The Trotting Dead: VG

Episode 2 Chapter 7: The Car
Written by: bobby ray
Proofread/Edited by: KJay

Celestia lay sprawled across her bed. The previously neat tucked blanket was now loose and uneven, almost half had fallen to the floor. One of her wings clung tightly to her while the other was more eased and shot out half way. Her eyes hidden behind their lids which were tightly closed. Whimpers and small gasp escaped from her lips, which were open to allow air to pass easy. Celestia was having another nightmare, but this one was different from the others.

The nightmare began as a dream, and the dream began as simple images. She was use to the imagines by now as they were the bulk of her dreams these last few months. They showed random humans in a state of poverty or refuge; most, if not all, were doing anything and everything they could to survive. Celestia had seen these humans try to retain hope as well as lose it entirely. She'd seen humans trying to keep hold of themselves, but most had been reduced to their basic will to survive and all the horrid things that followed it. Celestia's heart had grown heavy for the race of man in their time of suffering.

But this time the images were different, if only slightly. They usually had shown her many different humans from across their globe, most in the same conditions. This time around, however, these images were only showing her a particular group of people. These survivors, which Celesetia had decided to be the most appropraite name for the people in her dreams, were a well sized group who witnessed far less tragedy than most of the humans she had seen. It showed them pull together to live, even though hatred amongst their group was quite obvious.

Then the dream came, it felt like Celestia was there as these scenes from the recent past played out in her mind. The first showed a woman, who appeared to be the leader, having some type of fallout with a man in a ball cap. The man was accusing the woman of making poor decisions for the group, and the woman retorted the man, who she named Kenny, wouldn't do any better. The next vision was of two children, they were playing some sort of game to pass the time. One of the children was a young girl, who Celestia had seen in one of her earliest visions, and the other was a boy who was a few years older. They did not find much enjoyment in their game.

What came next caught special attention from Celestia. She saw a few men working on a wall along side Twilight's friend, Applejack. 'What could she be doing here?' She thought to her self, 'How is she with these humans?' Suddenly Celestia was indoors, or at least she was watching a scene play out within darkened walls. The small girl, Clementine as Celestia remembered, was sitting on a worn old bed with a man and Rainbow Dash.

"...I think once we're finished with the wall we can rest easy." The man was speaking with the girl and Rainbow. It appeared to be very late in the afternoon due to the orange light seeping in through the window.

"Don't speak for all of us, Lee." Rainbow told the man, whose name was apparently Lee, "I've been sleeping soundly since we got here."

"We shouldn't let our guard down until we make this place as safe as we can."

"Are we gonna be safe here?" Clementine asked them both.

"Of course we will." Rainbow promised, "Nothing bad will happen as long as we stay here..."

Everything faded out and another scene formed from the emptiness. It was Celestia's very pupil, Twilight, and some man she didn't recognize, working on a machine just like the one that caused Twi's disappearance. The man halted what he was doing on the device to turn to Twilight, "Hey, could you pass me that pipewrench?"

"Um..." Twilight quickly finished what she was doing as she scanned the tools. The laid on a wooden table, organized in a specific order so she'd always find the right one quickly. The pipewrench, however, was not where it was supposed to be. It had been misplaced and was now on the opposite end of the table. A purple aura consumed the tool as soon as she found it, "Doug, could you please put the tools where they belong when you're done using them? I've asked you this before."

She'd levitated the tool over to Doug as she talked. The aura disappeared as soon as he had a hold on it, "Cut me some slack; we were up late last night working on this thing. Some people actually want to get sleep, you know." Celestia was so close to her student. If she had any control she would have called out to Twilight. But, alas, she couldn't and the two geniuses before Celestia continued their work.

It all made sense now, though. Twilight's machine is supposed to enhance a unicorn's abilities if Celestia was properly informed. So, if that is the case, then even a simple teleportation spell could have sent Twilight and her friends out of Equestria's borders. Celestia had already discovered and made this conclusion a while ago. But it seems the machine was more powerful then Celestia would have thought: it transported her student, Rainbow Dash and Applejack to the world of the humans! The joy Celestia felt over her new discovery on their location was immediately shut down. The humans were going through a great crisis; Celestia would have to retrieve them as soon as possible. As she remembered this fact, the dream suddenly became a nightmare.

