Dust and Ashes

by Fearless Journey

Oh, why have I been sleeping?

The first thing he heard were the haunting moans and creaks of an old wooden building. They resonated throughout the space, cutting through the surrounding silence and creating an eerie yet comforting soundscape.

Ah, so he wasn't dead.

He was lying down on a mattress haphazardly laid on top of a metal bedframe. It creaked under him as he moved, as if protesting his weight. Mayday might have been the first pony to sleep on it in a long, long time.

Letting out a soft groan, he rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of where exactly he was. The last he remembered, he'd been mauled by a chimera, but he felt relatively okay...
As he lifted his head, the symphony of the ocean revealed itself. Waves crashing against rugged cliffs, blending into an orchestra of splashing and hissing, relentless and unending.

The ocean? Does that mean I'm at the Fillydelphian shores?

Slowly, carefully, Mayday got up from his resting spot, his hooves meeting the cool wooden floor. He seemed to be in a circular room, illuminated by a single lantern. Its small but persistent flame flickered in the draft, causing shadows to dance on the cold walls.

The smell hit him then, the kind of musty old smell one might encounter in a rarely used basement or attic, or in the storage room of some long forgotten home. This one was a mixture of salt, dampness and aged wood now burnt. It mingled with an aroma of seaweed and brine.

There was a spiral staircase in the middle of the room, practically calling him to ascend it. He paused, thinking it over.

He was definitely in a lighthouse, an old one. Someone must have brought him here. The fact that he was still uninjured probably meant that someone didn't want to cause him harm. His saddlebags had been on him when he'd woken up too, so presumably whoever had brought him here was no thief either.

Calculating the risks in his head, he slowly started on the ascent up the stairs. With each step the sounds of his hooves echoed against the curved walls, creating a strange kind of resonance he'd never experienced before. If someone was here with him, they'd hear him coming a mile away.

The air became cooler the higher up he got, tinged with a hint of aging wood. A chilly breeze came in through the various holes and gaps in the tower's structure, causing him to shiver. The walls felt alive with history, stories of great adventurers, of sailors and fishermares and merchant ships, now crumbling slowly after the great burning.

"Hello...?" Mayday called out softly, surprising himself with the hoarseness of his voice. He hadn't spoken to another creature in ages. He'd long since given up on talking to himself, now only the voices in his head to keep him company.
The lighthouse offered him no response as he climbed up to the highest floor. The place was eeriely silent, only the faint howling wind singing in the eternal night, causing the floorboards to creak in protest. The lantern was broken, might have been even before the burning. This wasn't one of those magic operated lighthouses they had in the bigger cities. Maybe it hadn't been used much even before the apocalypse?

"GOOOOD MORNING!"

Mayday quite literally jumped, his fight or flight response kicking in, heart already working overtime to pump blood into his legs so he could make a run for it and live another day. Wide eyes glanced at whatever it was that was threatening his life this time.

A small mare, apparently.

"Whoops, didn't mean to startle ya!" The mare laughed sheepishly, shaking herself dry and blowing a loose strand of her wet mane from her face.

The mare was a pegasus, a light blue coat framed by a short, pink mane brushed mostly onto one side. Her wings were unusually small, considering she didn't exactly look like a filly despite her stature. He caught a glimpse of her cutie mark, a light yellow sun hidden by fluffy clouds.

"You okay, dude?"

It was then that Mayday realized he'd been startled into a stunned silence, and hadn't said anything for the past few minutes. He shook his head vigorously, as if to clear away the brain fog.

"So... Not okay?"

Mayday cleared his throat. "No! No, I'm... I'm not terrible? You startled me. I called out, but.."

The mare let out a little giggle. "Ooooh. I was having a morning swim! It's super convenient when there's a literal hole in the wall just looking out to the ocean."

Mayday blinked, still slow to connect any dots in his head. He had a sinking feeling that he must have been looking kind of stupid. Then again, social norms didn't really matter much when there wasn't much of a society to enforce them.

"Wait, did you save me from the chimera?"

"Nope!"

After another moment of stunned silence from Mayday, she continued.

