//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A New Battlefield // Story: Tank Battle, In a Different World // by Kitsune_Kenshi //------------------------------// BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!! Jake was staring in both awe and shock at his surroundings, hellfire, tanks, and.... horses? Dragons? Unicorns?! Hippogriffs?!?! What the bloody hell? Am I day dreaming? Jake's mind is swirling with questions, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming; he wasn't. Wait, why does his hands felt weird? Jake looked down, his eyes widened; his has claws instead of hands! Scaly ones like the dragons, a pair of dragon-like wings on his back, spikes on his head; wait a tank cap? He then looked down; surprised to found out that this tank isn't the one he commanded before. Jake still remembered that before this whole shit happened; Jake Chen, 24 year-old, rank captain, commander of ZTZ-96A main battle tank 237. Jake and his platoon were having a real-life combat training, it when well until this happened: An "enemy" ATGM carriage fired an actual missile at him instead of a fake missile! Feeling his tank rumbles and fire surrounding him, Jake's vision went dark and passed out. And THIS! This is what he saw when he woke up! In a unknown battlefield with mythical beings! At war! Jake checked the tank he's currently on; luckily it's a T-34/76 medium tank. He wasn't sure how did these creatures have a T-34 and the equipments, but he decided to bear with it. Suddenly, another explosions on his right, Jake looked at the direction and was shocked to see another T-34 shot and burned inside-out. The crews crawled out from the tank, covered in fire as the rolled on the ground, screaming in agony. They were burned alive. This isn't a dream! This... This is real! Jake realized it, he is in an actual combat in an actual tank, and in an actual WAR!!! Looking beyond, he spotted more than 20 tanks with a weird looking markings on their turret quickly advancing towards their direction. It looks like... Pzkpfw IIIs?! How in the bloody hell did these.... creatures get those?! The Panzer III. Ls were German medium tanks during world war II, armed with a 50mm gun and two 7.92mm machine guns. It's the main arrangements for the early German Panzer army. Light and fast, designed for the German's Blitzgreg. But how in the bloody... I said that too much eh? For whatever reason, these creatures somehow got them. In the meantime, many memories and awareness swirl in his brain. This world is known as Equestria, with many mythical creatures living outside and inside. Unicorns, Pegasus, Earth Ponies, Griffons, Dragons, Hippogriffs, Changelings, Kirin, etc. And their technology level is currently same as the ones in world war II according to Jake. They're currently fighting a fearsome creature name Grogar and his massive army. However, Grogar's army launched a surprise attack against Equestrian, it caught them off-guard. With the declaration of war against Grogar, the allies of Equestria also joined in. "Commander Qibli! Commander Qibli!" His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone tapping his legs from the turret. The gun loader was worried, he heard a HE explosion outside the turret. For a second he thought their commander is KIA, but after sensing movement from him, he figured out the commander was just stunned. "Target! 500 yards, Panzer IIIs, load Armor Piercing! Fire when ready!" Qibli took out the radio and gave his orders, "Watch the wind, adjust one digit to the right!" Just in this moment, Jake accepted his new body and new life; now his soul was fully connected to his host, a dragon tank commander name Qibli. This is war, you stay, you fight. "Understood!" Loader, a male changeling name Thrax around his 20s, picked up a seventy six point two millimeter APHE round and stuffed it inside the cannon breach. The gunner, a young female dragon name Smolder immediately started to spin the turret. The scope locked onto the enemy panzer. Though it's a sudden encounter, but they aren't gonna go easy. BOOM! Smolder stepped on the trigger, the entire hull of the T-34 shook as its main gun was fired. APHE, a.k.a Armor Piercing High Explosive. The tank turret at this period of time were usually parallel, which means the if a regular AP round hits it, then there'll be a higher chance of ricochet off, especially of the round is spinning. APHE, however, has a cap in the front of the round, made of soft metal plates; this design prevent the round from ricocheting off the turret. 500 yards, the round arrived at the enemy tank in less than a second. The seventy six point two millimeter APHE round easily tore the Panzer III's thin sheet of armor open. Just like cutting through butter, without any resistance the APHE exploded inside the tank. The shards reached the ammo rack. It detonates. KA-POOM!!! With a massive explosion, the Panzer III was shredded to pieces from inside-out. This is Jake; or now known as Qibli's first kill upon arriving this new, yet bloody battlefield.