Luna of the Dead

"FLUTTERSHY! PLEASE, DO NOT DIE!"

The zebra's face was covered in tears and blood as she held the yellow pegasus. She knew there was no way she would survive, but that didn't stop her from wishing for anything but the opposite. The look in Fluttershy's eyes was soft and accepting, which broke Zecora's heart. How could she not fight?! How could she just accept death?! Zecora had been raised in a culture where death was in a sense beautiful; a time for a pony to escape their body and let their soul join their ancestors, but there was nothing peaceful or natural about this. Fluttershy was being torn from life, and she couldn't stop it.

Lying in a pool of what had once made up part of Fluttershy's digestive system, she gazed unblinking into Fluttershy's eyes. Fluttershy managed to twitch a slight smile upon her face, which only destroyed Zecora even more. Her eyes slowly fluttered smaller and smaller as her last thoughts ran through her brain...

~~~~~~~~~~

"The ground is so beautiful! Had I only known, I would have come down much sooner!"

"A BABY DRAGON?! Aw, he's so cute! He talks?! I didn't know dragons could talk..."

"Sometimes you just need to show a little Kindness..."

"There you go Angel Bunny, all better."

"Of course I know it's his fault. Do you think I'm stupid? I think maybe he just needs a friend."

"I'm so lucky to have friends like you....

friends..lik..e.....you........

like...you......."

Fluttershy, YOUR Friendship is Magic!

~~~~~~~~~~

For seemingly hours, she sat there. Fluttershy had grown still and cold, but Zecora couldn't force herself to move. Her body just couldn't. Her body was stiff, and her entire being hurt. Under her breath, and in between silent sobs, Zecora forced herself to say, "It is terrible that you had to leave because of this, but I promise to remember your song of Kindness..." Zecora forced a bitter smile, and felt her right ear twitch. Amongst the silence of her hut in the Everfree Forest, a small shuffling emanated from near a wall. Zecora slowly turned her head, only to find a small pile of maybe 4-5 corpses of ponyville residents. Twilight had sent a small group to Zecora's hut to investigate the strange plants that called the Everfree Forest their home, but now all that remained were disembodied pieces and empty husks. Nothing besides her was left alive... but then why was that hoof moving?

It began moving towards Zecora, slowly pulling the remains of a blue pony with an hourglass cutie mark out of the pile. Fear filled Zecora's heart. The pony was covered in bites and gnawed off pieces of flesh. Everything made sense. It was the BITES that turned ponies into those ravenous creatures. Zecora gulped as she looked down at her still bleeding leg. The massive bite mark was turning the flesh around it a sickly green color, and she nearly passed out. This was the end, no way around it. Soon she would turn as well. She glanced back up at the crawling pony who was nearly upon her now, and a few other corpses worked their way to a standing position. Terrified, she swung her head around to the corner of the room where her hoof gun lay waiting. With every ounce of strength she forced herself upward, only to buckle and fall under her own weight. She was officially dead from the hips down. The blue pony reached her and took a large bite out of her leg. Zecora pushed her away and began crawling toward the gun as fast as she could. She reached the gun and unleashed the four remaining bullets into the skull of the blue mare.

Her rest was brief, because nearly a half dozen other zombies had pulled themselves out of the pile and were headed right for her. Panicking, she searched around the room for something, ANYTHING to help her, when a flash caught her eye. Zecora crawled her way into a closet where she found a single bullet lying on the clay floor. Her heart sank when she turned around and saw the half dozen zombified corpses heading toward her, and she did the only thing that came t mind. She shut the door, locking herself in the closet.

Zecora wept there for a long time; the bashing on the door from mindless zombies only confirming that this was the end of her. In complete darkness, she took the bullet, loaded it in the chamber of her gun, and sat very still. Her entire body was burning, and she knew the zombie's poision was working through her body and would soon shut it down. She knew she was going to die, of that she was certain, but death only brought about a new kind of hell. Zecora didn't want to become a mindless beast scouring the land for the flesh of living ponies. She couldn't. So she cocked the gun, let out a slow breath, and counted to three...

~~~~~~~~

The sound of gunfire alerted Rainbow Dash, who was out on a scouting mission. Concerned, she swooped down to the small hut. She flew right up to a brightly lite window and peered inside.

"N-NO...."

In the middle of the room, away from the horde at the closet door, stood a yellow pegasus. The sound of a living creature alerted the corpse, and it slowly turned it's head toward the window. A rainbow reflected off of its' eyes from the blue pegasus taking off as fast as she possibly could. She flew faster than she ever had before; her tears forming rain behind her. All the way to ponyville she flew, her head flooded with depression, regret, and the memory of Fluttershy's song of Kindness...