Everything faded out to black. The fragments from the recent past were being replaced with a vision from the dangerously close future. Celestia found herself outside the structure she'd just been in, according to a nearby sign it was called the 'Travelier Motel'. She felt as if she were actually there, as if she was standing in the middle of this human group's place of sanctuary. Loud noises, unfamiliar to Celestia, went off near her. She turned to her right to find the group this night's dream had been focusing on. They were all behind anything they could use as cover. Her three subjects, Twilight and her friends, were behind these objects as well. A few of them, occasionally, would come out of their cover to use some form of weapon, which what was making that loud popping noise.

The same noise was coming from elsewhere too. Celetia turned towards her left to find bright flashes coming from the nearby woods. More people, Celestia assumed these to be hostile, were fighting the people who had taken in her subjects. The weapons both sides were possessing had to be lethal with all the noise they created upon use. 'There is no doubt,' Celestia thought to herself, 'I must find Twilight the very...'

Her trail of thought was cut short as one of the men called out something, "Shit! Walkers!!" Celestia did not understand what they meant by 'walkers'. She turned back towards the group to find their attention turned from the attackers to something else. She turned one last time to find something horrifying. At first they seemed to be more humans, probably more of the attackers coming into the Travelier. But they were acting odd, moving in some type of limp towards the group.

Then her eyes adjusted and Celestia saw the truth. These were the faded creatures she'd seen in previous nightmares, only this was the first time Celestia could see them clearly. They looked like the humans and yet they were very different. They wore the same type of clothing but their was torn, some covered in blood. Their skin was an unnatural color; as if they had died some time ago. One of them looked in her direction for just a moment, just long enough for Celestia to get a good look at the creature's eyes. Celestia's eyes widened in horror and she gazed at the sight; its eyes were purely white and lifeless, no emotion was found within them. These things looked to be pure evil in solid form. Some of the attackers turned their attention to the creatures, and most of the monsters were going into the woods towards them.

Celestia hadn't even the slightest idea at the moment what these thing could be; they looked like changelings who hadn't come close to what they wanted to turn into. She watched as both sides fended off the vile creatures, soon all of their attention was on them and not each other. Whatever these things were; Celestia knew they were putting Twilight and the others in grave danger. Soon everything went to black and faded out once more. Celestia awoke suddenly and with an intensely deep breath. She was covered in sweat, her body couldn't stop shaking for a good three minutes. The knowledge she'd gained from that Nightmare was fresh in her mind, with the image of those horrid creatures and the knowledge they were threatening her subjects up front. Celestia knew she couldn't afford to rest again until this was dealt with.

Everyone walked along in no order, they just went along the dirt road at an even pace. Lee was in front of most of them, he'd given the rifle to Mark and now held nothing in his hands. Carley walked alongside Lee, and Ben was not far behind both of them. Kenny walked along the right side of this unorganized pack along with his family. He was gripping his flesh wound in pain, it would take at least a few weeks to properly heal. Applejack trotted alongside Rainbow Dash, who couldn't fly due to her wing. Dash was in intense pain; it felt like her entire left wing was in flames. Unlike Kenny, the extremely tender skin of her wing injury would take much longer to heal. Mark walked along the left side as he kept an eye out for walkers. He tried to keep his mind preoccupied as best he could. Lilly walked along, not saying a word. Twilight stayed at the back as she trotted along, keeping her distance from Lilly and proving to be even quieter. Clementine walked as well, keeping pace with the others.

None of them said much for the longest time. Lee was trying to take Carley's mind off of Doug. Applejack was going back and forth between Dash, Ken and Twi to check up on them. Dash kept telling her she'd be fine, Kenny would be fine after he got some rest, Twilight barely acknowledged AJ's presence. She was becoming increasingly worried for her friend every passing second. Twilight was completely lost inside her own mind as thought after thought raced through her head, she couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened at the Dairy.

"... And if it makes you feel any better," Lee kept at it, "Doug felt the same."

Carley turned to Lee for a moment, "He liked me? Did he really say that?"

"Doug and I had a little spat about it. Yeah, he pretty much did." Carley slowed down her pace and kept looking forward. What she did with the information given to her, well, Lee wouldn't find out for a while.

Ben sped up his pace until he was next to Lee, "Hey, I wanted to say something, but you were talking to Carley and I didn't want to interrupt. Plus I wasn't sure if it would really matter anyway. Also..."

Lee stopped him from continuing with the explanation, "Say what you've got on your mind, Ben."

"Okay then, well... I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

He gazed at Ben, perplexed, "What do you have to be sorry for?"

Ben was trying to make sure he didn't say anything wrong on accident, "A lot of things, I guess. The trouble in the woods this morning, that whole argument you guys had over me and Mr. Parker, my teacher nearly killing you, what happened at that Dairy..."

