Pony Und Panzer!

by Diceman

Chapter XIII: Unbreakable

Chapter XIII:Unbreakable

Rainbow Dash tapped her hoof impatiently as she paced back and forth in front of the registration desk toward the back of the loading field.

"Registration will end in five minutes. I repeat all tank teams must register or be disqualified in five minutes" the royal guard at the registration desk yelled over a loud speaker.

Rainbow Dash turned to the pony at the desk and slammed her front legs on the desk as hard as she could to catch his attention. "Can you give us like, another ten minutes or so? I have a friend that is running behind and she's just a filly."

"Sorry ma'am, but rules are rules. If your friend isn't here in the next few minutes, then she is automatically disqualified" The guard pony stated firmly.

"B-but she's just a kid, she doesn't know any better" Rainbow Dash argued.

"I don't care if she's the grand duke of Manehattan, rules are rules and if my timing is right, she now only has two minutes to register" the guard pony said as he stared as his clock on the desk.

"Fine, I'll sign in for them!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she picked up the quill in her mouth to sign Scootaloo and her team in.

"Hey! You can't do that, they have to sign in themselves!" The guard pony yelled as he grabbed the quill out of Rainbow Dash's mouth.

Suddenly a gust of wind caught both the guards and Rainbow Dash's attention. Behind them, in the field, a strange magical disturbance was blowing the grass down in a circle fifty or so feet around. The air above the ground was dense as well, almost as if heat was being generated from nowhere. Arc of black lightning began to dance around the perimeter of the disturbance, some of them singing the grass around it.

"What in Celestia's horn is that?" The guard asked with a stupefied look on his face.

"Clear the area! We have an illegal teleport coming in!" One of the sky guards yelled.

Quickly, dozens of air troops began to swarm around the disturbance. Some of them holding above it while others began to surround it in a circle. A white sphere appeared in the center and began to spread, pushing out every living creature already within the disturbances radius.

"Get ready. I want whoever used an unauthorized teleport to be arrested" One of the guards from high above the disturbance yelled.

With a flash of black light, a large white silhouette appeared in the center followed by a smaller one to the right of it. The blazing white light began to fade, revealing a ten foot tall tank.

"Unauthorized teleport, you are to surrender immediately. You're in violation of Celestial code five eleven, section C!" One of the guards yelled.

"I am very well aware of my sisters codes and if I remember correctly, royalty is excluded from that law." Princess Luna stepped from behind the tank, beads of sweat running down her brow. "If any of you have a problem, you can take it up with me."

The guards around the tank began to back away, some of them taking respectful bows, while others backing away in a near panic to get as far away from Luna as possible.

"P-princess Luna! Excuse me for speaking out of turn, but why did you not tell us you were going to be teleporting into the grounds. You caused an alarm that didn't need to be sounded. Also, why did you bring a tank with you?" The guard pointed to the large tank beside Luna.

"Firstly, your flight delivery troops ignored this teams request for transportation, but didn't tell them till this morning. I had no choice but to teleport them here, hence the surprise entrance. I'll have to make a couple more trips as you left some of the other teams vehicles behind." Luna said sternly.

The hatch on the side of the tank popped open and Scootaloo popped her head out, quickly followed by Elly, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom from different hatches on the vehicle.

"Squirt!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she ran toward the tank, stopping briefly to bow before Luna before making her way to mingle with her adopted sister. "I thought you weren't gonna make it to register in time?"

"Actually, we didn't make it in time, Rainbow Dash. We are exactly two minutes late for the registration process." Luna said as she looked at the pony at the registration desk. "However, I do believe the pony at the desk could make a few exceptions, as it was part of his duty to make sure flight squads were evenly distributed for pick up and delivery this morning." Luna gave a mean glare at the guard at the registration desk.

"O-of course your Majesty" the guard said nervously. "I'll keep the registration open for another hour or so."

"Good to hear." Luna turned toward Scootaloo. "I'll be back to wish you luck after I go get the other stragglers. I believe Derpy's team are also awaiting transport."

Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash exchanged nervous glances. "Can we kind of just forget about Derpy's team? Please?" Scootaloo asked nervously.

"Yeah, I'm with her. Every time she's been at the firing range she's managed to somehow misfire and destroy team Fluttershy's vehicle. So much so that we started keeping a high score tally, sixteen times she has managed to one shot Fluttershy's vehicle. To put it nicely, she's a team killing asstard." Rainbow Dash said.

"That may be, but at least she gives every team motivation to get as far away from her as possible. Besides, she's smart enough to be able to tell enemies and friendlies apart." Luna began to walk away. "I think. Anyway, I'll see you in about an hour or so." With a bright black and purple flash, Luna was gone.

"So, is this the vehicle you're entering into the contest?" Rainbow Dash asked as she walked around the tank. "It seems a bit different than I remember."

"Yep, we put a lot of work into it." Elly said as she hopped out of the top hatch. "Let me show you." Elly jumped down from atop of the tank next to Rainbow Dash.

"You remember how it was kinda tall, shaped like a box?" Elly asked.

"I remember it being kinda ugly and the other teams laughed at it" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Well, while the rules said we had to have the vehicle at least look like it was related to the parent chassis, there was nothing in the rules preventing us from changing other features" Elly said.

"Example, I completely removed both the turret on top and the large caliber gun on the right side. I removed all the pointless gun turret holes along the sides to reduce weight and added in armor plating where they were. Next I made the entire front uniform like other tanks on the test range. I then made the entire four or so feet of the chassis into a turret." Apple Bloom stated proudly as she pointed out patch holes all over the vehicle.

"You did this Apple Bloom?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yep, each of us was in charge of a certain aspect of the vehicle. I was in charge of structural stability and framework" Apple Bloom said proudly.

"She's a really good builder. I noticed she wasn't exceptional with things if they got too technical, but if it was foundation or structure related, she was a top notch" Elly said proudly.

"After Apple Bloom got done with the frame, Sweetie Belle got to work on how the entire thing would move" Elly said.

Sweetie opened the back hatch just as Elly and Rainbow Dash passed the back of the vehicle. " Originally the entire vehicle was being run by a nine cylinder non-injection system. I felt that it wasn't up to par and scrapped the entire thing and replaced it with this baby." Sweetie Belle opened up a white box in the back of the vehicle below her. "I found the entire engine assembly and transmission to be entirely too complex and open to being damaged from misuse and possible enemy fire. I replaced it with a direct energy magic to electric system."

"I ...don't understand" Rainbow Dash said.

"The original engine was similar to ones I've seen on airships. This one is a state of the art electric train engine. It gets anywhere from eight hundred to a thousand horsepower, and has one hundred percent torque whenever you press the gas pedal" Elly explained.

"Can you give me the lamens terms? I'm just a driver, not an engineer." Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, sorry. Short story, it gets around fifty or so kilometers and hour in terms of speed" Sweetie Belle said.

"And never get's stuck in the mud, thanks to the torsion bar suspension and double wide tracks we put on it" Elly added.

As they came around the front of the tank, Scootaloo beamed at Rainbow Dash.

"I was in charge of the weapons, ammunition and aiming systems" Scootaloo said enthusiastically.

"I was gonna ask about that. I remember egghead saying something about your teams tank being horribly under-gunned and that you had a hard time fitting a larger gun to the vehicle" Rainbow Dash said, staring at where the old gun used to be on the right side.

"Yeah, I tried dozens of different ways to fit an experimental ninety millimeter gun, but the chassis just couldn't take it. So my modifications ended up being dead last in terms of importance" Scootaloo said.

"Wait, Elly here didn't just push you aside and do all the work did she?" Rainbow Dash asked as she shot Elly an accusatory glare.

