Equestria's Struggle: Chronicles of the 20th ERAD

by ZatGeneral

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Original Character, Crossover, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 42059

Forged into a single empire by the two Princesses thousands of years ago, Equestria's gradually increasing military strength has made other world powers uneasy.

Once a land dotted by patch-work nation states, Equestria was forged into a single nation by the Princesses Celestia and Luna thousands of years ago. The two Princesses were able to keep Equestria safe for a time, but Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon sent the fledgling nation back centuries. Equestria suffered greatly during those years and recovered slowly while being besieged on all sides. With Luna returning from her banishment and the reclamation of the old Crystal Empire, the Age of the Princesses began and Equestria entered a new golden age. Other nations have became uneasy of Equestria's new found strength. War looms on the horizon once again but Equestria is ready. We are ready.

This series follows the various members of the 20th ERAD and their achievements.

* Some character's are not mine and belong to their respective owners.
*Anything linked I do not claim ownership over, EXCEPT my pictures.
*If there are any mistakes, please point them out as I am SURE I made a few somewhere. Constructive criticism is welcomed.

Visual references for the various tanks, characters, etc. can be found here ---> HERE

Published 2013-05-04 06:50:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-13 20:50:05 UTC

Prologue Part 1: Unplanned and Unpleasant Stops

Prologue Part 1: Unplanned and Unpleasant Stops

Prologue Part 1: Unplanned and Unpleasant Stops

April 24th, 11th year of the Age of the Princesses
Sergeant First Class Smartmouth
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Battalion, Heavy Armor Platoon D

“Sergeant! Sergeant wake up!” Cried Crossfire.

“Buh!?! *snort* What? Are we under attack?”

“No, well not for now at least” chuckled Crossfire. “Commander Applejack wants to talk to you.”

“And why isn’t Spehlczech talking to me about it?” The fact that Smartmouth’s gunner is performing Spehlczech’s role as radio operator bothered her a bit.

“He’s outside with Grumpy and Pushover”

“You mean we’re not moving?”

At that very moment Smartmouth realised that her tank in fact wasn’t moving. The normal rocking and swaying of the chassis was absent, the rumbling of her tank’s engine was absent and the chatter of her crew is absent. Quickly, Smartmouth switched on her intercom and began to talk to her commander.

“Commander? Why has the column stopped moving?” she asked with a bit of anguish.

“Well cock-a-doodle-do sug’r plum, ‘bout time ya woke up. Listen, some of these here Vee-Kay-Vee Heavies dog-gone broke down. Their crews are work’n mighty hard but it’s still gonna take them a bit ta get our big guns up’n ready.”

Lieutenant Applejack’s tone resonated with disappointment but it really shouldn’t have surprised her. Vladhoof Korporation Vehicles have never been the most mechanically reliable.

“The gosh-darn VKVs just gave out like a barn that’s been eat’n by parasprites. ”

Smartmouth quickly threw open the hatch to her cupola, peered out and looked towards the front of the column. Five tanks ahead were two of the disabled VKVs. One of the VKVs has completely lost all of its right road wheels and was now parked in a rain ditch on the side of the road. The other VKV shed its tracks which were still on the road and all fifty tons of the VKV plowed through a cornfield into a grain silo. An angry farmer, along with the VKV’s embarrassed crew were trying to dislodge the tank from the grain silo without having the entire structure come crashing down onto their already broken tank.

Lieutenant Applejack was standing by a company jeep near the VKV parked in the rain ditch. Her pacing around the jeep indicated she was frustrated beyond words.

“How long have the VKVs been out of commission Commander?”

“Bout two hours or so. Rec’n it’ll take the whole dang day ta get them up’n running again.”

Smartmouth turned to look behind her. To her surprise sergeant Tanky, her wingpony, was stomping furiously on her VKV’s turret. She was puzzled over what was wrong with her wingpony’s tank, but then she noticed black soot around the VKV’s oscillating turret. Tanky’s VKV had a major engine malfunction and caught fire. A engineering crew was already attempting to remedy the issue but like the other VKVs this one wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

“Anywho, Ah want ya ta keep these here ponies in line until either Ah get back, or ya’ll meet up with me in Downtown City.”

“Me?” Smartmouth asked as she quickly whipped her head back in Applejack’s direction.

“Do Ah have ta repeat what Ah just said sergeant?” Even from this moderate distance Applejack could still see the surprise in Smartmouth’s eyes.

“Well... it’s... it’s just... um... what about your tank and your crew Commander?”
Smartmouth can feel beads of sweat starting to form around her ERAD cap.

“Ah sure mah crew can handle themselves... at least Ah hope they can. Ah mean it’s just a drive down this here country road, not like there’s any other road ta get lost on.”

“But why are you even moving ahead of the battalion Commander?”

“Ah need ta evaluate tha defenses and tha support from the Petters. Not ta mention survey tha area around Downtown City fer the best places fer our tanks ta dig in.”

Applejack quickly hopped into the jeep and shifted the gear to drive.

“Ya can handle this right Smartmouth?”

Smartmouth couldn’t help but let out a small giggle. “I promise I won’t let another Marelinovka happen again Commander.”

“Just no more of them Grasschendaele stunts ya hear?”

“Loud and clear commander!”

“Listen here ya’ll! Ah’m leaving Sergeant Smartmouth in charge fer a bit! Ah’ll be riding ahead ta take a peek at what the Petters got fer their defense!”

Warrant Officer Steel Lance spoke out. “How come you’re not giving me command lass?”

“Because the last thing Ah need is is you charg’n down more cornfields Chief Lance.”

“Bah! It was just ONE time Lieutenant!” said Steel Lance as he climbed out of his Neighjing Consortium Type S3E10 Medium Tank.

Smartmouth gave her commander a salute and Applejack promptly saluted back. The engine of the jeep started to roar, all four wheels spun and the jeep took off ahead of ERAD C battalion. It wasn’t before long that Applejack and the jeep vanished beyond the horizon against the rising sun.

Smartmouth looked down at her golden-tan painted tank. Her “beautiful” M5-90 “Monarch Tiger” heavy tank. The mighty twin ninety millimeter guns of her M5-90 jutted out from the turret like two towers whose power has only begun to rise. The air was filled with the scent of engine oil and steel but there was something else in the air, something sweet.

Smartmouth turned her nose to the source of the scent and discovered that the sweet smell was that of cinnamon rolls the old farmer’s wife was bringing out for the stallions and mares of C Battalion and there seemed to be plenty for every member to get two rolls each.

“Crossfire?”

“Yea Ma’am?” replied Crossfire with her normal enthusiasm.

“Take a break.”

“But who else is going to watch the tank Ma’am?”

“I’ll take over, come on now, you’ve earned breakfast at least.”

“Yes Ma’am!”

Crossfire popped open the gunner’s hatch and clambered out of the Monarch Tiger, hopping off the turret, onto the side skirts and finally onto the ground. Before walking off to get a few of those cinnamon rolls, she gave a quick salute to Smartmouth who then promptly saluted back.

“OH FOR LUNA’S SAKE! What’s wrong with the engine now!?! I mean if the Vladhoof Korporation is going to make engines that catch fire every 5 kilometers, why the hell do I even bother with such a piece of junk!?!”

Tanky’s outbursts caught Smartmouth’s attention. The little red earth pony was a little bit more red than usual. Smartmouth was guessed a few factors to the cause of Tanky’s redshift. She deduces it was either the fact that the engine of Tanky’s VKV caught fire, the frustration of painstakingly maintaining an engine only to have it catch fire, or the family sized bag of flaming hot potato crisps Tanky was downing by the hoof full.

“It’s not that bad Ma’am.” said an engineer trying to calm Tanky down. “we only need to replace the spark plugs and fuel lines.”

Smartmouth looked over her shoulder for a minute. “Just be glad that you’re not those poor bastards over there Tanky. Those guys are chasing their runaway road wheels all over the farm.”

Tanky replied with a sigh. “Yeah... or I could be the suckers who are getting scolded by that farmer. Sheesh. He makes my dad look timid.”

Several chuckles came from Smartmouth. “Oh please, your father is one of the nicest Stallions I know.”

“That’s because you’ve never seen him angry before.”

“He’s capable of getting angry?”

“You have no idea”

“Well I can see where you get your little tantrums from.”said Smartmouth while cracking a wide smile.

“You be quiet you!”

“That’s no way to talk to your platoon leader Sergeant Tanky.”

“Well you can bite my sweet earth pony ass “Seargent First Class Smartmouth”.” Tanky muttered in a sarcastic tone.

“Zen zere izn’t anysing to bite Fräulein.” cracked Spehlczech as he set up a portable grill. The shrill pony recently moved back to Equestria after studying for twenty years with the Grammar Nazis and, in addition to his vast knowledge of the common language, has also picked up some of their harsher accents..

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” shouted Tanky with her face practically glowing red.

Plenty of other ponies in the vicinity heard the “comment” and have all started chuckling.

“SAY THAT AGAIN TO MY FACE”

“Are you going to zay zat again? Or are you “short” on ze insults?”

By this point everypony can see that Sergeant Tanky is absolutely boiling, to the point steam is jetting out of her ears. The fact that everypony was starting to laugh made it all the more rage inducing.

“You guys should probably stop” chuckled Smartmouth. “The turret on Tanky’s VKV is still operational.”

Tanky suddenly remembered that VKVs did not rely on hydraulics from the engine to rotate the traverse gear, instead, four electric motors powered the turret and allowed it to rotate and oscillate independent from the engine should the engine suffer a breakdown or damage during combat. She was still used to the older VKV models which she was trained for when they did used the engine to rotate the turret and Tanky couldn’t help but crack a wicked smile.

“Alright enough picking on Sergeant Tanky for one day guys. We got to stop before she starts thinking about anymore... unsavory ideas. Come one now, back to work, Commander Applejack is expecting us.”

- - -

April 24th, 10th year of the Age of the Princesses
Lieutenant First Class Applejack
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C battalion, Heavy Assault Platoon A

Lieutenant Applejack looked behind her to see that her column of tanks was no longer visible. She didn’t know what she was expecting as the concrete and brick skyscrapers of Downtown City came into view. She looked up into the sky to see the midday sun.

‘All right... if the fellas fixed them dang VKVs they should be at the rally point by sundown.’ Applejack thought to herself.

The closer Applejack drove to Downtown City, the more she realized that the Petters were not ready for any attack. Applejack knew Petaria was a new nation and was eager to prove itself to the rest of the world, but the fact remains that it was a new nation and needed help. Applejack let out a small sigh and turned into the city limits.

‘What the hay?...’

To Applejack’s surprise, there were hardly any defensive positions, the soldiers of Petaria were cocky and boasting about how they would turn the Trolls away before Friday. But worst of all, the denizens of the city were still here. The sight of the complete lack of readiness almost spurred Applejack into a rage.

“Excuse me, but WHAT THE HAY IS GOING ON HERE!?!” shouted Applejack to a rather short chameleon soldier.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what are you talking about?” cried the chameleon in confusion.

“What are them civilians still doing here!?! Don’t ya’ll know that the Trolls are coming?”

“Trolls? *snort* You mean those idiotic no-brain but stupid *snort* err... dumb no good... things? *snort*” stuttered the plump pig soldier next to his chameleon comrade. “Don’t you worry miss! *snort* The Trolls got nothing on us.”

“Well it seems like them Trolls ain’t the only ones who’r “dumb ‘n no good”.”

“Hey who are you to talk to us like that?”

“Yeah *snort* who are you to talk to us about that!”

The chameleon couldn’t help but bring his palm to his face. “A lotta help you are...”

“Oh, ya’ll asking ‘bout lil’ol me? Why Ah’m the commander of C battalion of the Equestrian Royal Armored Division and Ah find the situation concerning yer city mighty distasteful. Ya’ll can take me to yer commanding officer so Ah can straighten this here mess out.”

“Oh my... I am so sorry Commander”

“No you’re not *snort*”

“Be quiet you.” muttered the chameleon. “I am Private Manuel, Third Rifle Division, First Petarian Infantry. I apologize Commander, I had no idea that Equestria took over Petaria over night so that her officers could command soldiers that NEVER BELONGED to Equestria.”

“What Equestria should do is teach ya’ll some respect! Ah didn’t drive mah tanks to another country just ta be back-sassed by some private!”

“No, you’re here because you’re “Pretty Poofy Princesses” don’t think that we Petters can handle one fight with some Trolls!”

“*Oink* Duh, yeah! You don’t think we can do it!”

Applejack realized that she was not going to get pass the Petarian’s stubbornness. She let out a sigh and quietly asked, “Can ya’ll please, take me to tha commanding officer in charge of these here defenses?”

“Now that’s the tone you should have been using from the start. Ma’am.”

“*Snort* Yeah! From the start, pony!”

“We’ll take you to Captain Fanny. Commander. This way.”

“*Snort* yeah! This way!”

Applejack rolled her eyes and proceeded to follow the two soldiers. While she was walking, she took note of every possible defensive position, every possible place to set up an ambush and every place that could provide cover for her tanks. The walk was long, already the sun was moving towards the horizon, not yet setting but it must have been past lunch. Applejack could see her tankers grilling corn on the long country road, she could see the old farmer happy as ever that her tankers were spending their bits on his crops and she could see that her gallant tankers have fixed their broken VKVs.

“Ma’am?, ma’am?”

“*SNORT* You there pony?”

Applejack snapped out of her trance only to realize that she was in front of Captain Fanny’s office. Applejack looked around and from the look of the marble floors and the white plaster walls, she realized that she was standing in Downtown City’s town hall.

Manuel knocked a few times on the door. “Captain?”

“Yes?”

“The Equestrian Commander is here”

“Good good send her in.”

Manuel opened the door with the attitude of a gentlepony finding the fact that’s he’s rabid.

“Ah suppose Ah should thank ya.”

“Oh please, it wasn’t like it was a challenge or anything.”

“*Snort* it was for me... those steps... *snort*”

“Stop your whining. Come on, the lunch specials must be happening now.”

At the very prospect of food, the pig ran out to the streets dragging Manuel with him. Applejack had never in her life seen a pig run with the speed of a raging buffalo and couldn’t help but smirk a little. She quickly turned her attention to Captain Fanny who was in the midst of preparing her afternoon coffee. The scent of chocolate and fresh ground coffee bean was strong in the room, clinging onto the lace curtains and the furniture. She walked into the decedent room. The furniture, the rugs, even the tablecloths looked like they belonged in the large manors and palaces of Canterlot.

“So you are the Equestrian Commander sent to provide assistance to us?”

“Indeed Ah am Ma’am.”

Captain Fanny couldn’t help but scoff a little bit. “Well I’m afraid that your ponies won’t have a lot to do when the Trolls attack us, as you must have seen when arrived. We are more than ready to take on the Trolls, with all due respect Commander Applejack.” She turned to face the windows, her green, fluffy tail whipping around along with her long hair.

“Ready? Ya’ll haven’t evacuated yer civilians yet! Ya’ll only got five feet of barbed wire strung across the whole gosh-darn city! How in the name of Celestia are ya’ll ready!?!”

“I thought you’d might ask that question, please Commander, follow me.”

Applejack followed hesitantly, she was sure that Captain Fanny would gloat about how Petaria and the Petters could take on the Troll hordes with little more that their will and spirit. But to her pleasant surprise , Captain Fanny actually began listing viable answers.

“I know and understand your concern over the vast numbers of civilians still here in Downtown City. You see, it’s a matter of morale. A country can’t win a war if their people refuse to fight. The longer we wait to evacuate those civilians, the more they’ll think their tiny nation is a power on its own. But rest assured, we will begin to evacuate them by nightfall.”

“That’s an awfully risky move there missy, them Trolls are mighty hard ta predict and they can strike at anytime.”

“Yes, the military of Petaria understands that, or at least I do. I also must apologize if I seemed to disregard Equestria’s effort to defend her ally, but you must understand, Petaria is not a protectorate of Equestria and it never was.”

“If it’s not too much of a trouble Ma’am, Ah’d like ta see the lands around yer city along this walk.”

“Sure thing Commander, but I must ask, why? Why do you want to survey the lands around Downtown City?”

“Well Ah gotta take note of all tha possible positions for mah tanks ta take Ma’am.”

“You mean you’re not going to position your tanks in the city?” Captain Fanny asked with a curious tone.

“Eventually, yeah. Ah plan for all mah tanks to draw them Trolls into the city on mah own accord. But first, we’re gonna make a stand outside ta really get them angry.”

“Why in the world would you want to make Trolls angry?”

“Because Trolls don’t think when they’re angry.”

The walk was a fairly long one. Captain Fanny took a route that led around Downtown City. Applejack was tediously taking notes about every hill, ledge and rock that her tanks could take cover behind. After about three hours or so of walking, sightseeing and note taking, Applejack and Captain Fanny arrived in a large open green field. There was a plaza, fully paved with flagstones and strewn with lovely benches and lamps. There was a stunning view of the open lands outside Downtown City and the roads that lead into the city itself. For there Applejack can see the sun was starting to set.

The field looked like it was the city park and inside it stood rows upon rows of... tanks? These “tanks” were no higher than Applejack if she stood on her hind legs. They only had four wheels on each side of the tank, one large drive wheel rear, one idler wheel in the front and a pair of road wheels. Captain Fanny began to walk around one of these so called “tanks”.

“This is the Petter Panzer Mark-One.” Captain Fanny’s voice was full of pride, her voice boomed of national honor and prestige. “The model next to me is armed with a K9-thirty five millimeter cannon. She sports a forty horsepower petrol engine and is protected by more than fifteen millimeters of solid steel.” Captain Fanny gave a quick smile and walked over to another PPM-1. “This Petter Panzer, is armed with a twenty millimeter grenade launcher AND a Chewing, eight millimeter machine gun for a anti-infantry role.”

Applejack stood there, like a fruit, wondering how a any of the Petters could think that they’re ready to face off against a Troll horde with THESE armored tractors.

Captain Fanny turned to face Applejack. “So, Commander. What do you think?”

Applejack stood there, like a fruit, wondering how badly the Trolls would decimate these pathetic excuses for tanks.

“Speechless? I understand Commander. The PPM-1 are truly a sight to behold.”

“You really wanna know what Ah think? Ah think ya’ll are so caught up in yer own lil’ fantasy that ya’ll are SO powerful, that ya’ll forgot that Equestria has been protect’n yer flanks for SO long! Ah don’t know what ya’ll are think’n but. IT’S. JUST. STUPID!”

Captain Fanny seemed unimpressed by Applejack’s sudden outburst. “Well, if you think Equestria is so “high and mighty” where are the armies that your “pretty pink princess’” were going to send? And I also don’t believe that YOU, a lowly FIELD COMMANDER have ANY right to judge my tanks. Infact, I don’t seem to recall ANY of your own tanks here? Where are they Commander? Tell me that.”

Almost as if Fanny tempted fate, the ground beneath their feet started to rumble. It wasn’t that strong of a rumble, but it was more than noticeable to Fanny and the denizens of Downtown City.

"Mah tanks ya say? They're right on time."

Captain Fanny watched as Applejack’s massive tanks roll into the plaza from the city. To her surprise, these hulking masses of steel only took up one lane of Downtown City’s roads. She stood there in awe as tanks like the M5, the VKV, the Type S2E14 and the HT6 trundled up and over the sidewalks and into the plaza. She was even more impressed that the drivers of these monstrous heavy tanks skillfully maneuvered their beasts of war around the park benches and lamps, never knocking down a single one. Applejack’s tanks began forming rows, using the benches and lamps as a automobile driver would use the white lines in a parking lot.

Smartmouth’s M5 parked itself right behind where Applejack stood. She then popped open her commander’s hatch and gave a salute to her commander.

“Sorry for the delay Commander!” shouted Smartmouth. “The boys of Hag Platoon were forced into fixing the grain silo.”

“Ah shucks, it ain’t like them boys ta do such a nice favor like that.”

Captain Fanny stood there wide eyed and slack jawed. “T-t-t-t-t-t-t-h-ose... are... your tanks!?!?” She was in a state of shock and disbelief.

“Oh. So ya like mah tanks?” said Applejack as she gave Smartmouth’s M5 a pat. “Sergeant Smartmouth?”

“Yes Ma’am?”

“Would ya be so kind as to recite a few of yer tanks stats for Captain Fanny here?”

“Of course ma’am!” Smartmouth took a breath and looked straight at Captain Fanny. “This is the Mark-Five “Monarch Tiger” manufactured by the Porshoe Automobil Holding. Its main armament are these twin, high velocity ninety-millimeter guns. They are capable of penetrating over two hundred and eighty millimeters of armor at a distance of one and a half kilometers, which happens to be the extent of its range as well. The M5 is protected with one hundred and fifty millimeters of armor. As you can see Ma’am, the front of the M5 is built in a pike nose fashion, which means the armor value of the M5’s front is more than two hundred millimeters of armor should an enemy tank’s shell strike horizontal to the ground.”

“I hope these Petters have some good food around here.” said Tanky as she lifted herself out of her VKV.

“Sergeant Tanky? Care ta recite your tank’s statistics for Captain Fanny here?”

“Do I have to Ma’am? I’m starving!”

“Your belly can wait sugar plum.”

With a heavy sigh, Tanky began reciting her VKV’s statistics. “The Vladhoof Korporation Vehicle is protected by one two hundred millimeters of armor in the front, keep in mind that is is sloped so the armor value is more than I’m giving. The VKV sports a two hundred and twenty five millimeter howitzer that can lob a high explosives shell more than two kilometers. The reason the howitzer can shoot with such force is because the neither the gun or the turret have recoil control mechanisms, therefore more of the shell’s force goes out of the gun. This is also why the VKVs are known to have problems concerning their suspension.” Tanky took a deep breath.

“Can I please be dismissed Ma’am?”

“You may enjoy the rest of yer even’n Sergeant Tanky.”

And with Applejack’s say so, the rest of C Battalion’s members trotted off for the night.

“So, Captain Fanny. What do ya think?”

_ _ _

Author's Note

I really hope there aren't any Petters who take offense to this. I personally find My Littlest Petshop enjoyable but I'm basing the semi-hostilities from what I've seen on MLP and MLPS forums and the whole "Brony vs Petter" thing going around the internet... which is stupid.

You may also notice a few things similar between this story and TS874's story. We're doing a semi-collaboration where we exchange some ideas and characters around so expect to see my characters and TS874's characters in both stories.

Prologue Part 2: Battle for Petaria

Prologue Part 2: Battle for Petaria

April 26th, 10th year of the Age of the Princesses
Sergeant First Class Smartmouth
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Battalion, Heavy Armor Platoon D

“Target! Twelve-o’clock! Come on Crossfire! They’re going to shred our right flank!”

“Hang on... hang on...”

Crossfire pulled the trigger, sending a single ninety millimeter round forward. That single round from Smartmouth’s M5-90 sent a Troll dumpster out of control and it slammed into another dumpster.

“You know me commander, when have I ever let you down?”

Crossfire was right. Never once has she missed a target, even with her “condition”. When she was first recruited, everypony, even Smartmouth herself had doubts that a wall-eyed unicorn could hit the broadside of a barn in a town made of broadsided barns.

“GUN ONE RELOADED!” Shouted Grumpy, a rather imposing griffon who used every appendage he had to throw shells into the M5-90’s guns.

“Tracking that garbage can...” Crossfire let out her breath slowly as she turned the turret, leading a Troll garbage can with the skill and precision of a sniper. “I have you now...”

Before Crossfire could pull the trigger on gun two, the Troll garbage can exploded. It rained tiny, twisted metal shards and Troll bits, but the blast site was still obscured by smoke and dust. When the wind blew the smoke away, Crossfire could see the lower portion of the chassis was rolling forward.

Tanky’s voice traveled through the intercom “Oh sorry! Did we steal your kill?” The full force of Tanky’s two hundred and twenty five millimeter howitzer went into that Troll garbage can and the trolls around the tank. “Well don’t worry, you got another thirty seconds to catch up!”

“More like thirty seconds to pull ahead even more! Come on Crossfire, dumpster! Nine-o’clock!”

Crossfire twisted a joystick to her left. The M5-90’s turret began to traverse. The groaning of the electric motors gave way to movement. The turret turned, the twin guns lined up to their target and Crossfire let out a sigh. Her pulse slowed, the hairs on her neck stood up. Crossfire saw the troll dumpster in her sights. She pulled the trigger, one of the ninety millimeters let loose a terrifying roar. A direct hit, the hatches blew open with jets of flame and smoke.

“Garbage can! Ten-o'clock right!”

Crossfire was already on the target Smartmouth called out. She saw the garbage can, it was just beginning to crest the hill to the north. The thundering bursts of the Equestrian guns were occasionally joined by the sporadic pops of the Petter’s thirty five millimeter “cannons”. Crossfire saw one of those thirty five millimeter rounds bounce off of the garbage can’s turret.

Well at least those tractors are trying... She thought to herself.

Smartmouth watched as the tiny Petter tanks sent round after round down range to no avail. Every forty millimeter shell simply bounced off of even the most thinly armored Troll tank. She watched the garbage can crest over the hill only to be smited by her tank. Smartmouth looked around and saw that more and more Troll tanks were starting to crest the hills. The sight of the tanks brought a smile to her face. She remembered that just one day ago, Captain Fanny was stunned at how Equestria’s tanks were so powerful in comparison to Petaria’s.

Smartmouth remembered hearing Captain Fanny ask Lieutenant Applejack, “What other reinforcements will Equestria be sending?” to which Applejack replied “Don’t ya worry yer pretty little head sugar cube. Ya’ll can expect the Equestrian Third Armored Division and the Second Equestrian Fighter Squadron.”

It was already high noon and there was still no sign of either the Third Armored or the Second Fighter Squadron. The Trolls were throwing a substantial amount of their forces into Petaria and for good reason. Petaria shares a border with Equestria, a lightly defended border. Smartmouth knew that no matter what happens, the Trolls must be stopped here. For her friends, for her family and for all of Equestria.

“Dumpster! Two-o’clock!” Smartmouth saw one Troll tank after another crest the hill. There was just no end to them. Every tank Smartmouth’s crew killed, three more would take its place. Smartmouth felt her tank shake with the roar of one of her guns. She saw the flash of a solid ammo rack detonation.

“GUN TWO LOADED!”

The ground shook as shells struck the earth ramparts protecting the M5-90. The trolls had crested the northern hill and were closing in to their optimal firing range. Of course optimal firing range meant little to Trolls, they shot at absurd ranges anyway, hoping to get lucky.

The unmistakable thunder of the two-twenty five was followed by the proper creation of a crater where three Troll garbage cans once stood.

“And that’s three for me!”

“Lucky shot Tanky!”

Smartmouth observed the rest of the tanks in C Company knockout tank after tank. The Trolls at the distances they were firing at, were horribly inaccurate. Even if a Troll dumpster were to hit any of C Company’s tanks, the Troll shells would have lost so much velocity that they would bounce off of a Neighjing Consortium armored car. The entire company must have fired over a thousand rounds by now, the hillside was peppered with craters.

“Three-o’clo-”

Smartmouth tried to call out another target for Crossfire but a massive one hundred millimeter shell ricocheted off of the M5-90’s turret.

“What the hell hit us!?!” Cried Grumpy

“Dumpster! Three-o’clock! Knock him out before it reloads!” The dumpster’s gun was smoking and clearly it was going to try again.

