Glass. Canterlot castle had turned into pure, clean glass. The towers and spires still reached high in the skies, but threatened to crack under its own
weight. The royal guards where all frozen, forever incased, shimering as the sunlight shone straight through their bodys. The green lush of the Royal
garden had turned into cold silver, and the flowers had become beautiful crystalised figurines.

Even Discord had turned. His body had not turned completely into glass, instead remaining stone with only a thin layer of glass covering the entire body.

Celestia had been forever conected to the throne, as two different sculptures molten together.

Everything and everypony was dead. Their veins and hearts stopped working the moment the glass spread to them. The birds in the sky that had turned
plumeted to the ground like rocks, shattering in thousands of pieces as they hit the gound. A few pegasi had also shared this fate.

Nothing could live in such a world. Yet one lonely creature was still alive. Walking carefully through the shattered glass, trying to avoid to step on them.
The creatures reflection could be seen in the glass all around it. Walls, floors, ceilings, doors, guards; everything mirrored a dark blue figure
moving though the corridors.

The blue Alicorn entered the throneroom. Her sister was sitting in the throne, dead and long gone. But Luna could care less. She deserved this fate.
She exited the throneroom again, heading towards her old bedchamber. The place that had felt like a prison for so many years. And the place that
set her free. The place where she had embraced love for the first time.

As she opened the doors, a slight breeze tugged on her mane.

She stepped inside. Everything looked just the way it did when she and Dust left it. All the furnitures and her belongings, encased in glass.
She crawled up into her old bed. It was cold, not as warm as she remembered it to be. She felt sad that this bed, where she and Dust had realised their
love, had turned into a dead object. The memories had been torn from it, but not from Lunas mind. The first time she and her beloved had
become one.

She smiled as her thougths returned to that night. It had been the most wonderful night of her life. She would gladly be sent to the moon for another
thousand years, if only to relive that night once again.

After a while, the hard bedsheets started to make her body go numb. She quickly got up, and walked over to the balcony. That too had turned to glass.
Even the thin layer of snow had been trapped beneath it.

Lunas gase was drawn to the side of the door, and there, resting towards the wall, was a black feather. For some reason, it had survived the glass deadly
spread. As she watched it, it started to move in the light wind. At first, it only moved slightly on the floor, but as the wind grew stronger, it flew up into the
air. It flew straight past Lunas face, and as it did, time seemed to slow down.

She saw it shatter before her. First the tip broke, then the feathers started to crack and crumble to pieces. It was redused to ashes, and scattered in the
wind. The time returned once more, and she saw the ashes of the feather drift away in the wind, eventually dissapearing. Then, a sound reached her ears.

A crack. A loud crack behind her.

She spun around to see a masive line forming in the balcony, sig-sagin its way across the floor. Quickly, Luna rushed back inside, just in time as the balcony
crumbled to the ground behind her with a deafening shattering sound. She had no time to stop however, as more cracks began to form in the glass
around her. She set off running towards the courtyard.

But as she turned a corner, she was stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart almost stopped as well, as she saw Dust standing only a few feet away from her.
Covered in glass.

His coat had frozen in a position where it looked like it had been blowing in the wind, and Dust himself seemed to have been turning around quickly when
the glass hit him.

She called out his name in vain, trying desperately to bring him back to life, while at the same time afraid to touch him, afraid he might shatter as well.
All around her, the castlewalls crumbled into dust. Shards of glass fell from the ceiling, a few of them cutting Lunas coat as they fell, but she didn't care
about them. All that mattered now was Dust.

She tried to use her magic to seperate glass from flesh, but nothing happened. Everything she tried, failed. She had been defeated. Their love defeated.
By something as simple as glass. There was nothing left to do, except wait for the end.

She put her hoof in one of Dust's outstretched, cold hands. As she did, she felt her hoof going numb.

Looking into his eyes, she saw that they still had that color she'd been so drawn to the first time she saw him. As tears fell from her own eyes, she gave her
lover one last kiss. The sensation of numbness in her hoof had already spread all across her leg and over her wings. It was cold and empty.

Her three remaining hooves became numb as well, as the glass encased them, connecting them with the floor beneath for ever.

