A Dust Filled World

Dust was out in a field behind Sweet Apple Acres. Hopefully, Applejack won’t mind if he used it. He was carrying logs with his magic until he heard a familiar voice. It was Applejack. She was confused on why Dust was carrying logs behind her farm. She walked up to him with a smile.

"Howdy there Dust! What'cha doin?" Applejack asked with one eyebrow raised.

Dust looked over, a smile on his face. Applejack froze for a second. The fight with him and that smile still haunts her. She shook it off and waited for his answer.

"Well, I promised Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo that I would train them. So I'm working on some equipment they can use to train." Dust explained.

Applejack was confused. Why would a filly need training?

"Wait a gosh darn minute. Now, why would you train a filly?" Applejack with a stern and questioning expression.

Applejack was concerned. What exactly would a filly need training for? Dust explained himself and his reasons for wanting to train Scootaloo. Unfortunately, Applejack had to agree. If there was another incident like the royal guards, they would need to know how to protect themselves. She asked if she could help. Dust was happy to accept her aid. After about an hour and a half, they were both done. They both looked over their work. Dust was proud to see what they had accomplished. He then quickly patted Applejack on the head like you would a dog. She blushed and grew slightly uncomfortable. She had never been pet like that before. It was nice, but strange at the same time. She batted his hand off her head.

"Hm? Oh sorry. I'm used to patting my brother when he did something good, like getting a good present on a test. Or when he learned to make spaghetti." Dust sheepishly said rubbing his head.

"Oh! Well, it's alright. That reminds me. I wanted to ask you something." Applejack said, taking her hat off her head.

"What happened to your brother? You brought him up before, and that got me curious. So, where is he?" Applejack questioned.

Dust was quiet. He knew he would have to tell them the truth. His history. But not now. None of them were ready to learn the truth. Or rather, he was not yet ready to properly relive his past. The countless hours or pain.

"You don't need to know that information." Dust said.

Applejack knew something was wrong. She could see it in his eyes. The pain of loss in his eyes. She knew that look and feeling all too well. She didn't respond. She knew he would open up on his own terms at some point. Best not to push it. Dust looked at Applejack.

"I will tell you, but not now." Dust said.

She simply nodded her head. Then she perked up, remembering something else.

"Also, what’s with that word you use? ‘Fuck’ was it?" Applejack asked Dust.

Dust giggled to himself.

"Well, I heard you ponies say ‘Buck’, so it's pretty much that. I guess to put it simply, Buck is Fuck, and Fuck is Buck." Dust explained, still giggling to himself about to burst out laughing.

"You're trying to play a joke on me ain’t yah?" Applejack looked annoyed.

"No, no. It’s simple. Just replace the B with an F. It gives more of a commanding tone, you should try it." Dust said with a light elbow to Applejack’s shoulder.

Applejack looked deep into Dust’s eyes, squinting. Then, she just laughed.

"Well then Dust, you never fail to surprise me. Thank Celestia you're not with Pinkie and Rainbow. They love to play pranks.” Applejack said in between her laughter. She eventually calmed down.

"But anyway, where is Rainbow? Shouldn't she be here by now?" Applejack asked?.

Dust also looked around. He didn't see her.

"Well, I should visit her to see if she is awake after getting Scootaloo." Dust asked.

Applejack was about to question how dust was planning to get to Cloudsdale without wings. But then stopped when she saw his giant floating Skeleton head thing appear before her. She only saw him use it once and didn’t know much about it.

"U-Uh D-Dust, what is t-that thing?" Applejack said while shaking.

Dust looked at Applejack and grabbed her hoof, pulling her into the Gaster Blaster as he jumped onto it. He planned to ride it to Twilight’s house. Dust explained what the Gaster Blaster was and its destructive power. She began to wonder what else Dust could do. They soared through the air and eventually arrived at Golden Oak. Walking in, Dust found a sleeping CMC in their pillow fort.

"Hey Scootaloo. psst! Scootaloo!" Dust whispered trying not to wake up the other fillies.

