Ellie curled up and tied her arms around her legs. The sun had long since set over the horizon just over a half hour ago. After all she had been though, this was still not quite what she had expected life to take her. As long for she had dreamed of being in a world with not a single infected, this was all so hard to realize and ingrain on her mind. Since she was six, she was trained to kill, when she met Joel, she became better and better. First with a knife, now skilled in many ways.

Soft clops in the grass grabbed her attention from the stars. Her head turned slightly to see a tall blue 'pony'. Ellie knew who she was, she met her at dinner but never really engaged in a conversation deeper than where she had come from and what it was like. Luna sat down on the grass next to her and stared up into the sky.

"Here, I am able to decorate the night sky to however I may like it, or feel." Luna said after a few minutes passed by. "I used to think my time was wasted on giving beautiful nights to the ponies of Equestria...."

"Huh? What the heck are you talking about."

Luna looked to Ellie in the eyes and frowned. "Since our birth, my sister and I had to move the sun and moon because the world stopped spinning. Lava ran cold, and the core solidified. With us around, the world gave life unlike any other. The past was forgotten in order to save the world, and all civilizations from the past were lost, if there were any. When I lost my dream, it destroyed me and turned me into a monster. I was cured from my hatred and now I serve a new purpose for the ponies."

"What's that?"

"To protect them, to guard them and their dreams so that evil like the evil I was ruined with would never survive." Luna explained. "What I'm trying to say, is that even if we cannot find a way home for you, you should try to find a new dream. What was your dream before? What made you strive to survive."

"Joel..." Ellie answered, taking her eyes off Luna and back at the grass seen between her knees. "Joel saved my life so many times, protected me when he shouldn't have. Kept me afloat when I could keep myself afloat. Dealing with infected, raiders, cannibals, and trying to find supplies keeps our dreams away from us. Sleep, along with food, water, and shelter is a blessing anywhere you find it."

"You can adapt if you cannot return...Wait...why would you return? Your world sounds awful..."

"It may be awful...but...Joel's there...and I count on him. He's yet to teach me how to swim."

Luna nearly laughed out of surprise then regained some composure. "Y-...You cannot swim? Truly?"

"How Luna...Can I even?"

"Swim?"

"No, stay here. Can I adapt? I'm a killer! Luna some of your people could get me the wrong way...then the next thing I know I'm going to get killed back."

"NO!" Luna struck the ground with her fist. "You are an endangered species in Equestria, should you murder or get hurt by another pony, you have the fullest rights to protect yourself." Luna adjusted her spot in the grass and studied a set of blades. "I'm a killer too, and I have adapted, so so can you."

Ellie smiled but didn't let Luna see it. "All I've known is how to survive. You guys have everything here! Food you don't need to hunt and kill for! Fresh Water you don't need to boil! Not a single fucking infected here...All I've ever known."

Luna set a hand on Ellie's back, attempting in whatever ways to help the human before her. "All I ever known is how to shine though a shadow of my sister and my past. I have found one of those, and even today I still go to sleep every night how I am going to shine as bright as my stars."

"Heh...Pretty crazy of you to think the night's yours."

"But it is!" Luna grabbed Ellie by the wrist and pulled her up. "Come, we've yet to welcome my moon for the night. Tonight, a half-moon, waxing."

"Waxing?"

"When the shadowed side is facing away from the sun." Luna answered with an even tone. She wasn't going to act insulted at Ellie's remark, but educate her with proof. "For one thousand years my sister has moved the sun and moon around the world in attempts to make amends for banishing me to the moon. When I returned and was saved by my friends, I was so very eager to return raising my body." Luna began laughing. "Oh the night I had enough magic in me to jump start it-" Luna was trembling with giddiness of her memory. "I've never felt a rush like it before, feeling all my magic suddenly return to me. A thousand years of pent-up magic and much more left me feeling a state of high."

"You're so weird..."

