Freedom Fighters : Equestria

Chapters

Prologue
Assault
Sweet Apple Liberation
Scholar
Plan

Prologue

The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony knew that it wouldn’t be too long before they needed to separate. And it had been predicted almost immediately after the defeat of the evil Nightmare Moon. They knew that anypony else could handle things on their own should a situation arise. Even if a situation were to be dire, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony could still be summoned.

Several years after the defeat of Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Harmony stayed in Ponyville for some time before deciding to go separate ways. Pinkie Pie, not wanting to lose her dearest friends, was the one heavily affected by the decision at first, but after being told that even if they separate, they would still stay together at heart, everything went a little more smoothly. None of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony wanted to leave their closest friends.

But it was what they were going to have to do if they wanted to push their lives any further than the point they were at now. Applejack’s apple business had grown to expand to other cities. Sweet Apple Acres now took up roughly 86 acres of land outside Ponyville just for apple trees, and Applejack was thinking of buying another dozen acres of land to expand her business.

Applejack had hired several other ponies from around Ponyville and other towns to help out on the farm. Applejack was going to stay in Ponyville, much to Pinkie Pie’s delight. Applejack didn’t want to leave in the first place, but she, too, was glad when she didn’t have to. Another reason Applejack chose to stay in Ponyville was to take care of AppleBloom and Granny Smith, though she was sure Big Mac was capable of doing so.

Rarity’s fashion designing abilities had caught wind in several cities across Equestria, mostly requested in Canterlot. The patrons of Canterlot paid no heed to her origins as most of them knew that talent comes from all places. Rarity’s business too had been expanding, leading to several shops being opened around Equestria.

Rarity had the chance to visit many art galleries and fashions shows, and had many connections with famous ponies in Canterlot. She was going to have to move to Canterlot for the time being to keep up with all of the attention. Rarity nodded sadly to the girls as she left for Canterlot two weeks later, telling them that she would be back soon. Pinkie Pie had thrown a “FAREWELL RARITY WE’LL ALL MISS YOU WAAAAAA!!!!” party for Rarity the previous night, which, although it didn’t make Rarity feel any worse about leaving, it did however cheered the rest of the girls up.

Twilight had decided to expand her studies, but she hadn’t gone to Canterlot, she had gone to Trottingham. What most ponies didn’t know was that Trottingham was one of only places in Equestria with a higher level of education, surpassing that of Princess Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns. Twilight herself, though being a seeker of knowledge, had spread knowledge as well, as she had written a couple of dozen books, all detailing spells, nature, biology and mathematical equations that would have driven anypony mad should they read all her books. Though, none of her readers had gone mad yet, she was sure some of them would go mad soon. Twilight had sold up to a quarter million books, which she had generously donated to the Trottingham State Library.

Twilight left for Trottingham at the same time that Rarity had left for Canterlot. She had made a vow to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony that she would still contact them, however not face to face, but with portal spells Twilight had found out about when she was writing several new equations for her books. Pinkie had wanted Twilight to have her farewell party at the same time as Rarity’s, but Twilight declined, which was perfectly fine with the pink party pony. If her friend was going to leave, Pinkie Pie might as well made sure that she left happily.

Rainbow Dash had applied to join The Wonderbolts, and not surprisingly, the elite squad had let her join. Even though Rainbow Dash had expected to be accepted, she didn’t really think that the elite squad would let her join. Spitfire and Soarin were in the senior squad, a few ranks below the elite squad, and they were happy to have an amazing flyer like Dash join The Wonderbolts. The Wonderbolts would often go on tours and air shows, primarily in Cloudsdale.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t going anywhere, but she had to spend most of her time in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash wasn’t actually leaving considering how close Cloudsdale was to Ponyville, but she was spending so much of her time in Cloudsdale, it could have been considered that she had left.

Fluttershy had heard of widespread animal abuse going on in Manehatten a day after Rainbow Dash left. At first she hadn’t wanted to leave, knowing that her place was to stay and care after the animals of the Everfree forest. Who would take care of them while she’s gone? She pondered the question for a couple of days. Other ponies could take over for her, but she wasn’t sure if the other animals would like to have a different caretaker other than herself. Even if they did, how long would the new caretakers last before they give up?

Fluttershy knew it was hard to take care of so many animals at once, having taken care of many animals over the years, but she had grown used to it. She was still worried for the new caretakers that would be there. However, after persuasion and support from several other local residents, Fluttershy took off with several other like-minded ponies, and promised, like the others, to keep in touch. Fluttershy, like Twilight, had declined a party as well, which Pinkie didn’t mind either, but Fluttershy swore she could have heard Pinkie crying as she flew away.

Pinkie Pie had stayed, but only for a short while. A couple of days after Fluttershy’s departure, an old friend of Pinkie’s, Pokey Pierce, came by. He invited her to the party-capital of Equestria, Neigh York. Pinkie Pie had hesitated, knowing that if she left, Ponyville would be a boring place. Pokey racked his brains with Pinkie for a few days, before deciding that going back and forth from Neigh York and Ponyville wasn’t that bad, considering how short the distance is. She threw a party for herself and what few close friends she had. Though Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash couldn’t be there, she was, at least, happy to have a few friends left to have fun with. She left the following day, boarding the train with Pokey to Neigh York.

And thus the Bearer of the Elements of Harmony were separated, keeping in touch through mail, meetups and other methods. Their meetups had always been eventful, becoming more and more so with each meetup they have. Pinkie Pie would always throw huge “YAY WE’RE TOGETHER AGAIN!!!!” party, which would at times last up to a few days. Not that the other five cared. They wanted to treasure every single moment they had together, as the closest friends knew that time would never be so kind on them in the future. They were happy together, and even distances couldn’t keep the happiness away.

However so, there was trouble over the horizon as the griffons, who at the time of separation was working with the Equestrian Government on a murder case involving several ponies murdered in Griffon territory, started receiving accusations that it was the griffons who had ponynapped and killed the ponies. Hooves and claws started pointing around as the ponies and griffons started arguing over the homicide. The homicide had lasted for a few days, but it was enough to spark an outrage among the ponies and the griffons. On the Equestrian side, ponies were protesting against the griffons. Likewise on the griffon’s side. And soon the heat became unbearable as several radical griffons started attacking several areas of Equestria, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared, leaving behind a slaughtered mess.

Since then security around Equestria had been doubled, with Princess Celestia herself watching over the military division. Princess Celestia knew something big was going to happen, and so she notified her nation, hoping that they would be able to take care of themselves should there be any sudden intrusions. Princess Celestia may be immortal, but that didn’t mean that her power was limitless or unstoppable. Not soon after, the amount of murders decreased, and Princess Celestia sent a convoy of scholars over to griffon territory to organize a peace treaty. The scholars had left with promises of peace being restored being muttered under their breaths, but they never came back.

A day after the incident, news started coming in that cities across Equestria were receiving warnings from several informants in the griffon territory that an invasion was imminent. Every city was on high alert, so when the news got out that Los Pegasus went down, it really came as a surprise to everypony. The other cities braced, not knowing that the next targets would be attacked and conquered swiftly soon.

The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were to be called in to help, but with all of them separated, and with every city under impending siege, Princess Celestia couldn’t do anything but wait as Princess Luna and her team of generals planned out a counter-attack should the six main cities of Equestria come under attack. Princess Luna, too, had an immortal lifespan, but that didn’t mean her power wasn't limitless as well.

It seemed that the griffons moved swiftly as the first main city, Trottingham, got conquered. Soon enough, another four cities, Canterlot, Manehatten, Neigh York and Cloudsdale came under fire. Princess Celestia and her loyal subjects had retreated to a temporary outpost, which was in an unknown location between Canterlot and Ponyville. In their temporary outpost they planned a counter-assault on every major city in a bid to regain the upper hand. Princess Luna sent a special squad of miners and stealth pegasi to fly over griffon territory, hoping to find a vulnerable town to take over for the time being and convert it into another temporary outpost for anypony wanting to help or for anygriffon who wanted to help the Equestrian Government.

The last city, Ponyville, was on the verge of being attacked as two brothers trotted down a gravel road, heading for an acquaintance’s house, oblivious to the imminent attack. The two had expected an attack somewhere within the next week, which was one of the many mistakes they would soon make.

Author's note : I've been wanting to try a crossover fic for sometime. Those who have been following my blog posts would know. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy reading this. Also, I'd appreciate some feedback for this :pinkiesmile:

Assault

Trotting down the gravel road, Luke Flames’ head was facing forward, his younger brother close by his side. The elder was leading the way to an acquaintance's abode in Ponyville, as he had a couple of times within the past year. His younger brother, Night Crescent, had followed him on several occasions, but was not quite familiar with the route yet. Luke levitated a briefcase as he trotted on. Night trotted on with a face that said he wasn’t paying enough attention to his surroundings, but was paying just enough to know if his brother spoke, or if there were any obstacles in his way.

Night looked up at the clear blue sky, wondering if the invasion would arrive much earlier than the two brothers had anticipated. Only a few clouds floated by in the sky, a few pegasi lazily flying about in the skies.

The last visit they had paid to their friend was roughly four months ago, and even then, they had set an appointment. Their friend, who refused to talk much about his work, was always a sort of busy fellow. Didn’t really take time out of his schedule to meet with friends. Luke didn’t mind. He and his younger brother have jobs as well, though they are much more open about it. Luke was given a specific term to call their friend, and he had complied, not wanting to question their friend’s wish. Scholar.

Scholar hadn’t been living in Ponyville longer than Luke and Night had. He’d moved to Ponyville from Canterlot a couple of years ago, for what reasons, Luke and Night didn’t know. Night would sometimes joke that the tax in Canterlot was high enough to force the ponies out, to which Luke would just grin and shake his head.

Luke was talking.

“Hopefully Scholar will be in. It’s been too long since we last met now, haven’t we?” Luke shook his head, making his fiery orange mane swing around, narrowly hitting Night. For a unicorn with a dark grey coat, some ponies consider it weird when they find out he had such a lovely mane colour. It was as if his mane gave off a friendly glow, even when his coat seemed to show otherwise. With a torch and a compass as a cutie mark, Luke was more interested in pyrotechnics, which was weird considering the compass part of his cutie mark.

But to Luke himself it made a lot of sense. He would normally try out his experiments in the direction of the south, in which the compass on his cutie mark was pointing. Luke believed that by testing out experiments in the direction of the south, which was in the same direction of the southern cross, would bring extra luck. Another thing that some ponies found friendly were his hazel eyes that seemed to bore and implant friendly images into them. Which was more or less true considering how friendly Luke was.

