//------------------------------// // Long Road Ahead: Suspicion, suspicious! // Story: The Mane 6 And Lee Everett // by Can-dees_Murder_Weapon //------------------------------// Twilight and lee walk along the barricade of the Motel. Twilight didn't blame Lee for killing the woman, she saw her get bit back at the pharmacy. Even if they did manage to save her, she would only just die later; except she would pass away peacefully, around other people. Lee looks up at Ben and Rarity who are on top of the R.V. keeping watch. Lee is glad that the ponies manage to help out around the motel, while they wait. For what exactly? A vortex to transport them back to their world? A day before Lee and Twilight went to the pharmacy, he got more detail on how they were transported to Earth. A random orb floating around a forest with no specific direction? That doesn't make any sense, why was it there in the first place? Did someone or "somepony" (as they say in their world) use some type of spell that was meant for them specifically? Lee halts his train of thought, walking into the barricade. He sees Clementine who looks to be pretending to speak through her broken walkie talkie. Clementine looks up from her walkie and spots Lee and she runs over to him. "Your back! Ben, found some stickers in the drawer and I put them on my walkie!" Clementine holds out her walkie talkie to show him. "Hey sweet pea, that's neat. I'll find you in a minute." Lee says with a smile and Clementine nods before walking away. Lee and Twilight stop at Lilly's door. Lee knocks, seconds pass before the door opens and reveals Lilly. "What'd you get?" She poorly says. Lee lends over the rifle, Lilly takes it and she sets it down on the top of the drawer. "So, what'd you get?" Lilly says while walking back over to them. "A lot of stuff." Lee hands over the bag and leather pouch and Lilly takes them. She brings them over to the bed to examine the supplies. Yes, we're fine, Lilly. Thank you so much for showing concern for our well being! Twilight sarcastically thought. "Nice work, this'll keep us going." Lilly says after finishing looking over the supplies. "If we carry on like this we'll get through the winter here." She says, walking back over to them. "The winter"- The loud and abrupt voice makes Twilight jump before turning her head around to find Kenny."- we'll freeze our asses off 're!" "Because piling into an R.V. with you and Rainbow Dash after what you two did to my dad is soooo appealing," Lilly deadpans. "Why wouldn't it be? You-know ah'll do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe!" "We're already safe." "We'll do whatever's best for the kids, doesn't that make sense?" Lee interjects. "Lilly is correct. Leaving the motel in hopes that we'll find a better place? That's too risky! What if we don't find a better place? What if everywhere has been looted? What if we run out of fuel in the middle of the road? It's too much of a risk too leave," Twilight says, agreeing to stay in the motel. "Thank you, Twilight. That's exactly what I mean," Lilly poorly says. "Umm, have you two forgotten about the bandits that have been attacking us?" Kenny says. "We'll do what we have to, like we've always been doing. Everyone else is still here, alive and fully functional," Twilight says. "Oh yeah? For how long?" Kenny asks. "Well, judging from today... I'd say for a pretty long period of time." "It's suicide out there!" Lilly interjects, her voice a bit more louder this time. "We'll die in here!" Kenny retorts. "At it again, are we?" Carley says, coming up to the group. "Can it, Carley," Kenny sternly says. "Don't boss people around." Lilly folds her arms and frowns at him. "A'hm sorry, but somebody needs to make executive decisions for the group though and ah don't think you're... capable anymore." Lilly starts to glare at him. "And don't start with me either." "Ken, we're all losing it from the attacks a-and the lack of food," Katjaa suddenly says from behind her husband. "We're strongest together. I know you think we're on her side but there are no sides, dammit!" Lee says who is clearly annoyed. "Exactly! If we all pulled together and stopped arguing with each other, we could accomplish things much more quicker!" Twilight says. "What about the food situation? What about protection? What about when this place falls? Somebody's gotta be thinkin' about this shit." "Then we'll take care of the problem." "We