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."

Author's Note

Here it finally is. The longest chapter of War Never Changes. I decided that I will split this chapter into two parts just to get this one out this weekend as promised. Hope you enjoyed.