The glass moved up over her flank, freezing her shimering tail into eternity. Her wings where allready encased, and the glass started to move up her neck.
As this happened, she didn't remove her lips from Dust for even a split second. When the glass reached her mouth and connected with Dust, Luna
didn't feel numb or cold anymore. Her mind dissapeared, swallowing itself and then imploding. Life seeped out of her eyes.

The floor beneath them gave way, and the two lovers plumeted down into darkness. Still joined in their final kiss, a beautiful statute, a testament to love.
Even though they had both already passed from this world, their love continued, forever crystalised.

None of them felt any pain as they shattered against the ground.

"Come on, Luna, get up!"

Dust's voice reached her ears. It sounded strained, afraid. Luna opened her eyes, and was relieved to find herself back in the crypt. Dust was standing over
her, shaking her lightly to wake her up. She blinked her eyes, the nightmare still fresh in her memory. She opened her mouth to answer him, but he instantly
put his finger over his mouth as a signal for her to stay quiet. He jerked his head to the side to look at the sealed door.

"Guards." He whispered, almost completely silent. "I think I saw about 20 of them, but there could be more."

Luna stayed silent as Dust quickly got up and hurried over to the door, pressing himself against the wall to the left of it.
After a few seconds, Luna joined him, positioning herself on the oposite side of the door. Slowly, Dust opened the door. A tiny ray of light
shined through the crack.

"Is the sun still up?" Luna asked in a low voice. "How long was I asleep?"

"Hours." Dust answered without looking at her, concentrating his vision on the small gap between the door and the wall. "The sun went down some time
ago. The light is coming from torches."

"What do we do?" Luna asked.

"We pray that they don't find us." Dust whispered back at her. "Unless.. Luna, don't you know how to teleport?"

"I do, but.." Her voice faded.

"But what?"

"I.." Luna began. She didn't really want to tell him.

She knew how to teleport, sure, but she wasn't nearly as good at it as her sister. She could teleport anywhere with exact calculation. Luna herself oftentimes
ended up slightly off course.

"I'm not very good at it.." She finaly confessed. "If I do something wrong, it might just hurt you instead."

Dust stayed quiet for a while, continuing to observe the guards on the outside.

"I quess we could make a run for it.." He said slowly. "Maybe run for the treeline, then take to the skies once we're deep enough."

"But what if they catch up to us?" Luna asked cautiously.

Dust finaly tore his eyes from the spring in the door and looked at Luna.

"I won't let them hurt you."

He looked back outside.

"Oh, crap.." He whispered slowly.

"What is it?"

"More guards. They're blocking the path to the forest."

Dust close the door, and once again, darkness descended upon them. He rested his head against the wall for a while, trying to collect his thoughts.
Then, he quietly took a few steps over to Luna.

"I have an idea." He said. "But you have to trust me and do exactly as I say, alright?"

"But.." Luna began.

"Exactly as I say." Dust interupted her. "Alright?"

Luna nodded in silence.

"Good." Now, I'm gonna open the door and go out. You keep behind me at all times, do you understand?"

She nodded once again. Dust quickly wrapped his arms around her, gave her a kiss and said "Sorry, this might hurt."

Before Luna understood what he meant, she felt a sting of pain as a couple feathers got yanked out of her wing.

"Sorry." Dust said once again. "Whatever happens, do as I say. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to fight, you fight."

He losened his grip on her, and slowly he pushed the door to the crypt open.

"Ready?" He asked, and gave her another kiss. "Don't forget that I love you."

Then they stepped outside.

And nothing happened.

"What..?" Luna gasped behind Dust.

"They're gone." Dust answered. "Maybe they were ordered to another place."

They both exhaled loudly. At least for the moment, they could relax again.

"Maybe we should find someplace else to hide..?" Luna whispered.

"Yeah.. But where?" Dust answered. "Nowhere is safe, they'll find us sooner or later.."

Dust turned around to walk back inside the crypt.

"And I'm not gonna let them take you without a fight."

Luna followed him shortly, and once again they cuddled up close together on the makeshift cot, both of them too worried to get any sleep.
Dust couldn't help but think something wasn't right. Not just this thing with the guards, but.. everything. Ever since his conversation with Celestia,
things had been so.. easy. Except his seisure later that evening, things had been going almost too well.