"My accent won't change, but neither will my willingness to teach you of our ways, starting with how the day and night is carried." She said in a stern tone but her smile on her face left her words less serious and more instructor's -ish...Ellie wasn't sure how to describe it but just listened instead. She saw Luna point toward a set of mountains that had an odd glow behind them. "Those mountains are the Hollow Hills, home to the Hollow Shades Shadow Pegasi. They worship me far beyond godhood, like their mother. Their hills glow from the rich mineral that resides there called Moonstone, it gathers the moon's energy and converts it into raw liquid mana. When the moonstone glows at its brightest means they could release a massive amount of energy. Watch-"

Ellie watched with speculation as Luna's horn began to glow very brightly. Her once wispy mane began to flow up and wind began to blow faster. She rose into the sky ever so slowly, and just the glow from the Hollow Hills glowed brighter in response. The moon began to rise, slowly at first, then a swifter pace. It stopped at the first quarter of the sky. The moon shown down on the hills even more so now that they gave off a light much brighter than the moon before all the light just vanished.

Ellie dropped to her knees and could hardly form words, so her mouth was just making strange movements and noises. Luna giggled and knelt down over Ellie. "Just imagine what the full moon is."

"HOW!?" Ellie cried out, nearly shouting right in Luna's ear. "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?"

"Magic!" Luna clapped and cheered. "When one is an alicorn, we are attached to elements or celestial bodies. It's the same magic that healed your wrist and helped feed you while you were asleep!" Luna gently takes a hold of Ellie's hands and cups them. Her silky blue hands moved softly over her hands then up Ellie's infected arm. "We live in a world of magic and wonder, and while I have spent the past three years returning from my banishment trying to adapt to this new world, it can be the same magic that may be able to return you home. And I know you will not forget us."

"How don't I know this isn't some fucked up nightmare? How do I know I'm actually alive? For all I know....I could have turned."

"Then let me ask you this." Luna let go and took a few steps away. There was a very long silence and just for that moment, Ellie heard a whisper in the wind. "Then why would you want to return?" It was Luna's voice no doubt, but Ellie felt off and wasn't sure how to explain it.

"For Joel!" Ellie took a step closer. "I-...I can't leave him behind! He's never left me, so I won't leave him!"

Luna sighed and nodded. "What a noble hope, Ellie. This Joel sounds like a good father."

"My real ones are dead....didn't even get to know them...But Joel was the first person other than my friends in the academy I felt that I could trust. He's....He's kinda like my dad..."

Luna chuckled and pulled Ellie with her magic into a hug. "Family is what we make of it. My sister Celestia isn't really my sister, but when you find another immortal being that could help you just as you help them, you forget the fact you don't share blood. Sorry." Luna released Ellie from her hug and let her loose, although, strangely enough Ellie was still planted on her. "Ellie?"

Ellie tightened her hold. "I don't want him to die looking for me..."

Luna patted Ellie on the back. "Need not to worry. Within a week, we should have your answer. Now, lets help you to your room. We have a long day tomorrow."

"Long day? We doing something?"

"Celestia and I must get visas for you so that you may walk freely around our land. Since you are not a citizen of Equestria." Luna helped Ellie around and began leading them to the castle.

After Ellie was helped to her room, Luna gave a sigh before closing the door. A guard asked if she was fine, but it was tiring when she became emotional. Clearly Ellie was facing a lot of emotional trauma, and talking about her own life aided the problem to help Ellie open up more. She had to get to the bottom of this so that the Nightmares would not claim her for their own.

She held her court after arriving and Celestia had long since gone to sleep. It was a tough night of thought rather than dealing with the few who wanted to be up this late. The hall was empty aside from a dozen or so Night Pegasi and a couple night-owls. The doors opened and closed with one last mare who was dressed in a pair of slacks and a long t-shirt. What struck her as odd to Luna was that she had a broken patch of fur on her right shoulder that was barely hidden by the neck hole of the shirt. It was an Earth Pony with stilted green eyes which was even more striking. Her pale orange mane matches with a peach colored fur.

Luna leaned forward, clearly interested now. "Welcome to the Night Court. How may you address yourself?"

The mare knelt down and held out her palm. "Side Step, and I was tasked with giving you this blade which was found on the ground outside Ponyville. Princess Twilight instructed me to do so."

Luna took the small object from the mare using her magic, and in doing so, the mare dropped her arm but kept herself in a deep bow. "You may rise Side Step. Thank you for giving this to me. We will have our guards look at it." That was a lie, but Side gave a nod anyways and left without another world. Luna studied the small thing, noticing that it was a 'flip-switch-blade', one very small, only just the size of her palm when she was at full height and power.

