Dust on the Wind

by Sparky Brony

Chapter 23. The Soul of Harmony

Chapter 23.

***1st person, Lightning Dust***

I open my eyes. I've defeated Discord's puzzle thrown at me. I shake my head, we aren't in that field, we are back in his office. I stand up and look around, my friend's are stirring as well. Except for one. I look closer at my brother. He's not moving. Wait a moment, I trot forward. He's not breathing. Oh no!

"Soarin!" That wasn't me, I glance over in time to see Mindy teleport right next to Soarin. She picks him up and cradles his body. She's sobbing. I move closer. His wings are limp, I can see he's dead. I look at Irony. She's reeling a bit from what she went through. I stumble to my former sister turned fellow Wonderbolt. His eyes are closed, I can't see anything more, my tears are flowing uncontrolled. I take a moment to kiss him on the forehead, and I nuzzle a sobbing Mindy. I must mourn later, right now. I have a job to do.

I turn to Discord, my wings extending in rage, "You son of a bitch, you killed my friend, you killed my sister." I take to the air and charge up for a lightning bolt. Rage is fueling my magic, I feel something snap in my head. My wing moves forward to let loose the magic crackling among my feathers.

But I can't complete the motion, Mindy's voice pierces the room, "You asshole. I love him, and you had to kill him." I glance over at her, and my wings clamp to my sides. I fall heavily to the floor, my intended charge reabsorbed. Her horn is glowing with dark magic, her eyes are glowing green. As I watch, she lets loose an inky black bolt. It strikes Discord, causing him to howl in pain. A crackling, inky black mass is attached to him, he screams as he tries to pry it off of him, but it acts like acid, eating away any part of him that touches it. After several seconds of fighting with the mass, he's able to dislodge it, blood flowing freely, and he loses his eagle's claw in the process.

That blast has taken a lot out of Mindy, she reels for a moment, and sits down heavily. Finally, Discord takes the opportunity to smash the window in his office, and slither out. I glance at Irony and flash forward, busting through the remainder of the glass. In moments I'm on the ground, I feel a heavy impact behind me as Irony jumps down the four stories, Moon Shadow and Mindy both teleport. I point off in the direction Discord, "He went that way." I jump into the air and flick my Bluetooth, calling Mindy. They follow the injured draconequus with my direction. I keep him from getting to far away with the occasional bolt of lightning.

"You are not getting away." I call at the limping form below me. I throw a bolt, crashing in front of him. Making him turn. He heads into the National Mall, with me harassing him all the way. I chase him across 4th Street Southwest. I glance back, Irony, Mindy and Moon Shadow are all following. I keep up the harassment. This bastard is not going to have an easy time. I flash down and slice along his back with a blade. I hear a howl in pain as I fight for some altitude. Something tickles the back of my mind, and I jerk to the left, avoiding a bolt of power sent by the injured draconequus. This fighting has given my friends a chance to catch up. Irony smacks Discord hard with her mace, causing him to tumble and decide to take to the air. I have my destination in sight, but he's not going to know he's being herded. A quick bolt of lightning turns him the direction I want, then I flash forward, neatly slicing his webbed wing off.

With a scream he tumbles back to the ground, "The air is my domain, Discord. You'd best stay on the ground."

Irony growls as she swipes at Discord, "Which is my domain."

Moon Shadow directs a blast at Discord, "You have already failed at the world of dreams." We are overwhelming him. I look forward, five blocks to go. I smirk at Irony. We are going to finish this, tonight! I flash forward again, only to take a blast to the chest. I tumble from the air and land heavily. Irony scoops me up as she runs by.

"I got ya!" I give her a quick wing hug, then I hop onto her shoulder.

"Let's take him down." I shout as I launch from a running Irony. I pick up Mindy as I flash by her. I whisper in her ear, "You have more magic available than I do. Blast his ass."

I find that simply holding her and letting her blast him isn't a very good strategy. He throws bolts back at me at random, keeping me on my metaphorical toes. I feel Mindy squirm in my grip. Though she gets quite a few good hits in despite my near constant acrobatics. She gives a shout, and I let her go. Mindy teleports and lands with all four feet on Discord. Eliciting another howl from him. I smile. I wish we could have done this twenty five years ago.

