The Zombie Chronicles: Road to Sanctuary

Kyle noted the bright sun shining down upon the freshly dug grave. He anticipated a cloudy, rainy day like he would expect for a funeral... but today, there were no clouds in sight. The warming March breeze blew past him and the other girls from Canterlot.

“I didn’t know Pinkie all that well... I knew about her, knew that she loved making people smile. But I didn’t really... know her... You know?”

Silence. Kyle could hear a few cries from behind him.

“But I know that whenever someone was down, whenever someone was having a bad day... she was there to pick them back up. I noticed that, back at CHS. She always had a way of doing that even when things looked the bleakest... I wasn’t here for that, but I heard stories. I can’t say that I talked to her much, but seeing her do what she did? It gave me hope. Hope that maybe... maybe we can have a proper Pinkie Party one day...”

Some light laughter was audible.

“But that’s up to us, now. I, uh... lost my father some time ago, and... all I would ask myself is: ‘what can I do to honor him?’ I think that’s something we should ask ourselves, now... how can we honor Pinkie Pie? I like to think that by keeping our heads up high, never giving in to the darkness of the world we live in... I think that is how we can honor her most.” Kyle sighed.

Kyle stepped back to the crowd.

The rest of the funeral went off as well as a funeral would go. The six showed a handle over the proceedings— Rainbow was somewhat teary-eyed but held her composure other than that. Rarity was the most visibly distraught, leaning on a weeping Fluttershy for support. Kyle could tell that they had gone through this process many times, already. However, even Kyle could tell that their past experience paled in comparison to this heavy loss.

As they stood in silence, Sunset made her way over to Kyle.

“We never got to meet before... I know this probably isn’t the best time, but--”

“Do you know anything about ‘Chemical X’?”

Sunset stood dumbfounded for a moment and shrugged. However, from the side, a meek Rainbow Dash stepped forward.

“Yeah... that’s what gave the Powerpuff Girls their powers... why?”

Kyle’s eyes widened.

“Because I have a vial of it in my pocket. Princess has more, too.”

Rainbow’s eyes also widened, but her mouth also dropped.

“What...? Princess Morbucks has powers?” She asked.

Kyle nodded.

“Yeah. But we can talk about that, later... right now, let’s focus on Scootaloo... how is she?” He asked Rainbow.

She sighed and ran a head through her messy hair.

“She’s been in and out for hours... she’s hurting, man—it's not pretty.”

Kyle nodded. He and her started walking away from the cemetery and toward the hospital in the distance.

“How the hell did this happen? You said her squad just drove right in? What were they doing out there?”

As he asked, he noticed Rainbow clenching her fists.

“I’m gonna find out... but after she gets better.”

After a few minutes, the two walked inside the immense hospital, where Daisuke was both waiting for them.

“Is she awake?” Rainbow asked Daisuke.

He nodded.

“Riku’s with her, now...” He gestured the two to follow him.

They made their way through the halls, hearing the aches and wails of other patients and their families. Kyle noted that there were only a few nurses and doctors scrambling from room-to-room. He noticed the wear-and-tear visible on each of their faces.

Daisuke stops and knocks on the door labelled 140. They crack it open and gesture to the others to enter. Kyle was first in line and he let out a soft gasp when he saw Scootaloo.

Most of her left side was wrapped in thick bandaging. Her left eye was red and visibly damaged. She had a respirator over her mouth with pumps on the side rising and falling as she breathed.

Riku was by her side, holding her hand as one-by-one, everyone entered and shared a similar reaction as Kyle. Rainbow’s was the most severe, with her mouth agape and tears returning when she thought they were all shed.

Kyle stepped forward, watching as Scootaloo’s eyes followed him.

“How long has she been awake for?” Kyle asked Riku, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Not too long. She’s been in and out all night.”

Kyle knelt down next to Scootaloo.

“H-how is she?”

Riku sighed.

“She’s in pain, but... the doctors don’t have anything to give her.”

Kyle sighed, nodding and turning to Scootaloo.

“I’m gonna make this right. I promise you...”

Scootaloo blinked at him. Slowly removing her trembling hand from her mother’s, she moved it towards Kyle’s.

“H...urts...”

He gently held hers for a few moments. He slowly rose up and allowed everyone else to see her. Rainbow was last, crying as she clutched Scootaloo’s hand.

“I’m gonna go talk to Princess, see if there’s anything she can do for her...” Kyle said.

Hearing this, Rainbow turned to him.

“Yeah... I’m gonna talk to her, too...” She said, an unbridled rage visible in her eyes.

Rainbow’s Geode began to charge as Kyle knew what was about to happen.

