The rest of the Winter of 2029-2030 passed with a lot of fanfare. A few new planes were added to the roster of fighters and bombers from yesteryear, as well as a new trainer plane. The trainer plane was none other than the venerable and timeless PT-19 Stearman.
These veteran biplanes trained countless pilots who would one day be in the Army Air Core, (aka the Air Force until it was called the “Air Force” after WW2), as well as a number of Navy pilots before they graduated to the T-6. Now a handful were back for more, and they served as both training planes, and on special occasions, they were used to give rides to kids, teens, and other adults who were aviation enthusiasts. EVERYPONY who flew in the Stearman loved it, and said that flying was the freest feeling ever. (Most of those who flew were Unicorns and Earth Ponies, as Pegasai and Bat-Ponies had their own wings, but from time to time, a few of them wanted to fly in the Stearman too).
In the fighter department, there were now a number of veteran Me-109's, Focke-Wulf 190's, Me-262's, and even a handful of brand-new Horten 229's! 
How these got to Equestria when only 3 were built in real life, (one of which crashed, the other two were never finished, and of these, one was later scrapped) nopony knew, but many were amazed by the oddly-shaped craft, now dubbed "Sneaking-Bats", since they could make themselves invisible to radar. (Horten 229's are considered to be the first stealth-aircraft in the world, and had they been deployed sooner in WW2, the Germans could have easily gained a HUGE edge!)
And for the bombers, a few more German ones had been added to the roster too. A number of Ju 88's, He 111's, and some Focke-Wulf 200 Condor bombers made their presences felt at Ryerson AFB.
Why was Ryerson adding so many old airplanes to its roster? Well, the truth was, most of the old planes were being tested at Ryerson, and would one day make their way to another Equestrian AFB once it was fully up and running. A total of 5 bases were planned after Ryerson; ground had already been broken on 3 of them, and of these, 2 were almost 30% complete. However, this time the work was a lot harder. While Ryerson was built up from an old Wonderbolt training base, these new bases were being built almost from scratch in the Palomino Desert, the desert outside of of Appaloosa, up in the Frozen North between the Crystal Empire and Van Hoover, in a wooded valley West of Fillydelphia, and one final base was being built on the Equestrian side of the Griffish Isles, just South of the town of Trottingham.
It was already known that it could take up to 6-7 years for all of the bases to be fully up and running, and some would be larger than others. Ryerson would still be the largest, but the one up in the Frozen North (Ice Mountain AFB), as well as the one in the Palomino Desert (Palomino AFB) would almost be on par. The other 3, (Appaloosa AFB, Green Valley AFB, and Lost Island AFB) would be a lot smaller, and only have fighter planes, transports (ones that only needed small runways, such as C-130's), helicopters, and perhaps a few short and medium range bombers). The planes were being tested at Ryerson, and they would be all ready for the 5 new bases once they were complete. Construction had begun, but was a few years at least from being complete.
When Spring rolled around, it was sadly time for a lot of us from Battalion 4009 who were at Ryerson AFB to transfer back to the Battleship Express. Now that Spring had begun, it was time to give the Battleship Express and Iron Glory their yearly Spring shakedowns, and make sure that they were fully ready to go again for the season. Also, with the end of Winter, the Winter hiatus that had been placed on the construction of the Imperial War Museum was lifted, and it was time to get to work on that once again.
"I know that most, if not all of you are sad to give up your flying careers, but don't worry. Come next Winter, you'll all be right back at it again!" Don tried to reassure all of us, but we were still sad to leave Ryerson.
"I wish that we didn't have to leave". Todd told me on our last flight with Kee Bird for the season.
"Yeah, I know what you mean Todd. But yet, you, me, and Andy are a part of Battalion 4009, and not only do we have the Battleship Express to take care of, but we also have to help build the Imperial War Museum. And while I'm sad to leave the Air Force behind for a while, I've kinda missed the Battleship Express too."
"Yeah, so have I. Flying is fun, but so is serving on the deadliest weapon ever to ride the rails! And like Don said, come next Winter, they'll need us back here to fly again. It's a win-win!"
I agreed with him. "Yeah, that's a good way of putting it Todd."
