Zombie Chronicles: New World Orderby ZombieBrony22ChaptersBludgeonedDemonImperiumAll Questions and No AnswersWhatever It TakesMourningKnock KnockCompromiseNew ProblemsPrisonersCaribouStorm (Part 1)Storm (Part 2)The TrekSacrificeThe FuneralTurmoilBludgeonedIt all happened so fast... From us all getting on that bus and driving out here, to... To watching not one, not two, but three of our people getting brutalized. One of them being... “Oh, goddamn! poor girl went down in one hit! Pathetic...” Apple Bloom chortled. I heard screams of horror and whimpers of sadness as we all watched one of our closest friends get their skulls caved in from that mace... I was driven to charge her, but after watching Cole and Alice get killed by doing exactly that... I was also driven to just stay in place until they left. Apple Bloom turned to us, seeing our horror and anger. “Oh, hell... I guess this is harder on you guys than I thought. I’m sorry... but—in my opinion—blame that Cole douche-bag who just couldn’t control his anger. If he did nothing... maybe Scootaloo’d be alive...” My glance turned to Jet Set, who was mortified over the killings. He had no right to be disgusted-- he was the one who sold us out and got Scootaloo killed... and one of the Trix saw the look in my eyes. “You did a good job tonight, Jet Set...” She congratulated him, massaging his shoulders. Jet didn’t respond as he shivered from what I guessed was ice coming from her hands. I glanced back at Scootaloo’s corpse and I felt the devastation of it settle in. I glared at her killer and my thoughts began to escape my mouth before I could think to stop them. “You just started a war...” Those four words all caught her ears as she turned to me and slowly walked over, letting the mace hang from her side. She drove the spiked end into the ground and knelt in front of me, studying me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite... catch that.” Apple Bloom whispered, glancing at my now-glowing red amulet. I felt a rush of power as I leaned in and took a breath. “Your ‘Rob’ tried stabbing Celestia... and if she died, there would’ve been a war, anyway...” I assured her. She took a moment before chuckling and grabbing me by my necklace. “I don’t suppose we can drain one more, can we?" Apple Bloom asked her Trix friends, her eyes glowing black... Wait... They all began to cackle as I felt my necklace began to vibrate and glow as I felt something boiling inside of me—something that was being ripped out... All I could do was scream as some form of vapor began to leave my pores and through my mouth and almost everywhere else possible. Every part of my body felt like it was being pulled apart and ripped open, but really it was just some form of magic leaving me... I began to levitate, with all of whatever that amulet held leaving me and forming into spheres in the Trix’s hands. By the time I felt the rest of that power leaving me, I felt sick and saw everything go dark as I fought for consciousness... and lost. I opened my eyes and was greeted by what seemed to be a familiar city skyline. I rose up from the ground and I saw all of the bodies—Pinkie, Fluttershy, Frank, Len, Rarity, and countless others all laid dead before my feet. I looked further on and I saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, my father, my son, Rin, Jason, Aunt Jess, Joel, Diamond Tiara, and several others that I knew were still alive. “Sad... isn’t it?” A familiar voice behind me asked. I slowly turned to see Bell behind me, sharpening her knife and a bullet hole in her head. “You... you’re dead.” I remembered. Bell scoffed and tossed her knife away. “They’re all dead, Kyle... because of you. You tried to be the hero and save them all, but... you failed. You failed, and now all you have left to do is mourn. Or are you finally going to reach down and pull out what I always thought was in you?” Bell asked. I looked on in confusion before looking at my hand and seeing it restored... “You know why I cut off your hand, Kyle? It was because I knew from the moment we sat down and talked that you had your demons, and God, was I right? I mean, sleeping with your teacher, impregnating her, then going out of your way to date your long-lost sister? That’s messed up, Kyle... That’s really messed up, and don’t forget that other white-haired girl whose throat you stabbed with that exact blade in your hand...” I felt my fistclench at that statement, I knew she wasn’t real, but her words were absolutely true. “Scootaloo’s dead, Kyle... and Alice, and Cole. Because you wanted to go out there and make a difference, instead of accepting what you are: A monster. Embrace your calling and do what you have to do... fight.” I shook my head in denial, feeling a scream of anger build up inside of my chest. Bell walked closer and pushed her forehead into mine. “Kneel down, Kyle. Plunge your hands into the darkness and pull out the savage, raw power inside you and use it! Use... that power and fight... and win.” Bell’s voice began to fade away along with the scene before me and I watched as the bodies, the buildings, and even the sky itself turn to fire. I shut my eyes from the light and as it faded... I slowly opened my eyes as I was loaded on the ground, Twilight sitting next to me while I was still being drained... “Kyle? Kyle, are you there?! Kyle?!” I fell asleep again, unable to stay awake. I opened my eyes again to see that I was on a hill overlooking the city and at the top of the hill was... “How’s it going, Kyle?” Daisuke asked me. I froze, I knew that this wasn’t real, but I wanted to believe it... I ran over and hugged him and I felt his arm wrap around me. “Daisuke, I... I’m so sorry for what happened, maybe if I kept trying, kept fighting, maybe I--” He stopped me, raising his hand to calm me. “Listen, Kyle... my daughter...she was strong... and you always were a lot like her—I suppose the who sibling thing makes sense, after all.” Ichuckled and tilted my head slightly. “Yeah, that... was kind of a surprise.” I added. “Yeah, I see that.” Daisuke laughed along with me. This... this was how things were meant to be—our family, alive and growing together... but that’s not what happened. “No... it’s not. Everything that Bell said to you... as much as I hate to admit it, she’s right.” That caught me off-guard, I didn’t expect him to actually agree with his sister-in-law's killer. “But... what about--” “Did I ever tell you about Dark, Kyle?” Dark—his family curse in a way, Scootaloo told me what she knew from Daisuke. “Yeah... he was the spirit of an art thief, a family thing, right?” I asked. “Yes... he is the embodiment and pure example of thievery. He was a wanted man for over 40 years after he disappeared... mainly because my mother wasn’t able to summon him. He and I disagreed at first, but as time passed, we understood each other. We learned from each other, and in time, we learned to work together. Light and Dark, fighting as one. That’s what you need to be, Kyle—don't let your rage consume you, but don’t just neglect it. Fight, for everyone you’ve lost and everything you still have to lose.” Daisuke’s voice began to fade away as well, causing me to run at him, only for the world around me to flash white. “...Alright, stop!” Autumn Flier’s words brought me back to reality as I collapsed on the ground gasping for air, feeling as if I had no energy... The Trix looked on and laughed as Apple Bloom mockingly swung down on Jason, only to stop at the last minute. “Oh, look who’s back to the land of the living. He’s a fighter... unlike someone I know...” Apple Bloom gestured to Autumn who was starting to look like his old self again. I looked at my hand and saw that it was wrinkled and shriveled... I then glanced into a puddle and saw that my face was also shriveled away, just like Autumn’s was when we first got lined up... “It’s a side effect of the extraction process. Don’t worry, it wears off—you'll be back to your old self in no time.” Icy smirked as I clenched my prosthetic fist in anger, the metallic fingers digging into the dirt. “Alright, we’re done here. Load it up, folks—we're headin’ home!” Apple Bloom ordered. The Trix sneered a bit and began to hover above the ground until they flew off into the night sky. “Tssh... show-offs.” Apple Bloom scoffed. She turned back to me and saw that I still had a look of rage in my eye and she walked over to me, swinging her mace as she did. “Just so we’re clear, Kyle... killing Scootaloo was no accident. I wanted to send a message through that thick skull of yours that you shouldn’t have killed Top Dog... think of it as an eye for an eye. And as for Rob... the man was an idiot—and yeah, killing Celestia would’ve started a war... if anything, I just stopped one.” Apple Bloom growled in my ear and pulled away, possibly eager to leave, and tossing out three sheets as she went, possibly for the bodies... “I’m glad we could even out our score, now make sure that it stays even. I do not wanna have to do that stunt again...” Apple Bloom called out as she hopped into a small buggy and drove off. A moment of silence kicked in as we all turned to each other, some of us more devastated than others. None of us knew what to say to each other, except for Jason. “Applejack?” He called out. She didn’t respond as she ran over and hugged him, sobbing as she did. He hugged her back and looked onto Aunt Jess, who smiled through her tears. She then turned to Rich and held him in an embrace, as Rich deeply sighed as he kept his silence. The two then ran over to Jason and Applejack, and was joined by my father, and they all shared a crying group hug. As they did, Jason’s shirt lifted up a little, and I noticed a form of brand on his back, consisting of two antlers and a broken heart in the center... Twilight, Rainbow, and I all turned to each other in a fury of emotions—rage and sadness being the strongest. “We’re gonna kill them... not yet, but we will.” I assured them. I looked over to the strangers—a kid with a pink hat and a scar running down his cheek, the guy with the red spiked hair wearing a scowl, a blonde in what seemed to be a set of green body armor, two red-heads—one wearing the same kind of armor as the blonde, some weird guy with a white buttoned-shirt and a set of small glasses, and another with blue hair and a black hoodie. “You’re all welcome to join us, if you want... we’ll need the numbers.” I told them. “Wherever they go, we go.” The kid in the pink hat said. Jason broke away and came over to me. “Hey, little dude...” Jason sheepishly said. I slightly smiled and stood up, now at equal height with my cousin, if not a few millimeters taller... “Hey.” I said, my eyes starting to water as I saw Scootaloo’s body on the ground... “This was my fault...” One blue-haired guy in the far left said. I glanced at him but Jet Set’s groans took me by surprise... I turned to see that the Trix left him behind, and as a result, he was bawling into the ground... I felt that anger boil up inside of me as my glance shifted back to Scootaloo’s corpse... I didn’t need any other source of inspiration as I slowly, weakly walked over, careful not to disturb Scootaloo, and balled my prosthetic fist, and grabbed Jet Set by his hair with my good hand. He glanced up at me as I brought my knuckles down into his face, hearing a crunch as his nose began to bleed... I didn’t care as I punched him a second time, now with more rage and vigor... I then let go of his hair and let out one last punch, knocking him down to the ground, spitting out blood... “Restrain him, and let’s go...” I said as the group began to rise and Rainbow Dash grabbed a sheet, followed by Twilight and Jason... I turned to the others, most of them either covered in dirt and blood or still suffering from the shock... “They started a war... they don’t know it yet, but they did... when we’re ready... we’re going to fight them... and we’re gonna win.” No-one said a word... they all just nodded or seemingly agreed with me as we started carrying the bodies onto the bus... DemonWe were all on the bus, driving home after the killings... I didn’t know that girl, but by Kyle’s reaction, I assumed that they were close... My cousin was alive—my mom and Rich were alive, after all of this time... and this was how we meet again? Mourning three other people and all of us on a hot and humid bus, listening to Jet Set’s whimpers? Take what you can get, I guess... “So, I know Aunt Jess and Rich... but how about the rest of you?” Kyle asked. Kim held up her hand, first. “Kim-- Kim Possible, former secret agent, then slave for a bit, now I’m... just another survivor.” Tim went up next, oddly close to Kim. “Tim Turner. I’m... an old friend of Jason’s.” I was genuinely surprised at his comment, but didn’t add any input. “How about you?” Kyle asked Clover. Well, this should be awkward... “I’m Clover— Sam and I were friends with Jess’s father...” She simply said, leaving many, many details out... Probably for the better. Kyle then turned to Crocker, who simply held up his hand. “Crocker...” He simply said. Kyle nodded and then turned to Bloom. “...Bloom. I’m... a long story.” She said. Mom wasn’t having that as she sat upwards. “She’s a fairy princess from another dimension, and an old enemy of the Trix. Riven’s the same way... probably a tad more personal...” Mom said. Kyle seemed shocked for a moment but nodded. “Well, I stopped questioning things with magic a long time ago...” He said, barely cracking a smile. We took a moment of silence as we then remembered the stranger in the far side of the bus. “How about you? What’s your story?” I asked him. He turned to us, glaring at me. “Blazing Waters... I tried to kill Apple Bloom and... got caught. Got brought out there with the rest of you.” He simply said, going back to looking out the window. Wait... “You were one of them?” I asked him. He chuckled and turned to me again. “Yeah... you were one of them, too, if I recall...” He said. “Hey-- you don’t talk about my cousin like that.” Kyle said. Blazing sighed and leaned closer. “Did you hear what Apple Bloom said? He was a puppet to them—a toy that they threw away when they were done with it. I don’t know what’s with the whole ‘I’m okay’ act, but I wouldn’t buy it...” “That’s enough... Jason’s here now, and take it from someone who knew him before the world ended—Jason's not a threat unless you hurt him or the people he loves.” Rainbow said. That seemed to work as Blazing nodded and leaned back, probably in a whirlpool of emotions... however, his comments got me wondering... what did they do to me? I didn’t really remember because I spent a majority of my time in astral projection, training and harnessing my abilities. I had a basic idea of what they did to me, but for the most part, I was clueless... “I don’t know what they did to me... not all of it, at least. I spent that time in... think of it as a form of astral projection-- my body was there, but my soul was somewhere else, y'know...?” I assured Blazing. He stayed silent as Kyle then nudged at me. “So... who was she?” I asked him. He looked down and sighed, realizing that he was holding that girl with purple hair... “She was my sister... long-lost, though... wish I knew that a year ago, but...” He said. I got the picture and let out a short gasp. “I’m sorry... I lost family, too...” I said. I then realized that Twilight was next to him, holding his hand... While Rainbow was closer to him on his other side. “How are you doing, Twilight?” I asked her. She sighed and rested her head on Kyle’s shoulder. “Better.” She simply said, nuzzling Kyle a tad... Kyle sighed as he wrapped his arm around her and turned to us. “You’re all one of us, now... and you, Blazing... I’m going to need to know everything you know on the New World Order...” He nodded and glared at me again—I knew who he was, but I had no choice but to do what I did, it was either that, or we both got killed... or maybe worse. The city of Canterlot was almost completely destroyed—fire-bombings by the military and a few rounds from the New World Order left the once bustling city now in ruins... Kyle’s group secured the outskirts of the city, some suburbs, and plenty of empty land for growth... The walls were either solid brick and rebar or solid steel, reaching a few feet over my head... “Welcome home... obviously we’ll need to question you all before we can begin integrating you. Anyone have a problem with that?” Twilight asked. Who was in charge here? I wanted to say Kyle, but Twilight also seemed to call some of the shots. No-one seemed to question the group and like that, we were inside what was left of Canterlot... The inside was incredible—the entrance had a long strip of houses that most likely had an intersection near the end, at least a dozen people walking around—but now congregating to see us--, and I think I saw Celestia out the back. The bus screeched to a stop as Kyle picked up Scootaloo’s body. Twilight and Rainbow grabbed the other two—Alice and Cole, I believed their names were—and the doors opened... As we walked out, everyone gasped at the bodies, and once they realized who wasn’t on the bus, they all lowered their heads... save for one of them, a younger girl, who was now on her knees, bawling—possibly a friend of Alice and Cole. I turned to Kyle, who took a moment before looking back at the crowd. “Everyone... there is a new enemy out there. Their name is the--” “New World Order...” Celestia said, clenching her fist before glancing at me. I sighed and nodded to her, and she nodded back, approaching us. “What happened to them? Did they retaliate, or do we need to?” She asked us. Kyle clearly didn’t like that and set Scootaloo by a graveyard they made... “We could care less about that—we acted because we thought people were being hurt! Instead, we got jumped by the people we went to save.” Uncle Henry said in anger. Celestia went back with him, ready to add her input. “We had a deal with them—we don’t kill them, they don’t kill us—I told you that much!” She said. Kyle now came over, ready to put up a fight. “You could’ve told us that Apple Bloom was their leader—or that the Dogs were just their muscle! We found that out the hard way, and now we have more graves to dig!” He screamed, his eyes noticeably red. Celestia fell silent as Twilight came to break the three of them up. “We can point fingers later—right now, we need to find out what to do.” She said. Twilight seemed to have come a long way since I saw her last... then again, the last time I saw her was about two years ago... That seemed to break them up as Kyle, Rainbow Dash, and that girl from before started digging... “Remember... we bury our own.” Kyle told the two. Twilight signaled for us to follow her, and we obeyed, reaching a church where Twilight opened the doors, showing that the place was empty, but well-kept and cleaned. We took seats on the pews and Twilight went up to the altar, setting her sword to the side and glancing at all of us, stopping at me and sighing... “I’m going to ask you a series of questions, we did them back at an old community Sonata built—you'll meet her, soon enough. First up—have any of you killed anyone, and if so... how many?” We all turned to each other and agreed. “Yes, we have... I killed 6, Rich killed 2, Clover killed 9, Sam killed 3, Bloom killed 4, Crocker killed 1, Tim killed 13, Oz killed 7, Kim killed 12, and Riven’s killed 8.” Mom said... Blazing then stood up. “I killed 4... 2 during the early days, and another 2 when I tried to kill Apple Bloom.” He said as he sat back down. I then rose up and added my number. “...87. I killed 87... people.” I said, knowing that she understood what I meant. I saw the shock in my mom’s eyes, as well as Rich’s and Tim’s, but Twilight nodded, once again understanding what I meant. “Next question—how long have you people been out there for?” Rich rose up to answer. “Almost 3 years, now. We had camps here and there, took in people, trusted them to protect themselves... and they did.” He said. Blazing, not standing up, simply rose his hand. “S-since the beginning. Apple Bloom’s people found me a few weeks ago, and I honestly got too many bad vibes from them...” They turned to me, not really knowing the truth... “Three years, since we left the Kingdom... I went to Red Fountain, the school where Riven’s from, and a year after that, I was taken by the Trix... so in total... probably a year.” I said. I saw Riven turn to me, probably because he was an old friend of the Trix... “Next question—have you ever had to do things to stay alive? Things that changed the way you looked at yourself afterward?” Jess nodded, and Tim nodded—that was it. Then I nodded, as well. “I did what I had to do... and I'm certainly not proud of it.” With that, Twilight sighed. “That’s it... welcome to Canterlot. We have an assortment of empty houses to choose from, just pick which ones you like, and they’re yours.” We went out of church and as we left, I saw Applejack and knew that we had to talk... about a lot. And I wasn’t ready for that. I managed to find the house I stayed in when I was attending CHS... just outside the walls, burnt to the ground. Applejack was staying in a house close to it, and we were just sitting in the living room, neither of us knowing what to say to each other... I decided to start things off. “So... Kyle kept you all safe?” I asked. Applejack turned to me and shook her head. “We kept each other safe...” She said. We stayed silent again as Applejack reached for a remote and turned on the T.V... This place had television? Sure enough, the screen fizzled to life as Applejack reached for a disk and set it in... “Really? Crimson Chin?” I asked, laughing. Applejack laughed along as the old, stupid cartoon was going on in the background. “It’s all I have...” She chuckled, bouncing back onto the couch and kept watching... As it went on, I noticed that Applejack was slowly moving her hand towards me. I decided to do the same, making our hands meet faster. Once they touched, we scooted closer, breaking the distance between us. “What did Apple Bloom do to you?” She whispered, anger seemingly resonating in her. I turned to her and shook my head. “I don’t know... when they took me, I was in a dark place. I lost my family, and... did something horrifying to protect myself... Every night since the Trix captured me to when I was in that van with Twilight, I was in a form of astral projection—mastering my powers and trying to inform others about where I was... but it never worked.” I said, sighing. Applejack simply nodded, possibly not wanting to question my story more, and let out a yawn. She didn’t say a word as she rested her head on my shoulder, and I didn’t say a word either as I leaned back and wrapped my arm around her, and for the first time in almost three years... I smiled. I could feel sleep creeping up on me, and by Applejack’s slump, I could tell that she was already gone... But before I fell asleep, she planted her lips on my cheek before going back to resting on my shoulder... And I smiled again. Roaring, flesh tearing, and blood pouring... that’s what all my dreams really consisted these days... I remember what I did... the anger, the hatred I felt for those animals. Part of me had no regrets about it and that frightened me. “No! P-please! It’s over—all of the others, they’re all dead! It's over!” The last monster standing begged. I didn’t answer him—I just slashed my claws at him, causing him to fall to the ground... Yes—claws. A loud, rage-filled roar ended the horrific dream. I woke with a start, gasping as I then remembered everything that occurred the day prior, realizing that Applejack was still in my arms... I actually got to see her again... alive. By the time I was abducted by the Trix, I was just hoping to either find a body or a Walker... but, no—I found her. And I’d be damned if I let anything happen to her—even if I have to let the demon out again... ImperiumWe barely had a chance to mourn the dead—we didn’t have time to, since there was a lot of planning to do. Twilight’s idea about reaching out to the Kingdom became more and more of a better alternative as to fighting the New World Order alone. We contacted the Sector and they said we were in, with my father vouching for us. I offered Rainbow and Meiko to come with us, but they both refused, having bad memories about the place... something that I understood and decided to ask if Jason wanted to come, but when I reached Applejack’s house, I glanced through the glass door and saw that they were on the couch, asleep in each other’s arms, and decided to leave them be. I reached the front of the gate where Twilight was revving up her motorcycle, with a symbol of what can only be described as two antlers with a broken heart in between them, scratched off the front... “You coming, or are you bringing that car of yours?” She asked me. I chuckled and hopped on the back, waiting for Twilight to start zooming down the open road... “No reason to waste more gas...” I said as I nervously rested my hands on her waist. “Hold on, Ky!” She called out as she let loose, driving down the road with me holding on for dear life. I could tell that it was going to be a bumpy ride... Once we arrived near the Kingdom, I noticed that my hair was spiked in a random direction and did my best to fix it, with Twilight laughing in the background. “Here, let me help.” She chuckled, using water from a nearby puddle to set my hair back to the way I had it, with the sides separated from my face. “There-- now you’re you again.” She pecked my lips as she put the bike behind a large accumulation of bushes. I chuckled as we both noticed a man in black armor on horseback approaching us. Twilight unsheathed her sword while I cocked my Judge back. The man in black stopped his horse and jumped off, glancing at Twilight... “Twilight Sparkle, what brings you to the Imperium?” He asked her. Twilight approached the man to answer, in which he responded by taking a step back. “...Kyle and I are from Canterlot, we need to speak to whoever’s in charge.” She said. “And tell them that they owe my people after what happened in Sanctuary.” I said. That got the Knight’s attention as he removed his helmet, revealing an ordinary looking man. “You’re from Sanctuary?! Oh, shit—I heard stories about that place, how Yowane got an army of defecting Knights and none of them came back?” The Knight uncharacteristically asked, acting like I was some kind of celebrity. I was honestly surprised to hear that—none of them made it back? The girls and I killed the ones who attacked us at that station, and a lot of them died in the attack... but then again, where were the rest of them? “None of them? Not one?” I asked him. He chuckled and shook his head. “They were either killed out there or made the right choice and stayed away...” He sighed. I had no idea what to say, but I really didn’t have to answer. “Well-- I don’t see why we can’t head back there, right now... and we don’t really call it the Kingdom, anymore... too any bad memories, also too Walking-Dead... we just call it ‘The Imperium’.” Imperium... that name could grow on me. “Okay... then let’s see this... Imperium.” Twilight said, sheathing her katana and pulling her bike out of the bushes... “Uh, yeah—can I ride with the Knight?” I asked, not wanting to get back on that bike. They both chuckled and the Knight nodded. “Sure... and my name’s Thorax.” He said as I hopped onto the saddle. I could see in Twilight’s eyes that I was no longer holding her back as she revved the bike and flew down the road, leaving us behind... “I’m guessing you two are dating...” He said. “...Yeah.” I chuckled. Thorax nodded as we trotted down the road. “Congratulations... from the stories I’ve heard about her, I’d say she’s a keeper.” He chuckled. Stories? What kind of stories? I didn’t have time to ask as more Knights on horses arrived alongside us, some of them shocked to see me. “Oh, shit—you're Kyle Williams!” One of them said. I couldn’t resist smiling at the recognition... “Didn’t know I was famous...” I said as all rode off to the Imperium. Yeah, that name takes some getting used to. The familiar brick walls have been improved upon in the past few months—the former 5-brick wide, 15 feet tall wall was now 8 bricks wide and at least twice as tall, and the inside resembled an actual kingdom, with old-fashioned houses and dirt roads connecting streets together... Just a few feet in, we saw entire neighborhoods with signs labelling them—William Street, Walker Street, and a Flash Street, and with many of those houses under construction... “Wow... and I thought it was impressive before.” I whispered. Twilight seemed to be taking it all in as well, her hand clasping mine. “The last time I was here... it looked nothing like this.” She said. I chuckled and tilted my head. “It looked kinda close when I was here.” I said. I could tell that Thorax saw our awe and smiled slightly. “Yeah-- our queen changed a lot in the last few months—starting with the walls, which were starting to suffer against the elements. We built them up again, better than before—and after that, we started with the inside. Entire streets full of people, can you imagine...?” Thorax stopped and glanced at my neck... I had just now realized that I didn’t have something to cover Chrysalis’s scar with... “No, no—I can explain! It’s not a zombie bite, it’s a--” “I’ll consider your request of a delagation to the queen, but I think you should go, she’s always a busy lady.” Thorax started to panic, glancing around... An idea popped into my head, but I ignored it—there's no way that... Right? “Take me to the queen. If she’s busy, we’ll leave, but I want to meet her in person.” I said. Thorax tried to speak, but sighed and caved in. “Okay... but first, I need to see your weapons... both of you.” Thorax said. I began growing skeptical, but I gestured to Twilight as I handed him my mother’s gun and Scootaloo’s machete... “I want them back, after.” I said as Twilight handed Throax her sword. “Of course—but for now, they stay with me.” He said. We agreed and Thorax began leading us through streets where we saw children run through the streets, several workers hammering foundations of houses together, and people just clammoring at Twilight and I—them calling me the “Sanctuary Leader” and Twilight the “Caribou Assassin”... Caribou? That was a new one I hadn’t heard before. I didn’t have much time to talk as we arrived to the massive castle that was possibly a vacation spot back in the day... “What even was this castle before the world ended?” Twilight asked. Thorax sighed and turned to us. “First of all... the world hasn’t ended. Second, it used to be a luxury resort that Filthy Rich bought out a year before the world... changed.” He corrected himself. I already had several questions for my aunt and Filthy, and that was simply one more... “Now, you guys stay here, I’ll see if Day Court’s full.” He said as he went inside and ran off in a random direction... Twilight and I turned to each other and ideas started forming. “You don’t think...” She started. I shook my head in denial. “No, no—she can’t be, it’d make no sense.” I said. But the longer we waited, the more convinced I became that behind those doors... ruled the one person who changed me... Thorax came back out and I saw that Knights were behind him—easily a dozen, maybe more... “...The queen would like to speak with Kyle Williams... only him.” Thorax said. That did it. We turned to each other, both of us knowing the truth... “It’s okay... I’ll be okay.” I said as I unconsiously started following Thorax. A thousand emotions flooded my mind—anger being one of the most prominent... I didn’t have time to confront what I was feeling as we had arrived at the doors into the castle... the throne room was just behind those slabs of wood, and I was not ready for any of what I was about to face... “You sure you can do this?” Thorax asked, proabbly seeing my uneasiness. I registered his request and nodded. “I have to.” I mumbled. With that, the doors opened, and as I walked in, I kept my eyes at the ground, unwilling to look up. “Oh, my God...” I heard her whisper in the empty, echoing room. I reached a certain point and stopped, finally looking up to see her, the person who used my depressed state, and the mother of my child... “Chrysalis...” I said, finally making eye-to-eye contact. I didn’t know what to expect—glee, joy that her toy was back? No—I saw horror. Pure and uncontrollable horror. “K-Kyli...” She said, nervously adjusting her seat after using her old nickname for me... Silence. Pure silence as neither of us knew what to say or do but stare each other down, over a thousand emotions in our eyes. Chrysalis cleared her throat and decided to break the long, awkward silence. “So... you’re the Kyle from Sanctuary...” She said. I nodded, refusing to say anything more about the Kingdom’s massacre of my people-- I knew that if I started, I wouldn't be able to stop. “I... I had an idea, but I never...” She said, losing her train of thought as I took the reins of the conversation. “You lied to me... You lied to a weak, depressed, 13-year-old-boy and used him like a goddamn toy.” I said, feeling my anger take over. Chrysalis then gasped, putting her hands up in defense. “Kyle, I am not proud of what I did, and it wasn’t right, not even close, but I never... lied to you--” “You said that you were on the pill, so explain to me how two years later I find out that I have a baby boy who was being cared for by Adagio Dazzle, of all people?!” I asked, my voice possibly reaching the outside. Chrysalis went to speak, but sighed, realizing that I was right... “The pills didn’t work... they weren’t enough, and yes—I did use you... I used a lot of people before all of this, and I am far from happy about it.” She said. “And now you’re a queen. Now you can use people all you want, Queen Chrysalis.” I bitterly scowled, no longer censoring my thoughts... Chrysalis sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Kyle, I understand that you don’t have the best memories of me, and I know what I did was wrong and taboo, but I assume that you are here for aid against the New World Order.” She said. All of my anger at her drained away and my mind cleared... “How do you know about--” “Autumn Flier beat you here, told me about what they did, but not about you... and yes, we’ve dealt with the NWO as well.” She answered, cutting me off. I sighed, hoping to end the reunion on a somewhat high note, but things only got worse when the doors got kicked open and I turned to see Twilight, sword in hand, and Thorax close behind her. I saw Twilight stare Chrysalis down, but I could tell that her attention wasn’t on her. “Where is he?!” She screamed, looking around. I had no idea what she meant, but Chrysalis clearly did, and she wasn’t at all frightened by the sword-wielding “assassin” in front of her. “He is contained, has been ever since you and Jason broke us out...” She said. I heard a door open and turned to see Knights carrying a bucket with a lid over it. Twilight turned for that room and charged for it, me and Thorax holding her back. “Whoa, whoa—Twi... just take a breath.” I told her, hoping that I could calm her. During the struggle, her shirt slightly lifted, and I was able to see the similar emblem that was scratched off of her bike, now scarred into her back... I’ve seen it before, whenever we were alone, but Rainbow and I never really questioned her about it—we just assumed that she’d tell us when she was ready... “Twi... just relax...” I soothed her. She stopped trying to fight through us and dropped her sword, sighing and shrugging me off before heading out the castle doors... Chrysalis sighed and lowered her head. “Who’s behind that door?” I asked her. She sighed and refused to answer, allowing Thorax to provide it. “His name was Gaverial...” He said. Gaverial? As in my uncle Gaverial...? Can this world possibly get any smaller? “Okay... and what did he do?” I asked. She let out a silent but audible growl and shook her head. “He did a lot of things, Kyle... to all of us. I’ll send a delagation out to Canterlot, see if we can work things through more properly.” She said. I sighed, nodded, and went to leave before realizing something. “Did you name him? Or did Adagio?” I asked her. Chrysalis perked her head up and let out a chuckle. “I did—Adagio offered the name, but I agreed to it.” She said, smiling slightly. With that, I left—a lot of emotions still flowing through me, but I was able to put them aside so we could get things done... As the doors closed behind me, I glanced at Twilight, who had her sword back after Thorax picked it up, unable to look at me... “So... do you need another ride?” Thorax asked me. I let out a smile and shook my head, much to Twilight’s surprise. “I think I’ll survive the bike...” I said, turning to Twilight. Twilight tried not to crack a smile, but failed at that mission. “Alright-- we’ll meet you there.” Thorax said as he went to find a horse. I turned to see a very happy Twilight, who was now gesturing me to follow her. With that, we started walking through the Imperium one last time, with Twilight slowly taking my hand again. “To think that Chrysalis did all of this...” She started. I let out a chuckle in response. “I mean... we live with sirens, two polygamous couples, child geniuses, two lab experiments, fairies, my father came back from the dead, I have a prosthetic-knife-hand, and are looking for reinforcements against witches in the middle of the zombie apocalypse... we’ve seen weirder.” I said, glancing at the multiple streets that were still full of life and were being constructed. Yeah... I had a lot to think about when it came to Chrysalis, as I could clearly tell. We reached the bike and Twilight went in the front, revving it up as I remembered what I had signed myself up for... I swallowed my fear and took my seat, resting my arms around Twilight’s waist as she backed the bike up... “I love you, Twi’...” I said as I kissed her cheek. She gasped for a moment before turning back to me. “Love you, too, Ky’...” She pecked my lips and loudly revved the bike. “...now hold on!” She then, without warning, sped down the open road, me now tightly holding her waist as I let out a short scream. All Questions and No AnswersRest in Peace, Scootaloo Niwa-Williams September 4th 2000- September 6th 2018 I glanced at my daughters grave and felt swirl of emotions that cancelled each other out, all at once. I made a mental promise to her that I’d look after Kyle and make sure that Apple Bloom didn’t get the chance to hurt anyone else ever again. But before I could even start, I had to know what happened with my son during the time I was at the Sector... I then saw someone walk next to me at the gravesite. I looked up to see Rainbow Dash, setting an old scooter next to her grave. “That was hers?” I asked her. Rainbow Dash sighed and nodded, taking a moment to pay her respects and shed a tear or two. “So... I heard that she and Kyle dated for a while...” I said, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck. Rainbow Dash cracked an awkward smile and nodded. “Well, she was there for him—whether they knew or not... they had each other.” I said, trying not to think about my son and long-lost daughter dating... We fell silent again, from either mourning or not knowing what to say. I decided to finish paying my respects and let Rainbow mourn in peace. As I was about to leave, Rainbow got up and turned to me... “Back when I left them... I did it because I thought they were weak, or that I didn’t need them. A month after, I almost starved to death. Then the Kingdom found me—where Kyle and Twilight are. Things were good at first, their walls were massive, Rin was... decent. But then things got complicated... very complicated. By the time Kyle and Scootaloo found me, I was living in a flipped semi, all alone except for whenever Rin needed me to do her dirty work. So, when Kyle offered me to stay with them at their... city, how could I say no?” I stayed silent, letting her talk. “Then, Sanctuary fell, and... we were on our own out there. I’m sure that I’d be dead if it wasn’t for Kyle and the others... and Scootaloo.” She said. Sanctuary? I heard some stories about a city the others foritifed, but... Kyle named it after the orphanage? “Who picked the name? For Sanctuary?” I asked her. She stayed silent for a moment and chuckled. “He did.” She said as she left the grave, me doing the same. My search for answers didn’t bare much fruit, with Twilight gone with Kyle, Applejack never really talking to him, and Sunset trying to talk to her old friend, Oz... I then came across my own sister, who probably wasn’t too happy with me going off-the-grid following the fire... “Jess...” I said, calling to her. She turned to me and sighed, running at me and holding me in a bear-hug. “I thought you were dead, you asshole... we all did.” She said. I let out a sigh, knowing that I had to vanish. “Those people wouldn’t have stopped, Jess... they were working for the Trix before—the Three wanted me dead, I had to vanish so my family could stay safe—so you and Kyle could stay safe...” I said. She went to argue, but knew that I was right. “You know what happened to Kyle after you left, right?” She asked me. I knew bits and pieces, but not everything... I only knew about CPA and Chrysalis. “No, not everything.” I said, hoping to get answers. She went up to her porch and took a seat, signalling me to do the same. I walked up the steps and took a seat on the home-made wooden bench, ready to hear about my son... “Jason and I were staying at Rich’s mansion—Diamond signed up for that camp-trip, tried to see that we bought the place so we could make a safe-zone out of it... it didn’t go over well, from what we’ve heard. I was about to tell Jason about Rin and Len... when we got a call from Cinch.” I leaned forward, nervous but desperate for answers... “Kyle tried to kill himself.” My heart dropped so fast it almost shot out of me like a bullet... “W...what?” I helplessly asked. “Cinch had him locked away in some cell in the nurse’s office, which is where I guess he was kept pretty often. Later on in the day, after I chewed Cinch out... the world ended. The zombies came, and we got out—Kyle was home by then, we couldn’t go get him. Also... Chrysalis was with us...” She said to me. I let out a gasp and Jess put her hand up, signalling me to calm myself. “I didn’t know about that... drama. Even if I did, Chrysalis risked her life to save Jason and Rin and Len... Spoiled Rich kidnapped them, took them to the Kingdom. It was a fight, but we got out of there alive—and we went to Red Fountain, after trying to pick up Applejack. It didn’t work, though—the military were strict on who got in and no-one got out ever since... they showed up.” She said. The Dogs? Or... someone else? “Who? Who showed up?” I asked her. Jess sighed and leaned back, staring off into space... “The Caribou. From what I heard, they attacked the school at one point, and I’m guessing that’s when Kyle and the others escaped...” Caribou... that name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Thanks for the info, Jess... I’ll talk with Kyle once he gets back.” I said, going to leave. “Ask Celestia—she was there.” She told me. Sure enough, as soon as I thanked her and went to ask Celestia, there she was—walking past us and most likely hearing us. “Celestia!” I called out, hoping to hear her part of the story. She heard me, stopped, and turned around, with a lost look in her eyes... “Henry, is it? I heard your talk with Jessica, and I can’t say I know much about what happened to your son...” She said as she entered the graveyard, glancing at Scootaloo’s grave... “Another student dead... another grave buried...” She whispered, setting her hand on the grave stone... Her shirt lifted slightly, and I got a glance of a scar on her back before she turned to face me. “It’s been three years, and a majority of my students have died or worse... I know you lost your daughter, but...” She started. I then rememebered the orphanage fire... Kyle got out early and didn’t need to see the horrors that remained inside... “I know what you mean... I used to run an orphanage back in the day— I always considered it my mission to protect people... but, that failed... I failed at that mission.” I said, recalling the horrible sounds of their screams... God... Celestia stopped for a moment and sighed... “So I guess you do understand...” She said as she got up to leave. The faint sound of Twilight’s motorcycle stopped our thoughts... “Open the gate! It’s them! And they got horses?!” Sunset cried out. We ran to the gate and pulled it open, where we saw that Kyle and Twilight were riding on the bike, and behind them were three armored horses with six people on them, all covered in black armor. Once they were all inside, one of the armored ones hopped off of his horse and removed his helmet. “Canterloters! My name is Sir Thorax—I represent Queen... uh...” He stopped his prideful speech to start stuttering. “We represent the Queen who wishes to... remain discrete for the time being... of the Imperium!” He covered, with quite a form of theatre... But who was their queen, and why did Kyle seem so... nervous? Whatever It TakesThe crowd's reaction was a mixture of confusion and angry whispers... I did what I could to calm them, but nothing worked... “How can we trust the Imperium if some... molester’s their leader?!” A person asked from the crowd. I sighed and decided to break the ice the only way I knew how. “I know what she did was wrong... most would say it was taboo... but it was a lifetime ago. Another time—another world. Now, I know I made her seem like a threat... but that was what I thought of her, but... clearly, I have a lot to think about. I’m as uncertain about this as you all are, but one thing I know is that the Imperium can either be our greatest ally... or our worst enemy.” That seemed to work as everyone fell silent, save for a few whispers. From the other street, Thorax cleared his