"No, no, It wasn't like that at all!" Scootlaoo said.

"Accusations aside, I was the one that came up with a basic shape for the tank, using my years of engineering experience. I was charged with finding what the vehicle lacked the most and finding a way to correct those problems. The reason I left the weapons until last is because the tank had not a single advantage compared to the competition" Elly explained.

"Like?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Put bluntly, the tank was too slow, the guns were in weird positions, the armor too thin and you could spot this thing coming from the moon due to it being very tall and weirdly shaped. You can make due with an underpowered weapon if you take your shots carefully, but you cannot make do if you're easily singled out as the weakest link. Ponies might not target the weakest vehicle, but-"

"Griffins will." Scootaloo interjected.

"Why would a griffon target you first? We won't even be playing against them for another two more elimination rounds at the earliest" Rainbow Dash said.

"There's a griffin on the enemy team today. You should know her fairly well" Scootaloo said somberly.

"Wait, Gilda is here? But she isn't a pony, she should be training with her own kind" Rainbow Dash said.

"She isn't. Gilda has dual citizenship and has decided to play for the Hoofington team today. She is also more than likely a spy for whoever is after me and Scootlaoo" Elly stated glumly.

"While the others were busy fixing up the tank, I decided to check out our own teammates and our opponents at the Hoofington testing grounds. Hoofington has been using much different training regiment than we have, they have been firing very low velocity pain balls from their guns in mock battles. From what I discovered, Gilda and her team have yet to be hit a single time in those training games" Scootaloo said, lowing her voice so only Rainbow Dash and Elly could hear her.

"That doesn't explain why you think Gilda would target you first" Rainbow Dash said.

"Did you skip biology class or something?" Elly asked.

"Err, maybe a few times" Rainbow Dash replied, blushing.

"Griffins are predators, not only do they have exceptional spatial awareness, speed judgement and exceptional vision-

"They also have predatory instincts, intentionally picking out the weakest link in a group and quickly working their way up." Elly interjected. "Scootaloo watched one of her games, she managed to tag and destroy all seven of her teammates on the opposite team before they even managed to spot her. She is by far the most skilled and dangerous opponent on that team."

"And she's driving one of the most dangerous vehicles on the opposing team today, the Tiger tank" Scootaloo said.

Rainbow Dash snorted, trying her best to contain her amusement. "Just a Tiger tank? Twilight is driving a Jagd panzer E-100. She can blow that thing to smithereens in a single shot. Hell, Thunderlane's team is driving an E-100. We have so much heavy armor, we can't possibly lose."

Rainbow Dash took to the air, performing a double cartwheel and flip before landing on all foor legs behind Scootaloo. "And of course you have me driving the AMX thirteen ninety, the fastest most agile tank ever made. If the big guns fail, you have a speedy death machine to do cleanup."

Elly and Scootlaoo exchanged stares.

"Well, somepony has a high opinion of herself" Elly said.

"When you're as good as me, there is no such thing as 'opinion' only fact. And the fact of the matter is, Gilda may be good, but I'm amazing." Rainbow Dash took to the skies once more. "I'll see you guys for the briefing and the setup later. Till then, try not to worry too much. We got this in the bag."

Rainbow Dash flew off before anypony else could comment on her overconfidence.

"She really is a smug, overconfident little pegasus, isn't she?" Elly asked.

"I guess so. I didn't even get to tell her about the gun we mounted on this thing" Scootaloo said as she pointed at a small model number at the bottom of the gun mantlet that read '105mm T5E1'.

"Or my steering improvements" Sweetie Belle added.

"Or yer compression armor improvements, Elly" Apple Bloom said.

"That's fine. We will show everypony what we are made of today, that even the smallest ponies will have something to contribute" Elly said, beaming.

"Darn right!" Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom yelled together.

"Let's get this thing registered and parked, we have a debriefing to go to." Elly walked up to the registration desk, reached in her saddle bag and pulled out an already completed registration form. She set the form on the desk and walked back to the tank.

"Ma'am, it seemed you neglected to give your tank a code name, I can't complete the registration without one" the guard at the desk said, holding up the paper and pointing to a blank spot where the code name would be.

Elly turned to the guard and smiled. "Do me a favor then, fill in that blank with the name 'Unbreakable' " Elly said with a smile.

***

As Elly drove the tank into the field opposite the registration desk, she noticed that there seemed to be more vehicles parked on the grass than was allowed in the battle today, making finding a parking spot difficult.

"Sis, I thought the battles were supposed to be fifteen on fifteen. At least that is what the rulebook we were given said" Scootaloo said as she peered through her commanders periscope.

"I know what you mean. I heard rumors that other cities had multiple teams cut due to the recent pandemic. They might have added other teams from different towns to compensate" Elly said.

"She's right, my radar and radio station is picking up a total of twenty two vehicles on our side." Sweetie Belle pointed at a large green screen next to the radio station. It was a sort of map of the surrounding area, but was dotted with green shapes, some of them moving, others already stationary.

"I wonder if they are gonna rotate teams out or sumthin" Apple Bloom said as she spun around in her loading station chair.

"I guess we will find out as soon as the briefing starts, but for now finding a parking spot is a problem. I swear this is like being at a mall" Elly said as she made a sharp right turn into the next isle.

"Oh hey, there's a spot" Elly said, noticing a parking space between two salvage and repair jeeps.

"Looks like someone else is revving up to reach it first though" Scootaloo said.

On the other side of the lane was a much smaller tank with what looked like a three cannon gun on the turret mantlet and the word 'Princess' in large, purple lettering on the front of the tank.

"If memory serves, that's a Matilda medium tank. It's actually kind of slow, so we should be able to get that parking spot before they do" Scootlaoo said.

Elly revved the engine, gaining speed as she rushed for the parking space. The tank on the opposite side of the lane; the Matilda, did the same. Oddly, the slower Matilda seemed to be heavily modified and was holding speed nearly on par with the M3 Lee. The Matilda gained even more speed, pulling much closer to the parking space.

"Ponyfeathers." Elly pulled back both levers, braking hard as the Matilda pulled up in front of the parking space. The hatch on top of the turret popped open and a pony stood halfway out of it. It was a younger filly, with a pale magenta coat, purple long flowing mane with a white stripe down the middle and piercing blue eyes.

"Oh no. Not her, anypony but her" Scootaloo groaned.

"You know that pony? I thought you fillies were the only underage team in this competition?" Elly asked.

"Hey loser, why don't you show yourself so we can laugh at your slowness?" The pony teased.

"Now cupcake, there's no point in being rude" A deeper voice from inside the tank said.

"Dad, you're cramping my style" The pony in the Matilda replied through gritted teeth.

"I know that voice anywhere. Is that Diamond Tiara out there?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously.

"Yeah, sounds like her dad is with her too. If she's here that means Silver Spoon isn't too far behind" Scootaloo said.

"Elly can you just turn around? She has a nasty habit of making everypony feel miserable and that's the last thing we need" Apple Bloom pleaded.

Scootlaoo nodded to Elly. "Yeah, they are school bullies with a snobbish streak in them. Diamond Tiara's dad owns multiple department stores all over Equestria, so she is very wealthy and not remotely down to earth."

"Are you going to show your face? I would like to see the loser driving that ugly wreck of a vehicle." Diamond Tiara continued to tease, fluffing her mane in an inflammatory manner.

Elly stared for a moment, eyeing over the details of the vehicle when she had an epiphany. "I'll handle this." Elly grabbed Scootaloo and set her down in her driver's seat.

"Can't we just ignore her and go find another parking spot?" Scootlaoo asked.

"Nah, I got this" Elly said as she popped open the turret hatch and stood up.

