Far away, in another world, a pair of eyes opened slowly. A sea of bright blue fills their vision. Nothing moves. Nothing breaks the surface of the color.
Something white passes through the blue ocean. Like an unkown vessel, it glides across the waves. Underneath, the hands of the fallen reach up towards
the vessels bow. Perhaps they reach for their comrades.

The vessel passed, and once again everything stays calm. For centuries, nothing will disturb it again. Slowly, the bright blue color would fade, giving way
to grey and white. And the eyes will watch it forever. Never blinking, never missing anything, it guards this strange land until the end of days.

This is how it was supposed to be. How it was supposed to end. But it did not.

A long time before the blue colour dissapeared, something actually dared to break the surface. A strange object, pulsating with life and bright light.
Slowly, it pierced through the sea, spreading its rays far and wide. And the eyes saw this. They saw this beacon of hope in the endless blue.
Warm beams of hope reached the eyes, and slowly, they realised something. They belonged to something. They belonged to a body.

A body that could move.

At this moment, Dust finaly moved. He was on his back, staring into an endless sea of blue. The sky. The sun shined brightly into his face,
and he wanted to put his hands over his eyes to shadow them, but he couldn't. As he began to feel his body again, pain engulfed him.

He called out, but no sounds came from his throat. The pain was too strong, he couldn't take it anymore. He closed his eyes again, letting himself drift off once more.

"Dust!"

Lunas yell echoed across the gorge as she flew through the air, searching for her loved one. She didn't care if her shouting would attract her sisters guards, she just wanted to find Dust, at any cost.

But so far, she'd had no luck. The only body she'd found was that of the mare. Luna didn't want to see it, but she had to make sure.
The mare had been crushed against a cliff, her body almost broken in two. Luna felt her insides twist at the sight, and she quickly turned away.
She'd never seen so much blood. If she found Dust in the same manner..

"Dust, can you hear me?!"

She followed the river downstream in hopes of finding him. Once she felt she had gone far enough, she landed on one side of the river and searched it
all the way back up to where she began, and then did the same on the other side. Over and over. But the longer she kept on going, the heavier her heart became.

And then she saw something floating in the river. Something rather big, black.. like Dust's coat.

She yelled his name and rushed down towards him. The cold water didn't bother her as she broke the surface of it, she just kept on going. Luna wrapped
her legs around Dust's body, heaving herself up from the water with her wings. Drenched and cold, she dropped down on the riverbank. But she didn't
look at Dust. Not yet, she wasn't ready to see.. what had become of him.

For what felt like hours, she layed on her side on the cold ground, panting heavily and crying. Crying beacuse she knew what she would see when she
turned around. If Dust had been alive, he would have moved by now. Finaly, Luna steeled herself. She had to know, had to see her lover.

She turned around. And saw the body.

But it was just a log. A big log, blackened from ash and soot. In her frantic attempts to find Dust, she had instead saved a log.
Angered at herself for being so stupid, she stood up, shouting at it. She charged up her horn, and a bolt of blue magic flew through the air, exploding the log in black splinters.

Luna once again fell to the ground and cried.

Dust screamed in agony as he tried to move his right leg. He strained himself to move his head, and as he did, he could finaly see where he was.
But the sight that met him almost made him wish he'd never opened his eyes. Nothing but sand, as far as he could see. Masive dunes of sand.
Looking down at his leg, he saw something that made his heart stop.

He'd had the sword in is belt on his right hip, and somehow as he landed the sword had ended up underneath his body, slicing its way straight into his right
thigh. The pain became stronger every second.

Seeing no other option, he managed to get up in a sitting position. He put both his hands around the knee, drawing a few breaths to calm down.
Then he pulled his leg straight up. He cried out in pain as the blade slipped out off his leg, leaving a big open wound in its place.
Now that it had been pulled out, blood started gushing from the wound, covering the sand underneath him.

He squirmed around in agony, trying to press his hand against the wound to stop the bleeding. But it didn't work, and as he moved around, blood sprayed
over the sand, like random strands of red paint on an endless canvas. Despite the pain, Dust still managed to focus his brain, and he reached out for the
sword again. Quickly, he used it to cut off a part of his robe, wich he then tied hard around the wound. It seemed to work, as the blood slowly stopped.

He collapsed in the sand again. Panting heavily, he did his best to ignore the pain, instead trying to remember how he got here.
Luna. The black mare. Falling.

He must have landed in the river, and his wings probably protected him from the impact. Then the river carried him here. He had to be far south, seeing as
he was in a vast desert, and before he fell it had been winter. And Luna.. He'd left her. In a sudden jolt of panic, he rushed to his feet, ready to find her.
ready to..