After we landed Kee Bird, we moved her back to her hangar, and after wishing the rest of her crew the best of luck with our temporary replacements, we said goodbye to them, and went to pack up our stuff so that we could head back to the Old Railyard.
"I'm gonna miss you while you're gone Leopard." Dash whispered as she hugged me goodbye.
"Yeah, I'm gonna miss you too Dash. But on the plus-side, we're only gonna be a couple of blocks away from Ryerson, so we're not really going anywhere."
Dash laughed a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll still come see you when I can, which might be often considering how I'm in Ponyville quite a lot."
"And I'll look forwards to your visits Dash." I hugged her one more time, as well as giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead.
She gave me one back. "Bye for now Leopard. Though I can walk with you to the Old Railyard if you want."
I thought about that for a second, and I quickly realized that she was right. "Oh, yeah, you can do that can't you? Sure, if you want to."
Dash nodded, and she walked with me to the Old Railyard.
Maybe 2 weeks after this, I was taking a walk through the Everfree Forest with Alex, Todd, Fred, and Andy. We needed some fresh air, so we decided to take a walk. (The only rules about walking in the Everfree are ALWAYS stay on the marked paths, ONLY shoot creatures in self-defense, NEVER go poking into areas where dangerous creatures could be, and NEVER stray too far from the paths. Break any of these rules, and you might never be seen or heard from again!)
We were trying to make it out to where the Castle of the 2 Sisters was, as I'd heard about it from when Twilight was talking to Don, and we wanted to see it for ourselves. We all went out in a group, and we were all armed too, just in case!
"How much farther Leopard?"
I looked at the map that Twilight had given me. "Eh, maybe another 30 minutes or so Alex. We're maybe 5-7 miles away from there."
"I just can't wait to see the castle. It's where my marefriend Fluttershy, Andy's marefriend Rarity, Private Dan's marefriend Pinkie, Don's marefriend Twilight, plus Applejack and Rainbow Dash banished Nightmare Moon!"
Alex looked back and glared at Todd. "Yeah, rub it in why don't you? Not all of us have a marefriend who helped banish Nightmare Moon." He was still pretty sore about Applejack ending their relationship, (even though it was largely his fault!).
"Yeah!" Fred agreed sarcastically. "My marefriend Lyra wasn't there!"
Alex glared at him. "Not a good time Fred!"
I looked back at Alex. "Alex, chill, now. Todd didn't mean anything negative by what he said. Sure, he and Andy's marefriends were there, and so were.........." I paused for a second. ".......our ex-marefriends Applejack and Rainbow Dash......... but that's besides the point!"
Andy then spoke up. "Well, if we hadn't messed with Time, neither of you would even HAVE ex-marefriends. Both of you, plus Todd and I, would all have had marefriends that defeated Nightmare Moon."
"Yeah, you're right Andy. And if we'd known what was going to happen, I would have urged AGAINST using Oddball. But, Oddball's completely shot, and we're now stuck in this new timeline."
"Yeah, a new timeline where everything's the same for everypony else except for you and me Leopard!"
I shook my head. "No, it's not the same Alex. Ryerson AFB didn't exist in the old timeline!"
On and on this argument went. Suddenly however, Fred spotted something in the woods to our left.
"Um.....guys?"
I looked over at him. "What is it Fred?"
"I just saw something through the trees to our left. It was big, whitish-gray, and it was just sitting there."
We all froze where we were. "Can you still see it Fred?" I asked as I grabbed my gun, as did the others.
Fred pointed to it. "Yeah, it's right there, maybe 80 yards in."
We all looked, and low and behold, there it was. It was indeed big and whitish-gray, but other than this, due to the thick trees and other plants, we couldn't make out what it was. However, since there was a path leading in that direction, and we saw light glinting off part of the thing, we decided to investigate.
Soon, we arrived at the spot where the thing was. When we saw it, our jaws all hit the ground. There in front of us, sitting on top of a small slope, surrounded by trees and other plants, was a tank! It was painted whitish-gray, and it was a bit rusty in places, but overall, it seemed to be in ok condition.
"Gosh, what's a tank like this doing way out here?"
I shrugged. "I don't know Todd. Maybe it was one of the many weapons transported here from Earth, but it wasn't found until now."
