Irony's Tale

“Are we there yet?” Comes a masculine whine from the very back of the minivan. That gets a solid smack.

“Mom, she hit me!”

“Did not! I just encouraged you to keep your trap shut.”

Kerfuffle looks back at the two foals, who are now tussling around in the back seat. “Would you two act your age?”

They stop mid tussle, both of them looking at Fuff. “We ARE!”

She covers her face and just mouths “Help me!” to Chargie.

Joel keeps his composure. He gestures to his phone on the mount suction cupped to the windshield. “We are just getting into Wibaux. About an hour to go.” Chargie can tell that he’s stressed a bit, but he doesn’t take it out on the foals. They haven’t fought all that much and considering the length of the trip. “Montana is huge, it takes forever to drive across the state.” He points to the rolling hills. “Just be patient.

Pickle huffs and crosses his forelegs as he looks out the window. “It’s gonna be near sundown when we get there.” He gestures to the sun, low in the sky. “How can we explore the town when it’s going to be night!”

Barley is looking out the other window, in the same position. “It’s boring. I thought Montana was supposed to be beautiful, all those mountains, and snow-covered hills. It’s flat! I mean look at Wibaux! A main street, then the highway through it is over in like two minutes. Then there’s nothing!”

Chargie giggles. “And then we have to drive through Baker, another tiny town. But the settlement is about fifteen minutes out from Baker.”

Joel looks at his speedometer, bumping the Chrysler product to eighty before setting cruise control. “Just have to be patient.” He murmurs softly as they speed down the road. Most of Montana has an eighty mile per hour speed limit on the major highways. But the trip has taken a toll on him and everypony involved. He looks over at Chargie. “You sure they were twenty-five before they changed?”

She nods, then looks back at the two sulking in the back. “You wouldn’t be able to tell based on how they are acting.” She exaggerates how loud she’s speaking to get a reaction from the back.

The reaction is instant. “Hey, we didn’t get our cutie marks yet!” Barley howls. “Can’t blame us for acting our age.”

Fuff whimpers a bit. “We are all the same age.”

“Nuh uh, you were a pony longer than we were!”

Fuff rolls her eyes. She has actually had a lot of fun the last few days, starting off with a quick stopover in Utah before getting to Bozeman Montana. Where she got to see some truly impressive mountains and absolutely gorgeous scenery. They visited several clients of Open Bionics, mostly California transplants that settled in this section of the nation. A couple were totally shocked at the ponies coming to visit with them with the CEO of the company itself. The others had heard of the rumors of the ponies and had heard of the pony colony in the eastern side of the state. Then came the long trip across the state of Montana.

The miles pass fairly quickly in the gently rolling hills that are the precursors to the Black Hills, where Mount Rushmore is located. The foals have already voiced their displeasure since their hooves don’t work on their phones anymore, so they can’t just play on their phones. Though Joel had somewhat remedied that by purchasing a couple of styluses on their last fuel stop. But then they said using them with their mouths was too awkward. Fuff does enjoy the drive, the foals will finally have other ponies to spend time with, so they can burn off their excess energy. She’d heard about Lightning Dust and all she did to make a place for the ponies to have a safe haven to live and enjoy their lives.

As they crest a final hill before getting into the small town of Baker, Montana. Chargie sits up, looking forward. “Seriously? Talk about a first impression for a city, a junk yard!” Joel rolls his eyes as he glides into the town, stopping at the only stop sign and hanging a right, to head west. The rest of the town passes quickly before they turn at an unmarked gravel road off the main highway. As they crunch over the gravel, Fuff notices that the gravel is freshly laid. And after only a few miles, there is a large wrought iron fence, and it’s covered in greenery. Joel gently brakes the van and turns in at the gate.

To everypony’s surprise there is a staffed guardhouse. The earth pony sitting in the guardhouse looks over the ponies inside and presses a button to open the gate with a bright smile. Joel drives the van and parks in the obvious parking lot with dozens of other vehicles. As he puts the van in park, he looks back. “Looks like we walk from here.” He says as he pushes the button to open the sliding doors. Fuff hops out with the foals landing next to her. She looks around, six large barracks style buildings look fairly new, and they are lit, so ponies are there. This is an old farmstead, the large house is lit invitingly. Though one thing that grabs her attention is by the old barn. Ponies are slowly heading over to the barn, by the hundreds. As they watch, a bright star forms of magic, rising up into the sky. Then voices, hundreds of voices raised in song float over to them.

