//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Mobilize // Story: The War Machine // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// The War Machine Chapter 12: Mobilize Four Days Later The large Ursa had to be cut up into pieces just to remove it from the town, which is still being removed. The family of the house the Ursa fell on has been given paid lodging in a nearby hotel until it's repaired. The Ursa was led into town by the very same two colts who tried getting into my Trailer, Snips and Snails, so this Trixie could defeat it. Unfortunately, she couldn't and her wagon was destroyed in the ensuing chaos; she attempted to run away after the town turned on her for making the two colts bring it, but Twilight stopped her and scolded the townsfolk for their behaviour and she is now staying in the Library in a guest bed. The two colts were grounded by their parents for two months for their foolishness. Over the last four days Luna and I have been making more ammunition for the tank. We now have: twenty shells, two-thousand 5.56 millimetre rounds for the Gatling Gun and six hellfire rockets for the two pods. Twilight has also been teaching Trixie new spells and they're starting to become good friends. Twilight is in her corner working on the magic rifle prototype while Luna and I have just begun making the second Titan Tank when Luna's radio picks up a signal from Canterlot. "Lulu? Are you there?" Celestia asks. Luna yelps startled by the sudden noise and raises her prosthetic close to her head before opening the panel and pressing the button to reply with her magic. "Of course sister, my leg is currently attached to me," she sarcastically replies. Celestia giggles at her antics. "I need you and Adam to come to Canterlot immediately, the leaders of the other nations have arrived early and are waiting for you two," she tells Luna. "Very well, sister. We shall be on our way," Luna replies and lowers her leg. "Oh and if Twilight is there with you, please bring her along as well as the current magic rifle prototype. I'll see you soon, Lulu," Celestia finishes as the radio cuts out. "Come, Twilight Sparkle, Adam. We must depart for Canterlot immediately," she tells us and walks over to my Trailer. An idea comes across my thought processes. "We shall take the Titan," I tell her and jump up on the side and grip the infantry bars on the Tank. She stops and looks at me with wide eyes. "Why?" she asks confused, but I can see a small smile forming on her face. "It would be wise to show the other leaders what we are planning for Gryphonia and not hide what we have, it would create distrust between us. There is also a human saying, we shall arrive in style," I tell her. Her small smile turns into a full blown toothy grin. "I see your point," she says and flies up to the hatch. Once again I chuckle, the ability to do so still feels foreign to me. "Do we have to? I don't see where I'll be sitting on it." Twilight asks with worry. "The hatch is large enough for you both to stand in, it was designed to allow me to stand in it after all," I reply to her. She looks unsure but yelps as Luna uses her magic to levitate Twilight up and the prototype rifle into the hatch next to her. "Hold on tight," I tell them and remotely open the large workshop door. I power up the Titan's core and slowly leave the workshop, I then wirelessly close the large door and lock all the entrances. I then connect one of my processors to the turret on the Trailer to keep watch while we're gone. I pick up speed and drive the Titan around Ponyville as the Tank would have too much trouble navigating the town's roads, nearby ponies watch as the large machine rolls by. Once around, I return to the main road and drive full throttle at forty miles an hour, I had to slow down for turns but there isn't that many, our speed would be less than half if the plating was made of Titansteel instead. Luna still has my Ovion and is playing a puzzle game with Twilight during our trip and I had to move aside for carriages and carts heading down from Canterlot, which startled the ponies pulling them. Twilight then calls out to me. "Adam, I've been wondering ever since I saw your rifle... Why does it have two barrels on it?" she asks me. I look up at her while a processor keeps an eye on the road through the gun camera. "That's because it can fire two types of ammunition. The lower barrel fires the five point fifty-six standard lead rounds fed from the magazine in front of the trigger, the top barrel fires the seven point sixty-two armour piercing tungsten rounds fed from the magazine in the rifle's stock, but I do not have any ammunition for the top barrel with me," I reply. "I see, so the lower barrel is for unarmoured or light armour targets while the top barrel is for more heavily armoured targets?" she asks with a raised eyebrow. "Correct," I reply in confirmation. "I take it with Luna's help, you can have some of these tungsten rounds made?" she wonders. "Again, correct. I