Monster Inside

by Penguin17203

It Was Justifiable...

Fluttershy laid in the bath, her head being above the water while the rest of her body stayed still in content. The ceramic was covered in blood splotches, the little light bulb dangling from the ceiling placing them on display.

The bathroom was quite small, cramped. On the other side of the room, about half a step away was a cabinet and a sink with a toilet next to it. Behind her was a window with a curtain that had brown flowers imprinted on it drawn over them. Being the only one in the room and with how quiet everything was; aside from the water sloshing about, images of what took place in the woods was forced into her psyche.

How that man kidnapped her, choked her out and brought her back to his group. Being dragged further into the woods by the rest of them, wanting to demoralize her, rob her of her decency... . How she demolished the insides of all of those sick deviants.

It was sort of a blur. When she found herself pinned under one of the men, there was a handle sticking out of one of his pockets; there was also a slight glint. The blood showered all over her face when she ripped the knife out of his neck. The rest was blurry from then on.

The sight of the guns, the gravity of the situation, what they were about to do to her; something within her erupted and started carving away at her perpetrators. There was no fear, no anxiety, no apprehension of harm or murder. Morals were buried, gone and nowhere in sight; all that was left was an insane-knife-wielding-nutcase.

She was exceptionally nimble, effectively lethal. She was able to swerve past bullets, ducking out of firing range of numerous guns before they fired. She was lucky the bandits weren't experts with their firearms, if anything it seemed like they just picked up a gun and rolled with it. That's probably what got them killed in the first place. She bolted to one after the other at such a startling rate that one could mistake her for a world champion athlete.

She became a butcherer in that clearing, carving up every morsel of flesh that just happened to be in the way of her knife. In that moment, Fluttershy was not there; there was no timidness, hesitation or a scrap of kindness within her. She was just a butcher in the bandits needed cutting up.

She was never going to be the same after this, she couldn't go back to being the shy girl... pony who got startled over a few minor noises. How could you? How would she be able to go back to being that? The question was, did she want to go back to that?

Fluttershy cupped her hands together, dipping them under the water mixed in with blood and then delicately applied it to her face. There were subtle things about her that she felt were different. For instance, she wasn't shaking. No thumping in her chest. When she was first captured, she was scared out of her mind. Quite literally, she lost her mind for moment in that clearing... until she saw her friends again.

A knocking came from the door, drawing her attention to it. "Fluttershy, you okay?" She heard Rainbow say.

"Yes. I'm fine." Fluttershy simply replied.

"Okay, just let me know if you need any help, okay?"

"...Okay." Fluttershy looked down at the puddle of water, a girl gawking up at her. The first time she came here, she wasn't sure if she had the courage and strength to survive in this world but now? She'd probably kill an animal without second guessing herself. She was able to kill those bandits without getting herself hurt if anything that was harder than killing a deer. You just have to be really fast to catch it...

---

Applejack sat on a stump near the tree with a broken swing attached to it. They were essentially waiting for Fluttershy and Mark to get patched up. She was still mildly shocked from seeing the clearing, finding her friend soaked in blood.

She was morbidly curious as to how she was able to accomplish that in the first place. From what she saw aside from the blood puddles, there were bandits and guns for each one scattered all over the place. It was disturbing to imagine Fluttershy doing something like that.

Was she hurt when they found her? Surely with all those guns, all them bandits; she would've been. It'd be near impossible to get out of there without any scrapes or cuts or bruises. Not that Applejack wasn't grateful, of course. She was glad her friend was alright; it was just baffling to her as to how she got out of there alive. She couldn't even tell if she was hurt, all that blood covering her figure. Perhaps, she was hurt. Maybe she did have wounds. They just blended in with the blood.

If she did, the farmer hoped it wasn't too severe. Rainbow was already a bit... overprotective. It was very odd as to how aggravated she was; thinking back on it. Maybe it was just her element nagging at her but what unsettled Applejack the most about the whole thing was Rainbow's callousness toward the bandits.

