> War Never Changes
>  by Thunderblast
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Off to War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minutes felt like hours. Time seemed to slow down, slower and slower as each second went by. It was almost as if time had just stopped altogether.

"First sarge!"

The grey pegasus, Thunderblast, snapped back into reality. His heart raced, and his eyes darted around briefly, then he stared forward and met the light blue eyes of a white pegasus guard, who had a set of extra armor on his back and was standing in the rain. The stallion had a stern look on his face as he stared back into the darker blue eyes of Thunder, while holding a hoof out to him.

"No, there's no way in hell I'm going. I resigned and that's that!"

"Captain's orders, as well as mine. If you don't come with me, you are at greater risk of being sent to the dungeons under the castle."

"What? What kind of rule is that?! Just send another guard, because I'm not one anymore!"

"First sarge!"

Thunderblast quickly snapped his hooves together at attention, "Yes sir!" and his eyes suddenly widened. The discipline of a soldier in him was still alive and well, and he took the order like he was still in. What he had just done, is the opposite of what he wanted to do. Doing it in front of a guard only made it worse. 

"Come on. We are to be in Canterlot by ten."

"Sir... please. Let me stay, I'm not in the guard anymore," the guard just stared. "Please."

The guard shook his head. "I'm sorry. You have no choice, first sergeant."

Thunderblast began to tear up, and his voice cracked. "Fine... I will go." 

The guard then nodded afterwards and handed over a wet, brown sack carrying the stallion's armor, which was completely polished, with a helmet replacing the armor collar he had up from earlier that year. Unlike his first set of armor, his new one had the red star from his most recent set. 

As guards ranked up, some were lucky enough to receive different colored stars, with the option to keep their original bluish-green armor star. The stallion slowly put the chest and back plate on first as he followed the guard who drafted him to war, out into the cold, hard rain. Afterwards, he fit the hoof guards snug onto his hooves, followed by the helmet. Of course, his mane nor coat colors changed because of a strange occurrence that happens to very few guards.

"Permission to speak sir?"

"Granted."

"When do we ship out?"

"Tomorrow morning, six AM. The Lunar Guard is being left to take care of Canterlot, while we all are being sent over."

"Isn't that a risky maneuver? The Lunar Guard has less troops than us."

"It is, but someone has to stay and take care of it. Shining Armor will also be traveling with us all over there."

"What about CO Otto Tech?"

"He'll be staying. He isn't considered to be a war fighter yet."

"Sir, I've fought along side him numerous times. He's more than worthy enough to fight...not that I'm saying he should go."

"Whatever you say, first sergeant."

Thunderblast did not respond, but instead grumbled some inaudible things which caught the guard's attention, but he did not question him about it. Some time later, the two arrived at the Canterlot palace.

"Is this him sir?"

The lieutenant nodded. "He is, corporal."

The guard turned his head to Thunder. "I will be your escort to your barrack. Lieutenant Golden Armor will be on his way to his quarters for a meeting with the captains."

Thunderblast nodded. "Yes sir, let's go."

"First sergeant."

"Yes, sir?" Thunder turned to Golden.

"I want you to go to the armory first and stock up on weapons and extra armor. We won't have time tomorrow morning to do so, so I suggest getting it done now."

"Yes sir, I will," Thunderblast saluted Golden, who returned the salute and took to the skies towards the castle, while the unicorn and Thunderblast began walking to the armory. "Do you know any more about what's going on over there?"

"No sir. All I know is, they've captured everypony we had over there for security, about eleven guards. Some of them have been executed as well, and the king of the empire refuses to explain what they want or why they are doing this."

"Sounds iffy to me, but then again, they're a bunch of stupid featherbrains."

"That's a little far, first sarge. They've been great allies with Equestria for many years."

"I refuse to believe that. I went on a short vacation over there a couple of years back. Hated every moment of it. Griffons are the most ignorant and rude beings I've ever met."

The unicorn stuttered a bit.

"War with them doesn't surprise me. They're always making a mess of things corporal."

"I... I guess you are right, sir," the guard began to tremble a bit, which Thunder refused to notice.

Minutes after leaving the train station, the unicorn and Thunderblast reached the armory inside the castle. It was a newer armory, filled with rows of shelves of Royal and Lunar Guard armor. The armory was busy with other guards, but not as busy as Thunder expected. Luckily, there was plenty of gear to go around. 

As they trotted in, the unicorn split off to grab his own gear in the 'Unicorn Guard' section of the armory, while Thunderblast made his way to the pegasus section. Once there, he grabbed two full sets of armor, this time including golden pads which extended up most of one's leg, and even some silver wing shields, which would be perfect for defending off arrow attacks. 

Afterwards, Thunder met back up with the unicorn in the weapons armory. The unicorn picked up a bow, plus many arrows, a knife, and a musket-like gun which fired on unicorn magic, meaning only unicorns could use it. It was a great advancement, but had never been used before by anyone other than it's creator, Sergeant Thunderclap, an earth pony from Whitetail Woods. 

Luckily for Thunder, there was another gun designed the exact same way, by the same creator, which fired large bullets shaped like balls, something that would cause damage to one's body, armored or not. It made him wonder however, why they weren't being given rifles like the Equestrian Army was using, or why the Equestrian Army wasn't being deployed at all. 

Things weren't adding up, but he didn't think about it. Instead, he picked up the gun, a spear, hoof guards with claws which were mainly used by Lunar Guards, and ammunition for the gun. Moments later, both were finished gearing up, only because they couldn't carry any more. After being cleared, both returned to the barracks, which were full of activity. The unicorn and Thunder split up for the last time, going to their designated barracks. Thunder walked into his, finding...

"Spear? Stormfire?" Thunder's eyes widened at the sight of two familiar stallions.

"Hey, Thunder!" Storm smiled and stood up from his bed. "We had no idea you'd be staying the night with us!"

"Hey, what are you doing back here? I thought you resigned," Spear smiled, but had an eyebrow raised.

"I got drafted back," Thunder sighed a bit, and set his gear on a vacant bed.

"Wow... it must be that bad if they're bringing back ponies who resigned recently," Storm said as he turned to face Spear, who stared back in worry.

Thunderblast nodded and walked over. "So, what are you two up to?"

"Just talking before lights out. The captain wants us to get as much sleep as possible, so we can be ready. We're flying out on airships," Stormfire shrugged.

"Airships? He does know it will take us over two or three days to get there, right? We can get plenty of sleep on the way. Buuut, I won't question that. We are getting up early after all," Thunder shrugged. "Oh well."

"Heh... you sure like thinking more than you should, don't you Thunder?" Spear smirked a bit, then gave him a playful punch to the shoulder.

"Quiet, Spear," Thunder wasn't having it. He was tired, and wasn't in the mood to be joking around, especially the night before leaving Equestria, possibly forever.

"Hey... easy Thunder. I'm playing with you," Spear's smile dropped into a frown.

"I'm not in the mood Spear. This is serious! We only have a few hours, and-"

"Thunder, stop. He's trying to lighten the mood. We're not happy about this either."

"I... ugh!" Thunderblast dropped onto his bed, face down. "I can't believe this crap."

"It'll be fine, Thunder. We'll be back home... eventually."

Thunder slowly raised his head, and stared at the two ponies, now with sadness on his face. "What if though?"

"What if what?" A grey unicorn with an extremely light grey and white mohawk mane trotted out of the barrack's steamy bathroom, rubbing a towel on the side of his head.

Thunder glanced over to the unicorn. "Sharp? I had no idea you were here either."

"I had no idea you were back in the guard," the unicorn folded the used towel, setting it in a small basket next to the bathroom door.

"I am, but just for this. I got dragged out of my house."

"Literally?" Storm stared in shock.

"No. Figure of speech."

"Oh. Continue then."

"It's against the rules to do that, you know."

"What? Being re-drafted? It isn't if there is an emergency. I would think that this is an emergency."

"Well, I guess. It's great to see you again though," Sharpblade smiled and sat on his bed. "Are you staying after this is all over?"

"I already told you no. I plan to return in a few months though, or a year. It'll be a while."

"I see. Why did you leave exactly?"

"Eh... I wanted a break from the guard," Thunder answered honestly.

"Hmm, but why?"

"I guess I wanted to try something new. Something in me made me feel like... well... being a guard just wasn't for me."

Thunderblast stood back up, and began packing his armor into a bag fit to carry sets of armor and some weapons. Minutes later, it was completely packed. Thunder zipped it up, and took off the armor he had on already, and set it on the bag for tomorrow. He then yawned, and stretched. "I'm going to get some shut eye. What about you guys?"

"We dunno yet... we might head out to the base pub and get a few drinks," Spear rubbed his hoof a bit.

"Well, I'm not stopping you if those are your plans," Thunder smiled lightly. "G'night guys," and crawled into the bottom bunk, turning off the lamp on the nightstand.

Instead of going out to the bar, the stallions decided it was time to rest as well, all tucking themselves in no more than five minutes later. Soon, all four of the ponies were sound asleep, each snoring quietly.

Many hours later, the trumpets sounded, waking up the entire barracks and training field. Thunderblast jolted awake at the sudden sound, feeling as if the trumpets were right outside their barrack. He sat up quickly, hearing the sounds of heavy hoofsteps all in sync outside. He stood on all fours, then trotted over to the front window, seeing numerous white, brown and grey stallions of all race trotting in lines, all with bags full of armor and weapons. It was time.

"Sounds like we better get out there with them," Sharp slowly rose from bed, rubbing at his eye. Minutes after waking up, the four stallions staying in the barrack were fully geared up, but with their weapons and extra sets of armor packed away for when they arrived in the Griffon Empire. Spear trotted outside first, Sharpblade, Thunderblast and Stormfire following suit, each joining the long line of guards who marched to the city's airship port, where their transportation awaited.

Ponies gathered on the streets as the entire city ground to a halt when the first guards exited the castle grounds, and through the city. Ponies cheered, while the narrow few sobbed at the sight of the guards, on their way to battle almost halfway across the world. Following a long march, every guard had arrived at the skyport, which was under a planned shutdown until after the last guard airship had departed. Four large airships waited on the tarmac, just outside of the main terminal.

"Well... I guess this is the last time we'll be on the ground for a while," Stormfire sighed a bit, standing just behind Sharpblade, all waiting in line to board their designated airship.

"You got that right," Spear looked down, then back up and around the guards in front of him, attempting to see how long the wait would be. The line was moving quickly, however, until the door shut and the line moved over to the next gate. Minutes later, they were boarded onto the third airship. 

The aircraft was massive, and was four floors total, and could carry just over nine-hundred and fifty guards, all having rooms to stay in with four others. Thunderblast and his friends chose an empty room, just so they could all be together as they traveled. The four set their bags down in the room, then trotted up to the main deck to watch the takeoff. The sun was just barely over the horizon when the first two airships lifted off, climbing high above the magnificent capitol city. 

Their airship was next, and the four stood on the main deck as it began to rise slowly, with the main propeller on the back of the aircraft beginning to whir to life, eventually making a low roar as it cleared the main control tower's height and started to fly away from the city. Afterwards, four other, much smaller propellers spun to life on the port and starboard sides of the ship, propelling it faster and eventually reaching a full speed of sixty-seven miles per hour. At that rate, they would arrive in two days time, or three depending on the weather.

Thunderblast, as well as Sharpblade, Stormfire, and Spear, all stood on the main deck, watching the city of Canterlot, and Canter Mountain, disappear into the distance, which was still slightly dark.

"So... what do you guys think will happen when we get there?" Stormfire stared, watching the city move away from them.

"Hell will break loose, that's what," Sharpblade replied.

"I dunno about that, but we shall see," Thunderblast chimed in.

"I hope it isn't as bad as everypony says it is. Though, I could only imagine what our boys are going through. You know, the ones already over there," Stormfire motioned a hoof.

"I can't imagine it at all. It's gotta be horrible. They're probably being tortured and beaten by those griffon bastards," Thunder turned to Storm.

"Most likely," Spear sighed. "I hope we can rescue them too."

"It might be risky for that, but then again, we have yet to see," Sharp looked off the edge of the ship, down at the distant ground.

"Well, whatever we're flying into, I will say, there's nopony else I'd rather fight alongside with," Thunderblast grinned.

"Hell yeah," Sharp smirked.

"Hooah," Stormfire chanted.

After watching for a few more minutes, the four went downstairs to eat breakfast, not having any before departing Canterlot. The line, however, was very short, even though there was plenty of room and plenty to eat for everyone. The group sat and ate eggs and cooked manticore, with mashed potatoes as a side, and a small carton of milk. A healthy breakfast, and something to get them started, though they couldn't do much as they waited for their landing in the Griffon Empire, other than work out in the ship's small gym.


***


Many hours later, the airship had already crossed over the Baltimare harbor, and out over the Antlertic Ocean, still on course for the Griffon Empire. As they soared over the city, the ship made a slight right turn, and began flying southeast, now headed directly towards their destination which was still at least a day and a half away. 

For Thunderblast and his buddies, it would be a long trip there. But, they were glad they still had time before things took a turn for the worse. By the time the Equestrian coast could no longer be seen, it was already past sunset, and the moon had risen high into half cloudy sky. 

The sight was beautiful from that altitude, and the moon's reflection could be seen very well between clouds, bouncing off of the cold, waveless ocean. Inside, Thunderblast and his friends were either laying in bed, or sitting up, mostly talking to each other in the dim room, only being lit by small lanterns hanging off of the side of their bunks. However, Thunder was mostly quiet, and was reading one of his favorite novels, one known to many guards as it was a factual story. 

"So then, the private tried speaking, and ended up tripping on his own words and blurting out a bunch of stuff no one could understand. Then I said, "Do you speak English?" And he said "I-I guess not," Sharpblade explained, followed by the laughter of Stormfire and Spear. As the laughter calmed down, Stormfire glanced over to Thunder's bed and stared for a second.

"Hey Thunder, you got anything you want to joke about?"

"Nope."

"Aw come on, you've been quiet most of the day."

"I'm reading."

"Can't you read tomorrow?"

"I could, but that doesn't mean I want to stop now and continue then."

"Thunder, come on. I know you're depressed about this, we all are. But there's nothing wrong with having a laugh or two."

Thunderblast grumbled, then put a bookmark between the pages and shut his book with a loud clap, setting it on the nightstand above his head, between the two wall-lined wooden bunks. "You want a joke? Fine," He sat up. "The Equestrian military. They are the ones supposed to be going over there, not us."

Nopony laughed. Instead, Spear simply raised an eyebrow. "That... isn't very funny."

Thunder grit his teeth in anger. "What more do you want? I'm trying to read! Why don't you ask Stormy something? He has yet to tell a joke," and fell back onto his bed, turning and facing the wall angrily.

Storm blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Sheesh, I'm sorry," followed by inaudible words.

Thunderblast simply grumbled and pulled the blanket over himself, slowly managing to calm down. He felt the situation was too serious to be making any jokes. After he snapped, the other three had stopped joking, and Thunder then felt a slight pain, and sat up to face them. "I'm sorry. I just have a million things going through my mind right now."

"It's fine. We do too, Thunder," Sharp replied.

"Yeah, it's cool. We know you're thinking about your son and wife. I haven't stopped thinking of Blue Night," Storm jumped in.

The others then turned to Stormfire. "Who's that?"

"My...wife?" Storm began to blush, followed by the others snickering a bit. "What?!" he began to blush more until his face was a crimson red.

"Oh nothing," Spear snickered more, and Thunderblast actually began laughing. "Hey, Thundy's laughing!"

Thunder laughed harder, then soon, the entire room was full of laughter. They soon forgot they were even off to war.
> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day following the Royal Guard's departure to the Griffon Empire was more than just stressful for the airship fleet's passengers. In the communications room behind the bridge, morse code reports were flooding in from the already deployed platoons, that the war itself was becoming much worse and increasing numbers of attacks from the griffons. 

The reports themselves were read thoroughly on the public announcement systems on board, which didn't help the situation at all. Some of the airship's occupants even panicked, and were eventually forced to calm down by using bed straps to restrain them from tearing the ship apart, the sudden intention of two guards.

"Attention all on board, we should be arriving at the designated landing zone around twenty-hundred hours Mareopean time weather contingent."

"Ugh, perfect," Stormfire groaned.

"Still a long way to go Storm," Spear said as he polished his armor with a cloth. 

"I know, I'm just wondering what we will have to do first, if we will go straight into battle."

"Probably not," Thunderblast said as he trotted into their sleeping compartment. "They will have to brief us first, which just that would take an hour to do. Besides, if there are guys already out on the field, they won't need to send more."

"Yet," Storm sat on his bed, rubbing a hoof on his achy forehead.

"I wouldn't worry about it right now, Storm. For now, get your things ready for tonight when we land. They may or may not keep us on the ship to sleep," Thunder pulled out some polish and began shining up his weapons, until their steel was like a thin mirror with intentions to use them like any other soldier on the airship.

