Because my mind is out of of step with reality and the thoughts from tomorrow haunt my dreams as sharply as those from yesterday, I shall start this tale part way through it's journey.....
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Falling forward she landed hard flat on her belly. Winded she stood up, pirouetted on her front hooves and clocked him in the side of the head with a rear. He snorted briefly, rolled his eyes and went down like a sack of potatoes.
Then came the icy tones of Colonel Raven. Oh hell, she was in for it now! Even if he had seen everything that led to that kick she would likely be up on a charge.
"Tigger, you and Delta move to forward defence. You, what crew are you?" Before anypony could reply, "Pick that up, put him in your ship and follow them," he balled, pointing at Grundel. "We'll talk about consequences 'if' you come back!"
Delta, Hatty and Tigger ran for their tank before anything else could happen. Hatty hung up the charge cable on it's post and closed the door before jumping into the engineers seat. "Main Batt is full, aux is full, main gun shows green," she called out.
Everything appeared to be working fine, which was of some concern? They had called the old tank 'grundel', because of it's lack of interest in doing anything properly. It was just grumpy and reluctant to trundle and should have been destroyed ten times over! The previous crew of Unicorns had done things to it and no one was quite sure what? If nothing else it could take one hell of a beating. And 'hell' was where it was happy.
Tigger watched as Hatty threw the main breakers and smiled as the machine began to hum and tick. Sounding the siren she steered the giant tracked gun out of the parking area and onto the road. Forward defence wasn't a big task, so she decided to burn some power on a fast run. It would be interesting to see if Rotors crew could keep up?
All was going well until they came to a fallen tree. Tigger slowed down to climb over the obstacle, which passed with nothing more exciting than the sound of splintering wood. Hatty was just getting up to check something as tigger put her hoof down. There was huge bang and the tank stopped dead. Hatty hit the panel in front of her hard and slumped back in her seat. Delta sprang to her aid and pulled the silver mare to the floor.
"Oh hell she's out cold," he said. "We need to get her back".
Tigger looked around her for signs of ambush and attempted to reverse up. Checking behind she could see Rotors tank coming up fast behind them. Giving the tank full drive power she felt it dig in.
"Tank trap!" she called out. "I thought ours were supposed to be marked on the map?"
"Must be a new one?" called out Delta. "How many fingers am i holding up?" he asked Hatty.
"Pony's don't have fingers," she half grinned back, "But when did you get eight legs?" Then she passed out again.
Tigger looked down at her friend and scowled. "Get Rotors crew to take her back. At least they are moving. I'll call for recovery when she's safe."
Delta dragged the incapacitated mare to the rear door, kicked it open and pulled her through. It wasn't safe outside, but the obstacle they were stuck in might be dialled into an enemy firing position. Right now it was a juicy stationary target.
Ten minutes later she heard the other machine move off, followed by Delta shutting the door. If it was a trap laid by their ponies then forward was probably the only way out. It would have been dug to slam fast moving machines into the vertical wall of earth she had just driven over. Self recovery was worth a shot before she called for help.
This time she was gentle with the controls as they moved forward. At first Grundel wouldn't climb the exit slope, but with a turn this way and that they began to climb out. It was all looking feasible until;
"You rust bucket!" she shouted as the track just exiting the ditch began to smoke. It must have been holding them back because a sharp jab on the stirrups had the huge machine leaping from the trap. The exit wasn't quite as graceful as it needed to be and another track motor took the harsh landing badly.
Tigger jumped from her station and made for the door carrying something. "You lousy rotten..."
Delta couldn't make out the really bad words because she was holding some heavy object in her teeth, but he could hear the ringing blows as Tigger struck the free wheeling links with a hammer. It was more 'tiger' than sweet little mare today!
A metallic twang suggested both front drive motors were now disconnected. Delta stepped up to the command panel and set them both to 'Isolate' as Tigger was shutting the door. This was all turning out badly and he was glad they would be going back despite the repercussions.
"It'll be an easy run to the front," she said. Then seeing Delta's surprised face; "It's a steady downhill road. We'll take it in turns to nap tonight, then grab a tow in the morning."
Tigger opened the rear door and sprang out into the roar of gun fire. There wasn't time to be messing about removing covers and seeing which power relay was sticking. Instead she span around and bucked the general vicinity of the power cell as hard as she could before diving back into the relative safety of the tank. Jabbing her hooves back into the shifter stirrups she punched the auxiliary power button again and waited for the indicator bar to creep up.
