The Champion Of Longsword

Chapters

An Average Day In Longsword
Justice
The Meeting
The Letter
On To Kupiskis!
The Journey To Beakstadt
Spreading The Word, And Then Some
A Nighttime Skirmish
A Long Night
The County Of Longsword

An Average Day In Longsword

It was very early in the morning as a pony walked alongside a river. So early probably that not even the Kaiser of the Griffons Grover V would be getting up for a few more hours. However in order to ensure that the current meeting between several partisan resistance cells would remain a secret to the Black Cloaks or Reformisten it was necessary to host it at this hour. The pony glanced behind him to make sure all of his fellow revolutionaries we're still there, being the leader of this squad it was his responsibility to watch over them after all.

There we're 5 of them in total, the first being the sharpshooter/sniper of the group, Quick Shot. He was a unicorn stallion with light blonde fur and a black mane, his cutie mark was a target with an arrow hitting a bullseye. The second was the medic, Bandage Heart. An earth pony mare with red fur and pink mane, her mark was a simple bandage. Then there was Red Dusk, another earth pony with red fur and a dark grey mane. He managed the more heavy weapons and explosives, such as one of the few machine guns the partisans had, as well as a few grenades and other much more destructive weaponry. His cutie mark was simply an illusion of an explosion. The second to last was Swift Wing, the only pegasus in the squad. She typically was their scout who made sure the area they we're in was safe, and like Quick Shot as well as himself she brandished a Hinterladerbuschse Model 98 Griffonian Rifle on the right side of her body as her sidearm. She had a light purple coat with a blue colored mane, however she didn't have a mark.

Lastly there was him, the commandant or commander of the squad. He had a silver coat with a dark brown/black mane, and unlike his comrades who just let their manes flow naturally he had actually styled it in a slick back fashion, although it still fell down to the back of his neck. The more he thought about it was actually kind of funny, how they we're being forced to fight for their right to survive every single day as well as having to conserve countless resources and yet he still found the time to style his hair... eh there we're worse things than being a little vain. Plus it had started with him just wanting to look good in front of mares anyway so he'd always just let it slide. He then glanced down along his side to look at his "uniform" if it could even be called that. It was basically just a dark brown leather coat to be honest. The ponies of his squad wore similar coats, although his had two small red epaulets underneath his muzzle and around his neck, which signified he was an officer/commander. The coat went down to just above his hooves which themselves we're covered in leather encasements. Why you may ask, well many reasons to be quite honest. Although the main reason being that if you stepped in a Reformisten pitfall trap then the leather would prevent your hoof from getting punctured and infected, leading to it needing to be amputated or death would soon follow. It also helped with keeping your hoof sore from constantly being on the move which was a bonus.

His coat only went back to his hind legs stopping a few inches from his cutie mark. He remembered when he had first gotten the mark after leading a group of partisans out of an ambush when he was 6, it was also the first time he had killed another creature. He had always understood what it meant but was never able to actually understand why he had gotten this symbol. It was the famed Griffonian Knights Cross with oak leaves and diamonds imprinted upon them, along with a pair of swords crossing below. Then there was the actual cross itself, it almost looked like the internationally recognized medic cross. But this one had curved lines that led toward the middle, that and it's color was not red but dark grey. With the leaves being green and the diamonds light blue.

He knew what it symbolized, and that was great bravery and leadership skills on the field of battle. That wasn't what confused him, as he had demonstrated both countless times. No... it was the fact that this was a Griffonian medal that was on his flank. With The Griffonian Empire having been the country that originally invaded his nation while at the same time been attempting to colonize it for the last 200 years and... well it had always left a weird taste in his mouth so to speak.

He had been called out on it many times as well, as many partisans simply didn't understand what it meant and thought he was a sympathizer with the Black Cloaks or just had blind hatred towards them, with him then needing to correct them. Which differed in several ways. He could understand their anger though, those Griffons had taken everything from them. Ranging from their families and friends to their livelihoods and everything they had spent their entire lives working to achieve.

However after a while both pony and griffin understood what his mark meant, and the allegations all but ceased. Although it could also have just been his close relationship with Starry Night, he had managed to garner the eternal respect of nearly the entire IIA. Speaking of Starry the meeting him and his squad were going to was actually being hosted by her. These didn't happen often as it gave them the opportunity to extinguish the entire revolution's leadership if the location was ever found out. So whatever was happening or being discussed tonight was apparently important enough to risk it all.

They had left the major town of Kupiskis a few days prior and we're now heading west along the Sheiswald River as the river originated in the Sheiswald Forest within the Katerin Principality to Longsword's west. It also provided an excellent hiding place from the Black Cloaks or Reformisten.

Led by Wingfried Von Katerinburg, who himself actually happened to be from the Katerin Principality, we're a group of radical Griffonian Knights who we're dreaming of a "pure" state. One where ponies we're either exterminated entirely or put to work in slave labor camps until they died from exhaustion, malnutrition, or we're simply beaten to death or executed. For nearly 20 years now the Reformisten had been the dominant force in Longsword. Originally invited by Count Pallas Dusktalon, who as the story goes was "interested" in their ideals, eventually Pallas was converted to their creed and began to let them target and eliminate any pony who they saw within Longsword's borders. Night had been 6 when they first targeted his village and annihilated it from the face of the earth, and he had soon begun fighting in earnest a month later. He was now 15 and not much had changed, other than the fact that nearly every pony who was still alive within Longsword was now actively fighting the Black Cloaks along with some sympathetic griffons.

Meanwhile as he and his squad continued to hike along the riverside while staying just within the tree line so they would be harder to spot they began to smell something, something they we're all too familiar with... blood. After sharing a quick glance with each other they unconsciously made a decision to made a quick dash to what they assumed to be the aftermath of a battle since they had yet to hear any gunfire, the purpose being to see if they could still save a partisan or two. Soon enough they we're able to see blood being carried in the river downstream, and since there we're no bodies in sight yet the battle had probably taken place a while ago.

After going around a small bend in the river they saw it, not a battle like they we're expecting but a mass execution instead. Around 20 ponies in general looked to have been lined up at the rivers edge and then shot, one by one. There we're stallions, mares, fillies, colts... foals, it didn't matter. To the Black Cloaks they we're just ponies, who needed to be exterminated. There were also some ponies who we're in different positions as well. One light green mare with a silver mane was propped up on a rock, face down, with her back legs spread. This gave the almost obvious impression that she had been raped before being killed. Likely by her own rapist as there was a clean cut that went straight across her throat that had been done likely by a griffon claw.

This group looked to have had a few partisans in it as far as he could tell, but it seemed to mostly have been comprised of refugees from the war who we're probably just attempting to leave Longsword. Although why they we're going west towards Herzland instead of east to the Riverlands he had no idea. Perhaps they we're trying to join the partisans and we're going towards the Sheiswald as many a creature knew that they used it as a place to hide like any of other forest in Longsword from the Black Cloaks, but he of course knew that the answer died with them.

Night's anger began to rise as he continued to look upon the massacre. It also wasn't a surprise when he heard a gag behind him. He also didn't need to turn around to figure out who's it was. Bandage was a good medic, but she did not like death one bit, especially gore. However her tendency to want to prevent death all together had actually welded her into an excellent medic. Who was all to often putting her own life on the line not just to help save her own squadmates, but other fellow revolutionaries whom she didn't even know. In Night's opinion there was no higher honor than that, and not just being able to do that but also actually being able to pull it off successfully multiple times, and yet Bandage Heart had done just that despite her horrible ability to stomach death. He knew that this is what war did to ponies, it changed them. One day you can't stand the sight of death itself and the next... you can stand there and look it in the eye as if it was an old friend.

There we're three other ponies that looked like they had been raped as well, two more mares and a stallion. It also looked like that a colt had been trying to stop, likely his mother from being raped and received special attention for it. As his body was covered in massive, deep cuts. As well as several of his teeth and an eyeball we're missing.

For a while nopony spoke, so eventually Night just grunted and gestured his head in the direction that they needed to go. Already knowledgeable of the fact that they couldn't do anything for these dead ponies the rest of the squad reluctantly followed suit. But just as Night turned around he felt a liquid drip onto the tip of his horn and run onto his head, fearing the worst but still expecting it he looked up and was greeted with a grisly sight. Above him hung a small filly from a tree with a rope around her neck, one of her legs appeared to be missing as well as where her cutie marks should have been where two massive cuts in her flanks with a knife sticking out of the right one.

Night was now thoroughly enraged, he also was on the verge of crying. Bandage was by this point hyperventilating, Quick Shot and Swift Wing seemed just as pissed off as him while Red Dusk just seemed lost in it all.

Boom
A gun shot suddenly rang out from within the tree line and the five ponies immediately took cover within some bushes or hid behind trees. With laughter soon being heard, and not long after they saw two Griffins walk out of the tree line laughing to each other. One appeared to be male while the other was female judging by size, and both we're dressed in the typical Reformisten uniform. Which was basically the average Griffonian army uniform but with a different helmet and what they called a "gas mask" over the face, a new invention but what it's purpose was he had no idea.

"Did you see how he begged for his life, how pathetic can a pony honestly get" the female stated. "Quite right Gloria" the male replied. "If I wasn't so busy relieving myself with that slutty mare over there I would have gladly helped you shoot the others" he added and gestured to the light green mare. Night immediately wanted to give these griffons a slow and painful death... and then burn their bodies until they we're an unrecognizable, burnt husk of their former selves. However fate had other ideas.

"She probably was enjoying it deep down, the little cum-slut. I know from experience how easy it is to enjoy your cock" the now named Gloria said. "Hm, your right once again it seems" the male griffon chuckled. Night really wished he could send these two griffins directly to Tartarus as that was the only place they quite clearly belonged. Actually wait he did have the ability to do that. Only it wasn't a magical ability but a mechanical one, and it hung at his right side. However before he could pull the trigger of his own H-98 rifle a shot rang out to his right, striking the male right directly in the head while the female took to the air with a panicked squawk. It seemed somepony in his squad had beaten him to it. But Night would be damned if he was going to let that pathetic excuse for a griffin just get away.

"Loot the male for anything useful, I'm going after our little friend" he called out, and with that he was off, he ran out of the forest and immediately jumped and flapped his wings hard in order to get airborne. The griffin meanwhile flew over the river and bolted north.

Justice

Commandant Night Storm was thoroughly pissed off. Not only did he just have to bear witness to a massacre, but to top that off he also saw and heard two of the would be murderers speak of what they just did to those poor ponies. With the male now dead, courtesy of a bullet straight to his brain that just left his female compatriot. Who was currently fleeing for her life.

"Heading northeast eh, she's probably trying to make it to Zeltstadt then" he thought. Zeltstadt was a small logging town, and that would honestly be giving it mercy as it was more like a campground if anything, located near Longsword's northwest border close to the Griffking River. While it was located within a forest, it was not the magical, monster infested Sheiswald forest to Longswords west, which meant that the few partisan units active in the area did do battle with the Reformisten.

The griffon was flying quite fast. Night guesstimated that he had around 20 minutes to kill her before she could alert the settlement of his presence, and that certainly wouldn't do. Especially as that would mark the area where the meeting was being held as a hot zone, which would probably lead to it being cancelled last minute.

However once they were a decent distance away from his comrades the griffon did something he did not expect but probably should have, it turned around and engaged him. He just barely managed to roll to the left before getting his right wing sliced off by the griffon's sword. He decided to dive in order to get his speed back since he knew that the griffon would likely give chase, and give chase she did. That was a blessing and a curse, a blessing being as she wasn't going towards Zeltstadt anymore, and a curse as he now had a pursuer.

However Night had his own tricks. Doing half a barrel roll he ignited his horn and brought his rifle from his side to his face and aimed it at the griffon. Who gasped and quickly tried to dive away but not before Night could nick her right flank with a round. Seeing as though he had essentially missed he quickly cocked the rifle once more before firing off another round, which hit the griffon's right wing sending her plummeting from the skies of Longsword. However he knew better to think that the fall would kill her and quickly dove after her to finish the job.

The griffon went down into a clearing hitting the ground hard before rolling several times until she came to a stop. Night landed a few feet behind her. From what he could tell her right wing was kaput, her left wing looked broken, and two of her legs looked to have broken upon impact with the ground. She was heavily wounded but not dead yet, and he would have to fix that.

