Some fifteen minutes later, Flax still hadn't convinced Amber that this was a terrible idea. What was worse, after relaying their findings to Apple Blossom, she was on board with it too. Both mares had swiftly scurried back to their tanks and mounted up, driving right back to where they left Blossom behind to continue their scouting mission. Now here they were, all three mares standing in a loose huddle while their crews waited anxiously in their tanks a short distance away.

"I'm tellin' y'all, this is no good. They got way more firepower than the three of us - hell, more than our entire company of tanks. Ain't no way we can assault a fortress like that and expect to get anything but dead," Flax insisted, reiterating what she'd already said to Amber at least twice by now. Unfortunately, neither mare would hear it.

"You forget why we're out here in the first place," Blossom explained, trying her best to sound friendly despite her patience clearly wearing thin, "it's recon by fire. That includes firin' at the enemy from time to time, in case ya haven't picked up on that yet. We ain't gonna ride down there and get stuck in for a fight to the death, Flax. A little raid, just to remind 'em who they're dealin' with and to see if we can bait out any reinforcements. Ain't nothin' to fret over."

"What are one train and a bunch of rifleponies going to do to stop us, anyhow?" Amber interjected, still sounding supremely confident. "It is not as if zhey can run away! It will be like... er, how do you say it - fish in a bucket?"

Blossom chuckled at the mild language barrier Amber had run into, shaking her head. "Yeah, somethin' like that. You're a good enough shot anyway, so I wouldn't worry about 'em too much. If it's that much of a concern for ya, Flax, you can stick close to one of us while we charge down there."

By now, Flax had heard enough. Neither mare would listen to her, and she couldn't leave them to do this alone. She huffed quietly and closed her eyes, taking a moment to steady herself before finally answering. "Fine. We'll go, but we turn tail and run like hell the second they call for help. I ain't gettin' stuck down there tryin' to save either of your sorry asses 'cause ya went too deep." This answer seemed to placate Amber and Blossom both, the latter grinning while the former nodded firmly.

Without another word, Flax turned to head back to her tank and mount up. The other two did the same, hustling back to their respective machines and clambering up the sides. Flax was just settling back into her seat when Sage spoke up. "What'll it be, Flax? Couldn't bend their ears?"

"Nope. We're ridin' down the hill with 'em, right into whatever mess we just set ourselves up for. I'm gonna need all of you workin' your best if we wanna get through this in one piece. Any of y'all got any last objections?" Flax asked, lowering her seat so she could look everypony in her tank in the eye one by one. When nopony spoke up, Flax nodded. "Good. Cream, get ready to follow the two of 'em down the hill. Once we're out in the open, we'll wanna spread out and be a harder target until we get close enough to shoot back. Emerald, keep an ear to the radio and your hooves on your gun - lots of infantry down there, and I don't wanna miss any squawkin' for help comin' from Amber. Sage, we're gonna be slingin' HE for the majority of this little raid, so keep a round on hoof and one in the gun; I'll let ya know if I need solid shot."

All three mares answered with an affirmative, and their confidence - faked or otherwise - helped Flax to calm down just a tad. Everypony knew their job, and they were qualified to do it. With a little dash of luck, everything would go smoothly.

Just then, she heard an engine rev up outside. Blossom was moving, and a second later Amber was too. She didn't even have to give the order for Cream to follow suit. As their machine stalked closer to the edge of the treeline Flax could see more and more clearly, sunlight filtering through fewer tree limbs to get down to the ground. Just when they reached the edge, Flax braced herself against the inside of the turret and awaited the drop. "Hold on, y'all! Gonna get rough," she shouted, unable to use her intercom with her hooves occupied. A split second later, the entire tank pitched sharply forward as its center of gravity passed over the edge of the incline. There was an awful moment of freefall, a split second that seemed to last an eternity, before the ten-ton machine crashed onto the ground a meter below and kept rolling. Lights flickered and every loose item rattled and bounced, but nothing broke. Flax was proud once again.

The engine revved louder now that Cream was free to accelerate, and Flax peered through her vision blocks to watch the railyard getting closer. By the time they were crossing the creek - frozen solid as it was - they were moving at a fairly good clip, and Flax was surprised that they hadn't been spotted yet. Apple Bucker was thundering across the valley to Flax's right, and to their right was Snooper doing the very same. Each tank was followed by a cloud of snow and smoke, tearing their own path across the open ground. They were finally noticed when they were just a few hundred yards away from the outer walls.

