Chapters "Oh Celestia, this place is in desperate need of a makeover." Rarity commented as she strolled through the ruins of what seemed to be a striving community.
"Ah'll say." Applejack agreed, scanning at the scenery around her. "Looks like a whole darn tornado on rolled through 'ere."
The town known as "Macon" was in ruin in every sense of the word. There were buildings that had their windows shattered and some were boarded up. Debris was littered throughout the streets, strange large metallic objects with black rubber wheels were flipped over.
The town was deserted. It was almost like every local that lived there had completely vanished. The uncomfortable, unnerved feeling was mutual amongst the girls.
Trixie was more than willing to snatch the scroll from Twilight's bag and call off the entire "tour" but due to Starlight's protests; she held off on it. If it was up to her, they wouldn't even be here. Seeing the deserted town and not seeing a single spec of life since they arrived here; only confirmed her theory that this was not safe and that they should leave but no Twilight and the others want to investigate... as they usually do. Can't leave anything undone, can't they?
The forest that they had just came from also seemed just as deserted, much to Fluttershy's disappointment, wishing she could see some of the animals.
It was late in the afternoon and the group was losing sunlight quick. The fact that the sun moved on it's own didn't surprise Twilight as much as the others, having been at C.H.S. and witnessing how the two would move on their own without being manipulated by the rulers of Equestria.
"This is nuts! Why are we still here!? Why can't we just go home now!?" Trixie nervously inquired.
"Trixie, as your best friend, could you please stop complaining?" Starlight Glimmer replied.
"Huh!? Complaining!? I'm being rational, we need to leave as soon as possible. Whatever caused all of this-" The girl gestured at the area. "-could still be here."
"You're not at all curious as to what happened here?" Twilight asked.
"No, I'm not."
"What if somepony is hurt?" Fluttershy asked.
"Not our problem." Trixie threw an indifferent look at the shy girl.
"Wow, Trix." Starlight threw a disapproving look in her friend's direction.
"Yeah, wow! It's almost like-" Pinkie gripped at her jaw thoughtfully. "-you don't care at all!"
"How did you come to conclusion?" Trixie said with a blank expression. "It's what I've been saying the whole time! I don't care what happened here and I don't want to find out what happened here!" She pulled the hood over her head and folded her arms.
After they continued through the empty street, the road lead to a dead end with only left and right being the two directions. In front of them was a store that showed... electronics? Twilight recognized some of the strange square bulky objects as Televisions.
As they continued down the street, there was a building just to their left. Starlight glanced at the large bold red flickering letters that were stuck on top of the building. DRUGS , it read. There were a set of two doors that were blocked off by a black shutter.
She got closer to it and noticed the golden combination lock that kept it shut. She grabbed it, taking a closer look at it.
"Hey!" She suddenly heard a shout. This wasn't a feminine voice, it was a man's voice. She turned around to her right and saw a figure at the other end of the street waving at them. "Y'all friendly? Truck's ran outta gas!" He was wearing a pale yellow t-shirt with some jeans and a brown trucker cap.
He wasn't alone. There was one woman, two children (judging from their miniature build) and one who had a darker skin shade. He was wearing a pale blue button up shirt with a pair of olive-colored pants.
Starlight exchanged an alarmed look with Rarity who was standing beside her.
Twilight stood there for a moment, awestrucked. These were the locals, the humans! Was this all that's left? Just a handful of them!? She thought. Going off of Starswirl's spell, there would've been way more than just five of them. Then again, the whole town was destroyed, perhaps they may have been attacked? By what though? Starswirl said it was safe.
She quickly kicked the train of thought out of her head and replied. "Yeah! We're friendly! Are you... pon-" she quickly stopped herself remembering where they were. " Are you okay!?"
Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity stood back and listened with caution. They all eyed the group intently, observing them while the others listened with a mix of fascination, excitement and fear. Fear being, Fluttershy and Trixie. Pinkie was excited to meet this group.
"Yeah, we're fine. Truck was just runnin' on fumes." The man came over to the girls, his group following behind him. Twilight noticed the handlebar moustache on his face.
She frowned, there was a strange sense of relief that passed through her. Knowing that there were still humans here and that they didn't vanish brought some closure to a terrible theory she was conjuring up. "What happened here? W-where is everypony-I mean-one! Where is everyone?" She corrected herself immediately, heat hugging her face.
"Probably the same thing that happened everywhere, got overrun." He shrugged.
Rainbow frowned. "Whoa-whoa wait... overrun? What do you mean by that? This place was attacked?"
"Yeah. If it ain't the walkers that did all this then ah don't know what did." The man explained.
The girls all exchanged a confused look with one another before Twilight spoke up. "Walkers?"
The man paused, frowning. He then eyed everyone, a thoughtful expression on his face. He glanced at Rarity and Applejack who both stared back. "Don't y'all know what's goin' on? Are y'all from around'ere or..."
"No, we aren't. Quite frankly, we have no idea what's going on." Twilight concluded.
The man turned back to the woman who had a frown. She glanced at him for a moment before turning back at the girls. She was clutching at her child. He was a boy with a buzz cut wearing a brown checkered shirt, the other one was a female and had a big puff of curly hair wearing a khaki dress and a baseball cap that had a blue letter "d" stitched onto it.
The man then turned back at them. "Well, to fill you in the dead started to-"
"They're coming!" The little girl suddenly cried out, pointing at over at a truck.
They all turned toward the truck and it felt like their hearts dropped into their gut. A dead person... or at least that's what it should've been, started to crawl out from under the trailer. The bottom half of it's jaw appeared to be hanging on by a small tendon; one of it's eyeballs had been squished and what was left was nothing but mince meat in it's socket.
It then began to get up, what should've been impossible, it's arms had been bent in places it wasn't supposed to but it somehow managed to push itself onto it's feet.
Twilight felt like she was going to puke and suddenly she felt light-headed. Her face felt cold, her legs began to tremble and she didn't notice she was backing up until she felt herself backed into someone.
Guttural groans stopped everything as she quickly scanned around and realized there were more seemingly coming out of every corner. Every trashed and abandoned building.
Applejack felt a brush on her left shoulder, a thud immediately came after. Startled and frightened, she turned and saw Fluttershy on the concrete ground unconscious. "Fluttershy!?" She knelt down and cupped the girl's face in her hands.
"Is she okay!?" Twilight came over, an urgent look on her face.
"She fainted, we gotta get outta'ere right now!" The farmer proceeded to pick up the unconscious girl, gently placing her over her shoulders.
"We're trapped!" The woman cried out.
Rainbow saw noticed one of the monsters was getting closer, closer to her. Her heart racing faster than she ever could. She prepped herself, kept her eye on the monster. It was coming straight for her and it wasn't stopping.
She made a split-second decision and went to go kick it back when a loud bang rang out causing her to flinch. She saw the monster's face burst into a mash of red before it fell to the ground dead. The wonderbolt stared wide-eyed at the seemingly dead corpse.
A few more bangs rang out through the area, startling her. She turned and saw woman wearing a white button up shirt with a black skirt holding a strange object in her hands. Whatever it was, it seemed to be... killing those monsters.
"Run!" A man with pale skin color shouted, he looked to be younger than the others.
The shutter to the pharmacy was open and everyone made haste into the building.
The group ran inside the building, one of the humans slammed the door shut behind them. The building appeared to be a pharmacy store, it's windows had boards nailed up against them; the only light source came from over the counter, emitting a halogen glow. The supplies were noticeable on the shelves, unfortunately it was also blocked off by a shutter.
Trixie was panting heavily. Somehow, she was able to muster up the will to run inside and escape from those... monsters! There was no way... was that the reason this town was destroyed!? It had to be, what else could it been? Either way, she was done. Done with all of this.
"We can't take risks like this!" There was a woman, she was light shade with dark brown hair wearing a black tank top and she didn't look happy either.
"And we can't just let people die either!" The woman that saved them on the street replied back to her.
"When I say that door stays shut no matter what, I fucking mean it! We don't know who these people are, they could be dangerous!"
Applejack frowned but held her tongue, she spotted a counter on the right side of the store and went over to it. She gently placed Fluttershy down on top of it.
"Is she okay?" Rainbow asked, coming over to her.
"Yeah... o-or at least ah think so. She just fainted... ah can't say ah blame her though." The farmer gave the wonderbolt an anxious look. "Did you see that!?" She whispered, loudly. "Those... things... they were... dead, weren't they!?"
Rainbow didn't respond, images of what happened mere moments ago rushed through her mind. The pictures of those mangled corpses... just walking around. Some even had limbs missing, hacked off. A few had their lower body removed and it was just the torso moving, it made the wonderbolt sick.
They couldn't possibly be alive and with how were they groaning? How were they even able to make noise? The sounds of their rotten vocal chords, it was awful.
"Dash?" Applejack called, bringing her out of her train-of-thought.
"Huh?"
The farmer had a concerned look on her face. "You gonna be alright? You ain't gonna faint too, are ya?"
If this was any other situation, she probably would've shrugged it off as no big deal; probably even laugh too but this was something else. "No, I'm... fine. Just a bit shook up... that's all..." she trailed off.
"With all due respect ma'am but shouldn't we be focusing on what's out there rather than what's in here?" Starlight Glimmer interjected, trying to stay neutral even though she didn't understand the distrust. There was clearly a bigger threat here and they were outside trying to break in.
"That's what we were doing until you decided to lure them all to us!" One of the humans said, a bigger-older looking man with grey hair, wearing a grey polo shirt.
"Lure them? Who? Those monsters outside!?"
"Who else are we fucking talking about!?" The man snapped, causing her to frown at him
"Look, we appreciate what you guys did, we do but how about we just take it down a notch?" One of the humans that came in with them, the darker one with the blue shirt, tried to de-escalate the tension.
"Exactly! Surely, you can understand that we mean no harm." Rarity added.
"You brought them all to us! We were perfectly fine until y'all came along!" The old man rebutted.
"They got kids, Lilly!"
"Those things outside don't care!" Twilight frowned at the one known as Lilly. An odd name, she thought.
"Maybe you should go join 'em then! you'll have somethin' in common!"
"Can we all just relax!?" Starlight exclaimed, annoyed at the petty argument.
Lilly glared at the man with the trucker cap. Twilight kept her silence throughout the argument. This world was in complete disarray, the humans were fighting amongst each other when they should've been working together and on top of that; there were monsters roaming the streets and they probably destroyed half of, if not the whole world!
Twilight signaled the girls and quietly slipped away from the humans. She, Starlight, Pinkie and Trixie went over to the corner of the store; away from the others. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow decided to stay near Fluttershy; keeping an eye on her.
"Why the hay are we still here!?" Trixie quietly exclaimed, not wanting the others to hear. "Obviously, this place isn't safe so we might as well go... NOW! "
"No."
"NO!? " Trixie gawked at the bookworm. "Are. You. Crazy!? We almost just got eaten on our way in here and you're saying we should stay!?"
"I have to agree with Trixie, Twilight," Pinkie suddenly interjected, much to everyone's surprise. There wasn't a cheerful tone to her voice, not even a smile. It was strange seeing the girl look so serious, not that they blamed her. "This universe or dimension... doesn't feel like fun."
"See!? Even Pinkie Pie agrees!" The magician went to snatch the saddle bag from Twilight only to grab at thin air. "What are you doing!?"
"We can't leave yet!"
"Why not!?"
"Because there's obviously something wrong with this universe-"
"Oh really, really? Something weird?" Trixie sarcastically asked.
"What I'm saying is that we can't just up and leave when the humans need our help!" Twilight explained.
"I agree with Twilight here, Trixie." Starlight interjected, earning an awestruck expression from her friend. "Whatever's going on in this world, I'm sure we could help find a solution?"
"It's too dangerous to be here though," Pinkie softly argued.
"I don't understand what you're saying, Pinkie. Are you trying to tell me that we should leave these people behind... on their own?" Twilight inquired much to Pinkie's shock.
"What? No! I'm saying that we need to get back home otherwise if we get hurt, we won't be able to help them at all if we're hurt!"
"I-I'm not sure... how do you know we'll end up in the same place as before?"
"Well, you know what? This is not our universe! In fact, we shouldn't even be here. This isn't our world, it's theirs and we should keep it that way! Now hand over the scroll." The magician went to grab the saddle bag but was stopped by Starlight.
"Trixie, enough. Okay? Just take it easy."
Her friend went to lay her hand on her shoulder but Trixie slapped it away. "Don't 'Trixie take it easy' me! I feel like I'm the only one who is actually being rational here! W-wh-what is this!? Did everypony just put on their stupid hats today!? Did everypony just suddenly lost their minds!? We should go while we still have the chance! "
"We shouldn't just abandon these people when we have a chance to help them!" Twilight argued.
"Well guess what P-r-r-rincess, this is not our problem, it's theirs!"
"Do you even hear yourself right now!?"
"Loud and clear, now give me the scroll!"
"No!" Twilight and Trixie's voices were growing louder. Luckily, the others (the humans) were still arguing amongst themselves; they hadn't noticed.
"Alright, how about we just relax okay? Lets not argue over this alright?" Starlight turned to her friend. "Trixie, go sit somewhere just go clear your head alright? I'll come talk to you in a sec."
"What are you, my therapist?" Trixie rebutted.
Starlight ignored her, turning to Pinkie. "Pinks, can you... give us a moment to talk in private?"
The one who was usually smiling and laughing nodded. She walked away, joining Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack.
"Hey Pinkie," Rainbow greeted but frowned, seeing the girl's state. "You okay?"
The girl in question sighed. "No, not really. This place... isn't as much fun as I thought."
"Well, dear I'm sure we'll be leaving in a few moments. Just as soon as Twilight gets everything situated here, I suppose." Rarity said, in an attempt to lighten the girl's spirit. Honestly, she was hoping to lighten herself up considering what she had just saw outside. Those monsters that tried to get at them, she visibly flinched at the thought of what would've happened if they had gotten a hold of one of them.
"What about the others?" Applejack suddenly inquired.
"What do you mean? The humans?"
"Yeah them." The farmer spared a glance at them over by the door. They were still arguing about who and who not to let in. The girl looked back at her friends. "Can't exactly just leave 'em here with their world in shambles, now can we?"
"I guess not. They could come with us maybe?" Rainbow replied, sounding slightly unsure.
"Yeah but this is their home, shouldn't we try ta help 'n figure out why this is all happenin'?"
"I'm sure Twilight will figure out what to do but in the meantime I say we should help out however we can." Rarity concluded. She looked at the group who were continuously arguing back and forth. "I'm gonna go see if I can help calm things down." With that, the fashionista went over to the group.
Trixie was contemplating on just snatching the bag right out of Twilight's grasp. They were spending way too much time here, they overstayed their welcome here. Whatever was going on in this world, wasn't their problem. It was the human's problem.
If it was up to her, she would've been gone a long time ago before they even came across this town. It may be selfish but she didn't care. This wasn't her world and her conscience was clear. She didn't even want to come here in the first place... for this exact reason! She knew there was going to be trouble and look at it now! They were stuck in a pharmacy store in a town called Macon!
She eyed her friend speaking with her mentor by the corner, everyone in the store was still arguing (for some reason). She wasn't able to hear what her friend was discussing with Twilight.
She groaned, shaking her head. She leaned against the wall, right beside the latrine and tucked her hands into the pockets of her hoodie; letting herself drift into her thoughts.
She kept her eyes on the floor, the stains, trails of a dark liquid; presumably blood. She gulped, it wasn't the first time she had seen blood but it was the first time she'd seen a walker. By Celestia, they were even more terrifying than the changelings before they converted.
Personally, she'd take a creepy onyx bug over a walker any day. At least, she knew what they were capable of! Walkers on the other hoof... or hand were much more revolting in every aspect of the word. Their smell, appearance; tartarus, even the way they moved was horrifying! Some of them were missing limbs, arms or legs. Some of them had bones popped out of their sockets! For as long as she lived, the magician could positively say that, without a doubt, this was the most horrifying experience of her life.
Infiltrating the changeling was nothing compared to this, those walkers were simply... abominations! To all things living!
Were they even alive?
Suddenly, a creek came from her left. Frowning, she turned and came face to face with the very abomination she was just thinking about.
The walker launched itself onto her before she was able to react...
The monster launched itself onto Trixie, aiming for the girl's throat. She yelped, throwing her hands up in order to stop the walker from sinking it's teeth into her. Adrenaline rushing through her body, heart pumping like she was running a marathon, it was very difficult to keep the walker from coming any closer.
The monster had an abnormally tight grip, for something that was already rotting. It pushed her against the wall causing her to let out an "OOF!". Her grip on the walker was wavering, her arms growing tired and it was slowly edging closer and closer to her face...
Suddenly, there was a loud crack throughout the room and immediately after; the monster's face had exploded; it's contents, brain matter splattering all over the girl's face. It fell to the ground in front of her, the girl was paralyzed with fear, heavily shaking and breathing unsteadily.
It was dead... it was dead... . The walker laid there motionless, it almost killed her. She could've been killed... she just came close to dying! Almost eaten! The girl couldn't think straight, not with all that blood pumping.
"You okay?" She heard someone asked but she didn't turn to see who it was, didn't even care to find out.
"Trixie! Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?"
"You alright, sugarcube!?"
The girls all rushed over to the fear stricken magician. Starlight offered her hand but Trixie quickly flinched away from it. "Trixie, are you okay?" She gently asked, trying to soothe the girl's distress.
"Uh... guys," The pale man quietly muttered.
Trixie didn't answer. Well, more accurately she didn't have time to. There was something outside, something trying to break in. Everyone could hear the faint growls coming from the other side, scratching, clawing at the walls of the pharmacy; attempting to break in, eat whatever's hiding in pharmacy.
"There gonna get in-" The big old man said.
"Shut up!" The man with the cap whispered back, through gritted teeth.
Trixie's eyes were locked onto the door, dreading the possibility that more were coming. It wasn't really a possibility actually, there were more coming! Her heart was going haywire, she didn't know how much longer she had until she finally passed out like Fluttershy did.
Something became apparent, bangs and pops were suddenly heard outside along with guttural moans. A loud rattling, like a machine that was running. "Is that the military?" The dark man quietly inquired.
"Thank god for whatever it is."
It was like a sack of bricks had been lifted off of her chest, Trixie's breathing was slowly coming to order and the adrenaline was fading away.
"We almost died because of this bitch and her itchy trigger finger! That was stupid! That was-argh!" The old fat man tumbled over as he clutched at his chest.
"Trixie?" Starlight called, capturing her friend's attention. "Are you okay?"
The magician was silent as she took in everyone's expressions. Starlight, Applejack and Twilight all had concern written on their faces while Rainbow looked slightly angered. Pinkie and Rarity were nowhere to be seen, presumably they stayed near Fluttershy. "Okay? Okay? DO I LOOK LIKE I'M OKAY!? I ALMOST JUST DIED! " Trixie cried out causing them to flinch. "Do I look okay to you Starlight!? Huh!? You nincompoop!" The girl shoved her friend back.
"Alright, sugarcube just try to breathe alright? Try to relax." Applejack interjected, she completely understood the girl's outburst but she had to try and get her to calm down somehow.
"Do not tell me what to do, Applejack! I almost just got mauled and you're telling me to breathe! ? " Trixie shot back.
"Is... everything okay here?" They heard a voice and turned. They saw a man who looked to be fairly young, slightly overweight, with a green shirt and short blonde hair.
"Yeah, everything's peachy now get'cher flank outta here."
"Rainbow!" Twilight harshly whispered to the wonderbolt.
"Well, I'm sorry Twi but I'm a bit peeved right now. Trixie almost died and honestly, I don't really care about being 'nice' at the moment." Rainbow casually fired back earning a frown from her friend.
"It's fine, I understand. Really, I get it. Your friend was in danger." The man apologetically said.
"Yeah, I was! " A thought came into the magician's head and she snatched the leather saddle bag from Twilight's hip. There was some resistance when she pulled it, looking down she saw the holster wrapped around the girl.
"What are you doing!?" Twilight exclaimed as she quickly grabbed her saddle bag.
Trixie didn't respond, instead the two girls engaged in a game of tug of war. The magician's grip was far stronger than Twilight's but the resistance of the saddle bag's holster was resilient. The magician dug her hand into the bag before whipping out the container that captured the scroll.
Applejack and Rainbow quickly stepped between the two girls. "What are you doing!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Y'all need to calm down! Yer gonna hurt eachother!" The country girl answered.
"She has the scroll!"
"How the hay do you read this thing!?" Trixie interrupted as her eyes scanned the paper. "What does 'A simple birthday' mean!? What does it mean, Twilight!? Get us out, now! "
"What the hell're y'all hollerin' about!?" The man in the cap came over to the commotion. The group (the humans) were beginning to notice the argument and began listening in.
"It's none of your business!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"The hell it ain't! Y'all are makin' way too much noise and yer gon' bring those fuckin' walkers back on top of us!" The man in the cap fired back.
"Twilight, get us out of here now!" Trixie's voice was on the edge of a threat at this point.
"Hand over the scroll." Twilight simply said, holding out her palm.
"No! Tell us how to get outta here now!"
"Y'all ain't goin' nowhere, yer stuck here just like us!" The man wearing the cap said.
Twilight suddenly launched herself at Trixie in an attempt to get the scroll from her. In the midst of the scuffle, Twilight had gotten a hold of the piece of paper unfortunately for her, Trixie still had her gripped on it. Making one swift move, Twilight yanked the scroll from the magician's hand and an audible tear was heard.
Trixie paled as she stared at the scroll... well the top half of the scroll while Twilight held the bottom half. During their struggle, the scroll had been torn in half...
"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Starlight asked as she approached Kenny at the counter; over by the right corner of the pharmacy. The stall sold sodas, it was most likely out of order now. That was unfortunate, she could've used the drink.
She had managed to calm Trixie down a few moments ago. By Celestia, it was strenuous process. Starlight even felt somewhat exhausted after it. Trixie was, by all means heated with the fact that they were stranded on this world; believing that they would never make it back home.
Starlight needed to bring up the fact that even if they were stranded, she wouldn't be alone. It was enough to stop her from raising her voice but she was still a tad bit agitated.
"Umm, not at the moment. Glenn's out lookin' for supplies at a nearby motor-inn and Lee's still lookin' for Larry's medicine." Kenny frowned. "By the way, name's Kenny and that's Katjaa and Duck." He gestured to his family, sitting on the stools on the other side of the counter.
Starlight was still caught off guard by how strange those names sounded but then again, this was another universe after all. There was bound to be some differences but the humans also spoke the same language they did which was... very coincidental; at least to her. "Oh, I'm Starlight Glimmer," she blurted out.
Kenny merely stared at her while Katjaa and Duck were puzzled. Okay, perhaps telling them my name was a dumb a idea... .
"Starlight... Glimmer?" Kenny repeated incredulously.
"Uh yeah, that's my name." She was just gonna go with it, no point backtracking now.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you... Starlight," Katjaa spoke, thankfully. She seemed more welcoming than her husband who didn't seem to like her at all.
"You have a funny name," The boy suddenly said and her eyes darted toward him.
"Duck, you shouldn't say things like that." His mother scoldingly said.
"But it does."
"I don't care, you should show some manners."
"I-it's fine. I know that my name does sound a little... weird." What a thing to say, saying your own name sounds weird. If anything, their names sound weird.
Kenny sighed. "Where were y'all headed anyway? Just move into town or somethin'?"
"Oh, uh... honestly? We were just exploring the area." Starlight explained, deliberately skipping over the inter-dimensional travel part.
He chuckled. "You guys picked the worst time to go road trippin'. Where y'all from anyway? You guys come from up north or somethin'?"
"Umm... y-yeah. Yeah, we're from up north. We just arrived here like a-a few days ago but, yeah. So far, this place is great. Yes, the monsters roaming around, the buildings that are destroyed? All looks astonishing. It's a real breath taker!" Her sarcasm didn't go unnoticed by Kenny.
He scoffed. "If only y'all had gotten here week ago..."
Fluttershy's eyes slowly crept open, her vision being met by the pharmacy roof.
"Hey, sugarcube." The girl turned to her left, spotting Applejack with a worrisome look on her face. "Y'okay?"
It took a moment for her to respond, having just woken up. "U-umm... I-I think so... what hap-" She abruptly stopped in the middle of her sentence when recent events suddenly came back into her mind. The... monsters she saw. "I-is... is everyone okay?" Fluttershy looked up at the farmer. "The girls?" She gingerly brought herself to sat up as she looked around the store.
"Yeah, they're all okay." Applejack stood to the side, gesturing to the numerous spots their friends were. Trixie was still standing by the restroom, bouncing her feet. Rarity and Rainbow were by the door talking to the one known as Doug and Starlight was speaking to Kenny and his family. "No one's hurt or nothin'." She said, turning back at her.
She felt a sense of relief when heard Applejack's answer but still those monsters were still roaming around outside. "T-that's good." She then frowned when she noticed the set of new faces around the store. Her eyes landed on a certain old man with a considerably much younger woman with brunette hair gently rubbing his back. "W-what's the matter with him?"
The farmer turned to where she was looking at. "Oh, he... got a heart attack ah think that's what it was..." She trailed off but almost immediately, the usually timid girl was off her hind quarters and went over to the man.
Applejack didn't really know why she was surprised, this was Fluttershy after all. It was second nature for her to want to help others who were hurt or injured.
She sighed, not knowing what to do with herself. All she was really doing was waiting for Fluttershy to wake up and now that's happened, Applejack had nothing else to do but to just stand there; staring at practically nothing.
Twilight said she would try and figure out a way to get them all home but until then, all Applejack could do was wait.
Trixie walked over to the counter where Carley was. She was fiddling with a strange rectangular device and she wore an irritated expression. "Hello?"
The reporter gasped and turned, startled. "Geez, you scared me."
"Apologies." She said, condescendingly before gesturing to the device. "What's that?"
"A radio but I can't get it to work though." The reporter leaned her forearm against the counter.
"May I see it?"
"Knock yourself out."
Trixie looked at the radio for a few moments, examining it's contents before picking it up to fiddle with it herself. There was a button with the word "power" written on it. She pressed it a few times but nothing happened. The confusing part was the series of numbers and a scale. For what purpose? She had no clue.
She turned the object over. There wasn't much to tinker with, save for the long antenna and a small slot. It had two even stranger looking symbols. It appeared almost like a cylinder shape with a small notch at the end of it and they both had the negative and positive symbols inside them. She nearly gasped when she realized that something probably had to go into the slot in order for the device to work.
"Something's supposed to go in here... I think." Trixie held up the device for Carley, pointing at the slot.
"Oh." Carley mentally face palmed herself. "It needs batteries."
The magician raised a brow. "Huh?"
"Batteries. They're... things that make the radio work." Carley explained as best she could, she was no expert on technology. A very accurate description of a grandma not knowing how to work any device that required electricity.
"Huh, well in that case." Trixie handed the device back to Carley. She didn't even know what a radio was. The numbers on the thing barely made any sense; what were they even there for? And the only way to use it was to have batteries... something else Trixie had no concept of. "Good luck with that." She wasn't going to waste her time with that, it wasn't like it was going to help them get home anyway.
"Again, no. Can ya quit wastin' my time?" Kenny said, irritated by Twilight's questions.
"You're not even doing anything, so therefore there's no time to waste. Now, are you absolutely certain that there is no magic in this world?" Twilight's been making mental notes ever since the scroll was torn. There had to be something here that could get them home.
"Yeah, ah'm very fuckin' certain."
"Kenny, why don't you just relax? She's just asking questions." Katjaa interjected, throwing a disapproving look at her husband.
"Yeah, stupid questions."
"They're not stupid and at least I'm trying to figure out a way to get out of this mess. You on the other hand, you're just standing here." Twilight rebutted.
"Well, magic ain't gonna help. Why? Because there ain't no such things as spells or portals."
"Alright, you do whatever you want." Twilight dismissed by the wave of her hand and turned away. She looked around the store, for no particular reason really. She sighed before she noticing the door behind her that lead into the office. A place to think where there was no one around was exactly what she needed.
She turned and opened it to find Pinkie and Lee along with Clementine. She was sitting on top of a bulky table and Lee appeared to be doing something with her and Pinkie was fidgeting with something in her hands. "Pinkie?"
"Oh, hey Twilight!" Pinkie greeted her. Twilight saw the object in her hands, it was black but held a curved rectangular shape.
"What are you messing around with?" She eyed the contraption in Pinkie's hands.
Lee looked over his shoulder and saw the newcomer. He stood up from his position after he was done bandaging Clementine's bleeding finger and walked over to Twilight to greet her. "Hello." He offered a welcoming smile.
"Hi... I-I don't think we've met yet." Twilight extended her hand. "I'm Twilight Sparkle."
He gave her a weird look before he shrugged it off. He extended his own and shook hers. "I-I'm Lee."
"Nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
"How do you get this thing to work?" Pinkie thrusted the device into Lee's face. "What was it called again?"
"A remote." He took the device known as the "remote" and aimed it at another object. It was bulky black box that sat atop of one of the taller cupboards. There also seemed to be glass stuck in the center, covering up a large proportion of the face of the box. Then it hit her, recalling back to when she arrived at Canterlot High, it was a television!
Lee clicked on one of the buttons of the remote and television came on. There was a blue light coming from behind the glass. "Yeah, that's what I-"
"How did you do that!?" Pinkie Pie abruptly said, bewildered. "Show me! Show me!"
"Well, that's all there is to do, you could switch through the channels but there isn't any signals." He gave the remote back to Pinkie before turning to Twilight. "Was there something you needed?"
"I actually just came in here to... think. Thought this room would be empty..." Twilight trailed off as she looked around the room.
"Needed some time alone?" Lee asked, almost soothingly.
"Yeah."
He paused for a moment. "We were just about to head into back into the drug store. We came in here to try and get that door open." He gestured with the nod of his head. "But it was locked."
"Any particular reason?"
"Well, Larry needs the pills for his heart to help him calm down."
She frowned. "Who's Larry again?"
"The old grumpy asshole."
"Swear." Clementine suddenly interrupted.
"Sorry but yeah, that guy." Lee walked past her. "Anyway, we should head back into the store now."
Pinkie turned away from the T.V, at Lee. "Aren't we supposed to be getting the door open though?"
"It's locked, we'll have a look around the store. Maybe the keys is around there somewhere."
"Why don't we just kick it open?" Pinkie suggested as if she was about to actually carry out the act.
"Uh no. Don't do that, it'll attract walkers."
"Oh, right. The... walkers." Pinkie deflated slightly at the mention of them.
Lee waited for Clementine and Pinkie before turning to Clementine. "We'll let you have the room."
As he said that, Pinkie stopped and turned back at her friend. "You're not coming, Twilight?"
"Oh, no. You go ahead, I-I'm gonna stay in here for a bit." She looked off to the side.
"Oh well, have fun." With that, Pinkie left the room, followed by Clementine and then Lee; leaving her with a welcoming silence.
Lee closed the door behind him, giving Twilight some space...
He was confused at this point. It wasn't any of his business just as his conviction wasn't any of their business but these girls... he just couldn't help but wonder if they were okay, as in mentally okay. At this point, they all appeared to have some type of psychosis disorder. It was either that or they have a very wicked imagination.
Their dispute over a scroll was more than enough to help confirm the theory and their names... that was just icing on the cake. Fluttershy? Pinkie Pie? Now Twilight Sparkle? Lee only narrowed it down to two conclusions; one, they were all equally psychotic or two, they were all playing some weird fairy tale roleplaying game... and taking it very seriously.
Honestly, he didn't know which one was worse.
Static suddenly started coming from Clementine's walkie-talkie and a voice came through. "Hey there, uh this is Glenn and um I'm... kinda in a jam here." Clementine handed the talkie over to Lee.
"What's going on?" Starlight came over to Trixie who was standing on the other side of the counter, listening to Lee speak to Glenn.
"Stick around and you'll find out." Came Trixie's snarky answer.
Starlight rolled her eyes but said nothing.
"-hey Glenn, we're gonna talk it over and send a group out to come get ya, alright?" Lee assured.
"Awesome! I'll sit tight until then."
Lee looked at Clementine. "I'm gonna hold onto this just for a little while, alright?"
"What's happenin'?" Applejack came over.
"Glenn's hold up at the motor-inn, says he's stuck."
"A-are we gonna go help him?" Starlight asked, willing to volunteer to go with. She still knew walkers were out there but Glenn needed their help; she'd be glad to offer her assistance even if it meant going out there to face those things in order to help someone.
"Yeah, we just need to decide who's coming with."
"Ah'll go." Applejack offered which was quickly followed by Starlight.
"Yeah, me too."
"Yeah, I'm in." Carley said.
"Alright, so that's it then?" Lee inquired.
Starlight turned back at Trixie expectantly to which the magician frowned in return. "Don't look at me, I'm not going."
"You're not even going to bother to help out? You're just gonna sit here and do nothing?" Starlight was starting to feel irritated by her friend's attitude and behavior toward the situation.
"Yeah, sounds about right." Trixie didn't give her the chance to reply, she walked away from the group and stood by the restroom once again.
Starlight sighed and shook her head before turning back to Lee. "So... we going yet?"
"Yeah, if everyone's up for it." He said, glancing around at everyone's expression.
"Yeah, we're good." Carley said.
"Ah'm ready." Applejack added.
Lee nodded before he gestured for everyone to follow him. They passed through the office then out the back door; to an alley. Although empty, the group could hear the mob of walkers coming from all directions, it was going to be difficult to tell if there was a walker just silently lurking around the corner.
The streets were probably flooded with them. Lee looked back at everyone. "Alright, we're gonna have to be very quiet when we're moving otherwise they'll hear us." He whispered.
"What exactly attracts these things?" Starlight Glimmer inquired.
"Just blood and noise." Carley answered.
"Great," Starlight not-so-enthusiastically muttered to herself.
"We ready?" Lee asked and everyone gave their approval. "Alright, let's go."
They quietly began making their way out of the alley, stopping at the end so Lee could peek around the corners. Hopefully, the group would be able to make it to the motel without any trouble. The last thing they needed was someone getting hurt, or worse, dying.
Applejack and Starlight both had the same level of confidence. Confidant that everything will be okay, but there was also a distant feeling that was mutual among both of them. The thought of what if they didn't make it back?
Author's Note
yo, sorry for uploading so late, work tends to make ame tired a lot. Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Starlight could see the motel's large sign coming up on the street they were travelling on, it read "Travelier Motel." The sign itself was sort of a big nightlight with a halogen glow but in the shape of an arrow pointing to the left. Must've been at the motel.
On the other side of the road was the woods, it was nearly pitch black when you looked at it. There was a fence separating the road and the trees. Occasionally, you would see a faint outline of something or quite possibly, someone moving within them; being that it was night just added the overall creepiness vibe to it.
Getting there wasn't difficult, thankfully. They mainly spent most of their time dodging and diving into shadows to keep from being noticed by walkers. It was surprising to Starlight as to how easy it was to sneak around them, Applejack also thought the same thing. Initially, Starlight thought she was going to be draining her energy running away from the walkers.
"Y'all think there's gonna be more walkers at this place?" Applejack asked as she eyed the big sign.
"Probably, I-I mean did you see how many we had to sneak around?" Carley gestured back the way they came with the flick of her thumb.
"Honestly, I thought this was going to be a lot harder," Starlight decided to interject.
"Don't jinx us," Lee said with nonchalance.
"'Jinxing' doesn't exist. I mean, really saying something like 'there's definitely not going to be any walkers at this motel' doesn't mean it's bound to happen."
"Well, the whole reason why we're here is because Glenn is hiding from walkers ." Carley pointed out, making Starlight falter.
"Oh... yeah, I guess I kinda... jinxed myself?" Starlight shrugged.
"Yeah, it seems so."
They arrived at the motel, there was a long brick wall that separated the road from the parking lot. Just on the other side was an ice machine and a soda machine which sadly, wasn't on.
Starlight groaned. "I really need a drink." Suddenly and almost instantly, a growl was heard and it sounded way too close. She caught a glimpse of it and suddenly she found herself crouched down against the brick wall.
They heard the walker for a few seconds before it wandered off. Lee let out a sigh of relief while Starlight was left almost paralyzed for having been so close to a meeting with death.
The group slowly peeked over the brick wall only to discover that parking lot had walkers in them. The ice machine began to creep open, it's hinges squeaking against it's metal.
"Hey! Watch out." Applejack whispered, pointing at the ice machine.
The machine's door opened, to reveal Glenn. "Ah guys!" He climbed out of the machine and hopped over to the group to meet them. "Man, it's good to see you."
"See!? I told you." Starlight said, specifically to Lee. "I told you this was too easy." She couldn't help the amused grin that etched across her face, thinking back to the conversation about jinxing.
"Can we get outta here before any of these things notice us?" Carley abruptly whispered.
"Not yet, there's a survivor trapped up there." Glenn gestured at the motel's second floor and in an instant the grin on Starlight's face had ceased to exist.
Lee glanced back at her with a knowing somewhat amused look.
"Alright, any y'all got a plan to deal with these walkers?" Applejack stole another glance over the brick wall, at the walkers.
"Whatdoyoumean deal!?" Carley snapped. "We need to leave now before any of them catch us!"
"And just leave whoever's up there?" Applejack replied.
"We don't have time to fight walkers."
"Well, we can't just leave her up there." Glenn butted in.
"Her? So, it's a girl?" Carley reiterated.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Starlight inquired.
"Well, it's got something to do with Glenn being suicidal over a girl."
"We're saving her, with or without you."
"We'll be fine, as long as we're careful. We didn't make it 'ere by bein' stupid." Applejack added, trying to convince Carley. The farmer wasn't going to up and leave someone behind because it was too dangerous; she wasn't even thrilled on the idea of killing the walkers. She obviously knew they were dangerous, their appearance alone was threatening.
"Fine, whatever. Let's go take care of Glenn's damsel-in-distress." Carley relented her argument.
The group moved to another brick wall, this one was the center and was much longer than the previous one. The upside was that there was only about four or five walkers in the parking lot, downside was not having a weapon to take them out; except for Carley's gun and that was the opposite of what they needed.
"Okay, it's pretty simple, we go in here take out the walkers and get her out of the room." Lee whispered.
"Easier said than done." Starlight gestured to herself. "No weapons, see?"
"I know, that's why this may not be as easy as you thought." Lee quipped to which she returned with a blank stare. "Alright, let's have a look around."
Starlight and Applejack began taking glimpses of the area, anything that would help them take out the walkers with no trouble. There was a rather large R.V parked in the lot and one of the walkers was eating something just a few feet away from it.
Starlight nearly puked at the sight whereas Applejack held down the urge to gag. They could hear the walker munching away at it's unfortunate, long dead victim... hopefully, he or she didn't suffer through it. Both of them shared a look of disgust and sorrow before attempting to focus on something else.
"How easy do you think it would be to take out one of the... walkers?" Starlight asked as she peered the lot.
"Ah dunno, hopefully it ain't too difficult."
Starlight's saw a something on the wall of the motel, it quite a distance away but looked to be a stick of some sort encased in a box with a glass window. "Maybe, we could use that."
Applejack followed her line of sight and saw the object. "Yeah, yeah maybe we can."
"Goodluck smothering them to death," Carley said to which they both took a glance over their shoulders to find Lee holding a pillow.
"How in the hay do you just find a pillow out here!?" Starlight nearly shouted.
"It was just laying there, it'll be useful." Lee replied.
"A pillow? Useful... against walkers? If they're that fragile why don't we just knock them out with our hooves then?" Starlight blurted out before she was able to stop herself and now the group was giving her weird looks.
"Hooves?" Carley repeated, she looked like she wasn't having any of it and Lee and Glenn were frowning at her.
"What do you mean hooves?" Glenn inquired, sounding genuinely confused.
"Okay, hands or whatever you call it! We'll just kill them with that!" Starlight quickly rebutted.
"But why would you say hooves?"
"Who cares!?" Starlight almost shouted but still maintaining a hushed tone.
"Guys!" Lee butted in. "How about we just stay focused on the task at hand, alright?"
"Well, I was until Glenn started quest-"
"Forget it, just do... what you need to do." Lee dismissed her with the wave of a hand and went back to what he was doing.
Starlight rolled her eyes before turning and made her way to the end of the wall, peeking around the corner. She saw a stationary car with a walker that was slouched over sitting against the front tires. "Walkers can't sleep... can they?" She turned back to Applejack with a frown.
"Ah dunno, but it seems like." She replied.
Starlight turned back to the walker. She then noticed the pickup truck that also happened to be stationary. It was parked in-between two wooden columns. One detail that caught her eye was the bumper reading "Shit Happens". The word "shit" piqued her interest, having no concept nor recollection of the word being used in or by anypony in Equestria.
She went to sneak over behind the pickup truck, dreading and hoping none of the walkers saw her or Applejack walk over. Starlight took a peek around the corner of the bumper, feeling slightly annoyed at the lack of progress they were making. She sighed. "There has to be something that would help us clear out these walkers..."
"Maybe, we could try buckin' them? Y'know, like how ah buck trees?" Applejack suggested.
"We... could, I just wouldn't have very much success... I don't think. Since, I'm not a farmer and I've never kicked a tree in my life." She paused. "Hey... why don't you go try? O-On that walker over there?" She gestured to the walker that was sitting against the tires. "A perfect candidate." She grinned at her friend.
"You're very nonchalant 'bout this."
"Well, yeah-I mean, why wouldn't I be?" Starlight inquired.
"Cuz ah'm about to kill somethin'."
"Yeah... a walker, they're-you know... dangerous?"
"Yeah but they were also humans once." Applejack looked at the walker, thinking about who it used to be. It was still horrendous to look at but she shake the fact that it was once a human, just like Lee, Carley and Glenn. To have to kill it, somehow even though it looked the way it did, still felt wrong to her. Stupid, she knew it was but it didn't matter. The point was she didn't want to have to put it down.
It looked like a man who was maybe in his thirties? She started thinking about who it was, or more, who he used to be before he was... killed.
"Hey," Starlight roped Applejack's attention. "You know, I don't want to do this either but I don't know how long we're gonna be here for so we... might as well..."
"Get used to it." Applejack finished the sentence for her to which she nodded. She sighed through her nose, subtly shaking her head. Starlight was right, there may be a time where she'll have no choice but to defend herself. As she said, they didn't know how long they were going to be there for and it was only a matter of time before she was forced to do something she didn't want to do.
Applejack began tiptoeing toward the walker, whilst keeping an eye on the others in the area. Once she was close enough, she began staring down at the walker; noticing the meat missing from the shin of it's legs, leading her to believe that they were feasted on.
Not a moment later, it seemed to have "woken up". It turned in her direction then began growling, reaching out at her. In a smooth but quick motion, she turned and delivered a powerful back kick to the skull of the walker; feeling a disgusting squish against her boot and the car.
Applejack was afraid to even look at the mess she made. She did it, she killed her first walker and she didn't know how she felt about that. Her back was still turned and she was able to see Starlight quietly making her way toward her. "You... okay?"
A took a minute to respond. "Ah don't know..."
Lee pulled open the front door to the car, the interior light came on and it gave him a clear view of what was in it. The car was practically empty, save for the small metallic object sitting in the passenger seat. He shifted the car into reverse with the gear stick on the wheel and took the object. "Found uhh... sparky thing."
"A sparky thing?" Starlight inquired, looking at the thing in Lee's hand.
"A sparkplug, that could come in handy." Glenn provided.
"That small thing can come in handy? Are we just gonna toss it at the walkers or something?"
"Or something..."
Lee and Applejack began pushing the car back. Applejack pushing from the front bumper and Lee holding onto the car from the side. Surprisingly, she didn't have much difficulty pushing it. She didn't know how Lee was doing but she felt fine, in fact, it didn't even feel too heavy.
The car rolled all the way across the parking lot, crushing a walker that was roaming aimlessly into the walls of the motel. The walker was left alive, pinned to the wall.
The group went back to the "Shit Happens" pickup truck. Glenn had crushed the sparkplug before he picked up one of the broken pieces and handed it to Lee; leaving Starlight, as well as Applejack, even more befuddled then before. To their surprise, that tiny small piece had managed to smash the driver's seat window like it was nothing.
It left Starlight questioning the way physics worked in this world... . Strange how something that could be so small yet hold so much mass that it can apparently smash through glass with ease... or perhaps windows in this world are just very fragile.
There was a screwdriver on the seat and Lee reached in and picked it up.
"Now, that seems like the perfect weapon." Starlight commented, almost jealously.
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
While Lee went back to the other walker that was eating earlier, Starlight felt that it wasn't necessary to hide from walkers anymore. Most of them had been "dealt" with and the ones that weren't were either stuck or Lee was in the process of stabbing one of them in the head.
Once he had taken out the rest of the remaining walkers, the group came back over to the walker that was previously pinned up against the wall. As Lee was about to launch the tool into the walker's brain, Starlight quickly stopped him.
"Wait!" She exclaimed. "Wait-wait-wait... maybe... m-maybe I should do this."
