Dust on the Wind

by Sparky Brony

Chapter 10. Rescue Rangers to the Rescue

"Dust?" I hear from the kitchen, I was laying on the couch, trying to get over the shakes from the FBI encounter. It was not entirely successful. I look over at Flash as he trots into the living room.

In response to my questioning look, "Irony said she would call a friend. His father is a four star in the corps. He might take some convincing, though. She doesn't sound like Henry anymore." He looks down and his ears fall. "It was hard to talk to her after what I said."

Damn, I climb off the couch and fold my wing over the larger golden pegasus. "But do you feel better? Letting her know what is going on?"

I see the tears starting to fall. He's pent up even more than I was.

"You need to let it go, Flash. Those memories, those dreams. They are real, they were your life."

He looks down. "But…"

"My sticking point, what was keeping me from truly accepting this change was…" I bite my lip for a moment, "sex."

He jerks his head up and turns his head to stare at me.

I nod slowly. "Eeyup, I've said as a joke for a long time, I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body. I just found out that wasn't a joke, it was true."

Confusion…

I hug him tighter with my wing. "I really was a filly fooler, just was in the male body, now I'm in my right body, and I find I prefer mares." I laugh softly. "But you can take a girl out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the girl. I had problems with that fact."

Again, he's pretty confused.

"Dude, remember, we are ponies now. And the show is pretty accurate when it comes to gender ratio in Equestria. There are a lot more mares than stallions. And as ponies, our morals, and values are different than the humans."

"Whoa, you've really gone native, haven't you?"

I sigh, I find I'm sighing a lot more lately. "Yes, I have. I had it pushed in my face, to be able to save the Mike I was, to save what I was, I had to let it all go. I had to embrace these changes, that was the only way I was able to keep me, and not just become full blown Lightning Dust, with no memories or thoughts of her life on this world, or full blown Mike, completely psychotic because he's turned into a freak of nature."

"So, what you are saying is, for me to not lose myself, to not lose Jim, I must let Jim go?"

"I know, it sounds counter to what you would think. But it is what worked for me. You are at war with yourself aren't you?"

He looks down and nods. "Every night. I'm afraid to sleep, and I never sleep well."

I give him a peck on the cheek. Hey, I have been a female for under a week, and I'm already using my feminine wiles to get stallions to do what's good for them. "You will not be happy, unless you do more than seek a truce. You must surrender, you will find that Flash will surrender as well. And you two can become one. It really is the only way."

"How is that possible?"

"Because you are at war with yourself. When one side surrenders, both surrender. Don't ask me, I'm just a pony in a human world." I smile and get a hoof punch to my side.

He looks thoughtful after a moment. "Did Soarin go through that?"

I think for a moment. "I don't know. But he hasn't told me of any problems, but as Maddie, he was always independent, and went his own way. He will work out his issues."

I get a wing hug from Flash. "Thank you Lightning. I will work on that."

I smile. "Now, what about Irony?"

He smiles. "He'll leave tomorrow morning, after he gets the FBI taken care of. Irony, Moon Shadow, and Trixie will be on their way here."

I furrow my brow. "Not the Great and Powerful Trixie?" Rolling my r's perfectly.

He laughs. "The same."

"How?"

"You know I was with Trixie when we were taken by Discord. She was hit moments after I was. Her human name was Sherry."

"The girl you were getting serious with?"

He nods.

"And she's now the Grrrreat and Powerful Trrrixie?"

A sour look."You don't need to make fun of her."

I fall over laughing, I'm gasping for breath. He just stands there, shifting his hooves, waiting for me to recover from my laughing fit.
"I'm sorry," I say as I wipe tears out of my eyes."But, I can't help it. Your girlfriend is turning…" more laughing… “into…" I'm holding my sides, I'm laughing so hard, "her."

I get a kick to the barrel, not hard, but it ends my laughing fits. I finally heave myself to my hooves, still chuckling a bit. I check the clock, it's getting late. My wife comes over to me. I get on my rear hooves, using my wings to steady myself, I give her a hug.
"I'll be upstairs in a bit." I get a peck on the lips. I thank Celestia that she's not letting it get awkward. I had to tell her while I was trying to calm down after the FBI problem.

I do manage to whap her in the rear with my tail as she heads to the stairs. I still feel a huge amount of affection for her. And I obviously love her. With today's problems, she was an angel when it comes to the kids. I feel my ears fall.