have five empty magazines but that's it," I tell her. In all, it took two hours to reach Canterlot. Fortunately, the streets are much wider here and it was not the end of work rush traffic yet. The nobles and citizens just stare or back away as we roll by. I then radio Celestia to inform her of our arrival. "Celestia, could you please gather the leaders outside of the Lab? I have brought the Titan Tank to show them," I inform her. I hear her gasp. "You what? Why would you bring that here?" she asks me with worry in her tone. "To show what I shall be using against the gryphons," I reply. There's a few seconds of silence. "Alright, just don't make it do any sudden movements please?" she asks. "Of course, Celestia," I reply to calm her down. The ponies of Canterlot are gobsmacked to see their ex-Princess of the night sitting on top of the Tank with a large grin still on her face while Twilight looks like she wants to hide away. I'm still hanging off the side using the gun camera to navigate the streets since I cannot see the left side with my optics. After a few minutes, we reach the Castle where we barely fit through the gate to the Lab. As we approach, I see the other races go wide eyed at the Titan. I carefully park the Tank in an open clearing and let go of the bar while Luna and Twilight exit the hatch with the rifle prototype. "Hello, Celestia," I greet the white alicorn and then turn to the other shocked races. "Greetings to you all as well," I say to them with a nod. "Yes, we have heard much about you and your success at stopping the gryphons from stealing from Equestria and your impressive display of flight," a small three foot tall light brown diamond dog says to me. "My name's Rover, Alpha King of the diamond dog clans," he introduces himself and holds out his right hand. I lightly grip his hand and shake it. "I am Adam. It is nice to meet you," I reply. An elderly zebra female wearing a tan robe with a few bottles, small bones, and a book around her waist walks up and bows her head. "Such a beast of size and steel, to witness it is so surreal," she says in a rhyme. "I have brought it with me to show what I will be using against the gryphons. I do not wish to be the cause of distrust between any of the nations by hiding it," I reply and bow back. I notice the dragon is the same dragoness from the last meeting and she's frowning at the Tank. "Is there something wrong?" I ask her. She looks at me and then back to the Titan. "Is this what killed the Ursa Major in Ponyville?" she asks me, getting gasps from the others. Processing... It would be wise to remain truthful. "Correct. It attacked the town and the guards couldn't repel it, so I stepped in and neutralised the threat," I reply. "Why was the Night Princess riding upon it? I thought you weren't going to give the Equestrians these kind of weapons?" she asks. "This Titan is mine, and no Equestrian has the knowledge to build one. Luna has helped me to construct it after renouncing her title as a Princess of Equestria," I inform her. They all look stunned at Luna who looks down with a sad frown. "Is it true? You renounced your crown?" the large five foot tall male gorilla asks, they only now notice Luna is not wearing her regalia. Luna nodded and looks up at them. "I did. It would have taken Adam years to make these by himself, so I offered to use my magic to speed up the process... but in doing so, I had to renounce any connections to Equestria," she replies. "I see, then where have you been staying?" he asks her. "With Adam in his workshop," she tells him. "So what does this thing do?" Rover asks, gesturing to the Titan Tank. "The two main guns up front are long range artillery, capable of hitting targets up to forty miles away with one-hundred millimetre shells tipped with a small explosive. The two rocket pods are for taking out hostile vehicles with Mark-Ten Hellfire Rockets, capable of ripping through two inch thick titanium plating. The Gatling Turret on top is capable of firing two-thousand rounds a minute and can hold three-thousand five point fifty-six millimetre rounds, it is used for anti-infantry," I reply. They just stare with wide eyes. "Why would the ones who created you make such things?" the gorilla asks. "As the humans grew, their need to either protect themselves or overpower their enemies pushed them to advance their weapons and technology over time. This also helped to push their medical technology to new heights as well, like Luna's prosthetic leg for example," I explain to him. They all look at Luna's left leg with surprise, just now noticing the metallic look to it. "Fascinating... but I apologise, where are my manners," he says and holds his hand out. "I am President Kongo of Simerica," he tells me. I reach out and shake his hand. "It is an honour, Kongo," I reply. The dragoness walks up to me and looks down into my visor. "I am Ambassador Scarlet of Drakanus, what do you plan to do about the gryphons?" she asks me. "Once I have