//------------------------------// // Chapter 67. Across the DEW Line // Story: Dust on the Wind // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// Outside my house, Velvet and her team are there. She comes up to me, “Dust, Cipher’s briefed us. We’ve gotten clearance to try to end the threat that is this clone of my daughter. The SEAL’s, and most of the teams are going in by sea. You have a choice, your team can join us in the insertion by air, or you can go with the rest.” I look at my family that is coming with us, Sunset Shimmer, Moon Shadow, Mindy. Limestone Pie is here to help. I look at the humans and sigh, “Velvet, I’m not really certain that humans should be involved with this.” Capt. James Fischer steps forward, “Dust, she’s your family member, from what Moon Shadow has told us, Irony is being tortured, we are going to get her.” I snort and stomp a foot, “This is an insanely powerful pony we are going up against, she’s had a couple of months after our last attempt, I guarantee she is going to have made quite a few new constructs, so it’s not going to be a quick smash and grab, it’s going to be a battle. And much as I hate to say it, this is a pony matter.” The Captain looks sly, “What about honorary ponies?” I cock my head to the side, my ears perk forward, “Honorary ponies?” He smiles and brings down his combat pants, “I got this at the battle for the gate, Lightning Dust.” My jaw drops, he’s got a bona fide cutie mark, a shield with wings, and five stars in a V pattern. I reach out a hoof, then bring it back, looking at his face. He nods in response to my unasked question, he pulls up his pants and smiles, “We all earned them during the battle. We all were touched by the magic of your world. Moon Shadow and Fleetfoot have shown me what that magic means, what this means. It took me a long time to accept it.” He says as his face falls, he then goes to one knee, “In the time I’ve known you ponies, I’ve gotten to understand what camaraderie you ponies have. What it means to be a pony, and it’s far more than having four hooves. These cutie marks, your lives, you wear your true selves out in the open, and I think it’s a beautiful thing. I want to help you get Irony, because she needs you, and you need her. I’ve had to do quite a bit of persuasion, I had to let my superiors know that getting a tortured individual was enough to warrant the risk. We need to get rid of this clone, who has extremely strong magic and is hostile to ponies and humans alike. While equipment is going to be pretty easy, Fleetfoot has some pull, we’ve got a C-130 that is going to take us there. And most of the ponies will be steaming from Seattle tonight. We have a little more time since we will be flying. But we need to get ready.” I nod. “We are going to get Irony.” *** Nearly three days later, we are in the C-130, en-route to Prince Richard Island, our land team is nearly there, we have about ten minutes of flight time left before the plane will be going low to drop us. No radar has been detected. I’ve got a headset on my head, new ones have been designed with ponies in mind, so it’s actually comfortable. Though I’ve got my wing blades on, and my armor as well. Moon Shadow has changed its color for me, it’s now midnight black. I like the new look, and a new enchantment on the armor actually changes my coat color, I’m now a dark gray. It’s not long after sundown right now. I hear something from my headset, and the plane makes a hard turn, I’m thanking Celestia that we are strapped in securely. I look at the Captain. He touches his headphones, “Blue Lagoon reported from the ship, they were just about to land when she detected a ward. We are in a holding pattern while she deals with it.” I sigh, “Well, the clone knows to keep layers of defense around her home. We have wards around our pony colonies, to warn us if a plane is coming, since the airspace directly over our towns is restricted due to the pegasi. I hope she can deal with the ward quickly.” In moments the all clear comes across, and the plane turns again. A red light turns on in the cargo bay of the plane. The captain stands up and gestures, “Everypony in.” My tail tucks under my rear, “Oh, no. I can fly.” Blaze hops in the Light Strike Vehicle, “You too chicken to fly on the wild side with us, Dust?” He shakes his tail as he settles in and pats a hoof on the seat. I grumble and hop in. A few minutes are all that’s necessary to get every human and pony strapped in. The Captain is driving, I look around, “What now?” He smiles as he fires up the engine, shifting it into neutral, “Now the ride gets intense, Dust.” Behind us, the cargo doors of the C-130 open, I