//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Cat And Maus Game // Story: My Little Battalion: Tank Battles Are Magic // by CyberFan479 //------------------------------// "That could have gone a lot smoother," Rainbow Dash remarked, as the Harmony Tankers teleported back into the camp. Their tanks were automatically repaired and their ammunition resupplied. "It would-" Twilight emerged from her tank, "-if you had listened to me and stuck to the plan!" "Wait, " Rainbow Dash emerged from her tank, "Are you saying this was all my fault?" "Yes! You should know better than to run out into the open like that!" "Well, I..." "Enough! Both of you, you better get along or we're gonna get nowhere in this competition!" Applejack exclaimed, shoving the two ponies apart. "Hmph, this is an...interesting sight." The Harmony Tankers looked, as a grey mare in a black uniform walked over. She was followed by a large brown minotaur, the black suit he wore bulged with every movement, as if his impressively muscular frame threatened to burst out of it at any given moment. Beside him was another mare, she was slightly shorter than the other mare and had a midnight blue coat and a red mane, a look of boredom plastered on her face. Behind them were three stallions, wearing near identical black suits. The tallest one had a light brown coat, a dark brown mane and cerise eyes. The stallion was whispering to a much shorter, red stallion with a steel grey mane and cerulean eyes, though one appeared to be clouded as if the color had faded way. Another light brown stallion with a black mane walked alongside, a rather serious expression on his face, though there appeared to be a look of uncertainty in his dark brown eyes. Applejack groaned as they approached, "Twilight..." "Yes, Applejack?" "Remember yesterday when I said I think I might've found 'Trixie The Second'?" Twilight put a finger to her chin, trying to recount the events of yesterday, "Yes, you did." The grey mare turned to the two stallion whispering behind her back, "Did I say you two could talk?" The two stallions' conversation immediately halted, both of them faced the mare. "No..." "No, what?" the mare's glare hardened. The stallions rolled their eyes simultaneously, "No...Honorable Leader..." The mare continued to glare at them, not amused in the slightest, "An improvement. But if you two defy me again, I'll make sure Maime here will...'teach you some respect'." The minotaur growled in response, the stallions shivering involuntarily. "Well-" Applejack pointed to the grey mare, "-there she is." "Well, well, well, if it isn't the country mare..." Applejack grunted, "Stygian..." "Oh goody!" Stygian replied, her words dripping with sarcasm, "you remember my name, ten points to you!" Twilight put a hand to her forehead, "Oh brother..." "And it looks like you brought your friends along too. As if that will make any difference," she scoffed, "Why don't you step aside and let some more...competent ponies take part in this tournament." Rainbow Dash was outraged, "We're just as competent as everypony around here! Especially you!" "Oh really? You all think you're better than us, the Schutzstaffel?" Stygian pointed to a large screen, where the replay of the battle was displayed, "With skills like that? Why don't you come see how we fight?" Rainbow Dash was about to make some sort of half-witted insult, but Twilight responded first, "Sure..." "What?" "Rainbow Dash, this is a good opportunity to see how we can improve our tactics to win this tournament," Twilight whispered. Rainbow Dash grunted, "Alright, but just for the sake of winning this," pointing a finger at Twilight. The Harmony Tankers followed the Schutzstaffel to another area. There were several tanks sitting around, there were two large grey tanks, a massive tan brown tank with an equally large gun, another smaller tan brown tank, a large green Self-Propelled Gun and a smaller green tank. Twilight walked over to the information board and scrutinised the battle's details. Battle Type: Tier 10 Tournament Battle Map: Westfield Team 1: Schutzstaffel Team Members: Stygian Tenebrae (Team Leader) Tank: E 50 Ausf. M Cimmerian Dusk Tank: E 100 Maime Taurus Tank: T95 Dust Storm Tank: SU-14-2 Cellum Nonginta-Vieks Tank: T69 Crimson Blade Tank: T-44 Team 2: Stampede Squad Team Members: Wind Shear (Team Leader) Tank: AMX 50 B Quake Wing Tank: Maus Gilda Swiftfeather Tank: T49 Starry Sky Tank: Lorraine 155 mle. 51 Blazing Burst Tank: SU-122-54 Thunder Dance Tank: T-54 Lightweight "Come along now, the replay's starting," Twilight walked over to the screen. A cluster of tanks could be seen, each bearing the tankers' cutie mark, like all others. "Let's get this show on the road!" a familiar voice could be heard on the screen. The tanks moved off, appearing to be veering off in whatever direction they felt like. "Hey! We have to stick together!" shouted a voice. "Don’t worry your little head, Wind," somepony replied, "Me and Gilda will take care of everything!" "Gilda?" Rainbow Dash blurted out in shock. "Yeah! We'll get this battle over and done with before you know it!" replied Gilda. