His vision had turned red, like blood. Anger raging through him, he jerked his head from side to side, looking at the ponies standing around him with terrified faces. If only he could move. If only he could rip out every single one of their staring, disgusting eyes. One by one. But the pain in his upper back prevented him from moving. Crawling, cutting pain, as if something was trying desperately to get out. Like long, dead fingers ripping through his skin.

He closed his eyes, tried to overcome the pain, tried to get his vision back to normal. He opened his eyes again. Looking at the crowd of ponies around him, he felt his knees giving way under him. Every single pony had transformed. It was like looking at a sea. A sea of dark-blue, beautiful alicorns. Everywhere he looked, the same cutie mark met his eyes. A crescent moon.

He wanted to fall. Sitting on his knees in the cold snow, surrounded by this blue darkness, he felt no more desire to go on. Enough.

His vision caught sight of something. In the crowd of blue alicorns, he could clearly see a much smaller, white figure. It moved through the crowd, circling around him. He saw part of a purple mane.

Tears fell from his eyes, as he saw Rarity stepping out from the crowd, looking him straight in the eyes. Red tears. She walked towards him through the snow, the wind tugging at her main and tail. Snowflakes landed on her face. She almost disappeared in the howling wind and raging snowfall, her eyes being all he could see.

He tried getting up from his knees, but he was paralyzed. He wanted, no needed, to run away. He couldn't let Rarity see him like this. See what he'd become. The snow gained strength, growing into a full-blown blizzard. He couldn't see her eyes anymore. He raised his arm, stretching it out into the wind. He whispered her name, and the wind carried it away, hopefully to her ears.

Then he felt a hoof pressing against his outstretched hand. It was so cold, it felt like ice. Slowly, he wrapped his fingers around it, trying to warm it.

The skin on his back gave way. Whatever had been on the inside had managed to claw its way out. He felt something pressing its way through the open wounds, and before he could realize what was happening, a pair of huge, black-

Dust awoke from his dreams with a terrified yell that instantly turned into a heavy cough. He was sweating, and his head felt like molten lead. He tried to raise his body up on his elbows, but he was too weak. He sighed loudly and put his head back on his pillow.

Looking up into the ceiling, seeing those same wooden boards he'd seen every morning for a long time. At least he was at home. But he had no idea how he got here. Furthermore, the bed sheets he rested on had been neatly folded. He never made his bed like that...

"How are you feeling..?" A voice reached his ears. A female voice.

For a moment, Dust wondered what the hell a woman was doing here, considering the shape he was in. He was grateful that the blankets in his bed at least covered him. He really didn't want some stranger to see him... like this.

He turned his head in the direction of the voice. A few feet away, sitting in a chair and observing him was... Now he remembered what happened yesterday. The carriage. The cobblestone street rushing towards his face. The two angels.

And sitting in the chair, was the blue angel.

Of course, being wide awake and being able to see properly, Dust quickly realized that she wasn't an angel. She was a mare, but unlike the others he'd seen. First of all, she seemed bigger than the other ponies. Her coat in dark-blue, and her mane... Shimmering in seemingly millions of shades of blue, it flowed behind her like fog. Even more odd for Dust was the fact that she had both wings and a unicorn horn... He'd never seen anything like it before.

Around her neck hung a black scarf, with a white, crescent moon embroidered into the cloth. Her cutie mark was the same symbol. No doubt about it, this was the mare he'd just seen in his dream...

"I've been better...” Dust exhaled. Looking at the mare, he added "Sorry for asking but... what are you..?"

The mare smiled, letting out a quiet scoff. Dust, believing he just made a fool of himself, opened his mouth to apologize.

"You've never seen an Alicorn before?" the mare asked. Dust shook his head. "Then I suppose you don't know who I am, either?" She added. Dust shook his head again.

"I am Princess Luna," the mare said with a rather strong voice, "younger sister of princess Celestia, ruler of all of Equestria."

Dust's eyes widened. A princess. Here, in his home. Immediately, he started stuttering out apologies, about the state of his house and how she had to meet him.

"I'm the one who should beg for forgiveness." She said in an apologetic voice. "It's my fault you got hurt. Do you remember what happened..?"

Dust nodded, quickly reciting what he remembered from the day before. Luna's eyes moved away from him, avoiding eye contact. Was she embarrassed..?