Fuff flicks an ear and looks at Chargie confused, “Do you feel it too?”

“It’s as though my heart is being pulled towards that." Chargie say softly, "Like a cry for help, like a pony needs us.”

The foals look at Fuff and nod before scampering towards the singing.

As they get close, Fuff snorts a bit. “Why do I know this song? I've never heard it but...”

Chargie opens her mouth and sings, joining her voice to the ponies, "When we come together, They'll be a star to guide the way."

Fuff has joined in, adding her alto to the mix, spreading her wings a bit, as she calls out, "It's inside us every day."

Looking at each other the twins smile, as Pickle nods once, "See it now."

"See it now," Barley responds in song and the two lean against each other touching cheeks.

As they get close they can see the hundreds of ponies are gathered a respectful distance away from a young girl, no more than ten or twelve, standing in a glow of magic, her hand on the forehead of a tan earth equine pony. Next to her is a gray unicorn with a sky-blue mane, her horn is lit brightly with her eyes closed. Then Fuff gasps. That pony, while it looks like any horse on this world, has a cutie mark. Though the mark is fluctuating. Her eyes widen, the magic, the song, it’s helping. A wave of turquoise washes over the pony and she gets smaller, more in line with the other ponies.

Let the rainbow remind you
That together we will always shine

Chargie watches as what they are fighting against fights back, the pony’s color turns more tan, and the cutie mark fades, almost to nothingness. The ponies seem to sense this and they pour their energy into the magic, into the song. Chargie spreads her forelegs and pushes with all of her might as she continues singing with them in a high soprano.

Let the rainbow remind you
That forever this will be our time

Barley and Pickle stand there, both with their wings spread, the magic shining from them just as much as from Kerfuffle. Her eyes widen, as the colors wash over the pony, for a moment, wings show up, horribly mangled, but still wings. They are helping a pegasus. She focuses on her wings, pushing the energy she feels there, joining in with everypony else as they sing the final bars to the song.

Let the rainbow remind you
That together we will always shine

As the magic finally fades, a turquoise pegasus is standing there, her wings still mangled. But she’s back to the Equestrian pony she was before.

“It’s Lightning Dust.” Pickle murmurs to Barley. The pegasus opens her golden eyes, taking a long time to focus on the little girl and the unicorn. Though she says something very softly to the unicorn before passing out. Then another dark, almost midnight blue pony with a multicolored mane swoops in, then Fuff’s jaw drops as the pony somehow changes form, her rear hooves remain, but the rest of her body quickly morphs into another form that looks almost human, even her skull reshaping. She gathers up Lightning Dust and gently cradles her. Fuff’s wings are spread in alarm as the almost human shaped pony walks past her with the little girl and the gray unicorn in tow. She makes a beeline to a large truck. The unicorn’s horn lights briefly and the tailgate is dropped, allowing the pony to climb in and cradle the unconscious Lightning Dust to her chest. A human woman opens the drivers door and the little girl and the unicorn quickly hop in before she takes residence in the drivers seat. With a growl, the diesel engine fires to life and the truck speeds off. Fuff looks around as the ponies slowly disperse. Then she blinks, she’s seen that face before. It had to be one of the times she had been in Canterlot.

Charged up pronks on the spot a few times, "Hey isn't that Twilight?"

"I thought Twilight Sparkle was purple?"

Chargie giggles and shakes her head no, "Not Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Velvet, she's like, the mom of Princess Twilight Sparkle AND Prince Shining Armor."

"Ohhh, we weren't from Ponyville so... "

Shifting from bouncing on the spot Chargie shifts to forward gear, heading towards the group, "Let’s go talk."

Fluff blinks then jumps, flapping a few times, before landing partly on Chargies back tumbling head over tail with her, "Chargie no, you just can't bounce up to random ponies from the show, it’s not polite."

"Why?"

"Because it’s not right to bound up to strangers," Fluff says.

"But how do we know if they are strangers? I think I was from Ponyville so I might have met them," Chargie says then tilts her head, "Course my memory is swiss cheese, but how do we know for sure unless we do?"

"Chargie, you are such a noodle brain at times."

"Mmmm, swiss cheese and noodle brain."

Fuff rolls her eyes and tries very hard to suppress the urge to giggle. She has to admit, Chargie is fun to be around. She looks at the Earth pony as she folds her forelegs on her chest. “Oh, you aren’t any fun.”

Kerfuffle gestures to Pickle and Barley. “Need to be a good role model for the kids.”

