The Champion Of Longsword

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.