Chapter one

It was another bitter day in the former grand city of Equestria with the sun shining down on the on city, but like most things, it was just a cruel joke that most ponies just winced at and went upon their daily jobs.

Some ponies brought in bread for ponies to eat, some brought in fresh food from the converted farms, and some were arguing with the latest batch of refugees coming to Canterlot.

With a clop, the unicorn guards turned their heads a fraction to see who had come as nearly all the pegasi had fled long ago to their flying city turned fortress. They had clearly said that until this was over, Cloudsdale was to be a safe haven at all costs; even holding several unicorns hostage to do the tests for any future refugees. Only the threastrals truly remained, and it was far too early for them to be up and about.

Thus, they knew exactly who it was, and fixed their stance to protect their princess against the possible danger.

“At ease, my guards,” the princess frowned, looking at the long line of scared ponies, with a mare holding a shaking foal close to her chest standing at the front of the long line. “What seems to be the delay?”

“My princess, these guards barely performed the test!” The mare shouted, pressing the crying foal closer to her body. “They wish to throw my precious Sunny Skies to those ghouls down there!”

“How dare you, you lying bit-” The unicorn guard on the left, moving his sword away from his side, closer to the family. The crowd behind the family tensed; a riot seemed imminent.

“At ease, Strong Will,” the princess frowned, taking to learning all the names of everypony in her city, as her sister once did. “If it would please th- you, I shall perform the test myself.” Princess Luna gave a smile; it was forced, it was fake and it was a lie as she knew the answer herself.

Although she did say a silent pray to whoever was listening that her guards were wrong for once.

The mare nodded, and pushed her foal close to the princess. The guards were still at her side, in full armour, not a single exposed piece of fur or flesh was within reach. Luna was not, and they couldn’t lose her too.

Luna frowned, focusing her will and magic, and sent out her aura to simply lift the child, hoping beyond hope she could.

The aura went around the foal and then it broke off, like a shield was raised, causing the magic to fail to even touch the sobbing foal.

The mother screamed out in anguish and curses, held back by the guards now, leaving Luna alone with the child.

Luna hated this, despised herself for being forced to do this again. She hated her sister for not being here when Equestria needed her the most, she hated Discord for taking the easy way out once things became too personal for him, she hated Twilight for staying in her labs instead of here and dirtying her hooves like the other princess!

“Am- am I going to become a z-” The little filly, with a sun peaking over the clouds on her flanks. Luna now hated the fates that be for being this cruel, a mockery of what she had lost. But she pushed all that out of her mind to do this important duty for this little foal.

“No, sweet one, you shall not become one of them,” she smiled, gently as she leaned down to face the pony, keeping some distance away from her. It was one thing to be comforting, it was another thing to be suicidally stupid to let an infected pony within lounging range of her neck or face. “I promise you that you will feel no pain.”

“Y- you promise?” She sniffled, looking up at the calm, serene princess in front of her. She didn’t hear anything from their little world, as Luna had put up a tiny shield. The poor filly didn’t need to hear her mother crying now, nor anything else.

“Yes,” Luna smile grew, her eyes widening in a very gentle manner that she sadly had perfected in all this time. “A very wise pony told me the most powerful of promises, one that not even I can break,” the foal’s eyes went wide with wonder, becoming at ease within her final moments. “‘Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye’,” Luna was tempted to ruffle the foal’s mane, but she had seen others that were infected turn in seconds instead of hours, and thus a guard and friend was lost in that moment of kindness. “It is a promise that true friends make and to break it is the fastest way to lose one.” Luna paused, hoping to hear the Element of Laughter speak out of nowhere, or to appear like she had once done, saying forever. But Pinkie, or Pinkamena as she went by now, was locked up in the war room, using her senses to pinpoint where the hoards were and rarely acted like herself before all this nightmare and horrors became commonplace. She was a fine strategist when she wasn’t looking over the Pound twins, a responsibility she took deathly serious.

Guilt was a strong motivator, but one undeserved by her, and the rest of her remaining friends were seriously worried she would snap one day. Another friend lost was something no pony wanted.

“We’re friends, Princess?” The foal hiccuped, smiling softly now. It all so easy to put the young ones at ease that it sickened Luna that she had to do this to them, but it was a necessary evil that she would always take over directness.

“Of course, my little pony,” she let out a little laugh, just like her sister would do, had done. “Now, little one, I am going to be using some special magic on you, is that ok?”

“But Princess Luna, no magic has worked on me since I got-” The little filly got up on her hooves, seemingly upset at this.