It felt as if everything was already planned out, and they where just playing out a script.

And furthermore, ever since he admitted what he'd done to Rarity, something in his mind had changed. He still felt that strange sensation of anger
sometimes, but he hadn't been visited by that voice anymore since. Even his nightmares had stopped.

It took him a while to understand what was happening. There wasn't anything wrong with him, he was just.. happy again. It had been so long since
he felt truly happy, that he'd almost forgotten what it felt like. Despite everything that had happened, Luna made him happy. And not in the same
way that Rarity did.. He couldn't explain it, but it was altogether different.

A strange situation. Here he was, cold, miserable, scared. Cramped up in an empty cryp, out of all places. Hunted like an animal, bound for death if he
got caught. And still, he was happy. He had Luna in his arms, and that was all he needed. He never even gave one thought to the fact that she was
a princess, almost a godess. He loved her because she was Luna, nothing else.

He had loved Rarity as well, and he truly did want to marry her.. But with Luna, there was something else. Dust couldn't put his finger on it,
but whatever it was, it mattered so much more than anything else. An unkown feeling, a forgotten thought, unspoken words. Maybe he would never
understand what it was.

He pressed himself closer to Luna, resting his head in her mane. It was so soft, like silk. Not like hair at all. Fitting enough, seeing as it sparkled
like stars, the feeling that mane gave him was the same as when you stare into the dark nightsky. Maybe laying down in the grass, observing the stars.
That overwhelming feel that you're not alone. That someone up there is watching you as well. That was the best way he could describe her mane.

Luna let out a sigh. Up until now, Dust thought she had been sleeping, but apparently she wasn't. Maybe she was as worried as him.

"Dust, are you awake?" She whispered, and lifted her head a little bit from the pillow

"Yeah." Dust whispered back, still with his head in her mane. "I can't sleep. There's so much shit in my head right now.."

"Me too." Luna answered. "I can't stop thinking about what's going to happen to us. What if those guards come back later tonight?"

"They wont." Dust said, trying to calm her. "Tomorrow, we'll get out of here, far away where your sister can't find us."

"I hope you're right.." She rolled around slowly to face him. "But what if Tia finds us? What if she k.." Her voice trembled.

"She can't kill me." He said in a low voice.

"I don't want to loose you." Luna answered, and gave him a kiss.

"You wont, I promise."

And after a while of kissing, they finaly both managed to get some sleep, safely wrapped in each others arms.

"Members of the court." Celestias voice thundered as she entered the room. "Forgive me for being somewhat late. I had to attend to a rather personal
matter."

The room had been filled with whispers, an agitated silence as the different stallions and mares around the half-circle shaped table speculated as to why
they had been called here. But they had all stopped whispering as Celestia came into the room. They all watched their princess in silence
as she trotted over to the table, positioning herself at the middle of it.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I have summoned you here." Celestia said in a calm voice. "It seems.. we have a bit of a crisis. No doubt, you
have been paying attention to the scouting-parties of guards coming and going these last few days. Well, I feel it's time to come clean about the whole
affair."

"Why now?" a stallion with brown coat and silver mane asked. "Why have you been keeping us in the dark like this?" His monocle threatened to fall out as
he spoke.

An agreeing murmur spread across the table.

"I thought it best that way." Celestia replied the stallion. "I didn't see any reason to cause more worry amongst you."

"Oh, sure." The stallion countered back. "It's our job to worry about the royal affairs, princess."

Celestia gave him an angry look.

"And it's not like you care about us anyway, we only matter to you once you need our help. We're nothing but.. but.." He couldn't find a fitting word.

"Stop it, Regelius." a mare spoke from the oppiste side of the table. The monocle finaly dropped as the stallion named Regelius turned his head
quickly to look at her.

"Yes, be quiet or I might have to make you leave the room, sir." Celestia said to the stallion, giving an approving nod to the mare in the process.

Regelius fel silent as he began to pick up his monocle from the table.

"Now that we got that out of the way.." Celestia raised her voice. "It's time for the truth. It's about my sister."

"Has something happened to Luna?!" An old-looking mare with bleakly colored coat exhaled, placing a hoof over her mouth as she relised she had
raised her voice. She looked down in shame.