It hadn't been the quiet evening she had hoped for. Her arrival seemed to motivate the enemy and they were pretty keen to get rid of them before she could report their positions. They were in luck, because the initial firing of the tank's rail gun showed the main battery was indeed lying about its condition.
"One, two, three, come on! I'm not going out like this! Not with a flat battery!" she shouted at the info panel as another projectile clanged off the front armour. If this carried on she would be lucky to back up let alone fire the rail gun again.
It might have been the kick or the impact of the incoming fire that shook the whole machine, but either way the indicator shot into the green and the cooling fans started up. Delta looked up from the communication station.
"Incoming!" he shouted, adding; "Right now, while we were down, they got on top of us."
Setting the auto-target system to 'metallic' Tigger scanned the battle field ahead for Robot Horses and found no shortage of targets. There was even a command tank coming into view far off in the distance.
The combination of both types of weaponry was bad news. If she used the main gun on the heavy target she would run the risk of a power outage that would leave her unable to fight the hoof soldiers. But if she didn't fire she risked its main weaponry hitting her. There was no option really but to remove the immediate threat a mere stone's throw in front of her.
"Missile, set dead ahead, shrapnel, 300 steps!" she barked. Delta looked up with surprise at the very short fuse delay, but seeing her face he immediately cranked it in and slid the explosive rocket into its launcher. Tigger put the cross hairs onto a mech in the middle of the group ahead, selected 'missile' on the ordinance panel and pressed send.
Everypony held their breath as the launch tube showed green and then orange before the whole tank shook to Tigger's touch of the fire button. Almost instantly the second explosion hit them. The leading mech soldiers' disintegration was followed by a rain of debris on the roof.
"That should hide us for a second or two," She said out loud to herself. "Ready the rail gun. I want those capacitors charged and ready to go as soon as their heavy shows through the dust." Hopefully the opposing force believed that it was her blowing up?
"Yes Sir," shouted back Delta as he threw the auxiliary power switch to the main gun. This wasn't exactly in the training manual, but nor was fighting with half the travel motors out. He held his breath as the power hummed into the rapid release storage batteries.
"Come on, come on," he said as the indicator on his panel rose.
Tigger looked down and smiled. "This is going to work. We should raise a full shot just before we see them." Turning back to the viewer she added, "Or at least, just before they can see us?"
Ideally she would use technology to scan the horizon for the large metal threat coming toward her, but this would have to be done by sight. Hopefully the metal of battle machine parts strewn around them would hide their radar profile. Right now the debris was the only thing hiding her and she needed to keep it that way by not emitting energy waves.
Delta's eyes were upon her as she stared into the periscope. The only noise came from the circulation fans and the super-coolant running through the gun coils. He held his breath and waited.
There was no doubting she had found her quarry when her ears went back. With a grin she took the distance.
"Ten thousand steps, ten steps compensation, full charge rail gun!"
"Rail gun at ninety eight percent," replied Delta.
As the front of the tank lifted slightly to aim the main weapon Tigger turned the trigger selector to 'automatic' and set it to trip at full charge.
"Brace!" she shouted.
Their whole world shook as the entire battery load was dumped into the coils surrounding the gem tipped projectile. Even at this range the effect was virtually instantaneous, a red trace lighting the ground ahead. A flash indicated it had found something solid in the distance and as the bright light receded the opposing tank could be seen split in two.
Tigger hadn't time to be pleased though. Spinning the commander seat around she kicked both stirrups forward and felt the machine lurch under her. The remaining tracks scrabbled for grip on the dirt road before eventually finding their way. "Time to get out out of here," she called out. "Eye's wide open for ambush! They know where we are and they know we're off home."
Getting home wasn't going to be an easy feat. It wasn't a large distance to the forward operations centre, but the two dragging tracks weren't helping and nor had that last railgun charge. They were very pleased to see a recovery track ahead and radioed its number.
"Heavy to 23, require recovery," called Delta.
"Recovery 23 to Heavy, taking fire, set your auto tow, ready for syncro."
