Once more, Dear friends

*Three Years Later*

[ Anypony on this frequency respond!]

[This is Baker Company we’re bogged down and taking heavy fire! Harmony is down! I repeat! Harmony is down!]

[Roger that Baker Company what is your location over?]

[We’re bogged down in a irrigation field North of Waypoint Echo taking heavy casualties! Imps are giving us a real pounding! We need support now!]

[Roger that Baker. We have Bolt support on the way. Mark your position with red smoke.]

[Roger ma- *Static*]

[Baker? Baker Respond!]

*Irrigation Field South of Waypoint Gold.*

All around and in a flooded field bodies and tank carcasses littered the area. In a ditch sat a lone Tiger a hole in the right of the lower iglesias. Through the field a lone stallion walked through the carnage of bodies and smoldering wrecks.

BLAM!

A mare stepped out from the behind the turret glaring down at the stallion that had a hole in his head. She hopped down walking over to him taking a Imperial tag off his neck and turned climbing back onto the tank and into the hatch.

Down inside she could hear some sniffing along with some curses. She sat down in the commanders seat and looked over to see AJ working on the radio while Dash tried to fix the transmission. Up in the front she could see both Fluttershy and Pinkie motionless.

“You get that fucker?” The mare turned looking at Applejack as the radio box sparked getting a curse from her.

“ Yeah I got him.” She sighed and looked over at Dash who grunted and hammered something.

“Damnit!” She looked up to see Dash slump over and growled throwing a wrench at the open floor before looking over at where Pinkie and Fluttershy were.

“Let her go. Let her go! She’s dead. Leave her alone.” She heard Fluttershy sniff and shake her head.

“Don’t you fucking yell at her Twilight! This is your fucking fault!” Dash yelled as they heard a sob from Fluttershy.

“ Is that transmission up yet?” Twilight asked as she put on her helmet and throat mic.

“Don’t be hounding me! Fucking AP round clipped it and it’s leaking all over the place.” Dash growled as she tightened another bolt and put some clamps on.

“ Lets hurry the hell up. We need to get out of here. Hows that radio coming?” Twilight asked looking over at Aj.

“That should do it sugarcube.” She said looking over at Twi as she messed with the radio.

“ Able X Ray this is Harmony how copy over?” The radio only came back as static.

“ Able X Ray this is Harmony how copy over?”

[ *Static* Good to hear from your Harmony. What’s your situation?]

“..... Our tank is pretty banged up but we’re on our way back as soon as it’s fixed.” She reported.

“It’s fixed! We’re good to go!” Dash called to her before getting up and taking her position on the gun.

“Lets go Fluttershy. We have to move. Leave her alone. Show some respect.” Twilight said softly hearing the mare whimpered.

“Ok.” She moved back to her drivers position and started up the Tiger stating to back up.

“ Got some rain coming. Come on lets get out of here.” She closed the hatch as the first shells landed hitting one of the Equestrian tanks blowing it to pieces.

* 4th Guard Regiment*

As the Tiger rolled into the base everything stopped so they could watch the battered Tiger clank into the center of the base as medics rushed towards them along with Tiger 002’s crew.

They watched as they opened the hull gunner’s hatch as they pulled a covered body out.

Darksteel could feel a massive amount of dread fall over him as he looked at the body. He slowly walked forward and stopped a few feet away from the body and stared at it. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Who is it?”

Twilight turned looking back at him and his crew before back at the body while the rest of her crew pulled her down laying her on the stretcher with the medics help.

“Who do you see missing?” She asked lighting a cigarette and taking a deep inhale.

Darksteel immediately knew. A part of him wished that it wasn't so, but he knew that it was Pinkie Pie. He felt a weight settle in his heart, he knew that this was war. That at any moment any pony could die, but that didn't change the fact that losing a friend like Pinkie was one of the worst things possible.

Darksteel looked down at the body and fought the feelings flowing threw him. Rage, Anger, Hatred, but above all sorrow at the loss of his friend. He then looked up to Twilight.