"I don't know, but hopefully all is well with her." Celestia said, adressing the old mares question. "In truth.. We don't know where she is. That is why
we send out guards night and day."

"The princess has dissapeared, and you choose not to tell us?!" Regelius raised his voice again.

Celestia took no notice of his outburst.

"I'm sure all of you know about this human that have been living in our kingdom the past few years?" She asked the ponies arond the table.

They nodded in unison.

"It seems this man has kidnapped my sister."

A collective gasp spread across the room. Even Regelius calmed down and slouched in his seat as Celestias words reached him.

"Is he... Dangerous?" Another stallion asked, this one a pegasus, dark-red in colour.

"Extremely." Celestia answered in a cold voice. "Apperently, he has allready killed several ponies, and severely crippled my apprentice."

"Forgive me for asking, princess.." The old mare began. "Might this have been the.. personal matter you spoke of earlier?"

Celestia gave the mare a long look. Then she nodded slowly.

"I might as well tell you everything. No point in keeping you in the dark. Right, Regelius?"

The monocled stallion didn't answer her question.

"It's.. She's not doing well." Celestia began. "I've let her use my royal bedchambers for the moment. She needs somewhere quiet to rest, poor thing."

"What happened to her..?" A grey unicorn, sitting next to the red pegasus, asked in a worried voice.

"That man broke her horn." Celestia answered, sligthly lowering her head in sadness.

All around the table, silence spread. Not a word was spoken as Celestia continued.

"He almost took her life in the process. But thanks to her dragon assistant, she survived. The dragon himself, on the other hand.. I really don't know if
Twilight Sparkle will ever be well again. Mentaly speaking."

"Does Luna know about this?" the red pegasus asked.

"I never told her." Celestia answered. "Seeing how much Twilight means to her.."

"..It would ruin her." Regelius filled in.

"Maybe that man has told her what he did allready. How long have they been gone?" The grey unicorn asked.

"Three days."

"Any traces of them?" The mare that had shut Regelius up asked. Her dark teal mane swayed in the air as the turned her head to Celestia.

"Only a few." Celestia answered. "In an old graveyard, deep in the Everfree forest. Inside one of the crypts we found a pile of hay. It could have been
used to sleep on."

"Poor thing.." The old mare whispered. "Trapped in a crypt with her kidnapper.."

"Horrible." the grey unicorn said agreeingly.

"We also took a look around the area this man was said to live." Celestia continued. "But all we found was the ruins of a burnt out cabin. We're positive
it belonged to this man."

"Perhaps he burnt it down to erase their trail, or evidence?" Regelius wondered.

"It's possible." Celestia answered him. "But there was one more thing.. Something making all of this much worse."

All the eyebrows around the table where raised.

"What is it, princess?" the red pegasus asked cautiously.

Celestia let out a quiet sigh. She lowered her head in shame as she spoke.

"I spoke with Luna the same day she dissapeared." She said in a low voice, looking down at the floor. "She said.."

Celestia close her mouth. She needed to tell them, but she had no desire to do so. To admit her sisters betrayal towards her.

"What did she say?" somepony asked. Celestia didn't see who it was.

"She knows this man." She said slowly. "Apperently his name is Dust. And they.. seemed to know each other rather.. intimately."

"Wait, you mean..?" The mare with teal mane asked quietly. "They.. an alicorn, and a human..?"

"I'm afraid so." Celestia answered. "She claimed she loves him."

The tension in the room was broken as Regelius monocle once again fell to the table with a clanking sound. The stallion seemed to be frozen in place.

"So now you see why I kept this a secret from you all." Celestia continued, once again raising her head to look at them.

"I had to lie, there was no other choice. If word got out that the princess had run away with a human.. Who knows what could happen. How the masses
would react. I couldn't risk it. Luna said that she would be his queen as well."

"Do you think they would try to bring down your reign?" The red pegasus asked her.

"Maybe. That man, Dust, he seems to be in possesion of some sort of powerfull magic. I've never seen anything like it.. And if that mixes with my
sisters magic.."

"No living creature can challenge you, princess." the old mare said. "And your guards will protect you. We will do our best to protect you as well."

The ponies around the table all nodded, agreeing.

"I truly hope you're right." Celestia answered in a low voice. "I only fear the way this mans magic might affect my sister."

