//------------------------------//
// Dust (Edited) 
// Story: Dust 
// by Jamin P Rose 
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Dust. Such a simple thing really, it is a collection of fine particulates of the Earth, loose and most easily disturbed. Yet it is not dirt nor is it sand, for it is something both separate and indistinguishable from the ground. It is something we create by walking, or running, through the loose dirt or sand. It is something that settles after a while, long after we have passed and will remain until disturbed once again.

All around me is dust, miles and miles of dirt and sand just waiting to be kicked up. No trees, no grass, no birds, no life. Great edifices of stone and dirt rise in the distance all under the watchful eye of the black sun. An eternal eclipse hovers over this lifeless landscape, like a giant eye staring down at me.

There is water in ponds and small lakes that are fed by lifeless streams and rivers. Surprisingly there are also ruins of towns here and there, all abandoned and run down, but towns nonetheless. These towns offer up meger food stores, always preserved vegetables or fruits, though food is food no matter what it is. The first town I found was small, a frontier farming town by design, yet it had a decent ration of emergency supplies that were left behind. I stayed in the first town for what I had to guess was a couple of days, but with the unmoving eclipse telling time was impossible. After a while I felt the need to move, despite my luck in stumbling into the frontier town, I still had no idea how I got here. I hoped that there were answers out there somewhere, I just had to keep looking.

After a while of traveling I found a second town. This town had fared well in the end of the world. The buildings here were far more intact than the first town I found, except for a few on the outer edge that were burned to the foundation. It was odd how a town could be so intact and have such heavily burned buildings surrounding it. Still the town provided no answers, not to my new questions nor to how I got there. Sitting on an intact wooden bench I looked up at the eclipse and pondered my predicament. The last thing I remember before arriving here was watching a total solar eclipse as it reached totality above Death Valley. Being an Eclipse Hunter, I have both a great respect and great interest in eclipses. Which is why I am not freaking out as much as I should be.

Sure I was lost in a strange place, a strange and alien world, but I got to see an eternal eclipse. After finishing off one of my small jars of water I set off to explore the town. I hoped to find some more supplies and perhaps a vantage point to scout the terrain around me. After looking around I focused on the tallest and largest building in town and headed over to it. Heading up the steps of the building and over to the doors I found them locked up tight.

I used a nearby rock to break the lock off the door of what I had to assume was the town hall. Pushing the doors open showed a large circular room that looked like it was used for public events. Looking around I found a stairway that led up to the second floor, which I carefully tested as I went up to the next level.

The second floor had a more typical office layout, a couple dozen cubicles, and a door that likely led into the mayor’s office. Stepping out from the stairs revealed a central path that had clearly been designed as the main thoroughfare. Seeing no other option I headed down the main path in hopes of finding a way up.

Looking over the tops of the cubicles, I found many desks had strange two button typewriters sitting on them. Short chairs were in various states of disarray within the cubicles. Oddly handled filing cabinets were dotted throughout as I followed the main path. After reaching the other side of the room I found an odd looking ladder, one that was a bit more slanted than I was used to, but still, it led up. Above the room was a railed platform that allowed someone to access the upper window shutters and hopefully up to the roof. Tracing the platform around the room I saw another ladder on the other side.

Climbing up to the platform I found the ceiling a fair bit shorter than the rest of the building, but it was still manageable. Ducking slightly I made my way around to the other ladder and up to a hatch that opened onto the roof. There were steps up to the tip top of the building where there was a small bellhouse on top that had a much smaller door than I was used to. Climbing up to the bellhouse I was able to see for quite a ways and the sight made me gasp. Just over a big hill, one that I had mistaken for part of the distant mountains, was a large castle that appeared to be made out of gleaming obsidian. It was beautiful, with a large spire that stood tall in the middle while large flat walls surrounded it. There were smaller towers too, some were even part of the wall. It was magnificent and something I most definitely wanted to check out. With my mind made up to visit the castle I quickly set about leaving the town hall and scavenging the surrounding buildings.

After a couple of hours of searching I had gathered a decent amount of supplies and set about packing up for my trip. I quickly sorted what I needed into a couple of piles and the other’s into groups to stash around just in case. I couldn’t carry everything that I had found and I wanted to keep the rest safe. Just because I hadn’t seen any other living creature doesn’t mean that there wasn’t. My backpack could only carry so much, so in my search of the first town I grabbed a pair of what looked like saddle packs for horses. With a bit of macgyvering I was able to make a fanny pack out of them, which made them infinitely more useful to me. Once I was sure everything I wanted was hidden and I had all my bags packed up I set out towards the obsidian castle.

