Monster Inside

by Penguin17203

Are we infected too or...?

Lee handed the last half of the apple to Clementine, a smile on the kid's face as she took it. "Thanks! I love apples. Are there more?" She inquired.

"No, that was the last one."

"Oh, umm..." she trailed off, unsure if whether or not she should be the one to eat the last apple... slice.

"Enjoy it, you deserve it." Her guardian reassured with a smile of his own.

"So, how long have we been here exactly?" Lee looked over at Trixie, sitting in a huddled group of picnic chairs.

"I think around... maybe a couple months? Three, perhaps?" Twilight thoughtfully answered, "Why?"

"Oh, just wondering..." The magician trailed off. Twilight knew how Trixie felt about her, in terms of being stuck here.

She was the only one who tried warning them about this little... expedition. She knew it was dangerous coming here, suppose Twilight did too but they had a way to get back.

It wasn't like they were going to get stuck there forever... until they were. Honestly, if they had never fought over staying and choosing to leave; they wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place.

Twilight couldn't even remember why they didn't just leave with the humans while they still had the enchanted scroll. That was the worst part about this, The fact that they could've left with the humans when the scroll was still unharmed; not ripped into two.

"So, It's official? We're stuck here?" Trixie gave a blank look at Twilight.

She was in the middle of inhaling, about to carry out the sigh but backed out the last minute. "It's not 'official'. I'm still working on a way to get us outta here."

The magician couldn't help but chuckle. "Really? Okay, what progress have you made so far? Any ideas? Surely after three months you must've come up with some sort of plan?"

"Yeah, I have. We've been gone for a few months, correct? Well, somepony must've noticed."

Trixie caught on pretty quickly. "Wait, are you saying we should wait for somepony back home to rescue us?" She gestured to the group.

"That's one of the solutions."

"The only solution, you mean?"

Carley was listening into the conversation and couldn't help but butt in. "You guys seriously take this roleplaying thing to a whole new level." She commented, sitting next to Doug on one of the picnic chairs.

Rarity had to suppress a sigh but couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes. Most of the humans in the group already knew about their "world". They didn't believe it, obviously. The only ones who were somewhat open minded was Lee, Doug and Lilly.

Lilly mainly because of her friendship with Starlight. She obviously didn't believe that her friend was from another world and that she was a "powerful unicorn". She didn't even found out through her, she heard the gossip around the motor-inn and thought to bring it up with Starlight.

She thought it was absurd but never openly voiced her opinion.

"Yeah, we're totally roleplaying." Trixie humorlessly replied before shaking her head.

Lee was on the fence about this topic.

They've been with the group for three months now, they were pretty much apart of the group but yet, they still stuck to the same story. "Scroll was enchanted and they were not from this world" and all that other jazz.

Nothing about it was amusing, there wasn't a punchline. Initially, it was but three months had passed and they were still saying the same thing; Lee thought best to just leave it alone. It wasn't affecting the group afterall so it wasn't a big deal to him.

Doug? Well... he believed it. Why? Just because. That was his reason whenever he was asked, the group didn't know if he was trying to delude himself into thinking so or if he actually believed the story; either way, he was probably the most accepting out of the whole group.

Lee began hearing a growing argument, Larry and Applejack's voices. He turned at them, over at the fence. Applejack facing the older man fully with her fists balled. He began walking over to them to see what the fuss was about.

"Well, why don't you hold the board and I'll hammer in the nails!?" Applejack exclaimed.

"Yeah and then you drop the hammer on my head? No thanks!" Larry rebutted.

"What's going on?" Lee asked, frowning.

"Why do you care!?" Larry snapped, not surprising; of course.

"Ah'm tryin' to keep the board." Applejack tapped on the wooden board in question, there was one nail hammered in on one side which left it hanging. "Still but ah can't and he keeps goin' off on me!"

"Well, if you actually kept the board steady, I wouldn't have to yell at you. Now, would I!?"

If she had an actual meal to keep her energized, it wouldn't be much hassle. This would be equivalent to stepping on ants... it ain't hard but its been a while since she last had a full-fledged meal.

Applejack shook her head, rolling her eyes and managing to hold back a groan. "Was there somethin' you want?" Her inquiry came out harsher than intended.