throat as he entered my view. “Queen Chrysalis has also discussed a form of trade between us—if you should accept... we couldn’t help but notice that your ammunition supply is low...” He said. I knew what he meant—if we were to go to war with the New World Order, we’ll need more than what we have. “We’ll consider her offer... but for now, we should discuss the main reason you’re here.” I said as I went to leave with the rest of the council. We turned the street and reached the warehouse that we were repurposing as our town hall. We went inside and shut the door behind us, the large building echoing our voices... “So... we should discuss whether or not to go through with this. A trade would do good, but... even we don’t have enough to go up against the Trix...” Thorax said. I sighed and took a seat, Rainbow Dash baring a look of scorn at Thorax. “Well, I don’t know—a tank could do miracles...” She bitterly mumbled. Thorax didn’t take offense to that comment and stood up to add his input. “Sorry, but the tank was a one-time-deal—it was abandoned after the... slaughter.” Thorax chose his words carefully. “Yeah-- more like a massacre.” Rainbow added—clearly that wording wasn’t enough. Thorax went to say something, but withdrew, standing down before starting a more heated argument. “What happened at Sanctuary was a massacre, but we’ve seen to it that everyone involved didn’t set foot back into the Imperium...” He said with an ambiance... Strange—I thought he said that they never came back at all... was there more than he was letting on? “We can talk about the past another time—but for now, let’s talk about the present-- do we know where the New World Order’s base is? As in their main base of operations...” I asked. “Actually-- your guys were in it—a small part of it, anyway. They inhabit the whole entire cave—there's at least several hundred soldiers as their population—no innocents, no children.” Thorax told us. “Then what’s stopping us from just lighting it on fire when they’re sleeping? If the flames won’t kill them, the smoke will...” Twilight said to him. Whoa... Thorax and Rainbow were both caught off-guard like I was by Twilight’s morbid comment, and the former cleared his throat, still showing a sense of nervousness. “Well, first off—it's a cave, it won’t burn easily, and they have airways from back in the mining days. Second—the Trix could just put it out...” The rest of the meeting was about trade—the proposition that the Imperium gives us ammunition in exchange for fuel and possible construction labor. I said I’d bring it before the council and our construction crew and we ended it there, Thorax heading out with his other Knights who were socializing with the other townspeople. “...Yeah, it’s been a while since I was back here... I’m thinking on staying, but that might be another time.” A very familiar voice said beside us. I turned to see the back of a female Knight with straight, pink hair and yellow skin... “Fluttershy?” I asked. She turned around and saw me—and her prideful smile faded away and the shock set in... the person who I hadn’t seen since Sanctuary fell was right in front of me—and most of all, she was with them. “...Kyle?” She whispered as she answered her own question by running at me and holding me in a deathly hug—mostly thanks to her armor. I did what I could to hug her back, but my arms were mainly being constricted by Fluttershy’s arms. “Kyle! H... how’ve you been?!” She asked me with an excited tone. “I’ve been... it’s complicated.” I let out a chuckle as Twilight looked towards her with an unfamilar glance. Fluttershy chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah... I get that.” She smiled, seemingly recalling on different times... We stayed silent for a moment, taking in the shock of seeing Fluttershy again, until things only got better... “Fluttershy-- where are...” I turned to see Riku run up to us. Oh, boy... “Kyle?!” Riku ran up and held me in an embrace—similar to the one from Fluttershy, except I moved my arms in advance. I couldn’t even begin to form my words on anything that happened after Sanctuary as my father, carrying Starswirl, approached us... “Riku Niwa? Your Scootaloo’s adopted mother...” He said to her. Riku released me and turned to my father. “Y-yeah—how is she? Where is she, I thought she’d be with you.” She said to me. My dad looked at me and I mouthed out “She doesn’t know” the best I could, and he nodded. “Ms. Niwa... there’s a lot we have to discuss. You, Kyle, and I... Come with me and we’ll talk about it.” He said, leading her to the house. “And who’s this—don't tell me you and Scoots had a kid!” She gasped in joy as she gestured if she could hold Starswirl and my father handed her over. “Uh... no. I-it’s a long story, and we should talk about it inside... all of us.” I told her. Riku’s smile started to fade as she started to catch on. Now to tell the awkward and tragic story of Scootaloo Niwa-Williams... During the retelling of the story, Riku’s expression went from happy, to horrified, to destroyed, all in the span of 9 minutes... “God...” She simply whispered, still trying to grasp the concept that for almost two years, I had unknowingly been dating my long-lost sister. Yeah... “So... this Apple Bloom, that’s the reason you came to the Imperium? To talk to Chrysalis about fighting back?” She asked me. I nodded, unready to go into our awkward story just yet. “I... figured that you wouldn’t go back there just to make up... we went there because we had no choice, unless we wanted to starve to death. Trust me, it took a long time for me to forgive them for what they did to us... but I guess in this world, everyone deserves a second chance.” Riku said. Everyone, huh? Including a woman who beat her best friend’s skull in like a pinata? I chose not to add my input and asked her what her plan was—stay here or go back to the Imperium. “I... don’t know. I hoped to find Scootaloo here, but... I was too late.” She said, readjusting her gauntlet as she went to leave with the other Knights. “The funerals are tomorrow, if you want to stay here for the night. I can escort you back to the Imperium after...” I saw Riku hesitate as she went out to talk to the others, possibly to see if she could stay with us. I sighed and turned to my dad— and my eyes set on Starswirl, my own son, who I never really acknowledged ever since I learned about him... “Can I... see him?” I asked my dad. He hesitated for a moment and lifted him up, handing him to me as Twilight and Rainbow met up with us. “Uh, you still know how to hold them, right?” Dad asked, while chuckling. “Yeah-- I still remember the younger ones back at the orphanage...” Like that—me and my son locked eyes, and I lost all train of thought. I had no idea what I was feeling—shock? Pride? Joy? Looking back, I think it was love... unconditional love that I instantly swore to protect until the day I died... “W...who?” He asked, pointing a finger at me. My dad started to shed a tear as he leaned down next to us. “This is your daddy, bud... your actual daddy...” He said. Starswirl glanced at me, resting his hand on my cheek... “D...daddy?” I let out a short smile and nodded as the other two moved over to me, both eager to greet the kid. “Hi... I’m... your daddy’s... friend.” Rainbow said, holding out a finger as he grabbed it. Twilight let out a small smile as she did the same, Starswirl using his other hand to grab her present finger. “Twily!” He called out in joy, an act that melted my heart. “The whole time I was helping Adagio raise him, I had no idea that he was your son...” Twilight said, laughing in glee. Just like that... I realized that everyone in that room was my family. Twi, Dash, my dad, and my son. Everyone out there was part of that family, and I swore that I won’t fail to protect them again—that I’d die for them if I had to. I’d do whatever it’d take to keep them safe... Whatever it'd take. MourningAfter several drama-filled days, we were finally able to give Scootaloo, Cole, and Alice a proper funeral. Kat was at her two friend’s graves while Twilight, Rainbow, and I were in the front, with Sombra giving a eulogy for them. “In the time I knew Scootaloo Niwa-Williams, she always wanted to prove herself to the people she cared about. She’d go out on runs whenever she got the chance, help find our missing people... and even help people who thought couldn’t be helped...” I noticed that Rin looked down to the floor at that statement, with a tear running down her cheek. I then saw my father stand, setting his hand on my shoulder. “There’s a lot of things I wish I could change in my life... not telling my son about my daughter’s existence is just part of that list... but, despite the... awkwardness—Scootaloo was there when my son needed someone—anyone—to help guide him. I just wish I got to know my own daughter...” His voice cracked toward the end as he sat back down. Sombra let out a short sigh of remorse before continuing. “Though I didn’t very much know Alice or Cole... going from how Cole fought back—I can make the assumption that he was a family man... he died trying to keep his family safe. And Alice--” Kat stood up, walking up and standing next to Sombra. “I knew Cole and Alice since high school... I met Alice and introduced her to Cole and...” Kat took a moment before continuing, possibly lamenting on ‘Frosty’... “No. I won’t let my friends die in vain, and neither should any of you. If you don’t fight... you die.” Kat said as she stormed away from the funeral. We were all distraught by her temper, but she was right—we need to fight the Trix because if we don’t-- they’d just kill us, and from what I heard, it’s what they do... After the funeral, I managed to spot that Blazing Waters guy—the one from the New World Order—talking to Rainbow Dash... or trying to. “...You don’t remember me? M-Ms. Harshwinny’s class, lower-left row, junior year?” He asked, much to Rainbow’s struggle to remember. “Hmm... I think I do—you were the guy with the... uh... I think you had that laptop, with the stickers?” She struggled. “Uh... I think I did—wait, no, that was... damn, who was that guy?” I decided to cut that awkward conversation short before it got worse. “Blazing. Can I borrow you for a moment?” I asked him. He nodded and awkwardly waved goodbye before walking over to me. “Y-yeah?” He asked. “I was hoping we could talk about what you know on the New World Order. Anything you know could help us.” I said to him. He sighed, and signaled that we go on the porch of the house he chose. I nodded and we sat up there, looking over the street in front of us. “Okay... so, where do I start? When the world fell, the Trix were... God, I don’t know how to explain this to make sense—they were trapped in some... magic book.” Trapped... in a book? That was a new one. “Okay... keep going.” I said, just deciding to roll along. “By then, Apple Bloom was in Texas with some relatives because of something she did back home. She made her way back up here to find someone, but... it didn’t end well. She eventually found the New World Order’s base... an abandoned cave system used for mining back in the day—built with several airways and had several entrances... that cave your team hit? That was just a small sector. A little later on, Apple Bloom came across the book they were trapped in after it was abandoned—the Legendarium, I think it was called, something like that. Anyway, once Apple Bloom freed them... they struck a deal. With the Trix’s power and Apple Bloom’s... charisma, they were able to create a following from nearby refugee camps. The Dogs came with the Trix, apparently they were their enforcers out here...” The Dogs worked for the Trix? They burned my father’s orphanage to the ground... was it for them? “How... do you even know all of this?” I asked him—it seemed odd how much he knew on them... Blazing sighed and leaned back, seemingly taking a moment. “I did a few... odd favors for them, back when I first joined.” He said to me. I took a moment before realizing exactly what he meant. “Oh...” I whispered, almost chuckling. “Yeah... I was... morally grey back then, y’know? I figured... why not? Kept me fed, safe... then I saw what they really are, and I couldn’t anymore.” I sighed, realizing that we may have a few things in common, and thanked him, getting up to leave. “Jason was there, too.” He said without looking at me. I stopped, letting out a faint sigh. “Okay... what’s your point?” I asked him. Blazing got up and glanced at me. “You heard what Apple Bloom said—Jason was their puppet, some toy that they threw away after they were done with it. He was a slave to them in every possible way, and now it seems like he has no idea... unless he’s faking it.” He said to me. I almost wanted to punch him, but I then realized that he had a point—Jason seemed wrecked when he and Twilight were in that van, but now he’s seemingly back to normal... Could he be faking it? “Thanks for the input, Blazing...” I said as I walked away, hoping to talk to Jason whenever I got the chance. I knew that Applejack and I had to talk about it—we couldn’t avoid it. We were having dinner from the pantry they had, AJ cooked while I simply thought over how I was going to say it... “So... AJ...” I started, letting out a sigh as I started. “Yeah?” She asked me. Well... here goes. “You know Clover, right?” I asked her. She must’ve picked up on what I was about to say as she simply nodded with a kind of glint in her eye. “Yeah... and we both know that we haven’t seen each other in almost 3 years, so if you’re sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’, just know that I don’t hate you for it...” She said to me. I sighed, knowing that I still had to say it... “...A year ago, I slept with Clover... twice—maybe three times, I... can’t really remember.” I “confessed”. Applejack didn’t say anything—she didn’t have to. Her understanding smile was all I needed to see. “I’m not mad, sugarcube—you thought I was dead, I thought the same ... there’s no shame in tryin’ to move on... in fact, I’m glad you did—there'd been no use wailin’ over me for the rest of your life.” Honestly, I expected that reaction from her, but that didn’t make me feel any better about it all. “Okay, but you’re here, now... So, what happens from here?” I asked. Applejack took a moment before shrugging. “I... don’t know. You really don’t remember a thing that the Trix did to you?” She asked me. Truthfully, I’ve caught glimpses at my body while I was in astral form—the tortured state it was in... but I chose to ignore them since I’d wake up every day good as new. “No, not everything... I have an idea of what they did, but nothing scarring.” I said before realizing the scar on my eye. That one came from before then. She seemed like she was about to ask about it, but she withdrew. She then formed a smirk and glanced up at me. “This isn’t the part when ya’ll tell me she got pregnant, right?” I almost spit out my food as I coughed and shook my head. “No! Nope, no, no, no! No baby Clover-Jasons anytime soon!” I screamed out in humor. Like that... a large part of the weight of guilt on my chest that I’ve been carrying is gone. After two years of training and a year as a prisoner... I think I’d be able to live normally again... Knock KnockFor a while, I thought I’d never see my brother again... but then he found me. And with him came our father, and now our aunt and cousin. I never talked to Jason much—mainly because I was at the orphanage while Jason was at CHS—but from what I’d heard about him from Riven, Clover, and Bloom—he'd been through a lot in the last few years... come to think of it, I believe we all had, with the end of the world and all. I was relaxing outside my house on the porch when I glanced over to see Aunt Jess and Filthy Rich, alone, on their own porch. I guessed that they were together, now, but I figured I’d go over and catch up on old times—we all knew so little of what the other had been through in these last three years. I slowly got up and walked over to them, just catching their conversation. “...I think we should tell him. About us, I mean...” Jessica said to Rich. “I don’t know—I mean, he already knows about Rin and Len, but... this is different. It’s not like we can just say ‘hey, Jason—how was the year as the Trix’s punching bag? Guess what—I'm dating your mom, and you may be an older brother really soon.’...” Brother? No... “Well, I wouldn’t say it like that, but... yeah—it's better that he knows this time instead of telling him after whatever happens next--” I couldn’t just eavesdrop anymore, I walked up the steps and waved to her. “Aunt Jess.” I smiled to her. She slightly jumped, which caused me to let out a chuckle. “Hey, Sonata... it’s been a long time.” She smiled back. Silence... should I tell her? I mean, there was no point in not, but at the same time, if she wanted me to know, she’d tell me. “Yeah... it has.” I said as I took a seat on a chair next to Jess and Rich. More damned silence... It was like we knew what to ask, but not how to ask it... “So... what exactly happened after you left the Kingdom?” I asked her. Jess seemed to sigh and rest back while Rich took her hand. “We wound up at Red Fountain—the school that Jason and Riven are from. We stayed there for the most of it, but then Jason left... we looked for him for 4 months, but we couldn’t find anything... we stopped, but Jess didn’t. She kept looking for him as long as she could, but... eventually, she stopped.” Rich said, Jess now resting her head on his shoulder. At that point, they weren’t even hiding the truth. “So... are you two... y’know...” I started. “Yeah. We are.” Jess responded as she simply moved her head up. I just nodded and decided to ask another question. "What about Jason? What were you saying about him being a punching bag?" I asked. Jess sighed and shook her head. "After something happened with him and Clover, and I told him the truth about his father, he went back to Earth, where they found him... and I can only imagine what they did to him in that time..." She answered me. Before I could say anything more, I saw Kyle out of the corner of my eye, somewhat limping from his energy still being drained... “I’ll talk to you guys later...” I told them as I turned and went to talk to my brother. The feeling wasn’t really life-draining anymore... it was more of just a woozy feeling. But it was still there, a week after the Trix did whatever they did with my amulet. Heh... my amulet. I know that Adagio would want me to have it and all, but it just felt wrong to have it—especially if I have no idea what it even did. “Kyle... can we talk?” Sonata asked me, coming from Jess and Rich’s porch. I simply nodded and we met at her porch, where I happily took a seat and relaxed... “So... how’s everything?” She asked me. I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know. Everything’s like a big ball of fire, right now, and I still feel like I got hit by a truck.” I honestly told her, sighing in pain as I took a seat. Sonata took a moment before examining my amulet further. “Yeah... they really drained you out. Maybe because Autumn didn’t have much left...” She said, looking at the dulled-out color. “Okay... so what does that mean?” I asked her. Sonata hesitated for a moment—almost like she was reliving a bad memory—and sat up. “Back in Equestria... almost three thousand years ago... Witches and Sirens were sort of partners-in-crime. Sirens drained and stored negative energy while the Witches syphoned it. But, Sirens store it... and Witches can’t. So, before my sisters and I were banished, we were energy sponges for the Three—the Trix are their... descendants, or whatever.” She said, clearly not too sure on that last bit. I let out a hum while I let the truth settle in—if the amulets stored negative energy, and the Trix absorbed it... It must’ve been what Autumn was trading away to them, why he looked so weak when they rounded us up... “Okay... so, what happens now? What, we’re supposed to just live under those animals until we die? Or they kill us?” I pondered out loud. Sonata simply sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Worst case, we could just leave—all of us.” She said. “Yeah, but where’d we go? Sanctuary’s in shambles and too close, everywhere else near us is under the New World Order--” Gong... gong... gong... "Knock, knock! Anybody home?! I’d suggest lettin’ me in, and soon.” That familiar southern accent called out. We both glanced at each other... clueless over what to do. I mean... what could we do? CompromiseShe was just sitting there, reading a damned pamphlet on the school... acting like she didn’t kill three of their people. “Hmm! I never knew we had a pool!” She laughed, turning the page. The knife was just in my holster—if I was quick, quiet... I could’ve ended it all, right then and there... “Hey, Blazing, sweetie—you still got that knife on ya? Oh, how about that badass sword? Or did we take that from ya, too?” She mocked me. She knew—she somehow always knew when I was scheming on something. “What do you want? I thought the treaty was against trading.” I said to her. She chuckled and closed the pamphlet. Kyle was sitting across from us, glaring at Apple Bloom with a form of hatred that I had only seen in someone once before... “Well, now, that’s easy—I figured that y’all didn’t really understand why I killed 3 of y’all instead of one.” Kyle’s fist tightened as Apple Bloom saw and smirked a little. “It’s easy, Ky’-- y’all killed 30 of my people, at least. If I came in here, opening fire at whoever I pleased until I hit 30, imagine how that would make me look. So, I decided to make a compromise: 1 for every 10, y’know?” She chuckled. Kyle didn’t say a word, he just clenched his fist, and... a knife extended out of it, scaring the shit out of me. He then retracted it and glanced at her again. “Sorry... just checking it—might need more lubricant.” He mumbled. Apple Bloom only smiled-- mostly all she ever did when someone threatened her-- and shook her head. “Y’all really are somethin’ else, y’know that? I come here, all by my lonesome, all but un-armed... and here you are... makin’ me feel unwelcomed. Hmm... well, I was hoping we could actually negotiate now that the dust cleared, but I can see there’s still few particles here an’ there.” “The Dogs are rapists and child-killers, that ‘dust’ never settled.” Kyle said, playing into her metaphor. Apple Bloom clearly didn’t like being called a rapist as she quickly stood up and turned to Kyle, holding her mace towards him, with the spike now rubbing his cheek. “We... are not... rapists. And I never... ever wanna hear that suggestion again, y’ got that?” She asked Kyle. He simply grumbled and adjusted his seat. “Great! Now, lemme just assert the fact that Scootaloo was my friend... and we both tried to take down Sunny out there back with the whole Anon-A-Miss scam, at least until she snitched on me and Sweetie Belle.” I remembered— when Sunset was recently defeated and was trying to change her ways... the six of them turned their backs on her as soon as word got out that it was her... and that was an absolute lie. “But... to be fair, I wasn’t that good of an apple either—just ask Jason how bad I was. But... New World, New Rules, as we put it.” She smiled. “Your people burned children alive, almost burned my father alive—if you think I can forgive that because of this new world shit--” Apple Bloom let out a growl and slammed her mace down, striking the ottoman next to her, crushing it. “I’m sorry, Kyle, but from what I heard, you weren’t all innocent, either...” She said, slightly turning her head to see him. Yeah, I heard about Chrysalis, the whole “molestation” story... I never believed it, but by the look on Kyle’s guilt-ridden face... “Yeah, but we never murdered anyone in cold blood, did we?” Kyle asked her. She was already on a short fuse, but she simply marched over, held up Kyle’s arms, and pulled his sleeves down, revealing old, almost faded scars on his left wrist. Kyle chuckled and shook his head. “The girl who cut it off... they just missed the rest of them.” He whispered, pulling his arm away and adjusting his sleeves. Apple Bloom simply laughed and slumped into a seat. “Yeah... Bell, was she? Yeah, I got some real friends in the... Imperium, as they call it now.” She mocked, using her fingers as quote marks. Kyle grumbled and sat back down. “And also, don’t talk to me about senseless murder when you killed 30 of my people.” She said. Yeah... I heard about that—a small section of the cave was sealed off following reports of someone scoping them out and following the slaughter, the Trix were on the warpath... “I didn’t know about that attack... whoever sent them out there, it wasn’t me.” Kyle said to her. Apple Bloom took a moment before smiling. “Well, your pop was there, along with Diamond, Scoots, and that Joel guy..." Kyle seemed somewhat shocked—he clearly didn’t know about the attack. “I’ll have to talk to the others about it.” He said. Apple Bloom simply nodded as for a moment, I saw a hint of respect in her eyes... She was always hard to please—hell, I barely pulled it off. “Well, I see that you got shit to deal with, so... Imma leave y’all for now—but before I go—take this.” She tossed a radio towards Kyle that he caught. “Long-distance radio—connected to our HQ—the Caverns, I use it to talk to all of the other leaders. I gotta say: Nice digs y’all got. Nice to see ya again, Blazey...” She said as she pat the side of my cheek as she rested her mace on her shoulder, opened the door and shut it behind her. Kyle simply glanced at me as I was somewhat intimidated by the silent anger in his eyes—like he was always keeping a monster inside, barely having it under control... “Like I said—I did favors for them...” I said. I did what I had to do to survive... I already made my peace with that, and as far as I was concerned, Kyle had to make peace, too... “I should put the council together—I have a few questions for them...” He said as he got up and went out the door, leaving me in the chair. The council was gathered inside the town hall, and I made sure to make the fact that I was angry known. “So... who sent that group out there? I know that the council is able to make majority votes, but this is something we should all have known, and voted on.” I said. Joel stepped up, and I turned to him, believing that it was his idea. “We were told that you gave us permission to go out there—we didn’t think twice on it.” He said. I sighed and remembered that he never really saw how we made serious decisions like this. “We don’t just give our word—we discuss it and put it up to a vote. That was how we decided to do trade with Megaville, how we decided to visit the Kingdom...” I said to them. Diamond then stepped up, looking to the ground, slightly. “I did it. I told them you gave us permission...” She said. The anger I felt—it was incomparable to any form I’d ever felt before—even back at Sanctuary, with that Knight after we thought Scootaloo was dead... This one was different. “You... got Scootaloo, Alice, and Cole all killed, simply because you didn’t think on telling me about this mission?” I asked her, slowly getting closer. “I... I knew you wouldn’t allow it.” She said, entering a defensive stance. “Were you just listening? I would’ve put it up to a vote, but instead you kept secrets from us, lied to the others, and convinced them to commit this suicide mission.” I said to her, no longer moving towards her and standing a few feet away from her. I saw my dad shake his head, leaning back and slam his hand on the armrest. “While we’re all gathered here... I asked Celestia to get this... treaty that I heard so much about. I wanted to read it out with you all, so we all know their rules.” I said as I took the treaty that was set on Celestia’s table. I unrolled it and I began to read it. “This document binds the communities of Crystal Prep, Canterlot, the Imperium, and the Caverns. The following rules are expected to be followed by everyone in these listed communities, and if neglected, the executing community/communities shall be either equally punished, or exiled from the conditions of this document, the decision of which to be decided by the victimized community/communities. This list of rules is as follows—no killings, thefts, setups, betrayal of trust or captives... no form of trade (save for negative energy from Autumn Flier), and no declaration of war. This document is expected to be ammended and shall be updated regularly, through a union of the communities at a disclosed location.” Everyone seemed to be on-board with it, until I glanced at the signatures... There were none. “This thing’s unsigned. You never agreed to these terms, most likely because of the Trix, and the Dogs... is that right, Celestia?” I asked her. She leaned forward and nodded. “Before this treaty, there was all-out-war. The New World Order only sees this document as a means to an end, until something else wipes us out—notice that it doesn’t mention anything on providing for each other should we be in need of aid—they're waiting for us to die.” She said. I couldn’t really do anything but sit back and rub my nose in frustration... “So, then we’re gonna have to have one of these... meetings.” New ProblemsA day had passed since Apple Bloom came knocking on our doors, and since then, Kyle, Blazing, and I were out on a scavenging run, but it was mostly just knowing our surroundings a bit, since everything around us has been picked clean. “Alright-- there’s a bit of a wreck with the bridge up ahead, so just be careful... the last thing we want is someone falling into the river.” Kyle told us, stopping our car and leaving it, taking the keys and disconnecting the battery to avoid it getting taken. I smiled, knowing that I could no doubt fly over the wreck, and Blazing smiled as well, starting to stretch a little... “Gimme a minute.” He said as he backed up... He then ran full-force, jumping onto the support beams and then jumping off of them, rolling onto the other side of the bridge. “Hold on, I’ll find something to help you guys across--” I quickly set my hands on my cousin’s shoulders and began to float into the air, my wings bursting through my shirt as I flew us across the bridge, Kyle letting out a panicked scream. Once we landed, my demon-like wings dissolved, and I set my backpack back on, covering the two slits in my back. “Oh, shit... Well... that’s one way to cross a bridge.” Kyle nervously chuckled, adjusting his jacket. With that obstacle out of our way, we continued on, passing a sunken horde, trapped in a frozen lake, with their heads starting to freeze over... “Icy was through here recently...” I said. Kyle simply zipped up his jacket while Blazing started to put his guard up, his hand resting on his holster. We passed a demolished convenience store, me noting the New World Order symbol frosted into the ground. “Oh, yeah, she was here...” Blazing said, moving over to me as Kyle continued on. I sighed and took a second look at the sight. “So... those wings, where’d you get them?” Blazing asked me, possibly trying to change the topic. I let out a chuckle and shook my head. “They’re genetic... Where’d you learn the free-running?” I asked him. Blazing hesitated, seemingly nervous about the story. “Okay... promise me you won’t laugh.” He told me. I nodded and Blazing cleared his throat. “... Dying Light.” I almost laughed, but I was a man of my word, sucking it in and letting out a silent “huh”. “Really?” I asked, wanting to know more. He tilted his head and nodded. “Yep. Back when the dead were all still running, I went to the old rooftops in Canterlot, surviving by staying off of the streets. It was kinda easy, until other people got involved... then things became a fight. There weren’t many guns left in the city, but I was able to get by on bows and arrows... especially when I learned how to modify--” Kyle held out his hand to stop us, looking up ahead at an abandoned shopping plaza, composed of two stories full of various shops and the various crumbled, walking zombie. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll find supplies here.” Kyle shrugged, overlooking the plaza. We split into two groups, with Jason going alone and Blazing and I working together. We searched the larger upper-floor while Jason went for the lower floor, entering the store which name was washed away, with dirt and moss covering the board—as was the case for the majority of the plaza. “Oh, yeah... this place has been abandoned for a while.” I mumbled, eyeballing the more... adult section of the store. Blazing must’ve noticed me as he chuckled and shook his head. “So... you and Twilight, huh?” He asked me. I turned to him, confused, as we entered an abandoned store. “You know her?” I asked him as he stepped in a wet, crumbled side of the floor and groaned a bit, shaking his boot off. “You kidding? I don’t think I know anyone back at the Cave who doesn’t know Twilight Sparkle...” He said to me. I was definitely starting to get confused, and wanted answers—more than before. “Okay... and how exactly does everyone there know her?” I asked him. Blazing stayed silent as he picked up a miraculously-intact can of food from a high shelf. “I think that’s something you should ask her yourself... You brave enough to eat this? ‘Cause I know I’m not.” He chuckled, tossing the moss-covered can across the store. One store down, several more to go. As we pushed on, I decided to ask Blazing a question that had been bugging me for a while. “So, how do you know Rainbow Dash?” I asked him. Blazing hummed and turned to me, letting out a chuckle. “I was her tutor for a few weeks, back in the old days. It all feels like a lifetime ago, now...” He smiled. I hummed as well and we continued searching, finding nothing but overgrown weeds a few insects crawling inside. “God, I hate bugs... always have.” Blazing commented, swatting a fly away from him. “Back when you were talking with Jason, you said something about modifying... what did you mean by that?” I asked him as we exited the second empty store. Blazing turned to me, seemingly excited. “Ah, I know how to modify melee weapons—make them stronger, give them other abilities... my sword back in the Caverns was modified to use electricity. What I wouldn’t give to hold that sword one more time...” Blazing started daydreaming as we entered the third shop, skipping a few rows due to them being too overgrown to see through... The next store we looked through was different, it was cleaned and not much was growing inside of it. “Looks like someone holed up in here, recently... could be Icy, could be someone else...” Blazing said as he pulled out his knife. We searched through the remains, seeing a small firepit... I put my right hand over it, feeling no heat, and gently rested my index finger into the ashes, feeling no heat. “Whoever was here... they’ve been gone for a while, we should be safe.” I told him. He nodded to me, feeling safe enough to re-holster his blade and start looking around. “Who knows? Maybe who left this place left something else behind...” I said, looking around for any signs of supplies. As we continued, the unanswered question kept nagging the back of my head until I finally gave. “So... you like Rainbow?” I asked him, just wanting an answer. Blazing turned to me, initially trying to stammer his way out of it, but gave in just like I did. “Y-yeah... I do. But I also know that the three of you are together, thanks to the double agent Apple Bloom planted... and look, those favors I did... I did it with the four of them, so I’m in no position to judge... but she’s hot, okay? And I’m going to let her know that.” He said, stepping closer to me. Before I could say anything else, we both heard Jason cry out downstairs, prompting us to run down, with Blazing vaulting over the railing and landing on all-fours, both of us following Jason’s shout to see him in front of a smoking, partially charred... Creature. It seemed like some form of sea-creature, composed of pale flesh with two outstretched arms, with its forearms webbed to its torso, and three tongue-like pincers extruding from its mouth... “What... the hell is that?” I asked whoever was able to answer, but no-one had an appropriate answer. “Some kind of... insect, or something.” Jason guessed, gently kicking it... We would’ve kept walking, but a loud, animal-like roar stopped us in our tracks. I turned to Jason, whose hands started emitting fire, and Blazing pulled out the short, sawed-off shotgun from his holster. “Get ready...” I said as the noises grew closer. From the floor above, a loud stomping rang out as dust fell onto us... whatever was up there was tearing the upper floor apart, letting out a satanic roar as it scurried across, slowly searching the other shops... “That doesn’t sound like a bear...” Blazing whispered. “No... doesn’t sound like any kind of animal...” Jason said as he readied his flame-ridden hands... The monster then began tearing into the floor right above us, large, curved blades stabbing through the hardwood as we all ran out of the shop and the creature tore through it, falling ot where we were only seconds ago. We turned back to the creature from outside the shop, seeing... “What... the fuck... is that?!” Blazing screamed out. The zombie was different, its two arms were extruding from its stomach, it’s head had a massive cave-in on the top, and most noticibly, two extruding arms with the same blades that cut into the ceiling of the shop, caked in blood... I didn’t hesitate as I pulled out my Judge and opened fire into the creature’s head, doing nothing but angering it and taking out its left eye. In response to my bullet-fire, the creature began walking towards us, prompting us to back away in horror, until it began to charge at us, with its arms bending inwards as it charged... Jason then used his fire to conjure and slash out a sharp-enough blade to amputate one of the creature’s arm-blades, seemingly weakening it. “Shit, get the other one!” Jason screamed out. “Blazing, take my machete and get behind it!” I started opening fire onto the other arm, slowing the creature down while handing Blazing my machete. The creature got knocked back, allowing Blazing to drive the machete down into the creature’s other arm-blade, it falling to the ground... The creature only responded by letting out a loud, primal roar, causing the creature’s jaw to break apart, its bones seemingly morphing into viciously sharp fangs as it charged, armless, and leaning forward. Jason then let out a blast of fire, Blazing already out of the way, and pushed the creature back as I shot its legs, trying my damnedest to amputate them. I managed to get its right leg as the monster stumbled to the ground, now crawling towards us, and Blazing responded by pulling out his sawed-off, getting into its face, and shooting it point-blank. Sure enough, the creature stopped moving once it’s face had been emptied onto the pavement. None of us said a word—mainly because of the shock of whatever that monster was... and we all just looked at each other. “Was this the beginning of an alien invasion?” Blazing asked us, unclear whether he was serious or just joking. Neither of us answered, I went up to the creature, noticing that it was still moving around, but it was harmless due to no means of weaponry or defense. “Let’s just burn this place to the ground and get the hell out of here.” I said, not wanting to stay around any longer as I grabbed the creature’s leg with my prosthetic hand just in case it wasn’t completely dead. I dragged the creature inside and looked around for anything flammable, and came across a bottle of vodka... I considered taking a sip, but then decided to just pour it over the ground and the walls and grabbed a used rag, dosing it in what was left, and using the lighter I had on me to ignite it and toss it to the ground. As I walked out of the building, I decided to talk to the only other person I was able to... ‘Aria, you there?’ I asked in my mind, hoping to reach out. Nothing came back for a moment as I signaled the others that we had to move, and as we walked away, I got a response. ‘Yeah? What’s up?’ ‘Have any of your scavengers come across any weird zombies, with blades coming out of their arms?’ Silence again, but for a justified reason. We were just about to approach the run-down bridge from earlier and I wasn’t in the mood to be swooped up by my cousin again... ‘I can’t say we have, but we’ve been getting reports on corpses surrounded by toxic spores from the southern colonies, and rumors of bright lights and strange zombies, so I won’t doubt that happened...’ I was caught by surprise—there're more zombies out there, now? ‘Well, thanks for the heads-up. Hey, think Twilight and I could come down sometime? I have some questions I’ve been meaning to ask.’ I mentally said. No response for a moment, but soon I felt the sensation of someone else’s voice in my head again... ‘Shit... Don’t bother, we’re at your gates and there’s someone just laying here.’ I didn’t need any more temptation to run towards the run-down bridge and jump over it, nailing the landing, and run into the car, fuel the battery back in place, and wait for Jason and Blazing to get in, and drove, speeding down the road... Outside the gates, Aria and Autumn Flier were standing outside, trying to talk to someone who was surrounded by scorched ground and wearing some form of armor, the back of his spine flashing red and his helmet showing three bars of blue light. “...come on, man, just talk to us.” Autumn said, slowly getting closer. I followed him, now hearing that the guy was whispering to himself. “It’s all gone... we were too late...” “We? What do you mean you were too late?” I asked him, wanting answers. He stopped and looked at me, his helmet retracting and revealing a man with green eyes and brown hair, a tad of stubble covering his lower face. “You’re human... is this Earth?” He asked me. Is he from Equestria? That’d make sense... that or he was crazy. “Hey, hey—what's your name?” I asked him. He turned to me, glancing at me and almost screaming to me that he had been through serious shit... “Issac... my name’s Issac Clarke.” Author's Note With this chapter, I am going to put this story on hold for a very short bit, just so I can properly explain the presence of other-dimensional entities in my other story-- Spider-Pip: Sinister Six. Rest assured, I'll be back to this story. Until now, have a glance at what Kyle and his people will need to deal with in the near future. PrisonersI stood by the entrance to the cellar, preparing my first few questions for Jet Set, who we still had locked away after his betrayal... “How many people do you have...? How big is your compound...?” I whispered the questions to myself as I ultimately knew what I might wind up doing... The last time I interrogated someone was all the way back in Sanctuary. Yeah, Frank was an asshole, but did he really deserve what I gave him? I almost killed him, and over what? Yeah, he beat Scootaloo, and that was something I couldn’t forgive... that was why I beat him to a pulp, even after I got my answers... But Jet Set helped get her killed... what if I lose myself again? “Open the gate!” I heard Kyle shout from outside the walls. I turned to see Kyle, that guy from earlier, Jason, Autumn, and Aria bring... someone in. He was shaking, hesitating to take a few steps, and he was wearing... some kind of armor. “Nicholas! We need to get this guy looked at!” I ran over towards them, and as I did, I was able to hear the stranger whisper to himself... what he was saying, I couldn’t make out entirely, I just heard ‘Marker’, and ‘Necro’... whatever that meant. “What the hell happened?” I asked them. Kyle didn’t respond for a minute, and took his breath. “Call for a town meeting... there’s something we need to discuss.” “So... let me get this straight—aside from zombies, witches, and sirens, we now have to worry about aliens?” Celestia asked at the council table. “I don’t know how else to explain what that... thing was. We need to be concerned that there could be more of them around us, and according to what Aria told me, these incidents are happening everywhere...” I said. Aria then stood up and pulled a map from her pocket, setting it on the table and rolling it out, showing the entire country, marked and labelled with safe-zones and threats. The earliest count of these flashes were last month—down south, a form of fungus started growing, it must’ve crossed over with the zombie virus because if you inhale this stuff, you die and then you turn... but not as your average zombie.” She then pulled out pictures of the fungus sprouting over old buildings, with spores pumping out and contaminating the inside. A second photo was of one of these zombies, and the fungus was sprouting out of it, its eyes bulging out of its sockets, and sections of its skin torn open and spores being visible. “Jesus...” I heard Rainbow whisper. “There’s more... over in Pennsylvania, the other colonies reported sightings of a new group of survivors with... unique abilities.” Aria said a she set down more photos, consisting of survivors in robes seemingly manipulating the elements around them to fight a horde of the dead—water, earth, fire, and air... “Incredible...” I whispered. “Wait, what do you mean by other colonies?” Twilight asked. Autumn took a moment before chuckling. “Yeah-- they’re called the New World Order for a reason...” Autumn said as he pointed to the map. “Excluding us, California’s mostly empty. Nevada has some small towns that have been secured, along with Georgia and Alabama. Farther to the north, Montana has a few safe-zones, but we haven't communicated in the last few weeks... Like we said, Pennsylvania’s pretty secure—most of the locals managed to clear the dead out, so the state’s mostly functioning. Texas is the same, as well—in fact, it’s not much different down there than how it was before...” Autumn laughed. I just stared at the map, stunned over how little we knew about the country outside of California... “And how about other nations? Do we know how they’re doing?” I asked, curious for more. Autumn sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, Kyle—but all we know is that the border to Mexico’s empty, and there’ve been more than a few zombies found washed up at Niagra Falls... we’ve heard nothing from anywhere besides from the U.S... as far as we know, we’re all there is. Not a bad start, though.” He said, with a small smile on his face. Sonata, who until this moment stayed silent, let out a scoff. “Gee, if only Adagio could be here to see it...” The room fell silent as Aria started to get up from her seat, but Autumn stopped her. “...I promise you, once this is all over, I will answer for what I’ve done. Not just Adagio, but... all of it.” He said. I decided to step in and add my say. “You didn’t have a choice, the Trix made you do it--” “They just told me to kill someone... and she wasn’t the one I had in mind.” He said, while slightly glancing at Sunset in shame before glancing back at me. We didn’t say anything as Autumn then went on. “I didn’t know who exactly I was gonna hit... hell, part of me hoped I didn’t hit anyone, but what’s done is done, and I’m just the guy who murdered his own sister-and-law who had no reason to save him from the personal hell he was living...” Sugarcoat hung her head at that statement as I heard Autumn’s voice start to crack. “She could’ve just gone on with her plan with someone else—anyone else... I don’t know why she picked me, but she did... and I finally had a family... a better one. And now... I tore it apart. I need to pay for that...” Before any of us could add our input, we felt the all-too-familiar cold in the air... “Shit, they’re here...” Autumn said as he got up from his seat and backed away from the table. Bloom and I got up, glanced at each other, and walked to the door, ready to face their demands again. “You should leave your amulet here...” Bloom said. I nodded and slowly took it off, before immediately feeling weak and tired, my legs giving as Bloom grabbed me. “Probably... not...” I managed as I put it back on and my strength returned. We made our way to the door and swung it open, the light blinding us for a moment before we saw the gates in the distance, and the three familiar silhouettes stood there, our guards visibly trembling in fear. “Ky-le! Let’s have a chat...” The freezing, sinister voice of Icy sang out. We made our way towards the gates as I kept the radio Apple Bloom gave me in my pocket, ready to broadcast our talk to her if need-be. “You’re early... what do you want?” I asked them. Icy stared me down and glanced at my amulet. “You’re looking dull, Kyle... you’re going to have to keep your strength up.” She said as I glanced at my amulet and noticed that it was losing its color. “I don’t think he knows what that means, sister...” Darcy said from her side, evilly smirking as she spoke. I simply stood there confused while Icy set her hand on the bars of our gate, a strong layer of ice covering a singular bar. “Your amulet feeds negative energy—you need it if you want all of those powers you’ve had lately, and furthermore, we need it, as well. I’d suggest feeding off of the girl whose friends we killed—what was her name, Kat?” She cackled as I tightened my fist in rage. They took a moment to sadistically laugh for about a minute until Bloom cut them off. “What do you want?” She asked them. Her voice almost cuts their laughter entirely as their gleeful faces quickly shaped into disgust. After a moment of uncomfortable silence and staring, Icy spoke. “Jet Set—you're keeping him as a prisoner, which violates the treaty.” I glanced over to Bloom and back to the Trix, ready to make my move. “You left him for dead, we’re keeping him somewhere safe, away from others who might to hurt him—he's not a prisoner, but we can’t just let him walk after what he did.” I lied... Obviously, we were going to question him—we were going to squeeze out every ounce of information that traitor had on the Trix. “Careful, Kyle... lying to us is a very bad idea.” Icy smiled as she shattered the frozen bar in her hand. I stood in silence as my hand remained in my pocket. “So, here’s what going to happen.. Either you give us Jet Set, or we’ll tear your little settlement apart and make it look like a work of nature... am I understood?” Icy asked, leaning into the space she made in between the bars... I glanced at her, and back at Bloom once again. “Did you get that?” I asked the open air as my finger went off of the walkie. A moment passed as Icy simply tilted her head in confusion... until-- “Loud and clear, Ky...” Apple Bloom’s angered voice said as Icy’s proud smirk faded, and her eyes widened as she realized what I just did. “You... you...” Icy struggled to say something, but Apple Bloom kept going. “If you three ain’t back here by the time I’m done with who I’m doin’, so help me, I will force y’all back into that damned book I got y’all from, is that understood?!” She screamed in outrage. I held out the walkie, and after a moment, Darcy rose her voice. “Understood...” She scowled while I pulled the radio back as I felt Icy’s cold aura start enveloping me. “Good, and y’all better hurry, cause you’re runnin’ out of ti—oh, fuck... no, no,you're doing great...” She said as I realized what she was doing and quickly shut the walkie off. “Didn’t need to hear that...” I mumbled as I pocketed it and looked back up, only to see that they were gone... “Well-- that could’ve gone worse.” I said as I started heading back towards the warehouse, ready to continue our discussion... Hack... “Fall back, find Dainn, he'll protect us!” Rip... “No, no, don’t--” Tear... “You can’t take us all--” Slash... “Oh, God, oh God--” Smash... “Please... I beg you—show mercy!” Step... the room shook as I grabbed him by his hair and lifted him to my face... “Where was yours?” I then lowered him, clenched my fist, and punched him in the face. Blood shot out of his nose and went on my torn shirt... And I punched him again. And again... And again... And again, and again, and again, and again... My eyes once again shot open as I hear Applejack let out a gasp as I sat up on the bed and panted for breath... “Jason, are you okay?” She asked, setting her hand on my shoulder. I turned to her, realizing that I must’ve been sweating, and I couldn’t answer. “Jason... you haven’t slept for weeks... it’s okay—you can tell me what happened.” She said as she held me in an embrace, one that I returned with tears starting to run down my face... “Are you sure?” I asked her, knowing that she wasn’t ready to hear it... “I’m sure— I wanna hear it, all of it.” She sternly said, tightening her embrace. After a deep breath and a sigh, I prepared myself. “Okay... but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” CaribouAuthor's Note Hey everyone, just wanted to once again add a forewarning that this chapter gets pretty graphic. With that out of the way, I would like to thank EvAnZeGeek, who helped me write this chapter as well as encourage me to come back to this story after a while of leaving it on hiatus. With that, let's get started. Caribou The dark skies of Earth shone down on me as I gently poked the fire while cooking the animal I hunted down earlier. I never thought I’d be back here again… at least not like this. The plan was simple, we wait for the next cadets to be trained and we end the zombie threat once and for all… But I turned my back on Applejack. I didn’t even know if she was still alive, but at that moment? I didn’t even think about her... all I thought about was Clover. But then things got worse. My mother told me the truth about my father… I couldn’t bear to be there and remind her of what he made her do. I wasn’t running away, not again, I just… needed time to think things over, get my head on straight again. As I sat there and slowly removed my dinner, I heard something from the bushes nearby… I turned and saw nothing, so I went back to the task at hand, slowly setting the small creature on a platter… just to hear it again. At that point, I had enough and pulled out my axe, ready to throw it at the next noise I heard. “Who’s out there? I don’t mean any trouble if you don’t…” I said as I looked through the bushes, trying to make out who was out there. Nothing… nothing at all. I slowly lowered my guard, and before I could even get back to my food, I felt a sharp pain in my side as I looked down to see a dart… I heard loud cheers as I felt my vision grow blurry as I saw dark figures emerge from the bushes as I tried to get up and fight, but I could barely stand up without stumbling over. “Yeah! Finally-- we’ve been tracking this guy for hours!” One of them cheered. I tried to swing my axe at him, only for him to step out of my weak swing and gently take it from my hands. “Damn, not a Pet, though…” Another one of them said. “Doesn’t matter-- Dainn was specific once he laid eyes on him-- this one’s an exception.” One other said as I finally fell to the ground, my head spinning as my vision went completely dark… I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was tied down onto some form of cart as I could barely make out what was happening around me… I barely made out women in certain colored collars, wearing virtually nothing and being led around by men like the ones who captured me… Wait-- I knew some of them. I saw Thunderlane from my gym class, Soarin from science, and even Mr. Doodle from my math class… all of them partaking in whatever sick life this was… and the sounds… the begs… It all barely registered to me at that moment as I was soon taken to a room. The light from the glass windows blinded me for a moment. As my eyes focused, I looked to the center of the room and saw someone I didn’t think I’d see ever again… Gaverial, my step-father. “Ahh, Jason… it’s been a long time.” He said as he forcefully tugged on a small leash he had next to his little throne, and… Celestia slowly crawled out on all-fours. She slowly crawled over to him, fear written all over her eyes as she momentarily glanced at me before looking down at the floor and back at Gaverial. “What… did you do?!” I asked as I violently tugged at my restraints, fighting desperately to get free. He only laughed as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. I looked into her eyes and realized what he had been doing to her… I realized what all these people were doing to them. I only watched in fear as I heard the sounds of metal being grabbed as from the shadows, walked Twilight Sparkle, her hair down, her glasses gone, and wearing a one-piece similar to the one Celestia was wearing, save for not being see-through and clearly made of something more metallic, acting as armor. In her hand was a hot piece of steel, bent into an odd shape, almost like… A symbol. “Gaverial, don’t do this!” I cried out as I once again kept pulling on the restraints. “That name is dead to me… from now on, you will call me Dainn! Ruler of the Caribou! Please, Jason, try not to fight back… just let it happen.” He sickly smiled as Twilight walked over to me with a dead tone in her eyes, moved behind me, and pulled up my shirt, leaning into my ear and whispering… “I’m sorry… just hold on…” She whispered as she drove the steel into my back, forcing me to screech out in pain and anger as I stared into Gaverial’s eyes while he slowly tugged on Celestia’s one-piece. I then was yanked away and taken out of the room as I heard it hit the ground… When I was removed from the cart, I was pushed inside a dark room with the door slammed shut behind me. As I slowly felt my way around the room, I hesitantly tried feeling the burn on my back as I realized that the room would barely be able to hold another person with how compact the room was. I was also unable to see a thing as I slowly sat down and began processing everything I was just exposed to… I knew those people-- they were my classmates and some of them were even my friends. Why would they do this? Something so sick and vile? I didn’t have much time to ponder on it as I began to hear someone from a room next to mine. “H-hello? Is someone there?” I heard someone ask, a woman, but something in her voice sounded so familiar… I walked over to the wall I heard her voice from, taking a breath before speaking. “Hello?” I asked back as I heard a faint gasp from her. “Oh, thank God! I was just trying to get back to my family and those… animals attacked me! Wha… what’re they going to do to me…?” She faintly whispered as I felt my skin grow pale as I heard loud footsteps from the hallway down from us. “...I don’t know.” I whispered as her door opened and shut and after a few moments, loud, painful screams rang in my ears as I could do nothing but listen… As time went on, I was soon covering my ears, trying to block it all out… but nothing worked as they just wouldn’t stop… And there was nothing I could do to help. Weeks passed. Every day, my ears were filled with the screams of that poor girl beside me as I was slowly losing my mind, the walls between me and her covered with my scratches and parts of the door scuffed from my kicks. After a while, her screams stopped-- I still... heard it all, but not her screams. And I didn’t even want to know what I was really being fed that whole time… During that time… I changed. I didn’t know how, but throughout the weeks, it felt like I was taking up more space, my breath sounded heavier, and my back still hurts, but now it felt like it was from something else. As I slowly banged my head against the wall, just waiting for those animals to come back to her cell, I heard light footsteps walk past her cell and unlock my door. The door swung open, and I saw the silhouette of Twilight Sparkle. “Jason? Jason!” She cried as she ran over to me, holding me in an embrace. “I am so, so, so sorry! I had to keep the act up long enough to rally the others, but we can escape now, and--” I shoved her out of the way as I walked out of my cell door and kicked her's down… As I scanned the room, the smell hit me first, the odors and stenches as I then saw the stains on the floor, the rackety conditions of the small mattress in the corner as I slowly turned to see the poor girl I had to hear being tortured for so many days… “T-Trixie…?” I barely whispered as I looked to see my evil ex, laying on the floor, her eyes empty, and a black collar around her neck. She slowly looked up at me before looking down on the floor, barely even acknowledging my presence as from behind us, four of those men entered and saw me, backing away in terror. “What the fuck is that--” One of them barely mentioned as I let out a loud scream-- no, a roar-- as I grabbed him by the head and flung him around like a ragdoll, blood staining the walls as I threw him against the mattress. One of them screamed and tried escaping, just to see that Twilight had locked the door with a cold glare in her eyes and he turned around and saw me grab him, lifting him into the air, and tore him in half, his blood and innards pouring onto the floor as I dropped the rest of him. The other two were cowering in the corner as I took one by the back on his head and rammed him into the cell wall. And then I did it again… and again, and again, increasing in strength each slam until his head was a bloodied pancake. The last one, I slowly approached as he quickly pleaded for his life. “P-p-please! We-- we were just having a little fun, that was all--” I took my hand and slashed at his face, digging into the bone as he fell back dead… I then looked at my hand, seeing that my skin was a faint shade of red, and 5 inch claws emerged from my nails… I heard the door open and Twilight looked at my rampage in horror for the briefest of moments before looking back at Trixie, slowly kneeling down to her. “Trixie? It’s me, Twilight… it’s okay, now…” She whispered as Trixie began to bawl into Twilight’s shoulders-- bawl, unlike any cries I had ever heard before and probably since. I slowly walked past them as I realized my surroundings-- it was the prison Gaverial was sentenced to before the world ended… Good-- live like animals, die like animals. “The things they did...oh God...” Trixie said, choking up on her own words while I looked around. This place has got to be the closest to hell you would ever get, and like hell would I leave this place still standing. Every slave they have here… is just more fuel to my rage. “I’m gonna make these bastards pay for what they did… and I’m gonna make sure these people are free.” I said, feeling my rage beginning to fuel up more. The claws came back, my skin started showing signs of fading to red, and I just realized that my grunts were now growls. “Twilight, get Trixie to safety… get the others while you’re out there… I won’t be able to.” I heard Twilight say something but I didn’t hear her because I was already sprinting through the halls, my claws scraping the sides of the walls. I could sense guards nearby and I turned a corner to see two more there, they spotted me and one fell back as another charged at me. I grabbed him by his arm and sliced it clean off as he held his open wound while I grabbed his face and ripped his mouth clean off before striking his friend on the ground in the face with his own fist. I saw teeth fly onto the wall as he screamed in pain, I then sensed a third one coming around the corner, I then grabbed the second guy and threw him at the third guy and I heard a crunch. I ran to the third guy and punched straight into his lower torso area and started ripping his intestines out, I then forcefully wrapped the string around his neck, tied it up and tied it to the ceiling as I saw him hang and choke on his own organs. More of his organs spilled out onto the floor as I grabbed his blade and stabbed the second guard in the hip and then ran to leave him to die. I grabbed the mouthless one’s leg and dragged him across the floor a bit before I let him go after I saw that his facial features had slid off of his head and were smeared across the concrete ground. The more I encountered, the more blood I was bathed in. I sprinted past one guard and punched him as hard as I could, with his head exploding into a pool of blood and shards of skull. I kept sprinting, determined to find that animal and make him pay. I then dragged another guard by his own intestines and accidentally ripped a part of his skeleton out of his own body after I slammed him against the wall, I then stomped his heart as it fell out of his body, staining my shoes. Great, part of me liked those shoes. Throughout the time I was running, I punched through the doors which had slaves inside there, some about to be used. I put a stop to it and they were soon helped by Twilight, doing clean-up if I missed anyone. I could then sense something, Celestia… I had to get to her. I kept running, I rammed right through a guard which caused him to turn into a complete mush of blood, guts and limbs. I gave no sympathy as I saw another one who tried to shoot at me, I then kicked him in the leg, causing it to break and bend the other way, grabbed his gun and unloaded the clip into him, killing him. I then threw his body against the wall and kicked his head in. As I kept running and killing, I could feel myself getting close to Celestia. I then broke through another door… there he was. Celestia was there as well… a bit bloody and her already-torn clothes ripped, wearing only a bra and underwear. And there was Gaverial… unbuttoning his pants but then turned to me and instantly got his clothes back on. I was fuming with rage, I wanted to kill him right there… but I thought killing him quickly was the easy way out. “You son of a bitch!” I yelled at him, he grabbed a knife as he charged at me, I dodged the slash and punched him in the face. Gaverial stumbled a bit and slashed at me, successfully slicing at my chest which gave me a slight cut. I kicked him and dodged the knife as he threw it. “You are going to fucking pay for what you’ve done!” I screamed in a bit of a roar. “What I’ve done? Come on, J, just let this whole thing go and you could easily be one of my top guys!” He ducked as I threw a punch at him, he elbowed me in the back as I then kicked his face which caused a bit of blood to spew out of his face. I punched him in the gut, grabbed him by the leg and sliced his leg a bit, he kicked me in the nose as I then grabbed the door and threw it at him, it collided with his chest. He was flung to the wall, I saw the terror in Celestia’s eyes… I sharpened my claws and grabbed him by his hair, and started punching him in the face repeatedly, I then was about to slice his throat open and force him to swallow his own throat until… “Jason! Jason! Jason, stop!” I heard a familiar voice say, I turned to then see… Chrysalis? I slowly dropped the beaten Gaverial as she, Twilight, Luna, and even Cinch walked out, accompanied by several others wearing black collars. “We can take him to the Kingdom-- he’ll spend the rest of his life rotting in a cell, like what he did with us…” She said to me as she took a moment to look away from the bloodbath I turned his throne room into. I looked back down at him, beaten and bloodied, his nose dangling from his face as I sighed and dropped him to the floor with a thud… As I turned from him, I felt my body slowly change back to normal as my claws faded away… the only thing that stayed were my wings. After a moment, I looked around and the reality of what I did finally came to me… “Oh… oh, God…” I whispered as I fell to my knees, realizing that I broke the vow of Aikido, to never, ever take a life… And yet I did just that today. “And now… you know everything.” Jason said as I slowly looked around to see who was left in the room. Blossom had her hands to her mouth, my father looked down at the floor with his eyes closed and his fists tightened and turning red, and I could barely respond to what I had just heard… “I… I’m so sorry you had to go through that…” I managed, not knowing what else to say. After a moment, Celestia stepped forward, the reason behind her stern demeanor now clear. “I hope you know now why we can’t just charge against the New World Order, not without taking time to rally whatever allies we have and plan a counter-attack… we will not strike first unless we have to. Now go home… all of you, please.” She said as her demeanor broke with her voice near the end of her speech. I knew that Rainbow left earlier so I went to our house and Twilight’s faint cries filled the entrance as I turned to see her being held by Rainbow, her brand visible… “I… I couldn’t listen anymore. Not after hearing what they put him through.” Rainbow said, resting her fingers in Twilight’s hair. I slowly sat on the other side and Twilight soon shifted her position, laying on my lap while Rainbow sat next to me, our thighs touching as we both comforted Twilight… “I’m so sorry I didn’t come looking for you…” I said to her as my voice began to crack imagining the things Gaverial did to her. She sniffled and nuzzled into my leg a tad. “There’s no way you would’ve known I was alive, still, let along being put through… that.” She said. After a moment of pondering, I knew what I had to say. “If either of you… wanna stop this… just say the word, okay? I don’t want either of you to think that you’re… being forced to--” Twilight got off of our laps and stood right at me, leaning towards me as I did nothing but watch. “You listen to me, Kyle Williams-- you are nothing like that monster! You are kind and loving and everything you’ve done has been for the greater good. He only wanted to writhe in his own filth until he died…” She bitterly added as she soon held me in an embrace, one that Rainbow soon joined. “Yeah… what she said.” Rainbow added as I tightened the embrace. “I never once could see how someone could actually do that… and continue on in their life. Someone who acts like they’re invincible but is really weak once they’re finally beaten...” She said, possibly recalling her earlier days at Sanctuary. I knew what I had to say as I knocked on Celestia’s door, waiting for a response. After a moment, her door opened, and Celestia was there, glancing at me with hardly any emotion. “Henry? How’re you doing?” She asked me as I took a breath. “I’m fine, I just… wanted to apologize. I knew Gaverial longer than you were a principal and from the beginning I knew something was wrong with him. I failed Jessica by letting her marry him, and I failed you for not doing something sooner. If I knew he’d become what he did…” I started, unable to finish that statement. She hummed for a moment and sighed, waiting for me to finish my sentence. “...I would’ve killed him.” I said to her. After a moment, she moved from the door and took a step closer. “Would you have been able to have done that?” She asked me. I took a breath, and I answered. “It wouldn’t have been the first life I’ve taken, and I would’ve done anything to protect Jessica and my nephew.” I said to her. Storm (Part 1)Two months had passed since Jason told his story to us, and winter had started to set in... Twilight, Applejack, and Joel were out trying to harvest firewood out in a dead forest to keep us warm for the next few months. As Twilight and I chopped away at logs, Joel and Applejack kept watch until it was their turn as a small cluster of snowflakes slowly floated down to the floor. As they were gathering firewood, I was being trained in my new Siren abilities by Sonata and Aria. “Remember... you’ll have to gather negative energy in order to use these powers, so... just make sure you don't get obsessed with the power, okay?” Sonata asked me. I glanced at her and nodded. “I promise, sis’.” I said to her. I turned towards a nearby roaming zombie and concentrated, keeping my focus on it as I began humming, slowly feeling the energy inside the amulet reach out to the dead creature. After a moment, my amulet began glowing red, and the zombie stood solid, not moving as I stopped for a moment and saw what I did to it. “Hmm. Not bad...” Aria said from the side, crossing her arms as I concentrated again, luring the zombie closer to me. Once it was close enough, I signaled to Joel, and he swung his axe into the creature’s face, splitting it open and staining the heavy iron with its blood. “Hey, Twi’... how’re you holding up?” I asked her. She only responded by furiously chopping into a log, splitting it in half as I simply nodded and went back to chopping and loading. Once we saw that Applejack’s truck bed was filled with logs, we strapped the top of the bed and we all got inside, driving off to return home... as we started driving off, I looked out to see what I thought was a figure in the sky with glowing red eyes... I glanced up again to see that it was gone, probably a figment of my imagination. I had to do this. I had to open that door and ask Jet Set everything he knew—he had been locked up for almost 3 months, now, and we haven’t gotten a word out of him. I took a deep breath and opened the door, seeing him in the cell, sitting against a wall, glancing at me for a second before looking back at the floor... I slowly walked towards him and took a seat by the bars. “Jet Set... you’ve been here for a while, now. I was hoping we could talk about Apple Bloom and her witch friends, at least what you wanna share...” I said to him. He hesitated for a moment before standing up and walking over to the bars. “What is there to say? They abandoned me, after everything I did for them—the missions I carried out for the greater good of the New World Order... but it was all for nothing...” He sighed as he sat and I saw tears flow from his face. “I’m sorry about what happened... but we need to learn more than we already know, please...” His few tears turned into cries as he slowly got up and went back to his corner. “They told me... that no-one would die if I helped them. They lied to me... I want to tell you what I know, but... I’ve seen what happens when you betray them...” He said to me. I couldn’t... I couldn’t push him like I did Frank, not again... “Okay... okay. Take some time, we’ll try again some other time, when you’re ready.” I said to him as I marched upstairs and shut the door, silently cursing at myself for being unable to talk to him. I already knew I wasn’t going to hurt him, but could I stop myself? “Uh... hey.” That guy from the clearing— I think he’s said his name was Blazing— called to me, and he clearly saw me walk out and pace around for a second. “Oh. Hey...” I said back, rubbing the bridge of my nose. After a moment of silence where I thought he left, I sighed and saw that he was still there. “Having trouble with him?” He asked me. “Yeah... I know that I can get him to talk, it’s just... the last time I interrogated someone, I was... in a darker place. It didn’t help that he abused Scootaloo back in the day—the last thing I wanted then was a gentle talk. I almost killed him and I can’t help but feel that I’ll do it again...” I said, venting to someone who I couldn’t help but feel like I knew, but I just couldn’t put my finger on where I knew him from... He sighed after a moment and sat on a nearby bench. “Yeah... I know what you’re talking about. Back at the Caverns, Apple Bloom’s interrogations weren’t so gentle, either...” He said. “No, that wasn’t really the main reason why. Don’t get me wrong, it helped, but like I said, I was in a darker place. I thought that Kyle and my other friends were weak, that they weren’t going to make it... so I snapped.” I said, the memories returning to me of hurting my friends, almost killing Kyle and hurting Fluttershy and Sunset... He nodded, clearly knowing what I was talking about. “I was in 4 groups before I found Apple Bloom’s people. The question just became how long until I was alone again... but do you wanna know why I stayed?” He asked me. I smiled a bit and decided to have a little fun. “Because they slept with you?” I asked. He chuckled for a moment and shook his head. “Maybe a little—but they also believed that this world was... our second chance. We messed it all up the first time and look what happened. Sure, the NWO isn’t any better, but they acknowledged what happened. We can change... we can make things better than how they were, we just have to be better ourselves. And I don’t know anything about what you did, but I think it’s time you recognized how you’ve changed.” He said to me, resting his hand on my shoulder before walking off. As I processed everything he just told me, I felt a hint of heat grow on my face as I slowly rose up and was about to go back down and try again when I heard the gates open and Kyle, Applejack, Joel, Jason, and Twilight entered the gate. “Hey! How was the log chopping?” I asked in a sarcastic tone. “Tiring, also kinda tense…” Joel said as he pulled in the load of firewood… As he unloaded the logs, I stepped over to Kyle and Twilight, with Jason and Applejack not too far behind. “Now all we have to do is install fireplaces—- we should be able to heat up most of these houses before winter really starts…” Kyle said as we all began walking towards our house, with Jason and Applejack heading into theirs. Our... It had been a few weeks of us together and I was finally getting used to it. I knew what we had wouldn’t last forever—there was no way it could. Besides, with how complicated things were between Kyle and I back at Sanctuary... Not to mention that Scootaloo was almost a sister to me... It was probably a good idea not to dwell on it too much. “So how’s your dad? Have you heard from him recently?” Twilight asked Kyle. He smiled and nodded. “Yeah-- he and Celestia had a letter sent the other day. They’re doing good—Celestia wanted to get away from Canterlot and Dad probably wanted to keep an eye on Chrysalis. They said they should be back soon with the final decision about trade between us.” Kyle shrugged, clearly nervous about doing trade with them again-- especially with who’s running the place now. “Either way, I’m glad they got together... they always seemed like a good match.” Twilight smiled as she set her hand on Kyle’s shoulder. Right as we were about to enter the house and settle down for the night, the sound of distant thunder stopped us. We turned to see black clouds forming in the distance—not dark grey like your average storm, but deep black... “That can’t be good...” I said as Kyle looked on as it slowly made its way closer towards us. “It’s the Trix. It has to be, it’s the only thing that makes sense.” Blazing said from his new seat. “Even if it was them or not, we have to go—even if it’s just for a couple days, we won’t be able to survive that storm.” I said to the council. “But where would we go? We can’t just wander around out there during... that." Sunset pondered out loud. It took a few minutes of thinking, but I eventually reached my decision. “Canterlot High. I remember there being a lower level meant for maintenance and stuff like that. I don’t think the Caribou went through there, and it could still be intact.” I said to them. Everyone in the room glanced at me and after a moment of silence, we all seemed to agree. “Yeah-- that could work. It could hold us all and it should be warmer than out in the open, we just have to make our way over there before that storm hits.” Luna said from her seat. “Then we shouldn’t waste any more time—Twilight, spread the word to the others, and Jason, you gather everything you can from the pantry, and Rainbow with the armory—by tonight, we will be in that lower level waiting this storm out.” Kyle said to Twilight, Rainbow, and I. In a matter of hours, we were all out on the road, marching towards the ruins of Canterlot High as snowflakes began to fall. I glanced at Joel and decided to make my way towards him. “Hey, man...” I said, not sure how else to start a conversation between us. After a moment, he glanced at me and sighed. “Hey.” He said back, something in his hands... The tape that Cinch made Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet record. The one that got his family killed... “You... still have it?” I asked him. He didn’t look at me, but he didn’t have to. “Yeah. I do. I don’t regret it, it’s just... this got my family killed and now it’s like it meant nothing... we’re just pretending like it didn’t happen.” He lamented, and I listened to him, stroking my chin as a lot of water had gone under the bridge. “Maybe so, but this is war. All we can afford to do right now is push all that to the side and make sure no-one else has to die. After that? We’ll be sure to properly discuss what we’ve all done and see how we can move forward-- I promise.” I told him as I saw Diamond walk up from Joel’s left. “Hey, Kyle.” She said to me as I glanced at her taking Joel’s hand. “Hey...” I said as I decided to give them their space. Speaking of Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet, I spotted them in the back of the crowd of 64. I walked over to them and decided to make things clear with them. “Hey.” I said to them, staying at their side. “...Hey...” Sugarcoat said, clearly not sure what to say to me. In the corner of my eye, I saw Jet Set with his hands tied behind his back, being escorted by Blossom and Rainbow. “If you think that I’m here to berate you for what he did, don’t. I was... a bit crude with what I said about what would happen if one of you did anything.” I said to them. Sugarcoat glanced at me, and I cleared my throat. “Don’t get me wrong, you’ve both done awful things, and the time will come when you have to answer to them. But we’ve all done awful things to stay alive over the last 3 years, myself included. I just want you to know that whatever comes next... I trust you. So please, please don’t let that be a mistake.” I said to them, not wanting to say much else. Sugarcoat’s eyes widened, along with Sour Sweet, as I simply walked off, catching Jason nearby with Applejack, Rich, and Aunt Jess—with a bit of a baby-bump forming in her stomach. I walked over to the two and decided to catch up. “So, how’re you holding up?” I asked my cousin. He chuckled and tilted his head. “All things considered? Never better.” He said to me. I chuckled along and stayed near them as Joel and Diamond walked past, their hands still interlocked. “Hmm... I don’t really like him.” Jason muttered. I turned to him confused for a brief moment, but then... “Jason... you won’t believe this— I forgot. For a hint of a second, I forgot the shit he put me through, all the days I came home bruised and beaten. All that aside, Joel isn’t that person anymore—he's changed, and he’s suffered like all of us have.” I said to him. Jason clicked his tongue and sighed. “Maybe, but he should still answer for how he treated you.” “But he did. He did the first time we met since the dead started coming back, and believe me, I was as angry as you are now. In that one moment, all I wanted to do was kill him... but I knew that wouldn’t have changed anything. What you did, with the Caribou, that was different—they needed to die, just like the Trix do, but with Joel... he changed. A lot of people can, if you stop and think about it... all we have to do is give them the chance to prove that they’re different than they were.” I spoke to Jason as I saw a few others glance at me during my speech, including Rainbow, Blazing, and Jet Set. After another half-hour of marching, the destroyed high school became visible, just as the sky began growing pure black and thunder began to roar. “Come on, we gotta go!” I said as we all started lightly running towards the building, careful not to trample anyone over as we felt the snow begin to come down harder and harder by the second. We entered the demolished building, with chunks of the roof missing and blood staining the walls as we went along. We found the basement stairs and made our way down—the carts of food and other supplies being carried by Blossom and Buttercup. As we made our way down the flight of stairs, it started getting a tad warmer, most likely because of how deep we were underground, at least 6 feet. Once we reached the bottom, we looked at our new home for the next few days—an abandoned, dirty and somewhat damp basement level, but Celestia was right—there is most definitely enough room for all of us. “Okay, everyone... fan out and get comfortable, we might be down here for a while.” I said as Jason and Sunset signaled to me. We walked over to another room in the basement, away from the others... “What is it?” I asked them. Sunset looked at the supplie cashe and sighed. “We counted what we had before we left Canterlot... we have enough to last us maybe a month, if we ration.” She said before turning to Jason. “Along with that, something doesn’t feel right about this storm—it seems deliberate, like the Trix wanted to wipe us out.” Jason said as a loud boom of thunder rang from outside, scaring us a bit along with everyone outside. “We’re... safe down here, right?” Sunset pondered. I looked around for a second, and Jason nodded. “I volunteered with the Apples down here before I attended, this basement was made to hold the entire student body in case of emergency.” I nodded, thanking him, and went deeper into the basement, pulling out the radio Apple Bloom gave me and turning it on. “Apple Bloom, you there?” I asked, waiting for a response. A moment passed, but I heard the radio static spike for a second before... “Yeah?” She asked me. I sighed for a moment before pushing the button again. “Hey, the Trix know how to manipulate weather, right? I’m asking because we’re in a bit of a storm and could use their help repelling it.” I said to her. Silence. Not a word from her and I spoke again. “Please-- we don’t have enough supplies to outlast whatever storm this is. And if any of us die, you know what that means...” I said to her. Still just silence. Until... “I’m sorry, Kyle.” I sighed, knowing she wouldn’t talk again and pocketed the radio, heading back to the main area, ready to talk to the others. I entered the main area to see almost everyone hunched over and coughing, one person stepping to another room and vomiting... “Oh, no...” I said as I ran over to the others, checking on them, “What happened?!” Jason looked on in horror as he saw Applejack barely standing, and Rich on the ground, pale and sweating. “We don’t know, everyone just... got sick.” Applejack faintly said. Jason held her for a moment before... something changed in him. A purple-ish aura emitted from his eyes and his voice sounded... fused with someone else’s as he laughed and turned to me. “Ah, Kyle... so brave, so dumb.” This new person said as Blazings eyes widened... “Kyle... it’s Darcy!” He panicked as I quickly grabbed him... or her, and pinned... them against the wall. I kept them there as I felt my anger and fear begin to boil over as I took a sharp breath. “What did you do?! What did you do to him?! Tell me!” I screamed at her. She only laughed for a moment before leaning in and whispering. “It’s Anthrax... in the water you made Jason load up.” Like that, I pushed them onto the ground as I turned to see Twilight collapse to the ground, starting to cough up blood... Author's Note Hey everyone, sorry about the delay on this one, got caught up in a vacation and the notorious writer's block. I intend on writing more on this story now that its about to get serious, so buckle up and get ready for closer calls, new characters, and a battle unlike any other. Storm (Part 2)An hour had passed since we learned about the water being poisoned... no-one had died yet, but they were all getting worse. I was pacing in another room, screaming into the radio. “Apple Bloom, please! I am begging you, almost all of my people are sick, and they’re getting worse! Just tell them stop this storm so we can gather medicine, please!” Nothing... the same response I had all day. “Damn it!” I screamed, kicking the wall in anger as I began hearing cries in the quickly-built sick bay. I ran over there alongside Sunset and Oz, who haven’t fallen sick, and saw Sombra holding Luna, lifeless in his arms... None of us could say anything... not until I walked past the other dying patients and made my way to him, with him coughing as he looked up to me. “I’m so sorry...” I told him as he sniffled and gently set her down before lying next to her. “Don’t be... I’ll be with her soon...” He mumbled, closing his eyes and sighing as all I could do was leave him. Outside the sick bay, Sunset, Oz, and the other people who haven’t gotten sick along with myself, were discussing means of finding a way to cure the poisoning. “We need antibiotics—they’ll fight the poison and give them a chance to beat it.” Nicholas said. “Yes, but we need a way to go without freezing to death.” Rainbow said next to me, our hands clamped together under the table. We all then turned to Bloom, who we knew had the ability to shoot fire from her hands. “I’ll do it. I can lead a small group through this storm. Nicholas, do you know where medicine like this would be at?” She asked him Jason was the one who answered this question, much to my pride. He was restrained and chained down to the chair, but he was still willing to help... “When the Caribou raided this place, they weren’t after supplies. Maybe if we’re lucky, the old infirmary here has antibiotics.” He said. Sunset gasped and sat upward. “He’s right! Before the Caribou came, we scavenged a stash of medicine from a vet’s office, and I know for a fact that antibiotics were in there.” She said. I breathed a sigh of relief... it was time we fought back. “Okay. So, a small team goes out to get that medicine, and the rest of us will stay here, helping these people as long as we can.” I said to them. Rainbow tightened her grip on my hand, and I did the same, letting her know that I was staying here with Twilight. “Okay... I’ll help however I can.” Sunset said as she glanced over to Bloom and Nicholas. Rainbow stood up and took a breath. “Me, too.” She said. Next to her was Rin, and she stepped up as well, much to Jess’s dismay. “Rin, you can’t...” She tried to beg her. “I’m sorry, Je--…. Mom, but I owe this. To Scootaloo, Kyle, and everyone in that room.” She said as she glanced at me and smiled a bit. Blazing stepped up as well, raising up his hand. “I owe this, too...” After a moment, I smiled and turned to the group, “Okay... Bloom, Blazing, Sunset, Nicholas, and Rin... you’re our team. Layer up and look out for each other out there... we have no idea what could be waiting out there.” I said to them. With that, the group made their way out, and Rainbow and I made our way to the sick bay, where we saw at least 4 more lifeless bodies with others standing over them. I held back my tears as we desperately searched for Twilight, praying it wasn’t too late... After a moment, we both found Twilight, coughing up drops of blood. I took a napkin from my pocket and gently wiped them away, with Rainbow on Twilight’s other side as she rested her head on her shoulder. “How’re you feeling?” I meekly asked, probably already knowing the answer. She turned and gently smiled. “Better, now...” She said as she weakly set her hand on my cheek and her other on top of mine. I knew they saw us... but I couldn’t have cared less. Not in that moment when I was all she had. I slowly rested my head on her shoulder before closing my eyes, praying to whoever would hear me that she would still be there when I woke up... Please... just once, let her be okay. Bloom was in the front, with Nicholas behind her and Rin behind me. She kicked the door open and we all ran out, with Rin slamming the door behind her as we immediately felt the intense cold... it was unlike any winter I had experienced before... Bloom was quick to remedy this by forming a ring of fire around us, warming us up enough to push on. “Where’s this infirmary?!” Bloom shouted in the screaming wind. “It’s at the other end of the school! We could go out into the open and make our way... that...” She stopped as she looked out the cracked roof to see a figure in the air, watching us with its eyes an intense red... “How about we go through the school?!” Bloom nervously asked as