After closing the town hall doors I made my way around the building to face the castle’s direction and started walking. The castle was close to the town but still not something I could do without taking a few hours to rest. Thankfully because of the eclipse it was rather cool, but just because it wasn’t scorching doesn’t mean that I didn’t still need rest. Walking through the empty town left me with my thoughts, such as why was there a giant castle made of, what looked like, obsidian? Why was the world so empty? Why were the towns relatively intact?

Having a lot to ponder and theorise about helped pass the time and before I knew it I was at the base of the hill that obstructed my view of the castle. I gave a huff before starting to climb the hill, I hate hills and stairs for that matter. Trekking up the hill was hard, I was only halfway up and I was having to stop and rest. Taking a moment to drink some water I looked back over the town I had been in and noticed something odd. The burned buildings around the town were in a perfect circle around the main part of the town. It was almost like someone had put up a hand and said stop, and that the fire had obeyed. Sighing and filing the strange circle around the town under the “Odd and Endless Questions” section, I set off toward the top of the hill again. 

I struggled as I walked, getting more worn down with each step, but I was nearly at the top. Digging into my reserves I pushed my way to the top of the hill and promptly sat down when I reached it. I downed a whole jar of water before coming up for air, exhausted but feeling better. Looking out over the land before me I could see that the castle was no more than a day’s journey from the bottom of the hill. I needed rest and dragged myself up to get my sleeping pad out. I had strapped together several foam pads to make a sleeping mat, I had gotten the pads from the first town I found. The pillow I used was filched from the town I had just been in, and tucked under it was a crude sword made of a long knife blade and a couple pieces of wood.

With my camp set up I settled down and before long I was asleep. My eyes shot open and I found myself in a familiar dream, the same dream I’d been having since I arrived. I’m being chased by a dark shadow that swoops at me from the sky. I run and run, through trees and brush, over sand and dirt. I keep running into a maze of dark stone, dodging left or right, racing for what feels like forever; and then it lands, blocking my path. It laughs and as it approaches me I wake.

Bolting up with my heart pounding I look around. There is no shadow chasing me, no darkness lurking in the corner of my eyes. I put my hand on my chest and calm myself down. Just the dream again, nothing to panic about. Since I was awake I got myself some breakfast, peaches in syrup and water, before packing up and starting down the hill. As I walked I decided to amend my previous sentiment, I hated going uphill. Down hill was decidedly easier and much nicer so when I was once more on flat ground I felt ready to finish the trip to the castle.

After a few hours the castle was closer and I marveled at its construction. It looked like it was carved out of one solid block of obsidian. The towers were decorated in intricate patterns of the moon and stars, some appearing to be made of silver and inlaid into the tallest tower. The walls were high and well structured, they were even carved to look like bricks. 

I noticed that even the castle gates were carved of obsidian, and inset with silver constellations, as I approached the front of the castle. Such beauty simply did not exist on Earth, and to see such a masterpiece made by another culture was amazing. I also marveled at how tall the whole thing was as I reached the doors. Taking a moment to drink some water and have a snack I rested on the small set of steps up to the actual castle doors. The doors towered over me at probably twenty feet, and looked to be quite heavy, yet after getting up and approaching them I found them to be very light.

Pushing the doors open just slightly must have triggered some mechanism or other as they swung the rest of the way open on their own. Inside I found the strangest of things, glowing blue “torches” that were made of wood and a blue gem that glowed. The inside of the castle was well lit, and there were many doors that promised to hold all kinds of secrets. Trying several doors however proved pointless as all of them wouldn’t budge, no matter what I tried.

Walking along the entry hall and trying every door pointed me towards only one other option, climb the grand staircase that I had been ignoring the whole time. To reiterate, I hate stairs and especially tall grand staircase stairs. Sighing and stealing myself I began trudging up the stairs towards the upper levels of the castle. As I went I found select doors were open, often allowing me access to another section of the stairs, which almost seemed to be guiding me to a specific place.

Finally after climbing nearly a dozen sections of stairs I reached a door far more ornate than any I had encountered before. Perhaps this door would hold the answers I sought, so I pushed them open and was treated to a hauntingly beautiful sight. I was in the throne room, a room with obsidian pillars all along the back wall that let one view out across the barren land. The other walls were decorated with constellations of silver that mirrored the sky outside.

The most amazing thing about the room was the being sitting on the throne. Like out of a greek legend, there sat a black Pegasus in shimmering silver armor with a mane that looked to be made of the stars themselves. It’s horn even seemed to have a piece of armor on it, though it might just be decorational. As I stood there admiring its beauty I noticed that its gaze was now focused on me. Seeing that it was sitting on the throne and that I was likely imposing upon it I bowed to it and made a move to leave, only to freeze in my tracks when it spoke.

“Where do you think you are going?” The dark Pegasus asked.

Not wanting to test it’s patience I turned towards it and said, “I didn’t want to impose upon your time and intended to show myself out.”

