Ring of Red, Circle of Fire

Chapter One

    July 17th, 1954

    Proving Grounds, Falcon Base, Southern Equestria

   It was a warm summer's day out on the fields, with hardly a cloud in the sky. Perfect for practice. The Schwerer-Panzermotors were growling nicely, powering the large mechanized walker, referred to as an AFW by all conventional militaries: Armored Fighting Walker. The mottled-brown camouflaged walker was a Class-I, meaning that it was a Post WWII, possibly 1945-46 model, and of Germane make, as all Germane military AFWs lacked a "Class" prior to the re-militarization of the Germane army after their surrender in late 1945. The Class-I also carried the Markings of the Edelweiß, A flower found in Germaney, and the insignia of the Gebirgsjagers, Germaney's mountain infantry special forces; Tough and hardy soldiers. The AFW carried a modified 8.8 cm LJ/53 PaK, mounted on a Krupp housing, and the entire vehicle was assembled by Rheinmetall. All in all, a well built machine.

Which suited Oberleutnant, or as ranking went in the Southern Equestrian Army, First Lieutenant, Twilight Von Weizegger just fine. Currently, she was outside her cockpit, traditional gray Germane tanker's jacket left untucked and mostly unbuttoned, a sweat and oil stained white collared shirt beneath it, and her mane tied back into a ponytail beneath her flatcap, goggles hanging from her neck.

Currently, she was having her lunch, a daisy sandwich and a nice cold soda, whilst sitting on the cannon mount.

Another AFW, this one white with a few red stripes and the Southern Equestrian Flag, marched up; one of the newer Class-IIs that the rookies, Equestrian AFW pilots in training, were being taught on.

The Southern Equestrian Class-IIs were quite different from the old Class-Is. For one, they were several meters shorter, though they were powered by the same Maybach or Maybach equivalent "Schwerer-Panzermotors", making them a good deal more maneuverable. However, they also had a smaller 7.5 cm cannon, rather than a larger 8.8. Most Class-IIs, which went into production in 1947, were also assembled by either Porsche or Henschell, depending on the model, rather than Rheinmetall.

The Class-II came to a halt beside Weizegger's AFW, and the pilot opened up the cockpit hatch. "Hey up there! Good afternoon, ma'am!" The Southern Equestrian pilot, a Pegasus stallion, greeted.

"Hmpf." Weizegger snorted. "Guten Tag. If you don't mind, I would like to eat my lunch."

The pegasus blinked, then smirked. "Cool, me too. Mind if I join you?"

Weizegger blinked, then sighed. Some of the Southern Equestrian soldiers were so... Frustrating. "Fine, sure, whatever."

The Pegasus frowned, and rolled his eyes, muttering to himself as he grabbed his own lunch. "Wonder what crawled up her tail." Grabbing his own sandwich, the Pegasus flew over to Weizegger, perching by her on the turret mount. "Good afternoon, ma'am." He saluted.

The stallion, in contrast to Twilight, wore the Southern Equestrian pilot's fatigues, which while similar to an Air Force pony's jacket and pants, was not cotton-padded, and came with a steel helmet of Germane style, though that was left inside the AFW most of the time, except for inspection.

"Nice day, huh?" He inquired once more.

Twilight blinked, then shrugged. She supposed it would be a fair idea to be civil, as the pilot in training had done nothing to earn her ire. "I suppose. How is your Class-II running? That looks like one of the models I was working on in Der Skunkwerks."

"Huh? You work on AFWs?"

Weizegger shrugged. "Mostly tuning and alignment. The repairs are left to the mechanics. Although, I do know how to conduct rudimentary repair. I learned that at Bundeswehr."

"Bundeswehr?"

"Mhm." She replied, sipping at her drink. "Germane mountain school, up in the Alps. That's why I have the Edelweiß. I earned it."

The stallion nodded at the insignia, which Weizegger had also stitched onto her soft cap. "So you're a Gebirgsjager?"

"That's correct." Twilight nodded.

"When did you finish boot camp? 51? Earlier? Later?"

"Earlier. I graduated Bundeswehr in 1948, and was assigned as an AFW Pilot to the 10th Panzer Army, a national guard unit, alongside some of my Jaeger brothers and sisters, who were also either AFW pilots or ground infantry. Bundeswehr started training both infantry and mechanized units after '46." She blinked. "Anyways, how's the Walker running?"

