Pony-Z

by Black Light

Chapter 27 - Madness

Madness

Pete was sitting at the dinning table polishing his helmet. He had just finished cleaning the weapons that rested next to him, and his armor that he now wore. Sitting across from him was Rainbow, who was explaining their recent scouting missions. She tending to focus on her 'awesome' stunts. Pete just smiled and listened.

"-And then while in the shop this infected suddenly jumps out and grabs me. He starts shouting and shaking me all about, so I punched him in the muzzle and did a backflip back onto my hooves. I got out of there, but I could've taken him." She said with confidence.

Pete's look hardened. "What did you say?" He asked.

"What? Weren't you listening. I said it grabbed me and started shouting so I-"

"Zombies don't shout." Pete stated. He stood up. "Get Luna to prepare a chariot. If what I think is happening is starting, we need to stop it here." He told her standing up.

"What? What's starting?" She asked looking at him worried.

"Just get a chariot, and tell the guards where to fly to." Pete told her walking out of the room.

A few minutes later a chariot was waiting in the courtyard. Rainbow talking to the guards pulling it. Luna stood to the side with Pete, Liz, and Jay who were all suited up.

"Pete will you tell me what's happening?" Luna asked. "Rainbow said you just asked for a chariot and gave a strange warning."

Pete sighed. "I'm not sure you want to hear it." He told her.

"If you think it's severe enough that none of the guards can handle it, then I want to know what's threatening my ponies." Luna told him.

Pete was silent. "Well... It's your own ponies threatening them." He told her.

"Wha-what?" She asked.

"Rainbow said you ran into a zombie that was shouting at her. Zombies don't do that. Living do. I can only see two options here. Either it's a pony who's disguised as a zombie hoping they will ignore him. I pray to god hoping that's what happening. Though, more than likely, reality is becoming to hard for them to bear."

What does that mean?" Luna responded.

"It mean's their beginning to give in to the insanity. I told you before about scavenging. Taking things left behind. Those that give in, they find looking for places to scavenge not efficient enough. They think it's easier to simply take what others already have, by force more than likely."

"You- you aren't saying that-" Luna started.

"Yep, they attack people to steal their supplies, many times just leaving their victim to die in the end...Or in the most severe cases, they attack only to get food, directly from their victim." Pete told her.

"But isn't that the exact same thing?" Luna asked.

"No, because when I say directly, I mean directly." Luna just stared at him still confused. Pete sighed and lifted up his index finger. He bit down on it lightly. That got the message across.

"But-but, that's just-" Luna stammered.

"Evil, inhumane, insane, despicable. All true, but do you know what those that have given in see it as?" Pete responded. "Efficient. They get food immediately, and get whatever supplies they had."

"How could that happen to somepony?" She asked gagging slightly.

"Like I said, they give in to the insanity. Back where we're from it has become so commonplace that there are multiple groups created for that sole principle. A man's gotta eat after all, and what's the most readily available thing in the apocalypse? Zombies, followed by survivors." Pete told her. "That's why I want to go out there now, to see if that's what starting. I severely hope not, but if it is. We need to stop it now."

"You- you seem to know a lot about this." Luna said.

Pete nodded. "I've dealt with a few individuals in the past. Truthfully, I understand how it happens. Hell, It truthfully has occurred to me that it's a pretty effective means of survival." He told her, causing her to stare at him. "Now don't think that means I'm going to start doing that. I still have a strong moral compass, but I can't deny that they are efficient."

"So... what are you going to do if you find them?" Luna asked.

"Well, hopefully we won't. Best case scenario if we do, We convince them to get help. Bring them here, get them to a therapist or something and kill the urges." Pete told her.

"And if they don't want help?" She asked hesitantly.

"...Then their no more than feral animals needing to be put down." Pete told her.

She gasped and covered her mouth. "That- that's a terrible-"

"This world is terrible. Hard choices need to be made. If they don't want to get help, then we can't help them. We can only try to keep them from harming others." Pete told her. "You may be older than me, but I'm more experienced in this world. Trust me when I say, there's no middle ground here. They either get help, or they get put down."

Luna turned away. She didn't want to agree with what he was saying, but there was logic and thought behind his words, as well as personal experience.

"We'll be back in three days tops to give our report. Keep the guards of alert, and don't allow any reckless behavior." Pete told her as he began to walk to the chariot, but stopped. "And this conversation stays between us. We don't need others panicking about all this."

The three humans stepped onto the chariot and bid their farewells. The guards took off leaving behind the princess, deep in thought.

"Um, Princess." A voice said. Luna turned around and saw Twilight standing there. "I- I didn't mean to eavesdrop. It just happened." She said quietly. "Do- do you really think Pete meant everything he said?" She asked.

Luna sighed. "I truthfully believe he did. I'm sure that many have felt the stress. It wouldn't be surprising if there's some trauma from it all."

'But, do you think he'd actually...kill somepony? Just for being mentally unstable?" Twilight asked the words catching in her throat for a moment.

Luna looked away. "I don't know... I think he'll do what he thinks is right. If he thinks that it will be the most helpful... I think he would." Luna told her.

The days passed uneventful. On the third day a chariot was spotted on the horizon. Luna and Twilight rushed out to meet them. When the chariot landed the three human's stepped off. No pony else was on the chariot. When Luna asked Pete all he said was. 'It's been taken care of.' Then he left, followed by the other two.

Luna then confronted the guards who were pulling the chariot.

"You two, what happened out there? Surely you must've seen something." She said to the two of them, Twilight at her side.

The guards were silent for a moment. "Frankly princess, I'm not sure what we saw." One of the guards told her.

"One second we're fighting though infected, then when they were all stopped. From nowhere this pony jumps out in front of us." The other guard continued. "I don't know what he was covered in, but...but it wasn't just dirt and grime."

"Pete took the pony aside and started talking to him. Some time into the conversation the pony breaks out in this massive grin." The first guard said. "It wasn't natural, it sent chills up my spine."

"We watched the pony for some time more, but then...well one moment the pony's got his head up talking and the next...well the next his head was on the ground... he wasn't going to be talking anymore."

The Princess and Twilight, both sat there speechless at the story. They turned their head and looked at the castle that the humans had just walked into. Both wondering just what was said in that conversation, but neither really wanted to know.

Comments

[A Dark Reminder]

So... many... spelling errors...

[Black Light]

4330344
It wouldn't be one of my stories without them.
~Black Light

[MatTheBook]

"-And then while in the shop this infected suddenly jumps out and grabs me. He starts shouting and shaking me all about, so I punched him in the muzzle and did a backflip back onto my hooves. I got out of there, but I could've taken him." She said with confidence.

"Zombies don't shout." Pete stated. He stood up. "Get Luna to prepare a chariot. If what I think is happening is starting, we need to stop it here." He told her standing up.

Yeah, the moment she said it shouted I knew she was making it up.

[MatTheBook]

"Pete took the pony aside and started talking to him. Some time into the conversation the pony breaks out in this massive grin." The first guard said. "It wasn't natural, it sent chills up my spine."

"We watched the pony for some time more, but then...well one moment the pony's got his head up talking and the next...well the next his head was on the ground... he wasn't going to be talking anymore."

The Princess and Twilight, both sat there speechless at the story. They turned their head and looked at the castle that the humans had just walked into. Both wondering just what was said in that conversation, but neither really wanted to know.

yeah......

Thats a problem.