Lee felt this list would go on for a while, "You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, be glad you left the Dairy with Carley."

"Were those people really eating human meat?" Ben wanted to believe that couldn't be true, "Because that is just wrong."

Lee looked at him, "Again, be glad you left when did."

"Oh god." Ben thought for a moment, "Did you guys eat anything on accident?"

"Some of us didn't. But yeah, most of us were too hungry to question a free meal. If Applejack and I hadn't discovered Doug when we did, Clementine would have eaten some too."

Ben glanced back at Clementine. The thought of a little girl eating that stuff wanted to make him vomit, the thought of any human eating another human was already enough to make him slightly queasy, "Ah, man, me too."

Behind them, Katjaa momentarily walked alongside Mark and asked him something. Seconds later she was with Kenny again and Mark was sprinting towards Lee, rifle in one had and something else in the other, "Hey, Lee." The two stopped as he approached. Mark stopped in front of Lee and handed him the video camera he'd found earlier, "Katjaa grabbed this inside the house before we got there. She said this was with your other stuff."

"Yeah, I found it at the camp when we went looking for those bandits. It's got no batteries, though." Lee examined the small device for a moment, believing there was nothing significant about it, "What should we do with it?"

"Give it to Twilight." Mark suggested, grabbing the device to examine it himself, "I'm sure she can use it on her machine."

"What machine?" Ben asked, he was the only one here unaware of how the ponies got here.

Everyone began to take advantage of this short stop. Applejack was checking up on Ken, seeing how he was doing until Dash grimaced in pain. Dash held her head up when she noticed the cowpony approach, her pride outweighing her still bleeding injury. Katjaa would need to deal with her and Kenny the second they got back. AJ saw right through her best friend's ruse, "I know yer in pain, Dash. Are you feelin' alright?"

"I'm fine!" She wouldn't have snapped at Applejack if all the nerves near her bullet wound hadn't went off all at once.

"Are you sure about that? This the first time you've ever been shot."

She put on a smile, "You haven't been shot either, AJ. It doesn't hurt as much as you'd think." She lied, horribly, "I'll be okay."

Applejack wanted to persist until Twilight went by. She wasn't paying the least bit of attention and failed to notice everyone else had completely stopped. Dash gave Applejack a worried look, who returned the gesture, before they pursued after their agitated friend. AJ reached her first, "Are ya doin' any better, Twi?" She paid her no mind and kept going forward.

Dash got next to Twilight as all three of them walked at the same pace, "Hey, Twilight, you know everybody's stopped, right?" Again, she didn't seem to be listening. Twilight was forced to stop when her friends bolted in front of her, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I should be asking you that." She mumbled, finally looking at them.

"I mean, well, you haven't been acting the same since..."

Applejack put a hoof to Rainbow's mouth. She leaned in to whisper, "Right now, Dash, that is the last thing we should talk about." AJ let go of Dash's mouth before returning to Twilight, "What we wanted from ya Twi is..."

"Listen, girls, I just want to get back to the Motor Inn so I can get back to work. Nothing else." She walked off without saying another word, leaving her friends with their worries. They watched her with deep concern as she just kept going down the road.

Lee watched Twilight walk away from her friends, her head down low. He approached Rainbow Dash and Applejack, "Is she doing any better?"

They shook their heads, "No, I'm really startin' ta worry. She just... killed Larry. Who knows what she must be going through."

"Well, I'm not trying to say that she wanted things to end up this way, but Lilly did just lose her father." Lee retorted.

Applejack picked right up on that, "Yes, I know... I'm just... worried."

Lee looked over at Twilight; she who was still going down the road while everyone had stopped, "I have no doubt that it has to be devastating for her as well. She'll just need time to sort this out for herself."

Applejack nodded, "Yeah... She just needs time." She kept repeating that in her head, 'Twilight will be fine after some time to herself,' hoping this would prove itself to be true. She trotted over to check up on Kenny.

"So, how are you holding up?" Lee asked Dash about her wound.

She looked back as best she could at her wound, "Honestly, I can't move my wing without nearly tearing up. But it could have been a lot worse."

"A lot of things could've gone worse back there."

"No kidding. You kept us all safe back there, Lee. You saved me from dying, you saved Clementine from eating that... stuff. If it wasn't for you, none of us might even be alive."

Lee wasn't sure how to respond, and was halted before he could try, "Lee, Rainbow..." They turned to discover Clementine had approached them, "Are those bad people dead."

The two looked at each other to decide how they should answer that. Rainbow got closer to her and spoke first, "We don't know for sure, Clem. We left them in bad shape when we left."