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe her ears. "Well, she's competitive and likes being 'cool'. Do you really think she'll not show up?" "I guess you're right..." "I don't see anypony..." the two tankers had driven into a valley, a large war-damaged bridge crossing it. "Aw shit!" the green tank destroyer was hit by several shots, and began to back away, "It's a trap!" "Ammunition rack is hit! But at least it didn't explode!" The two tanks returned fire, their shots harmlessly bounced off the enemy tank's frontal armour. "We didn't even scratch them!" "Dammit!" Another shell struck the tank destroyer's side, "Track hit! We're immobilized!" "Yeah! No shit!" Fluttershy cowered at the stallion's harsh words. Suddenly, a medium-sized green tank drove off the ridge, and fell straight towards the tank destroyer. "Are you bucking kid..." was all the stallion could say before the green tank crushed the tank destroyer. "That was cool...but...well shit!" Gilda tried to reverse, but an Armor Piercing shell destroyed her tank's engine. "We've lost all of our engine power!" "Yes! I'm well aware of that! Stop announcing everything that's happening!" Gilda exclaimed angrily. "But it's all part of my protocol!" "Just...no! Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?" "One of our fuel tanks was ruptured! We've got a fire!" "Then why didn't you say somethi..." a High Explosive shell ended her mid-sentence. "She never changes, does she?" Pinkie asked "Nope..." Rainbow Dash replied. The camera focused on a greenish blue Self-Propelled Gun. "Okay, 4 against 6..." sighed a mare's voice, "See anything, Thunder?" "Yeah, sending coordinates right...crap!" "What is it?" "They've seen me! I'm taking fire! Son of a..." an explosion confirmed Thunder's fate. "Now it's 3 against 6 and we've lost both our scouts. Not a good day to be an arty..." A large 'Boom!' echoed around the battlefield, a projectile flew towards the SPG. "Nope, not at all..." 'KABOOM!' "Wow, they're good..." Applejack whispered to Rainbow Dash. "They're probably just lucky." The camera shifted to another greenish blue tank. "Where the heck are you all?" muttered the griffon. 'Ping!' "Crap..." the griffon tried to turn around to attack the grey enemy tank, another shot hit the tank as the grey tank circled around the greenish blue one. "We've lost a track!" "Dammit, come on...come on!" the griffon tried to turn the turret around to retaliate, but it was no good. 'Boom!' "Woo! One left! This should be easy!" Crimson exclaimed, as he drove his tank out of the valley. "Yeah!" Dust replied, but his elation quickly turned into fear, "Mouse!" "Mouse? Seriously, what are you..." Cimmerian rotated her turret, and came face-to-face with a mammoth grey tank. "Oh...Maus..." "Ping!" "The track's been destroyed, we can't move!" "Alright then," Cimmerian fired back at the Maus. Meanwhile, Stygian, Dust and Crimson sneaked behind the Maus and aimed at its weaker rear armour. Their guns loaded with Armor Piercing Composite Rigid shells. "Look out!" "Pinkie, he can't hear you..." "Oh, right..." The three tanks shot in perfect unison, the mighty Maus was reduced to a pile of scrap metal. As the tanks were engulfed in a white light, the replay ended. "And that," Stygian boasted, "is how a competent team fights." "Well, wait and see, cause the Harmony tankers are coming to get you!" Rainbow shouted. "Oh really?" Stygian replied, in a sarcastic tone. Applejack watched as Cellum opened his mouth to retort, but no words came out. She had noticed the slight frown on his face the moment the Schutzstaffel walked towards them. "Something's up with that stallion," she muttered to herself. She was right, Cellum was deep in thought, remembering what happened a few minutes ago... "Jeez! If we keep this up, it's going to get boring for all of us!" Cimmerian complained, "Especially me!" "We're not here to have...fun, Cimmerian!" Stygian glowered at her, "We're here to win this tournament!" "Well, at least we should get to fight teams that are actually good." Stygian scoffed, and approached the other team. "Hey, look out, here she comes," Blazing Burst said. "Too bad you lost, looks like you got caught in our 'stampede'," Stygian said haughtily. The team leader, Wind Shear, simply ignored her. "No words? No insult or anything?" Wind turned away with a 'hmph'. "You dare to ignore me!" Stygian shouted, her rage began build up inside of her, "Do you know who I am?" "As if I care..." Wind replied calmly. "Well, this should show you!" Stygian raised her fist, and nopony stepped in to stop her doing what she did next, not even Wind's teammates. Even though none of them could bear to watch, even though it made Thunder cringe and Starry grow pale. Cellum watched in disbelief as Stygian slugged the griffon. But Wind simply got back up and glared at Stygian. "Not enough?" Stygian's hand connected with the griffon's cheek once more, her boot simultaneously kicked him hard in the chest. With a soft thump, Wind hit the ground, an arm over his stomach. "Then you can stay down there!" Stygian began to walk away, intentionally kicking the fallen griffon in the hip. "Sorry, didn't see you there," Stygian walked away, growling angrily at the rest of the Stampede Squad, who had all backed away from the mare. Cellum remained silent. "Hello? Equis to Cellum? Time to move!" "Hmm? Oh...y-yes...Honorable Leader..." Stygian looked closely at him, "Are you alright? You seem a little...distracted." "It's nothing...Honorable Leader..." Cellum replied as the team climbed into their tanks. As the Schutzstaffel moved off, Cellum's doubts about his 'Honorable Leader' began to grow and deepen.