she pushed on. The building wasn’t that big, but it was still a trek to the other half to find the nurse’s office, which was changed into the infirmary. Once we were all inside the one of the very few intact rooms in the school, Bloom shut the door behind us. Nicholas and Rin quickly opened their bags and went through the lockers and drawers, finding nothing... “Come on, come on... it’s gotta be around here, somewhere!” Rainbow cried as they desperately began swinging doors and yanking drawers open. After a moment, I walked past the others, pulled out a bobby pin, and begin picking at a closed lock... After a moment, I heard the click and swung the door open, seeing a stocked shelf of... Pennicilin and Ammoxacilin. “Guys! I found some, come on!” I cried out as the group ran over and let out a relieved laugh. Rainbow was quick to lunge at me in a brief bear hug before awkwardly pulling away and joining to fill the bags with medicine. Needless to say, my face warmed up just a bit. “Okay, that’s everything, come on! We don’t have much time left!” Bloom said as we got into formation again and the door was kicked open. We marched out only to see a pack of zombies blocking us off. “No, no, not now!” Rainbow cried out in rage as Bloom reached her hand out and burned the horde down in an inferno. We quickly ran with the medicine intact, making our way back to the basement, just as I saw a few zombies behind me push Rin to the ground. She let out a cry as I yanked the creature off of her and helped her to her feet, and we all made our way back to the basement, hoping we wouldn’t see any more surprises... I slowly opened my eyes and quickly checked on Twilight, hearing her let out weak, raspy breaths... I then heard footsteps upstairs and I felt a rush of energy, gently getting up and running out to the door, ready to swing it open for them. As I pulled the door open, I saw the group in the distance and formed a big smile on my face... Before a rush blew behind them and a bloody paste formed where Nicholas was. I turned to see a large indent in the wall at the end of the hallway and what must’ve been that figure I saw earlier, wearing a striped tan shirt torn at the sleeves, a red cape, and a tattered, hand-stitched red mask, with small eyeholes revealing human eyes... Bloom didn’t hesitate to shoot him with a blaze of fire, causing him to shout in surprise as she simply screamed... “Run!” She said to the group. They all quickly ran into the basement with me at the door. I looked out to see Bloom shooting fire at the mysterious figure before it flew through the roof and tried going behind her. She quickly turned and surprised him with a puff of smoke, causing him to fall to the ground and cough. “Bloom, come on!” I said to her. Bloom turned to me and shook her head, forming two fireballs in her hands and attacking the figure. After a moment of hesitating, I shut the door, locking it and slowly making my way back down to see Sunset putting the medicine in syringes and handing them out to people to go through the sick bay. “Here, give this to her.” She said, handing me a syringe. I didn’t hesitate as I ran into the bay and found Twilight, injecting her arm and having it enter her bloodstream. “Here... it’s going to be okay, now... it’s over...” I said as I slowly looked at the lifeless bodies now piling up in the sick bay... After we counted up the fatalities, Nicholas, Luna, Sombra, the Tests, Keita and his girlfriends, and a vast majority of our people were dead, leaving only 25 of us out of the 64 that came here. I peeked through the semi-opened door to see Blazing shaking as he talked about what happened to Nicholas. “I don’t know what happened, one minute he was there, and the next, he was gone, and the blood--” He started ranting. I then turned to Rin, who handed out a syringe before glancing at her shoulder... Where a bite mark was visible. She glanced at it, gasped for a second, and a tear flowed down her cheek before she wiped it away and injected another sick survivor. I kissed Twilight’s forehead and got up to talk to her, wanting to know what we should do about it. “Rin...” I started, before she sighed and didn’t even look at me. “I know, Kyle... I know. But it has to wait... it just has to...” She simply said, her voice shaky. I nodded and left the sick bay, ready to talk to Apple Bloom another time... but my rage was more than visible as my necklace began to glow. “We managed to find some antibiotics... so I guess there’s that. But almost all of my people are dead... dead, Apple Bloom, and not to mention that some Superman wannabe turned our doctor into paste! So, you want a war, Apple Bloom? Then congratulations—you fucking have one.” I said as I took the radio and threw it into the wall before stomping it into small pieces... The TrekThe storm lasted for a whole other day, and in the second day, we managed to bury everyone who had died from the Anthrax. Those of us that were left were either recovering or mourning... but we all knew the same thing—we couldn’t go back to Canterlot, not like this. After the sick started getting better, we did a census on who survived... it wasn’t many. Twilight, Joel, Oz, Diamond, Jet Set, Filthy Rich, and Sugarcoat and few others got sick and got the antibiotics while Sour Sweet, Jason, Applejack, Blossom, Issac, Sunset, Dexter, Aunt Jessica, Blazing Waters, and I didn’t get sick. After a whole day of pondering where we should go... we all had the same answer. The Imperium. Crystal Prep brought up too many bad memories for some, and the Sector was military personnel only, so it was our only option. On the second day, we started packing what we had again, with Jason still restrained due to Darcy possessing him again in the middle of the night. We all gathered at the grave sites just above the school, where rows of freshly dug dirt and wooden graves with the names of the dead written on them... Gary, Luna, Sombra, Nicholas, Buttercup, Sour Sweet and countless others... I walked over to the four’s graves, uncertain of what to say... “I didn’t know Luna as well as others here did... but from what I gathered, she was brave and compassionate. Am I right about that?” I turned to the crowd of about 25, who mostly nodded. I glanced at Sombra’s... “Aside from... you-know-who, Sombra was the other teacher who was nice to me. And unlike you-know-who, he never had some twisted motive, he was just—he was just that good of a man.” I choked up... Nicholas was next... “Nicholas said he wasn’t always as who he was when we knew him—but I’d say half of us were on the same boat as him. He didn’t deserve this... none of them deserved this.” Finally, Gary... Gary. “When it...” For a brief second, I lost my voice. It took a moment, but I collected myself and went on. “When this started... I had nothing left. I had no-one left... if someone told me on that roof all those years ago that I’d get home to the zombie apocalypse... I would’ve just jumped off.” I weakly chuckled, hoping it’d light the mood the tiniest bit. It didn’t. “But after it all happened, in the year that followed, Gary helped me. Did any of you know that he was a veteran? Because, trust me, I didn’t. He taught me how to survive—scavenging, hunting, things like that... and when it mattered, he got me here. He gave up his place at Canterlot just so I could be let inside. I can never forget him doing that—making that sacrifice, it’s... it’s something we all have to do at one time or another. It felt like he just... kept on doing it, almost every day—when I got sick with the flu, to when that horde took our hometown for a couple of weeks... I’d be dead without him...” An hour passed of us paying our respects and saying our goodbyes before we were ready to finish packing and head out onto the still-icy roads and make our way to the Imperium, maybe a two-day hike from the high school... but it was one we had to make. We started that afternoon, after our supplies were packed and carried out of the basement by Applejack and Rainbow. The walk out of the school was a tough one, with no sign of Bloom anywhere, save for scorch marks on the walls and demolished walls where the red-masked freak probably smashed through. Rubble blocked our way more than once, but we managed to clear a path and soon after, we made it to the ice-covered roads. Needless to say, a great deal of us slipped at first, before getting our footing and slowly walking the path, with snow up to our ankles... Despite the cold, Rin was sweating droplets and her skin was turning pale as Jess and Rich helped her walk, their faces showing how destroyed they were... When I heard Rin call my aunt her mom, it caught me off-guard... but after I talked to Jason, it all made much more sense—why Rin was in charge, the formation of the Kingdom, all of it. Speaking of Jason... I turned to see his hands tied to his request with Applejack next to him, resting her hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t said a word since Darcy possessed him the other day... I turned back to see Joel and Diamond, apparently my step-cousin, who both got sick and thankfully survived. Their hands were interlocked again, but this time they stayed that way the entire hike, from the first second we left to the night in an abandoned mall just outside of Sanctuary. While we were setting up camp for the night, Blazing pulled me aside and taught me and a few others how to melt snow into drinking water, using some of his own supply of drinking water that he thankfully kept to himself until now. After about an hour of gathering snow off the ground and icicles from the ceiling, we were able to provide fresh water for everyone while we ate what was left from the pantry, thankfully not poisoned. That night, everyone stayed in separate shops with Joel and Diamond in an old Hot Topic, Jess, Rich, Applejack, Jason, and Rin staying in the food court, with the former two restrained just in case, and Twilight, Rainbow, and I were huddled up in an old Sear’s We knew Rin wouldn’t turn that fast—bite wounds most often take a few days before they turn someone, very much like the ordinary Rabies strain. Regardless, she was already rasping and her fever was 105. As the Twilight and Rainbow slept, my eyes were still open, and I decided to reach out to Aria... Hey. A minute passed of no response before... Kyle? We saw that storm, we’re already reaching out to the Imperium, those savages won’t get away with this... I’m sorry we couldn’t help.. You’re on the other side of the county, there was nothing you could’ve done. All that matters is that some of us survived... and we will have our voice heard. I think it’s time we had another meeting between all of the communities. A few more seconds passed before Aria’s voice was heard again. I agree. I’ll take it to Autumn in the morning—you guys get to the Imperium, first. I mentally nodded to her and soon found my eyes beginning to close... A few hours into our second hike, the snow had started to melt, now down to our toes, making it much easier to walk. At this point, most of us were a tad parched, but we couldn’t stop to gather and boil more snow. We were just outside the Imperium’s border when I glanced at what looked like a horse along with one of the armored Knights riding down towards us... “Kyle Wiliams! What brings you and this... delegation to the Imperium?” The knight asked, guessing why we were all out here... Whether it was the looks on our faces or Rin’s bite mark, the Knight slowly removed her helmet, revealing a teen about my age, with a purple mohawk, purple skin darker than Twilight’s, and a scar running down her left eye... “We’re all that’s left... the Trix poisoned our water, and sent an assassin to wipe us out...” I said to her. Silence for a moment, before the knight sighed in shock. “Shit... Come—I'll escort you all to the Imperium.” She said as she tugged on the reins, her horse now moving at our pace... We were about to head out when we saw a large pack of dust beginning to form in the far distance... “What... is that...?” I asked, trying to make out what it was. The knight seemed nervous as she hopped off her horse and pulled out a pair of binoculars, removing her helmet and scoping out the dust trail... “Holy shit...” She whispered as she slowly handed me the binoculars, and I looked to see... An ocean of the dead... some of them were what Issac called “Necromorphs”, and even a few new ones, some having fungi growing on them with others glowing a dark-purple color... but it was the same—we had to move if we were going to miss them. “We should keep moving.” I said as I handed the knight the binoculars and we quickly started hiking again, this time with this knight guiding us... Once we reached the gates, I glanced at Twilight and Rainbow, who were both right next to me and the gates began to open, my dad and Celestia at the other side... “What do we tell her...?” I asked Twilight. She took a deep breath and took a step forward, with my dad walking over to me with a smile on his face... before looking out to see how many of us there were... “What happened?” Was all he asked before I saw Celestia look out into the crowd, most likely looking for her sister... “Luna? Luna?!” She cried out desperately before I glanced at my dad and shook my head, letting him know she didn’t make it. He was quick to pull me in for a hug, which I returned until he pulled away and walked over to and embraced a sobbing Celestia... The rest of us couldn’t say anything, most of us looking down to the ground. “Where’s the cellar? Darcy possessed me, I can’t let her hurt anyone else.” Jason said to a random guard who confusedly pointed him to the direction of the castle... How could I have been so stupid? I should’ve known that while my mind was somewhere else, they would be inducing some kind of possession spell on me. But I won’t let them get through again, not if I can help it. With my hands tied behind my back, I entered the castle, where Chrysalis was on the throne, quick to recognize me. “Jason... I heard what happened at Canterlot, I’m so sor--” “I need to be locked up. Darcy—one of the Trix-- put some kind of spell on me, made me...” I choked up in my hysteria, still having no memory of poisoning the water. “She used my body to poison our water supply.” I simply said, not knowing how else to explain it. Chrysalis glanced at me in pure silence, not knowing what else to say except... “If you think this is what’s best, I won’t try and stop you—but say the word, and we will be down there with the keys.” She said as she rose from the throne and led me down the side door, into what must’ve been the new dungeon. As I walked down the dark stairway and reached the rows of empty cells, I found a random one and opened it, entering the cell with Chrysalis hesitating to close the door behind me. “You don’t have to do this, Jason... maybe we can reach out to your Red Fountain friends--” “Don’t worry—that’s my plan, but for right now, I can’t be trusted. No matter what I say, no matter what happens... keep. Me. In here.” I said. She glanced at me before nodding, shutting and locking the cell door before leaving the dungeon, most likely to talk to the others... Silence. Pure, unfiltered silence. I sat back onto the floor and rested my head on the mattress, trying to summon all the willpower I have to call out for her... Darcy. No reply—maybe our “bond” isn’t like Kyle and Aria’s... I can live with that. “Who’s there...?” A weak voice croaked out. That voice... it sounded familiar. I didn’t say anything, not wanting to get friendly with whoever that was... “Jason? I-is that you?” The same voice called out, only this time... in fear. It clicked to me faster that the lock of the cell door did—it was Gaverial... “Shut up...” Was all I said to him as I hopped on the decent mattress and closed my eyes... I slowly entered the throne room, seeing Chrysalis massage the bridge of her nose, probably not hearing me open the door. “Chrysalis.” Was all I said to get her to look up in surprise. “Kyle...” She said back, and I didn’t waste any time to say what I went there to say. “My... our son was brought here with my dad. I’m thankful he didn’t have to see what happened... or that he didn’t die along with them... but don’t think this is me saying ‘thank you’-- because it isn’t. You lied to me, manipulated me-- you fucking marked me!” I said, showing her my shoulder-bite. She didn’t say a word, her face didn’t change, and she didn’t even flinch, almost as if she was waiting for this conversation. “I can never forgive you for what you did... but that doesn’t change the fact that your people are the only chance we have against the New World Order. As I went to walk away, I heard Chrysalis call out. “I know you can’t forgive me—and you shouldn’t. What I did then never left my mind... I don’t know why they look up to me, when there’re far better people with less... sinful pasts.” She said to me. I stopped, and a very faint smile formed on my face, only seeing myself in her words. “Maybe it’s... how we make up for what we did, what steps we take to repair the damage we caused. Maybe that’s it...” I said as I walked out of the large throne room doors and two guards closed them behind me. SacrificeA day had passed since the Imperium had taken us in. In that time, Rin had only gotten sicker, but she was well enough to visit her brother’s grave, redone after the truth of his sacrifice reached the kingdom. “I’m... sorry, brother... so sorry... for everything...” She rasped, with tears flowing down her cheeks. We stood there, both of us taking a moment to mourn Len—of course, I didn’t know him nearly as well as she did... but he had a good heart. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did. “I think we should go...” I said to her as I helped to her feet and led her back to the infirmary. On our way back, she let out a small chuckle. “It’s funny... back when I was ruler here... I had no idea you were related to Jason...” She said, laughing to herself a bit before her laughs devolved into coughing fits. As I helped her back inside, I glanced at Diamond using her staff, practicing her forms and glancing back at us before looking away, her form now slightly shaken. “Hey.” I said to her. She stopped and turned to me, a faint smile forming on her face. “Hey, Kyle...” I glanced at the staff, somewhat recognizing it. “That was Jason’s, right? He taught you all of that?” I asked her. She smiled again and slightly nodded. “Yeah... I can’t count how many times this thing saved my life once I found it again.” I let out an awkward laugh as we both soon took a seat in the grass, neither of us knowing what to say to the other. “So... how’s Rin doing?” She asked after a minute of silence. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. She doesn’t have long left, but she still seems so... strong. We’ve had a few bite victims at Sanctuary, and at this point, they’d be unable to move, but... Rin isn’t giving up.” Diamond did nothing but sigh, still sitting on the grass ground of the Imperium. “I... just wish I was better to her... I always acted like she didn’t exist—we all did. What she turned into here is on us—my mother and I. It’s safe to say we both got our upcoming in the end...” She grimly added. What could I possibly say to that? It came out of nowhere, and I knew exactly what she was talking about. “I’m gonna check on the others... wanna come with?” I offered her. She shook her head and I left her to her thoughts, which may not be the best idea... Pain. It was the only word that could describe the only thing I felt, writhing around in the infirmary bed, tied down to avoid infecting anyone once I turned... The anger... I was told that when the infected get bitten, they start showing symptoms of Rabies, like frothing at the mouth and rage-filled episodes... I’ve felt the rage recently but did my best to soothe myself. I told them not to put me down, at least not until it was done. I wanted to make every second I had left count. As I heard my tent’s curtain open, I glanced up to see one of the Imperium’s many doctors entering and shut the curtain behind him. “I’m... not so certain if you remember me...” He said as he looked over and picked up a scalpel... “...But I remember you. I remember how you ordered your soldiers to wipe out my camp after we refused to pay tribute to you.” I stayed silent, knowing exactly what he meant... I had no excuse and not even a reason for what I did to them... As he crept closer, his figure began shifting into Spoiled’s... or at least what I could perceive as Spoiled. “I know... saying ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t going... to change anything...” I managed, my voice snarling as I did. The doctor sighed, his voice changing into my not-mother's... “No. No, it isn't.” Her voice said as the doctor approached, raising his scalpel in the air... Only to be cut off by a knife being placed across his neck. “Put the scalpel down, doctor. Now...” Chrysalis’ voice ordered. He froze in place, unable to say anything as he dropped the blade on the table, tears slowly flowing down his cheeks. “I... I’m sorry...” He managed as Chrysalis summoned two guards to take him towards the castle. Chrysalis glanced at me and took a seat next to me. “I’m sorry about that—I should’ve known a guard detail would’ve been needed.” She said to me. I didn’t really respond at first, I only let out a weak scoff. “I’m dead, anyway... just... promise me that you’ll bury me... next to my brother...” I managed to ask. Chrysalis’s face carried shock, but she nodded and left to most likely find a few guards to watch over me. My vision grew blurry again as in the tent, I saw a silhouette of... “Rin...” I heard Len whisper in front of me... I ignored him and closed my eyes, knowing he was just a hallucination. “You’re not there... I know you’re not...” I whispered back. He walked aside me and chuckled to himself. “It’s funny—these people mowed through your friends’ old home, killed men, women, and children, and now... now Kyle’s risking what he has left by bringing them back here.” Len chuckled. Whatever happened after we left Sanctuary, they learned their lesson-- that was plain to see. “He doesn’t have a choice... he’s doing this for his family--” “What do we know about family? We barely got to meet ours-- Jessica abandoned us, twice, and Filthy treated us like outcasts.” Len said. “They had... no choice.” I reminded him. I glanced around at the very few of us that were left... there weren’t many. I glanced to see Sunset talking with Oz from the lineup. After a moment of them sitting and talking, Sunset soon rested her head on Oz’s shoulder, with him wrapping his arm around her. I smiled at Sunset finally at peace after so long and kept looking for my father... I soon found him alongside Celestia at Luna’s grave, right alongside Sombra’s, where Chrysalis stood and seemed... distant. I walked over to them and looked at the gravestone, not knowing what to say or do other than just... being there. “...Did she... did she suffer?” Celestia asked me. I shook my head. “No... she was one of the first. It was fast... I promise.” I said to her. Celestia let out a relieved sigh as my father rested his hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer. "I know you have questions... come and see us later—I'll answer whatever questions you have...” Dad said as we went our separate ways. As I walked through the streets of the Imperium, past houses under construction and people passing by, I eventually saw a familiar face being escorted back to the castle... “Jet Set.” I called out to him. He glanced at me and sighed, his arms tied together and a Knight guarding him. “They offered a walk out of my cell... I decided to take it.” He said. I nodded and before I could walk off, he looked to the floor and said, “I didn’t want anyone to die... that was why I took the deal—I keep them informed on what we’re doing, when we’re doing it, they won’t attack us. But in that time, Celestia was stabbed, Adagio was killed by her own brother-in-law, and... well...” I didn’t respond as he took a breath and continued. “I know I made a mistake—now more than ever. I also know that I have a shitload to atone for—me and the other Shadowbolts—and I’m ready to do my part, whatever it is. So, whether you want to pull whatever secrets you want or if you need someone cleaning up the dead, fuck, I’d even clean out the goddamned latrines if this place has any... whatever you need me to do or share with you... I'll do it.” I woke after a little nap I had wound up taking, with the passive-aggressive vision of my brother now gone, and the voice of Spoiled Rich took his place, her eyes stabbed from the brutal fight we had all those years ago. “Rin...” Her voice called to me. I ignored her and took deep breaths, desperate not to give in to my rage and let the infection take hold. “Rin Kagamine Rich, you look at me when I am speaking to you!” Spoiled’s voice roared to me. I glanced at her as my blood slowly boiled at seeing the monster who masqueraded as my mother for my entire life. “I have nothing to say to you... you’re lucky Jason killed you instead of your prisoners...” I rasped. She let out a laugh and shook her head. “I almost had him... I was this close... but then Jessica had to come back and ruin everything—again! And look where that got you—dying on a stretcher amidst my achievement... not yours, not that child molester, and not Kyle Williams’. Mine!” She screamed as she slammed her hand on the medical table, nothing on it moving because... well... “You’re not real... I don’t give a single shit what you have to say...” She chuckled and shook her head. “You know... that horde isn’t much farther... we both know how hordes like that work, they’ll tear through anything in their path, including this place...” She said as I already knew this... I chuckled at her suggestion before an idea popped in my head... “Oh... I like you’re thinking... Unleash Hell.” I saw the scalpel on the table and reached for the scalpel with my fingers, almost cutting them as I had to grab it by the blade-end. I managed to flip the scalpel around and grabbed the handle before I sawed through my cloth restraints, trying not to cut my wrists as I went. Once my one hand was free, I easily cut through the other, getting up and walking out the tent. I saw the gate and glimpsed at the dust from the horde somewhat growing closer. As I walked out the gate, I felt a hand go on my shoulder as I tensed a bit... I turned to see Kyle standing there, seeming somewhat cautious. As we stood there, others surrounded us, including my mother “I... I have to lead them away. I can lead them right to Caverns, and... I owe too much to these people...” I told him. He looked out at the horde and back at me, slowly taking his hand off my shoulder. I slowly walked towards the gates, that opened and soon closed behind me as I slowly marched down the road, the clouds of dust growing closer and closer... The FuneralThe castle dungeon door opened with a loud clank as I marched down the stairs, walking down the mostly-empty cells... Aside from Jet Set, another prisoner, and Jason, the row of cells was empty. My father and I reached the end of the cells and saw two prisoners, one hidden in darkness, and Jason, sleeping in another side. “Jason...” I called to him as my son turned to the other prisoner. “Did he move at all? Say anything?” He asked him. He moved into the light and shook his head, with me immediately recognizing him... “Gaverial...” I clenched my teeth and fists as I was half-tempted to open his cell and kill him... He glanced at me and I saw his pupils dilate as Kyle’s hand went to the cell door... but he slowly moved it away and simply glared at him. “You have a reserved place in Hell for what you did, you sick son of a bitch...” He spat at him as I went to help get Jason out of his cell for Rin’s funeral... I woke him up and he turned, with me knowing exactly what to ask... “Where were you for your 14th birthday?” He glanced up at me and let out a chuckle... “I was in the hospital, recovering from a gunshot.” He said to me, gently holding his side as he does. I smiled for a moment but sighed when I recalled what I had to tell him... “Rin’s gone... come on—you might want to be at the funeral.” I said as I helped him to his feet. I glanced at Kyle and asked him to take Jason up to the grave, and as he did, I turned to the disgusting creature I was forced to call my brother-in-law... “H-Henry...?” “If you get out of that cell, for any reason at all, I will give you a slow... painful death.” I whispered to him as I walked upstairs, leaving him to rock himself back and forth... The funeral service was held in what felt like the afternoon. As we all stood over the pair of graves, one marked “Len”, and a recently made grave marked “Rin”, we all looked at an undug plot, Meiko took a step forward. “I was... I was part of Spoiled’s rule of the Kingdom, in the beginning. Just ask Jason how awful it was—starvation, slavery, workers and citizens being taken from their families... and I really don’t want to remember the horrid Cage...” I glanced to the side as I saw Jason hold his tied hands together and look down at the floor as Rich sets his hand on Jason’s shoulder, the two possibly recalling old memories... “...Rin, was not much better. Sure, she didn’t kidnap people from their homes, nor did she starve her people, but she had a sense of cruelty unlike anything I’ve seen before or since. For the longest time, I believed that it was her true face... when her brother gave his life so she can live, and Rin was given a true chance to find her own path—we were all proven wrong. I was personally proven wrong when the Yowane and the Traitors attacked Kyle and a few other survivors from Sanctuary—one of them being Rin. She could’ve killed me, but... she didn’t. This far from forgives her actions, but... it meant something. Say what you wish about her, but her rule of the Kingdom led us to the Imperium we live in now. Goodbye, Rin Kagamine... your body is finally put to rest.” She said as she stepped back. After a moment, I stepped forward and took a breath. “Rin... I swear to you that the Trix won’t survive to see the thriving community we’ll build on the foundations you and your mother set in place, no matter how unstable they were.” I promised... The rest of the funeral went about as expected, with Jessica unable to say much through her tears and the rest of us saying our goodbyes. Afterwards, I was brought to the pantry alongside Twilight and Sunset, where we saw how dire the Imperium’s rations were... “We were already struggling to keep our people fed, and now that we have your group, we may have to scavenge more and farther out than we have been.” Thorax said as he grabbed a map from a shelf and rolled it out on an empty table. We looked at it and saw the ‘X’ marks on scavenged locations, with Sunset looking at an old food drive. “How about there?” Thorax looked at it and stroked his chin... “I don’t think we’ve checked that place out, yet, so there could be supplies there.” He said. Aside us, Rainbow took a step forward and glanced at Sanctuary. “There isn’t much left at Sanctuary, but I know there’s something there that could help us against the Trix.” She said. I glanced at her and she took a sigh. “In Everfree, we found these... Geodes, that gave us powers. We left them there during the... well... attack.” She said. We all took a moment to look at each other before our minds were made up. “Okay... there’s also another group up north that could help us. We’d hear rumors about their leader, creating crystal out of thin air. We didn’t believe them before, but it could be worth checking out...” Thorax said. Now came the difficult part. “Okay, so we have a food bank, Sanctuary, this northern group to talk with, and Jason needs to be cured... how do we do this?” I asked. We all thought on the idea until others started volunteering. “I can go with Rainbow to Sanctuary—I've heard stories about that place, never checked it out...” Blazing said. I couldn’t help but smile a tad as I nodded to him. “I’ll go with my cousin to get him treated, most likely alongside my family, and all that leaves is to discuss who will search that food bank and who can go to negotiate with these... Northerners.” I said. After a moment, Sunset stepped forward. “I can go to negotiate with them, I’ll take Twilight and Riven along with me if I have to.” She said. I once again nodded and our groups were set. “Alright, pack up, we’re heading out at sunri--” I froze, feeling a familiar presence outside the walls... “Kyle? What is it?” Twilight asked. With my niece-in-law in the ground, I let out a grief-striken sigh as I turned to see Chrysalis, the woman who manipulated my son in his darkest hour, sitting over another grave-- Sombra's grave. I stepped over to her, not saying anything for a moment before opening my throat... "I heard stories about what you've done, here-- all the good you did for these people..." She didn't turn to face me, most likely knowing what I was here to say. "But just know that it doesn't change what you've done to my son. Whether or not history remembers it, I couldn't care less, but just know this-- you have to work with my son, and I understand that. But if I get the notion that you are interested in him the way that you were back then-- when he was just a fucking child-- I will kill you without a second thought. Is that understood?" She finally glanced at me, tears running down her cheeks, and managed to nod. As I walked away, I saw Kyle and the others running toward the gates, with me deciding to do the same, wanting to see what was going on... After feeling their presence, I quickly ran to the front gate where I saw Icy, Darcy, Stormy, and the boy from the storm who possibly killed Bloom. Rage flooded my body but I managed to swallow it, but just barely. “What do you want?!” I called to them. Icy only smirked as she looked over the survivors of Canterlot... “There’re fewer of you than I expected. I guess Jason did his job well...” That comment didn’t help my anger one bit. I tried to draw my gun up, but the boy in the mask stared at me for a moment, and soon my mother’s gun was on the ground, sliced in half... “No...” Icy smirked at the boy’s precision and set her hand on his shoulder. I glared at his eyes, and from his stance and height, he seemed to be a year or two younger than me, and I could hardly see any humanity inside of him, no matter how hard I looked... “Nicely done, Brightburn. I believe it’s time we discussed negotiation... you think we’re idiots? I saw your face after we drained you and killed your friends. You wanted blood—our blood—and I can’t say that I blame you. But that... can’t stand. Surrender to us, or we will have no choice but to--” Icy was cut off by some mysterious force beginning to tighten her throat as she let out desperate gasps of air as she was soon levitating in the air as the others watched in shock... The two other witches turned to see Apple Bloom walking toward them, her hand outstretched and slowly tightening... “I trusted y’all with one... simple... task... and not even that was possible!” She screamed, her voice inhumanely deeper than before... Icy turned to her allies, but they did nothing but cowered as Brightburn slowly walked over to Apple Bloom. “Thank you, Brightburn... at least someone could follow orders.” She said as she rested her free hand on the side of his masked face, much to the anger of Icy. Apple Bloom squeezed a tad harder, prompting Icy to pass out as she was set free from Apple Bloom’s grasp. Darcy and Stormy slowly kneeled before her, but by the look on her face, it wasn’t enough this time... “Kyle Williams, I would like to take a moment to sincerely apologize for what they did... I may be cruel, but I’m a woman of my word--” My rage boiled over, and I was tired of hiding it. “If you’re lucky, this is the last time we ever talk to each other. Take them back to your cave and stay there.” I growled. She showed shock for a second, but turned right back to a scowl. “Very well, Kyle... it’s been fun—until we meet again.” She said as she turned away, grabbing Icy with her power and dragging her across the dirt as Darcy, Stormy, and Brightburn all followed suite. “Oh! And I think this belongs to you, Blazing.” She said as she shot a sword out from her side, with it landing right next to him... With that, they walked away, hopefully to never be seen again. An hour had passed since Trix and Apple Bloom showed up, and as the groups packed up to leave, with Kyle kissing Twilight goodbye and Blazing packing up alongside Rainbow Dash, I spotted Clover packing with Issac and Kat... “Clover.” I called out to her. She stopped and glanced at me, shortly before looking away. I can tell that it wasn’t out of spite, but out of shame... “Look, I get that we don’t know each other that well, but... thank you.” I told her. She stopped, confused, as she turned to me. “For what?” She asked. I let out a sigh and took off my hat to try and straighten my hair. “For bein’ there for him. The world ended—neither of us knew if the other was alive or dead, and I couldn’t stand if he was looking for me the rest of his life. So thank you... for bein’ there for him when I couldn’t. Just don’t let the awkwardness of it all ruin the friendship you two clearly have...” I barely caught Clover smiling as she hopped into the group’s assigned jeep and they drove off... I turned back to see Kyle, Henry, Rich, Jessica, and Jason all walk out into a bigger car, with Jason restrained for safety. I walked towards them and got in with them, seeing that Darcy was possessing Jason again. “You can’t save him... I hope you know that.” She said through him, his eyes gently glowing purple for a brief moment. I responded by putting a gag over her and shutting the door behind us. “So... who’s ready to see another world?” Henry asked rhetorically as he started to drive out the gates and into the untamed world alongside the other vehicles... Turmoil“Do you know how close we were to starting a war with the goddamned One?!” I frustratedly asked the three witches before me, none of them really paying attention to me. Darcy was the only one who actually acknowledged me, by letting out a sigh. “Do you really want Jet Set spilling all of his beans? Wouldn’t that tip the scales in their favor?” She asked. I almost shouted, but I stopped, knowing that it was pointless. “If I have to hear from Kyle that y’all were tryin’ to push him into conflict—I will make sure it won’t happen again, am I clear?” Icy scoffed at me, and I made my rage known. “It’s not like they can do anything—all Kyle knows how to do is move the dead around, and Jason’s harmless, he wouldn’t hurt a fly if it was trying to kill him.” Rage enveloped me as I let out a scream and slammed my mace into the floor, cracking it as the witches quickly stood in place, showing fear... “Do I need to remind you what he did to Gaverial’s little cult? Do you want that at our door?” The three witches took a moment to react, but it the looks on their faces were filled of anxiety at the thought of what he did up there... “No... I guess he can be dangerous when he wants to be...” Icy mumbled before forming a smirk, “We still had our fun, though...” I glanced at the floor and smirked as well... “Yes, we did—even if he doesn’t remember a second of it...” After a small chuckle over good times, I dismissed them, letting out a sigh as I rested my hand on the handle of my mace, with the spike embedded into the rocky floor. This weapon... the special handle, the 16 inch shaft out of steel pipe, the trailer hitch I cut up and welded to earlier-mentioned pipe, and to top it all off, the 4 inch spike drilled and welded into the face of the mace. This Wand kept me alive during my initiation trials against other Dog gladiators... if it weren’t for this beautifully crafted weapon, I’d be long-dead. I don’t like to brag, but I made it myself with what little materials and equipment the Dogs had back then... the Trix weren’t quite good to them before I showed up—so much untapped potential... they were just a bunch of brutes until they found someone who could properly tame them. I noticed an uneaten apple sitting on a table and reached out with my hand, pulling it over to me as I took a bite and decided to take a walk around the Caverns to clear my head over the Trix’s endangerment. As I did, I noticed Darcy talking to a newcomer we took in not too long ago, the boy was filled with so much rage and fueled by power I’ve never seen before. He apparently ruled over his Earth for 5 years and had the armor to match... forged out of the only metal that could hurt him. it didn’t help that he was genuinely cute under the ratty old red mask he wore with multiple stitch jobs on it... As I continued walking, seeing the two of them, not noticing someone bump into me. I took a moment to see a newer Dog initiate stop and turn to me, fear in his eyes as he knelt and hung his head low. “F-forgive me! I should have seen where I was going!” He cowered before me... I smiled for a moment before helping him to his feet. “What’s your given name, initiate?” I softly asked him. This tone didn’t help calm him as he nervously gulped before answering. “C-C-Cobalt, Ma’am...” He said. I took a moment before breaking the gap between us. “Cobalt... I like it...” I whispered to him as I gently hooked my finger on his collar and led him along to my chambers, resting the Wand on the sheath I have strapped on my back. So much for that walk... “We’ve had enough. They came to our gates, demanding to give us a prisoner they practically threw at us and threatened to kill us if we didn’t... We need to take a stand.” Sonata said to the council as she took her seat again. The rest of the council glanced at each other with mixed reactions, some of them ready to vote and others still uncertain. I turned over to Twilight, who stood up to have her say. “I want to say you’re right—I’ve seen what people like them do when they go unchecked—but I think it’s best if we take our time, strategize this whole thing out before we charge instead of headfirst.” She said as she took her seat. I then took a stand, ready to add my say. “On one hand, Sonata, you’re right—this treaty is hanging by a thread and it’s clear that something needs to be done. On the other hand, Twilight is right—we don’t even know what we’re up against, yet. What if Apple Bloom has powers herself? What if the New World Order is larger than we think it is? We know next to nothing about them yet and they already outnumber and outgun us... besides, not many of us have powers like they have...” I said as I slowly glanced at Blossom and Dexter’s empty seats... When they said they were done fighting, they were serious—I haven’t heard from them in a while. Sonata then glanced at me, ready to once again add her input, only for Kat to cut her off. “Kyle, you saw what she did, how she brutalized three of our own--” “Kyle’s right. You guys didn’t walk their caverns, I did. They’re armed to the teeth and they have strategy on their side. We have to think this through, take our time, and build up our forces just to be safe.” Jason said. As Kat clenched her fists at Jason, Buttercup scoffed. “People die. We need to get over it and move on.” She said from her seat. Rage filled glances were exchanged with her, including my own, as Kat started walking over to her. “Well, then, I guess you easily got over Bubbles after--” “Enough!” I heard Sam shout from her chair as the two of them turned to face her. We glanced to her as she stood up, closing her eyes and taking a breath. “In the beginning, I saw my best friend die. One minute she was there, the next she wasn’t... we found the raiders who did it and we didn’t hesitate to wipe them out. That was where we found Tim and found out about the Caribou. I won’t let it happen again, not to anyone. I vote we go to war against the New World Order.” She said as she slowly sat back down. After a moment, I leaned in, adding to what everyone had been saying. “I was there. Kat, you were too. Twilight, Rainbow, my father... most of us were there and saw what they did. But we need to be careful and think this through. Because if we don’t... we charge straight into fighting against a threat we don’t fully understand... we could die.” I said as everyone slowly took my words in. No-one said anything else for a few moments, but then I spotted something that caught my full attention. I spotted the scar that Twilight had on others—Celestia, Jason, and Luna... “That scar... you all have it. I know it’s none of my business, but... where did it come from, if you don’t mind me asking...?” Kyle asked. Nothing. Not a word as everyone glanced at each other before turning to me. “Town meeting, right now. The newcomers and everyone who came with Kyle... it’s time you knew about the Caribou.” Celestia said as hate and trauma spewed in her words... In about an hour, what was meant to be a vote on going to war turned into a revelation as my people, the other newcomers we found along the way, and Jason’s people were all brought to our little town hall as Celestia, Luna, Jason, and Twilight were on the podium, speaking with us. “A forewarning before we continue... this story you are about to hear is one of pure savagery and brutality unlike anything I doubt you’ve seen before. If, at any point, you feel uncomfortable listening... you are free to leave.” Celestia whispered. With that, she retreated back and Jason stepped forward, his face heavy with guilt as he cleared his throat. “To truly understand the story... I have to go back to when my mother first told me about my father.” Author's Note A design for Apple Bloom's Wand. Will it be updated? Maybe, but this is the basic design of it. Also brace yourselves for next chapter, it will dive VERY slightly into the lore of Fall of Equestria so just keep that in mind when going in. (and if you don't know what that is, heed my advice and don't look it up.)