But the pain in is leg brought him back to his senses. Screaming, he fell back into the sand face-first. The sand got into his mouth, nose and eyes, and he
started coughing violently. He tried to rub it out of his eyes, but it only made it worse, and his vision blurred. He crawled in the sand, panting and screaming.
Then, he saw something. At first, Dust couldn't make it out, since it was so far away, but whatever it was, he tried crawling towards it.
As he came closer, he could see colours.. Purple.

"... Rarity?" He said, but his voice became merely a whisper after all the screaming and the sand in his throat. "Is.. Is that you? Rare..?"

It really was Rarity, standing a few feet away from him. But she wasn't looking at him, instead she was turned slightly to the right, observing something
in the distance. Her white coat gleamed in the bright sun, and her purple mane and tail seemed to almost move like fog in the slight, warm breeze.

Getting closer to her, Dust reached his hand up towards her. She looked down at him, her eyes hollow and empty. As Dust's hand touched her hoof, her
eyes closed, and slowly, she layed herself down in the sand, without breaking eyecontact with him. Dust tried to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth.

"Don't worry, dear." Rarity spoke in a calm, soothing voice. "It wasn't your fault."

"I.." Dust managed to whisper. "I.. forgive.. me.."

"I forgave you a long time ago." Rarity replied. "I know you didn't want to hurt me. I won't blame you anymore."

Dust wanted to cry, but the sand in his eyes made it impossible. It felt as if his heart stopped beating yet again as the white unicorn reached her head forward.
Pressing her lips against his. A few seconds later, something in her eyes changed. Dust watched as she slowly changed, her white coat turning into a more
beige colour, and her mane fading in color as well. Then she was gone. Turned to sand, and slowly blowing away in the wind.

Broken, Dust let his face fall into the sand again. Would she ever let him be?

"Dust. Get up."

Another voice. It wasn't Rarity this time. But there was no mistaking that voice. It had returned, back to haunt him.

"Go.. away.." Dust mumbled into the sand.

Something grabbed his shoulders. Roughly, he was flipped around on his back. Staring down on him.. was a blue angel.

"You.." Dust whispered. "You're.. not.. real.."

"I'm as real as you." Luna answered.

"No.. You're.. not my.. Luna.." he replied.

"Of course I am, dear." She said coldly.

"... No!" Dust shouted, and somehow got up to his feet. "You're not.. real! I'm.. I.. am done with.. you!"

He still had the sword in his hand, and he clumsily tried to swing it at the creature in front of him. But the blade just passed through it, as if was nothing
but smoke.

"That wasn't very nice, Dust.." Luna said to him.

Looking at her with anger in his eyes, he raised his sword again, shouting.

"Get.. out of my mind!"

He swung the sword at her over and over, but to no avail.

"YOU'LL NEVER BE RID OFF ME!" Luna shreiked at the top of her lungs, her voice sounding distorted, unnatural.

Dust shouted back at her. He threw himself at her, but only landed in the sand behind her. He got up again, ready to strike, but stopped as another figure
appeared next to Luna.

"Don't listen to her, Dust." Rarity spoke. "You have to believe me."

"She's lying!" Luna spouted, looking at Rarity with burning eyes.

"No!" Rarity countered back. "She's the one that's lying, Dust, she's just using y-"

Rarity fell silent as Luna smacked her in the face. Instantly, Rarity dissapeared into thin air.

"Filthy little whore." Luna said with a disgusted voice. "She will do nothing but decieve you."

Dust said nothing, too exhausted after the aimless swinging.

"It's me you want, right?" Luna asked him.

"I don't need you.. anymore." Dust said between his panting breaths. "I.. have the.. real.. Luna."

And with that, he turned around and forced himself to walk away from her. Even though his legs felt like it was on fire, he had to get away from that.. thing.
Luna didn't seem to follow him. Sudenly, Rarity appeared in front of him again.

"Dust, what happened wasn't your fault." She said.

"You're.. dead.." He answered her as he walked past her. "None of you.. are real.."

"Dust, listen to me." She said as she followed him. "You have to stop blaming yourself, if yor ever going to live a normal life with Luna, you have to let it go."

"How could I?" Dust replied. "I ..killed you, Rare.. with my bare hands.."

"No, you didn't." Rarity insisted. "Someone else was controling-"

"You'll never be rid off me."

Raritys voice dissapeared as the distorted version of Lunas voice rang in his ears. He yelled out in fear, and without looking around, he ran.
For every step he took, he thought his leg would brake off.

"I'll haunt you for ever, Dust."

"NO! Leave me alone!" Dust yelled, picking up his pace.

He ran as fast as he could through the sand, sinking down to his ankles with every step. He couldn't feel his right leg anymore, and not having the constant
pain from the wound made it somewhat easier to run.

"Dream on."