"Don't worry, Clem," Lee got to his knee, "they won't cause us any more trouble regardless."

Clementine lowered her head to think about that answer, "Okay."

"Um, everyone..." Twilight grabbed everyone's attention. She was coming back from the road she'd just gone down, a new expression on her face, "We may have a small problem." They all followed the mare down the road. A new noise got their attention as they got closer, at first it seemed like some odd bell going off in the distance. They lowered themselves out of view when they discovered the source of the noise. It was a lone station wagon parked on the side of this dirt road, the front right side door was wide open while light poured out from within the vehicle.

"Do you see anyone?" Mark asked. It was hard to tell if anyone was inside or near the car from here.

"Not sure," Applejack responded, "hard ta see."

"Maybe they have a flat tire or something." Ben offered.

Lee knew they had to check. If there was somebody over there, however, and any of them were to sneak up unannounced, it was safe to say they'd get shot. He decided to call out first, "Don't shoot. We're here to help." No response. Lee slowly approached the car, keeping himself down low just to be safe. Kenny waited until he got close enough before going over there himself. Lee stopped next to the open door and looked inside, nobody in the car. The key was still in the ignition, as he pulled it out he realized the needle for the gas gauge was on empty, "Figures." He backed out, nobody was nearby who could be this station wagons owner.

"Oh crap!" Kenny finally reached the car. Lee found him gazing intently through the back glass into the trunk, there was plenty of boxes with food in them back there. Kenny looked back at Katjaa, "Baby, you've gotta see this! There is a shit load of food and supplies back here!"

Everyone approached the abandoned vehicle when Kenny mention the supplies. Katjaa and Duck got next to Kenny, Duck grew exited at the sight of the food. It was true the ponies didn't need food like this, but everyone else did. Especially with their current situation back at the motel. Katjaa looked at everyone, "This food could save all of us!"

Lilly gave Twilight a stare filled with nothing but spite, "... Not ALL of us." Twilight lowered her head, the weight of Lilly's stare on her keeping it down. AJ and Dash couldn't blame Lilly for holding a grudge, for obvious reasons, but Twilight felt guilty enough already.

"Look, we don't know these people are dead." Ben voiced what he was thinking.

Mark agreed, "Yeah, Ben's right, they could just be out foraging for food or gas."

"If they come back," Lilly began, "then we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruined their lives." She was right about ruining these peoples lives, if they were even alive that is.

Dash looked at Kenny, "You're not seriously thinking about taking this stuff, are you?"

"We need it, Dash." Kenny stated. He looked at all three ponies, "I don't expect you three to understand. You've got all the grass you could possibly need."

"Rainbow's right." Applejack chimed in, "We can't take any of this."

"Girls, Kenny's right." It was hard for Twilight to agree with this since it was either looting or thievery, and nothing else. But she knew Duck, Katjaa and everyone else here needed it, even though it pained her to agree, "They need food."

"But is THIS how they should get it?" Dash demanded, "By STEALING?!" She refused to believe this could ever be justified.

"I know it's drastic, but it could be the very difference between life and death for everyone else here... for Duck and Clementine." Twilight was thinking with her head instead of her heart, she also knew that Dash cared for Clementine the most out of their human companions.

"Thank you, Twilight." Kenny was happy someone agreed with him.

Clementine was behind everyone else, her opinion wasn't entirely heard the first time, "This stuff isn't ours."

Duck looked up at his parents, his eagerness for the food put aside as a question formed, "Dad, whose car is this?"

"Don't worry about that Duck," Kenny told him, "It's ours now."

Katjaa didn't want Duck to worry about this, "It's abandoned, Ducky. Don't worry."

"What if it's not?" Clementine finally grabbed everyone's attention. They turned towards the eight year old girl as she continued, "What if it's not abandoned? What if it IS someone's?"

Lee understood where Kenny and Twilight were coming from. He knew very well that this blessing they'd stumbled upon would make life at the Motor Inn marginally easier. But Clem's objections coupled with his own conscience kept bringing him back to the possibility of someone coming back for their food. If there was any chance, which there arguably was, they would just be condemning whoever they were taking from. He approached Clem and spoke "You're right. We shouldn't take this."

Dash was overjoyed Lee agreed. Kenny felt different, "What?! Did you get some meal back there the rest of us missed out on?! We HAVE to take this stuff!"

Dash moved next to Clem and Lee, "I'm sure you guys can survive without that food."

"The hell we will!" Kenny didn't change his stand on the opinion at all.

Lee agreed with her, "We'll find a way, Kenny."