The first response was to raise the alarm, a terrible wail sounding off from somewhere inside the compound while crystal ponies scrambled to defensive positions. Bullets were flying before the siren had even finished winding up, ineffective rifle fire occasionally pinging off of the outer hull of Flax's machine. Glancing aside, she saw the same was happening to her comrades. They swerved in different directions, Apple Bucker angling toward a particularly shabby section of wall while Snooper went straight for the main gate. Flax looked ahead for any obvious points of entry, eyes jumping left and right while her tank rocked and bounced across the valley toward its target. A moment later, she saw her chance.

"Cream, gentle left! We'll smash through that section of low wall there and come through on the western side of the compound! Floor it, and don't stop 'til you're through that wall! If we get stuck we're good as dead," Flax shouted, holding her microphone in front of her mouth with one hoof. Cream couldn't respond while using both hooves to operate the brake levers, but Flax knew she'd been heard when she felt her machine drifting to the side once more. As the last few meters between herself and the wall closed up, Flax braced herself against the walls of the turret again and closed her eyes. For a brief moment, her entire world was sound. The roaring engine, the muffled pops and bangs of rifles, and then the deafening SMASH as an unstoppable force met an immovable object. This time, the unstoppable force won out.

Opening her eyes, Flax wasn't terribly surprised to see that she was mostly blind. Her vision ports were all blocked by dust and snow tossed into the air, and as it cleared she could see that they were finally inside the railyard. The uneven prairie soil had turned into flat asphalt, and a glance through the rear view port revealed a pile of smashed and shattered bricks that had once been a wall. Flax also thought she saw the twisted remains of a rifle poking out of the rubble, but she tried to ignore that. After all, she had bigger problems. The sporadic dings and bumps had dramatically increased in rhythm, now an almost constant drumbeat of bullets on steel. Flax knew the grenades would be flying any second, so she leaned down and put her eye to her gunsight. Sage had already loaded the gun, so all Flax had to do was find her target.

While she was still traversing the turret, one hoof on the pedal while the hydraulics whined, Flax heard Emerald letting loose with the hull MG. She fired in short bursts just like she'd been trained, spraying into occupied windows and at any exposed Crystal troops. Flax went for a harder target, finding a small bunker made of sandbags and wood. It stood at the end of this "street", with a water-jacketed machine gun barrel poking out of the front. Three Crystal ponies ran inside to take their post, but Flax didn't intend to let them. She lined up her sights and exhaled slowly before slamming a forehoof on the firing button. The cannon went thud, the breech recoiled and kicked a shell out into the brass-catcher bag hung below it, and... it fell short?! Flax sat up and looked through her cupola to get a better view, cursing under her breath at the rapidly settling cloud of debris that had appeared a dozen or so meters in front of her intended target.

Cannon fire sounded out elsewhere while Sage reloaded the gun, reminding Flax that Apple Blossom and Amberholz had made it into the railyard almost exactly when she did. There had been no word on the radio, good or bad, and Flax decided that was a good sign for now. After Sage clapped her on the shoulder to signal that the gun was ready, Flax snugged her eye up to the scope again and adjusted her aim. Another shot, and this time it was a hit.

The shell went straight through the opening in the bunker's front, exploding inside and flinging the remains of the machine gun out onto the ground. Smoke poured out of every opening, and Flax knew it was done. Still peering through her gunsight, Flax also saw a stream of tracer bullets from Emerald's machine gun find their mark on a pair of fleeing soldiers. Grinning with grim satisfaction, Flax sat up again to look around in her cupola. "Cream, take us forward and hang a right at the intersection between them warehouses - we wanna group up with the other two if we can!"

Once again, Cream obliged without a word. The tank lurched forward and carried on down the paved street, leaving behind a path of destruction and bullet-riddled defenses. The railyard itself was a maze of storage and administrative buildings, all tightly packed and organized into something of a grid. Trucks and wagons occupied the edges of the road in most places, parked haphazardly where they'd been in the middle of being unloaded. It occurred to Flax that most of the ponies here were probably logistics troops who didn't have much in the way of anti-tank weaponry. Oh well, that just worked out better for her.