"I see the loser of this little race finally shows herself" Diamond Tiara opened her eyes as she finished fluffing her mane only to see a friendly face staring back at her.

"Yup, you sure showed me who is fastest, but are you sure your vehicle should be going that fast? I mean you don't want to strain it out before the battle begins later today" Elly said, a wide smile on her face.

"This thing has the very best parts money could buy. It's fast, well armored, good firepower and is very stylish. Unlike that boxy, ugly green, monstrosity you're driving. I mean what model is that? I didn't see that anywhere in the pictures of the roster" Diamond Tiara said as she pulled out a book from inside the Matilda.

"Oh, this is a heavily modified M3 Lee. Nothing special about it. Anyway, you beat me to the parking spot so I'll just let you have it" Elly said with a smile.

"Eww, the M3 Lee? I actually have pity for you." Diamond Tiara looked down into the Matilda. "Dad, sharp left turn, we are taking our prize."

The Matilda revved its engine, but the road wheels on the left side just spun in place.

"Dad, what gives?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"It won't budge, pudding cake" a deep voice replied.

"Oh, It seems you went and snapped your left tread by accident or shall I say, ineptitude" Elly teased.

Diamond Tiara looked down to the left side of the tank. Flopping uselessly to the side was a small part of the tread that used to cover the road wheels on the left side. "Hey, what did you do to us? I'm telling the judges you sabotaged us!"

"I didn't do anything you pompous little brat. Your lack of engineering skill and understanding of the limitations of your vehicle did it to you" Elly stated sternly.

"Lies, we had the best engineers money could buy, this is just a freak accident." Diamond Tiara said as she looked down into the tank. "Push her harder, dad!"

The Matilda revved its engine harder and a sicking crack echoed across the parking lot. The other tread on the right side popping off as well. Diamond Tiara popped out of the turret again, her mouth wide open at the damage her dad had caused.

"Let me explain to you why your tank is in such awful shape. Firstly, your treads are far too narrow for the speed you were going, it was only a matter of time before they slipped off or snapped. Your first mistake is two fold, keeping the tracks narrow on a vehicle that's not supposed to go above twenty or so kilometers an hour. Secondly, you stopped suddenly, exerting all that force on the treads and braking system. The mistake that caused that nasty cracking sound was not upgrading your braking system to compensate for the extra engine power you undoubtedly put into it. Historically speaking, that vehicle only used a 2x Leyland E164- magic injected engine, which, if I'm correct, only has a hundred and ninety horsepower at best. That vehicle was never designed to move quickly" Elly said with a triumphant grin on her face.

"Furthermore, money is no substitute for hard work, learning, practice and competent engineering. You may have money on your side, but that will only get you to the battlefield, it won't save you on it" Elly jumped out of the top of the turret and sat down, leering down on Diamond Tiara, as if gloating.

"And who do you think you are miss know it all? I have a masters degree in business and economics. Why learn about these little vehicles when money covers my weaknesses just fine. I respectfully ask you to stop picking childish fights with my daughter" the voice from in the Matilda said.

"For your info I have multiple masters degrees in engineering, aeronautics, aerospace engineering, math and chemistry. I hold four mastery certifications by multiple guilds in Canterlot, including the 'Mechanical Mastermind' award given to me by Celestia herself. You can take your easily earned and probably bought degrees and shove them where the sun doesn't shine for all I care" Elly said, spreading her wings proudly.

"Wow, your older sister is just vicious. She trolled them by being nice and let them mess up on their own." Sweetie Belle peeked through the drivers view port in time to see Diamond Tiara turn multiple colors of red in anger.

"Pfft, let's not tell any lies here. Admit it, you're just some delusional, silly waitress serving hay burgers at a local fast food chain. If you were anypony of importance my dad would already know you" Diamond Tiara teased.

"Actually cupcake we don't know her name. We haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Mr. Rich, and the mare outside is...?" Stinking Rish asked in a haughty tone.

"Elly Loo." Elly replied proudly.

The side hatch on the Matilda swung open hastily. A Stallion with a light tan coat and dark, slick-backed hair popped his head out of the tank. "Wait, repeat that, I could of sworn you said your name was 'Elly Loo'."

Elly didn't speak, but instead nodded her head in confirmation.

"Oh, oh dear, it appears I ummm...I'll just be quiet now." The stallion was sweating profusely, only giving Elly a slight grin before ducking back into the tank.

"What's wrong dad? Who's Elly Loo?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Yeah Mr. Rich, I know all the celebrities and I have never heard of anypony named 'Elly Loo'." Silver Spoon added.

"Do they teach you anything in that school of yours? Elly Loo is the heir to the Loo fortune and owner of the company that makes almost every single airship in the world. Short of royalty, she's possibly the most important pony in Canterlot" Mr. Rich said with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Wait, sis, didn't you disappear for a long time?" Scootaloo asked.

"Wait, your sister's that much of a bigshot?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Elly put her head down into the tank through the top hatch. "I've had Gerald running the operations of our family business for years. Luna talked me into taking back my leave of absence CEO position a week and half ago. It was all over the stock journals and Canterlot news all week last week. I guess you fillies don't read the papers, though."

"Ummm miss Loo, I'm not sure Apple Jack will approve of me hangin out with you once she's better. She might see you as some kinda bad influence or sumthin" Apple Bloom said apprehensively.

Elly giggled. "Don't worry, I'm not a snob or anything like some of the high horses in Canterlot. I mean, I think you know me better by now, having worked with me over the last two weeks." Elly lowered her voice to a whisper, "To be frank, I don't like using the family name to impress or get some kinda pull with ponies, but like dad told me, sometimes you have to be a little pushy to get things done."

"Well, okay then. I just hope my sister likes ya as much as I do" Apple Bloom said.

"Oh, and one more thing, just call me Elly, I'm not one for formal titles." Elly pulled her head out of the tank. "Anyway, you folks can have this parking spot, I mean you DID win it fair and square."

Elly jumped down into the tank, closing the hatch behind her. She then quickly sat in her drivers chair and put the vehicle into a quick 180 degree spin. She then hit the gas, spraying mud and grass all over the Matilda's broken tracks and front as she zoomed away to find another parking spot.

"Why did you do that for? They couldn't move to even park there." Sweetie Belle said as she stared out the read viewport above the engine.

"It's a trick my dad taught me when dealing with snobby Canterlot types. If you let them win, but at the same time make them feel like they still lost, it confuses them. Nothing infuriates a snob like a depleted sense of self worth, they won't bother you again unless they are gluttons for punishment." Elly pulled out the lane and made a sharp left turn, parking the vehicle slightly out of line with the rest of the other parked tanks.

"You sure we can park here?" Scootlaoo asked.

"I noticed something when I got on top of the tank, there are no white parking lines anywhere. That means that technically, anywhere is parking" Elly said as she pulled a lever to set the tank in park.

"Won't we get a ticket or something for this?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't think I've ever seen a police pony in Ponyville" Apple Bloom added.

Elly popped open the top hatch and jumped out, lending a hoof to Scootaloo to help her out while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle used the side hatch.

*Ding dong ding*

"All contestants have been accounted for, match debriefing will begin in ten minutes. Please make your way to the speaking podium in a quick , but orderly fashion." A mares voice echoed over the entire field, catching the attention of ponies still making last minute adjustments to their vehicles.

"Huh, that was way sooner than expected" Scootaloo said.

"Luna must have gotten the last missing contestants here while we were busy parking" Sweetie Belle added.

"Best not to waste time. We can do last minute tune ups after the briefing" Elly said as she jumped down from the tank, Scootaloo close behind her.