"Luna is a strong mare." the unicorn said. "I'm sure she can stand up to that mans powers."

Celestia looked at the unicorn. There was something in his voice, something soothing, comforting.

If only she could believe his words.

The Ghastly Gorge. A place that ponies rarely visited. Not much lived in the ravine at all, and the animals of the wild usualy avoided it. It had been perfect.
All they needed was a cave, and after flying through the canyon for a while, they found exactly what they where looking for.

High up on the ledge, it was impossible to reach by climbing, and well hidden behind cliffs and plats growing on the walls. On one side of the cliff
there seemed to have been a landslide some time ago, and thanks to the scattered rocks, they could reach the cave, while the way down was covered by
more cliffs. They where almost completely invisible to anyone that didn't know about the cave.

The cave itself wasn't too big, but it was enough for them both to get enough space. Two days had passed since they left the crypt, and they where starting
to become strained from the constant fear of being discovered. As soon as they found the cave, Dust had gathered up materials to make it a bit
more inhabitable. They covered part of the entrance with ivy and various plants, as well as placing a few rocks around it to camoflauge it further.

Luna was thankful that she didn't have to sleep on hay anymore, or worse, the cold rock floor. With the use of several layers of moss, grass and branches
from pinetrees, they had constructed a cot that not only was comfortable, but also kept them warm.

Still, Luna felt more and more trapped. There really wasn't much for them to do except stand guard at the enctrance, sleep and talk. Sometimes they
argued, sometimes they made love. Anything to pass the time and to forget the fear.

Luna had started to pester Dust about his ring. Everyday, she asked again and again about it, and for every new question Dust got more and more
frustrated with her. But eventually, he gave in, and told her everything. How he'd found it, the training with the glass, the fact that it seemed to shield him
from different sorts of harm. His discovery that the magic inside it was more useful for destruction. The wings.

But he left out the part with what had happened when the ring came into contact with Raritys horn.. And Twilights.

He even told Luna about the strange things he'd seen, his nigthmares and all her supposed "warnings" she'd given him about Rarity.
But after that conversation, it was clear that it wasn't Luna that had warned him. She had no idea what he was talking about.
Although what it was that had talked to Dust so often remained a mystery, he didn't care about it anymore.

It seemed to be gone now, luckily. And whatever it was, it had led him to Luna. Without it, none of them would have realised the love for each other.
And even though Dust didn't want to think that way, he often figured that they could thank Rarity as well. If he had never met her, he would have never
met Luna either, and had been left unloved either way.

Despite the fact that his life with Rarity had come to such a sudden, tragic end, he still would do it all over again if he could. Anything to be with Luna.

"It's getting late, Dust." Lunas voice whispered behind him. "You should get some sleep. I'll take this watch."

Dust was sitting outside the cave entrance, on the cliff with his lower legs hanging out over the edge. The sun had almost set, only the top part of it could
be seen, spreading an orange light over the top part of the masive canyon. A chilly breeze blew across his face.

"It's okay, Luna." He answered. "I'll stay here, you try to sleep instead." He didn't turn his head to look at her, just continued to osberve the canyonfloor
in silence.

He heard Lunas hooves clicking against the stone as she walked up next to him, sitting herself down next to him on the edge.

"It's quite beautiful here.." She said, looking across the ravine, seeing al the formations of ice around the walls.

"Yeah." Dust answered quickly.

"Is something wrong?" Luna asked, sensing some worry in his voice.

"No.." Dust began." I just.. miss some things. Things from my world." he said in a low voice. "Like music."

"We have music too, you know." Luna answered him.

"Yeah, but not the same kind as in my world. Sure, you ponies sing, but there's never any real music. Back where I lived, there where always music and
singing. Thousands of different styles and voices. At that time I mostly thought it was annoying hearing all day long, but now that it's gone.. I realise
how much I miss it."

He exhaled loudly. Smoke rose from his lips. Luna wrapped her wing around him to keep him warm in the cold breeze.

"Well.." she said. "Do you remember any songs?"

Dust looked at her, a melancholy smile spread across his face.

"Yeah, a few. Mostly only my personal favourites though."