Lee frowned, lowering the tool. "Why... do you say that?"
She shrugged. "We... don't know how long this whole..." she waved her hands around. "Thing, outbreak or whatever this is, is gonna last for. I-I might as well learn how to... you know... k-kill walkers?"
Lee paused, his eyes casted down to the ground for a few moments before they returned up at her. He handed the screwdriver to her and she reluctantly accepted it.
Starlight walked over to the walker, it was already trying to grab at her but it's attempts were futile. The walker was growling, it's rotten vocal chords were giving her the chills. It was different seeing them up close, when one's right in front of you, trying to kill you and this one was stuck. She was starting to feel pity for it, it didn't care that it was stuck, it just wanted to... kill her.
She wondered if there was any sign of the person that was there before.
She didn't realize she was watching it until the growl suddenly became louder and she raised the lethal tool above her head. She swallowed, taking a sharp inhale before shoving the tool into the walker's head and killed it. The tool only went through further when the walker's head fell atop of the car.
Starlight stared at the walker, but jumped slightly when she felt something on her shoulder. She turned to see Applejack with a concerned look. "Y'okay?"
"Yeah, of course! We're finally done here. All we have to do now is help the girl up there." She gestured with the nod of her head. Of course she wasn't okay but she wasn't going to let Applejack know that. She was still trying to convince herself that it was just a walker because it was; it wasn't anything else but that. She's never even considered the possibility of killing before and now that she's done it... she didn't know how she felt about it.
Starlight and Applejack watched as Lee swung the fire axe at the walker, decapitating it with barely any effort displayed. They grimaced at the way the head fell to the ground, rolling for a few seconds before the other walker was taken care of the same way.
He made it look so easy, it made Starlight think how prevalent death was in this world. He seemed to be having no trouble killing them like he didn't even had to think twice about it. She understood they were dangerous, she'd even convinced Applejack of that but she was mainly trying to convince herself.
Starlight lagged behind, the other going past her. The door was barred with a wood plank and Lee began knocking on it. "Hello? Anyone in there? We're here to help?"
What came next startled Starlight, she didn't know why but it did.
"Please, just go away!" Said the feminine voice coming from the other side of the door. The woman sounded distressed, almost like she'd been crying.
"Let's go, guys." Carley casually said.
"You really don't care about anyone else, do you?" Starlight said with scorn.
"Actually, I care about getting back to the group as soon as possible." Carley rebutted.
"Doesn't seem that way."
"Don't have a cat fight." Glenn interjected.
"Shut up, Glenn." Carley was irked by his stupid comment.
"If you open up we could take you someplace safer, we got a group in tow-"
"No, no, no! Please no!" The woman began to hyperventilate.
"She's in trouble!" Glenn exclaimed.
"Well, come on then!" Applejack delivered a kick to the door, in an attempt to break it down.
"Hang on for a second!" Lee moved her out of the way and raised the axe. He threw down onto the wooden plank, cutting it in half before trying the door knob.
"No good?" Applejack asked.
He shook his head.
She nodded before delivering another kick to the door, hearing a crack come from the hinges.
"Stop just stop! I'm... coming out." The woman said, they heard a click come from inside the room before the door slowly crept open. It revealed a girl, probably in her early twenties and she had blood splotches all over her; more so, on her hip that she was clutching to.
Starlight and the others realized that she was injured. "You're hurt." She breathlessly said, eyes wide. "D-do you... do you need help? What happened?" In that instant the woman unloaded on her.
"I told you to stay away! I'm bit! You can't help me, I'm going to die! I'm going to come back as one of... one of them, don't you understand!? There is no helping me!"
Starlight and Applejack began feeling uneasy in this situation. They were both thinking the same thing, everything that the unstable woman had just told them. If you get bit by one of them that means... you turn into one of them?
"Y-you don't... don't want help? You d-don't want to come back... with us?" Starlight apprehensively continued. If what she said was true that if you get bit, you come back as a walker, then she didn't want to leave her here all by herself to face that alone. That was a fate Starlight wouldn't wish on anypony.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Carley giving her a look of disapproval. "No! I'm going to turn, I'm not going to put anyone in danger!" The woman exclaimed before eyes on the gun Carley held in her hands. "Y-you... have a gun."
"So?" Carley frowned.
"Can I-I... borrow it?" The woman's voice became soft as if she was finally feeling relieved. Something about that seemed... wrong to Starlight and Applejack. They both exchanged a troubled look with each other before turning back to the distraught lady.
"What do you mean 'borrow'?"
"Give it t-to me. I-I can just... y'know end this then there's... then there's n-no problem."
Starlight's heart was beginning to beat faster as the realization dawned on her. If she held out her hands in front of her, you'd be able to notice quite easily that they were trembling. The woman wanted to off herself.
"Woah-woah-whoa," Lee suddenly exclaimed.
"Please! I don't wanna be one of them! They're... they're... satanic." The lady begged.
There was a pause amongst the group, Starlight turned to Applejack who seemed just as unsettled as she was. She didn't know what to do, killing walkers was one thing but letting someone off themselves? She started shaking her head. No, no, she couldn't do this. She wasn't going to do this. "I-I'm sorry... b-but we can't."
"Give it to her." Lee said matter-of-factly.
"What!?" Starlight and Carley exclaimed in simultaneously.
"Do it."
"No!"
"What are you talking about Lee!? We're not doing that!" Starlight couldn't believe this, he wasn't serious. He could not be serious, he was just gonna let her die like this!?
"Just give it to her! I mean l-look at her, does look like she's getting any better?"
Applejack kept silent, she did as Lee asked and looked at the woman. She was already bitten and she was going to turn. Her mind was already mind up but she didn't like it. She didn't want her to have the gun because nopony should ever have to do that to themselves but on the other hoof, she was already dying. "He's... he's right." She finally said, ashamed for having to say it in the first place.
"You too!? Applejack!?" Starlight placed her hand on her friend's shoulder, making her face her. "Applejack come on! Don't... d-don't do this, I-I-I mean we! We can't do this, we-w-we-we can't give her the gun! We can't let her do this!" She desperately tried pleading with her.
"You'd be giving me mercy! I've seen what hell is like a-and i-it's coming back as one of them!" The lady begged further.
"No! T-t-this isn't right! I-it's not right!" Starlight let go of her friend as she began speaking to the lady. "Please, please don't do this."
Applejack helplessly watched as her friend who was on the verge of breaking down herself, try to plead with the woman but Applejack already saw the woman's eyes. She wasn't going to change her mind...
"I won't come back as one of them."
"Argh! You are all unhinged!" Starlight snapped. She began backing away from the group, in direction of the stairs. She shook her head, tears in her eyes. "I will not watch this!" She turned and flounced toward the stairs leaving the group.
Applejack didn't blame her, she didn't want this to happen either but there was no choice! She was going to die, they might as well help her gain some level of peace... even if that peace didn't look pretty. Celestia forbid if any of her kin were in this position...
"Just give her the gun." Lee softly said to Carley.
She sighed. "Alright, fine.'' She knelt down and placed the gun on the floor. "Here."
The lady picked it up and her red puffy eyes found Lee and Applejack who had somber looks on their faces. "T-thank you so much... I know how terrible this must be."
"We can't watch this. Let's go." Glenn anxiously said.
"We can't leave yet." Carley replied.
"What!? Why not!?"
"Because somebody had to pick up the gun." Lee answered. "You guys go on ahead, I'll stay here."
"Okay..." Glenn and Carley began to leave. Applejack was going to follow them but she stopped before deciding that she was going to stay.
"You aren't going?" Lee asked with a slight frown.
She shook her head before looking up at the girl. "We're..." she gulped. "H-here for you..."
The woman who was distraught had managed a tight lipped smile while slightly nodding her head. "Thank you..." she then held the gun to her head and Applejack felt the color drain from her face as she pulled the trigger.
Lee and Applejack made it downstairs, Lee carrying the gun. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"
It took a few moments for her to answer, she looked up at the second floor from which they came feeling like she had been paralyzed by shock, it was better this way... it was better for her. Applejack nodded. "Ah'll... a-ah will be."
"Okay, come on we should go." The two met up with the rest of the group who were all waiting in the car.
Applejack found Starlight sitting in the front seat, staring intently at the woods with tear-streaks on her face. "Hey, are you-"
"Don't even." Starlight shook her head before her eyes found hers. "Just don't... bother."
Applejack stayed quiet for a moment and she finally nodded before getting into the back seat with the Glenn and Carley. Lee flicked on the ignition and the engine roared alive, he pressed down on the accelerator and drove out of the motor-inn.
Author's Note
Only skimmed through editing this one and work tomorrow so wanted to finish the chapter ASAP[, if there's any errors feel free to point them out and ill correct them otherwise enjoy the chapter!
She was bitten and basically dead...
Lee parked the car just outside the alley. Glenn had gotten out of the the car a few moments ago to distract the walkers roaming around it. Once Lee had switched off the ignition, everyone began climbing out of the vehicle. Applejack side-eyed Starlight as she shut the door. The girl hadn't said a word the whole way back and nobody else did either.
That woman back at the motor-inn seemed to had taken a toll on everyone. Applejack was the one who agreed to let her have the gun, there wasn't anything they could for the poor girl. She was bit and her time was forfeit, what could they do? Just let her turn? Leave her all alone so that she could die alone? Turn alone?
There wasn't a "right decision". She was going to die anyway and even then, Applejack still had a sinking feeling in her chest over how wrong it was. Maybe Lee felt the same way, hopefully, she didn't want to be the only one feeling hurt over this.
He came to the door leading into the office, he opened it and everyone entered then proceeded into the main foyer. Aside from the suicide, Applejack found the car ride to be surprisingly pleasant. This was the very first time she's ever rode in something like that, a vehicle. She's taken taxis before, sometimes when she went to Manehattan or some other really fancy city but none of them were as relaxing and as cozy as the car.
She frowned, looking around and noticing someone was missing, Starlight hadn't come in with them.
Applejack was about to go back into the office when her name was called out. "Applejack!" She jumped, startled. She turned to see a scowling Twilight heading her way. Rainbow and Rarity were right behind her, not looking as mad as she was. "Why in Celestia's name would you just take off without telling me!? Do you not understand that we have to stick together? Especially in a time like this!" She exclaimed.
"Ah'm sorry Twi but ah went with Lee and Carley to help out Glenn, ah wasn't just gon' stand around doin' nothin'."
"Well that's all well and good, darling but at the very least you could've told us where you were going," Rarity replied. "But instead you left us here without saying a word."
"Yeah, Twilight wanted to go out and look for you guys but I said it would be a stupid idea." Rainbow frowned as she scanned around. "Hey, where is Starlight anyway?"
"A-ah think she's in the office." Applejack explained. "We... had uhh... a bit of an issue at the motor-inn."
"Wait, an issue? Why? What happened?" Twilight inquired, her scowling expression changed to a look full of worry.
She hesitated for a second before she exhaled through her nose. "It was just walkers... walkers an' all." She waved it off, eyes falling to the floor as she recalled back to the incident.
There was a click followed by a door's hinges that began to squeal as it opened. "She's not telling you everything." Starlight walked out of the office, shutting the door behind her before fixing Applejack with a glare; the farmer couldn't help but oblige by returning it.
They stared at each other for a few moments, neither saying a word. Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow were glancing between them, feeling the tension build. "W-w-wait, hang on..." Applejack and Starlight ripped their eyes from each other and turned toward Rainbow. "Did you two... get into a fight or something? What's going on?"
Starlight scoffed, turned and threw Applejack a cold smile. "Well, you gonna tell 'em or are you just gonna pretend that it never happened?"
"Hold on before we get into this whole..." Rarity's gestured to the two with her hands. "Dispute, we should head into the office." She drew in closer to the group and lowered her voice. "I'm sure we don't want to attract any more attention to ourselves now do we?"
"She's right," Twilight said. "Whatever happened between you two, obviously seems like a big deal-"
"Obviously, she says," Starlight muttered to herself.
"...And we should do definitely do this in the office." She rolled her eyes at her mentor but turned and entered the office regardless.
The others soon entered the room with Rarity being the last. She closed the door and turned to face her two friends. "Now that we have some privacy, would either of you care to explain what exactly happened while you were out?"
Starlight was standing by the large desk that Lee and Pinkie had moved earlier, she turned beside her at Applejack; giving her the same glare as before. She flicked her arm at Twilight and the other two. "You gonna tell them or not?"
Applejack kept her mutual gaze on her friend for a moment, falling to the ground seconds later as if she were contemplating her inquiry.
When seconds felt like hours, Starlight sighed, the events of what happened at the motor-inn fueling her anger; Applejack's lack of speech only irritated her further. "She let someone kill herself." She spoke the words directly to Twilight.
That seemed to have brought the farmer out of her internal conflict. Starlight could practically feel Applejack's scowl prodding at her face.
It took a moment to register, nobody said anything until Rarity abruptly broke the silence. "YOU WHAT!?"
Applejack quickly turned to Rarity and other girls. "It ain't what you think."
"O-oh really? Really? You didn't let that girl die? You didn't just let her off herself, just like that? Just because she was bitten?" Starlight immediately rebutted and Applejack averted her gaze back to her.
"Well, you just explained it didn't ya! She was bitten! What else could we do!?"
"Umm, how about not let her take her own life? Have you ever considered that!?"
"She was gon' die anyway!"
"Yeah and, according to you, apparently the best thing to do was let her kill herself." Starlight scoffed.
Applejack merely rolled her eyes, her frown still on her features. She was about to reply when she noticed the expressions on Twilight and Rarity's face. They were both directing disturbed looks at her.
"You just... w-wait, hold on for sec, what exactly happened. I mean, step-by-step what exactly happened?" Twilight inquired, her stutter to her voice.
Starlight, unfortunately for Applejack, began explaining what happened from the point they arrived at the motor-inn and from the time they left it. By the time she was done filling them in, it seemed like both Twilight and Rarity were in agreement with Starlight. Although, Rainbow had an unreadable expression.
"That poor girl... a-and you just let her... do that to herself?" Rarity said.
"What else could ah do?" Applejack's voice was beginning to raise, her blood pressure increasing. "She was bit. She was going to turn. How can y'all NOT understand she was going to die anyway?" She finished defensively.
"But you could've stopped her though." Twilight replied. "Instead, you let her... kill herself."
"Did you not just hear what ah just said? She was going to die anyway and besides that, what good would that have done? It wouldn't have done anythin'!"
"You could've brought her back here! W-we could've saved her, I-I may have been able to find a cure."
Applejack's brain stopped for second and had to recalibrate to process the statement her friend had just said. "A-a-ah'm sorry... what?"
"We could've saved her if you had brought her back here." Twilight repeated like she was so sure of herself and it was then, the farmer didn't need any further explanation.
Her jaw had hit the floor and a humorless laugh escaped from her lips as her hands rubbed at her temple. "Do you even know what your sayin'? Do you even realize how completely... stupid that sounds!? A cure? Seriously, Twilight!?"
"Well, it's a lot better than just letting her kill herself! At least, we would actually try to save her!"
"Oh for love of..." Applejack clasped her eyes shut and took in a deep inhale. "How many times do ah gotta say this before it finally gets through your thick skulls? She was bitten, she was going to turn and she was going to die! Either way!" She locked gazes with Twilight. "There ain't no cure in this world that would've saved her!"
Her heart was reaching increasingly high, she started to feel hot and her fists began to clench. Applejack was practically spelling out why it was a "good" decision, you could easily figure this stuff out through simple intuition.
"...You don't know that." Twilight attempted to refute.
"Oh ah don't huh? Really? Ah don't know that? There are walkers everywhere Twi. If there was a cure, why are they still around!?"
She could blatantly see the struggle on Twilight's face as she attempted to find a rebuttal, her mouth slightly agape and a conflicting frown on her face. "Honestly, ah don't even know why ah'm explainin' this to y'all." Applejack shook her head, looking at the numerous disapproving expressions she was receiving. "Ah understand not wantin' to... y'know, let anythin' like that happen but it ain't like ah had much of a choice!" She then directed her eyes back at Twilight. "Ah would've expected you out of everyone else to understand but apparently ah was wrong. You're so caught up in your own delusion that you ain't even thinkin' clearly." She merely scoffed before she shook her head once more. She walked past them and left the office.
Kenny watched as Applejack stomped her way out of the office and over to the corner, next to Trixie and began chatting with her. He heard the whole conversation, the walls weren't thick enough to keep their voices inside of the room. "Sounds like they're at it again," he said, particularly to his wife.
"They seem like they have a lot on their plate," she replied.
"Ya don't say. Ever since they got 'ere, they've screamin' at each other nonstop. It's like all they ever do is argue." He kept his voice down, he didn't want Applejack or Twilight or any of them coming back at him.
"That doesn't sound like you at all," he didn't miss the sarcastic edge to her tone but ignored it nonetheless.
"If they continue on like this, we're gon' have to consider cuttin' 'em loose."
That got Katjaa's full attention, she looked right at her husband with a frown. "And why would we consider doing that?"
"Ah'm just sayin' if we ever have to go out lookin' for supplies, it ain't gonna do anyone good if they're screamin' an hollerin' at each other. They'd have more chance finding walkers than actual supplies."
"Still, you don't get to decide what to do with other people's lives, Ken."
"Then they shouldn't be puttin' our lives at risk." Kenny already thought those girls were unhinged. They were trapped in a pharmacy store with walkers right on their doorstep and the thing they decide to do was yell at each other and the fact that they were crying over a scroll just screamed that they were insane.
Even Twilight who came to him earlier, asking him a bunch of bullshit about magic and spells and all kinds of other delusional shit was insane. What, was she serious? Was she kidding? Magic? Spells? If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought she was screwing with him. It didn't take a degree in psychology to figure out that these girls belonged in mental institution.
"I can't believe she would do that..." Twilight's eyes were glued to the floor as she fully processed what she had been told.
"That brute... and the audacity for her to try and justify her decision," Rarity shook her head, a scowl on her face.
Throughout the entirety of the argument, Rainbow Dash had kept uncharacteristically silent. Mainly because she actually agreed with Applejack. She still had some doubts, sure, they haven't seen anyone die from a bite yet but from what Applejack explained; this woman, whoever she was, seemed like she was completely certain that she would turn and that the only way to prevent that... was to take her own life.
Rainbow knew, that if she were ever... bitten, she wouldn't want to turn into one of those walkers either and Celestia forbid that from ever happening. Maybe she should have said something instead of letting Applejack take all the heat.
"Rainbow!"
"Huh? Yeah?" Her train of thought vanished and her eyes flew to Rarity.
"I said, are you okay? You've been quiet ever since we stepped into this room." The seamstress didn't look worried or concerned, in fact, she still looked like she was annoyed if Rainbow was reading it correctly.
"Y-yeah, I'm just trying to figure something out," she internally slapped herself for not coming up with a better excuse and the seamstress didn't seem convinced.
"Oh? And what might that be?"
Rainbow was about to answer, her eyes fell to the floor and her mouth was slightly agape. Nothing came to mind, nothing that would throw her off anyway. "I think Applejack was right about what she did." Twilight and Starlight looked at her, the disapproving looks returned. Rather letting another chain reaction go off, she followed it up quickly. "That's all I'm gonna say." Before she turned and walked out of the office; leaving three displeased girls behind.
"Wow, so that's what happened?" Trixie's brows were raised, eyes wide with disbelief as she listened to Applejack explain what went down at the motor-inn. As usual, they were by the restroom away from the others. Trixie, to her gagging disgust, had moved the dead walker further away from the restroom right by the boarded up window; near Doug.
"Yup," Applejack simply replied, holding back a sigh and half-expecting the magician to blow up at her.
There was a short pause, the farmer's anticipation grew even bigger before it was abruptly cut. "Honestly, you and Lee did the girl a favor."
She frowned before looking directly at the magician "Wait what?"
"Yeah, I mean, you did say she was gonna turn so... wouldn't it be better to, you know, end it? So, you don't become a walker?"
"That's what ah tried explainin' to Starlight, and the other girls, Rainbow and Rarity."
"And... they weren't convinced?" Trixie replied, a smug look on her face as if she knew the answer to that already.
"Uh huh, Twilight kept insistin' that she could've saved her." Applejack couldn't resist rolling her eyes.
Trixie scoffed which soon turned into laughter. "Saved her? How!? There's no cure or magic here."
"That's what ah told 'em but they didn't budge."
"Not surprising, Twilight's always been a bit of a... oh, what do you call it?" She frowned as her eyes averted elsewhere. Seconds later, they returned back to her interlocutor. "Uh, thin-skinned?"
The rational part of Applejack didn't want to agree with Trixie's description of her friend. She wasn't supposed to be bad mouthing her or thinking that way but another part was much more persistent, less rational, and was gnawing at her to go with it. "Yeah, ah'll say." Applejack responded.
"Hey Doug, how's everything?" Trixie took a quick look over her shoulder and saw Lee speaking with Doug.
"So far, so good. You wanna step outside, take a look around?" Doug asked.
"Ha, I'm not suicidal yet."
"No, the gate out there is closed. We step out the store, we'd be fine."
Trixie turned back to Applejack. "Wanna go?"
"You're goin' out with 'em?"
"Yeah, that's why as I asked if you wanna come?"
"No, Ah've had my fair share of trouble t'night." Applejack turned and walked away, over to Pinkie Pie who was chatting with Fluttershy. She was still next to Larry, it seemed like she was successful with calming him down as he was no longer clutching to his chest.
Trixie shrugged it off before walking over to Doug and Lee who were just about to exit the store. "I'm kinda bored of just standing around here doing nothing so I'm coming with you guys."
"Alright then, uh... w-what's your name again?" Lee inquired.
"Oh right, I don't believe we've spoke to each other yet." Trixie smiled, closed her eyes in a smug fashion and her hand flew up to her chest. "I'm the great and powerful Trixie, pleasure to make your acquaintance." Her eyelids opened up to an expressionless Lee.
"I'll just call you Trixie." He clearly wasn't amused, granted there wasn't anything to be amused about; they were just names... highly over-the-top and ridiculous names.
"Certainly," she said before returning to a more casual manner; she turned to introduce herself to Doug. "And you're Doug."
His response was... somewhat delayed and with a short gasp; he blurted out, "Oh, uh hi, I-I'm Doug." He held out his hand.
Trixie looked at it for moment before she took it and shook his hand. "Trixie."
"It's nice to meet you Trixie, so uh y-you wanna go outside?"
She raised a brow at him. "That's why I'm here, yes."
"Oh, o-okay... good."
Doug stared at her for a few seconds, not saying anything. Trixie was unable to read the expression on his face but what she could tell from his physical gestures, the way his hands were clasped together, the way he fidgeted, it was almost like he was... nervous? Perhaps, he was just a weirdo or another Fluttershy who was scared of meeting strangers.
Lee glanced between the two before he turned to the stocky guy. "Doug?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah uh yeah sorry about that." He turned, pulled out a set of key and began unlocking the door.
Trixie raised a brow at Lee and gestured to Doug to which he replied with a shrug and gave her an "I dunno" expression. Once Doug quickly finished unlocking the door, he opened it and the three of them left the pharmacy only to be met with the repulsive scene of an everyday walker.
Trixie was the first to exit the pharmacy, Lee and Doug followed after. Lee brought a bunch of various items with him, one of them being an axe. When they saw the scene taking place in front of them, all they could do was attempt to hold back their retch as any source of noise that may sound foreign to these... things... might catch their attention.
It was still dark out, a black void that stretched across the sky. It was cold, there was no wind, no sound of nature. The only thing they heard was them. The street lights were on which gave them a clear view of everything that was happening in front of them.
The only normal thing that was out here were the stores, more specifically, the display window right across the street from them that showed multiple black square boxes that Trixie was unfamiliar with but other than that; walkers were everywhere.
Some were just randomly roaming around, no direction nor goal. A group of them were devouring something in the center of the street. Over to the far right, up against the wall of another store was a trapped walker under a street light that had fallen on top of it.
Trixie formed a fist, planting it on her mouth as bile rose from her throat. "I thi-... I-I think I'm gonna puke."
"You're not the only one." Doug was also clutching to his mouth in disgust, presumably holding down vomit as she were. "This is all they do... eat. Just eat, eat, eat."
"How did this whole thing even start anyway?" She turned to him, a grimace on her face and letting her hand fall back to her side.
"I dunno, one day everything seemed fine and the next, everyone was eating each other."
There was a short pause, Trixie looked back at the walkers; her expression never changed. "Okay, so... what exactly are we doing out here?" She inquired.
"Well, nothing really. We're just taking a look around." Lee replied.
"That's it? That's why we came out here? To look around?"
"Larry still needs his pills so I'm still trying to figure out how to get over the counter. There's a door in the office that leads to it but... it's locked." He explained.
"So, we're pretty much looking for keys?"
"Pretty much." Lee noticed looked over to the walker trapped under the street light, a pain in his gut as he recognized his brother.
"And you think it may be out here?" She nodded at the street, particularly the walkers. He didn't say anything for a few moments so she was going to let it go.
"Oh shit!" Lee abruptly whispered.
"What? Something wrong?" Doug asked.
"That guy over there." He pointed at the walker, the one who was crushed beneath the street light. "That guy has the keys."
"How do you know?"
Lee didn't reply right away, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo but it was torn. He held it out, letting Doug and Trixie take a look at it. "I found this in the office, that guy used to work here." It was a photo of the walker, what he used to look like before he became... well, what he was now. He was smiling, standing next to an elderly couple who Trixie presumed to be his parents. "He probably has the keys."
"Okay... how do you plan to do that with all these walkers out here?" Trixie asked, a short pause coming after.
"We could distract them?" Doug suggested.
"With?"
"We could use this?" Lee pulled out a remote. "Think we could use this to turn on one of those T.Vs over there?" He gestured to the display window across the street.
"Actually... yeah. Here, let me see." He gave Doug the remote and he began pressing the buttons on the device. "It's universal, I could program it to work with those televisions over there."
"You could do that?" Lee inquired, much to Trixie's utter ignorance.
"I memorized all the codes back when I was in A.V. Let's give it a try."
"Memorized what? What are you even doing?" Trixie frowned in confusion, glancing back and forth between Lee and Doug.
"Okay, here we go." He pointed the device over to the televisions across the street and clicked on, what Trixie presumed to be another button. Almost instantly, the televisions came to life and she frowned at what was being displayed on the screens. White static, unbeknownst to her.
"Well fucking done Doug! All that dork nonsense might save a life." Lee praised.
"Who's to say it already hasn't?" Doug replied.
"Wait, hold on a sec! What is that?" She asked.
"What?"
"The thing that's on the-the black box o-or whatever that is. What's happening to it? What'd you do?"
Doug frowned. "That's... static. Haven't you ever seen a T.V before?"
"No, I haven't. I don't even know what a 'T-V'."
"How have you never seen a T.V?" He nearly shouted but maintained his hushed tone.
"I dunno. Maybe it's because I'm not from this world and I've never seen anything like it?"
It seemed like everything had stopped and Lee and Doug were looking at her as if they were processing the information.
"You're not from this world?" Lee was learning something new every time he interacted with these girls, something different and more outrageous always seemed to replace the last outrageous thing he learnt about them.
"Yeah, I'm not."
"Good to know." The sarcasm didn't go unnoticed by Trixie. It wouldn't hurt to tell them, it wasn't like they believed her anyway.
"You look human enough," Doug commented, looking her up and down like he was analyzing her.
"Alternate universe... or dimension, I can't remember what Twilight said but I'm in no way a... 'human'." Trixie added quotation marks.
"Huh, interesting."
That caused Lee to do a double-take at Doug and now he was looking at him as if he were insane. "Wait, what? You don't... wait, you don't seriously believe this right?"
"Well, there are corpses walking around, just saying I wouldn't be surprised if that were actually true."
"Yeah but-oh... that's a good point." It seemed like all of the initial disbelief that Lee had, had dissipated and was now left in a state of silence with a deep frown on his face as he seemed to be contemplating the whole thing.
"Hey look! I got a few of them to take notice." Doug said after a short pause.
Trixie averted her eyes from Doug and to the televisions across the street. Some of the walkers turned to look at them but went back to wandering around after a few seconds.
"There's a brick over there." Lee pointed to it, it was sitting right outside the gate, a few feet away. He stood up and lifted the axe he brought above his head.
"Whoa wait, what are you doing!?" Trixie exclaimed in a whisper. "Walkers are out there, did you forget!?"
"That's why we need to be careful and quiet about this."
"Smashing off the lock is not being careful about this!"
"Well, we don't really have a whole lotta options." Doug replied.
Trixie scoffed. "Okay, well I'm telling you now if they see us, I'm running straight back inside." Trixie yanked a thumb over her shoulder, at the door.
"That's exactly what we should do." Lee turned back at the lock, raised the axe and slammed it down onto the lock, breaking it.
Trixie watched with growing anticipation, her eyes shifting from all directions. She watched Lee's movements to make sure he wasn't going to do anything stupid or loud and she watched the walkers to make sure they didn't notice any of them.
He slowly pushed apart the gate and picked up the brick. He glanced around the area before tossing it over at the display window, shattering it. The static emanating from the televisions were much louder now and began drawing the walkers over to it.
"I've never seen a street look so g-r-r-r-reat." Trixie commented.
"What?" Doug replied with an incredulous look.
"The street?" She gestured in front of her. "'Cause there's no walkers there now?"
"You two keep an eye out, I'm gonna go get the keys." Lee said before leaving and walking over to the pharmacy walker.
Trixie watched as Lee knelt down to it and couldn't help but frown. "What is he doing?"
"I... don't know." Doug replied.
"He's not talking to the walker, is he?"
"I don't know." He repeated before he stood up and both of his hands flew to his mouth; forming a triangle shape and Trixie quickly caught onto what he was doing but was late to stop it. "Did you find 'em yet!?" He shouted, starting her.
"What the hay are you doing!?" Trixie quietly exclaimed.
"I'm-"
"You're gonna attract the walkers, you ffffoal!" Her lips created a hard hiss as she spat out the last word.
"Oh right, sorry."
"Just keep quiet and don't scream!"
A few seconds past, Lee finally stood up and raised the axe before launching it down onto the walker. Trixie watched a moment more and saw Lee jump back in surprise when the walker came to life again. He repeated the same action once again, multiple times until the walker finally died.
"It can't be that hard to... kill walkers... is it?" Trixie asked, bewildered by how many hits the walker received before it died.
"No, all you have to do is destroy the brain and then it dies."
The memory of the walker grabbing a hold of her flashed in her mind, her eyes fell to the ground with a glazed but troubled look on her face.
It wasn't until she heard the sound of rustles, like sand was she brought out of her daze and saw Lee waving the keys above his head.
"Holy crap!" Doug suddenly shouted.
Trixie was about to respond once again until she saw the walkers that were now heading their way. Lee ran back to the pharmacy, the walkers far behind him. Doug slammed the gate shut but a short gap was soon created when they rebounded away from each other. Lee ran inside the store with Doug following after.
Trixie did a double take between the gate and Doug. "Wha-you didn't even close the-urgh!" She ran inside before the walkers gained any more distance.
Doug slammed the doors shut as he leaned up against them and sighed in relief. "Man, that was close."
"But we did it, that's all that matters." Lee replied, his somber tone didn't go unnoticed by Trixie or Doug. They watched as he made his way over to Lilly and began speaking with her.
She took a glance back at Doug who was no longer up against the doors and was looking in Lee's direction, a concerned look on his face. "You know, you didn't close the gate right?" She asked.
"Oh, yeah the lock was busted-"
She scoffed. "Maybe we shouldn't have busted it then?" She shook her head, her eyes guided to the two doors, feeling uneasy as she thought about the walkers outside; expecting for a series of bangs to start any second.
"Uh, hey Trixie."
A sighed broke through her lips and she looked at Doug. "Yes?"
"I... just... well just wanted to say that i-it was nice meeting you."
She raised a brow. "Nice to meet you...?" Feeling awkward, she turned scanned around the room. She noticed pretty quickly the woman, Carley was giving her some sort of a weird stink eye when a loud, ear-piercing, ringing blared out loudly. Partially startled, she quickly looked around, noticing the same expressions everyone else had that she was occupying. Confused, startled and worried.
Applejack and Rainbow exchanged a frown. "The alarm goin' off?"
"I think so." Rainbow paused before she suddenly stood up from her position, eyes wide. "The walkers!"
"W-what's going on!?" Pinkie exclaimed from her spot beside Larry and Fluttershy.
"The damn alarm went off. That sound's gonna draw the walkers right to us!" Kenny replied.
"What are we gonna do then?" Rainbow inquired then a series of various things simultaneously took place. Scratching and muffled banging was coming from all around the store with walkers growling all at once and immediately everyone was up on their feet.
"Ah'm gonna get the truck fired up 'round back!" Kenny shouted as he approached the office door.
"Do it fast! I gotta get my dad outta here!" Lilly commanded as she and Fluttershy assisted her father onto his feet before exiting through the office.
"Ah don't plan on dilly-dallyin'!" Kenny then turned to his wife. "Honey, take Duck into the office and barricade the livin' hell outta the door behind me!" He turned to Twilight who was standing beside Pinkie and Starlight. "You three help her out!"
"Okay!" Pinkie dashed through the door immediately, Twilight glanced at Starlight and Katjaa before following after her.
"Glenn, when you hear me honkin' in the alley, start gettin' people outta 'ere!"
"You got it!"
"Jack, Dash! Ah need both of y'all to stay and guard the windows. If any of them break through, deal with 'em!"
"Got it!" Applejack and Rainbow replied simultaneously before they separated and ran to opposite ends of the room.
"The rest of y'all, make sure our defenses stay up until then!" There was a loud metallic clash right outside the door.
"Guys, the door's not locked anymore!" Doug said, urgently as he edged to the front doors.
"Alright, get on it! Ah'll be back as soon as I can! Lee, Imma need that axe case ah run into any of them on the way!"
"Here!" Lee tossed the axe to which Kenny caught with ease before he ran into the office.
Doug, Carley and Glenn ran up against the door, keeping it shut. Trixie and Rarity exchanged a look at one another before running to the door to help.
"This is why we shouldn't have busted that lock!" Trixie exclaimed as pushed against doors, meeting the resistance the walkers were putting up.
"You what!?" Glenn shouted in disbelief.
"Wha-no, I didn't do anything!" Doug rebutted.
"Why would you do that!?"
"Glenn! We need your help, please hurry!" Katjaa suddenly called out from the other room. Lee ran over, quickly taking Glenn's spot behind the door.
The walker's strength was surprisingly vast for being so utterly rotten. The doors felt like they were going to give way to another budge.
"Hey Trixie," Doug called and she turned to look at him. "If we don't make it through this, you should know... I-I think your really attractive!"
It only seemed like everything stopped for a second before it commenced once again. "Uhh, thanks!?" Trixie shouted.
"Doug, if we don't make it through this, you should know-" Carley didn't get to finish, the walkers had managed to bust open the door, emitting a yelp from Rarity.
The thin wooden board that was nailed up against the window was covering her view of what was going on outside. Applejack could hear the walkers trying to get in, they hadn't broke through the glass yet and it wasn't hard to tell that the thin mat-like board wasn't going to hold them off for very long.
When she heard a loud crash coming from the front doors, she turned to see Lee, Trixie and a couple of others; struggling to get the door closed as the walkers had managed to get them open but not all the way due to Lee holding the doors together.
She was about to go over and help when she heard the sound of glass shattering coming from behind her. She turned, right when a rotten hand manages to break through the thin piece of wood. Soon after the entire board falls from the window entirely, allowing the walker the fall into the store.
She quickly ran over to it, instincts fully taken over, and delivers one powerful stomp to the walker's head. There were plenty of walkers right outside, noticing her and suddenly they found their new meal.
They began climbing through the window but was unfortunately met with a bar stool being shoved against their faces their faces.
After struggling for a bit, Lee and the others managed to close the door shut. "This isn't going well! They're gonna break down the doors!" Trixie exclaimed.
"Just hold on!" Lee replied.
"T-to-hold on to what!? What the hay is Kenny doing!?"
A shelf that was pushed up against the window had entirely collapsed right next to them. "Shit!" Carley swiftly stepped away from the door, pulling out her pistol and fired at a few of the walkers who were a step away from taking a chunk out of Doug.
She ran to the other side of the shelf to help Applejack, getting a better angle and began taking out the walkers.
"Clementine!" Lee called. "Can you look for something to stick in-between the windows!? Something, real strong okay!?"
The child nodded before running off elsewhere.
"Let's hope she's quick about it! This store is getting overrun!" Trixie commented right as the door burst open again. After a moment of struggle, they managed to get it closed again.
"Clementine, hurry up!" Rarity blurted out, her arms were beginning to ache as she continued using all of her strength to keep the door closed; genuinely feeling as if she were the one putting in the most effort.
The sound of glass shattering drew their attention, near the restroom where Rainbow was. The walkers were shoving their arms in, gnawing desperately to get in but the planks that were nailed up against the window were preventing that... for now.
Rainbow quickly scanned around and her eyes immediately landed on the small aisle shelf. She ran behind it and mustered up all the strength she could before pushing it up against the window.
The door busted open yet again, this time, it was a lot harder to get it closed again. Rarity's arms were now trembling, demanding that she'd take a break but she ignored it. After a few more seconds, Lee had slammed the door shut. "Uh-h gents! My arms are getting tired!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Just a littl-"
I found something!" Clementine ran over to them, a long stick in hand. Lee recognized it immediately. He took the cane from her before swiftly shoving it in-between the door handles, keeping it shut and allowing them to a few seconds of relief.
The door to the office kicked open, Kenny came rushing in. "Let's go!"
Everyone ran to the office, Rarity was about to when she heard a scream come from behind her. Turning, feeling her heart plummet into her stomach when she saw Clementine had been caught by a walker. It was holding onto her leg, the little girl desperately trying to break free from it's grasp.
Rarity ran over to the walker, delivering a swift kick to the head but it's grip remained locked. As she went to give another one, the walker had managed to catch her leg, sending her falling to the floor and allowing it to topple onto her.
Her arms were already weak enough and now she had to keep the walker from sinking it's teeth into her in which it was succeeding. The walker was easily overpowering her, until it suddenly became featherweight.
Above her, she saw Lee tossing the walker aside effortlessly making it look like a ragdoll. He turned to her, extended his hand and lifted her onto her feet. "Go!"
She turned and ran to the office. She saw Larry standing by the door but thought nothing of it. Once inside, she ran into the alley and saw the pickup truck and another smaller, less bulky vehicle next to it. The smaller one was already filled with people, barely anymore room for her to fit through.
The back of the pickup truck still had more room, Doug, Carley, Applejack and Rainbow were climbing aboard it. She entered it with Trixie climbing aboard soon after.
Once Kenny got there along with Lee who looked slightly dazed, Kenny fired up the truck and drove out of the alley with Glenn following with him.
They drove out of the town, the alarm from the pharmacy grew distant and more quieter before it went silent and suddenly the car ride was more peaceful.
As they arrived at the motel, the parking lot was filled yet again with walkers, the gunshot from the lady must've brought all of them there.
Kenny and Glenn stopped their vehicles and got out to deal with them. A few others did too, it didn't take long for them to clear them out.
When they were done, Kenny and Glenn moved their vehicles into the lot. Applejack sat by the "Shit Happens" truck and took a moment to herself, she saw Starlight standing by the large caravan vehicle. She was beside Twilight chatting about something.
"Hey, AJ," Rainbow greeted, coming over when she stepped out of the pickup truck.
"Dash," she greeted back with a nod.
The wonderbolt took her place beside her, sitting at the back of the "Shit Happens" truck.
The two didn't speak for a moment, Rainbow noticed Applejack's gaze on Starlight.
"Yes, Dash?" The farmer broke the silence, still keeping her eye on Starlight.
"What?"
"You look like you wanna tell me somethin'."
Rainbow stayed silent for a moment, her gaze going back to Starlight before they returned to Applejack. "I just wanted to say that... I don't blame you... for what you did. In fact, I-"
"Ah dunno what you mean." The farmer feigned ignorance, she knew very well what Dash was referring to. She just wanted some time calm down, to relax for a bit.
"I'm talking about the motel thing... the girl?"
Applejack withdrew a long exhale but didn't say anything.
"Look, I just wanted to say that... I-I agree with what you did."
She frowned before turning at her. "You do?"
"Yeah. From what you said, getting bit is like... pretty much the end."
Applejack averted her gaze back to Starlight. "They don't seem to understand that."
"Yeah but I'm sure they'll come around."
The group began pulling together all the walkers that were killed and stacked them into one big pile in the center of the motel parking lot. Fluttershy and Pinkie stood by silently, they weren't ones for getting their hands dirty. It did feel unfair that mostly everyone else, save for the kids and Katjaa, was doing most of the work while they just stood around awkwardly.
Even Rarity, the most elegant out of all of them was helping out too while occupying a blatant grimace on her features.
"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked.
"I dunno, Shy." Pinkie replied. "I just wanna go home, I-I thought this was gonna be a fun adventure but now... it doesn't feel so fun..." she trailed off.
"Yeah... me too, I was hoping to see some new animals, to see what was different but..." Fluttershy trembled, clutching her shoulders; images of those walkers intruding in her mind.
Lilly tossed the last corpse on top of the big pile of walkers, looking down at her hands in disgust. When there was only a few left, everyone went of to do their own thing. Rarity went off with Rainbow to get a look at some of the rooms of the motel, Applejack went to chat with Kenny and Twilight and Starlight continued their conversation they were having previously.
Trixie was on the other side of the pile, frowning and staring aimlessly at the lifeless, rotten expressions. Lilly looked at her for a few seconds before heading in the other direction.
Trixie took another glance at the walker pile then turned to walk away. Upon turning, she saw Doug by a desk with a box he was rummaging through. Kenny and his family were also doing the same thing and, perhaps because of boredom, Duck went to go talk with Clementine.
There was a voice coming through the radio device from Glenn's car that he was listening to. He was leaning on the car door and the voice on the radio was informing "Atlanta citizens" to stay away from the city as it was dangerous. Carley was next to him with a troubled look on her face.
Loud popping sounds started echoing throughout the area, followed by a series of screams. It startled everyone for a quick second before they went back to doing whatever they were doing.
Trixie was debating on whether or not she should speak to Doug about what he confessed at the drug store. Flattering but it was never going to happen, never, not in a million years; not a chance in Tartarus. Might as well break the ice, Trixie walked over to him. "Doug," she greeted.
He gasped. "Oh... Trixie, uh hi."
She ignored his nervous attitude, that would explain his weird attitude toward meeting him earlier. "So... what you said at the store?"
"Oh that... you remember?" There was half-grimace on his face and his hand flew up up to scratch the back of his head.
"Yeah, I remember. I'm flattered but also... it's never gonna happen."
"Oh." She noticed his demeanor dropping slightly. "W-well... I still think you're attractive." He followed it up with a tight-lipped smile.
Trixie closed her eyes for a quick second before they re-opened again and offered an obvious fake smile. "Thanks." She replied before walking away, leaving a sheepish Doug behind.
Everyone at the motor-inn was getting settled, unpacking all of their supplies, chatting amongst themselves. The former ponies were doing just that, a couple of them were helping unpack; others were chatting.
They were still shaken up over having to escape the pharmacy, up close with a mob of infuriated-gut hungry monsters. The good thing was that no one had gotten hurt, there wasn't really a downside to any of this really.
Except the effect it would have on the girl's mental states. Rainbow, Applejack, Trixie and Rarity were the ones who had to deal with the walkers up close. Rarity had a dangerously close encounter with one of them, a moment later and the walker might have succeeded if not for Lee.
Applejack joined Rainbow and Rarity in deciding what rooms to bunker in, wasn't much of a choice. They were all the same.
"What room you gon' take?" Applejack asked.
"They're all... pretty much the same, darling." Rarity replied, her voice a little too quiet.
"Not really, I'm taking one of those." Rainbow gestured the rooms on the second floor.
"Hmm..."
Rainbow looked at Applejack, frowning. "Hey, you okay?"
The farmer returned her gaze, her expression unreadable. "Oh naw, ah'm fine. It's just where the girl killed herself is all."
It captured Rarity's attention as she was no longer staring at the concrete below her.
"O-oh uhh, sorry bout-"
"Don't fret, it ain't a big deal." The farmer quickly replied, cutting off the wonderbolt.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rarity noticed Lee approaching Twilight. He was the one who saved her, she trembled at the thought of what might have happened to her if he wasn't there. She began walking over to him.
"-'s what Trixie said?" She heard Twilight ask as she approached.
"Y-yeah... is it... true? Are you... girls or whatever you are from another world?" Twilight's eyes fell to the ground, a thoughtful frown taking over her features. "Because it's-just... ever since you girls got here, you've been acting... w-weird, no offense." He quickly added when she didn't respond.
"Oh...?"