Upon hearing him land she turned her head and froze when she saw him. It hardly surprised him to be honest, his opponents we're always we're so cocky in the beginning of the fight, and terrified of him by the end.

"Yo... You!" she sputtered with not much confidence evident in her voice now. "I... I thought you were... just a... a legend, a story made up by the partisans to sc... scare us". Night just continued to walk up to her. Even though she was actually bigger than him the fact that she was wounded and terrified seemed to mitigate that, with him now taller than her since she was lying on the ground. "Give me one good reason why I should spare your life" he spoke as he ignited his horn for a dramatic effect.

Now as to why he had both wings and a horn he had no idea, and nor did the rest of the partisans. He had gotten them shortly after he had gotten his mark. But no pony nor griffon had ever been able to explain it. He had been born a pegasus, and although he was proud to be one he was always envious of the fact that unicorns could use magic and he couldn't. Although that changed when well... whatever happened to him happened.

The griffon meanwhile looked absolutely terrified, which was understandable considering the stories surrounding him as well as her current position. Plus she now had tears coming from her eyes...
"Oh no that is not going to work! You don't just murder over 20 ponies and then just act like you're a sad, little, defenseless creature hoping to get pity".

"Are you actually fucking crying" he finally responded. The griffon flinched but didn't try to run away, not like she could. "I can not believe what I am seeing, a Black Cloak, a fucking Black Cloak crying to a pony! Now I've seen everything". The griffon just looked towards the ground in shame, and he decided he was done wasting his time with her.

"Fine then, just remember you made this choice in life Black Cloak" he added before delivering a shot into her head, thus ending her life. Following protocol he looted the body for anything useful, mainly ammunition since they used the same weapons that the Reformisten did, not like they could get their hooves on anything else anyway. On the body he found several rifle rounds, what looked to be a diary, a small little pistol(which he took as he had been looking for a sidearm for a while). Lastly he found a small piece of paper with what looked like instructions on it. Upon closer inspection however he found that these had actually come from general Rosa Heidenreich, the count's second in command.

"What in Tartarus was she doing with a document issued by Rosa Heidenreich?" he asked himself. The paper didn't look like anything too out of the ordinary, mainly just listing patrol routes for them to follow. It was when he flipped that paper over was when it got interesting.

"Corporal Gloria Ironwing, in order for our righteous work to continue (righteous my flank) we must ramp up our efforts in finding and eliminating these so called "partisans" hiding out in Longsword's countryside. Only once we complete this task can Longsword be truly purified and our work complete. I am sending you and your squad on a very important mission to the town of Varena to train for this task which will truly begin in a few weeks time. Do not ask questions why just do, and you will be rewarded handsomely in a promotion. If you let anygriffon know about this outside of your squad then you will be regarded as and shot as a traitor. Also remember to purge any ponies or partisans that you encounter on the way there as well, General Rosa Heidenreich".

"Well that is certainly interesting, what do they want with Varena though".Varena was the first ever proper town established in Longsword, and although founded by Grand Duke Zemaitukas over 200 years ago it was still little more than a village today. At least compared to the capital, Swordsson.

Night put the piece of paper containing the valuable information into his coat pocket and took to the skies, he would definitely be reporting this to Starry. If the Reformisten we're planning something then they needed to be prepared to stop them, no matter what it was nor how great the cost. With that said and done he took off back towards the river to met up with the rest of the squad. After about 3 minutes of flying and being careful for any Griffon patrols he managed to locate them. It seemed that they had taken the liberty of burying the bodies of the ponies who we're killed by those Griffons while he was gone. He soon landed beside his second in command, Swift Wing.

"Did you get her?" she asked. "Of course Swift, since when have I failed to complete an objective before" he responded.

"Oh I don't know, maybe that time in Harrsingen while assassinating that officer" she teased. Night's expression almost immediately darkened. "Oh come on, that was bad luck and you know it" Swift just laughed. "Ha, says the pony who walked in on that officer while he was flirting with that younger griffin" she laughed.

"Foals, while I do enjoy listening to you two bicker now is not the time" Quick Shot spoke up. "Agreed" said Red Dusk. "We should get moving while we still can, before they send troops out to investigate why those soldiers never reported back" he added.

"I don't think we need to worry about that, it was only two soldiers" Swift Wing replied.

"We still need to be careful, who's to say there aren't more Black Cloaks out in the forests near here. Who simply took more ponies to a different position before killing them" he replied, Night then decided to finally add his two cents to the conversation. "Red is right, I'm honestly kind of surprised we only encountered two Griffons but that's not to say there aren't more around here. So let's shut up and keep moving" he finished.

The rest of the squad reluctantly agreed and with that they silently ducked back into the treeline while being on lookout for more lone enemy soldiers. Soon enough they we're heading along the river again. He guessed they still had an hour of walking ahead of them before they arrived at the grove we're Starry would be giving her meeting. Although he soon found himself drifting back to that piece of paper as well as it's contents. Like what would Heidenreich want with Varena, they'd already decimated it countless times. As well as blown the whole town back to the stone age, as it was not only very symbolic to the ponies of Longsword, but it was also a center for religion but that was another story in itself. Oh well he supposed that he would just have to wait and see what the future had in store for him.

The Meeting

As the sun slowly rose into the morning sky Night Storm and his squad finally trotted into a remote, secluded forest grove near the edge of Longsword. They we're currently at the very edge of the Sheiswald Forest, a magical, monster, bandit, and partisan infested forest mostly residing within the Katerin Principality and the Yale Rectorate. It was also a perfect place to hide from any Reformisten as well hence why they used it.

There we're also other ponies and griffons as well, ranging from experienced partisan units to gunsmiths and hunter-gatherers who mostly consisted of the extreme young, old, and those who had become wounded to the point where they could no longer fight. There we're also partisans who he recognized as well. The first of them being Abba Povner, a blue earth pony who was as mysterious as the name suggested. Not much was known about the stallion, he had just kind of come out of nowhere, and therefore many rumors and accusations surrounded him much like what originally happened to himself when he received his horn. One of the many accusations even said that Povner was from another dimension or something. Of course all of the accusations had come from near deranged ponies who had been tortured by the Black Cloaks, so they we're about as trustworthy as their torturers themselves. Himself and Starry had denied those allegations of course, as it was very unlikely that they we're true. Plus Night had met and gotten to know Povner since he was 9 years old with the two of them having saved each others lives countless times, as well as considered him a personal friend.

The next was Ludwig Von Pilater, a griffon who had been born in The Kingdom Of Lushi directly to Longsword's south. Ludwig had always wanted to be a knight and help defend griffonkind from pony invaders from Griffonia's eastern region, called The Riverlands. He had traveled to Longsword to join what he believed to be a noble knighthood holding the line against pony terrorists who we're trying to overthrow the count in preparation to invade Herzland. But when he arrived he found he couldn't have been more wrong. For instead of noble griffon knights fighting with honor against "pony terrorists" he found it was in reality a one sided genocide. Disgusted he joined the partisans within the month and with his experience soon rose to command a sufficient number of partisan squads like himself and Povner, whom he was also good friends with.

Golden Morning, there really wasn't much to say about him other than he was... interesting to say the least. Golden was an earth pony who had been born to a village of Posniaks once residing within the Longswordian countryside. Posniaks we're ponies who'd converted from the Longswordian faith to the Griffon one, and worshipped their gods as well as accepted and followed their customs. Posniaks however we're considered "ponies" by the Reformisten and brutalized just as much, hence why Golden and other Posniaks were fighting them. That and the fact that the Black Cloaks had burned his entire village to the ground as well. Golden unsurprisingly managed to escape along with a few survivors from his village and we're eventually found by Starry Night in the early days of the rebellion. He almost immediately joined and began to build up a reputation as a competent officer who was loyal, determined, and ferocious. That and combined with his close relationship to Starry Night practically cemented his position within the Longswordian Vanguard. A small group of ponies and griffons who acted as the leadership or 'government' of the movement, with Starry at the top. However Golden Morning was unique in the fact that he actually led his own group of ponies and griffons.

"Naujoji Grifonija" or New Griffonia could be considered Longsword's first ever political party. From what Night had heard about them they we're a group of ponies and griffons who wanted to "fuse" the best of the pony and griffon cultures together to make a new "super culture". In his opinion it wasn't such a bad idea to be honest. He wasn't a Posniak or anything but pony and griffonkind had always been fighting throughout the course of Griffonia's history. Leading to the deaths of thousands if not millions of creatures. If the two cultures we're conjoined together then it could prevent future wars. Plus if it led to nothing like this ever happening again then Night would almost immediately sacrifice himself if it meant obtaining that future.

Near Golden's side was another pony, Nakties Salna, another earth pony. Night didn't know much about the mare other than she was Morning's most ardent supporter. She had been first assigned to Golden's squad and had almost immediately begun supporting or helping him with whatever he needed done. That didn't mean she was a popular commander, he had heard of stories of when she was faced with the slightest chance of victory in the face of an almost certain defeat Salna would still choose to fight on rather than report to Golden that she had failed when he'd given her a task to complete, apparently this had happened many times as well. It was quite obvious she liked Golden and wanted him to notice her, but acting like that was crazy in his opinion.

"If all of our commanders thought and acted like she did then we would have lost this war already".

Night continued trotting through the grove. There we're about 100 ponies and griffons here awaiting for Starry Night's speech. Of what it was going to be he had no clue, for the sake of Reformisten spies the VSA or the Vidaus Saugumo Agentura designated it necessary to not say what the meeting would be discussing in letters and messages.

At last he spotted her. She was currently speaking to a few other revolutionaries on a small hill overlooking the grove.

"You guys go find somewhere to lay down, I'm going to go speak with Starry" he stated.

"Alright, just try not to take too long slow poke" Swift Wing responded.

"Quiet"

"Ha"

"Alright thank you for bringing this to my attention Comrade Vycolt" he heard her say as he approached.

"Of course Comrade Starry, always happy to help" Vycolt, the leader of "The Great Struggle" district of the Visaginas region of southern Longsword replied as he took his leave.

Seeing his chance at getting to speak with her before the meeting he took it. Night had known Starry since he was 6 years old. While she didn't rescue him directly she did come to speak with the survivors of his village after it was massacred, It was there that they first met. Night had immediately felt a bond form between him and Starry, it wasn't love or anything like that, it had been because they could relate to what the other was feeling. Like him and so many other partisans Starry had witnessed the count's forces annihilate her village, her friends, and her family. 15 years of fighting within Longsword's forests had hardened the mare, turning her from the foal of a locksmith and farmer into the heroine she was today. To be honest ever since that fateful day Night had always considered the mare to be somewhat of a step-mother. She had always been there for him, taught him how to take care of himself, how to read, how to write, how to kill griffons, take care of your equipment, navigate Longsword without a map or compass. She had done a lot for him, the least he could do in return was help her dream come true. Her dream of stopping the Reformisten and establishing a state where Ponies and Griffons we're equal to each other, as well as act as an example to the rest of Griffonia.

"Ah Comrade Night Storm" he heard a familiar voice speak. Starry was now looking at him with a smile present on her face. "Comrade-Marshal Starry Night" he saluted using her full title, as he knew she hated it. Starry just rolled her eyes and smiled in response.

"At ease, comrade" she finally replied. Starry was unsurprisingly a mare, with light grey fur along with a purple mane. She also wore a small light brown suit with a tie and red epaulets much like his own. A horn atop her forehead signified that she was a unicorn as well. "it's good to see you again Starry" he responded.

"You as well Night, I hope that you did not experience too much trouble in getting here".

"No no, nothing to crazy" he replied, debating on whether or not to tell her of what they had encountered two hours prior. Starry paused for a moment, and then responded.

"Hmm I see, nothing to serious I hope". Now it was his turn to pause. Although he had seen, done, and spoke about what could honestly be considered atrocities and war crimes by the Riverponies standards that didn't mean that it got easier to talk about. "On our way here me and my squad found twenty or so ponies slaughtered by the Reformisten along the river" he said.

"I'm sorry to hear that Night, we're you able to bury them?" she asked.

"Unfortunately no, there we're still Griffins in the area so we had to leave if we wanted to remain undetected" He grimaced.

"All right, thank you Night. However something tells me that wasn't the reason you came over to speak with me".

"Ha, as perceptive as ever comrade. No it was not, I believe that the Reformisten are up to something and I have evidence to support this" he said as he pulled out the letter he got from the now deceased Gloria. Starry took the letter in her telekinesis and read it through before stuffing it into her knapsack while pulling two cigarettes out and giving one to him.

