Irony's Tale

In the few days since we’ve been able to bring Lightning Dust back from the brink of being lost, she’s spent most of the time sleeping. Dr. Ray has shown up every day and been continuing his healing work on her. In addition, he’s prescribed some serious pain meds for the injured pegasus. So, sleeping and being semi-conscious has been her life since that magical day at the farm when Hannah and Moon were able to bring her back. I tried to get Moon and Mindy to move back to the extra bedroom. But Helen had kept on us as she’s ordered a new bed, a custom design so we can all sleep comfortably on it. Even now, with their Alaska king mattress, it’s still a bit crowded with Moon, Mindy, myself, and Helen all snuggled up with Lightning Dust.

My doze is broken by the soft sobs from the pegasus. Her sounds have also awoken Moon and Helen. Mindy blinks a few times before sitting up. Dust sobs again, tears streaming from her closed eyes. I shift quickly and move up to cradle her. As I touch her, she lashes out a hoof, smacking me in the jaw. I don’t say a word as I bring her close and wrap my arms around her. “Hush, sweetie. You are safe.” My words seem to have some effect, she stops flailing around, but her body is still insanely tense. I pet her mane, whispering soft words into her ear. “Love, please, you are home, safe, with us. With the ponies.”

The sobbing continues, and after a few moments, her eyes open. “Irony! It hurts!” Helen moves closer, wrapping her arms around both of us, letting Dust cry. My shoulder is quickly becoming wet from the tears of the pegasus. Sobs still wrack her body for a long time, though her body slowly relaxes and finally her breathing evens out.

“She’s so weak,” Helen whispers, worry plain on her face.

I nod. “I know. The healing has taken a lot out of her. But Dr. Ray has done as much of the healing he can do with her. But her wings are just so damaged. Add in all of the muscles and tendons that have gone through the wringer. He’s barely had the ability to work on her other injuries. She had her forelegs broken multiple times, and her pelvis as well. I’m surprised she survived all of the abuse.”

Helen runs a hand along the sleeping Dust’s mane. “My Michael was always stubborn. And as Mike became Dust, that stubbornness has stayed. I don’t know what was going through her head as she dealt with being abused like that. But sheer stubbornness has to be what kept her alive.”

I look down at the sleeping mare, her brow is furrowed, her body is tensing up again. I look over at Moon, who is looking at Dust worriedly. She glances at me. “She hasn’t been able to really sleep much the last few days. Mostly drug induced unconsciousness. She hasn’t been in the Dream, she hasn’t been able to dream.” She stops and sighs. “I should have known her first dreams would be reliving the hell she went through.” She snuggles down into her pillow. “I will help where I can.”

“Can I?”

She stops and looks at me. “She needs a rock, somepony to hold onto when chaos reigns in her mind. Trouble is, with this much medication still in her system, she’s still too fuzzy to really be coherent. These aren’t really nightmares, not as I understand them. Flashes of pain, afterimages, memory’s. Her minds can’t really process dreams as of yet. In a day or two, I might be able to enter her dreams.” She flinches as Dust’s forehoof flails a bit. “I can probably calm the worst of it. But as horrible as it is, this is part of her healing process.” She snuggles down into her pillow. “I will see what I can do.” Her eyes close and her breathing evens out. And in only moments, Dust seems to calm down too. She whispers my name softly, then Moon’s. Helen runs her hand along Dust’s cheek, the turquois mare leaning into the touch slightly, a soft smile on her face. Moon’s eyes pop open and she looks at me. “Okay, I was right. Nothing organized, no real dreams there. All I did was feed her soothing thoughts and feelings. Something to distract her from the pain. I can’t truly access her dreams right now.”

“She whispered your name in her sleep,” Helen says softly, getting her a hug from the gray unicorn.

“That’s good, we are where her mind goes when she felt the positive distraction. We have something to work with.”

Dust has become a dead weight in my arms. I shift back to all fours and nuzzle the pegasus gently. “She’s in deep sleep now, beyond dreaming for now.”

Moon nods. “I’m going to have Ray reduce her meds a bit, she will feel more pain, but she will be more lucid when she’s awake.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Helen asks.