Tigger tapped the recovery icon on the auto pilot and felt the feedback pressure drop on the stirrups. Her tank approached the other machine slowly with the ominous sound of heavy machine gun fire tinkling on the outer armour. There was a stout metallic clack as the tow hitches locked.
"I have you Heavy, returning to Base A3."
Supply Base A3 would do nicely as she didn't have to face any flack from the earlier incident at Park 6. Alpha Three would be a bit too close to the action to have a comfy lay about and a rest though. A night in her tank was a safe bet. She hoped they had parts?
"Is there a fresh battle plan in yet, are we in for a good haul?" she asked Delta.
"Long enough for munchies if we are to make a start on the drive motors on arrival,"
He rummaged around in a side locker before jumping and dropping the entire contents on the floor.
"Nuts, what the hell was that one? I thought it was coming through the hull!"
Tigger studied the back end and then spun to view the front.
"Meh, front light only ever lit up the top of the gun anyway," she shrugged at the wisp of smoke coming from it's mount. "It should be showing a line-short on the third bus. Yes, nice one, lemon hay-bar! Hoof that over over here before it rattles under the floor board."
They were soon in a line up of other battered hardware, a power line running into the back of their tank. A heated debate was soon underway;
"Just because I only have one drive motor doesn't mean I'm out for good!" shouted a blue stallion.
Tigger laughed. "That main gun is done for. Look at the sedate gentle curve along its length. You couldn't hit us with that and we're right in front you! Give it up, you know you want to. Help a filly out. Its half off anyway?"
"What the buck? Get the hell away from my tank ya jack ass!"
Delta looked a little ashamed. "Well, it sounded like we almost had a deal?"
Tigger re-gained the stallions attention. "Hay bar? It's a lemon one," she suggested, waving the bright wrapper in front of the stallion.
He eyed it cautiously.
"Yeh, go on then. If it had been strawberry you would have been walking home!"
Tigger grinned, kissed him on the nose and ripped the power coupling out of Grundle's side with a bright blue flash. "Baby's getting a new track motor," she sang.
Half an hour later they were synchronising the drive speeds as tinkling noises came from above. Tigger looked up at the inside of the hull. "Shrap' rains early tonight, how are we doing on charge? Mine says fifty percent?"
"Mine says one battery is in the main stores in Neighville and the other says two hundred percent, so i guess we should have took his comms panel as well," replied Delta as he got up to throw the charge cable out of the back door."
Soon they were underway in the darkness which was much easier without the gun-light reflecting back at them. Three motors put the odds in their favour and they were making cruising speed. Nopony needed to be loitering around this close to the front and speed was better than armour.
Delta kept an ear out for 'chitt chat' on the radio and the secure scribe-net. He could see that some R&R wasn't going to be in his stars this week. Their forces were taking a hammering in the north, while in the south progress was slow.
"We are directed to Air 19. I guess it's an emergency air supply depot? Left at the next turn."
Tigger made the next turn a little wider than she wished and took out a fair length of roadside fence. Glancing sideways to the rear-view portion of the periscope she saw a post come up over a rear track and snap like a toothpick as the metal belt took a second bite.
Her eye lids felt heavy as they pulled onto the side of the air strip next to some other beaten up Heavies. Delta flipped the breakers as they made for the door. Just outside was a young stallion in flying garb.
"We're all leaving. They've got ahead of our forces and we're cut off. That's your way out," he said pointing to a plane. "I'll see you onboard."
Tigger walked to the plane chatting to Delta, but then suddenly looked confused. She hadn't been more than a thousand steps away from that machine in six moons?
"Come on Captain, Hatty left hours ago, Grundels going to be fine!" But Tigger didn't look so sure? "We can catch a plane back with spare parts in an hour or two," he added.
As she put a hoof on the first step she heard the hit and felt the betrayal. She knew in that instant what the noise was. The whole of existence slowed as she thought back to the first time she saw that cursed machine. Ever since she had fallen through the roof of that shed and landed on 'her tank' it was obvious to her that they had a journey to make.
Only Hatty and Delta would go near it. That's why it was in a shed on it's own. Until it's true Captain sat at it's command station it just crackled and spat at anypony who dared to look at it. She didn't even know why it liked them? They had tried to paint it, but the paint just slid off onto the floor as though it simply rejected it. Enchanted or cursed, Tigger was the only officer who gained a tank command just by being able to drive one about.
