//------------------------------// // 16 Months Later... // Story: The Best For You // by Can-dees_Murder_Weapon //------------------------------// Clementine stared at the dying fire as she sat upon the log a few clicks away. They managed to track and kill a weasel. Rarity had been eating meat for a while now, initially she'd thought she was going to get food poisoning but that never happened; she actually thought it to be quite good which disgusted her the first time it came into her head. The experience was somewhat nerve wracking but having seen and done a handful of other awful things; she quickly grew accustomed to it. The mare in front of her, fiddled with the fire trying to keep the flames alive. It was late at night with light rain pouring down on them. Winter started off hard for the two. They had been travelling for months, possibly a whole year now on the road and every step felt farther than the last. Rarity could've made due without a fire, the cold nights were tolerable; thanks to her fur but Clementine needed the fire to keep her warm. Rarity grew more irritated as she tried in vain to keep the flames alive. "Well... this is absolutely wonderful," Clementine heard the sarcasm in her voice. Using her magic, she moved around a couple of logs she tossed into the fire. She'd hoped that it would burn better. She sighed and shook her head. "It doesn't even seem like it's working." "We can't really do anything about it, now can we?" Clementine asked. Rarity sighed. "The rain is making this a whole lot worse for us." Over the months, the two had met their fair share of strangers on the road. Most of which who were unpleasant, either wanting to kidnap Clementine, rob them or kill them on sight. It made the whole "robbing people and leave them with nothing" ordeal much easier to deal with. Rarity would usually be the one to kill them, Clementine would sometimes want to spare them but the mare wouldn't have it; chopping it up as "they're too dangerous to be left alive" and that would be it. Rarity's magic and otherworldly appearance gave them both a great advantage over others. There were only a few people they came across who actually seemed decent which only made the guilt worse when Rarity robbed them. It always happened, every time they came across somebody. The mare always ended up robbing them blind and if they had any weapons? She would destroy them. The best part about it was that she didn't care. At all. Those who were decent were left alive... as long as they didn't try anything, that is. There have been a couple of traumatic occasions where the victim would try to defend themself against the unicorn and it always only ended in death. The mare would take the supplies and continue down the road as if nothing happened. Within those months, Clementine grew distant and slowly began to harbor a strong resentment for the unicorn. If she had a choice, she wouldn't stay with her anymore. She obviously understood defending herself but when it came to strangers who were obviously struggling and Rarity deliberately taking advantage of them without a care in the world, that was just morally wrong and Clementine hated it. Lee wouldn't have approved of this behavior. It wasn't like she could anything against the unicorn anyway, what she says goes. The girl was planning on leaving the first chance she got but that was a month ago. She never had the gall to actually make the move and leave. Clementine didn't know how to survive on her own, she'd probably last a week at best out there on her own and judging by the number of bad people they've dealt with; it only made the chances of survival slimmer. Rarity stopped fiddling with the logs and looked at the girl. "Clementine, I'm gonna go look for more wood. Make sure the fire is lit by the time I get back, okay?" The girl merely nodded before the mare walked off into the woods. Rarity added the wet log onto the pile that she was levitating. She didn't think the trip to Wellington would've taken this long, a few months at best but not a whole damn year. How long has it been? 12 months? 16? They've been on the road for at least a year now and still little progress had been made. Rarity wondered if Wellington actually existed. She was considering the conclusion that maybe it didn't. It could've just been a rumor, a story they came across and they were just following a pipe dream. Maybe that man they met back in that town... Manning was it? She couldn't remember, it was year ago but that man could've been lying. She sincerely hoped that he wasn't, she was getting tired of having to get up everyday just to fight. Getting Clementine to a safe and secure location was always the top priority. If she didn't have her... well, she probably would have given up a long time ago. If Wellington did turn out to be some fake story, she was going to have teach the girl how to survive. Granted, the child already knew some things such as; how to kill a walker. She still know much of everything else. The mare hoped the kid learned her lesson in trusting others, seeing as how she got Lee killed by running off with some random stranger who claimed to know her parents. If it wasn't for that decision, Lee would still be alive and she wouldn't have had to promise him anything. Clementine was essentially the only thing keeping her alive at the moment, her promise to Lee. Once she got the child to a safe