crane my neck and can see we are less than a hundred feet up, and are rapidly descending. I gulp as three drogue chutes are launched out the back and billow open. Jay smiles, “Hang on to your asses, Rangers.” The catch is released by the loadmaster as the light turns red. All of us are jerked against our restraints as the Light armored vehicle is yanked from the back of the plane. Dropping the ten feet to the ground, the Captain shifts to fifth gear and howls in delight as he yanks the wheel hard to the right, a quick burst of magic from Velvet has the chutes fluttering to the ground, cut from our vehicle. And we are off, heading towards this anti-Twilight Sparkle’s fortress of solitude. I look around, there are happy faces all in this vehicle. But one face stands out, “Hannah, what the fuck?” She smiles, “Hi Dad, I had to get in on the action one way or another.” I look at my family, everypony is looking at Hannah in shock. Sunset chimes in, “Hannah, how did you get here, there is no way you could have gotten enough of a read for a teleport in.” Hannah giggles, “Of course not, Momma Sunset, I’ve been with you since you boarded the airplane. Just a simple misdirection spell, you never noticed me.” Sunset puffs up a bit, I can see the golden unicorn is about to lose it, “I would have felt the magic being channeled.” Hannah tips her head to the side, “You taught me to use the masking spell, to hide the flows from another unicorn. Those were two simple weaves to hold at the same time.” I look at the Captain, he’s looking back at us, a worried look on his face, noticing the young lady in the armored vehicle with us, “Do we need to abort?” I think for a moment, “I would love to, but we have too many others depending on us.” I turn and look severely at Hannah, “You are in a heap of trouble, young lady.” To my surprise, she reaches over and bops my nose, “No, I’m not, you old softy, you know I can handle myself, and I’m too much like you. I want to be in the mix just as much as you do.” I growl, “You are my daughter, and you are only fifteen.” “And fifteen year olds have been getting killed in war for centuries, I can fight, I can help, and I want mamma Irony back as badly as you do.” I look at my herd, everypony is looking at me. I have to make this decision. My ears fall, “Hannah, I don’t know what I would do if anything happens to you.” Again, I’m bopped on the nose, more gently this time, “Dust, I’ll be fine, we need to get Irony.” *** A total of three hovercraft are approaching from the south, we are coming in from the north. The reason I had asked Blue Lagoon to join us is her weather abilities, and those abilities become evident as a massive ground based cloud bank springs up the closer we get. Soon the fog diminishes vision down to barely the hood of the strike vehicle. GPS and maps from satellite photos less than an hour old are what we are depending on to get to our destination. No one knows exactly how smart the clone’s constructs are. And she can’t be everyplace at once. So we are trying to get in as undetected as possible. It’s soon apparent that our efforts have paid off. The Captain slows the vehicle to a crawl and finally stops. The doors are opened and the human and pony passengers pile out. The thickness of the fog is almost enough that I could just walk on it right up, and the sound dampening qualities that Blue had apparently added seem to be working. We quickly make it to the wall. I touch the wall, it’s made of ice. I look at Sunset, she smiles, and the ice in front of me melts, the water steaming away, she trots through the wall, and we follow. As we all get through, her horn lights again, and the ice reforms. I smile, and Velvet moves forward to take point, Blaze and myself behind her. The rest keep behind us. We trot for several minutes, keeping our pace to within human endurance. Captain Fisher is keeping apprised of the other teams on his com gear. The whole building seems to be made out of ice, but inside it’s quite warm. Though after a few more minutes, everything transitions to wood construction. Velvet touches the wood, “It’s real, though conjured.” She says and moves on. I could see any of this in Equestria. I move up to Velvet, “I think she’s trying to recreate her life in Equestria.” She nods grimly, “From everything you’ve told me, that sounds about right. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found another Golden Oak library here.” I sigh, “With Irony being kept in the basement again, likely.” She nods again, frowning. We walk in silence for a bit, finally, I whisper to her, “You okay?” She almost misses a step, then looks at me quickly, then gets her head back swiveling, “Yeah, it’s just a bit disturbing. All of this in here feels so familiar. She’s done a remarkable job in recreating the feel of Equestria, much how New Beginnings is feeling like home. It pulls something deep inside me.” I’ve noticed it too, “New Beginnings isn’t my doing, Velvet, the ponies there, they did that. Naturally, out of them being the ponies they are. This does feel similar, but different.” She nods, “Yeah, like that is natural, and this is artificial.” She holds up a hoof and we all stop. I look forward, there’s somepony walking there. But not all black like the constructs. I move silently forward a bit for a better vantage. Then I gasp and flash forward. “Rainbow Dash?” The cyan pony stops and looks at me, confusion evident on her face, “Who?” I don’t hear her, “Oh my gosh, I thought you were back in Equestria, how did you get here?” Rainbow puffs herself up, “I’m here for my friend Twilight.” I cock my head to the side, “Twilight is back in Equestria.” She shakes her head, “No, she’s here. I can take you to her.” I hold out a hoof, “No, I’m looking for Irony.” Her ears fall, “Irony is a bad pony.” I try to control my temper, though my wings have spread, and I’m pretty sure that Rainbow realizes what that means, she wilts. I step forward, “I love Irony, and I’m going to get her back.” Rainbow backs up a step, her wings flaring as well. I’m able to grin, she doesn’t have wingblades on. “Out of my way, Rainbow Dash.” She growls, “You aren’t going to make Twilight sad. I’ll stop you.” I hear the chime of magic behind me and Rainbow’s head jerks to the side, like she’s been hit by a sledgehammer. She drops, and her body erupts in green flames, leaving a black carapace and satin like wings behind. I look down at the body, “A changeling? I thought Chrysalis went through the portal.” Sunset comes up, “She did. But apparently some of her eggs were left behind. Let’s go.” Velvet again takes the lead, and soon we’ve found another Golden Oak library. I move forward, taking the lead, I know where Irony was kept last time, most of the team stays behind, but Moon Shadow, Hannah and Sunset join me as we head inside. A quick trot has us down the stairs, and I find the right room. Opening the door reveals the pony I’ve been missing for so long. I flash forward. “Oh, Irony.” I murmur as I look into her one good eye. She looks at me intently, tears starting to leak from her eye. I smile at her, she’s going home, no matter what, this time. Sunset lights her horn again, and in a flash, all of Irony’s restraints are removed. She slumps out of the chair, and I barely catch her. I look at Hannah, “Teleport her home. We will let the teams know, and we will be on our way shortly.” Hannah moves forward, her magic lifting the huge earth pony and she wraps her arms around Irony. I have to say, something about the last time I saw her, it must have uplifted her spirits enough, she wasn’t losing herself this time nearly as badly. With a pop, Hannah and Irony disappear. I turn to Sunset, “We need to get out of here before she finds out we’ve stolen her prize.” Emerging from the tree, I smile at James, who pushes a couple of buttons on his com setup, “Target has been retrieved, pull out.” I look at Velvet, who takes the lead, we need speed, I run up behind Henry, getting between his legs and bumping him onto my back. Reflexively he grabs onto my mane as I take off, he shifts a bit to get his legs behind my wing joints, allowing me to use them. Some of the other ponies do the same with the other humans, and we gallop full speed towards our entrance. Sunset quickly melts the ice again and we gallop into the night. We are almost to the Stryker light armored vehicle, when a blast from behind sends us all tumbling. I end up upside down, Henry apparently had tucked and rolled when he was thrown clear. I turn my head, and a wave of fog and snow is heading towards us, “Everypony down!” I scream as the second blast wave hits us. Multiple thumps come to my ears as the Rangers fire off their M320’s back behind us. In seconds the flash bangs they just launched go off. Looking back, I watch the Stryker roll onto its back from the blast. I growl and look at Sunset, “Can you teleport us out of here?” She shakes her head, “Not all at once, there are too many.” “Take the Rangers, and as many ponies as you can. Then come back and get me.” I turn and spread my wings. After a few seconds, I look back at Sunset, she has a shocked look on her face, she looks at me bleakly, “Dust, she’s put up a new ward, it prevents teleportation. I can’t teleport us out of here.” I nod and turn back. This is going to suck. I bring my