Dust on the Wind

by Sparky Brony

Chapter 58. Search and Rescue... Again!

Panama ended up being a bust. I head back to the US to think, I end up stopping for food and rest in south Texas, I've got plenty of cash, so getting cooked food isn't that big an issue. And with ponies becoming more of the norm, we are able to be among humans without too much fanfare. I've found a nice diner in Brownsville. I trot into the diner, the waitress doesn't even blink twice looking at the turquoise pegasus walking into the restaurant, I choose a booth and sit down.

After several moments, I get a chance to check out the menu, then I'm aware of someone next to me. I look up.

"What can I get ya?" The waitress says.

I smile at her, and to my surprise she smiles back, "To drink… coffee, and to eat, a chicken sandwich with fries."

She furrows her brow, "I thought you ponies were vegetarian. We've had a couple show up."

I chuckle and extend a wing, "I'm a pegasus, many of us like meat."

She jots down my order with a smile and turns away. I look at all the different patrons here. A couple of border patrol agents, police officers, along with several other humans. The reason I chose this place was the law enforcement vehicles in the parking lot. The cops know where the best places to eat are.

I sit and stew for a while, while spending time at that church in Atlanta helped me feel a bit more centered, but I'm still ready to cry at a moment's notice. I've lost my family, I've alienated them so badly that I've lost them. They will never be able to trust me again. My instincts said I needed to take care of the imposter, no delay, no outcry, just take care of him. So I did, and I really wasn't given the ability to explain. I sigh, the reason was because I was too focused. I didn't think about how my actions would affect Irony, or Moon Shadow, or anypony else. I smile at the waitress as she brings my coffee and my food. I dig into the food as I continue thinking.

I love Irony, I love all of those in my herd. I need to get Dr. Ray. I know that already, but how do I do that? I think for a long time as I munch on my food, relishing the taste of the food. Finally as I dip the last fry into the ketchup and take a bite, it hits me, I need to find out who this new operator is, and since they were set up at Spectrum, Spectrum is my goal. I'm going to end that company in more ways than one. I need to find the leader of Spectrum. I finally sip the last of my coffee. I pull out a century note and place it on the table and head out the door.

I've not gotten a meal into me, I end up trotting through the streets, after a while I end up under a bridge, and I'm sitting watching several humans make their homes underneath this bridge. I almost feel the need to cry, all these people, in a world with magic, with food aplenty, with some of the worst problems humanity fading away by the day, there are still those who do without. Watching the humans dressed in shabby clothes, taking care of meager possessions. I wish I could do something for them. Maybe I can think of something to do to help them. A hand touches my mane, a woman is standing there, not a single tooth in her mouth, but a very happy smile as she looks at me. I smile and nuzzle the human woman.

"Pretty pony." I hear her say. I rear up and hug her, my wings extending around her.

After a few moments she seems satisfied, I walk among the humans, most of whom simply ignore me. I sit down next to a tent, this one seems to be disused, not much inside it. Though I spy a small book inside, underneath the dust and a sleeping bag. I step forward inside the tent and grab the book in my teeth, I set it in front of me, opening it to the first page, 'Diane Ramirez, born May 7th, 1995.' That date really grabs my attention, could this be the journal of a human who turned into a pony? I push the book into my satchel and take to the air, I don't know why I was pulled to that place, maybe this book means something. I'll read it more when I have time. But I have to figure things out.

***

I streak in from ten thousand feet, this is one of the smallest cocaine processing facilities, we didn't do anything to this place since there was a very low likelihood of anypony being here. But I'm out of options, I need leads. I've been watching from a cloud for three days, trying to figure out who is in charge here. I've finally identified my target. I slam into the human, I wrap my hooves around him and my wings take us into the air. The human squawks as I power into the sky. In moments I'm landing on a cloud, holding onto the human.

"Speak English?" I snarl into his face.

He nods, looking down, and then his arms wrap around me.

"I know who your boss is, I want him, now."

He trembles in my grip, "I don't know where he is. He keeps moving."

"He has a member of my family, I am going to find him."

"I'm sorry miss, I don't know."

I look at him for a long moment, then, "I don't believe you."

His scream pierces my ear as I let him go. I watch him fall for a long moment, then streak down and catch him, less than twenty feet from the ground, I'm cradling him as he frantically wraps his arms around my neck, "Going to tell me the truth."

"Venezuela, Caracas." He screams into my ear. I look at him and grin, I skim along the ground and let him go, he tumbles as I head to the facility. In a matter of minutes, I generate lightning to get the place ablaze. This is the second place that I've raided. I hope my next raid is more successful. I need to find Dr. Ray.