“Yes. Much of her body’s healing is done, but magical healing can only go so far, much of what’s left is her body adjusting to being healed after being broken so horribly for so long.”

I look at the pegasus before bringing her as close as I can to me and snuggling into the pillows. Moon’s magic chimes as the blanket is brought up to cover us. Moon leans over and kisses my cheek. “Sleep as much as you can, love. She needs you lucid when she’s awake.

I nod and close my eyes, sleep overtaking me quickly. I suspect Moon had a hoof in that.

***

Some say abuse doesn’t just affect the one abused, but also those connected to them. I can’t disagree with that sentiment. While she was gone, Dust has gone through absolute hell, and we all have as well. Moon Shadow has sat with me and explained what she saw in the Dream with Dust when her and Hannah brought the turquois Pegasus back from the brink. In the last few days, Moon has had to be in the Dream with Dust, helping guiding her damaged self through the mess that her experiences have made of her mind. I have been drawn into the Dream with her, along with Helen and even Mindy. It turns out, we all are what Dust had latched onto to stay alive during her ordeal. Every morning after a session in the Dream, I’ve been exhausted. And that exhaustion has been double for Moon Shadow. She has had to guide the pegasus to a point to where she is approaching some sort of functionality.

I look at the sleeping pegasus cradled by the gray unicorn. I roll out of bed, I can see the tension in both of them, but I just can’t deal right now. I saw a familiar face in her dream. The man I killed with my mace, I’m happy that I got him in the crotch before ending his misery. Though in my own dreams, I’ve killed the man dozens of times. Each time more gruesome than the last. I get some savage pleasure in that. Anyone who would do that to another doesn’t deserve to live. I glance to the window, the sun is rising. Another bright new day, the weather is cold, but according to Helen and Dust’s kids, it’s very mild. Though they say the snow will be coming. I shake my body, glancing at the two sleeping on the bed. I need to get Moon to get some real rest.

My hooves are loud as I clatter down the stairs, I do have to admit, Dust has a very nice house. It’s amazing how hard she worked to have such a nice house, and such a supportive family. I met Dust after her change, so I don’t even really have a mental picture of how she looked as a human. Add in that Dust doesn’t really have all that many pictures of herself as a human around the house. Helen has said that Mike was always camera shy.

I walk into the kitchen, the delicious smells emitting from that large room has my stomach grumbling. Then I stop, looking at the woman standing there. I don’t think she’s heard my approach, even though I wasn’t trying to be quiet. “Helen,” I murmur softly, getting a flinch and short scream from her.

She reaches out with the turner and flips the piece of chicken. She sighs as she inspects what she just turned before glancing back at me. “Thanks.” She gives me a watery smile. She turns back to the food she’s cooking. I have no real appetite for meat, but another pan has vegetables cooking merrily in butter. And do I smell bread baking? My stomach twists a bit, I’m more hungry than I thought.

But something else is more important at this moment. I shift to two hooves and step forward, enfolding the human with my arms. She jumps at my initial touch then leans back into my body. We stand there for a long time, Helen leaning against me, lost in the feeling of closeness. She reaches up and pets my leg lovingly. Finally, she blinks a few times, reaching out the turner and scooping up the chicken to place it on the waiting plate. She takes the salt and sprinkling it on the finished piece of chicken before she scoops the vegetables into a serving bowl. Wordlessly I pick up the bowl and the plate and turn to walk them to the large kitchen table. It seems like we are the only two awake and active, yet Helen made enough for everypony. I smile softly at the spread of food before us before glancing at the human. She glances at the doorway leading to the stairs. “I’m not going to call the kids down to eat for a few.”

I nod, noting the tears running down her cheeks. “They have gone through enough, losing Dust for so long, then having her be so broken when we got her back.”

She nods. “I’m glad you killed the man who was hurting her.” She says softly as she puts a piece of chicken on her plate, and I reach for the vegetables. She looks up at me. “I hate to say it, but some don’t deserve to live.”

I look at my plate, Helen has told me Mike was a gourmet cook in his own right, but she’s damned good in the kitchen as well. My mouth is watering, looking at the food before me. I spear a piece of carrot. “I’ve killed enough. I don’t like it.”