“How did this happen?”

*Flashback*

[All forces push forward!]

“Everypony get your spacing and maintain speed. Infantry stay in cover, tanks provide support for the grunts!”

[Roger that ma’am! Big Momma slow down you’re right on the grunts.] One of the tanks slowed down so they didn’t run over some of the forward infantry.

“ Get your head out of your ass!” Twilight yelled as she turned out of her hatch ducking down low incase of enemy fire.

BOOOM!

BLLLLAAAAAAAAAAPPPP!!!!

[Enemy fire from across the field!]

“Lets go right stick right and hit those Imps!” Twilight ordered as they pushed through some light hedges getting into the the field as the medium tanks pushed ahead as the heavy tiger made it to the lip of the ditch.

BOOM!

CLANG!!

Inside the Tiger the crew screamed as they looked around.

“Everypony ok?” Twilight called out.

“ I’m good” Dash groaned as she tried to move the turret but it didn’t budge.

“Damnit! turrets jammed!” Dash yelled.

“ Ugh I’m ok. Fluttershy are you ok?” Aj asked as they looked up to see her rubbing her forehead but nodded.

“I’m ok. Pinkie?” They all looked over at the dark corner of the tank to see her slumped over.

“Pinks? You ok?” Dash went to move over to her before being grabbed by Twilight.

“We’re still in the middle of a battlefield get the turret working and see what the damage is. Fluttershy check on Pinkie, she’s probably out cold from a hard hit like that.

“Ok.” Fluttershy called back and moved over to Pinkie.

“Baker 1-1 this is Harmony we’re dead in the water how copy over?”

*Static*

“Bad news girls looks like the radio’s fried. Aj see if you can fix it.” Twilight said getting a nod from her.

“Dash hows everything coming?” Twilight asked as she heard a grunt.

“Some fragments got into the turret track. It’s cleared now. Fluttershy? How’s Pinkie?” They all looked at the mare to see her shoulders shaking and was hugging the mare.

“Shy? Yall ok?” Aj called as she worked on the radio.

They just heard a whimper as Twilight moved over to where she was and moved her showing Pinkie still slumped over with a massive hole in her chest and a hole in front of her that was smoking.

Twilight went wide eyed as she looked at her dead friend while Fluttershy let out a choking sob alerting the others of what happened.

“No. No, no, no, no! She can’t be!!!” Dash screamed as she scrambled to her long time friend and seeing for herself what was true.

“Dash get back to work. We need to get back into the fight. Aj get me command, they need to know what’s happened.” Twilight said looking at the her dead friend as flashes of all they had been through went through her mind.

“Are you kidding me!? Pinkie is dead Twilight!” Dash yelled sobbing and wiping her tears.

“And we will be too if we stay here longer! Fix whatever needs fixing so we get into this fight! Ponies are dying right now and we can’t do anything if this thing can’t shoot back!” Twilight yelled as Dash growled at her before crawling back to the gun along with Aj going back to the radio.

“Fluttershy.” Twilight looked back to see her with tears streaming down her face and was hugging Pinkie again with wide eyes.

“Come on we need to help the others. Come on. It’s going to be ok.” Twilight tried to get her to move but she didn’t as the battle raged on around them shaking the tank from rounds hitting near them or bouncing off. Twilight sighed as she moved to the drivers seat and tried to start the Tiger only for it to not turn over.

“Dash see if there is something wrong with the engine or transmission.” Dash didn’t say anything but began to check on everything while a curse came from the command radio area. Twilight sat there in the driver’s seat looking out of the drivers view port as the battle raged on while hearing Fluttershy cry quietly next to her.

*End Flashback*

Steel let out a deep sigh and looked over to Pinkies body and then to Twilight.

“I know how you feel...Better than most. I lost my entire team years ago….The pain never really goes away...We should return her body to her family back home, she deserves a proper burial.” Steel then looked over to Twilight.

