Dust on the Wind

by Sparky Brony

Chapter 30. Life on Earth as an Equestrian

Chapter 29.

Mindy's phone rings, a quick chime of magic and it's against her ear and the answer button is pressed, "This is Mindy."

"Mindy, this is Gold Dust. You need to get outside right now."

Mindy frowns, "Problem?"

"Yes."

Mindy doesn't waste any time, charging her horn and remembering the new teleportation spell she invented, she pops out of existence. And appears standing next to Gold Dust.

"What's up Goldie?" Her chipper mood is immediately soured by what is happening. A caravan of cars are making their way through the gates. Irony's only been gone for two days, and this evening has been pretty quiet. She follows the lead car until it stops. The reason her mood is soured is simple. Glass is missing from some of the vehicles, and obvious bullet holes are evident in nearly every vehicle. "Dear Celestia!" She sends a text to Dr. Ray as she sits by the drivers door of the lead vehicle. When the door doesn't open quickly, she pushes a bit of magic and pops the door open. The driver slumps out. Barely staying conscious. Mindy gasps and picks up the unicorn in her magic. He's obviously exhausted.

A pegasus who was riding in the passenger seat hops out. "We were at our family farm in Nebraska when they hit."

Mindy shakes her head, "Hit? Who hit?"

The pegasi's ears flatten, "All I know is they were human. They overran our house. They captured about half the ponies there. We were able to scatter, and either with our cars, or we stole a few. But we heard about you ponies here. So we came here."

Mindy's ears fold back, "I think I know who they are. They are really nasty people. My friend Irony is on her way to let them know not to mess with ponies."

The pegasus nods grimly, "I was a member of Twilight's special guard under Irony. If Irony is going, they are going to get the message."

Mindy smiles brightly, "Well, if you know Irony, and you were a guard. We can use you here."

The pegasus extends a hoof, "I'm Star Song"

Mindy shakes the hoof, "Mindy."

Star Song looks around, "I heard this was Lightning Dust's setup. Is she around."

Mindy's voice catches in her throat, "Dust's not hear right now."

The mint green pegasus with the lavender mane turns back to look at Mindy. "What happened?"

Mindy stops the tears before they can fall, but it's close, "She was taken. By the same people who attacked us, and attacked you."

Star Song whirls around to face Mindy, "Those same bastards have Lightning Dust? Where is she?"

"If I knew, we would already be after her. But we are trying to find her."

The pegasi's wings slowly relax, "They killed friends of mine. We have a good dozen dead ponies, and nearly thirty were captured when we fled." Her wings finally fold up, then she perks up. "Wind Archer, are you okay?" She trots over to the unicorn stallion, nuzzling him lovingly.

Dr Ray lets his horn quiet, "He will be fine, he's just exhausted. We'll get him inside and bedded down. A few hours rest, and he'll be as good as new."

That gets a sigh from the pegasus. She turns to Mindy, "Well, where can we stay?"

Mindy points to the parking lot. "We'll get your cars squared away." She closes her eyes, and with a blink, each car in succession pops into position in the parking lot. The pegasi's jaw drops, "You are a damned powerful unicorn, aren't you?"

Mindy shrugs, "I'm me." She then gathers herself and bounces towards the barracks. One of the new buildings is ready for habitation, so she pushes open the door, showing the new ponies inside. These are built quite differently, a good sized common room, and a large kitchen in each barracks to start off with. And the living area in each one is huge by pony standards. She gets them bedded down and brings Star Song back into her office.

"What did you see?"

The pegasi's ears wilt, "To be honest, not much. I saw the muzzle flash of their weapons, and I saw humans running towards the house. We weren't prepared at all. We didn't expect the humans to attack us. They were actually pretty nice. We were working on the weather around town. It's a small town, called Auburn. We were having a good relationship with the humans really. It was all a blur as we got the hell out of there. I saw friends get shot." The pegasus shivers, remembering. She shakes her head to try to clear the horrible visuals from her head.

"What kind of weapons did they have?"

A shaken head is all she gets, "I know they had automatic weapons. I couldn't tell you the type though."

"Vehicles?"

"Never saw them, Mindy."

"Any air support?"

That got a sardonic laugh, "Helicopters would be a mistake against pegasi, unless they wanted to drop bombs on us."

Mindy nods, pegasi equipped with wing blades would make an attack with helicopters suicide A pegasus brand new to the air can outmaneuver anything humanity can put in the sky. She looks at the mint green pegasus, "It looks like they will hit anyplace where ponies are. I'm going to call the other places I know of that have ponies. And we are in the process of building up our defenses. We are anything but helpless. And your experience as a guard will be helpful."

