Luna of the Dead

The night was coming to an end. Luna knew that, even in this apocalyptic wasteland, she still had responsibilities. And now that Celestia was gone, she had to do what her sister had once done, control the moon AND the sun. She'd risen the sun before, after her sister had... after she had to take responsibility, but it was tough, and she was exhausted. She needed to find somewhere to hole-up and figure out what to do without Twilight.

"How are you doing Spike?"

"Alright I guess." The young dragon hadn't said a word since they left the library, and Luna was saddened knowing there was nothing she could do to ease the pain of loosing the most important pony (or one of the two most important ponies) in his life. "I just wish there was something we could do..."

He trailed off, and Luna turned her head forward again. What could they do? The only advice her sister could give was to find Twilight, but Twilight was... lost, too. Where could she possibly go from here?!

A blood-curdling scream shook the near-bye trees. Spike quickly snapped out of his daze.

"Did you hear that? It sounded like it came from over there." He pointed his claw towards a large apple orchard; Sweet Apple Acres. "It might be one of the Apples!"

Luna swiftly ran along the trail to Sweet Apple Acres, where she could see who was screaming. There was a large horde of zombiefied ponies surrounding the barn. "NO GRANNY SMITH!" Apple Bloom's voice could be heard through the mindless moaning of the pony horde.

"QUICKLY LUNA, WE HAVE TO HELP THEM!"

"We know." She looked through the horde, trying to identify any threat. Luckily, it was mostly Earth ponies. There were three unicorns, two of which had broken horns, and a Pegasus missing a wing. Luna let out a sigh of relief, "Ahhhhh, thank Celest.... the stars, that it is mostly earth ponies." Luna quickly unveiled her shotgun, spread her wings, and took off in flight towards the roof of the barn.

~~~~~~~~~~

"NOOOOOOOpe!" The thing that had once been Granny Smith pulled her head back, taking with it a large chunk of warm, bloody flesh from Big Macintosh's rear leg.

"Quickly Big Mac," Apple Jack screamed, "Get in here!"

Big Mac galloped into the kitchen, and Apple Bloom slammed and locked the door. The sound of Granny Smith and a few other zombie ponies could be heard bashing on the door.

"No, Big Mac." AJ's face was cold and grave as she grabbed a towel from the sink. She wrapped it around Big Mac's leg, knowing that it would do nothing more then slow the bleeding. He had been bit, and nothing could help him now. Granny Smith had been bit, and while at first she seemed to be fine, it was only a matter of time before she...succumbed to the infection. And now Big Mac was bit. She could see the sorrow in his eyes.

"You've been, uh...bit."

"Eeyup," he said slowly.

Apple Jack tried to say something, something comforting, something to make it not real, something to stop her from having to face the truth. Tears started rolling down her eyes, and Big Mac nuzzled his head against hers. Apple Bloom was sitting nearby, fighting back her tears. Big Mac looked at her, and she ran to him. They all sat there sobbing, knowing this was the end, when something rattled in the chimney.

"NO, NOT A PEGASUS" Apple Jack shouted.

A large cloud of black ash poofed out of the chimney as Spike and Luna came tumbling down.

"Pri-Princess? Princess Luna and... Spike?!" Apple Bloom dashed off of her brother and over to the Princess. "Spike, Princess Luna, have ya come to help? Can ya help us? Can ya save my brother?!

"We, uhhh..." Luna looked over at Big Mac, and he knew there was no helping him. He silently nodded towards Apple Bloom, and Luna knew what he meant. "We have come to get you out of here, far away from...danger."

"Ya mean it? Your gonna get us to safety, all of us?!" A cold tear ran down her seemingly ecstatic face.

"Uh, yes. We must get you out of here first, so we can drop you and Spike off and then get the bigger ponies out." Luna glanced at Big Mac and put on a fake smile.

"And you'll come back for ma sister and brother, right? Okay then." Apple Bloom climbed up onto Luna's flank, and held tightly around Spike. Luna got back into the chimney and bolted out into the night just as the zombies gave one last "Wham" and busted the door off of its hinges.

~~~~~~~~~~

Apple Bloom and Spike jumped off Luna and onto the large branch that stuck out of one of the apple trees. Luna said she would be right back with Apple Jack, and quickly dashed back to the barn. Apple Bloom and Spike sat on the branch, watching the Princess fly into the chimney and disappear. They both sat there, waiting... watching... hoping everything would be okay. It felt like hours they were there, motionless, to fearful to talk. They just sat and waited... waited until the moon had begun to touch the horizon, and a bright light had filled the darkness. But it wasn't the sun.

"FIRE!"