• Published 15th Apr 2019
  • 3,125 Views, 100 Comments

Hoof and Claw Versus the World - Chythar



What if Nightmare Moon wasn't defeated, but came to our world and tried to conquer us? Join her and her brony minion as they first try to conquer Southern California, then the world!

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Act 2, Chapter 1 - The Conquest of Earth Begins

Nightmare Moon and I had patched up our differences, and we were finally starting our conquest of the world. About damn time! Hopefully we wouldn't get our arses shot off during the attempt.


My dark Mistress and I soared side-by-side through the night sky. This was no training flight tonight, nor a leisurely serenade across the sky. This evening, we had a more serious goal in mind: conquest. I figured that was why we were in such a hurry. Kinda like the difference in speed between a bicycle and a motorcycle, we were moving a lot faster than we had on my training flight. Strangely enough, I didn't feel any extra strain despite the increased speed. I simply decided I wanted to fly fast, and it happened.

I did not know where our destination was, nor how far we had to go to get there, but I trusted that Nightmare Moon knew where she was going. I didn't even know which direction we were heading in. Too bad pegasus magic didn't include a built-in GPS or even an old-school compass. I was sure we were flying a straight course, but without more information that knowledge was basically useless. I didn't even know where our cave was, relative to...well, anything. The only thing I could do was stick with the dark mare as she travelled through the night.

The wind whipped into my face and fur as we flew. I was pleasantly surprised that my eyes did not water nor dry out, even though the wind was blowing right into them. Weirder things had happened to me in the past few days, so I just rolled with it. And I also expected it to be a lot colder up there, considering how fast we were flying. But the air was merely cool and felt quite nice. Yet another thing my pegasus magic must have shielded me from. We were too high up to smell anything, and I could hear nothing but the wind in my ears. The desert floor beneath us seemed endless and passed by at a rapid rate.

With nothing to do except fly, I spent the time looking for signs of human civilization. But I saw nothing of interest. Just rocks and dirt and hills and trees. Travelling at speed sure was boring. With nothing else to do, I looked for any kind of landmark that would give me an idea where we were. However, the only things I recognized were telephone lines and power poles and an occasional road. I was tempted to fly upside down and try counting the stars to pass the time.

Finally, FINALLY, the Night Mare angled her flight downward and made to land. I followed the ebony mare as she descended, and easily matched her pace towards the desert floor. Mentally projecting her flight path to its end, the only thing I saw beyond rocks and dirt was a sign of some sort. It seemed to be placed in the middle of nowhere. A few body lengths above the ground, I gave my wings a few strong flaps to arrest my downward descent; my feet reached down to gently touch the ground. A glance sideways showed that Nightmare Moon had done much the same.

Gesturing to the sign, the dark mare spoke to me.

"Here. Examine the message on this sign posthaste. I do not understand its full meaning, but I am confident it shall lead us toward the location of the nearby fortress."

My curiosity piqued, I walked around the fairly large sign to read its warning to all visitors.

DANGER
NO TRESPASSING
Military Training Area
Unexploded Ordnance Present
Dangerous Weapons and
High Energy Equipment in use
DO NOT TOUCH OR REMOVE OBJECTS

The words on the sign continued in Spanish. If I presumed that this sign followed the same pattern as other multi-language signs I'd seen, and I had no reason to think it didn't, the Spanish words simply repeated the English message. What little Spanish I remembered from high school confirmed that the text was merely a translation. A second sign below warned against trespassing and theft. Scrawled on the bottom of the sign in freehand was 'MCAGCC Twentynine Palms'.

Ruh roh, Raggy.

Those last three words were very bad news. MCAGCC Twentynine Palms was a large Marine training base in Southern California. They got all the cool toys and got to play with them a LOT. Talk about one of the WORST places to attack. Soldiers stationed here would have their training fresh in their minds and would be quite eager to use it.

On US.

Despite the implied danger, I was pleased to know where I was instead of lost somewhere in the desert. I knew that I was still in Southern California, and that I could find my way back home if I had to. Oh, I wouldn't head home; not yet. Nightmare Moon needed me, so I would stay with her. But I didn't want to stay near this military base any longer than I had to.

BOOM

What was that?

