The Seventh Element

“Well if that doesn’t sound like the most self-indulgent contrived conclusion I’ve ever heard,” Carl snorted, “I know you’re supposed to be the key to saving Equestria, but you’re already talking like you’re some sort of knight in silver armor ready to do some hero thing that ‘only you can’ or some crap.”  Argent couldn’t help but remember that he had indeed penned a fan-fiction or two in which his exact situation came about with him at the center, albeit under very different circumstances—he wasn’t a genius that built a portal to Equestria all on his own in the basement of his mansion, and he didn’t feel a strange brotherly connection with Rainbow Dash as if they were mysteriously related somehow.

Still, Carl’s words irked him a little bit.  The grayish-blue stallion before him may have been a military man once, but Argent didn’t feel his condescension was warranted.

“I’m sorry if I come off as rude, sir, but I’ve seen ponies die today.  A couple days ago, the only thing I ever wanted to see a pony do was learn about friendship.  Hell, up until Twilight went and broke the universe in my living room, none of this even existed!  So if I happen to be the next crown prince of Equestria or some nonsense like that, you are just going to have to deal with it, because that means that I am not only my own ticket home, but yours, too.”

“Wow, snappy much?” Rainbow Dash whispered.  Carl coughed and sighed,

“Sorry kid, I guess this is a bit much to take in over only a couple days.”  He cleared his throat again,

“Now then, Element of Chivalry, we can get down to business and find out what’s making these Diamond Dogs so tick.”  Carl gestured to Princess Celestia, prompting her to speak,

“Remember that Carl said that the dimension Equestria resides in has been opened to the one that Argent came from a total of three times.  The first time was the true first contact, made all those years ago as a result of his research.  Twilight’s experimentation with the spells she found in the book she borrowed from the Canterlot library; in other words, the event that brought Argent here, was actually the third instance.”

Celestia pointed her horn to a display that had a map of Equestria on it.  A dot not far west of Ponyville began flashing, “The second anomaly happened here, a few months ago.  Though the high level magic alerted both Luna and myself, we foolishly ignored it, as it was over as soon as it began and we did not detect any significant presence as we did with Argent.”  Twilight chimed in,

“So, in short, you think that whatever, or whoever caused the second anomaly is behind the Diamond Dog invasion.”  Rainbow Dash flew up and flexed her hooves,

“Well then let’s get on over there and beat up whoever’s responsible!” she declared.

“We can’t just waltz in and ask where they got all their weapons from.  We’ll be full of holes the second we set hoof underground.” Argent pointed out.  Rainbow lowered herself, rethinking her strategy.  Carl spoke up again,

“You’re both right and wrong, Argent.  While it’s true that we can’t just knock on their door like we’re selling cookies, we do have a method of ‘intimidation,’ so to speak.”

“What do you mean?  Even with magic, we’re hopelessly out-gunned, in that we literally have no guns.” Argent said.  Carl gave a small smirk.

“Not exactly.  Celestia, let’s show them what else we’ve been working on.”  Celestia nodded and used her horn to light the ground below them.  The light faded to reveal that the floor they were standing on was actually sectioned into a concentric circle: the outer ring held the computers and machines that lined the wall for Carl’s research and surveillance.  The inner circle held the DTM prototype and the ponies.  It was actually a platform that began descending even deeper below Ponyville, finally coming to rest in a cavern easily hundreds of times the size of the large room they were just in.

As the platform thudded to a halt, lights came on in the cavern, illuminating walls lined with thousands of sets of body armor and guns.  This was not human equipment.  As Argent inspected them, he realized that they were designed differently—these were meant to be used by ponies.  The rest of the cavern looked like a parking lot sectioned off into numbers and letters for easy classification.  There were no cars in the “parking spaces” though.  Instead, fearsome tanks stood stalwart side by side from one end of the cave to the other in at least a few dozen rows.

“This is Equestria’s hidden arsenal.” Carl said proudly.  Twilight, Argent, and Rainbow Dash’s jaws nearly hit the floor.  Princess Celestia surveyed the room with a mixed look of pride and concern.