“The fools are scratching my paint!” Pushover, Smartmouth’s driver, labored for about five hours painted and repainting the M5-90 the day before so Smartmouth knew why he’d be upset.

Crossfire’s shot was dead on. The dumpster exploded, sending ribbons of metal into a garbage can next to it, shredding the unlucky vehicle.

Smartmouth’s tank shook again, another bounce. She could see the Troll tanks starting to get too close for comfort.

“Damn it! twelve-o’clock!” Just as Smartmouth shouted her order, her tank took another hit, another bounce.
Smartmouth couldn’t complain about receiving a few hits though, one of her platoon mates, Sergeant Chalkboard of Heavy Armor Platoon C has under a hail of Troll shells. Her Fjord HT-6 barely budged under the Troll’s relentless assault. Smartmouth watched as shell after shell bounced off of Chalkboards tank and rolled into neat little piles around the tank. The HT-6’s autoloader was tearing the Troll tanks apart. By this point Chalkboard had twenty nine confirmed kills and about thirty four assists. Smartmouth counted eleven confirmed kills for her tank and ten for Tanky’s.

“Zay are five ‘undered meters und closing mine Kommandant!”

“Crossfire! Open up!”

“Yes Ma’am!”

Crossfire stopped engaging in her normal aiming habits and simply “eye balled” her targets. Smartmouth’s tank was firing twice as fast now much to the dismay of grumpy who had to rapidly reload two guns which only stopped firing during turret rotations. Even with his paws, his wings and his tail, Grumpy could barely keep pace with Crossfire’s ammunition expenditure.

The closer the Trolls got, the more effective the Petter’s tanks became. The Petarians understood that the Equestrian tanks could destroy the heavily armored “dumpster” tanks while their forty millimeter cannons could barely scratch the Troll’s trash cans at rage. But the trash cans weren’t at safe ranges anymore. The Petarian tanks could now help their Equestrian comrades. The Petter’s have divided their tanks so that each Equestrian tank was accompanied by two PPM-1s. Although horribly inferior to the Equestrian and Troll tanks, the Petters showed outstanding bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Bravery, or it was the fact that the Trolls completely ignored the tiny Petarian tanks and expended their ammo on the large Equestrian ones. The closer the Trolls got, the more tanks the Trolls lost until they could take no more and started to back off.

“Are they retreating!?!” Shouted Smartmouth with utter surprise.

“No..” Applejack’s voice was full of worry and everypony could hear it. “Them Trolls are regrouping ya hear! Keep yer eyes peeled folks!”

The Equestrian tanks kept firing until the last Troll tank was either destroyed or clamored back over the hill. The Equestrian and Petter radio channel began to fill with chatter concerning the situation.

“Why would they just give up like that?”

“What more do the Trolls have to throw at us?”

“Where are their tanks?”

*Fu*

“Repeat, that message wasn’t clear Total.”

“Who said that?”

“I didn’t say anything Corporal.”

*FU*

“What was that?”

“Cannon fire?”

“No, no it’s something else Clover.”

*FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU*

“Are their tanks going to attack?”

“What the hell? Is that... chanting?” Chalkboard started digging through her log book for an answer to what the strange chanting was for.

At that moment, the veterans of C Company knew instantly what that strange noise was. Smartmouth remembered what happened at the battle of Flankirk. She threw the commander’s hatch open and prepped her Heckler and Poch MG-36 mounted to the M5-90 . She loaded 7.75mm hollow point rounds. The belt of bullets was heavy. She slid the slide back and let out a sigh to steady her aim.

“Mother of Luna... Noobians!” Cried Applejack. “Get yer coaxials ‘n machine guns ready! Load them HE and canister shells! We got Noobians ready ta charge! If there’s any time for ya Petter’s ta show yer worth, now’s tha time ya hear!?!”

The Petarian infantry, after fending of tanks with grenades, felt confident that infantry would be a far easier fight. They were right in a sense, enemy infantry would be blown to shreds first by the Equestrian tanks, then the PPM-1’s forty millimeter cannons, and finally the lead spewing guns that promised to shreds any infantry that got close. The Petarians dusted off their sights, snipers hiding in the tall buildings of Downtown City took aim and then, the sign that the Noobians were coming.

*FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU*

As their war cry echoed throughout the battlefield, Smartmouth could make out the thin gangly forms and the chalk white faces of the Noobians.

Captain Fanny stood looking in shock at the tsunami that threatened to swallow her city whole. “Open up! Lay it on them! Lay it on them!”

On Captain Fanny’s orders, the Noobians faced a torrent of of lead. It didn’t matter though, bullets and shells were simply not enough to stop the torrent of noobs. Even though they fell by the hundreds, the hill itself was trampled by the moving of thousands of thin, dark, sickly legs. The hill looked as if it were blanketed with snow.

“They’re everywhere!” Cried Private Bagel

Tanky at this point was unloading her submachine gun into the advancing horde. “Then shoot everywhere!” She shouted. The smg’s barrel was glowing red at this point, but all Tanky could think about was how the VKV HT-8 was not armed with a machine gun for the commander. Her stream of bullets was only interrupted when her tank unleashed its terrifying howitzer.

The howitzer’s massive shell tore a decent hole in the carpet of Noobians. It was in vain though, even with the full might of C Company and the Fifth Petarian Army concentrating fire on the avalanche of Noobains, they were still gaining ground. The Noobians were closing fast, their casualties were staggering but they just kept coming. Five hundred, two and a half, one hundred meters, no matter how many died, they just charged at the Equestrian and Petarian lines.

Smartmouth kept firing until it the machine gun resonated with the loud *CLICK*. Out, she was out of ammo. She reached for another box of ammunition, watching was the Noobians started to swarm the forward tanks.

“Batten down yer hatches! Forward tanks batten down yer hatches!” Applejack could only watch as the Noobians started to climb onto her company’s tanks and try to pry open the hatches.

“This is Sergeant Chalkboard! They’re all over us! The Noobians wrecked my sights! We’re blind here!”

“I got your back Chalky!” Smartmouth threw the belt into the machine gun, cocked the bolt back and let loose a storm of bullets on Chalkboard’s tank. The bounced off the HT-6 harmlessly, but tore through the Noobians trying to force their way in. The buzzing sound of of the MG-36 was music to Smartmouth’s ears. Like blades of grass, the Noobians fell off Chalkboard’s tank. More would try to climb, and would get cut down by the MG-36.

Smartmouth held the trigger down for the whole time until a loud *CLUNK* stopped the hail of lead. “No no no! Not now! Not now!” Smartmouth desperately flicked the cocking handle back and forward. A bullet casing, bent and dented only by micrometers during manufacturing, lodged itself between the breech and the receiver. Smartmouth started hitting her gun, nothing happened. Noobians were able to climb back onto Chalkboard’s HT-6 and attempt once again to pry open the hatches. “No no no no no!”

“Come on! Come on! Not now!” Her hooves struck the gun repeatedly. It was on her fourth downward stroke that she realized that the Noobians started to climb on her tank. On her fourth downward strike, she was staring eye to eye with a angry Noobian. Smartmouth froze in panic for just a second, a second that allowed the Noobian to swing a club at her. She dove back into her tank just as the noobain swung its club at her. The club struck the jammed MG-36 and dislodged the stuck 7.75 cartridge which bounced off of Smartmouth’s cap. She saw the glimmering brass case fall to into her lap. She pulled out her sidearm, a 7.75 Lugger, aimed it up towards the Noobian trying to climb into the tank and pulled the trigger.

Crossfire let out a sharp yelp as the Noobian corpse fell on top of her and rolled off, falling to the turret floor. She had been so concentrated with the main and coaxial guns that she did not realise that the Noobians were starting to climb onto her tank. Grumpy poked at the corpse a few times to make sure it was dead.

“We’re okay Crossfire , keep up the good work.”

Crossfire gave her commander a quick nod and planted her face into the binocular sight’s padding. Smartmouth climbed back out of the cupola, mounted the MG-36 and raked the Noobians off her tank. She then turned her attention to Chalkboard’s HT-6 again. Smartmouth opened fire, cleaning the noobs off of the mighty tank. She looked around to try and get a feeling of what was going on. She saw the Petters fighting for their lives, the combat being reduced to a melee slug fest. She slid the MG-36 to fire at a dense pocket of Noobians to her right, the weapon gliding along the cupola’s rails.

While Smartmouth was traversing her machine gun, she saw the glint of metal on the hill. She reached for her binoculars and looked at the crest of the hill. The Trolls had regrouped, lined up their tanks and looked like they were ready to fire. There was something else that caught Smartmouth’s eye. It was huge, she didn’t recognize it at that distance.

“Commander! The Trolls are back at our twelve! They’re going to fire!”

Applejack quickly grabbed her binoculars and looked north. Not only were the garbage cans and dumpsters back, but the Trolls brought out one of their most feared tanks ever made.

“Aw hayseeds! They got a Gary Stu(G)!!! Everypony! Fall back! Fall back to defensive position-”

Before Applejack could finish her orders, Clover’s tank erupted with a horrible thud, even the armor of the HT-6 could not stand up against the awesome firepower of a Gary Stu(G).

Corporal Platelet began to lose his nerve, then again what sane pony didn’t. “We’re doomed! Get us the hay out of here Heavyweight!” The terror in his voice killed whatever morale was left among C Company’s tankers.

Platelet had his Porshoe M2-75 turn around, exposing the tank’s rear armor. It was the last mistake he made before he and his crew were engulfed in an unforgiving fire. Their screams of agony killed whatever morale there was in C Company. Applejack risked losing control of the situation, she risked losing the battle but worst of all she risked losing the lives of her tankers.

“Get a hold of yerselves! We are Equestria’s finest gosh darn it! We ain’t gonna run! Now ya’ll gonna head ta defensive position Fuji! Is that understood!?!”
The radio’s were silent, unlike the battle raging around them, the death screams of hundreds of Noobians hit by their supposed allies filled the air with a heaviness. Finally, Tanky broke the silence.

“AYE COMMANDER!”

She was followed by Smartmouth and her crew. “Yes Ma’am!” they all cheered.

Soon the radios were filled of the voices of tankers who’ve regained some mettle. Moral that they desperately needed at this hour.

It wasn’t long before the Gary Stu(G) sent shards Private Zip’s Type S1E1 tank destroyer all over the area. Private Zip was a new recruit looking forward to his first battle as Smartmouth remembered.

“Pushover! Back us up! Tanky! Give Chalkboard and her platoon covering fire!”

“Gotcha! Aim for that cluster there! FIRE!”

One shot from the two-twenty five sent three Troll tanks to the scrap yard. The Commander of the Gary Stu(G) took notice of that. “Hehehe... Teh stupid pony’s really think they can win this... Gunner! Take care of teh problem!” The Troll Commander of the Gary Stu(G) was the definition of badassery. He was perfect in almost every way, he had to be in order to command a tank like the Gary Stu(G). He knew five and a half forms of martial arts, he was muscle bound and he attracted all the female Trolls and he commanded the Gary Stu(G).

The Gary Stu(G), as Equestrians have dubbed it, was a perfect tank in every aspect, except for the fact that it was really an assault gun by conventional standards. It was perfect to terrifyingly annoying standards. The Gary Stu(G) had impenetrable armor, a gun that can and was going to tear all of Equestria’s tanks to shreds. The Gary Stu(G) could move as fast as a medium tank and its treats were capable of withstanding numerous hits. Fortunately for C Company, the gunner was still new, even if the main gun was deadly accurate.

“HAH! Their going to all dye now!” gloated the gunner as he sent a shell down range.

The massive one hundred and thirty three millimeter shell slammed into the front armor of Corporal Candie’s M5-90, leaving only the rear end of the tank standing and everypony inside it dead. C Company was now down four tanks out of its original twelve with all hooves lost for each one. Numerous other tanks were damaged or put out of action. The Petarian had it worse, although they fended off the Noobian charge, they lost a staggering forty six percent of their infantry and thirty two percent of their tanks.

Tank’s VKV fired a shot at the Gary Stu(G), while the blast decimated a garbage can next to it, the two-twenty five didn’t even leave a scorch mark on the Gary Stu(G).

“SERIOUSLY!?! I NEED A BIGGER GUN! Crunch! Back us up behind the building!”

The Troll Commander in the Gary Stu(G) chuckled a little as Tanky’s VKV tried to retreat behind a restaurant. “Time to return teh favor. Gunner! That tank they’re. Kill it”

“Bahahaha! There going too dye nao!”

The Gary Stu(G)’s shell flew straight and true. Lucky for Tanky, the gunner aimed a tad too low and the shell landed under her VKV. Unfortunately, the shell was high explosive and landed under her VKV. The untamed explosion rocked Tanky’s VKV violently.

“AHG!”

“Tanky! Tanky are you alright!?! Tanky do you read!?!” shouted Smartmouth in anguish.

“Ung.... it feels like chalupa night all over again Smartmouth... But we’re all fine, thanks for asking...”
Indeed Tanky was lucky that the worst injuries among her crew were a few bruises. The shell landed under the VKV’s lower glacis plate.

“Uh... Crunch? Get us moving please, before we actually die...”

“I’m trying! But she’s not responding!”

“Smartmouth! Can you see what’s wrong from out there?”

Smartmouth looked a little to her left at Tanky’s VKV. “Uh tanky... you realize that your tank’s chassis is on the ground right?” She could not comprehend how one HE shell could remove all the road wheels from BOTH sides of Tanky’s VKV which brought a whole new definition to the meaning of “immobilized”.

“WHAT!?! What do you mean I’m on the ground?”

“I mean you don’t have ANY wheels left!”

“Well this is just GREAT!”

“Hang on Tanky! I’ll have my tank push yours back!”

Smartmouth’s M5-90 backed up into Tanky’s VKV, slowly but surely, the M5-90 attempted to push the VKV to safety but the weight of the vehicle was too great for the M5-90 to push. The VKV was moving, but at speeds which made a snail look like a race car.

“Oh come on!” Shouted Smartmouth. “This is Sergeant Smartmouth! I have a platoon mate who’s tank is disabled! Requesting towing assistance!”

“This is Chief Warrant Officer Steel Lance! How can I be of assistance?”

“Lance? Good to hear that you’re still breathing! I need one of your tanks to tow my VKV, its lost all its road wheels!”

“Right, Don’t worry Smartmouth, I’ll be there.”

“What about your platoon Lance?”

“The lads pulled back to point C and are dug in tight with Destroyer Platoon R, they can handle themselves.”

Smartmouth breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you Lance.”

“Hey just remember you owe me a favor again lass.”

In a matter of seconds, Smartmouth saw Steel Lance’s Type S3E10 roll up to Tanky’s VKV. She returned to manning her machine gun but the last thing she saw Steel Lance and his crew jumping out of their medium tank and securing tow lines to the VKV’s rear.

The VKV was out of view from the Gary Stu(G). With the Type S3E10 pulling and the M5-90 pushing, the VKV was sliding along the ground. It wasn’t moving fast, but it was moving.

“No! There getting away! Come on! Shoot them!” The Troll commander was starting to lose his patience. These beaten Equestrians are moving into the city where the Gary Stu(G) cannot see them at this range. “Loader! Hurry up with that shell!”

“Im loading as fast as i can! All right! Shot loaded!”

“Gunner! Kill that tank make sure there all dead!”

The Gary Stu(G)’s gun pivoted and was staring right at Smartmouth’s tank. Smartmouth ducked down into her tank and closed the hatch.

“Everypony brace for impact!”

Crossfire did not hear the order due to her intense concentration. She sent a round straight at the Gary Stu(G). The ninety millimeter struck the gun mantlet and bounced off but it threw the Gary Stu(G)’s gun upward by only a few millimeters. Little did Crossfire know that those few millimeters were what saved her tank from utter destruction.

The Gunner pulled the trigger just as Crossfire’s shot ricocheted off of the Gary Stu(G)’s mantlet. The high explosive round sailed into the restaurant and exploded on the concrete walls. The explosion sent a storm of concrete chunks and metal into Smartmouth’s M5-90. The tank shook violently from the blast, worse than anything felt before. Even getting struck by Tanky’s two hundred and twenty five millimeter howitzer wasn’t this bad.

“Is... is everypony alright?” asked Smartmouth weakly the blast having made her a little dizzy.

Crossfire was the first to respond. “I’m okay!” Followed by Grumpy and Pushover. Spehlczech was the last to respond. “I’ve been better, but I’ve alzo been vorse.”

“Good... keep to your stations... Crossfire, see if you can’t send one... one more round at them.”

Crossfire did just that, her round flew right into the right track of the Gary Stu(G). It didn’t do much but lodge itself between the drive wheel and the hull, but who’s to say that it won’t be a nuisance later.

The tank jolted with the shot. It was then Crossfire felt something wet on her neck. It ran down like a bead of sweat, only she knew she wasn’t sweating. She wiped the liquid on her hoof, and looked at it. Blood. Crossfire’s eyes widened at the sight. She quickly turned her head to see a piece of steel rebar jutting out of Smartmouth’s waist. Grumpy had already stolen the words out of Crossfire’s mouth when she realized that Smartmouth was gravely injured.

“THE COMMANDER IS HIT!!!”

“I’m... I’m fine.. keep... just keep backing up...”

Smartmouth was nowhere near “fine”. The HE round that struck the restaurant still had enough force to breach the M5-90’s side turret armor and spray Smartmouth with debris. The left side of Smartmouth’s waist was shredded and had a steel rebar protruding from it. She was holding her waist tight, but blood was still trickling off of her seat and onto Crossfire’s area.

Crossfire could see the hole that the HE round tore open in the turret, it seemed impossible that a round that landed behind a wall could still tear open the turret. Albeit it was a fairly small tear.

Spehlczech cried over the radio. “Our Kommandant iz injured! She needs ze medical attention und fast!”

Steel Lance was the first to climb onto Smartmouth’s tank. “Open the hatch!”

Crossfire, careful not to bump into her Commander, opened the hatch for Steel Lance.

“Help me lift her up and out lass!” Steel Lance’s face was full of worry, he had never seen Smartmouth is such a horrid condition before.

Crossfire and Grumpy helped push Smartmouth out of the tank. Smartmouth’s wails of pain were like piercing daggers to Lance’s heart. “MEDIC! WE NEED A BLOODY MEDIC OVER HERE NOW!” He tried to comfort Smartmouth who was shaking violently. “It’s going to be okay lass, you’re going to be okay.” He tried to dress Smartmouth’s wound with his overcoat. “Does anypony have first aid we can give to her!?!”

Crossfire opened the gunner’s hatch. “I know we do but I can’t find it! I tried but it must be somewhere mixed in with the shells!” The massive jolt given off by the Gary Stu(G)’s HE round knocked many of the M5-90’s shells off of their rack and now the first aid kit, was mixed in with the lot.

“Find it with all your haste lass! Smartmouth doesn’t have that much time!”

Tanky joined Steel Lance shortly after he claimed on top of the M5-90’s turret. The sight of Smartmouth’s bloodied body was a shock to her too. “Oh Celestia...” She turned to her crew who were starting to climb out of their tank to see why they have stopped. “HEY! Stop being useless and give us some cover! Pull out your damn pistols, pick up a gun! ANYTHING!”

The crew members of all three tanks clambered out except for Crossfire, who as digging around for the first aid kit. They picked up Noobian and Petarian guns and took cover with the Petarian Infantry who were holding their lines.

A medic from the Petarian 2nd Rifle Battalion clamored up to inspect Smartmouth’s condition. “We’re going to have to remove the rebar... Ma’am, I’m sorry but I’m out of pain killers.”

Smartmouth gave a small nod. She knew she’d die if they didn’t remove the rebar.

The panda medic gave Smartmouth a leather strap to bite on. “Are you ready?”

Smartmouth bit the strap and gave a small nod as Steel Lance removed his overcoat from the wound.

The medic gave started counting down. “One... two... three!” On three the medic swiftly pulled out the rebar. Smartmouth’s muffled screams were followed by a torrent of blood coming out of the wound. The medic quickly cut most of Smartmouth’s uniform off and bandaged the wound.

“I FOUND IT!!!” shouted Crossfire from inside the tank. She quickly hooved a healing potion over to Steel Lance and some extra medical gauze.

Steel Lance fed Smartmouth the whole potion. “You’re going to be okay lass! Come on now lassie! Stay with me!”

Smartmouth no longer felt the pain. Steel Lance’s hooves felt cold. The rays of the sun felt cold. The breeze felt cold. Everything felt cold. Her eyelids felt heavy. It took every ounce of strength she had to stay awake but she had no more energy left. The world was becoming blurry, her eyes started to close, the cries and pleas of her comrades became part of the blur. Smouthmouth thought about what it was like to die. They always said there would be a light, but there wasn’t anything. She thought about how if she was going to die, this was the best way to do so, in Steel Lance’s hooves. She closed her eyes...

...and slipped into the darkness.

_ _ _

Author's Note

If the prologue didn't make much sense to you, don't worry, it'll level out in the future.

Chapter 1: Do I have to get up?

Chapter 1: Do I have to get up?

September 9th, 7th year of the Age of the Princesses
Recruit Tanky
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division

*B-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-RRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!*

Tanky awoke with a demented groan. She shut off her wind-up alarm clock, sat up, and looked at the time.

“Seven thirty... seven thirty...”

Then it hit Tanky, she was going to be late!

“Stupide piece of...GRRR! Why didn't you wake me up sooner!?!”

Infact, Tanky had simply slept through the first twenty minutes the alarm.

“Oh no! Oh no! I’m going to be late!”

Tanky quickly jumped out of her cozy bed, dashed into the bathroom where she showered, brushed her teeth and ate a breakfast consisting of leftover pizza. Tank then quickly threw on the uniform of the 4th Equestrian Imperial Armored Division and dashed out of her hotel room, still dripping wet from her shower. She wasn’t worried about her being soggy though, her dash through the streets of Canterlot dried her up faster than any towel could. Plus it straightened her hair out so she wouldn’t have to comb it later. She ran through Canterlot’s Market district where she snagged a doughnut and left behind two bits as well as a very confused vendor, all in the blink of an eye.

Finally, she reached her destination, the Canterlot Royal Armor Academy. She puffed and huffed her way inside until she came to the doors of the briefing room. She stopped right in front of the doors, regained her breath and carefully snuck inside. Tanky was lucky, the introduction to ERAD had just started. She found a spot and stood next to a Pegasus mare. She looked around at the other ponies standing in the room, most of them were wearing the Imperial Army’s grey and blue uniform much like her own, some were wearing everyday clothes. Amidst the chatter of all these new recruits, she heard tapping on the microphone and turned her attention to the commanders on the podium.

“As you all know, Equestria is on the verge of war. Equestria is ALWAYS on the verge of war. Equestria can never escape the shadow of war. BUT we are not some rabble of defenseless ponies! No! You are Equestria’s defense! Her shield, her sword, her wall of steel! You are her future! Many of you know what I am talking about, the attacks that left our northern states in ruins during the Six Weeks War, the assaults that forced us to abdicate our eastern provinces! Each one of you represents the best. Many of you have proven your mettle in combat, some of you were chosen because of your potential. Regardless of your background, regardless of race, you are now what Equestrian’s should strive to be. You all will be the best of the best, the Princess’ chosen, our Royal Guard, Equestria’s Royal Guard. Good luck, and may our Princess’ favor protect us all.”

Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, left the stage to a roar of applause when was only broken by Commander Kitsune.

“INSPECTION!!!”

With Commander Kitsune’s one powerful word, the recruits of the Equestrian Armored Division stood to attention. The once thunderous applause was replaced with the sound of heels clacking together and the silence after.

Tanky watched as the Deputy Commanders and Field Commanders of the 20th ERAD walked down the rows and rows of recruits, inspecting each and everypony. Tanky began to feel uneasy. She remembered how it felt when the Sergeants in the Imperial Army were performing the same inspection, only this time it was with the Royal Guard and the panic she felt could not compare to the anxiety she was feeling now.

Captain Basil, a stout Earth Pony stallion, walked up to Tanky and stopped beside her..

Oh Luna! He know’s something’s wrong! I’m not going to make the cut! Tanky’s heart began to race, she tensed up but she kept her composure. When Captain Basil wiped his hoof on her chest, she almost lost it.

“How do you do?” Asked the Captain.

“Good, Sir!”

Captain Basil look at the contents on his hoof. “Is this chocolate?” The Captain’s stern look intimidated her.

“Yes Sir!” She blurted out.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two before the Captain gave an answer that stunned Tanky.

“I like your taste Private.”

Tanky let out a huge sigh of relief as Captain Basil walked off to inspect the other recruits. Then it hit her, ‘He called me a private... and not recruit!’ Tanky couldn't help but smile. She was now part of the 20th ERAD, one of the most prestigious armored corps in all of Equestria. She could see the look on her father’s face when she told him the good news. ‘Wait... that was it? All the Captain had to do was look at me and I’m in?... Meh beats having to plow through all that paperwork...’

Tanky reflected on this new achievement she’d earned and then it dawned on her, this was only the first of many challenges she’d have to face. She disliked the fact that she would have to repeat training, she already had plenty of that in the Equestrian Imperial Army. The complexity of the Equestrian Military system made her head hurt a little just thinking about it.

She remembered in basic training that the instructors told that the Imperial Army and the Royal Guard were two entirely separate entities. The Royal Guard was under direct control of the Princess and had far fewer regulations and bureaucratic red tape which had gotten her expelled from the Imperial Army. Ironically, the actions that got Tanky expelled were the same actions that caught the attention of the Royal Guard. She remembered the highly segmented days of her job as a gunner in the Imperial Army. She was part of an all female Earth Pony division. Tanky hated the division as she had other friends she’d made during basic training. She looked forward to working with her new comrades and not being weighted down with the tangled mess of bureaucracy.

After the commanders inspected their new recruits, they began calling out names and splitting them among the different companies. Tanky saw a few of the recruits that were turned away because they cracked under the pressure and she understood why. Having the commanders of the 20th ERAD stare you down was harder to bear than any training she or any other recruit had experienced. She wondered why she was so nervous to begin with, it should have been any different than it was with the Imperial Recruiters but it was...

“Private Tanky! Report to C Company at once!”

The announcement broke her train of thought and she scurried over to the part of the room where labeled “C Company”.

At least the Royal Guard has the decency to make finding your Company easier... Tanky thought to herself.

She could see there were some Guard Ponies taking measurements for uniforms. When it was her turn Tanky simply blurted out her measurements.

“Bust: 24, Waist: 20, Flank: 26, Small”

The Guard Pony taking notes was stunned at how a grunt like Tanky could remember details like that.

“Private Smartmouth! Report to C Company at once!”

Although Tanky did not know what Smartmouth looked like at the time, she knew the name well enough. Tanky looked around for a bit and saw the Pegasus mare she stood next to during the introductions walk up to C Company’s side of the room. Tanky never thought that Smartmouth would be so tall and so graceful. ‘Daddy’s description of Smartmouth’s father seems to be a bit off...’ Smartmouth walked over to C Company in her Imperial Army Officer’s uniform, Tanky was impressed, Smartmouth held the rank of Chief Warrant Officer, Second Class. Tanky herself was a Lance Corporal before she was court martialed and expelled from the Equestrian Imperial Army.

“HEY YOU! SMARTMOUTH!” Tanky shouted at the top of her lungs.