"She doesn't need to sit an exam if she can drive that thing. If she can get near it without being burned alive then who are you to deny her anything?" had been one overheard argument.
As a sound like imploding glass rang out across the airstrip she looked up to see the utter horror across Delta's face. Standing wide mouthed his eyes were huge as he watched Grundel turn a brilliant purple and then begin to crack all over its surface.
"That's not right," he mumbled, "That was only a small shell."
The cracks thickened and then for a split second he could see every impact it had ever taken. One large round had gone right through his radio station, a tank on the other side easily visible through the hull. But until that moment it hadn't shown as much as a scratch? And then, as though it had simply just had enough of the fight it imploded. All that remained was one rear track set that had somehow been left behind as a memento.
"GO!" screamed Tigger as she ran up the steps hurling Delta into the plane. "GO!" she shouted at the pilot, who was thinking the same thing as more missiles rained down. This was going to be another close one and the ground was traveling past them quite quickly as they slammed the door shut. At least they were gaining distance as they crept into the sky.
Then it just sort of hit her. Her home was gone? Where would she go now and what would she do next? As she sat on the floor with the other ponies she was strangely all alone. It was like Tigger had died inside Grundel. Now it was just her. She was back to being Tammy, a young mare with a hint of stripes in her soft brown coat.
The Prequel - A Horn Handled Gun
Author's Note
I've had a great time with Tigger and her Tank. I spent a lot of time working with it until it was a viable audio story on youtube. With seven different voices and a lot of sound editing I had time to ask some questions of my own about the story; What had those unicorns done to Grundle? Who were they? What motivated them to curse/enchant an enormous great quad tracked tank?
There was no option really but to get back on the keyboard and tell their tale.
The Prequel - A Horn Handled Gun
The Crews Bio;
Donald's Hope (Unicorn Stallion Mechanic)
- To own a nice set of ratchet spanners.
- To be home for winter.
- Hoping warm socks will arrive soon.
- And a warm hat!
Margo's Law (Unicorn Mare Gunner)
1. One eye on the target is better than none.
2. If it's too rough to drink, it might be gun cleaning fluid.
3. Never leave Teddy in the tank alone.
4. If at first you don't succeed, re-load.
Teddy's Bucket List (Unicorn Young Stallion Radio op)
1. Own the full set of playing-cards; "cards against equestrian".
2. See Mount Rushmare.
3. To become such a great pony that being left in the tank alone isn't an issue anymore!
Tigger's Wish List (Earth Pony Celestial-Engineers)
1. Rise through the ranks to become a gunner.
2. To eat five hay burgers in a row!
3. To work in a tank park that isn't a sea of thick mud.
Ginger's Goals (Unicorn Stallion Tank Captain)
1. Don't let my friends down.
2. Don't disgrace my family.
3. Keep my crew alive.
4. Live long enough to claim a war pension.
5. Avoid drinking anything distilled by Margo.
A Horn Handled Gun (prequel to Tigger Tank)
Celestia studied the map in front of her with furrowed brow. There had been many enemies of Equestria over the hundreds of years of her rule. Foes included everything from magical beasts to simple land disputes, but they had always managed to squeak through somehow. Looking back she couldn't help feel pride at what her ponies had achieved. Now it seemed like a new age was upon her and the map showed they were losing.
The enemy making headway into her territory was completely different to those of the past. This time it was a methodical mechanised army that appeared to be in no hurry. If it had any doubt in its ability it wasn't showing it in the devastation it created. What she needed now was a wonder weapon that would push them back across her border without turning half of Equestria to dust. Pulling another group of heroes out of the hat was going to be harder than ever!
Far away on the edge of her territory ponies were waking up in a war zone. Tents replaced houses while broken stumps replaced trees. Green meadow lay ripped up by the wheels of war and the sword was now replaced by a huge gun on four tracks. This was the tool of choice against the mechanised horses of the opposing force and an ambitious stallion had just received his new heavy weight war machine....
Ginger entered the command centre to receive his new orders, taking extra care to keep out of everyponies way. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dark he noticed a shape slumped on the floor, backlit by the flickering info panels.
"Who's that?" he whispered to a pony tech nearby.
"Nopony knows, he is everywhere that there is a war and apparently it has always has been that way. It sounded like a fairy tail until I saw him. Then you feel that pressure in your head and you know it's for real."
