Lee, Kenny and Applejack walked down the sidewalk, the motor inn in the distance getting closer. They felt wary of being outside of the motor inn as bandits had attacked them multiple times in the past. However, as of late, the attacks suddenly stopped.
"The bandits have been quiet for the last couple'a days," Lee said, all of a sudden.
"Yeah, ah wonder why. They've been dead-set on killin' us but suddenly they just stop outta nowhere?" Kenny responded.
Applejack shrugged. "Ah ain't complainin'. Ah hope it stays that way."
"Me too." Lee agreed.
Kenny frowned. "You shouldn't have to hope. We have an R.V. and we can leave anytime we want. Stayin' here ain't doin' us any favors."
"Then leave. Ain't nothin' keepin' you here."
"The hell there ain't." Kenny scowled. "Some of y'all think it's better to stay at the motor inn. If ah leave now, it'll just be me and my family. Ain't nobody else comin' with me."
They drew closer to the motor inn, the woods on the other side of the road taunting at them. Twilight and Trixie were on watch on top of the R.V. The group continuously side glanced at the woods, expecting a bandit to be there with a crossbow pointed at them.
As they met the blockade, Pinkie came over to the dumpster and effortlessly pulled it out of the way. "Hey! Get anything good!?" She asked, a cheery smirk on her face.
"I think we got pretty much everything," Lee replied.
"Yeah, we might not have to worry 'bout supplies for a while," Applejack added, not knowing Kenny was rolling his eyes behind her.
However, it did not go unnoticed by Pinkie. She frowned, confused. "Are you okay?"
"Just peachy." Kenny walked toward Lilly's room, leaving the group.
Pinkie turned toward Applejack. "Why's he so frowny-downy?"
"What do ya think, sugarcube? Same thing as always." Applejack turned around and pushed the dumpster back into place with her leg. "The R.V."
Pinkie merely let out an "oh".
Twilight came over, rifle in hand. "You guys run into trouble again?"
Lee looked away. "You could say that."
"At least you guys made it back safely and you got supplies too. So, in my opinion it was a smooth run."
Lee and Applejack trailed toward Lilly's room where they saw Kenny already there. Arguing with Lilly once again. Applejack refrained from rolling her eyes.
"This place is done, Lilly! There ain't nothin' left! We're wastin' time and energy doin' these pointless runs into the city!" Kenny exclaimed.
"It will not be any easier out there! We already know what we're dealing with in here!" The brunette responded with a slightly raised voice.
"Y'all okay?" Applejack greeted, upon arrival.
"We're terrific," Kenny simply responded.
"Clearly," Lilly bitterly added. "Where's the rest of it?"
Lee and Applejack handed their bags of supplies to her. She walked over to the table in the room and began inspecting it.
"How was the trip overall?" Twilight asked. "It's been quiet over here, the bandits still haven't done anything."
"Yet," Kenny rebutted.
"Perfect." Lilly came over to the group, a small empty smile on her face. "If we carry on like this, we'll get through the winter here."
"Uh, excuse me!? Did you not hear what I just said!?" Kenny interjected, an annoyed look on his face.
"No, I heard you loud and clear."
"So, you really believe that we should stay here!? Seriously!? With bandits right outside our walls!?"
"Nevertheless, it's better bein' in here." Applejack leaned against the doorframe. "At least, we got a place to sleep."
"Yeah and that's fuckin' worse, the bandits want this fuckin' place! What if they suddenly decide to attack us again!? What then!?"
"Then we'll defend it, like we always done."
"We can't just keep defending this place, sooner or later someone's gonna get hurt!"
"With all due respect but, he's right," Twilight interjected, drawing everyone's attention toward her. "We can't keep defending this place forever. The city isn't going to be sustainable forever-"
"It ain't. We've looted pretty much every store in Macon." Kenny interrupted.
"You'd have to be insane to think that I'm willing to go anywhere with you after what you did to my dad." Lilly glared at the man.
"Why not? Ah was the one who saved everyone from that meat locker that night!" Kenny scowled.
"That ain't what ah heard," Applejack muttered.
"You ended up gettin' shot! You wouldn't even know what happened!"
"If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have gotten out of that farm in the first place, hoss." Applejack rebutted, frowning.
"That's beside the point anyway! There's fuckin' bandits on the other side of the wall ready to jump over and kill us!" Kenny wildly gestured at the blockade.
"Yeah and we've been defending this place ever since!" Applejack rebutted.
"So, that's how you wanna live!? For the rest of your life!?"
"Alright, perhaps we should leave this discussion for another time? Let's just organize the supplies." Twilight suggested, stepping into the room.
"We can't keep postponing this! Macon is running out of supplies! There ain't nothin', ain't no one else left in this city! Wanna know my proof!? While we were out there scavenging, there was a girl who came out into the streets screamin' her ass off!" Kenny exclaimed, drawing Applejack and Lee's attentive glares.
"Excuse me?" Twilight frowned.
"No, no, you heard correctly! Some girl came screamin' out of one of the stores! She was attracting walkers from all over the place! If it weren't for her, we wouldn't have gotten any of these supplies!"
"Y-you guys just left her there?" Pinkie furrowed.
"We didn't want to," Lee answered solemnly. "But... she was attracting the walkers. We figured-"
"What? You just let her suffer?" Rarity suddenly interjected, appearing by the doorway.
"She was dead already," Applejack replied. "We couldn't do anythin', walkers were comin' out everywhere and if we did try to help her, we wouldn't have gotten any of the supplies."
"Exactly!" Kenny added, giving a pointed look at Lilly. "Proving my point! The town is fucked! Everyone else is fucked! Fucking fuck-ton of walkers everywhere and to top it all off, we've got bandits knockin' on our front doors!"
