"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.