Chapter 7: Eclipse
"You think Mom and Dad will be okay?" Dartboard asked.
"I'm not sure," Chalkboard replied, "but I hope they are." Chalkboard and Dartboard's crews were assigned to the north garrison. The two sisters are currently sitting on the former's tank, looking at the distant city of Canterlot. It had smoke billowing out and occasionally an explosion would be seen.
"Y'know, I'm sort of regretting that I forgot to write a letter back to them now."
"You should try reminding yourself of that more often. Maybe write a sticky note or two."
"Ehhh...I'm not much of a note-taker. Isn't that sort of your thing?"
"I can't do everything for you, sis."
"Yeah, yeah...by the way, where did your driver go? I didn't see her with the rest of your crew."
"Blaze? Oh, she went to try out one of the surplus tanks. I think it was a M7."
"She tired of driving a slow tank?"
"Mmhmm."
Light thumps was heard coming from the hatch on the commander's cupola. Chalkboard pulled it open. Merry popped her head out of the cupola
"Command checking in for a report," she said. She gave Chalkboard her radio headset. She spoke into it.
"Sergeant Chalkboard here. Nothing odd to report as of the moment."
"Copy that," Firehawk said through the headset, "keep your guard up though. We already went through two attacks in the last hour. Also, some of the wounded has recovered and are now heading out to reinforce. They should be here in a few minutes."
"Pardon me sir, but may I ask a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Any idea who we're fighting against?"
"We checked the insignia on the tanks. They're Militant Nightmare Cult markings. Any other questions?"
"No sir."
"Alright then. Command out." The headset went silent. Chalkboard took it off and then took a look at the garrison. A few tanks, mostly Shermans and Stuarts, sat in the open. There were also a few VK3001Hs and KV-1s. Occasionally one of the tanks that had a idling engine would turn its turret. There are also a few anti-tank guns set up, their crews either sleeping or chatting. Rapidly created earthworks provides the guns with additional protection.
There were also a few self propelled artillery sitting around, most of them GW Rieters. The GW Rieter was a rather simple design-it was essentially a Panzer IV with it's turret replaced with a Quick Fire 25 Pounder field gun. As with the other garrisons, infantry transports were being used as improvised sleeping quarters so that resting troops could respond at a moment's notice.
She then noticed the sound of wheels and hoofsteps. They were coming from behind-the reinforcements had arrived. It wasn't a large group, comprising of about ten soldiers and a Matador. Sitting in the cargo bed were ten additional personnel-one of them Anton. After the truck stopped, Anton carefully got off. Accompanying him were two changelings and a earth pony. While one of the changelings and the earth pony were wearing ushankas and brown uniforms like Anton; the other changeling was wearing a black beret and a tan uniform that also had a black tie. All four had saddlebags on them. They approached Chalkboard's tank.
"Is good to see you, my friend," Anton said.
"Same here. Are you okay now?" Chalkboard replied. She noticed that one of his green eyes were not visible.
"Da, da. Changelings may have a reputation to swarm, but they aren't so easy to put down. Us Muscovites are no different."
"How's your eye doing?"
"Oh, this thing?" Anton tapped the place where his injured eye was supposed to be. On closer inspection, an eyepatch was covering it. "The good doctor gave me a medical eyepatch. He said it'll be fine as long as this stays on for a while."
"Does it hurt?"
"Nyet. You can say it feels pleasantly minty right now. Oh, and before I forget-," Anton pointed his hoof at the changeling wearing the beret, "-this is Alastair. He's going to be your-ah-replacement gunner for the time being, seeing as your regular gunner effectively cannot do his job." The changeling he introduced flew and landed on the engine.
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Alastair said, holding out a hoof.
"The pleasure's all mine. And please, since we're going to be fellow crewmates you can call me Chalky, short for Chalkboard," Chalkboard replied, shaking his hoof.
"Chalkboard, eh? A quaint name you have. And the mare sitting next to you is...?"
