Laying in Wait
The group was silent. Princess Luna stood with her eyes closed trying to calm herself. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Pete finally said breaking the silence. “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”
“It was around the original infection. I was standing guard over the gate when a pony approached. He seemed sane, but he had been bitten. At the time we were unaware of what this fully meant so I let him through to seek medical attention. My sister came to meet with him to try and learn more about what was happening. Then, she was bitten. This was when we started to understand how the infection spreads. My sister fully understood and she told me that I needed to kill her before Canterlot fell, so that’s what I did. She was killed and soon after buried.” Luna told the group.
“It must have been hard on you.” Pete said sympathetically.
“It was, but the worst part was the look on her face.” Pete looked up at this. “It was one of regret and disappointment.”
“Wait, explain again. What did you do?” Pete asked hastily.
“She’s been through a lot. Can’t you give her a break?” Twilight asked defending Luna.
“No I can’t. This is very important.” Pete told her.
“Fine, if you must know I used a sword and stabbed her through her heart.” Luan said looking away.
Pete’s eyes grew. “Matt, Jay, Liz ready up. We’re going to need to move fast.” Pete said quickly.
“What do you mean? What’s the matter?” Twilight asked.
“Because all this time you thought that this city was infection free. While in reality it’s actually been infected for a while now.” Pete answered.
“What do you mean, there are no infected individuals in the city.” Luna said aggressively.
“You’re wrong. There’s one and that’s all they need.” Pete said. “I can see why you wouldn’t realize this however. You don’t seem to pay attention to your environment so much. You haven’t learned to adapt to this new world that we live in.”
“What do you mean by that?” Luna asked forcefully.
“Because you didn’t realize that I’m the only one of my group still standing here.” Pete said with a smile. The guards soon realized he was correct and turned around to see the rest of the group entering the large city. When they turned back around to look at the last man they found him running directly at them. As he got close he jumped over them using many of their heads as stepping stones as he got behind them and ran towards his group. He soon caught up because they had slowed up for him before going at it full speed again.
“Any idea where to find it?” Matt asked.
“Castle, in a garden with some monument most likely.” Pete answered. “It looked like most of the guards were at the gate, so the castle should be relatively empty. At least I hope that was most of the guard.”
“Right!” Matt said as he ran up the steps to the castle and kicked open the large doors.
The small group soon started into the castle taking twists and turns until they finally found the garden they were looking for. As they entered they saw the largest grandest statue of a large mare with both wings and a horn. “This looks like it.” Pete said as he went up and put his hand on the statue.
“STEP AWAY FROM THAT!” A voice shouted. Pete jumped back quickly just in time to be missed by a very angry princess landing where he had been standing.
“You still don’t realize it, do you? You still don’t know who the infected is.” Pete said sternly to the princess.
“Fine let’s say you are right. Let’s say that there is an infected in this city. Then tell me who it is.” Luna said angrily.
“The infected is your sister.” Pete told her.
Luna was taken back for a moment. “Impossible, I saw my sister die. I KILLED HER!” Luna shouted the sadness in her voice evident.
“Yes you did kill her, but you still don’t understand the virus do you?” Pete asked her. Luna looked up at him. “The virus causes them to attack people yes, but it also kills them first.” Luna looked surprised and was about to speak but Pete kept on talking. “It brings them back as mindless slaves, and if what you say is true then I think that you sister woke up a while ago and has been trying to dig her way out. By my calculations if you buried her days ago, then she should be breaking through right about now.” As he spoke the ground beneath Luna’s hooves began to stir. A grey hoof broke through the ground and started to try and find a grip. Pete walked over and pushed the princess aside and brought out a combat knife from his belt. As he did a head came out of the ground that had obviously been white, but was now obscured by decay and dirt. Pete took his knife and stabbed it in-between the mare’s eyes. “The only way to truly stop them is to destroy the brain.” He said as he twisted the knife and jerked it out. The body fell limply to the ground. Pete wiped his knife on his vest and put it back in his belt. “This is the world as we live in. Get used to it.” He added as he walked back to his group. By now the rest of those who had found their way to the garden and watched the actions unfurl. Princess Luna sat on the ground not saying a word.
Matt put away his gun and turned to Pete. “So what do you think? I personally think that we might be better off just leaving.”
Pete looked at Matt. “That may be, but they aren’t prepared for this world yet. We should stay a bit longer before heading out. At least try to teach them the rules of this world. We’ve been doing this for, how long has it been now, months, years maybe. They’ve had days, we should try to help.”
Matt sighed. “You’re too helpful you know that right? It’s going to get you killed.”
“Well that’s why I have a ruthless guy like you to back me up.” Pete said patting Matt on the shoulder. Matt gave a soft chuckle and shook his head.
“You’re hopeless. I don’t know how you survived before us.” Matt told him.
“It’s because I wasn’t always this way.” Pete said. “Come on we should probably get out before she recovers from her shock.” He said indicating to the princess. Matt nodded and they started towards the front gate.
The small group of survivors was waiting at the gate. Jared was juggling his pistols, Liz was on watch, Matt was cleaning his rifle, and Pete was sitting down staring off into the sky. He turned his attention towards the gate when he heard the hoof beats approaching. The group turned their attention to the gate and saw Luna and Shining Armor approaching.
“Where’s Twilight?” Pete asked looking at Armor “and the rest of the guard?” he continued.
“They were sent back to their rooms.” Shining answered.
Luna then stepped forward. “I want to apologize.” She said her head towards the ground. “I let my previous experiences and personal feelings cloud my judgment.”
“I don’t forgive you.” Pete said.
Luna winced. “I understand, I’ll-” Luna started.
“Let me finish.” Pete interrupted. “I don’t forgive you, because I don’t think you have anything to apologize for.” Luna looked up at him surprised.
“He’s right you know.” Jay said from the side balancing one of his pistols on his finger. “You just did what you thought would protect the most of your people. No one will blame you for that.”
“We’ve done it before.” Matt continued. “If we come across anything that would put us in danger we avoid it.”
“We may seem like just some rag-tag group.” Liz said. “But we’re really quite organized and have a very good system.”
“However all of our systems revolve around one function; to stay alive.” Pete finished.
Luna looked at the four of them. She gave a small sigh. “Still it does disappoint me that I treated you so unfairly. You have truly proven that you can help us and I would truly appreciate it if you would stay in Canterlot.” Luna said to them.
Pete and the group gathered together. “You sure you want to do this Pete?” Matt asked.
“I’m sure. I don’t like leaving them unprepared.” Pete answered.
“Alright then, were with you.” Matt told him getting a nod from both Liz and Jay.
Pete smiled and the group came back over to the princess and Shining Armor. “Princess we would be honored to accept your invitation." Pete said giving a friendly smile to the princess as he spoke.
“Wonderful, follow me and I will take you to where you will be staying.” The princess said as she started back into the city. The group followed behind as the gate shut behind them.