> The Zombie War (Original) > by ZombieBrony22 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Dawn * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I didn't expect the day to go as it did. I was in the office, and the bell rang. A social worker entered the office, glanced at me with a look of pity in her eyes and told me I was taking the bus today. I nodded and I headed out to the bus. As I made it out the door, I was almost immediately knocked to the ground by Joel, one of the many, many bullies at my school. "Ha! Some kid, huh?" Joel said as he rose his foot to stomp on me. I braced myself for the daily beating before someone stepped in the way and pushed Joel away. "Joel! That's enough, man. Come on, show some respect, dude." Another student said. I didn't bother to listen to the two of them argue as I dusted myself off and went for the bus. We were almost at my house when my phone rang. I pulled it out and saw 'Mom' on the screen. "Hello?" I mumbled. "Kyle, baby?" My mom asked. Her tone threw me off-- something was happening. "Mom, what's wrong?" I asked. "Something happened. Something bad. The gun is in your room. Get it... and arm yourself--" The call ended before she could finish her sentence. "What was that?" I asked myself. Then, the radio on the bus burst into static before the audio kicked back in. "This is not a test. Repeat, this is not a test. The Rabies Virus, originally quarantined in Russia, has now spread to North America. Reports of infections in California and Washington have been confirmed, as well as infections on the east coast. The U.S Government has stated orders to stay indoors, avoid contact with infected individuals, and never..." Then, the radio was overrun by static. The fear and panic began to take its toll on me-- a feeling that I genuinely haven't felt since... Since the fire. "B-bus driver, step on it!" I said. We arrived home to see corpses littering the streets, a few houses on fire, and my mother, crouching down on the ground... Eating a body. "Oh my God..." I whispered. She charged at me-- pinning me against the drivers seat as she snarled and tried to bite my face and chest. The rest was... fuzzy. I heard a loud pop, I felt warm blood on my face, I heard a door open, and a muffled voice asking me if I was okay. I didn't respond as I looked at my mother's corpse... 1 YEAR LATER Gary, my bus driver, checked the cupboards in the basement and found nothing but a few dust bunnies and a cobweb. "Well... we're finally out of supplies," Gary sighed, "I think we're gonna have to leave soon. The stash we saved should last us a few days, at least until we're away from the city." I agreed and decided to turn the radio on one last time, desperate to hear someone-- anyone. "Kyle, you know there's no-one left up there. It's been a year, we're not gonna find anyone now--" Gary spoke too soon as the radio sparked to life and a muffled voice became eligible. "Attention all survivors. Those who are still alive, head for the Canterlot High. We have claimed it a sanctuary, but be warned-- hostiles will be met with lethal force with extreme prejudice. Come unarmed, and we can talk about indoctrination." "Oh my God." I said, as Gary and I looked at each other. "Well, let's go!" Gary said. The drive was short-- 20 minutes at best. We stopped a quarter mile from the school, just in case things went wrong. "Remember, keep your guard up. I didn't like the way they said they were using lethal force." Gary said to me. "I don't know-- one way to find out." I stated. We saw the wall a few hundred feet away-- solid steel about 20 feet high and the panels each 10 feet wide. "Looks like this is it." I stated as we started approaching. We were met by a bright spotlight blinding us and 5 people drawing their weapons at us. I heard them talking... "More people? That radio beacon must've worked." One of them said, with a joyful smile on his face, happy to see other people again. "Identify yourselves." One of them-- probably the leader-- ordered. "I'm Gary, and this here's Kyle." He said. The guards lowered their weapons. "I'm guessing you heard the broadcasts." The possible leader said. "Yeah. Why?" I asked. "Well, I'm afraid it's not as simple as we said." The figure said. Gary and I glanced at each other as we looked back at the leader, and she let out a sigh. "Wait, I... I don't understand, what does that mean?" Gary asked. "We didn't think so many people would hear it so soon. We've been attacked constantly by a hostile group up north, and we can't take as many chances as we've been taking. I'm sorry, you look like good people, but these days, their's no true way of knowing." The figure - now shivering in the cold - said. "Then, take Kyle!" Gary said. There was a moment of silence as the guards each looked at each other before looking at the leader. "Please? Look, this kid has been through hell for as long as I've known him, I know that he can thrive here... but he won't survive out here anymore... please?" He asked. "No, there has be another way." I said. I was with the guy a while. I wasn't ready to see him leave and disappear. "It's you or me inside those walls. I say it's you." He said. "Alright." I said. I could tell he wasn't thinking otherwise. I grabbed the baseball bat I found, looked and waved at Gary one last time, and walked in the gates. I turned back to see him walking away, as the gates closed completely "I'm sorry..." The figure said, clearly once the principal. I didn't say a word as I sighed and the principal set her hand on my shoulder. "He said your name was Kyle? My name is Celestia, I think... I knew your family. Williams, am I correct?" She asked. I nodded, knowing that my cousin went here before the world ended. "Come with me, I'll show you to your room." The school was cut off into sections-- Residential, Labor, and Education (of course). I was shown to a hallway with multiple classrooms with their doors labelled apartment room numbers. Celestia showed me to room 3A, and knocked on it. The door opened, and a girl maybe a year older than me opened it, her skin was an orange tan, and her hair was purple. "Hey... Who's this?" She asked. "This is Kyle Williams, he'll have to stay in your apartment for the time being. You have a guest bed, I hope?" Celestia asked. "Y-yeah..." She said, clearly not expecting a new guest. Before we went our seperate ways, Celestia took my arm. "I understand you've been through a lot... but if you try anything, I won't hesitate to do what needs to be done. Am I clear?" I nod, understanding the situation. "Good. Get some rest, I'll see you two in the morning." I was having a nightmare about things before that happened. I was backed in the corner by some students, and one of them threw a punch. I fell and they all started kicking. Their kicks synced up with an alarm in the background, and I was snapped back into reality. "Good. You're up." My roommate said. I take a moment to regain my senses and take a breath. "I can't say it was the worst sleep I've had-- better than a basement sleeping bag." I said, trying to break the ice. "Ha, ha. The name's Scootaloo." She said. I slowly rose from the mattress and shook her hand. "I'm Kyle." I replied. "Come on, I'll give you the tour." Scootaloo said as she opened the door and walked out. As we walked around, I noticed the walls and everyone on top. "So, what are those, guards?" I asked. "Yeah, we call them Watchers. Weird damn name, but I didn't pick it." Scootaloo said, shrugging her shoulders. As the tour went on, I saw the kitchen areas. From what I saw, there were so many people, the cafeteria wasn't enough as there were larger dining areas outside the school, consisting of several large tents. "I'm surprised they had enough room for you." Scootaloo said. "So am I... How long were you here?" I asked. "I was a student here. We just couldn't abandon this place. So much has happened here..." Scootaloo said. "I can imagine..." I said. We both were interrupted by Celestia, holding a notebook. "I suppose you two are getting along nicely?" Celestia asked. "I can say that it's better than most of my first introductions." I said. "Good to hear. This... seems rushed, but I was hoping you would choose an occupation. We need as many workers as we can get, and if you survived out there for this long..." "What do you need?" I asked. "You can choose. Watcher, a guard of the wall. Runner, our local scavengers. Or Educational, our scientists, so to speak." I took a moment. Watcher seemed interesting-- getting some action, without really getting in the way. I took my choice: Watcher. "Are you sure?" Celestia said. "Yeah, I'm sure." I said. "Great... I'll inform Iron Will that you'll be there for training at noon." She smiled as she jotted a few words in her book. My training was relatively short. I was taught how to handle the kick of a rifle better, also I learned a few things on the Infected. "They're quick, but easy to kill. If you're cornered, an axe to the neck should do it. If you're not, aim for the chest, or head. You got no weapons, go for the knees first, then stomp them. Works like a charm." Iron Will, the instructor and director of the Watchers, lectured. Lunch then came, the food was surprisingly good for a high school. I was able to catch up on the history of CHS from the library, where I heard Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo's "sister" tell a story about how she and her friends allegedly saved the school from mystical Sirens. "Then, we turned into... I think it was a horse, but, like, massive, right? And then we just swooped in and shattered their amulets, freeing everyone from their spell." Rainbow finished, with a proud smile on her face. I knew that story before... I heard it from my adopted sister... "So, I heard you're new here." Rainbow said, approaching me after everyone gathered to hear the story had mostly left. "Yeah." I said. "I... heard about your friend, I'm sorry..." Rainbow said. "Well... he's a tough dude, he'll survive out there... I know it. How about you? Did you lose anyone, if you don't mind me asking you?" I asked. "Yeah... a few. A guy named Flash Sentry, a guy named Timber Spruce, a girl named Twilight..." She said. I stood in shock and went to ask more, but decided to hold back on it, just offering my condolences and heading off to find Scootaloo, who was with her friend, Button Mash, trying some stunt with her scooter. Little did I know what I would become because of her... Look at me rant on. That night, I fell asleep knowing that I was safe and secure. I felt like nothing could touch us. If only I knew how wrong I was. > The Attack * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Honestly, my 3 weeks at CHS were okay. The people are decent, and the walls are certainly strong-- I should know, spending my days defending it. I finally met all of RD's friends, they're okay. Odd, but okay. I also became a pretty good Watcher. I've been promoted from Scout to Guardian, that means that I'll start to guard the wall, instead of working the sides of it. I heard rumors about Sunset Shimmer, and what she used to do. Hearing them, I thought of the Shadowbolts and how people worshiped them, cursing those who didn't "have the spirit". They were just athletes with rich parents in scampy outfits who got full of themselves and decided to make people respect them. But it sounds much worse with Sunset. It was astonishing how the wall was made. The walls were made of solid steel and seemingly deployable, labelled Rich Industries all around them. Guard rails were in place for Watchers on the top to keep us from falling, and at each labelled station was a rifle, rigged in place with ammunition set on a small table on the side. "Your station is 022. Right near the corner of the wall. Make sure to keep count of each shot you take, if you can." Iron Will said as I climbed up the ladder. I found it and grabbed the gun and started aiming. The day was long but fun. I managed to shoot a few zombies here and there. I even managed to find a survivor. Sure, he didn't get in, but I found him. Later, I decided to look for more survivors and I found a horde of Infected coming at us! "Shit, open fire!" Someone said. I fired at the horde, all I saw was zombie chunks being shot out and the corpses collapsing. After a matter of minutes, the horde was a bloody pile. But then, I saw a smaller horde charge towards the 7 unguarded posts. "Heads up!" I said and only a few turned to see a big zombie stampede. "Fire!" I said. Unfortunately, the horde tore down the wall and charged in! We shot them down as best we could and the horde fell. I saw the gaping hole in wall and thought that we were screwed... "So what exactly happened?" Celestia asked in her office, a while after the horde broke through the wall. "The horde tore through the wall. Only Kyle, Jacob, and Gabe turned around..." The said. "Well, the only thing we can do is rebuild the wall and hire more Watchers for those posts. This will not happen again." Celestia said. "Thank God no one was killed." I said. "Yeah... Next time, make sure you listen to one another, all of you." Iron Will said. I made it back to my room. I decided to knock-- when you have a roommate of the opposite gender, you don't want to just waltz in. When I went in, I saw how Scootaloo decorated it a little bit with a radio and a cute little toaster oven, along with several posters on her side of the room. "Where did you get all this?" I asked. "The run." She said. "You went on the run?!" I asked. I wasn't really jealous, I was more concerned-- I knew she could take care of herself, but it's dangerous out there, anything can happen. "Yep. I managed to find the radio and since we have all of those solar panels, why not use some of that power?" Scootaloo asked. That was Scootaloo-- always taking risks for something pointless. One time, I saw her try a half pipe on her scooter. Sure enough, she fell, wasn't bad though, but it did break 3 ribs and put her in the "hospital" for a week. "Yeah? Why not use some of it to wash that damned hoodie once and a while?" I jokingly asked. She let out a chuckle as she took a moment to sniff her sleeve. "Ugh! Okay, maybe I should give this thing a wash... God, it reeks!" She said as I headed out to see about the wall. In the hall, I heard chatter about the repairs. "Now what? Are we just gonna use up more wood on it?" "Are we just gonna leave it?" I kept walking and eventually wound up outside, where I saw a few men in suits, examining the damage. "Luckily, the damage isn't too severe. I'll take it to Rich and see what he says about it... perhaps it's time we had a full house at the mansion." One of the three men said to Celestia. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I knew who sent them-- Filthy Rich. His daughter lived here with us, she seemed okay, but I never really talked to her. So, the rest of the day consisted of me guarding the repair group as they were working on the wall. As I was guarding, I saw a few hooded figures enter my line of fire. I called out and explained what I said. "Could be nothing. Or..." A builder said as he stood stunned. He pulled out the radio. "Ma'am, I think Kyle saw people in the woods, could be... them." He said. Celestia came out with a sniper rifle. "Where did you see them?" "Right here." I said while pointing to the backside of the school. She aimed at the trees. "Come on out! We know you're there!" She called. Then, all I saw was an army of bullets flying out of the air. "Run! Get inside, arm up!" Celestia said. I ran to my room and knocked. "Yeah?" Scootaloo asked. "Get your stuff, we're being attacked!" I said. I heard Scootlaoo rush all around the room and I walked in to see the room nearly empty. Not counting the stove, of course. We ran to see Rainbow Dash and her friends at the gates ready to leave. "Wait for us!" I said. We caught up and got on one of the buses parked out front. "Please tell me one of you can drive!" I said. "I can." A voice from the front said. I turned to see Vinyl Scratch, former mute DJ who I had never heard talk until that moment... As I looked outside the window, with my rifle in my hands, I saw the people attacking us-- they had antlers attatched to helmets, and they were wearing what seemed to be caribou-fur jackets... One of them saw us as Vinyl struggled to start the bus and leaned against one of the windows shielding Rarity, licking it and his breath fogging the lenses as Rarity let out a scream, pulled out her pistol, and pulled the trigger, letting his body hit the ground as Vinyl started the bus and drove off, ramming through the wall. "Now what?" I asked, overlooking the smoke and hearing the gunfire from the school... "We move forward..." Applejack said, a look of sadness on her face as she slumped back in her seat.. "I agree. I grabbed a bunch of food and stuff from the pantry before we left, there's enough to last all of us a few days." Rainbow Dash said. "We need to find a place for the night... I don't want to be anywhere near those... brutes." Rarity said, still shaken from taking that creep's life. "I think I know a place. I partied there before the freakers, we can make it safe enough to last the night." Vinyl said. She made a U turn for a neighborhood near my house. "I gotta make a stop, first..." I said as I spotted my house. Vinyl screeched the bus to a stop, and I made my way to my house, taking a moment to glance at my mom's grave, before opening the door and marching downstairs, spotting my mom's Tarus Judge on the table... I picked it up, took a moment to remember how she saved the lives of my sister and I with it, during the fire... and now I need it after a new fire. I sheathed the Judge and made my way back upstairs and shut the door, ready to take on the world... Let's just hope we can survive... > Megaville * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We managed to find a secured rooftop in a small city to call home for now. "We just need to make the best of it." I said. Later that day, I went on watch to see an armored Humvee drive around the corner. "What was that, military?" Scootaloo asked. "We should follow them. Sunset, Vinyl, and Scootaloo stay here and guard the camp. The rest of y'all, let's take a look, nice and quiet." Applejack said. We followed their tire tracks until we saw a massive city with walls 4 stories tall. Who knows how thick they are... "Whoa... Those are big walls." Rainbow said in awe. I turned to read a sign saying 'Megaville'. "Looks like a quarantine zone." I said. "How can you tell?" Applejack asked. "Nothing's good like this these days, unless it was military property." I said. As we got closer, I started to notice some things. One, the walls had remote turrets, two, the city was flooded with supplies, and third, there were no soldiers whatsoever. There were a few people though. "Let's see if we-" BANG! My sentence was cut off by a gunshot from within the walls. "What was that? Zombies?!" Pinkie asked. Then another one came, then one more. We had to get closer, but I knew that they would turn our bodies into firing range targets. "We need to head back. We'll see more later." Rainbow Dash said. As we were leaving, a bullet JUST passed my leg. "HANDS!" A voice boomed. We showed our hands and stepped forward. "Now, you drop your weapons! NOW!" The voice then commanded. We dropped our guns and knives along with our holsters. "What do you want from us?" I asked loud enough for them to hear. "Your shit. Now, leave!" The voice said. I managed to hide my mom's old Judge-- there was no way in hell that I was going to abandon it. "Good. Now go and pray that we never find you again." The voice gleefully replied as the gate opened and 5 armed guards marched out and picked up our weapons. They didn't even glance at me as they jogged back inside their gates as I turned to the others. "N-now what?" Fluttershy asked. "First, we have to head back... it's not safe out here." I said. I took a seat by the small campfire we had started, as Sunset stood guard with a rifle. "I still can't believe how good you are with that thing." Vinyl said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. Sunset let out a friendly scoff and tilted her head. "Why's that? Because I'm a kid?" She asked in a mocking voice. I sat up and decided to give my schpiel. "Maybe because you were raised without fingers." I said, holding up my hands and flexing my fingers. Sunset let out a laugh as Vinyl joined in. "Yeah, I guess that's true... man, where are they? You don't think anything happened to them, do you?" She asked. Vinyl smirked and leaned in. "Why? Worried about Kyle?" She teasingly asked. Sunset seemed confused and glanced at her. "Huh? No, it's all of them I'm concerned about." She said, not picking up on the innuendo. Vinyl saw this, and didn't let it slide. "I mean, he's probably the only guy we're gonna see for a long time, and--" "Wha-- ew, Vinyl, no! He's, what, 14? Besides, he's more Scootaloo's type than mine, anyway." She said, glancing at me and smiling. I felt my face warm up as I looked away towards the fire as we heard footsteps from the road. We turned and raised our guns to see Kyle and the others, all of them unarmed... "What happened?" Sunset asked them. Kyle grumbled as he pulled out that revolver he picked up the other day and checked the rounds. "We gotta go-- it's not safe here, anymore. There's a compound west of here, some kind of city that the military completely walled up. They took our guns, and they might be looking for us." He said as he glanced around in the distance. "There's another city about 2 hours from here. I'd say it's worth the risk-- it's better than military wannabes shooting at us with a Humvee." Sunset said. "Alright then-- our goals are set, tomorrow, we pack up and leave the city after we search it for weapons." I said, taking charge. "Good thing some stayed here, then... Otherwise we all would've lost our weapons." Vinyl said. "No kidding..." Kyle responded as he glanced at me and smiled. As we were packing up, I decided to go on a run for some guns in my old neighborhood with Scootaloo. "Where are we gonna find guns?" Scootaloo asked. "Stores, bars, or small houses. There's always a handgun or two in case of break-ins-- I saw my mom sign some of the permits for them." I said. We searched nearly every store, bar, and house in a neighborhood. We managed to find 4 handguns and 2 shotguns along with 6 boxes of ammo. As we walked back, I saw a few zombies. "Heads up." I said. As they charged at us, I used the baseball bat I had since the start at my house with Gary. Surely enough, it did its job, and the zombies were goners. "Well then, that was festive." Scootaloo said. "Yeah, no kidding." I said. As we walked back, I managed to find a few batteries for the flashlights. "We could use more of those." Scootaloo said. I then saw an old Christmas tree set up inside a shop. "Wow. That's a big one." I said. I saw a small smirk on her face. "Oh, yeah? You should see the one at the orpha-" She stopped herself immediately. I knew she was going to say orphanage. I turned to her. "W-wait, you were an orphan?!" I asked. "Yeah... I never knew my family... Rainbow and my friends were all I ever had to one." She said, glancing down at the floor.. "I'm sorry... Does Rainbow Dash know?" I asked. "Yeah. There was nothing you could have done. It just was my life back then. Come on, let's head back." She said. We arrived back to the rooftop and gave the guns out. "So which way?" Vinyl asked. "There's a compass to the left of you, keep up the red arrow as close to the N as you can without us crashing." Sunset said. We kept on driving until we saw a city with a sign saying 'Townsville'. "The place could use some work... but it could work." I said to myself. By the end of the day, we managed to build a wall out of wooden pallets around 3 buildings. It wasn't much, but it'll hold. As night fell, I saw a few survivors heading our way. "Sunset, I saw survivors." I said. I kept watching as they entered a building nearby. I leaned against the walls to listen. "We should be careful. If they find us, they'll probably kill us or worse." I heard one voice said. I think I should move in. But they could be armed, or they could be from Megaville. I listened some more. "I think we should hold off here for a little bit. It could help us against them... mostly Bell." A different voice said. That was it. "You know Megaville?" I asked without entering. I hear a person grab a gun. "Are you friendly?" I hear a male ask. "Yeah. I'm not with Megaville if that's what you mean." I say. I see 2 people come out of the house. "Good, I was ready to reload. I'm Dexter." He said. "Alright Dexter, I'm Kyle. Is that your sister?" I asked. "No, I'm Blossom." She said. "Alright. What are you doing here?" I asked. "Trying to escape Megaville. Of course, we see it won't work here." Dexter said. "Yeah, we have a building near here if you want to stay." I said. As we were heading back, I thought I could get some answers. "So, who's in charge there?" I asked. "Her name's Bell." Blossom said. "So, should we be on guard?" I asked. "Yeah. Prepare for war once she finds us with your people..." We stayed silent for a moment, and I decided to step up. "Maybe we can negotiate? They have no reason to hurt us, and for what? You two and some pistols?" I asked them. They glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "If you want to try, we won't stop you..." Dexter said. "...But don't say we didn't warn you." Blossom finished his sentence as they headed over to the others... > The Meeting * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a whole day of travelling, we arrived at the neighboring city, ready to meet up in the warehouse Bell assigned for us to chat. "It's now or never..." I said, opening the car door as we all exited and entered the building... As we were setting up the meeting room, I saw a jeep drive towards us, containing at least five armed guards, with Bell sitting in the back of the trunk, combing her hair. "That's them." Sunset called. Knowing the meeting, I stepped forward towards the jeep, towards Bell. "Well, we have a lot to talk about." She said. Standing closer to her, she looked close to her 20's, if not 19 or 18. Maybe she was in the quarantine zone we found earlier... "So, here's the deal. We want our weapons back. I understand you have more than us, so you can spare a few pistols, right?" I asked. "Well, as much as I would like to, I noticed you have themwith you." Bell pointed at Dexter and Blossom. I turned to the strangers, and back to Bell. "Yeah, so what?" I asked. "These people, they owe me more than you think. A few guns won't do it..." Bell snapped her fingers and 10 men with assault rifles came out. "Hey, we said no guns!" I said. "Rule of advice: you shouldn't trust me. Now, you give them to me, and you people can walk away untouched." Bell said with a smirk. I grabbed my Judge and drew it. "No. They're one of us." I said. "Well, we don't have a deal. Fire away." The men managed to miss me by inches. We ran for the exits only to see a horde of zombies flood the doors. But they were walking... "Run!" I called out. We ran for the other exit only to be blocked by the guards. We had no choice, we grabbed their guns and pushed them to the zombies to use as bait. We couldn't use the car, so we had to walk back-- a day's drive turned into a near-week walk... "These people lied, tried to kill us, and threatened our friends' survival. We'll have to regroup next week and find a way to work this out." I said. "What we need to do is fight back-- full force." Rainbow said. "Well, they have military-grade vehicles and weapons as well as dozens of armed guards and we have a few pistols, bows, and arrows. We need to wait this out." I said. We decided to send 2 of us for more recon. We needed to know what we were up against. "...I'll go." Fluttershy stepped up, an act that I didn't expect from the normally timid girl. After a moment, Rarity stood up, as well. "I'll go too." She said, with a look of determination in her eyes. "Okay then. Good luck." I said as they grabbed their backpacks and headed out. As they walked out the doors "I hope they'll be okay. Fluttershy isn't the best when it comes to survival." Rainbow said. I took a breath and took a seat. "She protects whoever can't protect themselves. We should respect that..." I said. "Yeah, sure, Kyle." Rainbow said in ignorance as she walked away. As we were adding to the walls, I saw 2 soldiers with AK-47s on them. "We need to talk." One of them said. "What do you want?" I asked. "We want to join you. There're more of us who escaped and we want to join you. Maybe we can help you stop Bell... Please..." Another guard begged. I was forced to make a choice: Firepower and knowledge, or food preservation. I made a choice soon after. "Okay, then." I said. "What? Kyle, t-they can't! They could be spies and we don't have that much food left." Rainbow argued. "We could use the help, as well as information about what we're up against." Sunset said, with me agreeing. "Thank you... Thank you. You won't regret this, most of us were on construction, the rest of us were guards. We can help you build this place up." One of the guards said. "Sure thing. Just don't try to put a bullet in our backs. Because if you do... you're the ones outnumbered, now." Sunset threatened. "Of course..." The guard said as they walked in. As we were talking, I . If they were going to kill us, they would've done it by now. "So, why did you leave?" I asked one of the guards. "You think we wanted to harm others? Bell came and took over Megaville in the first months. We watched as she raided other quarantine camps, shot innocent beggars, and slaughtered anyone who approached the walls. And we were forced to sit down and build the turrets and thicken the walls, nothing more. So, when Bell was gone, me and 5 other soldiers escaped when no-one was lookin'. We were gonna search the city for supplies, but then we found out about you people and decided to help." I took that under consideration as Scootaloo approached me. "Are you sure we can trust these people?" "...Yeah." I replied as I checked my Judge for rounds. "Well, now what?" Scootaloo asked me. "If we're going to survive, we might want to take the hardware store down the street and use its greenhouse for crops, and then we'll need to make our own. We can't rely on runs forever." I said. "Okay then. Also we could get that library and grab some survival guides." Scootaloo said. "As long as I don't have to drink my urine, I'll be fine." I joked. I then heard Scootaloo giggle a little as well as let out a short "yuck". "Alright, tough guy... See you later." Scootaloo walked away towards the apartment complex. Then, Blossom and Dexter approached me. "What do we do now?" Dexter asked. "We have people, food, guns, and shelter. All we need now is more of this city. Once we get more of it safe, we can talk again." I said. "Kyle, I know this woman. She can tear right through here with no regrets. Just give it time, and if she tries to kill us, we'll fight back." Blossom said as she and Dexter walked back to the armory. Then, Applejack approached me. "I hope you know what 'yer doin'." "Trust me, I do. Trying to end a war before it starts." I said as Applejack walked towards the apartment with the others. Did she have a point? Do I know what I'm doing? Is Bell more than she says she is? Why do Blossom and Dexter always act paranoid every time I say her name? More importantly, why did Bell want Blossom and Dexter so much? I'll find out soon enough. > Family * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We decided use a nearby library for a meeting place-- Democracy, I guess it never died, after all. Rainbow Dash is gun training and fitness coach, Applejack oversees the farming, Pinkie controls the cookouts and parties, Vinyl is in charge of the supply runs, Fluttershy helps with the cattle, Rarity makes the armor using thick leather and plating, Dexter runs the science labs, Blossom controls the supply runs along with construction-- I swear, learning she had super strength, can fly, and has laser vision took a long time to get used to-- and Sunset is our head of security. As for me, I just ask questions and give ideas. We were all having a meeting, mostly about Megaville and how we should respond about their attempt to kill us. "So, Blossom, you said you know Bell?" I asked. "Yeah. She tried to destroy the world, and now, she has a military army." "This all seems... odd to me. First CHS, and now we have a lab experiment with super powers? It just doesn't make sense..." Rainbow Dash said. "I agree, but back to Bell-- this all doesn't add up. Why does Bell want us?" Sunset asked. "Because you have us." Dexter said. "But.. why? If all she wants is you, why is she giving us trouble? N-no offense." I asked. "None taken. If I know her, she just wants to prove herself. Maybe she thinks by killing you, she'll do that." Blossom said. "First, we need to build this place up. We can't just keep struggling to get by like this-- maybe we can start branching out and expanding around the city-- there have to be other people here who we can help." Sunset said. "Well, we need materials and more of a construction crew to start. Who we have are good, but we need more builders." Rainbow Dash said. "Yeah. Maybe we could use search for other survivors; maybe hire some recruiters to scout more people." I said. "We'll look into it. We could also use more rations for the group. The Pop Tarts and chips we have now won't do much good for much longer." Pinkie laughed. I then overlooked the map of the city along with the almost 2-blocks of city we have secured so far... "We're getting closer to the Home Depot nearby. We could clean and claim it. Or we could take the 2 buildings away from it and then give it a shot." I said. "Nah. I say we hold up on that-- we need more food. What we have isn't enough anymore; people are going hungry and others are hogging the rations." Rainbow said. "What we should do is make them turn over at least a quarter of that food for the rest of the group. We can't feed just the workers because we need them. We can't..." I said to Rainbow. The others seemed to agree with me as Sunset sat up a bit. "Yeah... you're right. I'll talk to the workers, it won't be easy, but it has to be done." She said. "Alright then. In the meantime, we should give today's rations to who didn't eat for the past 4 days. Line people up." Rainbow said. "Alright." Sunset went to the loudspeakers. "Everyone who didn't receive rations for the past 4 days, please approach the ration stands." I can tell people were upset due to groans coming from outside... As Pinkie and Sunset started handing out the rations, I noticed a few more Walkers outside the walls, limping around with their arms dangling around their joints like noodles... "I still cannot believe that the brain tissue starts decaying after a few weeks... it's like they become... well... zombies." Dexter chuckled as he "Yeah. Thank God those walkers were there when they were. If it were runners Bell invited in, we wouldn't be here talking about food rations and scouting missions." I said. "Eeyup." Big Mac said as he walked in with the rations. Big Mac, Applejack's older brother... he was down south during the beginning, looking over their younger sister after she did something... something bad, I'm assuming. "I remember when we found him-- walking down the highway, blood all over him. We did the right thing pulling over." I said. Applejack glanced at her brother with a sad look in her eyes and sighed... "Yeah... we did. So now what about Megaville? We just leave 'em alone?" Applejack asked. "What we should do is try to talk again." I said. "After last time? No, I don't think so. She wants these two, they'll have to kill us first." Rainbow said. "I can't believe I am saying this, but Rainbow's right. We can't just sit here and hope they leave us alone. Don't think she won't kill you." Blossom said. "Well, we'll try to set up a trade. We clear areas for them, they give us the food we need... It could work." I said. 