Joel comes up, placing a hand on the head of the earth pony. “Fuff is right, you know.”

She leans into his touch before flinching and pulling away. “Sure, you’ll take her side.” She grumbles. Then her eyes go wide, her mane is vibrating. She reaches into her mane and pulls out a phone. She pulls a stylus out and taps on it a few times.

Kerfuffle blinks. “Wait, I saw what happened when you got frustrated with your last phone, did you get a new one?”

“Uh huh.”

Fuff tilts her head to the side. “You kicked that last one, I mean a full on buck.”

Joel laughs. “I’m pretty sure it hasn’t deorbited yet.” He looks around. “I’ve heard that Mayor Mare has been in charge of the new colony. Why don’t we find her.”

Fuff wants to roll her eyes. Mayor…mare. She finally giggles. “Yeah, I guess we should find her.” She takes a moment to look in the direction that the truck had taken. What had happened with Lightning Dust?

***

Helen takes her time driving back to Dust’s house. While it’s wonderful to have her back to her normal self as a pony, I want to weep, as if I haven’t cried enough already over this mare. Her wings, her beautiful wings, look like they’ve been through a shredder. I remember watching the video that asshole made, showing her being tortured, every primary plucked as well as much of the soft down. She’s utterly passed out right now after this ordeal, so her wings are relaxed and hanging down. Though with the red scabs and obvious scarring, it’s going to be a long time before Lightning Dust is in the air again. We bounce onto the highway heading into Baker, Montana. I know Helen is wincing at every bounce. Though she needn’t worry, I’ll keep Dust safe with my body no matter what the road does.

I lean back and look through the rear window, even though it’s tinted, I can see Helen’s eyes in the rear view mirror. She’s keeping her composure even though she’s got tears streaming down her face. I turn and look at the others in the cab of the truck. Moon Shadow and Hannah are both curled up together, eyes closed in sleep. Nearly the entire day of intense magic use, they are exhausted. Though before they are put down for the night, they need to be fed, magic use of that magnitude requires almost their entire energy, I guarantee both of them have their stomach’s growling for attention. I smile softly and bring out my phone, sending a few text messages. I saw Mindy at the end, singing with the other ponies. She’s likely back at the house already, being as good with teleportation as she is.

I lean back, cradling Dust closer. How many ponies were there? I noticed quite a few from the show, but so many that might have only been shown for a matter of seconds in the background, and they are all real, but there’s also so many that sparks small memories, from Canterlot, from Ponyville, Trottingham, Vanhoover, so many places Princess Twilight visited when I was in her service. I miss my time working for MY princess. I had the utmost of respect for Princes Cadance, for Celestia, and for Luna. But Twilight Sparkle was my princess. I have trouble coming up with the words necessary to explain how I felt after talking to her in Equestria after the battle at the gate. Sweetie Belle had enabled her to fully remember me. And while if she had asked for me to stay, I would have been torn, my loyalty to that mare is as strong as it ever has been. But this mare in my arms, I don’t just feel loyalty to her, I feel love, more than I had ever expected to feel in my life. And something she had said before really stuck with me, love doesn’t divide, loving more brings more love. I love Moon Shadow even more than I thought possible, I love my Dust. I don’t really notice the tears streaming down my face as I cradle Dust. “I missed you, my love.” I whisper into her ear as we pass straight through the one stop sign in Baker, heading to her house.

Helen pulls into the cul-de-sac that has their house and cuts hard to be able to back into the large driveway. She backs the truck expertly into its space and finally shuts it down. As the doors open, I pull Dust up as I lever myself to my hooves. My nose flares a bit, I can smell the water of Baker Lake, which is to the side and behind Dust’s house. Though in the cold, it’s got a skim of ice over it, a precursor to it totally freezing over in the winter. Helen pops the tailgate and I clop over and step down onto the concrete. Not much snow yet this year, but Helen and Hannah have both told me that more snow will be incoming. And it’s barely November! I follow them through the garage into the house and climb up the stairs quickly. Dr. Ray bounces happily as he follows me into the bedroom.

“How is she?”

I set her down in the bed. “She’s in rough shape, but she’s back. She’s herself once again.” Relaxing onto all fours, I hop up on the bed and start to gather her up to hold her.

“Hold on for a minute, please, Irony.”

I look at him curiously. “What?”

“I need to check her out. I know what was done to her before, but since she’s back, I want to see what kind of healing I can do. I’ve been talking to a few pony healers that have made it to our little section of this Earth. They’ve shown me a few weaves. I’m not a natural healer, those are so very rare. But I have learned a lot.”