Night nodded. He had followed on their last trip, and knew that four months really was a long time. Their last trip was mostly to follow up on current events at the time, and today they were visiting because Luke wanted to show his newest pyrotechnics. Night had no idea how Luke had learned his pyrotechnics skill from, but then considering how Night had never visited his brother that often while he was out learning, he didn’t ask. Unicorns were able to accomplish a lot of things, but this didn’t dishearten Night.

Night was a pegasus with a wavy mane the colour of navy-blue. Like his brother, his mane colour was a contrast to his coat colour, which was dark orange. Night didn’t mind being looked at strangely. He would just shut his dark green eyes and pretend that nothing offensive was said or done. Being the planner type pony, Night didn’t talk much. He only responded to a conversation instead of starting one. If he were in an argument, however, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull out all his facts should they be needed. With a blueprint for a cutie mark, Night would often help out with his brother’s requests to make blueprints. Numbers, angles, volumes, ratios. All were confusing when not given assistance with.

Night didn’t mind. Even though neither of the two brothers could see eye-to-eye most of the time, they would still have each other’s backs, no matter what.

“Hey Luke, is Scholar really in?” Night asked.

Luke shrugged. “I wrote a letter to him about....four days back, I guess? He had replied immediately, saying that he couldn’t wait to see what I had in store.” Luke snorted. “Scholar was never this excited before. His excitement is probably more than the time I brought over my designs for the mobile firing device we’ve been working on. So I’m guessing he’s probably going to be in later.”

Night nodded. He hoped that Scholar was in. They might have missed out a lot in the past four months. Although it was a regular thing for Luke and Night to go and visit ponies and catch up on the latest news, they never seemed to be as pleased as they usually are when they meet with Scholar. Some of the topics they’d talk about would get out of hoof almost immediately, and some would continue on the same track it had been on.

The streets of Ponyville were barren compared to the other days, where there wasn’t a threat of an invasion. Even so, they managed to pass by a few ponies along the way. Night would merely nod and smile at anypony that passes him by, regardless of whether or not he/she notices.

Luke, on the other hoof, would greet them with either a “Hi!” or a “Oh hey there!” followed by a wave of a hoof.

The marketplace was a bit crowded, but then again, it was good to see other ponies out and going about their lives. There were stalls selling different items, ranging from fruits and vegetables, to flowers and seeds, right down to rattan furniture.

However so, Luke and Night weren’t going to go through the marketplace to reach their destination. Scholar’s abode was just near by the marketplace, about two or three houses away, separated only by a small gutter, which led to a storm drain that led into the sewage system beneath Ponyville. The sewage system was linked between cities all over Equestria, making the overall length longer than all the train tracks in Equestria set together. The sewage would then flow to the sea, where the saturated water would quickly dispose of any harmful materials that could potentially be found in the sewage.

Scholar’s house was a single-story house, flanked by another two that looked the same, giving Night and Luke the impression that they might have come to a housing estate during their first trip here. There were potted plants on his window sills, slowing but surely wilting away, which was strange for a unicorn like Scholar. He was close to immaculate when it came to his environment. Night sensed something was off.

The streets slowly emptied as Night knocked on the maple wood door. The windows were tinted, no doubt by one of Scholar’s many spells, but it hadn’t been tinted the last time Luke and Night came by. No response came, and Night rapped a little harder on the door. Luke and Night waited, but still there was no indication of anypony inside the house. Night tried the door handle.

Unlike most unicorns who fit keys into locks using their magic, Scholar had used another way of gaining entry to his house. Instead of a lock, there was just a simply hole in the door, one that could have a hoof put into and a pull a lever, which would then unlock the door. Night had seen Scholar use this lock a couple of times, but never really asked how it worked. He put his hoof inside the hole, and pulled the lever. The sound of the door unlocking convinced Night that he was done, and he withdrew his hoof.

Luke nudged the door open and stepped inside. Night stepped in after Luke, and was met with something out of the ordinary. The house was a mess. The kitchen wasn’t in that bad a condition compared to Scholar’s room. His room had an overturned wardrobe, its contents strewn all over the floor. The glass window in his bedroom had shattered, the glass littering the area around the floor, allowing ample sunlight into Scholar’s room to reveal that the room wasn’t occupied by anypony.

The kitchen windows were still intact. The kitchen floor had several boxes that looked as if they had been thrown. A couple of the boxes were empty, while a few had what Luke and Night weren’t expecting to find. Inside one box, amidst the styrofoam puffs, was a crossbow, along with several of the darts. However, this crossbow was much larger, designed for unicorn use, mostly because of its added weight. The crossbow had a drum, plugged in from the bottom near the trigger. At the back of the crossbow was a little gas canister. This crossbow didn’t use propulsion via strings to fire, but rather gas.

Night and Luke exchanged looks, which went from confusion to fear. “Weird for Scholar to have something like that, isn’t it?” Luke asked.

Night merely shrugged. “Well whatever went down, looks like Scholar isn’t here.” Night opened another box, which produced a much different weapon, along with a note. Luke’s eyes lit up at the sight at one of the weapons he had shown Scholar some time ago. However, the weapon was much lighter, and simpler compared to Luke’s design. The design of the weapon was simple, and was to be placed upon the base of the wing, which would rapidly fire a short burst of projectiles, presumably the darts used for a crossbow if Scholar had used Luke’s design. In Luke’s design, the trigger was held in the mouth. Scholar’s had the wire that would coil around the forehoof, where it would be attached to a grip and a trigger.

“I don’t like this feeling of snooping around Scholar’s stuff when he’s not around. I’m gonna wait outside, if you don’t mind.” Before Night could say anything, Luke went back out the door. Night sighed. Night took the note out of the box and began reading it.

Dear Night and/or Luke,

I know that I said I would be here by the time you guys come by, but there is something critical that i have to attend to. You’ve been aware of the current assaults on cities, right? Consider this packing up early. Besides, I have some people to take care of for the time being. I left you and your brother some tools to use, should you be able to get in. Luke, if you’re reading this, I would like to thank you for your design for the mobile firing device, which would normally be called a gun, but the device is too unique to be called a gun. I modified your design a bit and came up with this prototype. Tell your brother to use it, he’s going to need it soon.

The griffons will be here soon, gentlecolts, so I will take my leave here. However, I might just meetup with you two before the battle comes to an end. -Scholar

Night crumpled the note, and threw it into one of the empty boxes on the floor. He was just about to take the mobile firing device out of the box, planning to put it on, when a projectile broke through the glass window in the kitchen. Night barely had time to roll to his right when the glass fragments rained onto the floor.

Night got up and brushed himself off as more projectiles peppered the outer wall of the kitchen, several more managing to get through the hole that was once the glass window. Night knew that if he didn’t react quickly, Luke was going to lose a brother. Diving into another barrel roll, Night wanted to make sure he got his hooves onto the mobile firing device before he was hit. The sound of weapons, presumably guns, discharging could be heard outside the house, and the sound of ponies scattering was evident. Luke was nowhere to be seen as Night tried to fix the mobile firing device onto his wings. One of the potted plants on the windowsill outside disintegrated as a projectile went through it and the tinted window.

Night heard a grunt and a thud outside the house, and assumed it was his brother, Luke. Night wanted to go out and check on his brother’s condition, but in his current state of confusion, he wasn’t sure if that was a good move. Securing the straps of the mobile firing device on his wings, Night coiled the wire around his forehoof and gripped the grip and the trigger. Night decided against going out, and retreated into Scholar’s room. He closed the door, only leaving a small gap to see what was going on. Outside, there were a couple of griffons, one with a beret, and the other with a messy, feathery head and Luke, lying unconscious on the ground, blood running out of his nuzzle. The guy with the beret barked an order.

“Take his briefcase! It might have information that could hinder our operation!”

“But this is the last city to conquer, how can one measly mule like this guy hinder our operation?” There was a short silence before the griffon in the beret lifted a claw, and fired a round into the other griffon’s head. A sharp gasp elicited from the griffon and he collapsed. The unmistakable colour of blood started pooling at the griffon’s claws.

“You’re not here to ask questions. You’re here to follow orders.” The griffon with beret called another four griffons over and barked even more orders. “One of you get rid of the body, another one bring this mule and his intelligence. The two of you, search the house. There’s another pony we’re looking for, and we’re not leaving without him.” Night’s eyes widened as they dragged his brother and the body of the griffon away. The one with the beret disappeared from view, and the two ponies assigned to search the house smashed the front door open. Splinters of wood sprayed all over the floor as the remains of the door crashed to the floor.

One of the griffons stepped into the kitchen as the other made his way toward Scholar’s room. Night crawled under the bed and used some of the clothes to block his presence. He knew from numerous tests with Luke that the projectiles fired from Luke’s mobile firing device design was enough to puncture the bed’s wooden frame, but he wasn’t sure if it was enough to kill the griffon. Night’s hoof tightened around the grip, as the griffon nudged the door into the room slowly. A voice that spoke made Night’s blood run cold.

“I know you’re in here somewhere, Scholar... Come out now and everything will and can be discussed.” The griffon’s feet moved across the floor, forcing Night to move his wings around to adjust his angle of fire. The griffon checked the wardrobe, pulling out more clothes and throwing them onto the floor, hoping to find something. He was just about to empty the whole wardrobe when his friend came in. He hefted something in his hooves.

“Look what I found. You think this would be worth giving to the commander?”

The other griffon tapped his claw against the wardrobe as he said, “Yeah...maybe you should. This could be modified for our purposes.”

Just as the two were about to leave, they paused a moment at the door, and scanned the bed room one more time. Night realigned his angle of fire. The moment the two griffons turned their backs to head out, Night pushed the trigger.

The griffons didn’t have time to turn around as two streams of darts fired out of the mobile firing device, breaking through the wooden bedframe and peppering the two griffons. One griffon took a dart to the throat as he turned around, followed by another one to the right eye and another one to the side of his neck, while his friend was propelled forward from the sudden attack. As he flapped his wings, planning to escape, he realized too late that the weapon he found in the box in the kitchen was hindering his flight when three darts penetrated his right wing. As the griffon went down screaming in pain, the darts that penetrated his wing started ricocheting around the room, before two of the darts penetrated his side, embedding themselves into his heart before finally stopping. The griffon wriggled around on the floor as he and his friend died from blood loss

Night crawled out from under the bed and rushed over to the griffons. The griffon that had took the weapon from the kitchen wasn’t moving, but his friend was still holding up a claw to his neck where the dart had cut into, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. Night put the griffon out of his misery as he raised his forehooves into the sky, and descended it upon the griffon’s head.

