Apple Panzer

by Undead Equestrian Writer

Panzer Down

Applejack stared at the large metal machine, still confused as to what it is. Applebloom crawled around on top of the large metal husk, rubbing rust off what Applejack was sure the body.

"Applebloom, get off of it and go get the girls," Applejack demanded of her sister. Applebloom whined to herself but left quickly, eager to get back. AJ was drawn to the only coloring on the tank, nine letters painted in a peeling white paint. 'CHURCHILL'.

"What the hell is a Churchill?" AJ asked softly to herself, her tone a mix of wonder, curiosity and nervousness. It was about 6 of her long and 2 and half of her wide, and it doubled her in height. "What even are you?"

AJ grabbed some anti-rust, used mostly for farm equipment left handled poorly, and slowly started chipping away areas around the name. The color of the metal obelisk was originally black or similarly dark in color. She grabbed some white paint and carefully started tracing back over the letter previously there.

"There, looking better all ready," AJ had no clue what to do with this thing, but to let it sit and rust worse than it was definitely wasn't on her list.

"Whoa, what is this thing?!" AJ looked up at RD, invested into the large metal monolith. Following her in was Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity. Fluttershy apparently absent. "Where did you find this AJ?"

"On my farm, down at the new annex of farm land," AJ told her, although she was sure that was all she'd be able to tell her. "Twilight, you know anything about this?"

"No, I've never seen anything so massive, it's nearly the size of your barn," Twilight started circling the curiosity, joining RD in interest.

"It's rather dull, don't you think, so much rust," Rarity kept her distance. Pinkie's eyes glued to the tank, not in interest, but fear. Her eyes almost glazed.

"Uhh, Pinkie, you alright?" Pinkie shook her head and giggled softly. Something about Pinkie put AJ off, but she decided not to press the situation.

"AJ, there's a hatch on top," Twilight told AJ, staring down into the hatch. AJ climbed up with Twilight, and slowly opened the hatch. Inside was a sarcophagous of machinery, electronics, and a single diary, slightly yellowed. "Oh my, it has an interior."

"Um, I'll go down first, I guess," AJ nervously crawled inside, the interior big enough to fit nearly ten ponies in the correct placement. She crawled to the side and popped open another hatch, peeking her head out. "It's spacious."

"Multiple enterances?" Twilight asked herself, jotting down several notes. AJ crawled back inside, looking around at the large interior, cranks and handles surrounded the walls, dials and knobs on another, one seat fashioned in front of the long barrel. A cage had a plaque below it, reading, "Jandy, the best bird of WW2". AJ grabbed the notebook from inside and slowly climbed back out.

"It's massive in there, and I havn't seen anything like what's in there," AJ told her friends. She raised the notebook and sighed softly. "This was the only thing I found, except for a large bird cage talking about something called W W two?"

"Maybe a location from this thing's time?" Twilight asked AJ.

"I don't know, but since you're all here, how about some food, it's late enough as it is," the girls accepted the offer and followed AJ inside after she locked up the barn. The rusted heap of metal sitting alone again in the dark, yet able to breathe. "It's the end of the harvest season, so we have the left over apples that we didn't sell, Granny Smith is either making apple cobbler or apple pie... again."

Dinner was served quickly once AJ made her way into the kitchen, salads, parfaits, and spaghetti where placed on the table, the steam rising slowly from the warm food. Each pony grabbed a serving of the delicious food, the warmth not to hot yet not to cold. The spaghetti was nearly gone by the time Applejack sat down, the evidence of the culprit written across Pinkie's face, as she wiped her muzzle clean of tomato sauce and herbs. Applejack grabbed the rest of the spaghetti, critiquing herself of it as she ate. Everypony left at their own times, Pinkie left first, which was unlike her, again, making AJ feel weird. Twilight followed soon after, with Rarity in tow, and finally RD left, but not before asking to help with the metal monster in the barn. AJ shooed her off with a maybe, causing Rainbow to whine but left quickly out of a window. AJ was tasked with cleaning up after her friends and family, as Granny Smith and Applebloom where already asleep and Big Mac was on a trip to Starlight's old village.

---

Applejack wiped her brow with her forearm as she finished all of her chores, the sun having been down already for an hour or so. She smiled before walking back out to the barn to grab one item. The notebook she found, she wanted to look into it, to see what this thing is. She climbed inside the metal behemoth and grabbed the yellowed noteboook, careful not to destroy any of the pages or bend it and brake it. She looked at the seat and took a catious step on it, and nearly melted at how soft it was, but was stopped as she shrieked loudly, a screw stabbing into her underhoof.