Smartmouth recoiled a bit, the sight of a small, red and seemingly angry Earth Pony startled her a bit. “Um... excuse me, do I know you?”

Tanky started to walk closer to Smartmouth. “You don’t know me but I know you!”

Smartmouth backed away a little bit. “Um... um... Is there something you want from me?” The little red Earth Pony was now face to face with her, well, it was more like a really close proximity as Tanky only stood as high as Smartmouth’s chest. Tanky stood there for a few seconds, wondering if she should carry out the actions she so long desired.

Before Smartmouth could react, the little red Earth Pony had pulled her down and caught her in a bone crushing hug. “GUH! WHA!?!”

Tanky started to cry a little bit as she buried her face into Smartmouth’s chest. “Bless you! Oh Celestia bless you and everypony in your loveable family!”

Smartmouth was confused, disoriented and on top of having a complete stranger hug her, she couldn’t breathe. “Guh... can’t... breathe... lungs...”

Tanky let go of Smartmouth and wiped away her tears. Smartmouth caught her breath during the brief interlude of peace. “Are you sure I don’t know you?”

“Well you don’t know me for say... but... well actually you wouldn’t know me at all. I’m Tanky by the way.”

“Smartmouth, pleasure to meet you.”

“WOW! You are nothing like your father.”

Smartmouth seemed a little disturbed by the fact that this little red Earth Pony knew her father well enough to make a comparison. “My father? What do you know about my father? HOW do you know about my father?”

“Oh, my daddy is the commander of the big five-oh-one.”

“The Five Hundred and First Royal Marines? Really?”

“Yeah! Your father saved them at the battle of Gallopoli along with fifty thousand other soldiers.” Tanky’s eyes began to tear up again. Memories of the event always brought tears to her eyes.

Tanky was just a filly, barely eight. Her father was rarely home often because of his duty as a Marine, a Royal Marine. She was listening to a live broadcast of the defense of Gallopoli. The Equestrians evacuated the many Ponies, Griffons and Mules living there and had begun to pull out. It was then that the Gators broke past the already thin defensive line. Soldiers that were not evacuated were left on the beach to die under orders from Admiral Sir Trottyon who was worried about the safety of his ships. He had good reason to retreat, the Gators wheeled up powerful artillery that pummeled the Equestrian Imperial Navy. When the reporter mentioned that several marine detachments including the 501st were left on the beaches, little filly Tanky couldn’t stop crying. Then a miracle happened, the reported began talking about one of Admiral Trottyon’s Solar-class dreadnoughts turning hard to starboard and steaming towards the beachhead. Captain Jack Foremast, Smartmouth’s father, practically beached his dreadnought and lowered ladders over the bow of the ship. The reporter was stunned at the maneuver. The EINS Radiant Dawn, withstood horrendous fire but fate smiled on the Radiant Dawn that day as the only the largest of the Gator’s artillery damaged the Radiant Dawn. When all hooves were aboard, all nine eighteen inch forward guns opened fire, dislodging the Radiant Dawn from the beach and she steamed home.

A week later, Tanky’s dad returned home to a grateful family. He told Tanky that he wouldn't have come home if it were not for the brave actions of the Radiant Dawn and her crew.
Tanky was stunned by the fact that Captain Jack Foremast would be court-martialed within the month. Tanky, her mom, dad and the families of all fifty thousand rescued soldiers stood outside the courthouse in Phillydelphia to throw rocks and trash at Admiral Trottyon and his prosecutors. Despite overwhelming support from the populace, Cadence and Celestia, the Staff of Generals found Jack Foremast guilty of insubordination and expelled him from the Navy. However, almost immediately, Jack Foremast of offered a position in the Royal Guard as a Captain in the Royal Equestrian Navy. To this day, Captain Jack Foremast commands a Luna-class battlecruiser, the HIMS Radiance.

Tanky hugged Smartmouth again. “Oh thank you!”

“Uh... I hate to burst your bubble... but I’m not my father Tanky.”

“Shut up.” said Tanky with a stiff voice. “You are of his blood and deserve my thanks all the same.” Tanky let go of Smartmouth so the Guard Pony taking measurements could do his job.

“Well...” Smartmouth couldn't help but let out a small giggle. “I’ll be sure to give my father your gratitude. She was still a little uneasy as to how this little red Earth Pony knew so much about her family.

“ATTENTION!” The booming voice of C Company’s Drill Sergeant awakened every one of the recruit’s instinct to instantly form neat rows.

Chief Warrant Officer Fourth Class Applejack began inspecting her new recruits personally. She started with the members in the very front of the block, that meant Smartmouth and Tanky were the first ones. She was carrying with her, every dossier on the new recruits.

“Smartmouth eh?”

“Yes Ma’am, that’s me.”

“It says here that ya were part of the 5th Airborne Division, 44th Rifle Company. Now why the hay would ya leave tha airborne infantry for tha tank corps?”

“I found that I performed better inside a tank compared to leading a squad in the open field.”

“And how the hay would a warrant officer like yerself know what it was like inside one of them tanks?

“I... err... commandeered a M5-85 after its commander was killed by a Gary-Stu(G).”

“And ya saved the 52nd airborne’s sorry flanks am Ah right?”

“Well... saved isn't the word I’d use...”

“Ya gave them enough time ta grab their anti-tank mines and disable that Gary-Stu(G). In other words, ya saved their sorry flanks.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Well shucks welcome ta C Company.”

“Yes Ma’am thank you Ma’am.”

Applejack strolled strolled over to Tanky, even though she knew what’s coming, she was still nervous.

“Tanky?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Ya were part of the Equestrian 2nd Imperial Armored Division before ya were court-martial'd?”

“Yes I was.”

“Huh... that’s gotta be a mistake... it says ya were an ace...why the hay would those Imperial Army folk court-martial an ace?”

“That’s not a mistake Ma’am. I had thirty six confirmed kills before they court-martialed me. Eleven tanks, sixteen jeeps and trucks, eight AFVs and one airplane. ”

“An airplane?”

“It wasn’t intentional.”

Applejack couldn’t but chuckle a bit. “It also says here that ya like ta back-sass yer command’n officer a lot.”

“You should expect that Ma’am.”

“Heh! Ah like ya already. But just one more thing-”

“You don’t need to worry about me disobeying orders like it says I did on my file...”

“Ah don’t need ta worry ‘bout that sugar plum. Ah know ya did the right thing, what Ah need ta know is if yer will’n ta do that again.”

“You can count on it.”

Applejack gave a small nod and continued down the line.

- - -

Applejack’s inspections took a fairly long time but afterwards she dismissed her new recruits for the afternoon. Judging by the noises coming out of Tanky’s stomach, she assumed it was a little past twelve.

“Ya’ll go enjoy yer lunch now! BUT! Ah want ya’ll back here by seventeen hundred ya hear?”

“Hey Smartmouth? You want to get something to eat?”

Smartmouth was completely unsure if she should follow this little red Earth Pony around. However, her own rumbling tummy made her reconsider. “I’d be glad to. Did you have a place in mind Tanky?”

“Have you ever been to Five Gals?”

“I’ve heard about them but I’ve never actually been to one of their restaurants. What kind of food do they serve?”

Tanky was stunned. She didn’t need to say anything related to being stunned because her face practically had the word “STUNNED” written on it with bright neon colors and a giant arrow pointed to said bright neon colors. “Wait... you’ve NEVER been to a Five Gals Burger Joint...? Have you been living under a rock?...”

“Umm... No... I just never thought of going to one...”

“Well! I know where we’re going to for lunch!”

“Wait! Wait!-”

Before Smartmouth had a chance to coerce Tanky into a more thorough discussion, Tanky grabbed her arm and started to drag her to the nearest Five Gals restaurant. Tanky’s strength was commendable, Smartmouth couldn’t resist.

“Eep!”

“Oh come on! You’ll love it!” said Tanky as she dragged Smartmouth out of the Academy and out onto the streets.

“Ponies are looking at us Tanky! Please stop!”

“Well they can bite my sweet Earth Pony ass.”

The walk wasn’t very long, about a block or so. Tanky and Smartmouth entered the restaurant only to find that it was nearly empty.

“I thought you said Five Gals was really popular.” questioned Smartmouth.

Tanky looked at a clock mounted close to the entrance. “It’s fourteen-twenty two, good thing we came after the lunch rush.”

Tanky ordered a cornburger (the patty is made of fatty corn) and topped it lettuce, tomatoes and extra cheese. She also ordered a large fries with a fountain drink. Smartmouth on the otherhoof, just stood there staring at the menu.

“Are you going to order something Smartmouth?”

It was a good thing there was nopony there, while Tanky was already digging through her meal, Smartmouth only just ordered. Her meal was light compared to Tanky’s. It consisted of a small hayburger with lettuce, onions and pickles and a small fries.

“Wow this is really good.” said Smartmouth after she took a bite out of her burger.

“I told you, but next time try not to take such a long time ordering.”

“Well you can’t rush perfection.”

“Oh please don’t force us to come after the lunch rush everyday...”

When Smartmouth and Tanky return to the Academy they were in for a surprise. Commander Applejack stated that they would begin basic infantry training.

Tanky seemed worried. “Wait... I thought we were training for the armored corps....” Tanky’s training back in the 4th Equestrian Imperial Armored Division consisted mainly of pushing and pulling wooden levers, playing with mock tank set ups and shooting potatoes out of fake guns at moving plywood targets. She once again felt anguish beginning to build in her gut. It also could have been the extra cheese acting up in her stomach.

Smartmouth on the otherhoof was excited to see what kind of training she’d receive from the Royal Guard. Smartmouth had the history with the 5th Infantry Division and was confident that she was ready for whatever training that the Royal Guard was going to put her though.

Applejack led her new recruits to a rather plain looking obstacle course. It was a textbook obstacle course with rope swings, monkey bars, tire loops and ladders. Of course this was all the recruits could see from their angle.

“Alright ya’ll, listen up! This here is a simple course. Ya’ll try yer best ta get through it and no flying or magic if yer a Pegasus or Unicorn.”

Tanky was now completely confused. “Okay... I KNOW I was picked to join the 20th Royal Armored Division... Does the Royal Guard switch things up so infantry divisions get tanks and the armored divisions don’t?” She looked at the obstacle course with woe churning in her stomach. “Ung... I really shouldn’t have stuffed myself...”

Smartmouth looked at Tanky with some concern. “You haven’t run an obstacle course before Tanky?”

“No... all we did for training in the Imperial Armored Division was shoot potatoes at targets... I mean there was basic training where we did push ups and stuff but never anything meant for infantry!”

“Oh dear...”

“Now there here course is timed, so ya’ll better get yer flanks across the finish line faster than a bullfrog on a greased grill in the middle of July. Any questions?”

Private Clover raised her hoof. “Um, do we have time to change into our combat uniforms Ma’am?”

“Ya afraid ta get yer Imperial dress blues dirty Private Clover?”

“Ehh... Yes Ma’am...”

“Then what the hay are ya doing with the Royal Guard? If yer afraid of getting a little dirty then Ah suggest that ya stay with them Imperial Army folk, ya hear?”

Clover panicked a little. She had sweat starting to form under her 2nd Airborne Infantry beret. “Sorry Ma’am!”

Tanky couldn’t help but raise her hoof. “Why are we running an obstacle course if we’re supposed to be an armored division Ma’am?”

“Just because we’re an “armored division” doesn’t mean ya’ll shoot rocks at dummies. Ya’ll are recruits of the Royal Guard, the best of the best. Them fella’s in the Imperial Armored Corp don’t even train ya ta use guns! Ah’m here ta make sure ya’ll can act like trained soldiers if yer tank gets disabled... That and it’s fun ta watch ya’ll run the course.”

Private Chalkboard raised her hoof as well. “Is there a specific time that we have to reach for?”

“Nah, ya’ll just gotta improver yer time the more ya run this course.”

Tanky, in a moment of panic, let out a burst. “We have to run this course multiple times!?!”

Applejack simply gave a nod of her head. “Eeyup, ya’ll ready ta go?” She held up her stopwatch as the recruits prepared themselves. “Alright. GO!”

The recruits took off as best they could. It was clear to Applejack that most of them have never run an obstacle course. Several of the mare recruits tripped because they didn’t know how to run in their dress shoes. The first obstacle was easy enough, it was a really simple rope swing that the recruits breezed through without trouble. Tanky had some issues reaching the swing when it came to her due to her... small size. She looked over the edge and realised that it was a long way down with a nasty puddle of mud at the bottom.

Smartmouth was about to swing across herself but noticed Tanky’s dilemma. “Do you need help Tanky?”

“No, I just have to time it right...”

“You sure? You really look like you can’t jump the distance.”

“Then what the hay do you want me to do?”

“I have an idea Tanky, but you may not enjoy it.”

“Oh yeah? Well lay it on me, I can take it!.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“Alright then...” Smartmouth wrapped her forehooves around Tanky’s small waist and threw her up and over the ledge. Tanky’s small size only made it easier for Smartmouth to chuck her a good distance.

Tanky was completely caught unprepared when she saw the rope swing in front of her face. She quickly grabbed it and looked back at Smartmouth. “NOPONY TOSSES A EARTH PONY!!!” Her face began to turn more red than usual.

Smartmouth couldn’t help but giggle at Tanky’s predicament along with some of the other recruits. “How about you swing to the other side?” Smartmouth lept over the platform, grabbed another rope and landed on the other side with her usual grace just as Tanky fell flat on her face next to her with a distinctive *SPLAT*.

“I swear... I’ll get you for this...” mumbled Tanky with her face flat against the wooden boards.

“It could be worse, you could be one of those sorry recruits.” Smartmouth pointed to some of the recruits below who had to climb out of the mud puddles because they missed the rope swing.

Tanky let out a light sigh and looked at the obstacle ahead, a large rope ladder, apparently made from a fishing net, lay before her. Tanky and Smartmouth ascended the net together. Smartmouth’s long legs made it difficult to maneuver while Tanky’s shorter stature allowed her to traverse the net with ease.

Tanky noticed a green Earth Pony with a red mane had gotten herself stuck in the net. She looked back a bit and looked at Smartmouth again. “I’m going to help go help that pony.”

“You sure about that Tanky?”

“I can’t leave a fellow Pony behind, besides, doing this kinda thing was what got me kicked out of the Imperial Army.”

Smartmouth gave a Tanky a smile and climbed down a little to help her untangle the green Earth Pony.

“Thanks” said the green Earth Pony as Smartmouth and Tanky untangled her. “I’m Chalkboard by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Chalkboard.” said Tanky and Smartmouth practically at the same time.

Chalkboard was both glad and confused a little. “Why did you stop to help me? Aren’t you two worried about getting a good time?” said Chalkboard as she ascended the net with Smartmouth and Tanky.

“Well stopping to help other ponies was what got Tanky kicked out of the Imperial Army, why would she stop now?”

“And what did you do to get into the Royal Guard... uh... I don’t know your name.”

“It’s Smartmouth and... well... I just received a letter one day after the Six Week War was over.”

Tanky couldn’t help but interrupt. “I’m fairly certain that you were selected when you yelled a cowering tank crew into submission and hijacked the M5-85.”

“Oh please!” said Smartmouth barely containing her laughter. “It was hardly a hijacking. More of... borrowing without consent... Besides, the M5-85’s commander wasn’t exactly fit for duty at the time of my borrowing.”

“So you hijacked an M5-85 Smartmouth? Wow... All I did was slip my old Type S1E9 in a ditch to make a bridge.”

Tanky was impressed to say the least. “Really? You used a one of those buckets to make a bridge Chalkboard?”

“Yeah! I read in the manual that.. well... any Neighjing Consortium tank can climb out of tough spots really easy because of the exposed tracks in the front.”

When the three of them reached the top of the net, they looked back to see how many other ponies were behind them. It turns out that Tanky and Smartmouth weren’t the only ponies to show compassion for their comrades. Those ponies who tripped or fell into the mud below the rope swings had help from others still on the platform who pulled them out of the mud. Up ahead was a series of tires that ponies had to jump through. Beyond the tires were five thin planks that the recruits had to walk across and keep their balance. A rockwall they had to climb after the planks obscured the rest of the course. There were only a few ponies ahead but they were alone and having difficulty. The three mares looked at each other, gave a quick nod and made their way through the rest of the course.

- - -

All the recruits made it to the finish line and not a single one of them was without some form of mud on their clothing. Applejack was impressed about how all the recruits finished within a close time. Although it took them nearly half an hour to finish the course.

“Well... do ya’ll want to hear the good news or the bad news first?”

The recruits talked amongst themselves for a bit before Private Jammy spoke out for the group. “The bad news Ma’am.” His voice was full of pride and without the least bit of worry.

Applejack sighed a little. “Given that ya’ll took nearly half an hour ta finish this here course... ya’ll failed ‘cept fer three of ya.”

The recruits seemed unmoved, they knew that they wouldn’t finish with a good time because of their efforts to aid fellow soldiers. Only a few recruits ignored their comrades and blitzed through the course.

“The good news is that this here time... doesn’t matter.”

The recruits were stunned by this Applejack’s statement.

“Ya see, this was a trust exercise from the get go. Ya’ll did exceptional, except for you three...”

The three recruits Applejack were talking about were also the most easy to identify because they had the least amount of mud on their uniforms.

“Ya’ll are members of the Royal Guard now and ya’ll need ta be able ta trust ‘n help each other out. Ah learned this lesson a few years back and it seems ya’ll know it too. Get yerselves cleaned up and report back here at six-hundred hours fer arms training. Dismissed!”

- - -

Author's Note

No, I'm not whoring myself out to Five Guys... not really... AND not because they have awesome food...

Also Chalkboard belongs to TS874.

Chapter 2: RE-Training

Chapter 2: RE-Training

Basic Infantry training was slow and awkward for Chalkboard. She was recruited from civilian life because of her extensive knowledge of Equestria’s military history and served briefly in the Imperial Armored Corps as the driver of a Type S1E9 Medium Tank. She became fast friends with Tanky and Smartmouth after meeting them on the obstacle course. After the obstacle course came the most difficult part for her, physical training. The seemingly endless days of push-ups, mile long runs and weight lifting damaged Chalkboard’s morale. She didn’t complete the tasks as well as her comrades, in fact, she failed many of the physical tasks she had to do. Her friends ensured her that the training wasn’t a test or evaluation. Instead it was to measure improvements over time. Chalkboard had noticed that her average number of push-ups had increased given that she’d never had any physical training before. She also saw that Tanky had trouble at first too. Though she went through basic training, Tanky had never done any infantry training which took its toll on her. Of course Tanky responded to the various aches and pains that training inflicted on her by eating more than usual. Chalkboard could remember the night when the cooks burnt the hard crackers, making them more like bricks than food. Tanky took the entire company’s hard crackers and ate them all like they were untoasted bread. Smartmouth had already endured infantry training so she completed the courses with flying colors.

Chalkboard and Tanky both benefited from Smartmouth’s experience and in turn, Tanky and Smartmouth received an education on armored warfare during their free time. As time went on, both Chalkboard and Tanky saw their scores improve drastically, Smartmouth’s scores on the other hoof, improved by a nearly unnoticeable margin. In December, the recruits were allowed two weeks of leave for the holidays. Chalkboard and Smartmouth stayed in Canterlot while Tanky went home to Stalliongrad to be with her family. Chalkboard asked Smartmouth why she didn’t want to go back to her family to which Smartmouth replied that if she went home, she’d only be able to spend less than a day with her family given how long the trip would be. Hearth’s Warming Eve in Canterlot was the highlight of Smartmouth’s stay in Canterlot because of Chalkboard’s tours. Chalkboard and Smartmouth became well acquainted with each other during their two weeks in Canterlot.

Those two weeks moved by quickly and before they knew it, January 8th had arrived and it was back to infantry training. The recruits received ERAD uniforms and patches that day as well. The dull golden yellow of their uniforms contrasted with the royal blue of their trims and white shoes. This week was different however, as the schedule Applejack posted for their daily routines showed that the recruits would have to endure less infantry training and that they would begin training with firearms. Applejack took her recruits to an open field about a kilometer away from Canterlot. There was a firing range set up with paper targets. Smartmouth and Tanky were ecstatic about the new firearms that were displayed in front of them while Chalkboard only looked concerned.

Tanky, without even receiving proper instructions from the quartermaster, took a Cinnamon Anti-Tank Rifle (CATR), loaded it and put a fourteen millimeter bullet down range. The 14x114mm cartridge threw Tanky onto her back before she could blink. The quartermaster was impressed by how such a small Earth Pony could wield the cumbersome rifle as the CATR was taller than Tanky. He was even more impressed about how she hit her mark dead on despite only having experience with tank sights. Tanky remarked about how if she knew infantry could equip a CATR, then she would have joined the Imperial Infantry Division.

Chalkboard, having no experience using firearms other than a pistol, performed predictably badly. She couldn’t control the recoil on a Neighjing Consortium Automatic Rifle (NCAR) and almost sprayed the entire company if it weren't for Chief Applejack’s tackle. Smartmouth and several of the recruits that were infantry, displayed their skills admirably. Smartmouth herself liked the NCAR herself but noticed that the model the quartermaster brought out was a Type S4E1 and not a Type S3E5. The 7.75x60mm rifle cartridges of the NCAR were more powerful than Smartmouth was used to, but she adapted.

Over the course of a few weeks, Chalkboard became a decent markspony. She excelled with the Wind-Jester Model-5. The small 9x30mm cartridge made the Model-5 a easy rifle for her to handle. The quartermaster later equipped her with the same Model-5 that she used in training. She was baffled that the Royal Guard equips their soldiers with weapons they seem to show proficiency with. It wasn’t the fact that Chalkboard received her own Model-5 that baffled her, it was the fact that Tanky was equipped with a Torque Type S1E2 Recoilless Rocket Anti-Tank Weapon. Tanky carried her treasured “Boomstick” everywhere with her until she was able to holster it on her VKV Heavy Tank-5.

By the time firearm training was complete, every recruit knew how to handle a gun as well as the average infantry pony. Several recruits wondered why they were being trained as infantry and wondered if they were asked to join the right Royal Guard division. Their doubts were finally put to rest on March 10th.

March 10th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Corporal Chalkboard
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, Cadence Company.

Chalkboard watched as Smartmouth sighted the Type S2E20 50mm gun. She hoped that the lessons she gave about tank gun sights stuck to Smartmouth.

“Have you found your range yet Smartmouth?”

“Yes, one hundred and fifty meters.”

Chalkboard could tell that Smartmouth was having quite a bit of trouble operating a tank weapon. She decided to give Smartmouth a break as this was her first time actually operating a tank.

“Alright, I think I got it Chalkboard.”

“We’ll see when you pull the trigger.”

Smartmouth felt nervous. She gripped the trigger tightly as she ran the steps she took to sight the gun through her mind. She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

*click*

“Huh? Maybe I didn’t pull the trigger hard enough.”

*click*

Smartmouth let out a small grunt.

*click*

*click*

*click*

“Okay... something’s not right with the firing pin.”

Chalkboard smiled a little as she knew what the problem was. “Oh I’m sure you’ll figgure it out sooner or later.”

“Well can you at least help me?”

“Then what would be the point of training if I held your hoof all the way through it?”

Sergeant Steel Lance, a veteran of the 20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, was observing the new recruits and helping them with their training. He happened to be walking by Smartmouth and Chalkboard’s Little Trapper tank destroyer when he heard Smartmouth frantically clicking the trigger.

“Is your gun loaded lassie?”

Smartmouth fumbled with the breech for a bit and finally got it to open. She blushed when she discovered that there was no shell inside of the gun. She pick one up slowly, inserted it into the gun and slowly buried her face with embarrassment into the sights.

“Don’t worry lass, you’ll get the hang of it eventually. Maybe one day you’ll make a fine loader.” chuckled Steel Lance as he walked away.

“How long did it take you to figure out that the gun wasn’t loaded Chalkboard?..."

“The first time you pulled the trigger.”

Smartmouth let out a sigh and pulled the trigger. The prominent THUD and the recoil made by the Little Trapper’s 50mm gun startled Smartmouth a little. “Boy... it’s so different actually pulling the trigger...” She looked back down the sights again to see her mark was a little off center.

“Your aim is pretty good for a first timer Smartmouth.” said Chalkboard as she turned the Little Trapper to the left.

The Little Trapper’s engine made various putting noises as it traversed.

Smartmouth started to aim her gun at the new target. She trained aiming the gun a little higher than the center of the wooden target. She let out a sigh as was about to pull the trigger before Chalkboard interrupted.

“Ah, ah, ah. You’re forgetting something.”

Smartmouth felt her cheeks turn red again. She lifted another 50mm shell from the ammo rack next to her and slid it into the gun. “Bah... there needs to be a dedicated loader...”

“We can only fit two Ponies in this tank you know.”

“Clearly, we need to be in a bigger tank...”

Smartmouth pulled the trigger. The loud thud and recoil still made Smarmouth jump a little. She peered back into the sights and saw that her shot was closer to center than before.

“Don’t worry about the little inaccuracies Smartmouth. Only the Porshoe guns can hit dead center every time.”

“What’s the point of this tiny tank anyway? I mean my shoe is bigger than this tank.”

“The Type S1E3 is a light tank destroyer. The small size makes it really hard to spot, especially with a camouflage net and paint.”

“What’s the difference between tanks and tank destroyers anyway? I mean don’t they all do the same job?”

“Well tanks are meant to do is spearhead an attack ahead of advancing infantry. That means they engage both enemy infantry and other tanks. A tank destroyer is specifically made to take out enemy tanks and nothing else.”

“But what about the machine guns on some of the tank destroyers? Couldn’t tank destroyers do the same job as regular tanks?”

“Well most of our tank destroyers don’t have turrets, like this guy, it’s be pretty hard to engage enemy tanks at close range.”

“Pfft. Any tank can be good at close range if the crew is good enough.” interrupted Tanky.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping the recruits with no experience Tanky?”

Tanky pointed at the Little Trapper that she was operating. The tank destroyer had flipped over.

Chalkboard was stunned. “How did your recruits manage that?”

“I don’t know. One minute I was teaching him how to drive the tank and the next thing I knew we were upside down.”

“That’s got to take some skill...”

“Well enough about my recruit, what about yourself Smartmouth? How’s tank training treating you.”

“Well... I haven’t gotten to the driving phase yet.”

“She just learned that the gun was empty and she tried pulling the trigger a whole bunch huh Chalky?”

Smartmouth couldn’t help but blush again. “Hey! I only forgot once!”

“You almost forgot the second time too.”

“Ah don’t worry Smartmouth, I had the same problem as you did.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Only the instructor actually took off points from my test.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, but there’s no point in feeling bad for it now. Besides, I think you should try driving now.”

“Driving?”

“You think she’s ready for it Chalkboard?”

“Well she does seem to shoot well enough. Do you think you’re ready Smartmouth?”

“Alright, I’ll leave you girls to it. Looks like they flipped my tank over anyway. Good luck Smartmouth.” Tanky walked back to her Little Trapper and began to explain the first rules of driving.

Chalkboard got out of her seat and began to instruct Smartmouth on the basics of driving. “So right here is the clutch, that’s the break and the one of the left is the gas.”

“Okay, that seems pretty self explanatory. What does this do?”

“Those are the steering sticks, left one for the left tracks and right stick for the right tracks.”

“And what about this thing?”