A startled expression fell onto Gingers face, "What the hell, that's actually death sat there?"
The tech pony grinned back, "No, not death. It sits there and warns us to stop, but it never does any good. Not even Celestia can stop this hate. I swear that until everyone is sick of it or the die-hards are dead the battle will simply roll on.
A sharp intake of breath could be heard around him as the ancient pony slowly turned around. It studied him carefully before looking him directly in the eye and adding, "Everything dies, but not like this." Ginger stepped back, horn glowing in anticipation for a fight.
Flicking its ragged cape to either side the creature of dust and matted hair stood up. "Your destiny can be yours!" it challenged. "Take what rightfully belongs to you by magic and change a bleak future into a prosperous one for all. Do it for yourself and do it for your friends."
Just as suddenly it flopped back onto the floor and resumed its stare at the many panels. Ginger backed up further with a desperate need to escape. leaping into the light through the open door he took a huge gulp of air and resisted the desire to throw up. He stood in the sunshine panting.
His commanding officer followed him out. "They say it was present at every war that there ever was. Celestia knows how it became immortal and wound up here. You can ask it about the first battles ever fought and it will happily tell you. But it only ever speaks in the language of that time period and nopony speaks in the tongue of the early tribes. It won't teach anyone, so all that knowledge is trapped in its mind. It's messed up!"
He continued, "As nopony at official level will admit it exists it goes anywhere it pleases simply because it can. I'm not intending upsetting it and everypony here is told to ignore it, which is a good idea. I don't think it would ever harm, but I'm certain it can. One thing is for sure. You're in a hell of a lot of trouble if it shows an interest in you. Good luck to you, because now you're clearly in need of it!"
In a daze Ginger staggered back into the tank park, gaining a suspicious look from his engineer Donald. This old war pony had seen a fair bit of army life from his tool box. Recently he had seen plough shares turned to swords and the rise of these machines. What they achieved astounded the dark grey stallion, but there was still plenty or room for the old fashioned horror. He popped the wrench back in the tool box with a flick of magic and called to Margo.
"Hey Margo, we've got a problem out here."
Turquoise ears appeared through the top hatch followed by a look of concern. "What have you done to him now?"
Donald scowled back. "It weren't me, he arrived like that. I think his cider count is below par."
Close behind Ginger came a galloping Teddy. The short brown pony had more fur than was reasonable and he was ill equipped for speed. Panting hard he relayed, "He's the chosen one, death spoke to him!"
Margo huffed at the report. "Ridiculous! Utter horse tale, he eats, he poops, he talks. Thats no more death than I am. It might be one seriously cursed pony young Teddy, but this isn't a daft fairy tail. Go inside and fiddle with your knobs."
Teddy slunk into the rear hatch with ears down and tail dragging. Most of the time his enthusiasm got the better of him and he yearned for the respect of the older unicorns. The fact that he had 'aced' the communications course hadn't made up for saying the wrong thing at the precisely the wrong time nearly every the time.
Sitting down at his radio station he leant his hooves on the little note desk and flicked the dials this way and that with the tip of a horn. As his bright green eyes scanned the info panel he knew as well as anypony that being a team would keep them alive. If only there was a way to keep them safe from the mayhem that chattered through the air waves and into his head phones.
Donald and Margo sat Ginger down and fetched him a brew with sugar and something extra. Ginger drank it down, but continued to stare into the distance. Now he had a bigger destiny than just getting his new tank and new crew to the front.
Donald was first to speak, drawing himself up to full height with some discomfort.
"Come on lad captain, what did he say to you?"
"That we're in a hell of a fix," Ginger replied, looking Donald directly in the eye. "That we can get through this if we make it our own fight, but I have no idea how we do that? I mean, you've seen them, they don't miss often and what they hit usually goes down."
Margo Scoffed, "If the rumours are true I would suggest our future is very much dependant on the gunner on the other side of the field. But unless you know some brilliant way to make a quad-track tank indestructible I don't see what monumental difference we'll make?"
Tigger appeared at that moment pulling the heavy pressure washer cart through the mud. It was her task to keep the hardware side of their tank going while they were at the base. She was dark brown and barely taller than Teddy. What set her apart was the hint of stripe in her coat from some long forgotten zebra ancestor. It distorted her cutie mark to the point it was nearly illegible. This was of no concern to Tigger, who was the 'can do' earth pony who could get out of any scrape. She had sneaked onboard for a few missions to the front.