"Fucking...," she saved her breath as she quickly climbed out of the box before it became her coffin. She put the notebook in a small hankerchief to keep it out of her mouth, in fear of damaging it or biting threw, or catching some disgusting disease. She repeated the same process she did about two hours ago, but this time instead of heading to the kitchen she head upstairs, entering her room. She placed the notebook on her bedside table, but before she retired herself to a night of reading and very little sleeping. Walking to the bathroom, keeping pressure off her pained hoof as she removed her Stetson and unbraiding her hair, letting her hair fall down her head and neck. She smiled at herself in the mirror, her green eyes shining cutely. Turning on the shower, she tested the water once, moaning happily as the warm water hit her sore leg. She slowly stepped into the shower, and felt the warm water run through her mane, and down her face, and down her neck. The sharp piercing of the water hitting her back and flank as it ran down her legs and into the drain. She stood there, feeling the water massage her sore body, the knots in her back similar to obsidian, sharp and hard as it digs into her nerves. She wobbled as she nearly collapsed, her eyes heavier than the moon itself. The water shut off and so did Applejack massage, she stepped out and dried herself off, grease and rust staining the shower basin.

Applejack searched through the family medicine cabinet, finding some bandages to wrap her pained hoof in and some alcohol wipes. She sat with her back and opened the small packaging of the wipes, the intoxicating smell nearly overcoming her. She quickly wiped the deep hole in her foot, the pain imense but barely noticable. She quickly wrapped the hole, blood flowing slowly, from the shallow yet wide hole. She sighed and stood up, keeping weight off her hoof, while she put the bandages away. She through the wipes away, and yawned softly, signing time for her to go to bed. She closed the door to her room and locked the door, before climbing into her bed and pulled her warmed covers over her. She grabbed the notebook and carefully opened to the first page, the handwriting was neat, yet it wasn't perfect. Her eyes threatened to betray her as she began reading.

---

Day 1

It's my first day inside Jalra, the big beautiful thing she is. Our driver, Jacob, is displeased that he must work beside a Scotts man, and I'm not to pleased to be working with a bunch of English men, but I'm willing to work side by side if it means I get to ride in Jalra. I can't wait till we are on the front lines, I just hope the Danish and Swedish don't get cold feet. Fucking Germans are going to fall, to the hand of Jarla.

---

The book laid closed by Applejack's side as her body shuts her down, her snores soft as she curled up to the book.

Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Huh, ponies discovering an old bit of Terran flotsam. This could be interesting.

[re- Yamsmos]

Could use some polish, but I like the idea!

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9675948
Was written at like, 3:30 in the morning, so I'll definitely be polishing it

[Magos Xenos Disathairne]

Admittedly, I was hoping for an actual Panzer, but a Sherman works all the same.

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9676125
I choose a Churchill because it was the tank most people would likely know, sorry

[Onyx Quill]

9676125
Churchill =/= Sherman.

[The Blue EM2]

9676141
People would be more likely to recognise a Sherman:
i.redd.it/6a4s1v2b6j321.jpg
a T-34:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Char_T-34.jpg
Or a Panzer IV:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/SdKfz161-1-1.jpg

[Magos Xenos Disathairne]

9676145
You sure? Because the mini-description referred to it as a British Sherman.

[Ravencell]

This seems quite good, the ponies should have an interesting reaction to such a big war

[Onyx Quill]

9676183

British Sherman
i.ytimg.com/vi/2L81hoolJK0/maxresdefault.jpg

Churchill
2.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ygf9mYhuT0/ViN9AqoU1mI/AAAAAAAAMNM/EjsO-RphC5c/s1600/churchill%2Btank.jpg

Article about Sherman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_Sherman

Churchill tank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_tank

Two very different designs

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9676159
Well, either way, it would have been easier for me to write the journal story in English than German or Russian

[The Blue EM2]

9676210
The Sherman shown there is the 75mm version, right?

[The Blue EM2]

9676390
Americans spoke English, but kudos for picking a little-known design.

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9676487
Well, then who cares, it's a lesser known tank, that means... absolutely nothing...

[The Blue EM2]

9676504
Most writers go for the ones you see in the movies, like Shermans.

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9676506
Yeah, see, I'm not like most writers... as I don't watch movies... I just chose the Churchill cause I thought it was more well known, and because I have a small model Churchill that I got from a family member...

[The Blue EM2]

9676515
Nice! I've got most of the British tank designs represented in 1:72 form, including a Valentine I scratchbuilt.

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9676506
But atleast didn't write about a bob semple

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9676521
Cool, I'm not the biggest collector of tanks, as I mostly collect old Diecast Cars, but the tank was a gift from my great grandfather, who was a huge tank memorbilia collector

[The Blue EM2]

9676523
Eh?

[The Blue EM2]

9676530
Yeah. I know a guy who has a real Sherman.

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

9676538
It was a tank designed by New Zealand... long story short, it was an armored tractor... It was corrugated iron on a tractor hull

[The Blue EM2]

9676543
I think I've seen video of that.

[Beau_Dodson]

*sees the title*

🎤Death in the shape of a Panzer Batallion!
Insect of terror, don't run, face your fate like a man!

🎤Panzers on Russian soil a thunder in the East!
One million men at war, the Soviet wrath unleashed!