***Mindy***
I hoof through the journal that Dust gave me, at times I don’t know why she did, this whole story seems to be very sad. I look at the hand written pages,
Mommy gave me this book, she said I should write down my thoughts and feelings in it. She gave it to me right after Daddy died. He served in Afghanistan, right after the towers fell is when he joined up. He was a hero she said. He saved the lives of his tanker crew when an RPG had hit the treads of the tank, making it unable to go. He got them to get out, and he used the gun on top to provide cover fire while the other soldiers boarded a helicopter. But as he was running, another RPG landed right next to him, killing him. Mommy was never the same after that.
I sniffle and turn a page,
Today was the worst day ever. I got home from school, and the house was dark, mommy was in bed. I made some food, Mommy taught me to make food, and I’m pretty good at it. After dinner was ready, I went to wake her up, so she could eat something. I touched her, she was cold. I saw the bottle of pills on the bed stand, the bottle of brown liquid, mommy occasionally drank that stuff, but this time. She didn’t move, she was cold, she just lay there. I’m seven years old. What do I do?
I look at the written words, the childish scrawl on the pages, I think about Dust, she’s been pretty hard core on the humans are bad beat, we’ve all tried to talk her out of it, but reading this, I sometimes think she’s got a point there. I finally sigh and turn the page.
The social services woman was really nice, and I got to stay at a home for a little while, they said that it was until they set up foster care for me, and they’ve gotten a family set up for me. I’ve heard stories, but I don’t know what’s going on. I’m told after school I’ll get to meet my new foster family. Wish me luck.
I flip the page,
Oh Mommy, why did you have to go? This family is horrible! The other kids they have get toys, I’m supposed to call her Meemaw, and Meemaw says that the state pays for her to take care of me, that’s it. I don’t need toys, I don’t need anything but food and shelter, and I do get it. But my foster brother and sister are so mean to me. And when they are mean, Meemaw and Peepaw just laugh. And they say I should toughen up. I cry all the time, I just want to get away from them.
The next page,
I got away from them, I can’t get beaten up by my foster brother and sister anymore, though I don’t really know what to do. I took a different school bus, all the way to the end of the line, I’ve packed some clothes, some food, and most of all my journal. It’s getting dark now, I had better find a place to sleep.
The police found me, they took me back to the foster home, how do I get away from these people?
I’m interrupted in reading by the door to my office opening, I look up, “Oh, Hi Dustie.”
Dustie smiles as she sits down, “Any luck?”
I look at the journal, “Well, it’s nice that she drew the cutie mark.” I flip towards the back of the book, tracing the mark that is drawn there, “I found her records at the hospital. She was admitted to the hospital May fifth, 2020. It took some wrangling, but I brought Dr. Ray to look at the records, he was a vet, but he did say it looked pretty bad, though the good news is that three days after she was admitted, her hair started to change color, and her vitals improved. She slipped out late that night, she took the journal with her.” I flip a few pages, showing her entries, her making her way south, to Brownsville, and her last entry says that her hands aren’t working very well anymore, but she feels better than she has ever in her life. She knows the pony she turned into, but she didn’t have any real memories of her life in Equestria.”
“And?”
I look up at Dustie, feeling bleak, “I’m sorry, but there are very few records of the ponies that went through the portal the first time. Several thousand ponies went through, but I don’t know if she did. I put in calls to the other major pony settlements, the Texas settlement didn’t know if she was there, I’m still waiting on a call from Florida. They have a lot of ponies there, it may be a few days.”
Dustie slams a hoof on the desk, “Damn. I was hoping we would be able to find out if…” She’s interrupted by the warbling tone of my desk phone.
I charge my horn, the handset lifts off the base and comes over to my ear, “This is Mindy.”
I hear the voice identify itself, and I look at Dustie, wide eyes, then my magic turns on the speakerphone, “…I know it’s been two years since our talk on CNN. But I want the promised tour of your city.”
Dustie furrows her brow, “Richard? Richard Willard?”
“Yes.”
I see her ruffle her feathers, she shifts in her chair, I know Dustie mad, and she really dislikes that human, “Your group has been fighting against pony rights for years now, why?”
He sighs, “I’m doing this under protest, but some of those financing our efforts have insisted that we get a full record of your lives on our Earth. There is talk that we won’t continue to get funding if I don’t. I’m going to be bringing a camera crew with me.”
Dustie shakes her head, “This isn’t exactly the best of times…”
“Nevertheless, I insist.”
Dustie sighs, “I’m sorry, Mr. Willard, but if you could coordinate a schedule with me, perhaps…”
She’s interrupted by the voice on the phone, “I might be able to give you some information on a certain family member.”
