Equestria Liberation Front

In the torch-lit training room, Scootaloo sweated as she repeatedly drove her knife into the grass-filled training dummy that Sweetie Belle had made. It was one of several in various states of disarray and all looked like the hated Gryphons.

With a flourish, she tossed her knife, catching it with a reverse grip and laid several backhand strikes into the target. She didn’t plant herself but shifted constantly, moving from one side to the other, retreating and advancing. She had enough combat experience to predict the strikes as they came, even if there was no enemy blade to strike in retaliation.

She pulled back and kicked out with a hoof, catching the training dummy in the head with a strike hard enough to nearly overturn the weighted stand. She swung out with her ax, pulling the blow just as it made contact so as not to destroy the target. Sweetie Belle would have her pelt if she found out Scootaloo was purposefully destroying the training dummies she had worked so hard to build. Regular wear and tear was fine but wanton destruction would bring about the wrath of the tiny unicorn. A wrath that Scootaloo tried her best to avoid.

After a few more lethal strikes with the ax, Scootaloo took a step back to catch her breath. While she had always been athletic, her endurance had been somewhat lacking. It was a shortcoming the pegasus species had always had and one she worked to overcome.

“Hope I’m not interrupting.”

She turned to find Silver Spoon standing in the archway. “You’re fine. C’mon in.”

Moving as quickly as her injuries would allow, Silver Spoon crossed the room and leaned against a table adjacent to the wall. “Quite the place you’ve got here.”

“Our own little patch of paradise.” Scootaloo set her ax aside, pulled a whetstone from her pocket, and set to sharpening her knife. It was an idle habit of hers. Something for her hands to do while they weren’t otherwise occupied. “What can I do for you?”

“Apple Bloom wants me to practice knife combat and assured me that I could steal one of your training dummies to practice on. She also said you might have some useful information on Gryphon anatomy that you might be willing to share.”

“Yeah. I can help you there. What sort of combat does she have you working on?”

“Just knife combat at the moment but she wants me to become adept in other forms as well.”

Scootaloo nodded. “I can certainly help with the knife combat but I don’t have much in the way of experience in other forms. Between Bloom, Sweets, and myself, we’ve got each other's weaknesses covered but, now that we’re starting to expand, it’s a good idea to get everybody as well-rounded as possible. If you’re wanting to look into slash, smash, and bash; Bloom’s your mare but if you’re looking for efficient and effective swordplay; Sweets is just down the hall.”

“Let’s stick with the knife for now. I don't really have a reason to use anything bigger than a knife until after we retake Ponyville.”

“You might not think so but if you manage to pick up something heavier than a knife, you’d be a fool not to use it and an even bigger fool not to use it properly. You don’t have to be adept just yet but you should be competent. You get me?”

“I see what you’re saying.”

“Combat is all about versatility and adaptation. The more you can do to fight back, the better your chances are of surviving. Even unarmed combat is useful. I don’t know any specific forms like Wing Chun or Krav Pega but I’ve learned some handy strikes I could teach you.”

“I’d appreciate that. When I’ve healed, of course.”

Scootaloo nodded and returned to her sharpening. Silver moved to examine one of the better-looking training dummies. “Who made these?”

“Sweetie Belle. Don’t ask me where she managed to get the fabric but they’re stuffed with grass and leaves. They’re pretty durable so long as you’re not too rough on them.”

“So, let me ask you something.” Silver Spoon turned to Scootaloo. “Is Apple Bloom the one in charge around here?”

“I suppose you could say that. Yeah. She generally calls the shots but she doesn’t order us around like some kind of General. If we’re headed out, we let her know. If we have an idea, we run it past her.” Scootaloo reached inside a pocket. “Listen, if I’m gonna be helping you, you’ve gotta help me. It’s only fair.”

“What can I help you with?”

The pegasus pulled a folded paper from her pocket and unfolded it across the table. “You’ve been inside Ponyville, right? I’ve been trying to make a map of the place to prepare for the liberation but I can’t see much beyond the walls.” She handed Silver Spoon a length of charcoal. “I need to know how much has changed since the town fell under new management.” Fetching a stool, Scootaloo planted it at the table and patted the seat.

Silver Spoon sat down. “Alright. Bear in mind that I don’t spend much time in town as I was a freight-hauler but, as far as I can figure, the street layout and the borders remained fairly constant. There was some expansion towards the east and Sweet Apple Acres isn’t as isolated as it once was but that’s really it. The schoolyard was built up for barracks housing. Town Hall is some sort of command post. Sugarcube Corner was turned into a butcher’s shop.”

“What about the slave population?”