***

Six weeks, six fucking weeks, forty-two damn days, and no Dr. Ray. I haven't even seen any ponies since I crossed the southern border of the US. Though I've been flitting from country to country this whole time. If I had remembered my passport, it would be full of new stamps, but as it is, I've just been flying over every border. I haven't gotten any sidewinders shot at me… yet.

I'm looking at a rather large site in Caracas. Though in my work, I've done some interrogation of the employees, there's a site or two in eastern Europe that I need to check out. Sometimes I wonder why I'm focusing on Spectrum, but then I remember, the ambush was at a Spectrum site, so whomever this was, they either know Spectrum, or are using them, the key to all of this are the bastards at Spectrum.

I take to the air, enough recon, time to do something. My eyes sweep the area, I notice a white Mercedes Sprinter van sitting a block away from the building, I notice two panel trucks backed into the loading dock. Both engines are off though. I smile as I land on the roof of the building. I trot silently to a sky light and use a fetlock to wipe the dust off the window, I peer through the window. Yes, there are people in there. I wonder if word of my antics has spread. I sit and watch for a long time.

After about an hour watching, my ears rotating listening for the telltale sounds of a human on the roof. With pegasi being a threat, it would be smart to have a patrol of the skies, but humans never learn. Then all my attention is grabbed by what I'm watching.

The head of Spectrum is there, he's talking to some of his workers, but he's clearly visible to me. All reason flies out the window as I strike the window hard with my hoof, shattering the glass, I flash through the hole and streak forward, slamming into the human.

"I've got you now, you son of a bitch."

A heavy boot kicks me in the side, knocking me off the human. I tumble but regain my hooves quickly, "I'm going to kill you!" I scream.

He stands up and brushes off his khakis, "Oh, I think not, Lightning Dust. I knew you were up on the roof." He smiles at my confused look, "The wonders of the electronics age, you had two cameras on you the entire time. I decided to show up so you would come down and play."

He gestures and fifty humans jump at me, I'm fast enough to get to the air. I snarl as I dive bomb the humans, striking with hooves and wings, knocking some out, I can't get enough speed to do any real damage, but I get some distance, charging my wing, I throw lightning at the humans, keeping them on their toes. After the mess with the Dr. Ray imposter, I've been very reluctant to kill. But this one human is an exception in my book. I easily dodge gun shots, I'm in full speedster mode right now, making everything else almost achingly slow, I weave between the flying bullets, I dodge their strikes faster than any human would ever be able to believe.

All of my abilities doesn't mean I'm perfect, a stun gun's probes pierce into my barrel, I never even saw the stun gun as it fired. 50,000 volts surge through my body, I scream as everything returns to normal speed, my concentration is utterly broken. I crash heavily to the ground, and in seconds I've got twenty humans on top of me, I try to buck them off, but I don't have enough strength. In moments I'm panting, totally spent.

The head of Spectrum saunters up to me, he bends down and flicks me in the muzzle, "You stupid bitch. You had to know you would lose. I always win. You've been able to choke off most of my funding, but I have sources you will never know about. All you have done is seriously piss me off." He chuckles as he stands back up, "I had you in my grasp, and I'm not letting you be taken away from me again." He stops and looks thoughtful, "During our experiments on your kind, we found some serious changes in personality and near reversion when a pegasus has their wings plucked, you were actually an anomaly, you stubbornly remained the same even with the removal of your feathers."

His grin turns evil, "So, this time, after your wings are plucked, your wings will be removed surgically." He turns and walks a bit away, "But since you are a simple animal, you won't have the benefit of anesthesia."

I shudder, "You fuck. When I get out of this, I'll kill you." I think it's all bravado at this point, I can feel a puddle around my rear, I just pissed myself. I can feel my entire body shaking, what am I going to do? It's just me, I'm all alone here. Will this be the end of me?

He smiles at me, "You won't be getting out of this…" He stops as one of the men on me spasms and goes limp, the loud bark of a rifle sounds, echoing throughout the building. In moments a second report sounds out as another human goes limp.

With a crash, the glass above shatters again, and another pegasus slams to the ground, I know this pegasus, Rainbow Blaze. He flashes forward into the pile of men on top of me, several men go flying under his assault, allowing me to buck the rest of the men off. I grin as I bump hooves with Rainbow Dash's father, then together, we leap at the humans.

As I'm fighting, I notice a door open and several humans crash into the building. Among them a very familiar unicorn. She looks at me and her horn shines, and she teleports to the clear spot that Blaze and I have created, now it's her turn to tear into them. Men fly in every direction, sticking to the walls encased in her magical aura. I watch Twilight Velvet's eyes glow, her cutie mark does as well as in moments everything quiets down, leaving the humans disabled, even the head of Spectrum is forced to his knees, and her magical aura holds his arms and legs in place.

I smile at him, "You were saying?"

He snarls at me, "This isn't over."

I snarl right back, "Oh, yes it is."