"How did I get back here?" Dust asked, changing the subject. "Did you bring me here?"

Luna turned her head to look at him again. Then, she got out of the chair, walked over to him. Her horn lit up, and Dust felt something touching his head. Using her magic, Luna removed what Dust believed to be some sort of silk raping from his head. She observed the back of his head, and then gently pushed the silk raping back over his wound.

"I had a little help. A unicorn claiming she knows you." Luna said slowly. Dust smiled and let out a quiet laugh.

"Let me guess," he said "white coat, purple mane, called you darlin' all the way here?"

Luna nodded and rolled her eyes. Dust chuckled a bit, glad that Rarity still cared for him, after all. Maybe she still...

"She's in the living room right now. She tried to keep up the appearance of not being bothered, but the moment we got here she completely broke down. She hasn't even seen you yet, she's too afraid. Been crying her eyes out, poor thing. Do you want me to go get her for you?"

Dust nodded slowly. "Yes, please...”

Luna nodded back at him, and went for the door. Dust wanted to see Rarity again, but he wasn't sure if he was ready. It had been so long since they saw each other. In truth, he missed her. Missed her a lot. Oftentimes he wished that night so long ago hade unfolded differently. If he had decided to try, they could have been a couple right now. They could have been happy, and he wouldn't be lying here with a broken skull.

But no matter. What's done is done, there's no changing that.

"I'll leave you two alone...” He heard Luna saying calmly over by the door, "I'm sure you'll have some catching up to do."

"Wait, Luna! Erm, princess, I mean...”

She stopped, and turned and looked at him with wondering eyes.

"Thank you...” Dust whispered, looking into her eyes. "For what you did, I mean. You saved my life...” Now, after talking so much the last few minutes, Dust started coughing again. Luna waited until he had stopped before she answered.

"You don't need to thank me. I did what I had to." She said smiling back at Dust. "I only wish my sister would have done the same...”

She whispered the last sentence, more to herself than to Dust, and then she opened the door and stepped out into the living room. Dust sighed again, trying to sink down as far as he could into the bed. The conversation with the princess left him strangely drained.

What did she mean with that last thing she said? What did she say her sister’s name was, Celestia..? Would she have done something different than Luna? Maybe she didn't care about him, because he was human...

Dust's brain did it's best to try and figure out what she had meant, but his injury made it so much more difficult to think. After a few minutes of silence, broken only by the muffled sounds of chirping birds outside his window, the door slowly creaked open. Dust heard the sound of hooves, slowly making their way over the wooden floorboards towards his bed. A shivering breath, and then, a whisper.

".. Dust?"

He hesitated a second before turning his head to look at her. When he saw her face, all he wanted to do was to cry. Her face was covered in tears, dried and new ones. Her eyelashes that she always wanted to be perfect where untouched, some of her makeup smeared out thanks to her tears. The edges of her eyes were red from all her crying, looking like she'd been awake for days. And her mane. By god, it was a mess. She obviously hadn't cared for it or washed it for quite some time.

"Rarity, you... you look like shit." Dust whispered, adding a weak smile.

At first, Rarity seemed unsure of how to react, but seeing Dust's smiling face, she relaxed and smiled as well.

"You're a horrible person, you know that right?"

"Yeah...” Dust answered with a grin.

They both started laughing, and Rarity flung her forelegs around his neck, hugging him tight, sobbing and laughing. He'd never seen her this happy before. He tried to hug her back, but his arms weren't strong enough to reach around her. Instead, Dust buried his face in her mane. It smelled a bit like dirt. Her grip around his neck tightened, as if she was afraid he would disappear if she let go.

"Rare, I.. I-I can't... breathe...” Dust wheezed.

"Sorry...” Rarity said quietly, letting loose her grip. "I was afraid... Afraid that I'd lost you forever."

"Rare, you...” Dust began, but was cut short by Rarity, giving him a kiss in silence.

"You know I'll always love you."

Time passes quickly when you're happy. Love really changes your life, for the better. You feel like you can take on the world and never back down, because you know your beloved stands next to you. You wear your love and happiness like armor. Nothing can get through it; you can run across a battlefield of despair and disgust, feeling resentment following your every step.