'How do we know they'll cooperate?" Dexter asked. "All we can do is hope they say yes." Sunset said, shrugging her shoulders. Fluttershy, who hasn't said a word since she got back from her run, sat in her chair and glanced down at the floor... "Well so far hope's been non-existent for us. It was for Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom,... Flash." Fluttershy said. "Fluttershy, stop it." Rarity said. "Rarity, think about it. When has hope done anything for us?" Fluttershy asked. "It saved me and Gary, it brought the two of us to CHS, and it brought us to this city with a 21-year-old mad scientist and a super powered college student. That's what hope's done for us. It might not have saved everyone, but it saved us. Plus out of all the people I knew, all of the people who are stronger, faster, and... better than me, I survived. Hope didn't abandon us, it just came in a different way than we expected." I said. Apparently, what I said stopped Fluttershy in her tracks, she took a moment before sitting up and faintly cracking a smile... "Wanna switch places?" Sunset leaned in and whispered. "Nah. You have people to console. One of them in this room." I said, getting up and walking out and seeing a crowd of about 20, ready for a riot... "How come we don't get any food?" People from the mob cried. "Listen, we're just running short on rations. I assure you, everyone will get food but we need to feed those who are getting weak from hunger too." I said trying to control the crowd. The crowd kept on yelling and trying to get through. The only thing that stopped them was a gunshot from the back of the crowd into the sky. "That's enough. You people had your fill all week... Now it's time for others to eat." Scootaloo said with her .22 in the air. After a moment, the crowd stood in place, and I stood up and leaned towards the crowd. "Look... I know you're all hungry... and I don't blame you-- but this is not the way to go about this. Trust me, this isn't favoritism... I'm hungry, too... as soon as those crops start growing, we'll make sure that everyone has their rations for the day... but for right now, we need to share what we have. Is that understood?" I asked the crowd. The crowd then slowly nodded and thankfully dispersed. I hear steps outside and turned to see Sunset and the others behind me. "Thanks, you two... That was quite a doozy." Sunset said. "Yeah. I'm thinking of doing a food run with Dash by the end of the week. We need more food, without it, more things like this'll happen. Fluttershy's thinking of taming wild chickens for food and the horses for supply runs." Scootaloo said. I knew there was no stopping her, but I couldn't just sit here and do nothing. "Good idea... But I'm going with you." I said as I checked the library for any damage. "Also, there's... something I need to show you." Scootaloo said as she walked towards the gates. "What is it?" I asked. "You'll see, Kyle." Scootaloo said as the gates opened and she walked out. I had no choice but to follow her, eager to spend some time out in the world instead of being riled up in those walls... We kept on walking towards a building marked "Townsville Orphanage". I quickly realized why we were here, and I "This was your home, wasn't it?" I asked. "Yeah. I just wanted to see what happened to the place when I left." Scootaloo said. "Why did you leave? Did you get adopted?" I asked. "...No. The Father, he was an abusive piece of shit that I hope is dead." Scootaloo said with her voice slightly cracking. "Wait, you were... were you...?" I asked, at a loss for words.. "...Yes. Every time I did bad on a test, ever-every time I brought a friend over, here came Frank with his boiling water and blades. I still have the scars..." Scootaloo said with her eyes clearly watering. "Scootaloo... I'm-" I was interrupted by Scootaloo engaging me in an embrace and just sobbing... "Hey, it's okay... We're all here for you... does anyone else know?" I said. "That's just it. Not even Rainbow Dash knows this." My eyes widened at that comment-- Scootaloo wasn't really a person who'd keep secrets... "What? Then, w-why did you tell me?" I asked. She took a moment, still hugging me, and rested her head against my shoulder, her warm breath settling on my neck. "Because you're a good friend. Rainbow is too, but she can get out of hand sometimes. I know you've seen it." "...Yeah, I've seen her get short-tempered at times." I said remembering her despise my decision on taking in those guards last month. We then let go of each other and opened the door. The first thing that caught my eye was the shutdown notice. CLOSED "Looks like that bastard took his good work down with him..." Scootaloo muttered. I took notice of Scootaloo's rosary. "So... you believe?" I asked, trying to change the subject. "Yeah. How about I went to church whenever I could in the orphanage praying secretly for me to get away from Frank, away from the shitty staff, away from it all. Not suicide-- a chance that I would be able to leave. I waited for a chance but, one night, Frank went too far. He slashed my back right as a friend walked by. He called CPS and Frank got taken away. Just as that bastard deserved." Scootaloo said. "I'm so sorry... I'm glad you told me." I said. "Me too. I finally got adopted by another family and we all moved to Canterlot." Scootaloo said. "So, what do you need here?" I asked. "Just a moment..." Scootaloo then went through a cabinet and found a machete sheathed under it along with a lighter. I then saw her walk over to a room with the name Frank on the door, and she swung it open in rage, walking over to the desk and using the somewhat-clean blade to chop away at the desk, along with the computer and everything else on it, until the desk collapsed... all while I just watched, recalling all of the time I spent in Crystal Prep, being beaten to a pulp in broom closets, being mocked and shoved daily... I saw myself in her rage-filled eyes. "You sick bastard!" She screamed as she wedged her machete against a photo of an older man, and yanked it out, panting for breath as she glanced at the still-razor-sharp blade and grasped the handle in her hand... "I'm... sorry you had to see that..." She said as she took a breath. I simply walked over, grabbed a broken piece of pipe from the wall, and swung it into a cabinet, glancing at her with a weak smile on my face. Her face then lit up as she sheathed the machete and took a wooden paddle from a larger desk and whacked it against the table, cracking it. After a few hours of smashing and wrecking every room in that orphanage, we stood outside of it, with me still having the pipe while Scootaloo just had the broken handle of that paddle... "Well... that was kinda fun." She chuckled. I chuckled along with her and we just stood there, looking at the already-decaying orphanage with all of it's windows shattered, doors kicked in, and everything else broken inside... As I took a sigh, I felt a bit of weight go on my shoulder, and I turned to see Scootaloo, resting her head. "We should head back, soon... the others might be worried." She said in a relaxed voice. I took a moment before I then rested my head on hers. "Maybe... but not yet." I said as I felt her take my hand. I responded by interlocking our fingers and just standing there, probably the most... at-peace I've felt in over two years... > Pain * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As we were walking back from trashing the old orphanage, I decided to ask Scootaloo a question. "That picture, in the office, was that the guy?" I asked, that man's image entering my mind again. "Yeah. I decided since we had nothing else to do, we might as well trash that hellhole. Also, I got this." She showed me the machete she found. I feared the worst as I took a breath. "Did he... use that?" I asked. She took a moment before cracking a faint smile. "No." I sighed in relief, but she noticed that and took another breath. "He had this knife in the other cabinet and he would give me a small but painful slash to the back. I still feel them..." She said. Yep, I should've known. I took a sigh which came out more like a growl as I soon let the anger and hatred pass... "Well, your secret's safe with me." I said. "It's not much of a secret, but I'd rather not scream it from the rooftops." She joked. I laughed for a moment, and decided to add my bit to the conversation. "Yeah, me neither. You know, my dad was an orphanage caretaker, too..." I said. Scootaloo then looked at me dead serious. "His name wasn't Frank was it?" "No, no. His name was Henry. He was a... good man, he died before all of this." I said "What happened? If you don't mind me asking." She said. I should've seen that question coming, but it still took me a moment before telling the story again. "A gang from down the road heard we had a hated neighbor as his adopted daughter so they came and..." I started hearing them, my friends who didn't make it out... I closed my eyes and clenched my fists as their screams slowly grew louder... "Burned it down. He was getting whoever survived out as a piece of the upper floor came down on him. My mom came in arresting all 10 of them in tears. He died... saving those he loved most. Since then, I always hoped I would go out the same way." I said, my voice starting to crack... Scootaloo took a moment before hugging me, a gesture that I returned... "I'm sorry, Kyle... well, your secret's safe with me." Scootaloo said. We broke the hug and we slowly started walking again. "Thanks... That was the first time I told anyone since we moved." I said. "I'm sorry... I don't really remember my real father. Just a voice..." She said to me. Before I could say anything else, I bumped into a big gate. Our gate. "Ow... Just proves it works." I said as we walked in. The first person we saw was Rainbow, who cocked in eyebrow at us returning home together. "Welcome back. So, how was the date?" Rainbow joked. "It wasn't a date. I just needed to let off a little steam." Scootaloo corrected. "Yeah, sure. Anyway, we saw a few survivors on the west side of the wall an hour ago. They're in the warehouse now-- I was just about to ask what they knew..." Rainbow said as she walked to the gates to close them, and as she did, I saw a few blades attached to her belt... clean, but she didn't have those on her when we left... "Alright." I responded as me and Scootaloo walked towards the warehouse we're using for new people to rest in. I opened the gates and I saw 2 people in their 30s and they looked dead at me. No. Not me. "Mom? Dad?" Scootlaoo asked as she began to walk forwards. "...Oh, my God... Scoots?!" The woman- who I guess was her mom- ran forwards. I didn't say a word, I just stood in place, feeling my friend's joy... and I then started looking at the floor, knowing that I won't have a moment like that ever again... "We tried to make it to CHS, but they closed all of the roads and... we had to leave... We did everything we could to wait, make ourselves safe, but..." The man-- who was clearly her dad-- tried to explain. "No, it's okay. Where's Aunt Risa?" Scootaloo asked. The mother then choked back a sob. "We lost her a few hours ago to some assholes dressed in soldier outfits..." The father said. I decided to take a step towards the family and give my condolences... "I'm sorry... I'm Kyle, you?" I asked. "I'm Daisuke, this is Riku. We're her parents. I guess... you're her boyfriend." Daisuke said. We both shared an awkward glance at each other, and for a moment, we were both silent, until I added my input. "Oh, um n-no. Me and my bus driver arrived at CHS not too long ago to find it walled up along with a few buildings nearby. When it was attacked, she and I escaped along with 6 others. We found this city and we know who killed your sister." I said. Riku quickly turned to me with eyes filled with pain and grief. "Who? Who took my sister from me?" "They're part of a city called Megaville. If you have questions, ask Blossom or Dexter. They knew her before the Outbreaks." I told the two. "Well, at least I know who to talk to." Riku said gravely as she poked the fire. "The apartment building is just a few blocks away if you want. I know this isn't really comfortable..." I offered. "Thank you. We could use that." Daisuke said. "Sure thing. You look beaten up as it is. We don't really have power or running water, but you guys can try to make yourselves at home." I said to them. "Thanks. This is just what we need. Is there anything else we need to know?" Riku asked. "No... I can't explain the rest." I said. As the day went on, me and the others talked about Megaville. "It doesn't add up. Why would Bell kill innocent people? That isn't like her..." Blossom said. We all took a moment to try to come up with an answer, and Rarity sat up. "Weapons, maybe? How about information?" She asked. "Okay, we need to try and come up with a solution. We can't do this trade if this is going to happen." Sunset argued. "Do we have much choice? Our food stocks are low as it is, and now we have 2 more mouths to feed?" Rainbow asked. Scootaloo didn't like that comment as she sat up with an angry look in her eyes. "Well, those 2 mouths are my parents. Oh, and what was with those scalpels you had on you earlier? What were you about to do before we got there?" Scootaloo asked. "That-- that can wait. What we need to do is lead an attack. You know, destroy a side of the wall, let the Walkers and Runners in." Rainbow said. "She's right... but perhaps from means that aren't as cruel. We cannot expect them to be friendly forever." Rarity said. "Yeah. Plus, Bell killed before the Outbreaks. Before we had to fight to survive." Blossom said. "Okay, so she's bad news, but how about the others? The guards said they were slaves. So, if we do this, if we just kill them all, we're going to be the monsters." I said. "Alright, so we'll kill Bell in our next meeting then." Sunset said. "I don't see why not. We can keep the deal going or we can rely on the farms and the cattle." Scootaloo said. "Fine. But I'll have no part of it." I told the others. "Killing isn't wrong in this world, Kyle. It's something you need to do." Rainbow said. I didn't like that-- not one bit. "Oh, what? Because nobody can stop us? We need this! And this place can't be a raid camp... I won't let it be one." I said. "Why?" Rainbow asked. "Because that's how all of them fall. Good people, bad people. Either way, people will come in and blast us to pieces. This place needs to be safe, to be human, it needs to be a Sanctuary." Everyone in the room went silent. "He's right... We can't be like that. Think of Terminus, think of Woodbury. Sure, they're fiction, but they fell for the same reason. The same reason we're looking towards." Sunset said. After a moment, Rainbow simply grumbled. "...Fine. Your funeral. We'll talk Bell into the deal. But don't come to me when she cuts you up limb-from-limb." Rainbow said annoyed. Well... time for a second shot... > Loss * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Me and the others were arranging the meeting with Bell. We were back at the warehouse near the end of the week. "So, what is it this time?" Bell asked. I sat up and leaned towards Bell. "I understand you people are self-substained. We know how to kill Walkers. So, here's the deal: We kill Walkers in specific areas, you give us supplies to see us through." I said. Bell took only a moment, her face unresponsive, as she glanced at our guards and back at me. "What's in it really for us?" Bell asked. "More safe areas, less breaches, and less worries about water contamination." I told her. "We'll think about it. And how about Dexter and Blossom?" "We know who they are, we know who you are. I know about your father, the bombs, the whole moon shit..." I said. "So we know each other. Great." Bell said with a faint smile on her face.. "Well, what is it gonna take to convince you?" I asked. "Their surrender to me." Bell said, not even hesitating. "I'm sorry but that's not happening. We need them with us." I said. "Well, do say I didn't warn you." The doors closed shut and guards held me down. "Hey, what is this?" I asked. "We saw your cars go down the road to come here. Where's your camp?" Bell asked. "I'm not saying." I said boldly. Bell's eyes began glowing red as her voice began bellowing and echoing across the room. "Last chance. Where's your camp?!" She asked loudly. "You might as well kill me! If you do, the others'll kill you. I know you can't kill me." I said. She then focused her sight right next to my arm as.. lasers shot from her eyes... After a moment, I felt an ocean of pain as I held up a cauterized stump of what used to be my left hand... "...Screw you." I said faintly as my vision went blurry. "Load him up-- we need him alive." Bell said. All I saw were the doors opening and voices loudly screaming. "Oh, shit! Get your asses back here! We'll tear you lowlives to shreds! Rainbow screamed. Can't die... Can't... Die... Everything went black. I woke up in a makeshift lab, back home, with Scootaloo and the others looking at me. "What happened?" I asked. "You passed out. When we heard the screams we thought... Daisukie picked the lock and... you were there, and your hand was over there, and the smell..." She took a moment before leaning in towards me and resting her head on my chest... "We thought you wouldn't make it..." Scootaloo said. "Well, I'm glad I did." I looked at my arm to see it wrapped and bandaged. "Good God, I look like shit." I joked. "How does it feel?" Dexter asked. I took a moment before lowering my stump. "Well, it hurts like hell... Also, it... feels like it's still there." I said trying to move my wrist and fingers. "Yeah, it will feel like that. I promise you that I am building a prosthetic as we speak, but... it'll take a while." Dexter said. "How do you know it'll fit?" I asked. Dexter took a moment before looking at the floor. "I'm... using your amputated hand as a template. I'm trying to find a way to make it so you will never be without a weapon again." Dexter claimed. "Thanks..." I said as I got up. "How long was I out?" I asked. "4 days. We were really worried. Especially Scootaloo." Dexter said as he typed some coding to his computer. "Well... now what?" I asked. "We captured one of them. Rainbow's interrogating him right now." Fluttershy said. Rainbow then walked through the lab doors with her hands coated in blood. "What the hell did you do?" Sunset asked. She took a few breaths as she glanced up at me. "Glad to see you're up. We had a little chat, one-on-one. He's alive, he says the group has a small opening through the east side. All we need to to do is use one of Dexter's EMPs to take out the turrets, blow up the wall, fire some shots, and the Walkers will do the rest." Rainbow said. "We'll see. Remember, there're innocent people in those walls. We need to wait until they can join us. We need to distract Bell, go through the gates, and offer them to join us. Then we can kill Bell. It's the only way." I said. "Fine. When can we do it?" Rainbow asked. "As soon as that arm's ready. I'd rather have two arms instead of one." I said. "Okay then. Scootaloo and I are going on a run to Megaville to see this east side." Rainbow said as she grabbed her knife and rifle. "Alright, that's the deal. As soon as that arm's ready, we'll invite Bell to talk about a truce, Sunset and I will go to Megaville, offer anyone to join, and execute Bell." I planned. "Alright. I think you're right with this. We need to be human and this is the only way." Sunset told me. "How long will that arm take?" I asked. "A few weeks at the least. I won't be working with the proper materials, but for a prototype. it'll work, but if you want a more advanced prosthetic, I'm gonna need proper materials as well as other prosthetic limbs for reference. Perhaps the military base?" Dexter thought out loud.. "Maybe. We could use the food from the base. The city here looks nearly untouched. Maybe there could be food right here, under our noses..." I said. "It can wait. We need to talk to the prisoner first." Vinyl said. "Let me see him." I said. "You sure you can take it?" Applejack asked. "Yeah. I've seen Walkers with no organs. How bad can the prisoner be?" I asked. I walked into the barn to see the prisoner beaten and cut. "Well then. Dash really went all out." I said. "Are you here to kill me?" The prisoner asked, his voice cracked and broken... "No, I'm more bark than bite. Not like her." I grabbed a chair and sat down. Before I came to the cells, I took a stop at our infirmary and picked up some supplies. "Back in high school, I was beaten almost every day. My mom taught me how to patch myself up..." I said as I opened a first aid kit and started cleaning him up and bandaging his cuts... "You shouldn't waste them on me... I have done things... unspeakable things that I tried to make up for the last 5 years... but my sins can never be repented." I didn't respond to his words as I continued bandaging him. "I understand that Bell forces people to live in her community... I'm guessing that you're one of them, right?" He didn't respond, and I kept patching him up. "Do you have a name?" I asked. He didn't respond again, and I heard the door open behind me. "What is it-" She stopped as she saw his face. I looked at his face again, and I recognized him-- he was the man from the photo at the orphanage... This was Frank. "Scootaloo... Just take a breath, think about this--" "No, no. Let me." She took my seat. I had no idea what she was planning, and I made no effort to stop her. "So... how are you?" She asked calmly. Frank took a moment to recognize her, but once he did... "My word... Scootaloo?" "Yeah." She pulled out her machete and lunged at him. "Trust me, if you think Rainbow was bad, just wait till I'm done!" She ran at him with me holding her back. "Scootaloo, don't! Let me talk to him. We need him alive. He can be a bargaining chip." I said as Scootaloo kept charging at him. After a moment, she stopped, seeing the reason in my plan, and she slowly backed away "Fine. If you lay a finger on him, I'll take this machete and wedge it in your skull, you hear me?!" Scootaloo screamed. "Y-yes..." Frank said petrified. "Okay, Kyle. Talk." Scootaloo walked out the barn, shutting the door behind her. Once that was over, I slowly turned back to Frank and took my seat again. "Well, you heard her. Talk." I said, my tone impatient and harboring anger... "Alright. Bell takes survivors by force and put them to work. Most of them were from the outside and the rest were military personnel." Frank said, starting calming down. As he talked, all I could imagine was what he put poor Scootaloo through, and I clenched my fists... "How about the others? If we were to go and offer them to join us, would they?" I asked "Yeah. They'll burn that place if you wanted them to. They just want out." He said. His voice-- it was like every time I heard it, I'd hear her younger screams of pain as he abused her... in ways that I wasn't ready to ask about. "How about the military?" I asked. "Them too." Frank said. It was so tempting-- we were alone, all I'd have to do was shoot him down-- no-one would hate me for it... I took a sigh and stood up from the chair. "Okay then. I'll send Fluttershy to look at you. She's as close to a medic as we're ever gonna get-- but be warned-- I'll be right here, watching you. If you even look at her wrong, I'll paint the wall and hay with your brains." I threatened him as I showed him my gun. "That's... fair. At Megaville, we have a combat medic who'll give anything to leave. He can be useful." Frank said. I took a moment to consider that before nodding. "Okay... Thank you." I said as I left to get Fluttershy. > Trouble * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo and I were on watch, walking around the edge of the wall as I noticed a Walker hand creep its hand through a small tear in the wall. "I got him." Scootaloo said as she grabbed her machete. I saw as Scootaloo took a stab at its neck and the Walker falling to the ground. "It's weird seeing how they die, you know? It's like they're human, but... they're not." I said. "Yeah. How's that arm doing?" Scootaloo asked. "Fine. It feels like nothing happened, but then I look at it again and I see a stump." I said. "Well, at least you're not dead. You should have seen when Dash saw your arm... She almost killed them all right there. Not that I would've cared." Scootaloo said. "Yeah, I could imagine. How about the others?" I asked. "They just stood there. Pinkie fainted with Rarity, Sunset bandaged your arm, and Dash got Frank. As for Fluttershy, she ran for the car and drove it up." Scootaloo said. "I told you-- her kindness can save lives. Anyway, looks like we need to thicken the walls a little bit." I said as I examined the tear through the wall. "Yeah. Also, the greenhouses need more vegetable seeds and the guard tower needs more weapons... we should really go on a run, soon..." Scootaloo said as we walked to the construction crew. "How about Frank? Is the barn okay for him?" I asked. "Why do you care?" Scootaloo asked. "Well, we need to bring him back to Bell. Maybe we could declare a truce, all depends on Frank's importance there." I said. As we walked in, I noticed Big Mac was there. "Hey, Mac. Are you the new recruit?" I asked him. "Eeup. I decided to pull my weight 'round here. This is how." Big Mac said as he grabbed some wood. I cracked a faint smile, happy to see that he was starting to fit in again... "Well, the wall needs to be thickened a little bit. We got a breach a few minutes ago." I told him. "Well, sure thing. Y'all have fun, now." Mac began chopping the wood as we left. "Hey, the arm should almost be done. Come on, let's go see." Scootaloo invited me. We went to the lab to see Dexter with a form of an exoskeleton. "Dexter, I only asked for a hand. Not a full-on Advanced-Warfare-style exo suit." I said. "Oh this is for me. Your arm's over there." Dexter pointed at a plastic mold of my hand. I walked and put it on. "How does it work?" I asked. "It's like your hand. It uses the nerve waves from your brain and turns it into electricity. Or in shorter words, it acts like a normal hand." Dexter explained. I began to move it. It felt like my normal hand. Except for the blade thing on my knuckles. "Oh, to use the knife, just flex your wrist forward, like almost like the Wolverine's claws." Dexter instructed. So that's what I did-- and I noticed how fast the blade stuck out, almost like a hidden blade from Assassin's Creed or something like that. "Nice. So, if I ever get into a jam, I could just use this?" I asked. "Well, this is just a prototype. But yes. Also it can be used as a bite guard." Dexter said. I saw how it was just metal rebars and wires and doubted that theory. "Really?" "Well, the final version will be. Until then, this is all you have." Dexter said. "I'll take it." I said as I switched the blade down. "Alright then. Come on, Dash said she needed us." Scootaloo said as she walked out the door. We went to the armory, A.K.A the abandoned house in the suburbs we claimed, and saw Dash sorting out some rifles. "Dash, you said you wanted us?" Scootaloo asked. "Yeah. It's about Frank." Dash said. "He didn't make it, did he?" I asked. "No. The bastard escaped! I went to tell him about the trade-off, and this was all I found..." Dash held a piece of paper saying I'm sorry. "What do you think it means?" I asked. Fluttershy stepped forward and cleared her throat. "Well, when I was looking at him, he said he went to church everyday since his 6 year sentence was finished. He said he just... prayed for... forgiveness. When I asked him why, he just broke down. He... really regrets what he did to you..." Sunset said. Scootaloo scoffed and tossed his arms in the air. "I'll believe that when I see it." "What does that mean?" I asked. "I mean he's fooling you! He's trying to make you soft so he can escape easily. He did." "Maybe. But until then, we need guards on all sides with heavy weaponry. If he's out there, we'll find him." I said as I grabbed my gun and paced to the door. "Wait, wasn't that the plan? To let him go?" Fluttershy asked. "Yeah, for a trade. If he makes it back, all hopes of a truce will be destroyed." I opened the door. "Make sure if he comes back, don't. Kill. Him." I said. "Why?" Rainbow asked. "I just said. A truce." I said. "Kyle, there is no truce. Just war." "Well, better safe than sorry. That's what my older sister said. After... after the fire." I said to her, just realizing my slip-up when it was too late... "Fire? What fire?" I looked at Scootaloo, knowing that she could tell the story-- I couldn't, not again... "Kyle told me that his father owned an orphanage. A while before the zombies, the orphanage was burnt to the ground. His father died in that fire, along with most of Kyle's old friends." Dash stood there in utter shock. So did the others-- I never really planned on telling them the truth, I just wanted to move on and forget about it... but after having it be known... it felt like a weight was finally off of my shoulders. "I never would've thought..." Dash said, lost for words. After a moment of struggling through a lump in my throat, I began speaking. "Well, I think we need to give people a second chance. That's what I think the point of this place should be. A chance. A choice, no matter what you did, no matter who you hurt, no matter if it was to prove yourself to no-one but yourself. Even-even if we don't believe they can come back! We need to try. Otherwise, we're just another batch of monsters..." I said without fear. The others continued standing there, none of them saying a word, until the door opened, and Shining Armor came in. "Shining... Any good news?" I asked. "Yeah... We found Frank in the woods. He said he was attacked by one of us. We couldn't hear because Fleetfoot knocked him unconscious." Shining said. "Bring me to him." I said. Scootaloo walked up, clearly eager to come with me. I however stood up and blocked her off... "Just me this time. Sorry..." I said as we walked out the door to see Frank. > Life * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I went to see Frank and saw him unconscious with his hands tied and head cracked slightly. "What happened?" I asked Fleetfoot. "I thought he was gonna make a move. So, I knocked him out, right place, wrong time, I guess." "Well, at least he isn't dead. He might have gotten a concussion or worse." I said as I saw the crack up close. "Yeah... At least he's alive." Shining said. I saw as he regained consciousness. "Hello?" I heard Frank faintly ask. "Why did you try to escape?" I asked. "W-what?" Frank asked me. I turned to Shining. "You tried to escape... you don't remember?" "No... it was her... the rainbow-haired one-- she tried to kill me!" Frank said to us. I sank that in for a minute. "Dash was the one who said you escaped." I said. Frank quickly shuddered. "No... she asked me some questions, then pulled a gun on me-- ranted on about how pathetic this all was... I swear on my Lord, that's all I remember..." I let that sink in also. Dash nearly killed him, for what? "Let me talk to her..." I said as I walked out the door, a fire in my heart as I marched towards the library in rage. Rainbow entered the library and spotted me sitting on one of our council-chairs, with Sunset and Fluttershy aside me... "What is it? Shining said it was urgent." "Why did you do it, Rainbow? You almost got him killed!" Sunset asked, her as angry as I was... Rainbow took a moment and turned her head. "What're you talking about? I told you-- the prick knocked me out and ran off!" She said, her eyes showing panic. "Look, I get it-- he beat Scootaloo, maybe worse, but I can't just let you kill him when we can use him to save our lives... just stay away from him." I told her. "...F-fine. Have it your way. This is so goddamned pathetic!" Dash said in rage as she started marching away... But turned and cracked me across the face. I should've been used to the pain, from Crystal Prep, but I'd be lying if it didn't shock me... and also hurt a tad more than most fists that met my face... I hit the ground and Rainbow was on top of me, wrapping her hands around my throat... "Rainbow, stop!" Sunset screamed in horror as she ran over and tried prying her off... She didn't even flinch as she turned and shoved Sunset away, going right back to me. "You're weak... you all are!" She screamed as she tightened her grip around my neck... Just as everything started going dark, I saw someone try again to pull Rainbow off of me, only to get a back-fist... "Oh... oh, no..." Rainbow whispered in horror as I gasped for breath and my vision came back... To see Fluttershy holding her bloody nose, on the ground and sniffling sobs away. "Flutters, I... I'm--" Fluttershy got up and ran away, leaving the three of us, with Sunset hitting her head on a bookshelf, knocked to the ground. "Damn it..." Rainbow's broken voice said as she ran away from us, and I slowly got up and limped over to Sunset, who glanced up at me with drops of blood coming from her head... A few days after our fight, we were all patched up and Rainbow was put in a cell I had the construction crew put together that was meant for Frank-- I never thought we'd have to use that cell for one of our own, instead... I went to check on the wall development alongside Sunset, who's head was still wrapped in bandages... "How's that wall coming?" Sunset asked. Mac stopped working for a moment and turned to us, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Great... We've finished the east and west sides. After these panels are up, we'll be done with the north side." Mac said as he hammered the panel in. "Any new ideas?" I asked him. "Well, Dexter wants to add some of them Megaville turrets on the wall, the jury's still out on that one." Mac told me as he added the final panel on. We nodded to him and walked off, passing the entrance to Rainbow's cell as we took a moment to glace at it... "We need to keep an eye on her. She almost killed Frank and she's sounding more threatening as the days go by. If anything goes south, we'll have to exile her." I said as I took a moment to feel around my neck, passing an old scar... "Yeah... I agree." Sunset said to me as she kept walking. As we made our way to the library, I saw Scootaloo walking towards us... "I'll meet you guys at the library." I said to Sunset, who nodded and kept walking. "You heard about what happened?" I asked her. She took a moment before looking at the ground and sighing. "Yeah. As much as I hate Frank, killing him isn't the option. Now you got Dash trying to kill you. What's next? Killing anyone she damn-well pleases? Jesus, what're we gonna do with her?" She pondered out loud... After a moment, I remembered that I still had questions to ask... "Not to change the topic, but how's Cadence doing?" I asked. "She's getting there. If we need to perform a C-section, Fluttershy's delivered a few animals at the shelter more than once." Scootaloo ensured. "It's not that I'm talking about. I mean Rainbow." I told her. We were interrupted by Shining calling me. "What is it?" I asked. "It's Rainbow, she's gone." Shining said. I was shocked, but not surprised... I should've seen it coming, after our fight. "Well, did she say anything?" I asked him. "No. I went to check on her and she was gone, her cell door was open, and I found this." Shining held a piece of paper with the words TAKE CARE OF SCOOTALOO. THIS PLACE, YOUR DREAMS FOR THIS WORLD ARE A LIE! "Wow... I never thought she'll actually leave..." I said as I read the note. "So, now what?" Scootaloo asked me. "We see to this place, now... Keep building it up and over time, this place could be a safe-zone." I said. "Well, we need a name if we're going in that direction." Scootaloo told me. With that, I already had my name picked out-- the same name as my father's old orphanage... "We'll just call it what it is. Sanctuary." I dubbed. "Alright. It seems pretty awesome. Sanctuary it is." Scootaloo officially announced. We heard murmurs of agreement from Shining and the other guards. "Well, now we need a police force. Shining," I called. "I want you to start it." I told him. "But, why me?" Shining asked. "Because you can. Now, I understand you have a child on the way, so we could wait on that. But for now, we start rebuilding this place." I said to the people. I heard people cheering behind me. "Well, it's settled then." Sunset said to me. "Yeah. Where's Fluttershy?" I asked. "...We didn't see her for a couple hours. Oh, no..." Sunset ran for her apartment. "What is it?" I followed her to the apartment... We ran to Fluttershy's room to hear crying- Then glass shattering. "Fluttershy?" I tried to open the door only to find it locked. "Fluttershy, this isn't the way. Come on, Fluttershy. We need you, don't do this..." I begged to her now using my knife to scrape the locks. "Out of my way." Daisuke said as he picked the lock. We rushed in to see Fluttershy covering her wrist now gushing blood. "I'm sorry..." She said to us. "It's okay. Come on." Sunset said taking her arm and pacing to the infirmary. The next day, I listened to Sunset and Fluttershy talking from the other side of the door. "Why did she try to do this? It doesn't add up." I said. "At CHS, she lost someone. Someone who really mattered to her. His name was Discord, those two were like two peas in a pod. We found his corpse a few days after the outbreaks. It really must've gotten to 'er." Applejack said to me. I stood there astounded. "Well, let's hope she can move on from this. We need her right now- now more than ever." I said as I listened to the two talk. "I understand you miss him, but you need to let go!" Sunset said to Fluttershy behind the doors. "I tried. I can't. What do you want from me?!" Fluttershy cried. "It's not what I want! Shining and Cadence need you for their child!" Sunset assured her. "And if it's stillborn?" Fluttershy asked coldly. We all glanced to each other, wide-eyed as we turned back to the door. "Well... T-then we can work something out. Anything but suicide!" Sunset screamed. We stood there thinking of what we were going to do next. "We need Megaville's medic for this. Not a shelter volunteer." Vinyl said. "No. We need a therapist. Someone who can get her through this, Sunset isn't enough." Daisuke said. "Yeah. Maybe a grief counselor..." Rarity suggested. I had an idea. "Sunset... Let me in." I told her. I heard the door creak open. "What is it?" Sunset asked. "I think I know what she needs." I told her as I came in. "What?" Sunset asked. "Someone who went through the same thing to talk to." I said to her. Sunset slowly nodded and walked out the door. "What's your excuse this time?" Fluttershy asked boldly. "No excuses this time..." I said as I shut the door and rolled up my sleeve, revealing the remnants of scars on my wrist after Bell cut it off... Fluttershy took a moment to spot them, but once she did, her hands were covering her mouth as I rolled it back up. "I think I remember seeing you at the Friendship Games... at least hearing about you. Jesus, they'd rant on-and-on about how unfair the game was... but they never really had the sense to blame themselves. First it was a kid named Autumn Flier, but after he dropped out... they turned to me." I said as I took a seat next to Fluttershy... She didn't say a word as she lowered her hands and turned to me. "I freed Rainbow..." She whispered. "I know... and it's okay-- she made her choice. But you aren't alone in this... we're all here for you-- trust me, I wish I had friends as amazing as you when I was at Crystal Prep." I said, letting out a weak laugh as I began glancing at the wall... Fluttershy then started crying again, and I responded by doing the only thing I could think to do-- hug her. "It's okay... it's not your fault..." I whispered as her sobs grew louder, louder than I ever heard her talk before... It was clear to me that she was struggling with this for a while-- before the zombies, for sure... I heard the door open, and I saw Sunset join our hug... then Rarity, then Pinkie, then Vinyl, then Scootaloo... We just stayed there, as I felt tears run down my eyes, as well... and soon, we were all crying along, together, embracing each other... > Sanctuary * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scootaloo and I were on our way to the walls when we saw a few glass shards in Fluttershy's room door. "I got it." I said as I picked them up and dumped them in the trash. "There's probably more in her bathroom..." Scootaloo said, glancing at the blood-soaked carpet. "Yeah... We'll get it later." I said as I took the "Do not disturb" sign on her door and flipped it over. "How did this happen?" Scootaloo asked. "What do you mean?" I asked. "How did she... get this bad?" Scootaloo asked again. "...I don't know. Rarity told me about a friend she had way back who... was kind of a trouble maker. She said that he hurt her and that she was never really the same since then..." I answered. We went to the walls to see Mac and the others thickening the walls with cargo freights. "We found the crane at the construction site and the freights at the port a few miles away." Mac told me. "Kyle-- We need you." Dexter called. We went to Dexter's lab to see my hand. No, not my old one, Dexter's new, advanced one. "It's ready..." Dexter said. I removed my old hand and placed the new one on my arm, turning it to lock it in place. I noticed the difference immediately as my hand could move more cleanly than before, with my fingers moving in a more fluid motion. I pressed the button on it to see a 10-inch blade suddenly form. "Wow. That's... a big knife." I said astounded. "It was made by the best." Dexter smiled. "Okay... how about Bell? How do we do this?" Blossom asked. After a minute of planning, Dexter turned to us. "Easy. One of us goes to Megaville when Bell's gone to see how they are. If they want to join us, they can and we'll take care of her." Dexter said to us. "As for the others who don't want to join us?" I asked. "We'll see if they want to do the deal." Dexter proposed. I had to act now. No more pushing this back, no more hesitating. Just doing this plan and winning. "Alright. We'll go as soon as we help Fluttershy out." I said. We had to wait a few hours for Fluttershy's counseling session to end. Fluttershy walked out slowly and tried to go to her room. I had to stop her. "You might want to wait until the cleanup crew wipes it off. It's pretty brutal." I told her. "There's a guest room at my apartment if she wants." Sunset offered. Fluttershy slowly nodded and walked with Sunset. "Tell Bell you and Rarity want to talk to her." I said. "Alright." Dexter said. "As for us, Blossom, Daisuke, and Rain-" I almost forgot she was gone. "...and Vinyl, you three go try to recruit some people from Megaville or keep the trade going." I said. "How about you?" Daisuke asked. "I'll stay here and help run things. Remember, Fluttershy's on suicide watch from here on out." I said to him. "Got it. Oh, can I talk to you for a second? Alone?" Daisuke asked. "Sure." We walked away from the others. "What is it?" I asked him. "I heard her laughing the other day. I can't be her adopted father and her best friend. She needs you. She needs you to show her the way. What way are you going to show her?" Daisuke asked. I stood there for a moment and thought about this. What path was I going to show her? How about the others? "Dai! We need you to get ready!" Dexter called. "Well, good luck." I told him. "I was going to say the same thing." Daisuke said as he walked to the car. I walked back to the library to see the others for a meeting. "What do we do about Fluttershy? She tried kill herself! How does someone heal from that?" Coop asked. "I don't know. But she'll manage. How about Riku? She's dyin' to kill Bell but since we held 'er back from the run, how's that gonn' affect 'er?" Applejack asked. "I'm not sure. Maybe it won't. Maybe this is the first and only case." I said as I took my seat. "How do we know? Maybe this will happen again." Pinkie said. We were interrupted by Sunset and Fluttershy walk in. "Hey Fluttershy. Did you sleep okay?" Scootaloo asked. She just sat down without response. "She won't talk. It might be shock." Sunset concluded. "Well, I hope you know we're always here." I told her. "..." We then heard a faint gunshot from the north. They got her. "Well, one down, one to go." Sunset said. We talked to Fluttershy until we saw 3 cars and 1 bus drive in. We ran out to see who was with them. But what I saw was Blossom carrying Rarity with a bloody cloth covering her head... Rarity was dead. "Bell... it was like a blur, one minute she was standing a foot away from her, the next... she was crushing Rarity's head in her hands, and I managed to create something to kill her with... Bell may be dead, but there's no way of knowing for sure. The people agreed to the deal and these people wanted no part of Megaville." Dexter told me as people walked out. I saw how many food crates was with them. "First taste of the deal. Enough to last us months, now with this deal, we can co-exist." Dexter said as he placed crates on to the van. "Wow. Now, we just need to help Fluttershy and nothing can stop us from building this place up." I said as we brought the people to their rooms. "How about your sister?" Sunset asked me. "We'll need to get some recruiters and in time, she'll show her face." I said calmly. "How about my sisters?" Blossom asked. "Ditto. They'll show up eventually." I said as we grabbed more food. "He's right. Now, we need to build this place up." Dexter said. "Alright." Blossom responded as she flew to the apartments. "As for the term of leadership, we can manage a democracy as well as we used to. Until proven otherwise, we keep the counsel alive and running." I announced. "How about Megaville?" A man from the bus asked. "We'll stay in touch... We'll go once a week-- see what they need. Whether it's supplies or service or anything like that..Anywhere, anytime." I answered, as the others from the council stood beside me as we finally won for a change... A few hours after the indoctrination of the Megaville citizens, we were all standing over Rarity's fresh grave as Frank volunteered to give his words.. in handcuffs, of course. "I haven't been here long... I'd say that I don't even deserve to be here. But, in my time here, Rarity seemed to be a generous person... a kind soul, taken from us too soon..." He said as we all had our heads lowered, Fluttershy and Sunset starting to cry. As I stood there and mourned, I felt a hand take mine, and I turned to see Scootaloo, tears coming from her eyes... I took her hand and our fingers once again interlocked as the funeral service went on... "Mr. Williams, would you... like to say some words?" Frank asked me. Scootaloo didn't really react to him as I dreadfully pulled my hand away and took a step forward... "Rarity was... I didn't know her as long as you all did, but she seemed strong-- capable, compassionate. Traits that we should all strive to have. She saw something in this place, something... beautiful. Whenever we go on runs, and your life is saved by that armor... you know who to thank for it." I said. Most of them responded by nodding, and Frank lowered his head, as well... "But we can't let her death be for nothing-- she died for this place, and we owe it to her to make it a home. Not just for us, but for anyone who is still breathing. That's how we'll honor Rarity..." I said as I slowly walked back over to Scootaloo, and together, we all stood there, all of our hands interlocked, as rain began to fall... > Second Year * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was sitting on the rooftop looking at the view of Sanctuary... After all this time, Megaville's still doing trade, even a whole year later. Also the walls were finally finished-- with help from Blossom and her many powers-- with two layers of cargo freights, while most of us welded rails, rigs and ladders together. We found a hydroelectric plant nearby and we had fun trying to operate it for almost 3 months before we got it to work. Down in the streets, I saw groups of people talking and heading off to where-ever, vendors selling their odds and ends, and the small monument we made to honor everyone we lost during the war with Bell... I become mesmerized in the beauty of it all long enough for me to not hear Scoot calling me. "Ky! Are you up here?" Scootaloo asked. I turned to see her waving at me, trying to get my attention. "Come on, dude, we have another meeting." She said with an odd smile on her face. "Yeah. I'll be down in a minute!" I called as I began walking down. I saw her hanging by a room with all the lights off inside. "In here, trust me." Scoot said. I walked into the room and I could hear some giggling in the room with us... Wait a minute... "SUPRISE!" About 9 voices called out as the lights flickered on. "Happy birthday, babe!" Scootaloo said as she walked out. "Scoots, come on, I told you guys not to go into any trouble for a once-a-year event." I said. Clearly they ignored me as they all took their seats. "Well, we figured you needed it. 15 is a big year, trust me." She said. I giggled and we kissed, causing some groans and a cheer from the group. "Well, thanks..." I said. "Then there's nothing stopping us from digging in!" Vinyl said coming out with a plastic knife and holding a cake with the other. We laughed and shared stories on before the outbreak. "I remember one time, this couple snuck some drinks in and got sooo wasted... they could barely hear the cop when he went up to them!" Pinkie shared. "Alright, there was this one dog that just refused to let us walk him... but after I went in there and babied him, they had no choice but to give me the job..." Fluttershy said louder than she talked back in the day. "I was the school D.J. Man, those were the days. They had some sick beats too... well, the ones that I snuck in with me, that is." Vinyl said. "How about you, Sunset? Any interesting stories for us?" I was still chuckling over Pinkie's story. "Well... not really. I kinda just got by before-- I guess you could count my livestreams, though, but nothing really came out of them." She said to me. "How about you, Ky? What did you do?" Scootaloo asked. I took a moment before deciding to talk about my past with a hint of salt... "Well... I just survived, too. I was almost the weakest kid, my sister was always at work in another city, and I was the target for the bigger players..." I said. Silence, for a moment, as Scootaloo decided to uplift the mood I had set. "As for me, Dash was practically my idol. I tried everything to be like her. Then I saw one of my only friends get torn apart... Then you came, everything else happened, and now we're here eating cake on your 15th birthday." Scootaloo said. Well, so much for that. "Yeah... I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for you guys." I smiled as we finished eating... After a few minutes of cleaning, we all went our separate ways, save for Scootaloo, who was right behind me. "It was Diamond for you too, huh?" She asked suddenly. "What?" I asked. "I know Diamond and Silver Spoon were talking about you back at CHS. Honestly, she can get on anyone's nerves." She said. "To be honest, I never met Diamond. But I heard a lot about her, and I bet she could buy anyone's silence... or approval." I said as I placed the plate in the Walker fire. "Why not you?" Scootaloo asked. "Because I knew." "Knew what?" She asked me. "I knew that she was like the people I lived with. That she was dead the second the crap hit the fan. Or at least, would have been. But the wall was built just in time. If CHS is gone and she's out there, she'll be doing her nails while Runners are tearing her little buddy apart, then it'll be her. But if CHS is still up and running, then things didn't change a bit." I answered. "Yeah. Trust me, there're things about her that even I don't know." Scootaloo said. We walked out to see the livestock from Megaville. "How's it coming?" I asked Applejack. "Well, Daisy's been runnin' dry, the chicken coop's been infested by mosquito, and the cattle have been gettin' sick. As for the crops, they're doin' better than last week." Applejack said. "We need Fluttershy again. Where is she?" I asked. "Out with Mac- again." Sunset said. "What? Are you jealous?" I joked. "What? N-no!" Sunset said. We were interrupted by the sound of horses galloping. "They're here." Scootaloo said. We ran to the gates to see our dealer on horseback. "How'd it go?" I asked. "Good. We have the antibiotics you need for the cattle." He said. "How's it on infestations?" I asked him. "So far, so good. Well. except for some runners not coming back and supplies going missing." "Maybe it was Walkers." I told him. "Yeah, but it's been happening for weeks now. Unless the Walker population suddenly boomed, we could have a raider camp on our hands..." The dealer told us. "We'll put some armed people on lookout around the mid-way point. Let us know know the sitrep whenever you can." I said as I grabbed the medicine. "Sure thing." He rode back to the road. "What do you think this means? Hunters? It could be Rainbow... but I don't see her killing people like this..." Scootaloo said. "Maybe. Or we could have an enemy camp watching us. Be ready for anything. And I mean anything." I said as Fluttershy came for the medicine. "We're on it." Shining said as he walked out with Flurry Heart in his arms. "How's she doing?" I asked. "So far, so good. No accidents." Shining confirmed. "Hey, you're doing good. You guys will be back as soon as you're done negotiating with Megaville's new leader. Speaking of which, how's Megaville?" I asked him. "It's good. You guys would like it there." He insisted. "Thanks, but I'm perfectly fine here. Oh, Flurry's birthday's coming up, right?" I asked. "Yeah, I think you should come by, then." Shining said. "Yeah. When is it?" I asked. "The 4th, next week." "Alright, then, we'll give Megaville a call." I said as I went for the C.B. "Megaville, we have a party coming up and we could use a room, over?" We were answered by static. "Megaville, please respond, over." Still silence. I knew something was wrong. "Shining, get the car, Sunset, you're in charge of the council until we get back. Fluttershy, you're coming with us, we might need a medic." I said as we ran for the car. "What's going on?