"Like, your names for example: Twilight, Starlight... Rainbow Dash? They all sound very..." He looked off to the side for a second before they returned. "Fantasy-like?" He was going to say childish but switched it to fantasy instead out of courtesy.
Twilight paused for a second, Starlight was staring at her expectantly. After a few more moments, she replied. "Yes, we aren't from this world and... it's your choice on whether you believe it or not."
Lee stayed silent, a crease forming on his forehead as if he were processing what he was being told.
"Well, to be fair, you guys have weird names too." Starlight commented.
"We have weird names?" Lee said with disbelief.
"Yeah like, Kenny, Doug, Carley, Lee? What type of name is Lee?"
"A fairly decent name as opposed to Starlight." He paused. "What about the scroll? Seems like it meant a lot to you."
"Well, you're right. It did mean a lot to us. It essentially provided us with a way home, an enchanted scroll." Twilight explained as she pulled out the two pieces of paper and handed it to him. He took it and began reading the page. "But now that it's ripped, the enchantment on the scroll was broken."
"Wait if it was broken then how are you able to get back too... wherever it is that you guys came from?" Lee inquired.
"That's the problem, we can't. That scroll was our only means of getting home, it's why I kept it in the bag." She gestured to her satchel.
"Did... you write this?" He nodded at the scroll.
"No, I didn't. It was scroll made by Starswirl The Bearded."
"The what?" Lee gave her blank stare.
"A very powerful unicorn." Twilight elaborated.
"Uhhh... a unicorn? You girls... are unicorns?" He asked, incredulously.
"Well, not all of us." Starlight began gesturing to herself and her mentor. "Me and her are unicorns but some of the others aren't. Like, Rainbow and Applejack. Rainbow's a pegasus which means-"
"She has wings?" He finished the sentence for her which in return earnt him a tilt of the head from Twilight.
"Yeah, y-you know what a pegasus is?"
"They're supposed to be mythical creatures, unicorns and... pegasus. They're all just myth, like fairy tale stories." Lee then looked at Rarity, expectantly.
"Oh, I'm a unicorn." The fashionista casually replied.
Lee nearly laughed at her statement. "You see when you say it like that, that just makes me think you're just playing some sort of joke on me."
"Well, like I said earlier. It's your choice on whether you believe it or not." Twilight said, feeling taken aback as she snatched the scroll back from him.
"Sorry, I meant no offense." Lee quickly followed up. "It's just hard to believe, I mean you've been around here long enough, surely you can understand why I might react like this."
"Yeah... I suppose." Twilight muttered. "Your world doesn't have any magic in it."
"Regardless of that, Lee I just wanted to thank you." Rarity spoke, feeling indifferent by his disbelief. "I-If it weren't for you, I would've... well, I don't wanna think about what might have happened..."
He seemed to have caught pretty quickly as he smiled and nodded. "Of course, Rarity."
Twilight frowned. "Wait, what happened?" She asked as she glanced between the two.
"I-it's nothing really, Twilight. I just... had a walker who was a tad too close for my liking."
"Are you okay? A-are you hurt?" Twilight approached her friend.
"I am okay, darling." Rarity assured. "Lee saved me if it wasn't for him, I might've-" she abruptly stopped as tears began welling up in her eyes and suddenly she was sobbing.
"O-oh, Rarity, hey." Twilight brought her friend closer to her and felt the suddenly felt arms lock around her back. She felt the her friend shake uncontrollably as she rubbed her back. "Hey, hey, Rarity it's okay. Okay?"
"I-I-I-I alm-o-ost, I-I almost, i-i-it nearly ki-" Rarity struggled to get out between sobs.
"I know, I know. Okay? I know, Rarity but you're okay now." Twilight soothingly consoled her friend.
Lee and Starlight silently stood by, looks of sympathy on their faces. Trixie suddenly came over, a frown on her face. "What's going on here?" she curiously inquired.
"She had a close encounter," Lee simply explained.
Her eyes widened slightly. "She's not bit, is she?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Oh, good good 'cause... that would've been bad." The two stayed like that for a few moments before Rarity finally regained composure and loud cracks, just like the ones before echoed throughout the area. This time it sounded further and there were a lot more, each crack sounded slightly more different than the other one.
"I hope that's the sound of us winnin' this thing!" Kenny said, coming over to Lee and Twilight.
"What do you mean? We're not winning anything." Trixie said.
"Ah meant us as a whole, the entire population, the military."
"Are we just gonna stay here for while then?" Starlight asked.
"Yeah, the motor-inn's pretty damn defendable. Block off the entrance with a few cars, keep someone on watch. Besides, there ain't no other place we could go to."
"I agree with that, I think this is a pretty good setup we got." Lilly said as she walked over.
"We've got beds, water and most importantly, we got light. There are worse places to call home."
"And we need some weapons, we barely have any." Starlight said. "All we have is one big axe and... that's it."
"We also have Carley's weapon." Trixie mentioned.
"Yeah and that's still only two weapons for what? Like ten people?"
"We'll be fine. So far, we're all right." Kenny assured. "In the mornin', we'll go out and scavenge for some."
"Yes, that would be preferable." Starlight agreed.
"All right, it's settled. We'll rest up, first thing in the mornin' we'll go out and find ourselves some weapons." Kenny concluded. The plan was seemed almost perfect, the weapons was the only thing that kept her on edge; suppose everyone else felt the same way but Starlight felt more strongly about it.
Besides that, everything seemed fine. No one had gotten hurt, most of their supplies were intact. They had beds, perfectly clean beds with blankets, most of them would probably fall right to sleep as soon as they start laying on it.
Hope was blooming in everyone's chests...
until the street lights suddenly began turning off, one by one and by the time all of them were out; it was practically pitch black.
"Well, that's just wonderful," Trixie muttered.
"Well, that's just wonderful." Trixie said.
"Wonderful? B-but the lights are out..." Fluttershy muttered.
The magician gave her a blank look. "I was being sarcastic."
"What do we do now?" Twilight said.
"Nothin'. We carry on like we were gonna." Kenny replied.
"But you just said that lights were the most important thing?"
"Well, it don't matter now. All we gotta do is put someone on watch while the rest of us catch some shut-eye. Anyone wanna volunteer?" Kenny asked, looking around.
"Uh... ah'll take it." Everyone turned at Applejack. "Ah'll keep a lookout, y'all just... catch some rest." She said as her eyes hovered over to the woods on the other side of the road.
Twilight frowned. "I'll keep watch as well." Applejack heard her but didn't react. "Just in case, you... get tired."
"Alright, it's best if we all get some sleep 'cause tomorrow we'll start fortifying this place up."
"And start looking for weapons." Starlight added.
"Yeah and that." Kenny glanced between Applejack and Twilight. "If y'all see or hear anythin'-"
"We'll get ya." Applejack finished his sentence for him to and in return, he nodded.
With that, everything began heading to their separate rooms. Some of them decided to share a room. Pinkie and Fluttershy decided to bunk together for the night while Rarity went with Rainbow to the top floor.
Fluttershy was the first into the room and Pinkie second. Pinkie was about to close the door when there was only a gap left and realized it would've been nothing but black had she closed it. She stood there for a second, thinking on it.
"Pinkie?" Fluttershy called as she sit down on her bed furthest away from the door, near the restroom.
"Yes Flutters?"
"C-could you... leave the door open a little bit? I-I don't wanna sleep in the... dark." The shy girl let her head hang, slightly ashamed of the minuscule confession. It felt like such a stupid thing to get scared over, she sleeps in the dark all the time but here... it was different.
It was then Pinkie noticed the curtains covering the room. "Oh wait!" She walked over to them and opened it, letting the full ray of the moon kill the darkness. She closed the door and suddenly Pinkie Pie felt more secure. "Is it okay if I leave it like this?" She asked, approaching her own bed.
Fluttershy nodded with a small smile. "Yes, it is... thanks." She pulled the blankets back, and entered the bed.
"Of course!" Pinkie smiled back before she got into the bed, letting herself sink into the comfort of the mattress. It wasn't like her bed back at home but it was still comfortable enough to sleep in, surprisingly the blankets were a lot more soft than it looked.
"Pinkie?" Fluttershy was laying on her side, blanket drawn up to her shoulders, facing her friend.
"Hmm?"
"Do you think... d-do you think we'll ever get back home?"
Pinkie thought about it for a second, her eyes casted down to the floor for a second before they met Fluttershy's once again. "Yeah, of course! Twilight will bring us home, she always has a plan." She quietly replied in her usual upbeat voice.
"Oh... o-okay..." The girl didn't appear convinced as Pinkie was hoping she would be. "I-I'm a bit tired... I think I'm gonna go to bed..." The timid girl yawned.
"H-heh, yeah same." Pinkie turned over onto her other side, a full view of the motel parking lot. She hoped nobody would be standing there, peering into the window in the dead of night if she so happened to wake up at some point...
"This is great... this is definitely great." Trixie said, laying in her bed and facing the roof of her room.
"What is it now?" Starlight asked, irritated.
"You know, I could be laying in bed right now-"
"You are." Starlight said, her expression portraying her current emotion. She and Trixie decided to take one of the rooms on the second floor.
"No!" Trixie quietly exclaimed. "I'm talking about my bed, my bed in my wagon, in Equestria! Not this filthy run-down room of some motel... in another dimension!"
"Well, what do you want me to do about it!?"
"It'll be fun, you said! Starswirl said it was safe, you said!"
Starlight scoffed before turning away from her, facing the door.
"Oh don't-" Trixie mimicked a scoff. "-at me, it's your fault that we're here to begin with!"
Starlight turned back around to face her... as she sat up in her bed. "Yeah! I know and I apologized for that! What else do you want from me!?"
"Nothing! I'm going to keep blaming you until we're home, safe and sound. If it wasn't for you or Twilight-I-I mean, I tried warning you! I said it was a bad idea but no, forget Trixie. Who cares about smart?"
"Well, I'm sorry! That's all I can say I'm sorry!"
"Yeah, 'sorry' isn't going to cut it." Trixie turned away from her and attempted to get some sleep.
Applejack sat there, listening to the crickets chirping at night. The only natural thing she had seen, well technically heard, since arriving here. She caught Twilight stealing glances at her every now and then before didn't do anything about it.
A few hours have past since everyone had gone to bed and within that time Applejack and Twilight hadn't said a word to each other... yet.
She sat there in the extendable picnic chair, fighting to keep her eyes open. She was hunched over, her hands planted on her cheeks and her elbows were propped up on her thighs. She wondered if she could close her eyes just for a quick second maybe just have them closed and if she heard anything, she would wake up instantly.
Rather than dreading on it further, she closed her eyes. If any more time had passed she'd have fallen asleep but thanks to Twilight she didn't. "Applejack?"
She jumped up instantly, her eyes flying erratically for a quick second. "Yeah? Oh Twilight? D-do-do you need something?" The farmer rubbed at her eyes.
"I... just wanted to say I-I'm sorry..."
AJ stopped, giving one more rub of her eye before looking at Twilight. "Ah'm sorry?"
"When the girl... offed herself?"
"Oh... that..."
"Y-yeah, I just wanted to apologize, I-I shouldn't have berated you about it. You tried to explain yourself but I-"
Applejack shook her head. "Twilight, it's nothin' to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about? Applejack, I treated you terribly."
"It wasn't that bad, just a bit... overreactive, no big deal." Applejack wasn't facing her, her gaze was stuck on the other side of the road.
Twilight frowned for a second then sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter. I still apologize for how I acted."
"Ah... thanks anyway then." She left it with that. Applejack hoped it would cut off the conversation, Twilight wanted to talk more but it wasn't hard to tell that her friend wanted the opposite.
Three Months Later...
Fluttershy quickly snuck around the few walkers and continued down the alternate path. She sighed in relief, the leaves crunching underneath her dirty worn out brown boots, scavenging the woods for food.
She was wearing a grey coat that occupied a hoodie with a pair of seaweed green cargo pants. It got colder as the months went by, resulting in the group obtaining more winter-suitable attire.
Forcing herself to go out here willingly was traumatizingly difficult as taking care of animals was second nature to her. It was the whole reason why she got her cutie mark.
Having to... kill one in order to keep herself and the group sustained was one of the things she would be forced to grow accustomed to.
They've been here for months, Twilight was still trying to figure out a solution but the girls knew it was all futile.
She held the butcher knife close to her, both hands wrapped around it.
"You sure you don't wanna go back, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked, matching her speed. She was carrying a hunting rifle that was missing a scope. "This is a... v-very serious thing. I-I mean you've been taking care of animals your whole life, are you sure you don't wanna go back?" The wonderbolt still had her leather jacket although it was very dirty, covered in all sorts of muck. Blood, dirt and a lot of other stuff too. She wore a sweater underneath, and a pair of scruffy jeans she wore with a pair of sneakers.
"N-no." Fluttershy answered, unsure of it. "I-I have to learn, I can't just keep depending on you or the group to take care of me all the time."
"I mean... you could. We always take care of each other anyways."
"Yes but sooner or later, there'll be a time when I have no other choice but to defend myself but until then, I-I have to... prepare."
Rainbow quirked her eyebrow. "Okay... if that's what you want to do..."
The two walked in silence through the woods. Over the past few months, morality throughout the group had been declining quite quickly. The food supply got hit the worst, not being able to clear out the pharmacy in time due to being raided by the horde of walkers.
Pretty much every store in Macon had been looted, shelves empty, office, staff areas were cleared out even some of the furniture had been looted. The group was forced to turn to hunting as a result to which Fluttershy had been horrified by initially.
"Are you sure you can handle it?"
"Yes, I can!" Fluttershy snapped.
"Okay, okay, just making sure."
Fluttershy relented. "I-I'm sorry, I'm just... very hungry."
"It's cool, Flutters maybe Mark and Lee already found-" Rainbow paused mid-sentence before quickly continuing. "-something to eat."
"Do you ever wonder if anyone knows we're gone?"
"I... well, I'm sure someone knows we're gone. I-I mean, it's been months, someone must've noticed we were missing by now."
Fluttershy, almost immediately replied; a bitter undertone to her voice. "Well if they haven't, they should. We saved Equestria a thousand times, the least they could do is, you know, be aware of the fact that we're gone."
Rainbow was slightly taken aback by that statement, mainly by the fact that it came from Fluttershy but didn't push on the subject.
The two continued in silence, Rainbow keeping an eye out for any source of food while Fluttershy mentally prepared herself for what she was going to have to do. After a few moments of silence, they both noticed something in the distance. Movement between the bushes, rustling the leaves.
Rainbow tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder, grabbing her attention before gesturing her to take cover behind a couple of trees. They quickly but quietly moved behind them, Rainbow got a clear view whereas Fluttershy hid behind the tree furthest away.
The two waited silently until a small deer emerged from the large brush of leaves. Fluttershy had to hold back a gasp as her eyes laid upon the fragile fawn. She watched it for a moment, the animal curiously looking around it's surroundings. Her heart fluttered at the sight until a metal rod raised out of the corner of her eye. "Rainbow no!" She exclaimed when a loud crack, followed by a flash of fire came from the end of the barrel.
Swiftly, Fluttershy turned back to the fawn only to see it running off in the distance. The relief she felt was short-lived as Rainbow came over to her with a angry look on her face. "Fluttershy, seriously!?"
"I-I-I'm sorry-"
"We could've eaten that! What the hay were you thinking!?"
"It was still a baby!"
"So!?"
"SO!?" Fluttershy repeated, shocked.
"Yeah, so!? We're hungry too! I thought you said you can handle this?"
Fluttershy huffed. "I said nothing about hunting baby animals."
"Who cares if they're still just a baby? We -" Rainbow gestured back and forth. "-need to eat. The group needs to eat."
"So that fawn doesn't matter? We just go on while the fawn dies unfairly?"
"Yes!" Fluttershy merely stared at Rainbow, a disapproving look on her face. The wonderbolt shook her head before walking past her, stopping a few feet away from her. "Nothing about this is fair, Flutters but we need to eat." She turned back to face her. "If we don't, we'll starve. We're already starving as it is."
A guttural scream rang out, startling both of the girls and everything that had transpired had been forgotten.
"What was that!?" Fluttershy asked, quickly scanning around.
"I dunno." Rainbow had the rifle lowered but her finger was on the trigger.
After a few moments had passed, Fluttershy spoke up again. "We should go check it out."
Rainbow scanned around once more. "Alright, come on. Let's go."
They took off in hurry. Rainbow took the lead while Fluttershy followed close behind, the wonderbolt quickly found herself lost in the woods as the scream was not continuous. They stopped for a moment before yet another scream rang out, giving her good indication of where it came from before running off again.
As the two ran through the woods, it quickly felt as if they were getting nowhere before they suddenly arrived upon a graphic scene.
There was a man who had blonde hair and a beard with him were two younger men. One had blonde shaggy hair while the other had wild black hair and they were all dressed, wearing a blue jacket with some letter stitched onto the chest a bit further to the side.
The older man was on the ground, clutching to his leg with a pain-ridden expression. The girls frowned, wondering what was going on before their eyes landed on the metal clamps that were lodged into the man's ankle. The one with black hair was trying to get the bear trap to open but instantly stopped when the older man yelped.
The girls heard rapid crunching from behind and Rainbow turned to see Lee and Mark arriving at the scene. "Jesus." Mark muttered.
"Oh no! Please don't kill us! We just wanna help our teacher, we'll leave I swear!" The one with black hair pleaded.
"Teacher?" Fluttershy repeated.
"We're not gonna kill anyone! What happened!?" Rainbow asked before Kenny rushed onto the scene.
"Hey! Y'all alright!?"
"Travis! Maybe they can help!" The one with shaggy hair suggested.
"These could be the same guys that raided our camp and we barely got away from that!"
"It's okay! W-we're here to help!" Fluttershy said as she stepped toward them only for the one, known as Travis, to take a step back.
"Oh thank you!" Their teacher exclaimed in delight.
"What are your names?"
"H-his name's David, I'm Ben and that's Travis." The one known as Ben explained.
Fluttershy nodded before kneeling down to David's level. "We're gonna do everything we can to help you, okay?"
"Oh thank you, thank you..."
She tinkered around with the bear trap for a moment, frowning as she was lost on what to do. She's never seen anything like this before, not even in Equestria. She wasn't even certain what this contraption was used for but seeing the jaws and the the teacher's leg stuck between them, she got a pretty good idea for what it was for and she was disgusted by it.
Her first thought was to try and pry the jaws open with her hands but after witnessing Travis's attempt to do so upon arriving, decided against it.
After watching Fluttershy struggle for a moment, Mark came over and knelt down beside her. "There should be a release latch." He said before frowning in confusion.
Fluttershy noticed his expression. "W-what? What's wrong?"
"The... the trap's been altered, there's no release latch."
"O-okay, so what do we do now?"
Mark kept his frown on the bear trap before turning toward David's leg. The bear trap had a chain attached to it and it was wrapped around over by a nearby tree that was large in bulk.
"Guys, walkers!" Rainbow shouted, raising her rifle.
"Shit! Alright, y'all better figure somethin' out 'ere!" Kenny exclaimed.
"Mark, get the boys back!" Lee said as he walked over. Mark did as he was asked and ushered the teenagers away from their teacher; giving Lee and Fluttershy more space. "Kenny, Rainbow, keep those walkers off of us!"
"S-should we-should we just open the... t-the clamps? L-like, break them open?" Fluttershy suggested, jumping at the sudden series of gunshots.
"I don't know, we'll try."
Fluttershy nodded before grabbing one side of the trap and Lee slid the fire axe in between the jaws of it. "Okay, on three." He said. "One, two, three."
They attempted to pull the jaws apart but Fluttershy stopped trying as soon as David started screaming. "O-oh sorry!" She said, quickly laying a hand on his shoulder.
Lee walked over to the chain and started throwing down the axe on it, attempting to break it. He grunted when the chain remained perfectly unharmed.
Fluttershy was panicking now, hands were shaking, eyes darting around, desperate to find a way to break the trap open. "O-oh d-dear, think of something... think... think..." The gunshots and the growing numbers of walkers weren't helping. Making a quick second decision, she ran over to the tree and started hacking away at the wood.
In normal circumstances, she would know that wouldn't have any success but this wasn't a "normal circumstance". The tree was beyond bulk, the type of tree you would need a chainsaw to cut through. Fluttershy, in a hopeless fit of panic, let out a panicked cry. "Why won't anything work!?"
She then saw Lee standing over David, axe in both hands and she paled as she heard the next few words. "I'm gonna have to cut you out."
"What!?" Fluttershy and David simultaneously exclaimed before they began throwing fruitless suggestions at him. "M-maybe we can try-try opening the trap again?"
"It's not gonna open, we've tried that," Lee said with a daunting expression.
"Guys, come on! There's more coming!" Rainbow Dash interrupted while firing the rifle.
Lee shook his head and sighed. "We don't have a choice."
Fluttershy shook her head before turning toward the walkers then at Kenny and Rainbow.
Lee couldn't wait any further, he raised the axe up above his head and Fluttershy flinched away as he threw the axe onto David's leg despite his pleas not to.
Fluttershy yelped as David let out a shriek of agony, tears welled up in her eyes as she began regretting every decision she's made that led her up to this point. She never should of volunteered to come out here, what the hay was she thinking!?
She covered her ears and closed her eyes in an attempt to block out everything that was happening around her.
Ben and Travis were in the same boat as her, albeit not as intense. Ben noticed her cowering away from the group, he began contemplating whether or not he should go over to her and try comforting her but he decided against it.
As Lee hacked at David's leg, the guns were still firing. The axe just wouldn't cut through, Lee felt nothing but sympathy for the teacher but he had no choice, it was the only way to save him.
Fluttershy's attempts at trying to block everything out were all in vain as she still heard the loud, fear-inducing cracks from the guns, the spine-chilling shrieks coming from David. The walkers who's numbers never declined, this was too much... she couldn't take this.
She never should've came out here in the first place, this was her karma for hunting helpless animals. Tears were now falling like a landslide and her whole body was trembling like it was her last day on Equestria and suddenly...
...she was done. She tilted and began kicking up the leaves, running off in the other direction away from that nightmare. She needed to get the hell out of there.
Nobody noticed...
She ran, shoving the large brushes out of her way, not caring about the few twigs that smacked her across the face. Once she came out the brush, she was finally able to see where she was going. This part of the woods was more clearer than the one she'd just left.
She didn't know how long she ran for, she just ran. Her stamina wouldn't let up as she her adrenaline was more in control of her body than her brain was. After a few more moments, she finally stopped, gasping for breath but failing gain any.
The timid girl clutched to her chest with her free hand while holding the butcher knife in the other. She was panting and crying all at the same time, she failed to hear the rustling coming from behind her.
Lee gave one last swing to David's leg before it was finally freed from the iron jaws. Shortly after, the teacher passed out, a large pool of crimson quickly soaked the dead leaves.
Travis came over but immediately regretted it as he threw the contents of his stomach.
"Shit... is he...?" Mark said, as he hurried over.
"No, he passed out." Lee explained as he looked at the bloody end of the axe in disgust.
Rainbow fired one last shot before looking over to them. "Alright, can we go-" she stopped, frowned as she began frantically looking around the area for a certain someone. Her eyes widened, feeling her heart lurch from her chest as an unsettling realization fell upon her. "Lee! Where is Fluttershy!?"
Lee frowned at her before swiftly turning around to point her out but stopped when he didn't see her. "I-I... she was jus-she was just right behind me!"
"Are you kidding me!? You are not-no way! You are not serious...!? "
"We'll worry about her later! We need-"
"Worry about her later!? She's going to get hurt out here!" Rainbow roared at Mark.
"We need to get this guy to safety first!" Mark shouted back.
"We ain't got time for this shit! Grab him and let's go!" Kenny interrupted.
"Argh! You guys do whatever you want! I'm gonna go look for Fluttershy!" Rainbow said as Mark picked up David and threw him over his shoulder.
"You sure?" Lee asked.
"Yes, I'm positive!"
Lee sighed. "Alright, we'll meet you-"
"Travis!" Ben suddenly shouted.
Rainbow quickly turned and saw Travis crawling away from a few walkers that were coming up fast on him. She raised her rifle and pulled the trigger but nothing happened except for the click that signaled that the gun was empty. "What!?" She looked at her gun in distraught, cocking it.
She heard Travis's screams and looked up to see him being devoured by the walkers, they were like ants when they caught their prey. Completely covered in them...
"NO!" Ben yelled.
"Come on! We gotta move!" Lee ushered Ben into action, the teen catching up to Mark and Kenny. Lee turned back to Rainbow. "We'll meet you back at the motor-inn."
"Yeah! Just tell Twilight that me and Fluttershy are still out here!"
Lee frowned but didn't go against her. "Alright, good luck!"
"Yeah, you too!" Rainbow heard the retreating footsteps as she watched the walkers emerge from the large brushes and she began backing up. "Oh great." She muttered, before taking off; mentally belittling herself for not reserving her ammo.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow yelled, hunching over and swiftly turning around when she heard movement coming from behind her. A pack of walkers, two of them being significantly more faster than the rest and they appeared to be less rotten then the others.
She swung the rifle as if it were a baseball bat, hitting one of them; an explosion of red emitting from it's skull and the walker dropped to the ground. She did the same thing to the other walker then carried onto the others and made quick work of them.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow yelled once again, no answer. She was alone, she dealt with the walkers and it was suddenly quiet. Trees surrounded her, every turn, every direction looked the same. She panted, her free hand going to her head as she tried to figure out which direction she should go in.
She could go forward but Fluttershy may have gone the other way. She could go left but Fluttershy may have took a right. Too many possibilities, too many outcomes, she was taking too long with this. Fluttershy could be in trouble and she was standing here wasting time.
Rainbow should've stopped her, she never should've come with her in the first place. Her free hand smacked her forehead and she let out a short cry of anger and regret before taking off. She didn't know which direction she was taking, whether it was going toward Fluttershy or away from her... she might as well pick one and hope for the best.
Fluttershy was on the ground, desperately gasping for air as the arm around her neck grew tighter and tighter. The assailant kept it's grip locked on tight as she struggled to break free, her legs flailing about.
A crackling noise came from her throat, attempting to breathe. She tried to pry away the assailant's arm but it was no use, she was trapped. There was no way to break free, try as she might but she wasn't getting out of this.
Pressure began building around her head, her eyelids slowly becoming hammers, struggling to keep them open. She felt her strength rapidly slipping away, her grip on the assailant's arm faltered and the woods disappeared into blackness.
After a few seconds, the arm around her neck loosened slightly. When the assailant felt the smooth movements of the girl's respiration process, the assailant pulled the arm away completely.
Panting, he shoved the girl off of him before getting back on to his feet. He looked down at her, a strange heat sensation pooling in his abdomen at the sight of the sleeping girl. The butcher knife laid a few feet away from them which he noticed earlier.
He walked over to it and picked it up, a putrid grin stretching across his face, there was a sweat patch in his mask, underneath the tip of his nose. "Mine now..." he muttered before turning back to the girl.
She was lying on her side, her face planted on the leaves beneath her. He walked over to her, looted her pockets before grabbing both of her legs and locked them under his arms and dragged her away; a dozen of thoughts passed through his mind...
"Do you think maybe it was a bad idea to let Fluttershy out there?" Starlight asked, sitting atop of the R.V beside Lilly.
"Fluttershy?"
"You know? The quiet one?"
"Oh, her..." Over the past three months, Lilly and Starlight had grown quite close to one another. Always having the same stance when it came to decision making, stubborn in their choices. This would inevitably lead them getting into shouting matches with other members of the group such as, Rarity and Applejack; the duo they would often face off against.
The two would have disagreements with Lilly and were always on the side of Kenny, most of the time. They would always get tossed into an argument when it came to Lilly and Starlight, whereas the others such as; Twilight, Trixie, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie were sidelined half the time.
"Yeah, I mean, Fluttershy and hunting? They're like... polar opposites. I don't understand why she would go out there in the first place."
"She's gotta learn at some point, can't just keep relying on everyone else to take care of her."
"Yeah, I get that, I just think that she should've started with something... less intense." Starlight noticed Twilight giving her a frown, her mentor was sitting in a group in the middle of the motel, near the R.V. Starlight couldn't help but roll her eyes before removing her gaze.
The motor-inn was... quiet. There were a few people making conversation, mainly being Twilight's group - Doug, Carley, Rarity and Trixie - .
Larry and Applejack were working on the fence. The farmer had to bite her tongue a few times to keep herself from going off on the elderly man. Didn't want to give him another heart attack.
Clementine was playing with Pinkie Pie, tossing a soccer ball back and forth with one another. Something they did on daily basis.
Trixie was with Twilight and Rarity. She noticed Carley and Doug had gotten close over the past few weeks... some would say they were sleeping together but Trixie didn't know nor did she want to know. That didn't interest her anyway.
"Hopefully, they'll find something." Lilly said after a few moments of silence. "Otherwise the group is just gonna complain again."
Starlight scoffed. "I know. Honestly, they don't even have a right to complain. It's not your fault that we're running out of food."
The brunette shook her head. "And they act as if I'm the bad guy."
"You want me to do the rations today?"
Lilly shook her head again. "No, I'll take care of it."
Starlight frowned. "You know, you don't always have to do it. I can do the rations."
"Then everyone would hate you too."
Starlight shrugged. "Well, hey if it takes the heat off of you then I'm game. Besides, what can they do? I can handle a few glares."
Lilly stared at her for a few seconds. "You sure you wanna do it?"
"Positive!"
The rustling of leaves caught Starlight's attention and her gaze flew to the woods. She glanced back at Lilly and who looked just as concerned as her.
Starlight pulled out her pistol and Lilly held up her rifle, directing them over to the other side of the road. The two were silent, there was still rustling coming from the woods and yet, nothing was coming out. The sound of a ball being caught and chatter was getting to Lilly.
She blew a loud whistle and everything went quiet. Everyone suddenly got the memo as they were now staring at the woods in anticipation.
Nothing was coming out but they stayed silent as they waited for something that may have just been an animal running around. Footsteps was the first thing they heard before someone emerged from the large brush.
"Get the gates open! We've got wounded!" Lee shouted, Mark and Kenny emerging shortly after.
Starlight frowned, exchanging a look with Lilly before climbing down the R.V.
Applejack ran over to move the large dumpster out of the way, letting Lee and the others in. Everyone started talking over one another, Mark dropped off David onto the back of a pickup truck.
"Lee, what the hell!? You can't just be bringing new people here, what are you thinking!?" Lilly exclaimed.
"Why is that every time we go out, there's always that one person that has to play hero?" Starlight added.
"Hey, do y'all wanna calm down for fuckin' moment!?" Kenny exclaimed.
Starlight huffed. "We wouldn't have to 'calm down' if it weren't for you making stupid decisions all the time!"
"If you know so much fuckin' better, why don't you start makin' runs out there!?"
"Because you'll just screw everything up here too!"
"Alright, can we just calm down for a moment? The last thing we need is another argument!" Twilight exclaimed. "There's someone there that needs medical assistance!"
"Don't bother, Twi. Starlight's just gonna end up kissing Lilly's flank as usual." Applejack said, a glare being directed at the girl in question.
The frown from Twilight went unnoticed by the farmer.
"I thought we could save his life!" Lee explained. "I'm the one who took his leg! That makes me responsible!"
"But why would you do that in the first place!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Caught in a bear trap." Kenny quickly elaborated.
"You couldn't op-"
"Then you should've just leave him there then."
Twilight stopped as she heard Starlight's cruel statement and was about to go off on her when Rarity beat her to it. "Really Starlight?"
"What?" The girl in question raised a brow at her.
"You know 'what'! What compelled you to say something so absurd!?"
"'Cause it's what they should've done." Starlight answered so matter-of-factly.
"We are not responsible for every struggling survivor we come across!" Lilly shouted next. "We have to focus on our group, right here! Right now!"
"As it should be but unfortunately people have other ideas." Starlight glared at Lee and Kenny.
"Huh, I seem to recall you trying to stop a poor girl from taking her life." Rarity said, having Starlight's glare redirected to her. "Or have you forgotten that?"
"You know, y'all can act like you're the rulers of this group but we can make our own goddamn decisions!" Kenny rounded on Lilly and Starlight, backing up Rarity. "Just because y'all bark orders, don't mean we gotta carry 'em out!"
"Well, somepony's gotta get the job done!" Starlight rebutted.
"If you don't like how they do it, then you do them then!" Rarity angrily interjected.
"As she said earlier: you'll just screw everything up here too." Lilly rebutted.
Pinkie sighed, feeling her mood drop. The arguments was almost a daily occurrence at this point. First time when they started to rise, she would be worried through them now, although she still felt worried but she would also feel exhausted as well.
She shook her head and walked away from the group to join Clementine who was sitting next to the stranger, drawing something. "Hi!"
"Huh!? O-oh, hi," Ben greeted back.
Pinkie took a seat on one of the extendable chairs. "What's your name?"
"Ben. Ben Paul a-and that's my teacher over there. Mr Parker." He gestured at the pickup truck.
Pinkie noticed the teacher's leg was missing upon arrival, she didn't like how she was so accustomed to seeing messed up things now. She's seen so many walkers that looked much worse than that. Sometimes she saw people who were on the verge of death but yet still, somehow alive after being mutilated in such a way.
She was practically desensitized to these walkers now but she has yet to put one down.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Pinkie Pie." Feigning her excitement. Scratch that, she was excited but just not as much as she usually would be. "Hey, what does that stand for?" She pointed to the S.M. logo on his letterman jacket.
Ben quickly glanced down at his jacket. "Oh, um, Stone Mountain. I-It's my school jacket."
"Stone Moun-" she gasped. "-oh! You still go to school?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Huh?" Pinkie quickly took a look around. "But you're the only one..." she trailed off. The daunting realization finally setting in.
"Yeah..." Ben said, his head hanging low.
"You think this is easy for me? Everyone's starting to hate me because I'm the one who rations the food!" Lilly walked over to the R.V., a small purple backpack sat up against one of the tires. "You know what? You can do it. Here's today's food rations, there's not enough for everyone. Good luck." Lilly handed the couple pieces of scrap food to Lee to which he reluctantly took. She went back on watch with Starlight.
Lee took a moment, looking down at the food he was given. One piece of jerky, two packets of cheese and crackers and half an apple. Even though it didn't look appetizing in the slightest, he had to swallow down the urge to stop himself from eating all of it. His stomach grumbled at the sight of it.
He sighed before noticing all the looks he was receiving from people, they were all hungry too.
"Lee?"
He turned around to see Twilight with a frown on her face. "Yeah?"
"Where is Rainbow and Fluttershy?"
Lee turned around to look at her, a solemn look on his face. He completely forgot about that, thanks to the welcoming party. Rainbow had asked him to lie for her, possibly to keep Twilight from getting stressed. "Oh, they're still out there." He saw the girl's expression shift to worry and he quickly elaborated. "But don't worry. Rainbow... R-Rainbow didn't feel right about going back without any food so..."
"So, she decided to stay out there a little longer?"
He nodded. It didn't feel right lying to her about what really happened but then again, She might have gone out there herself if he didn't.
Twilight shook her head. "Stupid..." she looked back at Lee. "Well, thanks Lee."
"Don't mention it." He said, staring at her a moment longer as she walked away, feeling uneasy.
Rainbow panted, slowing to halt, sweat trailing down her forehead and hunching over. She fell onto her backside before she began aimlessly staring at the leaves beneath her.
Her heart felt like it was going to explode, the dry-stuffy sensation in her chest and throat as she tried to catch her breath. She was clueless on what to do. She'd been trekking through the woods for hours or at least, that's what it felt like. The only thing she came across was walkers and a few wild animals that she couldn't hunt because of the lack of ammo.
Fluttershy was missing. She was lost somewhere in these woods. A wave of fear washed over her as she thought about what would happen if she didn't manage find her until sundown. Fluttershy would be forced to stay out here, in the dark. Forced to fend for herself which Rainbow highly doubted that she would be able to do.
She was a complete idiot for letting her come out here, she knew how dangerous it was but Rainbow let her come anyway. Even Twilight had voiced her opinion on it prior to it, saying that it wasn't a good idea but Fluttershy had insisted.
"Y'all take a look at what I found!" A voice in the distant caught her attention immediately, her head darted in it's direction.
She could hear faint voices, responding to it. She got up from her position, grabbed her rifle and began edging toward them. As the voices grew louder, she could make out what appears to be a campsite up ahead. A series of tents and a poorly-constructed wooden shack.
"Where'd ya find her?" She heard, the voice belonged to a man.
"I don't know, somewhere out there. The bitch looked scared shitless."
Rainbow listened in, creeping closer to the camp. She made sure to stay hidden behind the trees. She got a good view of the campsite. There were around six or seven people she saw, they all appeared to be men and most of them were wearing masks. Some were bandannas, some were ski masks.
The camp was dirty, bits of scrap laying around, the wooden shack looked like it was going to fall apart any moment.
She couldn't see the girl the two men were referring to. She quickly moved to another tree. As she was about to go behind one, her eyes caught sight of the girl and suddenly her breath hitched.
It was Fluttershy. She was lying face first on the ground. Rainbow's first instinct was to charge in and ram every one of these freaks but she couldn't. Without a weapon, it would've been suicide.
She forced herself to stay put behind the tree, her face beginning to heat up with murder as watched the two men speak to one another.
"She with a group?"
"Don't think so, she was on her own when I found her."
The other man nodded in response before he turned Fluttershy over with his leg. Rainbow felt her hands squeeze tightly around her rifle and she suddenly found herself breathing heavily again.
Some of the masked freaks were holding guns, the odds were highly and unfortunately stacked against her. If she were to abandon all rationale and just charge in, she would end up getting shot or worse, being taken hostage like Fluttershy.
Suddenly, Fluttershy groaned awake and slowly propped herself up. She appeared to have fully recognized where she was as Rainbow watched her frantically crawl away before the man stopped her; Throwing a kick to her face.
Rainbow jumped forward, ready to bash the masked freak over the head with the rifle but abruptly stopped. She couldn't move, she tried to but she couldn't. She couldn't force herself to continue, she was only going to get herself killed. She seethed, If grip was any stronger, it would've broke off the barrel of the gun. The man approached a crying Fluttershy. I'm gonna kill them... I'm gonna kill them...
Are we infected too or...?
Lee handed the last half of the apple to Clementine, a smile on the kid's face as she took it. "Thanks! I love apples. Are there more?" She inquired.
"No, that was the last one."
"Oh, umm..." she trailed off, unsure if whether or not she should be the one to eat the last apple... slice.
"Enjoy it, you deserve it." Her guardian reassured with a smile of his own.
"So, how long have we been here exactly?" Lee looked over at Trixie, sitting in a huddled group of picnic chairs.
"I think around... maybe a couple months? Three, perhaps?" Twilight thoughtfully answered, "Why?"
"Oh, just wondering..." The magician trailed off. Twilight knew how Trixie felt about her, in terms of being stuck here.
She was the only one who tried warning them about this little... expedition. She knew it was dangerous coming here, suppose Twilight did too but they had a way to get back.
It wasn't like they were going to get stuck there forever... until they were. Honestly, if they had never fought over staying and choosing to leave; they wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place.
Twilight couldn't even remember why they didn't just leave with the humans while they still had the enchanted scroll. That was the worst part about this, The fact that they could've left with the humans when the scroll was still unharmed; not ripped into two.
"So, It's official? We're stuck here?" Trixie gave a blank look at Twilight.
She was in the middle of inhaling, about to carry out the sigh but backed out the last minute. "It's not 'official'. I'm still working on a way to get us outta here."
The magician couldn't help but chuckle. "Really? Okay, what progress have you made so far? Any ideas? Surely after three months you must've come up with some sort of plan?"
"Yeah, I have. We've been gone for a few months, correct? Well, somepony must've noticed."
Trixie caught on pretty quickly. "Wait, are you saying we should wait for somepony back home to rescue us?" She gestured to the group.
"That's one of the solutions."
"The only solution, you mean?"
Carley was listening into the conversation and couldn't help but butt in. "You guys seriously take this roleplaying thing to a whole new level." She commented, sitting next to Doug on one of the picnic chairs.
Rarity had to suppress a sigh but couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes. Most of the humans in the group already knew about their "world". They didn't believe it, obviously. The only ones who were somewhat open minded was Lee, Doug and Lilly.
Lilly mainly because of her friendship with Starlight. She obviously didn't believe that her friend was from another world and that she was a "powerful unicorn". She didn't even found out through her, she heard the gossip around the motor-inn and thought to bring it up with Starlight.
She thought it was absurd but never openly voiced her opinion.
"Yeah, we're totally roleplaying." Trixie humorlessly replied before shaking her head.
Lee was on the fence about this topic.
They've been with the group for three months now, they were pretty much apart of the group but yet, they still stuck to the same story. "Scroll was enchanted and they were not from this world" and all that other jazz.
Nothing about it was amusing, there wasn't a punchline. Initially, it was but three months had passed and they were still saying the same thing; Lee thought best to just leave it alone. It wasn't affecting the group afterall so it wasn't a big deal to him.
Doug? Well... he believed it. Why? Just because. That was his reason whenever he was asked, the group didn't know if he was trying to delude himself into thinking so or if he actually believed the story; either way, he was probably the most accepting out of the whole group.
Lee began hearing a growing argument, Larry and Applejack's voices. He turned at them, over at the fence. Applejack facing the older man fully with her fists balled. He began walking over to them to see what the fuss was about.
"Well, why don't you hold the board and I'll hammer in the nails!?" Applejack exclaimed.
"Yeah and then you drop the hammer on my head? No thanks!" Larry rebutted.
"What's going on?" Lee asked, frowning.
"Why do you care!?" Larry snapped, not surprising; of course.
"Ah'm tryin' to keep the board." Applejack tapped on the wooden board in question, there was one nail hammered in on one side which left it hanging. "Still but ah can't and he keeps goin' off on me!"
"Well, if you actually kept the board steady, I wouldn't have to yell at you. Now, would I!?"
If she had an actual meal to keep her energized, it wouldn't be much hassle. This would be equivalent to stepping on ants... it ain't hard but its been a while since she last had a full-fledged meal.
Applejack shook her head, rolling her eyes and managing to hold back a groan. "Was there somethin' you want?" Her inquiry came out harsher than intended.
"I heard you guys arguing. Wanted to see what was going on. Since you're struggling maybe you oughta eat something."
She began shaking her head furiously. "Oh nah, a-ah'm, ah'm okay. Someone else can have mah share."
"Hey, if she don't wanna eat then give me the food!" Larry interjected.
He and Applejack played a crucial role in the construction of the fence. They were always the ones who worked on it, a daily basis.
"Just give it to the kids. Ah don't need it." That wasn't entirely true. Deep down, she wanted to eat, needed to eat. She was dead hungry. Like before, it's been too long since she last had a meal.
"No, they got their share. This is the last of the rations." He dug through his pockets.
"Have you had any?"
"I'm fine."
"Just hand over the damn food, already!" Larry exclaimed.
"You don't even know if he's givin' you the food so quit hollerin'!"
That seemed to have shut him up, he made a low growl but otherwise, he kept quiet.
"Here, AJ." Lee held out a piece of jerky. "You need it more than I do."
The sight of the stripped, dried up piece of meat caused her to silently gag. Funny, she should be used to this by now. This was nowhere near as bad as the other atrocities she had seen. Rotten organs and whatnot.
Within the few months of being here, she has had the unfortunate inevitability of consuming meat. A rabbit and one deer, an adult female and adult male; Lee was the one who caught them.
Fluttershy, as you can imagine, wasn't too pleased. She had locked herself in one of the motel rooms for practically the whole day.
Everyone of her friends were reasonably disgusted with the idea of eating it but it was the only thing they had to eat at the time and they were fairly hungry.
What was possibly the most strangest part of it all, probably the most strangest thing she had witnessed in the apocalypse was Rarity's reaction.
When she heard that the only thing to eat was an animal; she was aghast by it, they expected that but when the fashionista finally began consuming the meat, her face changed to an expression of joy.
She seemed to actually enjoy the rabbit they cooked. Applejack expected, with no doubt, for her to vomit immediately.
As for Applejack though, she had a difficult time finishing her meal; she and all her other friends. Fluttershy never had any that night.
The farmer looked at the piece of jerky then at Lee. "You sure you don't want it?"
"Positive. Besides, you're building the fence are you not? You'll need to keep your strength up."
Applejack reluctantly accepted it. "Urgh... alright..." she muttered.
"Hey! I'm the one doin' all the damn work!"
"And she needs the energy. I thought you said she couldn't even hold the board still." Lee asked, not bothering to hide his smug smile.
"She-ugh, we would be able to get this fence done a lot sooner if you would just shuddup and leave me the hell alone!" The older man turned back toward the fence.
Applejack rolled her eyes, she would usually do that around the old bag. "Ah... appreciate it, thanks." She offered him a smile. Beggars can't be choosers, she might as well get whatever she can get.
"Of course."