can't always just take care of the problem!" "How has this not been working? We have everything we need." "Cause of them, Lilly." Kenny gestures at Lee and Twilight. "No, because they know how to take care of people. Not just things... everything that happens to us is just another excuse for you to pull this crap about leaving. All I want is a week of peace; of not hearing it." Lilly's voice raises, getting irritated by Kenny's shenanigans. "Look, Macon and it's people aren't savable. It's not a town, it's fulla' walkers and the people who WERE left are dyin' and wonderin' out onto the streets... it's hell on Earth and it's comin' this way." Lilly's patience with the man wears out and she snaps. "IT'S NOT GONNA BE EASIER OUT ON THE ROAD!" She yells, turning her back on the group. Lilly's outburst made the group jump. "How would you know?" "WHAT I KNOW?" Lilly turns and she venomously stares at Kenny. "I know you're not above murder! I know somebody's been stealing our supplies! That's right, STEALING! And I know the list of people I trust here gets smaller everyday." Lilly turns around again. "Now, everybody get. Out!" Twilight, wanting to give Lilly some space, is the first one who leaves the room. Then Lee and Kenny. "I hope she'll calm down," Twilight says, nervous over Lilly's behaviour. "She'll get over it," Lee says, sure that she will. "She's rilin' everybody up otherwise." "You understand, Ken," Katjaa says. "All ah know is, whenever this shit happens I'm the fuckin' bad guy. Ah'd like a thank you for once, FOR ONCE!" Kenny says as he's walking away from the group. Katjaa takes a glance back at Lee before following her husband. Carley sighs beside Lee. "Things are coming to a head." "You can say that." Lee says walking away with Carley, leaving Twilight alone. Twilight watches Lee and Carley walk away before sighing. "What now?" She mutters to herself. "Is, Lilly okay?" Twilight turns around to find Fluttershy. "Oh umm well, Lee says she'll get over it. I just hope he's right." "I could hear her shouting all over the motel." Fluttershy pauses before continuing. "I... I also heard something about... supplies?" "Yeah, she said somebody's been stealing them." Twilight says, frowning in bemusement. Immediately after Twilight says that, Fluttershy becomes anxious. The thought of someone sneaking into the camp and stealing their supplies, frightens her. What if they decide to harm her or her friends? She starts to think if it is safe to walk around the motel alone. "I'm gonna go talk to her." Twilight says, walking towards Lilly's room. She takes a brief glance at Fluttershy before reluctantly pushing the door open. She finds Lilly sitting on her bed, hunched over with her head resting in the palm of her hands. Twilight closes the door and she ambles towards her. Lilly lifts her head up from her palms and she looks at Twilight with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry." "It's okay, it's beneficial to let out your emotions," After what happened to her father, it's perfectly understandable as to why she's been acting this way. Lilly sighs. "Is there something you need?" "I actually came in here because you said something about "somebody stealing supplies"." The door opens and they both turn and see Lee by the doorframe. "I... wanted to follow up about stolen supplies." He says entering the room and closing the door behind him. Lilly nods. "Yeah, Twilight was just doing that. Do you guys know what's going on?" "I didn't even noticed that supplies were being stolen until you pointed it out." Twilight says, frowning. "I have to agree with, Twilight. I only heard you mention it," Lee adds. "Things are missing and I need both of your help." Lilly pauses before adding. "There's a traitor, somebody, one of us, out there." She gestures towards outside. "He or she or they have been taking things." "How do you know?" Twilight curiously and also nervously asks. "I just do." Twilight frowns at Lilly's answer. She wants to support her, considering on her mental state but that answer doesn't convince her; maybe she is just paranoid. "Lilly..." Lee says, sympathetically. "The count's off and it's the good stuff. Antibiotics, oxy, anything with opium in it." "I've seen the count and it's fine." "I keep my own, THAT one is getting messed with." Twilight doesn't worry about the supplies since she and her friends can just eat grass but if supplies run empty; the humans