"I heard you guys arguing. Wanted to see what was going on. Since you're struggling maybe you oughta eat something."

She began shaking her head furiously. "Oh nah, a-ah'm, ah'm okay. Someone else can have mah share."

"Hey, if she don't wanna eat then give me the food!" Larry interjected.

He and Applejack played a crucial role in the construction of the fence. They were always the ones who worked on it, a daily basis.

"Just give it to the kids. Ah don't need it." That wasn't entirely true. Deep down, she wanted to eat, needed to eat. She was dead hungry. Like before, it's been too long since she last had a meal.

"No, they got their share. This is the last of the rations." He dug through his pockets.

"Have you had any?"

"I'm fine."

"Just hand over the damn food, already!" Larry exclaimed.

"You don't even know if he's givin' you the food so quit hollerin'!"

That seemed to have shut him up, he made a low growl but otherwise, he kept quiet.

"Here, AJ." Lee held out a piece of jerky. "You need it more than I do."

The sight of the stripped, dried up piece of meat caused her to silently gag. Funny, she should be used to this by now. This was nowhere near as bad as the other atrocities she had seen. Rotten organs and whatnot.

Within the few months of being here, she has had the unfortunate inevitability of consuming meat. A rabbit and one deer, an adult female and adult male; Lee was the one who caught them.

Fluttershy, as you can imagine, wasn't too pleased. She had locked herself in one of the motel rooms for practically the whole day.

Everyone of her friends were reasonably disgusted with the idea of eating it but it was the only thing they had to eat at the time and they were fairly hungry.

What was possibly the most strangest part of it all, probably the most strangest thing she had witnessed in the apocalypse was Rarity's reaction.

When she heard that the only thing to eat was an animal; she was aghast by it, they expected that but when the fashionista finally began consuming the meat, her face changed to an expression of joy.

She seemed to actually enjoy the rabbit they cooked. Applejack expected, with no doubt, for her to vomit immediately.

As for Applejack though, she had a difficult time finishing her meal; she and all her other friends. Fluttershy never had any that night.

The farmer looked at the piece of jerky then at Lee. "You sure you don't want it?"

"Positive. Besides, you're building the fence are you not? You'll need to keep your strength up."

Applejack reluctantly accepted it. "Urgh... alright..." she muttered.

"Hey! I'm the one doin' all the damn work!"

"And she needs the energy. I thought you said she couldn't even hold the board still." Lee asked, not bothering to hide his smug smile.

"She-ugh, we would be able to get this fence done a lot sooner if you would just shuddup and leave me the hell alone!" The older man turned back toward the fence.

Applejack rolled her eyes, she would usually do that around the old bag. "Ah... appreciate it, thanks." She offered him a smile. Beggars can't be choosers, she might as well get whatever she can get.

"Of course."

"Hey-uh, by the way, you mind if ah borrow the axe? We got boards that are too long that need choppin'."

"Yeah, hand it over." Larry abuptly said as he turned back around.

Lee glanced between the two of them before giving the axe to Larry. "Here, try to keep the noise down-"

"Yeah, yeah, we're not stupid!"

Lee suppressed a sigh before walking away; letting them continue on the fence.

---

Rainbow aimlessly wandered through the woods, attempting to find her way back to the motor-inn.

She didn't want to leave her best friend behind, back at that rusty camp in the hands of those... savages.

It was either she charged in and most likely end up dead or worse, get herself captured like Fluttershy and no help was coming or she could leave and come back with the rest of her group and more firepower.

It was probably twenty minutes since she left. Who knew what they were doing to her, Rainbow tried to stop herself from laying out the possibilities; the guilt would eat her alive if she focused on them.

When Rainbow had first noticed Fluttershy had took off, she ran after her then got herself lost in the woods in the process. No ammo for her rifle or food. Not only did she leave Fluttershy behind, not that she even had a choice to begin with but she was also blind in the woods; no clue where to go, no clue where the motel was.

And to top it all off, she told Lee to let Twilight know that they were okay which was a total lie... . Once she finally gets back to the damn motel, she was going to have to face the music.

She didn't give too much thought on where to go, she picked a direction and took off. Whether it was the right one or not, it wasn't going to matter anyway. The only thing that was on her mind was saving her best friend. Tartarus be damned if she had kill a person to do so.

