Next Chapter.

All of Canterlot's civilians lay huddled up in the secret canyon behind the castle. They can hear the explosions and screaming coming from the battle on the other side. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were extremely nervous about Skullcrusher and Soarin who were currently fighting in the battle.

"Ah can't believe he goes to fight when he can barely see!" Applejack said. Skullcrusher was blind out of one eye and had poor sight in the other and yet he insisted on fighting.

"This isn't fair!" Rainbow huffed. "I want to fight too and Soarin wouldn't let me!"

"He was only looking out for you." Twilight said.

"Yeah but-" Rainbow said.

"Would you really want to be out there actually killing another living creature?" Twilight asked. Rainbow thought about if for a minute and realized the realism of war.

"I guess not." Rainbow said putting her head down. No matter what she said she knew she could never actually kill something. A sudden explosion rocked the canyon as the refugee ponies started screaming.

"What was that!?" Rarity cried.

XXXX

"LOOK OUT!" A cannonball struck a warehouse full of gunpowder for cannons and the whole building ignited and blew up taking out nearly two blocks of the city, the blast incinerated hundreds of ponies. The entire mountainside rocked from the explosion as debris rained down on the city.

"Reform!" Shining Armor yelled as he used his magic to lift a pile of debris off of a pony. The griffons tried flying into the city but Canterlot's air defenses were too strong and none made it in to the city. The griffons began using a battering ram on the city gates in an attempt to open it. Ponies fired arrows and spears from the wall above as dozens of dead bodies began to pile up. The gate began to crack after ten minutes of battering this.

"TO THE GATE!" Shining Armor yelled as he saw the cracks beginning to form. Thousands of troops flooded to the front gates and got in phalanx formation as the gate slowly gave away.

"Hold this ground!" Soarin said as a hole appeared in the gate, it would only take one more hit before it gave out.

"HOLD!" Armor yelled as the gate broke open and hundreds of griffons poured in. The ponies used their phalanx formation to kill many enemies as unicorns released spells on the incoming enemy. Thousands of arrows were fired at the griffons as they all fell down dead on the spot. However the ponies were soon overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the enemy and the phalanx formation failed as the ponies scattered. Griffon artillery leveled buildings and houses as the ponies frantically tried to fend off the invaders. Many of the arrow air cannons had been taken out so the airborne griffons could now swoop in. They began to pick up ponies from the ground, carry them hundreds of feet in the air and then dropped them to their deaths. Skullcrusher was with a group of twenty ponies who were defending a corner store from griffons. They were beating the griffons in swordfights and were actually gaining ground.

"Fifty grifs! 9 o'clock!" Skullcrusher yelled as fifty griffon charged at the store, they suddenly all fell down dead as a volley of arrows rained down on them. Skullcrusher looked to see Soarin flying overhead with a hundred pegasi. He saluted the pegasus as he moved out into the street. A boulder came flying in and struck the store causing it to collapse killing fifteen of the twenty ponies guarding it. He coughed as he and the remaining five ponies headed for a rallying point.

"Take out those grifs!" Soarin yelled as his one hundred pegasus platoon engaged a eighty griffons attack squad. He swooped in and killed three griffons with his sword and broke anothers neck. His troops weren't faring as good, thirty of his pegasi were dead and twenty more were injured. He looked down to see the frontline on the first level had been overrun. He flew back down through the city, avoiding collapsing buildings, arrows, and other projectiles all the while shooting and stabbing the griffons. He found Skullcrusher by himself surrounded by twenty griffons.

"Need a hoof?" Soarin asked.

"As many as you can spare." Skullcrusher said as the two ponies stood back to back and began killing the attacking griffons. They eventually killed them all when they saw Shining Armor yell down to them.

"FALL BACK TO THE SECOND LEVEL!" Armor yelled. Soarin and Skullcrusher looked down the street and saw a wall of griffons advancing.

"TIME TO GO!" Soarin said as he grabbed Skullcrusher and flew them to the second level where the ponies were re-grouping.

XXXX

"How much longer till we get there?" Autumn asked.

"No more than an hour at this point." Deadeye said.

"A whole hour? We need to get there faster!" Big Mac said.

"Well then quit yapping and run!" Deadeye said as the COLTS and crystal army double timed it to Canterlot.

XXXX

Celestia and Luna looked out the window of their throne room and observed the battle below. They saw the ponies ferociously defending the city but falling to the superior numbered griffons. The entire eastern side of lower Canterlot was destroyed and in flames.

"Please Rubios, Emeralda! Where are you?" Celestia thought.

"Sister, where is the crystal army?" Luna asked.

"I don't know." Celestia asked. "But we can't hold out much longer."

"Your majesties." A guard said. "I advise you two evacuating."

"I will not leave while my subjects are getting slaughtered!" Celestia said.

"Your highness, if you and your sister get captured than their sacrifice will have been for nothing." The guard said.

"Fine." Celestia said reluctantly as she and Luna left the throne room. Down below the fight wasn't going well for the ponies.

"RETREAT!" A pony shouted as they were being picked off by griffon archers. The ponies frantically ran to the door to the second level as the griffons began to take the city.

"Move in to the city, kill all who resist!" Gore said as he decided to enter the siege personally. There were still some mares and foals who had not evacuated yet and were sprinting to safety as the soldiers tried to protect them.

"GET THE MARES AND FOALS TO SAFETY!" Shining Armor said as he fired a spell at an incoming griffon. Ponies were dropping dead like flies as fear began to overtake them and they lost the will to fight seeing the situation was hopeless. Skullcrusher saw a family hiding behind a pile of debris and ran over to them.