"And what kind of a tank even is this? I've never seen one like this before."
I was looking at the tank. " Based on its shape, I think that this tank is a German Panzer from WW2 Alex. It almost looks like a Panzer VI Tiger, but don't quote me on that, as I'm bad with telling Panzers apart. It sure looks like it's been here for a long time though. I'm surprised that it hasn't rusted away by now."
Fred was standing behind the tank. "That might be Leopard, but then why are there tracks back here?"
I looked back at him. "What was that Fred?"
"There's tracks from the tank back here! They're old, but they are still visible!"
I walked back, and sure enough, there were indeed tracks. They were old, but were still visible. "Hmm, maybe the tank rolled forwards a bit at some point."
"Maybe. It is on a small slope after all."
Andy was climbing on top of the tank. He managed to unlock the roof hatch, and then he took out a flashlight, attached it to his Glock 9mm, and peered inside.
"What's it look like in there Andy?"
"Dusty, old, but in somewhat good shape. The tank's empty of any bodies, but there does still seem to be ammo inside."
I gave him a concerned look. "Be careful Andy. There could be a snake, or some poisonous spiders in there. Plus, that ammo could be unstable."
"Yeah, I'll be careful Leopard." He then climbed inside of the tank, and the rest of us climbed up on it as well.
We could tell by the insignias on the tank that it was indeed German, and from its shape and features that it was definitely a Panzer from WW2. We decided to call it a Tiger, even though I still wasn't fully sure that it was a Panzer VI. Once Andy made sure with his Magic that the interior of the tank was completely safe, he climbed out, and Fred, Todd and I climbed in. I sat in the driver's seat, Todd sat in the gunner's seat, and Fred sat in the ammo-loader's seat. There were even old German Panzer crew helmets in there, which we put on. Meanwhile outside, Alex and Andy were sitting on the top of the Tiger's turret.
"Wow, this is so cool guys! What do you think that the chances are that this old tank still runs?"
I shrugged. "I don't know Todd. Probably not very high, given how long the tank's been here." I was wrong however. Just as I turned back to the controls again, we all felt the tank shudder beneath us, and with a violent cough, a loud roar, and a blast of black smoke from the exhaust vents, the Tiger suddenly came to life!
"What did you do Leopard?!"
I was baffled. "Nothing! I didn't do anything Fred! I wasn't touching anything!" I held up both of my hands so that Fred could see them. Suddenly, the Tiger lurched a bit, and with a grinding noise, the gears shifted, and the tank began to move forwards on its own!
"What's happening?!" Todd was legitimately freaking out, as was Fred.
Meanwhile up on the top of the tank, Alex and Andy had no idea that anything was wrong. They were cheering for us starting the tank up, and were also cheering for us getting it moving.
"Great work down there guys! This is so cool!"
"Not true Alex!" I yelled up at him. "None of us down here are doing anything!"
"Wait, what?" He looked down the still-open hatch at us. None of us were touching anything, and the tank was moving on its own. It turned left to avoid a tree, and then it reached the main path that we'd taken to get there before turning right, and heading back the way that we came at about 5mph.
Andy then looked over at Alex, and then down at Fred, Todd and I. He soon realized that the tank was operating itself. "It......IT'S A GHOST!!!! JUST LIKE THAT GHOST TRUCK!!!!!"
I groaned. "Andy, it's NOT a ghost! If it was a ghost, then it would NOT be a physically solid object! It's just a real tank that's infused with the spirit, or spirits, of someone who died on this tank, or the whole crew."
"But what if it's not though Leopard. Have you ever heard of a movie called 'The White Tiger'? That tank sure looks an awful lot like this one, and remember? It was some kind of Supernatural Being."
"Yeah, I did see 'White Tiger'. The movie was VERY well done. And that tank would disappear at the end of a conflict, only to reappear 30 years later. By that math, if it disappeared in 1945, it would have reappeared in 1975 around the time of the end of the Vietnam War. It then disappeared again in 1977, and reappeared in 2007."
"Afghanistan!" Alex pointed out. "But that conflict never ended. Then came WW3, WW4, WW5, and WW6, not to mention the Second Cold War!"
