Luna of the Dead

Her trembling hoof was pointing at the large inferno that was consuming the barn she called home. The red paint was pealing off as the timbers snapped under the incredible heat. The glass shattered and melted in the window panes, and every part of the once lovely barn was turning black. Apple Bloom quickly covered her eyes, wishing that what she was seeing was just her imagination playing tricks on her. They had to be at least a quarter mile away, but heat was strong enough to make them start sweating. The filly and the dragon watched with horror as the walls burned away, reveling the sad skeleton of the barn. Through the endless flames, they could both see a dark blue figure spiral upwards, out of the blaze.

"LUNA!" they both shouted.

The alicorn princess, with an unconscious orange mare on her back, began directing her flight toward the tree where the two little ones were waiting, but she found it surprisingly difficult. A dark trail of smoke followed the alicorn, and her right wing suddenly burst into flames. Spike and Apple Bloom screamed in horror as the Princess fell into a nose dive from a great distance above them and crashed into the soft earth. They both hopped out of the tree and ran to the crater the Princess had formed.

"Luna, are ya okay?" Apple Bloom asked nervously

Luna's head popped up, eyes rolling around in her head. With a quick shake, she freed herself from the grounds and got back on her legs. "We, have had better landings."

"Luna, what happened to your wings?!"

"Luna, what happened to ma family?!"

The Princess quickly grew shocked. "Where is Apple Jack? Do you see her anywhere?"

Spike quickly ran along the path Luna had flown while the two ponies looked around the crater and the tree.

"Ah don't see her. Ah just don't see her anywhere." Apple Bloom fell to her knees, tears filling her eyes.

"Do not worry little one, we WILL find her."

"What about ma brother?" Luna hesitated when Apple Bloom looked at her. Knowing the answer, that she could only carry one at a time, she knew Luna had no choice but to leave Big Mac behind...in the fire.

"APPLE JACK?!" Spike hastily ran back to the two ponies. "Girls, I think I found her!" He pointed his claw up to the tree where Spike and Apple Bloom had waited. Out of the green foliage stuck an orange hoof, and golden hair was shimmering in the moon light.

~~~~~~~~~~

Apple Jack was bent and twisted in the branches, but they finally got her down, despite Luna's now useless wing being burned clean of feathers. AJ hadn't made a single sound during the struggle of getting her down, and darkness flooded the young filly's heart. They lay her on her back, making sure to be careful of the large branch jutting out of Apple Jack's ribcage.

Apple Bloom slowly nudged next to her sister's face. Fighting tears, she asked, "A-A-Apple J-Jack? P-P-Please t-tell me that y-your o-okay. Please be okay Apple J-Jack." Tears poured down Apple Bloom's face, and her voice was quiet as she gasped for short, ragged breathes. "P-P-Please Apple Jack, a-ah don't know w-what ah'd do without ya." Apple Jack's head moved slightly, and her eyelid lightly lifted open. "..a...A...Apple Jack?" The broken mare gently smiled at her sister.  Spike buried his face in his claws to weep as Apple Jack looked right into her sisters eyes, despite her own eyes slowly filling with blood. Apple Bloom's face dropped, and Apple Jack began coughing, spitting blood and mucus into the air. Apple Bloom's face filled with terror as her sister violently shook about, blood covering her face. Apple Bloom fell back as her sister lunged upwards and slammed back to the cold ground. Her head rolled towards the young filly, and Apple Jack forced words out, despite the extraordinary pain.

"A(*cough)A-App(*cough)Apple Blo-om........."

AJ's eyes closed and her body grew still. A small pool of blood formed under the mare's head, and her chest slowly dropped, releasing any remaining air. Apple Bloom froze...

"n-no...no, no, NO! NO, YOU CAN'T DIE APPLE JACK! AH NEED YA! YOU CAN'T DIE!!!"

The filly flew forward onto AJ's chest and began pounding as hard as she could. She hit again and again, harder and harder, doing everything to restart her heart and bring her back. She pounded her chest. 1. 2. 3... 1. 2. 3... 1. 2. 3...

"Apple Bloom" Luna said. 1. 2. 3... "Apple Bloom" 1. 2. 3... "APPLE BLOOM!" The filly turned towards the Princess of the night, eyes red and puffy and face covered in her sisters blood. "There's nothing more you can do. She's...she's gone..."

"Don't you dare say that." Apple Bloom fell to the ground, curled up as small as she could get, and her eyes squeezed close as she tried to block out the world. Silver rivers of tears flowed down her cheeks, and she struggled to gasp for air in between sobs. Luna did not know what to do. This filly made everything too real: the deaths, the misery,... and the hopelessness. Luna struggled to think of something to say; to calm the filly who now had nothing.

"Apple Jack..." she paused, "...was an incredibly special pony. She was honest, kind, and true. There was hardly a pony as loved as she was; by her family and by everypony she met." Apple Bloom's sobs grew slower, and her curious eyes eventually raised towards Luna. "The world will be a little darker without somepony as wonderful as Apple Jack, but please believe us when we tell you that she wanted only the best for you, and she would have wanted you to move on, to save yourself, to SURVIVE. There was hardly anything more important to her than you, and she would want you to be strong." Apple Bloom's eyes grew softer listening to the Princess's kind words, and she began crying a new kind of tears. Not tears of fear or hopelessness or loss, but tears of acceptance. She knew the Princess's words were true, and she had to accept that.

Apple Bloom brought herself to her hooves and turned towards her sister. Apple Jack, lying awkwardly on the rough earth, wore a bit of a smile, as if to confirm Luna's words. The filly leaned forward and gently kissed her sisters cold, bloody forehead. Apple Bloom couldn't get her sister back, no matter how much she wished she could, but she could certainly remember her. Apple Jack would live on in her mind and in her heart, and Big Macintosh and Granny Smith too. Her family was gone, and she was alone, but she would move on, and keep living, for them.

Luna and Apple Jack had taken care of a lot of the zombies, and the fire took care of the rest, so there was time. There was time to dig a grave and mourn. They would mourn Apple Jack, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Twilight, Celestia, and all the other ponies who had been taken by the plague; ponies who should never have been taken at all. They stood there, the Princess, the Dragon, and the Crusader; three souls who had suffered great heartache, but would continue on. Continue on for all those they had lost, and in hopes to stop anymore from being lost too. The sun rose, shining vibrant rays of yellow and pink and green throughout the sky, but even through the sunrise the three kept standing around the grave, remembering.....