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.