Somewhere off to our right, an explosion had gone off. It was followed by two more just like it, and capped with the unmistakable chatter of machine gun fire. No, I had never heard a machine gun in person. It sounded just like it did in the movies, don't judge me. Looking to our right, I could see dim flashes behind a small mountain some distance away. Above the same mountain, a single glowing ball of some sort sailed directly up in the air. But gravity refused to let it go, and the flaming object fell back to earth behind the mountain.

"What are those noises that assault mine ears? I must see."

Before I could warn her, Nightmare Moon had opened her wings and flown off towards the mountain in the distance.

Shouting out to her rapidly diminishing form did no good, for she did not or chose not to hear my cries. I could only follow and hope she didn't attack immediately. To my great relief, the Night Mare did not fly around but up towards the top of the aforementioned mountain instead. She alighted on a relatively flat section just short of the peak, and did nothing but stand there. Several moments later, I caught up and landed gently next to her. Following her gaze, I could easily look over the edge of the mountain and see the valley below us.

Down below, we witnessed what some would describe as a battlefield. Considering that we were on a Marine training base, what we were actually looking at was a night time tank training exercise.*

I was very thankful for the magical night vision that Nightmare Moon had granted me, for I could see just as well that night as if it was broad daylight. The noises I had heard earlier were from the cannons on the four M1 Abrams tanks in the valley below us. It looked like the tanks were exclusively using tracer rounds; we could see each flaming round speed across the desert and impact on the mountainside we stood upon. Machine gun fire came from the anti-personnel guns mounted on top of each tank, their intermittent tracer rounds lighting up the desert. Two Humvees were parked behind the tank platoon, likely observing the exercise.

My Mistress and I were standing just short of the crest of that same short mountain -- or maybe it was a steep hill -- and we looked straight down at the center of the tank formation. As we watched, the rounds from the tanks would embed themselves in the ground far below us. That part of the mountain was sloped somewhat, just enough that an occasional tracer round would ricochet upwards and sail up and over our heads. Even this high up, we could smell the gunpowder from the gunfire. As the wind shifted our way, I could smell what must have been exhaust from the tanks. But it smelled weird, not like your average car exhaust.

The dark mare and I took some time to watch the live-fire exercise below us. Standing on the top of the ridge like this, I was sure we could be seen if someone shone a light on us. Had the muzzle flashes from the guns below already lit us up? I couldn't tell. This magical night vision was great for letting me see in the dark, but not so good for telling me if I could be seen in the dark. Ah, if only I had researched that 'Sixth Sense' perk.

Maybe Moony would know if they could see us? I turned to look at her, and saw something I did not expect to see. The ebony mare looked like some scary mix of wonder and excitement, and she stared at the tanks below with an intensity bordering on maniacal glee. On top of that, I was surprised to see her twitching and trembling all over. To my eyes, she looked like she was having a full-body shiver: her legs were shaking, her wings and feathers kept shifting back and forth, and her cutie mark appeared to be moving as the muscles underneath danced under her ebony coat. Was there something wrong with her? Was she actually afraid?

I'd better ask and make sure she's OK.

"Uh, are you alright Mistress?"

A few moments passed, and Nightmare Moon did not reply.

Had she heard me? The tank barrage was kinda loud.

"Mistress? Did you--"

"What are these...fascinating...creatures?"

Creatures?

"The...ah, larger ones are called 'tanks'. They are heavily armored machines, covered in--"

"And the smaller ones?"

I had never seen Nightmare Moon act like this before. She had yet to stop staring at the tanks below us. What was wrong with her? The silence went on for a few moments.

Silence? The live-fire exercise below must have stopped.

Oh yeah, Moony asked me a question.

"They're called Humvees, Mistress. They don't have as much armor as the tanks--"

"That is all I need to know. They shall be our first conquest of the night!"

With that statement, the Night Mare dove off the summit we shared and accelerated rapidly towards the closest tank.

CONQUEST?!

"No!"

My shout was too late, she was already out of earshot. My first instinct was to take off after her, and I took a step forward without thinking. But fear held me back. Attacking a tank with magic was suicide! And there were four of them! I stood there uselessly on the hillside, and feared for the life of my Mistress. I wanted to help her, to protect her, to shield her from harm. But I knew I wasn't good enough, nor skilled enough to protect her. All I could do was watch, and hope that Nightmare Moon was a lot stronger than I thought she was.