As Spear polished his armor, he looked up to his bunk mate's bed. "Hey, has anyone seen Sharp?"

"I think he said he was going to the workout room for a bit. Why?" Stormfire continued to rub his head.

"Just wondering. I'd hate to find out he teleported back home in fear," Spear chuckled a little.

"You know he wouldn't, Spear. Out of all of us, he is the one who is looking forward the most to fighting in this war. It's the only action he's really had since the Royal wedding invasion," Thunder turned to Spear, holding a knife he was polishing in his hoof, the cloth in the other.

Spear shuddered a little. "Don't remind me of that, please."


***


Upstairs, Sharpblade laid chest-up on a workout bed, lifting heavy weights with other stallions who were also in the mood for working out. He grunted at every time he lifted the two-hundred pound weights above his chest. The unicorn's arm muscles flexed at every move, which showed off his masculinity bright and clear. As he lifted, his ears caught the sound of what sounded like dogs panting. Sharp glanced to his right, his eyes meeting those of a couple earth pony guards, literally drooling over his workout. He raised an eyebrow, growing a slight glare which was directed towards them. "What are you looking at?"

The guards' pupils shrunk, and they quickly ran off to another side of the room. Sharp rolled his eyes and returned his attention to lifting. He had to admit, sometimes he regretted ever joining the guard, although he couldn't have anticipated how many of it's troops would look him over lustfully. It was embarrassing to say the least, but occasionally he liked the compliments he received by one or two guards every other month, even though he wasn't into stallions. Sharp counted mentally how many times he had lifted the weights. 

"Fifty seven...fifty eight...fifty...forty five...what?" He quickly lost track, for what reason, he never knew. Instead of re-focusing, he started thinking ahead about how the war might go once they arrived. Just like any other guard, he hoped and prayed to Celestia herself that they would all return home safe. Although, he knew that wouldn't be the case, as fatalities were already known to have occurred. 

Suddenly, there was a loud clank, which threw him out of his day-dreaming trance. After snapping out of the trance, he glanced up to see Thunderblast holding a hoof on the weights Sharp was lifting, and was holding it down on the side lifts which held the weights up, allowing anyone to slip under without being crushed, although it was pressed against Sharp's chest from his size.

"Oi, get off, lightning flank!" Sharp grunted, struggling to push the weights back up as tiny beads of sweat grew on his forehead and cheeks.

"Is that a name you thought of on the fly?" Thunder chuckled, then lifting the weights up with both of his hooves to let the unicorn slip out from under, before setting them back down. "Did you hear the announcement?"

Sharp groaned a little, picking up a cloth and wiping at his forehead. "Who didn't?"

"That's why I came to see if you heard it. This means we have to step up our game even more once we head out tomorrow," Thunder sat on an adjacent workout bed.

"You're sounding too much like a lieutenant, Thunder," Sharp chuckled.

"I still outrank you, but not by much," Thunderblast grinned. "I'm just letting you know, no orders coming from me."

"Well, alright," Sharp cracked a smile in return, but it quickly faded. "I thought I'd get a workout in before we do land. I mean, gotta go out buff as hell, right?" He gave Thunder a playful nudge.

Thunder rolled his eyes while smiling. "Even in a situation, you know how to make somepony smile. Besides, only time will tell who goes and who doesn't."

"Well, its always good to hope for the best, and prepare for the worst, just like in a tornado, you know?"

Thunder nodded in reply, but shuddered lightly. "Of course."


***


"Attention all on board, we are five minutes out. Please prepare for disembarking at once," The captain of the airship spoke over the public announcement system. Almost immediately, those on board scrambled about preparing the ship for landing, and grabbing the things they brought along to ready themselves for walking off the aircraft. By that time, the sun had already set, although it was still a very tiny bit light to the west. The airship descended gradually towards the ground, nearing a shallow forest area which could be seen by the ship's spotlights used for landing safely in the dark. 
In one of the sleeping compartments, the four stallions occupying the room slid their military bags out from under the bunks and slung them over their shoulders, but staying put until given the order to disembark.

"You guys ready?" Spear peered between the other three ponies, grinning slightly.

"We're not going to battle just yet, Spear. Remember that," Sharpblade turned, glaring faintly at the white pegasus.

"I know that," Spear rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, take a joke, will you?"

"War isn't a joke, Spear," Sharp stared at Spear with a hard look on his face, mainly of annoyance.

"Not to mention, what you said really wasn't a joke. It was a question," Thunderblast turned, also staring at Spear, but with a half lidded, un-amused stare.

"Pfft, buzzkill," Spear mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes.

Moments later, there was a faint thud, and the entire ship jolted. Next, the engines could be heard slowing down, and soon the only thing to be heard was hoofsteps down the hallways. Stormfire set his bag down and walked back towards the window, peeking out. He didn't see much, but it was evident that they had landed.

"Looks like we're here," He said.

"All on board are free to disembark," The airship captain announced over the PA system. Following the message, the four exited their room and out into the hallway, falling in with the rest of the guards as they made their way towards the exits. Once outside, the soldiers were led a two minute walk away from their airships to a Temporary Operating Base set up just a few days earlier. The base was set up with large and small tents, the larger tents with symbols designating what they were; a red cross for the medical tent, a fork and knife for the chow tent, and a sword for the armory tent, although it wasn't needed at the time.

"ATTENTION!"

Before anything else happened, every one of the guards stood at attention. The instant simultaneous faint echo of hooves clicking together was a brief sound that caught the attention of everypony present. In the blink of an eye, everypony was standing at attention. In front of the massive, perfectly positioned group, walked one of the ponies in command, a First Lieutenant. The unicorn's coat was ice blue, and his silver armor gleamed in the moonlight, as well as the torches placed around the camp which lit the area. Up and down the front row he walked, not taking any time to inspect the guards standing next to him with stoic looks on their faces. Instead, he soon stopped directly in the middle, staring forward at them.

"This isn't training soldiers, this isn't a drill, this isn't a test, this is the real thing. As of five days ago, the Griffons inhabiting this land up and decided to do something they will regret dearly; declaring war on us. Now, I do not have all of the information about our orders, but what I do know is, Captain Shining Armor is in that tent-" The unicorn pointed behind him to a large darkened tent. "-waiting for all of you to join him for briefing. Now get in there and get it over with!"

"Yes sir!" The guards spoke in unison. The first lieutenant walked over to the tent, opening the doorway by unzipping it and pointing for the guards to enter. The group trotted into a single-file line, entering the tent one by one and seating themselves. Inside was extremely dark, but just slightly lit by lanterns. The interior was basic; grey fold-out chairs, then at the back, a projector screen and a projector, which was off at the moment. Shining Armor, however, was nowhere to be seen anywhere in the tent, which worried a few of the guards. As the troops finished seating themselves in the tent, a bright purple flash appeared before them all. Once it faded, in front of them was now a tall, muscular, white unicorn who wore darker-purple armor with golden highlights on the edges, the captain's armor. Instantly after, every stallion in the room stood, clicking their hooves together loud enough to be heard a hundred feet away. Shining Armor then lifted a trimmed hoof.

"At ease fellas," he said, then mumbled, "...for now."

Only the front row could have heard him, and even then it was too quiet to make out anything. Moments after, Captain Armor cleared his throat. 
"Now, I am certain you all are aware of what is going on here. Although, you still don't know all of it I am sure. Your squad leaders each know differently, meaning some of you may already be informed. Either way, you will all listen closely. We are here, because the leaders of the Griffon Empire have lost a valuable artifact of theirs, and immediately pointed their talons towards us Equestrians."

"As a result," he continued. "They have taken every single pony, and I mean every single pony, and has either tortured or executed them. This includes those stationed here for extra security. As of right now, it is unknown how many are left out of the known one hundred and seven arrested.. If any are left, it is one of our objectives to form a rescue plan. But, for now, our mission is to liberate the nearby town of Gryffsvale, a city mostly populated by ponies and hippogriffs. Most of it is evacuated, although we have word that there are still civilians in the town. Our other mission, is to find and rescue those ponies and or hippogriffs. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"Hmm..." Shining Armor took a slight inhale. "Another thing I bet everypony here is wondering, why the griffons are attacking hippogriffs. To them, they are considered Equestrians, and you know the rest," he stopped once more, checking to see if everypony in the tent was paying attention, which relieved him to see that no one had fallen asleep on him. 

"Lastly, most of you will be still sleeping in the airships as we lack the tents to accompany everypony at such short notice. Besides, I am sure each and every one of you enjoyed your beds on the way here," Shining cracked a faint smirk, but not enough for anypony to see. "Everypony in this room ships out to the Gryffsvale area tomorrow morning. That is all, get some rest. You're going to need it."

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared once more in a bright purple flash of magic, his new location unknown. Soon after, each of the stallions seated rose up and began neatly exiting to return to their sleeping quarters, whether they be a tent, or their airships. 

As they walked, Spear trotted up beside Thunderblast, Stormfire, and Sharpblade. "I don't know about you guys, but he seemed kind of off on his briefing."

"What makes you say that?" Sharp glanced over to the white pegasus beside him.

"Well for one, he didn't seem as serious as he usually is back home, and for two, didn't any of you see his hooves trembling like leaves in the wind?"

"Nope, didn't notice any of that. Why does it matter anyways? He briefed us, we deploy into town tomorrow," Thunderblast said.

"It matters because, if he really is scared about this, then we all know what will happen next!"

Sharp suddenly stopped walking, then turned around and glared at Spear. "You know what, just shut up already. You're more panicked about this than Storm, and none of us want to hear your whining!" He snapped angrily, Thunderblast and Storm stopping just ahead and looking back at the two stallions.

"My whining?" Spear stared coldly at the grey unicorn just four feet before him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know very well what it means, don't play stupid blondy."

Thunder and Storm gasped, staring at Sharp for a moment, then turning to Spear, who's face was boiling with anger. 

"What...did you just call me?" Spear's eye twitched.

"You heard me."

"Say it again," Spear took a few steps closer, now in Sharp's face.

"Guys, stop," Stormfire took a step closer as well, only to be stopped by Thunder's hoof.

"Oh, what are you going to do, blondy?" Sharp smirked. "May I remind you that you were so jealous of Thunder, you did everything you could to sabotage him, even though it wouldn't get you anywhere? You can't do anything right yourself."

"Graaaah!" Spear let out an angered cry, tackling Sharpblade to the ground and began to violently throw punches at his face. He didn't do much to restrain the unicorn, however, who quickly lit his horn and forced the pegasus into the dirt next to him, then stood up and over him and started doing the same thing in return while still holding him in a blue aura of magic. Spear struggled to escape, just barely managing to remain conscious from Sharp's hard hits.

"Guys, STOP!" Thunderblast yelled at the top of his lungs. 

Sharp froze his hoof, which had recoiled back and was about to slam down on Spear's skull, which would have likely finished him, but in the positive sense. He panted softly, then dropped the magical aura pinning the other pony beneath him. Spear weakly stood with shaky hooves after crawling out from under the larger pony, on the verge of completely collapsing and passing out from the blows. His muzzle was bloody, and his eye was beginning to bruise dark blue and purple. The four moved their eyes around, all seeing a few of the other guards watching them.

"What are you all staring at?" Sharp spoke angrily with a faint growl in his voice, and those watching scampered away, hopefully pretending nothing happened. "Get him to a medic," he then began walking back to the airship.


***


"Well, I can't say he's out of commission, but he took some pretty hard hits," the unicorn medic said as he set down a clipboard and pencil onto a table. "Must have been a pretty bad fight he got himself into."

"You can say that again," Thunderblast said. "Will he be okay?"

The medic nodded. "He should be if we consistently give him a sip of a healing potion every hour or so," he stopped. "If he takes it, he should be healed enough by tomorrow afternoon or evening. He only took hits to his head, which will make the healing process easier. If it were more of his body, he'd definitely be sent back home for better medical care. Like I said, he should be recovered by tomorrow, although that black eye won't be going away anytime soon."

"That's a relief ... mostly. How is he now?" Stormfire asked.

"He's asleep, on a heavy medication. It shouldn't last much more than two hours though, which is good for us, because he will have his strength back when he wakes up, which also means it will be easier to for him drink the potion."

"Good to hear. Keep us updated on how he is and if anything changes, alright?" Thunderblast said.

The medic nodded again. "Of course. Although, I don't expect much to change. He's fairly lucky. Now, get some rest you two."

"Yes sir," both Thunder and Storm said in unison, then saluted the medic guard and trotted out of the medical tent and back to the airship they flew in on.

"I wonder how Sharp is doing," Thunderblast walked beside Storm, sighing softly.

"I can't imagine him doing good right now, after what he did. I feel bad for the both of them," Storm replied.

"As do I."

"I hope neither of them have to be sent back."

"I don't think they would do that. They need everypony for this. Just remember, I was resigned and they dragged me to this hellhole."

"That is true," Storm sighed. "I just hope their conflicts don't get us all killed, you know?"

"I hope so too. But, we all must accept our fates, whether or not we die fighting. We're guards for a reason, and our job is to defend our land, even if it isn't physically under attack. Like Shining Armor said, there are ponies that don't belong here, and our job is to get them to safety and do what we can to keep Equestria safe. You do want to protect those who cannot protect themselves, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Thunder. It's just I ... well, I thought being a guard would be less ... action, you know? And knowing my father served in the last Griffon War, this all has me on edge."

"I can see why," Thunder exhaled quietly with some sadness in his voice. "I don't know if my father ever served in any wars. If he did, it's too late to know now. He's long gone, as is my mother."

"I'm sorry man."

"Thanks..." Thunder cracked a faint smile to Storm as he climbed up the stairs, entering the airship.

"No one should ever go through the pain of losing their parents in their foalhood. It's just ... not right. I've always wondered how you dealt with the pain all of these years?"

"Friends. Friends have always been a pain killer for me. Friendship is something everypony should have. I can see why Princess Celestia made her student Twilight a princess, she can be a great teacher of friendship. I've only met her a couple of times, but she seems pretty nice."

"I hear she is," Storm walked beside Thunder. "You know, she supposedly runs a book store or something in Ponyville."

"Library. It's all carved into a tree ... or it was popped up by magic. I don't know the full story, all I know is, it's inside a tree and it is extremely cool. I'm not one to say this, but I'd love to have a house built into a tree."

"Er, no you wouldn't. You don't like bees, Thunder."

"... That is also very true. Nevermind," The two then chuckled and quieted down the rest of the way, soon walking into their sleeping quarters where Sharpblade was laying on his bed, pretending to be asleep. They noticed almost immediately, and remained silent as they removed their armor, piece by piece, and laid down on their beds. As they did, the sounds of stressed breathing came from Sharp's mouth.

"I-I couldn't ... hold myself back," Sharp hugged himself, laying down and facing the wall with his eyes tightly shut. "He made me do it."

The two pegasi sat up, both staring at Sharp with concern. "Sharp, buddy. Listen, we know it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it is!" Sharp's voice began to crack, and a small tear slipped between his shut eye lids. "I beat him into the ground ... didn't you all see how much blood there was on my hooves?"

"Is he ... crying?" Thunderblast thought to himself, then stood up out of bed and trotted up to Sharpblade. "Easy. He provoked you into doing it."

"You think that's the only cause?!" Sharp whipped himself up, getting his muzzle into Thunder's, who backed away. Tears sat in the unicorn's eyes as he resisted himself from going on a rampage.

"Hey... easy, Sharp, we're not trying to be hostile. It isn't your fault."

"Yes... Storm, yes it is," he slowly laid back down, facing away. "Just leave me alone, please."

Stormfire sighed, then laid his head back onto the soft pillow, while Thunder fluffed his until it was comfortable to lay on. Soon after, Thunder reached a hoof out and turned off the lamp keeping light in the room. At that point, only moonlight lit up four squares on the floor from the window.


***


The next morning, a slight jolt forced Storm out of bed. It forced him far enough to the side where had he decided to turn over, he would have rolled off and onto the wooden plank floor. Moments later, the ground jolted again, this time shaking the ponies awake. Sharpblade sat up, rubbing at his eye and peering around at his surroundings.

"Wha...?" He yawned.

Thunderblast's eyes opened wide, and he quickly sat up. Another jolt shook the ground, and he hopped out of bed. "Get up you two, I think we're under attack!"

Stormfire soon shot up, throwing the blanket off of him and jumping from his top bunk. His hooves made loud clops as they hit the hard wood floor, and he quickly moved to grab his armor. "They're attacking us?"

"I don't know, could be!" Thunder said, quickly slipping on the pieces of his armor one by one and checking briefly to make sure it was on right. Afterwards, he grabbed his bag and set it on his bed, then dug through it and picked through the numerous weapons he brought with him, ready for battle. "Sharp, get up!"

Sharpblade grumbled, having already being awake and gearing up, but not as fast as Thunder wanted.

"Hurry up!" He shouted.

