Date:???? Time:????
Location: multiverse
The void stretched onward, an infinite sea of rich pure darkness filled every corner of every universe to ever exist. It encompassed everything, yet by itself was nothing.
It was the multiverse.
The void acted as a canvas, cold, empty and alone, until the day it would be given colour, given life.
One day before there were days, flakes of white formed in the darkness, they moved and swayed in the otherwise motionless void. Like snowflakes falling on a cold winters day. Each was an individual universe, so different, so unique, yet each shared their qualities with another.
This was the multiverse. A plane in which many world existed parallel to each other, like mirrors in a fun house, each a twisted visage of another. Yet no matter how close the worlds seemed, they never touched. That was the unspoken rule.
Yet even in the depths of infinity it seemed that rules were made to be broken.
Two universe, both warped realties of the other. Passed by like graceful dancers locked in practiced motion. They moved like clockwork, an endless beating movement that would not stop by itself.
Then the multiverse shifted.
It was like a spear had thrust in to the very fabric of reality, smashing the delicate balance. Life locked still like a clock that had been broken beyond repair.
But it did repair.
Slowly the multiverse began to tick again, it was not as steady as before, it flowed with uncertainty and weakness. The multiverse was beating again, but to a rhythm different to the one set before.
It was not known what had caused this shift, yet for two universes it had changed everything. The rules had changed. For two worlds that had earlier swept so close to each other, now fell towards each other.
One day these worlds would meet, not over one of their days, but over many of their months, or even years. When they did meet however, no matter how long it took...
It would be utter chaos.
Date: One and a half years after the one thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.
Time: 8.00 AM
Location: Equestria, Ponyville.
Smoke rose in large thick clouds, as flames danced through thatch roofs. Wailing sobs echoed through the night, as the smell of ash filtered through the air.
Ponyville was on fire.
Twilight Sparkle ran desperately, her fur drenched in sweat as flames leapt at her hooves, spurring her onward. Twilight rounded a corner, only to grind to a halt, as she laid eyes upon the creatures of her nightmares.
Thousands of menacing mechanical red eyes stared straight in to her soul. Each pair of eyes belonged to deadly creatures that had two legs and two arms. Their lifeless eyes were set in to their large heads, as their long hair fell limp on their backs.
All of these creatures stood back, weapons by their sides as their leader marched forward. Its large black fur cloak obscured its image, the creature raised its silver sword high above its head and spoke.
“Those who do not conform shall be taught by steel and flame.” The sword came down like lightning. Twilight desperately raised a shield, only for the sword to cut through it like butter. As her vision blurred, Twilight could hear the dark laughter of the monster that would be her doom…
Twilight Sparkle woke up.
Twilight had finally woken up. She let a quiet sigh escape her lips as she lifted herself from bed. Automatically she went about her morning routine. It was as if the dream had no effect on her, why would it? This was the tenth time she had the dream this month.
Twilight Sparkle contemplated the events of this month. Only three weeks ago she had the dream for the first time, she though it an odd and scary dream. It was not until she had it again three days later that she wrote a letter to Celestia.
Twilight learned that the dream she was having was far more than a dream, it was a vision, a premonition of a possible future that could happen soon. Twilight was the only one who had seen the vision and because it was not a dream, Luna could not enter and see it herself.
Ponyville had been put on high alert, multiple guard retinues had been transferred and were on the lookout for strange creatures. There had been no alert yet, but the guards maintained constant vigilance.
A few hours later that day, princess Twilight Sparkle stood on the Ponyville train platform, her friends ready to wave her off, as she prepared to depart to the Griffon kingdoms.
The griffons had noticed the increase in equestrian soldiers moving around the country and had assumed it to be war preparations. The griffons in response to this had started to raise their own armies. With the other princesses occupied with the unknown threat, Twilight had to try and smooth things over.
“Goodbye Twilight, come back soon!” her friends yelled as she boarded the train. Twilight smiled as she waved back, despite everything that was happening her friends were still very supportive. As the train trundled away Twilight smiled, she knew as long as she had her friends she could make it through anything.