The group quickly made it across the open grass field to a mass of ponies congregating around a small wooden stage with a single podium in the center. Behind the Podium sat Celestia, Luna and a very well dressed female griffon. She had a large, three pointed silver crown with a single diamond in the center. A vibrant red dress with gold and emerald lace all he way down the right side and a single ruby and gold ring on her right claw.

"Who's the fancy dressed griffin sitting next to Luna?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Fancy? If my sister saw that monstrosity of a dress, she would call it tacky" Sweetie Belle added.

"That is Queen Walarah. I remember meeting her when I was just a filly when I was out on a business trip with mom. She looks imposing, but she's actually quite friendly" Elly said.

Elly noticed Walarah stare her direction and give a half hearted wave.

"Seems she remembers you" Scootaloo said.

Elly waved back, trying to force herself to smile as she did. "Just remember, she could also be one of the griffons behind that little incident by my shop, so keep your guard up."

"Incident?" Apple Bloom said quizzically.

"Yeah, what does she mean by incident, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"You didn't tell them?" Elly asked, looking surprised.

"I, uhhh." If I tell them they will find out I been an orphan all these years Scootaloo's ears folded back and she began to sweat perfusely. She slowly backed away behind Elly, trying to shield herself from the veiw of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

Elly, noticing Scootaloo's obvious discomfort, reassuringly put her foreleg over her shoulder and smiled. "You don't have to worry, you can tell them when you're ready. Just remember it's better to hear it from you than for them to find out another way."

Scootaloo stared up at Elly and nodded. "I- I'll tell you guys everything after this match is over" Scootaloo said nervously as she stared at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie belle looked at one another, then back at Scootaloo.

"Fine by me" Apple Bloom said.

"Ditto" Sweetie Belle added.

"May I have everyponies attention" Luna said in a booming voice as she stepped up to the podium.

The ponies in the crowd all went silent, their attention entirely focused on Princess Luna.

"As you all know, some months ago Queen Walarah came upon a situation that could have led to a bloody and prolonged war with Equestria, but in her infinite wisdom she came up with a compromise; this competition. Todays battle will be an elimination round, the top five scoring tanks from each team will move on to the next round. In that round they will have to score in the top five again and then lastly, one more time before the main battle begins. I will give the podium to my older sister to explain the rules of todays competition." Luna stepped away from the podium, allowing Celestia to come to the front.

"Thank you Luna. Todays competition will be fifteen on fifteen battles with each team having four reserves that come into play one at a time when a friendly tank is destroyed or incapacitated. An enemy or friendly tank is considered destroyed when certain criteria are met. If said vehicle is immobile, silent and had its main gun destroyed for more than three minutes. A winner is declared when either all enemy vehicles have been destroyed or indefinitely disabled or an enemy vehicle has been occupying your flag zone for more than three minutes without being damaged. At the end of the match each individual team will be given a score based on their performance. I will now give the podium to Queen Walarah to explain this system." Celestia stepped away, allowing Queen Walarah to move up to the podium.

"Thank you for having me today, Princesses of the sun and moon." Walarah adjusted her dress before continuing. "As you all probably know by now there has been some political turmoil in my own country as of late, turmoil that was out of my control. However, this compromise has settled the problems in my home country and I am glad that Celestia and Luna have been so very gracious in coming up with the specifics for this little competition." Walarah bowed gracefully before Luna and Celestia and they returned the favor.

"However, I am not here to tell everypony how amazing their leaders are. I am here to explain the scoring system. You teams overall score is based on the following; damage done, enemy vehicles destroyed, scouting information done, assisting other vehicles, how long you sit in the enemy capture zone and hitting enemies in your own zone. Each vehicle type will be judged according to their own specifications. Each vehicle will be assingned a tier that will show up on your map. Lower tier vehicles will be worth less for being destroyed or damaged than higher tier ones." Walarah took a deep breath, adjusting her dress again before continuing.

"Vehicles can be repaired only once in the field and once at the base with spare parts. Tracks may be repaired as many times as needed. However, if a part is damaged or destroyed again, the team is only allowed to use thier own wits to get it working again, no spare parts. Each team is also restricted in ammunition, as in they can only carry ammo that contains sugar as one of the ingredients." Walarah cleared her throat once more. "I now give the podium to Luna."

Queen Walarah stepped away, allowing Luna to step up to the podium. "I would like to add one more thing, even though this whole competition may seem serious, I must remind everpony that it is just a game. I hope you all find a way to enjoy yourselves. With that out of the way, let the games begin!"

The ponies in the crowd cheered, a few of them yelling 'we love you Luna!' as she left the stage.

"Well, that went fairly well, if you keep up like this you might end up buried in fanmail by the end of this competition" Celestia teased.

"I hope so, weekends are kind of boring around the castle. It would be a nice change of pace to feel appreciated instead of dealing with the constant political bickering of my night court" Luna said cheerfully.

"I just hope this competition gets rid of all the restlessness my people have been experiencing" Walarah said with concern.

The crowd of ponies around the stage began to disperse, some of them heading over to the refreshments stand that just rolled up to the far left of the stage, others to make last minute adjustments to their vehicles.

"Shouldn't we do some last minute adjustments as well?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Nah, I think we need to get some food into us more than anything. Can't make good decisions on the battlefield if you're constantly distracted from being hungry" Elly said as she made her way to the refreshment cart.

Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed Elly to the refreshment cart when suddenly, Scootaloo stopped. She had a sudden sinking feeling in her gut.

"I don't think we should leave the vehicle unattended for so long. Somepony could sabotage it" Scootaloo said.

"I guess you're right." Elly turned her attention to the refreshment cart. "Eight apple fritters and four bottles of apple juice please."

The mare at the cart gladly handed Elly a small basket of apple fritters with four bottles of apple juice sticking out the side.

"Oh, wait. How much do I owe you?" Elly asked, frantically patting herself down.

"Nothing, dear. All expenses are paid for by Luna and Celestia for todays event. Even if they weren't I couldn't let those adorable little fillies starve now could I?" The cart mare smiled at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as they munched down a single apple fritter each.

"Thanks, I kinda left my coin purse at home today." Elly smiled and picked one of the fritters out of the basket, finishing it off in one gulp.

"Jeez sis, take time to enjoy it next time will ya" Scootaloo teased.

Elly grinned sheepishly. "You fillies stay here and finish up your meal. I'll check on the tank and make sure it's not being tampered with."

Elly took to the skies and within moments was out of sight.

"You think she would mind if I ate her other fritter?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"As long as you get a replacement for it. I mean, the cart is literally ten feet from us at most." Apple Bloom smiled at the cart mare and she returned the favor with a wave.

Scootaloo munched on her remaining apple fritter when she noticed a griffon wearing a purple beret walk up to the food cart. She looked familiar, like she had been to ponyville before. She had a moderate amber coat, dark brown wings, white neck and head feathers with light purple tips. She also looked as if she was wearing some kind of eyeliner, but upon closer inspection, it was her natural purple color around her amber eyes.

"Isn't that Gilda? Rainbow Dash's friend?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Former friend" Sweetie Belle corrected. "I heard from my sister that she's a giant jerkface."

"Hey lame-mo, you got any fish or jerky in this thing?" Gilda asked rudely.

"No, and with that attitude you won't get anything from me. Not unless you ask nicely." The mare at the cart stared at Gilda firmly, her eyes unwavering in her stare.

"Pfft whatever. I'll catch my own food later." Gilda turned and noticed Scootaloo. Both Scootaloo and Gilda stared at each other, neither of them blinking. Gilda cracked a smirk and walked away, her left eye watching Scootaloo until she was out of sight on the other side of the stage.

"What was that all about?" Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo didn't respond, she knew exactly what Gilda was up to, but didn't want to make her friends worry. Either she was sizing us up or she's a spy like sis thinks she is. Either way, she won't try anything, not with Luna and Celestia so close.