The blade was covered in rust and looked well used by the sheer amount of blood that was soaked into the wood, dying it an ugly pink color. She pulled on the blade part and it flipped out. It had an engraving on it that was crudely made. 'Joel'. "Joel must be very important to you, for you to put his name on your weapon of murder." She said to herself, feeling better for saying it rather than thinking on it. She needed to stop thinking, but she also had to return this to Ellie. 'Tomorrow' She thought and placed it between her legs to hide it.

Ellie sat on her bed, looking out the window. Why was she feeling so bad, it made her heart beat heavily. She was used to having a fast pulse, but this felt unlike a regular rest rate would be. They were slow, hurting beats that made her want to cry. What was it that she was feeling? Confliction maybe? Ellie wasn't sure but also sure of it. Just, unsure how to answer Luna question. This made her unable to sleep, and so she just stared out on the country side.

Why was a city built on a mountain, Ellie will never know for sure. She just kept thinking about Joel, and how she wanted to return to him. Things were all too different and strange for her, so clam and quiet. Each time she blinked she saw hoards of infected then raiders attacking them. How Joel saved her life, how he worked so hard to make her happy, looking for every last Savage Starlight comic.

Ellie blinked in surprise. 'Endure and Survive'...She thought, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She laid down on her pillow -which felt just as heavenly as her bed- and closed her eyes, forgetting about the pains for just one moment.

Joel urged Ellie to follow him through the library. Hunters and Raiders all around them, for the last four miles it was just this. Her legs burned from the constant squatting she was forced to do, but she kept her mouth shut. Joel was doing his thing. After stabbing a raider in his throat, Joel lead Ellie up the stairs. Until he suddenly stopped. Placing his left ear on the wall, he paused his breathing.

"I can't believe it."

"What?"

"We ain't had no food, and now we got a couple of pesky tourists."

"How can a couple tourists be so bad?"

Joel let his breath go and looked back down at Ellie. "There's three in there. Stay close."

"I know..." Ellie sighed. Joel just shook his head and pulled out his handgun and checked his ammo. With only two bullets and a single shiv, he had little room to make mistakes. He hadn't seen alcohol in quite some time.

He tucked the gun away and pulled out a bottle. Sneaking more around to a small cafe lounge area, Joel peaked around. With one raider walking away and two guarding their exit. He threw the bottle at the two at the door and they looked away while the one walking stopped then continued. Joel readied his shiv and snuck his way towards the two trying to figure out what the noise was. He pulled one back and jammed his shiv right into his throat. Blood came pouring out of the man's body while he bled to death, and with the shiv broken, he readied his gun. Pointing it at the raider's head, he shot one off with the head exploding.

A pair bullets wiz by him. He ducks and rolls over. Ellie tries to take a peek but saw just enough to know Joel was fine. More shots thunder out of their casings which clang on the moldy floor. She hears Joel grunt in pain but doesn't see the bullet hole in his right shoulder, his shooting arm. The raider runs up on Joel and throws him into a bookcase. Joel yells out in pain, making Ellie jolt. She felt the urge to move and followed it.

Running up behind the raider Ellie flicked her knife out and jumped onto his back. Her small frame able to force him to fall over, firing off another round. Ellie begins ruthlessly stabbing him until the raider stops moving. She pants from the sudden exertion, but soon her eyes fall upon her escort.

Joel was laying on the wall, gasping out blood from his mouth. A bullet wound hit closer to home, the middle of his chest.

"JJJJJJJJJJOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She screamed as loud as she could, holding no power back behind her voice, even straining her vocal cords. Four guards rushed into the room at her sudden cry. Ellie panicked and looked around for any sign of danger, only finding that day had come.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

Ellie's head fell back in her pillow, tears streaming down her face. "Y-yes....leave, now!" At her order, they swiftly departed. She rolled in her bed onto her side and examined her bite mark. "Joel..."

Author's Note

Crazy right, two updates in a day. Plenty more, wait a couple days while I prepare them with final edits and additions. I like this one. No fame wanted with this puppy.