If you think that's the only empire of the Zebras, you're wrong, my lad, my lad.
You lot had better pray that the others do not form an alliance and come to the aid of their brethren.

You can't kill us. We're far too tough.

i'm loving this for several reason. A) I love trains. B) I love battle trains C) You referenced galaxy railways (one of my favorite animes) D) it's fun to read.

8646125
Hello Conigwolf,

And I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far. I like trains too, and in fact, if I hadn't read "Rails of Destruction", by An Iowa Class Battleship, the story that inspired this one, it never would have happened!

8645964
Hello Alsvid,

And that's a bit odd, I never thought that I'd find a Zebra fan here! Nevertheless, I believe that it is YOU who are wrong, at least in this alternate universe! I know that this is not the only Zebra Empire. However, this is an alternate universe, so at least in this case, it is. Also, in case it hasn't been clear before, I absolutely DESPISE stories of Zebras conquering Equestria! They always get away with their crimes, and NEVER get punished! Well, that all changed when "Battleship Express" came into existence. Now they're going to get what's coming to them!

And yes, I can kill you Zebras. I already did at Ponyville, twice, again at Las Pegasus, once more at Appaloosa, and now, I'm killing you in the Zebra Empire. You may be tough, but even with your magic, I have yet to see a Zebra outsmart a bullet! Y'all aint as tough as you think that you are!

8646170

You greenhorns have yet to go further inwards to the Southern Reaches and the Western Coast of Zebrica. You may have had a fine time tearing apart these tribal confederacies masquerading as empires, but you had better pray that the Great Zebabwe or the Axgroom monarchies turn their eyes away from your harassment of our smaller brethren.

What, you thought we would all meet you in the daylight, like the smaller of us you've killed in your campaign to take back what was yours? Your men have to sleep sometime, you know. We won't confront you in the open, either. Say, did you have a taster taste that food before you ate it? It may be poisoned.

We'll send champions to destroy the morale of your troops by leading suicide attacks in your base camps while you think yourselves safe at bed. Those other nations you have allied yourself with? The Crystal Empire, Dragonstone? We'll issue propaganda campaigns to sow discord between your allies. We'll infiltrate your cities and open your gates so that our Centurions can enter.

Though, everything must come to an end, so.

Perhaps this is our retribution for allowing our internal politics to become too fractured, too fraught with the buying and selling of wares, of minting money, and so we have disintegrated in the face of a truly determined foreign enemy. It may have been that we spelled our own doom with this.

I warned the Senate that the white ponies should have been conquered and the Northern Lands brought under the heel of a united front of all the monarchies at once, but did they listen? No, of course not.

*gathers her skirts about herself and trails off in disgust*

8646215
Hello again Alsvid,

And we've just started our Zebra Empire campaign, we still have a long way to go.

We're not worried. We've taken on far worse odds with the Futas and won.

Maybe, some fight by day, some fight at night. We haven't met all of the Zebra forces, but soon, we will, and we will destroy them. Also, yes we do have to sleep, but we do that in shifts. 3 shifts, for a 24/7 operation of the train. There's always someone on guard, someone to man the engine, and someone to man the guns. NEVER has their been a time where everyone is resting, there's always someone working. Food? Please, all of it comes from our kitchens on the train. NO ONE but the cooks touch it, and we ALWAYS test for poisoning!

And Kamikaze attacks? PUH-LEEZE! The Futas tried that MULTIPLE TIMES!!!! They tried everything from suicide bombers, to cars, trucks, tanks, planes, even trains fully-laden with explosives to destroy the Battleship Express, but to no avail.

We also live on the train. Said train also has radar, thermal scanners, and eyes all over it, 24/7. We can spot an attack coming from a mile away, and deal with it appropriately. We all sleep safe, knowing that while we do, another is doing his job to keep the train safe.

Propaganda campaigns? Well, that could be a bother, but nothing we couldn't handle. And what cities? We don't have any! Our only "City" is the deadliest weapon to ever ride the rails! The other cities and towns we leave to the Ponies.

The Zebra's set themselves up for disaster when they decided to invade Equestria. Their fate was further jeopardized by declaring war on the Battleship Express. Their forever fate was sealed when the Zebras stole Twilight, Dash, and Applejack from Don, Leopard, and Alex respectively.

(Again, Alternate Universe. In my timeline, Overlord Zakia gathered all of the Zebra Tribes together into the Zebra Empire. Maybe that's not how it works in your universe, but that's how it works in mine)

Is Zecora safe or did something happen to her?

8677174
Hello Silentwoodfire,

And I don't actually know. I thought about her, and part of me thought that she was ok, and living in Ponyville, but the rest of me thought that she was a Zebra agent. In the end, I didn't mention her, so as to let the reader decide for themselves what happened to Zecora and why.

Death is too good for them, life sentence in the Тюрьма крови Gulag in the Russian sector of the Galactic Federation!

LONG LIVE THE FEDERATION!

(Just something I made up, but if time is plentiful, an original story may be written by me, your favorite Heretic Slayer.)

9138749
Hello ElderTemplar,

And death IS too good for them! Luckily, there is an afterlife for people who behave like they do. Some call it "Hell", but I guess that you call it your Russian Gulag!

I nodded. "Yep, this is it, the min-nuke. Capable of a 0.25 megaton yield. Smallest atomic weapon ever mounted to a missile small enough to be launched by a single individual.

WRONG!

9206351
Hello Trixiecat,

And this weapon’s existence is unconfirmed.

However, the little device that Leopard’s holding, and Aurora can fire is about the same size as a large tube of toothpaste. It’s about 8in long, and the warhead is 2, almost 3 of those inches.

Plus, I said the smallest atomic weapon ever mounted to a MISSILE small enough to be launched by a single individual. I never said bullet.

ih1.redbubble.net/image.142485436.3062/flat,800x800,070,f.u1.jpg

9206379
Hello Trixiecat,

And yes, the Zebras are about to say goodbye to the world, and get blasted straight to Hell for DARING to make themselves an enemy of Humanity!

Full respect to private Dan, biting through the ball and shaft straight off! (can’t imagine the mess or the disgrace of having your part bit off!)

9442397
Hello Ravencell,

And yes, that was probably the most bad-ass thing ANYONE in the whole of Battalion 4009 EVER did! Private Dan knew that he was probably going to die anyway, so he decided to give the Zebra sexually assaulting him a PERMANENT reminder that he wasn't going down quietly! (And spoiler alert, Private Dan didn't die. He almost did, but he's coming back soon!)

and the pain train don't stop for nobody

Celestia: Gives BE permission to conduct total war
My brain: Warcrimes.exe activated

10470563
Hello Wapish,

And yeah.........you might be right. You'll have to read on to find out for sure, but yes, the line between justified anger, and wanton destruction start to get VERY blurred. History is written by the victors, and sometimes the victors did things that they try to forget about, such as how the crew of the Battleship Express annihilated the rest of the Zebra Empire with nuclear weapons, as you'll see in a future chapter.

I know this is the wrong story but I felt like it needs to be said.

“They are rage, brutal. Without mercy. But You? You will be worse. Rip and Tear, until it is done.”

11067275
Hello Oblivionwalker,

And this statement is spot on. I didn’t know very much about the Doom Franchise at the time I wrote “Battleship Express”, but if I had, then I’m pretty sure that I would have included it, as this is exactly what’s about to happen to the Zebras and the Caribou

lost their mates, and are ready to go the full miles to get them back.

11823768
Fixed it