“That’s the “stick” it changes what gears so th-”

Before Chalkboard could finish, Smartmouth accidentally stepped on the gas pedal and the Little Trapper was upside down before she knew it. Tanky saw the whole thing and couldn’t help but laugh.

“HA HA! NICE! I knew you had it in you Smartmouth!”

Smartmouth was stunned on how the Little Trapper could flip itself. She also understood why the the tiny tankette was called the “Little Trapper”.

“Umm... Help? Anypony out there? I’m stuck! I’m also upside down and it’s really cramped in here.... How in the world can a tank flip itself anyway?”

“Well the Type S1E3 Little Trapper uses the same engine as any other tank made by the Neighjing Consortium.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means this little guy runs on twelve hundred horsepower.”

“WHAT!?! Why does this thing need twelve hundred horsepower?”

“Don’t ask me, I’m not the one who designs these tanks.”

Tanky trotted over to see the damage. The Little Trapper was overturned, but otherwise unscathed.

“You okay in there Smartmouth?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for asking Tanky...”

“Alright, I’ll go grab one of the instructors and they’ll get you out on no time.”

“Hurry please! I’m getting dizzy with all this blood rushing to my head.”

“Gotcha. Chalkboard, just make sure Smartmouth doesn’t do anything that would put her in any harm and anything that would make the tank move. I’ll meet you girls in the cafeteria since training is almost over.” And with that Tanky dashed off to grab one of the instructors.

“Put the gear into “park” Smartmouth, that way the tank won’t move around all that much.”

A small clunking noise resonated out of the small openings from the overturned tank.

“I think I got it Chalkboard.”

Steel Lance walked over to inspect the overturned tankette. “Looks like another recruit stepped on the accelerator too hard again. Alright! We need the crane over here!” Steel Lance got on his knees and stuck his head inside the overturned Little Trapper. “Good thing this tank destroyer isn’t fully enclosed huh private?”

Smartmouth was incredibly uncomfortable in her position. “I don’t see how it would have made a difference...”

“Well considering that you’re lying on nice soft dirt and you could have hit your pretty head on really hard steel lassie. Now be a good lass and hold on”

Smartmouth frantically looked around for something to hold onto but before she knew it, the Little Trapper was starting to lift into the air. She gracelessly slid out of the driver’s seat and flopped onto the ground below. “OOF”

Steel Lance chuckled a bit before extending a hoof to help her up. “Clearly driving isn’t in your skill set lassie.”

Smartmouth groaned a little and took Steel Lance’s hoof. “Yeah and I’m a pretty mediocre gunner too.”

“Don't be so down Smartmouth!” interrupted Chalkboard. “At least you CAN hit something.”

“When you remember to load the gun lassie.”

Smartmouth felt her cheeks blush again, only this time there was no way to hide it.

Steel Lance let out a chuckle . “Well aren’t you just adorable lassie. It’s quite alright though. You’re probably going to become a tank commander anyway given your history lass.”

“And I assume you’re teaching these skill for a reason” said Smartmouth as she straightened her skirt and wiped the dirt of her uniform.

“Indeed lass. You, along with every member of the Royal Armored Division must learn the basics of the various tank occupations in the event that one of your crew member sustains an injury that prohibits them from performing their role.”

“Oh... I see.”

“Well seeing how you managed to hit those targets and you finally learned to load the gun I’d say you’re on the right track lassie.”

“Heh. Thank you sir.”

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to be my “wingpony” some day.” said Steel Lance as he walked away.

Smartmouth’s cheeks flushed with red again. “And what’s that supposed to mean sir!?!”

Chalkboard was laughing at Smartmouth’s apparent ease of embarrassment. “Two days in the Royal Guard and you’ve already got yourself a suitor Smartmouth.”

“I don’t understand how a creep like that managed to get into a command position...”

“Ah, he’s just playing with you. Come on now, Tanky’s waiting for us.”

- - -

March 12th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Corporal Chalkboard
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Company.

Chalkboard peered out of her Porshoe M-75’s sights.

“Twenty degrees right gunner!”

“Yes Ma’am!”

The 75mm gun roared to life and the shell towards the target. A resonating SPLAT followed.

“Confirmed hit.”

“Good shooting Far Shot!” Chalkboard turned her head to the left to see a Type S1E5 driving circles around Smartmouth’s M1-75. “Fifty two degrees left! Load HE then a AP! We got a Manticore!”

“Yes Ma’am!” shouted Far Shot and Carry All.

Carry All loaded a 75mm High Explosive round into the gun, grinning all the while. “GUN LOADED!”

Far Shot began to lead his target, careful to not shoot his ally’s tank. “Come on now... it won’t hurt all that much.” He pulled the trigger, sending an “HE” Shell into the Type S1E5’s tracks.

*SPLAT!* The Type S1E5 came to a screeching halt ,its left track was stuck to the ground with a sticky green goo. It was now directly in front of Smartmouth’s tank which wasted no time planting a 75mm flour round into the Type S1E5’s turret.

“Thanks for that Chalkboard!”

“No problem Smartmouth!”

“Red Team’s Type S1E5 Bombar is dead’r than a limp troll in a university forum!” announced Commander Applejack.

“Wait... did the Commander say the MT-2 we shot earlier was knocked out?” Asked Far Shot.

Chalkboard’s eyes widened a bit. “Quick! Fifty two degrees right!”

“Oh man! He’s got us sighted!” Load faster Carry!

Carry All quickly loaded the AP shell, but Far Shot was staring down the 65mm gun of Red Team’s MT-2 by the time his M1-75’s turret traversed to face the MT-2.

“We’re dead...”

But just as Far Shot had given up, a round from Smartmouth’s Tank impacted the MT-2 and threw its gunner off, causing the 60mm paint shell to miss Chalkboard’s tank.

“I assume we’re even now Chalkboard?”

Chalkboard wiped some sweat off of her forehead. “Oh yeah... we’re even now.”

“Red Team’s MT-2 and Blue Team’s Type S1E5 are outt’a action ya hear!?!”

“Alright lads! I need you all to rally at point B5! We need to regroup otherwise Red Team will surround us!” Steel Lance’s charge was initially successful but it got his platoon stuck in a sticky situation.

“We would have been fine if we hung back at H7... sir” Grumbled Smartmouth.

Steel Lance chuckled a bit. “If we hung back we would have gotten flanked by their Type’s. At least out here we met on equal ground lassie.”

“But we lost our MT-2 sir.”

“It was an accident, Private Hub drove that tank into a ditch.”

Smartmouth let out a small sigh. “Please tell me we’re going to hold this position until the rest of our team can advance.”

“That’s a negative” interrupted Corporal Plow. “The rest of our team is under heavy fire from at least nine of Red Team’s tanks.”

“Wow! That’s more than half of their team at H4! Lads! We’re in a bloody brilliant position to flank the enemy!”

“But we only have four tanks sir!” cried Smartmouth

“Bah, you’re still thinking like an infantrypony there lassie.”

“I fail to see how infantry tactics can’t be applied to armored warfare sir.”

“I never said tommy tactics can’t be applied to armored warfare, I was pointing out the flaw in the fact that four tanks are different than four infantryponies lassie.”

“He does have a point there Smartmouth. Four tanks can easily take on a higher number of tanks. It really depends on the model of tanks we’re up against.”

Smartmouth felt defeated and let out a sigh. “Very well then, lead the way sir.”

“Now that’s the spirit lassie! Tally-ho gents! Follow me and keep in tight formation!”

Steel Lance’s Type S1E5 lead the way with Smartmouth and Chalkboard rolling along the left and Plow’s VKV-Medium Tank 2 trundling on the right.

“Watch your sides, the map says that there’s going to be several ditches and steep hills in this sector.”

“Thanks for the heads up Plow.”

“Just don’t flip your tank again Smartmouth and we’ll be fine.”

“Hey! I’m not driving now aren’t I?”

Chalkboard let out a quiet giggle. “You weren’t driving yesterday either.”

“Oh come on! My tank got blasted by a VKV-Heavy Tank 1! It was going to flip!”

“Sure lassie.”

“Guhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...”

The area that Steel Lance’s platoon started moving through was thick with brush and vine. Visibility is near zero with all the twigs and leaves obscuring the viewports. The smell of crushed pine and the morning fog added to the distractions.

“Alright lads, enough chatter, sight your guns and watch your flanks. Plow, can you get me a update on our position lad?”

“Uhh... If my map is correct we should be in H4”

“Hmm... Alright lads, take it slow and steady, I don’t want any bloody surprises in this ”

“Negative sir.”

“Corporal Smartmouth, keep your gun loaded lassie.”

Chalkboard let out a small giggle. “I think you’ve made your point, more than enough sir.”

“Ung.” Grunted Smartmouth. “Come on now! We have to find those tanks, otherwise our “flanking” attack would be a pointless move given that we had a perfectly good hull-down position at B4.”

“Those buggers must be here.” Steel Lance looked around and spotted a small hill towards the edge of the forest. “Driver, get us onto that mound.”

“Yes sir!” Sharp Turn maneuvered the Type S1E5 onto the mound, crushing several bushes on the way up. The snapping twigs and splattering mud hid a dangerous truth though.

Suddenly, Smartmouth screams over the radio. “Sergeant! You got a tank to your immediate front!”

When his Type S1E5 came to a stop on the mound, Steel Lance peered out of the view ports and saw six of Red Team’s tanks. “Yeah! I see them!”

“No sir! There’s a tank to your front!”

“I see them lassie!”

“No sir! You don’t understand! There’s a tank to your immediate front!”

Unbeknownst to Steel Lance, a TD-3 was hidden in the heavy foliage his tank started rolling through. It was situated in a niche carved out of the mound Steel Lance’s tank was on. He stuck his head out of his tank’s commander cupola and looked down at the front of his tank.

“Oh... bugger... Gunner! Max depression, five degrees right! ”

The 60mm gun on Steel Lance’s Type S1E5 put a paint shell right on the TD-3’s roof.

“Red Team just lost their TD-3 ya hear?”

Smartmouth spotted a MT-2’s commander on Red Team soon after Steel Lance took a shot. “We’ve been spotted! Gunner! Fifty degrees right!”

“I have a name you know...”

“I’m sorry if I don’t remember your name given the fact that we were all just assigned together in this tank!”

“Look, it we really are going to have to work together then I expect you to call me by my-”

Smartmouth’s tank shook violently as a paint round truck it. The tank Shartmouth spotted before had turned its turret and planted a shot on the M-75’s front armor.

“Red Team has lost another MT-2 and a M-75”

Tanky’s voice roared over the general frequency. “Oh come on! Blue Team’s M-75 isn’t out! I planted a shot square on the front!”

“The KO spell ain’t triggered yet so Blue Team still has a M-75”

Smartmouth quickly realised her situation. “Alright, I promise to learn your name later but can you please turn the turret fifty degrees right and shoot at that MT-2?”

“The name’s Hoggish... but not like anypony cares...”

“Scheiße... Zat’s because no vone does care! Now shoot zem before ve’re hit again!”

“Alright Hoggish...” groaned Smartmouth. “Would you please... just shoot that tank?”

Chalkboard knew she had to interject. Tanky’s crew must have reloaded by now and the other tanks in her platoon were already in battle. She felt the shaking of her tank as a shell flew out of its gun. “Far Shot! Left twenty five degrees!”

“Target sighted!”

“Gun loaded!”

“Fire!”

The paint shell splattered all over Tanky’s turret.

“Red Team just lost another MT-2 and a Type S1E5 ya hear?”

Chalkboard saw Tanky burst out of her commander’s cupola and shout; “Oh come on!”

“Alright lads let’s move north! There’s bound to be another attack!”

Chalkboard was curious as to why Smartmouth’s tank just sat there. “Smartmouth? what’s going on in there? Are you guys okay?”

She waited a bit but there was no answer.

Steel Lance noticed that Smartmouth’s tank wasn’t moving either despite his orders. “What in blazes is going on with you lass?”

“I wasn’t able to achieve contact either sir.”

“Well what the bloody hell could possibly be going on in there?”

“I don’t know but I have a pretty good idea sir. Trail.”

“Yes Ma’am?”

“Give Smartmouth’s tank a little bump.”

“You sure? From the sound of things I need full on ram them.”

“Well it’ll wake them up that’s for sure.”

“So you want me to floor it?”

“No, just enough to get Smartmouth’s attention.”

“Flooring it is then.”

“No! Wait Trail! Wait!”

Chalkboard’s tank lurched forward and plowed into Smartmouth’s M-75. The front idler wheels began to ride up on Smartmouth’s tank before Trail Blaze stopped the tank.

Smartmouth began yelling over the intercom. the only discernable words coming out of Smartmouth’s end were the words; “What the hell.”

“Now lassie, calm down. We just wanted you to know that we won the battle here and we’re moving on.”

Smartmouth took a moment to look around and noticed all of Red Team’s knocked out tanks. She knew that they had won as Tanky was jumping up and down furiously on her MT-2. “I’m sorry... My gunner and I were having a small disagreement...”

“Well you’re going to have to set those aside lassie, we have to move north to fortify our northern flank.”

“Blue team has lost a Type S1E5, a M-75 and a TD-3.”

“Alright lads! We need to move! Lassie, tell your gunner to stow it and let’s move!”

“The name’s Hoggish... not like anypony cares...”

Chalkboard’s M-75 kept a good distance from Steel Lance’s Type S1E5 while Smartmouth and Plow were bundled together. Their tanks trundled through the forest up to A6 where the northern flank was. When the platoon reached the northern flank, they found that their team was barely holding back Red Team’s push.

Chalkboard immediately started calling out targets for her gunner. Smartmouth on the other hoof, once again was engaged in an argument with her gunner over his name.

“Smartmouth look out!” cried Chalkboard as one of Red Team’s M-75’s took aim at Smartmouth’s idle tank.

The M-75 knocked out Smartmouth’s tank with relative ease given that nopony could concentrate.

“Blue Team has lost a M-75 and a TD-3”

Chalkboard gave herself a facehoof and sighed. “I knew Smartmouth was bossy, but she’s really going to have to work out those issued with her gunner...:

“Target hit. A tank is only as good as its crew, right Boss?”

Chalkboard sighted another tank, thirty degrees to the left. “Yeah... but in this case I assume that gunner Smartmouth has is no good... Thirty degrees left”

“Then how did the guy get into the Royal Guard if he was “no good” Ma’am?

“I don’t know.” Chalkboard braced herself a little when the recoil of the gun jolted the tank. “Maybe he’s here on accident?”

“Well crazier things have happened Ma’am...”

“Red Team has lost two MT-2s and Type S1E5.”

Chalkboard looked to the left even more and saw that the remaining tanks on Red Team’s Assault began to retreat.

“Red Team’s combat strength has been reduced to thirty three percent! Ya’ll better kick it inta high gear Red Team! Oh wait.. Red Team lost four VKV MT-10 and a Type S1E5! Blue Team wins! Now ya’ll can climb outta yer tanks while we retrieve them fer tomorrow’s match.”

“Well lads... aside from a certain commander’s inability to command her tank... you all did very good today.”

“Thank you sir!” replied Chalkboard and Plow.

Despite Steel Lance’s snide comment, there was no reply from Smartmouth who was still arguing with her gunner.

Chalkboard and her crew emerged from their M-75. The smell of fresh air and the warmth of the afternoon sun were a luxury as opposed to the musty and stale air inside of the M-75.

“Commander Applejack? So what exactly happened to the last of Red Team’s tanks?” asked Chalkboard as she climbed onto Smartmouth’s tank.

“Well... yer teammates on the southern flank got tired of wait’n and charged forward. They got lucky as the last of Red Team’s tanks were head’n ta yer position and them Red Team tank got ambushed.”

“Wow... did we luck out.” The closer Chalkboard got to the hatches of Smartmouth’s M-75, the louder the voices inside the tank grew. She knocked several times on the hatch with no response. Chalkboard placed her ear to the hatch and could hear plenty of yelling on part of every member of Smartmouth’s crew, but she couldn’t tell what anypony was saying.

“Is everything alright in there Chalkboard?” asked Steel Lance.

“No... they’re arguing again.”

“Well you might want to jump off the tank.”

Chalkboard turned to see Steel Lance’s Type S1E5 pointed in the her direction. She quickly hopped off of the Smartmouth’s M-75, scurried a little ways away and watched as the Type S1E5 drove into Smartmouth’s tank.

“What was that all about!?!” Yelled Smartmouth over the intercom.

“If you and your gunner are done yelling at each other lass, then you are to report back to base for debriefing.”

“Oh... we’re done?...” Smartmouth hung her head in shame for a bit. “Look... I’m sorry I didn’t contribute as much as I could have...”

“Well the time to apologize is quite over lassie. You and your crew would be dead if this was a real fight. Now come on lass, back to base.”

“Yes sir.” and with a salute, Smartmouth walked back to the campsite used to house the recruits while they were undergoing live tank training. Smartmouth walked back with Chalkboard and Chalkboard never heard the end of Hoggish’s antics and complaining. The journey was long and full on complaining on Smartmouth’s part but after about twenty minutes of walking, Chalkboard and Smartmouth reached the encampment where they found Tanky, grumpy as ever.

“What’s up with you Tanky?” asked Chalkboard.

Tanky let out a small sigh. “It’s nothing much. Only the fact I could have turned your little flanking attack around if I had a tank with a bigger gun...”

“Well at least you didn’t have to deal with an incompetent gunner who wouldn’t shoot the gun unless you agreed to learn his name... ung...”

“Heh... I think I got you beat there Smartmouth. I got two hippie loader who I can’t whip into shape.”

“Hippie loaders?”

“They always say “like” every two syllables... AND they’re really slow to load... they keep talking as if the shell was a living thing....”

Smartmouth couldn’t help but giggle a little bit. “Okay... okay... I know my gunner is bad but two loaders that are as slow as you say... how did they get into the Royal Guard?”

“The commander that had them last must have hated them enough to recommend them into the Royal Guard.” grumbled Tanky.

“I know it might be rude of me to ask, but can you talk like they do Tanky?” asked Chalkboard.

Tanky immediately widened her eyes and started to speak like her loaders. Every time she said the word “like” she cocked her head from left to right. “Like, Commander... like could you like, chill out bra. Like you’re seriously being, like a stick in like, the sand.”

Chalkboard and Smartmouth had to lean against a pole to keep them up while they laughed.

“Oh man... my gunner isn’t nearly as bad as those guys” said Smartmouth as she wiped a tear from her eye.

“If you ladies are done laughing till the cows come home, Ah have yer reviews here.”

The three girls snapped to a line and saluted at the same time.

“Ah’ll start with you Chalkboard.”

Chalkboard felt nervous. She could feel her heart pounding and sweat starting to form on her neck.

“Ya handled yer tank and crew fine and ya were will’n ta sacrifice yer tank for yer teammates in commendable. Well Ah got noth’n much ta say as yer already an experienced tanker.”

“Thank you ma’am.”

“Now fer you Smartmouth.”

Smartmouth felt even more nervous than Chalkboard did and it showed. She swallowed a bit and faced Commander Applejack.

“Ah understand that ya had problems regarding yer gunner?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Well we ain’t getting any new recruits soon, what’s this recruits name again?”

“Private Hoggish Ma’am.”

Applejack flipped through the roster a few times. “Hmm... that’s interesting... there ain’t no Private Hoggish on the roster...”

Smartmouth cocked her head to her right. “Really?” asked Smartmouth in astonishment. “How did he get into the Royal Guard if he isn’t on the roster?”

“That’s the funny thing ya see? Ah don’t remember him at the first day of recruitment either... Ah’ll have ta look in it later.. Anywho, Ah expect ya ta work it out between yer gunner. Yer platoon can’t afford mistakes like those in tha field ya hear?”

“Yes Ma’am.” said Smartmouth as she gave a salute.

Applejack walked over to Tanky, but there was something different about her. Tanky seemed more frustrated than anything. “Private Tanky, ya did-”

Before Applejack could finish, Tanky interrupted her. “I would have done better if my tank had a bigger gun on it...”

Applejack was surprised by Tanky’s revelation. She raised an eyebrow at Tanky’s statement. “Really? Ah would have thought you’d blame it on yer loaders given how you were talk’n some mighty mean smack ‘bout them.”

“Oh no, they’re decent at their job. It’s the fact that they say “like” every few seconds...”

“So why do ya think that you’d do better with a bigger gun sugar plum?”

“Well first of all, a bigger gun would have stopped Steel Lance’s flanking maneuver. My tank would have knocked out Smartmouth’s then Chalkboard’s and then the rest of that platoon given how they were still busy with my teammates...”

“Hmm... Well Ah personally don’t believe that but Ah’ll let ya use a VKV TD-8 next round. So will ya stop yer mumble’n now?”

Tanky’s eyes lit up like a fireworks show and she put on a smile that Chalkboard never saw before with the little red Earth Pony. In the back of Chalkboard’s mind, she knew that training tomorrow was going to be a very one sided battle.

- - -

March 13th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Corporal Chalkboard
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Company.

“Blue Team has lost two MT-2s ya hear?”

In this training match, Applejack’s voice has been a foreshadowing of the terror to come for Blue Team.

“Blue Team has lost another Type S1E5.”

“Chalkboard!” cried Smartmouth over the intercom. “I’m going to secure our left flank, watch my rear will you?”

“I read.”

Chalkboard felt tense. Whenever Commander Applejack would call out tanks that have been knocked out, she would feel a terrible knot in her throat. Red Team was advancing without mercy and they had only lost three tanks to Blue Team’s nine.

“Ya’ll watch out, Blue Team just lost three of their Type S1E5s!”

“Be careful Smartmouth... I’m sure their lead tank is moving to that flank.”

“I don’t think there is anything left of that flank Chalkboard... Wait... what the hell is that? Hoggish! Thirty degrees rig-!”

“Blue team has lost a M-75.”

“I’m sorry Chalkboard... they ambushed me... You’re on your own over there...”

Chalkboard was stunned. Whatever was going on, Red Team had very fast tanks moving through the left flank and ambush Smartmouth. She knew where the tanks would come from and she was determined to take at least one down with her. “Far Shot! Forty-five degrees left! Set range to two hundred meters!”

“I have the road sighted Ma’am.”

“Trail! Get ready to back the tank up after Far Shot opens fire.”

Trailblazer quickly set the gear to reverse, put her hoof on the brakes and prepared to push both accelerator sticks forward.

“I’m ready!”

Chalkboard looked around. She knew that Red Team’s tanks were coming but she felt a sense of paranoia. She waited for what seemed like an eternity. Still, nothing came from the road. She turned her head to the right and saw some movement in the bushes. “Gunner! twenty degrees right! There’s something in the-”

Before Chalkboard could finish, Tanky’s VKV TD-8 crashed through the underbrush. The light tank destroyer quickly turned it’s hull to firing position. Everypony in Chalkboard’s crew panicked. Nopony ever experienced something like this during the Six Week War. Trail Blazer attempted to turn the tank but in her panic, had forgotten that the gear was in reverse and turned the opposite direction the turret was traversing.

“Well...” said Chalkboard as she tried to calm her crew down. “At least they’re serving grilled cheese sandwiches in the mess hall today...”

- - -

Author's Note

Sorry I was slow to deliver this. It was very hectic trying to get a 25 page paper and two other 8 page essays finished for finals.

Chapter 3: The Mareginot Line

Chapter 3: The Mareginot Line

July 4th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Sergeant Chalkboard
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Battalion, Heavy Armor Platoon E1

It was a slow summer day. Music was playing over an old radio that Chalkboard had scavenged. Tanky was celebrating with Chalkboard and Smartmouth over their first assignment. They were ecstatic over their how new and shiny their tanks were. Chalkboard was placed in a Fjord Heavy Tank-6 and all its glory, Smartmouth was pleased to have been assigned a Porshoe M5-90 and Tanky couldn’t be happier with her Vladhoof Korporation Vehicle Heavy Tank-4. They were all eager to put these brand new tanks into action, however there was no good reason to waste the ammunition. The Kingdom of Equestria was enjoying a rare moment of peace that it was not seen for several years. Even at the Mareginot Line, a massive fortification stretching across Equestria’s Western fringes to the young nation of Petaria. Defending this fortification are several army groups and C Battalion of the 20th Equestrian Armored Division.

Tanky and her comrades were enjoying lunch. The sun was high in the air, wind was blowing through the green hills and plains and Tanky was digging into her second bowl of spaghetti. She could not imagine a better fourth of July, although the radio sitting behind Chalkboard kind of annoyed her.

“How can you eat that stuff Tanky?” asked Smartmouth.

“You do realize that stuff is just army noodles with ketchup.” Interrupted Chalkboard.

“Yeah but this is the best food those “chefs” here serve. Seriously you’d think that the army could find some ponies that have cooking related cutie marks...”

“I’m surprised that the military doesn’t spend more money on better provisions. I mean basic army noodles made of rice? You’d think we’d have more flavor.” said Smartmouth as she stirred some noodles around her fork.

Chalkboard swallowed hard after tasting how bland the army noodles were. She let out a disappointed sigh. “Well I assume this is all budget cuts. I mean how long ago was the Six Week War? Two something years?”

“To be honest, I wouldn’t even call it a war Chalkboard. I’d say it was more of a skirmish that ended badly for us.”

“Murr-fffmufff moff grrruuphhh.”

“Swallow your food please Tanky!” yelled Chalkboard as she wiped some pieces of spaghetti off of her face.

Tanky swallowed her mouthful of noodles in one large gulp. “What do you mean ended badly? We sent those Noobs packing!”

Chalkboard wiped her face with a napkin. “That would depend on your definitions of “ended badly” girls.”

“I’m referring to the amount of territory we lost.”

“Pfft. So we lost a few acres of land, Smartmouth. We SLAUGHTERED so many Noobs. Heck I don’t think that they’ll be able to attack us for another ten years.”

“Have you forgot the damage the Noobians did to Manehatten?”

“We fixed it.”

Chalkboard giggled a bit at Tanky’s statement. “Yeah, Manehatten did see a rise in property value after the Six Week War huh?”

“Still though, we lost Equestrian soil to the Noobians. I mean the only reason why the Noobians stopped attacking was because their nation decided to attack the Trekkies.”

“Don’t forget the newest Call of Honor movie, Smartmouth.”

“Eh. I like the Medal of Duty series better.”

“Really? I always thought you were Call of Honor pony, Smartmouth.”

“Nah, I like Call of Honor for its near comedic value. I mean it tries really hard to be a cool action movie, but it just ends up being funny.”

“I think they’re both stupid.” interrupted Chalkboard. “I mean they both involve the “United States” which is such a mary sue nation. “

“How is the United States a mary sue nation?”

“Well all the characters from that nation always seem to be the perfect soldier and uphold “virtuous values” that always gives them victory over that... what was the name of the make believe nation for those weird movies?”

“Rus.... Russomethingsomethin. Whatever, they were the bad guys anyway.”

“Speaking of bad guys, what did you girls think about Discord’s transformation to “good”?”

“Oh come on, that was YEARS ago Smartmouth.” said Tanky as she reached for her third bowl of spaghetti. “Besides, the guy played a big role in making Twilight into the Princess we all know and love.”

Chalkboard couldn’t help but snark at Tanky’s remark. “Pfft! And how was Discord... the King of Chaos... instrumental... in any way to Princess Twilight’s transformation into an Alicorn?”