"Come with me, I'll get you out of here!" Skullcrusher said as he held out his hoof. The mother took his hoof and Skullcrusher guided the mother and her two foals to the evac route. He was almost there when Gore landed in front of him.

"Get behind me." Skullcrusher said to the family as he pulled out his sword.

"It is annoying how we keep running into each other." Gore said as Skullcrusher made a run at him. Gore grabbed the pony by his mane and brought him up to eye level.

"Don't you see? You cannot win, all of Equestria will fall!" Gore said as a horn blew in the distance. He looked up and saw an approaching army over the horizon.

"We'll finish this later." Gore said as he flew away. Everypony looked to the east and saw an incoming army. The griffons thought they were reinforcements but as they looked closer they realized who it was.

"It's the crystal ponies!" Shining Armor said happily as he looked through a pair of binoculars. Gore used his enhanced eyesight and saw Big Mac and Deadeye front and center.

"Cursed ponies!" Gore said as the entire griffon army about faced to face the large crystal army. The COLTS and other freed ponies looked down with anger as they saw Canterlot in ruins.

"Attention!" Rubios yelled as the crystal army turned to face their king. "What you see before you could have been our homeland! The griffon war machine is relentless and merciless! We will stop them or die trying!"

"AH-OHH!" The crystal army screamed as they pointed their pikes in front of them.

"Archers and artillery be prepared to fire!" Gore said as the griffons took aim.

"Men whatever happens, know it was an honor to serve with you." Deadeye said to the COLTS.

"Likewise sir." The COLTS replied as Rubios and Emeralda got in the front of the army.

"FIGHT AND FEAR DEATH NOT! CHARGE!" The two rulers said as they crystal army let out a deafening shout that shook the ground. The COLTS ran full speed down the sloped towards the griffons.

"FIRE!" Gore said as thousands of arrows and artillery were fired. Hundreds of crystal ponies were brought down but they pressed forward. The griffon lines shook as the saw the COLTS leading the assault.

"FIRE FIRE! KILL THEM ALL!" Gore yelled as the griffons unleashed vollies of arrows.

"CHARGE!" Deadeye yelled. The griffons pulled out their pikes nervously as the ponies approached.

"AHHHH!" Big Mac screamed as the COLTS and crystal ponies collided with the griffon army. The COLTS jumped clean over the frontline and began taking down enemy soldiers while the crystal ponies demolished the frontlines. The griffons were no match to the better trained crystal army. Autumn and Big Mac stood back to back as they used their crossbows to kill griffons. Blitz ran and jumped and did a somersault over a group of changelings and fired his crossbow while in the air bringing the enemy down. Shadow jumped and moved slickly as he sliced griffons apart. Deadeye saw Gore out of the corner of his eye and ran at him.

"You." Gore said as he pulled out his sword.

"This ends here." Deadeye said.

"Like father like son. You will both die!" Gore said refering to Striper. Deadeye screamed as the two ran at each other and began delivering blows to each other. Gore and Deadeye were no doubt possibly the best soldiers on each side. They locked in a stalemate as neither could gain an advantage over each other.

"Shadow!" Blitz said as he held out his hoofs. Shadow ran and jumped into Blitz's hooves and was thrown in to the air where he landed on a catapult and killed all the griffon operating it. Blitz pulled out his dual swords and ran full speed through a line of griffons slicing their throats at unbelievable speeds. Autumn picked up a nearby cannon and loaded it, he pointed it at a catapult and fired it completely destroying the machine. A griffon tried to sneak up on Big Mac but he grabbed the griffon and broke his neck with ease. The crystal army had crushed the griffons and were driving them back. Emeralda had just finished off a griffon when a Steel Talon landed next to her. She brought her sword down but the griffon dodged and delivered a blow to her leg. She felt her leg break and she fell down. The ST raised his sword to finish her off as Rubios ran over with Big Mac and Shadow and killed the ST.

"Sister! Are you okay?" Rubios asked.

"Yes brother. I can still fight." Emeralda said.

"Come on! come on!" Autumn said as he killed the griffons one by one. Deadeye was still locked in battle with Gore.

"Captain!" Big Mac said as he ran over. Gore turned around and kicked Deadeye away from him and ran at Big Mac. Big Mac put up his sword to block the incoming blow and was knocked back by its sheer power. Gore pushed his sword into Big Mac as the red stallion frantically tried to push the sword away. Big Mac couldn't believe how strong Gore was. Gore was finally knocked down by Autumn who ran over to help. Gore grabbed Autumn and threw him to the ground as Blitz and Shadow arrived. Gore backed up as Deadeye made his way back over. Knowing he couldn't possibly defeat five COLTS, he ordered a retreat and flew away.

"COME BACK YOU COWARD!" Autumn yelled as he fired arrows at him.

"Leave him, we have to liberate the city." Deadeye said as the COLTS ran into the city with the crystal ponies. They cleared Canterlot out room by room, it was a slow and arduous process but they managed. The griffons finally retreated and those who remained surrendered.

"VICTORY! VICTORY!" Rubios yelled.

"AH-OOH! AH-OOH!" The crystal army yelled enthusiastically. Casualties stood at 250,000 griffons, 38,000 ponies, 130,000 changelings, and 100,000 crystal ponies in the largest and most ferocious battle of the entire war and possibly in all of history. The civilians were let out from the canyon as they saw thousands of soldiers cheering and celebrating in the ruins.

"Too bad it's still far from over." Big Mac said to himself as he saw a large crowd and a blue princess flying towards him.

There we go nothing but war in that chapter. R&R

"War is fought with weapons. But it is won by men."