my own, I turn and fly, shedding my armor as I do, finally the wingblades are left behind as I continue to accelerate. I know what I have to do, I have to find the real Dr. Ray, and bring him back to my family. I smoothly break through the sound barrier and streak off. Dr. Ray is still alive, I have to find him, and nopony is going to stop me. 

***

Several hours of flight time, and I'm near Gallup New Mexico, I flutter down to a house I've been told about, but this is my first visit.

I stand on the porch for a long time, afraid to knock on the door. But finally I raise a hoof, only to have the door open, and a familiar face greets me.

"Hi, Velvet."

The older mare looks at me in surprise, then behind her, she shoos me off of the porch and comes out, closing the door.

"Dust, you shouldn't be here."

My ears drop, "You've been told already?"

She nods, "I got the call from Mindy about an hour ago, why did you kill Dr. Ray?"

I sigh, tears leaking from my eyes, "It wasn't Dr. Ray, it was another unicorn changed to look like him."

Velvet shakes her head, "I'm sorry Dust. I'm having trouble believing that. What proof do you have?"

I spend a long time explaining how everything fit together, and when I finally wind down, she frowns, "I'm sorry, Lightning Dust, but this is all conjecture, and going with your gut. And somepony died because of it." She looks up, "Did this unicorn turn back into his natural form upon death?"

I shake my head.

"I only know of a single unicorn with the requisite power to have the changes be enduring even after death and the life force of the one changed no longer able to sustain the spell, and that is Sunset Shimmer, an alicorn could do it, but Twilight Sparkle is back in Equestria. So it couldn't have been her."

I shake my head vehemently, "Velvet, I don't know how it's possible, but everything adds up, even his scent was wrong, I mean it was a very slight difference, but I only noticed it because everything else was coming together, I had noticed a slight difference before, but I had shrugged it off."

She looks at me, "Lightning Dust, you killed the one pony that could have proven, or disproven your allegations. Can you think of any time that Dr. Ray wasn't at home with you ponies? Or not with another member of your herd?"

I shake my head, "The only time he's really gone anywhere recently was when they retrieved the book."

She sighs, "Lightning Dust, I really hate to say this, but you are not welcome here, and I doubt you will be welcome among any ponies."

My wings drop, I feel dizzy, "But Velvet, he sold us out, he told whomever it was that we were coming, enough to set up an ambush that, if it had been properly executed, could have killed us."

"That is a theory, Dust. But you killed the one pony that could have told us the truth. Without that so called imposter, you can't prove your theory."

I stomp a hoof, "I know it's true."

Tears spring to her eyes, "I'm sorry, Lightning Dust, but you need to go."

I shake my head, "I need your help, I need to find the real Dr. Ray, and rescue him."

She shakes her head, "I have things I'm working on as well, you know I want to bring down Spectrum as much as you do, but I can't have a murderer around. I'm sorry, I really liked you. But you murdered, in cold blood. You need to go, Lightning Dust."

"But…"

I'm bowled over by a blue whirlwind, I end up on my back, a dark blue stallion with a rainbow mane is snarling in my face, "Velvet said you have to go, now go, Lightning Dust. You are not welcome here. Now get out of here."

He gets off of me, allowing me to regain my hooves, "Blaze, you have to listen to me."

He stomps a hoof, and stalks forward, his wings spread in rage, "Lightning Dust, get out of here, you have no business here, we don't like murderers around here. We've dealt with enough that want ponies dead, to have to deal with a pony that will kill another pony."

Velvet places a hoof on his withers, he shrugs her off, "Her impulsiveness almost got my daughter killed before, back in Equestria, I can't let her impulsiveness endanger the ponies here. She is a danger to us all." 

I look back on the porch, Apple Pie has joined Velvet on the porch, along with a wizened man, I'm guessing it's Blaze's grandfather, I look back at Blaze, "Please, listen to me."

Blaze streaks forward, I can feel him gathering his magic, he may not be the kind of magic user pegasus that I am, but I can feel the magic within him, what makes him the speedster he is, I bounce back and fold my wings, "Please!" tears fall from my eyes, I can't take this. I did the right thing, but I can't handle this.

"Blaze." Comes a sharp shout from Grandfather, "This is sacred land, are you seriously offering violence?"

The blue pegasus wilts a bit, "I won't harm her, I'm simply making sure she leaves." He turns to me and stomps a hoof, "The penalty for murder in Equestria is banishment, you know that as well as I do, Mindy has told us what happened, you need to go. Nopony will give you shelter, nopony will be your friend, nopony will be around you, Lightning Dust. Now go."

I slowly turn, my tears flowing like a river down my face, "Please, don't."

He sighs as he turns away, "And did Dr. Ray get a chance to ask you not to?"

I turn and wail as my wings power me into the sky. What can I do?

***

A flight east lands me in Texas, I think for a long time whether or not I should go and see my parents, but rejection from them would likely kill me, the way I feel right now. I've alighted on top of one of the many wind turbine generators located in this part of Texas near Midland. I sigh and strip my phone off of my upper foreleg, I was always glad they had found a way to make the touch screens hoof friendly, and my phone could be called a phablet for as big as it is, it's always been my link to my family, the link to those I love. It's battery is almost dead right now, but do I really care?

I place the phone on the fiberglass of the nacelle of the turbine, looking at it for a long time, then I bring my hoof down sharply on the phone. The new generation glass doesn't break with my first strike, to I hit it again, this time the glass has a shatter mark in it, and the fiberglass of the generator has a crack in it as well. I really don't care. I bring my hoof down again, grinding the phone until the battery shorts out, killing the device. I would need to be a unicorn to get this little earring that Moon Shadow made for me out, I hold my hoof to my ear, I try to concentrate on Dr. Ray, but I don't feel him at all. I saw the charm that Moon Shadow had made for him, the equivalence of the rings in the mare's ears, when I killed that pony, so whomever had substituted him for the real Dr. Ray was paying attention. I fiddle with the earring again, and finally bring a hoof on each side of it. Squeezing my hooves together, I get a good grip on the earring. With a small yelp of pain from me, I yank it out of my ear. My family rejected me, I only have one path of redemption, I must find that stallion, and the sooner the better.

I place the earring lovingly on the nacelle, I look at it for a long time, then with a flash of anger, I bring my hoof down on it, making sure the metal of my horseshoe lands firmly on the small piece of jewelry. I grind it into the nacelle, then bring my hoof away, the emerald is unblemished, but I did strip the gold of the earring off. That will have to do. I can feel blood dripping down the side of my head, but I really don't care.

"Dr. Ray, I will find you, if it's the last thing I do." I take off, I have to find him.