Titans of war

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Epilogue

Chapter 1

Alexander wiped the back of his neck. Sweat beaded down his face from the extreme temperatures of the deserts in Afghanistan that were near unbearable. He pulled out his flask and took a small sip of the piss warm water.

“Ugh…” He groaned to himself. For the last few days, headquarters had sent several mechanized platoons out on reconnaissance missions to search for Al-Qaeda. “Reconnaissance in a tank… that makes sense… bastards are probably sipping cold lemonade right now…” Alex muttered to himself.

“What’s that?” Jackson asked. Jackson was the crew’s cannon loader. He had a rather deep tan skin colour with blue eyes and short hair. Alex looked down to Jackson.

“Nothing… just saying…” Alex replied. The driver hatch opened and a pale skinned man peeked out and removed his helmet.

“Jesus… it’s hot in that thing!” He gasped as he began to wipe sweat from his forehead and took a large drink from his canteen. This was Deny, he was fresh out of training and was the tank driver.

“Yeah man, didn’t they tell you about this in basic training.” Laughed another voice from inside the tank. The voice belonged to that of James. He was the crew’s gunner and he was damned good at it.

“All of you shut up!” Alex hissed as he brought the pair of binoculars back up to his face and peered into the distance. It was getting late and they’d have to report back soon. “Well this was a waste of time.” Alex muttered.

James chuckled. “Ain’t it always a waste of time?” He replied snidely. Alex shut the hatch on the tank.

“You know James, you’d be the perfect tanker if it wasn’t for that damn mouth of yours.” He stated. “Driver, forward!” Alex ordered.

“Ai, Ai, captain!” James remarked, resulting in Alex giving him a cold glare. After a few more moments, Deny operated the controls and the tank started before it began lumbering forwards.

“This day couldn’t possibly get any shittier.” Alex muttered to himself.

“Sure, it could start raining.” James replied jokingly. Alex gave him another cold glare. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop with the jokes… for now.” He chuckled as the tank continued along. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and they all flinched as they brought their hands up to block the blindingly bright blue light.

After what seemed like hours, Alex groaned to himself as he regained consciousness. “What the hell happened?! Driver, what’s going on, report!” Alex ordered.

“Uhm… I don’t know sir… everything seems fine except… satellite imagery.” Deny replied. Alex groaned to himself, the last thing he needed was electronic failures.

“I’d rather be facing a battalion of tanks.” He muttered to himself. “What does it look like outside?” Alex asked. Deny checked the digital imagery screens.

“Dark…” He replied. Alex groaned, figuring that perhaps the screens were busted too.

“Alright… sit tight.” Alex ordered as he unholstered his Beretta M9 from its holster and cautiously opened the hatch slightly. It was blindingly dark outside and Alex couldn’t see past the tip of the tank’s main cannon. “Shit… where are we…” He whispered before sliding back down into his seat and sealing the hatch.

“Driver, let’s roll out of here, double time!” He ordered. Deny nodded then quickly fidgeted with several switches before the tank started. The M1 Abrams tank began treading through a dark and gloomy forest.

“When the fuck did Afghanistan get forests?” Jackson asked.

“Just shut up and stay focused.” Alex hissed. Jackson quickly silenced himself and did as his commander asked. After only a few minutes, the tank rolled out into an orchard pasture and stopped.

“Driver, why are we stopping?” Alex asked.

“Sir… you might uhm… want to look at this.” Deny replied. Alex groaned to himself. It was bad enough he had to be crammed into a tank with three other men, but maneuvering inside it was an entirely new level.

He squirmed down to the driver compartment and looked to the screen Deny was pointing to. On the night vision screen there was what looked to be a horse in a cape… with a horn.

“What-the-fuck!” Alex muttered. “Gunner… eleven o’clock!” Alex ordered.

“Wait!” Deny yelled and Alex looked to him with a stern look. “It’s just an animal.” Deny replied. Alex motioned for James to shoot anyways. “Wait! It isn’t armed and hasn’t engaged us… we can’t engage it yet.” Deny told his commander. Alex grimaced to himself. The rules of engagement had cost him part of his past he never wanted to lose.

“It’s just a stupid animal!” Alex hissed but Deny silently pleaded for him not to end the creature’s life. “Fine! So what the fuck do you think it wants?” He asked and Deny simply shrugged.

“Maybe it’s just grazing… you know, like a horse or something.” He replied.

“Uhm sir… what the hell is that thing?” James asked as he homed in his shot.

“It’s…” Alex trailed off. He didn’t want to say unicorn. That would make him feel foolish. Everyone knew that unicorns weren’t real. Suddenly the unicorn lept to its hindlegs and fired a magical blast into the air that illuminated the entire pasture.

“SHIT! FIRE!” Alex ordered.

“NO, DON’T SHOOT!” Deny ordered and Alex gave him a pissed look. “Commander, it’s not shooting at us…” He stated.

“Hey, do I shoot this thing or not?” James asked, confused about whether he should just shoot the thing like his commander ordered, or listen to rules of engagement. Besides, the military doesn’t exactly approve of killing wild animals with tank ammunition. Alex looked to Deny then scoffed before drawing out his pistol.

“FINE! I’ll get it to move.” Alex scowled before carefully opening the driver hatch. “Are there any other heat signals?” Alex asked.

Deny checked the monitors. “Just that… thing.” He replied. Alex took another quick glance then disembarked his tank and began to cautiously approached the blue unicorn.

“HAIL, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!” It screamed. Alex immediately brought his pistol up and leveled his green luminescent sights with her head, though it freaked him out that she could talk, he was more cautious about her yelling. “The great and powerful Trixie has summoned you here to…” She began but Alex cut her short.

“Wait, what?!” He asked, beginning to think that perhaps he was having some weird dream.

“Don’t interrupt Trixie! As she was saying, she has summoned you here to defeat Twilight Sparkle, who has made a fool of me for the last time! Now come forth my demon minions, for we have work…” She scowled before Alex once again cut her short.

“Whoa, what?! Hold on, did you just call me a demon minion?! I ain’t no stinkin minion, I’m a human!” Alex replied angrily.

“Wait… so you’re not a demon… NO!” Trixie screeched as she fell to her knees. “Now Trixie shall never be able to beat that tyrant Twilight Sparkle and her dictator leader Celestia!” She scowled, furiously angry at both of the mares.

“Wait… did you say… tyrannical dictator?” Alex asked curiously. Trixie looked up to him and nodded. “Are they… terrorists?” He asked and Trixie tilted her head to one side.

“What are terrorists?” She asked and Alex wanted to hit himself.

“You know… like, the people who do bad things that hurt other people.” He explained bluntly, figuring if he went into detail then she’d probably just get confused.

Trixie thought to herself. ‘Twilight’s actions did cause me to work at a rock farm… and that did cause blisters and calluses on my hooves. “If that is what a terrorist is… than yes, Twilight is a terrorist!” She announced.

Alex’s eyes went wide. “Where are we?” He asked and Trixie facehoofed.

“In Equestria!” She announced and Alex looked around. He had no idea where Equestria was or how close it was to his base, but if there were terrorists in the area, than he needed to dispatch of them.

“Do you know where these terrorists are?” Alex asked and Trixie nodded. He turned back to his tank and motioned for them to drive over. Deny paced the tank up to them and Alex got into his commander seat. He kept the hatch open and looked to Trixie.

“Lead the way!” He announced and she nodded. Trixie joyfully lead the tank towards Ponyville and as the tank neared the town limits, Alex ordered Deny to stop the tank.

“Where do the terrorists reside?” He asked and Trixie thought to herself before painfully remembering everypony watching her as Twilight had to remove the Ursa Minor, making an absolute fool of her.

“Everypony in this town is a… what did you call it, terrormist?” She asked.

Alex’s jaw dropped as she told him the information. “Everyone… is a terrorist in that town?” He asked and she nodded.

“Sir, awaiting orders.” Jackson replied. Alex thought to himself. It could be some sort of trap… but then again perhaps he’d be awarded an official commendation for eliminating an entire town of terrorists.

“Driver, contact HQ!” Alex ordered. Deny quickly went to work with the radio.

“The line’s dead sir.” He replied back. Alex looked to the town, it wasn’t all that large. Generally their orders would be to avoid engagement alone but Alex knew for sure that they could do it.

“Are there any innocent civilians?” Alex asked Trixie, again forcing her to remember painful memories.

“NO! They are all evil!” She replied. Alex gulped and offered her his hand.

“Quick, get in!” He ordered, not wanting to harm his new informant. She was about a human’s size but it was a little awkward for her to fit in the tank, mostly because it was already crammed.

“Driver: forward, gunner: get ready!” Alex ordered. Suddenly, Deny spotted a figure on the screen display.

“Sir, we’ve got contact… but they aren’t armed sir…” He stated.

Alex quickly recalled a painful memory. The screams of his men echoed in his mind. “FIRE!” Alex ordered.

“WHAT!? Sir, what about the rules of engagement?! We don’t know that these are terro…” Deny was cut off when Alex ordered for a second time.

“Dammit, I said shoot, James goddammit, shoot already!” He ordered. James operated the tank gun and swiveled it towards a building and fired. The M68 105mm rifled cannon fired and the high explosive round erupted against a building near the so called ‘terrorist’.

The building quickly crumbled and fell to the ground. Trixie gasped as the deafeningly loud noise rang in her ears. “What was that?! What’s happening?” She screamed. Alex didn’t answer and instead began to operate the remote M2 heavy machinegun that was mounted to the turret.

The .50 caliber began to chatter as it spat out lead death that splattered anypony in the streets that Alex saw. “WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” Trixie screamed as she covered her ears.

“We’re getting rid of the terrorists.” Deny replied unsurely as he drove the tank further into town. He spotted some sort of flying horse. “In the sky, nine o’clock!” Deny ordered. Alex swiveled the gun towards the target and fired. In moments the pegasus was cut to shreds and was followed by a loud eruption as James fired another round from the main cannon.