BludgeonedIt all happened so fast... From us all getting on that bus and driving out here, to... To watching not one, not two, but three of our people getting brutalized. One of them being... “Oh, goddamn! poor girl went down in one hit! Pathetic...” Apple Bloom chortled. I heard screams of horror and whimpers of sadness as we all watched one of our closest friends get their skulls caved in from that mace... I was driven to charge her, but after watching Cole and Alice get killed by doing exactly that... I was also driven to just stay in place until they left. Apple Bloom turned to us, seeing our horror and anger. “Oh, hell... I guess this is harder on you guys than I thought. I’m sorry... but—in my opinion—blame that Cole douche-bag who just couldn’t control his anger. If he did nothing... maybe Scootaloo’d be alive...” My glance turned to Jet Set, who was mortified over the killings. He had no right to be disgusted-- he was the one who sold us out and got Scootaloo killed... and one of the Trix saw the look in my eyes. “You did a good job tonight, Jet Set...” She congratulated him, massaging his shoulders. Jet didn’t respond as he shivered from what I guessed was ice coming from her hands. I glanced back at Scootaloo’s corpse and I felt the devastation of it settle in. I glared at her killer and my thoughts began to escape my mouth before I could think to stop them. “You just started a war...” Those four words all caught her ears as she turned to me and slowly walked over, letting the mace hang from her side. She drove the spiked end into the ground and knelt in front of me, studying me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite... catch that.” Apple Bloom whispered, glancing at my now-glowing red amulet. I felt a rush of power as I leaned in and took a breath. “Your ‘Rob’ tried stabbing Celestia... and if she died, there would’ve been a war, anyway...” I assured her. She took a moment before chuckling and grabbing me by my necklace. “I don’t suppose we can drain one more, can we?" Apple Bloom asked her Trix friends, her eyes glowing black... Wait... They all began to cackle as I felt my necklace began to vibrate and glow as I felt something boiling inside of me—something that was being ripped out... All I could do was scream as some form of vapor began to leave my pores and through my mouth and almost everywhere else possible. Every part of my body felt like it was being pulled apart and ripped open, but really it was just some form of magic leaving me... I began to levitate, with all of whatever that amulet held leaving me and forming into spheres in the Trix’s hands. By the time I felt the rest of that power leaving me, I felt sick and saw everything go dark as I fought for consciousness... and lost. I opened my eyes and was greeted by what seemed to be a familiar city skyline. I rose up from the ground and I saw all of the bodies—Pinkie, Fluttershy, Frank, Len, Rarity, and countless others all laid dead before my feet. I looked further on and I saw Twilight, Rainbow Dash, my father, my son, Rin, Jason, Aunt Jess, Joel, Diamond Tiara, and several others that I knew were still alive. “Sad... isn’t it?” A familiar voice behind me asked. I slowly turned to see Bell behind me, sharpening her knife and a bullet hole in her head. “You... you’re dead.” I remembered. Bell scoffed and tossed her knife away. “They’re all dead, Kyle... because of you. You tried to be the hero and save them all, but... you failed. You failed, and now all you have left to do is mourn. Or are you finally going to reach down and pull out what I always thought was in you?” Bell asked. I looked on in confusion before looking at my hand and seeing it restored... “You know why I cut off your hand, Kyle? It was because I knew from the moment we sat down and talked that you had your demons, and God, was I right? I mean, sleeping with your teacher, impregnating her, then going out of your way to date your long-lost sister? That’s messed up, Kyle... That’s really messed up, and don’t forget that other white-haired girl whose throat you stabbed with that exact blade in your hand...” I felt my fistclench at that statement, I knew she wasn’t real, but her words were absolutely true. “Scootaloo’s dead, Kyle... and Alice, and Cole. Because you wanted to go out there and make a difference, instead of accepting what you are: A monster. Embrace your calling and do what you have to do... fight.” I shook my head in denial, feeling a scream of anger build up inside of my chest. Bell walked closer and pushed her forehead into mine. “Kneel down, Kyle. Plunge your hands into the darkness and pull out the savage, raw power inside you and use it! Use... that power and fight... and win.” Bell’s voice began to fade away along with the scene before me and I watched as the bodies, the buildings, and even the sky itself turn to fire. I shut my eyes from the light and as it faded... I slowly opened my eyes as I was loaded on the ground, Twilight sitting next to me while I was still being drained... “Kyle? Kyle, are you there?! Kyle?!” I fell asleep again, unable to stay awake. I opened my eyes again to see that I was on a hill overlooking the city and at the top of the hill was... “How’s it going, Kyle?” Daisuke asked me. I froze, I knew that this wasn’t real, but I wanted to believe it... I ran over and hugged him and I felt his arm wrap around me. “Daisuke, I... I’m so sorry for what happened, maybe if I kept trying, kept fighting, maybe I--” He stopped me, raising his hand to calm me. “Listen, Kyle... my daughter...she was strong... and you always were a lot like her—I suppose the who sibling thing makes sense, after all.” Ichuckled and tilted my head slightly. “Yeah, that... was kind of a surprise.” I added. “Yeah, I see that.” Daisuke laughed along with me. This... this was how things were meant to be—our family, alive and growing together... but that’s not what happened. “No... it’s not. Everything that Bell said to you... as much as I hate to admit it, she’s right.” That caught me off-guard, I didn’t expect him to actually agree with his sister-in-law's killer. “But... what about--” “Did I ever tell you about Dark, Kyle?” Dark—his family curse in a way, Scootaloo told me what she knew from Daisuke. “Yeah... he was the spirit of an art thief, a family thing, right?” I asked. “Yes... he is the embodiment and pure example of thievery. He was a wanted man for over 40 years after he disappeared... mainly because my mother wasn’t able to summon him. He and I disagreed at first, but as time passed, we understood each other. We learned from each other, and in time, we learned to work together. Light and Dark, fighting as one. That’s what you need to be, Kyle—don't let your rage consume you, but don’t just neglect it. Fight, for everyone you’ve lost and everything you still have to lose.” Daisuke’s voice began to fade away as well, causing me to run at him, only for the world around me to flash white. “...Alright, stop!” Autumn Flier’s words brought me back to reality as I collapsed on the ground gasping for air, feeling as if I had no energy... The Trix looked on and laughed as Apple Bloom mockingly swung down on Jason, only to stop at the last minute. “Oh, look who’s back to the land of the living. He’s a fighter... unlike someone I know...” Apple Bloom gestured to Autumn who was starting to look like his old self again. I looked at my hand and saw that it was wrinkled and shriveled... I then glanced into a puddle and saw that my face was also shriveled away, just like Autumn’s was when we first got lined up... “It’s a side effect of the extraction process. Don’t worry, it wears off—you'll be back to your old self in no time.” Icy smirked as I clenched my prosthetic fist in anger, the metallic fingers digging into the dirt. “Alright, we’re done here. Load it up, folks—we're headin’ home!” Apple Bloom ordered. The Trix sneered a bit and began to hover above the ground until they flew off into the night sky. “Tssh... show-offs.” Apple Bloom scoffed. She turned back to me and saw that I still had a look of rage in my eye and she walked over to me, swinging her mace as she did. “Just so we’re clear, Kyle... killing Scootaloo was no accident. I wanted to send a message through that thick skull of yours that you shouldn’t have killed Top Dog... think of it as an eye for an eye. And as for Rob... the man was an idiot—and yeah, killing Celestia would’ve started a war... if anything, I just stopped one.” Apple Bloom growled in my ear and pulled away, possibly eager to leave, and tossing out three sheets as she went, possibly for the bodies... “I’m glad we could even out our score, now make sure that it stays even. I do not wanna have to do that stunt again...” Apple Bloom called out as she hopped into a small buggy and drove off. A moment of silence kicked in as we all turned to each other, some of us more devastated than others. None of us knew what to say to each other, except for Jason. “Applejack?” He called out. She didn’t respond as she ran over and hugged him, sobbing as she did. He hugged her back and looked onto Aunt Jess, who smiled through her tears. She then turned to Rich and held him in an embrace, as Rich deeply sighed as he kept his silence. The two then ran over to Jason and Applejack, and was joined by my father, and they all shared a crying group hug. As they did, Jason’s shirt lifted up a little, and I noticed a form of brand on his back, consisting of two antlers and a broken heart in the center... Twilight, Rainbow, and I all turned to each other in a fury of emotions—rage and sadness being the strongest. “We’re gonna kill them... not yet, but we will.” I assured them. I looked over to the strangers—a kid with a pink hat and a scar running down his cheek, the guy with the red spiked hair wearing a scowl, a blonde in what seemed to be a set of green body armor, two red-heads—one wearing the same kind of armor as the blonde, some weird guy with a white buttoned-shirt and a set of small glasses, and another with blue hair and a black hoodie. “You’re all welcome to join us, if you want... we’ll need the numbers.” I told them. “Wherever they go, we go.” The kid in the pink hat said. Jason broke away and came over to me. “Hey, little dude...” Jason sheepishly said. I slightly smiled and stood up, now at equal height with my cousin, if not a few millimeters taller... “Hey.” I said, my eyes starting to water as I saw Scootaloo’s body on the ground... “This was my fault...” One blue-haired guy in the far left said. I glanced at him but Jet Set’s groans took me by surprise... I turned to see that the Trix left him behind, and as a result, he was bawling into the ground... I felt that anger boil up inside of me as my glance shifted back to Scootaloo’s corpse... I didn’t need any other source of inspiration as I slowly, weakly walked over, careful not to disturb Scootaloo, and balled my prosthetic fist, and grabbed Jet Set by his hair with my good hand. He glanced up at me as I brought my knuckles down into his face, hearing a crunch as his nose began to bleed... I didn’t care as I punched him a second time, now with more rage and vigor... I then let go of his hair and let out one last punch, knocking him down to the ground, spitting out blood... “Restrain him, and let’s go...” I said as the group began to rise and Rainbow Dash grabbed a sheet, followed by Twilight and Jason... I turned to the others, most of them either covered in dirt and blood or still suffering from the shock... “They started a war... they don’t know it yet, but they did... when we’re ready... we’re going to fight them... and we’re gonna win.” No-one said a word... they all just nodded or seemingly agreed with me as we started carrying the bodies onto the bus...
DemonWe were all on the bus, driving home after the killings... I didn’t know that girl, but by Kyle’s reaction, I assumed that they were close... My cousin was alive—my mom and Rich were alive, after all of this time... and this was how we meet again? Mourning three other people and all of us on a hot and humid bus, listening to Jet Set’s whimpers? Take what you can get, I guess... “So, I know Aunt Jess and Rich... but how about the rest of you?” Kyle asked. Kim held up her hand, first. “Kim-- Kim Possible, former secret agent, then slave for a bit, now I’m... just another survivor.” Tim went up next, oddly close to Kim. “Tim Turner. I’m... an old friend of Jason’s.” I was genuinely surprised at his comment, but didn’t add any input. “How about you?” Kyle asked Clover. Well, this should be awkward... “I’m Clover— Sam and I were friends with Jess’s father...” She simply said, leaving many, many details out... Probably for the better. Kyle then turned to Crocker, who simply held up his hand. “Crocker...” He simply said. Kyle nodded and then turned to Bloom. “...Bloom. I’m... a long story.” She said. Mom wasn’t having that as she sat upwards. “She’s a fairy princess from another dimension, and an old enemy of the Trix. Riven’s the same way... probably a tad more personal...” Mom said. Kyle seemed shocked for a moment but nodded. “Well, I stopped questioning things with magic a long time ago...” He said, barely cracking a smile. We took a moment of silence as we then remembered the stranger in the far side of the bus. “How about you? What’s your story?” I asked him. He turned to us, glaring at me. “Blazing Waters... I tried to kill Apple Bloom and... got caught. Got brought out there with the rest of you.” He simply said, going back to looking out the window. Wait... “You were one of them?” I asked him. He chuckled and turned to me again. “Yeah... you were one of them, too, if I recall...” He said. “Hey-- you don’t talk about my cousin like that.” Kyle said. Blazing sighed and leaned closer. “Did you hear what Apple Bloom said? He was a puppet to them—a toy that they threw away when they were done with it. I don’t know what’s with the whole ‘I’m okay’ act, but I wouldn’t buy it...” “That’s enough... Jason’s here now, and take it from someone who knew him before the world ended—Jason's not a threat unless you hurt him or the people he loves.” Rainbow said. That seemed to work as Blazing nodded and leaned back, probably in a whirlpool of emotions... however, his comments got me wondering... what did they do to me? I didn’t really remember because I spent a majority of my time in astral projection, training and harnessing my abilities. I had a basic idea of what they did to me, but for the most part, I was clueless... “I don’t know what they did to me... not all of it, at least. I spent that time in... think of it as a form of astral projection-- my body was there, but my soul was somewhere else, y'know...?” I assured Blazing. He stayed silent as Kyle then nudged at me. “So... who was she?” I asked him. He looked down and sighed, realizing that he was holding that girl with purple hair... “She was my sister... long-lost, though... wish I knew that a year ago, but...” He said. I got the picture and let out a short gasp. “I’m sorry... I lost family, too...” I said. I then realized that Twilight was next to him, holding his hand... While Rainbow was closer to him on his other side. “How are you doing, Twilight?” I asked her. She sighed and rested her head on Kyle’s shoulder. “Better.” She simply said, nuzzling Kyle a tad... Kyle sighed as he wrapped his arm around her and turned to us. “You’re all one of us, now... and you, Blazing... I’m going to need to know everything you know on the New World Order...” He nodded and glared at me again—I knew who he was, but I had no choice but to do what I did, it was either that, or we both got killed... or maybe worse. The city of Canterlot was almost completely destroyed—fire-bombings by the military and a few rounds from the New World Order left the once bustling city now in ruins... Kyle’s group secured the outskirts of the city, some suburbs, and plenty of empty land for growth... The walls were either solid brick and rebar or solid steel, reaching a few feet over my head... “Welcome home... obviously we’ll need to question you all before we can begin integrating you. Anyone have a problem with that?” Twilight asked. Who was in charge here? I wanted to say Kyle, but Twilight also seemed to call some of the shots. No-one seemed to question the group and like that, we were inside what was left of Canterlot... The inside was incredible—the entrance had a long strip of houses that most likely had an intersection near the end, at least a dozen people walking around—but now congregating to see us--, and I think I saw Celestia out the back. The bus screeched to a stop as Kyle picked up Scootaloo’s body. Twilight and Rainbow grabbed the other two—Alice and Cole, I believed their names were—and the doors opened... As we walked out, everyone gasped at the bodies, and once they realized who wasn’t on the bus, they all lowered their heads... save for one of them, a younger girl, who was now on her knees, bawling—possibly a friend of Alice and Cole. I turned to Kyle, who took a moment before looking back at the crowd. “Everyone... there is a new enemy out there. Their name is the--” “New World Order...” Celestia said, clenching her fist before glancing at me. I sighed and nodded to her, and she nodded back, approaching us. “What happened to them? Did they retaliate, or do we need to?” She asked us. Kyle clearly didn’t like that and set Scootaloo by a graveyard they made... “We could care less about that—we acted because we thought people were being hurt! Instead, we got jumped by the people we went to save.” Uncle Henry said in anger. Celestia went back with him, ready to add her input. “We had a deal with them—we don’t kill them, they don’t kill us—I told you that much!” She said. Kyle now came over, ready to put up a fight. “You could’ve told us that Apple Bloom was their leader—or that the Dogs were just their muscle! We found that out the hard way, and now we have more graves to dig!” He screamed, his eyes noticeably red. Celestia fell silent as Twilight came to break the three of them up. “We can point fingers later—right now, we need to find out what to do.” She said. Twilight seemed to have come a long way since I saw her last... then again, the last time I saw her was about two years ago... That seemed to break them up as Kyle, Rainbow Dash, and that girl from before started digging... “Remember... we bury our own.” Kyle told the two. Twilight signaled for us to follow her, and we obeyed, reaching a church where Twilight opened the doors, showing that the place was empty, but well-kept and cleaned. We took seats on the pews and Twilight went up to the altar, setting her sword to the side and glancing at all of us, stopping at me and sighing... “I’m going to ask you a series of questions, we did them back at an old community Sonata built—you'll meet her, soon enough. First up—have any of you killed anyone, and if so... how many?” We all turned to each other and agreed. “Yes, we have... I killed 6, Rich killed 2, Clover killed 9, Sam killed 3, Bloom killed 4, Crocker killed 1, Tim killed 13, Oz killed 7, Kim killed 12, and Riven’s killed 8.” Mom said... Blazing then stood up. “I killed 4... 2 during the early days, and another 2 when I tried to kill Apple Bloom.” He said as he sat back down. I then rose up and added my number. “...87. I killed 87... people.” I said, knowing that she understood what I meant. I saw the shock in my mom’s eyes, as well as Rich’s and Tim’s, but Twilight nodded, once again understanding what I meant. “Next question—how long have you people been out there for?” Rich rose up to answer. “Almost 3 years, now. We had camps here and there, took in people, trusted them to protect themselves... and they did.” He said. Blazing, not standing up, simply rose his hand. “S-since the beginning. Apple Bloom’s people found me a few weeks ago, and I honestly got too many bad vibes from them...” They turned to me, not really knowing the truth... “Three years, since we left the Kingdom... I went to Red Fountain, the school where Riven’s from, and a year after that, I was taken by the Trix... so in total... probably a year.” I said. I saw Riven turn to me, probably because he was an old friend of the Trix... “Next question—have you ever had to do things to stay alive? Things that changed the way you looked at yourself afterward?” Jess nodded, and Tim nodded—that was it. Then I nodded, as well. “I did what I had to do... and I'm certainly not proud of it.” With that, Twilight sighed. “That’s it... welcome to Canterlot. We have an assortment of empty houses to choose from, just pick which ones you like, and they’re yours.” We went out of church and as we left, I saw Applejack and knew that we had to talk... about a lot. And I wasn’t ready for that. I managed to find the house I stayed in when I was attending CHS... just outside the walls, burnt to the ground. Applejack was staying in a house close to it, and we were just sitting in the living room, neither of us knowing what to say to each other... I decided to start things off. “So... Kyle kept you all safe?” I asked. Applejack turned to me and shook her head. “We kept each other safe...” She said. We stayed silent again as Applejack reached for a remote and turned on the T.V... This place had television? Sure enough, the screen fizzled to life as Applejack reached for a disk and set it in... “Really? Crimson Chin?” I asked, laughing. Applejack laughed along as the old, stupid cartoon was going on in the background. “It’s all I have...” She chuckled, bouncing back onto the couch and kept watching... As it went on, I noticed that Applejack was slowly moving her hand towards me. I decided to do the same, making our hands meet faster. Once they touched, we scooted closer, breaking the distance between us. “What did Apple Bloom do to you?” She whispered, anger seemingly resonating in her. I turned to her and shook my head. “I don’t know... when they took me, I was in a dark place. I lost my family, and... did something horrifying to protect myself... Every night since the Trix captured me to when I was in that van with Twilight, I was in a form of astral projection—mastering my powers and trying to inform others about where I was... but it never worked.” I said, sighing. Applejack simply nodded, possibly not wanting to question my story more, and let out a yawn. She didn’t say a word as she rested her head on my shoulder, and I didn’t say a word either as I leaned back and wrapped my arm around her, and for the first time in almost three years... I smiled. I could feel sleep creeping up on me, and by Applejack’s slump, I could tell that she was already gone... But before I fell asleep, she planted her lips on my cheek before going back to resting on my shoulder... And I smiled again. Roaring, flesh tearing, and blood pouring... that’s what all my dreams really consisted these days... I remember what I did... the anger, the hatred I felt for those animals. Part of me had no regrets about it and that frightened me. “No! P-please! It’s over—all of the others, they’re all dead! It's over!” The last monster standing begged. I didn’t answer him—I just slashed my claws at him, causing him to fall to the ground... Yes—claws. A loud, rage-filled roar ended the horrific dream. I woke with a start, gasping as I then remembered everything that occurred the day prior, realizing that Applejack was still in my arms... I actually got to see her again... alive. By the time I was abducted by the Trix, I was just hoping to either find a body or a Walker... but, no—I found her. And I’d be damned if I let anything happen to her—even if I have to let the demon out again...
ImperiumWe barely had a chance to mourn the dead—we didn’t have time to, since there was a lot of planning to do. Twilight’s idea about reaching out to the Kingdom became more and more of a better alternative as to fighting the New World Order alone. We contacted the Sector and they said we were in, with my father vouching for us. I offered Rainbow and Meiko to come with us, but they both refused, having bad memories about the place... something that I understood and decided to ask if Jason wanted to come, but when I reached Applejack’s house, I glanced through the glass door and saw that they were on the couch, asleep in each other’s arms, and decided to leave them be. I reached the front of the gate where Twilight was revving up her motorcycle, with a symbol of what can only be described as two antlers with a broken heart in between them, scratched off the front... “You coming, or are you bringing that car of yours?” She asked me. I chuckled and hopped on the back, waiting for Twilight to start zooming down the open road... “No reason to waste more gas...” I said as I nervously rested my hands on her waist. “Hold on, Ky!” She called out as she let loose, driving down the road with me holding on for dear life. I could tell that it was going to be a bumpy ride... Once we arrived near the Kingdom, I noticed that my hair was spiked in a random direction and did my best to fix it, with Twilight laughing in the background. “Here, let me help.” She chuckled, using water from a nearby puddle to set my hair back to the way I had it, with the sides separated from my face. “There-- now you’re you again.” She pecked my lips as she put the bike behind a large accumulation of bushes. I chuckled as we both noticed a man in black armor on horseback approaching us. Twilight unsheathed her sword while I cocked my Judge back. The man in black stopped his horse and jumped off, glancing at Twilight... “Twilight Sparkle, what brings you to the Imperium?” He asked her. Twilight approached the man to answer, in which he responded by taking a step back. “...Kyle and I are from Canterlot, we need to speak to whoever’s in charge.” She said. “And tell them that they owe my people after what happened in Sanctuary.” I said. That got the Knight’s attention as he removed his helmet, revealing an ordinary looking man. “You’re from Sanctuary?! Oh, shit—I heard stories about that place, how Yowane got an army of defecting Knights and none of them came back?” The Knight uncharacteristically asked, acting like I was some kind of celebrity. I was honestly surprised to hear that—none of them made it back? The girls and I killed the ones who attacked us at that station, and a lot of them died in the attack... but then again, where were the rest of them? “None of them? Not one?” I asked him. He chuckled and shook his head. “They were either killed out there or made the right choice and stayed away...” He sighed. I had no idea what to say, but I really didn’t have to answer. “Well-- I don’t see why we can’t head back there, right now... and we don’t really call it the Kingdom, anymore... too any bad memories, also too Walking-Dead... we just call it ‘The Imperium’.” Imperium... that name could grow on me. “Okay... then let’s see this... Imperium.” Twilight said, sheathing her katana and pulling her bike out of the bushes... “Uh, yeah—can I ride with the Knight?” I asked, not wanting to get back on that bike. They both chuckled and the Knight nodded. “Sure... and my name’s Thorax.” He said as I hopped onto the saddle. I could see in Twilight’s eyes that I was no longer holding her back as she revved the bike and flew down the road, leaving us behind... “I’m guessing you two are dating...” He said. “...Yeah.” I chuckled. Thorax nodded as we trotted down the road. “Congratulations... from the stories I’ve heard about her, I’d say she’s a keeper.” He chuckled. Stories? What kind of stories? I didn’t have time to ask as more Knights on horses arrived alongside us, some of them shocked to see me. “Oh, shit—you're Kyle Williams!” One of them said. I couldn’t resist smiling at the recognition... “Didn’t know I was famous...” I said as all rode off to the Imperium. Yeah, that name takes some getting used to. The familiar brick walls have been improved upon in the past few months—the former 5-brick wide, 15 feet tall wall was now 8 bricks wide and at least twice as tall, and the inside resembled an actual kingdom, with old-fashioned houses and dirt roads connecting streets together... Just a few feet in, we saw entire neighborhoods with signs labelling them—William Street, Walker Street, and a Flash Street, and with many of those houses under construction... “Wow... and I thought it was impressive before.” I whispered. Twilight seemed to be taking it all in as well, her hand clasping mine. “The last time I was here... it looked nothing like this.” She said. I chuckled and tilted my head. “It looked kinda close when I was here.” I said. I could tell that Thorax saw our awe and smiled slightly. “Yeah-- our queen changed a lot in the last few months—starting with the walls, which were starting to suffer against the elements. We built them up again, better than before—and after that, we started with the inside. Entire streets full of people, can you imagine...?” Thorax stopped and glanced at my neck... I had just now realized that I didn’t have something to cover Chrysalis’s scar with... “No, no—I can explain! It’s not a zombie bite, it’s a--” “I’ll consider your request of a delagation to the queen, but I think you should go, she’s always a busy lady.” Thorax started to panic, glancing around... An idea popped into my head, but I ignored it—there's no way that... Right? “Take me to the queen. If she’s busy, we’ll leave, but I want to meet her in person.” I said. Thorax tried to speak, but sighed and caved in. “Okay... but first, I need to see your weapons... both of you.” Thorax said. I began growing skeptical, but I gestured to Twilight as I handed him my mother’s gun and Scootaloo’s machete... “I want them back, after.” I said as Twilight handed Throax her sword. “Of course—but for now, they stay with me.” He said. We agreed and Thorax began leading us through streets where we saw children run through the streets, several workers hammering foundations of houses together, and people just clammoring at Twilight and I—them calling me the “Sanctuary Leader” and Twilight the “Caribou Assassin”... Caribou? That was a new one I hadn’t heard before. I didn’t have much time to talk as we arrived to the massive castle that was possibly a vacation spot back in the day... “What even was this castle before the world ended?” Twilight asked. Thorax sighed and turned to us. “First of all... the world hasn’t ended. Second, it used to be a luxury resort that Filthy Rich bought out a year before the world... changed.” He corrected himself. I already had several questions for my aunt and Filthy, and that was simply one more... “Now, you guys stay here, I’ll see if Day Court’s full.” He said as he went inside and ran off in a random direction... Twilight and I turned to each other and ideas started forming. “You don’t think...” She started. I shook my head in denial. “No, no—she can’t be, it’d make no sense.” I said. But the longer we waited, the more convinced I became that behind those doors... ruled the one person who changed me... Thorax came back out and I saw that Knights were behind him—easily a dozen, maybe more... “...The queen would like to speak with Kyle Williams... only him.” Thorax said. That did it. We turned to each other, both of us knowing the truth... “It’s okay... I’ll be okay.” I said as I unconsiously started following Thorax. A thousand emotions flooded my mind—anger being one of the most prominent... I didn’t have time to confront what I was feeling as we had arrived at the doors into the castle... the throne room was just behind those slabs of wood, and I was not ready for any of what I was about to face... “You sure you can do this?” Thorax asked, proabbly seeing my uneasiness. I registered his request and nodded. “I have to.” I mumbled. With that, the doors opened, and as I walked in, I kept my eyes at the ground, unwilling to look up. “Oh, my God...” I heard her whisper in the empty, echoing room. I reached a certain point and stopped, finally looking up to see her, the person who used my depressed state, and the mother of my child... “Chrysalis...” I said, finally making eye-to-eye contact. I didn’t know what to expect—glee, joy that her toy was back? No—I saw horror. Pure and uncontrollable horror. “K-Kyli...” She said, nervously adjusting her seat after using her old nickname for me... Silence. Pure silence as neither of us knew what to say or do but stare each other down, over a thousand emotions in our eyes. Chrysalis cleared her throat and decided to break the long, awkward silence. “So... you’re the Kyle from Sanctuary...” She said. I nodded, refusing to say anything more about the Kingdom’s massacre of my people-- I knew that if I started, I wouldn't be able to stop. “I... I had an idea, but I never...” She said, losing her train of thought as I took the reins of the conversation. “You lied to me... You lied to a weak, depressed, 13-year-old-boy and used him like a goddamn toy.” I said, feeling my anger take over. Chrysalis then gasped, putting her hands up in defense. “Kyle, I am not proud of what I did, and it wasn’t right, not even close, but I never... lied to you--” “You said that you were on the pill, so explain to me how two years later I find out that I have a baby boy who was being cared for by Adagio Dazzle, of all people?!” I asked, my voice possibly reaching the outside. Chrysalis went to speak, but sighed, realizing that I was right... “The pills didn’t work... they weren’t enough, and yes—I did use you... I used a lot of people before all of this, and I am far from happy about it.” She said. “And now you’re a queen. Now you can use people all you want, Queen Chrysalis.” I bitterly scowled, no longer censoring my thoughts... Chrysalis sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Kyle, I understand that you don’t have the best memories of me, and I know what I did was wrong and taboo, but I assume that you are here for aid against the New World Order.” She said. All of my anger at her drained away and my mind cleared... “How do you know about--” “Autumn Flier beat you here, told me about what they did, but not about you... and yes, we’ve dealt with the NWO as well.” She answered, cutting me off. I sighed, hoping to end the reunion on a somewhat high note, but things only got worse when the doors got kicked open and I turned to see Twilight, sword in hand, and Thorax close behind her. I saw Twilight stare Chrysalis down, but I could tell that her attention wasn’t on her. “Where is he?!” She screamed, looking around. I had no idea what she meant, but Chrysalis clearly did, and she wasn’t at all frightened by the sword-wielding “assassin” in front of her. “He is contained, has been ever since you and Jason broke us out...” She said. I heard a door open and turned to see Knights carrying a bucket with a lid over it. Twilight turned for that room and charged for it, me and Thorax holding her back. “Whoa, whoa—Twi... just take a breath.” I told her, hoping that I could calm her. During the struggle, her shirt slightly lifted, and I was able to see the similar emblem that was scratched off of her bike, now scarred into her back... I’ve seen it before, whenever we were alone, but Rainbow and I never really questioned her about it—we just assumed that she’d tell us when she was ready... “Twi... just relax...” I soothed her. She stopped trying to fight through us and dropped her sword, sighing and shrugging me off before heading out the castle doors... Chrysalis sighed and lowered her head. “Who’s behind that door?” I asked her. She sighed and refused to answer, allowing Thorax to provide it. “His name was Gaverial...” He said. Gaverial? As in my uncle Gaverial...? Can this world possibly get any smaller? “Okay... and what did he do?” I asked. She let out a silent but audible growl and shook her head. “He did a lot of things, Kyle... to all of us. I’ll send a delagation out to Canterlot, see if we can work things through more properly.” She said. I sighed, nodded, and went to leave before realizing something. “Did you name him? Or did Adagio?” I asked her. Chrysalis perked her head up and let out a chuckle. “I did—Adagio offered the name, but I agreed to it.” She said, smiling slightly. With that, I left—a lot of emotions still flowing through me, but I was able to put them aside so we could get things done... As the doors closed behind me, I glanced at Twilight, who had her sword back after Thorax picked it up, unable to look at me... “So... do you need another ride?” Thorax asked me. I let out a smile and shook my head, much to Twilight’s surprise. “I think I’ll survive the bike...” I said, turning to Twilight. Twilight tried not to crack a smile, but failed at that mission. “Alright-- we’ll meet you there.” Thorax said as he went to find a horse. I turned to see a very happy Twilight, who was now gesturing me to follow her. With that, we started walking through the Imperium one last time, with Twilight slowly taking my hand again. “To think that Chrysalis did all of this...” She started. I let out a chuckle in response. “I mean... we live with sirens, two polygamous couples, child geniuses, two lab experiments, fairies, my father came back from the dead, I have a prosthetic-knife-hand, and are looking for reinforcements against witches in the middle of the zombie apocalypse... we’ve seen weirder.” I said, glancing at the multiple streets that were still full of life and were being constructed. Yeah... I had a lot to think about when it came to Chrysalis, as I could clearly tell. We reached the bike and Twilight went in the front, revving it up as I remembered what I had signed myself up for... I swallowed my fear and took my seat, resting my arms around Twilight’s waist as she backed the bike up... “I love you, Twi’...” I said as I kissed her cheek. She gasped for a moment before turning back to me. “Love you, too, Ky’...” She pecked my lips and loudly revved the bike. “...now hold on!” She then, without warning, sped down the open road, me now tightly holding her waist as I let out a short scream.
All Questions and No AnswersRest in Peace, Scootaloo Niwa-Williams September 4th 2000- September 6th 2018 I glanced at my daughters grave and felt swirl of emotions that cancelled each other out, all at once. I made a mental promise to her that I’d look after Kyle and make sure that Apple Bloom didn’t get the chance to hurt anyone else ever again. But before I could even start, I had to know what happened with my son during the time I was at the Sector... I then saw someone walk next to me at the gravesite. I looked up to see Rainbow Dash, setting an old scooter next to her grave. “That was hers?” I asked her. Rainbow Dash sighed and nodded, taking a moment to pay her respects and shed a tear or two. “So... I heard that she and Kyle dated for a while...” I said, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck. Rainbow Dash cracked an awkward smile and nodded. “Well, she was there for him—whether they knew or not... they had each other.” I said, trying not to think about my son and long-lost daughter dating... We fell silent again, from either mourning or not knowing what to say. I decided to finish paying my respects and let Rainbow mourn in peace. As I was about to leave, Rainbow got up and turned to me... “Back when I left them... I did it because I thought they were weak, or that I didn’t need them. A month after, I almost starved to death. Then the Kingdom found me—where Kyle and Twilight are. Things were good at first, their walls were massive, Rin was... decent. But then things got complicated... very complicated. By the time Kyle and Scootaloo found me, I was living in a flipped semi, all alone except for whenever Rin needed me to do her dirty work. So, when Kyle offered me to stay with them at their... city, how could I say no?” I stayed silent, letting her talk. “Then, Sanctuary fell, and... we were on our own out there. I’m sure that I’d be dead if it wasn’t for Kyle and the others... and Scootaloo.” She said. Sanctuary? I heard some stories about a city the others foritifed, but... Kyle named it after the orphanage? “Who picked the name? For Sanctuary?” I asked her. She stayed silent for a moment and chuckled. “He did.” She said as she left the grave, me doing the same. My search for answers didn’t bare much fruit, with Twilight gone with Kyle, Applejack never really talking to him, and Sunset trying to talk to her old friend, Oz... I then came across my own sister, who probably wasn’t too happy with me going off-the-grid following the fire... “Jess...” I said, calling to her. She turned to me and sighed, running at me and holding me in a bear-hug. “I thought you were dead, you asshole... we all did.” She said. I let out a sigh, knowing that I had to vanish. “Those people wouldn’t have stopped, Jess... they were working for the Trix before—the Three wanted me dead, I had to vanish so my family could stay safe—so you and Kyle could stay safe...” I said. She went to argue, but knew that I was right. “You know what happened to Kyle after you left, right?” She asked me. I knew bits and pieces, but not everything... I only knew about CPA and Chrysalis. “No, not everything.” I said, hoping to get answers. She went up to her porch and took a seat, signalling me to do the same. I walked up the steps and took a seat on the home-made wooden bench, ready to hear about my son... “Jason and I were staying at Rich’s mansion—Diamond signed up for that camp-trip, tried to see that we bought the place so we could make a safe-zone out of it... it didn’t go over well, from what we’ve heard. I was about to tell Jason about Rin and Len... when we got a call from Cinch.” I leaned forward, nervous but desperate for answers... “Kyle tried to kill himself.” My heart dropped so fast it almost shot out of me like a bullet... “W...what?” I helplessly asked. “Cinch had him locked away in some cell in the nurse’s office, which is where I guess he was kept pretty often. Later on in the day, after I chewed Cinch out... the world ended. The zombies came, and we got out—Kyle was home by then, we couldn’t go get him. Also... Chrysalis was with us...” She said to me. I let out a gasp and Jess put her hand up, signalling me to calm myself. “I didn’t know about that... drama. Even if I did, Chrysalis risked her life to save Jason and Rin and Len... Spoiled Rich kidnapped them, took them to the Kingdom. It was a fight, but we got out of there alive—and we went to Red Fountain, after trying to pick up Applejack. It didn’t work, though—the military were strict on who got in and no-one got out ever since... they showed up.” She said. The Dogs? Or... someone else? “Who? Who showed up?” I asked her. Jess sighed and leaned back, staring off into space... “The Caribou. From what I heard, they attacked the school at one point, and I’m guessing that’s when Kyle and the others escaped...” Caribou... that name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Thanks for the info, Jess... I’ll talk with Kyle once he gets back.” I said, going to leave. “Ask Celestia—she was there.” She told me. Sure enough, as soon as I thanked her and went to ask Celestia, there she was—walking past us and most likely hearing us. “Celestia!” I called out, hoping to hear her part of the story. She heard me, stopped, and turned around, with a lost look in her eyes... “Henry, is it? I heard your talk with Jessica, and I can’t say I know much about what happened to your son...” She said as she entered the graveyard, glancing at Scootaloo’s grave... “Another student dead... another grave buried...” She whispered, setting her hand on the grave stone... Her shirt lifted slightly, and I got a glance of a scar on her back before she turned to face me. “It’s been three years, and a majority of my students have died or worse... I know you lost your daughter, but...” She started. I then rememebered the orphanage fire... Kyle got out early and didn’t need to see the horrors that remained inside... “I know what you mean... I used to run an orphanage back in the day— I always considered it my mission to protect people... but, that failed... I failed at that mission.” I said, recalling the horrible sounds of their screams... God... Celestia stopped for a moment and sighed... “So I guess you do understand...” She said as she got up to leave. The faint sound of Twilight’s motorcycle stopped our thoughts... “Open the gate! It’s them! And they got horses?!” Sunset cried out. We ran to the gate and pulled it open, where we saw that Kyle and Twilight were riding on the bike, and behind them were three armored horses with six people on them, all covered in black armor. Once they were all inside, one of the armored ones hopped off of his horse and removed his helmet. “Canterloters! My name is Sir Thorax—I represent Queen... uh...” He stopped his prideful speech to start stuttering. “We represent the Queen who wishes to... remain discrete for the time being... of the Imperium!” He covered, with quite a form of theatre... But who was their queen, and why did Kyle seem so... nervous?
