Dust opened his eyes and instantly shut them, the light coming down from above too bright for his eyes to handle at the moment.
"He seems to be fine," a voice reached his ears, "and this creature over here as well."
"What about the sword," another voice asked.
"What do you mean, it's a sword," a third voice countered.
Dust's brain couldn't process everything that was currently going on and instead began to slow down and process one simple thing at a time, mainly by trying to move his supposedly dead body. He was dead, right? He distinctly remembered being covered in lava, the last thing he saw between his tears being-
"Ginger, Fidget," he yelled, sitting up quickly and looking around.
Tell sunlight blinded him at first and he covered his eyes with a hand, peering through the cracks in his fingers to see...ponies. Technicolor ponies sitting around him. And another creature that looked like nothing he'd ever faced before. He leapt to his feet and away from the group his hand immediately going to where Ahrah would have been on his hip, had Ahrah actually been there instead of on the floor a few feet behind the group he was facing. Everything seemed to be frozen, him and the other...he counted a total of seven others in the room with him, and was evaluating how he could get past them to Ahrah, stiffening up once a voice eminated from right behind him, the entity close enough to stir up the wind around Dust.
"Now, now, we mean you no harm, and if you intend to do us harm then I wish for you to please leave," the motherly yet stern voice said.
Dust pivoted on his heel to face the figure and found another like the ponies behind him except this one was about as tall as him, making him back up a step.
"I...am sorry," he said, Jun rising up to the surface, "I did not mean to scare you. I was simply startled at..."
"Being alive," the odd creature said.
"Precisely," Dust admitted. "How did..."
"I connected, I suppose that would be the word, I connected with you when you crossed over," the creature said. "I know what happened right before you died and I know what you, Fidget, and Ahrah have been through so far. Now look, we have no time to deal with all of this right now, I need you to get your friends and we have to leave right away if we're going to get to the disaster area fast enough."
"Discor-" the larger pony began.
"Not now princess," the creature said, giving her a look, "I'll explain when I get back."
"Make sure you come back then."
Dust moved over to Ahrah slowly, not sure what exactly was going on at the moment, and picked up the sword, examining it for a few moments and running a hand over the blade. Cold. The blade was never cold before, it had always been humming with some internal magic, something that not even Fidget had understood entirely, as she had explained one night at the campfire. At that thought the specific wording of how the creature had said friend came back to him and his eyes scanned the room, landing on a space in the center of the six little ponies. Dust moved over to them and they parted, allowing him to see the unmoving body of Fidget. He picked her up gingerly and paused until he felt the small beating of her heart, giving a small sigh of relief.
Dust stood up and looked at the creatures around him, his mind simply stopping for a moment before rebooting, but some part of him felt wrong, almost as though there was an intruder in his head.
Jin, you're being too nice, you must at least question something, or you risk falling into submission.
Before Dust could even comprehend what exactly was going on in his head his mouth opened and he said, "We're not going anywhere until you explain what's going on and why we should help you."
Cassius, what are you doing, stop wasting time, these creatures obviously need our help.
Tch, typical Moonblood supporter.
"STOP IT," Dust yelled, clamping his free hand to his head, giving a small groan due to the pain. He pulled his hand away and looked up to see the eight inhabitants of the room all looking at him, each one except the odd one giving him a frightened look.
"It's Cassius and Jin, isn't it," the creature asked.
"Yes, and it hurts," Dust replied.
"I'll explain what's happening on t-" it began, Dust cutting it off.
"No, tell me something now or I'll assume that Cassius is actually right about something for once."
"All of the magic currently in this world is currently being drained by a darkness, including the magic in Ahrah. That was the one thing keeping Jin and Cassius separated in your mind and now that it's gone, Cassius is trying to gain control."
At the beginning of his elaboration, the three ponies with horns all seemed to try something, each one seeming to come to the same conclusion that whatever they were trying wasn't accomplishing anything.