Another house fell in a pile of rubble as the 105mm shell blew the home apart. Ponies began to scamper around in the streets, screaming wildly at the horror that was unfolding. “SIR! THESE DON’T SEEM LIKE TERRORISTS, THEY AREN’T FIRING BACK!” Deny yelled.

Alex scoffed at Deny’s warning. ‘I’ve been in this game longer than he has, how does he know what a terrorist even looks like, let alone what they act like when you get the jump on them.’ “We just got the jump on them, they don’t know what to do… they are definately terrorists, relax Deny.” Alex replied as he swiveled the remote gun to a building and fired.

The mighty gun spat out rounds that shattered apart the sides of the building before James fired the main gun and took the building down. Deny watched in horror as they annihilated the town.

He continued to drive the tank along the streets but had to grimace in repute when he saw innocent ponies being riddled by shots from either the main cannon or the machinegun.

The tank approached a street where a lone tree stood that had been converted into a dwelling. “Makeshift home… eleven o’clock!” Alex ordered. James fired the main cannon and the tree home was blown away into a pile of rubble.

“Tree dwelling destroyed.” Alex confirmed. The tank continued on its unstoppable rampage for a few more minutes before stopping. Nothing stood in their path anymore. Alex slowly and cautiously opened the hatch to the tank to get a glance.

“Terrorists are down…” Alex informed the group. Trixie stepped out of the tank and gasped as she spotted the massacre that she had inadvertently caused.

“What… why di…” She trailed off in absolute horror.

“They were terrorists, you even said yourself. We needed to dispatch them before they could strike.” Alex replied. Trixie had her mouth agape as she looked to the totally annihilated town, dead ponies lay everywhere in the streets.

“But… why did you… kill them?” Trixie gasped. Alex raised an eyebrow.

“You seem… sorrowful for their deaths… you weren’t plotting with them… were you?” He asked in a suspicious voice. Trixie, realizing if she didn’t choose her next words carefully that they would be her last, shook her head.

“No! Absolutely not. I would never associate with… terrormists.” She tried to remember what he had called them. Alex raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“Alright then… so how do I get back to Afghanistan?” He asked curiously and Trixie gulped. She hadn’t researched that part of the spell. She had only trained with the summoning spell and figured that when Twilight and the others saw demons, that they’d submit to her every whim… but she never wanted anything like this.

Trixie pointed out towards the direction of Dodge, to the desert canyons. “That way.” She lied, not knowing what an ‘Afghanistan’ was. Alex helped her up onto the tank just as it began to depart

Back towards the Everfree, a Russian T90 rumbled out and into the apple orchard where the M1 had been only an hour before. The main hatch swung open and a large Russian man peered out.

The man went by the name: Vladimir. He was the tank commander. Standing at 6’4” he barely fit into the tank. “Dmitry! Where are we?” Vlad asked the young driver.

The driver hatch popped open and the young man looked around. “I am not sure commander… we have lost radio frequency with headquarters… they are not responding to our calls.” Dmitry replied.

Dmitry was just barely 24 years old and had recently passed through University with high academic success but had chosen to pursue a career in the army. He enlisted and had become a tank driver.

Vlad cursed to himself. “Well can you guess… I have never seen this forest before.” He replied. The gunner hatch popped open and a third occupant emerged. He was older than the other two, possibly older than both combined, with several deep scars on his face.

“This is no Russian forest… it doesn’t even look like a forest from anywhere near Europe.” The man stated. His name was Ivan. He was built thick and very muscular. One may mistake him for a part time body builder due to his size. He had served in the Russian military during the time of the Russian-Afghan war and had a chip on his shoulder for Afghans and Americans in particular.

Ivan spotted tread marks on the ground despite the pitch black darkness. He unholstered his Makarov pistol and hopped down to the ground in a single hop before pacing over to the tread marks.

“This… is American equipment…” He stated with disgust in his voice.

“How do you know?” Dmitry asked and Ivan pointed to some boot marks in the ground.

“American G.I. tread marks…” He commented before standing and holstering his pistol. They all looked to the distance where the tank tread lead. Vlad peered towards the distance and saw a flickering light over the horizon.

“Ivan, mount up! Dmitry, head towards that flickering light!” Vlad ordered.

Author's Note

Okay, before anyone says anything like "An Amercian tank commander wouldn't act like this, this story sucks." it's just a story. I'm not saying, nor do I think, that Americans would act like this. I just had this thought "What if..." anyway, I thought what if an American tank was the perceived 'bad-guy' rather than have the typical "Russia= bad-guy, America= good-guy" scenario. I generally write stuff where the main character easily out performs the bad-guy and some times people don't like that and say "It's bland." so I thought okay, let's have an American M1 Abrams, the 'Invincible' tank, who is the bad-guy and have the good guy be the Russian T90 tank. That way it'll be rather difficult for the good-guy to win. So viola, you got yourself a story, one I might add that I'll probably catch hell for...

Chapter 2

The mane six had gasped in absolute horror as they heard the news, but when they arrived, Rarity and Fluttershy, had puked from the revolting sight. “Oh muh goddess…” Applejack murmured.

They all gasped in fear as a monstrous looking thing wheeled into the remains of the town. Two red glaring eyes beamed and made Rarity faint in fear. Celestia stepped forwards to protect the young mares and tried to cast a spell on the tank… but nothing happened.

“STAY BACK!” Celestia ordered but the beast didn’t respond and simply continued on until it stopped a few feet away from them. It stayed idling still for a moment before the turret hatch swung open and Vlad peeked out.

“Stay away creature, I warn you! You will not be forgiven for what you did here!” Celestia boomed. Vlad scratched his head.

“I did nothing… what the hell happened here?” He gasped as he looked to the horrible surroundings. He had seen scenes like this before but for some reason this just felt… terrible.

Celestia lowered her guard for a moment. “You mean… you didn’t… do this?” She asked, still suspicious but willing to listen.

“No, I didn’t do… this. We just arrived and were looking for directions.” Vlad informed her.

“Please step down so we may speak… I feel uneasy with your monster running.” Celestia suggested. Vlad whistled and Dmitry killed the engine. The trio emerged from the tank and hopped down.

Vlad was for the most part, unarmed. Ivan held an old non-issue AK-47 while Dmitry held a more modern AKS-74U compact assault rifle. The trio sat and conversed with the white princess for over two hours before Vlad realized that he was in a completely different world, perhaps a different universe.

“So… how do we get home?” Vlad asked.

“We’d have to use an inter-dimensional teleportation spell.” Twilight replied and Celestia gasped.

“Twilight, that could cause a crack in the dimension!” She warned her protégé who in turn nodded.

“So… I guess that means no…” Vlad asked as he swore briefly then stroked his shaven head. “So… basically you’re telling us we’re screwed.” Vlad stated.

“You’re screwed! YOU’RE SCREWED! Have you even seen what this place looks like?!” Dash yelled. Vlad gave her an uneasy look.

“Easy Dash, they ain’t gotta help us if they don’t want tah.” Applejack tried to calm her friend. Suddenly a gasp caught everypony’s attention and they looked to a bloody, Nurse Redheart.

It wasn’t her blood she was covered in, but that of other ponies that she had tried to save. “A thing… like that one…” She whispered fearfully, having seen the events unfold.

“American… probably an M1 Abrams…” Ivan muttered. Vlad looked over to him and caught a spent shell that Ivan tossed him. It was a .50 caliber BMG cartridge. “Fucking NATO…” Ivan spat.

Nurse Redheart collapsed from the pure repute of the destruction. Suddenly there was a crack of thunder and a carriage set down near the group. Rarity once again fainted in fear as a cloaked figure stepped forwards.

“The beast is heading towards Dodge Junction… through the canyons.” Said a lumbering voice. The figure pulled back her hood to reveal a stunning and beautiful face that belonged to that of Princess Luna.

“Thank you dear sister…” Celestia trailed off as she looked to the trio of Russian tankers in front of her. “Please feel free to refuse but also consider our situation… we are in dire need of your assistance… for some reason magic does not seem to work on your… tanks.” Celestia began.

“So… what are you asking?” Dmitry interrupted. Celestia sighed then stepped forwards.

“Do you think… you could defeat it for us? We have nothing that will be able to stand up against it without heavy casualties.” She asked. All three of them gave a different answer.

Vlad said “Maybe.” Ivan replied with “Yes!” and Dmitry simply scratched his head with an “I dunno.” Celestia raised an eyebrow.

Vlad spoke for his team. “Perhaps… if we could track them down… but we may need fuel.” He replied and Celestia tilted her head to one side. “Diesel fuel, for the tank.” He stated and Celestia nodded.

“Luna.” Celestia began and her sister paid close attention. “Travel with this group and scout for them, but do not get close to that… thing…” She ordered and Luna nodded.

Elsewhere, near the canyons of Dodge Junction:

Alex sat on the tread cover of the tank and smoked a cigarette. James rubbed his crotch against the barrel of the tank cannon. “UGH! I need a woman so fucking badly!” He yelled. Alex simply chuckled to himself as the soldier allowed himself to flop off the cannon and onto the hard ground with a THUMP.

Jackson was busy tinkering with the tank to make sure it was in tip top shape. Deny was busy chatting with their new friend. James staggered along with a flask and quickly wailed some back before staggering forwards some more.

Alex watched the man as he continued to drink from the canteen. He had never saw James show this much interest in water before, even when they had been separated from the main convoy and went two days without water.

Alex hopped down and approached James who looked to him with a drunken expression. Alex snatched the canteen from his grip and sniffed it. He nearly gagged as he smelt the foul odour of whatever was inside the canteen.

“What… the hell is this stuff?” Alex hissed. James smiled drunkenly.