Down in the valley at the foot of the mountain, a first-of-its-kind battle was about to take place. A dark shape had detached itself from the ridge of the small mountain, directly in front of the tank platoon, and descended rapidly. Had this been Equestria, the dark shape would easily be recognized as the sinister and merciless Nightmare Moon. But this was not Equestria, and the name 'Nightmare Moon' was yet unknown in these lands. Thus, any human watching the dark mare approach would not know that the shape was that of an Alicorn, much less identify who the mare was. However, even an untrained human could guess that she did not have their best interests in mind. In fact, she appeared to be quite malevolent in her intent.

The dark shape descended the mountainside rapidly in the middle of the formation. Once it reached the desert floor, it turned and made a beeline towards the tank on the far right of the platoon. Inside that same tank, the driver had noticed Nightmare Moon's descent and subsequent approach.

"Commander? Bogey rapidly approaching, 11 o'clock low."

The Tank Commander looked up from the digital tablet he was reading from.

Bogey? That's not on the training schedule.

He turned his view away from the tablet and looked at the display showing readouts from the periscopes. Sure enough, something was approaching his tank from the left at a high rate of speed. Flicking the controls on the system, the Tank Commander zoomed in on the incoming bogey with the hope of identifying it.

Better be safe than sorry. Wouldn't be good to drop a round into an endangered bird.

To his surprise, the screen showed a large pair of eyes and a wide grin filled with an array of sharp teeth.

That's no bird!

The Tank Commander barked out orders to his crew in short order.

"Hostile approaching! Load AP and FIRE!"

The team inside this M1 Abrams tank had already gone on alert as soon as the driver declared a bogey in range. The loader was holding an AP shell, and the gunner had entered the target into his fire computer. By the time the commander gave the order to fire, the loader had finished loading the shell and raised the breech. As soon as the computer indicated the main cannon was loaded, the gunner gave it the command to fire.


Nightmare Moon descended from the summit of the small mountain and skimmed over the rocky surface. She kept her wings partially folded to pick up speed while gravity pulled her earthwards. Just before hitting the ground, she snapped her wings open and shot forward some half-dozen hoof-lengths above the ground.

The ebony mare savored the feel of the wind whipping through her mane as she sped towards her chosen target. Her excitement continued to build as she flew, the thrill of impending battle flowing through her veins.

At last, my conquest begins!

Her path took her directly at the tank on her leftmost side, the remaining tanks and Humvees lay to her right. She could see no movement in front of her, and her elation grew as she realized she had not yet been seen. Briefly, she debated flying around these mechanical monstrosities and attacking from their rear, but just as quickly discarded the idea. The psychological impact of a direct frontal assault was irresistible to the dark mare's ego. She grinned widely, anticipating the fear she would inflict upon these warriors.

Besides, without magic they could not withstand the might of an Alicorn at full strength.

This battle shall be glorious!

Some fifty yards in front of the Moon Mare, the tank in her sights suddenly rotated its turret slightly and lowered its barrel to point directly at her approach. An instant later, it fired its main cannon.

It is a testament to Nightmare Moon's speed and reaction time, that she was able to see the threat and react within microseconds. Snapping up her shield, she began to veer up and away to her left. A fraction of a second later, the dark mare was blinded by the muzzle flash while the depleted uranium penetrator round struck her shield. Had she not acted so quickly, the battle would have been over immediately. The penetrator round would have struck her and turned her body into bloody paste spread out over the desert floor. And the Tank Commander would likely have been lectured for shooting a vulture.

Remember the shield lessons that Nightmare Moon put her new minion through? Her shielding was very powerful, magnitudes more advanced than anything her student could muster, but it still followed the same principles. Remembering that the warriors of this world did not use magic, Nightmare Moon had implemented a number of extra physical shunts on her shield. It is a testament to her experience and magical ability that she had strengthened her shield in this way. Those powerful shunts on her shield likely saved her from serious harm.

As the penetrator round struck her shield, the magical shunts absorbed as much of the kinetic energy as they could. However, advanced magical shielding was never designed to handle over 15,000 joules of kinetic energy in such a short time. The magical shunts were quickly overloaded far past capacity, and immediately burst under the load. The remaining kinetic energy pushed into the shield itself, BENT the shield inwards then shattered it. The penetrator round continued straight ahead, even though much of its kinetic energy had been bled off. Nightmare Moon was then left unprotected against the mercy of the tank's firepower.