“I know. You’ve told me what you did as a Marine, and your time in Equestria. I would have thought that Equestria would be more peaceful than our Earth.”

I finish chewing. “Oh, it most certainly is, ponies are more harmonious than humans in general. Our threats were primarily from outside. For a long time, the changelings were the biggest threat. But fights with some kingdoms around Equestria did happen. Ponies never started wars, at least not since the Princesses. But even peaceful places must be ready to do violence, to protect that peace. Princess Celestia ensured her Guard was the meanest, strongest fighting force around. And heaven help those who got close to overwhelming the Guard. Remember, she had control of the sun itself. I have seen her draw enough energy to dim the sun before unleashing it.” I stop, remembering that day with a shudder. “The power that mare possessed.”

“How did Discord overpower her then? If she was so powerful?”

“I don’t know, honestly. I was taken a few days before everypony else was. He knew I didn’t trust him, and I would defend the Princesses, all of them, with every ounce of my being. I really don’t know how much I could do to him, much more than warn the princesses what he was up to.” I stop again. It happened so quickly, he entered my office, and started with casting his spell. “I don’t know if it was malice, he’s never struck me as a malicious or particularly evil creature. He was chaotic, he was…”

Helen nods. “That’s sort of like what Dust told me, late at night after some of her dreams. She’d talk to me before the dream faded. She said that Discord was not evil, that he was enjoying every moment of fighting the ponies, but he wasn’t killing. His attacks were with a purpose.”

I sigh. “I don’t think I can forgive him for what he did. He destroyed our harmony. He destroyed what we created, but why?”

“I don’t know.” She brightens as the soft padding of feet announces Dust’s son, Hannah is ghosting silently behind her older brother. “Good morning, sweetie.”

I turn and smile at both Dylan and Hannah. “You guys hungry?”

Dylan looks over the spread. “Any waffles to go with the chicken?”

I lever myself up. “I’ll be happy to whip some up.”

***

I cannot begin to explain how exhausted I am. Between working with Dust in sleep with Moon, and time when she’s awake. Life for us has become a project, putting this mare back together. I shift my body a bit, being on two legs for a long period is wearing. Dust is awake, just looking forward. Though, to be honest, I wouldn’t want to be in her head right now. Those nightmares she has had to endure have left me exhausted. I am sitting in an armchair in the bedroom. The windows show pitch blackness, being out in a tiny town in Montana means not much light pollution. So there’s nothing really to see at three in the morning. I reach out and grab a chicken tender, Moon and Trixie have figured out a really cool spell, as long as it’s on the plate, it’s the same temperature and freshness as when it was put on. I bring the tender up to Dust’s mouth. As usual, her lips compress and she turns away. Moaning softly as she cuddles tighter against me.

“Please, Dust, you need to eat.”

“Not hungry.” She murmurs before shuddering. “Just wanna sweep.”

I gesture to the IV taped to her foreleg. “Don’t you want to get that out of you?”

She ignores the question and puts her head on my chest. Which gets a chuckle from her. “Boobies.”

Her sense of humor remains apparently, and is about thirteen years old. “Yes, Dust, I’ve got boobs.” I say with an eye roll.

She opens her eyes, squinting at the light from the lamp next to the chair. “Too bright.” She murmurs.

I hug her. “I know, but the eyes adjust, love.”

She closes her eyes and snuggles more against me. “Warm.” She says softly.

I reach the piece of chicken and brush it across her lips. “Please, eat, love.” I suppress my frustration. Moon has explained that this is going to be a very frustrating time.

She shakes her head. “Hurts.”

I sigh and deposit the chicken back on the plate before shifting her weight a bit and have her resting more against my body than in my lap. Her head ends up on my shoulder, and I hold her to me. Holding her like this has caused her to relax more than usual, even though she’s still very wound up. After a few moments, the sobs start again. Her wings are limply against my body, though looking at them makes me want to cry, they are healing, the magical healing has the wounds closed, and feathers are starting to regrow, they still look…damaged. I hold her for a long time as she grips me, crying hard but rather quietly. “Why?” She murmurs over and over.

“Why did he do that to you?”

She jerkily nods, and I sigh. “Dust, some people are just evil. They do what they want to do, and damn everypony else.”