"He doesn't look so good," said Tigger eyeing up Ginger. "What did the archive pony say to him?"
Ginger seemed to snap out of his shocked state. "We need to do something special or we're screwed, I think?"
That evening the five ponies sat around a table full of empty glasses. Their sad eyes looked at the dregs of a somber evening. Teddy twitched as though some crazy idea was about to spring forth. Margo decided to get in first.
"So we have to win the war?" she asked half joking. "We've been around a bit. Or at least, me and Donald have. We go somewhere, we shoot at stuff and we come back for more. There isn't a spell that makes that a safe proposition. That's why boxes of supplies come in and boxes of ponies go out."
Donald glared at her, "Nice!"
"We need to magic the hull," blurted out Teddy as Tigger made to ram a hoof in his mouth before he could say more.
"Dude, messing with a tank like that will get you on a charge. Saying that out loud will get you a bad reputation. These rules aren't made up for fun. You don't want to be the one associated with sabotage even if you think you're helping. I'm going before somepony hears you!" She stood up and weaved her way through the crowd to the exit.
Now that it was a party of four Donald chimed in with a thoughtful expression on his muzzle, "How? But first, lets continue this debate down at the park in the quiet."
Once sat in the Quad-track they laid down a muffling spell and looked from one another to see who would start.
"I have the most to lose," said Ginger. "You can't be a tank captain and claim all matter of fact that you didn't know how it just happened to disintegrate on your watch. Also, what can we add to it that hasn't already been done by the best in Equestria?"
The self propelled rail gun they sat in was a sizeable machine. Aside from the battery packs at the rear it was really just a large diameter tube around a big magnetic rail gun. Some fairly impressive and secret magic had been applied to it already by the factory unicorns, who were ponies who knew what they were doing. Even with enchantments it couldn't survive a well placed artillery shell.
Margo was first to go. "We can't exactly fit it with a re-set button now can we?" All eyes fell upon her in the gloom. "Okay, I guess we can then?" She asked.
"Well," added Donald, "We could time-lock it in an 'as-new' condition. Every time it got a hit it would automatically return to how it is now."
Ginger rubbed a hoof on his chin. "As sure as Luna watches our dreams I don't think we'll get away with that. And it can't be a long term solution? Surely at some point it's going to receive so much damage that time itself will get annoyed and gobble it up. That's one hell of a paradox to maintain. I mean, great for keeping your silverware bright and shiny, but a whole tank?"
Teddy looked a bit startled at the last statement. "When mums best chalice collapsed we all thought it was pretty funny. But I wasn't inside the chalice when it went off! There was red wine everywhere." He looked down at his hooves with drooped ears.
Margo put a hoof on his shoulder and smiled gently, "We have a chance this way. That's not some bunch of ponies or griffins out there. That's a mech army and they don't seem to miss very often. My friend just came back from the front and her stories scared the hay out of me. It's time for us to fight sideways."
The next day they continued to prep their PT4 Quad-track tank ready for combat. Part of the set up included some night trials and target practice. It was the ideal time to sneak off to a remote location and do some extra magical homework. After a few hours work Ginger left to collect the direct order to test with live fire. He set off deep in thought.
At headquarters he was greeted by his commanding officer. The mare was tall and definitely commanding, but also fair. She eyed him suspiciously before passing over a sealed envelope. Then she pointed a hoof at the info screen that showed the current front line.
"Things are bad," she said looking him in the eye. "If we don't get a break soon we'll be looking at using the bad stuff. We need to win and save our land, as opposed to; win and have no where to live. Just one piece of luck to throw them off would do. Just an act to hold them back. I hear a rumour chattering about the unit and it frightens me. Whatever you're planning, try to keep Teddy out of it. He's young and maybe he is that one pony out of all of us who has a long life ahead of him?"
Ginger nodded and returned to the tank park. He had been foolish to think keeping secrets would work around here and now he was between a rock and hard place. Ten minutes ago his only goal was to make a large mechanical machine bomb proof. It might work and it might not have. Now he carried the weight of everyponies' hope on his back. Now it really had to work and be a game changer!