"It's not gonna be easier out on the road!" Lilly snapped, startling everyone in the room.
"How the fuck would you know!?" Kenny asked.
"How would I know!? You wanna know what I fucking know!" Lilly scowled, stepping up to him as if she were about to molly whop him. Instead, she shoved her finger in his face. "I know you are not above murder!" She stepped away, turning her back on the group. "I know somebody's been stealing our supplies!" She whipped around, a maniacal smile on her face, unnerving everyone in the room. "Yeah, yeah, you heard correctly! Stealing! And, I know the list of people I can trust here gets smaller every day! Now, everybody get the fuck out!"
Everyone, excluding Kenny, exchanged worried looks with one another before exiting accordingly. Lee closed the door once everyone left.
"Celestia... that could've gone better." Applejack frowned, folding her arms.
"She said somebody was stealing supplies," Pinkie said. "Someone's sneaking into the motor inn?"
"Most likely paranoia, don't worry about it," Twilight replied.
"Well, she needs to get that paranoia under control! Ha, that's the funny thing, it can all be solved if we just left the fuckin' motor inn!" Kenny exclaimed, walking away from the group.
"Was that another argument?" Startled, Twilight turned behind her to see Fluttershy coming over to the group.
"How ya doin' sugar?" Applejack asked.
"I'm fine, what happened?"
"What if she's right though?" Pinkie suddenly asked, drawing glances from her friends.
"What do you mean?" Twilight frowned.
"Like, all of a sudden, the bandits have stopped attacking us. Like, why? They've shot at us, tried to kill us... why did they stop all of a sudden? Maybe, someone is giving them supplies? Like the St. Johns?"
Applejack and Twilight exchanged looks with one another. "That's... possible," Twilight answered, eyes darting off thoughtfully.
"Yeah! 'Cause at first, I was like, 'why did the bandits stop attacking us?' But then, Lilly said someone is stealing supplies. So, maybe someone's giving it to them and that's why they're stopping!?" Pinkie continued.
Twilight frowned, staying silent for a few moments. "I'll go check in with Lilly, see if she's got anything else to say about this."
"Good idea. By the way, how's the magic goin'? Anything yet?" Applejack asked, her eyes darting to Twilight's hands.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Twilight held the wooden rifle in both of her stretched out palms. After a few moments, a pink faintish glow started to form around the gun with a quiet hiss and soon after, it began floating. It lasted a few seconds before falling back into her palm. "I can only do it for like a short period but, it's something at least."
"Well, that's good then! Glad to know that your magic's still with us!" Applejack offered a smile.
Twilight nodded, offering a smile of her own. "Yeah, I'll just have to keep at it. I'm relearning magic all over again."
Rarity threw a kick toward Starlight, missing. The brunette swerved to the side and Rarity quickly counteracted the maneuver with a roundhouse kick. With barely any time to react, Starlight threw up both of her hands to shield herself from the coming blow.
A forceful wave slammed against her forearms, throwing her back a few feet and nearly losing her balance. She gritted her teeth, rubbing at them. "Sweet Celestia..." she muttered.
"Honestly, darling, I thought you said you improved?" Rarity mocked.
"I specialize more in magic than I do martial arts," Starlight hissed.
"Excuses, darling. That's all I hear."
Rainbow sat on the footpath, watching the sparring match, a yearning to participate. She grunted, scowling at her injured leg. "I hate my leg! Why can't it heal faster!?"
"You got shot!" Starlight exclaimed. "What did you expect!?"
"Applejack is completely fine!"
"Because she's an Earth pony, dear. She's got a tougher..." Rarity frowned, waving her hand around thoughtfully. "Figure compared to you."
Rainbow grunted, rubbing at her leg. The sparring match continued. Starlight was having trouble keeping up with Rarity's attacks, trying to block out all the punches. As she threw a punch, Rarity managed to catch it, twist it and toss her over her shoulder. Starlight landed on the ground with a smack.
She yelped, clutching at her shoulder.
"Oh! Sorry, darling," Rarity apologized, kneeling slightly and furrowing. "I might have gone a bit overboard."
"I'll say." Starlight gritted out, pushing herself into a seating position. "How in Equestria are you this good anyway?"
Rarity blew a puff of air. "I'm not that good, I only do martial arts from time to time."
"Since when!?" Rainbow exclaimed.
She frowned, her eyes darting elsewhere. "Since... well... forever, dash."
"And you never told us this before, why!?"
"It never got brought up." Rarity shrugged.
Rainbow groaned. "That's just great! We could've had a match-up, see who's better but, my damn leg!"
"Quit complaining about it." Starlight got up from the ground, dusting herself off. "It could be worse... like losing it."
"Hah! Quit complaining!? That's what you do all the time!" Rainbow replied.
"Yeah, well, wait till it gets better."
Rainbow sighed through her nose, giving a quick rub of her forehead. "Yeah, hopefully, I'll still be around until then."
Starlight frowned, rolling her eyes. "Now, you're being overdramatic."
"What? It's true." Rainbow gestured to the woods. "We've got bandits on the other side of the barricade."
"Yeah and?"
"And they might start another attack. Someone might get hurt next time... or killed." Starlight and Rarity exchanged a glance. "I still think we should leave, just pack up all our stuff and go."
"Where though?" Starlight frowned. "Yeah, the motor inn isn't exactly safe but, at least we've got a place to stay. Sleep."
"I'd rather take my chances out there-" Rainbow flicked her head toward the road. "-then in here, where the bandits are."
"Okay, fine if everyone wants to go then we'll go. I still think we should leave unless we absolutely have to." Starlight shrugged. "The motor inn's still standing."
"For now," Rarity interjected.
"Yeah... yeah, for now."