Flax Seed had been hesitant to trust Cream's judgment. She'd just met the mare, after all, and this late in the evening was no time for playing around. If nothing else, Flax didn't want to attract the ire of her new commanding officer before she'd had a chance to prove her worth in the field. Nonetheless, staring down at that winning smile on Cream's face, how could she say no?

Some forty-five minutes later, she knew fully well that she could've - and should've - said no. The first hiccup came only seconds after Flax begrudgingly agreed to let Cream take the tank on a drive, what with Cream being unable to find the button for the remote start. The next problem was less her fault, but still an annoyance. With how cold it was, and with the air only getting colder now that the sun had gone down, the engine was not in the mood to cooperate. It coughed and sputtered while Cream Soda tried the remote start again and again, but to no avail. Eventually, Flax had to order Sage to turn the engine over by hoof using the crank at the vehicle's rear. Once the engine was running, roughly at first but evening out to a steady purr that was partially muffled inside the fighting compartment, Flax was again disappointed when Cream asked how to get the vehicle moving.

Flax Seed was trained to command a tank, but she knew enough to fill any position in a pinch. The more she listened to Cream Soda, though, the more she realized that just sitting inside a tank more than once made her more qualified than her new driver. It took all of five minutes for Flax to decide that the mare had been lying about her training, and she passed that conclusion along to Sage once she joined her in the turret.

Cream Soda eventually figured out most of the basics, and with some more coaching from Flax Seed she even managed to roll the little tank out of the motor pool and onto the snow-covered road leading away from camp. Flax knew better than to wander too far, even if they were behind friendly lines, and she didn't let Cream drive more than a few hundred yards down the road before ordering her to turn back. Moving at higher speeds introduced Flax to another shortcoming, as she felt the machine lurch every time Cream struggled to shift gears. Flax leaned back and peered down at Cream while she worked, watching her form, and quickly realized the problem. Cream looked to be too focused on working the two sticks for the tracks, and she was rushing through gear shifting at the last second. The gearbox seemed just as upset as Flax Seed, grinding whenever Cream fumbled, and the constant halting movement of the tank made Flax worry that they were going to break something already.

After what felt like an eternity of enduring Cream's extremely amateur tank driving abilities, Flax Seed could see the motor pool coming up again. She'd opened up her hatch and stood up on her seat to have better visibility, and so she could get away from the grinding transmission and the risk of hitting her head, resting her forehooves on the raised cupola to keep herself steady. The frigid nighttime air whipped across her face, but her blonde mane was already tied back in a tight bun to keep it secure. Squinting at the dim lights of the motor pool, Flax picked up her headset from where it rested around her neck and placed it over her ears. A nudge to Sage, and she passed the message along for her and Cream Soda to do the same.

Before Flax could issue any orders, though, Cream Soda keyed her mic and spoke first.

"I think I'm figuring it out, ma'am!" She shouted, making Flax cringe. "Another week of practice and I bet I'll be a pro!"

After recovering from the ringing in her ears, and accepting that she'd probably just suffered some minor hearing damage, Flax keyed her microphone and spoke in a stern voice. "The most you're figuring out is how to fast-track a transmission replacement on this poor machine, damnit! Just take us back to where we started, but don't try and park on your own, I'll hop down and guide you in."

When the tank was finally back in position after several minutes and multiple retries, Flax nodded and Cream killed the engine. It hadn't even finished winding down before Sage climbed out of the turret, and Cream managed to wiggle herself back out the way she came a moment later. She hopped off the side, and Flax watched as she landed, stumbled, and fell flat on her rump in the snow.

Flax sighed, already wishing for another cigarette, and shook her head. "What now? Slip on a patch of ice or somethin'?"

"Uh... no, no I didn't," Cream mumbled, suddenly disheartened. Flax raised an eyebrow at Sage, then stepped up to see what the problem was. Cream stood up before Flax could reach her and stepped back, pink in the face and kicking at the ground like a foal who had just been caught with their hoof in the cookie jar. Flax didn't like that look one bit, and when she glanced down at the ground it all made sense. She hadn't even considered that Cream still had all of her gear when she was inspecting the tank, and it seems Cream had barely considered it either. She'd dropped her pack off without a second thought and left it on the hull, and as soon as the tank started moving it fell off. Now it was smooshed almost totally flat in the snow between the two mares.

