Decay

by Hypnotwist

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Sad, Original Character, Suicide / Self Harm, Tragedy, Profanity, Princess Celestia, Sex, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 3649

On the day of her demise, Sunset writes a single diary entry to explain her life after the apocalypse and why the dead began to walk again.

Sunset Shimmer wished to visit Equestria so she could spend time with Twilight Sparkle and perhaps princess Celestia, everything has been going well until maybe an hour into her visit with Celestia when a panicked guard comes in blubbering about how the dead have begun walking again, he's had several large chunks of his flesh torn off his forehooves and the mounting evidence points to the possibility that undead ponies have arrived in Equestria.

Celestia, Sunset, and Twilight quickly find out that the dead have indeed begun to walk once more and retreat into Celestia's bedroom where they are safe. Nearly a year later when the end is near, Sunset writes one single diary entry explaining what had happened in her life during the apocalypse and why the dead were walking again.

This fic contains: Suicide, Sex (not graphic nor described), Bad words, Descriptions of corpses/gore, and Sunlestia shipping

Published 2023-05-16 06:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-05-16 06:10:00 UTC

Wednesday, June 17th, 2015

Well, my life has gone to shit and I'm pretty sure the rest of the world could say the same. Zombies. Fucking zombies. It's been a year in this damned apocalypse but I never get used to seeing the dead walking around, especially when they're extra decayed and gross. But I guess I'm writing this to tell you what happened, so here we go.

I'd come through the portal to visit Twilight when everything went wrong, we'd decided to visit princess Celestia so we could catch up and simply talk about our lives and what was going on in them when a guard came rushing into the room, his hoof had multiple chunks ripped out of it.

He spoke so fast we could barely understand him, but what we were able to make out was that the dead wouldn't stay dead. I didn't believe him at first, I mean, zombies? You'd have to be on some strong drugs in order to think that, but much to my dismay and horror he did have several chunks of his hoof missing and the mounting evidence was pointing towards that he was telling the truth about the dead coming back and trying to feast on everyone's brains.

Unfortunately he also mentioned that it was utter chaos in the major cities, and Ponyville seemed to be abandoned, he presented the princesses with reports from other members of the guard. I moved to go take care of his wounds, y'know, to try and help him but he flinched away from me and started screaming and convulsing.
It scared me shitless to be honest, Celestia and Twilight looked up from the various reports upon hearing the horrifying gurgling coming from the poor stallion and Twilight yelled for me to get back, he's turning.

Oh Celestia, just remembering the noises he made as he was turning into one of those things makes me want to vomit. Anyways, I of course don't question it and I gallop over to Celestia for protection, she always was like a mother to me. Is, sorry. She's here with me, she's actually wondering what I'm writing. I don't have the heart to tell her.

She put him- No. She put that thing down, he got up and the way his head snapped towards us still pops up in my nightmares sometimes, it was disgustingly unnatural. The way it shambled towards us, it's gurgling groans and grunts. The way it tried to pin me down and take a bite out of my neck, the chomping of it's teeth as it fails to take a bite is just.. Gross.
I'm sure you know, you've found my journal and I've been in the castle with Celestia for a year now, you no doubt had to fight countless undead monstrosities to get to us.

It's only been a year, I turned 18 yesterday but it feels like it's been decades.. Happy birthday to me, surviving in a zombie apocalypse when the portal's been destroyed so I have no way back to my friends is heartbreaking really, not a good birthday present at all.
I'd give anything to see them again, my friends, the last time I saw them I said I'd be back in two days. Do they wonder where I am? Do they miss me? I love Celestia and all but zombies just aren't my kinda thing.

I'm tired now, magic is slowly being drained from the world and soon magic will disappear entirely. That means Celestia's enchantments protecting this wing of the castle will soon stop working, and then we're dead. The hordes outside are massive, bigger than even the largest one that was last reported in Manehatten, fuck, the last report we got was half a year ago.
Some general named Magic Mango pushed through the horde in the castle to get the message to us, she was seriously injured when she arrived and was begging to be killed before she had a chance to come back as one of those monsters, we buried her in the garden. Lucky bastard, she was the last to be buried before the horde migrated to Canterlot..

