//------------------------------// // Infiltration // Story: Fighting Never Ends // by Tx Avenger 218 //------------------------------// “C’mon Twilight. Will ya’ll stop pacing around? Ah’m sure Swift will be alright.”   “This is not alright, Applejack! The second we had a chance to get out of that place, just as soon as a war starts with the griffons, he decides to play hero and be ‘their’ commander!”   “B-but he’s a-always been one t-to help w-when-“   “That’s just it Fluttershy! Why is he staying there and helping the griffons when he should be here helping us for when the ligers attack!” Twilight yells, causing the butter colored Pegasus to recoil under her mane. “He is Equestria’s champion. They made a verbal threat against both Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. It goes against his place to be helping the griffons side of the war for them instead of us.” She complains. “Maybe he’s more comfortable with them in a war than us. No surprise with that.” She mutters the last part to herself.   “Twilight, deary, calm down,” Rarity says. “With everything that we have been through, through all the dastardly trials and torments we all had to endure, can you honestly tell me that Swift Wind, the only human in Equestria who made an oath to said country, is willing to completely forgo all ties to us?” Twilight stops pacing and looks at the fashionista.   “What do you mean?”   “I mean, this war won’t last forever. At least I hope not.” She shakes her head of the thought. “But in any case, he tends to be the mysterious one at times. I’m sure that whatever he is doing right now, he is safe and… giving the griffons some tips on warfare for now until he returns here to us.” Rarity says with her best encouraging smile she can show.   Twilight stares for a few more seconds before heading over to the window and looking out to the darkened sky. It really isn’t true that Swift would forget his friends just like that to be comfortable in war. After all, who can ever be?   “You really think so?”   “I’m sure so deary. Now come back over here. Your food is getting cold.”   A low grumble emanating from her stomach reminds the bookworm pony with a slight blush that she hasn’t eaten much since she was just shipped back home a few days ago without her consent by some of Swift’s loyal soldiers. She’s more worried than hungry.   “Yeah,” Twilight sighs and moves away from the window back to her friends. “You’re probably right. He’s capable enough to be able to survive anything the ligers and griffons throw at him. I mean, he did survive the Everfree Forest annnnnd Discord.”   “That’s the spirit, Twilight!”   “The best we can do really right now is just wish him luck.”   “Yeah,” she looks out the window one more time before taking a bite out of some of her hay fries.   He’ll be fine.   <<<>>>   Brazor was a well commended soldier in the liger army, earning many achievements and titles while in the army that made him highly popular with the troops. True with the lack of war time for the ligers, many of those rewards were because of the skirmishes and defending against feral creatures, he has proven to be quite capable. Even though he was offered many promotions over the past years to bigger and better positions in the military that were more respectable and higher paying, but he denied everyone.   He always did prefer to be on the frontlines with his fellow soldiers, preferring to be right up close and personal with his target so he can see them fall before his very eyes, to see the life drain from their eyes as he plunges his sword deep into their heart and practically tearing it out.   He’s taken many lives throughout his career, maybe he should have taken that promotion so he could take more lives later on…   And not take a bullet between the eyes.   <<<>>>   *Phick*   I quickly push the liger into a linen closet before too much blood seeps onto the floor. After getting his sword and putting it with the others and locking the door tight, I grab a couple towels and stuff them onto the bottom of the door so no blood will seep out. I grip my Colt XSE tighter in my hands look outside.   Okay, two guards. Top rooftop across the way. Wait till they turn and… The two ligers armed with heavy crossbows turn away to examine the other street on the other side. I dash quietly across as best I can without making any noise. I listen in the dead of night for any noises that might have given me away. The guards continue their patrol.   I duck inside my target building and look around. The place looks like a tavern of sorts with empty mugs and overthrown chairs and tables strewn across the room. Whether it was because of it being a tavern to forget and be merry, or because of the sudden occupation, is unsure. I see a liger sleeping in a chair in front of the stairs.   Hm, as usual. I move over to him from behind and reach out to grab the keys.   *Creeeeaaaaak*   Stupid fucking creaky piece of shit floorboard! I mentally curse the piece of wood under my foot as I stare at the slowly moving body in front of me. I keep the gun pointed at him just in case he turns around.   “Hm…”   Phew. The jailer didn’t wake up. Avoiding the cursed loose floorboard, I quickly reach out and swap the jailors key for me own. His new key may not open anything but at least it should keep him distracted long enough till morning for the plan to commence. I holster my gun and move to the front and slowly make my way upstairs, using my hands each time to test and make sure my steps won’t disturb anything.   