Considering, they did kidnap Fluttershy, her fillyhood friend; Applejack sort of expected for Rainbow to act in spontaneously but not to this extent. To the point of where she was carrying out executions as if it were a daily occurrence. She didn't care if it was the only way to get Fluttershy back, it wasn't. There were plenty of other ways to get her back. She wasn't going to change her mind about it, nopony was because it was true, there were other solutions.

Not just storm in there then start executing people without remorse or empathy. The bandits deserve some type of punishment, of course. They weren't just going to get away with it without any repercussions. No, that wasn't going to happen. The way Rainbow went about it was wrong, immoral, barbaric; blatantly psychopathic. The bandits would've done something like that just like she did.

No matter what people say about it, she didn't care if everyone disagreed with her stance; it was still wrong and the rest of the girls would agree with her. If Lee agreed with her then Twilight definitely would. He was on her side when everything took place.

The clear sky and familiarity of the farm helped relieved some of the distress away. It was still mid day so at least, they wouldn't be travelling back in the dark.

She left her spot from the tree stump and started strolling around, letting her thoughts wander. She walked over to the St. John gate and rested her forearms atop them.

---

Lee, Carley and Ben were by the gazebo. There was two chairs completed by a small square table just outside of it that Carley sat by. Ben was standing inside the gazebo while Lee simply stood outside. All of their minds were being occupied simultaneously by the same thing.

Carley and Ben were left with multiple scenarios and incorrect images since they weren't there. Although, Lee had a vivid picture in his mind.

"C-can I ask you guys a question?" Ben suddenly said.

"What is it?" Lee asked.

"I-it's... well, those girls." He nervously gestured at Applejack who was leaning on the gate.

"Applejack?" There was a slight tilt to the teen's head as Lee mentioned her name. "What about her?"

"T-their names are..." He trailed off, trying to look for a better word than "weird".

"Weird?" Carley blurted out.

"Y-yeah, I-I guess. Did they name themselves that or...?"

Carley chuckled, humorlessly. "I honestly don't know. I can't even understand why they're keeping up this whole... thing. Lie, joke, whatever you wanna call it."

"Maybe they really believe it?" Lee added, earning an eyebrow quirk from Carley.

"Probably."

Ben frowned, confused. "W-what are they keepin' up?"

"They're convinced that they're from another world... or pretending that they're from another world." Carley explained in a broader sense.

Ben's face got even more confused. "What?"

"You know, the girls back at the motor inn? Trixie, Twilight, Rarity?" Lee asked.

The teen nodded, vaguely remembering a few of them; he remembered Twilight quite clearly since she was pretty much the only one aside from... Pinkie Pie who introduced herself to him.

"Yeah, well they all think they're from another world. I can't remember what it was called though but-"

"I think it was Equis or Equisria or something like that." Carley said.

"Yeah but they say they're all ponies and-"

He was cut by Carley's sudden laughter. "S-sorry, that's just so... dense. T-t-that's... like..." she was unable to finish her sentence, forced to perform fits of giggles and chuckles. "What the hell!? Like, really and Doug believes all that too!"

"Does he actually believe that or is he just saying that?" Lee curiously inquired.

"I genuinely think he does. He always asking them questions about Equisria or whatever you call it. He's always bugging them about it."

"...Maybe he's roleplaying along with them?" Lee shared a smirk with her, the reporter giving a blank look in return.

"Don't... don't even suggest that."

Lee turned his attention back to the teen. "Anyway, yeah that's what's up with them. They think they're from a... pony world." He felt utterly ridiculous letting that sentence fall flat out of his mouth. "Where there's unicorns and pegasus' and alicorns. And as for their names? Their parents named them that."

"That's horrible," Carley commented, feigning sympathy and shaking her head. "Such terrible parents."

"Well, there you go. That's their story." Lee concluded. "We don't know whether or not they're lying or telling the truth."

"They're lying. Obviously."

"They could be telling the truth."

Carley paused, facing Lee and giving him an intense look. "You're serious...?"

"I said they could be. Not saying they are but then again, they've been with us for months and they're still sticking to the same story."

"Or they're just, you know? Crazy, insane?"