Flax took two more shots with her cannon on the way down the street, blasting apart trucks that were still loaded with materiel. The explosions scattered scrap metal and bits of wood in every direction, all while a hoofful of Crystal ponies still scrambled for cover. By the time they'd reached their turn, though, this "street" was nothing but an abandoned, flaming wreck. Peering through her vision blocks, Flax was slightly surprised to see that the next street looked empty too. Lots of equipment left behind, but no soldiers standing their ground and shooting. The chaos of the fight was still running high just a few buildings down, but this part of the railyard was eerily quiet.

"Cream, give her some more gas. We're wastin' time just sittin' here with nothin' to shoot at," Flax ordered, her voice calm despite her heart thundering away in her chest.

"Got it," Cream finally responded, managing to take a hoof away from her controls long enough to speak. "Flax, we're getting a little crowded here, don't you think? Those were quite a few infantry ponies running around..."

"Yeah, they were, but we got a job to do," Flax quickly answered, her resolve unshaken. "If we leave, the ones shootin' at us will just gang up on Blossom and Amber even more than they probably already are. We gotta help 'em if we can."

"Speaking of," Emerald interrupted, talking over the end of Flax's order. Flax frowned, but went quiet. "Amber's requesting assistance - sounds like these ponies have some firepower after all. She said she ran into a tank and hid behind a building, can't break from cover without giving them a shot. What do I tell her?"

Flax's jaw fell open for a moment. She anxiously glanced around through her vision ports, terrified that she'd somehow missed a tank in plain sight already, but for now, she was safe. They were still slowly rolling forward, creeping closer to a corner that would open up to another long street. The sounds of gun and cannon fire were getting closer, so Flax knew they were headed in the right direction. "Tell her we'll help," Flax finally answered, before turning to Sage. "We've already got HE loaded, yeah?"

"Aye, sure do. I'll get you solid shot next," Sage answered, already opening the ammo bin to replace the shell she was currently holding. The green-tipped projectile went away, and instead she grabbed one with a heavier, black slug that featured a white band near the nose.

"Much obliged," Flax said, grinning at her friend for a moment before turning her attention back to the outside world. It was at that exact moment that they were starting to round the corner, and Flax was immediately glad that Cream was going so slow. Had they been rolling any faster, the Crystal ponies hastily wheeling an anti-tank gun toward the fight might've noticed them. As it was, they were all facing away from Flax's machine a few dozen meters down the road. They were pulling the small cannon through an alleyway, but they would be in the open for a few more seconds. That was all the time Flax needed.

She rotated her turret until her sights were lined up, double-checked her elevation, and let another round fly. The muzzle flash blinded her for just a second, but when it cleared she knew her aim was true. The gun was tossed over onto its side, and three of the four ponies towing it were in a very bad way. The fourth scampered away with shrapnel wounds, Flax guessed, and wouldn't be worth pursuing.

Sage tapped Flax's shoulder again when the gun was loaded, and Flax nodded. "Alright - Cream, keep us movin'. I want all of y'all keepin' an eye out for that tank, plus any friends he might have rollin' around. I doubt they just have the one."

Almost as if on cue, Apple Blossom's voice came through on Flax's headset. "Flax, where in the hell are you?! Amber and I are backed into a dead-end street, and they're puttin' on the squeeze! We're tradin' shots with at least two tanks, and I'm bettin' they got more. If you're deeper in the compound, try 'n' flank 'em!"

Flax's blood ran cold. One tank was bad, two were worse, and two almost certainly meant there would be more. Sucking a breath through clenched teeth, she keyed her intercom again. "Alright, change of plans. Amber 'n' Blossom are stuck, and they're countin' on us. Cream, floor it. We ain't stoppin' for anythin'!" A split second later, Flax was clutching her gun controls while her machine leaped forward and raced down the road. Buildings rushed past her viewports wherever she looked, and yet there was still a troubling lack of resistance. Only the occasional straggler here and there, none of them brave enough or armed enough to be worth the time or ammunition to dispatch them. Flax knew something was up, but she didn't have time to figure it out.