"Thank Comrade Night Storm, the Vanguard will definitely consider this new knowledge that you and your squad have provided us" she said before lighting both cigarettes with magic. With that they said their goodbye's and Night trotted off to regroup with his squad.

He soon found them talking to each other towards the back of the grove, and they seemed to be laughing at Swift Wing who looked to be quite embarrassed if the folded ears and red cheeks meant anything. Now curious at what was going on Night quickened his pace towards them, he knew it couldn't be anything too serious. They had all been the best of friends for 6 years now, and had their fair share of arguments, so he knew that this wasn't an argument and only a joke. That didn't mean that their weren't a few discipline problems in the squad's history before. With Swift Wing herself along with Quick Shot being the biggest offenders, Red Dusk had his moments and Bandage actually had zero offences. Which wasn't surprising given her personality. Still it never was anything too serious and he was happy to call his squad his makeshift family, and he knew that they felt the same way.

By now they had stopped laughing at Swift and Bandage had even put her foreleg around Swift's neck as if to comfort her. In his opinion it was all the more reason to stop dawdling/thinking and quicken his pace.

"Besides cheer up Swift, it's not that bad" he heard Bandage say.

"What's not that bad?" he asked in a professional monologue, if something or somepony was bothering Swift then he would immediately step in to help her. Immediately Swift went beet red again, Quick Shot and Red Dusk snickered and looked away respectively while Bandage surprisingly was the first one to speak.

"Oh it's nothing Night, Swift here just shared a little secret with us is all". Now since his curiosity was peaked and that he knew it was most likely nothing serious he calmed down. "Hm, I see, care to share Swift". All of a sudden Swift looked to have a complete mental breakdown, Quick Shot's snickers increased to giggles, Red Dusk got up off his haunches and walked away, while Bandage put a hoof on her friends back. "It's okay Swift, you can say it" she encouraged.

"Yes come along Swift, out with it. If you can tell them then surely you can tell me, remember we're all friends here" he smiled. After a few more seconds Swift seemed to have recovered from her little struggle and was able to compose herself again, although she still looked nervous.

"You - You're right Night, thank you. I wanted to tell you that I". Phwwwwht a whistle sounded throughout the grove signaling the start of the meeting. Swift looked like a mix between startled and shocked. Almost like she couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Oh eh don't worry, just tell me later okay Swift" he said. Swift by now had recovered from her shock and just looked crushed that she wasn't able to finish her sentence but other wise complied. Night never saw it but a small tear escaped her eye as they took their seats next to their comrades.

"Be welcome comrades" Starry Night proclaimed to the Griffons and Ponies in the grove. "I'm glad that you could all safely make it here on such short notice, I've gathered us here today to discuss a new plan of action against the increasing Black Cloak threat. As over the past few months they've stepped up there efforts in their attempts to exterminate us. Not a day passes where we don't hear about villages being burned, families slaughtered, or corpses floating in the river!" she paused briefly to catch her breath before continuing. "This has gone on long enough, now what will we do about it".

"We will resist, we will fight, and we will bite!" The crowd responded.

"Glory, comrades" Starry responded. "As I speak our friends in Hellquill and Lake City are moving in to bring us aid. Dusktalon and his cronies will not harm innocent ponies anymore! A new dawn is rising, and we will be free!"

Around Night the partisans cheered and stomped their hooves and talons on the ground, with a glint of hope in each and every one of their eyes. He knew that for the first time in a long time that they would be prepared for what was to come.

"Mes niekada nenustosime priesintis!" He shouted in native Longswordian.

The Letter

For the first time in a long time Night Storm felt something that he hadn't felt in a long time, hope. Well okay that was a semi-lie, since if he never had any hope at all then he probably would've just let the Reformisten kill him by now. Or just trotted into Swordsson in a suicide attempt to take the count's life. But now he had real full on hope coursing through his veins. Hope for a better future, just like the one Starry envisioned.

For what seemed like the first time in forever, or maybe the first time at all, the Partisans we're actually able to do something other than just ambush the Black Cloaks. Something other than hiding in the forests barely able to fight them off. For the first time ever they looked to be finally on the offensive, and even if they weren't going to attack the Count's forces directly it still felt like they helping in order to bring about his downfall, even if it was just a small step in order to achieve it.

He looked towards his squad, they looked to be talking about something that was currently indecipherable due to him being out of earshot. "A future, a real future where we could actually settle down and get on with our lives. One where we don't have to worry about getting shot every day, one where we don't have to worry about where we sleep so we don't get shot while sleeping, one where we don't have to steal weapons and supplies from our enemies, one where we can all just settle down and start a family" he thought. In secret Night had always wanted to have foals, ever since he got to that age and began finding out the more mature parts of life. However due to a complication between the war and having more important problems like worrying about his and his friends survival on a daily basis meant that dream had to be put on hold for a while.

Currently they we're waiting for Starry Night herself, as she had just finished speaking and was currently talking to a few other revolutionaries. As to why they we're waiting was because he knew that Starry would want more information on this whole Heidenreich fiasco, and would likely give him a new assignment. Starry was always a wonderful leader, she was compassionate, bold, daring, staunchly idealistic (which was good and bad in his opinion), she was always making sure that her partisans we're one step ahead of the Black Cloaks, and always willing to help any pony or griffon who needed help. She was also the most outspoken when it came to captured Reformisten, which meant that when Ludwig surrendered himself and stated that he wanted to help them he wasn't immediately executed.

Although he had met and known Starry for a very long time there was actually only one other member of his squad that had actually met her, that being Swift Wing. Out of all of the members Night had known Swift the longest. They had met eight years ago, two years after the destruction of his village. So by then he had been fighting the Reformisten for two years and had by that point become a very good partisan. By that point in the war the Reformisten had destroyed nearly all of the pony villages and tribes within the countryside, With Swift's village being one of the few that we're still holding on, hidden deep within the forests and being located close to the border with Lake City meant that the Black Cloaks had quite a hard time locating it. Although once they did they made sure to wipe it out completely. Since not many pony villages remained by that point, and since it was still very early in the revolt a lot of the partisan's resources including weapons, hospitals for the wounded, and training grounds to name a few we're located there. Thankfully the commanders of that place weren't stupid and made sure that every pony and griffon we're well rehearsed in evacuation drills should the Black Cloaks find the village, which they did, and while they weren't successful in killing a lot of ponies they did manage to set the partisans back a few years equipment wise. As a lot of it had either been captured or destroyed.

Swift and Bandage had both been born to that village and had been helping in the field hospitals there. When the battle began Night was actually visiting the village with the regiment he belonged to in order to restock on supplies. When the Reformisten attacked he had been charged with protecting the hospitals while the staff and patients we're evacuated. It was there we're he met Swift. He had saved her after an artillery shell dislodged one of the hospital's support beams and landed on top of her, trapping her. Long story short he saved her, helped her escape the village and survive, and she introduced Bandage to him when they reached another friendly pony village two days later.

Suddenly another pony appeared within Night's view, an old friend of his. "Ah Comrade Night Storm, how are you". The now named resistance fighter Abba Povner saluted him and his squad. "I'm alright comrade, how goes things within the vanguard" he saluted back. The Longswordian Vanguard we're a group of ponies and griffons who basically acted like the partisan's leadership or government. Although Starry had the final say in what they did a lot of the decisions she let the members of the vanguard usually make.

"The usual, making sure that the Black Cloaks do not find anything which could be useful for them, denying the Black Cloaks resources, coming up with plans for our regiments and squads to then carry out, and making sure to foil anything the Black Cloaks try, so basically the usual. Speaking of which I'm here to give you and your friends your next assignment" he added.

"Very well comrade, what is it?" Night asked. However instead of telling him Povner opted to give him an envelope instead. "Is that really necessary comrade, we're in a grove surrounded by our own partisans".

"Eh it's just the VSA being the VSA Night" Povner replied. "Plus you never know who is a spy, and who can be a traitor" he added while looking towards a few griffons. Night had never really understood why Povner let the Reformisten destroy his view on Griffons so much, as he hated the Reformisten, not Griffons in general.

"Perhaps, very well comrade, is that all?"

"Yes it is, stay safe Night".

Will do Povner, will do". With that Povner walked away while Swift Wing and Quick Shot trotted up.

"Are those our new orders Night?" Quick Shot asked. "Yes Quick, although as to what they are I do not yet know" Night responded.

"Right, so when shall we be moving out then?" Swift asked. "When I speak to an old friend of mine about that Heidenreich paper I told you about earlier" he replied. "I still don't understand why she would want anything to do with that pathetic excuse for a soldier" Quick Shot spoke up.

"Well regardless the general apparently did so we need to investigate the matter, and if they are up to something then we need to be prepared to stop them".

"I know Night but I still feel like we're missing a piece to the puzzle here" Swift added.

"I agree Swift but that's most likely going to be our job, finding that missing piece in order to fill the puzzle. Then once said puzzle is filled we can understand it and then destroy it" he concluded.

"Well spoken Commandant Night Storm" a new voice spoke. Although his squad members froze immediately at the sound of the new voice Night just rolled his eyes as he turned around to face his leader. "You never change do you comrade" he smiled. Starry Night just rolled her eyes in response. "You say that and yet I can come up with quite a few occasions we're I could say the same to you comrade" she responded. "Also I do not believe I've met the rest of your friends yet, have I Night?" she added. "No comrade, you have not".

"Very well, I believe that it is time to amend that. Night, could you please introduce me to them?" Starry asked.

"Of course comrade" he replied. Quickly Night lined up the four other members of his squad before introducing them to Starry. "Alright here we have comrade Red Dusk, the squad's heavy weapons expert" Red Dusk simply saluted Starry, which she returned. "Next we have Bandage Heart, our medic" Bandage nervously gave a salute to their leader. "Next we have our scout/pathfinder, Swift Wing". "My apologies comrade Night Storm, but have we met before Ms. Wing?" Starry asked Swift. "Um y -yes Comrade-Marshal Starry Night, we met once before. When my village was sacked by the Black Cloaks and Night saved me you came to speak to the survivors, I was one of them". "Ahh I see, my apologies for not remembering comrade" Starry replied.

"Alright then moving on our last but certainly not least partisan is Quick Shot, our sniper" Night finished. Quick Shot gave a simple yet quick salute to their leader. For a minute Starry seemed to be inspecting the squad. She had a smile present on her face but Night knew that beneath that smile was a fearless and ever working mind, and a leader who would do what needed to be done. No matter the cost. After a minute or two of just looking at his squad Starry finally spoke up.

"My apologies comrade Night Storm, but do you mind stepping away for a moment so I may speak to your squad alone please?" she asked him. Now any new commander in the partisan movement may have been greatly alarmed by the fact that Starry Night herself wanted to speak to their subordinates alone but Night knew better. This could simply be compared to a routine inspection done by any superior, Night had seen many commandants like himself quake in their hooves when Starry had asked the same thing to them. But he knew this was just Starry's way of making sure that the commanders of the movement we're, in a nutshell, good leaders and competent.

"Of course comrade, just please don't too long" he smiled as he began trotting away much to the surprised faces on his squad members faces. To say he wasn't at all annoyed would be a lie, and although he understood why Starry did this it was still annoying. But he supposed that it was only fair if he got it just like all the other commanders in the movement.

Soon he found a nice tree to lie down under. It looked to be a fairly old oak tree that might actually be older than the county itself. He decided to look at the envelope Povner had given him earlier. It was a simple envelope with a small, almost impossible to see partisan symbol on it. Said symbol was just a red longsword being held by a pony hoof and griffon claw, trying to symbolize Pony and Griffon unity. He knew that written in invisible ink, a secret weapon the partisans had used for years we're instructions to deliver it to him. As to how to view it, simple, either have a unicorn cast a spell or squirt lemon juice over the writing and it would appear until the spell was deactivated or the lemon juice evaporated. Simple but effective, and the Black Cloaks had been clueless to this little trick all these years, allowing them to funnel messages right under their noses.