wing blades forward into a guard position. With a magenta flash, the clone of Twilight Sparkle appears, her mane is frizzy, and her eyes are wide, with small pupils, she screams, “Where did you take my Irony?” I step forward, “She’s safe, you fraud. She’s away from you. And I won’t let you have her again.” She growls and fires a beam at me, I deflect it with a charged wing, “Gotta do better than that, you imposter.” With a primal scream, she fires another blast at me, and again, I deflect it harmlessly away, though that one stung, my wing aches where her spell hit. “I’m going to…” She trails off, looking down at her chest. Three darts are there. Her horn shine slowly fades and she falls over. I look over at Twilight Velvet, her horn is quieting as well, and she trots over to the now prone form. I move over to the older mare, “What did you do?” “It’s not well known that certain medications can affect a unicorn’s ability to do magic. I’ve just pumped her with a nearly lethal dose of MAOI inhibitors.” She smiles at me, “Thank you for distracting her, you gave me the opening I needed. I discovered this with a few other ponies back in the early days after our changes. We’ve had to help them break through the fog that the medicine creates.” I look at the clone, she’s twitching under the effects of the medicine, her eyes are open, but I’m not certain she’s aware of what’s going on exactly. I touch her with a hoof, “How long will it last?” She shrugs, “It’s hard to say for certain, it’s dependent on the pony’s strength in magic, her emotions, quite a few factors, actually. Though accounting for all of that, perhaps fifteen minutes or so.” I sigh, “We need to get a horn restraint on her before then.” She nods and gallops over next to the armored vehicle, the sound of metal squealing floats over to me as the mare starts to look for the restraint. Captain James Fisher comes over to me, “That was some quick thinking, Lightning Dust.” I shrug my wings, “I just did what I needed to.” He goes to one knee, “I’m glad you got Irony back.” I sit down in the snow, “I am too. I know she’s had a horrible time, but she’s with her family now.” Twilight Velvet returns, a restrain held aloft in her magic, “I had one with me, but the strap broke on my saddle bags with one of the blasts, it’s probably twenty miles away by now.” She lowers the restraint onto the clone’s horn, and with a twist of her magic, it’s tightened down. We can get her back to New Beginnings and try her for the crimes she committed. Two of the Rangers scream out, I look up, so does Velvet and Blaze. “Oh shit.” Velvet murmurs. I turn and scream, “Everpony, we need to make it to the hovercraft. Let’s go. NOW!” We all take off as hundreds of the clones constructs burst through the fog. The clone is in Twilight’s magic as we start running. The humans are picked up by the other ponies, and I slide under James. He flips on my back as I start to gallop, so he can face backwards, soon the night is lit by the weapons of the Rangers. They are no longer using non-lethals, they are fighting back, as best as they can from the backs of galloping ponies. “Damn,” I gasp, “They must have been trying to surround us.” I listen to that little voice inside my head, and jerk from side to side, evading incoming magical blasts. I watch Sunset, she’s blasting away as she’s galloping, and even Mindy is more subdued than usual, she’s not breaking any rules, she’s simply fighting as she runs. Moon Shadow has a determined look on her face as she focuses on the path ahead of us. Apparently Blue Lagoon has let go of the fog, it’s dissipating rapidly as we continue to run. I groan, I’m not effective on the ground, I flare my wings, “James, better hang on.” His empty rifle clatters into the snow as he gets himself to be facing forward on my back. He thumps the side of my neck twice, letting me know he’s ready. And with a leap and a mighty flap, I’m in the air. “Ah, that’s better.” I grin as I accelerate, I throw lightning at a group of constructs that Moon hadn’t gotten to yet. I flash forward. “Damn, Dust. I know you are fast, but don’t go too fast, you’ll drop me.” I chuckle, “James, you aren’t going to get rid of me that easily.” I dive towards the ground, slamming one, two, three bolts at another group of constructs that were hiding behind a low rise in the earth. I look down and check the teams, it looks like everyone is doing okay. Though they are starting to show the strain, I look forward, we’ve got a couple of miles to go, I can see the hovercraft, ponies and humans falling back towards them, and what looks like a mob of constructs being fought off. Damn, I hope they don’t get