“Brake fluid… you syphon the fluid from the cylinder than filter it through some bread to get all the shit out… then you let it ferment in the sun for a few days and you have some heavy… booze…” He managed through several hiccups.

Jackson’s sigh of irritation could be heard. “That’s why the brakes are a little seized…” He muttered before removing a booklet from his vest pocket and scribbling something down.

Alex walked over. “What are you doing?” He asked sternly and Jackson looked to him with an unimpressed look.

“Recording this. We’ll need new brakes when we get back and they’ll need to know what happened.” Jackson replied. Alex grabbed him and held him close.

“Listen… yeah that was a doozy of a fuck up… but he’s the best damned shot in the regiment.” Alex hissed. Jackson’s mind wouldn’t be changed about the subject. Alex grabbed the notebook and ripped the page out before shredding the scrap of paper into shreds.

Alex walked back over to James who was swaying heavily. “It… makes my aim steady commander… you should try some…” He chuckled before Alex slammed him in the face with his right fist, knocking James to the ground.

Jackson looked over in shock but Deny and Trixie hadn’t noticed. Alex reached down to the canteen and picked it up before taking a sip. He grunted in disgust but the after taste was rather pleasant. He smirked as he started drinking James’ homemade booze.

Jackson paced over to him and leaned against the side of the tank. “So commander… I heard you used to be Delta Force… what the hell happened?” He asked and Alex sighed.

“I started off as a ranger, was seen by a commanding Seal officer and he opted for me to try out the Seals. So I did and I passed with flying colours but even that wasn’t enough. So I went to Delta. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done but it was worth it. One day, on a detail scout mission, we were entering a town that was supposed to be under heavy surveillance.

I spotted what looked to be Taliban in the streets but the commander of the convoy refused to fire, stating that we couldn’t engage first, since it wasn’t a hostile territory and they weren’t armed. Next thing I know the guy has an RPG7 and hits our Humvee. We’re just about all killed and I was left in charge since I was next in the chain of command.” Alex began.

“I didn’t even get a shot off before another round struck near me… shrapnel ripped up the side of my leg and messed me up good… lucky for us there was a rescue team ready… after that I wasn’t able to train hard enough due to my leg. My dreams of becoming the best had been shattered because we weren’t allowed to shoot first.” Alex continued.

“So my commander knew this other commander in the tank division and had me redirected as a tank commander…” Alex finished his story then took another heavy wail of the homemade alcohol. “Wow… James wasn’t kidding… this stuff is harsh.” He muttered.

Over by the small fire, Deny played chess with Trixie, who was whopping his butt. “Trixie… as soon as you get the chance… you have to get away.” Deny told her.

“I know that!” She whispered back, knowing full well that the commander already didn’t trust her.

“Just make sure you do because… if he catches you… I don’t even want to think about what he might do to you.” Deny stated and Trixie nodded.

“Why is he so cruel?” She asked and Deny shrugged.

“Well… I haven’t been in this squad for very long but I have never really seen him act like this before either… not sure.” Deny replied.

Elsewhere…

A lone desert bug slowly crawled along through the cold shifty dirt. Suddenly a large tank track crushed it as it lumbered through the desert floor. The rattle of its tracks filled the air.

“Perhaps we should have code names?” Dmitry said over the radio to Luna. She had departed with them and the two kept in touch with a short range radio set that was with the tank.

Vlad answered before Luna could. “We won’t really need to. I doubt that they’ll be eavesdropping on us. We should be eavesdropping on them.” Vlad stated.

Luna’s voice crackled over the radio. “So how will you destroy it?” She asked curiously.

“I am not entirely sure… I have heard that those tanks can survive many shots from an RPG7.” Vlad replied. Ivan simply chuckled.

“At the ranges perhaps… but in a battle situation it is completely different. Those were controlled environments that they did the tests for the M1 in. In the war of Dagestan, a T90 was hit with over a half a dozen RPG rounds and it simply kept going. The American tanks could never suffice to that. Our tank is better.” Ivan stated. Vlad shook his head.

“It takes a smart tank commander to know his tank is good… it takes an even better tank commander to admit that his enemies’ tank is better… the American tank is much more sophisticated than ours…” He trailed off his sentence.

“So… you can’t beat it…” Luna stated in defeat.

Vlad shook his head. “I never said that… it just won’t be easy.” Vlad replied as the tank continued lumbering on.

Chapter 3

The T90 sat stationary and silent in an open desert field. The three men and the night princess sat around a small fire while conversing.

Ivan had his AK47 field stripped and was cleaning smaller details in the rifle. “Why do you clean that so much?” Dmitry asked, curious to why the older veteran always cleaned his rifle whenever he got the chance. Ivan looked up to the younger man.

“Gun may never jam… but it will look nicer and operate nicer if she’s clean.” Ivan replied before continuing his work on the rifle. Luna sat beside Vladimir.

“Why did you choose to help us? You could have just said no and left us to fend for ourselves.” Luna asked. Vlad sighed as painful memories were brought up.

“I was… in the Russian Afghanistan war… we did things… no one should do… killed people… shot people… burned people… we were murders with no boundaries… I guess I thought maybe I could make up for the sins I have done.” Vlad replied, making Luna nod in understanding.

“I’m sorry… to bring it up, I never meant to…” She began but Vlad put his fingers to her lips.

“It is okay night pony… it is okay.” Vlad assured her.

Elsewhere…

The M1 Abrams sat still, its occupants all standing close to the machine but with no fire to keep them warm. “Sir… why can’t we light just a little one?” Deny asked as he shivered from the harsh breeze.

“Are you insane, private!? The rebels would spot us a mile away!” Alex replied as he searched the surrounding with his night vision goggles, looking for anything suspicious.

Deny went back to rubbing his arms furiously to try and keep warm. Trixie stepped over to him. “Here, allow Trixie to help.” She offered as she lowered her head. Her horn illuminated and gently covered Deny’s body in a blue aura. Soon, Deny was warm and comfortable. He kindly thanked the mare before sliding his hands into his sleeves to keep warm.

The blue aura caught James’ attention as he was eating an MRE. “Hey… psst, Trixie!” James hissed and the mare looked over to him. He showed her his still cold MRE and shook it, gaining everyone’s attention. Trixie nodded and immediately went to work, heating his meal.

“HEY!” Alex scowled. “Put out that fucking light!” He ordered. Trixie immediately did as he asked but the smell of warm food filled the air. James gave her a grateful nod. Though his food wasn’t thoroughly heated, it was still better than nothing.

A few more minutes passed and Alex noticed a fair bit of movement with his goggles. “Rebels! Everyone in the tank!” He scowled. Everyone quickly raced into the tank before Alex sealed the hatch. “Driver, where are they?” He ordered.

After a few moments of silence, Deny answered. “All around us sir…” He stammered fearfully. Alex cursed to himself.

“Alright… ready all weapons, on my mark, do a complete 360 and fire every weapon.” He ordered. James and Deny nodded. “On my mark… MARK!” He yelled and the recently silent air was filled with the eruption of gunfire and explosions.

The tank turret quickly began to spin in one full rotation as every weapon but the two manual machineguns, fired. In seconds it was over and the surrounding area was devastated.

“Driver… movement?” Alex asked. There was another moment’s silence as Deny checked the screens and sensors.

“No commander…” He replied. Alex nodded then went to open the hatch but a chill went down his spine. He looked to Trixie.

“You…” He said as he pointed to the unicorn mare. “Go check it out.” He ordered. Trixie went to object but he silenced her. “THAT’S AN ORDER!” He yelled. Trixie scurried outside without anther word.

“Deny… come here…” Alex ordered as he slipped out of the commander’s chair. Deny shuffled over. “Sit in the commander seat.” Alex stated. Deny gave him a curious look. “Do it.” Alex ordered.

Deny simply nodded, slipped past Alex then sat in the commander chair. “Can you see Trixie through the weapon sights?” He asked. Deny took a look through the vision enhancer of the remote gun screen. He nodded. “Good… shoot her.” Alex stated without any emotion whatsoever.

Everything seemed to get quieter than it already was. James and Jackson both looked to their commander and to Deny. Deny looked down to his commander. “What?!” He gasped, not sure if he had heard his commander right.

“Shoot her.” Alex stated. Deny sat in the seat with his jaw hanging agape. “Goddammit soldier, shoot her. She’s working with the enemy.” Alex ordered.

“No.” Deny replied, defying his commander’s orders. Alex was about to interject but Trixie slid back into the tank.

“Deer… it was a herd of deer.” Trixie stated. Deny slipped out of the driver seat, giving Alex a cold look as he passed by him. As he sat back in the driver seat he spotted something further away on one of the tracker screens.

“Sir, we have more movement.” Deny informed his commander. “Six o’clock.” He stated. Figuring it was just more deer, Alex opened the hatch and looked towards where Deny had stated the movement had come from.

What he saw made his eyes go wide. “DRIVER! GET US OUTTA HERE, JACKSON, JAMES: READY THE GUN!” Alex yelled as he slammed the hatch. The tank whined as it rumbled to life and Deny immediately sped the away.

The main gun was loaded and began to spin clockwise until James spotted the other tank. “OH SHIT! THAT’S A T90!” He yelled.

“JUST… SHOOT IT!” Alex yelled frantically. It had really snuck up on them and was a little too close for comfort. James tried to line up a shot but he was getting withdrawals as the homemade alcohol wore off. The main gun thundered in the air but the shell missed terribly, straying off into the distance.

Another round spat back at the M1 and slammed into the ground a few yards away. “WE’RE TAKING FIRE!” Alex yelled. Jackson was still busy loading a fresh shell as yet another shell slammed into the ground not too far from the tank. “GODDAMMIT, SHOOT BACK ALREADY!” Alex roared.