“Well Tanky has a valid point, Chalkboard. Remember some of the accounts written by Rainbow Dash? She had her wings taken away by Discord, so who’s to say that Discord can’t give wings to a pony?”

Tanky threw her hooves in the air. “Woo! Score one for the not historian pony!”

“Wait wait wait!” Interrupted Chalkboard as the radio switched songs. “Now we have no proof that ever happened.”

“Even without proper evidence Chalkboard, the implications are all there.”

“Yeah, what Smartmouth said. Besides Chalky, why else would Celestia need Discord’s powers for good?”

“Because Celestia... I got nothing... But as a proper historian, I won’t confirm or deny this possibility until I have the proper information.”

“Sometimes hunches are right Chalky.”

“It’s still a wonder why the Princesses need Discord at all. I mean he’s a criminal.”

“I’ll tell you what’s a crime, Chalkboard.” Interrupted Smartmouth. “Stationing anypony here...”

Tanky lifted her muzzle out of her bowl. “Muff-gggarrrb muff ophoras?”

“TANKY! Swallow please!” shouted Chalkboard as she wiped bits of pasta off of her face.

“You know you could move... right Chalkboard?”

“But then I’d be out of the shade.”

Tanky swallowed the mouthful of pasta. “Ah don’t worry, I gotta go for refills soon Chalky.”

Chalkboard raised one of her eyebrows. “They give out seconds?”

“Well it’s not THEM giving out more food... it more like me taking the stuff other ponies don’t want.”

“Well waste not, waste not...”

“Now that’s the idea Smartmouth.”

“Anyway, you were saying something when you sprayed pasta all over me, Tanky?”

“Oh yeah, I was just commenting how the Mareginot line doesn’t have enough tables for all the ponies manning the line. I mean, we’re eating on a half rotten wire spool with our flanks on the concrete.”

Smartmouth tried her best to keep a straight face as she spoke. “The only reason why we’re eating on this wooden wire spool is because everything else we found was too tall for you.” Smartmouth couldn’t help but snicker after her comment.

Tanky slowly lifted her head to stare at Smartmouth. Her gaze was as cold as the breeze blowing across the Mareginot Line. Her eyes were full of disapproval for Smartmouth’s joke.

Tanky stood up gathered her dirty bowls and stacked them. “I’m going for seconds. I’ll be back.” She flipped the bowls onto her back and trotted into the massive concrete fortification to her right.

Smartmouth’s case of the giggles have spread to Chalkboard who also couldn't control her snickering. “Ah, That never gets old.”

Smartmouth’s laughter came to a slow stop as she caught her breath. There was a small moment of silence between the two before Smartmouth opened up with a question. “Lemme ask you something Chalkboard. Why does the Staff of Generals insist on keeping the Mareginot Line fully staffed?”

Chalkboard thought for a bit as she placed her hoof on her chin. “Well... this is Equestria’s border with the Troll Territories.”

“Yeah well one would think that the sight of the Mareginot Line would scare Trolls silly. Besides, the Mareginot Line doesn’t continue past Petaria and we all know that the Petters are having a hard time as it is.”

“It’s not really fair to judge the Petters. Remember that Equestria was once like that as well.”

“I know, I know, but what I’m saying is that Petaria is a serious liability to our country's security.”

The radio station broadcasted several advertisements, one of the more notable ones was an ad for Consortium Ice Cream. The radio began playing music again.

Chalkboard snarked a little at Smartmouth’s comment. “Honestly, when was the last time the Trolls attacked Petaria? They’ve been too distracted by us to see Petaria as it is, much less attack it.”

“But what if they decide to... you know... walk around one of Equestria’s most formidable defenses?”

“Are you implying that Trolls have the basic intelligence to think like that? Come on, even Tanky can outsmart a Troll.”

Smartmouth lost it. She fell over on the floor in laughter. “HAhahahA! Oh Celestia you’re right!” Smartmouth looked around to see if Tanky had returned. “Good thing Tanky wasn’t around to hear that. Then again, you could just hold your hoof to her head as she flailed violently at you.”

Chalkboard giggle a bit. “Tanky’s short stature aside, my point still stand that the Trolls attack in the most simple manner possible.”

“Short, fast and really really angry with no strategy whatsoever?”

Chalkboard gave a small nod.

“Now what we really should be worried about Chalkboard, are the haters out east.”

Chalkboard cocked her head to her left. She had a quizzical look on her face. “Haters? I don’t really know what a “Hater” is...”

“Those cold blooded monsters that do nothing but complain and blame everypony for their troubles? The insensitive punks that riled up the Noobians into attacking us? The reason behind the Six Week War?”

“OH! You mean the Gators! I haven’t heard anypony refer to them by that slang term. Is it relatively new?”

“Really? I heard it being used all the time back in the airborne.”

“Oh by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask but I’ve always forgotten.”

Smartmouth tilted her head a little. “What is it, hmm?”

“Is there... something going on between you and Sergeant Steel Lance?” said Chalkboard as she smiled a bit.

Smartmouth’s expression turned sour. “Okay, seriously... What did you want to ask me?”

Chalkboard let out a small chuckle. “Damn it. I was really hoping to get something out of you with that. Okay... for real this time.”

“Again, what is it?” asked Smartmouth as another song began playing on the radio.

“Why did you end up joining the Armored Division anyway? I mean, didn’t you like it in the Airborne Infantry?”

“Well I found that I was really good at commanding from inside a tank during the Six Week War. But it’s mostly because... I just liked it better than being stuffed in the office as eye candy for some jerk of a Lieutenant.”

“Wait... you didn’t jump out of planes in the Airborne Infantry?”

“Oh heavens no... they stuck me in logistics.”

“And for all this time... I thought you jumped out of planes.”

“I’m pretty sure I told you about my days in the 5th Airborne back in basic.”

“Now that I think about it... those stories you told me about faulty paperwork make sense now...”

Smartmouth seemed a little shocked. “I thought all those stories would imply that I never participated in combat.”

Chalkboard was stunned. If it was biologically possible, her jaw would have hit the floor. “Okay... you’ve got to be pulling my leg here Smartmouth... You never actually fired a gun?...”

“Well... I did. Once... you know. It was the same day that I commandeered that tank.”

“Did you actually kill a Noob with it?”

“Well....” Smartmouth thought about it for a little bit. “I killed maybe... five of them before getting into that tank.”

“What gun did you use?”

“The Brownie Semi-Auto.”

“What in the world were you doing in a frontline command post anyway?”

“Filing requisition order papers for General Sentry. It was as close as I could get to fighting in my position. I mean I wanted to help our ponies fight off the Noobs but I got stuck with a desk job...”

“Looks like you got your wish when the Noobs rushed Seedlow Height huh.”

Smartmouth chuckled a little bit. “The only thing I was wishing for was a rifle and armor. It’s a lot harder to fight with a pistol than everypony thinks.”

“How did Noobs manage to attack the CP anyway? Didn’t General Sentry place defenses?”

“Yes but a Troll artillery regiment surprised us with a bombardment. That’s why I made a run for the tank.”

“It’s interesting that Applejack would stick you into an M5-90. Isn't that the same tank you hijacked?”

“Commandeered, Chalkboard. There’s a difference.”

“You took over the crew by force.”

“By yelling at them! It’s not like I threatened them with my gun!”

“Did you threaten to kill them WITH your gun?”

“NO!”

“Wow. No wonder why you got placed in the commander’s spot. Your persistence is stunning.”

“Well everypony keeps saying I’m bossy”

“How’s your crew by the way, have you ran them into the ground yet?”

“They’re fine...” Smartmouth’s expression turned sour at the thought of her gunner though. “All except Hoggish...”

“He’s still upset about the ordeal with his name?”

“More so than ever.”

“Ung... how can your tank be expected to perform in combat?”

“I have no idea... But I can tell you this, he’s going to get plenty of ponies killed because of his arrogance...”

“How did he even get into the Royal Guard anyway?... Remember he wasn’t on the roster.”

“Commander Applejack thought it was a fluke and added him. Honestly though, I think she knows that something’s up.”

“Regardless, it’s not like one tank firing its guns will make too much of a difference. I mean, this is the Mareginot Line we’re defending.”

“How much firepower can the Mareginot Line throw out, Chalkboard?”

“Enough to repel an army of angry Trolls.”

“Why did I not see that coming?...”

“To answer your question though, it really depends on what part of the Mareginot Line the Trolls attack. At the weakest point, near the Petarian border, the Mareginot Line swings east for a bit and is protected by Fort Manehatten. In terms of actual firepower, there are more than twelve hundred heavy guns in the fort and the various blockhouses. The countless number of anti-air guns make it almost impossible for Troll planes to cross the border. We also have over five hundred large artillery pieces on and behind the Line.”

The radio began playing a new song, just as Smartmouth started to speak.

“I seriously doubt it, even with all the firepower in the Mareginot Line, that we can stop a determined effort by the Trolls...”

“Seriously, with all the blockhouses, gun emplacements and the forts along the Mareginot Line? How many Trolls do you think we can take out?”

“Two thousand... at the most...”

“Seriously?”

“Hey, if Trolls were as stupid as everypony said they were, they’d be extinct... which they’re not. I’m not saying that the Mareginot Line was a useless burden on the economy, it’ll definitely hold the Trolls back for a few waves, but all in all it’ll just give us time to mobilize the army and push them out.”

Tanky came stumbling out of the blockhouse with her hooves full of pasta. She dropped all eight of her bowls onto the wire spool. “Can you believe it!?!” exclaimed Tanky as she smiled widely. “Can you believe nopony wants to eat this stuff?”

“I can certainly believe that...”

“Aww come on Chalky! You know this is all we get to eat until dinner!” Tanky started digging into her new bowl of pasta. She reared her head up to talk but remembered to swallow when Chalkboard covered her face with her hooves.

“By the way, have you girls seen all the nifty little defenses around the blockhouse? I mean I know this is the border with the Trolls and all, but there are old Reignault turrets for our ponies in the trenches! How cool is that!?!”

“I thought they would have recycled them. Seems like they weren’t kidding around with the Mareginot Line.”

“Yeah! That’s twenty five millimeters of KA-POW and infantry death!”

“What I really like are those tank bunkers. If a tank wasn’t hard enough to kill as it is, then nothing can destroy one inside a tank bunker.”

“It’s a little awkward for my HT-6 though... I think those tank bunkers were only designed for Porshoe Tanks.”

“I dunno Chalky, My VKV fits just fine.”

“That’s because it’s already huge Tanky. Besides, it’s more of an artillery piece anyway.”

“An artillery piece that can go toe to toe with other tanks Smartmouth! I mean come on! I pull the trigger and Ba-boom!”

*Ba-boom*

“I don’t know how you did it tanky but that second “boom” was really good, a little soft but good. You should really consider ventriloquism as a career.”

“That wasn’t me though.”

*Ba-boom*

*Ba-boom*

*Ba-boom*

*Ba-boom*

“Are the arty ponies practicing or something?”

Smartmouth’s eyes widened a bit. She hasn't heard any Equestrian artillery make that sound before. The only time she ever heard a distinctive “Ba-Boom” was when General Sentry’s command post was attacked. She quickly realized what was going on and sprang into action.

“Get inside! NOW!” Shouted Smartmouth as she grabbed Chalkboard. She almost grabbed Tanky before a shell exploded on the roof of the blockhouse, sending shards on concrete flying everywhere and knocking Smartmouth and her friends to the ground. Even more shells exploded around them. One shell landed where the radio was and turned the rotted wire spool into a hail of splinters.

Chalkboard stumbled inside, completely shaken and battered. Smartmouth followed after her. They both looked around, sensing that there was one less pony with them. Smartmouth quickly looked outside.

“Tanky! Tanky!” Smartmouth called out for Tanky desperately. She could see Tanky lying face first in the dirt and Tanky wasn’t responding. There were very rose red splatter around Tanky.

“I’m going to go get her!” Yelled Chalkboard.

“Wait!” Smartmouth pulled out one of the fire hoses and tied it around Chalkboard. “The less time you’re out there the better.”

Chalkboard leaped out of the blockhouse, just like she did with the rope swing during training. She landed only a few meters from Tanky. Chalkboard’s heart could have burst from her chest at any moment, at least that’s what it felt like. She crawled for what seemed like a lifetime. Specks of heated dirt and concrete were raining on her as the horrid shrieks of Troll artillery and the Line’s sirens cut through the air. When Chalkboard finally reached Tanky, she saw plenty of blood around her and Tanky didn’t appear to respond.

“Tanky? Come on girl, get up!”

Nothing. Chalkboard grabbed Tanky around the waist. She was amazed how a pony that eats so much could weigh so little. At the moment that she picked Tanky up, Smartmouth used all her strength to quickly reel the firehose back in. Chalkboard was not expecting the sudden stop when the fire hose took her around the blockhouse’s steel door. She accidently let Tanky go, who’s limp body simply skid along the floor face down.

“Oh Cadence save us... what’s wrong with her?” said Smartmouth as she rushed to Tanky.

Chalkboard untied herself and scrambled to Tanky along with Smartmouth. “I don’t know, but she wasn't moving.”

Smartmouth flipped Tanky over only to find that the “blood” was actually spaghetti sauce and Tanky had apparently gotten her face stuck in one of the bowls she was eating from.

“Oh Celestia... help me get this off Chalkboard. I’ll pull, you hold her head down.”

“UNG! This thing is stuck. on. TIGHT!” Smartmouth was using the power in her hind legs and her wings, but the bowl refused to budge. Even the earth-shaking Troll artillery didn’t help. It came as a complete surprise to Smartmouth that the bowl let go of Tanky’s face with a loud *POP*. Smartmouth flew up and back and into a wall. Tanky on the other hoof, sat up with such a force that she threw Chalkboard, who was holding her head really tightly, into the same wall as Smartmouth. Tanky let in a very loud GASP. She began hacking out bits of spaghetti and coughing violently.

“Oh man!” exclaimed Tanky as she wiped the remains of her lunch off of her face and uniform. “If my epitaph said that I drowned in a bowl of pasta, I would have been one pissed ghost!”

“Yeah well you can thank Smartmouth and I for saving you from that fate!”

Tanky took a second to observe her surroundings. “You guys ran out there!?! You could have gotten killed!”

“Now’s not the time to talk about this everypony! We have to get back to our tanks!”

“Good luck girls, my tank is in blockhouse A-14.”

Tanky and Smartmouth both nodded and dashed off to their tanks. Chalkboard dashed down the blockhouse corridor. She looked behind her to see if Tanky and Smartmouth were okay. She couldn't though, the lights in the block house flickered with every shell that landed. It was starting to become difficult for her to see as well. Several hot bullet casings landed on her as she ran by the machine gunners at their stations in the blockhouse. She knew that the Trolls were sending their infantry and tanks to assault the Mareginot Line. She could hear the grand 90mm guns on the second level firing out to the open field. At the time, she never realized how far she had ran. Chalkboard had run more than one hundred and fifty meters and she was still going. The terrifying bursts of artillery shells only helped to fuel Chalkboard’s adrenaline fueled marathon for life. She exited the blockhouse full sprint, barreling to the right to avoid one of the walls that protected the blockhouse’s entrance. She started running again, but her hooves stumbled over some shell casings and she fell into one of the 20mm anti-air positions. The 20mm cannon’s crew didn’t even realize Chalkboard was there. They were far too preoccupied with shooting down Troll Junker dive bombers.

Chalkboard looked up and thought to herself; They’re throwing planes at us too? The hot ejected shell casings landing on her snapped Chalkboard back to her objective. She climbed out of the concrete emplacement only to be thrown a few meters by the explosion of a Junker’s bomb. Chalkboard looked back to inspect the damage even though her ears were ringing and her head was spinning, the adrenaline kept her going. The Junker’s bomb exploded on the wall that guarded the blockhouse entrance, spraying chunks of concrete at a 20mm AA gun’s crew. Their mangled and torn bodies still at their station while the other three guns kept firing.

“Oh princesses save us...” Chalkboard looked over to the open field as she hopped into a trench. She saw what appeared to be a tsunami of tanks and Trolls rushing towards the Mareginot Line. Chalkboard darted for her tank’s bunker. She could see it at the end of the trench system she was running through. The cylindrical turret of her HT-6 was sticking out of the concrete casemate. She saw the Reignault turrets that Tanky had talked about earlier, she saw the damage that the 25mm high explosive grenades were doing to the Troll ranks. Each grenade must have killed at least six Trolls. The only problem with that was there were hundreds of them converging on the line. She could see that the 80mm auto loader on her HT-6 was already firing at the Trolls. With one huge leap, she threw herself into the tank bunker.

“About time you showed up, commander!” shouted Trail Blazer as she reloaded her Mouser Rifle. “One, two, three, four five!”

“Is everypony present?”

“Everypony except for you, commander. What took you so long anyways?”

“I got caught up rescuing one of my friends.”

“Was it Tanky Ma’am?... Tanky is the little red Earth Pony right?” asked Trail Blazer as she hoofed over another Mouser rifle. “Here take this. It might not be loaded.”

“Thank you, and yes, it was Tanky that I had to save.” Chalkboard opened the breach to her Mouser Car. 98k. The gun wasn’t loaded. “I need ammo, Trail!”

Trail Blazer threw some stripper clips at Chalkboard. “If you need more, I got some in the tank.”

“Speaking of the tank, is there any reason you want me to use a rifle than be inside of the tank?”

“Well I seriously doubt you’ll last long shooting out of your cupola, exposed to all sorts of Troll fire-”

Trail Blaze was interrupted by a Garbage Can’s shell impacting the bunker.

“And second, I really don’t think that Far Shot needs any direction as to where to shoot.”

Chalkboard pressed herself against the bunker’s wall with the firing slit right above her. “Fair enough.” She snuck a peek out of the firing slit, the Trolls were closing fast despite their losses, although their tank force was non existent at this point. She stood up, sighted her rifle down range, and picked off a Troll.

“Not bad Chalky! Let’s see you beat this!” Trail Blazer snapped to her Mouser’s telescopic sight and killed two Trolls with one bullet.

“This isn’t a game, Trail! Besides! It isn’t fair how you have a scope on your Car. 98k!”

“You’re the one who insisted on not ordering an actual gun from the quartermasters. Besides, this is my rifle from my days in the Airborne Infantry.” Trail Blazer stood up from cover and dropped two more trolls. “HA! That’s another two notches for me!” boasted Trail Blazer as she ducked down.

“How are you killing two Trolls with one bullet Trail?”

“Armor piercing rounds. Yeah I know the armor piercing seven point seven-five by sixty rounds are meant for the MG thirty six, but hey, these are GREAT crowd control bullets!”

Chalkboard stood up and shot her rifle. She ducked down before she could confirm her kill. She listened to the HT-6’s 80mm gun roar every time it sent a shell into the Troll horde. She stood up to fire again, but a Troll bullet slammed into her gun sights. It bounced off the rear sights and up into the roof of the bunker. Chalkboard fell over on her back, completely stunned by what happened.

“You okay Ma’am!?!”

“I am...” Chalkboard examined her rifle. She saw that the sights had been completely ruined though. “I have a perfectly good club now too.”

Far Shot opened the driver’s hatch of the HT-6 looking as if it was the end of the world for him. “We’re out of ammo!”

Those words stunned Chalkboard more than almost losing her head. “Really!?! uh... What about the coaxial?”

“Out of ammo for that too Ma’am!”

“But we were fully stocked! That’s more than forty shells and over a thousand bullets!”

“Two thousand bullets Ma’am!”

“What do you mean? Two thousand bullets?”

“We took the bloody ammo from the hull MG! Emptied it all out onto those wankers!”

“Get your guns then! We’re going to fight from the bunker!”

“Yes Ma’am!” Far Shot grabbed his Type S3E2 Sub machine gun and told Carry All to grab his own gun and all the ammunition he could carry out.

Carry All exited the tank with his Wind-Chaser M97 shotgun, suspended by his magic and five cases of ammunition.

Chalkboard saw Carry All’s shotgun. “Well at least I’m not the only one with a useless gun in this situation...”

“I have slugs, no offence Ma’am.”

“Really? Am I the only pony here without a gun?”

“You have your Mouser C96 don’t you commander?”

“Yes, but.... oh fine...” Chalkboard pulled out her Mouser C96 and cocked the gun. She braced herself against the wall again and pondered how to use her pistol effectively. “Far Shot, how many meters away are the Trolls?”

“I’d say about five hundred Ma’am, it doesn’t look like the blights are advancing though. They’ve lost momentum!”

Chalkboard didn’t get up, instead she just pointed her pistol over the wall and fired out of the firing slit blindly until she ran out of ammo.

“Hey nice shooting, Chalky! You got five Trolls with that clip!”

“Thanks Trail.... I guess.”

Carry All’s M97 created a whopping *THUD* when it fired. The massive lead slug tore through more trolls than anypony could count.

Chalkboard peeked over her cover and watched as the Trolls tried desperately to regain their momentum. A second wave began its charge across the field. The first wave of Trolls were less than five hundred meters and started to advance.

Chalkboard felt a sense of hopelessness grow inside her. “I thought you said they were losing momentum Fat Shot!”

“I’ve been bloody wrong before, Ma’am!”

The sheer determination of the Trolls put all Equestrian soldiers at the Mareginot Line into a state of panic. They were told from the day the Mareginot Line was built, that the Trolls would never get close enough for hoof-to-hoof combat. Machine gunners desperately sprayed, tank gunners shot wherever they could, artillery no longer obeyed coordinates for firing and it seemed inevitable that the Trolls would reach the Mareginot Line. The first wave of Trolls were only two hundred meters away from the wall and their confidence was bolstered by their merge with the second wave. The Trolls knew that they had two more waves behind them, and the Equestrians defending the Mareginot Line knew that they had nopony coming to help them.

The first Trolls to reach the Mareginot Line were met with mines and barbed wire. They tangled messes of Troll were strewn across the the fields. The Trolls breached the obstacles simply with the sheer mass of their attack. Barbed wire was crushed or pushed aside, all the mines buried in the fields detonated, taking many Trolls with them. The soldiers of the 3rd Grenadiers quickly abandoned their posts as soon as the Trolls broke through the first line of defense. Trenches were now filled with Trolls as the Grenadiers pulled back further into the concrete maze of the Mareginot Line.

Chalkboard knew she had to act fast. The lives of her crew and the lives of fellow ponies in arms depended on it. “Get in the tank!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Far Shot looked at Chalkboard like her commands were a joke. “What? But it’s out of ammo!”

“Well it’s not out of gas is it?”

Chalkboard quickly climbed into her HT-6 though the driver’s hatch. It was a tighter squeeze than she was used to and crawling through the interior of the tank wasn’t pleasant either. She peer out of the portholes in the cupola only to see Trolls starting to enter the tank bunker. I hope the others are okay.

.

Author's Note

Info: The Mareginot Line:

The Mareginot Line is a series of densely packed fortifications. While not a true "wall" it is still a imposing barrier to any that would assault it. The Mareginot Line's one weakness is the Petarian border, of which the Line does not cover. In all respects, any army advancing to Equestria from the west, can simply by-pass the Mareginot Line by invading Petaria. Thankfully though, the Trolls the Line defends against aren't very militarily cunning.

Blockhouse B-10, the area where Chalkboard and her friends were hanging out, has fifteen 90mm gun positions. Six of which can be used in an anti-air fashion. Blockhouse B-10 also sports two retractable turrets, each armed with two 105mm cannons. Additionally, there are over twenty machine gun emplacements and twenty 20mm anti-air cannons. The blockhouse is connected to other blockhouses via underground causeways and surface trenches.

Chapter 4: Hold the Line!

Chapter 4: Hold the Line!

July 4th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Corporal Tanky
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Battalion, Artillery Platoon D.

The scent of sulfur fills the air as the haze of spent gunpowder is blown away by the calm winds of the Alsace-Lorreigne. The Trolls attacking blockhouse A-17 know that once the smoke clears, another blast from a lone VKV HT-8 will smite them like the hoof of Celestia. The Trolls advance, knowing they are only three hundred meters from reaching the first line of the much weakened Mareginot Line. Suddenly and without warning, a horrendous and ear splitting thunder drowns out all other sounds of battle. The attacking Trolls find themselves consumed in fire and lead. Three Garbage Cans lay twisted and burst in the wake of the blast along with the broken remains of countless Troll corpses.

“Come on! Come on! I need that shell NOW!” shouted Tanky.

Tanky’s commander, Mörser , didn’t seem impressed. “Excellent” shot, Corporal. Now if you would please SHOOT AT THE TARGET I TOLD YOU TO SHOOT!”

“Yeah yeah. I’ll get to it in a minute.”

“Corporal!”

“I’ll get to it in a minute, SIR.”

“Corporal! You will shoot at the target that I ordered you to shoot or so help me-“

Tanky, unphased by her commander’s attitude, continued to talk while looking into her sights. “You’ll do what exactly, SIR? Yell at me some more? And you know what? I’m not going to shoot at your target for two reasons. Do you want to know why?”

Morser raised an eyebrow. “Please… educate your commander Corporal.”

“Like, Boss Pony, Ma’am? We, like, got the shell all like loaded’n stuff brah.”

“Thank you Brohawm.”

“Phssawh, it was, like, no problem at all brah.”

“Anyway, let me show you the first reason, SIR.” Tanky began lowering the gun’s elevation, the VKV’s oscillating turret shifting downward.

“Whoa, like, this is, like SO trippy bro!”

“Dude! We could, like, totally, like, make this thing into, like, a roller coaster dude!”

“Aside from turning the turret, was that so hard Corp-“

A sudden groan began to echo into through the turret as it stopped its downward motion. The metallic protests of the turret became unbearable to Mörser.

Tanky started to elevate the turret again. “See, SIR?” The stupid Porshoe made tank bunkers hardly work for Vladhoof tanks.”

Mörser lifted his headset and rubbed his ear. “I see... what about your second complaint, Corporal?”

Tanky started to traverse the turret thirty degrees to the right. “My second “complaint” is that you ordered me to kill a single outlier... when we can use this gun to explodify more than one tank...SIR... Like this.”

Tanky’s shot landed near two Garbage Cans and tore them to sheets of scrap. In their panic, the Trolls began bunching up more making them irresistible to Tanky’s itchy trigger hoof.

“Is that shell loaded yet!?”

Brohawm grunted a bit as he forced the massive round into the cannon. “Like, chill brah. It’s all like, loaded’n stuff.”

“Broseph! I’m going to need another shell ready as soon as I shoot!”

“But you, like, haven’t even, like shot yet, dudette.”

“Bro, bro, the brah boss is like, going to shoot and then you, like, load bro.”

Tanky sent another shot at the mass of Trolls, taking another two Garbage Cans down. “NOW BROSEPH!”

Broseph started loading the next shell. “Dudette, you like, have to work on your attitude.”

Tanky was looking for more targets while Broseph was loading the next shell. She turned the turret to the left to see a Garbage Can and all its turrets aimed at her tank. “Oh? You think you can take me on? That’s right... come to mommy...”

The Garbage Can let loose all of its cannons. A hail of 20mm, 30mm and 50mm shells struck the bunker around Tanky’s VKV, obscuring Tanky’s vision with a small cloud of concrete dust.

Broseph closed the breach to the cannon. “Like, I’m done dudette.”

Tanky pulled the trigger despite not being able to see her target. She saw that her shell had actually penetrated the armor and exploded inside the Garbage Can once the dust cleared. The shards of that Garbage Can found their way into many Troll troopers.