"Name's Dartboard," Dartboard replied, "but my friends call me Dart. Oh, and by the way-" she lightly bumped Chalkboard in the shoulder "-she's my sis." Alastair nodded.
"Right then, better man my post, get familiarized with the tank and the rest of the crew," he said. He climbed onto the turret and opened the hatch. Merry Melody noticed him coming in.
"Hi!" she said.
"Hello there, name's Alastair," he said.
"You're the replacement?" Far Shot asked.
"That I am. You must be the gunner," Alastair answered.
"Yeah yeah. Don't mess up, will ya?"
"Anyways...you know where Cogsy is?" Anton asked Chalkboard.
"I think she was assigned to escort six civilians," Chalkboard answered.
"For what purpose?"
"Does the words 'Elements of Harmony' ring a bell to you?"
-----
Meanwhile, a group of ponies were trekking carefully through the Everfree Forest. Recently they had trouble crossing a river due to an upset sea serpent. Luckily one of them figured out the solution and they are back on track. Though it was too late for one stallion who had almost drowned trying to brave the river while the sea serpent was still upset.
"Argh, I hate this place," Spigot said. He tilted his head to get water out of his ears.
"Deal with it, Spigs," Cogswing snapped, "We've almost reached the castle."
"There better not be another pansy overgrown lizard along the way...or a bloody manticore."
"Oh shut up about the manticore already."
"Woah!" Twilight shouted. She nearly fell off a cliff before Rainbow Dash caught her by the tail.
"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" Rainbow Dash asked rhetorically. The rest caught up. There was two posts that held one end of a rope bridge, but the bridge itself was out. The other side was obscured by minor amounts of mist.
"Great, now what?" Spigot asked.
"Should be a simple solution," Cogswing answered. She stretched out her wings and prepared to take flight.
"I got this," Rainbow Dash said, diving down into the chasm to retrieve the other end of the bridge.
"Never mind then," Cogswing said annoyedly.
Rainbow Dash was able to wrap one of the ropes of the bridge onto the other side before the mist started getting thicker. Spigot saw a tinge of blue in it.
"I have a really bad feeling about this..."
-----
"So wait, you're saying you have a changeling for a sister?" Alastair asked curiously.
"Yup!" Merry replied, "Well, stepsister. Our dads were good friends and brothers in arms."
"So what happened to her father then?"
"Don't know. He just disappeared. His crew never talked about it."
"What about her mum?"
"Disappeared also," Far Shot replied, "From what me old man said, she had to go into hiding because some old unfinished business was catching up to her."
"That's rough, that is."
"Yeah. I think she was from one of those hives in which they don't take desertion very kindly."
"I wouldn't know a thing. My family have been living in Canterbridge for many generations. My parents and relatives think that living in a hive is downright barbaric. Well, 'cept maybe the Muscovite and Amber Hives, though I wonder whether the latter counts anymore..." Alastair took off the saddlebag he was wearing and opened it. His horn glew white as he lifted out three tin cups, a bag of ingredients, and a thermos with his magic. "Tea, anypony?"
"Ooo, yes please!" Merry answered excitedly.
"Eh, why not. Was getting a bit thirsty," Far Shot replied.
"Perfect," Alastair said, "now what would you want in them?"
"Roses, with some sugar."
"Manuka tea tree leaves, if you have them."
"Done and done." Alastair put the appropriate ingredients in the tin cups, then swirled the thermos and poured warm water into them.
Outside the tank, Chalkboard was still keeping watch for anything suspicious. Her sister, on the other hand, had grown bored of waiting and was playing a game of chess with Anton using his chess set. Needless to say, she was very bad at it. On her first game she had fallen to the Fool's Mate strategy. Anton couldn't help but chuckle.
"Out of all games I played," Anton commented, "I never saw someone make this mistake."
Dartboard played again. And again. Every time was the same outcome: she loses. Eventually she grew frustrated enough to flip the board.