The mood in the crew was still subdued on his return. There really wasn't much to be said anyway. Everypony took their position and called out their status. Hooves started bringing the many systems to life as various guns and missile lights glimmered in the dim light of the interior. Ginger checked around them before sounding the siren and moving the machine toward the firing range.
The tracks and gears whined in the background as they arrived at firing point one. Ginger checked the info panel to verify the rail gun was ready and that the main battery was full. Taking a sight he dialled in the target and sent it to Margo. She in turn touched a few buttons to start dumping energy into the rail guns capacitors.
"Practice shell, fire on 75% charge," she called out.
Ginger replied, "Fire on 75%, I have the trigger on auto, gun shows green, target is clear."
The new tank was state of the art and was soon up to the required charge. The main battery unhooked itself with a re-assuring clunk just before the rail gun capacitors dumped their charge into the coils. A noise like a huge elastic band snapping sucked all the air out of the tank for a split second while throwing it backwards a pace or two.
"Wow, " said Donald. "This thing likes to live on the edge. If you want to try 100% I'll be outside hiding behind a tree." Margo turned to look at him with a huge grin.
They navigated successfully through the rest of the targets with ease. The tank worked great and everypony agreed that it was a shame to start tinkering with it. But practice targets didn't shoot back and now it was time to either improve it or be arrested. Half an hour later they were all stood around the PT4 sizing up the enormity of the task.
"Shame Tigger isn't with us to see this," said Teddy, lighting his horn and feeling the structure. "Just the hull and nothing else?" There had been no hope of leaving him behind when it was his idea.
"Yes Teddy," replied Donald. "If we time lock the batteries they won't work and if we lock the tracks they won't turn. Just the shell of the hull and don't forget to breath."
The spell was hard enough to afflict on small objects and this object was house sized. They positioned themselves at each corner so that the track sets might offer some protection if it blew up.
Teddy swallowed hard. "I've only read about this, I've never done it," he said cautiously.
"That's why I'm giving you an order to do it," said Ginger. "I'm it's captain and I'll say you all did it unwillingly. They won't believe those two, but you have a clean sheet."
Horns glowed as they felt the extremity of the hull down to its rivets. The metal felt cold with a slight twitch from its factory spells. After five minutes or so it began to hum steadily as they sought out every edge and corner. Once they had a grip on it all they began to reach further and began to sense it age ever so slightly.
Margo was first to speak. "Right then, this is what we need to do. Reach into it and feel how it moves and grows imperceptibly older with every heart beat. We need to force it back on itself. It must be in a loop so that it feels to have aged a bit, but then becomes young again."
Before they could finish She felt their magic weaken and a new force push into her mind. She startled and stepped back to stare at the others in the darkness. Ginger was was just visible standing next to an ominous black shape. She wondered if they had been busted and strained her ears to the whispers.
"It'll take five of us at least," said Ginger. "The archive pony will help us perform the spell. We are to do as we just did, but give it everything we have."
They let their minds creep back into the structure and again felt its limits. This time they felt much stronger and the hull responded quickly with a soft purple glow. Now they could feel each others magic and sense the natural pulse of the tank as it became a mere blink older before snapping back to a set point. Once it harmonised into a never ending loop they pulled back.
Donald broke the silence. "We'll give it half an hour. If it doesn't disintegrate by then I say we drive it back and get some sleep." He looked around to thank the ancient pony, but it had already left.
A few days later nopony was any the wiser. A new tank was supposed to be clean, so the fact that dirt couldn't physically stick to theirs interested no one. Ginger now felt optimistic about the modification as they buzzed along at speed. The new tank drove well and responded quickly to his hoof inputs. It would have been a nice day out if their orders weren't front line fire support. At least it wasn't a full on battle charge.
Arriving last they found some suitable flat ground and waited as Margo dialled in the compensations for wind and gravity. Motors whined as the suspension lifted the front of the tank up on its tracks. The machine rode on four sets of tracks, held on by spindly looking arms that made it appear more like an insect than an armoured cart. The arrangement of struts and swivels let the tank tracks move independently to climb over rough ground and to steer. It looked delicate to say the least.
Teddy received the order to fire over the radio and relayed it to Ginger. He relayed it to Margo who began charging the gun capacitors, just as they had in practice. This time she loaded a gemstone projectile and eyed a far off distant target. Ginger confirmed the distance.