Gigantic blades made out of hatred and disgust cleaves through the air, about to slice your hope in two. You close your eyes and wait for death. But nothing happens. The blades stopped dead in their tracks the moment your loved one stepped up beside you. Together you fight your way through the darkness with the power of your undying love, never slowing down.

You wage this war together. You give each other a reason to fight. Until the end.

Dust couldn't believe a whole year had passed. A whole year since that day he woke up after the accident, and decided together with Rarity to try again. It had been a good decision. He couldn't recall the last time he felt this happy. He belonged with Rare, and she with him. They didn't care about what everypony else thought, they still had the guts to show their love openly, unashamed.

But sadly, everything comes to an end.

There was a chill in the air that day. Summer had passed into autumn, and winter was without any doubt on its way. Dust was walking through the thick forest surrounding their home. Never before would he even have gotten the idea to take a walk in the woods. Never did he realize just how beautiful and serene it was. Here, no one judged him. It was just him and the silence, and on occasion, Rare walked along with him.

This day, however, Dust was alone. Rarity had stayed home to work on some new design, as usual. And it was this particular day that Dust noticed something. Amongst the frost and ice covering the ground and trees, he had seen something red. Glowing through the silver frost, he could see from afar that it was a couple of roses.

How they managed to survive the cold was beyond him, and didn't interest him. He walked up to them, and carefully took them out of the cold, frozen ground. They were perfect for Rare. A chill went down his back as a cold wind blew across the land. He closed his jacket and hurried back home.

He longed to be back, in the warmth of the fireplace, and his beloved Rarity. Longed to hold her in his arms, and feel the cold from the harsh outside weather wash away in an endless kiss. And then, finally, he saw the cottage between the trees. He almost ran up to the door, and swung it open.

"Rare? Sweetie, you here?" He called out. But the living room was quiet.

He called her name again. No answer. He kicked of the frost from his boots and walked towards their bedroom. Even before he opened the door, he could feel something wasn't right. He heard a shivering noise, a noise he knew all too well. A noise he heard when he and Rarity... His body started to shake.

He opened the door. The quiet, shivering noise stopped, replaced by a high pitch yell from Rarity, as she saw Dust, and then followed by curse words from the stallion she was with.

Rarity tried to get up, tried to call out to Dust, but he heard nothing. His mind had gone blank. As if someone erased every word on every page in a book. Nothing left.

He looked Rarity in the eyes, but didn't see them.

The roses slipped from his hand, and they were the only things he could see. They slowly fell to the ground, the same as his heart. He watched them hit the floor, some of the pestles tore of and scattered on the wooden planks before him. Shattered. Broken.

A white hoof appeared. For Dust, it felt like minutes before the hoof touched ground, stepping on one of the roses by mistake in the process. He moved his head, and saw Rarity standing in front of him. With tears in her eyes, she had her mouth opened. She probably said or yelled something. Dust couldn't hear it.

He was dead.

He could see Rarity coming closer, felt her arms around him, but the embrace reached nothing more than a dead shell. He didn't answer the embrace, didn't push her away. He was unable to do anything. Rarity let him go, but continued to talk. Or yell. Slowly, Dust turned around, started to walk out from the room. Rarity ran after him, seemingly in slow-motion, as she ran in front of him, tried to stop him. Dust stepped around her without even looking at her.

Stepping through the door, the cold winter breeze hit him. He didn't bother closing the door. No point.
Without knowing where to go, he walked down the path leading to Canterlot. For a few minutes, he walked through the forest in silence. Rarity didn't seem to follow him. Probably busy with that stallion. Bitch.

Suddenly, he saw the walls of Canterlot. Upon seeing the city and other ponies moving about, happily and content, the bubble that had encased his mind burst violently. He fell to his knees in the frost, crying and sobbing. He smashed his hands in his face, as his crying turned into loud screaming.
Screams of agony and pain. The sounds of a whole new life shattering. The sounds of someone’s soul tearing itself apart.

Dust smashed his hands into the frozen ground, trying to bury his naked fingers into the hard soil. He clawed away at the ground, until his fingers started bleeding. Drops of crimson red upon the frost.