won't have anything to keep their strength up. "I'm a fucking mess right now but I'm not stupid. I know what happens if I start a witch hunt." "So, you want us to start one?" Lee interjects. "I want you to poke around." Twilight gives Lee a look before asking Lilly. "What's there to go on?" Lilly leans down to pick something up from under the bed. She brings out a large flashlight and hands it over to Lee. "I found this, tossed into the garbage." Twilight gazes at the torch and sees that the lens is shattered. "We don't toss out equipment, we fix it. You only try to get rid of a flashlight when you were using it when you shouldn't." "I'll... look around," Twilight says. "Yeah, I'll poke around a little bit." Lee says, nodding. "...thank you." Twilight and Lee leave Lilly's room, starting their investigation around the motel. "Suspicious!" The sudden voice startles Twilight and Lee. They quickly turn around and they find Pinkie Pie standing beside Duck who's widely grinning. "Sweet, Celestia. Don't do that, Pinkie." Twilight frowns at her. "Oh sorry, Twilight! It was just that me and, Duck heard you guys talking and we decided to listen." Twilight gets an idea, a great idea. She thinks back to when Pinkie Pie and her investigated the chefs in the dessert contest on the Friendship Express. "Pinkie Pie... do you remember when we did an investigation on the chefs, on the friendship express?" Pinkie stares blankly at Twilight for a few seconds before gasping. "Oh yeah! I remember that!" "Well, can you help me with something?" "Of course! What is it? Looking for stolen supplies! Oh! Can, Duck help?" Twilight looks at Duck who's smiling at her hoping she'll say yes. "Uhh..." Twilight glances at Lee who just chuckles and folds his arms. "Umm, yeah! Duck, go speak to, Lee he'll tell you what to do." Lee stops chuckling and Twilight walks away with Pinkie before he could say anything. After Twilight was done explaining the situation to Pinkie and she starts berating Twilight with questions. "What were the supplies? Who did it? Is it the bandits?" Pinkie gasps before continuing. "Do you-" "Pinkie, enough!" Twilight says, irritated. "No, I have a theory! What if the bandits stopped attacking because someone is giving them the missing supplies?" "That is-wait... oh, that's actually a good theory," Twilight admits. "I know! So, what are we looking for?" "First of all, we need to ask around. Who broke the flashlight?" "I don't know," Pinkie blankly replies. "I... wasn't asking you, Pinkie. Hmm, let's start with, Ben and, Rarity." "Actually, let's start with, Katjaa." Twilight gives her a confused look. "Uhh wwwhy?" "Just a hunch." Twilight sighs. "Okay." They both start ambling towards Kenny and Katjaa. Twilight learned not to question Pinkie Pie and her "Pinkie Sense" a while ago and that she should just go along with whatever her pink friend says. Twilight sees Kenny and Katjaa over by a couch and they seem to be having a heated debate. As Twilight and Pinkie Pie get closer, they realize that the conversation the couple is talking about is about guns and Katjaa not wanting to carry one around all the time. Twilight doesn't understand why Katjaa doesn't want to, even after what's been happening. The dairy, the bandits attacking the motel; they need them for protection. A safety precaution, if bandits suddenly decide to start attacking again, they'll be ready. Twilight and Pinkie Pie walk in front of the couple. "Hi, Kenny, Katjaa. What's going on?" Twilight sees Kenny glance at Katjaa before answering. "Just... havin' a little spat." Then Katjaa speaks next. "We all carry guns and well, I don't like it." Kenny frowns at her. "It's the way it's gotta be." "I know but I'm not getting used to it." Well, at least she understands. Twilight thought. "Anyway, what is it that you need, girls?" "I just wanted to ask you guys about the flashlights, we have." Right as Twilight says that, Pinkie holds up a flashlight seemingly out of nowhere. It is the same flashlight Lilly showed her and Lee back at her room. "Pinkie... when did... you know what? Nevermind." Twilight snatches the shattered flashlight out of Pinkie's hooves and Pinkie gives her a hey-I-was-using-that look. "Do you know what happened to this flashlight?" Twilight holds out the flashlight with her magic in which, Kenny and Katjaa aren't so surprised about anymore. "I saw some glass over by the ice machine, I meant to clean