Ademar polished the barrel of the newly built Rifle. To a human this would be a carbine because of the light weight and small frame. "Twilight Its finished. Twilight?" There was no answer, he put the leather sling on the rifle and slung it over his shoulders. He continued outside to see Twilight by the 262, she had a can of Paint next to her. "Twilight, what are you doing?" He startled her, causing her to jump and knock over the can of Blue paint.

"Ademar you scared me.." She said while catching her breath.

"Sorry, what are you doing?"

"Well, since you agreed to help I painted out banner on your plane." Ademar looks under the wing to see the Equestrian banner painted on.

"Oh, well I have the rifle finished, ready to try it?" Twilight's smile grew.

"Of course I am!" She follows Ademar to the backyard where he has set up hay targets.

"Now, I need you to fire it twice, standing and with magic." He passes her the rifle. "That lever on the back is the safety, pull it back until you hear a click." She uses her hoof to pull it, Ademar noticed how it was working so far. "Now pull back the bolt and insert the round, then close the chamber and aim." She does as she is told.

"Now what?"

"Fire." He pointed at the target. Twilight closes her left eye, using the other to look down the barrel to the cross hairs. When she was lined up she pulled the trigger, the rifle kicked back hurting her shoulder and firing its round striking the Hay Target. She sets the gun down.

"It worked....but ow." She rubs her ears and shoulder. "Gonna need some getting use to.

"Yes it will, now do it with your magic." She picked up the rifle with her magic, doing the same thing again she aimed the rifle and fired it, there was a small kickback but she loaded it and fired again. "Good, It works both ways."

"Now what?" Twilight asked handing it back to him.

"We make more, and we-"

"TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled as he was running towards her with a Scroll. He stopped in front of the two wheezing and trying to catch his breath. "M-message from the Princess."

She grabs the scroll and reads it, her ears Droop down. "The changelings have attacked, they are along the Yakyakystan, Chrystal Empire boarder. They have been engaged but the battle has been stalled because of the weather, both sides have fortifications ready."

"Then we must go to the Chrystal Empire then. We can send the Designs for the weapons and new Uniforms to Canterlot."

"I will gather my things. Are you going to fly to the empire?"

"No, I don't want to waste to much fuel so we will have to load it onto the train." He runs inside. Upon returning Twilight gathered some guards to help pull the 262 to the train station. Ademar and Twilight walk beside the plane, upon reaching the Station they see several guards and ponies at the station, Mare and Stallions in armor say goodbye to their friends and family, guards wearing purple armor, the officers, command other guards onto the train car.

The 262 is strapped to a train car, its wings folded upward and a tarp covers it. Ademar and Twilight sit inside the train, he sees guards chatting, praying, crying, shaking, and readying their weapons. A unicorn guard in white and red armor with a saddle bag that has a red cross on it examines the soldiers.

"Ademar, how many do you think--" She looks at him.

"Will die.....I don't know Twilight. It is something I don't want on my mind, and neither should you." He leans back on the seat and tries to get some sleep.

******

The train came to a heavy stop, lurching Ademar and some of the guards forward a bit. "Are we there?"

"Yes, I will have the guards unload the 262 for you." She gets up and leaves the train, Ademar grabs his bag and follows her. He sees the ponies move the 262 off the train, the snow storm will prevent him from flying today.

"Will the weather be clear skies tomorrow?"

"Yes, the weather ponies are working their hardest, mainly directing the storm at the changelings, but the storm will be gone by morning." An officer said.

"Ademar follow me, we are staying in the castle tonight." Twilight said. She and Ademar walked through the beautiful city, he saw several Guards setting up Tents, he saw Chrystal Pony guards and Yak soldiers walking and talking. They walk past the Chrystal heart and into the Keep.

"Twilight!" The Princess of love runs over to Twilight and hugs her. "Its so nice to see you, though I wish it were on better occasions.

"Oh its fine Cadence, hows my Niece or Nephew doing?" She looks at the Princesses belly.

"Hungry, and Kicky. But we are fine Twilight. Shinning is in the War room with Prince Rutherford, Luna, and Celestia."

"What of King Gordon? Is he not joining us?"

"Gordon is keeping the Changeling occupied for now, the storm has caused some relief and we have been able to resupply him and our frontline soldiers." Cadence Said. They Enter the War room, Shinning is in full combat armor alongside Rutherford and the Princesses.

"Twilight!" Shinning trots over to his little sister and hugs her. "Its great to have you here."

"Twilight and glad to be here, what are our plans?" She and Ademar walked over to the Table, on it showed the nearby landscape, Towns, and Cities.

