Shadows of the Moon

Rain pelted down on the wastes of the earth, buildings crumbling around as the last vestiges of humanity try to eek out a small existence among this hostile world. A small group of men and woman stood around in the halls of a museum, donning the ancient armour of ages past, decked out in gear from a time of knights and maidens. Swords, spears, shields and Platemail divvied out amongst those present, some of the last of the living left upon the desolate planet, standing together in their last hours. harried and chased for days thy had finally been corralled into a situation with no hope of escape, number depleted from their "escape" to the museum they now found themselves in. Armies numbered in the millions slowly crawled their way to the entrenched humans, countless legions of the dead spilling out from the gates of hell, though these were different from those portrayed in the old world, nay these monsters before held sinister intellect and the knowledge for warfare, though still numberless shambling hordes, they had the know how of how to utilise weaponry, marking them as a dangerous foe.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, the men stood in the foyer of the museum decked out in armour with spears, swords and shields. The women stood on the upper levels wielding bows and arrows to cover their inevitable retreat farther back into the museum. One man still holding onto some  technology from the time before hell's gates were opened decided that he would use the last of his Iphone's battery in his final hour. Earphones plugged in and music beginning to play, Samuel Darius stood with the other men awaiting the tide of the dead.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaEY7Z3QsOA)

The doors to the museum burst open as the first of many stormed into the foyer. They rushed towards the oncoming spears, the front ranks sacrificing themselves to please their gods of evil and allow those behind to close on those men holding the spears themselves. the second line of undead smashed into the now disarmed humans before they could fall back behind their brethren, hacked down and brutally beaten with a bunch of makeshift weapons, from clubs to lead pipes the armour proving useless against such crushing power. Those behind the front row decided that it would be best to fall back, and funnel the dead up the stairs to provide a bottleneck and a chance to take down more of their murderers. Signalling to the women, the men quickly fell back up to the next level whilst the women opened fire with their bows, felling several dozen with their salvos. Darius stood on the stairs, readying himself and steeling his heart to what he would have to do. The tactics of the dead were but true evil. Children were the next to begin their charge at the surviving humans who now resided on the stairs.Holding his blade before him Darius swung out and cleaved into the head of one of the onrushing children, a few tears making their way down his face at the monstrous acts he had to perform. For some it was too much as they hurled themselves form the top floor of the museum to come crashing to the floor below, ending their suffering and creating more for those who yet lived, returning to fight their previous allies.

Darius stood firm holding the line as they were slowly being pushed backwards by both the ferocity and numbers of the oncoming tide. Moans coming from the throats of the dead in an unnatural chorus to further unnerve the defenders of the Museum.cutting legs and arms in an effort to slow down their advance, Darius took several blows against his armour, one or two breaking through the steel to cause injuries to the flesh underneath, seeming to drive the dead into greater frenzy. Back-stepping further even as those around him were being cut down, he began to make his way up to the next floor of the museum, women already beginning to fire more arrows down at the dead beneath them, some with flames to set alight the mass of rotting putrid flesh, aiming to ravage the bodies of the living dead, several collapsing into a smouldering heap the smell of burning flesh rising up through the air to mix with the sickly sweet smell of the rotting flesh.

The defence of the third floor was even more dire, many of the men had fallen by now leaving about twenty left to stem the never-ending tide to allow the women a possible chance of escape onto the rooftops. Those women who did manage to break the windows let out a wail of despair. They were completely and utterly surrounded, a wall of rotting bodies for miles upon miles shuffled slowly towards their position in a large circle surrounding the premises of the museum. They were well and truly trapped, doomed utterly to die in the building they had run to to escape from the dead. For some this realisations was too much for them to bear, straw that broke the camels back. They sank to the floor and awaited their fate. Those of a stronger composition turned to the oncoming swarm and unleashed a righteous indignation, raging at the cruelty and injustice that had befallen the world, firing a constant stream of arrows in an adrenaline fueled frenzy.

Darius and another five men were all that were left of the defenders of the women, they had been pushed back by the droves of horror, doomed to die next to their sister in the raging crescendo of war. The women left fighting rushed forwards in a rage, a cold fury next to the tempered stoicism of the men. Fighting in anger, the women were quick to make mistakes and were soon overwhelmed leaving a handful for fighters left standing. Music still blaring in his ears, Darius fought even harder to stave off the effects of exhaustion and dismay, he would take down as many as possible before the end. Crying could be heard from some of the women who had been broken, in crumpled heaps on the floor as some of the dead decided that they would begin their feast early, the cries of anguish quickly turning into screams of pain as they were devoured alive.

Another man went down, quickly followed by two more as they were being overwhelmed, bushed back towards an unbroken window in the futile fight for survival. All that were left now of the eight odd survivors numbered two, Darius himself, bloodied and bruised, and the last of the women. Both stood together fighting for all their worth, slaying dozens in their adrenal trance induced by both exhaustion and fear. Time seemed to slow for Darius as he heard a whistling sound at the same time as he saw a large figure wielding archaic armour and wielding a pike in one hand. Raising his shield on instinct Darius was saved from the arrows which quickly pierced the body of the woman, blood seeping from the piercing arrows in her armour, crumpling to the floor as the last of her life left her.

Standing alone before the undying horde, Darius felt a sense of peace, moonlight shining through the unbroken window to his back. Preparing himself for death at the hands of the brute before him. The music in his ears beginning their final crescendo as he was about to begin his own. Thinking back over his life before hell on earth began, he awaited his end with pride and dignity, to have come so far and denied the evil his soul, he felt safe in the knowledge that he had ended more than had ended him, with the knowledge that he had made survival easier for those that yet remained on the broken earth.

When the giant was upon him, it ended quickly impaled upon the pike, the monster kicked his soon to be corpse off the end. Unnatural strength lending force to his body, Darius was knocked backwards through the window, shattering it into a thousand pieces, the heavy armour he was wearing aiding in his fall. the last thing he saw was the monster standing in the shattered window as he fell towards the ground, the final notes of the song he was listening to ending as he was about to hit the floor. His body disappearing into the moonlight.

Equestria: The Nightcourt

Princess Celestia sat in the throne room attending to the duties that her sister would perform. Tonight was a different matter, tonight a tragedy had occurred. after months of carrying a foal, on what was meant to be a momentous occasion of celebration had instead turned into a night of anguish and depression of which Luna was not handling well at all. For that night the Child of Luna, soon to be Celestia's niece or nephew had been still-born. This small detail had shattered the will of Luna and it would be a long time before she would be ready to return to her duties. Her hopes and dreams of becoming a mother all crushed in a single moment, a pain so great Celestia feared that Luna may even try to take her own life for the pain she was dealing with. For now though she would have to keep up appearances, so she had Princess Cadence watching over her sister to keep her from doing anything too rash.

Her morose thought track was broken as a loud smash issued through the room as something came hurtling through one of the windows sliding across the ground, leaving a trail of blood and the sound of metal scraping across stone, the new creature came to a stop in a pool of its own life fluids before the throne. Celestia's guards readying their weapons in case this mysterious intruder was a threat. Immediately realising that the newcomer was on the precipice of death she ordered several guards to different places in the palace, two she sent towards the infirmary to get the staff to prepare the private room, and the others she reluctantly sent to her sisters chambers to summon both Luna and Cadance to the infirmary for a most dire medical emergency. Pushing all other thoughts out of her mind, Celestia concentrated and summoned magic to her horn, and with a blinding flash of golden light, both she and the dying figure were transported to the private rooms in the infirmary. Placing the creature on the medical bed, She anxiously awaited the arrival of the other two princesses.