"What, you think I could have taken down a chimera? Thanks for the flattery, but no way. It didn't actually want to eat you, you know."

He squinted at her.

"How do you know that?"

A smile. The mare grabbed a worn-down rag from on top of an old mattress to dry off her mane.

"I found you when you were already unconscious. That thing was tearing into your canteen. Must have smelled the water on you."

"Oh." He blurted out, ever the eloquent stallion. Of course. When a giant monster is chasing you, you din't exactly stop to think if it's food or water it's looking for. He got lucky, really embarrassingly lucky.

The mare bumped him with her hip, causing him to flinch. The touch was so strangely warm and non-violent, nothing like he was used to out there in the wasteland.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. You're here, aren't you? What's your name, stranger?"

He hesitated for a moment, before taking a seat on the floor. His hooves were still protesting from the earlier chase. "I'm Mayday." He reached out a hoof for the pegasus to shake. It was met with a small, still slightly damp wing.

"You can call me Zero!"

He gave the small wing a shake, before furrowing his brows. "You said something about a morning swim? That makes no sense. It's all the same now, and..."

Zero settled on the small mattress she probably used as a bed, giving a shrug and an almost sheepish smile. "I've been keeping count. Ever since the big burning thingy! Helps me keep sane, to keep up a routine. And now it's morning, so I went for a swim!"

"...Huh." Mayday mumbled. He kind of hated that something like that, that made no sense to him, seemingly still had a reason he had no counterargument to. It left him defensive, like he was supposed to argue anyway instead of just giving in.

His eyes found Zero's wings, noting once again how small they were compared to her body. They'd still seemed to carry her from the ocean to the lighthouse, considering how suddenly she'd appeared.

Like she'd noticed his stare, Zero gave a resigned sigh and a lighthearted roll of her eyes. "The wings, yeah. Some sort of disability, a change in my genes since birth, blah blah blah. Long story short, I can fly, but it takes a lot of effort. Tires me out, kinda like running."

She sounded like she was used to explaining it to almost everyone she met. Mayday suddenly felt guilty for staring.

"It's okay, It happens."

Mayday blinked. "Wh- How did-"

A giggle. "I'm psychic!"

He huffed softly. He had no clue how to interact with someone like this, all bright and full of jokes and little giggles. It made no sense, this was no time or place for laughs.

"But you know... I do feel like ever since the big burny thing happened..." Zero hesitated, as if wondering whether it sounded stupid or not. "Kinda feels like it's even harder to fly. I can't explain it well for a non-pegasus, but it's... It's like the sky is different? Like, heavier somehow."

Mayday lifted his gaze. "Heavier?" He couldn't help but draw a parallel to how his own senses felt... muddled, ever since the disaster. The way he couldn't hear the earth anymore, couldn't sense the connections between it and the trees and the plants, and the rot consuming all the dead things deep in the ground.

"Yeah. I haven't met any unicorns since this all happened, but I'm kinda curious. I wonder if their magic still works alright, since the sun isn't rising and all."

"Actually, I know." Mayday chimed in, before clearing his throat. "Or I know a little. I ran into a unicorn back in Rainbow Falls. He said his magic felt different. Like it was still there, but he couldn't quite get it to work."

"Huh." Zero hummed, fluttering her wings. "Well, maybe that means the princesses are still alive out there? And they just can't use their magic?"

He gave her a look, not sure what to say. "I wouldn't think like that if I were you. You'll just end up depressed when it's not true. My mom used to say that a pessimist is never disappointed."

Zero snorted. "A pessimist is also a real fucking downer to be around! How are you gonna cope with like, anything like that?"

"Cope? What's there to cope with? Just need to keep going. Keep surviving."

He frowned when Zero only laughed. He'd never felt quite this... easily ridiculed before. It was like she found him childish, even though she was clearly the childish one.

"Alright then, tough guy. Take a seat, mmkay? I'll make you tea."

Author's Note:

I'm glad I managed to write a second chapter! I'm not pretending to write the next Fallout Equestria or anything, I'm kinda just doing this to prove I can finish something. If you end up liking this, cool! I'll attach some art I did of Zero later so you can get a feel for her design. Hoping to do Mayday later too!

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