"Augh! I'm sick of this!" Dartboard exclaimed, "Isn't there something else we can do?"
"I don't have anything else that could be of entertainment," Anton replied. He was picking up his chess pieces and stowing away his chess set.
"Hey! Chalky! Anything interesting happen yet?" Dartboard yelled to Chalkboard. She winced, and then looked back at Dartboard.
"Uhh...not yet. You didn't have to yell, you know," Chalkboard replied.
"Well something better happen soon! I'm dying for some action right now!"
A loud bang was heard. A few seconds later one of the AT guns was blown to pieces, scattering dirt and burnt bits all around. Before anyone could react, several more bangs were heard and two Stuarts bursted into flames shortly after. Soldiers and vehicles began retreating back to more defensible positions, as most of them were in the open.
"Cannon fire! Take cover!" a pegasus yelled.
"Where are they coming from!?!" an earth pony exclaimed.
"Over there!" another earth pony pointed northward. Occasionally a flash appeared out of thin air.
"They're cloaked!" a unicorn shouted.
"You and your big mouth," Chalkboard said to Dartboard. Anton ran off to join the rest of the soldiers in combat. Dartboard, after a moment's hesitation, ran to her tank. Passing her was Carry All, running towards Chalkboard's tank.
"Blaze just drove off!" he shouted. Chalkboard facehoofed before yelling for him to get in. Carry looked at the changeling confusingly before Chalkboard told him about the replacement.
"Far Shot! Take over for me, I'm driving!" she commanded.
"Where's Blaze?" Far Shot asked.
"Only Celestia knows..."
Chalkboard put her headset back on. While before there was just a few messages being transmitted on the frequency she was on, now it was filled with screaming and shouting.
"Can't see them!"
"Run you moron! RUN!"
"We're done for! Bail out!"
"Fire back at those flashes!"
"Get out! Get ou-"
"Driver, get this tin can moving!"
"Crew, fire a explosive shot at sector K7!"
"Command, we are under attack! Send backup NOW!"
-----
"Y'know, ah'm sorta thinkin' 'bout joinin' the Royal Army," Applejack said.
"Really? Which branch?" Cogswing asked.
"One o' those Armored Divisions. Those tanks seem mighty tough."
"Yeah, well ye could say that it's more dangerous that being a infantrypony. What with being a bigger target and all."
"Yeah, but ah'm not afraid of those risks. Mah Pa was a tanker."
"Oh?"
"Eeyup. When he's not on the farm bucking apple trees he's off ta the battlefield in a tank. Always had a tale ta tell Big Mac an' me when he comes back home."
"There's the castle!" Spigot declared, pointing his hoof at the old dilapidated structure. He and Cogswing ran to the two doors at the entrance and pulled them open. Twilight and her friends went in first.
"Alright lads and lassies, before we go in let's take a quick roll call," Cogswing ordered.
"Yeah yeah," Spigot complied, "Spigot here."
"Dizzy here."
"Petroleum here."
"Parasol here."
"Noteworthy here.
"Lucky here."
"Frosty here."
"Sundowner here."
"Sundowner?" Spigot whispered to Cogswing.
"Oi, ye forgot already? She's the new pony."
"Right, right. Though I could swear I remember seeing another pony called Sundowner..." As the escorts went inside Spigot eyed the pink-maned white pegasus suspiciously.
"There's a whole lot of us Spigs. To have ponies with identical names are not uncommon. Now come on, we still have a job to do."
The inside did not look to be in much better condition than outside. Vines had sprouted out of the floor and climbed up the walls, much of the windows and columns were broken, and there were cobwebs everywhere. In the center of the room was a large pedestal holding five round stones.
"Whoa. Come on, Twilight. Isn't this what you've been waitin' for?" Applejack said. Several ponies went to take off the stones.
"The Elements of Harmony, we've found them," Twilight declared, "Careful, careful!"
"One, two, three, four... There's only five!" Pinkie counted.