Finally Night opened the envelope to look at the blank letter in front of him. A little bit of magic later however and words began appearing faster then Quick Shot could take down an entire Black Cloak squad, which was quite fast. Comrade Night Storm, Commandant of Ghost Squad, you and your squad have been selected for a very important and dangerous mission. To be honest you are the only one I trust for this Night, that is how important this is. I'm sure you know that to our north lies the nation of Hellquill. Hellquill was where the Reformisten originated, and from what he had heard, the ponies there had it much harder then they did here. He wasn't even sure if that was even possible, but he didn't fight there so he'd take their word for it. Like here in Longsword there are many pony resistance cells within Hellquill as well, however it is becoming increasingly more difficult for them to operate there. Plus since we are slowly but surely making progress to our own liberation their leaders have decided to march their ponies and equipment south into Longsword. That is where you and your squad come in Night. It will be your job to guide them into Longsword. I know that they can hold their own in a fight, but they are going into new and hostile territory that they don't know very well. Since I and I'm sure they would prefer that most of them survive the trip to Visaginas I am counting on you to make sure that they get here safely. The meet up point is the town Beakstadt, just west of the city of Hellquill itself. You can find the ponies at this address at the outskirts of the city. Please Night, you are the only one that I trust for this. - Comrade-Marshal Starry Night.

P.S. I will be personally inspecting your squad to make sure that they are up to the task as well, if they are then you will get the go ahead, if not then you will be temporarily reassigned to carry out this mission. I know how much they mean to you Night, but I cannot lose all those ponies. Not if we want to liberate Longsword within the next 3 years at least.

Upon reading that letter Night didn't know what to think, he was going to do this that he knew that, but was he up to the task was the question... "Of course I'm up to the task, I'm the most capable fighter the movement has got. I have flight and magic on my side... somehow. He looked towards his squad, they we're still being interviewed by Starry. From what he could tell she was liking what she was hearing, evident from the smile on her face. He knew that they could all do it, the only worry he really had was Bandage. But even then the mare had braved gunfire to save not only him and his squadmates before, but also other revolutionaries as well. In truth none of them would be here right now if it hadn't been for Bandage Heart. In fact none of them would be here at all if it hadn't been for each other. Night could recall many times where he'd either been saved or had saved one of them.

Upon that reflection he made his decision, even though he didn't really have one. He knew that they we're up to the task laden before them.

On To Kupiskis!

It had only been a few days after Starry's meeting when Night and his squad emerged into a small grove within southern Longsword. The evening sun shone overhead as for probably the trillionth time it before it once again began to disappear over the horizon. The ponies had spent the last few days traveling back into Longsword and re-equipping themselves for the task ahead. This would probably be one of the most dangerous missions Night would ever lead, as guiding thousands of ponies through multiple Reformisten strongholds before then dispersing them all throughout Longsword, all while remaining undetected by the Black Cloaks would not be an easy feat. But a necessary one nonetheless.

"Is everypony here?" he called out to the group of partisans. For this mission Starry had personally decreed that he and his squad would be accompanied by another one. A pony and old friend of his named Lite Fire was in command of this squad, much like himself these ponies traveled all around Longsword foiling Reformisten plans, killing Black Cloaks, and helping other Ponies and the occasional Griffon out. For this task Lite and his squad we're assigned to his command to help him. Like many of the revolutionaries Lite Fire had a tragic beginning, what they didn't have in common was nationality.

Lite was an earth pony with a fire red and orange mane, brown fur, and red eyes. He had been born in the Barrad Magocracy, far to Longsword's southeast, in Riverpony territory. Night hadn't really ever heard of the nation until Lite had brought it up one day. Apparently when he was 13 years old his parents had been killed while resisting authorities who'd wanted them to participate in a magical test of some sort. Lite had managed to escape and wandered the forests for a few years before ending up in Longsword. Upon seeing what the Reformisten was doing Lite decided to stop running and began to help the partisans in their struggle. Although Starry had taken him in and taught him a lot Lite had been the one to teach Night about survival skills. Being ten years his senior by the time he had joined meant that Lite had a lot more skill and knowledge in that department, as well being a very capable strategist. However after many years of fighting Night was now probably just as skilled as him if not better in both regards.

"Here, here, here, present, here, here, ready, here, present" nine voices sounded out. Indicating that all of them we're ready to go. Being in charge he would be responsible for getting them to Hellquill safely, but first they would have to pass the town of Kupiskis. The reason being that southern Longsword was crawling with Black Cloaks, more than anywhere else in the county. Years of being unable to stamp out the partisans from the forests meant that the griffons merely surrounded them with hundreds if not thousands of soldiers, while sending in occasional patrols/raiding parties all the down to the lone sniper. Making any break out practically impossible. If they wanted to even have a chance at getting to the border, nevermind crossing into Hellquill then they would have to overcome this first obstacle.

However there was a solution, that being the town of Kupiskis. The town was the second oldest one in Longsword, only triumphed by Varena. However it was not only located a little ways away from the forest, but it was also across and a little ways back from the Sheiswald River as well. These two factors led to the Reformisten not defending the area as much. There we're still guards and patrols of course, but nothing compared to the tree lines of the forests. That place had bunkers, trenches, artillery emplacements, machine nests, anything deadly that the Black Cloaks could get their claws on they used.

Although Kupiskis was a Reformisten stronghold that was only true inside it's walls, the immediate area outside of that was a different story. Since the forest ran practically right up to and along the river on it's eastern bank meant that they would easily be hidden from any Griffon patrols and be able to slip through the Griffon barricades in the dead of night. It was perfect. Done being alone in his thoughts Night then returned his attention to the ponies before him.

"Good, before we leave though, I would like to say two things". The ponies all looked at him, waiting patiently for him to speak. "Right, firstly I would like to thank all of you for accompanying me in this highly difficult and dangerous mission. All of them smiled upon hearing that, none more so than Swift Wing, he smiled back. "Secondly, I would like to remind you all that while we shouldn't encounter any of the count's soldiers in our path. We should still remain alert as Griffons posses far better vision in the dark than any of us. So try not to cause any noise while marching, as we do not need to attract any unwanted attention". The partisans simply nodded in response, acknowledging him.

"Alright, now that all of that is out of the way, onto Kupiskis" he finished.

Two days later the ponies slowly emerged from their hiding place within the small forest. The advance towards Kupiskis hadn't been the easiest one. In order to make sure that they did not encounter any soldiers loyal to the count they had to spend the entire day hidden within crampt, uncomfortable, makeshift, and sometimes even awkward hiding places. Then they would have to move by night and find new ones by morning, and even when they we're on the move it was painfully slow. As they would have to check every hiding place for any Reformisten snipers and be wary of ambushes. They also had to cross several highly dangerous swamps which nearly resulted in several deaths. But all of that was over and done with, as they now had reached Kupiskis. Here they were supposed to stay for the remainder of the day and leave the following evening after eating and resting. As they we're quite exhausted from the trip so far.

So why we're they risking detection by getting this close to the edge of the forest, well mainly reconnaissance and the question of shelter. While they certainly wouldn't be leaving the forest any time soon as it was still midday many of the partisans including Red Dusk and Quick Shot we're in favor of going into the city. Some of the ponies in Lite's squad had said they wanted to take this opportunity to spend the night in a nice warm building on a bed instead of the ground or tree branch. They're reasoning being that since Kupiskis had a substantial pony population they could simply sneak in and pose as enslaved ponies.

What they failed to remember was that they would be just that, slaves. Which meant that they couldn't bring any of their weapons, equipment, and would be more at risk than ever of being found out as partisans and executed. Not to mention he couldn't even go as he'd stick out like a sore thumb, as he had both wings and a horn. They then tried saying that he could just stay back and watch the equipment with those who didn't want to risk it as well. While they went into the city. However his answer would remain the same, that being no. That was thankfully enough for Red Dusk and Quick Shot but Lite's ponies didn't seem to want to give up just yet. So they then tried to sweeten the deal even more.

"Well while we are in there we could try and nab some intel on them or something like that" a pony who he believed was named Wild Strike spoke up. He only shot the pony a disinterested look. "Look, we are on a important mission here, possibly the most important mission of the entire revolution. Starry Night is trusting us, trusting you, all of you to make sure that what she has asked of you happens. All of the ponies not just here, but Hellquill as well are counting on us to make sure that they get here safely, and not ambushed as a result of us being careless. If this mission fails it will set us back years if not resulting in our forces being overpowered. So I will not risk the success of this mission because you want to sleep on a bed for one night, is that understood?" he asked.

The last two ponies looked like they we're going to try one last chance at changing his mind until a new voice spoke up. "Commandant Night Storm is right, there is far to much at stake here today to risk it all like this. There are thousands of ponies counting on us, and it would be irresponsible of us to take such an unnecessary risk when comrade Starry Night herself is counting on us, I don't want to hear any more of this, do you understand?" Lite Fire stated. The two ponies then slowly nodded their heads and trotted back into the forest.

"Thank you comrade" Night whispered to the stallion. "Ahh don't worry about it Night, those two are devoted to the cause but don't really always think straight. You can count on them in combat, but not so much as in this type of decision making, as you just saw" Lite explained. "Right well, thank you regardless Lite, I will keep all of that in mind" he answered. At that Night then turned to leave and get some shut eye himself. "Also you do not need to say 'comrade' to me my friend, even though I know it means the same" Lite called. "I know comrade, I just prefer it" he responded.

"Night, pst Night, Night get up" Swift Wing whispered into his ear while shaking him awake. "Wha, Swift... what's up" he replied mildly annoyed, as he had taken a liking to sleeping on his tree branch. "Shh, look" and pointed to a small grove underneath and around 20 hooves from his branch. There we're about ten Griffons who we're just then coming into the grove from his front right, directly from Kupiskis it seemed. "Shit... " he said.

The Journey To Beakstadt

Shit... okay, are the others alerted?" he asked. "Yes they are hidden behind us" Swift replied. Night then immediately made a decision, as he knew that any hesitation only increased the chances that they would be caught.

"Okay follow me" he replied back. Slowly the two ponies slowly and quietly flew down the tree and rendezvoused with the rest of the partisans. They we're currently hidden within some bushes a few hooves back from the tree he had been sleeping in. "How many are there?" Quick Shot asked. "There's around ten Griffons, all look to be Reformisten soldiers" Swift Wing replied. Night then decided to speak up as he did not want to delay the execution of his plan any further.

"Alright listen up" he said, still slightly whispering. "We're going to slowly sneak back into the forest, then once we are a good distance away from them we will make a new camp and have two ponies on watch detail at all times, understood?" he said which all the ponies nodded their heads. "Good now I will take the lead, Quick Shot you watch our rear, and the rest of you get into a single file line and move where I move and only that". Nine heads quickly responded in confirmation once again. Night then slowly moved to the front of the soon to exist line of ponies. Once they we're all lined up, which only took about ten seconds they began to move slowly back into the forest.

Although some ponies we're causing a bit of noise it didn't seem like the soldiers we're noticing their movements, especially since they we're focusing more on setting up their camp. A fire soon drowned out their noise even more, even so Night decided to slow down a bit to try and lessen the amount of noise they we're making. Since it didn't really matter how fast they moved if it got them detected and the result being a firefight, however it slowly seemed to work as the amount of noise they we're making lessened considerably. Although some of the ponies of his team didn't quite seem to understand this. "Why are we slowing down, shouldn't we try to get out of here as fast as possible?" a mare from Lite Fire's team asked him. "Quiet, we mustn't be found" he replied. With that the ponies slowly disappeared into the darkness of the night.

A new day had dawned in Longsword. After slipping away from the Griffon patrol in the dead of last night the partisans had set up another make shift camp about two miles away, and the "camp" pretty much consisted of a few ponies sleeping in either bushes or trees. However today would be the day that they would be initiating the conclusion of their journey to Beakstadt. Personally Night felt excited, not just because he would soon complete a task that would hopefully help bring down the Reformisten but also because it seemed that for once they we're on the offensive, not the Griffons.

He looked towards the ponies he commanded. The pegasi we're sleeping in the trees (including himself) while the earth ponies and unicorns slept on the ground in bushes, while two ponies we're currently on guard. The reason the pegasi we're in the trees was that if they we're ever attacked then there would be ponies that could quickly gain a height advantage on the Griffons. That was one of the weird and very few things that the Reformisten Griffons and the Pony Partisans would agree on, having the high ground in combat often led to that individual or individuals to emerge victorious.

He looked towards the sun as it slowly crested the horizon towards the Riverlands. The Riverlands we're eight or so nations that called a mountainous region with lots of rivers and valleys their home. He didn't know much about them, their culture, or even what some of their species we're. All he knew was their names and their rough location.