"Shut it, I don't take orders from you!" Sharp snapped back, slipping his helmet onto his head.

Thunder stopped and glared towards the unicorn stallion. "Sharp, for Celestia's sake, do you really think now is the time to gripe about who you take orders from? Is that really all you're worried about, or are you still annoyed about Spear?"

"What does it look like?" Sharp levitated a knife into his armor, then grabbed his spear.

"You know what it looks like? It looks like somepony who acts like he wants to be here, but deep down, he wants to go home! It looks like somepony who only cares for himself, and you know what? That is going to change whether you like it or not Sharp, even if it means I have to beat the ever loving hell out of you just to get it through that thick skull of yours! We have bigger things to worry about right now, and I would prefer not to hear you whining out there! You hear me, Sergeant?!" Thunderblast shouted at the top of his lungs, almost resembling a drill sergeant at boot camp.

Sharp shrunk back a little, pinning his ears horizontally and moving his eyes away in embarrassment. "Well... I-I..."

"No, Sharp. I don't. Want. To hear it. Now quit moping around and get your flank out the door with the others! We have a job to do. Do you hear me?"

Sharp stopped, and nodded slowly. "Yes, sir," Sharp had known that Thunder did outrank him by this much, meaning he did have to state his name formally. Afterwards, he sighed and trotted out the door.

Thunder slowly eased his muscles, then looked back to Stormfire, who stared in pure surprise.

"Did you just..."

"Yes, Storm. Yes I did," Thunder panted a little, having being slightly exhausted from the excessive speech. "He needs to know we're here for a reason, and that our job is more important right now."

Storm slowly nodded. "I understand. But, just go easy on him. Remember, he was crying last night."

It was true, Sharp did somewhat break down before they went to sleep. Thunderblast simply nodded in response, and trotted out of their room with Storm close behind. While following the others outside, they turned their heads and watched in shock as smoke rose from the nearby town, with faint explosions to be heard in the distance, before going silent for a minute, and then returning. Soon, the guards stopped in a large row.

"Alright, listen up everypony! The nearby town of Gryffsvale is under attack, and our job is to secure it and it's citizens and evacuate them to safety! If and when you come across an enemy, do not show mercy! May I remind you all, that they dragged us into hell. Now we will extinguish their fire at any cost. We must not lose citizens of our own nation to these brainless sacks of feathers," the Squad sergeant shouted across the massive group of guards, who all stood at attention. "Is that clear?!"

"Yes, sir!" The large group spoke in unison.

"Very well. To Tartarus we go."
> Losing Ground
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following a quick re-briefing, the squads of the Royal Guard set out for Gryffsvale, all in different groups as they marched down the long and winding cobble path towards the town, where smoke could be seen rising from in the distance. The morning air was cool, and a brisk breeze flowed across the tall grass in the surrounding fields. As they approached the hill, a thick, grey blanket of clouds now covered the region for miles with no sign of blue sky in either direction. To some of the guards, it was a grim sign of what was to come.

"I wonder what it'll look like. You know, once we cross over that hill," Stormfire said, walking alongside Thunderblast and Sharpblade.

"I don't know, but from here, it doesn't look good already," Sharp replied.

Storm sighed. "And to think we're already at war with the country where I was born."

"You're telling me you were born here?" One of the guards walking behind them spoke up, raising an eyebrow and staring towards the pegasus in front of him, who's coat was turned white from the enchantment of the armor.

Storm nodded. "Close to this area too. I moved to Equestria with my mother after another conflict affected the country," he sighed.

"What were you and your mother doing here exactly?" Thunder turned to Stormfire.

"My father was stationed here, my mom lived here with him. I was born in this country. Go ahead, call me a traitor, but I'm loyal to Equestria and Equestria only," Storm put a stern look on his face as he marched.

"You aren't a traitor if you're here going to fight beside us all, and as long as you plan to take out the feathered heads rather than us golden helmets," Sharp said as he continued to stare forward, ignoring his surroundings.

"If that's what you think. It just...well...it kind of hurts to be back here, in the negative sense. Especially with death possibly looming over me. Its more than bone-chilling really," Storm turned and faced forward as well.

"Likewise," Thunder said. "I don't mean to sound rude, but our main focus is to get civilians out of the danger zone. Stick to that, and everything should be okay. Depending on conditions in the town, of course."

Both Stormfire and Sharpblade simply nodded in response, returning to their normal walking pace. Minutes later, the extensive line of guards started to cross over the top of the small hill that sat beside the riverside town of Gryffsvale. The group stopped, scanning over the area from their vantage point in astonishment. Smoke rose from numerous spots in town with small fires on the streets visible, even from their distance.

Towards the center of town stood a tall stone tower with an opening near the top, just below a crimson shingled spire. At the top of the spire waved the empire's emerald green flag, with navy blue stripes, bordered by skinnier yellow stripes striking through it. In dead center was a yellow-ringed and navy blue circle, with a griffon of unknown gender standing on it's hind legs and holding its talons out in a defensive stance. From where the line was, binoculars were required to spot the flag clearly.

"That flag there!" Shouted the squad leader from up front. "That's another one of our targets. We take the tower, remove the flag and place ours back where it belongs. By now, they've probably burned the damned thing, which is why we brought a new one to take its place. We will not, I repeat, we will not burn their flag under any circumstances, no matter how much some of you may want to. Now, march! We have a town to take back."

At the squad leader's word, the band of guards in full golden armor and armed to the teeth advanced downhill and towards the crippled town.  Soon after marching down the hill just west of Gryffsvale, the combination of guard squads separated to explore different sectors of the town, while Thunderblast, Sharpblade and Stormfire, as well as two others progressed through the outskirts.

"Think everypony's inside?" Storm spoke quietly as he cautiously moved down the street alongside Thunderblast.

"I'm sure of it, they probably don't even know we're here to get them out," said a black-coated unicorn guard.

"Shadow Dust, watch our six," Thunder said to the unicorn.

"Yes sir," Shadow turned around, keeping his eye peeled behind them with his sword drawn.

The street was lightly coated with dust and little bits of debris, as well as dried pools of blood and a few feathers lying around and delicately rolling about in the breeze. Newspapers laid strewn all across the cobble street, some half burnt or torn apart. A few of the buildings around them were either mostly intact, or half destroyed with small, non-threatening fires burning inside of them. It gave an eerie thought to them as they made their way further into town.

"Sharp, see anything?"

"Nothing but debris, Thunder," Sharpblade replied.

"Storm, what about you?"

"Nothing on my side either."

"The Griffons might have pulled back, or they're waiting for us at the tower," Thunderblast said.

"I'd assume the second one," Sharp gripped his weapon tighter.

"Let's not forget, this could be an ambush. Keep your eyes peeled for Griffons, grenades, mines, snares, anything."

"I doubt they would have snares in a city, sir," an earth pony guard on their squad said.

"Just do what I say, corporal," Thunder said.

The five rounded a corner, all turning and facing forward in awe, staring down a street with a destroyed building leaning over the street on the verge of collapse. Shadow Dust turned back around, scanning the street in the opposite direction.

"Sir, I don't like the look of this," he said, eying a tall pile of bricks, broken glass, and rebar further down covering the entire street.

"I don't know, Thunder. I think they've all gone," Stormfire said, moving to walk ahead of Thunder.

Thunderblast reached a hoof out to his side, stopping Storm and raising it to his mouth. "Everyone be quiet," he whispered, slowly looking around at the damaged buildings and debris-covered cobble streets. His ear swiveled, and just as the breeze stopped blowing, the distant shouts of other guards and the pops of gunfire caught his attention.

"They're still here," he said. Thunder turned to the abandoned building to their right, then slowly approaching one of the broken windows and peeking inside. As he glanced around, he noticed small, circular devices with flashing red lights planted on the walls, the flashing frequency increasing every second with a faint beep gaining a pitch higher at every pulse. His eyes opened wide, then he ran in the opposite direction from the building. "Everypony get down!"

The group and Thunder quickly ran to the other side of the street and ducked into a much safer, but still damaged brick shop, diving behind the wall between windows as the building rigged with mines opposite of them exploded into a massive fireball. Brick and stone rained everywhere, and all remaining windows on that street shattered instantly at the blast. Beside ground zero, two smaller shops on either sides were mostly leveled.

When Thunderblast moved his head back up to see if everything was clear, the wall beside him was struck by a magical bullet. The shot startled him, and he quickly ducked. "Everypony stay down, its an ambush!"

The explosions and zaps of gunfire as they struck the walls around them came closer and closer, and with a quick peek around the corner once more, Sharpblade watched as five griffons hopped down on their hind legs with rifles gripped tight in their talons, all with either an evil grin, or a vile glare on their beaks as they approached them.

"I've got...four...no, five! Five on our six," Sharp shouted to the group.

With a slight sigh of relief, but also keeping a thick flame on his face, Thunderblast turned to the others. "We're not outnumbered. Each of you, pick your cat and take them out! We just got here, we will NOT be going down this easy!"

"Yes sir!" The others said in unison, then moved into further cover, but also out into the open to get a clearer shot, and soon they surrounded the advancing group of griffons.

Swooping upwards, Stormfire stood atop a building roof and whipped out his rifle, then loaded a cannonball-shaped bullet into it. He moved his hoof to the trigger, the other to the handle under the gun, then thrust the trigger into the barrel with all of his might. As he did, a small explosion caused by the ignition of the gunpowder propelled the bullet out of the barrel at high speeds, and soon down into a griffon's unprotected shoulder.

The griffon let out a screech of pain and fell backwards, dropping his rifle. Without further hesitation. Storm loaded another bullet, and took careful aim as the griffon struggled to sit back up. One more gunshot later, the griffon dropped lifeless on the street in a large pool of blood.

"That's one!" Storm shouted, then opened his wings and flew over a small alleyway to another building, then reloaded his own rifle.

Down below, Sharpblade leaned against a half-destroyed pillar, his teeth were clenched as he gripped his rifle tight in his hooves. He reached one hoof into his armor, then pulled a rifle bullet out of it and slipped it into the barrel, then clicked it together. Bullets flew and buried themselves in the ground and the wall behind him, then briefly stopped and allowing him time to make a retaliation. Sharp's eyes moved over to another wall just a few meters from where he was, he waited for the right moment, then ran out in the open for a brief second, gripping the gun in a magical grasp and shooting it in the direction of the fire.

As he did, one of the bullets pierced through his armor, embedding itself in his upper flank. He yelped, sliding into safety and looking back over the wound. Sharp bit his lip and winced, but did his best to ignore the pain as he reloaded his weapon. The gunfire briefly stopped once more, and he whipped back around the corner, shooting at just the right moment where one of the approaching soldiers caught Sharp's bullet in the forehead, and falling with a loud thump and a clatter of his gun. Sharp grinned, then grabbed the downed griffon's weapon in a blue magical aura, bringing it to him and scanning over it.

"I've got one of their guns!" He shouted, then his eyes widened when he realized it was similar to his own. "Change of plan..." Sharp dropped his rifle, then cocked the griffon-built one that seemed to have a way of making unlimited ammunition.

"I have no ammo!" Shouted Shadow Dust from a few meters across the street, before the largest of the griffon squad turned and shot an electrocuting round into his leg. 

The black unicorn let out a loud cry of pain, dropping his sword on the ground and collapsing beside it. His hind leg sizzled and smoked from the hit, and before he could get back to his hooves, the griffon jumped down on top of him and held him down by the neck with a talon. His eyes widened as he stared up at the larger creature, and Shadow gulped when the griffon brought his own sword down onto where his forearm connected to his torso, slicing directly through it and blood spewing out moments later. Shadow let out another loud cry of pain as he bled onto the ground, then laid his head to his side as he awaited his fate.

Before the griffon could drive the bloodied sword into Shadow's neck or chest, he let out a deep screech just after the loud pop of a gun firing. The brown griffon dropped beside him with a gaping hole through the back of his neck and out his chest that bled severely, and immediately he was frozen, devoid of life. 

Floating just above him sat Thunderblast, who quickly reloaded his rifle and swooped down to the injured pony. Once his hooves met the debris-scattered ground, he cringed at the sight of Shadow's left arm mostly severed other than what looked like strings in his body with bits of his blood-covered meat still stuck to it, and a small bit of the bone sticking out in the middle. Red liquid continued to gush from his wound, forcing Shadow to scream even more.

"Hey, you're going to be okay!" Thunder stared in concern, then reached into his armor quickly as more bullets flew through the air above and behind them. He yanked a white medical cloth from his armor, then pressed it against the unicorn's wound. Shadow hissed in even more pain. "You're not fit to fight, buddy. You won't see any more of this, I promise. I'm going to get you back to the camp, but not until we finish the mission, you hear me? We can't leave yet, but you will not be fighting. Got me?" he put his hoof to Shadow's cheek, who gently nodded.

Pulling Shadow into safety, Thunderblast ran back out into the firefight, sword drawn instead of his rifle. He charged towards one of the two remaining griffons and tackled it to the ground, before finally driving the steel sword into its feathery chest. His ears pinned back when the griffon let out a screech of pain, and then finally going limp and dying moments after. He pulled the sword out and left a gaping, bloody hole through the deceased enemy's chest. Thunder's sword was now half covered in the griffon's blood, which only made him cringe at the sight. 

Thunder stared down towards the corpse of the griffon he had killed, completely oblivious to the final fighting griffon that had seen him standing before his fallen comrade and took aim. From cover, Stormfire noticed and gasped.

"First sarge, look out!" Storm shouted from a few meters away.

Thunder quickly turned his head, now facing the griffon as he quickly cocked his weapon and prepared to fire at the grey pegasus who was out in the open. The weapon fired with a loud pop, and a green flaming bullet shot towards the grey guard's chest. But, before it could kill him, Stormfire swooped down in front of the bullet, taking the hit in his right hind leg with a loud yelp. Storm fell to the ground in front of Thunder, who with the help of Sharpblade shot down the final enemy with four quick hits, and then returning to the dark blue pegasus.

"Sweet Celestia, Storm. Are you nuts?!" Thunder shouted to Storm as he picked him up.

Storm let out a loud groan of pain and winced as he held his hind leg slightly curled in the air. "It wasn't your time. It was either my leg, or your life."

"Still, don't do something stupid like that ever again, you hear me?" Thunder snorted and bandaged Storm's wound.

"Copy," Storm rolled his eyes. "Is that all of them?"

Sharp moved atop a taller pile of debris and scanned over the street. "Looks like it. We got 'em good."

"All five?"

"All five."

Thunderblast nodded once, then walked back to Shadow Dust, who whimpered quietly in discomfort while the centimeter-long remains of his arm still bled into the bandages and would not stop. He bit his lip and blenched as his eyes scanned over the blood-soaked compress, then moved to lift him over his back.

"Shadow's arm is severed. Try not to puke," Thunder walked back to the others. "We need a medic, stat."

"We'll have to return to camp, first sergeant," spoke the earth pony on their squad. "Don't you think we should focus on the mission at hoof first?"

"The mission is important, yes, but if we continue on, Shadow Dust will bleed to death, and so might Stormfire. We have to get them to a medic at once."

The earth pony sighed. "Very well. You heard the first sarge, fall back."


***


Later on that evening, a heavy shower swept across the land and drenched the area with no signs of stopping. Inside the mess hall aboard their respective airship, Thunderblast and Sharpblade had seated themselves at one of the many tables in the cramped room while other soldiers ate their dinner. As he ate, the grey unicorn noticed Thunder playing with his food with a fork and quickly swallowed his bite.

"Why aren't you eating?" Sharp asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Can't," Thunder replied.

"I see," Sharp stared Thunder down, then returned to his dinner quietly.

Thunder sighed and pushed his tray to the middle of the table. Sharp stopped, then looked up to the pegasus.

"Two injured in one day, one severely. Shadow can't even fight with us anymore. In fact, he'll be lucky to even have his job in the guard once we all get home, if we go home," Thunder sat his forehead on his hooves in stress.

Sharp gulped down another bite politely and set down his silverware. "But, no one died. Shadow was scared and was hesitant to defend himself. He lost his arm, but he wasn't killed. Storm-"

"Jumped in front of me like a dumb ass."

"...Yes, jumped in front of you like a dumb ass. But, that dumb ass took a bullet for you and saved your life. Had he not, we wouldn't be talking. Even then, he can still fight. The bullet didn't find its way that deep into his leg, and they can patch it up fairly easy, and it'll heal quick depending on what potions they brought."

"But still, Sharp," Thunder stared him in the eye. "We almost didn't make it out."

"Bull," the unicorn returned to his food.

"Excuse me?"

"I said bull," Sharp looked back up. "If we were outnumbered, then I can agree, but we all had one to take out on our own. Of course, not all of us actually took one out, but we got the job done, even if our main objective was not met."

"Tell me about it. Captain Armor's not going to be happy."

"I'm sure he already isn't."

"And neither am I, to be real honest."

"How so?"