A little-known fact about advanced Equestrian magical shielding: when a shield shatters, it releases some of the un-absorbed energy inwards from the point where the shield shattered. Which means, if an advanced shield shatters from the side the caster gets a magical hit in the ribs. In Nightmare Moon's case, her quick reaction time meant that the penetrator round had struck her shield just below and to the right (from her point-of-view) of dead center. Ever play a game of Pool? Knock the cue ball against another ball off-center, and the other ball goes rolling away at an angle opposite where it was hit by the cue ball. This is what happened to Nightmare Moon.

The kinetic backlash from her shattered shield hit her chestplate hard. She was then flung backwards, upwards and off to her left. The penetrator round passed under her torso and instead took a few feathers from her left wing. The pummeled mare impacted the mountainside nearly a third of the way up its side and disappeared from sight. With most of its kinetic energy drained away, the penetrator round skipped off the ground like a rock on water then embedded itself in the base of the hill.

Nothing moved for several moments. The cannon blast echoed off of the nearby mountains and the dust raised by the cannon fire began to settle. Inside the M1 Abrams Tank that just took out Nightmare Moon, there was no time to celebrate. Their Platoon Commander was demanding to know why the tank had just fired its main cannon AFTER the training exercise was over! The beleaguered Tank Commander was trying to explain what he had seen, then got chewed out for wasting ammunition on a $@^&*#!% BIRD! He finally convinced his Platoon Leader to review the footage taken from his tank's Imaging System. One video clip transmitted to the Platoon Leader's tank, and the communication channel went silent.

The Platoon Leader replayed the sent footage over and over. He sure didn't know what he was looking at, but he agreed that it wasn't a bird and it sure wasn't friendly. He was lost in thought, trying to figure out how to write this incident up in his report, when a shout came over the radio.

"It's moving!"

The crew of all four tanks and the two Humvees turned to look up at the mountain, where something was moving and shaking dirt off of itself. Their thoughts were all much the same.

How could something that small survive a point-blank shot from an Abrams tank?

The answer: Magic, of course! Well, not completely. It was also due to the physical strength and durability of Equestrian Alicorns. Thus, Nightmare Moon was not seriously hurt upon impacting the mountainside. The dark mare struggled to pull herself out of the hole created from her impromptu landing, then shook herself to dislodge the dirt still covering her form. A couple of feathers dropped from her wings to the ground. Blood trickled down from her nose and dripped down into the dirt beneath her hooves. Otherwise, she appeared to be unhurt.

Perhaps some of the credit for her survival was due to her custom-crafted armor. Despite how little of it she wore, the magical properties of her armor protected her better than if she was covered in thick plate mail made of titanium. Said armor had lost most of its glamour, its surface now visibly damaged. The metal was peppered with dents and sections were bent out of place. Every surface was covered in scrapes and scuffs, and the straps that attached her armor to her left foreleg appeared to be broken. The only part of her unaffected was her ethereal mane and tail, still slowly waving in an unseen wind.

The Night Mare was still woozy from the impact, and she swayed on her hooves. She shook her head to try and clear it, inadvertently spraying bloody droplets all over the area. Her ears would not stop ringing, and her chest felt tight and sore. Painfully drawing in a deep breath, she was immediately overcome by a fit of coughing. The subsequent convulsions took away what balance she had, and the dark mare sat down hard in the dirt. When her frenzied hacking finally died off, she sucked in another wheezing breath. Then was overwhelmed by another bout of coughing. Her whooping and hacking finally dislodged the dirt stuck in her throat, and she spat the disgusting blob off to the side.

Nightmare Moon took another ragged breath through her nose, and was surprised to find she could smell nothing but copper. The smell unmistakable, she knew it meant nothing good. Her leg wobbled as she lifted it to her muzzle, then roughly rubbed her armored hoof across her wet nose. Once the dozen or so hooves in her vision settled down to a single one, she could see the armor was smeared with blood. Though not unfamiliar with the sight, the fact that she could see her blood told her multitudes about the forces that she now faced. As she set her hoof down, she weighed the facts in her mind.

If they can make me bleed, their might is strong indeed.

Her thoughts finally cleared and she lifted her head to look around. In moments, the Night Incarnate realized her tactical position was very poor. A quick glance at the platoon below her revealed that she was higher up the mountain than she expected. Even worse, she was facing the middle-left tank in the formation beneath her - and they all had their cannons pointed in her direction. A moment's concentration on a healing spell, and the smell of copper was gone. It was replaced by the smell of freshly dug dirt and the fading scent of hot metal. Her hearing also restored, she could make out the quiet growl from the machines nearby. Perhaps they thought she was dead. It pleased her to prove them wrong.