Whatever It TakesThe crowd's reaction was a mixture of confusion and angry whispers... I did what I could to calm them, but nothing worked... “How can we trust the Imperium if some... molester’s their leader?!” A person asked from the crowd. I sighed and decided to break the ice the only way I knew how. “I know what she did was wrong... most would say it was taboo... but it was a lifetime ago. Another time—another world. Now, I know I made her seem like a threat... but that was what I thought of her, but... clearly, I have a lot to think about. I’m as uncertain about this as you all are, but one thing I know is that the Imperium can either be our greatest ally... or our worst enemy.” That seemed to work as everyone fell silent, save for a few whispers. From the other street, Thorax cleared his throat as he entered my view. “Queen Chrysalis has also discussed a form of trade between us—if you should accept... we couldn’t help but notice that your ammunition supply is low...” He said. I knew what he meant—if we were to go to war with the New World Order, we’ll need more than what we have. “We’ll consider her offer... but for now, we should discuss the main reason you’re here.” I said as I went to leave with the rest of the council. We turned the street and reached the warehouse that we were repurposing as our town hall. We went inside and shut the door behind us, the large building echoing our voices... “So... we should discuss whether or not to go through with this. A trade would do good, but... even we don’t have enough to go up against the Trix...” Thorax said. I sighed and took a seat, Rainbow Dash baring a look of scorn at Thorax. “Well, I don’t know—a tank could do miracles...” She bitterly mumbled. Thorax didn’t take offense to that comment and stood up to add his input. “Sorry, but the tank was a one-time-deal—it was abandoned after the... slaughter.” Thorax chose his words carefully. “Yeah-- more like a massacre.” Rainbow added—clearly that wording wasn’t enough. Thorax went to say something, but withdrew, standing down before starting a more heated argument. “What happened at Sanctuary was a massacre, but we’ve seen to it that everyone involved didn’t set foot back into the Imperium...” He said with an ambiance... Strange—I thought he said that they never came back at all... was there more than he was letting on? “We can talk about the past another time—but for now, let’s talk about the present-- do we know where the New World Order’s base is? As in their main base of operations...” I asked. “Actually-- your guys were in it—a small part of it, anyway. They inhabit the whole entire cave—there's at least several hundred soldiers as their population—no innocents, no children.” Thorax told us. “Then what’s stopping us from just lighting it on fire when they’re sleeping? If the flames won’t kill them, the smoke will...” Twilight said to him. Whoa... Thorax and Rainbow were both caught off-guard like I was by Twilight’s morbid comment, and the former cleared his throat, still showing a sense of nervousness. “Well, first off—it's a cave, it won’t burn easily, and they have airways from back in the mining days. Second—the Trix could just put it out...” The rest of the meeting was about trade—the proposition that the Imperium gives us ammunition in exchange for fuel and possible construction labor. I said I’d bring it before the council and our construction crew and we ended it there, Thorax heading out with his other Knights who were socializing with the other townspeople. “...Yeah, it’s been a while since I was back here... I’m thinking on staying, but that might be another time.” A very familiar voice said beside us. I turned to see the back of a female Knight with straight, pink hair and yellow skin... “Fluttershy?” I asked. She turned around and saw me—and her prideful smile faded away and the shock set in... the person who I hadn’t seen since Sanctuary fell was right in front of me—and most of all, she was with them. “...Kyle?” She whispered as she answered her own question by running at me and holding me in a deathly hug—mostly thanks to her armor. I did what I could to hug her back, but my arms were mainly being constricted by Fluttershy’s arms. “Kyle! H... how’ve you been?!” She asked me with an excited tone. “I’ve been... it’s complicated.” I let out a chuckle as Twilight looked towards her with an unfamilar glance. Fluttershy chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah... I get that.” She smiled, seemingly recalling on different times... We stayed silent for a moment, taking in the shock of seeing Fluttershy again, until things only got better... “Fluttershy-- where are...” I turned to see Riku run up to us. Oh, boy... “Kyle?!” Riku ran up and held me in an embrace—similar to the one from Fluttershy, except I moved my arms in advance. I couldn’t even begin to form my words on anything that happened after Sanctuary as my father, carrying Starswirl, approached us... “Riku Niwa? Your Scootaloo’s adopted mother...” He said to her. Riku released me and turned to my father. “Y-yeah—how is she? Where is she, I thought she’d be with you.” She said to me. My dad looked at me and I mouthed out “She doesn’t know” the best I could, and he nodded. “Ms. Niwa... there’s a lot we have to discuss. You, Kyle, and I... Come with me and we’ll talk about it.” He said, leading her to the house. “And who’s this—don't tell me you and Scoots had a kid!” She gasped in joy as she gestured if she could hold Starswirl and my father handed her over. “Uh... no. I-it’s a long story, and we should talk about it inside... all of us.” I told her. Riku’s smile started to fade as she started to catch on. Now to tell the awkward and tragic story of Scootaloo Niwa-Williams... During the retelling of the story, Riku’s expression went from happy, to horrified, to destroyed, all in the span of 9 minutes... “God...” She simply whispered, still trying to grasp the concept that for almost two years, I had unknowingly been dating my long-lost sister. Yeah... “So... this Apple Bloom, that’s the reason you came to the Imperium? To talk to Chrysalis about fighting back?” She asked me. I nodded, unready to go into our awkward story just yet. “I... figured that you wouldn’t go back there just to make up... we went there because we had no choice, unless we wanted to starve to death. Trust me, it took a long time for me to forgive them for what they did to us... but I guess in this world, everyone deserves a second chance.” Riku said. Everyone, huh? Including a woman who beat her best friend’s skull in like a pinata? I chose not to add my input and asked her what her plan was—stay here or go back to the Imperium. “I... don’t know. I hoped to find Scootaloo here, but... I was too late.” She said, readjusting her gauntlet as she went to leave with the other Knights. “The funerals are tomorrow, if you want to stay here for the night. I can escort you back to the Imperium after...” I saw Riku hesitate as she went out to talk to the others, possibly to see if she could stay with us. I sighed and turned to my dad— and my eyes set on Starswirl, my own son, who I never really acknowledged ever since I learned about him... “Can I... see him?” I asked my dad. He hesitated for a moment and lifted him up, handing him to me as Twilight and Rainbow met up with us. “Uh, you still know how to hold them, right?” Dad asked, while chuckling. “Yeah-- I still remember the younger ones back at the orphanage...” Like that—me and my son locked eyes, and I lost all train of thought. I had no idea what I was feeling—shock? Pride? Joy? Looking back, I think it was love... unconditional love that I instantly swore to protect until the day I died... “W...who?” He asked, pointing a finger at me. My dad started to shed a tear as he leaned down next to us. “This is your daddy, bud... your actual daddy...” He said. Starswirl glanced at me, resting his hand on my cheek... “D...daddy?” I let out a short smile and nodded as the other two moved over to me, both eager to greet the kid. “Hi... I’m... your daddy’s... friend.” Rainbow said, holding out a finger as he grabbed it. Twilight let out a small smile as she did the same, Starswirl using his other hand to grab her present finger. “Twily!” He called out in joy, an act that melted my heart. “The whole time I was helping Adagio raise him, I had no idea that he was your son...” Twilight said, laughing in glee. Just like that... I realized that everyone in that room was my family. Twi, Dash, my dad, and my son. Everyone out there was part of that family, and I swore that I won’t fail to protect them again—that I’d die for them if I had to. I’d do whatever it’d take to keep them safe... Whatever it'd take.
MourningAfter several drama-filled days, we were finally able to give Scootaloo, Cole, and Alice a proper funeral. Kat was at her two friend’s graves while Twilight, Rainbow, and I were in the front, with Sombra giving a eulogy for them. “In the time I knew Scootaloo Niwa-Williams, she always wanted to prove herself to the people she cared about. She’d go out on runs whenever she got the chance, help find our missing people... and even help people who thought couldn’t be helped...” I noticed that Rin looked down to the floor at that statement, with a tear running down her cheek. I then saw my father stand, setting his hand on my shoulder. “There’s a lot of things I wish I could change in my life... not telling my son about my daughter’s existence is just part of that list... but, despite the... awkwardness—Scootaloo was there when my son needed someone—anyone—to help guide him. I just wish I got to know my own daughter...” His voice cracked toward the end as he sat back down. Sombra let out a short sigh of remorse before continuing. “Though I didn’t very much know Alice or Cole... going from how Cole fought back—I can make the assumption that he was a family man... he died trying to keep his family safe. And Alice--” Kat stood up, walking up and standing next to Sombra. “I knew Cole and Alice since high school... I met Alice and introduced her to Cole and...” Kat took a moment before continuing, possibly lamenting on ‘Frosty’... “No. I won’t let my friends die in vain, and neither should any of you. If you don’t fight... you die.” Kat said as she stormed away from the funeral. We were all distraught by her temper, but she was right—we need to fight the Trix because if we don’t-- they’d just kill us, and from what I heard, it’s what they do... After the funeral, I managed to spot that Blazing Waters guy—the one from the New World Order—talking to Rainbow Dash... or trying to. “...You don’t remember me? M-Ms. Harshwinny’s class, lower-left row, junior year?” He asked, much to Rainbow’s struggle to remember. “Hmm... I think I do—you were the guy with the... uh... I think you had that laptop, with the stickers?” She struggled. “Uh... I think I did—wait, no, that was... damn, who was that guy?” I decided to cut that awkward conversation short before it got worse. “Blazing. Can I borrow you for a moment?” I asked him. He nodded and awkwardly waved goodbye before walking over to me. “Y-yeah?” He asked. “I was hoping we could talk about what you know on the New World Order. Anything you know could help us.” I said to him. He sighed, and signaled that we go on the porch of the house he chose. I nodded and we sat up there, looking over the street in front of us. “Okay... so, where do I start? When the world fell, the Trix were... God, I don’t know how to explain this to make sense—they were trapped in some... magic book.” Trapped... in a book? That was a new one. “Okay... keep going.” I said, just deciding to roll along. “By then, Apple Bloom was in Texas with some relatives because of something she did back home. She made her way back up here to find someone, but... it didn’t end well. She eventually found the New World Order’s base... an abandoned cave system used for mining back in the day—built with several airways and had several entrances... that cave your team hit? That was just a small sector. A little later on, Apple Bloom came across the book they were trapped in after it was abandoned—the Legendarium, I think it was called, something like that. Anyway, once Apple Bloom freed them... they struck a deal. With the Trix’s power and Apple Bloom’s... charisma, they were able to create a following from nearby refugee camps. The Dogs came with the Trix, apparently they were their enforcers out here...” The Dogs worked for the Trix? They burned my father’s orphanage to the ground... was it for them? “How... do you even know all of this?” I asked him—it seemed odd how much he knew on them... Blazing sighed and leaned back, seemingly taking a moment. “I did a few... odd favors for them, back when I first joined.” He said to me. I took a moment before realizing exactly what he meant. “Oh...” I whispered, almost chuckling. “Yeah... I was... morally grey back then, y’know? I figured... why not? Kept me fed, safe... then I saw what they really are, and I couldn’t anymore.” I sighed, realizing that we may have a few things in common, and thanked him, getting up to leave. “Jason was there, too.” He said without looking at me. I stopped, letting out a faint sigh. “Okay... what’s your point?” I asked him. Blazing got up and glanced at me. “You heard what Apple Bloom said—Jason was their puppet, some toy that they threw away after they were done with it. He was a slave to them in every possible way, and now it seems like he has no idea... unless he’s faking it.” He said to me. I almost wanted to punch him, but I then realized that he had a point—Jason seemed wrecked when he and Twilight were in that van, but now he’s seemingly back to normal... Could he be faking it? “Thanks for the input, Blazing...” I said as I walked away, hoping to talk to Jason whenever I got the chance. I knew that Applejack and I had to talk about it—we couldn’t avoid it. We were having dinner from the pantry they had, AJ cooked while I simply thought over how I was going to say it... “So... AJ...” I started, letting out a sigh as I started. “Yeah?” She asked me. Well... here goes. “You know Clover, right?” I asked her. She must’ve picked up on what I was about to say as she simply nodded with a kind of glint in her eye. “Yeah... and we both know that we haven’t seen each other in almost 3 years, so if you’re sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’, just know that I don’t hate you for it...” She said to me. I sighed, knowing that I still had to say it... “...A year ago, I slept with Clover... twice—maybe three times, I... can’t really remember.” I “confessed”. Applejack didn’t say anything—she didn’t have to. Her understanding smile was all I needed to see. “I’m not mad, sugarcube—you thought I was dead, I thought the same ... there’s no shame in tryin’ to move on... in fact, I’m glad you did—there'd been no use wailin’ over me for the rest of your life.” Honestly, I expected that reaction from her, but that didn’t make me feel any better about it all. “Okay, but you’re here, now... So, what happens from here?” I asked. Applejack took a moment before shrugging. “I... don’t know. You really don’t remember a thing that the Trix did to you?” She asked me. Truthfully, I’ve caught glimpses at my body while I was in astral form—the tortured state it was in... but I chose to ignore them since I’d wake up every day good as new. “No, not everything... I have an idea of what they did, but nothing scarring.” I said before realizing the scar on my eye. That one came from before then. She seemed like she was about to ask about it, but she withdrew. She then formed a smirk and glanced up at me. “This isn’t the part when ya’ll tell me she got pregnant, right?” I almost spit out my food as I coughed and shook my head. “No! Nope, no, no, no! No baby Clover-Jasons anytime soon!” I screamed out in humor. Like that... a large part of the weight of guilt on my chest that I’ve been carrying is gone. After two years of training and a year as a prisoner... I think I’d be able to live normally again...
Knock KnockFor a while, I thought I’d never see my brother again... but then he found me. And with him came our father, and now our aunt and cousin. I never talked to Jason much—mainly because I was at the orphanage while Jason was at CHS—but from what I’d heard about him from Riven, Clover, and Bloom—he'd been through a lot in the last few years... come to think of it, I believe we all had, with the end of the world and all. I was relaxing outside my house on the porch when I glanced over to see Aunt Jess and Filthy Rich, alone, on their own porch. I guessed that they were together, now, but I figured I’d go over and catch up on old times—we all knew so little of what the other had been through in these last three years. I slowly got up and walked over to them, just catching their conversation. “...I think we should tell him. About us, I mean...” Jessica said to Rich. “I don’t know—I mean, he already knows about Rin and Len, but... this is different. It’s not like we can just say ‘hey, Jason—how was the year as the Trix’s punching bag? Guess what—I'm dating your mom, and you may be an older brother really soon.’...” Brother? No... “Well, I wouldn’t say it like that, but... yeah—it's better that he knows this time instead of telling him after whatever happens next--” I couldn’t just eavesdrop anymore, I walked up the steps and waved to her. “Aunt Jess.” I smiled to her. She slightly jumped, which caused me to let out a chuckle. “Hey, Sonata... it’s been a long time.” She smiled back. Silence... should I tell her? I mean, there was no point in not, but at the same time, if she wanted me to know, she’d tell me. “Yeah... it has.” I said as I took a seat on a chair next to Jess and Rich. More damned silence... It was like we knew what to ask, but not how to ask it... “So... what exactly happened after you left the Kingdom?” I asked her. Jess seemed to sigh and rest back while Rich took her hand. “We wound up at Red Fountain—the school that Jason and Riven are from. We stayed there for the most of it, but then Jason left... we looked for him for 4 months, but we couldn’t find anything... we stopped, but Jess didn’t. She kept looking for him as long as she could, but... eventually, she stopped.” Rich said, Jess now resting her head on his shoulder. At that point, they weren’t even hiding the truth. “So... are you two... y’know...” I started. “Yeah. We are.” Jess responded as she simply moved her head up. I just nodded and decided to ask another question. "What about Jason? What were you saying about him being a punching bag?" I asked. Jess sighed and shook her head. "After something happened with him and Clover, and I told him the truth about his father, he went back to Earth, where they found him... and I can only imagine what they did to him in that time..." She answered me. Before I could say anything more, I saw Kyle out of the corner of my eye, somewhat limping from his energy still being drained... “I’ll talk to you guys later...” I told them as I turned and went to talk to my brother. The feeling wasn’t really life-draining anymore... it was more of just a woozy feeling. But it was still there, a week after the Trix did whatever they did with my amulet. Heh... my amulet. I know that Adagio would want me to have it and all, but it just felt wrong to have it—especially if I have no idea what it even did. “Kyle... can we talk?” Sonata asked me, coming from Jess and Rich’s porch. I simply nodded and we met at her porch, where I happily took a seat and relaxed... “So... how’s everything?” She asked me. I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know. Everything’s like a big ball of fire, right now, and I still feel like I got hit by a truck.” I honestly told her, sighing in pain as I took a seat. Sonata took a moment before examining my amulet further. “Yeah... they really drained you out. Maybe because Autumn didn’t have much left...” She said, looking at the dulled-out color. “Okay... so what does that mean?” I asked her. Sonata hesitated for a moment—almost like she was reliving a bad memory—and sat up. “Back in Equestria... almost three thousand years ago... Witches and Sirens were sort of partners-in-crime. Sirens drained and stored negative energy while the Witches syphoned it. But, Sirens store it... and Witches can’t. So, before my sisters and I were banished, we were energy sponges for the Three—the Trix are their... descendants, or whatever.” She said, clearly not too sure on that last bit. I let out a hum while I let the truth settle in—if the amulets stored negative energy, and the Trix absorbed it... It must’ve been what Autumn was trading away to them, why he looked so weak when they rounded us up... “Okay... so, what happens now? What, we’re supposed to just live under those animals until we die? Or they kill us?” I pondered out loud. Sonata simply sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Worst case, we could just leave—all of us.” She said. “Yeah, but where’d we go? Sanctuary’s in shambles and too close, everywhere else near us is under the New World Order--” Gong... gong... gong... "Knock, knock! Anybody home?! I’d suggest lettin’ me in, and soon.” That familiar southern accent called out. We both glanced at each other... clueless over what to do. I mean... what could we do?
CompromiseShe was just sitting there, reading a damned pamphlet on the school... acting like she didn’t kill three of their people. “Hmm! I never knew we had a pool!” She laughed, turning the page. The knife was just in my holster—if I was quick, quiet... I could’ve ended it all, right then and there... “Hey, Blazing, sweetie—you still got that knife on ya? Oh, how about that badass sword? Or did we take that from ya, too?” She mocked me. She knew—she somehow always knew when I was scheming on something. “What do you want? I thought the treaty was against trading.” I said to her. She chuckled and closed the pamphlet. Kyle was sitting across from us, glaring at Apple Bloom with a form of hatred that I had only seen in someone once before... “Well, now, that’s easy—I figured that y’all didn’t really understand why I killed 3 of y’all instead of one.” Kyle’s fist tightened as Apple Bloom saw and smirked a little. “It’s easy, Ky’-- y’all killed 30 of my people, at least. If I came in here, opening fire at whoever I pleased until I hit 30, imagine how that would make me look. So, I decided to make a compromise: 1 for every 10, y’know?” She chuckled. Kyle didn’t say a word, he just clenched his fist, and... a knife extended out of it, scaring the shit out of me. He then retracted it and glanced at her again. “Sorry... just checking it—might need more lubricant.” He mumbled. Apple Bloom only smiled-- mostly all she ever did when someone threatened her-- and shook her head. “Y’all really are somethin’ else, y’know that? I come here, all by my lonesome, all but un-armed... and here you are... makin’ me feel unwelcomed. Hmm... well, I was hoping we could actually negotiate now that the dust cleared, but I can see there’s still few particles here an’ there.” “The Dogs are rapists and child-killers, that ‘dust’ never settled.” Kyle said, playing into her metaphor. Apple Bloom clearly didn’t like being called a rapist as she quickly stood up and turned to Kyle, holding her mace towards him, with the spike now rubbing his cheek. “We... are not... rapists. And I never... ever wanna hear that suggestion again, y’ got that?” She asked Kyle. He simply grumbled and adjusted his seat. “Great! Now, lemme just assert the fact that Scootaloo was my friend... and we both tried to take down Sunny out there back with the whole Anon-A-Miss scam, at least until she snitched on me and Sweetie Belle.” I remembered— when Sunset was recently defeated and was trying to change her ways... the six of them turned their backs on her as soon as word got out that it was her... and that was an absolute lie. “But... to be fair, I wasn’t that good of an apple either—just ask Jason how bad I was. But... New World, New Rules, as we put it.” She smiled. “Your people burned children alive, almost burned my father alive—if you think I can forgive that because of this new world shit--” Apple Bloom let out a growl and slammed her mace down, striking the ottoman next to her, crushing it. “I’m sorry, Kyle, but from what I heard, you weren’t all innocent, either...” She said, slightly turning her head to see him. Yeah, I heard about Chrysalis, the whole “molestation” story... I never believed it, but by the look on Kyle’s guilt-ridden face... “Yeah, but we never murdered anyone in cold blood, did we?” Kyle asked her. She was already on a short fuse, but she simply marched over, held up Kyle’s arms, and pulled his sleeves down, revealing old, almost faded scars on his left wrist. Kyle chuckled and shook his head. “The girl who cut it off... they just missed the rest of them.” He whispered, pulling his arm away and adjusting his sleeves. Apple Bloom simply laughed and slumped into a seat. “Yeah... Bell, was she? Yeah, I got some real friends in the... Imperium, as they call it now.” She mocked, using her fingers as quote marks. Kyle grumbled and sat back down. “And also, don’t talk to me about senseless murder when you killed 30 of my people.” She said. Yeah... I heard about that—a small section of the cave was sealed off following reports of someone scoping them out and following the slaughter, the Trix were on the warpath... “I didn’t know about that attack... whoever sent them out there, it wasn’t me.” Kyle said to her. Apple Bloom took a moment before smiling. “Well, your pop was there, along with Diamond, Scoots, and that Joel guy..." Kyle seemed somewhat shocked—he clearly didn’t know about the attack. “I’ll have to talk to the others about it.” He said. Apple Bloom simply nodded as for a moment, I saw a hint of respect in her eyes... She was always hard to please—hell, I barely pulled it off. “Well, I see that you got shit to deal with, so... Imma leave y’all for now—but before I go—take this.” She tossed a radio towards Kyle that he caught. “Long-distance radio—connected to our HQ—the Caverns, I use it to talk to all of the other leaders. I gotta say: Nice digs y’all got. Nice to see ya again, Blazey...” She said as she pat the side of my cheek as she rested her mace on her shoulder, opened the door and shut it behind her. Kyle simply glanced at me as I was somewhat intimidated by the silent anger in his eyes—like he was always keeping a monster inside, barely having it under control... “Like I said—I did favors for them...” I said. I did what I had to do to survive... I already made my peace with that, and as far as I was concerned, Kyle had to make peace, too... “I should put the council together—I have a few questions for them...” He said as he got up and went out the door, leaving me in the chair. The council was gathered inside the town hall, and I made sure to make the fact that I was angry known. “So... who sent that group out there? I know that the council is able to make majority votes, but this is something we should all have known, and voted on.” I said. Joel stepped up, and I turned to him, believing that it was his idea. “We were told that you gave us permission to go out there—we didn’t think twice on it.” He said. I sighed and remembered that he never really saw how we made serious decisions like this. “We don’t just give our word—we discuss it and put it up to a vote. That was how we decided to do trade with Megaville, how we decided to visit the Kingdom...” I said to them. Diamond then stepped up, looking to the ground, slightly. “I did it. I told them you gave us permission...” She said. The anger I felt—it was incomparable to any form I’d ever felt before—even back at Sanctuary, with that Knight after we thought Scootaloo was dead... This one was different. “You... got Scootaloo, Alice, and Cole all killed, simply because you didn’t think on telling me about this mission?” I asked her, slowly getting closer. “I... I knew you wouldn’t allow it.” She said, entering a defensive stance. “Were you just listening? I would’ve put it up to a vote, but instead you kept secrets from us, lied to the others, and convinced them to commit this suicide mission.” I said to her, no longer moving towards her and standing a few feet away from her. I saw my dad shake his head, leaning back and slam his hand on the armrest. “While we’re all gathered here... I asked Celestia to get this... treaty that I heard so much about. I wanted to read it out with you all, so we all know their rules.” I said as I took the treaty that was set on Celestia’s table. I unrolled it and I began to read it. “This document binds the communities of Crystal Prep, Canterlot, the Imperium, and the Caverns. The following rules are expected to be followed by everyone in these listed communities, and if neglected, the executing community/communities shall be either equally punished, or exiled from the conditions of this document, the decision of which to be decided by the victimized community/communities. This list of rules is as follows—no killings, thefts, setups, betrayal of trust or captives... no form of trade (save for negative energy from Autumn Flier), and no declaration of war. This document is expected to be ammended and shall be updated regularly, through a union of the communities at a disclosed location.” Everyone seemed to be on-board with it, until I glanced at the signatures... There were none. “This thing’s unsigned. You never agreed to these terms, most likely because of the Trix, and the Dogs... is that right, Celestia?” I asked her. She leaned forward and nodded. “Before this treaty, there was all-out-war. The New World Order only sees this document as a means to an end, until something else wipes us out—notice that it doesn’t mention anything on providing for each other should we be in need of aid—they're waiting for us to die.” She said. I couldn’t really do anything but sit back and rub my nose in frustration... “So, then we’re gonna have to have one of these... meetings.”
New ProblemsA day had passed since Apple Bloom came knocking on our doors, and since then, Kyle, Blazing, and I were out on a scavenging run, but it was mostly just knowing our surroundings a bit, since everything around us has been picked clean. “Alright-- there’s a bit of a wreck with the bridge up ahead, so just be careful... the last thing we want is someone falling into the river.” Kyle told us, stopping our car and leaving it, taking the keys and disconnecting the battery to avoid it getting taken. I smiled, knowing that I could no doubt fly over the wreck, and Blazing smiled as well, starting to stretch a little... “Gimme a minute.” He said as he backed up... He then ran full-force, jumping onto the support beams and then jumping off of them, rolling onto the other side of the bridge. “Hold on, I’ll find something to help you guys across--” I quickly set my hands on my cousin’s shoulders and began to float into the air, my wings bursting through my shirt as I flew us across the bridge, Kyle letting out a panicked scream. Once we landed, my demon-like wings dissolved, and I set my backpack back on, covering the two slits in my back. “Oh, shit... Well... that’s one way to cross a bridge.” Kyle nervously chuckled, adjusting his jacket. With that obstacle out of our way, we continued on, passing a sunken horde, trapped in a frozen lake, with their heads starting to freeze over... “Icy was through here recently...” I said. Kyle simply zipped up his jacket while Blazing started to put his guard up, his hand resting on his holster. We passed a demolished convenience store, me noting the New World Order symbol frosted into the ground. “Oh, yeah, she was here...” Blazing said, moving over to me as Kyle continued on. I sighed and took a second look at the sight. “So... those wings, where’d you get them?” Blazing asked me, possibly trying to change the topic. I let out a chuckle and shook my head. “They’re genetic... Where’d you learn the free-running?” I asked him. Blazing hesitated, seemingly nervous about the story. “Okay... promise me you won’t laugh.” He told me. I nodded and Blazing cleared his throat. “... Dying Light.” I almost laughed, but I was a man of my word, sucking it in and letting out a silent “huh”. “Really?” I asked, wanting to know more. He tilted his head and nodded. “Yep. Back when the dead were all still running, I went to the old rooftops in Canterlot, surviving by staying off of the streets. It was kinda easy, until other people got involved... then things became a fight. There weren’t many guns left in the city, but I was able to get by on bows and arrows... especially when I learned how to modify--” Kyle held out his hand to stop us, looking up ahead at an abandoned shopping plaza, composed of two stories full of various shops and the various crumbled, walking zombie. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll find supplies here.” Kyle shrugged, overlooking the plaza. We split into two groups, with Jason going alone and Blazing and I working together. We searched the larger upper-floor while Jason went for the lower floor, entering the store which name was washed away, with dirt and moss covering the board—as was the case for the majority of the plaza. “Oh, yeah... this place has been abandoned for a while.” I mumbled, eyeballing the more... adult section of the store. Blazing must’ve noticed me as he chuckled and shook his head. “So... you and Twilight, huh?” He asked me. I turned to him, confused, as we entered an abandoned store. “You know her?” I asked him as he stepped in a wet, crumbled side of the floor and groaned a bit, shaking his boot off. “You kidding? I don’t think I know anyone back at the Cave who doesn’t know Twilight Sparkle...” He said to me. I was definitely starting to get confused, and wanted answers—more than before. “Okay... and how exactly does everyone there know her?” I asked him. Blazing stayed silent as he picked up a miraculously-intact can of food from a high shelf. “I think that’s something you should ask her yourself... You brave enough to eat this? ‘Cause I know I’m not.” He chuckled, tossing the moss-covered can across the store. One store down, several more to go. As we pushed on, I decided to ask Blazing a question that had been bugging me for a while. “So, how do you know Rainbow Dash?” I asked him. Blazing hummed and turned to me, letting out a chuckle. “I was her tutor for a few weeks, back in the old days. It all feels like a lifetime ago, now...” He smiled. I hummed as well and we continued searching, finding nothing but overgrown weeds a few insects crawling inside. “God, I hate bugs... always have.” Blazing commented, swatting a fly away from him. “Back when you were talking with Jason, you said something about modifying... what did you mean by that?” I asked him as we exited the second empty store. Blazing turned to me, seemingly excited. “Ah, I know how to modify melee weapons—make them stronger, give them other abilities... my sword back in the Caverns was modified to use electricity. What I wouldn’t give to hold that sword one more time...” Blazing started daydreaming as we entered the third shop, skipping a few rows due to them being too overgrown to see through... The next store we looked through was different, it was cleaned and not much was growing inside of it. “Looks like someone holed up in here, recently... could be Icy, could be someone else...” Blazing said as he pulled out his knife. We searched through the remains, seeing a small firepit... I put my right hand over it, feeling no heat, and gently rested my index finger into the ashes, feeling no heat. “Whoever was here... they’ve been gone for a while, we should be safe.” I told him. He nodded to me, feeling safe enough to re-holster his blade and start looking around. “Who knows? Maybe who left this place left something else behind...” I said, looking around for any signs of supplies. As we continued, the unanswered question kept nagging the back of my head until I finally gave. “So... you like Rainbow?” I asked him, just wanting an answer. Blazing turned to me, initially trying to stammer his way out of it, but gave in just like I did. “Y-yeah... I do. But I also know that the three of you are together, thanks to the double agent Apple Bloom planted... and look, those favors I did... I did it with the four of them, so I’m in no position to judge... but she’s hot, okay? And I’m going to let her know that.” He said, stepping closer to me. Before I could say anything else, we both heard Jason cry out downstairs, prompting us to run down, with Blazing vaulting over the railing and landing on all-fours, both of us following Jason’s shout to see him in front of a smoking, partially charred... Creature. It seemed like some form of sea-creature, composed of pale flesh with two outstretched arms, with its forearms webbed to its torso, and three tongue-like pincers extruding from its mouth... “What... the hell is that?” I asked whoever was able to answer, but no-one had an appropriate answer. “Some kind of... insect, or something.” Jason guessed, gently kicking it... We would’ve kept walking, but a loud, animal-like roar stopped us in our tracks. I turned to Jason, whose hands started emitting fire, and Blazing pulled out the short, sawed-off shotgun from his holster. “Get ready...” I said as the noises grew closer. From the floor above, a loud stomping rang out as dust fell onto us... whatever was up there was tearing the upper floor apart, letting out a satanic roar as it scurried across, slowly searching the other shops... “That doesn’t sound like a bear...” Blazing whispered. “No... doesn’t sound like any kind of animal...” Jason said as he readied his flame-ridden hands... The monster then began tearing into the floor right above us, large, curved blades stabbing through the hardwood as we all ran out of the shop and the creature tore through it, falling ot where we were only seconds ago. We turned back to the creature from outside the shop, seeing... “What... the fuck... is that?!” Blazing screamed out. The zombie was different, its two arms were extruding from its stomach, it’s head had a massive cave-in on the top, and most noticibly, two extruding arms with the same blades that cut into the ceiling of the shop, caked in blood... I didn’t hesitate as I pulled out my Judge and opened fire into the creature’s head, doing nothing but angering it and taking out its left eye. In response to my bullet-fire, the creature began walking towards us, prompting us to back away in horror, until it began to charge at us, with its arms bending inwards as it charged... Jason then used his fire to conjure and slash out a sharp-enough blade to amputate one of the creature’s arm-blades, seemingly weakening it. “Shit, get the other one!” Jason screamed out. “Blazing, take my machete and get behind it!” I started opening fire onto the other arm, slowing the creature down while handing Blazing my machete. The creature got knocked back, allowing Blazing to drive the machete down into the creature’s other arm-blade, it falling to the ground... The creature only responded by letting out a loud, primal roar, causing the creature’s jaw to break apart, its bones seemingly morphing into viciously sharp fangs as it charged, armless, and leaning forward. Jason then let out a blast of fire, Blazing already out of the way, and pushed the creature back as I shot its legs, trying my damnedest to amputate them. I managed to get its right leg as the monster stumbled to the ground, now crawling towards us, and Blazing responded by pulling out his sawed-off, getting into its face, and shooting it point-blank. Sure enough, the creature stopped moving once it’s face had been emptied onto the pavement. None of us said a word—mainly because of the shock of whatever that monster was... and we all just looked at each other. “Was this the beginning of an alien invasion?” Blazing asked us, unclear whether he was serious or just joking. Neither of us answered, I went up to the creature, noticing that it was still moving around, but it was harmless due to no means of weaponry or defense. “Let’s just burn this place to the ground and get the hell out of here.” I said, not wanting to stay around any longer as I grabbed the creature’s leg with my prosthetic hand just in case it wasn’t completely dead. I dragged the creature inside and looked around for anything flammable, and came across a bottle of vodka... I considered taking a sip, but then decided to just pour it over the ground and the walls and grabbed a used rag, dosing it in what was left, and using the lighter I had on me to ignite it and toss it to the ground. As I walked out of the building, I decided to talk to the only other person I was able to... ‘Aria, you there?’ I asked in my mind, hoping to reach out. Nothing came back for a moment as I signaled the others that we had to move, and as we walked away, I got a response. ‘Yeah? What’s up?’ ‘Have any of your scavengers come across any weird zombies, with blades coming out of their arms?’ Silence again, but for a justified reason. We were just about to approach the run-down bridge from earlier and I wasn’t in the mood to be swooped up by my cousin again... ‘I can’t say we have, but we’ve been getting reports on corpses surrounded by toxic spores from the southern colonies, and rumors of bright lights and strange zombies, so I won’t doubt that happened...’ I was caught by surprise—there're more zombies out there, now? ‘Well, thanks for the heads-up. Hey, think Twilight and I could come down sometime? I have some questions I’ve been meaning to ask.’ I mentally said. No response for a moment, but soon I felt the sensation of someone else’s voice in my head again... ‘Shit... Don’t bother, we’re at your gates and there’s someone just laying here.’ I didn’t need any more temptation to run towards the run-down bridge and jump over it, nailing the landing, and run into the car, fuel the battery back in place, and wait for Jason and Blazing to get in, and drove, speeding down the road... Outside the gates, Aria and Autumn Flier were standing outside, trying to talk to someone who was surrounded by scorched ground and wearing some form of armor, the back of his spine flashing red and his helmet showing three bars of blue light. “...come on, man, just talk to us.” Autumn said, slowly getting closer. I followed him, now hearing that the guy was whispering to himself. “It’s all gone... we were too late...” “We? What do you mean you were too late?” I asked him, wanting answers. He stopped and looked at me, his helmet retracting and revealing a man with green eyes and brown hair, a tad of stubble covering his lower face. “You’re human... is this Earth?” He asked me. Is he from Equestria? That’d make sense... that or he was crazy. “Hey, hey—what's your name?” I asked him. He turned to me, glancing at me and almost screaming to me that he had been through serious shit... “Issac... my name’s Issac Clarke.” Author's Note With this chapter, I am going to put this story on hold for a very short bit, just so I can properly explain the presence of other-dimensional entities in my other story-- Spider-Pip: Sinister Six. Rest assured, I'll be back to this story. Until now, have a glance at what Kyle and his people will need to deal with in the near future.