"Yeah or that but like I said they've been with us for months and neither of them seem like the type who would be tossed in the loony bin. Besides, Applejack and Rainbow have contributed to the group way more than most of us. I don't know about either of you but I don't really care what story they tell, they sit alright with me."

"Y-yeah, they seem like pretty cool." Ben quickly agreed with Lee.

"Well, I'm not saying that they're bad or anything like that. I'm just saying I don't believe any of the stuff they say." Carley said.

Lee nodded, his eyes steered toward Applejack who was still by the gate and looked to be tapping her boot repeatedly.

---

"And here's some clothes for ya, darlin'." Fluttershy almost snatched the stack of clothing away from Brenda's hands. "They were some of our old farmhands but you need it more then they do now."

Fluttershy nodded her thanks before closing the bathroom door. She stood there silently, almost in a daze. The clothes she was holding were stacked and folded neatly in a pile with a grey button up shirt being the last one on top.

She slowly walked over to the toilet, placing down the stack of clothes on the seat. There was a towel wrapped around her, covering herself. She walked over to the sink, planting both her hands on the sides; unaware of how tight her grip was.

A couple of wet chestnut strips dangled in front of her face; down her shoulders. She had gotten out of the tub without properly drying herself off. She simply drained the water before climbing out and wrapping the towel around her. Her breathing was heavy, uneasiness filled the pit of her stomach.

Her friends probably thought the worst of her now. She saw how they were looking at her, those disgusted expressions when she fist arrived. It made her feel ashamed, she didn't want to be looked at as if she were something to be feared. Like she was some killer or marauder.

Maybe she shouldn't blame them, she was covered in blood. If it were her... she would probably stare too. Not out of malice or anything like that, maybe it was the same with the others?

Whether she liked it or not, she was going out there face them at some point. This room wasn't a permanent safe haven.

Her exhale was filled with uncontrollable shaking. She took off the towel and began drying her hair. She started drying the rest of her figure before she threw it to the side, not bothered with dirtying the towel and got dressed.

By the time she was done, she was left with a grey button up shirt with a white tee under it and was finished with a pair of jeans. She picked up the towel before finally leaving the restroom. She was greeted by Rainbow posted up by the wall, her rifle sat next to her.

"Fluttershy? You okay?" She asked, standing up and approaching her.

The brunette couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes. It was kind of frustrating as to how overbearing her friend was becoming. Not that she wasn't appreciative but she could make do without being asked "Are you okay?" every five minutes. "Yeah, I was just gonna return... the uh..." She lifted the towel up.

"Oh, Brenda's in the kitchen somewhere. Cooking up the food."

Fluttershy gave a simple nod before moving around her, going toward the kitchen. She saw that the dinner table was already prepped, plates, knives and forks as if the dinner was ready to be served. Brenda was in the kitchen, her back turned to her and the smell of food hitting Fluttershy's nose.

"Hello?" Startled, the woman let out a yelp, turning immediately and calming down when she saw Fluttershy.

"Oh, sorry dearie, you frightened me." She said, smiling.

"Oh." There was a pause in the room, forcing Brenda to break it.

"W-was there somethin' you need, dear?"

"I just wanted to return the towel." Fluttershy said. Her soft voice was still there but there was no hint timid or nervousness to it.

"Oh! Here, let me take 'em. Thank you, dear."

"Uh huh." The girl turned to leave when the woman stopped her.

"Also, dear if there's anythin' we could help you with, just let me know okay? Ah want to you to feel as welcome as possible here."

"Okay." Fluttershy merely nodded, no smile or a polite look. Just a simple nod before taking the exit. As she walking out of the dining room, Andy was by the front door holding a pair of brown boots.

"Hey there, miss. Sorry for not gettin' your old ones but they're still dryin' off. Best to just take these for the time bein'." He bent down and dropped them on the floor before giving a nod and walking away.

"Much appreciated." Rainbow gave a brief smile.

Fluttershy was left staring at the boots before she reluctantly began putting them on. She wasn't sure how felt about wearing clothes that previously belonged to other people.

