Dust was unsure what to think as he wandered the halls he knew so well. Every hallway, door, stairwell, hidden passage and window had a perfect place within the back if his head, never fading to the sands of time. He’d wandered these halls for most of his life, sometimes by himself and sometimes alongside his wife. Every evening he would take a walk through the castle, just to calm his nerves before he went to bed.

He did this in order to avoid the nightmares that plagued his sleep during his early years in Equestria. After he’d married Luna, they gradually became lesser, but he still felt the need to take a walk as often as he could. And so he knew the castle halls like the back of his hand, and he could probably navigate it in pitch blackness with a blindfold over his eyes and one hand tied behind his back.

Yet this particular night, he had no idea of where he was.

Nothing in the castle seemed right, but rather completely alien and even strange to him. Like looking at the world through a filthy mirror, everything was wrong and distorted. The hallways bent in unnatural ways, twisting around themselves, forcing him to crawl on all fours to even get forward.

The windows had all been barred with strange black strings which almost looked like human hair, but Dust had no desire to examine it any closer. Particles of dust and filth stirred up in the stagnant air as he loomed slowly through the walls towards what he hoped to be their bed chamber.

As he walked past the door leading into his own study, he couldn’t help but take a quick glance into the room. Before him, the fireplace roared silently, massive blue flames licking the walls around it and spreading it eerie silver light across the floor and the furniture that slowly floated through the air. One of his chairs moved slightly as the head of his suit of armour bumped into it.

He closed the door behind him, hearing a quiet whisper from the inside as he did.

Slowly, the man pushed on through the insanely twisted hallways. Even though everything had slipped into madness and chaos, he didn’t feel any sort of panic of fear. He was so determined to reach Luna that he didn’t even care about the things around him. It didn’t even occur to him that the murder of burning crows passing over his head was anything out of the ordinary.

And then finally, he came upon the door he’d been searching for. On the other side he would find Luna, and all would be well. The castle would morph back into its normal shape and everything would be perfect again.

Dust reached his right hand up to grab the handle on the door, just then realizing he was holding a pair of roses. Red roses, shining and beautiful against the snow that had suddenly appeared on the floor all around him. He lowered his hand, instead grabbing the handle with his left. He pressed it down slowly and stepped inside.

“Luna? Sweetie, are you home…?”

His voice echoed and bounced around the walls of the empty room, no voice coming to answer it. He felt something, almost like an itch, down the back of his neck. Somehow, this all felt so familiar to him. Dust took a few more steps through the grand foyer, coming up to the door leading into the bedroom. He could hear a faint whisper on the other side of it.

The door slid up without a sound, and a silver light almost blinded him as it did. He called out to his wife yet again, but still didn’t receive a response. He walked inside, looking around the room for any sort of sign of where Luna could be, but there was none to be found. Suddenly, a sound reached his ears. A hollow whisper coming from nearby.

“I’m out on the balcony, honey.”

A weight lifted from his shoulders and he inhaled yet again, only then realizing he hadn’t been breathing for a moment, holding it back in anticipation. But he still couldn’t shake that feel that he’d been through something similar in the past. Still with the roses clutched in his hand, he hurried towards the balcony doors. Dust looked out through them, and relaxed once he saw Luna out there, waiting for him.

He was so relieved to see her that he didn’t even pay the sea of blue flames surrounding the balcony any heed. There wasn’t any heat coming from it, only coolness. The heat that hit his face seemed to come from his wife, rather than the flames. He couldn’t help but admire her, how beautiful she looked in the light of the fires.

A radiant goddess, one whose heart belonged to him.

“Dust, we need to talk… Oh, what’s that?”

He held up the roses towards her with an almost goofy smile over his lips, his mind lost in the sheer beauty of the creature before him. “I, uh… I brought you some flowers.”

“How cute.” Luna said, her voice cold and to the point, not like it usually sounded. “I’m sorry for doing this, love.”

“What do you mean?” Dust asked, still holding the roses towards her with a silly smile, unable to fully grasp what she was saying.

“I’ve met someone.”

Dust didn’t respond.

“And he’s… better than you’ll ever be. He’s kind, he’s gentle, beautiful, loving. He understands me in a way that you never did.”

“What are saying…?” Dust finally spoke, the grin on his face gone.

“I’m leaving you, Dust. I’m in love with someone else.”

“No, you… you can’t…” Dust protested meekly without moving or lowering the roses. “I… I love you, you’re-you’re… I need you.”

“I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, the blue flames burst higher and roared like an army of beasts, and Dust could see something moving beyond the flickering surface. Luna watched the movements too, a loving smile spreading across her lips.

With another roar, a massive white figure emerged from the flames, its white fur moving like waves upon water as it came to a stop next to Luna. Its yellow eyes burned brightly, staring at Dust with hate and discontent. Its jagged yet razor sharp teeth glared at him, strings of saliva dripping down its cheek.

A massive, white wolf.

Finally, Dust let go off the roses. They didn’t fall to the ground instantly, instead only hovering before him, yet still going downwards at an almost painful pace.

“Isn’t he wonderful?” Luna said, nuzzling the side of her head into its thick, white fur. “He loves me for who I am, not for who he wants me to be.”

His hands now free, Dust instinctively reached for his sword, only to realize that it wasn’t hanging in his belt. He must’ve left it in the armoury, and running back through the twisted hallways to get it was out of question. The only thing he had was the ring around his neck, Jormundgand.

He didn’t care if Luna loved this beast, he refused to believe that she could, and whatever it was it needed to die.

With his eyes pinned on the beast, he let his body relaxed and felt something inside him break as he for the first time in what felt like years let the magic he’d come to hate course through his body. His vision turned red.

But nothing more happened. He tried to focus, but nothing came, no red flash of lightning lashing out at the creature. It remained it its place, no force throwing it into the air. Dust stood perplexed as a blue light came towards him.

A moment later, he flew backwards through the air and smashed through the balcony doors. The glass shattered into a million pieces as his body slammed into it, cutting through his clothes and into his skin. The man landed on his side grunting in pain as a large piece of glass pierced into his upper left arm.

“Why do you have to make this so difficult?” He heard Luna’s voice ask. “Just accept that I’m gone and you’ll be dead without me.”

From his place on the floor, he could see his wife kissing the beast, looking into its eyes with a longing look. Enraged, Dust slowly moved around, screaming in pain as the shards of glass cut into his flesh like knives. His vision slowly faded.

He saw the big wolf clamber over his wife’s back, saw it position itself. He knew what it was doing, and screamed in anger at them both.

“He loves me.” Luna whispered as her face got twisted into a smirk of pleasure.

Dust crawled through the doorway, feeling like his body was about to snap in half from the pain coursing through him.

“… Get off of her!”

The wolf didn’t listen. Instead, it lowered its head with a growl. It clamped its teeth down into Luna’s neck, adding insult to Dust’s already injured body. Luna’s face contorted even more, turning into one of pure bliss that Dust was the only living creature to have ever seen. One he saw every night, together with his beloved.

Yet again, Dust’s vision turned to red.

“Luna!”

The roses finally hit ground, shattering like the glass doors. Luna’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as the pleasure became too much for her. Dust screamed in agony.

Then Luna’s neck snapped like a twig.