We have a block to go. I charge up another blast, I have to keep track of my magic. Magical exhaustion can be very dangerous, but with all of us alternating attacks, we are keeping him off balance. I look at the grim determination on my friends' faces. I know that expression is mirrored on my face as I keep up the pressure.

In minutes he crosses 14th and 15th, causing a few car wrecks as he dashes across the street. We are going to end him here. I look around, humans, despite it being late, are slowly gathering from all the commotion. This is going to be very public. I flash down and slam into Discord with my hind hooves, causing him to tumble end over end.

"Don't kill me!" He pleads.

I shout, tears continuing to flow, "Just like Soarin shouldn't have died?"

"I can give you information, I can help you."

"We don't want your help, Discord." Mindy says, I take a glance at my friend, her hair is flat, her eyes are glowing and her horn is charged, it will only take a thought for her to unleash the power she's gathered.

I stalk forward, my wing blades at the ready. I want to slice him into tiny little bits right now. I know I'm not the only one who is feeling like murder.

"You can't kill me. I'm the spirit of chaos. I'm immortal!"

"Fancy talk from one who's injured like that." Moon Shadow chimes in, I look at the draconequus, he's bleeding profusely, his lion's paw is having trouble holding his weight, but then I notice something. He's healing. I watch wounds start to close up. My eyes widen as a burst of magical energy from the draconequus sends us all back.

"You may have been able to injure me. But, as you see. I'm going to be all better momentarily. You really shouldn't have messed with me." He directs a bolt of power at me, on instinct I bounce into the air, letting it pass harmlessly under me. He turns to Moon Shadow and throws magic at her, which is deflected off her armor and heads back to him. He barely evades it. Hissing in anger.

"You pathetic ponies, I am Discord. I am chaos. You have no way to survive this!" He stands up taller, he's nearly back to his full power. All we've done is buy ourselves some time. I flash forward, attempting to slice into him with my wing blades, he catches me with a paw, throwing me to the ground. He kicks me savagely, only to be bashed back by Irony. He smiles. "You are done, little ponies!" He shouts.

All of us are hammered to the ground, power slamming us over and over. I look over at Mindy, she's barely holding onto a shield conjured with her magic, Moon Shadow is taking it on her armor, but it won't last much longer.

"Hey, you leave them alone!" A voice calls. I slowly turn my head. A DC police officer has his gun out and trained on Discord.

He narrows his eyes at the lone human, "You stay out of this, little human. You have no idea what you are messing with."

"I know that you are Discord, you sent these ponies here. And they are trying to stop you."

Discord snaps his fingers, and a flash of light blows the police officer back, "I have no time for you, pathetic human." Only to have a hole appear in his chest. I look back, another police officer is firing at him. The bullets don't do anything more than make small holes, which close quickly. He sneers at the other officer, and with a snap, the other officer is twenty feet back, his jacket smoking. I snarl and throw a bolt of lightning at Discord. I feel a tingle to the magic, and it is bright green as it streaks towards its target. Have I figured out how to do the time displacement bolts? I think as the bolt hits his eagle's talon, which disappears. He snaps his head to me and throws a bolt of power at me. I flap my wings to evade.

I turn my head and glance around, hundreds of humans have shown up. Many are pointing camera phones at the unfolding battle, but some are linking arms, what are they doing? A bolt of energy hits Discord from behind. A unicorn, one that wasn't with us, is firing bolt after bolt at Discord, he's distracted for a moment. I let loose another time displacement bolt, yes. I can feel how it flows. I know how to do it again! I take to the air, finding about a dozen pegasi in the air with me.

I look at all of them, "Let's do to him what we tried to do twenty five years ago!" I shout at them. I get nods and they start dive bombing Discord. He's hit from every direction. More ponies show up, more unicorns, more earth ponies, and more pegasi. We all keep attacking Discord, he's howling, he can't do anything but flinch each time he's hit. We just might take him this time! I wait for an opening, and flash another bolt at him, this one is deflected into the sky.

Finally, Discord makes a ball of light appear around him, it expands rapidly, blowing all those harassing him away.

"Enough, you are dealing with the spirit of Chaos. You can not kill me, I am eternal, I am Discord." He shouts to the sky.