The M1 tank gun thundered a second time but once again it missed due to James’ intoxication. “James, move!” Jackson yelled as he moved his intoxicated friend away from the gunner seat. He loaded a fresh shell as more eruptions drew ever closer to the speeding M1.

Jackson took careful aim through the screen sights. He lined the shot up perfectly and fired. An eruption flared as the 105mm tank round slammed against the T90. “I GOT IT!” Jackson cheered.

“No you didn’t!” Deny yelled back. Jackson looked back through the view sights as the T90 flew through the puff of smoke. Its front end had suffered some damage but nothing that would hinder its performance.

Suddenly a 120mm HE round slammed into the back of the M1 and shook the entire vehicle. James staggered and smoked his head off the roof of the vehicle, knocking himself unconscious in the process. “WE’RE HIT, WE’RE HIT!” Deny screamed.

“SHUT UP AND KEEP DRIVING!” Alex roared. Jackson went to yell for James to load a round but saw his friend’s condition and swore.

“We got a man down!” He yelled. Alex looked to the unconscious man and swore regretfully. Jackson scurried to load a fresh round just as yet another round struck the M1, but only winging it and taking off part of the rear track cover.

“WE’RE TAKING FIRE!” Deny yelled. Alex homed in with the roof mounted machinegun and began to fire relentlessly at the opposing tank as it began to quickly catch up to them. The .50 caliber rounds of the Browning dented the armour of the T90 but didn’t go past the exterior shell. “IT’S GAINING ON US!” Deny screamed.

Jackson loaded a round before squirming back into the gunner seat. Another round screamed past the M1, missing it by a matter of a few feet. Jackson lined up a shot and fired. The round slammed into the front of the T90 but once again it only dinged it and posed minor damage.

“FUCK!” Jackson yelled. Suddenly, without warning, the T90 stopped pursuit and the M1 raced away into the night.

Ivan looked to his commander. “WHY HAVE WE STOPPED!?” He yelled but Vlad kept a clam tone as he replied.

“We must check the tank before we continue.” He stated.

“The tank is still running, it is fine!” Ivan yelled back. Vlad simply let out a breath of air as he looked to Dmitry. Seconds later the tank engine silenced as Dmitry turned it off. “I can’t believe this shit!” Ivan scowled as the three disembarked the tank.

Luna flew down from the sky. “What’s wrong?” She asked worriedly, praying that nothing was wrong with their only chance of defeating this great foe.

“Nothing, we stopped for a piss.” Ivan scowled irritably. Deny and Vlad checked the front of the tank and Deny groaned.

“Sir, the tank is operational but the track has suffered some damages… it might break if we continue to run it…” Dmitry informed his commander with a tone of distress.

“Fuck it, our tank is fine!” Ivan yelled as he went to embark the tank once again. Vlad shook his head then looked to the night princess.

“Are there any places around here where we could service the tank?” He asked unsurely, positive that there probably wasn’t a place in this entire world that could service a tank.

To his surprise, Luna nodded.

Author's Note

Well that's a night for me, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. And before you ask, I'll answer the question of what's wrong with both tanks in the next chapter, along with the less prevalent "How did the Russians know where they were?"

Chapter 4

The two, almost identical, brothers started hopping around and singing about business and success, among other things. Ivan grabbed one of them. “Okay, we get it! Now fix tank!” He ordered the brother with the mustache. They both gulped and took a step back before whipping out tool sets.

“It will only take a few hours.” The brother without the moustache stated. Ivan was about to get into an uproar about the time but Vlad placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder then nodded.

“That will be fine… thank you, gentlemen.” Vlad stated then walked over to the nearby tractor contraption that the brothers drove. Luna sat beside the Russian man and Vlad looked to her with curiosity in his stare. “How did you know where they were?” He asked and she shrugged.

“My sister and I have been keeping track of them ever since a little stunt that they pulled a while back.” Luna replied before a slight chuckle escaped her lips.

Elsewhere…

Deny sighed as both he and Jackson wiped sweat from their faces, resulting in slimy grease staining their faces. “Radiator’s pooched sir… probably another… 20 miles… if we’re lucky.” He informed his commander who was looking through a pair of binoculars.

“TRIXIE!” He yelled, the blue mare quickly racing up in attention. “Is there a water source nearby?” He asked. Trixie nodded and pointed to a small ramshackle village in the far out horizon. Alex looked through his binoculars and nodded. “We can make it, everyone, mount up!” He ordered.

“But sir!” Trixie replied and Alex gave her a cold glare. “Sir, that is a buffalo reserve… you can’t go there without their approval… and they don’t really like outsiders…” Trixie replied.

“I said… get in the tank.” Alex ordered in a devilishly cold voice. Trixie shivered as his voice made her feel chilled to the bone. She immediately lept up and into the tank before it pulled away.

The tank had been beaten up pretty badly in the firefight but the only major damage was the radiator which was now leaking and as a result the tank would constantly overheat. The tank treaded along through the dirt until they came to a fence gate where two large hulking buffalo stood with primitive spears, ready to defend their land.

Alex opened the hatch and looked to the duo. “Hi… we need water, for our tank… it would be most appreciated.” Alex stated. The two buffalo looked to each other then back to the tank commander.

“This is our land… you dare come across it and ask for our resources without an offering?” One of the buffalo replied. Alex’s eyes went narrow.

“I don’t know if there’s anything we can offer other than our thanks.” Alex said in a rather subtle voice. The two buffalo stepped forwards. The second one spoke.

“Then leave now, and never return.” He said in a stern voice. Alex gave a hearty smile.

“Now don’t be hasty… I’m sure there’s a way we can work out some sort of deal.” Alex offered. They both shook their heads.

“The deal is simple. You leave.” The first buffalo stated. Alex sighed to himself regretfully. In a flash of motion, he whipped out a Beretta M9 from his shoulder holster and blasted two rounds into the head of each buffalo before him.

Deny yelled out in shock. “HOLY SHIT!” He gasped. Alex sat back down into the driver seat.

“Driver… forwards, towards the town.” He ordered. Deny gulped before doing as he was asked.

In the town the gunshots hadn’t been heard. Young buffalo calves played in the dusty trails that connected the little huts that the buffalo used for homes. Mothers sat together and knitted while the bulls worked together, building new homes.

There was a whistling in the air and a few of the bulls looked out towards the origin of the sound but couldn’t see anything. One spoke, “What is tha…” Was all he managed before a 105mm HE shell erupted into the side of the building he was working on.

Buffalo all screamed in horror as they lept up to take cover but were struck in absolute horror as a tan coloured machine roared over a sand dune. The air was filled with the thunderous chattering of the turret mounted M2 machinegun.

Mothers raced for their children but only a few were successful as the massive .50 caliber rounds tore anything apart that stood in its way.

James tried to stomach the events that were unfolding in front of him. “GUNNER, THE BUILDING, 9 O’CLOCK!” Alex yelled as he continued to operate the machinegun. James took aim but his fingers trembled from the audacity of the slaughter. “GUNNER! FIRE GODDAMMIT!” Alex roared.

James clenched his eyes shut as he fired. The tank cannon thundered and the building erupted in a smoldering heap but buildings beside it were also destroyed, sending bodies flying through the air.

The tank continued into town but suddenly a group of brave and courageous female buffalo rushed forwards, tossing stones and hard objects at the tank but having no success in stopping the massacre.

“DRIVER, KEEP MOVING FORWARDS!” Alex yelled. Deny gulped and tried to avoid the female buffalo but Alex yelled in anger. “DAMMIT DRIVER, FORWARDS, NOT LEFT!” Alex yelled. Deny grimaced in guilt as he knowingly drove towards the females.

Some of the buffalo fled but a select few tried to stop it, only moments before getting pulled underneath the tank, getting crushed painfully. James swung the gun and Alex roared for him to destroy another building.

Minutes passed before the town was finally eradicated. Bodies lay strewn in the street as the tank rumbled to a stop before Deny killed the engine. “They’re… dead sir… all dead.” Deny whispered. Alex nodded before popping open the hatch and disembarking the tank. The others soon followed and began the search for water.

Jackson paced up beside Alex. “Jesus Christ sir! What the fuck was all that about?!” He yelled.

“They were terrorists.” Alex replied subtly. Jackson scrunched his nose in anger.

“YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT SIR! FOR ALL WE KNOW THEY COULD’VE BEEN JUST A GROUP OF BUFFALO FOR CHRIST SAKES! EVEN IF THEY WERE TERRORISTS, THAT DOESN’T GIVE US THE RIGHT TO DO THAT, SIR!” Jackson yelled but Alex simply chuckled.

“You know Jack… I respect you.” Alex stated and Jackson’s face immediately went from anger to absolute confusion. “Even through you’re angry, you still address me as sir. It means that you still have respect for me and won’t stab me in the back. Just trust me on my decisions Jackson. I’ve been in this game a lot longer than any of you.” Alex replied subtly.

“I FOUND THE WATER WELL!” James yelled. The group all rushed over to him and Alex looked to Deny.

“Go get the tank.” He ordered the young man, who nodded.

“Yes… sir.” He stammered, almost negligent to address him as ‘sir’. Deny quickly raced off while Jackson and James got water from the well, cheering to themselves and splashing water on each other.

Trixie couldn’t help but to smile from the two men playing like children but the thought of children instantly reminded her that they had just razed a town to the ground. Alex pulled Trixie up to her hindlegs before pulling her close and resting his left arm around her.

“You did good Trixie, you did good. I’m proud to call you one of us.” Alex said with a smile.

“I’m not exactly sure I’d want to be one of you… if this is what you do.” She replied, trying to keep her breakfast down. Alex smirked then pointed to the mountains further away, passed Appleloosa.

“Do you see those mountains?” He asked and Trixie turned to look to the mountains. She nodded. “Good… what is your fantasy, the thing you want most in this world?” Alex asked.