PrisonersI stood by the entrance to the cellar, preparing my first few questions for Jet Set, who we still had locked away after his betrayal... “How many people do you have...? How big is your compound...?” I whispered the questions to myself as I ultimately knew what I might wind up doing... The last time I interrogated someone was all the way back in Sanctuary. Yeah, Frank was an asshole, but did he really deserve what I gave him? I almost killed him, and over what? Yeah, he beat Scootaloo, and that was something I couldn’t forgive... that was why I beat him to a pulp, even after I got my answers... But Jet Set helped get her killed... what if I lose myself again? “Open the gate!” I heard Kyle shout from outside the walls. I turned to see Kyle, that guy from earlier, Jason, Autumn, and Aria bring... someone in. He was shaking, hesitating to take a few steps, and he was wearing... some kind of armor. “Nicholas! We need to get this guy looked at!” I ran over towards them, and as I did, I was able to hear the stranger whisper to himself... what he was saying, I couldn’t make out entirely, I just heard ‘Marker’, and ‘Necro’... whatever that meant. “What the hell happened?” I asked them. Kyle didn’t respond for a minute, and took his breath. “Call for a town meeting... there’s something we need to discuss.” “So... let me get this straight—aside from zombies, witches, and sirens, we now have to worry about aliens?” Celestia asked at the council table. “I don’t know how else to explain what that... thing was. We need to be concerned that there could be more of them around us, and according to what Aria told me, these incidents are happening everywhere...” I said. Aria then stood up and pulled a map from her pocket, setting it on the table and rolling it out, showing the entire country, marked and labelled with safe-zones and threats. The earliest count of these flashes were last month—down south, a form of fungus started growing, it must’ve crossed over with the zombie virus because if you inhale this stuff, you die and then you turn... but not as your average zombie.” She then pulled out pictures of the fungus sprouting over old buildings, with spores pumping out and contaminating the inside. A second photo was of one of these zombies, and the fungus was sprouting out of it, its eyes bulging out of its sockets, and sections of its skin torn open and spores being visible. “Jesus...” I heard Rainbow whisper. “There’s more... over in Pennsylvania, the other colonies reported sightings of a new group of survivors with... unique abilities.” Aria said a she set down more photos, consisting of survivors in robes seemingly manipulating the elements around them to fight a horde of the dead—water, earth, fire, and air... “Incredible...” I whispered. “Wait, what do you mean by other colonies?” Twilight asked. Autumn took a moment before chuckling. “Yeah-- they’re called the New World Order for a reason...” Autumn said as he pointed to the map. “Excluding us, California’s mostly empty. Nevada has some small towns that have been secured, along with Georgia and Alabama. Farther to the north, Montana has a few safe-zones, but we haven't communicated in the last few weeks... Like we said, Pennsylvania’s pretty secure—most of the locals managed to clear the dead out, so the state’s mostly functioning. Texas is the same, as well—in fact, it’s not much different down there than how it was before...” Autumn laughed. I just stared at the map, stunned over how little we knew about the country outside of California... “And how about other nations? Do we know how they’re doing?” I asked, curious for more. Autumn sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, Kyle—but all we know is that the border to Mexico’s empty, and there’ve been more than a few zombies found washed up at Niagra Falls... we’ve heard nothing from anywhere besides from the U.S... as far as we know, we’re all there is. Not a bad start, though.” He said, with a small smile on his face. Sonata, who until this moment stayed silent, let out a scoff. “Gee, if only Adagio could be here to see it...” The room fell silent as Aria started to get up from her seat, but Autumn stopped her. “...I promise you, once this is all over, I will answer for what I’ve done. Not just Adagio, but... all of it.” He said. I decided to step in and add my say. “You didn’t have a choice, the Trix made you do it--” “They just told me to kill someone... and she wasn’t the one I had in mind.” He said, while slightly glancing at Sunset in shame before glancing back at me. We didn’t say anything as Autumn then went on. “I didn’t know who exactly I was gonna hit... hell, part of me hoped I didn’t hit anyone, but what’s done is done, and I’m just the guy who murdered his own sister-and-law who had no reason to save him from the personal hell he was living...” Sugarcoat hung her head at that statement as I heard Autumn’s voice start to crack. “She could’ve just gone on with her plan with someone else—anyone else... I don’t know why she picked me, but she did... and I finally had a family... a better one. And now... I tore it apart. I need to pay for that...” Before any of us could add our input, we felt the all-too-familiar cold in the air... “Shit, they’re here...” Autumn said as he got up from his seat and backed away from the table. Bloom and I got up, glanced at each other, and walked to the door, ready to face their demands again. “You should leave your amulet here...” Bloom said. I nodded and slowly took it off, before immediately feeling weak and tired, my legs giving as Bloom grabbed me. “Probably... not...” I managed as I put it back on and my strength returned. We made our way to the door and swung it open, the light blinding us for a moment before we saw the gates in the distance, and the three familiar silhouettes stood there, our guards visibly trembling in fear. “Ky-le! Let’s have a chat...” The freezing, sinister voice of Icy sang out. We made our way towards the gates as I kept the radio Apple Bloom gave me in my pocket, ready to broadcast our talk to her if need-be. “You’re early... what do you want?” I asked them. Icy stared me down and glanced at my amulet. “You’re looking dull, Kyle... you’re going to have to keep your strength up.” She said as I glanced at my amulet and noticed that it was losing its color. “I don’t think he knows what that means, sister...” Darcy said from her side, evilly smirking as she spoke. I simply stood there confused while Icy set her hand on the bars of our gate, a strong layer of ice covering a singular bar. “Your amulet feeds negative energy—you need it if you want all of those powers you’ve had lately, and furthermore, we need it, as well. I’d suggest feeding off of the girl whose friends we killed—what was her name, Kat?” She cackled as I tightened my fist in rage. They took a moment to sadistically laugh for about a minute until Bloom cut them off. “What do you want?” She asked them. Her voice almost cuts their laughter entirely as their gleeful faces quickly shaped into disgust. After a moment of uncomfortable silence and staring, Icy spoke. “Jet Set—you're keeping him as a prisoner, which violates the treaty.” I glanced over to Bloom and back to the Trix, ready to make my move. “You left him for dead, we’re keeping him somewhere safe, away from others who might to hurt him—he's not a prisoner, but we can’t just let him walk after what he did.” I lied... Obviously, we were going to question him—we were going to squeeze out every ounce of information that traitor had on the Trix. “Careful, Kyle... lying to us is a very bad idea.” Icy smiled as she shattered the frozen bar in her hand. I stood in silence as my hand remained in my pocket. “So, here’s what going to happen.. Either you give us Jet Set, or we’ll tear your little settlement apart and make it look like a work of nature... am I understood?” Icy asked, leaning into the space she made in between the bars... I glanced at her, and back at Bloom once again. “Did you get that?” I asked the open air as my finger went off of the walkie. A moment passed as Icy simply tilted her head in confusion... until-- “Loud and clear, Ky...” Apple Bloom’s angered voice said as Icy’s proud smirk faded, and her eyes widened as she realized what I just did. “You... you...” Icy struggled to say something, but Apple Bloom kept going. “If you three ain’t back here by the time I’m done with who I’m doin’, so help me, I will force y’all back into that damned book I got y’all from, is that understood?!” She screamed in outrage. I held out the walkie, and after a moment, Darcy rose her voice. “Understood...” She scowled while I pulled the radio back as I felt Icy’s cold aura start enveloping me. “Good, and y’all better hurry, cause you’re runnin’ out of ti—oh, fuck... no, no,you're doing great...” She said as I realized what she was doing and quickly shut the walkie off. “Didn’t need to hear that...” I mumbled as I pocketed it and looked back up, only to see that they were gone... “Well-- that could’ve gone worse.” I said as I started heading back towards the warehouse, ready to continue our discussion... Hack... “Fall back, find Dainn, he'll protect us!” Rip... “No, no, don’t--” Tear... “You can’t take us all--” Slash... “Oh, God, oh God--” Smash... “Please... I beg you—show mercy!” Step... the room shook as I grabbed him by his hair and lifted him to my face... “Where was yours?” I then lowered him, clenched my fist, and punched him in the face. Blood shot out of his nose and went on my torn shirt... And I punched him again. And again... And again... And again, and again, and again, and again... My eyes once again shot open as I hear Applejack let out a gasp as I sat up on the bed and panted for breath... “Jason, are you okay?” She asked, setting her hand on my shoulder. I turned to her, realizing that I must’ve been sweating, and I couldn’t answer. “Jason... you haven’t slept for weeks... it’s okay—you can tell me what happened.” She said as she held me in an embrace, one that I returned with tears starting to run down my face... “Are you sure?” I asked her, knowing that she wasn’t ready to hear it... “I’m sure— I wanna hear it, all of it.” She sternly said, tightening her embrace. After a deep breath and a sigh, I prepared myself. “Okay... but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
CaribouAuthor's Note Hey everyone, just wanted to once again add a forewarning that this chapter gets pretty graphic. With that out of the way, I would like to thank EvAnZeGeek, who helped me write this chapter as well as encourage me to come back to this story after a while of leaving it on hiatus. With that, let's get started. Caribou The dark skies of Earth shone down on me as I gently poked the fire while cooking the animal I hunted down earlier. I never thought I’d be back here again… at least not like this. The plan was simple, we wait for the next cadets to be trained and we end the zombie threat once and for all… But I turned my back on Applejack. I didn’t even know if she was still alive, but at that moment? I didn’t even think about her... all I thought about was Clover. But then things got worse. My mother told me the truth about my father… I couldn’t bear to be there and remind her of what he made her do. I wasn’t running away, not again, I just… needed time to think things over, get my head on straight again. As I sat there and slowly removed my dinner, I heard something from the bushes nearby… I turned and saw nothing, so I went back to the task at hand, slowly setting the small creature on a platter… just to hear it again. At that point, I had enough and pulled out my axe, ready to throw it at the next noise I heard. “Who’s out there? I don’t mean any trouble if you don’t…” I said as I looked through the bushes, trying to make out who was out there. Nothing… nothing at all. I slowly lowered my guard, and before I could even get back to my food, I felt a sharp pain in my side as I looked down to see a dart… I heard loud cheers as I felt my vision grow blurry as I saw dark figures emerge from the bushes as I tried to get up and fight, but I could barely stand up without stumbling over. “Yeah! Finally-- we’ve been tracking this guy for hours!” One of them cheered. I tried to swing my axe at him, only for him to step out of my weak swing and gently take it from my hands. “Damn, not a Pet, though…” Another one of them said. “Doesn’t matter-- Dainn was specific once he laid eyes on him-- this one’s an exception.” One other said as I finally fell to the ground, my head spinning as my vision went completely dark… I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was tied down onto some form of cart as I could barely make out what was happening around me… I barely made out women in certain colored collars, wearing virtually nothing and being led around by men like the ones who captured me… Wait-- I knew some of them. I saw Thunderlane from my gym class, Soarin from science, and even Mr. Doodle from my math class… all of them partaking in whatever sick life this was… and the sounds… the begs… It all barely registered to me at that moment as I was soon taken to a room. The light from the glass windows blinded me for a moment. As my eyes focused, I looked to the center of the room and saw someone I didn’t think I’d see ever again… Gaverial, my step-father. “Ahh, Jason… it’s been a long time.” He said as he forcefully tugged on a small leash he had next to his little throne, and… Celestia slowly crawled out on all-fours. She slowly crawled over to him, fear written all over her eyes as she momentarily glanced at me before looking down at the floor and back at Gaverial. “What… did you do?!” I asked as I violently tugged at my restraints, fighting desperately to get free. He only laughed as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. I looked into her eyes and realized what he had been doing to her… I realized what all these people were doing to them. I only watched in fear as I heard the sounds of metal being grabbed as from the shadows, walked Twilight Sparkle, her hair down, her glasses gone, and wearing a one-piece similar to the one Celestia was wearing, save for not being see-through and clearly made of something more metallic, acting as armor. In her hand was a hot piece of steel, bent into an odd shape, almost like… A symbol. “Gaverial, don’t do this!” I cried out as I once again kept pulling on the restraints. “That name is dead to me… from now on, you will call me Dainn! Ruler of the Caribou! Please, Jason, try not to fight back… just let it happen.” He sickly smiled as Twilight walked over to me with a dead tone in her eyes, moved behind me, and pulled up my shirt, leaning into my ear and whispering… “I’m sorry… just hold on…” She whispered as she drove the steel into my back, forcing me to screech out in pain and anger as I stared into Gaverial’s eyes while he slowly tugged on Celestia’s one-piece. I then was yanked away and taken out of the room as I heard it hit the ground… When I was removed from the cart, I was pushed inside a dark room with the door slammed shut behind me. As I slowly felt my way around the room, I hesitantly tried feeling the burn on my back as I realized that the room would barely be able to hold another person with how compact the room was. I was also unable to see a thing as I slowly sat down and began processing everything I was just exposed to… I knew those people-- they were my classmates and some of them were even my friends. Why would they do this? Something so sick and vile? I didn’t have much time to ponder on it as I began to hear someone from a room next to mine. “H-hello? Is someone there?” I heard someone ask, a woman, but something in her voice sounded so familiar… I walked over to the wall I heard her voice from, taking a breath before speaking. “Hello?” I asked back as I heard a faint gasp from her. “Oh, thank God! I was just trying to get back to my family and those… animals attacked me! Wha… what’re they going to do to me…?” She faintly whispered as I felt my skin grow pale as I heard loud footsteps from the hallway down from us. “...I don’t know.” I whispered as her door opened and shut and after a few moments, loud, painful screams rang in my ears as I could do nothing but listen… As time went on, I was soon covering my ears, trying to block it all out… but nothing worked as they just wouldn’t stop… And there was nothing I could do to help. Weeks passed. Every day, my ears were filled with the screams of that poor girl beside me as I was slowly losing my mind, the walls between me and her covered with my scratches and parts of the door scuffed from my kicks. After a while, her screams stopped-- I still... heard it all, but not her screams. And I didn’t even want to know what I was really being fed that whole time… During that time… I changed. I didn’t know how, but throughout the weeks, it felt like I was taking up more space, my breath sounded heavier, and my back still hurts, but now it felt like it was from something else. As I slowly banged my head against the wall, just waiting for those animals to come back to her cell, I heard light footsteps walk past her cell and unlock my door. The door swung open, and I saw the silhouette of Twilight Sparkle. “Jason? Jason!” She cried as she ran over to me, holding me in an embrace. “I am so, so, so sorry! I had to keep the act up long enough to rally the others, but we can escape now, and--” I shoved her out of the way as I walked out of my cell door and kicked her's down… As I scanned the room, the smell hit me first, the odors and stenches as I then saw the stains on the floor, the rackety conditions of the small mattress in the corner as I slowly turned to see the poor girl I had to hear being tortured for so many days… “T-Trixie…?” I barely whispered as I looked to see my evil ex, laying on the floor, her eyes empty, and a black collar around her neck. She slowly looked up at me before looking down on the floor, barely even acknowledging my presence as from behind us, four of those men entered and saw me, backing away in terror. “What the fuck is that--” One of them barely mentioned as I let out a loud scream-- no, a roar-- as I grabbed him by the head and flung him around like a ragdoll, blood staining the walls as I threw him against the mattress. One of them screamed and tried escaping, just to see that Twilight had locked the door with a cold glare in her eyes and he turned around and saw me grab him, lifting him into the air, and tore him in half, his blood and innards pouring onto the floor as I dropped the rest of him. The other two were cowering in the corner as I took one by the back on his head and rammed him into the cell wall. And then I did it again… and again, and again, increasing in strength each slam until his head was a bloodied pancake. The last one, I slowly approached as he quickly pleaded for his life. “P-p-please! We-- we were just having a little fun, that was all--” I took my hand and slashed at his face, digging into the bone as he fell back dead… I then looked at my hand, seeing that my skin was a faint shade of red, and 5 inch claws emerged from my nails… I heard the door open and Twilight looked at my rampage in horror for the briefest of moments before looking back at Trixie, slowly kneeling down to her. “Trixie? It’s me, Twilight… it’s okay, now…” She whispered as Trixie began to bawl into Twilight’s shoulders-- bawl, unlike any cries I had ever heard before and probably since. I slowly walked past them as I realized my surroundings-- it was the prison Gaverial was sentenced to before the world ended… Good-- live like animals, die like animals. “The things they did...oh God...” Trixie said, choking up on her own words while I looked around. This place has got to be the closest to hell you would ever get, and like hell would I leave this place still standing. Every slave they have here… is just more fuel to my rage. “I’m gonna make these bastards pay for what they did… and I’m gonna make sure these people are free.” I said, feeling my rage beginning to fuel up more. The claws came back, my skin started showing signs of fading to red, and I just realized that my grunts were now growls. “Twilight, get Trixie to safety… get the others while you’re out there… I won’t be able to.” I heard Twilight say something but I didn’t hear her because I was already sprinting through the halls, my claws scraping the sides of the walls. I could sense guards nearby and I turned a corner to see two more there, they spotted me and one fell back as another charged at me. I grabbed him by his arm and sliced it clean off as he held his open wound while I grabbed his face and ripped his mouth clean off before striking his friend on the ground in the face with his own fist. I saw teeth fly onto the wall as he screamed in pain, I then sensed a third one coming around the corner, I then grabbed the second guy and threw him at the third guy and I heard a crunch. I ran to the third guy and punched straight into his lower torso area and started ripping his intestines out, I then forcefully wrapped the string around his neck, tied it up and tied it to the ceiling as I saw him hang and choke on his own organs. More of his organs spilled out onto the floor as I grabbed his blade and stabbed the second guard in the hip and then ran to leave him to die. I grabbed the mouthless one’s leg and dragged him across the floor a bit before I let him go after I saw that his facial features had slid off of his head and were smeared across the concrete ground. The more I encountered, the more blood I was bathed in. I sprinted past one guard and punched him as hard as I could, with his head exploding into a pool of blood and shards of skull. I kept sprinting, determined to find that animal and make him pay. I then dragged another guard by his own intestines and accidentally ripped a part of his skeleton out of his own body after I slammed him against the wall, I then stomped his heart as it fell out of his body, staining my shoes. Great, part of me liked those shoes. Throughout the time I was running, I punched through the doors which had slaves inside there, some about to be used. I put a stop to it and they were soon helped by Twilight, doing clean-up if I missed anyone. I could then sense something, Celestia… I had to get to her. I kept running, I rammed right through a guard which caused him to turn into a complete mush of blood, guts and limbs. I gave no sympathy as I saw another one who tried to shoot at me, I then kicked him in the leg, causing it to break and bend the other way, grabbed his gun and unloaded the clip into him, killing him. I then threw his body against the wall and kicked his head in. As I kept running and killing, I could feel myself getting close to Celestia. I then broke through another door… there he was. Celestia was there as well… a bit bloody and her already-torn clothes ripped, wearing only a bra and underwear. And there was Gaverial… unbuttoning his pants but then turned to me and instantly got his clothes back on. I was fuming with rage, I wanted to kill him right there… but I thought killing him quickly was the easy way out. “You son of a bitch!” I yelled at him, he grabbed a knife as he charged at me, I dodged the slash and punched him in the face. Gaverial stumbled a bit and slashed at me, successfully slicing at my chest which gave me a slight cut. I kicked him and dodged the knife as he threw it. “You are going to fucking pay for what you’ve done!” I screamed in a bit of a roar. “What I’ve done? Come on, J, just let this whole thing go and you could easily be one of my top guys!” He ducked as I threw a punch at him, he elbowed me in the back as I then kicked his face which caused a bit of blood to spew out of his face. I punched him in the gut, grabbed him by the leg and sliced his leg a bit, he kicked me in the nose as I then grabbed the door and threw it at him, it collided with his chest. He was flung to the wall, I saw the terror in Celestia’s eyes… I sharpened my claws and grabbed him by his hair, and started punching him in the face repeatedly, I then was about to slice his throat open and force him to swallow his own throat until… “Jason! Jason! Jason, stop!” I heard a familiar voice say, I turned to then see… Chrysalis? I slowly dropped the beaten Gaverial as she, Twilight, Luna, and even Cinch walked out, accompanied by several others wearing black collars. “We can take him to the Kingdom-- he’ll spend the rest of his life rotting in a cell, like what he did with us…” She said to me as she took a moment to look away from the bloodbath I turned his throne room into. I looked back down at him, beaten and bloodied, his nose dangling from his face as I sighed and dropped him to the floor with a thud… As I turned from him, I felt my body slowly change back to normal as my claws faded away… the only thing that stayed were my wings. After a moment, I looked around and the reality of what I did finally came to me… “Oh… oh, God…” I whispered as I fell to my knees, realizing that I broke the vow of Aikido, to never, ever take a life… And yet I did just that today. “And now… you know everything.” Jason said as I slowly looked around to see who was left in the room. Blossom had her hands to her mouth, my father looked down at the floor with his eyes closed and his fists tightened and turning red, and I could barely respond to what I had just heard… “I… I’m so sorry you had to go through that…” I managed, not knowing what else to say. After a moment, Celestia stepped forward, the reason behind her stern demeanor now clear. “I hope you know now why we can’t just charge against the New World Order, not without taking time to rally whatever allies we have and plan a counter-attack… we will not strike first unless we have to. Now go home… all of you, please.” She said as her demeanor broke with her voice near the end of her speech. I knew that Rainbow left earlier so I went to our house and Twilight’s faint cries filled the entrance as I turned to see her being held by Rainbow, her brand visible… “I… I couldn’t listen anymore. Not after hearing what they put him through.” Rainbow said, resting her fingers in Twilight’s hair. I slowly sat on the other side and Twilight soon shifted her position, laying on my lap while Rainbow sat next to me, our thighs touching as we both comforted Twilight… “I’m so sorry I didn’t come looking for you…” I said to her as my voice began to crack imagining the things Gaverial did to her. She sniffled and nuzzled into my leg a tad. “There’s no way you would’ve known I was alive, still, let along being put through… that.” She said. After a moment of pondering, I knew what I had to say. “If either of you… wanna stop this… just say the word, okay? I don’t want either of you to think that you’re… being forced to--” Twilight got off of our laps and stood right at me, leaning towards me as I did nothing but watch. “You listen to me, Kyle Williams-- you are nothing like that monster! You are kind and loving and everything you’ve done has been for the greater good. He only wanted to writhe in his own filth until he died…” She bitterly added as she soon held me in an embrace, one that Rainbow soon joined. “Yeah… what she said.” Rainbow added as I tightened the embrace. “I never once could see how someone could actually do that… and continue on in their life. Someone who acts like they’re invincible but is really weak once they’re finally beaten...” She said, possibly recalling her earlier days at Sanctuary. I knew what I had to say as I knocked on Celestia’s door, waiting for a response. After a moment, her door opened, and Celestia was there, glancing at me with hardly any emotion. “Henry? How’re you doing?” She asked me as I took a breath. “I’m fine, I just… wanted to apologize. I knew Gaverial longer than you were a principal and from the beginning I knew something was wrong with him. I failed Jessica by letting her marry him, and I failed you for not doing something sooner. If I knew he’d become what he did…” I started, unable to finish that statement. She hummed for a moment and sighed, waiting for me to finish my sentence. “...I would’ve killed him.” I said to her. After a moment, she moved from the door and took a step closer. “Would you have been able to have done that?” She asked me. I took a breath, and I answered. “It wouldn’t have been the first life I’ve taken, and I would’ve done anything to protect Jessica and my nephew.” I said to her.
Storm (Part 1)Two months had passed since Jason told his story to us, and winter had started to set in... Twilight, Applejack, and Joel were out trying to harvest firewood out in a dead forest to keep us warm for the next few months. As Twilight and I chopped away at logs, Joel and Applejack kept watch until it was their turn as a small cluster of snowflakes slowly floated down to the floor. As they were gathering firewood, I was being trained in my new Siren abilities by Sonata and Aria. “Remember... you’ll have to gather negative energy in order to use these powers, so... just make sure you don't get obsessed with the power, okay?” Sonata asked me. I glanced at her and nodded. “I promise, sis’.” I said to her. I turned towards a nearby roaming zombie and concentrated, keeping my focus on it as I began humming, slowly feeling the energy inside the amulet reach out to the dead creature. After a moment, my amulet began glowing red, and the zombie stood solid, not moving as I stopped for a moment and saw what I did to it. “Hmm. Not bad...” Aria said from the side, crossing her arms as I concentrated again, luring the zombie closer to me. Once it was close enough, I signaled to Joel, and he swung his axe into the creature’s face, splitting it open and staining the heavy iron with its blood. “Hey, Twi’... how’re you holding up?” I asked her. She only responded by furiously chopping into a log, splitting it in half as I simply nodded and went back to chopping and loading. Once we saw that Applejack’s truck bed was filled with logs, we strapped the top of the bed and we all got inside, driving off to return home... as we started driving off, I looked out to see what I thought was a figure in the sky with glowing red eyes... I glanced up again to see that it was gone, probably a figment of my imagination. I had to do this. I had to open that door and ask Jet Set everything he knew—he had been locked up for almost 3 months, now, and we haven’t gotten a word out of him. I took a deep breath and opened the door, seeing him in the cell, sitting against a wall, glancing at me for a second before looking back at the floor... I slowly walked towards him and took a seat by the bars. “Jet Set... you’ve been here for a while, now. I was hoping we could talk about Apple Bloom and her witch friends, at least what you wanna share...” I said to him. He hesitated for a moment before standing up and walking over to the bars. “What is there to say? They abandoned me, after everything I did for them—the missions I carried out for the greater good of the New World Order... but it was all for nothing...” He sighed as he sat and I saw tears flow from his face. “I’m sorry about what happened... but we need to learn more than we already know, please...” His few tears turned into cries as he slowly got up and went back to his corner. “They told me... that no-one would die if I helped them. They lied to me... I want to tell you what I know, but... I’ve seen what happens when you betray them...” He said to me. I couldn’t... I couldn’t push him like I did Frank, not again... “Okay... okay. Take some time, we’ll try again some other time, when you’re ready.” I said to him as I marched upstairs and shut the door, silently cursing at myself for being unable to talk to him. I already knew I wasn’t going to hurt him, but could I stop myself? “Uh... hey.” That guy from the clearing— I think he’s said his name was Blazing— called to me, and he clearly saw me walk out and pace around for a second. “Oh. Hey...” I said back, rubbing the bridge of my nose. After a moment of silence where I thought he left, I sighed and saw that he was still there. “Having trouble with him?” He asked me. “Yeah... I know that I can get him to talk, it’s just... the last time I interrogated someone, I was... in a darker place. It didn’t help that he abused Scootaloo back in the day—the last thing I wanted then was a gentle talk. I almost killed him and I can’t help but feel that I’ll do it again...” I said, venting to someone who I couldn’t help but feel like I knew, but I just couldn’t put my finger on where I knew him from... He sighed after a moment and sat on a nearby bench. “Yeah... I know what you’re talking about. Back at the Caverns, Apple Bloom’s interrogations weren’t so gentle, either...” He said. “No, that wasn’t really the main reason why. Don’t get me wrong, it helped, but like I said, I was in a darker place. I thought that Kyle and my other friends were weak, that they weren’t going to make it... so I snapped.” I said, the memories returning to me of hurting my friends, almost killing Kyle and hurting Fluttershy and Sunset... He nodded, clearly knowing what I was talking about. “I was in 4 groups before I found Apple Bloom’s people. The question just became how long until I was alone again... but do you wanna know why I stayed?” He asked me. I smiled a bit and decided to have a little fun. “Because they slept with you?” I asked. He chuckled for a moment and shook his head. “Maybe a little—but they also believed that this world was... our second chance. We messed it all up the first time and look what happened. Sure, the NWO isn’t any better, but they acknowledged what happened. We can change... we can make things better than how they were, we just have to be better ourselves. And I don’t know anything about what you did, but I think it’s time you recognized how you’ve changed.” He said to me, resting his hand on my shoulder before walking off. As I processed everything he just told me, I felt a hint of heat grow on my face as I slowly rose up and was about to go back down and try again when I heard the gates open and Kyle, Applejack, Joel, Jason, and Twilight entered the gate. “Hey! How was the log chopping?” I asked in a sarcastic tone. “Tiring, also kinda tense…” Joel said as he pulled in the load of firewood… As he unloaded the logs, I stepped over to Kyle and Twilight, with Jason and Applejack not too far behind. “Now all we have to do is install fireplaces—- we should be able to heat up most of these houses before winter really starts…” Kyle said as we all began walking towards our house, with Jason and Applejack heading into theirs. Our... It had been a few weeks of us together and I was finally getting used to it. I knew what we had wouldn’t last forever—there was no way it could. Besides, with how complicated things were between Kyle and I back at Sanctuary... Not to mention that Scootaloo was almost a sister to me... It was probably a good idea not to dwell on it too much. “So how’s your dad? Have you heard from him recently?” Twilight asked Kyle. He smiled and nodded. “Yeah-- he and Celestia had a letter sent the other day. They’re doing good—Celestia wanted to get away from Canterlot and Dad probably wanted to keep an eye on Chrysalis. They said they should be back soon with the final decision about trade between us.” Kyle shrugged, clearly nervous about doing trade with them again-- especially with who’s running the place now. “Either way, I’m glad they got together... they always seemed like a good match.” Twilight smiled as she set her hand on Kyle’s shoulder. Right as we were about to enter the house and settle down for the night, the sound of distant thunder stopped us. We turned to see black clouds forming in the distance—not dark grey like your average storm, but deep black... “That can’t be good...” I said as Kyle looked on as it slowly made its way closer towards us. “It’s the Trix. It has to be, it’s the only thing that makes sense.” Blazing said from his new seat. “Even if it was them or not, we have to go—even if it’s just for a couple days, we won’t be able to survive that storm.” I said to the council. “But where would we go? We can’t just wander around out there during... that." Sunset pondered out loud. It took a few minutes of thinking, but I eventually reached my decision. “Canterlot High. I remember there being a lower level meant for maintenance and stuff like that. I don’t think the Caribou went through there, and it could still be intact.” I said to them. Everyone in the room glanced at me and after a moment of silence, we all seemed to agree. “Yeah-- that could work. It could hold us all and it should be warmer than out in the open, we just have to make our way over there before that storm hits.” Luna said from her seat. “Then we shouldn’t waste any more time—Twilight, spread the word to the others, and Jason, you gather everything you can from the pantry, and Rainbow with the armory—by tonight, we will be in that lower level waiting this storm out.” Kyle said to Twilight, Rainbow, and I. In a matter of hours, we were all out on the road, marching towards the ruins of Canterlot High as snowflakes began to fall. I glanced at Joel and decided to make my way towards him. “Hey, man...” I said, not sure how else to start a conversation between us. After a moment, he glanced at me and sighed. “Hey.” He said back, something in his hands... The tape that Cinch made Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet record. The one that got his family killed... “You... still have it?” I asked him. He didn’t look at me, but he didn’t have to. “Yeah. I do. I don’t regret it, it’s just... this got my family killed and now it’s like it meant nothing... we’re just pretending like it didn’t happen.” He lamented, and I listened to him, stroking my chin as a lot of water had gone under the bridge. “Maybe so, but this is war. All we can afford to do right now is push all that to the side and make sure no-one else has to die. After that? We’ll be sure to properly discuss what we’ve all done and see how we can move forward-- I promise.” I told him as I saw Diamond walk up from Joel’s left. “Hey, Kyle.” She said to me as I glanced at her taking Joel’s hand. “Hey...” I said as I decided to give them their space. Speaking of Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet, I spotted them in the back of the crowd of 64. I walked over to them and decided to make things clear with them. “Hey.” I said to them, staying at their side. “...Hey...” Sugarcoat said, clearly not sure what to say to me. In the corner of my eye, I saw Jet Set with his hands tied behind his back, being escorted by Blossom and Rainbow. “If you think that I’m here to berate you for what he did, don’t. I was... a bit crude with what I said about what would happen if one of you did anything.” I said to them. Sugarcoat glanced at me, and I cleared my throat. “Don’t get me wrong, you’ve both done awful things, and the time will come when you have to answer to them. But we’ve all done awful things to stay alive over the last 3 years, myself included. I just want you to know that whatever comes next... I trust you. So please, please don’t let that be a mistake.” I said to them, not wanting to say much else. Sugarcoat’s eyes widened, along with Sour Sweet, as I simply walked off, catching Jason nearby with Applejack, Rich, and Aunt Jess—with a bit of a baby-bump forming in her stomach. I walked over to the two and decided to catch up. “So, how’re you holding up?” I asked my cousin. He chuckled and tilted his head. “All things considered? Never better.” He said to me. I chuckled along and stayed near them as Joel and Diamond walked past, their hands still interlocked. “Hmm... I don’t really like him.” Jason muttered. I turned to him confused for a brief moment, but then... “Jason... you won’t believe this— I forgot. For a hint of a second, I forgot the shit he put me through, all the days I came home bruised and beaten. All that aside, Joel isn’t that person anymore—he's changed, and he’s suffered like all of us have.” I said to him. Jason clicked his tongue and sighed. “Maybe, but he should still answer for how he treated you.” “But he did. He did the first time we met since the dead started coming back, and believe me, I was as angry as you are now. In that one moment, all I wanted to do was kill him... but I knew that wouldn’t have changed anything. What you did, with the Caribou, that was different—they needed to die, just like the Trix do, but with Joel... he changed. A lot of people can, if you stop and think about it... all we have to do is give them the chance to prove that they’re different than they were.” I spoke to Jason as I saw a few others glance at me during my speech, including Rainbow, Blazing, and Jet Set. After another half-hour of marching, the destroyed high school became visible, just as the sky began growing pure black and thunder began to roar. “Come on, we gotta go!” I said as we all started lightly running towards the building, careful not to trample anyone over as we felt the snow begin to come down harder and harder by the second. We entered the demolished building, with chunks of the roof missing and blood staining the walls as we went along. We found the basement stairs and made our way down—the carts of food and other supplies being carried by Blossom and Buttercup. As we made our way down the flight of stairs, it started getting a tad warmer, most likely because of how deep we were underground, at least 6 feet. Once we reached the bottom, we looked at our new home for the next few days—an abandoned, dirty and somewhat damp basement level, but Celestia was right—there is most definitely enough room for all of us. “Okay, everyone... fan out and get comfortable, we might be down here for a while.” I said as Jason and Sunset signaled to me. We walked over to another room in the basement, away from the others... “What is it?” I asked them. Sunset looked at the supplie cashe and sighed. “We counted what we had before we left Canterlot... we have enough to last us maybe a month, if we ration.” She said before turning to Jason. “Along with that, something doesn’t feel right about this storm—it seems deliberate, like the Trix wanted to wipe us out.” Jason said as a loud boom of thunder rang from outside, scaring us a bit along with everyone outside. “We’re... safe down here, right?” Sunset pondered. I looked around for a second, and Jason nodded. “I volunteered with the Apples down here before I attended, this basement was made to hold the entire student body in case of emergency.” I nodded, thanking him, and went deeper into the basement, pulling out the radio Apple Bloom gave me and turning it on. “Apple Bloom, you there?” I asked, waiting for a response. A moment passed, but I heard the radio static spike for a second before... “Yeah?” She asked me. I sighed for a moment before pushing the button again. “Hey, the Trix know how to manipulate weather, right? I’m asking because we’re in a bit of a storm and could use their help repelling it.” I said to her. Silence. Not a word from her and I spoke again. “Please-- we don’t have enough supplies to outlast whatever storm this is. And if any of us die, you know what that means...” I said to her. Still just silence. Until... “I’m sorry, Kyle.” I sighed, knowing she wouldn’t talk again and pocketed the radio, heading back to the main area, ready to talk to the others. I entered the main area to see almost everyone hunched over and coughing, one person stepping to another room and vomiting... “Oh, no...” I said as I ran over to the others, checking on them, “What happened?!” Jason looked on in horror as he saw Applejack barely standing, and Rich on the ground, pale and sweating. “We don’t know, everyone just... got sick.” Applejack faintly said. Jason held her for a moment before... something changed in him. A purple-ish aura emitted from his eyes and his voice sounded... fused with someone else’s as he laughed and turned to me. “Ah, Kyle... so brave, so dumb.” This new person said as Blazings eyes widened... “Kyle... it’s Darcy!” He panicked as I quickly grabbed him... or her, and pinned... them against the wall. I kept them there as I felt my anger and fear begin to boil over as I took a sharp breath. “What did you do?! What did you do to him?! Tell me!” I screamed at her. She only laughed for a moment before leaning in and whispering. “It’s Anthrax... in the water you made Jason load up.” Like that, I pushed them onto the ground as I turned to see Twilight collapse to the ground, starting to cough up blood... Author's Note Hey everyone, sorry about the delay on this one, got caught up in a vacation and the notorious writer's block. I intend on writing more on this story now that its about to get serious, so buckle up and get ready for closer calls, new characters, and a battle unlike any other.
