Resistance: The Equestrian War Effort

We entered the town cautiously.

A torn banner with the words "Welcome to Sparkville," danced pitifully in the wind. Sparkville was completely empty. Evidence of pony civilization littered the town. Shops, hoof prints, even a few untouched stands remained in the streets.

"Hello? Anypony Here?"

Fidelis brought his fore-hoof to my mouth. Surprise turned to terror as Fidelis motioned to a window in the distance.

I quaked as the glare from a Chimeran tracer rifle caught my eye. I didn't know what it was at that time, but I knew to be afraid of it.

Fidelis brought his mouth to my ear.

"Stay right here. I'll take care of this. Whatever you do, don't move."

Not that I could move anyway. I was too terrified to even think clearly, for that matter.

Fidelis disappeared from my peripheral vision.

I waited for what felt like hours. Soon enough, though, the glare disappeared. To my surprise, I saw Fidelis trot back with several other ponies. Each of them were carrying a tracer rifle. Two dawned thick, dark blue armor. The armor, made to look like dragon’s scales, covered every inch of their bodies. I couldn’t tell them apart from each other.

They stopped a few hooves' distance in front of me. One of the armored ponies spoke up.

"It's not safe in the open. Come with us.  You two look like you've been through Hell."

They led us to the town's library, a large building that appeared to be made entirely out of marble.

I heard a long, sharp whistle from Fidelis.

"Always gets me."

He was right. This building was absolutely gorgeous---minus a large, smoking crater that had removed a sizable chunk from the building. It was about large enough for a foal to fit through. It wasn't serious, but it stuck out like a sore hoof.

Fidelis' eyes found the crater. His ears dropped.

"Aw...”

One of the armored ponies motioned us towards a series of strategically placed bookshelves.

A table, well, it was more like several slabs of wood held up by a series of thick library books, stood awkwardly in the middle of the book-shelf shelter.

The armor-less pony, a red Pegasus mare graced with a gorgeous purple flowing mane, placed two shot glasses in front of me and Fidelis.

“Um, I… I’m too young to drink.”

Fidelis, finished with his glass, spoke up. “Oh, it’s not that big of a deal, I mean, you turn eighteen in a month, right?”

“Heh, well, the law’s still the law…”

“The law went to Hell with the ponies who created it.” The Pegasus mare said firmly.

“Erm…Well, this stuff’s not that great for you anyway.”

Fidelis took me aside.

He whispered, “Look, if you don’t take the glass, you’re turning down their hospitality. Ponies around here aren’t too friendly to those who are ungrateful.”

I shot a spiteful look toward Fidelis. “Fine. I’ll drink the stupid stuff.”

I levitated the glass in front of my eyes. Orange-brown liquid swirled inside of it.

“Bottom’s up…”

It was sweet, but it burned going down. A bitter after-taste was left in my mouth. I began coughing.

Coarse jeers sounded from the Pegasus and her friends.  My cheeks glowed a bright pink.

“ A little much, honey?” one of the armored ponies said between chuckles.

It actually was a little too much. Things began swirling, and noises became distant and garbled.

“Uh thunk Eh nud ta lah dowen,” I slurred between hiccups.

What was that stuff? I couldn’t have drunk more than three ounces of it.

I fell, slamming my jaw on the marble floor. Sharp pain shot all the way across my mouth.

“Owee…” I blurted out.

I heard Fidelis say…something. I couldn’t understand anything that was happening. Everything blurred and faded to black.

About three hours later, I woke up, pain hitting me like a charging buffalo. I was on a denim couch, wrapped up in a thin, white sheet. Red, black, and orange stains defined the sheet. I threw it to the floor.

I was a little surprised when Fidelis spoke up. “I settled everything with our new friends. The pegasus’ name is Rip Corde. The earth ponies are BlackJack and Deadeye. We’re free to stay with them as long as we do what they say. You dislocated your jaw. I fixed it, but you’re gonna want to keep that gauze on for a few days.”

I placed my hoof on my jaw. It felt a little sore.

“And Vita?”

I looked over to Fidelis.

“You’re not seventeen, are you?”

I felt a little sick.

“Uh… ah, well…”

He opened his big mouth again. “In fact, I’d say that you’re about fourteen, or fifteen. Am I right?”

I tried to come up with an appropriate answer. Nothing came to me.

“You see, while looking at your jaw, I realized how straight and white your teeth were.  You must take good care of ‘em.”

I turned my back to him. I almost wished I hadn’t thrown that sheet on the floor. I could’ve hidden myself with it.

“Vita, why did you lie? Better yet, what did you think that you would gain from telling me you were seventeen?”

“I…I dunno… I just… I thought that, if I was, y’know, older, I’d be worth keeping around…I don’t know what I was thinking, I’m sorry.”

I wished that all the books in the library would topple over me, hiding me from the rest of the world.

Fidelis was silent. I knew he must’ve been disappointed with me, but when I looked back, I was surprised by what I saw. Two compassionate eyes shined behind that long face.

“Aw, don’t worry about it. You were probably just out of it. All of us were. After all that happened, I was surprised you didn’t have a psychological breakdown. You’re a tough kid.”

He ruffled my mane.

An hour later, I walked outside with Fidelis. Rip Corde and either BlackJack or Deadeye were cautiously standing outside the door of one of the many abandoned buildings.

The armored pony spoke up. “Hey, look, Tipsy Hooves has come to join us!”

I let out an annoyed sigh.

“My name’s Vita. And that’s what you’ll refer to me by, unless you want some dents in that fancy armor of yours.”

“Hey, hey, sweetheart! I’m just kidding around!” He playfully pronounced.

I rolled my eyes.

Rip Corde called us over.

“We’ve got Deadeye looting the building. We’ve already got a pretty hefty stash of food. We’re lookin’ for steel and other hard metals, mostly.”

“What for?”

The Rip Corde grinned.

“Ya see, these things make relatively simple weapons. We can build ‘em ourselves. BlackJack knows how to make ammo for ‘em. They’re a little hard to hold without magic, so we built a harness that will allow us to use them. Ya just take the string from the bit, hook it up to the trigger--”

A volley of loud noises, followed by beams of pale light, caused both me and Fidelis to leap back in alarm.

Rip Corde Looked a little frightened, herself. “And that’s how ya work ‘em…”

“What’s going on down there?” Deadeye poked out his head from the second story of the building.

“Just showin’ the newbies how to work a rifle!” The red Pegasus responded.

“Well, could'ja teach them a little quieter? There’s a group of those things not two miles away from here!”

My spine tingled with fear.

“Oh, don’t worry. They come within eighty feet and we’ll smoke ‘em before they see us.”

She tossed me a tracer rifle.

“Welcome to the resistance.”