it up before the kids hurt themselves," Katjaa says. Twilight thanks her and she and Pinkie Pie starts to make their way over to the other side of the motel, near the ice machine. They come into contact with the glass Katjaa was talking about. Twilight examines the glass carefully, putting a shard of glass into the frame of the flashlight to check if it fits with it. As she expected, it does. When Twilight inspected the shattered glass among the concrete ground of the motel, Pinkie started to wonder to herself. Thinking about if they'll ever get home, will they ever get home? Pinkie isn't so sure, that they will. They've been here for how long now? A week? Two weeks? She hasn't exactly been keeping count with all that's been happening. After what happened with Larry, back at the Dairy. When he got his head smashed in, Pinkie Pie couldn't move nor blink. She just sat there, gazing at the gorey sight and she felt a large lump in her throat. She just kept gazing, she didn't even notice Twilight coming into the room. It wasn't until Applejack said something- "Pinkie!" "Huh-wha?" Twilight has tried two attempts to grab Pinkie's attention but neither was successful. She noticed that her friend was just pointlessly staring at the ground. "Come on, I found something." Twilight says, walking around the corner of the wall. Pinkie curiously follows her friend, wondering if she found any supplies. "Look!" Twilight points at the orange plastered wall, which has a cross drawn onto it; the cross appears to be drawn with pink chalk. Pinkie gasps, having a theory. "A cross!" She yells, excited. "It must have a subliminal message!" "I was uhh sent to prison... before the plague," Lee reluctantly says to Rainbow Dash and Clementine. He sees Rainbow Dash frown, which makes Lee fidget slightly, hoping she doesn't notice. He feels a sense of relief when she averts her eyes down a few seconds after. Clementine appears to be in the same position, looking away seemingly in thought. "What was it... for?" Rainbow suddenly says, sounding a bit hesitant. Lee hoped she wouldn't have asked that, out of concern for Clementine. He doesn't want to tell them, so he just says. "It... doesn't matter, I just want you girls to know from me before you hear it from anybody else." Clementine merely nods, whereas Rainbow Dash says. "Oh alright, l-listen I just want you to know that... nothing has changed, we're still good." Lee feels all the nervousness he first felt fade away and gratitude and full-fledged-relief take over. "Thanks, Dash." "You got it." Rainbow says, smiling with sincerity before going back to what she was doing with Clementine. After nervously confessing to Rainbow Dash and Clementine about Lee's past, Rainbow's acceptance made it easier for him to tell everyone else. Throughout the motel, almost everyone didn't care about Lee's past, mainly telling him it doesn't matter what happened in the past. Lee feels a gush of happiness. Everyone and everypony looking past and knowing that Lee isn't a bad person; his actions and morals prove it. Ben was too nervous, stuttering word after word but in the end, he thanked Lee for trusting him. Katjaa was surprised, which later morphed into devastation; when Lee told her what truly happened in the meatlocker, how Kenny killed Larry. The only ones who he didn't tell are Twilight and Pinkie Pie, who are over by the ice machine. He begins making his way over to the ponies, without any hesitation, confident that they won't really make a big deal out of it. "-It must be a subliminal message!" He hears Pinkie say and he starts to smile while shaking his head. Pinkie, just being Pinkie, I guess. Lee thought. He comes up behind them and he notices the cross. "Hey, girls! What'd you find?" "A sign!" Pinkie blurts out. Twilight rolls her eyes. "It's a cross, it looks like it's chalk." Suddenly, Duck appears out of nowhere. "Pink, hmm..." "Duck!" Lee says through gritted teeth. "A clue!" "...maybe," Lee says after a long pause. "What do you think it is?" Feigning concentration, Lee looks at the cross before looking back at Duck. "I don't think it's anything." "Maybe, it's a sign." "Could be. It's pink chalk, which is... weird." Pinkie takes great offence to Lee's comment and she frowns. "Hey! What's wrong with pink!" Lee looks at her, confused. He doesn't understand why the pink pony is angry with him until he thought about it. "Oh, no offense to you... obviously." "Ohhhhhh, I