On all corners of the world, the Lunar Empire is embroiled in war. Its soldiers are deployed across three continents, most of them conscripts.
One such conscript is Apple Bloom, and she is far from enthusiastic. She knows she isn't being sent overseas on some glorious crusade or some great adventure, she knows she isn't fighting to protect her or the freedom of her fellow ponies. This war is a racket. A racket to bring glory to a tyrant and bring wealth to her underlings. Sentient creatures are hurled into the woodchipper, and gold is spewed out the other end. A woodchipper she faces herself.
If only her friends would listen.
New chapters will be published when I write them. I'll try to aim for weekly chapter updates, but no promises.
Takes place in my New Lunar Millennium alternate universe. More information can be found here, but no prior knowledge of my AU beyond the general concept is required to read this story.
Cover art drawn by ReddTheBat. Post processing by me.
Proofread and edited by Izzy Incraft. Additional proofreading and consultation provided by ManniTeneriSunt and Kalashnikitty.
I'm glad to know that many of our beloved ponies are doing well in this AU. Unfortunately, some other ponies with more politicized identities may have a bad fate in the Lunar Empire...
Like Sunset Shimmer, whether as a student of Celestia or a loyal marshal, she is unlikely to receive any good treatment in the Lunar Empire. Permanent imprisonment? house arrest? exile? Fate was cruel to her.
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uknow i've never really given sunset much thought before, i dont really have anything to do with her
Good to see another great story from you :)
waiting eagerly for the next chapters!
The lore document grows…
Well I’m pleasantly surprised. I went into this seeing moonatiks name on it figuring it was going to be either a shitpost or some barely contained masturbation for purple themed monarcho socialism that I could non-consensually bomb my friends with. Instead, I got a decently written fic with an interesting premise. Flipping the usual dichotomy on its head of a young protagonist slowly getting disillusioned with the idea of war is certainly an interesting one, and I’m definitely interested to see how this goes and who makes it out alive. First fic in a while that’s actually got and held my interest.
That sounds interesting
I dont want to Sound mean or anything but kinda reminds me of the Wochenschau
This really reminds me of how ww1 soldiers felt at the start, great work on the emotions
Its never easy, especially when the fascade breaks. I tried to do that myself once.
awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
the first battle is never easy to process mentally
Story definitely has an anti-capitalist, anti war slant to it. That’s fine, I’m mostly just observing it. The message is relevant, especially in an age where both East and West are re-arming to beat each other up, but I feel that it was drummed home probably a little bit too much. It kinda takes away from the chapter. Having 3 main points (war bad, war expensive, looting bad) in the chapter means that they all get muddled together, and this probably would’ve been better if it was split into two separate, longer chapters. Then again, I haven’t written a fic before, so maybe this is all baseless.
in the heat of battle, every second counts, you do really think, tunnel vision. as such, such events happened without one realizing, plus the adrenaline.
KInfra reminds me of the fury tiger scnee
Do tankers actually do that? I always thought that was just some dumb warthunder strategy
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In World War II (the era of military technology presented) it was a legit tactic, to the best of my knowledge. Ammunition then was simply less powerful and every inch of steel counted for something. Not so much on the modern battlefield of "anything can be destroyed from anywhere" where the attention is on reducing a tank's profile. If a modern tanker is in a situation where they'd need to angle they're probably already toast.
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It is mentioned in German manuals, such as D656/27, Tigerfibel (a beginner manual for the Tiger I.) Most clearly, it states:
"You see, if you turn your tank from 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock, it becomes 2 cm thicker. To penetrate these 2 cm, your opponent has to get 1000 m closer. 1 cm of armour is about equal to 500 m of distance! If you stand at an angle, it is as if you were holding your opponent 4 km further away" (p. 84)
"The best positions for the enemy are 10:30, 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 o'clock.They are called meals, after the appropriate hours. [...] Driver! When in position, always pull left or right, until the enemy is at breakfast or lunch. Gunner! Always attack dangerous targets in the direction of the 4 meals. [...] Tank Commander! Approach dangerous enemies at an angle. Order position across the corner so that the enemy is facing the meals. [...] Moral: At 'meals' — even with a 15.2 cm — you will only get scratches at worst. The enemy finds that disgusting, for you, my friend, it is pleasing." (p. 85)
I am not quoting everything, but the other parts of those pages, and some more after them, elaborate on angles, and the safe distances of fire from different angles, strongly recommending against letting the enemy approach perpendicular, or approaching the enemy that way yourself.
Modern tanks still angle themselves towards the enemy; it's just that modern technology, with a more complex construction than solid steel, has allowed the front of the tank to actually be the most protected part, with things like internally sloped armour, composite armour, and ERA.
tl;dr, when the only technology for armour was solid steel plates, even a diagonal side hit was better than a vertical frontal hit, and they knew it.
Anger can quckly take over rational action. I admire how Apple Bloom is still rational in such a sitation