A single voice flowed on the wind, the voice of a particular pink party pony. “Don’t forget to write!” followed by the sounds of joyous laughter, to which Twilight swiftly joined. Yes they would be just fine.
Date: Twenty years after the creation of human tanks.
Time: 1:00pm
Location: Japon, city of Nagoya
For many years, two factions have warred over control of Japon, The Kingdom and the Empire. Over the decades, the two factions had developed more and more advanced weapons, spreading destruction across the country and to its people.
Eventually both sides began to run out of soldiers, a problem that no amount of powerful weapons would ever solve. In light of this, both sides turned to a new solution, a way to replace human soldiers. Thus the creation of human tanks.
Human tanks were shaped of both flesh and metal into a humanoid form. Small, yet powerful soldiers with great reflexes and weapon skills. Implanted with loyalty to their superiors and their intelligence only a third that of humans. The perfect pawns.
The field of battle changed entirely, becoming a human tank proxy war. Humans would stand far from the field of battle, acting as the strategist, ordering human tanks to charge onward, their orders were followed without a second thought. The human tanks exploded on the battle field, believing they had accomplished something great.
This was one of those days. Human Tanks from both factions charged forward, Royal tanks with their fur hats and imperial tanks with their steel helmets. They met in the centre of the battlefield, exploding into colour, like flowers blooming for one time in their short lives.
Recently, a new army had joined the fray. The strongest unit of the imperial army, the Imperial 4th Armoured Corps, had rebelled against their rulers and renamed themselves to the Daihon’ei rebel army. They immediately allied with the royal army to prevent being destroyed by their former rulers.
The Daihon’ei rebel army stood atop a hill, watching the currant battle. The unit was being led by Shoutaro Daihon’ei, the man who started the whole rebellion. His chief engineer, who also happened to be his sister, Chiyoko Daihon’ei attended to the human tanks, while listening to her older brother.
“Chiyoko.” Shoutaro stated “What do you think of the battle?” Chiyoko paused from her work on the human tanks, to look down on the field of battle.
“Looks good big bro, what do you think Heshiko?” Chiyoko turned to her custom modified command tank. He-04s Type 4 command unit, nickname, Heshiko. This human tank was uniquely modified by Chiyoko herself, it was built with human level intelligence, one of the very few to ever exist.
“Um, the royal army are winning the battle mam.” Heshiko stated “still we must provide back-up, I really want to fight again.” Chiyoko released a bitter sweet sigh. Despite her enhanced intelligence, Heshiko still felt the human tank need to fight and serve others.
Chiyoko looked over the battlefield once again. Many human tanks charged forward with fearless eyes and a blank smile on their face, still smiling, as their death loomed over them. The sight made her wince.
Chiyoko sighed again. “Why do the imperial army heads still think that charging thousands of human tanks into certain death is a valuable move? Chiyoko thinks this is nothing but a waste.” Heshiko smiled nervously.
“I’m sure the human tanks would appreciate your consideration mam.” Heshiko continued to smile. “Still as human tanks, we find joy in serving others, we have no regrets as long as we feel we have helped them, it’s what we were built for.” Chiyoko sighed one more time, she knew this truth, but sometimes she wished she could change it.
“We can discuss human tank ethics at another time Chiyoko.” Shoutaro stared intently at the battlefield, “I do not believe we will get far, seeing as human tanks have no human rights. Our current focus however should be on the battlefield.”
“Tell me Chiyoko, why were we called to the battle?” Shoutaro glanced at his younger sister.
Chiyoko replied instantly. “To help reinforce the royal army in Nagoya, a large number of imperial tanks had been spotted and this position is too valuable to lose.”
Shoutaro smiled at his younger sister. “So Chiyoko, why are the Royal army winning the battle so decisively, without our involvement?”
Chiyoko looked confused for a second, before she realized what her brother meant. “The Imperial army should have many more troops than what we can see. So what have they done with them?”
Heshiko’s robotic eyes lit up with a dawning realization. “If the Royal army has focused all its resources on the current battle, who is defending the supply line to the capital?”