"Where's the sixth one?" Rainbow asked.
"The book said: 'when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed',"Twilight answered.
"And what the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked.
"I'm not sure," Twilight replied, "but I have an idea. Stand back. I don't know what will happen." Everyone distanced themselves away from Twilight.
"Come on now, y'all," Applejack said, "She needs to concentrate." Twilight's friends went back outside to wait. The escorts stayed, standing guard a fair distance away from Twilight. She focused, her horn slowly glowing brighter. Suddenly a blue mist descended upon the elements and started to spin around them, forming a tornado.
"Aah!" Twilight exclaimed. The tornado grew taller and taller. "The elements!" She dove into it.
"Aye! Go, get in there!" Cogswing yelled. The escort group charged at the tornado. Cogswing, Spigot, and Petro managed to enter the swirling mass. The rest fell on each other into a pony pile as it disappeared in a blinding light. By then Twilight's friends ran in. The remaining escorts quickly got themselves out of the pile. Everyone looked around for where Twilight could possiblly have been teleported to.
"Twilight, where are you?" Applejack asked worriedly.
"Look!" Rarity shouted, pointing her hoof over at one of the towers. It had light pouring out of the windows.
"Come on!" Applejack commanded. Everyone ran towards the tower.
Meanwhile, the four disoriented ponies were surrounded by smoke from the teleportation. After it cleared, they saw Nightmare Moon standing on a circular platform. She was levitating the five elements. Twilight gasped.
Then she quickly strengthened her resolve and prepared to charge. Cogswing, Spigot, and Petro formed a triangle in front of her.
"You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Nightmare Moon said. Twilight's horn hummed and shimmered with energy. The three escorts made a mad dash towards Nightmare Moon, with Twilight close behind. In response Nightmare Moon also charged towards the four, intent on breaking the formation. Right as the were about to crash, Spigot and Petro suddenly moved to the side. Cogswing leapt straight up, knowing that Twilight is Nightmare Moon's target and what Twilight was going to do.
Twilight disappeared in a flash, now appearing behind Nightmare Moon. The three escorts formed up again behind Twilight, this time taking combat stances. Cogswing drew her Lee Enfield, Spigot pulled out his PIAT, and Petro readied her flamethrower. Twilight meanwhile ran to the elements that were now sitting on the platform.
"You're starting to become real pests now," Nightmare Moon said threateningly.
"The feeling's mutual, mate," Spigot replied coldly. Twilight yelped in surprise. Cogswing looked quickly behind her. Shadowy ponies had materialized from the floor when she approached the elements. Each of them were carrying a melee weapon.
"Petro, get that Ack Pack ready, you're with me. Spigs, stall her!" she commanded. Cogswing and Petro ran to defend Twilight from the shadow ponies.
Spigot shot his PIAT at Nightmare Moon. The warhead detonated and created a dust cloud from the blast. It was to no effect-Nightmare Moon stepped out of the cloud unscathed and approached Spigot, her stature towering over him and her eyes showing murderous intent. His ears drooped as he uttered two words.
"Ah cripes."
"We better figure out something, those invisible tanks are chewing us up!" a Stuart commander yelled.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking..." Chalkboard replied.
"Al! Gun flash ten o'clock!" Far Shot declared. Chalkboard's Sherman fired. Unfortunately all the shell did was throw up some dirt.
"Missed the target, they must be shooting and scooting." Alastair said.
"Carry, load another AP round!" Far Shot commanded. Carry quickly took a shell from the ammunition rack without paying attention to its particular coloring.
"AP, up!" Carry announced. Another distant gun flash appeared.
"Al!"
"I see it!" The Sherman fired again. This time the shell bursted open on impact, showering the surrounding area with luminescent blue paint.
"Huh?" Far Shot said in confusion, "Carry, I said AP not bloody training rounds!"
"Oh, whoops." Carry took a look at the shells. A few had blue ring stripes on them that were hard to see in the dimly lit interior.
