Freedom Fighters : Equestria

by Maple Sunrise

Scholar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Pesticide…Those things be poisonous?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

“You okay there?”

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

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

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

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

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

“Crossbows.” He merely stated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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woot!!1