“Victory…” Trixie stated. Alex smiled. She wanted what he wanted.

“Picture yourself, atop those mountains… victorious.” Alex told her. She closed her eyes before imagining herself, triumphant over Twilight Sparkle. “Do you see it?” Alex asked as he unsheathed his combat knife. She nodded. “Good.” He said before driving his knife towards her shoulder.

As soon as Trixie felt the knife tip press onto her shoulder, she screamed and swung around. Jackson and James both looked up in shock to see Alex standing with his knife and Trixie standing in absolute horror.

Alex brought his knife up for her to see, revealing a squirming Emperor scorpion on the tip, which he had stabbed and removed from Trixie’s shoulder before it could sting her. Trixie sighed as she realized that Alex had just saved her life, not tried to take it. “Thank you.” She thanked him in a calm voice.

Alex smiled. “You’re welcome.” He replied just as the M1 pulled up beside them.

“Okay, James, Jackson: Fill the rad with water. That should keep it cold.” He ordered just as Deny hopped out.

“We can’t do that. The water would mess up the engine. We need coolant.” Deny stated. Alex turned to him.

“Well private, we don’t have coolant. Now unless you can pull a jug of coolant from your ass, than get to it!” Alex ordered.

“Yes Alex.” Deny replied before he proceeded to help Jackson and James fill the radiator with water, to help keep the engine cool. In less than a half hour they were finished.

Deny rested his M4 carbine across the back of the tank before beginning to disassemble it. “You admire them, don’t you?” He asked Deny, who looked up to him curiously. “The Russians.” Alex stated. Deny shrugged.

“Well… they probably don’t go rampaging across the world, killing innocent people… err I guess buffalo.” Deny replied as he looked up to his commander and adjusted his seeing glasses.

“Tell me Deny, you took university and got a bachelor’s degree… right?” Alex asked and Deny nodded. “What’s the penalty for mutiny?” Alex asked and Deny scratched his head.

“Death… why…” Deny realized how Alex was staring at him with a cold and squinted glare. His heart sank and he could literally hear its beat echoing in his ears. His M4 was disassembled in front of him, leaving it useless. He went for his pistol but Alex was faster.

In a blissful motion, Alex drew out his pistol and fired several rounds into Deny’s chest, which was only covered by a tank top. Blood splattered out the exit wounds as blood leaked from the holes in his chest. He staggered to stay up before Alex fired the remaining rounds into his chest. Alex pulled the trigger until the slide locked back, signalling that the pistol was empty.

Deny fell back into the sand, his blood beginning to stain the sand as he lay there and choked on his blood. The group looked in shock as Alex hopped off the tank, reloading his pistol as he approached the dying tanker.

“You know Deny… I liked you but… I just can’t have people staging mutinies against me and my crew…” Alex said as he leveled his pistol on Deny’s head. Alex thumbed the slide release and the pistol slide snapped shut. Deny coughed up some blood just before Alex fired and ended the young man’s life.

Alex turned to see the others all wide eyed and fearful of their now ruthless leader. “He was staging a mutiny behind my back… by god, if I find out that any of you were with him… I’ll kill you myself.”

Author's Note

So anyway, sorry for the wait. My brother needed the computer for a school project for most of the week so I'll try and make it up today for the wait... but man, Alex is insane. One moment he's showing compassion for Trixie and saving her life so I'm like "Oh... so he does have a heart and isn't just a ruthless bastard." And the next scene he's killing Deny and I'm like "Holy Fuck..." anyway, onto the next chapter.

Chapter 5

The brothers known as ‘Flim and Flam’ had done a superb job on the tank, even fixing the damaged plates and making the vehicle look brand new. “Do you have any idea how they did that?” Ivan asked and the rest of the crew, plus Luna, just shook their heads.

“Uhm… commander… you might want to see this… north, there’s smoke.” Dmitry stated. Vlad opened the turret hatch and looked through his binoculars.

“Head towards the town.” Vlad ordered. Dmitry quickened the tank’s speed until they were at its maximum. Minutes later they were all awestruck by the horrors of the town. Dmitry stopped the tank before doing a full rotation and observing the area for their enemy but finding no signs of its whereabouts.

“They aren’t hear sir.” Dmitry informed his commander. The driver killed the tank’s engine and the group disembarked the tank before all stomaching their lunch, trying painfully to keep it down.

“That’s not right…” Ivan stated. “I have done bad things in my life but this… this goes beyond anything I’ve ever done.” He muttered. The group searched the town for where the M1 might have traveled.

Luna trotted along with Dmitry and Vlad while Ivan rummaged through destroyed buildings. Luna broke the silence. “So… Dmitry, before this, what did you do?” Luna asked, curious of the young man’s past.

Vlad answered rather regretfully. “He had taken university.” He replied and Luna raised an eyebrow.

“Why is that bad?” She asked and Vlad placed his palm over his face and grimaced.

“Because he could’ve done anything… anything he wanted but instead… he becomes a tank driver.” He groaned and Luna tilted her head to one side in confusion, curious to why it was a bad decision.

“But sir, I wanted to serve my country, like my father, and my father’s father.” Dmitry countered and Vlad rested a hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“Yes, but you should’ve done it where your intelligence could be used to its full potential…” Vlad began but Ivan interrupted them.

“OVER HERE!” He yelled and the group rushed over to the Russian man. He was standing by a well where a younger, dead, man lay in the sand. Ivan gave him a small kick just to make sure he was dead but suddenly there was there was a PING and the safety lever from a hand grenade spat out from underneath Deny’s body.

Ivan’s eyes went wide as he realized his fatal mistake. He turned to try and run but it was too late and the grenade hidden underneath Deny’s body erupted, sending Ivan’s body hurtling through the air then to a clump on the ground.

“IVAN!” Vlad yelled before rushing over to his wounded friend. Ivan coughed up blood as he reached his palm to Vlad’s cheek.

“I… am sorry comrade… I should’ve checked his body… first…” Ivan gasped before painfully passing away. Vlad stood up and roared angrily as he began kicking loose sand into the air.

“Jesus Christ… they booby-trapped their dead…” Dmitry commented but Vlad shook his head.

“No… he wasn’t killed… he was murdered… look, the rounds are placed to closely together to have been made during a firefight… and then there’s a round right through his skull, meaning he was executed.” Vlad informed the young tank driver who in turn gulped.

“They… killed their own man… then booby-trapped him?” Dmitry gasped and Vlad nodded before spotting tank tracks in the sand. He looked to where they led and spotted a canyon. Luna trotted over and looked to the canyons that Vlad was looking at.

“Those canyons are like a labyrinth… once you enter, you might get lost and never escape… well unless you’re a pegasus… or if you manage to climb out… or follow your tracks back to the way you came…” Luna stated. Vlad nodded then looked to the others.

In the canyons…

The M1 treaded along roughly as Jackson now operated the tank. James was operating the main gun and had taught Trixie how to reload the gun, and thanks to her magic, it was rather easy for her to do. They had all been silent about everything that had happened.

“Sir… how did you know that Deny was planning a mutiny?” James asked. Alex let out a rather irritated sigh.

“I just know, let’s leave it at that.” Alex stated. Suddenly the tank came to a stop. “Driver, why are we stopping?!” Alex yelled.

“Which way sir?” Jackson asked, curious to which way they should go. Alex popped open the hatch and looked to the fork in the road. Each way travelled down a passageway of cliffs and canyon passages.

“Go right.” Alex replied, just as he sat down and shut the hatch. The tank thundered down the trail just as a 120mm shell slammed into the side of the tank. “FUCK!” Alex roared.

Jackson checked the scanners. “SHIT, IT’S THAT T90!” He yelled. James swung the main gun towards the opposing tank and fired, but missed horribly. The shell flew off into the distance and collided with a cliff that crashed down and blocked the two tanks into the trail.

“TRIXIE, RELOAD!” James yelled. Trixie was busy reloading just as a second shot from the T90 whizzed past, missing their tank by mere feet, and erupting against a cliff side. Shards of rock splattered out and harmlessly slammed against the tank.

“Gun ready!” Trixie gasped fearfully. James took aim and fired a second shot that collided with the frontal armour of the T90, leaving it in a fume of smoke.

“I GOT IT…” James began but cut himself short as the T90 sped through the smoke. He gulped. “TRIXIE!... RELOAD!” James yelled. Alex took aim with the remote M2 and began firing, the armour piercing rounds slammed into the T90, penetrating it by a few centimeters but not harming the occupants.

Jackson swivelled the M1 down another trail just as the T90 fired a third shot which slammed into the left side of the M1. Shrapnel burst through the tank and wounded Jackson who screamed in pain and lost control of the tank.

Alex’s eyes went wide as he slid down into the driver section and took control. Several warning alarms blared inside the tank as lights flashed, illuminating the inside in a blaring red light pattern.

“WE GOT A FIRE INSIDE!” Alex yelled as smoke began filling the tank. He slammed the throttle sticks forwards and the tank began thundering along down the trail. James took aim with the main gun. The T90 fired before he could and the shot slammed into the front of the turret, failing to penetrate but rocking the entire tank.

“WE TAKING FIRE!” James yelled.

“Gun is loaded!” Trixie yelled. James took aim and fired just as the T90 fired. The one in a million chance happened and the two rounds collided, both erupting upon impact.

The M1 swivelled down another trail but Vlad yelled to Dmitry. “STOP!” He ordered and Dmitry immediately brought the tank to a screeching halt. Luna looked down from the commander seat where Vlad had posted her, Dmitry looking up from the driver seat.

“Why are we stopping sir?” Dmitry asked curiously. Vlad waited for a moment before letting out a deep exhale.

“We no longer have the element of surprise. We need to follow them and wait for another opportunity to strike.” Vlad replied.