"Why are we carrying them anyways? Carry, toss em out befo-"
"No, wait!" Chalkboard interrupted, "I got an idea! Carry, load another training round. High explosive, preferably." Carry did as he was told.
"HE Paint, up!" Carry announced. Alastair fired the moment he saw another gun flash. While the shell did not hit anything directly, the paint from it splashed onto a Panzer IV and rendered its invisibility useless.
"That's it!" Chalkboard exclaimed, "Whatever they are using to hide themselves, the paint from the training rounds make them show up like a sore hoof. Merry, relay this information to the others!"
"Okie dokie!" Merry complied.
After Merry had spread the word through the radio, tanks that had training rounds fired them on where the enemy was hiding-revealing them. Several of the GW Rieters joined in, their training rounds covering a larger area and thus more likely to expose the invisible tanks. As they relied on their invisibility for protection, much of the enemy tanks were out in the open. Reveaed tanks were quickly knocked out by the antitank guns. Seeing the situation being turned against them, they retreated.
Only to come back even stronger than before. While before there were only Panzer IVs and small numbers of Panthers, this force consisted mostly of Tigers and Panthers. Instead of trying to pick them off using stealth as before, the enemy has switched to simply crushing them with brute force.
"Blimey, that's more Tiger tanks than I've seen so far in my lifetime," Alastair commented.
"I think we might be in trouble now," Carry added.
"No, you think?" Far Shot said sarcastically.
What happened next could be described as a curb stomp. Most of the tanks the garrison had were unable to deflect the rounds from the Panther and Tigers, and their guns were unable to penetrate their armor. The enemy had prioritized the antitank guns and GW Reiters first, eliminating what firepower they had left. The infantryponies, lacking any anti-tank weapons whatsoever, retreated with the tanks providing cover for them. After only five minutes the garrison was close to being overrun. The only tanks still active were a handful of M4A3E2s, KV-1s, M7s, and a lone VK3001H.
And their numbers were still dropping. Two exposed KV-1s each received penetrating shots through their front, destroying them. Three M7s that attempted to outmaneuver the approaching tanks were demolished by the interception fire. Now there were only four E2s, three KV-1s, one VK3001H, and one M7 left.
The situation only worsened. The E2s and remaining KV-1s were dug into the ground at a eight degree angle and five degree angles respectively, granting more protection to their already thick sloped hulls while allowing them to still engage the enemy. Unfortunately, the enemy already had a solution to that. One particular Panther that had a differently shaped turret took aim at one of the M4A3E2s and fired. The shell ripped right through.
It then took aim at a KV-1. The KV-1 fired back with its 85mm gun. The shell simply glanced off the Panther's armor. The Panther fired, destroying the KV-1. It then took aim at another E2, destroying it just as effortlessly as it did with the tanks before. It then took aim at Chalkboard's E2.
Just as it was about to fire, a shell smashed into its front hull and bounced off. Though it inflicted no damage, the shockwave from the shell bouncing threw the Panther's aim off just enough to miss.
"Stay away from my sis!" Dartboard yelled. It only served to provoke the Panther to aim at her VK3001H. It was ready to fire.
*BOOM*
A 75 millimeter high explosive shell detonated on impact...with the Panther's suspension. The explosion caused it to collapse, sending dent roadwheels rolling off. This made the Panther list sideways, making its gun unintentionally elevate. This resulted in another miss. The commander of the Panther looked in the direction of where the shell came from, furious that her crew was denied a killshot not once but twice in a row. Anger turned into horror when she saw what appeared to be a wider Panther with the Tiger's turret. One Tiger-Panther hybrid wasn't the reason why she was utterly mortified, though. No, the reason why is because there were ten of them.
The commander of the lead Tiger S, designated Blade 1, had the complete opposite expression. He currently had a very smug look on his face.