The sound of bone crunching under Night’s hooves made Night feel nauseated. He hadn’t killed anypony before. But today, he had killed two griffons. Night felt good, but at the same time he felt sick to the stomach at what he just did. The griffon briefly held his claw up to form a thumbs up, as if saying, “Thanks for putting me out of all this pain.” before succumbing to his wounds.

Night ran out of the house to see whether his brother was still around, or if that....bastard with the beret was still around. Neither were around, but he could see a few griffons scouring the city. A couple of griffons were scouting the area near Scholar’s house, so Night ducked back inside. As the pressure from the sudden change of events began to sink into Night’s mind, he started wonder, what the fuck is going on?

Without thinking, he went back inside, hoping to find any weapons on the griffons that he could use. Night found weapons that could only be gripped with claws and cursed. The weapons the griffons used were not the least surprising to Night. It was their existence that surprised him. It was like an OSS pistol glove, only modified to be used on claws. Night couldn't use them. So the next step he did was probably an important step, though the blood would obviously give it away.

He hid the bodies of the griffons.

Sweet Apple Liberation

Night hid the bodies in Scholar’s room. One in his previous hiding spot of under the bed, and the other in the wardrobe that the griffon had trashed. Night tried his best not to let the blood seep out of the cracks of the wardrobe. He contemplated on getting back the darts from his ambush earlier, but then decided the blood will probably hinder the firing mechanism. He wasn’t that sure of the firing mechanism, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

With the mobile firing device still attached to both of his wings, he wondered how he’ll be able to bring the crossbow away from Scholar’s house. Night knew the griffons were capable of abusing Scholar’s technology, so he had to get it away as fast as he could. The commander might come back looking for his two other griffons, who Night suspected, were privates. Night peeked out the door, praying to Celestia that the coast was clear. The streets were clear, for now. Night shifted his gaze skyward. A couple of griffons were flying in the opposite direction of Scholar’s house.

Night retreated back inside and looked around for anything to carry the crossbow with. He went back into Scholar’s room and found a saddlebag among the clothes. He clipped it on and put the crossbow in. He trotted over to the kitchen and checked the boxes that had kept the weapons. There were still several drums of darts for the crossbow in its box, and a belt of bullets for the mobile firing device.

Scholar’s design of the mobile firing device had two different ways to feed in ammunition. One was via belt, the other via magazines, which would be inserted through the top of the mobile firing device. He took drums and put them in his saddlebag before reloading his mobile firing device with the belt of darts.

Night peeked back out, and this time the skies were clear as well. He glanced in every direction, hoping to guess where the commander had brought his brother. His brother was the only one that could wield the crossbow at the moment without a problem. Somewhere in the distance, plumes of black smoke were barreling into the sky. Night knew he had to get out of the area before anypony, or anygriffon, found him. He was just about to take off when he heard a voice nearby. He froze in his tracks, wondering if this would be the second time today that he’d have to use his mobile firing device.

“Keep calm. You wouldn’t want to panic in a situation like this wouldn’t you? Too much at risk.”

Night turned around to see a unicorn, with a mane of dark blue and white and a coat of sky blue. She had a fresh wound over her cheek, which Night guessed was from a short scuffle with the griffons. She held up a double barreled shotgun, which made Night guess that she was in the police force. She had seen the mare a couple of times while he was in Ponyville, but he never really wondered where she went to or what she did. The mare’s eyes were fixated on Night as she spoke. “We should keep moving. Before anything else happens.”

Night didn’t say anything for a moment, and stood there staring at the mare, who stared back with equal silence. Five seconds rolled by like five minutes, and the risk of being caught by the griffons increased those few seconds.

Night spoke, not shifting his gaze. “And who are you working for? And you can set that down. I’m not hostile unless provoked.”

The unicorn lowered the shotgun, but didn’t move her eyes as she spoke. “It doesn’t matter who I work for. You’re one of the few ponies that I can find out of all this chaos going on, and I would appreciate a little cooperation.”

Night shrugged. Nothing he could say to that. “You said keep moving. You have a temporary facility somewhere?”

The mare nodded. “It’s best if you just followed me, and make it quick.” The mare broke off the eyeing to glance around. The griffons that had been flying away from the direction of Scholar’s house were now flying back. Night noticed this too, and nodded.

The unicorn asked, “What’s the bloody hooves?”

“I killed a couple of griffons, now get going before the others catch us.”

The mare ducked into the storm drain outside Scholar’s house. Night didn’t ask. He leapt in as well. And right in the nick of time too.

As he and the mare disappeared deeper into the storm drain, the two griffons that had been flying landed outside Scholar’s house, hoping to find their two missing colleagues. Unless they checked Scholar’s room, they’ll never find the bodies ever again.

Night had never been through a storm drain pipe before, and hadn’t imagined it to be wide enough to fit a pony, or a stallion. He guessed the diameter was around ten feet, which was more or less correct. Come rainy season, all the water from the rain would be redirected into the sea via these huge storm drain pipes. Night and the mare were threading through two inches of water, which wasn’t as threatening as staying outside with the griffons patrolling the area. Night could feel the blood of the griffon he killed earlier wash away.

The mare led the way through the maze of pipes that seemed to recline as they progressed. The mare lit her horn as the light from the surface world diminished. She had her shotgun aimed in front of her, which Night took to mean she was cautious, or just paranoid. The water flowed down the inclined pipe as the two ponies threaded their way down. It was Night who started a conversation, which wasn’t common.

“So where are we headed? You seem to know your way around here.”

The mare kept moving, not glancing back to answer, “If we’re on the right track we should be reaching a larger area. Easier navigation from there on out. We just have to exit the pipe and follow the hints.”

Night said nothing after that. The silence continued for a couple of minutes before they reached the end of the pipe. Colgate leapt out of the pipe and glanced around. Night got out after her. The water continued flowing out of the pipe into another drain in the middle of the larger area. Water from other pipes joined in the flow as the water flowed south, toward the sea. The mare went in the opposite direction. Night followed close behind. And then the mare spoke.

“Since we’ll be going through all this together, why not introduce ourselves? I’m Colgate, local dentist in Ponyville.” She didn’t turn around as she introduced herself, only kept moving forward as she went through. A few sewers rats scampered off as she rounded a corner.

Night shrugged, not that he expected Colgate to see it anyway, and introduced himself. “My name’s Night Crescent. I’m a planner and I live with my brother near the edges of the town.” The mare stopped in her tracks upon hearing the words ‘planner.’ , startling Night as he stopped himself from bumping into Colgate’s rump. The mare turned around to face Night, who backed up a couple of steps as the blinding light from Colgate’s horn blinded him. Colgate realized this and dimmed down her horn.

Night rubbed his eyes as Colgate spoke, “A planner, eh? You might be useful here. Where’s your brother?”

Night explained what had happened earlier, and elaborated further on his ambush on the two griffons. Colgate nodded. “A couple of them. That’s not bad. I only had to get through one to get this shotgun,” She lifted it up through telekinesis, “and by get through, I mean really get through. With a dentist’s drill.” She turned around, and continued trotting. The whole trip there was silent as neither of them spoke.

Soon enough, they came upon an opening, which led to an even bigger area, about the size of town hall, though much wider. There were several ponies going around as whispers were exchanged among one another as Colgate and Night made their way through, now trotting onto the wooden boards that was set as a bridge between the sewer pipe system and the floating plateau that was their facility. The plateau was surrounded by water that was carried in by the sewage pipes, but was then flowed out through a couple of huge pipes that led out into the sea. Several tables, a few crates of weapons, tools, both mechanical and mystical, and provisions were among the few items on the floating plateau. A couple of ponies were installing what seemed to Night as an antenna. Or it could have been a beacon.

Light streamed in through several openings in the ceiling. Sunlight poured through at random intervals as the clouds outside temporary block the sun before moving on. Though the sunlight was sufficient enough light to illuminate the area, there was an oil lantern, lit, on a table with a map of Ponyville. Colgate asked Night to wait by the table while she went to check on a few things. Night obliged.

As Colgate went off, Night sat at the table, studying the map. The map showed multiple landmarks across ponyville. There was a red circle over Ponyville’s Town Hall, another on the General Hospital. A red square over the Ponyville Police Department and a blue rectangle over Sweet Apple Acres, with the words ‘urgent’ written underneath the rectangle. He studied the geography of the rest of Ponyville, hoping to find a spot where he could hole up besides the sewer system.

Colgate joined Night at the table. “Transmitter is almost up. Hopefully we can listen to whatever the hell the griffons might be relaying. Hopefully it’s not propaganda. The town’s in shambles enough.” Night merely shrugged.

“What’s with all these symbols over certain areas in Ponyville?” He pointed to the General Hospital.

“Retaliation targets. We plan to take control of these parts of the city in less than 12 hours. A lightning assault. The griffons wouldn’t expect such a thing so soon.” Colgate beamed.

Night tried analyzing Colgate’s plans, and then turned to the map, hoping to find the compatibility between the two. It all depends on where we make our first strike.

The resistance group had planned to attack around evening, but by that time, Ponyville would be so tightly secured that any chance of retaliating would be useless. Colgate knew this. After setting up what seems to be a receiver and a transmitter to receive radio transmissions, the two ponies strode over to the table Night and the others were around. Night could only recognize one. Even through all the chaos earlier, the pony still had his collar and tie on. His spiky brown mane remained untouched by all the sweat from the transmitter installation and the chaos from avoiding the griffon onslaught earlier.

The other pony, however, a pegasus, seemed the direct opposite. Her aqua-coloured mane was a bit messy and unkempt. Her teal-coloured pupils were filled with fear, either from the sudden invasion, or for fear of something else. Whatever that something else was, Night couldn’t tell. She was panting, like she had just run a marathon, or helped in the generation of a water spout. Sweat ran down her forehead as she looked on.

Colgate looked up from the map on the table at Night, who was studying the two new members of the table. Feeling that it was an appropriate time to introduce some other members of the group, Colgate did so.

“I’m not sure how many ponies here you recognize here Night, but I believe I should introduce them to you.” Upon hearing that, Night nodded. As if on cue, the collared earth pony nodded as well as he started introducing himself. “I’m Dr Whooves, a doctor and physician at the Ponyville General Hospital. I’m among a few other ponies here in charge of health and, quite possibly, mental stability.” Upon saying those last few words, Dr Whooves snickered. He forced a cough when nobody shared his humour, before continuing. “Anyway, I came here after Ponyville General Hospital got attacked, with a minority of the patients trying to fight back or resist, only to be killed.” He shook his head. “I’m guessing the griffons would want the ponies in their wards to stay there. They’ve already done enough damage by getting inside the hospital. Who knows how many of them have medical experience. I can’t imagine the torture they might give.”