Flax sighed again, looking back up at Cream Soda with a harsh glare. "So let me get this straight," she began, taking a step forward and forcing Cream to take one back. "y'all said you were fresh outta basic, and I accepted it. Then ya can't drive a damn tank to save your life, then ya don't understand how to treat your superiors, then ya go 'n' do somethin' like this!?" Flax jabbed a hoof down at the flattened saddlebags for emphasis. "I wasn't born yesterday, corporal. You ain't gonna get away with lyin' to me, so I suggest ya wisen up before ya get us killed. I dunno what lousy unit they plucked you from where actin' like you do is okay, but it ain't gonna work out here! There's a war on, in case ya haven't noticed!"

Flax Seed's voice rose with every sentence, until she was almost shouting in Cream's face. Her voice echoed through the relative silence all around them, and a few enlisted ponies had even stopped near the edge of the motor pool to watch the showdown - if one could even call it that. Cream Soda shied away from her commander's voice, hunching her shoulders and lowering her head, and all she could manage at the end was a weak nod. Flax turned away with a snort, head lowered, and started to walk away.

"Get that mess cleaned up before ya leave," she added, far quieter but with no less venom in her voice. She didn't look back to see Cream's reaction as she marched out of the motor pool, nor did she check if Sage chose to accompany her.

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

The next morning Flax Seed was woken up far sooner than she would've liked, but that was hardly out of the ordinary. Dawn's light was just beginning to creep into her little tent under the flaps, and Sage's nudging was insistent but gentle. She groaned and rolled over in her sleeping bag, her wooden cot creaking beneath her, and waved a hoof to signal that she was indeed awake. Even that small motion, and the opening of her sleeping bag, was enough to let the freezing cold air into her bag. From there it was only a few seconds before Flax had to give up on any thoughts of catching a few more minutes of sleep. She shivered and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Sage stepped back and plopped herself down on her cot set up across from Flax's, looking as alert as ever.

"Sorry to wake ye, ma'am, but I figured I'd pass along the major's orders. Wants to talk to ye first thing this morn'," Sage finally said, barely louder than a whisper. Flax nodded whilst running her hooves through her blonde mane, doing her best to straighten out the worst of her bedhead. She crawled out of her sleeping bag and got to her hooves a moment later, then went to the wooden crate at the back of the tent to fetch the rest of her uniform to put on over her undershirt. A couple of minutes later, Flax Seed had transformed from a barely conscious shell of a pony to something resembling a proper soldier, even if only vaguely. She straightened her uniform jacket before clipping on her belt, then donned her winter coat over top of that and plopped her beret on top of her mane once it was tied back how she wanted it.

"Major say what he wanted?" Flax finally asked, breaking the comfortable silence that hung after Sage's explanation. Sage only shook her head in response, having been busy making her cot while Flax got dressed. Sage was already dressed, and Flax knew the mare had likely woken up only shortly after sunrise. She didn't know how or why Sage did it, but Flax was appreciative of her friend's ability to operate like clockwork. "Figures. Maybe we'll get lucky and it's because he wants to tell me he picked a different driver for us after realizin' the one he gave us was lousy."

"She cannae hope to get any good at it if you're going to treat her like an idiot, ma'am," Sage advised, giving Flax a momentary pause after her (admittedly rude) joke. "Ye remember how we did in our first assignment, yeah? The old vets probably laughed behind our backs too."

"Fine, fine, I reckon you're right," Flax said, cutting Sage off before she could continue. Despite heavily outranking the other mare, Flax knew to trust her thinking after serving alongside her for so long. "Would ya be a dear 'n' go round up our two newbies? They ain't had a chance to get acquainted with each other yet, and I want 'em at least familiar before we get assigned a mission," Flax asked, already stepping toward the tent flaps to head outside into the cold morning air.

The walk to the command tent was short, and Flax Seed didn't bother waiting for the enlisted soldier at the door to invite her in. She ducked her head and pushed through the tent flaps, savoring the wave of warm air she walked into, before glancing around to quickly spot Major Silver Spirit hunched over a desk near the corner. Passing effortlessly through the swirl of organized chaos going on in the rest of the tent, Flax Seed stepped up to the major's desk and snapped to attention with a salute.

"Second Lieutenant Flax Seed reportin', sir. You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes, lieutenant, I did," he said, abruptly looking up from the maps he had been staring so intently at. "At ease, and take a seat, if you please."