I flash forward, and I hear a voice say, "Scorpion." And before I'm within ten feet of the human, a hole appears in his forehead, his brain matter exploding away from the now lifeless body, which slumps in Velvet's magical hold. I land, skidding, trying to avoid running into his remains.

I turn and snarl, "He was mine!"

A human walks forward, I can tell by his demeanor, along with the black bars on the shoulders of his camouflage uniform, that he's in charge, "No, Lightning Dust, he was a target. I ordered him taken out."

My wings are tight with rage, "You have no idea what that man did to me." I can feel the tears starting to fall.

He kneels down, he shakes his dark brown hair that is streaked with gray, "I know what was done to you, remember, Velvet was there when you were brought back from the brink of losing your magic. Dr. Ray told me what was done to you. You've gone through absolute hell, Lightning Dust."

My golden eyes bore into his dark green, "I wanted him, I wanted to make him feel as much pain as I did."

He smiles, "But you would have had one more death on your conscience. You have seen too much death already, Dust."

The tears are falling freely now, "But…"

I don't get any further when his arms wrap around me, I sob into his shoulder. Before long, I'm wailing, my body not reacting at all except to shudder as sobs wrack my form. I feel a pony hug me as well, and then a wing folds over me. I've already lost it, but beyond all belief, I cry even harder.

"I am so alone, they don't want me around anymore." I shudder.

The human simply pats my back and makes nonsense sounds for a long time as I continue to blubber.

After a long time, I finally am able to pull away. Still sniffling, "Thanks." I say quietly.

The human chuckles and rubs behind my ear, "I've had to be a shoulder to cry on a few times, just ask Velvet."

I look over at the mare in question, her face is glowing and she traces circles in the dust on the ground, "Blaze did as well."

I look over at the blue pegasus and smirk, "You too?"

He blushes and looks down. I have my answer, it looks like.

One of the humans comes up, "Building is clear, the workers are either disabled by Velvet, or they buggered out. No other ponies here, and no prisoners." I perk up, I know this human, Eric Peterson, son of one of my employees. I smile at him and, to my surprise, I get one back.

I strike the ground hard with a hoof, "Damn, he's not here. Well, it's off to the Czech Republic then." Then I realize who's around me, I lower my head, "I'm sorry you had to save me." I turn towards the door to the building, "I'll go now, I know I'm banished."

I'm picked up in magic, and flipped around to face Velvet and Blaze, "Lightning Dust, you are not banished, in fact, your herd has been ready to rip their manes out looking for you.

I blink several times, "But, I haven't found Dr. Ray yet."

She chuckles, "When Mindy can't find somepony, then they must be trying hard to stay lost. Why did you take out your locator earring? Why did you smash your phone? Mindy found it, by the way."

I look down, "They think I killed Dr. Ray, my only chance is to find Dr. Ray and bring him back home. Then I hope I can beg for their forgiveness."

Velvet tutts at me, "Oh, Dust. Ever the stubborn pegasus." She pauses, looking at Blaze then back at me, "Sunset ran a resonance test, it almost killed her. In fact, it almost destroyed New Beginnings, somepony had put a light spell inside the body. Your quick thinking prevented that from being set off by whomever was controlling the pony. But I have to ask you, Dust. I know many pegasi have a finely tuned danger sense, but yours is beyond simply being finely tuned, how did you know?"

I shrug my wings, "I've always been pretty well attuned, Velvet. I can feel things, and usually the right course of action just pops into my head." I heave a big sigh, "But it didn't work when I needed it the most."

She cocks her head to the side, "Seriously? When?"

"Discord."

She chuckles, "Oh Dust, he was the spirit of chaos, you just did your best then. But you should listen to that sense, because you saved a lot of lives." She stops and shakes her head, "But it's time to get you home. We can arrange transport."

I put out a wing, shushing her, "Velvet, I need to find Dr. Ray. I'm not going home until he can go home with me."

Velvet looks at the LT, "Well, can we help this pegasus?"

He chuckles, "I'll arrange transport."

My ears drop, and my tail tucks between my legs as I back up, "Oh no no no no no, I'm not getting on any plane. I've got wings, I'll fly there. Blaze can catch up to me if he really wants to."

Blaze snorts and stalks forward, his wings flaring in anger, "Lightning Dust, in case you don't remember, we just pulled your sorry plot out of a serious jam."

I wave a hoof, "I would have gotten out of it."

Blaze's eyes narrow, "Yeah, sure. But this whole thing proved one thing. Care to guess what that one thing is, Lightning Dust?"

"That I'm the most awesome pony in existence?" I chuckle, I can still crack a joke from time to time.

He snorts again, "That you can't do it alone, and we are offering to help you. Got it?"

I wilt at his tone of voice, "Fine, Blaze."