Lake City, a small city state located on the shore of a lake. Deponya, another pony nation to Lake City's north. Diamond Mountain, a nation of Diamond Dogs, which we're well... he supposed the nicest thing to call them would be a canine that just much larger than your average dog, they called the mountain their nation was named after and the surrounding hills their home. To both Deponya's and Diamond Mountain's northeast was the Bakaran Republic, a nation of seafaring ponies well renowned on their expertise on sailing and building sailing vessels. To the east you would enter Nimbusian territory, which was the most aggressive Riverlands nation, a nation of ponies that had a warrior culture, where might basically made right, and by default law. Then to their south was Ponaidhean, he still had no idea how that was even pronounced, and knew even less about them other than they apparently we're a group of very religious ponies. If you went west from there you would come across the Kingdom of Wittenland, a nation that had been dominated by unicorn mages for centuries. He also knew from Lite that they used to control the Barrad Magocracy until Count Ambrosius's corruption by dark magic, and tensions we're still high between both nations. To their north you would come across the River Republic, the most dominant nation in the Riverlands, both in power and politics. They we're also the founder of a defensive pact that would call all of their nations together against any Griffon incursion. Apparently after Grover II's defeat the nation's banded together to make sure that the Griffons could never invade them as easily as Grover had.

The River Republic, as well as other nations in the alliance also deeply criticized the bloodshed caused by the Reformisten, and had warned Count Pallas to end his genocide of the ponies. Yet they never did anything more than that which deeply angered Night. "If they just marched in, shot a couple hundred griffons, and left us ponies in charge with a division or two then so many things would improve. It would probably only take a week he thought. Although he knew that would probably cause mass panic in the empire and to Griffons all over Griffonia so he could understand why they hadn't acted. "Damn politics at it's finest" he added.

A yawn brought him out his thoughts. Said yawn had come from Swift as she slowly awoke from her slumber. Her eyes opened which soon met his and a smile followed. "Good morning Night" she said. "Morning Swift" he replied. "Are you hungry by any chance, I know we haven't had a chance to eat ever since we escaped Visaginas" he added. "A little bit, I think we could all use a bite to eat to be honest" she said and gestured to the other sleeping ponies. "All right then it's settled, we'll have some breakfast before the march to Beakstadt" he finished.

As the hour passed the ponies slowly woke up, Night decided that they would all have one hour to eat before they would set out for Beakstadt. He hoped to conclude the journey by the next two days. They had already been marching for four days now and he could tell that they we're getting weary.

However he decided to put aside his worries for now and decided to indulge himself in his meal, that being some hay with strawberries grown on secret farms hidden in the forests. That was another thing that had amazed him when he first thought about it, you can be a super soldier, or have the literal best and most equipped army in the world, yet in the end every single soldier has to eat, or else they'll die.

Once every single pony had eaten they continued to march north staying close to the river, but making sure to stay well within the tree line. These parts of Longsword we're not so war torn. So much so that here the griffons didn't have constant patrols and barbed wire, and artillery bombarding suspected partisan positions, It was a lot more peaceful. As they advanced they saw griffons washing clothes in the river, farms, small villages, and the occasional griffon patrol, except these weren't Reformisten soldiers. Nope, these we're Longswordian army soldiers that they we're seeing.

Not many knew and even less understood this but there we're technically two military organizations within Longsword. The Reformisten and the Longswordian Army. When Count Pallas took over and began his descent into madness he originally ordered the army to carry out the brutal mass genocide of the ponies. However many refused to do this as they we're either hardcore imperial knights who felt it was a stain on their honor to attack innocents or just didn't want to out of the kindness of their own hearts. Many actually deserted to the partisan cause because of this as well, with their families often being targeted because of their actions.

In the end Von Katerinburg sent around 20,000 Griffon Reformisten soldiers down to Longsword at the count's request. Ever since those Griffons had razed half of Longsword to the ground trying to root out the ponies. They even weren't afraid to kill their own kind if they thought they we're a pony sympathizer. He'd seen many griffons killed for just being suspected as one, and it was very rare for the average griffon to help a pony because of this paranoia. It was also known that the army was becoming more and more disillusioned with the count because of these policies. Plus the main general of the armed forces, Field Marshal Conrad Von Silvertalon was known to dislike Pallas's policies in favor of the current leader of the Rosewood Order, Konrada Wavewing, which Pallas had abolished in order to gain absolute power.

Regardless there we're now two armies in Longsword now, and from what he had heard there may even be a conflict between them as well in the near future. As the Reformisten wanted their help in stamping out the partisans while the army wanted them gone and the bloodshed to simply end.

By the end of the first day they had managed to get within the halfway mark of the journey, the Griffking River. This river separated Longsword and Hellquill from each other. It was also the longest river on the Griffon continent and from what Night knew, the entire world as well. So in order to get to Hellquill and the town of Beakstadt the partisans would have to cross it. Fortunately the Griffons hadn't seemed to have as many border guards as he would've thought they would have had, so a crossing in the middle of the night was feasible. Unfortunately it was still very difficult since the waters of the Griffking we're very deep and fast. Making a powerful current that could sweep a small and unprepared craft under in seconds.

Thankfully the partisans had come prepared. That being a pony by the name of River Mist. A light blue mare that was from Lite's squad. Her special talent, rivers... or perhaps skill and knowledge of them now that he thought about it. Had never really been that useful to the rebellion, until now that is. Using her knowledge the partisans began the construction of a small raft with the last few hours of sunlight to take them across. Once this was completed they hid with their raft in a small inlet and waited for a chance to run the crossing.

"That's the second Griffon sky patrol within 5 minutes Night" Quick Shot confirmed as four Griffons flew over the center of the river, one from Longsword and the other from Hellquill. "All right good, once we get across mark this location for later use to transport the ponies we pick up from Beakstadt to Longsword" he replied.

"Understood comrade" Quick Shot answered.

As the moon slowly rose into the sky the ponies waited and watched the northern bank, about a mile wide the Griffking fanned out infront of them. Almost challenging them to come on. As he looked through his binoculars Night saw that there we're a few guard houses and occasional patrol on the opposite bank but nothing they couldn't deal with. He also knew that the sky patrols would likely decrease even more the further into the night they went, so it was decided that midnight would be when they crossed. All in all when the time came the ponies we're quite anxious.

"All right" Night whispered to Red Dusk and Swift Wing, "It's time". Slowly the partisans got into their small little raft that River Mist oversaw the construction of. Night, Swift Wing, Wild Strike, and another pegasus named Thunder Clap would provide top cover from any Reformisten patrols by silently killing any griffons that came by, as he knew that the river was just too large and the timing too short to try and time it so they wouldn't cross any patrols. Instead they would fly above the targeted patrol and quietly eliminate the Griffons before they saw the raft.

Once all the ponies we're in the small raft Night let River Mist take over. "Okay River, I am counting on you to get these ponies across the river safely. Please do not worry about time, we'll make sure time is on your side" he gestured towards his comrades behind him. "But please don't dawdle as well, I want to eliminate as few Griffons as possible" he added.

"Understood Commandant Night Storm" River Mist Replied. At that he smiled, it was always nice to have a determined soldier under his command. "Very good, go comrade, and do what you do best" he finished.

At that River Mist gave the command to push off, which was followed a series of grunts and the raft start to move towards the northern bank. As he watched them go Night felt some anxiety well up in his chest, Red Dusk, Quick Shot, and Bandage Heart we're on that boat, his family was on that boat. However he reassured himself that it would be fine, he reminded himself that Starry had hoofpicked the ponies for this mission, and he trusted Starry with his life, not many other ponies he knew could say the same.

At that he gave the order to the three remaining ponies with him to take off. They soon flew over the raft as they gained more and more height. About 1 minute into the crossing they spotted their first patrol, a squad of Griffons from Hellquill as they soared across the sky in a diamond formation. He gave a silent signal to his ponies and they silently positioned themselves over the Griffons. Then almost immediately he pulled a dagger from his belt and dove upon the lead Griffon. With the quietness of a small house mouse and with the speed of a Zebra he slashed the Griffon through the throat and kept up his dive to then twirl around and come at any might be survivors before they could realize what was happening, although he didn't need to. The other three had slashed their targets as well with the near lifeless if not dead Griffons fall into the waters of the Griffking, their bodies swallowed up by the water.

"Good work but remain on guard" he told the ponies. Then without waiting for any responses he shot up towards the sky. Once they we're at a good cruising altitude he looked for the raft. They we're about halfway across now. Also a fog seemed to be rolling in with was an unexpected but welcome surprise, as it meant it would be harder for any Griffons to spot them.

For another minute and twenty or so seconds they circled the raft until Thunder Clap said she spotted more Griffons. He looked in her direction and soon saw them himself. They we're maybe a mile and a half from the boat, the problem was that they we're on the eastern side of the boat coming from Longsword while they we're on the western side. This meant that the ponies not only had to spend a lot of time getting into position but it also meant that the Griffons would likely see the raft before they could kill them.

"Come on, we have to kill them before they see the raft" he ordered and dashed towards the griffons as fast as he could. Night went up at a near 90 degree angle before flattening out completely, by now the Griffons looked to have spotted the boat. He led the ponies over the Griffons and after a quick check to make sure that the partisans we're in position he dove on the soldiers. Just as their commander moved to go in for a closer look he sliced through his feathers... but only that, he had missed!

In a panic he pulled the same maneuver from earlier and just as he prepared to ram himself if it came to it into the Griffon he had missed he stopped. The Griffon he had nearly gone into a frenzy to kill was now falling into the Griffking below, with his friend right beside him. He turned to see Wild Strike hovering we're the Griffons had momentarily been earlier with blood on his dagger, he had managed to get both of them in one strike.

"Huh, nice work Wild Strike. I suppose Lite's assumption about you the other day was correct" he laughed. Wild Strike's face in return just scrunched up in confusion. "Eh don't worry about it comrade I'll tell you later, let's just make sure our fellow comrades get across safely for now" he added to which Wild Strike just nodded. As he looked towards the raft he saw that they we're just pulling up to the opposite bank, they had made it.

They flew over to them while taking out two more Griffons who we're near them on watch duty before joining them in the forests of Hellquill. "Well done all of you, we've managed to get across the river and into Hellquill undetected. Now we will make camp and in the morning will make our final drive towards Beakstadt, is that understood? he asked to which all the partisans nodded.

That night they made camp in the woods before moving out in the following morning. Since Beakstadt had been built along the edge of the river meant that they had to stay semi close to the Griffking. Which was somewhat risky but may have been a blessing in disguise since Night knew from Reformisten defectors that worked in Hellquill that most of their forces we're inland fighting the ponies anyway. If Longsword was known for it's forests, occasional swamps, and the pony partisans fighting in the forests. Then Hellquill was known for it's forests, many more swamps, and being a lot more rural. Not many Ponies nor Griffons settled up here due to the very cold, unforgiving, and dangerous climate and terrain. As since while Longsword was quite flat, the northern parts of Hellquill tended to be a lot more hilly, which led to higher elevations and a colder climate, which made it harder to build and grow crops.

It honestly made it perfect to wage a guerilla war like this, if only for the fact that Hellquill was also known for birthing the Reformisten ideology, and therefore the Griffons that did settle up there knew the land very well. So since the majority of the ponies in Hellquill already lived in it's remote southern forests we're attacked, those that made it to the north we're initially outfoxed and outmaneuvered by Griffons that knew the land. Only a small percentage of the ponies within Hellquill we're still fighting, which made Night very sad to say the least. Especially when he thought about all those souls that had been killed, enslaved, or we're still fighting for their lives. Although he did cheer up a little when he remembered what he was here to do.

At last they reached Beakstadt by midday. The small town was a small fishing village when it was first founded, and to this day had kept up that tradition. Griffons we're known for their love of fish, and since Beakstadt extracted the most fish within the two countries combined it had grown quite prosperous over the years. As they approached they city (stealthily of course) they met up with a pony who had been waiting for them in a bush. They we're then led through into a small sewer entrance and into the city. After ten minutes of wading through sewer water they reached a small hole in the wall. Said hole was very small and located near the top of the wall, making it very easy to miss. Once they we're guided through they ascended into what Night presumed was a small building, and judging from it's outside state that he saw through a window, presumably abandoned by the Griffons. The partisans we're then introduced to the presumed "owner" of the property, who seemed very surprised to see them.