Doctor Hooves stopped there. He glanced over to the light-yellow Pegasus next to him, and nodded. The Pegasus stopped panting, cleared her throat, and started introducing herself. “Raindrops. I came all the way from Cloudsdale to inform this small group of ours of the impending invasion. Have you noticed someponies in town that you usually see aren’t there?” Night nodded. Well that explains why or where Scholar might be. “Well chances are the majority of them are a part of this group. After Cloudsdale fell, a few of us were hunted down, with only me, Cloudchaser and Flitters making it here while the rest either got killed or captured.” Raindrops coughed, her pants returning. She continued to speak, “I’m from the Weather Factory team, and quite possibly the only one left. One of the elements of harmony was in the team as well, but I’m not sure of her condition for the time being.” Raindrops shook her head, and continued coughing, signalling she was done talking.

Colgate nodded and turned to Night, who then introduced himself. When he was done, the two new members of the table nodded. Night asked a question, “Do we have any technicians, inventors or anything here?”

Doctor Whooves nodded, to which Night smiled and took the crossbow out of his bag and set it on the table. The doctor eyed the crossbow. He looked back up to Night, who wore a blank expression where his smile had been a few seconds earlier.

“Might I ask where this came from?”

“I found this in a friend’s house while I was visiting. He wasn’t around. I left behind two dead griffons should he come back.” Night shrugged before continuing, “I’m sure he won’t be back though. He left me and my brother a note, but only I got to read the note before my brother got taken.” Night flapped his wings, loosening the straps on his mobile firing device. Colgate got the message and took it off for him, and laid it on the table next to the crossbow, carefully laying the belt of darts.

“He left these two things behind. The mobile firing device based on my brother’s design was modified.” Night took his saddlebag off, and laid it on the ground. He took out several of the magazines for the crossbow, and laid it on the table. “You think you can replicate them? Could be useful for whatever you guys are planning.”

Colgate looked confused, “We’re all going to plan this together. The technicians and arms experts might be able to replicate these, but for now we have to plan, which is where you come in.”

Now it was Night’s turn to look confused. But I just arrived here. How am I supposed to plan against something that I don’t even know jack about? Sensing the confusion clouding Night’s eyes, Colgate spoke. “What we’re planning right now, is to liberate Sweet Apple Acres. Half of the griffon attack force from earlier are stationed there to control provisions. Intel tells us that they have several crates of weapons with them, which we might be able to use for our cause.”

That was when something struck Night. “Wait, what is our cause in the first place?”

The other three exchanged glances, as if expecting Night to know what they were doing in the first place.

“Why Night,” Raindrops spoke. “We’re the Freedom Fighters of Equestria.”

Night sat down on a nearby crate, slowly taking in what was just said. This morning he was just a planner, visiting a friend with his brother, and now he was helping a resistance group plan their attacks. Well this is just swell. He hadn’t expected this, but then again, he wasn’t expecting to lose his brother, a friend and kill two griffons either. And I know shit’s gonna come back soon. It’s just left me idle for now.

“Night.” Night looked up, meetup Colgate’s gaze. Her dark blue eyes piercing his, she spoke, “We need you for this. We’ve all lost a loved one, a friend or our own families because of this. And now we need to get them back. And the sooner we we strike back, the better. If we just leave this or even delay the plans a little bit, it might be a little too late.” Night just stared back. He didn’t want to say anything. What Colgate was saying was true. My brother’s missing. You think I wouldn’t know that shit?

Night sighed. “Listen, I know that what we’re doing is right and all, but with what little forces we have at the moment, I think your idea would be too ambitious. The Sweet Apple Acres liberation idea is good, but with so many griffons, half you said? There’s gonna be a very risky gamble.”

Colgate’s eyes remain fixated, however, her voice changed from a demanding harsh one to a much soft, tender voice. “That’s why we need you here, Night. If we need anypony to plan for us, I’m sure you can help us out as well. Strategists are what we need for now. We may have small numbers, but with a good strategy we can get through just fine.”

Night just shrugged. He didn’t care anymore. Let’s just get this shit over with. I want my brother back. “Fine, but for starters, we would do well if we struck from the skies. Even in broad daylight, pegasi that are fast enough can’t be spotted. Anypony or griffon with quick eyes may spot one, but there isn’t a chance that they could do anything since fast pegasi can dodge things quite easily.”

Night flashed back to a time when he was out-flying his brother’s explosive heat-seeking darts. The darts had only a thousandth of a gram of gunpowder mixed with some other stuff. A dart had struck him and blew a scar in his wing about a couple of centimetres across. It wasn’t that severe, but in large numbers, the darts were threatening.

That test had been for fun. Night had wanted to see how fast he could go, Luke wanted to see how well his darts could go. With a range of around three hundred meters, it was very effective for long range firing. However, if used against pegasi, the darts were pretty much useless, considering how most pegasi can travel a hundred meters in under 3 seconds. It could be used for unsuspecting targets, but that was pretty much it. Luke was a marksman, he knew how to use the darts, and how to use them to their maximum potential.

“However, since we’re up against griffons, you might be expecting a dogfight soon. In which case, unless you have more weapons like the mobile firing device, which I doubt so, we’re in for some trouble.”

Doctor Whooves and Raindrops nodded, fully understanding the dangers of a dogfight. Casualties. The darts would go all over the place. The stray darts would strike griffons yes, but there was a very big chance the darts would go through buildings, potentially killing any innocent civilians. Collateral damage. Night wanted to avoid that. Colgate merely shrugged.

“Originally we planned to strike in the evening, but seeing as to how that might be a little too late, it would be best if we strike in the afternoon.” She pointed a hoof into the holes at the ceiling. The sunlight pouring in was traveling a straight line into the waters around the plateau. It was noon. 12pm.

Night nodded. He quickly put together a plan in his head. A couple of minutes was all he needed, as he continued sitting on the crate, staring at nothing in particular. Night tended to stare at nothing whenever he had his head full.

Striking in the afternoon, Night would want to be attacking in the direction facing away from the sun. That way any griffons looking directly in the sun’s direction would not notice anypony due to the glare of the sunlight. That was one part of his plan he wanted to stay. Then a thought materialized in his head.

“Hey Colgate, how well can you fire a crossbow?:

“That depends, the one you brought looks different. Normally we’d have use a bowstring for a crossbow, but yours is a much different thing entirely.”

Night explained everything he knew about the shotgun, including the gas canister, how the rounds worked and why a unicorn could use it better than any other type of pony or creature. Colgate didn’t question why it was heavier, luckily for Night.

“If anything goes well I can fire a crossbow about two hundred or maybe three hundred yards. And that’s if there’s no wind hindering my firing.”

Night grinned. He was satisfied. At least he had a marksman to work with now. He needed more help. He knew that. Many hooves make light work. But if many of those hooves suck at working, then he shouldn’t even bother. Now he needed to find experts he could work with. A marksman, a strategist, a doctor, and a weather control pegasus. There were others around, sure, but the introductions were going to have to wait. They needed to make haste. Strike while the iron was still hot. But he needed to make sure that casualties would be minimum.

“Did your Intel inform you how many griffons there were? Exact number, please. I need to know how many we’re gonna be up against.”

Colgate looked out a corner of her eye, tongue sticking out slightly as she tried to estimate just exactly how many griffons there were. She counted it as half because it was more or less true. Around 13 or 14 griffons.

“Around 13 or 14. If the two that went patrolling earlier count, I’d say at most 16 griffons.”

Night nodded. In the afternoon, most ponies would stay indoors to escape the heat from outside. Griffons might do the same, considering how they aren’t used to Equestrian heat. He guessed a couple outside. They’d have to be inside the main barn where they run their packing and processing of apples. The place was big enough to accommodate about 60 of Ponyville’s civilians. A couple outside the barn. A few around the trees. Maybe two on top of the barm to scout. The rest should be inside.

Night was running estimations through. If he and Colgate went, it would be no problem if none of the griffons were together. In large numbers, Night would have to use the mobile firing device. Colgate’s shotgun would notify others of their presence. She could use the crossbow which was although silent, useless against large numbers unless she could pull the trigger quickly. That’s not impossible, just very difficult. The best she could do was take three or four down on her own, but if there’s more, then she would be in trouble. Night wanted to try his best to avoid using his mobile firing device. Collateral damage.

With all that planned out, the afternoon assault was planned. Only a strategist, and a marksman. But as soon as the plan got out of his mouth, the ponies around the table disagreed. They didn’t want to go ahead with such a risky operation.

“Numbers that small, you can’t possibly take the place. Chances of you and her controlling the place is slim to none!” The doctor exclaimed.

Raindrops nodded, not wanting to add to the argument. Night explained what he thought would be great, until only the doctor was the only pony left arguing. “Even if the plan works out, there is no guarantee that you’ll be able to control the place long enough before they attempt a counter-attack!”

The doctor was practically shouting. Night had to resist extending a hoof and bitch-slapping the face of the doctor. Ponies from around the plateau were glancing over, seeing what the commotion was. Night trotted over to the table from the crate he was sitting on. Night didn’t bitch-slap the doctor, but rather just shoved a hoof into his mouth a glared at him.

“I would suggest using a fucking megaphone if you wanted everypony here to know. I’m sure you guys would have a couple of those down here.” He took his hoof out, to which the doctor turned and spat saliva. Doctor Whooves could swear he tasted some blood there, but then again that could be just him. “One, with just two ponies, there would be minimal loss, even if you guys lose a strategist and a leader. Two, with such a small number, we can get around easily. Imagine a whole group of us attacking. We’d be bumping into each other so often, any griffon could just kill two ponies without having to waste that many bullets. Three, reinforcements. That. Is. All.” Night said the last three words with a sour, deep voice. One that was dead serious. One that seemed enough to convince everypony that his plan was foolproof.

And with that the doctor was silenced. He didn’t say anything. Thought over any other possibilities that could happen, but in the end he just nodded, finally agreeing with Night’s plan. The doctor trotted over to the weapons crate, and took a crowbar from behind the crate in his mouth. Before Night or any of the other ponies could as, the doctor slammed the crowbar into the weapons crate, breaking the wooden cover in half. Smacking the wooden cover to the side, the doctor set his crowbar down.

From inside the box, the doctor took out a couple of receivers. As the doctor took the receivers out, Night could see a few other weapons inside the crate. He took them out as well. Night has never gone into battle, much less armed to the teeth. The doctor laid the receivers on the table before turning around and diving his head into the box one more time. This time he took out a couple of combat knives. The handles of the knives had been modified to follow the hoof of a normal pony. The description on the box noted that the weapon was meant for griffons, but that was the combat knife with a handle. The modification made wielding the knife easier for ponies that couldn’t rely on magic.