Star Song nods, "I'll help wherever I can."

They are interrupted by a knock on the door, a white feathered head pokes through the opening door, "Uh, Star Song?" The masculine voice says, "Where are we to sleep?"

Mindy gapes, "You have a griffin?"

Star Song is able to smile wanly, "We have two."

"Gilda?"

A bark of a laugh from the griffin, "No, Gilda isn't here. We were in the Equestria Games episode, as best as we can figure out. But we do creep out most of the ponies around here. Some privacy would be helpful."

Mindy laughs as she bounces over to the griffon, "Nice to meetya, we can open up another floor of one of the barracks for non-pony equestrians. Sound good?"

The griffin pulls back a claw slowly from the enthusiastic shaking Mindy was giving it. He holds his claws together for a moment, making sure they are still connected. He then smiles and says, "Sure."

***Lightning Dust***

"Ow you dumb bitch, let go!" My tormenter screams as I squeeze harder with my jaw. He was unwary enough to let an arm get close enough for me to bite. I growl and shake my head like a dog, I can taste his blood as he tries to pull away. I still have that damned collar on. He howls in pain, causing me to smile around his arm as I keep pulling. I'll rip his fucking arm off if I get the chance.

His screams get louder and soon another human joins in the fray, they are trying to lever my jaw open. I just clinch my jaws as tight as I can. I'm stronger damn it. I don't even notice them hitting me with their hands. I've been a captive here for three weeks. And after enduring daily rapes, I'm pissed, and I'm staying pissed. Finally I'm poked in my overlarge eye, causing me to let go involuntarily. I back away, snarling at him.

"You fuck." I scream, his blood dripping from my muzzle, "I told you I would get you." I have to smile in triumph as he cradles his wounded arm. I drew a lot of blood from him with that bite. I lunge forward, "I'll do it again. Come on, you can handle a mare that’s tied up. Let's see you handle me without these hobbles." I'm gratified to see him dance out of the way of my lunge. The other human raises his hand to hit me. I puff out my chest, I'm ready for what he's going to do.

"No, don't hit her." He shouts. I know his name, I heard another human use his name. Saul. He reaches to the door and picks up a base ball bat. I feel my ears fall. I don't want that bat used on me again. My wishes are not realized at the bat whistles through the air, catching me on the shoulder. I was able to move my head out of the way this time. Pain once again blossoms on my body. He reverses the bat and swings one handed, this time I'm dazed as he connects with my temple.

I feel my body fall to the ground, and the beating really gets started. I don't feel it anymore. I lay there and think of Irony, of Moon Shadow, of Mindy, of all my friends and loves. He can't take them away from me. I lose track of time, and eventually I lose consciousness as he continues to hit my abused body with a renewed will. I'm glad I got a good bite in. Normally I don't even get that far when it comes to defying him.

I come to, eventually, laying in the hay, my entire body bloodied and a mass of pain. I feel a second kick, it was the first that brought me back. I slowly open an eye, I find my other eye is swelled shut. He deserves another bite for that from me. I can see Saul, his arm is now bandaged. That gets a grim smile from me, he's going to feel that for a good long time. Then I see the other humans.

"Alright, boys. Hold her down." Three men grab me, immobilizing me quite well.

He advances, I see something in his hand. My ears drop as I realize what he has. It's a bit, like the one for horses. And I've seen them at the farm, we don't use them, don't need them, but they were leftovers from the previous owners. This is a really nasty bit too, it's called a spade bit. It has a spoon in the middle that applies pressure onto the tongue of the horse. I try to back away, I don't want that thing in my mouth.

"What the fuck do you think you are going to do with that?"

I only get a grin in response. He advances. And one of the guys on top of me shifts and holds my head, not allowing me to move at all. My working eye is wide as he brings the bit closer. I clamp my jaw shut, but it's to no avail. He succeeds in getting the bit in my mouth, and he tightens the strap to hold it on. He finally signals the other humans to get up.

"It's time that you learn what you are good for, you fucking whore." He adds with a swift kick to my already bruised ribs. He takes a lead and attaches it to the bit. Unhooking the collar, he pulls on the bit. The pressure makes my head move forward, and I involuntarily take a step. Then another. Shortly I'm shambling along behind him, taking short, mincing steps due to the hobbles.

"You do your job right, I might let you out of those hobbles." I suppress the surge of joy that rises at the prospect of getting those hobbles off of my legs. I want to run. I shift my wings, I want to fly, but that's not happening any time soon. My wings have been slowly healing, and most of the scabs are coming off, but I know it will be a long time before my feathers grow back. I slowly follow him. And as this is the first time I've been let out of the shed, I get to see my new home. I'm in the middle of some kind of jungle. Maybe twenty acres of cleared space, with a large building and the paddock that my shed is attached to. He leads me to the edge of the flora, and then stops.

