The Zombie Chronicles: Road to Sanctuary

Kyle took a moment to adjust his seat, nervously glancing around the room. He spotted pictures of Sunset, wearing a dress and a small crown on her head. Each photo, he figured, was a different year. There were three, which Kyle used to determine that Sunset was at least a junior when that still mattered. Kyle noted how in the first photo, she seemed innocent and wide-eyed... but by the last, she looked like a monster, reveling in whatever small sense of glory that crown gave her.

The fourth picture was different, however. It showed Twilight without her glasses and hair straightened, along with Rainbow, Applejack, a few others, and Sunset, looking withdrawn and barely in the photo.

"So, the girls told me that you owned a small armory. How did you acquire these weapons?" Celestia asked.

Snapping back to the conversation, Kyle cleared his throat.

"Well, I started with my neighbor, Gary. He bought quite a lot of supplies and weapons before the infection made its way here. From there, I cleared the local police station. My mom had keys to get inside..." He said, hesitating to mention his mother.

Celestia noticed this and decided to change the subject.

"So, I heard you've been clearing the neighborhood just outside of our borders... how many infected would you say you've killed?"

Kyle paused, trying to count.

"I don't know... maybe 4 or 5 a day depending... but there was the day I had to torch a warehouse with at least 30, if not more..."

Celestia quickly scribbled numbers on a piece of paper.

"So, at least five hundred..."

Kyle's eyes widened as that number hit him.

"Yeah... I guess so. I try to put down any I find."

Celestia hummed at this.

"Why?"

Kyle faltered for a moment...

"Because one day, early on, I found this girl in her house. She was infected already, and she was eating something. I don't know what, but it must've been a dog or something. I remember hearing her. She was... she was crying. Like, sobbing… I think I heard her talk. She was saying... 'I don't want to,' just over... and over again." His voice began to shake.

Celestia leaned back in her seat, writing in her notebook.

"So, I killed it. I didn't hesitate, and I never have since."

The two sat in silence for a moment.

"Well, Mr. Williams, as far as I see it, you were already going to be a student here at Canterlot High, so there's no reason to fret over being admitted..."

Kyle internally sighed in relief.

"...But I'm sure you noticed that our supplies are dwindling faster than we can replenish them. So you may stay here, but it may be wise to look into... alternatives."

Kyle nodded, his mind going elsewhere.

"So, uh... about those girls', uh... abilities--"

"I'm sure you have questions... and I'm not sure what your peers at Crystal Prep told you... but I assume you've heard rumors about magical mishaps and the like. Just know they are all true. So do what you wish with that." Celestia sighed, letting some relatability to the young man slip.

She never anticipated being pulled into the world of magic with her school, yet there she was...

Kyle, however, was ecstatic.

"That's... awesome! Oh, man, the stories I heard back at Crystal... So, did Twilight really... turn into a reality-warping demon?"

Celestia nodded.

"Yes. So did Sunset..."

Kyle's smile grew a tad when he remembered that his old friend was attending Canterlot High.

"She's here, right? T-Twilight?"

Celestia paused, lowered her head, and slowly shook it.

"No... I'm sorry."

Kyle's heart sunk.

"Is she... is she dead?"

Celestia felt her chest grow heavy.

"I hope so." She weakly responded.

Those three words ran through Kyle's mind as he was shown around by Sunset.

I hope so...

Well, he didn't.

"As I said, we're not that hot on food. Your stuff helps, but we'll have to find another option. But in the meantime, you should meet everyone." Sunset smiled.

Kyle nodded. He was unsure what to make of the red-and-yellow-haired girl. Something inside him told him that he couldn't trust her, and it was probably all of the rumors about what she was like back in the day... the pictures in Celestia's office didn't help in any way.

The two entered the auditorium, which was transformed into a sort of tailoring station. Kyle looked and saw that countless sports padding was attached to shirts and jeans, just like the armor the two girls wore when they found him.

"This is Rarity. I guess you can consider her our armorer." She chuckled.

"Tailor, darling, tailor..." Rarity smiled, setting aside her current prototype.

"It's nice to meet you..." He said, his mind wandering for a brief moment.

"Wait a minute-- Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash... I heard those names before... didn't you all make that video with Twilight a while back?"

Rarity gasped, remembering that day.

"Yes! Ah, that was a splendid idea she had... I really miss her, sometimes."