Sorry, I'm really getting off topic, I guess I'm trying to tell anyone who finds this what happened, how Equestria fell. How the world ended. How the hopes and dreams of everypony in the world were crushed that fateful fucking day.
She put the thing down and tells us to follow her, that we're going to her room to await a guard escort to a safer place. Twilight meanwhile is writing what she can on the back of the scroll for future research, damn her, if only we knew then..

We got to her bedroom and barricaded the door, Celestia quickly casting enchantments on the room to soundproof it so the undead wouldn't be able to learn of our location unless one of the alicorn screamed in the Royal Canterlot Voice or something.
Celestia was so worried about her sister, she kept trying to send her letters but they were sent back a split second later, we later found out the reason for this and it was because Luna was dead before we even knew of the zombies. We've since come to the conclusion that she was bitten when she went out for a walk before bed.

Fuck, Celestia was heartbroken. She didn't stop crying for days, she'd calm down for maybe an hour before she would suddenly start bawling again, I don't blame her, she lost her baby sister who'd only been back from her millennia long banishment on the moon for just under two years.
Anyhow, for days we kept trying to send her letters, we'd hear the occasional scream of a pony being turned into a feast for the undead or a small squad of guards trying to secure the castle, but other than that there was no sign of the lunar princess, she may have remained dead if she was lucky enough.

Maybe a week later we mustered up the courage to wander outside of Celestia's room, Celestia was in front, flanked by me and Twilight Sparkle as we cautiously made our way through the abandoned castle.
Twilight was taking notes on the states of the various corpses we found in the long abandoned halls, some were bloated beyond recognition and only identified because of their uniform. Some looked like they'd been dead for only five minutes while others looked like skeletons.

I found it odd how instead of being worried Twilight seemed to be interested, she wasn't disgusted by the smell of death, she was intrigued. I wondered why she wasn't worried about her friends and family, and why she was treating this whole crisis like it was another average Tuesday.
We slowly got to the kitchen where we found even more corpses, more than average actually. The decaying bodies of guards were piled on top one another, some Royal Guards, some Lunar, even some Night Guards were there, their armor was recognizable.

We found Time Bomb laying sideways on top of Crescent Cataclysm, Astral Charge was cut in half and strung across a Night Guard that was too rotted to identify, their bellies cut open and their organs left for everyone on display, various other guards were rotting in the kitchen alongside them.

It was at this point that Celestia finished emptying her stomach and went over to Twilight. "What are you writing down?" she asked, curious as to what she was doing.

I had my questions too, but somewhere where we were way too exposed wasn't the place to ask them. "Shush, not here." I hissed at them, I really didn't want to become a monster's lunch so I gestured towards the giant fridge and cabinets. "We need to get food and get back to your room."

In all fairness my rudeness was justified by my will to survive, they quickly shut up and we got to work raiding the kitchen for food. We were lucky that none of the other survivors thought of coming here because there was more than enough to last us a few years if we were careful and rationed properly.
The perks of having such a massive pantry in a palace is that it's always kept full I guess. We planned on bringing the non perishables back to Celestia's room where could lay it all out and plan our meals for the next few weeks, I was very grateful that there was food for us to eat because the prospect of having to sneak around the horde that made Canterlot it's home was not too thrilling.

Our luck didn't last, we were almost to her room when we all encountered a small group of maybe four zombies, they all blocked the way so we had no choice but to either sneak around them as they were slumped over and seemed to be in some sort of mock sleep or choose violence and try to kill them.
Twilight, who I was now getting suspicious of only furthered my reasons for being suspicious by sneaking up behind one of them and taking a blood sample.

Celestia opened her mouth to protest, I assume she must've realized that making any noise was all but a death sentence so she shut her mouth and wildly gestured for Twilight to get the fuck to her room.
Shit, I wish I knew of what was to come, maybe it would've spared a little heartache if I'd only known..

We finally get back to her room when Celestia pipes up. "Twilight, what is it that you're writing down?"

"Nothing important, just some research on the virus." I remember Twilight saying.

"If it's related to the virus it is important." I spoke, setting the snacks I had in my aura down on Celestia's bed and trotting over to the duo. "Are you working on a cure?"

"Like I said, it's not important. I'm noting down some of the varying undead we encounter, I'm coming up with names so in the future ponies will be able communicate with one another the varying types of infected they come across. I've called the ones who seem to be in some sort of fake sleep 'Dreamers'."