"For one, you know that reason, and for two, what squad leader splits his teams up and sends five at a time into an active war zone? Its almost as if he tried to get us all killed," Thunder rubbed his forehead with a hoof.

"You know he wouldn't do that. Perhaps he thought it would work out better that way," Sharp replied, motioning a hoof.

"Or, as I said before, he was trying to get us killed."

"Again, I doubt that is the case. After today, he'll know to send more, and tomorrow we'll be sure to take back the city."

Thunder sighed softly and looked up to Sharp's face. He then sighed in return.

"I know you're stressed, we all are. After all that happened yesterday, I honestly wanted to flee back home like a coward. But, I didn't let an incident like that stop me, and you shouldn't let this stop you either even if it did turn out to be far worse than my situation."

"That doesn't help, Sharp."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm trying to help you. We have an objective, and if we ever want to see our sweet, sweet home again, we must get that objective done," he stopped, then looked down. "And it will cost us blood. Lots, and lots of blood."

"Yeah, well, I'm more than willing to give up every drop of my blood if it means you all get to see another day," Thunder looked down to the table.

"And I would the same for you and the rest of my friends, Thunder. But, we must let fate decide. If it is our time to go, it is our time to go. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"Still not comforting, but..." Thunder's lips flapped in a louder sigh. "I accepted death years ago, and I still accept it to this day."

"Most soldiers do after they've become that loyal to their country, at least that's how I see it. Maybe the younger ponies are less willing to die for their fellow civilians, or even other soldiers' lives. Or, it could be the other way around. Who knows, all I know is, death comes for us eventually. The universe works in mysterious ways, but I chose not to question it, as should you. The more you question it, the more complicated things will come. Trust me, you don't want that," Sharp said as he took a bite of his food.

Thunder computed the advice in his head, then slowly nodded moments after. "I'll try my best. Its just...well, I don't know where my life went. Yeah, I met somepony, yeah I married her, yeah I have skill in something I enjoy doing...most of the time...its just, sometimes when I think about it, I feel like a complete mess, or a void."

"I don't think so," Sharp smiled softly. "You're a good pony, both to your career and other ponies. You're a mare's dream actually, I can see how you managed to bag such a hot one so early."

Thunderblast smiled back, before his cheeks turned a light pink. "Oh, shut up squaremane, you're making me blush."

"What, you don't like my mohawk?" Sharp raised an eyebrow and grinned. "You'd look good with one."

Thunder shrugged. "Not my cup of tea."

Sharp rolled his eyes and kept a grin on his muzzle. "Just finish your dinner so I can go to the gym room."


***


The hours following dinner went slower than planned, but before they knew it, it was lights out. Thunderblast and Sharpblade made their way back to their room to recount their ammunition. The halls were fairly quiet, no talking, no hoofsteps, and no laughter coming from the other rooms from other ponies. To them, it was eerie. Very eerie. Before they could reach their room, they were stopped by a taller white unicorn out of his armor. He stood before them, and the two snapped into attention and raised their hooves to salute. It was Shining Armor.

"Captain, sir!" Thunder said, surprised. "I did not expect to see you here tonight."

"I did not expect to see you two either," Shining Armor said in a riled tone.

Thunder and Sharp slowly lowered their hooves.

"We abandoned the mission, sir. But, we have a reas-"

"You not only abandoned your objective, but you abandoned the others searching the city. With that, they almost did not make it out alive. In fact, one of them was taken captive," Shining Armor glared at the two ponies.

"I-...sir," Thunder's ears pinned back. 

"Don't sir me, Thunderblast. You and I know very well that this mission was important, and you were supposed to guard the city while we sent more troops in."

"But, sir-"

"We had injuries that needed immediate attention," Sharp stepped in front of Thunder and took the captain on with a thick stare. "If we did not evac, we would be carrying a dead unicorn and a slowly bleeding pegasus. Corporal Shadow Dust lost his arm, captain. With his injury, he would have died within the hour from loss of blood. Then sergeant Stormfire was struck by one of their bullets. His injury was not as bad, but he still lost a lot of blood. Even more so, he took the bullet so it wouldn't hit Thunder. Had he not, Thunder would not be standing with us right now."

The captain stared in some surprise that Sharpblade took him on, and even spoke without permission, but his point was more than valid. After a few moments, he finally spoke. "Yes, of course. I am terribly sorry for the mix-up, everything has been busy over here and I am not receiving the most accurate of reports at this time. Although, I will say this. Normally, I would have discharged you dishonorably Sharp for talking back without permission. But, seeing as you had a valid point, I can't do anything. Please, carry on," he said, stepping out of the way of the two.

"Thank you, sir," Sharp replied, saluting.

The captain saluted back, then trotted around them and up the hallway.

"Are you crazy?" Thunder turned to Sharp. "You could have lost your job."

"Over here, there is no losing your job. Not until we're home, safe and sound. Besides, he was attacking you because you felt the need to get wounded men to safety. I don't know about you, but I think this whole 'captain of the guard' thing is going to his head after all of these years. But, that's enough of that. Ammunition and armor check."

Thunder simply nodded once, then the two walked to their room where they looked over their weapons and armor.


***


The night passed slowly, and Sharpblade found himself unable to sleep most of the night. He slipped out of bed slowly and quietly, then tip-hooved out of the room to avoid waking Thunderblast. He let out a soft sigh and shut the door to their room politely and made his way to the small armory built into the ship. When he walked up to the door, he found it was chain-locked shut. Sharp glanced around at his surroundings, then lit his horn in a faint blue aura, casting just enough magic to pick the lock and open the armory, then opening the door enough to slip inside. 

The armory was half-packed with sets of armor, complete with helmets, hoof guards, and knee guards, and then ammunition for the issue rifle, as well as knives, spears, and swords. Sharp looked around, then started to levitate ammunition, a new set of dark blue unicorn's armor, and a new knife. He quietly walked to the tiny fitting room the armory had, where he slipped the armor on and packed his weapons into it.

Sharp made his way back out of the armory, quietly re-locking the door as if no one had ever entered, and then made his way to the exit of the airship which was still open. Outside, a brisk wind flowed across the nearby forest, and down onto the field where the camp was set up. In the tents toward the center of the make-shift base, some of the higher ranking officers stood, oblivious to Sharp still being awake. He heard the chatter, then moved to the edge of the tent and eavesdropped. To his surprise, he was shocked to find that the guard was planning counter offensives and other possible attacks to possibly invade the entire empire. At this, his mind was set.

Sharp cautiously left the camp without being spotted by any soldiers on watch, and made his way back towards Gryffsvale.
	
> Battlefield
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The quiet rattle of unworn armor shifting about broke the calm just before sunrise. The ground briefly quaked every five or so seconds with the distant pops of explosions and eventually woke a sleeping grey pegasus. With a yawn, he cracked open one eye and turned over, facing the metal opposite of his, he moved his open eye the small nightstand where he looked at a small alarm clock that read just past six in the morning.

With a silent yawn, Thunder sat up slowly. It was a great surprise to him when his forehead met the cold steel of the bed base above his own and left him with a throbbing headache. He groaned and lifted a hoof to his head and rubbed at it gently, the hit leaving a small stinging bruise just above his right eye.

He moved out from underneath the bunk and stood on all fours, letting his muscles ease as he did. Thunder opened both eyes and yawned, lifting a hoof to rub one and then to move his bed-head mane out of his face. Yawning once more, he turned his head towards Sharpblade's bed, his eyes opened wide when he realized the unicorn wasn't there.

Just a few moments later, another faint pop shook the airship and caught his attention away from Sharp's bed. Thunder walked to the window and peeked out, he turned towards the east which was the direction the ship was facing and saw distant orange flashes, and with each flash, thick, black smoke rose from those directions.

Shortly after, he could hear quick-moving thumps of hooves upstairs and down the hallway, followed by shouting by two soldiers rushing to wake everypony up, others rushing by. The door swung open and in peeked a silver earth pony in polished golden battle armor, he looked at Thunderblast with shocked eyes, but a stoic expression overall. Both Stormfire and Spear shot up when the door opened, wondering what was going on.

"All of you, get up! The griffons are pushing through to Gryffsvale, we're all being called out to the bloodfields! Be outside in two minutes!" The guard then ran out of the door jam, a small squad of soldiers following him quickly with their weapons.

"What's going on?" Stormfire asked tiredly as he floated down to the floor.

"Gear up, we're going into battle," Thunder immediately rushed to put his armor on and grab his weapons.


***


Just a few minutes after gearing up, Thunderblast, Spear, Stormfire, and most of the camp's occupants were on the dirt-cobble path heading east towards Gryffsvale. The distant pops and bright orange flashes of explosions lit the sky much like lightning during a severe thunderstorm, but without the cloud cover and rain.

The large crowd of soldiers stepped over the hill that overlooked the city, to the north, west, and south of it were active battlefields as the Griffons were struggling to push back into the town to take it back completely.

"Oh, fun," Spear mumbled just loud enough for his friends to hear.

"You can say that again," Thunder replied, his deep blue eyes gazing over the horizon.

The group stopped, their squad leader stepping out in front of the line. "That there soldiers," he removed the golden helmet from his head and held it outwards in a hoof. "That is where we will be today," he turned to the group behind him. "There will be no going back, until every griffon is either dead, dying, or captured. We cannot let them retake something that is technically already theirs."

The squad leader paused and looked down a bit. "And there will be bloodshed. Both from the Griffons and from us. There will be men lost. But if we work together, and look out for each other, we will all go home and have a story to tell. We fight as one!" He raised his helmet into the air.

The group raised their left forehooves into the air, and in unison they shouted. "Hooah!"

The squad leader slipped his helmet back over his blue mane and turned to face the city once more, looking over the amount of destruction happening in front of them before resuming a calm march.

Looking around them, Spear spoke up. "Where's Sharp?"


***


Elsewhere, Sharpblade quietly sneaked through near the center of Gryffsvale, the nearby pops of gunfire and grenades going off being the one thing that he wasn't focusing on. Tucked away in a small saddlebag on his armor was an Equestrian flag, and he had the intention of delivering it to the tower in the center of the city with hope that it would force the Griffons to draw back. It was unlikely, but it was worth a shot.

He froze when the approaching thumps of griffon paws and armor shifting about made his ears perk, and out of reflex Sharp moved into a boarded up apartment building to wait for the enemy to pass. The dark grey unicorn stayed in the darkness of the powerless building, peeking around the corner of a wall and watching the shadows of four griffon troops sneaking by the light of a small flame burning in the street.

When the coast was clear, Sharp stuck his head out of the front of the building and looked his surroundings over before determining it was safe to go out again without being jumped by an enemy soldier. Or, at least, he hoped.

Besides the distant pops of explosions and gunfire, where Sharp was was extremely calm and it almost made him believe he would reach his destination before long. But, the approaching footsteps of more griffon soldiers forced him back into the building and eventually upstairs where they began searching the second floor. Prior to the griffons coming across his hiding spot, he used his magic to quietly barricade the stairwell with heavy debris that couldn't be moved by talon—or hoof.

With a soft yawn, Sharp scanned over one of the two second-story apartments and settled down on a blanket he pulled off of a damaged bed to lay on. He took off his helmet and the main piece of his armor, then laid belly down, looking down with tired eyes at his hooves which still had the hoof guards on them. With no sleep in almost twenty-four hours, Sharp dozed off where he was—still hoping and praying to Celestia that the enemy doesn't find him.


***


Further outside of town, Thunderblast, Stormfire and Spear marched towards the line of fire between other guards and the defending griffons. Bright bolts of blue and green flew between the sides following the loud pops of the gunpowder igniting and propelling the weapon's ammunition towards targets, most missing while some got lucky hits. As they marched into battle, the group noticed arrows raining down from above, having being shot from a distance and were just now coming down to earth.

"Take cover!" Shouted Thunder, who grabbed Storm and dove against a large rock that stuck out of the ground and shielded them from the arrow rain.

A yard away, Spear tucked into a small ball, the arrows just barely and miraculously bouncing off of his armor with loud clanks. Shortly after it stopped, Spear ran to the two and sat against the rock as gunfire came their way, zipping past their cover.

"Lock and load, wait for them to reload and take 'em out!" Thunderblast said above the loud explosions of gunfire, coming from both sides of the field.

The three loaded their rifles and waited patiently for the oncoming gunfire to cease momentarily. Unfortunately, that calm never came, but it did slow down just enough for them to come out of hiding. When they did, Stormfire and Spear scattered to different spots for cover to get better aim, while Thunder remained where he was. He stood on his hinds and leaned onto the rock, taking careful aim of a closer enemy griffon soldier that wasn't previously seen by another squad of guards there with them.

"Hey, on your two!" He shouted to one of the nearby soldiers, then pulled the trigger twice. 

The enemy soldier dropped to the ground, lifeless and bloody from the hits. The guard he shouted to noticed this and quickly turned to Thunder, nodding once to him in thanks. Thunder crouched back down to reload his weapon, taking two more medium sized steel balls out of his ammunition pack and loaded them into the barrel of his rifle.

A few yards over from him, Stormfire had crouched against a smaller rock that did not provide much cover and left the top of his helmet out in the open. To his luck, it was just the mane piece and wouldn't have caused him any injury. He waited for gunfire to move away from his direction, where he stood up and shot towards two advancing griffons. 

The first bullet missed one, the second hitting the other in the chest but not in the heart. It still brought the enemy soldier down and left her bleeding on the ground, the other griffon beside her dropping to bring her into cover. Luckily, that didn't happen as the two were subdued by Spear's gunfire from another few yards away.

The fire exchanged for a long hour and a half before finally calming down to the point where the remaining enemy griffons pulled back towards the city. It was much to the guard's surprise, they all cheered in victory with thankfully no lives being lost, but two were left injured and were quickly taken back to the camp a few miles away.

"How are we looking?" Thunder gathered up with Spear and Stormfire.

"Well, a couple of close calls," Storm pointed to his helmet, Thunder let out a small chuckle when he saw the mane piece was shredded. "Other than that, I'm good."

"Spear?"

"I'm good. A little low on ammo, but I'll survive."

"Go get some from the munitions officer, there's plenty to go around. We're not done here yet—may I remind you two that we still need to find Sharp."

Spear nodded, then trotted off to find the ammunitions officer nearby. Meanwhile, Thunder climbed atop the rock he used for cover and scanned over the area. Few griffon bodies were scattered around with pools of blood in the grass beside or under them. In the distance, heavier gunfire could be seen and heard and it seemed as if that was the heavier fight at the moment. 

Thunder turned back to the others. "Listen up, there's a heavy gunfight to the north. From what I could see, it looks like they need our help," he glided down from the rock, then folded up his wings. "Everypony check your weapons and ammunition, round two is coming."

Stormfire let out a soft sigh, reloading his rifle with two sphere bullets, then clicking the barrel back into place. Thunder walked up and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"It'll be alright. We'll all go home."

Storm simply nodded, standing on all fours. "Lead the way."

Thunder nodded once, then began cantering in the direction of the firefight north of where they were. The others followed close behind, each keeping themselves straight and ready for more oncoming fire. As they approached, one bullet found it's way towards them and just barely missed one of the unicorns in the group.

"Take cover!" Thunder shouted above the pops of gunpowder igniting.

The group scrambled into cover behind rocks and other objects that provided protection. Even with the group of ten guards already at the site, they were far outnumbered, and the griffons were pushing closer and closer. As Thunder waited for the chance to shoot, he noticed one of the guards from the other group falling onto his back, a large wound in his chest. His eyes widened immediately once he saw the pony was instantly lifeless after taking the hit.

Angered, he stood up over his cover and began returning fire, two bullets at a time. One managed to hit the shoulder of a griffon soldier but didn't take him down. Instead, it made the griffon turn to him. Thunder dove back into cover where he very quickly reloaded and stood back up to return fire.

A few yards away, Spear was crouched against a small rock that barely provided cover and bullets were getting dangerously close to his head. He panted heavily, heart beating fast in his chest from the adrenaline rush of the battle. He waited, then whipped around and shot his two bullets right into the chest and head of a griffon, killing it.

"One down!" He shouted above the gunfire, he hid again to reload his rifle.

Just one griffon down wasn't any good against their advancing squadron. At least twenty or so griffons were closing in on the Equestrian guards at an alarming rate. Stormfire stayed in hiding, turning and looking in both directions around him. One guard fell, wounded and dying. Then another. And soon another. It quickly became too much, and he stood up. Without taking much time to aim, he shot one bullet into an approaching griffon's head, knocking his helmet off of his head with the bullet exploding out through the back of the griffon's head, sending blood and bits of brain everywhere.

Storm shuddered at the sight, quickly aiming towards another griffon and firing. This time, the bullet hit the griffon's wing and stopped her from flying away. The griffon yelped and hissed as Storm went back into cover where he reloaded once more right as gunfire began whipping by his own head.