“BA-BOOM BABY!” exclaimed Tanky. She started looking for more potential multi-kills when a Troll shell ricochet off the turret. A sharp ringing echoed through the turret as the area struck by the shell sizzled for a bit.

“Like, what was that, bro!?!”

Mörser desperately scanned the battlefield, looking for anything that could have hit his tank so accurately. A second bounce shook the turret violently and Mörser was thrown back into his seat. As he sat up, Mörser saw something on the horizon from his cupola. They looked like metal boxes sitting on the hills from his position. He looked into the tank’s binoculars only to find that those ricochets weren't entirely harmless after all.

“Corporal! The binoculars are down! I need you to use your range finder to identify unknown targets at Alpha Foxtrot Zero Niner Niner.”

Tanky, still waiting for a new shell to be loaded, turned the turret to face the “unknown enemy” Mörser was blabbering about. The image was blurry but Tanky quickly adjusted the sights for a small zoom.

Tanky’s eyes widened when she saw what the unknown enemy was. “CRAP! Sir! We have enemy anti-tank guns on the hilltops!.”

“Those can’t be Troll guns! They’re far too accurate!”

“What do you think they are!?!”

“I don’t care what they are! Just shoot the damned things!”

Tanky set her rangefinder to seven hundred meters. “I’m going to need that shell soon guys!”

Brohawm quickly closed the breach. “You can, like, shoot, now, brah.”

Tanky aimed at three of the anti-tank guns that were grouped closer together than the others. She sighted the gun, worked out the best gun elevation and mapped out compensation for shell drop. The turret’s metallic heave brought the tank’s might to bear. All that was left to do was pull the trigger.

“Come on now... mommy needs a new set of sho-”

Another shell struck the turret, forcing Tanky to pull the trigger. Her shot hit home, taking out the three anti-tank guns she was aiming at. But there was no shouts of joy from her. A round from one of the anti-tank guns struck the side of Tanky’s VKV Heavy Tank-8. The round bounced off, but it also damaged several of the hydraulic systems that allow the turret to rotate, elevate and depress. How Tanky and the crew knew the turret hydraulics were damaged was the near constant spray of fluid inside their compartment.

Tanky tried desperately to turn the turret but all the tank responded with was with more bursts of hydraulic fluid and sickly groaning. “Come on! Come on!”

“We gotta, like, bail bro!” yelled Brohawm as he climbed out the turret’s rear hatch with Broseph close behind.

“NO! I won’t give up! Not again! shouted Tanky as she desperately tried to haul another shell into the cannon.

“Corporal!” cried Mörser. “It’s done! We have to get out of here!”

Tanky barely managed to load the shell into the cannon. She returned to her seat and tried to sight another target. The turret’s metallic groans of protest eventually gave way to something resembling lateral movement. The turret turned at a snail’s pace, but that was enough for Tanky to aim at the Troll Horde below. Her sights were terribly obscured by the hydraulic fluid covering the lenses. The sharp chemical stench was starting to make her nauseous.

“Corporal!”

She pulled the trigger, unsure how many Trolls she killed. The recoil was enough to detach the VKV’s turret from the damaged hinges, releasing the last of the pressurized hydraulic fluid.

The oscillating turret’s top half barely hung on to the tank. One set of hinges failed, the other would soon follow. Smoke began to fill the crew cabin. The hydraulic fluid had leaked into the engine compartment and combusted. The VKV was now a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

Mörser knew he would have to act fast. He turned Tanky towards him, struck his hoof across her face and shoved a Neighjing Consortium Automatic Rifle into her hooves.

“Corporal! Get yourself together! We. Are. LEAVING!”

Normally Tanky would be piping mad at somepony who just hit her. Whether it was the chemical stench or the suffocating smoke, she entered a relatively calm state of mind and followed Mörser out of the tank. She climbed out of the hatch on the backside of the turret, but slid out and fell with her usual grace.

Rollover, the tank’s driver was outside of the VKV has he really didn’t have any reason to be inside a stationary tank. He helped Tanky to her hooves. “What have you done to my tank!?”

“We’ll explain later, Private! We have to move before this thing blows!” exclaimed Mörser.

Tanky took a few moments to look through the tank bunker’s firing slit. She watched as the Trolls made their way into the Mareginot Line’s trench network. Tanky couldn’t help but fire a few bursts of her NCAR at the Trolls. She watched as several of them fell to her fire. She must have emptied a whole clip before she finally heard her tank commander’s demanding shouts.

“Corporal! Move! You’re not here to play soldier! We need to get back into a tank Corporal!”

Tanky snapped to and darted towards the rest of her crew members. She saw them enter blockhouse A17 and flung herself inside. She immediately got up and positioned herself on one of the blockhouse’s embrasures and started firing her NCAR. She didn’t have to aim, the Trolls advancing in waves as thick as rats. She could hear Brohawm and Broseph fumbling with their Mouser rifles.

“Like, Bro! How do they, like, expect us to, like, shoot stuff if we can’t even, like, shoot a gun bro?”

Tanky sighed a little. “Your safety's on.”

Brohawm looked at the safety switch on his rifle. “Pshhhhawwww. I, like, knew that all along brah.”

Tanky relieved her stress a little by squeezing the trigger on her NCAR a little tighter than usual. She saw another batch of Trolls fall from that burst. Despite her commander’s protests and constant calling for a retreat, Tanky fought on knowing well that the more Trolls she brought down, the less her fellow Ponies would have to deal with later.

“Get out! Get out! Clear the room!” screamed one of the machine gunner soldiers.

Tanky turned to see a hole get blown in the blockhouse’s concrete wall. She flinched and fell off the concrete step that allowed her to fire out of the embrasure. The machine gun soldiers seemed alright and had already made for the exits in the room. They had good reason to as Tanky found out. A Troll Garbage Can came crashing through the hole it made with a 105mm howitzer mounted in one of its turrets. Only the turret dotted front portion of the Garbage Can was in the blockhouse, but it was all the tank needed to massacre the defenders.

Brohawm and Broseph were gone in a flash upon seeing the Garbage Can. While Tanky was dragged out by Mörser and Rollover. They hid deeper in the blockhouse, safe from the Garbage Can, but not from the Troll infantry that will follow soon enough.

“We need to kill that tank. Any ideas anypony?” asked Rollover.

“The armory might have some buckzookas or prancerfausts.” blurted Tanky.

“Fantastic idea, Corporal! Lead us to the armory then!”

Tanky scratched her head a little. “Uhh... I don’t know where it is...”

“Private?”

“I didn’t study the map, Sir...”

“Shouldn’t you have studied the map, SIR...? After all you are our commander.” said Tanky disapprovingly.

“Truth be told, I was quite hoping one of you would have studied it... But we’re wasting time babbling here. Everypony split up! Brohawm, Broseph! Head down the east corridor, Tanky search the area around the mess hall, Rollover and I will head down the west corridor.”

Tanky slung her NCAR around her back and started dashing towards the mess hall. She was stopped after turning a corner when she felt a sharp blow to the side of her face. The blow flipped Tanky on her back as she tumbled to the floor. Tanky quickly got back on her hooves and turned to face her assailant. Tanky found herself staring at one of the blockhouse’s steel doors. Tanky wasted no time getting her gun ready.

“I’ll get you for this!” shouted Tanky as she dashed around the door. As soon as she rounded the door, she pulled the trigger on her automatic rifle.

“Wait, Tanky! Wait!” shouted Chalkboard.

Unknowingly, Chalkboard and Carry All slammed the door on Tanky’s face only moments before. Luckily for Chalkboard, Tanky saw that she was shooting at friendlies and pulled her automatic rifle up in time for a burst to barely graze Carry All’s helmet.

“Geez Louise!!! shouted Carry All as he stumbled back a bit. “You almost killed us!”

Tanky was stunned to see Chalkboard here. “Wha- What are you doing here, Chalky?”

“Our tank ran out of ammunition and the ammo depot at B-Fifteen was overrun with Trolls.”

Tanky could see the two drawing carts of 80mm shell clips and wearing belts of machine gun ammo for the HT-6. “Wait... The machine gun ammo, did you get those from the armory?”

“Sadly, yes. The ammo depot here was out of seven-point-seven five ammunition.”

“Seriously? The whole depot?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many trigger happy machine gunners we have stationed here.” groaned Carry All. “I’m pretty sure half of the defenders don’t know any trigger discipline.”

Tanky was slightly embarrassed at Carry All’s comment considering her spraying earlier. “Fair point. Umm.. Where’s the armory, Chalky?”

“It’s between the mess hall and the barracks. Honestly, did you study the maps of given to us, Tanky?”

“Uhh...” Tanky had no need to think of an excuse to dodge Chalkboard’s question. Several Troll warriors had appeared from the corridor tank was running down earlier. “Look out!” shouted Tanky as she drew her NCAR. Tanky let off a ten round burst and all three Troll warriors fell over dead.

“We have to move! Come on, Carry All!” yelled Chalkboard as she pulled her cart forward and out of the line of fire.

Chalkboard and Carry All started towards their tank. Carry All, being a relatively new and young recruit, was having difficulty keeping up with Chalkboard. Especially with Tanky sitting in his cart and firing her automatic rifle.

“Eeeearrrgh! Eat it!”

“Is that really necessary, Tanky?”

“This is Tanky we’re talking about Carry All. She does whatever comes to mind.”

Tanky expended round after round as the Troll warriors tried to rush around a corner. She expended so much ammo that the barrel of her gun began to glow red. The smoke coming from the barrel was enough to leave a small trail behind the feeling ponies.

“Trigger discipline, Tanky! Trigger discipline! Short controlled bursts!”

“Yeah! Get some!” shouted Tanky just as she heard a loud click come from her rifle. “Huh? What the hay?”

“I told you, Tanky! Short controlled bursts!”

“Shut up and keep running!”

Tanky quickly looked at the gun and saw that the slide was empty. She frantically looked around for some ammunition clips, but the only 7.75 ammunition was in machine gun belts. She dug through the crate some more, only finding shells and machine gun ammo. Then something caught her attention. She picked up a Prancerfaust 41 and held it in her hoof.

“What do you have a Prancerfaust Forty One for, Chalky?”

“I thought it might come in handy for when-” A Troll bullet interrupted Chalkboard as it zipped by her face, barely missing. “I thought it might come in handy in a situation like this!”

“Do you have anymore than this one?”

“One more in my cart, why do you ask?”

Tanky pressed on the little lever near the explosive bulb and off it went. The warhead of the Prancerfaust found its way into the group of Trolls.

“Do any of you guys have a gun I could borrow?”

Carry All drew his shotgun with his unicorn magic. “Here! Use this!”

“WHOA! A Wind-Chaser M-Ninety Seven? Where did you get this!?!”

“Less pointless questions and more trigger pulling!” shouted Carry All as he and Chalkboard veered right down a new corridor.

“Ok yeah... right...” Tanky quickly snapped the shotgun to the end of the hall, the Trolls were fairly far away when they rounded the corner after them, but she still hit them with a single high powered slug from the Wind-Chaser. The force of the slug tore through two Troll warriors and finally lodge itself in the lower abdomen of a third warrior. Of course, Tanky wasn’t prepared for the recoil either and found herself lying on Chalkboard’s back.

Carry All looked behind him only to see that Tanky had vanished. “Tanky? Where did you go?” His question was answered when he turned to ask Chalkboard where Tanky went.

Chalkboard turned her head to see what flopped on her back. “Tanky?”

“I felt like dropping in.”

“Just shoot Tanky!”

“There isn’t anything to shoot at. I think we lost them Chalky!”

“Well thanks for jinxing it!” intervened Carry All.

“No seriously! It looks like there aren’t any more of them coming this way.”

“Hallway on the left Carry All!”

“Yes Ma’am!”

Chalkboard and Carry All blotted past several winding corridors before finally finding a massive set of steel doors. It wasn’t long before the evening sun found its way into Tanky’s eyes. She jumped off of Chalkboard and started rummaging through the cart looking for the Prancerfaust.

“Hey, Chalkboard... What’s Tanky doing here?” asked Trail Blazer.

Chalkboard thought for a minute. “... Why are you here?” she ask while turning to face Tanky.

“Uh... my tank got knocked out.”

“Oh no.” gasped Trail Blazer. “Is the rest of your crew okay?”

“They’re fine. I mean we were all soaked in hydraulic fluid for a bit, but we’re fine.”

“Hydraulic fluid? You mean-”

Carry All’s comment was interrupted by a deafening explosion. Everypony looked to where a large fireball had formed and see the turret of Tanky’s former VKV flying through the air. The turret let out a resonating gong sound when it impacted the concrete emplacements nearby.

“The Trolls hit something important and that caused the turret to lose power because hydraulic fluid was spraying everywhere and that leaked into the engine compartment which caused a fire. Then we had to leave because of that fire and now it looks like the fire caused the ammo to detonate.”

“You can write the book later Tanky.” grunted Far Shot as he started carting some of the 80mm shells inside his tank. “We kinda need a little help here if you wouldn’t mind.”

“I really need to go though.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

Tanky poked her hooves into Carry All’s cart, thoroughly looking for some ammunition she could make use of. However, the results of her search were fruitless much like her first attempt of digging through the cart.

“My crew split up in an attempt to find the armory. I was “lucky” to have been assigned by my commander to look for the armor all by myself.”

Chalkboard seemed surprised by Tanky’s remarks. “Wait... You mean to tell me that no one in your crew bothered to look at the map?”

“To be fairly honest, I was kinda hoping the trolls wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack the Mareginot Line head on. Looks like I really should of looked at the map though huh?”

“To my knowledge, every tank crew got a map. What happened to yours?”

“I may have used it as a napkin on barbeque, pulled celery night...”

“Why am I not surprised Tanky.” groaned Chalkboard as she placed her hoof on her muzzle.

Tanky rummaged through the cart again and found the Prancerfaust Chalkboard was talking about. She attached the anti-tank weapon onto her belt and slung it on her back. “Sorry guys, but I got problems of my own. I mean, that was some runny sauce they were using. Good luck with your tank and all!” said Tanky as she made her way back into the blockhouse.

“Wait wait wait!” shouted Carry All. “Gimme back my shotgun!”

It was too late. Tanky was already out of earshot by the time Carry All remembered that he “lent” Tanky his Wind-Chaser.

- - -

Tanky was trying making her way back to the Garbage Can that crashed through the wall. She had already disposed of several Troll warriors that were unlucky enough to find her. It wasn’t difficult to find the way back to where she stumbled into Chalkboard and Carry All. All she had to do was follow a small trail of corpses she made while fleeing with Chalkboard and Carry All. The sounds of small arms fire echoed through the concrete halls of the blockhouse, making it difficult for Tanky to tell where the next batch of Toll warriors would spring from next. She checked Carry All’s shotgun.

“Crud… Only ten shells left…”

Tanky found her way into the hall where she discovered Chalkboard and Carry All not too long ago. She let out a small sigh and tightened the belt her Prancerfaust was on and stepped past the steel door her face was well acquainted with. She eyed the door warily.

“I’ve got my eyes on you…” Unlike before, the door wasn’t trouble, however Tanky’s face became acquainted with something softer and far more foul as she turned her head away from the door. She quickly leaped backwards and realized she had walked right into the rear of a Troll warrior.

The Troll stood there with a finger up his right nostril for a second before he realised that a little red Earth Pony had bumped into his rump.

“Hey! Your gonna pay four that!” shouted the Troll as he turned his body around spraying his gun all the while.

Tanky dodged the incoming rounds by hiding behind the steel door.

“Bleh! Guh! UNG! Icky ick!” remarked Tanky in complete disgust as she took a moment to wipe her face in disgust. She then quickly drew the Wind-Chaser.

“I know your hear pony… Come out and I promise dat I wont hurt u…” beckoned the Troll before making a fatal mistake.

As the Troll peeked his head past the steel door, Tanky shoved the Wind Chaser up his right nostril and quite literally, blew his brains out. Thick blotches of dripping crimson now covered a good portion of the ceiling.

“Ung… and I thought Trolls smelled bad on the outside…” said Tanky as she carefully stepped over the corpse. “Okay… That stupid Garbage Can should be here somewhere…”

Tanky carefully and cautiously traversed the concrete maze trying to find the way back. She got lost for a little bit and wound up in one of the many infirmaries in the blockhouse. This one was clearly abandoned after the attack. She took her time collecting some healing potions and stuffing them into a duffle bag she found there as well.

There might be somepony that’ll need this. Tanky thought to herself.

She carefully searched the infirmary for anything that would be of use later. She took some antibiotics, plasma, and blood packs as well as a case of cola she quickly downed before she even set hoof out of the infirmary. Tanky also gave her face a quick wash as she really felt she needed it. When she exited, the sound of fighting seemed farther off. Either the Trolls were dead, or they pushed past the Mareginot Line’s first gauntlet of defense.

After a few minutes of wandering Tanky found a place that looked relatively familiar. This was the hall where her commander dragged her though to avoid the Garbage Can. Tanky looked around to see the concrete embrasure she was shooting out of before the Garbage Can came crashing through the wall. She braced herself at the corner and readied her prancerfaust. But before she threw herself at the Garbage Can, she heard a voice, a pony’s voice.

“No wait! You don’t understand! I can help you! If you would just stop your Trolling you would see that I can help you!”

Tanky couldn’t help but take a quick peek. The pony conversing with the Troll warriors was wearing a cloak but Tanky could tell that the pony was male. She saw that they were standing by the Garbage Can and how the tank had moved to allow more Troll warriors into the blockhouse.

It all makes sense now…

If there is anything in Equestria Tanky couldn’t stomach aside from asparagus, it was dirty, rotten, good for nothing traitors and turncoats.

“How can a pony help? Their are not any ponies that can help us.”

“Listen, I work for a common benefactor. If you just listened to me for a second, I can give you information that can help you WIN.”

“I like wins”

“Yeah me two!”

“Alright! Party’s over snack’ums!” Shouted Tanky after she rounded the corner with her prancerfaust in hoof. She fired the prancerfaust and sent the warhead flying towards the cloaked pony and the Garbage Can.

The cloaked pony dodged the warhead with relative ease, allowing it to strike the Garbage Can. The Garbage Can exploded violently, taking the two the troll warriors standing by it.

Tanky drew the Wind-Chaser shotgun and fired a slug at the cloaked pony. Unfortunately, this turncoat knew what he was doing. He dodged Tanky’s feeble attempts at striking him down with the shotgun. After three misses, the turn coat leapt behind the burning Garbage Can.

“Wood someone please kill this noob!?!” shouted the turncoat.

The turncoat’s call for aid was heard by several Troll Berserkers who quickly charged at Tanky’s position with various blunt instruments while she was desperately trying to fend them off. One, two, three Trolls went down each time Tanky pumped the Wind Chaser and pulled the trigger. She was forced to retreat or risk becoming a puddle of Pony pulp. She ran back towards the armory’s general direction from what she remembered.

Oh man… did Chalky mention something about right… or left?... Why didn’t I study the map?

Adrenaline was flowing through her veins as she desperately evaded bullet after bullet sent to her by her Troll aggressors. She quickly lurched left and rounded a corner only to be thrown back and out by a sharp blow to her chest.

Did I run into that stupid door again?... Tanky thought to herself.

Tanky immediately knew something was wrong, she couldn’t breathe. She tried to get up to see what hit her but Tanky’s limbs didn’t respond. The lights on the ceiling were brighter than she thought they were. She mustered all the strength she could and tilted her head up to see what was wrong with her body. She was greeted with a smoking hole in her chest.

“I like, totally got one, like- OH NOT COOL BRO!!!” shouted Brohawm as he peeked his head out of the armory to confirm his unknown kill.

“I’m like, so sorry! I-I-I like, don’t know it was like, you Boss!”

“Dude.. you are like, going to get some,like, serious doo-doo with the Army dude.”

Tanky took another second to look at her grievous wound before the realization that she was shot by a Mouser rifle sunk in. Tanky’s first thoughts were about the surprising lack of pain. She could see the fairly seared flesh, elements of cracked bone and a small river of fresh blood starting to trickle down her uniform. She locked her eyes with a franticly apologetic Brohawm and mustered the very last reserves of her strength to mutter her last words.

“I’ll get you for this Brohawm...”

And with her vow said, Tanky’s flopped her head on the floor as her vision blurred and she blacked out but not before one last thought raced through her mind.

I was doing so good too... Daddy would have been proud.

- - -

Chapter 5: One Last Effort

Chapter 5: One Last Effort

July 4th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Sergeant First Class Steel Lance
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Battalion, Assault Platoon A.

Steel Lance, along with the rest of his crew, was caught flat hooved when the Troll artillery started to rain down from the skies. He was helping Corporal Jammy with maintenance on his King Panther. The King Panther had some issues with the gun sights and Steel Lance felt like he was obliged to help. When the artillery started coming down, Steel Lance had difficulties getting to his tank, largely because Blockhouse C22 was completely overrun within the first wave. The defenders managed to repel the first wave and expunge the Trolls from the blockhouse, but with a second wave of Trolls inbound there’s no time to savor the victory. Steel Lance, weary from the close quarters combat, took the brief moment of peace while making his way back to his Type S3E10 “Flying Phoenix”. He stopped to catch his breath close to one of the unused command rooms in the blockhouse. However, he noticed a cloaked figure talking on one of the radios.

Steel Lance quickly drew his Lugger 7.75 and slowly creeped up on his target. His heart pulsed as he carefully slid into the room and stepped ever closer to this cloaked figure. The closer he got, the more he wondered what this pony was talking about. He only heard the pony shout obscenities and beg for help on the radio.

“Yes, yes, no! We need help now!” shouted the cloaked pony. “Of course I don’t have clearance! We need a Neighblewerfer strike now! I wasn’t trained to give coordinates! Just fire on Blockhouse C22!”

Hearing the turncoat calling for a strike on friendly forces infuriated Steel Lance. Steel Lance pulled the unknown pony away from the radio, tearing the wires from the headset out and causing the radio to fall onto the floor. The cloaked pony also falls onto the floor with a hard thud. As his “cloak” flutters away, Steel Lance gets a good look at the pony he was stalking. It was Smartmouth’s gunner, Hoggish. Steel Lance placed a hoof on Hoggish’s chest and pointed his pistol at Hoggish’s head.

“What the bloody tatarus are you doing here?”

“I-I’m only trying to help sir!”

Steel Lance looked over to see that the cloak was simply a blanket from the barracks. He quickly looked back at Hoggish, the muzzle of his Lugger had not moved a millimeter.

“Help with what? You should be in your bloody tank Private!”

“I, I got trapped in here by the Trolls sir! Please let me go!”

“And you were calling for a Neighblewerfer strike on OUR position, why you wanking poppet!?!”

“I-I-I.” Studdered Hoggish.

Steel Lance picked up Hoggish and threw his against a wall and pinned him there with one of his forehooves. He looked Hoggish in the eye all the while keeping his Lugger pointed at Hoggish’s head.

“What are you doing here Hoggish? I know about the issue with you and the company’s roster. Commander Applejack may have added you but I know a bloody weasel when I see it.”

Hoggish’s expression fell from a panic to one of fear. But it wasn’t from Steel Lance’s threats.

“Sir... Sir..” Muttered Hoggish while tapping Steel Lance’s shoulder. “Sir behind you...”

“Hmph, Do you really think I’m going to fall for that you little bugger?”

“Sir! Sir! It’s getting closer! If you don’t get that Troll we’re both going to die!”

A moment of panic struck Steel Lance. He decided to quickly look over his shoulder but before he could get a good at the supposed assailant, Steel lance felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. He blackout in a near instant and fell to the floor never knowing if Hoggish was lying or if there really was a Troll.

- - -

July 4th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Corporal Raisin Oats
Imperial Air Force 5th Eagle Flight, Blitz Squadron, 2nd Heavy Bomber Wing

Corporal Oats was an ordinary sandwich shop owner who felt like she needed to do more with her life. She joined the military as a chef but she felt that there was no glory in heated up pre-made meals. She signed up to be a Pegasus bombardier, thinking that looking down a bomb sight and dropping bombs couldn’t be so different from looking down on a sandwich and dropping condiments. She was horrified to find out that being a Pegasus bombardier meant that she had to carry two fifteen kilogram bombs and jump out of a plane, only to drop them on a target of choice. Raisin Oats was about to try and transfer back to being a chef, but the attack on the Mareginot Line put an end to her plans.

She sat in the hull of a Bowing PB-20, listening to the four massive engines rumble and fiddling with her dog tags. She was scared out of her mind and looking out the small windows constantly. She flinched when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to face the pony, her clunky and heavy altimeter headset rattling all the while.

“First time, eh?” asked her Sergeant.

“You have no idea.”

“Yeah I was practically pissing myself too before my first drop.”

“How bad was it?”

“Oh the Haters had all sorts of AA, I had to fly though a maw filled with streaks of twenty mills. I managed to get through and drop my bombs though. Needless to say, I was glad I took my Leftenant’s advice about bringing another fresh pair of underwear.”

“I uh.. I didn’t bring extra underwear...”

“Well then you’re just going to have to deal with a slushy uniform then!” chuckled Corporal Gust.

“I suppose then you're just going to have to hold it until we make landfall.”

“Will the Trolls have AA Sarge?” asked Oats

“Nope. You got really lucky Oats. Other than the occasional Troll rifle fire, we should be clear all the way down.”

Oats let out a small sigh. She felt a little better about her situation and started checking her weapon. Her Type S2E1 submachine gun seemed to be “clean as a whistle” as her sergeant liked to put it, although she thought it looked like a couple of pipes welded together to Oats.

A sudden scratch of the radio alerted everypony in the bomb bay.

“Attention all crew! We are one minute away from the target!”

“Alright everypony! Grab your bombs and say your prayers! There’s a lot of brave Trolls knocking on the Mareginot Line... Let’s show them that they aren’t welcome!”

The hull of the bomber filled with the battle cry of the bombardiers.

“HOORAH!”

Again the intercom inside the place lout out a whiling scratch.

“Attention! thirty seconds to drop! Bomb doors opening!”

With the squeals of hydraulic pistons, Oats watches as the floor opened in front of her. She could see the bunkers of the Mareginot Line, the glowing streaks of artillery, plumes of dirt and debris from exploding shells and the fireballs that were exploding tanks. One particular explosion caught the bombardiers attention, a massive fireball that flung a tank’s turret several meters into the air.

“That was one of ours!” cried Corporal Lowblow.

A sudden and sharp ping along with the bombardiers cabin being illuminated with a bright green light signaled the bombardiers to drop.

“Alright maggots! Time to show them our toys! GO! GO! GO!” Shouted Oat’s Sergeant

The bombardiers poured out of the plane one after the other, letting gravity pull them down towards the advancing Troll hordes. All of them, say for Oats. Oats clutched the edge of her seat, scared out of her mind. Oats saw the copilot look back into the crew hold through the porthole in the door that led to the pilot’s cabin. Oats watched was the copilot motioned his hoof a few times and then look back at her. She desperately shook her head and quietly repeating “no” under her breath. See saw the copilot wave goodbye and a few moments later, the bomber began a slow tilt to the left. Oats clung tightly to her head rest but only caught a glimpse of her bomb bag rolling towards her head. Rather than take twenty kilos of high explosive ordinance to her face, Oats let go of the head rest and fell out of the bomb bay.

