• Published 26th Nov 2012
  • 13,485 Views, 1,564 Comments

Tanks for the Memories - BillyMays



The crew of the Retribution II is accidently sent into another dimension, with Ponies?!

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Testing Begins

The group of crewmen made their ways outside, everyone was talking in an excited attitude, everyone but the crew of the Retribution II.

“This shit still doesn’t feel right.” Sam mumbled.

“I know what you mean, this is fucked. My bad feeling just turned into very mother fucking bad feeling.” David said.

“It couldn’t be that bad, if it can stop 30 direct hits, then I couldn’t care less.” Sgt. Adam piped in.

“Sgt. Adam, sir.” Sam said.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.” The crewmen said in unison.

Sgt. Adam grumbled something and walked away to join his fellow crewmembers.

“Blitz what do you think, sir?” Roger asked.

“I-I’m not sure really, this could be one of the biggest technological advances and could stop the threat of a nuclear war. On the other hand this would ensure American dominance which is good for us, but other countries wouldn’t agree.” Alex said rubbing his head.

“When did you get good at this stuff, sir?” Sam said in bewilderment.

“Eh. It happens from time to time.” Alex said waving it off.

After another minute of walking they finally arrived at their vehicles. It was not at all what they expected.

“What. Did. They. Do?” The crew said in union.

She was still an M1A2 Abrams, she was still the Retribution II, but she was definitely different. There were electrical wires running along her hull like veins and on the back of her turret in the storage was a box engraved with high voltage warnings and was pulsating blue, wiring coming out on the sides.

Alex looked at the other crews; they had similar looks of confusion and wonder on their faces.

“Hey Blitz!” Sam called out from inside the Retribution II. “It’s fucking awesome in here, sir!”

“Right, just a second.” Alex said as he put his helmet on.
He climbed up onto her hull then hopped onto her turret; before he was even inside he could see the blue pulsating lights emanating from the inside.

“Whoa.” He said as he hopped in.

There was thick clear tubing pulsating with blue light along her walls. It looked… it was… indescribable. The pulsating lights made it look like the Retribution II was alive her metal heart slowly beating.

“Hey you guys get in here!” He shouted to the rest of the crew, which were still inspecting her outside.

“You have to see this.”

They clambered up onto her turret and peered in.

“No. Fucking. Way.”

“Can you imagine this shit at night?!” Roger exclaimed.

“Yea man, that would be awesome.” David agreed.

“But a dead giveaway.” Alex said, looking around.

“Hah, I can imagine it now, they’d probably think it’s-“

A loud thunderclap stopped David mid-sentence and they all looked up. They were greeted by dark grey clouds that covered the entire sky.

“Where the fuck did this blow in from?” Sam asked.

“That’s global warming for you…” Alex muttered.

“First it’s bad feelings and now it’s a fucking super storm outta nowhere! This couldn’t get any
worse.” David grumbled.

“Don’t say that you dickhead!” Roger exclaimed as he hit him over the head.

As if on cue it slowly started raining and the wind slowly started to pick up.

“Good going genius.” Sam mumbled.

The crew looked around the see other crewmen hopping into their tanks, eager to escape the wind and rain.

“Well fuck. Everybody pile in!” Alex said, moving to make room.

David and Roger hopped in and took their seats; Alex closed the cupola as they did. The only thing heard was the wind whistling and the rain heavily beating down upon the Abrams tank. It was darker than usual, but the pulsating lights made up for it.

“What now?” David asked, while shifting his helmet.

The headset crackled as the Retribution received a message.

“All E.A.S.T vehicles report in.”

“Deathwatch reporting.”

“Kangaroo, reporting in.”

“Retribution II, reporting in.”

“Old Tom reporting.”

“Eveready IV, reporting in.”

“Honeybadger reporting.”

“Friendship is Magic, reporting in.”

“Recon 1, reporting in.”

“.50 cal Gal reporting.”

“Due to the sudden appearance of the storm we’re postponing the tests until it subsides.” The Major said glumly. “We need to move into cover before the E.A.S.T is damaged. Alright, start your engines men.”

“Start her up, Lead foot.”

The Retribution IIs engines roared to life and the pulsing became quicker as if she’d woken up.

“Move to the hangars behind the firing range, we’ll leave the vehicles there for the time being. The Retribution II will take lead. You copy Captain?”

“Copy that, sir.” Alex acknowledged.

“Corporal, take us to the hangars round back. You know where they are?”

