Mares und Panzer

by Indulgence

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The sun above had become a harsh overseer, hot gaze focused crushingly downward, risen past the point of noon but yet to truly start its commute back below the horizon. A scattered number stood beneath its fiery iris, most instinctively huddled with those alike, conversations left light, artificially fatigued by the overbearing heat. In a tired boredom they waited, without any hint of cover on a dusty driveway, set before the closed front of a large garage.

‘What’s taking them so long?’ Coquette emphasised her exasperated question with an exaggerated flounce, falling as if swooning against Blossom’s side, the taller unicorn despite the heat just shrugging without attempting to throw off the other mare.

Dawn likewise gave a lazy shrug, baked beyond being up to much more.

‘Even Little Miss Doom and Gloom is already here’ the golden earth mare continued, throwing out a theatrical forehoof to point at Rook, accompanied by a sextet of her followers, Helix unsurprisingly included. ‘You’d think they could at least have the decency to be on time for the first lesson!’

Dawn just shrugged again, resisting the urge to let her eyes follow the gesture, having already decided on its target’s arrival to resist the urge to look her way, not risking a repeat of previous awkwardness.

‘Buck you!’ The angrily shouted exclamation broke in, all heads spinning about in response. ‘We both know that I’d just run rings around you and then blow you outta the water!’

‘I doubt it would be that easy for you to land a shot; you’d be too busy eating my dust!’

‘Buck you!’ The voice repeated, joined by one slightly more nasal in kind, both yelled from high above by a pair of duelling pegasus.

‘Prove it then!’ Lens Flare challenged, jostling her enemy mid-air to emphasise her point.

Split Second made immediate reply, thumping the other roughly in the shoulder. ‘Fine, I will!’ With that both touched down at the centre of their audience, itself waiting on an arrival other than theirs, instantly joined by a unicorn (dark cyan) and an earth mare (burnished silver) who had been trailing their flight.

‘If you’ve quite finished…’

Everypony’s head spun back on reverse, discovering two new figures stood before the garage doors, one Dice Bag and the other the council president, whose name Dawn was still yet to find out.

‘Thank you’ the strict-maned unknown continued in the fallen silence. ‘So this is our new tank squad then? I can’t help but say that I’m a little surprised that some of you are interested…’

‘Ruby Necklace, Blue Diamond, Onyx Gem, Crystal Facet and Gleaming Jewel’ Coquette whispered in a rushed list at Dawn’s ear, helpfully if a tad creepily naming all those under the president’s gaze.

‘…and not so much by others, we did after all offer a substantial credit incentive for participation.’ In speaking her eyes made a switch to Rook’s crowd, Helix firing back a murderous scowl, whilst their chief instead made a sweetened smile. ‘Anyway, to business: first and foremost as we lack suitable specialists it has been decided that this class will be student led…’

‘What?! How’s that supposed to work?’ Somehow freakishly both Natalies managed to cry out their question in perfect time, the pair fronting a trio representing the geeky crowd. ‘None of us have done this before!’

‘It is for exactly that reason that the module was approved for double accreditation, individually and collectively entailing a higher degree of responsibility’ the president responded dryly, now faced by a sea of unsure and/or grimacing looks. ‘We have however acquired a number of educational materials for you to use, and at the same time many of you already possess some of the necessary skills, judging from your records that is. Also, Dice will be joining you as council rep, so you can bring all your questions to her.’

The teal unicorn looked far from happy about this statement, but made a nod.

‘Mechanically speaking meanwhile, the engineering department have agreed to give you all the help they can, having already let you use their old repair shed by the way, and for anything else we’re looking to develop some links with their counterparts in RCA.’

This received a chorus of excited whispers, not least of all springing from a suddenly attentive Coquette.

‘Are there any questions at this point?’

‘What’ll we be driving?’ a little voice asked from somewhere at the back of the assembly, tone twanging with a slight local flare.

Before Dawn could locate the speaker though, the president made a show of side-stepping, in answer nodding to her counterpart. ‘Dice, if you please.’

At the push of a button the heavy wooden door was put into motion, creaking a little as it rolled out of the way. Freed, the sun charged into the opened space, painting light amongst disused dust, rushing over a row of inspection bays to land on a single prominent shape. Hulking and powerful the machine stood above its surroundings, the dark grey of its tracks almost black whilst the rest of it was decked in a threatening coat of matte steel. Its prow sloped to a sharp point, jutting between its treads, mimicked in the slants and curves of its turret, its cannon sticking prominently from its front.

‘A Leopard Five’ the quietened voice again spoke up in an awed whisper.1

‘The Panther’ the president proudly beamed, ‘top of the line main battle tank. Enjoy!’

Dawn found herself drawn into the relative shade of the garage, but like those she accompanied the pull was more one of intrigue than a more basal want of cooler air. The war machine had a kind of magnetism in a way, rough and rugged, raw and powerful, but also in difference to its kin on the preceding film it bore a strange kind of delicacy. Its wheels for example enmeshed like the complex inner workings of a clock. No mere mobile box, its smooth contours flowed, although not quite seamlessly, therefore giving it an edge.