"Discord, what about your magic," the larger pony asked.
"Drained as well, which is why we're still here," Discord replied.
"Well if you're walking there then let-" the large pony began, Discord cutting her off.
"No, the other six would get in the way and Equestria needs you right now because there are going to be a lot of panicking ponies who have lost their magic."
"I don't feel safe having you leave out on your own with this creature, no matter what you say so ho-"
"No guards."
She was silent for a few minutes before looking at Discord and saying, "This is my final ultimatum then, you take Luna with you or you don't go anywhere and I'll take in this 'Dust' for questioning."
Dust could tell that Discord was defeated in the subtle signs of his posture, but his voice held no trace of defeat as he said, "Fine, we accept your offer."
A half hour later the three of them had survival packs situated on their backs, or in Dust's case his inventory, and were setting off for wherever Discord was leading them. Dust studied the dark pony that had joined him and she studied him, none of the three speaking until they had settled down for the night and started a camp fire. Dust held the limp body of Fidget in his hand, holding a thumb over her heart to assure himself that she was still alive. He was starting to really worry about her.
"Don't feet Dust, she'll be fine, I promise you," Discord said, causing Dust and the dark pony to turn their heads. "In the meantime why don't we share a little and get to know a bit about each other."
"You mean me and her," Dust said, giving the dark pony a quick glance.
"Er, well, yes. Seeming as how I know both of you pretty well I was thinking I could st-"
"I am not so antisocial so as not to be able to start and hold a competent conversation Discord," the dark pony said, turning to Dust. "I am Princess Luna, one of the four Alicorn's of this land and ruler over the night time and dreams of Equestria."
"I am..." Dust paused as three answers suddenly rushed to the front of his head, each one battling to escape his mouth but instead forming what felt like a physical blockade in his throat, causing him to stop breathing almost immediately.
"Oh no," Discord muttered a moment before Dust passed out from a loss of oxygen.
"Dust, Dust wake up, please wake up, I need you."
The familiar voice reached Dust's ears and he cracked his eyes open, feeling like he'd just died a second time within twenty-four hours.
"F-Fidget," he moaned, lifting a hand up to his forehead and sitting up a bit.
"She's fine Dust, but are you," Discord replied, helping him back up.
"Yeah, I just...you know, Cassius and Jin..." Dust answered.
"Discord he is not fine, he needs medical help immediately, he was dead for a good ten seconds there," Luna said, looking pointedly at Dust and wondering what had just happened.
"How are you still alive," Discord asked him, looking just a bit worried.
"I...think I know how," Dust replied, rooting around in his inventory for a few seconds before making a red crystal appeared in his hand. "A revival stone," he replied, "glad to know that they still work in this world."
"So am I," Discord said, "because we may need these along the way."
"Are you saying we might die," Luna asked.
"There's a good chance."
That was enough to kill the talk for the rest of the night and they finished their meal before putting the fire out and laying down to sleep, which turned out to be especially hard for Dust, who kept gazing at the part of the sky were the dark cloud was, evident by the lack of stars in the area as well as the constant distraction of reaching over to feel for Fidget's heartbeat to comfort himself.
"You cannot sleep either," Luna whispered to him over Discord's soft snores.
"No, I just find this all so surreal and find myself wondering if I'm even still alive," Dust replied.
"Why wouldn't you be," Luna asked, "especially with those stones of yours."
"They're not resistant to lava," was all Dust said, leaving the rest to Luna.
"I see...I think," was all she said. "So what was that episode earlier?"
"I have...three minds in here right now," he said, "it's a long story actually and I don't want to bore you."
"Please, do bore me," Luna replied, making Dust give a small laugh.
"Alright, I warned you," he said, telling his tale. He unconsciously reached a hand over and felt for Fidget's heartbeat one last time before beginning, his thoughts coming together with the comfort of the tiny beats of it. "It all started with a race of creatures called Moonblood's and a general named Gaius..."