“....If you need time to recover from this...Nopony will blame you. But I need to know one more thing, what happened out there? From what I've heard, our forces were advancing into the field and then suddenly the place flooded and the whole place turned into a death trap for our ponies and the Imperials. Did you see what caused it?”

“Damn Imps flooded the area. The whole field was a irrigation system.” Twilight took another drag of the cig.

Steels eyes widened, “The whole field was an irrigation system? And the Imperials flooded it while their own troops were still on it? That would have turned the whole place into a field of quicksand and mud...Sweet Celestia and Luna, how many ponies were buried alive or drowned?” Steel placed a hoof over his face, he knew that one of the worst ways to die was drowning, but being buried alive was a terrifying way to die.

“......Twilight...If you pushed through the hedges and were hit on the hill...That means that if you hadn't of been hit and crippled there, you would have….”

“It means we could have saved a lot of lives the Tiger would have been fine.” She sighed.

“No, it wouldn't have. Twilight, the whole field turned to quicksand and mud. Irrigation systems like that field have been dug deep. The tigers sheer weight would have dragged you all down. You would have been buried alive or drowned in mud.”

“It wasn’t that deep. The initial flooding killed most of the infantry. The tiger is twice as big and the weight of the Tiger was reduced because of the seals that come standard on them. You were there during the testing and even suggested it. Besides it was maybe 5 feet deep so don’t you dare say that if Pinkie hadn’t been killed we all would have died.” She watched as Pinkie was taken away she had a dead sound in her voice.

Steel then took a deep sigh.

“Twilight...Pinkies death is going to be even harder to deal with than ponyville. At least that you couldn't stop, at least then it wasn't your decision that placed those that died in the crosshairs. At least then...You could tell yourself it wasn't your fault and a small part of you could believe it.” Steel at that moment seemed to more be talking to himself than Twilight.

“But still, even trying to move past this is going to feel impossible. You need to head back to Equestria until you're ready to fight mentally again-”

Click

He looked back at her to see her aiming a pistol at his face.

“Are you trying to blame me for what happened to Pinkie and Ponyville? I believe that a certain Vanguard we caught a few years ago accused me of the same thing. I’d be very careful with your next words Steel.” Twilight had a cold look in her eyes as she looked at her fellow Tiger commander as their crews stood behind them while the others were still as stone.

“I lost my WHOLE team Twilight, and believe it or not, for a time I wouldn't even let somepony bring them up without being ready to break their jaws, or worse, I couldn't accept their deaths for a long time and I'm NOT blaming you, no pony is but don't act like Im not trying to help you. All im saying is that ever since the war started, you and your crew have been at the forefront of every battle. We may be soldiers, but we are still ponies you need some time away from the war, now more than ever. I dont want you to snap and go insane Twilight. Ive seen it happen to far too many ponies already, it almost happened to me.” She lowered the pistol as everyone let out a breath of relief as she smiled.

“I’ve already accepted Pinkie’s death Steel and where are we suppose to go? Ponyville is still mostly ruins my parents won’t understand and… Spike… I don’t know if he’ll ever look at me the same again…… But…. I do have a duty to carry out.” She smiled as tears streamed down her face.

“I have to let her family know what happened.” She said as many that knew her were shocked to see after three years since the start of the war Twilight cried for the first time.

Steel had a small smile on his face, almost unnoticeable and thought to himself.

‘Shes far stronger than I was when it happened. Most other ponies would stay in that cold state with dead eyes. Fighting against their own feelings and trying to avenge their comrades dead. But she was able to accept it so quickly...She has such strength inside.’ Steel then looked over to Twilight.

“There is one place for you to go. When you take Pinkies body to her family...If you can, try to stay with them and help them, it will be very hard for them to come to terms with her death. You are the best pony for that and I think she would want you to help them to. And Twilight...Never forget that your parents love you, they may not understand war, but they will be there for you no matter what. And Spike...I'm sure that no matter what you have done, he'll still love you all the same don't forget that he loves you like a mother.”