Fucking liar, she says she's researching various zombie types but the truth comes out eventually. It came out two months later just after we came back from the pantry with another few weeks worth of food, we found letters addressed to us. I'll write down what was written just under this. I'll put it in quotations so you know what's part of the letter and what isn't.

"Sunset, you asked if I was researching the virus two months ago. Yes, I was. I'm so sorry, I never wanted things to turn out this way. It was a simple experiment, two virus samples, a mix of chemicals that I've done research on beforehoof. It was supposed to be safe! It wasn't supposed to create a virus that raises the dead soon after death and could be transmitted via fluids.
Please believe me when I say that things got out of hoof before I could contain it, Fluttershy fell ill first after a rat that I'd tested the virus on escaped and ran to her. It turned and bit her, I really didn't mean it, I swear! Applejack was next, Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, Starlight, Mayor Mare, Buttons, before I knew it all of Ponyville was gone.
And then you came through the portal so I asked if you wanted to visit Celestia, I wasn't going to let you die too, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I ended the world on accident.
I'm not coming back, I'll find a cure, I promise."

I was angry, hurt, but also grateful that she got me out of there before I could turn too. In the letter to Celestia she said that she destroyed the portal to protect the other world from her virus, but I don't know if she saved them, I truly hope they're safe and think I abandoned them.
I'd rather have them hate me and think I left them without saying goodbye than know I'm all but dead in a world where zombies are roaming the streets and murdering any uninfected they come across.

It's been almost six months since she left, the pantry has almost no food left, our spirits are at an all time low and I suspect we know our deaths are coming. I've decided to write this final entry so anyone who'd find this journal may know what happened to Equestria in it's last days.

During this last run we got to the infirmary and took all of the medication we could carry, Celestia says it's because we'd be able to take care of our wounds if we were to be injured. But I know. I know it's to end ourselves if the undead come pounding on the door, I'm not stupid.

I love Celestia so much. I wish I was able to tell her on my own, but it's the end of the world and we don't have much time left so I confessed, I've had a crush on her for a few years now, she's so beautiful, kind, she cares for all of her subjects, she's perfect.
I always felt weird for having a big old crush on my former mentor and mother figure, I felt nasty, but it's the end of the world so nobody's around to judge me for it anymore.

I confessed and her eyes widened in shock, at first I thought she was going to be disgusted, but she wasn't. She kissed me and then, well, I think you can guess what happened. It was the happiest I've been since the whole apocalypse began, in the hooves of the mare I loved with my very being.

All good things have to come to an end I suppose, leading to now, the zombies are pounding on the door, I'm writing my final diary entry, I told Celestia what I was writing as she's preparing the pills. She says hello by the way.
The medication expired months ago so it's definitely going to kill us, but I'm scared.
I'm scared of what's coming next, I don't want to die but at least I'll go peacefully in the arms of my lover.

So I suppose if you ever find our bodies then please bury us in the gardens if they're still gardens by the time you find us, if they aren't then please bury us on top of a hill side by side, this is our final wish.

With deep sorrow and fear,
Sunset Shimmer

Author's Note

I'm fixated on zombie games again if you can't tell, but nah this isn't good but damn if it wasn't fun as hell to write. :rainbowwild:

OC tag is for Aftermath chapter.

To future readers: I'm in the process of rewriting this, I originally wrote this when I was so hot that I could barely think and I'm only at the intro of this fic and it's noticeably much better in comparison to what's been posted here.

Aftermath

A navy blue unicorn stallion in a military formal uniform walked through the ruins of Canterlot Castle reminiscing about pre-apocalypse times, though the undead threat had been completely eradicated thanks to princess Twilight, the heartache and suffering of the surviving ponies had never gone away and likely never will.

The stallion walked through the castle, kicking debris out of his way as he went. There were workers buzzing around, ever since princess Twilight announced a restoration effort many working class ponies had been hired to restore Canterlot and the surrounding areas, the stallion suspected it was because of her former mentor and best friend since Canterlot was once their home and she wanted to honor their memory.