The doctor set the knives on the table, right next to the receivers. He flexed his neck a couple of times before finally speaking. “With the new transmitter and receiver up and running, we can at least communicate should you guys go into battle. The receivers are not guaranteed waterproof though. Now the knives would be useful for close quarter combat, much like Colgate’s shotgun. But only use it as a last resort. You can hide it in beneath your wing, which makes it all the more easier to carry around. Colgate would be bringing the saddlebag containing the crossbow should she need to use it. But give us enough time, we can make another replica before the afternoon.”

Night glanced at Colgate, who was at the same time glancing over at him, and they both shrugged. Then Night turned his gaze to Doctor Whooves. “Make haste you shall then. Me and Colgate will discuss further on the plan while the technicians and the rest start the replication process.”

Doctor Whooves nodded, picked up the crossbow and a few magazines and left, Raindrops following close behind.

Night sighed. He went over to another crate beside the one he had sat on earlier, and sat on it. Once more he flipped his plan over and over in his head, hoping to find a loophole. A weakness. Even if there wasn’t a weakness in his plan, how am I to say that it’ll go flawlessly? Night shifted to the right a bit as Colgate joined him on the crate.

“Nobody’s ever done that before.” She whispered.

Night glanced over at Colgate, who now had her stern gaze back, the eyes of a leader. What does she mean by that?

“I mean, rebutted whatever the doctor came up with. He’s argued with some of us over some of the tactical stuff and designs and stuff. He’s the one who wanted to build the transmission tower because he thought that listening to the radio would keep them more informed compared to going out on the surface.”

Night merely shrugged. He often argued with his own brother, with him being mostly the victor. Age doesn’t prove anything if it’s only used against somepony. Colgate and Night then began discussing their plan before the doctor could come back with the duplicate of the crossbow for Colgate to use.

Colgate and Night were silently staring forward. Staring at nothing in particular. Night was thinking, but he wasn’t sure what Colgate was having in her mind. He had talked to her over the possibilities of civilian casualties occurring during the liberation. What if there were civilians being taken around by the griffons? What if the rounds that penetrate the barn walls injure the ponies inside? What would happen should the civilian casualty rate be higher than our initial assumption? The thoughts went through Night’s mind like torrential rain on a sunday night. He didn’t notice when Colgate turned to gaze at Night, planning to ask him a question, when the doctor came back, carrying two crossbows on his back. The way the crossbow seemed, it was almost as if the doctor had bought another similar model, ready made from wherever he could get such models. Not that any other shop around here would sell crossbows and such anyway.

The doctor set the crossbows on the table before challenging Night to find the difference. Night walked around the table, eyeing every minor detail in both of the crossbows. He found one difference between the two. He looked up to the doctor and gave a grin. A grin that told the doctor ‘I found what you screwed up terribly.’ The doctor smiled back as if saying ‘Don’t tell anypony I screwed up’.

He picked the original crossbow up, and pointed to a single dark blue strand of mane hair, caught between the magazine slot and the magazine. “You used the replication spell didn’t you?” The doctor nodded, and answered, “The only thing ponies cannot replicate is the DNA of other ponies, so your strand of mane couldn’t be replicated. But other than that the other crossbow should work perfectly.” He picked the replicated crossbow and held it in front of Colgate. “Want to give it a test?”

Colgate took the crossbow via levitation, and aimed skyward. The sunlight pouring in was tilted to an angle, indicating it was already afternoon. She paused for a moment and fixated her aim on one of the holes in the ceiling. She took a deep breath, and fired. The dart sailed through the air, the force of the air propelling the dart forward forced a recoil into Colgate’s levitation spell, threatening to break the spell and making Colgate drop the crossbow. The dart exited through the hole in the ceiling above, right where Colgate was aiming.

“Well this is rather good, to say the least I guess.” Doctor Whooves beamed at the comment, even though he didn’t do anything but hand it over to a few unicorns to duplicate.

“If there’s anything else, please, let me know.”

Night nodded. He was going to ask for a few medical supplies, but contemplated and decided against it. Extra equipment, though essential, might hinder his progress. He glanced over to Colgate and nodded. Colgate took Night’s saddlebag and secured it on. She set the saddlebag on and levitated her shotgun and several shells into it. Double checking to make sure the shotgun was cocked, she levitated the two receivers earlier. Fixed one in her ear, and fixed the other one on Night.

The doctor waved at two ponies at the transmission tower, which was roughly six feet tall, and nodded. The two ponies nodded back, and turned the transmitter on. The red light at the top flashed at five second intervals as the sound of beeps reverberate around a small radius before being inaudible.

“Try saying something.” One of the ponies at the transmission tower picked up the microphone hooked up to the transmission tower and spoke a simple line. Today we will take back what’s ours. The signals were received by the receivers and Colgate nodded. With a quick wave, the two made their way through the pipes one more time.

As they went through the pipes, Night put his mobile firing device back on carefully securing it on before feeding the belt into his weapon. He kept the combat knife under his wing should he need it. He knows that the knife won’t affect his flying, but a saddlebag would. So keeping the knife under his wing was probably the best choice. Colgate once more led the way, being in Ponyville long enough to know every single route. Night, under any circumstance, would find a mare going through sewage pipes disturbing. But things were different now. This wasn’t just any circumstance.

“If this route is correct, we should be getting out of a storm drain near the farm. If we do get out, we stick with your plan. Walk in the direction facing away from the sun, but try not to block the sun. Blinding the griffons with light would be as important as taking one down.” Colgate whispered. Her voice seemed to reverberate across the metal pipes. Night merely shrugged. They continued straight for a spell, before they banked right, walking over to one of the openings that led out into the open world.

Colgate poked her head out to first look at the skies, hoping to see that the skies were clear of any griffons. The huge barn used for processing and packaging of apples was being staked out, a couple of griffons outside, just as Night had predicted. And another prediction of his was true, there was a griffon at the top of the huge barn, looking down over the land, though he was sure he couldn’t see Colgate as she peeked out.

“Okay, I’m going to start.” Without waiting for a response, Colgate set the crossbow down, her body still in the storm drain. She was looking out of the drain as if she were in a trench. Colgate raised the angle of trajectory and aimed at the griffon sitting on the roof. She took in deep breath, and tried her best to count the distance. Between the storm drain and the griffon on top of the barn, Colgate estimated roughly two hundred metres at an incline of about fifty degrees.

“Aim a bit higher.” Night whispered. Colgate looked back at Night. Night just nodded. Colgate didn’t say anything, but complied. The angle being fifty degrees, it made a lot of sense to aim a bit higher. Taking into the thought of gravity and air resistance acting on the dart, it would be better to aim higher and hit the griffon instead of aim at the right angle but have gravity bring it lower.

Colgate took in a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the dart exiting the the barrel of the crossbow was muffled by the soft dirt around the crossbow. Because it was fired using gas, it didn’t make a very audible sound, unlike the ammunition fired out of guns with the help of gunpowder or black powder. The dart was influenced by gravity the moment it left the barrel. It was going fast enough to not get affected that much, but with the speed in which the dart was cutting through the air, Colgate didn’t have to worry. The dart was accurate, as Night had known it would, as it smashed into the griffon’s head with enough force to propel him back a few feet before the body landed. Though Colgate didn’t see what happened to the griffon, she guessed the force was enough to break its neck even before he hit the roof. 1 down, 15 still standing.

The two sentries in front of the barn didn’t notice their friend’s demise and continued guarding the door. Colgate took this time to move from the storm drain to a tree that almost had the two griffons in a straight line. Colgate started thinking if this dart would travel quick enough to take a griffon out, it would be travelling fast enough to go through the griffon and travel into the other sentry. Literally killing two birds with one stone. But Colgate wasn’t that sure. Even Night couldn’t guarantee such odds. Colgate would have to fire two rounds. One for the first griffon and one more for the other after the first one goes down.

Provided the first one doesn’t fall sideways and catch the second dart, Colgate wanted to put an extra dart in for extra measure. She laid down in the dirt, with Night covering her back, and aimed the crossbow upwards. She chose her angle properly. She was going to fire multiple shots, so she aimed a little downwards, towards the torso. She knew that if she fired multiple shots, the muzzle of the crossbow would nudge upwards after every consecutive shot. She fired all three shots at once.

The three shots sailed through the air, the first one smacking the griffon in the neck. The griffon didn’t fly, but the second bullet caught up with him as the dart penetrated his eye and went straight through his brain before coming to a complete stop at the end of the griffon’s skull. The griffon crumpled and the second one craned his neck look at what was going on before the third dart ripped through his neck and went straight through. A throaty, muffled scream of pain could be heard, but it was lost in the sound of a bloody gurgle before the griffon collapsed. 3 down, 13 still standing.

Colgate and Night waited a couple of minutes, just in case a griffon or two might come out to investigate. Nothing happened. Night nodded and took the skies, providing cover from the air as Colgate made her way through the apple orchard to the side of the barn. Night landed on top of the barn, just shy of the dead griffon. The griffon sported a crossbow, albeit the regular ones used by sniper griffons. It had a bowstring and a trigger that Night could use. The griffon only had one magazine on his corpse, but Night took it anyway. He picked up the crossbow and flew back down to Colgate.

Colgate whispered, “The rest are either in the barn, or somewhere else for the time being. Let’s just hope that there aren’t that many griffons in the barn.” Colgate kept her crossbow and took her shotgun out. “I might need this.” Night gave Colgate the griffon’s crossbow and magazine and she kept it as well.

Night whispered two words to remind Colgate that the griffons might not be the only creatures inside the barn. “Collateral damage.”

Colgate rounded the corner and peeked in through one of the windows and came to face-to-face with a griffon, who was peeking out of the window. Before the griffon could react, Colgate lifted the shotgun and emptied a round into his face. Blood sprayed out in all directions as the griffon fell back. Behind the griffon, a couple more stared in disbelief before raising their guns. Colgate ducked in time to avoid a barrage of bullets. She levitated the muzzle of her shotgun to the window again and fired two shots blindly. The bullet barrage continued. She turned her head and signalled Night to go on. The sounds of guns discharging were echoing inside the barn.

Night crawled slowly past Colgate, approaching the closed barn doors. Night had to step over the a sentry’s dead body before he could get to the doors. Colgate fired another couple of rounds before lowering her shotgun. She reloaded as the bullet storm ceased. Night took this as his chance and bucked the doors open. The doors exploded inward with a shower of splinters as Night’s rearhooves retracted from bucking. The doors crashed onto the floor as he flew past the dust clouds.