As the voice sounded inside his head once more, Dust felt his body fall. For a split second, he believed that he had just tripped, but the impact never came.
Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but blackness, and a small speck of light in front of him, getting smaller and smaller, and at the same time he felt
wind tugging at his clothes.

Then he realised he really was falling, falling down what seemed to be a bottomless pit. Trying to relax, he envisioned his wings again. But it was too late.
Right after his wings had appeared, he slammed hard into the ground, landing on his back. Dust screamed in pain as the wings cracked under his weight,
breaking like twigs. His cries of agony echoed daftly around the walls of the pit, sounding like a dozen more persons screaming, yet at the same time muffled,
as if they where all enclosed in something.

He curled up into a ball, holding himself close as he cried. He rarely cried from pain, but he did so now. Cried like a baby as his leg had gone numb,
and his wings fluttered around by themselfs. Like a bird that had fallen from the sky, unfit for life. A pathetic, broken crow, not worthy to take to the
clouds any more. He would never be able to get back up again, and he would die right here. Broken and shattered.

Luna momentarily lost track of her wings. She plummeted to the ground a split second before she regained control. Her heart pounded fast from the
sudden downfall. Slowly, she began descending through the air towards the ground. She landed right next to the river, and the moment her hooves
touched ground, a singe of pain spread through her wings. Seemed she might had strained herself to much.

Instead, she kept on walking along the river. She still hadn't seen any sign of Dust, or any living creature what so ever. Luckily, she had moved so far
south along the river that the snow had almost dissapeared, giving way to different kinds of plants and trees than the ones she'd seen earlier.
If she kept on moving, she would soon emerge into the southern deserts, and hopefully the river would stop there. And she would find Dust.

No matter if he was alive or not, she would still lay down next to him, hold him, stroke his hair and kiss him. She'd never actually really touched
his hair earlier, and now she just wanted to bury her face in it, like he used to with her mane. Then, she'd lift him up in her arms and fly him off to safety.
Anywhere, as long as they where far away from her sister. Spend the rest of their days together happily, wake up next to each other every morning
and make sweet love as the sun set outside their window..

"Focus, Luna, focus." She shook her head, trying to push those thoughts into the back of her head.

She wouldn't be able to experience these things with a dead body, and had to focus all her thoughts on the small spark of hope that Dust was still alive.
Just keep on going, putting down one hoof after the other. She picked up her pace, keeping a close eye on the river next to her.

Dust staggered to his feet. His wings hung limply from his back, and their dead weight shifted his balance. He managed to stay upright, and looked at his
surroundings. He was in a cave, and he could see that it was a bit larger than he first had thought. The sunlight still shined down through the hole high
above his head, creating a circle of light in the shadows around him. Clouds of sand rained down from above.

"Hello..?" He coughed out, then realising how stupid it would be to think anything could live down here.

The only answer he got was his own echo.

He spun around, trying to see anything through the darkness, but was unable to find anything. Dust instead tried to use his magic to create some light
around him. But nothing happened. Quickly, he raised his hand to his chest, and found that the string holding the ring in place was gone. He must
have dropped it in the fall. It couldn't have gone far though, he just had to look around.. That's when he realised his sword was gone as well.

"This.." He whispered to himself with a hissing voice. ".. this isn't good.."

Not knowing what else to do, he slowly got down on his knees on the ground, reaching his hands out in the darkness, searching for anything useful.
He crawled around on his knees, running his hands all around the circle of light. Eventually, he had no choice but to leave the circle. He crawled into the
shadows, and his entire body instantly went cold.

His frustration and fear grew as he ventured further away from the comforting light, and he crawled around in circles. Just as he was about to give up
and go back, his hand bumped against something hard in the sand. Carefully, he let his fingers slide over the object. It was smooth, with something that
felt like carvings.. He grabbed the ring without hesitating, quickly finding the string and hanging it around his neck. The fear inside him faded away
as he once again felt magic pulsate through him.

"Now.." Dust spoke out in a clearer voice. "Give me some light, damn it."

His head started to spin, and he felt his eyes water. For a split second, he thought something was wrong as flashes of red flew across his eyes again.
That was never a good sign.
But just a moment later, the red flashes mover out of his eyes, materialising into a couple of small orbs of red light. Slowly, they rose through the air,
spinning around each other, almost as if they where playing.. Then they collided, forming a much bigger orb. Its red light became stronger, and it illuminated
several feet around him, much stronger than a regular torch.

Dust could now see his surroundings, but it wasn't much to be happy about anyway. Just more sand covering the ground, and strangely formed rocks
dotted the floor, walls and ceiling around him. He started exploring more of the cave without moving to far away from the circle of light in the middle.
Luckily, he didn't have to look too long for his sword. It lay partially buried in the sand, and since he didn't see it he hit his foot against the pommel.
His right foot, unfortunately.