"The Changelings came out out the Mountains north of the Empire, Rutherford's Yaks engaged them first, we made it just in Time to help hold them off when the Storm hit. On both sides forts are being made, our Catapults and Ballista have been firing nonstop but they have been returning fire with their Catapults and Magic." Shinning Said.

"I do not wish to be held up any longer while my Yak brothers are dying out there, Princesses with your blessing may I return to my Yaks." Rutherford said kindly, Celestia nodded and he left.

"We have a Battalion on the way from Canterlot, and several Diamond Dog mercenaries are coming from Dimondia. But we are still outnumbered, we need to strike soon." Celestia said looking at the table.

"Once the storm clears I will be the first to strike Princess, by Firing what rockets I have left I should be able to scatter them, their siege weapons need to be eliminated before the Infantry can move in, those will be my prime targets." Ademar said.

"The storm has effected them though they are clearing it up Quickly. It will be cleared by Tomorrow before noon." Shinning said.

"Good, I will greet them when it is gone."

"This meeting is adjourned, I expect everypony to get their rest for the coming battle, Twilight I will meet you in your chambers in an hour, I have something for you." Celestia said. The two Princesses left the room, Shinning and Cadence followed them. Ademar walked beside twilight, he carried one of her Saddlebags.

"I wonder what Celestia has waiting for me? You think its Books, or a Magical tom, ooooo maybe a scroll or Lost relic."

"I wouldn't know Twilight." Ademar said. As they walked into the room they saw a Suit of Pony armor that was Twilight's size. Celestia stood next to it.

"Or its...a set of Armor.." She looked at the Armor is surprise and Sadness.

"Come, lets see if it fits." Celestia said as she used her magic to fit it onto Twilight. Her hair had to be put in a Bun, the armor was light, the helmet had a blade that protected her horn from damage.

"Have you had to do this before Princess?" Twilight asked.

"A few, my armor hasn't been used in years though. This was recently built for you." She said, as she was fitting armor onto Twilight's wing.

"No matter what I am ready, but...I'm scared." Twilight said.

"Its alright to be scared Twilight, I am just as worried as you are, as scared as you are to." She finished with putting it on. "There, I am finished."

"When I became a Princess I didn't think about something like this, fighting for Equestria. But I am now. I will be ready for tomorrow Princess." Celestia hugs twilight then leaves. Twilight takes off the armor.

"I will see you in the morning Twilight."

"Goodnight Ademar." He leaves the room and walks through the castle halls to his room.

********

The 262 engines whine loudly as he flies in the air, beside, Below, and Above him he can see formations of Pegasus and Bat pony Guards, on the ground he sees the Legion of Ponies and Yaks marching towards the twin mountains, he can see the Storm, the Ponies, Griffons, and Yaks firing flaming catapult rounds through the storm.

The snow has been cleared by the numerous hoof steps, Magic, and Catapult Damage. He can see the Storm clearing up, once it clears he sees a massive black moving cloud of Changelings descending onto the Soldiers below. Ademar fired two rockets into the swarm, the missiles explode in the swarm creating a massive hole, corpses and body parts from the changelings fall to the ground, Ademar fires the main cannon into the swarm, the guns shook and vibrated the plane.

Its booms can be heard from the Soldiers on the ground. Celestia uses fire balls and Beams of sunlight against the Swarm of Changeling, guards fought alongside the Yaks and Griffons, sword, spear, mace, Shield, Magic, even bare Claws and Hooves, Green and Red blood painted the ground beneath them. Luna led the Pegasus alongside Ademar, she used her Magic and Bow to knock the Changelings from the sky.

Twilight used her magic to combat several of them, she saw one of Ademar's Rockets hit a Changeling Catapult, sending it into a massive fireball, followed by Debris and Bodies. The Changeling's numbers finally seemed to dwindle. More and more Changelings were using their magic to fight and take their wounded comrades to safety, she saw Ademar's fighter fly by and fire upon the last catapult. The changelings began to flee. The Ponies, Yaks, and Griffons advanced, charging into the Breaking Changeling lines, hacking, slashing, Smashing, Clawing, biting and Burning.

******

What was left of the massive Swarm fled, were captured, or Dead. Twilight looked at the Dead bodies of Pony, Changeling, Griffon, Hippogriff, and Yak strewn among the battlefield, the painful screams of all races could be heard for miles, fires were everywhere, over a Destroyed Fortification, Siege weapon, or Body. Limbs from each race were an uncommon sight, but the blood, the mix of the Red and green blood stained her hooves and armor, knowing it would take days to wash away. The screams, the sound, the Image, and worst of all...the smell would never leave her mind.