‘No secondary port, so this is probably an early version.’

This time Dawn succeeded in locating the timid voice’s owner, her expression in this case musing just above inaudible. Like herself mere moments before the face she found was focused solely on the vehicle, inspecting the hull of its armoured form, a caramel forehoof extended almost dreamily to touch its left track guard.

Okay, I guess somepony really likes the tank.

The new earth mare noticed that she was being watched, awed gazing instantly turning startled before she hid behind the blonde strands of her mane, worn loose but practical about her head. She further shied away, to Dawn’s further discomfort, putting the rest of the machine between the embarrassed two of them.

Great! You’ve really got to stop doing that you know.

‘Hang on isn’t that part supposed to be like attached to the rest of it?’

‘Erm, yeah…’ The president’s beaming expression took a knock as the one identified as Gleaming Jewel pointed to the Panther’s right side, highlighting a second tread hanging uninspiringly off its wheels. ‘Due to budget restrictions we had to source it second hoof, so it needs a bit of TLC to get it going. The engine’s in a bit of a state too…’

Aggravated huffs made their way around the groups, along with a few expressions of ‘typical’ and other less savoury terms.

‘More important question: where are the rest?’ Rook asked, tones just skirting above unimpressed. ‘One tank is hardly a team and I doubt that we could all fit in it anyway.’

These words broke the last few scraps of the council chief’s pride, sighing: ‘that’s your first task. A while ago the school did mess around with the idea of hosting a team. Although it never really did come to anything as far as we can figure there should still be some other tanks knocking about on campus.’

‘Why would they still be here?’ Helix added in.

‘We’ve got no record of them having been removed…’

‘Okay, so where are they then?’

‘We’re not exactly sure, but…’

‘So, in short: you’ve got no idea of what we may or may not have, or where we might find any of it’ Rook concluded.

‘Erm… yeah…’

More groans, objections and expletives rose up from various sections.

‘Anyway, I suggest you divide up into groups and get looking. This could also be an opportunity to get to know your teammates’ the president suggested, watching everypony stick like glue in their already decided crowd. ‘Or not. At any rate I’ve got to be going now, so address all questions to Dice and good luck!’

---

‘We’re playing hide and seek with a bunch of potentially non-existent military grade armoured vehicles. Is that seriously what’s going on here?’ Coquette questioned, irritation more than evident, written loud in both her words and features. ‘I can’t tell whether that’s insane or just stupid!’

‘Sure looks that way’ Blossom confirmed, ‘though if they really exist it really can’t be that hard to find them, can it?’

‘The fact that I haven’t seen any before in all our time here doesn’t exactly fill me with hope.’

‘True, if the rest are anything like that monster they’d be pretty hard to miss.’

The trio remained in the Panther’s shadow, all others having begrudgingly departed on their own initiative in varying degrees of exasperation.

‘Looking on the bright side though, if anypony’s going to find a tank it’s gonna be us’ the hazel unicorn added, ‘we’ve after all got the edge of a fresh set of eyes which may catch what the rest of us would miss.’

‘Thanks.’ Dawn matched her friend’s smile, hoping she mimicked some amount of its warmth. ‘Where should we start then?’

‘Hey Toff!’ Both unicorn and cream earth mare left their joint look to follow the never quiet Coquette’s call and waving, finding that they were in fact not as alone as they had thought in the shed.

‘Erm… hi Belle’ replied one caramel and blonde, head just visible from her hiding place behind the tank.

‘You wanna come search with us?’ Coquette continued, bubbliness unquenchable.

‘Erm… sure.’ She stepped out a little gingerly, finally approaching almost on the tips of her hooves.

‘Great! Toffee Apple, meet Dawn Melody, Dawn Melody Toffee Apple.’

‘I told you she knew everypony here’ Blossom whispered in Dawn’s ear. ‘I overheard that you might know a little about what we’re supposed to be finding’ she moved on, addressing the newest member of their party with a questioning inflection.

‘A little.’

‘Great!’ the hazel unicorn mirrored her shorter predecessor. ‘Well now if we can’t find a tank there obviously never were any to be found to begin with.’

---

‘Remind me again exactly why we’re all the way out here?’

Coquette’s question seemed like a most valid one as the group slipped and scrabbled their way to the bottom of a particularly steep gully, almost losing their hoofing with every step taken.

‘Everypony else had the campus covered, plus any previous teams or proto-teams must’ve practiced on the outskirts in order to have enough space’ Blossom answered coolly, defying the annoyance which the repetitious question might have aroused. ‘Add to that the fact that not many of the roads which would connect the two are big enough to fit tanks down them and we end up here.’

‘All fine, but why exactly are we checking this dried riverbed from Tartarus that we can barely scale, let alone some multi-tonne behemoth we’re supposed to be hunting?’

‘For the hundredth time, everything outside of this pit is just flat dunes, if there was a tank up there, abandoned, burnt out or otherwise, we’d have seen it. Again in addition, Toffee made the good point that the void above us is pretty much just an extended kill zone. Nopony in their right mind would attempt to cross it in combat.’