overrun, it will be a long swim to get back. My musing is shattered by a spell hitting my face, my eyes are dazzled as I roll, James reflexively grabbing on tightly. I blink my eyes several times, “Uh, James. We’re in trouble.” His voice sounds more than a little strained, “Ya think?” I shake my head violently, “No, James, I’m blind. I can’t see.” “Oh shit.” I try to remember my orientation when I got hit, I was fairly level, but I’m a sitting duck, flying in a straight line, “James, where’s the ground, I need to land.” His voice growls in my ear, “If we get grounded, you’ll be easy pickings…” “But you’ll be safe.” I call out, interrupting him. His hand flashes out, pinching my ear, hard, getting a yelp from me, “You are not sacrificing yourself to save me, Dust. I've been a pegasus, I still have a pegasus cutie mark. Let me guide you. Trust in my cutie mark to keep us safe.” There is nothing left to do but trust him. He shifts his grip to my mane at the base of my skull, he pulls back gently, and I let him lead me to gain altitude. “Damn, Jay and Velvet are in serious trouble, Velvet lost the clone.” I moan, “I can’t aim my magic.” My head is turned sharply to the right, I rotate 90 degrees on my side and do a hard turn, and he guides me back to level, “Okay, Dust, when I say fire, you fire straight ahead.” “But I can’t see…” I wail. His hands push my head down, and a little to my left, he shouts, “Fire.” I throw a bolt of lightning blindly. Praying to Celestia that I’m not hitting my friends or family. “Good shot Dust!” He calls. He guides me in a hard left turn, I follow his instructions, “Fire, Dust!” “Damn, we missed, you up for going around and trying again?” I grin, we are working quite well together, “Go for it, James.” I feel him tilt my head, and I follow his instructions, “Okay, Dust…” He waits for a moment lining me up, “Fire!” I dutifully fire off another bolt. I can feel myself starting to pant, “James, I only have so much magic. I’m good now, but I’ll be running out before too long. Adding in the fact I’m carrying you, and that’s also a bit taxing. So don’t think I’ve got infinite ammunition.” He chuckles, “Don’t worry, Dust. We are almost there.” I sigh in relief, then I feel my skull tilted up, “We need a better view.” I claw for some altitude in response to his directions. He breathes a sigh, “This is amazing.” I’m able to nod, “Yes, flight is amazing.” I feel him shift on my back, “It looks like the rest have exhausted their weapons, just a few more minutes, and we’ll be able to call in an air strike.” I nod grimly, if that will take care of the imposter once and for all, let some Canadian F-18's take the day. My head is tilted sharply down, “There’s another group near the hovercraft, you are going to have to fire several times, you up for it?” “Yes.” I say as I dive. A few seconds and then, “Start firing, Dust.” I throw bolt after bolt blindly, after each blast, James adjusts my course a bit, after a few seconds, “Okay, Dust. Cease fire.” I sigh, I’m almost done, I can feel the beginnings of magical exhaustion, “We need to come in to land.” “Way ahead of you, I’ll tell you when to land.” Again my head is pointed down, and his voice sounds in my ear, “Time to slow down.” I backpedal my wings, he calls out, “Ten feet, five feet.” I extend my hind hooves as he calls out three feet, and in moments I’m on the ground. I collapse to the ground, panting. His voice is right next to me, apparently he’s lying down too, probably as exhausted as I am, “You rock, Ranger.” I get a hand on the side of my face, “You did great, Dust.” Sunset’s voice comes to me, “Oh, Dust. Let me fix that.” I can hear her panting heavily, I put out a hoof to try and stop her, but the chime of her magic overtakes my entire body, and a cooling sensation covers my eyes. In moments I blink my eyes, I smile, “I can see!” I look around, the hovercraft are being loaded, and in the distance, I can see the constructs are fleeing. James slowly stands up, and looks at the fortress, a dull roar announces the low run from a flight of four F-18’s. I don’t see the bombs separate from the aircraft, but in moments, bright flashes announce the sixteen JDAM’s landing. Several seconds later, the loud reports from the bombs reach us. And the entire building is demolished. I look over at Velvet, “Do you think she survived?” Her ears fall, “I hope she did, and I hope she didn’t, Dust.” I look over at James, then walk slowly to him, I rear up and put my forelegs around him, bringing my wings into the hug, minding the fact I’ve got my wing blades on. Then I kiss him on the cheek, “Thank you James, you have the true heart of a pegasus.”