I move away a bit as his horn lights. He hops onto the bed himself as Dust starts to glow with his aura. He stands on the bed, his head down and concentrating. Before my eyes, her wings slowly reform, he winces a bit as there are cracks as bones healed badly are broken again and rehealed. Only a few minutes pass, but when he lets her go from his magic, he’s panting as though he’s run a marathon at full speed for hours. He looks up at me, a dribble of blood leaking from his nose, but he’s got a smile on his face. “There.”

I blink a few times, “What?”

He holds up a hoof, panting. He takes a long time to gather his strength to simply talk. “I…used the magic inside her, that connection has just been shored up by bringing her back. I brought it to the forefront. The asshole that tortured her knew something about pegasi, how important their wings are. They were broken dozens of times. I could feel that some of those breaks are weeks old, and even with the extraordinary healing abilities endemic to pegasi, they had strained those abilities to breaking. I bolstered that, I got her back to where when her wings regrow their plumage, she’ll be able to get into the air. As she was, that would have been permanently grounded, even with a Pegasus of her strength. Give her a month or two, she’ll regrow her feathers, and she’ll be back.” He sighs heavily before looking at me sorrowfully. “But there are other scars that magic cannot fix. Her mind, what makes her…her. Has been through the wringer worse than her wings.” He nuzzles the sleeping Pegasus. “I hope she can overcome that.”

I gather her into my grasp, using all four legs to hold her tightly. “Dust is strong, more than in body, Ray. She will be fine.”

He looks at me seriously. “Irony, this is going to be a long process. She’s going to need us. You, me, Moon Shadow, Mindy, Helen, even her children. She needs the love we have, even when she will say things, she will say that she doesn’t need us. But she does. We have to be strong, for her. To help her. To support her.”

I sigh and nuzzle Dust’s cheek. “She’ll have it.” I look at him. “Thank you.”

He offers an exhausted smile. “I am more than glad to, Irony, love. I’m just letting you know that we are over an early hurdle. We have a long climb ahead of us.” He turns and hops off the bed. “I think Mindy was talking about making donuts.” He stumbles a bit as he walks from the room.

I look at the sleeping Pegasus in my arms. “Don’t you worry Dust. We are here for you.”

***

Fuff finds it hard to believe this tan pony with the bright pink mane is the titular leader of the colony here in Montana. She’s got offices in a cheap jobsite trailer. Though as they walked through the beginnings of the new town, they could all see how much work has been accomplished in a fairly short time frame. Dozens of houses are built, as well as what could only be described as office and retail space. Roads have been laid and paved with stones. Some of the designs definitely remind her of Hope Hollow.

Mayor Mare puts her hooves on her desk. “Of course you are welcome to join us! We are trying to gather ponies here for their safety and this provides a good place to live until the portal opens.”

Fuff cocks her head to the side. “Portal?” She glances at Chargie and Joel, then back at the twins. “What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you watch Equestria Girls?”

Silence. She glances between all of them. She frowns. “Did you watch My Little Pony?”

Joel clears his throat. “Well, I watched a couple of episodes. But not really. It wasn’t all that huge in the UK, and Fuff grew up as a human in Cambodia. She didn’t watch much TV when the show was aired.”

“I didn’t watch much TV as a kid, was too busy.” Charged Up says softly. “I’d heard of bronies, and of the show, but I just couldn’t get into Technicolor ponies.”

Mayor Mare clicks her tongue. “Well, you remember what Discord did.” At their nods, she continues. “Well, that show was a good entry point into our lives as ponies.” She reaches up and touches her mane. “It had some things right, and some things not so much right. Well, Discord banished us here, but there is a portal that connects our two worlds. And it’s in the US.” She smiles. “Some of the ponies here are simply waiting the thirty months until the next opening of the portal, so they can go home.” She looks sad for a moment. “But also, some of the ponies here feel this world is our home, and are planning on staying. Lightning Dust is one of those. And so am I.”

“But why don’t we go home?” Barley says softly. Looking at his twin for a long moment. “I mean, we were born there, we could go back to Hope Hollow, we could go home.”

Mayor Mare smiles at the little colt. “For some ponies, that’s what they want.” She stops for a long moment before sighing heavily. “But some ponies have established lives here. This world, this Earth, is our home. We’d rather stay where we’ve been for the last twenty-five years, not going to a place we barely remember. This is our home. And Lightning Dust has worked to make this a place we can live, and we can thrive. You saw the town being built. And you can feel the magic, right?”