"Hey-uh, by the way, you mind if ah borrow the axe? We got boards that are too long that need choppin'."
"Yeah, hand it over." Larry abuptly said as he turned back around.
Lee glanced between the two of them before giving the axe to Larry. "Here, try to keep the noise down-"
"Yeah, yeah, we're not stupid!"
Lee suppressed a sigh before walking away; letting them continue on the fence.
Rainbow aimlessly wandered through the woods, attempting to find her way back to the motor-inn.
She didn't want to leave her best friend behind, back at that rusty camp in the hands of those... savages.
It was either she charged in and most likely end up dead or worse, get herself captured like Fluttershy and no help was coming or she could leave and come back with the rest of her group and more firepower.
It was probably twenty minutes since she left. Who knew what they were doing to her, Rainbow tried to stop herself from laying out the possibilities; the guilt would eat her alive if she focused on them.
When Rainbow had first noticed Fluttershy had took off, she ran after her then got herself lost in the woods in the process. No ammo for her rifle or food. Not only did she leave Fluttershy behind, not that she even had a choice to begin with but she was also blind in the woods; no clue where to go, no clue where the motel was.
And to top it all off, she told Lee to let Twilight know that they were okay which was a total lie... . Once she finally gets back to the damn motel, she was going to have to face the music.
She didn't give too much thought on where to go, she picked a direction and took off. Whether it was the right one or not, it wasn't going to matter anyway. The only thing that was on her mind was saving her best friend. Tartarus be damned if she had kill a person to do so.
They deserved it anyway. She's killed walkers and animals before but never a person. They were humans, she wasn't but that didn't matter. Rainbow never gave it any thought, she never pictured herself ever doing that.
It didn't matter if they weren't her species, she still never imagined herself taking somebody else's life but when she saw Fluttershy being surrounded by those... fiends; all that was on her mind was that she wanted them dead.
She needed to get back to motor-inn as soon as possible, her fueled anger wasn't giving out anytime soon and Fluttershy was depending on her.
A surge of anger suddenly shot through her, regret and sorrow. She swung her rifle against a nearby tree; bits of bark flying everywhere and leaving a very noticeable gap in it.
"Rainbow and Fluttershy are still out there?" Applejack asked, standing near the huddled group.
"Yeah, Lee said Rainbow wanted to stay out there a little longer till they found something," Twilight explained, a little worried herself.
"Not to be insensitive but it shouldn't really take that long to find something." Rarity gestured to the trees on the other side of the road. "They're in the woods after all."
"Well maybe it's because Fluttershy is causing problems?" Trixie said, already knowing the answer herself. There was a slight pause in the air, everyone silently agreeing with what the magician had said.
"Hopefully, they'll get back soon. Don't have a good feeling about this." Twilight concluded.
"Oh, it's nothing to get worried over I'm sure, dear." Rarity assured. "They have each other."
Applejack sighed. "Well, uh, ah think Imma get some shuteye. Feelin' a bit tired." She said, rubbing her one of her eyes and walking away from the group.
"You're always tired," Trixie commented.
"It's 'cuz ah'm always workin' on the fence... and dealin' with Larry." With that, the farmer opened the door to her room and closed it behind her.
Twilight looked over at Starlight who was still sitting next Lilly atop of the R.V.. She didn't like their dynamic. Not one bit. Ever since Starlight had begun sticking around Lilly, her outlook and basic decency slowly began changing over the past few months. She became more... uncaring, bossy and standoffish.
It was starting to worry her quite a bit and for a good reason too; she could say that confidently, given her past. There were a few instances where Twilight had thought that Starlight might turn back to her old ways but she would quickly distinguished the possibility; not wanting to think about it.
She didn't understand why though. She's brought it up with her before and the only answer she received was "the group comes first before anyone else-" before she abruptly ended the conversation.
It was like she completely disregarded everything she taught her about friendship. To be caring and decent not this, survival of the fittest type goon. If there was one thing she learnt in her three months of being in this world; it was that you need to be strong. To handle walkers and hunt for food.
Being ruthless and uncaring with everyone you see had absolutely nothing to do with it. Clearly, the new people weren't a threat. One nervous high school attendee and his recently crippled teacher; Lilly was ready to throw them out, let them fend for themselves; most likely still is and Starlight isn't too far behind.
The newcomers weren't a threat and besides that, they could be valuable assets. More the merrier.
Twilight glanced at the high-schooler, Ben who was furthest away from the circle. He was reluctantly communicating back and forth with Clementine, looking at her drawings. "Hey, excuse me? Ben, was it?" She inquired, already presuming as such.
"U-uh yeah?"
"I'm... Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." She felt somewhat self-conscious about her name, seeing as how different everyone else's were; that and how the group members had reacted to it.
"O-oh, uh, I'm Ben. Ben Paul. T-the one on the truck is my teacher, Mr. Parker." The high-schooler nervously introduced. The teen made no indication toward her name; his nervously-awkward expression never wavered.
"Well, nice to meet you." Twilight offered a smile of reassurance, letting him know everything was going to be okay.
"Y-yeah, uh, nice to meet you too." Ben offered a brief smile back but it seemed rather forced.
"So, it's just you and your teacher then?" Rarity asked, a slight sadness to her tone as she could guess what happened to his classmates.
"Y-yeah, it's just... me and him." The teen ended with a sigh, his head slightly hanging.
Rarity nodded. "My apologies..."
He didn't say anything back instead kept his dull gaze on Clementine's drawing.
"Ken, Lee! Come here, please!" Katjaa suddenly shouted, drawing the huddled group's attention. From Twilight's angle, she could still see the teacher on the back of the pickup truck. By the way, Katjaa's arms were folded and the grim expression on her face; it didn't seem like there was good news.
Twilight looked at the teen, his gaze still on Clementine's drawing. She had a pretty good hunch about what the fate of his teacher was and silently sighed; her hand rubbing at her mouth.
She heard Kenny say something before he began walking away and tossing some metal object which bounced off the ground and hit the R.V..
"More food for us." Disapproving glares, save for Ben and the kids, were directed at Trixie.
"If you couldn't be any more insensitive..." Rarity commented.
"Sorry..." Trixie relented.
Twilight shook her head. She glanced back at Lee and Katjaa only to gasp in shock when she saw the teacher reanimate and grab Katjaa. Katjaa let out a scream, Lee immediately began attempting to pry the walker off of her.
Twilight shot up from her seat and ran over. Lee managed to tear the walker off of her. "The axe hurry!" He shouted before being grabbed by the walker himself.
Twilight made it over to him and attempted to pry the walker off him just as he did; holding it by one of it's shoulders and pulling it away. They were both in the pickup truck, her grip was slippery and the fabric of the reanimated teacher's jacket slipped from her fingers.
"I got him!" Doug exclaimed, hitting the walker in the head with the metal object that Kenny threw earlier.
"He won't let go!" Pinkie tried yanking the walker away from Lee but had no success, it's grip was locked on him.
"Lee, get the hell outta the way!" Larry shouted. Building up the force in his arms, Lee shoved the walker away. He managed to do so but Larry had missed the hit, the axe embedding itself at the back of the window and shattering it. "Goddammit!"
Lee kicked away the walker before falling out of the pickup truck, onto the concrete below him. With barely any time to get up, the walker fell on top of him; baring it's weight down heavily, trying to sink it's teeth into him.
Applejack rushed over, offering a swift but yet powerful kick to the walker; knocking it right off of him. Strangely, it appeared to have stunned him, staggering and slowly trying to get back up.
Not giving it a chance to do so, Applejack gave it another kick, her sharp boot connecting to it's forehead. The head collided heavily with the ground, a loud crack and a noticeable vibration was felt beneath her feet.
She noticed immediately the deep shaded red dent in the cranium, it wasn't moving no longer.
Lee panted, looking over at Applejack. "Thanks..."
"Course, Lee." She nodded.
"Why'd you bring 'em here in the first place, asshole!?" Larry exclaimed.
"Dad, calm down." Lilly said.
"You're gonna get us all killed!" He begrudgingly gave the axe back to him.
"Why didn't you tell us he was bitten!?" Starlight suddenly shouted, marching over to the teen.
"What!?" Ben confused.
"He was bitten, dumbshit! Why didn't you fuckin' tell us!?" Kenny angrily added, once done comforting his wife.
"People turn once they get bitten, you need to... destroy the brain to stop it." Twilight frowned at him. "Why didn't you tell us? Someone almost got hurt."
"He... h-he wasn't bitten!"
"Well, your not bitten friend here came back to life and tried to kill my wife!"
"What!? Wait, y'all don't know?"
"Know what?" Twilight asked, now curious.
The group now wnet silent and waited for him to elaborate on his odd inquiry. "It's not the bite that does it..." everybody exchanged a quizzical look at one another. "...you come back no matter how you die. L-like you said-" he gestured at Twilight. "-if you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to all of us."
Twilight sent a concerned look at her friends, the former ponies. No matter how you die, you come back as one of them? It doesn't have to be with a bite?
"We're all infected? Everyone..." Lee said, breathlessly.
"I-I... I guess so. I've seen people turn who I know, for a fact, were never bitten."
"Wait, so does that mean we're infected too?" Pinkie's hand went to her chin, slightly trembling, unsure of how to feel about this horrifying revelation. Whatever virus this was... did they now carry it? Or was it just the rest of the group? The humans?
"No shit!" Kenny snapped, causing her to jump slightly. "That's exactly what he just said."
"Hey, maybe lay off a bit, huh?" Applejack glared.
"Oh, ah'm so deeply sorry about hurtin' your friend's feelings. May ah remind you that my wife was nearly killed!"
"She's fine. We took care of the walker. You should-"
"Back off!" A loud an abrupt cry came from Carley. Her gun was drawn at the fence.
On the other side of the wall was two strangers. Both men and appeared middle-aged. One of them was carrying a large gasoline tank.
"Woah, lady, relax! Uh... me and mah brother, w-we... we were just wonderin' if y'all could help us out." One of the men said. This one was wearing a black sweater, carrying a gasoline can and the other one was wearing a blue polo shirt; a hunting rifle strapped around his torso.
"I said back off!" Carley shouted immediately afterwards. The one wearing the polo shirt had his hands up, showing they meant no harm.
"I think you two better turn back the way you came! There's nothing here for you!" Starlight interjected.
"Starlight..." Twilight warned.
"What? We don't know these people."
"Yeah but they said they needed help."
"So? Did you not see what just happened a few moments ago?" Starlight folded her arms, a frown on her face.
"That's got nothing to do with this, we don't even know what they need and you already shoving them off." Twilight rebutted. This was getting ridiculous, these two strangers haven't done anything and already we were treating them with hostility. They may be part of a larger community, one that had food for all they knew.
"Look, we don't want any trouble." Lee said.
"Yeah, w-we don't either. M-mah brother and ah were just hopin' for some gas." The man replied, leaving the group with an open ended question.
"What do you need the gas for?" Twilight curiously inquired, not seeing a vehicle in sight.
The man's brother spoke this time. "This place we stay at? It's a dairy, protected by a fence that runs on electricity! The generators need gas for it to work!"
"So, as you can see, we need gas!" His brother added. "Look, ah think we might've gotten off on the wrong foot here. Ah'm Andy. Andy St. John and this is mah brother Dan. Are you fellas willin' to do a trade?"
"How're y'all doin' on food? W-we got plenty at the Dairy." Dan added, the one wearing the polo shirt.
A slight sense of relief passed through Twilight when she heard that they had food. Luckily, they didn't scare these people off when they first saw them. So distrustful against strangers that they don't even realize they could be great assets.
The mention of food spiked everyone's attention even the ones who had their rations. Most of the group didn't know whether or not to trust them but if they actually had food, they needed it. Twilight, in fact, didn't trust them but it wasn't to the point of blatantly ignoring them; like Lilly and Starlight.
"Enough for all of us?" Applejack inquired.
"A-ah... ah think so. Like, mah brother said, we got plenty. You give us gas and we'll give you some food. That sound fair?" Andy answered.
Twilight and Lee exchanged a knowing look to one another. "What do you think?" He asked, folding his arms.
"I think we should go, see what they got." Starlight interjected and continued when she saw Lilly's gaze. "A few of us, I mean." She elaborated. "If they have food, we'll take some back with us and we need the food."
"Yeah, plus if they're telling the truth and everything works out, this will end up being extremely beneficial for us in the long term." Twilight added. "We may be able to establish some sort of ongoing offer."
"Don't get your hopes up, we don't even know if they really do have food." Lilly said.
"That's why I said a few of us should go. Not the whole group." Starlight reminded.
"Seems like a good plan to me," Lee said.
After a few moments of thinking it over, Lilly sighed through her nose. "Alright, why don't you take Mark and Applejack and check this place out?" She suggested.
"I'll go as well." Carley volunteered.
"So, uh, what're y'all thinkin'?" Andy inquired, awaiting their response.
"We agree." Twilight answered. "A few of our members will bring some gas to your dairy but we're expecting food in return."
"That's fair, coupl'a gallons should power one of our generators for a while."
"Just give us a second and we'll be on our way out."
"I'm all set, ready when you guys are." Carley said, only needing her pistol.
Everyone went back to tend to their own thing while Lee, Mark, Applejack and Carley were preparing to leave. Mark left to fill one of the gas cans up. Carley was saying her 'goodbyes' to Doug.
Applejack found herself staring at the recently deceased Mr. Parker. She's noticed, compared to all the members in the group; her strikes, kicks, whenever she threw a punch was practically ten times more powerful than everyone else's. Pinkie's too. Although, it was a rare occasion.
There had been a time where Pinkie Pie had to defend herself against a walker. It would surprisingly easy for her, kicking to the ground and squashing the skull to mush.
"Applejack?" Twilight called, shaking her out of her thoughts.
"Hm? Yeah?"
"Just... be careful, alright?"
She nodded. "Ah'll be fine, Twi. There's four of us and only two of them."
"That's not what I meant, they seem friendly enough. All they need is gas."
"Yes, they seem friendly and I admire your compassion but how do we know it's not just a ploy?" Rarity came over, her arms folded.
"What could they could want? We don't even have food. I don't think they're gonna do anything."
"Yeah! They could be our new friends too." Pinkie suddenly interjected, startling them.
"Still... we don't know if they're telling the truth."
"It's crazy about what Ben told us, huh?" Pinkie inquired, looking around at the reactions of her friends.
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, ah mean when Lee said that we were 'all infected' did he mean we were too?"
Twilight sighed. "I don't know but let's just make sure none of us are gonna find out."
"I don't plan to," Rarity replied, grimly.
They all nodded in agreement.
Ben walked over to Lee who was still standing by the fence, waiting for everyone to be done. "H-hey, uh, I-I was wondering if I could come along too."
Lee raised a brow. "You wanna go?"
"Y-yeah, I mean if you let me of course. Y-you guys did save me and I want to help."
Lee wasn't sure if he should bring the kid along. He seemed too nervous and didn't know much about him and who knew how it would go if they ended up getting into a fight. "A-are you sure you want to come along?"
"Y-yeah positive!" Ben said with a small smile.
Lee was going to sigh but held it in. "Alright, if that's what you want."
Everyone who was leaving came over, Mark carrying the gasoline can. "Are we ready?" Carley asked.
"Yeah, let's do it."
As they were moving the dumpster out of the way, Mark noticed Ben trailing close behind. "You coming too, kid?"
"Y-yeah, I wanna help out since you guys helped me."
"You sure?" Applejack asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." Ben said, becoming a tad bit irritated.
"So, this dairy... you guys really have food?" Mark asked the St. John brothers as they were trailed through the woods.
"Oh Celestia..." Applejack muttered to herself, she, Carley and Lee were a bit further behind. "Ah hope they actually have food for us, really gotta eat."
"Didn't you already have your rations?" Carley asked.
"A piece 'a jerky ain't a meal."
"I hope they have food too." Lee replied, walking in sync with her and Carley.
"You think we might bump in Rainbow and Fluttershy out 'ere?" She inquired, looking at the nearby trees surrounding them.
Lee's brow furrowed and suddenly he wasn't just hungry but also worried about the two. Not to mention, he lied about Rainbow wanting to hunt for more food. "Maybe. They've been gone quite a while. They could on they're on their way back." He said, hoping that it was actually true.
"Yeah, hopefully..." Applejack trailed off.
"It's nice to get away from that motel for a while. With Lilly and Starlight always screaming at Kenny. It's just really irritating to listen to and you don't make it any easier, either." Carley said, throwing a knowing look at Applejack.
"Me? How?"
"You and Rarity always get into a debate with those two. Personally, I'd prefer it if you were to take charge for a while." She turned to look at Lee. "You and Twilight."
"Ah agree with that. Both of y'all would make great leaders. If not you then Twilight definitely would." Applejack said with a confident smile. Twilight always did have a good strategic plan for whenever she went out on supply runs.
"I... suppose... She does have the best ideas when it comes to planning and getting everything organized but me? Eh, not everyone thinks I'm trustworthy." Lee replied.
"Because of your past?"
Applejack frowned, now curious. "Did somethin' happened?"
"I'd rather talk about it, at least not now. No offense."
She nodded. "Naw, ah get it. It's personal."
"Thanks."
"Hey, Applejack, what did you do before all this?" Carley asked, a few moments later.
"Worked on a farm."
Carley nodded. "Figured, you seem like the type. How's Larry working out?"
Applejack sighed. "Tirin', just wish ah had more time to sleep." She said, rubbing her eyes.
"I mean, thank god Lee showed up when he did. Right, Lee?" Mark inquired, speaking slightly louder and looking back at him.
"Yeah, why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself, Lee?" Andy asked, he and brother slowing down to talk with him.
"Where you from?" Danny asked.
"I grew up in Macon." Lee casually answered.
"Right 'ere in the heart 'a Georgia. That's what ah like to hear!" Andy said, enthusiastically. "Y'all seem pretty settled in at the motor-inn, uh... who's runnin' things over there?"
"Uh, it's a bit of a democracy. We all look out for one another."
"You know, what you said about Twilight bein' the leader back at the motor-inn? Ah agree with ya. She's gotten us out of a jam more than once." Applejack said.
"I know, I mean, it's not really much of a discussion. I don't understand why she doesn't just take charge, I'd prefer her over Lilly or Kenny, any day and I'm sure it's not just me." Carley replied.
"Well, one thing's for sure, the group would be in good hands if she were in charge."
"I don't doubt it."
After a few moments, Lee was further now; speaking with the St. John brothers. "What do you think about them?" Applejack asked in a hushed voice, making sure they weren't going to hear her.
"I dunno, they seem like good people."
"Yeah, seem like it is one thing... but are they really?"
Carley looked at her. "Don't trust them?"
"Haven't known 'em long enough."
Suddenly, they heard rustling coming from their left; a distance away. At first, the group didn't think much of it, continuing on down the trail like nothing happened. That was until they grew louder which forced the group to stop.
A few moments passed, panting was heard right as a girl dashed out of the brushes; tripping over. Applejack quickly recognized her and ran over to help her up.
"Dash! You okay!?" She exclaimed as Carley brought out her pistol and the others followed suit; bringing out their own weapons.
Lee's brow furrowed and his concerned turned greater as he quickly caught on to the fact that Fluttershy wasn't going to come out of the brushes of leaves either.
"Dash, where's Fluttershy?" Applejack asked, in a stern but worried tone.
Rainbow Dash didn't say anything for a few seconds, her panting getting in the way and fists clenching.
"Fluttershy? Y'all have strange names, that's for sure." Andy commented to which everyone ignored.
"Dash?" Applejack said, more stern this time.
After a few moments of Rainbow catching her breath, she finally answered; a dark look strewn across her face. "She..." she sighed, slowly shaking her head. "S-sh... urgh! She ran off!" Rainbow nearly shouted.
Applejack paused for a moment. "What...? What do ya mean she 'ran off'?"
"I mean exactly that! She ran off! Are you deaf!?" Rainbow snapped.
Applejack took a step back, her friend's furious but shameful gaze directed at her. She glanced at the others behind her, all looking just as concerned as she was.
"...But I... I-I did see her though..." Rainbow admitted.
"And you didn't think to go after her!?"
"Y-you see, that's the thing. I-I couldn't, wanna know why? Because, she was captured by bandits!"
"Bandits?"
Andy and Danny shared a look with each other but kept silent.
"Yeah! Bandits!" Rainbow walked over to the rest of the group. "Wearing masks, had guns, tents! A camp! I couldn't go after her!" She shook her rifle at them. "No ammo either."
"Was she still alive?" Lee asked, now alarmed about bandits being in the area.
"Yeah... she was..." Rainbow shamefully answered, her head slightly hanging and not wanting to think about the possibilities of what may be happening to her.
"Alright, do you remember where?"
"Woah, wait, hold on now. Have y'all thought this through?" Andy suddenly interjected to which Rainbow spontaneously responded.
"Yeah! I have thought this through! Who the hay are you anyway!?" Her eyes darting between the brothers.
"They're the St. Johns. We... just met but they say they have a dairy farm full of food." Lee explained.
"We were just on our way there now," Danny said.
"Oh, well great but I'm not focused on that, I'm focused on trying to get my friend back!"
"And we're more than willin' to help you out but seriously... think about this for a second." Andy said, trying to convince the hothead. "You said they had guns, right? Well, not all of us do and we're carryin' gas. Listen, you help us get the gas back to the dairy and we'll hand over any firepower we got. We'll go out and search for your friend? That sound fair?"
"You have the guns?" Applejack asked, more than ready to storm through the woods for these 'bandits'.
"More than enough for all of us, that's for sure," Danny answered, leaving Andy to nod.
"'Cuz right now, we are not prepared for a firefight," Andy reasoned.
Rainbow had already wasted enough time blindly flying through these woods, trying to get back to the motor-inn; the amount of detours she was taking was just wasting time! She grunted. "Alright fine! whatever! We get to this farm, get our guns then go out and find Fluttershy, yeah!?"
The rest of the group agreed while Ben was more reluctant. Rainbow can recall seeing a handful of those bandits back at that camp, perhaps around seven; most of them armed. At least, she was finally back with the group; now the next step was to take the fight to them. Something that Rainbow was more than willing to do.
The group finally found the farm, Rainbow could've guessed it was it when she first saw it; her impatience being slightly uplifted. Under better circumstances, it would've been a welcoming sight but unfortunately, Fluttershy was still being held against her will by bandits.
"Here we are! St John's family dairy." Andy announced as they walked up the trail leading to the farmhouse.
The farm resembled somewhat of a heavenly garden with how everything else in the world looked like. The sky actually looked great with the farm. Grass was neatly trimmed and no ransacked establishments nearby.
Stacks of hay, here and there. The fence that surrounded the farm was made out of basic wood, an electrical wire wrapped around it. There was a corn field to their left and a shed to their right.
"There's the fence that ah was talkin' about." Andy gestured to the fence. The others glanced at it for a moment before continuing along the trail.
"The fence keeps them out?" Mark asked.
"You betcha, they fry like bugs in a zapper. We're pushin' four-thousand volts through that thing with generators and amps!"
"I'll just assume that's a lot," Carley said.
It would've been great, a painful nostalgia, seeing this place for the first time. Applejack found her mind going back to her farm. The orchard. She hoped she would find the time to admire this place, take a seat under one of the trees; somewhere secluded and just relax.
They came across a gate, a steel sage sign with the name "St. John" engraved on it. Danny pushed it open.
"Okay, we're here now. Can we get our guns and start moving?" Rainbow said.
"Yeah, in a minute-"
"No, not a minute. We're wasting time here, we should be out there looking for my friend." She said, hastily cutting off Andy.
"She's right," Lee agreed. "Look, I mean no disrespect but our friend is out there and who knows how much time she has left."
Rainbow offered a brief smile at the man. "Exactly!"
Andy sighed, nodding. "Alright... Danny, could-"
"Ah thought ah so y'all with company comin' down the drive!" A lady with auburn colored hair who looked to be in her mid fifties came over to them.
Rainbow lowly grunted, her impatience and irritability coming back almost instantly. She didn't want to meet all these new people, she couldn't give a damn about meeting these people; she just wanted her friend back. Applejack must've heard as she laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, uh guys, this here's our mama." Andy introduced.
"I'm Brenda St. John and welcome to the St. John Dairy!" She said, an enthusiastic smile on her face.
"Cool! Now, can we start packing!?" Rainbow exclaimed, the expression's on the St. Johns, well more so the brothers, changing slightly.
"Come on Dash, just relax a bit, alright?" Mark interjected, a frown on his face
"Uh, this is relaxed! This is as relaxed as I can be, you know, considering that my friend has been taken by bandits!" The gall on this guy... . Rainbow shook her head, scoffing at the four-eyed dweeb.
"Oh, bandits!? Oh mah, ah'm so sorry 'bout that sweetheart." Brenda said. "Is your friend okay?"
Rainbow fixed her with an are-you-serious look before giving a very simple answer. "No."
"Well, sweetheart if there's anythin' we could do to help-"
The fired up hothead perked up immediately, stepping forward. "Weapons! Do you guys have weapons? Guns?" The rest of the group, save for Lee and Applejack... and maybe Ben, wasn't too pleased with how Rainbow was acting. They understood that her friend was in danger but there were other ways to go about helping her.
The St. Johns were offering food, a resource they needed badly and Rainbow was making things worse for them.
"Oh, uh... Danny can show you where they're at but surely you're not goin' out there on your own, are you?" Brenda asked, concerned marked across her face. The St. John brothers shared a frown with one another but otherwise kept quiet.
"Probab-"
"No, she ain't. Ah'm goin' with her." Applejack said, cutting her off.
"I am too." Lee said, shortly after. He looked back at the others in the group. "You guys going to be alright on your own?"
Mark nodded. "Yeah, we're good."
"They'll be safe here, don'chu worry." Brenda said with a warming smile before looking back at her son. "Danny, could you show miss... uh, what was your name again?" She asked, looking back at Rainbow Dash.
"Dash," she quickly replied.
"Right, could you show miss Dash where the weapons are at?"
Danny nodded. "Come on, y'all." He waved them over, walking toward the farmhouse.
Rainbow eagerly followed with Applejack and Lee tailing behind.
They walked over to the farmhouse sat on top of the hill. They went inside and were greeted by two rooms. The right lead into a dining room and the left lead into a bathroom. There was a set of stairs in front of them leading to the second floor and a hallway just past it.
As they moved through the house, Applejack felt a sense of nostalgia, being surrounded in a familiar setting. She sighed dejectedly.
They went into the hallway which lead into a room that resembled something of a lounge. An old square box television sat up by the window, a two-seater couch accompanied by a bunch of wardrobes on the left side of the room; a backdoor to the house over near the right corner.
Danny opened one of the wardrobes, presenting the trio behind him to a decent arsenal of weapons. There were two rifles, two scopes and three handguns; one of them a revolver and other two colt 1911; although, one of them looked rusty. "Take your pick." He said before taking one of the rifles and attaching one of the scopes to it.
The three of them exchanged a look before helping themselves. Lee was the first to take one of the weapons. He took the rifle as well as Danny did and grabbed one of the scopes.
"I'm keeping this." Rainbow said, tapping the empty rifle she had.
Danny nodded. "Fair enough." He opened one of the drawers in the wardrobe; presenting a few boxes of ammo. "Andy likes keepin' it organized, in case of emergencies."
Rainbow ushered him out of the way before helping herself to one of the boxes and began loading her rifle.
Applejack took the revolver, gazing down at the dangerous piece of metal. The weapon wasn't making her nervous because she's handled them in the past when hunting for animals. It was the fact that they were going into a fight and it's safe to say, people were going to die.
Killing animals was one thing. That was hard enough the first time around but killing a human? She never actually thought she would be here, in this world, long enough to commit such an atrocity. They weren't ponies but that didn't matter, they were practically the same anyway except one was more prone to violence.
Applejack understood full well that Fluttershy was being held by bandits and that she would do what she can to get her back but that didn't mean all her doubts of killing a human would dissipate.
She glanced to her right, watching Rainbow load up her rifle, seemingly unbothered by the whole thing. She might have just been dead keen about getting Fluttershy back.
That was the problem Applejack had... killing. She wanted to get Fluttershy back too and she was going to kill in order to get her back; which is something she had never done before.
Rainbow may be completely unbothered by the fact that they would need to kill in order to get her back. Applejack, however, wasn't.
She let out a trembly exhale before digging her hand into the drawer and began loading her revolver. She just needed to remember, they started it. They took Fluttershy...
The group wandered through the woods, Rainbow and Danny in front while Lee and Applejack guarded the back.
"You sure, you don't know where their camp is?" Danny asked.
"I was running through the woods. Everything looks the same out here, how am I supposed to know?" Rainbow replied, annoyed.
"A little bit of insight would be nice." He muttered.
They headed down the path they took with the motor-inn, to where Rainbow had caught up with them. They continued on from there. Unfortunately, her memory was too vague to remember what directions Rainbow had took off in. The army of trees didn't help either.
"You okay?" Lee asked, noticing Applejack's reserved posture.
She sighed. "Just a lil nervous is all."
"You'll be fine."
"Yeah, ah will be. Need to anyhow." There was constant thumping in her chest, the expectation of coming across the bandit camp growing by the second.
"Just remember, we're here too."
She nodded understandably. "Yeah, ah know. It's... ah ain't never killed a person before."
Lee's eyes fell to the ground for a second, a troubled look on his face before they returned back to the farmer. "I-I never killed anyone either. Walkers is one thing but people...?"
"Ah know what you mean... honestly? Even though they're bad people and they took... my friend... it still don't feel right..."
"It's not like they're leaving us much choice."
"Y'think we might be able to talk it out with 'em?"
As Lee was about to respond, Rainbow Dash stopped and interrupted him. "Talk it out? Why would you wanna talk it out?" She said, approaching her.
Applejack frowned. "Because ah ain't quite comfortable with killin' people?"
"We kill animals all the time, what's the difference!?"
The farmer fixed her with an incredulous expression. "What do ya mean 'what's the difference'!? There's a huge difference!"
"No, there isn't." Rainbow threw the barrel of her rifle into the dirt beneath her and began leaning on the butt of the gun.
"We kill animals for survival. Because we're hungry."
"Yeah, exactly! We kill for survival! The bandits have taken Fluttershy! All the more reason for us to kill them!"
"Do you even hear shit that you're spewin' right now!?" Applejack snapped.
Rainbow raised a brow before removing the mouth of the gun from the dirt. "Applejack, we need to kill them! They are way too dangerous to be left alive! What if this happens to someone else, I-I-I mean who's to say that it already hasn't. It's the whole reason why we brought the guns to begin with!"
"No, the whole reason why we brought 'em is to protect ourselves."
"Yeah, 'protect'. Protect us by killing the bandits!"
Applejack scoffed. "Honestly, ah don't see the reason why you're so dead set on wantin' to kill anyway. Why can't we just talk it out instead of wastin' our resources and ammo!?"
"This is a waste of time!" Danny interjected. When Rainbow's head snapped toward him, he quickly elaborated. "We ain't gon' find your friend if we're standin' here hollerin' at each other! How about we just keep movin' yeah?"
"He's right, we'll deal with this we find the camp but for now, we'll just keep looking? We can't be arguin' like this if we're in a fight." Lee added, glancing back and forth between Applejack and Rainbow.
A few moments passed, Rainbow threw a glare at her friend which was returned. "I'm not wasting my time making 'small talk' with bandits, Applejack. When we find them, we kill them, end of story." She walked off before Applejack got a chance to respond.
Applejack stared at her for a moment longer; keeping her glare on her. Danny quietly groaned, shaking his head before following her down the trail. Lee looked at her worryingly before she finally continued down the trail.
Lee agreed with Applejack on not wanting to kill anyone despite him already committing the act once but if it came down to it, he would. He also hoped that this wasn't going to be an issue when they finally find the camp, those two can't be yelling at each other while they're getting shot at.
They took cover behind a few trees, the large brushes successfully masking them. "I'm pretty sure this is it!" Rainbow whispered, looking in at the camp with eagerness. She wasn't as fidgety or impatient as before.
The camp they arrived upon appeared to be very similar to what Dash saw last time. The rusty wooden shack was what caught her attention, when they moved closer; they saw tents set up in a circular formation, confirming that it was the camp site she last saw.
"Is this all of them?" Lee said, aiming his rifle and scoping out the area.
The problem that was made very quickly to Rainbow Dash was the fact that most of the camp was almost deserted. Only two of the men she saw last time were there, sitting over by the fire; cooking something and seemed to be chatting with each other.
She shook her head as she glanced around the camp. "No, there was supposed to be more. Like ten or eleven, I think?"
"Where do you think they're at?" Danny asked, his rifle was locked on one of the men.
"Maybe we could get some information. Let's get closer, we'll listen to what they're saying." Lee suggested.
"Good idea," Rainbow replied.
They edged closer to the camp albeit at a turtle's pace; it was stress inducing to do so. Besides Rainbow and Danny, Lee and Applejack were being extra quiet; not wanting to alert the bandits. Soon enough they were able to get a good angle and they began listening in.
"-of what you're talkin' about."
"How do you not understand!? Ah literally spelt it out to you, moron!"
"Whatever, I don't care anymore. Anyway, how long before this thing finishes?" The man reached over to touch the animal they were cooking only to end up with his hand getting slapped.
"Don't fuckin' touch it! Ah found it!" The one with a white jacket and beanie said; a light skinned man with a brown beard.
"So, you ain't gon' share?"
"...Nah, maybe, I dunno."
The one with a purple jacket and sunglasses; also a light skinned man, tossed his hands up in confusion. "It's either a yes or no question, can I have some?"
"Alright, then... no, you ain't havin' none!"
"Selfish."
"Moron."
The one with the shades folded his arms. There was a pause between them, the bandit with the beard picked up a stick and began prodding at the animal; fire popping as he did it.
"You know that girl Steve found?"
"...What about her?" The one with the beard raised a brow, his voice sounding slightly low and discouraged.
Rainbow felt a spike in her heart rate at the mention of Fluttershy and began listening attentively; unknowingly, her grip tightened around her rifle.
"She's... s-she's not gonna be around much longer, is she?"
"I dunno..."
"Yeah well, I'm glad they took her into the woods."
"Mhm."
"I mean, it was like that girl from last time."
"I don't care and I ain't talkin' about this. Just shuddup, leave me the hell out of it." The bearded bandit seemed as if he'd rather be doing something else.
Rainbow suddenly felt a fired urge and she aimed her gun. It was trained on the bandit with shades and she began striding into the camp. Once she shoved aside the brushes, she pulled the trigger; letting out a loud crunch. The bearded bandit turned instantly but the stock of a rifle was slammed against his face; falling onto his back, clutching to his face as he began kicking up the leaves furiously.
Applejack watched in a state of paralysis as her friend carried out this monstrous act. Lee and Danny went passed her into the camp.
Rainbow heard a gurgling noise coming from her right. She turned to find the bandit that she shot earlier was still alive but motionless, a leaking hole with maroon pouring out of the side of his neck.
Finally gathering the courage to snap out of her shock, Applejack walked out of the woods and joined the rest of her squad. Upon entering, she stared at the bandit groveling on the ground, his fruitless attempts for any ounce of air he could breathe.
She found herself pitying the man and walked closer toward him. The shades he was wearing was gone, off to the side on the ground where it fell off. She glanced toward the bearded bandit who was still rolling in pain before returning her gaze back to the purple jacket bandit.
Rainbow noticed Applejack gazing down at the dying bandit. She walked over to her, the farmer didn't acknowledge her presence. "Want me to finish it?"
Applejack turned to Rainbow, an loathsome look in her eyes. "Step away. Now."
She kept her eyes locked onto her 'friend' before she shook her head and returned to the bearded bandit. Once she had stepped away, Applejack looked down at her revolver before reluctantly raising it on the dying bandit and squeezed the trigger.
Lee guarded the bearded bandit. He was slowly regaining his composure, his nose crooked and leaking with blood. Rainbow pushed past Lee, tossing the rifle before grabbing the man by his collar. "Where is she?" Came her simple question, one that left room for no negotiation.
The bandit didn't say anything at first, his face stuck with a confused expression. "W-who're you-"
"The girl that you brought! The one that Steve brought! Where is she!? Where did you take her!?" Rainbow snapped.
He held up his hands for a second before he began pointing to his left, another trail accompanied by a large brush of leaves on both sides.
"That's where they took her?"
The bandit nodded, an unreadable look in his eye. "Yeah, probably about... half an hour ago... I dunno." Rainbow shoved him to the ground. "H-hey, I... didn't do anythin'." He said, propping himself up.
Rainbow had a strange look in her eye as she silently panted. "Yeah, you didn't." She started walking over to the rifle she tossed earlier.
Already knowing what she planned to do, Applejack approached her instantly. "Hey, Rainbow!"
The wonderbolt fixed her with a burning glare. "What do you want, Applejack?" She said, her voice laced with venom.
"Ah'm stoppin' you from losin' your darn mind."
She paused for a second before her glare morphed into a befuddled expression. "Losing my mind? Did you not hear what he just said!?"
"Yeah, ah heard-"
"No, you didn't! You're full of it! You're more concerned for them then you are of Fluttershy! "
"She's right. It's dangerous leavin' him alive." Danny casually agreed.
"So, you think we should just kill 'em?"
"Well, better him than us."
"We shouldn't kill him, he hasn't done anything to us." Lee said.
Rainbow scowled at him. "He hasn't done anything!? Are you serious!?"
"Yeah, I am." Lee didn't falter and his stern look remained. "We all heard what he was saying. he didn't want any part in it."
"Yeah, exactly! He didn't do anything, he just stood there and breathed! Did absolutely nothing!"
His rifle was trained on the grounded bandit. "We are not killing him." He gestured for him to get up.
The weight on Applejack's chest lifted slightly, grateful for Lee being here and having an actual moral compass; unlike these other two psychopaths.
"So what? We're just going to let him go!? Like that!? No punishment!?" Rainbow shouted.
He ignored her and began checking the bandit's pockets, his hands frozen in the air. Once Lee had confirmed he had no weapons, he jerked the rifle to the side. "Go."
The bandit frowned, glancing behind him. "W-where?"
"Anywhere, just go. If you see a farm anywhere near here, you walk the other direction and don't look back. You understand?" He said, his stern look stuck like a boulder between a crevice.
The bearded bandit nodded, his gaze locked on the rifle.
Rainbow stared daggers at the man; her finger twitching to pull the trigger. He hesitantly stumbled away from the camp and into the woods, leaving rustling in his wake.
"Feels like we just made a mistake." Danny commented.
"You keep tellin' yourself that Danny but ah like to think we made a good decision by bein' decent."
Rainbow immediately stepped up to her. "Your 'decency' is what's gonna get our friends killed Applejack. Come on." She said, stepping around her and toward the trail where the bandit pointed earlier.
They ran down the lane for a few moments with Rainbow taking the lead. It wasn't long before they heard grunts, coupled by sickening wheezing. "Fluttershy..." Rainbow muttered before running further along the trail.
Before she knew it, she found herself at a clearing. A bloody, gruesome scene. As if she had just taken a shower that rained blood, there was a girl repeating the same vicious action over and over again. It was Fluttershy, she knew it was but she was so unrecognizable.
With some sort of knife in hand, she hammered down on the bloodied corpse. Over and over again. There were others that were laid out just as bloody as the last one.
"Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, slowly edging near the clearing.
"Jesus, lord almighty," Danny muttered as he saw the display.
Applejack was caught between a mix of distress and concern as she gazed upon the clearing. The air didn't smell fresh, it was musty; hot in a strange sense.
Upon hearing her name, Fluttershy's rhythmic stabbing suddenly stopped; her head snapped up anxiously. Her eyes darted between the members of the group before they landed on Rainbow. "R-Rainbow Dash?"
Lee grimaced, rubbing at his mouth.
The wonderbolt was over in a flash, Applejack walked over afterwards.
"Fluttershy! A-are you okay!? A-are you hurt!?" Rainbow worriedly expressed as she looked over her blood-soaked friend.
The girl in question looked down at her fingers, the knife, unable to find the urge to be disgusted by the acts she had done.
"Hey." Rainbow gently lifted the girl's chin. "Are you okay?"
Almost in a dazed-like trance, she slowly shook her head; letting go off the knife.
Applejack looked around the bloody clearing, bodies everywhere. They all looked identical, multiple stab wounds; the putrid smell. Her mind had crashed as it attempted to process what had happened.
Fluttershy had slaughtered all of these people. Fluttershy, the one who was too afraid to speak, too afraid to hunt an animal, ended up doing all of this.
The farmer walked closer toward her two friends. "It's gonna be okay, Fluttershy. We're here now."
Rainbow threw her an stern look before scoffing. She helped Fluttershy up from the ground, holding both her hands.
"We should start headin' back, still got things to do at the dairy," Danny said.
Rainbow nodded at him before looking back at Fluttershy. "Are you good to walk?"
Fluttershy nodded simply nodded, keeping her stunned look on her friend's eyes.
"Okay." Rainbow said, nodding herself and keeping her close to her.
With that, the group began their walk back to the St. John farm; leaving the stench-filled clearing.
Author's Note
This chapter was gonna take a darker turn but I decided against it...
Anyway just curious, who do you guys agree with? Applejack or Rainbow?
Fluttershy laid in the bath, her head being above the water while the rest of her body stayed still in content. The ceramic was covered in blood splotches, the little light bulb dangling from the ceiling placing them on display.
The bathroom was quite small, cramped. On the other side of the room, about half a step away was a cabinet and a sink with a toilet next to it. Behind her was a window with a curtain that had brown flowers imprinted on it drawn over them. Being the only one in the room and with how quiet everything was; aside from the water sloshing about, images of what took place in the woods was forced into her psyche.
How that man kidnapped her, choked her out and brought her back to his group. Being dragged further into the woods by the rest of them, wanting to demoralize her, rob her of her decency... . How she demolished the insides of all of those sick deviants.
It was sort of a blur. When she found herself pinned under one of the men, there was a handle sticking out of one of his pockets; there was also a slight glint. The blood showered all over her face when she ripped the knife out of his neck. The rest was blurry from then on.
The sight of the guns, the gravity of the situation, what they were about to do to her; something within her erupted and started carving away at her perpetrators. There was no fear, no anxiety, no apprehension of harm or murder. Morals were buried, gone and nowhere in sight; all that was left was an insane-knife-wielding-nutcase.
She was exceptionally nimble, effectively lethal. She was able to swerve past bullets, ducking out of firing range of numerous guns before they fired. She was lucky the bandits weren't experts with their firearms, if anything it seemed like they just picked up a gun and rolled with it. That's probably what got them killed in the first place. She bolted to one after the other at such a startling rate that one could mistake her for a world champion athlete.
She became a butcherer in that clearing, carving up every morsel of flesh that just happened to be in the way of her knife. In that moment, Fluttershy was not there; there was no timidness, hesitation or a scrap of kindness within her. She was just a butcher in the bandits needed cutting up.
She was never going to be the same after this, she couldn't go back to being the shy girl... pony who got startled over a few minor noises. How could you? How would she be able to go back to being that? The question was, did she want to go back to that?
Fluttershy cupped her hands together, dipping them under the water mixed in with blood and then delicately applied it to her face. There were subtle things about her that she felt were different. For instance, she wasn't shaking. No thumping in her chest. When she was first captured, she was scared out of her mind. Quite literally, she lost her mind for moment in that clearing... until she saw her friends again.
A knocking came from the door, drawing her attention to it. "Fluttershy, you okay?" She heard Rainbow say.
"Yes. I'm fine." Fluttershy simply replied.
"Okay, just let me know if you need any help, okay?"
"...Okay." Fluttershy looked down at the puddle of water, a girl gawking up at her. The first time she came here, she wasn't sure if she had the courage and strength to survive in this world but now? She'd probably kill an animal without second guessing herself. She was able to kill those bandits without getting herself hurt if anything that was harder than killing a deer. You just have to be really fast to catch it...
Applejack sat on a stump near the tree with a broken swing attached to it. They were essentially waiting for Fluttershy and Mark to get patched up. She was still mildly shocked from seeing the clearing, finding her friend soaked in blood.
She was morbidly curious as to how she was able to accomplish that in the first place. From what she saw aside from the blood puddles, there were bandits and guns for each one scattered all over the place. It was disturbing to imagine Fluttershy doing something like that.
Was she hurt when they found her? Surely with all those guns, all them bandits; she would've been. It'd be near impossible to get out of there without any scrapes or cuts or bruises. Not that Applejack wasn't grateful, of course. She was glad her friend was alright; it was just baffling to her as to how she got out of there alive. She couldn't even tell if she was hurt, all that blood covering her figure. Perhaps, she was hurt. Maybe she did have wounds. They just blended in with the blood.
If she did, the farmer hoped it wasn't too severe. Rainbow was already a bit... overprotective. It was very odd as to how aggravated she was; thinking back on it. Maybe it was just her element nagging at her but what unsettled Applejack the most about the whole thing was Rainbow's callousness toward the bandits.