"Yeah, but if that was the case, the tank would have disappeared at the end of WW6, and not reappeared again until 2062."
"But what if it counted Afghanistan complete in the year 2010? Remember, there were other wars being fought in that region. What if it bypassed the world wars, and then reappeared now?"
I thought about that for a second. "Well, that would work, except for the instances of Matriarchal World Empire soldiers, One Race Empire soldiers, and Futa soldiers all having to face a tank that they called a ghost at one point or another. Plus, 'White Tiger' was just a movie."
"If that's the case, why did this tank only appear in Equestria recently? Remember what you said that Princess Celestia told you guys who saw the weapons vault? They found all of the weapons in Equestrian territory, so wouldn't they have found this tank?"
I shook my head. "No, she said that they found all of the weapons that they could. She herself did say that there could still be some out there. There already were too. Remember the Zebras and the Caribou? They had Earth-made weapons a lot of the time. More likely than not, this tank is in the same boat as the Ghost Truck, and is just possessed by a spirit, or spirits. I HIGHLY doubt that it's the White Tiger."
Fred then looked at the rest of the tank's interior. "Hey Tiger? If you really are the White Tiger, could you give us some sort of a sign? Or if you really are just a spirit/spirits infused with this Tiger, could you give us a different sign?"
For a minute or so, nothing happened.
"See? I told you Fred, it's just a sp........" I never got a chance to finish that thought. Before I could, the tank suddenly stopped, and the main gun discharged a shot! The shell struck a nearby tree, and brought it down! Even scarier than this though was the fact that the tank's gun-breech was still open, meaning that there was no ammo inside to be fired! (Fred checked the gun when he sat down. The breech was open, and there was no shell inside!) And when the gun fired, it made a VERY eerie noise, just like the White Tiger's main gun did when it fired!
Alex and Andy had heard our entire conversation, and they knew that we hadn't fired the tank's gun. Fred checked the breech, and sure enough, it was still open, there was no shell inside, and the breech itself hadn't even moved backwards with the recoil when the gun fired!
All 5 of us looked at each other. We all knew that "White Tiger" was just a movie, but now we REALLY weren't so sure anymore! I then took the tank's controls for the first time, and began to move the tank forwards again. On the way back to the Old Railyard, NONE of us could say a word. We now knew that our tank that we'd just found was indeed the legendary White Tiger, and that it was now in our possession. None of us knew what we were going to do with a Supernatural-Tank, but we were hoping to add it to the Battleship Express's roster of weapons.
When we got it back to the Old Railyard, Don immediately ordered the tank evaluated. To the shock of the engineers who did so, the tank's fuel and oil tanks never seemed to run dry, and her ammo supplies never seemed to run out either. Her rate of fire was unnatural, and no matter how many times parts were damaged, repaired, replaced, buffed out, or even painted over, the tank ALWAYS returned to the configuration that we'd found it in in the Everfree a few minutes later! It was clear that while the tank was a physical object, it was NOT the same type of spirit-infused vehicle that Ghost Truck was.
Ghost Truck herself seemed to be fascinated by White Tiger, and the tank was very tolerant of her presence. At various times, both could be seen rolling around the Old Railyard, with no one at their controls as always. No one knew what to do with the White Tiger. Sure, we talked about needing a tank, as well as possibly more of both tanks and gun-trucks to replace our aging fleet of combat construction machines, but with recent events, this plan was put on hold.
"Maybe we were a bit too hasty with declaring the modified and weaponized bulldozers, loaders, tractors, and excavators of the Construction Brigade to be obsolete." Jim told Don. "Sure, they all date from before 2008, making them all at least 22 years old, but what's wrong with keeping them in service? Those CAT's and John Deere's haven't let us down before."
"I agree with you Jim. With the recent turn of events, maybe we don't need gun-trucks or tanks after all. I mean sure, we have a gun-truck and a tank, but maybe that's all we need! We just need to upgrade our old machines. After all, they're tried, tested, rugged, reliable, still have clean(ish) bills of health, and above all, are NOT haunted, possessed by spirits, or are Supernatural in any way!"