I pick myself up off the ground, another pegasus is lying next to me, his neck obviously broken. I shake my head and look at Discord, he's laughing. It's as though he's never been touched. He lays around him with bolts, hitting human and pony alike. Irony takes a strike to her shield. Mindy deflects what she can with her magic, not just those directed at her, but she prevents many from getting hit. But I can see exhaustion on her face. What are we going to do?

"You pathetic creatures, you thought…" He trails off as his eyes widen. The wind picks up all over. What's going on?

"No. It can't be." He breathes. Lightning crashes in the sky, and suddenly a rainbow forms around Discord, it curves and speeds around him, making a miniature tornado with Discord at the center. Multicolored sparks emanate from the elements of harmony as their power envelopes the draconequus. He howls in pain. And in moments, all is silent. Discord is laying on the ground. I watch as humans come forward, arms linked together, in with them are ponies they are all surrounding Discord. He slowly gets to his feet. He looks dazed. I fly forward.

"The elements have gotten you, you aren't stone, you aren't dead, but I think they did something to you."

We watch, his wounds aren't closing, he coughs and spits blood. He holds his eagle's talon over his chest, he is in obvious pain. He coughs again, fear plain on his face.

Irony steps up next to me, "You are mortal now, aren't you?"

The draconequus scrambles away from us, he looks badly hurt.

"You are, aren't you?" Mindy says in wonder. He takes a step back, and is pushed back by the assembled ponies and humans.

I don't know who starts it, but a deep bass voice rings out. Shortly another voice joins, this isn't a song with words, this is just voices lifted. Another voice rings out, and another. Soon, hundreds of voices are singing. And it's not just the ponies, the humans are singing as well. I watch in amazement as a white glow starts around the assembled ponies and humans.

I look at Irony, she looks at me, we both grin. "Harmony, the music of harmony!" Irony says as she adds her alto voice to the din. I add my own soprano to the mix. We all sing. More and more voices are added, and the glow intensifies. The glow takes on a form of its own.

White magic, from every human and pony assembled, swirls around Discord. He starts to scream. "No, it's not possible, the magic of humanity has died, long ago."

I step forward, "No, it hasn't Discord. It was merely put to sleep. And you did the best thing to wake it up. You brought us, with our magic here. We have awoken the magic of humanity, magic is part of every universe, part of everything." I look back at the assembled, I see tears of joy on faces, both pony and human, I turn back to Discord, "You may be the chaos bringer, but as you need the light to define the darkness, you need the chaos to bring out the harmony." I kneel to the draconequus, "I must thank you, while your actions have been horrible. You have helped an entire world with bringing us here."

"It won't last. There is too much chaos in this world." He spits at me.

I smile, "You are wrong, Discord. It will not be easy, but as this magic spreads, as the harmony spreads. That chaos will be contained. And harmony will reign, it will take years, perhaps decades for this to spread worldwide. But as Twilight Sparkle said, the spark is inside us. That spark of magic is here. And there is nothing you can do to stop it."

As I say the last, the singing reaches a crescendo, and the white lights envelop Discord, immobilizing him. Stone starts to work up his body, he starts to shriek. The singing keeps up, and finally, he is fully encased in stone. In moments, the magic fades, and the singing comes to an end. Leaving a Discord statue behind.

Irony steps up and knocks on the stone, "Well, he's apparently sealed away." She turns to look at me, then looks back sharply as cracks start to form in the statue, running all over the body. We all step away as the entire statue collapses into dust. We look at each other.

"What happened?" I ask.

"That wasn't the actual Discord, by sealing him in stone, we banished him from our world. Since he's already in Equestria, what we fought is actually dead." Moon Shadow says.

I look at her, and at the pile of rubble that was Discord, "Good riddance." I start to trot back towards where Irony's car is. I get about twenty feet before my hooves tangle and I end up in a heap.

"Dust!" Irony shouts, and in seconds I'm picked up. I start to sob.

"Soarin, Maddie. She's dead." I wail into Irony's mane. I feel her hand patting my back. She makes soothing sounds as I cry. I shudder in her grasp. I hear the chime of Moon Shadow's magic, and my wing blades are off of me, I wrap my wings around Irony, I hug her with all I've got. I keep sobbing.