"What's wrong Lightning?"

I sigh. "My kids."

"Huh?"

"What's going to happen to them? I don't want to leave them, but if the FBI comes back with reinforcements, I may have to be on the run, we all will. And they don't need that."

He looks thoughtful. "Can you send Helen and them to relatives until this blows over?"

Hmmm. "Maybe my parents can take them, their health isn't so good, but I think they would love to see their grandkids. Of course, the Disney cruise would be cancelled." I growl a bit at this, I wanted to go on that cruise. "I'll talk to Helen when I go to bed." I look at the wall clock. "Which I should be doing now."

"Why? It's Friday night."

I smile at him. "Because I'm tired is the main reason. I'll see you in the morning."

I like how dexterous my wings are, I use my wing to cover a yawn as I climb the stairs to my bedroom.

***

"Dust, wake up!"

I jerk awake, a quick glance at my phone tells me its two in the morning.

"Huh, wha now?"

"Dust, Irony just called me. It's not going to be easy, but we can make it work."

This jerks me wide awake. I look over at my wife. She's not awake, but much more talking will change that. I flare out a wing and place it on Flash's mouth. He gets the signal and follows me to the kitchen.

"I think I can handle a late night snack," I say as I pull some apples out of the fridge.

After a few apples are munched down, I sit at the kitchen table with Flash. "So, what's the deal?"

"Irony had to do some breaking and entering. But she was able to convince the man that she saved by jumping on a grenade that she was Henry. And he talked to his dad, and his dad talked to a few people in DC."

I nod and wait for him to continue. "I told Irony about the farm you are setting up for Equestrian refugees. And the agreement is that any ponies that you gather or make it on their own to your sanctuary are safe. But they refuse to widely acknowledge the pony problem as they call it. So we are going to have to work overtime to be able to find ponies. They refused to release ponies already in custody. But they want something out of you."

Oh crap. "What do they want? They already have Equestrians in custody."

"They want to interview and, if possible, do non-invasive medical testing on all three races present. They want demonstrations of unicorn magic, and of what the earth ponies can do."

"But no abductions? No dissections?"

He shakes his head.

"I'm not buying an MRI machine."

"They can bring one in on a semi-trailer. And we will be responsible for perimeter security. If they want to do this, then the farm will be along the likes of a reservation."

"A reservation, like the natives…" That name puts a sour taste in my mouth.

He nods. "And if necessary, they can annex some adjoining land to expand based on the population."

"I don't think that will be necessary, but I know quite a few sections around the farm are already federal land, grazing on that land should be sufficient, or maybe the right to cut hay."

"I don't think that will be a problem."

"But they won't be letting go the ponies they have?"

"No." He shakes his head sadly.

"That won't do now will it?"

He shakes his head violently. "What?"

"When Irony gets here later today, we are going to get the ponies out of detention in Billings."

"What if that violates our agreement?"

"Only if they find out it was us."

He gets an evil grin. "Then they better not find out it was us."

My grin matches his.

***

"Morning Dust."

I'm a zombie right now, I don't usually go for coffee in the morning, but since I woke up at 2AM. I'm ready for some of the life giving liquid. Soarin was always a coffee drinker as a human, and he's kept the habit. I push a cup onto the button on the brewer, the pump whines and a dark roast pours into my large coffee cup. I wait for it to fill the oversize cup. A lot of sugar, and some cream. And in about ten minutes, I'm a new mare. I finally look up at Mindy and Cherry Punch.

"Mornin'."

Cherry sits at the table next to me, wincing as she does so. "I envy you pegasi."

I furrow my brow. "Huh?"

"You can use your wings to flit around, and Mindy… Well Mindy is Mindy, as Carl she wasn't much different though. Complete nutjob. But I have to plod around all day. And it's all hard surfaces, and my hooves hurt."

"Your hooves hurt?"

"Yeah."

"What do horse owners do when they have their horses on hard surfaces most of the time?"

Her eyes get big. "No."

I smile as a big idea hits me. "Mindy, Soarin, Flash. Get ready, we are going to get shoed."

***

"Let me get this straight." The tall, skinny farrier said to me, "You five ponies can all talk." We all nod at him. "And you want to be shoed."