“Most are at Sweet Apple Acres, I’d say fifty to seventy-five in all. Another dozen or two work Golden Harvest Ranch. Most households don’t have slaves at all. Those that do only carry one or two house slaves to do the cooking and the cleaning. All in all, I’d say there are two hundred and fifty slaves in Ponyville. Maybe a few more.”

Scootaloo frowned thoughtfully and nodded. “Alright. What about soldiers?”

“I could tell you less about them. The only times I’ve seen them is at Guard posts or on patrol but I’d wager two or three dozen. If you’re thinking about taking the town, you’ll also want to consider the civilians. They’ve armed themselves and formed an informal militia to defend against what occasionally comes out of the forest. Of the combat-competent Gryphons, I’d wager a hundred to a hundred and fifty.”

“Big gaps in the numbers here.”

Silver Spoon shrugged. “I’m sorry I haven’t had much of a chance to do detailed reconnaissance. Being worked to death kept me a bit busy.” She returned to the map. “Most of everything outside of the center of town consists of small businesses and housing. There are, I think, two apartment complexes and the rail yard has been expanded to accommodate more than just the Friendship Express.”

“The Friendship Express still runs?”

“More efficiently now as a matter of fact. The Gryphons kept as much of the original infrastructure intact as possible. Roads, Rail lines, Shipping Lanes, Communication lines. They’re here for the long haul.”

“Why invade in the first place, though? We have two demigods for rulers with a third with close ties to the royal family. Not to mention that we have the Elements of Harmony and one of the most powerful casters to ever exist. Why take the risk?”

“Resources. Equestria has gems, arable land, fossil fuels, and ores. Things the Gryphons need and the potential for vast resources that were practically untouched by the native populations was well worth the risk of invoking the wrath of the demigod rulers. Not to mention, what happened during the royal wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor isn’t exactly a state secret. Despite heightened levels of preparedness, the Royal Guard was still overtaken and with laughable ease. Even with the threat of Celestia and Luna, Equestria was easy pickings. All the Gryphons had to do was move quickly and take us by surprise.”

“Then why not fight back now? Even if the Princesses can’t raise an army, they’re still Alicorns. They can move the feathering sun and the moon.”

“That’s part of the problem. They’re too powerful. If they were to fight back, especially now, the consequences could be catastrophic. Equestria might be in dire straits now but imagine how it would be otherwise. Imagine if Celestia were to stop guiding the sun? Whoever got caught under it would die while whoever got caught on the other side would freeze and that’s if the entire world didn’t get pitched out into the void or dragged into the sun itself. The Princesses can’t fight back because that would cause way more death and destruction than was even remotely necessary. That’s why we had an army.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “And all the good that did us is obvious.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. We’re taking the nation back village by village. Door by door if we must.”

“You’re starting to sound like Apple Bloom.”

“She’s got a point. We can’t continue on like this. We’ve got to make a move and soon while we still have ponies who remember the time before and are willing to fight back.”

“Are they?”

Silver Spoon snorted. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been out there. Every time I was in town, I heard the quiet mutters, saw the dirty glares directed at turned backs. There’s rumor of underground movements in Baltimare, Manehatten, and Fillydelphia. Everypony’s ready to fight. They’re just waiting for somepony to make the first move.”

“That’ll be us, then.” Sweetie Belle said as she joined them.

“Why us? Why not them?” Scootaloo shot back.

“Hard to set up a revolution when you’re under surveillance.” Silver Spoon pointed out. “That’s a big part of the problem. Rumors aren’t enough to get the ball rolling. As far as anypony knows, all Equestrians are either locked up or dead and the Gryphons keep a tight leash on the populace. There are mass executions if they even think they smell a revolt.”

“Which is where we come in.” Sweetie Belle continued. “We’re close to the town. We’ have training. We have experience and they’re ignorant of us. We’re holding most of the cards here.”

“The hard part would be that we’d likely have to free Ponyville in one push,” Scootaloo concluded.

“Well, one of the hard parts.” Sweetie Belle amended. “If you’re not busy, I’d like to borrow Silver.”

“I don’t know how useful I can be. I can’t really do much lifting.”

“All I need you to lift is a pencil. I count things, you write them down. Think you can handle that?”

Silver Spoon and Scootaloo flinched, startled by the tiny unicorn’s tone. “Whoa. Somepony woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.”

Sweetie Belle’s ears flattened. “Sorry. I don’t take stress very well and I’m under a lot of it.”

“Hey, don’t worry.” Silver Spoon assured her as she stood. “I’ll do whatever I can to help out.”

“Come see me when you’re done so we can talk more about this map,” Scootaloo called as they left.

“Sure thing.”

The pantry, Sweetie Belle’s domain, was the first room at the bottom of the entrance stairs. It was a fairly large room, large enough to hold what the Crusaders might need but too small to be useful much else.