place, a reliable community where she could finally be able to sleep in a comfortable bed without keeping one eye open; nothing would be stopping the mare from doing whatever she wanted. She wouldn't have anything else to live for, nothing to keep her going. Her friends were gone, her career was gone. Her shop had probably been closed down by now, unless someon-pony took care of it. She knew how Clementine felt toward her, it wasn't difficult to read what she was thinking at times; it's just one of those things you learn by default when you're around someone every second of the day. Rarity wasn't going start all over again at some random community. Try rebuilding civilization. She wasn't civilized, not anymore. She's done too many bad things to even be considered "cordial". That fashionista that arrived on this world was long gone, along with her life. It was over and the only thing that mattered now was making sure Clementine was safe. Once that's done... she'll leave. There was no sense in sticking around any longer than she had to, she'll put herself down. "Surviving the day" wasn't her idea of a life, others may find that motivating for them but it wasn't for movitating for her. Without her friends or her career, she was nothing. Selfish? Foolish? Maybe but she didn't care. The mare turned around and saw three men coming out of a huge brush of leaves. She dropped the logs immediately before they were able to notice her magic. The sound of wood smacking against each other drew one of the men's attention. He had more of a yellow-ish skin tone with slicked back dreadlocks. "Looks like we finally caught ourselves some food!" He exclaimed, catching the two other's attention. "The hell is it anyway?" One of the men asked with stunned expression, he had a grey hoodie with a much more dark skin tone. "Doesn't matter, let's just kill it and-" "You are not going to kill me." The mare quickly countered the other man. He had a light skin tone, wearing a green shirt with a backpack on him. She saw their expression morph into a look of shock before she continued. It worked every time, it was kind of boring going through the whole "holy shit! It talks" ordeal. "You are going to hand over everything you have and leave." The three strangers glanced at one another before they bursted into a fit of laughter, causing an eyeroll from Rarity. "N-no... no way!" "Y-you're joking? You're fuckin' jokin', right!?" "This is bullshit. There is no logical way on EARTH that this is real right now." The man with locs denied. "Y'all so full of it, I'm dreaming right now." "Naw, you ain't dreaming. We all seein' this." The man with the hoodie replied. "Then what the hell is going on!? Why is there a random talking-whatever-the-fuck-it-is out here!?" "I dunno, how am I supposed to know!?" "Everybody shut up!" Rarity interrupted, attracting their attention once more. "You are all going to hand over everything you got or something bad is going to happen." The mare warned which only made the man in the hoodie stare at her as if he was about to laugh again. "Oh really? Really? Okay, how about this? Cut the shit and show us what you intend to do about it if we don't. What the hell are you anyway? What? A damn unicorn?" "What I am is actually irrelevant. This is the last time I'm going to ask, hand over your stuff now!" The man wasn't threatened, he didn't look threatened. Not surprising, being a colorful unicorn and all but people would be more likely to try and attempt something. Her magic always took them off guard, an amazing advantage. He casually pulled out a pistol from his pants and drew on her. "What the hell are you gonna do about it? You gonna poke me with that horn? You ain't gonna do shit, you got a group? Are there more of you around!?" The playful edge to his voice was gone, deep and serious now like he was ready to start shooting. "There has to be more of them, there ain't no way she survived out here all on her own!" Dreadlock man said. "Exactly, there has to be more of them around!" The other man added. "Where's the rest of your group!?" The hoodie man exclaimed once more, the pistol trained on the mare. She's been in these situations before, it wasn't her first rodeo and it always ended the same way; with her coming out on top, alive. This wasn't going to be any different. The mare groaned in frustration. Using her magic, she yanked the pistol out of the man's hands and threw them all up against the trees; trapping them with a blue aura. They all had the same fearful look on their faces as they began to lose their nerve. "Ohshitohshitohsit!" "What the fuck are you doing!? Let me go!" "Oh fuck... oh shit, I'm gonna die..." "I told you to hand over your supplies but yet, you people always like to make things more complicated than they should be and now here you are!" Rarity exclaimed. "Please, please just let me go. Okay-okay? I-I-I'll leave, okay-you'll never see me again. I promise, alright? I promise!" the hoodie man began breathlessly begging. "You're too dangerous to be kept alive, you could've just handed over your supplies but it doesn't matter now." The mare unsheathed her dagger from her holster and approached the man. "NO! Please! Wait-wait-wait, jus-fuck!!! Just fuckin' wait a second! Shit man!" Rarity sighed through her nose, growing ever so irritated. "What?" "Just let me go, okay? I'll go, I'll leave and I'll give you all of my