Dustie’s breathing more than doubles, and she glares at the phone, “You can tell me about Irony?”
A low chuckle comes over the phone, “I’m not going to tell you anything until I get my promised tour.”
Dustie slams a hoof on the desk, I wince at the deep impression she leaves in the wood, I light my horn and smooth it out as she grumbles to herself for several seconds.
“I’m waiting for an answer.”
“Fine, when will you be here?”
“We will be there in the morning.”
Dustie rattles off the address to the old farm, “I’ll meet you at the farm, and we can head over to the town from there.”
“Fine.” And a click on the line signals Mr. Willard hanging up.
Dustie jumps off the chair and heads to the door.
“But what about…” I call out.
“Later, Mindy.” Dustie growls, I know how mad she is, I watched the interview, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Dustie doesn’t smack that man the instant she sees him tomorrow, maybe I should sell tickets, see if anypony wants to watch Dustie deck Mr. Richard Willard. I giggle a bit before I turn a couple of pages in the journal and continue reading.
***Lightning Dust***
I wake up in a fine mood, I come down for breakfast, made by our human stallion, Allan. I’m ready for the day, then it hits me, I’ve got to show that asshole through the town, ugh… double ugh. I look at my family, all gathered around the large butcher block style table in the kitchen, everyone is enjoying their breakfast. And my appetite just disappears.
Sunset leans over, “Not hungry Dust?” She indicates my half eaten French Toast, made exactly how I love it, with brown sugar instead of syrup. I push the fork around the plate, then set it down, I nuzzle Sunset and hop off the chair. I head to the living room, but nothing keeps my interest. Do I wait for him here? Or wait at the farmhouse? I don’t know. But I finally decide to take off and fly for a few minutes. Though after only five or so minutes of flying, I find myself landing at the farmhouse. I sit down and look at the house. Nopony lives here anymore, the town is pretty much encroaching on the original main part of this farm. The paths are still there. There are still about a hundred cars parked underneath the trees in the large parking lot. I look back to the entrance, the large wrought iron gates and fencing is still in place. The paths between the various buildings are still in place, though the old armory is gone, so is the ironworking shop. I’m guessing the forges and materials have been moved to town. The barracks are still there, but I can see a crew working inside, all ponies. I trot up to the apparent forepony.
“Hi there.” I chirp.
The Earth pony looks at me for a long time, a pink pony shaped hard hat is on her head.
“Uh, I was just wondering what was going on.”
She grunts, “Mayor Mare is having the old barracks renovated to be a new hotel. We have a lot of visitors, and this is a good place to keep the horde of Bronies out of our manes.”
I chuckle, “I can gather that would be a problem.”
She grunts, and continues to look at me.
I look around, “Uh, I’m Lightning Dust.”
She continues to look at me, then something catches her attention, she looks inside and shouts, “How many times do I have to show you how to do that?” And she disappears inside the barracks. I shake my head, but further musing is stopped by a black SUV rolling through the gates of the farm. I head over and wait for the door to open.
“It’s almost June, I thought Montana would be cooler than this.”
I chuckle, the pegasi are keeping the temperatures in the mid seventies right now, “Used to air conditioning?”
The fat human looks down his nose at me, “I’m used to civilization, pony.”
I keep myself from growling, “I want to know about Irony.”
It’s time for Richard to chuckle, “All in good time.” He gestures, “This is my camera crew.”
A skinny, very tall man gets out, and hefts the camera to his shoulder. Another man gets out of the back of the SUV, and opens the back, pulling out a long boom mic, along with some audio recording gear that he hangs around his neck.
I’m not in the mood to offer a hoof, I decide to start right off, “What you see here,” I pause for a moment as the camera man pans around the area, “Is where things were when we started. After I changed, I knew more ponies would be needing homes, so I bought this farm, and started building the barracks you see over there.” I point and the camera points at the line of buildings.
“As things have matured, we first expanded the farm, but then Mayor Mare decided that we were going to rapidly outgrow the space we had here, she scouted out the location that became our new town. We named the town, New Beginnings. That name was to signify the hope that this town, in this world, would be our home, our home away from Equestria.”
Richard comes forward, “Why didn’t you simpy go through that portal? Just head home and leave humanity alone?”
I glare at him, but quickly moderate myself, the camera pans towards me, and the boom mic comes close, “Would you leave a home you had spent the last twenty five years living in? Would you abandon your friends, your family, because your body changed shape?”
