The Champion Of Longsword

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.