---

Applejack watched as Fluttershy and Rainbow left the house. The former seemed to be hesitant. "How're you doin', Flutters?"

"Okay." She said simply.

Her eyes drew toward Rainbow who was behind her, more so the dirty look she was giving her. Applejack was forced to hold back giving one in return, didn't want to give Fluttershy another thing to be worried about. Was she still irked over how things went in the forest? How they argued over what to do when they would eventually come across the bandits? "O-okay. That's good."

The others, Lee, Carley and Ben came over; a welcoming look on their faces. Grateful, she wasn't doused in blood anymore.

"Hey Fluttershy, good to see you're okay." Lee said with a decent smile which she happily returned.

"Thanks for... going out and looking for me." Fluttershy said.

"Ah, don't mention it."

The door to the house suddenly opened, drawing their attention toward it. Andy and Danny came out of the house soon after.

"Hey, y'all... look a-ah just wanted to apologize for what happened to your friend Mark. Ah shoulda told y'all about the bandits." Andy said.

"Obviously," Carley said.

"How's Mark anyway?" Applejack inquired.

"He's patched up for now but he's restin' up stairs in the house." Danny answered.

"So, ah'm guessin' we're stayin' longer then?" Applejack asked, looking over to Lee.

"It appears so."

"In the mean time, there was somethin' we like to talk to y'all about." Andy interjected.

"What is it?" Lee asked.

"You saw what they did to your friend, ah was wonderin' if any of y'all would like to go back out there with me. Scout out the camps in the area." Danny proposed.

"You just got back but now you wanna go back out?" Carley asked, folding her arms.

"Yup. This farm ain't safe if those bastards are gonna keep attackin' us and we ain't goin' out there to kill 'em neither. We're just gonna do some reconnaissance, take a look at how many there are then get ready for revenge."

"We're just gonna start shootin'? Ah don't know about y'all but not all of us are good at using guns. What if there's a whole army of 'em?" Applejack inquired, unsure about taking the fight to the bandits.

"Well, we don't got a whole lotta options. It's either we stay here and do nothin' and they could try killin' us again or we could try to fight back."

"You could try negotiating another deal with them?"

"Ah don't think that's gonna work. The agreement was broken as soon as they open fired on y'all. They stopped attackin' us when we startin' givin' them food but obviously the deal's off now." Andy answered this time.

"You know where their camps are?" Lee asked.

"One of them. Been there before when ah was out huntin' one time." Danny answered. "So, what do you think?"

"Well since Mark is still resting, I think we should take the time we got to check it out." Carley said.

"What about the others back at the motor inn? If we're stayin' longer, should we let 'em know what happen or...?" Applejack asked.

"I think that's a good idea. If we're gone too long, they may start wondering where we are." Lee said.

She nodded. "Alright, ah'll go back then, let 'em know what's goin' on. Should ah bring them over or should we just stay put?"

"Eh, it's up to you. As long as someone stays to guard it, I don't think it's a big deal."

Nobody noticed but Andy and Danny shared a look with one another.

"Ah suppose, ah'll be off then."

Lee nodded. "Okay but you should bring Ben with you just in case you run into any trouble."

"I'll go too." Everyone looked at Fluttershy, the girl in question not as "stage frightened" as she normally would be.

"Are you sure? You could just stay here with-"

"Yes, I'm sure." Fluttershy answered, cutting off Rainbow Dash.

"The whole reason you got lost in the first place was because you couldn't handle-"

"I said, I am sure." The harsh tone and glare she was giving her, silenced Rainbow entirely.

After a short pause, Applejack replied. "Okay if that's what you want, sugarcube."

"If you're going then I'm coming too." Rainbow volunteered, annoying Fluttershy even further.

Applejack's gaze lingered on the two for a few moments. She could sense the tension coming off of Fluttershy but thought nothing of it, not voicing her concern. "A-alright, there anythin' else?"

"You guys have anything to keep yourself safe?" Lee quickly got his answer when Rainbow gestured to the rifle strapped around her back.

"Y'all got any you could spare?" Applejack asked.