shit! Okay? T-that's-that's what'chu want right!? I'll give it to you! I'll give you everything!" "Or I could just kill you and take everything anyway?" Rarity retorted. "Well-what-fuckin'-good is that gonna do anyway!?" Rarity scoffed, shaking her head. "It's gonna make me feel secure, you'll be dead and I'll still be living." A twig snapping behind her caught her attention. Her head snapped around and came face to face with a walker. She released the three men and her knife from her grasp. She quickly dodged to the side, shoving the walker to the dirt below with her magic. She went over to finish it off but felt something sharp go into her left rib. She yelped, stumbling and her balance was lost instantly. She was tackled to the ground by one of the scavengers, an arm wrapping around her neck pinning her and her right arm to the ground, she struggled as she tried to break free. Too many things were happening all at once. Too fast to process, that and being presumably stabbed. Hopefully, not by her own knife. She saw one of the man with the backpack take care of the walker while the hoodied man went searching for something on the ground. The mare brought her left hoof over to the man's head, hammering it mindlessly. The wound screaming at her side wasn't making things easier, it hurt just to move but actually trying to punch someone was sending her through a wave of utter hell. She noticed the man with the backpack was coming over to assist his friend. Making an instant decision, she manifested whatever strength she had left; implementing it through her magic, she shoved the man's leg out from under him. He fell to the ground face first, letting out a groan of pain. The one that was looking around all over the ground had finally found what he was looking for. His gun. She quickly attempted to use her magic once more but it suddenly cut off when a hand wrapped around her horn; cutting off the magical grasp like a flame on a candle. Adrenaline pumping through her veins on overdrive, the pain that was aching in her side a few seconds ago disappeared and she brought her hoof to man's ribs. She punched it over and over until he finally let go. She released herself from his grasp and immediately focused on the hoodied man who already had his gun trained on her, standing a few feet away. He pulled the trigger and a loud crack ranged throughout the woods. In the midst of firing, the bullet itself hovered in the air between the mare and gun. The aura that was manifested around the bullet kept it in place while the man who had fired the gun, stared at it with a look of horror on his face as he realized the gravity of his situation. Rarity deflected the bullet right into the his hand, forcing him to drop the gun. He stumbled backwards as he clutched to his hand, grunting in pain. The mare quickly glanced around, her heart racing to take a break, she noticed the number of walkers appearing around the forest in all directions. Her eyes landed on the two other scavengers who were beginning to recover. Not wanting to continue the fight, she ran away; being mindful of the walkers that were advancing on her. Blood dripped from her wound, leaving a trail in the patch of wet dirt. She needed to get to safety as soon as possible. She had no idea where she was going, the woods, trees, brushes all looked the same. She just had to stay in one direction. The walkers were seemingly popping out from nowhere. Some in front of her, forcing her to detour from her direction, some coming out from the brushes and some following her from behind. She was going to be travelling in a circle if this continued. She was going to get nowhere if she kept taking different paths but it was not like she had a choice and to top it- Rarity gasped, stopped and her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Clementine!" She blurted out. then turned back to where she came and stared. The mare slowly began to panic as she realized that she forgot Clementine. Her breath began to pick up as she scanned in all directions, walkers coming out from the bushes in plain sight. "Oh no,no-no-no-no-" she uselessly muttered to herself. After a few moments of looking around aimlessly, she decided to continue down her direction; running as fast she could. The blood wasn't to stop anytime soon and it was attracting walkers from all over. It could lead them straight to Clementine... A brush was coming up as she ran. Not wanting to take another direction, she ran into it and tripped. She tumbled, rolling down a hill, smashing into hard bumps before finally being thrown into a pool of water. The water filled her nose creating a painful sting. It flooded her throat causing her to choke, her body tried to cough a few times but the water only fill it even more. She was slowly drifting off, she managed to figure out that she had just landed into a river. Was this how she was going to die? Realising that she had failed Lee? Was that going to be her last thought? She tried and was doing good too but in the end she failed. Rarity had lost Clementine. The mare would most likely be long gone by the time she woke up... if she would even wake up. It depended on how long this river was, it could probably lead to the ocean for all the mare knew and then she really would've lost Clementine at that point. Her friends were gone, lost in Savannah somewhere. Probably not even in Savannah anymore and here she