The sky was dark; the black smoke filled the air. Ash rained from the heavens and balls of fire fell from the sky, destroying all in their path. The children screamed as their parents tried to get them somewhere safe. Meanwhile at the Castle, the two princesses looked upon their burning province. The first, and oldest, had a stern look. The younger one began to sob as she saw the horrors unfolding before her eyes.
"Luna," the older one said to her sobbing sister. "It's time to leave." Luna gasped.
"But, how will we manage to get everypony out?" Luna panicked. "We don't have nearly enough vessels to perform such an action!" her sister began walking away from the fires. Luna turned her head and looked at her. "Celestia, there's something else, isn't there?" Celestia nodded, without looking.
"It came with the meteors," she began. "A virus."
"What kind of virus?" Luna turned her head. "Surely we can cure it! We have the technology." Celestia sighed, looking down. She turned around towards Luna.
"We cannot cure this!" Celestia pounded her hoof on a table. "This virus has the ability to raise the dead. It is too powerful for the medicines we have here!"
"But--" Celestia raised her hoof.
"Luna, you must leave. Activate the Triton. With the other ships, we may be able to get everypony out."
"How powerful is this virus?" Celestia gestured her hoof towards one of the back windows. Luna walked towards it, and gazed out. The sight nearly made her vomit. Thousands of limbless bodies, ripped open and empty. The entrails of thousands scattered the courtyards. "Everything we ever believed in..." Luna's voice trailed off, and she began to cry again.
She looked again, and saw deformed looking ponies. Their skin sagged, as if it didn't quite fit them. Parts of bone stuck out of their flesh. Their stomachs split open, with entrails sliding across the ground as they walked. Most of them had no bottom jaw, instead long and sharp spikes stuck out of their mouths. Blood ran down their faces, from their eyes, like tears. Large spikes broke out of their backs, similar to what was in their mouths. The sight of these did make Luna vomit. She cried more, before turning back towards Celestia.
"What of Twilight Sparkle?" Luna asked. "Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie? Where are they?" Celestia sighed before turning back towards Luna.
"To protect them from the virus, I had them put in Cryosleep." Luna gasped.
"For how long?"
"2000 years. Long enough for you all to be far from this hellish place." Luna once again turned her head.
"You talk as if you're not coming with us." Celestia looked to the ground, before looking at the flames which began to spread up into the castle.
"I'm not," she said, barely audible.
"But sister--"
"Luna, try to understand. I'm old, I've lived my life long enough to see the ones I care about brutally taken from me. I have watched this Universe grow from infancy. I have seen into the eyes of Eternity, and I know when it's time." Luna was speechless.
"You cannot leave. What will become of the planet?"
"The planet will be gone, frozen in ice." Celestia hugged her sister, before backing away. She looked once again at the burning flames, which began to spread up the castle. The sound of zooming ships came from the sky, as the ships began to depart. Luna looked through the holes on the roof. She saw the ships soaring above her.
"What do I do without you? I'm not ready to lead thousands of ponies." Luna looked back at her sister, who began to cry.
"You're going to have to try," with that, Celestia's horn began to glow, and Luna felt herself being lifted off the ground. She looked behind her and found a small transport pod, capable of carrying only one passenger.
"No, no! Let me go! Celestia, you can't do this!" Luna sobbed more, as she found herself unable to fight the force of Celestia's magic. She was pulled inside, and the hatch closed. Celestia approached the pod. She put her hoof to the glass, continuing to cry.
"After all of this, if you manage to find a home to be safe on, please, remember me." Celestia removed her hoof from the glass. She looked to the skies, hearing the zooming. "The ships have begun to depart. Goodbye Luna. I will always love you," Luna put her hoof to the glass, crying. The pod flew up into the sky, leaving behind the castle.
As Luna boarded the S.S. Triton, floods of ponies surrounded her, asking her questions. What was happening? Where was Celestia? Where were they going? Luna had no answers for them. She looked back towards the planet, before they left. She saw the flames spreading across the fields, engulfing all in their path. Celestia was still on the planet. She looked across her burning province, hoping to see a glimmer of hope arise from the ashes and corpses, beginning to come back from the dead. She shed a single tear, looking to the sky.
"Never forget me," she whispered once more. She rose into the sky, leaving a small trail of light in her path. She lifted her arms into the sky, looking up at the patches of sun which were still visible through the clouds of ash. Her horn began to glow a bright blue and in a flash, the world went dark. The sun had vanished. On the spaceship, Luna looked at the suddenly blackened planet.
"What did she do?" Luna asked herself. She watched as the planet slowly began floating away from the spaceship's view. They were leaving, and Celestia had made sure the virus would not spread. The guards rushed in through the doors, behind Luna.
"Princess Luna," one of them said. "What happened? Where is Princess Celestia?" Luna looked at them, before looking back at the planet, or where the planet would be.
"She saved us. All of us," And the S.S. Triton, among other ships, had no home. The ponies were left to survive on their own, without the one thing that made them who they were...
ERaDI
D i v i s i o n