Elsewhere…

Alex slowed the tank and it rattled as it came to a stop. Jackson groaned as James slipped down and began tending to his friend’s wounds. The internal fire had fried a lot of the electronics but all the main controls were still operational, only the sensors had really got fried.

“Jesus Christ… that thing’s gonna kill us…” Jackson gasped as James applied ointment to Jackson’s burns. Alex scoffed at the comment.

“No it won’t.” He scowled. Jackson looked to him.

“Hey! Did you miss something we didn’t?! That thing nearly annihilated us… we should… just abandon the tank… go on foot, you know? Park the M1 up ahead then back track, wait for that monster to pass then just go out the way we came.” Jackson suggested fearfully.

“No… that T90 is no monster. It’s just some supped up T72. Back when I was in Iraq, I fought dozens of T72s at a time. I completely annihilated them without breaking a sweat… my tank was struck by several shells from T72s and just kept going like nothing was wrong. RPGs, heavy machineguns… didn’t do a thing. Just kept going like nothing was wrong.” Alex snarled.

He continued on with his speech. “That T90 is a piece of junk… it’s stone age technology built by the Russians. This M1 is space age technology in comparison. We outclass that thing in everything. It doesn’t stand a chance.” Alex hissed.

“THEN WHY THE HELL’D WE GET OUR ASSES KICKED?!” Jackson yelled back, half in pain but the other half in fear.

Alex grimaced. “We didn’t lose! We just moved forwards!” Alex yelled back. James finished wrapping the medical gauze around Jackson’s shoulder. “Now get back in the driver seat and get us moving.”

Author's Note

I gotta say... I'm starting to love Alex, not in a homosexual way. He's just got this... unpredictable insanity to him that I absolutely adore (In that bad guy kind of sense) I always like the badguys in stories, how bout you as readers? Do you tend like the better people in a story or the dark characters?

Chapter 6

“Sir… this is absurd! We’re not to communicate with the enemy!” James hissed. Alex looked to him with a cold glare as he continued to tune in the radio then finally found the frequency.

“Do you see me Russian boy? Because I see you.” Alex spoke into the radio with an ice like voice. Vlad looked to their radio which, for the first time since they had arrived, crackled with Alex’s voice. The Russian man grabbed the radio before listening carefully.

“You may have bested me before, Russian boy… but I know your game.” Alex spoke into the radio before looking to Jackson and nodding. “Armour piercing.” He ordered. Trixie looked to Jackson who quickly pointed to the AP rounds. She loaded one into the chamber of the main cannon then James quickly took aim.

“Oh and James…” Alex spoke, almost in a whisper. James shakily looked up to his ruthless commander. “Don’t miss.” Alex said as he handed the soldier a homemade brew of alcohol, made just the way James made it.

James smiled as he snatched the oil bottle then slammed back the entire drink in just a few gulps. His hands steadied as the alcoholic beverage quickly set in. He lined up the shot with the T90’s hull then pushed the fire button.

CLICK.

The entire crew looked to James who gulped. “MISSFIRE, GET OUT OF THE TANK!” Alex yelled. They all scrambled as they rushed out of the tank then for cover.

In the T90, the crew sat in silence. “What do you think he’s going to do?” Dmitry asked fearfully. Vlad kept quiet then gulped. He knew far too well that the M1’s range scanners outmatched theirs and that they could be watching them right at this very moment for all he knew.

“I don’t know… but let’s not stick around to find out.” Vlad stated. Dmitry nodded then quickly started the tank before speeding off down a canyon passage.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… FUUUUUCCCCK!” Alex roared as he watched the T90 drive away. He looked back to his group who all had fear stricken across their faces. “Loader, you touched the shell last, it’s your duty to remove it.” Alex ordered Trixie who in turn gulped.

“Sir… I’ll do it. She doesn’t know how to safely unload misfired shells.” Jackson spoke out. Alex scoffed then nodded.

“I’ll go with you… James, Trixie, keep an eye on the tank.” Alex ordered then he and Jackson ran off towards the tank.

They slipped in but as they did, their hearts began to race at exceeding rates. Sweat beat down their faces as Jackson stepped behind the chamber port. “Why did you stand up for her… she’s just a stupid animal?” Alex asked. Jackson shrugged.

“If she fucked up… then our tank would be toast… and so would we.” Jackson replied.

Alex smirked. “Well… let’s see if we’re toast.” He unlatched the seal and opened it, the shell came sliding out and Jackson caught it, trembling in fright for he knew, if he messed up, it would be the last thing he ever did.

He held the shell as shivers went down his spine. “Come on, before that other tank gets away.” Alex hissed. The commander stepped out first and Jackson carefully handed him the misfired shell. Alex slid down the side of the tank with utmost precaution before slowly pacing along.

Alex slowly walked over to the cannon wall then gently set the shell down before whistling to James and Trixie. As he reached the tank he looked to the two lookouts. “Which way did the tank go?” He asked. James just scratched the back of his head drunkenly, not remembering too much.

“It went uhhm… well uhm, you see… I uhhhhh…” James slurred. Alex slapped him upside the head.

“Drunken fuck!” He yelled.

“Sir! They went that way, look, track marks.” Trixie announced. Alex paced over and looked to her find. He smiled then rubbed her check affectionately.

Elsewhere…

The T90 came to a complete stop as Dmitry checked the scanners then killed the engine. Vlad opened the hatch and took a peek with his set of binoculars. “SIR MOVEMENT, 9 O’CLOCK!” Dmitry spoke before Vlad could even spot anything. It took him a moment longer but he spotted the rustling of bushes nearby.

“Hold your fire!” Vlad ordered, suspicious to what it was. There was no noise indicating that it was their enemy tank and it looked a little large to be human. Suddenly, several buffalo warriors rushed out and started hurling spears at the tank.

Vlad swore as he sealed the hatch. The crazed buffalo began to pummel the tank armour but to no avail. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” Vlad roared, loud enough so that the buffalo could hear him.

“” The leading buffalo yelled. Luna quickly translated it to Vlad in English.

“Tell them we’re not the ones who did it, that was someone else.” Vlad told Luna who quickly translated the message. The beatings stopped for a moment then one of the buffalo spoke again.

“He asks why they should believe you?” Luna told him. Vlad rolled his eyes.

“Tell him that if I was the one who destroyed the village, then why wouldn’t I have killed him yet?” Vlad told her. Luna quickly repeated the message in buffalo tongue. The group heard the buffalos step off the tank and Vlad cautiously opened the hatch.

They all stood with spears ready but Vlad kept his hands where they could see them. “Friend…” Vlad spoke softly and slowly, to try and ease the tension. Some of the buffalo lowered their spears. He let out a deep exhale then slowly lowered his hands.

In the distance sat the M1 Abrams and its crew as they spied on the Russians and the buffalo. “Elevation… four inches.” Alex told his gunner as he sighted in the spotting scope. Their scanners had all but been fried in the fire during their last battle so they had to rely on manual spotting.

“Fire when ready.” Alex told the gunner. James took close aim with the main gun then fired. The 105mm cannon boomed in the silent air and the round erupted against the side of the T90, taking the entire group by surprise.

“DMITRY, LET’S GET MOVING!” Vlad yelled. Dmitry flicked the switched for the tank to start but it just whined in retort. “DMITRY!” Vlad yelled. Without the tank moving, they were sitting ducks. The buffalo all scurried away as another round collided but not with the tank, with the group of buffalo.

Finally the T90 roared to life and Vlad spun the main gun towards the M1’s location and quickly fired off a round that struck its side. As soon as the round collided with the opposing tank, it scampered off down a canyon passage.

“DMITRY! Follow that tank!” Vlad boomed. Dmitry cranked the vehicle into gear but they only moved forwards a few feet before the cogwheels spun freely. The young Russian man groaned in defeat.

“Sir… we’re off the track.” Dmitry reported. Vlad quickly peeked through the vision scope then swore regretfully. Moments later, Dmitry turned off the tank engine and the group exited the vehicle just as the buffalo returned.

Dmitry let out a huffed sigh as he saw the damages. The round had shattered a linkage in the tread and the cogwheels had simply spun it off. The buffalo leader trotted up and spoke in native tongue before Luna translated it. “He asks how are we going to defeat them now?” She told them.

“Dmitry, get Ivan’s equipment… I think he has something that could be of use.” Vlad ordered. The young Russian scurried into the tank just as a tractor contraption came racing into the gulley. The two stallion brothers hopped off their tractor and began to do a dance as they sang a song.

“Shut up!” Vlad roared and the two became quiet and gulped. “How long will it take you to fix tank?” Vlad asked and the brother with the moustache answered.

“A few hours, on one condition…” The stallion replied.

“There will be no negotiating.” Vlad countered and the brother sighed as he shook his head.

“Oh my dear chap, it’s nothing really. All I want in return is the rights to that other vehicle, the one you plan to destroy.” He stated. Vlad thought about it for a moment then nodded. “Excellent. The tank should be done by tomorrow morning.” He informed the group just as Dmitry hopped out of the tank.

“TOMORROW! We don’t have that much time!” Vlad yelled. Dmitry rushed up and handed Vlad a rather large sack which he quickly opened, revealing and old RPG-7. “Why the hell would Ivan even have this?” Vlad muttered to himself.

“Can it defeat that tank?” Dmitry asked. Vlad sighed as he thought about the possibilities which at the moment, seemed pretty slim.

“Maybe.”

Author's Note

Sorry about the rather long wait. Was a rather eventful week, everything from an aerosol can exploding in the car and blowing out my back window to a female cow jumping on me and hurting my back... kind of weird how things happen huh. Anyway, sorry for the wait.

Chapter 7

Alex grimaced in anger as he looked to the impossibly large gap between them and the other side where a small town sat. The town looked rather, western, and was a couple of miles north of them but just in front of them stood a large gap in the canyon which they couldn’t pass.