His screaming must have been heard, as he could see a couple of town guards approaching through the tears in his eyes. He fell forward, hitting his forehead in the ground. The blood from his fingers smeared out across his face, and he screamed out all his pain into the dirt. He felt someone grab him, and instantly launched out at them. On either side of him stood Rarity and the stallion that... He yelled in their faces, bringing up his hand and smashing it straight into Rarity’s face.

The guard yelled loudly as the first hit him, breaking his jaw and some teeth. Blood sprayed through the air as he fell to the cold ground.

Dust turned to the stallion. The one that had fucked his Rarity, ruined everything. The stallion stood still, merely observing him. He began to raise his hands, but just hitting the stallion wasn't enough. Dust rushed forward, grabbing the stallion by his neck, tackling him hard into the ground.

Dust landed on top of the stallion, and watched in silent anger as life slowly ran away from the stallions eyes. They rolled back into its head, and it's body shook. He clamped his hands harder around its throat, hearing cracks and felling the bones in the neck move in his hands as they snapped.

With a wheezing sound, the guard let out his last, dying breath. Dust got up from the stallion, and now realized that they weren't Rarity and...

In the distance he could hear loud yelling. More guards approached at high speed through the air. Dust fell to his knees, and waited.

They grabbed him, tied his hands and put a sword against his back. Slowly, they guided him to Canterlot.

The gates opened, and he stepped into the town. The sun had almost set, and the streets where starting to get empty. The few ponies in the street looked at him with disgust. The few who actually knew him looked at him with more than just disgust, it was... pure hate. Somepony spit on the ground in front of him as they walked down the street, seemingly towards a plaza, with a big gathering of ponies. Were they going to execute him..?

The guards led him into the thick of the crowd. Looking up towards a makeshift pedestal, he understood that they were not going to kill him. At least not yet, Dust thought. At the top of the pedestal stood a small unicorn, lavender in color and with dark purple, striped mane. Next to her was... Celestia. Towering over both the unicorn, and Luna, standing on the other side of the unicorn.

Luna!

Dust snapped back into the world, realizing his chance. Luna had saved his life once, and was the closest thing he had to another friend in this world. Even though he hadn't seen her since the accident, surely she would recognize him and help him. A flicker candle of hope lit up in his heart.

Celestia bowed her head down to the lavender unicorn, seeming to talk to her, and then, the unicorn stepped forward and with the help of her magic, held up a parchment in front of her face. It gleamed in a purple shine as she raised her voice.

"Ponies of Canterlot! This is truly a day of joy! After consideration, Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna, have come to an agreement! An agreement to further our place in the world, an agreement that benefits the entire kingdom! Together they have decided that at the end of winter,
Princess Luna will be married to-"

The candle flickered and died.

Dust didn't hear any more of the unicorn’s speech. It didn't matter. This was the end. A day of joy... Losing his beloved, his life mashed in pieces, and now, his last friend was about to be torn away from him. It became too much. He couldn't stand it anymore.

Gathering all strength he could, filling his lungs with air, he yelled as loud as he could.

"LUNA!"

The lavender unicorn stopped her speech, looking out at the crowd in confusion. Luna widened her eyes, trying to find the pony calling for her. Finally, her eyes stopped at Dust. He yelled her name once again, but before he could see her reaction, a dark bag was put over his head, and he was smacked hard at the back of his head. He felt his body sail to the ground, landing on something cold and hard, but uneven, not like the street.

He squirmed to move, but somepony tied his feet as well. And then, the ground started moving. One part beneath his shoulders, another his knees, the ground moved as waves. After a few seconds he realized he was being carried, probably on the backs of the guards. He settled down, thinking it's better to just go along. Whatever would happen to him now didn't matter anymore. He was dead anyway.

Soon, the sounds of the crowd grew distant and eventually disappeared altogether. The only sound was the clanking of the guard’s hoofs against the street. Dust wished that they would have to carry him across something, anything that would cause them to loose balance. Then maybe, he could slip of and hit his head hard enough against the cobblestone to end it all.

After a while, the sound of clanking hoofs was replaced by the sounds of crackling paper. The guards where walking on grass. Why would they take him outside..?

Then they stopped. Without saying a word, they threw Dust on the ground. Freezing and with tears in his eyes, he rolled around to get up, ready for whatever they would do to him. Standing on his knees in the grass, he waited. But nothing happened. Dust got down into the grass again, on his back, bending his knees up towards his chest, in order to move his tied-up hands from his back, around to his chest.