"You actually managed to come all the way here"?! he said. "Well yes, we are ponies after all" Night joked. "Yes yes but still, I mean I had hope but I never really thought that length of a journey could be achieved. Whatever I suppose that no longer matters, let's go the others are waiting" he finished. The pony then led Night and his squad into a massive room nearly filled to the brim with ponies and the occasional Griffon.

"Can I have your attention please" he spoke aloud. With the ponies ending their conversations to look at him. "Very good, as you all should know today we have special guests in our mist, a group of partisans from Longsword" he stated, causing many of the ponies to widen their eyes as he moved out of the way to show Night and his nien of other ponies.
The pony then invited them to speak, however none of them moved. Instead they all looked towards Night since he was their leader. Eventually Night gave in and walked forward, he wasn't that good with speeches, much less having to come up with one on the fly, but he did his best anyway.

After a few seconds of conjuring up something in his head he addressed them. "Hello everyone, as most of you probably know, the current leader of our country is the mad leader of the Longswordian Reformisten, Count Pallas Dusktalon. For years this insane has been trying to exterminate us and our culture, to wipe it off the face of the face of Griffonia. However we have successfully resisted this lunatic and his cronies up till now and are finally on the cusp of victory, but we cannot do this alone. We also know that you have been fighting the Reformisten here and have not been as fortunate, as they continue to gain more seats on the Knightly Council here and continue to turn Griffons against Ponies. However he truly have a chance to strike back at the Reformisten and maybe even gain a position of strength to lead to their eventual defeat, that being the overthrow of Dusktalon. We also know that some of your leaders feel that fleeing to Longsword temporarily would be the best course of action, however we will not force this anypony, and so on behalf of the leader of the Longswordian Liberation Army, we request help from you, our brothers and sisters within Hellquill, to help us in overthrowing the count, and so I ask you... will you help us?" he asked.

Almost immediately every single creature raised one of their frontal legs into the air. Confused Night turned to their "leader" but was only met by a smile. "The ponies of Hellquill will help you in this struggle" he answered. Which made Night and his partisan compatriots smile in return, their efforts had paid off. They had just scored a massive victory for the revolution.

Spreading The Word, And Then Some

The anti-regime posters we're absolutely everywhere. No matter where in the city Night went, there wasn't even a single street corner that wasn't covered in partisan propaganda. "Well it seems the partisans that did this we're quite successful" he thought. As he continued to silently sneak between alleyways and over rooftops he noticed that a lot of the posters depicted ponies and griffons that looked like partisans fighting against Griffonlike creatures in dark clothing, with the beaks and claws of them painted red probably trying to indicate that they we're covered in blood. Above and below the pictures was writing that depicted "crimes" committed by the Reformisten such as the slaughter of named villages, execution of random ponies, and just trying to simply wipe a species off the face of the earth as well.

Located at the bottom of every poster was more writing that demanded that the entire population of Longsword, be they pony or griffon, raise up in arms in a "just" cause to overthrow the "Tyrant Of Longsword", the Count Dusktalon.

"Ach, what a bunch of nonsense" he heard a voice say. Turning he saw from his position on a roof that a Griffon soldier was spatting to a bunch ponies about how even if they could get the weapons for an uprising alone they could never succeed in one. "Hm, I guess he is quite uninformed of the situation outside of these walls" Night thought.

Outside the walls of the great city of Visaginas, apart from a few very patrolled and guarded roads, was an absolute warzone. For nearly 10 years now the partisans and Reformisten had been fighting to the death to exterminate the other, which had left southern Longsword's countryside brutalized beyond all recognition. It was so bad that the planned "Griffonization", the Reformisten's plan on bringing Griffon settlers onto Pony land in order to settle it and destroy all traces of Ponykind in general was failing. Ironically because many settlers had simply been too scared to move here thanks to Starry's partisans. Although he would never harm an innocent Griffon family who'd done nothing to them, that family didn't know that, and he also didn't think that every single pony felt the same way towards Griffons. Especially the more nationalistic ones. Those fears where what had kept the Griffon settlers away for so long.

Plus there we're now more partisans than ever, thanks to him and his squad's efforts over 4,000 ponies had been rescued from Hellquill and brought into Longsword where the war was going much better. Apparently a few of them even began calling it the "Long March" or something, and from what he began to hear, it was quite a popular slogan.

He noticed that the sun slowly began to show itself once more upon the horizon. Ever since he was a young colt he'd always wondered how that happened, he'd been told by his parents that a god or goddess he had long forgotten about due to the war raised the sun, but from what he knew of the Griffon religion it was the same as well. Just a different god. To be honest religion used to be a big thing to a Longswordian pony, it was almost a national identity for them, and like so many other things the war had taken that away from them as well. Barely any of the older ponies that practiced it we're still alive, and the younger generation had almost no idea of any religion at all due to the war taking up all of their time. "All the more reason to free ourselves then, to reclaim our identity" he thought.

The griffon soldiers that guarded Visaginas began their day by coming out of their houses or barracks to get the pony slaves from the shoddy, rundown, "buildings" they kept them in. It was still bad but Night knew from experience that a Reformisten prison complex at least had a stable roof and walls. He also knew that the time frame they had to grab these ponies was very sensitive, any delay and the entire garrison and a decent size response force could be at the city in around 15 minutes, 10 if they really moved their flanks, and if he wanted to get out of the city and not be in a drawn out fight then they needed to move.

The Griffons began moving the ponies out of their "homes" and into the street. While most of the common Griffonfolk ignored them or what was happening all together a few did sneer, jab, and spit in their direction. Night tensed up at seeing this, and just as he thought about launching himself over the tip of the building a hoof found it's way onto the back of his neck. He looked over and saw Swift Wing's reassuring smile, he smiled in return.

The rest of the ponies he commanded looked to be in position as the Griffons brought out the last of their slaves. There we're four squads of them in total, each on a separate building in one of the four directions over looking the square in which the pony slaves we're lined up in. Visaginas, once a sprawling city of trade and wealth had been turned into a fortress of the poor, destitute, the hungry, and sick. Mainly because the Reformisten didn't care, as long as the ponies we're exterminated they could care less about the state of their country.

As the last of the slaves we're finally brought into a line, Night drew and cocked his rifle. With his comrades mimicking him and doing the same. The commander of the garrison then began speaking some derogatory bullshit about how Griffons we're superior to Ponies and that their only use in life was slave labor. That was until he shot the bastard straight through the neck, leaving him to choke to death on his own blood. The other squads as well as his own then lit up the Reformisten garrison, cutting down the surprised Griffons with rifle fire while the civilians panicked and ran away.

Once their numbers we're reduced enough Night charged forward with his trusty dagger to finish them off quickly. With a few pegasi following him they managed to complete this task with ease. Once the last Griffon had been killed he looked at his watch, it had taken them two minutes to put down the soldiers in the area, which meant they probably had around 3 before this entire area would begin to swarm with Griffons, and 8 before reinforcements would arrive. He quickly found a crate and jumped on top of it.

"Ponies" he spoke with a soft and yet commanding voice. "You are safe now, free from the oppression they" he gestured to the Griffon commanders body, "brought upon you. I know you have been greatly hurt, and the last thing you must want to do right now is move. But you will not be free for long if we do not leave immediately as Reformisten reinforcements will pour into this square and they will not take prisoners" he stated. "If you do not want to die to enraged genocidists then we must leave now" he said. The ponies looked shocked, this was certainly the last thing they we're expecting to happen today, with a few even crying of joy and hugging the partisans that freed them. But they knew that they couldn't stay here, and slowly began rising to their hooves before they began to make their way out of the city.

Thankfully there was an old sewer system that no one really went in, so it made escape quite easy. Letting the poor ponies move at their own pace rather than forcing them to run through gunfire in their current condition. As the ponies slowly entered the sewer tunnel Night and his squad stood guard along with the other partisans at the entrance. Shooting the occasional Griffon patrol as they investigated the gunshots. However it was soon clear that they would have to retreat, as the patrols got larger and the Griffon's more angry.

Finally the last of the ponies moved into the sewer entrance, but Night wasn't done with the Reformisten just yet. They we're going to pay for their crimes today. "Red Dusk, set up your machine gun about 100 paces back. The rest of us will be behind you with rifles. We're going to make those bastards pay for what they've done" he ordered. "Understood Night" Red Dusk replied. "Right, as for the rest of you" he turned to the other partisans with him. "Go catch up with Commandant Heavy Strike and help those ponies get out of here, me and my squad will hold them off" he stated. "It will be done sir" Commandant Fast Pace replied.

With that the two other squads raced off after the column of ponies marching away as Night and his squad set themselves up in a defensive position in the sewer tunnel. Red Dusk on the ground in the middle with his machine gun. Swift Wing, Quick Shot, and himself we're behind and next to him with their rifles, with Bandage helping Red Dusk manage his ammunition belts.

For a while there was nothing, not a sound, as quiet as a small house mouse. Then the sunlight pouring into the tunnel was blocked by an object. Then the clinking of armor and talons on the ground began, the Griffons were coming. "Einfach, sie hätten einen Hinterhalt anlegen können, sei vorsichtig!" a voice spoke. "They're coming" Quick Shot whispered. "Easy, not yet" he responded. Suddenly a bright light filled the tunnel once more, nearly blinding them. "Ich sehe sie, ich sehe sie, geh in Deckung!" the lead Griffon called out but was immediately killed as Red Dusk opened fire and began to pour hot lead into the small passageway. Although the Griffons ducked and tried to make themselves as small as possible their size advantage actually worked against them here. They tried taking cover behind support beams but it was no use, there was simply nowhere for them to go. Red Dusk cut them down while he, Quick Shot, and Swift Wing shot any survivors with rifle fire, while Bandage reloaded Red Dusk's spent magazines with ammo from his belt.

The few Griffons that did manage to make it out of the tunnel began panickily telling their commanders what had just happened. If the angry shouting and occasional gunshots we're any indication. "Wir kämpfen bis zum Tod, Eyrs mit uns!" a chant sounded. "Marsch" said a likely officer before 4 grenades we're thrown into the tunnel. They exploded and shook the entire earth. Then the Griffons began pouring fire into the tunnel as they slowly began to advance once more. A split second later Red Dusk's machine gun roared to life once again as bullets raced back and forth.

Fire, loud noises, and the occasional explosion lit up the passageway as both sides battled for supremacy. Although they we're cutting down Griffon after Griffon that didn't seem to matter as they simply replaced what they lost through reinforcements. They we're trading lives for ground, and it was getting to the point we're they actually had to fall back. He, Swift Wing, and Quick Shot covered Red Dusk and Bandage Heart as they retreated further back into the tunnel before they themselves would fly back while sticking close to the ceiling so Red Dusk could cover their retreat. Of course this meant he had to carry Quick Shot but hey, he was family, and he would do a lot for his family. This tactic was used until there we're simply no more Reformisten to shoot at. Although that was when the problems began.

"All right lets go, there's nothing more to do now" Quick Shot spoke. "Agreed" added Swift. They we're both infront of and looking towards Night, Bandage, and Red Dusk. Therefore managing to miss a Reformisten soldier who managed to survive and raise his rifle in the direction of Quick Shot.

"No" Night panicked, but it was too late. The Griffon squeezed the trigger on his rifle, although he was able draw his own pistol and put two shots straight into the Griffon's head he wasn't able to do it in time. The Griffon's round connected with Quick Shot's body where his leg met his torso. He grunted and fell to the ground, the bullet thankfully not striking anywhere very critical. Like his heart or lungs.

Bandage Heart moved before anypony else did, immediately at his side she began to treat his wound while he began barking orders. "We need to move! Bandage how bad is it?" he asked. "Not too bad, the bullet went straight through only clipping a little bit of bone" she replied. That was good, as he knew from experience it was very painful when a bullet struck a bone.

"Alright then I assume you can stabilize him?" he asked. "Yes Night" was the response. "Good because once you do we're moving. Red Dusk get your machine gun and ammunition packed up, I will watch our rear and make sure the Griffon's don't give us any more surprises, Swift you'll be upfront guiding us through the tunnel, understood?" he asked. He hoped that nothing else went wrong today but knowing his luck it probably would. "Understood" was the collective response of Red Dusk, Bandage Heart, and Swift Wing.

However as they began to pack up he trotted over to speak with Quick Shot. "Can you walk?" he asked him. "Somewhat" he replied. He tried putting his left hoof on the ground but was only met by pain shooting through his entire leg. "Ah, nope can't walk, sorry Night" he added. "Don't be, this is war, and war is very unpredictable" Night countered.