After this conversation, while Ghost Truck and White Tiger were kept on the train's list of weapons, they were kept in their own armored unit, while the Construction Brigade was a separate armored unit. More emphasis was also placed on the Construction Brigade NOT being obsolete, and if they worked in defeating the Futas, and the Caribou and Zebras, not to mention their help in rebuilding Equestrian cities damaged in the Imperial War after the war was over, and their help in building Ryerson AFB too, then all they needed were some minor repairs and upgrades, and they could continue being used for a LONG time to come! Sure, the rest of us knew that it was because Don, Jim, and others, (none the least of which was Father Charles, the chaplain of Battalion 4009!) didn't want to deal with vehicles that were Supernatural, but there wasn't anything that we could do about it. (And most of us already agreed with them. We didn't need anymore vehicles like that, as while they were cool, their actions could be unpredictable).
However, in the coming days, we would be more than glad that they were in our arsenal. After shit hit the fan, again, we would be needing all hands on deck, including hands from vehicles possessed by spirits, or were a spirit themselves!
Spring turned into Summer, and with the changes in the seasons, problems arose with the 5 other airbases. While ground had been broken on them, funding them was proving to be an issue. The government had spent a LOT of money to get Ryerson fully up and running, and there wasn't the needed money to build the larger bases. Private donors were helping, but it was still an ongoing battle. Dates were pushed back to almost a decade to have all bases even fully built. This was seen as reasonable, as there were more pressing matters to deal with, and there didn't seem to be any visible threats at the time. The bases would be finished when they were finished, and in the meantime, Ryerson AFB would be running at full steam keeping the Air Force going.
For the rest of us in Battalion 4009, when we weren't taking care of the Battleship Express and Iron Glory, there was the Imperial War Museum to build. Progress was proceeding at a very good pace, and we were on target for opening day, which was slated for Spring 2032. However, we were slightly ahead of schedule. While the museum wouldn't open until that time, it could be completed as early as mid-Winter of 2031, perhaps 3-4 months ahead of schedule!
However, in the midst of all of the hubbub of building, and the sense or normalcy in the air, some of us couldn't shake the gut feeling that something was very wrong. None of us could put our finger on exactly what it was, but what we could say was that something was going to happen, it was going to happen soon, and it was going to be big.
"What do you think that it is Master?" Aurora asked me as I was taking her for her daily walk.
"I don't know Aurora. I've just got one of those gut feelings, and so do Don, Jim, and others. And as I'm sure that you know, my gut feelings have never been wrong. I don't know what's wrong, but I do know that it'll come to light, and that day will be soon."
Briana, who was riding on my shoulders, shifted a bit. "Ngh, if you ask me, I think that some of your old enemies could still be out there somewhere. Remember, Equus is a VERY big place, and there are a LOT of places to hide."
I was a bit worried. "You're right about that Briana, and what's worse is that with our old enemies, the Futas, we STILL don't know what happened to a lot of them. We THINK that they were obliterated in Vegas, and other places in the US, Europe, and Asia, but we don't know for sure. Not to mention all of those unconfirmed deaths of officers like General Amanda Preston, Colonel Diana Preston, and of course General Stacy."
Briana knew what I was really thinking, but was too scared to say. She knew as well as I did that in the old timeline, Demetria, Carla, and Stacy had been spotted in Ponyville on Armistice Day in 2034, and if they were there, then that most likely meant that there were others. And this new timeline was almost identical to the old one, which meant that the Futas were still out there somewhere. I didn't want to say anything, as I didn't want to be seen as a loon, unfit for duty, or worse, a traitor.
"If the Futas are indeed out there somewhere, they will NOT be allowed to gain a foothold! We won't let them! The same goes for any Caribou, Zebras, Griffons, Minotaurs, and others who fought with them in the Imperial War. They'll NEVER win! Not while any of us still draw breath, and can fight to take them down!"
I meant every word of what I said, but little did I know that myself, and the rest of us, were about to stop talking the talk, and actually start walking the walk!
Towards the end of the Summer of 2030, everything as we knew it changed forever. We learned that not only were we not alone, but that our enemies were indeed still out there, and that we were HORRIBLY outmanned and outgunned. However, we also learned that there were others out there just like us who were willing to fight against tyranny, and that they too had a HUGE war-train that they fought an evil empire with!