"Thirty thousand steps, 50 steps compensation. The target is a command tank approaching on our flank."
Margo came up to the command station and put the periscope cross hairs on the target. The opposing armour was moving slowly so she added in a tiny bit of delay. Eying the charge indicator she set for 90% and waited.
"Here we go," she said quietly. "Firing in three, two, one, brace!"
Their lives moved back a few feet as the projectile was spat like lightening across the battle field. Off in the far distance the opposing forces heavy tracked vehicle stopped abruptly and began to smoke.
"Yes!" Shouted Ginger and Margo in Unison.
Donald added, "Chalk one up to the Unicorn horn handled gun!"
Margo turned to him with a scowl, "We are not writing that down the side of our war chariot."
As soon as they had fired their main gun the enemy took a greater interest in them. Realising that Gingers crew was a pretty good shot induced them to hand out some special treatment. Most incoming fire was now theirs and in short order it found them. Their PT4 lit up like a star as the large shell detonated on the hull. Inside everything seemed to warp and twist before springing back into shape. Ginger decided it was too hot for comfort and raced backward until they were out of reach of the opposing guns.
"We should be dead," shouted Margo.
Ginger responded, "After what we did we still might be? There's a price to pay for magic like this, just look at the archive pony. Who knows how he got like that but I bet it started with a bad idea over a round of cider. Load her back up!"
Taking another sighting they threw another shell across the battle field. A shower of sparks suggested they had hit a power cell. The unicorn tank was now the only thing of interest on the battle field and every shot required a re-position to avoid a rain of death. They continued to fire until empty as more targets burnt with a trail of thick black smoke. A retreat could be seen underway off in the distance.
"It's time to go," called out Ginger as he watched the mayhem. "Save some rockets for the trip home just in case." Spinning the command station rearward he kicked the drive stirrups to 'rapid travel'. There was no point loitering with low power and no main gun ammunition. They were soon speeding past reinforcements heading the other way to finish the job off.
Soon they were back at the tank park thinking about re-loading when Tigger bought them an envelope with new orders. "Hand delivery only," she shrugged as ginger opened the distinctly 'official' looking document with some caution.
"We've new orders to go to Canterlot," he mused rubbing his chin with a hoof. We're either hero's or in a hell of a lot of trouble. Maybe even both? Either way up we leave now, no debate."
They barely had their belongings together as a royal crested transport arrived. They threw their kit bags aboard and launched Teddy in through the open door before leaving in a flurry of hooves all waving goodbye. The whoops and waves from other crews suggested they were the heroes of the tank park if nothing else.
Everypony was somewhat surprised at their departure, but nothing took it worse than Gingers Tank. Tigger swept the interior clean ready for another crew, but was quickly ordered out as it was becoming really unstable. The static charge it now gave off left no chance of anyone driving it anywhere. For everyponies' safety another tank managed to push it into a small hanger on the edge of the park. Tigger watched sadly as the doors were shut behind it before dragging her water cart to clean some more heavies.
A week later there were plenty of rumours flying around about the fate of Gingers unicorn crew. Fighting had slowed up and that meant time to stand around and idly guess their new posting. The most plausible answer was that they were stationed at the secret tank factory.
As the sun shone down it wasn't long before maintenance compressors were inflating hoofballs for something to do. Ponies from all over the base were claiming all sorts of objects were goal posts. One ball was given such a good buck-kick it landed on top of the small hanger. Several large stallions promptly grabbed a protesting Tigger and threw her onto the roof of a side building so she could retrieve it.
She was soon on top and raised a leg to 'hoof' it off when there was a bit of a creek. The noise was followed by a "flump" as Tigger disappeared from view. Shaking off the dust she found herself on top of Gingers tank which had calmed down a bit. She wondered if it would run?
There was now some serious concern outside. Nopony thought that the drop would cause the young mare any permanent issues, but it's contents might? Ears back and nostrils flaring they made careful steps towards the building.
They were starting to get really brave and were pretty close as a whirring noise came from inside. Making a run for it with flailing tails the noise was followed by an almighty crash as the tank exited through the end wall. Bricks and planks showered across the ground before the machine came to an abrupt halt in front of them. A head appeared through the hatch with a big smile.
"Who wants a ride in Tigger's Tank?"
All she needed now was a hat and a crew......
The End
Team Idris
