Zombie Chronicles: New World Order

We 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...