I hear Mindy talking to the humans as Irony slowly walks with me back to the 442. She takes her time, letting me cry. Finally, I hear the door of the car open. She bends to place me in the car.

"Irony, please stop. Don't let go yet." She straightens.

I pull my head from her shoulder and look into her eyes, "Discord. What he did to us before we were able to get out of the dream. I have to say something to you."

Her eyes are shining with tears, "What is it Dust?"

I look down for a moment, "I have never been really good at saying it. It took years before I could say it to Helen. I've not told you everything that has been in our relationship, and I'm not going to, some things needs to stay between couples. But there is something I really need to tell you, actually, both you and Moon Shadow. Please, put me down."

Once I'm back on my hooves, Irony shrugs out of her armor, and with a sigh, she's back on four hooves. Moon Shadow sits next to her, and both of them are in front of me. I sit on my haunches.

I take a very long time to collect myself. I'm a wreck right now. I look down, then I look up into the sky, "I wish this were easy, but then again, if it were easy, it wouldn't be worth it." I let out a big sigh. How in the holy bleeding hell am I going to say this? I finally am able to start, "I kissed Rainbow Dash."

Irony smiles, "I knew you were attracted to her. I watched from a distance when you tackled her. I watched your wings, your tail was twitching too."

Moon Shadow, "What are you trying to tell us, Lightning Dust?"

"I'm trying to say, I've never been a one mare kind of gal. When I met you, I felt an immediate attraction. You affected me to my core." I draw circles on the concrete with my hoof, "I am in love." I look up at them, "with both of you."

I get assaulted by hugs from Moon and Irony, Moon Shadow speaks first, "Oh honey, we knew you were in love. We love you too."

"I don't know if you understand, this is more than I love ice cream, or I love a good book. I am in love, with both of you. And yet, I wanted Rainbow Dash."

Irony pats me on the shoulder, "I know, Dust. I love you too."

Moon chimes in, "You should know I love you as intensely as I love Irony. But I will say it, I love you Lightning Dust."

The weight that I didn't know was on my chest finally falls away. I'm able to smile. I can feel tears leaking from my eyes, and my heart still feels crushed, but at least that is done. I kiss Irony, then I move over and kiss Moon Shadow just as intensely. After a long moment I finally move a bit away, "But don't expect us to form a herd anytime soon." I chuckle, and I get answering chuckles from my two loves.

"Dustie, we need to get to the White House right now!" Mindy says. Her hair is still flat. But I can see intensity in her eyes.

I look at her in confusion, "Why?"

"In case you didn't know, we just killed the number one contender to the White House. We need to make sure a shit storm doesn't descend on us." She levitates her phone to me, "I set it to record video, and I had some of the humans upload their videos to me. While we are driving there, I'm going to splice everything together, it's our evidence. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life in jail?"

I shake my head violently, this isn't done? Damn it! I look at Irony. "Well, we had better get going." I say as I hop into the car.

***

"Listen, you let the President know that Lightning Dust is here, and she needs to speak to him immediately."

Twenty minutes of arguing with the United States Secret Service finally got me an aide to the President. Who immediately blew me off. He won't see the video, he just tells me to get in contact with the President's appointment secretary, and I might be able to see him in a few weeks. I growl under my breath. I turn back to my friends.

"What the hell do we do?" I ask Mindy.

She looks sly, "We will make him see us." She trots over to the laptop in the car, the keyboard starts to glow, and in moments, the blueprints of the White House flash on the screen. She smiles, "All of you, touch me. We are going in now." I place a wing on Mindy as Moon and Irony also touch her. With a flash of light we are in the residence of the White House. This is the Presidential bedroom. I look around, the bed has been slept in, but no one is here.

"Damn, he's already awake." Mindy says, I feel a tug as her magic grabs me, and with another flash, we are in the oval office. Several humans jerk in surprise, more than one weapon is brought out, and trained on me.

I turn to the President, "I'm sorry, Mr. President, but we've been trying to talk to you, and it's very important."

He waves off the Secret Service agents, "Miss Dust. I gave you a phone number to bypass most of the official red tape, you should have called."