A few moments later, after rounding one more corner, Flax could finally see her targets. Two more of the squat little tanks like she'd fought the other day, with their flat, hexagonal turrets and tiny guns. They were parked side by side a little ways down the road, both of their guns turned away from Flax and toward the large warehouse Amber and Blossom had taken cover inside of. The tank on the left fired blindly, putting an armor-piercing shell through the wall of the warehouse. A second later, Blossom spoke again with the tail end of her previous comment coming through. "... son of a bitch that was close. Flax, where are you?! They're aimin' to kill us, damnit!"

"Emerald, tell the Lieutenant to keep her britches on. Just sit tight for a couple more seconds," Flax groused, fully expecting Emerald to deliver the message somewhat more tactfully. In the meantime, she was lining up her sights with the tank that hadn't fired yet. She took aim at the back of its hull and fired, and at such close range, it was practically impossible to miss. The shell punched through the paper-thin armor in the rear and buried itself into the engine and transmission of the Crystal tank. Sage was still reloading the gun when the enemy tank burst into flames, a fuel fire quickly engulfing the back half of the vehicle while the crew tossed open their hatches to bail out.

Emerald hesitated to shoot, just like last time, and Flax knew she'd have to talk to her about that later. Fortunately for the moment, Sage had no such reservations. Sage disconnected the coaxial machine gun and took control of it, hosing down two of the four ponies fleeing their stricken machine. The other tank crew had apparently noticed the demise of their comrades, their turret slowly spinning around to face their unseen attacker. Flax adjusted her aim just in time to send a shell through the side of their turret, stopping it halfway toward its target. After a reload from Sage, Flax also put a round into this tank's engine - just like the first, its fuel tanks caught fire and doomed the machine.

Finally, after the longest thirty seconds of her life, Flax slumped back in her seat. The cold steel of the turret was comforting compared to the sweltering heat created by the engine. Mopping some sweat off of her brow with one hoof, Flax nudged the back of Emerald's head with another. "Emerald... tell 'em they're free to come outta the warehouse now. Tanks are dead."

Emerald seemed more than a little irritated with Flax's methods of getting her attention, but Flax could care less. Her heart was beating like a drumroll in her chest, and her forehooves had started shaking again. Shifting her head to the side, Flax suddenly remembered that she was fortunate enough to have a solution to at least one of her problems. She turned around and opened the turret storage box, fetching the pack of good cigarettes Sage had given her. She plucked one out and lit up, then exhaled her smoke into the turret ventilator fan above her head to avoid clogging the fighting compartment with even more smoke.

Sitting up again and looking through her cupola, Flax watched the grey, boxy shapes of two Equestrian tanks hesitantly rolling out of the large garage door they'd smashed their way through moments ago. Their turrets were pointed in opposite directions, watching either flank as Apple Bucker led Snooper back onto the street. They approached until they were as close as they could get, blocked off by the two disabled Crystal tanks in the middle of the road. Once again, an odd silence had fallen over the street. Flax could hear the flames burning ferociously as they consumed the two machines she'd knocked out, and the heat was intense enough to melt rubber and boil fluids. It was a uniquely awful smell, thick and heavy with chemicals, and it seemed to stick to the inside of Flax's nose even as she covered her muzzle with a hoof to try and block it out.

"Damn fine shootin', Flax," Blossom said, her voice full of pride and only slightly frayed. She covered it well, but Flax could tell her commander was still anxious. "Meet us on the next street over and we'll keep pushin'! This is goin' even better than I was hopin'. Next, we gotta get that train..."

)()()()()()()(

It took only a couple of minutes for all three tanks to be reunited. Flax guided Cream backward until she could turn around, then directed her to follow the narrow passage between two buildings that led to the next street. There, Apple Bucker and Snooper were waiting to continue the attack. Still no sign of any more Crystal troops, Flax noted, and she got the distinct feeling that something was up. It was more than a hunch by now, she'd decided. It was true, and it was only a matter of time before whatever trap they were laying was sprung.

"Emerald, would ya be so kind as to point out to Blossom that there's somethin' off about the fight so far? Been real easy to push our way in here... I'm worryin' that they're drawin' us in."

"Understood, I'll pass it along," Emerald answered, before cutting herself off to swap from intercom to radio. Flax waited for a moment, watching Apple Blossom's tank through her right viewport, and though she couldn't see the other mare she got the feeling she was looking right back when she answered.

