Through rain smoke, a steel fortress chugged along. Within its belly six children and one alicorn trudged down Mount Canterhorn, the latter finding themselves unable to find footing as the fortress moved. She found herself placing a hoof on the wall as it lurched worse than normal, but it proved to be inefficient at keeping her up. Her balance had been thrown off, and she crashed onto the floor.
“Miss Twilight!” One of the children, a felinko with a ragged brown cape and even darker brown dress covering her, called out. “You okay?”
The child held out a paw to Twilight, the princess of friendship taking it. “Thanks Sheena.”
Sheena nodded and gave the best smile she could, only to then let out a yelp as the fortress lurched again. Alicorn and felinko held each other in support, doing all they could to make sure one didn’t fall on the other. It succeeded, Twilight finding herself still standing when all is said and done. Both of them let out a sigh of relief.
“Apologies. With our hasty retreat from Canterlot I choose to forgo comfort,” A voice called out over the fortress’ intercom. Sheena froze at hearing it. “I think we can safely assume who has the Tarascus. I noticed several design features that seem to draw heavy inspiration from my fated enemy.”
“So the Tarascus is the reason they are so advanced?” Another kid, a young berman garbed in something halfway between military and casual, asked. He nearly growled in annoyance at what the intercom had said. “How? There is no way they could get this advance that fast.”
“I doubt that the Tarascus is alone responsible, young Britz,” the intercom replied. “It is likely the Storm King’s militaristic advances were started before our arrival in Equestria. Their discovery of the Tarascus just accelerated it far beyond Equestria’s own.”
“Add on top of it that Tempest mare and how quickly she took out the princesses, and it is no wonder Canterlot was taken so quickly,” yet another kid said. This came from the eldest of the group, a caninu wearing overalls and a cap on top of his head. “We barely even made it to the Taranis with how quick it all was.”
Twilight winced, the pain that came from watching both her friends and that of six other children get taken too fresh in her mind. Malt, the caninu who had just spoken, was reeling from it more than she was, a fire lit in his eyes. One gain from the fact that among those who had made it, his five year old sister Mei was not among them. It made her shiver in fear, the slightest spark of fury behind it all.
The fact she wasn’t asking why she was letting these children, none older than thirteen, pilot the fortress they called the Taranis wasn’t lost on her. Typically she wouldn’t let anypony outside the royal guard near a piece of weaponry such as this, but none knew how to control this thing. Tartarus, nopony had even been able to get inside unless Malt or another of his friends was there. It was for that reason, and that reason alone, that Twilight allowed her morales to temporarily slip. Equestria needed the “Child Heroes of Gasco” as they had been dubbed, and that meant they needed the Taranis.
“It’s still so hard to believe,” a felinko named Hanna said, eyes and feet locked into facing the captured Canterlot. Twilight dared to look where she was, Equestria’s capital just visible out of the corner of the Taranis’ only window. “This place seemed so peaceful when we first arrived. Now it feels like we never left Paresia.”
“No, not just Paresia,” replied Socks, another caninu among their group. Twilight could see the terror that lay behind his glasses. “It’s like that night back in Petit Mona. The night we found the Taranis.”
Among all the children, only one refused to speak up. She was curled up on the floor, her face hidden behind her knees. Her child sized military helmet and the flower placed on it were all anyone could see. If the situation allowed it, someone would have long ago checked in on her, but the problems of the young lady known as Chick had been tossed to the side. They needed to escape the pursuing forces first and make sure the Taranis and Twilight didn’t fall into the paws of the Storm King’s forces. Then and only then could they focus on the fact her twin brother had not made it with them.
It was a situation Twilight couldn’t dream of being in mere hours ago. The stories of the otherworldly children who had suddenly appeared in Equestria had remained simple stories until then. She knew they spoke the truth, but it was unlike any situation she had ever been in before. Fighting villains like Sombra, Nightmare Moon, or Tirek were nothing to what the children had been through. She had chosen to fight those fights, but the heroes of Gasco had been given no choice. If they didn’t their families would have died, a god-like weapon of old would have been revived, and untold damage would be done to their world.
Now she was living an experience almost exactly like that. She had no choice but to flee, as did Malt and the other children with them. Tempest wanted the technology and magic both the Taranis and Equestria’s four alicorn princesses had. She had all but two of those. The damage that could do to not just Equestria but the world as a whole was horrifying. Especially with the knowledge that the Taranis used living beings to charge the massive cannon on its side.