Danny nodded before "Yeah, ah'll go inside. You can use one of our's." He left the group, entering his home then came back moments later with a rifle attached with a scope and handed it to her.

"We'll see y'all back at the motor-inn then." Applejack said, strapping the gun around her back. "Goodluck with... y'know that bandit camp."

Lee nodded. "Yeah, we'll see you soon."

Applejack, Ben, Rainbow and Fluttershy began making their way off the farm, pushing open the gate and closing it behind him.

Thinking about it now, she didn't know if bringing Fluttershy along was the right idea. She wasn't there when it happened, when Fluttershy "ran" off. She didn't plan on asking Rainbow about it, presumably she was still irritated; so, why bother? They would probably just end up having another argument.

She never spoke about it, they just came across her and that's when they found out Fluttershy was missing. It was safer to stay on the farm, more safer than out there. Then again, there were bandits stalking the farm and they were heading toward the motel, where the rest of her friends were.

Maybe the familiar sense of the motor-inn made her feel safer? There were no bandits stalking it like there was here. It might be wishful thinking but Applejack hoped they would never find it. The last thing she wanted was to wake up at the sudden "whoosh" of an arrow flying through her room.

---

The group was on a trail through the forest, Fluttershy and Rainbow were at the back while Applejack walked beside Ben in the front. Applejack held the guns in her hands, the safety on it unlocked. Recognizing the certain features in the surrounding area, she knew they were on the right track.

Even with the gun protecting them, she still hoped they wouldn't run into anyone out here. The last thing she wanted to do was to end up killing somebody. With the amount of bandits in the area, she doubted anyone that was "good" or "decent" would still be alive.

"U-uh, hey Applejack?"

She looked beside her, at the teen. "Ben? Somethin' you need?"

"O-oh nothing, I just w-wanted to ask... how long have you been with Lee?"

She frowned, thoughtfully. "A-ah think about... three months...? Yeah, ah think three months. Why do you ask?"

"I-I was just curious because... w-when I first met you guys that girl uh... the one with brown hair and the angry dad?"

"Lilly?"

"Yeah, Lilly. S-she and her seemed like they wanted to kick me out."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well they like to talk. Don't pay 'em no mind, nobody's kickin' you out. Lee or Twilight definitely wouldn't at least... and me neither." She said, throwing him a reassuring look.

The teen smiled at her. "T-thanks, I-I don't think I would make it out here on my own."

"You... have any family?" Applejack asked, slightly hesitant. She could remember when he first arrived, he was only with his teacher; so, she had assumed he was at school when walkers started to become a thing.

He looked away for a moment before looking back at her. "I-I don't know. I was on a school trip when... all of this happened. I don't know if they're... alive."

She offered him a sympathetic look. "Hey, maybe we'll find 'em at some point. Just because you haven't seen 'em, don't mean they're... you know, dead."

"Yeah, I hope so too."

There was a pause and Applejack took the time to look back at Rainbow and Flutters. They were talking amongst each other while it was mainly Rainbow doing the talking. Hopefully, Fluttershy wasn't still annoyed and that she understood why her friend was being a bit... overbearing. After what happened in that clearing, Applejack couldn't fault her loyal friend for being that way. Even if things did get a bit tense between them.

"W-what about you? I-Is your family okay?" Ben asked.

There was certain thought that took over, the expression on her face was clear to read. She missed them. She was glad they weren't with her when they decided to "take a trip" to this world.

"O-oh... sorry-"

"Nah, they ain't..." She trailed off, sighing. "They ain't... gone. Just... haven't seen 'em in a while."

The story of what Lee told him flew into his mind before he quickly distinguished it, it wasn't important anyway. "Oh, well I hope they're okay too then."

They are. "Yeah, yeah me too."

They walked in silence from then on. The hushed chatter from Rainbow accompanying their steps along the way. Applejack was left wondering if her family had noticed she was missing, it has been months since she left so she was left with the presumption they did.

Were they actively looking for her though? Was anypony back at home looking for them? If only there was a way to tell... . She chuckled at the thought of them actually getting back to Equestria. After the things they had done. Eating animals, killing and skinning them.

