War Never Changes

Summary
Carrying on from the last scene of Before the Dawn, Thunderblast is snapped out of a trance of fear when Golden Armor, a royal guard sent to collect Thunder, shouts at him. Golden had said before that the Royal Guard was requiring current and former guards to return to duty and be deployed into the Griffon Empire, where they have declared war on Equestria.

After some refusal, he eventually gives in, and says his goodbyes to his newlywed wife, and him and Golden return to Canterlot where the Royal Guard is gearing up for battle. The next day, the Royal Guard, as well as Thunderblast, and his friends Stormfire, Sharpblade, and Spear, board airships en-route into enemy territory far across the ocean. The trip lasts a few days, and by the time they arrive, Shining Armor is already there and briefs the new arrivals.

The next day, they march into the nearby town of Gryffsvale where their objective is to hang a flag over the tallest building, a tower in the heart of the town. Halfway there, they are ambushed and one of their own, Shadow Dust, suffers the loss of a limb after being pinned down by a griffon soldier and is nearly killed due to blood loss. They are forced to return to camp soon after.

As they go to return to the airships for dinner, Spear and Sharpblade argue, and soon it escalates into a fight in which Sharp beats Spear into the ground and leaves him unfit for battle for the time being. In regret, Sharp locks himself away in their sleeping quarters.

Later on that night, Sharp finds himself unable to sleep, and remembering the mission from earlier, he sets out on his own in the dead of night into Gryffsvale with only his armor, some weapons, and an Equestrian flag, in hopes of hanging the flag to push the enemies out of the town. Along the way, he stops to rest and hide when enemies search his building but don't find him.

Before sunrise, the others are woken up by the sound of other guards rushing outside. They quickly find that the griffons are pushing ever so closer to their camp and Thunder leads them, minus Sharp, into the heat of battle. A massive exchange of gunfire and arrow fire explodes west of Gryffsvale and they are pinned down by advancing forces. Then, when attempting to reload, Spear is struck by an arrow and dies in Thunder's hooves. It isn't long before more guards jump in to take out the remaining griffon soldiers.

They continue into the town, leaving Spear's body behind, their new mission to locate Sharp. Storm manages to find Sharp, after a light scuffle and a mistake, and they regroup outside where Thunder scolds him, the first time speaking since the loss of Spear. Sharp then convinces Thunder that he never meant for Spear to be killed, and Thunder then makes it his and everypony else's mission to get the flag to the tower.

Along the way, they are ambushed just outside of the tower, but manage to confiscate the enemy's weapons after killing them. They reach the tower, and the flag is flown, this signaling the retaking of Gryffsvale.

(More coming soon)

Characters

 * Thunderblast: A former royal guard recruited back in to fight in the Griffon War.
 * Stormfire: Thunder's friend and another guard that is deployed into war.
 * Sharpblade: Thunder and Stormfire's friend, and another guard deployed into war.
 * Spear: In boot camp, he was Thunder's enemy, but the two became friends ten years before. He is killed in the fourth chapter of the story by a griffon shooting arrows.

Reception
War Never Changes, ratings-wise, has received mostly good criticism and currently the story has 13 likes and 1 dislike.

Trivia

 * War Never Changes, despite the name, is not Fallout: Equestria related.
 * It is the third installment of The Thunderblast Chronicles, and somewhat spoils the cancelled ending of Before the Dawn.
 * It was originally not supposed to be a story, and instead its sequel, Rise of Shadow Force, was supposed to be the third story to the series.