***

"Ok ponies final checklist. Turning, brakes and acceleration, check." Elly turned the tank in place, accelerated forward and then hit the brakes.

"Sis do we have to do this? This is the third time in the last thirty minutes. Celestia and Luna will be here to teleport all the tanks to the battlefield in a few minutes" Scootaloo said as she watched Luna and Celestia approach the first tank on the far edge of the field.

"What we should be worried about is the map layout. We have all of two minutes after the countdown flare is shot to come up with a viable plan. I kinda wish they preuploaded the maps to our radars." Sweetie Belle stared at the blank green screen with the other allied vehicles periodically showing up as green blips.

"Are you fillies ready?" Luna said just outside of the tanks back hatch.

"Ready as we will ever be, Princess" Elly replied.

Luna stepped back, lowered her head and fired a blue bolt into the side of the tank. It was quickly enveloped in a bright blue aura and within seconds disappeared.

Seconds later, they appeared in a grassy field. Scootaloo quickly got her bearings and looked around in her gunners viewport on top of the tank, only two other allied vehicles were nearby; the monsterous Jagd. Panzer E-100 driven by Twilight Sparkle and her crew and a heavily modified T-40 tank destroyer being driven by Fluttershy, a bear, a flamingo and a blue Jay.

"You know, I'll never get used to that" Elly said as she shook her head, tying to get her bearings.

"Oh look, they uploaded the map to my radar!" Sweetie Belle pointed at her radar excitedly.

Elly, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom crowded around the small radar display, each examining a small part of the map.

"Looks like we have a large ditch on the far west with a wall of rock and a small road leading up to a large rocky outcrop." Apple Bloom pointed out what seemed like a death trap, an open road where they had little functional cover and the other side had makeshift buildings galore.

"I don't think we should go down that way. I mean we will need some ponies to cover it, but they should stay behind the few rocks we have on this side, or up on the hill where the base circle is behind those rocks." Elly pointed out a line of rocks on the west side of their base.

"There's a lighthouse on a mountain to the north, looks like a small road leads up to it" Scootaloo examined the small road further in her viewport. "Never mind, it's far too steep for this thing to get up there."

"I have an idea, we can head up to the lighthouse area, but instead of going up to it we hide on the hill nearby. Get behind some bushes there and relay where the enemy is going, maybe even get a few potshots if we're lucky" Sweetie Belle recommended.

"And if things get too hot we can back off into that little makeshift town south of the hill" Elly added.

"Looks good to me, any objections?" Apple Bloom asked.

Elly, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shook their heads.

"I guess it's settled then, I wonder what the others are planning?" Sweetie Belle turned on her radio only to immediately turn it off as a storm of noise assaulted her ears. "Heh, sorry must have had it on the wrong channel."

Scootaloo continued to watch as more and more friendly tanks appeared near them. Rainbow Dash's AMX 13 90 appeared behind them, followed by Diamond Tiara's Matilda. A few seconds later pinkie Pie's Su-14 appeared to the right of the Matilda, dwarfing the tank in its shadow. The last few tanks began to pop in until at last, the fifteenth team member appeared; Derpy, Red Typhoon and her daughter Dinky in the KV-2.

"So, what's the plan?" A voice that sounded oddly like Lrya heartstrings said over the radio.

"Mister Bear says we should wait to ambush them somewhere, he suggests waitng in a bush and focus firing the first enemy that appears. Wait, really mister Bear? That seems awfully rude not to at least give them a warning shot, to make it a fair battle." Fluttershy's voice came over the radio.

"I think the whole point of an ambush is to get the first few shots, element of surprise and everything" Twilight Sparkle said over the radio.

"I guess, but it just seems so...mean" Fluttershy replied.

"I'm planning on getting up there by the lighthouse. I can spot all the enemies from way up there" Rainbow Dash said.

"Make sure you paint the targets for me, so I can shoot them with my giant birthday cake cannon!" Pinkie Pie added.

"The game will begin in thirty seconds, please start your engines!" Luna announced from far above the battlefield.

Engines began to start up all around, almost all of them dwarfing the low humming coming from Unbreakable's electric engine.

"Do you hear that? Twilight's engine is louder than a propeller." Elly grabbed a pair of earmuffs above her and put them on. "Jeez, what does she have in that thing? A jet engine?"

"No kidding. She's in a tank destroyer, so much for being silent and deadly." Scootaloo added, covering her ears.

The start flare from Luna lit up the sky above them and within moments tanks began to move out of their starting points and into position.

"Wait and see what direction everypony is going Elly, see which side needs our support." Sweetie Belle said as she watched her radar intently.

"Enemy spotted!" Derpy yelled over the radio.

A single Vk2801 had managed to rush to the bushes overlooking the base on the opposite ridge line.

"Everypony move it or lose it, artillery fire will be incomming!" Twilight yelled over the radio.

"I'll get em!" Derpy yelled.

"Please not me, not me, not me..." Fluttershy wimpered over the radio.

*Fwoom*!

The deafening sound of the Kv-2's 152mm cake gun echoed over the field followed by large chunks of wood flying in all directions. Derpy had missed, instead she accidentally shot Diamond Tiara's Matilda in the back, leaving it nothing more than a pile of cake and splinters.

"Whoo hoo! Not me!" Fluttershy yelled exuberantly over the radio.

"Derpy, you team killing fucktard!" Silver Spoon yelled as she dug herself out of the pile of cake.

"Negative one point for Ponyville Team!" One of the refs above announced.

"Scootaloo, do you have a lock on him?" Elly said as she maneuvered the tank to a nearby rock for protection, just as a large keg explosion of cherry juice from an enemy artillery unit exploded near Pinkie Pie.

"Almost..." Scootaloo aimed the cannon just a few meters ahead of the fleeing Vk2801 and fired. The small Apple pie flew through the air and struck the Vk2801 in its rear drive wheel, blowing off the tracks on the right side and damaging the engine.

"Anypony have a shot on that thing? We are reloading!" Scootaloo yelled as Apple Bloom opened the breach to load another pie into barrel.

"W-we do" Fluttershy said meekly. "Now mister flamingo, take your time and aim." The pink Flamingo adjusted her aim port, turning the dial to line up the enemy tank and fired. A sponge cake hit the Vk2801 in the side, completely wrecking both the turret and hull.

"Nice shot Flutters" Rainbow Dash said over the radio. "By the way I'm already up by the lighthouse."

"Why didn't you take a pot shot at the enemy scout?" Lyra complained over the radio.

"Becuase I don't have any gun depression in this thing and even if I did I don't want to give away my hiding space while spotting these guys" Rainbow Dash said.

"Elly, gun it. We need to get up to that hill and support her." Sweetie Belle watched as multiple red blips appeared on her radar. "We have what looks like four heavy tanks and three mediums. Can you identify what heavy tanks are there?"

"Rodger." Rainbow Dash looked though her drivers port, only moving the tank slightly to get a better view. "Kinda hard to tell, looks like a M6, Tiger, Vk3601 and an IS-7. The mediums are a T54, a M4 Sherman and a M3 Lee. They are heading around rock to the east."

*Boom*

A large keg of cherry juice detonated on the wall of the light house behind Rainbow Dash.

"Ponyfeathers, somepony must have spotted us." Rainbow Dash put the tank in reverse just as a hail of pastries from the medium tanks below obliterated the bush she was previously hiding behind. "Under fire, taking cover behind the light house. Pinkie do you have a lock on that IS7?"

"Rodger, cake bomb away!" Pikie Pie yelled.

The Su-14 rocked back and forth as it fired a massive wedding cake into the sky. A few moments later an announcement from above confirmed that Pinkie Pie had nutralized the IS-7 in a single hit.

