I Blame You

by Whitestrake

Life Lessons With Giant Battle Tanks

The Eagle, born by freedom won, yet held, in precarious station
He set upon defense and steeled his will
To guard and protect his new nation
So he resolved, defiant of all, who would challenge his right to be free
With a swift sailing vessel and ten carriage guns
To hunt the world's oceans and seas
Born to go into harm's way – Come all!
Ye hell or high waters be damned!
No lightning, no thunder, no hurricane gale can stand in the face of his wrath!
Be he beneath his enemy's feet, or by cloud, where their gaze can not go
When Leviathan rise
Every last man
Shall shake to the core of his soul.

The words entered my mind as I beheld the steel monstrosity before me, their was simply no way the massive tank could have come from our Earth. The armored siege engine had a total of eleven barrels, the main turret and ten secondary barrels that comprised the remaining death-dealers. A two-headed, gold eagle was emblazoned on several areas of the ungodly vehicle, a strange symbol of beauty on such a war-scarred machine. Leviathan, that would be its name, and when the changelings decided to attack, Jay and I would pilot the monstrous tank to victory. I have no way of knowing why I picked Leviathan out of all the others, there were plenty of vehicles I knew how to use, but the heavily-armored, mobile fortress called out to me, the same way my FTL gun begged to be built. Perhaps it was fate, perhaps the odd twitch of the powers that be, perhaps it wa-

Get up here, the rehearsal is about to start. Jay's voice sounded tinny over the radio, but it was the only way we could effectively communicate while wearing our new gas-masks. Either way, he ruined my moment, not that I was having much of one. I pressed two fingers against the portion of my mask the held my earpiece, and gave my acknowledgment. I gave one last look at the doors to the crystal caverns Celestia had told me about, I had a weird feeling about the cave system.

@#@#@#@#@#@#

Princess Celestia was slightly nervous about this situation, a potential coup, and she was about to hand her student over to the villain perpetrating it. When I walked in and took my position by the door, the wedding rehearsal began. It went rather smoothly, until the arranged interruption from Twilight Sparkle. It all went off so perfectly, even if Shining Armor hadn't been involved.

“Has anypony seen Twilight?” The white stallion looked to Jay and I, then to the others for an answer. It was thankfully provided by a spectacularly acting Element of Magic.

“I'm here.” The lavender mare stormed in, irate at some flaw she had found in the alicorn bride-to-be. “And I'm not going to stand by her, and neither should you!” Shining Armor looked embarrassed and glance around the room for a few moments, before speaking in a somewhat timid tone.

“I don't know why she's acting like this.” The phony Cadence gave the whipped stallion a sharp look, and gave her venomous reply.

“Maybe we should just ignore her.”

“You have to listen to me!” Twilight's voice nearly cracked, I knew her enough to tell a few hidden feelings were surfacing. That, and I taught her how to fake emotional outbursts like this, as a small preparation for our sabotage.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy was immediately at her friend's side, wondering if anything was troubling her fellow Element Bearer. To that extent, the yellow pegasus was an invaluable asset, but she may get involved in some unforeseen way.

“Yes, I'm fine!” The lavender pony recoiled from her shy comrade, not in disgust, but from fake feelings of entrapment.

“Ya sure 'bout that?” There was no response to Applejack's question, Twilight just forced the farmer's hat over her orange muzzle, and angrily walked forward.

“I have something to say.” The mage looked as furious as I'd ever seen her, and she held her character well. “She's evil!”

The other Elements whispered between each other in shock, Shining Armor put himself between his sister and the imposter, even the normally stoic guards were stunned by the outburst. I would continue quoting everything word-for-word, but I was getting mad at the fake alicorn's acting, so I’m just going to skip over it, lest my blood begin to boil in my veins. When the others left Twilight alone in Random Ceremony Room #2, I approached the teary-eyed pony and compounded the web we had spun over the imposter's eyes.

“Listen, Twilight, if it means anything, I believe you.” My masked face gave no emotion, and my voice was too muffled to reveal its tone, but it was enough to keep the show going. At my slight sign of understanding the fake princess revealed herself. In a burst of pseudo-regret, Twilight rushed into the mare's chest.

“I'm sorry for everything I said, I guess I was wrong about you.” As a precaution, I closed the distance between the Element and myself, if the imposter would try anything, I would be there for backup. Much to my surprise, by which I mean disgust, the fraud smiled sweetly, and her eyes pulsed a slight green. I hadn't really felt worried until a ring of green fire appeared around us.

“Aw, Twily, I’m so glad to hear it, too bad you were right all along.” The changeling's magic began to send us through the floor, my passive resistance seemed to take a back seat.

In short, I was fucked.