I speak up, "We need some cushioning shoes, please." He flinched as I talked.

"And no nails too," Mindy says.

He just turns into his shop. I follow, letting everypony see that I would go through it first.

The poor fellow just looks like he's operating in a daze. I speak up, maybe I can bring him to reality, "I know this seems odd, but I can pay you, and since we are unusual customers, I'll pay double your usual price, sound good?"

He shakes his head, I hear him mutter to himself, he doesn't know how sensitive pony ears are and I clearly hear, "I must be dreaming."

I slap my hoof on the concrete of his shop. "This isn't a dream. We are ponies, as in those from that damned television show. We are here, and I know for a fact we had horseshoes there. And my earth pony friend is wearing out her poor hooves walking on hard surfaces all the time. So we are going to protect our hooves. And being a little quieter when we are walking is a good thing. So, are we going to deal? Or do my associates and I have to find another farrier. And remember, most of us are pegasi, we can fly where we want." As if on cue, three ponies spread our wings. I swear he was going to faint. But after a minute, he's defeated.

"Fine, who's first."

I smile. "Why, me of course."

He shrugs and points me to the work area. I stand patiently waiting, I hear him fire up his propane forge. I start talking to Soarin for a few minutes, then I feel him press against my right rear leg, causing me to automatically lift my leg, though I'm not really aware of it. He fiddles around with a hoof knife and does some cleaning. I do hear him muttering that my hooves are cleaner than most horses, which I should hope so. He lets my foot down as we keep talking. Then about five minutes later he's back.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What the fuck!!" I yelp as my wings pull me away from him. I'm hovering in front of him, he has a small shoe that is still glowing red hot in tongs.

His face is a mask of confusion. "I'm just sizing your shoes ma'am."

"While they are red hot?"

"It's easier to work on them that way. You have smaller hooves than the horses I usually work with."

I feel my hoof, there isn't any burn, it was just a surprise to me. I finally let myself back down. "Ya could warn a girl."

A long pause. "I'm sorry ma'am. It won't injure you, but it is a lot of heat to surprise you."
Hmmph, fine. I grumble at him, "Just let me know before you do it, I'm smarter than the horses you usually work on. Okay?"

"Sure."

After a moment of reheating, he again presses the shoe to my hoof. After the initial feeling of heat, it's gone and he sizes it to my hooves. After he quenches the shoe, he grabs some rubber tread and takes some strong glue and glues a strip to all of the striking surfaces of the shoe. In moments he's used the same strong glue to actually glue the shoe to my hooves. A process which I'm thankful for. I know how thick these hooves are, but I really don't cotton to the idea of nails being driven through them. I was the kid climbing every tree in sight, or I was the filly who was first to fly. Not the one to stick needles through a finger saying look how cool it is.

In a few hours, we are all shoed. I pay the man in cash, double what he asked, along with a generous tip. And promise of future business.

"Thank you Miss Dust," he finally says as I grab Mindy and Soarin tries to grab Cherry. But Cherry Punch decides she wants to gallop back to the farm. Mindy takes a moment to decide to gallop with her friend. We three pegasi shrug our wings at the weird earth bound ponies and take off.

***

It's towards sundown at the farm. I'm with all the ponies, my wife and kids are here too. During the day, Irony has been texting Flash, letting him know how far along they are. We are ready for them to arrive. Cherry and Mindy are watching Rainbow Rocks with my family, I'm only vaguely aware of it. After getting the shoes, which do a wonderful job of deadening the hoofsteps, I take a long nap for most of the day. But now, I'm just drowsing. Finally, I hear the deep thrum of a large engine outside. My ears perk up as the engine shuts off, and I hear the doors slam shut. I hold my breath waiting. Everypony else is oblivious.

"Flash, I think Irony is here."

His reaction is for his ears to droop. I gently tap him with a wing as I go by, letting him know he's got us no matter what. I walk to the door, and open it the moment I hear hooves on the large porch. At the same time I use my wing to turn on the porch light. As I get the door open, I get off my hooves and hover in front of them. I get my first look at Flash's friends. The most striking one is Irony herself. She's an earth pony, and I swear she tops Big Mac when it comes to size, probably by at least a hand or two. Her midnight blue fur and bright blue mane make a striking combination, add in the multiple colors streaking through her mane, purple, silver, black, and gray makes for a very nice combination. I look over at the other two ponies, I remember Trixie from the show, though she looks very tired right now. And there is one other unicorn there. I suppose she is Moon Shadow, with her dark gray fur, and her sea-blue mane.