Okay, good. After finally making it to the top, I look down the corridor at the make-shift jail cells. The ligers almost immediately converted many of the larger buildings into prisons by ripping off some of the doors and replacing them with iron bars. I peak into the first one. Two adult male with a child. Their ears perk up as they hear my footstep. As soon as they get up from their slump, I put my finger to my lip. They get the gesture as they don’t talk.   “Are you alright?”   “Y-yes. We are.”   “Can you tell me what happened?”   “Honestly, I am not sure what happened. One second we all were just sleeping happily when next we were thrown into these make-shift cells and beaten. Those of us that tried to resist were beaten badly, others were made an example of.” One of the males looks away sadly. Looks like he lost someone close.   “Don’t worry, a plan is in place. You’ll know when to act.” I go to move to the last cell. A claw grabs my hand before I can move. I look down to see the small griffon child looking up at me. As soon as she sees me looking at her, she lets go.   “Y-your… the champion… right?” she asks in a low voice. I stare for a bit before looking at the other two adults in her cell and further down to see some heads poking out.   “Yeah, yeah I am. I’m getting you all out of here.” I say with a smile. She smiles up at me before nodding. I gently pat her head to reassure her before I make my way further along the cells. Making it to the last one, I take note of its occupants. One adult male griffon and one female. The male is pretty beat up with a couple of his claws broken, his back legs broken, feathers pulled and I see a large gash going over his left eye. The female however is pretty big on her stomach region, which means it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she’s pregnant probably within her last 13th month of pregnancy. A large bruise is present on her face along with tears as she does what she can to make sure the other griffon is alright.   “You two alright?” The both of them look up at me. “Right, stupid question. Listen, a plan is already in play to free the city. I just need you two to do me a favor.”   “Not much we can do from in here, Champion.” The male says before looking back down.   “Besides, my husband is in no condition to be moving whatsoever.” The female says. Married huh, that bond will help.   “He doesn’t need to move…” I stretch out my arm holding the key. “You do.”   “Where did you get that?”   “I didn’t get here by pure luck.” Slowly she reaches over and grabs the key. “Hide the key and in the morning, I need you to unlock this cell, then the others, and proceed across the street to that house. I stole some of the ligers weapons and stockpiled them there.”   “Why not now?” the griffon in the nearby cell asks.   “Because there’s no way all of you can take on your captors alone. In the morning, you’ll be our support when we enter the city.” I begin walking back to the front.   “Wait!”   I stop and turn back to see the pregnant griffon at the bars. “When will I know to free us?”   I smile, “Trust me, you’ll know.” With those last words, I take one last look out the nearby window and make my way downstairs and towards the front door but also being mindful of the still sleeping guard.   Alright, the others should be done with their side of this place as well. I take another look around as I slowly make my way down the street, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. We may have a map of the entire town, but what’s better than the one in your own mind.   “Fuck!” I silently curse myself as I watch a lanterns light slowly make my way from a corner. I grab the handle of a nearby door and try open it but it’s locked. The light gets brighter with every passing second and my heart beats faster. Looking around for more options, I look up and spot a lone water pipe above me. Last second, I kick off the wall and jump up onto pipe, praying that it’s strong enough to hold my weight as I cross my legs onto it as well.   “Did you hear that?”   “I didn’t hear anything.”   “I swear to you I heard something over here.” Both ligers come around the corner with lanterns atop their backs.   “Your just paranoid. Look, we got this entire city under our control. We got this and there is nothing here to attack us.” For now at least.   “What makes you say that?”   “I just know these things alright. Things have quieted down since we tried to attack the griffon army so I don’t think they are going to try anything.” The ligers friend pushes up against him.   “And are you forgetting that metal beast flying around that nearly killed the entire army a few days when tried to attack the griffons?” Heheheee… That was awesome. Really made a statement at the end there.   “No I have not. Look, that thing was far too loud and clunky plus it hasn’t been seen around here since then. It could have attacked the city easily but it didn’t. Maybe it’s not as powerful as we think if it didn’t just continue the offensive.” C’mon guys coincidentally stopped right under me. Arms are getting numb here.   “Maybe… I don’t know. It was too easy for us to take over this city like that. Barely any resistance and we just moved in like nothing.”   “That’s because we’re the superior race here comrade. Always has been, always will be.” He says with a smirk. “Once we keep a firm hold of this city, we’ll be able to move into the Griffon Kingdom and take it over, firmly stating our place their rulers.”   “But that place is said to be near impossible to take!” They begin to walk away the direction I came from.   “Near impossible. Even if we don’t manage to break in, I’m sure we can just starve them out…” their voices trail off as I jump down and continue forward. The city is pretty big with different districts and areas being wide enough to allow for large bazaars to be held.   Continuing down the pathway, I continue to take note of every possible advantage I could find that may or may not save my life when we do decide to attack. Interesting enough, the entire place is a lot emptier than one would expect from an invading force to occupy it.   Then again, this invading force wasn’t expecting a ‘giant metal bird that breathes fire’ to suddenly sweep down from the sky and destroy half their army in mere minutes.   “Alright, getting close.” I find myself at the edge of the city at one of its many wooden walls. The main gateway, albeit destroyed, is still heavily defended. Besides, the others are waiting for me closer over here.   Fun fact, my partners are easily able to scale this wall being griffons and all, however the smooth trunks of the wood and pointed tips may be a problem for me. Looking around I try to find anything that may be able to help me climb it.   My eyes fall on a long length of rope.   “That’ll do.” I grab the rope and begin tying a loop at the end. Once I feel it’s big enough and tight enough, I prepare myself. Alright, all those time of watching AJ at the rodeo are about to pay off.   I toss it… and promptly miss. To some degree. “C’mon man, it looked so damn easy!”   Tossing it again… and miss. “Fuck!”   “Huh?”   I freeze and turn around to see a liger staring at me. We stare for a few moments till I spot the slow movement of his back paws moving. Instinctly, I throw the lasso at him and around his neck before he’s able to scream, the sudden constriction on his throat preventing him. Tightly grabbing the rope, I pull hard and tear him towards me, making him fall on his face.   I quickly run up to him and run my knife directly into the top of his skull. His body tenses up for a second before falling limp.   “Phew.” I sigh in relief. My heart is beating a million miles a minute at almost being made in this instant. After calming myself down and unlatching the lasso from the corpse, I drag it over to a pile of sacks and begin stacking them over the body. As long as no one jumps onto the pile or accidentally kicks one of the sacks, it should be good. Looking at the small pool of blood on the stone floor, I grab another sack and toss it onto the puddle. “Meh.”   Resuming my impromptu escape path, my next throw finally hits its mark. Yes! Testing the strength a bit, I climb.   Using the rope to climb the wall, my mind replays back to the last time I had to climb something, except the last time was on a sheer drop cliff and I was carrying a newly acquired sword at the time. Slowly yet steadily I make my way up the wall, taking note behind me of any prying eyes that would jump at the chance to spear or javelin me in the back.   “Easy does it… that’s it… almost there… just gotta keep my-“   “Leo! Where are you?”   Book it!   At the call of what I assume is the dead liger I killed, I double my efforts in climbing while also not trying to sound like I’m going to tear the wall down. As I make it to the top, I carefully angle myself so I don’t get skewered.   Alright, one… two… three!   Using as much of my arm strength as I can, I launch over the spikes. Unfortunately, some of my shirt didn’t go as well.   “Ow! Fuck! Son of a-!” I groan as continuously hit branches all the way down.   “Oof!... god… damnit.” I moan in pain once I hit the ground.   “Smooth, champion.”   “Oh crap.” I slowly look up at the smirking face of Alan and our third team member Gilda.   “Tell me, are all humans that… subtle, or do you just… how you say, suck?” he says with a smile and snarky tone.   “Shut up.”   “Geez, your about as quiet and subtle as my old flight school classmate.”   “You too, Gilda.”   “Then don’t suck so much.”   “Oh yeah you’d know would you.” I reply with a smile. And from that look, I hit a nerve.   “Oh you little-“   “Enough!” Alan quietly shuts us. “Did you finish your objective?”   “Yeah, yeah I did.” I say as I stand up and brush myself off. “The maps have been updated, thinned their numbers without them noticing and armed the prisoners. Second we attack, all hell breaks loose.”   “What?”   “Tartarus.”   “Oh”   “Can we go you two?” Gilda grumbles. We both take one more look at the wall before nodding and taking off.   Tomorrow, we take back a city.   -----------------------------------   I’m sorry, I don’t even have an excuse. What’s there to say? I pretty much lost my muse to write all that time ago. I still want to write this story, but it’s not as fulfilling when it keeps repeating over and over again in your head.   I still want to thank those of you reading this that have favorite this story, my previous one and followed me. It means a bunch from you guys and hopefully I’ll get back into the groove of writing. Maybe the reason I didn’t want to is because of my writing classes at college that required me to write.   I don’t know. Time will tell how often I’ll update.   Happy Reading.