Resistance: The Equestrian War Effort

"Whoa...so, this guy attacked you?" Deadeye poked at the body with the barrel of his rifle.

"Yup. Vita got it off me in time. Although... I would've appreciated it if she had gotten to me a lot sooner."

I rolled my eyes in appreciation for her gratitude.

"So, uh...Whatta we do with it?"

"Throw it on the pile with the rest," Black jack mumbled nonchalantly.

"Actually... I would like to keep it around for a while. I want to study this thing further- Try to figure out what made him what he is." Fidelis' tone showed obvious fear.

"You already said you couldn't figure out what it was. Why do you want it around?" Rip Corde questioned.

"There's gotta be an reason why he's like this. I think his mutation resulted because of something those things brought here. He couldn't have changed into this instantly...I think it's a virus."

I shot up in alarm, along with the others.

BlackJack jumped forward. "Then what the buck are we doing? We've gotta get rid of that thing before we're all-"

"It's too late for that. If I'm right, then we've all already been exposed to it."

A lump the size of my hoof rose to my throat.

"I'm gonna look into it. I'll take some of his blood, and see if I'm right. Of course, there's no reason to believe I am. It's just a worst case scenario."

fifteen minutes later, we had our answer.

"I was right."

Minor pain nipped at my arm as Fidelis removed the syringe from my shoulder.

"Should we really be doing this? How do you know this won't turn me into a acne covered zombie?"

" Our bodies keep specific codes stored for viruses whenever we come into contact with a disease. The cells were dead, so the virus shouldn't turn you into whatever he was."

The virus had actually been dead within the pony for a while. Once Fidelis learned this, he decided it would be best to vaccinate us a quickly as possible.

Although I couldn't help but wonder..."Um, how do you know it was dead? The virus, I mean."

"It showed no movement within the creatures' blood. I wasn't sure that meant it was dead at first, so I placed some of my blood inside of a petri dish along with the virus. The virus remained completely immobile as my white blood cells made short work of it. See? Nothing to worry about."

"Alright, then..."

I still couldn't help but feel I was being inoculated rather than vaccinated.

"Alright, that's everypony. I'm keeping a few test tubes of the vaccine in case we meet anypony."

Half an hour later, we prepared the Chimeran corpses for incineration.

"Make sure to stand back, this is gonna smell..."

BlackJack dropped a match, setting off a trail of alcohol that led to the mountain of bodies.

He was right. It smelled like- Oh, sweet Celestia, I can't even describe it. It smelled awful, that's all I knew for sure. Rip Corde must have thought so too, as she turned her head to vomit. The flames rose higher and higher, until finally, they died down.  The ashes of about twenty Chimeran troops covered the ground. Twenty Chimeran troops, and one Chimeran Pony.

I wondered who he had been before the Chimerans stole his body from him. What kind of life he lead. Who he loved. Who loved him.

A tear dropped from my face as I stared at the ashes. "Maybe we should've buried him."

"Too late now." BlackJack cantered back into the Library.  Didn't he feel anything?

I looked around. Deadeye was playing with his rifle. Fidelis Had followed BlackJack inside.

Didn't any of them feel anything besides me?

Anything at all?

"I'm sorry. I should've thought this through before hoof," I apologized to the pile of ashes.

I must've gone crazy. Apologizing to the dead. At least I showed some respect.

Then, I started thinking: how long would it be before I stopped feeling? Maybe it was best I stopped feeling right then.

No... That would make me... Unpony. An emotionless pony is barely a pony at all.

I stared at the ashes once more. "Goodbye, whoever you were."

As I walked back into the Library, I saw the others gathered around the makeshift bar. Just drinking it all away. Trying to forget. Trying to refrain from feeling.

I avoided them, and trotted to my couch. I was ready for today to end. I had enough. From daybreak to evening, today had been a living hell.

Huh... Hell. Had I really gone there? I remembered complete darkness... And screaming... And pain. Burning pain, everywhere. I felt like I was sinking... falling towards something I was afraid of. I don't remember what I was afraid of, but it sure scared the hell out of me. Or rather, into me. Then, I woke up. The purple pony, Twilight, I think it was. And Apple...Bloom? No, she was the younger one.

I stared upwards into the marble ceiling, my hooves resting behind my neck.

Apple...Something. I couldn't believe I had forgot.

I shifted my body around, and sat upright on the couch.

Apple...

My thoughts were interrupted as angry voices blasted from the makeshift bar.

"You don't get it do you? We. Are. Screwed! Smaller numbers mean that those things are less likely to notice us. If our home gets bigger, then we may as well be inviting those freaks over!"

"You know that isn't necessarily true, BlackJack! Those things can be killed, and killed easily. The more ponies we have, the easier it is to fight back!"

The arguing evolved from yelling to violence. Soon, BlackJack and Fidelis started throwing punches. I galloped out, and demanded them to stop the fight.

They didn't listen.

After a while, BlackJack had knocked Fidelis to the ground. In a quick motion, he placed to short end of a whiskey bottle between his teeth.

"Stop!" I galloped, and slammed my shoulder into BlackJack's side with as much force as I could muster. In angry retaliation, he broke the whiskey glass atop my head.

I stood still as numbness encumbered me. The label on the whiskey bottle slowly floated it's way down in front of my face.

Apple JACK. That was it.