"Ah don't believe it!" Applejack said as she read Big Mac's letter. "Princess Luna invited Big Mac to a dinner!"

"Does that mean she likes him?" Applebloom asked.

"No thats called a date sugarcube. But still! Big Mac having dinner with a princess!" Applejack said. Applejack had overheard Macintosh on more than one occasion talk about how pretty he though Luna was. Rarity was walking through town when she saw a squad of unicorn soldiers departing on a train.

"Go get em boys!" Rarity said fluttering her eyes as she waved to the soldiers.

"You got it dollface!" A soldier said through the window as soldiers whistled at her and blew her kisses. Rarity blushed as she headed towards the Spa to have her weekly manicure with Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash had been flying overhead to meet Soarin at Cloudsdale where they would start their flight.

"Hey Rainbow." Soarin said.

"Hey Soarin!" Rainbow said excitedly as she flew down to the ex-wonderbolt who was in his air defense uniform.

"So where do you wanna head first?" Soarin asked.

"How bout Fillydeplhia?" Rainbow suggested.

"Fillydelphia? That's pretty far." Soarin pointed out.

"What's the matter? Am I too fast for you?" Rainbow said teasing him.

"Hah you kidding? Lets race!" Soarin said as he took off. Rainbow happily hurried after him as her dream of flying with a Wonderbolt had come true. Soarin had reached Fillydelphia about five minutes before Rainbow did.

"Wow you're so fast!" Dash said out of breath. She knew she was fast but the fact that there others faster than her astounded her.

"There's air defense boot camp for ya!" Soarin said proudly.

"Soarin why exactly did you sign up for the military? You loved being a Wonderbolt!" Rainbow asked curiously.

"I did love being a Wonderbolt but it wouldn't matter if the grifs took over Equestria." Soarin explained. "When the griffons first attacked I realized they would not stop until we were enslaved and I didn't want that to happen."

"You got some guts." Rainbow complimented quietly.

"What was that?" Soarin asked as he could barely hear her.

"I said you got some guts." Rainbow said. For once in his life, Soarin was speechless.

"Well I would have been drafted anyway so its nothing to make a big deal about." Soarin said putting his hoof behind the back of his head before a band on his hoof started beeping. "AH! I'm sorry Rainbow I gotta go!"

"But we just started." Rainbow said frustrated as her head went down. Soarin saw how upset she was and went to comfort her.

"Hey when I get back what say we do this again?" Soarin asked.

"That'd be awesome!" Rainbow explained.

"Great! I'll catch you later Dash" Soarin said as he flew away.

"Good bye." Rainbow said quietly as she flew back to her house in Cloudsdale.

Eight Weeks Later. Western Front 300 miles from Canterlot.

"Move!" A unicorn ordered to his troops. The unicorn was the captain of the canterlot royal guard and Twilight Sparkle's older brother, Shining Armor.

"Sir we're getting overrun! We have to pull back!" A soldier said. The bulk of the Griffons attacks primarily came from the east so the the attack on the western front completely caught the ponies off guard. Only 300 ponies were defending against the 5,000 attacking griffons.

"We can't! If we pull back then they will have a straight shot at Baltimare!" Shining Armor pointed out not wanting to jeopardize the city.

"We have reinforcements coming but they won't get here for another twenty minutes! WE DON'T HAVE TWENTY MINUTES!" A unicorn Sgt shouted.

"Your saying that there are reinforcements coming to stop the attack?" Shining Armor asked.

"Yes sir." The Sgt said.

"You are absolutely sure?" Shining Armor asked again, he could not risk the security of the ponies in Baltimare.

"Positive." The Sgt replied.

"Give the retreat order." Shining Armor said as the order was given and air defense pegasi began picking up the ponies and carried them to safety. After a few minutes only Shining Armor and three other ponies remained. There were two pegasus coming to get them but one was killed by a griffon who flew in and slit the pony's throat.

"Sir we only have one pegasus left!" A private shouted.

"I can't carry four ponies!" The pegasus cried.

"Can you carry three?" Shining Armor asked.

"Maybe but I'll be a sitting duck in the sky." The pegasus responded.

"Take these three and I'll stay behind to distract the griffons." Armor said as he gave them his dog tag.

"No way sir, we leave nopony behind!" The Sgt said.

"I just gave you an order! NOW GO!" Shining Armor said as he created a forcefield around the pegasi and three unicorns.

"CAPTAIN!" The private yelled.

"Tell my wife and sister that I love them both! And don't you dare try coming back for me!" Shining Armor said.

"SIR!" The Sgt yelled.

"Come on we gotta move!" The pegasus cried as he grabbed the three ponies in his hoofs.

"We can't leave him!" The Sgt said as a spear impaled Shining Armor's leg.

"GOOOOO!" Shining Armor said as he used the last of his magic to send the the ponies flying away. The last thing they saw was Shining Armor being overrun by griffons.

"CAPTAIN!" The three ponies yelled as they flew to get reinforcements.

Canterlot

Princess Cadence used her magic to dust off the mantlepiece where her wedding album was. She had married Shining Armor a year and a half ago, six months before the war started. She was pregnant and expecting twins and hoped her husband would be home in time for their birth.