"If it's a trap, we'll be more than ready to fight our way out of it. We're in this far, I ain't backin' off now. Amber, you take point. I'll follow behind you, and Flax can head up the rear while we head for the middle of the yard. Hopefully that train wasn't ready to high-tail it outta here when we showed up..."

Flax cursed through clenched teeth, slamming a forehoof against the side of the turret hard enough to be audible over the engine's purr. "Damn fool," she spat, not even bothering with the intercom. "She's gonna get herself killed, and drag us down with her if she ain't careful."

Flax paused to simmer, eyes narrowed while she glared at her surroundings. She flinched when Sage laid a hoof on her shoulder from across the turret, looking over to see her friend awkwardly reaching past the cannon's recoil guard. "It'll work out fine, lass. You cannae change her mind, so ye best listen to her for now. We can raise a fuss about it later," she said, trying her best to sound reassuring. It didn't help much.

Still, she was right. Flax had a job to do, and she wasn't going to help Blossom's odds any by sitting back and being pissed off at her. Rolling her shoulders and clearing her mind, Flax nodded slowly. "Thanks, Sage..." she said, her voice trailing off as she looked her friend in the eye. A moment passed in silence before Flax turned away and keyed her microphone. "Cream, get ready. We're gonna be back of the pack again while we get closer to our main target."

"You got it! I'll keep us rolling. Still going to need your directions though - I can barely tell where we're going with all of this clutter blocking my view," Cream responded, leaning back and craning her neck to look up at Flax as she spoke. Flax met her gaze and nodded.

A moment later, everyone heard the growl of engines as Snooper took off in the lead. Apple Bucker followed close behind them, and Flax kept an eye out through her left and right viewports while Cream eased her machine forward to complete the formation. It was slow going, all three tanks weaving and swerving to dodge abandoned crates and various other objects. A truck tried its best to halt the advance, either deliberately positioned as a roadblock or simply left behind when the infantry scurried away. Regardless, it was hardly an obstacle. Snooper rammed it at full speed, and while the machine wasn't tall enough to outright crush the lighter vehicle, it smashed it aside and nearly flipped it over. With the road cleared, Apple Bucker and Flax's machine could rumble right past it.

The advance was going remarkably smoothly as they neared the train tracks in the middle of the compound. The buildings here were smaller and more open, most of them barely having walls to speak of and instead serving merely as protection from rain or snow. The artificial canopy was supported by an orderly jungle of metal beams, each one spaced out equally and with plenty of room for wagons and trucks to pass through while trains were unloaded. Boxes of varying sizes were scattered about, providing visual cover from certain angles, and Flax was suddenly even more anxious than before. Too much open space and not enough solid cover; her machine was a big target.

"Slow down, y'all," Blossom ordered over the radio, her voice low as if somepony could actually hear her inside her tank, "heads on a swivel until we get outta this here pavilion."

Flax relayed the order to Cream, and she watched as Apple Bucker and Snooper slowed to a crawl in front of her. They were still close together, rolling along in single file, but now Flax could get a better look at every possible firing position before they passed it up. Flax could hear - and feel - her heart thumping in her ears, her breathing slow and steady while she scanned her surroundings through the frustratingly limited field of view her cupola provided. She wanted to poke her head out, to get a better look, but the logical part of her mind told her that would be a death sentence.

So instead she just waited. Waited for the inevitable attack that would spell the end for her, her crew, or the ponies in the other two tanks. There was no sign of the enemy in here, and yet she was certain it was coming. Soon enough, her fears were confirmed.

It was a lone gunshot - a muffled BANG from somewhere only a dozen meters away. Flax caught it out of the corner of her eye, the muzzle flash of an anti-tank rifle firing from within a pile of crates and tarps. The blast tossed dust and paperwork into the air, and the armor-piercing bullet found its mark. Apple Bucker abruptly spun to the left, metal screeching on concrete as the tracks spun wildly. Pressing her eyes against the forward vision block, Flax saw that the left track had been severed by the impact. It wasn't until the vehicle had turned a full ninety degrees that Blossom's driver managed to stop, now pointing directly at their unseen attacker.