I shake my head after a moment, interrupting my own thoughts, I put on a bright smile. "Dear Celestia, it is nice to see some more pony faces around here." I float back, beckoning them inside. Shortly we are in the kitchen. I notice Irony's heavy tread, but not nearly as heavy as I was expecting, given her size. I float around her a bit, noticing her eyes following me. I see the heavily muscled body of hers. Then it dawns on me, she's gorgeous. I thump onto all fours as my wings extend and harden to be completely unusable. I give my wings a dirty look as I finish trotting around Irony. I mumble to myself, "Damn, talk about a sexy gal."

Apparently I didn't mumble low enough, Irony's ears twitch a bit and she responds, "That's pegasi for you, heads either in the clouds, or in the gutter."

I fight to control my wings, but they are not listening to me right now. "Mostly in the clouds big girl."

I hear a sharp bark of a laugh from Moon Shadow. And I notice a faint blush on Irony's face. I mumble again, much lower, "But for you, a trip to the gutter is pretty damned nice." I point to the kitchen table. And we all sit around it. I've been practicing my old wood working skills, but with Mindy's help, curse these hooves at times, I made a few benches to be able to sit comfortably at the kitchen table.

I look at all the assembled ponies. "The United States Government has imprisoned ponies. We are going to go get them. We will need to leave soon, so we can get to Billings well before sunrise. I want to strike before dawn, when their security will be lowest."
Flash, Mindy, Cherry and Soarin all have determined looks on their faces. I see some surprise on the newcomers faces, apparently Flash neglected to mention that fact in his conversations.

"Now, this will have to be a quick smash and grab. I've done some practicing with my power, and I can consistently make a lightning bolt at will, though I've not been able to make the time displacement bolts as of yet. I think that skill will come eventually. But a bolt can be good to hit doors, and I think I can stun humans with it as well. They might get burned, but I'm going to consider that a hazard of their job, since they are holding Equestrians against their will."

"No."

I look over at Irony. "What?"

"I said no, Lightning Dust."

"Dust will do, since we have two Lightning's here."

"Fine, Dust." She grumbles for a moment. "I said no."

"No, to what, exactly?"

"To your plan, it is colossally stupid."

I've been thinking about what to do most of the day, and that sounded like the best idea. I sigh. "If it's so stupid, then maybe you can come up with something better, Miss Guard leader to Princess Sparkle."

I think I said the wrong thing, I can feel my wings wilt a bit as Irony's expression turns darker.

"Dust, we are talking the FBI here. What is the FBI's version of the SWAT team? It's called HRT, as in Hostage Rescue and Tactics team, police departments send their SWAT agents to them to get trained. And they will kick your team's ass. And I, for one, don't feel like absorbing bullets from the HRT team. I'm an earth pony, and I'm pretty certain I can absorb a lot, especially with the armor I've made. But attempting things your way would be one word. Suicide!" She slams a hoof on the table, leaving a deep impression in the wood. I'm impressed, that table is massive.

"Well, fine, if direct action won't work. We can't use stealth. In case you didn't notice, we are all ponies, and the humans will just lock us up if they see us."

"We will have to be smart, Dust. You made it to the Canterlot performance team of the Wonderbolts, you don't get that for just being good on your wings. Use that brain of yours and come up with something."

"You are the guard leader here, you come up with something."

She smirks at me. "I would call it off, breaking into a fortified installation without advanced weaponry, no diversion, and no way to camouflage ourselves would make it into a fool's errand."

Now it's my turn to slam my hoof into the table. "That is not acceptable, they are our ponies. They belong with us, not locked up."

"Then what is your plan?"

I stop for a moment, my brain spinning wildly, I look at the assembled ponies. And if this were actually a cartoon, I would have a light bulb appear over my head and flash on, I smile evilly. "I've got it." I look at Mindy. "How would you like to get captured by some humans?"

She looks confused. "That doesn't sound very fun."

My smile grows as I formulate more of the plan. "Oh, trust me, Mindy. This will be very fun."

She giggles. "Then count me in."

I explain for a few minutes, and shortly heads nod in response to my planning. And finally I say, "Okay, Irony, Mindy, and I are going to get going."

