Zombie Chronicles: New World Order

She 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.”