Flax obliged, relaxing her posture first before looking around in her immediate vicinity for any chairs. Conveniently enough, a folding chair was within leg's reach, and she pulled it over with ease. Plopping herself down, Flax roamed her eyes over the maps and reports scattered across the table in search of any hints as to the meaning of this meeting. Silver Spirit was eyeing them too, hooves pressed together on the table's edge, while he seemed to be deep in thought. Before Flax could ask any more questions, there was a stir behind her that prompted her to look over her shoulder. A new face entered the tent, and this time it was somepony she recognized.

A mare with a first lieutenant's rank markings on her uniform jacket confidently strode into the command tent, her pale pink fur and tightly braided yellow mane immediately standing out. Flax Seed nodded in silent greeting, recognizing her direct superior and fellow tank commander Apple Blossom. She stood beside the small table Flax and Silver occupied, looking between them with a grin that made Flax slightly self-conscious of her inability to be a morning pony like seemingly everyone else.

"Good morning, Major," the new mare said, throwing her hoof up for a quick and casual salute before turning her gaze to Flax. "Mornin' to you too, LT."

"Yes, good morning First Lieutenant," Silver Spirit said, doing a very good job of covering his disappointment at the mare's casual approach. Flax Seed noticed it anyway, and the little grin on Apple Blossom's face suggested that she did too. "Now that you're both here, we can get started." Flax Seed sat up straighter in her chair, and Apple Blossom widened her stance a little to get as close to "settled in" as she could while staying on her hooves. Silver Spirit cleared his throat before continuing. "As the two of you are undoubtedly aware, our counter-offensive against the Crystal Empire has been proceeding well. I believe, and high command agrees, that it has been going too well. We've pushed the frontline back quite a ways and only encountered token resistance along the way - mostly from infantry units dug in around terrain features, and even then they've been quick to fall back and give us ground."

Silver Spirit paused and reorganized the papers on his desk. A map came to the forefront, levitated in his golden magical aura, and a color-coded graph showed the general shape of the front. A large bulge of blue protruded into a wall of red, marked with little X symbols all along it. Various arrows and squares indicated the placement of different units, and Blossom and Flax both quickly spotted the 2nd Armored Battalion's HQ near the middle of that bulge among a few other units. They also saw how close it was to the prewar border with the Crystal Empire in front and the city of Whinnyapolis behind. After both mares got a good look at the map, Silver set it down on the table again before continuing.

"We think it to be a trap. The two of you and your unit are being sent on reconnaissance duty to a village ahead of our current position to make sure it is both safe and strategically sound for our battalion to advance as a whole and try to reclaim more territory. You are to take and hold the village of Riverpool, marked here." Silver pointed with a stick held aloft in his magic, a tiny black dot a short distance northeast of headquarters and over a small river. "You will secure the village and use it as a forward operating base, from there you will monitor enemy movements in the region and attack targets of opportunity as you find them until the enemy responds in force or you have maintained your position for a fortnight. I must stress that this is not an offensive mission - you are to gather information first and foremost, and you will break contact as soon as you encounter a superior force. I will entrust the specifics of this plan to your judgment, First Lieutenant. Any questions?"

Apple Blossom spoke up immediately. "Will we have any attached support, sir? Ten light tanks ain't exactly a force to be reckoned with, and we've had trouble in the past with some of the heavier hardware the Empire has kickin' around."

"And, if I could add, ain't this a little high profile for a scoutin' mission?" Flax Seed interjected, earning a small frown from Silver Spirit.

"You will be receiving additional support in the form of an attached self-propelled gun platoon and a platoon of infantry ponies to help secure the town. You and your tanks will still be the primary element," Silver explained to Blossom, before turning his attention to Flax Seed. "As for the size of this mission... that is intentional. A larger force will, obviously, provoke a larger response in kind, and the more cards we can get the enemy to show at once, the better. Have you any more questions?"

A pause, and when neither mare spoke up, Major Silver Spirit nodded firmly. "Good. You have until noon to have your units gathered and ready to roll out; dismissed."

Author's Note

So here it is! Chapters 1 and 2, from Cream Soda and Flax Seed's POV respectively. With any luck I plan to upload at least one more chapter every Sunday, so stay tuned! Feedback is appreciated in the comments or in my note box, whichever you feel is appropriate, and thank you for reading what I've got so far!