"Shit! Full stop, defensive formation," Blossom yelled, ringing Flax's ears with her panicked order. Flax hadn't the slightest idea what "defensive formation" looked like when she was a fish in a barrel, but she knew there was a better option than sitting still. First, she traversed her turret until she lined up a shot with where the anti-tank rifle fired from. Slamming the button on her right, Flax was reminded that Sage had loaded solid shot when all she got was a round hole blasted clean through one crate and not much else.

"Sage, HE!" Flax barked, pulling her eye away from the scope to look at her loader. Sage was already obliging the order before it had even been given, plucking one shell from the ammo rack and arming it before slamming it into the breech. At the same time, the air was cut apart by the staccato rhythm of several machine guns opening fire at once. Emerald was shooting, and so was Amber's radio pony. Blossom's tank lacked a hull machine gun, and her loader was apparently too preoccupied to use the coax.

Blossom fired before Sage could reload the gun for Flax to finish the job, though she too was stuck with an armor-piercing shell at first. This one at least hit something solid, tearing through the concealed fighting position and the Crystal pony within. When the pile of crates collapsed in on itself, giving away that the shooter was dead, the fight abruptly stopped.

"Y'all okay?" Flax asked, even if she knew the answer. A round of affirmatives from her crew, and she was satisfied. "Good. Emerald, talk to Blossom and see what needs to be done. Cream, get ready to hop out and help 'em get their track replaced - we'll cover you if-"

BOOM!

Another gunshot, and this one was far louder. It came from the other direction, to Flax's right and directly behind Apple Bucker. Flax didn't even look at the source of the sound. Instead, she looked straight ahead and watched as a tank shell passed clean through the rear of Apple Bucker's hull and back out the front. The rear plate was badly dented and only hanging on by a few loose bolts, and the front plate looked like it nearly shattered from the force of the shell penetrating it from inside.

Snooper was the first to return fire, and Flax finally tore her gaze away from Blossom's tank to see her assailant. It was a Crystal tank on the far side of the storage area, once again concealed by camouflaged netting and stacked crates. A long, slender barrel protruded from a round, barrel-shaped turret. The hull was short and boxy, and it didn't look to be much larger than Flax's machine overall - save for that long gun. Amber's shot went wide, missing the side of the enemy's turret by a foot or two and slicing through a nearby support beam before carrying on into a wall.

"Tank! Cream, back up and get us turned to face them head-on, we'll try and draw their fire away from Blossom while she tries to bail out. Sage, switch back to AP!" Flax ordered, already traversing the turret to get the gun on target. The hydraulics whined as it seemingly took an eternity, but she saw the silhouette of a vehicle entering her gunsight soon enough. Flax knew she had high-explosive loaded, but she had to fire in order to clear the breech. Lining up her shot with the enemy tank's turret face, she slammed the firing button once more and braced for the recoil.

When the fire and smoke cleared from her field of view, Flax wasn't surprised to see her shell had little effect. The front of the Crystal tank was scored and blackened, but hardly damaged. Its engine roared as it suddenly rolled forward, crushing and tearing its concealment as it pressed closer. Snooper fired again, and this time Amber's aim was better. Her shell hit the side of the turret where she'd narrowly missed before, though it was just as ineffective. The sharp angle led to a ricochet, and the shell made a very odd warbling noise as it tumbled through the air away from its target.

"Flax!" Emerald shouted, derailing Flax's tactical thought. "Amber says to try and swing wide, we can encircle the enemy and force them to focus on just one of us!"

"Sounds like a plan. Cream, floor it! Try and put us between Blossom and that damn gun before they fire again!" Flax answered, pulling her eye away from her sight once more to avoid hurting herself when her machine lurched forward. Cream had just put the tank back into gear and started moving when the enemy tank's turret started to traverse and line up another shot. They had to be careful, maneuvering such a long gun past all those steel beams, but they still had ample time to find their target. Flax realized her plan was too little, too late.

She looked through her left vision block, mouth slightly agape, and desperately hoped to see Apple Bucker with her hatches already open and her crew dismounted. Unfortunately, she was still buttoned up. Apple Blossom hadn't even begun to get to safety when the Crystal tank fired again, this time finding its mark on the back of Blossom's turret. Just like the first shell, it punched in one side and back out the other. The turret jolted in its mount from the impact, and Flax saw the first sparks of a fire beginning to burn inside the engine bay. She couldn't see for herself, but she knew the inside of that tank likely wasn't a pretty picture. Apple Blossom and her crew were gone.