The griffons that were suppressing Colgate halted their fire and trained their weapons onto Night. They fired a storm of bullets, a large majority of their bullets impacting the roof as Night avoided the rounds. He hid behind a support beam, hearing the bullets impact the beam. The bullets ceased, and Night took this opportunity to strike. He knew that since the griffons were armed, he couldn’t aim and fire. He had to keep moving. He took his combat knife out and flew out from behind his hiding spot. He swerved around, even though the griffons hadn’t started firing yet.

The first griffon was replacing his gun with a pistol glove when the blade of Night’s combat knife ran across his throat, cutting through his feathers, skin and carotid artery. The griffon clutched at his throat as blood spurted out as the second griffon raised his gun and started firing. Night jumped back as the bullets embedded themselves into the wooden floorboards. Night took off into the air as the griffon put his pistol glove on and gave chase. Night flew past the door frames that once held the barn doors as the griffon chased behind him.

Night flew around to avoid trees as he tried to lose his dogfight opponent among the trees. He thought of flying back to the barn, hoping that maybe Colgate could get an accurate shot on the griffon when he suddenly realized his mistake. He was flying toward the Apple family’s residence, and right there were four griffons outside the house and the Apple family huddled up on the first floor in a room. The Apple family seemed to be restrained. In the room were a couple of griffons Night took to be interrogating the Apples. He flew skyward, hoping that the griffons in front would not notice him, and at the same time hoping to make a loop-de-loop and chase his pursuer from behind.

He curved in the air, making a full three hundred sixty degree turn which put him behind his pursuer. The griffon was banking left to try and lose Night, but Night knew that he didn’t have that chance. Night banked left right after the griffon and flapped his wings to their limit and was 3 metres behind the griffon within five seconds. He still had the combat knife in his mouth, but a midair execution using a combat knife would be close to impossible. But if Night used his mobile firing device, things would get complicated as the griffons at the Apple family residence would hear the sound of weapons discharging.

The two had been banking left for a short moment before the griffon decided to fly straight. They were flying back to the barn, and away from the Apple family residence. From that point on, Night didn’t hesitate. The grip and trigger for his mobile firing device was flapping in the wind due to all the air blasting him as he maintained his flight behind the griffon. And the the griffon stopped and turned around.

Night barely had time to avoid his fist as it swung through the air, narrowly avoiding a bullet through his head as the pistol glove went through the position his head was in a second ago. He swung his rearhoof upward, impacting the griffon’s lower jaw. The griffon’s head arched upwards, opening up a section of the griffon that Night knew would end the chase. With the griffon’s neck exposed, Night plunged the blade into the dazed griffon’s neck, not even bothering to just slit his throat. The blood sprayed across his face. He withdrew the blade before plunging it again as the pain started registering into the griffon. The griffon swung his fist blindly as he tried to halt any further penetration with his other claw even though he knew that the damage was done. The griffon missed.

Instead he swung his fist in the similar style of a hook which missed again and impacted his own right wing. Night withdrew the knife and kicked off the griffon as the griffon struggled to keep aloft. Night flew back to the barn, glad that he didn’t need to waste any of his darts. As he flew, he heard the sound of the griffon landing on top of a tree with a crunch. 6 down, another 9 to go.

Colgate was outside the barn, trying to break the lock on a cellar in front of the barn. There were sound coming from the cellar. She lit her horn and a ray shot out of her horn, breaking the lock. Immediately the doors swung open, narrowly hitting Colgate as an earth pony with a long goldenrod mane and a brown coat emerged, hugging Colgate as if thanking her for getting her out. As she released her grip, a few more ponies emerged from the cellar, all members of the Apple family. She looked up to see Night overlooking her and the cellar, a smile on his bloody face. He landed next to Colgate and asked Colgate to keep moving before Colgate could ask about the blood all over his face.

Night kept the combat knife under his wing.

“It would be best not to ask about the blood all over my face. I ran into a complication and was lucky enough to have the griffon lead me back to the barn.”

“And why be that?”

“Because if I used my mobile firing device, the sounds of the firing would attract more attention, and the rest of the Apple family are in the houses. We should keep moving.”

Colgate nodded and trotted after Night as he ran. Night was laughing as he ran.

“What’s so funny?” Colgate asked between pants as they ran.

“We never used our transmitters yet.”

Colgate would have facehoofed had she not been running after Night. They slowed down as they got closer to the target location. Colgate took out her crossbow again and took cover behind a tree. Night pointed out where the two griffons were in the room that had the Apple family. Colgate repeated the same thing she had earlier, but was careful not to make sure the other griffons outside the house didn’t notice. The glass window would definitely attract attention, but there was nothing else Colgate could do. Night hid behind a tree, his mobile firing device at the ready. The moment Colgate fired a burst shot of four darts that shattered the glass window, Night charged at the griffons outside the house.

The griffons weren’t expecting the ambush. Night pulled on the trigger until he felt no more darts exiting from both of the muzzles on the base of his wings. The four griffons had no chance to scramble before the darts rained all over them. The four were riddled with holes even before either of them could raise a single weapon. With twelve dead griffons, Night started to tense up. The last three were going to be difficult to handle.

Colgate stayed in place and kept her aim on the window should there be any other griffon wanting to end the lives of the Apple family. Night picked up a crossbow from the claws of a dead griffon and broke through the front door of the Apple family’s house. He strode into the living room, which was dark.

A griffon rushed down the stairs, a crossbow in his claws.. Night fired a bolt into the torso of the griffon. The griffon staggered back a few steps before Night went up and smashed the crossbow into his face. The griffon crumpled. Night took an extra precaution and fired another bolt into the griffon’s skull. Night turned the lights on, illuminating the living room. The living room was bare of any life. Night snuck up the stairs, hooves at the side of the steps as he didn’t want the boards to creak under his weight.

On the second floor landing, Night could see a room off to his left that had sunlight pouring through. He assumed it was the room in which the Apple family was in. The second floor landing had three rooms. Night knew which one had the Apple family in, so he chose the other two doors. He bucked a door down and leapt inside, but the room was empty. It was one of those rooms that used to be used for storing furniture and other stuff.

A couple of bolts sailed past the top of his head as he turned around. The last two griffons emptied their magazines as they fired bolts all across the room, hoping to injure Night at the very least. And that they did.

Night howled in pain as a bolt went through his left wing, narrowly damaging his mobile firing device. He fired a bolt from his crossbow into the head of the first griffon and flung the crossbow at the second griffon. The first griffon fell easily, but Night was more focused on the second griffon. He was trying to swing his crossbow into Night’s head. Night moved his head back and swung a hoof at the griffon. The griffon avoided the blow easily and swung the crossbow one more time. The crossbow smashed into a wall as Night once more avoided the crossbow. Night wanted to end this quick. He leapt forward and grabbed the griffon by his head and slammed it into the wooden wall. Night didn’t stop there. He slammed the griffon’s head into the wall four times before letting the griffon fall. Even after the griffon had died from the head trauma, Night wanted to make sure the griffon really was dead. He raised his forehooves for the second time that day, and stomped down on the griffon’s head.

With the fifteen griffons neutralized, Night went out into the second floor landing hallway. The other room had its door open, but it was empty. Night assumed it was the room the other two griffons were hiding in. Night grunted in pain as he felt the bolt wound in his wing burn. He stepped through the door and was his eyes stung from the sunlight, albeit not as much as his eyes had stung earlier.

The eyes of Applejack, her brother Big Macintosh, her little sister Applebloom and their cousin Apple Fritters widened as Night took his bloody combat knife. They had their mouths taped and their hooves were bound with rope. The blood had dried, and the little part left of the knife that wasn’t coated in blood glinted in the sunlight. He looked out the window. Colgate got up and waved at him. Night waved back.

Then he started to undo cut through the ropes with his combat knife. Colgate looked on from the outside as she smiled to herself. He’s done pretty well for a first-timer. She used her transmitter to relay a message over to the resistance base before turning around to head back to the barn, shotgun still levitated in case there were more griffons.

Author's note : This chapter was a bit rushed. By far the longest I've ever wrote in a fic though. I'd appreciate a little feedback on this chapter because I think I left out a few important parts. :unsuresweetie:

Scholar

The Apple family had wanted to repay Colgate and Night for helping them gain freedom, but the two merely shrugged at the proposal. Instead, the two had asked the head of the family, Big Macintosh, if they could use the farm as a temporary outpost for resistance use. He had been more than happy to comply. Big Macintosh wanted Ponyville to be as free as it had been before the invasion. Night nodded, saying that everypony wanted Ponyville, and the whole of Equestria, to be free. Colgate had told the Apple Family about their plans to liberate Ponyville. Night smiled to himself. Colgate’s one smart mare, not telling Big Macintosh the full plan.

Nevertheless, with a new outpost to use, they could at least have a bit more progress on the activities going on around Ponyville. Dr Whooves had dropped by and congratulated Night and Colgate on the success. Night had wanted to rub it in the doctor’s face on how two ponies were able to take out sixteen griffons, but he didn’t see any benefit from doing so. He might demoralize the doctor, even if he meant the rubbing in as a joke.

After Night had cut the Apple family out of their restrains, he had led them outside, where Colgate had volunteered to bring them back to the barn where the rest of the family was. Colgate had wanted to help pile up the bodies as well, but Night said he would do it. Colgate, after leading the Apple family to the safety of the barn, told Dr Whooves to return back to base and to bring back a couple or three sentries.

“Should I bring the parts to build another transmitter?”

Colgate shook her head. "Sweet Apple Acres will only be a temporary outpost. We won’t be here for long. We have to keep moving on with our plans.” The doctor nodded, and left. He told Colgate he would be back soon before creeping back into the storm drain.

The griffons had stored several weapons crates inside the barn. With half of the griffon invaders neutralized, the rest would most likely not stay apart from each other. But they weren’t aware of the sudden liberation of Sweet Apple Acres. They wouldn’t be expecting it for at least half a day, or if Night and Colgate were lucky, a whole day.

Night was thinking up a plan, just in case they notice that half of their troops had gone missing earlier than half a day. He was certain there’d be a counter-attack, but he knew it would take them some time to assemble forces. Night then started considering the possibility that the griffons won’t counter-attack since they were down to 16 troops. They couldn’t risk losing more. They would have to call in reinforcements. Night didn’t want anything like that to happen too soon.

The resistance group grew by four members as several of the Apple family members volunteered to join the cause, much to Colgate’s delight. With the extra firepower, it would be much easier to get things done around here.