I shake my head, "This is too important. I need you to watch this." Mindy floats a tablet towards the President, he catches it and presses play on the queued video. After about ten minutes the video winds to a close.

He stops and looks at me, "My opponent? Senator Corddis, was Discord?"

We all nod.

"And this is your proof?"

Again, we nod.

"You are aware that videos can be faked."

I nod, "We have a flash drive with all the necessary raw footage, from multiple sources. I think it's pretty convincing. Discord was trying to make it impossible for us to gather, he wanted to plunge the world into war. By taking the Presidency, he would have been able to kill as many ponies as he wanted. He would have killed millions, if not billions, to keep sowing the chaos that he loves so much. But we were able to stop him."

He looks at the tablet in front of him, and back at me, "This is a lot to believe, Miss Dust."

"I know, and I'm sorry to dump it on you. But you have access to some of the best analysis in the world. Check out our information, it's all legitimate. We are just about to head to Equestria, and I don't want Earth to be in danger of another world war because of the actions of the spirit of chaos from our world."

He sighs, then nods. "I'll check it out. I have your number. Please don't barge in like this again, Miss Dust. But I will forgive you, this one time."

I grin, "Thank you, Mr. President. We need to go."

Comments

[Ardent Dusk]

Soariinn!!!! nuuuuuu!

[Sparky Brony]

4925009 That is how I planned it. Once Phenrys and I started collaborating, I've been following inspiration, and I think the story has greatly benefited from our collaboration. My original plan would have gone in a bit of a different direction.
4925190 Thank you... Things are still on the roller coaster of emotions, and I'm going to keep the roller coaster going as long as I can.

To everypony, the primary arc of Dust on the Wind is nearly done. That doesn't mean the story is done. I have a lot more to write when it comes to Dust and company. Phenrys and I have been discussing quite a few directions to go for both stories, though I must say to Phenrys, that text that I got from you during a lucid dream and allowed me to remember it... that is going to be amazing. (I think so, at least). And thanx for that text, my friend.

All in all, I have one more chapter ready to go, it will get posted in the next few days, and then, back into the action.

[Phenrys]

4925929
I have a list of 3 things to do now:
1. Curl into fetal position, hug knees to chest.
2. Try not to cry.
3. Cry a lot.

[butterfield pancake]

Idea how about Soarin is in a deathlike coma?

[Luna Aeterna Solutae]

Well here we are. I almost gave it a hard pass at the beginning, but I stuck it out. Pretty damn good.

[Sparky Brony]

4926775 No, he's dead.

[Sparky Brony]

4929069 I want her to search her soul. She is a very fun character to write. And I love writing her.

[exsnaggerwes]

First of all: for the past three chapters, I actually cried a lot. And I'm still really sad right now.

Second:

Irony steps up next to me, "You are mortal now, aren't you?"

We watch, his wounds aren't closing, he coughs and spits blood. He holds his eagle's talon over his chest, he is in obvious pain. He coughs again, fear plain on his face.

I think those two paragraphs should be switched around.

This will be the first time I favorite something before I'm finished with it, but you've earned it.

[swyrl]

so what, soarin's dead, just like that? hm. Forgiven me for maintaining skepticism.

I don't particularly mind if he's dead, however it was somewhat sudden. it was just kinda like "soarin ded." It feels like there wasn't really enough emotional investment in his death. Of course, this is just my personal impression.

[Jesse Sudekum]

i am really sad soarin died i was hopeing that wouldnt happen

[tsaukpaetra]

You know 2001: a space Odyssey? The intro? Yeah, this is what I envision that to sound like...

[Wolfy278]

SPOILERS Noooooo!!!! Not Soarin!!! D; I do have one question though, they (Unless I missed something, and if I did please tell me.) didn't even go back to get his body. Did they just leave his corpse there? It is now the time to listen to sad music and cry. Cry a lot

EDIT: My question was awnswerd in the next chapter, still sad that THAT happened.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

"You pathetic creatures, you thought…" He trails off as his eyes widen. The wind picks up all over. What's going on?