“We have to find another way around…” Alex stated to the group before slipping down into the commander’s seat and sealing the hatch. He waited for a moment before speaking. “Well?... What the fuck are we waiting for?!” Alex hissed.

Jackson almost jumped from the comment before quickly starting the tank and racing away. Vlad and Dmitry lay atop a cliff with the buffalo group. Luna had opted to stay with Flim and Flam to make sure they didn’t try anything like stealing the tank.

The buffalo all started cheering, raising Vlad’s eyebrow in curiosity. “Why are they happy?... Happy?” Vlad asked, trying to make the leading buffalo understand.

“TONK!” The buffalo said, trying to say tank but it came out a little slurred. Vlad shrugged, signalling that he didn’t understand. “Tonk, tonk…” The buffalo said again as he picked up a big stone. He then quickly used his right hoof to draw a map into the sand which sort of looked like the canyon pass.

Vlad watched as he drew a bunch of swoops into the sand. From the buffalo’s depiction of the valley, it looked like a bunch of S bends in the entire formation. “Tonk…” The buffalo said as he showed the stone then placed it in the sand and made crude tank noises as he moved it through the sand, following the trail.

Vlad nodded as he scratched his head. “Us…” The buffalo said as he pointed to both himself and Vlad then picked up a tiny stone. He moved it in a straight vertical pattern right through the entire map. Vlad scratched his head in confusion.

The buffalo sighed then pointed to the big stone. “Tonk…” Then made tank noises as he drove the stone through the map trails. “Us…” He said as he held the smaller stone then moved it straight through the map.

“A shortcut… you know a shortcut!” Vlad exclaimed and the buffalo brightened from the sound of Vlad’s voice.

“Dah, shotcut… shotcut…” The buffalo stated in crude English.

“Yeah a shortcut… Us, can get there faster.” Vlad said excitedly.

“Kamid… Kamid.” The buffalo said as he pointed to himself.

“Kamid?” Vlad asked then the buffalo grabbed Vlad’s hand and placed it on his own chest.

“Kamid.” The buffalo said. Vlad quickly clued in.

“You’re Kamid…” He said as he pointed to the buffalo, who nodded. He pointed to himself. “Vlad… Vlad.” He said.

The buffalo nodded happily as he smiled. “Vlad… Vlad, Kamid.” The buffalo said as he extended his hoof. Vlad shook it. The two quickly stood up with the others and raced off towards Kamid’s shortcut.

The M1 treaded through the canyon pass at a rather fast pace, kicking up dirt behind it as it paced along. Alex had a blunt expression on his face while the others all sat quiet, afraid that Alex might snap at any moment.

It was getting towards late evening and the sun was in the far western skies. The tank bumped along as it reached a fork in the road but suddenly Alex spotted a young buffalo who raced out foolishly with a spear to check the way for the others.

Alex swiveled the M2 machinegun towards it and fired a ruthless barrage of .50 caliber rounds into the buffalo, shredding the body into pieces. “JESUS!” James yelled as Jackson slowed the tank to a stop.

“Keep moving! Gunner, eyes up!” Alex roared and the tank began moving forwards again. Vlad, Dmitry, Kamid and the group of buffalo pressed up against the wall of the canyon, staying out of the line of fire.

As the tank reached the intersection, Alex swiveled the machinegun towards the group and fired relentlessly but suddenly the gun stopped. He racked back the charging handle but nothing loaded into the chamber. “Fuck…” He swore as he violently reefed open the ammo box to see that it was empty.

“FIRE!” Alex roared and James fired a wild shot that missed but did not erupt. They were still firing AP rounds. “Not armour piercing you dumb fucks! Frag rounds!” He roared.

Trixie loaded the last of the frag shells and James fired again but the rock walls protected the group from the explosive shrapnel. “Sir, we’re all out of Frag rounds!” Trixie announced.

“Anything that blows up!” Alex roared back. James directed Trixie to the High Explosive rounds which she quickly loaded.

Kamid went to rush out but Vlad grabbed both him and Dmitry and pointed to the top of the cliffs. “Up! Up! Kamid, Vlad… up!” Vlad stated. Kamid looked up.

“Us… go up.” He said, understanding what he had meant. The trio raced up the side of the cliffs and to the peaks then began giving chase to the M1 Abrams tank.

White fumes of smoke began emulating from the rear of tank as it began to overheat due to lack of sufficient coolant. Jackson looked to the gauges, the coolant gauge read over the limit. “SIR, WE’RE BURNING UP!” Jackson yelled.

“Just keep going!” Alex roared back as he continued to reload the M2’s ammo box with a fresh one. As he continued, he spotted three figures racing across the top of the cliffs. “Up high! Two o’clock!” He roared.

James redirected the main gun and fired but couldn’t get the elevation needed to hit them. Alex swore to himself as James fired a second shot but it too couldn’t hit the trio. “Fuck… he’s too high… and he knows it…” Alex hissed to himself as he slipped into the commander’s seat and sealed the hatch.

A third shell fired and Kamid went to stop. “No, we’re too high! Too high, he can’t hit us!” Vlad yelled as he pulled the buffalo warrior along with him. The trio continued on as the tank harmlessly fired at them with no success.

“We can’t hit them sir! They’re too high!” James yelled.

“Shut the fuck up and keep shooting goddammit!” Alex yelled back. He quickly popped the hatch and fumbled with the ammo box, finally securing it in place and loading the machinegun.

He took aim, but it too failed to hit the group due to the elevation. “COME ON YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Alex roared before sliding back into the commander’s seat.

Vlad pointed to the tank, almost as if he was talking to Alex directly. “YOU’RE MINE! YOU’RE MINE YOU RUTHLESS PIG!” Vlad yelled.

Trixie slid the last HE round into the chamber. “Last round sir!” Trixie announced.

“Hold your fire… hold your fire…” Alex ordered. The tank bounced along and as they made for a corner Alex roared. “FIRE!” James triggered the main cannon which spat out the explosive warhead. The shell collided with the cliff side and shattered apart rock but failed to injure the group.

The tank began to fume out a thicker and denser fume of smoke out its rear as the engine began to overheat with extreme temperatures. “SHE’S BURNING UP SIR!” Jackson yelled.

“Make it to the big intersection ahead!” Alex yelled, knowing that if he got far enough ahead, that he could take pot shots on the group from afar.

The tank crushed rocks as it bumped along and Alex used the remote controls to operate the M240 machinegun mounted to the turret. “Come on you sonuvabitch…. COME ON!” Alex roared as he activated the gun. 7.62mm rounds spat out of the gun and dusted against the side of the cliff. “COME ON!” Alex yelled frantically.

Dmitry, Vlad and Kamid all rushed down a cliff side in anticipation to ambush the tank. Dmitry and Kamid rushed across the trail and Vlad stopped. “DMITRY! COME BACK!” He yelled at the top of his vocal cords. Suddenly bullets began kicking up dirt as the M1 rounded the corner.

Kamid and Dmitry lept behind some large boulders. “RELOAD!” Alex yelled.

“We’re out!” Trixie yelled back. Alex swung the M240’s aim towards the boulder and fired but the bullets only chipped away at the stone.

Dmitry looked to his commander. “SHOOT IT!” He yelled and Vlad slapped himself as he presented the empty launcher for the young man to see.

“You have the rockets!” He yelled back. Dmitry gasped as he reached behind his shoulder and felt the two rockets that had come with the launcher. He grasped his head in despair .

“THROW IT!” Vlad yelled. Dmitry pulled one of the two rockets and tossed it but it fell short a few yards. Vlad went to grab it but the M1 fired its machinegun and kicked up dirt all around him.

“SHIT!” Vlad yelled. The M1 rounded their corner and the group dove to the ground to avoid being shot. As the tank passed them, Kamid gained a great amount of strength and tossed his war spear which was covered in feathers and other ceremonial garments.

The spear harmlessly bounced off the tank as it puttered along. The buffalo leader looked to Vlad just as he retrieved the rocket and loaded it into the launcher. “” Kamid said as he pointed to the tank’s fume trail.

Vlad rolled his eyes as he stood up and began to follow the other two. The M1 spun its turret towards them. Alex fired the machinegun and tried furiously to hit the group. “LOAD WHATEVER’S LEFT!” He boomed. Trixie loaded one of the last rounds which happened to be AP.

James tuned in the sights just as Vlad, Dmitry and Kamid lept to the ground. His vision was stung by a bead of sweat. He grimaced and gasped in pain as he tried to wipe his eyes clean.

“FIRE!... Fire goddammit!” Alex yelled. James panted as he grabbed the turret controls and tried to aim, but his vision was blurred from the stinging sweat. He fired but it missed horribly and collided into the background cliffs.

Vlad took aim with the RPG’s sights and fired. The warhead collided with the back of the tank and at first, looked to be a useless effort. Vlad swore to himself as bullets chipped away at stone around his face, forcing him to take cover.

Dmitry handed him the last round which he quickly loaded and took close aim. Black smoke filled the air as the tank’s engine began to seize. “FASTER JACKSON!” Alex roared. Jackson slammed the drive stick to its full extend and the tank whined as it was pushed past its physical limits.

Kamid watched as Vlad took extremely delicate aim. He grabbed the Russian man and brought his face close to his own. “Vlad can do it…” He said in touchy English.

Vlad suddenly tilted his aim upwards and fired wildly at the cliff side. Dmitry gasped in shock. “HOW THE HELL’D YOU MISS THAT BADLY!” Dmitry screamed. Kamid also gasped but Vlad shook his head.

“I didn’t miss.” And just as he said that, the cliff side crumbled and large boulders along with chunks of rock came tumbling down onto the M1 Abrams tank. In seconds the entire tank was buried in rubble, only the muzzle was protruding from the pile.