They deserved it anyway. She's killed walkers and animals before but never a person. They were humans, she wasn't but that didn't matter. Rainbow never gave it any thought, she never pictured herself ever doing that.

It didn't matter if they weren't her species, she still never imagined herself taking somebody else's life but when she saw Fluttershy being surrounded by those... fiends; all that was on her mind was that she wanted them dead.

She needed to get back to motor-inn as soon as possible, her fueled anger wasn't giving out anytime soon and Fluttershy was depending on her.

A surge of anger suddenly shot through her, regret and sorrow. She swung her rifle against a nearby tree; bits of bark flying everywhere and leaving a very noticeable gap in it.

---

"Rainbow and Fluttershy are still out there?" Applejack asked, standing near the huddled group.

"Yeah, Lee said Rainbow wanted to stay out there a little longer till they found something," Twilight explained, a little worried herself.

"Not to be insensitive but it shouldn't really take that long to find something." Rarity gestured to the trees on the other side of the road. "They're in the woods after all."

"Well maybe it's because Fluttershy is causing problems?" Trixie said, already knowing the answer herself. There was a slight pause in the air, everyone silently agreeing with what the magician had said.

"Hopefully, they'll get back soon. Don't have a good feeling about this." Twilight concluded.

"Oh, it's nothing to get worried over I'm sure, dear." Rarity assured. "They have each other."

Applejack sighed. "Well, uh, ah think Imma get some shuteye. Feelin' a bit tired." She said, rubbing her one of her eyes and walking away from the group.

"You're always tired," Trixie commented.

"It's 'cuz ah'm always workin' on the fence... and dealin' with Larry." With that, the farmer opened the door to her room and closed it behind her.

Twilight looked over at Starlight who was still sitting next Lilly atop of the R.V.. She didn't like their dynamic. Not one bit. Ever since Starlight had begun sticking around Lilly, her outlook and basic decency slowly began changing over the past few months. She became more... uncaring, bossy and standoffish.

It was starting to worry her quite a bit and for a good reason too; she could say that confidently, given her past. There were a few instances where Twilight had thought that Starlight might turn back to her old ways but she would quickly distinguished the possibility; not wanting to think about it.

She didn't understand why though. She's brought it up with her before and the only answer she received was "the group comes first before anyone else-" before she abruptly ended the conversation.

It was like she completely disregarded everything she taught her about friendship. To be caring and decent not this, survival of the fittest type goon. If there was one thing she learnt in her three months of being in this world; it was that you need to be strong. To handle walkers and hunt for food.

Being ruthless and uncaring with everyone you see had absolutely nothing to do with it. Clearly, the new people weren't a threat. One nervous high school attendee and his recently crippled teacher; Lilly was ready to throw them out, let them fend for themselves; most likely still is and Starlight isn't too far behind.

The newcomers weren't a threat and besides that, they could be valuable assets. More the merrier.

Twilight glanced at the high-schooler, Ben who was furthest away from the circle. He was reluctantly communicating back and forth with Clementine, looking at her drawings. "Hey, excuse me? Ben, was it?" She inquired, already presuming as such.

"U-uh yeah?"

"I'm... Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." She felt somewhat self-conscious about her name, seeing as how different everyone else's were; that and how the group members had reacted to it.

"O-oh, uh, I'm Ben. Ben Paul. T-the one on the truck is my teacher, Mr. Parker." The high-schooler nervously introduced. The teen made no indication toward her name; his nervously-awkward expression never wavered.

"Well, nice to meet you." Twilight offered a smile of reassurance, letting him know everything was going to be okay.

"Y-yeah, uh, nice to meet you too." Ben offered a brief smile back but it seemed rather forced.

"So, it's just you and your teacher then?" Rarity asked, a slight sadness to her tone as she could guess what happened to his classmates.

"Y-yeah, it's just... me and him." The teen ended with a sigh, his head slightly hanging.

Rarity nodded. "My apologies..."

He didn't say anything back instead kept his dull gaze on Clementine's drawing.

"Ken, Lee! Come here, please!" Katjaa suddenly shouted, drawing the huddled group's attention. From Twilight's angle, she could still see the teacher on the back of the pickup truck. By the way, Katjaa's arms were folded and the grim expression on her face; it didn't seem like there was good news.