Scootaloo woke up. She asked why he was waking her up. When she heard he was gonna train her, she was up and rushing to get out to go train. She ran outside with her saddle bag and got onto the Gaster Blaster. Then they went to Cloudsdale. The Cloudsdale citizens were shaken. Whispers of the Monster with the filly and the mare rang out, but went ignored. They looked around for a while until they finally made it to Rainbow Dash’s home. Dust knocked on Rainbow’s window. She was in a deep sleep. After knocking for 5 minutes, she finally woke up. Dust was annoyed that she forgot their training, but let it go. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash are his children though, not officially yet. He is still a father to them. They got to the training ground, Applejack decided to go back to farming.

"Alright, Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash. I will teach you how to wield Monster Magic. So any questions?" Dust explained.

Scootaloo raised a hoof. She asked if ponies can use bone magic, like he used.

"Ah good question sweetheart, anyone can use bone magic. You just need to learn how to use it." Dust Happily explained to the filly.

He explained how the general magic works.

"It's simple. First, you have to grow aware. Aware of your soul. Once you do that, dig deep into your soul, like you're diving into an ocean of water. After that, find the center of your soul. There, you will feel a pulse of power. Then, slowly draw it out. Once you get the hang of that. You’ll be able to use Monster Magic properly. For instance the bones I use. Even my signature, Gaster Blaster." Dust Explained. As he summoned a Gaster Blaster. “Firing it is easy. Just imagine a bow and arrow. Build up power and release it.” Dust fired the Gaster Blaster into the air and out of the atmosphere.

Rainbow dash and Scootaloo were amazed by the display. They had never seen his Gaster Blaster up close. Watching it materialize and fire before them. It was amazing. Though, Rainbow Dash didn’t want to fully admit she was amazed.

Scootaloo did her best to follow Dust’s instructions. When she found the essence of her soul and dipped into it, it felt like she was floating. It was trippy and a bit of a struggle. It took her over half an hour to find the power at the center of her soul, but she did. She tried to conjure a Gaster Blaster, but nothing happened. After a near hour of trying, she managed to conjure one up, though it was distorted. Imperfect. It vanished in the blink of an eye as she collapsed, tired and feeling drained. Dust on the other hand, was ecstatic. She did it. He picked her up and hugged her close.

“You did a good job, Scootaloo!” Dust exclaimed.

"Thanks, Dad. But, I couldn’t fire it. It didn’t even look like yours." Scootaloo said, disappointed at her attempt.

Dust was shocked, getting it on the first try is hard. Dust suggled scootaloo. He was proud, she may not have fired it, it may not have been perfect, but she did it in a first try. He put her down and explained on how she could improve. Then he looked at Rainbow Dash. He asked her to do the same thing. She Tried the same thing but failed, she tried three more times but still failed. She looked towards Scootaloo and asked how she did it on the first try. Scootaloo explained how she did it and after some attempts Rainbow got it right. However, instead of a Gaster Blaster, she summoned bones. Although, instead of the usual white, the bones were blue. Dust expected this. Since they weren’t monsters, the Monster Magic they wielded was a bit different, thus the color would alter. Seems the color reflected their fur color. After all, Scootaloo’s Gaster Blaster was orange.

Next, Dust explained how to wield blue soul magic. It was more complex, but he was sure they could do it. Especially Scootaloo. He explained how to grab onto Souls and thus fling others around. Rainbow was looking at dust with an angry expression. He was confused as to why she was looking at him like that. That is until he remembered when he threw her at a building. Dust looked back at Scootaloo. She seemed to be a bit more of a prodigy than Rainbow. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped at this. She was learning everything so fast. After hours of learning, Rainbow went to Sugarcube Corner for a treat. While dust kept training scootaloo, he taught her the Bone attacks. They trained for 4 hours. Scootaloo still couldn't get the blaster down, so she decided to use the bones as wings. She could always learn the blaster's later. Dust scooped up Scootaloo and put her on his shoulders. They walked to Sugarcube Corner.

"So Scootaloo, how do you feel about your first day of training?" Dust asked.