"Oh my Knight in Shining Armor, come back to me." She said as she stared at their wedding picture, suddenly there was a knock at the door. She trotted to the door and saw two royal guards with sullen expressions on their faces.

"Excuse me sirs, is something wrong?" Cadence asked already fearing the worst. Soldiers coming to your door when a loved one was on the frontline was never a good thing.

"We're sorry princess, he died fighting." One of the guards said as he handed her Shining Armor's dog tag and the equestrian flag. Cadence simple stood their speechless. Her Shining Armor was...dead.

"No, there has to be a mistake!" Cadence cried. "YOU'RE LYING!"

"I'm sorry princess." The guards said as Cadence embraced the fallen soldiers dog tag and flag and began to cry as sad tunes were played throughout Canterlot.

Ponyville

Twilight was about to head over to Sugarcube Corner to help Pinkie Pie foal sit Mr and Mrs Cakes babies when she heard a loud burp.

"The princess must have sent a letter." Twilight said as she trotted to find Spike. She found him upstairs by her bed.

"Spike what does the letter say?" Twilight asked. Spike had taken the liberty of reading the letter and saw the devastating news written on it.

"Uh nothing!" Spike said. He didn't want Twilight to start crying.

"It's from the princess it must be important!" Twilight said as she used her magic to yank the letter from Spike. Spike tried to fight back but Twilight's magic was too strong. The mare took it and began to read it, something she soon regretted.

Dear Twilight Sparkle

It is with a heavy heart and deep regrets to inform you that your older brother Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard has died in defense of all ponykind. His sacrifice saved the lives of four other soldiers and he will be honored in Canterlot tommorow.

General Silver Star, Department of the Army.

"Sh-h-ining Armor?" Twilight said tearing up. Her brother was dead.

"It's okay Twilight." Spike said as he gave Twilight a hug as the mare cried into his shoulder. He knew how close she was to her brother and that this was not going to be easy for her.

"SPIKE! HOW COULD HE BE DEAD!" Twilight cried. "MY DEAR BROTHER IS DEAD!". Twilight's mourning could be heard all throughout Ponyville.

Fort Hoovler.

In the past eight weeks Macintosh and the other ponies had become much stronger, faster, and tougher. They were nearing the end of their training and almost earned the title of soldier but still had a lot to learn.

"Listen up fillies! Today we practice close combat scenarios!" Skullcrusher yelled. "Macintosh! What do you know about close combat?"

"Sir nothin sir!" Macintosh replied.

"ARE YOU KIDDIN ME?" HAVEN'T YOU EVER BEEN IN A FIGHT BEFORE?"

"SIR NO SIR!" Macinotsh yelled.

"HAVEN'T YOU EVER KICKED ANYTHING?" Skullcrusher screamed.

"SIR I USED BUCK APPLES AT MAH FARM SIR." Macintosh said.

"Well that, show us what you got!" Skullcrusher ordered as Macintosh went up to the griffon dummy. Years of apple-bucking and farming paid off when Macintosh kicked the dummy and broke it in half.

"WOAH!" The other recruits said in shock when they saw Macintosh's power.

"Macintosh for once you actually impressed me, EXCELLENT JOB!" Skullcrusher said. Macintosh smiled, if felt good to finally receive a compliment after all the insults and punishments he had endured. After practicing close combat for two hours, the ponies went to the mess hall for some grub where Big Mac was praised for his performance.

"Man you cleared that thing!" Redwood Oak said as he took a bite into his hay sandwich.

"You have got to be the strongest one here!" Another pony at the table said.

"You might even get into C.O.L.T.S" Redwood said.

"C.O.L.T.S?" Macintosh asked confused.

"Covert Operations and Lethal Takedown Squads. Equestria's best." Redwood explained.

"Do you know how hard it is to get into that?" Another pony said. "The dropout rate is 99%! Big Mac is strong but I don't think even he can get in."

"I hear that they starve you and beat you if you don't follow an order" A blue pony said.

"Thats nothin! I heard they can kill you if you slack too much!" A green pony said.

"That's so not true! Princess Celestia would never allow that!" Redwood shouted in protest.

"COLTS doesn't even exist, its just some ploy to scare the grifs." Another pony said.

"Well won't know till ah try." Macintosh said as he chugged down a glass of lemonade. He still had two more weeks of training before he graduated and her could see his sisters again and have dinner with Luna.

"Yo Big Mac I heard you got a date with the princess!" Redwood asked causing Macintosh to blush.

"Well it's not really a date you see-" Macintosh began to say even though he wished it was.

"Yeah whatever you say." Redwood said laughing. After dinner the recruits headed out for six more hours of training than headed to bed. Macintosh pulled out paper and ink to write to his sisters at Sweet Apple Acres.

Dear Applejack and Applebloom,

Today ah kicked the head off a griffon dummy clean off! Even Sgt Skullcrusher was impressed. Looks like all those years of workin on the farm paid off. Graduation is in two weeks and ah can't wait to see y'all again.

Love Big Macintosh

As always Macintosh proofread the letter than sent it to the mail room before going to sleep to get some well needed and earned rest.