This time, Flax couldn't even muster up a curse. Just like with Vanadium a few days prior, she just stared while her eyes burned with tears that wouldn't fall. Apple Bucker sat motionless, smoke beginning to pour out of the four new holes in her armor, and for a short moment Flax forgot everything else around her. She'd barely known her lieutenant for a month by this point, but her death stung all the same. Apple Blossom had a good head on her shoulders most of the time, Flax knew, and up until now her recklessness had always paid off in some way or another. Today, it seems, Blossom's luck ran out.

Flax was shocked out of her thoughts by another cannon going off, this time from Amber. She didn't see the effect on target, but seeing as the Crystal tank was still moving when Flax looked through her sights, she assumed it was another ricochet. Flax waited while Cream guided her machine forward, support beams rushing past Flax's crosshairs like fence posts on a country road. The enemy tank was mere meters away when she finally took her shot, dead on with their side. Flax's gun thundered once more, dropping an empty case into the brass bag, and Flax was rewarded with the sight of a penetrating hit.

Her shell cut clean through the flat side armor of the Crystal tank, embedding itself deep inside and stopping the turret in the middle of its path to line up a shot on Snooper. Mere seconds later, Snooper fired again from the opposite side and had a similarly effective shot. Flax couldn't see it, but she heard the crunch and squeal of metal being torn apart from the impact.

Cream had eased the tank to a stop by now, leaving the engine idling while Flax stared through her gunsight at the motionless Crystal tank. Sage had already loaded another round, and Flax was silently daring the enemy to move again. When a full minute passed with no signs of life, she let out a heavy sigh and slumped back in her seat. There was another moment or two of tense silence while everypony gathered themselves and calmed their nerves, and it was Emerald who eventually broke the silence.

"Flax," she croaked, her voice suddenly weak, "Amber called, and... asked what we do now. The mission is in your hooves now, ma'am." She hadn't seen what became of Apple Blossom and her tank, but Flax could tell that Emerald knew well enough already. Sitting up straight again, Flax looked around the interior of her tank slowly before finally answering.

"We retreat. We're in deep enough already, and I ain't riskin' our lives anymore tryin' to get that damned train. It'll just have to get away this time," she said, her voice cold as the ice outside. "But first... I gotta do somethin'. Cover me, and tell Amber to keep an eye out too."

Flax pulled off her headset while Emerald started to relay the message. She turned around in her seat and grabbed her submachine gun, checking the magazine to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied, she swung her hatch open and climbed out of her machine and into the comparatively frigid air. Flax dropped down onto the concrete and stepped away from her tank, weapon slung around her side, and marched up to stand beside Apple Bucker. She stood outside her for a long moment, her mind torn between desperately hoping to hear something and nothing at the same time. Eventually, the latter turned out to be true.

She steeled herself, mentally preparing for what she knew was inside, and climbed up the side of the hull. Flax wrenched the turret hatch open and peered in through the cupola, and her heart sank down to the pit of her stomach when her fears were confirmed. It was an ugly scene, but at least it had been quick. She hesitantly reached inside, bumping Apple Blossom's mangled remains out of the way, and fetched the case containing all of her maps. They were of no use to Blossom anymore, and Flax knew she'd need them if she was going to take over.

After stashing the map case in her belt, Flax lingered for a few seconds more. She couldn't bear to look at the nightmarish scene inside the tank for much longer, but there was one last thing she needed. Reaching her forehoof inside one last time, she found Blossom's body again and yanked her tags and rank tabs free from her uniform.

After stashing the tiny, bloodstained items in her pocket, Flax carefully closed the hatch again and hopped back down to the floor. She silently walked back over to her tank, climbed inside, and stashed the map case in the turret storage bin right beside where she returned her submachine gun. Nopony spoke as Flax slammed her hatch shut, but Cream knew what she needed to do as she got their machine spun around and began to lead the way back to Riverpool.

Author's Note

Breaking my own rules to do a double feature, I know, but I really wanted to do this battle from Flax's perspective.