Kamid lept up in happiness. “VLAD! VLAD!” He yelled in excitement. Both Russian men lept up and cheered in victory but suddenly a pitched whine filled the air and the M1 rumbled out from underneath its grave. The trio all gasped as the tank seemingly grumbled out from its apparent death. It began to putter along as it swung its gun towards them.

“Oh shit!” Vlad swore. Kamid and Dmitry both went to duck but they were all in the open and Vlad knew it was no use.

“FIRE!” Alex ordered as he squeezed the button for the machineguns, but nothing happened. The avalanche had damaged the controls. James readied a shot but suddenly an explosion rocked the tank. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" Alex roared and Jackson gulped in fear as their rival T90 raced into view.

The radio crackled inside the M1. “It’s my turn!” Yelled one voice.

“You always get to operate the gun!” Yelled another.

“We never used a tank before brother, so it’s my turn now!” Yelled the first voice.

“Fine then, I’ll just use the… oh what’s this do?!” Said the second voice. The T90 pulled into view but just as it did, a fume of chaff and smoke cover erupted from the counter measure barrels.

“OOH I LIKE THIS!” Said the second voice.

“HEY! Now I can’t see!” Screeched the first voice. The T90 quickly zoomed out of the smoke as Luna popped the hatch and grabbed hold of the Kord 6P50 heavy machinegun that was mounted to the turret and took aim.

“HEY, NOW IT’S MY TURN TO DRIVE!” Yelled Flam as he tried to yank the controls from his brother.

“QUIET!” Luna boomed in her royal voice. Both brothers gulped then raced back to their posts. Flam operated the main gun while Flim drove. The M1 began to swing its aim towards the T90 as Luna looked at the machinegun in front of her.

“How am I supposed to us this thing?” Luna asked herself as she poked at it. Suddenly she poked a switch and the gun fired off a single round which whizzed through the air. “AH!” Luna exclaimed as she took hold of the gun with her hooves. She checked the sights and began firing at the back of the M1’s turret.

The gun spat out 12.7x108mm armour piercing rounds. At first it had almost no effect but evidently, each round took a small chip out of the rear of the armour. Luna kept her sights steady and held down on the trigger button.

Within moments, the rounds finally pierced through the hull and ripped through the auxiliary motor. The turret’s motor functions all shut down.

“The auxiliary motor is pooched sir!” Jackson yelled. Alex quickly wiped sweat from his forehead as he slide down and looked to James who began to manually crank the turret.

“Keep going!” Alex roared. Jackson continued to drive the tank but it began to slow as the motor continued to seize up.

Flam grabbed an Anti-Tank Guided Missile round and looked at it with utmost curiosity. “Oooh, I wonder if this one is any fun.” He squealed in excitement as he changed the autoloader’s loading from its regular shots to his new favourite rounds.

He took aim and fired. The shot fizzed through the air and slammed against the M1’s left front. The tank was covered in smoke from the blast but came out only moments later with a large chunk missing from the front.

The autoloader began its reload process but the M1 came to a sudden halt. Jackson slipped it into reverse, then back into drive and drove forwards but once again the tank came to a sudden halt.

“Uhhh… sir? We’re off the track…” Jackson groaned in defeat. Alex gulped in fear as James finally lined up his shot but just as he did, the entire tank just seemed to die as the motor finally conked out.

“Go to emergency reserve power.” Alex ordered but Jackson wiped his face.

“We can’t sir… the battery’s dead.” He replied. Alex swore under his breath but then thought about something. Why weren’t rounds slamming against the tank anymore?

The radio inside the M1 crackled to life. “I see young American man… what’s wrong? Tank not as good as you thought it was? Or are you just taking a nap?” Vlad spoke over the radio.

Alex grabbed the radio. “Fuck you, Russian communist! You can’t hurt us. We’ll just wait you out.” Alex spat. Suddenly another ATGM slammed against the M1 but this time it penetrated and burst shrapnel throughout the inside of the tank. Luckily Jackson only suffered minor wounds to his left shoulder and cheek.

Trixie and James started screaming in fear as Jackson kicked open the driver hatch. “I SURRENDER! DON’T SHOOT! DON’T SHOOT!” Jackson yelled as he quickly pulled himself from the tank.

Alex began to roar in anger. “DON’T FUCKING GO OUT THERE, THEY’LL KILL YOU ON SIGHT! HEY! LISTEN TO YOUR COMMANDER GODDAMMIT!” Alex roared, but none of his crew listened as they all lept out and ran forwards before falling before their enemies, pleading for forgiveness and mercy.

A buffalo warrior went to execute Jackson but Kamid stopped him. “” Kamid told the buffalo warrior who slowly lowered his spear and nodded.

Flim and Flam jumped out from the driver hatch and looked to the battered M1. “Ech… I don’t think that thing’s even worth restoring… new deal, we get your tank.” Flam said, but he half expected Vlad to tell him to go fornicate himself.

Vlad looked to him with a smirk. “Okay.” He said and both brothers gasped in reply. “On one condition, you disable the guns. This world does not need violence.” He said. Flim and Flam both became wide eyed in excitement as they began cheering.

Vlad placed his hands on his hips as he chuckled to himself then looked to the two American dogs. “So… which one of you was the ruthless leader?” He asked, curious to which one should be punished for the unspeakable acts.

They both answered at the same time. “IT WASN’T US! IT WAS ALE…” Was all they managed before a short chatter filled the air. Vlad gasped as three 5.56mm rounds ripped through his chest and slammed him against the side of the T90’s hull. A second burst spun him around, and then a third burst riddled his chest. He slid down the side of the tank, his blood smearing the armour. The top hatch of the T90 slammed shut as Alex stepped forwards with a still smoking M16A4.

“ALRIGHT, NOBODY FUCKING MOVE!” Alex roared as he held his rifle steady. He kept swinging it back and forth, covering the entire group. “You thought that you’d just fucking surrender and that they’d just forgive us?! Well fuck you all!” Alex yelled in anger.

He began pacing forwards, dust being kicked up from his heels as he stepped along. Empty brass littered the ground as he stepped up towards his crew members. “You cowardly shits! The penalty for desertion in my crew is death! You know that?!” Alex yelled.

He grabbed Trixie by the throat and hefted her up before dropping the M16 and pulling out his M9 sidearm and stuffing it into her mouth. “I never trusted you, you fucking whore.” Alex hissed as he turned her body so that her side was facing the group.

As he went to pull the trigger, a squeak from the hatch filled the air. Alex turned his head to see the night princess slam the hatch open and grabbed hold of the Kord machinegun. “FUC…” Was all Alex managed before Luna triggered the gun.

Alex’s body was ripped right off the ground as the heavy rounds collided with his body and shredded him. His body went limp before he hit the ground and was sent tumbling a few feet back.

“VLAD!” Dmitry gasped as he grabbed hold of his dearest friend’s body. Vlad coughed painfully as he placed his bloody palm against Dmitry’s cheek.

“Dmi… Dmitry… don’t live in violence… stay here… in peace… forget the old world… it will never get better… I have been fighting my whole life… hoping that it will become peaceful… it never will… but here… in these lands… there is peace…” Vlad told his young friend who nodded.

Trixie coughed as she staggered over. Dmitry went to push her away but she spoke out against him. “No, wait! Let me atone for my actions! I can help him.” Trixie said as she lowered her horn. It flared up but soon faded as she gasped for air. Luna hopped down from the tank and lowered her horn. Flim and Flam rushed over and followed suit.

The ground and air around Vlad was filled with a mixture of light and dark blue, along with green, magic aura. Ever so slowly, Vlad’s wounds healed and he coughed. Life began to return to his body.

Dmitry watched in pure and emotional fascination as his friend was saved from death. As their horns faded, the group collapsed in exhaustion. Dmitry grabbed his friend and held him tightly but Vlad gasped. “Ahh… Dmitry… they may have healed my wounds… but I am still sore…”

Author's Note

Damn... in the end it was Luna that ended Alex... well hot damn ain't she something huh? Anyway, still got an epilogue to do.

Epilogue

Vlad, Dmitry, Jackson, James and Trixie all stood before the four royal princesses: Celestia, Luna, Cadence and the newly addressed Twilight Sparkle. Jackson, James and Trixie were extremely nervous, wondering what punishment might be bestowed upon them.

“So… you three were responsible for the destruction and death of all those ponies and buffalo… am I correct?” Celestia asked.

“If I may interrupt?” Vlad asked and Celestia looked to him. “They were under orders from their commander ma’am… he had already shot one of his crewmembers when he tried to rebel and they were in fear for their lives… it may not change the fact but please take that into consideration.” Vlad spoke.

“Why would you stand up for them?” Celestia asked and Vlad sighed.

“Because I would’ve done the same thing, had I been in their situation.” The Russian man replied. Celestia nodded and thought to herself.

“Indeed…” She began but Twilight cut her off before she could continue.

“Trixie… is it true you preformed a life restoration spell?” She asked rather excitedly. Trixie slowly nodded.

“Well sort of… I couldn’t have done it without the help of those two brothers and Luna.” She replied and Twilight’s face brightened as she looked to her old mentor.

“Celestia… May I take her under my wing as my faithful student? I see great opportunities for her!” Twilight pleaded. To this question Trixie gasped.

“THE Twilight Sparkle requests that Trixie become her faithful student!” Trixie squealed then fainted. Vlad watched as she hit the floor with a THUMP! “OWW… hey you were supposed to catch me!” Trixie scowled at Vlad, who in turn just shrugged. Celestia interrupted them before Trixie could begin to pout about the Russian man not catching her.

“So be it… if those two can show that they are truly good… then they may stay under the watch of the royal guard in Canterlot until I see fit for them to travel the world on their own. Trixie may be your student, though it was always your own choice… as for you two… what do you request as payment for your good deeds?” Celestia asked.

Vlad looked to Dmitry and they both shrugged. Dmitry spoke for the both of them. “Well ma’am… if it’s okay… we’d like to stay and see the sights.”