As it colided with the moon-shaped pommel, it felt as if the entire leg finaly came back to life, and waves of pain rushed through his body, eminating from
the wound. Biting down the pain, he reached down and picked up the sword.

And then, there was a noice.

A faint, fading sound, a whisper. Like the rustling of leaves in the wind. Dust spun around with the sword firmly squeezed in his hands.

"Who's there?!" He called out into the darkness.

No answer came to him, only more whispers. Slowly, he spun around in his spot, but couldn't see any movement. He carefully walked further into the
cave. The whispers became louder.

"Show yourselves!" Dust yelled.

Again, no answer.

After a few more steps, Dust could clearly see another tunnel, leading further into the cave. He took a deep breath and entered it.
The further into the tunnel he came, the louder the whispers became, and they started to form into words, endless words repeated over and over again.
It was impossible to understand anything. After a while, Dust could see light at the end of the tunnel. He picked up the pace, and moved as fast as he could
with his injured leg and wings flailing about behind him.

The whisperes had grown so loud, he could no longer hear his own footsteps. He tried to run faster, tried to outrun the voices before they got into his head.
And suddenly, they all dissapeared. He had entered the light, and emerger into a vast room in the cave. Not another cave no, it was in fact a real room,
with flat walls reaching high up in the ceiling, with a hole at the top where light shined down from the surface.

In the middle of the room, placed perfectly in the circle of light, was a masive spire of what looked to be some sort of sandstone.
Around the base of it, sand had gathered in an uneven dune, partially covering something at the bottom of the spire. As Dust stepped closer to the strange
pillar, he could see that it was covered in strange markings, carvings and even runes.

Examining the markings, Dust could make out almost everything from nordic runes to Egyptian hieroglyphs, Roman letters and Celtic symbols, mixed up
with different carvings of ponies. Taking a few steps closer, he could make out some alchemic symbols as well as a few Mayan ones.

And in the middle of it all; a big cresent moon, with a smaller sun, complete with rays, inside it.

"What.. the fuck..?" Dust exhaled slowly.

"Please don't use that kind of language in here, young man."

Dust's heart stopped as the voice reached his ears.

He spun around with his sword raised, and saw a figure standing in the shadows just a few feet away.

"Who are you?" Dust asked the figure.

"My name.." The figure said, taking a few steps forward at the same time. ".. is Aurora."

The figure became visible in the red light. Dust instantly raised his sword. It was another mare, looking almost exactly like the one that had attacked him
earlier, except this one wasn't wearing a cloak. It's coat was pitch black, and the mane and tail a glistening silver. But the thing that caught Dust's attention
was that it did not only have a unicorn horn, but also.. wings.

"Wait.. you're.." He began.

"The last of the Alicorns." The pony filled in.

Luna stopped in her tracks as the gorge finaly gave way, and the mighty deserts showed themselves before her. She panted heavily from the running,
but only allowed herself a short break before she pushed on. It couldn't be far now, the river had to stop eventually.
After having rested her wings as she ran, Luna slowly spread them out, gave them a few flaps to see if it hurt. A bit, but it wasn't too bad.

Quickly, she took flight. She rushed through the air, following the river across the dunes of sand and the red mountain formations.
Catching a glimspe of the sun, she realised it would soon set. She had to find him before nightfall, or it would be much harder to locate him.
She dove down closer to the river, and could see that the current had almost stopped. A good sign, and she flapped her wings harder.

Then, she spotted something on one of the banks. As she flew closer, she could see a lot of footprints in the sand, as well as dried bloodstains covering
the ground. Dust's blood.

"Nononononononono!" She kept repeating as she landed, franticly looking over the tracks.

All this blood.. He'd lost a lot, and perhaps he had allready bled to death somewhere out in the desert. Tears began to well in her eyes as she searched
for tracks leading away from the stains. If he had taken of into the dunes, she had too catch up to him fast. And after a few moments, Luna saw
clear footprints leading away. She followed them, observing their pattern.

At first, it looked like he had been draging himself across the ground, small drops of blood followed the tracks. But then the prints stopped, and there
where several lines in the sand, as well as foot-prints spread out randomly, as if he had been running back and forth in circles. Eventually, the tracks
once again took off, this time in a completely different direction, and he had been walking instead of crawling.

Luna started running as the space between the tracks grew, a sure sign that Dust had been running. And then they stopped. A hole opened up
before her in the sand like the jaws of a beast, hiding underneath the sands, waiting for the prey to fall in.. And Dust had done just that.

She looked down into the black hole, and thought she could make out the bottom far below. If he was down there..

Drawing in a few breaths to calm herself, she spread her wings yet again, and dove into the hole.