With that he noticed that the others had finished packing up and we're ready to move, Bandage had tied a small bandage around Quick Shot's wound to keep it from bleeding. "He's ready for transport" she stated. Suddenly they heard more Griffonian being spoken at the entrance to the tunnel. "Kommt schon ihr faulen Bastarde, vorwärts für das Vaterland, tötet den Ponie-Abschaum ein für alle Mal".

On that note it was time to leave and without anything being said the ponies quickly began trotting away from the Griffons, with himself carrying Quick Shot with his magic. For about ten minutes they trotted through the tunnel. Hoping that they could just waltz out the other side and not have to deal with an entire Reformisten garrison or a collapsed tunnel. Thankfully they we're moving faster than the Griffon's who we're searching for them at least, so that was a plus to their current situation. Every once and while they passed other tunnels that branched off to go to other parts of the city. It was at that point when Night realized how easily you could get lost down here, but they we're thankfully sticking to the main path. At last a light appeared infront of them, signaling the other end of the tunnel. Once they reached it they took cover along the sides of the tunnel like how the Griffon soldiers had done earlier before Swift Wing checked to make sure it was safe.

She slowly pocked her head out and looked around for about 4 seconds before stating it was clear. With that they quickly trotted out and dashed into a nearby orchard, surprising and scaring to death a few Griffon farmers who ran away screaming. Once they reached the end of the orchard they dashed over a small fence before racing into a forest that bordered it, being careful to cover any tracks they may have left as well.

Soon they arrived at the rendezvous point, they found that the ponies they had helped rescue earlier had been split into smaller groups divided evenly between the squads, with one group waiting for them. They still looked terrible, Night hadn't noticed earlier due to his focus on wanting to get the hell out of Visaginas. But know that there we're no such distractions he could see what had happened to these poor ponies. They looked beaten, starved, broken which he had seen before. What he had only noticed now was that many had dried blood covering their fur, whip marks on their backs, complete with tear marks being present on nearly every single one of them. "They probably had given up on life, and hope of an escape he thought. With that he was very glad they had come when they did for these ponies, given their current state, probably didn't have very long to live.

After that he began to look for a pony, and soon found him, Commandant Heavy Strike. Heavy Strike wasn't anypony special in the revolution, just an average commander. But he was the one that was going to be second of command of moving these ponies deeper into Longsword's forests. He knew he could do it and that was why he trusted him too, besides the revolution's high command hadn't been planning this prison break for months just get hunted down by Reformisten fanatics once they escaped.

"Commandant Heavy Strike" he stated to the light grey earth pony with a jet black mane. "Commandant Night Storm" he replied. A few of the ponies he had captured turned their heads, likely having heard of him but never actually believing he had existed. "Well it seems we we're quite successful today wouldn't you say comrade" Heavy Strike began. "Indeed, it is always an honor to kill Reformisten scum" he replied. "Of course of course, I assume the plan stays normal. We move them deeper into the forests to keep away from the Reformisten?" he asked. "Yes comrade, we will keep about 2 miles of distance in between and communicate using messengers, that way if one of us is ambushed there's 3 more parties they have to hit" he replied. "Understood" Heavy Strike finished.

With that the partisans began moving once again, back into the forests of Longsword. There was still the obstacle of getting past the Reformisten defensive line before they could get into the forest proper. But that was an obstacle for tonight, for now simply not getting shot took a higher priority.

A Nighttime Skirmish

As night began to fall Night led the ponies through the forests of Longsword. It had been hard work all day trying to avoid their Reformisten pursuers but they had done okay so far, and with night falling an opportunity presented itself to slip into partisan territory undetected.

The warzone which he was referring to was bit complicated, and saying that the partisans had territory was being a bit generous. In reality it was an area of about 20-30 square miles of cave bases, strongholds of various means of construction, sniper nests, traps, and constantly moving partisan squads. Plus that was only them, nevermind the Black Cloaks.

The ponies that he and the other squads we're transporting we're likely going to go into one of the cave strongholds, as that was we're the non-combatants of the IIA we're usually stationed. In said caves they would use what resources they had to make clothing so they could face whatever weather befell Longsword, ammunition for and the guns themselves, and pretty much anything other than food they produced in these underground factories. They we're also an ideal place to train new recruits for the army, as they we're underground where gunfire was difficult to hear from the surface. As well as a few other reasons.

Right now him, Bandage, Red Dusk, and thanks to Bandage's healing capabilities, Quick Shot we're escorting the ponies as they traveled through the night. They we're spread out with one of them about every 4-5 ponies, with there being around 20 of them in total this made it easier to protect them all in case of an attack and quickly move to where the gunfire was coming from. The first of the other squads and their ponies we're likely just now approaching the Reformisten defensive line.

The Reformisten defensive line was just like you'd think it was. A circle of trenches, artillery guns, machine gun nests, Black Cloaks en masse, plus other weapons and objects of war. It encompassed the entire warzone of which the partisans fought in. It was also probably one of the most fortified military defensive lines on the entire continent of Griffonia. So you'd probably ask how did he plan to cross it... Well it was quite simple actually, that being he didn't plan to cross it. Oh no they we're going to go under it. Using the darkness of the night to cover their movements.

The 50 or so secret tunnels which ran under the Reformisten lines let them secretly move in and out of where their main strongholds we're and still work with other resistance cells across Longsword. As they weren't the only ones resisting the Count and Reformisten, they we're just the most famous ones. The resistance cells that used to be in Hellquill two and a half weeks ago was proof of that.

"Ex-excuse me, sir?" a voice spoke next him. Bringing him out of his thoughts and halting his never ending task of scanning for Black Cloaks Night looked down to see that a small filly had asked the question. She looked beaten if the dried blood on what looked like light tan fur had anything to say, and a lot of her light green mane looked to have been cut out as well. It made his stomach twist to see anypony like this, let alone a child.

Despite this he put on a forced smile for the kid. "Yes little one?" he asked. "Ho-how much longer do we have to g-go?" she asked. "Quite a while still I'm afraid, we need to lose the Black Cloaks pursuing us" he said. "But I don't see any Reformisten?" she replied. He laughed, "that is because they do not want you to see them yet. Or they haven't caught up with us, either or." he replied. The filly didn't respond but did look at her hooves. Night took that as a symbol they hurt and so he picked her up with his magic and put her on his back. It always brought a smile to his face when he could help a pony in need. Griffons we're a bit more difficult in that regard but to be fair he still did whenever he could. He heard a small giggle from behind him. The filly looked to have actually fallen asleep already but that wasn't what had grabbed his attention, no that was Swift Wing. He raised his right hoof in the air to halt the ponies in order to converse with her.

"Ah Swift perfect, I was beginning to worry you had been captured by the Reformisten" he said. "Oh come on Night, getting into messes is your job. It's mine to clean them up" she teased. "Whatever, have you spotted any Black Cloaks yet?" he asked. "Nope, I've been coordinating with scouts from the other squads as well, nothing so far" she reported. "Excellent, that means we are clear to enter tunnel 27 then. Tell Heavy Strike that he is clear to enter as long as the other scouts report that there's no Black Cloak activity" he ordered. "Will do Night" she replied. With that he gave a signal to move out and had just turned around to continue their trek before she called out once more.

"Oh and Night" she called. "Yes Swift, is there a problem?" he asked. "Oh it's nothing Night, you just look adorable with that filly on your back" she replied before taking off to relay his orders. Immediately his face went as red as Red Dusk's coat while his friends and the other ponies laughed and chuckled. Embarrassed he just turned around and continued on towards the entrance to the tunnel.

The entrance to tunnel 27 was actually an old den of a long deceased animal. Mostly hidden by trees and being about 5 miles back from the Reformisten line meant that it went unnoticed by them up till now. Of course just because it was hidden extremely well did not mean that they left it unguarded, and the fact that he couldn't see the current guards meant that they we're up to the standard the partisans applied themselves to.

"The Reformisten occupies our land, what will we do about it?" he spoke aloud to nopony in particular. "We will resist, we will fight, we will bite" a voice replied. Turning around he realized that a pegasus stallion that had replied to him had been up in a tree concealed by his green camouflage clothing which matched the leaves.

"Good evening comrade" he said as he used his magic to deposit the filly into the arms of who he guessed was her mother. "Good evening Commandant Night Storm, Commandant Silver Rush. Pleased to make your acquaintance" he said. "Likewise, have the others already gone through?" he asked. "Others, what others? You are the first to arrive" he replied. Immediately Night drew his rifle from his side. "Shit, they must have been ambushed then" he thought.

"Quickly get the ponies into the tunnel and collapse it behind you, me and my squad w-" but that was as far as he got before around 50 Griffons rose up from the bushes, completely dressed from head to talon in green camouflage. "Take cover!" one of the partisans from Silver's squad yelled before absolute mayhem erupted. The Griffons opened fire first followed by Night and his partisans.

Bullets flew everywhere, as griffon and pony took cover behind trees, rocks, in ditches, and other places. The situation they we're in was nowhere near ideal. The ponies they we're escorting immediately bolted for the tunnel while 2 partisans showed them inside. They we're outnumbered more than 4 to 1, and they we're surrounded. On top of that the other squads and the ponies they escorted we're likely all dead. After gunning down 2 griffons with his rifle he took cover with Red Dusk and began to help reload one of his ammunition belts while using his hooves to fire his rifle. From his position he could see that a griffon squad was flanking around Quick Shot as he was covering some of the ponies they we're escorting. Wasting no time he pulled a grenade from his belt, tore out the pin, and flew as fast as he could towards the griffons. In the blink of an eye he dropped the grenade on the griffon squad while at the same time picked up Quick Shot and the ponies with his magic and dashed away just as the grenade exploded, killing 4 of the Griffons while mortally wounding the last. Night blocked their return fire with a shield spell and quickly deposited the ponies behind a rock.

"Thank you Night" Quick Shot said. "No problem, where's Bandage?" he asked. A quick scan by both of them revealed that Bandage Heart was treating 2 wounded ponies about 25 hooves away from them. It also revealed that the Reformisten we're rapidly advancing. "Alright I'm going to help Bandage and any other stragglers, you cover me and her. The other partisans can handle the ponies who are going for the tunnel" he said. "Understood Night" Quick Shot replied. With that he dashed back into the mayhem, dashing from position to position while shooting and getting shot at. Right now his primary objective was to stop the griffon advance.

Now any normal pony or even unicorn for that matter may have stood no chance at stopping this many griffons. But Night was not a unicorn. He was more powerful then 10 of them put together, and it was high time he demonstrated that again to the Black Cloaks. As he advanced he cut down 4 more griffons with rifle fire while he created a shield around Bandage and the wounded ponies.

Now that he didn't have to worry about potentially friendly firing innocent ponies or partisans he charged a fireball spell. While he was doing this he took off from the ground before pulling a 180 and diving right on top of a Reformisten soldier. He slammed into the bastard with his rear legs while at the same time confiscating his machine gun and using it to pour fire onto more griffons. "That's right, focus on me while Red Dusk takes you all out". The stallion from earlier was indeed mowing down the distracted griffons. Being one of the best gunners the partisans had meant that he was faring quite well against these Black Cloaks.

However at last the time came for Red Dusk to reload once again. He already knew that it took him about 6 seconds to reload the gun so he began to act as bait once more, only this time he was going to be the one to do most of the killing. Slowly working the griffons around he had to where around 10 of them we're with within 20 hooves of each other. Now you may be asking how he was able the amount of fire that 10 griffons we're putting out towards him. Well the answer was simple, that being that he wasn't dodging it. It was simply being absorbed into his shield that he had casted around himself as Bandage had long since relocated her patients.

At last just as Red Dusk managed to reload his gun Night let loose his spell. Having spent so long charging it up meant that the area it covered was massive, completely engulfing the 10 or so griffons he was initially targeting plus others in the area as well. At last seeing that they we're taking heavy casualties the Griffons began to retreat, still pouring fire as they ran. Night and the partisans had prevailed. However he was pissed.

Not only did the other squads likely fail and we're ambushed, but none of their scouts had managed to detect one Reformisten soldier. Somepony was definitely going to answer for this, he knew that.