“Rainbow, just hold on--”

In a blur, Kyle found himself outside of Princess’ office, with a strong gust of wind blowing past him.

“Fuck! Warn someone before you do that!” He said, panting for breath.

Rainbow marched over to Princess’ door and pounded on it.

“Princess! Open up!”

As soon as she started pounding on the door, two armed guards rushed and trained their weapons on her. Not wanting the scene to escalate any more than it has, Kyle ran in front of the two soldiers.

“Just hold on! Rainbow, back off!”

As the two guards trained their weapons on them both, the door was cracked open, and Princess peeked her head through.

“Stand down!” She barked.

The two quickly lowered their guns, and Princess opened the door.

“Rainbow Dash! I’ve heard so much about you—please, come in! Kyle, you wait out here, ‘kay?” Princess gestured to Rainbow to enter.

Kyle stepped back and took a seat in the lobby. Inside, Rainbow took the seat opposite to Princess’.

Rainbow chuckled.

“Don’t pull that shit on me... Brick didn’t give the order, and I sure as hell don’t believe that they would just drive right down that quarry. Someone gave them the order. I think that person was you.”

Princess didn’t react, she barely moved as Rainbow leaned in.

“I don’t know what your angle is, but whatever it is, it was good enough to parade Scootaloo to her death.”

Princess remained stone-faced. Rainbow, however, wore her boiling rage on her sleeve.

“Say something!” She slammed a fist down to her desk.

No response...

“If you think that I’m gonna let you get away with this, you’re stupider than the show made you look! I won’t stop until I find out just what it is that you’re up to...”

Finally, Princess cracked a smile.

“Okay.”

Rainbow’s rage began to fade as she stepped back in confusion.

“...What?”

Princess shrugged.

“Go ahead. Go punch your way through whoever you think deserves it and try to find the truth... but that won’t help Scootaloo, right now.”

Rainbow’s anger slowly began to return with a clenched fist.

“If you think that you’re gonna sit there and give us demands--”

“Scootaloo’s pretty high in the queue... triple digits last I checked. There’re all kinds of people who are in those hospitals... disease, injuries, cancer--”

“How about soldiers who were sent to their deaths?” Rainbow gritted her teeth.

"I’m sorry, was that written in the report? Last I read, you and the others were scouting an infestation and out of nowhere, the recruits came barreling in, wanting to be the heroes... How they got that intel is beyond me...”

Rainbow stood there, only containing her rage with the image of Scootaloo in her hospital bed. Bandaged, burned, and in pain...

“She doesn’t have long, you know. If we move quickly, we might be able to maintain the nerve functions in her limbs... but that’s only if you are willing to give me a reason to bump her up.”

Rainbow’s face finally changed. She backed away in shock and her hands finally unclenched.

“And what would that be?”

Princess smiled and shrugged.

“Do I really have to spell this out for you? I mean, did you really think that I would have my best Enhanced soldiers out there just killing zombies? I mean, wow! What a stupid idea...”

Rainbow’s eyes grew wide as she clutched her Geode around her neck.

“There was never an Operation STRIKE, was there...?”

Princess smirked.

“No, there is—just not for you. So, here’s what’s going to happen...”

She stood up from her chair.

“...You and your little friends are gonna give up your Geodes.”

Rainbow let a soft gasp escape her as her grip on her Geode tightened.

“Now, I don’t know how they work just yet, but I have a team for that... do that, and Scoots’ll be our doctors’ top priority. I suggest you hurry and make up your mind... I don’t think she has much longer...”

Rainbow slowly got up and sprinted out the doors, leaving Kyle in the hall.

He looked inside the opened doors at a smirking Princess.

“What did you do?” He asked her.

Before she could answer, Brick marched down the hall and slammed the doors shut again, keeping Kyle out. Not willing to be uninformed as to what happened, Kyle leaned towards the door.

Inside, Brick was fuming... Kyle didn’t need to see him to know that.

“You led those kids to a death trap!” Brick roared at her, his eyes glowing an intense red.

Princess rolled her eyes, unintimidated by Brick.

“How many times is someone gonna burst through that door, today?!”

Kyle heard something slam against the window, which Kyle could only assume was Brick lifting Princess up.

“Princess, four recruits died! One of them is in the hospital—a kid!”

“And their sacrifice won’t be forgotten. You were there to save her, which I bet our new friends won’t soon forget... now what happened with the pink one? She wasn’t in that vehicle, so how did she die?”

Kyle’s eyes widened—he had no idea that she would just admit it like that. He could tell Brick was relaxing by hearing him drop Princess.

“Ma’am... we made a discovery about the infected. It seems that the virus revives the body after death—one of them that we killed got back up and infected Pinkie Pie.”

Kyle felt a jolt to his system upon hearing that—how was that possible?