Night had trotted a couple of hundred metres north of the farm, next to a river that ran down to the sea. He found a patch of flat land. He had brought a shovel with him. The sun was now starting to sink into the horizon, a couple of hours having passed since the liberation. He started digging, grunting at the pain he felt in his injured wing as he dug. He ignored the pain and continued digging at the ground, occasionally stumbling upon a large rock in the way, making Night’s digging all the more gruelling, but he knew he had to get the job done anyway.

I guess this is deep enough. Night counted around two and a half metres deep, more than the six feet required. He started digging horizontally, planning to make the whole large enough for sixteen bodies.

By the time Night had finished digging the mass grave, the sun had already sank into the horizon, the solar rays slowly disappearing as Princess Luna’s night began. He panted, sweat running down his neck and forehead as he flew out of the grave. I really need to get my wing checked out. Night sighed and landed outside the grave and set the muddy shovel on his back. He began trotting back as the stars started littering the sky.

His wing started bleeding again. Night sped up his pace as the lights of the Apple family house started illuminating the land ahead of him. Princess Luna’s moon was out, and the light it gave was enough to light Night’s path. He started thinking over the plan to liberate the next few locations before moving on.

First was Town Hall, which Colgate says Intel says has the majority of the town’s population. They were planning out twin attacks. The other location was being discussed over as Colgate said that someone else would be joining the two at the sewer base tonight. Night had wondered if he and Colgate were capable of another assault. Chances are there would be another assault force to liberate either Town Hall or the other location the group had in mind. Should things go well, Ponyville would be completely liberated by morning before the griffons would have the chance to call in reinforcements.

Night thought of planning the twin attacks later, but he had no idea what resources he had at hoof, or how spread out the griffons might be. If he focused too many ponies on the police department, there might be too few to liberate Town Hall, likewise if he had too many ponies at the Town Hall. Even if he could balance out the number of ponies at either location, there was no guarantee that the griffons might have left a large sum of griffons at either location. Should the griffons outnumber the resistance group at either location, things could get out of hoof. Night wasn’t even sure how many members were there in the resistance group. Even if the griffons balance out troops at both locations, there was also no guarantee that he had sufficient resistance members to liberate either location.

Though Night had only been contemplating for a couple of minutes, he had been so engrossed that he didn’t notice that he had already walked past the Apple family residence. He scowled at himself before turning around and headed for the house. He decided to bury the griffons later, if not he would at least tell some of the Apples to help him do it. But he still wanted to bury the griffons later, probably after the twin attack plans.

The lights outside were on, bathing the outside with light. Though it wasn’t really hat bright, it was sufficient enough for Night to see the blood five metres away. Some of it had dried up, though most of it was still wet enough to stick onto Night’s fur.

Speaking of fur, Night glanced back at his wing. The wound had stopped bleeding, but he could still feel the bolt from the crossbow earlier still embedded in his wing. The blood will stick out like a flare on his dark orange wings and fur. Brown on orange really was obvious. Rarity would disapprove. Night snickered. He put the shovel next to the door before knocking on the door. He stood there for a couple of minutes before knocking a second time, this time twice. A voice called out from the inside, “Give me a moment!” The door opened up, and Applejack stood in the doorway and smiled at her saviour.

“Ah’ never got around to thanking you for helping us get free now didn’t I?”

Night shrugged. “It was nothing. I was here just to visit a friend.”

Applejack sighed. “This darned thing’s caught all of us by surprise, but we couldn’t say we didn’t expect this to happen.”

Night nodded. “I really wasn’t expecting this to happen any time this week, so yeah, you can say that.”

“This darned invasion’s really gonna take a toll on the Apple family business. Ah’ had to cancel exporting goods to cities one by one. Not that any of the cities in Equestria need the supplies until this whole thing is over.”

Night shrugged again. “Soon Applejack, very, very soon. Once we get Ponyville out of this hay bale, we can start concentrating on other cities and you can start exporting stuff again.”

“Ah’m not sure. If anything, because of this invasion, I’m willing to supply food for anypony that needs it. Ah don’t really need money that badly anyway. We’ve got a lot since we started exporting them goods. Anyway, if any of you ponies could, try making use of the pesticides we use.”

Night stared blankly. They use pesticide? The apples taste just fine to me. Applejack saw him staring and added to her previous sentence, “Ah only use them in small amounts. And ah only use it when there’s a risk that the apples would go bad.” Night merely shrugged, signalling that he didn’t care.

“Pesticide…Those things be poisonous?”

Applejack nodded. “In moderate amounts, it’s lethal.”

“How much is a moderate amount, about 20 millilitres?”

“More or less that amount. Normally that amount would be lethal when ingested. But if ah ain’t wrong, any unicorn could fuse the pesticide with that there bolts you used for that crossbow of yours. That would leave a sorta lingering effect should you not kill.”

Night suddenly remembered. The blood shed inside Applejack’s home. Before Night could apologize, as if Applejack had predicted the question, she answered, “Don’t worry ‘bout what you did back there. What was necessary had to be done.”

Night shrugged. His shoulders were strained from the shovelling of the mass grave earlier. Hopefully I don’t have to shrug again. My shoulders are killing me. A sudden pain in his wing reminded Night of his objective to Applejack’s home. It was for his wing. If I don’t get this checked out, it’s going to be hard for me to use mobile firing device if the pain were to hinder my attacks.

“Uh… Hey Applejack, I was wondering if you had any medical supplies lying around. You know…” Night flexed his wing, flinching at the pain before re-folding it back. He didn’t want to risk stretching it too far. He would risk bleeding again if he did so.

Applejack thought over it a moment, hoof raised to her mouth. A short hmm… as she thought over Night’s question. She hadn’t used any since none of the Apple family members were hurt, so she might have some. “Ah think there’s some at the barn. There’s one upstairs but the floor’s still wet from the blood washing and stuff. You can wait inside if you want to.”

Night nodded. Applejack disappeared back inside, Night following in behind her. He glanced outside, sweeping his vision across a wide cone in front of the house before going back inside and closing the door.

Colgate broke open one of the weapons crates inside the processing barn with a crowbar that was leaning against a wall. The bodies on the inside had been lined up outside the barn, ready for a burial when ordered. Colgate set the crossbar down on a nearby table and slid the broken lid off the crate. The contents of the crate comprised of several crossbows, half a dozen 12-round magazines, and four packets of gunpowder. Colgate did not know much about the arcane technology needed to make a crossbow, but she swore to Celestia the magazines that supplied the crossbows with the projectiles needed was probably one of the best things Colgate had ever come across. However, it wasn’t as good as Night’s crossbow. That thing’s effective. Really effective.

The rounds she had fired through the Apple family’s bedroom window had nailed the two griffons well. Her aim was spot on, the first round smacking dead through the griffon by the window’s head and exited through his skull. However, the dart didn’t strike his partner. In fact, after the dart left his comrade’s skull, it embedded itself into the wall by the door. It was the shots fired after that that had killed the griffon after the first had crumpled in a heap on the floor. This time the darts stayed inside the griffon, minimizing blood splatter. Sure there was blood flowing out of the second griffon, but it wouldn’t have been as bad as the darts splattering blood all over the place. The two had been unarmed at the time.

Even though the two in the room were unarmed, that didn’t mean there were other griffons in the house that weren’t armed. Night had done good striking swiftly.

Colgate was just about to pick up the crowbar to smash the lid of another weapons crate when a knock on the barn door stopped her. She turned, seeing Night poke his head through the crack he made when he pushed the door open. She gave him a smile and waved him in. He gave her a smile back. He pushed the door further and stepped inside. His right wing was bandaged, his coat dirty with soil and what seemed to Colgate as traces of dry blood. But Night still had that smile. The one that made Colgate feel that he felt nothing going through all that he had today.

Colgate couldn’t resist the urge to ask how Night was doing. She felt that Night must have been just one regular pony before any of this happened. He was, after all, just a planner. But now he’s a strategist for the resistance.

“You okay there?”

Night just nodded. “This really is a change compared to what I usually do, but hey, ponies can adapt well.” Night wanted so badly to shrug, but all he could do was mutter, “I don’t really know.”

Before Colgate could say anything, Night popped the same question Colgate had a few minutes back. The question took her by surprise as she didn’t expect him to say much after what had happened today.

“Are you okay?” Night had emphasized the ‘you’, just in case Colgate didn’t take the hint. She had taken the hint, but had no idea what to say. If she said she was okay, Night would assume that she was used to all this or she had adapted to the situation well. If Colgate said no however, he would assume that she wasn’t fine, and was on edge. By saying no, she would be saying that she killed the griffons because she was forced to, which she wasn’t. So Colgate said nothing, and did something Night would have wanted. She shrugged.

Night took the answer well. He didn’t want to force anything out of her if she didn’t want to do so. I just hope she’s not under that much pressure. We need to be calm and composed for the twin attacks later. Night tried to change the topic by asking what time will the other pony arrive so they could start their planning. Once again Colgate shrugged, but had offered some extra information. “I’m guessing he’ll be here in another 13 minutes, give or take.”

Colgate didn’t say anything and went back to another crate. She picked the crowbar and smashed the lid as Night strode over to her. As Colgate slid the broken lid off the crate, Night examined the contents of the crate Colgate had broken earlier.

“Crossbows.” He merely stated.

Colgate didn’t say anything. She moved some of the hay shielding the contents inside the crate she had just broken into. The contents of the crate were very different from the first one. They were like flat bricks of clay, wrapped in transparent plastic. There were a dozen of such wrapped bricks inside the crate. Each of the bricks had a wire attached to a grip and trigger, much like Night’s mobile firing device.

Night hadn’t seen such bricks before, but surely those things were dangerous right? If not, why keep it sealed away in a crate covered with hay? Colgate grimaced.

“Damn, I shouldn’t have smashed the lid.”

Night looked up from the crate, “And why is that?”

“Plastic explosives. Doctor Whooves had told me the griffon’s would be using plastic explosives. This is bad, really really bad.”

Night was more surprised than Colgate was. After all, his brother, Luke, was a pyrotechnician. I wonder if he’s used any of this before. Night highly doubted that his brother did, if not he would have known. But he wouldn’t be surprised if his brother did use plastic explosives without his knowledge. It’s not like he doesn’t have secrets to hide. Everypony has secrets.

A knock on the barndoor drew both of their attentions. Colgate was first to turn, and smile at the visitor. But when Night turned around, his jaw dropped.

Standing at the door, was the pony they had visited this morning. The pony that had left behind weapons for Night and Luke to protect themselves with. The pony had left a message in the box stating that he knew that the invasion would be soon.