He sighed and looked at the workers doing their jobs, everypony he spoke to looked miserable, everypony lost a loved one. Some lost a parent, some a sibling or friend, some ponies like himself had lost a significant other in the fall, his heart ached each time he remembered his coltfriend, his smile, his laugh, every memory that involved him served to break his heart all over again, his dreams weren't even safe as he relived the moment he lost his coltfriend forever. He was forced to watch as he choked on his own blood, terror clear on his face while he was powerless to do anything about it.

His breath hitched and tears threatened to spill from his eyes, he blinked the tears back and took a deep breath to calm himself. He forced his body to move as he neared the gardens where the monument to the fallen of Canterlot was, where her majesty and her lover were buried, where his coltfriend was buried. The stallion wiped his tears as he walked, his lover would never want him to be sad, he'd want him to carry on and do his best to help the surviving ponies.

He slowly walked out into the gardens of Canterlot, he took his time as he enjoyed the views around him, the hired gardeners really had turned the gardens around since he was last there. The sun shining down on his fur caused him to let a tiny smile grace his features, he always enjoyed the days when the sun shined, it made the day a tiny bit easier to get through and Celestia knows he could use all the help he could get these days.

The military stallion nodded towards the guards on duty who saluted him, though he was only in Canterlot for one reason, he hoped to visit his coltfriend again, he made it a monthly tradition to come visit him and tell him everything that's happened in his life, it made the grieving process slightly easier. He hoped it also comforted his lover in his afterlife to know he'll never be forgotten and that he'll always be remembered by ponies as a hero who died defending Canterlot during the fall.

The stallion made his way to the memorial, the granite wall had all of the names of the deceased carved into it, he walked over to where they'd carved his coltfriend's name into the stone to be immortalized and remembered. His breath hitched as he put his hoof on Gentle's name, he was so proud of him, he'd saved nearly a dozen lives before that damned infected got a bite in on his neck.

"I miss you so much." He whispered, his voice wavering the whole time he spoke. It had been nearly two years since the undead were killed again, a year since he was granted his position as General of the Guard, but the events of the fall will stay with him forever.

The clopping of hooves on pavement behind him and clanking of armor gave away that princess Twilight was on site, he sniffled and turned around to stand at attention for her majesty. Upon seeing her he bowed, waiting for the order to rise before addressing her directly. "Your majesty, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon General Midnight, how are you?"

Platinum Midnight sighed and turned around to place his hoof back on his coltfriend's name, his mane was disheveled and the stallion was noticeably exhausted. "I'm.. Alright I suppose."

"You're visiting the memorial again?"

"Of course. I want him to know that I'll never forget him and that I love him so much." Platinum turned around to meet his princess's gaze. "I assume you're her to visit her majesties and princess Celestia's lover?"

"I'm sure your coltfriend knows how much you love him, he'd be proud of you and how far you've come since everything happened. Also yes, yes I am." She sighed, taking a moment to speak again "Celestia's lover's name was Sunset Shimmer, she was my best friend."

He nodded, he never knew who Sunset was to princess Celestia, but now that he knew her name he would make sure others did as well. "I'll make sure she isn't forgotten, princess."

Twilight smiled and looked at the list of names, her eyes landing on the names of her friends and loved ones. "Thank you Platinum, that means a lot to me."

Midnight since turned around to look back at the stone, tears yet again threatened to spill from his eyes as he remembered the last time he saw his coltfriend in a good mood. "The last weekend I had with him, we went to Donut Joe's, he always loved his maple bars. He had so many of them that day that he said he felt sick and I laughed at him for being an idiot." He sniffled and kept going. "We then spent the rest of the day walking around the park enjoying the day."

The purple alicorn draped a wing over his back and pulled him closer to her. "That sounds lovely, I'm glad you got to spend time with him and make some happy memories. The last memories I have of Sunset and Celestia was Sunset making a bunch of unholy jokes and Celestia looking like she wanted to kill her."

Platinum chuckled and looked over all of the other names on the wall. "I suppose we have to move on and make them all proud, huh princess?"

"I suppose we do, we can do it. We'll make sure the fall never happens again."

"We'll make sure nothing like it ever happens. I guarantee it."

Twilight laughed softly and pulled him closer, she was happy she at least had one friend by her side to be there for her.

Author's Note

I made myself cry twice while writing this fic, damn it.

Either way this fic ain't good, but it was fun (and emotional apparently) to write.