Aside from the rows of shelves, the only furniture was a battered table and unstable chair. There was a sheaf of paper stacked neatly beside a pencil.

“Welcome to my office. Take a seat.”

Silver gingerly settled into the chair and picked up the pencil. “It’s not bad.”

“Sure, for a bean-counter.”

“You don't seem too thrilled with your position.” Silver pointed out.

“Don't get me wrong, I know how important I am to the group but I wish I could do more. I'm one of the few unicorns who still retain use of their magic but I have no combat spells. I'm pretty decent with a blade but only against one or two opponents. Any more than that and I'm easily overwhelmed.”
“So you're not a front-line pony. Call me selfish but I'd rather be back here where it's safer rather than out there where every second decides whether or not I live or die.”

“It's not that. Scoots and Bloom are out there every day, risking their lives to bring back the things we need while I'm in here, behind several feet of stone and earth, safe, sound, and invisible.”

“So you're feeling a little guilty that you're living the high-life while they do the hoofwork.”

“More than a little.”

“Let me ask you something: Who decided you should be the bean-counter?”

“Bloom. She's not the most organized pony, Scoots does too much that takes her away from the base already and I'm not suited for much else. I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that since they don't have a problem with me doing this, I've nothing to feel guilty about and you're absolutely right but I still feel guilty.” She lifted a sack from the lowest shelf and peered inside. “Sixteen potatoes.”

Silver jotted that down. “What are the plans after liberating Ponyville?”

“I imagine we'll consolidate our position. After liberation, we'll have to fortify and train. We'll have a whole new army that we'll need to equip so Bloom will have her hands full training smiths. We'll need to know who's doing what near the town and set up as much advance warning as possible when the Gryphons mount a counter-offensive. Scoots has a list of ponies she wants to train as scouts. We'll need to spare the farms and get them back into production as soon as possible.”

“That's a lot of work for three ponies.”

“It won't be just three of us. We'll be enlisting every able-bodied pony in the town.”

“So, what if a Gryphon wants to help?”

Sweetie Belle froze and turned to Silver Spoon. “What do you mean?”

“This is just what I've heard, you understand, but there are some...elements...of the Gryphonian army that don't exactly agree with the occupation.”

“Don't agree how?”

Silver shrugged. “I don't know. I haven't had much of a chance to talk with them but word on the roads is that there are some Gryphons who are less-than-pleased with the invasion and occupation. If I recall correctly, Equestria enjoyed fairly good relations with the Gryphonian Empire prior to the war.”

Sweetie Belle sighed. “Even if such elements did exist, we'd have a hard time integrating them into the army. Don't get me wrong, I, personally, wouldn't be against it but there are a lot of ponies out there who resent the Gryphons for everything that's happened these past years. Even if those in question didn't approve of the invasion, they still took part in it.”

Silver idly tapped the pencil against her jaw as she thought. “I suppose you're right.”

“Still, those Gryphons could provide valuable intelligence on what's going on outside of our little corner here. I can't say for sure what would happen until one tries to join, when and if that ever happens.” She dug through another sack. “I think these apples are still good.”

“Are you able to get any supplies from Ponyville?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “We've been trying to keep as low a profile as possible and have stuck to raiding merchant caravans. It's been getting a bit difficult as some of the wealthier merchants have been hiring mercenary groups to escort their caravans through the Everfree and we dare not go outside of the forest. So, really, our best option has been to hit smaller caravans and single wagons that generally don't run with an escort. Unfortunately, that means we have to go out more often.”

“Do you forage?”

“As much as possible and we've gotten some pretty good hauls off of the forest itself but the forest can't really support us unless we range further than Bloom's comfortable with. I've been trying to sell her on the idea of a garden but she's hesitant on it. Thinks that's a surefire way of getting somebody's attention.”

“One could say the same of raiding trade wagons.” Silver pointed out.

“Which is exactly why I've been pushing for self-sustainability. No matter how well we cover our attacks, at some point, the merchants are either going to bypass the Everfree completely to avoid the attacks or call on the government to clear out the forest. It's either that or we limit our exposure to the point where we starve to death.”

“Either option bears the same amount of risk of exposure. There's really no ultimately safe route unless you found a way to start subterranean cultivation, which leads to its own set of challenges.”

“Which is why we're moving on Ponyville. The location, the farms, and the small size of the town make it ideally defensible and the fact that we're locals plays in our favor. We're making preparations to start moving slaves out of Ponyville and building contacts in the population we leave behind. We've scouted a few candidates that we think would be useful. The only thing we're waiting on is your healing. As soon as you're ready, we're going to make our move.”