Scholar grinned, closing his eyes to savour the shock Night was in. Good to see you too Night.

Author's note : Late update is late. Forgive me my readers. Exams are over so at least I have more time to concentrate on my two ongoing fics and my soon to be written fics. Enjoy this chapter though :pinkiehappy:

Plan

Night hadn’t expected to find Scholar, of all ponies, in Sweet Apple Acres. Scholar grinned as Colgate gave him a hug. She hugged him back. Scholar had a saddlebag with him, which Night assumed holds the plans for the next attack.

“Hey, Night!” Scholar called to him. Night snapped out of his reverie, and nodded at him.

“Hey Scholar! Where were you earlier this afternoon? My brother and I were looking for you!”

“Ah yes, I will have to apologize for that. You see, I received intel that the griffon invasion would happen sometime today, and true enough, it was. Say, where is your brother anyway?” Night frowned. “He’s….not dead isn’t he?”

“What? Oh no no no, he’s just been taken by the griffon soldiers outside your residence this morning. We went inside to find you, but couldn’t find you anywhere. I found the crossbow and the mobile firing device you left for us, but then Luke decided to wait outside. He said it felt wrong for us to be snooping around your place while you were around. That was before I found the note saying that the crossbow was left for him and the mobile firing device was for me.” Night sighed. “If only I had told him earlier…”

Night felt a pat on his shoulder, and he looked up. It was Scholar, looking at Night with disappointed eyes. “The only problem now is that that was this morning. You shouldn’t let little failures bring down your future huge success.” Night understood, and nodded.

Scholar set his hoof back down, and nodded. “So let’s see, do you possess both the crossbow and the….mobile firing device you call it?” Night nodded. “Funny name for something so simple, don’t you think? I referred to it as Shear 83. Shear because of the supershear earthquake last year when I visited the Zebra tribal lands. Apparently earthquakes are a normal occurrence over there.”

Night shrugged. “Well, uh… Yes I do possess the two.” Night gestured a hoof over to the table by the crates. “I had to use the Shear a few times today. It just didn’t feel like killing, but I guess that’s what we have to do when it all comes down to that, right?”

Scholar nodded. “I heard you and Colgate were able to liberate this Sweet Apple Acres on your own. That itself is a very big achievement right there, sixteen being a huge number and all. But I was surprised at how quickly you adapted to the situation. I mean, sure you and your brother knew that the invasion would happen sometime this week, but even a single week doesn’t provide enough time for somepony to adapt to war!” He exclaimed.

Night merely shrugged. “This might wear off soon. I’m guessing it’s the adrenaline.”

Colgate laughed heartily. “Adrenaline doesn’t last that long, my dear. They normally burn out really quick. You’ve got leadership in you right there.”

Night shrugged again, not sure of what to say at the moment. Scholar looked at the both of them before speaking, “We’ve received more intel. There was a witness saying that a pony, which he said had a briefcase with him, was dragged into the local police station. I am to assume that your brother had a briefcase with him this morning. Did he?”

Night nodded. “He said that you had requested he bring something. Can’t really remember much even though he told me this morning what he was bringing. So, assuming it really is him being held at the police station, what can we do?”

Scholar merely grinned and shifted his attention to Night, “Well, that’s up to you to plan, leader. I’m just intel.”

Night did a double take. “What?!”

Colgate giggled, “Meet intel, who gets his intel from more intel sources. Also, he just appointed you leader, which is no surprise considering how you’re planner and all. And you’ve done a fairly exceptional job during the liberation of Sweet Apple Acres. Who’s to say that you can’t do the same for the police department?”

Before Night could argue, ‘intel’ spoke again, “Looks like this time is going to be a little bit more burdening considering now we have to liberate two locations. The town hall is where the majority of the Ponyville’s residents are being held at the moment, and if you just attack the police station, the griffons would be wondering why contact with between the two locations is going unanswered.” He flexed his neck. “Adding to the fact that half of the assault force is down, they’re probably going to stick together now.”

“But how do they know that half their assault force is down?!”

Scholar paused for a moment, as if he had just sworn in a language unknown to himself but somehow offending Night. A short moment later, he recovered his posture, and continued. “They don’t. Just pondering the worst case scenario that they might be aware of half of their forces being unresponsive. Should they really be aware that half of their troops have gone AWOL, you’re going to have a huge problem in your hooves.”

Night said nothing, slowly thinking over the words he needed to say. He knew that Scholar was right. He had to strike two places at once, but if he did so, that meant he had to divide his limited followers as well. Colgate could take some of the followers and lead them well, yes, but what if during the attack one griffon manages to notify the remaining griffons? He had to divide his troops carefully. There was a chance of the police station having more griffons, but there was also a chance that the town hall would have more griffons.

“Scholar, do you know how many remaining griffons are there in either of those locations?” Night asked.

Scholar shrugged. “Intel isn’t that good, so you’re going to have to go on assumptions. If I may suggest something, why not send more followers to the town hall? Because there’s a lot of residents there, chances are they’re going to need a lot of firepower to keep them under control.”

Night nodded, and turned to Colgate, “If that’s how it’s going to be, we’re going to have more attacking town hall than the police department. Colgate, you mind handling the police department assault?”

Colgate shrugged, “I’m alright with anything. But if the griffons in the police department see us coming, what do we do then?”

Night went silent. He had thought the same thing. It was a police department. Police departments tend to have weapons. If Colgate went, then there’s a surefire chance that they will outgun her and her group. But if he thought of it this way, should they reconquer the police department, they have access to weaponry, and quite possibly more useful equipment.

“Then move swiftly. The police department has to go down. We need the weapons and the equipment that the griffons have. Also, if we secure the police department, the griffons will have to hole up at town hall, which is where the remaining ones are.”

Scholar interjected. “I’m going to go out of a limb here and say that the police department assault will be tough considering how many griffons there are going to guarding that much equipment and weapons. But that doesn’t mean that that the Town Hall liberation would be that much easier either.”

“Collateral damage is a bitch. So what would you suggest, sending more of us to town hall instead of the police station?”

Scholar shook his head. “I do not have the power to decide that, you do. If the police department is the source of weaponry and equipment, there’s a chance that they’ll be using it against anypony who dare step in. But, considering how well you’ve done with Colgate this afternoon, why not give it a shot?”

Night tilted his head and stared at Scholar. “Are you mad? Who’s going to lead the group to town hall if it’s just me and Colgate going to attack the police department?”

Scholar said nothing. Night went over to the table with his weapons and took the crossbow. He handed it over to Scholar. “I’ve been wanting to know if you could make extra of these. They’re good.”

Scholar nodded, and spoke, “Ammunition for this isn’t a weapon. It’s just the gas canister that’s the problem. One shot through the canister and it’s as good as useless.”

“I doubt anypony could get close enough to destroy the canister considering how that thing basically rips shit to shreds once you fire. But there’s no guarantee about now isn’t there? Can you try making stronger canisters?”

Scholar nodded. “In which case, I excuse myself. It’s already nearing midnight, and I want to get back to the sewer base for the time being. I’ll see you when the time comes. Good luck and have fun.” He chuckled, and left the barn.

Night sighed after Scholar left, “Well Colgate, you’re going to need to use a different crossbow this time.”

Colgate pouted, “Fine. But the griffons crossbow is rather useless compared to the one you use.”

“It was never intended for me to use in the first place anyway. I’ll be fine with my mobile firing device.” Night went over to check his Shear 83. The belts being fed into the device had 53 and 52 rounds respectively. How one of the guns had one round less than the other, Night had no idea. But still the rounds would be sufficient for the liberation of the police department.

“Colgate, you mind if I just bring one pony to the police department? Minimize our losses should anything happen, and you know very well I can handle myself.”

Colgate nodded. “You can handle yourself fine, problem is, how will the other pony handle himself?”

“Herself.” Night corrected, and laughed when Colgate pouted, “I’m guessing Carrot Top is a bad choice for this sort of attack?”

Colgate shook her head. “Oh no, she’s a rebel when given the chance. She wants really badly for Ponyville to be liberated, and would stop at nothing to see such a victory occur.”

Night smiled. “In that case, inform Carrot Top to get here and arm herself. We’re going to have to attack quickly. How many do you plan to bring with you to town hall?”

Colgate thought over it, guessing the amount of griffons and the amount of liberators needed for the job. Suddenly both of Night and Colgate’s transmitters crackled. It was Scholar.

“Intel suggests that there are six griffons in the police station and the remaining at Town Hall watching over the residents.” His voice echoed. No doubt he was still navigating his way through the sewers.

“Alright, thanks Scholar, keep us posted.”

The crackle disappeared, and the two ponies looked at each other. “Well that’s rather convenient.” Colgate said. “I’m going to bring three others with me and hope that things go well. We have extra equipment should we need them later.”

Night glanced off to side of the barn, and saw a machete. “This could be useful. Ask Carrot Top to use whatever weapon she favours. If we’re uneasy about our weapons, this would jeopardize the whole assault.”

The two of them glanced to a wall clock and saw that it was midnight already. Colgate nodded, and turned her transmitter on. “Colgate to SB1, copy.”

A crackle was heard, and a voice went through. “Ah, hello Colgate. How are things going along?”

“Good midnight Doctor Whooves, and things are going well with the planning. We need Carrot Top and three others to join us in our next assault.”

“Hm... three others? Who would you want those three others to be?”

“Anypony, but preferably one that has had experience with a weapon.” his mind flashed upon the gunpowder inside the crates.

“Colgate, I was just wondering, if it weren’t any trouble, could you fuse the dart heads of my mobile firing device? Explosive darts could be useful here.”

Colgate shrugged. “Whatever helps, I guess. How much does one need in a dart anyway?”

Night decided to up the ante a little. “A hundredth of a gram should be sufficient explosive power. The last time me and my brother tried using explosive darts, they were a thousandth of a gram, and those things sting.” A wound two centimeters could kill if it hit a critical spot. But with the charge being ten times larger, I doubt that I’ll need a critical hit to kill anypony.

Colgate separated some of the gunpowder on the table, and divided the powder into the agreed amount. Little bits of the gunpowder floated and landed onto the the heads of the darts and were enveloped in a blue wave of magic before disappearing.

“Thanks Colgate.”

She shrugged, gesturing that he didn’t need to thank her.

Night put on his Shear 83 and went outside to test out the lethality of the new darts. He aimed one of the guns at the bark of the tree and fired. The explosion that happened upon impact knocked a hole a foot wide and ten centimeters deep. Both the jaws of Colgate and Night dropped as reality finally returned to them.

Night snickered, “This is going to be good.”