Kenny dismissed all these argument and looked back at the trunk, "The rest of us are taking this stuff." He put his open hand out toward Lee, who still had the car keys. Lee was reluctant but knew he couldn't just keep the keys away from him. Kenny opened up the trunk and opened it up wide, "Okay, what have we got in here?"

Lee, Clementine, Dash, Applejack and Twilight watched as everyone else began grabbing boxes out of the station wagon. Despite her previous stance, Twilight decided to stand by her friends and Lee anyway. Clementine grabbed a hold of Lee's hand as they watched everyone pick the vehicle clean of practically anything not attached to it. Dash could tell Applejack wasn't proud of the sight as the orange mare watched Kenny and everyone take the food. Twilight shook her head in an attempt to clear it, and just waited until they were done so she could continue on. Soon everyone except for Lilly, Mark and Carley had a box in their hands. As Katjaa picked up another, she noticed a small, red hoodie inside the car. "Lee, there's a hoodie in here, could probably fit Clementine."

Clementine and Lee looked at one another. She shook her head no, "She's fine. Thanks."

"Whatever man, it's gonna get cold out eventually." Kenny stated as he grabbed his box.

Dash looked at Lee, "Thanks for not agreeing with them."

"Yeah," Clem agreed, "thanks Lee."

"Why didn't you? If you don't mind me asking." Twilight was genuinely curious

Lee shrugged, "Just didn't feel right."

Dash simply nodded at this, it made her happy enough. Carley came over to them and handed Clementine a little packet, "Here, Mark found some batteries in the glove compartment. I thought you might want some for your walkie-talkie."

Clem politely grabbed the battery packet from her, "Thanks."

Lee tried to cheer up Carley with one of their playful jabs, "Batteries huh? Think you can handle those?"

She couldn't help but smile, "You'll never let me live that down, huh?"

"Ah shit." Mark had laid his rifle in the car for a moment and was messing with the video camera. He looked at Lee as Carley, Lee and Dash turned toward him, curious about what was going on, "Lee, come over here." Clementine stayed back while Dash and Carley followed Lee over to Mark.

"What is it?" Lee asked as Mark looked down at the camera.

He looked back up as they reached him, "I found batteries for the camcorder, and..." He trailed off before showing the image on back to him, "You might wanna see this."

Carley and Dash got a good view as Mark pressed play, all three of them grew shocked by what they saw. Dash was in disbelief as they got further in, "... What...?"

The recorder showed a shaky view of the Motor Inn from an elevated point, zoomed in to get a good image of everything. It was back in the earlier days before they'd even started on the wall. Someone could be heard breathing as they recorded. Almost everyone was on screen, working on getting the place safe. Kenny and Lee began moving a car, Clementine was discovered to be talking with Rainbow Dash beyond the vehicle as it moved. The camera zoomed in on them, specifically Clem. This image continued for a few more moments until it skipped to the next time the record button was pushed.

Whatever was going on when this part was recorded, it showed the camera falling to someone's feet and something going on in the background. A woman's voice was heard as the video went on, Lee and Dash soon recognized who it was, "JAKE, BART, LINDA and ALL YA'LL fuckin' sickos from the Save-Lots!! They call ya'll bandits! But you're FUCKIN' RAPIST MONSTERS--" The video was cut again and went forward to a later date. That very morning, to be exact. The camera was once again focused on Clementine, Jolene spoke as she recorded, "Oh darlin' baby. Look at you. Look. At. You. Oh, you need a mama, sweetheart. We won't let them bandits get you, will we..."

Jolene trailed off as she allowed the recorder to pick up what the little girl, the winged pony and the man were saying. The man was speaking first, "How ya doing, Clementine?"

"Okay."

"Where's your hat?" He asked next

"I just asked her that a minute ago," The pony answered for her, "says she lost it."

The little girl nodded yes, "Can you both help me find it?"

"Sure thing, Clem!" The blue pony was enthusiastic in her response.

"We'll both look for your hat." The man told the girl, "When did you lose it?"

"I had it a couple days ago."

"I promise if we find it, we'll..."

Jolene zoomed out, "Ya'll thinkin' you're safe, sittin' there actin' like things are the way they used to be." She turned the camera toward herself, showing her face, "The dead don't kill their own. It's the livin' you gotta be afraid of... the people I used to call friends..." She began to get emotional, "The people who took..." She held back tears and pulled herself together. She looked firmly at the camera, "Don't worry, little girl. Bandits got their eye on that Dairy. As long as they keep getting food from them, you'll be safe. I promise." The recording stopped.

TO BE CONTINUED