"Die, you pricks!" Spear shouted, leaned over a wooden barrier and shooting multiple bullets towards oncoming griffon troops who were already struggling to find places to take cover from not only his but other soldiers' bullets.

When his ammunition ran out, he crouched down to reload and reached for one of the ammo packs attached to his armor, only to drop it and bullets to spill out onto the ground. "Shoot!" He muttered to himself and scrambled to load them into the barrel of his rifle.

Unknowingly, Spear was half out in the open and was still scrambling to pick up the ammunition he had dropped. For one griffon soldier armed with a crossbow across the field, the white pegasus was in his line of view, and he took careful aim while leaned on a rock. The griffon loaded a plain arrow onto the crossbow and adjusted his aim just a hair, before shooting it right towards Spear.

Across the field, Spear reached for the final two bullets laying on the ground, when a large pain struck his chest and turned his world upside down. His pupils shrunk to pinpricks when he glanced down slowly and saw the arrow sticking straight out of the side of his chest with a blood crawling down his ice-white coat and pooling onto the grass below him.

Thunderblast, who was right across the barrier, still behind a rock for cover, noticed Spear's wound with wide-eyes and watched as he collapsed. "No...Spear!" He shouted, quickly looking over his cover and spotting the griffon preparing to shoot Spear again. He raised his rifle quickly and emptied his barrel upon the griffon, wounding him severely.

Instead of stopping to reload, Thunder immediately dove across the open to pull Spear back into cover. He leaned back against the barrier with Spear now laying on his back on his lap. "No...no no no!" His ears pinned to his head while he looked over the wound. 

Spear was bleeding moderately, but the arrow itself had done enough damage. Thunder took hold of Spear's helmet and slid it off of his head, the golden headpiece fell onto the dirt beside them with a light clank. Spear slowly turned his head to look up at Thunder and squinted lightly before coughing.

"Th...Thunder..." he spoke in a raspy voice, coughing two more times.

"Y-you're going to be okay, Spear. You're fine," Thunder's heart raced as he tried to calm not only Spear, but himself. "It's not that bad..."

"Thunder..." Spear squinted more, his vision beginning to blur. He then cracked a small smile. "I-it's...okay..."

"Y-yes, it is okay, you're going to be okay..."

Spear slowly shook his head after a pause. "Y-you're not...a very good liar..." he coughed some more, spitting up some blood.

Tears slowly built up in Thunder's glassy eyes as he stared down at his wounded friend, ears still very much pinned to his head. "S-Spear...I-I..."

"Sssshhh..." Spear raised a shaky and weak hoof to Thunder's lips to silence him, which he did. A few moments later, his hoof dropped to the ground. "S-shoot...it got dark fast...h-heh..."

Thunder nodded slowly, a tear falling down his cheek. "I-it did...it did..."

Spear turned his head, staring straight up at the sky and coughing again. "Pr-promise me, Thunder...promise me...i-it'll be okay..." He started to tear up as well.

Thunder's heart shattered at the sight of Spear tearing up. The sound around him seemed to have drowned itself out. "I...it'll be...o-okay..." he sniffled and did his best to smile down at his dying comrade.

Spear gave a faint, weak smile back and nodded once. "Y-you were...a great friend...Thunder.."

Just moments later, Spear's eyes slowly closed, and his blood-covered body went limp in Thunder's hooves.

Thunder shook his head in disbelief, more tears streaming down his cheeks. "S-Spear...please...don't go..." He whimpered, and very quickly began to sob, holding Spear's now limp and lifeless body against his chest.

"SPEAR!!" He sobbed out loud, gaining the attention of the others.

Stormfire noticed Thunder holding Spear's body and his eyes widened. He turned to the other guards and shouted, "Cover the first sergeant!"

The other guards nodded, and began advancing further towards the few remaining griffons with bullets and arrows flying in two directions.
Soon after, the remaining griffons started running the other way in retreat. Once the area was clear, Stormfire opened his wings and flew over to Thunderblast, who was still grasping Spear's bloody and lifeless body tightly in his hooves and to his chest. His ear's fell and he stepped closer slowly.

"He's gone..." He spoke quietly as other guards walked over and circled around them, looking over their fallen comrade's body and removing their helmets in respect. Storm followed suit and closed his eyes, looking down as a gentle rain started to pat down on the earth.

Following a moment of silence in honor of Spear, Stormfire walked closer to Thunder and rested a hoof on his shoulder. The grey pegasus sniffled and was still shedding tears when he glanced up to Storm, who stared back into his eyes and saw just how distraught Thunder was before he pulled him into a tight hug.

"He was a great soldier...and a better friend, Thunder," Storm muttered.

"I-I know..." he stuttered and choked up. "I-I should have had his back...the griffon was right in front of me."

"Hey now..." Storm turned Thunder around and sat down before him, both hooves on his shoulders. "You couldn't have stopped what happened."

"I could have...I could have jumped in front of him and taken the damn arrow..." Thunder's ears fell down once more.

"Don't say that, Thunder. You have a family at home waiting for you. Even if Spear doesn't, he won't be forgotten."

Thunder slowly looked down towards the ground, a final tear shedding.

"Come on...we have to move on. We have to leave him behind. We have to find Sharp."


***


The group worked their way into Gryffsvale cautiously, weapons reloaded and hearts heavy after the loss of Spear. Since leaving his body, Thunder hadn't said one word and his head was held down the entire time, a shadow from his rain-soaked helmet casting over his eyes to where they couldn't be seen in the growing light of dawn. 

The town, still, seemingly was abandoned and was left in ruin. Each building had a different story to tell in the terms of damage. Windows were broken, walls were heavily cracked or had massive holes in them from mine explosions, and some were just completely burnt down or blown to smithereens. It was enough to send a chill up even the toughest soldier's spine.

Stormfire, who kept a watchful eye out in front of them with his rifle slung over his shoulder, also scanned buildings for any signs of life, anywhere Sharp could have been hiding, or worse.

"Corporal, private, check these shops for anything. Make it quick, and be on the lookout for mines."

The two guards nodded and trotted into shops, flicking on flashlights and searching for whatever they could find that would help to their advantage, or to find Sharp. Once finished, they moved on to the next shops, and the next ones after those. Meanwhile, Stormfire, Thunderblast and one other guard worked their way down the debris-strewn cobble street before reaching an intersection. He glanced both ways. "Which way?" He turned to Thunder.

The grey pegasus slowly raised his head, just enough to look around and making his eyes just barely visible. "Left. Then right."

Stormfire stared at Thunder for a moment and blinked, then looked around the left corner and saw another intersection just a few buildings down, where nothing seemed to be destroyed—yet. Storm, afterwards, put a hoof to his mouth and whistled for the other two guards to return to them, which they did.

"Find anything?"

"Nothing of use, and no sign of Sharp still."

Storm sighed. "Very well then. Thunder says to go left and then right. Let us trust his directions," he said as he led the group to the left, and soon to the right where some taller buildings were at. On the side, one street light flickered before going completely out with sparks of electricity falling down before fading out into nothing. The group cautiously walked down the intersection and stopped about halfway down.

"Alright. Let's all split up and search these buildings. We're bound to find something, even if it's just food we can take back or have later," Storm said as he looked over the street and eventually walked towards an shop and apartment building on the left side of the street, while the others went and searched other buildings beside each other.

Storm examined the small, empty shop with a flashlight and found a door leading to a back room, likely to some stairs leading up. He tried to open it, only to find it was locked. He looked around, then onto the floor where he found a small key. He picked it up, hoping it would open the door so he wouldn't have to kick it down and likely attract unwanted attention to them. He inserted the key into the lock—jackpot! It clicked and swung open, leading to a small room that was nothing but a stairwell going up four more floors.

"Sharp?" He spoke quietly and floated up the stairs with gentle flaps of his wings. Once at the top, he landed with gentle, quiet clops of his hooves touching the wooden floor, and he walked up to where the door of an apartment was located, only to find it barricaded by wooden planks, and furniture on the inside. 

He glanced up, seeing an opening where he could look inside, and floated up to the top, peeking into the apartment. As he did, a light scuffle could be heard from inside. Storm's eyes widened and he quickly landed, then took a few steps back. He thought over a quick plan of attack in his mind, and then proceeded to turn around and kick the barricaded door open, sending whatever small furniture was blocking the door and wooden planks flying inside with a loud crash that was sure to attract attention. Turning back around, he slowly entered the apartment, holding a knife in one hoof and a flashlight in the other.

As he walked inside, his flashlight flickered, then went out. He stopped and slapped it a few times with his hoof. "Bollocks..." he muttered, throwing it to the ground with a loud thump and continued into the small apartment. It was a single room, with the living room, kitchen, and even beds all in the same space. Poverty was a growing problem in the Griffon Kingdom, and from the looks of the apartment, whoever was living there before was in it. To Stormfire, it was...sad.

Another scuffle from behind the kitchen counter which caught his attention. He slowly walked towards the kitchen, knife drawn and heart beginning to beat faster than normal. Then, suddenly, he was thrown to the ground in the other direction, chest down and knife knocked out of his hoof. He struggled to push himself upright, only to find he was pinned by some sort of invisible force. Storm grunted and kicked his legs, then felt his forehooves be grabbed from off the floor and held behind his back where they were quickly bound together by rope.

He shrieked and struggled against his bindings. "Get off of me!" He shouted, then whatever was on top of him suddenly stopped.

"Storm?" Came a voice from above.

Storm's eyes opened and he slowly looked up. A light blue magical aura lit up the space, revealing an armorless Sharp to be standing above him. He blinked and tilted his head. "Sharp?"

Quickly, Sharp snapped the rope off of Storm's hooves and pulled him up on his hooves. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"No, what are you doing here? We thought you were captured or something!" Storm threw a hoof up in some annoyance.

"Almost earlier, actually," Sharp turned around and walked back behind the kitchen where his gear was sitting. "I tried sneaking back out here to complete the mission, to push us further into the town than the griffons expected. I haven't had the chance to go to the tower just yet. I stopped to rest."

"Are you stupid, Sharp? You could have gotten yourself captured, or worse."

"But I didn't, and you found me. Send me to trial for being a quote-unquote traitor for Celestia's sake. I was only trying to do the right thing."

Storm sighed, then rubbed his forehead. "You were, you were. And I'm glad you're safe." He looked back up. "Sharp...Spear is dead."

Sharp's head looked up quickly, eyes widened in shock. "He's...what?"

"Dead. Killed in action. Took an arrow to the chest...and...died in Thunder's arms."

Sharp froze completely, then his ears flattened out. "That's...I...I have no words.."

"We're just as shocked as you are, Sharp. Thunder, he...hasn't spoken to any of us since then. Other than to give us directions on where to go."

"Damn..." He looked down.

"So, get your gear. We're going."

"I'm not going with you guys."

"Why the hell not?" Storm raised an eyebrow.

"I need to get this flag to the tower and hang it up."

"Who said anything about us going back to base?"

"What?"

Stormfire walked up to Sharp. "If that's your mission, we'll make it ours. Our mission was to find you, but now that we have, we can set our minds on getting this flag to the tower."

Sharp slowly cracked a smile. "You sure you're up for it? It'll be hell trying to get there."

"Better die trying than to not try at all, right?"

"Yeah," he smiled more. "Let's go retake this city."
> Finishing What Was Started: Part I
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sharpblade and Stormfire trotted out of the abandoned building onto the street where Thunderblast and the other guards were standing, waiting.

The grey pegasus glanced over and saw the two exit the building, eyes widening. "Sharp!" he shouted, before running over to them. "The hell were you?!"

Sharp sighed. "Trying to-"

"You idiot, you could have gotten yourself captured, or worse!" Thunder raised a hoof and slapped Sharp across the cheek.

The unicorn winced and slowly turned his head back, lifting a hoof and rubbing his cheek where Thunder slapped him.

"Thunder, wait," Storm ran up and stood in front of Sharp. "He has a reason."

"Better be a good one," Thunder looked around Storm and glared right at the grey unicorn.

"Then let him explain, and don't slap him again," Storm pushed Thunder back a few inches and walked out of his way. Sharp walked back up to Thunder, his cheek slightly red from the hit.

"Thunder, listen. I only sneaked out overnight in hopes of getting this flag to the tower, to finish the mission we couldn't in the daylight."

"You do realize Spear died, right? Spear is gone, Sharp. Because of you!" Thunder raised his voice as tears began to build in his eyes. "He died right in my arms because we were looking for you!"

Sharp recoiled back, his ears pinning to his head. "I...I'm sorry. I never meant for any of it to happen. I hope you understand that."

Thunder grabbed Sharp by his chestplate and pulled him closer, now they were face to face. "And I hope you understand that our friend is gone because of your foolish decision!"

"Damn it, I never meant for it to happen! How many times do I need to repeat myself?" Sharp shoved Thunder back, getting out of the stallion's grip. "I never meant for any of this bull to happen! You're right, I'm foolish, but just as much as you do I want to make some progress in this war! Do you hear me?!"

Thunder went silent, unsure of what to reply with. Then, after a lengthy pause with nothing but the faint pops of gunfire in the distance.

"I hear you," he finally replied with a lowered tone.

"Now, do you see why I came out here? I want to go home. And I know you do too. You're not even supposed to be here, Thunder. Part of the reason why I'm doing this is for you," Sharp pressed his hoof to Thunder's chestplate. "They dragged you here without a second opinion. You don't deserve to be here. You have a family back home."

Thunder went silent again. His ears gradually fell flat, and tears once again built up in his eyes. "I was born to be a guard, Sharp. I was molded into a soldier a decade ago. I can't be anything other than what I am. Of course I deserve to be here."

He then rested a hoof on Sharp's shoulder. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm just afraid of losing another friend. That's all I have to say. "

Sharp's ears fell back again. "You see now?"

Thunder slowly bobbed his head in a nod. "I do."

Sharp stared the pegasus in the eyes, then after a moment, slipped his helmet over his head. "Now I don't know if you're going to tag along, but me and Storm are getting this flag to that tower," he took the Equestrian flag out from his armor and held it in his hoof.

Thunder looked down at the flag, then back up at Sharp. "If that's your mission, then it is mine as well."

A faint smile grew across Sharp's face. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

Thunder shrugged slightly. "It's not like I haven't fought my way through a town before," he then turned to the other guards with them. "This is our mission now, corporal, private," he looked between them. "If you have any objections, speak now or forever hold it in."


***


The group worked their way down empty streets, towards the center of the town where they were to fly the Equestrian flag and reclaim Gryffsvale. Sharp kept the flag tucked away in his armor and held a loaded crossbow in his hoof as he walked. They turned down a street, the tower standing tall a few short blocks away.

"There it is, Gryffsvale Tower," Sharp said quietly, everypony else slowly examining the building.

"Keep a close eye everypony, there could be enemy troops in and around the tower," Thunder gripped his rifle tighter. "Don't hesitate to open fire if you see one."

The others nodded, and continued down the street towards the tower. Farther down, closer to the tower waited multiple griffon troops that hid around corners surrounding the tower with loaded weapons and preparing to ambush. 

As they walked, Storm heard a quiet scuffle further down and stopped. "Hold up."

The others turned around and looked back at him. "What is it?" asked Sharp.

Storm slowly looked around them, then further down the street, where he saw the bare tip of a rifle sticking out and just barely moving around in the grasp of an enemy.

"They're going to ambush us...take cover!"

At that moment, five griffon soldiers leaped out of their hiding spots just a block away and began opening fire, shooting blasts of green magic and arrows towards the group and moving slowly at them.

"Everybody down!" Thunder shouted and grabbed Sharp, pulling him behind a large section of debris from a building beside them that had fallen onto the street and using it for cover. 

The bullets of magic did not penetrate the concrete but left black burn marks that sizzled and let off thin trails of smoke into the air. One of the guards jumped behind the wall, while Storm and the other guard took refuge in a smaller building and ran upstairs where the floor was mostly destroyed. From there, they had a slightly better shot at the approaching enemy soldiers.

Thunder peered around the corner, where an arrow dug itself right into the concrete beside his head, and quickly turned back to Sharp.

"You good with that thing?"

"Somewhat!"

"Good enough for me, open fire!" Thunder shouted above the loud pews of the enemys' rifles firing. He whipped back around the corner with his loaded rifle and shot both bullets back at the oncoming soldiers. One missed, while the other dug itself into the closest griffon's leg and bringing him down, but not killing him. He whipped back around the corner and took out his ammunition pack. "Reloading!"

"Covering!" Sharp stood up on his hinds over their cover and took aim for the griffons as magical bullets flew past him. He concentrated, then shot an arrow in return. It struck another griffon soldier and penetrated right through his chestplate. The griffon dropped to the ground in a pool of blood, motionless.

From above, Stormfire and the other guard shot their rifles at the griffons without much luck. The griffons noticed, diving into their own cover and preparing to shoot back once they reloaded.

"I've got a grenade!" shouted the guard to Storm.