He got ahold of the bag on his head, and pulled it off. He was alone. No guards, only darkness and icy winds. He looked around, realizing he was just outside the walls. They had dumped him off here, like garbage. Dust looked down on his bound hands, and luckily, they were tied with only a weak string. He bit down on it, and after some time they snapped, having been chewed right through.

He massaged his aching wrist for a while, before untying the rope around his feet. Finally free, he spread out on his back in the grass, looking up at the moon, slowly rising into the skies.

"Luna?" he asked, concentrating on the moon above him. "If you can hear me... please help me... I don't know what to do... I...”

He whispered slowly, and his voice sounded like it was part of the wind. He waited for an answer, but nothing happened. Once again, he started crying. It was so cold; his tears froze before they fell to the ground. He put a hand over his face, sobbing loudly. Before him, all he could see was Rarity’s face. Her face that split second before she saw him in the door. A face twisted in pleasure.

One last time, Dust screamed out his pain. The wind grabbed his wailings, carrying it off into the night. He rolled over on his side, tucking his legs close, into a fetal position. He hugged himself hard, shivering in the cold grass. He had no idea how long he stayed like that, but when he decided to move again, his limbs didn't really respond. He was so frozen; his body seemed to stop functioning.

He wiggled his fingers, trying to spread the sensation of movement to his other limbs. After a while, he could move his arms, and he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Sobbing, shaking, numb and broken down, he got up on his feet. He glanced one last time at Canterlot, then turned around, and started the agonizing walk back home.

The cabin was dark and cold. The candles on the table next to the couch had burned down, and the living room was a mess. It looked as if someone or somepony had run around like crazy, moving the furniture and smashing some glasses on the kitchen counter. Dust took a quiet step towards the couch. It was covered with blankets and pillows. Upon closer inspection, Dust saw dozens of white and purple strains of hair all over it. All of this wasn't here when he left. Did she... Did she wait here for him? Did she sit here, alone in the darkness?

Looking closer at the table next to the couch, Dust saw a vase sitting in the middle of it, and in the vase... A couple of roses. Leaned against the side of the vase, he saw an envelope, with his name written on it. Hesitantly, he reached out and grabbed it. Sinking down in the couch, he looked at it. It was Rarity’s hand writing. Or mouth writing, whatever he should call it.

He flipped it around in his hands, and saw that it hadn't been sealed. Slowly, he opened the envelope with one hand, and scooped out the letter inside with the other. Even in the darkness, he could see dried tears covering the letter. He took a deep breath, and started reading.

"Dust, I'm so sorry. I know, this won't change anything, won't undo what I did. I don't even know why I did it. I'm not going to try and make up excuses, since no excuse in the world can correct my wrongs. I won't ask you to forgive me, but know that I still love you. Despite what I did, I have never stopped loving you. But I understand if you hate me. I hate myself too. But please, promise me you'll be all right, with or without me. I've been here for quite some time now, waiting for you. I'll never talk to that other guy again, I swear. I have no idea what flew into me. Still, no matter what, the only one I want to be with and share my love with, is you.

I'll head back home again, I'm sure you want to be left alone for a while now. But when you feel you’re ready, please, come and see me. I don't want this to be the end of our future together.

Love, now and forever.
Rare"

Dust read the letter over and over, tears falling from his eyes. Should he forgive her? He wanted to. Wanted to forget this ever happened and go on living. But that was impossible. As much as he wanted to, he could never forgive her for such a betrayal. No matter how sorry she was. She made the choice; she had to take the consequences. Getting up from the couch, he carefully folded the letter and placed it over the fireplace. He then turned around, looked at the roses. One of them had lost several pestles, the other one flattened. He couldn't stand to look at them.

One, partly destroyed, pestles of trust stripped away from its body. The other, grinded into the dirt, almost reduced to ashes.

Dust picked up the vase and looked at it. Then, he threw it hard into the fireplace.

The forest was silent. The grass and leaves beneath his feet crackled as he walked on, one step after the other. He didn't bother to put on any warm clothes, in a short while; he wouldn't be able to feel the cold anymore. It was pitch-black beneath the trees, and Dust pressed on forward without knowing where he would end up. The only thing he asked for was a beautiful, peaceful resting place.