She hiccups and sobs. “But ponies don’t do that. I know rape has happened in Equestria, but that’s usually a mare getting over excited. This was… malicious.”

“We aren’t in Equestria anymore, and we’ve got about two years before we can go back.

That gets her to stop, her crying tapering off. For a long moment, she lays against me, her eyes closed, long enough to where I begin to think she’s fallen asleep again, but she shifts a bit and opens her eyes. “Do you want to go back?”

I look down into her golden eyes. “I don’t know. There are a lot of ponies here. And for all we know, Discord kept banishing ponies up to the day Twilight and the others arrived.”

She grimaces. “So? Is it our responsibility to take care of them? Let somepony else do it. The job is too big. Humans are going to fuck everything up anyway.”

The savageness in her voice when talking about humans runs a chill down my spine. It’s not the first time since we’ve brought her back that she was nasty when talking about humans. “You know that’s not the case. The President has worked hard on our behalf.”

“Because his daughter turned pony. He had a personal stake in this.”

“So did some House members and Senators. And that’s a good thing. We aren’t considered livestock by the law anymore. We are people, just like them. They’ve been keeping knowledge of the ponies from becoming a media sensation, we are rumors, nothing confirmed. Yet, they’ve created a whole transportation system for ponies, and allowed humans that turned pony while in the military to stay and continue to serve. We can’t forget the five hundred twentieth. They are making some serious accommodations to allow ponies to integrate with their society.”

“We have our own society,” she says bitterly.

I nod. “Which was destroyed, and is back in Equestria. Twilight and her friends are working to rebuild our society. But for now, staying in the shadows, not being exposed to the bigots among the humans, allowing us to retrieve ponies that are in bad situations. Those are all good, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, in the US. What about the rest of the world? All the fucking humans there?”

“Dust, I know similar legislation is in the works in most UN nations, I got an email from the President’s office the other day. That senator you like, his younger sister turned pony, remember?” At her nod I continue. “He’s been flying all over at the President’s behest to advocate for ponies. And also helping with keeping our existence under wraps. We have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to what the humans are doing for us.” I flex a fist. “I’m not the biggest fan of how many humans have treated us. You heard what happened to Moon, right?”

Dust nods. I continue. “But you and I both know, on the whole, they are good. Look at those here in town, your own family that stayed human. Your daughter put her life on the line to bring you back.”

Her eyes widen. “Hannah.” She whispers before blinking and looking at me. “You shouldn’t have let her.”

I lean my head down and touch her forehead with my own. “Love, as if I could have stopped her. Moon was going to go anyway, and something about your daughter’s magic said that if Moon went alone, she would die. She would have drowned in your pain. But between the two of them, they could endure what you went through, endure the agony you were going through long enough to bring you through that veil, that haze of pain and misery, to bring you back. It did nearly kill them, Hannah is still feeling the effects of that day. But she’s doing something you need to do. She’s talking about it.”

That gets her ears to flick back. “Don wanna.” She murmurs. “Memories bad.” She looks over at the bed with the others sleeping. “Can she make the memories go away? Make me forget?”

“No!” I lower my voice in deference to those sleeping. I huff. “No, Dust. The five score spell showed us memories can’t be destroyed, ‘your memories removed, your body confused’ we are getting our memories back. Moon, Mindy and Trixie are rediscovering all kinds of magical spells by the day. No…any attempt to remove your memories is a temporary solution at best.”

She huffs and crosses her forelegs in front of her chest. “I’m fine with temporary.”

I hug her tightly. “You and I both know what a bad idea that is.”

She looks away from me.

After a long time of patiently waiting she turns and looks at me. “I know, love.” She glowers. “But I don’t have to like it.”

I reach up a hand and cup her cheek, automatically she leans into the touch. “I know, love. But I’m here for you, we all are.”

***

Once again, Dust is asleep, though at this point, she’s the only one in bed, in Dust’s house, the kitchen is the natural congregation point for the family. At this time of night, the kids are asleep, so it’s only Moon, myself, and Helen. Mindy is at the farm, something about servers being built and the budget Dust gave her for it. Mindy has been throwing herself into her own projects, trying to find other ponies, trying to prevent what happened to Dust from happening to other ponies.