$%$%$%$%$%$%

Celestia felt Taylor's consciousness fade from her reach, but his life remained intact, the plan had worked at least in part. With a nod to her sister, the alicorn began her own preparations for tomorrow's battle, and Luna was sure to do the same. There was a certain number of casualties, and the guards had been given a secret executive order to use lethal force rather than subduction, this would hopefully lessen the loss of life. The flying carriages were unarmed, and most earth pony guards were unable to use most weapons, but their impressive armor would protect them from most conventional attacks.

With steel in her eyes, Princess Celestia prepared herself for war.

$%$%$%$%$%$%
Extra – Q&A with Taylor and Jay

Proto has brought Diction's Bad Advice With Diction to my attention, and I think it's a pretty cool idea. So, at the end of certain chapters, new ones that are dragging in my opinion and lack an extra to make up for it will have a Q&A-type deal in which Jay and I will answer questions sent by certain ponies (You get to pick who at the end of each chapter, and votes will be tallied before the next session), and many of the bits will include a special guest from the show (Chosen at random by spinning my finger over a list of characters in a circle with my eyes closed and stopping after ten seconds of random movement.” One question per session will be chosen from the comments, and will be answered with as much honesty as I feel like.

The first will be on the next chapter.

Comments

[Proto]

Chosen at random by spinning my finger over a list of characters in a circle with my eyes closed and stopping after ten seconds of random movement.

Aka, whichever character is the most entertaining to us at the time.

[Valkahike]

Q&A?

FUCK YEAH

[Sine Wave]

Okay, so we start asking questions? Disregard the fact that that was indeed a question if we were to not start asking them yet.

[Whitestrake]

1277970Yes, I probably should have put it in the extra, but questioning starts now

[Sine Wave]

Damn, well, I'll have to think about a good one. I'm also needing to reread from the beginning. I'm drawing a blank for certain details in the story. So for now I'll just throw out the first question that comes to mind.

So Taylor, any thought to putting the moves on one of the Immortal God empresses of a planet?

Why that was the first question to mind, I have no idea.

[oldtimeydude]

I almost want to say the tank came from Warhammer 40k. But I just don't know enough to be sure.

[Glassed]

Short, but nice chapter.
Questions huh? Actually I've got one.
Q: What is the most interesting thing you two have found in the vault thus far?
-Glassed

[Bronydragon]

Question time!!!!
1. What happens to Trixie? She's out of the story for some time now and I'm curious about her.
2. Is your story going along with the final episode, or are you going to change it very much?
3. What's with Lyra? I think she's still eager to know more about humans and won't give up so easyly.
So that's it for now.

Bronydragon

[BrassSpyglass]

That's not a tank you described,
that's a Land Battleship.

[Whitestrake]

1224669static.fimfiction.net/images/story_images/50251.jpg?1347441829

[EchoWolf31]

When I first read the description of the tank, I thought it was a Baneblade from 40K although I'm not too sure.

[Curious]

By the great God-Emperor, I love me some motherfucking BANEBLADE ACTION!

[Pvt PartyPooper]

fuck yeah baneblade

[1I1I1I]

11 cannon?
2 headed gold eagle?
good lord, you found a baneblade!
2.bp.blogspot.com/-IbYFrDPYfrA/Ts8e7-1W_bI/AAAAAAAACug/EihHBtWEiDI/s1600/Baneblade_von_relic_u._thq.jpg

[Grahf]

how does a baneblade fit in there they are like godzilla huge

[Cascadejackal]

Baneblade. Bane-freaking-Blade.

[radiation_pony]

1279158 nope its an imperial super heavy tank
1580768>>1717332>>1281227>>1378406 a standered bainblade only has 10 barrels BainBlade battle cannon, 6 hev bolters, 2 lascannons, and a demolisher cannon (they can be givan extra sponsuns 18, and/or pintle mounted +1/+2) a shadowsword with extra sponsons and has extanged its lascannons for +1 BS has exactly 11 barrels volcano cannon, 10 hev bolters... bainblade co-axle autocannon 11 never mind a shadowsword is still awsomer
1708836 this is a giant whare house were talking about it might be able to hold a warhound titan (titans are Godzilla huge)
1280502 it takes a massive crue to drive a super heavy tank so i doubt it will see action (although i wish it would)

[Fox Blitz]

Im still going, sleep eludes me, not that i want it.

Time:4:40

Mental status: bored

[Topranger96]

That tank is a machine of death! A thing of beauty!

[Doctor.whooves]

2140247 rewind twenty minutes....smoke pot....mental status:EVERYTHING IS AWESOME

[Razzy]

So they're going straight to murdering all attackers without pardon? Sounds about right for a nation whose citizens were horrified at human violence.

Cya
Raziel-chan