He lost track of time as he walked, and the trees hid the moon from his sight. After what felt like hours, he came out from the trees, into a clearing. And right in the middle of the open field stood a big tree, an oak. Perfect. He moved faster towards the tree, but after only a few steps his foot kicked against something hard, and he tripped forward. He didn't bother to catch himself; instead he let himself fall flat in the grass.

He spun around on the ground to see what he had tripped on. It took him a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, but when he did, he saw that it was a gravestone. Broken horizontally down the middle, covered in mold and frost. Looking around, he saw more stones in strange shapes. Unlike the world he came from, Equestria didn't seem to use crosses for their tombstones. Instead, they were mostly squares, and some shaped as hearts. Walking through the graveyard he found a few shaped like horseshoes, with the names and dates carved on the sides. He didn't bother reading it. Nopony he knew anyway.

A half-circle with graves had been formed around the oak, all gravestones shaped as different rearing ponies. Since they were all made in stone, it was impossible for Dust to make out any difference between the mares and stallions. He counted ten ponies all in all, aligned so that they all faced the oak in the middle. How fitting, he would have an audience.

Walking over to the oak, he inspected the different branches. They were all narrow and rotten, and probably wouldn't stand his weight. Dust looked up at the top of the tree, and saw that it was shaped like a small cross, three thick branches growing in different directions. That could work. And at the same time, if he fell down, it would probably kill him anyway. He would get the desired results, no matter what.

Tossing the thick rope he carried around his shoulders, he grabbed the lowest branch and heaved himself up. It broke instantly, sending him falling on his back into the frozen grass. He sighed loudly, the branch resting on his chest. He grabbed it and quickly threw it away. It hit one of the pony statues with a dry crack. Finding another branch, he tried once more. This one held, and he got up unto it. After a slight struggle, he had heaved himself up two more branches.

Pushing himself, he managed to get to the top. From here he could see just how big the graveyard was, and it was massive, stretching out for what seemed like miles. A beautiful, melancholy place. Perfect for his last moments in life. Protected by the ancient graves, he would finally find peace. For a moment, he wondered whether anypony would find him here. And if somepony did, would that pony be Rarity? No matter, he told himself.

He grabbed the rope hanging from his shoulders, and started tying a strong knot on one end. He bent down over the top of the tree to fasten the rope, but then he caught sight of something. A small object, wedged into the broken end of a branch. From what he could see, Dust thought it to be some sort of black ring, big and completely flat. Like a big coin with a hole cut through the middle. He saw that something was engraved into it, but he couldn't make out what it was.

He lay his hand on it, and instantly felt a strange tingling spreading from his finger, up through his arm, coming to a stop somewhere in his chest. He tried to shake off the feeling, and pulled on the ring.

It didn't budge. He tried again, this time a little harder. But no matter how hard he pulled, the ring didn't move. Without knowing why he so badly wanted to get it loose, and without realizing his building anger, he let go of the tree with his other hand, placed it on the ring, and pulled with all his might.

The ring flung free, as if it never where stuck at all. Dust lost balance, and still holding the ring, he fell backwards. Plummeting through the air, all he could think was that he never would know what the strange ring was. He closed his eyes. And hit the ground.

Dust opened one eye. He saw the oaks dead branches reaching out towards the sky. No pain. Such a fall would break almost every bone in his body, but he felt fine. He sat up, looking at the ring, clenched in his hand. Did it... Did it save him somehow? No, that's crazy...

He brought his hand closer to his face, examining the strange, black ring. It had carvings in it. They were hard to make out in the dark, and Dust tried angling the ring against the moonlight. The markings shoved up, and he could see several figures.

An Earth pony, a Unicorn, a Pegasus and an Alicorn.

He looked up at the statues around the tree, to see if there were any resemblance between them and the ring. But the statues where all different species, and not a single Alicorn.

Confused, Dust held out his hand, instead looking at the odd ring from a distance. Nothing. Then, he tried holding it up towards the moon again, but this time he held it so that the moon shone straight through the hole in the middle. The markings started glowing in a bright red color.