Storm (Part 2)An hour had passed since we learned about the water being poisoned... no-one had died yet, but they were all getting worse. I was pacing in another room, screaming into the radio. “Apple Bloom, please! I am begging you, almost all of my people are sick, and they’re getting worse! Just tell them stop this storm so we can gather medicine, please!” Nothing... the same response I had all day. “Damn it!” I screamed, kicking the wall in anger as I began hearing cries in the quickly-built sick bay. I ran over there alongside Sunset and Oz, who haven’t fallen sick, and saw Sombra holding Luna, lifeless in his arms... None of us could say anything... not until I walked past the other dying patients and made my way to him, with him coughing as he looked up to me. “I’m so sorry...” I told him as he sniffled and gently set her down before lying next to her. “Don’t be... I’ll be with her soon...” He mumbled, closing his eyes and sighing as all I could do was leave him. Outside the sick bay, Sunset, Oz, and the other people who haven’t gotten sick along with myself, were discussing means of finding a way to cure the poisoning. “We need antibiotics—they’ll fight the poison and give them a chance to beat it.” Nicholas said. “Yes, but we need a way to go without freezing to death.” Rainbow said next to me, our hands clamped together under the table. We all then turned to Bloom, who we knew had the ability to shoot fire from her hands. “I’ll do it. I can lead a small group through this storm. Nicholas, do you know where medicine like this would be at?” She asked him Jason was the one who answered this question, much to my pride. He was restrained and chained down to the chair, but he was still willing to help... “When the Caribou raided this place, they weren’t after supplies. Maybe if we’re lucky, the old infirmary here has antibiotics.” He said. Sunset gasped and sat upward. “He’s right! Before the Caribou came, we scavenged a stash of medicine from a vet’s office, and I know for a fact that antibiotics were in there.” She said. I breathed a sigh of relief... it was time we fought back. “Okay. So, a small team goes out to get that medicine, and the rest of us will stay here, helping these people as long as we can.” I said to them. Rainbow tightened her grip on my hand, and I did the same, letting her know that I was staying here with Twilight. “Okay... I’ll help however I can.” Sunset said as she glanced over to Bloom and Nicholas. Rainbow stood up and took a breath. “Me, too.” She said. Next to her was Rin, and she stepped up as well, much to Jess’s dismay. “Rin, you can’t...” She tried to beg her. “I’m sorry, Je--…. Mom, but I owe this. To Scootaloo, Kyle, and everyone in that room.” She said as she glanced at me and smiled a bit. Blazing stepped up as well, raising up his hand. “I owe this, too...” After a moment, I smiled and turned to the group, “Okay... Bloom, Blazing, Sunset, Nicholas, and Rin... you’re our team. Layer up and look out for each other out there... we have no idea what could be waiting out there.” I said to them. With that, the group made their way out, and Rainbow and I made our way to the sick bay, where we saw at least 4 more lifeless bodies with others standing over them. I held back my tears as we desperately searched for Twilight, praying it wasn’t too late... After a moment, we both found Twilight, coughing up drops of blood. I took a napkin from my pocket and gently wiped them away, with Rainbow on Twilight’s other side as she rested her head on her shoulder. “How’re you feeling?” I meekly asked, probably already knowing the answer. She turned and gently smiled. “Better, now...” She said as she weakly set her hand on my cheek and her other on top of mine. I knew they saw us... but I couldn’t have cared less. Not in that moment when I was all she had. I slowly rested my head on her shoulder before closing my eyes, praying to whoever would hear me that she would still be there when I woke up... Please... just once, let her be okay. Bloom was in the front, with Nicholas behind her and Rin behind me. She kicked the door open and we all ran out, with Rin slamming the door behind her as we immediately felt the intense cold... it was unlike any winter I had experienced before... Bloom was quick to remedy this by forming a ring of fire around us, warming us up enough to push on. “Where’s this infirmary?!” Bloom shouted in the screaming wind. “It’s at the other end of the school! We could go out into the open and make our way... that...” She stopped as she looked out the cracked roof to see a figure in the air, watching us with its eyes an intense red... “How about we go through the school?!” Bloom nervously asked as she pushed on. The building wasn’t that big, but it was still a trek to the other half to find the nurse’s office, which was changed into the infirmary. Once we were all inside the one of the very few intact rooms in the school, Bloom shut the door behind us. Nicholas and Rin quickly opened their bags and went through the lockers and drawers, finding nothing... “Come on, come on... it’s gotta be around here, somewhere!” Rainbow cried as they desperately began swinging doors and yanking drawers open. After a moment, I walked past the others, pulled out a bobby pin, and begin picking at a closed lock... After a moment, I heard the click and swung the door open, seeing a stocked shelf of... Pennicilin and Ammoxacilin. “Guys! I found some, come on!” I cried out as the group ran over and let out a relieved laugh. Rainbow was quick to lunge at me in a brief bear hug before awkwardly pulling away and joining to fill the bags with medicine. Needless to say, my face warmed up just a bit. “Okay, that’s everything, come on! We don’t have much time left!” Bloom said as we got into formation again and the door was kicked open. We marched out only to see a pack of zombies blocking us off. “No, no, not now!” Rainbow cried out in rage as Bloom reached her hand out and burned the horde down in an inferno. We quickly ran with the medicine intact, making our way back to the basement, just as I saw a few zombies behind me push Rin to the ground. She let out a cry as I yanked the creature off of her and helped her to her feet, and we all made our way back to the basement, hoping we wouldn’t see any more surprises... I slowly opened my eyes and quickly checked on Twilight, hearing her let out weak, raspy breaths... I then heard footsteps upstairs and I felt a rush of energy, gently getting up and running out to the door, ready to swing it open for them. As I pulled the door open, I saw the group in the distance and formed a big smile on my face... Before a rush blew behind them and a bloody paste formed where Nicholas was. I turned to see a large indent in the wall at the end of the hallway and what must’ve been that figure I saw earlier, wearing a striped tan shirt torn at the sleeves, a red cape, and a tattered, hand-stitched red mask, with small eyeholes revealing human eyes... Bloom didn’t hesitate to shoot him with a blaze of fire, causing him to shout in surprise as she simply screamed... “Run!” She said to the group. They all quickly ran into the basement with me at the door. I looked out to see Bloom shooting fire at the mysterious figure before it flew through the roof and tried going behind her. She quickly turned and surprised him with a puff of smoke, causing him to fall to the ground and cough. “Bloom, come on!” I said to her. Bloom turned to me and shook her head, forming two fireballs in her hands and attacking the figure. After a moment of hesitating, I shut the door, locking it and slowly making my way back down to see Sunset putting the medicine in syringes and handing them out to people to go through the sick bay. “Here, give this to her.” She said, handing me a syringe. I didn’t hesitate as I ran into the bay and found Twilight, injecting her arm and having it enter her bloodstream. “Here... it’s going to be okay, now... it’s over...” I said as I slowly looked at the lifeless bodies now piling up in the sick bay... After we counted up the fatalities, Nicholas, Luna, Sombra, the Tests, Keita and his girlfriends, and a vast majority of our people were dead, leaving only 25 of us out of the 64 that came here. I peeked through the semi-opened door to see Blazing shaking as he talked about what happened to Nicholas. “I don’t know what happened, one minute he was there, and the next, he was gone, and the blood--” He started ranting. I then turned to Rin, who handed out a syringe before glancing at her shoulder... Where a bite mark was visible. She glanced at it, gasped for a second, and a tear flowed down her cheek before she wiped it away and injected another sick survivor. I kissed Twilight’s forehead and got up to talk to her, wanting to know what we should do about it. “Rin...” I started, before she sighed and didn’t even look at me. “I know, Kyle... I know. But it has to wait... it just has to...” She simply said, her voice shaky. I nodded and left the sick bay, ready to talk to Apple Bloom another time... but my rage was more than visible as my necklace began to glow. “We managed to find some antibiotics... so I guess there’s that. But almost all of my people are dead... dead, Apple Bloom, and not to mention that some Superman wannabe turned our doctor into paste! So, you want a war, Apple Bloom? Then congratulations—you fucking have one.” I said as I took the radio and threw it into the wall before stomping it into small pieces...
The TrekThe storm lasted for a whole other day, and in the second day, we managed to bury everyone who had died from the Anthrax. Those of us that were left were either recovering or mourning... but we all knew the same thing—we couldn’t go back to Canterlot, not like this. After the sick started getting better, we did a census on who survived... it wasn’t many. Twilight, Joel, Oz, Diamond, Jet Set, Filthy Rich, and Sugarcoat and few others got sick and got the antibiotics while Sour Sweet, Jason, Applejack, Blossom, Issac, Sunset, Dexter, Aunt Jessica, Blazing Waters, and I didn’t get sick. After a whole day of pondering where we should go... we all had the same answer. The Imperium. Crystal Prep brought up too many bad memories for some, and the Sector was military personnel only, so it was our only option. On the second day, we started packing what we had again, with Jason still restrained due to Darcy possessing him again in the middle of the night. We all gathered at the grave sites just above the school, where rows of freshly dug dirt and wooden graves with the names of the dead written on them... Gary, Luna, Sombra, Nicholas, Buttercup, Sour Sweet and countless others... I walked over to the four’s graves, uncertain of what to say... “I didn’t know Luna as well as others here did... but from what I gathered, she was brave and compassionate. Am I right about that?” I turned to the crowd of about 25, who mostly nodded. I glanced at Sombra’s... “Aside from... you-know-who, Sombra was the other teacher who was nice to me. And unlike you-know-who, he never had some twisted motive, he was just—he was just that good of a man.” I choked up... Nicholas was next... “Nicholas said he wasn’t always as who he was when we knew him—but I’d say half of us were on the same boat as him. He didn’t deserve this... none of them deserved this.” Finally, Gary... Gary. “When it...” For a brief second, I lost my voice. It took a moment, but I collected myself and went on. “When this started... I had nothing left. I had no-one left... if someone told me on that roof all those years ago that I’d get home to the zombie apocalypse... I would’ve just jumped off.” I weakly chuckled, hoping it’d light the mood the tiniest bit. It didn’t. “But after it all happened, in the year that followed, Gary helped me. Did any of you know that he was a veteran? Because, trust me, I didn’t. He taught me how to survive—scavenging, hunting, things like that... and when it mattered, he got me here. He gave up his place at Canterlot just so I could be let inside. I can never forget him doing that—making that sacrifice, it’s... it’s something we all have to do at one time or another. It felt like he just... kept on doing it, almost every day—when I got sick with the flu, to when that horde took our hometown for a couple of weeks... I’d be dead without him...” An hour passed of us paying our respects and saying our goodbyes before we were ready to finish packing and head out onto the still-icy roads and make our way to the Imperium, maybe a two-day hike from the high school... but it was one we had to make. We started that afternoon, after our supplies were packed and carried out of the basement by Applejack and Rainbow. The walk out of the school was a tough one, with no sign of Bloom anywhere, save for scorch marks on the walls and demolished walls where the red-masked freak probably smashed through. Rubble blocked our way more than once, but we managed to clear a path and soon after, we made it to the ice-covered roads. Needless to say, a great deal of us slipped at first, before getting our footing and slowly walking the path, with snow up to our ankles... Despite the cold, Rin was sweating droplets and her skin was turning pale as Jess and Rich helped her walk, their faces showing how destroyed they were... When I heard Rin call my aunt her mom, it caught me off-guard... but after I talked to Jason, it all made much more sense—why Rin was in charge, the formation of the Kingdom, all of it. Speaking of Jason... I turned to see his hands tied to his request with Applejack next to him, resting her hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t said a word since Darcy possessed him the other day... I turned back to see Joel and Diamond, apparently my step-cousin, who both got sick and thankfully survived. Their hands were interlocked again, but this time they stayed that way the entire hike, from the first second we left to the night in an abandoned mall just outside of Sanctuary. While we were setting up camp for the night, Blazing pulled me aside and taught me and a few others how to melt snow into drinking water, using some of his own supply of drinking water that he thankfully kept to himself until now. After about an hour of gathering snow off the ground and icicles from the ceiling, we were able to provide fresh water for everyone while we ate what was left from the pantry, thankfully not poisoned. That night, everyone stayed in separate shops with Joel and Diamond in an old Hot Topic, Jess, Rich, Applejack, Jason, and Rin staying in the food court, with the former two restrained just in case, and Twilight, Rainbow, and I were huddled up in an old Sear’s We knew Rin wouldn’t turn that fast—bite wounds most often take a few days before they turn someone, very much like the ordinary Rabies strain. Regardless, she was already rasping and her fever was 105. As the Twilight and Rainbow slept, my eyes were still open, and I decided to reach out to Aria... Hey. A minute passed of no response before... Kyle? We saw that storm, we’re already reaching out to the Imperium, those savages won’t get away with this... I’m sorry we couldn’t help.. You’re on the other side of the county, there was nothing you could’ve done. All that matters is that some of us survived... and we will have our voice heard. I think it’s time we had another meeting between all of the communities. A few more seconds passed before Aria’s voice was heard again. I agree. I’ll take it to Autumn in the morning—you guys get to the Imperium, first. I mentally nodded to her and soon found my eyes beginning to close... A few hours into our second hike, the snow had started to melt, now down to our toes, making it much easier to walk. At this point, most of us were a tad parched, but we couldn’t stop to gather and boil more snow. We were just outside the Imperium’s border when I glanced at what looked like a horse along with one of the armored Knights riding down towards us... “Kyle Wiliams! What brings you and this... delegation to the Imperium?” The knight asked, guessing why we were all out here... Whether it was the looks on our faces or Rin’s bite mark, the Knight slowly removed her helmet, revealing a teen about my age, with a purple mohawk, purple skin darker than Twilight’s, and a scar running down her left eye... “We’re all that’s left... the Trix poisoned our water, and sent an assassin to wipe us out...” I said to her. Silence for a moment, before the knight sighed in shock. “Shit... Come—I'll escort you all to the Imperium.” She said as she tugged on the reins, her horse now moving at our pace... We were about to head out when we saw a large pack of dust beginning to form in the far distance... “What... is that...?” I asked, trying to make out what it was. The knight seemed nervous as she hopped off her horse and pulled out a pair of binoculars, removing her helmet and scoping out the dust trail... “Holy shit...” She whispered as she slowly handed me the binoculars, and I looked to see... An ocean of the dead... some of them were what Issac called “Necromorphs”, and even a few new ones, some having fungi growing on them with others glowing a dark-purple color... but it was the same—we had to move if we were going to miss them. “We should keep moving.” I said as I handed the knight the binoculars and we quickly started hiking again, this time with this knight guiding us... Once we reached the gates, I glanced at Twilight and Rainbow, who were both right next to me and the gates began to open, my dad and Celestia at the other side... “What do we tell her...?” I asked Twilight. She took a deep breath and took a step forward, with my dad walking over to me with a smile on his face... before looking out to see how many of us there were... “What happened?” Was all he asked before I saw Celestia look out into the crowd, most likely looking for her sister... “Luna? Luna?!” She cried out desperately before I glanced at my dad and shook my head, letting him know she didn’t make it. He was quick to pull me in for a hug, which I returned until he pulled away and walked over to and embraced a sobbing Celestia... The rest of us couldn’t say anything, most of us looking down to the ground. “Where’s the cellar? Darcy possessed me, I can’t let her hurt anyone else.” Jason said to a random guard who confusedly pointed him to the direction of the castle... How could I have been so stupid? I should’ve known that while my mind was somewhere else, they would be inducing some kind of possession spell on me. But I won’t let them get through again, not if I can help it. With my hands tied behind my back, I entered the castle, where Chrysalis was on the throne, quick to recognize me. “Jason... I heard what happened at Canterlot, I’m so sor--” “I need to be locked up. Darcy—one of the Trix-- put some kind of spell on me, made me...” I choked up in my hysteria, still having no memory of poisoning the water. “She used my body to poison our water supply.” I simply said, not knowing how else to explain it. Chrysalis glanced at me in pure silence, not knowing what else to say except... “If you think this is what’s best, I won’t try and stop you—but say the word, and we will be down there with the keys.” She said as she rose from the throne and led me down the side door, into what must’ve been the new dungeon. As I walked down the dark stairway and reached the rows of empty cells, I found a random one and opened it, entering the cell with Chrysalis hesitating to close the door behind me. “You don’t have to do this, Jason... maybe we can reach out to your Red Fountain friends--” “Don’t worry—that’s my plan, but for right now, I can’t be trusted. No matter what I say, no matter what happens... keep. Me. In here.” I said. She glanced at me before nodding, shutting and locking the cell door before leaving the dungeon, most likely to talk to the others... Silence. Pure, unfiltered silence. I sat back onto the floor and rested my head on the mattress, trying to summon all the willpower I have to call out for her... Darcy. No reply—maybe our “bond” isn’t like Kyle and Aria’s... I can live with that. “Who’s there...?” A weak voice croaked out. That voice... it sounded familiar. I didn’t say anything, not wanting to get friendly with whoever that was... “Jason? I-is that you?” The same voice called out, only this time... in fear. It clicked to me faster that the lock of the cell door did—it was Gaverial... “Shut up...” Was all I said to him as I hopped on the decent mattress and closed my eyes... I slowly entered the throne room, seeing Chrysalis massage the bridge of her nose, probably not hearing me open the door. “Chrysalis.” Was all I said to get her to look up in surprise. “Kyle...” She said back, and I didn’t waste any time to say what I went there to say. “My... our son was brought here with my dad. I’m thankful he didn’t have to see what happened... or that he didn’t die along with them... but don’t think this is me saying ‘thank you’-- because it isn’t. You lied to me, manipulated me-- you fucking marked me!” I said, showing her my shoulder-bite. She didn’t say a word, her face didn’t change, and she didn’t even flinch, almost as if she was waiting for this conversation. “I can never forgive you for what you did... but that doesn’t change the fact that your people are the only chance we have against the New World Order. As I went to walk away, I heard Chrysalis call out. “I know you can’t forgive me—and you shouldn’t. What I did then never left my mind... I don’t know why they look up to me, when there’re far better people with less... sinful pasts.” She said to me. I stopped, and a very faint smile formed on my face, only seeing myself in her words. “Maybe it’s... how we make up for what we did, what steps we take to repair the damage we caused. Maybe that’s it...” I said as I walked out of the large throne room doors and two guards closed them behind me.
SacrificeA day had passed since the Imperium had taken us in. In that time, Rin had only gotten sicker, but she was well enough to visit her brother’s grave, redone after the truth of his sacrifice reached the kingdom. “I’m... sorry, brother... so sorry... for everything...” She rasped, with tears flowing down her cheeks. We stood there, both of us taking a moment to mourn Len—of course, I didn’t know him nearly as well as she did... but he had a good heart. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did. “I think we should go...” I said to her as I helped to her feet and led her back to the infirmary. On our way back, she let out a small chuckle. “It’s funny... back when I was ruler here... I had no idea you were related to Jason...” She said, laughing to herself a bit before her laughs devolved into coughing fits. As I helped her back inside, I glanced at Diamond using her staff, practicing her forms and glancing back at us before looking away, her form now slightly shaken. “Hey.” I said to her. She stopped and turned to me, a faint smile forming on her face. “Hey, Kyle...” I glanced at the staff, somewhat recognizing it. “That was Jason’s, right? He taught you all of that?” I asked her. She smiled again and slightly nodded. “Yeah... I can’t count how many times this thing saved my life once I found it again.” I let out an awkward laugh as we both soon took a seat in the grass, neither of us knowing what to say to the other. “So... how’s Rin doing?” She asked after a minute of silence. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. She doesn’t have long left, but she still seems so... strong. We’ve had a few bite victims at Sanctuary, and at this point, they’d be unable to move, but... Rin isn’t giving up.” Diamond did nothing but sigh, still sitting on the grass ground of the Imperium. “I... just wish I was better to her... I always acted like she didn’t exist—we all did. What she turned into here is on us—my mother and I. It’s safe to say we both got our upcoming in the end...” She grimly added. What could I possibly say to that? It came out of nowhere, and I knew exactly what she was talking about. “I’m gonna check on the others... wanna come with?” I offered her. She shook her head and I left her to her thoughts, which may not be the best idea... Pain. It was the only word that could describe the only thing I felt, writhing around in the infirmary bed, tied down to avoid infecting anyone once I turned... The anger... I was told that when the infected get bitten, they start showing symptoms of Rabies, like frothing at the mouth and rage-filled episodes... I’ve felt the rage recently but did my best to soothe myself. I told them not to put me down, at least not until it was done. I wanted to make every second I had left count. As I heard my tent’s curtain open, I glanced up to see one of the Imperium’s many doctors entering and shut the curtain behind him. “I’m... not so certain if you remember me...” He said as he looked over and picked up a scalpel... “...But I remember you. I remember how you ordered your soldiers to wipe out my camp after we refused to pay tribute to you.” I stayed silent, knowing exactly what he meant... I had no excuse and not even a reason for what I did to them... As he crept closer, his figure began shifting into Spoiled’s... or at least what I could perceive as Spoiled. “I know... saying ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t going... to change anything...” I managed, my voice snarling as I did. The doctor sighed, his voice changing into my not-mother's... “No. No, it isn't.” Her voice said as the doctor approached, raising his scalpel in the air... Only to be cut off by a knife being placed across his neck. “Put the scalpel down, doctor. Now...” Chrysalis’ voice ordered. He froze in place, unable to say anything as he dropped the blade on the table, tears slowly flowing down his cheeks. “I... I’m sorry...” He managed as Chrysalis summoned two guards to take him towards the castle. Chrysalis glanced at me and took a seat next to me. “I’m sorry about that—I should’ve known a guard detail would’ve been needed.” She said to me. I didn’t really respond at first, I only let out a weak scoff. “I’m dead, anyway... just... promise me that you’ll bury me... next to my brother...” I managed to ask. Chrysalis’s face carried shock, but she nodded and left to most likely find a few guards to watch over me. My vision grew blurry again as in the tent, I saw a silhouette of... “Rin...” I heard Len whisper in front of me... I ignored him and closed my eyes, knowing he was just a hallucination. “You’re not there... I know you’re not...” I whispered back. He walked aside me and chuckled to himself. “It’s funny—these people mowed through your friends’ old home, killed men, women, and children, and now... now Kyle’s risking what he has left by bringing them back here.” Len chuckled. Whatever happened after we left Sanctuary, they learned their lesson-- that was plain to see. “He doesn’t have a choice... he’s doing this for his family--” “What do we know about family? We barely got to meet ours-- Jessica abandoned us, twice, and Filthy treated us like outcasts.” Len said. “They had... no choice.” I reminded him. I glanced around at the very few of us that were left... there weren’t many. I glanced to see Sunset talking with Oz from the lineup. After a moment of them sitting and talking, Sunset soon rested her head on Oz’s shoulder, with him wrapping his arm around her. I smiled at Sunset finally at peace after so long and kept looking for my father... I soon found him alongside Celestia at Luna’s grave, right alongside Sombra’s, where Chrysalis stood and seemed... distant. I walked over to them and looked at the gravestone, not knowing what to say or do other than just... being there. “...Did she... did she suffer?” Celestia asked me. I shook my head. “No... she was one of the first. It was fast... I promise.” I said to her. Celestia let out a relieved sigh as my father rested his hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer. "I know you have questions... come and see us later—I'll answer whatever questions you have...” Dad said as we went our separate ways. As I walked through the streets of the Imperium, past houses under construction and people passing by, I eventually saw a familiar face being escorted back to the castle... “Jet Set.” I called out to him. He glanced at me and sighed, his arms tied together and a Knight guarding him. “They offered a walk out of my cell... I decided to take it.” He said. I nodded and before I could walk off, he looked to the floor and said, “I didn’t want anyone to die... that was why I took the deal—I keep them informed on what we’re doing, when we’re doing it, they won’t attack us. But in that time, Celestia was stabbed, Adagio was killed by her own brother-in-law, and... well...” I didn’t respond as he took a breath and continued. “I know I made a mistake—now more than ever. I also know that I have a shitload to atone for—me and the other Shadowbolts—and I’m ready to do my part, whatever it is. So, whether you want to pull whatever secrets you want or if you need someone cleaning up the dead, fuck, I’d even clean out the goddamned latrines if this place has any... whatever you need me to do or share with you... I'll do it.” I woke after a little nap I had wound up taking, with the passive-aggressive vision of my brother now gone, and the voice of Spoiled Rich took his place, her eyes stabbed from the brutal fight we had all those years ago. “Rin...” Her voice called to me. I ignored her and took deep breaths, desperate not to give in to my rage and let the infection take hold. “Rin Kagamine Rich, you look at me when I am speaking to you!” Spoiled’s voice roared to me. I glanced at her as my blood slowly boiled at seeing the monster who masqueraded as my mother for my entire life. “I have nothing to say to you... you’re lucky Jason killed you instead of your prisoners...” I rasped. She let out a laugh and shook her head. “I almost had him... I was this close... but then Jessica had to come back and ruin everything—again! And look where that got you—dying on a stretcher amidst my achievement... not yours, not that child molester, and not Kyle Williams’. Mine!” She screamed as she slammed her hand on the medical table, nothing on it moving because... well... “You’re not real... I don’t give a single shit what you have to say...” She chuckled and shook her head. “You know... that horde isn’t much farther... we both know how hordes like that work, they’ll tear through anything in their path, including this place...” She said as I already knew this... I chuckled at her suggestion before an idea popped in my head... “Oh... I like you’re thinking... Unleash Hell.” I saw the scalpel on the table and reached for the scalpel with my fingers, almost cutting them as I had to grab it by the blade-end. I managed to flip the scalpel around and grabbed the handle before I sawed through my cloth restraints, trying not to cut my wrists as I went. Once my one hand was free, I easily cut through the other, getting up and walking out the tent. I saw the gate and glimpsed at the dust from the horde somewhat growing closer. As I walked out the gate, I felt a hand go on my shoulder as I tensed a bit... I turned to see Kyle standing there, seeming somewhat cautious. As we stood there, others surrounded us, including my mother “I... I have to lead them away. I can lead them right to Caverns, and... I owe too much to these people...” I told him. He looked out at the horde and back at me, slowly taking his hand off my shoulder. I slowly walked towards the gates, that opened and soon closed behind me as I slowly marched down the road, the clouds of dust growing closer and closer...
The FuneralThe castle dungeon door opened with a loud clank as I marched down the stairs, walking down the mostly-empty cells... Aside from Jet Set, another prisoner, and Jason, the row of cells was empty. My father and I reached the end of the cells and saw two prisoners, one hidden in darkness, and Jason, sleeping in another side. “Jason...” I called to him as my son turned to the other prisoner. “Did he move at all? Say anything?” He asked him. He moved into the light and shook his head, with me immediately recognizing him... “Gaverial...” I clenched my teeth and fists as I was half-tempted to open his cell and kill him... He glanced at me and I saw his pupils dilate as Kyle’s hand went to the cell door... but he slowly moved it away and simply glared at him. “You have a reserved place in Hell for what you did, you sick son of a bitch...” He spat at him as I went to help get Jason out of his cell for Rin’s funeral... I woke him up and he turned, with me knowing exactly what to ask... “Where were you for your 14th birthday?” He glanced up at me and let out a chuckle... “I was in the hospital, recovering from a gunshot.” He said to me, gently holding his side as he does. I smiled for a moment but sighed when I recalled what I had to tell him... “Rin’s gone... come on—you might want to be at the funeral.” I said as I helped him to his feet. I glanced at Kyle and asked him to take Jason up to the grave, and as he did, I turned to the disgusting creature I was forced to call my brother-in-law... “H-Henry...?” “If you get out of that cell, for any reason at all, I will give you a slow... painful death.” I whispered to him as I walked upstairs, leaving him to rock himself back and forth... The funeral service was held in what felt like the afternoon. As we all stood over the pair of graves, one marked “Len”, and a recently made grave marked “Rin”, we all looked at an undug plot, Meiko took a step forward. “I was... I was part of Spoiled’s rule of the Kingdom, in the beginning. Just ask Jason how awful it was—starvation, slavery, workers and citizens being taken from their families... and I really don’t want to remember the horrid Cage...” I glanced to the side as I saw Jason hold his tied hands together and look down at the floor as Rich sets his hand on Jason’s shoulder, the two possibly recalling old memories... “...Rin, was not much better. Sure, she didn’t kidnap people from their homes, nor did she starve her people, but she had a sense of cruelty unlike anything I’ve seen before or since. For the longest time, I believed that it was her true face... when her brother gave his life so she can live, and Rin was given a true chance to find her own path—we were all proven wrong. I was personally proven wrong when the Yowane and the Traitors attacked Kyle and a few other survivors from Sanctuary—one of them being Rin. She could’ve killed me, but... she didn’t. This far from forgives her actions, but... it meant something. Say what you wish about her, but her rule of the Kingdom led us to the Imperium we live in now. Goodbye, Rin Kagamine... your body is finally put to rest.” She said as she stepped back. After a moment, I stepped forward and took a breath. “Rin... I swear to you that the Trix won’t survive to see the thriving community we’ll build on the foundations you and your mother set in place, no matter how unstable they were.” I promised... The rest of the funeral went about as expected, with Jessica unable to say much through her tears and the rest of us saying our goodbyes. Afterwards, I was brought to the pantry alongside Twilight and Sunset, where we saw how dire the Imperium’s rations were... “We were already struggling to keep our people fed, and now that we have your group, we may have to scavenge more and farther out than we have been.” Thorax said as he grabbed a map from a shelf and rolled it out on an empty table. We looked at it and saw the ‘X’ marks on scavenged locations, with Sunset looking at an old food drive. “How about there?” Thorax looked at it and stroked his chin... “I don’t think we’ve checked that place out, yet, so there could be supplies there.” He said. Aside us, Rainbow took a step forward and glanced at Sanctuary. “There isn’t much left at Sanctuary, but I know there’s something there that could help us against the Trix.” She said. I glanced at her and she took a sigh. “In Everfree, we found these... Geodes, that gave us powers. We left them there during the... well... attack.” She said. We all took a moment to look at each other before our minds were made up. “Okay... there’s also another group up north that could help us. We’d hear rumors about their leader, creating crystal out of thin air. We didn’t believe them before, but it could be worth checking out...” Thorax said. Now came the difficult part. “Okay, so we have a food bank, Sanctuary, this northern group to talk with, and Jason needs to be cured... how do we do this?” I asked. We all thought on the idea until others started volunteering. “I can go with Rainbow to Sanctuary—I've heard stories about that place, never checked it out...” Blazing said. I couldn’t help but smile a tad as I nodded to him. “I’ll go with my cousin to get him treated, most likely alongside my family, and all that leaves is to discuss who will search that food bank and who can go to negotiate with these... Northerners.” I said. After a moment, Sunset stepped forward. “I can go to negotiate with them, I’ll take Twilight and Riven along with me if I have to.” She said. I once again nodded and our groups were set. “Alright, pack up, we’re heading out at sunri--” I froze, feeling a familiar presence outside the walls... “Kyle? What is it?” Twilight asked. With my niece-in-law in the ground, I let out a grief-striken sigh as I turned to see Chrysalis, the woman who manipulated my son in his darkest hour, sitting over another grave-- Sombra's grave. I stepped over to her, not saying anything for a moment before opening my throat... "I heard stories about what you've done, here-- all the good you did for these people..." She didn't turn to face me, most likely knowing what I was here to say. "But just know that it doesn't change what you've done to my son. Whether or not history remembers it, I couldn't care less, but just know this-- you have to work with my son, and I understand that. But if I get the notion that you are interested in him the way that you were back then-- when he was just a fucking child-- I will kill you without a second thought. Is that understood?" She finally glanced at me, tears running down her cheeks, and managed to nod. As I walked away, I saw Kyle and the others running toward the gates, with me deciding to do the same, wanting to see what was going on... After feeling their presence, I quickly ran to the front gate where I saw Icy, Darcy, Stormy, and the boy from the storm who possibly killed Bloom. Rage flooded my body but I managed to swallow it, but just barely. “What do you want?!” I called to them. Icy only smirked as she looked over the survivors of Canterlot... “There’re fewer of you than I expected. I guess Jason did his job well...” That comment didn’t help my anger one bit. I tried to draw my gun up, but the boy in the mask stared at me for a moment, and soon my mother’s gun was on the ground, sliced in half... “No...” Icy smirked at the boy’s precision and set her hand on his shoulder. I glared at his eyes, and from his stance and height, he seemed to be a year or two younger than me, and I could hardly see any humanity inside of him, no matter how hard I looked... “Nicely done, Brightburn. I believe it’s time we discussed negotiation... you think we’re idiots? I saw your face after we drained you and killed your friends. You wanted blood—our blood—and I can’t say that I blame you. But that... can’t stand. Surrender to us, or we will have no choice but to--” Icy was cut off by some mysterious force beginning to tighten her throat as she let out desperate gasps of air as she was soon levitating in the air as the others watched in shock... The two other witches turned to see Apple Bloom walking toward them, her hand outstretched and slowly tightening... “I trusted y’all with one... simple... task... and not even that was possible!” She screamed, her voice inhumanely deeper than before... Icy turned to her allies, but they did nothing but cowered as Brightburn slowly walked over to Apple Bloom. “Thank you, Brightburn... at least someone could follow orders.” She said as she rested her free hand on the side of his masked face, much to the anger of Icy. Apple Bloom squeezed a tad harder, prompting Icy to pass out as she was set free from Apple Bloom’s grasp. Darcy and Stormy slowly kneeled before her, but by the look on her face, it wasn’t enough this time... “Kyle Williams, I would like to take a moment to sincerely apologize for what they did... I may be cruel, but I’m a woman of my word--” My rage boiled over, and I was tired of hiding it. “If you’re lucky, this is the last time we ever talk to each other. Take them back to your cave and stay there.” I growled. She showed shock for a second, but turned right back to a scowl. “Very well, Kyle... it’s been fun—until we meet again.” She said as she turned away, grabbing Icy with her power and dragging her across the dirt as Darcy, Stormy, and Brightburn all followed suite. “Oh! And I think this belongs to you, Blazing.” She said as she shot a sword out from her side, with it landing right next to him... With that, they walked away, hopefully to never be seen again. An hour had passed since Trix and Apple Bloom showed up, and as the groups packed up to leave, with Kyle kissing Twilight goodbye and Blazing packing up alongside Rainbow Dash, I spotted Clover packing with Issac and Kat... “Clover.” I called out to her. She stopped and glanced at me, shortly before looking away. I can tell that it wasn’t out of spite, but out of shame... “Look, I get that we don’t know each other that well, but... thank you.” I told her. She stopped, confused, as she turned to me. “For what?” She asked. I let out a sigh and took off my hat to try and straighten my hair. “For bein’ there for him. The world ended—neither of us knew if the other was alive or dead, and I couldn’t stand if he was looking for me the rest of his life. So thank you... for bein’ there for him when I couldn’t. Just don’t let the awkwardness of it all ruin the friendship you two clearly have...” I barely caught Clover smiling as she hopped into the group’s assigned jeep and they drove off... I turned back to see Kyle, Henry, Rich, Jessica, and Jason all walk out into a bigger car, with Jason restrained for safety. I walked towards them and got in with them, seeing that Darcy was possessing Jason again. “You can’t save him... I hope you know that.” She said through him, his eyes gently glowing purple for a brief moment. I responded by putting a gag over her and shutting the door behind us. “So... who’s ready to see another world?” Henry asked rhetorically as he started to drive out the gates and into the untamed world alongside the other vehicles...
Turmoil“Do you know how close we were to starting a war with the goddamned One?!” I frustratedly asked the three witches before me, none of them really paying attention to me. Darcy was the only one who actually acknowledged me, by letting out a sigh. “Do you really want Jet Set spilling all of his beans? Wouldn’t that tip the scales in their favor?” She asked. I almost shouted, but I stopped, knowing that it was pointless. “If I have to hear from Kyle that y’all were tryin’ to push him into conflict—I will make sure it won’t happen again, am I clear?” Icy scoffed at me, and I made my rage known. “It’s not like they can do anything—all Kyle knows how to do is move the dead around, and Jason’s harmless, he wouldn’t hurt a fly if it was trying to kill him.” Rage enveloped me as I let out a scream and slammed my mace into the floor, cracking it as the witches quickly stood in place, showing fear... “Do I need to remind you what he did to Gaverial’s little cult? Do you want that at our door?” The three witches took a moment to react, but it the looks on their faces were filled of anxiety at the thought of what he did up there... “No... I guess he can be dangerous when he wants to be...” Icy mumbled before forming a smirk, “We still had our fun, though...” I glanced at the floor and smirked as well... “Yes, we did—even if he doesn’t remember a second of it...” After a small chuckle over good times, I dismissed them, letting out a sigh as I rested my hand on the handle of my mace, with the spike embedded into the rocky floor. This weapon... the special handle, the 16 inch shaft out of steel pipe, the trailer hitch I cut up and welded to earlier-mentioned pipe, and to top it all off, the 4 inch spike drilled and welded into the face of the mace. This Wand kept me alive during my initiation trials against other Dog gladiators... if it weren’t for this beautifully crafted weapon, I’d be long-dead. I don’t like to brag, but I made it myself with what little materials and equipment the Dogs had back then... the Trix weren’t quite good to them before I showed up—so much untapped potential... they were just a bunch of brutes until they found someone who could properly tame them. I noticed an uneaten apple sitting on a table and reached out with my hand, pulling it over to me as I took a bite and decided to take a walk around the Caverns to clear my head over the Trix’s endangerment. As I did, I noticed Darcy talking to a newcomer we took in not too long ago, the boy was filled with so much rage and fueled by power I’ve never seen before. He apparently ruled over his Earth for 5 years and had the armor to match... forged out of the only metal that could hurt him. it didn’t help that he was genuinely cute under the ratty old red mask he wore with multiple stitch jobs on it... As I continued walking, seeing the two of them, not noticing someone bump into me. I took a moment to see a newer Dog initiate stop and turn to me, fear in his eyes as he knelt and hung his head low. “F-forgive me! I should have seen where I was going!” He cowered before me... I smiled for a moment before helping him to his feet. “What’s your given name, initiate?” I softly asked him. This tone didn’t help calm him as he nervously gulped before answering. “C-C-Cobalt, Ma’am...” He said. I took a moment before breaking the gap between us. “Cobalt... I like it...” I whispered to him as I gently hooked my finger on his collar and led him along to my chambers, resting the Wand on the sheath I have strapped on my back. So much for that walk... “We’ve had enough. They came to our gates, demanding to give us a prisoner they practically threw at us and threatened to kill us if we didn’t... We need to take a stand.” Sonata said to the council as she took her seat again. The rest of the council glanced at each other with mixed reactions, some of them ready to vote and others still uncertain. I turned over to Twilight, who stood up to have her say. “I want to say you’re right—I’ve seen what people like them do when they go unchecked—but I think it’s best if we take our time, strategize this whole thing out before we charge instead of headfirst.” She said as she took her seat. I then took a stand, ready to add my say. “On one hand, Sonata, you’re right—this treaty is hanging by a thread and it’s clear that something needs to be done. On the other hand, Twilight is right—we don’t even know what we’re up against, yet. What if Apple Bloom has powers herself? What if the New World Order is larger than we think it is? We know next to nothing about them yet and they already outnumber and outgun us... besides, not many of us have powers like they have...” I said as I slowly glanced at Blossom and Dexter’s empty seats... When they said they were done fighting, they were serious—I haven’t heard from them in a while. Sonata then glanced at me, ready to once again add her input, only for Kat to cut her off. “Kyle, you saw what she did, how she brutalized three of our own--” “Kyle’s right. You guys didn’t walk their caverns, I did. They’re armed to the teeth and they have strategy on their side. We have to think this through, take our time, and build up our forces just to be safe.” Jason said. As Kat clenched her fists at Jason, Buttercup scoffed. “People die. We need to get over it and move on.” She said from her seat. Rage filled glances were exchanged with her, including my own, as Kat started walking over to her. “Well, then, I guess you easily got over Bubbles after--” “Enough!” I heard Sam shout from her chair as the two of them turned to face her. We glanced to her as she stood up, closing her eyes and taking a breath. “In the beginning, I saw my best friend die. One minute she was there, the next she wasn’t... we found the raiders who did it and we didn’t hesitate to wipe them out. That was where we found Tim and found out about the Caribou. I won’t let it happen again, not to anyone. I vote we go to war against the New World Order.” She said as she slowly sat back down. After a moment, I leaned in, adding to what everyone had been saying. “I was there. Kat, you were too. Twilight, Rainbow, my father... most of us were there and saw what they did. But we need to be careful and think this through. Because if we don’t... we charge straight into fighting against a threat we don’t fully understand... we could die.” I said as everyone slowly took my words in. No-one said anything else for a few moments, but then I spotted something that caught my full attention. I spotted the scar that Twilight had on others—Celestia, Jason, and Luna... “That scar... you all have it. I know it’s none of my business, but... where did it come from, if you don’t mind me asking...?” Kyle asked. Nothing. Not a word as everyone glanced at each other before turning to me. “Town meeting, right now. The newcomers and everyone who came with Kyle... it’s time you knew about the Caribou.” Celestia said as hate and trauma spewed in her words... In about an hour, what was meant to be a vote on going to war turned into a revelation as my people, the other newcomers we found along the way, and Jason’s people were all brought to our little town hall as Celestia, Luna, Jason, and Twilight were on the podium, speaking with us. “A forewarning before we continue... this story you are about to hear is one of pure savagery and brutality unlike anything I doubt you’ve seen before. If, at any point, you feel uncomfortable listening... you are free to leave.” Celestia whispered. With that, she retreated back and Jason stepped forward, his face heavy with guilt as he cleared his throat. “To truly understand the story... I have to go back to when my mother first told me about my father.” Author's Note A design for Apple Bloom's Wand. Will it be updated? Maybe, but this is the basic design of it. Also brace yourselves for next chapter, it will dive VERY slightly into the lore of Fall of Equestria so just keep that in mind when going in. (and if you don't know what that is, heed my advice and don't look it up.)