"Priority target: Panther!" he declared, "Blade 1, 2, and 3, concentrate fire on it! The rest of you, focus on the Tigers and lesser Panthers."
The other Tiger S crews complied. The lead Tiger S and the two flanking it took aim at the Panther's side. They fired in unison. The force of the three shells impacting the Panther caused it to lurch to the other side.
"It still appears to be active, sir," Blade 2's commander said.
"What are you waiting for then? Finish them off," Blade 1's commander replied. The Panther's crew panicked and quickly abandoned their vehicle. Just as the crew cleared their tank, the Tiger S' finished reloading and fired. This time the Panther's turret was blown off from a ammo rack explosion. It wasn't spectacular though-it simply flipped off the tank and landed right next to the hull due to its weight.
The other Tiger S' were approaching the enemy Panthers and Tigers from their flanks, striking at their thinner side armor. The enemy weren't able to turn their hulls fast enough to deflect the shells shot at them. The attack force was completely demolished.
"12th Royal Guards reporting, anyone still alive?" Blade 1's commander asked through the radio.
At first it was only static, then a voice was heard.
"Sergeant Chalkboard here, what took you so long?"
"Apologies. It took a while for the train to get all of us here from Canterlot."
"Well, better you got here now than never. We wouldn't have lasted another minute." Just as Chalkboard finished talking, a thunderous explosion was heard and one of the Tiger S' received a shell through its front.
"Carry, HE paint!" Far Shot quickly ordered. Carry loaded the shell. The unseen assailant fired again, this time just narrowly missing another Tiger S. Alastair fired at the gun flash. The round hit right on target, revealing a large imposing tank.
"Uh-oh," Chalkboard said upon recognizing it.
"I don't think I'll like the answer, but what tank is that?" Far Shot asked.
"I-it's a Tiger II," Chalkboard replied fearfully.
"Bluh..." was the only sound Spigot could make. He was chased around the room by Nightmare Moon, then lifted by his tail after he finally tired out and was thrown around like a rag doll, and then he was slammed over the head with his own PIAT. Luckily it wasn't reloaded-the part that was suppose to hold the warheads for launching was bent in the shape of a pony's head.
Cogswing and Petro were doing somewhat better. While rifle rounds did next to nothing against the shadow ponies, a few bursts from the flamethrower were quite effective at destroying them. Seeing how ineffective her rifle was, Cogswing resorted to using her entrenchment tool as a weapon instead. Twilight wasn't exactly helpless either-she blasted several of the shadow ponies using concussion spells. Just as Spigot was tossed aside by Nightmare Moon, enough of the shadow ponies were destroyed for Twilight to get to the Elements safely. She knelt down and concentrated on the Elements, hoping to conjure up the sixth Element.
"Just one spark. Come on, come on..." Twilight said. Nightmare Moon, realizing what she's going to do, desperately tried to stop her. Cogswing and Petro ran right into her path, hoping to stall her just long enough. Petro fired her flamethrower right in Nightmare Moon's face.
Unfortunately, it was no more effective than when Spigot shot his PIAT. Nightmare Moon simply charged through the flames unharmed, swiping the two ponies aside. As there was still considerable distance between her and Twilight, Nightmare Moon transformed into mist and then rematerialized right in front of her. By then Twilight was just about ready to cast her spell. Tendrils of energy came out of her horn and touched each of the elements, wrapping them in a purple aura.
Twilight was then blasted back from the magical feedback. The Elements were charged with energy, appearing to have a reaction to the magic. They started levitating in midair.
"No, no!" Nightmare Moon shouted.
And then the aura surrounding the Elements disappeared. They fell back to the ground, inert.
"But... where's the sixth Element?!" Twilight said, shocked.
Nightmare Moon laughed evilly, seeing that her foes have failed. She then lifted up her forehooves and smashed the Elements to pieces.
"You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me? Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! The night will last forever!"
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Need to have about, 20% more King Tigers >.>
Anyways, good work :D
2820514 No, needs more loltraktors.