"Hey, Trixie and I should go too," Flash pipes up.

"Oh, no. Not I," Trixie chimes in. "I've been holding that spell all day, I am exhausted, I need to rest. But I agree, Flash should join you. It's always good to have an extra pair of wings."

"Spell?"

"Oh, it was a simple misdirection spell, I simply made the inside of the car so uninteresting, no human's gaze would be able to fix on the car as we drove. We are ponies after all, and a pony driving a car would have caused a sensation, and probably several accidents as we drove. So I masked us all with it."

I whistle slowly. "Great idea."

"They don't call me the Grrrrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie for nothing," she says with a smile. Then in a smaller voice, "Sorry, I love those episodes of the show." She ends with a giggle.

I'm finally able to close my wings as I hop off the bench, though I don't trust them enough for flying quite yet. I brush up against Irony and flick my tail in her face as I walk to the living room. A big grin on my face. I'll admit, this being a filly fooler is pretty fun, as I leave the kitchen, I glance back and see Irony blushing heavily. Then I think back. Ooops, I think I showed her more of me than I intended. I laugh softly as I head to the living room to let my wife and kids know it's time to head to the house. After that I grab my bluetooth and flick my ear to get the chime. I direct it to call one of my lead journeymen, one of those who helped me today.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice answers.

"Hey Jerry. Want to make some overtime and hazard pay tonight?"

"Huh, what?"

"This is Lightning Dust, you know, your boss."

"Yeah, I'd love to make some extra pay, what do I have to do?"

"Grab the big crew bus and drive it to Billings. Once you get there, I'll give you directions. We are going to retrieve some ponies."

"Be on my way in ten minutes."

"Good." I flick my ear to end the call and turn to Irony.

"My truck is outside, we can take it, Mindy knows how to drive stick with her magic."

"Nah, let's take my car," Irony says.

"So soon? We just met. And you can't wait to get me in the back seat with you?"

I chuckle as, once again, Irony's cheeks flare with red.

"No, it's not like that. Let's just say I have an awesome car, and it'll outrun any of those diesel monstrosities you have out there."

"And my wings will smoke whatever car you have, but we need to take all of us."

"A 1970 Olds 442 will certainly have enough room, Dust."

I think about it for a moment, then shrug my wings. We head outside and I look at Mindy. "Can you handle that, Mindy?"

"No need," Irony says as she gets a look of concentration on her face. Then her entire body ripples, her stance changes to two hooves. Her forehooves become hands, though she remains covered in fur, but her body begins to look, sort of like a mix between human and pony. Her teats turn into full breasts and shift onto her chest. I feel my wings stiffen up once again.

"Wow, she's like an anthro pony," Mindy says excitedly. At my questioning look, "In a lot of fanfictions, the ponies are anthro, pony features on a mostly human body. But those are stories. Seeing it for real, now that's amazing."

Irony opens the big drivers door on the 442 and pushes the front seat forward, Flash and Mindy get in as I go around to the passenger door, I notice the window is down and simply jump through it, landing perfectly on the seat. I feel the seatbelt wrap around me and click home. I look at Mindy and see the soft orange glow from her magic fade from her horn. I smile at her.

"Let's make some miles," Irony says as she turns the key, and the huge engine rumbles to life. And shortly, we are on our way.

***

The start of the trip is in silence. Every pony occupied with their own thoughts. I mainly stare out the window. Then we finally get on I-94, heading to Billings. I've been thinking about the mission for about an hour now. I feel something brush by me, but I don't really take note. Then I hear the soft chime of Mindy's magic. And the radio turns on. I glance at the display, a nice aftermarket set, I see an aux cord plugged in and the buttons are glowing with Mindy's magic. Then her phone starts the song.

A crash of thunder with a flare from some trumpets. My memory fades back in time to my childhood. I know this song. I open my mouth and…

"Sometimes, some crimes go slippin' through the cracks"

Then I hear Mindy take up the song with me.

"But these two gumshoes are pickin' up the slack
There's no case too big, no case too small
When you need help just call
Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale
Rescue Rangers!
Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale
When there's danger
Oh no, it never fails
Once they're involved
Somehow whatever's wrong gets solved"

I look over at Irony, she is facepalming, but I can't help it, I increase my volume,

"Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale
Rescue Rangers
Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale
When there's danger
Oh no, it never fails
They'll take the clues
And find the wheres and whys and whos
Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale
Rescue Rangers!
Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale
When there's danger
Ch-ch-ch-Chip 'n Dale!"