How many would the Storm King use to fuel that power, destroying all resistance in his path?
The Taranis’ alarm suddenly went off, all eyes looking to the final figure in the tanks control room. Unlike all others present, the creature that stood before them was not made of flesh and blood. They were a creature made of blue light, seeming both similar yet different to the children. It’s form was feminine, but that was not its true body. No, it’s body was that of the giant metallic fortress that they all sat in, pushing with all its might down Mount Canterhorn into the Equestrian wilderness.
“I’m detecting multiple hostiles ahead. Tanks and air vehicles, all heavily armed,” Jeanne, the Taranis’ AI, explained to those around them. “They seem to be modeled after the Tarascus. I fear that the Storm King and his subjects have started to see it in the same light as General Hax and the Bermans.”
“Anyway around them?” Malt asked her.
None question how she was still present after the battle against the Tarascus in Paresia, but none of the children could imagine the tank without her. She had been with them since they had discovered the Taranis in Petit Mona, after all. If she controlled that piece of her that lust for battle against her ancient enemy, she was welcome. The information she provided was invaluable.
“No. The mountain path is too narrow,” Jeanne explained. “We will have to go through them. I’m sorry that you all have to fight once again.”
“It’s horrible, but we have no choice,” Hanna replied, rushing past everyone and out of the command center. Twilight went to call out for her, but was shocked to find Chick following them.
“There… there has to be another!” Twilight exclaimed, looking at Jeanne in horror and shock. “Surely we can settle this without forcing these children to fight.”
“The only other option we have is to plummet down the cliffside,” Jeanne told Twilight in a motherly, yet somehow still matter-of-fact tone. “I doubt anything but the Taranis and myself would survive the fall. I am sorry, Princess Twilight Sparkle, but this is our only choice.”
Twilight ground her teeth against each other, both admiring and hating the AI’s honesty. Nothing about this situation was fair, and she wanted to scream at Jeanne for putting Malt and his friends in danger. The only reason she didn’t is because they were the only thing that had saved her from being turned to stone in Canterlot. Jeanne understood as well as herself that without the Taranis’ original crew there was no escaping this. If the children didn’t fight, they would either be captured or die.
“Then I’m fighting too!” Twilight blurted out. “As a Princess of Equestria and the former Element of Magic, I refuse to let these children fight alone.”
Jeanne smiled and nodded at her. “A cannon is prepared for you. If you need any help figuring out how to use it, just ask.”
Twilight nodded back and took a step away from Sheena. She gave the felinko a forced smile – which they returned with a genuine one – and rushed out of the control room, into the dormitory, and then the elevator. She never noticed that Malt or Britz looked concerned at her actions, both sighing as they looked out at the tanks before them. They were almost comically small compared to the Taranis, but they knew better than to think they didn’t pack a punch. The damage to Canterlot had shown the Storm King matched the Berman army in power.
“I was hoping to never have to pilot something like this again,” Britz whispered. Malt looked at the former-child soldier out of the corner of his eyes. “We feel far too okay with this.”
“I know what you mean,” Malt said, shoulders sagging as he looked back to their enemies. “All of Equestria is counting on us, however. We can’t let them down.”
As if to challenge their courage, Malt and Britz’s eyes went wide at the barely audible sound of a shot being fired. The latter tried to grab the radio to inform those on guns, but the impact of the shot caused Malt, Socks, Sheena, and himself to all fall to the ground. Jeanne looked on in surprise, having not expected the shot to come as soon as it did. She reached a hand out, only to remember she was incapable of helping the children to their paws. Thankfully, Sheena recovered exceptionally fast and did just as she had been hoping to do.
“The range of their guns is far greater than that of the Berman army!” She alerted, knowing that her words were coming far too late. “Raising defensive shields. Twilight, fire on the heavy tank as soon as I say we’re in range.”
“Thanks Sheena,” Malt said, giving his friend a reassuring smile befitting a leader. His hand reached for the radio, grabbing it firmly in his paw as he turned to watch Socks pick Britz up from off the floor. “Everyone okay?”
“Yes!” Hanna and Chick called out.
“Got knocked to the ground by the shaking, but the blast didn’t get through the armor,” Twilight explained.