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know. Maybe nothing but, rather safe than sorry." I said as Shining started the car. We drove down the road to see the walls with a gaping hole where the gates were. "No..." Shining said as he ran to the gates. "Shining!" I ran towards him. We ran to see corpses everywhere. "No... No..." Shining saw a certain corpse. "Shining, wait, it's not safe--!" I told him. He didn't-- he couldn't say a word as he fell to his knees and sobbed by his wife's seemingly dead corpse... After a moment, I saw walkers getting close from the outside-- at least a dozen... "Shining! We have to go. Let's just... let's look for survivors and-" I was interrupted by Cadence getting up, slowly regaining her balance. "Sorry guys, but I'm pretty sure that last survivor's me..." "Cadence!" They hugged instantly. "Jesus Christ, don't do that again..." "I don't plan to." Cadence said. "You're hurt..." I noticed the gash on her head. "I'll be fine. I had to dive out of the window to sell the whole 'being dead' act..." "What happened?" I finally asked. "You have to see it to believe it..." Cadence said. > Kingdom * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Wait-- how many were there?!" I asked Cadence. Her story was insane-- there was no possible way to believe it. "200... She said that was just a small portion of her soldiers. Kyle, they'll tear right through this place..." Cadence said. "Not if we don't negotiate. Sunset, Cadence, Scootaloo. You're coming with me along with a small armada to scout this "kingdom". Until we get back, all guards stay on post. We could have a war on our hands." I said as we readied the Humvee. "And if you don't make it back?" Fluttershy asked. "Then get ready to evacuate. If they decide to attack us, we won't stand a chance." I said gravely as we hopped in the car. We drove for almost an hour following Cadence's map, Shining driving and me riding shotgun with Scootaloo and none of us saying a word the entire trip. None of us wanted to talk about losing Megaville-- especially about the army needed to do so. "Holy shit..." I heard Shining whisper. I looked up and saw what appeared to be large brick walls, stretching out as far as the eye can see in both left and right, at least 17 feet tall. The gates were massive panels of steel which seemed to be automatically opened. "Sure looks like a kingdom..." I said. We were welcomed by over 30 men in riot gear running out with guns aimed at us. "Hello... My name is Kyle Williams, I'm representing a settlement north of here." I said to them. "What do you want?" A guard asked. "There was a city called Megaville. Your leader along with 200 of your men came and destroyed it. We were trading with them and... now they're dead. We're not here for revenge-- that gets nothing done, and to be honest, you outnumber us. We would like to speak to the person in charge." I told them. A person close to my age then approached-- he was blonde, and wore a tan suit with a white dress shirt and black suit pants. He stood straight before us, and took a moment to study us before answering. "It's good to see that you can negotiate. Your colleagues weren't so willing to talk." The stranger said. "Are you in charge?" I asked. "No, my sister is. I'll take you to her." We walked through the gates and we had a chance to see around us. It resembled something ripped out of a Renaissance painting-- the largest population of people I've ever seen in my life, clusters of houses and cabins that clearly weren't there before, one large large windmill stood in the town center, and a large castle behind it all. "This place... this place is beautiful." I remarked. "Don't get too comfy, Kyle-- those soldiers mowed down Megaville." Shining stated with hate in his voice. "They prefer Knights. We walled up 6 miles down the road in every direction." Len said as we walked towards the castle. "When did you find this place?" I asked him. Len didn't answer right away, I knew that there was a story behind the Kingdom that he wasn't so eager to share. "We were taken here be the last person in charge. After a month of suffering, slavery, and wasted hard-work, Rin killed her and we immediately thrived." Len said. "Well, we would appreciate it if our people weren't in jeopardy of total destruction." I said. "As long as you can provide for us, here. It's not my call. We're here." Len opened the doors into the castle. The first thing that we saw was the throne. It was a massive, red velvet chair forged in what appeared to be gold. The ruler on the throne was equally intimidating-- she seemed my age, with short blonde hair reaching her shoulders. She was wearing a black regal dress with yellow highlights, the dress running down to her thighs. Covering her legs, she wore black, knee-high socks with ankle-high black slippers. She held a golden scepter with a ruby on top, and she gazed upon us with a face of cold-hearted numbness. I would be lying if I wasn't one glare away from trembling in nervousness. "Sister. We have visitors." Len said in a high-class voice. I stepped forward and I was worried that I was going to trip on my own feet. "H-hello. M-my name's Kyle. This is... Scootaloo, Shining Armor, and Cadence. We're from a city--completely walled. We have food, water, and medicine. T-the three golden materials, right?" Her face didn't budge at my attempt of breaking the ice. "Anyway, we were friends with the city you destroyed. We would like not to be threatened by... this." I said looking at the 7 Knights standing guard behind her with assault rifles. She leaned forward, never averting her gaze from me. I felt a heavy weight in my chest as I silently gulped in fear. As the silent seconds began to add up, Len adjusted his collar as the Queen slowly began to smirk. I took a faint, subtle step back for my safety. "...One condition. You contribute, you survive." I felt relief, knowing that this trip wasn't going to end with us becoming target practice. "Alright. C-can we know your name?" I asked. She smiled again, but with malicious intent-- the kind of look I've seen in only one other person in my life before... and it ran shivers down my spine. "Rin. Rin Kagamine. You already met my brother, Len." After a moment of silence, I slowly began backing away. "I-I'm glad we could work this out." I said as we turned around leaving, with me still recovering from the pounds of flop sweat I had lost. Before we decided to leave, we decided to explore the town a bit-- after talking with a few locals, we learned that this place was mostly built from scratch, save for the castle, which was there already. We were in the town square, looking for a few more opinions on this place when Shining turned to me. "Do you think it'll work?" He asked. I took another moment to recollect my nerves before answering. "It has to. Maybe we won't get anything or little in return, but we need to survive. This is how we-" I was interrupted by a hand grabbing my shoulder and pulling me off the street. "Hey! What-" I was pinned against the wall by a girl in red armor and with red hair. "Don't think you're safe-- Rin doesn't negotiate. She won't give you anything but bloodshed..." Shining pulled out his pistol behind her, but I gestured him to put it away. "Let him go... now." Cadence said. She took a moment to notice the others and slowly released me, keeping her hands in the air. "Sorry... it's just... not many people know what she intends to do with them." "Who are you?" Scootaloo asked. The girl slowly turned to the others. "I'm Meiko. Take my advice. Leave your community and run. Run until she can't reach you. If you don't, your people will die." "We need to do this, Meiko-- We have too many people back home, men, women, children. We can't fit them all on one highway. We can't leave, not now." "Fine. At least take this," she handed me a C.B. "Channel 18; every day at 3 pm. I'll tell you what you need to know." With that, we found our Humvee and left through the gates, eager to never return here ever again... "This is messed up. They destroyed Megaville! They'll destroy US!" Cadence said. "We have no choice. We need to keep Sanctuary alive. Otherwise, Fluffy might not survive, Shining might not." "Alright. But I'm keeping an eye on Rin whenever I can." Sunset said. "Yeah. What was with that girl? Meiko, was it? She just warned us and took off?" Scootaloo asked. "... Yeah. She told me she'll tell us through the C.B at noon, every day, at 3. We'll find out what's going on." I said as we drove back. I started thinking to myself about the Kingdom-- Rin and Len in particular. I have no idea what it was about her, but she chilled me to the bone with fear. Len wasn't any better, but he didn't seem ready to slit my throat quite like she was. We arrived at Sanctuary and saw a few Knights standing by the gates, almost like Megaville's guards last year... "What do you need?" I asked, knowing what to expect by now. "You can't do this. She's... She's just messed up. She's evil, man. You don't know, but we can show you. We want to join you guys." One of the guards said. "Sure. Just drop your weapons and walk in." I said to them. "Thank you. You don't know what you're getting into." The Knight said as he and his comrades ran in. "We have a lot to think about." Scootaloo said to me. "Yeah, we do. If things go south, we'll take our supplies, cars, and people and head for CHS." I said as I placed my Judge in my holster. "Are you sure? Last time we were at CHS, it got attacked." "By a bunch of bandits. Nothing they can't handle." I said to her. "Maybe. But maybe it's gone. It looked like it took a big hit..." Scootaloo said. I put my hands on her shoulders. "Hey, don't even think about that now. Let's go get the new people set up." I said. "Alright." We were about to walk to the apartment when we saw a certain person at the gates. Oh, no. "It's been a while. What do you want?" I asked. "Our first deal. I never thought I'll see your faces again." Rainbow Dash said with riot gear and an AK-47 strapped in her back. I knew why she was there-- she was part of the Kingdom after she left us... "Well, what does she want? Weapons, food, medicine?" "All of the above. A quarter of it all." Dash said. "Alright. Fluttershy, can you get some of the antibiotics? Shining, same with the guns, and Sunset, get a quarter of the food." I ordered. "You got it." Sunset said as people started walking to the supply rooms. It was just me, Scootaloo, and Dash. Out of the three of us, Dash was the most loaded. "So, I see you've had a busy year." I told her, admiring her new look. She let her hair grow out and styled it upwards. The armor covered her entire body, with what seemed to be the Kingdom's symbol spray-painted onto the chest. "Yeah. So did you." "Why did you leave? You could have stayed with us." Scootaloo said. "I didn't think Kyle would make it with the way he ran things." "And me? Was I just going to fade away too? How about the others, your friends? We built a life here." "I'm sorry. But you've seen it. Kyle's weakness, his-his unawareness of the world arou-" "Drop the act, Rainbow-- You talk about strength, but all you did was betrayed your friends and now your back to dry us out? Bullshit." The others came out with wheelbarrows of supplies. "Good. I'll be back in a few weeks for more." Dash said as she packed it in the back. "Most people have to provide more than this-- especially on their first tribute." One of the ex-Knights protested. "... I know. Consider it a blessing." Dash said as she hopped in and drove down the road. > New World * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been a few days since our first trade with the Kingdom. We've almost nearly recovered from our quarter offering food-wise, something that we were proud of. I was walking with Scootaloo and Sunset, remarking over the events of the last week. "I never thought we could gain so many supplies this fast." Scootaloo said as she saw the supply counts. "I know-- the guys in the farm don't mess around. But still... I can't believe Rainbow's alive. And with them." I said. "Well, let's be glad she didn't kill us." Sunset said. "Who said she would have?" I asked. "Yeah. You're probably right. But still, all this time, she was with Rin? It doesn't add up." Sunset said. "Yeah. How about the others? Len seemed decent. Meiko told me this morning that Rin overthrew her mother in an aggressive rage." I said. "Yeah. That gal, she was a monster. More than her." Stan, one of the guards who came to join us after we met the Kingdom, said while joining our conversation. That comment had my curiosity-- who was her mother? "Do tell." I said. "She... she was awful. She kidnapped us and practically enslaved us, pushing us to build that place from basically the ground up despite no knowledge on construction and barely any resources to work with. Whoever disagreed with her wound up locked away in some freights she had outside the castle... One day, Rin tackled her out of a window with a black eye and a bruise on her arm. If Len didn't stop her, she would've been killed. She got locked up with other people who she tortured and we don't know what happened to her after that." Stan said. "So, she was abusive?" Scootaloo asked. "As far as we know." Stan said. "I want to talk to her. Hold a meeting. If we have a new trader, it might be best to know them. Especially if they have over 200 soldiers." I said. "Alright-- I'm coming along, I want to see her." Sunset said. "Me too. If she was abused, I could help her." Scootaloo said. We started driving to The Kingdom to talk to Rin. Halfway into our drive, we found a wrecked food truck on the side of the road. "Let's see what's in it." Sunset said. "It could be a trap." I said. We walked closer and knocked. We heard nothing but a loud bump followed by a crash. "Oww! What?!" A familiar voice said. It was Rainbow... "Dash, it's us." Scootaloo said. She opened the door and after her eyes adjusted to the sun, she saw us. "What do you want?" She asked. "We need to see Rin. Any chance you could bring us to her?" I asked. She chuckled. "Good luck getting through her thick skull. All she does is think 'How will these people help us survive? Should we kill them and take their things or use them for their supplies?'. You were lucky you have warehouses full of supplies or otherwise, she would've crushed you." We all remained silent as she hopped back onto the mattress inside of the truck. "Sooo, you'll bring us to her?" I asked. "Ugh, fine." Rainbow hopped out of a mattress and walked out. After a silent half-hour of driving, we arrived to the Kingdom. I popped my head out of the window at the who nodded before pulling the lever that opened the gates. We drove in and parked by the gates, just in case this went wrong. As we left the car, I turned to Rainbow. "You should come back." I told her. She scoffed at my suggestion. "Why?" "The others really miss you. They never really moved on from you leaving. Scoot never did either..." I said. "Scoot, huh? You two must've been getting close." Rainbow said with a smirk. I didn't have time to say "Shut up" because we already were in the castle. We looked up and saw Rin. I felt the same feeling in my gut I felt last time, but less severe. "Hello again. We wanted to talk." I said to her. Another silent moment as she registered my request. "...About what?" She asked. "Just about us. Ourselves, our communities, this place. Just to catch up." I said. Rin glared at me before shifting her glance to Scootaloo and Sunset. She finally switched her glance to Rainbow and I swore that I heard a faint snarl. "Very well... Len. We need a bigger table." Len nodded and headed outside the room. "Thank you." I smiled. Rin nodded as she rose off of her throne and walked down the stairs. She glanced at me, waited a moment, and coyly smiled at me before following her brother. I felt my face pick up heat as Scootaloo chuckled. "Trying to catch flies, Ky?" I realized that my jaw was open and I immediately closed it, cleared my throat, adjusted my collar, and began following her. Before I could enter the room, the Knights guarding the doorway lowered their bayonetted rifles like swords, blocking the room. "Rainbow Dash stays." The knight said in a bold, booming voice. I turned to her and she simply scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Not really a tea girl, anyway." She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. We sat at the table with biscuits and tea on a small plate set at each of our seats. "So, I've been meaning to ask-- why the Renaissance vibe?" I asked. Rin chuckled at my comment, seeing the comparison as well. "I just liked the time. It had its downfalls but it had many uprisings." Rin said. "How about you?" Len asked. "I was on the bus home from school when my mom called. She said the gun," I placed my Judge on the table. "was on the table when the phone hung up. I was the last kid off. All I saw was my mom leap at me, the bus driver took the crowbar and... put my mother down." I took a moment, remembering that day and everything that lead up to it. "We stayed in the basement for a year before learning about CHS being a safe-zone. They said only one of us could go in. Gary turned the other way and walked away. I stayed for 3 months before it got attacked by bandits. We drove to a city and stayed on a rooftop. Then we found a quarantine zone that turned hostile. We went to the other city and we walled it up and over time, people joined us. The zone's leader, Bell, cut my arm off and killed one of our own. We managed to kill her, but... it had a cost. Now, here we are. Talking to Queen Rin." I explained. Rin noticed that she still had her biscuit in hand, invested in my story. She set it on the table and cleared her throat, ready to tell her side of the story. "When this began, I was being home-schooled. Len, my father, another family and I headed to Beverly Hills to see if there was anything left— there wasn’t. My mother abducted Len, another friend of ours, and me a little while after that and took us here. She lead this place with an iron fist and punished anyone who stood up to her. One day, she was in the middle of beating Len when I decided to fight back. She nearly killed me before Len pulled her off. I grabbed a spike and got her eye. I could've stopped there, but... I saw red. I got her other eye and pushed her out the window. Everyone was terrified, but I didn't care. I took the crown and locked my mother with the local prisoners. She was dead the next day..." Rin said. I was invested in her story, as well-- so much so that I almost didn't notice Scootaloo glaring at Rin the entire meeting. We got up and before we left the door, I turned to Rin. "I don't think you're a bad person. I've met bad people, and you aren't one of them. You're just forced to act like one." I said as I closed the door. I shut the door and turned to Rainbow, who was sitting on the steps to the throne, throwing a ball against the wall and back to her hand. "As for you, Rainbow, I think you should come back with us." I said again. Rainbow caught the ball and turned to me, moving closer to me. "Kyle, I said this twice in a row. You won't make it in that city much longer. You know why? Because you're weak! Do you think you can keep her safe? Do you think you can keep yourself safe?! You-" Retelling the story of my mom, losing Rarity, and now being berated by her... I lost my temper and lashed out. "Stop acting like you have all of the answers!" I snapped. She stumbled back and I knew I had to take a breath before I did something I might've regretted later. "Stop acting like you know the way, 'cause let me tell you something: We fought Bell, We kept Sanctuary safe, We helped Fluttershy after she..." I said to her, stopping after remembering exactly what happened before she tried to take her own life. Rainbow froze after I finished my last remark. "What? Fluttershy tried to... See? Like I said. Weak." Rainbow walked back out of the Kingdom's gates, with her head hung somewhat low. We returned to our apartment in Sanctuary, and Scootaloo was still seeming moody from the meeting. "Scoot, you okay?" I asked her. Scootaloo sighed. "I'm fine, Kyle-- it's just been a long week." She glumly stated. I knew she was lying-- something was wrong. It didn't take me long to figure it out. "Oh... my... God-- you're jealous." I realized. Scootaloo playfully punched my arm. "Shut up! Can you blame me? Rin's got that palace, that army, and that... that..." "Charisma?" I asked her. "Yeah." Scootaloo remarked. I set my hand on her shoulder before she pulled me in for a kiss-- a kiss that I proudly returned. It was short and sweet and we both pulled away. "You think I like her more than you?" I asked, understanding her jealousy. "...Maybe. The way you were looking at her, you.. never looked at me like that." She whispered. "Scoots, I was pissing myself. I didn't know if she wanted to kill me or enslave me." I jokingly confessed. Scootaloo snorted at that comment. "She isn't my type-- she's too... too..." I tried forming the word. "Scary?" I took a moment. "Yeah. Scary." I repeated. Scootaloo chuckled and set her head next to mine. "Now come kiss me, lover-boy..." Kiss her, I did. > Beginning Of A New Era * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We were in one of the several warehouse we had secured, checking the endless shelves filled with survival equipment and supplies when we heard a call come out. "Kyle! She's here." A guard shouted. We walked out to see Rainbow again, standing outside our gates. I signaled to a few workers who wheeled crates filled with medicine. "Alright, we've gathered painkillers, anti-biotics, that sort of--" "What we need is weapons. Ammo, too, if you can." Rainbow said. I was shocked by that at first. Weapons? "Why weapons?" I asked her. "What does it matter?" She simply asked. I tilted my head and signaled to the workers to send the word back to the ones at the warehouse. "Alright, then... It might take a bit longer, so get comfy." We stayed there for a few awkward minutes, unsure what to say to each other, until other workers came towards us with crates filled with guns and ammo. "These are all spare. We have dozens of box-fulls we don't use." I said. Rainbow signaled to the other Knights who came through the open gate and took the boxes, loading them in the cars they drove. "Nice... So, when did you and Scootaloo start dating?" Rainbow asked. "A while ago... Around 2 months, I'm pretty sure." I said. "Well, I'm glad you're taking care of her." Rainbow said. "How about you?" Scootaloo asked. "No, not yet." "Well, good luck. With the weapons, I mean." I said. "Thanks. How about-" She stopped, and I turned to see what she was staring at, and I saw Frank alongside Fluttershy and Big Mac, most likely coming back from guard duty... "Ahem, Rainbow." He said. "Frank." "So, how're things?" He asked. "Good, you?" Rainbow asked. "Not too bad... a read knock-out, if you know what I mean." He grumbled. Before things got worse and I had to step in, Knight called for Rainbow. "Goodbye." Rainbow said. "See you in a few weeks..." I said back. Frank paced back to his apartment before I could even talk to him. "He's been distant ever since we started the trade. Something's up." I said. "I'll talk to him." Fluttershy volunteered. "You sure you don't want some help?" I asked. "I can take care of myself." Fluttershy assured. "Alright, suit yourself." I said. Fluttershy went to find Frank as I went to a nearby rooftop for the C.B. "Kyle, are you there?" Meiko asked. "Yeah." I said. "Okay, after her father got arrested, I saw Rin start to slip. From raids to kills." Meiko asked. "Side effects, it's to be expected." I said to her. "Yeah, but... She leads us with an iron fist, Kyle. You don't know half of it." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Did Dash tell you? There's a reason you found her in an 18-wheeler. She was exiled by Rin." Meiko said. "For what?" I asked. "For dating the guy she liked. He was also kicked out. They just dangle by a string to The Kingdom." "But, why?" I asked. "Because that's her. You don't know what you're dealing with." "Then I'll find out. We're coming back to see the others there." I said. "Okay." We were nearing the castle to talk to Rin. "Again?" Rainbow asked. "I know you got kicked out. I want to talk her into letting us take you in, if that's what you want." I said. "What I want is Keito being safe. If you can do that, count me in." She said. "Alright then. Where is he?" I asked. "Right here." A man with blue hair said walking out of the shadows. "You must be Keito." I said. "Yeah. I hope you people can survive her." Rainbow said sternly. "What do you mean?" I asked. Before she could answer, Len came walking out. "Hey, Kyle! Please come in." We walked in and took our seats. I noticed the flags. Two swords through a golden rose. "The Fall before this had golden rose petals fall near our house..." Rin said, suddenly not sounding so menacing. "Yeah... The same thing happened in my old home..." I said. "Well, here we are. Both sides just sitting and talking. But, that's not why you came is it?" Rin asked. "No. We wish to bring two people back with us. Rainbow Dash and Keito. In exchange for anyone who wants to join." I said. "You don't need to bring anyone. It's a deal. I hope you can control them." Rin said. "Me too..." I said, referencing Rainbow. We hopped in the van and drove back home. The two were quiet the whole time. We entered Sanctuary and took them to the apartments. "Feel free to make yourselves comfortable. The water's fine, the TVs still work." I said. "You've been doing this the whole time?" Rainbow asked. "Yeah. Now you're back, so don't worry about it." I said to her. "Kyle! Fluttershy needs you for something!" Shining called. I walked out to see Fluttershy trying to talk to Frank who won't even open the door. "He didn't do anything, did he?" I asked her. "No. He won't answer the door and I thought you could try." Fluttershy said. I knocked on the door. "Frank? It's me, Kyle. Open up." I said calmly. He opened and looked at me in fear. "What?" I asked. "You shouldn't have brought her back..." Frank said to me in a soft, fearful voice. "Why?" I asked. "You know what she did to us, to me-- she tried to kill you, Kyle..." "We need a leg up against Rin and her army, I think Rainbow is the only option. If not, we'll make sure she doesn't see sunlight again." "Alright." Frank walked back to his room and closed the door. I went to see Scootaloo with Rainbow. "How are things?" I asked them. "Good. You didn't tell me you guys had holidays again." Rainbow said. "Yeah. It's been a while since Bell was killed." I said. "Who's Bell?" Keito asked. "It's a long story for later." I said to him. "So, you're just letting us stay?" Rainbow asked. "Of course. Like I said, you're one of us. Always." I said to her. "Well, be ready. Because Rin plans to run you dry of supplies." Rainbow said. "Why did you just need weapons that one day?" I asked her. She opened her mouth to answer, but an explosion silenced her and me. I ran out to see a tank and a small army of 49 men and Rin in a bus. "We had a deal!" I called out. "I lied. You are going to drop your weapons and give us whatever or whoever we want, or you all die." She said to me. I turned to the others, and turned back to Rin, and let my brain shift into overdrive as I started forming a plan... > Bells Of War * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We stood in shock and awe as a tank with a gunner on top and a small militia of 50 men were shown through a hole in our walls. "It's not my decision! Even if it was, we won't let you have her." I called out. "I didn't say it was yours! Hand her over and we all can walk away." Rin said. I was stunned to making a decision. Turn Rainbow over and protect Sanctuary, or refuse, watch all of our hard work be destroyed, and go back to living on the road... "Give us some time! We need to put this under thought. 2 days at least!" I said. "Very well." With that, Rin's army left our home. It took about a day to fix the hole in the wall. It used up most of our resources, but we did it. "Now what?" Vinyl asked. "Do we just do the deal?" Fluttershy asked. Scootaloo didn't hesitate to stand up and make her opinion stated. "We can't. She's one of us." She said. "We won't. Let's try to talk her out of it. Try to lure her away." I said. "How do we do that?" Fluttershy asked. "We fight back. Get the cars ready." I said, refusing to waste any time as I made my way outside with a few others... I wasn't going to let her win, not this time... "Wait!" Dexter called out from behind me. "What is it?" I asked him as my hand started clicking in place, showing that it was time... "Your arm needs to be re-calibrated. Here, hand it to me and I'll be right back." He said as I took the hand off and saw the stump I never got used to as I handed it to Dexter. "Thank you, I'll be as fast as possible!" Dexter said as he ran off to his lab. As I grimaced at the sight of my stump, I heard footsteps nearby... "Almost forgot she cut it off." Rainbow said. "Yeah. I still feel it. I moving my fingers right now." I said. I heard a chuckle from her which meant my attempt of a joke worked. "So, now what?" Rainbow asked. "She wants you and our supplies or we all die." I told her before I could stop myself. "What are you gonna do?" She asked. "We're going back. With everything we have left." I said. We were near the castle when we saw smoke. We went and saw a bloodbath. Guards had people cornered. "GET DOWN!" I yelled. With that, we started firing. About every guard was wiped out. We saw the civilians on the ground. I ran in and untied them. "Thank you. We thought this rebellion was for nothing." The first one said. "Wait, rebellion?" Rainbow asked. "You know about it. You brought those guns here. After you left, Meiko took over as the leader. We decided to take the town." "What?" I asked turning to Rainbow. "It's... it's true. I was helping Meiko and the others take over when you guys came into the mix. I knew I had to join you so I could ask you guys to come here and help us win this. But it looks like you guys already did." "Yeah." A man said in the back. "So, now what?" I asked. "We have Rin as prisoner for now. But we need to execute her." Meiko said. "Or you could hand her over to us." I said. "No. We need to kill her." Rainbow argued. "Look, we need to hold a meeting later and see where everyone at Sanctuary and The Kingdom stands. If we all agree, we take Rin." I declared. "Alright. 2 days, in the castle." Meiko agreed. We went back where we saw the place completely untouched. I saw Scootaloo walk out. "Oh, thank God." Scootaloo came running to me. "We're fine. Everyone's fine. Rin was overthrown and placed under arrest. They're trying to execute her and we're trying to take her in. If anyone else agrees, step forward now." I said. To my surprise, almost everyone walked up. Everyone except for Rainbow and Keito. "I know it's hard, but we have to. Otherwise, who are we?" I asked. "We know, it's just... fine. I trust you." Rainbow said. "We need to, Rai- did you just say yes?" I asked in shock. "Yeah. I thought about what you said about me not knowing what to do, and I realized something, I screwed up my life by leaving you. I should've been here for the war with Bell. But I just took off and didn't come back. You took care of Scootaloo, didn't you?" "Yeah. She was too sad to speak to us for a few weeks. I finally decided to talk to her after a month of her being distant. That's when..." I trailed off. "Thank you. You protected her in a way I couldn't: You showed her a way." I then remembered what Daisuke told me about showing her the way a year ago. "She also showed me the way. Back in CHS, she was pretty much my only friend. Yeah, I had you guys, but I just felt... different with her, like I was at home. But then we had to leave. I overheard little talks about me and Scootaloo and some new people asked downright if we were dating. Like Daisuke; he didn't even hesitate. Then- oh, am I monologuing again? Sorry, I can't help it." I said. "It's fine. If he says we're keeping Rin, so be it." Rainbow said to the crowd. "Then let's go save Rin and Len." I said to them. We drove rove to The Kingdom to see a crowd cheering and a ear-piercing slice with a guillotine slamming to the ground. We were too late. I ran to the crowd and saw the worst. Rin was decapitated medieval-style. The crowd stopped all cheering when I became visible to them. "You just had to wait." I said. "We... We-" Meiko tried to say. "YOU JUST HAD TO WAIT!" I screamed. "We couldn't! It had to be done!" "YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT!" I said. "Yes I did. So did you." Meiko said. I calmed down almost immediately. "Is Len alive, at least?" I asked. "We don't know. He ran away as soon as we attacked. I'm sorry, we couldn't wait." "Fine. Let's go guys." I said. "But Rin..." Fluttershy said. "Rin's dead." I said coldly. > Cabin By The Sea > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been 3 days since Rin's execution. For once, Sanctuary and The Kingdom were at peace. We kept the trade and Meiko became leader of The Kingdom. She says she had big plans for the place. As for the rest of us, we've set up a search for Len with the Kingdom's knowledge. "If you want to risk your life, fine." Meiko said. We went to as far as the other city before we had to turn back. We managed to beat the light by an hour. Scootaloo was waiting for us at the gates. "Well?" She asked me. "No luck. We're thinking of searching the piers. We haven't been down there yet. Hell, we've never been there." I said back. We stayed at Sanctuary for the night before thinking on where to head next. Before I could think of anything, Shining called me. "Yeah?" I asked. "It's about your sister." He said. With that, I either expected he'd tell me she was dead, or she'd enter the room. But neither had happened. "We looked at where she worked. She wasn't there, but we did find this note." Shining handed me a note. In bold print, it said KYLE, I TRIED THE HOUSE, NO-ONE WAS THERE. I TRIED CHS, THEY SAID YOU LEFT DURING AN ATTACK. I FOUND PEOPLE NEAR A FARM. I WILL BE THERE. "Why didn't she sign it?" Shining asked. "She never signs. I still know her writing. Thank you." I said to him. "Of course. I hope you find Len." He said. "I hope you find her." I said. We got ready to search the pier when something happened with the car. "What happened?" I asked Coop, our mechanic. "It looks like a bad hose. We'll need a replacement before we can go looking." He said. "Great. Now we need to do a search." Blossom said. "Don't worry. All I need is a working car. We don't even need fuel for it." Coop said. "What was the name of that mech you had? MEGAS, you said?" I asked him. "Yep. From what I heard, it coulda saved a ton of lives." "Yeah, it could've..." I said. "I got the search." Blossom said as she flew out the walls. "How you believe in that but not Equestria is beyond me." Sunset said. "I didn't say that. I just don't wanna go. We persevered this place. We don't know if they fought something like this. For all we know, Equestria could kill us on sight." I said. "Maybe..." Sunset said. We waited for Blossom for the past 2 hours. Small problems had to be solved inside while she was gone. Debates, ration clogs, zombies, you know, typical things. We then saw Blosoom lifting, and I mean lifting, the car into the walls. "Great. This'll do. Thanks Blossom." Coop said. "Sure." Blossom said. "So, we'll be able to search the pier?" I asked. "Yeah. But you should stay here." Rainbow said. "Is this about me being weak again?" I asked her. "No, it's just- You've been like a guardian angel for Scootaloo. Something I could never be. She needs you here." "Alright. I'll stay. But when you find him, if you find him, let me know." I said handing her a C.B. Me and Scootaloo were in the radio room keeping an eye for transmissions. It was a long day as usual; barely any radio chat at all, no ways of calling out for survivors. But finally, one call broke through. "Calling all survivors, the stars have aligned, fear the wand, fear the stars, be afraid of them! Avoid the war, stay away from-" The broadcast fizzed back to static. "What the hell was that?" Scootaloo asked. "No clue. Try to raise him." I said to her. She tried calling back to the stranger for an hour, but nothing was heard. We weren't able to keep trying because the C.B went off and Rainbow said it was urgent. So I drove down to the piers and saw Rainbow and a few others near a cabin on the beach. "A light's in there, we need you down here with us." Rainbow said. "Alright." I said to Rainbow. I drove down to the beach and saw the cabin with the other people. "You ready?" I asked Rainbow. "Yeah. On three. One... Two..." I raised my gun in preparation. "THREE!" Rainbow slammed the door open and charged in. What