Meanwhile, allied tank destroyers in the ditch to the west were busy taking fire from the enemy tank destroyers popping from behind buildings as well as flanking fire coming from the ridge above them.

"Can anypony get those mediums on the ridge above us? I have already suffered heavy damage and can't take much more of this" A Stug three driver said over the radio.

Unbreakable pulled up to the bush on the hill just in time to see the last heavy tank head up around the side of the mountain. The heavy tanks on their team including a vk4502 B, KV-2, KV-4 and a AMX M4 45 were on a collision course with the enemy heavy tanks on the far side of the mountain.

"We have a problem. We can either eliminate the heaviest armor on the enemy team by going around behind them, or we can take out the mediums giving our tank destroyers problems." Sweetie Belle pointed to the mediums showing up on radar on the ridge line and then to the five remaining enemy heavy tanks heading around the mountain.

"Well, the heavy tanks are outnumbered dlightly, but ..." Apple Bloom paused and stared at Scootaloo.

"Gilda is the most dangerous enemy on the enemy team by far. If we take out those mediums she may still be in game to cause us serious problems later" Scootaloo said as she stared at Sweetie Belle's radar display.

"I been hit, gun wrecked, retreating to repair. Crap, I've been tracked, can't hold out much longer" Twilight Sparkle cried over the radio.

"We can't afford to lose a gun that big, let's go." Elly put the tank in gear and made a hard left turn, quickly gunning the engine and gaining much needed speed as they rolled down the hill.

"Apple Bloom, I need the next shot ready to load as soon as I fire. We are going to be seriously outgunned up here." Scootaloo turned the turret around so it would be aiming at the flanks of the enemy tanks when they come from behind them.

"Rodger that" Apple Bloom replied as she lifted the next pastry up, ready to load it the moment Scootaloo fired.

"You guys goin to give those guys suprise butt pinches?" Rainbow Dash asked over the radio.

"Rodger that, can you assist?" Sweetie Belle asked in return.

"Assist? I plan on kill stealing, like a boss." Rainbow Dash put her AMX 1390 into gear and rushed down the mountainside. Her path was a bit different than Unbreakable's, as it was going to the south side of the hill instead of the north.

"Ummm Rainbow Dash, are you doing what I think you're doing?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Let me get the first few shots, that will distract them so you can come up from the other side and put a few holes in them. Afterwards we can get them in a pincer attack, maybe even push them down the hill in front of those allied tank destroyers" Rainbow Dash said.

"She can't take a hit in that little thing, if she gets tracked or spotted first, she's done for" Scootaloo said, a hint of panic in her voice.

"I'm sure Rainbow Dash knows the risks, but if we lose those tank destroyers we will be horribly outgunned if those heavy tanks to the east fail to stop their advance around the lighthouse." Elly rolled around the corner of the hill and spotted an ememy M3 Lee taking pot shots at an e25 trying to hide behind a rock.

"You got a shot on him Scootaloo?" Elly asked as she angled the vehicles armor slightly, just in case the M3 noticed them.

Without giving an answer, Scootaloo fired the main gun, hitting the enemy M3 Lee in the back toward the right side of the vehicle. The explosion knocked the M3 forward, its engine falling out and the maingun flying off into the distance.

"Whoa! I didn't expect it to do that much damage. I was just trying to disable them, not send them a game ending greeting card" Scootaloo said, shocked at the damage she had done.

"Incoming enemy T54!" Sweetie Belle yelled.

Suddenly a T54 medium tank pulled up around the corner and fired. The hard pastry projectile made a hair raising grinding sound as it struck the upper right of Unbreakable's turret. For a moment it looked as if Unbeakable was done for, but the projectile dug in very shallow and just stuck there, hanging out of the turret.

"Huh, pretty sure we were done for there" Apple Bloom said.

"Very nearly, look." Scootaloo pointed to a bulge in the upper right hoof side of the turret. The wood around it was warped and beginning to crack.

"Are you two done being shocked? We still have a T54 in front of us that wants to play." Elly angled the tank as she pulled back, just in time for another shot from the T54 to skip off the front plate.

"Loading apple pie." Apple Bloom picked up an apple pie and popped open the breach of the gun, not even allowing the smoke to clear before popping the projectile into the cannon and closing the breach.

"I'll need assistance squirt, just get that M4 off my tail while I wreck this nublet!" Rainbow Dash yelled over the radio. Rainbow Dash rolled up behind the T54 and began strafe along the left side of the enemy vehicle, putting shot after shot into the side of the T54, blowing off its tracks and doing significant damage to the engine compartment.

However, Rainbow Dash's AMX 13 90 took two shots to the side from a persuing M4 Sherman, immobilizing her right in front of the T54's gun.

"Well, been nice workin with ya, squirt" Rainbow Dash said over the radio just before the T54 shot her in the side, flipping her AMX 13 90 over.

"Tank disabled, points awarded" a pegasus pony wearing a referee's uniform announced above them.

"Rainbow Dash!" Elly and Scootaloo said together.

Scootaloo gritted her teeth angrily. "Oh, it is ON!" Scootaloo turned the turret to face the undamaged M4 Sherman. "You will regret doing that to my other big sister." Scootaloo fired a shot directly into the turret ring of the M4 Sherman, blowing the turret clean off in one shot. A red haired pony crawled out of what was left of the turret, covered in lemon merang pie fluff and shook her hoof angrily.

"Geeze, you could have been less brutal about it" the pony complained as she started to clean herself off.

Scootaloo quickly turned the turret and gun on the damaged T54, she then opened up the top hatch of the tank and stared down on the T54. "You have three options here, get flipped over by us, be destroyed by us, or surrender."

Scootaloo waited and listened, she could hear the muttering inside the vehicle as the ponies inside argued about her ultimatum.

"Did you see what they did to the M3 lee and the M4 Sherman? We should surrender and save ourselves the embarassment" one of the ponies inside said.

"Lucky shots I say. I don't even know what they are driving, it looks like it was thrown together at the last minute" another said, the calousness in her voice readily apparent.

"Uh, guys. I think I just heard their gun reload" another pony said as she heard the faint echo of a gun breach closing.

"Well?" Scootaloo asked, impatiantly tapping her hoof. After a few more moments of intense muttering, the hatch on the top of the vehicle popped open. Slowly, a small white flag being held by two nervous hooves reached from the top of the T54's turret, shaking as they waved the flag in surrender. However, before the referee in the air could declare the vehicle defeated a low pitched whistle could be heard through the air.

"What is that sound?" Scootaloo asked, her ears flapping excitedly in an attempt to pinpoint the location of the noise. The sound kept getting louder and seemed to be coming from above them.

Wait, I think I heard this noise somewhere before. When Pinkie Pie was testing her...uh-oh. Scootaloo thought.

"Reverse now, Elly! Step on it!" Scootaloo yelled.

Elly pulled a lever and stepped on the gas. The treads spun in place momentarily as the vehicle started to reverse. Seconds later a large keg of juice slammed into the front half of the surrendered T54, ripping the front end off the vehicle as if it were paper and splashing the crew with sticky fruit juice.

"That was a close one, lucky us the enemy needs to work on their aim" Scootaloo said.

"Can't say the same for those poor ponies in the T54 though, that looked like it could have hurt, even through the spell protections." Elly added as she watched the ponies from the demolished T54 pick themselves off the ground.

"Ummm, how do I call that? Is it a team kill or?" One of the refs above fiddled with his clipboard, as the other refs flew to his side in an attempt to make a proper call.

"Two confirmed kills for Ponyville, two losses confirmed for Ponyville" Another ref hovering over the ditch announced.