***

A matter of hours has us getting on a military transport, a C-5 Galaxy, bound for Germany. And a little help from Special Operations command, we'll be in the Czech Republic. But when we get into the crew section between the wings of the massive airplane, I sit in the seat, and quickly pull out the small book. I flip open the cover and rifle through the pages.

The doctors don't expect me to live much longer, there are no donor hearts available in this small town and I don't have the money to travel. There was a chance that the clinic could have had something flown in but I am just too low a priority. For now, I guess I can use what time I have left to tell somebody about my life. I have no family, no one to will this to, so I can just hope that whomever finds it will understand. I was born on May the seventh, 1995...

I flip through the book near the beginning…

I'm moving to a new home today, my last foster home was horrible. My foster mother was horrible. She would beat me senseless. And she knew how to do it without leaving visible bruising. At first, when I told the teacher at school, she called my mother and had her come to the school, so I could tell her what I told the teacher. Needless to say that I clammed up. But the beating I got that night when I got home did leave bruises. So I was yanked from the home. I hope my new mommy is nicer.

I flip a few pages, skimming, through, I brush away a few tears, this is dated a few weeks later.

Oh, what a disaster, I've jumped from the frying pan, into the fire. They seemed so nice at first. But they drink, all the time. And my foster daddy, when he gets drunk, things are bad. I haven't eaten in four days, barely any water. My dreams are so odd though. I sleep a lot, I don't have the energy for anything more. I remember galloping, on four legs. A beautiful town. A beautiful life. I want that life. But then I see the monster. He scares me. Yellow and red eyes, Five score. That's all I remember.

"Dust."

I close the book and look up at the LT, he smiles, "We are about to land at Ramstein, we will be transferring to a different method of transportation there. You may not be aware of this, but we aren't exactly on friendly terms with the Czech Republic. We can't just land there."

I slam a hoof into the seat rest, then I notice the look on his face, "You have a plan?"

He nods, "Yes, we do."

Comments

[Ardent Dusk]

Finnaly! I was WATING forever for this chapter!

[VoxelTron]

Huzzah! Chapters ahoy! Looking forward to whatever plot twist comes next, you know, like the guy not actually being dead. I mean, if he can have magically constructed ponies and humans, I think he could something a little more impressive with his own doppleganger. Like control it. Just millions of clones of Spectrum CEOs everywhere. Wow, that's a dark thought...

[harts fire]

now this is a plot twist and I am loving it.
a supper job Sparky Brony.
but who is the mystery person / pony in the diary?
some how I have a feeling she is know to us in the story, but who is the mystery pony???
and killing spectrum was way to easy even I know that.

Harts Fire

[Sparky Brony]

5718589 a 7.62 round to the skull is a very effective way to totally screw everything up for you. The head of Spectrum is dead, dead, dead. But life isn't going to get easy for our dear friend Lightning Dust, in fact, trouble is only beginning. Remember, villains aren't all human. But I would love for people to make guesses as to whom this pony is that Dust found the diary for. Clues will be there throughout the next couple of chapters before I say who this pony is.

[Alkarasu]

5721142
Never met an author that can't bring back the villain as needed.
But dead works here as well. He had outlived his worth as a nemesis anyway.
A diary... Hmm... I hope it's not what I think it is, too easy.
Dust seems to go from her small random hunches to full-blown Pinkie-level prophet, and rather fast. That could complicate the story with too much power creep, it might need a bit of tuning down. Dust and her team is already a bit overpowered.

[Sparky Brony]

5721645 And what do you think it is?

[Alkarasu]

5721924
If I'm correct, it'll be a spoiler. So I will patiently wait for your reveal.

[exsnaggerwes]

I pull out a century note and place it on the table and head out the door.

I got a couple century notes for driving some guys home from the bank.

I push the book into my satchel and take to the air,

I just noticed that Dust just stole from a homeless person...

If I had remembered my passport, it would be full of new stamps, but as it is, I've just been flying over every border. I haven't gotten any sidewinders shot at me… yet.

Better than Rainbow's record. She was getting tailed just for crossing the Canada/US border

5718589 I kind of like this idea.

5723896 >inb4 this one inboxes Sparky with the right pony.
Even knowing who it is, at this point I could have many guesses. From what I've seen, this story's universe incorporates more side stories as canon than the rest, so it would be really easy to track down a main character's backstory, with only two big exceptions, and they're ruled out because one is human and the other is Irony.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Serves that B*****d right!

[erictheblue]

His scream pierces my ear as I let him go. I watch him fall for a long moment, then streak down and catch him, less than twenty feet from the ground, I'm cradling him as he frantically wraps his arms around my neck, "Going to tell me the truth."

oh, this made me think of a Daredevil comic book, where he did something similar, and said, "i can keep this up all night. can YOU?"