He looked at it in awe, it was so beautiful. But his admiration changed into fear as he felt the ring started to get hot. He tried to drop it, but his hand wouldn't listen. Before his eyes, the world changed. The sky seemed to shrink and change color, the tombstones transformed into what looked like bodies, and the frozen grass disappeared into the ground. Breathing heavily in fear, Dust close his eyes. The cold wind was gone, replaced instead by a warm feeling. And then there was noise. Voices. Music.

He opened his eyes again. And what he saw almost made him yell out.

He was standing in a big room, covered in red drapes, big engraved mirrors and crystal chandeliers. The floor underneath his feet seemed to be made out of marble, with dark red patterns crisscrossing across the floor. The gravestones had taken the forms of hundreds of ponies, all dressed up in Victorian-era clothing. Flowing, frilled dresses and narrowly cut suits.

Everypony was matched up in pairs, and seemed to be about to start dancing. To his left, Dust saw a part of the room where the floor had been raised a few feet, and on it there where a band of musicians, stallions dressed in long suits, marine-blue in color with golden buttons, and tall hats. All of them had black coats and silver manes, and white, shining eyes. The pony in the middle, seemingly the maestro, looked at Dust, nodded and raised his hat at him.

And then the stallions started playing. A slow, sad melody rang out from the violins, and the ponies in the room all reacted as one. They grabbed their partner and moved onto the floor, slowly dancing a waltz to the sad melody. Dust stood dumbfounded in the middle of the dancing couples, not knowing what do to. And then he realized that he still held the ring in his hand. But for some reason he hadn't noticed earlier, his arm was stretched out to his right, and in his hand... There was no ring.

"Are you going to keep me waiting all night?" A familiar female voice asked.

The voice had come from the right, same direction as his hand... He turned to look.

Luna had her hoof in his hand, looking him smiling in his eyes. Dressed in a heavenly blue silk dress, she awaited her partner to dance with her. Unsure of what to do, Dust carefully did what he thought he was supposed to do: moved close to her, keeping his grip on her hoof, and placing his other hand round her waist.

She smiled, and they took off onto the ballroom floor. Even though Dust had never danced in his whole life, he seemed to know everything by heart. The music grew louder, as Luna’s eyes sparkled in the light from the chandeliers.

"Is this real?" Dust asked her doubtfully.

"You can make it real." Luna answered with a soothing voice.

"What do you mean..?"

"You have been betrayed," Luna whispered. "Tricked and deceived by the one you loved. I know, for I have seen it. I saw what she did to you, Dust. She ripped you in pieces."

She was right. Rarity did rip him in pieces, to say the least. But he didn't want to talk about it, and felt the tears build up again. Luna saw it in his eyes, and gently lay her head against his shoulder.

"Don't cry over her. That'll only make it worse. Besides, she never loved you anyway."

Dust almost pushed Luna off him when she uttered her last words. He felt anger building up inside him.

"How can you even say that?! You don't know anything!" he snapped at her.

"If she had loved you, then why did she do what she did?" Luna said with a cold voice. "You’re better off without that whore."

"Shut up!" Dust yelled, letting go of her.

Luna looked at him indifferently as he turned to walk away from her. He took a few steps into the crowd, but somehow, Luna had gotten around him and was standing in front of him, blocking his path. He gave her an angry look, and turned to take another way around her. But as he turned around, Luna stood right in front of him again.

"Get away from me!" he spouted into her face.

Without warning, Luna reached out and embraced him. He struggled at first, but eventually he felt his body going numb.

"You don't need her, Dust. She's nothing." Luna said quietly.

Not being able to resist anymore, he wrapped her arms around her and cried. She was right. Rarity had betrayed him, treated him like shit. She didn't love him.

"I have seen your innermost thoughts," Luna whispered. "I know what you really want."

Slowly, they started dancing again, picking up their pace as the music grew into a crescendo.

"Tell me Luna, how can you know that, when I don't even know myself?"

The music grew louder, almost defeating, as Luna let go off him. She slowly backed up into the dancing crowd.

"I know. Otherwise you and I wouldn't even be here...”

Her voice died down together with the music. He called out her name, tried to run after her. But she was gone.

Once again, Dust found himself in the old graveyard. The cold air hit him like a wave of water, sending shivers down his back. No trace could be found of what he'd just seen. A thick fog had rolled in over the cemetery, and the frosty grass looked more like shards of glass. Everything was quiet.

Luna was gone.

Dust still held the ring firmly in his hand.