"We lost Twilight's group, as well as a E25. There's just a single enemy Su-152 memaining down there." Sweetie Belle stared at her map monitor, friendly vehicles were dropping off like drunk flies over a keg of apple family cider. Suddenly an impact shook her away from her radar.

"Another point for Ponyville. Kill confirmed by artillery" The ref above the ditch announced.

"Looks like Pinkie Pie cleared that out for us" Apple Bloom said.

"Glad to he-" Pinkie Pie's voice was suddenly drowned out by the sound of an impact, followed shortly by the sound of something splashing, then nothing but static.

"Pinkie?" Sweetie Belle said over the radio. "Pinkie Pie, respond please." Sweetie Belle sat there, hoping for a reply when she realized that Pinkie Pie's presence on the radar was no longer registering. "You don't think?"

"Yeah, enemy artillery decided we weren't worth taking shots at anymore. Not sure if they just guessed her position or she was spotted by the tank destroyer she obliterated. Either way there's nothing left down here to shoot at." Elly sighed and put the tank into a spin, stopping suddenly to face the lighthouse.

Sweetie Belle looked over the radar. "There isn't much of anything left to shootat and we pretty much run out of friends as well." Sweetie belle scanned over the radar until she found a single faint blip hiding near some houses to the southeast of their position. "Wait, Derpy is still technically in this, though from my screen it looks as if her vehicle hasn't moved in the last five minutes at least."

"How many enemies do we have left?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Well, the artillery and it looks like one live heavy tank was spotted in the small town to the north. It looks like it was going around the hill on the other side of the lighthouse." Sweetie Belle scanned the screen one more time. "Yeah, we have artillery and a single Tiger tank to deal with."

"What? What in blazes happened to all the heavies pushing up around the back of the lighthouse?" Elly asked.

"All gone, it looks like we were winning, but that tiger pulled back into an ambush position. It took out our heavy armor one by one." Sweetie Belle said.

"Gilda..." Scootaloo said aloud. "It's her isn't it?"

Sweetie Belle looked over the battle ledger to the right of the Radar. "Yep, it's her alright. She's the only one on that team using the Tiger."

"We can't beat a Tiger head on, we can damage it, but that's not what I'm worried about." Elly said as she put the tank into gear.

"I thought our armor was good enough to take a Tiger head on?" Scootaloo asked.

"Not even close. You see the bulge in the turret there?" Apple Bloom pointed to a spot on the turret where the armor was just barely holding on.

"Yeah, that's where the T54 shot us. It didn't go through." Scootaloo said.

"Because the shot was a very shallow. My guess is the impact angle is something around a hundred and ten degrees or so. If that shot was at a flat on ninety degrees, it would have most certainly caused us a lot more grief." Apple Bloom said.

"Scootaloo, remember when we were watching what kind of ammo most ponies were using?" Elly asked.

"Yeah? You said most ponies were firing ammo that does alot of damage over a wider area" Scootaloo said.

"Exactly. Apple Bloom and I worked out that around seven out of every ten vehicles fired ammo like that. So we designed this armor to take a larger impact over a wider area. We even had derpy hit the front plate during test firing to see how it would react to large area damage" Elly explained.

"After about three shots, two of which hit Fluttershy's vehicle, she managed to hit the target. After we inspected it we found that if the size of the ammo fired at us was wider than half an apple pie, it had next to no chance of causing damage." Apple Bloom put her hooves together and slowly spread them apart, so that they were around ten inches apart from each other. "About that big."

"It comes at a price though. Any shots that are high velocity and reasonably compact have a very high chance of going right through us. We were incredibly lucky that the one shot that did hit us was poorly aimed." Elly pulled up to a bush on the opposite of the southern town. "See if that Tiger has arrived yet."

Scootaloo looked though her commanders periscope. She slowly panned the periscope left, then right, searching for the missing Tiger tank. "Nope, not a thing, not even any tracks in the road coming this way."

"Any places to hide? I have a feeling that the only way to take on the Tiger is an ambush" Elly said.

Scootaloo peered through her periscope again. She noticed that while some of the houses were damaged from firefights and clumsy driving earlier in the battle, most of the makeshift homes were in fair shape. One in particular stood out, a home with an attached garage that was half way open. It looked like it had just enough ceiling clearance for them to hide if they needed to.

"There's a house that's right next to the road, I think we can hide in the garage." Scootaloo scanned the other homes for their viability as cover. "We can also make a run for it by swerving in between them if that Tiger finds us."

"I really don't like the idea of ambushing. I wish we could just take it headlong and decide who has the better team instead of playing shadow tag with 'em" Apple Bloom said.

"I know the feeling, but we have to play to the strengths and weaknesses to the vehicle we are using. I mean look what Twilight did, she got that big heavy armor stuck out in the open and they just kept hitting her until her frontal armor failed. We can maybe take a couple nasty hits, but the best armor is sometimes not being seen and hit at all." Elly put the tank in gear and slowly inched it through the brush, angling it slightly to the left so she can both have a chance to bounce a shot and give herself and Scootaloo vision on the road going around the lighthouse.

"Everything looks clear" Scootaloo said.

Elly gunned the engine, pulling them up to the half open garage door. "Scootaloo, I want you to use the gun barrel to lift the door the rest of the way up."

Scootaloo slowly lowered the gun barrel under the garage door, lifting it up ever so slowly as to not get the door or the gun stuck. "Okay, it should be locked in place."

Elly backed up and turned the vehicle toward the garage wall that led into the main space of the makeshift home. "This may get a little bumpy." Elly stepped on the accelerator, sending the tank crashing through the wooden wall and into the center of the home, the garage door falling down behind them from the impact.

"Are you out of your mind Elly!?" Apple Bloom asked as she picked herself off the floor of the vehicle. "You could of at least informed the rest of us to what you were doing.

"Shhhh, keep it down, look." Elly moved her head to the left to allow Apple Bloom a good look through her drivers viewport.

"Oh, I see." Through the drivers viewport Apple Bloom could see through the two foyer windows in the home. Down the road leading to the other side of the lighthouse there were dust clouds being kicked up by something large. Seconds later the large silouette was visible through all the dust.

"Why does that thing look scarier than before?" Apple Bloom backed away from the viewport to rub her eyes.

"What's wrong? All I can see from my port is a ceiling made of particle board." Scootaloo tried to adjust her periscope for a better view but found it futile. Every direction was nothing but wood walls.

Apple bloom leaned over Elly and got a better look at what she thought she had seen. "Uh, she really modded the horse dookey out of that thing." The vehicle was large and boxy, but unlike Tiger tanks she had seen before, this one was far more vicious looking. The small spikes on the front of the vehicle were now longer and had little barbs that faced the other direction from the point. Just above them to the right and left were twin fifty-seven millimeter snub nosed cannons, either side of them covered with extra wood plating. The turret was entirely different as well, the picture she had seen had it equipped with just one long barreled gun, but this one was different. The turret had what looked like folded back rabbit ears across the top of the turret, it was also significantly wider than before. The worst part was that these two rabbit ears like structures lined up with not one eighty-eight millimeter gun, but two of them.

"What does it look like? I can't see anything up here" Scootaloo complained.

Apple Bloom moved her head away from the viewport to allow Elly to get a better view.

"You got to be kidding me..." Elly said, her jaw hanging open. "Two of those high penetration guns? Four if you count the lesser ones."

"Wait, what?" Scootaloo hopped down from her turret chair and pushed Elly's head out of the way, not even noticing her obvious discomfort. "Whoa...just, whoa." Scootaloo stepped back, allowing Elly to adjust her neck.

"Little bit too enthusiastic there, sis." Elly said as she rubbed her neck where Scootaloo's back hoof had been sitting.