He doesn’t respond, though I can feel his loathing from ten feet away, I decide to continue, “I, along with many of the ponies here, have family, and friends in this world, and are not willing to leave them.” I look at him long and hard, “And we resent any attempts to force the issue.”
I look at the camera severely for a moment, “Are you simply trying to antagonize me? Or are you here to learn about our lives, Mr. Willard?”
He smiles that greasy smile, “Can’t I do both?”
I grumble and start walking, a well paved path leads towards the town, a couple of miles away. After a moment, I look back, “Are you coming?”
He looks shocked, “Walking? For miles?”
I nod, “I usually fly, but for you, I’m making a concession.”
“Can you get some kind of cart? I have a bum knee.”
I grumble for a few minutes, then pull out my phone. A quick text is sent, and within about ten minutes, a unicorn in the armor of the Royal Guard teleports in, a golf cart in tow. She sets it down and salutes me. I return the salute and her horn charges as she teleports away.
“You have your own military?”
I smile, “The accurate answer to that question is yes, and no. We have the EUP, which is the Royal Guard contingent, which provides security for this, and other Equestrian pony colonies. But they are under both the civilian control locally like the US National Guard, but can be called up if needed by the US President via our arrangements with the US Government. We even train with regular military members to train our ponies against human military members, and to train human military members against the Guards. And in addition, they provide the pony equivalence to the police force. Our nature makes the necessity of a strong police force much less of an issue, but the guards will investigate crimes, and we will imprison those who violate our laws. We are a very peaceful populace, Mr. Willard. And having ponies here that help with that peace is always a good thing.” I look towards the bustling city, “Our nature is harmony, Mr. Willard. That is something the TV show got a hundred percent right. We aren’t perfect, but we are peaceful, friendly, and we are welcoming. With all the horrible things that happened to many of the ponies during and shortly after their transformation, until they made it to one of our colonies, I’m actually surprised so many have adjusted so well.”
This gets a wistful smile out of me, “Ponies and humans living here, in harmony, is a good thing, Mr. Willard. Thousands more humans have been showing up, with magic of their own. We’ve been teaching them what their magic means, how to control their magic, how to live with the magic that has manifested inside them. And that is something that is not going to go away, humanity had magic long ago, and it’s awakening again, now. We ponies were the catalyst to bring that magic about, and us going away isn’t going to stop that.
He looks thoughtful as they board the electric cart, he gestures to the drivers seat, which has attachments to allow a pony to drive it, though sitting in it looks rather uncomfortable, I smile again at him, “Oh, I don’t drive. I no longer possess a drivers license, just an ID card. If I need to get somewhere, I use my wings, you are welcome to drive yourself though.”
He grumbles and looks at his sound man, who reluctantly gets out of the back of the cart and moves to the drivers seat. In moments we are off, with me flying beside them.
A few minutes of driving on the paved path brings us to the southern edge of the city. I can’t really call it a town anymore, I slow down and move to the passenger side of the cart, “When they first started building, I was actually a captive in South America, I didn’t know about it until after I had healed for a while. So, I got to learn about this place later. Though we didn’t name it immediately, some ponies wanted New Ponyville, or even Canterlot on Earth, but Mayor Mare put her hoof down, we weren’t going to go with a horse pun for our home, so New Beginnings was chosen, over a year after the city was started. But we only had about ten thousand residents at that point, so the initial plan was to pattern the city off of Ponyville in the show. Wood construction, cobblestone pathways, colorful and artistically designed buildings. And this is down town New Beginnings now.”
We pull into the down town area, the cart stops and the humans pile out. Rapidly the camera is started up, and the camera man pans around, I continue, “We have small shops here, we have the Mayor’s office.” I point to a three story structure, though it vaguely reminds me of the town hall in Ponyville in the show, very ornate, and brightly colored.
Richard interrupts me, “I see electric lights here, where do you get your power? I was objecting to you hogging resources, and among those is electricity.”
I chuckle, “We generate our own in town, in fact, it’s greener than any wind turbines or solar panels, but I’ll get to that soon.” I turn and walk slowly through the town, pointing out the different stores, and the houses.
“As you can see, the houses all have similar designs, it’s because we design our houses to be modular, as a family grows, they can bring another house and attach it, or simply build an addition. Working with only hooves and mouths, Earth ponies are among the best craftsponies you will ever meet. In fact, I’ve replaced all the furniture in my home with pony made. They can make it sized and shaped for humans, or ponies. I highly recommend it.”
I smile and look around, then point, “That is Rim of the Sky, our cloud city, for pegasi and those who have the cloud walking spell cast on them. That is where the Pony Weather bureau is.”