Mindy and I fall over laughing. Flash has a smile on his face, and I don't think Irony's eyes can roll any further. But I see a hint of a grin. I finally recover from that laughing fit.

"Irony, you need to loosen up, the time before the mission, and the time after are for blowing off stress."

"I know, Lightning, but to stay in this form, I have to concentrate, it's not hard, but I was doing it all day, and now. I'm a bit tired, and I've got a headache from it."

My ears flatten. "Oh, sorry."

She shrugs her shoulders. "Not a problem Dust."

I look around, and I'm suddenly struck with claustrophobia. The car, as spacious as it is, seems to be getting smaller. I open the window.

"I'm going to fly." And I jump out of the window at ninety miles an hour. I extend my wings and I'm flying. I'm easily keeping pace with the speeding car. I move in front of the car then increase my altitude. Ahh, this is better. I fly in formation with the speeding auto for nearly an hour. Then I notice something behind us. Blue and red lights. Uh oh. Cops!

I dive down next to the driver's window and tap on the glass, Irony looks at me and lowers the window. I holler over the wind, "Keep going, I'll take care of them." I brake suddenly and gain some altitude. I judge the correct distances, and then I drop, landing on the hood of the pursuit cruiser. A brand new Dodge Challenger. I feel momentarily sorry for the car, I'm planning on disabling it, but I really don't have to do anything. The officer driving panic stops, I flare my wings and flutter to the concrete as the car stops. The highway patrol officer steps out of her vehicle. I trot up to her.

"Ma'am, I don't think this is a night you want to be on the road." I know I look a fright in the flashing red and blue strobes.
She reaches towards her gun. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, wouldn't be the first time officers tried to pull their weapons on me today." My warning apparently goes in one ear and out the other. She gets a hand on her service weapon, I flash forward, one kick to her knee, breaking it, and another to her temple, knocking her out. I grab her moaning body and drag her into her car. I grab the radio microphone and, after a few moments of manipulating, I am able to trigger the mic. "Officer down, Highway 94." I remember the last mile marker I just passed, and repeat it into the mic. I let off the button. I hear the call being repeated and another officer is responding. I can't do anything more for her. She's going to have one hell of a story to tell. But I hope she didn't get a good enough look for an accurate description. I exit the car and take off.

A few minutes of high speed flight, and I'm up next to Irony's car. I keep pace next to the car and then slide in the passenger window. I smile over at Irony. "And the problem is taken care of." I take a moment to explain my actions to the ponies in the car.

"You know they are going to go ape-shit, don't you Dust?"

I shrug my wings. "Better than them going to extreme measures to end a high speed pursuit. I had to end it quickly, or more cars would have joined in the chase. As it is, they are going to head to the downed officer. She will have trouble walking for a while, but she won't be making our lives harder any time soon."

Irony huffs and eases off the gas, letting the car coast to the 75 miles per hour speed limit. "We are getting close, we need to be somewhat stealthy."

I shrug my wings again. "I want to save these ponies, that is my only goal."

***

A block away from a non-descript federal building. I know they have ponies in custody there. I've already found them. I flew around the building, taking note of the security cameras and keeping out of the visual range. I found a grated window on the fourth floor, with a light on at two in the morning. A quick look tells me that ponies are there. I flutter down to the 442.

"Mindy, Double Trouble is on the case. You ready?"

She bounces. "You know I am," she squees.

"Keep to the plan, and let us know when you are ready for our diversion."

***Mindy 3rd person***

There have been nice things, in Mindy's view, about turning into a pony. Especially the gender change. She still keeps giggling about that. When Dust told her to go, she just started bouncing. She saw the dreary, ugly federal building, but the plan was going to work. She knew it would. She loved best pony Pinkie Pie, and now that she was a pony, she can be just like the bouncy earth pony. She smiles as she bounces. In a few minutes, she's knocking at the door of the federal building.

Apparently their security was watching the cameras, because as soon as she knocks, lights turn on, and a tall, older, skinny man in a uniform comes to the door. She waves at him, she had let her smile fade as she got close, she has to be the best actor to make it seem real. He opens the door.