"Pretty good. I like the ease of movement on the joysticks, but the trigger pull for the cannon is a touch heavy."

"I understand. Personally, I prefer a heavier trigger pull. It's actually rather close to the tenseness of the Mauser 98K rifles the infantry use. I rather liked the rifle during training. Remind me once we get back to the Skunkwerks, and we'll adjust it to your liking."

"Hey, thanks." He paused. "You know, you're nice to talk to when you aren't so grumpy, ma'am."

Twilight blinked. "I'll take that as a complement, Lieutenant...?"

"Flash Sentry, ma'am."

"Right. Well, Lieutenant Sentry, I have to get back to calibrating my sights. Care to join me?"

"I don't see why not. I'm out here to test my gun systems before the next wave of combat and maneuvers training."

Twilight nodded. "Sehr Gut. My frequency is 122.23, so link into that. I have a couple tank hulls set up downrange to practice on. After that, we"ll head back in. Let me just radio Der Kommandant."

"Understood ma'am." Flash saluted, downing the rest of his lunch, before flying back towards his own AFW. Meanwhile, Twilight jogged surefootedly across the gun mount, and back to her cockpit. Sure, she was a false alicorn, or as the Southern Equestrian's had been calling her, a winged unicorn, she could have just flown across, but she was also a Gebirgsjager. If she couldn't cross treacherous terrain with relative ease, she really couldn't consider herself worthy of her Edelweiß.

Sliding into the cockpit, Twilight slid the hatch shut behind her, locking it into place. The interior was lit only by the glass that filtered in light through the front of her cockpit, and through the couple of side hatches she normally left open to cover her blind spots, and allow her vision of her sides. Aside from the leather seat she sat in, there were two joysticks, one for movement and one for traversing the turret, along with an eye-level targeting scope, brake pedals to instantly lock the AFW's motion, and a large ham radio built into the left wall of the cockpit, to the immediate right of an open hatch. It was slightly cramped, but to Weizegger, a crack AFW pilot, it was also home.

Twilight slid the familiar radio headset over her head, mindful of her horn, and flicked her radio over to one of its presets, which was a link to command. "Kommandant, this is Hunter, over."

"Hunter, this is Kommandant, I read you."

"Sehr Gutt. Leutnant Sentry is testing his weapons systems today, so I would like to know if it is fine for him to join me on the practice range."

"I don't see why not, Hunter. You are free to proceed."

"Danke Shön, Kommandant. Hunter out." With that taken care of, Weizegger flipped back over to 122.23. "Herr Sentry, are you there?"

"Yes ma'am. So are we clear to proceed?"

"Jawohl, we have a green light. Follow me." The two AFWs growled to life, cannons raised, and began plodding off towards the targets Twilight had set up.

Twilight called a halt, and pulled her optics closer. "Range?" She questioned, quizzing the Lieutenant.

"Estimated... Five hundred meters."

"Gutt. Prep for fire."

The pilots began the automatic loading process, which was run by the AFWs rudimentary electronics, although the process could also be performed manually, and by a competent crew, a fair bit faster as well.

As Sentry's AFW carried a low-velocity PaK 43, the 7.5 cm cannon originally designed for the Panzer IV Ausf. D, it also loaded slightly faster, and the AFW slid into a firing stance, cannon pointed forward, and legs braced, to control recoil. Twilight's own PaK LJ/53 8.8 cm finished loading it's higher velocity shell, and she too took up a firing stance, in a similar manner to Flash's stance.

Flash's gun discharged, and his shot skimmed the top of the tank hull before them. "Quit shooting like you're in a tank, Leutnant. You're firing from higher up than you think you are. Aim a meter or two lower." Weizegger instructed, adjusting her aim. She eased into the trigger, sending a shot dead center into one of the couple of tank hulls. "Like so."

Flash loaded a second shell, and took aim, Twilight watching with interest. The stallion took instruction quite well, as his second shell landed closer to center on the tank hull he'd skimmed earlier. "Much better, Herr Sentry. You're a fast learner, I see."

He shrugged from inside his cockpit. "I try."

Their radio was interrupted, as a third voice came on the line. "I see you two are getting acquainted." Came another mare's voice.

"Oh, Hallo, Brigadier General Celestia, I didn't know you were in the area."