Richard sneers, “That boondoggle. A government giveaway to you ponies.”
I whirl around to face him, my wings extending, “For about three quarters of the old National Weather service’s budget, we aren’t studying the weather, we are creating and controlling it. In the last year and a half, there has not been a hurricane to make landfall. Lake effect snow has been lessened, so the North East doesn’t get dumped on every year, and nationwide, the weather is controlled. Almost fifteen thousand pegasi work for the Pony Weather service. And their hard work has more crops being grown on less land than at any time in human history. And to counteract the falling food prices, we’ve helped farm income increase by increasing the diversity of crops grown nationwide. We’ve moved away from genetically modified seeds, because we can control the pests far better than insecticides ever could. Earth ponies with the gift, along with unicorns and pegasi work nationwide to grow food for all of us. You can see for yourself in any grocery store, food prices have fallen, yet profits for growers and food manufactures have risen, and it’s because of what we do.”
He growls, “What you have to do, you slaves.”
This gets a groan from me, “We do what we are driven to do, and our drive is to be in harmony with our world. With the whole world, we strive for harmony, we aren’t slaves. Anypony can decide at any time to do something else with their lives. Our lives have meaning, and the ones who determine that meaning is us. We decide what makes us happy, not some outside force.” I’m finding myself getting heated, “If Mozart had been a pony, he would have had a piano cutie mark, Picasso, Rembrandt, in their own ways, they were just as driven. Yes, some would say they were slaves to their music, to they’re art. But in the same way, weather control is an art. Just because we wear our true hearts on our hips, doesn’t mean that we are any more or less slaves to our passions as humans are.”
I whirl away, fighting to control my wings, my temper is showing way too much right now. I keep walking north, away from the main part of down town New Beginnings, and soon Richard and his crew are in the cart again, I continue the tour, fighting to keep my voice level, “When the Chinese ponies came over, a lot decided to go through the portal and settle back in Equestria. But quite a few decided to make their homes here. We have a bustling Chinatown, and some of the best Chinese food you’ve ever eaten, most of it vegetarian, though a few places have pork and chicken. I was actually going to offer to treat you to some food there.”
He waves a hand dismissively, “We ate before we got here, we won’t be partaking of any of your food.”
I suppress a sigh, “That’s fine." Then I brighten, “You’ll want to see our EUP training area.” He looks confused for a moment, then follows me to the expansive complex.
***
A few hours showing my erstwhile guests around the training complex actually has them suitably impressed. The ponies have built a wonderful training area, and in addition to the ponies walking around in fatigues provided by the US Military, there are quite a few US military members, of every branch of service, here. Training goes on here, and in a few open places around town. The currently deployed unit is in stand down mode, maintaining equipment, and the ponies of the EUP are teaching some of their officers some tactics. I suppress my feelings savagely, Irony, more than once, has been called upon to lecture here. She had written a couple of books on pony warfare tactics, and had rightfully earned her place as Princess Twilight Sparkle’s guard contingent leader. Then we are walking through the training area that I had sparred with Twilight Velvet a few weeks before, I see her there again, training. Though the two ponies with her surprise me, I rush over to them, tackling both of them at once.
“Moon Shadow, Sunset Shimmer! What are you doing here?”
I get nuzzled by both ponies, and a glare from the older mare, as I let them up.
Sunset speaks up, “Oh, after you working with Velvet, I decided to learn combat. As a strong generalist, I can learn the spells, but the tactics, the thinking on my hooves, I’m being trained on that.”
She looks over at Moon Shadow, who nods enthusiastically, and adds, “When we find that Twilight, we are going to do everything we can to get Irony back.”
I look at the humans, who are walking over, then I look around, “I don’t see Mindy here, surely she would benefit from the same kind of training.”
Velvet speaks up, "Mindy's magic style isn't compatible with my teaching. Mindy is about chaos and randomness. Like Pinkie Pie, she bends and breaks the rules, creating her own on the fly. What I'm teaching is magic muscle, reflex response, and combat control. How to think on your hooves and apply your skill and specialties on the fly, but also how to almost instinctively understand and respond to a situation. Very few ponies can match Mindy but at the same time, she can't be taught."
She shifts on her hooves a little, "As well, Mindy can't work in groups the same way, I know, for example, what you can do Lightning Dust. I can use my magic to support you, to cover you, and to protect you. I can often guess what you are going to do next, and with training in teams that becomes easier and easier, often times groups won't need to share many words in combat while they work. Mindy, though, can't be predicted, so she can't work in a team like that."