Raisin Oats gave her wings a few flaps and caught the handles of her bomb bag. Instinct took over as she dove towards the mass of Trolls. With the five kilogram bombs in her bomb bag safe, Oats flipped the altimeter’s gauge into her sight. The wobbling dial obscured her left eye’s vision but she could make out how far she was. She watched as the needle circled around and the counters rolling numbers back.

She counted in her head as she watched the crater blasted fields of of the Mareginot Line screamed closer to her.

“Two point eight clicks... Two point seven... Two point six...”

The mass of Trolls became more and more detailed the closer Oats fell. She looked behind her to see the bomber she was just on turning away from the battle.

“Two point three... Two point two... Two point one...”

She could start making out the shapes of tanks, the shapes of field guns, mortar positions and artillery positions in the rear of the Troll lines. Oats quickly saw that the Trolls had ceased their artillery strikes in an attempt to limit friendly fire. She adjusted her wings so that she would drift over the Troll’s artillery pieces.

“One point nine... One point eight... One point seven...”

She saw the long guns of the Trolls artillery. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, she knew that such a vulnerable target was just begging to be taken out. An explosion quickly caught her attention. She looked up to see that another Pegasus bombardier had decided to target the artillery pieces as well. One, two, three, four artillery pieces were knocked out. Oats saw the bombardier responsible flying towards her. In a quick flyby, Oats managed to make out the fellow Pegasus, it was Lowblow waving hi to her. She snapped back to her targets.

“One point five... One point four... One point three...”

Oats primed one of her bombs and removed the safety pin. She imagined it was a slice of tomato that she was about drop onto a pizza. She shut her left eye and looked dead on at the artillery piece. She let go of the bomb and opened her wings, soaring to the next target.

“One point two and holding!”

She glided to the next artillery piece and dropped a primed bomb, then again on her third target, then again for a fourth artillery piece. As soon as she dropped her last bomb, she looked back behind her just in time to see the explosion from her first bomb. It was a direct hit and the ammunition stockpiled close to the artillery piece detonated in a massive fireball. Her second target lit up in a fireball, then the third and finally the fourth artillery piece she targeted were destroyed. She feel relieved to have hit all her targets. Oats slung her Type S2E1 into her hooves and flew over to the Troll field guns that were pummeling the defenders. She dove over a cluster of three of these field guns, spraying her submachine gun all the while. Oats had about emptied her magazine when one of her 7.75mm bullets found its way into a box of Troll shells. The resulting ammo detonation surprised her and she stopped her descent. Oats loaded her gun and flew towards another cluster of field guns.

“Five hundred meters... Four hundred... Three hundred..”

Oats held her fire until she could accurately dispatch each Troll manning the field guns. She felt the grass on her hooves for the first time in a day. Oats could see the look of terror on the Troll gun crews right before she unleashed a hail of bullets.

“YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” screamed Oats as she gunned down the Troll crews.

A sudden click resonating from her submachine gun ended the stream of bullets. She quickly looked at her gun and saw the breech open. Oats quickly grabbed a new magazine and was about to load it until was about to load it when something struck her body. She felt her submachine gun fall out of her hooves. She felt the grass on her face and turned to the source of the blow. It was a Troll gunner, a Troll unscathed by Oat’s spraying. Oats was shocked that the Troll was able to assault her in the few seconds she took to reload. Oats looked around desperately for her submachine gun, knowing very well that the Troll is readying to crush her with the shell casing he struck her with earlier. Oats managed to find her weapon but just as the submachine gun was within hoof’s reach, the Troll stepped on her. She desperately reaches for the Type S2E1 but she just couldn’t reach it. She watched as the Troll raise his shell casing. A burst of rifle fire tears a hole in the Troll’s gut. Oats flinched as Troll blood spurts over her face. When the Troll fell over dead, Lowblow was standing there.

“Not bad for a first drop Oats.”

Oats picked up her Type S2E1 and wiped the blood off her coat and out of her mane. “Thanks for the save Lows...”

“Don’t thank me yet, we still got a line to defend.”

“Well I hope you got something we can use to knock out these guns.”

“Why would we destroy three perfectly good guns we could use?”

“Do you know how to work one of these things?”

“Well it can’t be that hard... I mean I’ve told you about a buddy of mine who’s in the Fourteenth Artillery Brigade.. right?”

Oats walked over to one of the troll field guns with Lowblow in front. The two meandered for a bit before Lowblow found the lever that opened the gun breech.

“Oh okay. I see how this thing works. Do you think you can aim the gun Oats?”

“But... I don’t know how to aim the gun... I mean this thing clearly can rotate, but...”

Oats started spinning a few of the cranks. She quickly discovered how to elevate and traverse the gun.

“Okay... I think I got it..” said Oats as Lowblow loaded a round into the gun.

Oats looked into the sights of the gun and wondered if the sights worked in a similar manner as her submachine gun. She cranked the gun and took aim at a Garbage Can. A Troll’s hand landing on the breach startled Oats.

“Eep!”

The Trolls was wounded. There were several small bullet holes in his body from when Oats was spraying. Oats nearly had a heart attack but Lowblow looked intrigued. When Oats pulled her submachine gun out, Lowblow objected.

“Wait wait wait!”

“What? Why?”

The Troll slowly tried to stand, bracing his torso against the gun breech.

“My buddy always told me never to stand behind the gun breech when the thing goes off... I kind of want to see why.”

Lowblow gripped the lanyard tightly and yanked hard. The field gun fired without flaw and the resulting recoil caused the gun breech to completely crush the wounded Troll’s chest. A deep depression was all that was left of the Troll’s rib cage after the body was thrown a good two meters away.

“Okay... I see he wasn’t kidding...”

Lowblow removed his backpack and pulled out the flag of Equestria. He sprawled it out over a small parcel of grassy hill close to the Troll field guns.

“What’s the flag for?”

“So then we don’t get hit by our own bombardiers.” said Lowblow as he loaded another shell into the blood spattered breach. “The gun’s loaded!”

Oats aimed down the sights again, unsure whether her first shot hit or missed her target. She sighted in another tank, a Dumpster if she remembered Troll tanks correctly. Oats took the lanyard and gave it a good yank. The inaccuracy of the Troll field gun was astounding, the shell veered sharply to the left and cut a swath of death against the masses of Troll warriors, but it didn’t strike the intended target.

“I missed!”

“Well try again!” shouted Lowblow as he loaded another shell.

Oats took aim at the Dumpster again, but before she could fire, the Dumpster’s turret was removed cleanly by a something. From Oat’s view, the Dumpster’s turret was sheared off by something coming from her left. Oats turned to investigate the source of the attack. She was surprised to see that the dumpster was killed by tanks of the 20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division.

“Lowblow! Are you seeing this?”

“Yeah... what are those ERAD guys thinking? They’re charging forward out of their bunkers!”

Oats looked at the advancing battle group of tanks. She could see there was a Monarch Tiger, a Flying Phoenix, two King Panthers and a Scrapheap charging into the Troll horde. Oats watched as the battle group cut through the horde with ease, the attack seemingly caught the Trolls off guard. She watched as several Troll tanks ceased their fire on the concrete bunkers and turned to face the Equestrian tanks advancing towards them. A Dumpster managed to penetrate one of the King Panthers which promptly burst into flame. Oats watched in horror as the crew of the burning King Panther climb out and roll around on the ground for a bit before being finished off by the flames. She felt a spark of anger grow in her, she swiveled the gun at the Dumpster and fired.

“Take that you Trolling scum!”

Oats’ shell stuck the Dumpster dead on. The ammo rack must have detonated as the Dumpster simply ceased to exist.

“Loaded!”

Oats aimed again as another Dumpster wandered into her sights. She yanked the lanyard but the Dumpster exploded before she shell landed. Oats saw the Monarch Tiger roll up to the Dumpster and crush it while bouncing several rounds fired at it. She turned the field gun at another Dumpster. Her shot destroyed two of them, a double penetration resulting in a turret decapitation and an ammo rack detonation to the Garbage Can in front of the Dumpster. Her shot caught the attention of the Monarch Tiger’s commander. Oats watched as the twin 90mm guns slowly turn towards her. Oats heart stopped for a second, she couldn’t bear the thought of being killed by friendly fire.

“Uhh... Oats.. you seeing this?”

“Yes!”

Something clicked in Oats’ head at that very moment. She grabbed the flag Lowblow laid on the ground earlier. She climbed on top of the field gun and let the flag flutter in the breeze. Oats knew one thing, the tank commander would either see the flag or she would die.

- - -

A muffled voice flowed through his ears.

“Am I dead?” he muttered weakly.

He saw a light at the end of a dark tunnel and he remembered the tales everypony would tell about the light at the end of a tunnel.

“I must be dead.”

Again a muffled voice flowed around him. He could not understand what the voice was trying to say. The light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter but something else what happening. He felt colder as the light became brighter. It didn’t make any sense to him.

Again, the voice called to him, but it was clearer this time. He could make out something from it but he couldn’t understand everything the voice said.

“Lance?..” he muttered weakly.

Again the voice called “lance” again.

“Who’s Lance?”

The light became blinding. He felt a horrible chill on the back of his neck as the voice called out to him again.

“Who is this Lance?”

The light consumed him and the voice became as clear as day now.

“Wait... I’m Steel Lance...”

July 4th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Sergeant First Class Steel Lance
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Battalion, Assault Platoon A.

Steel Lance awoke to Smartmouth and Crosskill, his gunner, looking over him. He felt the back of his head, there was a bandage chilled with a bag of ice he was laying on for a bit. He thought to himself;

I must be dead if this is happening...

“¡Luna mío! You had us worried Steel Lance.”

“Ung...” moaned Lance. “What... What happened?...”

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

“Erg... I’d believe anything at this point lass...”

“Hoggish saved your sorry flank.”

“Okay... maybe not anything...”

“Smartmouth was running to her tank when she apparently found Hoggish dragging your ass around.”

“I suppose I owe that poppet an apology...”

Steel Lance slowly lifted himself up, carefully rubbing the back of his head as he stood on his hooves. Crosskill left Steel Lance’s vision as she walked away. Steel Lance slowly shook his head, feeling the soreness of his neck muscles

“Errg... I suppose I should thank you as well, Smartmouth...”

Smartmouth reeled back a little bit, a little more flustered than before.

“Excuse me?”

“Well I doubt that twat could carry me by himself and Crosskill here said that you “found Hoggish dragging my ass around.” So... I’m to assume that you helped drag me to... wherever we are...”

The whopping thud from Steel Lance’s Type S10E3 “Flying Phoenix” made it obvious where Steel Lance was. He could see his tank, the “pudding basin” style turret made by the Neighjing Consortium sticking out of a tank dugout.

“Oh.” said Steel Lance slowly as he walked over to his tank.

“Wait! Are you sure you’re fit for duty?” remarked Smartmouth.

“I’m not dead am I lass?”

“No, but you’re in no shape to fight, Sir.”

Steel Lance grinned a bit knowing this was a chance to mess with Smartmouth. “I didn’t realise you cared about me like that, Smartmouth. What are you looking to get out of a arse like myself?” joked Steel Lance as he ascended the smooth sides of the Flying Phoenix’s turret.

Steele Lance could see Smartmouth’s cheeks blush as she reeled back defensively.

“¡Ai! ¡Yo no quise decir eso! ¡Eres un hijo de puta!” shouted Smartmouth.

Steel Lance couldn’t help but laugh. Although his laughter was stopped by the terrible pain on the back of his head. He rubbed the back of his head and blew Smartmouth a kiss before retreating into the Flying Phoenix’s turret. He heard Smartmouth yelling some possible insults in Spaneighsh but the clanking of the turret hatch shut out any yelling Smartmouth may have been doing. Steel Lance watched as Smartmouth trotted back to her Monarch Tiger in a huff.

The Flying Phoenix shook after it expended another round.

“So what’s going between you and her, sir?” asked Clear Canvas

“Ah I’m just yanking her leg.”

“Sounds like you want to do more than yank her leg, sir.”

Steel Lance felt himself blush a little bit. “Hey! Get back to loading the bloody gun you slacker!!”

Another shot shoot the tank. The steam from the spent shell casing puffed into turret interior.

“What’s the matter? Does someone have a little crush? Well at least you have good taste in mares.”

“Uh... not to interrupt or anything... But we’re about to get over run!” shouted Crosskill.

Steel Lance peered through the cupola sights and saw the wave of Trolls advancing towards his flank.

“Oh bugger... Fire! Fire everything!”

Steel Lance could only watch was the massive wave of Trolls etched slowly towards his position. Rapid thudding of the Flying Phoenix’s twin 2cm flaks were no comfort as every Troll brought down seemed to be replaced by ten more. Even the swath of dead Trolls cut by the Flying Phoenix’s 75mm cannon was filled in with more and more trolls and soon, those Trolls would be climbing all over his tank.

“Back it up! Back up the bloody tank!” Steel Lance shouted to his driver, Sharp Turn.

Sharp Turn lived up to his name. He backed up the Flying Phoenix and performed a very aggressive retreating zig-zag maneuver. The tank rocked and swayed violently and the tank nearly flipped a few times because of the concave tracks.

Crosskill was having a terrible time aiming. Spurts of dirt erupted from the ground from where the flak rounds struck.

Even with the constant motion, Steel Lance managed to catch a glimpse of a King Panther crawling over the concrete trenches.

“I’ve got your back sir!” shouted Jammy over the radio.

“Bloody good timing!” Steel Lance saw another defensive position a few meters behind him. “Sharp! Back us up straight and true for twenty meters!”

“Aye Sir!”

Sharp Turn drove the Fighting Phoenix into the wide concrete trench. Several Equestrian Soldiers were a little confused why a tank wanted to share the trenches with them. From that position, the Fighting Phoenix’s weak hull was again safe from the advancing Troll horde.

“Dumpster! Two o’clock!”

“I’m on it boss!” said Crosskill as she started turning the turret.

Suddenly, a massive explosion overwhelmed the sounds of battle around them. Steel Lance turned his head to the source just in time to see the turret of a VKV fly through the air, trailing fire all the while.

“What the Tartarus was that!?!” cried Canvas as she destroyed the Dumpster.

“One of ours.”

“Did you see that mess, Sir?” shouted Jammy.

“There’s nothing we can do for them lads! But we can be damned sure that the Troll’s won’t win!” shouted Steel Lance as he opened the cupola’s hatch.

“What in Equestria are you doing!?!”

“I’m not going to sit in a chair like a fruit while we’re being overwhelmed!”

Steel Lance reached for his Lugger but it wasn’t there. “Ah bugger...” He looked around for where his pistol could have been, but it wasn’t there. “Crosskill! I need a weapon!”

Crosskill passed her Brownie to Steel Lance. “Be careful with that okay! That’s a vintage!”

Steel Lance pulled back the slide, stood out of the cupola and started pulling the trigger. He didn’t bother aiming. He simply pointed at the horde and shot. The defenders of the line weathered wave after wave of Tolls and it seemed that this wave would finally break the Mareginot Line. Steel Lance knew he had to act, he knew the defenders can’t take the pressure of this surge.

“To all commanders in my platoon! What’s the ammunition count in your tank?”

“We’re about halfway through our ammunition, Sir.” answered Smartmouth grudgingly.

“We’re still fairly stocked, Sir!” shouted Jammy

“We’re still good here, Sir!” responded Clover

“We are almost dry but we can still fight, Sir!” yelled Boulder

“Good! I want you to follow my tank!”

“Wait.. you’re not suggesting?...”

“Yes. We’re going to charge.”

Smartmouth was shocked. She knew Steel Lance had taken a hefty blow to the head, but she didn’t think it affected him like this. “Did that blow to your head drive you loco!?!”

“Think about it Smartmouth, all the Trolls are doing is moving forward... they won’t pay attention to their flanks!”

“You’re crazy! You know that right!?!” shouted Jammy.

“Look! The Line isn’t going to withstand another wave! The only choices we have are to retreat and let them into Equestra! Or we can use our tanks in one final effort to drive back the Trolls!”

Jammy stayed silent over the radio.

“Sharp Turn! Take us forward.”

“Ach. Alright, but if we die, you owe me money laddie!”

Sharp Turn pushed both of the steering sticks forward while chugging a thermos of coffee. The Flying Phoenix lurched forward and out of the trenches. Soldiers in the trenches were confused watching the Flying Phoenix charge forward.

“If we live, I’ll buy you that really expensive coffee you like Sharp!”

“Hey! If you’re going to charge like an idiot, let the Scrapheap take the punishment!” yelled Sgt. Boulder as his tank rolled forward. The Scrapheap rolled over the trenches with surprising grace.

Sgt. Clover let out a deep sigh while closing her eyes. She opened them again with a stern look on her face.“Well I can’t let you guys have all the glory! Roll out!” And with that, Clover’s King Panther backed out of its bunker and moved with the group.

“Celestia salvar nos... I guess somepony has to pull your flank out of trouble Sir.” Smatmouth’s Monarch Tiger trundled forward, guns blazing.

“We’re going to die...” muttered Jammy as he ordered his tank to move with the battle group.

Steel Lance was nervous, he knew his plan was nearly impossible to pull off as simple as it was. He’d always wanted to perform a glorious charge like the knights of old but he wasn’t sure it was the best course of action at the moment. Steel Lance took a deep breath and realised this might buy the Mareginot Line a few more precious moments. His tanks were lined up just past the concrete trenches and behind the barbed wire to their front. They were ready, he was ready.

“Charge everypony! Give these twats a good pounding!”

The five tanks had their engines roar and jolted forward. Steel Lance looked around to see his tanks sending a blistering amount of fire towards the horde. He could see Crosskill sending firing everything the Flying Phoenix could offer. He counted the seconds it took his tank to smash into the wall of flesh. He managed to count ten before his tank started plowing through the Trolls. Steel Lance’s plan seemed to be working, Trolls at the front of the horde reacted to the his charge by dodging, but the Trolls to the read had no idea what was going on. They were caught completely flat footed and couldn’t maneuver to dodge the incoming tanks. Their ranks were so dense that the dead couldn’t fall down unless they were crushed by the tanks.

Despite all the carnage and blood coating his viewports, Steel lance could still see the shapes on tanks unaware to his battle group’s presence.

“Garbage can! At our ten!”

“Yes sir!”

The Flying Phoenix’s motorised turret rotated swiftly and Crosskill was able to destroy the Garbage can despite the twenty or so head that were smashed on the barrel. The Flying Phoenix, along with the other tanks in this suicidal platoon, carved a swath of death running parallel to the Mareginot line. They had completely sent the Trolls into disarray, the Trolls were had lost their momentum, taking precious time to shoot their rifles at the tanks charging. The Entire offensive seemed to bog down as the Trolls who were still charging were killed off and the Trolls distracted with Steel Lance’s tanks proved easy targets for the defending Ponies.

“Target down!”

Steel Lance tried to see what kind of tank he could target next but the second he laid eyes on a Dumpster, the turret was sheared off.

“Bloody good shot on that Dumpster!”

“You hear that Hoggish? The platoon commander just gave you a compliment.”

“I can’t believe this is working!” laughed Jammy.

A few of the tanks assaulting the bunkers of the Mareginot Line started to turn their turrets to fire upon Steel Lance’s tanks.

“Crosskill! Take out the Dumpster!”

Before Crosskill could pull the trigger, the Dumpster managed to fire a shot and Jammy’s King Panther. The round struck where the turret ring and penetrated. Killing Corporal Cloud Runner instantly and starting a fire. Sergeant Jammy and his crew had no time to escape, the fire coated the inside the entire crew compartment. Steel Lance not only watched the flames burst out from ever slit and viewport in the tank, but the screams of the crew members could be heard across the radio. It tore Steel Lance apart, having to watch Jammy, his drive and loader crawl out of the tank, their faces charred and uniforms ablaze. They rolled around for a bit, trying to extinguish the fire but it was no use.

Steel Lance turned to his gunner again. “Damn it! I want that Dumpster dead!”

Moments later the Dumpster was destroyed by a terrible explosion.

“That was for Jammy you bastards!” shouted Steel Lance.

“Uh sir... that wasn’t me.” muttered Crosskill.

Smartmouth’s Monarch Tiger rolled past Steel lance’s tank and crushed another Dumpster. The beautiful sounds of shells bouncing off the Monarch Tiger, along with the sharp metallic protests of the flattening Dumpster gave Steel Lance a small scene of retribution.

“What do you mean that wasn’t you Crosskill?”

“I didn’t kill the Dumpster.”

“It was probably one of the others th-”

A shot tore through a Dumpster’s turret, taking it clean off and went further on to embed itself in a Garbage Can’s ammo rack. The resulting explosion caught Steel Lance’s attention.

“What the bloody hell was that?”

“¡Ay, caramba!” exclaimed Smartmouth. They have anti-tank guns on the hills!”

“Take care of the little blighters!”

“Hoggish! Anti-tank guns on the hill! Thirty five degrees right!”

It was at that time that Boulder saw a small figure appear standing on the anti-tank gun. He couldn’t make out if it was a Troll, but when it let the flag of Equestria blow in the breeze he knew that it wasn’t an enemy.

“WAIT! Tell your gunner to hold fire Smartmouth! Those are friendlies on the hill! HOLD FIRE! I repeat; hold fire!”

But it was too late. Hoggish had already pulled the trigger, sending a 90mm AP shell down towards the gun. It struck a crate of ammo after penetrating the blast shield and the gun, along with the friendly, vanished in a ball of fire. Hoggish regretted doing so, even if he pulled the trigger when Boulder was shouting.

“Ohballsohballsohballsohballsohballs!!!”

“Nice going dumbass! You just killed one of our own!”

“Back off! It was a hard target to see and we couldn’t identify it fast enough!” At the time, Smartmouth didn’t realise it, but she was defending Hoggish.

Steel Lance couldn’t believe it either, he had just ordered one of his tanks to open fire on a friendly. But what’s done is done, and Steel Lance stopped any arguing with one order;

“Now’s not the time for this lads! It was an accident but if we sit here and dally over it we’ll all be killed! Come on now, we have Trolls to nut!”

“Sir!” called out Quick Knob, Steel Lance’s radio operator. “It’s Commander Applejack! She wants to know “what the hell we’re doing”.

“Radio back that I have no idea what I’m doing!”

“Yes sir!”

“Keep the tank moving! We don’t stop until we run out of ammo!”

Fortunately, the battle group didn’t need to expend all of their ammo. The confusion sown by Steel Lance’s Tanks gave the defenders a break and valuable time to regroup, take back positions and reload. The dwindling strength of the Mareginot Line was restored. It wasn’t restored to full strength, but enough to repel the Troll attack. Another tank platoon decided to follow Steel Lance’s example and charged forward from the opposite flank. The Trolls, confused and disorientated by the sudden Equestrian offensive, retreated. The Trolls, not even bothering to take back their anti tank guns and artillery pieces, scrambled back over the hills. Perfectly functional weapons and tanks were simply abandoned.

“We did it!”

“They’re retreating!”

“And don’t come back!”

“We won!”

“No.. We haven’t won... not yet...” Steel Lance rubbed the back of his head, feeling the pain return as his adrenaline wore off. “They’ll be back... they always come back.”

Smartmouth sighed a bit. “If we don’t get help soon, we won’t survive the night.”

July 4th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
First Lieutenant Teatime
8th Canterlot Royal Guard, 1st battalion, Heavy Armor Division

Teatime looked to the skies to see a squadron of Bowing PB-20s flying towards the morning sun. The roar of the massive beast’s four engines resonated through the air, causing the tea in her cup to ripple lightly as a breeze blew across her purple coat and golden mane. She counted at least twenty of the bombers before she looked down to take a sip of tea. Teamtime looked around for a bit, wondering where her loader, Jeevis is. Jeevis, a rather elderly looking white Earth Pony with a grey mane would be fairly difficult to spot if it were not for his formal dining suit. Teatime spotted him as he exited one of the garages in Vanhoover’s Fort Stable.

“Jeevis, my dear, what’s the status of the tanks refueling?”

“The facilities in Fort Stable seem to be inadequate for the number of tanks in our battalion my lady. If the crews work through the night, the entire battalion should be ready to leave by tomorrow’s afternoon.”

Teatime let out a sigh full of discontent. Her day was already full of disappointment. Teamtime had hoped to show off her competence as a commander since her battalion's captain was on leave for being sick to the bone. However, things have not been going her way at all. 1st battalion was forced to drive their tanks to the Mareginot Line since the Imperial Army commandeered many of the transport trains for their own use. She was later forced to leave several of her VKVs behind due to the VKVs shedding their tracks when she received word that the Mareginot Line was under heavy attack and now it seems that their entire battalion would be bogged down due to a fuel shortage in Fort Stable.

“Thank you Jeevis for telling me this.”

“Always a pleasure to serve.” said Jeevis as he climbed into the Type S1E1-F, otherwise known as the “Canterlot Custom”.

“Ach, It’s a damn shame we won’t get ta tha line in time eh lassie?” muttered Lorry Lane, the tank’s driver.

Teatime thought to herself for a bit. “Jeevis, my dear, how many tanks are prepared to move?”

“Only a hoof full, my lady.”

“Then we’re going to move on without them.” Teatime switched her microphone on with a press of her hoof.

“Attention, any tank commanders whose vehicle is fuelled and prepared to fight please be a dear and respond.”

“TANK DESTHROYAH REPORTING!!!” Yelled Loudmouth

Some fumbling noises and static crackling came through Teatime’s headset before Earshot’s voice came through.

“Sorry about that, Earshot here, and we’re ready to move out.”

“Guitar Solo here, ready to move.”

“Loudspark fuelled and ready to move.”

“Ostwind, ready to roll out.”

“Wirbelwind, ready and waiting Panzerfuhrer.”

“Steelplate, reporting.”

“Yeah, this is Lazy Eye here, we’re ready.”

“Yo, do ya even know who you’re talk’n to here Commander? Bonk is always ready!”

“Highlander is ready fer battle!”

After Highlander’s transmission ended, there was a long pause. No other commanders answered Teatime’s call. This was the force Teamtime would lead to aid the Mareginot Line and she knew she couldn’t do it but she could at least buy the line more time.

“Mares and gentlecolts, start your engines and fuel up on rations, we’re leaving for the Mareginot Line.”

“Wait... so you want us to relieve the Mareginot Line with only ten tanks?”

“Ach, I thought ye were a tough lad Loudmouth, or are ye all bark’n no bite.” joked Lorry.

“I suppose that if we wait for the rest of the company, there won’t be a Mareginot line to defend.” sighed Wirbelwind.

“Certainty of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for lads?”

“We’ll show these trolls the what for commander! Just give the word!”

“We’ll push them back!”

“We won’t be able to push them back Lazy eye, there won’t be any Trolls left to throw back!”

For the first time today, Teatime felt like everything was going to be alright, that everything was going right for once. The fervor of her fellow tankers gave Teamtime hope, hope that she really could save the Mareginot Line, even if rushing to aid the defenders would most likely result in failure, it would still buy the rest of the company time to move to assist the defenders. Teatime looked to the skies again. She saw nothing but open orange sky and the occasional whips of a cloud.

“Alright gents! Button up and roll out!”

Teatime ducked into her tank’s turret and locked the hatch as the first jets of smoke spewed out of her tank’s exhaust. The powerful Type S4E1 Engine made by the Neighjing Consortium purred quietly despite its twelve cylinders.

