//------------------------------// // Mystery // Story: The Tank Hunter // by Lone Maus //------------------------------//     Jack was awoken when Camouflage shuck him. He sat up rubbing his eyes mumbling.     “Tank Hunter get your stuff ready and meet us outside.” Came Camouflage’s voice then the sound of hoofs then a door shutting.     Jack got out of his bed and got dressed. He grabbed his gun and pack and walked out. It was still dark and cloudless. He walked up to the main yard and found his squad.     “I'm here and ready.” Jack said as he walked up to them.     “Good. Let's go over the mission.” Clip said and they all nodded and he continued, “One of General Rainbow Dash’s recon flyers photographed what looked like a small battlefield.”     Raz laughed and said, “WOW a battlefield I would have never guessed. “     “You know if you live through this I will have you washing tank tracks for mouths. Understood?” Clip responded and Raz nodded. “Good as I was saying this battlefield is four miles behind the Zebra lines and we have been tasked with going in and finding any info we can got it?” Clip finished. There was silence for a minute, which Clip broke by saying, “ Good we will load up into a halftrack for half the ride.” He waved and a halftrack drove over and they all piled in.     Once settled Jack could look around. The halftrack was fully in closed and had little ports that a pony could open and shoot out of. He observed everyone's gear and clothing. Camouflage had a large belt fed machine gun that was attached to a harness that had a mouth trigger and what looked like armor plating on his chest. Raz had what Jack guessed was the standard uniform which was light black in color, he also had a harness but instead of a machine gun, had two semi-auto rifle and didn't have the armor Camouflage did. After looking he realized only Camouflage had any armor. Glint had two different guns, one looked like a BAR but with a drum magazine. The other gun was a shotgun judging by its large barrel diameter. Both Glint’s guns were on his back, likely being a unicorn he didn't need the harness Raz and Camouflage had on. Fang had a rigging harness that had a knife and several grenades or that's what Jack guessed they were and on her back was a rifle that looked semi automatic. Clip had a long rifle with a scope on his back and he was in a full ghillie suit.     The ride was short and after a hour the halftrack stopped and they off loaded and as they did they each got a radio. Without a word they all started walking into zebra territory. Besides the distant thunder of cannons this part of the city was quiet.     “So what do you think it was like to live here?” Raz asked.     “I don't really know. This place was a huge individual hub.” Clip responded.     “I had a mare here before the war started. I visited her many times. This place was a sight to say the least. There were trains running nonstop, ponies pulling carts of metal, coal, and other industrial things. Truly a place of productivity. Camouflage said looking at the buildings on both sides of them.     They walked in silence for sometime before they stopped. “Well we are going to split up to search for the battlefield ok. Camouflage your with me, Raz and Glint you two are together, and Jack and Fang you two. Now find what you can and if you find what destroyed the tanks radio it and you will get new instructions.” Clip said, everyone nodded and went their separate ways.     Fang and Jack checked every square and courtyard they found. Two hours of searching yielded nothing so they took a break in a house to rest.     As Jack set his stuff down Fang said, “So we have found nothing not even tracks it's like they just abandoned this part of the city. It kinda creeps me out.”     Jack sat on one of the few still intact chairs in the houses dining room and said, “I feel you. Well then again who knows if they really abandoned this place.”     Fang also sat down and they both sat in silence for a while. It had started to lightly snow yet again. Fang finally broke the silence by asking, “Do you smell that?”     Jack responded with, “Smell what? I can't smell anything out of the ordinary.”     “It smells like rotting flesh. Here follow me.” Fang said getting up and walking out the back door of the house. Jack wasn't sure if he should follow but he then remembered the deal they made, so he grabbed his things and followed her.     Jack followed Fang through back streets and alleys tell they walked out into a main street with five destroyed tanks on it. “Looks like we found the battlefield. I guess we get to search the wrecks.” Fang said walking towards the closest tank. Now Jack could smell the rotting flesh and as they moved to search the second tank which was upside-down they found the source of the smell. They couldn't get within 20 feet of the tank without throwing up so they moved on to a big tank in the middle of the street. After searching it they found some cracks in the road then found they made a trail. They followed the trail in hopes to find what destroyed the tanks.     The trail lead them to a courtyard with what looked like a sandbag bunker on the other end.     “I think we should check it out, I mean who knows maybe there are ponies in there that will be willing to help us and we could use all the-” Fang was cut off by a thud and when Jack turned he was tackled.     As Jack was dragged across the ground he overheard one of the assaulters say, “Now that we have a pony we can find out what this nightmarish tank is and how to stop it.”     The other one who a was dragging Fang said, “Don’t talk about that thing, it can’t be crewed by normal ponies at least not how good it is.” Jack had a bad feeling. A few moments later the sound of a machine gun could be heard and being blindfolded and tied up he was and Fang were at the mercy of the gunner. Jack heard two tinks followed by a thud then fear shot through his heart. It sounded like a tiger (because a tiger's interweaving road wheels and all steel tracks it had a distinct sound to it.).     After hearing some grunting he felt the ropes on his back start to get cut and worked on by Fang. “Ok when I get you cut free we need to make a run for the huge tank that is at the edge of the courtyard ok.” Fang said.     Before Jack could respond the tank fired. The loud boom carried across the city confirming Jack's fears. The blindfold fell away and Fang yelled, “Let's go!” and took off run towards it. Jack looked at it, swallowed his fear and ran. He looked over his back to see three tanks smoke coming from two of them and the third one fired the round bounced off of what he now knew wasn't just a tiger it was a royal Tiger. As Fang ran around the back of the tank he just got to the front. He stopped for a moment right when the main gun went off a third time. The blast threw Jack to the ground knocking him out cold.