"No. It can't be." He breathes. Lightning crashes in the sky, and suddenly a rainbow forms around Discord, it curves and speeds around him, making a miniature tornado with Discord at the center. Multicolored sparks emanate from the elements of harmony as their power envelopes the draconequus. He howls in pain. And in moments, all is silent. Discord is laying on the ground. I watch as humans come forward, arms linked together, in with them are ponies they are all surrounding Discord. He slowly gets to his feet. He looks dazed. I fly forward.

"The elements have gotten you, you aren't stone, you aren't dead, but I think they did something to you."

Good work Crusaders and their human sister and Daring Doo.

[Chrome Masquerade]

But I can't complete the motion, Mindy's voice pierces the room, "You asshole. I love him, and you had to kill him." I glance over at her, and my wings clamp to my sides. I fall heavily to the floor, my intended charge reabsorbed. Her horn is glowing with dark magic, her eyes are glowing green. As I watch, she lets loose an inky black bolt. It strikes Discord, causing him to howl in pain. A crackling, inky black mass is attached to him, he screams as he tries to pry it off of him, but it acts like acid, eating away any part of him that touches it. After several seconds of fighting with the mass, he's able to dislodge it, blood flowing freely, and he loses his eagle's claw in the process.

[Sparky Brony]

8657445
Actually, I was thinking of the bubble gun in the Incredibles. But instead of growing, it's acidic

[hyreia]

Maybe I'm slow but I was listening to an Google-generated audio read of this and decided to come back and comment on this chapter.
I'm disappointed that this was the actual Discord battle for your story. A chase and a beatdown after a painful crawl through the same Discord mind trick we've seen before. I was expecting Discord was letting the ponies kick his ass in public to only reveal only the ponies saw him as Discord and all the humans with cellphones around caught ponies brutally murdering Senator Corddis. Imagine Discord has tricked them and now there's virals videos of Lightning Dust and friends brutally beating Senator Corddis to death on the steps of the Lincoln Monument; Discord gets the last laugh knowing the reputation of ponies is ruined beyond repair on Earth now. Total Chaos.

The elements of harmony came out of nowhere. And when it happened I was confused. These were supposed to be actual bearers?
If this is the CMC, Daring Do and friend then you're telling me they immediately left the fight for Discord from the portal in Dubuque, Iowa and came running here to Washington DC? Because they're humans so they went through the portal then came back after his defeat in Equestria? Then ran back?

OR are these the humans that Twilight befriended in Equestria Girls who have the elements from this world? Because that's the easier explanation but I'm way ahead in like Chapter 37 now and there's no mention about what the hell happened here. Because I'd think these humans would be worth talking to in that case?

I reread the part that confused me and it's still unclear to me if there were actual geodes (Elements of Harmony from from Equestria Girls) present or if the elements of harmony manifested from the gathering of humans (who acted like they knew what they were doing) and ponies and as a collective they did this feat without any special necklaces (which is very unprecedent and ALSO worth looking into I think but this also gets no attention from the story so far).

Instead, the next ten chapters are about... well, the next arc is interesting but I feel the antagonist is comically evil.

[Sparky Brony]

9780990

Thank you for your very thoughtful comment. In the fight with Cordis, he wasn't actually Discord, but a shadow of the Lord of chaos. When the elements were used in Equestria, they bound him and made him vulnerable, and his shadow on Earth was hit as well. The humans singing and the shadow of Discord turning to stone was representative of the magic on Earth starting to awaken which is shown with humans starting to express their own magic. And finally, the stone crumbling is when the mane 6 using their version of the five score spell to banish him.

It would have been interesting if I had thought of discord doing that, making it seem they were beating on a defenseless human. But remember, to keep with the continuity of the original five score story, the ponies don't really go public until some time later, so the videos were scrubbed from the internet shortly after. Without continued presence on the net, they simply became a rumor.

[Chrome Masquerade]

I smile, "You are wrong, Discord. It will not be easy, but as this magic spreads, as the harmony spreads. That chaos will be contained. And harmony will reign, it will take years, perhaps decades for this to spread worldwide. But as Twilight Sparkle said, the spark is inside us. That spark of magic is here. And there is nothing you can do to stop it."

This only referred to me just now, but to paraphrase Hanzo Hattori (in Samurai Warriors 1),
"The chaos is over, and a new age of light shines upon the land. As the light grows stronger, so too must the shadows. I will no longer suffice."