“That’s... impossible. How could that have possibly happened?”

Brick sighed.

“It’s possible that it was because we didn’t destroy the brain.”

Kyle’s stomach began to twist at that realization as the number of times he never killed a zombie with a headshot began to play back in his mind... but only one brought a tear to his eye...

“Mom...”

Inside, Princess scoffed.

“So, you’re telling me that one of our most powerful Enhanced died because you were all too damned stupid to shoot a zombie in the head?”

Kyle could feel Brick’s rising anger as he sighed.

“Yes ma’am...” His shaky voice echoed through the small room.

Suddenly, he heard a loud smack from inside, and he put two-and-two together...

“Unbelievable! If you used some common fucking sense, then maybe I wouldn't have had to give those recruits that order! Get the fuck out!”

Kyle immediately went back to his seat as the door opened, with a furious Brick slamming the door shut behind him.

Brick stopped and felt the fresh red spot on his cheek and growled. Seeing Kyle sitting there, he sighed.

“Look out for your friends... they’re gonna need it.”

As he walked away, Kyle stood up.

“Where’s Pinkie’s Geode?”

Brick didn’t turn back to Kyle as he walked away.

“Take a good guess...”

Kyle’s eyes widened as he got up and jogged out the town hall doors.

He speed-walked down the sidewalk while watching to see if he was being watched. He approached the massive laboratory and knocked on the door.

Moments passed, and Kyle stepped back as the door was swung open, revealing Dexter.

“You have some nerve showing back here... how did you steal that vial?! What did you do with it--?!”

His angry shouting stopped as Kyle presented the vial.

“Here... take it. I’m sorry I took it from you—I never wanted to use it for anything, I just... I just wanted answers. I don’t want this sitting around in my pocket, so take it back.”

Dexter glanced at Kyle in confusion as he took the vial back, checking its contents.

“Why did you not ingest it? You do know what this is, yes?”

Kyle chuckled.

“I learned about it an hour ago. Like I said—I never wanted to use it.”

Dexter slowly nodded, pocketing the vial.

“Very well... I suppose you are forgiven. Now, what do you want?”

Kyle struggled to start.

“My friend’s in the hospital—she was sent to a minefield with other recruits by Princess. I think she did it to hustle my friends for their Geodes in exchange for giving her treatment.”

Dexter hummed.

“Yes... I recall she informed us of incoming artifacts to study.”

Kyle groaned.

“So, she’s that confident...”

Dexter shrugged.

“I suppose she would be given the circumstances. We will keep them safe, for now, but... I suggest going through with the deal. The ‘Geodes’ will be handed to us, and we can plan from there.”

Kyle squinted his eyes in confusion.

“Wait... you’re helping us?”

Dexter smirked.

“Did you really believe that I was happy under Morbucks’ rule?”

Kyle smiled.

“I... had the idea.”

Dexter chuckled and gestured to Kyle.

“You should get going—we have much to do before those Geodes arrive.”

“She wants us to do what?!” Applejack shouted in the hospital hall.

Rainbow sighed, keeping her eyes to the ground.

“Look, I don’t like it, either... but what choice do we have?”

Fluttershy had her legs hugged close to her, refusing to peek her head out as she spoke.

“That would be a death sentence...”

Sunset was the first to respond by standing up and removing the Geode from her neck.

“We don’t have much of a choice—it's either this or Scootaloo dies or worse...”

Rainbow was next, not saying a word as she held her Geode out.

After her, Fluttershy pulled hers off.

“Maybe we’ll get them back...?”

Rarity sighed as she took hers off.

“I don’t believe so, darling...”

Applejack sighed, taking hers off.

“I don’t like this... what does she want these for? And that... Chemical X stuff?”

Sunset shrugged.

“I don’t know—but it can’t be for anything good.”

Rainbow took each of the Geodes and sighed.

“I’ll bring them to her. The rest of you stay with her.”

Rainbow wore her Geode one last time and sped towards Town Hall. Once inside, she knocked on Princess’ door.

“Come in!” She joyfully beckoned.

Rainbow opened the doors, removed her Geode, and set all five on her desk.

“There. Now help Scootaloo...”

Princess smiled, taking hold of the five gems...

“Already done. Scootaloo will be the next person to receive treatment. She should be under the knife by the end of the day.”

Rainbow sighed, turning around and walking away...

“I think you’re forgetting something!” Princess called to her.

Rainbow felt her fists clench, almost outside of her control, as she turned her head towards her.

“Thank you.” She growled with gritted teeth.

Princess smiled.

“That’ll do...”

Rainbow left the hall, walking through the streets. She instinctually grasped where her Geode used to be, barely containing her anger.