Kyle smiled.

"Me, too."

Rarity glanced at him for a moment.

"You knew Twilight as well?"

"I did, back when we were kids. I haven't seen her in years..." He said, losing his train of thought as he admired the patchwork on the armor.

"I'm sorry?" She said for a moment.

Kyle glanced at her, as did Sunset.

"Oh, right! Sorry, I get confused sometimes..." Rarity giggled.

Kyle shrugged that comment off and turned his attention back to the armor.

"Oh, wow... you did all this?" He asked her.

Rarity smiled.

"Why, yes! It took a while to get a good prototype, but I feel that the hard work has paid off."

"There hasn't been a single bite incident since we started using this armor..." Sunset commented.

"Well, the Geodes helped with that." She said, holding out her hand and forming diamond-like armor over the padding.

Kyle jumped back a second but quickly felt the now rock-solid padding.

"Oh, wow... more powers?" He asked Sunset.

She chuckled and nodded.

Kyle hummed at that.

"Sure beats the old magazines I duct-taped to my sleeves." He chuckled.

"Oh, that couldn't have been very comfortable... or effective..." Rarity awkwardly smiled.

"It saved my arms more than I'd like to admit..."

The three shared a brief laugh.

"Well, I should get back to work, but it was very nice meeting you!" Rarity said.

"Nice meeting you, too." Kyle said, the two exiting the auditorium.

Once they closed the doors, Sunset couldn't hide the smile on her face.

"Careful-- she bites."

Kyle awkwardly chuckled, uncertain as to what that meant.

The two pressed on towards the outside, where the old parking lot was transformed into a sort of training center. Students were training with all kinds of weapons—spears, axes, maces, and so on.

"Focus up, ladies! Norman, lift that right arm! Velvet Sky, more with your waist!" A feminine, scratchy voice barked.

"You already met Rainbow Dash. I guess you can call her our one-woman-athlete."

"Yeah... the Shadowbolts would always share horror stories about her from sporting events." Kyle quipped.

Sunset laughed.

"Yeah-- I can only imagine what they had to endure with her on the field."

Rainbow glanced and spotted the two observers.

"At ease! Everyone, take 5..." She said.

She grabbed an unopened bottle of water from a cooler and took a sip on her way to the two.

"See they have you on tour duty, again." Rainbow chuckled.

"Yep! Rainbow, you've already met Kyle."

"Oh, yeah, totally. So, what do you think?" She asked, gesturing to the lot.

Kyle took a breath.

"Well... I can say that it isn't like anything I've seen before."

"I'm gonna do you a favor and take that as a compliment. You're always welcome to hop in and join us sometime!" She said, jogging back towards the trainees.

Kyle and Sunset watched the combat training for a bit longer.

"So is it true that she was the captain of every team here?"

Sunset laughed.

"Yep. No idea how she did it..."

With that, the two started walking back inside.

"So, super speed, diamond-projection, super strength, and telepathy? Those came from the 'geodes' Rarity was talking about?"

Sunset nodded.

"It's... a long story, to put it lightly."

"Well, we have nothing but time nowadays... is there anyone else?" Kyle asked.

Sunset smiled.

"Just two more--"

Before she could continue, a sudden pink blur sped right in front of Kyle.

"Hi!"

Kyle shouted and jumped back as a girl with pink poofy hair stuck her head out from one of the hallways.

"Pinkie! Come on, don't give the new kid a heart attack..."

Pinkie looked down at Kyle for a moment, who was trying to catch his breath.

"Oops! Super-duper sorry 'bout that! Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you!" She helped Kyle to his feet and violently shook his hand.

Kyle did his best to match her handshake, but it was near impossible.

"Nice... to meet you... too..." He panted, Pinkie ending the handshake.

Kyle held his still-shaking hand as Pinkie stared at him for a moment.

"Wait a minute... do you know anyone named Jason?"

Kyle looked at her, completely bewildered.

"Yeah, he's my cousin... how did you--"

"Just a hunch!" She shrugged, skipping away.

Kyle watched her leave for a moment, completely dumbfounded.

"Is complete randomness her super power?" He asked Sunset.

"That... and she can make sweets explode."

"She can make sweets explode..." He repeated to himself.

"You'll see soon enough. I think that's enough introductions for today... let's show you where you'll be staying."