Fuff and Chargie both nod. “Yeah, especially when Lightning Dust was being healed. We could feel that, feel the magic.”

She nods. “That magic isn’t from the land, it isn’t from Equestria, or this world. It’s us. The ponies make that magic happen wherever we are. And so no matter where we are. We can make that magic work.”

The ponies stop, thinking hard. Pickle Barrel steps forward. “But what about the ponies that can’t make it here? If they don’t have the money to travel, or even know about this settlement? What happens to them.”

“That has been thought of. Lightning Dust has recruited ponies as teams that go all over and find ponies and help them, get them out of situations and bring them here.”

“How do they find them?” Barley asks.

“Well, Mindy, Cipher, and a few other ponies that are really good with computers track search terms, and other indicators of ponies, and if somepony seems to be in distress, they will send a team to get on the ground intel, and approach the ponies and offer them a new home.”

Fuff looks worried. “What if they don’t want to go?”

Mayor Mare smiles. “If they are happy with their situation as it is, we won’t force them. And our agreements with the government allow the ponies that freedom to decide. Legally, the ponies are the same as any human, and have the same rights as any human in the nation. That was signed just a few weeks ago. Before that, we were classified as livestock, but Dust has prevailed on the President and some of those in congress. It helps that his daughter turned into a pony, and also some relatives of those in congress have turned.”

Chargie speaks up. “But what about ponies that don’t really know what’s going on, aren’t computer saavy, and think they are they only ones to change?”

“We are trying to find them, but without a computer presence, it’s hard to track them down.”

“I want to help.” Fuff says softly.

“Huh?”

Fuff looks around at the others. “Pickle and Barley were brought to me by a wonderbolt, working for the government to help pegasi know what the rules of the sky here are. We had only heard a few rumors about a pony colony in Montana. Most ponies won’t even have that much information. We need to help them. We need to find them.” She turns to Joel. “I’m sorry, but until these ponies have a safe place, I can’t go back to the UK, the customs agent said that Mayor Mare could sponsor me.” She looks at the pink maned pony, who nods. “I need to stay here. Help the ponies.”

Joel smiles. “I had some thoughts you would want to stay here for a while. I can set up a leave of absence at work for you.”

Fuff leaps at her boss, wrapping her forehooves and wings around him. “Thank you so much!”

He chuckles. “Don’t think you are getting rid of me that easily. I’m going to help you too.”

Fuff blinks. “Huh? Why?”

He reaches up a hand and taps her nose gently, getting her to scrunch her face cutely. “First off, I’m enjoying my time with Chargie here.” He reaches out and strokes her just under her ear, getting the earth pony mare to lean into his touch while blushing. “And also, the foals are going to be having issues keeping up with you if you choose to fly everywhere looking for ponies. You’ll need a human to drive you around.”

Fuff looks at the foals. “You wanna stay here? Or do you want to go around looking for ponies?”

Both of them roll their eyes in unison. “Of course we are staying with you!” They say in unison.

Fuff is staggered as the two foals glomp onto her. She looks over at Chargie. “I don’t want to assume, but are you coming with?”

Chargie smiles, looking at Joel, then at Fuff. “Of course I am!” She chirps. “Somepony’s gotta keep the featherbrains grounded.”

Mayor Mare clops her forehooves together. “It’s settled then. But can you enjoy our hospitality for a few days? Then you can go off on whatever adventures you are planning on?”

Fuff nods.

***

Two days later, Fuff is yawning as she walks towards the minivan. Part of her dreads more hours inside it, but she’s also looking forward to seeing what they can find. She looks back at Joel, who has Chargie pronking next to him happily. The foals are bouncing too, they all seem to be looking forward to what’s ahead. Joel presses the button to have the doors of the minivan open. As usual, the foals hop into the very back seat, they’ve arranged blankets and pillows into nests for them to get comfortable for long trips. And they’ve picked up something that ponies in the new town are selling. Small stylus that have a strap to put on a pony’s hooves to allow them to use their phones.

Joel climbs into the front seat with Chargie hopping into the passenger seat, the sliding door slides closed as the two front doors thunk solidly closed.

“Before you go, wouldn’t you like to know where to go?” An unfamiliar voice chirps.

Joel and Chargie both turn to look back, and everyone gasps. In the other captain’s chair right behind the driver’s seat is a unicorn pony, she’s magenta, with a snow white mane. She smiles. “Surprise!”