“Thanks Steel. Sorry about before.” She turned to her crew.

“Get some food and have the mechanics take care of the Tiger….. I’ll take care of Pinkie.” She sniffed and holstered her pistol as she headed to the medic station.

“Twilight...I want you to have something.” Steel then reached into his coat and pulled of a small amulet, it was a deep shade of blue and was modestly made, but well crafted nonetheless.

“What is it?” She turned back to him.

“Its my amulet, It was given to me four years ago after I lost my crew. Whenever I look into it, Im always reminded of all the good times I had with my crew, it remindes me that I can't let what Ive lost, Stop me from moving forward. I want you to have it now, I no longer need it.”

“Why?” She looked confused taking the amulet.

Steel turned and looked to his crew, “Because I have them now. Pinkie may be gone Twilight, but never forget what she meant to you.”

“Like I ever would.” She smiled and took the amulet as she headed to the medics tent.

*Equestria.*

Twilight along with her crew in full military dress uniform as she held a Equestrian flag along with a folder as they drove up the dirt path coming up to a modest home where they saw a Equestrian flag flying proudly as they pulled up and got out.

“You ready for this sugarcube?” Aj looked over at her friend and commander as they walked up to the house as it opened to show an older stallion and mare.

“Mr. and Mrs. Pie.” Twilight and the others took off their hats and could see Mrs. Pie start to pale as her eyes widened.

“Yes?” Mr. Pie asked as they walked towards them.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m Pinkie’s commanding officer. May we step inside?” She asked and could see Mr. Pie pale.

“Where is Pinkie? Where’s my baby?” Mrs. Pie asked as Twilight and the others looked down.

“ I’m sorry.” She pulled the Equestrian flag that was folded up and handed it to Mrs. Pie.

“NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” She broke down as the mares looked down as she hugged the flag to her chest.

“ How?” Mr. Pie asked as Twilight sighed.

“ During an operation we were pushing the enemy back I made the call to give chase, when we pushed through a hedge our tank was hit by cannon fire. It hit our lower iglesias penetrating it…. I believe it was instant. She didn’t even feel it.” Twilight said as the parents cried at the loss of their daughter.

“ I cannot express my sorrow of the loss of your daughter. We all looked at Pinkie like sister. The loss of Pinkie has deeply scared us but we could never understand the loss of a child. You have our deepest condolences.” Twilight looked down as the parents grieved.

“Come on darling. They need time.” Rarity said as they put their hats on and headed back to the car.

“Wait!” They turned to see Mrs. Pie trotting up to them.

“I want you to make sure that those bastards pay for taking my baby away from me! You kill every last one of them. Promise me!” Her eyes glowed with rage and was pleading with them. She wanted to revenge.

Twilight nodded along with the other mares as they gave her a salute.

“We’ll send every one of them to hell ma’am. That’s a Pinkie Promise!” They all yelled as she smiled with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Thank you so much.” She pulled them each into a hug before heading back to her husband.

*Elk Horn, Eagledor *

Twilight tossed back another shot at the bar owned by a griffon while she looked over at all the other soldiers that were celebrating or just drinking with a far away look in their eyes.

“Careful darling I don’t want to carry you home to.” Rarity looked over at Fluttershy who was slumped over the table.

“ If anypony deserves to be out cold drunk, so don’t nag her Rares.” Aj smiled at the mare as she huffed.

“Well I for one don’t want to be carrying your drunk bums to our hotel.” She looked over at where a mug of beer was sitting in front of a empty chair.

“Don’t worry I’m fine. Besides it’s good that we are all together like this again after so long.” She gave a weak smile as they all looked at the empty chair and could see Pinkie smiling and laughing with a mug of cider waving around.

“Not all of us.” Dash said with a pained look in her eyes.

“Pinkie will always be here with us girls. Just not physically.” They turned to see Fluttershy roll her head to the side and gave a sad smile to them.

“ We’ll never forget her thats for sure huh?” Twilight smiled with tears in her eyes pouring another shot.