"Hallo, Frau Weizegger. I just flew in from Brandenburg a couple of hours ago. Luna has informed me of the current status of the Southern Equestrian AFW Korp, and as the new Kommandant, I figured I'd start practical practice. Luna will be assisting me still, although she'll be taking a more... Hands on approach." Celestia paused. "Do you have dud rounds on hand?"

"Training rounds? Yes ma'am. How about you Flash?"

"Yeah, I have them. What's up?"

"Good. I would like you two to conduct a mock battle with said ammunition. We shall monitor your progress from here."

Twilight blinked, then smirked. "Could be fun. Alright Flash, let's move to six hundred before engaging."

"Alright, you've got it." The two AFWs began marching in opposite directions, both parties excited to be shooting at something other than dull, unmoving targets.

"So..." Flash began. "Loser buys dinner?"

Twilight blinked, then blushed. "Are you asking me out, Lieutenant?" She questioned, grinning bemusedly.

"Just as friends. I uh, I can call you my friend, right?"

Twilight chucked. "Yes, Lieutenant, you can call me your friend. And dinner sounds nice. I could always use a free meal that's not Army fare."

"Cool, so... Hey, wait a minute!" Twilight burst out laughing. "Ha ha. Hey, good luck, miss..?"

"Weizegger, but... You can call me Twilight. And good luck to you too."

The two were ready to begin, and awaited Celestia's go.

"Alright, as you know, no close combat, that's for real fighting only. Other than that, good luck. Begin!"

Twilight immediately began loading a shell, back-pedaling in an attempt to make use of her 88's longer range as an advantage over Flash's shorter range 75. Sentry, having once been an actual tank commander, recognized the tactic, and immediately started forward towards Twilight, loading his gun as he went.

Twilight, having begun loading before Flash, finished the loading process, and brought the gun sight to her eye, not bothering to halt her movement. Instead, she shifted left, surprising Flash, who followed as well. Using his momentary confusion, Twilight entered her firing stance, and quickly adjusted her sights, estimating ranges like mad. She fired a shell, filled with colored powder, at Flash, the shell striking squarely into the left front side of Flash's AFW, sending it reeling back a couple steps, though he easily regained control of the walker. Raising his own gun, he took aim as Twilight began moving again, and loosed a shell, which connected with one of her AFW's legs.

Twilight needed to end this with the next shot, and she couldn't even brace the legs to absorb recoil; they'd been hit, and were regarded as disabled, preventing her from moving, under threat of disqualification. Her gun loaded, she took aim, and began manually aiming the gun using the targeting sight, rather than the joystick. Flash had also entered a firing stance, so she had precious few seconds to fire. Gritting her teeth, Weizegger loosed a shell, the faux round belching forth from her 88mm gun.

Twilight's wayward 88 shell slammed into the left arm of Flash's AFW, which he'd braced forward, in a reverse firing position, with the right mounted turret behind the shield. She'd forgotten the new Class-II AFWs came with shields.

Sighing, Twilight brought her headset to life. "Heh. Guess I owe you a dinner, eh Flash? I completely forget you have a shield."

"The class ones don't have one? That's news to me." He chuckled back.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Real funny. That does give me the idea to add one though..." She flicked open her top hatch, and leaned out of it. "Gotta say, I like those powder rounds your military brass came up with. Those old paint rounds that we were issued while I was enrolled at Bundeswehr took forever and a half to clean off. These probably come off with a good pressure wash."

Flash opened his own hatch, leaning out to survey his hits on Twilight's AFW. "Yeah, makes it really easy to clean off. We, uh, used to use them for practicing tank combat." He paused. "You ever been to a fast food joint?"

"A what?"

"Right, you're Germane. So, do you know what a hamburger is?"

"Uh, someone from Hamburg? That is a place, you know." Weizegger joked, having no idea what a hamburger was in terms of food.

"Eh, not really. It's something that Griffons like; it's got meat in it. Mostly cow, but sometimes chicken. However, we have something here called a Hayburger. It's a herbivore's version of the same thing. Pretty good, I gotta say. Hayburger, some fries, and a shake, all for a couple of bucks."

"I see where this is going, Herr Sentry. Seven tonight? I'll be done tuning the fresh batch of Class-IIs by then."

"I don't have any drills or inspections, so yeah, sounds good to me. I'll meet you by the skunkworks?"

"Sure." She very nearly said, 'It's a date.' However, she did manage to keep her tongue in check.