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.

Author's Note

After a long wait, chapter 6 is finally here. Sorry if it seems a bit like a cliffhanger, but more is coming in the epilogue!