The two made their way to the upper floor, with classrooms connecting and labeled with numbers—201, 203, and 205 on one side and 202, 204, and 206 on another.

"You got room 201... I hope you don't mind sharing. Or sharing co-ed..."

The door creaked open, and a girl with purple hair and a black hoodie peeked up from an office chair.

"Oh, hey! You're my new roomie, right?"

Kyle, somewhat anxious, nodded.

"Nice! I'm Scootaloo." She got up and held out her hand.

"Kyle..." He slowly shook it.

Scootaloo made her way back to her chair, with Kyle looking over the two other beds in the room.

"Do you have another roommate?" He asked.

Scootaloo let out a deep sigh.

"I did... I had two."

Kyle understood what had happened to them and bit his tongue.

"I'm sorry..."

"Thanks."

Kyle decided to help with moving his personal items into the room while Scootaloo went back to her sketchbook.

After two boxes were set, Kyle noticed her sketching away.

"So, what're you drawing?" He asked, hoping to make conversation.

She looked toward him.

"Oh, uh... it's nothing." She said, showing a sketch of a girl their age.

She had red hair with a red bow on the side. She had a big open-mouthed smile on her face, and Kyle noticed symbols that were erased down to the bare pencil line sprawling on the corner of the paper, all including apples in one way or another.

"She's pretty." He smiled.

Scootaloo smiled.

"Yeah... yeah, she was..."

Kyle gasped a bit and cursed under his breath, mentally kicking himself for killing the conversation twice in a row...

"Oh, s-sorry..." He said as he started walking away.

"N-no, it's fine! Thanks..." She said as he was towards the door.

Kyle faintly smiled and went to grab another box.

On his way to the small pile out by the door, Kyle accidentally bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch it!"

A quick shove knocked Kyle against the wall.

"Sorry..." He said, used to the physicality from Crystal Prep.

"Oh, you're the new guy...? Yet another mouth to feed that has nothing to contribute." He growled, approaching Kyle.

He sighed, not sure what else he'd expect. He braced himself, ready for yet another beating...

"Hey!"

The sharp yet hard whack of a wooden staff knocked Kyle out of his trance as he looked to see another girl his age with a silver tiara on her head and a bright pink jacket with a fur collar.

The guy backed up a tad and scoffed.

"This doesn't concern you, Diamond..."

"Oh, I think it does. This is Jason's cousin, right? Then you bet this concerns me."

Great. Kyle thought. Another person who knew Jason.

"Then I guess we have a problem..." The stranger stepped towards Diamond.

She approached him as well, squaring up to him.

"You don't want this..." She said, her voice letting out some compassion.

The stranger looked at Kyle and sighed, storming off.

Kyle turned to his savior just as Scootaloo peeked out of the door.

"The hell's going on?" She asked.

Diamond turned to her.

"Don't worry about it, Scoots, just looking out for the new guy." She smirked.

Scootaloo shook her head and made her way toward Kyle.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," He turned to Diamond, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it... I bet a lot of us owe Jason a favor to look out for his little cousin..." She smirked, walking away.

"Ignore her. Come on, let me help you. I could use the fresh air, anyway..."

The two spent the next hour going through the different boxes arranging the room together.

"I'm sorry you had to see that earlier... some of the guys are just getting a bit aggro' with the food situation and such. Don't take it too personally."

Kyle shrugged.

"I went to Crystal Prep; I can take a shove or two..."

Scootaloo almost jumped from her seat.

"You went to Prep?! Yeah, definitely try to keep that to yourself..." She nervously whispered.

He nodded.

"Trust me, I'm not a big Shadowbolts fan, either..."

The two sighed and sat in silence, admiring their good work.

"So, the food situation's bad?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah. We're trying to get the greenhouses going, but it's just not enough for all of us. That and Fluttershy negotiating with the hens for their eggs hold us over, but we need more..."

Kyle thought about it for a moment, trying to come up with a solution.

"I mean, there's still a lot of unsearched ground on my side of the neighborhood. Maybe we can still find something?"

Scootaloo shrugged.

"Maybe..."

The two went inside, and Kyle laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling...

He knew things were dire here, and maybe leaving with his supplies would be the smart option, but Canterlot High was already beginning to feel like home—much more than Crystal Prep ever did in the two years he attended...

He decided that sleeping on his options would be the best idea.