"Another round for the heroes of the Battle of Los Pegasus!"

The declaration from the bar owner caused a massive cheer from the armored griffons that took up half the seats. Despite the massive financial loss he was sure to suffer from giving away so many drinks, the bar owner happily served yet another round of drinks to his esteemed guests, taking the time to pat the back of the ranking officer present.

"Those pony scum killed my sister in the Canterlot Massacre. Make them pay for killing her." he said through teary eyes.

"You hear that?" the officer called out, waving his mug in the air dramatically. "Are you all willing to avenge this griffon's sister in repayment for his hospitality?"

A deafening roar rose from the soldiers as well as a torrent of death threats for any pony they crossed. The officer patted the bar owner on the back in return and offered a reassuring smile. "Don't worry your feathers, they won't get away with their crimes. Our new king will surely bring those alicorn ponies to justice."

Lieutenant Windsheer was furious. The griffons under her command at the moment were very aware of the griffon's legendary temper, almost rivaling Ray's, but no griffon ever wanted to be able to say they knew the answer. Just trying to avoid Windsheer's fury was difficult enough, especially with the rumors that she had murdered the last soldier who had questioned one of her orders.

Windsheer cast another hateful glance at the pegasus pony her and her small squad were escorting. The pony tried offering her a small smile of friendship, but his attempt was met with eyes full of hatred and a sinister motion of dragging a sharp talon across her neck.

"Lieutenant, we're here." the lead griffon announced.

All the griffons halted and the pony flew a few feet farther ahead before stopping himself to receive his last orders from his handler. "Alright," Windsheer said through gritted teeth. "you know what is expected of you. A scout will meet you at the predetermined spot every other day. If you fail to show up, your cover will be assumed to be compromised and we WILL kill you. Understand?"

Thunderlane nodded, glad that his Wonderbolts uniform prevented the griffons from seeing how sweaty he was from nervousness. His time spent with Ray had been surprisingly pleasant, but this Lieutenant Windsheer had tried to kill him on more than one occasion, though every time her attempts had been ruled 'accidental'. Now, he was being escorted back to the blurred border between the Griffon Kingdom and Equestria, free to fly off to complete his new mission for his new nation.

"Now for the final touch..." Windsheer said, eyeing the pegasus in front of her. Before Thunderlane could ask what she was looking at, Windsheer lashed out with her razor-sharp talons and tore open the front of his flight suit. It took a few seconds but bright red blood began to ooze out from Thunderlane's chest, causing him to clutch his chest in pain.

"W-w-what was..." he began to ask, but he was quickly silenced as Windsheer raised her talons again.

"Now go. NOW!" she yelled out.

Not wanting to stick around to find out what would happen if he stayed any longer, Thunderlane bolted off and flew as fast as he could for Equestria. He was no more than twenty seconds away when Windsheer turned to the griffons under her command and issued her next order. "Let's go, hunt the pegasus." she said.

"Um... I thought we were supposed to give him a few minutes head start so he can be seen by the ponies." one of the griffons said.

Windsheer shot the griffon a glare of death. "We want this chase to be realistic, don't we? Besides, losing one pathetic pony won't lose the war for us. In fact, an extra month of leave for whichever one of you catches him and rips his wings off, plus I'll take the blame if Ray has any major objections."

The offer too good for any of them to pass up, the griffons raced off after Thunderlane. Though they were slower than pegasi, the injury Windsheer had inflicted had caused Thunderlane to slow down considerably, though his pace picked up as he saw the group of griffons bearing down on him much sooner than was planned.

"Halt! You are entering Equestrian territory!" a loud voice announced.

Dropping down from the cover of the clouds, a platoon of pegasus ponies appeared fully armed and ready for battle. Thunderlane quickly raced over to them, allowing three of the ponies to shield him from the approaching griffon squad.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the ponies, the griffons halted their advance and hovered in place for a few moments. Though outnumbered two to one, the griffons figured they still had a good shot at bringing down their foes but Windsheer's sudden order left no room for doubt.

"Griffons, fall back!" she announced. Slowly flying backwards, the griffons backed away from the pegasi, turning to fly back north when they were sure the ponies had no intention of pursuing them. The ponies stayed on their guard until the griffons disappeared from view, only then finally turning their attention to the wounded pony.

"Are you okay? What happened?" one of the guards asked.

Thunderlane looked down and whimpered as the patch of red coming from his chest slowly began to increase in size. The guards noticed the injury and quickly began bandaging him as best as they could while slowly guiding him backwards to a nearby cloud. Laying him on it, they were then able to rush him off to the nearest outpost to have a unicorn properly treat his wounds and find out just what had happened to him and if there were any more casualties.

His arrival at the outpost caused quite a few rumors to begin spreading. Was he another survivor from Los Pegasus? Did the Wonderbolts carry out some top secret mission? Did this pony try to single-hoofedly infiltrate his way into griffon territory?

The outpost commander wanted to speak to this Wonderbolt as quickly as possible, and after waiting for the nurses to patch up his chest he was finally able to find out some answers. After making sure that Thunderlane was comfortable, the commander began to grow impatient as the gray pegasus seemed to be dodging every single question by feigning memory loss. Finally getting fed up, the commander sighed and threw up his hooves. "Is there anything you have to report?" he asked.

Thunderlane almost forgot what Ray had told him to report but thankfully remembered just before he shook his head. "Yes, sir. The griffons are holding one of the Wonderbolt's hostage." he said.

The commander's ears perked up. "Do you know who?" he asked eagerly.

Thunderlane nodded. "They have Spitfire." he said.

Author's Note

Due to stuff, story will be indefinitely delayed.