Though still a bit wobbly, the Night Incarnate stood on her four hooves and faced the tank platoon. Her wings suddenly extended straight up in a show of force, and she scowled down at the warriors beneath her. Assessing the threat below, the ebony mare narrowed her eyes in displeasure.

It seems I am now at a severe disadvantage against these foes.

Without warning, the ebony mare was silhouetted by a spotlight mounted on top of one of the Humvees. The Moon Mistress brought up a wing to block the bright light, just as the single spotlight was joined by a second. An instant later, the ground around her hooves erupted in machine gun fire. The slugs rained around her, making a small noise as they impacted the dirt. As the soldiers improved their aim, the slugs hit and bounced off of the armor on her forelegs. A quick thought on her part, and her shield popped into existence. The slugs were caught in her shield and dropped to the ground, their kinetic energy bled off and away.

Nightmare Moon smirked, it was clear their might was ineffective against her magic. Unfortunately for her, that smirk was short-lived as three more machine guns joined the fray. All four M1 Abrams tanks were now targeting Nightmare Moon directly.

Under the increased barrage of fire, Nightmare Moon found herself wilting. Her shielding held strong, but the magic could no longer block all of the kinetic energy. Each impact upon her shield released a bit of its energy back at her, and the dark mare felt like she was being pelted by rocks.

I must escape their fire, and approach them from another angle.

Luck was with the Mare in the Moon yet again. Just as the ebony mare leapt into the air to her right and flapped her wings downward, the middle-left M1 Abrams tank fired an AP round at her position. The penetrator round buried itself into the ground exactly where Nightmare Moon had been standing, and the round clipped the back edge of her shield as it passed by.

As with before, the kinetic energy of the penetrator round was too much for Nightmare Moon's shield to handle. Shattering into a million magical pieces, the resulting magical backlash from the back of her shield slammed into her rump. From the mare's point-of-view, something had just given her the biggest smack on her ass that she had EVER felt in her long and lengthy life! The slap hit with the force of a speeding bus, and it sent her tumbling head over hooves across the mountain's sloped side. She tumbled and rolled helplessly in the dirt, and something small broke loose from her form and soared off in a different direction. The appendage tumbled down the mountainside and out of sight.

Once it was clear that their target was no longer in their sights, the machine gun fire ceased. The spotlights scoured the mountainside, looking for any sign of their armored foe - alive or otherwise. Within moments, one spotlight caught a glimpse of black fur and feathers. The other spotlight converged and together they covered the area in light.

The soldiers wondered to themselves, did they finally hit it? The shape was moving so much, they couldn't tell if it was injured or even intact. The smell of dust and cooling metal drifted across the desert floor as they watched and waited.

The flailing black pile squirmed around some more, then suddenly reformed itself into Nightmare Moon as the mare regained her hooves. And to the soldier's great surprise, she began hopping frantically on her hind hooves. Zooming in with either binoculars or electronic scopes, the soldiers quickly saw that the ebony mare truly was dancing on her hind hooves. Her large ebony wings were spread backwards to cover her rump, as if holding it up or trying to protect it from harm. They could see her forelegs clutched tightly across her chest plate, and they visibly trembled even at this great distance. And her face showed great strain, teeth bared and eyes squeezed shut in a painful grimace while her head twisted left and right at random. The mare continued to dance like this for many long seconds, hopping from one hind hoof to another as she endured the pain from some great injury. To the soldiers, it was clear she was hurt. But how?

At long last, the dancing mare stopped her hopping and dropped to her hooves. Her face still showed that she was in pain, but not as much as before. Her wings dropped limply to the ground, and revealed her painful injury: a tender and visibly beet red rump. No blood or other injury could be seen, but it was clear that mare had been ass slapped very hard.

The sound of laughter from the soldiers trickled up to Nightmare Moon's ears. One of the spotlights wobbled and pointed up and away from the scene, the soldier collapsing in tears on to the spotlight's controls. As the laughter got louder, the dark mare could feel her muzzle redden and burn in embarrassment. To her deep regret, she realized that she was now glowing at both ends.

As the laughter from below grew even louder, she wondered how she could salvage this operation.

This is humiliating. How am I to instill fear if my actions merely inspire laughter?