"Use it!" Storm said as he scrambled to reload his barrel.

The guard took the grenade and bit his teeth down on the pin and yanked his head back. The pin fell out, and he threw the small green ball down into the window of the building the griffons were hiding in. Just moments later, the building exploded into a fireball, and the limbs of the griffon soldiers flew across the street and landed beside Thunder and Sharp. The grey pegasus looked over to the severed arm and gagged a little, before standing up and turning to Storm and the guard above and waved his hoof.

"That's all of them!" Shouted the guard as he scanned over the street.

Stormfire opened his wings and glided down to the others, followed by the guard, and they gathered up.

"There's going to be more of them, I just know it," Storm said. "And they know we're here now."

"Then let's show them what we got," Thunder held his rifle up towards the sky. "Let's get their weapons, they'll come in use later."

At his word, the group split up across the street and scavenged for any weapons the now-dead griffon soldiers may have dropped. Another crossbow was picked up, as well as two rifles. Sharpblade took one, then examined it closely. His eyes widened in surprise when he was finished.

"You guys?"

"Hmm?" Thunder and Stormfire, as well as the other guards turned to him. "What is it?" Storm asked.

"These rifles...are more advanced than our own. Just look at the mechanism!" Sharp held the rifle up to them. "It doesn't fire bullets, instead it fires a type of... well... laser made out of unicorn magic. I don't know how this is possible, but it's right here," he glanced up at them.

Storm looked over the weapon and then up at Sharp. "Perhaps the unicorns they've captured over the last couple of weeks have been used to create these?"

"I would hope not, but it's possible. Which is more of a reason why we need to recapture this town and push their forces back," Sharp then slung the rifle over his shoulder.

The others nodded. "Let's move," Thunder said to them. Thus, they continued down the street towards the tower.

The tower itself was made of stone and was at least 10-12 stories in height. It had few squared windows spanning the center of the walls on each floor. In width, it wasn't that large, and was likely an older tower that existed far before the rest of the town. It stood in dead center of Gryffsvale and was the prime landmark of the town, as Stormfire had stated earlier to the group. They also knew that the top would likely be heavily guarded where the flag was to be hung up and flown in the breeze to signal the taking of the town.

They gathered at the small wooden door that led to the inside of the tower, Thunder turning around and kicking his hind legs right into it when it refused to open. The door itself shattered inwards, sending splinters and sections of wood everywhere. The group entered, weapons drawn.

"Clear!" shouted Storm.

"Alright, everybody up the stairs. One by one. Sharp, stay in the middle," Thunder held his rifle up and walked up the stairs, second in the group with the dark grey unicorn following close behind, with Storm and the other guard behind him.

The stairs were somewhat rounded as they went up. The tower itself had no actual floors and they ended at the very top where a large bell that could be manually rung with a giant rope sat. 

As they worked their way up, the ricochet of an arrow aimed towards them bounced off the stone wall just after Thunder's head. He jumped and quickly looked up, seeing a griffon soldier with a crossbow in her talon taking aim for him from above.

"Crossbow, two flights up! Open fire!" Thunder shouted and scrambled into a better position, as did the others as the griffon shot more arrows down towards them with no luck of hitting anyone.

Sharp grit his teeth angrily and levitated his own crossbow and an arrow in a blue aura of magic. "Two can play at this game..." he aimed it upwards and took a careful aim, shooting the arrow, which drove itself into the griffon's neck.

She screeched in pain, stumbling a bit before falling off of the stairs and past the group, down to the hard floor below where she was killed instantly, if not already during her fall.

Stormfire peered downwards and cringed at the sight. "Ooh, ouch."

"Don't feel bad for her, Storm, she tried to kill us," Thunder continued up the stairs with the others.

"Right," Storm nodded and returned his focus to following them up to the top.

Much to their surprise, the moment they reached the top of the tower, no one was up there, except for the body of a smaller male griffon. Sharp leaned down and examined the body.

"This one's been dead," he stood back up. "No idea how, I don't see a physical wound."

"Doesn't matter really. You got the flag?"

Sharp nodded, setting his crossbow down onto the wooden floor and pulling the folded flag out of his armor. "The pole is atop the spire. Either you or Stormfire will have to put it up, because I sure as hell can't get up there."

Storm nodded. "I'll do it."

Sharp handed the flag to Storm, who took it in his hooves and stepped to the edge.

"You know how to hang up a flag?" Thunder asked.

"Not really, doesn't hurt to try though," Storm shrugged and opened his wings, flying out of the tower and up to the top of the spire where the pole stood. It had no flag attached to it.

Storm took the flag up to the top of the pole and slowly unhooked the rope it was supposed to be attached to and slid it through the small holes on the side of the flag. Once finished, he reattached the rope, and the breeze caught hold of the flag. Moments later, the blue flag with the sun and moon, as well as both celestial princesses in a circular position on it, was waving in the breeze.

"Got it!" Storm shouted from above.

"Alright, on the count of three," Thunder said to the others, all taking a grip on the rope attached to the massive bell. "One, two, three!"

The group heaved on the rope, and soon, it began swinging back and forth, the loud bong of the inner piece slamming against the rim of it and sending the noise far across the town and around, catching the attention of many. Soon after, the tables around the town had turned, and they noticed the griffon soldiers beginning to fall back away from the town. It was a huge relief to the group.

"We did it," Sharp smiled faintly as he looked down across the area, watching the enemies retreat.

"We wouldn't have if it wasn't for you," Thunder stood beside him, leaning against the stone wall.

"I'm still sorry," Sharp's smile faded.

"I know, Sharp. I am too."


***


Shortly after, the group walked back down the stairs to the ground level where a larger squad of royal guards were approaching, including Golden Armor, dressed in similar armor but with a golden helmet collar and missing the rest of the headpiece. They stopped, and Thunder walked up to meet the white pegasus.

"Great job, guards. Very well done."

"Don't thank me, thank Sharp," Thunder turned to the grey unicorn. "It was his reasoning for leaving."

"Sharp?" Golden peered around Thunder and saw the unicorn. "Ah, yes," he walked around Thunder and up to him. "Though I don't agree with you abandoning everypony, I can't stay mad. You had a clear objective towards our advantage and we thank you for it."

Sharp nodded once. "Thank you sir."

The white pegasus patted Sharp's shoulder, then turned back to Thunder. "But we have bigger problems on our hooves. Captain Armor is missing."

"Shining is missing?" Stormfire's eyes opened wide.

"Yes. He was last seen on the battlefield about an hour ago. We have a team out searching for him in the vicinity of the town and haven't heard anything back yet. We fear they may have taken him hostage."

"No way...you're kidding, right?" Thunder stepped up to him.

"I'm afraid not." 

"We can help with the search, and if necessary, go after him. The Griffonian capitol is northeast of here, right?"

"We've suffered many casualties and fatalities today, and now we're missing our commander-in-chief. The last thing we need is losing more stallions to the enemy. If worse comes to worst, we will have to assign a new captain of the Royal Guard. Chances are, it will be the sub-captain, Cloud Skipper. Now head back, we'll take the watch from here."

Thunder nodded, a faint glare growing across his face. "Yes sir."

The group regathered and made their way back to camp many miles away. The walk was long and no one had said a word the entire way. First their friend was killed in battle, and now they had something else to worry about.

At lunch, the group remained silent, and simply ate their meals without looking at each other. Each and every one of them were thinking of where Shining Armor might have disappeared to. Even more so, Thunderblast and Sharpblade were contemplating ways mentally to go back out to search for their captain, possibly held captive in the Griffonian capital.

It was a while into their break until someone spoke up, that someone being Stormfire.

"Alright, Thunder, Sharp, what are you two thinking?"

The two of them moved their eyes up to Storm and then exchanged looks at each other, before returning their attention back to the dark blue pegasus. Thunder leaned closer to speak quietly between the group.

"We're still working on it. But, we're going to convince one of the captains to let us back into Gryffsvale. From there, we'll have to sneak into their capital. And I mean sneak."

Storm bobbed his head in a nod. "Right," he replied quietly. "How are we going to do it?"


***


"Lieutenant Soleus Spur?" Stormfire called the stallion's name as he trotted up to him.

The white earth pony, coat altered from his armor's spell, glanced up to the blue pegasus. "That's me, what can I help you with?"

"Well," Storm's eyes briefly rolled to the side. "Me, first sergeant Thunderblast, and sergeant Sharpblade are interested in going back to Gryffsvale to search for any refugees still in the town."

The earth pony eyed the pegasus suspiciously. "I suppose that would be alright. I would suggest meeting up with captain Golden Armor before heading off just so he knows you're all there."

Storm nodded. "Yes sir. Thank you sir," he then saluted.

Soleus threw up a salute as well. "Carry on."

Storm dropped his salute and trotted back to the others.

"We're good."

Thunderblast nodded, turning to Sharpblade and the three other guards with them. One of them being another close friend of Sharp's. The grey pegasus pulled a regional map out of his armor and held it in the center of the group.

"So, once we reach Gryffsvale, we will move on the outskirts of it until we're out of the northeast part of the town. From there, we will follow the path to their capital, Griffonburgh. If we're lucky, we'll be there before sundown. We don't know what it looks like, so the best we can do is think of ways to get inside sneakily as we see it. I imagine it will be heavily guarded and fortified. If not, the palace definitely will be. They have to know we're coming to get our captain. " 

"But right now, our plan is to get there, the rest will come later. Clear?"

The others exchanged looks, then stared at Thunder and each nodded. Thunder nodded back.

"And Celestia forbid, we will kill anyone that gets in our way. We're not just going to do this for the captain, but for Spear, and the rest of Equestria. Let us all fight until the last one of either of us drops into a pool of blood. Let's hit the road boys."

Thus, the seven of them began their short trot towards Gryffsvale. From there, they skirted around the town, avoiding the guards that did stand guard in the liberated town and making their way towards the distant Griffonian capital city. Along the way, the group discussed what the city might look like, or what they would do if they were caught by enemy troops. And then, the subject changed to personal matters. The seven of them discussed life, knowing they may or may not make it out of this next mission alive.

And as expected, as the sun went down behind them, they crossed a railway line atop a smaller hill that overlooked the nearby city. They stopped to get a good look at the massive town. Even from a distance, it was evident that Griffonburgh was at least four times larger than Gryffsvale, and possibly twice as big as their home's capital, Canterlot. The city itself was surrounded with tall stone walls along the rim of the city. On the inside, it consisted of houses on the outer parts of the city, and quickly became denser the further one looked in, eventually reaching the massive palace that towered over Griffonburgh on the center-northern edge of the city, across a bridge from a large lake sitting between it and the city. 

"There it is, boys," Sharp said, gazing over the Canterlot-like metropolis.

"It's even bigger than I imagined," Stormfire's eyes were widened at the breathtaking sight.

"Not for me," said Caspian. "It's been a while."

Thunder turned and gave a look at the white earth pony. "You've been here?"

"A year or so ago, yes."

"So you know the city, right?"

"Somewhat," Caspian shrugged. "I don't know how much of a help I will be with getting in, but I know at least some of the schedules their guards have. But in a situation like this, I am certain they are different."

"Any little bit helps," Sharp kept staring at the city. "If we can get through the city without being caught by anyone, we should be just fine."

"That will be tricky," Storm added.

"You can say that again," Sharp replied.

It wasn't long before the group huddled up and discussed a plan. They decided it was inevitable that with the amount of guards present in the city, they would need to at least knock some of them out stealthily to make a clear path towards the palace. There was no possible way to go in from behind, and the only actual way to get in would be through the sewer, but of course they had to find a hole to climb down first. Once the plan was decided, they stood and began towards Griffonburgh as the sun dipped below the horizon behind them.

Outside of the city, the area was extremely dark with the only light nearby being the city itself. Unlike some paths in Equestria, there weren't poles to light the way, and a couple of times, they walked off track and nearly into a pond. Though, in a way, it helped them where enemy soldiers couldn't see them in the dark.

They eventually reached the wall of Griffonburgh far to the side of the gate where they waited for a guard doing his rounds above them on top of the wall to pass, and two of them would fly up and take him out without bringing attention to themselves. The guard walked above them slowly, and after a signal from Thunderblast, he and Stormfire flew up and knocked the soldier unconscious after a quick beating. Thankfully, no one else noticed, and from there, they began carrying the others up. 

The wall itself was high enough where they all could easily jump from roof to roof of every building, and helped with their plan even more to where they no longer had to worry about sneaking through the streets. They crept atop the houses without making much noise, both inside and out, and continued once they came across slightly taller buildings heading deeper into the city.

But, when they were just four blocks from the palace, they came across some guards standing on one of the rooftops on a taller building than the one they were on and were forced to hide.

"Two guards, ten o'clock," whispered Caspian.

"Shit," muttered Thunderblast. "We can't let them see us."

"I got this," Stormfire then pulled out his fully-loaded rifle and took aim, with two bullets that would be an easy hit if neither of them moved.

"Wait, no!" Thunder then tackled Storm down, inadvertently setting the gun off and attracting the attention of the guards on the rooftop. He quickly pulled Storm back into cover and put a hoof over his mouth to keep him quiet.

Meanwhile, on the opposite rooftop, the guards were looking around frantically for the source of the noise. They hadn't moved, but had their weapons drawn. Thunder watched, head peeked around the corner of the smaller section of the building they hid behind. His eyes widened when he saw two arrows strike the griffons just seconds apart, and tumble off the roof to their deaths below if they weren't already dead. His eyes moved to the side where he saw Sharpblade leaned over a barrel and reloading his crossbow.

The grey unicorn finished and looked over, attaching the crossbow to the back of his armor piece. "What?" He shrugged.

"Good job," Thunder nodded. "Let's move. We've got to find a way into the sewer."

One of the other guards walked over to the edge of the rooftop and looked down across the cobble street below. "I would think that a hole leading down to it would be on one of these streets somewhere."

"As would I," Sharp replied. "But remember, these griffons have a strange way of planning out their towns."

The others walked around, searching for a stallionhole cover, but had no luck of discovering one. It was decided that they move on, still heading towards the palace until eventually reaching the last row of buildings they could walk on top of before the edge of the lake, and the long stone bridge leading to the palace.

Looking around some more, it was evident their first plan wasn't going to work. Thunderblast sighed. "I'm afraid we'll have to switch to plan B."

Caspian turned to Thunder and blinked a couple of times. "We don't have a plan B."

"We do now," Sharp added.

"We might have to actually go in through the front entrance, guns-a-blazing," Thunder said. "There's no other way."

"There they are!" Came a new voice from behind that made the group's ears perk up and snap around.

Behind them came multiple griffon soldiers with bows and arrows and swords drawn, some flying in the air above the others and slowly approaching the group.

"Now what?" Whispered Storm who slowly backed away towards the edge.

"Now we fly, duh," Thunder said loud enough for the others to hear, wings flaring open. He then wrapped a hoof around Sharp and brought him up onto his back, surprising the grey unicorn as he now sat on the pegasus' back. "Sharp, shield formation, now!"

At his word, Sharp lit his horn in a blue aura as Caspian climbed onto Stormfire's back and flew up, while the other pegasus guard followed suit, and finally Thunderblast with Sharp on his back. It was at that moment when the griffon soldiers began shooting arrows at them, only to be deflected by blue shields conjured up by Sharp's magic surrounding all of them. At the same time, it was slowly weakening him and he began to sweat.

"Hurry up and get us there, I can't hold it for... much longer!" he grunted and began to breathe heavily.

"Move, move, move!" Thunder swooped down towards the bridge, landing on all fours heavily. The others quickly followed and soon everybody was back on their hooves as Sharp killed the magic providing for their shields.

"Get them!" Screeched a griffon soldier to the others from atop the buildings as they chased the group down the bridge towards the palace.

"Keep going! Don't think about stopping!" Sharp shouted, looking behind them to see the griffon soldiers chasing from a slight distance. 

Then, all of a sudden, Sharp tripped and tumbled, now laying on his back with a massive spike of pain in his forehoof. He raised it to eye level where he saw an arrow sticking out of it from the front and was bleeding. The others had stopped right beside him and were staring forward as more griffon soldiers were approaching from in front of them as well as behind them.

"Sharp, are you okay?" Caspian ran over to Sharp and lifted him up to his hooves, he held his wounded hoof in the air.

"I've been worse," he grunted softly.

"Nowhere to run now, ponies," said a much larger and more muscular griffon dressed in a slightly different armor than the others. He walked through the line of soldiers in front of the group and towards them. He had a slight Griffonian accent. "Zink you can come into our capital and not be caught?" he then burst into a chuckle.

Glaring towards him, Thunderblast stood his ground slightly in front of the others. He turned his head back slightly while still staring at the taller griffon and whispered to them. "Get ready to swim."

"What?" Stormfire turned his head to Thunder in surprise.

"Get ready. To swim," he whispered a bit louder, still unable for the griffons to hear.