Shoutaro’s face maintained a cold smile, his voice with a hint of approval. “Correct Heshiko. The enemy will take advantage of this flaw, most likely they are flanking the Royal army as we speak.”
“Should Chiyoko send out some scout tanks to locate the enemy big bro?” Chiyoko questioned, her previously relaxed eyes now darting around the battle field.
Shoutaro let loose a hearty laugh. “HA HA HA!” He turned to Heshiko and Chiyoko. “By analysing their earlier movements, as well as when their numbers dropped so suddenly, we can figure out where they will appear long before they know we're there!”
Shoutaro remained as confident as ever. “I figured this out when we first deployed here. There is only one route the Imperial army could take to the supply line and we are standing splat bang in the middle of it!”
Both Chiyoko and Heshiko simply smiled, they had long grown used to Shoutaro’s ability to come up with clever battle strategies. Heshiko in particular, had been taking notes on her superiors amazing strategies. So she knew what would happen next.
“The enemy will be gathering behind those hills!” Shoutaro yelled. “Heshiko, mobilize the human tanks and prepare the artillery units for wide spread barrage.”
Heshiko gave a salute, before activating her command line. Heshiko felt her conscience expand into the world around her, brushing against the minds of her fellow human tanks. They were much more primitively minded than her, but she felt their offline brains nevertheless.
Heshiko connected the human tanks to her conscience, through her command line. She then registered them to follow the will of Shoutaro. Lastly, she organised the network of minds, before turning her fellow human tanks online.
A low humming spread through the area, as the human tanks came to life one by one. Each human tank spoke in a small childish voice.
“Ready for battle!”
“Awaiting orders.”
“Input required.”
“Please give me orders!”
It was not long before each human tank stood to attention. Through the command link, Heshiko could feel that each human tank was ready to engage in combat. Heshiko turned to Shoutaro and gave him the thumbs up.
Heshiko knew what would happen next, Shoutaro began ordering the human tanks into different formations. She watched quietly, taking note of her superior's strategies.
First were the shock tanks, cheap, fast and expendable. They were so cheap because their only attack was to self-destruct. Shoutaro used the rolling hills of their environment to his advantage, hiding these kamikaze units so they could ambush the enemy, dealing massive damage.
The assault tanks moved next. Due to their speed, cost effectiveness and basic, yet effective short ranged weapons. The assault tanks made up the bulk of the army. The environment however was a major hindrance. Due to the assault tanks comparatively weak armour, any which tried to crest the hill would be destroyed instantly, by the enemy on the other side.
To solve this problem, Shoutaro ordered the assault tanks into defensive positions. While they would be destroyed, if they advanced they could still defend the more vulnerable tanks. The assault tanks could also advance later to clean up the remaining enemies, once there were less of them.
Mixed in with the assault tanks were scout tanks. The scout tanks were slower than the assault tanks, with much weaker weapons. What made them useful was their ability to scan the battle field for the locations of enemy units. This also made them much more expensive and harder to replace. So only a few were deployed.
The artillery tanks brought up the rear, much slower than any other tanks and lacking the ability to defend themselves in close quarters, but they had amazing range and their barrages could cover a large area. Artillery tanks also had much better armour. All of this led to the artillery tanks being kept in the back.
Sniper tanks were scattered in with artillery tanks. They were very expensive and had weak armour, yet they could hit any target with perfect accuracy from a very long range, plus they were much faster than artillery tanks. There were only a few snipers deployed in the ranks of the artillery tanks.
Samurai tanks moved to guard all tanks in the back lines. Rather expensive, yet speed demons of close combat. No ability to fight at range, but they made excellent guards.
Only two interceptor tanks stood between the front line and the rear. Their only purpose was to guard other tanks against artillery barrages. Due to their high cost, only two were available for deployment at the time. Normally not enough, but it would have to do.
