Land Of Confusion

Chapter 2: The Frayed Ends Of Sanity

“This can’t be real….this is just a bad dream….it has to be some sort of bad dream, right?” Twilight Sparkle mumbled to herself over and over.

Spike was shaking her, “Twilight, get a hold of yourself.”

“Yeah, egghead, we can’t just pretend this isn’t happening. This is plain and real,” Rainbow Dash added with her stern statement.

“Give her some space, the poor gal is havin’ some sort of panic attack,” Applejack said as she pushed Dash and Spike away from the purple unicorn.

Twilight continued her dazed speech, “This….This I just some bad dream….”

“Sorry, sugarcube, but this ain’t a dream. All of us need ta accept it so we can deal with other things, ya got that, Twi?” Applejack calmly spoke to her friend.

“But….it can’t be….this can’t be real….” the unicorn replied, finally out of her trance.

Spike spoke up, “We have to accept it. The ponies we knew are gone, including the princess. They’re all zo-“

“No!” Twilight shouted in anger, “Don’t you dare use that word!”

This puzzled the Apple siblings and Rainbow Dash. “What word?” Dash asked, “Zombie?”

Twilight’s temper grew, “THAT! Do not use that word! I refuse to listen to something so idiotic like that! It can’t be real!”

“Then how in Celestia’s holy name do you explain what’s going on out there?” Rainbow Dash shouted back.

“It could be a number of things! All with scientific explanations!” Twilight’s voice was growing louder and with more rage.

Spike finally lost his own temper and unleashed it right back at the unicorn, “What about Pinkie Pie, huh? She died and came back to life right in front of your eyes! You want to explain how that happened?”

The dragon’s yelling reached the purple pony. Her anger turned into sorrow. Taking a deep breath, she began to sob. “I’m….I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Big Mac….I’m sorry Pinkie….”

Spike placed a claw to comfort Twilight as she wept into her hooves. He closed his own eyes, fighting his own tears, knowing full well it would only make things worse.

“I’d do anything to go back to help her….to stop that grey mare from….” Twilight was unable to finish her sentence as she continued to cry.

“We did everything we could, you know that….” Spike spoke softly.

Applejack interjected, “Ah know Pinkie wouldn’t want ya ta beat yerself up, Twi. Ya have ta just keep goin’.”

“Yeah, this is Pinkie we’re talkin’ about. She’d hate to see us like this,” Rainbow added, quietly praying she won’t make matters worse as she spoke.

The purple unicorn finally raised her head up out of her hooves and spoke up, “But why would we keep going? This has happened not only here but in Cloudsdale as well, and who knows what’s going on in Canterlot. This is just too much….”

Spike removed his claw from Twilight and looked toward the other ponies. The dragon’s expression was stern, “Alright, it’s obvious we’re going to be here for a while, so I think we need to see what we have around the library and on ourselves that we can make use of. We need to see what we prepare for the worst here,” the tone of Spike’s voice was that of a first officer filling in for the captain.

Spikes take-charge attitude was met with agreement.

“Keep an eye out fer things that can be used fer defense and fer food,” Big Mac added.

“Good thinking, Big Mac,” Rainbow Dash stated as she flew up to the second floor.

A few minutes passed as Spike, Rainbow Dash and the Apple siblings ransacked the entire library. Bring the most important finds into the common room, where Twilight was still sitting in her depression, they looked at what they had.

“Okay, not exactly much ta work with,” Applejack stated as she looked down at their supplies.

On the large center table, there laid a number of items in three categories: weapons, defense, and food.

“For weapons, we have Rainbow Dash’s pipe, a shovel, a rifle with about twenty rounds or so, pots and pans, and a few small knives from the kitchen,” Spike looked down at the pile. For defense, we have a few doorstops, some loose bricks Applejack found, and a book of matches. And for food, we have a box of oats, some apples from the farm, and a few glass jars of cooking oil.”

“How long does this gotta last us?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Till we’re rescued, 'til we’re turned into zombies, or 'til we die, whichever of those comes first,” Applejack coldly stated.

“Okay, now that we know what we have, we need to prepare for the worst: if those things break in here,” Spike instructed. He looked out a window from where he was and saw a few turned ponies slowly drudging around aimlessly.

Big Mac spoke, “We can block their way in with somethin’ big like the sofa.”

“And we all need some sort of weapon to fight them off, right?” Dash asked, picking up her pipe from off the table.

Spike nodded as he picked up a pan with one of his claws. With the other, he placed a pot on his head. Shuffling it around for it to fit well on his head, he looked to the Apple siblings who both picked up the item that entered the library with. “So, that leaves….Twilight….” he turned around to see the unicorn finally coming around.

“I don’t need one….” her voice was calm compared to what it had been previously, “I have my magic to use.”

“Feelin’ better, sugarcube?” the orange pony inquired.

Twilight nodded. However, she didn’t let the subject be herself as she got off of the sofa, “If we’re going to be fighting these….things, we should figure out what would be best against them.”

“What do ya mean?” Dash asked.

Twilight’s composure was completely different, “According to the mythology, if you will, the best way to deal with the attackers is by removing the head or destroying the brain. Simply put, keep your attacks limited to that area and do not spend more time that would need on such. Is that clear?” She got a nod of understanding from each. “Hopefully….it won’t come to that.”

“We still got ourselves quite the problem, Twi,” Applejack pointed at the small amount of food they had with her hoof, “An’ while ah’m not sure ‘bout the rest of ya, but ah’m thinkin’ this won’t last us until tomorra.”