"We could.. sing some if you want to." Luna whispered with a small smile. "Me and Tia used to sing a lot together, when nopony else was around..
Completely horrible voices though."

They both chuckled.

"I think.. I would like that." Dust smiled at her. "Should I start, and you follow?"

"Sure." Luna smiled back. "Just don't laugh at my voice."

"And what if I do laugh?" Dust answered her with a grin.

".. We'll see." Luna said with an almost playful smile.

They both laughed again, hopping closer to each other in the cold wind.

"This is my absolute favourite song." Dust began.

He opened his mouth to gather his breath, then started singing in a low, deep voice.

His voice carried through the wind and across the canyon, creating an eerie, yet beautiful echo. For a moment, Luna sat silent, watching him as he sung.
Then, as she got into the melody and rythm, she joined in.

For a split second between the lines, Dust stopped singing, trying to take in what he was hearing. Lunas voice was incredible.

She smiled at him as she saw the epxression on his face. A mix between surprise and awe.

God, her singing voice drove him mad. It was as if it made her look even more beautiful, it that was even possible.

It felt as if all worries just washed away with the song.

As the song ended and Dust let his voice fade out, Luna did the same. For a few seconds, they both just looked at each other in complete silence.

"Luna.." Dust said. "Your voice, it's.. It's amazing."

"Really?" She answered, and he could see a little blush build up on her cheeks. "Tia tought me.."

"She must have been one hell of a teacher, I don't think I've ever heard such a strong, clear voice."

"Well, yours wasn't too bad either." Luna answered, giving him a shy smile. "By the way.. What was that song?"

Dust let out a quiet laugh.

"Back in my world, it was sung by The Man in Black, as some called him."

"How fitting." Luna laughed, and carefully nuzzled against the black hood covering his face.

Dust chuckled back, puting his arms around her, same as she had done with her wing.

"Oh, I just remembered something." Dust said, reaching his hand into his pocket and pulling out the two feathers he'd taken from Lunas wing.

"Sorry I did that, I just.. got an idea." He apologised.

"It's fine, dear." Luna answered. "Just.. Just give me a heads up the next time your gonna do something like that again." She said smiling.

"What were you planning to do with them, anyway?" She added.

"Well.." Dust began. "It's a bit hard to explain. But I could show you.."

Luna laughed, and faked a look of hurt.

"Last time you said that, you grew wings.." She said in a low voice.

"Don't worry, this isn't nearly as insane. I think." Dust answered. "But you're gonna have to back away a bit this time as well." He added as he slowly
got up from his seat.

Luna followed, and backed up just like he said, waiting with anticipation.

Dust held the two feathers in his hand. He raised it up a bit, and a red glow suddenly appeared around them. Slowly, the feathers raised themselfs up in his
hand, pointing straight into the sky. For a moment, they stayed in his hand, hovering. Then, Dust twitched his hand upwards, and they rocketed into the sky,
dissapearing up into the clouds.

"That's it?" Luna asked.

Dust told her to wait a few more seconds. He then looked up into the sky. Luna followed his gase.

Something came spinning downwards towards him. He reached up both his hands to grab it. It looked big, giving away a dull shine as it spun around.
Luna gasped in surprise as two swords landed perfectly in Dust's hands. The handles where in some gray material Luna didn't recognise, with oddly
curved hilts and a pommel shaped like a cresent moon, both tips pointing downwards.

The blades were even more strange. Slightly curved at the middle, they looked as if they had one day been perfectly straight, but years of missuse had
damaged them, bending the blade in odd shapes. The steel itself had a matt blue color, and gave away a dull gleem.

Luna realised that the swords actually resembled her. Her cutie mark as pommel, the color of her coat engraved over the blade.

"How did you do that..?" She whispered slowly.

"I'm not really sure." Dust answered. "I honestly believed the feathers would just blow away.."

"If you can turn feathers into blades.. That ring must be incredibly powerful."

"Yeah. I just envisioned something, anything, to protect you with.." He carefully tried one of the swords out, swiping it throught the air. "These things
can protect us, that's for sure. Now I just need a couple of scabbards to carry them in."

"You're keeping them?" Luna said as she walked back up to him, inspecting the swords closer.

"Unless you want me to pull out more feathers." Dust answered with a grin. "Now come on, we should get some sleep."