see what it is... you have something against pink ponies, don't you?" "Wha-I-what?" Lee stutters. "I'll get back to investigating." Duck runs off from the group. "Ignore her, did you find anything?" Twilight walks past Pinkie, ignoring her herself. "Umm, nothing. I actually wanted to talk to you about something." "Oh okay, just me or...?" "Both of you." Sensing that Lee is going to tell them something serious, Pinkie frowns, being worried. Lee waits for a moment. Surely they won't be conflicted, their friends weren't troubled about his past, why would they be? "I was... sent to prison before the plague." Twilight eyes widen, she wasn't expecting that... she definitely did not expect that. Lee seems so gentle and kind, what could he possibly have done? That question has her stumped and she asks. "W-why? What did you do?" Lee waits for a moment and Twilight sees the look on his face, clearly he is debating whether or not to tell them. Finally, he says. "It doesn't matter... I ju-" "I want to know," Twilight blurts out. Lee sighs, deeply. "I was sent to prison... for murder." Sharply, Twilight gasps. MURDER? He committed murder! she thought. "Oh... why though?" "There was a man... he and my wife were..." Oh no... adultery. Twilight is completely abhorrent of those who commit such an abomination of a deed. It's the most wicked thing somepony can do, in her eyes. Twilight was never one for relationships, constantly claiming that they were a "waste of time" and unimportant. But hypothetically, if she were ever to have an unfaithful partner (which she highly doubts), mare or stallion, she would probably get them banished to the moon... or maybe even the sun. Her bewilderment is replaced with anger. "Oh, well he deserved it." She just blurts out, without any rational thinking. Lee and Pinkie eyes widen, clearly not expecting for those words to come out of the unicorn's mouth. Twilight continues. "Lee, I don't care about that. That was before the outbreak, you've probably done many other-" "Guys!" The sudden voice comes from Duck as they found him running over to them. He reaches them and he holds out a pink chalk. "I found this piece of pink chalk in a scuff over by the gate." Lee, forgetting about the former conversation; becomes suddenly, interested, mainly about the gate. "Really?" "Totally." Duck puts the chalk in his pocket for some reason. "I was combing the scene for clues and-" "Yeah, Duck I got! Good job!" Lee cuts him off, walking over to the barricade of the motel. Twilight follows him and before they know it, they reach the dumpster that is being used as a blockade. Lee kneels down, wondering why chalk would be here out of all places. And again, Duck appears right beside them holding up his hand, waiting for a high five. After giving him a high five, Lee moves the dumpster slightly and he discovers more of pink dust of chalk under it. He tells Duck to stay behind the barricade, sternly. Lee and Twilight cautiously step out of the barricade, knowing that there is nothing protecting them from the bandits only sets them on edge. The two come across a grate on the brick wall. Using her magic, Twilight tears the screws off the grate that's keeping them in place. They both see a paper lunch bag, Twilight coming to a conclusion that someone is giving away supplies. "You haven't come up with anything, have you?" Lilly says, hoping that they didn't. "We came up with this." Lee gives the bag of medicine to Lilly. "It's got a bunch of meds in it, it was in a grate in the outside wall and there's a sign on the other one." "Holy fuck." Lilly says after checking the bag. Lee folds his arms, he didn't think there was actually someone stealing supplies from the group. He thought Lilly was just being paranoid. "What do we do about it?" Twilight asks. "We line everybody. Everybody," Lilly emphasizes everybody. Twilight doesn't believe that her friends would do that, there's no way that they would. "Somebody is killing us. Stealing our supplies is the same thing as slipping into your room at night and cutting your throat in your sleep. You die what's the difference. What if, Clementine gets sick and we don't have what we need?" As Lilly finishes, she notices something. Through her window, past the slight gap in her blinds, she sees Carley on her knees with her hands behind her head. "What the hell!" Lilly exclaims. "YOU DON'T FUCKING STEAL FROM US!" END OF CHAPTER...