“Yer kiddin right? Forget Pinkie? I think that’s a bit impossible.” She poured her own glass along with the others.

“No kiddin, I’d never forget Pinkie. Not as long as I live!” Dash smiled as tears budded in her own eyes.

“Pinkie is one of those that is hard to forget. From her spunky attitude and bubbly personality to how she can make anypony smile.” She smiled as tears flowed down her face.

“To Pinkie” Fluttershy raised her glass that was quickly joined by the others.

“To Pinkie!!” They all cried clinking their glasses.

“ Well what do we have here? Drink for a fallen mate of yours?” The girls looked up to see a few griffons looking down at them.

“ Why don’t you three move on. We’ve had a pretty long day.” Fluttershy said as the griffons looked at each other.

“Move along? How can we move at all when every where we step there’s a damn Equestrian there. You ponies are like roaches not a single place where you’re not there.” A griffon growled as the mares got up glaring at the griffons.

“If it wasn’t for us you would be swarmed by the Imps. Not only that you would be throwing rocks at them if it wasn’t for us!”Dash growled.

“ Oh yeah we’re real thankful for the boost in military power. But it looks like this is one pony we don’t have to worry about tripping over.” He went to grab it only to have his claw gripped by Twilight magic making him scream.

“ You touch that and I’ll turn you into fried chicken and sever you to the Minotaurs.” They felt a cold chill run down their spines only for one of them to hit Twilight with a chair.

“AH!” Twilight yelled before Aj jumped into action turning and bucking a griffon right out of a window while Fluttershy tackled another spinning in the air and slamming him into the ground head first. All hell broke loose as ponies and griffons began to brawl as they heard whistling and yelling.

“Lets go girls!” Rarity yelled flipping a griffon on his head as Dash slammed a hoof into one's face as it hit the ground hard and out cold.

The five mares rushed out as military police rushed the bar while the mares took off.

After a while they made it to their hotel they fell on their beds as they panted.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!!!” They burst out laughing as they leaned against each other.

As they calmed down giggling they all had tears in their eyes giggling every once in a while.

“ I guess tomorrow we’ll be going back to the front.” Twilight sighed wiping her eyes looking up at the ceiling.

“Yep. Can’t believe that it’s been a week already.” Aj said as she climbed into one of the beds.

“ Well I guess we better get some sleep.” Fluttershy smiled getting a nod from the others. They all mumbled a good night and then went to their rooms.

*Equestrian Front a few days later*

Twilight and the mares of Tiger 001 walked up to their newly repaired Tiger along with the cleaned inside besides their personal effects that they took with them. They sighed as they looked over the tank.

“Ma’ams” They looked up to see a white mare with a short pink mane and tail and blue eyes. She was unicorn who gave them a stiff salute.

“Who the hell are you?” Dash asked as they continued to walk towards the tank with the young mare in tow.

“Um my name is Tender Love. I’m your new radio mare.” She whimpered as they rounded on her.

“The hell you are!” Twilight yelled making her yelp as they climbed on the tank.

“Yes ma’am I am.” She whimpered holding her duffle bag as the other mares hopped down.

“ Bullshit!” Dash growled.

“ Who told you that!?” Aj yelled as the mare squeaked.

“ U-Um Princess Luna personally assigned me.” Tender said shaking a little.

“ Celestia damn it. You girls get ready to move out.” Twilight sighed as the others went to get the tank ready.

“ That’s home. Get your stuff and listen to the other girls, they’ll keep you alive.” Twilight sighed watching as the other mare headed towards the tank while Twilight headed to regional command to see what needed to be done.

*With the Tiger*

Tender was scared as the other mares looked at her with glares as her bag was taken and Fluttershy began to look through it.

“W-What are you doing? Those are mine.” She went to grab her things only for Fluttershy to hold her back.

“Where’s the smokes?” Aj asked taking out a book.

“ I-I don’t smoke.” Tender said taking the book back.