another Titan and two Apache's made along with their ammunition, I will lead an assault on Gryphonstone to either capture Jackaal, or neutralise him," I reply. "And what will you do with these machines once the battle is over?" she asks while looking at the Titan. "They will stay at my workshop until they are needed again," I answer. For the next twelve minutes they ask questions about the Titan, Apaches, the magic rifle prototype and the sharing of the radio towers and the personal music radio blueprints along with the gryphon flintlock rifle and pistol schematics. I have also told them of what I saw at Gryphonstone regarding the gryphon's military assets and power plant. The zebra also tells me her name which is Zimbawa. "So, they've been hiding more than we thought," Scarlet says with a claw to her chin. "Princess Celestia!" a guard yells and runs over to her. "Yes lieutenant?" she asks with a raised eyebrow. "We got reports over the radio of gryphons approaching Trottingham with some of those Tanks and at least one-thousand soldiers, what are your orders?" the guard reports and asks her. "How long until they arrive?" I ask him. He looks at me while still panting. "About seven hours..." he replies. Processing... With the knowledge I have of Equestria's maps, it will take me four hours and twenty minutes to drive there in the Titan. "I shall leave immediately with the Titan, it will take me four hours and twenty minutes to get there. I believe I have enough ammunition to combat them," I say to them. "Then please hurry, I'll give word to have the town evacuated before you arrive," Celestia replies. "Very well, Celestia," I say and climb the Titan and stand in the hatch. "Please stand back," I inform the others. Once they stand back, I quickly turn the Titan around on the spot and head out of the gate and then out of Canterlot. It's been two hours and forty-seven minutes already and I'm halfway there, I had to slow down to avoid hitting some carriages and carts coming from Trottingham, most likely the ponies evacuating. I arrive at the moderately sized town and see the local guard waiting for me, I pull up beside them and jump out of the Titan. "Greetings, which direction are the gryphons coming from?" I ask them. "From the west, we've spotted what looks like about ten of their metal war machines and roughly one-thousand soldiers armed with those rifles," the stallion in front tells me. Looking at his armour, he must be the highest ranking guard here. "Very well, stay in the town and defend it from any who might get past me," I tell them. They only have thin armour, spears, and bows, I'll just have to not let any past me.. "You plan to take them on alone?" he asks wide eyed. "Correct, my Titan should be able to handle them with minimal damage," I reply and get back into the Titan. "Alright, good luck out there," he says and they all set up a perimeter around the west side of town. I drive the Titan to the west and after an hour of travel I come into view of the gryphons. I connect to Luna's radio to report. "Luna, I've arrived at Trottingham. I have visual of the gryphon forces and will begin my assault, over," I tell her. "Alright, Adam, show them the error they have made," she replies. "Roger that," I say in an emotionless tone. Checking ordnance and ammunition: Guns online. 100mm shells = 20. 5.56mm rounds = 2,000. MK-10 Hellfire Rockets = 6. Estimating incoming hostile forces. 900 rifle infantry. 200 grenadiers. 12 light Tanks. Current ammunition is sufficient if used sparingly. Processing... Use main guns and rockets to take out advancing Tanks before they have a chance to retaliate while using the Gatling Gun to cull the infantry. I aim the guns at two of the advancing Tanks and wait until they are in range, forty-two miles, forty-one miles, targets are now in range. The guns thunder over the plains as the shells soar towards their targets. My first two targets get direct hits and the shells tear through the flimsy steel plating and detonate, sending twisted metal and gore from the crew into the surrounding infantry. They start to panic and the Tanks begin to swerve in erratic patterns, I cannot calculate the needed trajectory at this distance without great error. I drive the tank straight for them and get down in the small enclosure big enough for me to sit in and close the hatch. I dedicate one processor to the main guns, another to the rocket pods, another to the Gatling Gun and another to driving the Titan. The last one I use for speeding up calculations and reaction timing. I have basically transferred myself into the Titan. I pick up radio chatter and activate my radio interceptor. "By Avian! What is that?" a gryphon male asks. "I don't know but open fire on it!" another replies. We're now three miles apart and through the turret camera, I see the Tanks aim their guns at me and open fire. I swerve to the right and eight of the shells miss while two impact the forward plating, leaving two shallow dents in