was, floating down the stream as she was losing her consciousness. She wondered if they were still alive. If they were still looking for her, perhaps not. She would shamefully admit it but she stopped looking for them a long time ago but despite all that... ...at least, she could rest now. "Rarity?" The fashionista opened her eyes only to come face first with Pinkie's abnormally large grin. "Pinkie?" The mare breathlessly said as she stared up at her pink friend. "Yeeeeeees, Rarity?" The unicorn remained in stunned silence as she soaked in the situation. She looked around in the disbelief. She was in a small brick-red room with one window, the blinds were closed but she could see the sunlight seeping through and there was a restroom to her right. Was she... was she back at the- "You were grumbling and mumbling in your sleep! So I was like-ooh I wonder what Rarity's dreaming about!? Then I was like-oof!" The pink mare was cut off by the fashionista sudden embrace. She could feel the patch of fur on her chest begin to moisten and the involuntary shaking of the unicorn against her. "Aww! Rarity..." The party pony quickly returned the embrace. "Did you have a bad dream?" The fashionista nodded. "Oh, i-it's okay. It was just a bad dream, ugh! Where's Princess Luna when you need her!?" The distraught mare lifted her head up from her friend's chest, bloodshot eyes filled with leaking tears. "W-where...where are we?" "We're at the motel! Remember? We got here yesterday!" "W-was..." The unicorn gulped. "w-was I dreaming?" "Well, yeah! That's what happens when you sleep! Oh-uh, by the way, what was that dream about?" The party pony's smile was still etched onto her features. The unicorn thought about it for a moment but ignored it. "I-I'll tell you later. Where are the girls?" "Oh they're outside, talking with the humans." Pinkie explained. The fashionista hopped off the bed immediately and trotted over to the door. She flinged it open and was assaulted by the sun's bright light. Once her eyes had adjusted, she was hit with a wave of warm nostalgia. She was really back at the motel again. Hey eyes took in the familiar scenery. The parking lot, the R.V, the wall the humans had built to block out the walkers and any other threats. She even recognized a few people she hasn't seen in a while. Lilly, sitting and keeping watch on top of the R.V. Katjaa sitting with Kenny. She even missed Larry of all people. Then her eyes laid upon them, her friends all huddled together. She walked closer toward them, Rainbow was arguing about something but stopped when she saw Rarity. "Rarity! Tell Twilight that... hey, were you crying?" The unicorn didn't respond instead threw her arms around the confused but concerned Rainbow-maned pegasus. Rainbow Dash threw an glance around everypony before hugging her friend back. Twilight and Applejack both exchanged a concerned look at each other while Fluttershy gently patted the sobbing unicorn. "Rarity, are you... okay?" Twilight asked as she came over to the two. The elegant unicorn lifted her head up from the pegasus's shoulder and turned around to meet Twilight. "Yes, o-of course I am. I'm absolutely wonderful!" She then embraced her lavender friend to which she pleasantly returned. "I'm just... so glad you're here." "She had a bad dream," Pinkie interjected. "Must've been a fairly awful dream ta get 'er goin' like that," Applejack added with a frown. "What was it about?" "I dunno, she didn't tell me." Pinkie shrugged. Twilight nodded. "Rarity, you want to tell us what your dream was about?" The white unicorn looked up at all of her friends, all looking back at her with a concerned expressions. Her friends, all of them together again. "I-I... I just-felt... I felt what it would be like to lose... a-all of you. All my friends... wait... where's Lee?" "I'm right here." She turned around to find the man himself, coming over to the group. "I was just coming to check in, seeing how you were all holding up." "We're... doing fine, thanks." Twilight answered, glancing worriedly at Rarity. "I still can't believe I'm standing here talking to... horses." He rubbed at his forehead. "It's ponies and ah can't believe that there are actual aliens!" Applejack exclaimed. "I guess that makes to of us." Lee seemed to notice Rarity's red puffy eyes. "Are you okay?" The white unicorn nodded with a smile. "Yes, I am. Thank you for asking." He decided not to press forward, presuming her friends would take care of her. "Alright, if you girls need anything or... if you need help with something just come find me." "Will do, thanks Lee." Twilight said and the man walked off. "You gon' be okay, sugarcube?" Applejack inquired. "Hmm? Oh, yes of course! I'm just glad you're all here with me." The fashionista gave a warm smile, rubbing at her puffy eyes. "Well, obviously. Why wouldn't we be here?" Rainbow added. Rarity still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was that all truly a dream? Going to Savannah, getting lost and losing her friends... ...was this the dream? No. No, it wasn't. Of course, it wasn't. Why would it be? As Rarity stood there, watching her friends chat amongst each other, a feeling flowed through her; something she hadn't truly felt in a long time... ...peace. "Rarity," Twilight called. "Yes, Twilight?" "Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" ... ... ... "...Yes. Yes, I will be fine, darling."