“They are fantastic, Colonel Saunders.  I don’t remember requesting this many in Ponyville’s vault, though.”

“Wait, there are more places like this?” Twilight asked, bewildered.  Celestia nodded slowly,

“Yes, my student.  Hidden arsenals like this one have been built all over Equestria.  Ponyville’s is one of the smaller ones.  Canterlot’s, of course, is the largest.”

“But why?” Twilight’s eyes showed intense worry, “Equestria hasn’t seen large-scale war since before Discord’s time, and in all my studies I’ve never read about us conquering anypony, either.”

Celestia sighed.

“When Carl first suggested we use some of his technology years ago, both Luna and I were skeptical.  We had few enemies, and those we did have could be easily kept at bay with the spears, shields, armor, and magic of our military then.  We were aware, though, that lands far beyond Equestria were advancing at a much faster pace than our old kingdom.  Primitive versions of these ‘guns’ and other tools and machines of war being developed meant that eventually somepony would be angry, crazy, or desperate enough to use them.

“My sister and I reluctantly agreed that it would be best to gain an edge over those that might harm us in the future, so we agreed to adopt human technological advances for pony use.  We could not worry our subjects, though, so we kept these arsenals a secret, and instead explained heightened taxes and increased royal spending with a program meant to research other non-military technologies.”

“So this is what we’re going to use to get into the Diamond Dog base west of Ponyville?” Argent said, putting his hoof on one of the tanks.  Carl nodded,

“Yup.  I call these tanks ‘Wizards.’”

“Why do you call them that?” Twilight cocked her head.

“Because they run on magic.  Each tank has a four-pony crew: a commander, a gunner, an ammunition loader, and a driver.  The driver has to be a unicorn, though, or the tank won’t work.  It’s a failsafe to keep the tanks out of enemy hooves.”

“Wouldn’t that be assuming whoever the crew would be facing wouldn’t have unicorns?” Twilight inquired.

“Yeah, but whoever ‘they’ might be also doesn’t know that you need magic to run the thing, so it’s better than nothing.”  Argent was silent for a moment, then whipped around, eyes wide.

“I’m driving one of these, aren’t I?”  Carl raised an eyebrow,

“You’re a unicorn, aren’t you?”  A rumble from the surface reminded the ponies in the cavern that the world above them was in danger.

“Let’s get to the surface,” Carl said.  Before he hopped back on the platform he pressed a few buttons on a control panel.  Three of the tanks began rising up with Argent, Celestia, and the others.  “These should be enough to get into the base.  Those mutts may have rockets, but I didn’t design the Wizards to be pushovers.”

“Aren’t you going to come with us?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No can do.  I have to stay here and protect the DTM.  Until we know more about them, there’s no telling when the Diamond Dogs might try to take Ponyville again.  You and the Elements of Harmony can handle it, though.  I’ve got confidence in you.”

On the surface, Argent saw that the tanks Carl sent with them had risen out of hidden platforms around Ponyville’s Town Hall.  Soldiers and civilians appeared scared of them at first, but relaxed when they saw Celestia and Twilight near them with no fear.

“Oh, my, what peculiar looking vehicles!” The Element of Generosity trotted into the square from the direction of the hospital.  Fluttershy floated low to the ground just behind her.

“Rarity!  Fluttershy!” Twilight hugged her friends, “How are the injured?  It’s not too bad, is it?”  Fluttershy gave a very small smile, if for nothing but assurance,

“There are a few bad cases, but Nurse Redheart and the other doctors did very well treating ponies as fast as they did.  They should all be just fine.”

“Yes, I’m very pleased to see that so many ponies are all right,” Rarity glanced up at the Wizards, “Twilight, what are these, um…”

“They’re Wizards.  They’re war machines built using technology from Argent’s world, but for use by ponies,” Twilight answered.

“You built weapons in the short time we were gone?” Rarity gasped.

“No!  They were already here.  It’s… it’s a long story.”