Moon is sitting on the bench, her head on the table, her eyes closed. Helen is pulling cookies out of the oven, the smell of baked goods has my nose twitching. “Need help, love?”

Helen smiles at the term of endearment before shaking her head. “No, love. You helped enough with mixing the dough.”

An earlier batch seems to have cooled enough, the human woman stacks a dozen cookies on a plate and places it before me. In seconds, a magenta hoof reaches up and swipes a few cookies, “Nice, chocolate chip!” Mindy chirps before bouncing up to kiss Helen on the cheek before she pops away in the glow of teleportation. Helen touches her cheek where the pony kissed her before looking where the crazy mare was before looking at me helplessly.

“It’s Mindy, think Pinkie Pie, but with magic.”

Helen sighs. “I haven’t watched every episode of the show, but I did see a few with her.” She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “Pinkie has magic. She has to.” She frowns and looks at me. “Unless they exaggerated with the show.”

I shrug. “From my memories of Princess Twilight’s friend. If anything, they understated how Pinkie was. And Mindy is most definitely on par with the element of laughter.”

Helen blinks. “You lived through the time with them. What are the elements?”

I look down at the table, tracing a hoof along the wood pattern. “Well, much of what they showed in the show was accurate when it comes to the elements. But what they didn’t capture was the feel.”

“The feel?”

“For example, when Twilight wore that crown, the element of Magic, it felt…like concentrated magical power, it could make your fur stand on end, but not in fear. Nothing about the elements scared me. Pinkie, with that necklace, wasn’t more her. But the laughter, the happiness, the sheer joy, was palpable. The power of them…leaked…I guess would be the word. When all of the elements were together, there was nothing, no better feeling. I’ve mentioned how strong Celestia was with her connection to the sun, remember?”

Helen nods.

I look at her. “The elements dwarfed her power by a huge margin. They were able to reach across the boundary between our worlds, and affect Discord here, when the Cutie Mark Crusaders were able to use the Elements, they affected not just their world, but everywhere.”

That gets a low whistle from the human.

“And the Dream, they affected the Dream too.” Moon says, lifting her head and opening her eyes. “Bronies talk about the magical friendship cannon. That applies to the Elements more than you would ever believe.”

Helen puts the mixing bowl in the sink before wiping her hands on a dish towel. She walks slowly over to the table. “With that much power, can they be used to help Dust? Or anypony who’s gone through the stuff she has?”

I stop and look at her before looking at Moon. “The Dream, is it connected to Equestria? Could you get a message to them?”

Moon blinks a few times before shaking her head. “I don’t think so. I think there is some connection, but not a direct one that I could navigate. Remember when I tried to find the portal in the Dream?” At my nod she huffs. “I don’t know if it requires more strength in the Dream than I possess, though I’m one of the strongest except for Princess Luna. But there has to be some connection. I haven’t found it.”

Helen pounds a fist on the table. “Damn.” She glances up the stairs. “How do we fix her?”

Moon sighs heavily, “It’s not about fixing her, Helen. She’s gone through hell. She’s broken, and we can help piece her back together, her body is mostly fixed, though it’ll be a few months before she’ll be in the air again.”

I nod. “And that will help a lot.”

“True, but much of this is something she has to do. She has to find the will to fight through that pain, to want to pull herself back to where she wants to cope and live again.”

Tears are flowing down the human’s face. “I lost Mike, but I got Dust in his place, and that was good enough; Dust has a lot in common with Mike. But then I’ve lost Dust, and she’s broken, she’s ripped to shreds, she isn’t HER anymore.”

I shift and walk over quickly, picking her up and cradling her, she wraps her arms around me, and instead of wailing like Dust has been doing, she sobs into my chest, quietly letting out the pain in her heart. I know I’ve got tears flowing down my face as well.

Moon Shadow touches my arm, getting me to look at her. “Helen, Irony. We will help her, we will bring her back. It will take time, and a lot of work. But we will bring her back to the mare we knew. I promise.”

Helen gives her a watery smile. “I hope so, Moon. I don’t think I could live losing Mike twice.”

I hold her tightly. “You won’t, love. We won’t.”