“Ah tatata,” Luna shook her head, grinning broadly. “I am an alicorn and a princess! I can do many things that a simple pony cannot.”

“Like what?” She sat back down, smiling with bright eyes, her mane -buck the fates- was pink, and thankfully had a red coat.

White would have killed Luna.

“Like this,” Luna then did the only magic that she could do to put the pony at ease. “Sleep.”

The foal was asleep before she knew what had happened. Luna brought herself backwards for a second, and with a quick flick of hooves, she snapped the neck of the pony in front of her. Completely painless and it also brought it out in a more controlled state. Luna took a step backwards, the two guards holding the screaming mother back as another guard brought up his sword. It had taken most of her guards some time to learn how to only hold the sword by the handle with their magic aura’s instead of the whole thing, but not Clear Strike. He had taken to it very well and was one of the few that was able to do this without breaking down.

Already, the foal was gone, and the monster that took it’s place was there. With a broken neck, it was snapping it’s mouth open and close, trying to get to it’s hooves to feed and speak that damnable line.

With a sickening thud that no longer fazed Luna, something that deeply worried her, the head was cut off. The mother was screaming obscenities to her now, though she long became immune to hearing the hurtful and semi-truthful words. Then, Clear Strike used the stained staff next to him to bash the skull inwards, ending the threat of this monster.

Luna looked at Clear Strike, giving him a look to see if he needed a break. He shook his head, he was fine.

Walking back towards her castle, her eyes dart downwards, the moat of zombified ponies that surrounded the mountain and her city was still there and trying to reach upwards for them.

With a bitter realization, Luna remembered that she was late for her breakfast date with Twilight; and she had just got the mare to come out of her labs. With a lurch, she flew into the morning sky and onwards to the castle.

Author's Notes:

So tell me, what do you think? Do you want more?

Chapter two

Luna did her best to rush to the castle, knowing that her marefriend would be a nervous wreck if she was late. That was if she actually remembered their breakfast date and wasn’t trying to save it, her, again.

She was always studying them, taking them apart to find what made them tick. It troubled Luna how far her lavender alicorn special somepony was going in trying to find a cure. It was one thing to disassociate the ghouls from the living ponies, it was another thing to completely ignore things that were once ponies and treat them like strange new machines.

Luna sighed. She had far too much to worry about; Canterlot was close to the brink of anarchy again, the Crystal Empire was still quiet, Cloudsdale was still refusing all orders to aid her ponies and were foalnapping even more ponies now to spite her, the pockets of survivors were getting smaller every day she was unable to send winged rescue teams, and the large moat of ghouls around her city growing in size every time she looked down.

And a thousand more smaller problems and issues that threatened to overwhelm her if she didn’t pay attention to them.

Like the upcoming spiral of the remaining towers.

Banking to the side, Luna found herself suddenly in a dangerous forest of stone trees, dodging left and right to avoid turning Equestria back into a monarchy.

It took Luna a few minutes to escape the spiral towers, far too long for her tastes, and spotted her castle. Forcing herself onwards, she managed to finally reach her balcony to land on.

What she did instead was a tumble, groaning and shaking her head.

Instantly she felt hooves help her up, and a tingle of magic brushing against her. In the past, she would have been outraged that somepony used their magic on her, but she knew better now. It eased them to know their princess was safe from everything but gravity and exhaustion.

Blinking her heavy eyes, she thanked her little ponies for their help and began to trot off to see Twilight.

She quickly made her way down the hallway, enjoying the silent and empty room for once. She was going to see her pony, and spend some much overdue time with her.

She didn’t even mind the fact the doors to the dining room were open.

At the far end of the table, she saw her.

Her Twilight.

Smiling, she walked over to her precious friend, all ready to apologize when Twilight spoke.

“You’re late.”

Her smile wavered for a second, staring at the back of her marefriend, head bowed forwards. Luna forced herself to smile, walking closer to her.

“I know, dear Twilight, but I had to deal with the ref-”

“You’re late.” Again, Twilight spoke those words. It was without emotion, without warmth, without love.

“I may be a few minutes late, but I am here now,” Luna had reached her, stretching her hoof out for her shoulder. “Twilight, I-”

“You’re late.” Twilight turned her head, and Luna could not hold back her scream of terror.

The entirety of the left side of her face was gone, bleached bone standing in contrast with the rotting goo of what remained of her face. What truly scared her was the eyes. They were empty of those lovely orbs she fell in love with, only blackness meeting her now.

Flailing backwards, panic overriding her mind, she found herself at the hooves of a guard.