Considering, they did kidnap Fluttershy, her fillyhood friend; Applejack sort of expected for Rainbow to act in spontaneously but not to this extent. To the point of where she was carrying out executions as if it were a daily occurrence. She didn't care if it was the only way to get Fluttershy back, it wasn't. There were plenty of other ways to get her back. She wasn't going to change her mind about it, nopony was because it was true, there were other solutions.
Not just storm in there then start executing people without remorse or empathy. The bandits deserve some type of punishment, of course. They weren't just going to get away with it without any repercussions. No, that wasn't going to happen. The way Rainbow went about it was wrong, immoral, barbaric; blatantly psychopathic. The bandits would've done something like that just like she did.
No matter what people say about it, she didn't care if everyone disagreed with her stance; it was still wrong and the rest of the girls would agree with her. If Lee agreed with her then Twilight definitely would. He was on her side when everything took place.
The clear sky and familiarity of the farm helped relieved some of the distress away. It was still mid day so at least, they wouldn't be travelling back in the dark.
She left her spot from the tree stump and started strolling around, letting her thoughts wander. She walked over to the St. John gate and rested her forearms atop them.
Lee, Carley and Ben were by the gazebo. There was two chairs completed by a small square table just outside of it that Carley sat by. Ben was standing inside the gazebo while Lee simply stood outside. All of their minds were being occupied simultaneously by the same thing.
Carley and Ben were left with multiple scenarios and incorrect images since they weren't there. Although, Lee had a vivid picture in his mind.
"C-can I ask you guys a question?" Ben suddenly said.
"What is it?" Lee asked.
"I-it's... well, those girls." He nervously gestured at Applejack who was leaning on the gate.
"Applejack?" There was a slight tilt to the teen's head as Lee mentioned her name. "What about her?"
"T-their names are..." He trailed off, trying to look for a better word than "weird".
"Weird?" Carley blurted out.
"Y-yeah, I-I guess. Did they name themselves that or...?"
Carley chuckled, humorlessly. "I honestly don't know. I can't even understand why they're keeping up this whole... thing. Lie, joke, whatever you wanna call it."
"Maybe they really believe it?" Lee added, earning an eyebrow quirk from Carley.
"Probably."
Ben frowned, confused. "W-what are they keepin' up?"
"They're convinced that they're from another world... or pretending that they're from another world." Carley explained in a broader sense.
Ben's face got even more confused. "What?"
"You know, the girls back at the motor inn? Trixie, Twilight, Rarity?" Lee asked.
The teen nodded, vaguely remembering a few of them; he remembered Twilight quite clearly since she was pretty much the only one aside from... Pinkie Pie who introduced herself to him.
"Yeah, well they all think they're from another world. I can't remember what it was called though but-"
"I think it was Equis or Equisria or something like that." Carley said.
"Yeah but they say they're all ponies and-"
He was cut by Carley's sudden laughter. "S-sorry, that's just so... dense. T-t-that's... like..." she was unable to finish her sentence, forced to perform fits of giggles and chuckles. "What the hell!? Like, really and Doug believes all that too!"
"Does he actually believe that or is he just saying that?" Lee curiously inquired.
"I genuinely think he does. He always asking them questions about Equisria or whatever you call it. He's always bugging them about it."
"...Maybe he's roleplaying along with them?" Lee shared a smirk with her, the reporter giving a blank look in return.
"Don't... don't even suggest that."
Lee turned his attention back to the teen. "Anyway, yeah that's what's up with them. They think they're from a... pony world." He felt utterly ridiculous letting that sentence fall flat out of his mouth. "Where there's unicorns and pegasus' and alicorns. And as for their names? Their parents named them that."
"That's horrible," Carley commented, feigning sympathy and shaking her head. "Such terrible parents."
"Well, there you go. That's their story." Lee concluded. "We don't know whether or not they're lying or telling the truth."
"They're lying. Obviously."
"They could be telling the truth."
Carley paused, facing Lee and giving him an intense look. "You're serious...?"
"I said they could be. Not saying they are but then again, they've been with us for months and they're still sticking to the same story."
"Or they're just, you know? Crazy, insane?"
"Yeah or that but like I said they've been with us for months and neither of them seem like the type who would be tossed in the loony bin. Besides, Applejack and Rainbow have contributed to the group way more than most of us. I don't know about either of you but I don't really care what story they tell, they sit alright with me."
"Y-yeah, they seem like pretty cool." Ben quickly agreed with Lee.
"Well, I'm not saying that they're bad or anything like that. I'm just saying I don't believe any of the stuff they say." Carley said.
Lee nodded, his eyes steered toward Applejack who was still by the gate and looked to be tapping her boot repeatedly.
"And here's some clothes for ya, darlin'." Fluttershy almost snatched the stack of clothing away from Brenda's hands. "They were some of our old farmhands but you need it more then they do now."
Fluttershy nodded her thanks before closing the bathroom door. She stood there silently, almost in a daze. The clothes she was holding were stacked and folded neatly in a pile with a grey button up shirt being the last one on top.
She slowly walked over to the toilet, placing down the stack of clothes on the seat. There was a towel wrapped around her, covering herself. She walked over to the sink, planting both her hands on the sides; unaware of how tight her grip was.
A couple of wet chestnut strips dangled in front of her face; down her shoulders. She had gotten out of the tub without properly drying herself off. She simply drained the water before climbing out and wrapping the towel around her. Her breathing was heavy, uneasiness filled the pit of her stomach.
Her friends probably thought the worst of her now. She saw how they were looking at her, those disgusted expressions when she fist arrived. It made her feel ashamed, she didn't want to be looked at as if she were something to be feared. Like she was some killer or marauder.
Maybe she shouldn't blame them, she was covered in blood. If it were her... she would probably stare too. Not out of malice or anything like that, maybe it was the same with the others?
Whether she liked it or not, she was going out there face them at some point. This room wasn't a permanent safe haven.
Her exhale was filled with uncontrollable shaking. She took off the towel and began drying her hair. She started drying the rest of her figure before she threw it to the side, not bothered with dirtying the towel and got dressed.
By the time she was done, she was left with a grey button up shirt with a white tee under it and was finished with a pair of jeans. She picked up the towel before finally leaving the restroom. She was greeted by Rainbow posted up by the wall, her rifle sat next to her.
"Fluttershy? You okay?" She asked, standing up and approaching her.
The brunette couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes. It was kind of frustrating as to how overbearing her friend was becoming. Not that she wasn't appreciative but she could make do without being asked "Are you okay?" every five minutes. "Yeah, I was just gonna return... the uh..." She lifted the towel up.
"Oh, Brenda's in the kitchen somewhere. Cooking up the food."
Fluttershy gave a simple nod before moving around her, going toward the kitchen. She saw that the dinner table was already prepped, plates, knives and forks as if the dinner was ready to be served. Brenda was in the kitchen, her back turned to her and the smell of food hitting Fluttershy's nose.
"Hello?" Startled, the woman let out a yelp, turning immediately and calming down when she saw Fluttershy.
"Oh, sorry dearie, you frightened me." She said, smiling.
"Oh." There was a pause in the room, forcing Brenda to break it.
"W-was there somethin' you need, dear?"
"I just wanted to return the towel." Fluttershy said. Her soft voice was still there but there was no hint timid or nervousness to it.
"Oh! Here, let me take 'em. Thank you, dear."
"Uh huh." The girl turned to leave when the woman stopped her.
"Also, dear if there's anythin' we could help you with, just let me know okay? Ah want to you to feel as welcome as possible here."
"Okay." Fluttershy merely nodded, no smile or a polite look. Just a simple nod before taking the exit. As she walking out of the dining room, Andy was by the front door holding a pair of brown boots.
"Hey there, miss. Sorry for not gettin' your old ones but they're still dryin' off. Best to just take these for the time bein'." He bent down and dropped them on the floor before giving a nod and walking away.
"Much appreciated." Rainbow gave a brief smile.
Fluttershy was left staring at the boots before she reluctantly began putting them on. She wasn't sure how felt about wearing clothes that previously belonged to other people.
Applejack watched as Fluttershy and Rainbow left the house. The former seemed to be hesitant. "How're you doin', Flutters?"
"Okay." She said simply.
Her eyes drew toward Rainbow who was behind her, more so the dirty look she was giving her. Applejack was forced to hold back giving one in return, didn't want to give Fluttershy another thing to be worried about. Was she still irked over how things went in the forest? How they argued over what to do when they would eventually come across the bandits? "O-okay. That's good."
The others, Lee, Carley and Ben came over; a welcoming look on their faces. Grateful, she wasn't doused in blood anymore.
"Hey Fluttershy, good to see you're okay." Lee said with a decent smile which she happily returned.
"Thanks for... going out and looking for me." Fluttershy said.
"Ah, don't mention it."
The door to the house suddenly opened, drawing their attention toward it. Andy and Danny came out of the house soon after.
"Hey, y'all... look a-ah just wanted to apologize for what happened to your friend Mark. Ah shoulda told y'all about the bandits." Andy said.
"Obviously," Carley said.
"How's Mark anyway?" Applejack inquired.
"He's patched up for now but he's restin' up stairs in the house." Danny answered.
"So, ah'm guessin' we're stayin' longer then?" Applejack asked, looking over to Lee.
"It appears so."
"In the mean time, there was somethin' we like to talk to y'all about." Andy interjected.
"What is it?" Lee asked.
"You saw what they did to your friend, ah was wonderin' if any of y'all would like to go back out there with me. Scout out the camps in the area." Danny proposed.
"You just got back but now you wanna go back out?" Carley asked, folding her arms.
"Yup. This farm ain't safe if those bastards are gonna keep attackin' us and we ain't goin' out there to kill 'em neither. We're just gonna do some reconnaissance, take a look at how many there are then get ready for revenge."
"We're just gonna start shootin'? Ah don't know about y'all but not all of us are good at using guns. What if there's a whole army of 'em?" Applejack inquired, unsure about taking the fight to the bandits.
"Well, we don't got a whole lotta options. It's either we stay here and do nothin' and they could try killin' us again or we could try to fight back."
"You could try negotiating another deal with them?"
"Ah don't think that's gonna work. The agreement was broken as soon as they open fired on y'all. They stopped attackin' us when we startin' givin' them food but obviously the deal's off now." Andy answered this time.
"You know where their camps are?" Lee asked.
"One of them. Been there before when ah was out huntin' one time." Danny answered. "So, what do you think?"
"Well since Mark is still resting, I think we should take the time we got to check it out." Carley said.
"What about the others back at the motor inn? If we're stayin' longer, should we let 'em know what happen or...?" Applejack asked.
"I think that's a good idea. If we're gone too long, they may start wondering where we are." Lee said.
She nodded. "Alright, ah'll go back then, let 'em know what's goin' on. Should ah bring them over or should we just stay put?"
"Eh, it's up to you. As long as someone stays to guard it, I don't think it's a big deal."
Nobody noticed but Andy and Danny shared a look with one another.
"Ah suppose, ah'll be off then."
Lee nodded. "Okay but you should bring Ben with you just in case you run into any trouble."
"I'll go too." Everyone looked at Fluttershy, the girl in question not as "stage frightened" as she normally would be.
"Are you sure? You could just stay here with-"
"Yes, I'm sure." Fluttershy answered, cutting off Rainbow Dash.
"The whole reason you got lost in the first place was because you couldn't handle-"
"I said, I am sure." The harsh tone and glare she was giving her, silenced Rainbow entirely.
After a short pause, Applejack replied. "Okay if that's what you want, sugarcube."
"If you're going then I'm coming too." Rainbow volunteered, annoying Fluttershy even further.
Applejack's gaze lingered on the two for a few moments. She could sense the tension coming off of Fluttershy but thought nothing of it, not voicing her concern. "A-alright, there anythin' else?"
"You guys have anything to keep yourself safe?" Lee quickly got his answer when Rainbow gestured to the rifle strapped around her back.
"Y'all got any you could spare?" Applejack asked.
Danny nodded before "Yeah, ah'll go inside. You can use one of our's." He left the group, entering his home then came back moments later with a rifle attached with a scope and handed it to her.
"We'll see y'all back at the motor-inn then." Applejack said, strapping the gun around her back. "Goodluck with... y'know that bandit camp."
Lee nodded. "Yeah, we'll see you soon."
Applejack, Ben, Rainbow and Fluttershy began making their way off the farm, pushing open the gate and closing it behind him.
Thinking about it now, she didn't know if bringing Fluttershy along was the right idea. She wasn't there when it happened, when Fluttershy "ran" off. She didn't plan on asking Rainbow about it, presumably she was still irritated; so, why bother? They would probably just end up having another argument.
She never spoke about it, they just came across her and that's when they found out Fluttershy was missing. It was safer to stay on the farm, more safer than out there. Then again, there were bandits stalking the farm and they were heading toward the motel, where the rest of her friends were.
Maybe the familiar sense of the motor-inn made her feel safer? There were no bandits stalking it like there was here. It might be wishful thinking but Applejack hoped they would never find it. The last thing she wanted was to wake up at the sudden "whoosh" of an arrow flying through her room.
The group was on a trail through the forest, Fluttershy and Rainbow were at the back while Applejack walked beside Ben in the front. Applejack held the guns in her hands, the safety on it unlocked. Recognizing the certain features in the surrounding area, she knew they were on the right track.
Even with the gun protecting them, she still hoped they wouldn't run into anyone out here. The last thing she wanted to do was to end up killing somebody. With the amount of bandits in the area, she doubted anyone that was "good" or "decent" would still be alive.
"U-uh, hey Applejack?"
She looked beside her, at the teen. "Ben? Somethin' you need?"
"O-oh nothing, I just w-wanted to ask... how long have you been with Lee?"
She frowned, thoughtfully. "A-ah think about... three months...? Yeah, ah think three months. Why do you ask?"
"I-I was just curious because... w-when I first met you guys that girl uh... the one with brown hair and the angry dad?"
"Lilly?"
"Yeah, Lilly. S-she and her seemed like they wanted to kick me out."
Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well they like to talk. Don't pay 'em no mind, nobody's kickin' you out. Lee or Twilight definitely wouldn't at least... and me neither." She said, throwing him a reassuring look.
The teen smiled at her. "T-thanks, I-I don't think I would make it out here on my own."
"You... have any family?" Applejack asked, slightly hesitant. She could remember when he first arrived, he was only with his teacher; so, she had assumed he was at school when walkers started to become a thing.
He looked away for a moment before looking back at her. "I-I don't know. I was on a school trip when... all of this happened. I don't know if they're... alive."
She offered him a sympathetic look. "Hey, maybe we'll find 'em at some point. Just because you haven't seen 'em, don't mean they're... you know, dead."
"Yeah, I hope so too."
There was a pause and Applejack took the time to look back at Rainbow and Flutters. They were talking amongst each other while it was mainly Rainbow doing the talking. Hopefully, Fluttershy wasn't still annoyed and that she understood why her friend was being a bit... overbearing. After what happened in that clearing, Applejack couldn't fault her loyal friend for being that way. Even if things did get a bit tense between them.
"W-what about you? I-Is your family okay?" Ben asked.
There was certain thought that took over, the expression on her face was clear to read. She missed them. She was glad they weren't with her when they decided to "take a trip" to this world.
"O-oh... sorry-"
"Nah, they ain't..." She trailed off, sighing. "They ain't... gone. Just... haven't seen 'em in a while."
The story of what Lee told him flew into his mind before he quickly distinguished it, it wasn't important anyway. "Oh, well I hope they're okay too then."
They are. "Yeah, yeah me too."
They walked in silence from then on. The hushed chatter from Rainbow accompanying their steps along the way. Applejack was left wondering if her family had noticed she was missing, it has been months since she left so she was left with the presumption they did.
Were they actively looking for her though? Was anypony back at home looking for them? If only there was a way to tell... . She chuckled at the thought of them actually getting back to Equestria. After the things they had done. Eating animals, killing and skinning them.
She doubted she could go back to regular farming, looking at the animals there without an image of her eating a piece of cooked meat that she hunted.
Especially Fluttershy. Would she still continue being a vet? She hadn't killed any-
"So, what the fuck happened with Steve!?"
"Why are you askin' me!? I don't freakin' know!"
The sudden intensity of two loud voices was more then enough to shut down her train of thought. Her eyes widened, the grip on her rifle tightened and she took a quick glance to the others. Ben was left looking frightened, Rainbow looked ready to fight; clutching at her rifle and Fluttershy seemed eerily still.
Applejack placed a finger over her mouth before silently creeping forward to look past the bend that was blocking her way.
Taking off her hat, she slowly peeked around the corner to see three masked men walking toward them. One of them had appeared to be carrying a rifle of some kind and the other was carrying a rifle similar to what she had and the last one didn't have a weapon. There were quite a distance away but their chatter was above high level volume, she could hear them clearly.
"To hell with it! Ah bet it was those fuckin' farmers!"
"The St. Johns? Well maybe we shouldn't have tried to shoot at them then!"
Rainbow frowned. The picture became clearer as she processed the information. These were the people who shot Mark? She was more than willing to return the favor if only Applejack wasn't so compassionate... .
"Well , they should've kept their end of the bargain and gave us some damn food!"
"The bargain was fine! They were going to deliver like they always do! You on the other hand were too goddamn impatient!"
She immediately ducked behind bend, picking up her hat and placing it back on her head.
"How many are there?" Rainbow whispered.
Applejack held up three fingers.
"Okay, easy." Rainbow held up her rifle as if she were about to charge out there and start shooting. This caused Applejack to instinctively slapped her hand onto the barrel. "What the hay are you doing!? They're gonna attack the damn farm!" angrily whispered.
At the mention of the potential attack, Applejack slightly relented, letting go. She internally grunted, clenching her fist before grabbing her rifle. This isn't what she wanted. She didn't want to kill but... but if they were going to attack the farm, she needed to do something.
When they sounded like they were inching closer, Applejack quickly turned back at the others and made a split second decision. "Ben, Fluttershy stay behind us! Rainbow, when ah count to three, we go out there and talk with 'em. Got it?"
She gave her a disapproving look before rolling her eyes and nodded. "Whatever, let's just get this over with."
Ben did as he was told and stayed near Fluttershy.
"Okay." Applejack muttered to herself. "One..."
"When we get back to the others, we're gettin' our shit ready!"
"Two..."
"See, that's the problem! We wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for your dumbass! We should've waited for them to hand over the damn food! Like they always fuckin' do! They always give us food, why the hell didn't you just wait!?"
"Three!"
"You know what!? Fuck you, bitch!"
As Applejack and Rainbow zoomed around the corner, they saw one of the bandits wearing a white t-shirt with vulgar language on it side clocking his "friend" with the butt of his rifle and shot him in the head.
All the while paling at what just happened, Applejack trained her gun on him immediately; attempting to get her breathing under control. Rainbow kept her gun trained on the other, less volatile bandit.
"Jesus H. Christ dude!" The other bandit, this one wearing a red t-shirt exclaimed in shock.
"Shut the fuck up before ah blast yo ass too!" The maniacal bandit then noticed the two rifles that were trained on him. "Who the fuck-
"Lower the weapon! Now!" Applejack barked, her rifle locked on him.
Rainbow stayed silent, her finger on the trigger. They could end this right now. There was only two left, thanks to the lunatic that shot his own buddy.
"Woah, woah, woah! Okay, relax!" The other "normal" bandit held up his hands in surrender causing the other to do a bewildered double take at him.
"What the fuck are you-" The erratic bandit darted back and forth at Applejack and Rainbow then back at his group member.
"Ah'm tellin' you, right now, to lower the damn gun! Ah'm warnin' you!" Applejack barked once again, her finger twitching out of nervousness of what he'll do. One mistake and it could be fatal.
"We should just kill them and be done with it." Rainbow said, her finger itching.
Applejack didn't say anything, all of her concentration was targeted toward the maniacal bandit. He was slowly backing up, his head swinging back and forth. "You better stay put or ah'm pullin' the damn trigger!"
"Fuck this..." The bandit muttered under his breath before he took off, running back the way he came. A loud crack exploded; blood poured out of his back instantly before he fell to the ground.
The smoke from the shot, flowing out of the mouth of the gun. Applejack, stared at the dead bandit; realizing what she had just done. Panting, she lowered the gun, her eyes drew toward the fearful bandit. He was shaking, his hands were still in the air.
Applejack then pulled back the bolt handle, a satisfying click being the only thing that caused noise. "Empty your pockets."
"M-My pockets? O-o-okay, okay, just hang on." The frantic bandit reached into his pockets and emptied them out. A switchblade, couple of bullet shells fell onto the ground.
"Is that it?" Rainbow nearly shouted, sticking her rifle into his face.
"Yeah, yeah, t-that's it. That's all I've got!"
"One blade? That's seriously all you got!?"
"Yeah a-and the bullets too!"
"They're empty!"
"Rainbow, enough." Applejack warned.
The wonderbolt sighed through her nose. "What now?"
Applejack didn't respond, not wanting to get into an argument after what she had just done. She knelt down, picking up the bandit with one hand by his collar with seemingly little effort. "Listen closely, ah'm gonna let you go." She saw the relief in the man's eyes and she continued. "But if ah ever see you around here again, ah'll make sure you're limpin' the rest of your life. You understand?" She didn't want to say that but she had to make sure.
The other one couldn't be trusted, he still had his gun and he could've used it on them.
The man nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it! A-alright? I ain't gonna do anything. I swear on my life, I ain't gonna do nothing."
Applejack stared at him for a moment before letting go of his collar causing him to stumble. He slowly began walking away, glancing between the farmer's stern gaze and the wonderbolt's deadly glare.
"GO!" Applejack shouted causing the bandit to run onto a different trail. She stole a glance back at Rainbow to see her disapproving gaze but she paid no mind.
She really didn't care about that at all, what she thought of her decision in letting the bandit go free. The death of the other bandit was all that was on her mind. The death that she caused. Her fingers felt numb and her breathing was far from steady.
She killed someone...
Fluttershy and Ben soon came out, their eyes scanning the area. The dead bodies. Ben, as you can imagine looked distressed when he saw them. Fluttershy's reaction was unexpected. Not at all was there a slight hint of horror displayed across her face. She was just... looking over them. As if she were curious.
She gulped down the lump before walking over to the dead bandit who was murdered by his own group member, staring at him for a moment. It was strange how it worked. The man was clearly mentally ill and he murdered his own "friend" but all she could feel was regret. She didn't care whether or not if it was to protect herself or her friends, she still felt guilty about it.
"Did you kill him?" Startled, she turned to her right and saw Fluttershy with an unreadable expression on her face. She was looking down at the same bandit she was.
A couple of times, she breathed in and out. "...No, ah didn't..."
"Oh..."
Applejack couldn't help but feel a little angered by the amount of apathy her "shy" friend was displaying. She bent down to pick up the rifle he was carrying before she suddenly heard the rotten gurgling sound.
She looked over at the bandit she... killed. It was now a walker, slowly getting propping itself onto it hands. Suddenly, Rainbow walked over to it, pinning it's head to the ground and planted the switchblade she got from the scared bandit into it's temple.
Her stare lingered on her friend for a moment. How she was able to kill that one bandit in the woods while they were out looking for Fluttershy was beyond her? Did she not all feel any type of remorse or regret for doing so?
Applejack scanned the area, looking over the two dead bodies. Her first... kill. She couldn't take the chance to let him go, not as long as he had that weapon. Unlike the other one who was scared, this guy was more dangerous; he had even murdered one of his own group members. A brutal sight that she still had yet to process.
"A-alright, let's go goin'." Applejack said, walking away and doing her best not to look back at the atrocity that had just transpired. The motor-inn shouldn't be too far by now. She was grateful for that...
Author's Note
I hope there weren't too much errors in there, this was quite a long chapter.
Author's Note
Dang bro, it's been a few months since I last uploaded. Anyway, I think I might be picking this back up again.
Peace, finally
Grunting in frustration, Applejack shoved aside the bushes. She saw Lilly posted on top of the R.V., keeping watch as she usually did. Starlight was not with her this time, however.
The image of that bandit shooting his group member was playing in Applejack's mind on a continuous loop. Rewinding over and over again. Every time the scene replayed itself, she grew more disgusted and shocked; unable to process this as her new reality.
She had never seen anything like that before. Murder was very rare in Equestria, it never happened. Never seen it happen but here? The bandit, the guy just killed his group member as if it was just a casual thing. Something that he did on an average day. When she first saw it happen, it stunlocked her before she realized her situation and dealt with it accordingly.
When the situation was handled, her emotions, thoughts and questions ran on overdrive. It was when she started to think about what happened. To really process what had taken place right in front of her.
She continued past the empty road, over to the other side. Ben was still freaked over the whole ordeal. The only normal reaction she expected. Rainbow Dash, similar to how she acted before when encountering the bandits, was indifferent. No care, no remorse or guilt. Just angry at the fact that they let one of them go. And Fluttershy? She was silent about the whole thing.
Normally, Applejack wouldn't have paid any mind to that since Fluttershy was always quiet. Anxious and timid all the time but this was different. Her face seemed empty and hollow as if nothing had happened. She never said or acknowledged what had happened. She just kept on walking, staying silent.
Ironic, given the fact that Ben, someone who she barely knew and was not even of the same species as her, appeared to be having a more standard reaction to watching somebody murder another in such a brutal and uncaring way; as compared to her friends who she knew for years. It was concerning, to say the least.
"Get the gates open! They're back!" Lilly shouted before climbing down the R.V.
Kenny and Larry jogged over to the gate, pulling it aside to let in the group. Everybody came over to the gates and began bombarding them with questions about the farm. Applejack quickly felt overwhelmed as she stepped through, entering the motor inn. Ben, Rainbow and Fluttershy entered afterward.
"Girls!" Twilight exclaimed happily as she saw Rainbow and Fluttershy. "You're okay!"
Rainbow threw a glance in Flutters' direction. "Heh, yeah, I told you we were gonna be fine. You worry too much, Twi," she replied.
Fluttershy turned beside her, fixing her friend with an intense stare. Rainbow ignored it or at least tried to.
Twilight raised a brow. "Yeah, well, sometimes worrying can be beneficial but regardless, I'm glad to see you two safe. You've been gone quite a while."
"So, how was the dairy? Is it as safe as they said it was?" Lilly asked.
Applejack let out a sigh before shaking her head. "No. No, it ain't."
Lilly frowned, folding her arms. "What? What do you mean!?"
"The whole dairy is surrounded by bandits," Applejack answered.
"Bandits!? Seriously!?" Kenny exclaimed.
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, seriously. When we were on our way there, we stumbled upon Rainbow. That was when she told us Fluttershy had been taken by bandits."
Fluttershy tensed while Rainbow went wide-eyed.
"What!?" Twilight exclaimed, turning to Rainbow. "I thought you said everything was fine!?"
"I-it was, I-I-"
"In what universe does being kidnapped qualify as fine to you!?" Twilight didn't bother waiting for an answer as she walked over to Fluttershy with a concerned expression.
"Yeah, we stumbled upon Rainbow and then we got to the dairy. We met the St. Johns' mother, but Rainbow wanted to go out and look for Fluttershy." Applejack continued. "Mark, Ben and Carley stayed back on the farm while me, Lee, Rainbow and Danny went out to look for her. When we got back..." she exchanged an uneasy look with Ben. "When we got back Mark had gotten shot."
"What!?" Lilly exclaimed, everyone who was surrounding them had the same worrying expression as the brunette did.
Applejack nodded, a deep frown on her face.
"Y-yeah," Ben suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Andy said he needed help with the fence so Mark volunteered to help out, he came back with an arrow in his shoulder!"
Applejack nodded once again. "That's when we decided to go back. Lee thought it was best to let y'all know what's goin' on, he and Carley stayed back since Mark was still restin' up in their house."
"You've gotta be shitting me," Lilly muttered under her breath. "You should've just woken him up and left, right then and there. That place is too dangerous!"
"Did they at least have the food!?" Larry interjected, an angry look on his face. "Because that's the whole damn reason we went there in the first place!"
Applejack was about to shake her head when Ben spoke up. "Y-yeah, yeah they did. Their mom, her name's Brenda. She came over to me and gave me and Carley some biscuits. She said she was cooking up a meal for us."
"Yeah, I saw," everyone turned their heads toward Fluttershy. She wasn't cowering or shying away as she usually did whenever she was put on spot. "When I got... cleaned up, I went into their kitchen. They gave me a towel and I wanted to return it, umm... Brenda?" She looked at Ben, unsure of the woman's name. The teen nodded. "Yeah, Brenda was cooking something in the kitchen so... yeah. They had food."
"Well, we gotta go back now!" Larry exclaimed. "I haven't gotten anything to eat yet!"
"For once, ah agree!" Kenny added. "We need the food, to hell with the bandits! We can take 'em!"
"Are you saying we should risk a firefight over food?" Starlight asked, frowning.
"We'll starve to death if we don't," came Kenny's rebuttal.
"Do we even have enough ammo for that?" Lilly asked.
"The St Johns' got plenty," Applejack answered. "And it's not just ammo, they've got the guns too."
"All the more reason for us to go back!"
"Look, even if we do decide to go back, it's still risky," Starlight replied. "One of us could die!"
"So far, none of us haven't." Kenny gestured at Applejack. "Y'all got back Fluttershy and no one got hurt, right?"
She looked away for a moment, remembering what had happened in those woods.
Rainbow, noticing Applejack's lack of response, rolled her eyes and answered. "Yeah, none of us got hurt."
Kenny nodded, looking over at Starlight and Lilly. "See!? If they can do that, who's to say we can't handle a couple of punks with bows and arrows!?"
"Mark?" Starlight raised a brow.
"Ben said Mark got shot in the shoulder while he was out doing some work on the farm! He went out there on his own, we'll all be there and lookin' out for each other!"
"Well, look listen," Twilight said, coming into the fold. "Since it's dangerous, why don't we just send out a team to bring back some food for us?"
"Why the hell didn't you do that in the first place!?" Larry yelled, scowling at Applejack.
She glared in return. "Because a lotta shit happened while we were out! Food was the last thing on my mind, Fluttershy was taken and Mark ended up with an arrow in his shoulder! Ah wasn't thinkin' about food!"
"We're still starvin' here!" Kenny exclaimed. "Ah still say we should go back! We didn't give them fuel for nothin'!"
"Yeah, well, if y'all wanna go back fine! But ah ain't, ah'm stayin' here. Get Ben or Rainbow to take you to the farm." Applejack walked away from the crowd, off to retreat into one of the rooms. She was not planning on going back, not after what happened in those woods.
The rest of the group continued, Rarity gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Darling, are you okay?"
Applejack sighed, feeling annoyed. "Yeah, rare, ah'm peachy. Could you give me some space, please?"
"Oh... of course, sorry."
Applejack didn't say anything. She silently walked into one of the motel rooms and closed the door behind her.
"So, you all think we should go back?" Lilly asked, facing the rest of the motor inn.
"Like ah said, we'll starve if we don't," Kenny said.
"We're safer if we don't." Starlight rebutted.
Lilly frowned, looking between the two before turning to her dad, standing beside her. "Dad?"
Larry flashed the rarest of the rare smiles at his daughter. "Yeah, I say we go back. It's the whole reason why we went there in the first place."
The brunette's eyes darted downward, the frown still on her face. She turned to the rest of the group. "Does everybody else the same way?"
Rarity exchanged glances with her friends and the group members. Doug was the first one who agreed, Katjaa looked uneasy and Kenny seemed too eager to go. Starlight seemed like she already made up her mind. Larry agreed with the idea of going back but his daughter, Lilly was still unsure.
As everybody gave their decision on whether or not they should go, the group decided to split up. Those who thought it was a better idea to stay, would stay back and guard the motel while the others were gone. Twilight Sparkle, Trixie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Starlight and Ben chose to hang back while the others went to the dairy.
"I'll take you guys back to the dairy," Rainbow announced.
Lilly nodded before looking at the group once more. "Is everybody sure about this?" The group gave their assurances, much to her dismay. She was mainly going because of her father. "Okay, let's head off then."
Rainbow lead the group out of the motor inn, Pinkie and Ben waited for everyone to exit before closing off the entrance once more with the large dumpster. As he placed his hands on the dumpster, he quickly found out that it was heavier than he initially thought as he began straining; applying pressure to the metal bin. It was moving slightly, albeit out of place. Ben frowned in confusion when it suddenly became light-weighted, almost tripping over as the dumpster was pushed into place. The girl beside him, Pinkie Pie seemed to have effortlessly pushed it back into place; blocking off the entrance.
The teen's face was riddled with confusion, frowning, mouth open and his eyes in a slight squint. Pinkie did not seem to have struggled one bit, it almost seemed as if she did not try at all.
Noticing, Ben's confused expression, Pinkie gasped. "Are you okay!? Why's your face like that!?"
"Huh? Oh, what?"
She stuck a finger in his face. "Your face. It was all like..." she mimicked the confused expression.
"Oh, sorry. It's just..." Ben's eyes flew back and forth between the dumpster and the girl. "H-how did you do that?"
"Do what?" Pinkie gave a small smile.
Ben pointed to the bin. "The dumpster. H-how did you move it so easily?"
Pinkie blinked, seemingly in thought for a moment before frowning. "Um, I dunno? It wasn't that heavy."
Ben was left confused as the girl walked away and over to where her friends, Twilight, Rarity, Trixie and Fluttershy were. He looked back at the dumpster, kneeling to further inspect it, to see if there was something that he might've missed. Some mechanism, or alter, or lever that he didn't see because there's no way Pinkie pushed this back all on her own.
Granted, he did help... but he probably didn't do much anyway. The teen was thoroughly confused as to how Pinkie Pie was able to move this dumpster without breaking a sweat. He was struggling to even move it in the first place and then she comes over; not only does she move it back into place but it wasn't crooked either.
Ben stood up, placing his hands on one side of the dumpster before pulling. He strained before it finally moved an inch and he stood there with the confused expression plastered back onto his features.
Ben began scratching his head. Was he that weak or was Pinkie Pie that strong? He glanced over at the girl who was creating chatter amongst her friends. She didn't appear to be that strong, there were some muscles bulging but ultimately, she was a skinny girl.
So, how the hell did Pinkie Pie manage to push a giant-ass dumpster that possibly weighed more than her, back into place?
Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy were sitting on the extendable picnic chairs. Pinkie, Ben and Trixie decided to sit on the ground since there were not enough chairs for all of them.
"Fluttershy, you were kidnapped?" Twilight gently asked, not wanting to make the girl nervous.
Fluttershy had a thoughtful look on her face. "Yes."
"What... what happened? I thought you were out hunting with Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie Pie asked, frowning.
"I was but I ran away because I got scared," Fluttershy simply admitted, no difficulty in doing so and surprising even herself. She'd usually be ashamed of admitting things like that, saying she was afraid although it was clear that she was. "When we were out looking for food, we heard a scream. Me and Rainbow didn't know what it was so, we thought to check it out and that's when we met... Ben and his teacher. His leg got stuck in some sort of trap."
"Yes, Trixie remembers that," Trixie interjected. "That's when Lee and Kenny showed up with them. The teacher was missing a leg."
The group shared a look of disgust, remembering the awful sight. Fluttershy, oddly enough, did not seem to be sickened by the image of a missing leg at all. "Mhm, Lee couldn't get him out so... he cut off his leg with the axe."
"Dear Celestia," Rarity muttered, cringing as everyone else did.
"He couldn't get him out any other way?" Twilight asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. "No, the trap wouldn't open but I got scared and ran away. I didn't know how long I ran for but when I stopped, somebody came up behind me and started to... choke me." She paused for a moment, her eyes falling to the ground.
Rarity leaned over, placing a hand on the girl's thigh. "It's okay, darling, you don't have to continue." Trixie's morbid curiosity hoped she continued.
Fluttershy looked down at her friend's hand, staring at it for a moment when suddenly an angered look appeared on the girl's face and she forcibly removed it. Rarity seemed to be bothered by this but she kept quiet, rubbing her hand.
Twilight frowned. "When Lee and the others came back, he told me you and Rainbow were still out hunting for food."
Fluttershy shook her head. "I wasn't hunting, I was running away. I got so scared that I just wanted to get out of there."
"R-Rainbow wanted him to tell you that," Ben suddenly interjected, drawing the other's attention. "She didn't want you to worry."
Twilight's frown deepened. "Really? So, she lied?"
"I-I... y-yeah, I guess," Ben answered, unsure.
"When I woke up," Fluttershy abruptly continued, drawing the attention back to herself. "I was surrounded by... these people. They were wearing masks, actually, most of them were. Not all of them. But when I woke up, a few of them dragged me further into the woods." She recalled, a wide-open stare in her eyes as if she were deep in thought. "They wanted to..." she trailed off. The others seemingly caught on to what she was insinuating and became further disturbed.
"Okay, Fluttershy, you don't have to-"
"They wanted to do something to me, down there." Fluttershy interrupted, gesturing to her pelvic region and silencing Twilight.
The group already knew what she meant but to hear her say it and make it clear that, that was exactly what she meant; caused everybody to wince in disgust.
"That's wonderful," Trixie bitterly muttered. "We're living right next door to a pack of animals." She said, folding her arms.
"Sick, disgusting barbarians," Rarity said, her eyes nearly tearing up.
Pinkie, Twilight and Ben stayed silent but the disgust was clear on their faces. Pinkie looked torn, clasping her hands together with a worried frown. Twilight seemed indignant, a deep scowl on her face as her eyes cast downward and Ben appeared distressed.
"Did they do anything to you?" Twilight asked, the scowl still on her face. "Did they... assault you?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "No, they didn't."
Everyone felt the relief that passed through them. The anger in Twilight settled slightly.
"Rainbow and Applejack saved you?" Pinkie Pie inquired, an expecting smile on her face.
"No, they didn't. I killed the bandits." The girl was met with a series of shocked, confused looks. Ben already knew what had happened as he had already gotten the story from Lee and the others. "Applejack, Rainbow, Lee? They arrived afterward."
"Y-You... killed them all?" Rarity asked.
Fluttershy nodded. "Uh huh."
"Well, I'm not gonna be losing any sleep over it," Trixie said. "Was it like... two of them? Two bandits?"
"No. There was plenty of them, I don't know how much exactly but I killed them all. Slaughtered and butchered them... and I would do it again. "
The others shared a confused and concerned look as the girl admitted the statement. They won't deny that the bandits got what they deserved but to hear the girl who is usually so timid and kind be so blatantly open about murdering someone was... unsettling.
A frown took its place on Twilight's features. "Fluttershy, are you... okay?"
"Yes," she replied, facing her directly. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I'm just... just worried, is all."
"Well, I said I'm fine. The bandits didn't do anything to me... I am okay, Twilight." Fluttershy assured her, her face still blank.
Twilight didn't buy it. She didn't push her on it instead, nodded and offered a smile. "Alright, well, I'm glad."
Hours had passed and the sun disappeared over the distant trees; taking away the blue hue of the sky and leaving darkness.
Twilight was posted on top of the R.V., it was her turn to keep watch. Starlight had shifted over an hour ago, going into one of the rooms to settle in for the night. Pinkie and Applejack were the only ones who were awake, staying up with Twilight. Applejack had awoken from her nap a while ago, whereas Pinkie simply wasn't tired.
Twilight was starting to grow worried as the night went on, wondering where the rest of the group was and why they weren't back yet. She frankly hated keeping watch at night. Everything was worse, staring at those woods on the other side of the street was downright eerie.
She constantly expected to see a silhouette, some black figure standing over by the bushes. Not moving, just standing still; watching, observing, stalking them. It was creepy, to say the least.
"Twilight?" She jumped, eyes shooting open. She looked down to see Pinkie, standing by the corner of the R.V., an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you."
Twilight took a breath to steady herself. "It's fine, don't apologize. I'm just a bit... creeped out."
"Are you afraid of the dark?" Pinkie asked, genuinely curious.
Twilight frowned. "It's not that I'm afraid of the dark. It's more about finding something in the dark." She threw a glance over at the woods to find nothing there.
"Oh okay." Pinkie followed her line of sight. "... The group isn't back yet," she said after a few moments.
"Yeah, I know," Twilight replied.
"Do you think they're okay? They've been gone for a while"
Twilight sighed. "I know."
"Maybe the bandits got them?"
"Don't say that. That's the last thing I wanna think about right now."
"But what if they had?" Applejack came over, a serious look on their face.
"Then obviously we're gonna have to do something about it," Twilight answered.
Pinkie frowned, eyes darting to the ground. "Hm, I don't know... I just get this feeling that something might've gone wrong."
"Why do ya say that?" Applejack inquired.
A slight grimace came onto the party girl's face as her frown got deeper. "I don't know, it's just a weird feeling."
"Is this another one of those hunches ?" Twilight asked.
"I think so..." Pinkie said, her face still engrossed in a frown.
Twilight and Applejack exchanged a knowing look with each other. Soon enough, Twilight suddenly got a bad feeling. When it came to Pinkie's "senses", they were correct pretty much ninety-nine percent of the time. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember the last time Pinkie's hunches were ever wrong. No matter how strange or far-fetched it sounded.
Twilight frowned, looking down at Applejack. "How do you feel about taking us to the dairy?"
Pinkie suddenly lost her thoughtful frown, looking back up at Twilight. "We're going to the dairy?"
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, ah can do that."
Twilight nodded in return, leaning forward on her chair and planting her elbows on her thighs. "Alright, here's what I suggest. We wait for a little longer just in case they show up, but if they're not back within twenty minutes? We'll go out looking for them. How does that sound with you two?"
"Who's gonna stay back?" Pinkie asked. "Someone has to watch over the motor inn."
"I don't know, we'll just wake one of them up," Twilight answered.
"Ah think we should bring maybe one or two with us. Ah'd feel safer if there were four or five of us, rather than just three," Applejack suggested.
"Who do you suggest?" Twilight inquired.
The farmer's eyes darted away for a moment before they returned to Twilight's gaze. "Starlight? Maybe Trixie?"
Twilight frowned as she thought about bringing her student. She was a good choice, or at least she seemed to be a good choice. She and Lilly practically lead the motor inn. As for Trixie, she only ever helped whenever she needed to or was asked to. The magician never really did anything on her own accord. "Starlight, we'll bring her."
Applejack nodded. "Okay, ah suppose now we wait." The farmer walked off, taking a seat in one of the extendable chairs.
As time passed, Twilight only began to grow more anxious. Even though it was only a few minutes, it still seemed like hours as she was waiting for the group to show up. She hoped Pinkie's "feeling" was just a feeling although, it was highly unlikely; given the numerous occasions past.
Pinkie walked over to Applejack who was still sitting on the chair, seemingly in deep contemplation. "Applejack?"
The farmer snapped out of her thoughts, looking at her cousin. "Pinkie?"
She took a seat beside her in one of the chairs. "How far is the dairy? Is it like an hour?"
Applejack frowned. "Ah dunno. Maybe around half an hour? forty-five minutes, somethin' like that."
Pinkie nodded. "Oh right, right..."
As the minutes flew by, Twilight found herself wishing the group would just pop out of the woods with a whole assortment of food. Wishful thinking was all it was. She looked over to the woods and waited. Waited for a rustle, leaves crunching but nothing came. It was just dead silent and before she knew it, twenty minutes had passed.
Twilight rubbed her face, sighed through her nose and got up; bringing the rifle with her. She glanced at the woods, her gaze lingered for a few moments. Still nothing. She lowly grunted. "Dammit..." she climbed down the R.V. and walked over to Pinkie and Applejack.
Noticing her, Pinkie stood up from the chair. "Are we going now?"
Twilight hesitantly nodded. "Yes, get ready."
Pinkie and Applejack glanced at one another before they left to fetch a weapon.
Twilight walked to Starlight's room, up to the second floor. It was the second last room. She knocked. "Starlight? It's me, Twilight," she announced. "I need to talk to you."
After a few moments, the door opened, revealing an annoyed Starlight. She was in her sleepwear. It was a simple black tee and a pair of striped short shorts. Her hair was messy, flowing down her shoulders. She sighed. "Yes, Twilight?"
"The group isn't back yet," Twilight answered. "We were thinking about going out to the dairy to see if they're okay."
Starlight frowned. "Why? They're probably just late, you don't need to go out there."
"It is late. Far too late for them to be out there, they should be back by now but, they're not. They would've sent somebody back to let us know they're alright."
"...Nobody's back yet?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, a-and besides, Pinkie had a feeling."
Starlight threw her an incredulous look. "What in the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"You know Pinkie. You know how she is and how she gets these..." Twilight waved her hand in front of her, trying to think of the word. "Hunches or predictions, whatever you wanna call it. She's never been wrong."
"Is this another one of those twitchy tail things?" Starlight asked, stepping out of the room and planting one hand on her hip. "'Cause if you hadn't noticed Twilight, she's not a pony. I mean, not anymore. Not a pony anymore."
"It's still a hunch. She says she has a bad feeling. That something happened. Besides that, they've never been wrong even when I wanted them to be."