The day everything changed started like so many other days. August 12th was a clear day, and it was possibly going to be a hot one. On that day, Iron Glory was about to be taken out again on a supply run. Her engineer, Daryl Meers, and his fireman Fred Barrett were getting her all steamed up for a run to Las Pegasus. They were heading there to pick up supplies for the construction of the Imperial War Museum, and a new shipment of railroad ties and ballast that had just come in too. Like they usually did when they made a morning trip to a big city, they were also pulling the mail train to Las Pegasus.
2 of the 14 cars on Iron Glory's train were outfitted to work as a mobile post office, and there were 8 postal clerks on the train as well. In addition to them, plus Daryl and Fred, and their brakeman, there were also 6 men to guard the mail. Recently, there had been a string of attempted mail train robberies. So far, the only ones who had suffered were the would-be robbers, (most of whom had lost their lives) but it NEVER hurt to be too cautious. Iron Glory was a favorite for taking the mail, as each and every car in the train was armed with at least machine guns, and a few others had light artillery guns, and 2 were outfitted with powerful howitzers! NOPONY was going to be stealing mail from Iron Glory's train and live to tell about it, hence the reason that she was picked most often to take mail across Equestria.
By about 8am, the train was ready to go. The last of the mail was being loaded up, the clerks were hard at work sorting it, and putting it into bags, the brakeman was in the caboose at the back of the train, Daryl and Fred were in Iron Glory's cab, and the 6 guards were also at their posts.
"Everyone and everypony ready back there?"
One by one, everyone and everypony else on the train sounded off.
"Ok, good." Daryl then radioed Don. "We should reach Las Pegasus by 11:30, and we'll be on our way back with what we need by about 2pm, before reaching Ponyville again by about 5:30. Routine trip, and everything should be ok."
"Roger that Daryl. And be careful. That mail HAS to reach Las Pegasus! You CANNOT fail to deliver it!"
"Don't worry Don. We've never had anything go wrong before, and we don't intend to start now! We're locked and loaded, and we WILL be reaching Las Pegasus on time!"
"Copy that."
Daryl then signed off, and at 8:02am, Iron Glory pulled out of Ponyville Station on her way to Las Pegasus, and into one of the most unusual situations that her crew had ever faced.
For a while, everything went smoothly. The green with black trim Wild West-style 4-4-0 locomotive, numbered "1", pulled her train fast and smoothly, and was making good time to Las Pegasus.
However, by about 10:30am, the train was reaching an area of woods that was maybe 75 miles outside of Las Pegasus. The woods, known as the "Desert Woods" due to its close proximity to the edge of the Palomino Desert, were a very beautiful location, and well known as a hiking and picnic spot. Recently however, it was seen as a potential spot for would-be train robbers to hide. Sure, it hadn't happened yet, but it never hurts to be prepared for anything! Suddenly though, everything went wrong.
As they were approaching the Desert Woods, Daryl suddenly saw something above the trees. "Huh? Hey Fred, look!"
Fred looked up. "What is it Daryl?"
Daryl pointed. "Look above the trees! Doesn't that look like smoke?"
Fred looked, and sure enough, there did indeed seem to be smoke rising above the treetops. However, it didn't look like the smoke from a fire, as it was almost pure white, but it was seemingly coming from a single source.
"Yeah, it almost looks like the smoke from a train! But yet that can't be, as the Morning Express already came through, and there aren't any other trains on this route yet today. Plus, doesn't that look a little bit too white to be smoke from a locomotive?"
"Well then what is it?"
"I don't know, but if it is another train, I REALLY hope that it's not on our track!"
"Yeah, me too Fred."
Suddenly though, something on the tracks in the woods moved. Daryl and Fred looked closer at the object, and they realized that not only was it the source of the smokey-steam, but it was also on the tracks in front of them, and it looked to be another train!
"Whoa!" Daryl then slammed on Iron Glory's brakes.
"Hang on, we're stopping!" Fred radioed back to the others in the train.
When Iron Glory came to a complete stop, Daryl and Fred looked out of their cab windows at the train maybe 25 yards in front of them, partially hidden inside of the woods. Their eyes went wide in shock.
"Oh.........."
"Man........."
(TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!!!! This saga is NOT over yet!!!!!)