we saw next surprised us beyond belief. We didn't see Len on the bed, or in the cabin. Instead, what we saw was a blond figure near the front door with a pistol held to my head. "Oh, my God..." I said as I realized who we saw in front of us. We were waiting for Kyle and the others back at Sanctuary. "Maybe they found him." Fluttershy said to me. "Don't worry, Scootaloo. Kyle's probably holed up somewhere. If I know him, he's probably driving back right now." Mom assured me. We weren't able to talk more because Kyle's car came driving in the gates with a van nearby. We ran down to see what was going on. "Kyle, are you okay?" I asked him. "Yeah. But we found something..." Kyle said. "What?" Sunset asked. "Bring her out." Kyle said to Dash. Suddenly, the back of the van opened and she walked out with someone who we all thought was dead. "Rin?" I asked. "Yeah. She said her brother sacrificed himself for her." Kyle said to us. "What do we do?" Applejack asked. "We'll lock her in the police station for now. We don't say a word to the Kingdom. If they learn she's alive and here, who knows what could happen?" Kyle asked us. "I'll take her there." I volunteered. "Alright. Watch yourself." Kyle said. "When don't I?" I asked him. > Freedom Day > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been a day since Rin was found. People had a hard time adjusting to her. Rainbow had easy time since she knew her, but other than her, me, and Scootaloo, others had barely any interaction with her. Some wanted her to stay in our warehouse. "We can't trust her." Shining said. "She destroyed Megaville, Kyle. MEGAVILLE!" Pinkie screamed. "Stop it. If Kyle says she's staying, she's staying." Fluttershy said. "I trust her. As many bad things that she did, she and I have a similar past. Maybe I can talk to her." Scootaloo said. "She's right. If Kyle can trust her, why can't you?" Rainbow asked. "If you all want to argue about her staying, fine. But count me out." Cadence said. "Me too. This is your problem, not mine." Maud, Pinkie's sister, said. "Well, we DID just find you. But Kyle, this is serious. She destroyed a massive, fully armed, completely militarized city. There were women and children in those walls, she killed them all." Sunset said. "No, her people did. She didn't fire a shot." I said. "So what? She still made that order. She could've killed my wife, Kyle. You know what that's like." Shining said. Most people were stunned by Shining's response. "Oh, God, Kyle. I'm-" Shining said. "No, no, it's okay. This place is about saving lives, Shining. As many lives as we can by any means besides capture, you all know that. It's the only rule when your out there." I said. "We know the rules; Never threaten, never steal, never harm." Shining recited. "And as for those who did things before, we try to reform them. If we can't or they put us in danger, we send them packing." I said to everyone. "When was that established?" Rainbow asked. "After we killed Bell. Speaking of which, that's today." I said. "What is?" Rainbow asked. "Some people call it Freedom Day, others call it Rarity's memorial, and we call it Independence Day." Scootaloo said. "Wow. I had no... wait, Rarity's MEMORIAL?" Rainbow asked. "Yeah. Bell stabbed Rarity's head and everyone else fired. She died saving us." I said. "I had no... When I didn't see her... I'm so sorry." Rainbow said to us. "We managed to move on, but some people have to remember. We buried her and gave her a funeral. Since then, we thrived. We found more people, people from Megaville joined us, and over time, we built Sanctuary." I said. "I... wish I was here for that. At The Kingdom, all we had was Rin and Len's Birthday. This seems way more cooler." Rainbow said. "More than 20%?" I joked. "Funny. So, when is it?" Rainbow asked. "Now." I said. This year's Freedom Day was much less exciting since Megaville was wiped out and we set terms with The Kingdom to leave each other alone. But I saw Rainbow and Keito walk around, so it was somewhat sweet. As for me, I went and did what I always did: Describe Sanctuary for the new recruits. "So, if any of you didn't know, we founded this place 2 years ago. When I was 13, this plague hit. Me and my bus driver Gary finally came out of my basement and into the world a year later. We saw barely anything but Runners, but we were headed for Canterlot High, the school I always wanted to go to. After 2 months of it, I was assigned for guard duty. Since no-one listened to me when I screamed to turn around, we lost an entire side of the wall to 60 Runners. We were then attacked by bandits. Me, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Vinyl Scratch ran for a bus and drove here. Although it's a relic now, we still have it up and running. We found this place after we were pushed back by Bell and her people. We then went to Townsville; this city. We were able to claim 5 buildings by ourselves, and when help arrived, we were able to claim more and more. After Bell took my hand, we were ready for war- Rainbow mostly. Now, last month, I claimed she was wrong about us from the start. That we were meant to survive in this world. I still believe that, but after The Kingdom and their destruction, we need to be careful outside these walls. As for Rin, we don't plan to kick her out. I plan for her to join us one day. Maybe not as soon as I think, but someday. I conclude this year's Freedom Day an announcement: I plan to launch a search mission for my sister later in the month. A note she left behind stated she was on a farm not far from here. I need a few volunteers for this mission. I choose Shining Armor, Daisuke, and Rin for this mission. If anyone else wants to volunteer, step forward now." I said. As the crowd went silent, a hand went up. "I'll do it." Scootaloo said. "Scoot, you know what's out there." I said. "I lost my sister, you helped me. What better way can I help than finding her for you?" Scootaloo asked. "Alright. It's done. Good year and I hope we live for next year!" I said. I heard cheers in the crowd as we walked into the apartment. I caught up with Scootaloo shortly after. "Scootaloo!" I called out. She stopped and I caught up. "Thank you. No-one else would've stepped up for this." I said. "Of course. With everything you did for me, how can I say thank you any other way?" Scootaloo asked. "I don't know how." I said. She giggled and we kissed. She went to her apartment and I went to mine. As I was walking, I decided to tell Rin about her request. I went to the warehouse which was being used as a prison. I went to the only cell and saw Rin barely doing anything. "What is it?" Rin asked calmly. "Listen. We need you for a mission of mine." I said. "What mission?" She asked. "My sister left us a note at where she used to work. It said she was on a farm with other people. I need you, Daisuke- Scootaloo's father, and Shining Armor to look for her. We're willing to trade your freedom in this community for your acceptance." I said. "And if we don't find her? Or if she's dead?" Rin asked. "You will either way. And when you do- and only then- we will release you. What do you say?" I asked. Rin was clearly thinking about this. She showed signs of denial. I was afraid she would say no, then she looked at me and said "Okay. When do we start?" > The End Of Hope > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had nothing. No-one as a friend, just insults. But then someone finally looked my way; her name was Hatsune Miku. She accepted me as a friend and equal. But once she looked at Len, Rin lost it. She ordered her death the day after. Once she died, I was alone again... Then, her rule was ended by a city of survivors and a Resistance inside. She was dead and we were happy. But I was on a run to Sanctuary, and I saw her walk out. I knew what I had to do... and it was time to act. I saw as Scootaloo and Rin walked out the gates. "Don't worry, Kyle. I know Scootaloo. She's not our birth child, but she has her mother's courage." Riku said. "I know. It's just... I don't trust Rin. Do you?" I asked. "Not as much as she does." Riku said. "Yeah. I think she has potential. She was a leader of a Kingdom. If we can't use that-" "Why do you trust everyone?" Riku asked me. "What do you mean?" I asked. "When Rainbow left, Scootaloo shut down. No-one talked to her but you and three other people. So why did you talk to her that day?" Riku asked. "Because I was able to relate to her. Back when I was at Crystal Prep, I was treated like crap all the time. You see, everyone there had something. Something that made them special, something that defined them. Me? I lost what defined me a long time ago. My dad, dead. My home, gone. I was nobody. But at CHS, I saw how she was treated. It was like she was invisible. If that's how nobodies were treated there, I wish I was there a long time ago." I said. "Wow. You are really good at monologuing." Riku said. "I know." I said. I was with Scootaloo and the others looking for Kyle's sister. "The local farms from here are Greenwood Farm and Old Stone. We should check Old Stone first. It has a big field and an electrical fence. If anyone has a camp, it's there." Daisuke said. "I've seen the place before. It's gone." I said. "So if anyone's set up here, it would be-" A pain to the back of my head, and everything went dark... I tried to raise Scootaloo, but all I got was static. I tried raising Daisuke, nothing. I started to worry after Rin didn't pick up. "What if something happened?" Riku asked me. "Don't worry. We'll send people out, we'll find her." I said. Before I could say anything, a loud explosion was heard. I ran out and saw people- The Kingdom's people- with their guns raised and Shining, Daisuke, Rin, and Scootaloo hostage. "Kyle Williams! Come down here. We need to have a talk." A voice said. I ran down and saw a person on top of a tank who looked like... "Who are you?" I asked. "My name is Yowane Haku, consider me the new ruler of The Kingdom." I hesitated, I saw the small army she had brought with her and took a nervous gulp. "What do you want with us?" I asked. "Her." Yowane pointed at Rin with her gun. Rin seemed curious, it was clear to me that she never saw this person before. "And if I say no?" I asked. "Then they die..." Yowane pointed at Daisuke and Scootaloo. "How do I know you won't kill them anyway?" I asked. "Why will I? Killing innocent people? That's low even for me." Yowane said. "Kyle, do it. Trade me for them. Save your family." Rin said to me. "Kyle, don't do it! She'll kill us anyway. Save Rin!" Scootaloo said. "Kyle..." Daisuke glanced at me and back at his wife, who was covering her mouth with her hand... "Riku, I'm sorry." Daisuke said, his voice shaky and cracking. With a sharp breath, he got up and kicked a guard in the face, grabbed his gun, and blasted Yowane in the shoulder. But he was shot back by a still conscious Yowane... and his dead body hit the ground with a thud, "No!" Scootaloo screamed, tears running down her face. "Now, choose. Rin or Scootaloo?" Yowane said. Before I said a word, I heard a gunshot in the crowd graze Yowane's head. I turned around and saw Riku with tears streaming down her face. Before I could stop her, the tank came driving in and the walls came crumbling. "RUN!" I said. We all ran to the nearest building and opened fire. More vehicles came charging in from the walls. We were watching as more people came and destroyed the walls. But that wasn't all they had in mind. 5 buses came in from behind and drifted around and opened. Over 70 zombies, some walking and others running, came out of the busses. We've dealt with bigger hordes before, but with our walls up to keep the rest out. And thanks to Dexter's research, we've discovered that the Runners can let out a type of pheromone that just attracts more of them... that's how they form such massive hordes. With this many around us, we knew more would come from further away. Scootaloo... I had to find her I was about to run out into the circus of zombies and gunfire when Rin came in and stopped me. "Where is she?" I asked her, not wanting to waste any time. "Yowane took her. I tried to get her, but I was attacked." Rin said. "Which way?" I asked. "You're not going alone." Rainbow said behind me, loading a rifle from a nearby crate. "Alright... I saw her go that way." Rin said. We ran towards the tank and tried to find Scootaloo. We found some rope on the ground and a gun from Daisuke's corpse. I took a moment and looked at him. "Kyle, I'm sorry..." Rainbow said. "He was like a father to me. I hope Scootaloo's alive. Let's go." I said. We went to where Yowane took Scootaloo. We were confronted by Shining and Cadence with Flurry Heart. "Oh, thank God. I thought you guys were guards." Shining said. "Where's Scootaloo?" I asked him. "I don't know." Cadence said. "There's a building up that way, an office building. We've secured it." I said. "Okay. We'll see you there." Shining said. We ran to find Yowane, but we saw Scootaloo's machete, it was there-- sheath and all. But something was wrong, it was covered in blood. We saw a trail and followed it. We ran to a room and saw a body with its head partially decapitated. I saw the hoodie- Scootaloo's hoodie. The look on Rainbow's face said it all. She started breaking down at the sight. Out from the building behind me, a Knight pushed through. He saw the scene and dropped his weapon. “Whoa, whoa! Hey, I surrender...” I grabbed my bat, walked over to him, and whacked him in the head. When he dropped, I swung again at his head. I continuously beat his head in, screaming in rage the whole time. After a moment, Rainbow rested her hand on my shoulder. "We gotta go..." Rainbow said to me. We ran to the rendezvous and had a close encounter with a very familiar Runner. The corpse had bright purple hair, its face covered on blood, and a deep bite on the side of its arm. Maud. I stabbed it in the eye and looked. She'd only been here for a week and a half... But we saw more. Frank, Big Mac, and Keito were ready to charge at us. We went through the door we came and locked the door. "Keito..." Rainbow said. "Rainbow... I'm sorry." I said. "No, I'M sorry. I know her, that girl. When her friend liked Len, I was power crazy. I made him kill her." Rin said. Then, Shining ran out with a small Runner eating his neck. He died a few seconds later and the small Runner looked at me. It was Flurry Heart. I was about to shoot it, but then an arrow hit it. "We need to leave..." Sunset said behind us, holding a bow. I turned around and saw Sunset with her hair messed up, her jacket torn, and her arm bandaged. "She's right. The others are either gone or..." Rainbow couldn’t finish. "Let's go." I said with my voice cracking. We took an armored car and drove out the wrecked gates. I told Sunset to stop so I could change the sign. It's been a while, but I found it. I saw the smoke and saw that the sign was pulled off. I took off my hood and looked around more. "Adagio!" My sister called. "What, Sonata?" I asked her. "It's gone, but those people we saw might not be. Come on." Sonata said. "Sonata, he's not here. Let's head back." I said. Sonata sighed and pulled out her C.B. "Cole, we're heading back. Tell Ali to get ready to open the gates." Sonata ordered. “How is he?” Adagio asked. "Sure thing. And Starswirl's doing fine." Cole said. > Aftermath * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was the four of us on the road. Kyle and Rainbow were just stuck. We took turns on watch when we found a place. It's been a week since Sanctuary was destroyed. Kyle and Rainbow were on a run while we defended the place we found- a small gun store. "How do you think he's doing?" Sunset asked me. "Not good. I don't blame him." I said. We found a Walker and shot it silently. "It was my fault..." I said. "Don't say that. You didn't kill Scootaloo. Yowane did." Sunset said. "You don't understand. I didn't just kill her friend, I killed her people. She was one of them, I just couldn't tell." I said to Sunset. "Well, you don't need to worry about that anymore..." Sunset said. Me and Rainbow were looking for supplies. We found a place called Anderson's Mini-Mart. "I'm sorry about Keito. I didn't know him long, but I could see that he was a good guy." I said. What I got was a look from Rainbow, a look I never saw from her- sadness. "Sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." I said. "No, it's okay. I was on my own for a while. I was almost dead. Thirst, exposure... He was sent on a scavenging run, but found me instead. He brought me back, and over time, we became close. How about you?" Rainbow asked. "When you left, Scootaloo entered something, some kind of depression. She usually stayed away from people. Daisuke told me to talk to her one day, said I might be able to get into her head. I saw her on the roof, just looking. I was able to talk to her, I told her people were worried about her, that I was." I said. "Then?" Rainbow asked. "Then she kissed me. Just on the cheek, but I had no idea what to say. I told Daisuke a day later, all he said was 'This is a good thing, something we never get, enjoy it'. A week later, I talked to Scootaloo and she just-" I was interrupted by a gunshot near my leg. "HANDS!" A voice called from a rooftop. I rose my hands and turned to the voice and saw someone fully covered with riot gear and a motorcycle helmet. "Now, put everything you have on the ground, your guns, your backpacks, and that machete. All of it!" I reached for my Judge and didn't wait for her to reach zero. "Rainbow, go." I said as I fired at the stranger. The stranger shot an assault rifle at me and I hid behind some sandbags. Rainbow showed up on the rooftop and the stranger was gone. As I was ready to move, I heard closer gunshots. I peeked and saw the stranger a few inches away from me. The stranger was reloading as I came out and shot her stomach. "Rainbow! It's safe." I called out. She came down and saw the stranger. "Is she dead?" Rainbow asked. "No. She's unconscious for now." I said. I went and took off the visor and saw someone I thought to never see again. Someone I thought would be dead out here. Diamond Tiara. Sunset and I saw someone with a car and decided to take him in for now. "Thank you. My friend and I were having a bad day lately. It's good to see good people for a change, you know?" The stranger asked. "I'm Rin, this is Sunset." I said. "Well, I won't be here for long. I need to meet my friend at the house down there." Joel said. "Is it alright if we join you? I'll leave a note for our people." I said. "How many of you are out there?" Joel asked. "Two." Sunset said. We were carrying Diamond to the house that said "BASE" on the door. We carried her in, looking for booby traps. We walked in and saw loads of guns, MREs, grenades, jugs, and bottles of water, and cans of food. "Whoa..." Rainbow said. "Looks like she's been busy. Here, set her down." I said. We set her down gently on the cot. "We should get the others here." Rainbow said. "Go. I got her." I said. Rainbow left and I looked around the place. I saw signs of dogs, fences, and a big sign saying DOGS GOT SILVER SPOON. I was struck with shock and grief. I turned to her, stricken with what I saw. "I'm sorry this happened to you... Believe me, I know what this feels like." I said to her. I looked around and saw a rifle. One marked with "CHS" on it. I looked if the scope was accurate and checked it for ammo. I heard a clang from the cot, I turned and saw nothing. But then, I turned again and saw Diamond charging at me with a knife. I shoved her back. "Okay, just take a second and hear me out!" I asked her. "You killed her!" Diamond screamed. "No, I didn't kill her, just listen to me--" I tried to reason. "No, I don't know you!" She said. "You were at my fathers orphanage, with my cousin--" "I don't know what you're talking about!" Diamond tackled me and held her knife at my head. "Diamond, come on, let's just talk!" I said pushing the knife back. "Who are you?!" Diamond screamed as she pushed the knife down. I moved my head away and slipped out. I brought out my knife arm and held it at her. After a minute, I dropped it. "Just stop..." I said to her. She didn't get up to try to fight back... she just sat there and cowered from me. "Please," She pointed at my gun. "Just kill me..." We were following Joel to where his base was. We were stopped by seeing bullet cases on the ground. "Did this just happen?" I asked. "It must have. We might be fine. Maybe she shot some Walkers." Joel said. "Who?" Sunset asked. "My friend. The only other one at my camp. I was an escapee from an enemy camp." "Where?" I asked. "I'll tell you about it when we get back." Joel said. "Kill me... Please." Diamond begged. "No... we're going to talk about this like adults... My name's Kyle Williams, you were with my cousin at my dad's orphanage two years ago-- Jason Adams." I said to her. "No, I... Jason... I remember him..." Diamond said trying to remember. "Yeah. Things went bad for both of us, before and after. I know what this..." I pointed at Diamond's writing and pictures. "...feels like. I lost my father and 20 of my childhood friends to them. The Dogs... I know what it feels like, but you need to let that go and come back. You can come back from this... I know it. It's what Jason would want..." I said. She perked up with me and asked. "Is he with you? Jason?" We were then interrupted by my people walking in. "Kyle?" Sunset asked. "Diamond?!" Rin asked. "R... Rin? Where's... Where's Mom?" Diamond asked. "She's gone. I tried to save her, but... I was too late." Rin lied. I get why she lied. It's better than "I stabbed her eyes out and threw her in a cage to rot". But who came in next encouraged me to raise my gun and brain both of them. It was Joel... from Crystal Prep. "Joel?" I asked trying to stay calm. "Who... Oh, my God. Kyle." "Wait, you two know each other?" Sunset asked. "Look, I... I can't describe what I did, what I wanted to do. But I'm sorry. Believe me, I am." Joel said. I looked at him for a solid minute. Then, something was talking in my head. "Kill... him... He hurt you... Beat you... Several times... They all did..." I was too horrified to move. I saw Kyle standing there, looking in shock in awe. "Kyle? Kyle! Snap out of it!" Rainbow said gently slapping his head. He then started moving again. "One, OW! Two, did you hear that?" Kyle asked us. "Heard what?" Sunset asked. "That... It doesn't matter. Joel, what are you doing here?" Kyle asked. "Listen, this place has become a war zone. Worse than anything else out there. Someone is in charge of it all, someone with some kind of magic. Once they find you, it's over. I managed to escape, Diamond was the first person I met out here. She let me stay here ever since." "Who, Cinch?" Kyle asked suddenly. "No. Worse." Joel said. "Who can be worse than Cinch?" Kyle asked disgustedly. Sunset and Rainbow were listening to Kyle with shock and confusion on their faces. "What's their name?" Kyle asked. "None of us really know her real name... but I've seen her enforcers before-- they're three of them, they're extremely powerful and they won't hesitate to kill you..." Joel said. I decided to push aside what he was ranting about and get to my main priority. "Look, we're looking for a farm. Any ones that are close." Kyle said. "We were planning to go to a town. The signs and the broadcast said it was safe." Joel said. "What's it called?" I asked. "We looked for a 'Sanctuary', but it's gone." Joel said. "We're from there. Kyle was in charge of our counsel." Sunset said. Joel looked in shock and confusion at Kyle. "It's true. We were attacked by a psychopath with a tank. People died, MY people. My friends, family, girlfriend..." Kyle said. "Wow... I'm sorry, I had no idea." Joel said. "It's okay. Keep talking." Kyle said. "We found signs for a town, Our Town. We're trying for there." Joel said. "We can look ahead-- Tell you what we see. I'll need a radio." Kyle said. Joel dug through a crate until he saw a pair of radios. "Where did you get all of this?" I asked. "Bad people. Dogs, scavengers, or this group's soldiers." Diamond said. "They must be loaded..." Rainbow said. "They are. We don't know where they're located at, but we heard rumors about a cave from escapees..." Joel said. "And how many people?" Kyle asked. "There are no people. They all have something to give. All of them... and we don't know how many there are, maybe a few hundred." Joel said dazing off. After a moment, I realized that it was getting dark, and I wasn't about to cozy up with my ex-bully and someone who tried to kill me just minutes earlier. "Anyway, we could look ahead. See if it's safe." Kyle said. As we packed to leave, Joel approached me. "Look... back at Crystal--" "Don't. It was a lifetime ago, and let's just leave it there." I insisted. "Okay... and t-thank you. Tell us when you find Our Town, and if you can, let us know if it's safe..." Joel said. "We will." I said as I took the radio out of his hands. "You should stay for the night. It's dark out and you should rest." Joel said. "We'll be fine, but thank you." I said as I headed to the roof one last time. The sun had set, and we decided to settle not too far outside of the town where Diamond and Joel were staying-- in an abandoned house with Sunset on first watch. I dug into my pocket and pulled out that hair clip I found when I woke up one morning a while before the zombies. I noticed it looked like 3 throwing stars infused together. Only it was plastic and it was kinda dull. I tried looking for the owner, but then the zombies came. I finally placed it back in my pocket and came inside for a rest. But I shouldn't have... My dream was of my days at Crystal Prep before the zombies. Just sitting on a bench after class trying to give flyers of some gym near the area. But during that time there, the teachers, students, even the principal hated me. The teachers let some kids beat me, the students, well, beat me, and the principle blackmailed me to not tell of what happened during school. My good break was when I met Twilight. She was the only person I called a friend for a whole year. But after the Friendship Games, she just... left and never saw her again. The morning after she left, I saw the hair clip on my lap. But what was different was the fact that the outside had a mountain of corpses and guard posts with turrets at the end... "Fear them, Kyle Williams... They're looking for you..." The voice from earlier echoed as I finally woke up, with Rainbow standing over me. "You're up..." She said before noticing my fearful expression. "You okay?" She asked me. I got up and glanced at her, slowly nodding. "Y-yeah, just... had a bad dream." I said as I quickly pocketed the hair clip and went up to the second floor, standing by the open window with a rifle propped against it... > Signs * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- During my shift, Rin came up and said I started talking in his sleep about Crystal Prep. She heard "Not again...", "Stay away...", and "You're not yourself...", which made it worse for me to explain. We were packing up what few supplies the house had left when Rin told me about a place called Greenwood Farm. "Let's do this first. Then we'll look at Greenwood." I told her. We were out and I was still marveling the fact that my old bully had become a somewhat decent person... but then again, I had a prosthetic knife arm. "So, your dad was the owner of an orphanage?" Sunset asked. "Yeah. Williams Orphanage." I said. "I heard about that. The Williams Fire. It was on the news a year before the zombies." Rainbow said. "It was that gang, The Dogs, which burned our home. They wanted my sister, claimed she owes them." I said. "What was her name?" Rin asked. Before I could answer, Sunset stopped the car and saw a sign. I looked at it. It said OUR WORLD, OUR HOME, OUR TOWN. LIVE IN EQUALITY AND PEACE. It also had a map pinned to it leading to a small town about 10 miles from here. "This is it. It looks like it's that old haunted attraction." I said. "I thought that place was abandoned a decade ago..." Rainbow said. "Well, we'll have to see when we get there." I said. When we turned to get in the car, we saw a horde of Walkers start forming behind us. "Come on, we need to go." I said. "But, the car..." Sunset said. "There's no time!" I said as the Walkers started walking past the car and to us. We ran for what felt like 5 minutes until we were sure that herd was out of our sight. "What now?" Rin asked panting from exhaustion. "We need a place for the night..." I said seeing that we were losing the light. "There's a radio tower not far from here." Rainbow said pointing to a close antenna. "Alright. Let's go." I said to the others. We jogged for the radio tower and saw that it was fortified with timber around the fences and no fractures. "What's this?" Rin asked. "We'll have to see... it looks like people stayed here before" I said as we opened the gate and went inside. Inside, we saw over cans of food, bottles of water, and a few rifles on the ground. "Whoa. Who left this place?" Sunset asked. "No-one. Look at this stuff; no dust at all. This is someone's stash..." I said. "Maybe they were overrun by that herd we saw." Sunset said. "Maybe, maybe not. Until then, we should look for other places nearby, just to be safe... I don't wanna be here when whoever's stuff this is thinks we're sticking them up..." I said. Rainbow and I went on ahead to look for a place for the night. We saw a small building with a flat roof overgrown in moss and other plantlife, but otherwise intact... "You never said that you went to Crystal Prep." Rainbow said as we chopped at the vines covering the door. "Well, I didn't think it mattered in the end. Besides, I was dying to put that behind me." I said as we managed to clear the door. We went inside and saw one Walker eating a somewhat fresh corpse. Rainbow pulled out her knife and killed the Walker. "I got the body." I said. I pulled out my knife arm and stabbed it in the head. "So... you and Joel knew each other?" Rainbow asked as she resheathed her knife. "...Yeah. Not on good terms." I said. "Well, it looks like he's changed now." Rainbow said to me. "Yeah, that's what I don't get..." I said. We made it up to the roof and saw a pile of bodies; some of them fresh and riddled in bullets. "I guess we know where those guys went..." Rainbow said. As we looked at the pile, I noticed the sun starting to set... "Yeah, we do. Let's head back, it's getting dark." I said noticing the sunset. We started walking back when Rainbow said she saw a figure in the shadows. After a moment of us holding our guns at nothing, we slowly reholstered our weapons. "It was probably an animal... Come on, let's head back; keep your head on a swivel." I said. "Alright... You never talked about her since we left... Why?" Rainbow asked. I stopped and turned to her. "Would you?" I simply asked. "Yeah, I want to." Rainbow said. "Okay, so talk." I said to her. Rainbow sat on a stump and let out a sigh. "I was wrong... When I said you were weak. I learned the hard way. I was thinking of either killing myself or heading back. I was stupid to leave you guys like that..." Rainbow said. "You wanted to save your own skin. I forgive you for leaving; I get it." I said. "My first days at the Kingdom, I told her about your city. Rin said you would've died, but when I saw you and the others again... I ruined my life there. I got cocky, and I got thrown out. I was lucky I saw you when I did." Rainbow said. "Well, I-" I was interrupted by a gunshot near the radio tower. We ran back and saw... Yowane with 5 of her people. This was her base. I grabbed my Judge and moved in. Sadly, it didn't work and I was whacked. I felt a large pain in my head and I got up to see Yowane with a gun to my head. "Drop your weapons, Now..." Yowane said. Knowing better than to shoot, I dropped my gun and knife. I then saw one of her men break the door down and pushed Rin and Sunset out. "Now, which one of you should I kill first? Hmmm." I saw her think about who she'd shoot as I saw the horrified expressions of the others. "Rainbow, you gave me this opportunity, I don't wanna kill you- yet. Sunset, I don't even know who you are. Kyle, I may have lied about not killing your girlfriend, but I have plans for you..." I felt a fire inside of me. She killed Scootaloo, Daisuke, Shining, and others. Then, that voice appeared again. "You need to kill her... If you don't-" I silenced the voice. "Now, Rin. You killed my only friend, my people, and your own mother. As much as I'm dying to kill you, I think I should let my men get a little payback. Do your worst!" Yowane said. Before I could say a word, one of her men started pinning Rin to the ground. Yowane looked shocked for a moment, but then glared at me. "You hesitated. You don't need to do this!" I said to her. "No, you're wrong! I need to do this, to show you who you screwed with. First, they'll kill Rin, then Sunset, then Rainbow. You, however... Our people would love to watch you burn." Yowane cackled. I looked back at Rin and saw she was successfully pinned to the ground. I then turned at Rainbow who was being beaten by the other man. I heard the voice again. "Don't let them do this. You know what to do. Do it." "NO. There's another way." I said inside my head. Now Rainbow was pinned and Rin was being attacked. I saw as Sunset was being pinned. I got up and tried to reach them, but Yowane held me back. "First, we'll get Rin, then we'll get the others..." She got disturbingly close to my ear. "...and all you can do is watch." She whispered evilly in my ear. Finally realizing what was happening, I head-butted her to get out. My vision was blurred long enough for Yowane to draw my gun at me. Before I could react, I heard a familiar voice. "Yowane!" Meiko ran up and saw what was happening. Before she or Yowane could react, I took my knife arm and punched into Yowane's throat. Blood was poured over my shirt and Yowane was gagging for air. She crumbled to the ground and I grabbed my gun. I shot the man on Rin first, then Rainbow grabbed the man who was beating her and slammed his head against the concrete wall. The man on Sunset got up and pulled out his rifle on me. Then Sunset jumped on him and held him in a choke-hold... as his face turned blue, Meiko came aside, pulled him away, and stabbed him in the chest with her sword. "What happened?" Meiko asked. I drew my gun and fought like hell not to shoot. The others then followed with the weapons from their almost-rapists. "Your people did this. They destroyed a city full of innocents, killed Scootaloo, and now tried to rape and kill us. You showed us who you are-- a goddamned plague!" I said. "I didn't do this." Meiko said. "Go. Go back to the Kingdom and make sure we never see you again." I said. I noticed Yowane was alive and I finished the job. I stabbed her head with my bloodied knife arm. I turned around and Meiko was gone. I looked back at the others. "Are you okay?" I asked faintly. Rin nodded her head. "Yeah." Rainbow said wiping blood off her mouth. I turned to Rainbow, who was still slamming the mans head against the concrete... I slowly walked up to her and set my hand on her shoulder. She turned to me, saw her hands that were covered in blood, and let out a sob as she collapsed to the ground. I helped her up and she hugged me, tightly, and I had no choice but to hug her back. After a moment, the others followed, and I glanced at the corpses, knowing what we had to do. "Help me get rid of these..." I said picking Yowane up. Sunset let go and helped me with Yowane and placed her in a pile with the others at that house down the road. I poured gasoline on their bodies and lit up the pile. "Come on, let's head back..." I said, as we all slowly trekked back after that ordeal... > Porkbelly * > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memories. Memories are the most painful thing to remember now... It's been an hour since Yowane came back. I never killed someome like that before and I coudn't sleep after it. I was watching the fence, which was surrounded with Walkers. There was about 7 of them around me, but I didn't give a damn. I stayed there with Yowane's blood still on my hands. I heard the door open and shut and Rin taking a seat next to me. "Couldn't sleep either?" I asked. "...No." She said. We stayed silent for another minute until I said "Back at Diamond and Joel's base, you both asked about your dad." "We're twin sisters. Well... half-sisters. My father's name was Filthy Rich. His wife, Spoiled Rich, was Diamond's mother. One night, my dad cheated on her for some maid of his and... well... me and Len were created. One bastard, Spoiled could've handled, but two... Spoiled treated us like freaks. Kept us away from Diamond, from the outside world, and from her. We lived in one side of the mansion and were raised there..." She said. That moment was when I realized we had more in common than I thought. "What?" Rin asked me. "I know how you feel. At Crystal Prep, I was treated like an outcast. I was isolated most of the time because of the teachers. I soon realized that was because they wanted to beat the hell outta me anytime they wanted. Sometimes the teachers joined in, all because they were sore losers." I said. "Kyle-" Rin started. "One day, I brought a knife into school. I was on the roof, looking down thinking on jumping, when some of the students found me up there. After a few kicks, I pulled it out. They jumped back thinking I was gonna shank them, but I tossed it at them, and I said, 'Do what Cinch wants you to do.', and I looked away and took a seat. I heard a door open and footsteps getting quieter. After the day was over, well... the world ended, the zombie apocalypse. I went home planning to talk to her, but guess who the first. Zombie. I saw. Was?" I asked. "Kyle... The door's still open." Rin said. Before I could look, I got engaged in a death hug by Sunset. Rainbow joined in and Rin went last. We stayed there for a while until I think I fell asleep. After I woke up, the Walkers were dead and I was inside with the others. Rainbow was packing when she saw me awake. "I thought you'd never wake up." She said handing me a warm can of Hash. "My favorite." I joked as I started eating. "You're lucky we wiped your face, or you'd be tasting blood now." Sunset said. I kept eating, ignoring the fact that I was asleep. "Where should we go?" Rin asked. "There's a city close to Our Town- Porkbelly. It might have supplies." Rin said. "Or people." Sunset asked. "If that, then it's dangerous." I said. The rest stayed silent for a few minutes until Rin looked up. "No. That doesn't mean it." She said. "Rin..." I started saying. "There are still good people, Kyle. Meiko's one of them. She wasn't involved in the attack, and she certainly wasn't involved in... well..." I took that in for a minute. The way Yowane said that I was last... it haunts me. "Alright. Later, we go to this 'Porkbelly'..." I chuckled at that name. "...Then Our Town." I said. We drove up to the city and, as we figured, it was completely overrun with Walkers and a few Runners. "Ever notice that we don't call them zombies anymore?" Sunset asked. We stood there. "Yeah, I noticed." I said. "It's just so weird, you know? If this didn't happen, I'd be watching The Walking Dead or something right now." Sunset said. "I'd be training some newbees in the gym." Rainbow said. "I'd be getting beat by Spoiled for being alive." Rin said. "I'd be dead." I said. We stayed silent as we drove into the city. We saw about 20 Walkers- 20 Zombies... near a corner store. "We should take them out." Rainbow said. "Alright. Silently!" I whispered. We jumped out and slashed them. We went to the rooftops in order to not be seen. I took binoculars and looked around. I saw a small house in the distance with lights on. "I see something!" I said. Rainbow grabbed her binoculars and looked with me. She saw it and told the others. "We go on foot. A car'll alert them." I said. We grabbed a big plank and used it to travel across the gaps between the rooftops. We kept moving until we found a rooftop that was too high for the plank. "We go on the ground from here. Be careful, all of you." I said. After we went to ground level, we saw about 50 Zombies looking dead at us! "It's okay. They're slow." I said as we picked up our paces. We made it about a mile closer to the house. Now we had to lose this horde. "We gotta lose these zombies." I said. "How? We don't have enough ammo." Sunset said. "Rainbow, go lure them away. I'll go with you. The rest of you, go for a building nearby until we get back." I said. We seperated and got the horde focused on us. Rainbow was banging her baseball bat against the concrete, trying to get their attention. I took a silenced pistol I got from Joel's arsonel and fired at the horde. We kept doing this until we were near the outside of the city. We snuck back into the building and found the others. "Let's go." I said. We saw neighborhood where the house is. We were now in front of the windows. We crawled past them to avoid detection. We were now in front of the door. "Now what?" Rainbow whispered. "We just... knock, I guess." Sunset whispered back. "...Alright." I said walking up the porch. I knocked. "Hello? I saw your lights. We don't mean any trouble. We're trying to get to a town. It's walled, safe." I said. What happened next was the door blasted open and some kid with flame hair- I'm not kidding, his hair resembled a fire- with a shotgun pointed at me. "Who are you?" I asked. He didn't say a word, but he noticed that I had others with me. "You should come in." The kid said walking inside. We walked in and saw that it was just any other suburban house. I noticed that the room downstairs had a light from inside. "That's my sister's lab. I should call her up. My name's Johnny." Johnny said. "I'm Kyle." I said. "SUSAN! WE GOT VISITORS!" Johnny suddenly shouted. Someone downstairs came running up with some form of weapon. "You let them in?!" She asked. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Listen, we don't mean any trouble. We just need a place to rest, then we'll go back on track." I said. "On track to where?" Susan asked lowering that contraption. "Our Town. It was said to be fortified, people inside." I said. "We have others with us. Two more people. Wait until they come back, and we'll do a vote." Susan said. "You can take the living room until then." Johnny said. "Thank you." Rin said as we started moving. "I'm releived. I was starting to think I was the last male on earth." I joked. We stayed in the living room. Rin was looking for something, Rainbow was doing push-ups, Sunset was looking in Susan's lab. I was sharpening Scootaloo's machete on the couch. "That's a cool blade." Johnny said. "Thanks." I said. We stayed silent for a few more seconds until Johnny looked at me. "Where'd you get it?" I then remembered seeing her corpse... No head, no life... "I got it from a friend's corpse..." I said brutally. "Oh, I-I'm sorry." "It's okay. There's nothing you could do. I'm just glad I have this to remind me of her..." I said. We waited a few more hours until I heard the door open. "Susan? Test? We're back." A female, scratchy voice asked. "They're downstairs with one of our group." I said. "Aaand who are you?" The girl asked. "I'm Kyle. This is Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer. The one downstairs, Rin, is with your group." I said. "Alright. I'm Sissy, by the way." Sissy said as she walked away. "Is it me, or do we sound exactly alike?" Rainbow asked. "...Yeah, you do actually." Sunset said. "Let's go get Rin." I said. I was nearing the place where I heard people talking about: Our Town. He has to be there... He has to. "If he's not at Sanctuary, he has to be there." I told my sister. "Let's just worry about Our Town for now." Adagio told me. I saw the fences and a cabin nearby. I told Adagio to go inside the walls and I go into the cabin. "Alright. Tell Ali and Cole what you find." Adagio said. I grabbed my silenced rifle and walked up. I saw a light on and I heard a voice. "...What was the kid's name again? Kyle somethin'?" Oh shit! I waited until he came out to make my move. I grabbed my knife and grabbed him. "Push that button and you get this knife to your throat. Drop your weapons." I said. He dropped the weapon and I asked him about Kyle. "He's not here. We're trying to find him, but no luck. All we found was some old man who said he was with him in the early days. He's not exactly around anymore, though..." The man said. "Stay here." I said. I grabbed his radio and changed the channel. "Twilight? It's me. He's around here. Move in." I said. > Our Town > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was getting closer to the place the guard said he saw Kyle last. Is he really alive, after all this time? Don't get your hopes up, Twilight. You never know what could happen next. I was near the radio station where I saw over 5 people with rifles holding... oh my God. I was about to sprint out when I realized that I only had my katana and they were 5 people with rifles. I saw Rainbow and... Kyle run up! Kyle had more scraggy hair and a silver arm, but he was still the same. Kyle snuck up behind a girl with white hair before being whacked in the back of the head. I took the microphone and tried to listen. "...Our people would love to watch you burn!" The woman with white hair said. I watched as Sunset, Rainbow, and some blond girl I've never seen were pinned to the ground and started to get their shirts unbuttoned. I held my katana planning my strikes. "First, we'll get Rin, then we'll get the others..." She got disturbingly close to his ear. " I couldn't hear what else she said, but it was enough to cause Kyle's pupils to dilate. I was about to lunge when Kyle head-butted her and he had a gun drew on him. I saw a red-headed girl walk up. What Kyle did next shook me to my core. A blade came out of his hand and he shoved it in the white-haired girl's throat. I looked in shock as he shot the 5 other men. One drew a gun on him, but the red-head shot him. I stammered to the microphone and listened. "Your people did this. They destroyed a city full of innocents, killed Scootaloo, and now tried to rape and kill us. You showed us who you are." He said. "I didn't do this." Meiko said. "Go. Go back to the Kingdom and make sure we don't see you again." He said. He must've noticed the girl was alive because he stabbed her in the head. As he did it, the red-head ran as fast as she could-- towards me. I tackled her to the ground. "Who are you? Who was that girl out there? Tell me, or I'll slit your throat!" I said holding my katana to her neck. "I'm Meiko. That girl was Yowane." Meiko said calmly. "I'm Twilight." I said as I put away my sword. "Look, if you think I'm responsible for-" "Come with me. I plan to catch up with him later." I said. I smelled smoke and I turned back. I saw Kyle drag Yowane and push her into the fire. "I'll see you soon, Kyle..." I said. Sunset was getting the fuel while I was catching up with Rin about her family. "She'd come in after a while, and..." Rin started. "It's okay. You don't have to say anymore. I'm sorry..." I said. "It's okay. I'm gonna get this stupid dress off." Rin said walking upstairs. Rainbow came and sat next to me. "You two are getting along." Rainbow said. "Well, I DID save her life..." I said. "Haha." Rainbow said. "...Did you know Yowane before Sanctuary?" I asked. "Yeah. She was a nobody there. She turned into a monster... After what she planned to do to you... Yowane died a long time ago." Rainbow said getting up. I was looking at a picture me and Scootaloo took during our dating time. I still remember those days... "Kyle! Come here, please." Riku called out. I came down to her room when she told me about Scootaloo. "She's been gone a while, and I have no idea what to do." Riku said. "Where's Daisuke?" I asked. "Right here." Daisuke said panting for breath as he ran for the door. "Hey." I said. "I tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen. Maybe... you could get through to her?" Daisuke asked. "Where is she?" I asked. "Up on the rooftop." Daisuke said. "I'll see what I can do." I said. I ran up and saw her on a chair looking down on the city. "You thinking on jumping?" I asked. "...No." Scootaloo said. I took a seat next to her. "People are worried about you." I said. Scootaloo scoffed. "Who?" She asked. "Your father, your mother, Fluttershy, Sunset, ME. I miss you." I said. Scootaloo stayed silent for several seconds until she leaped on me and held me in an embrace. "Hey... It's okay." I said. I heard Scootaloo sob-- and I mean SOB. She held me tighter as she sobbed. I soon felt some tears swell out of me. I started holding tighter until I felt... something on my cheek. Did she just kiss me? "I... I--" "You don't have to say anything yet. Just think on it." Scootaloo said as she walked back downstairs. "--Kyle? Kyle! We're ready to go!" Rainbow said. "Sorry, sorry. It was just some memories." I said. "We'll talk in the car." Rainbow said. We hopped in and drove down the highway to Our Town. Sunset drove while following the map. "Were you thinking about Scootaloo?" Rainbow asked. "...Yeah." I said. "I don't know what happened. But please understand that I am sorry." Rainbow said. We pulled up to the road of Our Town. "We go on foot from here." I said. "Why?" Sunset asked. "We should see them, before they see us." I said. "Okay." Rainbow said. We split up into groups. Me, Rin, and Rainbow while Johnny, Susan, Sissy, and Sunset went together. I looked ahead and saw fences-- big ones. "This is it." I said. We saw as people came out and were slaughtering zombies with silenced gunfire. "They must have a lot of ammo." Rin said. "So did you." I said. "...Yeah, we did." Rin replied. We kept looking and saw several more people came out- all wearing an equal sign on their right arm. "That looks unpromising." Rainbow said. "Maybe it's a cult or something." I said. "Whatever it is, it doesn't make them bad people, Kyle." Rin said. "It doesn't, but it adds some questions to the table." I said. We looked a few more minutes until Rin asked me "What's up with that Joel guy and you?" I stayed silent for a few seconds. "He beat me. Everyone of them. Student and teacher. Except for..." I started. "Except for who?" Rainbow asked. "Except for Twilight." I whispered. I could tell Rainbow was shocked. "When I was a freshman, she talked to me. Eventually, we got along. But then me and my mom went to see some family in the country. When we got back..." I said. "Kyle..." "...And that was the perfect opportunity for them to start beating the SHIT out of me anytime they wanted. And then..." I said. "Kyle. Twilight joined CHS." Rainbow said. Me and Meiko went back to the cabin with Sonata. "She tried to do WHAT?!" Sonata asked Meiko holding against a wall. "She tried to rape him, but he stopped it." Meiko said. "How?" Sonata asked. "He stabbed her throat. Then he burned her corpse." I said. Sonata was clearly shocked by this and she let Meiko go. "Where did he say he was going?" Sonata asked. "I didn't hear much, but I heard on guy say Our Town." "Oh, crap. That's where that guy..." Sonata started. "Twi..." "You got it." I told Sonata. I took the rifle that guy had and I found some fireworks in a bag. "I got this." I said. We regrouped, walked through the gates and went inside a building. "Our Town. Our world..." A girl on a radio turned around and saw us. "Hello." I said. Another girl walked up. "You here to rob us?" "No. We heard about this place and we wanted to join you. I'm Kyle." I said. The girl walked up and held her hand out. "I'm Starlight Glimmer. Welcome to Our Town." We went to one of the houses they said were ours. "You think this'll work?" Rin asked. "It has to." Sunset said. Then, a megaphone went off. "Attention all new survivors. Please join us in the Town Hall." "Well, that's us." I said. We went down to se what it was. We went in and the first thing I saw was a gun to my face. "Drop your weapons, and we all go away alive." Starlight said. We dropped our weapons. "The machete too. Do it!" Starlight said shoving the gun in my face. Sorry, Scoots. I dropped the machete and tossed it on the ground. "See that house down there? Get in, all of you. Now!" Starlight said. I went first, then Rainbow, Rin, Johnny, Susan, Sissy, then Sunset. We walked in and the door slammed behind us. It was dark, but I saw 5 other people inside. "You must be our roommates." A man joked. "You come near them, and I kill you, with or without weapons." I said. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm Cole. This is my girl, Alice. This is Frosty and Kat." Cole said. "Well, they're gonna regret locking us in here." I said. "How?" Alice asked. I pulled out my knife arm and showed it to them. "Oh..." Frosty said. > Escape > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset was looking for guards to come to our cabin, Rainbow was using a pocket watch to grind off a shiv from the wood, Alice was using the curtain rod as a baton, Cole used a brass knuckle made by the hair clip I had, Frosty was using a table leg, and I was using my knife arm. "You all know what to do. You kill 'em, any way you can." I said. "What if we can't kill them by our weapons?" Kat asked. "You knock them out, and smash their heads in." I said grimly. "We don't have to." Rin said. "They locked us in here, Rin. We HAVE to." I said. "But what if instead of killing them, we threaten them. Force them to let us go." Rin said. "That could work... this WILL." Rainbow said. Rainbow ripped off the shiv and started using a belt to make some weapon for Sunset. "Heads up, we got two of them coming." Sunset said. "We need to be careful. We don't know if there're more." I said as I pulled my knife arm out. "Put your arms on your back, and get to each end of the cabin, NOW!" Someone cried from the other side of the door. I pulled out my knife arm and told the others to get behind me. The door opened slightly and an object went in. A flashbang. "MOVE!" Cole cried. We all placed our weapons under the curtain and we ran back. The bomb went off and I felt something grab me. I was pulled out and thrown on the ground. When the flashbang wore off, I saw Starlight grab me and place a ziptie on my hands. I was dragged to a platform with seven other people. Guards were there with knives. I was placed on a bench with the other people. Starlight walked up with a record book in hand. "Okay. So, Kyle... Decker?" "Yep." A guard said. Starlight grabbed a C.B and said the name. "Kill them." A deep, distorted voice said. One guard grabbed the man, one had the knife. The first guard pushed the man into the blade. They moved to the next. "Kyle... Welles?" "Kill him." Same thing. "Kyle... hang on." Starlight pulled out a knife and held it to me. "You said your name is Kyle. Now... what's your last name?" I didn't say a word. "Tell me, or I kill you." "...Williams. Kyle Williams." I said. Starlight grabbed the C.B. "Kyle Williams?" "You have him." The guards quickly grabbed me and killed the rest. "Load him up, every one of them." Starlight said. Before we could make a move, BOOM! I was traveling through the forest and I saw fences and someone being pulled out of a cabin. Kyle... I saw as he was brought into a room and I knew I didn't have much time. I saw some zombies on the left side of the fence. I grabbed my rifle and aimed for a gas tank nearby. I grabbed the firework and lit it up. Boom. I opened my eyes and saw Starlight telling the two guards to watch me. "Stay here until I know what's happening!" When the doors closed, I shanked one of them and held the other one at his throat. "Where's the armory? TALK!" I said. "Next room!" The guard said. I pushed him away and went for it. I opened the door and found multiple weapons. I scurried through and grabbed my machete and Judge. I found an M16 and grabbed it. I grabbed pistols for the others and I went to grab them. I went in and snuck past a horde. I started taking our guards and looking for Kyle. I saw someone shoot some guards with a M16. I saw a zombie behind him so I went up and killed it. I quickly grabbed the barrel and pointed it away. "Easy! I'm not them." I said. "Who are you?" The guy asked. "I'm Twilight. You?" He took off the hood and I saw... "Twi'?" I couldn't move, I couldn't speak. Here, in front of me, was the one out of three people who I missed from before. I quickly held her in an embrace. We stayed until I remembered the others. "We gotta go." I said. "Alright." Twilight said. I ran up and swung the door open. "FIGHT FOR THE GATES!" I screamed. The others scrambled into action. They grabbed their weapons and we all ran out. Twilight grabbed her katana and swung at a runner behind her. I shot several zombies in front of us, Rainbow stabbed a zombie in the throat and took its knife, and Cole was punching a zombie rapidly. "Twilight?! Trixie sent you?" Cole asked. "No." Twilight said. "There's no time! We gotta get out of here." I said. "Go! Go! Go!" Rainbow said. We fought our way out and we ran for the woods. "Wow. That was..." Rainbow panted. "Kyle... It's really you?" Twilight said. "I was about to ask the same thing." I said. "You two know each other?" Kat asked. "He was my only friend before." Twilight recapped holding me in an embrace. "Yeah, I was." I said silently, holding the embrace. I was telling Joel about Our Town. "Wow... I didn't think that they were... Doesn't matter, all that matters is Diamond's getting BETTER." "What do you mean?" I asked. "She's not talking gibberish anymore. She still insists we attack the Dogs' camp." Joel said. "She knows where they are?" I asked quickly. "Yeah. A cave up in the mountains. Hell, the ONLY cave up in the mountains." Joel said. "We're heading for a farm: Greenwood. You'll see it on a map." I said. "I found it. We'll be there." Joel said. I signed off and went to join the others back in the radio tower. Cole and his people grabbed the food in Our Town and we were having a dinner. They were bonding well. "Wait, wait, so what happened next?" Alice asked Rainbow. "What happened next was she jumped out of nowhere and screamed 'SUPRISE!" Rainbow said dying laughing. "Man, this Pinkie of yours sounds like a nutcase." Frosty said. "Yep, she was..." Sunset said depressed. I noticed that she was distant. "You alright?" I asked her. She didn't respond. "...I saw the attack. I saw what they almost did..." Twilight said. I turned to her. "Did you see what I did?" I asked her. "...Yes. But I saw what she almost did to you, I heard it." Twilight said holding up her megaphone. "Oh." I replied. "Look, I don't know what happened before I showed up, but were you from a... 'Sanctuary'?" Twilight asked. I looked up. "Yeah. Me and Sunset helped run the place." I said. "Not Rainbow?" Twilight asked. "We can catch up when we get back, Twi." Cole said. "Yeah, maybe... I gotta step out for a minute." Twilight said getting up. I went outside and raised Sonata. "Sonata? We found him." I said cheerfully. "Is it really him?" Sonata asked with her voice cracking. "Yeah. We're at the radio station we were at earlier. How's that prisoner?" I asked. "We had to kill him. He tried to kill Star Swirl... Adagio was on him before I could stop her." Sonata said. "Well, what would YOU do if your adopted infant son was attacked?" I asked. "I don't know." Sonata said. I heard Cole call out. "Hey, Twi'! You comin'?!" "I gotta go. I'll tell Kyle that you're alive.' I said. "No. Let's keep it a surprise." Sonata said. > Greenwood > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After we slept, we woke up to go to Twilight's camp. "What do we do if this doesn't work out?" Rainbow asked. "Easy. We go to Greenwood." I said. "What if this place is Greenwood?" Johnny asked. "We stay. If we think it won't work, we'll MAKE it work." I said. Rainbow then went up to Cole. "So, this camp..." "Yeah?" Cole asked. "Has anyone died there?" I asked. "No. Not in a long time." Alice said. "How?" I asked. "Well, we barely ever go out, the crops give us the food we needed, and we have a good, strong leader." Frosty said. "Who is your leader?" Sunset asked. "You'll see when you get there." Twilight said. We stayed silent until we found the RV they took, surrounded by zombies. "Crap... now what?" Twilight asked. "We can ask camp to come send transport." Cole said. "No, you KNOW what she'll say to that. She hates people dying, but we can find a way." Kat said. "How about one of the cars from Our Town? It has to have at least one laying around." Susan said. "No, that's too risky. I guess we have to walk back. We're just three miles away. We'll make it in time for breakfast." Cole joked. I nodded and we started walking towards their camp. We saw a crossing when Rainbow came up to me. "You okay?" She asked. "Yeah." I simply said. "It's been a week since Sanctuary went down. And a day since Yowane." "I know." I said. Twilight walked up to the side of me. "She's with us, you know. Meiko." She said. I was silent as a few zombies were gathering up behind us. Sunset turned back and saw them build up. "We can take them." She said. "No. We just fought like hell to get out of Our Town. No need to fight like hell against a few Walkers." I said. "...I can take them." Sunset said. "Sunset... you know that's a bad idea." I told her. We kept walking past an abandoned house full of blood and nearly burnt to the ground. I saw a skeleton with the eyes still inside. I turned away and saw the zombies behind us. It had about 20 zombies in it now. "We can't have that building up. If we bring that back to camp..." Cole started saying. "They walk, we run. We can get ahead of them. Besides, it's just twenty." Rainbow said. "You always this pragmatic?" Frosty asked. "Pretty much." I said. We kept moving until we saw a sign saying GREENWOOD FARM: 1 MILE "We're close..." Cole said. As soon as Cole said that, I knew that they were from there. I picked up my pace and the others followed. "Hey, where're you going?!" Cole asked. "Greenwood. My sister's there." I said as I started running again. I was by the gates, waiting for Kyle to come in. Adagio came up with Star Swirl in her arms. "He looks healthy." I said. "Yes, he does." Adagio said. "I hope they make it back soon." I said. I then heard a faint voice call my name. I turned back and saw someone run up with about 15 people behind him. "SONATA! SONATA!" The figure in the front called. He got closer and saw that it was Kyle. I leaped down and swung the gates open. When they came in, Kyle then lunged on me. I held him as the others looked on. "You're his sister?" Sunset asked. I nodded with tears pouring out nonstop. When I was able to open my eyes again, I saw Applejack, Blossom, Dexter, and a stranger who was looking at Rainbow like nothing else mattered. "R... Rainbow?" "Firefly?" I was too busy thinking about Sonata to care. After we met up, we started making ourselves at home. Aparrently, Sonata already set up cabins for each of them. "I planned on running this place until the... other Twilight came. I figured she'd know what she was doing. But, since you're here and she isn't, I guess she's still in Equestria." She said. "Yeah. We tried to get her, but the portal's shut." Sunset said. "Well, we'll have to work something out. For now, you should start making yourselves at home. Later, we'll give you all a tour." Sonata said. Twilight decided I could stay in her cabin until we worked something out. She apparantly had a guest bed and said I could take it. We set up by the time the sun started going down. "We should go to the party tonight." Rainbow said. "What party?" I asked. "We have a party for all the newbies." Firefly said holding Rainbow's hand. Not even going to ask. We walked into a huge tent they put up. About 50 people were inside it and taking their seats at the sides. I saw Sonata start to walk up when she saw me in the crowd. "Everyone... we have several new guests tonight. People who viaguously turned me into this... at a price. One of them is my brother, Kyle Williams. The others are the people I've told you about: The people who can help us through this. Come on up, guys." We all started walking up to the stage. Johnny, Susan, Sissy, and Rin sat down. "Come on. You're one of us." I said stretching my hand out. They got up later and walked up with us. Sonata handed me the mic and I opened my mouth to speak. "Hello. I'm Kyle. Apparently, you've heard of them." I said pointing at Rainbow, Sunset, and Applejack. "The others are Rin, Johnny, Susan, and Sissy. We found them on the road. They heard that we were headed for this place, they were just the kind of people to not say no." I lied. I couldn't tell them about Rin, not just yet. "Before we met them, we had a place. A city. Now, that you have Blossom, Dexter, and AJ, you probably heard of this story. But I wanna tell it again. We found it a year after everything went down, The Big Turn, we called it. After we built it up, we were attacked by an armed Kingdom." I kept talking until I saw Meiko look among the crowd, at me. "I think that's all for now." Sonata offered as she handed her hand out to take the mic. I handed to her and heard some people clap in interest. We went back when I saw someone behind me poke me. "Kyle?" "...Jane?" "Wait, who's Jane?" Rin asked. "An old orphan friend of mine." I said as we held each other instantly. "Kyle, you're alive, after all this time? How?" "I'll tell you later. Sonata too. The whole story." I said. After the meeting, I called Sunset, Rainbow, and Applejack into the farm house. "What is it?" Sunset asked. "I wanna know what happened. There were six of you, now there are three of you; what happened?" I asked. "...People died. Rarity, one of us, she was killed by someone who was a threat. Pinkie and Fluttershy, we lost them during the attack on Sanctuary. They could be out there, or they could be dead." Sunset told. We were silent for a while until Adagio opened her mouth. "We have wine in the counter, if you're interested." "No, thanks. I'm good." Rainbow said. "Nah, same here." AJ said. Sunset was silent until she decided to walk around the counter and grab a bottle. She found a glass and poured a little into it, before sipping it down. She started coughing slightly, but poured another glass. Adagio grabbed the bottle when she was done and read the label. "Red's Apple Ale. Not bad for a first drink." She said. Sunset laughed and grabbed the bottle back. "Careful. Alcohol kills brain cells, you know." I joked as I poured a glass myself. "When did you meet him, Kyle?" Rainbow asked. I turned around. "Do you really wanna know?" I asked. "Yes." AJ said. "Well, strap yourselves down, because this is a long story..." > Peace > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I opened my eyes, in a bed. I turned around and saw Twilight, about a few feet away in her own bed. I then recalled the events of yesterday. I finally got my sister back, and we were safe again. I don't expect it to last, but we can make it last. I got up and went to see the others, who were already up. "Do you think this can work?" I asked Rainbow. "It has to. We were almost out there too long. And if you are, you end up like I was." Rin said coming up. "She's right." Rainbow said. "Well, we should start thinking on what this place has. We should take a look at the wall." I said. "You can ask Sonata or Twilight." Applejack said. "Maybe." I said. "What is it?" AJ asked. "Nothing. It's just been too long since I saw her again, I don't have the first clue on how she changed." I said. "Maybe she didn't." Rainbow said. "I did. I know I did." I said. "Me too. So did Diamond." Rin said. "Diamond... that reminds me. Should we tell them to come?" I asked. "Of course! Diamond needs this, so does Joel." Rin said. "You don't know Joel, you don't know what they did to him..." I said coldly. "What did they do?" Rin said. I suddenly remembered what happened as soon as I said it. The tape... the way he changed... "Nothing... just... nothing." I said. Before the others could ask more questions, Twilight came out with her sword holstered. "Did I hear you wanted a tour of the wall?" Me and Twilight were looking at the wall. It was dumpsters and the backs of 18-wheelers placed together. "How did you make all of this?" I asked. "We kept building it up. It started as pallets around the house, but then we got more help." Twilight said. I immediately started comparing this place to Sanctuary. We started out with pallets too... "What did I miss here?" I asked. "...A lot. We were attacked, we killed people, we lost people..." Twilight said. "How about Sonata?" I asked. "She killed. Lost people..." Twilight said. "I did too..." I said. "She asked me to talk to you tomorrow. About what happened." Twilight said. "When?" I asked. "As soon as we're done looking at the wall." Twilight said. We kept looking until we found a large crack in the wall. "Holy crap... what could've done this?" Twilight asked. I pulled out my knife arm and climbed the wall. I didn't see anything except for about 7 zombies pounding against the wall. "We should get construction crew on it." Twilight said. "Yeah... we should." I replied. Twilight pulled out her walkie and asked for some builders to fix the wall. "You got it. They'll be there in a few minutes." Adagio said. "Let's go have that talk." Twilight said. We made it to the house and took a seat on the couch. Sonata came out of the other room and sat down. "First off, great to see you again." Sonata said. "That's an overstatement. Me too." I said. "What happened to you?" I asked. I opened my mouth and began speaking about it all: Gary, CHS, Sanctuary, Megaville, The Kingdom... Scootaloo. "I'm sorry... Can't imagine how that feels." Sonata said. "We were out on the road. We found a radio station they set up in. They came out and tried to..." I started. "Jesus..." Sonata said. "That's not it. Yowane pinned me against me against and said that she was going to do that to me. I killed her when she was distracted. I stopped it before it happened." I said. "What else happened?" Sonata asked. "We found two people: Joel and Diamond Tiara. Diamond lost it. The Dogs killed her friend, maybe raped them both... Joel, he changed. Or so it looked." I said. "You wanna bring them here?" Sonata said. "I'm thinking about that." I said. "I think you should. The more people we have, the better." Sonata said. "I'll put it under consideration." I said. I left the house to see the others. They were in a seat, talking to some of the other people here. Jane saw me and took a seat. "Sonata talked to me. I'm sorry." She said. "There's nothing anyone could've done. It's how the cookie crumbled." I said. "That's what Henry always said." Jane said. "I know." I said. I hadn't thought about my dad in a long time. What would he do if I left Joel and Diamond out there? It doesn't matter what they did. They deserve this place, even Joel after... "I'll be right back." I said. "You got it." Jane said. I went up to speak to Joel. "Yeah?" Joel asked. "How is Diamond?" I asked. "Oh, you have no idea. You told me how she was? Well, she's NOTHING like that. She's better now." Joel said. "We're at Greenwood. My sister's alive. We think you should join us." I said. "Really? After what I did to you?" Joel asked. "Don't do it..." That damn voice in my head said. "Yeah. After what you did to me and after what THEY did to YOU." I said. "Thank you. I'll tell Diamond to start packing." Joel said. "You shouldn't have done it... he'll just get more people killed." "I swear, as soon as I find out who this voice is, I am going to kill it." I said in my head. "You can't kill me, Kyle. You just can't." "Kyle! You okay?" I heard Sonata ask. I looked down and saw her nearby. "Yeah. We might have two new people coming in soon. Thought you should know." I said. "Joel?" She asked. I couldn't lie. She would know. "Yeah." I said. Sonata just nodded and went to watch the gates. Most likely to look out for Joel and Diamond. I decided to ask Jane where the others were. "Oh, they're in the Rec Tent." Jane said. "Wait, the what?" So, apparently, the construction crew built up a HUGE tent for gatherings. It was like a circus tent, maybe bigger. I finally found the others with Firefly and Buttercup [Apparently, one of Blossom's sisters.]. "So, you still not sure this could work?" Rainbow whispered to me. "I'm sure. This can work, for now. Just as long as-" I was interrupted by the sound of a truck smashing through the wall. I ran out and saw... Dogs. > Dogs > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I looked out and saw that the wall was down and... Dogs were running in with all kinds of melee weapons, but hardly any guns. "KILL THEM ALL!" Cried one of the Dogs as the now moved in. "What do we do?" Twilight asked me. "We gotta get them out." I said. "How?" Sonata asked. "I don't know. It's too many to take out." I said. "Bullcrap. We can take 'em." Buttercup said. "As much as I like fighting, Kyle's right. We can't charge in without getting slashed." Rainbow said. "So what do we do?!" Sonata whispered. "I don't know!" I whispered back. I was with AJ and Adagio as we started hiding inside a house. "Who ARE these guys?!" I asked AJ. "I don't know, Rin. It looks like some clan or somethin'." She said. We looked out as they started killing people. I loaded my gun to get out, but Adagio stopped me. "No! That's too many." She said. I saw as another person was dragged out. She was shoved to the ground and pinned and most likely prepped to be raped. "Shit..." I cursed as I barged out. "Rin!" AJ cried. The Dog looked up at me and let go of the girl. "Quick... or slow?" He asked me. "Neither." I said as I redecorated the grass and sidewalk with his brains. I then saw 2 other Dogs glare at me. They readied their axes and bats and lunged at me. "Get inside!" I said as I opened fire on the other Dogs. She ran in and we locked the doors just in the nick of time. "Who are you?" I asked the girl. "Jane. I... I was with Kyle, but I lost him." Jane said panting for breath. "Can you shoot?" I asked her as I grabbed my gun to give to her. "Yeah." Jane said as she loaded the pistol and put it in her holster. "Listen, if we stay here, we're going to die. We need to get to the house. Kyle would go there." I said to the others. "Let's go." Adagio said. "We can't! We'll get killed on sight." I said. Before we could talk more, a shotgun blast went through one of the Dogs, and a loud whack through another. I opened the door and saw... "Diamond?" Diamond was there with a staff and Joel wasn't too far behind. "Where's Kyle?" Joel asked. "We don't know. We saw him at the Rec Tent, t-that big tent down there." Jane said. "We have to get in there." Diamond said. "We gotta go. We saw zombies comin' through the south wall. A lot." Joel said. "Let's go." I said. We were holding up in the Rec Tent. Several Dogs tried to get in, but we stopped them. "Kyle, we can't hold them back much longer." Twilight said. "What should we do? The whole community's here!" Rainbow said. "We need to hold them off. I'll go out and look around, see how many there are." I said. "You're not going alone." Sonata said. "Fine. The rest of you, stay here and protect them. If any Dog gets through, kill them." I said. "Got it." Buttercup said as she was ready to charge out and attack them. I grabbed my Judge and found a Colt 1911 for Sonata. Together, we stuck to the shadows and saw over 50 Dogs everywhere. "You couldn't fend this many off?" I asked. "Not a lot of people wanted to be armed. We insisted, but they didn't listen." Sonata said. "Damn it..." I cursed. "Now what?" Sonata asked. "Is there an armory?" I asked. "Yeah. It's in the house." Sonata said. "Head back. I'll find a rifle with Buttercup, take them out." I said. "Why her?" "Because she can fly and you can't." I said. "Neither can you." Sonata said. "No, but I can shoot. You need to protect the others. I'll be back." I said as I started my way back for Buttercup. We were headed for the Rec Tent when we saw a LOT of Walkers from the south. "God DAMN IT!" Adagio said as she started blasting them. "Come on, we gotta go!" I said to Adagio. We ran to the Rec Tent. I couldn't see Kyle. "Where is he?" AJ asked. "He's out scouting with Sonata." Rainbow said. "He's gotta come back. There's a horde of them headed straight here. The tent won't hold them." I said. "We can't go right now. Kyle's still out there." Sunset said. "We have to. Anyone who stays here is gonna die." I said. "We can hold them back. There's not that many." Diamond said as she pulled out a Sawn-Off Shotgun and started stepping near the horde. "If she's fightin' so am I!" Buttercup said as she pulled out a sword. "Me too." Rainbow said as she pulled out an SMG. "Me four." Joel said as he loaded his shotgun. Eventually, we all loaded our weapons at the tent where the Walkers started tearing through. They then flooded in and we started firing. It was a bloodbath, with us shooting and Buttercup slicing and punching the Walkers. We then started running out of bullets; people started getting pulled in the horde and devoured. "Everyone, to the house NOW!" Twilight said as she sliced through a Walker and started pulling people to the exit. Before we could run out, Dogs ran in through it. "This way!" Twilight said. She sliced through the tent and we ran to the house. Kyle and Sonata then ran next to us. "Good. You're safe. Come on!" Sonata said. We ran into the house and started fortifying the doors and windows. "Where do we go?" A person asked. "Anywhere but here." Sonata said. "No. We can hold them back." Diamond said. Then, another person stepped up. "YOU! You lead them here, didn't you?! Now you're gonna kill all of us!" "Hey, hey, hey. Everyone calm down. She didn't lead them here, she's not gonna kill us. There're friends of Kyle and they're friends of ours now." Sonata said. "Move over, Sonata." The person said as he loaded a shotgun. Diamond readied her staff and Joel pumped his shotgun and took the safety off. "Put that down, James!" A woman, probably his wife, said. "No, Maria. She killed us! Now we gotta make her pay." James said as he aimed his gun. Diamond then swung at him, rendering his unconscious. "He's alive. For now." Diamond said to Maria who was taken aback by the attack. Before we could do anything else, the barricades broke and the horde started breaking through. "Upstairs, all of you!" Sonata said as she started blasting Walkers up. James was surrounded and devoured in his sleep, Maria leaped in soon after. The rest of us ran upstairs and moved a couch against the stairs. "Holy SHIT, what just happened?!" Adagio asked. "How many are out there?" Kyle asked. I looked out the window and saw that the Dogs were now Runners, but the horde was short, just reaching the outside of the house. "Not a lot. If we can find a way outside, we can outrun them. All of us." I said. There were about 24 of us, counting Star Swirl, who was now in Adagio's arms. "What about him?" A person asked. "We take him with us." Adagio said sternly. "What if he slows us down?" The person asked. "He won't. Calm the hell down." Kyle said to him. "Yes, he will. If we make it out, if we hole up somewhere, what do we do when he starts to cry? Hell, what if he started walkin' and walks into another goddamn horde?!" "HEY! Calm down! He WON'T slow us down, he WON'T be an issue. Like it or not, he is my SON! I am NOT leaving him to Walkers!" Adagio said as she started leading the person to the window. "You wanna get away? Jump. You can outrun them." Adagio said to him. "'Dagio! Calm down." Jane said to her. "Don't you DARE tell me to calm down!" Adagio said. "EVERYONE CALM THE HELL DOWN!" Sonata screamed. Silence then filled the room as Sonata's outburst ended. "Look, I get it. You're all afraid. But this is a scary world, now. If you don't fight, you die. Now, does anyone else have ANYTHING they want to say?" I asked. Everyone shook their heads and we prepared to jump. "How many people were here?" I asked Sonata. "...56 at least." She said. "And now there're 25..." I said. "Yeah. Look, I know that they ALL aren't going to make it. But we have to try. Otherwise, we're just as good as they are. You know that, right?" Sonata asked me. "Yeah... I know." I replied. We started to let people out and run. I saw that the couch was almost down. "Go! We got this!" A man said as he and a few of the other residents went with him. They ran down and held the couch up. I told Rin to go out first, then Rainbow, then Twilight, then Joel, then Diamond. That was when the couch crashed down and crushed the survivors to death. "GO!" I called out to the other 18 people left. As we jumped out, Frosty got grabbed. "FROSTY!" Kat called out. I shot the Walker on him, but it was useless, as about 30 more were behind that one. We all ran out the house and into the fields. I saw the bodies, Greenwood, Walkers, and Dogs. "Shit... now what?" Sonata asked. "We look for survivors, draw the zombies away, and get the armory. Then, we take the truck and go." I said. "Where do we go?" Alice asked. "Somewhere that's not here." Sonata said. Before we started looking, Meiko came out with one of the Dogs hostage. I recognized him off the spot. He was Top Dog, their leader. My father's killer. "You did this. All of it." I said to him. "Who the hell are you?" Top Dog asked me. I knelt down to him and leaned in close. "Sanctuary Orphanage. Remember the name? It was the name of my father's orphanage, Henry Williams. You burnt it all to the ground. The orphanage, 20 of the children, and Henry himself. Who am I? I'm Kyle Williams. Remember that." Top Dog wasn't stunned in any way. "What do you want?" He asked finally. "What do I want?" I asked him. I then started putting a hand at my knife. "I want. To know. Why. Why did you kill them? What did we do that was so bad, that was so horrifying, that you had to destroy it all?" I asked. "...You have her." Top Dog said, pointing at Sonata. I turned at Sonata and turned back. "What did she do that was so bad?" I asked. "If I told ya, you'd never look at her the same again." Top Dog said. Before anything could happen, he was snatched from behind and pinned to a way by Diamond, who punched him in the face. "Do you remember me? Huh? Do you remember SILVER SPOON?! She was the one that YOU shot in the face after your men raped her AND me, SIDE. TO. SIDE." Diamond said as she landed more punches. "Look, liste-" He was silenced by Diamond landing a blow on him. She pinned him to the ground and landed blow after blow, until Joel stopped her. We looked at the aftermath and saw Top Dog, struggling to breathe, his face covered in blood. I took my knife and went up to his ear. "Kyle Williams. Remember the name." I said as I stabbed him in the head soon after. > Graves > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's been a week since Greenwood was destroyed. We were all now back on the road. The new people, Buttercup, Meiko, Twilight, Sonata, Alice, Cole, and Kat, were with us. The other people from Greenwood left in fear. I can't say I blame them, but I'm not with them. Now, there is about 18 of us, counting Star Swirl. I was staying on watch with Meiko. "I don't know how I feel about you guarding my people alone." I said as I started. We were silent until Meiko said, "Look, about Scootaloo-" "Don't. She's gone, and it's because of your people. That's all there is." I said. "I know you're angry, and you should be, but Kyle... I stopped her from raping you. You know that, right?" She asked me. "You didn't do shit. You didn't stop her, I did." I said. We were silent again for the rest of our turn. Rainbow woke up and said it was her turn. "Alright, good night." Meiko said as she went to fall asleep. I couldn't sleep. Not yet. "So... Kyle." Rainbow started. "Yeah?" I asked. "I heard your conversation with Meiko. Kyle, I get why you're careful with her, but it's done." Rainbow said. "I know. She died, Rainbow. Scootaloo, dead." I said. "Yeah. We didn't bury her, we should." Rainbow said. "I'll have to talk to the others." I said. "We can go ourselves, bury her, get what's left from Sanctuary..." Rainbow started. "Maybe we can rebuild it one day. Not today, certainly not tomorrow, but one day." I said. "Yeah... maybe." Rainbow said as she noticed a zombie pass. "Don't. It doesn't see us yet." I said. It just kept walking pass us. "Tomorrow morning, we head back to Sanctuary. Supplies, vehicles, and maybe a roof for a week or two..." I said. We were silent until Rainbow said, "Sorry for leaving back then." "It's fine. You doubted us, and it just turns out that you were right." I said. "No. I was wrong. You made it work. Not forever, but like you said, we can rebuild it again. And we will. Someday." Rainbow said. "Kyle, are you crazy?! Sanctuary's infested with zombies now, or The Kingdom." Rin said. "Look, I know this sounds insane, but this is all we can do. The supplies have to be intact. All we have to do is find a way to go under the city, into the armory, pantry, and garage, and get the supplies that're left. I know that there's at least one can of food, at least one weapon." I said. "Even if we get in, we don't know what's inside. Maybe it's looted dry." AJ said. "Even if it is, we have another reason to go." Rainbow said. "Why?" Johnny asked. "Because Scootaloo's body is still there, rotting away. The least we can do is bury her." Rainbow said. Some nodded in agreement, but Jane, Johnny, Sissy, Susan, and Adagio were confused. "Um, quick question. Who is Scootaloo?" Adagio asked. I simply looked back at her. "She was my girlfriend. She was slaughtered on the way out of Sanctuary by Yowane Haku. And later on, she came back. She had her men attempt to rape the others. I stopped them before they could do it. Sonata, Twilight, and Meiko know the story." I said. We were then silent. Out of the silence, Rin got up and grabbed a gun. "I'm in." She said. Rainbow was next. "Always was in." Soon, more people got up and did the same. "Alright then. We head that way, north. It was a city called Townsville." I said. Buttercup's eyes then got wider than they usually are. "What is it?" I asked. "I was born there." She said. "Me too." Blossom said. "Then lead the way." I said. We then started heading out. Blossom and Buttercup were only inches above ground, but enough for astonishment. I started seeing familiar roads, then I saw the tank outside the massive walls. "You built that?" Twilight asked me. "Yeah, with help, but yeah." I replied. "But they destroyed it. All of it." Meiko said. "Everyone, you see anyone in armor, you kill them. Don't hesitate. They won't..." I said as I readied my Judge. We went in and saw that the place was empty. No zombies, no Knights. No fire. "The armory's this way. The garage is that way. Me and Rainbow will start digging." I said. Rainbow nodded and grabbed a nearby shovel. "You get into any trouble, fire a shot." Rainbow said. We started searching for the armory. I saw that the buildings were also destroyed partially. "You think Scootaloo could've made it out?" AJ asked me. "I have no idea. Maybe... maybe Yowane faked it and Scootaloo's alive somewhere. Somewhere far away from here... If she's alive, we'll never find her. Best not to dwell on it." I said to her. "Maybe." AJ said. "Hey, Blossom! Where was the armory again?" My sister asked me. "The office over there, Buttercup." I said. We went inside and found that it was untouched, every weapon was still there. "Thank God." Rin said. "How're the Pantry Group doing?" Buttercup asked. I pulled out my walkie and contacted Adagio. "Adagio? We found it. How are you doing?" I asked. "Pretty damn good, Blossom. We found the pantry and must I say, Sonata, your brother did a splendid job." Adagio said, while loosening her stern tone. Sonata then snatched the walkie from my hands. "Don't you even think about it, Adagio!" Sonata hissed. Not even gonna ask... We started opening bags and loading them with as much of the armory as possible. We went to where Scootaloo's body was. We found it untouched near the gate. Rainbow started finding a spot nearby. I decided to pay my respects one more time. I sat near the body and I noticed something pretty important: Scootaloo wasn't this fat... "What is it?" Rainbow asked. "Flip her around." I said. "Why?" She asked. I didn't answer as I started flipping her around. Rainbow then joined in. "What are you doing?" Rainbow asked. "She has scars on her back. Burns, cuts, bruises..." I said as I flipped out a pocket knife. I pulled the hoodie up and zipped it off. "Daisuke, please forgive me..." I said silently as I cut into the shirt. I pulled the two flaps away and... Not a single scar. "Oh, my God... Rainbow, she's..." Rainbow now had her hands over her mouth and a tear started falling off her cheek. "She's alive." I heard her mumble. "Yeah... she's alive." I said. Rainbow quickly held me in an embrace. I held her there as I kept looking at the body. It wasn't her. Scootaloo is alive. "Um... hello." A slightly familiar voice called out. We disengaged and drew our weapons on the figure. They were covered in a hoodie with a backpack on their back and a pistol in a holster. "Who are you?" I asked. The figure then took off the hood and I recognized her on the spot. Sugarcoat. "I have good news..." > Shadowbolts > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As soon as I recognized her, I rose my gun at her. "Woah, woah, I don't want any... Kyle...?" Sugarcoat asked. Before she said anything else, I bonked her head with my Judge, knocking her out. I lowered the gun to shoot her, but Rainbow pulled my arm away before I had the chance to. BANG! We heard a gunshot, definitely from Kyle and Rainbow Dash. They were in trouble. "Rin, go! We'll catch up." Diamond said to me. I called for Adagio and the others and we ran toward the gunshot. We saw at least 60 Walkers block our path, so we made a detour into the nearest building. I grabbed my pistol and smashed the glass. We hopped out and we ran to the gunshot. We saw that no-one was there until Kyle and Rainbow started sniping the horde from a parking rooftop. "GET UP HERE, GO! HURRY!" Kyle shouted as he kept on shooting. We ran inside and saw that the roof had a reinforced gate. Most likely planted there when Sanctuary was up and running as an area for a last stand. Kyle shut it and we catched our breath. "These must be the others." A new voice said. Twilight immediately grabbed her sword and held it at the source's throat "You..." Was all she said as Rainbow pulled her away. "Twi, we need her alive." She said. "Why?