"Sorry, but how are we going to fight That thing?" Scootaloo asked.

"We do out best. We wait for it to make an opening for us and we do whatever we can to damage it. Remember the score system lets us move on to the next round if we do well enough. We don't actually have to win" Elly said reassuringly.

"I don't think Rainbow Dash would agree with that or the rest of our team for that matter." Scootaloo jumped back up into her seat. "We need to come up with a plan to beat that thing."

"Incoming transmission!" Sweetie Belle yelled excitedly.

"Sorry about not saying anything earlier, we had to fix our radio after it took a hit and accidentally got stuck on the country music station. Mom has been kind of delaying me because she likes it" Dinky said over the radio.

"Hey, I happen to like 'Friend's in Lower Places'. I mean, diamond dogs need friends too, though I'm not sure why they need to drink so much" Derpy chimed in over the radio.

"I dun think that song is about diamond dogs lassie" Red added.

"Terrible, ear bleeding music aside, what's the situation like out there? Our radar is still on the fritz. It keeps trying to show us episodes of 'Lost' for some strange reason.

"We have two enemy targets left. One of them is a Tiger that looks like it is straight out of a horror novel and the other is artillery that has nothing left to shoot at. Are you able to assist with the Tiger?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Not sure we can beat it, even together. We had to retreat after one of its shots damaged our radar and engine. Everything that has tried to hurt that thing got its flank handed to them on a silver platter. We even managed to land a hit on it head on and it just shrugged it off like we were firing sweat peas at it" Dinky said with some sadness in her voice.

"There has to be a weakness on it somewhere. I mean, our allied vehicles had bigger and better guns than we did and couldn't dent it. How did the Tiger react to you when it was cornered?" Elly asked.

"It, backed up against a building, it intentionally cornered itself to where it couldn't escape" Dinky replied.

"That's odd. You think they were trying to cover up a weakspot or something?" Apple Bloom pondered. "That must be it, well, either that or they didn't want to deal with big tanks from multiple sides."

"Well, we have two options. We can easily outrun the Tiger, take out the artillery and capture the base while Derpy's team distract the Tiger." Elly looked to Scootaloo.

"Or we distract the Tiger ourselves and give Derpy a killing shot at it" Scootaloo said as she sighed at the idea.

"Both are pretty bad if you ask me. If we run away nopony will take us seriously" Sweetie Belle said.

"But if we trust Derpy to actually aim a shot perfectly for once in her life-"

"Hey! I aim very good, thank you very much!" Derpy yelled over the radio, interrupting Apple Bloom.

"Like I was saying, if we trust this to Derpy, it's a fifty-fifty chance of victory" Apple Bloom finished.

Scootaloo sighed, both options were less than sure wins. If they managed to start capturing the base, the Tiger is fast enough to take out Derpy's KV-2 and stop them. The other option wasn't sure fire either, Derpy had dubious aim at the best of times and all the moving around the Tiger for better shots could end poorly if Derpy missed or worse hit them instead.

"We need a plan soon, that Tiger is done looking through the alley ways between the far east houses and is coming this way." Elly watched as the massive Tiger roared its way back onto the main dirt road and headed their way.

"I have an idea. Derpy, I want you to aim and try to hit us when we roll out of this home to suprise attack the Tiger." Scootaloo watched as her friends jaws opened up in surprise.

"Are you crazy?" Sweetie Belle asked, shocked by the thought of intentionally being shot at.

"You sure all the action hasn't gone to your head sis?" Elly asked, putting her hoof over Scootaloo's forehead to check her temperature.

"No, I'm fine" Scootaloo whined as she batted Elly's hoof from her head. "Derpy is a tad crosseyed right? Ever notice how whenever Fluttershy's vehicle is on her left side when she aims right and always hits her?"

The other ponies in the tank all looked at one another with confused looks on their faces.

"Trust me on this one. Worse case scenario, Derpy team kills us and no one can really blame us for that, right?" Scootaloo smiled, hopeing for support on her crazy idea.

"I say we do it. She's right, worse case scenario we lose horribly to Derpy's aim and honestly, this is only an elimination round. I think we scored high enough to move on to the next round." Elly let off the brake and waited with baited breath for the Tiger to roll by.

The ground began to tremble, the makeshift windows in the building began to shake violently as something massive approached the house. From inside the tank one could ear the sqeaking and clanking of a suspension system that was horribly overburdened with armor. One could even smell the scent of imminent doom approaching. The rumbling became louder and louder with each tense moment until the vehicle finally came into view. A thick cloud of dust and dirt in it's wake, the large Tiger tank rolled by the window of the makeshift home and suddenly stopped in front of the garage.

"Why did it stop?" Sweetie Belle whispered.

Elly could just make out the back end of the turret on the Tiger, it looked as if it were turning this way, aiming at them. Uh- Oh Elly thought.

The Tiger fired a pair of shots from its twin cannons into the garage door, both of the shots sailing within inches of the backside of Unbreakable. Spooked, Elly stepped on the gas, crashing through the side of the building, coming up behind the Tiger. "Scootaloo?!"

"On it!" Scootaloo peered through her periscope as she turned the turret around, but what she saw was unexpected. The backside of the Tiger's turret was entirely open. She could see a griffon team member hand cranking a switch to turn the Tiger's guns on them. They must have sustained damage to their hydraulics system at some point? Scootaloo thought to herself. I could hit anything from here, the engine deck, the fuel reserves, the inner workings of the gun... A moment of hesitation allowed the Tiger's gun to get around just enough to fire another shot, this one ripping through the back part of the engine deck, sailing right over Sweetie Belle's head and through the other side.

"Don't think, shoot!" Apple Bloom yelled.

Scootaloo pulled the trigger and the next few moments felt as if they lasted an enternity. She watched the smoke clear quickly as the pie left the cannon and headed for the griffin turning the turret crank. His face went wide in horror as he watched the pie collide with the crank controls, knocking him over from the shockwave of the impact. The pie then bounced off the crank controls and into the back of the twin gun loading mechanisim, shattering into three seperate fragments. The first ricocheted upward into the top of the turret and then down again onto the loading mechanisim, breaking it into a hundred peices. The other two bounced into the engine deck, both of them wedging themselves into cylinders in the engine, cuttting power down significantly.

Scootaloo, after Apple Bloom tugged on her tail, snapped out of her shock and opened the breech, helping Apple Bloom load the next shot when she saw it rolling toward them; a tank silouette rolling through the dust and dirt that all the cannon fire had kicked up. It was Derpy's team in the Kv-2, coming to assist them.

The large tank rolled up on the other side of the Tiger and pointed its 152 millimeter cannon directly at them at near point blank range. It was then that Scootaloo realized that they were on the left of the Tiger, where Derpy's crosseyed aim problems were much less of an issue.

A cold sweat came over Scootaloo, this was it. Either Derpy obliterated the Tiger or shot them point blank. This is it.

The KV-2 came to a stop, made minor adjustsments to its aim...

and fired.

Comments

[sjo3989]

thanks for the update!!

[kluck]

Awesome update

[Naughty loki]

NOO! THAT CLIFFHANGER!
WHY YOU DO THIIIIIIIIS!

[Oubliette]

Sounds a lot like Unbreakable is an M-7 Priest Assault gun, which if I recall correctly was based on the M3 Grant, the American version of the Lee.

[darkeva]

That was a cruel cliffhanger.

Awesome fight though.

[Kichi]

So... Is going to continue?

[Diceman]

6021668

Next chapter is 75% done minus editing, sorry it's taking so long but 5 hours of my day is used up JUST to make 7$ to survive off of.

[Kichi]

6024303 thanks, at last it mean it's going to continue