The pain continued to fade from the Night Mare's rump, and she found it easier to stand regally once again. Well, as regally as one could when one is being laughed at by a score of warriors. Noting that she felt lopsided as she stood on her hooves, the ebony mare glanced downwards to discern the reason. Her right foreleg appeared to be fine, although the armor plating was visibly bent and cracked. Blood from her nose was still smeared over the metal plate. Her left forehoof, on the other hoof, was totally bare.

Stunned, she could do naught but stare at her bare foreleg. Never in her long years, had she ever lost a piece of armor! Battered, broken, but never lost! Still baffled at the sight, she shifted her weight and lifted her bare foreleg up for inspection. She turned it one way, then the other; looking carefully for any sort of injury. She found none. Her hoof was still immaculately filed and polished, the fur above unmarred. Now puzzled, she wondered when she had lost that piece of armor? She hoped she could find it again. Recreating a new metal piece of armor offered no difficulty, but the enchantments in the original could not be so easily replicated.

Her train of thought was broken by a burst of loud, raucous laughter. She rolled her eyes, correctly guessing that the soldiers below found her missing armor immensely amusing. Frowning, she decided to distract herself from the laughter and let her tactical mind study the battle thus far. Analyzing her odds of victory, she was quite displeased with the result.

My one hope for victory would be to circle behind them and attack from the rear, and that is unlikely. Their cannons move and fire too quickly, and with too much force. I cannot charge an offensive spell before they are able to fire upon me again. And my shielding is ineffective before their might.

Still ignoring the ongoing laughter below, she continued to review her situation.

As long as I stand here, their laughter prevents them from acting. Once I move, they shall act. So for the moment, I have time to think.

She cast her eyes downwards, disappointed in her lack of success so far.

I must admit to myself, that I have survived thus far by luck and luck alone. I am not immortal, merely long-lived; a direct hit from one of their cannons will likely finish me.

And if these warriors were not presently occupied with laughter, they could very well have ended my life by now.

Her eyes narrowed, she was not pleased with her conclusions.

It is clear to me that I must retreat.

As if reading her mind, the turrets of each of the four M1 Abrams tanks began to move. They had been pointing to the mare's left, where she once stood. Now they were rotating in her direction.

Realizing what the turret rotations meant, and the danger that they posed, Nightmare Moon's eyes widened in fear. She barely survived fire from one cannon, she certainly could not survive four! The mare's sole thought was to flee as quickly as possible. Unfurling her wings, she took to the air and brought up her shield as fast as she could. She hoped she could make it up and over the mountain's summit before the cannons could fire again.

Unfortunately, she did not make it in time.

Fortunately, her luck still held.

Perhaps her movements were too erratic for the M1 Abrams' fire control computers to target her accurately. Perhaps the gunners of each tank were too eager to take their shot, and did not wait for the computers to lock on to their target. Whatever the reason, the Universe smiled upon Nightmare Moon that evening. She survived to see another sunrise.

The first penetrator round hit the spot where she had been standing, and thus missed completely. She was already flying upwards towards the summit of the mountain.

The second round was a bit closer. It still missed, but the kinetic energy of the round was close enough to brush her shield. However, her shield was able to absorb the energy of a near miss.

The third round landed to her right, a complete miss. But it was close enough to shower her with dirt, and caused her to flinch. This was a critical mistake, as she unconsciously slowed down her rapid ascent a tiny bit.

The fourth and last penetrator round passed through the back of her shield, shattering it. Due to both the angle of her ascent and the elevation of the tank's cannon, the round missed the dark mare. Instead, it passed through her ethereal tail and subsequently embedded itself into the dirt beneath her. Being ethereal, her tail could not be damaged physically. But she still felt the round pass through it, and the kinetic energy of the round made it feel like her tail was burning with the intensity of a thousand suns.

To add insult to injury, the feedback from her now-shattered shield hit her hard on her still-sore rump; the ebony mare screamed in pain. The feedback from her shattered shield, and the penetrator round impacting the ground so close beneath her, was too much for the Alicorn and she lost control. She was literally knocked ass over teakettle and slammed muzzle-first into the dirt. Fortunately for her, she was hit hard enough to propel her to the summit of the mountain and tumble over the edge to safety.

Author's Note:

*The tank training exercise we saw was something like this:

http://www.military.com/video/combat-vehicles/combat-tanks/abrams-tank-fire-day-night/3603133638001/

The second half of the video is of a night exercise.

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