She doubted she could go back to regular farming, looking at the animals there without an image of her eating a piece of cooked meat that she hunted.

Especially Fluttershy. Would she still continue being a vet? She hadn't killed any-

"So, what the fuck happened with Steve!?"

"Why are you askin' me!? I don't freakin' know!"

The sudden intensity of two loud voices was more then enough to shut down her train of thought. Her eyes widened, the grip on her rifle tightened and she took a quick glance to the others. Ben was left looking frightened, Rainbow looked ready to fight; clutching at her rifle and Fluttershy seemed eerily still.

Applejack placed a finger over her mouth before silently creeping forward to look past the bend that was blocking her way.

Taking off her hat, she slowly peeked around the corner to see three masked men walking toward them. One of them had appeared to be carrying a rifle of some kind and the other was carrying a rifle similar to what she had and the last one didn't have a weapon. There were quite a distance away but their chatter was above high level volume, she could hear them clearly.

"To hell with it! Ah bet it was those fuckin' farmers!"

"The St. Johns? Well maybe we shouldn't have tried to shoot at them then!"

Rainbow frowned. The picture became clearer as she processed the information. These were the people who shot Mark? She was more than willing to return the favor if only Applejack wasn't so compassionate... .

"Well, they should've kept their end of the bargain and gave us some damn food!"

"The bargain was fine! They were going to deliver like they always do! You on the other hand were too goddamn impatient!"

She immediately ducked behind bend, picking up her hat and placing it back on her head.

"How many are there?" Rainbow whispered.

Applejack held up three fingers.

"Okay, easy." Rainbow held up her rifle as if she were about to charge out there and start shooting. This caused Applejack to instinctively slapped her hand onto the barrel. "What the hay are you doing!? They're gonna attack the damn farm!" angrily whispered.

At the mention of the potential attack, Applejack slightly relented, letting go. She internally grunted, clenching her fist before grabbing her rifle. This isn't what she wanted. She didn't want to kill but... but if they were going to attack the farm, she needed to do something.

When they sounded like they were inching closer, Applejack quickly turned back at the others and made a split second decision. "Ben, Fluttershy stay behind us! Rainbow, when ah count to three, we go out there and talk with 'em. Got it?"

She gave her a disapproving look before rolling her eyes and nodded. "Whatever, let's just get this over with."

Ben did as he was told and stayed near Fluttershy.

"Okay." Applejack muttered to herself. "One..."

"When we get back to the others, we're gettin' our shit ready!"

"Two..."

"See, that's the problem! We wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for your dumbass! We should've waited for them to hand over the damn food! Like they always fuckin' do! They always give us food, why the hell didn't you just wait!?"

"Three!"

"You know what!? Fuck you, bitch!"

As Applejack and Rainbow zoomed around the corner, they saw one of the bandits wearing a white t-shirt with vulgar language on it side clocking his "friend" with the butt of his rifle and shot him in the head.

All the while paling at what just happened, Applejack trained her gun on him immediately; attempting to get her breathing under control. Rainbow kept her gun trained on the other, less volatile bandit.

"Jesus H. Christ dude!" The other bandit, this one wearing a red t-shirt exclaimed in shock.

"Shut the fuck up before ah blast yo ass too!" The maniacal bandit then noticed the two rifles that were trained on him. "Who the fuck-

"Lower the weapon! Now!" Applejack barked, her rifle locked on him.

Rainbow stayed silent, her finger on the trigger. They could end this right now. There was only two left, thanks to the lunatic that shot his own buddy.

"Woah, woah, woah! Okay, relax!" The other "normal" bandit held up his hands in surrender causing the other to do a bewildered double take at him.

"What the fuck are you-" The erratic bandit darted back and forth at Applejack and Rainbow then back at his group member.

"Ah'm tellin' you, right now, to lower the damn gun! Ah'm warnin' you!" Applejack barked once again, her finger twitching out of nervousness of what he'll do. One mistake and it could be fatal.

"We should just kill them and be done with it." Rainbow said, her finger itching.