This got a soft, almost sensual chuckle out of the clearly female creature, “It is no imposition, creature, for it has been a thousand years since I last had company.”

I was stunned to say the least, a thousand years of solitude? To live such a long time that such casualty can be applied to talk of millenia that have come and gone? I could hardly fathom it, but still I approached the throne where the Pegasus sat. “I am a human, and a member of the dominant species of my planet, Earth.”

“Hmm, a human you say,” the mare said as her hoof rubbed her chin, “there are legends of such creatures, but there was never enough evidence to prove their existence, one way or another.”

I smiled at that, “Then I am that proof. Such as you are proof of a myth of my home world. To see a real Pegasus… it’s amazing.”

At my words her head snapped towards me and her eyes stared into mine as she shouted, “We are not a Pegasus but an Alicorn! Remember that fact well fool or it may cost you dearly.”

Startled, I took a couple of steps back and bowed my head to her, “I meant no offense! Honest! In my world a winged unicorn is called a Pegasus, I apologise if I offended you, but I really didn’t mean any offense.”

I shook in my shoes as I waited for a reply, not wanting to look up in fear of seeing her seething glare again. I kept looking down until I felt something touch my shoulder. I looked up to see an apologetic look on her face.

“I am sorry I yelled at you, I can see you truly didn’t mean to offend me. Here in this world, there were three equine races, one was the Pegasi. They were winged ponies who toiled away to keep the weather in check, but they were also the most brash of the ponies.” She told me in a soft tone as she guided me towards a door that I hadn’t noticed when I entered the room.

We walked into a small room where an engraved obsidian table sat, with cushions dotted around it. She guided me to sit on one of the cushions before her horn lit up and a tea set appeared on the table. She took a seat opposite me and poured out two cups of tea, one for each of us. She offered sugar and cream which I declined politely as she prepared her own tea.

Not wanting to be rude, I Iet her sip her tea first before doing the same myself. I found the tea to be wonderfully bold but not too bitter, and at just the right temperature too. After our first sips she continued her explanation, “The Pegasi were all about speed, stamina, skill and competition. They tended to get hurt and killed more than any other kind of pony, and they also had far more foals than either of the other two pony types. Thus, they were often considered inferior to the other two pony types.”

I nodded after taking a sip of tea. “I see how that would lead to it being insulting to call someone a Pegasus.”

The Alicorn nodded, “That was why I was mad. I believed that you had insulted me. Though knowing your species has myths of alicorns is a wonderful surprise, even if they got the name wrong.”

I chuckled at that, “That’s humanity for you, we can be amazing at building and inventing things, but also terrible at naming things.”

“Speaking of names, human, what is yours?” The dark alicorn asked before finishing her tea.

I sighed, “I guess you can call me Hunter. I haven’t used my actual name in so long I didn’t feel I had a need to remember it.”

This caught the pony’s attention, “Oh? Do tell, why is it that you haven’t used your name for so long?”

“That’s a rather personal story.” I replied, purposely not looking at her.

The dark mare sighed, “My apologies, I simply haven’t heard of such happening without an accident causing amnesia.”

I sipped my tea off and on for what felt like an eternity before I spoke up, “It started when my Dad died. I was young and strong, I thought nothing could stop me and nothing could go wrong. Then came the news, my dad had died in an accident. Some idiot had stepped out into the road without looking and when the driver dodged the pedestrian he hit my dad’s car. They said that because of the way the impact happened that he died instantly.”

I had to stop to take a calming breath and a sip of tea before I could continue. “He left me a lot of money, which I have used to live on for the past fifteen years. After his death I was broken, and depressed. I was searching for a reason to live when I stumbled onto one. An eclipse that I had heard about years ago came across where I was and in that silent moment I found peace. So I became an eclipse hunter, and from then on I never used my old name. Now it has been so long that I can’t even properly remember it.”

After a period of silence a hoof reached across the table and rested gently on my hand making me look up. Her eyes shone with compassion as she spoke up, “I am sorry to hear that Eclipse Hunter, but here must seem almost like paradise to you.”

I nodded and smiled at her, “In a way it is. Though I don’t know how I got here, I have enjoyed my time here. Except for dealing with the hills and stairs, I hate stairs and hills.”

She chuckled at this, “That is understandable, I have found wings tend to alleviate the issue when you can just fly over them.”

“Speaking of names, I still don’t know yours,” I replied before finishing off my tea.

It was the dark pony’s turn to cringe away. Clearly it was a painful thing for her too. After a moment or two she spoke, “ You can call me Luna, but all others would know me as Nightmare Moon.”

She took a deep breath, probably to calm herself down, and began her story. She told me of how her sister, an Alicorn too, had basked in the praise of the population of their country while she herself was shunned. Luna spoke of her first rebellion, seeking to dethrone her egoic sister and set right the balance of power in Equestria, the name of their country. She lost that war and ended up on the moon for a thousand years where the darkness grew inside her. After a thousand years of suffering she returned to wage war again, and in her anger she banished her sister and all of pony kind from the world.