“ How long have you been in the Guard?” Dash asked jumping down to her making her jump back.

“Um 18 weeks.” She was handed back her bag.

“ Know anything about a tank?” Aj asked as the mare shook her head.

“ No. I”m just a radio mare. I’ve never been to the front before.” The mares sighed as Twilight came out with a pistol and submachine gun floating up in her magic.

“Ok one pistol and SMG.” She tossed them over to the mare who caught it with her magic.

“Ah!” She tripped and fell on the radiomare’s hatch.

“ Aj take her through that gun. Fluttershy with me. We’re meeting with some of the other TC’s.” Twilight called out as Aj headed over to Tender while Dash continued to load their gear.

*Motor Pool*

“So second platoon is going to meet up with Charlie Company at Gatorsburg. Then we’ll regroup and hit the Town of Lo. The Imps are holding the town pretty good and are forcing the locals to fight us or die. They’re dug in pretty good and are being led by the Vanguard.” Steel said as Twilight and Fluttershy grit their teeth.

“Fuckers.” Twilight cursed.

“We’ll be hitting the town with infantry during the night. So be on your toes and watch your corners. The Imps are going to hold onto it with everything they got so be ready for a fight. We’ll be taking route Hammer so be on the look out.

“Got it. Troop movement?” Twilight asked.

“ Unknown. We need to keep our eyes peeled.” Luna said as the others nodded.

“ Lets move out.” Steel started to walk away till he saw his fellow TC’s lighting up smokes besides some of the the drivers who headed back to their tanks.

“The war isn’t going anywhere Steel.” He had a dull look on his face as they sighed.

“Alright. Come on girls. Lets move out we got a job to do.” Twilight said throwing the cig on the ground before heading to the Tiger.

*Route Hammer*

Twilight stood out of the Tiger as they moved down a tank road made the 22nd Panzer Company that headed to where Charlie company was. As they moved down the road they saw a sign stating that they were in enemy territory.

“Alright everypony keep an eye out. Imps could be anywhere, and I don’t want surprises.” Twilight said over the radio as they turned a corner and could see they had come into a open field along with a few destroyed tanks and other burned out vehicles.

“ Lets pick up the pace everypony. I don’t like this, we’re way too exposed.” Steel radioed as they picked up speed.

BOOM!!

They all watched as Tiger 002 was hit near the rear as fire quickly spread as she saw Steel fully engulfed in flames as he let out a shrill scream as she watched him climb out of the command hatch and roll off the side hitting the ground with a thud as she saw his body already charred from the gasoline on him.

She watched as he sat up and pulled his pistol putting it to his head and pulling the trigger as blood, bone, and brain matter coated the grass while the dying screams of the other crew members quieted down before the only thing she could hear was the fire and some of the ammunition went off.

Twilight watched with wide eyes and saw Fluttershy and Tender had seen the whole thing.

BOOM!!

An explosion went off beside her tank and looked into the forest as her eyes went wide to see another Tiger aiming at her.

“FLUTTERSHY BACK UP HARD RIGHT!!!” Twilight screamed into the mic as the Tiger fired again bouncing off the side of the turret as the Grizzlys were already firing at the enemy Tiger most of their rounds bouncing off or missing.

“STOP! LOAD APCR!! TARGET LEFT 700 METERS IN THE TREELINE!!!” Twilight screamed.

“T-Thats a Tiger!” Dash yelled as Aj loaded a round.

“Round up!” Aj yelled as as she grabbed another round.

“Fire when ready!” Twilight yelled keeping low as the enemy Tiger fired at them with the MG’s.

BOOM!!

Twilight saw the round hit right where the driver was and she could see a hole where the drivers viewport was.

“Load APBC! Dash hit that same spot!” Twilight yelled as she heard the shell hit the gun deck and Aj throw another one into the gun.

BOOM!!!

They watched as the turret was blown off the the chassis and landed on the ground leaning against a tree.

“All forces. This is Harmony… We’ll be taking lead.”