A Long Night

The moon was high in the sky over Longsword. Among it's presence was a very pissed off pony. Said pony was currently interviewing several partisan scouts about why they had failed to alert him and the they’re partisan brothers and sisters about an ambush earlier in the night. Said ambush had resulted in the deaths of 68 Griffins, his kill count of 32 included, and 44 ponies. Including partisan and civilian, across the 3 groups currently present.

Commandant Night Storm was currently interviewing his 6th partisan as to why they had failed so spectacularly tonight, and was still trying to figure out why and how each group had been lured off the main trail and over 5 miles apart from each other.

"So you are saying that you didn't see or hear any Griffons at all, is that correct?" he asked a partisan by the name of Nimble Hoof. "Yes sir, I did not" he replied. This was starting to get on Night's nerves. He knew that this wasn't them being distracted or incompetent, after all Starry had entrusted this to him and while she hadn't given him they’re best soldiers, they we're still capable. Something else was ahoof here.

"I see, very well then. You we're assigned to Commandant Ink Quill’s squad, correct?” he asked. "Yes sir, I was". Then how did you manage to get more than 4 miles off course?". The pony thought for a second before replying. "I did not know that we were off course sir, according to the landmarks and the map we were given we appeared to be where we needed to be" he replied.

"I see, very well then, you are all dismissed. Return to your squads and report to your superiors" Night ordered. "Yes sir" the partisans said before leaving. He definitely would need to look at the maps the partisans used, just to make sure that there wasn’t any sabotage conducted. As unlikely as it was. But that would come later. Likely after he reported to a furious Starry Night.

Currently only two of the three groups that weren't with Night's when the attack began had managed to rendezvous with his. He was still waiting on Commandant Fast Past's group before they would begin to move to another tunnel, as the squad guarding the original tunnel had thankfully followed his orders to the letter and got as many ponies as they could inside before collapsing it behind them. Meaning they had to go to tunnel 26 in order to get into partisan territory.

He would also need to speak with Swift Wing as well, as she was his groups scout and had fucked up just as badly. Apparently both scouts that he'd interviewed already had said that they never saw any Reformisten, which was very surprising. Usually ponies held the camouflage advantage, while griffons we're bigger and more powerful. Although this time it seemed that the griffons had managed to turn the tables on them.

Upon examining the bodies it revealed that the clothing the Black Cloaks had been wearing had been specially designed to hide them within the forests' dark confines, practically copying the partisan's strategy of ambush tactics. "For once the griffons are playing hunter it seems" he thought. "Well not like we shouldn't have seen this coming, after all battles and wars have been turned by copying the enemy's strategies and combining them with your own, that was how Grover II had won about 2/4 of his own battles after all".

After making sure that their perimeter was secure and finding himself having some alone time he decided to speak to his squad and make sure that they we're all okay, especially since Quick Shot was still dealing with his wound. Magic could get rid of an infection and stop bleeding, maybe even help heal muscle, tissues, and bone. But unless the healer was remarkably skilled it could never stop pain completely. From his own experience he knew that Bandage could null it significantly but never fully prevent it.

However before he could get to them Swift finally arrived with Fast Pace's group. It seemed that they had suffered the worst, with 3 partisans dead along with half of the ponies in their group. Upon seeing him Swift seemed to melt under his gaze but to her credit did not look away. He trotted up to her.

"Night I-". "We need to talk Swift" he cut her off. "... Alright".

"All right so you're telling me that these Reformisten soldiers not only managed to ambush all of our squads tonight but as well as remain undetected by our scouts whose only purpose other than helping with navigation is to locate and then relay enemies and their positions to their squad members, correct?" Night asked.

"... Yes, none of us we're able to spot any of their soldiers" Swift replied. Night looked at the cold forest floor "Fuck".

"Night I... I'm sorry, I" - "There's no need for a sorry Swift, you tried, I tried, every single partisan here tonight tried, and we failed miserably as fuck. But if there is anything that at the very least I have learned from the better part of the last 10 years of my life is that sometimes you just can't win... no matter how hard you try" he said. A cold silence followed, with only the smell of blood and the cold wind blowing against their coats being a break in the otherwise tense atmosphere.

“So what happens now?” Swift asked. “Now?” he asked, Swift nodded in reply. I suppose we continue on with the mission, finish it, and then face the fire of fucking up” he answered. Swift just grimaced in response, knowing that because of her actions Night was now going to be reprimanded.

“Night if it helps… I’d like to be there when you report to Starry. Since this is technically my fault too” she said, Night smiled. “Thank you Swift but you don’t have to do that, what happened here tonight was my responsibility and I need to face the consequences for it. Besides I have a feeling that something is amiss anyway”. Swift was confused. “What do you mean Night?” she asked.

“I mean that something isn’t right. Think about it, how did every single scout from every single squad who at the least all have 7 years of experience of fighting not see or at least detect the Griffons. There is something going on here Swift, I’m sure of it” he answered. “So you don’t think we are at fault?” she asked. “No Swift, you, me, and the other scouts and partisans are still at fault. I just don’t think it’s at the level you believe it is”. At that Swift gave a small nod in acknowledgment before looking towards the dead ponies being piled up.

“What are we going to do with them?” she asked, gesturing to the pile of dead ponies. Night followed her gaze and shuddered when he saw just how many they’re was. “We’re going to dig a collective grave for them and move on, I want to reach tunnel 26 by the end of the night still” he replied. “Alright” Swift replied.

Night wanted to say more, he wanted to tell Swift that it wasn’t her fault, that it wasn’t anypony’s fault, that they had been deceived and walked into the ambush. But he couldn’t, he would be lying if he said that, and that would just make the situation even worse in the long term.

“If it’s alright I’m gonna go help bury them okay, it’s the least I can do” she spoke up.

“Alright Swift, alright” he replied.

As she walked off Night once again set to work once more, first he checked again to make sure that the perimeter was secure, that the Reformisten wouldn’t be back for round 2, and casted several spells to alert him if a creature set hoof in a certain radius around them. Once that was completed he went to help bury the bodies, which was currently being done by Red Dusk and couple of other partisans who he didn’t know.

The ponies doing the digging looked surprised when they saw dirt being moved by magic but relaxed when they saw it was him. After the hole was dug they began to put the bodies into the hole for burying. They worked silently as nopony was in the mood to speak. Two of the ponies were softly crying while Red Dusk and the other partisan worked in absolute silence. He was also able to keep his composure up until he softly pulled a small body out from under a mare. At the sight of it his heart stopped, as it was the body of the filly he had helped carry earlier in the night. A small tear came to his eye as he knew she had died because of his negligence. He knew that he wasn’t solely responsible for what happened, but he was in charge. It was his job to make sure that things like this didn’t happen.

He took a few seconds to pull himself together, as he had long since learned that dwelling on the mistakes of the past only made you feel worse the longer it went on. However that didn’t mean that it got easier to deal with, it never did. It was going to be a long night.

The County Of Longsword

The County Of Longsword is a small, little nation that has been calling the region of Central Griffonia on the Griffin continent of Griffonia it's home for the last 200 years. However the region's history goes back much, much further. Around one millennium before Luna's banishment the first Riverpony tribes began to move in east from the Riverlands before settling in Longsword. While they would occasionally unite together to push out various incursions by Griffins, Riverponies, and sometimes even Diamond Dogs, they usually only kept to themselves, living in separate tribes.

However population pressures and ambitious tribal chiefs eventually started to advocate to start raiding foreign lands and sometimes even settle in them. The Longswordian River Boats would reach as far as Rijekograd in the east and Herzland in the west. But the Griffin estates we're their primary target, as they we're packed full of treasure ranging from exotic foods to gold itself. On top of that there we're hundreds of them along the bank of the Griffking River which made them easy targets. But this made Longswordian ponies, and to an extent Riverponies in general, into a bitter enemy of the Griffins.

In reprisal the Griffins would launch several incursions led by Knightly Orders into Longsword, however these would always be repulsed by the tribes as they would use Longsword's many marshes, swamps, and forests to ambush and whittle down entire armies to nothing via attrition. This also had the unforeseen consequence of making Longsword ponies more stubborn and warlike than the ponies of the Riverlands, further increasing their raids on the Griffon estates.

This went on and on until around 780 ALB (After Luna's Banishment) when the Longswordian tribes would actually begin to unite under one ruler, Duke Zemaitukas. As well as under the faith of Varene, the goddess of the hunt. In 785 ALB Zemaitukas founded what he called to be The Grand Duchy Of Longsword, to safeguard the ponies of Longsword against another Griffin invasion of their homeland.

Sadly it was not to last, as that same year and only a few days after the first Griffonian emperor, Grover I died. Nimbusia, a Riverland nation and regional power further east would invade the Gryphian Host, a small little Griffon frontier nation. Even though this attack was repelled by the Griffins, it had the unfortunate effect of causing mass panic within the newly formed Griffonian Empire, as well as prompting it's new Kaiser, Grover II to launch the first of his many crusades towards the east, with Longsword being his first target. It was torched to the ground, with Zemaitukas falling in battle before a Griffon blade.

Longsword was then granted to the noble house of Dusktalon as a reward for their faithful service in the crusades. However he also required the nobles to share their power with the Order of Rosewood The Knights Of The Order Of The Rosewood Spear,who helped spearhead the campaign. In a sort of dual monarchy fashion/advisory council, unlike in Hellquill. The reasons as to why he did this are still unclear and debated, but many speculate that after the first crusade failed to completely annihilate the Riverponies it was a measure to safeguard the new county from a pony reprisal. But that theory has never been proven.

However something must have been done right, as Longsword became an Imperial protectorate, or March as the Griffins call it, the noble family and the order got along near perfectly, all pony invasions were held at bay, and the county prospered. Although there we're a few issues between the ponies and Griffins at first eventually the ponies we're allowed to remain in their tribes as farmers as long as they paid taxes, however Longsword and Hellquill we're still both seen as places for Griffon colonization.

There would be no more eventful events for the next 200 years, save for Grover II's death at the hooves of a Nimbusian spear and the ending of his famous crusades. Up until The Republican Revolution Of 978 ALB, where the empire had been slowly declining for 100 years with poverty running among a majority of it's citizens, a much increasing corrupt government, and a general dislike of the newly crowned Kaiser Grover V, many a Griffon were killed that year. After the uprisings Longsword severed the last of it's ties with Griffenheim, along with a lot of counseling from it's friend and ally Hellquill, abandoned it's Imperial March status in favor of it's own goals. Many believe this is when the first of the Reformisten began to appear as well, as well as them potentially having a hoof in persuading Longsword to severe it's ties with Griffenheim.

For a while the newly independent county prospered as the Griffonian Empire slowly diminished. But that all changed when the newest count of Longsword, Count Pallas Dusktalon came to power. At first he was perfectly content with the traditions that we're in place. But eventually he caught wind of a new political ideology and organization growing and gaining more and more power within Hellquill, The Reformisten. Mainly believing in "Griffon Supremacy", as well as holding the ponies as the main enemy of all of Griffonkind, and on top of that solely blaming them for all of their problems. Their goal was to make Hellquill into what they called a "Proper State", clearing the way for Griffin colonization with their leader, Wingfried Von Katerinburg as it's sole leader.

These new and radical ideas interested the count, and he began to invite more and more of them to his court. As well as to teach him their ideals. Over time these ideas of supremacy and hatred took hold and manifested in Dusktalon's heart, and he began to implement these ideas all across Longsword, at the expense of all ponies living within it's borders. Hellquill fared much worse, especially as it was the birthplace of the Reformisten. Over time this butchering of the ponies would come to be known as the Longswordian Genocide.

Thankfully however not everypony was simply content to wait for the Reformisten to come and kill them. A group of partisans calling themselves The Longsword Liberation Army or IIA for short, and led by the famous partisan fighter Starry Night are actively fighting against the count and his Reformisten lackeys. Meanwhile the military is growing more and more discontent with the mass slaughter of ponies, and on top of that Pallas decided that in order to see his fruitions come to pass he needed to abolish The Rosewood Order in order for him to have enough power to wipe out the "pony scum" once and for all. Thus making two enemy's at once and sending the county careening towards an inevitable civil war.

Meanwhile one partisan fighter and considered Starry's pupil by many, a pony named Night Storm is more determined than ever to avenge not just his own family, but his entire village and all of the ponies slaughtered by the Reformisten. Joining Starry's group at the young age of 6 he has been fighting for 9 years to liberate his homeland, and he is prepared to sacrifice everything in order to do so.