“We’re gonna use these babies to bust in the Diamond Dog base near here and find out who’s responsible for all this!” Rainbow Dash punched the air repeatedly.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy said, covering her mouth at the thought of more violence, “How do we go about doing that?”

“Well, for starters, each of these needs a crew of four.  Can you aim, Rarity?” Argent asked.  The white unicorn seemed taken aback,

“Can I aim?  Why, I participate in magic archery regularly!”

With Argent driving, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash manned the first tank.  They gathered Pinkie Pie from a damaged Sugarcube Corner where she was ensuring that the Cake family was unharmed.  Once Applejack bade farewell to her family, she, Pinkie, Twilight, and a soldier from Celestia’s Elite Guard commandeered the second tank.  Another group of Equestrian soldiers occupied the third.

“So we’re usin’ these fancy tanker things to get those Diamond Dogs back fer bustin’ up Ponyville?” Applejack said over the radio inside her tank.  The first leg of the ponies’ journey to the Diamond Dog base was used to train them in use of the Wizards.  Argent expected it might be difficult getting the hang of it, but he and the other crew members mastered the controls quickly and were soon on their way to their mission.  The tanks rumbled loudly along increasingly rocky ground as the ponies neared the craggy land where the Diamond Dogs resided.

“We’re probably going to fight, but that’s not why we’re going to their base, Applejack,” Twilight warned her.  She stood on her hind legs to get a view out of the hatch of Wizard she was commanding while she spoke,

“This is just a means to an end, and that end is finding out why the Diamond Dogs are attacking and who gave them their weapons.”  One of the soldiers of the third Wizard poked his head out of his tank and waved Twilight down.

“Miss Sparkle!  We’re nearing the outskirts of enemy territory.  I suggest we stay inside the Wizards where it’s safe.”  He disappeared back into the tank, closing the hatch.  Twilight nodded and gulped, remembering that they were about to be in very real danger.  Defending Sweet Apple Acres from one group of Diamond Dogs was one thing, but going head-on into an entire stronghold full of them was something else entirely.  She ducked back into the tank and locked the hatch.  Just as she did, Argent’s voice crackled over the intercom,

“There’s movement in the bushes ahead!” He said.

“Fluttershy, load a shell!”  Rainbow Dash ordered.  Fluttershy struggled to lift one of the heavy projectiles, at least five inches in diameter.  She flapped her wings to help, but the small confines of the turret prevented much movement.  Rarity used her magic to assist the pegasus loading the casing into the gun breech.

“Where’s my target, dear?” Rarity asked as Argent brought the Wizard to a halt.  The other two tanks stopped as well.

“About twenty degrees to the left.  Angle the barrel downward a little as well.  If we just scare them out of hiding, they may run straight back to their base, and we’ll be right on their heels.”  Mechanical whirring sounded through near silence as Rarity rotated the turret of her Wizard according to Argent’s direction.  The bushes he pointed out glistened for a split second before three Diamond Dogs suddenly popped out and aimed a rocket launcher at the tank.

“Quick!  Fire!” Rainbow yelled.  The sound of the Wizard’s cannon was so deafening, the whoosh of the rocket launcher firing could not even be heard.  A small crater opened up as a result of the shell’s explosion.  As Argent expected, the hiding dogs began high-tailing it out of there, dropping the spent launcher as they ran.  Their rocket bounced harmlessly off of the Equestrian soldiers’ tank and exploded behind them.  The three Wizards began following their assailants at full throttle.

The ponies bounced around the inside of their tanks as they thundered after the Diamond Dogs.

“Don’t let them get away!” Rainbow Dash commanded over her headset.

“Like hay Ah will!” Applejack called back.  She was the gunner for the tank Twilight was commanding, and nearly knocked Twilight off her hooves as she suddenly aimed the turret in the Dogs’ path.

“Hold on, Applejack!  We want to chase them, not kill them!”

“Chasin’ crows don’t keep ‘em off a farm, Twi!” Applejack ignored the purple unicorn’s orders and fired.

It was the first time any of them had taken a life.