“I know this place like the back of my hand, sir.” Sam said with pride.

There was another loud clap of thunder as the Retribution II lurched forward, exhaust spluttering up into the sky. What they didn’t notice however was that lightning had hit her and she was slowly glowing from a light blue to a bright blue.

“Uhh, Captain!” Arran’s voice exclaimed over the headset.

“Go ahead Second Lieutenant.” Alex said, blissfully unaware the he and the tank were glowing blue.

“You’re glowing MOTHERFUCKING BLUE, SIR!” He screamed over the headset.

Alex surprised by the sudden change of tone, slammed his head on the cupola.

“We’re WHAT?!”

“YOU’RE GLOWING BLUE, SIR!”

The crew was looking up at Alex with confused looks on their faces.

“Stop the tank.”

“What, sir?” Sam exclaimed.

“I said stop the tank!” Alex yelled.

The Retribution II came to a screeching halt. Alex and the rest of the crew looked around at the lights to see they were pulsing faster and faster.

“What the fuck is going on, sir?” Roger asked looking worriedly at the pulsing lights.

“I don’t know.” Alex said as he reached to open the cupolas hatch. “But I’m going to find out.”

He opened it and was welcomed by strong winds and rain so hard he couldn’t see a meter in front of him, oh and a glowing blue tank.

Glowing blue tank?! How the fuck does this even happen?

The last time I saw a tank glowing blue was when I was playing Command and Conquer: Red Alert, and it fucking teleported across the map! Teleported…? Oh fuck!

“We need to get out, right fucking now!” Alex screamed down to his crew.

But before he could do anything the tank became a bright white and shot blue electric bolts at other tanks, making them glow too.

“Holy fucking Jesus!” Arran crackled over the headset.

“What the holdup?” Major Phress’s asked over the headset.
“And what’s this bullshit about glowing blue?”

The Kangaroo, Retribution II, Friendship is Magic, Old Tom and Recon 1 were all now glowing a very bright blue, almost white.

“What the fuck do we do, sir?” An Australian voice said over the headset.

“How the hell should I know?!” Alex retorted.

He looked up in time to see another lightning bolt hit him and knock him unconscious, his body slumped back into the cupola and laid to rest in an awkward and uncomfortable position.

“Shit!” Roger shouted as he went to check on the Captain.

But before he could move an inch, the Retribution II and the rest of the glowing vehicles gave out a blinding blue flash, knocking all of the crewmen inside their vehicles unconscious. When the blinding light finally dissipated all the previously glowing armoured vehicles were now gone.

------

Another clap of thunder made Fluttershy squee and bury herself deeper in her bed.
She’d heard plenty of storms coming from the Everfree Forest before but this one sounded different, she couldn’t quite describe how. The claps of thunder sounded different more distorted and electrical.
Another very loud clap of thunder followed by a flash of blue light made Fluttershy squee again and cover her head with her pillow.

“What was that?” She asked herself.

But before she could think of what it was she fell asleep, her exhaustion from helping all the animals finally catching up with her and allowing her well-earned beauty sleep.

------

Twilight looked up from her telescope and listened to the faint sound of a storm coming from the Everfree Forest. It was an unusual one, she could hear no rain but she could hear a lot of strange sounding thunder. A bright flash of blue caught her attention as she looked over towards
the Everfree Forest.

“Unusual…” She whispered to herself.

She turned the telescope towards the Everfree and peered through. All she could see were trees, trees and more trees.

Wait, are those lights?

She focused her telescope and what she saw surprised her. She could see a dim blue light slowly fading through the foliage of the trees, what interested her even more was the fact it was pulsing, like a vein.
A feeling panged through her, a bad one.
Should she warn the Princess? No, she didn’t want to disturb her now. It’s just a blue light, I’ll
check it out tomorrow, she thought to herself as she walked to her bed. It’s just a blue light.

What’s the worst that could happen?

She hopped into bed and snuggled under the sheets, falling asleep almost instantly.

------

Pinkie Pie bounced around her bed preparing to go to sleep when she suddenly had a fit, it lasted
a couple of seconds and she didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

“Tomorrow is going to be a doozy!” She happily announced as she hopped into bed.

She bobbed up and down for a while in excitement.

“OH! I need to throw a welcoming party!” She exclaimed.

Her mind raced as she thought about all the games she could play and all the sugary food she could make and-. She stopped thinking and abruptly fell asleep, snoring lightly.