Starlight stared at her for a moment, her eyes darting down to Pinkie and Applejack waiting in the empty parking lot of the motor inn. She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes and spoke. "Okay, I'll guard the motor inn." She concluded.
"Actually, we wanted you to come with us," Twilight corrected.
Starlight raised a brow. "Come with you? Who's gonna guard the motor inn?"
Twilight shook her head. "I dunno, maybe Trixie or Rarity but we wanted you to come with us."
Starlight sighed through her nose. "Okay, then." She stepped back into the room. "Just give me a minute to get changed."
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, we'll wait for you."
The door closed and Twilight left the second floor. She walked over to Applejack and Pinkie. Applejack was carrying the same rifle she had before and Pinkie was carrying a simple Springfield pistol.
"She comin'?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah, she's just getting ready," Twilight answered.
Applejack huffed. "Wow, she's actually doin' somethin' other than complainin'. 'Bout time." She said causing Twilight to frown.
"Hey! That's not nice." Pinkie interjected.
Applejack shrugged. "Well, it's the truth. All she does is complain about how other people do their jobs. She and Lilly. If ya ask me, it's time to critique how she does her job."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, still frowning. "This isn't a competition, we're going out to see if the group is okay."
Applejack looked at her for a moment before her eyes darted elsewhere. "Right, sorry..."
"Forget about it," Twilight simply said. "I'm gonna go wake up Rarity."
Once Rarity was awoken and informed of the situation, the fashionista was more than willing to stay and keep watch over the motor inn. Starlight had gotten dressed in a buttoned black shirt and jeans. She was carrying a Glock.
"Be careful out there," Rarity said as the others moved past the blockade.
"We will," Twilight reassured with a smile.
"Make sure you keep an eye on things around here, don't go messing up anything," Starlight interjected.
An empty smile stretched across Applejack's face. "O'course. Shoulda figured you'd do that."
"I'm sorry?" Starlight frowned. "I'm just being logical like I always am."
"No, you ain't. You're just bein' a stuck up-"
"Alright," Twilight interrupted, slightly raising her voice. "This is not what we're here for, let's just focus on getting the group back. Yes?"
The two scoffed but, otherwise, stayed silent.
Twilight glanced back at Rarity who was frowning. "We'll try to hurry back as soon as possible."
"Yes, of course, darling," Rarity replied, glaring at Starlight.
This did not go unnoticed by Twilight. She nodded before facing the group. "Okay, let's go."
The mane four headed across the road before disappearing into the woods; leaving Rarity struggling to push the dumpster back into place.
Soon after the girls left, it started to rain. It was slow at first. Soft little droplets here and there before it gradually increased as they moved further into the woods and before they knew it; it was pouring down on them. Their clothes were drenched in water, their hair wet and stuck to their faces.
"How much further is it!?" Starlight yelled over the sound of the rain. Twilight and Applejack were the ones in front, leading her and Pinkie.
"Should be there in a few minutes!" Applejack replied.
"Ugh, sweet Celestia! This damn rain!"
"It's not that bad!" Pinkie interjected.
"I can barely see or hear anything! How do you even know where you're going!?" Starlight exclaimed.
"Let's just keep moving!" Twilight said. "She said we'll be there in a few minutes, it's not much longer!"
"Yeah, uh, the longer we're out here, the more likely we are to catch a cold!"
"Well, what can you do about it!?" Applejack exclaimed. "You wanna just stand there and complain!?"
"No, I'm walking and complaining!" Starlight rebutted.
"Oh, landsakes, just shut up and quit your whinin'!"
"We should've stayed back at the motor inn instead of wandering out here, getting drenched with water all because the group is taking their time getting back!"
"How're you so sure that they ain't in trouble or anythin' like that!? For all we know, they could've run into a few bandits!"
"They can handle themselves! Kenny and Lilly are with them! Celestia's sake, you're acting like an overprotective mother!" Starlight scoffed, shaking her head.
"At least, ah actually care! Not some heartless sociopath like you! Miss 'ole ah'm gonna enslave a whole village over a cutie mark! "
"Girls, stop it!" Pinkie interjected before Starlight was able to go off on the farmer. "Can we stop fighting with each other, please!?"
Twilight threw a frown in Applejack's direction, disapproving of her snide comment. "She's right. You two have been arguing ever since we left!"
"Me!? She's-" Applejack threw a thumb over her shoulder, at Starlight. "-the one who's always cryin' about everythin'!"
"But you keep responding to her. I've been telling you to ignore her this whole time!"
"Whoa, hang on! You guys were the ones who brought me along! What's the point of bringing me if you aren't even gonna listen to what I have to say!?" Starlight interrupted, a scowl on her face.
"'Cuz we didn't think you'd be bitchin' over. Every. Single. Thing that happens! We brought you with us because we thought you were goin' to be helpful for once! Actually do somethin' besides sittin' on your flank! That's all you do, Starlight! Whine, whine, whine!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Sitting on my flank!?" Starlight repeated. "I'm the one who's always on watch! What do you do!?"
"Repair the fence! Deal with Larry, your marefriend's father!"
Twilight frustratedly wiped away the droplet of water trailing down her face as the two argued with each other.
Starlight scoffed. "My marefriend? What are you even talking about? What Lilly? Oh Okay! So, you're resorting to playground insults, now!? That's childish!"
"Ah might be childish but ah'm right and you know it!" Applejack directed a smug smile back at Starlight.
"Hm, yeah, sure. I don't suppose you and Rarity have something going on with Kenny then, hmm!?" There was a twitch in the farmer's smile that didn't go unnoticed by Starlight. "How you guys are always teaming up against us!? You wanna play that game, A.J.? Then fine, let's do it then!"
"Oh my Celestia! This is ridiculous! Both of you, enough!" Twilight shouted, stopping suddenly and turning toward the two. She had a scowl on her face. "We're supposed to be out here looking for our group and how we are, screaming at each other like foals! This is not a competition! We're out here to make sure the group is fine, that they're okay! You two have been arguing ever since we left the motor inn! For, Celestia's sake, can you both please stop arguing and start focusing on making sure the group is okay!?"
Pinkie glanced worriedly between her friends. Starlight and Applejack were glaring at each other and Twilight seemed to be fed up with the whole ordeal. Rightfully so, she's been trying to calm them down ever since they left. Applejack wasn't helping the situation in no way shape or form, she constantly fired back at Starlight. She was already worried before but now, Pinkie was becoming increasingly concerned with how the two are interacting with one another. It wasn't just Applejack either, Rarity usually sided with her. But, to be fair, Starlight was always the one who... started the conflict.
As much as Pinkie hated to admit it, she hated conflict. Especially when it came to her friends. They would fight back in Equestria, of course, but it would never escalate to this degree.
"U-Uh, yeah, let's just keep looking for our friends," she said, glancing nervously between Starlight and Applejack.
"Ah don't need to do that," Applejack grunted causing Twilight and Pinkie to turn toward her in disapproval. "We're here."
Twilight frowned, turning to see a house in the distance. Past the few trees and bushes, the house's lights were on, shining amid the dark and cloudy sky. From the light, Twilight could make out a farm. The surrounding area seemed empty, void of any people and walkers. Lee, Kenny, Lilly or any of the others were nowhere in sight.
"Where is everybody?" Pinkie asked, looking over the farm.
Twilight shook her head. "Maybe they're inside the house."
The mane four exchanged concerned looks with one another before walking up the path, leading to the St. John's farmhouse. There was still heavy rain pouring down on them like a waterfall and their faces were locked with grimaces as droplets assaulted their faces.
They walked over to the gate, noticing the St. John sign on it. They still haven't come across anyone.
Twilight pushed open the gate, noting the large open barn further to their left. To their right was a significantly smaller structure, she presumed it to be a shed of some kind.
As they stepped further onto the farm, muffled voices could barely be heard coming from the house. As the girls listened in, their hearts plummeted as they heard the conversation that took place.
"What're we thinkin'?" A feminine voice said.
"The kids we'll keep alive!" A deep voice replied. "They can be used as bait, people ain't just gonna leave a kid out there alone. We'll kill the rest of them, there's a shit load. They'll keep us fed for months."
"The hell!?" Starlight exclaimed under her breath.
"What does that mean!?" Pinkie hushed, alarmed.
Twilight sneaked a glance beside her, at Applejack who had a solemn frown on her face. The farmer held up her rifle and they silently trekked onward.
"Okay, Starlight, you and Pinkie-"
A loud crack exploded in the area, a grunt instantly came afterward. Twilight felt herself pale as she saw Applejack falling to the ground, her hat falling off her head.
"What the hell!?" Starlight shouted.
Another crack rang out causing the three remaining girls to disperse immediately, running separately in different directions.
Panting, her heart racing faster than Rainbow can fly, Pinkie jumped into cover behind the large barn. The girl panted, her hands shaking rapidly as she held the Springfield.
That was a gunshot, Pinkie concluded, panicking. She saw her friend fall to the ground. Applejack had gotten shot. She's dead. Her best friend was dead. She just saw her friend get shot and die.
Shaking and still panting, Pinkie slowly peeked around the corner, catching Applejack's groveling figure and her eyes widened.
Twilight breathlessly dived behind the shed. She panted, her eyes wide open. She peeked around the corner, immediately catching sight of Applejack's figure. "Applejack!" She shouted as her eyes stayed locked on her friend.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and she dipped her head back into cover.
Applejack was dead. Her best friend was dead. Just like that, no goodbye or farewell. She was just killed off in the blink of an eye. She was gone... . Twilight gripped the rifle she had in her hands as her eyes teared up. She gripped the weapon hard, squeezing it and clenching her teeth. She shut her eyes tightly.
Applejack was dead. Someone killed her best friend...
"What the hell was that!?" The feminine voice in the house exclaimed.
"Ah'll go check-"
"Help! Kenny! Lee!" Twilight recognized the voice immediately. It was Katjaa.
"Shuddup or we're gonna-" The feminine voice grew lower and Twilight was unable to make out what was being said.
Still gripping her weapon, she peeked around the corner, scanning every inch of the farm. Her blood began to boil as she failed to figure out where the shooter was. She was going to kill him. Her. Or them, whoever it was. She was going to murder these psychopaths. They killed her friend, after everything they've been through and she just dies in such a frivolous way. As if she did not matter in the slightest.
Twilight paused for a moment, her eyes lingering on Applejack's figure for a moment before dipping back into the cover.
Starlight snuck around to the left side. There was a bungalow she saw, a faint outline of a silhouette was there but it had snuck around the corner of the house. She ran after it, her finger on the trigger.
As she moved around the corner of the house, she saw a glimpse of the figure before it ran past another corner. She ran, planting herself against the wall. Her heart raced. Her hands were wrapped around the grip of the Glock, abnormally still. As she stared ahead.
Applejack had gotten shot. She didn't have time to make sure if she was still alive when another gunshot rang out and by then, Starlight had already booked it. Whether Applejack was still alive or not, didn't matter. To her, the shooter was still alive and scurrying around like a rat and was going to start shooting again. Starlight steadied herself, gripping the pistol tighter and taking a deep breath.
She turned the corner and spotted somebody with a masculine frame. He was wearing a polo shirt and a pair of slacks and was posted behind a nearby tree. He was holding a rifle, aiming it forward as if he were about to shoot.
Starlight quickly drew her weapon and fired a few shots at the man. She heard a yelp and she fired a few more shots into the man, and he soon dropped to the ground.
She ran over, her gun still aimed at him. She heard the groaning, the man was crawling on the ground pathetically. Starlight got a better look at him. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties and had black short hair.
There were a few bloody puncture wounds on the man's back and he rolled over, facing Starlight. "W-wh-who... the hell..." he struggled out, grunting.
As she stared at the man bleeding out below her, a sense of guilt started to pass through her. Her gun was still drawn on him. "Where is my group!?" She shouted.
"W-w-what?" The man grunted out.
"The group that came here earlier! Hours ago! Where are they!?"
The man was going to answer when he suddenly started to convulse, a series of wet inhales and exhales until a long drawn-out breath left him. He stared into Starlight's eyes as the life in his quickly drained, leaving an expressionless face.
Starlight stared at the man for a moment, a feeling of regret passing through her. She knew exactly what needed to be done, it was dangerous to try and spare this man even after what he did to Applejack. She wasn't going to consider it anyhow, regardless of what she was feeling right now. This man had shot Applejack and tried to kill them, he deserved it; yet, she still felt guilty about doing it. Ending this man's life.
This was her first time killing. She's killed before. Animals. They were different. Humans were a whole different thing.
She knew that it needed to be done but, she can't help but feel guilty about it.
Starlight stared at the lifeless man in front of her, feeling the heavy thump in her chest. She didn't know how long she was staring until her eyes fell upon the rifle of the shooter and she knelt to pick it up. Tucking the pistol in the hem of her pants, she aimed the rifle at the man's corpse and pulled the trigger. The rifle jolted with a flash, sending another loud crack throughout the area and a newly-found bullet wound in the man's head. It was done and a long exhale left her.
She looked to her right, down the hill on the lawn was Applejack's motionless figure laying in front of the house and she jogged over to her. Starlight paused before kneeling to check on her. As she rolled the farmer over, a groan suddenly escaped her causing Starlight's eyes to widen. "Applejack?"
The farmer was clutching her right rib, blood seeping through cracks in her fingers. Her face was stuck in a grimace.
She heard rapid footsteps approaching and she turned, aiming the rifle at the source but instantly lowered it when she saw Twilight and Pinkie run over to her.
"Applejack!" Twilight exclaimed, sliding over to her friend.
Pinkie came around to the other side, her hands shaking violently as she tried to comfort her friend.
"I-it's okay, it's okay," Twilight reassured. "You're gonna be fine, you're gonna be fine. Here, let me." She gently moved Applejack's hands out of the way before applying her pair to the wound.
Starlight frowned, looking on in concern. She then noticed the open barn to their left. "Pinkie," she said, turning back to her. "Stay here, I'm gonna see if the group's in the barn."
"Okay." Pinkie shakily nodded and grabbed her pistol.
Starlight's gaze lingered on Applejack for a few moments before she left, walking in direction of the barn. She held the rifle close to her, keeping a pristine eye on anything that seemed off.
She stopped just outside it, peeking in slowly and making sure no one else was around. When she deemed it was empty, she stepped through, the sound of the heavy rain becoming muffled. She got a good look at the interior. A large hall with numerous animal pens on both sides. Strands of hay littered the floor and various farm equipment were scattered around.
At the very end, there were two large doors. She walked toward them, noticing the little gap that separated them. Once she was by the doors, she pushed them aside, her eyes widened at the gruesome contents of the room. Smeared all over the walls and the floor, was dark dried-up crimson. There was a bench that had an extraordinarily large saw attached to it. There was a splatter of blood staining the blade.
Various other farm tools were decorated in the shade of blood. In the right-hand corner, sat a large iron door. She made her way over to it, glancing at the state of the dirty room. She placed her hand on the latch and pulled it. A clicking sound came from the door and she pulled it open.
She was quickly faced with a series of looks in her direction. Some were scowling but most of them were alarmed. What caught Starlight's undivided attention was Larry; or rather, his head and what was left of it, laying in the middle of the room. Some type of square block sat upon Larry's head. Half of his face had been crushed while the bottom half remained. She stood there, mouth agape and her rifle lowered. Lilly was crying, blood splattered all over her torso and face; kneeling by his body.
"Starlight!" Kenny called, a relieved look on his face as he came over. "Shit, come on, we gotta get movin'!" He moved past her, into the room behind her.
"M-moving!? W-what!? What is going on in here!?" Starlight shouted, looking over Larry's corpse in disgust.
"Long story, these people are a bunch of fuckin' cannibals!" Kenny said, in a hushed voice. "They got Katjaa and Duck!"
"What about here!? What, in Celestia's name, happened in here though!?" Starlight gestured toward the body.
"We don't get time to go over everythin'! Those fuckers got my family! We need to get fuckin' movin' now! Come on!" Kenny left the room, into the barn.
She then noticed Rainbow sitting by the corner, clutching at her leg. Lee came over to Starlight with a worried look on his face. "Lee, what happened in here!? Why is Larry dead!? What the hell is going on!?"
Lee sighed, shaking his head. "Larry had a heart attack," he said.
Starlight scoffed. "What!?"
Lee nodded. "Yeah. Me and Lilly... we tried to help him but... Kenny... he thought it was best to put him down."
"You're joking! Kenny killed Larry!?" Starlight exclaimed.
"Yeah, that fucking piece of shit..." Lilly suddenly answered, tearing her gaze away from her father's mutilated corpse. She directed her bloodshot eyes at Starlight.
"Sweet Celestia..." she trailed off, gingerly taking a step into the room. "Lilly, I-I'm..." she didn't finish, unable to do so. She kneeled beside her, planting a gentle hand on her shoulder, her gaze still on the brunette. Lilly nodded, her lips still wobbling.
There was a groan, she looked over at Rainbow standing by the corner who was struggling to stand up. She was using the walls to keep her balanced. "L-look, I'm sorry to say this but we should leave while we still have the chance." She grimaced.
Lee nodded. "She's right," he said softly before walking over to Lilly.
Starlight stepped back and walked over to Rainbow, noticing the blood patch surrounding her ankle. "What happened to you?"
"I was shot in the leg, what does it look like?" Rainbow said.
Starlight shook her head before moving in closer to the flamboyant girl. "Alright, lean on me."
With a look of hesitance, Rainbow threw her arm over her shoulders.
"Is it just you?" Lee asked, standing over by the door.
Starlight shook her head. "No, there are a few others. Me, Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack."
Lee nodded and they exited the room, entering the barn. Lilly was left alone with her father and Clementine stayed with her. As they left the barn, they saw Kenny standing outside by the lawn along with his family but what got them speechless was the fact that Andy was floating in the air. Twilight was in front of him, a deep glare on her face with her palm stretched out toward the man; a faint pink aura surrounded his body.
Twilight threw her hand down, Andy slammed against the ground at an alarming rate. She did it again, throwing her hand down repeatedly and Andy was forced to follow in direction of her hand; mercilessly. He slammed against the ground, creating a splash from the water that soaked the lawn, wet thuds as he was thrown continuously against it; at heart-stopping speed. It ended as she slammed her palm down one last time, the man rolling on the ground before stopping; motionlessly and presumably dead.
Andy's face was wrecked with blood. Dark crimson trailed down his nose, ears and eyes profusely without the intent of stopping. The rain was washing it away, only for the blood to come rushing out again. His corpse laid there on the grass. A few feet away was the shed that was now destroyed. Brenda's dead body twisted and contorted body, laid amongst the wooden debris. Twilight's fists were clenched, trembling, teeth gritted as she seethed.
Noticing out of the corner of her eye, she turned toward the barn and spotted the rest of the group.
They all looked on in shock as they witnessed what she had done. What she was able to do. All the stories they had told. The species they claimed to be. Claiming that they were unicorns and that they had magic. It was true. The unicorn part was still odd but, after seeing what had just transpired, they were more inclined to believe them. Twilight had magic and they had just witnessed her kill Andy without even touching him. He was floating in the air, that was impossible. Now, he was dead. Lying on the grass with his body all beaten and bruised. This was all Twilight's doing.
The group was still silent, probably trying to wrap their heads around what they just saw; shocked by the revelation. Twilight looked at Pinkie who was cradling Applejack in her arms. She walked over to them. "Come on... can you pick her up?"
"A-ah... ah can s-stand." Applejack grunted, clutching at her right rib, her hand wet with a mixture of her own blood and rain.
Pinkie quickly helped her up, draping her friend's arm over her shoulder and stood up.
Twilight nodded, the glare not once leaving her face. "Okay, let's get moving then."
They turned back to the group, the stunned gazes aimed toward them. The only ones who weren't surprised were Starlight and Rainbow as this was the norm for them. "We should go." The group silently agreed, nodding, still stunned by what had happened and they all left the barn, not muttering a single word.
The group wandered through the forest with Twilight and Lee ahead of them. Even after everything that took place; the St. Johns turning out to be cannibals, seeing Mark with his legs hacked off and Doug being unfortunately shot in the head by Danny; yet after all that, the group was still at a loss as to how Twilight had magic. They heard the story, listened to their backgrounds and never believed it. It was still hard to process even now.
Everything she told them, her being a unicorn and having magic. Being a powerful unicorn... it was true.
"Twilight?" Lee called.
She looked at him, turning with her brows raised. "Hmm?"
He frowned, looking down for a moment before his gaze returned to her. "It's just... what happened back at the dairy... was that...?" He trailed off.
"Magic?" Twilight asked, Lee nodded. "Yes. Yes, it was."
"But..." his frown grew deeper. "But, how does that even work? I'm just... confused."
"I don't know, either." Twilight looked off to the side for a moment. "When we first got here, all those months ago, I couldn't use my magic. It was just gone, I thought I wasn't ever going to use it again. When Applejack got s-shot... all I remember was just being... angry. I just wanted to... wanted to h-hurt something. That was when I ran inside the house and I found Katjaa and Duck. Someone hit me from behind and I threw out my hand and that was when everything... happened." Twilight paused for a moment.
"That was when your magic came back?" Lee asked.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I suppose. When I threw out my hand, everything flew everywhere. As in, all the chairs, table, any object that was in front of me just flew everywhere."
"Jesus..." Lee breathlessly said. "So, you really are a... u-unicorn then?"
"Alicorn, actually, but yes." She corrected before looking down at her left palm. She frowned. "I can't seem to do anything now though." Twilight held it out, holding the rifle with her right hand and attempted to use her magic. She focused on a few trees ahead of them, trying to rustle their leaves. Nothing happened. She shook her head and sighed. "I guess it's gone now."
"Well, you don't have to prove anything to me," Lee replied, smiling at her. "I-I may not have believed you when you girls said that you were... ponies but you never needed to prove anything to me. You girls were always apart of the group and besides, your magic will definitely give us an advantage in case anyone tries to mess with us again."
Twilight offered a small smile. "Thank you, Lee. Don't know why my magic is gone though."
"Probably because it was linked to your emotions?" Starlight suggested, still supporting Rainbow and drawing the looks of her group members. "Magic was already easy enough to do but the effects of each spell usually amplified when I was... well, mad."
"Fair point," Twilight replied.
"Ah still can't believe y'all have magic," Kenny interjected. "It's fuckin' insane."
"I always thought you guys seemed a bit... strange," Carley said, drawing attention to herself. "I mean, when it came to Pinkie and Applejack." The reporter looked at the two girls. "You guys seem the most strongest out of all of us. Like, I've seen you guys lift heavy things and you make it look so easy."
"Y'all unicorns too?" Kenny asked, feeling his face scrounge up over how dumb that sounded.
"We told you before," Pinkie said.
"Yeah, well, ah stopped listenin' after y'all told me you were ponies."
"They're Earth ponies," Twilight answered. "They don't have magic or wings like Rainbow and Fluttershy do, but their bodies are far stronger compared to unicorns and pegasi. It's easier for them to do manual labor such as, construction, farming etcetera."
"Well, shit! No wonder why you're always workin' on the fence," Kenny replied.
Lilly scowled, the blood staining her clothes dried up.
The group continued onward for a few minutes. They suddenly stopped, alarmed looks on their faces as they heard the continuous mechanical growling. "Is that a car?" Lee asked, turning to Twilight who nodded in response.
"Think so but, keep your guard up." She gripped her rifle, raising it slightly.
As Lee and Twilight turned the corner, they were greeted by a sight of a station wagon. Its door was open and the headlights along with the interior lights were on.
Twilight and Lee exchanged a frown. They crept up to the wagon, spotting no one in sight. Lee went around toward the front, checking the interior. He saw the keys still jammed in the ignition and pulled it out with a click, stopping the growl of the engine.
Twilight's eyes widened as she went around the back of it, toward the trunk. "Sweet Celestia... hey, come look!" She shouted. In the back of the wagon, practically filled to the brim, was a whole assortment of supplies. Cans, packets, rice, etc. The rest of the group came over.
"Holy shit," Kenny muttered as saw the trunk.
"Wow! That's a lot!" Pinkie said, coming over to the back to get a look at the supplies.
"I wonder where the owners are," Starlight commented.
"Gone." Rainbow deadpanned, still leaning on Starlight.
"Don't matter," Kenny replied. "There's a shit ton of supplies just completely out in the open. If the owners were still alive, they wouldn't have left it here."
"What if they didn't have a choice?" Lilly said, her voice full of venom as she glared at Kenny.
"Like ah said, don't matter. This stuff's still out in the open and ah ain't leavin' it here."
"He's right," Everyone turned in Twilight's direction. Starlight, Rainbow and a few others were left frowning in confusion. "We barely have enough supplies as it is, we should take it and leave before anyone else shows up."
"But, Twilight, this isn't ours though." Pinkie pointed out, frowning.
"I know, but we're still gonna take it," she said, surprising the rest of the group. Twilight was always the moral compass of the group, she and Lee. Granted, they didn't know if the owners were still alive or not, but Twilight had suggested taking it. Regardless if the owners were still alive or not.
"T-Twilight?" Applejack frowned, clutching at her right rib. "A-are you really suggestin' this?"
"Yes. Again, we barely have enough supplies as it is."
"B-but, we shouldn't take things that aren't ours, what if they come back?" Clementine said.
"Then all their stuff is gone and their lives are ruined," Lilly interjected.
"They're right, we shouldn't take this," Lee said, drawing the group's attention. "None of this stuff is ours and we don't know if these people are dead. I'm not robbing anybody."
"It's not robbery, Lee. It's common sense. Even if they weren't dead, they should've been smart enough to have someone stay behind and guard it instead of just running off into the woods somewhere." Twilight sternly replied.
"Exactly!" Kenny added. "It ain't our fault for takin' it because if we don't take it, someone else will. Hell, maybe, even those fuckin' bandits out in the woods might take it!"
"That's what you want?" Lee folded his arms. "What if it were you? How would you feel if somebody just came out of the woods and takes all of your stuff?"
"It wouldn't be me because ah wouldn't be stupid enough to leave all my shit out in the open," Kenny rebutted.
Twilight frowned. "This doesn't matter, morality does not keep us fed. We're still taking it."
"Twilight!?" Applejack grunted.
She turned toward the farmer, her expression indifferent. "Applejack, if you don't wanna take any of this stuff then fine but the rest of us are."
"W-where is this even comin' from!?"
"We don't even know if these people are still alive, Applejack. You're saying that we should just leave all this stuff here when there's a chance that they could be dead?"
"That ain't my point. My point is..." Applejack trailed off. She relented, shaking her head. "Forget about it."
Pinkie frowned at her but stayed quiet. Lee handed over the keys to Kenny and he unlocked the trunk. There were numerous boxes of food stashed away, along with a couple of jackets. As Kenny handed them out to the group, a few others stood by, waiting for them to finish.
"Lee," Katjaa called out. "There's a hoodie in here that would probably fit Clementine."
The girl shook her head. "She's fine, thanks!"
"Whatever man, it's gonna get cold out eventually," Kenny said.
"Applejack?" Pinkie called. "I've noticed something recently."
"What's that, sugarcube?" Applejack grimaced at the pain her ribs were emitting.
"I-I... I-I feel like... I don't know... I just feel like our friends are becoming more..." she trailed off, a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Out for themselves?" Applejack offered.
"Yeah, like..." Pinkie trailed off for a moment. "First, it was Starlight then Rainbow and now it's Twilight. I don't know why they're becoming so mean."
Applejack shook her head. "Ah don't know, sugarcube. We're just hungry. Ah'm sure once they finally get their food, they'll stop bein' so cranky all the time."
"But they're still taking the supplies even if they become their old selves again, they still stole."
Applejack sighed, shaking her head. "Ah know."
"Hey," Carley said. "You know that camcorder you got? I have some batteries, I figure I might be able to get it working."
"Batteries huh? Can you handle those?" Lee asked with half a smirk.
"You're not gonna let me live that down are ya?" Carley took the batteries from Lee, putting them in the camcorder.
Applejack and Pinkie walked over to them, watching Carley tinker with it for a moment. She pressed a button and a faint sound was coming from it as if it was playing some sort of video. Applejack and Pinkie didn't fail to notice the distressed look on the reporter's face as she watched the video. "Uh, guys, you might wanna take a look at this." She held it out to them and their faces became as equally as disturbed as Carley's.
It was a video of them, at the motor inn before it suddenly cut to an unsettling part of it. A bandit could be seen outside of a tent. A woman was screaming in the background before it abruptly cuts back to the motor inn with a woman creepily narrating over it.
Lee, Applejack and Kenny ran through the streets of Macon. It was late in the afternoon, the sky was a gradient of orange and grey. Lee and Applejack carried wooden SAKO rifles with scopes and Kenny had a simple Glock.
Lee hid behind the wall, moving up to the corner. He took a peek, finding nothing in the area. The streets were in ruins exactly how they had left it before. A couple of cars were tipped over, the stores' windows had been smashed in and there was rubble all over the road. Lee looked behind him, at Kenny and Applejack. He nodded, signaling that it was clear.
The trio came around the corner, looking over the ruins of the town. "Well, looks like this is our lucky day," Kenny said.
"Finally, about time we caught a break," Applejack replied.
"We should keep our guards up, you know how they like to take us by surprise," Lee replied before continuing down the street.
Applejack glanced at the pharmacy ahead. The building looked like a half-done bulldozer job. The whole front entrance had been decimated with nothing but rubble and debris replacing the front doors. She frowned at the helicopter that crashed inside the roof of the store. She rubbed her rib, feeling the healing scar.
Lee side glanced at her. "How's the wound?"
"Mm... it don't hurt too bad, honestly," Applejack replied.
"Really?" Kenny asked, skeptical. "You just got shot like, a week ago."
"Yeah, ah know but, it still don't hurt as bad."
The fact that Applejack and her friends were ponies from a world called Equestria was still hard to process. Living corpses had arisen from the dead and now interdimensional beings were crossing over to their world?
It's been a week since the dairy farm when Twilight had singlehandedly taken down the remaining St. Johns with her magic. That was a whole other thing to process.
"Y'all made up your mind yet?" Kenny asked after a few moments.
"On what?" Applejack inquired.
"What do you mean on what? The motor inn situation. We need to get the hell outta that place, it's too goddamn dangerous."
"Eh, you're right. The attacks are becoming more frequent." Lee agreed.
"We've been doin' fairly well so far," Applejack said.
"Yeah, but how long can we keep that up?"
"Again, we've been doin' well so far."
"So, you sayin' we should stay?" Kenny directed a look at her.
Applejack nodded. "Yeah."
Kenny scoffed. "Stupid."
The farmer debated on firing back but relented.
The trio continued over to the pharmacy. A huge rig was in front of them, blocking off the rest of the street.
"This should be pretty easy, now that there ain't any walkers to bother us." Kenny walked over to the rig, a ladder was attached to the side.
"Yeah, should be is correct," Applejack said.
Kenny began climbing up the ladder and as he reached the last step, one of the hinges had come off. He climbed onto the roof, turning toward Lee and Applejack. "The damn ladder's come loose."
Using one hand, Applejack pulled the ladder off of the truck and carefully place it on the ground, not wanting to alert the walkers.
"How are we supposed to climb up now?" Lee asked.
Applejack frowned, looking between Lee and the height of the truck. "Ah could maybe boost you up there?"
Lee turned at her, wary of the idea. "You can do that?"
"Yeah, ah'm pretty sure ah can. It ain't like we can do anythin' else." Applejack shrugged.
Lee raised his brow. "You... sure you wanna do this?"
"It's fine, Lee," Applejack reassured. "If you're worried about hurtin' me, don't be. Ah'm pretty sure ah can lift you easily."
"Oh really?" Lee asked with a smirk.
"Yup. Come on." Applejack gestured for him to come closer. He did so, stepping toward her. The farmer knelt cupping her hands together, allowing Lee to step in. In a fluid motion, she pushed her arms upward, allowing Kenny to pull him up onto the roof.
"Alright, so what do we do, now?" Kenny asked.
Applejack sighed, looking around and spotting a military car; covered underneath rubble by the pharmacy entrance. She walked in front of it and placed her rifle down on the ground. She kneeled, planting her hands underneath the car.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Lee called out.
"Ah lifted you up, didn't ah?" Applejack replied.
"Yeah, Lee ain't a whole vehicle, lady," Kenny interjected.
"Ain't no biggie." The farmer began pulling on the vehicle. At first, it didn't budge but, after a few moments of straining and clenching, the vehicle finally gave way. Bits of debris fell where the vehicle once was with crunchy thuds. She stopped for a moment, catching her breath before continuing; her fists clenching as she did so.
"Christ," Kenny muttered causing Lee to look at him. "There anything these people can't do? Just got shot and now she's pullin' a fuckin' car."
"Well, Twilight did say she's an... Earth pony. She's stronger than all of us combined," Lee replied.
"Earth pony," Kenny repeated before scoffing. "Sounds so fuckin' weird sayin' it out loud."
"You're telling me," Lee replied.
Applejack was a few feet away before she stopped, went around to the back of the car and pushed it up against the rig. She was panting by the time she was done. She leaned against the car, attempting to catch her breath.
"You okay?" Lee asked, frowning.
Applejack nodded. "Yeah, ah'm fine." After a few moments, she went back over to her rifle and picked it up. She climbed onto the hood of the car and gave it to Lee which he put aside. "Ah hope both of ya can lift me up."
"Ah guess we'll see." Kenny and Lee lowered their hands for Applejack to grab onto. She grabbed them and the two men began straining as they pulled the farmer up.
"Jesus H. Christ!" Kenny exclaimed, his other hand grabbing onto Applejack's arm as he struggled to maintain his grip on the girl.
Kenny panted. "How the hell... are you so damn heavy!?"
Applejack chuckled. "Perks of bein' a hardworkin' farm pony."
"Farm pony!?"
The farmer frowned before nodding. "Yeah, didn't ah tell you this before?"
"If you did, ah sure as hell don't remember it."
"We should make this quick before the-"
A shriek rang out through the streets, drawing their attention. They scanned the surrounding area and saw a figure run out of one of the stores. A walker came out soon after. A few more walkers started to show up as the shrieking continued, drawing them out of their hidden spots.
"What the hell is that!?" Kenny exclaimed.
"It's a girl, what's it look like!?" Applejack frowned as she watched the woman continue to scream out her lungs, trying to flee from the building mob of walkers.
One of the walkers that were trapped under a car caught the woman's leg and bit into it. She somehow managed to scream louder. It was a wonder how her vocal cords weren't ruined.
"Fuck, she just got bit," Lee said. "We gotta shoot her, put her out of her misery."
"Hang on, hang on a sec," Kenny said. "The walkers don't know we're here."
"Yeah and?" Applejack frowned.
"Think about it, while she's over there screamin', all the walkers that were hidden come out of their holes and go over to her. It'll give us time." Kenny explained.
"Are you serious?" Applejack replied.
"What do you think!?" Kenny replied in a hushed voice.
"We can't just let her suffer," Lee said.
"We're all sufferin', this is her problem! Not ours."
"You sayin' we use her as bait?" Applejack asked, frowning.
"She's already in this position, we might as well mind our own business. She's the one out there drawin' all this attention to herself! Why the hell should we do the same!? We got a group to protect!" Kenny scowled.
Applejack and Lee exchanged a look.
The farmer turned back to the woman who was still screaming. One of the walkers had grabbed her and bit into her neck but, she still managed to get herself free. Applejack sighed, shaking her head. "Dammit..." she muttered before walking over to the other side of the rig, near the back door of the pharmacy.
Kenny nodded, satisfied that he was listened to for once. He turned. "Lee, come on!" He exclaimed in a hushed voice.
Lee furrowed, looking over at the woman. She was still alive but, at this point, she was limping. He sighed before dropping down. They ran over to the back door and entered the pharmacy, a few walkers on the other side of the street.
They were inside the office. Applejack and Lee were still feeling guilty over leaving the woman to die. It felt like they were using her as bait. The room was dirty, filled with tipped-over furniture and scraps of rubble littered all over the floor.
They walked over to a door in the corner of the room and opened it. It led behind the counters, there were supplies of all kinds all over the floor. The occasional packet of medicine appeared on the shelves. "We don't got all day!" Kenny exclaimed, walking over to the shelves. "Get everything you can outta these shelves!"
Applejack ran over to the cupboards and started gathering supplies. Some of what she was gathering were snacks, bars, a packet of chips. Others were medical essentials. Pills, boxes of medications, bandages, tablets. This carried on for a few moments when suddenly, the woman outside stopped screaming.
"Looks like she's gone," Kenny said. "Come on! We don't have much time!"
Applejack was still feeling guilty over leaving that girl to her death. She shrugged it off and continued gathering supplies. The shelves and cupboards were empty. She continued to search, attempting to find more. "Alright, ah'm done!" She shouted, concluding that everything was empty.
"Me too!" Lee yelled.
"Alright, come on! That girl didn't die for nothin' then!" Kenny hopped over the counter, Applejack was next then Lee.
Applejack and Kenny ran through the lobby, noticing the helicopter they saw outside. It was completely shadowed in debris.
A crash suddenly came behind them, followed by a yelp. Applejack turned and saw Lee pinned under a door, walkers were on top pushing it down and trying to get at him. She ran over immediately, kicking the door along with the walkers off of him. Another one came through the doorway and she gave it a thrust kick, sending it flying back.
A few of the walkers that she kicked earlier were back on their feet but got shot down by Kenny. "Come on, let's fuckin' get out!"
Applejack and Lee were about to meet up with him but were stopped by a walker, coming out of the wreckage of the helicopter. It was dressed in military clothing and had a pilot helmet. Applejack gave another thrust kick, sending it back and impaling it onto a rebar.
Kenny, Applejack and Lee ran over to a rather large crack in the wall and left the overcrowded store, leaving behind a mob of growling walkers.
Author's Note
I legit just edited this on the fly bro, as in I speedrunned this edit. Anyway, I was sick for the past few days but I'm feeling better now. Wanted to continue this as soon as possible.
Lee, Kenny and Applejack walked down the sidewalk, the motor inn in the distance getting closer. They felt wary of being outside of the motor inn as bandits had attacked them multiple times in the past. However, as of late, the attacks suddenly stopped.
"The bandits have been quiet for the last couple'a days," Lee said, all of a sudden.
"Yeah, ah wonder why. They've been dead-set on killin' us but suddenly they just stop outta nowhere?" Kenny responded.
Applejack shrugged. "Ah ain't complainin'. Ah hope it stays that way."
"Me too." Lee agreed.
Kenny frowned. "You shouldn't have to hope. We have an R.V. and we can leave anytime we want. Stayin' here ain't doin' us any favors."
"Then leave. Ain't nothin' keepin' you here."
"The hell there ain't." Kenny scowled. "Some of y'all think it's better to stay at the motor inn. If ah leave now, it'll just be me and my family. Ain't nobody else comin' with me."
They drew closer to the motor inn, the woods on the other side of the road taunting at them. Twilight and Trixie were on watch on top of the R.V. The group continuously side glanced at the woods, expecting a bandit to be there with a crossbow pointed at them.
As they met the blockade, Pinkie came over to the dumpster and effortlessly pulled it out of the way. "Hey! Get anything good!?" She asked, a cheery smirk on her face.
"I think we got pretty much everything," Lee replied.
"Yeah, we might not have to worry 'bout supplies for a while," Applejack added, not knowing Kenny was rolling his eyes behind her.
However, it did not go unnoticed by Pinkie. She frowned, confused. "Are you okay?"
"Just peachy." Kenny walked toward Lilly's room, leaving the group.
Pinkie turned toward Applejack. "Why's he so frowny-downy?"
"What do ya think, sugarcube? Same thing as always." Applejack turned around and pushed the dumpster back into place with her leg. "The R.V."
Pinkie merely let out an "oh".
Twilight came over, rifle in hand. "You guys run into trouble again?"
Lee looked away. "You could say that."
"At least you guys made it back safely and you got supplies too. So, in my opinion it was a smooth run."
Lee and Applejack trailed toward Lilly's room where they saw Kenny already there. Arguing with Lilly once again. Applejack refrained from rolling her eyes.
"This place is done, Lilly! There ain't nothin' left! We're wastin' time and energy doin' these pointless runs into the city!" Kenny exclaimed.
"It will not be any easier out there! We already know what we're dealing with in here!" The brunette responded with a slightly raised voice.
"Y'all okay?" Applejack greeted, upon arrival.
"We're terrific," Kenny simply responded.
"Clearly," Lilly bitterly added. "Where's the rest of it?"
Lee and Applejack handed their bags of supplies to her. She walked over to the table in the room and began inspecting it.
"How was the trip overall?" Twilight asked. "It's been quiet over here, the bandits still haven't done anything."
"Yet," Kenny rebutted.
"Perfect." Lilly came over to the group, a small empty smile on her face. "If we carry on like this, we'll get through the winter here."
"Uh, excuse me!? Did you not hear what I just said!?" Kenny interjected, an annoyed look on his face.
"No, I heard you loud and clear."
"So, you really believe that we should stay here!? Seriously!? With bandits right outside our walls!?"
"Nevertheless, it's better bein' in here." Applejack leaned against the doorframe. "At least, we got a place to sleep."
"Yeah and that's fuckin' worse, the bandits want this fuckin' place! What if they suddenly decide to attack us again!? What then!?"
"Then we'll defend it, like we always done."
"We can't just keep defending this place, sooner or later someone's gonna get hurt!"
"With all due respect but, he's right," Twilight interjected, drawing everyone's attention toward her. "We can't keep defending this place forever. The city isn't going to be sustainable forever-"
"It ain't. We've looted pretty much every store in Macon." Kenny interrupted.
"You'd have to be insane to think that I'm willing to go anywhere with you after what you did to my dad." Lilly glared at the man.
"Why not? Ah was the one who saved everyone from that meat locker that night!" Kenny scowled.
"That ain't what ah heard," Applejack muttered.
"You ended up gettin' shot! You wouldn't even know what happened!"
"If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have gotten out of that farm in the first place, hoss." Applejack rebutted, frowning.
"That's beside the point anyway! There's fuckin' bandits on the other side of the wall ready to jump over and kill us!" Kenny wildly gestured at the blockade.
"Yeah and we've been defending this place ever since!" Applejack rebutted.
"So, that's how you wanna live!? For the rest of your life!?"
"Alright, perhaps we should leave this discussion for another time? Let's just organize the supplies." Twilight suggested, stepping into the room.
"We can't keep postponing this! Macon is running out of supplies! There ain't nothin', ain't no one else left in this city! Wanna know my proof!? While we were out there scavenging, there was a girl who came out into the streets screamin' her ass off!" Kenny exclaimed, drawing Applejack and Lee's attentive glares.
"Excuse me?" Twilight frowned.
"No, no, you heard correctly! Some girl came screamin' out of one of the stores! She was attracting walkers from all over the place! If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have gotten any of these supplies!"
"Y-you guys just left her there?" Pinkie furrowed.
"We didn't want to," Lee answered solemnly. "But... she was attracting the walkers. We figured-"
"What? You just let her suffer?" Rarity suddenly interjected, appearing by the doorway.
"She was dead already," Applejack replied. "We couldn't do anythin', walkers were comin' out everywhere and if we did try to help her, we wouldn't have gotten any of the supplies."
"Exactly!" Kenny added, giving a pointed look at Lilly. "Proving my point! The town is fucked! Everyone else is fucked! Fucking fuck-ton of walkers everywhere and to top it all off, we've got bandits knockin' on our front doors!"
"It's not gonna be easier out on the road!" Lilly snapped, startling everyone in the room.
"How the fuck would you know!?" Kenny asked.
"How would I know!? You wanna know what I fucking know!" Lilly scowled, stepping up to him as if she were about to molly whop him. Instead, she shoved her finger in his face. "I know you are not above murder!" She stepped away, turning her back on the group. "I know somebody's been stealing our supplies!" She whipped around, a maniacal smile on her face, unnerving everyone in the room. "Yeah, yeah, you heard correctly! Stealing! And, I know the list of people I can trust here gets smaller every day! Now, everybody get the fuck out!"
Everyone, excluding Kenny, exchanged worried looks with one another before exiting accordingly. Lee closed the door once everyone left.
"Celestia... that could've gone better." Applejack frowned, folding her arms.
"She said somebody was stealing supplies," Pinkie said. "Someone's sneaking into the motor inn?"
"Most likely paranoia, don't worry about it," Twilight replied.
"Well, she needs to get that paranoia under control! Ha, that's the funny thing, it can all be solved if we just left the fuckin' motor inn!" Kenny exclaimed, walking away from the group.
"Was that another argument?" Startled, Twilight turned behind her to see Fluttershy coming over to the group.
"How ya doin' sugar?" Applejack asked.
"I'm fine, what happened?"
"What if she's right though?" Pinkie suddenly asked, drawing glances from her friends.
"What do you mean?" Twilight frowned.
"Like, all of a sudden, the bandits have stopped attacking us. Like, why? They've shot at us, tried to kill us... why did they stop all of a sudden? Maybe, someone is giving them supplies? Like the St. Johns?"