it. I aim the main guns and fire one shell at another Tank that's driving in a straight line. The shell impacts the turret and blows it clean off, the crew abandons the Tank with a few injuries. My plan is to cripple their Tanks so they can be scavenged for parts so the Equestrians and their allies can use them to design and build their own. The sound of bullets impacting the Titan's plating continuously echoes within the compartment, I aim the Gatling Gun and fire a spray of one-hundred rounds into the infantry front lines. The hot lead rips through the gryphons armour and penetrates into the ones behind them, it looks like one-hundred and thirty confirmed kills. The left plating takes a few hits from more shells and I aim both guns and both rocket pods at four nearby Tanks as the Gatling Gun continues to fire upon the infantry. Two rockets slam right into the chassis of two Tanks and rips them apart, one of the turrets was destroyed, but the other survived. The two shells hit their marks and the first penetrates the driver's view port and detonates inside the Tank, the second hits the front right wheel of the fourth Tank and cripples the vehicle. I'm now down to one-thousand and four-hundred rounds for the Gatling Gun as it shreds through their ranks. I charge the Titan right for them and run over the ones who didn't fly out of the way in time as the turret guns down those that do. I reach one of their Tanks and ram into it, causing it to tip over. I aim the guns for the next Tank and fire a shell into the side, blowing a hole in the metal revealing the fragged gryphons within. More of their shells hit the Titan and dent its plating while the grenadiers toss down their crude round fused bombs from above which detonate above the hatch. I turn the turret onto them and mow them out of the sky. "Fall back! This thing's a monster! Fall back!" a gryphon yells over their radio channel. The last three Tanks turn and try to get away, but I aim two more shells at two of them and take out their rear wheels. The crew abandons them and flees with the remaining infantry. I fire off another three-hundred rounds into the fleeing soldiers before stopping and allowing the rest to retreat, I then radio back to Canterlot. "Hostile forces have retreated, eleven enemy Tanks have been neutralised and are ready to be salvaged, one is still in perfect functioning order. Enemy casualties estimated to be seven-hundred and twenty, over," I tell them. "Already!?" Luna asks stunned. "Of course. Their ordnance couldn't stand up to the power and armour of the Titan, though the Titan will need to have the plating repaired," I reply. They're silent for a few seconds before Celestia speaks up. "And how many of the guard were lost?" she asks fearfully. "None as they did not participate in the battle, they remained behind to protect the town," I tell her. "You faced them alone!?" she asks with shock. "Correct, there was little resistance and after a show of force, they retreated. I shall remain here until a team of guards arrive to salvage and recover the gryphon weaponry and vehicles, over," I inform them. "I err, agreed. Twilight will also be on her way to examine the still functional vehicle," Celestia says. "Roger that," I reply and begin aiding the guards in collecting the gryphon weapons. Six Hours Later The sun is setting and the guards have arrived with Twilight and Luna. Twilight is having one of her over excited moments while examining the still functioning Tank I rammed over on its side, which was now tipped back over onto its wheels. I'm standing in the Titan's hatch with Luna sitting next to me on the Titan's Turret as she looks over the field of corpses. The residents of Trottingham have also returned and are going about their daily lives once more. "So much loss of life... which could have been avoided if not for the madness of one gryphon's greed for power..." Luna says sadly. "There was an individual in human history who thought his country was superior than the rest and waged war against neighbouring counties and committed mass genocide. It took the other nations to band together to retaliate against him. After years of war, the individual was on the verge of defeat, but instead of surrendering, he took his own life as well as his family with him," I tell her. Luna looks at me with wide eyes, but doesn't say anything and looks back out at the field of death. After a few minutes of silence, the still functioning gryphon tank lurches forward slowly and comes up beside the Titan. Twilight's head pops up out of the hatch with a large smile on her face. "I've figured out how it moves, but I'll need to examine the remains of the others to see how it works. I don't want to risk damaging this one trying to dismantle it just yet," she says. "Good decision. Let us return to Canterlot, I believe the guard have it covered from here," I say and slowly start heading back towards the Equestrian capital with Twilight driving the gryphon Tank behind us.