The larger griffon finished his cackle and stepped closer to Thunder and reached a talon out, grabbing the grey pegasus by the neck and picking him up with little issue. Sharp and Storm's eyes opened wide at the sight and they stepped forward only to be stopped by Caspian, while Thunder gently squirmed in the griffon's grasp.

"Now, what shall we do with you?" He squeezed Thunder's neck briefly and made him gag.

"Kill me for all I care," Thunder grunted.

"Hmm, now zat would be a good idea, but no. I have better plans for you."

As he spoke, Thunder turned his head to the group and nodded once. Storm nodded back, then ran a few feet over to the wall of the bridge and leaped over it, straight into the lake, with Sharpblade, Caspian, and the other guard right behind him.

"Hey, HEY! Get them!" shouted the griffon as the soldiers ran to the edge and began shooting arrows at the water as they swam beneath the surface. He turned back to Thunder and squeezed his neck tighter and pulled him to his beak. "You zink you're a hero, huh? Telling your friends to swim away? Zey won't get away, I'll make sure of it."

"H-has anyone ever told you your breath stinks?" Thunder coughed a bit, having his neck squeezed still.

The griffon growled. "You dare insult Colonel Ironclaw?!"

"So that's your name?"

The colonel roared in anger and slammed Thunder into the cobble, armor scraping against it and being dented badly. The grey pegasus wheezed and squirmed beneath the larger griffon's talon, while he raised the other one. His other talon opened, revealing it had knife attachments to every claw. If his claws weren't sharp enough, the attachments would surely kill someone with one stab or cut.

"This is your lucky day, pony," Ironclaw lowered his other talon and leaned down to meet the stallion's muzzle while he held him down by his torso. "We do not have plans to kill you... yet."
> Finishing What Was Started: Part II
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Far across the lake, along the shoreline, the group pulled themselves out of the freezing water and onto dry land, all laying down to catch their breath. While they did, Stormfire stood up and stared back towards the bridge they had jumped from and saw no one standing there anymore.

"Thunder..."

Sharp sat up and looked towards the bridge as well. "He'll be fine for the moment. He's tough."

"I know, but..."

"Hey, you and I both know that he knew he was going to get caught one way or another. He wanted to ensure that by making us leave him behind. And we're not leaving him forever, they're going to put him with the captain and we're going to get them both out."

Storm sighed. "Right... but still. I hate leaving somepony behind."

"You and me both," Sharp rested his good hoof on Storm's shoulder, then grunted in pain as the arrow was pulled out of his other hoof and the wound was bandaged up by Caspian.

"Try and stay off of that hoof for a little while. Don't even hold a weapon with it," Caspian said, finishing up with the bandages.

Sharp nodded. "Alright. Thank you," he took his hoof back and gently set it down on the ground as he pushed himself up. 

"So, what do we do now?" asked Storm.

"We need to find a way into the palace. Surely it must have a dungeon where they're keeping everypony they've captured. I don't know a single palace in the world that doesn't have a dungeon," Caspian replied. "Usually they are beneath the main parts of the palace, either a floor down or below ground."

"He's right, most palaces are modeled the same. They build the dungeons below ground to make escape harder. But that's bad for us because it means we only have one way of getting in there, and that's with guns-a-blazing. Unless..." Sharp looked towards the palace's lower sections and scanned over the shoreline wall and spotted two vent pipes just off of the edge of the stone wall large enough to fit ponies. 

"Those vents there," he pointed to them. "They could take us into the dungeons. Maybe. I can't be sure. But they'll get us somewhere close."

Stormfire and Caspian looked to the vent holes. "You think so?" Caspian said.

"It would be better than going in through the front door, that's for sure," Storm added.

"So once we get in there... what then?" asked the other guard that was with them.

"We try and find the dungeons. There's not much else we can do. Our best bet would be to search the lower levels until we find it," Sharp explained. "Neither of us know where the dungeons are. Unless you happen to know, Caspian? You said you know this city."

"Just the guard schedules and some areas of the palace, but just the main hall, the dinner hall and the throne room. The place is huge, it is much bigger than the palace in Canterlot. We'll be lucky if we don't get lost just trying to find the dungeons," he answered.

"Dungeons can't be that hard to find. In palaces they are normally huge and take up most if not all of the lower level. If we can't find it then there is something severely wrong. Now, we have a way in, and all we have to do is find that dungeon. From there on out we have to fight our way back to home base. It will be a long and dangerous road, and I won't guarantee every one of you to make it out in one piece. That's why we fight as a team and don't let our guard down for one second. Is that clear?" Stormfire stated.

The others nodded in response.

"Let's get going."

At his word, the small group made their way around the rim of the lake and onto the large rocks that bordered the water and the wall of the palace, climbing up the side and removing the vent grate and tossing it into the water behind them before entering and making their way into the palace.


***


"Wakey, wakey."

Having being knocked unconscious shortly after capture, Thunderblast awoke slowly to find himself locked in a windowless dungeon cell made completely of cold, hard stone and only had a small bed mattress that stuck out from the side and had two chains attached to either end, holding it up. He was laying on the bed when his eyes opened and it wasn't long before he got onto his hooves, also finding he had been stripped of his weapons and armor with them nowhere to be seen.

He glanced up, staring forward ahead of him as his vision cleared and saw the same griffon from just before he blacked out standing on the opposite side of the door, a talon grasping one of the rusty steel vertical bars of the cell's door. The griffon had a grin crossing his beak as he watched the grey pegasus rise.

"You again," Thunder said as he begun to walk up to the door, only to be stopped and slightly yanked back by a chain that was shackled to one of his hinds preventing him from going any further. He looked back to his leg and saw the chain leading back to the wall, and then back up to the griffon with a glare.

"Just so you can't hit me through ze bars," Ironclaw chuckled. "I do hope you enjoy your new home for eternity, that is if we let you live zat long."

"It's quite spacious. I'm already loving it," Thunder spoke with sarcasm and rolled his eyes.

"I like your sarcasm, pony. But it won't get you out of here. And it won't get your fwiends out of danger."

"Pfft, they're gone by now. They won't risk getting captured themselves to save me. I'm not important to the guard."

"No, but Shining Armor is. Zat is why you all came here, yes?" Ironclaw then gave a smug grin.

Thunder then paused.

"Just as I suspected," Ironclaw then let out a rumbling laugh. "It was a good effort, but not good enough."

"So, just what do you want with me? You obviously have a reason other than to just prevent me from freeing our captain," Thunder sat down where he was.

"Zat is a very good question, my dear pony. I am afwaid, eeeeh, I cannot explain such information to an enemy. But, since you likely aren't getting out of here any time soon, I guess I have a little time," the griffon seated himself at the door and cleared his throat. 

"So, as you pwobably do know, yes, we have been capturing your fellow soldiers. A piece extremely valuable to our fair nation was stolen recently, and it was noticed just after ze guard change occurred where new guards replaced the old ones in the country."

"What piece?"

"Ze Silver Talon of Griffonia, our most prized and respected, as well as expensive possession. It initially belonged to one of ze early kings of ze Griffon Empire, General Azerwurth. And of course, we have reason to believe zose who left our country back to Equestria are guilty of stealing it."

Thunderblast blinked a couple of times before speaking. "You mean, you declared war on us over an artifact your country worships?"

"We do not worship it!" Ironclaw's feathers ruffled and he screeched, before calming down. "But it is something all of us griffons, as I said before, respect, and cherish. Having such a piece stolen, even more so by a country we believed to be our ally, is a great blow."

"Well, from what I know, we didn't steal anything. You'll have to ask somepony else. I know nothing of your silver whatever-it-is."

"Silver Talon of Griffonia!" Ironclaw hissed.

"Yes, that thing," Thunder waved a hoof. "I've never seen it in my life. And the last time I was here was for a short vacation with a friend of mine a few years ago. Like I said, question somepony else."

"I guess I will have to, but zat does not make you a free pony, you hear me?!"

"You're standing right in front of me, so yes, I do hear you. I wish I didn't though."

This angered Ironclaw, but he didn't react other than punching one of the cell bars and stomping off.


***


"See anything yet?" Stormfire asked Sharpblade as they crawled quietly through the massive vent pipe.

"Not yet," Sharp replied, his horn lit up in a light blue aura and providing some light for the group as they searched for a way out. Then, suddenly, he stopped.

Storm didn't notice and ended up bumping into Sharp's rear, muzzle hitting the unicorn's armor and causing him to snap his head back. "Ow! Why'd you stop?"

"Ssshhh, listen!" Sharp held a hoof up, and everyone went silent.

"I don't hear anything..." Caspian whispered.

"Listen closer!" Storm whispered back, ears catching on to the faint painful scream of a stallion being beaten.

"Is that Thunder?" Caspian's eyes widened.

"Let's hope not. We should keep moving," Sharp replied, horn lighting up again and continuing to crawl on the floor of the vent with the others following.

Suddenly, without noticing, Sharp slipped on the edge of the vent as it curved downwards. His eyes widened and he tried to back away, but failed. "Oh shiiiii---!" He shouted, falling down the vent, voice fading as he went further down the pipe.

Storm gasped and quickly moved to the edge, staring down and watching the light of Sharp fade as he disappeared. "Hang on Sharp, we're coming for you!" he shouted before jumping down the playground slide-like pipe and sliding down it on his back.

Caspian sighed. "I hate it over here..." he muttered before following suit, as did the guard behind him, all then screaming as they caught up with each other and were still sliding down the pipe.

"Aaaaaahhhh!!" Storm screamed, still sliding on his back and his armor lightly sparking against the steel pipe.

Up ahead, Sharp noticed another drop with faint orange flickering light emanating out of it.

"Brace yourselves!" he shouted as they came towards the drop. 

The four screamed still, and the drop led to the end of the pipe and a steel grate that hung above a cobble floor. Sharp landed on it, the grate somehow not breaking under his weight and the force of the impact. As he tried to push himself up, Storm landed on top of him, the grate giving out from under them and the two fell onto the floor.

"Ow...damn it," Sharp wheezed as Storm slowly got up off of him.

"Where are the others?" Storm dusted himself off, before his ears caught the approaching screams of Caspian and the other guard. He glanced up, jumping out of the way as Caspian and the guard landed on top of Sharp, knocking him down again and forcing the helmet off of his head.

Sharp wheezed again and coughed. "Please get off...!"

Caspian panted heavily and stood up slowly, as did the other guard. Caspian noticed the unicorn's helmet and picked it up, handing it to Sharp as he stood up with an innocent smile on his face. Sharp snatched the helmet from the earth pony's hoof and gave a slight glare, slipping it back onto his head. "We're not taking that way in ever again."

"You can say that again," Storm gave one flap of his wings to dust them off, doing so with ease. He then glanced around the hallway they were in. "Where are we?"

"Storm?" came a voice from down the hallway.

His eyes widened slightly and he turned to look behind him, towards the source of the voice, which was behind a wooden door with metal bars where a small window would normally be. "Thunder?" then galloped towards it.

"Storm, wait!" Sharp followed quickly with a slight limp.

Storm ran up to the door and tried to push and pull it open. "Locked."

Then, his eyes moved behind him where he saw Sharp still running. His pupils shrunk to pinpricks and he slid just barely out of the way in the nick of time as the grey unicorn barreled through the wooden door, smashing it to bits. Storm peeked around the small corner, through where the door used to be and saw Sharp stumble a bit, then lean against the wall and rub his forehead.

"You okay? You took a door to the face."

"I break doors for a living," Sharp groaned.

Storm simply nodded. "Right, right," then trotted inside with Caspian beside him, the other guard staying behind to keep watch. Storm then ran down the hallway, looking into different prison cells and eventually stopping in front of one. "Thunder!"

"Storm!" Thunder's face lit up with joy. "How did you find me?!"

"We sneaked in through an air vent. Are you hurt?"

Thunder shook his head. "No. But you guys need to find Shining as soon as possible. The guard or Ironclaw might come back soon!"

"Not without you buddy," Storm smiled, then turned to Sharp and Caspian. "Help me look for the keys."

The three went in opposite directions and searched the hallway for a key to the cells. Towards the other end of the hallway was a small area where dungeon guards sat for a break, and hanging on the wall was a ring with multiple keys on it with their respective cells engraved into them in tiny letters.

"Got it!" Caspian grabbed it off of the wall and ran back to Thunder's cell, flipping through the keys and finding the right one after a few moments, where he then unlocked the door and ran in, taking the chain off of Thunder's leg, meanwhile Sharp trotted in with Thunder's armor and weapons.

"Thank you guys... really," Thunder smiled and took his armor and weapons.

"Anything for a friend. We got lucky going through the vent. We don't know our way around this place," Storm said.

"Me neither. But we still need to find the captain," Thunder replied as he slipped his armor on. "They're going to have him held someplace else, not in this dungeon."

Just then, the cry of pain could be heard again, this time much closer than before, catching everyone's attention.

"Did you hear that?"

"We've been hearing it. It could be him or somepony else," Sharp said.

"Then we better check it out, shall we?" Thunder suggested, the others nodded.

At that, they moved out of the cell and back the way they came from, gathering the guard with them and making their way down another hallway where as they approached, the sounds of swords clashing could be heard. Straight down that hallway was a door with lots of light coming through the small window on the wooden door with the same bars as back at the dungeon, and was where the noises of swords were coming from.

Between the group and the door was another hallway where the screams could be heard once more before stopping altogether. They stopped and listened for the cries, but nothing else could be heard except for the swords clashing ahead of them.

"He's got to be down there," Storm said quietly.

Thunder nodded. "Caspian, keep an eye on our six. Make sure no one comes out of that other door."

"Right," Caspian responded and got into position behind them.

Meanwhile, Thunder and the others slowly made their way down the branching-off hallway and towards another door. There wasn't much light in that hallway except for a few torches here and there and if someone did come out through the other door, the darkness just might have shrouded them.

They walked up to the door at the end of the hallway and found it didn't have bars for a window and was a whole wooden door with locks on it.

"Surely this is an interrogation room..." Storm whispered. "I'll try and listen," then he put his ear against the door. Still, nothing could be heard.

"I don't hear anything, Thunder," he turned back to him.

"Me neither," he sighed. "You think they moved him elsewhere?"

"Perhaps, or we got the wrong room."

Thunder nodded. "Right. Let's go back."

The others nodded and gathered up, walking back down where they came from. They turned right and started back towards the dungeons, but stopped when they saw a small group of palace guards with their weapons drawn towards them.

"Oh shoot..." Sharp's eyes widened in surprise.

Then, through the group of guards walked Ironclaw with a grin crossing his beak. "Well, well, well, it looks like your fwiends did find you," he said, followed by a loud, dark laugh.

"We're not afraid of you!" Storm threw a glare at the taller griffon.

"You will be."

It was at that moment where more soldiers gathered around them from either hallways behind them. This time, there was nowhere to go.

"Just surrender and we won't let the blood rain down upon the floor."

Thunder, in a half defensive stance, eased himself slowly and turned back to the others. "We have no choice."

"Thunder, no, we can't give up now. We've come so far," Caspian stepped forward.

"That's an order. We're not going to play brave and go up against these guys much longer, not when we're outnumbered four to one.

"Actually it's more like..." Storm paused to count the griffons, even then not being able to count them all. "Twenty-something to five."

"Same point, Storm. Just put your weapons down," Thunder said as he set his down.

Reluctantly, Sharp, Storm, Caspian and the other guard that was with them lowered their weapons. Thunder turned back to face Ironclaw, being instantly met with his sharp claw that forced his head to the side. He yelped in pain and fell backwards onto his rump, lifting a hoof and rubbing where the griffon's claw had struck. Somehow, it was not bleeding. Iron cackled again.

"Grab zem and throw them in ze slammer!" He ordered.

The other griffons approached the group as they huddled together with their weapons on the floor. Then, Thunder stood up. "Wait a minute."

Ironclaw's laughter stopped and he looked at the pegasus with an eyebrow raised. "What do you want now?"

"Give us one last chance to prove ourselves. Let's spar. Us versus the best of the best of your griffons."

Storm's eyes widened and he turned to Thunder, staring at him like he was crazy. "What?!"

"Hmm, sparring?"

"Yes. Either winner has different outcomes. If we win, you let us take our captain and the others you've captured and we get out of here, and maybe help you look for your relic."

"And if we win?"

"If you win," Thunder paused. "You do whatever."

Storm and Sharp, as well as Caspian exchanged looks, while Ironclaw raised his talon to his chin and tapped it, thinking over the offer.

"Hmm...we do whatever we wish? Deal," he extended his talon to Thunder and shook his hoof.

"Then let's settle this, shall we?" Thunder lowered his hoof afterwards.

"We shall. Guards, take them to the slaughter pit," Ironclaw ordered.

Instead of grabbing them, the guards simply led them back down towards the door where lots of light was flooding through the small window. A guard opened the door, and at first the light blinded them, but adjusted and stepped inside to find it was a circle arena with three other doors on every side of the arena itself. 