Twilight Velvet is in full on lecture mode, "In true combat, like what I'm teaching, that unpredictability makes her dangerous. Not just to the target, but to her team, herself, and any hostages. I'd be scared to take her out into the field myself. Scared for my safety and hers. She's powerful, and if she's not paying attention or watching, she easily could wipe out those around her when she shatters reality."
I chuckle, “Mindy sure knows how to mess with reality. But all that information is really good to know, thank you, Twilight Velvet” I look at the approaching humans, “I’m going to continue with this tour, but once he gives me the information he’s promised, we will be on our way.”
The three unicorns nod at me, and turn back. I move over to the humans, “I’ve shown you the town itself, I’ve shown you our training area. I want to know where Irony is.”
Richard smirks, “All in good time, you said you generate your own power, I don’t see smoke stacks, there is no nuclear power here, how do you get power here?”
I smile cryptically, “The same way we have power in Equestria.”
His face clouds in confusion, I copy his earlier smirk, “Follow me.”
In moments they are back in the cart, and they follow me to a low building on the west side of town, he gets out, “This doesn’t look like a power plant.”
I smile, “But it is, we are actually selling about half the energy we produce to the local co-op. So cost wise, this facility is actually profitable.” I push through the door, and the expansive building is visible. Most of it is underground actually. I bring the humans to a small window with extremely thick glass, “Have a look.”
He looks, and the camera comes close, Richard frowns, “It looks like a cloud.”
I smile, “Exactly.”
He stands up, “Huh?”
I turn to the side, “Look at my cutie mark.”
He looks for a long time at my flank, and back at the large enclosure, “Lightning?”
I smile and nod.
“How?”
“The power of being a pegasus, Mr. Willard. We gather clouds with a strong charge, and bring them through that hole in the ceiling.” I point up, “And we place them in the containment, which induces lightning to charge capacitor banks and then we invert it to 480 volt, three phase power, which is stepped up for distribution throughout town. And we also step it up to long distance transmission voltage for sending off to the co-op, which we sell for half the rate that they can get elsewhere.”
His shock is evident, “What about elsewhere?”
I smile, “We are building these facilities in several places, where we have pegasi to maintain them.” I turn and look at him severely, “I told you, Mr. Willard, we are a benefit to humanity, not competitors, not enemies, but friends.”
I walk away from the stunned humans, and use my wings to bring me up to ground level, I walk outside and sit down.
“Hey, Dustie, I found her!” A voice calls, I turn and look, Mindy is bouncing to me.
“Irony?”
Her ears fall, her mane loses a lot of its poof, her voice gets really quiet, “No, Dustie, nothing new on the Irony front. The pony from the diary.”
I smile, “A close second. Where?”
She smiles, “She’s in Florida. We can get going there as soon as you want.” Her mane starts to come back, her eyes shine looking at me, “We both want Irony back, and you will be the first I tell about when I find something.”
I move over and hug her, “I know Mindy, love.” I give her a kiss.
“Disgusting, ponies and public displays of affection.” A snide voice starts from behind me.
I turn around, “Mindy is a member of my herd, one I love unreservedly, if you have a problem with that, you can just leave.” I step forward, my wings flaring, “I’ve been accommodating to you, I’ve given you the information that you’ve looked for. Now I want what was promised, I want Irony’s location.”
He smiles and spreads his arms, “I have no clue where she is, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
I narrow my eyes, and apparently he is scared by the look on my face, “You lied to me?”
He smirks, “And you’ve given me all the ammunition I need. Nearly 20% of US citizens are living in poverty, and yet you ponies live high on the hog. You have polyamorous relationships with each other, and your bring humans into your nasty ways. You sicken me…”
His tirade is stopped by my hoof impacting his ample midsection. My wings bring me into the air, and another hoof slams into his cheek, and then his nose. He topples back to the ground. I land, breathing heavily.
Mindy comes up and puts a hoof on my withers, “Dustie, I will find her.”
I sigh and press my face into her neck, I need a moment.
“You attacked me, and it’s all on camera, you attacked a human. You are a danger, and when the portal opens you all should be pushed through, and have humanity be done with you.”
I turn, my wings flaring again, “Get out of this town, if I see you again, I will kill you.” I whirl around and walk away, Mindy bouncing next to me.
“Don’t worry about him, Dustie, he’s an asshole.”
I sigh, “And asshole with some good propaganda against us.”
Mindy giggles, “An asshole with wiped cameras. I took care of that as you turned to walk away from him. He has nothing.”
I look over at her, “Mindy, have I told you today that I love you?”
She giggles again, “You tell me that almost every day Dustie, and I always love to hear it.”