With nothing left to do she remade the world to match her mood. The world burned, save for the towns that had been emptied of life. With the land barren and lifeless she had used her magic to summon the great edifice of obsidian and began carving it into the castle it was today. She had been alone for so long that seeing someone approaching her castle filled her with excitement, yet she didn’t know how intelligent I was. So she waited for me to make the first move.

I was surprised to hear that she was so powerful, but in many ways that just made her all the more interesting. We sat and chatted about the many differences between our worlds for quite some time until I began to tire. As I yawned for the third time, Luna stood up. “Come, let’s find a room for you to use.”

I followed her rather tiredly, as she led me through the halls of her castle and into a rather nice room. Furnished with a bed, the frame carved from obsidian; a desk made of wood and stained to a midnight black; a comfy cushion at the desk, embroidered with a full moon; a comfy black chair by a fireplace and a walk in closet.

“This is quite a nice room,” I said to Luna, “thank you for letting me stay the night here.”

“You’re quite welcome.” Luna replied, giving me a smile before leaving the room and closing the door.

With her gone I settle into the bed and quickly drift off to sleep. Before I know it I’m waking back up, fully rested and ready to go. As I get up and set about getting my stuff I realize that I didn’t dream, or at least I didn’t dream of the shadow. Once I was sure that I had all my stuff with me, I headed toward the door only to have it opened for me by Luna herself. I hadn’t expected to see her here, planning on heading to the throne room, but her smile was welcome nonetheless.

“Good morning Hunter,” Luna said as a hint of sadness crept into her voice accompanied by a frown, “Are you preparing to leave?”

I shook my head, “I was just going to head to the throne room to see you. I figured I had better bring my stuff with me, just in case.”

Luna smiled once more, “you are more than welcome to stay here if you would like. The room is yours for as long as you are here.”

I smiled back at her and walked back towards the closet, where I tucked my backpack and macgyvered fanny pack but not before taking out a jar of water and having a sip. After placing the jar on a small built-in nightstand that I hadn’t noticed last night I headed back over to where Luna was. With a beaming grin I said, “Thank you for your hospitality, Luna.”

“You’re welcome.” Floated back to me as I noticed that she was already heading down the hall. After catching up, and quickly asking where the restrooms were, we changed our course accordingly. One trip to a strange bathroom later and I was back to talking with Luna. She had been impressed at how I had modified a pair of saddle bags into a pack I could wear. I told her about how humans had to learn to be adaptive, even with all our modern tech, because you never knew when it would be needed. Seeing that I was on good terms with Luna I decided to make a joke about mounting her and riding her through the castle. The joke she made in turn had me red as a beet.

Still by the time we made it to the castle’s kitchen we were laughing and joking like a pair of old friends. Finding out that not only did Luna use her magic to create food but cook was surprising, but paled in comparison to the fact that she ate meat. I guess those fangs I saw flashes of weren’t just for show. I asked Luna to let me do the cooking, it was not only one of my better skills but something I found fun. After she gave me everything I needed to make a wonderful breakfast I set to work cooking.

In short order I had a sausage and ham scramble topped with three kinds of bell peppers, melted cheese and avocado. I cleverly toasted the slices of bread using the oven’s broiler, buttered them and set a small dish of jam on each plate. I fried up several strips of bacon and made sure they reached crispy perfection. Lastly I sliced up some watermelon and used an enchanted juicer to make the world’s best cold pressed juice.

I carried the plates and juices out and served Luna in a rather cozy dining room. Her reaction to my cooking skills wasn’t too surprising, seeing as her food vanished quite quickly. I smiled over at her as she sipped the cold pressed watermelon juice. After I had finished my meal the plates vanished, probably back into the kitchen, and were replaced by a tea set.

As we talked over tea Luna brought up a subject that I knew was going to have to come up sooner or later. “Eclipse,” Luna started, having decided she preferred to call me that instead of Hunter, “I have been meaning to ask, would you like to stay in the castle with me?”

I knew what she meant, I had been thinking about it myself a bit. Staying in the castle would give me a good place to call home, with good food and better company. I still didn’t know how I arrived here and neither did Luna, but if ever there was a place to call home base, it was here. I nodded slowly at first before replying, “I would like to, even though I want to search for answers, I would love to be able to count on having a warm bed and a good friend to come back to.”

This made Luna grin widely, certainly enough to see her fangs but not maliciously, as she laughed a kind of relieved laugh. Her eyes shimmered with what I hoped were tears of joy, “I am glad to hear that! It can be so lonely at times.”

I smiled right back at her. It may not have been on Earth, but at least it was something to call home again.