Applejack didn't say anything, all of her concentration was targeted toward the maniacal bandit. He was slowly backing up, his head swinging back and forth. "You better stay put or ah'm pullin' the damn trigger!"

"Fuck this..." The bandit muttered under his breath before he took off, running back the way he came. A loud crack exploded; blood poured out of his back instantly before he fell to the ground.

The smoke from the shot, flowing out of the mouth of the gun. Applejack, stared at the dead bandit; realizing what she had just done. Panting, she lowered the gun, her eyes drew toward the fearful bandit. He was shaking, his hands were still in the air.

Applejack then pulled back the bolt handle, a satisfying click being the only thing that caused noise. "Empty your pockets."

"M-My pockets? O-o-okay, okay, just hang on." The frantic bandit reached into his pockets and emptied them out. A switchblade, couple of bullet shells fell onto the ground.

"Is that it?" Rainbow nearly shouted, sticking her rifle into his face.

"Yeah, yeah, t-that's it. That's all I've got!"

"One blade? That's seriously all you got!?"

"Yeah a-and the bullets too!"

"They're empty!"

"Rainbow, enough." Applejack warned.

The wonderbolt sighed through her nose. "What now?"

Applejack didn't respond, not wanting to get into an argument after what she had just done. She knelt down, picking up the bandit with one hand by his collar with seemingly little effort. "Listen closely, ah'm gonna let you go." She saw the relief in the man's eyes and she continued. "But if ah ever see you around here again, ah'll make sure you're limpin' the rest of your life. You understand?" She didn't want to say that but she had to make sure.

The other one couldn't be trusted, he still had his gun and he could've used it on them.

The man nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it! A-alright? I ain't gonna do anything. I swear on my life, I ain't gonna do nothing."

Applejack stared at him for a moment before letting go of his collar causing him to stumble. He slowly began walking away, glancing between the farmer's stern gaze and the wonderbolt's deadly glare.

"GO!" Applejack shouted causing the bandit to run onto a different trail. She stole a glance back at Rainbow to see her disapproving gaze but she paid no mind.

She really didn't care about that at all, what she thought of her decision in letting the bandit go free. The death of the other bandit was all that was on her mind. The death that she caused. Her fingers felt numb and her breathing was far from steady.

She killed someone...

Fluttershy and Ben soon came out, their eyes scanning the area. The dead bodies. Ben, as you can imagine looked distressed when he saw them. Fluttershy's reaction was unexpected. Not at all was there a slight hint of horror displayed across her face. She was just... looking over them. As if she were curious.

She gulped down the lump before walking over to the dead bandit who was murdered by his own group member, staring at him for a moment. It was strange how it worked. The man was clearly mentally ill and he murdered his own "friend" but all she could feel was regret. She didn't care whether or not if it was to protect herself or her friends, she still felt guilty about it.

"Did you kill him?" Startled, she turned to her right and saw Fluttershy with an unreadable expression on her face. She was looking down at the same bandit she was.

A couple of times, she breathed in and out. "...No, ah didn't..."

"Oh..."

Applejack couldn't help but feel a little angered by the amount of apathy her "shy" friend was displaying. She bent down to pick up the rifle he was carrying before she suddenly heard the rotten gurgling sound.

She looked over at the bandit she... killed. It was now a walker, slowly getting propping itself onto it hands. Suddenly, Rainbow walked over to it, pinning it's head to the ground and planted the switchblade she got from the scared bandit into it's temple.

Her stare lingered on her friend for a moment. How she was able to kill that one bandit in the woods while they were out looking for Fluttershy was beyond her? Did she not all feel any type of remorse or regret for doing so?

Applejack scanned the area, looking over the two dead bodies. Her first... kill. She couldn't take the chance to let him go, not as long as he had that weapon. Unlike the other one who was scared, this guy was more dangerous; he had even murdered one of his own group members. A brutal sight that she still had yet to process.

"A-alright, let's go goin'." Applejack said, walking away and doing her best not to look back at the atrocity that had just transpired. The motor-inn shouldn't be too far by now. She was grateful for that...

Author's Note:

I hope there weren't too much errors in there, this was quite a long chapter.