Twilight looked at the teen, his gaze still on Clementine's drawing. She had a pretty good hunch about what the fate of his teacher was and silently sighed; her hand rubbing at her mouth.

She heard Kenny say something before he began walking away and tossing some metal object which bounced off the ground and hit the R.V..

"More food for us." Disapproving glares, save for Ben and the kids, were directed at Trixie.

"If you couldn't be any more insensitive..." Rarity commented.

"Sorry..." Trixie relented.

Twilight shook her head. She glanced back at Lee and Katjaa only to gasp in shock when she saw the teacher reanimate and grab Katjaa. Katjaa let out a scream, Lee immediately began attempting to pry the walker off of her.

Twilight shot up from her seat and ran over. Lee managed to tear the walker off of her. "The axe hurry!" He shouted before being grabbed by the walker himself.

Twilight made it over to him and attempted to pry the walker off him just as he did; holding it by one of it's shoulders and pulling it away. They were both in the pickup truck, her grip was slippery and the fabric of the reanimated teacher's jacket slipped from her fingers.

"I got him!" Doug exclaimed, hitting the walker in the head with the metal object that Kenny threw earlier.

"He won't let go!" Pinkie tried yanking the walker away from Lee but had no success, it's grip was locked on him.

"Lee, get the hell outta the way!" Larry shouted. Building up the force in his arms, Lee shoved the walker away. He managed to do so but Larry had missed the hit, the axe embedding itself at the back of the window and shattering it. "Goddammit!"

Lee kicked away the walker before falling out of the pickup truck, onto the concrete below him. With barely any time to get up, the walker fell on top of him; baring it's weight down heavily, trying to sink it's teeth into him.

Applejack rushed over, offering a swift but yet powerful kick to the walker; knocking it right off of him. Strangely, it appeared to have stunned him, staggering and slowly trying to get back up.

Not giving it a chance to do so, Applejack gave it another kick, her sharp boot connecting to it's forehead. The head collided heavily with the ground, a loud crack and a noticeable vibration was felt beneath her feet.

She noticed immediately the deep shaded red dent in the cranium, it wasn't moving no longer.

Lee panted, looking over at Applejack. "Thanks..."

"Course, Lee." She nodded.

"Why'd you bring 'em here in the first place, asshole!?" Larry exclaimed.

"Dad, calm down." Lilly said.

"You're gonna get us all killed!" He begrudgingly gave the axe back to him.

"Why didn't you tell us he was bitten!?" Starlight suddenly shouted, marching over to the teen.

"What!?" Ben confused.

"He was bitten, dumbshit! Why didn't you fuckin' tell us!?" Kenny angrily added, once done comforting his wife.

"People turn once they get bitten, you need to... destroy the brain to stop it." Twilight frowned at him. "Why didn't you tell us? Someone almost got hurt."

"He... h-he wasn't bitten!"

"Well, your not bitten friend here came back to life and tried to kill my wife!"

"What!? Wait, y'all don't know?"

"Know what?" Twilight asked, now curious.

The group now wnet silent and waited for him to elaborate on his odd inquiry. "It's not the bite that does it..." everybody exchanged a quizzical look at one another. "...you come back no matter how you die. L-like you said-" he gestured at Twilight. "-if you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to all of us."

Twilight sent a concerned look at her friends, the former ponies. No matter how you die, you come back as one of them? It doesn't have to be with a bite?

"We're all infected? Everyone..." Lee said, breathlessly.

"I-I... I guess so. I've seen people turn who I know, for a fact, were never bitten."

"Wait, so does that mean we're infected too?" Pinkie's hand went to her chin, slightly trembling, unsure of how to feel about this horrifying revelation. Whatever virus this was... did they now carry it? Or was it just the rest of the group? The humans?

"No shit!" Kenny snapped, causing her to jump slightly. "That's exactly what he just said."

"Hey, maybe lay off a bit, huh?" Applejack glared.

"Oh, ah'm so deeply sorry about hurtin' your friend's feelings. May ah remind you that my wife was nearly killed!"

"She's fine. We took care of the walker. You should-"

"Back off!" A loud an abrupt cry came from Carley. Her gun was drawn at the fence.

On the other side of the wall was two strangers. Both men and appeared middle-aged. One of them was carrying a large gasoline tank.