For a moment, she felt safe again.

“You’re late.”

She darted her eyes upwards and screamed again. The guard’s face was horribly decomposed, eyes empty as well.

“You’re late.” Looking around her, she saw more and more ponies appear, each more terrifying than the last, each one repeating those two horrids words at her as she curled up into a tight ball of fear and tears.

Then Twilight leaned closed to her, a part of her face dripping onto her own.

She then spoke the words she prayed she would never hear from her Twilight.

“Join us.”

Luna just screamed her last scream as the ponies descended onto her.

“LUNA!”

Her body was shaking and being squeezed, some wetness falling onto her. She fought against the thing holding her, but her own body was shaking too much to truly fight back.

“Luna, I’m here,” the thing holding her spoke in soothing tones, rubbing her mane and started to rock her back and forth. “It’s ok, you’re safe.” The thing leaned down and kissed her head. “I’m here, Lulu.”

Blinking, Luna opened her eyes and saw beautiful lavender. Her beautiful lavender pony.

Without thought, she latched onto the pony, crying into her. The images were still fresh in her mind, and she was terrified if she let go or looked up, they might become true.

Slowly, Luna’s heart stopped its marathon and her mind slowly came back to claim control. With more than a couple of shaky breaths, she dared to look up.

All was there. Her perfectly beautiful face was still intact, encased with worry and tears but it was still there. Her wonderful eyes were still in their rightful places.

Twilight was still alive.

Author's Notes:

Short, but what I feel gets to emotional point I am trying to make here. Which is absolute dread for reasons I hope that people get.

Chapter three

Twilight held the sobbing pony in her hooves, rubbing her back and nuzzling her head in hopes to stop her shaking. She had come into their bedroom after waiting ten minutes for her Lulu, late for the same date she had been insisting on having, and she was determined to give the mare a piece of her mind.

She had been muttering ‘you’re late’ under her breath the entire way, the guards and maids darting out of her way, as they were still getting used to her newfound angry outlashes when disturbed.

She pushed the door open and all her anger drained away in an instance as she saw her marefriend in the throes of a horrid nightmare on the balcony floor.

She screamed her name and held her close to her chest, crying in shame for daring to be angry with Luna, when she had put so much into keeping Canterlot from falling again.

“Luna, I’m here,” she told her special somepony, brushing her mane and rocked her like her mother used to do, like Luna did for her when she first had nightmares of that day when everything went wrong. “It’s ok, you’re safe.” Luna was still fighting her, still more than likely still stuck in her own version of Tartarus right now.

Twilight did the one thing she knew that always helped her when she was like this. She leaned down and kissed her head gently, just below her horn.

“I’m here, Lulu.” She said it with all the love in her heart, surprising herself how much was still there.

She felt Luna pause for a moment before tackling her, holding her close with all her might. Twilight continued to hold her close, letting Luna settle herself. She didn’t care that all her schedules would need to be redone, as Luna needed her now.

Finally, Luna stopped sobbing and shaking, and nuzzled her back, a blush on her beautiful blue face and it made Twilight’s heart swell to see it.

“So, Luna, do you want to talk about it?” Twilight smiled, brushing away some of the starry mane that was still powder blue away from her face, which she was sure that Luna kept for her by this point.

“N-no, my lovely pony,” Luna blushed again, looking to the side. ““Twas nothing.”

Twilight paused, and then stared at the alicorn in front of her. “Luna, please don’t lie to me,” She stroked Luna’s face, leaning into nuzzle her mare again. “Please, let me in.”

Luna bit her lip, looked off to the side and then after some time, finally sighed and spoke to her.

“I had a nightmare, dear Twilight.” The beautiful mare leaned down on the floor, as if trying to disappear from sight by seeping into the very ground. “I was going to meet th-, you, for our date when you turned into one of them. Then I was surrounded by our guards, and then, yo-”

Twilight silenced her with her lips, kissing her quiet. She wrapped her wings around her mare, holding her close like Luna had done when she had her own bouts of nightmares of the chaos that destroyed Ponyville and nearly toppled Canterlot, of all the friends she lost and the ones she was still unsure if they still had heartbeats.

As much as she wanted to fly over to the Crystal Empire to see if she was truly the last of the Sparkle House, Equestria needed her here more.

Canterlot needed her more her than finding out if her brother still breathed air or not.

Luna needed her more than ever before and she would not leave until her moon was well once more.

Author's Notes:

I hope people can read between the lines here and really think about it. Also, I promise longer chapters in the future.