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, why?" Kyle asked. "Because she said she had good news. The LEAST we could do is hear it." Rainbow said. "...Fine. Fire away..." Kyle said as I saw his hand twitch on his gun. "I came from a community. Me and... we came to offer you to come with us. We also have-" "NO. Absolutely NOT. How do I know this isn't a trap so I'd be your punching bag again?" Kyle asked. Again? "Kyle, I don't expect you to trust me, of all people, but I promise; we're not from Crystal Prep. Not anymore..." "How much more can you lie to us?” Kyle asked as he drew his gun at her. Sunset and Firefly were stabbing the zombies through the bars in order to let us leave. Or at least, stand a chance... "Kyle... search my pack, see who I really am. Go ahead." Sugarcoat said as she kicked her pack at him passively. Kyle started scavenging through when he saw the same tape that Joel has. "He's here, you know..." Kyle said. Sugarcoat's face quickly turned pale. "Joel, he's here? Who's he with?" She asked. "No-one you would know." Kyle said as he found pictures. "The first one you'll see are of the walls. Each plate is really the back of an 18-Wheeler, dug into the ground and reinforced by broken down cars. We have a guard tower over there for snipers. You'll be safe with us..." Sugarcoat offered. Kyle looked back at Sugarcoat. "How are we doing on that horde?" Kyle asked Sunset and Firefly. "I think enough of them are gone. Why?" Firefly asked. "I think me, Twilight, and Sugarcoat need some privacy." Kyle ordered. We accepted and we all went downstairs to keep watch near the ground level. I looked at one of my former tormentors like I wanted to kill her. And I did. "What? Kyle, I know you're upset. I understand that. But you don't have t-" "Did Cinch tell you about the time I nearly died because of what you girls did to me?" I asked her. "W-what?" Sugarcoat asked with either curiosity or fear. "It was a week before I brought the knife in." I saw Twilight turn at me. "After you were done beating me down, I could barely breathe... I was taken to the nurse's office and she freaked out when she said that a rib had broken off and punctured one of my lungs. I don't think I felt more scared... I think the nurse passed out, but thankfully my mom loved to watch all those hospital shows..." I chuckled for a moment before I grabbed my gun and shoved it into her forehead. "That was when I wanted to die! Not after Joel, not after Autumn Flier! After I almost did for something done to me by school girls in lederhosens! Do you know why I don’t trust you? Because you’re a goddamned monster! That’s all that you, the Shadowbolts, and any other snobby son-of-a-bitch from Crystal Prep will ever! Be!"I screamed. I felt the tears flood out my eyes and my voice started to crack near the end. I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder, and I turned to see Twilight look at me with tears in her eyes, too. I lowered the gun and tossed it across the parking lot. "Let's see if I'm right." I said as I wiped my eyes off and grabbed her flare gun. "How many of you are out there?" I asked as I held it up in the air. "Does it matter what I say? 12, 20, 50? 0? No matter what I say, you will NOT trust me." Sugarcoat said. I shot the flare. "We'll find out." I said. I turned around and saw that Joel was brought up by the screaming. And now, it was his turn. "You..." Was all he said as he turned and ran back down. "Joel!" Twilight said as he ran down. I looked up and saw the flare go off. "That's her. She's got in trouble!" I cried at my fellow recruiter, Luna. "We'll get her. Don't worry. Maybe that new person can help..." She said. "Alright." I replied. "What is it?" Our new recruit asked. "Our fellow recruiter, Sugarcoat got into trouble. Wanna help, Scootaloo?" I asked as I handed her my peice. "Sure, Sombra." Scootaloo said as she grabbed it. > New World > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was on the roof with Sugarcoat still restrained. I was on lookout for cars or other Shadowbolts. "Kyle? I... I know that this sounds stupid, but I'm sorry." Sugarcoat said. I turned to her. "Sorry for what, beating me down until I pass out every day? Taking my will to live? I still don't know what's right anymore. I'm sure the one you should be sorry about is Joel. He seemed like he wanted to kill you if I'd let him. And to be honest, I would've let him. Sorry isn't enough..." I said sharply. "...I know." Sugarcoat said. I was with the others when I saw Joel pace out. "Joel?" I asked. I started to follow him. "Sunset?" Rainbow called to me. I kept following him until I saw him just at the 2nd floor. He threw his pack off his back and went through it. He pulled out a form of video tape. "Joel?" I called. Joel recoiled and turned and saw me. "Sorry for startling you." I apologized. "It's fine." Joel said. "What is that?" I asked Joel, pointing at the tape. Joel was silent for the longest time. He just kept staring at the tape. "...Something I shouldn't have done. Something I could've avoided if I tried, if I wanted to. I didn't." Joel said. "What is it?" I asked again. "...This records my first time with Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet." I was with Sombra and Luna trying to get to the flare spot. "She shot up a flare, what does that mean?" I asked. "It means what she's in danger. Maybe stuck somwhere, maybe a herd, or bad people, worst case." Sombra recited. "What if she found Kyle? What he fired that flare?" I asked in anticipation. "Don't get your hopes up, Scootaloo." Luna said. "Only one way to find out." I said. I was still sitting with Sugarcoat, who hasn’t spoken since Joel found her. "So, about Joel..." "He's doing fine. Or he WAS, until he saw you again." I said. "I know what we did to him was bad. Hell, it was evil." Sugarcoat confessed. "You two lead him to that office, made him let you strap him down, and practically RAPED him. You know that, right?" I asked. "...I know." Sugarcoat said. Joel started breaking down. "...They kept asking me what it was. I just said it was a yearbook. I... I just said it was... Me and my older brother were on a run for supplies. He talked to me; said that he was proud of me, and that I was a good man. We came back, and the T.V was static, my father glared at me, my mother had tears... Oh, god... He started yelling. They heard it, and they were just... just... ON HIM! A day after, I woke up, alone. I kept looking and I found them... In the road." I was absolutely shellshocked. I knew Joel, but not like this... "Joel. It doesn't matter what you did before— I should know that better than anyone. All of that is gone now. You know that, right?" I asked him. "If that was true, why does Kyle have Sugarcoat tied up for something they did to him before?" Joel asked. "Kyle's a different story. The things he's seen, the things he's lost..." I started. "The things he's done?" Joel asked. "...Yeah. The things he's done. The things that were going to be done to him if he didn't do those things... It could change anyone." I said. Joel was silent for a moment. “What did you mean by ‘you should know better than anyone’?” I saw that Sugarcoat truly was sorry about Joel. But I couldn't let her see that I know that. Not yet. "So, about Autumn Flier..." Sugarcoat started. "Don't." I tempted. "Look, he... he leads Crystal Prep now." Sugarcoat said. So, he's this "Hell"? "Joel told us that there was someone called Hell inside those walls. Is Autumn Flier this 'Hell'?" I asked. "No. That's someone else. SHE'S worse than Cinch, Kyle. She came in at Autumn's side and ordered us to be locked in a storage room in the start of everything. Then the fences were reinforced, and Autumn ruled with an iron fist, along with Hell." Sugarcoat said. "Do you know her real name?" I asked. "Well, I think it's-" "KYLE!" Rainbow called. "Shit. Come on!" I said as I untied Sugarcoat. We bolted down thinking that it was another horde, but instead, I saw... I saw... I was with Kyle when he ran down. I didn't know what was going on, but I was right behind him. We made it down and I saw him looking at my fellow recruiters. Not all of them, but one of them. "Scoot?" Kyle whispered. Scootaloo, our new recruiter, was shellshocked. The first thing she did was start to walk. Then she started to run. Kyle did the same. They then practically tackled each other in an embrace. Rainbow then joined and some of the others did too. Polygamy much? "Um... Kyle, you're Scootaloo's boyfriend?" I asked, trying not to be awkward. "...Yeah." Kyle said, breaking the embrace. "Well, normally we do this at one of our outposts... I'm Luna, you've already met Sombra, no doubt." Luna said. "Yeah. I know him." Kyle said. Joel came down, but he didn't do much but stare. "If we move now, we can make it back home." I said. "And where's that?" Kyle asked. "It was where you were when all of this started. It's Canterlo High. We expanded massively; we even have most of the town surrounding the high school." Luna said. "When can we go?" Kyle asked. "We should go tomorrow. It's getting dark." Scootaloo said. "If we push now, we can make it to one of the apartments nearby." Kyle said as he handed Scootaloo her machete. "Keep it. You seem good with it. I got this." Scootaloo said as she grabbed her hatchet. I was with Scootaloo in one of the old apartment rooms. I kept watch for anything strange when Scootaloo tapped my shoulder. "You should get some sleep." She said. "The Shadowbolts, are they okay by you?" I asked her. "What?" Scootaloo asked. "Sugarcoat, Sombra, are they okay by you?" I repeated. "Yeah, the others, Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap, and Cinch are all good by me." Scootaloo said. Cinch? "Cinch's alive?" I asked. "Yeah. I told her about you, and she hates it." She said. "I'll see." I simply said. "Come on, let's get some sleep." Scootaloo said. She took the left and I took the right. I was looking at the door until I felt an arm wrap around me. I turned around and saw Scootaloo with her arm around me. I wrapped my arm around her and closed my eyes. It feels like I'm dreaming... > Home > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "...He takes it worse than Autumn ever did!" Sugarcoat said. I felt a blow land on my shoulder. I fell to the ground and Jet Set was behind her. They kept launching blows, until I grabbed a fist and twisted it almost 360 degrees. "ARGGH! Mother- Ah!" Sugarcoat screamed as she held her right fist, now twisted. I stood up and reached in the back of my shirt. It's time. I pulled out the knife and they immediately stepped back. "Whoa, there, Kyle. You don't want to do this..." Jet Set said. They thought it was for them... I hesitated for a second. I liked them this way, with the tables turned. Now they were afraid of me... I tossed the knife soon after. "Just do it..." I begged as I took a seat near the end of the roof. "Do... do what?" Sugarcoat asked in a tone I never heard before. Worry. "Do what Cinch wants you to do..." I said, without turning back. I waited for what I hoped to be the end. I waited for my father's face to shine in front of me. Instead, I heard the door open and a voice getting quieter. "CINCH! CINCH..." Her voice faded away. "Kyle, wake up." I heard Scootaloo say. With that, I was snapped back into reality. I looked at Scootaloo, and I was still gasping for air. "I'm fine. It was just a bad dream, that's all." I said. "Some dream you must’ve had... You were mumbling to yourself all night. Out of nowhere you started shaking, and..." Scootaloo said. What? "Well, sorry I scared you, I just..." I started. "You had the dream again, didn't you?" Scootaloo asked. I let out a sigh. "...Yeah." I said. Scootaloo sighed and put her hand in mine. "I know what they did. Sugarcoat told me when I told her that I know you. Kyle, you have to forgive them. I know it sounds hard, but sooner or later, you all will be trapped together. If you don't trust one another, that's bound to go wrong." Scootaloo said. I drank in Scootaloo's words until I heard a voice call out from downstairs. "COME ON! IT'S TIME TO GO!" Rainbow cried. We got up and went down. "I hear you. Before we go, there's something I have to do." I said. "What is it?" Rainbow asked. I didn't want to tell her yet. "I'll tell you when I'm done." I said. "Okay..." Rainbow said. "Scoot, you coming?" I asked. "Yeah, I'll be right there." Scootaloo said. I started heading toward where I wanted to go: The tank site. Where Daisuke was. I grabbed 2 trash bags and put one on his head, and one on his feet. Scootaloo came up and grabbed some duct tape. She handed it to me and I put it on the bag. "I'm sorry, Scoot. He was one of the greatest people I've ever met in a long time..." I said as I started to carry him. We went inside the walls and to our graveyard where I grabbed a shovel. "Wait..." Scootaloo said. She took the shovel. "How about Shining and Fluffy Heart?" She asked. "Yeah, I'll get them." I said. I headed out to find their corpses. Only they found me. I took out Scootaloo's machete and saw that Shining was still a Runner. He charged at me and I was ready to strike. But a sword went through him first. The body fell and I saw Twilight with tears in her eyes. I saw that she took out Fluffy Heart as well. "I'm sorry... he was a good man. He would've been an even better father." I said as I grabbed two more trash bags. "This was his daughter...?" Twilight asked. "Yeah. He had her not too long before we were attacked." I said as I found a trash bag for Fluffy Heart. "I... I always felt like he was dead..." Twilight said as she grabbed the body. "Need help?" I asked as I grabbed an end of the body. We went to the graveyard when I saw Scootaloo stick a grave where she buried Daisuke. "Can you give me a minute?" I asked. Twilight nodded and she started burying Shining. I went to Scootaloo, who was paying her respects. "You said he was like a father to you once. Did you really mean that?" She asked. "Of course. I was lost for a real long time, Scootaloo. You and your father helped show me the way again." I said. "I'm sorry." Scootaloo said. "I'm sorry, too." I said. We stayed until Rainbow came up. "Guys, we can't wait much-" She came up and saw the graves. We were silent until Scootaloo got up. "I think I'm good. You?" She asked me. "Yeah, there's just... one more thing I got to do alone." I said. I went to an empty area near the walls. I started making another grave for someone else. I took out a knife and carved a name with it. FLUTTERSHY I stuck it in the ground and placed the knife there. The knife I begged Sugarcoat and Jet Set to kill me with. I knelt down and put one hand on the grave. I felt my eyes start to water. A tear started falling down my eyes and I wiped it away. We were set up near the gates. "Where is he?" Sugarcoat asked. "He's doing something alone." I said. "What's he doing?" Firefly asked. "I have no idea." Rainbow said, walking up next to her. "You don't think he's burying everyone else, don't you?" Rin asked. "He could be. A lot of good people died here. Daisuke, Big Mac, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Riku, Frank..." Sunset started. "I'm sorry for your losses." Sombra said. I was silent after Sunset brought up my parents. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" Sunset was interrupted by Kyle walking back down with my machete. "We should get going." Sugarcoat said. "I don't think that'll fit all of us." Johnny said. "Yeah, we have more cars with us. We all drive separate, we wanted to bring everyone back home." Luna said. I woke up on Scootaloo's shoulder inside the R.V. I looked around as saw Rainbow and Firefly asleep on the bed together. I let out a chuckle and saw that we were stopped. I got up and saw that we were at large gates. I looked on as the others walked out of the RV. I went to wake up Scootaloo, but she was already awake. "You ready?" She asked me. I took her hand. "I was always ready." I said to her. We walked out of the R.V and we saw that the gates started to open. Finally, we were home. > Reunion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We stood in front of the gates as they slid open. I saw a rather familiar face staring at me. "Gary?" I asked. "Holy shit... Kyle?" Gary asked. "We have some catching up to do." I said smiling. "Yes we do..." Gary said, looking at the group, chuckling, and back at me. "On both ends..." I said, chuckling as we went inside. We saw Celestia walk forwards, and her eyes go wide as she saw Sonata. "Easy, Celestia. She's with the others." Scootaloo said, holding her hands up. Celestia calmed down slightly. ”It’s not that, I just... I’m glad that this went full circle. We’ll need to see everyone’s weapons. You'll have them back once you gain our absolute trust, or whenever you go beyond the wall." Celestia said. Rainbow and the others from here lowered their weapons instantly. The rest of us hesitated, but we lowered our weapons. Only I kept my arm. "Thank you. I assume you know that most of your homes have been reclaimed. Yours too, Kyle." Celestia said as she grabbed a wheelbarrow for our weapons. "Yeah, I heard." I said as I got ready to see the old place again. "I apologize to the rest of you who don't live in this area. We only managed to reclaim about 30 blocks of the town. We ignored the city, and for good reason." She said. "Yeah, I heard about Crystal-" I stopped talking when a very familiar person came forward. Abacus Cinch... "Mr. Williams...? Twilight?" I resisted the overwhelming sensation of cracking her in the face. "Hello,Cinch..." I said as calmly as possible. Celestia looked on in shock of my response. "We'll, um... give you three some privacy." Celestia said as she told the others to follow her. We were alone again. What should I do? "Let me start this conversation by stating that I am very sorry about-" "Don't. Just know one thing: These people... are my family. And if you, Sugarcoat, or any other one of you snobs hurt them in any way... I will kill you, and don't think I won't. That's all there is to say." I said as I walked away, purposely knocking my shoulder into hers. I only went a few steps ahead, and I snuck around to listen to Twilight. "...Twilight, I am sorry abou-" "ABOUT WHAT, HUH?! USING ME, USING WHAT I FOUND AS A WEAPON, AND NEARLY DESTROYING EVERYTHING JUST TO GET A LEG UP?! I've seen ALL KINDS of people like YOU, CINCH! You're just someone who uses everyone around them to keep themselves alive by any ways possible. Those people are always the ones who die. You just found these walls in time..." Twilight said as she nearly knocked Cinch over as she paced away. What did I miss at the Friendship Games? I was handed a key to my old house. "We recovered as much as we could." Celestia said. I ignored her and went to my street. I found the house and opened the door. It was almost untouched. It was even tended to. "Hey, Ky." Scootaloo said, in one of the many empty rooms. "Hey." I said as I took a seat on the table. "So, this is your house, huh?" Scootaloo asked. "...Yeah. My dad, when he wrote his will, said that all of his assets would be handed to us, 'Every last penny', he wrote. We put it into this..." I said. "How much did he make...?" Scootaloo asked. "Not really sure, but a lot..." I said. "Looks like it. So, I never really knew, which room's yours?" I actually forgot for a minute. It soon came back to me, as part of the carpet is red in my blood... "The one on the left. That one's mine." I said. "That one? I should've figured, you always told me that you were a gamer." Scootaloo chuckled. I let out a chuckle and decided to see the room again. I recognized it off the bat. I remembered the countless hours I spent playing Fallout 4, the desk I did my homework on, the... Lego table? I let out another chuckle. "All of this makes me feel 13 again..." I joked. "Yeah, I get that. We got a power grid set up, with solar panels, windmills..." Scootaloo started. "If I wanna do that again, I'll just go out the walls." I said. "Yeah, but that's dangerous, that isn't..." Scootaloo tempted, holding the controller out to me. Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt... We spent about 2 hours playing Fallout 4, taking turns each time we died. It was a hell of a time. "Wait, so... what's a Synth?" Scootaloo asked. "Where do I start? Let me just say that it's a robot designed to look and act like a human." I said. "Urgh! All of this science is making my head hurt!" Scootaloo said before breaking into laughter. I soon did the same and we were on the floor together. After the laughter died down, we turned to face each other. "You didn't see the others while I was gone, did you?" She asked, with a crooked eyebrow. "What?! What makes you think that?!" I asked. "It's human nature! You know, hormones and stuff. I'd actually be thankful you saw them..." Scootaloo said. "Well, sorry to crush your theory, but I didn't." I said. We started chuckling slightly, and Scootaloo just stared at me. I stared back and before I could stop it, our lips met. "Nice to have you back." Scootaloo said. "Nice to have you back, too." I said. We were about to go to interviews they had for us. I decided that I could trust these people... I stood over a cabinet, twisted my robot arm, dethatched it, and set it on the cabinet. "Hey, Ky! What's holding you-" She saw me set my arm down. "I'm ready." I said with a grin on my face. > Party > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We went through the door of Celestia's home. We came in and we were welcomed by Celestia. "Hello. Good to see you two he-" Celestia saw my arm. "I lost it a while ago." I said. "Alright... welcome." Celestia said, a bit unnerved. We went inside and found the others. I saw Sonata talking with Adagio in the crowd. "Good to see those two talking." Scootaloo said. "Yeah, it is." I said. I also saw Rin talk to Jane and Johnny about God-knows-what. "What do you think they're talking about?" I asked. "I have no idea. It looks good, though." Scootaloo said. I saw Diamond and Joel sit on the stool, completely unsocial. "They got the right idea. Not a lot of people will want to speak to Diamond, and Joel, well..." I said. "Joel what?" She asked. "Not here. I'll tell you when we get home. Still, it’s good to see the two of them together, you know?" I said. We looked for the others. We saw Rainbow and Firefly take a few shots, Sunset trying to fit in, Twilight talking with Cinch- peacefully this time-, and Applejack talk with Luna. "They actually seem relaxed for once." Alice said behind me. "Yeah, they do. Kat didn't want to come?" I asked. "No. I told Cole to stay with her, just in case." "Well, the girl's been through a lot. We all have, at this point." I said. We were silent as we heard Celestia propose a toast to the people. "...we are here tonight, to welcome our newcomers. What better way to welcome them, then to invite their leader to say a few words? Kyle, may you come up here, please?" Celestia asked. I came up to the stand. I saw as people stopped talking and stood up. My people were watching, but not completely. "I... I can't even think of how grateful my people are to be here, and I can't say how grateful I am to be here. I guess not many of you are from the outside." I said. I saw about 3 hands go up, but not a lot. "Then you understand how it is out there. It's horrible, it breaks you, or it can, if you're not careful. Me, I was already broken. All the world did was put me back together. I wasn't the same, none of us will be. Ever. But we have this place, that keeps you people going. The things people tried to do to us, the things we had to do... the things I had to do... that's what breaks you. Not the world." I said as I put the mic back and went back down. "That was Kyle, everyone. I always knew there was a fire in him." Celestia said. I took a seat back with Scootaloo. "That was good. A real synopsis for those people..." Scootaloo said. "Oh, that wasn't even half. If anything, the others kept me going out there. If I was alone out there... I don't wanna think on what I'll be." I said. We were silent until one of the locals came up. "Hey. You did a good speech." He said. "And who are you?" I asked. I noticed that Scootaloo's look changed to a sneer. "Blueblood. I'm Luna's son." Blueblood said as he held his hand out. I shook it and saw that Scootaloo's look hasn't changed until he left. "What is it?" I asked. "Nothing. Guy’s just a dick." Scootaloo said. The party was done and were sent home. "You should use the shower. I guess you didn't use one since Sanctuary." Scootaloo said with a grin on her face. I chuckled and nodded. We went inside and I found some old clothes of mine. Let's hope they still fit. I went inside and locked the door. The first thing I noticed when I looked in the mirror was my hair. I let it grow out, and I think it's time for a trim... I thought Adagio's hairdo was bad, all of that hair. I look like Scootaloo, if she let her hair grow out, just a little bit more. I cranked the shower and fresh water shot out. At least... I think it's fresh. I'll have to ask Scootaloo once I'm out. When I was done, I decided to trim the hair. I looked in the mirror, and the first thing I saw... Was a bite mark on the right side of my neck. I lept back, thinking it was a zombie bite, then I remembered. The memory hit me like a lightning storm. How could I forget? It was my choice, after all... "Guess I forgot about you... Damn you." I said as I found some of my mom's old makeup to cover the hickey. To be honest, I never thought I'd regret that choice. After all of that pain, bleeding... I wanted to feel one good thing. Now, I can't lose it to Scootaloo, or anyone else. I let it be taken from me by- "Kyle? You're taking a while. You alright in there?" Scootaloo asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Yeah, just... give me a minute." I said as I put my old clothes on. Suprisingly, they fit almost perfectly. It was just the sleeves and pantlegs that were the problem. I opened the door and I saw Scootaloo on the couch, listening to an old MP3 Player that belonged to my mom. "Like that music?" I asked. "Yeah. Your mom had good taste." Scootaloo said. "You two would've gotten along greatly. At first glance, they would've thought you and I were siblings." I joked. We let out a good chuckle and I saw that it was getting dark. "How do you people handle the dark?" I asked. "All of the outside lights get shut, we shut the blinds, and we light candles for light." Scootaloo said as she lit some candles. "Sounds smart. Keeps attention down. I like it..." I said. "Wish we did it at Sanctuary." Scootaloo said. Before we could say anything else, someone knocked on the door. "What is it?" Scootaloo asked. "Probably nothing." I said as I went up to the door. I opened it and I saw Sonata with a basket. "Got another room?" She asked. "Um... I probably shouldn't have to ask, but... why?" I asked. "Because you're my brother, and I never got to live here. What, do you think I'm bringing Adagio?" Sonata asked as she rolled her eyes. "No, just... There's a room on the left, you can take that." I said as she came inside and I shut the door. I turned around as saw Scootaloo with one eyebrow lowered. "Who's Adagio?" Scootaloo asked with a curious tone. > Sins > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I woke up the day after the party, next to Scootaloo. I got up and I went to see the pantry. I saw that they left a watch for me. I put it on and I noticed that it was 7:30. Maybe they're not up yet. I thought. I went to the armory and noticed that their guard, Sugarcoat... was up. "Hey." She said. "I'm going out the gate, need to blow off some steam." I said. "Uh... sure thing." Sugarcoat lead me into the armory. When we were out there, they upgraded the armory greatly. I even saw an RPG near the 10mms. "Yeah. Crystal Prep's been paying us visits for the past year. But, when we put our foot down and shot them back, one of them dropped that and 7 rockets." Sugarcoat said. I only grabbed my M16, Judge, and machete and started going for the gate. "Hey, I see what you're doing. You don't forgive us, and I accept that, but Kyle, you can't stay this way forever." Sugarcoat said. "You have no authority over me to say that. No-one does." I said as I walked out the gates. I started driving to the location in mind. I saw it on the map I "borrowed" from the armory. A Walker saw me and growled. I stopped the car, unsheathed my machete, and dispatched the creature. I saw that it had a pistol in his hand. I took it and I kept on driving until I reached the intersection. Jerry Rd. 203... I thought to myself. I ran to the place in question. I heard movement inside the house. I loaded my M16, kicked the door down and aimed at... A few Walkers. I lead them out and slashed them with the machete. When that was that, I went inside the house I was all too familiar with... I still remember the arrangements like I was here yesterday. The bedroom was on the left, the kitchen down the front... I kept walking to the room I had in mind: The basement. I found an old corpse, still alive and growling at me. I killed it and a little photo fell out. I recognized the faces: Sombra and Chrysalis. This was their home, and the place where I lost my virginity. I found a can of gasoline next to the body, I emptied whatever gas was left, lit a match, and ran out as the place started burning. I went back into my car and drove back to Canterlot. Sugarcoat was still there, watching the gates. "Did you find what you went for?" She asked. "...No." I said as I went to turn in my weapons. "I'm telling you, it's suicide!" Luna said. "No, it's not! Listen, you said that the mall was overrun since day one, right?" I asked her. "Yes, but... why?" Celestia asked. "Because, if it's been overrun, maybe there're still some supplies worth taking in there." I said. "Alright... who should go?" Luna asked. "Rainbow Dash, Firefly, Blueblood, and Sour Sweet can go. Anyone else?" Celestia asked. Joel came up. "I'll go, too." He said. "Okay, then. That solves that. Everyone can return to their homes." Celestia said. I went up to Joel. "Don't try anything..." I whispered as I walked out the door. I walked to see Rainbow start drawing a map of the location with Sour Sweet. I decided t pay them a visit. "I could come with you, you know." I said. "Yeah, but Scootaloo just got you back. Let her relax for a few days, at least." Rainbow said. "Okay, I see your point." I said. "Hey, um... Kyle? Cinch told me to send you to her. She lives about two houses down." Sour Sweet said. I nodded and went down. I knocked, being careful in case it's a trap. Cinch opened the door and invited me in. "So, as you know, there still are some matters we need to talk about." Cinch said. I kept my left hand behind my back, but I saw Twilight on the couch and relaxed slightly. "Take a seat." Cinch invited. I took a seat on the couch and Cinch went to find something. "What's this about?" I asked. "It's about that bite on your neck." Twilight said. I froze, dead pale in place. "It's alright. Cinch told me everything. I can't blame you, and I don't." Twilight said. Before I could say a word, Cinch came out with an old pair of glasses. Twilight's. "When you were still at Crystal Prep, you and Kyle were inseprable, despite your age difference. Kyle, where did that bite come from?" Cinch asked. My face had a heartbeat. All I could do was unload. "It was near the start. The start of the zombies. My grades were starting to fail, at least I was told they were failing, so Miss Chrysalis voulenteered to tutor me privately. I should've known that something was up, I should've known that-" I took a breath. "So, Miss Chrysalis did this to you? Was that all she did to you?" Cinch asked, analyzing the bite. I took a sharp breath. They need to know, but I don't want to say it directly, I can't. "No." The room was completely silent. Cinch was horrified and Twilight let out a forgiving nod. "What happened? If you want to tell us..." Cinch offered. "When... when I reached the door, went in, I saw Chrysalis in the living room. We did- we actually did small talk" I started laughing, "and then, she offered to sit on the couch. We did, and then... she... she pinned me on the couch. She gave me an offer." I said. "What...?" Cinch asked, fearing the worst. "She offered me to feel something else besides pain, besides suffering. I wanted to, I wanted to have a way out." I started. The room was silent. Twilight kept looking on like nothing has happened and Cinch was about to faint. "And so I said YES. After that... well... you know, I try to kill myself, and the zombie apocalypse strikes." I said, finally letting the truth out. Cinch looked away and sighed. "Kyle... I'm so sorry." Cinch said as she walked into one of the rooms. She shut the door and I could swear I heard choked sobs. I turned to Twilight, who was just looking on. "What? Are you mad?" I asked. "No. I forgive you." She said. "H- how can you forgive me?! I just told you that I let myself get molested, and you forgive me?" I asked. "Yes, I do. Crystal Prep is, and in lack of better terms, a reincarnation of Hell. I can't judge you for wanting to feel something. I felt that way a lot, when I was that age. Kyle, I should be the one apologizing to you. I left you there- with her, with- with THEM. Kyle, I am so sorry..." Twilight said. She held me in an embrace and I held her back. We stayed there as I started to hear Twilight break down. And then I started, too. "Okay, so this is what we do: Sour Sweet, you and Firefly take it south, survey the area for exits. Blueblood, you and I will check the north. Once our sides our searched our groups split up, and survey the east and the west. If we do this right, Sour Sweet should end up with Blueblood and I should end up with Firefly. When we're done, we meet back here and we make our move. Joel, you keep watch." I said. "You got it, boss." Sour Sweet said. We started splitting up to survey the area. "So, you and Firefly, huh?" Blueblood asked. "Shh! Lower your voice." I said. "Sorry." Blueblood whispered as he disbatched a Walker nearby. "Yeah. We started dating in middle school. I was at Cloudsdale Academy at the time, and she was junior captain." I said. We were silent as we followed the plan and finally split up. Surely enough, I met back up with Firefly. "Okay, now what?" She asked. "Now we meet back up at where Joel's keeping watch." I said. We heard a scream and we ran back. When we got back, we saw Sour Sweet and Blueblood, cornered with about 12 Walkers on them. "Okay, you get left, I get right. Joel, cover us." I said as I grabbed my bat and rushed in. Firefly pulled out a butterfly knife and we started taking the Walkers out. One of them was about to get me, but a silent gunshot ended that. "Thanks." I said to Joel. The last Walker was tricky, because it had armor on. But Firefly pulled the head up and stabbed it. "Nice one." I complemented. "Don't mention it." Firefly said. We got Blueblood and Sour Sweet out. "Okay, so now what?" Sour Sweet asked. "Now what?! Nothing's changed. We go in, stay quiet, and grab what we can." I said. We moved down and banged on the door. Sure enough, a few bangs were heard on the other side. "Who wants to have the honors?" Sour Sweet asked. I readied my bat. "Okay, Blueblood, you get the door. Let one or two out, then close it. Remember, we gotta control this. We don't know how many there are." I said. "What if he can't close it?" Sour Sweet asked. "Good point. Firefly, you help Blueblood with the door. Sour Sweet, use your bow and take the high ground with-" I considered that this was a bad idea. "Joel can take the door. Blueblood can go with you." I said. Joel nodded and took Blueblood's place near the door. "Okay... three, two... ONE!" I called. The door was opened, but Walkers didn't come out at all. At least 20 men did. > Danger > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Easy, there miss. Lower your guns..." The head leader said, holding a double-barrel to my face. We lowered our weapons and holstered them. "Get your snipers down here." He said. "What snipers?" Firefly asked. The leader chuckled. "Okay, okay, can we not? 'Kay? We saw your men up there. Tell 'em to come on, or I blast all of you." We sighed and told Blueblood and Sour Sweet to come out. "Oh, holy shit! We got Canterlots, Y'all! Hell will be pleased for sure." The leader said, holding the gun to our faces. "Who's Hell?" Joel asked. The leader gasped. "Oh, Y'all don't know who we are? Well... I guess I could tell you once." There was a silence as the man stepped closer. "Your home... now belongs to the New World Order." I was with Scootaloo, who was still unaware of the bite. "You okay?" She asked. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." I nodded. Scootaloo sighed and went to see Celestia. I finally had enough. I sprang up and bolted to the bathroom. I locked the door and searched for what I needed. I found it, and I pulled it out. A strand of sandpaper. I pulled my shirt down and held the sandpaper right over it. I realized what I was doing and tossed the sandpaper to the ground, opened the door, and shut it. "Now, let's see those weapons. Come on." The leader said. We gave him our weapons. "Good. Now..." The leader drew a gun. "You see, usually, we introduce ourselves by just killing one of you right off the bat, but this is a special case." He said. "How so?" I asked. "Well, you see, our leaders care deeply about our little treaty, so this is the trick: We COULD kill you, but that'd be a violation. So, I should kindly ask y'all to go back to your caves and stay away from here." The leader said as he holstered his gun. Caves? All I could do was tell the others to leave with me. I was going to see Celestia when I heard a scream. I grabbed a kitchen knife and ran to the screaming. I saw what seemed to be a Crystal Prep student stand over Celestia, who had her hand over her stomach with blood spilling. She was stabbed. The man looked up and held a pocket knife. "Quick... or slow?" He asked. "Neither." A voice said behind me. I turned around and saw Rin with a gun from the armory and drew it at the man. Celestia turned and coughed. "RIN, NO!" She cried. Rin pulled the trigger and the man collapsed with a bullet to the head. I saw Kyle dash out and grab Celestia. "What happened?!" He asked. She was silent, as she passed out. "MEDIC! GET THE MEDIC!" Kyle called. Me and Rin bolted to get the medic. "What is it?" The medic asked. "CELESTIA'S BEEN STABBED!" Sombra said, running through the door. "Shit. Scootaloo, get the gurney. Rin, I need you to get clean towels, sutures, bandages, and all of the string you can find." "Sure, Mr..." "Nicholas. My name's Nicholas." He said as he ran out the door. We were on our way home when we heard a gunshot. We ran the source and found the walls. "Crap. It came from home!" Sour Sweet said as she ran toward the gates. We swung them open and we saw Celestia be placed on a stretcher and a man in a Crystal Prep outfit be taken to the cemetery. "What the hell happened?!" I asked Scootaloo. "Celestia was stabbed, Rin killed the guy." Scootaloo said as she secured the straps. We helped the medic bring Celestia to the infirmary, where she was taken to the back. "What happened out there?" Sombra asked. "We got raided. Crystal Prep. Sombra, get Kyle." I said. "Why?" Sombra asked. "Because we know who Hell is." Joel said. Sombra nodded and ran out the doors. Sombra told me to head for the imfirmary. I opened the door and saw that Rainbow and her crew were back. "What is it?" I asked. "We know who Hell is." Joel said. "Okay, who is she?" I asked. "Her name's Aria Blaze." Rainbow said. Aria Blaze... Why does that name sound so... Familiar? "Who's Aria?" I asked. "She's my sister." I heard Sonata say as the door shut. "Yeah, she is..." Rainbow started. "Wait, what're you saying?" I asked. "I have no idea. But Kyle, they're armed and dangerous." Rainbow said. "You're damn right they are..." Celestia said, walking out of the gurney with a bandage on her stomach. "How bad is it?" I asked the medic. "Not too bad. The guy missed any internal organs and we got to her in time to stop the bleeding." He said. "Thank you, Nicholas. Now we have better things to take care of. They're going to learn that their man won't be going back and they'll think we broke the treaty." Celestia panicked. "Wait, what treaty?!" I asked. Celestia let out a sigh. "When the apocalypse first started, Crystal Prep became a safe haven for everyone who came to the gates. Everyone... but us. We held our ground and made Canterlot High what it was when you found it. But... it had a price. After we were raided, we negotiated with Aria to set up terms. The deal was this: We don't kill them, they don't kill us." Rin stepped up. "I'm sorry, it was my fault. I killed him." She said. "I know. Like I said, we have other issues to worry about. Aria's people crossed the border line, they're planning an assault." Celestia said as she unlocked the armory. We went inside and Celestia grabbed my gun. She held it out to me, grip first. "Here. Keep yourself safe." She said. I took it and placed it in my holster. I also grabbed my M16 and slung it on my back. I grabbed a few mags and boxes of ammo and walked out. "Now what?" Sonata asked. "Now what? Now, we help them fight. They need this place as much as we do." I said. "What are you saying?" Diamond asked. "I'm saying we take the fight to them. Rainbow said she saw 20, well there're more of us than there are of them. We fight, find some cover while I talk and distract them. When I give the word..." I grabbed the RPG and a rocket. "...Blow them to Hell. The real thing." I said. Everyone nodded and started grabbing weapons. I decided to go and check the wall when I heard the voice again. "Don't do it... Call the attack off." It said. "No. We need to do this." I said back mentally. "No... you don’t." I stayed silent as I went around the wall. I went closer and heard ticking. I leaned my head in and it went faster. It was a bomb. > The Secrets We Keep (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wall broke down and about 20 Runners came in. I rose up and bolted to the houses to warn people, but the Runners did it for me. Some of the people aimed their guns and opened fire. "GET INSIDE, GO!" I said. People ran inside while some still were opening fire. I pulled out my Judge and blasted one with a shotgun shell. The recoil caused me to knock my head and pass out right in front of the herd. Can't die... Can't... Won't... I saw Kyle get passed out. We all added cover fire, but it was useless. They ran... Right past him. "Why isn't he..." A man said. "DON'T LET UP!" I screamed. We kept opening fire as the herd came closer. But it was hopeless. One of our guys got tackled and ripped apart. Another joined him. "GO, SCOOTALOO, GO!" One man screamed as he was getting bitten. I ran to the nearest house and locked the door. Why didn't Kyle get attacked? He was right in front of them, and they just walked right past him... I heard automatic gunfire from outside, and I knew that people were managing it. Then, I saw Adagio fight the Runners right in the middle of it. They were practically ignoring her... And Kyle. Are they... connected somehow? I woke up in the infirmary with Nicholas checking my head. "Thought you wouldn't wake up." He said. "How long was I out?" I asked. "About a day. We cleared out the herd and we're investigating what happened." Nicholas said. "Someone set a bomb. It went off and the herd came through." I said. "Do you know how you're not dead?" "W... yeah, I guess someone got me out of there, right...?" I asked. "No. The horde ignored you. They just ran past you like a stampede. Also, they ignored another one of your own. The one with the large orange hair... Adagio, right?" Nicholas asked. "Yeah, that's her name. What are you saying, then?" I asked nervously. "I need a blood sample for a simple DNA test. I already have Adagio and Sonata's, now I just need yours." Nicholas held out a syringe. I nodded and he took the sample. "You didn't even flinch-- impressive." Nicholas said. "Yeah... Crystal Prep does that to you." I said. Nicholas sighed at the tone of my voice, but not in an upset way... more of a nostalgic way. "Kyle-- what they all did to you is unforgivable... but for the sake of yourself and the ones you love... you have to let it go. I should have the results by noon, you should see your people... Scooaloo's been worried." As I let his words sink in, I nodded and went out to see the others. Let it go? How on Earth was I supposed to do that? I opened the door to see Adagio, Sonata, and Scootaloo all sitting outside. "What is it?" I asked. "You were both ignored by them. What aren't you telling us?" Scootaloo asked. I saw her suspicious glare along with Adagio looking to the floor next to me, and that didn't help my immense confusion. "I- I don't know. All I know is that I was knocked out by the recoil and I woke up here." I said. "I know what's been happening..." Adagio said. "What is it?" I asked. She looked at me, and almost opened her mouth to answer, but then-- "Holy shit! Kyle, Adagio, Sonata? Come here, please!" I heard Nicholas shout. We quickly ran in and I saw Nicholas standing over a microscope, his face riddled with bewilderment. "What is it?" I asked. "Look at this... your blood cells are SPIKING, they are a deep shade of red. At least... that's in Sonata and Adagio's blood." Nicholas walked over to my sample, which had some of the strange cells and the rest were typical. "What does this mean?" I asked. "I have no idea. Adagio, Sonata, could you possibly tell us?" Nicholas asked. Adagio let out a sigh and took a seat. As she did, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes... "Kyle Williams is our half-brother." Adagio said right off the bat. There was a short period of silence in the room as Scootaloo came inside and shut the door. "What?" I asked in complete shock and confusion. "You heard me. I, Sonata, and Aria are your half-sisters." Adagio said. I hoped I'd be the one to tell you... looks like the old fart beat me to it.The voice... Aria said in my head. "Kyle, have you been hearing any voices in your head recently? A girl in her... early 20's, maybe?" Sonata asked suddenly. "Yes. Yes, I have. I've been hearing her ever since we left Sanctuary." I said. Scootaloo seemed alarmed while Adagio and Sonata were calm and collected. "This voice is Aria Blaze, our sister, communicating with you telepathically. We also have reason to believe that she's trying to get you on her side of the prophecy." Adagio said. Prophecy? "Wait... what prophecy?" I asked. "Man, Henry really didn't tell you anything, did he?" Adagio asked. I froze once hearing my father's name... I quickly slammed the table next to Adagio in a mix of confusion and anger-- I wasn't leaving without getting answers. "How do you know that name?! What the HELL'S going on here?!" I asked. Sonata quickly got up and gently pushed me away from her. "I'll explain everything to you-- but later. Right now, all that matters is that you're okay, and you can't be attacked by the dead." Sonata said. I nodded and backed up a bit more. "Is there anything else I should know?" I asked Adagio. She nodded and almost guiltily up to me. "Just go home. Somewhere there are all the answers you need." Adagio said. Home? She doesn't mean... The orphanage. I looked to Sonata, who had the same knowing glint in her eye. "I'll drive us there." Sonata and I were headed back to what was left of Sanctuary Orphanage. The ride itself was grim and silent, neither of us saying a word, but we both remembered the fire-- the friends we lost... Losing Dad. We got about three miles away from the orphanage before it became too much to bear-- the ghostly sensation of heat on my face, hearing dad shout at us to go without him... Sonata slowly stopped the car, took several deep breaths-- trying to stop the coming storm-- and soon began to cry. I wasn't far behind, and we both wept together, finally releasing unspoken mourning and anguish together... Once we were fit to move on, we continued driving towards the orphanage, eventually spotting the rubble of the main building, and we saw that a great deal of the cabins were still up. "It feels like we're just heading back from school..." I said. "Yeah... it does." Sonata said as she parked near what used to be the main entrance.. I held my Judge close in its holster as we went through the rubble. "Anything we could see?" Sonata asked. "One night, I saw him move a vending machine and walk down a stairway. I always thought it was a dream, I never really talked about it... Maybe we can still find the stairs." I said as we moved the rubble. I started to remember the fire that took Dad's life. I remember the blood-shrilled screams of my friends that were likely lost to the flames, and Dad... I looked around a bit, seeing the still intact main hall, before eventually spotting it... I knelt down to the piece of roofing and rafters that fell and took my dad's life during the fire... "Hey, Dad... I... don't really know if you're listening, but, um... Jesus, this is harder than I thought it would be," I let out a brief chuckle, "I'm still here... Sonata... we're both still going forward. It hasn't been easy, not by a long shot, but we found always found a way... I always found a way." I felt my throat begin to burn a little as I began choking up. I still managed to let out a brief chuckle, regardless. "I think that Sanctuary isn't really the best namesake. First, the orphanage, and now the city... maybe it's time we found a new one... but-- I think that founding that city? Taking a piece of our world back? That was the best version of myself... I think. But now... now he's gone, and... I don't know how to move forward, anymore--" "I found it!" Sonata said. I quickly snapped out of my monologue and ran over to her. We saw the stairs and I pulled out a flashlight. We walked down to what seemed to be a set of computers and desks. "Search the desks, we don't really know what we're looking for, here." I said. Sonata went through and we saw what seemed to be birth certificates. My birth certificates-- as in multiple of them. "Are these... fake?" Sonata asked. I looked at the information at the pieces of paper and shrugged. "Yeah, I think they are..." We kept searching the small room down until we found a videotape stashed in one of the cabinets, labeled as "For my Son". "'Nata, do you see a projector?" I asked her. She nodded and I tossed her the tape, which she inserted and played onto the wall... As it reeled up, we both saw our father again. "This tape is... for my son, or whoever managed to find this when the world ends... I'm sorry. This was my fault, really. My son could've been purely human, my... my daughter would be happy with him as a brother. But... this isn't what happened. Instead, Kyle's mother just so happens to be the Siren Queen." "Wait, Beth?!" I asked. "My current wife, Beth Williams, has some recognition of Kyle's past, but not completely." I thought that was it-- I thought that that revelation would be the only world-breaking one I'd had to day... His next statement blew whatever I considered to be shocking and life-altering out of the water. "Beth... I had Kyle a few years after I had Scootaloo with her." In absolute horror, I quickly paused the video and backed away, both of my hands finding a new home on my hair. "Scootaloo's my sister?!" I cried. "My, God..." Sonata said. I exhaled in absolute horror-- not only did I have a long-lost sister... but I-- Oh, god, I had sex with my own sister. "Kyle? You okay?" I barely heard Sonata ask. I turned to her and slowly nodded. "This... we'll have to worry about this later-- we have to see everything. I walked forward and resumed the video, my mind still wrapping around the revelation I had to hear in an old tape in a basement. "Kyle, I am so sorry that you have to put this much weight on your shoulders. I always told you that you would be a great man, that you would take on the family buisness, but... that was a lie. The truth is... that you are either destined to be our messiah, or our destructor. We can't know for sure which one you are to be until that time comes, so... whatever happens between now and the end of the world, make it count. Fight to make sure that you aren't like them, and when it comes? Be the hero I always knew you could be... I love you, son..." I stopped the video right then and there. I didn't make it count... I didn't care what happened to me back then, and when the world ended, all I wanted to do was die for so long, and-- I ran my hand across my shoulder, feeling it. The bite. This... Filthy... GOD-DAMNED... DISGUSTING, FUCKING SCAR THAT I LET HER GIVE ME! "Go. Now." I quickly said as I went to find... Something. I found a strand of sandpaper in a drawer. I briefly heard Sonata ask what I was doing in horror before I pulled my shirt back. I aimed it, and I pulled back. I did it again. Again. Again. I didn't stop as Sonata screamed and tried to stop me, but by then the work was done. I was beyond feeling the pain of it as my vision slowly became blurred, and went dark. > Restart (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a week ever since I found out about me and Scootaloo being related. We decided unanimously that it'd be best to date someone who isn't our half-sibling. After a week of awkwardly avoiding each other, Scootaloo moved out to another apartment. I was in the garage, sharpening the blade on my prosthetic hand a little when I spotted Sonata walking through the door. "Did you see where Adagio went? I hate it when she slips out, makes me think she's doing something we'll regret..." She asked. "Nope, not that I know of." I said as I put my arm back on. "Well, might wanna go find her. It's bad enough we gotta bunk with her, we don't need her getting herself into any trouble..." She said as she walked out of the bathroom. "Don't worry, I'm sure she's just grabbing something from the pantry or something." I reassured as I went out the door to see the pantry for myself. I went to the pantry and saw no sign of Adagio. I soon decided to go by the gate to see if she was around there or ou ton her own. Sure enough, the vehicles were still parked by the gates, and the on-duty guard said they hadn't seen her at all. "What are you doing?" Celestia asked behind me. I turned to her and sighed a little, worn out from all of my strolling. "I'm just ooking for Adagio, we're worried she's doing something she shouldn't." I said. "You don't trust her?" "Well... trust is a strong word, but Sonata thinks we should still keep an eye on her, y'know, considering her past and all." "Well you can stop worrying-- I assigned her to the armory, keeping guard." Celestia said. "Wait, really?" I asked, a tad confused. "Yes, I did. She seems to have an eye on people. That might be useful in the right place." "In what, exactly?" I asked her, struggling to see her point. "Keeping an eye on people who are acting the way they shouldn't. In my years, I've learned that it takes one to know one, if you understand." Celestia said with a small smile on her face. I nodded, knowing what she was talking about. "Yeah-- I see that..." After a nod to one another, we both started to go our separate ways, me heading back to the house to relax after a morning of speed-walking. "Kyle? Celestia Come here, please." I heard Twilight say, causing me to stop and sigh, knowing that relaxation will have to wait. We made my way to her at the edge of the wall, and on the ground were footsteps, along with scuff marks on the walls, indicating that someone had been climbing it. "Shit... Did you find who left this?" I asked. "No, but it looks like it leads out the wall. We got a spy, no doubt." Twilight said. "I'll post guards out on the road. If someone's sneaking out or in, we'll catch them." Celestia said. I sighed and massaged the bridge of my nose in frustration. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Twilight-- But please be sure this stays quiet, stirring gossip is the last thing we need, right now." She said to us. We nodded to her and she walked off, leaving Twilight and I alone. "So... I heard you and Scootaloo broke up. If you don't mind me asking... what happened?" She asked. I let out a long, dragged out sigh followed with a chuckle. "It's... a long story that I don't really have all of the pieces to. Putting it plainly, my dad had me with someone else, and he had Scootaloo with my mom." I shrugged my arms, not knowing how else to put it. "...Oh." "Kyle..." I heard Nicholas say, cutting off our short conversation. "Yeah?" I asked him, eager to move on to something else. "I wanna do a blood test of Starswirl. I just want to see if he's okay." He said. "Sure thing, I'll get Adagio." I said. "Don't bother. I got her just now." Nicholas said. "But... why tell me, then?" I asked. "He's practically your nephew. I just wanted you to know." Nicholas simply said. I nodded and went to stand guard. "Do you... know who his father is?" Nicholas suddenly asked me. I hummed and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. From what I heard, Adagio took him in." I answered. "Well... I'd say that he couldn't have asked for a better family." He chuckled as he walked towards his office/lab. Nicholas had that tone and way of life that reminded me of my father in plenty of ways. Quiet, but firm, and stern yet gentle... it wasn't really something you could put to words. An hour passed since we noticed the spy's tracks and I wound up walking near the walls, either letting my mind wander or waiting for the spy to return. "Kyle!" I heard Sonata say I bolted over and I saw a hooded figure hop over the walls. I pulled out my revolver and fired a shot at the figure, causing him to fall back before running off and hopping back over the wall. "Hey, stop!" I cried. It was too late, the figure was gone, but I noticed that a drop of blood was left. "Damn it..." We didn't have to say another word as a horrified scream from Nicholas' office caused us to run toward the building, and once inside, I spotted Cinch in the waiting room, sobbing in horror. "I'm so sorry. I didn- I didn't kno-" Cinch broke down on an office chair. I panted for breath, not exactly happy to see her, and wiped sweat off my forehead. "Cinch, what are you-" Sonata started, but she wasn't able to finish. Cinch pulled her head away from her hands, her eyes puffy yet filled with horror, and looked over to me... "I didn't know what she would do." I went in and I saw Nicholas looking at me. "What is it?" I asked. Not a word. "Where's Starswirl?!" I asked. "Kyle..." Nicholas started. I looked at the results that were on a projector. I couldn't make it out, but I soon realized what caused the shock. The blood cells that Adagio, Sonata, and I had were inside Starswirl-- and they were the same color that mine were... "You're Starswirl's father, Kyle..." I didn't... I couldn't have. "No." I said outright. No words said. "No!" Nothing. "No! There's no way!" Nothing. I held my katana, ready to strike at whatever caused the gunshot, but Kyle ran out of Nicholas' office as fast as he could. "Kyle?" I called. He bolted past me and jumped at the wall. "Kyle! Kyle, wait!" I cried. Nicolas and Sonata ran out and they glanced over to me. "Guys, what the hell was that?" I asked them in absolute confusion. "...Kyle... he's Starswirl's father." > On The Road Again > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was on top of a truck, watching a herd pass by me with no interest, despite me being open prey. I was about a few miles away from Canterlot. I couldn't go back, not yet. Not until Chrysalis is dead. After the herd moved, I did. I decided to see if she was at Crystal Prep, but I couldn't get too close. I was out the gates, that were walled by an even mountain of zombies all around, with sentries on the top, just like in my dream. I looked through my scope and saw the sentries up close. They were holding what looked like AKs, but no way to be sure. I looked harder, but Walkers went up first. They shot them, and I could tell that they were definitely AKs. I knew there was no getting close without getting shot, so I decided to move on. I went to the highway and tried to move on. I noticed a road sign, spray-painted with the words LIL' GIDEON'S Z-SLAYING CONTEST, 1 MILE NORTH. I decided that there had to be a winning prize of some kind, and since zombies ignore me, I moved toward it. When I came up on it, it was a form of farm, or field, as nothing was there that wasn't before. But, whoever Gideon is, he moved a trailer in and there were cars parked outside. I went towards it and 2 gunners came out and drew their weapons. "You here for the contest?" One of them asked. "Yeah." I said. "Good thing you're armed, we barely have weapons to hand out, especially since we got first prize." The second gunner said. "What's first prize?" I asked. "You'll see..." The gunner said. I came in and saw a curtain on the trailer. As I went with the crowd, a loudspeaker went off. "Everyone, survivors, sinners, groups, loners. Prepare to welcome... LIL' GIDEON!" The curtain rolled up, and someone who looked at least 18, with hair that made Adagio look normal. It was at least one foot high, with a curve at the front. "Howdy, everyone! Welcome to the first, and hopefully not the last, Lil' Gideon Z-Slayin' Contest!" The crowd cheered loudly, which I hope didn't bring zombies. "Any other time, we'd be a trading post, but now we're expanding our enterprise. Whoever slaughters the most Zs and lives, earns first prize!" Gideon cried. This was when I heard an engine roar. A vehicle drove in, it looked heavily fortified. "This is The Changeling. It's armored with military-grade steel, it has heated seating, bio-fuel, solar panels, and to top it all off..." Gideon pulled out a handgun. "See this? This is a Smith & Wesson XVR 460 Magnum. Fresh scope, high caliber, the works... And this only goes to first prize, along with the car." Gideon confirmed. I needed that car, I needed that handgun. And I was going to get it. "All right, auditions are up ahead. Take your time, you will all get your chance." Gideon said. I went in line when I took a note of the car. It had small numbers written on the side of it. I followed Kyle's footsteps to a road sign that was spray-painted. It looked like some competition. I noticed a Walker creep towards me from the bushes. I pulled out my katana and dispatched it; when it fell, I saw 3 people come out behind the bush. One with a rifle, one with a spear, and one with a handgun. "Drop the sword." One of them said. I took note of their appearance. One of them, the only male, had blue, slightly spiky hair, a dark school uniform (clearly not Crystal Prep), and he was holding the rifle. The other one, the one with the spear, had deep red hair, which was done slightly, and a normal white t-shirt. The last one had long blonde hair, and she was holding the handgun. "Easy. I don't want any trouble, I'm just looking for my friend." I said as I lowered the sword. "So are we. You with Autumn?" The male asked. "Autumn? Who- who's that?" I asked. "Wait, you don't know?" The one with the spear asked. "Ako, she's lying." The one with the rifle said. "Keita, if she was lying, why aren't we dead yet?" The one with the handgun asked. Keita lowered the rifle. "Autumn's the co-leader of Crystal Prep, with Aria Blaze." Keita said. "Alright. Thanks for letting me know." I said as I grabbed my sword. "Look, if you're headed there, be careful. Autumn does business with the owner, Gideon." Ako said. "My friend's probably there. He's good at killing them, and he has some steam to let out." I said as I headed after it. I noticed that they were following me, not that I cared. I could use all of the help I could get. "Round one! Simple, 5 Zs each, slow ones, go!" Gideon said. A truck drove by and 5 Walkers crept on behind it. There were 8 of us, so there were 40 Walkers in total. I headed after 4, and the others followed me. One of them came at the guy behind me, and I swung my machete at it's neck, slaying it as quick as it came. I noticed another one, so I used my knife arm. "Hoo! I want one of those..." Gideon said. I saw another one, and I killed it, 3 down. 2 to go. Another one attacked one of the competitors and sunk its teeth into his shoulder. "You're out!" Gideon said as a silenced gunshot hit him in the head. I got the last one and I watched the others finish their job. "7 competitors left! Nice knife arm, by the way." Gideon said, pointing at me. I nodded and we went to what they called a safe-zone, a pit in the ground with chain-link set up around it. Before the next round could start, we hear a car drive up. It stopped and doors opened. I couldn't tell who it was, but I heard a familiar voice say "Gideon! It's time for another trade!" > Run > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I looked up slightly to see a man with a necklace, shining two red lights off of it. At first, I thought it was the angle of the sun, but I quickly learned that I was wrong... "Autumn! I- I thought the trade was tomorrow!" Gideon said. "Nope, not as far as our calender goes." One gruffy voice said. "Well, look, I'm in the middle of a competition right now, the one I told y'all about?" "Ugh, don't tell me you're really going through with that zombie contest..." Autumn said. "It's good money! Or... whatever these people paid, anyways..." Gideon said. "Give us half. Half of everything these people have paid." The gruffy voice said. "Um, Hell, we should talk this through, I need everything these people paid to keep this going, how about I give you the winner, instead of first prize." Gideon said. I should've known. Gideon screwed all of these people, myself included. Now whoever won was going to Crystal Prep, instead of winning the car. "Everyone, uh... There's been a sudden change in plans. The winner will have to be chosen now." Gideon said as he let Autumn step up. "Here's how we're doing this. All of the zombies, whoever is left standing is the winner." Autumn said as he pulled the lever and left it. Over 200 Walkers poured out of the gates. The contestants started fighting, but they were quickly overrun. I knew how this was going to go: I can't get attacked, so I'm going to win by default. "Wait, who's that one?" The gruffy voice asked, pointing at me. "I... don't know. I didn't even bother with names, you know, considerin'..." Gideon started. "YOU! The one with the machete! Come up here." Autumn said, pointing a rifle with a barbed-wire stock at me. I walked up, listening to the howls and screams of the dead, and the soon-to-be. "Who are you?" Autumn asked. "You know me, Autumn Flier. It's me, Kyle." I said, holding my arms out. "Holy shit... it's him." Hell said. "I knew it. You're alive..." Autumn said as he lowered his rifle. "Okay, I win. Now, keys." I said to Gideon, holding my hand out. "Yeah, 'bout that... uh..." Gideon said. "What?" I asked. "I don't have the keys." "WHAT? How could you have the car, but not have the keys?!" I asked. "Because Chrysalis has it." Hell said. "...Where is she?" I asked. "Back home. Back at CP." Autumn said. "Actually, I could call her up, have her meet us here. She's really eager to see you again..." Hell said. I quickly drew my M16. "Whoa, whoa. Be cool. We don't mean no trouble..." Autumn said. "You have the keys. I see them in your pocket. Keys, now. Or I blow all of your heads off and I take the car. Screw the gun." I said. Before any of us could say a word, the 20 Runners started climbing the fence. "Shit, Zs!" Autumn said. Autumn and Hell started opening fire. I quickled grabbed the keys from Autumn's pocket and tried to make a run for it, but Autumn smashes my head first. "Hand us the keys, and we'll let you walk away." Autumn said. I refused, placing the keys in my pocket. "Damn... we can't kill him... Fine. Take the car, take Gideon if you want. But, the next time we meet, you won't be walking away..." Autumn said. I started making my way to the car, when I saw Gideon follow me. "Why should I bring you?" I asked. "Come on, you can't just leave me here! I know places, people. Trust me." Gideon said. I took a minute to consider this. If he knows people like he says, I might be able to stock up, maybe get weapons for CHS. "What places? Places with guns, traders?" I asked. "Yes, I know at least one." Gideon said. I went to the car, and started it. I opened one of the 6 passenger seats, and honked at Gideon. "Thank you! You won't regret this, I promise." Gideon said. "I'm droping you off at one of these 'places', after you hook me and my community up for supplies." I said. Gideon nodded and put the seatbelt on. Before I could take off, I heard a familiar voice. "Kyle! Kyle!" Twilight called. I stopped, opened the door, and ran out. "What the hell are you doing out here?!" I asked to her. "I was about to ask the same thing! Kyle, you scared the hell out of everyone, what happened?" Twilight asked. "Hi, there." A male voice said. I quickly rose my gun, but Twilight lowered it. "They're friends of mine. Kyle, meet Keita, Ako, and Yūzuki." Twilight said. "Good to see another human face." Keita said. "Good to see another male face." I said. Keita chuckled and we all hopped in the car. "Wait. Those numbers... it looks like a code." Twilight said. "I know, but we have no idea what it means, or how to decode it." I said. "Wait... 19, 39, 3... those numbers... you have a periodic table on you?" Twilight asked. "I have one." Gideon said. "And who the hell are you?" Twilight asked. "He's Gideon. He led this place." I said. "Here." Gideon said, holding out a periodic table, laminated to a whiteboard. "19, K. 39, Y. 3, Li. Kyli?" Twilight guessed. I knew that name. It was a typo Chrysalis made on my first day at Crystal Prep. She called me that name ever since, as a form of joke. Autumn said that Chrysalis had the keys... "Holy shit... this is Chrysalis's car!" I said as I took my M16, ready to shoot anything that moved. "Kyle, no-one else is here. If she was here, she would've shown herself. Come on, let's just go home." Twilight said. "I can't. Not until she's dead." I said. "Why?" Twilight asked. "Hey! Y'all coming or what?! Not to push y'all, but we got zombies." Gideon said. "I'll talk later, right now, I'm driving." I said. We went in the car and I handed Gideon a map to give us directions to the safe-zone Gideon told us about. "It should be a few miles from here, it's a safe-zone the government created when the first outbreaks came up in Russia." Gideon said. "It's still standing?" Twilight asked. "You'll see when we get there." Gideon said. > Chance Encounter > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We arrived at the safe-zone Gideon spoke of. The walls were about 50 meters high, made of solid concrete, and only God knows how thick they were, because we saw about 20 guards at the top, with weapons pointed at us. "DROP YOUR WEAPONS, STEP OUT OF THE CAR, AND KEEP YOUR HANDS UP!" A soldier said with a megaphone. We got out and did what the man said. "Gideon, what the hell is this, man?' The soldier asked. "My name's Kyle Williams. This is Twilight Sparkle, Keita Suminoe, Ako Suminoe, and Yūzuki." I said. "Wait. Kyle Williams... Holy shit..." I heard the soldier say. "What?" Twilight asked. "Come inside. Open the gate, Travis." The soldier said. The large gate started going up and we drove inside. "Car goes there, and Kyle, see that soldier after." Travis said. "You got it." I said. We parked the Changeling with the other cars, and I went to see that soldier. "Yeah?" I asked. The soldier took off the mask, and I saw... I saw... Oh, my God. "Hey, son. We should talk." "What time did he leave?!" Rainbow asked me. "I don't know, a few hours ago, at least." I said. Rainbow grabbed her bat from the armory, along with a revolver. "I'm going after him, don't even try to stop me, Rin." Rainbow said as she ran up to a car. "I'm going, too." I said. "Me and Cinch'll take another car, cover more ground. Cinch, come on!" Firefly said as she tried to knock Cinch out of her daze. "This was my fault... all of this..." Cinch said as she didn't move, her expression never changed. "Cinch?" I asked. Cinch started looking dizy. "Cinch!" Firefly said. Cinch snapped out of it and they went to the car. "Rin, you stay here, I'm going." Gary said. "What, why?" I asked. "Because I know where he's going." Gary said. "D- D... Dad? How... how...?" I started. I couldn't finish my sentence as I bolted to him and held him in an embrace. "We have a lot to talk about..." Dad said. "Yeah, we do. About Aria." I said. Dad looked startled. "You know them?" Dad asked. "Adagio and Aria? Yeah." I said. "They didn't... they didn't try anything?" Dad asked worryingly. "What? No!" I said, quickly understanding his meaning. "Oh, thank God!" Dad said in instant relief. "Dad, what's going on? Beth's not my mother, I have a half-sister, -who's still alive, by the way- and Walkers ignore me." I asked. "Like I said, we have a lot to talk about, but not here." Dad said. "Yeah, not here. We're going back." I said to Twilight. "You got it." Twilight said. "Wait, going back where?" Dad asked. "Canterlot High. We have about 10 blocks of it walled." I said. "Is Beth there?" Dad asked. I froze. He doesn't know... "No. I'm sorry. She's... she isn't..." I started. Dad was frozen in sadness. "We don't have time. I'll explain everything back home." I said. Dad looked at Travis. "Of course. It's been an honor fighting alongside you, Mr. Williams." Travis said, saluting. "When we're done, we should discuss trade." I said. "You got it." Dad said as he wiped a tear and we headed for the Changeling. Me and that Rainbow girl were looking for Kyle. "How long have you known Kyle?" I asked her. "About 2 years." She said. "I always saw him on the bus, after Chrysalis." I said. "Wait, what happened with Chrysalis?" Rainbow asked. I realized that he didn't tell everyone. "Hopefully, he'll tell you soon enough." I said. We were silent as we drove down the road. We saw a car pass by, a dark one, with about 7 passengers in it. In the window, I saw Kyle. We parked the car, ran out, and I saw Rainbow shout out. The car stopped, drifted around, and Kyle came out. "What are you doing out here?!" Rainbow asked. "Something I had to." I said. "Oh? I see you made some friends while I was gone..." A man with some burns on his body said. "Who the hell's this?" Rainbow asked. Kyle took a breath. "Rainbow, this my dad, Henry. Henry, Rainbow." Kyle said. "Wait, you said he died in a fire." Rainbow said. "We'll explain everything, but later." I said. Me and Cinch were driving through a neighborhood, Changeling Blvd., looking for any sign of Kyle. What we found was a burnt house up ahead. "That was her house... He was here." Cinch said as she walked out of the car. "Who's she?" I asked. "Chrysalis. She... molested Kyle." Cinch bluntly said. I silently gasped, before snapping back into it. "Look, you're not that woman anymore, alright? The woman who bribed Twilight, who beat Kyle to a pulp, you're not that woman. You're trying to change." I said as I held my hand out. "Go. Go back home. I can't go back." Cinch said. "Why?" I asked. "...Because Chrysalis had a baby after Kyle." Cinch said. We were at the gates. I flashed the headlights the signal we came up with, they opened, and I parked the car. "Damn, where did you find this?!" Sonata asked. "Contest. From that guy." I said, pointing at Gideon. "Uh, hi." Gideon said. "That's Keito, Ako, and Yūzuki." Twilight said. "Sonata? Is that you?" Dad said as he got out of the car. "Yeah, how do you..." Sonata started. Dad ran to Sonata and held her in an embrace. When Sonata realized who he is, she started crying and held him tighter. "What happened out there? Why did you leave?" Rainbow asked. I was silent. I choked a breath, and I looked at the town. "Gather everyone in the middle of town. I have something I need to say." I said. > Truth > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I haven't been as honest to you as I should've. Something's happened to me that I never wanted to tell you. But now... I have to." I started. "What happened?" Rainbow asked nervously. "First thing's first: Where's Sombra?" I asked. Sombra stepped up. "Don't bother, Cinch told me after you left. I should've seen it sooner... I should've..." Sombra whispered. "Well... I was... I..." The meeting was over, and I had to live with what I just told them. "Kyle?" Luna called. "Yeah?" I asked. "I talked to Sombra about what happened. He knew that she was... doing things with students, but they were seniors, he said. They would've been gone by the end of the year..." Luna started. "You like him, don't you?" I asked. Luna was silent, until she turned away and nodded. "He was a good man. Probably the only one who didn't beat me other than..." Luna walked back to the way she came, and I went back to my house. "Why didn't you tell us?" Scootaloo asked, who was on the porch. "I forgot. Okay? In that basement, I forgot a lot of things. Mostly everything from Crystal Prep just slipped away, and..." I started. "And?" Scootaloo asked. "And then I met you." I said. Scootaloo was silent as she got up and held me in an embrace. I held her back, when my dad came up and joined in. "I thought something had happened..." Dad said. "Look, I'm sorry. Not that it helps..." I said. "At the end of the day, this saved you." Dad said cryptically. "Saved me from what?" I asked. "That's a story for another day." Dad said. I hated when he did this. He would keep some of this prophecy a secret from me, even after I told him what happened. "I'll be right back." I said. "Where are you going?" Scootaloo asked. "I'm going to check on Sombra. Then, I'm gonna look for Firefly and Cinch." I said. [ht] Me and Cinch were looking for a car to keep looking, but Cinch wasn't very cooperative. She would just keep zoning out, like she's thinking heavy. Or she's just high. "Cinch, we should head back." I decided. "No. We need to find him..." Cinch said. "Look, maybe he's back already. We won't know until we get home. Rainbow's probably back by now." I said. Cinch took some time- I thought she was zoning out again- but she nodded. "Then let's head back." I ordered. I found Sombra talking with Luna near the gates. I decided not to bother them, but as I went to turn around, I heard Luna call me. "Yeah?" I asked. Sombra took a step closer. "I'm sorry. I should've stopped her from..." "At least say what it was..." I said. "I should've stopped her from molesting you." Sombra said. We were silent as I was next to them now. I decided to ask them about the walls. "Who built the wall?" I asked. "I did." Sombra said. "What?! How?" I asked. "I studied architecture in my spare time... before I dated Chrysalis." Sombra said. "Yeah, I forgot that was only your 5th year there." I said. "Chrysalis was there for 3, at least. If I remember correctly." Sombra said. "I thought we were talking about something else..." I said. "Yeah, me too." Luna said. "Sorry, couldn't help it. Anyway, we found the suburbs after..." Me and Cinch were able to find a car, but it had to start. "When did you start hating Kyle?" I asked. Cinch was silent as she looked up at me. "...I didn't hate