"Super Duper! I learned how to use the same magic you use! And blue magic! But I'm still not sure how to use your blasters." Scootaloo exclaimed.

Dust, smiled. He saw Sugarcube Corner. He saw the pink mare with a giant cake. Then he looked to where she was bringing the giant cake. He saw Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Rarity. He teleported into the building, scaring everyone there. Other then pinkie.

"AHH! It's the monster from the Everfree Forest!" Two ponies behind him screamed.

It was Ms. Cake and Mr. Cake. They were about to run off, until Pinkie explained that dust was harmless. They were unsure, but pinkie reassured them. Pinkie pushed dust over to a chair. Twilight looked at Scootaloo. She was bruised. Twilight rushed over grabbing Scootaloo in her magic and seeing if she was ok.

"Oh my goodness! Are you ok, Scootaloo? Are you hurt?" Twilight Said worried about the filly.

"Heh I'm alright Twilight! Rainbow, my dad, and I trained." Scootaloo exclaimed as she shot a bone at Dust.

Dust caught the bone with his Hand and shattered it. he told Scootaloo to throw a bone at him to show them her power. Rarity scolded scootaloo about shooting a bone at dust, but was also impressed. Twilight was shook, the first pegasus to use actual magic.

"Oh my Celestia! Dust you know what this means?" Twilight squealed.

"This is the first sign of a pegasus using magic that isn’t Equestrian in nature! Scootaloo is the first pegasus in the history of Equus!" Twilight Exclaimed.

Dust looked shocked. He had never considered that. He looked over at scootaloo. He smiled and scruffled her hair.

"Well then, what should we do now?" Dust asked the group.

"A Welcome to Ponyville party!" Pinkie came out of Dust's hood.

Dust jumped, utterly confused as to how she got there. Applejack wondered if Dust ever took down his hood. Dust looked at Applejack. He could tell she was wondering about his hood.

"The only pony I'm willing to show my full face to, is Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash." Dust said while pointing to them both.

Applejack sighed.

"Alright, Sugarcube." Applejack said while taking a sip of apple cider.

"Uh, darling? What are you drinking?" Rarity asked with a curious expression on her face.

He looked at Rarity. He was confused as he looked at his bottle of ketchup. He looked back at the ponies, all of them curious or confused. Pinkie looked behind Dust.

"Yea I was wondering that too!" Pinkie asked as she climbed on Dust's head.

"Well, it's ketchup. Have you not seen ketchup before?" Dust asked.

All the ponies nodded. They have heard of ketchup. Hell, they had ketchup at the Hay Burger place.

"We’ve heard of it Darling. We just never thought to drink it like that.” Rarity said.

After eating, they went to their respective homes. Scootaloo was about to fly back home with her bone wings but Dust stopped her. He told her to teleport. Scootaloo was confused. Dust never taught her teleportation. He told her how she can do it. Then, Twilight jumped in.

"That magic is close to unicorn teleportation. It's the same concept! Could I see Scootaloo's new powers?" Twilight asked.

Dust agreed and told scootaloo to show her the abilities. After showing Twilight everything, they went back home with Scootaloo’s teleportation. Dust went to bed, Scootaloo getting on his chest.

"Hey, Dad?" Scootaloo said.

Dust looked down.

"What is it sweetheart?" Dust replied.

"Back at Sugarcube Corner. You said you would only show you're face to me and rainbow dash?" Scootaloo said with a curious expression.

"So, you want to see my face? Sure kiddo. Just for you" Dust said.

Dust took his hood off. Scootaloo was in utter shock and was about to tear up. His face had a giant scar across his eye. a bit of his other eye was chipped. He looked like he had been in Tartarus.

"Don't worry yourself kiddo. I'm fine, I promise." Dust reassured scootaloo.

"Well if you say so." Scootaloo said, a glum look on her face.

They both slept, but Dust woke up to a noise at his window. It was a dark blue unicorn pegasus hybrid. She looked in curiosity. He was about to say something when she flew off. He closed his eyes.