Last, but certainly not least were the command tanks. Including Heshiko, only three were deployed to the field. Each had the ability to operate a command line, feeding their superior’s orders to human tanks. Not only did this make them expensive, it also made them an irreplaceable liability. If all the command tanks were destroyed, no orders could be fed to the human tanks.
Spec wise, command tanks were about as powerful as assault tanks. Still, because of their importance, they were all kept right at the back of the battle field.
Heshiko reported the situation. “Sir, all human tanks are in position and awaiting further orders.” Shoutaro smiled and began feeding her further orders.
“Scout tanks should confirm enemy location, then artillery blanket them with wide spread barrages. When the enemy begins to charge, shoot them as they crest the hill.” Heshiko was quick to relay Shoutaro’s orders. The scout tanks quickly located the enemy and the artillery tanks locked on target.
Heshiko yelled “Fire!” unnecessary, but dramatic never the less. All artillery tanks fired their rockets, they flew through the air with great speed and power. As the shells started to fall, Heshiko could faintly hear someone scream.
“WHAT THE H-” *BOOM* BOOM* BOOM*
Explosions rocked the landscape, as many reports of fallen enemy tanks filtered through Heshiko’s command line. As Shoutaro predicted, whoever was commanding the enemy units ordered a charge immediately. Also as predicted, as the enemy rose above the hill, the assault tanks opened fire, decimating them.
However, a group of enemy samurai tanks used their great speed to dodge through the shells and confuse the assault tanks targeting systems. Heshiko knew that she could not let them break the front line.
Heshiko contacted one of the shock tanks hiding in the shadow of the hill. A Rebel army [-06b Type 6 Shock Tank, nickname ‘Gonta’.
Heshiko told her to self-destruct.
With a joyous smile, the Gonta yelled “take this!”
*BOOM*
"Your Gonta fell silent!"
The enemy samurai tanks were eviscerated in a blinding flash of light. Heshiko smiled, knowing that Gonta was happy having accomplished her mission, it was what they were built for after all. All of them willing to give their lives at a moments notice, without batting an eye.
It became very clear that the battle was in the rebel army's favour. Non of the enemy tanks could push past the hill and any behind their hill faced barrage after barrage of artillery fire. Suddenly, a report come in from a scout tank. "Enemy ballistic shells enroot, targeting command unit."
Shoutaro noticed the report, he frowned slightly. "Heshiko ordered interceptor unit 02 to protect the command tanks." Heshiko complied, reaching out through the command line to where the interceptor was... she felt nothing. Heshiko nearly leapt in surprise, no signal meant no tank, yet if she had been destroyed Heshiko would have received a message.
*BOOM*
The shells hit their target, (which fortunately wasn't Heshiko) exploding violently on one of the three commanders and damaging the surrounding artillery tanks. The damaged command tank shook madly, its eyes smashed in and many of its internals visible.
The command tank yelled. "T-THAT DIDN'T HURT A BI-" *BOOM* and she was no more.
Heshiko scrambled around the command line, trying to contact the tanks near the missing interceptor. Finally, a scout tank reported in.
"What happened to interceptor 02?" Heshiko commanded, hoping for an explanation. Really, what she should have been hoping for was a good explanation.
"The ground opened and she fell in!" The scout tank replied in the human tanks normal cheery voice. Heshiko silently cursed the low intelligence of other human tanks. If she had a choice in the matter, all human tanks would be given much more intelligence. This report was vague, useless and was just as likely to be a result of a scanning error than the real deal.
"Heshiko!" Shoutaro yelled. "One interceptor can't cover the entire area. Fall back and get out of enemy range!" Heshiko quickly followed her order, turning and running as fast as she could...
Until her feet were no longer on the ground.
Heshiko surprised by the sudden lack of things that stopped her from falling, looked down, only to see absolutely nothing other than a giant black endless hole.
It is very rare for a human tank to express even the smallest hint of fear, especially a battle veteran like Heshiko. For this however, she believed she could make an exception.
"HELP ME!" she screamed, as she plummeted down into the black abyss, the world she knew fell away as the ground swallowed her form. The last thing she heard was a cry through the command line.
"HESHIKO!"