him, I just... thought it'd change him, make him stronger. But... it did the exact, polar opposite... it made him cold." Cinch said. I nodded as I went to check the car. "Did you hate Joel?" I asked. Cinch froze, I guess she forgot about him. "I... I threatened to take his college applications away if he didn't comply. I... I made him go into that room, and... and..." That was it. She completely broke down, bawling loud enough to draw Walkers for miles. I just put my hand on her shoulder and patted. "Like I said, you're not that woman anymore." I said. "You can't possibly beleive that..." Cinch said. "I do." I said. "Thanks... for trying." Cinch held a gun up to her head. "NO!" I got in the Changeling and started it up. I was about to walk out when Rainbow came to the window. "Wait for me." Rainbow said. "Yeah. You got it." I said as Rainbow opened a door and hopped in. Sombra and Sunset opened the gates and I drove out and started searching to where Rainbow told me they were sent. "They went back to Chrysalis's home?" I asked Rainbow. "Yeah. Gary said you would've gone there." Rainbow answered. "I did go back, but a while ago." I said. "What did you do?" Rainbow asked. We pulled up and I saw that some of it was still smoldering. "That's what I did." I said. We were silent as I noticed foot tracks. "They must've headed this way." I said as I slowly drove, following the tracks. We kept driving until we found what seemed to be a car. The tracks stopped there... "I got it." I said as I hopped out. I went up to the car, but saw... Cinch. She layed by the car, with a small red dot on her temple, with a gun in her hand. "No..." I said. Rainbow came out and saw her. "Help me get those trash bags." I said with my voice starting to crack. Before we could, Firefly came out and ran at us. "Rainbow!" Firefly said. They quickly ran to each other, and I have no idea what they did next- it sounded intimate- as I grabbed two trash bags for Cinch. "I heard what happened with Chrysalis... I guess she couldn't take it." Firefly said. We were interuppted by smoke coming from the sky- black smoke. "What's that?" Firefly asked. "Looks far. Looks like it's coming from..." I started. We hopped in the Changeling and drove. > Autumn Flier's Wrath > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was looking at my watch, taking my post on the gate next to Sombra, waiting for Twilight and Kyle to come home. Please be okay... "You think we'll find her someday? Chrysalis?" Sombra asked. I was silent as I shrugged my shoulders. "I don’t know for sure—odds are that she’s long dead. But let’s say that we do, what then?" I asked. "Simple—we take the shot." He gravely said to me, not looking as he answered. "Sombra..." I started before he stopped me. "I knew what she did... I knew what she was doing to those kids and I did nothing to stop it. What Kyle’s going through right now? It’s my fault..." I said. After a moment, I sighed and set my hand on his shoulder. “I know you had it rough—we all have our demons, whether it’s something we did or something we didn’t-- and I’m not gonna pretend this whole situation isn’t fucked up, but we can’t focus on it anymore, what matters now is our future, whatever that maybe, now...” I said to him. He looked down at his rifle and sighed, gently moving my arm away from him. “Thank you, Sunset... I still sometimes wish that I was employed at CHS instead of Crystal Prep...” He smiled at me. I chuckle back as we both glance out to the distance, watching for danger as well as our friends. After I taking watch with Sombra, I decided to see Rin, who I found sitting near where Kyle told us all the truth about him and Chrysalis. “Is this seat taken?” I ask her, to which she shook her head. As I sat, I could tell that Rin was angry about something. "So... how do you feel about this?" I asked her. Rin scoffed and shook her head. "What, Kyle being a father? Him lying to us?" Rin asked. I was taken aback by her comment, but I collected my thoughts and continued. "Kyle never lied, Rin." "He never told us, either." Rin said. I try to respond, but she did make a good point—after everything we’ve been through together, Kyle never told any of us about his past. Not that he didn’t have a good reason, but all-the-same, it hurt. "Look, it's bad, I know. What else can we do? It's done. All we can do now is move on." I said. Rin sighed and looked out to the distance, clearly not satisfied with my answer. "Did you ever think this is why he was who he was back at Sanctuary? He was trying to get over it, so he tried to get above it..." I glanced at her and nodded. "You sound like you know what you're talking about." “Maybe I do, and maybe I know how slippery of a slope it can be. One moment, you’re conquering your demons, and the next you’re conquering the world.” I chuckled a tad louder than I would’ve liked, resulting in a bewildered glance. “I’m sorry, it’s just... I know exactly how that feels. I wasn’t too far off from where you were back at the Kingdom at one point—all of Canterlot High was wrapped around my pinky... and when I had it all, I became... something else. A monster that I still have nightmares about, even after all of this time.” Rin glanced at me and began to speak, but before we could say any more, a loud explosion rang out from our gates. “Shit...” I whispered as we both began to sprint to the wall, stopping at the armory to grab weapons. By the time we arrived at the gate, a small armed crowd had formed, and outside, we saw a small armada in cars that surrounded the gate and stretched out into the distance... "People of Canterlot! I am Autumn Flier... and we are here for one thing... revenge for our fallen soldier!" His voice... his name. I froze in place, unable to move as I realized who came for us... Autumn reached in the truck and pulled out an RPG. "I really don’t want to waste another rocket, but I most definitely will if I have to!” As we all glanced at each other, I slowly, hesitantly stepped forward and climbed up on the guard tower. "Autumn!” I cried out, barely hiding my shock and mourning. Autumn glanced at me, slowly lowered the launcher, and started cackling. "Sunset Shimmer... it’s been a long time!" As he spoke, the two gems around his neck began to glow brightly as his men seemingly stiffened at the glow. Wait, it can't be... “Those amulets... where did you get them?!” I asked, her voice filled with horror. "It’s... quite a long story. But it’s not one I’m here to tell! Aria, would you kindly get these gates open?" Autumn asked the purple-haired woman wearing a similar amulet as he pulled a rifle out from his back. Aria stepped forward and began to sing. At first, it had no impact, but then I turned to see four of our people walked towards the gates, towards the singing... “H-hey... what’s happening?!” Rin asked as she watched the gates slowly open. Aria, Autumn, and the rest of their soldiers marched inside, all of them wearing modified football pads from Crystal Prep... “Thank you, kind gentlemen... now get with the rest of your squad, and the rest of you... get down here, and get on your knees.” Autumn smirked as the four turned to us and stood in place alongside the other soldiers. Facing the wrath of this massive army, we all began to kneel, still in shock over what had just happened as Autumn stepped forward, with his rifle stock wrapped in barbed wire. Having a good look at him, I noted the carving on the lever-action rifle in his hands, along with his Crystal Prep uniform—it was mostly the same, save now for a cape attached to the back and metallic gauntlets and a brace on his chest and bicep, possibly to properly use the rifle... He noticed me noting these details and walked over to Scootaloo, turning his rifle around and resting the barbed-stock almost on my shoulder... “And just what would your name be?” He asked her, his voice bearing a husky undertone. Every fiber of my being screamed to protect her, but I knew that wouldn’t do any good... Scootaloo took a shaky breath as he very gently used the stock to lift her head, the barbs gently pricking against her chin and upper neck. Despite her evident fear, she glared him down and quickly spat on him, nailing his left eye. “Gah!” He recoiled and wiped the spit away. He smiled and shook his head, turning his rifle back around and aiming the barrel right between her eyes... “No! Stop...” I cried out as two of his men held me in place. “Try that again and see what I do.” He angrily growled to her. “What is going on out here?!” I heard Celestia’s voice as she approached the scene, accompanied by Adagio and Sonata. Adagio saw Autumn and froze, her eyes as wide as saucers as she backed up. “No... it can’t be...” She started, but Autumn looked to her and smiled—not one of cruelty, but a genuine smile. “It can be, Adagio... and it is. I honestly have you to thank for making all of this possible. As a token of thanks, I’m giving you this one chance: Come with us, join the right side again...” He said to her. Adagio looked to him, then at Aria, and finally at Sonata... “I’m sorry, Autumn... but I was wrong. About my dreams... and about you.” Autumn’s friendly smile faded, and he let out a sigh. “It was worth a shot. Bring them to the line!” He called out as his eyes slightly glowed green. Three of his soldiers grabbed Adagio, Sonata, and Celestia, dragging them to the lineup. “Now that that’s out of the way... it’s time for what we came here for...” Autumn said as he walked over us, seemingly picking one of us for... something. As he walked around us, he playfully aimed the stock-end of his rifle at us, hovering it over us as if he was fantasizing about using it... He took a moment to hover it over me, looking down to me as I glared him down... “Oh, what’s the point? You all know who’s going to get it, so why drag it out any longer than we have to? Sunset! Here.” He said, pointing right next to him. I froze, realizing what he was about to do to me... and Autumn growled at that. “Sunset Shimmer, either you get over here or I’m going to have my men kill every last one of these people! Except for the ones that I want to take, that is...” He smirked viciously while glancing at me for a moment. After hearing that, I slowly got up and walked forward to Autumn, barely looking him in the eye as I knelt... “Do you have any final words, Sunny?” I felt my throat close up as I looked up to him, feeling tears stream down my face. “I’m sorry. I’m... so sorry about what I did, about your mother... about everything.” Autumn froze for a moment but soon rose his rifle up high, ready to swing it downward... After finding Firefly on the side of the road, covered in blood, and next to Cinch’s corpse, we quickly picked her up and loaded the corpse, driving straight home... "What happened?" I asked Firefly. "I don't know. I... I was questioning Cinch, and she just... she just did it." Firefly didn't say a word as Rainbow scooted closer to her. "How long were you two together?" I decided to ask, hoping to change the subject. The two went silent. "About 2 years before everything went down. She went off to college the year everything happened..." Rainbow said. I nodded and as soon as we were within eyeshot of the gates, we saw armed men and cars blocking our path. "Oh, my God." As we left the car, the attackers- over 20 of them- came up and drew their weapons. "Intruder!” “Bring him to the front!” Before we had a chance to fight, we were all grabbed and were getting dragged towards the gates. As we did, I could hear sickening crunches and squishes upfront... “Oh, no...” I whispered. I only caught the sight for a moment, but the image was glued into my memory... Autumn Flier, an old classmate from Crystal Prep, beating Sunset down with a rifle, her body bloody and broken, but as he beat her, small whimpers were audible... "Sunset! No!” I screamed as I tried to break free, only for another squad of guards to stop and pin me to the ground, forced to watch as Autumn brutalized Sunset. “Kyle... WIlliams..." Autumn said between pants for breath. I wiggled and screamed over seeing Sunset on the ground, but Autumn quickly took another swing at her, crushing her already pulverized arm. “Stop! Please! You don’t have to do this!” I cried out to no avail, as Autumn didn’t even acknowledge my comment. He took another swing, and another... and another. All of them drawing out a twitch or a whimper from Sunset, whose eyes locked with my own. “Please... stop this...” I whimpered, tormented over seeing her like this. Autumn stopped for a moment, but only because Rainbow let out a bloodcurdling scream, and wiped his forehead before aiming the barrel of the rifle against Sunset’s bloody, beaten head... And pulling the trigger. Whether it was the sound, or me focusing on what had just occurred, I failed to hear Autumn’s words, but I knew he was speaking... the woman he was with walked over to me and knelt to me. “Hey, Kyle... it’s nice to meet you in the flesh.” Her voice echoed in my skull as I realized who was speaking. “...Aria...” I growled, my voice frightening me a tad. She got up and walked away as I screamed and fought to be free, but to no use as Autumn glanced down to me and smiled. “Clear out, men... we got what we came for.” Autumn’s voice echoed out as his men let go of me. I tried—I tried to get up and fight back, but my gaze settled on Sunset’s beaten, broken corpse, and all I could do was sob. “Why...?” Ironically, it had started to rain. Hours had passed since the brutal attack against Sunset, and we had all managed to dress her wounds and make her look presentable for her funeral... Regardless of how beautiful they made her look, all I could see were the marks that remained from Autumn's vicious beating... "Sunset... was always a great singer. I'm... not sure any of us were able to match up with her-- not even me." Rainbow said, looking down and somewhat smiling. "But... there was one that she wrote and... shared with us. It... kinda stuck with me throughout the years." I knew the song she was talking about, I heard it from her before back at Sanctuary. Rainbow soon backed up and cleared her throat... "Power, was all I desired. But all that grew inside me, was the darkness I acquired..." Rainbow started, her voice, while naturally rough, was moreso soft and maybe a bit broken. Twilight stepped forward and joined with the now-duet. "When I began to fall... and lost the path ahead... That's when your friendship found me, and it lifted me instead, like a phoenix burning bright in the sky." Scootaloo was next, followed with Sombra, Luna, Celestia, and me. "I'll show there's another side to me, You can't deny. I may not know what the future holds... But hear me when I say, that my past does not define me. Cause my past is not today." As I sang, I noticed that my hands began glowing a tad, and stopped, knowing what exactly would've happened if I continued. "Ambition is what I believed, would be the only way to set me free. But when it disappeared, and I found myself alone, that's when you came and got me, and felt like I was home." "Like a phoenix burning bright, in the sky, I'll show there's another side to me, You can't deny. I may not know what the future holds... But hear me when I say, that my past does not define me. Cause my past is not today." Once the song was over, we all shared our goodbyes and respects, and she was in the ground just after midnight. None of us spoke to each other afterward-- not the rest of the night, and not the day after, but deep down, we all knew the same thing. Autumn Flier was not going to get away with this. Not if our lives depended on it. > Power > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight As my eyes closed and my mind drifted, I found myself back outside of Canterlot High, surrounded by my old classmates demanding me to unleash the magic I had stored inside the device I built... I remember the fear and pain I felt as I turned the device open and the magic violently latched onto me and forced its way inside, practically ripping me open and filling me with power I had no idea existed until that point... “Help... ME!” An explosion, and enter... Her. That laughter, that voice—my voice, twisted into something vile and wrong—rang out as my old classmates and my now-friends looked to me in fear, all of them backing up as I—Midnight started to tear the very fabric of our reality apart... All because Crystal Prep could never lose. As I looked upon the destruction Midnight was causing through her perspective, I was soon pulled out and was sent flying through one the dimensional tears as my surroundings became pure black. I landed on what I perceived as the ground and Midnight flew in with me, closing the gateway behind her. “Oh, Twilight... you know you missed this power in your hands...” She taunted me, holding out her hands as they glowed brightly... I reached for my sword, and held it out towards her. “No... I am in control, not you!” I said to her as stepped closer to her. She only cackled, but I stood my ground, hardly shaken by this part of me, anymore... “But are you? You’ve lost control before, and it very well may happen again... do you ever wonder if he saw me inside of you when he found us? Maybe that’s why he kept us around instead of tossing you to the other slavers...” She smirked as she flexed her wings and lunged at me, only for me to pull out my sword and drive it into her chest... As she looked at me with fear written on her face, I soon felt my perspective once again change... only now I was looking at myself holding the sword as I looked down to my chest, seeing the sword driven inside. “Oh, Twilight... such a shame it had to come to this...” Midnight said as she pulled the sword from my chest, swiped it to the side, and sheathed it. I fell to the ground, holding my wound with my now-blood-soaked hands, as she turned and walked away... I quickly woke in my bed, instinctually checking my chest for the stab wound, relieved not to see one there... That was the first time I’d seen her since the world ended—I had no idea what to do about it, and I knew that sitting in bed wasn’t going to give me any answers, so I slowly pulled myself up and glanced out my window, noting that the sun was just beginning to rise from distant hills. I quickly threw on a jacket over my tank top and made my way to my front door with the light blinding me for a brief moment. As I walked down the sidewalk, I saw a mural made for Sunset, with the words “Fight the Siren Conquest” written at the bottom in white, dripping paint, telling me that it was recently painted. I took a second to look at the mural of my old friend, setting my hand on the wall for a moment. It’d been a month since she was murdered, and these murals have been popping up everywhere since then—we didn’t dare remove them, though—not even Celestia wanted to have them taken down. Blueblood tried once, but a berating from Kyle and Rainbow quickly shut that notion down. The rest of us were still in shock over what happened to her—it was so sudden and so... violent. I didn’t even know who Autumn Flier was until Adagio told his story to all of us, about how he was tormented at Crystal Prep like Kyle was... even knowing this, I didn’t have a shred of sympathy for him. Kyle went through probably everything he did, and yet, they were both so different... perhaps it was the company they had—Kyle had us while Autumn had the Dazzlings and the amulets—the latter of the two being my fault... I should’ve left well-enough alone when I found those shards left in the stadium. But instead, my curiosity got the better of me and I wound up all-but giving Autumn the weapon that he and Aria needed to... Wait... I picked up my pace as I walked right past the pantry—I needed to find Kyle, and fast. KYLE I was hardly able to get out of bed, but I managed—I tossed on a shirt and made my way outside, having no clue what I would be doing today... but it wouldn’t be sitting in my home while we let Autumn Flier get away with what he did. I spotted a larger mural than the one we had yesterday on a vacant house. I saw one of these get painted the other day—I was able to pitch in and hand them an unopened paint bucket from my garage. It came out beautifully—Celestia even came by to pay her compliments. To be able to look at her face again… seeing her as herself, even if just on a painting on a wall... it meant a lot to all of us. As I made my way down the road, I spotted Adagio standing over Sunset’s grave and decided to talk to her about something lingering in my mind for a while. “Adagio?” I called to her. She froze and turned towards me, clearly not expecting anyone to talk to her. “Sorry, am I interrupting?” She turned back from me and shook her head. “No, not at all...” I took a step closer to her and stood beside the gravestone... “I... didn’t know her all-too well, but even still, we had this... connection.” She said. I sighed and slowly nodded. “Yeah... it seems like you two had a lot in common.” She didn’t respond to that, but I could tell that she was touched by it. “So, I was, um...” She stopped and turn her head towards me. “I was hoping you can teach me how to use my power... how to control it.” I said to her. She froze, clearly not expecting to hear that from me. She walked over to the fence blocking the cemetery and signaled me to follow. We both soon leaned over the fence, neither of us knowing really what to say... “So... you want to harness your power?” She asked me. I quickly shook my head. “No-- I just want to know how to use it—to control it before someone gets hurt.” I corrected her. Adagio sighed and shook her head. “Kyle, you can’t simply ‘use’ your power, and controlling it? That isn’t something you can achieve overnight... furthermore, to maintain your power, you will need to feed off of the negative emotions of those around you.” I turned to her, somewhat confused. “What do you mean?” I asked her. Adagio cleared her throat and continued. “You see, the amulets... are like a battery—the more you use it, the more it drains. To keep the amulet charged, you will need to feed off of negative emotions. Hate, fear, sadness... they stop becoming emotions you feel sorry for seeing others have and they start becoming...” Adagio clenched her fists and deeply sighed... “...food.” I let her words sink in as I looked out to the people in town, going about their day... “Even if you could handle that... we don’t even have another amulet...” Before I could ponder on her ultimatum, Twilight came running towards us. “Guys! Guys, we need to talk!” Twilight shouted. We both turned to her as she stopped and tried to catch her breath. “Okay... I know, this probably sounds bad, but just hear me out—when I went through the Battle of the Bands concert and grabbed the amulets, I decided to keep some of the shards separate from one of the gems, replacing them with shards of a normal gem.” Adagio glanced to me, and I glanced back, both of us seemingly having the same idea... “I left those shards in a box in my old house— I can’t imagine random scavengers would see a few shards in a box as valuable, and if we get them... I think I can make you a new Siren necklace...” We both nodded and turned back to her. “Okay... so, let’s go get it.” “No.” Twilight and I turned to Adagio, who backed up a tad, with a tear coming down her face... “You don’t know how... addictive... that power can be. I spent thousands of years influenced by the temptation of the amulets, treating everyone around me like puppets, or food... I will not let the same happen to you.” None of us knew what to say—especially me... I wasn’t expecting Adagio to be against the idea of another amulet. As we pondered, I had an idea... “What if we used only a couple of these shards?” They both seemed confused as I added on. Back at the funeral, when we were all singing for Sunset? I tried to sing along, but my hands... started glowing, so I stopped. I think I already have the power, I just need a way to temper it—to focus it. I could care less about having more.” Adagio stopped and stroked her chin, clearly deep in thought... “That... could work.” She said. “Great! The others were talking about going through the high school and picking up our old Geodes--” “Geodes?” Adagio and I both asked immediately. She stopped and cleared her throat. “In layman’s terms, we found Geodes in the Everfree Forest that gave us powers.” Oh. Meh, I’ve seen weirder. “Okay... so, we split up—you, Adagio and I go find the amulet shards, and the others can go to the high school.” I simply added. Twilight sighed and shook her head. “They were talking about an underground group just west of here—your dad’s been talking about them and says that they can be a big help... Rainbow, Applejack, and Diamond were talking about going.” Adagio took a moment and briefly smiled. “What is it?” I asked her. She glanced up and the smile faded. “Nothing...” I decided not to ask more about it, and turned back to Twilight. “Okay-- so you and I can go to your house, and Adagio can visit the high school, maybe with someone else... does anyone else know where we can find these geodes?” I asked Twilight. “I do.” We all turned to see Celestia on the other side of the cemetery fence, clearly about to enter before spotting us.   “In the early days, the others were talking about when they all use the geodes for a long period of time, their powers start occurring on a regular basis. After a while, they gave me the geodes to keep until they should be needed again. I had them locked in my desk when we were attacked.” Celestia said. Our smiles grew as everything started falling into place. “Okay-- and I’m assuming you still have the key?” I asked. Celestia slowly shook her head. “I had them in my pocket during the raid and... needless to say, it was lost after we were taken.” She said, looking down to the ground... I grew confused as I turned to Twilight, who also started acting aloof... I knew better than to ask and decided to bring the conversation back to the matter of hand. “Okay-- so Adagio and Celestia can go back to Canterlot, Twilight and I will go to her place, and Rainbow, Applejack, and my dad can go to these reinforcements. Does that work for everyone?” I asked. Twilight and Celestia were brought back to focus and nodded along with a confused Adagio. “Okay... so let’s get it done.” > The Bikers > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- KYLE The drive to Twilight’s house was a long and quiet one, to put it lightly. She drove and I was in the passenger seat, letting me admire the surroundings around us as we drove past abandoned homes, overgrown fields, and the occasional zombie. Throughout the trip, I couldn’t stop noticing how aloof Twilight had been for a large part of the drive... She had been acting off ever since Sunset’s death, something I can’t blame her for—we were all devastated by her loss, and not to mention the anger we all shared over Autumn and Aria. This was different, however—her anger seemed restrained, like a rabid dog held by a rusted chain, just waiting to give and let loose. We suddenly slowed to a stop as I looked out to see a small horde in the middle of the road. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” I turned to Twilight, who opened the car door and shut it behind her. I watched as she stepped toward the horde, unsheathing her sword as she quickly slashed, chopped, and stabbed through them like they were nothing. As opposed to the odd-yet-attractive elegance she possessed before, all she showed now was savage, untamed anger. It still was incredible to watch, in a sick kind of way, seeing how easy it was for her to slice through them like they were nothing. Once she was done, she wiped her sword clean of blood and sheathed it, making her way back to the car. I could tell by the look in her eyes that the zombie-slaying session didn’t help. We finally arrived to Twilight’s old house, and as we parked in the lot, I felt a rush of nostalgia as we walked up to the door and slowly opened it. The inside was completely untouched, the floors and countertops covered in dust and the paint on the walls showing signs of wearing down. I glanced over to the counter and spotted an old, abandoned notebook. I walked over to it, blowing the dust off, and saw mathematic equations in Twilight’s handwriting. I turned and held it up to Twilight, seeing the look of shock in her eyes as tears began to form. “It’s all still here... nothing moved a solid inch...” She whispered, holding the old notebook and flipping through it. I wiped a chair clean and took a seat, immediately remembering the days I spent sitting here doing school work with Twilight, having dinner with her and her family... Twilight took a seat next to me, both of us trapped in the trip down memory lane together as we both looked into space, our minds back to a simpler time. “You remember when... Shining tried to cook us dinner for his and Cadence’s anniversary?” I asked, chuckling at the memory. Twilight smiled and shook her head, clearly remembering that night of bad smells and not-so-nice words from Shining. “Yeah... the pizza we got certainly made up for it.” She quietly laughed. “And not to mention the visit from the fire department.” “Oh, God... Shining was such a mess after all that...” We both shared a small laugh before we just... fell silent. We both didn’t know exactly what to do or say as the reality of our situation finally hit us... We were the only ones left from that night. I glanced over at the pictures on the table, spotting a younger Twilight alongside Shining, Cadence, and her parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light. I blew the dust off of it and stepped aside as she glanced towards it, slowly and almost against her own will as she lifted the picture from the wall and held it in her hands. As she stared into the picture, I heard her begin to stifle sobs as she started to tremble. I slowly set my hand on her shoulder and she briefly rested her head on my hand, her hair running through the back of my fingers. After a moment, she turned and held me tight. I was caught off-guard for a moment, but I quickly held her back. As I held her, my hand rested on the side of her upper back, where I felt a small imprint, like scar tissue... “They’re gone... all of them...” She whispered, holding the picture behind me. I closed my eyes and nodded, knowing that she was right. “I can’t lose you, too... I won’t.” With those words sinking in, we both stood there, holding each other, for a few more seconds until we broke away and started looking through the moderately-large house, with Twilight taking the photo from its frame and rolling it up into her pack. “Alright-- I kept the shards in my room in a box under my bed, we shouldn’t waste too much time, here...” We both made our way up the stairs, seeing more dusty pictures on the walls, until we took a left towards Twilight’s old room. What first grabbed my attention was the ceiling— the once lovely pattern with a bright lavender color that now had pieces of the paint chipped off and rotting wood and insulation littered the floor. After that, I glanced over to Twilight's bedding, that was mostly intact, save for insulation from the ceiling littered across and mold growing on the long-abandoned blankets. “Damn... and I thought it was cluttered, before.” We both shared a laugh as together, we lifted up on Twilight’s moss and dust covered mattress and pulled out a small plastic container. Twilight quickly shifted it, hearing small shards shift inside. “Yes!” She cheered as she opened the box, revealing several handfuls of small, red shards and leather wrapping. I looked inside and knew the color—the same shade of red that was on Autumn Flier’s neck... “Are you sure you can make a necklace out of this?” I asked her. She glanced up at me and sighed. “I did it once... I can do it again. The only question is... should I?” She asked. I went to answer, but I froze, not knowing the answer myself... am I truly ready to have that kind of power? Do I even want that power? We didn’t have time to answer as the loud roar of multiple engines roared near the house. I ran over to the window and saw a smoke trail growing closer in the distance and a few visible motorcycles out front. “I don’t like this...” I mumbled as I noticed the ringleader ride in front of the smoke. From what I could make out, her skin was quite pale, and she had red, spikey hair. She had grey armor unlike any I’d seen before. Across her chest was a white skull with red eyes and outline across the suit. “Yeah-- neither do I, let’s get going.” Twilight said as she packed the shards in her pack and started making her way downstairs. Before I could follow her, the trio of bikers were already at the front door. I stayed by the window and signaled to Twilight to stay quiet. I watched as the ringleader lowered the kickstand on her bike and strolled up towards the door, hardly knocking. We both turned to each other as I backed away from the window and signaled to Twiight to stay quiet—I didn’t trust her, not one bit. “We know someone’s in there! You should consider where exactly you park that nice truck of yours. I’m willing to bet you know who we are, or at least who we represent, so open up!” I cursed under my breath as I knew there was only one answer to who she represented... I notice Twilight tense over hearing the ringleader’s voice, almost like she recognized it... “Shit.” I heard her whisper. After we didn’t answer, the ringleader backed up and held out her hand, making a fist. “Welp, we warned ‘ya!” BOOM! We had no time to react as we heard a loud blast from the front door and heard the broken wood scatter across the floor as the ringleader held back her hand, revealing a form of blaster... “Okay... let’s get the hell out of here!” I whispered as I waited for them all to get inside before I made my way out her window, landing on the awning over their porch as Twilight followed. We snuck our way to the truck, but we were just about to enter when another blast went through the front door and out the other, just missing Twilight and me. “Well, I’ll be damned! The Caribou Killer! Long time no see, Twilight!” The ringleader said as she lowered her smoking hand. We both stood up and walked away from the truck, letting the... possible cyborgs see us. “What do you want, Rojo? We had a truce!” Rojo? Well, at least she had a name, now. “Yeah-- that was until the blonde chick you’re with killed Ron. Now you can either hand her over, along with whatever’s so goddamned important in that pack of yours that Autumn had a fucking aneurism over having... or I could show your bewildered boy toy here what this baby can really do...” Rojo said as she charged up her arm-cannon again... Twilight was quick—probably the quickest I’ve ever seen her move in my life—as she unsheathed her knife and threw it right into the cannon, jamming it as Rojo quickly raised her helmet. “FUCK!” She screamed as a loud and powerful explosion sent us flying back, knocking me against the side of a house and knocking the wind out of me. I slowly rose to my feet to see two things—one, that Rojo was still alive, despite her armor being severely scorched and her cannon fried. Two, that Twilight’s house, along with our truck, were ashes—and yet their bikes were untouched... “Okay... Twi, who the hell are these guys?!” I asked as I helped her to her feet and started running as their bikes’ engines were revved. “Old partners, I rode with them a while back!” She shouted as a sudden metallic claw attached to a cord dug into the ground between us. “You rode with them?!” “...It’s a long story!” I took a moment and turned to open fire with my rifle, nailing the biker in yellow, only for the bullet to break off her armor. “Oh, come on!” I shouted. “In here!” Twilight pointed to a nearby apartment complex. I quickly followed her inside and together we ran up numerous flights of steps as we did whatever we could to block the stairs behind us, eventually making it to the 4th floor. Once there, we quickly, but quietly, made our way towards a nearby room, with Twilight pulling out an old credit card and jimmying the lock open as we slowly pushed the door open. The apartment was relatively clean, aside from dust and a few dried blood splatters on the walls. “We should be safe here...” She said as she looked out the window to see Rojo and her gang ride right past the apartment. As we saw them drive off, we both took a moment to catch our breath, with me having little to no success. “Twilight... What. The. Hell... was that?! I-I mean, robotic armor?! L-laser cannons?! I mean--shit!” I shouted, not exactly knowing what to think. Twilight turned to me and clicked her tongue, tilting her head ever-so-slightly. “Kyle, in our time in the apocalypse, we’ve met three—no, four—lab experiments with super powers, a boy genius who can make a super-computer out of junkyard scrap and a solar battery, you are the half-sibling of 3 siren demigods, and—the cherry on top: the dead aren’t exactly dead anymore and have been attacking the living... I don’t think anything Rojo and her gang can scrape up can compete with any of those things...” I took a moment but realized she had a point and leaned against a wall, ready to wait for a while. “You still have it, right?” I asked her. Twilight quickly went through her pack and pulled out the bag of red shards, much to our reliefs.   “Okay... good. Now, we just have to get past the Terminators out there and pray they don’t follow us home...” Twilight nodded as we both started to relax, knowing that we were safe... “So... you rode with them, huh? Did you have armor of your own?” I asked her, hoping to start conversation. Twilight turned to me and nodded. “Yeah-- it was destroyed and they kicked me out after Autumn found us and I didn’t really like his style. That and he was fairly creepy...” My fists clenched slightly, but there wasn’t much reaction from me other than that. “Back at Canterlot... when Celestia mentioned the attack, you--” “Just stop. Please, any other subject.” I didn’t ask—I simply nodded. “So... do you know if they have any... weaknesses, like an exhaust port you need to hit, or something like that?” I asked her. Twilight sighed and shook her head.   “That armor is ranked by the Plumbers as level seven. To compare, your average riot armor is level one. Your chances of hitting it and dismantling it is little-to-none.” I nodded, not even bothering to ask what exactly plumbers have to do with anything. “Oh, shit!” I heard Twilight panic as she went through her pack again, pulling out the photo she took of her family. She took a moment to unroll it and check for damage, seeing that it was unscratched. She caught her breath and looked over it, looking closely at her younger self—with her hair done in a ponytail and big glasses over a white labcoat. “Heh... they never got me to take that thing off for that photo...” She said as her voice began to crack. I stepped toward her and took a seat next to her, looking over the photo. “It’s... scary, seeing how much different we were back then. I bet if you got a photo of me from the old days, we’d be two completely different people.” I smiled. Twilight took a moment and chuckled. “Yeah-- with that... weird hairstyle you had?” Her shaky voice laughed. “And the way I carried my books to class?” “Tucked them in your shirt?” “Hey, I couldn’t afford a binder!” We both laughed, but after, we found ourselves caught in a strange silence, our eyes beginning to water and our throats starting to choke up. “We are different people.” We both froze and looked to one another, neither of us knowing truly what to say next... We didn’t have to say anything as we slowly locked hands, tightly holding them together. We soon leaned towards each other, with Twilight resting her head on my shoulder, and I rested my head on top of hers. Together, we just sat there for what felt like hours, neither of us saying a word to one another as we stared at the wall in front of us. “Okay, we might be clear—just listen out for their engines.” I nodded as I slowly got up, my hand still feeling hers against it as we both made our way downstairs. As soon as we made it out the door, Jojo’s gang ambushed us, pinning Twilight against the wall while I was shoved to the ground. Twilight let out a feral scream while the yellow biker held a sawed-off against my head. I glared at her but brought my attention over to Rojo. “That’s enough! Whatever Autumn thinks we have; we couldn’t find it!” I shouted, trying to diffuse the situation. Rojo caught her breath and removed her helmet again, holding her arm as it was clearly burned under the armor. “Give me one fuckin’ reason I shouldn’t kick your face in right now...” She growled, the yellow biker taking a step back as Rojo stepped closer, cracking her knuckles. Just before I could do anything, Twilight pushed against the blue biker and kicked against the wall, pushing the biker to the ground as Twilight broke free from her grasp and held her sword at her throat, with a pistol aimed at Rojo with her right hand. As the three of us glanced to her, I noticed that Twilight’s face had somewhat changed—almost like she was being possessed, or... letting something out—as she slowly slid her blade across the blue biker’s throat, just enough to draw small drops of blood. I glanced over to the biker’s fear-ridden face as she started to tremble. “Because if you lay one hand on him, I’ll remind you what happens to those who dare cross me.” Whoever spoke just then, it wasn’t the meek, timid schoolgirl I knew almost three years ago... I allowed myself to recognize that those days were over, and the person in front of me? This terrifying, cold-blooded warrior in front of me brought shivers down my spine. Rojo simply smiled and nodded. “There she is. Alright girls—we're done here!” They both seemed confused, by Rojo was quick to make her statement clear. “Fuck Autumn Flier—creepy slaver bastard can choke on his own spit for all I cared. Whatever you got that’s got him in such a tizzy, keep it.” I was, to say the least, absolutely confused as Twilight helped the blue biker to her feet with a snarl. “Um... why the hell are you just letting us go?” I asked her. Rojo smiled and turned to Twilight. “Because I’m a lot of things—but a traitor ain’t one of ‘em. Just didn’t know if Twi’ here still had the devil in her or not... Good travels, sister.” Twilight nodded and... I think did a salute before walking over to me and helping me up to my feet. “Let’s go, we’re done here.”