“Lorry, take us to the Mareginot Line.”

Chapter 6: Relieved

Chapter 6: Relieved

July 7th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Sergeant Smartmouth
20th Equestrian Royal Armored Division, C Battalion, Assault Platoon A.

It was a terrible battle. Wrote Smartmouth. They came at us in three waves with a huge barrage of artillery to shake us up. They caught us completely flat hooved when they charged us. The first wave was just a distraction. The Trolls used their most inexperienced warriors as fodder for our weapons. Their second wave was filled with heavy armor and heavy warriors. We were barely able to hold off the first two waves of Trolls. They just came at us like the ocean tides back home. No matter how many bullets we fired, no matter how many shells we used, they just kept coming. Their mass simply absorbed whatever we threw at them. It was awful mi hermana, they used their warriors like shields of meat. They didn’t care about living or dying, they just kept coming. We couldn’t beat them with brute force alone despite having the advantage that our weapons brought us. The thing is, we just couldn’t kill them fast enough. It was just a wall of flesh, constantly regenerating what it lost. Celestia mio. If it weren't for Steel Lance’s idiotic play, I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now. If only you had been there mi hermana.

Smartmouth took a moment to think about what to write next. She stared across the hospital, grey and gloomy clouds looming outside the glass windows. She shifted her eyes over to Tanky, lying motionless in the sterile white bed. Smartmouth was sick with panic when she heard that her friend had been wounded. After the battle, Smartmouth ran to see Tanky in the infirmary and was surprised to see Tanky asking for a can of corn. It has been three days since Tanky was admitted into the infirmary and her recovercy is astounding. She shifted her eyes back to her pen and paper and started writing again, the hard pitter patter of rain

I would have loved to have heard all the terrible things you would have yelled at him. I tried but I could never live up to your name and reputation. We should have pulled back though. We should have regrouped at one of the fortresses farther back. At least at those fortresses we could have consolidated our defenses. Still though, the charge Steel Lance threw me, my crew and several tanks into probably did save the Mareginot Line. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but despite Steel Lance’s apparent arrogance... and stupidity, he’s quite brilliant but he’s still stupid. He is smarter than he acts… or looks. After the charge, the Trolls retreated in force. They left a lot of equipment behind. Tanks, guns, artillery, it didn’t matter. They just ran for it. We knew they were going to attack again though.

It was Commander Applejack’s idea to salvage every functional piece of Troll equipment.I was a little surprised that the Trolls weren't using a box with nails in it but they do indeed have some very functional equipment. I saw the soldiers create some really clever defenses. Troll automatic rifles planted into the ground that could fire with the pull of a string, Garbage cans and Dumpsters used as static defenses and the bayonets from Troll rifles mixed with the barbed wire. All this would have been for nothing if it weren't for Lieutenant Teatime and her small platoon of tanks.

A light moan from Tanky stole Smartmouth’s attention.

“Did you sleep well?” asked Smartmouth softly.

“No...”

“Do you need more pain killers?”

“No, it’s not the pain that’s the problem.”

“Then what’s the problem, Tanky?”

“I’m hungry.”

Smartmouth wasn’t surprised. She let out a small chuckle. “Well I can go grab you something, I’m pretty hungry too.”

“Do the cooks make any steamed corn and that spaghetti? OH! And can you check to see if they have any toast?”

“Tanky, you know the doctors don’t want you to eat a lot right?”

“Feh, the bullet didn’t hit anything important. Why shouldn’t I be able to eat what I want?”

“Tanky, the bullet barely missed your heart and esophagus...”

“Like I said, nothing important. Besides, the healing potions did their job.”

“You still need to give the healing potions time to do their work.” said Smartmouth as she placed her pen and paper on the night stand.

“A can of corn and I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then, I’ll see what they have.” Smartmouth stood up and brushed her skirt a bit.

“Can you get me something as well lass?” asked Steel Lance weakly.

“Are you still nauseous? I’m sure the nurses wouldn’t want to clean up your puke again.”

“Give me a break lass, I have a concussion.”

“If you’re just going to puke up the food I bring back I might as well not get you any at all.” said Smartmouth started as she started to walk towards the infirmary's exit.

“Good to know you care, lass…”

She had to walk past Jammy, who was completely covered in healing bandages. No pony could believe that Jammy had survived but he did. The same can’t be said for the countless others that fell the day before. Outside the infirmary was an even grimmer reminder of the terrible cost of defending the Mareginot Line. Rows of wooden caskets drape with the shining flag of Equestria. Smartmouth had attended the ceremony to honor the fallen only hours before. Several ponies were still there, mourning the loss of their comrades in arms. The only relief being was a tarp protecting them from the pouring rain.

Smartmouth made her way down a crowded corridor after entering one of the blockhouses. She hadn’t seen this many troops during her stay at the Mareginot Line. Once wide and open corridors were packed with troops trying to escape the bombardment of rain outside. They were stallions and mares from the 24th and 12th Imperial Rifle divisions, soldiers of the 3rd Imperial armor brigade and finally, the 8th Canterlot Royal Guard’s heavy armor division.

She waded through the packs of soldiers and entered the steamy mess hall. The chefs there were working around the clock, preparing meals to feed the over garrisoned line. Smartmouth recognized one of the chefs as the friendly Hoggish apparently killed with the Monarch Tiger’s 90mm guns. Smartmouth knew that Oats had already pardoned her, but she still felt despicably guilty about the whole ordeal. She managed to get several bowls of corn and a few slices of buttered bread before bumping into the purported mastermind of the final defense of the Mareginot Line, Teatime .

“Oh! Smartmouth! It’s a pleasure to see you again dear.”

“Likewise, Ma’am.”

“Are you really going to eat all of that?”

“Not all of it. Most of this is for Tanky.”

“Ah, yes. The little red Earth Pony you admitted into the infirmary a few days ago?”

Smartmouth gave a quick nod.

Teatime examined the tray of food. She was a little disturbed by how much there was. ”Your friend, Tanky, she can consume all of this food?”

“Some of this is for me, but yes, Tanky can eat a lot.

“Are you serious? Your friend can consume all of this sustenance?”

“She can eat all of this and more, Ma’am.”

“Ung! How can anypony stand this dreadful cooking! The food here is positively horrid! I don’t think I could even call it food.”

“I know... But it beats starving.”

“I for one cannot wait to return to Canterlot. The rations here are simply dreadful and don’t even get me started on the tea…”

“Well why didn’t you bring more of your own tea, Ma’am?”

Teatime’s expression changed drastically. Her normal posh expression had turned into a look positively bleeding with hatred. “I did. However, I lost the only cursed bag of my oh so precious Dragon Root Tea leaves as they spilled all over the floor of the Biscuit Queen.”

Smartmouth remembered when Teatime screamed over the radio about the bag of tea leaves. Teatime and the remnants of the 20th ERAD's tanks positioned themselves at the bottom of the hills leading to the Mareginot Line. It was there that Teatime’s highly risky strategy paid off. She used the dull wit and mob mentality of the Trolls against them. When the Trolls crested the hill, they didn’t even bother to stop to attack the tanks in front of them, they only wanted to rush the line as they did two waved before. A few of the Trolls finally caught on and attacked the tanks. It was then when a Dumpster’s round struck the thickly armored turret of Teatime’s Canterlot Custom. The round bounced off harmlessly, but shook the tank enough to send Teatime’s treasured bag of Dragon’s Scale Leaves onto the floor where the spent shell casings cook each leaf into a black char. She also remembered hearing perhaps the greatest five minutes of insulting she had ever heard in her life come out of Teatime.

“Well your tank did take a fairly bad hit.”

“Oh please, if there’s one thing the Fjord Company does right, it’s making armor impenetrable.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself, Ma’am. Plus the inside of your tank smells like tea now, Si?”

Teatime seemed unamused at Smartmouth’s comment. The expression on her face caused Smartmouth to become uneasy to the point where she was nervous

.

Teatime raised an eyebrow. “Do you think having the inside of my tank smell like Dragon Root Tea is a good thing?” she said with a voice heavy with disapproval.

Smartmouth really was nervous now. She clearly had struck a sensitive point with Lieutenant Teatime. “Uh… I was just looking on the bright side of things ma’am. I mean… some good must have come out of losing your tea leaves. Isn’t that why you mustered that… err… speech?”

Teatime grunted a little. “It wasn’t a speech dear. It was more of a sudden outburst of hatred and it was hardly lady like of me to do so. Even if my banter was true regarding the opponents we were facing, it was highly uncivil of me to do so.”

“Well it certainly kept the other tanks in line.” said Smartmouth with a light, if not nervous, chuckle.

“Indeed and it was a pleasure talking to you, but I must return to the Biscuit Queen. Cheerio.”

Smartmouth gave Teatime a salute before watching Teamtime slide her way out of the mess hall. She picked up three bowls of spaghetti from soldiers who couldn’t stand the horridly bland flavor of the army noodles and ketchup. She made her way back to the infirmary, laden with food. These foods were instantly picked up by Tanky’s (surprisingly) keen sense of smell.

Without looking Tanky listed every item that Smartmouth had brought in before Smartmouth had set hoof in the infirmary.

“Six bowls of corn, three bowls of spaghetti and… four slices of buttered bread.”

Now Smartmouth was impressed by that. She set down the tray on the night stand after tank brushed the paper and pens onto her bed. Tanky picked up one of the bowls of corn, it appeared to be very watery with what Tanky would describe as “soft kernels”.

“Here, give this one to the guy with the brain injury.” Said Tanky as she lifted the bowl of corn.

“I heard that you poppet.”

“You may also want to feed him with a spoon. Make sure he doesn’t move his head.”

“Since when did you know how to treat concussion patients Tanky?” asked Smartmouth quizzically.

“My Daddy likes to talk a lot and I like to listen to him.”

Smartmouth carefully lifted the bowl of corn from Tanky’s hooves. “Ah yes, your father is a member of the Five Hundred and First Marines, yes?” She walked over to Steel Lance’s bed, pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. She took a small scoop of the watery corn and let Steel Lance sip the contents from the spoon.

“You know, I’ve had a dream similar to this…” muttered Steel Lance. “Except an angel of a mare was feeding me honey and not some bloody awful corn…”

The sounds of planes thundered outside, drowning out the rain tacking on the glass windows for a brief moment. Their low rumble caused the wooden floors to vibrate a little.

Smartmouth was a little unprepared to hear something that deep from Steel Lance. He was comparing her to an angel. Smartmouth wasn’t sure if this was actually Steel Lance talking, or the concussion. She had always thought Steel Lance as a bully who enjoyed poking her for reactions. It just didn’t seem right.

“If you can tough out a concussion you can tough out some corn poor baby.” chuckled Smartmouth as she readied another spoon full of corn.

Again, Steel Lance sipped the contents of the spoon weakly. “Oh… you were right to tell me I shouldn’t eat too much…”

“Feeling nauseous?”

“Bloody nuisance this is…”

“Ghret shome shweep, yurr bue fane.” said Tanky with her mouth full.

“Tanky! We’re been over this.”

Tanky swallowed everything in her mouth with a huge gulp. “I said, “Get some Sleep, you’ll be fine.”” Tanky then proceeded to lick the ketchup off of the ceramic bowl and stack it with the other bowls neatly on the tray. “Hey, if you won’t eat that corn, can I have it?”

“Bah… take it… I think I’m going to blow a chunk…” moaned Steel Lance.

Smartmouth took the bowl of corn to Tanky who then downed the whole bowl in the time it took Smartmouth to sit down. She looked to the nightstand to see that there was a bowl of corn and a slice of buttered bread still there.

“Thanks for leaving me some.”

“Eh, you said you were hungry before you left. I assumed you’d eat about that much like you normally do.”

“Heh. Thanks Tanky.”

“Not a problem but I’m the one who should be thanking you. You’re the one who got me the food after all.”

And with that, Tanky flopped her head on the pillow, took a deep sigh and fell asleep almost instantly. Smartmouth picked up her pen and paper again just as Chalkboard entered the room. Chalkboard tiphoofed quietly up to Smartmouth. She was well aware that there were plenty of sleeping ponies in the infirmary.

“Hey Smartmouth, how’s Tanky doing?”

“Hungry as always. I mean, she just downed a whole tray of food.”

Chalkboard quietly chuckled a little. “Good to know not even a bullet can change her attitude.”

“It’s surprising how well she’s taking it though. I mean despite her small size and nearly getting shot in the heart, she keeps stating that it’s not a big deal.”

Chalkboard cocked her head to the left as if she wasn’t confused enough already. “You’re kidding me right? I mean she’s following the doctor’s orders right?”

Smartmouth pointed at the neat stack of nearly clean bowels on the nightstand. “That’s five bowls of corn, three bowls of the ketchup noodles and three slices of buttered toast.”

“You’re kidding right? She should really listen to what the doctors tell her.”

“I don’t know about that, Tanky’s condition has improved greatly since she started eating real food instead of those supplements the doctors keep telling her to eat. I mean ever since she asked that nurse for a soda, she simply IS better than she was.”

Chalkboard chuckled again. “I remember that.” Chalkboard tried to mimic the face she saw on Tanky the night before. “Hey nurse, I want a soda and none of that diet crap.”

Smartmouth couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Oh that was great.”

“Well what about you? How are you holding up, Smartmouth?”

“Well I’ve been better for sure, but I can’t say I’m doing bad. What about yourself?”

“Well after the grease monkeys looked at my tank, they found a clogged cyclone filter, a broken transmission gear box and several burst pistons… That’s why my tank stalled out on the battle field.”

“Really? I legitimately thought that your tank was hit.”

“It certainly felt like it.”

“Did Commander Applejack requisition a new tank for you?”

“Actually yes, my crew and I will be inside of a Scrapheap. I’ve also been placed under your command, as a replacement for poor Jammy.”

A frown started to grow on Smartmouth’s face. “What happened to the rest of your platoon?”

“Most of their tanks were knocked out during the first two waves. The platoon I belonged to was so undermanned that Applejack disbanded it and filled the ranks of other platoons.”

“Well it’s good to know that you’ll be my wingpony. It’s still upsetting that your platoon had to be disbanded.”

Chalkboard looked down at the floor for a bit. A feeling of guilt washed over her, like she thought that she didn’t do enough for her platoon. Like it somehow was her fault. Smartmouth could see her slump a bit.

“I should go. I’m supposed to inspect my new tank when it arrives by rail. It’s a shame that I didn’t catch Tanky while she was awake.”

“Well, goodbye then, Chalkboard. It was good talking to you again.”

Chalkboard quietly turned around and left the infirmary without making a sound. Her new tank was due to arrive soon and she would have to become acquainted with the new interior. Her crew would have to relearn in necessary steps to operate this new tank. It was going to be a pain getting used to all the new features and Smartmouth knew it. She looked down and started to become ever more focused on her pen and paper once again.

Teatime’s tanks were few, but they brought supplies that we really needed. Teatime’s insight was invaluable and when her tactical genius met Steel Lance’s sheer insanity. The result was a brilliant plan that allowed us to hold the line until reinforcements relieved the line. What we did, mi Hermana, was park our tanks at the base of the hill just outside the Mareginot Line. Teatime proposed that the Trolls would be so focused on attacking the Mareginot Line’s concrete structures, they wouldn’t notice the tanks at the bottom of the hill. Commander Applejack didn’t think it was a good idea at all, although Steel Lance eventually pushed the strategy though. I’m sure it was the injury to his head that caused him to think that was a good idea. But as loco as it was… I can’t argue with the results. Every medium and heavy tank we had waited at the bottom of the hills while the tank destroyers of the battalion stood defending the line.

When the Trolls crested the hill, it was a massacre. Everypony inside those tanks opened fire with all their machine guns. When the Trolls brought their armor up and over the hill, we shot them with the main guns. It was just like Lieutenant Teatime said, the Trolls were all looking at the Mareginot Line when cresting the hills and trying desperately to close the distance. It was only when they ran into our tanks did they finally notice them. Not like they could do anything about it. Their assault was slowed down more than enough for our soldiers to keep them at bay. This time, unlike the last two waves, we didn’t even lose a single pony to them.

We came close to losing the tanks at the bottom of the hill though. Eventually, the pressure of the Troll’s horde simply became too much and we risked being overwhelmed. While we were reversing the tanks, Chalkboard, you know? The mare I wrote about last time who knows everything about history? Her tank appeared to have been knocked out by a shell, but the mechanics found out that it was a number of problems with her tank’s engine. Teatime’s tank was also hit but the round simply bounced off the fjord made turret. Apparently that shot caused her to lose a bag of Dragon’s Root Leaves. Oh but the speech she gave about how Trolls were nothing but mindless monsters with no civility really put some of your rants to shame mi hermana.

I wish you could have been there to see it, mi hermana. I swear, it will be one of those moments in history that future generations will read about in history books. The day the Mareginot Line failed to collapse. Regardless, the cost for defending the Line was too high. We simply weren’t ready. We were just so caught up in the Mareginot Line’s apparent invincibility. I hope the ponies at the Ever Siegfree Line are taking their duties far more seriously than we did.

I hope to see you soon. Also Loudmouth says hola.

Love Smartmouth.

Smartmouth folded her letter up and slipped it inside an envelope. She had always hated licking the water activated glue on envelopes and quickly scribbled an address on the envelope before sealing it.

Hmm… Where was the post office in the place again? Smartmouth thought to herself.

She stood up from her chair and quietly exited the infirmary, looking back at Tanky and Steel Lance before stepping outside again. The rain hadn’t stopped and it was still as gloomy as ever. Fortunately, she found the post office to be in the building next to the infirmary. She gave her letter to the post mare, an odd pony with walled eyes, yellow mane and a grey coat. The post office was the last place Smartmouth expected Commander Applejack to be.

“Howdy there Sergeant.”

“Commander!” said Smartmouth as she tightened her posture and gave a snappy salute. “I didn’t expect you to be here!”

“Well Ah gotta know if lil’ Applebloom had burned down the barn somehow.”

“Applebloom, Ma’am?”

“Mah younger sister.”

“You have a younger sister too?”

“Eeyup. Is that who you’re send’n yer letter too? You got a little snicker doodle wait’n back home?”

“Well no, she’s actually stationed on the Ever Siegfree Line.”

“Hot diggity, is yer entire family in tha military?”

“Almost everpony, yes.”

“Well Ah’m sure ya’ll are a mighty fine bunch.”

Smartmouth laughed a little. “If only Ma’am. We’re completely dysfunctional junta.”

“Well, that’s what makes ya’ll a family. There ain’t a family that doesn’t works like gears in a coo-coo clock.”

“You certainly got a point there Ma’am.”

It was then when the intercom filled the air with ill news.

‘ATTENTION, ALL MEMBERS OF THE TWENTIETH ERAD, FIFTH GRENADIERS AND EIGHTH CRG ARE TO REPORT TO THE ASSEMBLY AREA IMMEDIATELY!!!’

“Aww cowpies... Someth’n must be really wrong...

“What do you think is happening?” said Smartmouth as she opened the post office’s door.

Applejack trotted past the door. “Someth’n big. Ah’m think’n another invasion.”

While the two exited the post office, they were greeted by Tanky, still in her hospital gown.

“Where’s the assembly area guys?”

Smartmouth was shocked. “Tanky! You should been in bed! You’re not well!”

“Bah, I’m not going to let something as small as getting shot stop me.”

“Ehh... Ah don’t exactly think yer fit fer service there, Tanky.”

“What do you mean? I’ve been fine since yesterday.”

Applejack and Smartmouth were stunned at Tanky’s apparent recovery.

“No way. It takes months to recover from a gunshot, Tanky.”

Tanky showed the two the area where the Equestrian bullet entered her body. It has completely healed and Tanky showed no signs of damage.

“Wait... how...”

“Eh.” grunted Tanky. “It runs in my family. My mother always told me to never underestimate the medicinal properties of food.”

“Ah don’t believe it, but Ah can’t deny it... Get suited up Tanky and head down Corridor six. Ya can’t miss the assembly area. Ah mean it’s a giant concrete theater.”

“Yes Ma’am!” shouted Tanky as she bolted to the barracks.

“Come on, Smartmouth! We gotta move!”

“Si, Señora!”

_ _ _

July 7th, 8th year of the Age of the Princesses
Staff Sergeant Badmouth
10th Imperial Armored Corp, 2nd Battalion, “Chuckles” Company

It was a disaster. The Trolls that attacked the Ever Siegfree Line attacked with strength and organization that was not shown at the Mareginot Line. It was clear that they were learning, but this attack was too sudden. It was too well coordinated, it was too sudden and it was too successful. The Trolls stormed the Ever Siegfree Line in one wave. They completely routed the three divisions there. But in the confusion of retreat, there stands a few pockets of resistance.

“Fall back! The Siegfree has been breached! Fallback!”

“IF I SEE ANY OF YOU PUNTAS BACK UP MORE THAN A CENTIMETER, I’LL SHOOT YOU MYSELF!!!” shouted Badmouth at a riflepony.

“But, but!”

“I don’t want any of YOUR WHINING!”

“But Ma’am! Our position is about to be overrun!” shouted Yu Turn as she began to panic. “We have to leave!”

“I’ll have none of that in my tank! If you want to live! You have to fight for it!”

“Oh I’ll do more than fight Ma’am! I’ll make these damn Troll wish their whole race was extinct!” gloated Two Punch as he sighted in a group of Trolls. “Hey! Greasy! Load another high explosive in gun two!”

“On it!”

“That’s what I like to hear! Keep up the good work boys!”

Two Punch fired gun one on the Monarch Tiger. The armor piercing round came singing out of the barrel. The orchestra of death that it caused seemed to do little against this wave of green. It cut through the Troll ranks, only to be absorbed by the mass of flesh.

“Load another HE in gun one!”

“Round loaded Punch!”

Punch squeezed both triggers this time. The recoil of both of the 90mm guns caused the massive Monarch Tiger to rear up a good meter. It came down just as quickly with a crash of metal. Two Punch observed the damage from his range finder. There was a large dent in the Troll lines and a fine red mist clouding the battlefield. The damage seemed great, but the wall of Trolls simply moved up and in. Nothing seemed to be denting the Troll’s numbers.

The rifleponies began to retreat. They started their dash towards the fortress line. Some simply ran for it. Others tried to shoot on the retreat. It didn’t matter at this point however. The Ever Siegfree Line was breached through and through.

Elbow Grease, the loader in Badmouth’s tank, panicked “This is crazy! You’re crazy! We’re going to die!”

“We are not going to die you cobardes! Keep fighting!”

Just as Badmouth finished her banter, a shell penetrated the front of her Monarch Tiger. It killed Static Stick, the radio operator instantly.

Yu Turn was plastered in Static Stick’s blood. In her panic, she pulled the drive sticks back. The tank lurched back, throwing the Monarch Tiger’s aim off and angering Badmouth.

“Ay! Luna mio! What are you doing!?! I told you to keep the tank where it is!”

“If we stay we’re going to die!”

Another blast rocked the Monarch Tiger. The Troll’s artillery strikes were zoning in and they were getting far more accurate with each strike. Clouds of pulverized concrete and huge balls of fire surrounded Badmouth’s tank.

“Get this tank moving forward private! We will fight and we will die for Equestria and if you don’t move this tank forward I wi-“

Badmouth’s banter was interrupted by the sound of knocking. The knocking came from the commander cupola’s hatch which confused Badmouth. She slowly opened the hatch only to come face to face with a strange grey Pegasus with wall eyes.

“What in Tatarus are you doing!?! Can’t you see there’s a war going on!?!”

“I brought you a letter!” said the Pegasus with a smile. She promptly gave Smartmouth’s letter to Badmouth.

“Uh… thanks I guess…”

“Oh you’re welcome! Well I gotta fly!” and like that the Pegasus was gone.

Badmouth closed the hatch, locked it and popped open the letter while thinking about how stupid the mail mare was for not noticing the battle. She poured over its contents, seemingly ignorant to her surroundings. Her crew carried out the actions they were previously doing. The Monarch Tiger was still retreating, the guns were still firing.

“Shut up and keep loading! This is from my sister and I’m going to read it before I die. Do you hear me soldier!?!”

Elbow Grease lost his nerve. The thought of Badmouth yelling at him caused more fear in his heart than the impending Troll Horde. He didn’t even know why. It was something in her voice that instilled a panic in every fiber in his body.

“YES MA’AM! SORRY MA’AM”

“Mmm hmm, damn right you are.” grunted Badmouth as she went back to reading. She focused on the letter to the point where she seemed unaware of what was going on around her. Only when Badmouth finished the letter, did she look up out of cupola’s viewports.

“Yu Turn, keep on our current course for another four hundred meters. We’re falling back.”

“M-m-Ma’am?” mumbled Yu Turn nervously.

“You heard me! We’re moving to the fortress line! We can establish a perimeter there.”

“But but but you told us-”

“You’re retreating like a pansy anyway! Keep the tank moving backwards and I might just compliment you!”

Badmouth looked out of her cupola again to see the horde rapidly approaching. Bullets from the Troll’s crude rifles and other forms of ramskacle weapons bounced harmlessly off of the Monarch Tiger’s armor. She almost started to yell a command at her radio operator before she realised that the radio operator was dead. Badmouth, as much as she dreaded doing so, started to climb into the radio operator’s compartment. Static Stick’s bloody corpse gave Badmouth a moment of pause. The sight of the hole dripping with blood and organ paste in Static Stick’s waist made Badmouth sick to her stomach but she mustered the strength to take of his headset and start screening the radio channels. Eventually, she found what she was looking for. A burst of radio static filled Badmouth’s ears before she finally tuned in to the correct frequency. She knew even in retreat there was still something that she could do. A blast from the Monarch Tiger’s 90mm gun rocked the tank, as Badmouth finally dialed in to the correct channel. The blast caused her to fumble a little, but she still heard the message.

“This Sergeant Skyfire! Is anypony out there! Anypony! We need coordinates! Our neighblewerfers are loaded and ready to fire! Anypony! Please! Respond!”

“This is Sergeant First Class Badmouth, I read you loud and clear!”

“Finally! I’ve been trying to raise somepony for-”

“I don’t care for your life’s story, Sergeant! I need you to fire at these coordinates...” Badmouth took a peek through the hole where a Troll 50mm shell penetrated. She carefully looked for any terrain features that would help her deduce a location on the map. She knew the tank was about five hundred meters behind the line for fortifications. There was a hill to her left and there was nothing but flat pasture around the tank. “Grid, seven, three, four, five, three, six. Direction, four, eight, oh, oh. Drop four hundred! Target, A whole damn swarm! FIRE FOR EFFECT!”

A few seconds later, the terrible screeching of the neighblewerfers echoed in the distance. The screaming rockets came crashing to the battlefield with stunning speed. The ripple fired rockets laid waste to the Troll Horde as they clamored out of the smoking ruins of the Ever Siegfree. Massive fireballs, mists of pulverised concrete and chunks of white hot steel flew out of this devastated portion of the line. The destruction was total. Badmouth’s tank was not under fire anymore but seeing how bullets and cannons did little to quell the Troll’s numbers, the rocket strike will only hold them back for a short time.

Badmouth put the radio headset on again. “Target hit. Good job.”

“HA! We got them good!” Shouted the gunner.

“No. They’re still coming. This battle isn’t over yet.”

_ _ _