She saw Celestia tending to wounded soldiers, some had missing limbs, some had missing eyes, and others were badly cut, burned, or beaten. Their dented and stained armor lie next to them. "Twilight I need some help here." Celestia said while holding up a wounded Griffon. Twilight used her magic to hold up the griffons arm, her hand was severed, it lied next to her. Celestia used her magic to levitate it and line it up with the nub, Twilight used her magic to burn it back onto the griffon, trying to ignore her screams. Twilight leaves them, and walks towards Ademar.

"Is this the price of war Ademar?" She said looking up at him.

"Yes, more lives will be lost if we do not act Twilight. We need to return home as soon as possible."

"I will try and get us a ride home tomorrow, or in a couple days." She lied on the part of ground that wasn't stained by blood, she then fell into a deep sleep.

********

"How many are dead?" The angered Changeling Queen asked her cowering and shaking General.

"We lost 144,531 soldier My Queen, another 7,023 wounded, and 1,793 missing." He said in a scared tone.

"And you say these Ponies won because of some massive metal bird that launched fire from its nose, sending thousands of my soldiers into Oblivion." She said with an angry snarl. She looked down below her mountain top castle, she took this place ages ago from some foolish Diamond Dog to obsessed with Gems than his own life, catacombs ran to the bottom of the mountain to the top, now used as residents for her subjects. "Not even magic brought it down you say?"

"Yes, it was too fast, and too heavily armored. One of our soldiers collided with its wings only to be ripped apart by it." Chrysalis in a sigh of annoyance looked at her General.

"We need to reassemble our forces, once we have enough siege weapons we attack Griffonstone."

"My queen we will need to breed another force large enough to attack the Griffon Capitol."

"Then get to it. Increase the production of weapons and Liquid Love, assign every 7,000 eggs to Military service, another 2,000 to Factory work and mining. When they hatch get them to work." The General salutes the Queen and leaves her chambers. Where she was left to her thoughts, to ponder on what she could use next. "The Gems mined from the mountain have benefited us with staves and weapons, but what am I to do next.....what to do..." Her thoughts came to the metal bird her general Described, how it shot fire and metal tubes that exploded when hitting something, she needs to see this Bird for herself.

******

Twilight woke up from her nap, the sound of the trains horn startled her. Other Guards slept in her car, some were wounded. "Your Finally awake." Ademar said, he sat beside her, drawing designs for cannons.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Almost a Day. We will be in Ponyville in an hour."

"How many died Ademar?" She looked at him.

"The Chrystal Empire lost 711, Griffonia Lost 503, Yakyakystan 678, and Equestria lost 521. The Diamond Dog Mercenaries arrived shortly after. 31 were from Ponyville." Twilight covered her face with her hooves trying to hide her sorrow. "Come Twilight, we may have suffered losses, but we won the battle and drove the changelings back."

"For how long?" She asked. "I hope what your making will help us.."

"Against their Infantry it will. But it will require a large amount of Bronze, and a rather large mold." He shows her. "This is a 12-Pound Cannon. The entire Cannon is made of Bronze, moved by Wooden Wheels. The shells that would be effective would be Grapeshot and Solid. Grapeshot fires several fist sized or smaller lead or Iron balls at Enemy troops, solid is used for Fortifications."

"Well this does look a little Complicated. I will see what Braeburn can do, if he hasn't gone home yet."

"If he did we can hire a Smith. Isn't there a Diamond Dog tribe nearby?"

"Yes, they captured Rarity one year and we had to go get her. They have been peaceful since then."

"Maybe they can provide us with the Metals we need. And a Smith."

"Good idea, I will send them a message when we return." A scroll appears in front of her, on it is the seal of the Royal Foundry in Canterlot. "Its from our friend Ebonheart, he says the Rifle design we sent him worked, several have been made and sent to my Castle in Ponyville."

"How many?"

"At least 400 with more on the assembly line."

"Hmm, that's enough for at least a Battalion of Soldiers. Around 300 to 800 soldiers. I need you to send another letter to the Canterlot Military academy, we need 350 Recruits with completed Combat training and send them to your castle." He began to pack up his personal gear into his bag.

"On it." Twilight Quickly wrote the two letters. One to the Diamond Dogs, another to Canterlot. In a small flash they are gone. "Oh and Ebonheart sent the Supplies I requested for the Zeppelin. I should have it done in a month or so."

"Good, we have much to do Twilight, lets begin immediately when we get home."

Twilight smiled as she lied back down, Ademar leaned back and tried to get some sleep.

Author's Note

I though adding another sub-species would be interesting. If people don't know a Hippogriff is a Hybrid. The Father is a Griffon while the mother is a Mare. Like Silver Quill on Youtube. In this they are Citizens of Either Griffonia or Equestria. Enjoy and please report any Errors.

12-Pound Cannon and Shot. Grape and Round.