A collective breath of relief could be heard from all present in the control room, Jeanne doing her best to mimic the acts of the children. When the next shot came, the Taranis’ shield completely absorbed it, causing nothing but a faint rattle like that of a low magnitude earthquake. Malt could see three tanks directly ahead, one heavy and two light air units. He then turned to Britz, and wordless understanding came between them both.
“Hanna, Twilight, as soon as the heavy tank is down you switch out with Britz and Sheena,” Malt called out over the intercom.
“Now in range! Fire!” Jeanne called out behind him.
Two seconds later, the Taranis’ cannon let out a boom. One second after that, a direct hit was scored on the heavy tank that had surprised the Taranis with its range. The enemy still stood, though the damage their hit had dealt to the front of the tank was clear as day. It fired back in retaliation, the shields taking the brunt of the impact for the Taranis’ crew. The same happened with the machine fire that came from the air units, none of the rounds making it past the shields that Jeanne had put up.
Chick was the next to fire, aiming the grenade launcher she had high. It went over the heavy tank and nailed the air unit that had been behind it, the explosion it caused showing the high reward for such a high risky target. Typically that would be Britz or Sheena’s target to take care of, all five children aware from their battle against the Berman empire how slippery they could be. Chick had been motivated, however, her heart and emotions boiling over from watching her brother get petrified before her very eyes.
“If you won’t give Hack back, I’m gonna steal him back!” She shouted, everyone within the Taranis going wide eyed or wincing at the volume and rage that Chick spoke with.
Another grenade round fired off, but this time Chick’s aim was off. In her anger, she had accidentally inched one of the Taranis’ grenade launchers too much to the left, causing the shot that followed to hit either tank. It collided with Mount Canterhorn instead, the shot that actually hit the heavy tank coming moments later from Hanna’s launcher instead. It still didn’t destroy the heavy, but the blow had dealt some serious damage.
The tank’s end came right after, a long hesitated cannon fire from Twilight ripping through the air. With no way to move left or right on the mountain path, the heavy tank was a sitting duck. The shot tore through its very being, an explosion of smoke and air visible before the eyes of the children and the Princess of Friendship. The latter let out a wavering breath at the sight of what she had just caused, but shook her head.
She had no choice. Twilight didn’t attempt to fire upon the final remaining air unit, doing her best to focus on breathing. The sound of a grenade launcher firing did not make that easier, only adding to the anxiety her actions were placing on her heart. She regretted what she had done, but the alternative was giving herself up to the enemy. The only choice before her was to fight, to forgo friendship even if only temporary…
… to kill.
“Princess.”
Twilight looked behind her, having not noticed Britz arriving from the control room. With an unsteady nod, they swapped places. Jeanne replaced the earlier cannon with a machine gun as Britz aimed at the enemy before them. Scared but unwilling to look away, Twilight watched as the sound of machine gun fire filled her ears. Where grenade fire had repeatedly missed the target, the volume and speed of simple bullets worked wonders. It tore through the metal that made up the air unit till its front had been littered with enough holes to make it look like an oversized cheese grater. It didn’t explode, choosing instead to fall to the ground, a manned machine of war turning into a piece of scrap metal.
“All immediate threats eliminated,” Jeanne called out, Twilight barely registering her. The princess’ eyes were locked on the dead metal husks they were approaching. “Tempest must have expected us or other civilians to try and escape this way. That won’t be the last.”
The metal contraptions that had tried to stop them left Twilight’s view as the Taranis drew right over them. In morbid fascination, she left Britz to his station and rode the elevator up to the Taranis top floor. Her head turned away from the observation room and to the door leading outside the tank. With a heavy heart she opened it just enough to see what she and these children had just done.
The tanks and air units were now unrecognizable, a combination of being ripped to shred by weaponry and crushed by the Taranis flattening them. Behind those was the form of Canterlot, not so far away the screams could no longer reach her ears. The smoke did, however, reach her eyes. The battered form of Canterlot Castle stood out among the ruined city, looking more like a ruin than a place she thought of as a second home. It was all too much, and Twilight couldn’t hold in the tears that fell down from her eyes.
“Don’t worry girls,” She whispered. “We’re gonna come back for all of you. I promise.”
It was so hard to think that, half a year ago, everything had seemed so normal.