‘Makes sense, kind of, but wouldn’t this be the same problem in reverse, I mean with nowhere to turn and still looked down on?’

‘Erm… cue Toffee.’

‘True enough’ the caramel mare stated, factuality set against her rural southern Equestrian accent, ‘but a commander cannot be trapped by a book of conduct in battle, rather a good gut instinct is far more vital.2 The three styles all have a basis in that concept. We don’t know, this may’ve been their only option, they could’ve played on acting unexpectedly, or they could’ve of course fallen in somehow.’

They all touched down at the base of their climb, Dawn at the very least surprised by the quiet speaker’s capacity to be so vocal on this particular subject. Taking a brief respite following the ordeal of their dissent, they took in the rough walled chasm they found themselves in, having travelled deep beneath the varying layers of strata which ran in ribbons across its red baked sides. A bit, tossed and caught by Blossom’s magic, then went to deciding their path onward and they set forth.

---

‘How the hay did that thing end up down here?’

‘Erm… cue Toffee?’

‘I have absolutely no idea.’

‘Sweet Celestia, it’s huge!’

Again Coquette’s question (along with its empty answers and followed excited appraisal) was entirely legitimate, faced now as they were with a quite literal behemoth of metal, lightly rusting about its edges. Atop a squat chassis, flanked either side by broad treads, an angular forecastle rose, fronted by a steep slope.

‘True enough’ Dawn agreed. ‘Not to sound thick though, but where’s its turret?’

‘Yeah’ Blossom mused aloud, ‘that was about to be my question.’

As opposed to having a turret the vehicle more had the shape of a bunker on tracked wheels. Two thirds of its length was covered by this armoured structure, front angle matched by lighter sloped sides to make it look like a flat topped pyramid, except that its rear face stood straight vertically as a flat plate. In contrast to the earlier almost smooth flow of the Panther, this beast’s lines were more angular, brutal although clean, a roughness added to by rivets running the length of its seams. In a way more obvious than these differences however was its weapon, an immobile barrel extending a greater length than past experience and having more than twice the diameter in its bore.

‘It’s kind of pretty in a weird way.’

‘Okay, sounding a bit crazy now Bloss’ Coquette scoffed. ‘It’s impressive yes, massive yes, but “pretty”? Hay no, just look at it!’

‘Sure it needs some work, yet beneath that you can see its true aspect. It’s almost got a sculptural look, straight lines almost made fluid, but not quite, left hard and basic. Nothing fancy, no frills, no disguise, it just is. Anyway’ Blossom broke off her staring, aware of the askance look at least two others were giving her, ‘do we know what exactly it is?’

‘A H-type ER-152…’ Toffee murmured, returned to her previous mode when presented with the Panther.3

‘A what?’

‘…equipped with a 152 millimetre gun howitzer and…’

‘Equis to Toff, come in Toff’ Coquette tried again, kicking the vehicle with a resounding clang in an attempt to break the other mare’s trance. ‘What is it? Preferably in something akin to what the rest of us can understand.’

‘It’s a Rhino 152, hunting type…’

‘And that’s a good tank?’

‘It’s not a tank!’ Toffee wheeled about, stood protectively before the war machine that more than dwarfed her, having already winced as it was truck. ‘It’s a combined tank hunter, assault gun and self-propelled artillery piece, more than excelling in all those rolls, more than a match for more specialised vehicles!’ The caramel toned mare instantly went from defensive to embarrassed, reading her own uncharacteristic outburst in her audience’s expressions. ‘Oh… erm… sorry about that… yeah it’s a good one…’ She shyly returned her gaze to the Rhino.

‘Wow’ Blossom mouthed, continuing in a just audible whisper to Coquette: ‘did you know that she was so into this stuff?’

‘Not a clue. I know her through home economics and agricultural studies, in both of which she was pretty much just the quiet as a mouse farm filly in the corner.’

Dawn meanwhile took a few more steps forward, coming to Toffee’s side, still very much taking in the vehicle. At the same time though, she recognised the self-conscious hue on the other mare’s cheeks. ‘So it’s a Rhino 152 then?’ she encouraged gently.

‘Erm… yeah, one of the Rhino series’ Toffee answered more gingerly than previous.

‘And if it’s not technically a tank is it still okay for us to use?’

‘Yeah, forget about what I said, the difference is just technical, everpony usually just calls it a tank and it’s fine within the rules.’ She ran a forehoof awkwardly through the strands of her mane. ‘Sorry, it’s just sorta one of my favs.’

‘All cool.’ Blossom and Coquette likewise came to Toffee’s other side. ‘Now, more importantly let’s figure how on Equis we’re going to get it outta here.’

Author's Note:

Title: Scouting (German)

Notes:
1) Panther I (Panzerkampfwagon V) Ausf A, medium tank (Germany)
2) Small Unit Tactics-Unusual Situations by General Erhard Raus
3) ISU-152, heavy tank destroyer/assault gun/self-propelled gun (Soviet Union)

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Having run into ISU-152s in WoT Blitz, I can say that they're very nasty.