Luna of the Dead

Ponyville appeared abandoned. It had been nearly three months since the "outbreak" and Luna didn't know if anypony was even still alive. Luna had no idea if she was the last pony in all of Equestria. She pushed these thoughts behind her; she had to find a cure. She had promised her sister.

The shops were all looted, the windows and doors broken, and bodies littered the streets. The moonlight shone brightly, illuminating the chaotic footprint the plague had left in its wake. The air was still as Luna slowly walked through the silent streets, looking for any sign of life. She heard the shuffling of undead hooves walking in the distance. Luna knew the zombies were mindless, feral beasts that had no concept of sight or mobility, but if they heard sound, they would move in that direction, never stopping until they found a new sign of food. Luna carefully walked in the opposite direction of the sounds. Where there is one undead pony, there are likely a dozen more lurking around.

She recognized the library where Twilight lived; she refused to move out, despite having become a princess. Twilight couldn't stand leaving her friends after her inauguration, so Luna knew there was no way she would abandon Equestria to this disease. Everything seemed clear, but Luna knew better than to assume. She waited outside the locked door, listening for any possible sound indicating danger. She then closed her eyes, and using her magic to detect movement, decided it was safe. She picked the lock and slowly creaked the old, wooden door open, checking the inside of the building for danger. She carefully shut the door, created a light sphere to dimly illuminate the room, and began searching the library for any sign of the purple alicorn.

The main room, bedroom, and closet were all empty. The only place left that she hadn't searched yet was the basement/science room. Twilight had always been obsessed with understanding everything, so there was no question in Luna's mind as to why Celestia believed Twilight would be able to find a cure. She unlocked the metal door, and slowly headed down the stairs.

"Twilight", she called quietly, "Twilight, are you there. It is us. Celestia asked us to find you. We believe you might be able to find a cure. Are you there Twilight?"

She came to the bottom of the stairs. The entire room was dark, except for the pale blue light flickering at the back of the room. Each flicker briefly illuminated the wall of machines, and an eerie chill ran up Luna's spine. A quiet hum came from one machine located next to a filing cabinet. She hesitantly walked over to the cabinet and opened the drawers, where she found every bit of research, information, and test results Twilight had gathered on the zombie plague, which was next to nothing. Luna was puzzled and concerned when she discovered that Twilight had no idea what was going on, how to handle it, or how to cure it. She was lost in thought when she heard a stirring from behind one of the machines.

Luna had put what appeared to be slightly valuable information into her bag and headed toward the sound, her pistol out and cocked, ready to fire. She approached the dull, grey machine with trepidation. With her gun flying in front of her, she slowly turned the corner and faced the source of the noise. There was a large blob lying on the ground. Knowing full well how dangerous this could be, and expecting the worst, Luna nudged the blob with the point of her gun. A snarl arose from the blob, and it slowly began to rise. Luna aimed at what appeared to be the head, and prepared to fire. The figure stood up, and as Luna was about to unload the round, it flung the blanket off.

"SPIKE?!"

There before her stood Spike the Dragon, perfectly fine and a little drowsy. "Lu-Luna? Wha-what's going on?"

"Spike, what are you doing? Where is Twilight?"

Spike's eyes widened when he heard that name, and tears began to flood his eyes. He fell to the ground, his face buried in his claws. Luna knew exactly what this meant; she had seen this exact reaction too many times before. This was what happened when somepony knew that their loved one was lost forever, transformed into a hellish abomination of their past self. Spike ceased crying, unable to form anymore tears due to days of doing nothing but weeping for Twilight.

"Lu-Luna, they, the-the-they came out o-of nowh-where. They ju-just...and then Twi-Twilight, she... she..." he covered his face again and let out a quiet scream. Luna looked away, closing her eyes and fighting back her tears. She turned back to the baby dragon.

"Listen to us Spike, we must get going. It is only a matter of time before they find out that we're in here. Twilight would... Twilight wouldn't want anything to happen to you. She would want you to be safe, and to keep moving on." The baby dragon looked up at the Princess through his claws, sniffling, "Come on Spike, we must leave." Spike slowly got to his feet, grabbed the blue blanket he was wrapped in, and climbed onto Luna's back, burying his face in her mane. She took one last look around the room before heading back up the stairs, out of the library, and into the night.