Applejack and Twilight exchanged looks with one another. "That's... possible," Twilight answered, eyes darting off thoughtfully.
"Yeah! 'Cause at first, I was like, 'why did the bandits stop attacking us?' But then, Lilly said someone is stealing supplies. So, maybe someone's giving it to them and that's why they're stopping!?" Pinkie continued.
Twilight frowned, staying silent for a few moments. "I'll go check in with Lilly, see if she's got anything else to say about this."
"Good idea. By the way, how's the magic goin'? Anything yet?" Applejack asked, her eyes darting to Twilight's hands.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Twilight held the wooden rifle in both of her stretched out palms. After a few moments, a pink faintish glow started to form around the gun with a quiet hiss and soon after, it began floating. It lasted a few seconds before falling back into her palm. "I can only do it for like a short period but, it's something at least."
"Well, that's good then! Glad to know that your magic's still with us!" Applejack offered a smile.
Twilight nodded, offering a smile of her own. "Yeah, I'll just have to keep at it. I'm relearning magic all over again."
Rarity threw a kick toward Starlight, missing. The brunette swerved to the side and Rarity quickly counteracted the maneuver with a roundhouse kick. With barely any time to react, Starlight threw up both of her hands to shield herself from the coming blow.
A forceful wave slammed against her forearms, throwing her back a few feet and nearly losing her balance. She gritted her teeth, rubbing at them. "Sweet Celestia..." she muttered.
"Honestly, darling, I thought you said you improved?" Rarity mocked.
"I specialize more in magic than I do martial arts," Starlight hissed.
"Excuses, darling. That's all I hear."
Rainbow sat on the footpath, watching the sparring match, a yearning to participate. She grunted, scowling at her injured leg. "I hate my leg! Why can't it heal faster!?"
"You got shot!" Starlight exclaimed. "What did you expect!?"
"Applejack is completely fine!"
"Because she's an Earth pony, dear. She's got a tougher..." Rarity frowned, waving her hand around thoughtfully. "Figure compared to you."
Rainbow grunted, rubbing at her leg. The sparring match continued. Starlight was having trouble keeping up with Rarity's attacks, trying to block out all the punches. As she threw a punch, Rarity managed to catch it, twist it and toss her over her shoulder. Starlight landed on the ground with a smack.
She yelped, clutching at her shoulder.
"Oh! Sorry, darling," Rarity apologized, kneeling slightly and furrowing. "I might have gone a bit overboard."
"I'll say." Starlight gritted out, pushing herself into a seating position. "How in Equestria are you this good anyway?"
Rarity blew a puff of air. "I'm not that good, I only do martial arts from time to time."
"Since when!?" Rainbow exclaimed.
She frowned, her eyes darting elsewhere. "Since... well... forever, dash."
"And you never told us this before, why!?"
"It never got brought up." Rarity shrugged.
Rainbow groaned. "That's just great! We could've had a match-up, see who's better but, my damn leg!"
"Quit complaining about it." Starlight got up from the ground, dusting herself off. "It could be worse... like losing it."
"Hah! Quit complaining!? That's what you do all the time!" Rainbow replied.
"Yeah, well, wait till it gets better."
Rainbow sighed through her nose, giving a quick rub of her forehead. "Yeah, hopefully, I'll still be around until then."
Starlight frowned, rolling her eyes. "Now, you're being overdramatic."
"What? It's true." Rainbow gestured to the woods. "We've got bandits on the other side of the barricade."
"Yeah and?"
"And they might start another attack. Someone might get hurt next time... or killed." Starlight and Rarity exchanged a glance. "I still think we should leave, just pack up all our stuff and go."
"Where though?" Starlight frowned. "Yeah, the motor inn isn't exactly safe but, at least we've got a place to stay. Sleep."
"I'd rather take my chances out there-" Rainbow flicked her head toward the road. "-then in here, where the bandits are."
"Okay, fine if everyone wants to go then we'll go. I still think we should leave unless we absolutely have to." Starlight shrugged. "The motor inn's still standing."
"For now," Rarity interjected.
"Yeah... yeah, for now."
Author's Note
Said "fck it" and uploaded the chapter. Only edited it once but, I'm bad at staying consistent... needed to put out something.
Investigations
"You said something about stolen supplies?" Twilight frowned, taking a seat at the small circular table. Lilly sat in front of her on the edge of the bed.
"Yes," she confirmed. "Supplies have been going missing. It started a few days ago, three in particular. He, she, they, somebody around here's been getting their hands full." The brunette concluded with a frown.
"What makes you think that? Did you see anyone take anything?" Twilight asked, propping her elbow onto the table.
Lilly's head hanged for a moment before she shook her head. "No... no, I didn't. I just know."
Twilight raised a brow. As she was about to respond, the door creaked open, allowing Lee to walk in. "I was just checking up on the supply situation, you said they were being stolen?"
Lilly nodded. "Yes, I did. Twilight was just following up on that."
"She... doesn't have any proof, however." Twilight reluctantly elaborated as Lee took a seat at the table beside her.
"I count them. Most of the supplies that go missing? It's usually the good ones." Lilly quickly responded. "The antibiotics, medicine, all that other shit."
Twilight frowned. "You sure? Because I keep count constantly and everything appears to be normal."
"Then maybe you're not doing a good job or you're only counting your own rations and no one else's." The woman sighed. "Look, I get it, I'm a mess right now. I know that but I'm not stupid. Someone is stealing our supplies."
Lee and Twilight exchanged a quick glance at one another. "So, what do you need us to do?"
"Is there anything to go off on? A lead, perhaps?" Twilight added.
Lilly looked at them for a moment before she reached under the bed and pulled out a large torch. She handed it to Lee. The glass was smashed and the casing that held it together was dented in numerous spots. "I found this tossed into the garbage. We don't toss out equipment, we fix it. You'd only be getting rid of a flashlight when you were using it when you shouldn't."
Lee handed it to Twilight once he was done inspecting it. After a moment, she looked at Lilly. "I presume you'd want us to investigate?"
The brunette nodded. "That is exactly what I want you to do. Don't accuse anyone, at least not yet. Just ask around, see what they say and we'll go from there."
This situation was heavily suspicious. She figured she would keep Pinkie's theory a secret for now. The bandits suddenly stop attacking and now Lilly was bringing up alleged stolen supplies? Should she even call it that? It wasn't too far-fetched, you could easily put two and two together.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt to poke around," Twilight said.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Lilly nodded.
Lee and Twilight left the room shortly after their discussion. Lee waited until they were a bit further out of earshot before speaking up. "What do you think?"
Still frowning, Twilight sighed. "To be honest... there may be some truth to what she is saying."
Lee began frowning himself. "Why do you say that?"
Twilight sighed once more. "Because Pinkie brought up a good point. One that I didn't notice before, I didn't bring it up because..." Before continuing, she quickly scanned around. When she didn't see anyone, she turned back to him and leaned closer. "Do you remember the St. Johns?"
Lee nodded for her to go on.
"Well, you said that the brothers used to trade food with the bandits in order to get them to stop attacking, correct? If what Lilly said is true and there are supplies going missing then maybe that's why the bandits stopped attacking us? I mean, think about it, we give them food, they stop attacking us." Twilight concluded with a quirk of her head and slightly raised brows.
By now, Lee's frown had deepened. "Then that would mean...?"
"Lilly is telling the truth and somebody is giving the bandits supplies." Twilight confirmed.
"What do you think we should do?"
"We'll investigate just as Lilly told us to do. 'Cause right now... we don't have proof. All we have is a broken flashlight. We'll just go from there."
Lee agreed before going his separate way.
Rarity panted, wiping away the sweat from her forehead as she leaned against the R.V. "Great sparring match... dear."
"Sparring match..." Starlight muttered to herself, hunched over and sweating herself. "You say great as if I actually did something."
"Yes, well, you'll improve at some point." Rarity gently patted the girl's back.
"Hopefully."
Rainbow tsked, stood up and limped over to Applejack by the fence. The farmer dropped a pile of boards before picking up a hammer and nail.
Rainbow frowned. "You still fixing up that wall?"
Applejack tossed a glance over her shoulder, looking back at the barricade when she saw who it was. "The term is upgrading , Dash. Wall doesn't need to be fixed."
"Don't you think that's like... a bit excessive? Seems pretty fine to me." Rainbow glanced over the barricade, her hands planted at her hips.
"Can't be too careful, especially with our current situation," Applejack commented. She nailed a board against the wall and gently tugged on it; not wanting to accidentally rip it off. She turned to her friend. "Ah could probably break through this thing if ah wanted to."
"I could probably jump over the thing... if not for my leg." Rainbow gestured to her injury.
"How is it by the way? Startin' to feel better?"
"No." Rainbow grumbled. "I hate this, not doing anything. All this work to keep it clean. It's so boring! Can't even do anything besides sit around and rest."
Applejack shrugged. "Welp, that's what happens." She picked up another board.
"You got shot in the stomach... you're still walking."
"Actually, I got shot in the ribs. Not the stomach."
"Doesn't matter! A small metal thing flew into you and you're perfectly fine!"
"It still hurts a bit... but, not too much." After Applejack hammered a nail into the board, she rubbed the bullet wound on her ribs.
Rainbow scoffed. "At least, you can actually do something. Rarity and Starlight had a sparring match again."
"How'd that turn out? Starlight get her flank handed to her again?" She hammered in a couple of nails into the board.
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, still can't believe Rarity knows martial arts."
Applejack frowned, picking up another board. "Really?"
"Yes. Really. I mean, Rarity of all ponies, the fashion drama queen, the one who doesn't like getting her hooves dirty, knows martial arts."
"Huh... wow, okay." Applejack started on the next board.
The stunned expression on the farmer's face left gave the wonderbolt an odd inkling. "What was that?"
"What?" Applejack frowned.
"That!" Rainbow gestured at her. "That whole... hesitation, pause thing... you were like 'hmm... okay'. Why'd you do that?"
"Oh, well because ah figured everypony knew."
Rainbow scoffed, her eyes widening. "What!? Wait what!? What do you mean you thought everypony knew? Where did you come up with that!?"
Applejack chuckled. "Ah mean exactly that, Dash. Ah thought everypony knew!"
"How!? I didn't! I never knew she did martial arts! How did you know!?" Rainbow wildly gestured to herself.
"Ah just sorta figured that out on my own. Ah mean... she kicked me once... in the face."
"When was this?"
"'Member when Discord had us all under some type of weird crazy spell that made us the opposite of ourselves? Like, ah was dishonesty and you were disloyal and all that jazz?"
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, Rarity was a selfish hoarder. There was this rock that she was obsessed with and she fly kicked me right in the face." Rainbow's face was locked in a daze of confusion, staring at Applejack which prompted her to continue. "Y'don't remember that?"
Rainbow shook her profusely. "No. No, I do not remember that at all. I think I would remember Rarity fly kicking you in the face."
"Well, that what's happened. There were plenty more... instances but, from that point onward ah sorta suspected."
Rainbow huffed, shaking her head. "Then there's me who's never seen Rarity do anything like that. Until now."
Fluttershy closed the window behind her. The squirrel in her hands attempted to escape from her iron grasp, clawing at her knuckles. She snuck a look past the bathroom, satisfied that the door to her motel room was still shut and locked.
Cold stinging coming from her knuckles and cuts starting to become unbearable; she swung the little critter against the sharp corner of the counter, stopping it's assault on her hand.
She chucked it in the tub and left the room. She walked over to the drawer next to her queen-sized motel bed.
She pulled open one of the drawers, seeing the wooden handle of one of the knives she stolen. She took it out, holding the bowie knife in hand. It didn't appear to be new, the steel of blade looked to be dark almost like a greyish color; the glint of the knife was nowhere to be seen. It was still sharp, however; if you were to press your finger on the tip of the blade, it would cut quite easily.
She stole this from the supplies a few days ago when Lee and Kenny went out in search of more weapons. In case of the bandits had decided to go frontal assault, they'd have weapons to defend themselves. There wasn't much to choose from, there were three knives and a few firearms they brought back. She didn't keep track of the guns but, she remembered how many knives there were. That was she wanted in the first place.
She doubted anyone would suspect her of anything, she hoped they wouldn't anyway. She held the knife in her hand, her free hand leaking with miniature droplets of blood. She looked over at the door of her room, making herself certain that it was locked. The curtains creaked open slightly nonetheless, she wasn't worried about that.
Fluttershy closed the drawer and retreated into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and turned toward the tub. The squirrel was backed into the curvature of a corner.
She took a step toward the tub, immediately snatching the critter by it's neck when it attempted to run. She tightened her grip slightly, watching the critter's increasingly wild squirming become more erratic.
She threw a quick glance over her shoulder, checking that the door was locked yet again. She did not want to be seen like this. She held the critter against the counter and gently pressed the tip of the blade on the stomach of it's abdomen. Testing the muscles and flesh that kept the stomach in place.
There was a certain feeling that came to mind. Honestly, one that's been there ever since she caught this squirrel. A fluttery cold feeling in her chest, a slight pressure that came whenever you were nervous or anxious. Yet, she wasn't any of those. She was the opposite.
She moved to an entirely new motel room for this, the one further West, away from everyone else. She used to share a room with Pinkie but ever since this squirrel showed up outside their bathroom window, a thought came to her mind. Sort of like an ache.
Initially, she figured she give it some of her rations. It wasn't out of generosity or kindness. She felt nothing whenever she gave the critter some food to eat, it was like she programmed herself to act this way except she felt good when doing it. Now? She didn't feel anything, she didn't feel a warmth or satisfied for doing a good thing. It was nothing, nothing came.
She continued to feed it some food when another thought crossed her mind. How would she feel if she killed it?
When she killed those bandits in that clearing, initially it was frightening, shocking; fear-inducing. However, once the initial wave of shock, that... fear passing it's course... something else came along. That fluttery cold feeling. As if her heart with buzzing with electricity. Looking at the mess she made in that clearing, the massacre she created... and admired.
Why did she feel like this? This seemed very... unprecedented. She's never had thoughts like this before, thoughts of hurting other ponies. In that clearing, she was faced with a life-or-death situation. The bandits were going to take her dignity away and most likely kill her once they were done. Yet, she came out alive, murdered all of them and discovered something new brewing within her.
With the current situation involving the animal, it was more of an inquiry. A question of "what would happen if she killed it"? Would she feel bad? Would she feel the same way she did about the bandits?
Fluttershy applied more pressure to it's stomach, just enough to see the blood beginning to trail down it's abdomen, toward the lower region and suddenly; she found her answer.
"You girls wouldn't happen to know anything about this torch, would you?" Twilight held out the flashlight to Rainbow and Applejack.
The wonderbolt's eyes darted between her friend and the torch before she shook her head. "No. I've never even used that."
"Yeah, me neither, Twi." Applejack shook her head with a frown.
Twilight nodded. "Alright, well thanks anyway, girls." She left them and they continued their conversation prior to her approach.
Twilight's eyes landed on Clementine who appeared to be drawing something with Pinkie Pie. She saw Lee talking with Kenny and Katjaa, he was asking them about the broken torch.
She walked over to Pinkie and Clementine. "Hey,"
The child looked up from her drawing and a smile flew onto her face. "Hey, Twilight,"
Pinkie's gaze tore from her own drawing, toward Twilight and offered a bright smile of her own. "Hey, Twilight!" She got up from her seat and approached her. "What'cha doin'?"
"Nothing, I'm just trying to figure out what happened to the flashlight." Twilight approached Clementine. "Hey, uh, Clementine do you know what happened to this torch?" She held up the item for her to see.
She shook her head. "No, I'm not allowed to touch any of that stuff."
"Okay, just asking. Thank you though." As Twilight began walking away, Pinkie quickly called out to her. "Want some help?"
"Hm? Oh, no. Honestly, I'm just checking to see if anybody knows what happened to it."
"Okey-dokey!" Pinkie started walking back to Clementine. "If you change your mind, come ask me!"
Twilight nodded in response and walked over to the R.V. where Trixie and Ben were keeping watch. "Trixie, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to this, would you?" She held out the torch in her hand.
Trixie pursed her lips and shook her head. "No, I don't." She replied, her eyes half-lidded and head leaning on her palm.
"Ben, do you know?"
The teenager in question shook his head. "I didn't break it."
"Do you know what happened to it?"
"N-no, I've been up here all day."
"Twilight?" Starlight came over, dressed in different attire compared to her training gear. "What you up to?"
"Nothing, just trying to figure out what happen to this thing." Twilight tapped torch and handed it to her student. "By the way, I don't suppose you know anything about it; would you?"
Starlight shook her head as she inspected object. "No but, uh, there is some glass over there." She handed it back to her mentor and pointed on the other side of the motor inn, near the ice machine.
"Oh, thanks, Starlight." Twilight marched toward the other side of the motor inn with Starlight following after her.
"What are you even doing anyway? I mean, why are you even interested in this torch? We have plenty of other ones if you need."
"Lilly had me look into it. Me and Lee." As they approached the other side, Twilight noticed the shards of glass scattered on ground.
"How is she doing?" Starlight said, folding her arms.
Twilight sighed, kneeling down and examining the shards of glass. "How do you think? She thinks somebody is stealing supplies."
Starlight frowned. "Really?"
"Yes. Really."
There was a pause. "Do you believe her?" Her student suddenly asked.
Twilight stood up and shrugged. "I'm not certain but, there may be some truth to it. Pinkie brought up a point about the bandits, however. She said maybe the reason for them not attacking us anymore is due to someone giving them supplies."
A troubled look found it's way onto Starlight's face, frowning and eyes widening slightly.
"She could be onto something." Twilight shrugged.
"Does anybody else know about this?" Her student stepped closer, lowering her voice.
"No, just me and Lee... and now you, I suppose. We haven't told Lilly yet, last thing she needs is paranoia material. Again, it's just a theory but, it's what happened at the St. Johns."
"Trade with them then they stop attacking us."
Twilight shook her head with a frown and a moment passed. "We're holding off on pointing fingers. For now, we're just trying to figure out what happened to the torch."
Starlight looked at the woods, pass the barricade for a moment. As she was about to look away, something out of her peripherals piqued her interest. She glanced to her right and a saw a large cross drawn in pink on the wall. "Hey." She pointed, walking over to the sign.
Twilight frowned and followed her.
"What is this about?" Twilight stepped closer and drew a line with her finger; smearing the cross. "It's chalk."
"Pink! Hmm..." Startled, they turned over at the source and saw Duck staring at the cross.
"What are you doing?" Starlight asked, her voice slightly raised as she threw an annoyed look at the boy. Lee came over with an equally annoyed look.
"Girls," he gave a simple greeting.
"Looks like you've found a partner." Twilight snickered.
Lee ignored her comment. "Did you find anything?"
"That." Twilight gestured at the cross. "Don't know what it means, could be a signal or marking most likely."
"Maybe. What do you think a signal could be for?" Lee asked, observing the marking.
Twilight's eyes became thoughtful. "I... dunno. Merely speculation uh... marked for completion?"
"Completion. Maybe-" Starlight stopped herself, eyeing Duck.
"Hey, uh, Duck... why don't you go over there and see what else you can find?" Lee suggested, noticing Starlight.
"Good idea! I'll get on it as soon as possible!" Duck ran off, leaving the trio behind.
Starlight sighed and rolled her eyes. "Anyways as I was saying, it might mean that... the trading is complete or something? As in someone handed over a share of the supplies today?"
"Could be," Lee stated as he continued to observe the marking.
Blood leaked off of the blade. Fluttershy observed the droplets that dripped from it. The mutilated squirrel laid in a pile of itself in the sink. It's guts, stomach, intestines ripped from it's abdomen, all piled in one big clump of meat.
Fluttershy felt confused but, yet also jubilated. When she first made the incision, there was a piece of her that did not want to go through with it. A little hesitation in her cut, a slight twitch of her hand that wanted her to stop. However, once she saw the exposed flesh underneath the fur and skin; shielded behind it was what looked to be organs comfortably tucked inside.
She poked and prodded at it, moving it around. Squeezing it a bit before finally opening the whole package. That was when all apprehension ceased to exist. She thought it was fun and also slightly humorous. To see all those red sacks of squishy meat, stuff that was put together just to be torn apart beyond repair caused a smirk to stretch across her lips; knowing that this animal was maimed and there was no hope of fixing it.
Twilight and Starlight walked over to the dumpster where Lee and Duck stood. "What'd you guys find?" Starlight asked, throwing her hands on her hips.
"Here." Duck held out his palm, displaying a pink chalk. "I found it underneath the dumpster, look." He pointed beneath it, showing them the seasonings of pink chalk.
"Odd." Starlight plainly responded, quirking her eyebrows and looking elsewhere.
"Yeah, totally!" Much to her dismay, the child began rambling to her about topics that had nothing to do with the task at hand.
Meanwhile, Twilight knelt down and eyed the scrapings of pink chalk. "Lee, help me with this." Twilight got up and began pushing aside the dumpster; opening the barricade.
"And that was it! Also, there was this thing-"
"Yeah, sure," Starlight interrupted the child, stepping closer to Twilight. "So, what are we thinking exactly? We're just gonna go and wander about?" She asked, directing her look at Lee and Twilight.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, you just wait here. Me and Lee will take a look around."
"Alright then," her student replied.
Lee looked at Duck. "Hey, stay here with Starlight. Seriously, I mean it this time."
"Okay." The child shrugged.
Twilight and Lee left the motor inn, walking out onto the sidewalk. After a few moments of searching the area, they approached a grate on the side of the wall, near the far end of the motor inn by the balcony side.
Twilight knelt and pulled the grate open. There was bag sitting comfortably inside the miniscule room. Frowning, she pulled the bag from the vent and looked inside. She let out a low gasp when her eyes immediately captured the pill bottles along with a couple of packet chips.
She met Lee's gaze and discovered the same troubled look on his face as she did.
"I guess we have our proof," Twilight confirmed.
They both stood there, staring at the bag. Lee looked out at the woods for a moment. "Let's get back inside before they notice us," he said.
Twilight nodded. "Right, let's go."
Trixie watched as Lee and Twilight entered the motor inn. She noticed the disturbed expressions on their faces and frowned. They were holding a brown bag and from her angle, it appeared to be packed.
"Oh shit," Came the silent murmur beside her and she turned to find Ben with an anxious look on his face.
"What's the matter with you?" Trixie asked.
"What!? Oh, nothing! It's nothing, f-forget it!" Ben replied, looking away.
Trixie raised a brow. "You... sure?"
"Yes! I'm sure!"
She huffed, rolling her eyes. This kid was too anxious for his own good, he rivals Fluttershy. She held up her hands in surrender. "My apologies." Picking up the hunting rifle and settling it on her lap; bouncing her leg up and down.
She looked over her shoulder to see Lee and Twilight entering Lilly's room. The door closed behind them. She looked back over to the woods, seeing nobody by the trees before sighing. Her shift was nearly up, someone else would take over soon. That's what lookout mainly consisted of, just sitting on top of the R.V. doing practically nothing.
Trixie always grew tired of the role, she didn't necessarily want to do it but, she guessed she might as well do something. If there was a bar or meter that kept tracked of how productive you were within the group, she'd wager she'd be at the bottom of the list. The last three people. Clementine and Duck didn't count, of course.
Someone would probably bring it up to her, complain that she "wasn't pulling her weight". She figured this would be a fairly easy role, keep watch. A boring role at that. She needed to do something otherwise someone might voice their disapproval on it.
However, nothing happened while doing this. Absolutely nothing. She might as well have been sitting and staring at the ground.
A flicker of movement coming from the trees, shook her out of her thoughts and she glanced over. Probably just another animal. As usual.
She picked up the rifle and pointed it at the trees. As soon as she did however, something appeared inside of her scope. Not just something but, someone. A head, fully covered with a bandana and glasses was staring right at her.
She ripped her head away from the scope just in time to see a group of people, covered from head to toe emerge from the trees. Five in total. One of them, probably the leader was shouting, giving out orders and demanding where the supplies were. Her eyes weren't focused on the people, however, they were locked onto the weapons they were holding.
Most of them had guns, rifles and one pistol. The other had a crossbow.
On instinct, Trixie drew her firearm on one of them and pressed the trigger. A loud crack rang out, shaking the rifle in her grasp. Suddenly, cracks just like the one that exploded from her rifle began exploding throughout the street.
As she jumped out of her seat, a blunt force shot through her shoulder; forcing her to fall backward and topple over the R.V. and slam into the concrete below.
The Fall Of The Motor Inn
Immediately after firing the first shot, Trixie heard a whoosh followed by heavy impact in her shoulder as if a bull had rammed head first into her. She flew back, tripping over the extendable chair and fell off the R.V. Slammed into the concrete.
As Trixie attempted to push herself up, she yelped when a burning sharp sting shot through her shoulder. That was when she noticed the thin piece of wood in view. She looked down, her breath leaving her body as saw the arrow that was protruding out of her right shoulder. She stared in disbelief, her eyes wide open.
Using her other shoulder, she pushed herself into a seating position and crawled closer to the back of the R.V.
"Trixie!" Came a shout and Twilight appeared in her view, instantly noticing the arrow. "Oh dear..." she breathlessly muttered.
"Everybody get behind cover!" Kenny zoomed around the corner. "Shit, Trixie! Y'alright!?"
"Does it look like I'm alright!?" She gritted out, her hand clutching around her wounded shoulder.
"Alright, alright, fuck! Ah'm gonna try and get this thing up and runnin'! Y'all just stay behind cover! Twilight, you got a gun!?"
Twilight pulled out a standard pistol, not bothering to say anything before she took her place by the left corner of the R.V. Using the large vehicle for balance, Trixie slowly pushed herself up, her arm quivering heavily. Once she successfully stood up, she entered the vehicle and sat on the couch, letting out a sigh of relief.
Lee came out with a hunting rifle, taking position by the right corner of the R.V.
Hands shaking, breath twisted in irregular patterns, Twilight gripped the handle tightly before she popped out of cover and fired at the first thing she saw. A maskless bandit, bearded, middle-aged man climbing over the barricade.
Starlight slipped, sliding into cover as the whizzing of bullets and arrows flew past her head. She hoped the pile of junk she was hiding behind would act as cover but, reality would say otherwise. "Oh Celestia... s-s-shit!"
With an unwavering, immense amount of pressure in her chest, she reached down into the hem of her jeans only to find nothing. Eyes bulging out of their sockets, her hands felt around, a grim realization falling down on her. Her gun wasn't there.
"A-a-ah fuck!" She exclaimed. A few inches away in front of her, a small hole exploded in the ground causing her to flinch heavily.
She curled in on herself, making sure the rest of the debris covered the entirety of her figure. It wasn't going to last long, it was being ripped apart by everything that touched it. She'd have to make a run for it. The only thing she could see was the R.V. and a few other precarious things she could use as cover.
Problem was they were near the motel rooms, on the other side of the whole establishment. Opposed to where she was, near the barricade where the bandits were coming from. It would be suicide trying to run for any of them.
Twilight suddenly popped from around the corner of the R.V. with a pistol and fired a few shots.
Her mentor noticed her. "Starlight!?" As she called out to her student, an arrow shot past her and she fell back into cover.
The arrows and bullets that were keeping her company died down. She didn't want to take any chances however, she was not going to run back to the R.V. unless Twilight gave her the all clear.
A few moments later, Twilight emerged from the R.V. and fired a few more shots overhead. She lowered her gun, she appeared to be analyzing the area. "Okay, Starlight! You're okay, come on!" She gestured for her to run, keeping her gun lowered.
Starlight wasted no time and floored toward her mentor. Suddenly, her mentor's face plummeted and she raised her gun. "DOWN!" She shouted. She ducked, keeping her head low as Twilight fired a couple more shots. Starlight immediately jumped off the ground and sprinted the rest of the way, finally diving behind the R.V.
"Starlight, you okay!?" Twilight exclaimed, her gun lowered.
She nodded. "Yeah, yeah... I-I'm good." She held up her hands. "I don't have guns though, it probably fell out of my pocket when I fell."
Twilight gave a tremble nod. "Okay, okay, t-that's okay. Uh." She looked around before ushering over to the door to the R.V. "Just get into the R.V. Wait there for the time being."
"Alright, you'll be okay out here?"
"I'll be fine, Lee's got me covered." Twilight took her position by the corner once again.
Starlight nodded once more before piling into the vehicle.
Her eyes widened when her they landed on Trixie, more specifically, her pierced shoulder. "Trixie!?" She exclaimed, walking over to the built in sofa where her friend sat. She knelt down, her hands hovering over the arrow.
Trixie slapped her hand around Starlight's wrist. "Do not touch it!" She grunted out through gritted teeth.
"We're gonna have to get this thing out of you, Trix-."
"Yes, I know, Starlight! I know! I'm not stupid, you imbecile!" She shouted, nodding vehemently.
"Okay, alright." Starlight gave a series of nods herself when she looked over at the door to see Fluttershy coming in. She frowned, noticing her blood-soaked hands. "Fluttershy!?" She stood up to meet her. "You okay? You're hands..."
"I'm fine." The girl simply said, her face motionless.
"You sure? You don't look fine, you got blood all over your hands!"
"I said I'm fine ." Fluttershy's eyes locked onto Starlight's unblinkingly and never straying away. She noticed the slow work of the usually-timid girl's jaw before relenting.
Fluttershy kept her gaze on the girl for a little while longer before she finally glanced outside past the windows. She observed the carnage, the bandits flooding in endlessly and ruthlessly; firing at everyone who happened to be within their sights.
Something else captured her gaze, multiple of them as they slowly trudged in and took the bandits by surprise. Sinking their rotten jaws into their flesh.
Rainbow fired her shotgun at the bandit, his chest exploding in a mist of red meat and liquid. She ducked into cover and repeated the same thing with next bandit. Over the excitement she was getting from the chaos, the pain in her leg completely subsided almost as if it were never there in the first place. "BRING IT ON, BITCH!" She roared.
"Rainbow, for Celestia's sake! Perhaps, you should calm down before you end up getting shot again!" Rarity exclaimed, leaning against the dumpster with a pistol in hand.
"ARE YOU KIDDING!? THIS IS A-FUCKING-MAZING!" Rainbow dove back into cover after she fired another shot.
"EXCUSE ME!?" Rarity exclaimed, her voice coming out close to a shriek.
"THIS IS FUN AS ALL HELL!" Rainbow let out a bellowing cry, it was mixture between a scream and laughter; her head shaking from side to side.
"You are not being serious! Have you completely lost your mind!?" Rarity flinched as an arrow sped past her head.
Rainbow scoffed, a small chuckle falling past her lips. "ARE YOU SERIOUS!? WHAT ARE YOU MAD AT ME FOR!?"
"This isn't a game, Rainbow Dash! This is real life! We are in a life or death situation and you're laughing as if this is some sort of-"
"Rarity, for landsakes, just shuddup and focus on the bandits! We can talk about this later!" Applejack shouted.
"Oh yes! Focus on the bandits meanwhile we've got a deranged sociopath right next to us!" Rarity peeked over the edge of the dumpster, just in time to see a walker grab one of the bandits from behind.
A mechanical roar echoed beneath the chaos and they glanced at the R.V. Soon after, Kenny came out. "EVERYBODY, LET'S GET FUCKIN' MOVIN'! INTO THE R.V.!"
"Go, I'll cover you!" Rainbow exclaimed, firing her shotgun once more.
"What do ya mean!?" Applejack scowled, taking a quick glance at the bandits. It seemed as though they had forgotten about the motor inn occupants entirely due to the oncoming herd of walkers. "Rainbow, they're distracted! Let's get movin'!"
"Just go then!"
"What the hell're you doin!? The bandits are distracted, Dash! Come on!"
"THEN GO!" Rainbow shouted, a scowl on her face and seemingly annoyed herself.
"Oh for landsakes, Rainbow!" Applejack grabbed Rainbow by the neck, pulling her along effortlessly as she ran toward the R.V. "Quit bein' so damn stupid! You tryin' to die or somethin'!? What in Tartarus is the matter with you!?"
Rainbow grunted but didn't respond. Soon enough, they made it over to the vehicle unharmed.
"You girls okay!?" Twilight asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Yeah, we're good... for the most part." Applejack replied before Rainbow and Rarity entered the vehicle.
Twilight nodded and stepped over to the door. "Okay, good. Let's go."
Lilly jumped in, seconds after they entered.
"Everyone here!?" Kenny loudly inquired, looking back from the driver's seat.
"Yeah, just go! Drive!" Lilly responded.
With no more warning, Kenny shifted the gear into reverse and backed up a few meters. Once satisfied with the distance, he slammed on the accelerator and rammed through the barricade; onto the road.
"Wait! Wait! Wait for me, please!" Pinkie Pie ran out into the open, abandoning her cover. "TWILIGHT!" She shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth to create an echo affect. Walkers had fully integrated in the motor inn, forcing her to stop in her tracks.
Not wanting to get bitten or injured by them, she backed up as those closest to her began to take notice. Those who were not already feasting on the bandits. She could technically take them on, being physically stronger than all of them, but she quivered in her shoes whenever she got close to one.
She could still hear cries of a couple of bandits as they were being consumed alive by the corpses around her. As the surrounding her began to get closer, Pinkie found herself pushed up against the wall of the motor inn; the inhuman growls of the walkers, their rotten vocal cords filling her ears as she found herself stuck in place. A sea of the dead was all she saw, the malnourished corpses plodded closer to her. Her mind filled with a black void, not knowing what to do.
The R.V. zoomed down the road. The interior of the vehicle ran high with emotions, chaotic chatter echoing throughout.
"What the hell was that about!? They just attacked us out of nowhere!?" Rarity exclaimed, sitting by the table by the back end of the vehicle.
"Everybody stay calm," Lilly urged.
"Calm!? How do you stay calm after that!?"
"We need to find supplies, Trixie's still got an arrow stuck in her!" Starlight said, sitting beside her friend on the built in couch.
"I can deal with it!" The girl in question gritted out, her hand still clutching to her injured shoulder.
"No, she's right." Twilight interjected. "You need to get that treated soon, otherwise it's gonna get infected."
"Trixie is perfectly fine with that!" The magician stubbornly retorted, Twilight simply rolled her eyes.
"What the hell are we gonna do now!?" Ben exclaimed. "We have nowhere to go! We're homeless!"
"Exactly! Are we gonna be living in this tiny miniscule trailer from now on!?" Rarity added.
"Oh Celest-..." Twilight rubbed her forehead, swiping her hair out of her face and gave a quick sigh. "Everybody settle down!" She yelled. "Look, we're fine right now. There's no reason to be panicking, everybody is fine. We got away, the bandits aren't chasing us, there were even walkers attacking them. There's no reason to be panicking!" She earnestly concluded.
"Actually, no there is." Lilly grimly replied, her voice deep and slightly scratchy. A deep glare on her face. "We just lost everything because someone here, in this very R.V. was giving the bandits supplies." As she revealed this piece of information, the chatter gradually became quiet. "The reason why they attacked was because they didn't get their last care package."
"What are you kidding!?" Rainbow exclaimed, leaning forward on the table with her elbow propped up.
"No." Twilight shook her head, frowning. "She isn't."
"We found a bag of supplies hidden outside the barricade," Lee gravely added. "It was filled with meds."
"There you go." Lilly stared at Ben, sitting by the table on the opposite end to Rainbow. "So, Ben, is there something you wish to tell us?"
"W-what!? What do you mean!? I-I-"
"Woah, hang on a sec, let's just take it easy before we start accusin' each other of anythin'," Applejack said, holding out her hand. Sitting beside Ben.
"Hang on!? AJ, they just said someone was trading with the bandits! What are you talking about hang on!?" Rainbow exclaimed.
"There's a better way to go about this." Twilight interrupted. "We only have proof, that is it. We don't know who it is. So, instead of blindly accusing people, we should give them the opportunity to confess."
Rainbow scowled. "Really!?"
"They're not going to confess to shit, Twilight! Besides, I do know who it is!" Lilly countered.
"No, you don't. Somebody was stealing supplies, you're only going off of blind accusations! Give them the opportunity to confess! It'll better if they aren't pressured through interrogation!"
"I agree with that," Lee suddenly said. "I'm pretty sure if someone was more comfortable than scared, they'd confess."
"Oh, screw that!" Rainbow launched across the table, snatching Ben by his collar and pulled him closer. "Was it you!? Was it!? Were you sneaking over supplies!? Huh!?"
"W-w-what!? N-no! I didn't-"
"Rainbow-" Applejack shoved the wonderbolt back into her seat. "-back off! Now!"
Rainbow stared up at the farmer and scoffed. She rubbed at her denim vest, her hand sliding across her chest where she had just been pushed. "You seriously gonna stick up for him!? This backwoods bandit freak!?" Rainbow pointed at the teen who was trembling in his seat.
"You don't even know if it was him or not. You need to calm down." Applejack sternly replied, holding her gaze.
"You know..." Starlight started, leaning forward on the couch. "We aren't gonna get anywhere if we beat each other to a pulp. Why don't we just stop for a second, just a quick second and think about this?"
"What is there to think about, Starlight!?" Lilly angrily inquired. "We found the supplies, all that's left is to sniff out the culprit and deal with him!"
"And how do you suggest we deal with them?" Lee asked.
Lilly remained silent for a few moments, her glare staying remaining on Lee's gaze. "By-"
The vehicle suddenly rocked, a loud bang as if something had exploded, causing everyone to stumble.
"The hell was that!?" Rainbow exclaimed.
"Ah hit somethin'! We gotta stop!" Kenny shouted from the driver's seat.
"Perfect! The perfect time to deal with this!" Rainbow turned her head toward Ben who avoided her eyes.
Lilly's eyes fell upon Ben whom the teen also refused to meet her gaze. Everyone, with the exception of Rainbow Dash and Lilly, threw uneasy looks at one another as the R.V. began to slow down.
"Is it clear?" Lilly asked, once the vehicle pulled to a full stop.
"Yeah, all good!"
"Everybody out! Now!" The woman exited the vehicle, a heavy weight sitting on everyone's shoulders. The group reluctantly left their spots on the vehicle and stepped out, the cold breeze meeting them immediately.
"Absolutely wonderful, we're stranded out here in the middle of nowhere. Freezing temperature, no jacket. So marvelous." Rarity muttered, rubbing at her exposed shoulders, wearing a maroon colored tank top. She'd have gotten changed into more suitable clothing had it not been for her spar with Starlight and the bandits attacking them out of nowhere.
"Yeah, well, you can thank Ben for that." Rainbow replied, seemingly overhearing what she said as she limped out of the vehicle afterward.
"I-it wasn't-"
"Shut up!" Rainbow shouted.
"Yeah because yelling over the top of your lungs is definitely not going to attract the walkers." Starlight remarked.
"And you shut up too!" Rainbow flicked her finger at her, Starlight's eyes narrowed afterward "I'm tired of hearing your bullshit complaining!"
"You need to pull that stick out of your flank, Rainbow. I think it's starting to annoy you."
Rainbow stepped up to her forcing Starlight to back up. "You wanna say that again?"
"Are you threatening me?" Starlight smirked in disbelief. When the wonderbolt simply scowled at her, she continued. "You know, I remember when I went hoof-to-hoof with Twilight in magic and came out on top. What do you expect to do against me with that little injured leg of yours?"
Rainbow went to throw a punch, her fist hovered in mid-air and she noticed the faint glow of pink around it. Applejack got between them and pushed back the wonderbolt.
Twilight stepped forward. "This-" She started, her tone leaving no room for discussion. She gestured at the air between Starlight and Rainbow. "-whatever this is, is stopping. Now." She tossed hard stares at both girls, her jaw tightening as she did.
Starlight relented, holding up her hands and backed away. "I apologize. I was only saying that screaming at the top of our lungs isn't exactly a good idea, you know since we're on the side of the road at night and all."
"Besides that, how do you even know it was him? How do we know that it wasn't you?" Carley folded her arms.
"Because I would know if I was handing over supplies that we barely have to the bandits." Rainbow spat out, facing the reporter with a scowl. "And I would not trade anything with those bastards because of what they did to Fluttershy."
"Was it both of you?" Lilly asked, her expression equally as vicious as Rainbow's.
"What are you talking about!?" Carley exclaimed, an incredulous look thrown onto her face.
"I've seen you two together before, talking, acting shady, was it both of you!?" The brunette's eyes budged as she stared them down. Her voice raised.
"I bet it was, I know it wasn't any of us!" Rainbow added.
Applejack stepped forward, planting her hand on her friend's shoulder. It was quickly smacked away by her as she turned to face her. "Do not touch me, AJ." Rainbow said, her voice oddly steady and low.
The farmer locked onto her gaze unblinkingly, never breaking eye contact. "Dash, you need to stop and settle down."
Starlight scoffed but, stayed silent.
Twilight sighed through her nose. "What did I just say Rainbow? You want to continue fighting over trivial matters?"
"How is it trivial? How is having a traitor in our group trivial?" Rainbow asked.
"You know what I'm talking about. Don't act stupid, Dash."
"Then why are you trying to minimize the situation, Twilight!?" Rainbow shouted, turning away from Applejack. "You say let them confess well, look at them! They're not even saying anything!"
"B-b-but, it wasn't me! I swear!" Ben exclaimed.
"To hell with you, Ben. You're a fuckin' liar!" Lilly spat.
"Damn right you are!" Rainbow added.
"I did it!" Everyone turned to Lee, looks of confusion and bewilderment.
"What!?" Lilly said.
"Lee?" Twilight asked, giving him a confused frown.
"Yeah, it was me! Can you two settle down now!?"
"No, you're lying." The brunette shook her head. "I'm not stupid, you wouldn't do that. Not with her in her life." Lilly glanced at Clementine standing by the doorway.
"Then who was it!? Ben, Carley if it was you, just tell us so we can deal with this!" Rarity snapped.
"T-tell you what!? They'll kill me!" Ben exclaimed.
"So, it was you!?" Rainbow shouted.
"NO!"
"This is seriously getting out of hand! I didn't even do anything!" Carley frantically glanced around the group, holding her palms out in front of her.
"Seriously, we're all yelling again." Starlight interjected. "Walkers, hello!? On the side of the road here!?"
"Exactly while they're all screaming, there could be a herd in these woods hearing all of th-"
A loud crack exploded with a flash of light causing them to flinch. They turned to see Lilly holding a pistol, a dark expression over folded over her face. Carley laid on the ground, unmoving and blood pouring from her head.
Applejack grabbed Lilly's wrist, snatching the gun from her grasp and shoved her back.
Nobody said anything, locked in place by what had just happened like an invisible entity was holding them in place. Staring, eyes budging out of their sockets, mouths slightly agape.
"Kenny! What's happenin-"
"Keep Duck away from the windows, Jesus Christ!" Kenny exclaimed, cutting off Katjaa during mid sentence, coming over to the group. "Get in! We're leavin' this crazy bitch!"
"What was that-" The words stopped abruptly from leaving Trixie's mouth as the magician leaned against the doorframe for assistance. Her eyes stuck on Carley's corpse.
"Leave her!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "What do you mean leave her!? She did exactly what we should do!"
Everybody who was still stuck in the entranced state was suddenly pulled out of it. Their gazes flew over to Rainbow, heavy frowns and eyes that said "We can no longer trust you".
"You aren't serious... you're don't mean that," Applejack said.
"No. I do mean it."
Rarity shook her head, sucking in her lips with a hard bite. "I told you. Sociopath! Sociopath! She has lost her mind completely! Absolutely unhinged!" She pointed wildly at the element of loyalty.
"I'm not unhinged! I'm doing what I have to to protect the group!" Rainbow fired back.
"By killing one of-pfft! You have lost your mind, Dash! Ever since being here, you've been slowly losing your mind and becoming borderline delusional! You've become a soulless, maniacal husk of what you once were!" She clapped her hands together in a swift and heavy motion that sent out a loud crack before stepping over to Twilight. "I can't do this anymore, Twilight! I can't!" Rarity was now breathing erratically, her shoulders all the way down to her legs were vibrating heavily.
"Rarity, just clam down," Twilight gently said.
Generosity shook her head adamantly. "No, no, no. I won't. I won't! Not while this-" she threw her finger at Rainbow. "-psychopath is near us! You wanna know what she was doing at the motor inn!? While we were being shot at, scared for our lives! She was laughing and enjoying it! She was laughing, Twilight! Laughing, killing ponies-p-p-people while doing it!" She then pointed at Applejack. "Applejack was there! She saw it!" She turned toward the farmer, her eyes pleading with her. "You saw it! She was a complete lunatic! Am I lying!? Am I lying!?"
Applejack softly clasp her hands around the fashionista's shoulders, looking dearly into her friend's eyes. "Sugarcube, just go back into the R.V., alright? We'll sort this out."
Rarity swatted her hands away, furiously shaking her head. "No, no, no, NO! I'm not going back in there if they're there!"
"So what are you saying right now?" Twilight asked.