The floor was made of cobble, and above the doors sat three rows of seating that stretched around the whole of the arena with many Griffonian soldiers sitting and watching, all cheering while one griffon on the grounds dragged away a bloodied royal guard and his presumably severed arm. The group gulped at the sight and exchanged looks, most of them giving unsure looks towards Thunder.

"Trust me, guys."

"We trust you," Sharp answered.

Just then, out of nowhere, Ironclaw leaped over them and floated down to the center of the arena with his wings out, before folding them in. Some more griffon soldiers gathered and sat down above the arena to watch, some with bags of popcorn in their talons.

"My fellow griffon brothers, we have new opponents this evening. More royal guards from ze land of Equestria, going against ze best of ze best of our own. Zey have shown great strength on zeir way here, and tonight, zey shall show what zey are truly made of."

Those watching from above erupted into loud cheering and chanting. As it did, Ironclaw walked back to the group and looked over them, then pointed his talon at Stormfire. "You! Get out there."

Storm's eyes widened, then he gulped. "I'll need a weapon."

Shortly after, one of Iron's soldiers handed him a steel sword, who then handed it to Storm. He took it in his hoof and nervously walked out towards the center of the arena, while the others were taken to the stands where those fighting were seated, while Ironclaw flew up to the stands to watch along with the rest of his soldiers. Then out of seemingly nowhere, a large griffon had flown up and landed on it's hind legs, slowly walking towards Storm with a grin. He wasn't nearly as big as Ironclaw, but still large enough to badly injure Storm if he wasn't prepared. 

Storm gripped the sword in his hooves tightly, looking at the approaching griffon's talons. "Where is your sword?"

The griffon let out a bellowing laugh. "I don't need a sword," then got down on all fours and scraped his razor-sharp talons on the stone floor.

"If you say so," Storm tensed himself a little bit and prepared for the griffon's first strike.

The two stared each other down for a full minute, prior to the griffon soldier leaping towards Storm. The blue pegasus stood still, then waited for the last moment until moving just out of the way, the talons of the griffon scraping against the steel blade of his sword with an ear-piercing noise that made him wince. 

The griffon landed on all fours and whipped around to find Storm charging towards him. With a grin, he flung a talon up and practically knocked Storm backwards and onto his back, sword sliding past his head. He groaned softly and quickly pushed himself back up, sword now back in his hoof and ready to strike again. He rushed back towards the griffon, swinging once, narrowly missing his arm, then twice, this time leaving a cut that made the griffon screech in pain, then swing his good talon at Storm.

Storm dodged the flying talon and got back into a defensive position a few feet away, the griffon soldier then gave one flap of his wings and flew up, crashing down just before the blue pegasus with enough force to cause him to stumble and then quickly stand up straight once more.

"You know..." The griffon started, a grin crossing his beak. "For a royal guard, you really are a disgrace."

"I'm a what?" Storm narrowed his eyes onto the griffon and glared slightly.

"You aren't deaf, Stormfire!"

"H-how do you know my name?" His ears perked and eyes widened in surprise.

"I know who you are because you were born here. We lived in the same village. Your father... heheheh... he was a coward. And you followed in his hoofsteps. You wanted to be a soldier like him. And now look at you... back home, and left your precious family behind. Don't look now, Storm, but your wife probably found a new stallion to have fun with."

"That's not true!" Storm growled and glared harder, despite his emotions being toyed with.

"It is..." The griffon chuckled darkly. "You are a bad husband. Awful, I must correct myself. Leaving your family behind to fight your own."

"I'm not one of you!"

"Face it, Storm. You were born here! You are one of us. And by now... I'm sure your children have forgotten about you."

"S-shut up!" He clenched his teeth, ears pinning back.

The griffon chuckled more. "Your emotions are taking the better of you. This fight won't last very long."

Out of pure rage, Storm leaped forward at the griffon, surprising him and managing to bury his sword into the soldier's wing. The griffon screeched in pain and reached to pull the sword out, only to be stopped by Storm, who pushed him back onto the ground and began throwing multiple hard punches into his jaw and elsewhere on his body without stopping. Soon, the griffon was overwhelmed and only had the urge to at least push Storm off and slip away as he began to cough up blood.

"Stay DOWN!" Storm shouted, standing up on his hinds, and with one final blow by stomping his forehooves down onto the griffon's head, he was knocked unconscious, laying in a small puddle of blood on the stone floor. Storm, still standing on top of the motionless soldier, stared down at him with rage still in his eyes before finally realizing what had happened.

Around him, the whole room was silent as griffons, and Storm's group, even Ironclaw, stared down into the arena with jaws and beaks dropped. Then, Ironclaw stood on his hinds, hissing. "One win for Stormfire and Equestria, zero for Griffonia! Next!"

Just then, two other griffon soldiers walked up to Storm and brought him up to the rafters and was exchanged for Thunderblast, who flew down to the arena and stood in the middle while the soldiers took away the bleeding, unconscious griffon Storm left in the wake of his assault.

Ironclaw growled down towards Thunder. "You will need any luck you can get your hooves on, sergeant."

Thunder turned towards the griffon and glared right back up at him. "That's first sergeant to you, bird brain."

Growling more, Iron motioned for the next opponent to come into the arena, pointing towards a much larger griffon with some armor plates on his shoulders, arms, and hinds. He leaped off of his stanchion-side seat and landed just in front of Thunder with a loud thud. The grey pegasus ducked slightly, moving himself into a defensive position and glaring upwards at the larger soldier, who grinned and clenched his talon into a fist beside his head.

"Begin!" Iron demanded, slamming his talon down on the armrest of his seat.

At his word, the griffon opened his talon and swung it towards Thunder, who opened his wings and flapped once, propelling himself upwards and narrowly dodging his opponent's sharp claws, then landing on all fours just a few feet away, folding his wings to his side and preparing for his next move.

"Hm... good agility. You will need more zen zat to take me down!" The griffon said, motioning his claw for Thunder to come and attack him, but instead lunged towards him.

Thunder once again opened his wings, this time swinging upwards and sideways, keeping his wings out and landing on the wall of the arena, beginning to run the circumference of it while the soldier chased him, trying to take him down by swinging his talons towards him.

"And you'll need more energy!" Thunder shouted as he kept galloping on the wall, wings out to keep him balanced without falling to the ground. Moments after, the griffon began to slow down and pant, noticeably losing energy much faster than he was.

He then jumped off of the wall and turned himself horizontally, landing on his hooves and galloping back around before leaping up and smashing both hind legs into the griffon's head with enough force to knock the assailant to the ground and leave him stunned, while Thunder had flown back up and landed a couple of feet away, scraping a hoof on the stone and letting out an angered sigh. The griffon slowly tried to push himself back up but not before falling back to the cold stone once until he finally did stand back up and crack his neck.

"Zat all you got?" The griffon snarled Thunder's way, wiping blood from his beak.

"It would only take another simple hit like that to kill you, I hope you realize that," Thunder replied, eyes focused on the muscular griffon.

Screeching in rage, the griffon lunged towards the pegasus, surprising him. Thunder opened his wings up once more and began to fly upwards to avoid being tackled down, only to have his hind leg yanked back down by the griffon's talon and slammed into the floor with a loud audible crack, followed by a cry of pain. The griffon, feeling accomplished, stood over Thunder and gave a sinister grin down to him while he struggled to stand back up, only to be pressed back down by the next with the tight grip of the enemy's talon and slowly clenching around his throat.

Thunder began to choke, putting both of his hooves on the griffon's talon, straining to pry it free of his neck as he began to slowly lose air. He stared up at the much larger figure with widened, fearful eyes who didn't seem fond of the idea of showing mercy.

"Hey, HEY!" shouted Ironclaw to the griffon choking Thunder. "Off of him!"

The griffon, turning to Iron, released his grip on Thunder and walked off, leaving him laying on the floor panting heavily and coughing a few times. "I look forward to our next fight," he said before leaving the arena.

With some blood dripping from the side of his mouth, Thunder gradually rolled over onto his stomach and began pushing himself up with his forehooves, but unable to lift with his hind legs. He shook, turning to look at his right wing and seeing it opened up and limp on the ground beside him.

"S-sweet Celestia..." he muttered, collapsing back down on the floor. Just then, Stormfire, Sharpblade, and Caspian all jumped down to his aid, while Ironclaw flew down beside them.

Scanning over his body with his horn lit in a light blue aura, Sharp turned to the others. "His wing and legs are broken and he's bleeding internally a little bit. I can stop the bleeding with a spell, but his limbs are another story."

"Do what you can, please," Storm said, stepping back from Thunder to let Sharp perform his magic.

His horn glowed brighter and soon, much of Thunder's body was engulfed in the unicorn's magical aura, and just less than a minute later, Sharp finished, panting softly and proceeded to scan over his body again.

"Alright... He's okay now. The bleeding has stopped."

"I didn't know you knew medical-related spells, Sharp," Caspian said, looking down at the injured pegasus.

"I'm limited to what I know on them. I'm a soldier, not a medic."

"A medic on our team would be helpful in the future though."

"I'll consider it," Sharp replied.

"So... now zat your squad leader is down, what are you three planning to do?" Ironclaw asked with a grin. "If you surrender now, we'll let you live."

The three exchanged looks, then Storm and Sharp looked towards Caspian, who nodded to them. They then each turned to Iron.

"A deal's a deal. One of us is down, but we're not out. Fight me," Caspian challenged.

Sharp and Storm then snapped their heads towards the white earth pony with crazy-wide eyes. "Are you nuts?!"

Ironclaw burst into a fit of laughter. "Ahahaha... zis is too good! You wish to fight me?! Hahahaha!"

"Yes, I do. Now quit your laughing before I knock that beak clean off your face. Storm, Sharp, get Thunder up to the rafters."

Storm and Sharp nodded, Sharp lifting Thunder onto Storm's back, Storm carrying the both of them up to the seating area to watch. Down below, Caspian and Ironclaw stared each other off.

"Wait, Caspian, what about your sword?!" Storm shouted from above.

Caspian, staring at Storm from the arena, slowly turned his attention to Ironclaw. "I don't need a sword."

"Let zis be ze perfect battle," Ironclaw clenched his talons, preparing to lunge towards Caspian.

"Let it be," Caspian said back, muscles tightening. Moments later, he charged towards Ironclaw.

Iron charged towards Caspian, and the two clashed with a loud thud and multiple grunts as the two began throwing punches around at each other. Caspian raised his hoof, springing it forward into Ironclaw's forehead, then back and forth again and again. In his own defense, the griffon general grabbed his hoof before he could punch once more and swung him around, letting go and sending the stallion flying into the wall hard enough to crack the center of where he hit.

Stunned, Caspian fell back down on his hooves and stumbled, eyes spinning. He shook his head to regain his bearings, seeing Ironclaw charging towards him again. He quickly ran out of the way in hopes of him crashing into the wall as well, but Iron had stopped himself with many flaps of his wings and screeched angrily at the white pony.

"Come on, take him down!" Cheered Sharpblade and Stormfire from above.

Hearing them cheer from above, Caspian whipped around to face the griffon as he also turned back towards him. Once again, the two charged towards each other, Ironclaw diving down towards him. Just before he did, Caspian leaped up into the air, pulling his hooves up close to his body, and while he passed over the larger griffon, forced them back down along with his body and shoving Iron into the ground but at the cost of losing his balance and falling over a few feet away, tumbling on the ground as Ironclaw scraped across the floor. 

He jumped to his hooves in a defensive stance and galloped towards Ironclaw while he was still down, jumping and landing on his back to force him flat on the cold stone of the arena, then smashing his hooves down into Iron's wings with audible cracks. The crowd above winced and cringed at the noise echoing throughout the room, and Ironclaw let out another ear-piercing screech followed by a cry of pain without a single struggle to push himself back up. 

Still standing on his back, Caspian leaned his head down to the griffon's ear. "Ready to surrender yet?" 

"Y-yes!" Ironclaw whimpered in pain.

"Good," then he hopped off of the injured griffon's back. 

The room was mostly silent, apart from Stormfire and Sharpblade cheering for Caspian. Soon, chatter was the next sound to be heard as the general slowly stood up and attempting to fold his wings up.

"It appears we have a winner..." he turned and gave a faint glare towards Caspian, who grinned back.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright, Ironclaw, we won the fight. Now, where's our captain?" Caspian asked, staring the griffon down as two casts were fitted onto his wings.

"He is safe in ze dungeon, I hope. As far as I know, zere was no interrogation with him. He should be fine and still in his cell," the general replied, grunting in pain as the palace medic did her job.

"What cell? What was the number?" Storm asked.

"I can't remember. Ze dungeon is not zat big, you can find him with ease. Tell ze guards, if zey are down zere, zat I sent you and zat zey should release your stallions."

Caspian nodded, then nodded to the others. "Let's go."

"Yes, get out of my sight," Iron muttered.

Caspian grinned back at him, then left the medical ward with Stormfire and Sharpblade. Much like the Canterlot palace, the Griffonian castle was confusing to walk through and harder to navigate, and was also much larger than the one they were used to. And thankfully, this time, they did not have to worry about avoiding the palace's guards. After getting lost twice, the three reached the dungeons, passing the guards and speaking to them to free those captured during the war.

Cell by cell, guards were released from their captivity and were told to gather in the main hall of the palace. Then, at the last cell, Sharpblade came across a white unicorn with his armor lying on the floor beside him.

"Sir?" He said to the stallion.

The unicorn peered up, eyes widening. "Sergeant?"

"You ready to go home?" Sharp smiled.

"Is... is the war over?"

"It is, captain. We're all going home," Sharp said, stepping to the side as a dungeon guard unlocked the door and held it open.

Shining Armor, surprised, slipped his armor on and walked out of the cell, the guard shutting the door behind him. "But, how is it over? Its only been..."

"A week, yes. Let's just say we took care of things here," Sharp winked.

"As your commanding officer, I would appreciate a full explanation," Shining said stoically. 

"It'll come later. For now, let's go to the others. Apparently the king of the Empire is hosting a dinner for all of us as a way to apologize," Sharp answered, walking down the hallway.

"A dinner, huh?" Shining followed close behind. "It will take a lot for our countries to amend relationships. But eating a full dinner for the first time in a week will do for now."

"You can say that again, sir," Sharp smiled and led him out of the dungeons, meeting back up with Caspian and Stormfire and reaching the main hall where at least fifty other guards stood, waiting.

Upon gathering outside, palace guards led the large group into the massive dining room where multiple tables were set up, along with a large buffet with a wide selection of freshly made dishes for them to choose from, and soon every guard was seated at the tables, enjoying the first actual meal they have had for a long time, while the King of Griffonia personally greeted Shining Armor. At the end of the evening, nearly everyone had completely forgotten about what was happening just two days before.


***


"I promise you, general, we will help you find your artifact. But first, we need reassurance that you will not try to pull anything on us," Shining Armor said.

Ironclaw nodded twice. "Yes, captain. I will have zese talks with your princesses, and hopefully also a peace treaty between our nations."

"That would be much appreciated. As we both know, war is something that has happened too much between our countries, and our races are suffering because of it. And some day, if worse comes to worst, I hope to be fighting alongside you rather than against you."

"As do I, captain," Iron bowed his head. "Safe travels to you and your ponies."

"Thank you, general," Shining bowed his head in return, turning and walking towards the last airship in the field while the others slowly lifted into the sky and began their journey westward. Their airship soon followed, beginning another long trip back to Equestria.


***


Two days passed, and after much rest, a slightly weakened Thunderblast limped out onto the top deck to Sharpblade, Stormfire, and Caspian, who stood at the very front of the air vessel.

"Hey guys," Thunder smiled, walking up to them.

Turning to Thunder, the others smiled. 

"Hey, Thunder. How are you feeling?" Sharp asked, his helmet in his hoof to his chest.

"Much better," Thunder answered, walking up to them. "Still got a limp but I'm managing."

"Well, you're looking a whole heck of a lot better than you did four days ago," Storm said.

"Yup. And now we've got home to look forward to," Caspian added, turning back to face in front of the ship, the others doing so as well with Thunder following suit. Ahead of them, the sun was setting over the calm, blue ocean far beneath with gentle ripples of waves across the surface.

"Beautiful sunset, isn't it boys?" Sharp smiled.

"Very," Storm smiled as well.

"And to think I didn't believe I'd get to see a sunset again," Thunder chuckled.

"But we did," Caspian replied, wrapping a hoof around Thunder's neck and poking at his chest. "We did it."

"Yes, yes we did," Thunder grinned. "And this is where I tell you guys that I'm leaving again."

The others quickly turned to Thunder with surprise. "Again?" Storm frowned.

"I'm afraid so. Buuut, as I said before, I wanted a break. Now is the time that I take another one. I'll need it this time."

Sharp nodded. "That I can respect."

They faced forward again, now seeing the distant skyline of Baltimare approaching gradually.