He turns and looks at me. "You can't be an effective work horse with those on. But as long as I have this rope here, you aren't going anywhere." He produces a key and hands it to one of the other humans, and in moments, my hobbles are off. I sigh and stretch my legs. I watch him intently, and when he turns his head, I jerk my head away from him, trying to pull the rope out of his hands.

Ouch, that was a mistake. The spoon on the bit presses down into my tongue, sending a jab of pain directly into my brain. I thought I had endured pain before, but this is a whole new level. I hear an evil laugh from Saul. "Oh, little pony. You have no idea. You are under my control. And except for your little victory in getting some blood out of me, you are doomed to lose. I chose this bit because it's one of the most aggressive bits, and runs the risk of injuring the horse if it's not trained to it. You aren't, so if you think you are going to be smart and pull away from me, you'll find that pain will be your reminder of exactly how alone you are.

He turns his back on me, pulling sharply on the lead. I have no choice but to follow, otherwise my mouth will be in extreme pain. After a long time walking we come upon some other humans.

"Look here boys, we've got ourselves a new pack mule." He calls out. Earning him a snort and a glare from me. I'm no fucking mule.

This earns laughter from the other humans. And shortly I have packs on my back. Their cinches crushing down on my wings. I can smell what they are having me haul. I had tried the wacky weed in my much younger days. And now I get to haul the stuff. Is this what is left for me? Am I going to be their slave? Their work horse? For the rest of my life? I slowly trudge down towards the hill back towards where we came from. We do that several times for the rest of the day. My legs getting more and more tired, my whole body a mass of pain.

***

Weeks pass, and one day, I'm woken up early. Is it time for him to violate me again? I cringe at the thought. He seems flustered, but that has to be my imagination. I'm led over to a large truck, with a canvas top. The engine starts and the truck starts to move. I'm able to look out the back of the truck as we pull away. I notice that smoke is starting to emerge from the buildings and as the truck heaves out of sight, I can see the beginning of flames. Why are things being burnt? I briefly wonder. Then he jerks on my lead and I'm forced to lay down. I'm grateful for the removal of my hobbles. Sleeping is a lot easier now.

***3rd person. Irony***

The chariot lands with Irony, Mindy, and the rest of Irony's team. Irony leaps out just as the wheels touch ground and runs to the paddock, she wrenches the door to the shack open, despite it being fully engulfed in flames, which drive her back. She whirls around, "Damn it. We finally had them tracked down!" She howls as she watches the hungry flames as they consume the small compound. "Where did they go?"

Mindy's eyes fill with tears as she moans, "I'm sorry, Irony. I don't know. We just got the twitch on this place, and came here as soon as we could. I couldn't even tell you for certain that Dust was here."

"Damn!" She shouts, then looks at the pegasi on the team, they get the message, they start a careful search pattern, starting with the path that led to the compound. After a few hours of quartering back and forth, they have to call the search. Whoever was here was long gone.

"Damn it Dust. If I have to go to the ends of the Earth, I will find you." She whispers quietly to herself as she climbs aboard the chariot. They take off in silence.

Comments

[Phenrys]

5030349
Just wait until you do catch up. This story is amazing. Sparky is a wonderful author!

[harts fire]

things are looking up if only a little for dust.
hang in there you are being looked for .

[Sparky Brony]

5038882 amazing. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm not going to give away what happens in the rest of the story. But the more you comment, the more I think you are going to be moved by the story as it progresses. I know how much it has moved me. Thank you... So much!

[Luna Aeterna Solutae]

You missed a question mark early and had "is she hear" in reference to #bestpony.

[exsnaggerwes]

The pegasi's jaw drops,

Pegasus', I think. It's spelled like this a few times before, as well.

5042157 and also the spelling of 'here'

Mindy laughs as she bounces over to the griffon, Nice to meetya, we can open up another floor of one of the barracks for non-pony equestrians. Sound good?"

Sounds racist lol. But I get it. Griffons are hawt, and I can see why the ponies would be excitable by them
OmgI'mSoSorryIDidn'tMeanThatToBeSoDirty

Also, 'gryphon', 'griffin', and 'griffon' are all correct spellings, as long as you're consistent. (I really do look things like this up in autocorrect and English dictionaries) I mentioned it because you changed the spelling within 4 lines.

swelled

swollen

I had tried the wacky weed in my much younger days.

I dare you to call it wacky tobacky