"We leave them behind!" The air amongst the Equestrian suddenly became difficult to hold, a heavy realization, one that was too astronomically big for them to comprehend weighed down on their shoulders. "Just like Kenny said! Leave them on the side of the road!"
Twilight was now the one shaking her head. "No... no, hang on, Rarity-"
"No, she's right!" Kenny interjected. "They're too fuckin' dangerous, she just killed Carley and now she-" He pointed at Rainbow. "-is saying that she was right in doin' what she did! Fuck that! Ah've got a family to protect and ah ain't gonna have these murderers with us while our backs are turned!" The man shouted, concluding what he had to say.
"W-wait, just hold on a second-"
"No! 'Ole Rainbow here was literally just about to throwdown with Starlight, one of her friends and then soon after, ah come to found out from her-" He flicked his head toward Rarity. "-that she's goddamn serial killer! It's one thing when it's bandits but, it's another when one of ours!"
"I didn't kill anybody!" Rainbow exclaimed, her face caught in a scowl.
"Don't fuckin' backtrack now! We all heard what you were sayin'! You ain't gettin' in that R.V.!"
"No, wait!" Twilight exclaimed, her chest beginning to thump was pressure. "Wait, just-w-we can work this out-"
"Ain't nothin' to work out, they ain't comin' with us! Even your pal, she's uncomfortable with her!" He gestured at Rarity. "And what? Y'all are like the elements-or whatever the fuck, y'all are supposed to be close but, yet here y'all are! How do you think ah feel!?"
Twilight found herself unable to respond as if her lips had been sewn shut. From all she's been given, everything that had just been said, she didn't know how to refute or disprove. Something that would change their minds. Instead, nothing. Nothing came out, her brain worked on overdrive looking for something. Something to pull up and convince them to let Rainbow stay. With that heavy pressure on her chest, the slow tremble in her hands... nothing came up and she turned to Lee for help who appeared as though his mind had already been made up. "L-Lee?"
With a deep apologetic frown, he turned to Twilight. "I'm sorry, Twilight but-"
Twilight shook her head. "No, no." She turned toward Rarity who's gaze was targeted toward the dirt below them, her arms crossed over one another. She stepped over to her. "Rarity, you don't-... you don't mean that!" Generosity said nothing as she stared at the ground. "Rarity! Come on! We've-we've been through a lot together! We saved Equestria thousands of times! We've been through everything together, you can't just... you don't mean that!" She pleaded.
Rarity stayed quiet for a few moments, a hard stare at the ground. She drew in a deep inhale which left through her nose. "I don't feel comfortable around her, Twilight." With a quick shake of her head, she concluded. "I just... can't. Not anymore..." A few tear trails escaped her eyes and she turned away and sniffed.
The farmer beside her gingerly placed her hand on the crying girl's shoulders.
"Applejack?" Twilight searched the farmer's eyes for any sort of reassurance.
With a conflicted frown, Honesty found herself struggling to meet the girl's eyes. "Ah... Twilight-"
Twilight turned toward Trixie, ignoring the farmer's reasoning. The magician stood against the doorframe, meeting her gaze before shaking her head. "What? I won't lie, I agree." She let out a low groan, the sharp pain in her shoulder ahcing as she adjusted herself on the frame.
"Do all of you feel this way!?" Twilight glanced around the group, at Starlight and Fluttershy. "Starlight? Fluttershy?"
Starlight pursed her lips, frowning and she tucked her hands into the pockets of her black fleece jacket. "Maybe, we could... I don't know... tie them up and bring them with us?"
"No, ah ain't lettin' them in that R.V." Kenny retorted.
"And you have the final say?" Rainbow interjected, the scowl no longer there but, replaced by a frown.
"Yeah, ah fuckin' do! Considerin' ah fixed the damn thing in the first place!"
Silence rung out around them, not even the rustling of leaves was enough to break through.
"I think we should let them stay." Eyes landed on the bloody girl who had been silent throughout the whole ordeal.
"You!? Naw, ah already said no!" Kenny exclaimed.
"They can be useful," Fluttershy replied.
"Yeah, for stabbin' ya in the back!"
Applejack drew in a deep breath as she elsewhere. While the group debated on whether or not, they should leave Rainbow and Lilly behind; in which, she didn't want to. Rainbow, at least. She didn't want to leave her behind however, that was merely one part of her. Others were saying something different, saying she was too dangerous. She might kill one of them. She was sporadic, careless.
She was too unpredictable. Applejack had thought that she would never lay a hoof or hand on one of them, one of their friends. But, after the little confrontation between Starlight and Rainbow? She was wrong, Applejack didn't know anymore. She thought Rainbow would've been more aggressive toward the others, the humans but, not them. Their friends.
The farmer frowned when her eyes caught something... or rather lack thereof. She began glancing around, at Twilight, at Fluttershy, Rarity, everyone, the whole area they were surrounded by.
She walked over to the R.V., entering it. Her eyes scanned the interior only to find nothing. The room was void of anyone else, nothing by cabinets, a sink, a couch. There was no one there. She left the vehicle, rubbing at her head and her Stetson fell off. She looked down the road they just came down, a sinking feeling in her chest.
"Applejack, what's the matter?" Twilight came over with a frown of her own.
"Where... where's Pinkie Pie?" As soon as those words fell from her mouth, Twilight's eyes widened as the color drained from her face.
Pinkie Pie panted, her legs carrying her through the woods. She didn't know how long she had been running for. She escaped the motor inn through one of the rooms, exiting out through the windows. The only thing in front of her were woods and a herd full of flesh-craving monsters behind her.
She slowed down to a stop and panted. She turned behind her, from where she came. Trees were the only thing she saw, no walker, nor animal was in sight. The crunching of leaves underneath her work boots were all she heard, that and the occasional that blew past her.
Deciding that it was safe, she scanned her surroundings. As with every other direction, trees filled her eyes. Every where she looked, every way she turned were nothing but trees and brushes.
Her friends were gone, they left her behind. Not intentionally but, still. She was alone. No weapons to defend herself with. She was chased into a forest where she was now lost.
Pinkie Pie stood there for a moment, aimlessly glancing in every direction. Subconsciously, she was debating. Debating on which way to go. She needed to get to the road, issue was that she didn't know where. Whatever direction it was in. Even then, when she did get to the road, it was going to be a problem. She didn't even know where her friends had gone, whatever route they took. Kenny's destination was unknown to her. Perhaps if she tried hard enough, she might be able to remember if he had said anything about it.
She tugged on her brown leather jacket, zipping it all the way up as she began to feel cold. For a while she stayed there, her mind futilely coming up with theories. She withdrew an unsteady sigh before she wandered further into the woods, hoping she'll meet the road at some point.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Starlight Glimmer levitated the crate onto her desk in her room. The sun was in the sky, blaring over ponyville. It was late in the afternoon, she received a letter from her father saying that he was going to have some of her old stuff delivered to her.
She sat down in her chair and began emptying the crate. The first few things she pulled out were a couple of her old figurines that she used to play with when she was a filly. They mainly consisted of ponies dressed dark black armor with a swords. Some of them looked like normal knights, dressed in golden armor. "Aw, look at that... thanks dad." she muttered to herself as she moved them over to the side, in the left corner of the table.
"Okay... what else?" She got up from her seat, getting a better look inside the crate. Nothing too important, just a couple of old books, dusty old board games and scrolls that were stacked neatly against each other.
She started with the books first, pulling them out of the crate and stacking them into a neat pile. She noted to have them sorted in alphabetical order once she was done unloading the rest.
Next was the board games. There was only a few so it didn't long to clear out the crate and stack them into a pile.
"Okay!" She said, sighing. "Time for the scrolls." She levitated all of the scrolls from the crate, finally emptying it. To make more room, she removed the crate from the desk and replaced it with the scrolls.
Suddenly, her door opened, slamming against the wall; startling her. "Oh my Celestia! Haven't you heard of... Trixie!?"
"Hello Starlight!" The cobalt mare happily greeted as she walked into her friend's room. "What are you doing?"
Starlight rolled her eyes. "Oh, nothing." The mare looked down at the crate and picked it up with her magic. "Just going through some of my old stuff. My dad decided to have it shipped over to me." She plopped the crate down over in a corner.
"Oh, how thoughtful of him." Trixie, the mischievous mare began looking over her friend's items. Her eyes landed on the figurines in particular. "Huh, you used to play with dolls." The mare's pink aura developed around one of the figurines, lifting it from the table.
"Actually, they're called action figures..." Starlight ripped the toy from her friend's magical grip with her own magic. "Not dolls." She set the toy down on top of her bookshelf. "Besides, doesn't every filly play with dolls?"
"Yeah but don't those look more... boy-ish?"
"I didn't exactly care, I just thought they looked really cool."
"Oh well, hey! What are these?" Trixie looked over the scrolls and began unrolling them.
"Scrolls."
"Yeah, but of what though?" Trixie began reading the scroll she began unrolling earlier.
"Just a couple of old spells... don't exactly need them anymore."
Trixie read over the scroll, she slowly became disinterested as it started talking about manifesting objects... something that she had already learnt how to do; thanks to Starlight.
She moved it to the side then moved onto a different scroll. This one talked about teleportation, much to her disappointment. Teleportation spells, only the strongest unicorns could pull off magic like that. Unicorns like, Starlight, Twilight Sparkle or Starswirl The Bearded could pull off spells like this.
With a groan, she moved the scroll to the side, next to the other scroll.
"Uhh... Starlight?" Trixie read through the scroll. The text talked about a trans-dimensional warp spell, constructed by Starswirl The Bearded himself. A trans-dimensional warp spell!?
"Yeah?" Her friend called out, she was organising the books she stacked earlier.
"What is this?" She showed the mare the piece of paper, stuffing it in her face; forcing the pink mare to step back.
"How about not kiss my my face with it?" Starlight took the scroll from her friend and began reading it. Her expression changed, going from stunned to conflicted. "Where did you find this!?"
Trixie blinked. "Uhh... it was by your-" she didn't get to finish when Starlight ran past her and out of her room. "-stuff..."
"Oh wow! Really!? A dimensional warp spell!?" Twilight exclaimed as she took the scroll from Starlight's magical grip.
"Yeah, can't remember where I found it. It was like a long-long time ago." Starlight explained.
"Yes and as usual, the credit goes to me, Tr-r-rixie." The great and powerful mare boasted.
"You really can't remember where you found this?" Twilight asked her pupil.
"Nope, I just used to collect scrolls and old books."
"Wow, why'd you stop?" Twilight asked, curiously.
"Uhh... left town to enslave another town," Starlight cringed inwardly.
"Oh... right."
"Anyway, I still have some old books. I might as well give 'em to you since I've already read that." Starlight concluded.
"Right, well after we've checked this out," Twilight said.
"Check out? Why? It's just Starswirl's old spell," Trixie suddenly said.
Twilight and Starlight both stared at the mare as if she was insane. "WHAT!? "
Trixie frowned at both of them. "Yeah, what?"
"This isn't just an 'old spell'! This allows us to travel across dimensions!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Not to mention, this was Starswirl The Bearded's. Not made by some random unicorn, so it probably works." Starlight added.
Trixie stared at the two unicorns with a raised brow. "O...kay? So why would we want to travel across dimensions?"
"You're kidding." Starlight said with a blank expression. "You're kidding, right?"
"Uh, no. I'm not kidding, After traveling to the changeling hive and being captured? Yeah, I would say that I've had my fair share of adventures."
"Oh come on!" Starlight exclaimed.
Twilight read the scroll's text.
An entrance to Earth...
My last attempt... it brought me to a planet known as "Earth". I was surprised when I had found out that the inhabitants of this planet - or dimension - were sentient. Most of the time, they were friendly although there were a few bad apples here and there. What struck me as odd was the fact that they all walked on two legs. Feet, as they called it. As far as I know, they didn't have a grasp on magic here. Humans... they called themselves.
What was even odder was that this world's country was strangely similar to Equestria. For instance, this world also had a Manehattan but it was slightly different... "Manhattan" as it was called. Another was, Las Pegasus except it was "Las Vegas". An alternate universe, perhaps?
From here and then, a simple birthday song on one's day and you may return...
Twilight frowned. "What?" She muttered to herself as she internally read the last entry. It was like a diary, recalling the events of what happened. "Earth"? Manehattan, "Manhattan"? It seemed safe, there wasn't anything else on this scroll. Unless if Starswirl left out anything else, she'd have to speak with him about it.
"-and haven't you thought about how dangerous that is? Teleporting to another dimension?" Trixie asked. "What if we landed somewhere that was extremely unsafe? Like for example, there could be no oxygen? We could be sucked through space."
"Oh, good point." Starlight said with a reluctant smile.
"See? Exactly, Trixie is always right... as usual."
"Actually, it doesn't say anything about it being dangerous," Twilight interjected.
"Really? What did it say then?" Starlight asked.
"It just said that this uni-oh actually, dimension was it exactly like our's except with a few minor changes. You know, Manehattan? Well, guess what? In this dimension, it's called Manhattan." Twilight eagerly explained.
"Whoa, so it's like... an alternate universe!?" Starlight asked, growing excited.
"Yeah and locals that live there, aren't ponies."
"What?" Trixie interrupted. "Not ponies?"
"No. In the scroll, it said they were called humans and that they walk on two legs." Twilight explained and the sky-blue mare's eyes widened.
"And you still want to use this thing?"
"Well, Starswirl didn't say anything about them being dangerous. It just said that they were welcoming but there was a few 'bad apples'."
Trixie rolled her eyes but didn't respond.
Twilight then to her right, at her pupil. "How do you feel about this?"
"Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to check this place out." The pink mare replied with a cheeky grin.
"I agree, it's sounds like Starswirl's already been to this place. Do you mind if I hold onto this for the for the time being?"
She nodded. "Yeah, of course! It's not like I need it anyway."
"Oh thanks! I'll discuss it with you and the others when I've spoken to Starswirl."
"Oka-wait... the others? You mean, Rainbow Dash and all the other girls?" Starlight frowned.
"Yeah, I think it would be a fun road trip! You and Trixie can come along as well too, if you want."
Starlight's smug smile came back and responded. "We would love to! I think it'd be great, it's like we have anything else to do right?" Trixie stared at her friend with an annoyed expression.
"Nope, tomorrow's the weekend. Unless, anypony is working overtime I'd say we're good." Once the two were done talking, Starlight began walking back to her room.
"Why did you say we were going with them?" Trixie inquired, annoyed.
"Because it'd be fun? This place sounds a lot like our's. I mean, 'Las Vegas'? I'm curious to see what this place is about, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not." Her friend answered simply.
"Oh come on! Where's your sense of adventure Trix?"
"We have enough adventures here, do we not?"
"Yeah, but this is an actual fun adventure! We're not off saving Equestria again."
Trixie stares at the pink mare with a knowing expression. "Jinx... jinx is all I gotta say."
"I hope they have animals." Fluttershy squeaked. "Imagine what the bunnies over there look like."
"Ah reckon, probably the same as over 'ere, 'shy." Applejack said as she walked beside the yellow mare. "The animals over Canterlot High were pretty much the same over there. Unless if ah missed anythin'..." the farm pony trailed off.
"Nope. Back at C-H-S, the animals were pretty much exactly the same but this is a different dimension who knows? Maybe the animals are different." Twilight interjected.
"Assuming that Starswirl The Bearded traveled to this dimension so I'm just going to assume that this is safe." Starlight said as she came into the cutie-mark map room.
"Yeah, he did. I spoke to him yesterday. I showed him the scroll and asked if it was safe enough for us to travel through."
"Okay, and?" Trixie asked.
"And, he said that it was. Most of the locals were welcoming but some of them were... more stuck up."
"Wait, so they knew he was a pony?" Rainbow Dash interjected.
Twilight didn't respond. Starlight saw the sheepish smile etch across her face. "Well, you see, the thing is... he wasn't a pony when he went through."
"What?"
"What do you mean by that?" Rarity inquired, sounding slightly suspicious.
"I mean that he changed into one of the locals that live that dimension."
"So, it is like C-H-S then?" Applejack asked. "Once you go through the portal, you turn into one of them?"
"Uh huh."
Trixie stood next to Twilight. "Hopefully, this doesn't backfire and have us trapped there." She said, coming up to the map.
"Wait-wait-wait!" Pinkie Pie popped up from under the table and jumped on it. "Did Starswirl mention anything about parties!?" The pink pony shoved her face right up in Twilight's, her eyes never straying from it's victim.
"Uhh-no but I'm sure they do have parties."
"Oh!" The pink pony leaned back with her signature smile. "Okay, good 'cause as soon as we get there." Her voice dropped in tone, a dark sound to it. "We. Are going. To have. A party!" The sound of a cannon went off and confetti flew everywhere.
"So, you're all going?" Trixie asked everyone, a series of "Yes" and nods came.
"Right, so." Twilight plopped down a book, a quil and some ink. "Everyone all set?" All the ponies nodded in anticipation.
"Just one question Twi?" Applejack asked. "How exactly're we goin' to get back?"
"Oh, there's a phrase on the scroll. All we have to do is read it, do what it says and we'll be sent back here." Twilight explained. "It says we gotta sing a birthday song."
"That's it? Nothin' else?"
"Nope! That's all we have to do."
"Aight good then."
A cheeky grin etched onto the unicorn's face as she faced everypony. "Does anypony else have anymore questions before we go?"
"Wait?" Trixie interrupted. "How are you gonna make sure that the scroll doesn't get destroyed?"
The lavender mare levitated a small container and a saddle bag onto the table. She put the scroll inside of the container before concealing it in the bag.
The magician was already having doubts about travelling to this other dimension - might as well call it the alternate universe because that sounded more accurate - and Twilight couldn't even think of doing something as simple as that?
The mare turned back to Starlight, beside her with a blank look.
"Alright, everypony we all set?" Twilight asked, looking around the map. They all nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's do this." She lit up the scroll with her horn, emitting a magical surge. An aura swirled around the scroll and soon after a large vortex had opened up.
One after the other, they were all sucked toward the inside of it with Trixie being the last one. This isn't going to turnout well...
Twilight groaned, slowly creaking open her eyes as she felt the soft surface beneath her. Grass! Soon after, she heard a series of groans. Turning to her left, she was left in a mix of confusion and worry as her eyes laid upon a group of strange figures in front of her.
She went to push herself off the ground when she was stunned to find that she had hands again but her frown deepened once she saw the state of them. It was a lightish brown color... beige perhaps? Strange ... . She thought.
When she went through the mirror portal to C.H.S. her shade stayed the same, along with her... wait her mane!?
"What is going on!?" One of the figures in front of her exclaimed. She immediately recognized that voice, the great and powerful pony... well, human now.
All of her friends, their colors, the shade of their fur... it was gone; replaced by light shades of brown. She saw the presumable Trixie, staring down at her hands and fingers in shock. "Wha-wha... what is going on!? What is this!?" The girl now had black hair, it wasn't silver like it was back in Equestria. She was wearing a black zipped up hoodie with a pair of jeans and black sneakers.
"T-trixie... is that... you?" Another girl said, this one had dark brunette hair and recognized her as Starlight. She was wearing a sage green sweater with a pair of brown shorts and pink canvas shoes.
"Starlight!?" Twilight exclaimed as she stared at her pupil.
"Twilight!? Are you... you?" Starlight let out a confused chuckle.
Twilight was going to respond but another voice hollered out. The tone of a sophisticated lady. "What happened!? My... my mane!" She turned to see Rarity who was fiddling with her mane that was now black and wavy.
"This is just very weird..." Twilight muttered to herself, bringing her hand to her head.
"Weird?" The voice of pinkie pie came from beside her, making her jump and turning toward her.
"Pinkie!?" The girl beside her had curly auburn hair and was wearing a pair of black leggings with black and white sneakers that had a strange looking tick on it. She was also wearing a grey hoodie.
"Yyyyyes, Twilight?" The girl had a toothy-grin spread across her cheeks.
"What they hay is goin' on!?" She heard the unmistakable southern accent of Applejack. Her hair was still the same as it was, blonde. The farmer looked like she was about to live up to her title and do exactly that. Farming. She was wearing a blue and white checkered button up shirt with a pair of jeans and brown boots that had apples stitched onto them. She still had her signature hat.
Then everyone paused and looked at the girl in question.
"Well, I wouldn't say that this is a bad thing." The presumable Rainbow Dash came closer to the group. She had blonde hair with a fringe, wearing a black leather jacket with jeans and black boots. "Just a bit... weird." She said as she looked down at her hands. "What are we? We aren't ponies anymore. What was it called again? Humans, was it?"
"Yes, correct. Back at C-H-S this is similar to what I turned into." Twilight attempted to provide an explanation.
"Similar how?" Starlight asked.
"Well, our body structure was pretty much the same thing except my mane and skin. They were, you know lavender and navy blue?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"So now, we've been transformed into aliens!?"
"I don't think it's that big of a deal. We'll just have to get adjusted. Speaking of which." Starlight looked around the area, scanning her surroundings. "Where are we?"
"In a different dimension." Fluttershy (un)helpfully provided. The shy girl had chestnut colored hair that fell smoothly down to her shoulders and was wearing a white summer dress imprinted with pink flowers.
"I was actually referring to where in this world." Starlight replied.
Twilight got a look around, scanning the area. There were in a forest, surrounded by trees in all directions. As far she could tell, it was late in the evening and was beginning to set. An orange-pinkish hue was painted in the sky.
"Did we... somehow landed in this world's Everfree forest?" Rarity suggested.
"Maybe... maybe not." Twilight replied.
"That's not very reassuring."
The bookworm shrugged. "Alright, well at least we aren't hurt. Why don't we go explore?"
"Ah'm up for it."
"Yeah, me too!" Applejack and Rainbow agreed.
"Please tell me you still have the scroll," Trixie interjected before she could even start moving.
Her heart dropped as she realized that she had forgotten about it. She still had the saddle bag and the small container. Her relief came quickly as she saw the roll of paper, resting on the grass.
She was about to levitate it when she remembered she didn't have a horn. She bent down and picked up, chucking it in the container and sliding it into her brown leather bag. "Alright, there we go! We're all set! Now, is everypony ready to go?" She asked, looking around her group of friends who nodded and gave gestures of agreeance. "Okay, come on."
Everyone followed Twilight as she trailed off into the woods, she failed to notice the herd of rotten mangled corpses that were further back who were also following them.
The piece of paper had been torn apart. The two former ponies stared at their pieces, numerous thoughts and emotions travelling through their minds. The magician's body trembled as both her hands curled tightly around the piece of paper, unintentionally crushing it. "Y-you... y-you... why? Why the hay would you do that!?" She screamed. If their previous scuffle hadn't already drawn the attention of the humans, her outcry surely did.
"Would you calm the hell down already!? Jesus Christ, y'all have serious issues to work out!" The man wearing the trucker cap had to throw in his input.
Trixie immediately turned her head in the man's direction and killed the distance between them. "Stay outta this! This has nothing to do with you!"
"Y'all are yellin' at the top of your lungs! Yer gonna bring the walkers down on top of us!"
Trixie wanted to rebuttal but held off on it. Just barely though, considering she was now stranded on this planet; all she did in response was let out an inwardly growl.
The girls were all in the same boat, thinking the same thing. They were stuck here, the scroll had been torn; common sense would tell you that it would no longer work. The humans were silently watching from the sides even though they had just gotten into an argument a few moments ago, they can't but wonder if these girls had just escaped from a mental hospital.
Applejack came over to Twilight, a troubled look on her face. The bookworm was muttering to herself, something about "being so stupid." "Twi, please tell me you have some kind of a backup plan. We aren't really... stuck 'ere. Are we?" She asked.
"Well, we obviously are!" Rainbow interjected. "The scroll was destroyed! Of course, we're stuck here!"
"Ah just wanna be clear before we start drawing to conclusions." Applejack turned to face the wonderbolt.
"Well, you're 'conclusion' is that we're stuck here even I can see that. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."
Applejack sighed through her nose, shaking her head before turning back to Twilight. "Twilight?"
"H-huh, what?" She peeled her eyes away from the torn scroll in her hands.
"Do you have a plan? As in, how are we supposed to leave this place with the scroll destroyed? That's presuming that you can't use it after it's been torn."
It took a few moments before Twilight replied. She looked down at the scroll, mentally scolding herself for having acted so foolishly. This was their only way home, the only way they could get home, and merely moments ago she was acting like it was some type of elastic band that could stretch for miles! It was paper for Celestia's sake! Suddenly hit with a mixture between rage and impulsivity; she ditched the piece of paper causing Applejack to flinch at the sudden outburst. "We can't. Once a scroll-enchanted scroll... is destroyed we can no longer use it." Twilight's hand blossomed over her mouth as she thought over the past few events with disdain.
Applejack felt herself grow hopeless. That wasn't it... right? It can't just be like that. Surely there was some type of failsafe or backup plan that would allow them to be transported back home. They couldn't be stuck here, right? "H-how are we supposed to get home?"
Twilight didn't respond right away, she was still mulling over her thoughts. How could she have acted so moronically? She turned back to her friend and sighed. "I don't know but I'm definitely not gonna give up on finding a solution."
"They're all completely insane," Kenny muttered as he watched the group of former ponies chat amongst themselves.
"I-I'm sure they're just... s-shook up is all." Katjaa, Kenny's wife said. She, Kenny, and their son were by the counter of the pharmacy on the right corner of the room.
"Everyone is shook up but they're just... completely delusional. Screamin' over some piece a' paper, ah mean seriously. Transporting back home? Are you kiddin' me!?"
"We don't know the full story, Ken." Katjaa was comforting her son who was unnerved about the previous argument, the man, known as Larry threatening to toss them outside.
"Yeah well, Ah've heard enough."
A-are you girls gonna be okay?" The dark-skinned man known as Lee asked Rarity. "You guys seem like you have some... problems."
"We'll... be fine. We're just a bit... fearful at the moment with everything that's going on." Rarity graciously replied.
Lee overheard the argument and suffice to say, he wasn't sure if these girls were in the right state of mind although he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. "That uhh scroll meant a lot to you guys huh?"
"Well yes, it's kind of a... p-personal thing." Rarity wasn't going to tell him the truth, the whole group probably thinks they're crazy; didn't want to add fuel to the fire.
"Ah, right I understand. So what are you guys planning on doing now?"
She paused for a moment. There really wasn't much to do other than to wait until Twilight figures out a way home or... something else happens. She wasn't confident that they would get home now that the scroll was destroyed and as far as she knew, there was no magic in this world. If there was, Rarity has yet to come across any source of it.
Pinkie didn't want to stay here, understandable. The pony or rather girl was hoping for a fun adventure instead they ended up in a world where corpses are somehow still alive and walking; devouring any living creature they could get their filthy hands on.
Rainbow Dash was standing beside Fluttershy who was still out cold. The wonderbolt was conflicted about the situation. On one hand, she just wanted to leave, leave and never come back but on the other, she wouldn't feel right leaving the humans here to fend for themselves. Suppose it didn't matter now that the scroll was ripped in half... the choice was made for her.
"We never should've come here, we never should've come here. I told you it was a bad idea but no you guys just always have to find something to do doncha? You just can't leave things be well look where we are now!" Trixie exclaimed. She and Starlight were standing over by the restroom where the walker laid just a few feet away from them. Starlight thought it'd be best to stay there since it was furthest away from the group.
"Starswirl said it was safe." Starlight rebutted.
"Well, it obviously isn't. Take a look at that-that... monster Starlight. Does that look safe to you?" Trixie pointed at the dead walker.
Starlight refused to do so, She already saw enough of them outside. She didn't need to see another one. "Trixie, I'm sure Twilight will figure something out, and then we'll be home."
The magician scoffed. "I doubt that. We might as well identify as humans now because we're stuck here, probably forever and as far as I know there's no magic here. I can't even use my magic. Can you?"
Starlight paused for a moment. "No... no, I can't."
"Exactly which in other words, we're doomed."
Lee went over to the door that lead into the office of the pharmacy. He went to grab the doorknob when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see the girl with curly hair standing behind him with a solemn look on her face.
"W-what's in there?" She asked.
Lee did a double-take at the door. "Oh, in there? Dunno, I-I haven't been in there before." There was a flash of hurt in the man's eyes but it was gone in an instant.
"D-do you mind if I can go with you?"
Lee smiled at her. "Of course. Oh and uh by the way I'm Lee."
"I'm Pinkie Pie." The party girl introduced herself.
Lee raised a brow. "Umm Pinkie... Pie?"
"Yeah, that's my name."
"...R-right well..." He turned away from her and grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open; a squeak coming from it's hinges. The room was a mess, blood trailing along the floor, a mattress with a blanket coated with crimson. There were a couple of cupboards, furniture in the room. One of them with a television.
Pinkie sighed through her nose, seeing the room in such a state. What happened in there? She was curious but at the same time, she didn't want to know about the possible horrors that took place here.
"W-what are you guys doing?" Came a small feminine voice from behind them.
Pinkie turned to see the little girl with the hat they came in with. "O-oh hi!"
"H-hi." The child timidly waved at her.
"What's your name?" Pinkie leaned down to her level with a cheery smile.
"Clem-Clementine."
"Clementine? That's a nice name!"
"Thanks." The child smiled back at her. "W-what are you doing?"
"We're trying to figure out a way to get into the checkout area so we get Larry his pills." Lee was the one who replied.
Pinkie frowned, looking back at the man. "His pills-wait who's Larry again?"
"The grumpy old guy." Lee simply replied.
Pinkie gasped. "Oh! The mean one? W-what does he need pills for? Is he sick?"
They went further into the room and the door closed behind them. "I... guess you could say that. He's got a heart problem apparently."
"Oh well that's no good, you said you were trying to get into the checkout area?" Pinkie strode over to the door leading into the checkout. It was blocked by a large table with cabinets and there was a pallet sat up against it. "Is it through here?" She pulled back the wooden pallet, it was slightly heavy but it wasn't much of a big deal. When pulling it back, a big stick fell onto the floor with a crack.
Pinkie frowned, getting a closer look at it. It was a cane. "Ooh look! A cane!" She plopped the pallet to the side and bent down to pick it up. Lee came over to her. When she noticed the man, she showed him the cane. "Look what I found."
"What's that?" Clementine asked, looking at the cane with curiosity.
"It's... my dad's cane." Lee took the cane from Pinkie's grasp.
"Y-your dad's?" Pinkie frowned. "W-wait, do your parents live here? Where are they?"
There was that same look of hurt that flashed across his eyes again, she noticed it earlier when they first came in the room. She was starting to wonder if something had happened to his parents. Perhaps they owned the place... and something happened?
"Let's just get this outta the way, okay?" The man said dismissively, putting the cane against the pallet and going over to the large table.
Pinkie wanted to push the subject but decided that it wasn't any of her business, something obviously happened. It may be too painful for him to discuss, she noted to herself that she'll try later.
She walked over to the table to move it out of the way of the door.
"Can I help?" Clementine abruptly asked with a smile on her face.
"Of course." Lee returned the smile before turning back to the table. He grabbed it along with Pinkie and Clementine. "Alright, here we are. Be with your fingers in the drawers."
They began moving the table away from the door, Pinkie clenched her fingers and biceps when she discovered that the large piece of furniture was pretty heavy.
"Things have been... pretty scary lately huh?"
"Yeah," Clementine replied.
Pinkie couldn't agree more, a world where full of corpses that wanted to eat flesh wasn't what she was expecting when she was sucked through the vortex. She should've known something was wrong when they first arrived here, having not come across any spec of life. The only thing they did come across though was the ruins of a deserted town. Suppose they were also lucky, they could've come across the walkers and not the humans.
"How are you holding up Pinkie?" Lee asked, bringing her out of her train of thought.
"Huh? O-oh, uh not good... I guess." Pinkie replied more serious for her liking.
Lee nodded understandingly. "Yeah, things haven't been too good."
"No, they haven't."
They continued moving the table. Once there was a large gap between the table and the door, Lee began turning it sideways.
"Do you have kids?" Clementine asked abruptly.
"No." Lee simply answered, seeing where the conversation was heading.
"Y-you don't have a family?"
"Let's just move this thing."
"O-oh okay."
Pinkie could see Lee wasn't very thrilled on the topic. Maybe she could uplift the mood? "Hey! What's your favorite food?"
"Favorite food?" Lee repeated as they were moving the table sideways to push up against the wall.
"My favorite is candy!" Clementine enthusiastically answered.
"Oh really!? Me too!"
The child frowned at the older girl. "I thought adults don't like candy?"
"What!? You're never too old for candy!"
"Oh because every time I ask adults if they want some candy, they always say they don't like it."
"Pfft, I love candy!" Pinkie turned at Lee. "Do you like candy? Please-please-please, tell me you do?"
"Uhh... I prefer chocolate actually." Lee said with an amused grin.
"Oh well, at least you like some type of sweets. Better than not liking aaaany sweets!"
They began to push the table up against the wall when Clementine let out a yelp. Pinkie and Lee immediately stopped to check was on her, the child was clutching her finger. It was bleeding.
"Oh no! Are you okay?" Pinkie asked, concerned.
"I hurt my finger!"
"Is it bleeding?" Lee inquired.
"A little." The man picked up the child and gently sat her on top of the table.
"I'll go look for a bandage." Pinkie turned away from them and began scanning the office. It didn't take long for her to spot the red medical box on another table, this one was a basic table. One that had no cabinets or drawers.
She went to walk over to it when she saw a smashed frame on the floor near the mattress. There was still a photo inside of it just hanging halfway out. She picked but felt a pang in her heart when she recognized the contents. It was a picture of Lee with presumably his family, an elderly couple with another man dressed in medical scrubs.
She looked back at Lee who was examining Clementine's injured finger. "Umm, Lee?" She walked over to him.
He turned to look at her. "Yeah?"
"Uh, here." She held out the photo for him. "I-I found it on the floor there."
He looked at it for a moment before that look of hurt came onto his features once more. "Thanks, Pink-" Right when he looked up at her, he frowned.
Seeing his look, she turned and became slightly startled to see a woman standing there. It was the same girl that saved and brought them inside. "Find anything?"
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie." The party girl introduced herself.
Upon hearing the name, the woman gave her a confused look. "I'm... Carley."
"Carley? You guys have such weird names..." Pinkie trailed off.
"Weird names? Says the one who calls herself Pinkie Pie; anyway..." Carley then fixed Lee with a wary expression. "I know who you are," she said which in return earned her a frown from him. "You're Lee Everett, you were a professor at Athens who killed a state senator who was sleeping with your wife."
Pinkie stilled for a moment, processing what the woman had just said. Lee killed somepony, well actually someone in this case but that didn't matter, he killed someone!? She turned back at him to find that he was still eyeing the woman look that almost seemed like a glare.
"This is your parent's store. Folks around know town know the owner's son got himself a live sentence but I'm a reporter for W-A-B-E in Atlanta."
"A reporter?" Pinkie's voice lost it's cheery tune to it and was replaced by another that followed the atmosphere of the conversation.
"Yeah, I paid attention to that trial. Maybe, you're a murderer but I don't really care. Frankly, that's a skill that might come in handy."
"L-Lee you... killed before?" Pinkie reluctantly asked.
He sighed and nodded. No words were needed to answer.
"O-oh, was it a bad pony-I-I mean person?" That was a stupid question... obviously he was a bad person. He was sleeping with Lee's wife, she was married! But... did he really need to turn to murder though?
Carley looked at Lee with a knowing look. For a few moments, he didn't answer. "Yes, yes he was..."
"Have you told anyone out there who you were or that you were tied to this place?"
"Well, I know now sooooo... I-I guess that's a yes?" Pinkie half-grimaced, holding both her palms upwards and cocking her head.
"No, no one does... except Pinkie." Lee then answered Carley's inquiry.
The reporter paused. She seemed to be sizing him up. Pinkie looked between both of them, unsure of whether she should say something or stay quiet. In other circumstances, she most likely would've come up with some joke but in this case; the mood was as somber as it's definition.
"You seem like an okay guy. The last thing we need is drama out there." The reporter finally spoke and she nodded her head in direction of the door leading into the store.
"Yeah, I think we've had enough drama for one day. Especially with that fat meanie outside with the heart problems." Pinkie replied.
"I don't even think he knows what good for him, he just doesn't know when to lay off... believe me I know." Carley turned her attention back to Lee. "Look, my point is if this continues to stay in the dark and then later you become some sort of... miscreant to the group? We'll have a problem."
"I hear you." The man responded with caution.
"I'll just keep it to myself."
Pinkie smiled but kept her silence. They both wrapped up their conversation with Lee thanking the reporter. Once she left the room, the room became quiet again which was strange for Pinkie. Although it ended on a good note, she still couldn't believe Lee had killed someone. She was so shocked when she first heard it, it felt like everything had frozen for a second. She couldn't remember the last time she heard of a murder in Equestria, what was it? Centuries? And even then most of them were just accidents.
How common was it over here? She hoped that she wouldn't be around to find out that answer. Lee seemed like a nice person even though he... murdered someone. "U-uhh Lee?"
"Yeah?" He turned away from the door, he discovered it was locked a few seconds ago. He looked at the girl, he knew what she was going to ask. Not exactly the question but the subject.
"Uhh... d-do you want me to keep this as a secret or...?"
He gave her a reassuring smile after sensing she was still a tad bit uncomfortable about the subject. "I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself, Pinkie."
"Oh alright!" Pinkie then began doing hand gestures while saying some sort of weird chant. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
Lee silently stared at her for a few seconds. "...What?"
"That was a Pinkie promise! Made by yours truly!" She ended it off with a bow.
"You are certainly random, Pinkie." He said with slight amusement.
"I know, it's one of my traits!" With that, they both began discussing what to do about the locked door.
Author's Note
well finally im uploading again. my aplogies for it, hit writer's block
That's What Happened While We Were Gone?
The group safely made it back to the farm, the walk back being filled with unspoken tension. Everyone's mind had the same thing replaying on a loop. It was near impossible to believe that someone so timid or fragile could do such severe damage like that.
Danny was the only one who wasn't as disconcerted or unsettled as the others were. He was slightly thrown off guard when he saw the clearing but he also had seen plenty of other things in the apocalypse; so, he wasn't as surprised as he would've been back before the world ended.
Fluttershy was silent the whole way back. That worried the others, creeping them out honestly. Normally, that would've gone unnoticed, just her being shy and timid as usual if not for what happened in the woods. Rainbow stuck to her like glue, constantly making sure she was okay; it would've come off as nagging under normal circumstances.
Applejack lead the way beside Danny. She still had her problems with him, she hadn't forgotten about how nonchalant he was when Rainbow - who she also had a bone to pick with - murdered that person. He seemed like a decent person who unfortunately got matched up with the wrong people.
Lee also bared a slight amount of resentment toward them. He didn't know whether or not, they would become hostile if they had announced their presence but there was definitely a more just way of going about it; compared to Rainbow Dash's heinous method.
He made sure to check up on Fluttershy when on the way back to the farm but it always ended with one worded answers.
"We've got a bath in the house, you could get cleaned up in that." Danny said as they walked toward the farmhouse.
Rainbow nodded, a small smile on her face. She thankful for his hospitality and even more when he had backed her up on "offing" the bandit.
As they were walking up, they could see Andy crouching down and working on what appeared to be a generator. Carley and Ben were standing by the gate. The teenager opened it to let them in. Lee and Applejack knew something amiss as soon as they saw the grim expressions written on their faces. Carley with her arms crossed and Ben with a pitying look.
Andy looked similar as he came over and noticing Fluttershy. "I-Is... that your friend?" He asked, looking at her blood-soaked figure.
Not taking kindly to the obvious judgement, Rainbow answered bitterly. "Yeah, it is. Danny said you guys have a bath in the house, we need it."
"Oh, uh mama should be done with Mark so I guess it's fine."
Lee frowned at the tone of his voice and began to survey the area for him. The others, except for Ben and Carley, had the same confused frowns.
Applejack's eyes darted to one side for a second before they rested on Andy. "Done with Mark?" She said, raising a brow.
"Where is he?" Lee asked.
None of them answered, an unwanted pause filling the conversation. "A-ah'll let you tell 'em." Andy reluctantly said before he gestured for Fluttershy to come with him. "Come on, ah'll show you where you can get yourself cleaned up."
Not wanting to leave her on her own, Rainbow stepped up straight away. "I'm going with you."
Andy looked at them for a second before nodding and lead them toward the house, leaving the group to their discussion.
"Ah leave y'all to your peace." Danny said, turning to Lee and Applejack. "Ah'll take back those guns now."
Lee handed over his rifle as Applejack handed over the revolver, a dirty look on her face. Danny took it back, appearing to ignore her rough gaze. He nodded before taking his leave.
"What happened with Mark?" Lee inquired after a few moments.
Carley and Ben exchanged a knowing look right before she shook her head, a vexed look to her face. "When you guys left, Andy said he needed some help with fence. Apparently, the walkers tend to get tangled up in the wires so we decided to help out. We were around somewhere out there." The reporter pointed past a tree with a swing tied to it. "Anyway, we got fucking ambushed by, well, I think they were bandits but yeah. We got ambushed and Mark ends up getting shot with an arrow!"
"Bandits!? Here too!?" Applejack exclaimed.
Carley nodded. "Yup and get this, the St. Johns have some sort of deal between them."
"What type of deal?" Lee asked.
"Andy said they had conflict with them in the past. Said the bandits killed a bunch of their farmhands or something but they got them to stop by trading food with them."
Applejack and Lee were already uneasy from their last encounter with them, hearing about Carley's up-close-and-personal encounter just made matters worse for them.
"Ah suppose it was too good to be true." Applejack commented.
"What do you mean?" Carley asked.
"Ah mean that ah actually thought this was farm was gonna be good but there's bandits eye-ballin' this place." The farmer sighed, the nostalgic heartache rushing back to her.
Carley understood and nodded.
"So, Mark's in the house now?" Lee added.
"Y-yeah, Brenda was helping him." Ben replied.
"By the way, what the hell happened to your friend? Why is she covered in blood?" Carley recalled back to how dumbstrucked she felt when she saw the group walking up to the farm with a bloody figure accompanying them.
Lee and Applejack shared a slight grimace "She was the one who ended up killing the bandits." Lee explained.
Carley was stunned upon hearing the news, Ben was equally the same as they tried to imagine the scenario. "As in... the bandits? The ones who captured her in the first place?"
"Yeah, we didn't even need to use-" Applejack suddenly stopped when she thought back to the life-changing event. To the moment where Rainbow had suddenly become a careless lunatic and murdered that one bandit. "-our guns..."
Lee noticed the change in her tone but didn't comment on it. "We only saw the aftermath . It was... unpleasant, to say the least."
"Shit." Carley said, surprised. "Do you think she'll be okay?"
Applejack's gaze fell to the ground, frowning. Honestly, she highly doubted that the shy and caring girl that she come to know will ever be okay again. Nobody would be the same if they were forced into a similar situation, Applejack didn't think she'd be either. "Honestly? A-ah don't think so. She didn't even want to eat animals let alone... k-kill people."
"I-I'm just surprised she was able to... y'know, kill them. I mean, how did she even manage to do that? Didn't Rainbow say they had guns?" Ben asked to only be met with inquisitive looks.
"We dunno. It was just her there, we didn't see anyone else." Lee answered.
Applejack frowned, thinking back to the two bandits they saw at the camp. "You think those two bandits could've had somethin' to do with it?"
"I... don't think so. It looked like they just wanted to stay out of it. Besides, they didn't say anything when we were listening in on their conversation."
The farmer nodded, wondering to herself. Ben brought up a good point. How in Equestria did she manage to kill all of those bandits singlehandedly? As he pointed out, they had guns; plenty of which she saw back at the clearing, Fluttershy had none. Just a random kitchen knife, a knife she used to carve them all up.
There was no way, they were able to miss all of their shots. There were more of them then there were of Fluttershy, they couldn't all have poor-classed aim; so, how did she manage to survive all of that?
Applejack made sure to remember to ask when all was resolved.
"What do you think we should do? With the bandits here, I mean." Carley inquired.
"Ah think we should just take our food and go. This place ain't as safe as we thought, its better if we just leave while we can instead of gettin' shot up. The St. Johns said they had a deal with 'em so ah'm sure they'll be fine here on their own."
"They should've told us to begin with. Right when they sent us out there." Carley commented, bitterly.
"She's right. Once Fluttershy and Mark are settled, we'll get our food to go." Lee concluded. They all nodded in agreement, on edge with the knowledge of bandits stalking this farm. They weren't as concerned for the St. Johns since they had some type of, appear to be on-going deal between them.
If they weren't being up front with information as crucial as that then what else could they be hiding? Why didn't they just tell them about it instead of being in the dark about it? Mark was inches away from becoming deceased because of it. In any case, it didn't matter because once Fluttershy and Mark were fixed up and ready to leave, all that was left was to get their food. Once that was done, they were too...
Author's Note
Sorry for the boring short ass chapter. I'm gonna try to make the next one more eventful.