"Can I help you?"

"I just started turning into a pony a few days ago, and I thought you guys could help me, you are the government, right?"

He nods. "This is a federal building, and several departments of the government work here. Though it's two in the morning."

"And you are working here," she chirps. "Can you help me? I don't want to be a pony anymore. I want to be back to being a human." All lies from Mindy, she was happier as a pony than she ever was as a human. But the dour security guard didn't need to know that, she thought with an internal giggle. He opens the door further, allowing her inside.

She follows him as he heads to the elevators. As the doors close, she listens to the music, ugh, the worst kind of elevator music. She almost slips, but she knows how important the mission is. Finally the door opens, and she sees the placard next to the door saying they are on the fourth floor. She smiles internally, though she keeps her ears down and her head low, just like a sad pony.

Finally the guard stops at a desk.

"Got another one for you," The guard says to the man behind the desk.

"Another one? That makes twenty we have in custody."

"Really? That many?" the guard answers.

"Yup, we are going to be sending them to DC in a few days. Almost all the field offices have ponies in custody. DC wants them brought back for testing. Apparently the President's daughter is turning into a pony. They are trying to figure out if it's some kind of biological attack, though what country would want to turn humans into colorful ponies, I have no idea."

Mindy has to bite her lip so hard she tastes blood. This isn't some form of biological weapon, this is a curse and those humans were originally ponies. She wanted to tell them so badly, but Dust told her she had to stay in character to save the ponies. So she did, and it was so hard.

"Excuse me, can you cure me?" she asks quietly.

The man behind the desk stands up and walks around to kneel in front of the magenta unicorn. "I'm sorry miss. But I can't cure you, but we are working on it right now. The FBI labs are keeping busy trying to figure out the mutagen that's making humans into ponies. We will find out what it is before too long." He stands up. "I am agent Burke of the FBI. I will take you to the rest of the ponies we have here. And we will try to figure this out."

"Okey Dokey Lokey." She allows a small smile for the human, he seems nice. But she knows that he is locking up ponies against their will. She doesn't like this human. But she follows him into the offices. Mindy makes sure to wave good bye to the guard as he heads back down stairs. In a few minutes, and following several corridors, she's in a section that has all cinder block construction. He takes a set of keys off of his belt, and opens a door. He gestures for her to enter, and she sees ponies. She heads into the room. She masks her anger, she sees all the ponies in one large holding cell, given straw for a bed, or laying on steel bunks. Ponies need to be outside, living free, not this crap. She turns to the door. "Thank you. I hope you find out how to fix this." She says as she lays down. He shuts the door and locks it.

After a few minutes, she trots up to a pegasus. "Can you fly?"

He gives her a sour look. "No, I can't fly. Humans can't fly without an airplane."

She cocks her head to the side. "But you are a pegasus. Pegasi can fly."

He slams a hoof down. "No, I'm a human, I just got hit with a mutagen agent which turned my body into a pony."

Oh no, it's worse than she thought, these ponies either don't remember Equestria, or they are being told enough times that stupid story so they actually think it's true. Time to fix this. She concentrates on the camera in the cell, after a moment she's made it so it just displays the same picture over and over. Then she makes a visual effect that looks like a screen. When you are a super party pony, you have to do a lot of things, and magic helps with visual displays. She shows her battle with Discord to the assembled ponies, some are apathetic, but most actually watch intently. When the white bolt hits her body the memory ends and she turns to the ponies. "How many of you have had a dream like this in the last week?"

They all shift around, looking at each other. Then finally one pony lifts a hoof, then another, and soon all the ponies have their hooves raised.

Mindy squees and bounces up and down. The humans can't see her, so she can be herself.

"My name is Mindy, and there are other ponies here to rescue you."

"Can they turn us back?"

Again, she cocks her head to the side, "You've already turned back. You were ponies, then Discord blasted you with his chaos magic, and you were born as humans, every one of you had this start on your twenty fifth birthday. Starting with cutie marks and then you turned back into the ponies you were."

One of the ponies called out. "This is just some crazy disease that another country infected us with."

She shook her head. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The curse was twenty five years ago, by Discord.

"I need to signal to Dust." She concentrates, and the walkie talkie that was left on the passenger seat of Irony's awesome car is teleported in front of her.

"Decoy to Distraction, it's a go."

***1st person, Dust***

"Decoy to Distraction, it's a go," chimes over the radio.

I look over at Irony and smile. "It's go time." We start to head towards the building. We get about half a block down the street when a low wail starts. "Are we found out? Already? We haven't done anything."

Irony is back in earth pony form, wearing her armor and her mace is strapped to her. She listens intently. "No, that's an air raid siren."

"What?"

Ahead of us, several lights turn on, and in less than a minute, several large SUV's exit the side of the building, and scream down the road, Irony covers me with her body, her coloring much harder to see in the dark.

"Well, this really isn't the best time to get it on, Irony." I smirk.

She blushes as she moves away from me. "Next time, I won't hide you."

"Ohhhh, so that's what you were doing…" I smile at her. I grab the radio. "Decoy, we didn't start it, but there is a good distraction, go."

In a few seconds, an orange flash announces the arrival of twenty ponies. I holler at them to follow me, we all head back to where the 442 and my crew van is parked. Mindy magics open the door of the Mercedes Sprinter and the ponies pile in. All of them look completely confused. But that will be handled soon. I give Jerry a big smile as the ponies finally finish getting into the van. I'm going to write him a personal check for a very nice bonus for this. Nineteen ponies are now free. Flash and Mindy climb aboard and the van is started. Irony rushes over to her car and I jump through the window again. We take off, whooping and hollering at a successful mission.

Comments

[The Real Lamp Shady]

Excellent. Just excellent.

[Phenrys]

Eeyup, now that song is stuck in my head again!

I love it when a plan comes together.

[Lt Rainbow Slash]

Yay!

[exsnaggerwes]

This is my favorite chapter
It has my favorite OC (don't tell Phenrys I said that), and Mindy is becoming a close second. I love the writing towards the middle of this chapter with Irony questioning some of the harebrained schemes of Dust. Dust really is in character now, from what little Dust is seen in the show, and I'm liking her more now that the actual transformation is out of the way. I'm expecting a really emotional scene when if they actually get back to Equestria, and when they finally defeat Discord, and/or his minions.
There will probably be a real identity crisis then.
The rescue went smoothly, which is pleasant compared to where DuskWriter is in Lunar Phases (literally right in the middle of a research facility if I'm remembering right).
It's so hard to keep reading this when I want to be caught up in Irony's Story too, but it's getting so good now.

[Enduring Man-Child]

Rescue Rangers yay!

[CitrusWishes]

No. No, no, no, no, no, no! NO!!! Gods frickin' DAMMIT!!!! Someone else already wrote a Trixie 5s/4 fic! I was having so much fun with mine as well. Blast.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

That happened, now the ENTIRE government is gonna be after them....

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

the only problem here is that another story claimed Trixie. And since they wer first they get priority. thus to me that pony is not trixie.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Dust, Irony just called me. It's not going to be easy, but we can make it work."

[erictheblue]

He slams a hoof down. "No, I'm a human, I just got hit with a mutagen agent which turned my body into a pony."

that made me think of a story called "Pandemic" where Sunset Shimmer created a contagious disease that did that!

[MayhemsLement]

I fight to control my wings, but they are not listening to me right now. "Mostly in the clouds big girl."

[hyreia]

I really like the Lightning Dust in this story, and most of the characters really, but last time I started reading through this I was really put off by this chapter. Particularly Irony's anthro form and Mindy's extremely powerful magic. Teleporting 20 ponies 4 floors up and outside is no joke. I don't even think Twilight could teleport that many ponies at once. These things just break my sense of disbelief because it's so out there from my sense of what Equestria and its inhabitants are like. Then again, Lightning Dust's pegasus magic is also kind of 'different' too but I can kind of buy that (unicorn heritage, maybe? maybe).

That being said it once again won't stop me from continuing reading on. I think others did use Trixie but I don't think any of those others ever finished so as far as I'm concerned this is the most 'canonical' to the 5sd4 universe.

[Amos Anon]

"No need," Irony says as she gets a look of concentration on her face. Then her entire body ripples, her stance changes to two hooves. Her forehooves become hands, though she remains covered in fur, but her body begins to look, sort of like a mix between human and pony. Her teats turn into full breasts and shift onto her chest. I feel my wings stiffen up once again.

Ew, no.